Christine Amsden's Blog: Christine Amsden Author Blog, page 61

Book Reviews: Obsidian Prey

Title: Obsidian Prey

Author: Jayne Castle

Sub-Genre: Science Fiction/Paranormal/Suspense

If you're familiar with Jayne Castle (aka Jayne Ann Krentz aka Amanda Quick), then you don't need a plot summary. Basically, what's going to happen is two people are going to fall in love while solving a mystery that puts them in a great deal of danger. Under her Jayne Castle psuedonym, she'll take you to another world, cut off from earth 200 years ago, where descendents of the original colonists still seek to understand the aliens who used to live above and below the surface of the planet.

In this particular story, Lyra and Cruz actually met three months before the current events unfold. He was a cutthroat businessman who came to her undercover and took control of a valuable amethyst ruin she discovered. She, of course, has not forgiven him.

The chemistry in this book is great. Cruz Sweetwater has a paranormal  talent for knowing when he has found "the one." (Hey, why not? Many authors do this anyway and then claim it's not supernatural.) Even though he has wronged her, he is determined to have Lyra in his life.

The mystery  in this book is better than usual. (I mean both for this particular author and for mystery subplots in romance novels.) It kept me guessing until the end, where the reveal was both satisfying and satisfyingly dangerous.

If I have to make a complaint about this book, and I don't but I will anyway, it's that there wasn't a moment that stood out for me. My absolute favorite romance novels bring me to a point of true emotional intensity where, despite knowing and understanding the HEA structure, I feel strongly for the plight of the main characters. In this book, the characters each pretty much knew they loved the other from the start (Cruz more than Lyra).

Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Recommended to those who fantasize about strong men who know what they want.

**Fantastic Love is a no-nonsense look at romance, from the popular to the obscure, recent to classic, and from any sub-genre I feel like reading. I'll tell you what works, what doesn't work, and most of all, what kinds of fantasy it fulfills. Because whether or not we're talking about the fantasy or paranormal sub-genre of romance, it's all wish-fulfillment fantasy.

Obsidian Prey

Title: Obsidian Prey

Author: Jayne Castle

Sub-Genre: Science Fiction/Paranormal/Suspense

If you're familiar with Jayne Castle (aka Jayne Ann Krentz aka Amanda Quick), then you don't need a plot summary. Basically, what's going to happen is two people are going to fall in love while solving a mystery that puts them in a great deal of danger. Under her Jayne Castle psuedonym, she'll take you to another world, cut off from earth 200 years ago, where descendents of the original colonists still seek to understand the aliens who used to live above and below the surface of the planet.

In this particular story, Lyra and Cruz actually met three months before the current events unfold. He was a cutthroat businessman who came to her undercover and took control of a valuable amethyst ruin she discovered. She, of course, has not forgiven him.

The chemistry in this book is great. Cruz Sweetwater has a paranormal  talent for knowing when he has found "the one." (Hey, why not? Many authors do this anyway and then claim it's not supernatural.) Even though he has wronged her, he is determined to have Lyra in his life.

The mystery  in this book is better than usual. (I mean both for this particular author and for mystery subplots in romance novels.) It kept me guessing until the end, where the reveal was both satisfying and satisfyingly dangerous.

If I have to make a complaint about this book, and I don't but I will anyway, it's that there wasn't a moment that stood out for me. My absolute favorite romance novels bring me to a point of true emotional intensity where, despite knowing and understanding the HEA structure, I feel strongly for the plight of the main characters. In this book, the characters each pretty much knew they loved the other from the start (Cruz more than Lyra).

Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Recommended to those who fantasize about strong men who know what they want.

**Fantastic Love is a no-nonsense look at romance, from the popular to the obscure, recent to classic, and from any sub-genre I feel like reading. I'll tell you what works, what doesn't work, and most of all, what kinds of fantasy it fulfills. Because whether or not we're talking about the fantasy or paranormal sub-genre of romance, it's all wish-fulfillment fantasy.

Cassie's Story is Complete

For those of you who don't know, I've spent the last year and nine months (since February of 2009, when inspiration struck), working on a series of books subtitled: A Paranormal Mystery.  (Yes, the "para" in paranormal is struck through, at least for the first two books in the series. I admit, this seemed cleverer before I had to figure out how to market it, so it may change. )

As of today, I have four complete novels, beginning with Cassie Scotstruggling to find her place in a world that doesn't quit eaccept her and ending…well, no spoilers. Suffice to say that she's had quit ea ride. There's mystery, suspense, action, and most especially, romance. The final volume is still just a rough draft (sent to early readers), but the important thing is it exists.

