Chris d'Lacey's Blog, page 5
January 8, 2012
This week's word is: SORRY!
Dragon fans! The author is desperately hard at work reading the proofs of the US edition of The Fire Ascending (and I am helping him, of course), but expect a proper blog post tomorrow. In the meantime, here are a couple of pictures taken at a recent school visit to the brilliant St Peter's in Gloucestershire. Hrrr!
January 1, 2012
This week's word is: HAPPY
As in New Year! Happy New Year, dragon fans. We hope that 2012 will bring all your hopes and wishes to fulfilment. The author does not make resolutions, simply because he forgets them within a few days! We have a resolution, though. And that is to bring you the best book of the Chronicles so far. THE FIRE ASCENDING is well on course for publication in the Spring. We all know it will be the last in the series, of course, but I can tell you now that we are already working on new ideas with the author. One at least will involve dragons.
But for now, we know you like to see outtakes from the books, so we thought we'd show you a piece that was left out of TFA. You may remember that the author wrote a very long chapter that he decided to cut - but he didn't throw it away. It was all to do with Alexa summarising what had happened at the end of DARK FIRE and what happened next. We're not going to show you all of it. We'll leave some for another time (in other words, here comes one of our famous cliffhangers!) But this is a world exclusive for blog followers. This might appear in the US version of RAIN AND FIRE later this year. But right now, it's presented for you. So here's Alexa, talking about Scuffenbury Hill and quantum physics etc. She is one smart cookie! Until next time, happy reading. Hrrr!
Somewhere over the vale of Scuffenbury, four darklings were destroyed by my father and the brave companions who fought alongside him. One of them was the queen dragon, Gawaine, brought out of stasis by unicorn magicks. Although the queen lost her life in the course of the battle, the Ix:Cluster was plunged into the fire eternal. For one sweet blink of time, goodness reigned and a new light dawned across a troubled Earth. Humans were awoken to their Premen past. Guardian dragons were poised to return. This planet that had once been their breeding ground was adjusting its environment to cope with their impact. Victory seemed assured.
But the dark fire was now about to make its mark. A unicorn became infected with the evil. The Ix, far from being removed or transformed, tainted Gaia and rose as a Shadow from the core of the planet. I was all the while monitoring this. I could not prevent the advance of the Shadow, but I flew to Scuffenbury with a force that could: the writing dragon we called Gadzooks.
As we arrived, the Shadow was beginning to coalesce into some kind of physical form. It was too late to mount a challenge outright. We knew nothing of its strengths – or weaknesses, for that matter. But that did not prevent it from attacking us. It recognised the power Gadzooks could wield and sent out a spike of dark energy. The bolt struck his pencil and fused to it. But by then, Gadzooks had done his work. He had visited all possible outcomes of the battle and returned to write the one word the Ix could not cope with: 'sometimes'. The ambiguity of the word caused chaos within the Shadow. The battle stopped and the timepoint was suspended. The threat was not extinguished, merely checked. Help would be needed to defeat the Shadow.
A beacon was sent out across the universe.
Now, there was a strange, unexpected side-effect to this. Although the battle had taken place on Earth, the nexus covering the three linked worlds of Earth, the Fain dimension, Ki:mera, and the mirror world of Earth the Fain called 'Co:pern:ica' was suddenly tipped in favour of Co:pern:ica. My father saw what was going to happen just as Gadzooks was writing on his pad. I heard him warn my mother that 'things might be different'. And so they were. Our collective consciousness was dramatically switched to the Co:pern:ican dimension, a place where we all had a very different presence. For a contemporaneous period of time our awareness would focus on a slightly altered state of existence. This affected everyone connected to Gadzooks, but only he and I were fully aware of the shift. Even my father, so used to Travelling between worlds, would be slow to recollect his parallel life on Earth. In fact it was another member of our family who first began to work it out.
Arthur Merriman, Elizabeth's partner on Earth, was a professor of physics at the nearby university. He was an intelligent, thoughtful man, admired by everyone, especially my mother, who had treated him as a confidante during the years my father was missing. Arthur himself had been the victim of an Ix attack. He had lost his sight when the dark thought-beings had invaded his mind, narrowly escaping neural failure. The natural world was gone from his eyes, but Arthur was not entirely blind. He could commingle with Bonnington and use the katt's sight as a visual aide. Mostly, however, he just looked inward.
In his quest to understand the workings of the universe, Arthur, like many physicists of his generation, was striving to come up with a 'theory of everything'. His favourite notion was that the universe was not one bubble of existence, but an infinite number of parallel universes (a 'multiverse') which our souls could jump between and even lead different lives therein. In Arthur's mind these universes were connected by consciousness and choice, though how it all worked was a puzzle to him.
