Right now my fiction-reading* is Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick, which I had heard from several sources as being the best fantasy book from a debut author in 2011. So far, I'm enjoying it, but it is definitely a cozy walk down some familiar road. The worldbuilding aspects are a bit more info-dumpish than I care for, but certainly workable-- especially given a first-person narrator that has an interest in history. But on the whole, it's an underworld romp with a thief-hero that does what it says on the tin.
I have to admit, I'm kind of fascinated by how common the thief-hero is in the fantasy genre. We have tons of them. Gray Mouser in Leiber. Prince Kheldar in Eddings. Vlad Taltos in Brust. Locke Lamora in Lynch. You could even make the argument for Bilbo Baggins as a thief-hero.
I'm not immune to it myself. Veranix in Thorn of Dentonhill certainly has thief-hero qualities, and Asti and Verci Rynax, as well as the rest of the Holver Alley Crew, are thief-heroes as well. In both cases, I at least try and subvert the trope a bit. Neither Veranix or the Rynax brothers are just work-a-day thieves in the guild. (It's always a guild, isn't it?) Not to say that's all other writers are doing, but that is the common trope, to the point that Pratchett specifically mocks it in Discworld.
But what is it about the charming scofflaw that appeals to us, as readers? Do we just love the bad boy? I don't think it is quite that simple. We (by which I mean audiences in general) do love to see an underdog win, especially if he does it in a fun way. Heist movies, of course, have the same appeal. We love to see someone beat the system by being clever.
But it's always a tricky balance to walk-- you want your thief-hero to do bad things, but never so far that you can't call him a hero. That's my hiccup with Hulick's book so far-- his main character starts out torturing someone for information. It's a bit hard to get on someone's side when that's how you first see him.
Any favorite thief-heroes that I didn't mention?
___________
*- At any given time, I'm probably reading three different things: one fiction (Among Thieves), one non-fiction (The Edible History of Humanity) and one for-critique for a fellow writer (Elle Ven Hensbergen's latest, for which writing up my comments is on this week's to-do list).
Monday, January 16, 2012
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Whatever you prefix to the -punk
My good friend Dan Fawcett has started up his own blog, kicking things off with a conversation about the various subgenres in SF/F that get called (prefix)punk. Dan, being much more of an academic scholar that me, notes several of them. The big boys, cyber- and steam-, of course, and then the lesser entries to the canon: clock-, diesel-, sandal-, atom-, tesla-, and the somewhat bewildering "nowpunk".
What, exactly, is "nowpunk"? I'm not entirely sure, beyond the fact that Bruce Sterling, my dear close personal friend*, describes one of his recent works as that. I'm not entirely sure what it might mean.
The various (prefix)punk subgenres are often about style. Not entirely, of course, but style is a big part. They're alt-histories, but specifically ones where culture and technology branch off in a different direction, rather than the usual "What if X was different?' sort of alt-histories. To "punk" something, in this usage, is to alter history in terms of technological and social changes. Give the past something more advanced than they had, or as advanced but in a different way. And the "punk" suffix has become a really useful shorthand. If I tell you I'm doing, say, a "clockpunk" story (and I might argue that the various Maradaine books, especially Holver Alley Crew, have clockpunky elements to them), then you'll probably be able to conjure up a solid idea of the look and feel of the story. (The other edge of that sword is if a writer relies on that trope lazily, figuring just the subgenre name will do the work for them.)
But back to "nowpunk", which kind of fascinates me. What does it mean? Tweaking tech and history of current times? I can't help but think that 24 might be a fine example of it. On one level, it has a recognizable setting of "now" (or the "now" of when it was airing). But it actually presents a very different America than the one we live in. We see eight single-day glimpses from the year 2000 to 2014. In those fourteen years, there are seven US Presidents, three of which are vice-presidents who assume the office after the death or removal of the sitting president. The series centers around CTU, a federal agency that exists to investigate terrorist activity on US soil, and has a fair amount of latitude in terms of violating civil rights to achieve its mandate. It's an America that never had 9/11, but accepted even more trade-offs of liberty for the sake of security than we did after 9/11. It is also an America that fell prey to several more homeland attacks, including two nuclear explosions over those 14 years. Not to mention the technology-- cyber and surveillance tech are slightly more advanced, though to the degree that is typical in any modern technothriller. (Of course any grainy picture can be "enhanced" to perfect clarity.) Would this be "nowpunk"? Possibly.
