Upcoming: “The Tower Broken” by Mazarkis Williams (Jo Fletcher)

I just caught this over on BookSworn, and thought I’d share it on here as well. I’ve only read the first novel in Williams’ series, The Emperor’s Knife, and do intend to get to the second, Knife Sworn, as soon as time permits.

Is it just me, or does the fellow on the cover have a bit of a cheeky smile on his face…?

The only synopsis I could find of the novel was this single-sentence from Rising Shadow:

“Cerana faces down its historical enemy while a greater threat creeps through the desert towards the capitol city of Nooria.”

And over at the above-linked BookSworn page, Mazarkis Williams had this to say about the plot:

“Govnan gets a point of view in this final book, and the Tower is the focus of the story. When faced with the prospect of its utter ruin and the destruction of Nooria, Govnan must make some tough choices.”

I’ll keep my eyes open for a proper synopsis, and update this post as-and-when something more concrete becomes available.

UPDATE! [May 10] Here is the publisher’s synopsis for the book:

Nooria is at breaking point. The nothing bleeds out the very essence of all, of stone, silk – and souls. Sarmin thought he had stopped it, but it is spreading towards Cerana – and he is powerless to halt the destruction.

Even as Cerana fills with refugees, the Yrkmen armies arrive, offering to spare Sarmin’s people if they will convert to the Mogyrk faith.

Time is running out for Sarmin and Mesema: the Mage’s Tower is cracked; the last mage, sent to find a mysterious pattern-worker in the desert, has vanished; and Sarmin believes his kidnapped brother Daveed still has a part to play.

The walls are crumbling around them...

The Tower Broken will be available in “Late 2013”, published by Jo Fletcher books in the UK on November 7th 2013. (US details still pending confirmation.)

Upcoming: “Swords of Good Men” by Snorri Kristjansson (Jo Fletcher)

Another book that turned up without any foreknowledge, Snorri Kristjansson’s Swords of Good Men sounds pretty awesome:

To Ulfar Thormodsson, the Viking town of Stenvik is the penultimate stop on a long journey in his riveting adventure of clashing Viking powers. Tasked with looking after his cousin after disgracing his father, he has traveled the world and now only wants to go home.

Stenvik is different: it contains the beautiful and tragic Lilja, who immediately captures Ulfar’s heart – but Stenvik is also home to some very deadly men, who could break Ulfar in an instant.

King Olav is marching on Stenvik from the East, determined to bring the White Christ to the masses at the point of his sword, and a host of bloodthirsty raiders led by a mysterious woman are sailing from the north.

But Ulfar is about to learn that his enemies are not all outside the walls.

I’ve been bad about keeping up-to-date with Jo Fletcher Books releases (Bad Stef!). I’m hoping to get to this ASAP. Swords of Good Men will be published in the UK and the US(?) in August 2013.

Upcoming: “The Cambodian Book of the Dead” by Tom Vater (Exhibit A)

Exhibit A, the crime/thriller imprint under the Angry Robot banner, is still relative new (only three titles published so far, I believe). They seem to have a pretty good eye for stories, though. I haven’t had a chance to read any of the new novels, but I think that lapse is going to change, and soon. Today, I nabbed an eARC for Tom Vater’s intriguing-looking novel, The Cambodian Book of the Dead, which has the pitch, “where Apocalypse Now meets The Beach”…

Was I swayed by the cover? Well… yes, I admit I was a little bit. It certainly helped grab my attention. Then I read the synopsis, and my interest was well-and-truly piqued. I been meaning to read more thrillers, too… Here’s the synopsis:

Private eye and former war reporter, Maier is sent to Cambodia to track down the missing heir to a Hamburg coffee empire.

His search leads him into the darkest corners of the country’s history, through the Killing Fields of the communist revolution, to the White Spider, a Nazi war criminal who reigns over an ancient Khmer temple deep in the jungle.

