Grasping for the Wind

Print-on-Demand is Your Friend

Much has been made of the effect of POD (print-on-demand) publishing. Generally, it is seen as something to be feared, a force for evil that is destroying the “art” of the publishing industry.

First, a definition from Wikipedia: “Print on demand (POD), sometimes called publish on demand, is a printing technology and business process in which new copies of a book (or other document) are not printed until an order has been received.” Essentially, a book is written, and hard copies are not produced until the buyer requests one by putting some money on the table.

Authors and Publishers lament the existence of POD because in many cases, POD books are works that tend to be published due to the author’s vanity. They feel it somehow dilutes the quality of the genre as a whole. And it is true that they are often works that no publisher would ever publish, and most likely any queries for these books sent to agents like The Swivet would be rejected instantly. They lack quality, often lack any editing, and usually read like a fifth grader wrote them.

But I say that this is a good thing. Beyond the obvious environmental benefits, POD publishing is a new wall between publisher and author. Many, many people write novels in their spare time (especially SF&F enthusiasts) and each and every one of those people thing their novel is worthy of being published. This is obviously not so.

After a few rejections, many of these authors will get frustrated, and turn to places like PublishAmerica to get their work published, because it so obviously deserves to be in print. That’s a good thing, because now the agent and publisher can devote their limited time to looking for works that actually have some merit. Sure, those people wasted the time of a few agents, but now they won’t be bothering anybody anymore, since there books now has a glossy (if ugly) cover, and black and white words. They can sign books for all their friends and feel that they have “made it” as an author.

Agents and Publishers, you ought to be glad the POD exists, since enough rejections will get these “authors” out of your hair so you can do the work you really enjoy. If there was no POD, those authors would most likely keep coming back again and again, and in your professionalism and politeness, you would write a response with a few helpful suggestions that may or may not be listened to. But once that book is “published” you no longer have to worry about those submissions.

Authors, you ought to like it because if you are just out to see your work in print, then you can do so, and if you are serious and have quality work to publish, you now have a little less competition.

This is not to say that all POD books are bad. I’ve read and reviewed several, and enjoyed quite a few of them. But it weans out the people who are just out to say “I’m a published author!” to all their friends and family. Occasionally, there is a gem, a nugget in POD, usually due to some author being too humble or shy, or simply too tired of getting rejected, even when their manuscript is worthwhile. But now the agents and publishers can peruse those by their own choice, rather than dealing with a query.

Additionally, out of print books, especially those out of copyright, get added to print-on-demand titles. This way you can read a hard copy of a book that has been published for thirty years. That is certainly a good thing, especially for enthusiasts of little-known and long dead authors whose works can't even be found in used bookstores.

I feel that POD increases the quality of those works that do get published by big press publishing houses. It also increases some of the quality of the small presses as well, though those can sometimes be “vanity editing” a kissing cousin of “vanity publishing”.

Sure, there are some people being published who are being published just because they have always been published, long before POD came around. And sometimes who you know or a track record can get you published no matter how bad your latest book is. But for new authors, who began seeking publication after the advent of POD, I can be more sure that those books are higher quality, since POD has helped weed out the trash.

I acknowledge that many more factors go into publishing, and that editorial decisions, personal preference, who you know, and what readers have an appetite for have some say in which books get published. What I am really saying to all the detractors of POD is, “What are you complaining about?” In theory, if your work is quality, you will have better access to agents and publishers, as POD allows those who want to stoke their egos to do so, and in some cases, propel some authors into publishing with a big publishing house. What’s wrong with that?

30,000 Books

Think you have a hard time finding a place to store all of your books, try finding shelving for 30,000 of them. Says the author, "I knew that once the books found their place, I would find mine." Too true, too true. I know I find it much easier to read when my books are organized and neatly stacked. At least my library is only at 2,274 books and doesn't yet require a barn, nor generate the fear that I will forced to "foresee a day in which my books, like that anonymous invader, will complete their gradual conquest. I will then be banished to the garden, but knowing the way of books, I fear that even that seemingly safe place may not be entirely beyond my library’s hungry ambition."

Must Read Essay

Everyone in any sort of artistic endeavor, those who think of themselves of artists, or those who think Harry Potter is actually a Great Work (notice the capitals, I mean those of you who put it on par with Aristotle, Twain, or Shakespeare) need to read this essay on aesthetic taste by Laurie Fendrich.

Must Read Books for Writers

Mental Floss has a list of 4 Must Read Books for Writers. If you are a writer, I recommend you take a look.

How to Choose a Summer Reading Book

Summer is just around the corner, and its time to find that summer beach reading. Picking that book that you carry with you to the beach, the park, on vacation, and to visit the relatives can actually be surprisingly difficult. You have a limited amount of time, and you want to be sure to use your time wisely. So do you read a book recommended to you by a friend? Or do you read that latest New York Times bestseller? Do you take the bookstore's recommendation and read a book that they list as excellent beach reading? What has been your success rate with such methods?

It is not as easy a choice at it seems, as I have found to my detriment more than once. I thought I might presume to share with you some of the things I have learned about choosing a summer reading book.

Pick a book in a genre you like or by a favorite author.

This is of paramount importance. Summer reading is meant to be fun and pleasurable, and if you are reading a big fat biography of Winston Churchill, or trying to reread a classic that was assigned to you in grade school, you might find yourself not getting the relaxation that is one of your primary goals in taking a book with you on vacation or to the park. This does not necessarily mean that it should be a work of fiction or some book that is pure entertainment. If you can't decide, try picking a book from suggested summer reading books at your local bookstore or library in a genre you generally read. But it is important that you read a book that will help you relax and that will easily keep your interest.

Choose a book with short chapters or has regular breaks every few pages.

Summer is a busy time, and you are going to get distracted. Your kids will come up to you at the beach and ask you to swim with them, or you need to keep your eye on them in the pool. You will want to be able to poke your nose out of the book regularly, but not have to break the flow of the narrative in an unnatural place. Books with short chapters or short sections allow this to happen easily. Terry Pratchett's later works don't even have chapter divisions, but simply have the occasional break as he moves from one scene to the next. This suggestion does not mean the book has to be short itself. I just finished reading Tad William's Shadowmarch and it is a hefty tome at 600+ pages, but he breaks his narrative often enough to change scenes that you can look away or put the novel down without having to stop reading in awkward places.

Buy a book only if you don’t mind letting it get beat up.

You will most likely be traveling with this book, and believe me it is very likely to get damaged in some way. Either you will drop it, spill something on it, or the natural wear and tear of being taken in and out of a bag will bend the edges. You might get sand in it at the beach, or dirt at the park. No matter what you try to do your book will be damaged. I've tried everything, believe me, I'm one of those strange folk that doesn't bend mass market paperbacks far enough back to crease the book. I like my books to look brand new all the time. I know, I know, I'm a freak. :)

This is a great time for you to become a customer at your local library (they build wear and tear into replacement costs) or visit your local used bookstore for a copy of a book you don't mind seeing destroyed. Both will appreciate your business, and you don't have to feel guilty should your book be lost or significantly damaged. I have even bought books I already owned because I like the proprietor of my local independent bookshop and want to give him business, but didn't want to damage my good copy. DO NOT borrow from a friend, unless your friend is OK with that book being a mess when it is returned. Be sure to ask.

Pick something that reads quickly or that you can put down and return to after a long period of time.

This is related to the first suggestion above, since if you pick a book in a genre you like it will most likely read quickly or be a book you will want to return to.

We all are very busy during the summer. Looking at my own travel schedule for summer, I will be traveling for nearly a month at different times June through August. That's a lot of travel, and most likely, your schedule is even worse than mine - I'm a homebody at heart. During that time you will probably be spending most of your times seeing sights, visiting theme parks, carousing with friends or reminiscing with family. Combined with travel time, that leaves little time for reading, no matter how much you enjoy it. So a book that reads quickly is useful for picking up at odd times, or only getting to at night or early morning when every one else is asleep.

Or you may be so busy that although you brought your book, you don't get to it over the entire course of your vacation, even though you had started it on the first few hours of your road trip or plane ride. A week can be a long time to put a book down and then try and return to it, so if your book is something you will want to return to, that you enjoy, you will be able to pick it up more easily after a hiatus and will also not abandon it, thereby wasting the money you spent on it. (If it is a library book of course, money is not a consideration, but do consider the time invested.)

Your summer reading should not be your child's summer reading.

While it is important that you read some of the things your children are reading, you are not going to get the relaxation you need from books written for young children or even high school students (unless that is a genre you like). You need to read for yourself, and your summer reading book or books should be for you. This is a good kind of selfish. It will also have a trickle down effect to your kids. Because you are more relaxed, your relationship with your kids will be more relaxed, and you will both have more fun. (This is actually applicable all year.)

Have fun.

Summer reading has the connotation of "fun in the sun" to it, and you should be sure to enjoy yourself, however you define that. My hope for you is that you enjoy your reading, I know I will.

These are just a few suggestions, by no means comprehensive, and you may have more of your own. I'd like to know what you do to pick some summer reading. Tell me your suggestions and or anecdotes in the comments below.

Baby Got Book

Remember Sir Mix-a-lot's "Baby got Back"? Of course you do, you saw Shrek and Friends. Well creative Cheryl Klein has rewritten the lyrics and given us "Baby Got Book". Hilarious!

HT: Eos Books Blog

Lulu Titlescorer

Have some time on your hands and want to have a little internet fun? Try putting in the titles of some of your favorite books into Lulu's Titlescorer to see how likely they are to become bestsellers. Here is a list with score of some of the books I have read recently.

The percentage is their likelihood of becoming bestsellers.

The Name of the Wind - 69%

Goblin War - 35.9%

The Blade Itself - 26.3%

Empress - 35.9%

The Hidden City - 10.2%

Rolling Thunder - 79.6%

Phytosphere - 35.9%

Small Favor - 69%

Try it with your favorites! Obviously other factors go into a book being a bestseller, such as existing author notoriety, genre, marketing, etc., but in a vacuum, this holds some weight. ;)

Booklamp.org

I know, I know, the title of the post makes you think that I've found some site that sells lamps made of books, or perhaps reading lights designed to make reading easier.

But Booklamp.org is much more awesome than that. A program/site that is currently in beta testing, booklamp.org is like Pandora for books. Their website explains it well.

BookLamp.org is a system for matching readers to books through an analysis of writing styles, similar to the way that Pandora.com matches music lovers to new music. Do you like Stephen King’s It, but thought it was too long? The technology behind BookLamp allows you to find books that are written with a similar tone, tense, perspective, action level, description level, and dialog level, while at the same time allowing you to specify details like... half the length. It’s impervious to outside influences - like advertising - that impact socially driven recommendation systems, and isn’t reliant on a large user base to work.

The geeks have once again been visionary. I'd love something like this. I mean how many times has a reviewer (and I'm in this category) or a friend misdirected you in suggesting you read something that they liked. You ended up hating it. This new site will try and take the guesswork out of that. Watch the video to watch it in action. It's about thirteen minutes long, but its worth listening to the idea.

I signed up for the free beta test and tried it out myself. I put in GRRM's Dying of the Light and got recommendations for Kate Elliott (56%) and Lester Del Rey (56%). I put in Michale Moorcock and got Ben Bova as the best match (78%). I'd say that is a pretty good match of writing style. Of course, there are only 179 books in the database right now, all science fiction novels, so right now it is imperfect and gives back comparisons that might not make a lot of sense. But the more books there are, the better the system will work.

I think this is an awesome idea, and I hope these guys can make it work. Help them out by testing it out for yourself.

HT: Provocative Church

Bookshelf or Art?

Well, why not both?

I've been watching this blog for some time now, and I have to say, I am ga-ga for some of these shelves. My one an only disappointment is that I have yet to find a bookshelf that is designed to hold Mass Market Paperbacks.

I'm looking for a specially designed Mass Market Paperback bookshelf because I am a collector of the Forgotten Realms novels, and the majority of those are published only in mass market format. But no matter how I lay them out, they never really fit well on standard bookshelves, or they are stacked one on top of the other.

I would like to see a bookshelf where I can set my mass market paperbacks upright and next to each other so that the titles on the spines can be read clearly, I can put series together, and still looks classy. Anybody out there ever come across such an animal? What do you do with your mass market paperbacks? How do you stack them if you keep them?

PS: The photo is from when my wife and I first moved into our house about two years ago. Non of these shelves are empty now, and their are more books both on top and on the floor. And these are only the bookshelves in one room of our 2,300 square feet! We have shelves of comparable size in every other room but the two bathrooms. The books on these shelves are my wife's.

Pile o' Shame

Taking a cue from Aidan, I thought I might share with folks a few of my books from the Pile o' Shame, those books I just haven't gotten around to reading, but that everyone says I should.

When a woman wins a Nobel Prize (even if she acts poorly about receiving it) and has written some science fiction, I think that perhaps I ought to read some of her work. I picked up a cheap (but new!) copy of this at my local BJ's wholesale club.

Talked about as one of the best books of last year, Mark J. Ferrari's (such a cool last name!) The Book of Joby has been on everyone's recommended list. Even a Christian magazine I respect thought it was pretty good. However, it is very long and I have other books of more immediate interest.

My youngest brother picked me up a copy I had requested for Christmas, but for all the hubbub surrounding Steven Erikson, I just haven't wanted to pick it up quite yet. Part of it is that fact that it has been so talked up that I'm afraid that I won't like just becasue everyone else seems too. (ridiculous, isn't it?) And although it may not seem like it, I do like to read books not everyone is reading.

I love Neil Gaiman's writing. It's fresh, innovative and unusual. But I suffer from the conscientious reviewers problem. Since I ma fortunate enough to get some books for free from publishers, I feel an obligation to review books sent to me first, books I buy second. I in part deal with this by interposing a book I buy between those sent to me for review, but that leaves me with a pile of books I am glad I own and can't wait to read, but that will have to wait their turn.

You may have noticed that I predominantly read fantasy here. I like scifi a lot, but I prefer fantasy works. Yet a good buddy of mine has really, really encouraged me to read Vernor Vinge. He's the kind of guy who likes his books to provoke him and make him think, as well as be based in good science, rather than pure speculation. And his all-time favorite is Vernor Vinge. I got Rainbow's End on the cheap as a used library copy, and want to read it, but it suffers from the same problem as Gaiman's above.

That ought to do for now. I could probably list another ten to fifteen books on my pile including a few *GASP* Forgotten Realms books I haven't gotten to yet (I am really ashamed of that, I used to breeze through those highly enjoyable books in a weekend, now I haven't touched one in months). Maybe I'll give you another list in a few weeks.

Still, they say that confession is good for the soul, and I feel a little better for having told you about those books I know I should read, but haven't gotten to just yet.

He likes what writer?

Great essay at the NY Times on the effect of literary differences in the dating game.

I know I make it sound boring, but it is quite an insightful little piece.

(HT: Worldmagblog)

Book Review: Henry V by Classical Comics

* Genre: Graphic Novel, Literature, Drama
* ISBN: 1906332002
* ISBN-13: 9781906332006
* Format: Paperback, 144pp
* Publisher: Classical Comics
* Pub. Date: November 2007

Depending on how you look at it, most of us were forced or fortunate enough to read many of the greatest works of fiction in junior and high school. I’m sure you remember breezing through the novels you loved and slogging through the books you hated. If you are young enough, you likely remember trying to find the video version as well.

But perhaps most difficult of all these classics of literature we read was the works of Shakespeare. AS an Elizabethan writer, his English was archaic, and while teachers assured us it was filled with innuendo (or maybe it was fellow students?) we never could quite get the story. Many times, this was due to the fact that we were reading the work of a playwright, but were unable to see the work actually performed. Sometimes we might be fortunate enough to go to a Shakespeare festival, and maybe we say one on microfilm or VHS, but that was one class in a quarter, and never allowed us to engage the dry text before us.

Enter Classical Comics. This UK based publisher has done what others have been unable to do. Namely, give us a visual representation to go alongside the text of the Great Bard’s plays. Using the graphic novel format, Classical Comics gives teacher and students (plus those of us who love good literature) a fun and interesting way to enjoy the works of Shakespeare.

You might say that this has been done before and I agree it has been tried for all sorts of classics. But most of the time, they use abridged versions, dumbed down to fit on the page and leave more room for artwork. Not so Classical Comics. They give us not one version, but three. There is the unabridged version, best for the high school student or adult, the plain text version, which uses modern English to give us the gist of the Bard’s meaning, and the quick text version, which is a great way to introduce potential lovers of the classics, especially elementary age children.

For Classical Comics first book, they chose Henry V, probably the most action packed and inspiring of Shakespeare’s plays. Obviously, most readers will be familiar with the play itself, so I won’t go into detail here, but suffice it to say that its words are as awesome as ever.

Classical Comics has really done a good job translating the words into images. (Unfortunately, this example doesn't have the text, but you can look at more complete versions in pdf format at the website.) Although the artwork is a little bit on the cartoony side (rounded edges, not much in the way of sharp lines, it reminds me of early Disney films) it is well laid out, and the text is never crammed into the panels. And yet the full text is there.

