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November Update

I keep checking the mail with the eagerness of a kid looking for the arrival of birthday party guests. Some day very soon I’ll receive  my hardback copies of The Bones of the Old Ones. They’re already on their way to reviewers, which would probably make me more nervous if I were better rested.

In the coming days I will be announcing several The Bones of the Old Ones giveaways and linking to various guest articles I’ve been busy writing over the weekend. Today I can point you toward a post I took live over on the Black Gate site about the adventures of Alexander the Great in Persia, as told by the great Persian poet Absoalasem Ferdowsi in the Shahnameh.

Behind-the-scenes I’ve been working on a whole series of promotional essays, working through some character motivation issues in my next Paizo Pathfinder book, and developing a new opening for the third Dabir and Asim novel.

A number of you have sent me nice notes asking about my mom’s health, which is very kind of you. She is home with us and on the mend, and I am trying to get used to not having a dedicated office (it’s now her bedroom).

I had hoped to sneak out this weekend to watch Skyfall, but time didn’t work out. My wife and son and I did catch Wreck-it Ralph last weekend and found it surprisingly good. Andrew Zimmerman Jones’  over at Black Gate does a great job summing up the movie’s strengths without giving much of the plot away (and let’s you know when he’s about to reveal some minor spoilers, so you can turn your head if you wish). I recommend it highly as a family film that really can be enjoyed by adults and kids.

 

 

Scary Book Moments

Ramses the Great alive. I can’t bring myself to post a pic of his dead face…

Two events stand out as the scariest book moments I ever experienced. I wish I could tell you the works that frightened me were by famous horror writers, but one of them was a children’s book. The other was a history text, and the scare was unintended.

Runner-up for the scariest moment I ever experienced while reading a book comes from grade school, when I was fascinated with ancient Egypt. I  was sitting down with a big 8″ by 11″ tome. I turned the page and suddenly discovered a life-sized image of the shriveled-up face of Ramses the Great.

I recoiled in fear and dropped the book. It was a helluva creepy thing to come upon. I know, I know, you’re probably thinking ancient Egypt is sure to have pictures of mummies, right? Well, maybe, but I’d never seen a picture of one unwrapped before, and I wasn’t even reading about mummies. I was reading about the conquests of Ramses the Great. One minute I was thinking about chariot battles, then, suddenly I was eye to empty eye socket with his long-dead face.

Hurricane Relief, Chance to Win Free Book

It sounds like a win/win to me, especially if you’re a fantasy book lover who doesn’t like to see people’s lives disrupted or devastated by hurricanes. And if you’re already a fan of writer Martha Wells, then count yourself lucky indeed.

Swing by Martha’s site for the FULL rules, but here they are in a nutshell, stolen from her web site. I personally think this is a great idea, and if I had author copies of my next one yet, I would be jumping on the bandwagon. Anyway, take it away, Martha:

The Real World

It’s been seven days of unpleasant surprises in the real world, which has meant the writing world has slowed to a crawl. One of my favorite professors passed away last week. I hadn’t seen Jim in person for years, but I spoke to him this spring. He was a wonderful man, talented and generous, and a real mentor to me. Still, I was surprised by the depth of my grief.

And then we discovered that the reason my mom was so weak was that she’d experienced a heart attack. The family and I have been keeping company in the hospital for most of this week. As I write this, I have just learned that she has survived the bypass surgery. There are still many more hurdles and risks.

One of my dearest friends has been slowly dying of cancer for a long time, then battling it back, though still dying. She’s afraid this newest onset may be the last.

With all of this, it has just been difficult to retreat into the fantastic for a while, even though I have a great review in from Sf Signal for The Bones of the Old Ones. And I got a nice callout from Pyr’s Lou Anders as one of the new heirs to the mantle of sword-and-sorcery, which I’ve wanted to be for a long, long while.

That’s all wonderful, and provides some bright spots in a bleak span of days.

My online presence may be a little sporadic for another week or so.

Happy Birthday

Today is my father’s birthday. He would have been 80 years old today. I still feel a little twinge of jealousy when one of my friends tells me about heading out for a visit with their dad, or when I see someone hale and hearty on television in their mid-seventies — especially if they’re espousing something hateful — for my father died when he was 68.

I had a fortunate childhood. It was idyllic in a lot of ways. I’d never let my kids ride their bikes all over the city the way I used to do. It seemed like there was more freedom then just to be a child. And while I had homework, I wasn’t slaving away for hours every night the way my children are doing. I had time to play and learn and grow on my own. I could read whatever I wanted, not just what was mandated, because there was time.

A Word From the Author

This blog was created to support my writing, which is why I steer clear of political and religious discussions. I figure that people drop by to find out more about my writing, or writing in general, or that Google mis-directed them here when they ran a search for Snookie.

Sure, I have political and religious convictions, and if I see you at a convention some time and you buy me a drink, maybe we’ll talk about them. But I’m kind of a private person and don’t think anyone visiting here is interested in hearing my views about such things anyway. I don’t claim to be a religious or political expert.

Sometimes I hear from people who assume that because of my obvious interest in the ancient Middle-East I must be an expert in the modern Middle-East, and they want to know what I think about this or that. In light of recent events, I’ve heard from people wanting me to justify an opinion they assume I have, or don’t have, about an entire religion and region.

So just this once, I’ll say something.

More Soon

Behind the scenes here at Casa Jones I’ve been working on promotional stuff for The Bones of the Old Ones, helping steer a map for the next book into shape (yes, Bones will have a map!) and drafting a very long Worldcon report for Black Gate.

Thus I will keep today’s post very short. I need to get to some actual prose writing. More soon, I promise. Maybe I can even tease you a bit with the map when it’s finalized…

Music to Muse By… and Other Questions

I thought I’d use today’s post to answer a few questions I’ve received.

1. Why didn’t you like the third Skaith book by Leigh Brackett?

First, when I guest-starred over at the SF Signal Mind Meld yesterday, I made an off-hand comment about Leigh Brackett’s Skaith series not ending strongly. Some have written in to ask what I meant by that.

I thought that the final book of the three felt more like a contractual obligation. The second book ends with everything seemingly wrapped up and resolved. The third book finds us in the midst of an entirely new plot, with our main character still stranded on Skaith. It was… underdeveloped, a little rushed. Was it a decent story? Yes. Did I like it as well as the first two books? No. It felt tacked on to the plot I’d been reading through the first two books, which is why I didn’t list it as one of my series picks for best ending. But I still stand by my previous assessments that Leigh Brackett is one of the finest adventure writers we’ve ever had. She is one of my top three favorites… I just didn’t like this book as well.

Chicon 7 Schedule

If any of you are planning to attend the 70th World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago this year (aka Chicon 7), I hope you’ll drop by to hear me reading from the new novel on Friday, August 31st at 12:30 pm.

The whole thing takes place in the Hyatt Regency in downtown Chicago. I’ll be reading from The Bones of the Old Ones in the DuSable room, which is located on the Silver level of the West Tower.

I’ll be participating on a panel as well, the subject of which is Writing What You Don’t Know. It takes place Saturday at 9:00 in the Gold level of the East Tower in Columbus rooms C and D.

There were a number of great sounding panels I wanted to sit down on, and this is one of them. Here’s the official description: