Skol, Vikings

Congratulations to my Vikings, for making the playoffs by the skin of their teeth. Adrian Peterson, the greatest running back currently in the NFL, missed breaking the all time rushing record by 9 yards.

9 yards.

Still, he is only the 7th player ever to rush for over 2,000 yards, and he began the season only 8 months after a serious knee injury.

Now if only we could build a better team around him.

Seed, by Rob Ziegler

Seed, by Rob Ziegler, is a whirlwind of a tale. A grim, disturbing look at our potential future, it is filled with characters who confound the sensibilities when one attempts to determine who is good and who is evil.

Before I get into my review, let me go into how I discovered this book, which lies somewhat outside my normal reading habits.

At the end of October, 2011, I attended the World Fantasy Convention, in San Diego, California. It was my first (and so far only) ever writing and publishing conference, and I had the time of my life. I met Rob Ziegler, due to us having several friends in common, like Carolina Valdez Miller, and Simon Larter, among others, on Thursday of the convention, and didn't think much more of him than, "hey, here's a nice guy, who is clearly a writer, a publishing professional, or at least a fan."

Then, on Friday night, I attended the Night Shade Books party. Containing a bathtub full of beer brewed specifically for the night, which were based on books published by Night Shade, as well as a balcony mixologist, it was a blast of a shindig, and certainly left more room for breathing and plie-ing with Mercedes than the shoulder to shoulder Tor party downstairs. At the beginning of the Night Shade party, before it got too full, I discovered the dust jacket for the newest Night Shade release. It was Seed, by Rob Ziegler, and not only was the cover gorgeous, but it was blurbed by Paolo Bacigalupi, whose Ship Breaker I had enjoyed immensely earlier that year.

I didn't put the name to the face until someone re-introduced me to Rob, and I realized he was the guy I'd been hanging out with the day before.

So long story short, even though I don't often read adult Science Fiction (being a YA writer, I tend to read mostly books that are similar to the stories I write) I bought the book in the seller's pavilion the following day, but sadly never got around to getting it signed. I'll have to take care of that at some point.

So, now to my review.

This book is gritty, disturbing, and often even disgusting, in the most delicious kind of way. It takes place a couple hundred years in the future, after climate change and the collapse of society have left us at the mercy of the remnants of the bio-tech industry, known only as Satori. Part corporation, part bio-gargantuan monstrosity, Satori is a living city, a grotesque ala Tetsuo from the end of Akira, that produces the bio-engineered eponymous seed; the only crops that are hardy enough to survive in this twisted world. This entity, this character, this thing ... is the single key factor that sets this book apart from anything I have ever read. I don't want to go into too much detail, and give it all away, but this creature is so incredible, so disturbing, so raw, and so amazingly inventive, I was at once appalled, repulsed, and thrilled the moment I first discovered it on the page.

Of course, Satori, and her children, are not the only denizens of this novel. The rest of the characters may not be quite so daunting, but they are fascinating nonetheless. Brood, a migrant Latino refugee, his brother Pollo, and their adoptive father Hondo open the novel with plenty of excitement, but it's Agent Doss, and her so-called troops that carry the story through it's incredible climax.

The best thing, at least for me, about this book, is the moral ambiguity, and the disparate sense of tone. The sections that follow the protagonist, if you can call him that, are full of violence, evil, and the fatalistic finality of doing whatever it takes to survive. So the "good guy," like all of history's greatest characters, is so fully flawed and realistic that he feels nothing short of alive. By contrast, the sections that follow what can only be called the antagonist are filled with a tone of reverent grace, so much so that as a reader I could not help but feel a kind of kindred-ship for the plans of the being who ends up running Satori, for a time. He is only trying to protect the livelihood of his children, after all.

I know I'm being vague, and I don't want to say a whole lot more, but I would like to make one last point - possibly my favorite thing about this book is the ending. I was fully expecting to be left either furious or relieved by the two possible endings I foresaw, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a conclusion emerge that I never could have predicted.

This is Rob Ziegler's debut novel, so I'm looking forward to seeing more from him.

Seed is on sale at:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Powell's

Indiebound

HELP THE ELF: I Found Santa’s Missing Nice List!

Hi everyone! As you may remember, a few weeks ago PETE the Elf had a touch too much Eggnog at the Holiday Christmas Party and as he stumbled home, he lost Santa's NICE LIST.

The North Wind scattered the papers to all four corners of the world, and The Bookshelf Muse put out a call to help find them in order to SAVE CHRISTMAS.

Ever since I read about it, I've been on the lookout. And then today, EUREKA!

Yes that's right...I found part of Santa's missing NICE LIST. There it was, fluttering in the wind, half caught under the corner of my welcome mat. And shock of all shocks, I recognized the name, and I bet you will too.

