Review: Ptolemy's Gate

Ptolemy's Gate, by Jonathan Stroud
9/10, a terrific conclusion to a wonderful trilogy

The counter to my argument against trilogies is that a good trilogy can pull off a more satisfying conclusion than a single novel on its own. Over three books, you have time to get to know and get invested in the characters, and if the story is told well, the payoff is that much richer for the more extended journey.

This story is told well. I could leave it at that, and in fact, I won't give too many details of the story itself, because it really is best discovered by the reader. I just want to highlight a few of the points that I liked.

Stroud's characters outshine his world-building as the jewel of this series. Nathaniel, Bartimaeus, and Kitty are the stars, but every one of the minor characters is given the same loving attention, with the result that the world feels real and complete. It's only upon reflection that you wonder about the Victorian-era feel with the modern technology, and wonder if Stroud might have done more to explain that demons took the place of technology, if that is indeed the case. But that is not really a flaw in the story so much as a texture of the world that wasn't necessary to include, only noticeable by its absence, and then only in retrospect. There is a great moment in this book when Nathanial and Bartimaeus are discussing whether one of their enemies lied to them, and Bartimaeus says, no, that's not his style. It's a great moment because the description is true to the character, and because Bartimaeus is the kind of djinn who notices and counts on these little traits of character. He understands others: people, spirits, and everyone in between. That's what makes him a survivor, despite the fact that his powers aren't quite what he would like us to believe they are.

That's also what makes him a great protagonist, because this series is really about people struggling to be different from what the world expects of them. Bartimaeus sees these qualities in the friends and enemies he has, and alone among them seems aware that there is a chance to rise above. We get a more thorough explanation of this rare insight as the story unfolds, not only in the present day, but back in ancient Egypt as well. Bartimaeus's service to Ptolemy is shown in a series of asides, the young noble contrasted with the youngsters Bartimaeus is dealing with in the modern era. What seems like a bit of interesting background becomes an essential component of the story, as Kitty and Nathaniel have to unlock Ptolemy's secret (with Bartimaeus's help, naturally) in order to defeat their enemies and, as is the case in all good books, complete their own individual journeys.

There's little I can say about this book specifically except that it works marvelously as a story, but even better as the capstone to one of the best YA series I've read. The Bartimaeus trilogy ranks up there with favorites like "The Dark Is Rising," Madeleine L'Engle's Murry family series, "A Series of Unfortunate Events," and, of course, Rowling's "Harry Potter" books. If you like YA fantasy, you have no excuse for not reading this trilogy. I am most indebted to those who pointed out this very fact to me and then bought me the trilogy to make sure it was remedied (which, coincidentally, is how I was led to read the "Harry Potter" books, too). Thanks to them--now I'm passing the recommendation on. Buy. Read.

Common Writing Mistakes

I love this post, not only for putting "loose vs. lose" at the top of the list, but also for giving me the Latin behind "i.e." (id est) and "e.g." (exempli gratia) and for the interesting bit of advice about apostrophes: "When in doubt, leave it out." I hadn't thought about it, but I do think an unnecessary apostrophe is more jarring than a missing one. If you really don't know and don't have a reference handy, I guess that's not a bad rule of thumb.

[Edit: In the great Philadelphia Will Do blog, this headline today is timely.]

Review: The Golem's Eye

The Golem's Eye, by Jonathan Stroud
8/10, a thrilling adventure but somewhat of a letdown from the first

I have a bit of a peeve against trilogies that are clearly written as trilogies; something that comes out as "book 1" before the others are even published rubs me the wrong way; it shouldn't, really, because why shouldn't an author plan out a trilogy and know there are going to be three books in advance? Well, because you should be setting out to tell a story, and the story is as long as it should be. I don't feel any annoyance at Ms. Rowling for planning a seven-book series, so why the bother about a trilogy? Maybe because they're so common. Still, the three-act structure is a common enough one, and in this case I've no objection to reading more about Bartimaeus the djinn and his master, now known as John Mandrake.

Since the first book, Mandrake has come up in the world, now apprenticed to the Information Minister and working for Internal Affairs. But there's a problem: an unknown monster has been ravaging London, and as it is a magical creature, it's Internal Affairs' problem. Mandrake is put in charge of the investigation as it is presumed to be connected with the shadowy Resistance that has been launching small raids on magicians for the past few years, which he is already in charge of investigating. And because he needs magical help of the first order, and some snappy comebacks, he summons again the djinn Bartimaeus.