Thinking about this, it occurs to me that cyberpunk has, in a way, become as much of a past-offshoot as steampunk, where tech and culture branches off in a different direction in the 1980s. Consider this: Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash is set in 1998. (This isn't made explicitly clear, but Hiro Protagonist is about 25 years old, and was born in 1973-- same year as me! And the fact that his father served in WWII is a major plot point.) Though I'm sure there are more current cyberpunk books that are based on branching off today's tech.
So, that all said, anyone have any good (prefix)punk recommendations?
---
*- Or, in reality, the sci-fi superstar I sat next to in a panel that one time.
What, exactly, is "nowpunk"? I'm not entirely sure, beyond the fact that Bruce Sterling, my dear close personal friend*, describes one of his recent works as that. I'm not entirely sure what it might mean.
The various (prefix)punk subgenres are often about style. Not entirely, of course, but style is a big part. They're alt-histories, but specifically ones where culture and technology branch off in a different direction, rather than the usual "What if X was different?' sort of alt-histories. To "punk" something, in this usage, is to alter history in terms of technological and social changes. Give the past something more advanced than they had, or as advanced but in a different way. And the "punk" suffix has become a really useful shorthand. If I tell you I'm doing, say, a "clockpunk" story (and I might argue that the various Maradaine books, especially Holver Alley Crew, have clockpunky elements to them), then you'll probably be able to conjure up a solid idea of the look and feel of the story. (The other edge of that sword is if a writer relies on that trope lazily, figuring just the subgenre name will do the work for them.)
But back to "nowpunk", which kind of fascinates me. What does it mean? Tweaking tech and history of current times? I can't help but think that 24 might be a fine example of it. On one level, it has a recognizable setting of "now" (or the "now" of when it was airing). But it actually presents a very different America than the one we live in. We see eight single-day glimpses from the year 2000 to 2014. In those fourteen years, there are seven US Presidents, three of which are vice-presidents who assume the office after the death or removal of the sitting president. The series centers around CTU, a federal agency that exists to investigate terrorist activity on US soil, and has a fair amount of latitude in terms of violating civil rights to achieve its mandate. It's an America that never had 9/11, but accepted even more trade-offs of liberty for the sake of security than we did after 9/11. It is also an America that fell prey to several more homeland attacks, including two nuclear explosions over those 14 years. Not to mention the technology-- cyber and surveillance tech are slightly more advanced, though to the degree that is typical in any modern technothriller. (Of course any grainy picture can be "enhanced" to perfect clarity.) Would this be "nowpunk"? Possibly.
Thinking about this, it occurs to me that cyberpunk has, in a way, become as much of a past-offshoot as steampunk, where tech and culture branches off in a different direction in the 1980s. Consider this: Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash is set in 1998. (This isn't made explicitly clear, but Hiro Protagonist is about 25 years old, and was born in 1973-- same year as me! And the fact that his father served in WWII is a major plot point.) Though I'm sure there are more current cyberpunk books that are based on branching off today's tech.
So, that all said, anyone have any good (prefix)punk recommendations?
---
*- Or, in reality, the sci-fi superstar I sat next to in a panel that one time.
Monday, January 9, 2012
January is not the Month of Doom, for once
Last year at this time, I was sinus-deep in misery, thanks to Austin Cedar allergies. It was pretty awful, much like it was in 2010 and 2009. It actually had been bad for me in Januaries before 2009, but that was when I realized what was causing the problem. Anyway, in the two years since, I mostly did my best to manage allergy season once it hit. This year, I was actually proactive, taking daily doses of antihistamines, starting a few months out. This has made a huge difference. Cedar levels are ridiculously high, yet despite that, I'm as mentally functional as ever.
(I'll let you all judge how functional that actually is.)
So projects are getting done. Holver Alley Crew was sent to the agent today. I've been doing plenty of work on Maradaine Constabulary, and should have that draft finished pretty soon. Ideas are percolating. Work is getting done. I finished reading the manuscript for my critique group ahead of time, for once.
I like having my January be useful and productive. How about that?
So therefore, back into the Word Mines.
(I'll let you all judge how functional that actually is.)