Here it is below:

NAME: Candace Ganger

LOCATION: Lost in Candyland

NICE LEVEL: 98.6%

NAUGHTY LEVEL: 100%

OBSERVATIONS: Candace is jaded, but she's the good kind of jaded, where she doesn't take spit from anybody, cracks the best jokes, and has no problem sharing a virtual beer with a friend who needs one.

RECOMMENDATION:

a) Coal                   b) Gift - an ebook copy of Open Minds, by Susan Quinn

~ ~ * ~ ~

Because poor Pete is dashing all over the place trying to hunt down the rest of Santa's missing Nice List, I decided to handle this one. Candace, I'm so proud to call you my friend! Enjoy the gift I sent to your inbox and have a wonderful Christmas! Booyah.

Photo credit: assorted gold baubles (christmasstockimages.com) / CC BY 3.0

Project Mayhem

I'm over at Project Mayhem this morning. Please head over, and read that post. That is all.

Free Souls, by Susan Kaye Quinn: Cover Reveal

Free Souls by Susan Kaye Quinn

(Book Three of the Mindjack Trilogy) Now Available!

When your mind is a weapon, freedom comes at a price.

Four months have passed since Kira left home to join Julian’s Jacker Freedom Alliance, but the hole in her heart still whistles empty where her boyfriend Raf used to be. She fills it with weapons training, JFA patrols, and an obsessive hunt for FBI agent Kestrel, ignoring Julian’s worries about her safety and repeated attempts to recruit her for his revolutionary chat-casts. When anti-jacker politician Vellus surrounds Jackertown with the National Guard, Kira discovers there’s more to Julian’s concerns than she knew, but she’s forced to take on a mission that neither want and that might be her last: assassinating Senator Vellus before he can snuff out Julian’s revolution and the jackers she’s come to love.

All of the Mindjack stories are available on Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Kobo, and iTunes

(Note Free Souls is not yet available on Kobo or iTunes)

Early Praise for Free Souls

“Quinn paints a picture of a not-too-distant America where politicians inflame the hatred of one section of the populace for another—all for their own gain—and you worry that her world is not so far off from our own.”

— Dianne Salerni, author of We Hear the Dead, The Caged Graves, and the forthcoming The Eighth Day

"Free Souls starts with a bang and doesn't let up. Like a mash-up of all your favorite science-fiction adventures from Star Wars to The Legend of Korra, it blends nonstop action, nail-biting escapes, and great romance. I absolutely loved it! A great series conclusion—a must-read."

— Leigh Talbert Moore, author of Rouge and The Truth About Faking

“Susan did it again. Free Souls was WOW! I expected Kira to step up to her role as heroine but not like this. Surprises kept coming until the very end which tied up more loose ends than I knew existed. Warning: Don't start reading until you have time to finish. I didn't want to put Free Souls down for a second. It's that kind of book.”

— Sher A. Hart, Goodreads Review

Interview

Susan's over at Amy Saunder's blog today (12.14.12), answering questions about how she came up with the mages' abilities, what kind of mage she would be, and all about her future works.

Digital Box Set

Since Free Souls is out, there is now a Digital Box Set of the Mindjack Trilogy for those of you who want the whole series!

Available on Amazon, Barnes&Noble

Mindjack Origins Collection

Want more Julian? Wondering how Sasha's ability really works? Looking for EXCLUSIVE DELETED SCENES from Free Souls? This collection of novellas, scenes, and other goodies is for those craving a bit more of the characters and drama of the Mindjack series.

Includes:

Mindjack Novellas

Mind Games (Raf's story)

The Handler (Julian's story)

The Scribe (Sasha's story)

TWO EXCLUSIVE DELETED SCENES from Free Souls (published nowhere else!)

PLUS Mindjack flash fiction, an (imaginary) conversation between Raf and Julian, and other goodies for readers who want just a little bit more of Kira, Julian, Raf, and the Mindjack crew.

Available on Amazon, Barnes&Noble

ENTER TO WIN

one of FIVE ecopies of the Mindjack Origins Collection

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Hobbit: First Review

Well, I heard my first review of The Hobbit on NPR's Morning Edition this morning. From Kenneth Turan:

"It doesn't suck."

I'm paraphrasing, of course, but it's encouraging. And I now officially will not even look at another blog until I've seen the movie. So please don't tell me what you think until I've had a chance to see it.

Cheers, Captain Cavanaugh!

Today is the beginning of Mark "Aloha" Koopmans' Cheers Cavanaugh Blogfest. You can find the details, here.

So, we're supposed to answer some questions about Alex. Here they are:

In +/- 20 words, what does Alex look like?

I believe that Alex looks a lot like Geddy Lee, the lead singer of Rush.

