Busy Bee

Before and after loosing – fly free arrow and wiggle your feathers at me.

And the week has just flown by with us going to two Xmas parties, a barbecue, and a friend coming around for dinner which is my excuse for posting this so late.  However, to my surprise, I managed to edit 8,938 words in between all the fun activities which includes my archery beginners course.

This week I was shooting at 30 yards and not hitting the target reliably.  I therefore failed to score the required 200 points in 36 arrows to progress to 40 yards which is a relief.  I'm doing this primarily for fun but the club obviously wants people to shoot at events and is therefore quite competitive.  I have neither the inclination (will/strength of mind) nor the competitive spirit (winning is not important to me) to take my archery seriously enough to enter matches.

Still, as a learning experience it's great.

Also, it will encourage to work on my fitness (mostly flexibility and posture) and, arguably it's research for when I need to include archery in story, because it gives me a much more realistic understanding of the reality of loosing arrows and the kind of distances that one can realistically shoot at given the lead one needs to hit a moving target.

Since the last blog we've watched Terminator Genisys which I thought was probably the best sequel to the first two movies so far.  However, it's not quite as good as the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.   As usual, I'm perplexed by the inability of reviewers to cope with SF ideas like time travel which seems to confuse them (I speak of the mainstream news website in general).

After that we watched The Clone Wars: The Lost Missions.  A series, along with the John Williams scores that I enjoy listening to, which in my mind largely redeems the prequel movies.  Then we watched season one of Star Wars Rebels, I guess you're sensing a theme here (the force is strong with you) and last night Star Wars: A New Hope.  I'm sure you can guess what we're watching this evening and tomorrow night.

Wednesday we're going to go and see Star Wars: The Force Awakens and have booked our tickets at our local Vue Cinema, so we're all set.

Finally, I finished reading the third of the Diana Rowland White Trash Zombie books – White Trash Zombie Apocalypse.  While this series may not be hardcore zombie fare, I found the central protagonist engaging and the developments and themes within the story satisfying with good pacing and exciting plot reversals and try/fail cycles.  In short well crafted stories.

So that's it for another week.  I'll be posting a Xmas blog on Thursday, see you on the bounce.

Fool Moon

I finished reading Fool Moon, the second book in the Dresden Files, a series that I have gotten into recently.  I started reading it last weekend, and while I was enjoying it I put it down and only finished it this week.  I think that the first half of the book sets out a lot of stuff that rounds out the world of the Dresden Files, but was mostly exposition, and while stuff got interesting the first half of the book didn't grab me.  However, the second half of the story the shit starts to get serious, and things go down hill for our hero and his friends.  What Butcher was then able to do was ramp the action up to eleven.  From that point on the book became unputdownable.

So yes I finished it, and yes I plan to go out soon and get the next one in the series.  I was really impressed with the writing.  The first book is good, but this is even better.  At this rate I'll be hooked, and a fully paid up member of the Jim Butcher fan club.  If I were a member of this years Worldcon I'd seriously be thinking about voting for his Hugo nominated book Skin Game.  And I tell you why.  I'm a fairly hardcore hard SF fan who likes a bit of Space Opera, and Cthulhu, but urban fantasy has to be really good for me to want to read it.  The fact that I want to go out and buy more books in this series is evidence that Jim Butcher can write interesting and engrossing stories that are outside of my usual taste.  For me that says volumes about him as a writer.

We also rewatched Mad Max 2 aka The Road Warrior, and Jurassic Park this week.  I bought Blu-ray copies cheap off Amazon.  I thought with the new sequels/reboots we ought to watch the originals first.  Both films stood up remarkably well.  Mad Max is thirty-four years old and still sets the benchmark for post apocalypse car mayhem.  Some of the CGI is a little dated in Jurassic Park, but ickle pooh dinosaurs FTW.  Then sharp teeth and claw action from less cute velociraptors, and of course the star – Tyrannosaurus Rex saving the day.

We have just finished watching season four of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.  At times the stories crossed the line from silly into cringe inducingly bad, but somehow the show managed to stay true to its core values, which were the relationship between Lois and Clark.  After a considerable break we have also restarted watching Xena Warrior Princess.  Season three and the first three episode of season four were what I'd call hard work.  However, as we move more into season four the stories have gone back to the basics that make the show work; the relationship and adventures of Xena and Gabrielle.

A lesson to be learnt.  Stories are all about the characters.

Writing last week went well.  I managed to edit 9,803 words of Strike Dog, which is five chapters further along to my goal of finishing it.  At the same time I worked on radio call signs and other stuff, to make sure I'd used military phonetic shorthand correctly.  So all-in-all not a bad week.

The Dresden Files: Storm Front

I'm running two days late this week in posting something on my blog.  I've been ensconced in my writing.  Well maybe not exactly ensconced, as it hasn't been totally comfortable, but there's the satisfaction of finishing something that I found hard to do; and for once being relatively happy with what I've written.  So I finished the first draft of the new chapter one of Strike Dog, having managed to write 1,146 words yesterday afternoon.  When added to my running total for the week this makes 3,382 words written in total.

So I'm pleased to have gotten this done.  It has been difficult for me, because I still have my head in the re-writes of Bad Dog, where I'm in a holding pattern while my new Beta readers do their stuff.  My plans for the long late May Bank Holiday weekend is do some model making, and read some books.

Talking about reading I've have finished Storm Front (Book 1 of The Dresden files) by Jim Butcher, and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Given that it's urban fantasy, which is usually not my thing, this says a lot about the writing and story telling.  It's definitely a story that makes one want to keep turning the pages to find out what happens next, and I like his writing style, it's easy to read.  The main character is interesting, and there are a lot of promises of other stuff going on in the background that makes me want to read more.  Next time we're in town and can drop into Forbidden Planet we'll pick up the next book in the series.

I've also read Andromeda's Fall by William C. Dietz, which is a novel I've had sitting around on my to be read pile for quite some time.  Probably over a year in fact.  It was bought on one of our visits to Forbidden Planet when we were looking for novels with a female protagonist.  My partner read it, and then it got put in a pile to be read and forgotten about.  I enjoyed it, and it certainly rollicked along, but I have to wonder at some assumptions American authors have about the nobility and class.  Still it was nice to see the French Foreign Legion in action in space!  Again I shall also be looking out for the sequel in due course.

I've also just started reading Max Tegmark's book Our Mathematical Universe.  This is a big hardback that basically expands upon the ideas found in his articles on cosmology written for magazines like the New Scientist.  This book allows Dr. Tegmark to lay out his ideas on the nature of reality, and expand upon the idea that we live in a Platonic multiverse.  It's written in a simple to understand and straightforward manner, for what is rather mind blowing stuff.

Anyway, that's all I have time for this week.

Coming Home

Looking back across my diary it's fairly obvious I really didn't do an awful lot of writing last week; checking I see it amounts to 623 words, which comes from having written a couple of blogs, and doing some minor revisions to Bad Dog.  

It rather looks like I didn't get out of bed.  

But it should be said I've been working on a couple of short story ideas using secondary character's from Strike Dog.  I've even seen a way through the block I had with my other novel The Bureau, which only goes to show that there's a lot of thinking involved when writing.

The minor revisions I made to Bad Dog resulted from a conversation I had with my partner over Peter Watts Firefall; the omnibus edition of Blindsight and Echopraxia that I reviewed here.

Susan found Blindsight's lead protagonist rather off putting, for various reasons that I won't go into here, but enjoyed reading Echopraxia.  She especially thought the zombies were an interesting idea, and scarily plausible.  We then had a rather intense discussion about both books, with me being rather more forgiving about some of the the foibles my partner saw in Peter's writing.

However, I learnt a lot from reflecting on the discussion.

And as I said it provoked me to go back and add a couple of things to Bad Dog.  

Mostly to clarify the point that my novel is not a time-travel story per se – it just looks like one, because I chose to tell the story in a linear fashion.  The alternative would be to write it as a multiple stream of consciousness novel, which is realistically a non-starter – even if I was brilliant enough to be able to pull it off, which I'm not.  

The pitch line would be a cross between Finnegans Wake and Dhalgren, neither of which I've been able to finish reading (this says more about me as a reader & writer than it does about either of the books), and I would imagine that the story would have a very limited appeal, and be a hard novel to sell.

What I have been doing with my time is reading, as I've started to enjoy reading fiction again.  This is a bit of a relief, because if one wants to be a fiction writer it's kind of important to read fiction.

So I started off by finishing reading the other two books in Rachel Bach's Parodox trilogy, the first of which I mentioned here.  

The sequels rollicked along, the characters were likeable enough, and there were enough twists and turns to keep one interested.  I do think that the romance sub-plot had a tendency to derail the main plot, taking me out of the big picture, but Rachel seems to be on a mission to bring more romance to SF.  

My only slight criticism is that the ending was a bit schmaltzy, and while that's OK, in this case I asked myself was there a third option for ending the book? (I'm referring to the concept of having one of two obvious endings, and then trying to find a better third ending that surprises the reader).

After finishing and enjoying those two novels I started reading Coming Home.  

This is the latest novel in the Alex Benedict/Chase Kolpath series by Jack McDevitt, which I had been saving for the right time to read it.  Jack McDevitt is one of my favourite go to authors; as in I buy his novels in hardback, rather than waiting for the paperback to come out.  

I will say that his previous Priscilla Hutchins series novel Starhawk was a tad disappointing.  It was a nice enough tale of her early life, acting as a prequel to the series, but it really didn't add anything to the story arc of the previous six novels about the clouds that destroy technological civilizations.

So let me start by saying that the first Alex Benedict novel, A Talent for War, was a hugely influential novel for me.  

 It's one of those books that stands out in my life as as having blown me away, and it would be one of my choices to take with me for a desert island stay.  The sequels have all been told through the eyes of Alex Benedict's assistant Chase Kolpath, and this may be down to the fact that the lead character generally knows more than the reader, and to maintain the novels sense of suspense one has to write through the eyes of another character who doesn't know what's going on.  

The alternative I imagine would be a set of short stories.

In the book set prior to Coming Home, called Firebird, Alex Benedict discovers what's causing starships to disappear in space.  Mentioned because the plot of A Talent for War hinges on the starship with his Uncle disappearing.  

Therefore this book forms a sort of trilogy with these two other novels, and in some sense it ties up the series for the reader.  Whether this means the end of the Alex Benedict series I do not know.  Jack has just finished a sequel to Ancient Shores, which up to now was a stand alone novel, to be called Thunderbird.  This probably means I will have to go back and re-read Ancient Shores when the sequel comes out, because it's been nearly twenty years since that was written, and I can't remember the last time I read it.

So what am I saying here?

He's eighty years old, and still going strong as a writer, which is awesome; but he's eighty years old, and the number of novels he will write is time limited.  So I'm grateful that Coming Home didn't disappoint me like Starhawk did.  

For anyone who was undecided whether or not to read Coming Home, I would say that it hit all the right points for me; but it's a novel whose themes deal with loss and disappointment at the end of one's life, and therefore may not be everyone's cup of tea.  I still recommend reading it.

Then as a bit of light fun I read Larry Correia's Monster Hunter Nemesis, a series whose pitch line might be the NRA meets Cthulhu.

I'm not going to comment here about the furore around Larry, because enough has been written that the noise to signal ratio is such that it's pointless to add anything more.  I will say I like his Monster Hunter series.  They make me laugh, and I get most of the gun related jokes too, which probably helps.  

For me they're page turners that I find hard to put down, and Monster Hunter Nemesis certainly delivers.  It adds to the mythos, expands some plot points, but I have two things to say against it.  The first is that I feel that Agent Franks and Earl Harbinger really didn't need to have the fight to work out who was the better fighter - for me too much like fan service, because it added nothing to the plot; apart from some kick ass action of course, but that goes without saying, because this is Larry Correia we're talking about.  

