Mini Reviews #2

So I've listened to some more books. Time for a short review of each. Here we go...

1356 is Bernard Cornwell's return to the Hundred Years War. He has already written a trilogy set during this time period, following an archer named Thomas of Hookton. This book picks up Thomas's story several years later and tells of the English victory over the French at the Battle of Poitiers.

Bernard Cornwell is the master of historical adventure fiction. No one does it better. 1356, however, wasn't as good as his previous archer stories. I felt that the central conflict--the Battle of Poitiers--was just thrown in at the end for something for the characters to do. There was no sense of a building conflict that would lead to the fateful battle. I really felt Cornwell phoned this one in. That said, I still enjoyed returning to 14th century France, and archers just plain kick butt. They are way cooler than knights.

1356 gets 3 out of 5 stars. Don't start here if you're new to Cornwell. Try The Archer's Tale or Agincourt first.

It's finally here. A Memory of Light is the concluding volume to one of fantasy's most seminal epics. Twenty three years in the making, folks. Deep breath in... now let it out. Aaahhh... Okay. Now we can get on with it. So did it fulfill all of my hopes and dreams that have been building up since I picked up the first book back in 2002?

No.

But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. I did. However, I thought that there were some serious flaws with this book, and because of it the entire series. I won't discuss it here. I plan to do a post about the entire Wheel of Time series in the future. You'll get an ear full from me then. For now, know this: Brandon Sanderson did an excellent job. Nobody could have done better. But it was never Sanderson's book. Even though Robert Jordan passed away in 2007, he left detailed notes about how things should wrap up. All the flaws and shortcomings are his, not Sanderson's.

You have to read this book if you've been a long-time fan of the series as I have. You have to read it to finish the story. If you've never read the series before, though, I'd suggest stopping after book six. After that, the word count just isn't worth it. I give A Memory of Light 3 out of 5 stars.

Another historical to review. Ironfire, subtitled, A novel of the Knights of Malta and the Last Battle of the Crusades, is a monster soap opera. I didn't like it hardly at all. The only reason I stuck with it, other than the fact that I'd paid to listen to it, was because I was waiting for the siege of Malta to happen. It took way too damn long to get to the battle... which is so idiotic seeing as how the subtitle of the freaking book declares itself to be about the bloody siege! No joke--the final five hours out of thirty-one is all the time the last battle of the crusade got. I'm guessing the only reason this book has its subtitle is because no one would have bought the dumb thing if they knew what it was really about.

What is it about? It's about soap opera romances, modern medieval story cliches, and a bunch of crap completely unrelated to the siege of Malta. David Ball, if I'd wanted a medieval soap opera I would have listened to The Pillars of the Earth. At least that book doesn't use a subtitle to falsely lead readers. Oh, and you suck at info dumping. How boring is it to be taken away from the story to be force-fed historical facts for twenty minute chunks?

And that's all I have to say about that. :D  Ironfire isn't even worth a more detailed review. Don't waste your time on it. If you want a novel about the siege of Malta, read The Religion. It's a bit on the soap opera side, too, but at least the majority of the story focuses on the battle. Ironfire gets 2 out of 5 stars.

Wish there'd been some higher-rated ones to tell you about this time. And it seems there was a theme here: YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO STICK THE ENDING. Otherwise, it just hurts the rest of the book or series. Oh well. I've already got more good audiobooks waiting in the wings to tell you about in a few weeks. Until then, That's all!

P.S. I do have to add that all these books have excellent covers. Well done, marketing people!

What the crap is Sword and Sorcery?

It's time for another what the crap post! All right! This time I'll be telling you about the bastard brother of epic fantasy--sword and sorcery. It is a sub-genre that is on the rise, my friends, and so it is a good idea to know what it is, read examples of it, and see if it's the type of stuff you're interested in writing. So here we go.