In +/- 20 words, who could play Alex in a documentary? (Living or dead.)

Well, as far as I know, documentaries are non-fiction, so I think Alex should play himself, but if he wasn't available, I suppose Daniel Day-Lewis could probably earn an Oscar for his portrayal.

In +/- 20 words, who does Alex remind you of?

Due to his kindness, and how prolific he is in the blogosphere, Alex reminds me of ... me! LOL.

In +/- 40 words, leave a comment for Mrs. Cavanaugh - thanking her for sharing.

Dear Mrs. Cavanaugh, thank you so much for sharing your husband with all us writers! He's the best, most supportive friend any of us could hope for, and we really appreciate you sharing him with us.

We were also supposed to write a piece of flash fiction, which normally I would jump on, but I don't have time today, because of all this:

Also today, my post at YA Confidential is up: (RE: The College Educator Interview) The Answers.

Also, Natalie Aguirre is interviewing one of my favorite author's, Susan Quinn, son today at Literary Rambles.

Also, today is the release date for The Best of Vine Leaves Literary Journal 2012, which I am honored to have a vignette in.

Kim Van Sickler's Current Query Critiqued

Here we go again. Here is Kim's query again, this time with my feedback, in blue.

The letter:

Dear Agent,

(First sentence is personalized to explain why I'm applying to this agent.) Fiddlesticks: Witches Can't Write is a completed 70,000-word upper middle grade urban fantasy.

If you read my query critiques, you know I suggest this housekeeping stuff should go at the end. But I've said it enough times, so I won't harp on it again here. I will briefly say that upper middle grade urban fantasy is not a genre I've ever encountered. Urban Fantasy tends to be dark, gritty, sexy, and violent, and while none of that says you can't write a MG novel set in a fantasy city setting, it does say it's not often done, and may be a somewhat tougher sell because of it.

What's a mortal-loving witch who was born to write do when it's time to pick a career? Not ask rhetorical questions in query letters, for one. For Saryn Q. Fiddlesticks, a 13-year-old preparing to select her Life's Mission, the writing's not on the wall. Wow. Great name. But that said, I'd like a better sense of character. Age and occupation do help, and they're certainly interesting here, but in order to sympathize with Saryn and her plight, we need to know more about what kind of person she is before her story begins. Saryn's options are to let The Academy of Witches and Wizards tell her what to do, go mortal so she can follow her passion, or there's a third option I'm no grammarian, but I believe this is an independent clause, but it's batty.... you only need three dots for an ellipsis. All she has to do is convince The Academy that their superstition against writing is unfounded, persuade them to change the law, and coax them into recognizing a new Life's Mission of Writer. So ... the execution may need a little work, but as far as your premise goes, I love it. Books about characters who want to write always seem to resonate, at least for me.

As if that task isn't impossible enough, Saryn is ambushed by Gaylord Culbreath, another great name. her half-brother's eccentric mentor, who plans to use her to destroy the world. As Saryn battles Culbreath, then the witching establishment at her Coming-of-Age Ceremony, she must decide how far she's willing to go to follow her dream. Vague. What are her options? Write a scathing letter to the editor? Surely she has some ability to fight back other than with the pen?

Future fans of Cynthia Hand's Unearthly Unearthly series might enjoy this book. What? What's a future fan? Also, if you're going to make these comparisons, you don't put them in a one-sentence-paragraph on their own like this. That gives them far more weight than they deserve.

My credits include publication of two MG short story fantasies in the Center for Writing Excellence's Fiction in Five Fiction in Five anthologies. Published works are listed in italics, and sometimes, depending on the type of publisher, like if it's a magazine, the publisher goes in italics as well. I'm not sure about this center, so we'll wait to see what my readers say. I am an active member of SCBWI, and run a blog-- http://swaggerwriters.blogspot.com/ -- of six writers. Does your email client allow you to create hyperlinks in the body of an email? I would suggest that, rather than including the entire URL.

Thank you for taking the time to review (however many pages were requested.) I look forward to hearing from you.

Very truly yours,

Kim Van Sickler

So, in summary: if you dig down, you'll realize this query actually covers my three keys. Character (I would definitely like more of it, but it is there), Conflict (this is actually great, a witch who is not allowed to write, but won't stand for it), and Choice (this is completely vague, especially when it comes to how Nasty-Breath-Man is going to use her, but you do have the beginnings, so all you need to do is get more specific, and expand on this choice). That's an excellent start.

Really, all you need to do is flesh out the things you already have. How does Culbreath instead to use Saryn? Why is she the only one who can help him achieve his goals? What does the rest of her school think of him, whether they know about his plans or not?

You've got the makings of a great query already in place. The skeleton is there, you just need to expand it a little.

