L.D. Whitney's Blog
May 31, 2022
May Adventure News
Man, it's been a hell of a month. I've been sick twice in the span of a few weeks, my allergies are going full bore, and on top of that, it's the busiest time of year at work. I'll be honest, I haven't had a lot of time to write between all that. That said, I have written a little bit. Mostly on this one scene that is going me no end of trouble. Regardless, I've still been keeping a list of Adventure related news stories for inspiration. Hope you enjoy!
The search for the lost British ship, HMS Gaspee, will resume off the coast of Rhode Island in July. Stay tuned!
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/search-hms-gaspee-british-ship-torched-by-colonists-1772/
Documents from Mali's ancient kingdom of Timbuku has been preserved and put on display via an online database.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-60689699
A massive sinkhole in China has been discovered, revealing a hidden forest deep within the pit.
Fans of Jeremy Wade of "River Monster's" fame won't find any surprises here. Fisherman pulled a giant stingray forth from the murky waters of the Mekong River in Cambodia.
Anthropologist Gregory Forth has released a new book, "Between Ape and Human", that discusses the existence of the mysterious human ancestor (or maybe not?) Homo Floresiensis, aka "Hobbits".
45 years after it's launch, the Voyager 1 has sent back "mystery data" from the far reaches of space.
The buried remains of a young child dating to around 78,000 years ago has recently been discovered, making it the oldest human burial yet discovered in Africa.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/05/africa/burial-scn-africa-child/index.html
Scientists have discovered the imprints of "Ghost Fossils" in the sediments of ancient seas, giving us a better understanding of the resiliency of plankton in the face of Climate Change.
https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-discover-ghost-fossils-completely-unexpected/
"Dark Vector" is the first book in the NUMA Files series to release after the death of Adventure novelist Clive Cussler It was written in collaboration with author Graham Brown.
May 10, 2022
"Keeping it Simple" or How I Wrote a Novel I Love
I want to preface this the same way I preface all of my writing tips and discussions. I am a small press published author with only a single novel and a dozen short stories under my belt. I am not any kind of expert, and any writing advice I may have was spawned in the forge of personal experience. I sincerely hope that any reader may glean something useful from me and my ramblings.
When I first set out to write my novel "REMNANT", I only had a few vague ideas and a desire to create something that I would want to read. I suspect the vast majority of authors set out do just that.
I also imagine, a lot of them aren't exactly satisfied with their finished product either.
I am lucky, I think, that upon finishing "REMNANT" I was, and still am, insanely happy with my finished product. It turned out exactly how I wanted it to, at least more or less. I'll admit that some of the editing it went through while it transitioned from self-published to small press was not 100% to my liking, but I digress.
So, how did I do this? What advice or tips would I give to others who can't quite get to the place they want?
I think this is an extremely complex issue that can be approached from multiple perspectives. I actually started writing this yesterday, but had to take some time to reflect. After processing the question a bit (and pumping 1000+ words on a novel), I think I came up with the biggest key to my own personal enjoyment.
Keep it simple.
I reiterate, I am no expert on the craft of writing. I don't really think I even aspire to be. My only goal was to create something I thought was cool, at least at the time. If other people also thought it was cool, that's just icing on the cake. This is something I was consciously aware of when I set out to write my novel, and it guided me through the process. I am an avid reader of the Thriller genre which is known for sudden twists and trails of clues leading to some unguessed secret.
I LOVE THAT STUFF.
That said, I knew I was not prepared to write something of that scale or complexity. If I had attempted to write a twist-y turn-y Thriller a la Dan Brown, I would have failed miserably and perhaps never tried again. Instead, I made a simple list of things I had a deep passion about, things that I already had a decent understanding of. Basically a grocery list of my interests.
