Order the Book HERE
Read an Excerpt HERE
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Ben Galley was born in 1987 in the British Isles. As a child, exposure to the works of Tolkien and Greek mythology helped fire his imagination and left him with a great desire to spin his own stories. Ben wrote the first book as a DIY project and since then has written several self-help blog posts and also offers consultancy services for the same. He’s currently hard at work with the next book.
OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: His name is Farden. They whisper that he’s dangerous. Dangerous is only the half of it. Something has gone missing from the libraries of Arfell. Something very old, and something very powerful. Five scholars are now dead, a country is once again on the brink of war, and the magick council is running out of time and options.
Entangled in a web of lies and politics and dragged halfway across icy Emaneska and back, Farden must unearth a secret even he doesn’t want to know, a secret that will shake the foundations of his world.
Dragons, drugs, magick, death, and the deepest of betrayals await. Breathtakingly vast, chillingly dark, brooding and dangerous, The Written will leave you impatiently waiting for the next adventure… Welcome to Emaneska!
FORMAT/INFO: The Written is 420 pages long divided over nineteen chapters and an epilogue that is spread over four parts. Narration is in the third-person, majorly via the protagonist Farden and a few one-off character POVs. This is the first book in the Emaneska series.
December 1, 2010 marked the e-book publication of The Written and it was self published by the author. Cover design is provided by Mikael Westman.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: The Written is a debut book that I had no clue about but thanks to Mark Lawrence, I was clued to its existence. Usually it’s said never judge a book by its cover but in this case, I was ready to make an exception. The understated cover really drew my eye with its stark color usage, so in this case I was ready to make an exception. The book blurb didn’t really do justice or give any idea about the plot content. But I was truly curious about what this book would be about.
The book is set in the world of Emaneska, a land of old magic and dragons and in this world are the mages called the Written. The curious thing about them is the presence of certain written words on their back that is supposed to be unique to each individual. One such individual is the protagonist Farden who is said to be one of the strongest crafters of their type of magic as well as one of the scariest people around. He’s also a bit aloof and shares his weird skills with a vampyre who loves history and older legends. His idle life is restructured due to events happening in the city of Arfell wherein a precious book containing several dark legends is stolen and no knows exactly who did it. Fingers are pointed at the dragons with which a current shaky stalemate has been achieved but all is at stake as the book needs to be reclaimed to save the world from ultimate chaos.
The author has a very distinct style of writing about his world, it is a world cloaked in mystery and one whose legends are not exactly the whole truth but there’s no one to confirm or deny it. The world’s layers are slowly peeled and the reader is as confused as the main protagonist as he’s faced with mysteries at every step. The pace of the story is another plus point as things are constantly happening that will propel reader onward, the pace never lets up and this also mirrors the rising tensions in the plot. Going on to the main protagonist, Farden as a character is supposed to be this big, bad and scary mage who has every one spooked. However the reader never gets the feeling entirely based on his actions as through out the story he often stumbles and falters in his path. Perhaps the author’s efforts to present him as a dark, badass warrior mage haven’t quite come out as envisioned by the author. I as a reader felt that he lacked that special factor that is so thoroughly advertized in the blurb and through out character conversations.
One good thing about the book is that there are certain twists that will surprise the reader by genuinely coming out of the left field, the story however doesn’t quite live up as it often takes a predictable route. A good example of this would be how the story unfolds towards the discovery of the villain however what happens in the end is what really makes the reader excited for the next book. The characterization is definitely a plus but the author has work cut out for him in the forthcoming books as there are some characters that are interesting however don’t get much page time and therefore they only enchant the reader for a little time.
I was thoroughly intrigued by the revelations about the world’s magic system and back history however it wasn’t thoroughly explored in this book and this could be done purposefully by the author since this is his debut and the start of the series. Lastly the book also has some good action sequences that show the twisted imagination of the author and the final sequence involving dragons is probably the highlight of the climax besides the end twist. Overall this book does have its shortcomings but it also has some silver points to it that make it stand out and fill me with hope for the sequels, I’ll be looking forward to the Pale Kings, as it promises to one up its predecessor and also provide a through background about the world’ s history. As a reader I can’t ask for more…
I was thoroughly intrigued by the revelations about the world’s magic system and back history however it wasn’t thoroughly explored in this book and this could be done purposefully by the author since this is his debut and the start of the series. Lastly the book also has some good action sequences that show the twisted imagination of the author and the final sequence involving dragons is probably the highlight of the climax besides the end twist. Overall this book does have its shortcomings but it also has some silver points to it that make it stand out and fill me with hope for the sequels, I’ll be looking forward to the Pale Kings, as it promises to one up its predecessor and also provide a through background about the world’ s history. As a reader I can’t ask for more…
CONCLUSION: Ben Galley’s The Written shows a spark that is admirable, the talent might not match the execution entirely but it's there and it will be heartening to see how this young author manages to learn and hone his craft with the upcoming books, I’ll definitely be taking an interest in them to follow through and see how he develops his skills.
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INTRODUCTION: Mary Gentle has written a couple of the most memorable sffnal novels I've read, namely the two alt-history novels A Sundial in the Grave: 1610 and Ilario, both deserving a place on my all time "more favorites list". She also has written the somewhat (in)famous Orthe duology of which the final volume Ancient Light courageously follows the logic of the story to its more natural conclusion, rather than the more standard "it'll be alright in the end" that even last year's Embassytown - which follows the same kind of story - presented. So any new novel by her is a priority for me and I've been impatiently waiting for The Black Opera since it was announced a few years ago.
Here is the blurb which is generally accurate though it does not really convey the richness of the book:
"Naples, the 19th Century. In the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, holy music has power.
Under the auspices of the Church, the Sung Mass can bring about actual miracles like healing the sick or raising the dead. But some believe that the musicodramma of grand opera can also work magic by channeling powerful emotions into something sublime. Now the Prince's Men, a secret society, hope to stage their own black opera to empower the Devil himself - and change Creation for the better!
