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Medal of Honor

I had planned a series of articles this week about research and the writing process. But if you’re a writer, you must write, and today I found myself applying the Dr. McCoy test to ask whether I was a writer, or a blogger.

And then, of course, there’s the fact that I’m contemplating talking about heroes all this week. I don’t think there are any archives of heroism that could exceed the records of Medal of Honor recipients. If you want to find stories of real heroes, I urge you to visit the Congressional Medal of Honor site any time you think the world is only grim and dark and that everyone is out for themselves.

The text that follows is ALL © Copyright 2012 Congressional Medal of Honor Society. But the heroics belong to Lucian Adams. I picked him at random from the archive page of the web site. You can find equivalent tales about real life figures by clicking on any one of the names on the site. Many of the stories are likely to move you to tears. I urge you to visit. Marvel at their accomplishments and think of them any time someone sneers that there are no heroes. Honor their achievements, their sacrifices, and their memory.

Wandering the Web

With my writing schedule back under control I’ve been wandering around spreading good cheer and talking about great fantasy writers. On the off chance there are some people who visit my site who don’t regularly visit the Black Gate web site, I thought I should point you toward two recent posts celebrating two of my favorite authors.

The first is about Leigh Brackett, and features a lengthy excerpt from the opening of one of her fine sword-and-planet stories so interested folks can see why she’s so lauded.

The second I just took live earlier today, and it is all about Robert E. Howard’s writing. I spend a little more time discussing the whys and wherefores, peeking under the hood, as it were, arguing that he is far more than he is assumed to be.

If these sorts of posts prove popular, I have other writers in mind to look at as well.

In addition to these writer celebrations, I’ve been doing a little mulling over the purpose of blogging as promotion, and it provoked some lively discussion. You can find it by clicking here.

July 3rd Update

I’ve gone ahead and created a contest page, which makes the menu bar temporarily crowded. I hope any of you who are Dabir and Asim fans will help spread the word about the  chance to win an advanced copy of The Bones of the Old Ones.

I haven’t been quite as active on the blog this week because I’ve been helping babysit the Black Gate web site while publisher John O’Neill’s away on a secret mission. So far I’ve posted a review of Goodman Games’ new Dungeon Crawl Classics role-playing game, and on the nature of reviewing, and tomorrow I’ll have a post on one of my very favorite adventure writers, Leigh Brackett, so I hope you’ll swing by and see what I’ve been talking about, in addition to all the usual great material. Ryan Harvey’s just returned to his examination of Burroughs’ Mars series, a sequence of articles I’ve really been enjoying.

The galleys of the second Dabir and Asim novel will be coming my way before the end of the month, which means before long advanced reader copies will be bound and on their way to reviewers, and one contest winner. In the mean time, the third Dabir and Asim novel is coming along nicely. I’m having an awful lot of fun writing it, so it’s my hope it will be an awful lot of fun to read.

In other news, Twitter still bemuses me. I have friends on it all the time, but I find if I leave it running I end up checking it all the time to see what’s happening rather than getting work done.  I always hear about how writers constantly need to market themselves. Maybe I’m just too easily distractable to be heavily involved in Twitter. Also, I’m not sure I have a whole lot that’s worth saying in so short a space. Perhaps I’m just not pithy enough for it.

Soon, a Contest. Now for the Rooster!

Author Howard Andrew Jones and Friend.

I’ve never felt especially comfortable in front of a camera. Aim one at me and I tend to freeze up. I’m actually a pretty happy person, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at the family photo album. I suppose you MIGHT have seen me relaxed looking on TV some twenty years back when I was living in Terre Haute, Indiana and working as a production assistant at WTWO. With a limited budget, a lot of us 20 somethings on the production staff acted in the commercials when necessary, and I got to ham it up a few times. But that’s the difference — I was hamming it up, not trying to look respectable, or posed.

As to this picture… Astute viewers will note that I’m wearing the same paisley shirt that appears in the one and only publicity pic I ever use. (Yeah, I know, I need a new one. Maybe for The Bones of the Old Ones.) When my friend Bruce was snapping shot after shot of me to try and get a nice dust jacket photo, there were literally a hundred shots of me looking even more awkward than usual. Then my daughter ran and grabbed a rooster and shoved it into my hands. You see the result on the left.

After a few silly ones like this I looked considerably more relaxed, although I still think I look like a cardboard cutout rather than the real me.

What’s your take on this one? I think I look rather like an evil poultry wizard, or possibly Blofeld’s cousin from the midwest just finishing a monologue to James Bond.

Next week I’ll be announcing a Dabir and Asim contest, with the prize to be an advanced reading copy of The Bones of the Old Ones. This week, behave yourself, or the rooster will get you.