Prehistoric Animals Cannibals Jungle StuffThose three items were my starting point, and from there I built my plot. I knew that I wanted to feature two ice age animals fighting at least once in the book. That was my centerpiece. I wasn't 100% where cannibals fit in, but I knew I wanted to portray them as accurately as I could, as opposed to the stereotypical "Oh no, cannibals bad!" that you often see in related Pulp Material. For me, the "Jungle Stuff" was easy. I had previously read a ton of material relating to the Amazon and had dozens of ideas floating around in my head to cause trouble for my characters.
The next big hurdle was laying it out in a linear fashion. Having not read anything at all about when and where to place your plot beats, my gut told me that the at least one creature should be revealed somewhere within reach of the first quarter of the book. That gave me a goal. From there, I spread out pieces more or less evenly along a line, interspersing obstacles between major points.
Start--->Jungle Stuff--->Jungle Stuff--->Jungle Stuff--->Creature reveal
Unfortunately, that only got me 1/4 of the way to the end.
So, what's next?
Every good Thriller has at least one twist. Lucky for me, my centerpiece required not one, but TWO prehistoric animals in order for the aforementioned fight to happen.
--->Creature reveal--->TWIST!--->Creature Fight--->
Once my centerpiece happened at about 1/3 the way through, I understood that alone would not carry me to the end of a novel length work. That meant, at least to me, that I needed to introduce another villain. For the first portion I focused solely on the nature aspect, and I wanted to introduce a human element as well. In my mind, this constituted another twist. This would also provide me with a new set of obstacles to throw at my characters.
--->Creature reveal--->TWIST!--->Creature Fight--->TWIST!--->Obstacle--->Obstacle--->
I think you're seeing the pattern, here. It is admittedly a fairly linear plot that basically boils down to:
Step 1: Characters find something
Step 2: Things go South
Step 3: Characters escape
Just in case this inspires anyone to pick up "REMNANT", I'll not spoil the third act, but this sort of pattern basically repeats to the end.
So, I have a plot, but what about characters? For me, it is easiest to create characters after I know where the plot is going. I don't ever want to have more characters than a plot requires to function. I knew I wanted a female lead, and really liked the idea of sisters. I also knew I needed a catalyst for the adventure, and I needed a character to bridge the gap between my party and the jungle. I peppered a couple more minor characters, the human villain and a lifeline, alongside a few unnamed mooks to throw to the wolves, and BAM! This is a super simplified version of how I created my characters that completely ignores their arcs and motivations. This post is growing long in the tooth, and I fear I am straying from the point. I will no doubt come back to that for another post.
From there it was just a matter of putting the pieces in an order that made sense. I'm sure this all seems like it was very methodical and planned out, but I assure you it wasn't. This was all done on the fly, sans outline or notes, over the course of three months. That said, I hope you can see what I am getting at.
The recipe calls for ingredients that I am both relatively knowledgeable about AND extremely passionate about. The plot has few, if any, bells and whistles, being essentially a "there and back again" story. The most important piece, for me at least, was to maintain this simple set up. As a novice I was not prepared to tackle the inner-workings of anything more intricate.
I must say, there is also a genuine joy to writing by the seat of your pants. I'm not sure I'll ever do it again, but there is an undeniable sense of adventure to it. You get to discover things alongside your characters, and you get to experience the twists with them. I have sense moved on to outlining as I strive to grow the complexity of my plots, though not to the extent as some authors do. I know that outlines help productivity and output, but I can't completely forego my own personal sense of adventure.
After all, who am I writing for if not myself?
In truth, that might be key to the whole thing. Push thoughts of anyone and everyone else from your mind. Don't compare yourself to others, especially genre giants. It's easy to get caught up in questions and self-doubt. Trust me, that will only drag you down.
Start small, keep it simple, and focus on what makes YOU happy.