In the garden at Wayward Crescent, he would sit me on the swing and talk about it. As he pushed me back and forth, he would muse about the unsolved laws of creation, which centred around his favourite subject: a branch of physics he called 'quantum mechanics'. In his mind, he was never really talking to me (at least he didn't think he was talking to me), just using me as an object to bounce his ideas off. He would say, for instance, "For all we know, Lexie, when the swing is in my hands you are in one universe, and when it flies away from me you enter another. If you giggle, then you enter a different world again. If you scream as you lose your balance, another. It's what I call 'the apple in the fruit bowl' hypothesis. If you pick up the apple, you've entered that timeline and all of its possible consequences. But what happens when you throw away the apple core, for instance? Is it picked up by a bird? Does a pip fall onto soil and become a new tree? Does it just rot away? If you walk past the bowl then none of this happens – or does it? Do those options with the apple core already exist within the multiverse – or do we create each event according to desire?"
Little did Arthur know that I understood his hypothesis fully. But the limitations of Alexa's vocabulary, plus the Higher's ruling that I should stay 'hidden', meant I could not explain things to him. If I could have spoken freely, I would have told him that the nexus we were on was a small-scale example of his multiverse model. Earth and Co:pern:ica were parallel worlds linked through the Fain dimension, Ki:mera. What is there to know about Ki:mera? Nothing that can be easily explained in words. Ki:mera was more of a concept than a place. A state of being that humans, in their search to understand themselves, unknowingly aspired to. A state completely free of physical boundaries. Happiness defined by creative expression.
Purity of being.
Is-ness.
Is.
Yet despite this seemingly idyllic condition, the Fain had a strange, paradoxical weakness. Having evolved from the shackles of physical form, bizarrely they yearned to experience it again.
So it came to be that the Higher descended through the energy planes and commingled on Earth with many different forms of life (often causing leaps in the chain of evolution). At this time, dragons were the dominant species. The planet was a volatile, changing place but there was little to challenge the dragons' superiority. The Fain looked upon dragons and saw that they were good. In them lay the pathway to complete fulfilment. By combining with a dragon's inner spirit or fire, they could experience illumination.
But it wasn't easy. Commingling with the auma of a low-vibrational neighbour species – a bird, for instance – was simple; the dragons proved more resistant. It was dangerous enough to attempt to combine with their physical body (like a child at the controls of a space shuttle, Arthur used to say), but their fire was almost impossible to bridge. That required the dragon's total compliance. Many Fain were 'extinguished' in the earliest attempts, though that simply increased their desire to succeed.
And there was a growing complication. At the time that dragons ruled the blue planet, the Earth was sustaining its first full wave of a strongly-evolving biped species. The new lifeforms had reached a rapid level of self-awareness and were starting to question their place in the universe. Their potential was nowhere near as great as dragons, but their dexterity with tools and their gift of solving problems appealed to the thought-beings nevertheless. In an experiment they hoped would close the gap with dragons, they attempted different methods of neural engagement. The evolutionary tree once again jumped a branch and a new breed of human called 'Premen' was born. It was from here that things began to go wrong.
Unlike dragons, the Premen showed a tendency towards competitive aggression. They desired not to share the Is, but control it. Their combative instincts not only caused the Fain to retire from the project but had a disastrous consequence. The irreversible fusion of some units of Fain to some units of human resulted in a dark inversion of type. Fain with negative intent were created. They polluted the whole idea of the Is, even mocking the word itself.
They called themselves the Ix.
The rise of the Ix sent ripples of fear throughout the fabric of the universe. The Higher were confused (and somewhat dismayed – a condition completely alien to them). Never before had their intellect been challenged or dangerously corrupted.
They had to act.
But for now, we know you like to see outtakes from the books, so we thought we'd show you a piece that was left out of TFA. You may remember that the author wrote a very long chapter that he decided to cut - but he didn't throw it away. It was all to do with Alexa summarising what had happened at the end of DARK FIRE and what happened next. We're not going to show you all of it. We'll leave some for another time (in other words, here comes one of our famous cliffhangers!) But this is a world exclusive for blog followers. This might appear in the US version of RAIN AND FIRE later this year. But right now, it's presented for you. So here's Alexa, talking about Scuffenbury Hill and quantum physics etc. She is one smart cookie! Until next time, happy reading. Hrrr!
Somewhere over the vale of Scuffenbury, four darklings were destroyed by my father and the brave companions who fought alongside him. One of them was the queen dragon, Gawaine, brought out of stasis by unicorn magicks. Although the queen lost her life in the course of the battle, the Ix:Cluster was plunged into the fire eternal. For one sweet blink of time, goodness reigned and a new light dawned across a troubled Earth. Humans were awoken to their Premen past. Guardian dragons were poised to return. This planet that had once been their breeding ground was adjusting its environment to cope with their impact. Victory seemed assured.