Conrad Scalese is a struggling librettist whose latest opera has landed him in trouble with the Holy Office of the Inquisition. Rescued by King Ferdinand II, Conrad finds himself recruited to write and stage a counter opera that will, hopefully, cancel out the apocalyptic threat of the black opera, provided the Prince's Men, and their spies and saboteurs, don't get to him first. And he only has six weeks to do it."
Under the auspices of the Church, the Sung Mass can bring about actual miracles like healing the sick or raising the dead. But some believe that the musicodramma of grand opera can also work magic by channeling powerful emotions into something sublime. Now the Prince's Men, a secret society, hope to stage their own black opera to empower the Devil himself - and change Creation for the better!
Conrad Scalese is a struggling librettist whose latest opera has landed him in trouble with the Holy Office of the Inquisition. Rescued by King Ferdinand II, Conrad finds himself recruited to write and stage a counter opera that will, hopefully, cancel out the apocalyptic threat of the black opera, provided the Prince's Men, and their spies and saboteurs, don't get to him first. And he only has six weeks to do it."
ANALYSIS: While Ilario and 1610 were clearly sfnal, The Black Opera is fantasy-nal as it has souls, returned dead, ghosts and music as magic. It is also lighter and the least "serious" of the three with action that resembles an operatic plot in many instances. I am not that familiar with opera terminology and customs but I enjoyed the parts set into its world - bare-bones plot - bad guys want to use a special opera to bring down society for the greater good of course, good guys have to write/compose/perform a "counteropera" to stop the bad guys, though of course things are subtler in many ways.
The main characters of the book are part of the opera world in a role or another with a few kings, emperors, cardinals and soldiers added in since we are in sff hence we deal in saving the world and they are quite vivid and stand out with different personalities.
The action takes place by and large in the 1820's South Italy - home of the opera after all - though there is some backstory and some detail about the rest of the world. As mentioned above the operatic touch means that the novel balances between over-the-top fun and more serious stuff, but the author's skill is such that it is always a pleasure to read as the dialogue is crisp and funny - with occasional touches of subtlety and depth - and you slowly get to care about the characters and their fate. In traditional operatic mode there are powerful emotional scenes - while Mary Gentle's storyline twists and turns quite a lot.
If there is a weakness beyond the general lightness, "this is a story and it cannot be truly real" and of course assuming that the balancing act mentioned above works for you - I would say it is the choice of Kingdom of the Two Sicilies as the focal point of the movers and shakers of the action which of course makes sense from an opera point of view but not really from a sffnal point of view so to speak.
The main characters of the book are part of the opera world in a role or another with a few kings, emperors, cardinals and soldiers added in since we are in sff hence we deal in saving the world and they are quite vivid and stand out with different personalities.
The action takes place by and large in the 1820's South Italy - home of the opera after all - though there is some backstory and some detail about the rest of the world. As mentioned above the operatic touch means that the novel balances between over-the-top fun and more serious stuff, but the author's skill is such that it is always a pleasure to read as the dialogue is crisp and funny - with occasional touches of subtlety and depth - and you slowly get to care about the characters and their fate. In traditional operatic mode there are powerful emotional scenes - while Mary Gentle's storyline twists and turns quite a lot.
If there is a weakness beyond the general lightness, "this is a story and it cannot be truly real" and of course assuming that the balancing act mentioned above works for you - I would say it is the choice of Kingdom of the Two Sicilies as the focal point of the movers and shakers of the action which of course makes sense from an opera point of view but not really from a sffnal point of view so to speak.
Overall The Black Opera is a highly recommended novel for 2012 but its ultimate lightness will keep it from my top of the year.
Order the book HERE
Watch the book trailer HERE
Read an excerpt HERE
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Pavarti K Tyler is an artist, wife, mother and number cruncher. She graduated from Smith College in 1999 with a degree in Theatre. After graduation, she moved to New York, where she worked as a Dramaturge, Assistant Director and Production Manager on productions both on and off Broadway. Later, Pavarti went to work in the finance industry as a freelance accountant for several international law firms. She now operates her own accounting firm in the Washington DC area, where she lives with her husband, two daughters and two terrible dogs. When not working on taxes, she is hard at work as the Director of Publicity at Novel Publicity and penning her next novel.
OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: Forced to witness the cruelty of the Morality Police in his home city of Elih, Turkey, Recai is called upon by the power of the desert to be the vehicle of change. Does he have the strength to answer Allah's call or will his dark past and self doubt stand in his way?
Pulling on his faith in Allah, the friendship of a Jewish father-figure and a deeply held belief that his people deserve better, Recai Osman must become The SandStorm.
In the tradition of books by Margaret Atwood and Salman Rushdie, Shadow on the Wall tackles issues of religion, gender, corruption and the basic human condition. Beautiful and challenging, this is not a book to miss.
FORMAT/INFO: Shadow On The Wall is 197 pages long divided over five parts and an epilogue. Narration is in the third-person via Recai Osman, Hasad Sofaer, Rebekah Sofaer, Darya, Isik, Fahri Kaya, Maryam the nurse. This is the first book of the Sandstorm Chronicles.
April 17, 2012 marked the e-book and paperback publication of Shadow On The Wall by Fighting Monkey Press. Cover art is provided by Damon Za.
ANALYSIS: Shadow On The Wall is a book from an author that I had no clue about. We received a query letter about it and the book’s blurb along with its exotic setting heightened my interest in it. I was curious to see how the author would portray Islam within the confines of the superhero and urban fantasy subgenres. It was also marketed as literary fiction and this was also a plus point in consideration for me choosing it.
