Wandering Around the Words

Now at a New Location

2012-02-06T20:18:00.001-05:00

Find continuing posts by me at www.cynthiaravinski.com

Blog Transition

2012-02-05T20:36:00.003-05:00

This will be my last post on blogger.

I have now moved all this blog's archive to Wordpress. It was a cinch thanks to all the posts I read on how other people did it. I haven't found any blatant errors or problems with the import either. Victory!

Please join me tomorrow at www.cynthiaravinski.com/blog for the launch party for Darlene Jones' novel EMBATTLED. I've interviewed the author and will share her comments on self publishing. Come see what she has to say!

New Blog

2012-02-03T18:42:00.003-05:00

I'm exited to say that I'll be moving my blog next week to a new location, and to a new host.

You can find my blog as of February 6th at cynthiaravinski.com where I will continue to talk about Vikings and my adventures in wandering around the words.

There will be a bit of a transition period starting tonight. Wish me luck as I move to Wordpress!

One Viking in Ardnamurchan

2012-01-31T00:00:00.009-05:00

Viking Discovery of the MONTH
10/18/2011 Port an Eilean Mhòir, Ardnamurchan, Scotland

Unearthed:
A full boat burrial. Perhaps the most complete ever found in the UK.

Contents:
1 Viking Boat's worth of rivets
1 Viking, whole
1 Sword with decorated hilt
1 Axe head
1 Boss from a Shield
1 Spear
1 Irish Bronze ring pin
1 Norse Whetstone
Viking Pottery
Remnants from what could be a drinking horn
Several bits of as-yet unidentified iron

Image Jon Haylett

Image: University of Manchester

Historical Importance:
This particular discovery is amazing: An untouched boat burial. But it doesn't stop there. The contents of the grave were preserved very well, which allows archeologists to learn a great deal from the excavated materials. What few other boat burials archeologists have found in the past were subject to sub-par, older excavation methodologies and much potential information was forever lost. This will be different.

Already, archaeologists can tell by the artifacts found with the Viking that this individual was high ranking and well respected in his community.

And the significance of this find reaches beyond this one man. Dr Oliver Harris, project co-director from the University of Leicester’s School of Archaeology and Ancient History said: “This [excavation/research] project examines social change on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula from the first farmers 6000 years ago to the Highland Clearances of the eighteenth and nineteenth century.

The international nature of the artefacts already identified at the Ardnamurchan boat grave also suggests further evidence for strong links between the Vikings that occupied Ireland, Scotland and north west England at that time.

And they will only learn more!

Viking Comings and Goings

2012-01-26T00:00:00.006-05:00

Historical Revelation of the Week:
May 2011 Rhode Island, USA -- Brown University

Discovery:

This "finding comes from the first reconstruction of 5,600 years of climate history from two lakes in Kangerlussuaq, near the Norse “Western Settlement.” Unlike ice cores taken from the Greenland ice sheet hundreds of miles inland, the new lake core measurements reflect air temperatures where the Vikings lived..."

Image: William D'Andrea/Brown University

Revelation:

"An extended cold snap, called the Little Ice Age, gripped Greenland beginning in the 1400s. This has been cited as a major cause of the Norse’s disappearance. Now researchers led by Brown University show the climate turned colder in an earlier span of several decades, setting in motion the end of the Greenland Norse."

"Beginning around 1100, the climate [in Greenland] began an 80-year period in which temperatures dropped 4 degrees Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit), Brown scientists concluded from lake readings. While that may not be considered precipitous, especially in the summer, the change could have ushered in a number of hazards, including shorter crop-growing seasons, less available food for livestock and more sea ice that may have blocked trade."

Historical Importance:
The less friendly the climate, the more mobile its people. It's something I've noticed in my wanderings through history. Look at the denizens of the African deserts, and let's say the Eskimos. Before modern technology found them, they wandered around and spent a few generations, or maybe only a season where they could eke out a living.

In the more stable parts of the globe, small climate changes still made a big difference. One generation, a land was welcoming and comfortable, but in the next? "Just what was pops thinking when he decided to live in this godforsaken place?"

No one is quite sure what exactly drove the Vikings to Greenland, as the Viking Age began as Europe came out of a "little ice age," but this study seems to have discovered what drove them out. Weather, the great herder of life.

In the late 10th century, the Norse Viking'ed over to Greenland. At that time the weather was fair and accommodating settlers. However, the honeymoon ended soon enough, driving the Norse yet again to search out new homes. But by the 15th century there were plenty of other opportunities, and they knew of better ways to find a place to live. Maybe they did learn from history...

The next post will be the last post of 2011 Viking Discoveries. I've saved the best for last!

Magic of the Viking Sunstones Unlocked?

2012-01-24T00:00:00.009-05:00

Historical Viking Revelation of the Week
November 2011 University of Rennes, France

Discovery:
Norse legends (let's face it, there aren't many stories out of Scandinavia that aren't legends-but that's another post) tell of mariners holding up stones to the sky, sólarsteinn, to discern the direction of the sun on a cloudy day. How could this be? How could a stone tell them where the sun was when people couldn't see the sun--and this in the Dark Ages? It must have been sorcery! And, that may have been what they thought... But, think they may have solved the mystery with a clear calcite stone native to Iceland called Iceland spar. I've seen these referenced online as sunstone, however the gem sunstone is a feldspar (like moonstone or labradorite), and is not calcite.

"Iceland spar behaves theoretically and experimentally like a perfect depolarizer.” In other words, with the crystal held up to the sky, there is one specific angle of rotation, called the isotropy point, at which the crystal eliminates all polarization of the light passing through it...if you look through the crystal in its depolarizing position and then pull it away suddenly from your line of sight, you can catch a glimpse of a faint, elongate yellowish pattern known as a Haidinger’s Brush. The key here is that the ends of that yellow shape point directly toward the sun."

Haidinger's Brush, image-Daniel P. B. Smith

Here is the science of how it works:

"They would have relied upon the sun's piercing rays reflected through a piece of the calcite. The trick is that light coming from 90 degrees opposite the sun will be polarised so even when the sun is below the horizon it is possible to tell where it is."

"They used the double refraction of calcite to pinpoint the sun by rotating the crystals until both sides of the double image are of equal intensity."

Historical Importance:
With the magnetic compass not reaching Europe until the 13th Century, and the astrolabe not until the 15th Century what was a Viking who wanted to explore far and wide to do on a cloudy day, or when land was no longer visible?

Well, many researchers are saying that if the Vikings had this kind of "technology" available, it lends plausibility to the Vikings sailing across the Atlantic to North America, well before Columbus did.

Yes, archaeologists have found distinctly Viking artifacts in Canada and the US, but this new discovery helps us piece together the puzzle left by these people who did not record their history.

Further, it appears they shared their secret with someone else because a sunstone had been found "in the wreck of a ship the Spanish Armada sunk [at Alderney] in 1592. Magnetic compasses had been common in Europe for some 300 years by then, but Ropars and La Floch have reason to think an optical compass...might still have been useful in these later times. 'We have verified that even only one of the cannons excavated from the ship is able to perturb a magnetic compass orientation by 90 degrees'," which would render it useless for navigation.

A Viking Conference

2012-01-19T00:00:00.004-05:00

Modern Viking Event of the Week
Dundalk, Ireland October 21, 2011

Event:
"Raiders, Traders and Innovators: The Vikings and County Louth" Exhibition and Viking Conference

Historical Importance:
These folks are taking their roots seriously. To kick off the museum exhibition, the city is hosting a landmark Viking Conference. Unlike the annual Annagassan Viking Festival, which I'm taking to be similar to the Rennaissance festivals I've been to, this was an academic affair coinciding with the confirmation of the "Vikingness" of their discovered settlement. They are focusing on what this discovery means in a global context; how Ireland fit into the westward expansion/exploration of the Scandinavians. "Amongst those scheduled to contribute include Dr. Donnchadh Ó Corráin (UCC); Dr. Eamonn Kelly; Dr. Howard Clark, Dr. Cathy Swift (University of Limerick), Dr. John Sheehan (UCC), Dr. Mark Clinton, Dr. Gareth Williams (British Museum) and Linzi Simpson."

The Viking exhibition runs until mid-February 2012. If I were in Ireland, I'd make a point to see this.

The significance of this conference is obvious. These locals have pride in their past. Pride in being a part of Viking history. Not too long ago, the word Viking brought to mind ruthless invaders. However, all we've learned about them in the last few years have brought them into a different light. Despite the violence they brought with them, they brought other important things with them too.

We'll take a look at some of these things in coming posts.

Here there be Vikings, Not Just Legends

2012-01-17T00:00:00.005-05:00

Historical Revelation
October 2011 Annagassan, Ireland

Unearthed September 17, 2010
Viking Fortified Settlement dated at 841 AD

Image: Luke Torris

Historical Importance:
Five years of hard work by archeologists and geophysicists, and a year's time to study (and secure funding), has proven a legend lay under a barley field in Northern Ireland. Linn Duchaill was a Viking settlement, a base where they repaired ships and hunkered down between raids, almost the oldest in Ireland and has been lost to history until now. Ned Kelly, keeper of Irish Antiquities at a local museum says,

"There's been a bit of a mystery about where exactly the site was located or what exactly the site consisted of, and antiquarians and historians and archaeologists have been trying to sort that mystery since about 1750."

Things like this always make me wonder how exactly landmarks and cities are completely forgotten. All the people just left, and no one saw it again until, thousands of years later someone digs up something "old" and history is made, again.

According to Irish history, no longer legend, from Linn Duchaill the Vikings plundered the christian monastaries in County Louth, traveled 60 miles north to Armagh, and 100 miles west into Longford on multiple raids during their occupation of Linn Duchaill.

This is a fortunate find as few Viking bases have been excavated, and this will only tell us more about its inhabitants in time to come.

History, as Written by the Victors

2012-01-12T00:00:00.009-05:00

Historical Revelation of the Week:
August 2011 Oxford, England

Unearthed January 2008:
Grave Site

Contents:
35 male skeletons, aged 16 to 25

Historical Importance:
So, who were all these corpses?

"The bodies buried at Oxford were those of vigorous males of fighting age, most between 16 and 35 years old. Most were unusually large; an examination of the muscle-attachment areas of their bones revealed extremely robust physiques. Some victims had suffered serious burns to their heads, backs, pelvic regions and arms."

That just might be a good way to tell if you may have found a Viking burial site. However, that wasn't a good day to be a Viking.

While most stories may paint the most brutal picutures of these northern warriers, don’t be fooled. Remember, when Einstein said everything is relative, he meant it. What the English, or Anglo Saxons did to the Vikings in their own turn was equally atrocious. History is written by the winners and England is not called Vikingland. Keep reading to find out how this one discovery shows how true this is.

"It was obvious at the time of excavation that many of the skulls had been fractured or crushed, but after piecing these skulls back together, she found that many of them were covered in blade and puncture wounds mostly to the back of the head."

I particularly love it when we find physical evidence of old legends and lift them off the page, even if they be gruesome...

"It is possible that the Oxford skeletons were victims of an event called the St Brice's Day Massacre, recorded in a number of historical sources.

In AD 1002, the Saxon king Ethelred the Unready recorded in a charter that he ordered 'a most just extermination' of all the Danes in England.

He made the decision after he was told of a Danish plot to assassinate him."

And this too, is very interesting for a number of reasons. Read on and I will tell you why.

"The charter also recorded how on that day, the Danes in Oxford fled to St Fridewides church expecting to find refuge, but instead were pursued by the townspeople, who then set the church on fire."

Vikings seeking refuge in a church? They get burned out by the English locals? On how many occasions were Vikings and other Scandinavian peoples accused of doing the same thing? Many! In fact, I think that was the favorite accusation of the Vikings from their victims. Funny how the people who accused Norse the most of sacrilegious acts burn a church at the first word of their king.

And that's all England had in Vikings for 2011. Next week we are on to Ireland.

A Link in the Viking Chain

2012-01-10T00:00:00.006-05:00

Viking Discovery of the Week:
July 1, 2011 Furness England

Unearthed: Treasure Horde
All those folks with metal detectors might be onto something...Another metal detecorist landed on Cumbria's largest to-date (always hope for more) treasure hoard, ruled as such by the local coroner and valued at over tens of thousands of pounds.

Contents:
90 silver coins and artifacts
2 Arabic Dirham coins
Several ingots
1 nearly complete bracelet

Historical Importance:
A wallet without ID makes it hard to place the person who dropped it. But this is different, this person thought they would be coming back for it, and didn't think to leave a note. Even without any identifying contents, this hoard still gives some clues about north-western England at this time. For instance, Viking expert at the British Museum, Dr. Gareth Williams sums it up nicely: "By the mid-950s, most of England had become integrated into a single kingdom, with a regulated coinage, but this part of the north-west was not integrated into the English kingdom until much later, and the hoard reflects that." And this discovery proves the Vikings were there to stir things up.