This has been a fun journey, and even though I don't have a publisher for this saga *yet*, I feel as if the ride itself has been invaluable. I'm finding my focus and discovering what it is that I really want to write…human relationships, particularly romance. I have romantic subplots in both Touch of Fate and The Immortality Virus, and I'm proud of both of these books, but moving forward I want to take the sub out of the romantic subplot.

What's next for me? I honestly have no idea. Some writers swim so deeply in ideas that they carry around little notebooks to keep hold of them all when inspiration strikes. As soon as they finish one project, they know what the next will be. I'm not like that. It's not right or wrong, it's just me — I focus. I've been living with Cassie and Evan for almost 2 years, expending all my creative energy on them and their world.

I finished writing The Immortality VIrus in November of 2008 and, not sure what to write next, I did some journaling, some short stories, and read a lot. In February of 2009, as I played with my daughter on the floor of her bedroom one morning, I thought of Cassie and knew I needed to write her story. I plan to do the same thing now, waiting for inspiration to strike. I'll know it when it gets here.

Maybe I'll even update my blog more often.

My Green Thing

 One of the greatest life lessons I've learned is that change comes slowly, one tiny step at a time. This is true on a grand scale, but it is also true on a personal scale. If you want to change yourself, don't go for the overhaul or you're likely to crash and burn. Find one manageable thing you can do and then, when you've mastered it, find something else. This is a life lesson that I've come to accept gradually,  one piece at a time.

You know it's a good idea to save the earth. Recycle, conserve energy, use cloth diapers, carpool….there are dozens of ways you can make a difference, but when the well-meaning environmental gurus out there pelt them at you one right after another, it feels like too much. You'd have to turn your entire life upside down and everything would be different.

That's true. If you want to do your part to help protect our Earth, then you will have to change, but slow down, take a deep breath, and relax. You don't have to do it all right now. Just do one thing. Your "green" thing.

I have selected a new "green" thing each year for the past four years, making it a sort of New Year's Resolution. First, I changed all my light bulbs to compact fluorescents.  Then, I switched to cloth diapers (mommies, that's a huge one — read my blog entry on cloth, it's not as bad as you think). Last year, we started using cloth bags ("green" bags) at the grocery store and this year, we've got a recycling bin. Plus, my husband is riding his bicycle to work about 3-4 times a week. Not only is he saving gas, but he's getting in great shape!

But the best thing about my yearly "green" thing is that I'm not just making these changes for me. They will filter down through the generations because my children will think of them as normal. My 4-year-old loves to put things in the "'cycle" bin. "Mommy, can I 'cycle this?" is a common question around here.

So if you want to be environmentally conscious, don't let it get overwhelming. Just choose one thing, master it, and move on.

What's your green thing this year?

Inspiration from Yann Martel

Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to hear Yann Martel, author of "Life of Pi," speak at the Kansas City Public Library. The book was one of the reasons that I have been so grateful for my book club, because once a month, I break free from my genre comfort zone and find joy in literary, non-fiction, or other works that I would not have chosen on my own. No, I don't love everything I read, but books like "Life of Pi" make it all worth the effort.

I come from a speculative fiction tradition. The authors from whom I have learned my craft were almost entirely science fiction and fantasy authors. Since this is what I write, it makes sense, but listening to Yann Martel helped me to solidify something that I've been toying with for some time — the idea that we need to learn from one another.

But let me rewind just a bit. Lately, I have been reading a lot of books outside of science fiction and fantasy. In fact, in the past six months, I have read only about half a dozen speculative fiction novels. (For the record, I read several books a week.) I have been filling my time with mystery, suspense, mainstream, and romance, plus the odd non-fiction or literary piece that has so far been entirely at the prompting of my book club.

I learned the rules of science fiction and fantasy by heart, but it quickly became clear to me that other genres don't necesssarily follow our rules. The romance genre, for example, love to withhold tidbits of personal information that the point of view characters know, bringing it out only when the author feels it is the most poingnant. At first, I thought my displeasure with this tactic was due to the fact that I'd learned differently, but even after reading dozens of books and coming to accept it (not the same thing as liking it), I still feel that the stories would improve without this tactic.

