Last year, The Winds of Khalakovo nabbed the Debut of the Year from Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist. Pat pinged me shortly after and asked if an ARC for The Straits of Galahesh was available. I said of course an ARC was available and promptly arranged for one to be sent with Night Shade’s publicist. Truth is, though, I’ve been biting my fingernails ever since. Authors are always looking for high marks, but those marks also set up high expectations for the next novel. You want to do better each time. So I was, well, not worried, exactly, but anxious about how Pat would respond to Straits.
Well, Pat finished up his read of Straits and just posted it on the Hotlist. Let me excerpt just a few paragraphs from the full review.
In addition, I’m not sure Bradley P. Beaulieu sat down and had a beer with George R. R. Martin at a convention in between books, but it looks as though he became fond of creating living and breathing protagonists that readers care about, only to kill them off when you least expect it. Indeed, The Straits of Galahesh features a body count that both GRRM and Joe Abercrombie would approve of. At one point I was left wondering who the hell would be left to make it to the third volume!
I had a bit of a chuckle at this. GRRM is one of my literary heroes. And while I don’t focus on body count, I’m not shy of it. This is a world in flux, and conflict is part and parcel of the story, and à la Glen Cook and GRRM himself, I want it to be muddy and bloody when death does come. I want it to have impact, and I don’t want to sugar coat it.
Interestingly enough, I have to give my editor, Ross Lockhart, a hat tip here. One of the characters who dies does so in a rather spectacular way at the tail end of a windship battle. He didn’t die a very spectacular death in the first draft. I had meant it to be a statement the senselessness of war, but Ross pointed out, correctly, that that’s a pretty crappy way for a hero to die. And damned if he wasn’t right. Fiction makes a different sort of sense than reality, and in this case it meant the character’s death should mean something to the plot, to the other characters, and perhaps even to himself. In a way, his death ended up being a statement about his own views on life, and I’m very glad I ended up changing it. (If you’re not sure who I mean, ask me at a con sometime. We’ll chat.)
And then this:
Dark, ambitious, complex, populated with a great cast of characters that leap off the pages, The Straits of Galahesh is just what the doctor ordered if you are looking for a quality read that’s different from everything else on the market today. The Winds of Khalakovo turned out to be one of the very best SFF works of 2011. Somehow, Bradley P. Beaulieu has raised the bar even higher for this sequel, making The Straits of Galahesh a “must read” speculative fiction title for 2012.
As I said above, we’re always looking to get better, and while I felt that I had, thinking you did is not the same as reader response. I’ve been very gratified by the reviews so far, in that they’ve all said that Straits takes a strong step forward, and I’m elated that Pat’s high expectations were met as well.
The latest review of Winds goes to Battle Hymns. Overall, a very nice review.
The setting here is a unique one. The place names and character names give The Winds of Khalakovo a distinct Russian feel, and the windswept archipelago geography is pretty cool too. I gotta give Beaulieu credit, he definitely found his story a unique setting without pushing epic fantasy readers too far outside of their usual European-like setting comfort zone. That said, there were a lot of the same elements that we see played out repeatedly in the genre at play here as well. Beaulieu does play with and challenge a few of these norms though, especially in terms of his female characters, and I for one was greatly pleased. Personally, I’d love to see more authors do the same thing as Beaulieu has done, but push the normative boundaries even further.
That’s a pretty gratifying paragraph. I was certainly trying to upend the notions of female roles in the societies I was portraying in Winds, not to such a degree that it was simple gender bending, but in a way that brought a new and interesting take on the power structures of this pseudo-medieval society.
Ryan expressed some trouble with the action scenes. Sarah Chorn at Bookworm Blues and a few other reviewers mentioned that their confusion might have resulted from the 3D space involved in the windship battles. Perhaps it was. Or perhaps I made things a bit too chaotic. I’m curious to see what people think of those types of scenes in The Straits of Galahesh.
Fresh on the heels of the review from Bookworm Blues comes another review of Winds, this one from the Goatfairy Review Blog. The closing paragraph of reviews usually contains the coolest stuff, and this one is no exception:
The Winds of Khalakovo is the opening part of a series with limitless potential. I have super high hopes for the sequel, The Straits of Galahesh which was just recently released. Beaulieu has created a tremendously original world inhabited by compelling characters. What is not to love about a fantasy novel inhabited by airship flying Russians? The Winds of Khalakovo is a challenging read but it is certainly worth giving a chance and I am confident that Beaulieu can address the concerns present, and carry on all the stronger.
And, AND!, I got 7 out of 10 cheesewands! Whatever those are. Whatever they are, I’m sure they’re delicious. I may have to formulate a recipe so I can prove to everyone just how delicious they are.
If you read The Winds of Khalakovo, then you will want to read The Straits of Galahesh. If you haven’t, then buy and read them both. This one is full of excitement, suspense, and betrayal. Lots of betrayal, some intentional, some not. I’ve read a great deal of fantasy in the last year, and almost all of it was good to great. The Straits of Galahesh was one of the best.
That wasn’t my favorite part of the review, though. This was:
It’s just that Beaulieu has taken his character development to a new level. And not just with the three viewpoint characters: Nikandr, Atiana, and Nasim. The supporting cast of siblings, servants, soldiers, and others come alive as individuals. I found this to be particularly true of Soroush, the terrorist leader who was one of the central villains in the first book. Here he grows into one of the more heroic figures. In short Beaulieu has created a cast of characters who live, breath, and about whom the reader cares. He populates the book with them.
Then he kills them.
Not all of them, of course. A number survive. But no one’s survival is guaranteed. At no time does Beaulieu kill off a character gratuitously. Each death is logical and comes naturally from the events in the story. None of these characters die for cheap emotional manipulation. And once it sinks in that any one of these people may not make it to the last page, it heightens the suspense.
I don’t enjoy killing off characters. Then again, it’s necessary to do exactly what Keith describes, to make things more serious for those that survive. I’m gratified that it served that purpose, and that the deaths didn’t feel gratuitous.
Sarah over at Bookworm Blues recently reviewed The Winds of Khalakovo, calling it a book worth paying attention to and me and author worth noting.
Here’s a brief excerpt from the review:
Beaulieu has written an incredibly complex novel filled with rich cultural detail and plenty of symbolism. In fact, many reviewers have compared The Winds of Khalakovo to Steven Erikson’s Malazan novels in world building, meaning that readers might often have to go back to catch details they might have previously missed. This complex world building is a huge undertaking on the part of the author and could possibly serve to delight readers. Regardless of how you crack this egg, having your debut book compared to Steven Erikson’s Malazan books is one hell of an accomplishment. For fans of complex worlds and books that set an impressive foundation for an incredibly promising epic fantasy series, you need look no further than The Winds of Khalakovo. Despite its flaws, it’s a book to pay attention to written by an author worth noting.
