Zardo - Photographer and Artist

For those of you who like fantasy art, here's a photographer who makes his work look more like goth paintings. Check him out: http://zardo.deviantart.com/

Previously Posted Author Interviews

As promised, here's a list of all the interviews I've posted since I began in December of 2007. They're in order, first to latest. In brackets is either their first book or their most recent.

Joshua Palmatier (Skewed Throne)
Joel Shepherd (Crossover)
Carol Berg (Transformation)
Paul Chafe (Genesis)
Gail Martin (Summoner)
Edward Willett (Terra Insegura)
Jim Hines (Goblin Quest)
John Varley (Rolling Thunder)
Maria Snyder (Poison Study)
Rob Thurman (Nightlife)
R. Scott Bakker (The Darkness That Comes Before)
Kevin J. Anderson (The Edge of the World)
Chris Evans (A Darkness Forged In Fire)
Mark L. Van Name (One Jump Ahead)
Violette Malan (Mirror Prince)
C. L. Wilson (Lord of the Fading Lands)
Lynda Williams (Courtesan Prince)
Chad Corrie (Seer's Quest)
Brent Weeks (Way of Shadows)
Bernardine Evaristo (Blonde Roots)
Peter Brett (Warded Man/Painted Man)
Matthew Sturges (Midwinter)
Robert J. Sawyer (WWW:Wake)
A. J. Hartley (Act of Will)
Brandon Sanderson (Elantris)
Faith Hunter (Bloodring)
Tony Ballantyne (Recursion)
Joe Abercrombie (The Blade Itself)
Freda Warrington (Elfland)
John Ringo (Eye of the Storm)
Gail Carriger (Soulless)

In the works are interviews with Mark Teppo (Lightbreaker), Jeff Carlson (Plague Year) and Kelly Gay (The Better Part of Darkness).

Previously Posted Reading Lists

Given that I've got a lot more readers than I used to and knowing how rarely people read older posts, I'm listing the reading lists I posted in the past. I'm not adding the links (too time consuming) but you can use the blog search box to find the posts.

These are listed from oldest to newest. The older the list the older the books on them, but knowing what authors are writing what genres can help you find something new to read.

Time Travel
Vampires
Space Opera (not my best list, I'll admit)
Arthurian
Alternate History
Urban Fantasy P.I.'s
Not Quite Human (ie, cyborgs, etc.)
It All Started On A Farm (SFF novels that start on a farm)
Writer's Resources (books on the writing craft)
Pulp SF and Fantasy
Superheroes
Christmas SF & F
Not Your Children's Fairy Tales
Epic Fantasy to Watch Out For
Literary Vampire novels
Fantasy On the High Seas
Steampunk

Tomorrow I'll list all the author's I've interviewed.

Carrie - Stephen King

R. A. Salvatore mentioned something during his talk at the World's Biggest Bookstore that Guy Gavriel Kay said to him. Mr. Kay, in discussing the Lord of the Rings movies said something along the lines of, "Do you realize that no one from now on will approach the Lord of the Rings the way we did, by reading the book?"

At the time I thought that was improbable. Tolkien's books are classics, and while the movies were good, there's something to be said about reading the books. But that doesn't necessarily mean the books will be read first. Which would be a shame.

Take Carrie, by Stephen King. The book came out in 1974, several years before I was born. It's considered a classic of horror. And yet, I saw the movie long before reading the book (which I finally did this week). I imagine most people know the story. Or think they do.

Carrie is about a 16 year old girl who is brought up by a fundamentally religious woman, and whose unfortunately public onset of puberty set forth a chain of events that resulted in death and destruction. It's the kind of story where you imagine the suspense is in the ending, and is therefore ruined by knowing what's coming.

But it's not. The novel itself is told from many viewpoints and many time points. You get third person narrative following the various characters as the events slowly unfold interspersed with sections by future scholars analyzing the events, as well as memoirs and testimonies by survivors at the White Commission, designed to discover if such a disaster could reoccur. In other words, from early on in the novel you've got a pretty good idea of what's going to happen. You may not know all the details, but you already know telekinesis is involved and that... Well, I don't want to spoil the book for those who haven't read it. Suffice it to say, the suspense doesn't come so much from the ending as it does from two other things:

1) The explanation of how events proceed to bring such a conclusion, and
2) The personal motivations of the characters for their actions, all of which combine to form the final conclusion.