Not that the science fiction and fantasy genre is pristene. Afte r reading in these other genres, I feel that we could learn a great deal about how to fashion a satisfying suspense or mystery from those writers, or about how to make love interests meaningful rather than token by considering romance authors.

Fast forward to Yann Martel's talk last week: For those of you who are unaware, there is something of a rift between literary and genre writers. Please, don't ask me to take sides, because for pure group survival if nothing else, I'd have to take up arms with my fellow genre writers, but I don't want there to be a fight. The basic thrust of the conflict is that literary writers sometimes accuse genre writers of being frivolous and genre writers sometimes accuse literary writers of being unjustified snobs. As with almost any conflict, there are truths behind both points of view.

Listening to Yann Martel speak reminded me that there is something of a paradigm shift between the literary world and the genre world. It's hard to describe, but I think it has a lot to do with the purpose behind the written word. In the literary camp, books are inherently meaningful, serve a purpose, and add something to the growing body of literature that shapes and defines our world. In the genre camp, books serve no greater purpose than to tell a good story.

Yes, I'm sure you see what I've seen for a long time — they can do both. But there's still the question of which comes first: the story or the meaning?  This is the paradigm gulf that separates thetwo worlds. And it's ok. There is a need for all kinds of written works to suit the needs of a diverse populace.

For the record, Yann Martel did not strike me as being a snob of any kind, justified or not. He expertly fielded a question about about reading for enjoyment vs. reading for meaning in a way that made it clear he understood that it didn't have to be one way or the other, though at some point you can't escape the tragedy of certain topics.

No, what all this is really coming down to is me — There was a question asked about the meaning of the island in "Life of Pi" that made me realize how deeply engrained my personal biases are. "What's up with the living island?" Probably, if I were more literary-minded, I would have asked the question myself, but to be perfectly honest with you, it didn't even phase me. The whole story was fantastic, just like so many stories I've loved since I was a child, and the island was just one more fantastic element. Even reaching the blatantly allegorical conclusion didn't make me stop to reconsider my first impression. But what he was trying to accomplish with that island (which doesn't mean that I have to agree since I am allowed to take whatever meaning I will from a book), was a leap of faith. He was stretching our credulity with each successive event in his parallel of religion. (By the way, I also had a subtly different take on this aspect — I saw the ending not as religion vs. no religion, but rather as the idea that it's possible to believe more than one thing at the exact same time, just as the main character had followed Christianity, Islam, and Buddism…in other words, I didn't choose my favorite of the two stories; I believed both.). Yet as a long-time readre and lover of fantasy, I have been trained to accept just about anything in a book. This doesn't mean I would do so in the real world, but in books, I'm pretty gullible. I don't accept the real world as my starting point.

It's always interesting to have our assumptions thrown in our faces. The older I get, the more I realize that there are a lot of things I don't question, I just take them for granted.

For example, I've always taken for granted that my primary purpose in telling a story is to entertain and hopefully my books do that, but each one has subtle meaning that, coming from a speculative fiction background, I have religated to the background.

Perhaps it is normal for an author, but I've always wanted my books to push the envelope in some way. I don't want them to just be enjoyed, I want them to be remembered. This can be done in any style or genre, as I have loved and remembered a great many books, but somehow I want to find that thing that sets what I do apart.

On the way home, my friend asked how I wanted my own writing to be different, for I had just complained that so many stories are echoes of what has come before. Thinking about what I had just heard, my best answer was that I wanted my stories to represent a true blending of genres — the best of each — to tell a more complete and less linear story.

Laster, I came up with a more complete answer. Yes, I want to learn from other genres and incorporate all of that learning into a truly cross-genre effort that captivates the minds and imaginations of various readers. (Though I know I will anger just as mny readres of each genr, so don't think I'm after universal popularity.) There's something more that I want to do, though, and it's going to take me quite a bit of time to explore the idea — I want to break free of unconscious bias; to take nothing for granted. When someone gives me a rule, I want to ask why and if they can't give me a good enough reason, I want to feel free to break it.

Savvy Authors

I'm going to be presenting a month-long workshop in August at Savvy Authors. The title is "Bringing New Worlds to Life in Science Fiction and Fantasy." It began as an expansion of my World Building workshop, but it has morphed into quite a bit more than that. When I started brainstorming, it didn't take long for me to realize that after planning your world, the things you need to know to bring it to life are exactly the same things you need to know in order to write a compelling story in general. The workshop focuses on issues inherent in writing science fiction and fantasy, but many of these concepts cross genre boundaries. We'll go over beginning a story, choosing the right point of view character, showing vs telling, and many other topics. There will be writing assignments and personal feedback to try to personalize the course to each writer's needs.