You can read the review in its entirety over at Bookworm Blues.
In a special two-episode series over at Speculate!, Greg and I take a step back from our usual blend of reader response and writer analysis to look at the state of the speculative fiction field more generally, enlisting friend and fellow speculative fiction author and editor Paul Genesse to broaden the discussion. In Part 1, we focus most of our attention on E-books and self-publication, looking at trends in the field and where we think things may head next. And in Part 2, we focus on what makes a book a book, what the kids must think of all of this, and what’s next for our genre.
This is something I’ve been looking forward to doing for a while. It’s good to take a step back once in a while to see where we are as an industry. I think this series turned out great, and I’m looking forward to continuing these discussions in the future.
The latest review for The Straits of Galahesh comes from Stefan Raets over at Tor.com. I have to say, I always love it when my work gets compared to other writers (in a favorable way, of course). In this case, it’s Robin Hobb with her Seven Duchies/Rain Wilds series and Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen series. I loved Robin Hobb’s Farseer Trilogy and The Liveship Traders Trilogy, but have yet to dive into the Rain Wilds. And any day you get compared to Steven Erikson is a good day in my book.
Here’s a brief excerpt from the review:
If you’re the kind of reader who enjoys Steven Erikson’s approach of throwing readers into a setting without too much guidance and letting the story do the job of explaining the details as it progresses, you should have a great time getting to know this fantasy universe. While that happens, you’ll be treated to healthy doses of feudal and international politics, strong characters, unique magic, romance, spectacular battles on land and in the air, and a story that continues to broaden in scope. The Lays of Anuskaya is shaping up to be a fine fantasy trilogy.
You can read the review in its entirety over at Tor.com.
Wow. It's been an entire year since The Winds of Khalakovo was released. It's strange, it feels like the year has been comprised of two separate wholes that have somehow coexisted even though they're traveling at different speeds through timespace. One part, the part that's been traveling at normal speed, is the day job, the family life. All that stuff feels as though a normal, typical year has passed. The kids have gotten older. I've gotten older. The day jobbery continues apace.
The writing part, though, feels completely different. That part feels as though years have gone by. The initial release of WINDS was very exciting—I was finally a published author!—but it was also exhausting, stressful, and demanding. I had some idea of the things I would have to do to try to promote myself; I just didn't understand the magnitude of those tasks. It takes so many disciplines. Organization, dedication, careful preparation. Technical skills to create trailers and maintain a website. Soft skills to go to readings and to create promotional materials. Dogged determination to follow through on all these things. A bright disposition so you don't come off like one of those cranky writers that never stops bitching even though they finally have what they've been working toward for years. And on and on.
Writing is, effectively, a small business, and as such someone has to do all the various jobs that need to be done. Early on, I'm afraid that's you and only you. I'll say it again. It's both exciting and exhausting.
There are dark times, too. If you haven't heard of the long tail of sales, you certainly will after you sell a book. It's great getting a rush of sales when a book comes out. But nine months later, when all the luster has worn off and it feels like everyone has moved on and you're still in the thick of the slog trying to wrap up the next book? Those are tough times. You start to wonder if your first book (or second or whatever) is going to be your last. You wonder if all of this is worth it.
Maybe it is and maybe it isn't. You'll have to decide the answer for yourself. As always, though, if you know what to expect, you can better prepare yourself. That's just part of the life of the full-time writer. And it's going to be hardest during that first novel when it's the first time you've experienced it. Next time, I'll be more ready. I'll also be ready to handle the grind of marketing. Some things are coming easier to me this year. I'm pushing myself to do other stuff, and hopefully I'm more efficient at all of it, and word spreads.
Getting this second book out feels really great, not simply because it's another book out in the world. It's also the second book in a trilogy. Two-thirds of the story is now out, and I'm closing in on the first draft for the final book. And that's a really cool feeling, to have this pretty massive story nearly wrapped up. Early reception of the book has been great, and I'm looking forward to hearing from more readers. And this brings up another positive thing. As the second book has approached, I've met a ton of people that have read WINDS and are coming back for more. What a change from when WINDS was released and nobody had heard of me outside my small circle of friends. That is one of the most gratifying things in this business, the chance to meet people that have read and liked your work.
I'm looking forward to the year ahead. I'm looking forward to pushing hard to get the word out on STRAITS. I'm also looking forward to putting The Lays of Anuskaya to bed. As much as I love the story, I'm also looking forward to the next tales. My fingers are already itching to start writing them.
I'd like to take a quick moment to thank those who have helped to spread the word. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed, and while I can't catch every single mention, I do appreciate all that you've done and will do to help bring new readers to the series. Thank you so much.
The Winds of Khalakovo is up for the David Gemmell Morningstar Award, and there are only TWO DAYS left to vote! Wow, that went fast. If Winds makes it into the top five, there will be a run-off for the final award. Well, there'll be a run-off either way, but my interest level will likely drop if I don't make it.
Click here for the ballot page, or here for the description page, which has links for each of the books and authors.
Good luck to all the entrants. It's a great field.
And my thanks if you cast your vote for my humble little epic.
But I also want to let everyone know that Night Shade is sponsoring a giveaway through Goodreads. They're giving away FIVE copies of STRAITS (Canada and US only). Click here for the entry form over at Goodreads.
We've added a new feature to Speculate this year. A "State of the Business" podcast, which we'll do a few times a year with selected guests. I was really looking forward to this talk, because I like chatting about where this ship is headed, and our guest, editor and author, Paul Genesse, didn't disappoint.
Our conversation went so long that we decided to split the show into two parts (we think an eighty minute episode would be a little extreme). In part one, we focus most of our attention on E-books and self-publication, looking at trends in the field and where we think things may head next. If you like what you hear, don’t forget to check back next week for part two of our discussion with Paul. Until then, thanks as always for listening to the show, and please continue to spread the word!
Give the first episode a listen over at Speculate. And keep in mind you can also subscribe to our podcasts on iTunes. Just search for "Speculate!" and you'll find us.
The Winds of Khalakovo is a debut that merits your attention. The way Bradley Beaulieu focuses on the emotions of his characters in the midst of political turmoil is reminiscent of Robin Hobb or even George R. R. Martin. The world-building, especially the spirit realm of Adhiya and the way supernatural and historical events affect the present, makes this novel read like it would fit neatly into one of Steven Erikson’s Malazan tomes. Those aren’t bad names to be compared to for a debut author.
