words

Break out the frothy drinks and pastries!

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I just got word today that GAME OF CAGES received a starred review from Publishers Weekly!

I can not tell you what a relief that is! I’ve been getting some great responses from early readers and that relieves an amazing amount of stress that I didn’t even know I had. Longtime readers of my LiveJournal know how much I struggled with the writing of that book–the restarts, the stalls, the plot mixups, the cast of characters, the uncertainty over whether the ending was too intense–all of it was really, really difficult.

And then I read this: “Connolly doesn’t shy away from tackling big philosophical issues–whether good ends justify evil means, how many civilian deaths can be justified in the pursuit of creatures that can destroy the world–amid gory action scenes and plenty of rapid-fire sardonic dialogue.”

Yes! Monsters! Face-punching! Moral quandaries! Not necessarily in that order!

My only quibble is that Catherine is an investigator, not a sorcerer/peer, but the essentials are spot on.

Yay! Check out the first chapter here.

Necessary Agent

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Check out this article about agents and the way they engage the publishing process after the book is sold (or not). It’s also interesting the way editors are portrayed–so little power!

It was hard for me to read for two reasons: first, every time I read one of those true but anonymous stories, I was seized by a “ZOMG, that’s my book!” moment. Second, the writer of the article comes across like a fawning dope. The stories he passes on are fascinating; the fact that some agent has a wonderful speaking voice or is very tall? Not so interesting. His editor should have had a go at that crap.

Five things for a Friday

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1) Time for a yay! I’ll be doing another Big Idea essay at the end of August, this time for GAME OF CAGES. Yay! This time I’m going to write a little bit about pets and pet-owners. You guys know how I feel about pets, right? I’m sure many of the people who read it are going to suspect I’m an alien infiltrator, but I swear it ain’t true.

2) I have a huge disorganized jumble of odd books at home. Why, you ask? Because I’m going to be giving them away. They’re all out of my father-in-law’s collection (with his blessing), and they range from ethnic joke books with blank spaces where the ethnicity would go (“You supply the ethnic!”), to stacks of old Archie comics, to old-time erotic photography (now with more bodystockings!), to other, odder books. As the big event, I’ll be giving away this puppy. That’s right, folks. Watch this space.

One question: should I bother with contests? Or just pretend to choose people at random?

Anyway, those books shouldn’t be in a jumble, but they are, because…

3) I spent a good portion of last night tidying my desk so the new printer will fit. My laser printer has stopped working since my Qwest troubles caused me to reinstall my operating system. The Australian print drivers I’d installed seem to have been wiped, and I wasted a bunch of time looking for working replacements. Grr. Way to not support Mac OS, Samsung! I hate you now. Add to that a phone conference about the book trailer for Man Bites World, and I find that…

4) I have a lot of housework to do tonight. Vacuuming, dishes, tidying, recycling, not to mention a quick shopping run for my wife and son’s comfort foods because…

5) Tonight my wife and son come home. They will both need a lot of attention, and I have to say I’m excited to see them. I don’t do very well when my family isn’t around.

“Lovecraftian”

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Found another review of Child of Fire today that used the “L” word. “Lovecraft.” It’s one I think about often. I stuck werewolves into my first novel because they’re scary (to me, anyway–I have had many nightmares about dog attacks) but the books are meant to feature supernatural creatures you don’t normally find in folklore. No pixies, no rakshasa, no ghosts, no ifrits, none of that. I wanted to make my own.

Which would be one thing if I was writing a second-world fantasy, but the setting for the Twenty Palaces books are contemporary Earth. And if you write contemporary fantasy but do not use the traditional horror/folkloric supernaturals, how are people going to describe those creatures?

With the “L” word.

Me, I enjoy most Lovecraft–especially the monsters–but I have always hated the names. Cthulhu. Nyarlathotep. Yog-Sothoth.[1] They always rubbed me the wrong way. I can’t believe people would be willing to stick with those unpronounceable names, except under very special circumstances (as in “Nyarlathotep, have I got a deal for you!”). I mean, how long did it take for the U.S. to stop using the name “Peking.” People change things for their convenience.

But the real question is, how do you write a fantasy creature that does not draw on a religious or folkloric tradition that does not prompt comparisons to H.P. Lovecraft?

edited to add: finally reached 100 reviews on Amazon.com yesterday, which I think is pretty cool.

[1]All spelled by memory. Because.

Randomness for 6/25

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1) via Robin Bailey, this video about a guy who’s mom “beat the gay out of him” is crazy funny. It seems so real at the start…

2) Kitten wearing a tiny hat eats a miniature ice cream cone.

3) Next step: cub burgers. You know what surprises me but shouldn’t? The free-range lion “farm” (not ranch?) in Illinois. No one would believe it if they read it in a book.

4) Steve Martin’s Tour Rider leaked! So funny, and I so want to steal this idea for my upcoming non-existent book tour!

5) Cormac McCarthy’s Toy Story 3.

6) Reality TV artists create book cover designs, prove they are not book designer.

7) The development of the title page, 1470-1900.

Bookslut

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Bookslut is looking for a feminist columnist and an SF columnist.

Randomness for 6/23

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1) Carnage on Hoth, the cake.

2) The rule, usually, is “Don’t read the comments,” yes? But look at this post about a delicious salad sandwich and then scroll down to the fourth comment by “Brownhornet”. WTF? I don’t understand that at all.

3) A trailer for all Academy Award Winning Movies. This is funny.

4) So is this: The angry police captain. Seen via the-isb.

5) White guys for rent.

6) Want to have a good-looking kid? Talk to the sperm (and egg, supposedly) donors at beautifulpeople.com. Money quote: “Letting fatties roam the site is a direct threat to our business model and the very concept for which BeautifulPeople.com was founded.”

7) “Do you think the author wanted you to learn something?”
“No screaming.”

Randomness for 6/17

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I sure am posting a lot of these lately.

1) How to save lives.

2) How to clean oil off a pelican.

3) How to tell a completely believable story.

4) How to make crappy Hollywood movies.

5) How to plot a novel, Glenn Beck style

6) How to unveil a secret place in the middle of a city.

7) How to write a bad query (with true-life examples!)

Randomness for 6/16

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1) Mary Jane Watson, master of the obvious. Now THIS is writing!

2) Thomas Kinkade, if Thomas Kinkade was cool.

3) I know I’m behind the times linking to this, but damn! This is cool.

4) Look upon the face of evil.

5) Night Of The Killer Lamp: 23 Ridiculous Horror-Movie Adversaries

6) The Stockholm Library. It’s a rare library that gives me vertigo. There’s this one and the main downtown library in Seattle. Brrrr.

7) Star Wars, now with more pants.

Game of Cages Chapter One

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Del Rey included a teaser for Game of Cages in the back of Child of Fire, but it was just a few pages, not the whole first chapter. Behind the cut, for those who are interested, is the full deal: the complete chapter one of my upcoming novel.

GAME OF CAGES
CHAPTER ONE

It was three days before Christmas, and I was not in prison. I couldn’t understand why I was free. I hadn’t hidden my face during the job in Hammer Bay. I hadn’t used a fake name. I honestly hadn’t expected to survive.

I had, though. The list of crimes I’d committed there included breaking and entering, arson, assault, and murder. And what could I have said in my defense? That the people I’d killed really deserved it? Continue reading