There are a few things that separate sword and sorcery from epic fantasy. First, a lot of people refer to s&s and low fantasy, whereas epic is high fantasy. What does this mean? Well, high fantasy concerns itself with big issues, like the world is going to end, or the fight between ultimate good and evil, or the movement of kingdoms and great men. High fantasy is your Lord of the Rings, or The Wheel of Time. Big problems, big solutions, big characters, big. Any bets as to what low fantasy is, then? You got it. Low fantasy is about small issues, like a town in danger, a church infested with demons, a fight between kind of evil and kind of more evil. Low fantasy is where you can have gray characters--protagonists that aren't exactly walking the straight line along the moral high ground. Low fantasy is dirty, it deals with every day things (in a fantasy world, anyway). It is often times crass, blunt, and unafraid of rutting around in the mud. Low fantasy is, well... low.

Some other differences between sword and sorcery and epic are magic systems and uses. Epic fantasy usually relies a lot on the use of magic. In Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series the point-of-view characters are powerful magic users. They use magic in their every-day lives. In sword and sorcery magic can be (but doesn't have to be) less prevalent. Magic in these types of stories is usually mysterious and unknown to most people. Your protagonist will likely not be a magic user in s&s, but that isn't always the case. An example of modern sword and sorcery is Joe Abercrombie's The Heroes. In this book there is a tiny, tiny glimpse of magic. The rest of the story is about a battle between two nations--neither of which are particularly noble. It is bloody, it is filthy, and it is honest about the horrors of war.

So why do writers want to tell sword and sorcery stories? Aren't they a bit insignificant? This all depends on what you as a reader are looking for, of course, but I actually find sword and sorcery to be the style I lean toward in my own writing and reading tastes. I think it is because low fantasy feels more real to me. I can understand smaller issues--relate to them somewhat better. Also, I think characters are usually developed better in s&s... usually because the author has to make readers like their bastard characters, and it takes digging deeper into a character's head to do this.

The grandfather of sword and sorcery is considered to be Robert E. Howard. (J.R.R. Tolkien is considered the grandfather of epic fantasy.) If you're wondering who Howard is, ever heard of a barbarian named Conan? Michael Moorcock, Fritz Leiber, and David Gemmell are some of the genre's best-known writers. Sword and sorcery was huge in the 80's, and it has been back in vogue these past five years or so.

Today fantasy seems to be blending high and low. Writers like George R.R. Martin, Joe Abercrombie, and Scott Lynch--to name a few--are doing it brilliantly. I suggest starting with them to get a taste of sword and sorcery, and then work you way backward through some of the greats.

That's all!

P.S. sword and sorcery is where we get chicks in chain mail bikinis. Gotta love it!

Make writing your only choice in the new year

2013.

Holy crap.

How did you sneak up on me so fast?

The years seem to be going by faster and faster, the days streaming past like blurred fence posts along a highway, and I'm left looking back on what I've accomplished. I hate looking back... because I haven't come anywhere near where I want to be as a writer. True, I became a parent for the first time this past year, and I'm scrambling to prepare for baby number two in a few months, (didn't plan the second one, let me tell you!) but these are only parts of life any aspiring professional has to deal with. Why have I been dragging my feet so much for so long? *crickets chirping*

I don't have an acceptable answer.

As I get older and my family grows, I'm left with some serious choices to make. Mainly, how I'm going to support us in the years to come. I have a job that pays the bills, but it isn't the job I want to spend the rest of my life doing. My time there is limited--I've always known this. Problem is I haven't put enough effort into writing or anything else that will get me better employment. 2013 is the year to change this. I've come up with some goals to help me accomplish this. First, though, I'd like to point out a few things I've learned from professional authors this year.

Make writing your only option. This is what Bestselling author Dave Wolverton/Farland advises. This advice has been on my mind quite a bit lately. I've been wondering if it's time to hang up the writing hat for a while and go back to school. I'll never give up on writing, but a 4 or 5 year break would be necessary if I finished a degree. I don't have time to work full time, go to school, and write. Honestly, though, this sounds like a very bad option for me. I'm sure most of you creative types can relate. It's practically impossible to give up thinking about writing, so to stop writing for so long would only be tortuous. Dave says that you shouldn't have any other plans besides writing. According to him I ought to focus %100 on improving my craft. Make writing my area of study. I like this advice very much.

I went to a week-long writing camp with Dave a couple years back. I had some one-on-one time with him during lunch one day, and I told him how I was struggling with finishing school or not. He then informed me that he had dropped out of college to pursue writing. It can happen, people. All that matters is how much time, sweat, tears, and sacrifice you put into becoming a published author.