I adore Robin Hobb, and anyone who knows my knows that one of my exemplars is GRRM. I've tried the first book in Erikson's Malazan series, but have yet to break my initial resistance to a new (really long) series to go farther than that, but I've heard great things about his writing and will one day soon read them.
That isn't what I want to talk about, however. Toward the end, Stefan says:
Whatever the case may be, The Winds of Khalakovo delivers enough material to fill more than one novel. The book is actually split in two parts, with the first one ending on a spectacular climax. Part two is so full of crazy escapes and wild battles, on windships and cliffs and in the dark, often described at length and in great detail, that it all gets to be a bit much towards the end. The tension is there, but it’s maintained at such a high pitch for so long that it becomes numbing after a while. I loved the first part of this novel, getting to know the fantasy world and the characters, but part two simply wore me down. The main issue with The Winds of Khalakovo, like with many debut novels, is that the author has crammed so much material in this first book that I was simply exhausted towards the end. Possibly it would would have worked better as two separate novels.
I just finished writing an article on "Tension on Every Page" for the SFWA Bulletin, an idea I was first introduced to in Donald Maass's excellent book, Writing the Breakout Novel. The notion here is that every page should be filled with tension of some kind. As simple as that idea is to express (and I do believe it's one of the keys to great fiction) it's really hard to execute properly. In the article, I talk about the notion of varying levels of tension and varying types of tension. I won't repeat the article here. Suffice it to say that finding a pleasing landscape of tension while painting real characters living in a real world is the thing I work hardest at, and it's also the thing that's most difficult to pull off.
I don't care to judge my own book. It's out in the world and it is what it is. But Stefan brings up something very interesting that all young writers should be aware of. And that's what I want to talk about: this notion of too much tension. To a young writer, this may seem silly. How can a book have too much tension? This is something that's admittedly hard to do—and perhaps I was a victim of my own mantra; something I'll ponder in the weeks to come—but one of the traps is using the same type of tension too often. As Stefan says, too much tension produces numbness.
The first house I ever bought was about twenty yards from an elevated train track. The house shook lightly when the trains came by, and the sound of it was incredibly loud at first. I would wake up at night when they barreled through. I would get annoyed by the interruption when they rumbled by during the day. But eventually I came to accept it. And then I kind of liked it. And then I HARDLY EVEN NOTICED THEY WERE COMING BY. The mind is really good at adjusting to things that are the same. Our danger senses relax and begin looking for other threats, because it's identified THIS ONE as non-threatening.
And so it is with fiction. Too much tension numbs the reader. Interestingly enough, Stefan not only identifies the problem, he also reveals one of the remedies: "The way Bradley Beaulieu focus on the emotions of his characters in the midst of political turmoil…"
This—the focusing on the emotions of characters even in the midst of tension—is one of the primary tools in the writer's toolbox when you feel like things are ramping up too high. Easing away from action or suspense or dread will naturally lower the ambient level of tension, but it will subtly draw the reader to the reason why they care. And why is that? Because they care about the characters themselves. This literary "stepping away from tension" will act as a reset of sorts, a recalibration, so that when the tension resumes, they are reoriented to the stakes of the characters' efforts.
Let me be clear, though, lest you fall into a trap. Don't take this to mean that these "lower tension" scenes (not low tension, but lower tension) should not contain tension themselves. They should. It will just be of a different type. Think of Frodo on his long journey toward Mount Doom. There are times when he and Sam talk about The Shire and how their lives used to be. They lament for their younger, simpler selves. This kind of scene isn't laced with tension, but it certainly creates a longing within the reader, and it plays foil to the other, higher-tension scenes that tend to bracket them.
I'm running into these very problems now with the third book in The Lays of Anuskaya series. I'm writing a sequence that's building toward the end of the book, much like I did in Winds, but it's feeling very helter-skelter right now. I know it's one of the weak points in this early draft, even with the high tension that's present. Why? Because tension in and of itself is not enough. Tension must rise and fall. The various incarnations tension takes must change constantly.
Today and tomorrow, Strata, the dystopian sci-fi thriller I co-wrote with Stephen Gaskell, is FREE on Amazon.com. Just head on over to the Kindle store via your browser or your Kindle (the physical version or the app) and grab a copy!
Strata is a stand-alone novella by two Writers of the Future Award winners.
It’s the middle of the twenty-second century. Earth’s oil and gas reserves have been spent, but humankind’s thirst for energy remains unquenched. Vast solar mining platforms circle the upper atmosphere of the sun, drawing power lines up from the stellar interior and tight-beaming the energy back to Earth. For most of the platforms’ teeming masses, life is hard, cramped—and hot. Most dream of a return Earthside, but a two-way ticket wasn’t part of the benefits package, and a Sun-Earth trip doesn’t come cheap.
Kawe Ndechi is luckier than most. He’s a gifted rider—a skimmer pilot who races the surface of the sun’s convection zone—and he needs only two more wins before he lands a ticket home. The only trouble is, Kawe’s spent most of his life on the platforms. He’s seen the misery, and he’s not sure he’s the only one who deserves a chance at returning home.
That makes Smith Pouslon nervous. Smith once raced the tunnels of fire himself, but now he’s a handler, and his rider, Kawe, is proving anything but easy to handle. Kawe’s slipping deeper and deeper into the Movement, but Smith knows that’s a fool’s game. His own foray into the Movement cost him his racing career—and nearly his life—and he doesn’t want Kawe to throw everything away for a revolt that will never succeed.
One sun. Two men. The fate of a million souls.
Steve and I debated for a while whether or not to go with KDP select, and also what to do with the price. With only one self-published piece among us, we don't have the luxury of trying it out with a number of different stories, but we've heard enough success stories that we wanted to give this a try. You should also know we're raising the price to $2.99 after the giveaway, so be sure to grab your copy now before the price goes up.
It feels strange to be giving this away at the same time that The Winds of Khalakovo is free on Amazon and while I'm running the giveaway for The Straits of Galahesh, but that's mostly accidental. We'd tried selling Strata for a few months and, well, Steve and I wanted to shake things up a bit. We hope it works, but more importantly, we hope you enjoy the story. As always, if you enjoy Strata, thanks for your support and for spreading the word via reviews, blogging, or whatever.
UPDATE: Overseas? You can still get a copy of Strata:
Looking for a bit of listening for the weekend? Then I have just the thing for you. Head on over to Speculate, where Greg and I recently sat down with Wheel of Time author, Brandon Sanderson.
