Writer's Grove

All right, before we get down to what I have to say, this blog post about the withering of sci-fi is a must-read. Go there, absorb like a sponge, maybe do a shot (or two) for courage, and then come on back. :)

I lament the slow, painful death of sci-fi, but I must acknowledge my role in its decline. I haven’t bought but maybe two or three sci-fi books in years—even though I used to devour them when I was younger and didn’t get into fantasy until later.

I think the sentiments expressed in that blog post by both Mr. Allen and Mr. Martin are correct—we’ve become less optimistic about the future, we might be thinking things are getting worse instead of better, and so the already large suspension of disbelief we’d need for lots of sci-fi grows exponentially with our worries. It’s like, “DUDE, not only can you not travel faster than light, but you can’t seriously think there’d be a worldwide human government in the future when all we’ve been doing for the last few decades is splintering into ever-smaller tribal factions even as we’re joining the ‘global village.’”

But I think there’s even more to it than that: I can’t keep up with the science anymore, and perhaps (??) that’s a large part of the decline as well. We know so much more about the costs and realities of space travel than we did in the 50’s and 60’s, and so it’s tougher on those grounds to suspend our disbelief for spacefaring shenanigans. If I’m reading about this nanotech idea or that idea for an FTL drive, part of me will think it’s cool and part of me will think, “this idea will be completely exploded in ten years.”

The last sci-fi I was really into was cyberpunk. The dystopian futures laid out so clearly in William Gibson’s novels and Stephenson’s Snow Crash now seem quite spookily prescient: we have multinational corporations running things and an urban planet on the way where everyone is plugged into the net. Hmm. Maybe that’s why I stopped; the fiction is becoming reality, and I read fiction to get away from reality.

I think the reason fantasy has become ascendant—besides fulfilling the need for escape—is that it’s filling another need: the need to examine social structures from a safe distance and figure out where we went wrong. Sci-fi often looks at alternate social structures that we can’t possibly hope to achieve anytime soon; these days the social issues raised in fantasy allow us to wonder if there’s some way to make things better now, to hell with the future on other planets. The struggles that urban fantasy heroes face, in particular, permit us to say “Okay, I know modern life can be shit, but look at what THAT guy/girl has to deal with on top of everything else,” and we feel a bit better. It’s nice to think that someone can deal with everything we deal with plus paranormal issues.

The sci-fi I’d like to read now is that which convincingly envisions a way through these times. I’d buy a book like that and read it over and over and buy copies for all my friends. I’d like to be optimistic again; I’d like to see a rebirth of sci-fi because it would mean that optimism is widely shared. Until then, I’ll read and write fantasy.

WELL!

Things are happening.

Though I can’t share what I saw because it just wouldn’t be fair, my editor sent me something that the cover artist is working on and it is jaw-droppingly cool! These days the cover artists often use photographic models on which to base their digital illustration (think Gail Carriger’s books, see this cool video on how they made the cover for her third book), and so to get themselves ready for the photo shoot they’ll construct whatever props and doodads they feel necessary for verisimilitude. What I got to see today was one of the props created for the shoot, and I cannot describe how awesome it is to see something I imagined come to life like that! I have been doing a happy dance for three hours and I think I’ve lost a couple pounds.

By the way, for a fun look at how urban fantasy covers have changed, check out this neat survey and this other article from Orbit books.

In other news, I’m going to be making my first “public appearance,” which is such a douche-y phrase that I can’t say it without laughing. But nevertheless, here it is: I’ve been asked to speak at a Writer’s Workshop on Saturday, October 9 at the East-West Exchange on 100 N. Tonto Rd. in Payson, AZ, from 1-3 pm. It’s sort of a whirlwind tour of getting published for aspiring authors, though of course I’m going to be focusing a bit on urban fantasy in particular. Come on by if you can make it, they have a great little coffee bar in there (it’s an indie bookstore) and I’ll hang out for a while.

