First Page Critiques

Over at Unicorn Bell, they're having a First Page Critique session.  Submit the first 250 words of your story by June 14 by 5:00 pm, CST.


Huntress is running this critique session.

Future of Books

While I was at Norwescon, a major publisher in the business gave a dismal view of the future of the paperback book.  Everyone there knew that Borders bookstores are in a death spiral, no matter what they say about keeping the remaining stores open.  This publisher then went on to predict Barnes & Noble will follow suit in two to three years.  He then put some figures on the low returns publishers could expect from printing up paperback books that would not have many bookstores to sell from. 

All right, what about the online booksellers like Amazon?  Here is where recent developments in e-publishing entered the discussion.  E-book sales are rising, one reason being the lower price for many, but another is the instant gratification that a younger generation demands:  They want to buy a book and have it instantly arrive in whatever device they’re using.  Amazon and other online publishers will increasingly push the e-versions. 

This publisher concluded that paperback books will disappear in five years. 

I have much less experience in the business – after all, I haven’t published a novel yet.  But permit me to disagree.  Readers enjoy the experience of holding a book while reading it.  Some people argue by analogy with what happened to the music business:  No one was in love with those round disks that had the music imprinted on them.  Listeners wanted the music itself, and the moment the round disks became superfluous, they abandoned them.  And so, they argue, people will abandon those rectangular blocks with words printed on them.  Readers want the information, not the rectangles.  And yet, I disagree.  Readers do enjoy holding a book while reading it, leafing back and forth to review, and seeing how much of the book is left.  They even enjoy the heft of a book, to tell themselves they are doing light reading or heavy reading. 

For those of you who watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you might remember the scene in which Giles said he didn’t like computers because they aren’t “smelly.”  He explained that readers associate certain books with the smell, the feel of the book.  Further, the retaining of information is difficult enough, we need to associate it with sensory experience.  It seemed an odd argument at the time, but now I agree with it. 

Do I deny that the closing of major chains will make it less convenient to shop for books?  Of course not.  But entrepreneurs will look at those empty stores and say, “I can make it work.”  Do I deny that the e-book market will grow like crazy?  Of course not.  But readers will still want to hold a physical book.  The market for books will go through some upheavals, and there may be moments when it looks like the paperback will go away, but I don’t think so.  

Book Review: Dying Bites

FBI agent Jace Valchek has been pulled into an alternate reality—one where her skills at tracking down psychopaths are sorely needed.  You see, in this reality, humans lost the war:  The world’s population consists of vampires, werewolves, and golems.  Humans are less than one percent.  But one of those humans is a psychopathic killer, and this reality doesn’t know how to handle that. 

Jace’s detective skills are matched by her biting sarcasm, which manages to annoy her vampire boss, her golem bodyguard, and the werewolf doctor she finds herself warming to.  But can she track down the human psychopath who’s unafraid to use impalement, crazed dogs, and other means of torture?  If she can’t, she’ll never find her way back to her own reality. 

I liked this urban fantasy more than any other I’ve read.  The alternate reality premise intrigued my science fictional tastes.  And although there’s one brief overnight encounter, there aren’t any of the highly purplish sex scenes that are typical of the subgenre.  I don’t normally like novels about serial killers, but since it’s just vampires and werewolves getting killed, who cares? 

Jace is more than the typical female version of a hardboiled detective.  Her sardonic wisecracks in the face of danger are quite funny.  And the little touches that flesh out this alternate reality make sense—such as the cute cartoon character on the bottle of blood that she at first mistakes for tomato juice.  Overall, I would recommend this to fans of science fiction and fantasy who have been puzzled by the new, dark urban fantasy novels that have taken over their favorite bookshelves. 

(For those of you trying to get published:  Get the practice you need for writing query letters by writing reviews of books and movies in that style.  Look at the first two paragraphs of this post.  Write a lot of reviews that way, and hopefully when it comes time for you to query for your own masterpiece, you’ll know what to do by habit.)  

Just Plain FUNNY

A German newscast tried to show the seal of the US Navy Seals, which took out Osama bin Laden.  Instead, they mistakenly showed a fan-created Star Trek seal for the fictional Maquis freedom fighters!

(Notice the eagle, phaser, and trident on top.)  I could easily find the real symbol for the US Navy Seals online on my first try.  How many different kinds of stupid is this news station?

Volcano Dream

I had a dream last night.  I strongly recommend that all of you write down your dreams.  This one was the result of childhood memories of a book on snakes, discussions on the Greek language, my posting excerpts from my historical fantasy manuscripts, the name Cruz coming up at work, and the recent anniversary of the Mount St. Helens eruption.

Photo by kballard

             We were washed up on a Pacific island.  A blonde girl was caught by a boa constrictor in the jungle.  I shot it with a handgun. 

              Another guy dragged her free.  The boa was still alive, still dangerous.  The other guy and I used sticks to drag it from the trees.  The thickest part was half as big as a telephone pole.  I shot it in the head. 

