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Author Archive

Not All Parties

A reader sent me an email yesterday saying (in the nicest possible way and with a ton of good humor) ‘all well and good for you to be partying and having a wonderful time traveling about the world, but when do we see more of the next book?’  Two Serpents Rise is due out in July or June, I forget which, and hopefully we’ll have some juicy excerpt-like information to share before long, so there’s that.

The letter did point out that I don’t generally write about writing here.  Part of that’s because, while writing is wonderful, it’s also not all that exciting in a day-to-day sort of way, and especially not exciting in the way that makes for good blog posting.  Some days my characters feel like they’ve found themselves and the scenes flow. Some days I find myself lost and in a wood, and I write anyway.  Fingers hitting keys: this is the internet, you all know what it looks like.  But maybe you won’t mind a few notes on the course of my day, posted here.

Monday’s unseasonably wonderful weather receded today, leaving a morning cold and rainy and perfect for squirreling myself away in a cafe with word processor and book.  I keep discovering new scenes and threads as I write this novel–elements that should have been there all along, so that I have this strange sense of writing the book front to back to front.  The early stages of this draft were more halting and controlled, but I think I’m getting used to the freedom of this working arrangement.  The story feels more balanced, and the process flows.  I’m still using the stopwatch, but I’m more likely to write two sessions at a stretch now before taking a break or a walk.  I deleted almost an entire day’s work on Friday, but I reworked all that over the weekend, and I think it’s better now.  Hooray for accidents.

I finished an excellent book today called The Dharma of Dragons and Daemons, which is an exploration of Buddhist themes in modern fantasy.  Don’t go to this looking for an academic treatise—it’s more like an attempt to analyze fantasy classics through a modern Buddhist lens.  Chapter 2 is on Tolkein—yes, Tolkein!  Inspiring and fun criticism.  For me to say more would require many more paragraphs, so let’s just leave it at that.

Gods, Guest Posts, and Travel Recovery

I’ve made it back from the West Coast in one piece, and am now picking up the remnants of my life post-Tour.  I have a handful of major events left in the year, in addition to holidays, and I continue to build steam on the New Book.  No jet lag after our return from LA, at least none that I noticed; turns out that not getting any sleep the night before your flight really does help you get to sleep on the destination end.  I’m running out the door to Take Care of Business, but I wanted to let y’all know that I have a post live at the Fantasy Literature blog, on Gods in fantasy novels.  Here’s an excerpt:

Gods have a complicated relationship with storytelling. The first Western dramas emerged as a part of religious celebrations, and these plays tended to resolve with the emergence of a god to fix the human characters’ problems, or increase them unbearably. (Chick Tracts owe a lot to this old-school Greek dramatic structure, now that I think about it…) Deus ex machina is the name we’ve given to this sort of resolution, when a god of some sort steps in to end the story.

Storytelling, especially fantasy and science fiction storytelling, still uses gods and godlike beings aplenty, but writers and readers alike are wary of that deus ex machina ending, even as they thrill to the Force guiding Luke as he shoots proton torpedoes into the Death Star reactor shaft, or to Neo rising from the dead to defeat Agent Smith.

Drop on by Fantasy Literature to read the rest of the article and post your thoughts in the comments.

EDIT: Oh, and by the way – Aidan Moher at A Dribble of Ink posted an excellent overview of cool reviews of Three Parts Dead.  He’s much more on the ball than I’ve been about finding them; I definitely need to update my reviews page.

Mountain View

Writing from scenic Mountain View, where I’ve just had a wonderful, productive day despite dealing with a rare cold. It’s been years since I was last in the Bay Area and I’d forgotten how amazing the weather is out here. I spent the day wandering around in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, carrying my Neo from writing spot to writing spot. I think I’ve been doing this writer thing a little wrong by working from home so much, Dear Readers—maybe once I’m back in Somerville I’ll try to ramble more. Plenty of good coffee shops in the Greater B Metro Area, and a body could get a decent walk moving between them.

To sum up: sick, yes, but having a great time. Remind me to tell y’all about Time Travel Jazz someday.

Signings in CA, plus io9 Review!

Running out the door to make a flight, but, what’s that open on my computer? A half-finished blog post?

  • io9 posted an excellent review of Three Parts Dead. Check it out!
  • This weekend I have a Saturday signing in San Francisco, and a Sunday signing in LA. The Saturday signing is 3:00pm at Borderlands Books in SF, and the Sunday signing is 2:30 at Mysterious Galaxy

Minor Notes

Some disconnected notes:

  • I’ve started Elizabeth Hand’s novel Generation Loss and I’m loving it so far.  I mean, don’t take my word for it, take PW’s and Peter Straub’s and numberless other awesome reviewers’, but this as of page 40 or so this is a cutting, well-crafted book.  And it looks like there’ll even be a mystery thrown in, so that’s cool.
  • Focusing on word count has become a distraction for me.  At worst I was checking my word count every few minutes.  I haven’t been an egg-timer writer before, but I’ve started working with timers, forty-five minutes at a stretch and go.  I have a more or less constant rate of productivity, so I end up doing the same amount of work (if I write for the same amount of time) but I spend more of that time thinking about story and less about word production, which removes stress.
  • On that note, I’m falling back in love with my Alphasmart Neo.  Scrivener, I do appreciate you, but there’s nothing quite like a purpose-built device.  (Also, 700 hours of battery life!)  The small screen isn’t a problem for most of my work, but does make it harder to keep track of complex conversations.
  • Karin Tidbeck’s short story collection is phenomenal and you can read more about it on NPR.
  • One major effect of writing full-time is that I’m more focused on work and less on, well, the internet.  As a result, I get even more impressed by writers who manage to handle both at once.  Though, admittedly, I’m working hard on the next novel now.  Maybe in the future I’ll be able to get back to my usual diet of cat .gifs.  For the moment, though, exposure to random internet news has dropped precipitously.
  • If you’re in San Francisco, come to my signing at Borderlands on Saturday!  If you’re in Los Angeles, come to my signing at Mysterious Galaxy on Sunday!  More about both of these on my events page!

World Fantasy Con!

I just returned from World Fantasy Con and posting a full aftermath might well break me at this point.  I tried to tell the story of the weekend to my wife last night and the narrative became this wonderful blurred skewed-timeline mashup of conversations, faces, names.  I met a number of amazing people, had great conversations, fixed something deep down and hidden, and returned home with a pile of books I’m desperate to read.

Here’s a photo of me looking very silly, wearing a corduroy blazer, surrounded by cool folks.

More notes later, I promise.

 

#Torchat Today!

Arrived in Tennessee yesterday afternoon; spent the rest of the day seeing family before I collapsed in bed around midnight, reading a comic book about Neitzsche and a book on creativity by Twyla Tharp.  Oh yeah I’m talkin’ about the road.  (“Why can’t I stay in one place / for more than two days?  WHY?  WHY?  WHY?!!!”)

I’m in a hurry, so, in short:

  • Any of you out there who use Twitter, I’ll be on #torchat this afternoon at 4pm Eastern (3 Central), answering questions from the moderator and from anyone who tunes in.  To drop by, log into Twitter somehow and run a search for #torchat; depending on your client you might need to keep updating the search.  Tweetdeck or similar programs should do this automatically.
  • I’m still October’s featured author at Drey’s Library, so I dropped by and wrote her a post about some of my favorite books.  Or favorite teeth.  You’ll see what I mean when you go over there and check it out for yourself.

Many more cool updates following.  For the moment, though, I need to get back to writing.  Be well.

Comic Con Aftermath!

Quick quick notes during travel:

  • Badass / Hardcore panel went very well.  I told the opening of the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, to illustrate the idea of a hero being removed from a context in which they’re well suited.  Then I continued with the rest of the panel.  First question from the audience: “Can you finish telling us the Green Knight story?”  Bless you, audience.  Never change.
  • We burned through all our copies of Three Parts Dead at the Tor booth signing in record time.  Thanks to all of you who stood in line!
  • Hocus Pocus panel: once I got over being wildly intimidated by the other panelists, I had a great time.  Packed, standing room only audience.  (My wife almost couldn’t get in!)  Great answers from the panelists.  Nobody tried to overwhelm anyone else, and we all approached the subject from very different angles, which made for a panel that felt more like a building conversation over time.
  • Another wild line after the Hocus Pocus panel, for signings.  There were some serious established authors on the panel, so anyone wanting a signed copy of Three Parts Dead had to wait through a long line to get to the front; thanks so much to those of you who did.  Above and beyond the call of duty, folks.  Thank you.
  • Wonderful conversations and hangouts with Alyssa Rosenberg, Diana Pho, Steve Sunu, and of course my awesome wife, who came down from Boston to see me.  I’m a lucky dude.
  • I am now the proud owner of a Fire Ferrets t-shirt.  And three Judge Dredd books.  And the Halo Jones collection.  (You’re welcome, 2000 AD booth.)  And a bunch of other books I can’t wait to start.  Basically, I’m done with ‘fun’ money for the rest of the month.
  • More great reviews for Three Parts Dead, from No More Grumpy Bookseller (“Three Parts Dead is intriguing and suspenseful. The plotting is smart and the pacing is spot on. What’s more, this is the kind of cross genre release that’ll appeal to lots of readers across the board.”) and by the Book Smugglers at Kirkus (“[The depiction of female characters in Three Parts Dead] is, seriously, a thing of beauty and for all that, Three Parts Dead is now a favourite read of 2012.” – One of my favorite lines in any of the reviews so far.)!
  • Coulson lives!

The Road to Comic Con

“The Road to Comic Con” doesn’t scan well with “the Road to Rhode Island,” unless you invert the long and short syllables. Worse harm has been done in the service of doggerel, I guess.

Friday, my grandfather sent me a large square package, that turned out to contain…

20121010-094205.jpg

Which was an excellent capstone to the week. Thanks, grandpa!

Yesterday, also, I wrote a brief essay for Sci Fi Fan Letter about the way some of my experiences in China influenced Three Parts Dead. Check it out here if you’re interested.