Novelnaut

Exploring the Depths of Novels and Writing

Some time ago, I mentioned a contest that John Scalzi was running and that I had entered it.  Well, the results are back, and I did not win.  Obviously, having not read any of the winning entries, I’m unable to tell you whether they were better stories or not.  But, since I didn’t win, I’m going to post the story here.

So, I leave you with P.U.C.K.

Wil pulled back on the reins of Tiger, his P.U.C.K. Squadron mount.  The genetics behind a Pegasus Unicorn Centaur Kitten caused them to be a little over zealous in battle, and a P.U.C.K. rider learned early to keep them restrained or quickly end up rolling in the rocks.  The ScalzOrc saw him coming, just barely in time to avoid the spear that Wil had thrust at him.  Damn ScalzOrc, Wil thought.  The ScalzOrc’s were a special breed of genetically engineered Orc warriors designed for one thing only; battle.  A perversion of natural laws, perhaps, but damned efficient.  Hell of a lot easier than breeding replacement armies.  Besides, Wil chuckled at the thought, who’d want to breed with an Orc anyways.  Not that they didn’t breed.  Someone had told him a story he’d heard about the breeding rituals of the Orc clans.  His disclaimer from then on has been strictly no explicit sex.  Unless it’s with his wife; in which case, he was all for it.  The ScalzOrc brought his shield around and blocked the spear.  The force brought to bear on the spear with a P.U.C.K. behind it knocked the ScalzOrc to the ground.  It rolled, then sprang up, already bringing it’s battle axe around in a high arc aimed at Tiger.
The P.U.C.K. darted to the side to avoid it, almost unseating Wil in the process.  Wil hadn’t had time to tighten his restraints to his saddle before taking off to answer the alarm.  He was still wearing the clown sweater and blue shorts that he’d gone to bed in.  Hadn’t had time to change either.  Normally, the alarms would have been sounded much earlier, but the unseasonal volcanic activity was disrupting the sensors.  If he had to guess, Wil would say the ScalzOrcs had something to do with that.  The momentum from the missed swing carried the ScalzOrc low and under the wing of Tiger.  It swung it’s shield up and the sharpened edge of it cut several of the feathers from Tigers wing.  Wil winced.  The P.U.C.K. had no feeling in the feathers, so there would be no pain, but it took months to grow the feathers back.  And P.U.C.K.s were notoriously vain.  Tiger screamed at the ScalzOrc and lunged after it.  The effort ripped the reins out of Wil’s hands.  An unrestrained P.U.C.K. was a bad situation.  It was as much of a threat to its rider and itself as it was to the enemy in most cases. Luckily, the clipped feathers gave Tiger a focus for all that power.  Tiger advanced quickly on the ScalzOrc, batting at it as it retreated.  It was forced to stop and stand its ground when it’s retreat was blocked by a lava flow.  It knelt to the ground and placed it’s axe at Tigers paws.
Tiger tossed his head, and the reins slid back down it’s neck where Wil could reach them.  With Tiger back under control, Wil gave him the command to hold.  Wil stepped down off of Tiger and moved up to stand beside the P.U.C.K.s enormous kitten head.  “Do you surrender, ScalzOrc?”  It was an insult to the ScalzOrc to even suggest surrender, which is why Wil asked.  The ScalzOrc glared at Wil, but didn’t answer.  Wil continued.  “Very well, then.  I don’t suppose you’d like to gamble for your life?  Doesn’t matter.  We’re going to do it anyways.”  Wil pulled a small black velvet pouch from his saddle bag.  It was a matter of pride that each of the P.U.C.K. riders carried their own dice.  His were an heirloom that was handed down from his grandfather to his father and then on to him.  He loosened the tie and dumped the dice into his palm.  They had twenty sides, and were crafted from crystal clear, and thus very rare, Dilithium crystals.  “There are 20 sides to each die, ScalzOrc.  If I roll two twenties, I’ll let you live.  Anything less, and I’m letting tiger finish what he started.”  Wil closed his palm loosely over the dice and began to shake it back and forth.  The dice lightly chimed against each other.  “Wait!” the ScalzOrc took a step forward and was about to take another when Tiger reminded him that he was there.  Wil stopped shaking the dice.  “Just wait.” The ScalzOrc stepped back to where he had been standing. “If I am to die, I want to die honorably;  Not at the hand of fate.  And certainly not by whatever means that genetic mess you call Tiger has in mind.”  Wil put a hand on Tigers shoulder to help stay him.  Calling a vain animal a genetic mess was nearly as bad as clipping a few of it’s feathers.  “You shouldn’t be calling anything a genetic mess, ScalzOrc.  You aren’t exactly a pure genome yourself.”  The ScalzOrcs were known to be a bit sensitive about the means in which they are created, and Wil didn’t mind putting a thumb in that wound.  “Allright, I’ll give you your honorable death.”  The ScalzOrc looked surprised that Wil had agreed to change his plans.  “Thank you.  My people, for what we lack in a personal history, have come to associate with the Volcanos that come and go on this planet.  I would like to be dropped into the volcano.”