Secondly Agent Franks was just being a jerk not to mention the meaning of the tattoo on Julie Shackleford nee Mrs Pitt's neck.  There said it.

Besides all the reading I've been watching a heap of stuff over the long Bank Holiday weekend.  

I will talk another time about Lucy and Interstellar, because I want to do a longish compare and contrast of my reactions to watching both.  What I want to mention now is Continuum, and ask why oh why is this not getting a full fourth season?  That's a rhetorical question just in case it wasn't obvious.  

Clearly it's not getting enough viewers, which makes me wonder are my tastes in TV SF so far off the norm that anything I like will be cancelled?  Another rhetorical question, because yes is the answer.

Continuum is a time travel series set in Vancouver that I did wonder whether or not it would be cancelled because of it's subject matter?  

The story concerns a cop from the future coming back into the past, and pursuing members of a future terrorist group called Liber8 (pronounced liberate).  What makes the story interesting that the more it went on, the greyer the main protagonist became.  

She starts as a staunch upholder of the law, which is run by corporations after the governments of the world collapsed, into a sympathizer of Liber8, who in turn have become understandable (or understandable as much as any group of fanatics can be whose modus operandi is killing people for the greater good).

It sometimes makes for quite uncomfortable viewing, which I think is a good thing, because it makes one question and think about what one is told is happening.  So really not that surprised it is getting a short fourth season before going the way of all the good shows that I like.

So that's it for another week.  Have a good one.

Wolf in Shadow

We've been re-watching Stargate SG1, which surprisingly stands up rather well all things considered.  The pilot episode in particular being very engaging, and I feel that new shows could well take a leaf from old ones about what makes a successful pilot that engages the viewer.  

This being Stargate SG1, we shall be watching episodes for some considerable time, given that there are ten seasons to get through.  I shall probably call for breaks between seasons to watch new stuff that has caught my attention; like Arrow for instance.

Reading wise I've just finished reading John Lambshead's Wolf in Shadow that was a real page turner.  

Liked all the characters and I'm looking forward to a sequel in due course.  I was reminded when reading a particular passage that my friend Alex Stewart had mentioned this book to me sometime ago, and that I had forgotten all about it.  It's a gritty urban fantasy story set in London and it has made me start pondering about my own London Occult novel that I have waiting for when the stars are right and I can finish writing it.

Person of Interest

This week we've been watching Person of Interest, which was recommended to us by my friend John Medany.  It has sucked us both in and we've been watching three episodes a night.  The cast is excellent too and Michael Emerson who plays Mr. Finch is incredibly good.  I also like the female Detective Carter played by Taraji P. Henson who looks and feels to me like a real woman.  Great writing that both inspires me to do better and makes me feel totally inadequate to the task at the same time.  My recommendation is that you just throw your money at the computer screen and buy it now.  Come back and finish reading this blog later.

Went to see Pacific Rim, and you can read my perspective on the film here.

Reading wise I started Charlaine Harris's the first book in the True Blood series; Dead Until Dark.  Enjoying it, and it certainly makes a change from what I usually read; it's light and fluff and doesn't require anything deep from the reader.

I'm also reading a non-fiction book recommended to me by my friend Alex Stewart of Ciaphas Cain fame, on plot structure.  Called Into the Woods by John Yorke it has so far proved to be an excellent read, but I find myself reacting quite strongly to the outdated Freudian psychology used to talk about character motivation.  I will probably do a fuller overview when I've finished and given it some more thought.

Well after fifteen weeks I have finished the first draft of Strike Dog, the second of three novels I plan to write.  I found myself going through a steeper learning curve than during my first novel Bad Dog, because the structure and plot were more complicated this time round.  I now feel a bit empty as I write this, and need some time to recharge the creative juices.  So my plan is to catch up on some reading and then start the third novel, Ghost Dog, in a couple of weeks time.