Shadow On The Wall is set in the city of Elih in Turkey and is set in modern times, however the exact year is never given. The reader is rather suddenly introduced to the main protagonist Recai Osman who is trapped into the desert outside the city of Elih with no precise recollection of his presence. He however tries his best to survive and is rescued by Hasad Sofaer, an Indian jew who takes him in his home and with the help of his daughter Rebekah tries to nurse him back to health. Things are going on a smooth keel however they soon turn dastardly as members of the RTK political party make an appearance in Hasad’s village and the twist of fate that triggers Recai’s heroic odyssey occurs. The story then skips three years and we are re-introduced to Recai as he comes back to Elih. This time however he’s not the person he was before and he will come across many characters that will lead to the rise of the sandstorm. There's also the other characters that are introduces such as Darya, Isik, Maryam and Fahri who share the page presence and further introduce twists in to the plot through their actions and plans.
Pavarti’s book is quite different than what I thought it would be, for one the author has really tried to focus on the minutiae of individual actions that further cascade down into horrific as well as benevolent events. I believe the author was trying to showcase the actions of fate as well as personal choice thereby giving both black and white sides to characters that we read about. The characterization of the book is the highlight of the book as the author gives us a veritable slice into the lives of myriad characters, both honest and devious, both male and female. While Recai Osman is the main character, the author also dwells into the life of secondary characters to present a wholesome side of life in the city of Elih. There are some strong parallels between Recai and Bruce Wayne however the author makes it very clear that Recai is not the same man as the Dark Knight. He however does share similar prejudices against those who have been corrupted.
Secondly the author’s prose draws in the reader into the story and life that is so suffocating in the city of Elih under various sanctions and constrictions placed by those in power, the reader will feel the pain felt by the characters and therefore their actions and motivations become that much more clear. Lastly the author has to be thoroughly commended for her research and background details in several Islamic sayings and fashion which she has described in the book, from the spellings to the greetings and customs, the author manages to get all her ducks in a row and this adds to the richness of the culture showcased within.
While all the wonderful points of the book do help, there are some facets to it that might affect the read for some readers. Beginning with the pacing which is a bit uneven and causes the read to falter a bit in the start and the middle of the book to a certain extent, while this is very subjective I felt that it did occur enough times to stifle the read. Another point of contention is that the author never really reveals what occurred to the main character that lead to his eventual transformation. I felt that this could have been explored more or at least a bit more exposition would have definitely helped explain the genesis of the story’s central character. This is also offset against the fact that this is the first book and therefore the authorial plan might be to reveal more as each volume progresses. Lastly the book I felt tries a bit too hard to showcase its literary side and this perhaps offsets the thriller aspect of the story.
CONCLUSION: Pavarti Tyler’s book is quite a mix up of styles and genres however one thing is true about it that the author has taken some pains to chalk out the story and flesh out the characters. Shadow On the Wall does it best to raise questions about the role of religion, gender, faith and society which I believe was the author’s purpose. Give it a read if you wish to explore a different culture and a different type of superhero.
Official Author website
Read FBC's Review of Armageddon Bound
Read FBC's Review of Resurrection
Read FBC’s Review of At The Gates
Read FBC interview with Tim Marquitz
OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: Absence makes the heart grow fonder?
Not when you're the Devil's nephew. An unexpected message gives Frank the answer he's sought for years--Where did God and Lucifer go?--but the knowledge brings its own dilemma as inter-dimensional war looms, threatening to engulf the Earth.
Tasked with the planet's defense, Frank scrounges for a plan and finds a piece of his past better left behind. If the aliens don't kill him, what he learns just might!
FORMAT/INFO: Demon Squad: Echoes Of The Past is 189 pages long divided over twenty-five chapters. Narration is in the first-person, exclusively via the protagonist Frank “Triggaltheron” Trigg. This is the fourth book in the series and it would not make much sense for new readers to jump into the series with this book.
April 24, 2012 marked the e-book and paperback publication of Demon Squad: Echoes Of The Past and it was self published by the author. Cover art is provided by Jessica Lucero.
ANALYSIS: Nearly three years ago I happened to come across a book called “Armageddon Bound” and it proved to be a thrill ride with some ferocious wit that would make most people blush or chuckle depending on their disposition. It was a debut that marked Tim out among the many debutantes of 2009, since then I have kept an eye for further books in the demon squad series to follow the misadventures of Frank Trigg, Lucifer’s nephew and all-round screw-up. He’s a character that endears himself to you as much as hangovers do, but eventually one does manage to gain a soft spot because of his inherent goodness that might be found after some real deep soul searching.
Echoes Of The Past begins a bit after the events of “At The Gates” and past readers will know how it ended, so the reader is immediately clued into what is happening and the most primal of mysteries about this series is given a resounding answer, namely what happened that lead God and Lucifer to have a sit-down and then disappear to unknown places. Readers clamoring for an answer will get the desired explanation and then we get to see Frank as he returns to his home however another nasty surprise awaits him and this time it’s the government. And that’s just the beginnings of his troubles as remnants of the war to topple heaven make their way towards Frank as do alien entities that have previous connections to his lineage. This book basically deals with a lot of revelations and answers for Frank and the reader and finally the author manages to end the book with a cliffhanger that manages to upend the one featured in Resurrection. This book will leave you utterly hanging and clamoring for book V.
To begin with, in regards to the previous three books, Echoes of the Past is a vastly different book. It is more introspective and deals with a lot of revelations, secrets and intricacies of this universe. For a reader invested in these books, this is the payoff however be warned that this is not the penultimate book of the series and so akin to LOST, these answers while satisfying will lead to more questions gleaned from those very answers. Thematically this book is about identity and the quest to find it. Frank has always wondered about his past and recent events occurring the past books have escalated that need. In this book he finally gets an avenue to explore those needs however the answers he finds might not be the ones he thought they would be. If you didn’t emphathize with Frank before, you’ll definitely do so after reading this one.