I wonder what else this discovery will tell us down the road...

A Viking Mystery

2012-01-05T00:00:00.012-05:00

Historical Viking Revelation of the Week
July 2011 Dorset, England

Unearthed 2009 Weymouth:
54 skeletons
51 skulls
all male and in their late teens to about 25
1 individual with intentional dental modification

Image: Oxford Archaeology

Historical Importance:
This 10th or 11th century find in Weymouth has indicated that Vikings participated in tooth filing like other Scandinavian cultures. "Teeth with neat parallel grooves have been found in Viking graves in Sweden, Denmark and England, and farther afield"

The purpose behind such an uncomfortable practice is still being sorted out by
experts. However, some pose that it was to frighten, or intimidate opponents.

Image: Oxford Archaeology

I like this idea in an amusing sort of way:
To show their furrows, the individuals would have had to smile quite broadly and to be visible from any distance they would need to be ‘coloured’. However, this would have disappeared when they ate and drank, so they would have had to reapply regularly. Their "dental bling" would have needed to be applied after meals, like lipstick, and really, how intimidating is the look of rotten teeth?

Image: Hans Splinter, Flickr.

The Truth About Vikings

2012-01-03T00:00:00.008-05:00

Viking Discovery of the Week:
October 27, 2011 Lancashire England

Unearthed: Treasure Horde
What treasure hunter hasn’t dreamed of stumbling across the find of a lifetime? Maybe a source of not only his, but local pride? What Darren Webster found in Lancashire was not only those things, but also was once the very dear belongings of a Viking leader from around 900 AD.

Contents:
200 pieces of jewelry
Engraved Bracelets
Rings
27 coins
Hack silver
Ingots

Historical Importance:
"Big hoards such as this paint a new picture of what Vikings were doing in England," says anthropologist Stephen Oppenheimer from Oxford University, "Burying large amounts like this indicates they were settling here."

One coin, of a type never seen before, could prove that Vikings were not all just heathen, bloodthirsty invaders raping and pillaging their way across the countryside. They were, in fact, looking for a place more hospitable to settle than the frozen wastes of the North.

On one side, this coin may carry the name of Viking ruler in Northern England, one that no one has heard of before. The name Airdeconut may be a representation of the Scandinavian name Harthacnut.

On the other, it features the words DNS, abbreviation of "Dominus" and REX arranged to form a cross. This is a reminder that many Norse converted to Christianity when in England.

2011 Reading List

2011-12-31T23:59:00.005-05:00

Wizardry and Wild Romance: A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Red Seas Under Red Skies - Scott Lynch
Storm Glass - Maria V. Snyder
Sea Glass - Maria V. Snyder
Spy Glass - Maria V. Snyder
The Hour of the Dragon - Robert E. Howard
The Blade Itself - Joe Abercrombie
*The Iron Dragon's Daughter - Michael Swanwick
The Brotherhood of the Wolf - David Farland
The Lair of Bones - David Farland
Soulless - Gail Carriger
Changeless - Gail Carriger

*All Time Favorite Authors

January is Viking Month

2011-12-31T23:59:00.001-05:00

2011 was a good year for the Vikings. In pop-culture itself, they found themselves featured in the video game Skyrim and the movie Thor. I’ve also noticed an influx of Viking books and music over the last few years. Perhaps that is why I am writing this now. Historically, three discoveries were unearthed and four revelations came to light from studying former discoveries, these and their importance are what I’ll be focusing on during my month long blog dedication.

With each new discovery and revelation, we understand the Vikings a little better. In 2011 alone, we’ve learned much more about their presence in the lands they so ruthlessly, or maybe desperately invaded.

Hopefully by the end of January as we learn what the dirt reveals to us about the oft misunderstood Norse-Cultural-offshoot that are the Vikings, you’ll also have learned something new about these magnificent warriors.

What is to Come

2011-12-28T21:35:00.002-05:00

Did you all know that January is Viking month?

Stay tuned...

Back Again updates and news

2011-12-03T23:01:00.002-05:00

Been really busy with a new job lately.

But I'm proud to say I've finished the 10th book of the year. That is the number of books I read last year. So, this year will be better!

Also note that I'm starting a couple new hashtag series on twitter. #

In #notmyline I'll share the worst lines I’ve found in published fiction. Some never consider how their words sound out of context, and I'll show them!

In #wishIwrotethat I'll share the best lines from published fiction that I've found. It is likely that these will come from authors I worship.

Scribings is now available!

Some thoughts on Revision

2011-10-31T21:40:00.002-04:00

I'm revising. It's something I do a lot, and I like it. But with every revision, that's more time not spent either being read by editors or fandom. And more time spent further diluting the original "genius" that brought the story to life. (I guess the answer to that problem is to write more stories that I can revise.)

I'm working on this story I pulled out of the dust because I found a good publishing opportunity for it. I'd workshopped it a couple of times over a year ago, but unsatisfied with it, decided to park it for a while. When I pulled it out, I examined it thoroughly with fresh eyes and "fixed" it and workshopped it again. Now I'm making yet another pass.

While I feel like I am finally drawing the story together and polishing up to a high-shine, I am so sick of looking at it. They say that means you've read it enough. But I have my suspicions about that.

For one, I find that it just draws out the process--I'm board with it. Is it because I'm not looking at the story, which I like, as much, but making sure all the underlying technical bits are there? Going through check lists is not very exciting business (ok, I'll admit I do love crossing things off to-do lists), it's not what I love about creating stories and I wish I didn't have to do it.

What I do like about the revision process is that it is where most of my background world building takes place. It makes me ask why is it like that? And I need to explain it. I guess that's the pantser in me, because I will never know these things before I write a story. So instead of sticking to the technical stuff, I get lost in the story again. And that dilutes the original story further. Sometimes this is good, and sometimes, I just want to write yet another novel, which does not help me get the story into print.

Scribings is now available!

Things Authors Can do...

2011-10-05T19:52:00.002-04:00

I have an author page on Amazon now.

And on GoodReads!

Sweet!

Scribings is now available at numerous ebook outlets.

Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself

2011-09-19T00:00:00.001-04:00

I’m one of those people who likes to make lists to keep track of things I want to do, things I want to get, books I should read etc... (and sometimes I even just add things to lists so I can cross them off). So, I had this list of books that have really great action scenes, because my action scenes need a lot of work, and completely forgot about it, like I usually do. But I recently I found and reviewed it and a funny thing happened. Coincidence? Fate’s sarcastic ways? Who knows? The book I just finished reading, Joe Abercrombie’s THE BLADE ITSELF, was on there.

Here I was just about ready to write a mostly unsavory review for it, but then all of a sudden, I realized that yeah, I had some issues with the book, but the action scenes were not on that list. That’s what I can learn from Joe Abercrombie.

The book starts with an action scene, which are usually good hooks. I can see why Abercrombie would do this as it is one of his strengths and is known as an effective kick off. In the first lines of the book we have:

Logen plunged through the trees, bare feet slipping and sliding on the wet earth, the slush, the wet pine needles, breath rasping in his chest, blood thumping in his head. He stumbled and sprawled onto his side, nearly cut his chest open with his own axe, lay there panting, peering through the shadowy forest.

The Dogman had been with him until a moment before, he was sure, but there wasn’t any sign of him now. As for the others, there was no telling. Some leader, getting split up from his boys like that. He should’ve been trying to get back, but the Shanka were all around. He could feel them moving between the trees, his nose was full of the smell of them. Sounded as if there was some shouting somewhere on his left, fighting maybe. Logen crept slowly to his feet, trying to stay quiet. A twig snapped and he whipped round.

There was a spear coming at him. A cruel-looking spear, coming at him fast with a Shanka on the other end of it.

What a way to kick off a story. I got sucked right into this. What is going to happen to this dude?

Good action verbs: Plunged, slipped, stumbled
Imagery: wet pine needles
What’s going on in the body: blood thumping, air rasping
Risk/loss: stumbling almost kills himself,
Uncertainty: doesn’t know where his friends are, doesn’t know where his enemies are

Every step of the way is in very close POV. Things happen as a person would see them unfold.

I wonder if Abercrombie spent hours coming up with that one, had to revise it twenty times, or if it just fell out of his fingers into the keyboard.

Especially with Logen, all the action scenes painted him kind of a clumsy old washout who really wouldn’t survive without a lot of help or the similar ineptitude of his fellow men. This makes him feel more human by our standards, and helps us relate to him. But we also wonder how the hell he got his badass reputation. All the characters, too, when put in tight situations were very worried and not sure of what to do next. This is very human and relatable. No one knows the future or can be 100% sure of the result of their actions. Surprise is a frequent result of the action=reaction equation, at least for this girl.

So that was the beginning. Let’s quickly look at a fencing match in the middle.

“Begin!”

They closed quickly this time, and exchanged a cut or two.

Jezal could hardly believe how slowly his opponent was moving, it was as if his swords weighed a ton each. Broya fished around in the air with his long steel, trying to use his reach to pin Jezal down. He had barely used his short steel yet, let alone coordinated the two. Worse still, he was starting to look out of breath, and they’d barely been fencing two minutes.

Hmm ok, not too much action in this one at first glance…but it creates a sense of suspense, and we know that it is fencing, so that’s action right? I think that’s another of his tricks. He gets so down to the detail, using them to make readers see the concerns and holding off on the actual action, which is what makes the story move forward (ya know, people actually doing things). I also really like the description “fished around in the air with his long steel.” It’s a good action verb and imagery all in one.

And bear with me. One more action scene from the end. And this one really kicks ass! (spoiler haters be warned)

The talk was done. Stone-Splitter came at him with axe in one hand and mace in the other, great heavy weapons, though he used them quick enough. The mace swung across, smashed a great hole through the glass in one of the windows. The axe came down, split one timber of the table in half, made the plates jump in the air, the candlesticks topple. The Bloody-Nine twitched away, frog hopping, waiting for his time.

The mace missed his shoulder by an inch as he rolled across the table, cracked one of the big flat stones on the floor, split it down the middle, chips flying through the air. Stone-Splitter roared, swinging his weapons, smashing a chair in half, knocking a chunk of stone out of the fireplace, chopping a great gash in the wall. His axe stuck fast in the wood for a moment and the Bloody-Nine’s sword flashed over, broke the haft into splintered halves, leaving the Stone-Splitter with a broken stick in his paw. He flung it away and hefted the mace, came on even harder, swinging it round with furious bellows.

The biggest thing here? SHOWING. The strength of the enemy-risk. The effects of weapons on things other than people-risk and tension. Weapons breaking, building destruction-this is intense! “a broken stick in his paw,” the imagery again. Step by step unfolding of the mortal dance.

However, here, as it is the end of the book, it is less holding back and examining the details and more the full tilt ahead desperation of the time to win or die. It is just as rough and intense if not more so than at the beginning. Abercrombie’s energy does not flag. I think he wrote this entire book just so he could write this fight scene (I did not include all of it, and it does get better).

Aside from the action, I did learn a couple more things from this book. The way he handled his six main POVs (heh, you think this is an epic fantasy?) is rather interesting. All but one of them were usually in the same place at the same time. They were all overlapping witnesses to the same events, sometimes simultaneously, or from different times with different insights. It allows build up of tension and suspense as well as a sense of intrigue and gives the story a feel of space in a small setting. I like this, but haven’t seen it a lot in my reading and wish I could see it more than the usual display of all the different POV characters in a different part of the world as the story goes.

And then, there was always that POV thread out in the world letting us know what was on the horizon for the main clutch of characters.

This book is representative of a new voice who doesn’t follow all the rules, but at the same time you can tell this was his first work, or an early work, as it has an “unpolished” feel along with, or maybe because of, the newness. (But who am I to say anything about this?) It also works for the book’s noir, gritty feel.

I noticed a problem with hissing speakers. This word showed up numerous times as a speech tag, and not when any words ended in “s.”

There were a lot of exclamation points, but for some reason they didn’t bother me. Point for Abercrombie there.

The enemy-out-of-sight, the Shanka, are never really described very well, other than having the nickname “flatheads.” And as Abercrombie obviously has good imagery skills, I don’t know why he didn’t do this.

There was also a major reveal about a main character in the last twenty-or-so pages (totally done on purpose and I’m not sure I like it-maybe it just needed to be done more artfully) and the whole book was a set up for...the next one. Usually in epic fantasy, the first book in a trilogy resolves at least one semi-major plot arc. Nope, not here...“sorry, go buy the next book...” Good thing Borders is in its last weeks. Organization like this may be what makes me feel that this book is unpolished, or written by an inexperienced writer.