But the dark fire was now about to make its mark. A unicorn became infected with the evil. The Ix, far from being removed or transformed, tainted Gaia and rose as a Shadow from the core of the planet. I was all the while monitoring this. I could not prevent the advance of the Shadow, but I flew to Scuffenbury with a force that could: the writing dragon we called Gadzooks.
As we arrived, the Shadow was beginning to coalesce into some kind of physical form. It was too late to mount a challenge outright. We knew nothing of its strengths – or weaknesses, for that matter. But that did not prevent it from attacking us. It recognised the power Gadzooks could wield and sent out a spike of dark energy. The bolt struck his pencil and fused to it. But by then, Gadzooks had done his work. He had visited all possible outcomes of the battle and returned to write the one word the Ix could not cope with: 'sometimes'. The ambiguity of the word caused chaos within the Shadow. The battle stopped and the timepoint was suspended. The threat was not extinguished, merely checked. Help would be needed to defeat the Shadow.
A beacon was sent out across the universe.
Now, there was a strange, unexpected side-effect to this. Although the battle had taken place on Earth, the nexus covering the three linked worlds of Earth, the Fain dimension, Ki:mera, and the mirror world of Earth the Fain called 'Co:pern:ica' was suddenly tipped in favour of Co:pern:ica. My father saw what was going to happen just as Gadzooks was writing on his pad. I heard him warn my mother that 'things might be different'. And so they were. Our collective consciousness was dramatically switched to the Co:pern:ican dimension, a place where we all had a very different presence. For a contemporaneous period of time our awareness would focus on a slightly altered state of existence. This affected everyone connected to Gadzooks, but only he and I were fully aware of the shift. Even my father, so used to Travelling between worlds, would be slow to recollect his parallel life on Earth. In fact it was another member of our family who first began to work it out.
Arthur Merriman, Elizabeth's partner on Earth, was a professor of physics at the nearby university. He was an intelligent, thoughtful man, admired by everyone, especially my mother, who had treated him as a confidante during the years my father was missing. Arthur himself had been the victim of an Ix attack. He had lost his sight when the dark thought-beings had invaded his mind, narrowly escaping neural failure. The natural world was gone from his eyes, but Arthur was not entirely blind. He could commingle with Bonnington and use the katt's sight as a visual aide. Mostly, however, he just looked inward.
In his quest to understand the workings of the universe, Arthur, like many physicists of his generation, was striving to come up with a 'theory of everything'. His favourite notion was that the universe was not one bubble of existence, but an infinite number of parallel universes (a 'multiverse') which our souls could jump between and even lead different lives therein. In Arthur's mind these universes were connected by consciousness and choice, though how it all worked was a puzzle to him.
In the garden at Wayward Crescent, he would sit me on the swing and talk about it. As he pushed me back and forth, he would muse about the unsolved laws of creation, which centred around his favourite subject: a branch of physics he called 'quantum mechanics'. In his mind, he was never really talking to me (at least he didn't think he was talking to me), just using me as an object to bounce his ideas off. He would say, for instance, "For all we know, Lexie, when the swing is in my hands you are in one universe, and when it flies away from me you enter another. If you giggle, then you enter a different world again. If you scream as you lose your balance, another. It's what I call 'the apple in the fruit bowl' hypothesis. If you pick up the apple, you've entered that timeline and all of its possible consequences. But what happens when you throw away the apple core, for instance? Is it picked up by a bird? Does a pip fall onto soil and become a new tree? Does it just rot away? If you walk past the bowl then none of this happens – or does it? Do those options with the apple core already exist within the multiverse – or do we create each event according to desire?"
Little did Arthur know that I understood his hypothesis fully. But the limitations of Alexa's vocabulary, plus the Higher's ruling that I should stay 'hidden', meant I could not explain things to him. If I could have spoken freely, I would have told him that the nexus we were on was a small-scale example of his multiverse model. Earth and Co:pern:ica were parallel worlds linked through the Fain dimension, Ki:mera. What is there to know about Ki:mera? Nothing that can be easily explained in words. Ki:mera was more of a concept than a place. A state of being that humans, in their search to understand themselves, unknowingly aspired to. A state completely free of physical boundaries. Happiness defined by creative expression.
Purity of being.
Is-ness.
Is.
Yet despite this seemingly idyllic condition, the Fain had a strange, paradoxical weakness. Having evolved from the shackles of physical form, bizarrely they yearned to experience it again.
So it came to be that the Higher descended through the energy planes and commingled on Earth with many different forms of life (often causing leaps in the chain of evolution). At this time, dragons were the dominant species. The planet was a volatile, changing place but there was little to challenge the dragons' superiority. The Fain looked upon dragons and saw that they were good. In them lay the pathway to complete fulfilment. By combining with a dragon's inner spirit or fire, they could experience illumination.