The marriage of artwork and text is important, especially when so many students are historically illiterate. They have difficulty picturing how some of the characters may have dressed or what the country side might have looked like. Classical Comics recreates these things as best they can, allowing students and readers to see with their eyes as well as their minds.

Additionally, the work contains historical background at the end of the volume on Shakespeare, the Globe Theater, the time period as well as a discussion of just how they transformed the work from dry, dusty page to colorful, interesting comics. And you don’t have to take my word for it. Says Patrick Stewart, skilled Shakespearean actor and Captain Jean-Luc Picard of Star Trek: TNG fame, “I find them gripping, dramatic and, although for me the original Shakespeare is always my reason for turning to these plays, I think that what you are doing in illuminating and making perhaps more lucid, especially for young people, is clever and meaningful.”
Need any more be said?

For me, this really revived my interest in the works, and if I were still a teacher, I would have been sure to use it in my classroom. I would even recommend giving these books out as the text to use. Having a picture to go with the words, and having the ability to access a plain English text is of inestimable value to the teacher and the student.

If you want to read the classics, but are afraid after bad experiences in your youth, Classical Comics has the solution for you. Their next volumes include Macbeth, and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, as well as works by Charles Dickens and Mary Shelley. Although the longer novels will be abridged versions I’m still looking forward to all of them, especially since I know that Classical Comics will give me interesting artwork to go with the story.

I highly recommend reading Henry V as one of the greatest epics of all time, and I recommend these particular editions from Classical Comics as the best for understanding the plays, short of seeing it them performed live.

You can read samples at their site in PDF format, to get a taste of what the books look and read like.

Joshua Palmatier's Plot Synopsis Project

Spend some time today looking over Joshua Palmatier's Plot synopsis project. Many of my favorite authors are posting, as well as at least one that I have found dissenting.

This will be a useful tool for all writers whether you write SF or not.

Participants are listed below, but I suggest you read Palmatier's intro, it helps set the stage, as well as giving useful tips and tools.

# Patricia Bray: http://www.sff.net/people/patriciabray/synopsis.html

# Chaz Brenchley: http://desperance.livejournal.com

# Mike Brotherton: http://www.mikebrotherton.com

# Tobias Buckell: http://www.tobiasbuckell.com/

# S.C. Butler: http://scbutler.livejournal.com

# Barbara Campbell: www.barbara-campbell.com/inside.htm

# David B. Coe: http://davidbcoe.livejournal.com

# Jennifer Dunne: http://jennifer_dunne.livejournal.com

# S.L. Farrell: http://sleigh.livejournal.com

# Diana Francis: http://difrancis.livejournal.com

# Gregory Frost: http://frostokovich.livejournal.com

# Felix Gilman: http://www.felixgilman.com/wordpress/

# Jim C. Hines: http://jimhines.livejournal.com

# Jackie Kessler: http://www.jackiekessler.com/blog

# Mindy Klasky: http://mindyklasky.livejournal.com

# Misty Massey: http://madkestrel.livejournal.com

# C.E. Murphy: http://mizkit.livejournal.com

# Naomi Novik: http://naominovik.livejournal.com

# Joshua Palmatier: http://jpsorrow.livejournal.com

# Irene Radford, P.R. Frost: http://ramblin_phyl.livejournal.com

# Maria V. Snyder: http://blog.myspace.com/mariavsnyder

# Jennifer Stevenson: http://smokingpigeon.livejournal.com

# Michelle West: http://msagara.livejournal.com

# Sean Williams: http://ladnews.livejournal.com

Reading in Public

Ever wonder about people reading in public? Ever wanted to approach someone reading a book you read before or would like to read and talking about it with them? Well, one brave blogger does just that.

My wife pointed me to this neat little blog where the author approaches people reading in public on the streets and in the buildings of San Francisco and asks about their reading.

Without giving names, the blogger takes two pictures, one of book in hand and the other of the person and in between inserts information learned about that person and the story of their conversation. It is fascinating how the blogger delves into the mind of these people. It also reminds me how reading is both a communal and a solitary occupation. And of course, it helps that some of the books noticed were fantasy. scifi. Just looking at the first two pages, I saw Mark J. Ferrari's Book of Joby and a Kim Harrison novel. And many folks mention C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien as favorite authors.

Check it out, its a really neat and creative idea.

On Selling Myself

Recently, an author acquaintance of mine suggested that I start submitting my reviews and other thoughts to various e-zines and other trade magazines devoted to spec fic. But as I think about it, and do a little research on payment types and methods, I’ve come to the conclusion that it really isn’t for me.

I didn’t start this blog with the intent to find work. I have a very good paying job with benefits that I really like. Not only that, it is a job that, while making me a capitalist pig, also lets me have plenty of free time, during work, to write posts for this little hobby.

Nor is this blog an attempt to promote my own fiction writing. I have no training in creative writing whatsoever (except for a few classes in my undergrad studies, and they were just for fun). I am a trained elementary teacher for goodness sake! The best I can come up with is, “See Spot Run,” and even that is pushing it. I have no agenda here other than the gratification of myself. (I know where you just went. When you stop giggling, read on.)

I like to think. You know, that thing your brain is for? And to be honest, since giving up television (except for movies and boxed TV shows through Netflix) I have time on my hands that can be put to a purpose. Sure, I could volunteer at my local hospital, but I’d be the ugliest candy-striper you ever saw. People would die just to avoid my entrance into their room. Honestly, I know sci-fi and fantasy. It’s what I enjoy. So I blog about it. (Not that I don't still volunteer for charitable organizations, I just don't pour all my time into them, or seek positions of responsibility in them.)

And of course, there is the fact that selling your writing is a full-time job. It’s a lot of work, as any freelancer will tell you, and it lacks any real security, something my oldest child obsessive personality cannot handle. I need security, and I’m not ashamed to say so. I looked at some of the requirements for publishing writing at various e-zines and trade mags, just for my own information, and it’s tough to get them to accept your work. I have to say, I really respect those folks who can do it.

Would I like to write a novel in my lifetime, see my name in print for my non-fiction or short stories? Sure, that would be nice, but am I willing to make the sacrifice necessary to make that happen? No, not really, and I’m mostly okay with that.

I’d rather pour my energy into making this blog better and better, so that you can enjoy what I enjoy, without feeling like I’m selling you something. My opinions on books are as honest as I know how to make them, and though I am rarely disappointed, I will let you know when I am, with no apologies to whoever sent me the book to review.

I just don’t see myself as someone who needs to go through the effort of publishing my material. If someone wants to borrow and republish what I have written with my permission, more power to them. (SF Crowsnest has done this a few times already.) And if I get paid for it, even better. But I am not going to seek these folks out.

I get paid well at my job, I like what I do for a living, and the mediocre amounts of money that could be produced by trying to put my name into print are so pitiful compared to my salary that it just isn’t worth it to me in terms of money.

I’m just a speculative fiction fan with a critical mind who likes to apply it to the thing he loves. I seek neither money, nor glory (although that would be nice, I won’t deny it) just an open forum to express my thoughts and opinions, a good way to meet authors I respect and whose writing I enjoy, and a useful tool for those of you trying to decide what book to read in your spare time.

I hope I’ve met those expectations in the last six months since this blog took off, and I plan to meet or exceed them in the future.

The Six Word Story

A long time back, before this blog had any readers whatsoever, I posted a little link to a story in Wired, that had a bunch of science fiction and fantasy authors (including Charles Stross, Robert Jordan, Cory Doctorow, David Brin, Gregory Maguire and Frank Miller), as well as others copying Hemingway's famous short story of only six words. They also added a slide show where the stories are put into pictures which is a must view.

Well, I had thought that such a thing didn't really constitute a story, more of an advertisement or promo and it seems Nicholas Lezard at the Guardian agrees with me.

It's worth a look at both articles, the first for the fun, the second for the critical opinion.

Weaving the Colors: An Interview with Jeffrey Overstreet

In one of the most enjoyable and well-answered interviews I have ever done, Jeffrey Overstreet has covered the gamut of topics from his debut novel Auralia's Colors to Christians in fiction to review writing methods. (Here is my review of his debut novel.) I hope you enjoy his thoughts as much as I did. For more of his thoughts, check out his oft posted to blog.

Grasping for the Wind: How did you become a fan of fantasy fiction, and why did you choose to write in this particular genre?

Jeffrey Overstreet: Do you remember those “long-playing records” that Walt Disney produced for each of their movies? You’d put the needle to the record and listen to a narrator tell the story, while excerpts from the movie’s soundtrack gave the characters distinct voices. That’s how I learned to read — listening to those records over and over again, on a plastic Mickey Mouse turntable. The needle was right under Mickey’s index finger on this plastic arm.

Most of those Disney stories were fairy tales. My family didn’t watch much television, and we didn’t go out for entertainment. So I found drama sitting in my room and listening to Pinocchio and Winnie the Pooh and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

Around the time I turned seven, my neighborhood librarian took me up to the next level, introducing me to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, and Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain. Then came Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (I’d read it through more than once by the time I was 10), and Richard Adams’ Watership Down, which remains my favorite novel.

I write fantasy today because those stories — whimsical and wild as they are — continue to speak meaningfully to me, as much as any more “realistic” or sophisticated art. Fantasy explores spiritual mysteries through metaphor, giving shape to ideas that we can’t easily express with everyday stuff. We invent fairies, monsters, elves, trolls, dragons, and magic beans to give shape to ideas and virtues and fears and wonders. And that helps us live more fully, engaging with realities beyond what we can see and hear and touch.

GFTW: Before writing Auralia’s Colors you were widely acclaimed for your movie-going memoir Through a Screen Darkly. Why did you choose to write a book about the simple pleasure of going to the movies?

Overstreet: Movies, like fairy tales, have had an enormous influence in my life, shaping ideas, inspiring questions, giving me an appreciation for beauty, and helping me understand how the world looks to my neighbors (who have often had very different experiences).

I grew up in a rather conservative community in which moviegoing was viewed as a suspicious, dangerous, “worldly” activity. But I also came to see that when we cut ourselves off from art for fear of “contamination,” we lose one of the greatest gifts humanity has to enjoy, something that helps us understand each other, something that humbles and inspires us.

So I wanted to share my own story about how movies have changed my life, how conversations with moviegoers, movie makers and movie stars have taught me a great deal about art and life. It was also a way to write a thorough answer to those who send me emails demanding to know how I can call myself a Christian and still be an enthusiastic fan of filmmakers like Woody Allen, Paul Thomas Anderson, Martin Scorsese, and Krzysztof Kieslowski.

GFTW: Auralia’s Colors, your debut novel, is a fantasy with echoes of the traditional fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen. Like their stories, your story is also an allegory. What moral or cultural truth are you trying to convey to your readers?

Overstreet: I’m glad you find echoes of fairy tales there. I suppose that’s inevitable, since I grew up on those stories.

But I don’t consider Auralia’s Colors to be an allegory at all. I did not intend to teach moral lessons or write a commentary on culture. I imagined a different world, threw in some characters, and then I started asking “What if?” The characters then led me into a story I hadn’t expected.

Now, that doesn’t mean readers won’t find anything meaningful in the story. The story reveals all kinds of things—and that just goes to show that art sometimes knows more than the artist. The characters in Auralia’s Colors are struggling with questions about freedom, responsibility, power, faith, and art. But I didn’t conspire to put any lessons in there. I discovered them after I stood back and thought about the story I’d written. I keep hearing from readers who are finding implications in the story I’ve never considered. That’s exciting.

I get bored with stories that can be boiled down to a simple meaning. In an allegory, characters are really just symbols. And the reader starts solving the puzzle: “Okay, so this character represents Jesus, this one represents Satan, this one represents a Christian, this one represents Judas, etc.” Allegories are like algebra. I’m more interested in storytelling. I do not have any characters that represent Jesus or God or anybody. Certain characters might behave in a Christ-like manner, or in a devilish way, just as many different characters in everything from The Lord of the Rings to Harry Potter to Buffy the Vampire Slayer have moments of Christ-likeness. But Auralia isn’t Jesus. The Keeper isn’t God.

GFTW: Much of your prose reads like poetry. A lot of the book is given over to descriptions of sight and sound, smell and touch. Why did you focus so much on the sensory aspects of your tale?

Overstreet: I grew up reading stories that had musical, poetic language. Literature wasn’t just meant to be read — it was meant to be read out loud. I want to write paragraphs that taste good and sound good.

Also, I’ve learned that natural beauty can make even the most ridiculous movie worth watching. I believe that nature “speaks.” I believe that the things God made mean something. It makes a difference if Auralia is running through a forest instead of a field or a canyon. And it matters what kind of forest that might be, what trees are there, what they smell like, and what colors are in their leaves.

When I read a story in which the author has paid attention to those details, I feel a much more powerful sense of immersion within that world. I’ve read a lot of forgettable fantasy novels. But I go back to Tolkien’s Middle-Earth, Patricia McKillip’s The Book of Atrix Wolfe, Richard Adams’ Watership Down, and Mark Helprin’s Winter’s Tale, because I feel like I’ve lived in those places.

GFTW: You are a vocal Christian who is unafraid to make your beliefs known. What effect has this had on the reception of Auralia’s Colors both in the Christian and secular marketplace?

Overstreet: It’s too early to say, I think. I’m encouraged, because I’m getting mail from all kinds of readers, all ages, and very different worldviews. Some Christians write stories to “present the Gospel” or “convey a message,” but I don’t. Some people write for Christian readers; I don’t. I want to write books that I would have enjoyed reading, and that I think others will enjoy. I think everybody likes a good story. People are drawn to excellence.

If there is some truth to a work of art, or some beauty, poetry, and passion — that’s can give the audience an encounter with God, even in the artist doesn’t believe in God. I’ve read an awful lot of Christian books that were poorly written, derivative, boring, and sloppy. That doesn’t do me any good. And my faith has been encouraged and transformed by artists who would never call themselves Christians. It doesn’t matter much who is writing the story — it’s the story that matters. It doesn’t matter what color that candle’s made of — it’s the light and the heat the draws people in. You’ve probably heard it said, “All truth is God’s truth.” I would add that all beauty is beautiful because it reflects God’s glory.

I hope that Auralia’s Colors has enough in its pages to give people an engaging and meaningful experience. We’ll see what happens.

GFTW: What effect does your Christian faith have on your writing?

Overstreet: Because I believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead after we killed him, I believe that there’s hope, even hope that death does not have the final word. I believe there’s meaning in the world around me. I believe that there are, as Hamlet said, “powers in heaven and earth” that we cannot fathom.

If I believe those things, how can I write a story that isn’t hopeful? I would have to tell a lie. I can’t help but write stories in which there are powers greater than the characters, powers in conflict.

But no, I don’t deliberately write “Christian stories”, just as I don’t bake “Christian cookies.” I just want to write a good story. And I think all good stories draw us because they reflect God’s glory… even if they’re shelved somewhere outside the “Religion” section at Barnes and Noble.

GFTW: Your novel lacks any clearly defined “evil” characters or clearly defined “good” characters. Why did you avoid the standard good vs. evil theme of fantasy?

Overstreet All of my favorite stories avoid dividing their characters into false categories of “Good Guys” and “Bad Guys.” I don’t believe in “Good” and “Bad” people.

I believe that all of us were designed by God, in God’s image, and that we have “eternity written in our hearts.” That means that everybody will give evidence of goodness in some way, even the worst villains.

But I also believe that we are all broken, deceived, and depraved in our appetites. Thus, even the best heroes will have moments of doubt, make mistakes, and sometimes behave irresponsibly.

When we insist on stories in which there are “bad people,” and suggest that the solution is the elimination of those “bad people,” that can carry over into devastating behavior in the real world. We live in a culture that perpetually abuses labels and categories for the sake of judging other people. Genocides begin with the idea that we can divide people into the “good” and the “bad.”

Now, in stories for small children, I think it’s useful to have simplistic “good guys and bad guys” because you are giving children figures that represent fears they must overcome, or virtues they should strive to imitate. But when storytelling becomes more sophisticated, it’s important to discourage any interpretations that will cause people to judge others and exalt themselves.

GFTW: My favorite quote from the novel is on page 254. “You want a gift from the king? Hear this: if you allow Abascar freedom, some people will choose what they shouldn’t. … But take away that freedom, and no one has opportunity to choose what they should.” Why is having a choice so important?

Overstreet: Wow, that’s a question that would take a book to answer! Here are a few thoughts:

In Auralia’s world, the king and queen of House Abascar take away their people’s power of creative expression. And they also forbid them to tell certain stories. The people of Abascar become resentful, because they are not able to ask certain questions, investigate mysteries, and express the mysteries within themselves. They can’t be human.

The king tells them that the world outside is dangerous, so he makes them stay inside the walls. And the world is dangerous. But if the people are forced to obey the king, without any choice in the matter, they have no chance to develop discernment. And worse, when they become afraid of the world around them, they become starved for beauty. Sure, they might be safer from some dangers inside of Abascar’s walls, but by walling themselves off from the world they’re creating an enclosed space, and new dangers will arise and flourish within that space. Worse, the people remove their chances of making a difference beyond the walls, so the world outside just spirals out of control.