But in the end, the story is there and I cared about the characters, and of course, the action is full tilt all the way through.

Now how about you go and see if what I discovered above helps you improve your action scenes. I know it’s going to help mine.

Scribings is now available!

Submissions out (Sheesh... I don't even know what those are anymore!)
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Can you find me in Grit City today?

2011-08-21T12:00:00.001-04:00

Today, I'm blogging at The Gritty Blog, Grit City Serial's blog, about why I decided to publish an ebook.

Currently Reading The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

Scribings is now available!

Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Awesome Idea!

2011-08-09T10:30:00.001-04:00

Fellow SHUer Meg Mims has an e launch party today at Goddess Fish. What an awesome idea! Go check it out.

Currently Reading The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

Scribings is now available!

Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Editor Interview

2011-07-22T21:42:00.003-04:00

I interviewed William H. Horner, Editor in Chief at Fantastist Enterprises, on the GPS Blog last Wednesday. Go see what Will has to say.

Currently Reading The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

SCRIBINGS is now availible at Smashwords.com and in the iBookstore

The Hour of the Dragon by Robert E. Howard

2011-07-13T00:01:00.005-04:00

The Hour of the Dragon by Robert E. Howard

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book this old. And this book has been on my to-read list for a long time. A mentor in my MA program suggested I read some Robert E. Howard and so I got this book but I never quite got to it.

The Hour of the Dragon is Howard’s only novel-length story--the mass market paperback wasn’t even 300 pages. It was featured in installments in Weird Tales starting in 1935. Magic and betrayal, wizards, death and quests what’s not to love about this original sword and sorcery story?

While Howard had great stories to tell, I found myself cringing at the usage and style. Exclamation points everywhere, ill-placed Middle English, impossible names (yet not as impossible as his contemporary and friend H. P. Lovecraft). Every time I cringed, I had to remind myself how long ago this was written. Have tastes in prose changed so much? Or was that just the result of the cheaply produced pulps of the era?

Despite all that, delicious vocabulary crept among the purple prose on which 90’s Sword and Sorcery was built. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to look up a word while reading, and I think it’s a shame that I don’t have to do so more often. Maybe I’m just not reading the right stuff?

What about Conan himself? The character that people could not get enough of in his heyday? I can certainly see the draw to him. He was the strapping giant that no one could beat, he fought on the side of good and didn’t back down from confrontation. Despite being a little sexist by my own 21st century standards, he had respectable morals and philosophies. He also was intelligent. He had a mind for politics, even though he obviously hated them, and could strategize a battle--and Howard could write it well enough to draw out the suspense (this is probably the key to his success).

As I mentioned before, Howard created the original Conan character during the Great Depression. And now, the new movie for Conan the Barbarian is coming out, during this new depression we’re living through. Coincidence? What do you think?

Review cross posted at Greater Portland Scribists

Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Workshoping:
Beyond the Cemetery
The Tribe that Laughed

For Immedate Release!

2011-06-17T12:13:00.004-04:00

Portland Writing Group Indie-Publishes eBook Anthology

Portland, ME June 17, 2011 It’s all about the technology. Literature has finally entered the Indie Revolution thanks to ebooks, and the Greater Portland Scribists aren’t hesitating to join. GPS has produced Scribings to get their bearings on the technologies that are bringing ebooks to the world. As new authors, they are experimenting with this low-cost, high-yield mode of publication to reach out directly to their audience. Find Scribings on Smashwords.com, and many other ebookstores, beginning June 17th 2011. Look for cards with discount codes circulating the Portland area!

Scribings is a fabulous compilation of speculative tales by four Maine authors. The collection consists of eleven pieces of short fiction, including one piece of flash fiction from each author. These stories exhibit a range of styles and genres from fantasy to science fiction and beyond. Watch young gods learn their place, see what the afterlife is like, meet Dappil, taste the sweetness of revenge, feel the fires of judgment and more.

Over the last year GPS has been blogging about the development of ebook popularity and how epublishing is affecting the publishing industry. Also on their blog are reviews of writing software, book reviews and occasionally a free story.

Greater Portland Scribists is a group of speculative fiction writers from the greater Portland, Maine area. They coined the term “scribists” to pay homage to the scribes of yore, monks who spent hours bent over manuscript pages, writing for as long as they had light to do so. GPS members are Jamie Alan Belanger; Cynthia Ravinski, MA; Lee Patterson and Richard Veysey.

Contact Info:
Greater Portland Scribists
scribists@gmail.com
http://scribists.blogspot.com
facebook.com/GreaterPortlandScribists

Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Workshoping:
Beyond the Cemetery
The Tribe that Laughed

Maria V. Snyder's Glass Series

2011-05-11T12:52:00.004-04:00

I’ve just finished reading all of Maria V. Snyder’s Glass series. This includes, Storm Glass, Sea Glass and Spy Glass. Simply put, they are wonderful. I couldn’t put them down. That is part of the reason I’m reviewing the series and not each book. The other part of that reason is that each book picks right up where the previous left off, so it’s almost like one really long book.

In Storm Glass, we follow Opal, who we met toward the end of the Study books, through her last year at the Keep, that is at magic school. Except she’s an odd student with odd abilities and her education didn’t go smoothly, especially her last year. We hardly see her at school though. There is tons of action, tons of on-the-spot decision making, and characters that are easy to relate to. Opal is not the super hero that waltzes in and just saves everyone. She suffers, she sacrifices and she gets very upset by the things that happen to her. She also has to deal with the consequences of being a young person in an adult society.

The only unsatisfying thing for me about Storm Glass is the ending. (Mild Spoiler Alert) While the build up and action were great, it died for me after. Opal goes in, does her thing and just passes out. The others deal with the clean up, and I feel like I missed out on something, like she missed out on it. Sure it’s not important to her story, but by not seeing the payoff I almost feel like it didn’t happen.

Sea Glass sees Opal returning to school, only to have her story turned against her. Everything that happens to Opal always gets turned around on her. Her decisions are always questioned. But she is resolute to set things right. She gets closer to that in this book as she gets older and more experienced with the “joys” of the real world. Old enemies turn up, with more at stake and different agendas. Conflict twists around Opal and her abilities and reputation, constantly getting her into trouble. But she’s able to put smarts to use and depend on her trusted friends. This book did not let me down at all.

Spy Glass gives us a new Opal. She’s had so much happen to her in the first two books. This one shows how she recovers from the events up to now. She has a more hardened exterior, more smarts and knows a lot more about her enemies. But this still doesn’t make it easy for her. Her personal life is in a shambles and she’s working through the last few issues from all her previous exploits. But the way she tackles them now is the good result of all her previous trouble. I almost feel like a proud parent watching the ways she’s grown. (But I’m not a parent, and any parent in their right mind would never put their children through these things.)

Another thing I can laud about the book is introduction of “really cool stuff.” She shows us the processes of glassmaking as only someone who’s done it can, and not too many people have. She talks about diamonds and other gemstones (my other passion) with authority. This book is not the first time people have blackmarketed diamonds to fund a war. So bonus points for working in modern issues. Snyder has done her homework. And some things, like all the spy work, I really wonder how she describes it so well? Has she done some of that, or is that just the skill of her writing at hand?

This entry is cross posted at Greater Portland Scribists.

Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Workshoping:
Beyond the Cemetery
The Tribe that Laughed
The Making

From the Pulps to Pixles: an eBook Survey

2011-05-05T10:24:00.002-04:00

Win a $20 gift card to the ebookstore of your choice. Tell us about your ereading habits by taking our survey. Winners and results will be announced on June 17th at . First place wins a $20 gift card and a free copy of our ebook. We’ll also give away five more free copies.

Click here to take our survey.

Currently Reading: Many Genre's One Craft Arnzen & Miller This book is now availible!

Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Workshoping:
In the Business of Rotting
The Tribe that Laughed
The Making

Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch

2011-04-03T00:16:00.005-04:00

Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch

After I read the Lies of Locke Lamora, I knew I wanted to read its sequal… and I just got around to it now 2.5 years later. I’ll share that this is one of those books you don’t need to go back and read the first one so you know what is going on. Why the delay? Because I am a bad supporter of literature and don’t buy a lot of books. But I lent a friend Lies and then he went out and bought Red Seas and lent it to me in turn. Everything works out in the end.

But I’m blathering… I’m struggling to write a review of this book and I know why. I loved reading this book, and SPOILER it did not have a happy ending. It had a “reality sucks” ending. I hate that. To top it off, the third volume of the Gentlemen Bastards Sequence is still forthcoming-November 2011, just in time for my Birthday! So I can’t just go and find out what happens. Damned cliff hanger endings.

But anyway, Lynch did not disappoint in the middle volume of the Gentlemen Bastards. Jean and Locke ran amok and caused trouble, witty and clever as ever, though quite a bit darker in tone than before. I see it as their recovery from the ending of Lies. And in recovery, one must grieve and heal one’s ugly scars.

Through alternating between the present and the recent past, Lynch slowly exposes the Gentlemen in their preparation of their plans leading up to the present. But in his standard form, Lynch doesn’t reveal too much. He leaves out just enough, so we don’t suspect anything (unless we know better), but when the plan comes to fruition it came out of left field. Lynch is adept at this. I envy his tricksy plotting mind. This structure not only added to the suspense and impact of the end, but it also served to keep most of the story in the present, and not have to recap a long period of time--only the bits and pieces needed to lead us by the nose to the end.

Plotwise, Red Seas only has one tie to Lies, and that very tie didn’t get resolved here and will undoubtedly show up in the third volume. That being said, this feels like the kind of story that they will reference in the future, “Hey remember that time in Tal Verrar…” But to say that this 600 some odd page book was just filler content for a 7 volume series doesn’t seem right either, especially knowing Lynch’s plotting style.

As I said before, Jean and Locke were licking their wounds as they faced the tribulations brought to them this time around. We watched them try to distract themselves, and do a fine job of it, yet as they walked though this madness, I could only watch the desire for reprisal set more deeply in the brilliantly strategic mind of Locke. His gears are turning and the longer they turn the scarier the outcome will be down the road.

I admire Lynch’s work for more reasons than just his plotting. The voice, for one, is hilarious and gripping. No matter how dark the situation gets, the characters are sarcastic as ever. Beyond that, Lynch skillfully employs many craft techniques. He describes new places in ways that appeal to the senses via the characters. He uses the “swoop” when introducing something important to set it apart from the characters own experiences. His pacing is break-neck and he never slows it down, though sometimes I wish he would for some moments. Somehow, somehow he can make the plot and characters complex yet keep the story easy to read.

So I will be eagerly awaiting the release of book number three in the Gentlemen Bastards Sequence and the four following it as well.

Currently Reading
Storm Glass - Maria V. Snyder

Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Workshoping:
Beyond the Cemetery
The Tribe that Laughed
The Making

The Cold Knife of Rejection Cuts The Business of Rotting

2011-03-06T00:27:00.005-05:00

and it was just in the form of email... Ironically, as I was sitting in the GPS writing session today my phone lets out this horrendous beeeeeeep, which echoes around the corners of the back room of the Scarborough Public library. It interrupted my typing so I pick it up and check it. Lo and behold it's from The Pedestal Magazine. I eagerly check it, cringe then hand off the phone to Jamie so I don't have to speak aloud the dreadful message.

THEY SAID NO! UGH! ok, got that out of my system. They also said...well I'll just paste the damned thing:

Dear Cynthia:

Thank you for submitting your fiction to The Pedestal Magazine. We enjoyed reading it but after careful consideration have decided that we cannot use it at this time.

Please feel free to submit other work to us in the future.

Best,

The Editors

The Pedestal Magazine

They said they enjoyed reading it. And only one of the708 submissions made it. Did they even think of it as a finalist? according to their reading window, they had about two more weeks to get back to me. In my mind, the longer they hang onto it, the better my chances.

My other line of thought asks if this could be a form letter? I see the wording so much, and so few personal remarks that I'm beginning to think that is the norm now. Looking at what happened to Clarkesworld's submission process, I can't imagine other magazines won't start doing that soon too.

This is rejection #4 for this story. I'm shopping it to all the SFWA approved, pro-rate magazines... and I'm starting to run out of relevant venues for this one. I'm almost ready to stick this at the bottom of a drawer somewhere buuut...

If the editors did enjoy it, but couldn't publish it, I'm sure they had their reasons. But, I'd like to get paid for my products, especially if people enjoy it. That's the way this business is supposed to work, am I right?

This story is going to rot my brain...