But it wasn't easy. Commingling with the auma of a low-vibrational neighbour species – a bird, for instance – was simple; the dragons proved more resistant. It was dangerous enough to attempt to combine with their physical body (like a child at the controls of a space shuttle, Arthur used to say), but their fire was almost impossible to bridge. That required the dragon's total compliance. Many Fain were 'extinguished' in the earliest attempts, though that simply increased their desire to succeed.
And there was a growing complication. At the time that dragons ruled the blue planet, the Earth was sustaining its first full wave of a strongly-evolving biped species. The new lifeforms had reached a rapid level of self-awareness and were starting to question their place in the universe. Their potential was nowhere near as great as dragons, but their dexterity with tools and their gift of solving problems appealed to the thought-beings nevertheless. In an experiment they hoped would close the gap with dragons, they attempted different methods of neural engagement. The evolutionary tree once again jumped a branch and a new breed of human called 'Premen' was born. It was from here that things began to go wrong.
Unlike dragons, the Premen showed a tendency towards competitive aggression. They desired not to share the Is, but control it. Their combative instincts not only caused the Fain to retire from the project but had a disastrous consequence. The irreversible fusion of some units of Fain to some units of human resulted in a dark inversion of type. Fain with negative intent were created. They polluted the whole idea of the Is, even mocking the word itself.
They called themselves the Ix.
The rise of the Ix sent ripples of fear throughout the fabric of the universe. The Higher were confused (and somewhat dismayed – a condition completely alien to them). Never before had their intellect been challenged or dangerously corrupted.
They had to act.
December 25, 2011
This week's word is: TREAT!
Happy Christmas, dragon fans! There is only one thing on the agenda today - an extract from THE FIRE ASCENDING. Just click on the link at the top of the blog and you'll go straight to it. The author is enjoying what he calls some 'pipe and slippers' time today i.e. no writing. But the dragons are always here to serve.
Have a lovely Christmas and we'll be back in the New Year. Until then, happy reading!
HRRR!
Have a lovely Christmas and we'll be back in the New Year. Until then, happy reading!
HRRR!
December 19, 2011
This week's word is: BIRTHDAY
Hello, dragon fans. It might seem hard to believe, but the author was 57 this week. He thinks he's getting old, of course. But in dragon years, he'd barely be out of his egg! He wants me to thank everyone who wished him happy birthday, both on twitter and via the website. He says you all got the day wrong (basically, never believe anything you read on Wikipedia). We'll leave you to work out the exact date for yourselves. We're not telling. Among the cards he received was one from his Aunt (not Aunt Gwyneth, we hasten to add) who sent him two old photographs. One of him when he was six, and one of his mother and father, which is sitting on his desktop as we blog. We did think we might put the mum and dad one up, but plumped in the end for the young author - here he is... Cute or what? Weird haircut... As for presents. Well, we gave him a conker in its shell that G'reth had found in the garden. Mrs Author bought him his new computer and a DVD of a TV series called 'Rev'. Mrs Author's mother bought him a coconut bar that we in England know as a 'Bounty'. But possibly the best present came from a friend, and that was a remote-controlled helicopter! Guess who hasn't done any kind of writing since his birthday? In all honesty, we didn't really expect him to be scribbling stories while we're waiting for the proofs of THE FIRE ASCENDING to come in for checking, but it's a good job it wasn't deadline week this week! Everyone is having to learn to duck expertly when the thing comes near. The last I saw, it was buried somewhere in the boughs of the Christmas tree with smoke pouring out of its engine...ahem. So, next week is Christmas Day. Tune in then for an extract from the book! Those of you with very long memories might remember it began, "I was a boy of 12 when I watched a dragon die..." And it's not David doing the watching - it's Agawin. All will be revealed next week. Until then, happy reading. Hrrr! 
December 12, 2011
This week's word is: SCREENPLAY
Hello, dragon fans. Please accept our sincere apologies for the lack of a blog post yesterday. The author has bought a new computer, which he insisted on trying to set up himself. It seemed to take rather a lot longer than the manual described. Of course, if he'd allowed Gwendolen to do it there wouldn't have been a problem. Some people never learn...
First, we have to say a big hello to all our new fans in Oakham and Leicester and thank the lovely librarians, Lucy and Henrietta respectively, for inviting the author into their schools. Both events went extremely well. The charming Marcus Sedgwick, whose books we like, was at Oakham School.