This is one of our longer interviews, but when you have someone who can talk so easily and interestingly about magic systems, issues of balance in epic fantasy, the different stages of a writing career and what it’s like to complete the magnum opus of a speculative fiction legend, you sort of need to keep the tape rolling and enjoy the ride. Brandon also touches on teaching and podcasting in this wide-ranging discussion…and even admits that an inbox of fifty thousand unread E-mails can be a little overwhelming.
If you like what you hear, don’t forget to check back next week for our first “state of the field” discussion with friend and fellow speculative fiction author Paul Genesse. Until then, thanks as always for listening to the show, and please continue to spread the word!
Although the release of Straits is still a few weeks out, I now have in my hot little electronic paws a PDF teaser for The Straits of Galahesh. It contains the prologue and the first eleven chapters, plus a short synopsis of The Winds of Khalakovo.
I also just released an interactive map for The Lays of Anuskaya. Within it, you'll find Easter eggs that will give you more chances to win in The Straits of Galahesh Giveaway. I, along with Night Shade Books, am giving away a Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet 1st Prize, a Kindle Touch or Nook Simple Touch 2nd Prize, and copies of The Straits of Galahesh, including a rare ARC as the 3rd Prize. Take a look at the Giveaway Page for all the details, including how to enter!
And one last reminder: The Winds of Khalakovo is now free on Amazon.com. Just click this link and you can "Buy" it for free!
And the winner (if there's an award for such things) goes to Paul Weimer and the Functional Nerds.
Here's a brief excerpt from the review:
The author’s writing continues to improve. Now that I know what to expect from the writer, the changes and point of view changes were like beats that came easily and well. There are some nice turns of phrase and experiments with description not seen before in the author’s work, and they are used well. For example:
In the end they made their way back to the road and then pushed hard for Vihrosh. They stopped outside of the city and found a clear stream that ran over gray rocks. While Irkadiy watched the path for signs of pursuit, Atiana stripped and washed the worst of the marsh stench from her cloths and skin. It wasn’t perfect, but it would prevent anyone from asking of it—or more importantly, remembering it. As she washed the clothes, she kept glancing toward the tree Irkadiy was hiding behind, wondering if he was going to pop his head around to steal a look. But he never did. They switched places, and Atiana was not so resilient as Irkadiy had been. She did steal a look, and Irkadiy was looking right at her when she did.
He smiled, and when she ducked back behind the tree, he laughed.
She was too embarrassed to look again, but the sound—the healthy laugh of a naked man in an idyllic place like this—did much to drive back the terror she’d had in her heart since finding the spire.
They didn’t wait for their clothes to dry, but instead trusted to the wind to do that for them, at least as much as it could in the light drizzle. By the time they reached the straits and took to the ferry that would bring them back across the water, the Spar looked vastly different than it had that morning. The sun had already set, casting it the blue color of wet slate. The Spar had never looked anything but imposing, but now it seemed bellicose as well, like a hand upon the hilt of a knife.
In addition, given that there is a five year time time gap between the first novel and the second, it is possible, I think, to pick up the series here and start reading, if for some bizarre reason you didn’t want to read Winds first. In both a brief recap and within the text, the author tells the reader everything they need to know about the events of the first novel to get up to speed with the second. Like me, Brad clearly has read novels where authors have fallen down on the job, and has learned from those mistakes and endeavored not to repeat them.
Yes, I'm aware I quoted a section that quoted my own book. But I really like that particular bit. It came late in the writing (and re-writing) of the novel, and I think it turned out pretty cool.
I'm very excited to announce a giveaway in promotion of The Straits of Galahesh, which is now less than a month from release. In order to help spread the word, I, along with Night Shade Books, am running a contest with a top prize of a Kindle Fire and a second prize of a Kindle Touch, plus other books giveaways, including a rare ARC of The Straights of Galahesh! 13 prizes in all!
Read on for the details, click here to enter, and please, spread the word.
One 3rd Prize of a Signed ARC of The Straits of Galahesh! Note that VERY FEW of these were printed. I have only two, and the other is earmarked for next year's Worldbuilders drive. So this is the one and only ARC that I'll be giving away.
Wait a sec. If I review Winds, does it need to be positive?
Absolutely not. I'm only looking to spread the word, and more reviews helps. And if you've already entered a review, by all means, include the link. Those will count too!
Ok, can I just do a rating and not a review?
Not for this contest, no. (Though I'm of course happy to receive any feedback on those sites.)
Where can I see the cool interactive map to find these easter eggs you speak of?
Click here to open the new interactive map for The Lays of Anuskaya. The easter eggs (three of them) are hidden around the map, possibly in a sub-map, possibly on the main map. Click around, explore, have fun, and when you find the easter eggs, they'll give you a code to include in your contest entry submission form. (Please, no spoilers in the comments. Mentions of the Easter Egg locations will be deleted.)
When does the contest start?
Today, March 13th, 2012
When does it end?
On Release Day for The Straits of Galahesh: April 3rd, 2012 at midnight, Eastern Standard Time (GMT -5). Winners will be notified by April 6th, 2012.
How is the winner chosen?
When the contest ends, I will create a spreadsheet with everyone's entries and their point totals. I will then use a random number generator via random.org to choose the winners of the giveaway.
When will I get my loot?
Prizes will be sent out within two weeks of announcing the winners.
Anything else I should know?
This contest is open to the U.S. and Canada only. You must be 18 or older to enter. Only one entry per household.
Not interested in the contest?
Fair enough, but if you have a moment, please spread the word. One of your friends might like to enter!
How do I enter again?
By clicking here and filling out the form so I know how many bonus points to give you.
Today is a very exciting day. I'm finally ready to unveil the interactive map project I've been working on these past few weeks. You can click the map below to go to the page, which you can also find under the Lays of Anuskaya menu on the menu bar above.
Within the map, you'll also find an Easter egg or two (or three). These have been placed there in anticipation of the The Straits of Galahesh Giveaway, which you can find more about here. (Please, no spoilers in the comments. Any mention of the Easter egg locations will be deleted.)
For those who are interested, I'll be adding a new post in the coming weeks that talks about how I created the map. In the meantime, explore, enjoy, and thanks for spreading the word!
I’m going to have more on this in the coming days, but I wanted to share news about the free promotional giveaway that Steve Gaskell and I are running for Strata, our dystopian sci-fi thriller. On Tuesday, March 20th and Wednesday, March 21st, we will be giving away free copies of Strata through Amazon.com. We’re also raising the price to $2.99 after those dates, so be sure to stay tuned or simply mark this down on your calendar and grab a copy from Amazon on those dates.
Ah, awards season. What would they be without (a) a few gentle reminders to vote and (b) a note or two about what you can vote for? Lest your award season, and in particular the Hugo Awards, feel incomplete, here are the wee little projects that I can offer up for your kind consideration.
