I’ve been working on paring this down to the essentials, tweaking it in tandem with changes I’m making to the novel, which, ideally, will also result in a leaner, tighter story.

Image courtesy of Alexandre Baron

I suppose the question is, after reading the synopsis, “Does this pique your interest?”

In the crook of the Quiet Sea’s eastern shores lies the grime-ridden sprawl of Stelinople, a city of industry ruled by the Magnate Trust. Searching for new energies to fuel its furnaces and mills and manufactories, the Trust has fixed its gaze squarely upon the Jashem, seeking the energy locked in that scoured desert land. And the Yürük Çin who draw upon it.

When Yürük scout Khyrg al Wahid and his headstrong daughter witness a Trust airship crash, they discover survivors — Trust researchers. Aiding the researchers becomes a furious flight across the Jashem, sweeping Khyrg up in the Trust’s schemes, thrusting him toward Stelinople, the city that holds his deepest secret, his darkest shame.

All the while, researchers at the University conduct morbid experiments around the clock to bend the energy of the Jashem to their will.

I’ve been feasting on a steady diet of podcasts and articles like a tiger on British Soldiers in Africa and came across some good stuff from Téa Obreht over at The Bat Segundo Show.  I probably would not have given the interview a second thought except that I had seen Obreht’s book, The Tiger’s Wife show up on a couple of blogs I enjoy, A Dribble of Ink and the The Speculative Scotsman. I’d considered seeing if I could find the book at our local library (that would be like winning the lottery) and then kind of left it alone. Checking my podcast subscriptions, I saw Obreht’s name beneath The Bat Segundo Show and thought I ought to give it a listen. The whole interview is enjoyable, but I particularly enjoyed this bit:

Correspondent: But if you’re constantly revising to get that precision, how do you keep yourself in surprise? Because that, of course, is very important to maintain the life of a story.

Obreht: Oh, that just comes normally. Because I have no idea what I’m doing! (laughs)

Correspondent: Yeah. The big thing that nobody really understands. That writers really don’t know what they’re doing often.

Obreht: Yeah. Exactly. You know, you stumble into things. And you’ll be 75% of the way through something and suddenly it’s like, “Oh, I changed my mind! Actually, this is going to happen because it feels more normal, more natural.” Then you have to backtrack and shift everything.

The excerpt from the show stopped before they got to the part I like the most where Obreht talks about forging ahead even when she knew what she had written wasn’t good or needed work, knowing that she could circle back and revisit it when the time was right.

There’s exquisite freedom in giving ourselves permission to be imperfect, to not know.

Like these guys.

If you think this just applies to artists, your road’s been a tunnel or you slapped blinders on yourself somewhere along the way.  If we can climb out of our own cavernous holes long enough to look around and survey the landscape, we can find it everywhere we look. And we should.

The Last Page
by Anthony Huso

I was thinking about Huso’s setting long after I read this book. Without knowing for sure, I would say that Huso strives for, or was inspired by, weirdness in the same mold as Mieville, which is always nice. Some of the story ran into the cliche, but that was easily forgiven in light of the overall depth of the world and the magic. Definitely some behind the scenes stuff going on that keeps you wondering.

Half Made World
by Felix Gilman

I loved this one if for no other reason than the way it takes the U.S. frontier and turns it into some alien thing. The Line is a great antagonist with its massive sentient steam engines, ornithopters and noise bombs. And their rivals, the way of the Gun, a group of sentient firearms that can put the excrutiating Goad on their owners if they don’t do as the firearms ask. This would seem to be the first of multiple books, but stands alone just fine.

River of Gods
by Ian McDonald

This was my first exposure to Ian McDonald and I have to say, it had all the elements I enjoy in a good read: ensemble casts, complex story lines that come together, solid character building, and a shit ton of near future sci-fi that is recognizable enough to not feel like a complete dolt, but well-thought out enough to keep you wanting much, much more. Can’t wait to dig into to Dervish House.

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
by Charles Yu

This might be my favorite of them all. Yu’s self-deprecating humor shines through in his protagonist, er, Charles Yu. The whole meta flavor of this thing is, in and of itself, worth the read, but the thing I enjoyed the most was the father-son story, the immediately humanistic appeal of what  might on the surface seem like straight up sci-fi. Oh yeah, there’s time traveling, too. I’ve heard that some readers took issue with the technical aspects of this book and to them I say, so what. It’s a great story and the science fictional aspects are merely window dressing that helps drive the point home.

East of Eden
by John Steinbeck

After reading The Grapes of Wrath and Tortilla Flat, I wasn’t sure what to expect. After closing the book, I think this was every bit as good as Grapes, although a very different kind of story. Playing on the story of Cain and Abel and two words from that tale, East of Eden digs into the human psyche and explores our free will in the face of who we are. Thou mayest, indeed.