Amongst the many questions the author was asked at the schools was, 'Now that you've finished the dragon books, what are you going to do next?' This was also a popular question at the Orchard Christmas party in London last Tuesday. The truth is, we're not really sure. I have scribbled down a few ideas to discuss with the author over the Christmas period. One project under consideration is a proper prequel to The Fire Within. Regular blog followers will know that The Dragons of Wayward Crescent series was supposed to collectively form a prequel, but for some reason those books never took off, and it now seems they will be limited to just four. A prequel would be excellent, but it may not happen just yet.
No, the only consistent reply the author has made to the 'what next?' question is this: "I'm going to write a screenplay." Over the years, so many of you have written in wondering why we've never made a movie from the books. Well, it's not quite as easy as you think. First, a producer has to register their interest. This has happened in the past, but no one seems to quite know how to go about filming the books - but we think we do. We believe we should miss out TFW altogether and basically film ICEFIRE, cherry-picking some scenes from later in the series. We think we'd start with the sequence in DARK FIRE where Bergstrom discovers dragontongue in a cave on the Hella Glacier, then cut to David at Wayward Crescent, just before he meets Zanna at college. Sadly, Sophie probably wouldn't be in the movie. But you can't have everything.
First, we have to say a big hello to all our new fans in Oakham and Leicester and thank the lovely librarians, Lucy and Henrietta respectively, for inviting the author into their schools. Both events went extremely well. The charming Marcus Sedgwick, whose books we like, was at Oakham School.
Amongst the many questions the author was asked at the schools was, 'Now that you've finished the dragon books, what are you going to do next?' This was also a popular question at the Orchard Christmas party in London last Tuesday. The truth is, we're not really sure. I have scribbled down a few ideas to discuss with the author over the Christmas period. One project under consideration is a proper prequel to The Fire Within. Regular blog followers will know that The Dragons of Wayward Crescent series was supposed to collectively form a prequel, but for some reason those books never took off, and it now seems they will be limited to just four. A prequel would be excellent, but it may not happen just yet.
No, the only consistent reply the author has made to the 'what next?' question is this: "I'm going to write a screenplay." Over the years, so many of you have written in wondering why we've never made a movie from the books. Well, it's not quite as easy as you think. First, a producer has to register their interest. This has happened in the past, but no one seems to quite know how to go about filming the books - but we think we do. We believe we should miss out TFW altogether and basically film ICEFIRE, cherry-picking some scenes from later in the series. We think we'd start with the sequence in DARK FIRE where Bergstrom discovers dragontongue in a cave on the Hella Glacier, then cut to David at Wayward Crescent, just before he meets Zanna at college. Sadly, Sophie probably wouldn't be in the movie. But you can't have everything.
December 4, 2011
This week's word is: TEXAS
Hello, dragon fans. This is the author, Chris d'Lacey, here. Gadzooks is having a sleep. He's been working his scales off all weekend to finish the final edits for THE FIRE ASCENDING. It is DONE. YES! Tomorrow it goes off to my editor at Orchard books and the publication process for the UK edition begins. It's expected on April 1st 2012. Next up will be some tweaks for the US edition. There are always a few changes that have to be made for the American market because I'm British, of course, and I write that way. I have an excellent team in New York who prepare the text for the US and I expect to be liaising with them soon. I know they are very excited to see the new book. If you're reading this guys, get ready - it's a good one.
You must be wondering about the header by now. Well, some weeks ago, Zookie put up a post which promised news of another trip to America. And here it is. I've been invited to go and speak at a librarians' conference in Texas in April next year. This is very exciting for several reasons. First, it will be great to be back in the USA. Last time I was in New York & Washington, which was fabulous. BUt I have always wanted to visit the deep south. I like country music (the hard-edged kind) and would love to visit a honky tonk bar! In fact, I've already polished my cowboy boots in readiness! I knew some cowboys once who played in a band called 'Lore and the Legends'. I asked one of them what Texas was like and he said, "Hotter than dog s-" Well, I won't continue that sentence. I'll be sure to take my sun block, don't worry. On a more literary note, librarians are fantastic people to talk to because books are their life. I always enjoy meeting large groups of them. And it's perfect timing for the release of TFA. Plenty of promotional opportunities! And...get this. I've been asked to appear on a panel with none other than Christopher Paolini, author of Eragon and most recently Inheritance. How cool is that? What will Zookie make of him, I wonder?
Honestly, I'm really looking forward to meeting CP. I have to confess, I've only read book one of the Inheritance cycle. I didn't stop there because I didn't like it, but because I rarely have the time to read much anyway (and they are BIGGGG books). We are very different writers, of course, though fans of Christopher's work will probably love the opening 20,000 words of TFA, which is pure fantasy genre. I read a few reviews of Inheritance on the net and was disappointed to see that some fans were unhappy with the ending. I was worried about this for TFA. Readers who've followed a series this long (nearly 12 years!!) have great expectations, and rightly so. All I can say is, an author will only write what they feel works. The final few parts of TFA are brief - and unusual - but they do explain an awful lot. And they're very moving. I hope you'll all be happy with it. I know I am - and Zookie is too. Until next time, happy reading. Hrrr!