Late, late, late last year (December 23rd, to be exact) I released a dystopian sci-fi thriller with Stephen Gaskell called Strata. Releasing so late in the year was a tactical error on our part. We were trying to catch the avalanche of e-book sales as everyone got a new e-reader for Christmas. Had we been thinking, at all, we would have delayed a week to give our little story a bit more time for awards varied and sundry.
Still, Steve and I are both terribly proud of this tale of a social unrest on a solar mining platform. We hope you agree, and we’d be grateful for your vote in the Best Novella category.
Best Fancast
It is apparently my year for collaborations, because I also started up a podcast with friend and fellow writer, Greg Wilson called Speculate. I think it’s a really fun podcast with a unique approach to our shows. We generally do triptychs for a given work of specfic literature (an anthology, magazine issue, or novel). The first show is a reader response, the second is an interview with the author and sometimes editor, and the third is a discussion of writing technique based on what we read. It’s a great way to dig a bit deeper and to learn more from guests than you might on other shows, and we’re proud of that.
And, please forgive me for a moment as I put in a plug for Greg. I like to think that I do ok on the show for a guy that had no radio/podcasting experience before starting the show. Greg, however, is REALLY good at doing these podcasts. He’s got a voice cast in the back rooms of the radio hall of fame, he asks incisive questions, and he’s always light on his feet. Just listen to one show and you’ll see what I mean.
If you decide to vote for us in the Best Fancast category, you have our heartfelt thanks.
So, that’s it, my friends. Thanks for listening, and thanks for your votes, even if they weren’t for us.
And look, by Mars’ sharp spear, I’m up against such heavyweights as Joe Abercrombie’s The Heroes (1st seed, natch), Lev Grossman’s The Magician King, and R. Scott Bakker’s White-Luck Warrior! Still, I hope with your help I can make a little noise.
Voting starts March 12th. I’ll be sure to let you all know when Winds steps onto the amphitheatre floor.
I first met Eugene (E.C.) Myers at Starry Heaven, a peer-to-peer novel writing workshop. I was introduced to an as-yet-unpublished novel, but I have to say, I was smitten by his work. As I mention below, I think Eugene really nails the feeling that kids have in that age, that age where you’re still tied to your family but you’re branching out. It’s a terribly awkward but also exciting stage in our lives. And I get to live that through Eugene’s fiction, which is why I heartily recommend you give him a try.
When I heard that Eugene had sold Fair Coin to Pyr books, I was really excited, and now that his release date has finally rolled around, I asked Eugene to stop by for a bit of a chat. He was gracious enough to say yes.
Here’s what he had to say.
1. You’ve just come out with your debut novel, Fair Coin, which is the story of Ephraim, a sixteen-year-old who discovers a strange coin with magical powers. I know that you have some other YA projects as well. What is it about YA that captures your interest? Can you share any works of literature or seminal moments in your life that led you to want to write YA?
One of the recurring themes in the science fiction and fantasy short stories that I write is identity. This idea particularly resonates in YA fiction, which often features protagonists who are struggling to find their places in schools, clubs, groups, societies, families. Teens face many exciting, stressful, difficult, and scary turning points from the ages of 14 to 19—which includes significant milestones like the beginning of high school and graduation—that present opportunities for them to figure out where they fit in and who they’re going to be for the rest of their lives.
I’m also fascinated by stories where people discover untapped potential; learn something new about themselves, their friends, and the world around them; or realize their purpose in life. I have explored scenarios like this in adult stories, especially through fantasy and science fiction, but they feel to me like a more genuine fit for young adult fiction. On some level, every YA story is about characters figuring out the rules of their world, how to relate to people, and what their unique capabilities are; high school can be as alien a setting as another planet. Writing YA gives me a framework to tell the stories that already interest me, to an audience for which these issues matter.
I had heard from a few people that my writing style is well-suited for YA, and I had an idea for a YA book, so I started to read YA again to see what they were all about for modern readers. I realized that these were the books that turned me into a voracious reader when I was a kid, though they weren’t so stringently categorized back then. These were the books that shaped not only the reader and writer that I am, but the person I became
I had wandered away from YA as grew up, but I found that YA stories were still as exciting, immediate, and compelling as I remembered. I love their emphasis on character and personal conflict and the sheer imagination of the world building and plots, which are fully realized in books a quarter the size of many adult novels. I like spending time in new literary worlds, but I’m a slow reader with limited leisure time, so I appreciate getting a complete story without dedicating a month of reading to one book.
Basically, I love YA, and once I remembered that, I wanted to write it. If I have my way, I’ll spend my entire career writing books for young readers. If one of my books affects even one person the way the books of C.S. Lewis, Susan Cooper, Roald Dahl, Gillian Rubenstein, William Sleator, E. Nesbit, Robert C. O’Brien, and so many other authors reached me, then I’ll count myself a success. YA books have power; many have stuck with me since I first read them decades ago.
2. Your style really nails the feel of living through high school—that strange mix of awkwardness and feigned confidence that kids have—and it seems to me that walking this line is no easy thing. We pass those years by and it may be difficult—at least, it’s difficult for me—to return to that place mentally to the point that I could write with an authentic, high-school-aged voice. Can you explain your process for staying true, for lack of a better term, to that voice? Is it a matter of channeling your younger self? Reading in the genre? Something else?
Thank you! I’m glad that comes across successfully.
It’s really important for me to read widely in the genre, books of all types: science fiction, fantasy, contemporary, romance. Because I enjoy reading YA, this is hardly a burden, and it exposes me to so many different voices, styles, and perspectives. Part of it may be channeling my younger self, or perhaps I haven’t completely grown up, but it’s pretty much like finding the voice for any protagonist: I start from the situation and as I write I shape the character that the story demands. I may not figure it out until I’ve reached the end of a rough draft, and then I have to go back and make it consistent throughout in revision. It’s a bit harder to get the dialogue down right, but I mostly rely on instinct there. I also seek out good television shows and movies that feature young adult characters or are set in high school, which is a great excuse for watching TV.
3. You’re a self-admitted videophile. What do you think writers can borrow from film to help their writing? Do you use any of those techniques yourself?
I don’t consciously borrow any techniques, but I think we internalize good story structure and pacing from watching movies—as we do from reading books—as well as an ear for dialogue and a sense of which scenes are needed to tell a complete story. Most mainstream movies are crafted very precisely to have plots that are easy to follow and carry out clear, identifiable themes through the narrative. And, in turn, we’ve been trained to have certain expectations from films.