April 30, 2022
April Adventure Wrap-up
It's been a hell of a couple weeks. New Mexico is going full-bore with the dust and pollen. My seasonal allergies started out normal, but quickly ramped up in a sinus infection from which I am just now beginning to feel normal again. On top of that, there are at least three major wildfires in the state, with smoke filtering down on the wind. It's miserable and has made my mind a cloud of fog. There hasn't been any substantial writing done, since I've been focused on my basic functions and blowing my nose. Regardless, I've collected some tasty headlines that might serve as inspiration or at least be of interest to the other adventurers out there.
As I noted earlier this month, Darwin's missing notebooks have been returned to the Cambridge Library. Who stole them and for what purpose? The world may never know.https://www.npr.org/2022/04/10/1091927646/charles-darwins-notebooks-return-to-cambridge-after-being-missing-for-20-years
Archeologists have discovered an Egyptian Temple (in Egypt) baring the name of the Greek God Zeus, changing the notion that temples to the God only existed in Greece proper.
Scientists in Argentina have unearthed fossil evidence of a previously unknown raptor species, seemingly the largest dinosaur of its kind.
Physicists are able to explore chambers hidden within the Great Pyramid by following the paths of certain subatomic particle.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/muon-subatomic-particle-volcano-pyramid-physics
Archeologists in Guatemala have discovered fragments of a Mayan Calendar older than any previously found. SO old, in fact, the written Mayan language was still being developed.
For Earth Day, National Geographic and Disney partnered to release a wonderful documentary film called "The Last Tepui". It follows a teams of climbers, including Alex Honnold of "Free Solo" fame, as they attempt to collect samples of endemic frog species from the cliff face of on of Venezuela's famous Tepuis. It is available for steaming on Disney+.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/tv/shows/explorer-the-last-tepui
Archeologists have opened a human shaped coffin found beneath the burned ruins of the Notre Dame Cathedral, revealing the remains of a 14th Century Church Official.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sarcophagus-notre-dame-cathedral-mystery-opened/
Ancient bones found in a cave may reveal the reason that our human ancestors turned to cannibalism.
https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-made-neanderthals-cannibals-2019-4
Among the many wildfires plaguing the United States, the Tunnel Fire near Flagstaff, AZ has garnered my personal attention. I have had the pleasure of working with one of the Fire Archeologists aiding the firefighters in protecting important sites threatened by the blaze. Unfortunately, years of mismanaged forest, funding cuts, irresponsible humans, and unpredictable climate change means that large fires will continue to be part of our lives for the foreseeable future.
There have also been a couple entertainment releases that may be of interest.
Author Aaron Cummins has released his debut novel, "The Cartographer's Guild and the Search for the Jade Mask", on Amazon. The story follow the eponymous Guild on an Indiana Jones-esque 1930's style pulp adventure across Asia Minor. It is available for both Kindle and in Paperback.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09XS36HYR/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0
The film "Uncharted" based off the acclaimed video game series, starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg, is now available for purchase via Amazon. While miscast and a strange amalgamation of various game plots that leaves me curious about sequel intentions, this is still a fun adventure spectacle that is worth the price of admission.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09XS36HYR/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0
James Rollins has just released his newest entry in the Sigma Force series, "Kingdom of Bones". Fans of the author can expect the usual globe-trotting science thrills, with the added addition of favorite human/canine duo Tucker and Kane. You can find this title wherever books are sold.
That's it for April. I'm sure I missed some things, so if you know of an interesting topic, please feel free to leave a comment and drop a link. I'm feeling much better than I was at this time last week, so hopefully my fog will clear and allow for some good writing soon.
Good luck and Godspeed.
April 22, 2022
Earth Day Eco-Horror
As a child, my mother would regularly take me to a Nature Center/City Park in in Lincoln, Nebraska. Usually after a long day of shopping, as long as I was good. While there were swing sets and slides to play on, this wasn't just any park. It was also home to a herd of bison, a pair of elk, and numerous species of rescued birds, turtles, and snakes. Some of my most fond memories are sitting with mom at the top of the hill overlooking the bison paddock, eating ice cream that we got from the little roadside shop. With its acres of virgin and restored prairie, Pioneers Park truly is a refuge for nature in an otherwise wholly agricultural landscape.