You must be wondering about the header by now. Well, some weeks ago, Zookie put up a post which promised news of another trip to America. And here it is. I've been invited to go and speak at a librarians' conference in Texas in April next year. This is very exciting for several reasons. First, it will be great to be back in the USA. Last time I was in New York & Washington, which was fabulous. BUt I have always wanted to visit the deep south. I like country music (the hard-edged kind) and would love to visit a honky tonk bar! In fact, I've already polished my cowboy boots in readiness! I knew some cowboys once who played in a band called 'Lore and the Legends'. I asked one of them what Texas was like and he said, "Hotter than dog s-" Well, I won't continue that sentence. I'll be sure to take my sun block, don't worry. On a more literary note, librarians are fantastic people to talk to because books are their life. I always enjoy meeting large groups of them. And it's perfect timing for the release of TFA. Plenty of promotional opportunities! And...get this. I've been asked to appear on a panel with none other than Christopher Paolini, author of Eragon and most recently Inheritance. How cool is that? What will Zookie make of him, I wonder?
Honestly, I'm really looking forward to meeting CP. I have to confess, I've only read book one of the Inheritance cycle. I didn't stop there because I didn't like it, but because I rarely have the time to read much anyway (and they are BIGGGG books). We are very different writers, of course, though fans of Christopher's work will probably love the opening 20,000 words of TFA, which is pure fantasy genre. I read a few reviews of Inheritance on the net and was disappointed to see that some fans were unhappy with the ending. I was worried about this for TFA. Readers who've followed a series this long (nearly 12 years!!) have great expectations, and rightly so. All I can say is, an author will only write what they feel works. The final few parts of TFA are brief - and unusual - but they do explain an awful lot. And they're very moving. I hope you'll all be happy with it. I know I am - and Zookie is too. Until next time, happy reading. Hrrr!
November 27, 2011
This week's word is: ANNE
Hello, dragon fans. The author was saddened this week to learn of the death of the novelist Anne McCaffrey, who passed away at home, in Ireland, at the age of 85. If you're wondering who this lady is, then you clearly haven't read her books. The author is often asked if he can recommend other novels or another series of books for his fans to read. And while he will frequently point them in the way of Tolkien or the two Philips Reeve & Pullman, or even Patrick Ness and Jonathan Stroud, when it comes to dragons it's either Christopher Paolini, of course, or the wonderful Anne McCaffrey. Waaay back before Eragon was finding dragon eggs, Anne McC was writing fantastic books about a planet she called 'Pern'. Does that name ring any bells? Remember the alternative planet in Fire World, Co:pern:ica? This was inspired by the scientist, Copernicus. But there was also a nod in there to Anne McC. The author read most of her novels shortly after marrying Mrs Author, who was a huge SF fan. The books are a kind of science fiction/fantasy cross. Most of them have the word 'dragon' in the title (Dragonsong, Dragonflight, The White Dragon etc.) A good one to begin with is Dragonsdawn, which tells how Pern was colonized by settlers from Earth. Pern is a lush, glorious planet full of vegetation, but is under threat from something called 'Thread', these are spores that fall from space like rain and destroy organic matter. The only things that can combat Thread are fire lizards. They can burn the spores (and do a heck of a lot more as well). Realising the lizards themselves are not enough to protect the planet, the colonizing scientists genetically upgrade them into full blown dragons. These dragons are ridden by humans who can bond with them telepathically, hence giving the major series its memorable name: The Dragonriders of Pern. If you haven't read any of these books and you're stuck for something one day, pop into your local library and ask to borrow one. They're probably most suited to 'young adults'.
Talking of libraries, you perhaps remember that a couple of weeks ago the author visited Teignmouth Community College to open the new library in the primary school. If anyone from TCC is reading this, hello! It was a lovely morning, thank you. And the new library was brilliant. I thought for one moment it might all go horribly wrong when the author produced a piece of genuine dragon scale and invited a boy up from the audience to touch it. As any dragon enthusiast will know, touching dragon skin when you're not used to it is liable to set your hair on fire. Fortunately, the boy survived with nothing more than warm hands and intriguing memories. The author only allowed him to touch the scale briefly, which made the boy go 'ooh'. People have since told us the boy has been seen in school with steam coming out of his ears, but we don't believe a word of it... (a-hem).
You'll be pleased to hear that editing on THE FIRE ASCENDING is 90% done. Just a few more tweaks then off to the printer it goes. The author was asked on Twitter if he'd put up a picture of the cover. Click on the link at the top of the page you'll go straight to it. Very soon, we'll put up a piece of sample text, but this will have to be approved by the publisher first. In the meantime, here's a pic of our hero at Teignmouth, showing where ideas come from - a pinboard behind his head! Until next time. Happy reading. Hrrr!