I almost forgot — I posted some more thoughts on revisiting Ray Bradbury’s work over at the Black Gate blog. Apart from relaxing with some old favorites, I ended up feeling rather melancholy during the reading. It’s hard to go home again, sometimes.

The Exciting Adventure of My Knee in the Barn

I’m now five weeks out from my knee surgery, and with my strength and dexterity building decided it was high time I fixed up a few things in the barn. That sounds like the lead-in for a story of disaster, but actually things went very well. It was when I reported in for my weekly knee therapy that I realized maybe working in the barn wasn’t the smartest idea. I was given a battery of exercises to demonstrate just how bad my balance remained. And I didn’t do very well. If I’d slipped, or pushed myself just a little harder, I might have really made things difficult for myself. So… even though I’m apparently ahead of many people five weeks out from this surgery, I’ve been warned to take things a little easier.

Now that I’m completely off the pain meds, writing is back on schedule, and I feel like I’ve leveled up as a writer, at least in the amount of good work I’m getting done each day. Perhaps its because of my new anal retentive outlining habits. In the last week I’ve just about finished two short stories to be incorporated into the narrative of the third Dabir and Asim novel, and over the next two days I’ll be drafting a Dabir and Asim short story for an exciting new anthology I was invited to submit for, but can’t discuss. Shh!

In other news, yesterday The Desert of Souls received a glowing review from Justin at Staffer’s Book Review. I like glowing book reviews, especially when they’re about Dabir and Asim, but this one was especially nice. Perhaps because of his familiarity with the Arabian Nights, Justin commented on a few things that no one else had quite mentioned. It’s always a pleasure when someone notices some of the behind-the-scenes work.

And I have a couple of great looking gaming books in to review for Black Gate. Details about those to follow.

Throne of the Crescent Moon

There are a number of books I’ve been meaning to recommend, but today I’m just going to talk about one, released yesterday.

There’s not a whole lot of sword-and-sorcery out there, and there’s not a whole lot of fantasy set in non-western realms, but when it comes down to sword-and-sorcery in an Arabian setting there’s really only three or four of us actively writing the stuff. Odds are you’ve already heard of the talented Saladin Ahmed, but if you haven’t, I want to point you to his work straight away. He’s a gifted prose stylist who writes complex characters, and has no patience for slow exposition — his pacing crackles! His first novel (the first of a trilogy, although the first book can stand on its own) was just released this Tuesday, and it’s already receiving a great deal of positive buzz, all of it justified. If you liked my stuff, I urge you to check him out, immediately.

You don’t have to take my word for it, though. The talented devil is getting starred reviews from left and right! Here’s what two well-known venues had to say about Throne of the Crescent Moon:

“An arresting, sumptuous and thoroughly satisfying debut.”
–Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

And remember, because of the antiquated way the book industry works, it’s better for an author if you purchase a book from a physical bookstore, although I’m sure Saladin would happily endorse you buying it from an online venue if you can’t get to a brick-and-mortar location!

Crossing the Streams

Regular visitors might note I’ve temporarily added a new page to the web site, the Contest page. That’s because I’ve joined a gargantuan, huge, inspiring, fantastical multi-author book giveaway! I, and over a dozen other speculative fiction writers–mostly novelists, but some comic writers as well–have thrown in together to create something huge for our readers

Here’s how it’s going to work. Each individual author is running a contest on his/her own site, and each contest has its own rules. Each contest will also have TWO winners who will both receive ONE signed book, free, from that particular author. So, for instance, if you win here, you’ll win one of my books. If you win on Scott Oden’s site, you’ll win one of his books, and so on.

Second, and even more exciting…once the individual contests have ended, all the authors involved will get together and choose one single “SUPER WINNER” from all the entries on all our sites combined. This one lucky individual will receive a signed book, free, from each and every one of the authors involved.

You read that right. Somebody out there’s going to win over a dozen FREE books!

You can only enter each author’s contest once, but you may enter multiple contests. So you could enter here, on Nathan Long’s site, on Eugie Foster ‘s site, etc. Heck, you can enter on everyone’s site, if you want (and I really think you should, because these are some great books we’re giving away)! And even if you aren’t selected as the “SUPER WINNER,” you could very well win more than one of the individual contests. You never know.

You can find a complete list of the authors involved, as well as links to their sites, below. But first…

How to Enter MY Contest

Mine’s going to be simple. All you have to do is reply to me here on my website, on my FB page, on my twitter feed, or e-mail me at joneshoward AT insightbb.com (with an ampersand in place of the AT, and no spaces before and after), answering this question:

“Who is your favorite heroic fiction character – and why?” Note that I don’t make it straight sword-and-sorcery, in case you want to mention, say, D’artagnan, or Leigh Brackett’s Eric John Stark.