This book also has more than its share of plot twists, I would go so far as to say that this one is the most twisted of all the Demon Squad books. While previous books did have the twists, none of them were so caustic as these to Frank. After all the recent deaths in the previous two books, the author does continue the trend not in number but in terms of important personage. I was very much surprised by the turns of the plot as the author constantly kept on switching tracks and thereby made the ending that much more unpredictable. Characterization-wise this book is the most accomplished of all however it focuses solely on Frank. With these books Frank has always been the sole narrator, but with the last two books, the focus was widened on the side character cast however with this one the scope is again narrowed down to Frank. This kind of narrative while having its plus points also makes it a problem if the reader doesn’t connect with the story. However with Frank, the reader is always left stunned with the amount and importance of information revealed and this just makes the next book that much more enticing especially when Frank reunites with those that have wronged him.
The only things that went against the enjoyment factor was that the book ends on a massive cliffhanger and combined with the expectation of things to come, that makes the wait for the next book hard. The second point would be that the book also has revelations that gives answers but further creates questions that will leave the readers perplexed. But both these issues are minor ones and wouldn’t affect the overall reading experience.
CONCLUSION: Tim Marquitz takes a new direction with the fourth book that showcases improvement on all authorial fronts. This is another great entry in the Demon Squad series, if you haven’t started it yet then you should definitely do so. This is one of those series that has almost been under most readers radar. Tim Marquitz continues his excellent run and makes this book another standout volume.
Official Author Website
Read FBC’s review of Ex-Heroes
Read FBC’s review of Ex-Patriots
Read an excerpt HERE
Order the book HERE
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Peter Clines was born and brought up in Maine, he moved to California when he grew up and worked in Hollywood for a number of years. He has also been a prop master for several movies and TV shows. He has written reviews for the Cinema Blend website as well as for the Creative Screenwriting magazine. He has previously interviewed many famous film personas such as Frank Darabont, Paul Haggis, Kevin Smith, George Romero, Akiva Goldsman, David Goyer, Mark Herman, Nora Ephron and many others. He currently lives in Southern California.
OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: Six months ago, the world ended.
The Baugh Contagion swept across the planet. Its victims were left twitching, adrenalized cannibals that quickly became know as Junkies. Civilization crumbled as people created isolated safe havens to hide from the infected... and the possibly-infected. Now, as society nears a tipping point, lives will intersect and intertwine across two days in a desolate city.
THE JUNKIE QUATRAIN is four tales of survival, and four types of post-apocalypse story. Because the end of the world means different things for different people. Loss. Opportunity. Hope. Or maybe just another day on the job.
FORMAT/INFO: The Junkie Quatrain is 100 pages divided over four titled stories, and an introduction. Narration is in the third-person for all sections. Readers can read the stories in any order. January 13, 2012 marked the e-book publication of The Junkie Quatrain via Permuted press. Cover art is provided by Zach McCain.
ANALYSIS: There’s an interesting back story to The Junkie Quatrain by Peter Clines. Permuted Press had recently concluded a deal with Audible and invited Peter to write a few short which were to be included as bonus content. Peter agreed and set out to write four loosely connected stories that would resonate with the reader (or listener in this case). The stories can be read in the order they appear or as he suggests in the introduction, to read them after shuffling dice to determine the order of reading. I however didn’t follow Peter’s advice and decide to read them in the order they appear.
The first story that appeared in my reading list was “Codependent” It focuses on Holly, a ragged but tough survivor, who has been travelling to reach a certain direction towards a destination. She has walked nearly hundred and forty miles and is looking for her familial connections, what she doesn’t bank upon is companionship. The story is quite a stark one as Holly is consciously trying to avoid the “Junkies” the term coined for the zombie-like humans that have been afflicted with a certain virus. She is trying to be tough as she searches for what she wants. The trouble is you can’t always depend on the company you keep.
The second story is called “Predator and Prey”, it’s also set around the same time as the first story. The focus of the story is “the outsiders” a group of people among several groups that used to travel from sanctuary to sanctuary, this story focuses on a relative big group that travels and collects certain things for a select group of people. This time it’s a task for the US military that requires them to retrieve a certain object. What they don’t know is that this time around there might be something more than human that crosses their path.
The third story is titled “Confidentiality” and is also set around the same time as the first two stories however in truth is a prequel to all the stories as it gives us the most of the back story about the world, its current junkie problem and its possible origin. The story is centered on Dr. Sam Clemens who gets pulled from his residency in Seattle and is dropped into Los Angeles for an emergency meeting. He doesn’t exactly know what’s it about but the reason for the journey might be something that will reveal what really happened six months ago.
The last story is “Strictly Professional” and it deals with a guy called Quilt, he has been extremely successful as a mercenary and he has accomplished all of it by being strictly professional. The end of the world because of the rise of the junkies has thrown a spanner in his schedule however Quilt has managed to adjust his perspective and yet remain a prized asset for the people who wish to hire his services. He however finds out that some things go beyond professionalism and he has to decide how much of a professional he will be.
These four stories are set in the same geographical region circa Los Angeles and occur nearly in the same time duration (of roughly two days), the sequence however is different and will be apparent to the readers once they read them however the sequential timeline is third, first, second and fourth. I believe this order will be most helpful for the reader to glean most of the actual happening of the overall saga. These stories follow a Rashomon-like pattern of being connected to each to other; the characters are what bring the stories alive. Each story deals with a set of characters that shine in their stories and draw the reader in. The author does his absolute best with characterization and like his debut series; this makes the story that much more special. The reader feels encompassed in a dying world, which is similar to the world introduced in the Ex-Heroes trilogy but this one is a world of normal humans who have to do extra ordinary things to simply survive. The stories are deceptive as they draw the reader in and manage to surprise the reader with their twists. The reader will be clued in to each story as the threads slowly unfold and readers are given hints about each story as well as the world.
The drawbacks about these stories are that while the author does his best to provide a complete picture, the reader is left a bit clueless about the final outcome of the world and the characters introduced in the stories, this bit will cause some dissatisfaction as the reader will want to know more and demand some closure. The threads left hanging are what cause the most amount of discord among the readers. Perhaps the author might also want to explore what happened beyond the eventual outcome of the book. I for one would love to read more about the characters and the world created.
