Odd Thomas leads an unusual life. He sees the spirits of the dead that linger on in our world. More than that, he sees bodachs, dark spirits that precede catastrophes. When hordes of bodachs appear in the streets of Pico Mundo, Odd's hometown, He embarks on a quest to discover and prevent the looming disaster.
The beginning of this novel is, perhaps, my favorite of all time. Odd's first-person narration engages from the start, and within the first 1000 words, we are propelled into a frenetic chase.
With sparkling characters, constant suspense, and Odd's trademark wit, the novel enthralls from beginning to end. In fact, as I think on it, I honestly can't think of anything I wish Koontz had done differently. And I usually pride myself on being literarily pessimistic.
If you've yet to read this book, get to it. You'll enjoy it, if only for Elvis's cameos.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Book Review: Blood Music By Greg Bear
What can I say about Blood Music? It's enjoyable and keeps attention, but I can't escape the verdict that it was hopelessly predictable. Maybe that's because it was written more than twenty years ago and the same plot and concept have since been done, but nothing that happened caught me the least by surprise.
It is a story of what happens when genetic engineering goes awry. The result is an apocalyptic cataclysm ultimately resulting in a bio-gray goo scenerio.
As I said, it kept my attention and I enjoyed it, which speaks well for the writing, but I think the fact that I felt no lasting connection to a focal character (they kept turning into gray goo and, thus, disappearing) kept me from being more invested in the story. It's amazing how important it is to be grounded in a character. After all, that's how we know, as readers, whom to root for and whom to wish death upon.
As it stood, this book seemed more a collection of short stories united in a common situation than it did a single coherent novel.
It is a story of what happens when genetic engineering goes awry. The result is an apocalyptic cataclysm ultimately resulting in a bio-gray goo scenerio.
As I said, it kept my attention and I enjoyed it, which speaks well for the writing, but I think the fact that I felt no lasting connection to a focal character (they kept turning into gray goo and, thus, disappearing) kept me from being more invested in the story. It's amazing how important it is to be grounded in a character. After all, that's how we know, as readers, whom to root for and whom to wish death upon.
As it stood, this book seemed more a collection of short stories united in a common situation than it did a single coherent novel.
Monday, August 27, 2007
You'd think being a writer involved writing...
Current Project: WoTF short story -- Character work. Plus editing for Final Redoubt.
I'm not making the progress I'd like on my story. I have my plot, characters, and world, but it's just not coming together. So tonight I'm working on a technique to get to know my characters a little better. I don't think they've quite come to life in my mind yet. It's amazing how easy writing tends to become once your characters are alive. It becomes a process of chronicling their adventures rather than making it all up.
It's probably for the best that I'm not going to be writing much actualy prose tonight. It's been an exhausting day. I've had the joy of fighting with my insurance company about covering my child's birth. That, and the headphone jack on my mp3 player has decided to go fritzy on its connection. So I'm kinda fried. I really shouldn't let these things bother me, but I tend to be a worrier.
I'm not making the progress I'd like on my story. I have my plot, characters, and world, but it's just not coming together. So tonight I'm working on a technique to get to know my characters a little better. I don't think they've quite come to life in my mind yet. It's amazing how easy writing tends to become once your characters are alive. It becomes a process of chronicling their adventures rather than making it all up.
It's probably for the best that I'm not going to be writing much actualy prose tonight. It's been an exhausting day. I've had the joy of fighting with my insurance company about covering my child's birth. That, and the headphone jack on my mp3 player has decided to go fritzy on its connection. So I'm kinda fried. I really shouldn't let these things bother me, but I tend to be a worrier.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Book Review: Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin
This book is amazing. One would think a book on neuroscience and behavior would be unapproachable, but the prose of this book makes it an easy and enjoyable read.
Temple Grandin is an autistic woman who works designing facilities for the cattle industry. She posits that since she thinks in pictures instead of words, she (and other autistics) think more like animals than other humans do. Her track record would seem to indicate that she's right.
This book gives an excellent insight into the workings of the brain, ranging from inattentional blindness -- why gorillas become invisible at basketball games, through the effects of selective breeding -- frequently psychotic animals, to why we should not consider animals stupid -- they're incredibly smart, just in a different way than humans are. She also gives great advice to pet owners on how they should treat their animals.