So projects are getting done. Holver Alley Crew was sent to the agent today. I've been doing plenty of work on Maradaine Constabulary, and should have that draft finished pretty soon. Ideas are percolating. Work is getting done. I finished reading the manuscript for my critique group ahead of time, for once.
I like having my January be useful and productive. How about that?
So therefore, back into the Word Mines.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Crazy Shakespeare Ideas
Every once in a while, that germ of an idea plants itself in my head, and I like to let it play out a little bit, even if I know I'm not going to actually do anything with them.
This often takes the form of ideas for theatrical productions that I'll never do. My days as a theatre producer are behind me for the most part, having already lost my shirt on it once. But that doesn't mean the bug isn't still there.
The idea hit me of doing really crazy Shakespeare productions. I've been involved in my share of crazy ones (a slapstick As You Like It with wise-talking trees, an all-female Macbeth, an utterly doomed surreal Twelfth Night, to name a few), so those ideas still percolate up to the top of my brain. I mean, I know that "high-concept interpretation of Shakespeare" is almost a cliche, but I do enjoy them. Anyway, some strange ones came to me.
Zombie Apocalypse Titus Andronicus- Shakespeare's blood-filled atrocity could go quite nicely with a zombie apocalypse churning in the background. It certainly fits in terms of bleakness. And there's tons of bits that you can use. When Mutius and Quintus are trapped in the pit, it can be a pit full of zombies! When Lavinia is raped, with her tongue and hands cut off, why not go one step further: have her be zombified. Then she spends the rest of the play muzzled and trying to bite people. (This makes the bit where Young Lucius is freaked out by her even more freaky.) Then when Titus captures Chiron and Demetrius, he can let Lavinia eat them! And then Tamora will eat pies of their zombie-infested flesh! Lucius can ride back into town with an army of corralled zombies! It's got a lot of potential.
Military Space Opera Much Ado About Nothing- It's almost TOO easy. Don Pedro's ship docks at Leonato's station, returning from the war. Romance and smart talk between their respective XOs. Alien constable Dogberry speaks in fractured English.
Steampunk Tempest- If any of Shakespeare's plays lends itself to steampunk craziness, it's The Tempest. Prospero can have giant machines. Caliban and Ariel can be bronze-and-pipe covered robots. And awesome costumes.
I'm not actually going to do any of these any time in the near future. So, if you're reading this, and you've got a theatrical fire to burn, why not try one of these?
This often takes the form of ideas for theatrical productions that I'll never do. My days as a theatre producer are behind me for the most part, having already lost my shirt on it once. But that doesn't mean the bug isn't still there.
The idea hit me of doing really crazy Shakespeare productions. I've been involved in my share of crazy ones (a slapstick As You Like It with wise-talking trees, an all-female Macbeth, an utterly doomed surreal Twelfth Night, to name a few), so those ideas still percolate up to the top of my brain. I mean, I know that "high-concept interpretation of Shakespeare" is almost a cliche, but I do enjoy them. Anyway, some strange ones came to me.
Zombie Apocalypse Titus Andronicus- Shakespeare's blood-filled atrocity could go quite nicely with a zombie apocalypse churning in the background. It certainly fits in terms of bleakness. And there's tons of bits that you can use. When Mutius and Quintus are trapped in the pit, it can be a pit full of zombies! When Lavinia is raped, with her tongue and hands cut off, why not go one step further: have her be zombified. Then she spends the rest of the play muzzled and trying to bite people. (This makes the bit where Young Lucius is freaked out by her even more freaky.) Then when Titus captures Chiron and Demetrius, he can let Lavinia eat them! And then Tamora will eat pies of their zombie-infested flesh! Lucius can ride back into town with an army of corralled zombies! It's got a lot of potential.
Military Space Opera Much Ado About Nothing- It's almost TOO easy. Don Pedro's ship docks at Leonato's station, returning from the war. Romance and smart talk between their respective XOs. Alien constable Dogberry speaks in fractured English.
Steampunk Tempest- If any of Shakespeare's plays lends itself to steampunk craziness, it's The Tempest. Prospero can have giant machines. Caliban and Ariel can be bronze-and-pipe covered robots. And awesome costumes.
I'm not actually going to do any of these any time in the near future. So, if you're reading this, and you've got a theatrical fire to burn, why not try one of these?