Currently Reading
Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch

Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short:
Agent: 0

Workshoping:
Beyond the Cemetery
The Making
The Tribe Who Laughed

Plugging some friends

2011-02-16T21:35:00.004-05:00

WRITING WITH AUTHORITY Online Course for Pennwriters

INSTRUCTORS: Jason Jack Miller and Heidi Ruby Miller

DATE: April 1 – May 2, 2011

LIMITED CLASS SIZE. Enroll now.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
The easiest way to engage your reader is by using concrete nouns and action verbs. In this one-month online course, Seton Hill University creative writing faculty Jason Jack Miller and Heidi Ruby Miller will show you how to analyze your writing and use easy techniques that will increase the authority of your voice. Participants will:

* Discover how to spot passive voice

* Scrutinize their writing for generic nouns and indefinite pronouns

* Learn to avoid weak verbs and overuse of "be" in all its forms

* Practice using strong synonyms to find the best action verb

* Apply word cloud research to make their plot come alive

FREE BONUS: Course participants will receive a free excerpt (.pdf) from the new writing guide, MANY GENRES, ONE CRAFT: LESSONS IN WRITING POPULAR FICTION (Headline Books, Inc.) edited by Heidi Ruby Miller and Michael A. Arnzen with contributions from Jason Jack Miller et al.

Currently Reading
http://www.amazon.com/Red-Seas-Under-Skies/dp/0553804685

Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: In the Business of Rotting
Agent: 0

Workshoping:
Beyond the Cemetery
The Making
The Tribe who Laughed

Wizardry and Wild Romance

2011-02-16T00:00:00.004-05:00

I always love finding a good critical book about fantasy. I love reading fantasy and I love reading about it. I love hearing what authors and established critics have to say about the genre and its craft. That said, how could I not read Michael Moorcock’s WIZARDRY AND WILD ROMANCE: A STUDY OF EPIC FANTASY? I really had to read this. And I did.

Originally released in 1977, Monkeybrain Books re-released an updated version in 2004. This book did not go on about the forgotten greats of the genre, it commented on the best Epic Fantasy of then and now. It focused on what makes them great, and noted that the things that make books and authors great changes over time. This is a true study of Epic Fantasy.

Moorcock begins explicitly with a warning in his foreword. He is only writing these collected essays from his own opinion and observations of currently available romantic epic fantasy, he is discussing it and not defining it. He was wise to do so. I always get a little leery when anyone, even experts, start spouting about what they think is great without explaining themselves. As much as I want to take their well-learned word for diamonds, sometimes I only see dust.

Moorcock’s discussion is separated into six different categories: origins, landscape, heroes/heroines, humor, children’s books and genre deviations. Perhaps these are the most important craft elements of epic fantasy? In each section, Moorcock highlights the authors and books that represent the best work in each.

Despite being discussed in separate essays, his opinion is the same throughout. He asks for more. More attention to the landscape of a story, more attention to the characters, more consideration of humor. He lauds the authors who do it well, frequently the same people across the categories. And what is more, he provides excerpts! I wish more critical work about fantasy would do this. Moorcock says something is great and then says look at it for yourself so you can see how he formed his opinion of it. Nothing explains the quality of the words better than the words themselves.

While he mostly focuses on the strongest examples of the literature, he frequently reminds that there are hoards of imitators out there, looking to get rich from an easy, formulaic story and diluting the good reads. These are the authors who pay little or no attention to the above categories. He occasionally provides excerpts of these as well, for contrast.

By the end of the book, Moorcock has shown a timeline of the life of the genre within this book. Beginning as riffs on the gothic novels and chivalric romances, squalling through Sword and Sorcery, finding a firm foothold on the Tolkienian other-world stories, and coming into maturity within the walls of urban settings. At each point, Moorcock describes the genre’s historic connection to humanity, be it reactionary to a war or a specific artistic movement.

Where will epic fantasy go after the city? Out to space? Or even further back, to the dinosaurs? One thing is for sure, literary forms frequently change, but good craft will always hold a book together.

this review is cross posted at Greater Portland Scribists

Currently Reading
Fantasy:
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:

Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0
Workshoping:
Beyond the Cemetery

I'm not dead

2011-01-30T01:03:00.003-05:00

I've just been writing a lot. It does come in waves, I've noticed. Hopefully I'll get more reading done next week.

I've got one story out for submission. I'm getting ready to put another one out next week. I've also got a story up for workshop, I cut it down to 6000 from 7200 last week. That one needed lots of work!

Currently Reading
Fantasy:
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:

Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: In The Business of Rotting to The Pedestal Magazine
Agent: 0

Workshoping:
The Making

Low-Residency MFA Resource--Now availible

2011-01-13T12:51:00.004-05:00

Shortly after I graduated from Seton Hill University with my MA in writing, I responded to a help a reporter query from Lori A. May who was writing a book about low-residency MFA programs.

I told her how awesome the SHU program was and shared my many wonderful experiences. A few other Alumni and faculty responded as well.

The Low-Residencey MFA Handbook is now availible! If you are looking into going for an MFA in writing, go read it (especially the parts about SHU)!

This entry is cross posted at Greater Portland Scribists

Currently Reading
Fantasy:
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:

Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Workshoping:
Beyond the Cemetery

A Celebration of Poetry

2011-01-05T13:08:00.002-05:00

I am still reveling in the afterglow of Sandra Kasturi’s collection of poems, The Animal Bridegroom.

I have forgotten how much I enjoy poetry, and I think, my roots in poetry along with that. When I was working on my BFA in writing I took a lot of poetry workshops and really developed a likening of the compressed meaning, the careful arrangement of words, and particularly enjambment in good poems. I mostly love the short lined poems with lots of punch. In fact my favorite poems have been but a few lines, poignantly spaced with masterful diction, like The Primer by Christina Davis (which can be found here).

Most of my exposure to poems came when I worked as an Editorial Assistant at Alice James Books. For two years, I was constantly exposed to tons of award winning poetry. But… But, almost none of it focused on the mythology that I loved, the fantastical visions and traditions that were firmly lodged in my mind. When I left that job, I found very little poetry that even caught my interest (I was also in grad school, which might have had something to do with it).

Then, one day when I was checking out ChiZine news I found it pimping The Animal Bridegroom (Sandra is on their staff). So, I like a lot of stuff this magazine/publisher puts out. The cover was intriguing to me. Two colors, sepia with white text and image: a frame of wild flowers and woodland creatures around a bride and groom. The Bride in traditional/folk garb and the groom a wolfman or foxman with a nice tailed-coat. So I clicked on the link to amazon and read some of the poems. I thought they were fantastic. But it cost about $13 so I put it in my favorites list for when I got a gift card or someone looked there for my birthday.

I didn’t have to wait that long. Short after my discovery and longing for these poems, my eyes spied that gorgeous cover at the ChiZine table at Readercon. I made a beeline for it. I was so focused on it; I almost missed the fact that Sandra herself was manning the table at the time.

So to get the embarrassment over quickly, I gushed in fannish glee for about two minutes while she signed my book (which was not $13 bucks at the table).

I kept the book in my to-read stack, which was on my desk and rather close at hand. So, for the last six months or so, I’d periodically thumb through and read a poem or a few lines. I enjoyed that, some quick hits of a good thing. I’d like to note here that it’s not so easy to do that with a novel.

But towards the end of 2010 I thought I should read it cover to cover, net it into my year. So I did.

The Animal Bridegroom is full of everything I love about poetry with all the mythological and folkloric references I could hope for. Short lines pried meaning out of folk archetypes applied to modern day. Old characters exemplified the harsh qualities of modern life. Fantastic images asked questions about humanity. There was even a poem about the gemstone amber, one of my favorite “stones.” One even asked some serious questions about what happened to Hansel and Gretel after they grew up. And others, well, I’d like to be friends with some of those characters.

I am still reveling in the afterglow of Sandra Kasturi’s collection of poems, The Animal Bridegroom.

Currently Reading
Fantasy:
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:

Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Workshoping:
The Tribe that Laughed

The Etched City

2011-01-03T21:33:00.003-05:00

One fantastic book after another! Whatever I read next has some tough shoes to fill...

I finished reading K. J. Bishop’s The Etched City at quarter past eleven on New Year’s Eve. I captured the whole experience in 2010. Truth is I wanted to finish this book and add it to my list for 2010, but in the end, I just couldn’t put it down!

I loved being a fly on the wall in this dark, hungry city--watching the ugly world do its worst and the people do what they could to survive. This is no tale of good versus bad. In fact the good get nothing, and the bad only get worse. The language itself was beautiful; the prose carefully written to fully expose the dark underbelly of a city that I don’t think had a lighter side. Instead of racing through this volume, I read it slow (when I could) to enjoy the images and emotions evoked by the story.

Survival, redemption, faith, ethics, biological experimentation, conscience, the extremes of artistic expression are all explored in a city of corruption. This city is Ashamoil (the word reminds me of toil, which is what its inhabitants do). Yet the city is many worlds between which only few people seem to travel. It is an industrialized factory-driven place with thriving remnants of the old ways. We rarely see the factories, what we do see is a surreal, wonderfully disturbing, yet rich tapestry of life and walking myth and only enough magic used to make it that much more hopeless. The place is what the characters made it, and what they made of it.

Bishop spins this tale from characters who are under a shadow, and who may have never known light: they murder, indulge in all the vices (whores, opium, booze, drugs), steal, slave, etc. For this, the story reveals things of darkness in many shades of gray. There seems to be nothing a “good” person could do in Ashaoil to improve their lives. The few who seek to improve their lot do so by dying or by leaving Ashamoil.

I found an interesting use of Point of View characters in The Etched City. Different main characters were prominent in different parts of the book. Raule, the good-doctor-to-the-poor, was most prominent at the beginning. But, later, Gwynn, the remorseless mobster and gunslinger bore more attention. Going between these two, we got the whole view of the city, gold to gutter. And periodically, we got snippets of the tale through the eyes of others in the middle, who knew some things we needed to know. This is not something I see very much in fiction. Bishop does it well, we knew who all the characters were before we jumped into their heads. Bishop used this method of switching POV to evoke a maximum of suspense, and it worked on me.

The art, and the hunger of this corrupted city charmed me. To put it in perspective, I'll say that a friend loaned it to me, and I’m going to go out and buy it for myself, in paper format.

Currently Reading
Fantasy:
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:

Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Workshoping:
The Tribe that Laughed

2010 Reading List

2010-12-31T23:59:00.011-05:00

Below is the list of books that I read in 2010. I'm fairly certain it's accurate, as I was pretty good about updating this log when I finished a book. I also put links to the reading journal posts where applicable. The last two reviews are coming soon as I just finished them.

The Chronicles of the Black Company - Glenn Cook
The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Little, Big - John Crowley
The Runelords - David Farland
Spellwright - Blake Charlton
The Magicians - Lev Grossman
Brotherhood of the Wolf - David Farland
Moonwise - Greer Gilman
The Etched City - K.J. Bishop
The Animal Bridegroom, Poems - Sandra Kasturi

So, I only read 10 books in 2010. 10 books in a year is just shameful! Well, I'm not going to shoot for 11 books read in 2011. I'm going to have to aim higher than that.

Rejection

2010-12-27T22:14:00.004-05:00

The bad: rejection from Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

The good: personal note and invitation to submit in the future.

It is as I feared (I should really start listening to those voices in my head): the pace is too slow. I need to change the beginning back to the way it was before. I can do that easily because I kept my submission to Flash Fiction Online.

I'm a little happy about this rejection though. Strange right? Right after I submitted it, I found another mag I think this story will really fit well with. So a few little tweaks and I think I'll have it...

Currently Reading
Fantasy: The Etched City - K.J. Bishop
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:

Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0
Workshoping:
Beyond the Cemetery

A Reading Experience

2010-12-13T21:29:00.003-05:00

This is going to be more of a description of my reading experience with Greer Gilman’s Moonwise. The basic story is simple, but experiencing the text is utterly magical. This is why fantasy is my chosen genre. Reading it transports you, the prose effects a wonder that strikes at my heart. And this book did that so well that I am going to talk more about that than anything else. If you want a book review go find one at Amazon. If you want to find out what it’s like to read Greer Gilman, read on.

Moonwise is Greer Gilman’s first book, originally published in 1991. It won the Crawford award in 1992, and was nominated for the Tiptree and Mythopoeic awards. It was released in hardcover by Prime books in 2005 and reissued by Wildside books in 2006.

I know she wrote this book over the course of 10 years on a typewriter with no outline, and no plan for it. For this, the work was well edited (though I did find a few line errors). I know going back through this much text and making sure everything is in the right place is difficult to say the least, and the business-savvy side of me screams of inefficiency, but I only have the most respect for a mind that can successfully wrangle with that.

