General - Adam Christopher

General

July13th

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Meme, with relish

Posted in: General

I don’t do memes, but this one got me thinking, so what the heck. You can find other responses here, here and here. Why is it called “Meme, with relish”? I have no clue. Just go with it, folks!

One Book That Changed Your Life
Tricky, this. Various individual books have changed the way I looked at the world or have looked at books and writing. The Name of the Wind, Starship Troopers, Boneshaker, Harry Potter, Under the Dome, to name just a few, but really those are all small, individual pieces of a much larger picture. Those books, and many more, have been very important to me and to my life, but if I go right back to the beginning, it was not one book that changed my life, but 156 – the Target Doctor Who novelisations.

I started watching Doctor Who in 1985, when I was 7 and New Zealand television began a great run of episodes starting with The Mind Robber and The Krotons, and then everything from Spearhead from Space to Survival. It took five years to show all that, and it is what got me interested in science fiction in the first place. But the Target novelisations – adaptations of the TV stories – were what got me into reading. My primary school library had a huge shelf full of them, and soon after I began collecting them myself. I have a lot of memories and a couple of mildly interesting stories about the Target books that I can probably bore you to death with later, but for the moment I’ll just pick out the two most important ones for me.

My two favourite books were Marco Polo and The Android Invasion. As any fule kno, Marco Polo was the best of the television stories made, although now sadly missing from the archives, and the book is arguably the best of the Target range. In just 120 pages, John Lucarotti condenses his 7-episode magnus opus into a micro-epic that combines high adventure with education. At age 7, I was the only child in my class who knew that Cathay was an old name for China and that at high altitude the boiling point of water decreased.

However, no book cover in the history of publishing stirs more memories than the one for The Android Invasion. Between 1985 and 1988 I read this book on every summer holiday. In fact, I’m tempted to get it out of the cupboard this summer and give it a read. This book, I love.

The most important thing about the Target Doctor Who books is that they made me want to write, and I’ve got an exercise book full of fiction written by me, aged 7, from 1985. In fact, I can clearly pinpoint which story was on TV and which Target book I was reading at the time, as more often than not my own attempts were a weird hybrid of the two.

One Book You Have To Read More Than Once
I know some people have their own book rituals, like reading The Lord of the Rings once a year. Heck, I did it myself, reading The Android Invasion every summer! However, time starts to press as we get older and I really have too many books that I’ll quite possibly never get around to reading the first time, let alone a second or third time. I suspect, looking ahead here, that Under the Dome is a book I’ll return to again, being the first Stephen King novel I read (and only last year too) and having completely blown me away, and likewise ‘Salem’s Lot (see below).

However, while I may return to those if the whim takes me, I think one book I am consciously looking forward to rereading is Earth Abides by George R. Stewart. This post-apocalyptic novel, first published in 1949, is truly beautiful and very moving. An essential read for every genre fan.

One Book You’d Want On A Desert Island
The Princess Bride. Oh, what a book. It came before the movie, obviously, and follows the established pattern of being much better than the film. What differs here is that the film is utterly amazing, which makes the book even more stupendous (Help! Please send more adjectives!). It’s also an incredible lie, from the fake introduction to the abridgement carried out by Goldman on S. Morgenstern’s original text to the extracts from the sequel, and it’s not until you near the end that you realise you’ve been led a merry dance. Stuck on a desert island, this book is all you need.

Two Books That Made You Laugh
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. The first volume in this famous series is the perfect example of a great debut novel. This is the book that Douglas Adams had in his head for a decade or more, the story, characters, plot, settings and – importantly – the jokes having been worked out and polished and perfected over time in his mind before he set them down on paper. I think this shows. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is sheer poetry.

The Automatic Detective, by A. Lee Martinez. I couldn’t resist the premise when I heard it – The Automatic Detective is about a bright red robot who makes his living as a private detective in a weird, fantasy/science fiction city filled with monsters and mutants. It’s a hilarious, laugh-out-loud pulp adventure, but is also thoughtful and extremely well constructed. On the back of this book I scooped up the rest of Martinez’s back catalogue and he’s now one of my favourite authors.

