Still Life with Fantasy and Fruit #8

I'm on my October break—which means a week off from school—and having a WHOLE! WEEK! to read and write and run errands during normal business hours sounds like a swim in milk chocolate right now.

My copy edits for Hammered are going to arrive today, so of course I'll be diving into that, and I'm hoping to finish up my outline for book six this week, which is currently wearing the tentative title of Hunted.

My outlines are about 10-15 pages. I'm making them longer and more detailed than I used to because I saw the advantage of it while writing Hexed; the detailed notes I'd written on Hexed allowed me to crank it out in five months, and it was also far easier to edit/prettify than Hounded or Hammered, neither of which had detailed outlines. So I've learned quite a bit about myself as a writer—I can write as a pantser and as a plotter as well—but wow, the job sure gets done more efficiently when I plot. That doesn't mean I slavishly follow the outline, either—I change things as I go, especially the order of events. I'll probably post my Hexed outline after the book comes out so people can compare what I'd planned against what actually got written.

Here's what I plan to read this week:

Still Life with Fantasy and Fruit #8

We have three miniature fruits here alongside a giant variation of another. Miniature Clementine oranges, a wee watermelon, and a petite pumpkin frame Scott Westerfeld's dieselpunk Behemoth, while huge table grapes called Pristines nestle against the steampunk succulence of Cherie Priest's Dreadnought.

I loved both Leviathan (Westerfeld) and Boneshaker (Priest), so these sequels are going to be delightful returns to worlds I enjoyed on my first visit. I especially love that Dreadnought is printed in brown ink like Boneshaker was.

In other news, Suvudu is starting their Villain Cage Match! TODAY! You can go vote now for who should fill in the last few slots in the bracket here.

And when the first round starts, one of the matchups will be introduced by Yours Truly! The bracket is public now, so I'm not going to be spoiling anything with this: I've written up the White Witch from the Chronicles of Narnia (Seed #5) vs. Gaius Baltar from Battlestar Galactica (Seed #28)! I hope you'll follow along and join in the fun by voting! These Cage Matches are the coolest thing ever...it's a chance to feed the Nerd Inside. So say we all.

Still Life with Fantasy and Fruit #7

It's been a while since I've been able to read anything for fun. Now that school's back in, I tend to have other things to read. Here's what I have to read this weekend:

That's the typeset pages of my second book, Hexed, plus essays on The Crucible, a reworked paragraph from The Scarlet Letter, and some quizzes. Anybody who thinks teaching is a nine-to-five job doesn't know jack about it. With all that on my plate, it's tough to fit in any reading for pleasure...or writing, for that matter. But my editor sent me an Advance Reader's Edition of Cherie Priest's Bloodshot—it comes out at the end of January next year—and I'm tellin' ya, it grabbed me. I stayed up late to finish it and I paid for it the next day, yawning at everybody, but wow. I was already a fan of hers after reading Boneshaker (see Still Life with Fantasy and Fruit #3), but this one has turned me into a fanboy. If you think Priest's steampunk is good, wait until you try her urban fantasy! Emphasis on the wait, I guess, since you'll have to wait before you can snag a copy, but it'll be worth the wait, I promise! Take a gander at it here, chillin' out with a Granny Smith:

Still Life with Fantasy and Fruit #7

Tough to say which looks tastier, isn't it? Sweet cover—and an even sweeter story. Put it on your wish list. Speaking of covers, I've seen early drafts of mine, and I'm excited about the portrayal of Atticus! Can't wait until I can share!

And while we're on the subject of covers, I might as well throw in my two cents about photographic vs. painted covers, since I've seen a few posts about it recently out there on the Internet(s). Right now photographic covers in fantasy are very popular—they're selling well—and some folks bemoan the switch from painted scenes to photographed ones. There are even conspiracy theories out there—that this is a cost-cutting move by publishers, or they're trying to save time, even doing it out of sheer laziness.

Maybe they're right...I can't refute any of those arguments with solid facts or numbers, since I don't have access to them. But it sounds a bit off to me, simply based on what I've been seeing with the production of my covers. Is it cheaper to hire a single painter for a cover, or hire a photographer, a model, and a designer/digital illustrator? I'm guessing the costs are comparable, if not even more expensive on the photography side. And in terms of laziness, I haven't seen even a hint of that in my case. Del Rey has asked for my input on the character's portrayal, and they've been fastidious about sticking to it. Honestly, I couldn't ask for more. They got the hair right. They got the clothes right. They got the sword right. And since my character wears a cold iron amulet around his neck, together with some silver square charms with hammered designs on them, they had a jeweler make one from scratch so that the model could wear it during the photo shoot! Say what you want about costs and time savings, but that's definitely not lazy; that's scrupulous attention to detail. Perhaps I'm extraordinarily blessed to have a publisher who gives a damn—I certainly think so—but I imagine other publishers are doing the same with their authors. Take a look at Orbit's covers for Gail Carriger—especially her latest—and you'll see plenty of details.