The program will include how I discovered a niche in the market and rushed to fill it, followed by what I hope is a mildly inspirational story of how an unknown schmoe with zero connections in the industry got a three-book deal with a major publisher. I’ll walk people through the process, from market analysis to writing the book to sending out queries and landing an agent, and then discuss what I feel are some demands in the fantasy market (both urban and epic) that aren’t currently being supplied. There will be a Q & A afterward so that you can stump me.

And someday, when I can, I’ll post REAL COVER ART and I cannot wait!

I was really hoping I could get hold of the Smoked Porter from Alaskan Brewing Company for this one, since blogging/writing buddy Hillary Jacques has spoken so highly of its divinity. I journeyed for many leagues all the way out to this specialty beverage establishment only to find out that they had everything from Alaskan except the Smoked Porter. Color me crushed.

But I have to tell you, I think I might have found something equally divine. It might be my new favorite.

Behold: Oberon Ale from Bell’s Brewery in Comstock, Michigan, in a glass from the Beaver Street Brewery in Flagstaff, Arizona; a turkey sandwich on a poppyseed roll with kettle chips on the side; and a dwarf ready to throw his own personal kegger. (Better pictures of him below)

I had to buy the Oberon Ale, because one of the main characters in my series is named Oberon. He’s a doggie—an Irish wolfhound, to be exact. He kind of looks like this:

If you’re wondering how a main character can be a dog, you’ll have to wait a bit to find out. I promise you, however, that it’s nothing like those execrable children’s movies where animals talk. Oberon is a constant source of joy to me as a character, so when I saw a beer with the same name it became a moral imperative to see whether it might also be a source of joy.

It is, my friends, it is. It’s bottle-conditioned, so you should pour it in a glass to enjoy it properly. As a summer ale, I can’t think of when I’ve tasted a finer one. It’s smooth and refreshing and I can’t believe I was lucky enough to run across it. I mean…look at this distribution map. How messed up is that? Midwest, south…and Arizona. That seems really random to me, but I’m grateful, because it suits me perfectly.

The Beaver Street Brewery in Flagstaff is my favorite brew pub so far. I’m not saying it’s the best ever, because there’s always a chance I’ll run across a better one in my travels, but so far it’s the best I’ve found. And it’s right across the street from Macy’s European Coffee House, which is my favorite coffee joint EVAH.

And now let’s take a closer look at that miniature dwarf:

This dude is ready to party. I’d neither want nor be able to keep up with him. He’s got a giant stein o’ suds, plenty of refills ready to go on his shoulder, and he’s even shaved his upper lip clean because it’s just going to get covered in beer foam anyway. Oh, and in case you think this guy’s a pushover, check out the side view:

He’s got an AXE slung back there out of sight, son, so don’t mess! If you make him drop his keg to pull it out, he’s not going to put it back without your blood on it!

I haven’t given up on the Smoked Porter. Alaskan’s website says it’s available in several places in Arizona, so I’ll hunt it down eventually.

Just finished a round of edits on Hammered and sent it back to my editor—she made some outstanding suggestions, as always—so I’m excited about the shape it’s in and feeling good about life. Oberon probably has a little something to do with that too. :)

Well, this is weird…I’m going to blog about stuff I’m not currently blogging about. It’s not terribly brilliant as far as posts go, but school starts tomorrow and I must obsess about that for a bit. So here are some things to which we may all look forward:

I’m starting to like punks a whole lot. But not this kind:

I’m talking about steampunks. Dieselpunks. Atompunks. Fiction that’s set in an alternate-history, alternate-tech sort of world, populated by characters who don’t shop at IKEA and The Gap. Lots of brass gadgets and clockwork. Dirigibles. Language from a time when people used to read outside of school.

And the aesthetic is just plain cool. Look at this steampunk computer somebody made:

That’s a working computer, folks. If you want to see the details and more pictures, click here. A lot of steampunk fans are also Makers. Have you heard of them?

Maker culture is thriving: here’s a link to Make magazine. Broadly speaking, they’re people who reject pop consumerism and make something new out of found items. There’s a strong DIY ethic and a premium placed on personal creativity. And in terms of design, they usually don’t want to hide the way something works, like modern doodads; they’d rather see all the gears and gizmos and the wires and so on. Here’s a link to a video of this year’s Maker Faire to get a sense of what they like.