In other words, it's the journey not the destination that makes reading so much fun. And most of the interesting nuances from the book are necessarily lost when making a film. You can see some motivations but not all. It's one of those instances where telling actually works better than showing (something that's hard to do with movies).

Carrie White herself is an intriguing character. It would be easy to hate her, especially given her description at the start of the novel. And yet, as the book progresses you sympathize with her more and more, wanting things to go well for her. You honestly want the prom to be a chance for her to start anew, even while you know (because King tells you) that that's not going to happen.

Carrie's a great book. And there's more to it than the movie would have you believe.

I'm left wondering however, how the book would have affected me if I hadn't known the ending in advance. I found myself constantly trying to fit what was happening into my fuzzy recollections of what I remembered about the film. So maybe it is true that future generations will be less likely to read the book if a movie's out based on it.

Abandoned Books - Dracula: The Un-dead by Dacre Stoker & Ian Holt

I've never considered doing a review of a book I decided not to finish but then I saw this post by Andrew Wheeler and realized it can work.

One of my co-workers who's read a lot of vampire books read Dracula: The Un-dead and recommended it to me with the proviso that the ending was a little weak but the book itself was interesting. So I started it.

I loved the first quarter of the novel. The book takes place 25 years after the events of Dracula, and a new enemy vampire, Countess Bathory. The first section focuses on two characters, Dr. Jack Seward who still hunts vampires though that has cost him his family, his money and his practice and Quincey Harker, son of Jonathan and Mina, who wants to be an actor against his father's wishes. The book mixes these new storylines with flashbacks to the Dracula hunt and how the heroes met (which isn't in the original and so rather intriguing).

So far, so good. There's even an inspector who thinks current happenings will lead him to Jack the Ripper so his failed career can be saved. But all those great things seem to fall apart for me around the halfway mark.

From here on there be spoilers, so if you'll be avoiding the rest of this post I will say one last thing. If you want to read the book, and enjoy it, I suggest NOT reading Dracula first. Around the halfway mark the book starts drawing more heavily on Dracula, and the inconsistencies here were what have prevented me from reading on.

*** Spoiler Alert ***

I haven't seen Francis Ford Coppola's movie adaptation of Dracula since university, but I strongly suspect the authors pulled more from that then they did the original novel. In Dracula the Un-dead Mina calls Dracula her 'dark prince' and purportedly still loves him. Now, unless I missed something in the novel (and I went back to check) there's no such emotion in the book. Jonathan, in this continuation, feels overshadowed by Dracula as Mina's lover, feeling that he can never satisfy her.

Here's a rather badly taped clip from the move from the Dracula/Mina love scene.


It's a very sensual scene where Mina asks to join him in his life and consents to become a vampire.

Now, here's that same scene from the book. We've previously been told that Mina's had trouble sleeping the past few nights and that she's seen mist entering her room, but that she remembers nothing after that.

This scene is in the form of Dr. Seward's diary and is the only account we are given. He and Van Helsing have been warned that Mina's already been visited by Dracula in the past and her blood drained. They rush to the room she is sharing with her husband and see the following. Jonathan is on the bed, flushed and breathing heavily as though in a stupor.

"Kneeling on the near edge of the bed facing outwards was the white-clad figure of his wife. By her side stood a tall, thin man, clad in black. His face was turned from us, but the instant we saw it we all recognized the Count - in every way, even to the scar on his forehead. With his left hand he held both Mrs. Harker's hands, keeping them away with her arms at full tension; his right hand ripped her by the back of the neck, forcing her face down on his bosom. Her white nightdress was smeared with blood ... The attitude of the two had a terrible resemblance to a child forcing a kitten's nose into a sauce of milk to compel it to drink."

When he sees the intruders he throws Mina on the bed and goes to attack but is stopped by a Host wafer, held by Van Helsing.