Bartimaeus, having thought that the end of their association at the conclusion of the previous adventure was permanent, is none too pleased, but a judicious threat from Mandrake convinces him to cooperate this time. And so our heroes are off again on another adventure through a curiously time-frozen London, where computers are occasionally mentioned, but the flow of news and information is as sluggish as it was in colonial times.

The problem in this book is that Mandrake has grown up, now a lad of fourteen, and has spent two years under the inflexible tutelage of Ms. Whitwell, who we remember from being in charge of torturing prisoners in book one. He is eager for power, and from his master is learning all sorts of things, not just about powerful magic, but about undermining your enemies and currying political favor; about treating commoners and spirits with the same contempt; about putting yourself and your ambitions first. As a consequence, Mandrake is considerably less likable in this book than he was in the first. Bartimaeus has, of course, contempt for all humans, but even he channels the reader's thoughts in his disappointment that Mandrake has grown up to be a typical magician.

Into the vacuum of sympathetic characters jumps Kitty Jones, a briefly appearing figure from book one, here fully realized as one of the leaders of the Resistance. Her story illuminates the plight of the commoners and the attitude of most of them: they toil for the magicians, but they don't mind, because the magicians protect them from the evil foreigners and thus deserve everything they get. (One sees here, and in the third book, definite echoes of modern political issues.) Kitty herself is a scrappy, loyal fighter, who doesn't accept that magicians deserve all they get. Like John Mandrake, she falls in with a crowd of people who value her abilities and want to help her; like him, she is nobler than the people who surround her; unlike him, she has the strength to carve out her own path.

In fact, the trio of main characters are skilfully drawn with some wonderful parallels. Bartimaeus is literally a slave; Mandrake is just as much a slave to the society he has joined, as is Kitty a slave to the magicians. Through Kitty's rebellion against magicians, and eventually her companions, we gain a little bit of hope that Mandrake may exhibit similar strength of character. Alas, there is not much of that in this book, which appears to serve primarily to set up the third.

Don't get me wrong: this book has all the charm, wit, and action of the first, in addition to which the class strife between the magicians and commoners is well explored and well drawn. I tore through this one as quickly as I did the first book. The problem is that there's too much time spent introducing Kitty, and that, this being the second act of a planned trilogy, the development of the main character must take a downward turn before (one hopes) the final revelation and redemption. Kitty makes for a fascinating character, but she doesn't have the interesting flaws of Nathaniel/John, nor the sarcastic flair of Bartimaeus, and watching John Mandrake's descent into cold, calculating efficiency at the expense of human relationships is, well, just a bit depressing. The characters come together briefly at the end, but the overarching feeling from this book is one of intense loneliness on the part of all three.

Despite the problems, I recommend this book heartily, as a fun adventure on its own, and for the societal issues, but mostly because you have to get through this one to read the third one, and I'm hoping that Mandrake's character arc will finish up in the third.

Happy Endings, and a New Tool

No, not me, though I feel like a tool for leaving my notebook on a southbound CalTrain Friday night. Happily, I got a call Monday morning from CalTrain's Lost and Found telling me that the notebook had been turned in. The cash was missing, of course, but all the credit cards were there (useless now I've canceled them and ordered new ones) as well as my new driver's license (yes!) and, of course, all my precious scribblings (whew). So all's well that ends well, I guess, even if there were a few tense moments when the clerk at the Lost and Found at the San Jose station looked at me with puzzlement and said, "Did they call you?" I thought, wouldn't that be perfect, to get me to drive all the way down to the station only to have the Lost and Found have lost my notebook again. But no, it turned out it was in a locked cabinet somewhere, and she found it and handed it over to me. And because the station is right next to the Poor House Bistro, I treated myself to a Cajun lunch (half a baked ham po'boy and a cup of gumbo) in semi-celebration. After all, if I were writing this as a story, that's how I'd end it: with a lesson learned (symbolized by the cash lost) and a delicious Cajun meal.

So, the tool. I've been thinking for a couple years that it'd be nice to have all my references for a world together in one document without it being a huge Word doc I'd have to scroll through to find anything. Enter WikidPad, which is exactly what it sounds like: a Wiki for your local machine. It's exactly what I needed for my novel. I can have listings of the cities on the planet, the people in the story, even the outlines of what happens in each part. All of them have their own page and are interlinked and indexed for easy access. It's easy to edit, easy to cut and paste into, and the only real problem with it is that it's so easy to use that you could happily spend hours just building out all the details of your world and never manage to write the actual story.

There are a number of local Wiki tools for Windows or Mac. This is the one I heard of first. I've installed and used it and it works great. If you search Google for "local wiki" and either "Windows" or "OSX," you'll find many alternatives, I'm sure.

Oh, and lastly, I promise, pictures of the book signing are up on my Flickr account. Enjoy!

