Here’s a nifty thing. Courtesy of TOR and Paizo you can enter to win one of ten free copies of my new novel, Beyond the Pool of Stars, over at GoodReads!
And in case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s that glorious Tyler Jacobson wraparound art of the book’s cover again!
On a long drive the other day, I was listening to “The Beatles,” aka “The White Album” and had some non-writerly non-bookish thoughts to share about it.
Ringo continues to get a bad rap as a drummer. The idea is that he’s just a lovable, average lunkhead thrown in with three geniuses and that anyone could have filled those shoes, but that just doesn’t hold up to close scrutiny. If you listen to Beatles tracks and focus in on the percussion, you can hear how Ringo gives every single song a distinctive sound, so much so that if you were able to tune down the rest of the band you could identify a Beatles track just by what Ringo’s doing.
Bill Ward and I are reading our way through the Del Rey Conan collection The Coming of Conan. This week we’re discussing “The Phoenix on the Sword.” We hope you’ll join in!
Howard: Look at the story’s opening quote. That’s practically the gold standard of quotes from imaginary historical sources. That fabulous “Know, O Prince” and all that follows has been imitated but rarely, if ever, equalled. This, fellow fantasy fans, is the way it’s done. Admittedly, there are a few phrases in the middle of the paragraph that are less inspired. I’m looking at “Zingara with its chivalry, Koth that bordered on the pastoral lands of Shem.” Most of the rest of the quote paints lovely word pictures, but those phrases don’t remotely approach the poetic majesty of the rest — what does Zingara look like? What does Koth look like? But the rest is lovely, and the quality picks right back up with “dreaming west” and powers on to that fantastic finish, “Hither came Conan…”
GenCon attendees Wednesday night might have seen me sporting my favorite t-shirt. It’s also my first born’s favorite t-shirt, and seeing as how he’s somehow gotten as tall as me, I turn it over to him sometimes for special occasions.
Anyway, said first-born spotted a pretty cool pic of someone holding said t-shirt the other day, and I thought I’d share it with you.
I’m not quite done with my GenCon wrap-up article I thought I’d be posting today. Fiction writing is going great, although I’m still suffering from some sleep deprivation due to the con. I just didn’t sleep well at the convention, despite not being up TOO late. At least, though, I didn’t come home sick like a lot of my friends and colleagues. A lot of times conventions end up as breeding grounds for illnesses and I usually work to stay hydrated. I guess that did the trick.
I’m writing up a storm today, so I’m going to keep things short. GenCon 2015 was wonderful, and the Writers’ Symposium was stronger than ever. Marc Tassin and his staff really know how to run a convention — well, a sort of mini-convention within GenCon.
It would take days to relay all the cool things I did — or at least things I thought were cool — although excessive detail might bore a lot of my readers. I’ll put up a summary Wednesday. I don’t think I’ve ever been busier at a convention. Saturday especially was incredibly tightly scheduled. Dave Gross and E.E. Knight both told me, back when I was new to conventions, that the more I attended, the more it was like going to a family reunion. I had a hard time imagining that, especially when I first walked into one of the rooms stuffed with writers and didn’t know anyone.
Bill Ward and I are starting our read of the first of three Del Rey collections of Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories, The Coming of Conan. There have been many other collections containing the stories within, so even if you don’t have this particular volume we hope that you’ll join us. This week we’re looking at an essay Robert E. Howard wrote about the world Conan adventured in titled “The Hyborian Age.”
This is probably my last writing notebook review, mostly because I’ve found my favorite. If you see me at GenCon this week I’m liable to be carting it around, and I think I’ll be carrying one by the same manufacturer for the next little while.
This week I’m taking a look at Sigel’s Conceptium. If you’re interested in seeing other reviews, or finding out what my judging criteria are (including what standard features I prefer) click here.
Pricing: $12.00 and up
With our completion of Swords in the Mist last week, Bill Ward and I started exchanging final thoughts and ended up mostly just looking ahead for next week’s read from The Coming of Conan.
When we finished Swords Against Death if felt like we had a lot more to talk about, perhaps because there were so many more stories, or perhaps because there was a whole scale of good to great (or occasional average). In Swords In the Mist we had three levels of quality. There were the three excellent short stories (“The Cloud of Hate,” “Lean Times in Lankhmar,” “When The Sea Kings Away,”) and some entertaining linking bits that weren’t quite stories and weren’t entirely satisfying but still had some nice moments. And then there was the unlamented and never-to-be-read by Bill and Howard again “Adept’s Gambit.”
I can’t believe GenCon is right around the corner. It seems like it was only six months, at most, since I was last at Indy for the largest gaming event in the world, but, no, it’s been almost a year. I hope I’ll see some of you there.
I’ll be at the Paizo booth in the Great Hall every day, and I’ll be participating in the Writer’s Symposium on a number of panels. If you’re a writer, or curious about the industry, or a reader wanting to get the chance to ask questions of favorite authors, it’s a wonderful corner of the convention to attend. Marc Tassin, the Exalted Leader of the Symposium, organizes a good show. Under his command the Symposium has continued to expand and draw interesting authors yet continue to maintain a pleasant atmosphere.
This year, for the first time, I’ll be offering critiques Sunday morning. You’ll have to join the Writer’s Symposium to learn what kind of story length the critique groups take.
Here’s my schedule. I’ll be available for chatting just about any time in between, although if you catch me Saturday, I’ll probably be running from one place to another. It’s a busy day.
File under “almost forgotten but excellent” fantasy novels. The High House, by James Stoddard, is a grand adventure story about a fantastic mansion that may contain the Cosmos itself. One of my favorites, and despite being award winning, I don’t hear it discussed very often. I often describe it as being what I thought the Gormenghast books might be like, but weren’t.
It also pays homage to the wonderful old Ballantine fantasy series. If you’re familiar with those, I think you’ll enjoy The High House even more.