The air above the volcano cone was hot.  Wil was already sweating heavily under the clown sweater that he hadn’t had a chance to take off, and they’d only been above the volcano for a few minutes.  He wanted to get as close to the center of the cone before he dropped the ScalzOrc in.  Less chance of any tricky business on the way down.  He’d tied the ScalzOrcs arms and legs before mounting Tiger and having the P.U.C.K. pick him up in his claws.  As they reached the center of the cone, Wil nudged Tiger, giving him the sign to drop his cargo into the volcano.  The ScalzOrc fell, twisting in the air as he went.  Wil had to admit that it was admirable that the ScalzOrc didn’t even scream as he dropped to his death.  The ScalzOrc dropped into the Lava at the center of the volcano.  A brief flame burst up and quickly died out.  Wil pulled Tiger into a turn and pointed him towards home.  The lights of the compound glimmered in the distance.  A second flame burst caught Wils eye.  He looked down just as lava flowed away from something rising from its depths.  A door opened on the device, and the ScalzOrc rose up from the lava and entered it.  Before he ducked into the door, he turned and gave a short wave to Wil.  The door closed behind him and the device sunk back into the volcano’s depths.

Wil recorded to memory everything he’d seen.  He’d have to give a full report to his commander when he returned.  It seemed the ScalzOrcs had figured out how to modify their genetic structure to be highly heat resistant.  And the theory that they may have something to do with the volcano eruptions might have more truth to it than many had thought.  Wil gave Tiger a bit of a nudge and the P.U.C.K.s wings beat a little bit faster.  It was already a long night, and it was about to get much longer.

I hope you like it.

Rage Against the Meshugenah

By Danny Evans

Depression is a scary thing.  Even scarier is the social stigmas that are given to those who suffer from it.  As a man with depression, Danny Evans fought both the disease and the social stigmas that say that men should just “man up and get over it”.  Rage Against the Meshugenah is the story of how he overcame the disease and brought it under control and how it directly affected his life.

If you read Danny’s blog, Dad Gone Mad, you’ll immediately notice that the writing style and voice doesn’t change here.  It’s still direct and humorous while still giving full weight to the seriousness of the subject.  The story takes us from the very beginnings of the depression to the point where it’s controlled.  Danny leads us on a journey into what he was thinking and the major milestones (and setbacks) in his recovery.  Interspersed within the talk of depression are some real life lessons that Danny discovered along the way.

If you’re expecting some clinical look into depression, this isn’t your book.  The title and cover should have given that away, I would have thought.  But, if you’re looking for a book that tells a human story about depression, you should pick this book up.  I don’t believe that I’m depressed and I still got plenty out of it, so I can only imagine the value it could give if you think (or know) that you’re depressed.

A Wild Light

Marjorie M. Liu

Let’s get the disclaimer out of the way.  I was sent a copy of this book for review.  I received no other compensation, and the review is my honest opinions of the book despite having attained it for free.

After reading “Waking the Witch“, I think I had some idea what to expect when diving into this “paranormal fantasy”.  And yet, it was quite a bit different.  Part of that is that Waking the Witch was meant as a YA novel, while I don’t believe that A Wild Light was.  And there are some very distinct differences in writing style as well.

A Wild Light is the third book in the Hunter Kiss series of books.  I dislike picking up a book in the middle of a series.  As an author, I think it’s important to make your books stand alone even if they are in a series, but I think it’s also incredibly difficult.  Jim C. Hines touched on this issue recently when discussing the backstory to his Princess series.  So, as a reader, I hate picking up a book like this merely because I know there will likely be bits and pieces that I just don’t get or understand because I haven’t read the previous books.  Such was the case here.  The first several chapters alluded to situations that I believe happened in the previous books and likely would have added more to the story had I known exactly what it was that was being talked about.