It reminds me a bit of my own experience growing up. I was taught to avoid the world beyond the church because there were so many temptations out there. But as a result, my Christian community became rather isolated and had very little effect on the surrounding culture. We talked about “loving our neighbors,” but in truth, we were repulsed by our neighbors and we tried to create a society in which we could live apart from them. And guess what? Temptations and sins of all kinds festered within that community, so we were fooling ourselves by thinking we could withdraw from “the sinful world.”

We need freedom. And yes, freedom is dangerous, which is why we also need to be responsible and discerning.

GFTW: The ale boy, one of your primary and perhaps most interesting characters, lacks even a name. Why did you choose to make him nameless throughout the novel?

Overstreet: The reason is rather simple: I liked the sound of it.

It kindled my curiosity. And while some storytellers like to solve of the mysteries for the reader, I prefer reading books that leave mysteries, big and small, for me to ponder. This is one of those small mysteries in Auralia’s world.

As I began to write Auralia’s Colors, the ale boy was a minor character. My friend Danny Walter is an actor who pays close attention to characters and their voices. He started asking me questions about the ale boy. I started exploring possibilities, and realized that the ale boy had a much bigger part to play in the story.

I’m finishing the sequel, Cyndere’s Midnight, and I’m still discovering more about the ale boy. He has a particular call that he’s following, and it’s leading him into some rather horrifying places.

GFTW: What has been your favorite reaction to Auralia’s Colors from a reader or critic?

Overstreet That’s a tough question. I’ve been bowled over by the enthusiasm in the letters I’m receiving.

I thought I had made up the name “Auralia.” I experimented with combinations of letters from other names and words I like: aura, Laura, Leah. But then I received a letter from someone named Auralia. She bought the book simply because her name was on the cover! She informed me that the name means “golden lion of God.” That kind of freaked me out. I had no idea.

I had to chuckle when a fellow at Amazon gave the book a low rating because it reminded him of the writing of George Macdonald. Hey, I’ll take that as a compliment!

But my favorite responses have come from two extraordinary artists whose work has not received the kind of attention it deserves. They both wrote to say that they felt related to Auralia, because of her relentless creativity and her frustrations at how others take what she does for granted. That made the whole project worthwhile.

GFTW: What can you tell us about the sequel to Auralia’s Colors, Cyndere’s Midnight?

Overstreet: You could call it my version of Beauty and the Beast. But my version has two beauties and a whole pack of beasts.

Auralia’s Colors focuses on House Abascar. Cyndere’s Midnight takes you into a world of monsters — the ruins of House Cent Regus, where people have fallen under a curse that turns them into murderous beasts. You’ll catch glimpses of these beastmen in Auralia’s story, and you’ll learn about the mysterious monster who crept into Auralia’s hideaway in the first book.

It’s also about House Bel Amica, the wealthy and powerful society beside the sea. You’ll meet the heiress to the throne, Cyndere. Cyndere has the scandalous idea that there is a better way to deal with the beastmen than just hunting and killing them.

Things get out of control quickly when Auralia’s Colors bring together the heiress and a beastman, as well as the ale boy, Cyndere’s beautiful helper Emeriene, an ambitious soldier named Ryllion, and that dreamer from House Abascar named Cal-raven.

GFTW: Beyond the usual authors recommended (like Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Madeline L’Engle) whose works would you recommend that fantasy enthusiasts read?

Overstreet: When I first read Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin, I was enthralled. And I ended up marrying the woman who first recommended it to me. It’s set in New York, but it’s a New York so richly imagined that it’s a whole new wonderland. Helprin writes so beautifully that it could make you want to just give up writing.

I love the way Guy Gavriel Kay tells a story. In books like Sailing to Sarantium and The Lions of Al-Rassan, he imagines new worlds, but they’re firmly rooted in the details of actual human history. He gives us many different perspectives on a single world, from the rich to the poor, the young to the old. That is not only creative, but it’s compassionate. It trains us to consider other people’s perspectives, which is good for our hearts.

I also recommend Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast, for his exaggerated, spectacular descriptions; Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow, a powerful work of “theological science fiction”; and a little-known story by Michael Ende called Momo, which is a fairy tale just waiting for someone to turn it into a fantastic feature film.

GFTW: As a professional movie critic, what advice would you give to people (such as myself) on the best way to critique a work of art like movies or literature?

Overstreet: I spend quite a few pages in Through a Screen Darkly telling stories about what I’ve learned about writing film reviews. And I’ve included a guide there for movie discussion groups. I highly recommend starting a movie discussion group. We learn a lot about each other when we compare our responses to a work of art.

There are a lot of questions to consider when watching a movie, or reading a book for that matter: Don’t just ask, “Did you like it?” Talk about what worked and what didn’t. Ask what the artist’s intentions seemed to be, and then weigh whether you thought those goals were achieved. Consider the film’s intended audience: Who are they, how old are they, and will this film serve them? Consider the technical aspects of the film: Whose performance was memorable, and why? What did the filmmaker’s choices regarding color, design, editing, and music do for the film? Did anything in the work draw too much attention to itself?

But I’d also encourage people to examine their own feelings about the film. It may have been powerful, but did it reveal anything true? If it was disturbing, why did it disturb you? Was it a film condoning evil, or was it exposing evil so we can understand both good and evil better? Did it make you feel good? If so, how? Was it sentimental, or honest? Was it telling us what we want to hear, or was it telling the truth? Did it preach its message, or did it show us something and let us think for ourselves?

GFTW: Any parting thoughts or comments?

Overstreet: If anyone is interested in discussing Auralia’s Colors… or movies for that matter… everyone is invited to visit me at LookingCloser.org. That’s where you’ll find my archive of film reviews, and my blog, which I update almost every day.

GFTW: Thanks for taking the time.

For more, read Fantasy Debut's Interview with Jeffrey Overstreet.

This post is part of the CSFF blog tour for January 2008. Read posts from these other participants in the tour:

Brandon Barr Jim Black Justin Boyer Grace Bridges Jackie Castle Carol Bruce Collett Valerie Comer CSFF Blog Tour D. G. D. Davidson Chris Deanne Jeff Draper April Erwin Marcus Goodyear Andrea Graham Jill Hart Katie Hart Timothy Hicks Heather R. Hunt Becca Johnson Jason Joyner Kait Karen Carol Keen Mike Lynch Margaret Rachel Marks Shannon McNear Melissa Meeks Rebecca LuElla Miller Mirtika or Mir's Here Pamela Morrisson Eve Nielsen John W. Otte John Ottinger Deena Peterson Rachelle Steve Rice Cheryl Russel Ashley Rutherford Hanna Sandvig Chawna Schroeder James Somers Rachelle Sperling Donna Swanson Steve Trower Speculative Faith Jason Waguespac Laura Williams Timothy Wise

(Photos © Fritz Liedtke or Jeffrey Overstreet)

Why We Write

Charlie Craig and Thania St. John have put together a blog called Why We Write, containing a series of essays on the vocation of writing.

The essayists include:

Jane Espenson, writer for “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and Co-Executive Producer of “Battlestar Gallactica.”

Danny Rubin, writer of “Groundhog Day.”

Damon Lindelof, Co-Creator and Executive Producer of “Lost.”

And many others. I suggest you read them, they are quite insightful, as well as deeply personal.

Speculative Fiction and the Value of the Formula

In book reviewing and literary analysis the term “formula” or “formulaic” has become something of a mild pejorative. To have your novel or short story deemed formulaic is to have your novel be dismissed as not a worthwhile read, you are seen as being commercially motivated, and usually as lacking any creativity in your writing.

This is, to my mind, an unfair assessment. The formula is an important part of literature, and should not be so derided. In particular, this is important in the speculative fiction genre. It this genre that includes science fiction and fantasy novels. This genre is oft dismissed as formulaic except for a few standouts (like Tolkien, Asimov, Wells, Huxley, and Bradbury) whose work moves into the realm of “literary” fiction.

The Formula

The formula is the necessary baseline for all fiction. It contains the “standard set of plot devices, themes, and stock characters, and a style similar to other novels or short stories in the genre.” (ArticleWorld) Without it, we wouldn’t be able to classify what is fantasy and what is science fiction, or mystery, or romance. Professor William Warner at UC Santa Barbara, as part of a 2002 class called “Introducing Science Fiction: A Genealogical Approach”, found seven traits of formula fiction:

1. The main characters are parsed into heroes and villains, the good and the evil.
2. Action, incident and plotting take precedent over ideas or character.
3. In formula fiction the big payoff in reader pleasure comes from the surprising and wonderful reversal that answers the question "how will things turn out?"
4. Formula fiction is rife with didactic messages, often enforced by the plot.
5. Formula fiction, as its name implies, follows pre-established formulas that require no justification on grounds outside the fiction.
6. Formula fiction accommodates incompleteness, fragmentariness, or last-minute revision.
7. With formula fiction the basic exchange is entertainment for money. (Dr. Warner’s Notes)

Yet none of these seven traits says that formula fiction is actually bad fiction or bad writing. Yet this is what is often meant by calling a novel “formulaic”.

Piers Anthony, author of the immensely popular Xanth series and author of over 140 books, has this to say about formula fiction. “I don't want ever to be guilty of what my critics claim: doing formula without original elements.” (Interview with Crescent Blues) Inherent in this statement is the admission that Anthony does use a formula to write his novels even if each one incorporates some original elements.

David and Leigh Eddings are a husband and wife fantasy author team known for their use of formula. Their New York Times Bestsellers are all very similar in tone and plot, yet each is an enjoyable novel. In the introduction to The Rivan Codex, Eddings sets out what he believes is the formula to writing a good epic fantasy novel.

1. The Underlying Theology (Polytheistic/Monotheistic/Buddhist/Other)
2. The Quest
3. The Magic Talisman (Holy Grail/One Ring/Magic Sword/Jewel)
4. The Hero: Galahad the Pure, Gawain the Brave, Perceval the Dumb (Naive), or Lancelot the Heavyweight Champion of the World
5. The Resident Wizard (Gandalf, Merlin, Belgarath)
6. The Heroine
7. The Villain (usually with some diabolical agenda)
8. The Companions (generally a multicultural crew who can protect the hero until he defeats the villain)
9. The Romantic Interests for #8. (Both 8&9 must be well-rounded groups, with individualized personalities and flaws)
10. The kings, queens, emperors, generals, courtiers and such, who make up the governments of the world. (From the Wikipedia entry for The Rivan Codex.)

And on a very old FAQs sheet from 1994, Eddings is quoted as saying “...the basic formula for fantasy. Take a bit of magic, mix well with a few open ended Jungian archetypal myths, make your people sweat and smell and get hungry at inopportune moments, throw in a ponderous prehistory, and let nature take it's course.” (See here.)

And even though both of these authors have admitted, are even proud of, writing formulaic fiction, they have been both professional and commercial successes.

The Value of the Formula

There are three reasons why I would think that formula fiction is just as valuable to the reader as any “high” or “literary” fiction.

1. “High” cultural genres also rely on formula. Every fiction piece, save the very first relies in some way on the stories and works that have come before. In fantasy, we are learning more and more that while J. R. R. Tolkien might have been the first to popularize fantasy, he wasn’t the first to write. In Tales before Tolkien Douglas A. Anderson finds many instances of fantasy works before Tolkien’s publication. In the same way, other works of fiction rely on what came before, and what is eventually called a “trope” of fiction. Additionally, if something has no formula, it cannot be teachable, yet writer’s workshops proliferate, and literature is a commonly accepted degree from colleges and universities. If even the “high” or “literary” seems to lack formula, that only shows the writer’s skill with the formula, rather than the lack thereof.

2. Just because something is predictable or repetitious does not mean that it cannot be enjoyed. For instance, Wizards of the Coast works hard to put out fiction based on its role-playing worlds. Each novel is has a particular setting and follows particular rules, thereby making it formulaic, but each author within the shared world creates something new. And these books are immensely popular even outside of the Dungeons and Dragons crowd. The same holds true for short story collections gathered around a theme. Although each story has a “formula” or prescribed set by the editor or publisher, he/she can write something different within those sets of rules. Pick any book considered formulaic by the “in” crowd of critics and readers and think about your own reaction to it. Did you enjoy it? Was it a nice piece of fiction to curl up with after a hard day? Did you feel that it was formulaic before or after you read other people’s opinions? Just because a book has a formula does not mean that the reader cannot enjoy it, even if he or she knows it is formulaic. People’s pleasure seems like a good enough reason to value the formula in fiction.

3. Finally, there is commercial success. I mentioned like David and Leigh Eddings and Piers Anthony and their formula fiction already. Yet these writers are commercial successes. Or look at Terry Pratchett. His works have a certain formula to them, (I point you to Going Postal and Making Money as prime examples of this.) yet his books are sold worldwide in many languages. Although commercial success is not necessarily an indicator of quality, it does point to the fact that the reader doesn’t particularly care if a writer is formulaic, so long as he is witty, interesting, or simply engaging. Such commercial success shows that the books have value to the author and publisher. Without it, so called “high” fiction would likely never get published. The funds generated by the formula fiction funnels into other areas of literature.

Conclusion

Readers of speculative fiction should not listen to the pejorative use of the word “formulaic”. It is a highbrow way of saying that the novel is good enough for the masses, but not good enough for those of us with a literary education. There is nothing inherently wrong with the formula in fiction; it is the author’s use of it and the reader’s reaction to it that matter most. Let’s have authors be willing to say that they use a formula, whether derived themselves or from the works of others, and let’s have readers say that they enjoyed a book, so what if the author has a formula for writing it?

In a sort of related post, SF Signal compares the new and original with the formula for Science fiction TV shows. They lean more towards the new being better, but point out that new is often unsuccessful, where as what the tried and true formula brings is popular with fans.

Want to be a writer? I hope you have twenty years to spare.

Here's a hilarious piece over at the Oxford American about the steps you need to become a writer. George Singleton manages to marry writing with....picking up aluminum cans.

This plan will work if and only if the writer-to-be is, say, twenty-five years old and intends to live another fifty years. But it’s fun to play even if you start at age thirty or forty. Maybe it’ll give you the incentive to live past ninety....

Anyway, write one thousand words on the first day.

Now go out—this will work if and only if you live out in the country, in a state that doesn’t offer a nickel for cans, seeing as no one in those states throws nickels out the open truck window, I doubt, like they do where I live in Dacusville, South Carolina— with a plastic bag and pick up at least fifty aluminum cans. This might take as much as a quarter-mile of walking.

Come back home and place the cans upright. Stomp on them. This will reduce space. Throw the cans in some kind of container with a top—a rubber garbage can, for instance. If you live in an apartment complex, make sure that your neighbors don’t snoop around and steal your cans. Wait. You live in the country. You live in a place like Dacusville, South Carolina. Maybe I should’ve mentioned that you might be living in a trailer.

Anyway, put up the cans. Start thinking about tomorrow.

(HT: Worldmagblog)

A Year of Reading 2008

This is a continually updated list of all the books I have read in the year 2008. Links are to reviews I have written for some of these books. You can also look at my list for 2007.

January February March April May June
July August September October November December

January

Series 65: Uniform Investment Adviser Law Exam Manual by Kaplan Financial
The Prodigal Troll by Charles Coleman Finlay
Instant Knowledge by the editors at mental_floss
The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes
In The Beginning by the editors at mental_floss
Eberron: Bound by Iron by Edward Bolme
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
Bash Down the Door and Slice Open the Badguy edited by W. H. Horner
Hunter's Run by George R. R. Martin, Gardner Dozois and Daniel Abraham
A Bit of Madness by Emmanuel Civiello and Thomas Mosdi
Goblin Hero by Jim C. Hines
The Shadow and Night by Chris Walley
Dragon Outcast by E. E. Knight

February

Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse edited by John Joseph Adams
Breach the Hull edited by Mike McPhail
Confessor by Terry Goodkind
Blood Ties by Pamela Freeman
Sojourn Volume 6: The Bezerker's Tale by Ian Edgington and Greg Land
Forgotten Realms: Neversfall by Ed Gentry
Infoquake by David Louis Edelman
The Golden Cord by Paul Genesse
Grimspace by Ann Aguirre

March

The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells
Madhouse by Rob Thurman
The Dead Guy Interviews by Michael Stusser
The Hidden City by Michelle West
Klassic Koalas: Ancient Aboriginal Tales in New Retellings by Lee Barwood
Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie
Growingold with B. C. by Johnny Hart

April

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Small Favor by Jim Butcher
Heroes Adrift by Moira J. Moore
Misspelled edited by Jule E. Czerneda
Flash Fiction Online, April 2008 edited by Jake Freivald
Rolling Thunder by John Varley
Empress by Karen Miller
Phytosphere by Scott Mackay
Goblin War by Jim C. Hines
Return of the Sword edited by Jason M. Waltz

May

Shadowmarch by Tad Williams
Forgotten Realms: Obsidian Ridge by Jess Lebow
Iron Man: Beneath the Armor by Andy Mangels
The Court of the Air by Stephen Hunt
Bloodheir by Brian Ruckley
The Martian General's Daughter by Theodore Judson
The Four Forges by Jenna Rhodes
Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan

June

A Darkness Forged in Fire by Chris Evans
Wizards edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois

July

August

September

October

November

December

January February March April May June
July August September October November December

A Year of Reading 2007

The Year is Done! I hope you had a great one and have high hopes for 2008. Below is a list of all the books I read in 2007 (I like to keep track because I am just that hyper-organized). The final five have reviews written that I just haven't posted because every review deserves a suitable amount of time at the top of the blog. You will see them in January of 2008.