Your Writing Notebook

You know how sometimes some little thing happens to you that prevents a larger accident? Like, "wow, good thing I forgot my jacket or I never would've run back into the house and noticed we'd left it unlocked!" or "if I hadn't missed the turnoff for 101 and decided to take 280, I would've been caught in that traffic jam for hours" or "man, if Jennifer hadn't dumped me, I'd never have hooked up with Angie"?

I am a big advocate of the little Moleskine notebook. I carry mine around everywhere and I even use its pocket to carry my driver's license, cash, credit cards, so I'm sure I have it wherever I go.

One thing I might reconsider in the future is slipping my commuter train ticket inside it. Yesterday I'd sat down and took the notebook out of my jeans so I wouldn't have to dig for it when the conductor came around to check tickets. I like to be prepared, see. Well, I got involved in doing some writing--you can see where this is going--and they never did come around to check tickets. My stop came up just as I was shutting down the machine, so I jammed it into the computer bag, backed out of the seat (that's the part that gets me--I must have been looking down at it and didn't notice it at all), and hopped off the train, happily leaving my poor writing notebook (and cash, and driver's license, and credit cards) sitting on the train seat. And I didn't glance back at the seat to see if anything was missing. I didn't brush my pocket on the way down the stairs and realize that the notebook was missing. I didn't get asked for my ticket on the way out of the train (as I had that morning), forcing me to go find it. That little thing...never happened.

I realized before the train had reached its destination that my notebook (and cash, and driver's license, and credit cards) was missing. Called CalTrain and they said they would call the conductor on the train to see if he could find it, and if he did, or if someone turned it in, it'll be at the Lost and Found in San Jose on Monday. Cancelled all my cards, and it wasn't much cash, so really I'm just annoyed at myself for being scatterbrained, and at losing the writing I'd done in the notebook. And the new driver's license which I JUST got this week.

On the plus side, it doesn't LOOK like a wallet, and whoever finds it can have the cash as a stupid tax if they want. I'm more worried about the little things tucked into the pocket. My name and address and either e-mail or phone are in the book, so hopefully it'll turn up. But there's a lesson for you. Be careful with your ideas and don't lose them.

(Honestly, I'm not sure there's anything irreplaceable in the book. The thing about writing down ideas is it seems to fix them in my mind anyway. But it's annoying. Plus I don't want someone else out there to steal my crappy thoughts.)

Old Favorite in New Edition

The first book I clearly remember reading was Madeleine L'Engle's "A Wrinkle In Time." I was staying with a cousin in Washington, D.C., on my own, which was pretty cool as I was only about six at the time, I think. I slid between a chair and coffee table and she said, "I bet you could slip through a wrinkle in time." Puzzled, I asked what that meant. She got the book down and showed me, and I was enthralled. I remember that she'd written notes in the margins, obviously having studied it for a class at some point, and that some phrases were underlined (Mrs. Who's pithy quote, "May the right prevail" being the only one I remember).

I loved "A Wrinkle In Time," was delighted at "A Wind In The Door," but "A Swiftly Tilting Planet" remains my favorite of the series. I may have read "Many Waters," but I don't recall it, and "An Acceptable Time" is a new one to me. All five of them are stories of the Murry family: Meg, Charles Wallace, their friend Calvin O'Keefe, Meg's mother and father, the twins Sandy and Dennys. And the ones I've read are all wonderful.

Square Fish is reissuing the books in lovely new editions. If you are strangers to these books, please do yourself a favor and pick them up. For Mrs. Who, Mrs. Whatsit, and Mrs. Which; for Proginoskes and Mr. Jenkins; for Gaudior and Zilla; for Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin.

Review: The Amulet of Samarkand

The Amulet of Samarkand, by Jonathan Stroud
9/10, terrific contemporary magical fantasy adventure with great narrative voice

Imagine J.K. Rowling and Susanna Clarke ("Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell") collaborating on a fantasy, and you might come up with Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus trilogy. As rich and politically savvy as Clarke's epic novel, with a healthy dose of Rowling's whimsy (mostly provided by the voice of Bartimaeus the djinn), "The Amulet of Samarkand" sucks you in from page one and doesn't let go.

Imagine you are a djinn, a powerful magical creature who lives in a mostly formless state in the Other Realm. It's not a bad existence, except for those dang human magicians, who have figured out a way to yank you from your home into their realm and not only force you into a corporal form (though some, like Bartimaeus, can change their form), but also force you to do stuff for them. This could be stuff as simple as "spy on that guy" or as complicated as, say, "steal this powerful magical talisman from one of the most powerful and ambitious magicians in the realm." Which is a particularly humiliating task when assigned by a twelve-year-old magician's apprentice, with no small dose of ambition himself.