CONCLUSION: Peter Clines absolutely shines in these experimental short stories, thereby showcasing his awesome talent which was prevalent stories in the Ex-Heroes series. Give these stories a read if you happen to love zombie stories or thrillers or LOST. The Junkie Quatrain is a must read if you haven’t read Peter Clines yet and if you have, then you definitely know why you ought to read this one as well.
INTRODUCTION: In 2011, Bradley P. Beaulieu made an instant impact
with his debut novel, The Winds of
Khalakovo. Rob Ziegler did the
same with his debut, Seed. Both are very
talented writers with promising futures ahead. And when the two of them got
together for a little discussion/interview, they had a lot of interesting
things to say:
Brad: Ok, how do we start
this thing? I suggest we go alphabetically. And since I win whether we take
first name or last, I’ll ask the first question. ::grins::
I’d
like to start out with a bit of the untold story of your book. In Seed, one of your main characters, Pollo, is autistic. However, I also
know that he started out as unrelated to another of the main characters, Brood. How did this change in
relationship alter Pollo? How did it
alter Brood? And how did it alter
the landscape of the book?
Rob: To begin with,
Brad, I’d like to point out that your first question is in fact, like, six questions. Prepare yourself for a thorough grilling
after I’ve finished with my answer(s). Fair play...Harrumph!
Yes,
Pollo is autistic, a fact on which Seed’s plot turns. I’d forgotten that
you’d seen the early draft of the book, before Pollo was Pollo. He was originally
a gigantic and lethal savant named Ton Ton, who was sort of a genetically
engineered, weaponized version of Lennie Small. Really. That such a draft ever
existed is usually highly classified, because talking about it means talking
about the general clusterfucky state of the book at that point. There were so
many problems in the early drafts, when the story kept wandering off track and
each scene struggled to connect to the one before it. One of those problems was
that everything was lethal. Brood, Doss, Satori, the world
and everyone in it. Everything was either a killer or a victim, and the book lacked
real emotional ballast. Brood needed
a closer relationship in his life to soften him, and to give him something to
fight for above and beyond mere survival. (And I think you were one of those
early readers, Brad, who really took me to school on the need for a protagonist
to be someone with whom the reader could sympathize.) Ton Ton definitely was not that close relationship. He was
another killer in a book full of them. He did, however, embody a point of
departure for Pollo. Like Pollo, he was something elemental, with
a strange but gifted understanding of his world. As he became Pollo, he became someone Brood loved and needed to protect, and
the result was that he deepened Brood.
He revealed in Brood a hunger for
true connection. Those moments when they do connect—because Pollo is so remote—are emotionally very
juicy, for me anyway. Their relationship became the emotional heart of the
book, certainly of Brood’s journey,
and the thread tying all the story’s various parts together.
Now
Brad, in The Winds of Khalakovo you
also use an autistic character, Nasim,
as both a fulcrum for the plot and as the quiet, emotional anchor at the
story’s center (or at least that’s how I read him). In part I return your
question: how did you find this character? Without giving too much away, Nasim has certain talents. What drew
you to that savant blend of vulnerability and preternatural ability? I know you
write steadily, 1,000 words or so a day. With a character like Nasim, did you plan him out? Or did you
simply uncover him as you rolled through your words?
And
what did you have for breakfast?
There,
five questions back at you.
Brad: Ha! Turnabout is
fair play, I suppose. I was actually just trying to throw enough questions at
you that I could take a breath before your
questions showed up.
Hmmm.
Yes, on to Nasim. His was an
interesting evolution. As much as I try to plot—and I do plot to a certain
degree—I find that I can’t get too far ahead of the actual writing. I’ll work
up the end of the novel, identify the major turning points, and then plot a
handful of chapters before I start writing. In the early brainstorming of The Winds of Khalakovo, Nasim was simply a gifted boy. But
anyone who starts writing will soon find that powerful characters are really,
really tricky. Just look at Gandalf.
Tolkien had to get him off stage to
make him at all workable in The Hobbit.
And in The Lord of the Rings, he
pitted him against Saruman and the Witch-King of Angmar, just to give him
something formidable to fight against. I knew right away that Nasim as I had initially envisioned him
would be a difficult character to handle.
Essentially,
he needed a weakness. So I recast him, and he became more or less autistic. He
wouldn’t fit the modern definition of the term, but it’s the closest analog we
have. He was a confused child. Because of the way in which he was reborn from
his previous incarnation of Khamal,
he had trouble discerning what lay in the real world and what lay in the
immaterial realm, the world of the spirits. It was this confusion that made it
almost impossible to learn and communicate like a normal child.
So
the initial version of Nasim was largely determined before I
ever started writing. But I knew little about him early on. Much of his
personality—an innocent and kind yet easily confused (not to mention extremely powerful)
child—came out in the writing. And that, right there, encapsulates a lot of how
I work as a writer. I spent a ton of time on the world, the magic, the
cultures, the politics. I know those fairly well. I know a bit of the plot,
especially the high points and the ending, and I have a kernel, a core, for
each of the characters. And then I fill things in as I write. I find that I
can’t do it any other way, at least so far in my writing career. I can’t write
completely blindly—that is, I need at least some
structure—and yet, try as I might, I can’t see too far ahead in terms of plot.
I thought I’d be able to given my structured life as a software programmer, but
the writing side of my brain is simply not wired that way.
Something
you said above really interested me. And that’s this notion, in your words,
that the early incarnations of Seed
“lacked real emotional ballast.” This is something near and dear to my heart,
because I think it’s one of my biggest weaknesses as a writer. I’m rather
plot-driven. That’s my natural state, and I’m well aware of it, so I work hard
at making sure the characters feel real, that there are touching (or at least
emotional) moments in the story so that the reader can sympathize with them.