In terms of writing, the opportunities are vast. The market isn’t glutted yet, demand is increasing, and there’s so much that can be done. In terms of writing trends, I think there’s still plenty of room to get in on the ground floor here. Granted, if you’re trying to come up with a Sherlock Holmes clone, that might be a tough sell, but look at what else is out there and doing well. Boneshaker by Cherie Priest features a kid and his mom in 19th-century Seattle. Leviathan and the forthcoming Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld feature a couple of young’uns, too, and that’s WWI-era stuff, qualifying it as dieselpunk (though there are significant biopunk aspects as well). The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi, is a biopunk novel doing quite well now. And then there’s Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series, set in 19th-century London, which is definitely steampunk with a bit of urban fantasy and Jane Austen mashed in. (By the way, my next author interview is with Gail, and I’m very excited!)

I’m hoping inspiration will strike me soon for a punkish short story…or even a novel, heck, why not? I’ve started an epic fantasy and I’ve outlined the fourth book in my urban fantasy series, but it’s never too late to start something else. Plenty of burners on the stove, right? Multitasking keeps the brain fresh and all that. Food for thought, anyway. :)

Been out o’ town for a few days, visiting Anaheim for school stuff. I got to geek out about fonts and play with InDesign and laugh at puns.

But I’m back now and working on a map for my epic. Luncheon comes around and here’s what’s laid out on the table:

Chili dogs with mustard and a fine brew called 90 Shilling Ale in a glass from the Carver Brewing Company in Durango, Colorado. All of which is guarded by a dwarf troll slayer, who is holding very graphic evidence of his troll slaying skills. Said troll looked at my beer the wrong way, see.
Here’s a closeup of the dwarf troll slayer:

What amazes me most about this guy is how hairless his chest is when his chops and eyebrows are so epically gifted. I thought he’d have a happy trail down the center, at least. Coming in a close second is the fact that his left hand could probably engulf his entire head. And in third place is the fact that he’d be hard pressed to fit a kneecap under that grass skirt, much less thighs and calves and other goodies. How is this guy even ambulatory?

The answer is that it doesn’t matter. He’s a badass miniature dwarf troll slayer and that’s all there is to it.

The 90 Shilling Ale is from the Odell Brewing Company in Fort Collins, Colorado. It’s a Scottish ale that’s been lightened up a trifle and it’s remarkably smooth and flavorful. What’s that beer that keeps bragging about its drinkability? Is it Budweiser? They’re lying. Bud is overcarbonated, tasteless swill, and it’s not even an American beer anymore. It’s owned by the Dutch. If you want a drinkable American beer, try this 90 Shilling Ale—or almost any beer that doesn’t have a national ad campaign. That’s where all the flavor and drinkability is hiding. Still looking for that smoked porter that Hillary suggested to me in the comments from the last Dwarf and Beer post.

If you ever get a chance to visit Carver’s in Durango, please do. It’s kind of an unusual place because they’re known as a brew pub, but they also do a brisk breakfast business with great coffee and baked goods. I haven’t been there in a few years and I miss it. Here’s what you do: hit Carver’s in the morning for the coffee, get on the railroad for the trip to Silverton, then try out the beers when you get back in the afternoon. It’s beautiful country up there.

Summer’s almost over for me and I’ll have to go back to work soon. Think I’ll have to squeeze in a trip to Flagstaff before it’s over, introduce you to the joys of Macy’s European Coffee House.

OK, my camera is back and now I can take a half-decent picture with the kind of focus I’d like. Today my miniature dwarf is guarding my sausage pizza and frosty beer with a brace of black-powder pistols:

If anyone touches my pizza, that dwarf thunderer will pop a very tiny cap in his/her ass.