I studied film in college and started out writing screenplays and teleplays, so that absolutely informs my approach to fiction writing. I’m still very visual as I imagine scenes, and my drafts are heavier on dialogue than descriptions of action or setting. Watching movies often inspires me, and I often look for movies made or set in the time period I’m writing in, or that deal with stories or characters related to my story, in order to ground me in the right tone. My works in progress always occupy space in the back of my mind, so I try to feed my subconscious plenty of material to work with. The smallest detail from the most unexpected source might make an interesting and surprising connection with my book.
4. Are there any movies or series that can teach very specific things to a writer, and if so, which ones and what do they do well?
I attended a screenwriting workshop where writer Charles Murray taught the film Back to the Future as the perfect film, and many of his observations translate to prose fiction as well. He spent a lot of time pointing out how clues are planted in the opening scene of the movie; by the time Marty is skateboarding his way to school, only a few minutes in, you already know a lot about him and Doc Brown, and later events have been set up and foreshadowed, even if they seemed like insignificant details at the moment. This recurs throughout the movie, such as the now famous “Save the Clocktower” flyer, which is pivotal to the plot. The movie doesn’t waste a single scene or detail. Really, go back and study it a couple of times. It’s a great movie, one of my favorites, and it’ll be the most fun homework you’ve ever had. It’s also a terrific YA story.
Now that more and more television shows feature story arcs like Lost, I think we can also turn to them to figure out how to interest readers in characters, reveal important information, and advance plot. Many U.S. shows, especially on cable, are having 13-episode runs, and are very tightly plotted so every episode carries its weight. An even better example are British series, like Downton Abbey, which are typically 6 to 8 episodes long and juggle multiple character arcs and plot threads, and successfully balance humor with drama and tragedy.
When each hour of television costs studios millions of dollars, and viewers are increasingly impatient with more options to choose from, you have to keep them engaged every step of the way and make them feel like their time investment and loyalty is worth it. I’m fond of saying that Ron Moore’s Battlestar Galactica is the perfect example of a novel first draft, with its meandering story lines, retconning, changing premises, ambiguity, and—to many—unsatisfying conclusion. Had Ron Moore been able to go back to revise the series as a whole before it was broadcast, he could have made sure the continuity was consistent, set up the plot reveals earlier, fixed the clichéd dialogue, and layered in the show’s themes more successfully. The series is still an amazing accomplishment, but the creators lost too much trust along the way and disappointed loyal viewers by the end.
5. Conversely, the two mediums are not the same they both have their own strengths and weaknesses. So what should the young writer avoid translating from film to the written form?
There can sometimes be a tendency to overdescribe, to give so many details of the characters and their surroundings that there’s little room for them to live in the readers’ imagination. Movies are very visual, and you may be tempted to force the reader to imagine everything exactly the way you pictured it, but books are collaborations between the author and her reader. Movies also might excel at action scenes, but they are rarely as satisfying on the page, even in the hands of a skilled writer. Written fiction offers the opportunity to get into the characters’ heads, so you can do more than simply describe what they’re saying and doing, and you should exploit every tool at your disposal to tell a story.
6. Quantum Coin, the follow-up to Fair Coin, is nearing completion. Can you give us any insights as to what we can expect? Can you also share what the biggest hurdle in the writing of the second book has been?
I mentioned Back to the Future earlier, and I’ve been describing Quantum Coin as Back to the Future II. I set up the first book to tell a complete story with a beginning, middle, and ending, but that doesn’t mean that Doc Brown can’t turn up with a flying DeLorean and tell Marty that he has to come back with him to fix a terrible situation. So it goes with Ephraim, and I’ve tried to make his struggles more personal, uncomfortable, and difficult in the next part of his story. The stakes are raised even higher, and the poor guy has a really rough time of it.
Quantum Coin required a bit more research than Fair Coin did, and I tried to get many details as right as possible. It was also challenging to stick with plot points that were cemented in Fair Coin and make sure I maintained continuity between the two books. I was fortunate in that I wrote the first draft of Quantum Coin while I was querying agents on Fair Coin, so I had some flexibility in tweaking both before Fair Coin went into production. But Quantum Coin was also the first time I’ve really had to do major revisions on a book under the pressure of deadlines. It was hard work, but also a lot of fun, and in some ways, it’s a story that’s even closer to the kinds of YA adventure books I love than Fair Coin is.
Traditional knowledge says that movie sequels are rarely better than their predecessors, and I know it can be hard to meet readers’ expectations, but I hope people will pick up and enjoy Quantum Coin. I’m so happy they’ll have a chance to read it, when I was never even sure Fair Coin would be published, and I think the two books fit together really well.
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E(ugene).C. Myers is the author of Fair Coin, a young adult novel forthcoming from Pyr Books (March 2012).
He was assembled in the U.S. from Korean and German parts and raised by a single mother and a public library in Yonkers, New York, where he survived an improbable number of life-threatening experiences—most miraculously, high school—with ample scars as proof.
His science fiction and fantasy short stories have been published in a number of magazines and anthologies such as Sybil’s Garage, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, Sporty Spec: Games of the Fantastic, and Touched by Wonder: A Symphony of Fantastic Tales. His romantic short story featuring horny zombies, “In the Closet”, received an Honorable Mention in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2008; his nostalgic short story about horny cavemen, “My Father’s Eyes”, also got an Honorable Mention in The Best Horror of the Year: Volume 3; and he was a finalist in L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest.
Greg and I were lucky enough have a virtual sit down with Todd Lockwood, the artist who created the gorgeous cover art for my second book, The Straits of Galahesh. We talked about a range of topics, from his creative process, being known as “the dragon guy,” and his painting of Stephen Colbert as a paladin.
So what are you waiting for? Head on over to Speculate’s Episode 38 and give it a listen.
If you like what you hear, don’t forget to check back next week when we’ll head back to the world of literature to interview another major player in speculative fiction, Brandon Sanderson. Until then, thanks as always for listening to the show, and please continue to spread the word!
In the latest episode of Speculate, Greg and I dive deeper into writing technique, using Mark Hodder’sThe Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack, as the inspiration. As I mentioned in my previous note about our interview with Mark Hodder, this was a really fun triptych, largely because Mark’s book turned out to be such fun and rich material.
In this episode, we get into themes, foils, thoughts on “Empire” and digging deeper into worldbuilding, and more.
Tune in next week when Greg and I interview the cover artist for The Straits of Galahesh, Todd Lockwood.
I’d had notes for how the windships and magic worked in my book for a while. See that ship to the right of this text? I, um, recognize that it might take the reader a bit of time to orient themselves. And, well, I probably should have collected it together to put into The Winds of Khalakovo, but things were happening pretty fast then, and there wasn’t a lot of time. And I was a total noob. And my cat ate the paper I’d written it on.