Monday, January 2, 2012
Digging through the archives
I'm trying to figure out, going through my old files, exactly what happened on September 18th, 2005.
I say this because it appears to be a significant date, as of my old worldbuilding files and notes, MANY of them were last modified on September 18th, 2005. So why was that the last time I touched them? Near as I can gather and recall, that was around the time I got rid of my old desktop, so I probably transferred/saved a bunch of stuff onto my flashdrive. And while I've kept and shuffled those files around between computers since, I've not really touched them.
Most of this stuff is worldbuilding files of various other nations and cultures in the same world as Druthal. I wrote up a lot of those documents (using a "National Document" format, the origins of which lost to memory) with my old worldbuilding/writing partner (who I still consult & confer with, even though he doesn't do any fiction writing anymore), mostly between 2000 and 2003. Some of them are incomplete. And most haven't been touched since Sept. 18th, 2005.
The truth is, they would all need massive levels of overhaul. For one, I'm not particularly fond of the "National Document" format, and I would need to come up with a new template that's more to my liking. Second, much of the actual writing-- on a craft and sentence structure level-- I find somewhat embarrassing. Third, and most important, there's a lot of stuff in all that I don't necessarily agree with anymore.
Some of it is due to being more knowledgeable now. I've done a lot of reading and research since writing those, and knowing that I have stuff in there that's just plain wrong. Other parts I just don't like, too simplistic, or the broad brushstrokes are a little too broad. (I'm looking at one right now that I really don't remember a lot of it, but I don't care for it.)
But the only nation in which I've done modern, up-to-date work on is Druthal. Two other nations (Acseria and Imachan) I had some more recent work (dated in 2007)-- but that was because I was working on Crown of Druthal in 2007 (that was when I finished the rough draft), and it's set primarily in those two nations.
Since then, I narrowed my focus to Druthal, and specifically the city of Maradaine, which was a major factor in improving what I was writing. I was trying, since I had done an entire world's worth of building to showcase THE ENTIRE WORLD. I mean, that was the underlying concept of the Crown of Druthal series-- they would travel around the world and stop in every country. Because I made it so I MUST SHOW IT ALL.
I've gotten that out of my system since then.
At some point, I would like to go back through it all. Especially since I've made far more specific maps since then. But that's not a project I'm going to get to any time soon.
I say this because it appears to be a significant date, as of my old worldbuilding files and notes, MANY of them were last modified on September 18th, 2005. So why was that the last time I touched them? Near as I can gather and recall, that was around the time I got rid of my old desktop, so I probably transferred/saved a bunch of stuff onto my flashdrive. And while I've kept and shuffled those files around between computers since, I've not really touched them.
Most of this stuff is worldbuilding files of various other nations and cultures in the same world as Druthal. I wrote up a lot of those documents (using a "National Document" format, the origins of which lost to memory) with my old worldbuilding/writing partner (who I still consult & confer with, even though he doesn't do any fiction writing anymore), mostly between 2000 and 2003. Some of them are incomplete. And most haven't been touched since Sept. 18th, 2005.
The truth is, they would all need massive levels of overhaul. For one, I'm not particularly fond of the "National Document" format, and I would need to come up with a new template that's more to my liking. Second, much of the actual writing-- on a craft and sentence structure level-- I find somewhat embarrassing. Third, and most important, there's a lot of stuff in all that I don't necessarily agree with anymore.
Some of it is due to being more knowledgeable now. I've done a lot of reading and research since writing those, and knowing that I have stuff in there that's just plain wrong. Other parts I just don't like, too simplistic, or the broad brushstrokes are a little too broad. (I'm looking at one right now that I really don't remember a lot of it, but I don't care for it.)
But the only nation in which I've done modern, up-to-date work on is Druthal. Two other nations (Acseria and Imachan) I had some more recent work (dated in 2007)-- but that was because I was working on Crown of Druthal in 2007 (that was when I finished the rough draft), and it's set primarily in those two nations.
Since then, I narrowed my focus to Druthal, and specifically the city of Maradaine, which was a major factor in improving what I was writing. I was trying, since I had done an entire world's worth of building to showcase THE ENTIRE WORLD. I mean, that was the underlying concept of the Crown of Druthal series-- they would travel around the world and stop in every country. Because I made it so I MUST SHOW IT ALL.
I've gotten that out of my system since then.