              The scene shifted.  I was on a soccer field, watching a church youth group.  They were playing a game similar to soccer, but they were using their hands instead of their feet to pass around a ball about the size of a handball.  It looked complicated, so I decided not to participate. 

              I sat in the backseat of my car, writing more on a historical fantasy manuscript, set in Greek mythology.  After a while, I noticed Tom Cruise was watching me through the back window.  I set aside the manuscript and lugged a huge reference book on either the ancient Greek language or ancient Greek mythology from the floor of the car onto the backseat and opened it.  He watched, fascinated, as I looked something up. 

              Tom Cruise was so intrigued, he opened up the back window, as if that part of it had a mini-hatchback design.  While I was looking at him, I saw a massive gray column rise in the distance.  I realized a volcano was erupting.  Gray ash began raining down, and some of it floated into the car.  I pointed out to him what was happening, but he was so drawn to my studies, he was oblivious. 

              I woke up.  I felt my body trembling, so I assumed a minor earthquake was going on, and that had influenced the last part of my dream.  It was so convincing, I originally titled this dream, “Earthquake Dream.”  I now have to conclude I was shivering.  So maybe that caused the volcanic eruption to intrude.  

The End of the World . . . Again

Harold Camping and his nutcase followers are predicting that Jesus will return this Saturday, May 21, 2011.  At first they said he would return at 6:00 pm.  Then they recently changed their minds and said it will be 7:00 pm, to adjust for Daylight Savings Time.  

The Last Judgment, by Michelangelo  

Camping is the author of the book 1994, which predicted the world would end that year.  (He was wrong.)  This sort of nonsense is extremely offensive to Christians, especially since Camping told his followers to flee the churches.  After the day and the hour pass, I'll shave my beard off to celebrate my still being on earth.  

Michelangelo's The Last Judgment is one of the few portrayals a of a beardless Christ.  The saved are on his right hand, the damned on the left.  Wonder which side Camping will be on?  

What's hilarious is the Terminator movies, which I never watched, have robots wiping out mankind on April 21, 2011.  So they were a month early.  In a later post, I'll review the TV series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. 

Mary Robinette Kowal

At Norwescon, Mary Robinette Kowal gave many tips on how to read a manuscript in public.  Her website gives many more tips, if you click on Fiction, then Reading Aloud. If you want something practical, this is it.  Also, it has fun stuff on puppetry, which is her day job. 

 © 2010 Annaliese Moyer

Three of her tips apply to public speaking in general: 

1) A good public reading speed is 150 words per minute.  Pick a passage that has 150 words.  Use a timepiece with a second hand to time yourself.  You might be surprised at how fast you read.  Practice this speed, and you’ll be able to maintain it in public. 

2) Pick someone at the back of the room, and think that you are speaking to that person during the reading.  It’s normal for a reader to speak to the people in the front rows, and the voice then comes out too quiet.  Everyone needs to hear, so aim for the people in the back. 

     In a different context, the actor Michael Caine said that when he was doing live stage plays, the director told him there was someone sitting in the back of the auditorium who had paid to see the play, and he deserved to hear the dialog just as much as someone sitting in the front row. 

Photo: Harry Wad

3) Americans tend to speak from the middle of the mouth.  If you speak from the back of the mouth, you can sound vaguely Russian:  Open your throat as if yawning, then keep speaking from back there without putting on a Russian accent, and you’ll find the result surprising.  (Although when I try it, I sound vaguely drunk, which may not contradict what she said.)  If you speak from the front of your mouth, you will sound vaguely European (I suppose she meant Western European), without trying to put on a British accent.  

Middle School Play

Sara Loudon, a friend of mine, teaches English, Literature, and History at Covenant Christian Middle School.  About every quarter, the students put on a play.  This quarter was for Medieval history.  (See her below in period dress.) 

The production was impressive, as usual.  All the students stood and recited massive amounts of material from memory.  All of them had parts to play among the abridged versions of the works performed:  A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, Macbeth, and Hamlet.  The scenes from Macbeth in particular were performed with imagination and passion.  This is an excellent school:  Everyone participates, everyone learns to stand and deliver.  

King James Version

Today, May 2, 2011, is the 400th anniversary of the King James Version of the Bible.  It's influence on the English language has been immeasurable.  Below is a sample.

Psalm 149

Praise ye the Lord. 

Sing unto the Lord a new song, 

   and his praise in the congregation of saints.

Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: 

   let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.

Let them praise his name in the dance: 

   let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.

For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people: 

   he will beautify the meek with salvation.

Let the saints be joyful in glory: 

   let them sing aloud upon their beds.

Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, 

   and a two-edged sword in their hand;

To execute vengeance upon the heathen, 

   and punishments upon the people;

To bind their kings with chains, 

   and their nobles with fetters of iron;

To execute upon them the judgment written: 

   this honour have all his saints. 

Praise ye the Lord.