That's it.

What do you all think?

Kim Van Sickler's Current Query

Morning. I'm running late, so I'm just going to throw this up. Kim Van Sickler can be found at her group blog: Swagger Writers.

Here's her query:

Dear Agent,

(First sentence is personalized to explain why I'm applying to this agent.) Fiddlesticks: Witches Can't Write is a completed 70,000-word upper middle grade urban fantasy.

What's a mortal-loving witch who was born to write do when it's time to pick a career? For Saryn Q. Fiddlesticks, a 13-year-old preparing to select her Life's Mission, the writing's not on the wall. Saryn's options are to let The Academy of Witches and Wizards tell her what to do, go mortal so she can follow her passion, or there's a third option, but it's batty.... All she has to do is convince The Academy that their superstition against writing is unfounded, persuade them to change the law, and coax them into recognizing a new Life's Mission of Writer.

As if that task isn't impossible enough, Saryn is ambushed by Gaylord Culbreath, her half-brother's eccentric mentor, who plans to use her to destroy the world. As Saryn battles Culbreath, then the witching establishment at her Coming-of-Age Ceremony, she must decide how far she's willing to go to follow her dream.

Future fans of Cynthia Hand's Unearthly series might enjoy this book.

My credits include publication of two MG short story fantasies in the Center for Writing Excellence's Fiction in Five anthologies. I am an active member of SCBWI, and run a blog-- http://swaggerwriters.blogspot.com/ -- of six writers.

Thank you for taking the time to review (however many pages were requested.) I look forward to hearing from you.

Very truly yours,

Kim Van Sickler

That's it!

Please thank Kim for sharing, and save your feedback for tomorrow.

Reading Rainbow

Thank you, Geordi, for everything you've done for us.

Unexpected Predictions

Welly well, it's December now, all of a sudden, so it's time to talk about the biggest film of the year.

I remember when Fellowship of the Ring first came out, and I was so nervous. On the one hand, I was very excited to see my favorite story of all time turned into a live action film, but on the other, I was very apprehensive, concerned they would ruin it. They didn't. It's not perfect, but the Peter Jackson adaption of the trilogy is probably the greatest adaptation ever done.

Now I'm nervous and curious to see what they do with The Hobbit.

As you all know, they've decided to turn this one into a trilogy as well. That's going to be difficult. With LOTR, it was easy to keep it to three films: there were three books, there was plenty of material, and while they had to make long films, and cut only some important things like Tom Bombadil, the Barrow-Wights, Sharkie, Glorfindel, Aragorn's cousins, and so on, it all worked within the medium. At least it did for me.

So anyway, today I'd like to discuss what the good folks at Wingnut will be doing with the story from The Hobbit, and how they'll be expanding it into three films, including what they might cut, what they might expand on, and where the first movie will end.

First, let's cover the obvious: the one big thing that is mentioned in the book (and hinted at in other Middle Earth volumes), but never actually fully covered, is what the heck Gandalf is off doing while Bilbo and the Dwarves are traversing Mirkwood. Well, anyone who knows their Tolkien (like Ted or Deniz) can tell you that Gandalf was off evicting the "necromancer" from Dol Guldur, for the White Council. I don't know how they could fit this into the new trilogy of films, but I'd be interested to see it if they do.

Other than that, I can't think of any major plot elements that are known to fans, but not really covered in the book. From looking at the cast list and other info at IMDB, we can guess at some other things. I had originally heard that the fabulous Benedict Cumberbatch, of Sherlock fame, would be playing the voice of Smaug, but now it seems he's playing the Necromancer, so I think we can safely assume this first film will not take us all the way to the lonely mountain. I mean, it makes sense, right? If the first movie goes all the way to the end of the book, what the heck do you put in the next two films?

Also, we can see that there is no Legolas, no Aragorn, and no Arwen, but there is a Radagast the Brown, who I have always wanted to hear more about, so we shall see where that takes us.

Furthermore, the subsequent films in the trilogy appear to have titles now, which can tell us a bit more: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, is the second film, and the third will be called The Hobbit: There and Back Again.

So, I will predict that this first film ends before they even enter Mirkwood. Perhaps around the time they meet Beorn (if they don't skip that whole bit), but certainly after they escape the goblins and Bilbo tricks the ring away from Gollum. If they cover some of the side story, and follow Gandalf when he's gone, I could easily see that being enough content to make an entire film.

It seems to me the second movie would then cover Mirkwood, Lake-Town, the lonely mountain, and probably fit in with the ending of the book, The Battle of the Five Armies.

Then, perhaps the third film will be about the journey home.

Obviously I could be wildly out of touch with all of this, but it sure is fun to think about. What do you predict we'll get to see in these movies? What are you most looking forward to finding out?