I’d heard so many great things about Gilman, and I’d seen her participate in various panels at Readercon and Boskone. She is a brilliant folklorist and wildly creative woman. But after hearing her read, or more accurately perform (from another of her stories), I just had to read her books. But it was hard to find through my normal channels (used). So I was thrilled when I found it at Readercon last July and was able to have it signed.

So, with great anticipation I finally picked it up, appropriately, in September (the story takes place in fall and winter). But it’s December now. Yes, it took me a long time to read. The prose was just as dense and challenging as the literature I studied in college. I took my time with it, savoring the lines, references and double meanings like I savored those of Dickens. Even though I read it cover to cover and followed the arc of the story, I can’t help but think I’ve missed a lot of...something in the writing.

Suffice it to say, I wasn’t instantly in love with the book. It had a slow, kind of boring start with a few dead ends and little hope of clews. And I didn’t expect the story to be what Farah Mendlesohn describes in her book, Rhetorics of Fantasy, as a “portal quest” story, in which the characters go through a portal from the normal world to another. Moonwise started in contemporary times with two girls, Sylvie and Ariane, who see the same world I see.

I prefer my fantasy untouched by the modern world. I usually don’t like contemporary fantasy stories as much because the main characters are my filter to the world, and I’d rather see it through the eyes of a native than someone like me.

Yet, I can hardly say Sylvie and Ariane are like me. Although they are denizens of the 20th century, if I met one of them in person, I might describe them as otherworldly. They were a promise of what was to come: enchantment, folkloric references and skillful world creation. These things charmed me and kept me examining page after page.

After the story got going, Gilman always keeps the suspense and tension up. One way she did this was by making the world never comfortable. I’d pity the characters and wonder at their survival. They were always freezing and wet and sleeping on rocks, or even when they found a welcoming home, it was bad news and holding out the suspense and dread of what is to come.

I’ve finished this story once, but I know I’ll come back to it and go find her other books. With its wonder, it has wakened sleepy and tired spots in my brain that I had forgotten, it has opened up new parts of my brain, and it has filled them with possibilities--nature abhors a vacuum.

This blog entry is cross posted at Wandering Around the Words.

This blog entry is cross posted at Greater Portland Scribists.

Currently Reading
Fantasy: The Etched City - K. J. Bishop
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: On Fate's Waiting List
Agent: 0

Workshoping:
Beyond the Graveyard

click...

2010-12-01T20:39:00.002-05:00

Just submitted "On Fate's Waiting List" to Beneath Ceaseless Skies!
average response time is 3-5 weeks.

If this goes poorly I'm going to think about revising this thing again...

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Moonwise - Greer Gilman
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Workshoping:

Rejection from Clarkesworld

2010-11-27T20:29:00.003-05:00

Dear Cynthia,

Thank you for the opportunity to read "On Fate's Waiting List." Unfortunately, your story isn't quite what we're looking for right now. Each month, we receive hundreds of submissions and while I may like many of them, I can only publish twelve of them per year.

In the past, we've provided detailed feedback on our rejections, but I'm afraid that due to time considerations, we're no longer able to offer that service. I appreciate your interest in Clarkesworld Magazine and hope that you'll keep us in mind in the future.

Take care,

Neil Clarke
Publisher/Editor
Clarkesworld Magazine
www.clarkesworldmagazine.com

Simple form letter... but that's all Clarkesworld does anymore as I hear it.
__________________________________________________________
Currently Reading
Fantasy: Moonwise - Greer Gilman
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

I've Submitted

2010-11-23T22:22:00.000-05:00

I just submitted my story "On Fate's Waiting List" to Clarkesworld. They have a 36 hour average response time. I find this is making me more antsy about submitting than normal. Usually I just click send and try to forget about it, but this is going to come back to me so quickly I can't stop thinking about it. Thanksgiving isn't even helping.

Next story for me to work on is my world founding mythology story for Limna, the world in which my novel takes place.

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Moonwise - Greer Gilman
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 1
Agent: 0

Workshoping:

Greater Portland Scribists: Writing Fears

2010-11-17T22:04:00.000-05:00

Greater Portland Scribists: Writing Fears: "Former literary agent Nathan Bransford recently posted a question to writers on his blog: “What is your greatest fear as a writer?” I’m goi..."

I havn't abandoned this blog!

2010-11-04T20:43:00.004-04:00

But, oh, have I been busy!

I've been working on this special project, and I haven't really talked about it here yet. I believe I mentioned it two months ago (?!?) in my last post. But I thought it was time to formally cross-blog about it.

A couple writer friends and I have put together a group, Greater Portland Scribists, or GPS. We meet weekly (yes that's why I've been so busy), to discuss our group progress, each other's writing and to write. Hopefully by next summer we will be able to produce an anthology ebook of our stuff. In the mean time we are keeping our blog up to date with ebook news and weekly (Wednesday) articles written by us. I just posted yesterday myself. Go read it!

Of course, I'm also still working on getting published in the magazines and will try to publish my novel after it is revised, which I will do after I have a short story published. And my 3 year plan is to become a member of SFWA.

So with all that going on, I've found myself kinda burnt out of my own writing goals. Time to change that. With winter coming, I think I'll be able to look inward and really get what I want, and soon. :)

Currently Reading
Fantasy: Moonwise - Greer Gilman
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Workshoping:
On Fate's Waiting List

I've been writing

2010-09-04T00:58:00.003-04:00

I've been working on the artisan story that got rejected by flash fiction online last March. I've given it a lot of thought and even workshopped it with my fellow scribists. It is now 6 pages long, and it ends. That's right. I wrote a short story that ends. And I really love the way it is turning out.

I'll be workshopping it with my meetup group, Rocketship Unicorn at the end of the month. And then hopefully submitting it.

Now I just need to work on rewriting my old story, The Making, from before Seton Hill. It's a creation myth and I've been recently inspired on how to end it :).

I feel a trend coming on.

Currently Reading
Fantasy: Brotherhood of the Wolf - David Farland
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0
Workshoping:
Soul Starved

just something to keep me going...

2010-08-22T20:52:00.001-04:00

“Genre is a matter of knowledge, which some people have (e.g. those writers who produce genre fiction and those readers who make their way through it) and other people don’t. It is impossible not just to write, but to market and sell and to review or read, a crime novel (for example) without a good understanding of the history of the genre and the various ways in which it has worked. Genre, in other words, has no time for naivety or ignorance.” –POPULAR FICTION by Ken Gelder

The Magicians--Lev Grossman

2010-08-22T16:46:00.003-04:00

Quick review today...

Overall, I loved reading this book. Grossman’s style is impressive as is his vocabulary. He strings words and phrases and paragraphs together to create admirable passages.

So this lovely writing was pretty much what let me get through the book itself. Think Holden Caulfield meets Harry Potter. Except our MC is no prophesied hero who is going to save the world. He’s just your normal person, who happens to be able to do magic, trying to get through life.

We have our emo, smarty pants high school student, Quentin Coldwater, whose every wish is granted when he is transported to a college where he will study magic. That part of the book I related to. I went to college and it was pretty much the same kind of thing for Quentin--except there was magic. Watching college kids learn to handle magic was indeed entertaining.

But when he graduates the book takes a major downturn. Quentin is confused about what to do after college when he no longer has a curriculum to follow, is no longer under the institutional umbrella. This is the standard quarter life crisis problem. I went through that too, but he reacts to the situation very poorly. He never grows up; never faces the challenge of living his life and it makes me kind of hate him.

Then, when it gets so bad that he does have to grow up and deal with life, he pretty much gives up and sits there doing nothing with his life until his friends come and save him.

One thing the story left me out of was “the Narnia thing.” Grossman made the characters obsessed with C. S. Lewis’ Narnia stories, but calling it Fillory instead because of permissions issues. I never read these stories, a shame I know, so all of the references were lost to me.

While I didn’t like what Quentin what doing, it fit his character and the circumstances making the whole work cohesive. Grossman tied the beginning to the end and wrapped it up neatly.

I finished reading the book for the great style, and the rest of the characters. They reminded me of many people I’ve known and they didn’t react to “Real Life” as badly as Quentin did.

So if you like to watch other people suffer, or just love to be sympathetic toward them, this is an excellent book in every way.

Currently Reading
Fantasy: Brotherhood of the Wolf - David Farland
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here

Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

not really

2010-07-08T20:44:00.002-04:00

You only think this is a post....

I'm just showing my excitement because I'm leaving for Readercon in Burlington, MA tomorrow :D

Currently Reading
Fantasy: The Magicians - Lev Grossman
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

I've written

2010-07-05T22:09:00.004-04:00

I've finished writing the rough draft of my labyrinth story. :) I just need to fix a ton of things and add a scene or two. Hopefully I can keep it below 5000 when I'm done revising.

I hope I don't do what I did with this story ever again. I started writing it months and months ago. I knew the ending of it and then just got bogged down in the middle. It sat and sat and sat and I never finished it.

As a writer who tends not to write outlines, I think that by knowing the end I just wasn't excited about writing it as I already knew what it would be. However I am using outlines more and more these days.

If I want to be a professional writer, I need to stick to the writing no matter what. I need to make myself outline and blow through the rough draft then revise. Otherwise I just won't make the deadlines and therefore a living.

Currently Reading
Fantasy: The Magicians - Lev Grossman
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Spellwright by Blake Charlton

2010-07-04T15:55:00.003-04:00

So this one is not quite a classic. I needed to take a break from the classic fantasy literature and get into some fresh work by someone new. Well, I may have decided that after hearing about this book. I came across it during the Amazon/Macmillan kerfuffle at the beginning of the year. As this book was set to release in March, it was used as an example of how Amazon was hurting the authors more than the publishers. Charlton is a new author so having Amazon pull his publishing house near the release date would really hurt his numbers if it wasn't resolved quickly.

So I took a look at the book. The cover was intriguing, it had great blurbs from trusted sources and, and the title was a pun. Yes I love puns, deal with it. But the pun didn’t just end with the title, it extended throughout the book in a beautiful conceit. It was a high fantasy to boot, something that is losing steam in the publishing industry. This book was something I had to read. And a few months later, I checked it out of my local library. I can’t afford to go and buy hardcovers these days, and read it cover to cover blowing off the other things I should have been doing…

There aren’t just puns! There are also many fun linguistic twists that really tickled my love of language. The magic system is entirely based on language, so Charlton had many opportunities for word-play that he took advantage of.

I liked more than just the language of this cute, quick read of a book. The fantasy tropes were used in a fresh way. The main character, Nicodemus, is prophesied to save language but something wasn’t quite right. He has a language disability, what we’d call dyslexia, which affects his magical abilities in profound ways. Like I said in my last post, I really like when prophecies are used differently. “There was this prophecy, but it’s wrong and we can’t use it to guide our steps.” The notion brings a very realistic flair to the lives of our main characters and makes me appreciate their problems much more.

Much of the story is rooted more in the local and broad politics and religion of Nicodemus’ world. This is a complex and full world. On all levels, different powers have different magical languages and they all have their own political agendas. Charlton expertly weaves a complex political web, letting characters represent different factions and letting the conflicts center in one small place. The political, religious and academic factions cross paths seen from the front row inside a small wizard’s school. Yet this is no Harry Potter. Nicodemus must win a war to save language, but first he must overcome his own limitations.

Charlton also pulls from mythological traditions. As far as I could tell, Norse, Celtic and Greek. And then he pushes them around and alters them for his own uses. These gods are not just figureheads in stories, they are real beings and are seeking their own ends, but they must first get by the humans who oppose them. They are not all powerful and they have their own rules to live by. This makes them interesting and complex characters, and another layer of conflict.

Charlton’s style is smooth and I really didn’t have too many complaints about the story. If I have to put one in this post it would be about the pacing. It felt to me that he had the most tension built up for a turning point in the story as opposed to the final denouement, and the end didn’t wrap up nicely, but dragged out a little bit (hello sequel?).

I think I will buy the paperback when it comes out because I know I will want to re-read this book, and lend it out as well.

Currently Reading
Fantasy: The Magicians - Lev Grossman
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Been Doing Some Reading :)

2010-06-20T14:57:00.006-04:00

The Runelords by David Farland

I've really been trying to step up my reading. And hey, two books in a month, next I know it'll be three! Also, I’ve been busy lately with a new project, which I’ll talk about another time, so this is going to be a fairly simple review.

Premise:(From the back of the book)
The very Earth is in pain. Its wounds must be healed. There must arise a new king: the Earth King must be reborn. Only then will humanity have a chance to survive.