Liu’s writing style is very meaty.  You get a good feel for the way the character is feeling and what her thoughts are.  Most of the characters are deeply written, with the exception of a few who I couldn’t help but feel had been explored in previous books.  If not, it was a glaring omission, I think.  There is very little interaction with the paranormals and the normals in the book, which I found a bit odd considering it is set in modern Seattle.  I did find the concepts fresh (although that could be contributed to my lack of reading experience in this genre) and well written.  The ideas and melding of the histories of the characters with lore was also well done.

Overall, the A Wild Light was good.  I’m sure that fans of Liu and of paranormal fantasy will find it to be a very good book.  The chief detractors for me were the lack of history and the lack of interaction with non-paranormal characters.  The first is really more of a failing on my part for not having read the rest of the series.  The second was likely a choice made by the author.  And is likely not going to be a problem for most readers.

The Adamantine Palace

By Stephen Deas

Every once in a while, you pick a book up, read the blurbs on the inside and back of the cover and scoff.  “This can’t possibly be as good as they make it out to be.”  Most times, you’re right.  Of course, the publisher is going to put the most complimentary blurbs on the cover of the book.  They aren’t going to put something like “This book is the worst book I’ve read all year” on the cover of a book that they want to sell.  And some times.  Sometimes those blurbs are spot on.  That’s the case here with The Adamantine Palace.

The use of dragons through fantasy novels has been waning.  It was very popular in the late 80′s and into the early 90′s, but has really died off since then.  Sure, there have been a few bright spots here and there, but overall, it’s all been orcs and elves.  Like all good things, there must be an ebb and flow.  With The Adamantine Palace, Stephen Deas may very well have broke the spigot off the well of dragon lore.  The dragons in this book, while a fairly minimal part of the overall story really stole the show.  Some may try and put the proverbial “lipstick on a pig” and make dragons these docile friendly beasts that live to serve humans, but Deas wrote them true.  These are no docile beasts (by nature at least).  These are real dragons written as a real dragon should be.  With size and powers on their side and a bit of a chip on their shoulder.  Wow.

The humans are also pretty well written.  The plot twists and turns and keeps the suspense alive throughout.  There’s plenty of royal backstabbing and betrayal along with a smattering of more carnal malfeasance.  One thing I must add here is that I’m used to reading books in the 3rd person.  It’s pretty much a fantasy standard.  However, in most of those cases, we are given a deep look into each of the characters and know them well.  We can spot the antagonist a mile away because we don’t get that deep look into that character.  Here, it’s hard to tell who’s really the antagonist.  We aren’t given a deep look into any of the characters in particular.  Deas writes them well, and drops us far enough into the character to get our feet wet, but stops short enough to create a wonderful sense of suspense and questioning.

But, and there must be one, there are several minor flaws as well.  Because of the shadowed character building, there were a couple of times where I felt that I just didn’t follow what was going on.  I usually caught it later on, but I’m not so sure that it lent anything to the story for that to be held for so long.  I also didn’t like that the ending was a total cliffhanger.  I realize that the book is part of a planned series, but it could have been left as it was without the cliffhanger and then open the second book with that.  That would have sucked me right into the second book.

Seldom do I read a book by a unknown (to me) author and immediately rush to put the next book on my wish lists.  Recently, only Patrick Rothfuss and John Scalzi have managed that.  You can add Stephen Deas to that list.  If the rest of the series is nearly as good as the first, the Memory of Flames series will go down as one of the best dragon fantasy series’ ever.  Seriously, I think it’s that good.

You want to read it, I know you do.  You can pick it up at Amazon, or any number of bookstores.  If you have the choice, pick an independent bookstore, and show your appreciation.

If you’re looking for a fun way to spend 100 words, Janet Reid has a fun weekly contest going on.  You can enter for about another 30 hours or so, so hurry up. She explains it better than I do, so you should go over and read the instructions.

Here’s my entry:

My name is Simpson.  Some would call me the leader of the Bacon Resistance.  I’m not sure why the name stuck, but it did.  It’s all Fenske’s fault.  We were supposed to have a one-on-one at IHOP, but he had to go and invite Reed as well.  I’ve never liked Reed.  He’s got that squinty pinched face look and always wears glasses that don’t fit well.  It would fit if he could be classified as a geek or nerd, but he’s a damn auto mechanic.  It was the breakfast that started it all.  And I ordered bacon.

The difficult part is in the word count limit.  How do you properly tell a story in 100 words?  There are some wonderful entries there as well, so make sure you read them as well!