January February March April May June
July August September October November December

January

Tuf Voyaging by George R. R. Martin
Condensed Knowledge by the editors at mental_floss
Crown of Stars by Kate Elliott
In the Ruins by Kate Elliott
Gifts by Ursula K. Le Guin
Changing Planes by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke
Monks and Mystics by Mindy and Brandon Withrow
Outposts: Journeys to the Surviving Relics of the British Empire by Simon Winchester
Dying of the Light by George R. R. Martin
Life@Work by John Maxwell
The Children of Men by P.D. James
Forgotten Realms: Frostfell by Mark Sehestedt
The Druids by Peter Berresford Ellis

February

The Magic of Recluce by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
Forgotten Realms: Sacrifice of the Widow by Lisa Smedman
Dragon Champion by E. E. Knight
Forgotten Realms: Double Diamond Triangle Saga by Various Authors
Outwitting History by Aaron Lansky
Forbidden Knowledge by the editors at mental_floss

March

Three Blind Mice and Other Stories by Agatha Christie
Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories by Agatha Christie
Rome 2006 by Rick Steves
Supplement to the Italian Dictionary by Bruno Munari
Keats and Italy by Various Authors
The Last Sin Eater by Francine Rivers
Teacher Man by Frank McCourt
Night by Elie Wiesel
Dachshunds for Dummies by Eve Adamson
Legend by David Gemmell
Midshipwizard Halcyon Blithe by James M. Ward

April

Forgotten Realms: Depths of Madness by Erik Scott de Bie
The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories by Agatha Christie
The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman
Shakespeare's Kings by John Julius Norwich
On Becoming a Leader by Warren Bennis
The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain
Black Gate: Issue 10 Spring 2007 by John O'Neill (ed.) and Howard Andrew Jones (ed.)
Forgotten Realms - Unclean: The Haunted Lands, Book I by Richard Lee Byers

May

Dragon Avenger by E. E. Knight
Eldest by Christopher Paolini
Scatterbrained by the editors at Mental_Floss
The Prestige by Christopher Priest
Real Estate Finance for Investment Properties by Steve Berges
The Clerk's Tale by Margaret Frazer
The Bastard's Tale by Margaret Frazer
The Hunter's Tale by Margaret Frazer
Forgotten Realms - The Gossamer Plain: The Empyrean Odyssey Book 1 by Thomas M. Reid
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The King's Buccaneer by Raymond E. Fiest
The King Beyond the Gate by David Gemmell
The Unhandsome Prince by John Moore
A Fate Worse than Dragons by John Moore
Maskerade by Terry Pratchett
The Truth by Terry Pratchett
Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett

June

Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett
The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Night Watch by Terry Pratchett
Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett
A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
The Restorer by Sharon Hinck
Another Fine Myth/Myth Conceptions by Robert Asprin
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Father of Dragons by L. B. Graham

July

Black History Through Blue Eyes: The Debt the World Owes to Africa by James Seymour
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Forgotten Realms: Scream of Stone, The Watercourse Trilogy Book III by Philip Athans
The Case of the Missing Books by Ian Sansom
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees
Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
The Widow's Tale by Margaret Frazer
A Rhyming History of Britain by James Muirden, David Eccles (Illustrator)

August

More Than A Hobby by David Green
Real Estate Investment Trusts: Structure, Performance, and Investment Opportunities by Su Han Chan, John Erickson, Ko Wang
Tipperary: A Novel by Frank Delaney
Explorer's House: National Geographic and the World It Made by Robert M. Poole
Forgotten Realms: The Howling Delve by Jaleigh Johnson
A Life Well Spent: The Eternal Rewards of Investing Yourself and Your Money in Your Family by Russ Crosson
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
The Telling by Ursula K. Le Guin

September

Black Gate Issue #11 by John O'Neill (ed.)
The Surrogates by Robert Venditti, Brett Weldele
Shadowstorm by Paul S. Kemp
Forgotten Realms: Swords of Dragonfire by Ed Greenwood
Forgotten Realms: Shadowstorm by Paul S. Kemp
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
Honored Enemy by Raymond E. Feist and William R. Fortschen
Murder in LaMut by Raymond E. Feist and Joel Rosenberg
Forgotten Realms: Storm of the Dead by Lisa Smedman
The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What it Means for All of Us by Robyn Meredith
The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller
Union of Renegades by Tracy Falbe
Winterbirth by Brian Ruckley

October

Wind Follower by Carole McDonnell
The Sagittarius Command by R. M. Meluch
The Summoner by Gail Z. Martin
Making Money by Terry Pratchett
Crystal Rain by Tobias Buckell
Goblin Quest by Jim C. Hines

November

Scarlet by Stephen R. Lawhead
The Princes of the Golden Cage by Nathalie Mallet
Green Rider by Kristen Britain
The Phoenix Unchained by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory
Forgotten Realms: Stardeep by Bruce Cordell
The Awakened Mage by Karen Miller
Forgotten Realms: The Orc King by R. A. Salvatore
Ragamuffin by Tobias Buckell
A Prayer for the Damned by Peter Tremayne
The Blue Haired Bombshell by John Zakour
Hedge Hunters by Katherine Burton
Sails and Sorcery: Tales of Nautical Fantasy edited by W. H. Horner
Shimmer, The Pirate Issue edited by John Joseph Adams

December

Eberron: The Orb of Xoriat by Edward Bolme
Sojourn: The Sorcerer's Tale by Ian Edgington and Greg Land
Across the Face of the World by Russell Kirkpatrick
Forgotten Realms: Crypt of the Moaning Diamond by Rosemary Jones
Fellowship Fantastic by Martin H. Greenberg and Kerrie Hughes
Genetopia by Keith Brooke
The Tales of the Last War edited by Mark Sehestedt
Bad A** Faeries edited by Danielle Ackley-McPhail
Robin Hood and the Beasts of Sherwood by Clayton Emery
Tides by Scott Mackay
Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet

January February March April May June
July August September October November December

Book Reviews by Title

These are the my book reviews, categorized alphabetically by the title. (Click here for categorization by author.) "The" doesn't count towards the title.

You can also subscribe to an RSS feed of my reviews at librarything.

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

A

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
A Rhyming History of Britain by James Muirden (author) and David Eccles (illustrator)
Across the Face of the World by Russell Kirkpatrick
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
Are Women Human? by Dorothy Sayers
Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet
The Awakened Mage by Karen Miller

B

Bad-A** Faeries edited by Danielle Ackley-McPhail (et al.)
Badger's Moon by Peter Tremayne
Bash Down the Door and Slice Open the Badguy edited by W. H. Horner
Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie
Beyond the Summerland by L. B. Graham
Breach the Hull edited by Mike McPhail
A Bit of Madness by Emmanuel Civiello and Thomas Mosdi
Black Gate: Issue #11 edited by John O'Neill
Black History Through Blue Eyes: The Debt the World Owes to Africa by James Seymour
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
Bloodheir by Brain Ruckley
Blood Ties by Pamela Freedman
The Blue-Haired Bombshell by John Zakour

C

The Children of Men by P. D. James
The Clerk's Tale by Margaret Frazer
Confessor by Terry Goodkind
The Court of the Air by Stephen Hunt
The Crown of Stars Series by Kate Elliott
Crystal Rain by Tobias Buckell
Condensed Knowledge by the editors of mental_floss

D

Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison
The Dead Guy Interviews by Michael Stusser
The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells
Dragon Champion by E. E. Knight
Dragon Outcast
The Druids by Peter Berresford Ellis
Dying of the Light by George R. R. Martin

E

Eberron: Bound by Iron by Edward Bolme
Eberron: The Orb of Xoriat by Edward Bolme
Eberron: The Tales of the Last War by Mark Sehestedt
The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What it Means for All of Us by Robyn Meredith
Empress by Karen Miller
Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Explorer's House: National Geographic and the World It Made by Robert M. Poole

F

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
Fellowship Fantastic by Martin H. Greenberg and Kerrie Hughes
The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman
Flash Fiction Online, April 2008 edited by Jake Freivald
Forgotten Realms: The City of Splendors by Elaine Cunningham and Ed Greenwood
Forgotten Realms: Crypt of the Moaning Diamond by Rosemary Jones
Forgotten Realms: The Gossamer Plain by Thomas M. Reid
Forgotten Realms: The Howling Delve by Jaleigh Johnson
Forgotten Realms: Obsidian Ridge by Jess Lebow
Forgotten Realms: The Orc King by R. A. Salvatore
Forgotten Realms: Road of the Patriarch by R. A . Salvatore
Forgotten Realms: Shadowstorm by Paul S. Kemp
Forgotten Realms: Stardeep by Bruce Cordell
Forgotten Realms: Swords of Dragonfire by Ed Greenwood
Forgotten Realms: Unclean by Richard Lee Byers

G

Genetopia by Keith Brooke
The Gift of Pain by Paul Brand and Philip Yancey
Glory Road by Robert Heinlein
Green Rider by Kristen Britain
Goblin Hero by Jim C. Hines
Goblin Quest by Jim C. Hines
Goblin War by Jim C. Hines
The Golden Cord by Paul Genesse
Grimspace by Ann Aguirre
Growingold with B.C. by Johnny Hart

H

Hedge Hunters by Katherine Burton
Henry V (Classical Comics Edition) by William Shakespeare
Heroes Adrift by Moira J. Moore
The Hidden City by Michelle West
Honored Enemy by Raymond E. Feist and William R. Fortschen
Hood by Stephen Lawhead
Hunter's Run by George R. R. Martin, Gardner Dozois, and Daniel Abraham

I

Infoquake by David Louis Edelman
The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain
The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller
Iron Man: Beneath the Armor by Andy Mangels

J

J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter
The Junior Books by Dave Ramsey

K

Klasssic Koalas: Ancient Aboriginal Tales in New Retellings by Lee Barwood
Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan
The Know-It-All by A. J. Jacobs

L

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin
Legend by David Gemmell
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
Life@Work by John C. Maxwell

M

Madhouse by Rob Thurman
Magician by Raymond E. Feist
The Magic of Recluce by L. E. Moedesitt Jr.
Making Money by Terry Pratchett
Master of Souls by Peter Tremayne
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan
Midshipwizard Halcyon Blithe by James M. Ward
Misspelled edited by Julie E. Czerneda
Monks and Mystics by Mindy and Brandon Withrow
Moon Gate by David Weldon and William Proctor
More Than A Hobby by David Green
The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson
Murder in LaMut by Raymond E. Feist and Joel Rosenberg

N

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Night by Elie Wiesel
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

O

On Becoming A Leader by Warren Bennis
Outposts: Journeys to the Surviving Relics of the British Empire by Simon Winchester
Outwitting History by Aaron Lansky

P

Phantom by Terry Goodkind
The Pendragon Cycle by Stephen Lawhead
The Phoenix Unchained by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory
Phytosphere by Scott Mackay
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
The Prestige by Christopher Priest
The Princes of the Golden Cage by Nathalie Mallet
The Prodigal Troll by Charles Coleman Finlay

Q

R

Ragamuffin by Tobias Buckell
Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
The Restorer by Sharon Hinck
Return of the Sword edited by Jason M. Waltz
The Rick Steves' Travel Guide Series by Rick Steves
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Robin Hood and the Beasts of Sherwood by Clayton Emery
Rolling Thunder by John Varley

S

The Sagittarius Command by R. M. Meluch
Sails and Sorcery: Tales of Nautical Fantasy edited by W. H. Horner
Scarlet by Stephen Lawhead
Shadow in the Deep by L. B. Graham
The Shadow and Night by Chris Walley
Shadowmarch by Tad Williams
Shakespeare's Kings by John Julius Norwich
Shimmer, The Pirate Issue edited by John Joseph Adams
Small Favor by Jim Butcher
Smoke in the Wind by Peter Tremayne
Sojourn: The Bezerker's Tale by Ian Edgington and Greg Land
Sojourn: The Sorcerer's Tale by Ian Edgington and Greg Land
The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes
The Summoner by Gail Z. Martin
The Surrogates, Vol. 1 by Robert Venditti

T

Teacher Man by Frank McCourt
Thud! by Terry Pratchett
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Tides by Scott Mackay
Tipperary: A Novel by Frank Delaney
The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn
The Truth by Terry Pratchett

U

Union of Renegades by Tracy Falbe

V

W

Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse edited by John Joseph Adams
Wind Follower by Carole McDonnell
Winterbirth by Brian Ruckley

X

Y

Z

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Sir Gawain Gets a Facelift

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is one of the seminal poems of English literature. This little known Christmas story was once translated by J.R.R. Tolkien. But it has always been somewhat inaccessible due to the 14th century English it is written in. An "energetic, free-flowing, high-spirited version" by Simon Armitage is now available according to this NY Times article.

Beyond your experience with the work, what is your opinion on "readable" translations of such works? (Beowulf, anyone?). Does such a translation help or harm the work?

GFTW's Favorite Reads of 2007

Well, all, time for my first ever favorite reads of the year. In 2007, I read a lot of books (and since it ain't over yet, will read several more).

This is not a list of books published in 2007, but rather a list of favorite books I read this year. After all, truly great books are good no matter when you read them. Books are listed in no particular order of importance as they are all worth reading. Find the reviews here.

1. Midshipwizard Halcyon Blithe by James M. Ward - how can you not like an 18th century based fantasy world with sailing ships made out of sea dragons?

2. Dragon Champion by E. E. Knight -A revival of the dragon in fantasy novels. Proof that dragons are not overdone or tropes in fantasy, but still have a lot left to give reader and writer.

3. Father of Dragons by L. B. Graham - A little known author, his story is both Christian allegory and great narrative. This is book four in a series that begins with Beyond the Summerland. Also great reading for the youths in your life.

4. American Gods by Neil Gaiman - Need I say more?

5. The Surrogates by Robert Venditti - the only graphic novel on this list, it has already been optioned for a movie starring Bruce Willis and was one of the most unusual stories I read this year.

6. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie - My post about the use of swearing in fantasy and science fiction was prompted by this novel and the discussion it created really put me on the internet map. Not only that, it is just a great novel that needs to be read by everyone. A funny and pithy novel, you won't regret reading it.

7. Shadowstorm by Paul S. Kemp - Giving shared world fiction validity as literature is Paul S. Kemp, and his novel about competing powers, the nature of people, and the forms of evil shows the naysayers just how wrong they are. This is the second novel in a series encompassing these themes.

8. The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller - a brand new voice in the US market, Karen's books came at just the right time for me, and while flawed, were a great read.

9. Crystal Rain by Tobias Buckell - Great author, great story, original thinking and approach to SF.

10. Children of Men by P.D. James - The seminal novel about humanity and reproduction. Not matter your opinion about abortion and/or the choice vs. life this is a must read. Don't see the movie, it sucks.

This year saw a lot of change for this blog. Around about October, it really found its voice as a fantasy and science fiction review blog, and I can honestly say, I haven't had so much fun with a hobby, ever. Meeting all the great authors, the other blogger reviewers, and building relationships with publishers has been some of the most rewarding "work" I have ever done. Thanks to all of you who read and support this blog!

THIS..IS..SO..COOL!

Anthologybuilder is a cool new site in beta testing that believes in the theory of pick and choose. Remember how iTunes was so innovative because know you could buy that one awesome song, instead of the whole (i.e. expensive) album? Well anthology builder does the same thing for short stories, if the all goes according to plan. You can self create a collection of stories by noted authors for $14.95 (plus shipping) and have it delivered to your door. If authors put their work up here, it now means that you won't have to find some extremely old copy of Asimov's or Weird Tales to get that one story you have always wanted to read, or that came in anthologies whose other stories didn't interest you.

Apparently it is as easy as 1..2..3

We're here to help you design your very own custom anthology: The stories you want, the authors you love, and all at an affordable price.

The process is very simple:
(1) Begin building an anthology.
(2) Add up to 350 pages of stories
(3) Purchase the final product for $14.95

That's it. Within 10 to 30 business days we'll deliver a perfect-bound, 6x9 Trade Paperback to your door. Yes, a real, solid book like the ones at your local bookstore. Its front and back cover will look like this, except with a title and cover image of your choice.

As to what this might do to the anthology format, I think it might have some negative effect. But for the reader, this is a boon sent from heaven.

HT: Jim C. Hines (who is thinking about putting up some of his own stories, so let's encourage him, shall we?)

Books + Guns = Funny

There are more than a few books I think deserve this kind of treatment. Video found via Tobias Buckell.