One Book That Made You Cry
Hrmm. I’m not really sure I can answer this one, as I have never cried over a book. As a genre, I do find classic superheroes deeply moving because of the sheer optimism and wonder they represent, but Astro City by Kurt Busiek and DC: The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke have brought tears of joy, rather than sadness.

Yep. Weird, right? Right.

One Book You’d Wish You’d Written
‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King. This was his second novel and the one where his natural talent for writing and his now-recognisable skills at characterisation combined to produce what I think is the finest genre novel ever written. It’s perfect from beginning to end, thrilling and terrifying and complex. Here King stays absolutely true to what vampires are – evil, Satanic monsters – but more importantly he managed to craft a tale of the supernatural that is utterly believable, grounded strongly in everyday life. The events that befell the New England town of Jerusalem’s Lot could happen anywhere, anytime. It’s this connection with the reader that makes it a remarkable book.

It’s exactly the kind of book that makes me, as a writer, throw my hands up in despair. It’s the kind of book that makes you stop and shake your head at frequent intervals, and then when it’s lying on the coffee table you eye it warily from the other room. With genius like that, what the heck is the point of trying?

And then that’s exactly what you do. ‘Salem’s Lot is an inspirational gold standard. To me it demonstrates perfectly the power of story and of character. If, one day, I can craft a book a tenth as good as ‘Salem’s Lot, I’ll die happy.

One Book You Wish Was NEVER Written
Huh. I’m not sure I understand this question. There are plenty of books I’m not interested in, and there are plenty of books I don’t like. I could rail about Stephanie Meyer or Charlaine Harris or, heck, Dan Brown, but they’re famous and popular and they have a heck of a lot of fans. Who am I to say you’re wasting your time with author X or book Y? Everybody is different, and the world certainly does not revolve around my opinion. Do I wish Twilight were never written? Sure, why not. But what a waste of time. What do I care? Not liking Stephanie Meyer’s work just means I don’t read it, and what right do I have to deny her legions of fans the enjoyment and entertainment they so clearly get from her books?

And besides, it’s far more interesting to hear about a good book from someone rather than a bad book.

Two Books You Are Currently Reading
Maybe I’m unusual in that I only read one book at once. If I do read two, I make sure they’re completely different forms, generally something like a novel and a graphic novel, maybe. As it happens, I’m currently reading Night Shift by Stephen King, which is a collection of short stories, and The Complete Bloom County volume 1, the first of four or five large hardcover collections from IDW publishing all of Berkley Breathed’s Pulitizer-winning newspaper strips. I was lucky enough to snag a signed, numbered edition, and it’s a beautiful thing.

One Book You’ve Been Meaning To Read
I have a list as long as my arm of books I want to read – new releases, classics, books that have just accumulated over time. As I’m working my way through Stephen King’s catalogue, I have The Stand coming up shortly, which I’ve been looking forward to and which is regarded as his best work (if it can beat ‘Salem’s Lot I’ll be surprised, pleasantly!).

But there is one book that has been on my to-be-read list since 1987. Seriously. Over the last 23 years I’ve been meaning to read Dracula by Bram Stoker. It’s there on the shelf, a hardback double-bill with The Lair of the White Worm. This is the exact book I’ve had since I was nine. I can clearly remember taking it to primary school and starting it during a wet lunchtime when we weren’t’ allowed to go outside. I’m not sure how far I got.

Every few years since then, I’ve picked the book up, and made a start. I’ve read the first 100 pages or so about dozen times. Now, I like it. It’s become fashionable in recent years to diss the book, but I the epistolary format is probably my favourite mode of writing, and on each occasion when I’ve started the book, I’ve loved it. But I’ve always stopped, and I’m never sure why. It’s not exactly long or difficult. Hmm. Maybe I’ll bump it up my list.
July10th

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Short story writing and the novel-shaped head

Posted in: General, Writing

Alt Fiction was a while ago now, but the panels and interviews are coming online now. I’m reminded of one particular discussion about what you need to do to get writing and get published.

Some people think that starting out with short stories is a good way to hone your craft. Some people think it’s good practice. I agree, to a certain extent, although I’d argue that short- and long-form fiction are so utterly different that writing twenty 5,000-word stories won’t tell you much about writing one 100,000-word one. But I don’t have much beef with the advice. If you like it, listen to it.