The description of Mina after this is as follows:

"Her eyes were mad with terror. Then she put before her face her poor crushed hands, which bore on their whiteness the red mark of the Count's terrible grip, and from behind them came a low desolate wail which made the terrible scream seem only the quick expression of an endless grief." *

Not really the reaction of a woman in love. Dracula is a horror novel. There is no romance attributed to the vampire. Mina mentions later that Dracula made her drink his blood as a form of revenge, knowing he'd then be able to compel her to act for him. She's convinced she's damned because of it and contemplates suicide at one point. That Dracula: the Un-dead, as a continuation of Dracula, doesn't seem to understand this is rather bizarre. The point where I stopped reading is when Mina decides she truly loved Dracula more than Jonathan (there's a rewritten ending to Dracula where Mina picks up a gun and has to decide between her two loves and chooses Jonathan, something she now regrets - this scene, and consequently this choice, is not in Dracula. Nor, given the religious underpinings of the novel where Dracula is equated with the devil, would it be.).

At the conclusion of Dracula, Van Helsing, 7 years after the events of the book exclaims during a meeting with the Harker family, "This boy (Quincey Harker) will some day know what a brave and gallant woman his mother is."

Well, the Quincey Harker of Dracula: the Un-dead certainly has a different take. He learns of their past (which was hidden from him) and determines that his mothers infidelity with Dracula is what ruined his father and caused all the grief in his family. A sorry end for a character who was portrayed as a strong woman in the original. This sort of reminds me of how people blame rape victims for being attacked. In the original novel Mina did not ask to have her blood drained and she certainly had no love for Dracula. There was no ambiguity in her mind as to whether or not the vampire ought to be killed.

Anyway, back to the review. If you've never read Dracula than none of this is important. The writing of Dracula: the Undead is good and the story was interesting. I'd be interested in hearing thoughts from those who finished the book.

* I'm quoting from the Wordsworth Classics Unabridged 1993 edition of Dracula.

What Speculative Fiction Works Would You Put On A Highschool Curriculum?

The most recent Mind Meld on SF Signal deals with what speculative fiction novels first published in the last 10 years should be included in high school literature courses.

I had to read the Chrisalids and 1984 in class, but most of my speculative fiction reading was done after school. I read mostly fantasy but felt after a while that I should read some of the SF classics as well, and started with Asimov's Foundation series. I didn't get much past that, so in university I took an SFF English lit course. We read some interesting works, and some I'd never want to read again. I'd expected the list to include SFF classics. The prof however, chose to revise the traditional list so while we'd read the masters we wouldn't read their most famous works. Here's the list:

The Two Towers - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Postman - David Brin
Grass - Sheri Tepper
Time's Arrow - Martin Amis
The Hollow Man - Dan Simmons
Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus - Orson Scott Card
Woman on the Edge of Time - Marge Piercy
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Philip K. Dick
Parable of the Sower - Octavia Butler
Dune - Frank Herbert
The Shining - Stephen King
Neuromancer - William Gibson
(I'm missing one or two, but you get the picture)

If you're looking at this list and thinking, 'what a lot of dystopian fiction' you'd be thinking what I was (after I'd read them all). If I were building a curriculum, I'd try to vary my speculative fiction to portray the spectrum of what's been done and what's being done now.

The problem with SF Signal's guidelines is it removes all the classics from the list. I'd love to see more people reading The Postman, which, in my opinion, was a better post apocalyptic novel than The Road by Cormac McCarthy (though I liked that novel). And it just seems odd to leave authors like Clarke, Asimov, Card, Herbert, Tolkien, Butler, Dick, etc. off a list of books intended to teach SFF literature (not that all of them need to be included, but to avoid all of them? That's just wrong.).

Of course, thinking of a list of great books to read and coming up with a curriculum of 'books with themes and meanings' is different. While I didn't like all the books I had to read for my class I can honestly say there was a lot of discussion involved with each of them.

I'd probably include The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie. The book has a lot to offer in terms of rewriting the classics of the fantasy genre (which means discussion of what is considered classic fantasy, especially for those with no prior background). The problem for a high school course would be the high level of profanity included.

I'd also include Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold. Fantasy has always appealed to me because of it's propensity for using philosophical topics. The book deals with religion, belief and being a good person (though mostly indirectly).