Waking the Witch

By: Kelley Armstrong

For those unfamiliar with Kelley Armstrong’s work (like myself), this is book 11 in an the ongoing “Otherworld” series.  Also, in the spirit of getting disclosure out of the way straight off, I was sent an ARC of this book for review.  The fully edited hardcover will be published on July 27th, 2010. (Amazon has a publication date of July 27th as does the press sheet I received, but the book itself says August 3rd in several places.)

Here’s the blurb for the book:

At twenty-one, Savannah Levine—orphaned daughter of a notorious dark witch and an equally notorious cutthroat sorcerer—considers herself a full-fledged member of the supernatural race that rules the Otherworld. The once rebellious teen has grown into a six-foot-tall, motorcycle-riding jaw-dropper with a full arsenal of spells that she’s not afraid to use when she gets caught in a bind. There’s only one small problem—her adoptive parents, Paige and Lucas, don’t always trust her. Of course, she’s given them plenty of reasons . . . but those are in the past. People can change, right?

When Paige and Lucas take off on a romantic vacation alone, leaving her in charge of their detective agency, Savannah is presented with a case that she can’t turn down, and one she can finally call her own. Recruited by another supernatural detective, she travels to Columbus, Washington, a small, almost shell of a town. Two troubled young women have been found in an abandoned warehouse, murdered. Now a third woman is dead, and darker forces seem to be at play.

Savannah feels certain she can handle the case, but with supernatural activity appearing at every turn, things quickly become more serious—and far more dangerous—than she realizes. Caught up in a web of lust, false identities, and lies, Savannah must summon strength from her depths, and fight like she’s never fought before.

It’s a far cry from anything that I would normally read.  At least, anything that I would pick to read.  Luckily, I accept review copies of books and am forced out of my realm of normalcy and out of my ruts.  I was expecting a teenie-bopper, babysitter’s club sort of book.  What I got, was something completely different.   Yes, the book is technically classified as a YA book.  If you ask me, it’s borderline as there is some language that is more adult than young adult.  But, for mid to late teens, it should be just fine.

As is to be expected, the writing style of the book is pretty simple.  You won’t find yourself stumbling over difficult sentences and harder concepts.  It’s a YA novel and the language fits that.  Unlike some YAs you’ll read, this book actually has a pretty strong plot.  There were a few points that I felt left out on since I haven’t read any of the preceding 10 books in the series, but overall, I was able to follow along and keep with it.  Considering that I think it would be somewhat difficult to pick up the third or fourth Harry Potter novel and know most of anything that was going on, having the 11th book in a series mostly stand-alone is an accomplishment.

I liked it.  It was a quick read that had substance but didn’t require me to do a lot of deep thinking about the subplots of subplots.  It has a strong plot and solid story with a strong female protagonist.  Is it the best book I’ve read this year?  No.  But if you’re in the mood for some easy reading that will keep you interested and keep the pages turning, you couldn’t do much better than Waking the Witch.  It’s on sale at Amazon for pre-order for $15.57 (as of 7/12/2010) for the Hardcover and $12.99 for the Kindle version.

New Voices in Science Fiction

Edited by: Mike Resnick

For a very long time, compilations such as this book were a fad.  There were so many of them that the quality of any one was highly debatable.  Usually, you got one good story and about 20 average ones (or worse).  Luckily, that fad has faded, or I got lucky.  Of course, I did take a peek at the list of authors that were included, and there were one or two (like Cory Doctorow, Kage Baker, Kay Kenyon, and Tobias Buckell to name a few) that I knew by name if not by work.  There’s 20 total stories in the compilation.  Like me, I’m sure that you’ll recognize a few of the names, and there will be several that you haven’t heard of.

A few highlights.  “Chicken Brain” by Janis Ian was by far the most complicated to read.  The writing is mostly dialogue.  And that in what is, I believe, a Caribbean dialect.  I can’t say for sure, because I’ve never been that far south.  That being said, once get used to reading the dialect, the story itself takes you on a quick trip with a twist ending that (to me at least) isn’t glaringly obvious.  “The Faithful” by Kage Baker was a wonderful story.  Just enough detail without giving away the ending.  (In case you can’t tell, I like good endings)  “Messenger” by Mark M. Stafford is a very powerful story set in Auschwitz.  It’s not at all what you expect when you think of the setting, however.  It holds a very strong message.  “1-800-WICKED1″ by Lisa Mantchev is a nice take on fairy tales that reminds me of Jim Hines’ Princess Series.  “Insubordination” by Susan R. Mathews was also a very pleasant story.  It reminds me a bit of a twist on Asimovs three laws except with slaves rather than robots.  It’s a very clever story of manipulation of set rules. And “Custer’s Angel” by Adrienne Gormley had a very unique take on a somewhat old theme.  Time travel without the travel.