Ok, I’m lying about that last bit, but the point is that I’ve collected those notes and prettified them and got them into The Straits of Galahesh. And now that that’s been done, I thought it’d be nice to share on my website as well.
For The Winds of Khalakovo, I was lucky enough that the artist, Adam Paquette, shared with me some of the thumbnail sketches and early incarnations of the artwork for the final cover. I documented that in this post.
Todd Lockwood, the artist for the cover for The Straits of Galahesh, was also nice enough to show me some of the early work, and I thought it would be cool to share some of that again.
Here’s the first image that Todd sent, just a thumbnail, in his words. It seems like more than a thumbnail to me. I’m sure it didn’t take him a ton of time, but it’s way more than I can do. I’m all thumbs when it comes to art. Note the number two in the bottom-right corner. Makes me wonder just how many thumbnails there were…
The second one was when Todd was getting down to business. All the framework was starting to fall into place by this point. He just hadn’t started filling in the color. Note the cool, organic nature of the perch that the two Aramahn are standing on. Todd confessed in a recent interview for Speculate that that was one of the things he really liked about this particular piece. It’s one of my favorite things as well. I love how organic it looks. I used that word, “organic,” when describing the scene to Todd, but I went no further than that. The rest of the inspiration came from him.
I also love how cool the right boot of Nikandr looks as well. I think it’s neat how photorealistic it looks against the raw and unfocused background.
And only the barest framework of the windship is being shown at this point. It’s amazing how much further that progressed.
See how nicely the ship is filling in now? It’s an amazing transformation. There’s so much depth added by the sunlight and the shadows coming in low through the rigging. And note the cool colors that have been added to the clouds and the sky. It really adds a lot of depth and context to the leap Nikandr is making here.
And then we have the finished piece. The Aramahn men standing on the perch have been fleshed out. Nikandr as well. And note how much perspective has been added with the addition of the gulls. It was amazing how much more clarity it lent the ship and the men on the perch.
And finally, we have the cover. Quite a ways from that original thumbnail, isn’t it?
In some ways, I’m sad that more of the art can’t be seen on the cover. But that’s the nature of the beast. The artwork is always covered to some degree. The point is to sell the books, and that takes some combination of marketing and artwork. Don’t get me wrong, though. I’m very pleased with the final cover. I think it grabs the attention, and it gives a strong sense of adventure, which is largely what Night Shade was looking to evoke. Clearly, the cover designer wanted to focus the eye on Nikandr, to give the reader someone to relate to, and I think from that perspective it was a rousing success.
Friend and fellow writer, Paul Genesse, has just released the third book in his Iron Dragon Series. Paul and I “came up” together as writers. Both of us attended the GenCon Writers Symposium for a number of years and struck up a friendship there, and it’s been cool as both of us leveled up and eventually reached the rank of published author.
I’ve been involved with the Iron Dragon series for a long while now, helping in some small way by reading and passing along whatever bits of advice I could to Paul. The series reminds me a lot of the Dragonlance Chronicles. It’s high adventure with a young hunter and his two Drobin companions as they go on a quest to destroy the Dragon King, Draglune. It’s a fast, light read, and it’s filled with characters that warm your heart. It’s perfect for young readers, those that are just dipping their toes into fantasy, but it’s also great for those like me who want to relive some of those early adventures we read in our teens.
When The Secret Empire came out, I wanted to chat with Paul about the experience a bit. So without further ado, here’s our short interview on the subject.
You’ve already come a long way with the Iron Dragon Series—three books released—but you have two more in the wings. How does it feel to be a more than halfway finished with the series?
Now that three books are out I feel like a backpack filled with rocks (that someone else put there!) has been lifted from my shoulders. It feels so good to have book three, The Secrete Empire out and I’m very excited to be close to having the whole series completed, which will hopefully be by the end of 2013.
The series has changed a lot since you first drafted the five books in the Iron Dragon series. As you grew as a writer, and as the story grew and altered, what were some of the more surprising changes to the characters, the plot, or the world?
I have old manuscripts of book four and five from 2002, which must be heavily rewritten before they’re published, but the overall arc of the story hasn’t changed that much. However, all of the micro parts, the actual scenes, have changed 100%. I’ve had to delete and rewrite almost every word of the old manuscripts. The characters have changed a lot as well. The main character, Drake, a crossbowman from a backwoods village, is more heroic, less afraid of what he encounters. He was more naïve in Book One, and he became a blooded and veteran warrior in Book Two and he acts very quickly now. By Book Three, he knows what it takes to survive, and though he has not lost his strong moral compass, he has become more of a pragmatist, and he will do whatever it takes to keep his friends alive, and if that means ambushing his enemies and sniping them from afar with his crossbow, he will do it—though he still has remorse, and the feelings that soldiers in war have after they survive difficult situations.
One of the biggest surprises for me as a writer involves Drake’s main love interest, Jaena, who now has her own major story thread in Book Three and beyond. It was suggested that she have more of a role, and her thread sprang to life at the end of Book Two, and then exploded in Book Three to become a very important aspect of the series. Her thread rivals what the “main characters” are doing.
Another surprising thing for me was realizing just how flawed the old manuscripts were as far as technique. The story was pretty good, but ten years ago I was such a novice writer when you look at technique. I’ve grown so much since then, and I barely recognize what I wrote before.
I’ve described the Iron Dragon Series as a return to adventures like The Dragonlance Chronicles. I’d like to put that question to you, though. Who is the perfect reader for this series?
The perfect reader is someone who enjoys adventure fantasy, like those written by Terry Brooks author of the Shannara series, readers of Dragonlance by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weiss, R.A. Salvatore’s Drizzt novels, and epic fantasy in general. It’s written for teens and adults, though the 10-11 year olds that I meet love it as well, though it’s a little too scary for some kids that age, and there is some adult content, which is why Library Journal, who gave me a great review, said it was for ages 12 and up. My favorite description of the series comes from Russell Davis, author, editor and former President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America: “This is a story that’s worth your time. It’s almost like going back to that first fantasy novel that totally captivated you and you read it over and over again. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.”
You’ve gone the exciting route of self-publishing the rest of the series after your publisher of the first two books stopped publishing fantasy and science fiction, despite your first novel becoming their bestselling fantasy title ever. Tell us some of the lessons you’ve learned, both positive and negative, with going this route.