At some point, I would like to go back through it all. Especially since I've made far more specific maps since then. But that's not a project I'm going to get to any time soon.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Plans for 2012
I did accomplish a lot of things in 2011, but on some level I always feel like I could have done more. So here are my Unrealistic Goals for 2012:
1. Get a book deal for Thorn of Dentonhill. On some level, this is out of my hands. I would really like to say 2012 is going to be my year for this to happen. But the industry moves slow, and I need to be patient. But fingers crossed.
2. Finalize Holver Alley Crew, make that book deal as well. Because we should either go big or go home, right?
3. Final draft of Maradaine Constabulary. Have Mike approve that and start selling it. If we can get the hat trick with the book deals, all the better. But that might be pushing, even in the dreams department.
4. Finish Rough draft of Way of the Shield. Because I need to have the new project working as well. Move or die, just like a shark. And with that, I’ll finish all four planned Heroes of Maradaine first books.
5. Finish worldbuild and outline for Banshee and Starcrossed. Knocking out a first draft wouldn’t suck, either.
6. Outline/Worldbuild for one or more of the unnamed YA/Heroine/Steampunk projects. Because I’ve got stuff rattling around in my skull that wants to get out.
In addition, I’ll be attending Boskone (just as an attendee, not as programming) and ArmadilloCon 34, including the Writers’ Workshop. And there will probably be a few short plays written in that time as well.
So, that should keep me plenty bust for the next twelve months.
Monday, December 26, 2011
2011 in Review
This has been a good year for me, in terms of growing as a writer. Honestly, I think every year since 2007 (which is probably the year I knocked the training wheels off an got serious about I'm Going To Be A Writer) has been an improvement. But 2011 was a year with a few notable highlights:
First and foremost, there's acquiring Mike as my agent. This has been such a joy and relief in my life this year. I really am quite happy to have him in my corner. Getting an agent has become such a huge (and sometimes insurmountable-seeming) step in the path to publication, I really can't express how glad I am to have moved up to the next step.
And while I did have an excellent time attending the DFW Writers Con this past year (and would recommend the experience to those seeking agents), I'm glad I don't have to do that again.
This year is also when I decided to be diligent and post here on the blog every Monday and Thursday. It's a project that's sometimes challenged me (I almost forgot that today was a Monday), but I've been pleased with the results. It's built the regular readership, and driven traffic to my blog. So that's been a good thing.
This was also my first year at ArmadilloCon in a panelist/professional capacity, as well as a coordinator and teacher for the Writers' Workshop. This was a fantastic experience, and I do owe a lot of it to Stina Leicht. She's been a fantastic source of moral support on this journey.
What else? This year I have Thorn finished and shopping, Holver Alley Crew redrafted and (hopefully) ready to shop. This year I also finished the draft of Maradaine Constabulary and will hope to have the revision ready to send to Mike in just a few weeks. I wrote a couple short plays, including Entropy, produced by Austin Scriptworks.
So it's been a pretty good year. Fingers crossed for 2012 being even better.
First and foremost, there's acquiring Mike as my agent. This has been such a joy and relief in my life this year. I really am quite happy to have him in my corner. Getting an agent has become such a huge (and sometimes insurmountable-seeming) step in the path to publication, I really can't express how glad I am to have moved up to the next step.
And while I did have an excellent time attending the DFW Writers Con this past year (and would recommend the experience to those seeking agents), I'm glad I don't have to do that again.
This year is also when I decided to be diligent and post here on the blog every Monday and Thursday. It's a project that's sometimes challenged me (I almost forgot that today was a Monday), but I've been pleased with the results. It's built the regular readership, and driven traffic to my blog. So that's been a good thing.
This was also my first year at ArmadilloCon in a panelist/professional capacity, as well as a coordinator and teacher for the Writers' Workshop. This was a fantastic experience, and I do owe a lot of it to Stina Leicht. She's been a fantastic source of moral support on this journey.
What else? This year I have Thorn finished and shopping, Holver Alley Crew redrafted and (hopefully) ready to shop. This year I also finished the draft of Maradaine Constabulary and will hope to have the revision ready to send to Mike in just a few weeks. I wrote a couple short plays, including Entropy, produced by Austin Scriptworks.
So it's been a pretty good year. Fingers crossed for 2012 being even better.
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