But the terrifying tale of mass murder that Maier uncovers is far from over. And soon Maier realises that, if he is to prevent more innocent lives from being destroyed, he will have to write the last horrific chapter himself.

The Cambodian Book of the Dead will be published by Exhibit A at the end of June (North America & eBook) and the beginning of July (UK).

Upcoming: “Playing Tyler” by T.L. Costa (Strange Chemistry)

I haven’t been very good at keeping up on upcoming releases of late. At least, I haven’t been as investigative about it, waiting instead for information to filter its way to me. (Bit lazy, but there we go.) Anyway, I first saw the cover for T.L. Costa’s upcoming novel in a press release from Strange Chemistry, and it’s really stuck in my mind ever since. It’s a pair of powerful images in a simple composition, that really grabs the attention…

I just really like that. Will I like the novel? Not a clue. But, I will be giving it a try pretty soon (I was lucky enough to get an eARC). Strange Chemistry has managed to hire some pretty great artists of late. Here’s hoping they keep up this string of strong cover images. (It’ll make all of our shelves look nicer…)

Here’s the synopsis…

When is a game not a game?

Tyler MacCandless can’t focus, even when he takes his medication. He can’t focus on school, on his future, on a book, on much of anything other than taking care of his older brother, Brandon, who’s in rehab for heroin abuse… again.

Tyler’s dad is dead and his mom has mentally checked out. The only person he can really count on is his Civilian Air Patrol Mentor, Rick. The one thing in life it seems he doesn’t suck at is playing video games and, well, that’s probably not going to get him into college.

Just when it seems like his future is on a collision course with a life sentence at McDonald’s, Rick asks him to test a video game. If his score’s high enough, it could earn him a place in flight school and win him the future he was certain that he could never have. And when he falls in love with the game’s designer, the legendary gamer Ani, Tyler thinks his life might finally be turning around.

That is, until Brandon goes MIA from rehab and Tyler and Ani discover that the game is more than it seems. Now Tyler will have to figure out what’s really going on in time to save his brother… and prevent his own future from going down in flames.

Playing Tyler will be published by Strange Chemistry in the UK, US and as an eBook at the beginning of July 2013. For more, be sure to check out Costa’s Facebook page and follow her on Twitter.

“NOS4R2”/“NOS4A2” by Joe Hill (Gollancz/William Morrow)

A slow-burning suspense

Summer. Massachusetts.

An old Silver Wraith with a frightening history. A story about one serial killer and his lingering, unfinished business.

Anyone could be next.

We’re going to Christmasland...

I’m not a big reader of horror. I’m not really sure why, though, as I tend to be attracted to darker and more twisted tales. Nevertheless, I have enjoyed some of Hill’s previous writing, and after reading a little bit about NOS4R2, I eagerly awaited its arrival.

Despite that, and perhaps inevitably, I was not really in the mood for horror when I first started to read NOS4R2. Rather than letting this ruin it for me, I decided to put it aside and got back to it recently. I’m glad I did this, too: this is a pretty solid suspense/horror novel, sure to appeal to his existing fans and also new readers (with caveats). The novel is also, frustratingly, very difficult to review – and doubly so if I want to avoid any form of spoiler.

Once again, therefore, I find myself at a loss for how to review something by Joe Hill. Seriously. I’m completely stumped. His other work that I struggle to review is his Locke & Key comic series, a story that shares some similar sensibilities and aesthetics as NOS4R2. Both are heavily character-focused, with a slow-burning plot that allows for great tension and suspense to build brilliantly. It’s not action-packed (though there is some conflict), there are a fair few surprises, and some really creepy scenes.

I must admit that I did find the start a little slower than I would normally like, and this maybe influenced my decision to put it aside for a short while. Given how long the book is (the ARC is 700 pages, or there about), I think some people may not have the patience for Hill’s pacing. When I was about a third of the way through, even I couldn’t help but think, “When are things going to kick off?” However, when I allowed myself to just sit and read (recently, life has been very disruptive and stop-start), I found myself swept up by Hill’s prose and story, drawn on through the novel.