Another bit of wisdom I've garnered in the past little while comes from Michael J Sullivan, author of the popular Riyria Chronicles. It took him twenty years to become published. Twenty freakin years! When I read that about him my eyes nearly popped out of my head. Think of the dedication and perseverance it would take to keep trying for so long. His experience is quite inspirational. It tells me that success is out there for those willing to grasp for it.

So this is my goal for this year: write three completed novels, the first due by March 31st. This is going to be a difficult goal for me, considering I've never completed a single novel before. I'm approaching things differently this time, though, and so feel like I can do this. I'm going to write YA fantasy for the time being. I've started a few in the past and they are the ones I feel I need to pursue right now. The word count in a YA novel is significantly less than adult ones... somewhere around 80,000 words. The adult fantasies I've been working on are all above 130,000. I've made it to 80,000 several times, so I know what writing that many words feels like. I just need to shorten my story arcs so that I have a complete story with the lower word count.

Anyway, that's about it. I'm going to try and write each book in 90 day chunks. I gave myself a 1200 word count goal for each day. That means 66.5 days within the 90 day goal that I need to write to reach 80,000 words. I already know I'm not an every day writer, so this gives me a little breathing room. I'll take a break after the first book is done by March 31st. My son is due April 12th, so I'm expecting at least 4 weeks of 0 productivity. After we recover from the birth I'll set another 90 goal for the second book of the year.

Here's hoping 2013 is a great year.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Spoiler-free... mostly)

I know, I know, I just blogged about being tired of reviewing things. Yeah, yeah, blah, blah. Well... this is my blog, so I get to do whatever the crap I feel like, so I'm going to tell you a little bit about why you should go see the first of three Hobbit films Peter Jackson and co have so greedily made for us. I think it's disgustingly brazen of them to have adapted a slim little book into three films, but we all know everyone will see them. At least most everyone, and I can already count myself numbered in this crowd. I saw it at a packed 10:30 showing with a friend and my little brother, and I loved it. So will you if you give it a chance.

That isn't to say it is a perfect film. In fact, there are plenty of things to complain about. For one, its running time. And this is coming from a HUGE fan of the Lord of the Rings films. I bought all the extended versions when they came out on dvd. An Unexpected Journey, however, was definitely too long. By at least half an hour. My butt and legs suffered the most. And my neck, since we sat on the second row from the front. I felt that the theatrical release was what the dvd extended should have been.  I don't mind watching more of a film I like, as long as I have my own couch to laze on while doing it. Also, Jackson has taken upon himself to add to the source material. Know up front that this isn't a pure adaptation of the book. If you know this going in you can appreciate it for its own sake. I knew he would be doing this--he'd said so in interviews many times. He wanted to make The Hobbit a true prequel to his LotR films, and so connected them in ways the books never did. To do this he mined some of the appendices from the Lord of the Rings, but it seemed too that he pulled some stuff out of his you know what to make the film more "acceptable." (By this I mean he made it more acceptable by filmmakers, not audiences.) I won't give anything away, but there was an entire plot line this movie and subsequent sequels did not need. Not even a little bit. It added nothing to the story in my opinion.

The other thing that was a dumb move on Jackson's part was all the CGI effects. I don't mind CGI landscapes, or monsters that need to look better than robotic puppets, but it was used way too much this time around. In the earlier movies the orcs were just extras with masks. Now all of them are animated. Makes them look like cartoons. Why couldn't they have just done it the same way?

Okay, griping is over. Everything else I have to say is complimentary. Let the heaps of praise begin.

Two words: Martin. Freeman. Do I need to say more? Perhaps. If you've never heard of him or seen anything he's in--which is easy to do unless you're into British movies and television--you're in for a treat. Freeman is a superb actor. And as Bilbo Baggins he is perfectly charming. His performance steals the show... which is good, since he's the hobbit The Hobbit is about. Jackson and co really nailed the casting job for their title role.