But then some people think that it is a compulsory path to publication, that you must earn your dues in the short story market before anyone will take you seriously with a novel. It’s a natural, logical, and standard progression, they say.

The one problem with writing advice – any writing advice – is that people tend to listen to it and follow it to the letter. Writing is one of those things where there are rules and basics, and once you’ve got a handle on them you can pretty much do what you like. If something works for you, wonderful. Chances are it won’t work for the next person along, but that doesn’t matter. Write how you want to write, what you want to write. It might take you a while to work out the nuts and bolts of it – and that’s where writing advice and guidebooks can help – but eventually you’ll fine your own routines, and habits, and practices.

But the perception that short stories are a compulsory starting point sticks in my craw a little. Because – and here it is, brace yourselves – I don’t like short stories.

This is, of course, not true.

My favourite author is HP Lovecraft, who wrote nothing but short stories and a few novellas. I’m halfway through Night Shift, Stephen King’s first published collection of shorts, and a couple of pieces in there might be the best things I’ve ever read. I have plenty of friends who write a lot of short fiction – I’m lucky enough to be a beta-reader for Jennifer Williams, and nothing she has ever shown me has failed to amaze and delight. Some people have a knack for short fiction, and when short fiction is good, it’s great. You’ll get no argument from me on that point.

But mostly it’s not. Or at least that’s what I’ve found. Every now and again I go on a splurge, convincing myself that I need to pay more attention to short fiction, and go and buy a stack of short fiction magazines – American ones, British ones, famous and long-running titles, obscure and new ones, online magazines and electronic magazines and printed magazines.

After a couple of weeks of reading, I’m back at the beginning again. All I’ve done is prove, yet again, that I don’t like short fiction, and that more often than not, short fiction doesn’t work. At best, it leaves me unsatisfied and disappointed. At worst, it makes me curse the fact that I’ve spent an hour desperately hoping for a good resolution or twist or just an ending that works. Usually it never comes.

And then I think about Quitters, Inc, or The Sea, The Sea, The Sea, or The Whisperer in Darkness, and about how wonderful short fiction can be, when it works. A perfect short story is a glittering jewel.

Now, if I don’t like reading it, and I sure as hell don’t like writing it.

This is, of course, not true.

I’ve written a fair bit of short fiction, and had some published. It’s quite a privilege to be accepted by Hub magazine, and I’ve had great comments from people who have enjoyed these stories. I’ve got some more pieces coming up too, and the excitement that comes when an idea strikes is a marvelous thing.

But as a rule, I don’t write short fiction. I don’t exactly fold my arms and huff and puff and turn my nose up at it, but I certainly never sit down to deliberately write one, unless that magical idea has arrived (usually fully formed) in my mind. When I’m roughing out ideas and plot, it’s always, always for novel-length fiction. I never deliberately try and plot out a short story, because I’m just not interested. My short stories are accidents and coincidences. Sometimes they even work!

But the angst is still there. Other writers posting on Twitter or their blogs – how many short stories do you have out circulating right now? asked one. I have 12, they said, the fewest all year! Another friend posted an update on their blog – this week I sold story A to magazine B, story X to magazine Y, and story 71 to magazine 98.

Wow. For some, it seems, its easy. A short story a week is a common personal target for a lot of writers. I’m lucky if I can write one a quarter.

But then it clicked. Yes, sometimes the penny takes a long while to hit the ground.

I’m not a short story writer. I write novels. I like novels. Novels give me satisfaction to write and enjoyment to read.

Importantly, there is nothing wrong with this. It’s the style and form I have found myself drawn to quite naturally, without any particular conscious decision. Novels. I like ‘em!

But what about this road to success from short to long fiction? Sure, a lot of writers – a lot of big, famous, successful names – have followed it and for a lot of writers its a very good idea indeed. But it’s certainly not compulsory. Some people – like me – are just not wired for short fiction. I don’t like the saxophone or olives either. It doesn’t matter. All that means is that I don’t try and learn the saxophone and I don’t eat olives. So when it comes to short fiction, I usually don’t read it and I usually don’t write it, unless there is a very good reason to do either.