In the novel, Dragonsdawn, Pern was colonized by settlers originally from Earth, First Base on the Moon, and the colony at Alpha Centauri. These people had lived in a technocratic society recovering from a war with an alien race. The colony was led by Admiral Paul Benden and Governor Emily Boll, who had both been key leaders in the war. The 6,000 colonists wanted to return to an agrarian society with a low level of technology so badly that they were prepared to take a fifteen-year one-way journey to an isolated part of the galaxy.[1]
Less than a decade after the first colony was established, the settlers discovered that their chosen planet was subject to periodic attack from space by the destructive Thread, a spaceborne spore that destroys organic substances on contact. This was responsible for the mysterious bare circles noted in the EEC report.[1] Unable to retreat from the peril, the settlers developed methods of combating the Thread. A small indigenous lifeform, the Fire-Lizard, was discovered with remarkable adaptations against Thread: flight, teleportation, limited telepathy, and the ability to chew phosphine rock and generate bursts of flame. (McCaffrey explored another of her favourite themes, biological manipulation, using it as a plot device to allow the colonists to battle Thread.)
Kitti Ping, a scientist trained in genetic manipulation by the Eridani, genetically "upgraded" these into full-sized flame-breathing telepathic dragons, who were able to sear the Thread before it could fall to the ground. Dragonriders became a vitally important and highly respected profession, especially after a mass migration to the northern continent, where they lived in Weyrs, and, as time progressed, the settlers forgot their Terran origins.
Talking of libraries, you perhaps remember that a couple of weeks ago the author visited Teignmouth Community College to open the new library in the primary school. If anyone from TCC is reading this, hello! It was a lovely morning, thank you. And the new library was brilliant. I thought for one moment it might all go horribly wrong when the author produced a piece of genuine dragon scale and invited a boy up from the audience to touch it. As any dragon enthusiast will know, touching dragon skin when you're not used to it is liable to set your hair on fire. Fortunately, the boy survived with nothing more than warm hands and intriguing memories. The author only allowed him to touch the scale briefly, which made the boy go 'ooh'. People have since told us the boy has been seen in school with steam coming out of his ears, but we don't believe a word of it... (a-hem).
You'll be pleased to hear that editing on THE FIRE ASCENDING is 90% done. Just a few more tweaks then off to the printer it goes. The author was asked on Twitter if he'd put up a picture of the cover. Click on the link at the top of the page you'll go straight to it. Very soon, we'll put up a piece of sample text, but this will have to be approved by the publisher first. In the meantime, here's a pic of our hero at Teignmouth, showing where ideas come from - a pinboard behind his head! Until next time. Happy reading. Hrrr!
In the novel, Dragonsdawn, Pern was colonized by settlers originally from Earth, First Base on the Moon, and the colony at Alpha Centauri. These people had lived in a technocratic society recovering from a war with an alien race. The colony was led by Admiral Paul Benden and Governor Emily Boll, who had both been key leaders in the war. The 6,000 colonists wanted to return to an agrarian society with a low level of technology so badly that they were prepared to take a fifteen-year one-way journey to an isolated part of the galaxy.[1]
Less than a decade after the first colony was established, the settlers discovered that their chosen planet was subject to periodic attack from space by the destructive Thread, a spaceborne spore that destroys organic substances on contact. This was responsible for the mysterious bare circles noted in the EEC report.[1] Unable to retreat from the peril, the settlers developed methods of combating the Thread. A small indigenous lifeform, the Fire-Lizard, was discovered with remarkable adaptations against Thread: flight, teleportation, limited telepathy, and the ability to chew phosphine rock and generate bursts of flame. (McCaffrey explored another of her favourite themes, biological manipulation, using it as a plot device to allow the colonists to battle Thread.)
Kitti Ping, a scientist trained in genetic manipulation by the Eridani, genetically "upgraded" these into full-sized flame-breathing telepathic dragons, who were able to sear the Thread before it could fall to the ground. Dragonriders became a vitally important and highly respected profession, especially after a mass migration to the northern continent, where they lived in Weyrs, and, as time progressed, the settlers forgot their Terran origins.
November 20, 2011
This week's word is: AFTERWARDS
Hello, dragon fans. There ought to be a sign in dragontongue for 'afterwards', just like there is for 'sometimes', but none of us know of one, probably because what comes after the completion of a big novel like THE FIRE ASCENDING is too predictable. After the writing, comes the edit...