The author manages to make the mundane fascinating – the little details of these characters’ lives, their thoughts and every-day concerns… In many authors’ hands, this attention to detail would be suffocating and perhaps tedious, giving the novel a bloated feel. Not so for Hill; when added to the creepy goings-on related to Christmasland and its master, Charles Manx, he spins a fascinating, engrossing, suspenseful tale.

I found his characters all too realistic, in a way. This is, in my opinion, Hill’s greatest talent: despite writing creepy, weird, oft-supernatural stories, his characters have a vividly real feel to them. Victoria McQueen, the protagonist, feels complete, fully realised and familiar, and in some ways we grow up with her over the course of the novel: first meeting her as a child, when she first gets her special bike and stumbles across her strange ability. Then time jumps ahead to her rebellious adolescence and onwards, as her childhood brush with information of the Silver Wraith and Manx, and her confrontations with him later.

As I said at the start, I have no real idea of how to review Hill’s work. Nothing I try seems to convey the atmosphere and feel of the author’s work appropriately.

Needless to say, if you have any interest in classic, literary horror fiction, then NOS4R2 is for you. Recommended.

Also by Joe Hill: Horns, Heart-Shaped Box, 20th Century Ghosts, Locke & Key Vols.1-5

Also Try: Benjamin Percy, Justin Cronin, Stephen King, Adam Neville

Marvel Events: “House of M” & “Secret Invasion”

Another dual-review, this time for two Marvel Events. I’m always wary of Marvel Events – they have a tendency to disappoint or prove a little pointless for those who are not devouring most/all of Marvel’s ever-expanding line of titles. The end of Avengers vs. X-Men at least had the benefit of shrinking their overall line, at least. It doesn’t appear that any of the big events that came before did. (I’d still like to read Siege, I think…)

Both of these two titles were included in a Marvel sale on ComiXology (which is pretty much the only way I buy Marvel titles, now, actually), so buying them and catching up with this Marvel backstory didn’t prove too costly. One of the titles was very good (much better than expected, certainly), and one just mediocre (and just a little bit of a struggle to keep reading)…

***

HOUSE OF M (2005)

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis | Artist: Olivier Coipel | Inks: Tim Townsend, Rick Magyar, Scott Hanna, John Dell | Colors: Frank D’Armata, Paul Mounts

The Avengers and the X-Men are faced with a common foe that becomes their greatest threat: Wanda Maximoff! The Scarlet Witch is out of control, and the fate of the entire world is in her hands. Will Magneto help his daughter or use her powers to his own benefit? Starring the Astonishing X-Men and the New Avengers! You know how sometimes you hear the phrase: and nothing will ever be the same again? Well, this time believe it, buster! Nothing will ever be the same again!

Collects: House of M #1-8

The book starts with Wanda Maximoff, also known as “The Scarlet Witch”, in a happy setting. Sadly, as Professor Xavier wheels in, we learn that it is not real – rather, a manifestation of Wanda’s power to bend and alter reality at will. What makes her power so deadly, though, is her mental instability. She’s clearly been spiraling into a much worse state, which forces the Avengers and X-Men to meet to discuss what is to be done about her. Some call for her termination, others call for restraint and understanding. A compromise is reached: they will go to the devastated land of Genosha to assess her state of mind, despite neither Prof X nor Dr. Strange able to help her retain (or, perhaps more accurately, attain) a grip on reality.

At the end of the first issue, Spidey walks off and wakes up... Only, nothing he sees is the same as it was… For one thing, there are a lot more apparent-mutants, too: they’re pretty much everywhere. They seem to be as numerous as humans, if not more so (later, it becomes clearer).

There are a number of funny moments in the book, too – not laugh-out-loud funny, but at least enough to make me chuckle. Here, for example, is Kitty Pryde, teaching a history class: “Who was the first mutant?” she asks her class. “And don’t say Moses or Jesus. I’m talking officially.”