E. E. Knight on Morality in Fantasy

E. E. Knight, author of the Vampire Earth and Age of Fire novels, writes about "A Need for Creed" at the Black Gate website. Knight uses Star Wars, Carl Jung, LOTR, and Star Trek to conclude that "we all need ideals, gods and heroes to look up to who offer us answers and examples to the Big Questions about right and wrong, life and death. Nature abhors a vacuum, even a spiritual one." And so fantasy and science fiction step in, for many, to fill that gap. Interesting thoughts.

If you write book reviews, read this!

Powell's has a review of the book Faint Praise, a book on the demise of book reviewing and what can be done about it. The review is amazing, and points out significant flaws in the book whilst at the same time acknowledging its importance to the book reviewing community. The author of Faint Praise, Gail Pool, is a book reviewing traditionalist, but James Wolcott, the reviewer, eloquently points out the flaws in her argument. He ultimately derides the book, concluding that her traditionalism blinds her to the power of the novice reviewer, and yes, even bloggers.

Classifying The King Raven Trilogy by Stephen Lawhead

TOMORROW: An Interview with Stephen Lawhead

Historical fantasy might be called the red-headed stepchild of two genres of writing. The first, historical fiction can be straightforwardly defined as a story set in a historical context, using all the strictures imposed by reality, but that has a narrative that cannot be factually substantiated. In essence, historical fiction is fiction within a known historical context. The second parent of historical fantasy is fantasy itself. Fantasy has been broadly defined, but can really be boiled down to the use of magic in fiction. That magic may take many different forms, but ultimately, fantasy has some element in it that goes beyond the borders of science into the spiritual or unknown realms. This is what we call magic or miracle, and is what makes a fantasy different from all other genres.

Historical fantasy is a mixture of these two genres. From the historical fiction side, it takes a historicity and factuality that is provable through historic writings. From fantasy, it takes the elements of magic and miracle to put a spin on the historical context.

The Arguments For:

Stephen Lawhead’s King Raven trilogy is an arguably an example of historical fantasy. I say this for three reasons.

First, The King Raven trilogy is based on legend. While most of the other elements in the story (the setting of Wales, the politics of the time, many of the characters) are real and did exist, the Robin Hood legend is itself lacking proofs at this time. Legend is itself a subgenre of myth, and while more like a historical fiction than a fantasy, usually contains enough of the ethereal to find a home in fantasy classifications. In this way, The King Raven trilogy is both a historical fiction and a fantasy, as it simply is a unique telling of an age-old legend.

Second, although some might argue otherwise, The King Raven trilogy contains elements of magic. It is subtle, but it is there, and even though its role is limited, the very fact that Hood and Scarlet contain it in them makes them fantasies by default. This is the magic evidenced by Angharad, the banfaith of the Grellon (Robin’s merry men). Banfaith is term used to describe the female Celtic oracles consulted by Druids. They were similar in purpose to the Oracle of Apollo as it was their job to provide divinations and prophecies to those who asked. Angharad provides these very services in Hood and Scarlet, and therefore add the element of magic needed to be classified as historical fantasy. Additionally, when Bran becomes King Raven, he takes a different aspect of something darker and more powerful than a human. This is a magical event as it is described by Lawhead, and William Scarlet notices the marked difference between King Raven and Bran in character, stature, and power. It is that power that adds the magical element needed. Bran becomes superhuman when he becomes King Raven and in that transition is the magic element needed to classify the King Raven trilogy as fantasy.

The final reason that The King Raven Trilogy can be described as historical fantasy is simply the social aspect of the book’s classification. First of all, the publisher has chosen to classify it as such and so the book sellers have placed the books in the fantasy section of their stores. And while some readers may not like that The King Raven trilogy has so much basis in fact and only small elements of magic, the majority of readers have classified the works as fantasies, albeit historical ones. These two subpoints then show that no matter what you may think, the most widely accepted classification among publishers, sellers and readers is as historical fantasy, not historical fiction.

The Arguments Against:

For the first, some would say that legend is just a form of historical fiction. Usually, legends revolve around a real person, for whom the stories simply got out of hand. (Some would argue that Christ, King Arthur, and Buddha are such people.) This then is not fantasy, but rather an out of proportion fiction based in reality. I would argue against this as most fantasies are based in reality, but it is where they depart from the laws of science or add superhuman characteristics to the protagonists that they become fantasies. Robin Hood’s story is debatable, as to my knowledge; there is nothing superhuman or magical about his story, so in truth we still have not answered the question.

The second point, that the depiction of Angharad the banfaith provides the necessary element of magic to call The King Raven trilogy a fantasy may be explained away by calling it common sense or intuition. Much of Angaharad’s divination may seem based in common sense, or the dreams of someone mulling over a problem. I know for me that at times I have gone to sleep with a problem on my mind and woken up with the solution in hand. Was this magic? Not likely, it was probably my unconscious mind working at the problem as I slept. It was only with the fresh dawn that I could see the answer that I already had in mind. This is a valid argument. After all, Angharad’s premonitions are logical conclusions based on the danger they found themselves in. This I cannot dispute other than to say that in creating a Celtic style oracle, Lawhead is equating Angharad with the magical and miraculous art of divination and prophecy and so seeks the fantasy designation. The argument against the superhuman nature of Bran is can be summed up simply as poetic license. Some readers might argue that Lawhead is simply trying to describe how Bran and the Grellon manipulated existing fear and rumor to their own benefit and Lawhead is giving voice to that. This is a valid point as well, but I think the careful reader will note that Lawhead makes a point to show the distinction between Bran and King Raven and in so doing makes the argument against invalid.

Conclusion:

I would conclude that The King Raven trilogy is a historical fantasy, albeit one whose fantasy elements are subtle. As to whether historical fantasy really belongs as a part of the fantasy genre, I leave those arguments to others. My opinion is that once something adds magic or miracle to a story, it becomes a fantasy, not matter the intent of the author or the classification ultimately given it. (i.e. Gregory Maguire’s books are fantasies although they are often placed in the general fiction section of most bookstores.) The King Raven trilogy, although historical in setting and time, primarily following all physical laws, has some element of the mystic and the ethereal, and therefore must be deemed a fantasy.

This post is also part of the CSFF Blog Tour for Stephen Lawhead in November 2007. Click the links below to see what other participants are saying about Scarlet and Stephen Lawhead's King Raven trilogy.

My review of Hood.

My review of Scarlet.

Trish Anderson Brandon Barr Wayne Thomas Batson Jim Black Justin Boyer Grace Bridges Amy Browning Jackie Castle Valerie Comer CSFF Blog Tour D. G. D. Davidson Chris Deanne Jeff Draper April Erwin Linda Gilmore Beth Goddard Marcus Goodyear Andrea Graham Jill Hart Katie Hart Sherrie Hibbs Timothy Hicks Christopher Hopper Becca Johnson Jason Joyner Kait Karen Dawn King Tina Kulesa Mike Lynch Margaret Karen McSpadden Melissa Meeks Rebecca LuElla Miller Mirtika or Mir's Here Eve Nielsen John W. Otte John Ottinger Lyn Perry Deena Peterson Rachelle Cheryl Russel Ashley Rutherford Hanna Sandvig Chawna Schroeder James Somers Rachelle Sperling Steve Trower Speculative Faith Robert Treskillard Jason Waguespac Daniel I. Weaver Laura Williams Timothy Wise

Authors are People Too.

Neil Gaiman posted this link to a story over at his blog. Let me just say that any famous person willing to work this hard for his fans deserves all the recognition and support he can get. Three key words: Philippines, Ads, Proposal.

Notes: A Lecture by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

These are my notes from a lecture given by Pulitzer prize winning author Laurel Thatcher Ulrich on September 19, 2007. This feisty gray haired lady presented a fascinating case for continued work in understanding the history of women, and in breaking down stereotypes. Phrases in quotes are direct quotes from the lecture.

“Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History”
A Lecture by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (Pulitzer prize winning author of A Midwife's Tale)
Margaret Mitchell House and Museum Literature Center

See the webcast at www.atlantaforumnetwork.org

Books, Activism, Memory

- Read first few pages of Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History in order to define the phrase succinctly.
- Phrase comes from her first article in history in 1976 on Puritan Funeral Sermons
- Kay Mills found it, accidentally changed “seldom” to “rarely” hence two different quotes
- In 1996 Jill Portugal of one angry girl designs asked permission to print it on a t-shirt.
- Kacey Jones sang a song incorporating the term on Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion – the song can be found in the book.
- Sania Mirza, Indian Muslim tennis player has taken it as a slogan for herself

So what does “Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History” mean?

- Ulrich enjoys ambiguous titles for books
- Good Wives is about normal women dealing with prescriptions for good behavior vs. actual behavior
- Age of Homespun is about frontier violence and the intersection of Native Americans and the English
- Well behaved women are often characterized as Emily Dickinson types.
- Well behaved women are those who do what is appropriate for her culture and preserve the status quo
- “Well-behaved” is not referring to good or bad behavior (i.e. Rosa Parks was chosen as the example case against segregation precisely because she was well-behaved, yet she made history.)
- Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History is about “celebrating the impact of the women’s movement of the 60’s and 70’s on knowledge.”
- “Because women tried to make history they discovered the past.”
- Those who want to make history seek to know history.
- “Caring about history we make history”

Book Structure

- Book is set up with three women in three libraries in different time periods and countries.
- Christine di Pizan – 15th century “The City of Ladies”
- Elizabeth Cady Stanton – 19th century leader of women’s rights movement
- Virginia Woolf – reference to famous British Museum doodle leading to the writing of fictional account Shakespeare’s sister Judith where in frustration at lack of success, raped and abandoned she kills herself.
- Woolf was wrong – Elizabeth Carey was forced to marry like Judith but was popular writer (more popular than Shakespeare) in the same time; Artemisia Judelefsky – raped, seduced like Judith, became famous artist
- Tells stories and shows parallels between the three women and retells their stories through the lens of the scholarship of the last 30 years.

A Renaissance in Women’s History

- Christine di Pizan loved the Amazons (800 year kingdom).
- Ulrich retold the story of the Amazons in light of recent scholarship including funny story about Amazon.com being sued by a women’s bookstore called Amazon for copyright infringement. Amazon tried to say they were named after the river rather than Amazon’s of myth. Ironically the river was named by a Spanish explorer who thought he had found the ancient kingdom found in the myths.
- Quilt documentation projects came to light.
- Ordinary people asked new questions
- “academic historians do not own history.”
- Well-behaved women don’t think their lives matter so they don’t preserve their own history by keeping diaries, etc.
- So being misbehaved means preserving ones role in history, no matter how small

Questions

Where are we in terms of male response to women?
- “I’m a historian” not a sociologist
- Ulrich is depressed when she goes into bookstores and only sees books on war
- The book marketing world thinks history is for men and fiction for women – a holdover of the 18th century
- “Our knowledge of history is not very deep, let alone women’s history.”

Was there someone in this new book that touched her like Martha Ballard of A Midwife’s Tale?
- not in new book, no one ever will
- new book is about many women rather than being a microcosm like A Midwife’s Tale.
- Ulrich was touched by the new book’s multiplicity
- Ulrich had to rely on other people’s scholarship
- Writing out of her comfort zone
- Moved by how much scholars and good citizens have done in research.
- Elizabeth Cady Stanton/Jarrett Smith and abolitionist helps Stanton meet a slave named Harriett Powell. Ulrich does research on the underground Railroad and ends up connecting two disparate organizations in New York and Canada who have information on this person.

If Ulrich were to be a history advisor to Hillary Clinton’s campaign what characterizations should Clinton avoid or identify with?
- Hillary has an interesting dilemma, she is both new and old, but is likely the first female presidential candidate who can make it.
- Should not identify with Woodhull – first woman to run for President in 1870’s
- Nearly 20% of the women who have served in Congress have succeeded husbands who died in office.
- Hillary Clinton is in peculiar position of being a pseudo-widow because she is potentially following a husband into office that is not dead. She will be both helped and hurt by his legacy, unlike the ones who follow dead husbands.
- The more interesting question is why it has taken so long to get to this point in the US when other developed nations have already elected women.

How has technology changed getting published?
- it is harder to get published
- her first book was her Doctoral Dissertation, and now he own publisher won’t even look at doctoral dissertations.
- “The Internet is fabulous and terrifying” but is helpful in making connections.
- She would like funding of digitization of primary sources not just go to the 19th century notion of history.

Would we be better off if women had been ruling the world for a while?
- “NO!” Emphatically
- She is a social historian, great things happen when lots of people make small changes, not rulers.
- Women are not always better peacemakers, that is a stereotype.
- See her chapter on the Amazons.
- Women have been warriors for as long as men have and have been just as violent.
- Gender is an important variable but it doesn’t explain everything.

Why are we reluctant to elect women?
- women themselves have a lot do with Nixon’s veto of childcare act.
- Can make the argument that 19th century women had more effect on moral culture and society than men did (child-rearing)
- Women have had economic and political power in the past, but it was directed toward the home rather than those spheres as we understand them.
- Women had a new politics, a moral imperative (more important than the others even)
- Conservative women destroyed the early feminist movements, not just men.
- Activist women disagree.

What was Ulrich’s impetus for becoming not well-behaved?
- committed to study
- marrying young and having a lot of kids
- history changed her life
- Grew up in Mormon Rocky Mtn. West, Idaho.
- Heard about noble pioneers from childhood and felt diminished by their story leading to questions and research.
- Some of those pioneer grandmother’s were not so well-behaved.
- Mormon’s were just as radical in the 19th century as the Elizabeth Cady Stantons, even though they were polygamists as well as feminists and suffragettes.
- Ulrich’s stereotypes were blown away.
- Being a pioneer was creatively dealing with the circumstances, as women who make history should be today.

Libraries making Headlines

Libraries have been in the news the last couple of days.

A direct marketing firm in Britain has come up with a way to place ads in the front pages of library books. I'm actually surprised a US firm didn't think of this first, not because I'm nationalistic, I just think we are that greedy. How long till we see something similar here in the US?

Chile returns 3,778 books to Peru's national library after 126 years. Now that is a long time to wait. Think about the fines!

And the Reagan Library is missing 80,000 artifacts.

SF with an Accent: An Interview with Tobias Buckell

Tobias Buckell is the author of Crystal Rain, Ragamuffin, and the forthcoming Sly Mongoose, as well as many other short stories. He is also a professional blogger and blog consultant. He agreed to an interview after I read and reviewed his book Crystal Rain (which he was nice enough to sign and send to my home for free, along with Ragamuffin.) His writing is unique in SF, as I think this interview makes clear. I highly recommend this new science fiction author from TOR.

Grasping for the Wind: For those who don't already know, could you give us an account of your unique upbringing?

Tobias Buckell I grew up in Grenada, and moved to the British and then US Virgin Islands with my family. I finally ended up in Ohio my senior year: quite a change! My mother's side of the family is a family of sailors. I'm the third generation of a boat-centric lifestyle that began when my grandfather moved his family aboard a yacht and sailed down the Thames for the Mediterranean and then eventually the Caribbean. My biological father is Caribbean, so many of my relatives hail from Grenada. Both sides are scattered all over the islands and the US now.

GFTW: Where does your interest in SF come from? Do you have any heroes of the genre?

TB: As pretty much a single working mother mine taught me to read fairly young, and introduced me to novels. On a boat there's no cable, and even transmitted TV was fuzzy at best. And with batteries, who wants to drain them? I got into SF thanks to Arthur C. Clarke. I read one of his novels at 6 or 7: Childhood's End. It had an enormous impact on me, I felt like my mind was being stretched and my perspective on everything changed for a couple days. I loved adventure literature, mysteries, even Westerns (which seemed strange and exotic to me), but I really kept coming back for that 'big idea' kick I first got off Clarke.

GFTW: Much of the dialogue in Crystal Rain is a patois, a subtle blending of languages common in the Caribbean. As you were writing it, did you ever have the fear that readers might find it too difficult to understand?

TB: You know that's always a risk. But by the time I was writing that novel I'd written a number of short stories experimenting with different ways to portray the rhythms and sounds I grew up hearing around me. I chose not to use a direct phonetic spelling, like many do when trying to depict a dialect or patois, because I felt that would slow readers down and distract them (I still struggle to read some James Herriot at times). If a word had an English analogue, then it would be spelled the same. It was structure and grammar that I aimed to replicate the experience.

I do get some readers who react negatively to it. I get charged with 'bad English' or that it is challenging, but most people find that they slip into reading the dialogue and enjoy it.

GFTW: Crystal Rain is primarily an adventure story, although you do touch on the themes of culture and belief and how they interact. This is especially evident in the relationship between John deBrun and Oaxyctl. Was there any reason you wanted to address these particular themes?

TB: I always seek to entertain first, so the adventure is always dripping and packed full. But I do have some secondary themes running throughout. The belief question that Oaxyctl faces is an interesting one. Here he has what he thinks is a god asking him to do something almost immoral. Who would defy the divine? Oaxyctl struggles with it. It's the Abrahamic dilemma but with Aztecs: Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son, and he eventually firms up his mind to do it. An immoral act becomes moral when his God asks him to do it. Of course, his son is spared, but I thought it would be very tense to give the same problem to Oaxyctl in this novel. I also wanted to give readers a character who represented the Aztecs as not a faceless evil, but a complicated and quite human group.