So this week I wrote 4.648 words, running total for the month was 18,513, and the grand total for the first draft stands at 95,285.  Permission to cheer loudly granted!

Merchant Princes

Last week I left you all with the comment that I had started reading The Merchant Princes series by Charlie Stross that has just been reissued in three fat volumes by TOR.  

I really, really enjoyed the first book, called The Bloodline Feud, and plowed straight into the sequel The Trader' War that left the plot on a cliff hanger that sucked me into the third book The Revolution Trade.  So be warned that these three books are real page turners that leave you wanting more.  

It cost me two days writing this week as a result, which is not a bad thing, but is a thing.

I liked the story, the characters and the machinations of the various factions.  What I didn't like was that at the end I was left wanting more, but I've just read that he has been commissioned to write three more books in the series. Yay!  

I so want to know how the Miriam, Erasmus and James Lee relationship goes in New Britain.  I want to know what happened to Paulie and Mike?  Does Donald Ramsfield destroy the world?  Colour me excited.

Since my partner was reading the Stross books too, I ended up starting another book so we could sit reading together on the couch, rather than watch a film, or TV show together.  

I had bought the latest Larry Corrria Monster Hunter Legion, which is the fourth book in the series.  Another real page turner about people who hunt monsters for a living.  It's a real hoot, and Larry has a way of making me break out in laughter with his one line wise cracks.  I love the character's too.  

Another series that leaves you wanting more.

As can been seen from the above I spent a lot more time reading this week and the only film we watched was Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.  This was another excellent outing for the steampunkish version of the Holmes franchise.  I have a fondness for both Downey's and Cumberbatch's versions of the great detective, as they both bring different things to the table.  

Great story telling and dialogue too.  What's not to like?

Finally, only three days writing done this week, so I feel like a bit of a slacker with only 7,863 words done, which brings the running total to 89,330.  So I'm on the home stretch now.  What has been interesting, on reflection, is that I've had to work my way through what some call second novel syndrome, and what I've learned is that the craft comes from practice.

So that's it for another week, as I sit sweltering in my flat with the aircon on to start cooling down the room.  Next week I'm at a CBT conference for four days, so another week where I don't expect to get a lot of writing done.  Catch you on the bounce.

Silence: Book 1 of The Queen of the Dead

Well it's May bank holiday weekend here in Britain, and Memorial Weekend in the States, so I am with my partner hanging out and generally kicking back.  Yesterday was definitely a lazy day as I didn't sit down to write my weekly progress diary, hence the one day delay until today.

I've just re-read Starship Troopers again, which never fails to surprise me each time I read it. 

This time I walk away with some new insights about the writing style and the plot of the story.  Heinlein, despite his faults, is one of my core SF writers from the time when I was a very impressionable youngster.  As such I remember the works of his I read quite fondly.  

The only book of his that I don't particularly like is Farnham's Freehold.

I also read an urban fantasy book called Silence: Book 1 of The Queen of the Dead by Michelle Sagara yesterday.  Indulging in the luxury that comes from reading a good book rather than trying to write one.  I was really captivated by the opening chapter of this book.  

The writing style is absolutely lovely, and I read the whole book in one sitting, which doesn't happen often to me nowadays.  I can't think of a better recommendation than that.

As for my own humble writing efforts this week I managed to take twenty-six letters and arrange into combinations that added up to 5,214 words, which makes my running total for the month so far 16,862 and the first draft of Strike Dog has now reached 33,951 words.

On this note, one of my readers commented that word count is a poor measure of writing progress.  

I suspect that by progress he means something more than number of words written, which is correct.  However, I'm a cognitive behavioural therapist by trade, and one thing that we do is take measures.  My diary, for me, is about having a tool to measure my progress in achieving the goal of finishing a book.  It helps me to look back at my work when I'm feeling I haven't achieved very much, and see that I've written more than I thought I had.  

I shall have to come back and unpack this more at a later date.

So enjoy the rest of the weekend and catch you on the bounce.