One of the key points she makes is regarding hyperspecificity. To animals, and autistics, one red baseball cap is not the same as another. They tend to see the differences when they look at things, whereas normal humans over-generalize.
I was particularly impressed by her description of the "seeking circuit" a portion of the brain that releases dopamine when stimulated that is stimulated by the hint of something we want, but that turns off the moment said thing is seen. Writers should see in this the reason why we don't "show the shark." The hint that something is happening, the unseen danger lurking just out of sight is primally enjoyable, but once we see something in full light, it loses its allure.
Anyone who works or lives with animals should read this book. Likewise people who work with autistics should read it to gain an appreciation for how autistics see the world. Perhaps the overall message is that we should try to see the world through the perspecitves of others.
Temple Grandin is an autistic woman who works designing facilities for the cattle industry. She posits that since she thinks in pictures instead of words, she (and other autistics) think more like animals than other humans do. Her track record would seem to indicate that she's right.
This book gives an excellent insight into the workings of the brain, ranging from inattentional blindness -- why gorillas become invisible at basketball games, through the effects of selective breeding -- frequently psychotic animals, to why we should not consider animals stupid -- they're incredibly smart, just in a different way than humans are. She also gives great advice to pet owners on how they should treat their animals.
One of the key points she makes is regarding hyperspecificity. To animals, and autistics, one red baseball cap is not the same as another. They tend to see the differences when they look at things, whereas normal humans over-generalize.
I was particularly impressed by her description of the "seeking circuit" a portion of the brain that releases dopamine when stimulated that is stimulated by the hint of something we want, but that turns off the moment said thing is seen. Writers should see in this the reason why we don't "show the shark." The hint that something is happening, the unseen danger lurking just out of sight is primally enjoyable, but once we see something in full light, it loses its allure.
Anyone who works or lives with animals should read this book. Likewise people who work with autistics should read it to gain an appreciation for how autistics see the world. Perhaps the overall message is that we should try to see the world through the perspecitves of others.
Anyone else wondering what happened to August?
Current Project: A short story for Writers of the Future -- due to the anonymity of the contest I won't publish the title or plot elements of this story at this time. Currently approx 1000 words.
So it's more than halfway through August, and I've barely gotten a day's worth of writing done in that time. My official excuse is the birth of my daughter, but even that's not a great excuse for missing deadlines. (I give myself a weekly deadline based on when my writing group meets) Keeping deadlines is one of the most important habits for a young writer to cultivate. Writing is a business, and a writer who chronically misses deadlines isn't likely to be an agent or editor's favorite person to work with. And yes, that matters.
Anyway, I'm taking forever to write this story because it's for WoTF and I'm being more critical than normal. I've just started over on it because I realized my narrative voice was wrong. I came to that conclusion after I talked with my wife about characters, and she could relate to all BUT the POV character. Bad sign. I was pulling back from really getting in the character's head because I plan on treating him worse than any character I've previously written, and it's hard to do horrible things to people you like. (Yes, my characters become real people to me) But worse would be to do horrible things to someone and have no one care because they don't like him.
So it's more than halfway through August, and I've barely gotten a day's worth of writing done in that time. My official excuse is the birth of my daughter, but even that's not a great excuse for missing deadlines. (I give myself a weekly deadline based on when my writing group meets) Keeping deadlines is one of the most important habits for a young writer to cultivate. Writing is a business, and a writer who chronically misses deadlines isn't likely to be an agent or editor's favorite person to work with. And yes, that matters.
Anyway, I'm taking forever to write this story because it's for WoTF and I'm being more critical than normal. I've just started over on it because I realized my narrative voice was wrong. I came to that conclusion after I talked with my wife about characters, and she could relate to all BUT the POV character. Bad sign. I was pulling back from really getting in the character's head because I plan on treating him worse than any character I've previously written, and it's hard to do horrible things to people you like. (Yes, my characters become real people to me) But worse would be to do horrible things to someone and have no one care because they don't like him.
The Journey of a Thousand Steps...
I hijacked this from my previous blog (whereon it was the only post since I didn't like that blog provider's layout). The original post date was April 3rd 2007.