So when someone tells them that you must spend a decade writing short fiction before you try a novel, stop and think about what you want to do. This may be absolutely ideal. Or, like me, it might make you recoil in horror. I think it’s important to note that short and long fiction are completely different forms, and while starting with short fiction would certainly teach you the fundamentals of grammar, punctuation, etc, diving straight into a novel will probably teach you more about the long form. Sure, at the end of it you might not have something worth a damn, but it’s the experience that counts. Get those million words out and then write something great.

Always approach writing advice with caution. Including this!
June10th

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People doing exciting things with books and stuff

Posted in: General, News

I’m not a book blogger and this isn’t a book news site, but some of my favourite authors have been busy this week and there are some things worth shouting about. So, in no particular order:

Boneshaker author and Seattle steampunk supremo Cherie Priest revealed the full, new cover for Clementine. Clementine is a novella sort-of sequel to Boneshaker, set within the same Clockwork Century universe, and is out this month from Subterranean Press. I was lucky enough to snag one of the signed limited editions, and I can’t wait to receive it. This cover is what I would technically describe as “smokin’ hawt”.

Clementine cover image taken from Cherie’s Flickr stream.

New York Times bestselling author and would-be benevolent dictator Scott Sigler has a book coming out this month called Ancestor. His last volume from Crown Publishing, Contagious, pushed him into the sales charts, and Ancestor is set to propel him up even further. Personally, I’ve already ordered five copies – one for myself, and four to give away to people who haven’t read Scott before (which I’ll be giving away via Twitter).

I was surprised earlier this year at EasterCon (the national British science fiction convention) by the number of people who had never heard of Scott, and clearly, this will not do. Scott may be a legend and pioneer among podcasters, but his fame – and the reason why YOU should be reading his books – is due entirely to him being a damn fine writer. There are a lot of people who put their material out for free (whether as text or audio), and a lot of it is not so solid. But Scott has the goods, and this is why he’s a New York Times bestselling author. He also appears in his own book trailer as the mean-looking bald guy (the first one, without the knives and guns!). Watch your back.

Scott’s also running a competition for a mighty, mighty swagbag of loot for people pre-ordering Ancestor. Each copy ordered gets you one entry, so load up your Amazon shopping cart good and proper.

Speaking of book trailers, Lauren Beukes, one of Angry Robot’s finest, released one for her forthcoming novel Zoo City. It’s in a completely different style to Scott’s trailer for Ancestor, but is moody and effective. Check it:

There’s good news for UK-based fans of Lauren too, for she’s making a trip from her native South Africa at the end of July to attend three events in London – more details over at Angry Robot.

At her signing at Forbidden Planet, you’ll have the opportunity to buy a very, VERY limited edition hardcover of Zoo City… which means, by my count, that Lauren has at least five different editions of the book to collect: the South African paperback from Jacana, the Forbidden Planet limited hardcover, the Angry Robot UK paperback (September 2010; cover by Joey Hi-Fi), the Angry Robot US paperback (January 2011; cover by John Picacio), plus an ebook of some description.

And this is actually a good example of my new digital library policy. I’m now trying to read exclusively on my iPad, and so far it’s been a real dream. So I’ll be buying the ebook of Zoo City to read. But I’ll also be buying the four print editions as collectables, and I hope to get at least two of those signed. This is what I was talking about back on the Angry Robot blog – ebooks and print books can and will co-exist, because they will start to fulfil different functions. Reading on the iPad is a very pleasurable and immensely convenient experience, and at the same time I can enjoy the set of Lauren’s print books as collectable objects.

Finally, J. Robert King, author of Angel of Death (among many other titles) and all-round top bloke has posted an excellent blog about why he uses Twitter. This is an argument I’m sure most Twitter users have encountered, probably many, many times. Rob’s summation of Twitter, its use and (importantly) its value, is about the best I have read and encapsulates everything very neatly indeed. For those of you who read this blog but are not on Twitter, perhaps you’d like to consider it now!