One
of our friends, Deborah Coates,
whose book, Wide Open was recently published
by Tor Books, calls this “moments
of grace.” Tell me about “moments of grace” from your perspective and how it
changed not just Seed, but your
writing overall. (Did you catch that? I didn’t even use a question mark, so
it’s not even a question, really.)
Rob: Well done, Brad. Charlie
Rose could learn a thing or two from your interviewing chops. I don’t even feel
like I’m being grilled.
So,
Deborah Coates. In addition to
being a great person, Deb is a fantastic writer, and very smart when it comes to storytelling. It strikes me that many
writers approach a novel as separate components—character, plot, theme—and do
their best to puzzle those pieces together. Like, “This paragraph develops the
protagonist. This paragraph is action that furthers the story,” and so forth. You
can see the gears moving behind their scenes. But Deb has an instinctual knack
for seamlessly integrating all of a story’s various aspects, so the thematic idea
becomes the thing that moves the character’s emotional arc which is what moves
the story. It’s fluid, there’s no separation. I think the key to making this
work is that she gets her characters
emotionally, and she works every aspect of her story through that emotional
filter. Or anyway, that’s how it feels. Maybe I’m projecting, but if so, it’s a
testament to her skill that she makes it look so easy. Stylistically, I want to
wring her writing for all its worth and make it my own.
Deb
is hilarious in person, though, because she’ll make these little comments that
are at once offhanded and absolutely brilliant. Twice she’s upended the way I
write. One being, as you mentioned above, when she told me Seed needed small moments of grace. Again, completely offhanded for
her. We were standing in the kitchen at the first Starry Heaven workshop, and
she was pouring coffee or something, barely even aware she’d said it, I think. But
for me it was a light bulb moment, like she was Jehovah hurling lightning bolts
down from the mountaintop. And she’s just standing there, pouring her coffee...
The
phrase “small moments of grace” really cracked things open for me. It’s more
than simply working through a checklist of things that make characters
sympathetic. It’s about providing the reader a channel for real emotional
connection to the characters. For me, that means connecting to those characters
as I write, which is very much an intuitive process. I like fringe characters,
characters who are tough, even sometimes cruel. But I like the idea that
everyone, no matter how unsavory, has the tiniest pinch of grace, enough for a
moment of compassion, even when it runs against their most obvious self-interest.
Deb’s comment articulated for me a desire I barely knew I had about how I
wanted to write, and in a way gave me permission to act on it.
Personally,
it matters far more to me that characters be emotionally accessible than it
does for a story to skillfully hit all the correct beats. The right emotional
ballast can make even a flawed story work. You mentioned The Lord of the Rings above, Brad, and it’s actually a very good
example of what I’m talking about. Structurally, it’s a clumsy story, with any
number of awkward plot swerves and dei ex
machina. (To the point that, in more than one writers’ group, I’ve heard
people use Tolkienian shorthand during critique; e.g. telling someone “That’s a
total Tom Bombadil” means a section is irredeemably boring and superfluous.) But
goddamn if I don’t love Frodo’s
quiet forbearance. And goddamn if I don’t love Sam for the way he cares for Frodo.
Moments of grace fill that story—from Gandalf’s
quiet ruminations on Frodo’s
surprising strength, to the obvious joy whenever key characters reunite. It gives
the story heft, even though its structure is wobbly. So that when, for instance,
they lose Gandalf, it’s utterly
devastating. And when, at the end of the first book, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli decide to go after Merry and Pippin, we don’t bat an eye, even though their decision makes no
obvious strategic sense in terms of the war they face. Of course they decide to
rescue Merry and Pippin, because they’re loyal friends. As the High Elves always say, that fucking
rocks.
But
back to your process, Brad. It’s surprising to me that you describe yourself as
a “pantser” more than a “plotter.” The Winds
trilogy is so complex that I always figured it involved you freebasing
speed in a little woodshed where you’d be feverishly scribbling notes on the
walls and connecting all the pieces with thumbtacks and string. In your
underwear. It hurts me a little to hear you say you discover this shit as you
go. I know you’re very structured in your approach to churning out words (and
you churn out a lot of words). But help
me here. Tell me you wander down blind alleys, and have to backtrack. Tell me
you do major, structural rewrites. Because if it turns out you manage to get it
all basically right on a first draft, I’m straight up going to have to kill
you.
Brad: I’m, uh, going to
choose my words carefully here... (If you’ve seen Rob and know he studies Muay
Thai, you’d understand why.)
I
don’t actually know that I’d call myself more of a pantser than a plotter. I’m
probably somewhere right in the middle. I plot high points, including the
ending of the novel early on. I plot the beginning and a few chapters out. And
then I start writing. What happens then is kind of interesting. I keep writing
until I feel like things are going off the rails, until I feel like if I go any
further I’m at serious risk of taking the book in the wrong direction. When
this happens, I stop for a day or two. I think about where I’m headed and the
interesting paths I could take to get from where I am to the nearest high point.
Eventually one path or another will seem more interesting than the rest, and
I’ll map out the dramatic steps I need to take to get there.
It’s
like an inchworm. Write, plot, write, plot, constantly creeping forward, bit by
bit. Sometimes I adjust the major points I envisioned in the beginning to suit
the story, sometimes I adjust the characters and their goals to suit the plot,
so that hopefully by the end what I have is real characters traveling through a
real world doing interesting things.
That
doesn’t mean I don’t take a wrong turn now and again and am forced to back up.
I do. But I’ve gotten pretty good at performing these mind experiments, taking
the possible dramatic paths to their natural conclusions. I can envision what a
particular choice will mean to the characters and to the plot much more easily
than I could years ago, and it allows me to weed out mistakes without having to
spend thousands (maybe tens of thousands) of words on them.
As
a small aside, my focus on this stems from a book I wrote where I made major,
major mistakes. I made them early and I made them often. And the result was an
utter mess of a book. I tried to repair it in subsequent drafts, but it never
quite worked, and I had to trunk the novel.