GFTW: Crystal Rain is filled with mysterious characters, whose past is shrouded in mist. Was it difficult to keep from giving away too much of the back-story before the appropriate moment in the narrative?

TB: It's always a give and take sort of thing. You go through a lot of edits where you try and strike the right balance. In Crystal Rain I kept the back story as buried as possible until further into the book because I feel it helped ease readers in, and it also meant that the focus remained on the adventure and characters.

GFTW: Crystal Rain is a stand-alone novel. Did you intentionally try to avoid writing a series, instead setting your novels in the same universe, but with different stories? Are you planning to create an over-arching storyline?

TB: I'm trying to write each novel as a stand alone event with varying stories and a varying motley assembly of characters. Ragamuffin follows Crystal Rain, but so far people have read it without reading Crystal Rain and enjoyed it enough to seek out Crystal Rain. I'm trying to make each book stand alone because as a reader I just hate missing out because I got the wrong book in the series.

GFTW: You have been a blogger since before the term was even invented. What effect do you think the medium has had on literature in general and speculative fiction (fantasy and SF) in particular?

TB: I have a friend who once remarked that I was the first person she knew to say I had a 'blog' instead of 'online journal.' I started with a GeoCities account back in 1998 to impress a professor and get a better grade. Now, 9 years later, I make about half my income doing professional blogging and consulting.

As for effect, I'm thinking that at the least it's given new writers a total leg up. They have access to information and resources I could only have dreamed of. Online communities, market listings, articles about how to write, and writers blogs where they can watch what writers are doing every day. It's very nifty. For me I've enjoyed the increased sense of community and being able to keep up with writers from all over the world, I think there is more cross-fertilization and discussion going than when I was breaking in.

GFTW: What can you tell us about your upcoming project, Sly Mongoose?

TB: This is the third book in this loose collection of novels. It features a Venus-like planet: hundreds of degrees hot on the surface, crushing pressure, and acid rain. But at 100,000 feet you avoid all that. And with a greenhouse atmosphere all around, breathable air is a lifting gas. So if you fill up a large structure with air it floats. So you get Cloud City, but with scientific justification. You also get to have airships galore, so I had a lot of fun chasing airships, creating armadas of airships, and tossing hapless characters into the great big mix. It was really just a very fun setpiece that I got to explore.

I'm working on a final editing pass, and then it's on to working on my fourth book.

GFTW: Any plans to release an anthology of your short stories? Or is there anyplace someone craving more of your writing can go to find your short fiction?

TB: Wyrm Publishing (they put out Clarkesworld Magazine) is doing a 500 copy Limited Edition of a collection. Tides From the New Worlds will be out this winter, I think January. It can be preordered at: http://wyrmpublishing.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=10.

The art will be by Brian Dow, I am looking forward to it and am very excited.

GFTW: In a fight between Pepper and the Terminator, who would win?

TB: It would be a very tough call. I think Pepper has a bit more style, but he's not running on a nuclear battery thingey like the Terminator is, but he does have a strong survival instinct. I'd say it'd be close, no matter which way.

GFTW: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview with me. I wish you blessings for your continued success.

TB: No problem, thank you for all the questions.

Read more about Tobias Buckell at: Pat's Fantasy Hotlist and A Dribble of Ink

My Name in mental_floss Magazine

Back in August, mental_floss magazine asked a question on their blog. They were beginning a series on issues affecting the 2008 election, and were planning to begin the series with an article on immigration policy.

Well, I sent in a question.

Surprise, surprise, they used my question (see below or number 24 in the blog post) to create a sidebar in the current issue ("The Golden Lobe Awards" and Einstein's picture grace the cover), detailing immigration policy from 1882 to the present day. I was flabbergasted, and happily surprised!

#24 John Says: August 23rd, 2007 at 6:53 am

What quota’s still exist for whom we allow to enter legally? I know that in the great wave, only certain numbers of people from certain countries were allowed in. (i.e.) for every 3 Irish, one Russian.) Do ethnic or national quota’s still exist and what are they? Are there other quota’s used now?

This was so cool! And as a special reward, my name appeared on page 8 of volume 6, issue 6 of mental_floss: Where Knowledge Junkies get their fix. The picture below is a scan of the mention.

I may not be an author, but I can ask good questions! It was kind of a neat little thing, I wanted to share this little piece of personal joy with all of you, my faithful readers! And I thank mental_floss for being so kind in printing my name at the top of the list.

Such fun!

Greenwood Publishing Group - Literary Criticism

In my web meanderings, I came across an interesting website. Greenwood Press publishes books of all genres and stripes, but the primary focus of all of them is to produce reference titles for libraries. As stated on their website:

The Greenwood Publishing Group is one of the world's leading publishers of reference titles, academic and general interest books, texts, books for librarians and other professionals, and electronic resources. With over 18,000 titles in print, GPG publishes some 1,000 books each year, many of which are recognized with annual awards from Choice, Library Journal, the American Library Association, and other scholarly and professional organizations.

But the best part for all the fantasy and science fiction critics out there is that they have a whole section devoted to literary criticism of authors, the genres, and comparative studies.

Now, because these are reference titles meant to last a while, they are rather hefty in price. (One book, the Greenwood Encyclopedia of Fantasy and Science Fiction costs $394.) Yet, this is a good jumping off point for those looking for literary criticism of the genre that is hard to find on bookshelves. (They also have UK pricing, by the way.)

I was particularly interested in Fantastic Literature: a Critical Reader that traces literary criticism of fantasy and scifi all the way back to Plato!

Again, the primary focus of these volumes is for libraries and classroom settings. But if you are looking for literary criticism on fantasy and science fiction, this will at least give you some titles to look for from a reputable publisher.

And of course, there is also this useful Amazon.com list. Or this one (which includes some of the Greenwood publications).

Cup O'Links III

Lots of interesting things in my Google Reader last week. I was away at a conference, so didn't have a whole lot of time to post or read, sorry about that. I've got a review of Crystal Rain by Tobias Buckell coming soon, as well as several DAW releases. I've also got Nathalie Mallet's Princes of the Golden Cage in the queue. While your waiting for my dazzling insights, you can check out this other great stuff.

For you writers, Mental Floss has a humorous look at Writer's Block in two volumes. Volume I and Volume II

Pat has an interview with Katherine Kurtz.

Fantasy Book Critic has an interview with R.A. Salvatore. That is really cool. I've been a Salvatore fan for forever. Robert is really fortunate.

FBC also has David Craddock's heartfelt memoir to Robert Jordan.

Joe Abercrombie is holding a contest for three unbound proofs of Last Argument of Kings.

Paul S. Kemp has some interesting thoughts on the first novel and the learning curve.

And check out this compendium of pictures of beautiful libraries. I'm green with envy.

and on a more personal note, my wife remembers our first "non-date".

7 Reasons I Write Book Reviews

Criticism, that fine flower of personal expression in the garden of letters. ~ Joseph Conrad

I felt that with the growing (an appreciated) success of this blog. That it was about time I did a little explaining about why I do what I do. (Doo-doo. See? I can be funny.) There’s a lot to cover so either bear with me, or stop reading now and save yourself the time. (I mean, you could be playing squash right now, and wouldn’t that be better?)

For those of you who have decided to stay, thank you. Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty.

Reason #1: I am opinionated.

Really opinionated. And if there is one topic you can get me talking about for hours, it is fantasy fiction. I’ve been reading it since I was very young, and have read a wide range of its authors and subgenres. So what better place to express those opnions than a blog that all the world can see. (This goes hand in hand with my vanity, which is profound. I mean, its pretty vain to think anyone actually cares about your opinion, right?) So hence the blog and the title, Grasping for the Wind keeps me humble every time I see it displayed at the top of every page in this blog.

Reason #2: I got bored.

In my workplace, there can be times of great busyness, and times that are really slow (like the Friday afternoon when I wrote this). There are only so many websites you can visit before you get bored of surfing, so I thought I might contribute to the web instead of being a passive observer. And fantasy fiction is what I like and what I care about, so I began to write book reviews.

Reason #3: Francis Schaeffer made me feel bad.

“Americans don't read enough (that's true) and Americans read too much (that's true too). What I mean is that many don't read enough material to really be informed, and yet they read too much because what they do read they often do not stop to assimilate and think through. They whiz through it and get what I call a first-order experience, a sort of mystical feeling, not a genuine understanding. I urge you, with all my soul, in such a day as ours to really, truly learn to read." ~ Francis Schaeffer

Okay, so if reading means thinking through and assimilating material, then writing a book review, something more than a summary, something that really digs in to the writing would be a good thing, right? Of course, I don’t think Mr. Schaeffer meant fantasy fiction when he wrote those words (I suspect he wanted me to read more classics, actually) but to each his own. This is my world, and I am going to think about it critically.

Reason #4: Free Books

Mercenary as it may seem, I like getting free books from publishers and authors. Without them, many of the books I have recently enjoyed, I never would have read. I’m not a rich man, so free books is a great way to stay up on what is going on in fantasy, and getting introduced to some really great authors.

Reason #5: Because it helps readers.

Criticism, as it was first instituted by Aristotle, was meant as a standard of judging well; the chiefest part of which is to observe those excellencies which delight a reasonable reader. ~ John Dryden

I get a lot of hits everyday from people who land on my book reviews. Most of the time they don’t leave comments, but I know they went away thinking that maybe next time they go to the bookstore, they just might pick up the book they saw here.

Reason #6: Because it helps authors.

Well, I'm not a critic, I'm just a worker. So, I'm always grateful for anything the critics say - good or bad. ~ Mandy Patinkin

Nothing is more apt to deceive us than our own judgment of our work. We derive more benefit from having our faults pointed out by our enemies than from hearing the opinions of friends. ~ Leonardo da Vinci

Reviewing new works, old works out of print, debut authors is a helpful thing to do. Why? Even with the growing popularity of fantasy fiction, it is still not considered an acceptable genre for writers of any real talent. Yet there are so many great authors being discovered everyday. This genre spawns so many innovators and creative minds in it that to dismiss fantasy as “escapism” or simply “trash” shows the small minds of many critics. So my reviews, interviews, etc., if they can help showcase these talents and their hard work, make the effort worthwhile.

Reason #7: It’s just plain fun.

Fantasy is an exercise bicycle for the mind. It might not take you anywhere, but it tones up the muscles that can. Of course, I could be wrong. ~ Terry Pratchett

That seems self-evident. Reading speculative fiction is something I enjoy. I’m unlikely to stop doing it anytime soon (my hope is that I will be re-reading a favorite on my deathbed), so why not share the fun?

A Free/Downloadable Short Story by Neil Gaiman

Although I've been too busy to pick up a copy of Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things, a collection of short stories by a modern Edgar Allen Poe, turns out I can read the Hugo Award winning A Study in Emerald without leaving my computer. If you click the link it will take you to a pdf of the story. The file is about 5.10 MB, so it may take a while to load depending on your connection. Don't be fooled by the newspaper looking layout, that is a nod to the basis for the story, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet, (also downloadable) a Sherlock Holmes mystery that was first serialized in a newspaper. Bibblioaddict has an excellent comparison between the two stories.

Fairytales

Amy, who went to the same undergrad college I did, and is a budding writer herself, addresses the world of faerie in this blog post. I thought it quite insightful, and she even links to a nice pdf of her senior thesis on the topic of faeries and imagination. I plan to get around to reading her paper very soon. In the meantime, perhaps you ought to check out her thoughts. I think they really hit the mark on why we enjoy fairytales so much, especially as young children.

Cup O'Links

Lots of interesting stuff going on the web lately.

Check out Michael Stusser's (author of the Dead Guy Interviews) interview with George Washington. Washington debunks the cherry tree myth, and the explains what was up with the wooden teeth!

Joe Abercrombie opines on the nature of maps in fantasy fiction.

Jason at Dragonmount describes Robert Jordan's funeral, including some pictures of his home and workspace.

Jerry Spinelli, author of Maniac Magee, answers a few kids' questions at Powell's books. If you are a child of the 80's you remember having to read that book about the kid who is always running. I get tired just thinking about it.

Ursula K. LeGuin has an excellent tongue-in-cheek story/essay on genre fiction.

Gresham and Lewis

Was CS Lewis a great scholar? Undoubtedly. Was he a great writer? No honest scholar today can doubt that for a moment. Now some of his stories are moving into the medium of film, he is becoming more known throughout the world, greatly accelerating a trend that has been slowly happening over the 40 years since his death. Was CS Lewis a great teacher? That, I think, is also unquestionable: he taught at Oxford and Cambridge universities, and teaches on today through his books. Was he a great theologian? Many of today's finest Christian scholars strongly believe so. Although he would never have laid claim to any of those titles, nor perhaps even have accepted them from others, he was all of those things and a great deal more besides.

Douglas Gresham remembers his stepfather C.S. Lewis in this article in preparation for the re-release of the play Shadowlands, a fictional account of Lewis' life.

Kingmaker, Kingbreaker: An Interview with Karen Miller

Karen Miller, author of two of Orbit's US releases, The Innocent Mage and The Awakened Mage graciously agreed to an interview with me. This duology is not your standard fantasy, and its subtlety in being original and its daring in dealing with real, human drama makes for fascinating novels. I hope you enjoy the interview.

Grasping for the Wind: Thanks for agreeing to an interview. Could you give a quick overview of the story for the Kingmaker, Kingbreaker duology for those who haven't read it yet?

Karen Miller: And thanks for asking me! Kingmaker, Kingbreaker (books 1 and 2) is the story of two men who are brought together by fate and manipulation to avert a long foretold calamity in the small, isolated kingdom of Lur. Though they come from remarkably different backgrounds -- Asher is blue collar, a fisherman, and Gar is blue blood, a prince, they become unlikely friends who discover they have far more in common than they could have imagined. It's a story about friendship and sacrifice and secrets and lies and how far people will go to get what they want. There's a lot of drama and intrigue, some magic but very few swords. As for actual plot details, well ... *g* I think that's what reading the book is for!

GFTW: The main character, Asher, speaks colloquially and with a pronounced accent. Was it difficult for you to write such an accent, and why did you choose to have this important character be a country bumpkin?

KM:Well, I feel I have to leap to Asher's defence here. I don't believe he's a country bumpkin. And I don't think having an accent makes someone a bumpkin, either. I think that's an unfortunate assumption that people make, that does a great disservice to folk who are smart and funny and clever and resourceful and who happen to come from a place with a strong regional accent. How a person speaks, in terms of dialect or accent or even their colloquialisms, has no bearing on their effectiveness as a leader, an innovator, and is in no way a barometer of their intelligence.

I will happily accept the premise that Asher is unsophisticated. He is. He's also not perfect -- he has foibles and prejudices, just like you and I do. But he's very smart, he adapts to his environment, and when things get tough he hangs in there. The rest of it's just window dressing, to my mind.

In terms of developing his speech patterns, that certainly took some thinking and revision. I love writing dialogue, so I don't know that it was so much difficult as interestingly challenging. *g* I certainly wanted to show what his regional way of speaking was like, to contrast him with the more 'refined' modes of speech of the royal family and the staff who served them. It also gave me a chance to show how he's able to adapt to his circumstances, but also how he knows to use his accent as a weapon and as a method of maintaining his identity as his life undergoes its radical transformations. His accent is a way of holding onto his identity, and I thought was an important statement about the kind of man he is.

GFTW: The Innocent Mage addresses themes of race, justice, and family. Was there any particular reason you delved into these particular themes?

KM: Well, I suppose because they interest me. Human drama interests me, human interaction and relationships and conflicts interest me. They're very personal, they involve high stakes, high risk. We're all affected by them on a daily basis, so they're the kind of themes that touch us all personally and allow readers to identify with the characters and their journeys. And when you're dealing with the fantastic, as we do in fantasy fiction, I think that's a key point to remember. The more real and grounded you make the characters and their lives, the easier it is to suspend disbelief on the more outlandish elements of the story.

GFTW: The Innocent Mage, while full of drama, lacks much of the action of traditional high fantasy. Why did you choose to avoid the standard model?

KM: Well, I guess as writers we're attracted to telling the kinds of stories we like to read. While I don't dislike action stuff, as such, it's never interested me the way high stakes human drama and interaction interest and engage me. For me, one battle is pretty much like the next, it's all swords and blood, whereas the battleground of human relationships and the human heart contain infinite complexities and variations. Also, I currently lack the requisite physical and tactile experience of battle to, I feel, really do it justice. I'm working on rectifying that, since I would like the option of including the larger scale battle scenes in future works. I'm not certain I consciously chose to avoid the traditional action -- or if I did it wasn't out of disdain for the form -- it's more a case of recognising my strengths and weaknesses and limitations. If I can't do it well I don't want to do it at all -- but when I think I can make a decent fist of it, I'll give it my best shot.