Bartimaeus has been around for a while, and his sarcasm and cynicism are among the primary joys of this book. He explains the magical world in often-hilarious footnotes as he goes along through his adventures (at one point, he describes a building as a "typical Victorian mansion, you know the type" with a footnote in which is contained the more verbose description with the disclaimer, "I was just trying to move the story along."). The other magical creatures he meets in his travels are sometimes known to him, sometimes not, and if they are, chances are he's done something in the past to irritate them, either in ancient Egypt or during the Crusades or in Prague, whose city walls he helped build.

We get hints of a larger political scene here--a previous war with the Czechs, a current war with Italy, and a Resistance that is fighting against the government of the magicians at home in Britain. But the bulk of this story concerns the twelve-year-old Nathaniel coming of age, and his servant (for the time being) Bartimaeus's struggle to complete his tasks and win his freedom, annoying his master as much as possible in the interim. Their interplay is terrific, a more articulate Ushio and Tora, and the magical world is painted with lovely, authentic touches. Even though the story is set in the same pseudo-modern era as J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books (approximately early 80's: cars, TV, but no cell phones or internet), the government of the magicians has a peculiarly Renaissance-fantasy feel that really appeals. Nonetheless, there is a sense of real danger, and people (and spirits) die along the way.

I've already started the second book. If you like magical fantasy, you should already be ordering the first.

Writing Dialogue

I'm sure I've posted on this subject before (Technorati disagrees), but as I've just finished a dialogue class, it's not a bad time to revisit it. Plus, Lance Mannion has a gem of a post today that includes the following:

And this is what separates most of us from great journalists and other real writers---having a trained ear that hears what is really being said instead of what you expect people to say or remember what other people have said in similar situations, having a trained eye that sees everything and not what memory and expectation tell it it should be seeing, and then having the kind of trained memory that remembers and retains what the ear heard and the eye saw and does not overlay these fresh memories with old ones and with old prejudices and with wishful fantasies and opinions about what should have been said and what should have been seen and what should have happened.

And having a notebook handy.

This, or a similar phenomenon, is why I learned to read something twice if I wanted to read it critically; why you should see a movie twice if you want to talk about it structurally; why, as Lance says, you have to train yourself to listen to the words being said, and not what your brain translated them into in order to help you understand them. Memory is tricky, even if you're not Leonard, which is why you and your SO can remember saying completely different things in the same conversation.

One of the exercises we did for our dialogue class was to eavesdrop on people and listen to how they talk. This is a great way to hear exactly what's being said rather than what your brain turns it into, because you're removing the context from their words, so your brain has no expectations to work with. I did find that it's much harder to eavesdrop on people than I would have thought--easier while walking around a busy street on a weekend night than in a restaurant or cafe, if you want a tip. I got some great lines, though the idea is not to use those lines specifically, but to get a feel for how people who aren't you put their sentences together.

Right now, we mostly get that feel from movies and TV, more so (I think) than from our co-workers and friends, unless they're really unusual. Movies and TV represent an idealized form of dialogue, the way we wish we could talk, so that's what we tend to emulate more. Lance goes on about this at some length, and the power of the writer to shape those words and thus the way people think. How many people do you think Tarantino or Kevin Smith have influenced with their snappy dialogue? Or, say, Tolkien (via Peter Jackson)?

The more you sound the way people want to sound, the more they will gravitate to your writing. So always keep your notebook handy, and when people are talking, listen.

Review: City of Bones

City of Bones, by Cassandra Clare
7.5/10, a rockin' YA urban fantasy adventure with sparkling characters

"The Very Secret Diary of Aragorn, son of Arathorn.
Day One:
Ringwraiths killed: 4. V. good.
Met up with Hobbits. Walked forty miles. Skinned a squirrel and ate it.
Still not King."

Those were the first words I read by Cassandra Clare, part of the Very Secret Diaries of the Lord of the Rings characters that launched her into internet legend. She was in the process of writing an extensive Harry Potter fanfic, but took a break to poke fun at Tolkien's cast. If the VSDs exposed the Internet to her sharp wit, the Draco trilogy showed her keen grasp of characters and story. Finally, she put those skills to use in her own story and her own world, and the result is the fun, thrilling "City of Bones."