I can’t say that I was completely disappointed by any of the stories, although I did find a few to be on the lower end of the “average” spectrum.  If you’re looking for a few good stories to introduce a few new authors, take a look at this and other compilations.  It’s a good way to get a taste of a writer without the commitment of a full novel.

If your interested, I wrote a book review for a book called “Why are we so clueless about the stock market” over on my personal finance blog, Beating Broke.  I don’t read a whole lot of non-fiction, but I occasionally get a review copy in and do reviews then.  Also, if you’re at all interested in personal finance, you might find a thing or two to read.

Second note.  I don’t think I mentioned it here, but John Scalzi was holding a short story contest of sorts.  The deadline was June 30, 2010, so if you hadn’t heard about it before now, you’ve missed it entirely.  I did manage (with only about 5 minutes to spare) to get my entry in.  I don’t think it’s my best work, and it probably could have used a bit more editing, but it is what it is  and there’s no do-overs now.  They aren’t asking for exclusivity, so I’ve been thinking about posting my entry here.  Not sure yet, anyone have any thoughts on that? The winner, besides getting some nice prizes, also gets their story printed in a short chapbook of other authors stories.  All of the stories will be based on the same prompt (which you can see at the contest post linked above), so it should be interesting to see how others took the plot and such.

I took the route of a fanfic parody of sorts.  Threw in some stuff that I thought was funny anyways.  They haven’t really announced a end date other than to note that they plan on publishing the chapbook sometime in late summer or early autumn.  So, maybe late July or early August?  Either way, it was fun to write, and I hope I win.

That’s it for now.  I’m headed off to vacation on a nice quite beach somewhere in Minnesota next week, so if the weather turns sour, I might get some extra reading in.  Otherwise, I’m sure the kids won’t let out of the water long enough to do any reading.  Sun and fun!

Jessica Page Morrell has a blog!  In case the name doesn’t ring any bells, she “Between the Lines: Mastering the Subtle Elements of Fiction Writing“, which I deemed to be the best book on writing that I’ve ever read.

In any case, you really should probably subscribe to her blog, it’s got some tasty tidbits available.  For instance, she recently posted the Fiction Checklist.  It’s a checklist of some basic things that should exist in your fiction.  I don’t think it’s meant to be such a checklist where if you miss one or two that your writing is trash, and it certainly isn’t meant as an all-inclusive checklist, but it has some very nice points to make.

Under Heaven

By: Guy Gavriel Kay

Kay is one of my favorite authors.  His works are engaging and intelligent.  I have yet to be disappointed by one of this books.  And Under Heaven is certainly no exception.  What a spectacularly written novel.

It follows the adventures of Tai, a generals son who, after his father dies, goes off to the battlefield that haunted his fathers dreams.  For two years (the official mourning period), he buries the dead of Kuala Nor.  He overcomes the screaming of the ghosts of the dead, and becomes revered by those who man the posts of his country and the neighboring country.  The action of going to Kuala Nor and burying the dead changes the world around him.

Under Heaven is a book about choices.  About how the choices a person makes can affect that person, his family, his peers, and even his country and emperor.  Stemming from Tai’s choice to go and bury the dead of Kuala Nor, the novel branches off into many plot lines.  The cascade of choices that Tai makes based on what happens to him because of Kuala Nor and the choices that the people around him make because of those choices make for an amazingly intricate weaving of plots.  To the very end page, the ripples of that choice can be seen.  Kay uses his normal command of the written language to delicately lead the read on through the path, and carefully reveals only what we need to know.

The novel isn’t as good as some of my favorite Kay novels. It pales in comparison to Tigana, The Sarantine Mosaic, and The Fionavar Trilogy.  And, of course, that will depend on your reading tastes.  Part of the (minor) failing is that with Tigana, Sarantine Mosaic I felt a deep emotional connection to the cast of characters.  I felt the failings of their world.  I never got that connection in Under Heaven.  Now, you can make the decision on whether that’s my failing or the novels’.

Either way, it’s still an immensely enjoyable book.  One that I would recommend you pick up from Amazon or your favorite bookseller.