The Runelords takes you for a fun. ride It offers a few things that most fantasies don’t--as far as I’ve read anyway. It has a very medival culture feel to it, but is not set in the landscape of Europe as we know it. So Farland definitely did his research for this one, and some creative work to boot. Tossed into this culture is a new concept, that of the Runelords themselves. These kings use a magical process using runes and branding (I love Scandinavian mythology so it’s almost automatic for me to like this idea) to take the best qualities donated from their loving or purchased from broke subjects theoretically to rule better but we know better than that, someone will twist this benign practice and we will get a story. 

In the runelords, old traditions have changed over time and when a war unlike anything these people have ever seen marches into Rofehaven the only answer is to go back to the old ways, to follow the Earth King for this war is much more than it seems.

3 Things I liked:
• An existing prophecy doesn’t happen the way it is supposed to--now the men don’t have their guide, their script to play out. Kind of refreshing. It makes you feel like the characters don’t know what they are doing they are shooting in the dark just like real people.
• Characters fail, and fail hard and then they feel the guilt for it and have to find other answers. They see that they could have done a million things differently but they didn’t and have to cope with that and go on with life.
• They beautiful princess loses all her physical beauty, the common peasant girl becomes beautiful. It’s interesting to see how this affects them.

3 Things I didn’t like:
• The endowments sound too much like stats in role playing games. Quantifying one’s strength, speed and brains as concretely as Farland does here seems so unnatural to me.
• If I could give David Farland one piece of advice about improving the writing of this book it would be R.U.E. Resist the Urge to Explain. Some explanations are necessary for world building and catching up on previous events, but he does a great job of showing many actions and conclusions but then clutters the pages with loads of telling.
• Sloppy proofreading--I could nitpick little things extensively. This bothers me the most, for two reasons. For the last ten years or so I’ve trained myself to pick up on continuity errors in my own writing and in workshops, and I know that as an unpublished writer, one mistake like that could get my entire manuscript rejected but it’s fine for him (or his editor?) to mar his work with imperfections because he’s a big name author. Second, letting those little things through feels like taking a sharpie and squiggling lines on, say a da Vinci painting or some other masterwork. Does he have no pride in his work?

anyway, I'll get to reading the three remaining volumes of this series but I think I'll let this review stand for them all. Like I said, I'm a bit busy working on a new project. More coming on that soon.

Currently Reading
Fantasy: Spellwright - Blake Charlton
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

another one done

2010-06-01T21:54:00.005-04:00

John Crowley-Little, Big

I have to preface this entry by saying I’m a little biased about this book. I’ve heard so many wonderful things about it: It’s so awesome, Oh my god you have to read it, If you want to start reading fantasy start with this one, this book is so great and so on. So I dove into the pages with high expectations. I thought, if they think it’s so great, I should also think it is so great.

I should have known better. What others like is not what I like. I know I like high fantasy and epic fantasy. I like other world fantasy, including futuristic. Urban and Contemporary rarely does it for me, though rural can work sometimes. I like clever and witty narrative and dialog.

I should have quizzed these people more on what they like before I thought I’d like this monumental work of fantasy literature. But I can respect Crowley for what he did in this book.

Going into it blind, I thought it would be about a peculiar family and the house or estate they live on. But in the end, not so much. It’s about what is done to them. So the whole book is getting us familiar with their tale, with them. Making us get attached to them and feeling for them when the standard bumps of life show up in their lives. This book is about 500 pages long, and covers about five generations. Every time he jumped into a new one I got bored and agitated with it. So there were many people to whom I was supposed to empathize and develop a relationship with.

Meanwhile there are hints dropped and heavy handed (I think) foreshadowing--I actually rolled my eyes at the most prominent instance. To be blunt, it’s dodging of the fantastic annoyed me. The questioning and uncertainty irked me. And the two most main characters never even entertained the possibility. That certainly adds tension, but one makes me feel left out and two makes me want to be in someone else’s head more. There are a few brief respites though, like Crowley wanted to give us some glue or something.

The thing I disliked the most was dialog. They spoke in a halting and staggered fashion. A word, a descriptive phrase, then the rest of the sentence. People do not speak like that. Sometimes they might, but not ALL THE TIME. So he was trying to pass these people off as eccentric, sure, but I think my blood pressure went up when certain characters were speaking.

But none of that really matters in the big picture. Roz Kaveney said in a review she wrote in 1982 for “Books and Bookmen” that this is one of the few stories that reconcile humans and fairy, which it does. And I couldn’t put my finger on why I didn’t like it until I read that. The characters in this book seemed so askew for “normal” people. They’d have to be to do that job. So they didn’t appeal to me on the front of normal people exposed to fairy, or occupants of a fairy land who happened to be in our world. To me they were awkward, with a very exclusive feel, but not pretentious (otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered).

So hearing Ms. Kaveney’s conclusion, and having read “From Homer to Harry Potter,” I can easily classify this story as literature of fairy. This fantasy pulls very strongly from traditional “this world” beliefs and doesn’t take it to another world. I’ve always held stories that deal with actual Faerie slightly apart from the other fantasy I read. Usually when I refer to fantasy, I’m thinking of epic or high, or even some urban and contemporary if the fantastical elements are strong enough.

So, maybe I read it wrong, or just missed something. I don’t feel the need to read the rest of Crowley’s work to see what is particular about this book or just him. But as I’ve said above, much of this story didn’t grab me.

Okay, so what did I like about this book? Why did I read all of it? There are a few reasons. I’m a little obsessive about finishing what I start. It’s a highly influential work. I hoped it would get better. And after I got about a quarter into it and didn’t like it, I wanted to at least be able to say why honestly.

On another note... hopefully I'll have another story out for sub soon.

Currently Reading
Fantasy: The Runelords - David Farland
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Where I am in my writing

2010-04-24T20:15:00.002-04:00

When I graduated from SHU, almost a year ago, I was really hyped up on doing all the right things, taking all the right steps and getting my writing career off the ground. So I made a little list, and it looked a little like this:

Write short stories and submit them (read: get published)
Make a website
Make a reading/writing blog
Read a lot, classics, genre criticism, fantasy simultaneously
Rewrite novel
Fix synopsis
Get an agent

These items are generally arranged in the order that I would ideally complete them, but I didn’t expect it to necessarily to go as planned.

And this are the writing related things I’ve done since I graduated June 2009:
Created a website
Created a reading/writing blog… but it’s really boring
Written 3.5 stories
submitted 2 of those stories, both rejected
read 4 fantasy novels
read 1 folk tale collection
0 literary
Made a list of agents to submit my novel to
Critiqued a lot of other people’s work

Not too bad right? I’ve at least attempted to do most of the things on my list…Well, Yoda said “do or do not, there is no try.” So, I’m going to get a little more focused “doing” now.

What I need to do this summer:

Read more…learn to speed read?
Revise both rejected stories and re-submit
Finish partial story and submit
Rewrite novel and submit to agents

So hopefully with this spelled out right here, I can keep myself on track and get a foothold in my writing.

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

thoughts on a rejection

2010-04-24T20:11:00.002-04:00

I just received another story rejection. So that makes 2. I’m not suffering madly here, though I did go through the standard rejection blues for a while. So yes, that means I didn’t “just” get the rejection but it was recent, okay?

I waited a few weeks to let the story and the rejection get out of my head before posting this for a reason. I want to get further away from the story and see if I could tell why it got rejected-the editor (John Joseph Adams) didn’t give any explanation.

So in looked back on this tale, Trials of the Night, I think that despite the fact I really love this story, were I an editor I would not have chosen to purchase this story either.

To be up front, my story has a few things wrong with it that I let myself ignore when I submitted it: The imagery isn’t as strong as it could be. The plot is a little out of whack. Pace and description aren’t helping each other. And the structure is not optimal.

So why’d I let myself submit this? There was a deadline, and I hadn’t planned ahead enough for it. I didn’t even have another person read the story.

So why didn’t I just say “no way! This doesn’t have a chance?” I really love the story, and it is good, it just really needs more work. And if I didn’t submit it, then I would never know if it might have sold.

What is writing if not just one long learning experience?

So now I have this story out to a friend for some critiquing. I’m interested in seeing if he has the same problems with it that I think I do.

Currently Reading:Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford

2010-04-19T22:58:00.003-04:00

I’ve just completed Patrick Ford’s The Mabinogi, a translation of medieval Welsh folk tales and mythological cycle. Reading this book lets me tick off one more on my list of reading to catch up on non-Greek mythology. I can say, with some embarrassment, that I have never heard of any element of these stories before, so when someone in my office glanced at the title of the book I was reading and commented, “obscure Welsh literature, great,” I felt a little absolved.

When I was just getting into the book, I was a little disappointed in the story telling. The story arcs rambled, and changed seemingly without explanation. Story lines ranged far beyond the interest point. And the laundry lists of heraldic titles and accomplishments; tasks and quests made for really dull reading. There was practically NO SHOWING. But that is what was recorded in the original manuscripts, which were written down by someone who heard someone else tell the oral story. Would the people back then simply “understand” all the tactile imagery that was possible when the characters go riding across the land? Had they done it all themselves, in an uneventful journey? The author of this book could only decipher what his modern day learnings let him to reach back and translate the Mabinogi.

The author, Patrick K. Ford is the Margaret Brooks Robinson Research Professor of Celtic Languages and Literatures at Harvard University. Needless to say he wrote this book with academic interests and not story telling in mind. Despite being very sparse, with little imagery and barely three dimensional characters the stories serve to give us 21st century denizens a peek into the ways of old cultures. However I can see how each of these 6 – 40 page stories could be turned into a rich novel, however dark.

These tales aren’t for the weak-of-stomach. From crushing skulls barehanded, stealing, rape, murder, torture to animal cruelty they show the worst of human nature. They show what people do to get what they want: woman, money, power, land, respect, honor and revenge. And sometimes people do terrible things to breach hindrances.

My favorite story was that of “Manawydan son of Llŷr.” Even though this story is rangy, and the events a little jerky we see magic, trouble, rescue, punishment by social decree and then the wrongs are righted. I just love happy endings; well I like it more when the jerks who were wrong get what’s coming. Mainly I like the story line where a group of people are displaced from their own land and must wander to find a new place, yet no matter how hard they work, they cannot find a place they fit in. And after some time they return home and break their curse. I like this because they didn’t give up. They didn’t sit idly waiting to find a way. Even when they weren’t trying to break the curse, they were working hard, trying to get by because they had to.

That's it for now. Maybe someday I'll come back to these tales for story fodder, or for further study.

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

another sub

2010-04-01T21:29:00.003-04:00

I made the deadline for John Joseph Adams anthology, Way of the Wizard. I submitted my story Trials of the Night, no it's not a vampire story.

It comes in very close to a 5000 word count. I wrote most of it in one day. The first bit came over the course of the week. The very final wrap up came the day after I wrote the end of the beginning, the middle and the beginning of the end.

The words kept coming and I kept driving the characters along their arcs. I had 2 subplots and a main plot. For a short story I think I did pretty well. In fact, my short story crafting has come a long way. I'll take this moment to be a little proud of myself.

I think it was a really great draft, which I then moved to revise immediately. I didn't get to let anyone else read it first, or even let it sit for a couple days as I would have liked. I wound up working on this story pretty much right up to last minute. I guess I didn't remember from college how much I hate doing that. From now on, I'm going to ah, try to get a jump on things and not wait for panic to hunt my muse down. Sit down and crank it out. Plan everything before I dive into the words. This phrase witch has learned. I'll say that much.

I have a new problem word, "now." It seems that I've gotten over some of my past ones such as "felt" and "looked."

Maybe I'll get a chance to finish those books down there...

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 1
Agent: 0

Dismal...

2010-03-11T21:06:00.005-05:00

I seem to have a weakness for creating short story length plots for characters I spend any time on creating. It is now the 11th of March, and I have no plot for my wizard character. I've tried ditching the character and finding new ones and spending less time on development and more on plot. But my brain is not budging. Wizards are not inspiring me right now. For that matter neither are Witches or Sorcerers. I'm trying to hard and stifling my creativity.

Adding to the pile, as I work on my outlining skills I realize that I am not very disciplined in crafting stories on demand. I can do it, but nothing I come up with speaks to me, or has an ending. The stories are boring and I don't get excited enough to write the thing.

Maybe I just need to write the story by outline and see what happens. Doing so will help me feel out what I am doing with outlines verses characters.

At this rate, I don't think I'll make my deadline on March 31st. Hmm... maybe no Internet for a week if that happens?

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

burnt and busy

2010-03-07T00:31:00.007-05:00

I've been busy and regrettably not as much with reading and writing as I'd like... GUILT...

I have been feeling a little burnt out with everything. There's been drama at work, drama with my apartment, travel and taxes. I've been so busy with work since the holidays I'd even taken time out from my local writing group, Rocketship Unicorn, and skipped this year's Boskone. Much Sadness.