The book starts with Clary Fray and her friend Simon at a club, where Clary witnesses what she thinks is a murder. The problem is, the body disappears as soon as it's killed, and Simon can't see any of the perpetrators, who disappear with smirking arrogance. Of course, things get rapidly more exciting and more complicated: the "murdered" boy was actually a demon, his killers demon-slayers. Their world collides more violently with Clary's, in an adventure that gets progressively more complicated and layered as it goes along, accumulating glamorous warlocks, sultry vampires, and fierce werewolves, not to mention the demon-slayers themselves, called Shadowhunters.

Clare's prose is fun to read, never stalling or slowing. She has a nice touch with description and imagery, but her real strength is in her characters. Clary, Simon, and the Shadowhunters Jace, Alec, and Isabelle are fully realized, vibrant characters who engage you from the first time they appear. Clary's mother, her friend Luke, the Shadowhunters' teacher Hodge, the warlock Magnus Bane, all spring off the page in supporting roles, and it is the characters that make this story really special.

The only real quibble I have with the book is that the prose is sometimes a little too hip. The characters occasionally sacrifice realism for the bon mot, their wit all as sharp as their blades and drawn more often. However, given that I never watched "Buffy," the closest thing to a touchstone for this genre, that's probably all in keeping with the standards. Also, I am (conservatively) twenty years older than the target audience. Perhaps twenty-five.

That said, though, the slightly forced hipness doesn't detract from the realism of the characters. They are teenagers, saying stupid things sometimes and uncannily wise things at other times. The dynamic between Clary, Simon, and Jace is extremely well played. And the story itself is quite engaging, with strong echoes of Harry Potter (the main villain is presumed to have been dead for some fifteen years, was at school with many of the people Clary meets, and you can feel the shadow of Hogwarts looming over Clare's vague descriptions of the early school). This isn't to say that the world or story feel derivative; I suspect it's more an artifact of my knowing Clare's appreciation of the Harry Potter series and being more apt to notice similarities. The trappings of her world are nicely detailed (the vampire hotel, the werewolf packs, the warlock's party) and make for fun reading.

Overall, I had a great time reading this book. I have no qualms recommending it to anyone who enjoys "Buffy," Harry Potter, or Holly Black, Clare's friend and fellow author.

How It Feels

It occurs to me that in the slightly giddy but overall fairly dry recap of the signing, I didn't really capture how enormously weird it was to be standing in a real bookstore in front of a bunch of people reading lines I'd written. Yes, of course I've had dreams like that, only usually I'm better dressed, the audience is bigger, and the lines are better. Also I can consistently pronounce "either." But based on my reactions last night, I think that my dreams should start smaller. Even this modest audience of twenty people--most of whom knew me--was slightly intimidating. Sitting there, taking me seriously... interested in my book. (And the people, once again, were great.) I thought I'd be prepared for this, since I'd done a preview reading from the text at a convention last fall, but I was nervous, didn't set up the chapter as well as I could've, and tried, in some misguided Iron Man way, to make it all the way through without taking a single drink of water (I failed--my voice literally gave out--but I did get to the last page before I had to grope back behind me for the water bottle).

The side effect this has is one of swinging the pendulum back to me believing in the book. While I was reading, I was wincing inwardly and thinking I should've taken another six months to tighten up the prose, improve the descriptions, rehash the dialogue (at one point I did redact the prose on the fly, taking out one word so it wouldn't sound repetitive). But seeing so many people interested in it, and talking to a few who'd read and enjoyed it, make me see the positive qualities of the book again, and remember one of my core tenets, which is that people won't remember that ugly sentence on page 24. They will remember the message of the book if it's effectively conveyed, and I think that I did that.

That doesn't change the acute awareness of all the minor glitches in the prose that stand out in sharp relief during a reading. All that does is cement my resolve to edit more firmly this next manuscript, so that next time I stand up to read, I can focus on remembering to say either "ay-ther" or "ee-ther" throughout.

Book signing!

...is over! It was last night at Books Inc. in Mountain View, and it was (by their standards) a smashing success. The organizer told me that local authors (read: unknowns) often get little or no turnout, but we filled fifteen seats and had people standing behind them. The bookstore sold out of the 15 books we gave them a month ago and sold nine more of the box we'd brought (they kept a few to stock, so you can still get the book there if you missed the signing). I read a chapter from "Common and Precious" (chapter 5, if you own the book, In Which Meli Meets The Kidnappers And Is Brought To A Filthy Hospital) and answered questions for about fifteen minutes, then signed for half an hour and spent another fifteen minutes talking to a journalism student (friend of a friend) who had read and enjoyed the book. So all in all, it was a great success, thanks mostly to Mark, who did a great job getting the word out to all of our assorted friends. He took pictures too (forthcoming) and helped chat people up during the event.