The beer is Longboard Lager from the Kona Brewing Company in Hawaii. The glass is from Phantom Canyon Brewing Company in Colorado Springs. The dwarf is Einar Ólafson from Nidavellir (That’s the Nordic realm of the dwarfs. If my Icelandic is correct, that’s pronounced NIH-dah-VET-lir, because a double l gives you a ttl sound).

You may not be able to tell from the picture above how serious Einar is about protecting my luncheon. So here’s a closeup or two:

Whoa! Those are the eyes of a killer, my friends. His pistol grips are capped with the skulls of wee animals that tried to snarf one of my Pop Tarts. He has sent two and twenty ruffians to the grave using only one and twenty shots.

It’s a good day. Besides working on my miniature dwarfs, I’ve squeezed out the first chapter of an epic and I have an excellent interview with Kelly Meding to look forward to on Tuesday, the third installment of my 3:2 Interview series. Make sure you swing by on Tuesday to check it out!

I just read a really interesting blog post over at the BN SciFi and Fantasy Blog about why Nicole Peeler is so freakin’ cool. Even if you’re not a fan of her books—and I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t be—it’s a good read for what it says about the state of the urban fantasy market (or the paranormal fantasy market, or whatever label you wish to use for the fantasy books that don’t involve stew and orphans saving the world from a dark lord). 


I’d like to highlight a bit from his blog post about the subcategories in the market:

There’s hardboiled paranormal fantasy (Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, Kat Richardson’s Greywalker saga), erotic paranormal fantasy (Hamilton’s Anita Blake), comedic paranormal fantasy (Mark Henry’s Amanda Feral novels, Mario Acevedo’s Felix Gomez saga), literary paranormal fantasy (Skyler White’s and Falling, Fly), paranormal romance (Christine Feehan’s Dark novels) etc.

But the biggest—and most commercially successful—subcategory is arguably the lighthearted contemporary urban fantasy, usually set in an alternate history setting like Kim Harrison’s Rachel Morgan series, the Southern Vampire sequence by Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs’s Mercy Thompson saga, etc.

I’m glad I didn’t worry about subcategories when writing my books. I know they’re not erotic paranormal fantasy, nor are they paranormal romance, and I wouldn’t dream of writing literary paranormal fantasy (because I’m not sure what that is). But my books might be a little bit of the remaining three subcategories mentioned. I’m wondering what’s the line separating comedic paranormal fantasy from lighthearted contemporary urban fantasy—any ideas? Heck, I just pitched my books as an urban fantasy series and left it at that. It will be interesting to see how they get classified once they’re published—or maybe Del Rey’s marketing department will slap a label on them when they send out the Advance Reader Copies to see if it sticks.


But while we’re all waiting…I’ve received a fantastic blurb from Ms. Peeler for Hounded! Squee! She liked it!

“Hearne breathes new life into old myths, creating a world both eerily familiar and startlingly original. I couldn’t read fast enough…Hounded, indeed!” —Nicole Peeler

Thanks, Nicole! :)

Okay, so in an earlier post I firmly established my Nerd Cred. Follow me now I descend fully into madness, kind of like those guys who went exploring the House of Leaves.

See, my friend Alan got me started painting miniatures. And for some reason, the idea of painting miniature dwarfs really tickles my sense of redundancy.

I’m painting a dwarf warband to play a game called Mordheim, which is a skirmish-level version of Warhammer where you can start out with six or seven dudes and build up to maybe 15. And when I’m not playing Mordheim (which is most of the time, I swear), then I can just chuckle at the fact that I have a collection of miniature dwarfs.

Alan is a Golden Demon award winner, which means he paints miniatures so well people send him fan mail and pay him to paint their miniatures for them. When Alan decides to paint dwarfs, they look like they’re going to hack you up if you don’t give them a keg of ale right now. (By the way, that’s a dwarf king being carried on top of a shield by two minion dwarfs. I explain that because I originally thought this was a dwarf mother protecting her children.) Anyway, my dwarfs ain’t that cool. But they’re ready to find some treasure in Mordheim, by golly. Left to right, you’ll see my Engineer, one of my Thunderers, and a Troll Slayer.