Doing everything yourself is so difficult, and very daunting. I have friends to help, but the amount of work required to get a book actually published is gigantic. I’ve learned a lot about graphic arts, and typesetting, but I made several mistakes with cover design, which delayed the release of the trade paperback edition as I kept having to re-order proofs of Book One from CreateSpace. Book Two and Three came out great right away, but book one’s cover had issues. I need to take a class on Photoshop and I wish I had more expertise in all areas of publishing and marketing. Just getting the writing done is a challenge and a full-time job, and when you add all the rest of it, the job is enormous, and not for the faint of heart. Determination is key.
If you could give only one or two bits of advice for someone considering the same route, what would they be?
Don’t rush things like I did as I pushed to get book one, two, and three released as trade paperbacks and eBooks at the same time. Give yourself more time to get things done, and practice all the tasks in advance. Self-publish a short story or novella first, and learn cover design, typesetting, publishing with a print on demand company, and publish it as an eBook. Don’t do everything as you go, like I did with my Iron Dragon Series. Also, find friends who know about image manipulation and layout and have them help you. I should have tapped my numerous contacts to help with the cover problems I was having. Instead, I tried to do it alone, and it cost me time, sanity, and some extra proof orders. I asked for help with editing the third book, but for some reason I thought I was on my own with other parts, though some friends did look over my work. Still, I spared them the technical questions that caused so many problems. Don’t forget that your true friends will help you with your dreams.
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My thanks to Paul for stopping by these parts and chatting for a spell. You can find more about Paul at his website or his blog, and you can find more about his Iron Dragon Series via the following links:
Do you love maps? If you’re like me, you do. I just got the two new ones that are being included in my second novel, The Straits of Galahesh. Here they are, one for Galahesh, which (as you might have guessed from the title) figures prominently into the novel, and one for Vostroma, the Duchy that deals most closely with Galahesh, a semi-autonomous state between the Empire of Yrstanla and the Grand Duchy of Anuskaya.
Click to embiggen
If you embiggen the picture, you can see the actual straits more clearly. It lies between the cities of Vihrosh, the old seat of power on Galahesh, and Baressa, where the Kaymakam of Galahesh resides.
Click to embiggen
In this map you can see the largest city in the Vostroman islands, Evochka, the parallel to Volgorod on Khalakovo. North of Evochka, along the coast, is Palotza Galostina, the oldest of the palotzas in the Grand Duchy and the seat of power for the Vostroman family. It is the home of Zhabyn Vostroma, the Grand Duke of Anuskaya, and his three daughters, Ishkyna, Mileva, and Atiana.
I generated the original maps myself from a mapping program, but it was William McAusland that brought them to life. And the multi-talented Amy Popovich from Night Shade books added the awesome borders around the edge. They make my old maps look plain, but I’m going to try to add the borders to those maps as well.
I just need to get my grubby paws on those borders.
Voting continues for the David Gemmell Morningstar Award, and award that my debut novel, The Winds of Khalakovo, has been nominated for. If you haven’t yet voted, and you enjoyed reading Winds, please consider heading over to the site and voting.
In the meantime, the kind folks organizing the award have asked the nominees to post about why we chose fantasy as a genre to write in and who our influences have been. Here’s mine:
I’ve been reading fantasy practically since I learned how to read. I came across The Hobbit in third grade—I even remember the friend that turned me onto it: Jim Vogt, my best friend at the time—and I’ve never looked back. It was a wondrous experience, walking through Middle Earth with Bilbo and Gandalf and the dwarves. I sometimes wonder what it would have been like had I found another seminal work in a different genre. Would I now be a mystery writer had I read Sherlock Holmes or Sexton Blake when I was young? Would I write spy thrillers if I had somehow stumbled across James Bond? I like to think the answer is no. Fantasy feels like a part of me at this point, so strong was my reaction to The Hobbit and, later, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. I can’t imagine a world that feels more internally consistent, more whole, than those volumes.
And I think this is what eventually drove me to be a writer. As I matured I started to read other things, things like Piers Anthony’s Split Infinity Series, Stephen R. Donaldson’s The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Terry Brooks’ Shannara Series, Thieves’ World from Lynn Abbey, and Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné. While I enjoyed these and many other books to varying degrees, none of them quite had that sense of history, of scope, that Tolkien had created in his stories. So as I started to dabble in writing in college, while I didn’t realize this consciously at the time, I was trying to recreate that sense of wonder that I’d found while traveling toward the Lonely Mountain to steal into the lair of Smaug.
As I became more serious about writing, I grew more conscious of my own style, and I started to recognize both the writers I was emulating unconsciously and those I wanted to write like but knew I had work to do in order to achieve it. First of all, while I will probably always be striving to match Tolkien’s worldbuilding, I realized I didn’t want to write like him. He came from a different time with a different set of sensibilities. While I treasure his books, I don’t have, nor do I want to have, a voice similar to his. A voice that was much closer to how I wanted to write was George R.R. Martin. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire is a more recent influence on me, but it’s been a particularly strong one. I think he’s succeeded in marrying a more contemporary fantasy writing style with the scope of The Lord of the Rings. I also think his is the most gripping of the doorstopper epic fantasies.
Another voice I wanted to emulate was C.S. Friedman’s. Her Coldfire Trilogy had a profound affect on me and my writing. I love the dark and serious tone of that world. I loved the feeling of threat she managed to create in the world of Erna and the tension that brewed between Gerald Tarrant and Damien Vryce. Glen Cook’s Black Company Series made me realize that there’s more to war than the grand, romantic sagas that some novels paint them to be. That these two writers—writers I had been reading for nearly two decades—said nice things about my first book has been one of the true high points in my short writing career.
I later started reading Guy Gavriel Kay based on some recommendations from friend, and I fell in love with his prose. If I can bring some of his sense of poetry into my own writing, I will be pleased indeed. And finally, last but not least, I’ll mention Tim Powers. The Drawing of the Dark is one of my favorite novels, and while I don’t and probably won’t dabble in historical fantasy, I do appreciate the attention to detail that Tim puts in his novels. I may write fantasy in secondary worlds, but I want them to feel as if they’re consistent wholes. It’s this, and his ability to make the reader feel like they’re flying by the seat of their pants, that I appreciate about Tim’s writing.
Next up on Speculate is Episode 36, a wonderful interview with Mark Hodder, author of The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack. This was a really fun interview for me, because I really enjoy Steampunk, and it was fun talking with a guy who’s not only a great writer, but someone who’s steeped in history, particularly the period in England in which Steampunk is typically set.
Mark also had some great insights into “Empire”, what that term really means and what people have to pay in order to achieve it. His book pulls back the kimono in that respect, showing what has to happen for the Lords and Ladies of London to exist. It was a great interview, one you’ll not want to miss.
So what are you waiting for? High thee on over to Speculate and give it a listen!
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