Over the course the series, we are taken through this new reality for all the key players (too many to go through individually in a review, though). It’s pretty good, actually, and Bendis has chosen very well for most of the characters.

The spanner is thrown into the works, though, after Wolverine wakes up and knows something ain’t right... As Wolverine remembers his entire life in the “real” Marvel reality/timeline, he starts to seriously freak out. In a stroke of bonkers logic, he decides to launch himself off the Avengers’ Helicarrier... He flees from his former team-mates on the “Red Guard” (an elite S.H.I.E.L.D. unit), and gets scooped up and taken in front of the Human Resistance. And so begins his recruitment drive, collecting mutants and others to his side, as he realizes what Wanda’s done: given mutants what they always wanted, acceptance and a place in the world.

The chapters have a brief prose intro that is rather info-dumpy (I read this as individual issues, so I’m not sure if this is the case in the collected book). This is also probably because there were a lot of tie-in issues across Marvel’s titles at the time, all of which fed into and effected what happened in this book. I wasn’t prepared to buy and read them all, though (even with comiXology’s 99c sale).

In the sixth issue, we get this statement from Cyclops:

“I’ve – uh – I’ve been team leader of the X-Men since I was a teenager... And in that entire time, I’ve prided myself on my tactical restraint. Taking a moral high ground where violence is concerned.”

This from the mutant who will bring the world and community of mutants and super-heroes into a war so costly and devastating, that it will forever mess up the Marvel universe. What difference a couple of years make, huh?

At the end, we learn of what really happened, wrapping things up rather nicely. But then Wanda says those now-immortal words that forever changed the Marvel Universe…

After the pleasantly strong start, the book maintained its quality and pace. The artwork is also excellent throughout. Although, in an unusual twist: while the women are the comic-book ideal, it is the men who look deformed, as if their all suffering some steroidal gigantism. Sometimes, in the less-sharp or more-busy panels, it looks really wrong… On the whole, though, it was quite well realised on the page. Some of the pages were a touch too busy, which could make them unclear, and a handful of panels were sadly indecipherable. This didn’t have much of a negative impact on the book, however, as Bendis’s writing was strong and quite gripping.

This book was, therefore, much better than I had expected. I’m always wary of the Marvel Events, but this was well-written and fun. I would certainly recommend this to fans of any/all Marvel titles.

*

SECRET INVASION (2008)

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis | Artist: Leinil Francis Yu | Inks: Miles Morales | Colors: Laura Martin

SECRET INVASION IS HERE The shape-shifting alien race known as the Skrulls has secretly infiltrated every super-powered organization on Earth with one goal – full-scale invasion In this collected edition, page-after-page unveils reveal-after-reveal and shocking moment-after-shocking-moment Brian Bendis and Leinil Francis Yu leap off the pages of mega-hit New Avengers and deliver a story that will change the Marvel Universe forever.

Collects: Secret Invasion #1-8

This ‘Event’ collection was a bit of a disappointment. I read it after House of M, and only because I rather enjoyed that book. Something about the rapid-fire dialogue made me wonder if Bendis had been watching a lot of The West Wing in the run-up to writing this. Sadly, though, the dialogue in here has nothing on Sorkin’s style, and instead just felt choppy and rushed.

The story in general felt simplistic, overloaded with telling-rather-than showing (which has been a frequent complaint of mine lately, I know). The book then becomes a riotous mess. I had a vague inkling of who the Skrull were, but had difficulty following what was going on and, as a result, never really came to care.

I would not recommend this to people who haven’t been following the overall, web-like Marvel chronology and story. There are a lot of hints and allusions to what has come before, but without knowing much of the back-story, I imagine I missed a lot. I include myself in that group. I was lost and, despite Yu’s excellent artwork, ultimately bored.

Trans-dimensional New 52 (DC Comics)

There are three series in DC’s New 52 that feature inter-dimensional travel shenanigans, so I thought I’d compile a joint review of all three: Earth 2, Mister Terrific and World’s Finest.