These memories and experiences would be so powerful, that it would lead me to my first long-term career.
During college at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, I needed a summer job. I was tickled pink when I stumbled across a call for Camp Counselors for youth Summer Camp sponsored by Pioneers Park. When not a counselor, I was employed by the Land Management team as well. My time spent as a "Land Manager" remains one of the most influential eras of my life. While I already had a love of science and nature, working alongside the native flora and fauna at the park gave me a much more intimate relationship with world around me. Something that still colors my thoughts, actions, and even writing.
Today is Earth Day, a holiday that originated in 1970 as a way to bring attention to Environmental Protection. Sitting here at my computer, I don't feel like it has been much of a success. To tell you the truth, for me anyway, its almost a day of mourning. There is little that terrifies me more than the prospect of an ecologically devastated Earth. Between rising ocean temperatures, coral bleaching, pollution, drought, and humanity's apparent disinterest, it's hard for me to see any kind of turn around.
Ironically, one of my favorite sub-genres of horror is "Natural Horror", also called "Eco-Horror", where the scary stuff is derived from a natural source as opposed to man-made or supernatural. A lot of the time, these stories take place in exotic locales and bare some element of the Adventure genre I love. So as not to dwell on the current state of affairs, here are some of my favorite examples.
THE BIRDS by Daphne du Maurier
While Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 film is more widely recognized, the 1952 novelette is worthy of much more attention than it gets. While the film has obvious and lasting pop culture appeal, the short story is both deeper and more claustrophobic. Set entirely within the confines of a cabin on the coast (of Scotland, if memory serves) where an avid birdwatcher begins noticing changes in the behavior of his favorite birds. I won't spoil anything more since my guy says this piece is rather obscure now, but I highly suggest you give it a read. While likely intended as a metaphor for the London Bombings, it's also meant to symbolize man's helplessness in the face of natural disaster. Perhaps today, we can extend that to ecological disaster, as well.
THE RUINS by Scott Smith
The story of young people vacationing in Mexico that end up in a place they are not welcome. This sounds like the premise of so many cheesy horror films, but this book is so much more. While I imagine that Smith conceived the plot as sort of an homage to the ensemble casts of young attractive people that populate countless films, The Ruins takes itself deadly serious. The violence within these pages is unparalleled in twisted brutality. It is also notably dark with little humor or hope. This is a standout as it is one of the few quality examples that feature Carnivorous Plants, a favorite topic of mine.
JAWS by Peter Benchley
Again, we have a novel outshined by its seminal film counterpart. While the movie version is extremely faithful to Benchley's plot, the novel has a few notable differences. Something I think is an interesting note is that Benchley chose to focus almost entirely on Blue Collar men and women, showing a clear division, even contempt, between them and the White Collar vacationers. These feelings of animosity come to head with the conflict between the main character, who wants to warn the people, and the mayor, who wants to keep it under wraps so as not to scare away the big spenders. Jaws, both the book and film, have been shown as a major influence on how the public perceives sharks. Later in life, Benchley would come to regret the hand he played in this. He would go on to dedicate his time and energy in helping educate people on sharks and ocean conservation.
ARACHNOPHOBIA (film)
I don't like spiders. I completely recognize the role they play in our complex ecosystem, but that doesn't mean they aren't creepy as hell. In fact, they are so creepy, I have gone 34 years without recognizing that this arachnid infested film is actually a Dark Comedy. A house infested with spiders is something most people can relate to. Here in New Mexico, when the weather changes from Winter to Spring or from Fall to Winter, the insects and their ilk begin to move, usually through houses. I know they are simply searching for more habitable locations, but that doesn't mean they are exactly welcome. This film has numerous iconic scenes and standout performances, but John Goodman as the exterminator takes the cake. A notable detail is that the strange spiders that start this gross ball rolling are removed from their home atop a remote mountain in Venezuela. These spiders are prehistoric in origin and operate more like an ant-hive than solitary hunters. While fictional, this is a good example of the impact that invasive species, flora and fauna from one ecosystem brought to another, can have.
THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS (film)
This film, starring Val Kilmer and Michael Douglass, is based of the true story of the "Tsavo Man-Eaters" a pair of male lions that harassed and killed numerous members of a railroad crew in 1898. There are many theories as to why these lions stalked and killed humans, ranging from a viral outbreak to tooth injuries. Both lions were eventually killed and are now on display at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois. John Henry Patterson, one of the men responsible for slaying the beasts, wrote a semi-autobiographical novel about his experience aptly titled The Man-Eaters of Tsavo. Published in 1907, the book is a difficult read, but interesting for those interested in African Colonial history. In my mind, this tale serves as a warning that there can be deadly consequences when man encroaches on the territory of wild animals.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
GOZILLA (1954 film)
RAZORBACK (film)
PRIMEVAL (film)
SHIN GODZILLA (film)
AMAZONIA by James Rollins
ZOO by James Patterson
MIMIC (film)
Ultimately, the natural world is a scary place. There is no end of biological inspiration for terrifying adventures, and I'd like it to remain that way. Despite the scariness of it all, Nature is also full of beauty and wonder. The same wonder that filled me all those years ago, sitting with my mom. Maybe I'm over reacting, maybe I'm blowing this all out of proportion, but it hurts me to think younger generations might lose out on this. Zoos and aquariums are fine, but are merely substitutes that pale in comparison to the natural world. I'll admit that I am not an activist, fighting on the front lines. I also admit that environmental protection is a complex issue that effects people all over the world differently. That said, I strive to do what I can, whenever I can, no matter how small, to try and make the world a better place. And in the end, if I'm wrong and Climate Change isn't real, it won't matter. For me, the natural world is something worth fighting for.
April 14, 2022
Getting Weird
"Weird" is the application of various shades of the supernatural to otherwise normal settings. Bran Mak Morn in a normal Roman environment, but twisted a bit by the addition of the worms of the earth.
- Scott Oden, author of " Men of Bronze", "Memnon" & "A Gathering of Ravens"
It's no secret that I write in the "Pulp Tradition". I like fast paced, plot driven stories, filled with action, danger, and derring-do. I'm not a literary historian, but it's clear to me that a lot of this can be traced back to a handful of authors. There are your Lester Dents, your Robert E. Howards, and even your Doyle's, Burroughs, and Haggards. Within the works of the aforementioned authors you will find Conan, Tarzan, Doc Savage, sorcery, aliens, and dinosaurs.
You know, "Weird" stuff.
Pulp-style adventure has always gone hand-in-hand with the strange and even supernatural, albeit to varying degrees. Above, you'll find a definition and example of what I am referring to as scribed by author Scott Oden. The term "weird" itself, at least in this application, was born from the pulps as well, though I gather it is more often directly associated with certain types of horror, rather than adventure thrillers. Still, the definition rings true.
Look at Doc Savage, for example. Ignoring the fact that he is basically superman, an early story titled The Land of Terror, Doc and crew find themselves face to fist with living prehistoric monsters. In one of his most lauded tales, Fear Cay, Doc battles an immortal man kept alive via the Fountain of Youth.
"The shocking size of the horror was apparent. It bulged out of the steam like a tall house. It hopped on massive rear legs, balancing itself by a great tail, kangaroolike. The two forelegs were tiny in proportion—like short strings dangling. Yet those forelegs that seemed so small were thicker through by far than Doc Savage’s body!"
Dent evidently postulated that T-Rex hopped like a kangaroo.
Talk about “Weird”.