The actors for the dwarves were all great, too. I don't know any of their names, and most of their characters had little development besides fighting scenes and gags, but they are much more distinguishable from each other than in the book, which pretty much treats all of them like the same person--with the exception of Thorin. Thorin was given an arc for this first movie that deals with the plot line I didn't like, but I did like the way his character played out. The actor did a fine job at portraying a king who has lost his kingdom. Another casting success with the dwarves. Ian Mckellan reprises his Gandalf role and he is as wonderful as ever. Never doubted he'd muck things up.

The music was perfect. The score felt like it had its own identity, but there were familiar bits from the Rings trilogy that felt familiar natural. I will certainly be getting the soundtrack to add to my "writing music" collection.

The one other thing I wanted to point out were the epic backdrops of the New Zealand countryside. What a beautiful country! Jackson has such an eye for scenery that it makes me wonder if he paints landscapes on the side. The filming is done with a truly artistic eye--even the parts with CGI backdrops. (CGI works great when its used for landscapes or buildings. Not so much when used for living things that move.) Watching the film was like shoving mint truffles into my eyes--a visual treat unparalleled by anything I can remember recently seeing. Your eyes and brain deserve to take in this film and savor it. (No I didn't see the 3D version. Probably never will. I hate 3D.)

So that's it. If you can make it through the nearly 3 hour running time you'll be glad you did. The Hobbit is a fun, mostly light-hearted story everyone should partake of. And who doesn't want to spend an evening returning to the wilds of Middle Earth? I enjoyed immersing myself in its myths and scenery once again. So will you. 

Mini Reviews

I've been absent from the blog for a couple of weeks. Mostly because I just haven't had the time. Work, family life, and writing (and Halo 4, let's be honest here) don't leave much time left over for blogging. Also, though, I got tired of the majority of my posts being book reviews. I'm not a book reviewer. I'm actually sick of going in-depth on book reviews, because I've had to be more of a critical reader than I want to be. Critical reading is great... sometimes. Most of the time, however, I just want to enjoy a book. Anyway, I will continue to post reviews but not as often, and I'm now (as the title of the post implies) going to be doing it a different way. From now on a book review post will include several books, and only have a paragraph about each. This will give me the chance to point out books I think you should read or avoid, but also let me do it in a less involved way. I don't want to dissect books anymore. I just want to enjoy them, damnit. And now the reviews...

Red Country, by Joe Abercrombie. This is Joe's latest standalone in his "First Law" world. It picks up several years after the end of his trilogy and continues the story of several characters readers have either come to hate or hate to love. Red Country is heavily influenced by western themes and story devices. I found it to be a bit too heavy handed most of the way through the book. I love westerns, and I love Joe Abercrombie, but the two should be a bit more distinct than they were in this book. Some parts of the story just felt like lazy add-ins because, hey, that's the kind of stuff you'd find in a western. The ending seemed less dreary than Abercrombie's usual fair, but the language and gore seemed pumped up from previous novels. Some parts were difficult to get through. Red Country gets 3 out of 5 stars.

Next up is Fevre Dream, by George R.R. Martin. This is the first of Martin's solo books I've read besides his massive epic, A Song of Ice and Fire. Also, it was my first true vampire novel. There was a lot about this book that I really loved. It takes place in the late 1850's, mostly aboard a steamboat called, you guessed it, Fevre Dream. The story takes us up and down the Missouri and Mississippi, through pre-civil war America. The characters were great, and the vampires weren't sparkly and pretty. They are monsters, as all proper vampires ought to be. The only problem I had with this book was its pacing. The ending dragged on and on. My mind wandered a bit in the slow parts and that is never a good sign. On a better note, those who have attempted to read A Game of Thrones and put it down for content, Fevre dream is much more a PG-13 book than an R. There aren't any sex scenes or F bombs. It is a horror novel, though, and so don't expect angsty teenagers looking for romance. People die. 4 out of 5 stars.