I think using photography vs. paint is an attempt to make the characters more real for readers and bring that world alive in their minds. Judging by its success—we're seeing photography used in epic fantasy now, not just urban fantasy (see Peter V. Brett's The Desert Spear)—most readers appreciate it. I completely understand and sympathize with those who have different aesthetic sensibilities; there's no arguing matters of personal preference. And there's no denying that truly stunning paintings can add value to a book beyond the words inside. But I don't think there's a giant conspiracy of corner-cutting behind the switch to photographic covers; publishers are simply trying to compete and get their authors' titles noticed and picked up. Some covers work better than others—I certainly hope mine work better—but that was also true of painted covers. I'm not going to wail and gnash my teeth over it; I like the photographic ones just as much as the old-fashioned ones.

Still Life with Fantasy and Fruit #6

These are the books I'm either currently reading or going to read very, very soon, attractively couched with red grapes, black plums, strawberries, and blackberries. (By the way, it's mighty tough to be a writer if you don't read. Words are brain calories, and everyone should be on a 30,000 word-per-day diet—but it's quite all right if you consume more.)

Still Life with Fantasy and Fruit #6

Up in front you have Tracking the Tempest by Nicole Peeler and The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett; in the back is Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor, and The Ruling Sea by Robert V.S. Redick. 

Just about finished with Nicole's book, and it's every bit as funny as she is. If you missed my interview with her, click on the 3:2 Interview tag in the labels to the right of the blog—it's the first one. 

My brother-in-law gave me about five of Terry Pratchett's books, telling me that my work was reminiscent in some of its humor to Mr. Pratchett's. He recommended that I start with The Wee Free Men, but I stubbornly did not, since I like to read series from the beginning. After I mentioned this to my editor, she said she was also handed The Wee Free Men (by Betsy Mitchell, no less) as an introduction to Pratchett's body o' litrachur. Clearly, I should not have begun at the beginning. Looking forward to it.

I'm going to read Who Fears Death because Patrick Rothfuss told me to. Plus, it's orange.

I picked up The Ruling Sea from Del Rey's Vault o' Treasures when I visited NYC. So far all I've done is geek out over the map, but I'm going to dive back into the adventures of Pazel Pathkendle soon.  

Peace—

Still Life with Fantasy and Fruit #5

Well hi there! A couple of these are older releases but they're new to me, so I'm featuring them with citrus, a small topnote of berries, and a side o' watermelon:

Still Life with Fantasy and Fruit #5

It should be noted that the only lemons in this picture are the actual lemons. There are no lemons here in the pejorative sense. From L-R: Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane, Norse Code by Greg van Eekhout, and Leviathan by Scott Westerfield.

I haven't read Unholy Ghosts yet but I'm excited to get to it. Stacia has the same release schedule as me—her next two books in the series are coming out later this month and then in July, I think—and I have plenty of questions for her. Her main character, Chess Putnam, is something of an anti-hero, even for urban fantasy; besides being a witch, she's a drug addict. 

If you're a fan of Norse mythology, Norse Code is a good time. Don't let the girl with the sharp pointy thing fool you, because it's not all about her. There's sort of a revolving cast, and the cover actually amuses me now because I can just imagine the meeting between the editorial and art departments:

"Okay, there's this god Hermod who's really the main character but we can't use him."

"Why not?"

"Because even though he's kind of funny, you can't really illustrate that; he's sort of a bum, socially inept and insecure about his abilities."

"Right. What else you got?"

"Well, there's this hot Valkyrie who wields a Chinese saber."

"Excellent! That's made of win! Let's do it!"

The point of view switches from the Valkyrie to the god to a pair of ravens and so on. It's the oldest release of the bunch, but quite worth picking up. The author's latest release is a book called Kid vs. Squid, a novel for young readers, and my ten-year-old daughter is digging it very much.

Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld, is also intended for younger readers, and it's the first of a series. It's unusual in that it's an alternate history of WWI—you don't see many of those around. It can also be classified as an example of early Dieselpunk, if you like to classify things. As a subgenre, I'm not sure that Dieselpunk will ever catch on or hold the allure of Steampunk; the Victorian era had such smashing fashion, you see, and such interesting social taboos. On the other hand, the Dieselpunk era (1920-1945) is a very fertile fictional playground, especially if one wants to play with it as an alternate history. You have the swing era, mobsters & Prohibition, WWII...and there's plenty of room for new writers to break in here and do something very cool. I don't think the "definitive work" of the genre's been written yet; Westerfeld's book is clearly wonderful, but he's forced to steer clear of some of the grittier, "punkier" aspects of the time since he's writing for a younger audience. If you're interested in seeing more about the Dieselpunk aesthetic, check out this neato spread at Dark Roasted Blend (just scroll down past the ad). Based on Westerfeld's work, I'm ready to see more of this sort of thing targeted to an older audience. His book is great for his intended audience, though; my daughter loved it too.

Still Life with Fantasy and Fruit #4

Along with all the delicious fantasy, today we shall enjoy watermelon, nectarines, saturn peaches, and a bit o' tea with honey:

Still Life with Fantasy and Fruit #4

Yeah, that's a red onion in there. I'm just making sure you're paying attention.

A bit about the fantasy: Neil Gaiman + Charles Vess = Yum. Enough said. In the back on the right, we see The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynne Jones. If you read a lot of fantasy, you'll find this really amusing. I was reading it in Starbucks and laughing out loud, drawing glares from staid, sober types who always glare at me when I laugh out loud. (I might be the only person who laughs in my neighborhood. I really need to move out.) The Tough Guide deals with all the clichés of fantasy, and let me tell you, they're still getting used even though this book came out a few years ago. My favorite is how everyone eats stew. Even though it takes hours to make stew from scratch, especially over a camp fire, all these heroes are eating stew on their journeys instead of slicing off a steak from a slain animal and cooking that in a few minutes. Seriously, have you ever tried to make stew from scratch, without using pre-made broth or stock? Try it and then check out how long it takes them to do it in a novel. That's magic.

The featured book here is The Light-Years Beneath My Feet by Alan Dean Foster. This is also a few years old, but what I really want to do is express my fanboy ecstasy for Mr. Foster's body of work rather than draw attention to any particular book. He's written over thirty-five books for Random House alone. He's written more with other publishers. Check out the list here. That's a long, prolific career, friends. He's written science fiction and fantasy; he's written series and standalones. And no matter what you pick up, you'll get a good read, guaranteed. He's not a #1 bestseller (I don't think?), he doesn't win fancy-schmancy awards, he just gives you an entertaining read, every time, and he's been doing it since 1972. I first got hooked on him with The Man Who Used the Universe. I've read it so many times that my copy is falling apart. After that I read The I Inside, and I liked that even more. (Those links are to Powells, and you'll probably have to find those books at used bookstores because they're out of print now.)

There are only a few authors who write books that I read multiple times. I revisit Card's Ender's Game quite a bit; McCaffrey's Dragonsinger series; Herbert's Dune; Stephenson's Snow Crash; Tolkien, of course; and then there are these little books by Mr. Foster that I just dig for some reason. The first book of his Damned trilogy, A Call to Arms, keeps me coming back. I really enjoyed Drowning World and Life Form, too. And Mudge, the otter from his Spellsinger series, started me laughing out loud in public early on and drawing glares from stuffy old people. If you've never given Mr. Foster a look, he's worth a try. He's bound to have written something you'd enjoy with fifty or so books to his name. He's basically the guy who got me hooked on science fiction when I was young; his Spellsinger books were also the first fantasy I ever read. In many ways, he's the reason I'm a writer now. Mr. Foster, I salute you—and thank you for all the great stories.

Still Life with Fantasy and Fruit #3, Steampunk Edition

Ah, goggles & dirigibles—is there anything more divine? Yes! Goggles and dirigibles and FRUIT! Behold the latest composition in my ongoing series:

Still Life with Fantasy and Fruit #3

Friends, this is simply delicious. Cherie Priest's Boneshaker, Gail Carriger's Changeless, and a delectable chorus of pears, grapes, and melons await your admiration!

Boneshaker doesn't simply have cool gadgets & goggles: it has zombies! Mmm, braaaaaains. (That is why the melons were absolutely necessary.) It's also printed with brown ink and set in a rather tasteful font. Thus far I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Changeless, aside from its great humor and attention to fashion, features werewolves and vampires and mummies, and if you're interested in picking it up, I'd start with Soulless first, which will get you hooked on a fantastic series. Carriger's third book is supposed to come out in September—I can't wait—and if I'm lucky, I'll get to interview up here on the Grove. 