That’s it for this week. More writing-related posts next! This weekend I’m off to Alt Fiction, a one-day SF con with a heavy literary focus being held in Derby. It seems that about twenty thousand people are going, so I hope the venue is big enough. But it should be a great day, and I’m really looking forward to it!
June1st

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Laissez les bon temps rouler

Posted in: General, Ludmila My Love, News, The Gospel of the Godless Stars, Tools, ebooks

I try to keep this blog writing-related, but here’s a brief interlude.

Last Thursday I went to see one of my favourite bands, Quasi, play Manchester’s Deaf Institute. It was nothing short of amazing – tiny venue with perfect sound, small crowd, good support band (I know, I’m still in shock). One of the benefits of being a fan of small indie bands who play small venues is the opportunity to actually meet them. All three members of Quasi were either chatting in the audience beforehand, or manning their t-shirt stand, and when they came off stage I grabbed a moment to chat to Janet, the drummer, who also plays with Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, and was one third of Sleater-Kinney.

Anyway, there were a lot of photographers there, and by chance someone captured a pic of me and guitarist/singer Sam Coomes, which I’m pretty chuffed with. Hint, I’m not playing guitar:

The entire set by kezontour can be seen on Flickr.

Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find any video of the show, although there are some good recordings on You Tube from earlier in the same tour. Here’s one from Chicago:

In other news, slightly more writing-related, I’ve got my iPad. It’s absolutely beautiful. I may only have had it since Thursday (it was delivered a day before the official UK launch too), but every day it still surprises me. It is slightly smaller than I thought it would be, but is very comfortable to use. I’ve already been reading comics and eBooks on it, and I have to say, I’m now a total convert to digital reading. iBooks is a terrific e-reader.

It’s not all about passive consumption of content though. I’ve done some beta-reading and critiquing (with notes) in Pages, and I’ve started Corkulous planning boards for Ludmila, My Love and The Gospel of the Godless Stars. When I can figure out how to take screenshots, I’ll post some up.
March19th

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The Hub and the British Fantasy Awards

Posted in: General

Just a quick’un as I head out the door. I’m rather tickled to see The Hub nominated in the British Fantasy Awards long-list this year. As I mentioned last time, The Hub have just this week published my little Lovecraftian tale, The Unpopular Opinion of Reverend Tobias Thackery, so I’m very proud to see them recognised on the long-list like this!

So If you’re a member of the BFS, and/or are attending FantasyCon in September, make sure you get your votes in for this first round! There’s actually a heck of a lot of good stuff nominated all through the list – Boneshaker by Cherie Priest and Slights by Kaaron Warren are nominated alongside Under The Dome by Stephen King, which will make the fight for best novel very interesting. The Best Comic/Graphic Novel category is fascinating, with some old-school DC (Showcase volume 3 of The Legion of Super-Heroes) going up again The Complete Dracula by Leah Moore and John Reppion.

In fact, there’s a large number of great creators and friends on the long-list and it would do a disservice to just cherry pick from it, but I’m certainly looking forward to the final shortlist.
January6th

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The awesome and radical of 2009 (part 3)

Posted in: General

Hello 2010. How’s it going? Strangely, bizarrely, impossibly, it’s already near to end of the first week of the new year. Time ticks, so let’s knock off the awesome and radical of 2009, slots four to nine.

Reading

There are a zillion blogs posting their ‘best of’ lists of books for 2009. Some are top tens, some are top one hundreds. Some bloggers claim to have read 280 novels last year, which just tells me that they are just looking at printed pages very quickly and are not actually reading. I guess it can be easy to confuse reading with looking (??).

I’m not a slow reader, but I enjoy reading and I like to think about it, so I average about one book a month, but I’m not going to post a list of what I read in 2009. Look me up on Goodreads if you want. I’m going to focus on my two favourite books of last year. These were Boneshaker, by Cherie Priest, and Under the Dome, by Stephen King.

I talked about Stephen King a few days ago, and he already makes an appearance on my 2009 awesome list, but Under The Dome is really a remarkable book. It’s not horror, but is quite horrifying. It’s not science fiction, except for the nature of the invisible, impenetrable, indestructible dome that descends on the town of Chester’s Mill one October morning. It’s a story of people, and what happens to them under extraordinary circumstances. It’s an extraordinary book, and while I haven’t read any other King novels, it is being touted as his best. I can believe it.