Catherine, the author's UK editor, loved the book, particularly the opening sections, which we read again this afternoon. They are fab. You will be gripped, hrrr! But in the middle of the book was what we call in the business 'an information dump'. This was the author's fault, not mine. He thought that readers new to the series (at book seven!!) might want to know something about what had gone before, particularly DARK FIRE and FIRE WORLD. So he spent weeks putting together an interesting piece which explained what happened at Scuffenbury Hill and also went into considerable detail about the mirror world of Earth, Co:pern:ica. But when it came to the editorial read through, it was clear that this piece was slowing the pace too much. So the author, rather bravely, chopped out 6,000 words of the 10,000 he'd written, patched part four to part six with a new piece of writing, and now the book hums along evenly. But don't despair, dragon fans. The words that were edited out will be put on the notepad one day, possibly even before publication. Anyone keen to know why Co:pern:ica was created will get to read it here one day. Think of it as a 'bonus track'.
So of course we didn't post midweek because we were far too busy reading and tweaking. Sorry about that. (We're not answering much fan mail either for the same reasons.) But we can tell you that the book is shaping up to be really, really good. The author is particularly fond of the ending, which is very moving. Do David and Zanna get together? Of course they do - but not without a surprise or two. Is there a horrible cliffhanger? No. There's a little bit of intrigue, but no 'oh my goodness, now I'll have to wait another year to find out what happens...'. For us, the book ends on the perfect note. The whole series has been about two things: creativity, and the idea the dragons are real. The last few lines bring these concepts together beautifully. I can't tell you what they are, but we think you'll feel satisfied. And that's what matters.
So this week it's a bit more tweaking. Then there will probably be some edits for the US edition. Then...Christmas, and rest. After that...well, who knows. I will go on inspiring the author for as long as he wants to write. Will he write about dragons again...?
Possibly.
Until next time. Happy reading. Hrrr!
Catherine, the author's UK editor, loved the book, particularly the opening sections, which we read again this afternoon. They are fab. You will be gripped, hrrr! But in the middle of the book was what we call in the business 'an information dump'. This was the author's fault, not mine. He thought that readers new to the series (at book seven!!) might want to know something about what had gone before, particularly DARK FIRE and FIRE WORLD. So he spent weeks putting together an interesting piece which explained what happened at Scuffenbury Hill and also went into considerable detail about the mirror world of Earth, Co:pern:ica. But when it came to the editorial read through, it was clear that this piece was slowing the pace too much. So the author, rather bravely, chopped out 6,000 words of the 10,000 he'd written, patched part four to part six with a new piece of writing, and now the book hums along evenly. But don't despair, dragon fans. The words that were edited out will be put on the notepad one day, possibly even before publication. Anyone keen to know why Co:pern:ica was created will get to read it here one day. Think of it as a 'bonus track'.
So of course we didn't post midweek because we were far too busy reading and tweaking. Sorry about that. (We're not answering much fan mail either for the same reasons.) But we can tell you that the book is shaping up to be really, really good. The author is particularly fond of the ending, which is very moving. Do David and Zanna get together? Of course they do - but not without a surprise or two. Is there a horrible cliffhanger? No. There's a little bit of intrigue, but no 'oh my goodness, now I'll have to wait another year to find out what happens...'. For us, the book ends on the perfect note. The whole series has been about two things: creativity, and the idea the dragons are real. The last few lines bring these concepts together beautifully. I can't tell you what they are, but we think you'll feel satisfied. And that's what matters.
So this week it's a bit more tweaking. Then there will probably be some edits for the US edition. Then...Christmas, and rest. After that...well, who knows. I will go on inspiring the author for as long as he wants to write. Will he write about dragons again...?
Possibly.
Until next time. Happy reading. Hrrr!
November 13, 2011
This week's word is: FINISHED!
Hello, dragon fans. Yes, you read that correctly. Barring editing, THE FIRE ASCENDING came to a close at 22:23 hours tonight (UK time). Unedited, it is 108,465 words long. The author, not surprisingly, needs to sleep. And so do I, zzzzz. But there will be a full report midweek, we promise. For now, know that the seventh book is done. April/May next year for its release. Happy zedding- I mean, reading. Hrrr!
November 10, 2011
Today's word is: MANFLU
Hello, dragon fans. Forgive the lack of a blog post on Sunday. The author was suffering from 'man flu', commonly known as 'a cold'. As any woman out there will know, this is a serious condition, for which even Gretel does not have a cure. The only remedy is time and a truck load of tissues. However, despite him saying he felt like he had a basketball stuffed in his head all weekend, he still valiantly wrote over 10,000 words last week (amazing for him) and FINISHED the main part of THE FIRE ASCENDING. There is now just a series epilogue to go (about 2000 words)and that's it. More about this on Sunday, plus an exciting announcement of a new visit to America next April... Until then, happy reading. Hrrr!
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