Your answer can be as long or as short as you like. Just make sure you reference “Crossing the Streams” when you enter (or cstreams on Twitter), so I know you’re officially entering.

I will select TWO winners: one for the answer I think is the best, and one at random. That way, even if you don’t think your explanation is very interesting, you’ll still have a shot at winning. And of course, everyone who enters is also in the running for the big “SUPER WINNER” prize at the end of the contest.

Entries must be received (via one of the methods mentioned above) between February 1st and February 29th, 2012.

Easy, right? My two winners, and the “SUPER WINNER”, may choose any ONE of the following prizes.

Unfortunately, I can’t give away e-copies, which means I can’t send out The Waters of Eternity to any winners, either. If you have any questions, drop me an email and I’ll do what I can to clarify.

My Partners in Crime

As I said, there are over a dozen of us involved in this. You can find names, and links, here.

But do me (and yourself) a favor. When you go to enter their contests, don’t just look at the contest page. Everyone involved in this contest is a great author or artist. If you like my work, you’re sure to like at least some of theirs. So take a few minutes. Browse a bit and see if anything catches your eye. Then, you know, maybe buy it? I know they’d all love you forever for it, just like I do. 😉

Thanks, and good luck!

Wandering the Web and Talking Writing

While things may have been quiet on my official web site, I’ve been wandering the Internet over the last few weeks talking about writing, ancient Arabia, and, naturally, historical fiction author Harold Lamb.

At SF Signal I explore the roots of Arabic fantasy.

Over at Grasping for the Wind I talked about why I loved issue 50 of Sandman, and the influence it had on my writing.

I talk about the influences and authors who led me to ancient Arabia over at the Civilian Reader site.

And I was interviewed at the Civilian Reader site, where I talk a little about the future of Dabir and Asim.

I was invited to talk about my favorite writer, historical fiction pioneer Harold Lamb, over at SffWriterchat. Swashbuckling stuff way ahead of its time.

Over at The Night Bazaar I took a look at three popular writer’s myths, and how true they are.

Lastly, a three part discussion of sword-and-sorcery recorded at the 2010 World Fantasy Convention went live over the last few weeks. Moderated by Jaym Gates and recorded by Patrick Hester, the panel included Alex Bledsoe, James Enge, John Fultz, Ryan Harvey, Howard Andrew Jones (that’s me!), John O’Neill, Sam Sykes, Jason Waltz, and Bill Ward.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

I’m likely to be turning up in other places very soon, though mostly I’ll be writing!

A Remembrance of Euan Harvey

I had thought today I would finally talk about my blog tour. Instead, somewhat numb and dumbstruck, I find myself writing a remembrance.

I just learned that Euan Harvey has passed away.

I first knew Euan from my days helming the first issues of Flashing Swords and frequenting the old SFReader discussion board. He was a fine fellow and a talented writer with a tireless work ethic. He never gave up. It was my privilege to read many of his stories, and to forward them on to Black Gate‘s John O’Neill. And it was my pleasure to receive Euan’s feedback on my own fiction, some of which was so insightful I still reflect on it when considering unrelated works.

Euan was public about his battle with cancer, and with it apparently in remission I was thinking he might have a while left. He, his family, his friends, and his readers deserved much longer.

I cannot claim to have known Euan especially well, but I held him in high regard and had a great deal of respect for him as both a human being and a writer. He was my friend, and I am deeply saddened by his loss. I cannot begin to imagine how those closest to him must feel.

If you knew him, his family, or his work, I hope that you will put them in your prayers or thoughts.

John has just posted a more complete reflection at Black Gate, and other obituaries and remembrances are sure to follow. Douglas Cohen worked with him extensively, and has posted a very thoughtful essay.

Pathfinder Tales Web Fiction Chat

My friend and fellow Pathfinder author, the talented Dave Gross, had been assembling a series of Pathfinder fiction chats over the last few months, and there are two more coming up very, very soon. This month, to accommodate people in more time zones, there are  two Pathfinder Tales chats, each featuring about ten authors of Pathfinder Tales short fiction.

Authors expected to attend include Richard Lee Byers, Elaine Cunningham, J.C. Hay, Dave Gross, Liane Merciel, Erik Mona, Kevin Andrew Murphy, Steven Savile, Amber E. Scott, James Sutter, Bill Ward, and me — at least for the second session.

To prepare for the event, check out the glorious and free web fiction.

The events officially last one hour, but some folks hang out much later, so come on by even if you must be late. To join the event, point your browser to chat.dmtools.org, choose a screen name, and type “/join PFTales.”

Pathfinder Tales Web Fiction Chat I
Saturday, November 19
12:00 PT

Pathfinder Tales Web Fiction Chat II
Monday, November 21
18:00 PT