But now, work has calmed down and I've ironed out many of the wrinkles that have cropped up recently. So I've said enough. Enough wishing, enough wasting time. I'm back to doing and getting things done. Finally getting back to my writing group last Wednesday really helped. We've changed the format a little and I think it was a great change. We're actively working instead of waiting for work to come by. Everyone was really energized about it and it just felt great to talk about writing to writers again.

I recently got a peek at Jeff Vandermeer's blog and one of the lines on it has impressed me greatly. "I'm not online tomorrow." Meaning he'll just be working on writing, not reading e-mail, surfing or reading blogs, or posting blogs, or sending e-mail. "Oh, my," I thought. "Just imagine how much time I'd save, how many more words I could write if I limited myself like that." When I think of actually doing it, I think that I can't possibly not check my email every day, not read my blog list, not chat with all my distant friends and check up on facebook's feeds. This, to me, looks like I'll need to change my lifestyle a little to fit my priorities, to accomplish my dreams.

I'll end this with some writing updates. I don't have any page counts, but I can say that I've written one story, a cyberpunk about the Ark of the Covenant that I got 'shopped in my group. I look forward to revising it and submitting that soon. Other than that I've been brainstorming on two other stories that I just can't pin down.

My next deadline is March 31st for an anthology called "Way of the Wizard" edited by John Joseph Adams. I have a really great character, now all I need is a plot. Looks like I shouldn't "be online" tomorrow huh...

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

sticking to it

2010-03-07T00:25:00.004-05:00

Even though I haven't posted here, in my reading/writing blog for some time, I'm sticking to it. I'm coming back and journaling my most recently finished book, which I've had finished for a few weeks, but have not had the time to blog it.

Glen Cook
The Chronicles of the Black Company
Omnibus of the first three books in the Black Company series

I read this book in a strange circumstance. I read the second omnibus (last three books) before this one. So I already knew the characters, and what would happen to them in the future. Cook so dutifully referenced and explained many of the events of the first book in the second, I could say to myself, “ah yes, I remember this,” as I came across new scenes. This is a rather disappointing way to read a book. So I’m chalking up my less-than-thrilled reaction to that.

While not making for good reading, reading out of order made for good studying. I could see how he dips back to describe old events in the here-and-now later on--the amount of detail and action he needed to evoke the memory but not to go off on too much of a tangent.

Reading out of order also presented another odd reaction in me. I liked the characters more, and quicker upon starting the second book than the first. I also thought they were more fully introduced and described going into the second than the first. I would have thought this would be the other way around. But again, I got a lesson from this. Cook had probably gotten more into the characters’ heads after three books, and better knew how to introduce them later on. And also, he didn’t stop popping in insights and descriptions of them no matter how far into the story he got.

Another theory on my more intense character attachment later in the series is that they started different, more important roles in the beginning of the second book. One thing Cook is known for is telling stories from the point of view of the common man instead of kings, princes and heroes. In the first book, the characters are all no-ones in a mercenary outfit, however they are doing important things. Yet by the second book, they all of a sudden take on new, more important roles. I don’t want to put in spoilers here, so I won’t be specific. I’d almost argue that they aren’t “the common man” anymore. Yes they still have their roots in peasantdom, but they have considerable power over others via reputation, which draws them up in society. This seems just a little contrary to the “common man” motif Cook is known for.

So after reading the middle through the end, and then the beginning to the middle, I felt a little let down by the end of the first book. This was a major turning point in the series, and their world too. There was build up, and foreshadowing tension and suspense throughout the book, and I knew what was coming. But what I was interested in was how it would happen. And, I’ll say again, it didn’t seem like much. I think he could have written it “bigger.” What it boils down to is two, or three people fighting, be they gods or beggars, it still kinda looks the same. When you watch, or read about, an even match, it doesn’t look like much. What makes it impactful is the sense of importance the author imbues in it, which is directly related to the buildup of suspense/tension. What will happen if the good guys win? The bad? What are the implications? We knew what these were, but didn’t really see, at the end of the book, what the fallout was.

Recalling the beginning of the second book, that is where the fallout occurred. Cook structured his books, his six book series, to keep the readers buying. But for me, who read them out of order, it just made it fell flat.

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Soul Starved submission update

2010-01-28T21:26:00.004-05:00

As you can see below, if you read from the bottom up, I currently have no flash submissions out.

I just got my rejection from Flash Fiction Online. I am positive though, for two main reasons, and a bunch of other ones.

Reason One:
It was a personal note, not a form rejection. They even said it had a strong start. This is good! It even asked me to consider them for future submissions. :)

Reason two:
With their suggested revisions, my story would be too long to submit as flash, but I planned for that with a submission schedule. So I know where it will go next, after I do some tweaking.

So, I'm not floundering, or desperate. I have a plan and am confident that I can sell this story (at some point).

Happy days ahead!

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Chronicles of the Black Company - Glen Cook
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Catching Up

2010-01-12T21:42:00.006-05:00

Despite not posting, I have been wandering around the words. I've been working on finishing my current book so I can move on. One of my resolutions is to catch up on "the classics." By classics I mean Fantasy Classics. There are 4 or 5 books that I constantly hear about that I have never read. So I am going to remedy this.

As a writer, I sometimes feel that I don't have a good reading background. The fantasy novels I read that made me want to be a fantasy author were inspirations, but not real heavy hitters. Another reason to which I attribute my delinquency is a slight obsession I had with reading through the authors I loved, one at a time. And I only read from my small-town public library. I've since given up that habit--I think college broke me of it. And now I try to read a combination of the best Fantasy coming out now, classic literature and what I call "good writers." Good writers consists of authors whose styles are AMAZING but still didn't win any awards.

So I'm trying to finish the Cook omnibus (and getting there) so I can move onto I think I'll read John Crowly's Little Big. I like to see where my next step is.

While I'm on my way, getting through the book, what happens but the lightning of inspiration strikes me down. I've got a really cool idea for another short story. I'm not in the writing stage yet. I'm in the stage where I'm puzzle cubing two cool ideas together. I know there's a place for them to click. After enough "meditation" on it, I know it will click.

Off I go!

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Chronicles of the Black Company - Glen Cook
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: Soul Starved, to Flash Fiction Online
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Little steps

2010-01-02T01:00:00.005-05:00

I just submitted my fantasy story Soul Starved to Flash Fiction Online.

Next step wait 2-3 months for a reply.

While I do that... I'm going to get cranking on the novel again.

Go me!

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Chronicles of the Black Company - Glen Cook
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: Soul Starved to Flash Fiction Online
Short: 0
Agent: 0

I call this productivity

2009-12-29T22:12:00.003-05:00

I haven’t been posting regularly lately and for that I blame the Holidays. Too much was going on for me to reflect on my writing in addition to everything else that’s been going on. I’ll try to do better in the new year. That sounds like a resolution to me… more blogging and more um submitting…

Ok, so Christmas has come and gone and you can see down at the bottom I still haven’t submitted anything. Shame on me. But I am close. I am satisfied with the structure, the language and the pace of my story, usually my biggest weaknesses. But something is holding me up. I am incredibly dissatisfied with the end. So I’m working on that exclusively. Well maybe not exclusively to ALL else…

I’ve been doing lots of reading online lately, blogs, web zines and the like, pertaining to SFF and the writing of it. I feel like this immersing myself in the business is paying off.

What I read tonight as I put off coming up with the end of my story was very interesting. I read two interviews, one with Steven Erikson and one with Glen Cook over on Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist. Part of what makes this interesting is that they are two authors with similar work, from the same generation and both of whom I’ve read recently.

What provoked me to write this up here tonight were the similarities in their responses to similar questions.

Both authors claimed that there is a “generational difference” between when they started writing and now. Both are aged 50 + and launched their careers in the 80’s/90’s heyday of Fantasy. The differences they spoke of in each of their interviews revolved around the internet as a tool for self promotion and author/reader interaction. Both nearly verbatim to each other agreed that (paraphrased) books are the most-whole author/reader interaction. This in itself is a direct effect of the previously mentioned generational difference. What makes this interesting too is that these interviews occurred a twelve months apart from each other.

The second interesting bit my intellectual hooks clamped onto what that both authors hedged on answering queries about their own writing, evolution or strengths or weaknesses. I wonder if this is also a generational difference? I’ve heard authors praise their editors or books they’ve read since starting their writing… but not these two. ‘What are you talking about?’ or ‘I do what I want’ is about all I got from it. Cook admits to being what we call a “pantser.” I wonder what he would say to that term, or the fact that there is a term for it now.

My favorite line from Erikson’s answers: “What begins as balls ends up as confidence.”

I didn’t have a favorite line from, Cook but his punchy answers had me chuckling quite a bit.

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Chronicles of the Black Company - Glen Cook
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

The Egoless Writer

2009-12-18T23:30:00.003-05:00

Some good advice from fellow Seton Hill Alum...

The Egoless Writer
Posted on 2020.12.16 at 16:12 by Mike Brendan at Reports from the Field

In 1995, I started a career in IT at a very large company. I left in 1996, only to come back to the same company in 2000, and I've been there since. One of my coworkers had a document tacked up on his cubicle wall called The Ego-less Admin. It was a set guidelines of what someone in our line of work should consider whenever dealing with irate users.

I still have that document today. Every now and then I read it just to help stay focused. IT is still my day job, and while I would love to write full time, I am well aware and comfortable with the fact that it may not happen. But I also decided to try and help others learn to succeed at writing. I figure if I gave good advice or inspiration to the a future New York Times Bestseller, then I could die having made something of a mark upon the world (moreso if I helped make it a better place.)

With that I've adapted the rules for the Egoless Admin to reflect upon the craft of writing. You may agree or disagree -- it doesn't matter to me as long as you think about what's said here.

The Egoless Writer

Writing! That strange craft that looks so easy and feels so hard when you actually sit down to do it. That first blank page scares the hell out of everyone of us from beginner to seasoned pro -- there's no shame in admitting such. People fear the unknown and that fresh page is precisely that.

Regardless, this essay is for anyone who writes and has reached that Fateful Decision:

Are you writing for yourself?
Are you also writing for an audience?

-- and chose "B". Not that there's anything wrong with "A" -- I think it's safe to say we all started from there. And note that option "A" does not mean you exclusively. It includes friends, family, even fellow fans (if you write fan fic). You know these people -- you love them and they love you, warts and all. If you go option "A" and you're not violating someone else's intellectual property, self publishing may very well be an option. And by that I mean Kinko's or Lulu, not some predatory vanity press like Publish America (Check Preditors & Editors and you'll see what I mean). If you're just going to make copies of your work for a small number of people, do yourself a favor and make it cost effective. Cook books, memoirs, even chap books can fit into this category where it's justifiable to self pub.

But in choosing the latter option, you've made a big step that may feel just as intimidating as the blank page. Now like the actor on stage with the bright lights in his eyes, you must face people you've never met before let alone know. They're the readers, the real conspiracy behind a writer's success or failure in the fiction business. Tracking a reader's tastes and peeves is like nailing down an electron, but they all have one thing in common; they've read your work and have something to say about it.

Enter the Egoless Writer. The advice that follows, when mixed well with common sense, will help you endure those slings and arrows.

The Egoless Writer has five simple rules:
1. Remember, it's not about you.
2. Shut up and listen.
3. Focus on action.
4. Get out of the way.
5. Always give them something to do.

We'll take a look at these one at a time first.

Remember, it's not about you.

In fact, it stopped being about you the moment you chose option B -- writing for an audience. The people that make up your reading audience are going to encompass a very broad variety of tastes and interests, and to be honest not all of them will like your work. It's important to remember that fact as well as recognize the difference between comments about your writing versus comments about you. The latter carries less validity as the personal distance between two people increases. An insult by an anonymous poster on a message board or a blog need never concern the writer. Likewise, form rejection letters does not mean the editor hates you. Your work simply failed to keep their attention.

Shut up and listen.

The object of a critique partner is to read your work as an editor. That means reading it to make sure your prose is effective and well crafted. It also means that in the process your partner will point out both strengths and weaknesses to your writing. Ideally this is the sort of critical eye an editor will use on your manuscript. And since you shouldn't argue a rejection slip, you shouldn't argue with your critique partner. Let your critique partners have their say before opening your mouth.

Focus on action.

Action drives the plot. It shapes the characters, sets the scene, and engages the senses. Something needs to happen, and it needs to happen in every scene and every chapter. Likewise, you need to do something. Write, read, critique, as long as you're spending time being a writer and not just talking about writing. Whether you're on your first novel or your fiftieth, an hour spent learning the craft is never wasted.

Get out of the way.

When your work is published and released to the reading public, the reaction will be a total crap shoot. Not everyone will like or appreciate it. Some people will see the story you wrote, while others will read between the lines and see some subtext you may or may not have intended. This is perfectly natural. Let them all have their say. The trolls and flamers of the readership will always show themselves for what they are without any help from you.

Give them something to do.

If your book stirs up conversations at the office water cooler or a message board, then you've already done this to a point. Whether it's posting a silly statement on Twitter, a deeply thoughtful blog post, or a contest on your website, always do something that keeps your readers engaged. Attention spans in the Information Age can be fleeting and it's more important than ever to keep in touch with your audience. Have fun with it, but be earnest in your activities and never try to appease anyone.

Now let's look at how those rules work together.

Scenario #1

It's your story on the block at your local critique session. The first person to comment hammers on one particular scene in which you take pride. So does the second one. Then the third. You realize they're not "getting it," but you keep quiet (#2) because there's something not coming across in the prose (#1). One person cites a writer you've never heard of, saying that she "does it better." So you take a note to look up the writer's work at the local bookstore and add the cited work to your "to-read" pile near -- if not on -- the top (#3).

Scenario #2

After your latest release hits the shelves, you notice a comment on your message board where someone wonders if you have a negative opinion of something because of how you portray a character. You decide to stay out of it (#1) because you're working on a project with a tight deadline (#4). However the heat around the post starts and battle lines begin being drawn between your fans and your detractors. Before things get out of hand you invite the original poster to elaborate. (#5) Poster does so, and you watch the ensuing discussion carefully (#2). Once you see where the offended reader is coming from, you post an acknowledgment (#3), citing any references you used in the writing process and offer they do the same. (#5) Discussion continues, but it's clear some people are itching for a fight, forcing you to close the thread (#3) but not before you offer a few other works by colleagues that focus on a similar theme (#5).

In the end it's best to remember that good manners cost nothing, and yield high returns. By keeping your ego in check, you'll be able to present yourself to the reading audience as capable and eloquent, and someone to watch for on the shelves.

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: The Books of the South - Glen Cook
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Thank you, Michael A. Stackpole.

2009-12-13T12:42:00.003-05:00

"Ultimately, however, the important thing for any writer is this: keep pushing the envelope. Do new and exciting things, things you never thought you could do. Experiment. Play. It might not work. Or it might work, but no one wants to buy it. Or they might buy it, but no one understands or likes it. Doesn’t matter, as long as you had fun doing it and are convinced you did your best possible work at the time. You may come to hate the piece later, but as long as you gave it your full and best effort, there’s nothing to be ashamed of. Tons of folks never even get that far—though are often the most vocally critical of those who do try. (Imagine that.)

You’ll find your best work will hit good enough, then good, then great; and that is more fun than you can believe possible."
--Michael A. Stackpole

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: The Books of the South - Glen Cook
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Shamefull ..... upsetting

2009-12-11T21:46:00.001-05:00

This is entirely shameful

Canadian Sci-Fi author Peter Watts experiences the "hospitality" of the US Border Guards

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: The Books of the South - Glen Cook
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

The Books of the South, Glen Cook

2009-12-06T17:27:00.009-05:00

When I read a book I tend to focus on an author's craft, especially the elements in which I am weak. I've been trained to learn this way for the last decade or so. During this time, naturally, my weaknesses have changed. So when I read Glen Cook's The Books of the South, my major foci were structure, characterization, setting and plot.

The Books of the South is the second collection in Cook's Black Company series. The book is separated into three stories, telling what happened to a few of the people who fought in a mercenary outfit(the Black Company) after a major war.

The first and second books follow basically the same plot, and are told from two different POVs. Both of which were in the first story. So when I got to the third section and found no familiar characters I was a little confused and disappointed. But it makes sense. When I remembered this a follow up to the first book, in which Cook introduced all the characters from the first, second and third stories. The jump however, was quite large. Spending 2/3rds of a book on one set of characters then jumping to another set, who actually trace the first set of characters, and show what's going on in their wake is a little disconcerting to me. I would have worked the third story into the rest of the book. However, I think my distaste lies in the fact that I read an omnibus, where all the novels are right in it together. When each story is considered as its own novel, with a separate cover and back, the distinction is clearer.

As far as story structure is concerned, Cook jumps around a lot. Using different POVs to show different angles of the story can help build suspense. We readers know stuff the characters don't. We know what they're walking into, or what their enemies are throwing against them. Interestingly, Cook spends large chunks of story on the protagonists, and only very small sections on the antagonists. We do get glimpses of them, but not too much. This is necessary, I think, because the first person is so limited. Were this story written in third omniscient, the jumping around would be unneeded. An example of Form Following Function.

A great deal of the characterization comes from the POV of these stories. Cook tells the stories of the Black Company in first person from the POV of soldiers in very plain, soldiery language with lots of individual flair. It's not just they way they speak though, each character is very ordinary, could be anyone you walk by on the street, with no delusions of grandeur (except some of the antagonists). One of the characters for instance, Lady, used to be an empress of unsurpassed power. That's not all that easy to relate to for most people. However, when we follow her, she has lost all her power, doesn't know anything about where she is, has few friends and has just lost her lover. Now that kind of thing we know about. There is more. The first two books, I thought were great. However, in the last story, The Silver Spike I had a few issues. One problem with telling the story from the POV of the soldiers is that it is easy to have too many similar characters. This story falls prey to that condition. The not-so-great, I'm just a normal guy character that Cook is famous for become a little hard to distinguish between. So I got a little confused on a couple of occasions as to which character was going through the "tough" situation with their less than super hero capabilities.

I can't help but say a few words about the setting. There are many references to a lot of cultural landmarks from Our World and its history. I could tell what parts of the world influenced Cook's settings at most junctures. Another thing Cook employed to connect to readers was the use of many modern descriptives and objects. However nice it is to see familiar things in a strange place (a fantasy novel) anachronisms just jerk me right out of the story. I wonder, "how does someone there know about that?" It doesn't fit and to me, it denotes sloppy world-building or at least sloppy disclosure of the world an author built. But here, it is done so much, I think it must have been intentional... but why I don't know.

Plot will be difficult to discuss as this "book" that I read is comprised of three different books. So I'll just touch on a few generalities. Cook has plot down pat. Even while traveling, all events are tied into the unfolding of the end, or in building important characterizations that are necessary later. I wonder if he layers those in as I do, or if he puts them in as he goes, laughing at what will come. Either way, he uses all the track of the STORY to thicken it. In this way, he keeps the pace up. Something is always happening, and when it's not, characters are drawing connections between events.

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Chronicles of The Black Company - Glen Cook
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

striken

2009-12-05T00:24:00.002-05:00

Holy Crap, I'm striken with sadness. Blogs are truly no way to receive sad news, as I have today. You just kind of skim past the words and see a name you recognize and stop to linger on the other words near them, completely not expecting to see the words farewell, or two dates within parentheses.

My sadness is due to the passing of Robert Holdstock, the man who made me love myth for what it inherently was--instead of the way teachers taught the Greek stories in school.

I must now go read Lavondyss again, excuse me...

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: The Books of the South - Glen Cook
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Like

2009-11-30T21:13:00.003-05:00

Tonight I finished the revision of Artisan in Rogue. I then sent it to two people who have never seen it in any form before, and one who saw its first breaths of existence.

I really like the way this story turned out and I'm really excited to start submitting it soon!

Coming soon, how my brain perceived The Books of the South.... see below...

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: The Books of the South - Glen Cook
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

New Goal

2009-11-18T22:50:00.002-05:00

Ok. I need to make a new goal now that I failed to meet my last one.

Despite the fact that I want to finish the labyrinth story, I want to submit something, and submit something now. The labyrinth story is only about 2/3rds of the way through the very rough draft. Even though I just solved a major story problem I was having, even though I have all kinds of energy for that story, I only have one story that is even close to being ready, revised once now, the torture story.

My new goal will be to revise the torture story, have one person read it, scrub it a bit and then submit it before Christmas.

That's so much more time than I think I'll need. But maybe that is just a realistic goal, seeing as I just about never attain my goals on time.

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: The Books of the South - Glen Cook
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

2009-11-15T21:13:00.003-05:00

Boy! Have I been slacking lately. I haven't touched my labyrinth story in like four days. I may be burned out of working. Work has been incredibly harsh lately so the thought of any kind of work (even writing!) just makes me turn around and do something else...like read or play video games. Yes, that's right I said it. I've been participating in the worst kind of slacking...

I need to find a way to get motivated. My birthday has come and gone and I have nothing ready to submit yet.

My issue might be that I love getting the beginning of a story down, and into the middle and then I trail off and just kinda forget to go back and finish the middle of the story. I'm in the doldrums. How do I fix this? I'm really muddling. I don't think going and revising another story will help as I will lose steam for my unfinished work.

I haven't been completely shirking my writing duties, however. I have gotten some good reading done. I'm almost done with The Books of the South. Soon I will post a "my thoughts" about it, and I have plenty of them too.

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: The Books of the South - Glen Cook
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Good Work Today

2009-11-08T23:45:00.000-05:00

I wrote over 1,000 words today on my labyrinth story. It's now on 8 pages in MS format, and I think I can finish the story in 12. I stayed up way too late on a work night to do this, but it was worth it. I got some good momentum and pushed the story arc onward and developed some characters. I even turned some nice phrases if I do say so myself. Good things!

It's been a LONG time since I've written a story longer than 500 words but shorter than a novel, meaning a standard short story. I'm so very pleased with this one too. It will need A LOT of work when I've finished the draft though. Oh well. I like that part the best.

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: The Books of the South - Glen Cook
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

2009-11-03T22:24:00.002-05:00

I haven't posted in too long. There's no motivation in laziness. So....
Met with a little writing group tonight. The goal was to put down some words and not just talk and good off online. It was a good session. I wrote a page in about a half hour (which is good for me, but not for the story). Then we read some (meaning I read no one else did).

The story I'm writing now (high plains), I abandoned revising the last one (shutter) for. This is the story that hit me like a rock and I promptly outlined. I see it, I feel it. It's tone is creeping into my daily life. I love writing it (just need to do it faster). I need to finish it by Monday to submit it to my group. Tomorrow I will shred away at it, because tonight I need to catch up on sleep.

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: The Books of the South - Glen Cook
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Frustrations

2009-10-27T22:59:00.001-04:00

My website is broken! I really like the layout. But I've learned that I cannot keep it. That's what I get for cheating, I guess. I'm just going to leave it as is for now and figure something else out later. Silly templates!

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: The Books of the South - Glen Cook
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Good day

2009-10-26T21:29:00.002-04:00

Ok, I haven't been completely unproductive. I began to get the edits into my short story, working title: Shutter on Joy. I put some pretty poignant symbolism and world development in there, bridging on character development as well. I find that many of my settings are characters themselves. In fact, if you've ever workshopped with me, you probably know that I'm a little "focused" on setting.

So after that, what do I do but become massively inspired to write another story. Now, it's been a long time since I've gotten blasted with the entire story in my head at once, even the imagery. And it's a whole short story. This is very good. (It did take me a couple hours to try to turn it into a novel... but I did stop when that happened.) It feels so good to be inspired so completely. I was even a good little writer and outlined it with tidbits of imagery and dialog for help later when I write it.

Alas I MUST update my resume tonight and not write this story. Perhaps I will dream happily of it (it's not a happy story, rather dark thank you) instead.

Cheers!

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: The Books of the South - Glen Cook
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Awesome discovery

2009-10-21T21:22:00.003-04:00

Ok, guilty... I havn't done that story revision yet, but I found something amazing and motivational today!

Swords & Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery

There is hope for me after all!

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: The Books of the South - Glen Cook
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

I welcome myself to my new blog: writing update

2009-10-18T00:38:00.004-04:00

This will be an update on my writing, as I am currently in the middle of a couple of books and will save anything I have to say about them until I am finished reading.

I have poorly controlled my writing projects since I've gotten out of school. I have two flash stories in progress, two short stories half started and a novel (Force of Stone) that needs one more sweep of revision and a new title. I haven't finished anything, in a polished, publishable way since earning my MA in writing.

I have aims to get those flash stories submitted within the next month, so update on that by mid November, and at least work out the plot for one of the short stories before Thanksgiving.

I hope I am not being unrealistic with these goals. I am still trying to figure out my work habits now that I have no deadlines. (I hope that changes soon)

I want to get working on revising Force of Stone as well. I want one more pass before I submit to agents, but I might just say to hell with that and see what the agents have to say first.

This morning as I drowsed half out of dreamland, I partly solved the issues for one of my flash stories. Although I noted everything, I have yet to open the story and get cracking at it. That is my goal for tomorrow.

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: The Books of the South - Glen Cook
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0