The Immortality Virus

Very good news, everyone! My second novel, The Immortality Virus, will be published through Twilight Times books. The tentative publication date is June of 2011.

There are going to be a lot of changes to the web sit coming soon. I'm going to do a bit of an overhaul, actually, since The Immortality Virus is a pretty different book from Touch of Fate. I'm going to go for a science fiction theme.

I'm still early in the process right now, but summaries and excerpts will be coming!

Creativity

I've decided to do a new series of blog posts on creativity. So far, it's a work in progress, but I thought I'd share something I have learned recently to get the ball rolling.

In November of 2008, I finished "The Immortality Virus" and had no idea what I wanted to do next. I had pushed myself to write every day, using the old BIC (butt in chair) advice as I trudged through three different revisions and subsequent editing. At the same time, "Touch of Fate" had been out for a year and promotional opportunities were dwindling.  Basically, I was burned out. (You may have noticeda huge gap in blog entries.) I wasn't even sure I wanted to be a writer anymore.

So I made a momentous decision. I would quit writing for a year, with te alternate goal of reading one book each week (on average) in 2009.

For three months, I followed this plan to the letter, but then something strange happened. I began to miss writing.

It started as a little niggling in the back of my mind, but the more I pushed writing away, the more insistent it became. Finally, one day, lying on the floor of the nursey playing with my then 9-month-old daughter, I had an idea.

I sat bolt upright, startling Celeste, as the details began to fill in. It was a character — the heroine (for a few minutes, she was a he) was a paranormal investigator who didn't have any magical powers. Who was she? Where did she live? Did she have any romantic interests? The ideas began to snowball until Celeste finally went down for her nap and I could type them out properly.

Over the next two months, with no goals, no BIC requirements, and no pressure, I outlined my entire 4-book series. Then, again without any pressure, I began to write.

Book one literally spilled from my fingertips. I have never in my life been so actively engaged in a book. It drove me. I wrote thousands of words a day and had a draft of it in less than a month, a draft worth of critique a month after that.

Then do you know what I did? I sent it off to my readres and went back to reading books. At least one a week (usually more to make up for my 4-month gap).

By the end of 2009, not only had I read more than 50 books, but I had a complete, marketable novel and an early draft of its sequel. (The sequel is currently out with critiquers.)

Do I have a point? Yes — I'm getting there!

Creativity stiffles when you try to force it. If you're meant to be a writer, then you're going to write. The story won't let you do anything else. That's not to say that BIC doesn't have its place (especially in the editing and marketing phases), but there has to be a balcne. Writing a novel is not a fully quantitative process. Word count goals are meaningless if the worrds coming out are crap.

One of the 50+ books I read was "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron. I love the ideas she had for learning to enjoy life and to reignite that creative spark. I intend to use some of her suggestions as I put together some ideas on creativity — what it is, where it comes from, and how to unlock it.

Stay tuned!

Paranormal Series Moving Along

I finished a solid draft of "Songbird," the second book in my Paranormal Mystery series. Since I Only came up with the concept about this time last year, I feel like I'm making excellent progress and best of all, I'm still excited about the story. (When I'm not having the usual author doubts….you know the ones I mean.) My biggest challenge right now is secret pacing. There are a lot of things I'm excited for the reader to learn but I need to find the right balance between revealing enough to keep the reader interested and revealing so much that there's no longer any point to finishing. I'm beginning to think I'm not very good at keeping secrets because my bubbling tendency is to spill all.

While Songbird is getting its behind kicked by some kind peer reviewers, I am going agent shopping for its prequel, Kiss of Death. I'll be querying a lot of agents, but what I really need is one who not only likes fantasy, but also mystery and romance.It may be a tough sell to the romance crowd since the love story takes all 4 books to resolve, but IMO, that is still its primary classification. It's a love story. It's also a fantasy, a mystery, and a coming of age story.

Read an E-Book Week

It's Read an E-Book Week (March 7-13th), which means that several places are offering terrific discounts on e-books. Touch of Fate is less than $2 at Barnes and Noble right now (I haven't seen it cheaper). If you were thinking about buying an e-book, this is the time to do it!