Terry Pratchett would need to be on the list somewhere. Hogfather would be my choice. It works as a stand alone, but it also brings up questions of belief and reality, making the reader question things they take for granted. It helps that it's a hilarious story.

For an example of alternate history I would use Bernardine Evaristo's Blonde Roots, because it opens the avenue of discussion about the history of and reasoning for slavery and prejudice.

Along the same lines, though more futuristic is Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon, which shows how those with different abilities are still worthwhile members of society.

Ultimately there are a lot of great books out there, and students should be exposed to more of it, both in class and outside of it.

Science Fiction and Fantasy Books Coming in December 2009

Hardcover:

Hastur Lord – Marion Zimmer Bradley & Deborah Ross
Hidden Empire – Orson Scott Card
Muse & Reverie – Charles de Lint
Divine Misdemeanors – Laurell Hamilton
Star Wars: Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil – Drew Karpyshyn
Wildcards: Suicide Kings – George R. R. Martin, Ed.
Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword of Avalon – Diana Paxson
Starship: Flagship – Mike Resnick
Galileo's Dream – Kim Stanley Robinson
Starfist: Double Jeopardy – David Sherman & Dan Cragg
One Good Soldier – Travis Taylor
Liberating Atlantis – Harry Turtledove
Cobra Alliance: Cobra War – Timothy Zahn

Trade Paperback:

Young Flandry – Poul Anderson
Best American Fantasy 3 – Kevin Brockmeier, Ed.
The Light of Other Days – Arthur Clarke & Stephen Baxter
Forgotten Realms: The Return of the Archwizards – Troy Denning
1635: The Tangled Webs – Eric Flint & Virginia DeMarce
Fallen Dragon – Peter Hamilton
Dragon Rule – E. E. Knight
Death of a Starship – Jay Lake
Tuck – Stephen Lawhead
The Scroll Thief – R. F. Long
The Apocalypse Door – James MacDonald
Blood Vice – Keith Melton
Orcs: Army of Shadows – Stan Nicholls

Mass Market Paperback:

The Trouble With Humans – Christopher Anvil
The Judging Eye – R. Scott Bakker
Hell & Earth – Elizabeth Bear
Prison Ship – Michael Bowers
Cosmopath – Eric Brown
Ender in Exile – Orson Scott Card
Sunborn – Jeffrey Carver
The Gods Return – David Drake
Ill Met in the Arena – Dave Duncan
Afterblight Chronicles: Death got no Mercy – Al Ewing
Time Spike – Eric Flint & Marilyn Kosmatka
Black Ships – Jo Graham
Darkscape: Redemption – R. Garland Gray
Just Another Judgement Day – Simon Green
Dead Town – Nancy Holzner
Turned – Julie Kenner
Beyond the Wall of Time – Russell Kirkpatrick
Dragon Lance: The Gargoyle King – Richard Knaak
Changing the World – Mercedes Lackey, Ed.
Star Trek: Mirror Universe: The Sorrows of Empire – David Mack
Bound by Sin – Jenna Maclaine
Dark Lady's Chosen – Gail Z. Martin
Wildscards: Busted Flush – George R. R. Martin, Ed.
Tyrant's Blood – Fiona McIntosh
The Knight of the Red Beard – Andre Norton & Sasha Miller
Forgotten Realms: The Wilds – Mel Odom
Beneath the Skin – Adrian Phoenix
Spells of the City – Jean Rabe & Martin Greenberg, Ed.
War Hammer 40K: Dark Creed – Anthony Reynolds
War Hammer 40K: Sons of Dorn – Chris Roberson
Hallowed Circle – Linda Robertson
Flesh Circus – Lilith Saintcrow
Illegal Alien – Robert Sawyer
The Terminal Experiment – Robert Sawyer (reprint)
Starfist: Wings of Hell – David Sherman & Dan Cragg
Spellbent – Lucy Snyder
The Digital Plague – Jeff Somers
War Hammer: Shadow King – Gav Thorpe
The United States of Atlantis – Harry Turtledove
Bones of the Dragon – Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
Saint Antony's Fire – Steve White
Confessions of a Demon – S. L. Wright
The Sapphire Sirens – John Zakour