Speaking of interviews, you can look forward to two this summer: Nicole Peeler on June 29, and Kelly Meding on July 27. Those are actually release dates for their second books, and if you'd like to be introduced to them ahead of time, Nicole's first book is called Tempest Rising and Kelly's is called Three Days to Dead.

Still plugging away at my third: 47K now on Hammered.

Still Life with Fantasy and Fruit #2

Behold my new masterpiece:

Still Life with Fantasy and Fruit #2

"You put the lime with the coconut and read it all up." That's how the song goes, right?

Unlike my first Still Life, I didn't get these books for free. I paid U.S. dollars for them because these two particular authors aren't with my publisher. That being said, they're also quite worth it, because they're the leading writers in the urban fantasy genre and their books are always entertaining. 

Let's pause a moment to judge these books by their covers. On the one hand you have a Brooding Trench Coat Man holding a staff like he's claiming this land in the name of Some Majesty, May He/She Reign Forever.  On the other you have an Impressively Inked Woman holding a book, giving you this look over her shoulder that suggests if you ask her nicely, she might read it to you. Or...you can read about her reading that book to someone else in the book. There are layers of books here. I'm sold! Briggs wins, hands down!

Here's what I like about the photo: It looks like Brooding Trench Coat Man is glaring at the reflected, mirror-imaged name of Patricia Briggs invading the territory he has claimed with his phallic symbol.

If you're not familiar with either of these authors, I highly recommend filling this awful void in your life. You're truly missing out on some great characters. You can start with Jim Butcher's Storm Front here and Patricia Briggs' Moon Called here.

I'll get reviews of these up when I'm finished with them. I'm chugging through Silver Borne right now. The Impressively Inked Woman hasn't read that book to me yet, but there's still a hundred pages to go, so there's hope.

Still Life with Fantasy and Fruit

My editor is THE COOLEST editor ever! Behold Exhibit A:

Still Life with Fantasy and Fruit #1

All of this was sent to me by my editor, except for the fruit. Here's what you're looking at, left to right, front row: Robert Redick's The Red Wolf Conspiracy; a Braeburn apple; Daryl Gregory's Pandemonium; another apple; Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett's Have Mercy; and then moving to the back row, an Advanced Reader Edition of Peter V. Brett's The Warded Man; a NEW! AWESOME! copy of Mr. Brett's latest novel, The Desert Spear, two weeks before it's available in stores (Whoops! I just drooled on the keyboard in nerd ecstasy!); bananas, because this shit is bananas; Richard K. Morgan's The Steel Remains; and a final apple.

And now we pause for a celebratory squee. Squeeeee!!!

I had no idea how cool it would be to get free books until I got them. I mean, when I was a younger nerd with more hair, I'd get "free" books from those book clubs, but we all know they weren't really free because you had that commitment hanging over you to buy only six more books in the next year at regular club price and you had to return that card on time or they'd send you a crappy book of the month instead of something you wanted. These books are free. I don't have to buy anything or "just pay shipping and handling." And yes, I'm bragging about it. I'm having a nice brag right now, because this is the coolest perk I never expected for getting published. I didn't expect any perks, to be honest; getting published is satisfactorily perky all by itself. It doesn't need perks. But they are there, and this is one of them.

In coming days, weeks, (months?) I'll be reviewing these. I'm reading The Warded Man first because I've heard nothing but stellar things about it and I'm fond of reading stellar books. But after that and The Desert Spear, I'm digging into Richard Morgan's book. His Altered Carbon was awesome stuff and so were the sequels, so I can't wait to see what he's done here. Oh, and you know what? I almost bought that book over the weekend! I picked it up, all excited, and then I checked the publisher on the spine and went "WHOA!" kind of like that loud man in the Staples commercials but several decibels quieter. Richard Morgan's with Del Rey, too! I had no idea. I put the book down—very reluctantly—because I thought maybe, just maybe, Tricia would surprise me with it. And she DID! So that is Exhibit B. The books & authors in the front row are unknown to me, but I'm looking forward to this particular introduction and I'll share the experience when I get to them.

I really need to write an effusive missive o' thanks to my editor now.

School's keepin' me busy and it's tough to find the headspace to write, but I'm at 30K on Hammered now and deep in research on the Kabbalah for my Kabbalist warriors. Happy Passover to all my Jewish friends.