The Adventures of Ibn Battuta: A Muslim Traveler of the Fourteenth Century
by Ross E. Dunn

I loved the premise of this book and knew very little about the man or the time or the world in which he traveled. It’s done in broad strokes to be sure, but it’s a nice gateway into the medieval Muslim world from Morocco to India to China and everything in between. Dunn provides an overview of a world we never explore in our history classes in the U.S., but is every bit as important as what was going on in medieval Europe at the same time.

Dance with Dragons
by George R.R. Martin

What can I say that already hasn’t been said. Any forward progress in this epic tale merits best book listings. I was to busy enjoying having fresh Martin words before my eyes to worry about introducing new characters and story lines. I enjoyed the hell out of this one. (As a side note, after re-reading A Feast for Crows, I found I enjoyed that one much more than my first read through. I suspect the same will be said of Dance.)

Towers of Midnight
by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

Kind of the same thing as with A Dance with Dragons. I’m looking forward to seeing how this wraps up. Sometimes Sanderson’s style pokes its head through the story — and not always for the better — but damn can he move the story along.  Things are coming together nicely, new wrinkles are evolving and the Forsaken are getting antsy. Looking forward to Tarmon Gaidon. A lot.

Desolation Road
by Ian McDonald

I hesitated to put this one on here because a.) I already have Ian McDonald on the list and b.) I wasn’t sure of my overall feeling about this book. Initially it struck me as East of Eden on a distant planet, but as I read more it became less of that. Basically the story chronicles the founding, rise and fall of the town Desolation Road. In doing so it covers three to four generations of families who live there. I think what sealed it for me was the climax and how everything that seemed rambling early on comes together, if not neatly, then at least satisfactorily.

And there you have it. There are others I might have overlooked, but since I could recall these from memory, I went with this list. Had I finished Mieville’s Iron Council (see side bar), it would be on this list as well. of the Bas-Lag books, this is quickly becoming my favorite.

Hope you all have read some great books in 2011. If you’d like to chime in with your faves, feel free to comment.

BIRTHRIGHT from Sean Mullens on Vimeo.

Totally lifted from my good friend Keith Marroquin.

Mr. Sutter has a new book out from Paizo Publishing called Death’s Heretic. Check out the cover spread.

Saw this while breaking down camp one morning

After 21 days of rafting the Colorado River, I rolled across the country with a couple of fine traveling companions. I got home the night before Thanksgiving and was so happy to see my lovely wife. My daughter was asleep, but I hugged her and kissed her anyway.

I can’t say enough about the experience. It was everything I hoped — amazing scenery, great whitewater, great people, spiritual — with little nuggets of extra goodness thrown in for good measure.

Me at the helm, apparently after lunch.

I stole both of these images from a friend on the trip. His photos kicked my photos asses. Apparently my seven-year-old camera doesn’t have cool color saturation settings. Thanks Tyson.

Havasu Creek? Star Trek called and wants its water back.

Aside from writing about a thousand words of a new short story, I did no writing. I think it was a nice break. I feel rejuvenated and ready to hammer out revisions as I head into the new year.

I should be posting more regularly as we head in to the last year of the world. Upcoming posts will include my favorite reads of 2011 and Grand Canyon lessons as they pertain to writing. Hope you’ve all been well.

Sometimes all you can do is hang on and thrive.

There are far worse ways to spend 3 weeks

I can’t say that I minded the hiatus, but I probably should have left a note saying I was going out for ice cream and smokes or something like that.  More than likely, posts will be few and far between here, especially over the next five or six weeks, as I’m embarking on a three week Grand Canyon river trip. I could bring my laptop and just plug it into the current, but I don’t think there are any wireless hotspots out there.

Enjoy!

Fear lurks in all the dark places of your mind, waiting to set you back, to shut you down, whatever your goals.

Fear of failure
Fear that you won’t be liked
Fear that you won’t be understood
Fear that others find your dreams silly
Fear of wasting time
Fear of wasting energy
Fear that you won’t have enough time
Fear that you won’t have enough energy
Fear that you may lose interest
Fear that you’re doing it for the wrong reasons
Fear that what’s in your head will never make it to paper
Fear that your ideas are stale
Fear that your ideas are stolen
Fear that your ideas will never be heard
Fear that what you say doesn’t matter

Well, fuck a bunch of fear. And at the end of it all, you’ll find that the consequences of powering through despite those fears, or perhaps because of them, you’ll emerge unscathed, a little better off and maybe even a little braver.

So go ahead, put your hand in the box.