--
I've been putting off this, my first blog post, until I had something big, wise, and/or profound to say, but I think that defeats the purpose of a blog. Wisdom comes with time, usually crawling up through the cracks of everyday life.
To start, let's introduce me. I am a writer. Yet to be published, but then I haven't tried to be published all that much yet. Three years ago, I made the unsuccessful rounds with my first completed (some fifth or sixth started), novel--an epic fantasy. Life got in the way for a year, and then I began my study of the craft of writing. In the course of a year I read every book I could find on character, plot, viewpoint, setting, etc (some thirty or so books). The result of which: I learned much. I hope in time to share some of my gleanings here. I also learned that my first novel was terribly hackneyed, poorly plotted (by structure--the plot itself is still salvageable), and filled with awkward language. I plan on rewriting it from a blank page in the future. I think it's probably third or fourth in my novel queue right now.
My study of the craft improved the quality of my writing greatly and moved me into position to get one of my other gigs--line editor for Final Redoubt Press. There, I work with veteren game designer Robert J Defendi to produce a line of role playing modules statted for use in the HERO system, d20 System game, Rolemaster, and HARP. My role is to clean up everything Bob sends me and make it publishable. If I don't think it's publishable, I am the one who kills the project.
Like most writers, I have a day job (in addition to my work with Final Redoubt because editing for a small publisher is not the path to take if you want money right now). I work as a chemist in the quality assurance lab for a multinational company. It's good work with great benefits and decent pay, enough to support myself and my family. It also allows me to increase my skills other than chemistry. I am the safety officer for the lab, run the lab logistically since we lost our receptionist, and I'm the first line of IT. And all of that is in addition to my lab work, which admittedly, I don't usually have that much time for with my other duties.
I am married and have one child (two come August). I would go on about them, but it's usually best to withhold such personal information.That's enough for now. But hey, it the first step to adding content.
--
My second child was, in fact, born on July 30th. When I posted this originally, I did so with a mood icon of "sick". That was, sadly enough the beginning of 4+ months of feeling like garbage. I think I'm beginning to recover now, though.
--
I've been putting off this, my first blog post, until I had something big, wise, and/or profound to say, but I think that defeats the purpose of a blog. Wisdom comes with time, usually crawling up through the cracks of everyday life.
To start, let's introduce me. I am a writer. Yet to be published, but then I haven't tried to be published all that much yet. Three years ago, I made the unsuccessful rounds with my first completed (some fifth or sixth started), novel--an epic fantasy. Life got in the way for a year, and then I began my study of the craft of writing. In the course of a year I read every book I could find on character, plot, viewpoint, setting, etc (some thirty or so books). The result of which: I learned much. I hope in time to share some of my gleanings here. I also learned that my first novel was terribly hackneyed, poorly plotted (by structure--the plot itself is still salvageable), and filled with awkward language. I plan on rewriting it from a blank page in the future. I think it's probably third or fourth in my novel queue right now.
My study of the craft improved the quality of my writing greatly and moved me into position to get one of my other gigs--line editor for Final Redoubt Press. There, I work with veteren game designer Robert J Defendi to produce a line of role playing modules statted for use in the HERO system, d20 System game, Rolemaster, and HARP. My role is to clean up everything Bob sends me and make it publishable. If I don't think it's publishable, I am the one who kills the project.
Like most writers, I have a day job (in addition to my work with Final Redoubt because editing for a small publisher is not the path to take if you want money right now). I work as a chemist in the quality assurance lab for a multinational company. It's good work with great benefits and decent pay, enough to support myself and my family. It also allows me to increase my skills other than chemistry. I am the safety officer for the lab, run the lab logistically since we lost our receptionist, and I'm the first line of IT. And all of that is in addition to my lab work, which admittedly, I don't usually have that much time for with my other duties.
I am married and have one child (two come August). I would go on about them, but it's usually best to withhold such personal information.That's enough for now. But hey, it the first step to adding content.
--
My second child was, in fact, born on July 30th. When I posted this originally, I did so with a mood icon of "sick". That was, sadly enough the beginning of 4+ months of feeling like garbage. I think I'm beginning to recover now, though.
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