Mister Terrific actually travels between these dimensions, too, so he has a way of anchoring the series together (although, he features more in later issues of World’s Finest, which are not reviewed here). I’m not sure if I’m reading too many New 52 titles, now – I seem to have a shorter fuse when it comes to quality, and am finding myself more inclined to drop series quicker. Or, equally possible/likely, I’m more of a traditionalist, and just prefer the ‘core’ characters that make up the Justice League and their solo-series. Certainly, I’m finding myself really liking Geoff Johns’ series (Justice League, Aquaman and Green Lantern).

Anyway, back to these three series… I had very mixed feelings about them all, and was quite disappointed with two of them. I’ll keep these reviews short, therefore, otherwise I’ll just feel like I’m flogging a dead horse. Also, as with most books I read and don’t connect with, there are some spoilers below.

***

Mister Terrific Vol.1 – “Mind Games”

Writer:

Introducing the electrifying new villain Brainstorm, who is determined to bring Los Angeles to its knees – beginning with Michael Holt!

Collects: Mister Terrific #1-8

I picked up all eight issues of Mister Terrific during one of ComiXology’s sales. I read the first three. I’ve not read the rest of them, and each time I open up the fourth to start reading… I just give up before I turn a single page. This is my first DNF of the New 52 series collections (the panel, below, from issue #2 was just too apt to ignore and not include – it perfectly reflects my own feeling when reading this series). I’d be happy to put some of this down to a complete lack of familiarity with the character. But really, I just think this series wasn’t up to scratch.

I’m always amazed when a comic book, a visual-dominated medium, has more telling than showing in it. It’s littered with pseudo-science, cliché terminology, and frankly sub-par writing. I can understand fully why it was cancelled. Even the revelation at the end of #3 felt forced, where it should have had a huge impact on the story and reader.

The artwork’s not bad, though, and I think the premise has (or, at least, had) a lot of potential. But from what I read in the first three issues, I just can’t generate the enthusiasm to finish it – even though there are only about 100 pages left of the entire series.

If someone can tell me that it got better before the ending, I’ll get back to it. Otherwise…

*

Earth 2, Vol.1 – “The Gathering”

Writer: James Robinson | Artists: Nicola Scott, Trevor Scott & Eduardo Pansica | Colors: Ivan Reis & Joe Prado

Who are the heroes of Earth 2? When the Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman of Earth 2 fall in battle, it’s up to a new breed of heroes to come together to combat the returning evil of Apokolips!

Collects: Earth 2 #1-6

I read and rather enjoyed the first issue of this series, when it came out. As with so many series, I decided to hold off until the first collected volume/storyline was available, and on the strength of the debut issue had pretty high hopes. Sadly, these expectations were not met. The premise is interesting, certainly, and I like the idea of alternative versions of these heroes fighting their own battles, completely removed from the ‘normal’ DC Universe heroes and storylines.

However, despite the strong start, this series is riddled with irritating storytelling. For example, the Green Lantern of this world: before he is the Green Lantern, he’s some high-flying celebrity. He proposes to his partner, and we get a good idea of how devoted they are to each other. Then, a handful of pages later, there’s a train crash. His partner dies, and he… moves on rather quickly and easily. I’m not sure if this was an editorial decision, just a way of quickly providing the character with a motivational life-tragedy (in itself, rather cliché). Certainly, given that the character was trumpeted as the first(?) gay major DC character, the quick dispatch of the love interest (whose name I can’t remember) smacked of tokenism.

The storyline itself was just rather flat, and didn’t compare favourably with Robinson’s other stories and series that I’ve read. Given that he’s broken with DC under not the happiest of terms, I can’t help but wonder if this series suffered from overbearing editorial control. In many ways, it’s playing it safe – great, big bad-guy, terrorising Washington, killing everyone (he’s some kind of death creature, Grundy). Instead of getting a sense of any real peril, the threat posed by this big bad ends up forming the crux of a team-building exercise.