If you showed up, many thanks! It really means a lot to me to have people take time out of their evening and spend their hard-earned money. I gotta say, it was a lot of fun. Books Inc. had a great setup, a little podium in back and chairs for the audience, and Nadine, the organizer, was very helpful and kept things running smoothly. Mostly it was great chatting with people and being asked serious questions about my book. Yow. I need to get to do another one of those sometime soon.

New story for sale!

I have a new story up on Amazon Shorts, a near-future tale that is sort of about body modification and sort of about fame and a bit about L.A. It's called "Chasing the Spotlight" and I encourage you to go check it out and let me know what you think!

Links will be put up on the sidebar momentarily.

Women in Historical Fiction

Lance Mannion, to whom I've referred before, has been pretty vocal lately on the topic of feminism. With the release of Pirates of the Caribbean 3, he thinks it's a shame that Keira Knightley has, for all intents and purposes, been turned into a boy. His point, shorter: in an attempt to prove that women are the equals of men, writers are losing sight of the feminine aspects of their characters.

This is something that's bothered me about a lot of period pieces lately. It seems necessary to show that women in the olden days were Just As Tough as men, even though in those actual times, they were discouraged from showing it. Lance's point, an excellent one, is that women can be men's equals--and have been, throughout history--without being equal at physical skills (specifically, fighting).

From a writer's standpoint, I think these are important things to remember. In your novel, especially if it's historical/high fantasy, feminine characters (in general) survive by their wits; masculine characters survive by their muscles. Note that feminine characters are not always women; masculine characters are not always men. However, the exceptions should be notable. And you should have some balance.

In Common and Precious, there is a definite (and intentional) contrast between the two main characters, the one masculine, the one feminine (and they happen to be a man and woman, respectively, or at least a male and female tiger). Thinking back on it, I don't think it ever even occurred to Melinda (more appropriately, to me writing her) to fight her way out of her predicament. It just wouldn't be in her character. Does that make her any less strong or powerful? Well, I hope not.

Any other good examples of strong female characters who aren't just "boys with breasts" (Lance's words)?

Blogging about writing

And now, writing (in a blog) about blogging about writing. Lance Mannion, whose blog a friend turned me on to, is quite entertaining. Today he takes issue with a novelist (Richard Ford) who says that "a literary blogger is just "some guy sitting in his basement in Terre Haute."" (forgive the double quotation). Mannion's reply, in part (the whole is very long, but worth it):

...what does Ford think that guy is doing in his basement in Terre Haute?

My guess is he's writing a novel.

And this is something Ford's got to know. Most great novelists started out as some guy or gal sitting in a basement, or an attic or a cheap rented room, in some place as obscure and far away from literary glamor and greatness as Terre Haute---some of those obscure and far away places were in Paris and New York, the distance and obscurity is spiritual and metaphorical but very real to that guy or gal.

A few years from now Richard Ford will be blurbing that guy from Terre Haute's new novel.

There is a growing reaction from many sides of the mainstream media toward these darn bloggers, with the freedom to say what they want without having to have, y'know, earned the right to speak in public. I'm seeing it from the political reporting side particularly, but also here and in a few other places (like the SFWA's recent dustup about authors who post their work online, which spawned a whole movement in backlash). What Ford is saying, essentially, is, "I don't want my work reviewed and dissected by some schmoe."

There are plenty of smart people out there who for one reason or another haven't succeeded at making a vocation out of their avocation, but remain passionate about it nonetheless. In the sports world, Henry Abbott was recently hired to blog professionally by ESPN. Has his content changed now that he's "certified"? Glenn Greenwald blogs for Salon, professionally, and he's one of the smartest political reporters I've ever read. All Ford has done in making this remark is underscore that credentials are not a predictor of being in touch with people, or even of doing a good job.

Review: Harry Potter

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Secret Prisoner's Goblet of Phoenix Half-Blood, by J.K. Rowling
**/10, a fabulous adventure of a boy who discovers not only that he's a wizard, but a famous one with an equally famous nemesis

I finished listening to "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" two days ago and am ready for book seven. So where is it? Oh, right. I'm two months early. Anyway, I thought I would scribble down some thoughts on the Story So Far, as it were.