And Tarzan? The version most people are familiar with stems from the old black and white movies, or even *shudders* the Disney adaptation. These adaptations often put the spotlight on the romantic relationship between Tarzan and Jane, forgetting the other aspects of the character's adventures. The most famous example of what I would qualify as "Weird" is probably Opar, a lost civilization of degenerate ape men ruled by an evil queen. But let's not forget that the Lord of the Jungle also travels to an alternate dimension trapped inside our planet's crust.
Haggard's Alan Quartermain crosses paths with the supernatural on more than one occasion. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle basically invented the Lost World genre.
This relationship between "Pulp" and "Weird" continues into the modern day, as well. I'm not just talking about indie small-press Pulp-centric magazines either. I'm talking Big 5, New York Times Bestsellers here.
While perhaps the least "Weird" of my modern examples, Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt has had more than his fair share of strange encounters. Off the top of my head, he has battled robot samurai, discovered Atlantis (complete with actual unicorns), and unearthed Abraham Lincoln's corpse in Africa. Being as prolific as he was/is, many of those who follow in his footsteps carry on this tradition. But, as I said earlier, most of these adventures are only slightly more "Weird" than a James Bond plot. That being said, Doc Savage has been cited as the direct inspiration for the Characters in these books.
My favorite modern example is author James Rollins, who has never been ashamed of his Weird Fiction roots. In his debut novel, Subterranean, he takes readers on a journey through an underground world populated by marsupial dinosaurs and kangaroo people. Excavation treats us to a splinter group of Catholic monks plotting to resurrect Jesus using a sentient hive of alien nanobots trapped in a lost Incan city. The agents of Sigma Force encounter super soldiers psychically linked to giant hyenas, genetically modified intelligent gorillas (How many apes does Conan fight?), a tribe of women who procreate asexually, and deadly robots powered by human brains.
Perhaps not so coincidentally, Rollins also claims Doc Savage as inspiration.
There are others, of course. The prolific duo Preston & Child hit it big with Relic, a tale in which a scientist-turned-monster stalks people through the Chicago Museum of Natural History. David Wood's adventurers, Dane Maddock and Obediah "Bones" Bonebreak, have slain their fair share of cryptids and creatures over the course of their many adventures. Finch & Schutt combine speculative evolution with ancient animals. My first novel, Remnant, also sits humbly among this vast library.
But as time passed, what constitutes “Weird" made a shift. Where once the straight up supernatural was welcome, you'd be hard pressed to find it today. That's not to say it doesn't exist. Jeremey Robinson pits his heroes against mythological creatures in the modern day, even including THE Hercules as a recurring villain. These types of modern adventure thrillers, however, seem far and few between. As the world grew, learning more about the workings of the universe, of biology, chemistry, and physics, the "Weird" adapted, taking on a distinct scientific bent. Despite many of the outlandish plots one can find in these kinds of books, most of them paint their vivid pictures with a veneer of real science, however thin that may be. At this point, while there is no hard proof of their existence, aliens are more scientifically plausible than straight up sorcery.
If it's not obvious by now, I love this stuff. I love that by the application of "Weird", an adventure thriller can take on aspects of science fiction and horror. That's a perfect mix.
But the science makes it tough.
At least for me.
My current work in progress is very light on the weird. Some may argue it doesn't exist at all.
I wouldn't argue.
The reason being is that the science aspect takes research and understanding. I love science, probably why I dig on this aspect so much, but I don't get a lot of science. Now that many of the big names are writing full-time, I imagine they have more time in their schedules to do this kind of hard research. That's not to say my novels don't or won't contain scientific facts. They most assuredly do. But I have found it difficult to hammer out a plot that goes full-bore "Weird" and can maintain some kind of scientific plausibility.