The artwork is rather good, I must say, which only makes the lackluster storyline all the more disappointing.

If I’d taken any notes while reading this, I probably could go on at greater length about the things that niggled, but I don’t really think there’s much point. Overall, this was disappointing, leaving me rather nonplused and uninvested in the characters. Will I try the next story-arc? Well… perhaps. A couple of other comic fans, whose tastes are often similar to my own, enjoy this series quite a bit. So… maybe. But not in the near future. And only if I can find Volume 2 or the individual issues on sale.

*

Worlds’ Finest, Vol.1 – “Lost Daughters of Earth 2”

Writer: Paul Levitz | Artist: Kevin Maguire, Wes Craig (#0 & flashbacks), George Pérez | Inks: Scott Koblish | Colors: Rosemary Cheetham (#0 & flashbacks), Hi-Fi

Discover why these two heroes are stranded on our Earth – and what it means for the heroes of the DC Universe.

Collects: World’s Finest #0-5

The #0 issue (which originally came out mid-way through this story-arc) takes place two years before the events of Earth 2 #1. We’re introduced first to Helena of Earth 2. She is Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle’s daughter. She is also the Robin of this universe. We meet her on the hunt, shadowed by her mother, and afterwards we learn that Bruce is not at all happy that she went out without him.

Then we meet Superman, who is trying to train Supergirl, while mourning the death of Lois Lane. It’s a much quicker introduction than Helena’s, but it gives us pretty much everything we need to know.

The rest of this chapter tells us of how they met, and the tragedy that brought them together (though Supergirl still wishes to keep her identity a secret).

The first story-arc, then, takes place on the main DC world, is pretty good. The first chapter has a fun nod to Huntress’s past identities in the DCU (Bertinelli, the “mafia princess”, for example – above). I’d already read #1 before picking up the rest of the first issue volumes, and rather enjoyed it. The pair of heroines, who have very different approaches to their vigilantism are nevertheless fast-friends. They end up in Japan, and confront Hakkou, the irradiated man. Each issue also contains flashback sequences, which tells us of the first two years Helena and Supergirl-now-Power Girl spend in their new home. It’s a nice balance of action and a twist on a coming-of-age story (a “coming-to-terms” story, perhaps?).

There are clear connections between this series, Earth 2 and Mister Terrific – both of which, as mentioned above, were not as good as I’d hoped they would be. This series is more fun, but it also feels like it’s not quite settled, and a bit thinner than it could have been. We’re still learning about the characters, their dynamic, and so forth, so at least Levitz gives the impression of not being in as much of a rush as Robinson to establish this new team’s dynamic. It is pretty good, and I like the characters, so I have no doubt I will read some more. Given the slight shakiness, though, I’m not wholly sold on this – it does bear more examination, though, and I hope things will take off better in the second story-arc.

In terms of the artwork, I really like the style for for the ‘present’, but the flashback art seems much more inconsistent, with characters sometimes deformed or distinctly different in appearance than they should ever be (faces change shape, rather than expression, for example). There were a few emotional moments that were robbed of their punch because the artwork/pencils looked cartoony (especially the tragedy at the end of #0). Both styles feature nice, bright and sharp colours, though.

Guest Post: “On Worldbuilding” by Lenora Rose

Lenora Rose is the author of The Illusion of Steel (Eggplant). A while back, I got in touch with her and asked if she might be interested in writing a little something for the blog, and she agreed. So, in advance of my review of the novel, here is Lenora on worldbuilding…

ON WORLDBUILDING

It seems that lately, worldbuilding has been coming up on the blogs of writers more than usual; possibly this is the case, or possibly it's confirmation bias, since I’ve been trying to think how to put my own thoughts about worldbuilding into perspective.