But, you know, having said all that -- I guess I'll always be interested in looking at new ways to approach the traditions of the genre. And I think I can safely say that even when I do get around to including the big action scenes, they'll still be influenced by the intimate human dimension. Without a strong personal component to the action, without human consequences, it becomes too much like a computer game for me to have any emotional connection to the events and the writing of them.

GFTW: You excellently weave humor into your story, a relatively uncommon thing in high fantasy. Why did you choose to have characters act or speak humorously?

KM: Well, thank you! To be honest, it wasn't a conscious choice. I never once thought, oooh, I have to put a funny bit in here. Sometimes the characters open their mouths and say stuff that makes you smile, or maybe laugh. Well, okay, it makes me smile and laugh sometimes -- can't begin to tell you how I relieved I feel that I'm not alone! *g* It all kind of grows out of the characters and their personalities and how they see the world. People who permit a sense of the ridiculous into their worldview are going to have humour in their makeup, I think. And it becomes a natural outgrowth of the way they think and speak and interact. But it all comes down to individual personalities. Some folk just never see the funny. Or they're so serious they appear funny to others, which lends a different kind of humour.

GFTW: Some of your antagonist characters, when you get us inside their heads, we find are not truly evil, just misguided (i.e. Durm). And your hero characters make mistakes or act selfishly. Why did you avoid the standard good vs. evil characterization in your characters?

KM: I think it's important to recognise that, with a few possible exceptions, people are a complicated tangle of positive and negative
traits. So to make any kind of character all good or all bad flies in the face of honesty about what it means to be a human being. For me, the interest and engagement with a character lies within the conflicts, the contradictions, the messiness of wanting to do the right thing and the wrong thing, and the reasons behind which path is chosen and the consequences of those decisions. The choices we make in our lives shape and define us, and examining that journey is, for me, one of the most fun things about reading stories and writing them. This sometimes frustrating dichotomy was brought home to me some years ago. I worked for a man who was in many ways extremely distasteful. But while he was dying of cancer he thought to arrange tickets for me to a classical music concert because he knew I love classical music and thought I'd enjoy it. And that was an interesting experience, because while I wanted to go on feeling dislike for him, that one act of kindness forced me to recognise that nobody's all bad, all horrible. Even the worst people are capable of kindness, generosity, love. It was a good lesson to learn.

GFTW: What has been the most surprising response you have received from your readers?

KM: There's been nothing surprising, as such, though much has been gratifying. I love it when people say that while they don't usually read fantasy, they read and enjoyed my books. I feel like I've made a new convert to the cause! It's wonderful! And I love it when people who generally focus on the action-heavy kinds of fantasy find they can also enjoy the more internal, human drama kind of storytelling. I think both kinds of story are important, they both add enormous depth and value to the fantasy field, and it's fun getting people to read outside the box.

I think that's the bookseller coming out in me!

GFTW: Are you working on any new projects? What can you tell us about them?

KM: I am indeed. I have my first fantasy trilogy on the burner at the moment, Godspeaker. Book 1 is out in Australia now, book 2 is out in December, and book 3 will be out here next June. The trilogy will be published next year, 2008, in the US and UK, again by Orbit. It's got bigger scope, a more complex world. It's proving an enormous challenge to write. I think it's safe to say that there's no Disney whatsoever in book 1. *g* The first chapter is available as a taste test on my website, www.karenmiller.net. The Australian title is Empress of Mijak. In the US/UK it'll be called Empress. A sample of chapter 2 will be going up shortly, and will show a different part of the world with a different cast of characters.

I'm also finishing a new Stargate SG-1 novel, before leaping into writing book 3 of Godspeaker. I've got a new project being finalised, but I can't talk about it yet, plus next year a new series coming out in Australia, under a pen name. Still fantasy, but standalone novels with continuing characters, and with a much stronger vein of humour. Not full out comic fantasy, but definitely with comic tones. That series hasn't found an overseas home yet, but I'm working on it.

In other words, I'm pretty busy for the next little while ... *g*

GFTW: Anything you'd like to say to folks thinking about reading The Innocent Mage?

KM: Well, really, all I can say is please give it a try because I love it and with luck you'll love it too! And then I'd add, to those who do take the plunge, thank you very much! Hope I didn't disappoint.

Thanks a bunch, John.

You are welcome.

Thorn: An Anthology to be Released

The Thorn anthology is going to be released the weekend of Homecoming at Covenant College October 5-6, 2007. I was editor of the Thorn in 2001 (and did rather a poor job of it) but I am proud to say that I was part of this great literary tradition.

The first Thorn was published in 1970 as the brainchild of a small group of Dr. Nicholas Barker’s creative writing students, and Covenant’s fine arts publication is alive and flourishing today. On a yearly basis, student editors have gathered submissions and creatively published a body of poetry, short prose, photography, and artwork for the Covenant community. Thorn: An Anthology features the publication’s finest work from 1970 to the present. Editor Sarah Lester (’07) compiled and designed the anthology as her Senior Integration Project, an endeavor that grew out of a brainstorming session in Nicholas Barker’s office.

Thorn: An Anthology includes over 100 pages of contributions from the students and faculty members listed below. The book is warmly dedicated to Dr. Barker, who helped cultivate the college’s rich literary and artistic culture, and includes a short dedication piece written by Dr. Jim Wildeman. Thorn: An Anthology also features a “Where Are They Now” index with current information about the anthology’s contributors.

Covenant College is now proud to present a brilliant bouquet of poetry, prose, and artwork to the community for consideration once again.

You can order your copy and see a list of contributors here.

Edit Thyself

No matter who you are, you probably write in some form or another. Perhaps it is legalese, blog posts, magazine articles, or business descriptions. No matter what you write, you often have to edit yourself. If you recognize your need for greater skill in self editing perhaps you should look at this review of The Artful Edit. Says the article, "Today’s independent, Web-enabled writers and creators must learn the craft of self-editing. It will help their readers, and more important, it will make them better writers." I certainly am intrigued, and think it might be worth picking up for myself as soon as I have a few $'s.

The Revival of Illumination and Calligraphy

No matter what your religious stance is, you need to go take a look at the St. John's Bible, a worldwide effort to reproduce the Bible with illumination and calligraphy using the same methods as in the Middle Ages. Although it is a Catholic Bible (it includes the apocrypha) the fact that someone had the idea that this $4 million dollar project (mostly donor dollars) is being undertaken is astounding.

Parts of the St. John's Bible are on tour, in very limted places. (the UK and Canada only have on stop left each) and the entire document is scheduled to be completed in 2009.

The art is a mix of modern and ancient, and the book titles and capitals are fascinating to look at.

Christianity Today has an article describing the project.

R.A. Salvatore on the Role of the Writer in Video Games

I knew my job as a novelist, as I said before. I invite you the reader to adventure along with my characters on some epic quest. In a video game such as the one I'm now working on with 38 Studios, that job changes profoundly, because the most important character in this adventure will be, has to be, the one you, the player, creates.

R.A. Salvatore, best-selling author and creator of Drizzt, wrote an interesting article on the role of the writer in video games and how online games like EverQuest or Ultima have changed fantasy.

Christian Protagonists

Mindy Withrow, a friend of a friend and someone who has quoted me on her website, has some good thoughts on Christian Fiction and Christian protagonists in particular.

Why I Write Book Reviews

This is part of the reason why I write book reviews (other than that it is fun of course). While I can't provide a reading course, I can provide solid thinking about reading from my own perspective.

"Perhaps if people today were to take good reading course, they would be better off. Americans don't read enough (that's true) and Americans read too much (that's true too). What I mean is that many don't read enough material to really be informed, and yet they read too much because what they do read they often do not stop to assimilate and think through. They whiz through it and get what I call a first-order experience, a sort of mystical feeling, not a genuine understanding. I urge you, with all my soul, in such a day as ours to really, truly learn to read"

Francis Schaeffer Back to Freedom and Dignity ( InterVarsity Press, 1972), p. 18.

HT: Provocative Church

Book Clubs

Elaine Cunningham has some insights into why book clubs don't work or fall apart.

* no discussion leader
* no clear sense of what kind of books the members want to read
* book selections that really don't lend themselves to much discussion
* members who don't read the book, but attempt to talk about it anyway
* dismissing a book with a simple, "I didn't like it," or "I couldn't get into it."
* chattering incessantly, either during discussion or going off on tangents
* frequently interrupting and talking over other members
* people who don't listen to others; they only wait for another chance to talk
* people who read the book but miss most of what's on the page
* meeting at 7:00 but not starting the book discussion until 9:00

They are very insightful reasons. All the discussions I have been in have run into these problems, most often the lack of leader or selections that don't lend themselves to discussion.

I would also add that some book clubs get together without anyone having any experience or expertise in assessing literature, or they are quiet and shy and won't speak up if they do. This leads to an inability to actually discuss the book as writing, literature, or assess its factuality if it is history.

I have yet to find a good explanation of how to run a book club that wasn't simply advertising for a bookseller or library. I can't find any nearby that interest me, so there is no way to learn by experience. Any suggestions on whre to find good material (free, if possible)?

On the Use of Swearing in Fantasy and Speculative Fiction

This post is likely to raise some hackles. I debated within my mind whether to put it up. I finally decided that I needed help in thinking this through, and so I appeal to you.

I’d like to discuss with my readers the role of cursing/foul language/swear words in fantasy fiction. I really don’t want to address it generally, as others more qualified than I have done so, and I believe that for other genres, this area is murkier. I know that this is really a matter of personal tolerance for the words or personal preference, but what I would like to do is state my thoughts, explain why I feel this way, and garner your comments on the subject. I’ll admit at the beginning that I am conflicted about this. I have certain Christian beliefs, and a lot of this stems from my inner conflict over enjoying fantasy books that use swearing, but that are otherwise well-written, such as the recently released books by Joe Abercrombie, The Blade Itself (my review), or The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller.

Let me first say that I know that different people have different tolerances, and that the author has the right, nay the duty, to write as he wants and for his target audience. However, there will always be that person in the audience (i.e., me) uncomfortable with certain words or phrases. For purposes of this post, I will use the first letter or letter and blank spaces to denote certain words. (I don’t want the crawlers to pick it up.)

I love fantasy fiction. I have loved it since I was very young and I picked up that first Arthurian fantasy. From there I progressed to epic fantasy, into science fiction, dabbled in some urban fantasy, and have settled on epic and sword and sorcery as my favorite types. Most of the time, these books contain little to no foul language of any kind, not even fanciful, made-up words.

Foul language/swear words and curses are different to my mind. Curses are usally the taking of a god’s name in vain. Curses I see as creative parts of world-building, and are usually in the case of made-up deities. (Forgotten Realms readers will be familiar with curses about Tymora or Mystra.) Neil Gaiman even used this to clever effect in American Gods by having the gods curse on themselves. So, to me, it is acceptable to use a fake deity’s name in vain. This makes sense for an author to do, since some young readers will read these books, and parents will ignore deity curses (other than those of real religions) where they would not ignore d—n or f—k. My belief is that taking a false god’s name in vain allows the author the freedom to come up with creative curses without causing offense. The only line crossing I see between this and swearing is when words like “teats” or other body parts are used.

Swearing, using words like d—n and f—k or b—ch, and c—nt, are offensive to me as a reader. I’ve never made any secret of the fact that I am a Christian, and so my worldview on right and wrong stems from that. But I also like to think of myself as a postmodernist, willing to accept that my values are not necessarily the values of others. I say this only show that while I am a Christian, and there are certain elements within Christianity that read the Ten Commandments and the Bible to include curses and swearing as sins, I view this differently. I understand that the actual words used change from culture to culture and that it is the intent that should be judged not the particular words. Simply put, I believe that cursing and swearing are wrong in their purpose, although I have no problem with the actual words.

However, I have grown up in a Judeo-Christian, Western culture, as most native English speakers have. So within our culture, we have specific words designed to evoke swearing, such as those listed above. I dislike these not for the words themselves, but their intent and the fact that they are in fact our culture’s foul language/swear words. If I were in a different time and place, different words might be offensive to me, but I live now, so I am addressing those words which are used for swearing now.

All right, now let’s move back into why I don’t like swear words/foul language in fantasy fiction in particular.

My primary reason is simple. Because of my background and beliefs, I am often jarred out of enjoyment of a book by particular swear words. While I can gloss over d—n and even b—ch, (I have been known to use those words in anger myself before, something I regret) I am always jarred out of my reading by the word f—k or c—t or some of the less common swear words. Other people might be jarred out of their reading by the words I gloss over. This, I think, is a result of rearing and personality. By jarring I mean that I will be in the flow of the story, and then be thrust back into the real world by the use of a very real and very modern swear word. Fantasy fiction, to me, especially epic or sword and sorcery style fantasy, is about creating another world, one that, while relevant to the culture in which it is published, is also otherworldly and something apart. Good may not always triumph, but the writer is able to tell his story without thrusting me back into the real world. I like to escape, and words that are quintessentially modern prevent that. This true even of non-swear words, but usually only when they come out in the conversation of characters.

My secondary reason is also simple. Young children do read books intended for adults, not matter what categorization or separation we provide to delineate them. Classifications of adult or young adult or children are useful for categorizing, but provide no protection for young minds. I began reading adult fiction at a very young age. (Probably third grade or so.) I had exhausted the children’s fiction, and much of it was babyish and little of it was fantasy. Therefore, I began reading books with very adult themes that I could easily check out at the library. I remember reading The King of YS by Poul Anderson, a story wherein a man has many wives, and his own daughter tries to sleep with him. (Which is, I know, the exact same story as the one about Lot and his daughters from the Bible. I know the Bible is rife with these kinds of stories. However, I did not encounter them in my Children’s Bible, and only tackled them in my teens, after I had already encountered sexuality and swearing elsewhere.) I was probably about 10 years old. The sex scenes were descriptive and used the words we are talking about here. So in essence, I fear some other child doing as I did, and encountering words (and images) that should not be in their vocabulary, were not taught by their parents, and are rare in polite society.

Thirdly, I feel that it is just lazy of the author. If you can’t say it another way, you aren’t really trying very hard. Sometimes it is appropriate, especially in urban fantasy or some of the other subgenres. I can even accept it more so in science fiction since those worlds are built on our own, and we swear with certain words. But it lacks creativity in my opinion.

Sometimes a fantasy novel will use made-up words to denote swearing. Ed Greenwood uses the word “tluin” as a swear word in the Forgotten Realms setting. In all honesty, I am conflicted about this. As an adult reader, I don’t have a problem, I can even think of it as creative, but if I heard a child of mine say it, what would I likely do? Probably punish him, since it is the intent I am punishing not the word itself. I’m reminded of the Friends episode where Ross and Monica made up arm gestures for the bird to try and fool their parents. Parents aren’t stupid, and if it were my kid, I would have caught on and punished the child for the intent, no matter the gesture or word. So should fantasy writers make up swear words? Truth is, I don’t know. I guess I can’t have it both ways. I can’t commend them for creative cursing and then condemn them for creative swearing.

There is another caveat. What if you are writing a book where the characters need to swear as part of their culture? Well, I think that’s okay, and the urban fantasy subgenre is likely to do so. Urban fantasy combines the elements of contemporary fiction and standard Tolkeinesque fantasy together. As a result, some characters are likely to swear, if the come from our modern era. That just makes sense. Overuse of swear words is unnecessary and the author will have to determine to what extent he can or should, but I can see why it is used.

Do I think a fantasy story should have no swearing in it? Yes, except in certain subgenres. Do I think it ruins the story completely? No, I can still enjoy it, but I don’t like the occasional jarring that occurs. Does my Christianity affect this? Yes, I’d be a liar if I didn’t say so. Am I something of a prude? Well, yes, most people would think so. But I still would like to think that my reasons are reasonable and something others not of my faith might agree with.

In all honesty though, I’m conflicted. It’s such a grey area, especially where an art like writing is concerned. Please do not think that I am saying a book is bad because of the use of swearing and/or foul language. There are many other factors that come into play in assessing a book, and this is just one of them, but to me it is one worth study.

Do any of ya’ll have an opinion?

Robert Jordan (1948-2007)

"Death is lighter than a feather, duty heavier than a mountain," — The Great Hunt

For those who haven't heard yet, James Rigney, better known as Robert Jordan, died yesterday at 2:45 PM from complications of amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy (cardiac amyloidosis). He was 58.

George R. R. Martin remembers him here.

His brother gives a touching tribute here.

Wikipedia has already been updated and has an excellent bio and links.

New York Times Obituary

He was a groundbreaking author, and his Wheel of Time series was, for all its flaws, a masterpiece of the fantasy genre. My hope and prayer is that his faith in God was the same as my own, and that he now resides at the feet of the Father and the Son.

My prayers are with his family.

"The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning."

Shadowscribe: An Interview with Paul S. Kemp

As promised, here is my interview with New York Times Bestselling author Paul S. Kemp. He was a really nice guy (funny too) and I hope that if you enjoy the interview, you will go out and buy Paul's well-wrought books, if you haven't done so already.

Grasping for the Wind: Let's start of with a personal question. What does that S. stand for in your name? And does it have any special significance? Why include it on the covers of your books?