I
didn’t want that to happen again, but I didn’t quite know how to fix it until I
went to Orson Scott Card’s Literary
Bootcamp in 2005. He teaches this technique of asking questions of your characters
and your plot and your world. The questions are the basic five: Who, What,
Where, When, and Why. And also How. Why does Nikandr want to learn more about the wasting disease? What is the
nature of the rifts? How do the Matri
communicate telepathically? Why is Nasim
unable to relate to the world around him?
These
are the tools I use over and over, both in the beginning, where I’m asking
major questions about the overall plot, and when I get to those stopping
points, and they allow me to proceed along a path that’s much more likely to
work than if I had just bulled forth and continued to write.
One
of the things I wanted to discuss before we say our goodbyes is worldbuilding
and the worlds we’ve shown in our two novels. We both have environmental impact
in our stories. We both have the concept of permanent change. It’s interesting
to note that my world is essentially on the upswing of these changes, whereas
yours is on the opposite side. Environmental change in Seed has already happened and there’s really no going back. What
was it about that side of the curve that interested you? It’s a fatalistic sort
of view. Do you think that’s a more interesting way to look at the question of
environmental change than, say, when the changes themselves and their eventual
impact are still in question?
Rob: Brad, it’s fun to
hear that you have a mutant novel you’ve never let out of the attic. The secret
novel, the one of which we’re ashamed. I think this must be a positive
indication that someone has the right qualities for a novelist’s career,
because not only does it mean they’re pathological enough to write a book in
the first place, but they also have the good judgment to be able to acknowledge
when it doesn’t turn out well—that yes, this one should be kept in the trunk. Just
because you wrote it doesn’t mean it should be seen. Kudos to you. (Then again,
you might be able to parlay that book into some serious Ebay cash one of these
days.)
You
describe an infuriatingly reasonable process. I find myself relating to every
word, up until you say you allow yourself to pause for a day or two when you
feel the story going off the rails. I should take a lesson from you there. My
mindset, when I’m plowing through a first draft, is that progress equals words
on the page. Which means a word count, daily, no matter what, even when I sense
things going off kilter. For me, backtracking and lots of rewriting are
frustratingly inevitable. So...I’m going to give your method a try. Next time I
feel the story going wonky, I’m going to pause and ask myself: What Would Bradley
Beaulieu Do?
We’ll
see what happens.
As
for environmental change, I came to the world in Seed from two angles. One was from the standpoint of my characters.
I liked the crew of Brood, Hondo and Pollo, and very badly wanted to write their story—a story which
could only take place in a badland, because they’re outlaws.
Of
course, I also wanted to comment on big problems we face today. Problems like
climate change, which, if we fail to address it now, will determine what our
future looks like. We’ve talked before, Brad, of how genre allows an author to
take a piece of our real world and recontextualize it, distend it until we can
see it in a new way—testing ideas to the point of destruction, to use Elizabeth Bear’s wonderful phrase. I
wanted to break open our modern and tacit assumption wherein tomorrow’s
children get to pay today’s butcher bill; our assumption that we can continue
to live and pollute the way we do without there being any consequence, along
with an underlying value set that prioritizes profit over the sustainability of
our economy, of our society, perhaps even over our sustainability as species. In
Seed, we get to see a world where
that logic has run its course—yes, to the point of destruction. You describe Seed as fatalistic, but I’d call it
merely cautionary. (Though as we veer closer to the precipice of irreversible
climate shift, and as half the population of the US continues to disbelieve
climate change is anthropomorphic, or is even happening at all, one word I
wouldn’t use to describe my outlook is “optimistic.”)
Speaking
of genre, in the Winds trilogy,
you’ve created a world where environmental consequence and magic are closely
tied. We’ve spoken before of how genre fiction inevitably embodies the
sentiments of its day, whether or not an author does this intentionally. In Winds, however, I get the feeling that
parallels to the real world are very intentional. Since I have you cornered,
tell me: to what extent is the Winds
trilogy allegory? What ideas are you testing to point of destruction?
On
an unrelated note, I’ve been procrastinating my writing today. I’ve just asked
myself, WWBBD? The answer? Write a hundred and fifty thousand words, then eat
lunch. I’d better get busy. It’s been fun.
Brad: That’s a tall word
count. Feel free to stop at 100k. You know, if you get queasy looking at the
hill you’re about to climb.
I
too like Bear’s notion of testing
an idea to the point of destruction. I’ll admit I haven’t fully grokked it yet.
I’m not convinced it works for all or even most science fiction. If you look at
something like first-contact stories. Science fiction, yes? But I don’t know
that any idea is being tested to destruction. It’s more about the effects such
an event has on a group or a society or even an entire world. Or take survival-after-the-crash
stories. I think those tend to be more man-vs-nature stories than anything
else. Still, it’s a useful and interesting notion, and I think a very cool way
to create a certain kind of story, particularly those that examine cultural or
social change through a slightly dystopic lens.
But
back to your question. Is The Lays of
Anuskaya a parable? Answering as straightly as the question was asked: no,
it isn’t. Or at least, I didn’t intend it to be. It certainly speaks of today’s
issues. There are distinct parallels. But I didn’t so much want to teach a
lesson as I wanted to examine how environment can affect culture in a world
other than our own. I also wanted to grant my characters a bit of agency.
Unlike Seed, the world of Winds is one in which the collective fate
of the world is not yet known. There’s still time. After all, in Winds, the alternative is not a harder
lifestyle, but assured destruction.
A
different aspect of Lays I’ve talked
about lately that is closer to
allegory is the notion that we’d better learn to get along if we have any hope
of survival. This is related to the
environmental issues in my story, but in a way I’m using that environment peril
as a Petri dish in which to examine the political, cultural, and religious
morass the peoples of Lays have
gotten themselves into over the course of time. I was intensely curious how
people violently opposed to one another might bridge their differences, and in
fact, this was one of the most interesting things for me to write. I spent
pages, chapters, trying to set these conflicts up, and it was terribly
gratifying when I finally got to play them out to their natural conclusions.