Then Ursula Vernon posted this offering, memorably titled Worldbuilding and the Okapi’s Butt, in which she remarks:

The important thing is that the reader get a sense of vast, uncanny history and weird things happening just out of sight. You don’t want to drag the world in and put it on the dissecting table—that way lies Silmarillion-esque prologues—you just want them to catch a glimpse of it, like an okapi’s butt in the rainforest, and go “Whoa. There’s a really big animal over there, isn’t there?” while it glides away into the shadows. … And the truth, of course, is that for me (and I’d guess for many of us) there’s no okapi there at all, it’s basically a big striped butt on a stick that the writer is waving through the undergrowth. Possibly while making “Woooooooo!” noises because none of us actually know what an okapi sounds like.

And this… is true. Any speculative fiction writer, in attempting to present a fleshed out world, will probably several times need to reference something outside the actual story, some past kingdom or mythical animal, some hobby of the lower classes, some religious detail, or a line about, “That time when grandmother got into a drinking contest with a Giant Stoat…” Mostly, they sit in the corners, making the world a bit more solid.

The story where these things are lacking often feels unsatisfying, at least to me as a reader. If there’s nothing past the edges of the map in the frontispiece, if all the people come from the same racial type and same cultural background without a good reason, if the hero isn’t an orphan and yet seems to lack a family, if, to paraphrase Patricia C. Wrede, I can’t figure out who does the laundry (and yet the character’s clothes are always scrupulously clean), my chances of finishing the book decrease. It’s often essential to cultivate the sense that the world is large and has been around a while before the story starts, shifting and changing like the real world does.

But how much worldbuilding, how much extraneous detail is enough? While some people write so as to have an excuse to world-build (Tolkien being the extreme and obvious example), others write so as to get through a story they love. We’re not all up to spending 40 years inventing our worlds; even more so for those working to deadline. It can be a rewarding game, but it can also exhaust the writer.

Even inventing, and remembering, all one’s Okapi butts can be wearing. They seem small, and they’re quicker and lighter than fully writing out the details of the Okapi in the forest (often for the reader as well as the writer), but they all need to be remembered, because when the writer least expects it, one turns into a key detail in the story. Your hero is surrounded by a tribe of giant stoats, and tentatively mentions his grandmother’s name… next thing you know, the stoat nation’s drunken-fu warriors are an essential part of his plan to defeat the enemy.

My usual workaround is to write mostly in the same world. Not the same country or culture, necessarily, not even the same time period, but a consistent world. This gives me some framework to add details that flesh the world out without exhausting myself inventing every single thing from scratch every time. I know what this character’s grandparents were doing, in that country across the sea. I know what animals are in the woods, at least well enough that when some strange thing moves through the trees, even if all I add in this moment is the flash in the trees, in another story, that animal was out in plain sight, being a big part of the plot. So I can produce the whole animal on demand without needing to invent it yet again.

Sherwood Smith uses much the same technique (with some of the overall worldbuilding that doesn’t fit into the stories appearing on her web site, for those interested enough after a few books).

It has its dangers. Not least, of course, is Tolkien syndrome, where most of his stories never got finished because their creator was refining his world yet again, and rewriting all but random pages rather than sitting down to write a piece start to end. The other is the possibility of too many subplots, too many things the reader needs to know to step into a story – as has happened with some of the multi-volume epics.

So for this, too, I developed a personal workaround.

I leave lacunae on purpose.

As I’ve already mentioned in a comment on this web site, when I read Robin Hobb’s Tawny Man trilogy, it often referred back to an earlier trilogy, the Farseer books, sketching out the youthful years of the main character, Fitz. Some of those early years had direct effects on the current story, so of course, the Tawny Man trilogy is filled with references to it, enough to keep new readers in the know but not so much a reader of the first story would feel bogged down by old information.

The main thing I took away from the Tawny Man trilogy, for all I enjoyed it very well, was that I never actually wanted to read the first trilogy. This was not, as it happens, any doubt that the story itself would be well written. I have read and admired numerous other works of Ms. Hobb’s (particularly those published as Megan Lindholm). However, in this one case, the details as they shone through the second trilogy seemed stronger to me as fleshed-out backstory than they would as a story in their own right. They made the world richer, deeper, and they satisfied any craving I had to learn more.