Paul S. Kemp: It stands for shizzle, as in fo’ shizzle, which is my middle name. I understand my parents toyed with Paul F. Kemp, with the F standing for Flava Flav but they instead went with fo’ shizzle. Good thing for Flav and Public Enemy, really.

It is also possible that it actually stands for “Svante,” which was my grandfather’s middle name. It’s Finnish in origin, as am I and the whole Kemp line (Sisu, bitches! :-)). I use it because there are at least two other authors out there named Paul Kemp – one writes naval history; one writes horror – and I wanted to set myself apart from them in online searches, library database searches, etc.

GFTW: You've mentioned before on your blog that you are a lawyer as well as a writer, and the father of two young boys. How do you manage to juggle the demands of a full-time job, raising a family, and meeting writing deadlines?

PSK: You know, life is complicated for all of us. But we all make time for the things we love and the things we must do. I must work as a lawyer, and I love my family and writing. So I just make time for all three, the same way all of us juggle our various priorities.

As a practical matter, I tend to write on my lunch hour, weekends, evenings, vacations. I’m fortunate in that my work as a lawyer rarely bleeds into my weekends or evenings (that was not the case with some other legal jobs I’ve held). And my wife is both patient and supportive of my writing. All in all, things seems to be working out pretty well.

GFTW: Several months ago, the blogosphere was lit up by your defense of shared world fiction. You gave an impassioned defense of shared world fiction. Why did you choose to write your novels in the Forgotten Realms setting, rather than Dragonlance, Magic, Warhammer, or any of the other shared worlds out there?

PSK: That’s an easy one – I like the Realms. I enjoy its history, its personalities, its idiosyncrasies, its breadth. I’ve always found the Realms to be a setting in which I can tell exactly the story I want to tell. It’s a good fit for me.

There are a lot of good stories being written in the Realms and those who knock it because it’s tie-in have probably read few, if any, of them. In an effort to break through the conventional wisdom of “tie-in/shared world books suck,” I’ve been making a concerted effort to get my novels reviewed by sites that ordinarily do not do a lot of reviews of shared world/tie-in fiction (e.g., Fantasybookspot.com, Graeme’s Fantasy Review, Mania.com, etc.). Those sites have been ballsy enough to ignore the conventional wisdom and so far, so good.

GFTW: To what extent are you constrained by the pre-existing world of Faerûn in your writing and how and when are you able to forge new territory in the Forgotten Realms setting?

PSK: I have not bumped up against much in the way of constraints, by and large. I’ve always been free to tell the story I wanted to tell. There are some constraints imposed by shared world writing – the rules of magic are what they are, and I could not kill of this monarch or that, wipe out a city, or anything of that nature. But I’ve found them pretty loose boundaries.

As for charting new territory, that happens in literally every novel (and is true for all writers in FR). The Realms is detailed, but it’s not so detailed that a writer cannot develop his or her own take on this or that – from something as small as the religious practices of the holy knights of a particular god, to a scheme whereby servants of one god steal the entire temple of a rival god and transport it across the land (that was fun to write).

GFTW: Where you surprised when Erevis Cale became so popular after the publication of Shadow's Witness? Had you planned to continue writing about Erevis, or did Wizards of the Coast ask you to continue to write about this character?

PSK: I was and still am surprised. I really have the best fans. Whatever popularity Cale has is and was driven by readers recommending my work to others. I consider that the best compliment I could ever receive and am grateful for the enthusiasm. Word of mouth is priceless to a writer. Blogs and online communities are just an amplified form of the same thing and I really like the blogs/sites (like this one) that have a “reader to reader” feel to them. It’s a cool time to be a writer and reader of speculative fiction.

And yes, I had planned to write more of Cale, so I laid a lot of the seeds of future stories in Shadow’s Witness. When my editor asked me to do a Cale Trilogy, I was obviously delighted. Things have snowballed since then.

GFTW: Erevis Cale is a true anti-hero, using any and all methods to achieve his goal, while maintaining his own moral compass. Why did you choose to write an anti-hero, when much of the fantasy genre focuses on the true hero whose moral compass and methods always fall on the side of right or truth?

PSK: I’ve always been fascinated with the anti-hero archetype (Elric is my favorite literary embodiment). The anti-hero embodies the struggles we all face everyday but he does so in a heightened context. He also serves as the perfect vessel with which to toy around with the nature of good and evil. The anti-hero flirts constantly with redemption on the one hand, and transgression on the other. It creates a lot of drama and is a lot of fun to write.

GFTW: You have killed off major characters in your writing. Was it a difficult decision for you to do so?

PSK: Not really. I make all choices based on what I think will serve the story best. If that means a major character needs to die, he or she dies. I just try to make it memorable. :-)

GFTW: Why do you write? Is their some aim or big idea that you want your readers to draw from the adventures of Erevis Cale?

PSK: I write because I enjoy it. It’s fun. And I want readers who read my work to have fun. While I think my word does address some larger, more philosophical themes here and there, I am not interested in beating the readers over the head with it. I’m interested in the readers getting emotionally invested in the characters, the story, then enjoying the ride. I suppose a reader could consider the larger themes on a re-read, but I want that first experience to consist of rapid page turning and an accelerated heartbeat. :-)

GFTW: Your new novel, Shadowstorm, continues the story begun in Shadowbred, wherein Erevis Cale returns to a Sembia and Selgaunt teetering on the edge of civil war. It has been said that this series will be a Realms shattering event. What effect did this have on your story and how you approached writing it, as opposed to your previous books?

PSK: Good question. Prior to The Twilight War (of which Shadowbred and Shadowstorm are books one and two, respectively), I would have characterized my Erevis Cale stories as almost entirely character-driven, meaning the scope was small, not epic. But The Twilight War features events more akin to epic fantasy than pure sword and sorcery. The difficulty with those kinds of stories is that the events can sometimes outrun/overshadow the characters. I very much wanted to avoid that in The Twilight War, wanted readers talking about my characters, not merely the big things that happen. So I tried to marry small, personal, sharp motivations for my protagonists and antagonists to the larger elements of a sweeping plot. Readers will have to tell me if it succeeds.

GFTW: Was it difficult to take over and write about characters not of your own devising, as in Resurrection, or the character of Tamlin from the Sembia series, who plays a large role in The Twilight War Trilogy?

PSK: Resurrection was difficult, because I was inheriting characters who’d been developed previously by not one author, but five, each with their own slightly different take. With the exception of Halisstra, none of them ever really felt mine, so that made it that much more difficult to get into their heads. I was happy with the end result, though (and particularly with Halisstra, though she seems to engender quite a split of feeling among the fans). Tamlin and the other Uskevren are not quite as difficult because they aren’t the product of so many different hands. Plus, I was involved in the Sembia project right out of the gate. Not so with War of the Spider Queen and Resurrection.

GFTW: Any plans for a novel or series outside of the Forgotten Realms?

PSK: Yes. I poke away as time allows at a dark fantasy novel set in a world of my own creation. I’ve also published a few non-shared world short stories (most recently in the anthology Sails and Sorcery from Fantasist Enterprises) and I’ve been in discussions with an editor of a very, very big shared world line. I cannot say much more about it now but I hope it comes to pass. If it does, I’ll blare it across the internet. :-)

GFTW: Do you have any plans to write about characters other than Erevis Cale and his friends in the Forgotten Realms setting?

PSK: The short answer is yes, but the long answer is a bit more complicated. I’ve been torn about it for a while, now, to be candid. There’s a good deal of benefit for both fans and me in connecting new stories to old, in sticking with old friends. But developing new characters is fun and fresh and full of life (kinda like a Mentos :-)).

So I’ve decided recently that perhaps the best approach for me is not to revisit with the same characters again and again, but to connect the story of new characters to the story of the old characters. You’ll see some of that starting to blossom by the end of The Twilight War and I hope to carry it on in my next trilogy in the Realms.

GFTW: Any parting thoughts for your readers or those who might be considering delving into the Realms?

PSK: Sure. Consider giving the Realms a try. It’s a line fat with quality sword and sorcery fiction. If you want to try a sample for free, come over to my website. I’ve got the first five chapters of Twilight Falling, book one of The Erevis Cale Trilogy, available for free as pdf downloads (and I also hope to offer the first five chapters of Shadowbred, book one of The Twilight War, soon). Take them for a test drive. Here’s the link:

http://home.earthlink.net/~paulskemp/paulskempshomepage/id21.html

You can also drop by my blog, where a whole community of interesting people discuss a variety of matters, both personal and professional. Here’s the link for that:

http://paulskemp.livejournal.com/

Hope to see you all there. Thanks again, John.

Also by Paul S. Kemp:

The Erevis Cale Trilogy

Contains Short Stories by Paul S. Kemp

Whinging

Came across this in Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself, so I had to look it up. The meaning is pretty clear from the text, but I had never seen it before.

whinge (hwnj, wnj)
intr.v. whinged, whing·ing, whing·es Chiefly British
To complain or protest, especially in an annoying or persistent manner.

[Middle English whinen, from Old English hwnan, to make a whizzing sound.]

Same root as the American:

whine (hwn, wn)
v. whined, whin·ing, whines
v.intr.
1. To utter a plaintive, high-pitched, protracted sound, as in pain, fear, supplication, or complaint.
2. To complain or protest in a childish fashion.
3. To produce a sustained noise of relatively high pitch: jet engines whining.
v.tr.
To utter with a whine.
n.
1. The act of whining.
2. A whining sound.
3. A complaint uttered in a plaintive tone.

[Middle English whinen, from Old English hwnan, to make a whizzing sound.]

So basically the same word with different spellings. Those crazy British!

Movie Review: The Whole Wide World

Director: Dan Ireland
Cast: Vincent D'Onofrio, Renée Zellweger, Ann Wedgeworth, Harve Presnell
DVD Release: 07/29/2003
Original Release: 1996
Rating: Rated PG
UPC: 043396100459
Source: SONY PICTURES

Last night brought a pleasant surprise for me. My wife, in her Netflix meanderings, came across a small, low budget, but well directed film starring Renée Zellwegger (Chicago) and Vincent D’Onofrio (Law and Order: Criminal Intent) called The Whole Wide World (IMDB). The film is based on a memoir written by a woman named Novalyne Price. Rated PG, the film is filled with swearing, but has no sex scenes and one of the best cinematic kisses ever. The reason I mention it here, and want to talk about a movie, when I usually talk about books, is the subject matter.

Novalyne Price was from Texas, and in 1933 was a teacher at the school in Cross Plains. That’s not the interesting part. Novalyne was an aspiring writer, who discovered that in her town existed a man who had successfully sold many stories to many of the pulps. That man was none other than Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian and grandfather of the many sword and sorcery novels that fill bookshelves today. I was shocked that Hollywood had made such a movie. Directed by Dan Ireland, the film is a love story, and is classified as a romance.

Novalyne and Bob circle each other. What begins as Novalyne’s attempt to improve her writing moves into a friendship and progresses into love. But the trouble and conflict come from Howard’s extreme attachment to his ailing mother, and his stereotypical writer’s moods. Socially awkward and inept, unattractive and opinionated, Howard has few friends and no graces. Yet he is brilliant, an adept writer, who is very successful. Novalyne finds herself attracted to this beguiling man, who always insists that he walks alone. Although not without struggles. At one point Novalyne really rips into Howard and his opinions, "Well, yeah, that's right, thanks indeed, thank God! If it wasn't for teachers like me, there would be more individuals like you, socially inept, hatin the world, prattlin off pompous ideas that no one wants to hear in the first place. Bob Howard, if you do not take some initiative you are going to end up a miserable old man, sittin at home with no friends and no life. And another thing! Don't you ever EVER imply that I do not know how to teach, because then you really are talking about something that you know nothing about. Now why don't you run on home, your momma's waitin for you."

The film, scored by Hans Zimmer and Harry Gregson-Williams, is really a slice of life in 1930’s Texas. Not long out of the Great Depression, this story of love and life vividly portrays the rural life. Vincent D’Onofrio’s portrayal of Robert E. Howard is filled with vibrancy and zeal. His descriptions of the character and stories of Conan, with a fantasy sounding score in the background (even including swords clashing) draw the viewer in to the point that Conan becomes a very real person. The contrast between the personalities of Conan and Howard himself are striking, and one can see why Howard loved to write so much, or “spin his yarns” as he liked to call them.

It was neat to see the story of a genre writer so elegantly and lovingly portrayed. All the great writers get their biographical movies, but, except to us pulp or fantasy genre fans, Robert E. Howard is really an unknown. If you are married, your wife will likely enjoy the love story between Novalyne and Robert, although it is a sad story and does not end well. (Howard committed suicide at the height of his career, probably because he believed that "To make life worth living a man or woman has to have a great love or a great cause... I have neither.")

For the fantasy lover, the descriptions of Howard’s writing process, the character of Conan, and his unashamed writing style make watching this movie very worthwhile. You will see a glimpse of the last year's of Howard's life, and understand the life and world that drove him to write the stories he did. The Whole Wide World is a surprising film, unexpected and enjoyable.

If you don't mind spoilers, watch these clips of the movie set to the music of The Decemberists' "Engine Driver".

In Your Face J.K. Rowling!

To all you Potterites out there, read this. I have no problem with the books, per se, but I abhor the hype surrounding these middling to good books. They are not the be all and end all of children's literature, nor are they a solution to the reading problem of the English -speaking youth. Nor are they the savior of a the much maligned fantasy genre. Harry Potter is simply fun fiction. I don't think they will endure as long as Lewis or Dahl. Harry Potter still needs to pass the generational test. Is it enjoyable from generation to generation? It's a tough test, I'm not sure Potter can take it.

OK, now feel free to hate on me in the comments below.

Jules Verne, Prolific SF Writer

Some of the time, rather than find new authors to read, I like to go back to the roots of fantasy or science fiction (hence my recent reading of Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank). The Guardian has an interesting piece on that Frenchman, Jules Verne. Says the article:

Ask an Englishman to name a French writer of science fiction and he is likely to answer: Jules Verne (ask him to name another French writer of science fiction and he'll probably go 'that guy who wrote the book on which Planet of the Apes was based, him, you know, him, can't recall his name right now'). In fact France has a rich tradition of science fiction going all the way back to Cyrano de Bergerac in the 17th century and continuing without a break right up to the present day. We might wonder why an entire literary tradition has been shrunk, in the English imagination, to a single writer. We might also wonder why that writer's enormous output - more than 50 novels - has been reduced to a handful of titles: Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1869-70) and Around the World in Eighty Days (1872). Verne is famous today as the inventor of Phileas Fogg, and of Captain Nemo, and for little else. It's unfair, for not only did Verne write much more than this, he wrote much better.

The article makes several recommendations of further reading, including a Utopian adventure, and an Armegeddon/Deep Impact (the movies) type story.

You can read the rest of the story, as well as a short history of Verne's life and writing, here.

In Memoriam

Famed children's author and essayist Madeleine L'Engle died last week at age 88. Best known for A Wrinkle in Time, a children's science fiction book, she also wrote a great deal on the relationship of faith and art in Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art.

“Why does anybody tell a story?” she once asked, even though she knew the answer.

“It does indeed have something to do with faith,” she said, “faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically.”

Gaiman on Poe

Here's an essay by Neil Gaiman (modern master of the macabre) on Edgar Allen Poe (father of the mystery and many a macabre story).

While he lived he was America's finest writer, a poet and a craftsman whose work made him very little money, even as his poems, such as "The Raven", were widely quoted, adored, parodied and reviled, while writers he envied, such as Longfellow, were far more successful, commercially. Still, Poe, for all his short life and unfulfilled potential, remains read today, his finest stories as successful, as readable, as contemporary as anyone could desire. Fashions in dead authors come and go, but Poe is, I would wager, beyond fashion.

The Pen (or Book) is Mightier than the Sword (or Fist)

Thanks to biblioaddict for the shout out. I forgot about this fight scene in The Bourne Ultimatum where Bourne uses a book to crush a guy's larynx. Check it out, the book is mightier than the fist.

Branding for Writers

Elaine Cunningham has interesting thoughts on the necessity of branding for writers. I don't wholly agree with her assessment. I think branding is important and helpful for a writer, but that any truly good writer can write in a multiple number of genres or styles and still be respected and read in all those areas. I enjoy Cunningham's books, and will read the majority of her books, because she is a good writer. I may avoid her paranormal romance, but that is only because as a man, romances have no appeal. This does not mean they are well-written.

I have found that even when an author is branded, I still wander over to other books or things they have written. If I enjoy an author enough, I will work to find their other works. I have read fiction written by branded non-fiction authors, and non-fiction by branded fiction authors.

That being said, branding is a good and useful thing. I'm not sure Cunningham is as unbranded as she says, nor that her Forgotten Realms books are a sub-set of FR readers. She simply hasn't come out with an FR book in several years that has new material and so she might be feeling down about her "brandedness."

Be careful what you write...

...or you just might get convicted of murder.

A Polish author, travel writer and intellectual whose best-selling novel described a grisly murder has been jailed for 25 years for committing the crime he had so vividly portrayed.

HT: Worldmagblog