Well,
I think that about wraps things up. Thanks for the chat, Rob!
Heads-down,
now. We have these books to finish…
ABOUT BRADLEY P.
BEAULIEU:
Official Bradley P. Beaulieu Website
Order “The Winds of Khalakovo” HERE
Order “The Winds of Khalakovo” HERE
Read
FBC’s
Review of “The Winds of Khalakovo”
Watch the Book Trailer HERE
Watch the Book Trailer HERE
ABOUT ROB ZIEGLER:
Rob Ziegler began writing
science fiction in 2008. In November of that same year, his short story
“Heirlooms” won the regional short fiction contest, A Dozen on Denver, which served as the point of departure for his
debut novel, Seed.
He is currently working on his second novel, Angel
City. For more information, please visit the following links:
Order
“Seed” HERE
Read
the First Three Chapters HERE
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Walter Jon Williams Releasing his Backlist as eBooks and a Follow Up on the "Dropped Series" Post of 2010 (by Liviu Suciu)
In 2010 I posted some thoughts on "dropped series" talking about four series that have been pretty big favorites at least at the time and which have remained unfinished so far. In the meantime, one those series, Sea Beggars by Paul Kearney has been completed and the last volume plus a reissue of the first two will be published later in 2012 by Solaris, while there was some action in the Continuing Time series of D.K. Moran with the publication of The AI War, Book One : The Big Boost as an eBook. The third one consists of Metaplanetary and Superluminal by Tony Daniel and here I have no news except that Mr. Daniel has recently published Guardian of Night with Baen.
Recently there has been some movement on the last series from the four - in this case the author Walter Jon Williams has reissued the first volume, Metropolitan, as an eBook on Amazon and Smashwords. I strongly recommend checking out the Smashwords version as there is a sizable 20% sample, the book is multiple format drm-free and on general principles it is good to support independent stores when that makes financial sense. I always buy from Smashwords when the respective eBook is available there and I never had any issue with them.
In addition Mr. Williams provided a very entertaining series of posts about the genesis and travails of the series which is one of the most superb blends of sf and fantasy I've ever read and it is still timely and entertaining as I've reread both books a few times across the years.
Here are some quotes from his website:
"Having written my lovely high fantasy, I sat back to await the world’s reaction.
What I had not anticipated was that readers would refuse to recognize it as a fantasy at all."
"I sold Metropolitan to a new publisher for a pleasing increase in my advance. I was somewhat traumatized by leaving Tor, but not when Ralph relayed their final message: “When Walter finally realizes what he’s worth, he’s welcome to come back.”
To which anyone of spirit can only reply, ***** ***"
Go, read and enjoy the posts which talk about quite a lot of things: how the books got imagined, how they were received and how the publishing world worked at the time, the last being such a mess that I cannot understand how people bemoan Amazon and their dragging the unwilling publishers into the modern era as a bad thing; ideally, yeah maybe but respective to what has been going on for decades and how quite a few authors have been treated (badly to put it mildly), you gotta be kidding to take the big publishers as opposed to Amazon.
Anyway let's hope City on Fire follows as an eBook soon and maybe, just maybe, the reception will be good enough that the author will decide to go ahead and write more about Aiah, Constantine and their superb world and publish it independently. I would leap at the chance and buy such on the spot...
I want to mention that WJW has also released a few other novels from his back-list including the wonderful Aristoi which was the novel that brought him to my attention. New Space Opera with some cyberpunk overtones, Aristoi should still be fun but while I remember its general outline, it left less of a trace in my memory than the superb Metropolitan/City on Fire sequence.
From more recent work of the author, I have reviewed the wonderfully crazy Implied Spaces which you can get from Amazon or as a drm-free ebook from Baen (with 7 free sample chapters too!) as part of their epublishing Night Shade's output, while Robert has reviewed This is Not a Game and Deep State which sadly have subjects that are of no interest to me.
Ever since Stella Gemmell partook into the world of Troy as imagined by David Gemmell, readers got to read a conclusion worthy of the saga begun by David. The best part about the third book was that even though it was started by David and finished by Stella, one could hardly ascertain one part from the other. It seemed like a seamless piece and one that delivered a powerful conclusion to Homer’s story.
It’s been nearly five years since Stella was published and so I was very excited to see her name come up with the announcement of a new title. This was announced first over at the Bookseller:
Transworld editorial director Simon Taylor bought UK and Commonwealth rights to The City, described as "a fantasy on an epic scale", plus a sequel, from Howard Morhaim of the Howard Morhaim Literary Agency. The City will be published in spring 2013. Taylor said that Morhaim had always answered subsequent queries as to whether Stella Gemmell might be tempted to write another work with a diplomatic "Who knows?" but that when he revealed a novel had been written, and Taylor read the manuscript, "the hairs on the back of my neck started to prickle."
Taylor continued: "Stella has written a breathtaking epic fantasy that is not only going to get David’s fans reaching for their superlatives but also win her a legion of new readers in her own right. The City – with its epic vision, remarkable, evocative world-building, narrative arc, fabulous writing, dramatic storytelling (and heart-in-mouth battle scenes!) and, importantly, characters who live on the page and in whose lives the reader cannot help but become wholly involved – totally knocked my socks off."
Larry Finlay Managing Director Transworld, added that it was "so exciting to be publishing the Gemmell name once more."
After this wonderful piece of news, I believe all over the world DG fans will be salivating to read Stella’s debut so to see how much of an effect David has had on her and how different a writer she will be. Count me in among those who cannot wait to know more about the book…
To know more about Stella, the tragedy that was David’s passing and her sojourn in completing TROY: Fall Of Kings, go here to read this wonderful Interview.
Note: Picture courtesy of Alison Bone and the Bookseller
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