I don’t say this choice was right for others, but it was right for me.

There are places where I have an idea what happens to the characters. In some cases, these turned into essential backstory. In some cases, they’re foreshadowed in stories that already exist. But I do not intend to write these particular stories.

I can’t say that won’t change at some point. But while there are writers of whom I wish, deeply, that they had told more stories, finished works in their lifetime rather than leaving their heir to scramble through boxes and decades of revisions – or simply leaving things unwritten forever – there are other writers where I have noticed that they’re writing every last story they can, every last side quest or passing mention in their other books. And some of them just don’t interest me. I like the implied story, the story as it is in my mind, more than anything I suspect I would read that they wrote to fill that gap.

Story is, after all, something that happens between writer and reader. Fill in all the gaps, and you leave nothing for the reader to do.

***

You can read an excerpt of The Illusion of Steel here. And here’s the synopsis:

Not even a shape-shifter can hide from her past forever…

Abandoned by her mother as a child, never knowing her father, Kanna Mendrays understands how to hide. She has used her shapeshifting ability to mask who she is, what she is, even her gender. Now that she has come to Melidan Tower to heal, she finds her defenses crumbling.

Peace is scarce here. Biadei—the friend who saved her life and brought her to the Tower—goes mad at each full moon. The aged Lord Daemon—infamous for having killed the man who abused him—seems to know too much about her. Every room of the Tower presents Kanna with a mystery when all she wants is peace.

And now she has begun to hear a voice: the spirit of Lord Daemon’s victim, whispering to her through a sword named Desecrator. When Biadei is captured by werewolves, it promises, “Give me Daemon, and I will save your friend. Give me Daemon, and you will know the truth about your family…”

Congratulations to CHRIS BECKETT, Winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award!

Yesterday I attended the Clarke Award ceremony at the Royal Society in London. The event opened with a panel discussion on science in five years (in 2,001 days… Geddit?) – I was pleased to learn that there are people currently working on World Ships. That was cool.

Anyway, the reason most of us were there was to learn who won the prize (and, ahem, the drinks afterwards…). And so, big congratulations to…

CHRIS BECKETT, for his novel DARK EDEN (Corvus)

The runners-up, all equally interesting and high-quality science-fiction novels, were…

Adrian Barnes, Nod (Bluemoose)

Nick Harkaway, Angelmaker (William Heinemann)

Peter Heller, The Dog Stars (Headline)

Ken MacLeod, Intrusion (Orbit)

Kim Stanley Robinson, 2312 (Orbit)

After the event, I had the pleasure of meeting a great number of people who I have long respected and/or only known on the other end of an email conversation or through Twitter. It was wonderful to meet so many of you and chat about all things genre and much other things besides. A great evening.

Author Wisdom: Michael Chabon

This quotation was passed on to me by Alyssa, who found it on Sarah Rees Brennan’s blog, and which originated on a New York Review of Books piece Chabon wrote on Janury 31 2013 (the piece is about Wes Anderson’s movies):

“The world is so big, so complicated, so replete with marvels and surprises that it takes years for most people to begin to notice that it is, also, irretrievably broken. We call this period of research ‘childhood.’

“There follows a program of renewed inquiry, often involuntary, into the nature and effects of mortality, entropy, heartbreak, violence, failure, cowardice, duplicity, cruelty, and grief; the researcher learns their histories, and their bitter lessons, by heart. Along the way, he or she discovers that the world has been broken for as long as anyone can remember, and struggles to reconcile this fact with the ache of cosmic nostalgia that arises, from time to time, in the researcher’s heart: an intimation of vanished glory, of lost wholeness, a memory of the world unbroken. We call the moment at which this ache first arises ‘adolescence.’ The feeling haunts people all their lives.”