I read the US “copper” edition (now to track down the regular “white” edition) although I did start the UK hardcover first. However, the UK hardcover suffers from poor internal typography, presumably to condense the 1100 pages of the US edition down to the 800 of the UK edition. As soon as my US edition arrived I switched, as I was already getting tired of the walls of text printed in the UK version. It’s a real shame, as UK readers also miss out on the US cover. If you’re a fan, or a collector, grab the US one – copper or white!

A comparison between Under the Dome and Boneshaker is both pointless and impossible, so they take the joint number one spot. Boneshaker is a steampunk adventure set in an alternative Seattle, where a mining machine ran amok and destroyed most of the city. The ruins are now walled and filled with blight gas which has turned those left behind into zombies.

Zombies and steampunk isn’t necessarily new – indeed, they’re an integral part of my own steampunk series – but the Pacific Northwest setting is. What makes Boneshaker stand head and shoulders over nearly every other steampunk novel is not just the setting, but the fact that it’s really only steampunk at a push. There are airships, and various bit of high-tech Victoriana – including some which are steam-powered – but they are very much at the periphery. Aside from the airships, there are none of the steampunk cliches or tropes here. Boneshaker is like a breath of fresh air.

Story and setting aside, what struck me about this book was the writing itself. The prose is mature, detailed, complex, and beautiful. The pacing and rhythm are almost poetic, and the whole thing is tinged with the sadness and melancholy of Briar and her situation. Cherie Priest is not a new author, and I think this actually shows in this book. Boneshaker is assured and confident, which comes, I suspect, from the assurance and confidence of the author, having honed her craft with her earlier works. Which, I might add, are now firmly on my reading list for 2010.

Boneshaker was kindly supplied to be as an ARC from Tor. Which, pretty as it is with its simple white cover, means I missed out on the jaw-dropping cover. Tor have made high-res images of the cover painting available on their site. The cover is so eye-catching, so wonderful, that I’ll be picking up the book as-published just so I can have it on my shelf.

Scrivener

As I mentioned in part 2, 2009 was the year I started taking writing seriously, and this wouldn’t have been possible without Scrivener. I’ve talked about Scrivener many times before, and was using it prior to 2009, but last year was when I fully got to grips with all it can offer. So far I’ve written two and a half full-length novels in it, so I know full-well what it is capable of and how it has helped my writing.

For the uninitiated, Scrivener is a Mac-only writing app that allows unparalleled flexibility. I’ve turned a few people on to Scrivener, and more and more authors – big names and small – are now using it. To say Scrivener transformed the way I write is an understatement. It’s a night-and-day difference, the BSE (Before Scrivener Era) and ASE (you get the drift). The best thing you can do is check out the video demonstrations on their website, and then (if you have a Mac), buy it instantly.

SomaFM

I class SomaFM as another writing tool, although perhaps not an obvious one. SomaFM is a commercial-free, listener-sponsored internet radio station based in San Francisco that offers a multitude of channels to suit a multitude of tastes. My personal pick is Indie Pop Rocks.

When I write, I need music to block out the outside world. Listening to my own music doesn’t work, as I am familiar with it and I find it too distracting. The beauty of Indie Pop Rocks is that I recognise hardly any of it, yet their gigantic playlist is more or less brilliant. In fact, writing aside, I’ve discovered many new bands that have now become firm favourites thanks to SomaFM.

SomaFM is an essential writing tool for me, just as Scrivener is.

Meeting Your Heroes

Two of them in person, one via the interwebs. Did I ever think I’d meet Nathan Fillion and Leonard Nimoy? Or spend an hour talking to Scott Sigler about his plans for world domination? Nope. But I did, and they were some of the highlights of 2009 for me.

San Francisco

I travel a fair bit. In 2009 I made it to San Francisco, and within a few days it became my favourite US city. I’ve been to a lot, and while San Diego has held my affection for eight years, there is something about SF that just pips it. Maybe because it’s the home – more or less – of Apple, MC Hammer, Borderlands bookstore, SomaFM, NaNoWriMo, Scott Sigler, Gail Carriger, Pier 39, The Maltese Falcon. Maybe it’s because – perhaps more than San Diego – it reminds me of my home city, Auckland, with its harbour and bay and famous bridges. Maybe it was because, on my very first day, the lady at the local 7-11 was the nicest person I’d ever met. Whatever. San Francisco was an amazing week.