In the meantime, I'm jotting down all kinds of ideas and notes in this worn out composition book beside me. I very much want to write something in the vein of Rollins and his kin, but I want to do it right. There's nothing quite like the feeling you get when an author's twist of science makes you begin to question your understanding of reality. I can’t think of another genre that is able to deliver that sort of thrill. I hypothesize that it stems from the concoction created by mixing real world settings, actual history (another topic for sure), ripped-from-the-headlines plots, and scientific ideas. I want to be able to provide that thrill.
And one day, I will.
But for now, I am perfectly content with working to provide the best adventure I possibly can, given the time and tools at my disposal.
April 7, 2022
Ripped from the Headlines
One of my favorite things about Thriller books is the feeling that any particular plot could be ripped straight from the headlines. Take this for example:
In 2001, a pair of notebooks penned by Charles Darwin, dubbed the "Tree of Life Notebooks," mysteriously disappeared from the Cambridge University Library. Originally thought to have been misplaced, it was soon discovered the journals had actually been stolen.
But why?
This is a true story. The conclusion of which prompted this post. On April 4, 2002, the notebooks were returned to the library, complete with a note from, presumably, the thief.
"Librarian
Happy Easter
X"
I imagine the thief snatched the journals simply because they could and returning them was something of a challenge. But what if that wasn't the case?
What if the journal contained something secret, something dire, or something that could change the world?
Perhaps Darwin discovered something locked within the mysteries of evolution that he knew the world wasn't ready for?
Maybe, he found irrefutable evidence of intelligent design?
What did the thief want with this knowledge?
What are they planning?
James Rollins, Dan Brown, if you're looking for an idea man (not that you need it) shoot me an email.
https://www.npr.org/2022/04/05/1091010338/charles-darwin-notebooks-cambridge-library
Shiver Me Timbers: Pirates of the Modern Day
I've been working hard on my next novel, tentatively titled SHIPWRECK (because I'm obsessed with aping Cussler). The writing is coming along well, having just broken a 6k word count. Essentially, that means I've been scraping out just over one thousand words every day this week. That feels good. I love the characters, I love the plot, and I love the research.
I'll be the first to admit that research slows my writing. I love research, I wouldn't be a history teacher or an archeologist if I didn't. But I also love writing, the actual act of getting the story on paper. That means I typically do both the writing and the research simultaneously. When I sit down to plot out a book, just like I did with REMNANT, I make sure I have enough background knowledge to get the gist of where I'm going. Then, when the need arises, I Google up the necessary details.
Early on in SHIPWRECK, the cast are introduced to a band of modern day pirates. The vast majority of my piracy expertise comes from four sources: the excellent series "Black Flag", "Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag (heh heh), "Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception", and "Uncharted 4: A Thief's End".
Only one of those deals with pirates of the present day.
As you can see, I am not well versed.
Going into this, I already knew a few key differences between the Pirates of yore, and those of today. First though, let me clarify that piracy is a profession as old as boats. When I'm talking about piracy in the past, I am speaking solely in regards to the form we most often associate with historical characters like Blackbeard, Jack Rackham, and Ann Bonney.
Piracy in the late 1600's and early 1700's is fascinating and complex in its own right. While we more often than not think of it taking place on the high seas, the vast majority actually took place on land. Of course, many pirates were turned to a life of crime due to circumstance, poverty, and greed, but there was also an idealism associated with it. Many pirates sought freedom, even a country of their own with a formal, albeit piratical, government. Historically, the largest effort to create such a rogue's paradise was centered around Nassau, in the Bahamas, between 1706 and 1718. This theme of a so-called "Pirate Republic" is heavily played upon in the fourth installment of the Assassin's Creed franchise. History also mentions the existence of a place called "Libertalia", usually in association with Madagascar. This is another example of a formal, free, Pirate State, though it is likely fictional. Libertalia is central to the plot of Uncharted 4, where it plays the role of a two-sided coin, one representing idealism, the other, greed.
Modern piracy is a different breed altogether.