The last mini review for today is The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien. This is a book that is a bit harder to review because I've read it so many times. Usually the books I review are ones I've just finished for the first time, and so have a stronger sense of what I liked and disliked about them. In my head, The Hobbit is amazing. After listening to it again for maybe the fifth or sixth time, I notice lots of things that are somewhat annoying. Mostly it's the writer in me that finds problems with it, and that's only because the styles writers use today are quite a bit different than how Tolkien wrote. However, if you can look past the dated prose, and the endless songs and such that interfere with the story (very annoying on audio, despite the narrator trying his best to give each a tune of its own), then I think this book can be enjoyed by all readers of all ages. The story itself is timeless, and it holds a fond place in my memories. Read it if you haven't, and re-read it if its been a long time. you'll be happy you did. (And for those of you like me who listen rather than read, Audible recently released this and the Lord of the Rings trilogy unabridged for the first time. Good times.) The Hobbit takes the cake with 5 out of 5 stars.

Sharps

After another lengthy nightstand read, I've finished my second K.J. Parker novel. It's called Sharps, in case you're wondering. And it didn't take me so long to finish because it was a lousy book. Quite the opposite. I'm just a slow reader... and Audible is dumb and doesn't have any Parker novels to listen to. Anyway, Sharps is great, and Parker is amazing. If you're looking for a change of pace with your fantasy, this could be the book for you.

Permia and Scheria are at peace for the first time in forty years. Both countries have been depleted by war. The time has come to toss out an olive branch and reach some sort of reconciliation. How do two nations with little in common do this? Why, a fencing tournament, of course! Problem is, though, that people tend to get killed when swords are involved...

Sharps is the story of a fencing team traveling through a somewhat hostile neighboring country, forced to compete in a sport that may get them killed. Each of the team members (all from Scheria) are forced by their government in one way or another to participate in this risky attempt at peace. It is a lot of fun spending time with these characters, seeing just how hard peace can actually be.

Like the other Parker novel I've read, this is a fantasy without a lick of magic present. I'm not sure it qualifies exactly as fantasy, but that is how Orbit is selling it, so there you go. It's a world other than our own, with different cultures, religions, etc. If that isn't fantasy I don't know what is.

Although Sharps is slow at times, I thought it a worthwhile read. It is told in mostly an omniscient point of view, but Parker certainly cheated a time or two for plot's sake, which ended up bugging me in the end. I'll forgive the book its weaknesses, however, because anything to do with fencing is just plain awesome.

Sharps gets 3.5 stars out of 5. Not as good as The Folding Knife, but still a fun and well written addition to Parker's work. I will be reading Parker's The Hammer or Devices and Desires next. I haven't decided which yet. K.J. Parker is an author every fantasy writer and reader should be reading.

That's all.

-Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Hope you have a great time with family and friends. I have so much to be thankful for in my life, and look forward to the few days of eating and being lazy ahead!  

Pre-thinking through your chapters

I'm writing this post in response to my stupid brain. It's 5:30 in the morning, I'm sitting on my couch with the laptop, and I can't write a sentence in my chapter to save my life. It didn't take me long to figure out why. I didn't put any pre-thought into what I was going to write today. I woke up with the determination to write, but my morning productivity is usually determined the night and day before, when I've gone over things in my head to a sufficient extent. I have just wasted my time, and won't be reaching my word count goal today.

It is so important to pre-think what you will write. I'm a discovery writer. I hate outlines. This doesn't mean that I make up story on the spot every time I sit down to write. I usually spend more time thinking about what I'm going to write--more time than I even spend writing--before I put words down on the page. My problem today is that I didn't review the earlier parts of the chapter I'm in, and I took two days off from writing to vote on Tuesday, and then recover from election garbage on Wednesday. It's been since Monday that I've done anything. I haven't thought about this chapter since then. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

It doesn't matter if you are an outliner or not. You still have to decide before writing how you're going to approach a specific scene. An outline can tell you what will happen in the scene, but not necessarily how you will move through the scene (unless you are an incredibly detailed outliner). If you are having similar problems to what I'm experiencing this morning, let me suggest that you pre-think before you write. Take an hour or so the day before you approach a scene and work everything out in your head. It's even okay if you write down how you'll do it. I take lots of notes--on my computer and my phone. If you want to write efficiently, you always have to be thinking about what you're going to say. If you don't pre-think, you'll find yourself staring blankly at your screen like I did this morning. It's never fun to do this. It's a micro slice of writer's block, and it's annoying as hell.

So there you have it. A bit of advice that has helped me avoid being dumb. You're welcome.