This website

I’m a perfectionist, and a fussy one at that. Is that tautology? Perhaps. But after a lot of looking and a lot of hacking and a lot of teaching myself CSS by trial and error, I got myself a website. This website, to be precise. People seem to like the design. I’m pleased to have a proper home on the internet, and that happened at last in 2009.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some books to write. A week into the new year and I’m already behind schedule!
December30th

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The awesome and radical of 2009 (part 1)

Posted in: General, Twitter

Yet another blog talking about the year just gone, eh? Hmm. I’m not going to analyse or wring my hands over it. I want to talk about this bits that made 2009 great. Because I’m a fan of odd numbers (maybe because I happen to be an odd numbered age in odd numbered years?), here’s nine of my great things for the year. In part 1, we’re talking Twitter and Stephen King.

Twitter

Twitter changed my life. Okay, compared to other social media and networking tools, it’s still not used by a lot of people if you compare it to say Facebook. Apparently most people who do sign up never come back after a few days. It gets a lot of stick – why do I want to know what you had for dinner? That’s a common jibe. And that’s fine. If you don’t get that Twitter is about communication – the limitless possibilities of real-time conversation and interaction with people – then no problem. But for those of us who do get it, and who use properly (i.e., you don’t tweet about what you had for dinner, because that’s amazingly boring), it’s a tremendous asset.

The number of people I have met and become friends with, the number of old friends I’ve reconnected with, the number of acquaintances and contacts I’ve encountered and had meaningful discussions with, has been immense. Writers, agents, publishers, big names and small names. And because Twitter is about conversation, you don’t have that clinical, “once-removed” feeling of Facebook. Where else can you discuss Dinobots with A. Lee Martinez? Or have Kevin J. Anderson butt into a conversation to recommend a book? Or swap computer game tips with Felicia Day?

Not that is is about schmoozing with the famous or pretending to be best friends with celebrities. As a writer and a reader, it’s been an invaluable resource. I’ve met agents and editors, I’ve learnt about the publishing business, I’ve met writers and we’ve talked about methods and habits and tactics and strategies. I’ve met publishers and talked about publishing and have, over the year, acquired an entire shelf of books either through recommendations, free copies, ARCs or competitions. I’ve met bloggers and reviewers, and readers and fans. I joined in February 2009, and because of Twitter, this year has been like no other.

Stephen King

I have to admit, I’ve underestimated Stephen King. I also must admit that, until Under the Dome, his mammoth 1100-page novel that came out in November, I hadn’t actually read any King. Ever. Oh dear. Perhaps I had equated his success and high output with a lack of substance – and in general, there is an inverse relationship between popularity and quality. Just pick up any bestseller next time you’re in a bookstore and read the first page. But his name is frequently mentioned, and perhaps there was something there worth investigating, so on a whim I picked up his audiobook reading of On Writing, his autobiographical writing guide. It was brilliant, and taught me a thing or two. Whatever you thought of his books, said I, King knew his onions. This is perhaps the biggest understatement of the year, of course, but I had to start my journey with something!

I’d known about Under the Dome since the beginning of the year, but it wasn’t until the publication date drew closer that the chatter about it started. And thanks again to Twitter, I not only snagged the US edition (with it’s wonderful cover) for $9 (thanks to a price war between Wall-Mart and Amazon), but I entered and was a runner up in the Under the Dome hidden text competition. My prize? A copy of the UK hardcover (not such a good cover) and a limited, numbered ARC. I got 10/200, and have hidden it away safely in a dark cupboard.

And the book? It’s wonderful. In fact, it’s the best book I’ve read in many years. I’d given that accolade earlier to the remarkable Boneshaker, by Cherie Priest, and really a comparison between the two books is pointless as they are so different, so they both get the prize.