Overall, Rowling's series stands up well to a fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh reading. The characters remain as distinct and likable (or not) as ever, and Jim Dale's voice only accentuates that (when listening in sequence, one thing you notice is that Madame Hooch, for instance, has a different voice in book one than when she reappears in book three, but these are minor quibbles with Dale's outstanding work). One of the things Rowling does as well as anyone in the YA fantasy genre is build a world as whimsical as it is believable, where spells like the Bat-Bogie Hex exist alongside the sinister ultimate curse, the Avada Kedavra (the resemblance of the last word to 'cadaver' is surely intentional). Even the plots hold up, because Rowling is a master at foreshadowing, and, even better, she gets better as the series goes on, planting misleading foreshadowing and building on expectations set in previous books so that she always stays one step ahead of most readers. The biggest gripe I can muster against the books is to echo a comment Stephen King made about them being slightly overwritten, with an excess of adverbs and explanations for feelings (and an overuse of the 'toadlike' comparisons for Dolores Umbridge in book five). However, as a friend of mine pointed out, the book is aimed at young adults, and so this is not only forgivable, but necessary.

I resisted picking up the books at first, reluctant to join in on what was becoming a national phenomenon, until a friend of mine sent me the first three volumes. Well, I've never been one to turn down free books. I read them and instantly became a convert. If you are one of the people who has been resisting Harry Potter because he is so popular, please stop doing yourself this disservice. Buy them in secret, don't admit to reading them, but do read them. They are not the best books of our times, but they are immensely enjoyable. Each book has its pluses and minuses; some are outstanding while others are merely enjoyable, but the series as a whole offers a rare chance to follow characters through a long, coherent story at a formative time in their lives--compare the wide-eyed eleven-year-old Harry with the determined sixteen-year-old, and you will understand what I mean because you will have grown with him, experiencing what he did and feeling his wonder, frustration, and hope every step of the way.

Also, you should stop reading now, because I'm going to start talking about the plots.

SPOILERS below.

The arc of how Harry learns more and more about his past and his future destiny is really one of the best things about this series. It's the central mystery that keeps us engaged, even through all the other lovely little plots Rowling creates to keep us entertained. I'm sure it's not over yet, that there is still more to be discovered, and that's why I can't wait for book seven.

I'm so glad that book six was as enjoyable as it was. Of all the books, I think "Chamber of Secrets" is the weakest, but "Order of the Phoenix" is the hardest to re-read. It's just so frustrating to feel Harry's over-reactions to everything, to beg him silently to control his temper and watch as Hogwarts goes from a place of delightful magical discovery to a place almost without joy. Only the last third is fun, as Harry becomes distracted with the mystery of the Department of Mysteries and Voldemort's target therein and the book becomes more of an adventure.

"Half-Blood Prince," by contrast, is a great read from cover to cover. We get caught up in adventure almost immediately, there is an appropriately awkward romantic subplot, and it ends by unraveling the mystery it began and setting us up for a climactic adventure in book seven.

There is plenty to discuss about the books, but too much to fit in a single blog entry. I could create an entire blog about it (and people have), but I'd rather just encourage my friends to read it (most of them have, at this point), and wait impatiently for July 21st.

** It is pointless to assign a rating here, I think. If pressed, I would give the series overall a 9/10, but that's unlikely to sway anyone who hasn't yet read the books into reading them.

Review: Tithe

Tithe, by Holly Black
7.5/10, a beautiful and dark story of a girl discovering her identity in the faerie world

I used to be quite devoted to the world of Young Adult fantasy, back when I was a Young Adult--Madeleine L'Engle and Susan Cooper remain favorites--but since I picked them up, the landscape has changed. Faeries, vampires, and werewolves are the big things, driven in part, I'm sure, by the success of "Buffy" and related shows. Holly Black is one of the names I've become aware of very recently in this newly vibrant field, and "Tithe" is the first volume in her YA series.

Sixteen-year-old Kaye travels with her rock-star-wannabe mother up and down the East Coast, landing most recently in her grandmother's house in the Philadelphia area. She's been familiar with faeries from an early age, small companions with cute names like Spike, Lutie-loo and the Thistlewitch, but she hasn't seen them in quite a while. They reappear in her new home with some startling news: one of their number has been killed--by a mysterious knight whose life Kaye has just saved.

This conflict is not as simple as it first seems, and Kaye's role in it only grows more involved as she finds out more about the faerie world. The Unseelie Court, from whence comes the mysterious knight, is an ethereal, sinister place, with horrors and unearthly beauties aglow from Black's lovely descriptions. Faeries, you see, can be as dark as they are beautiful, and the darker ones gather in the Unseelie Court to torment other unfortunate faeries (though it must be said that the denizens of the Seelie Court do not seem as much gentler as simply more adept at concealing their dark side).

Kaye stumbles through this new world very believably, with all the charm and wonder of any of my favorite YA heroes or heroines. Black's characters are vivid and enjoyable, especially the faerie, and some of the encounters between Kaye and her mysterious knight are truly a delight to read. The world of faerie, too, is wonderfully imagined, with many nods to all of the discourse of that world: faeries are famously bound by spoken promises, ancient rules, and customs, and Black makes sure that Kaye snags herself more than once on the jagged edges of that rough world.