And the best thing about discovering Stephen King is that I’ve got another 39 novels still to read. I’ve already had some warnings about a few of them, but coming to them with a fresh eye (and I’ll start with his 1974 debut, Carrie), we shall see! But I remember something that Gail Carriger said when I interviewed her in October about her steampunk debut, Soulless. She talked about a book having some indefinable “commerciality” that made you want to read it and keep reading it. This is why Stephen King is successful. He tells great stories very well, but his prose also has that magical X-factor. For such a doorstop of a book, Under the Dome had me hooked from the first page to the last. I wanted to turn each page. I even, rarely for me, stayed up late reading it. I’m lazy and fall asleep easily, so take that as the best recommendation I can give. Under the Dome is terrific.

Tomorrow – writing and reading and trips to California…
October5th

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Update and NaNoWriMo

Posted in: General

Okay, that last post where I said I’d keep everything up to date? Slightly premature. But stay tuned, I have a brand new website comin’ along real soon. I’m going to hold off posting anything substantial to this until the new site is running, to save the hassle of reposting it. Should be all systems go sometime this week.

In the meantime, I’ve signed up to NaNoWriMo as a way to get my third novel kick-started, so feel free to add me as a writing buddy and we can spur each other on!
September17th

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The other Thursday

Posted in: General

Darn, I already have a post called ‘Thursday’. I should have delayed until tomorrow.

Just the briefest of updates. September is pretty busy and I’ve just got back from San Francisco, hence no updates in the last week. I’m going to schedule, as a minimum, twice-weekly updates, one on Sunday and one on Wednesday. The Sunday one will be a Writing Habits interview, the Wednesday one will be a proper blog entry. I’m going to try and do more than that, but that’s the minimum content per week.

But in the meantime I have some sleep and a metric buttload of work to get through, so let’s meet up again here real soon, okay?
August13th

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Thursday

Posted in: Devil in Chains, General, News, Seven Wonders, Tools, Writing, ebooks

It’s Thursday, that time of the week that (like Arthur Dent) I could never get the hang of, so I’ll keep it brief. I’ll even itemise things.

The Devil in Chains
Somebody added my 2008 novella to Good Reads (although apparently it doesn’t recognise the cover), and even reviewed it! I’m rather flattered, and quite frankly to have someone tell me that in one scene,

An ordinary exploration of an empty room suddenly becomes an exercise in exquisite grotesquerie.

… makes me all sorts of happy inside.

What also makes my head spin is a review in the form of a Shakespearean sonnet. This goes beyond flattery and into the surreal realms of honour. I think a w00t is called for. Thanks to Kate for her devotion to the cause!

Speaking of The Devil in Chains, I need to get cracking on reformatting the PDF properly for the Sony eBook reader. This website will also undergo a bit of a redesign when Seven Wonders is done, which will make it easier to keep track of projects and also easier for people to find stuff to read. For the moment, you can grab The Devil in Chains here as a PDF, or here as an eBook for the iPhone/iPod touch.

Seven Wonders
The book that never ends! Actually that sounds a bit harsh. The draft of this superhero novel is at about 95,000 words, and I’m slowly in-filling the middle bit. I’m giving myself to the end of August for this, and I think I’m on track. It’s actually a lot of fun writing about Tony and Jeannie and Sam and Joe and SMART, as not only do I know what happens to them at the end, I’ve already written it. Going back in time a few weeks and seeing what they were up to before everything went wrong is really interesting as a writer.

Master project list
Something else for the website is a proper tracker of projects, but I’ve yet to find the right funky progress bar widget. However, having discovered the wonder of VoodooPad (basically your own personal off-line wiki), I’ve started transferring dozens of separate documents of notes and ideas into one repository, which means I’ve also created a master index of novels, plotting out a sort of schedule well into 2010 and beyond. VoodooPad is a work of genius, and now joins Scrivener on my list of essential writing tools.

Which means nothing until I actually show you guys something, but it did surprise me (pleasantly, I should add), that I’ve got no fewer than 11 novels planned so far. Which is good, because to make it as a writer you need, firstly, to keep writing and writing and writing, and then when hopefully something is picked up, if you want to make a living out of it you have to be working on the next book, and then the next, and then the next.

So a list of 11 books is easy. It’s just a list and a few notes for each. Ideas are cheap and the imagination is limitless. Sitting down and writing is hard, but at least I know where I am aiming.