The story itself seems slightly rough in parts, specifically the pacing. Events come to climax too quickly, or arise before the reader has a chance to process what was happening. There are almost two books here: one that happens before Kaye discovers the Unseelie Court, and one after. Following the story is not a problem, but I didn't feel as much tension as I thought it deserved, because it kept getting sidetracked. Nonetheless, this is a world I would be happy to revisit, and fortunately, Black has written two more books: "Valiant," and the recently-released "Ironside," which continues Kaye's story.

I had the good pleasure of attending a book signing in which Holly Black and her friend and fellow author Cassandra Clare signed books and gave a very enjoyable presentation. Black's dissection of urban fantasy and the relationship back to old fairy tales was particularly interesting. Clearly, she not only knows what she's doing, but she has a sense of history and literature. She also signs with a great quotation, which I have yet to figure out how to do consistently. Even if you can't get it signed, I still recommend picking up her book. It's a fun, quick read, and if you haven't read YA fantasy since "A Swiftly Tilting Planet," it's unlike anything you've read before.

Elation and Frustration

I just finished "Tithe" by Holly Black (review forthcoming) and was struck by a linking theme between that and the Harry Potter books, which I'm listening to on audio (just started book 6, so I'm ahead of schedule). Both of them deal with magical worlds that exist side by side with our own, below the surface, as it were. Now, I have no desire to write a story about a wizarding world (Rowling pretty much owns that space), nor about faerie (not without becoming a lot more conversant in the extensive discourse going on with those worlds--I am familiar with some of it, like Greg Bear's excellent "Songs of Earth and Power," but I never read, for instance, any of the <color> Fairy books, and I am largely unaware of the current flood of YA urban fantasy out there, though taking steps to remedy that). However, that line of thought did give me an idea, which turned into a story, and in the space of a day, I have another idea for a book to write.

This is cool. This is spectacularly fun. Unfortunately, it doesn't get any of the current projects I'm working on finished any faster, nor does it give me any more time in the day to take care of this idea. The good news is that this story is probably a shorter novel than I'm accustomed to writing, and the idea is one of those burning ones (in Greg Bear's parlance, a vibrant new world) that supplies a lot of its own energy.

Now I just need a month off to write it. So what do you do when you get an idea like that? Put it on the shelf and finish your current projects, or dive right into it and figure the others will take care of themselves eventually?

Book Signing!

It's not much of a book tour--under a mile from my house--but it's my first non-convention book signing! On June 5th, at 7:30, I'll be signing "Common and Precious" at Books Inc. in Mountain View. I'm pretty excited about it! In the meantime, if you don't want to wait for the signing to read the book, Books Inc. is stocking them. I dropped some off yesterday, so they should have them in stock pretty soon.
This is exciting! My book in a real bookstore. If you can make it to Mountain View on Tuesday night, June 5th, I'd love to see you there!

Now, if only someone could do one for "principle"...

I love this.

Worldbuilding revisited

This post on worldbuilding by M. John Harrison begins with a very quotable line: "Every moment of a science fiction story must represent the triumph of writing over worldbuilding." I've written on this topic before and drawn a similar conclusion, but I think that especially in the field of science fiction, there is some leeway to be found. There is definitely a segment of readers who want to read detailed descriptions of a world. Often these readers are the kind of people who like to imagine their own stories within someone else's world and want as much detail as possible. At an extreme example, look at Tolkien's "Silmarillion," which is little more than a worldbuilding exercise, or any of the subsequent books which do not so much tell further stories of Middle Earth as flesh out the background and texture of it. Even in the "Lord of the Rings" series, huge passages are devoted to loving descriptions of the world and its history. Stephen Donaldson's "Chronicles of Thomas Covenant," similarly, break to give the reader lengthy passages of description and, on occasion, history.

If you limit the writing you do about your world to the immediate world your characters are experiencing, you will end up with a well-textured background to a good, snappy story. But people love unfinished business and possibilities, and a few extra paragraphs about history, a description of something not entirely relevant, a strange custom or behavior can all spark in the reader a curiosity that lingers after the story is over, that draws them back to your world wanting more of the tantalizing details you've dangled in front of them. Moreover, it can do the same for you, as you sit thinking, "okay...how DID the elves/aliens/Sharath tribe get there in the first place, and why do they venerate that artifact?" A whole other novel can come out of that. And yes, that worldbuilding doesn't have to go into your story, but if it did, then you have a built-in hook to that second story for your readers, who may have been wondering the same thing.