The vast majority of piracy that takes place today is driven by grim necessity. Poverty in undeveloped, often war-torn, countries drives individuals to crime. Pirate gangs are not unlike street gangs in that they prey upon the young, weak, and disenfranchised. When thinking of pirates, thoughts of loot and treasure aren't far behind. Movies and fiction portray daring sea battles where pirates and sailors vie for golden doubloons. In today's iteration, the pirates are most often after ransom money. The idea is that they take ships, their crew and cargo, hostage and sell them back for a profit. That is, of course, not always the case, but appears to be a major trend. Somali pirates most often make the headlines, probably bolstered by the popular account of the Maersk Freighter Alabama as portrayed in the Tom Hanks film Captain Phillips. That said, piracy also happens regularly on Falcon Lake, a large body of water that divides Texas from Mexico, and in the Persian Gulf. However, the most frequent occurrences of piracy are in Indonesia, most often along the Straight of Malacca. SHIPWRECK is set in Indonesian waters, though I am fudging some and placing my pirates in the Solomon Sea east of Papua New Guinea.
It's fiction, after all.
Being an adventure writer steeped in pulp tradition, I will not be delving deeply into the sad truths behind modern piracy, though it will definitely make the Author Notes at the end.
The most useful information, as it pertains to the plot, is how ships deter pirates. Shipping is a global economic endeavor, and various countries around the world have very different views on gun control. As such, it is illegal for ships baring arms to enter a number of ports. This means that companies can do one of two things.
First, they could hire trained and licensed mercenaries to protect their ship. This is simple and effective. The pirates are just looking for a payday. They don't want a fight. The presence of armed men is a natural deterrent.
The second option is to go non-lethal. This, in my research, seems to be the most popular choice. Non-lethal deterrents range from the simple and conventional, such a razor wire and electrified railings, to the high tech. The most sophisticated deterrents are sonic weapons that use high frequency sound to cause intense pain and hearing damage. There has also been experiments with using high powered laser to blind pirates. There is even a handheld, rifle-esque version known as the Dazzler that uses directed radiation to cause temporary flash blindness in the target.
Piracy in the 21st Century is a complex and multi-faceted issue. I know that I didn't offer much here that isn't widely available elsewhere, but I hope it was interesting and offered a little insight into my writing process.
There is not yet a release window for SHIPWRECK, though if things keep rolling I should be looking for edits by the end of summer. You can keep in touch with me via Twitter, Instagram, or right here.
Happy Adventuring.
March 29, 2022
Reboot
It's been so long since I've done one of these, it almost feels like I'm doing this for the first time. Some of you out there know that I wrote and Self-Published my first novel a few years ago under the title "EXISTENCE". A handful of people bought it, and, for the most part, they enjoyed it. Through my own attempts at networking, I managed to get a hold of author Mike Esola ("HYBRID", "PRIMAL", "APEX") who was, at the time, publishing the free publication "Prehistoric Magazine". He was looking for novels featuring prehistoric creatures to build a roster for his own publishing house called Primal Press. He loved my novel, offered a new round of edits, and a brand new cover. That is how "REMNANT" was born.
That was nearly two years ago.
Since then, my writing output has been scattershot at best. During this nebulous era of my life, I wrote a handful of short stories which will see print soon. "Rogues in the Vale of Time" is a very short piece featured in Whetstone Magazine which melds my love for extinct animals into a fantasy setting. "Honor Among Rogues" is a historical adventure dealing with gunslingers and lost cities and is probably my favorite of the bunch. That said, I am hugely honored that my Sword & Sorcery story "Bones of Giants" that will appear in a future issue of "Tales from the Magician's Skull". There is nothing quite like the feeling of submitting a short story to a publication that likely has hundreds of submissions, and getting that acceptance email. I love short stories. I love the format, I love the pacing, I love the community that spawns around them. What I don't fancy is the wait. In the original iteration of this website, I stated that my story "Asgina" will appear in a future issue of Weirdbook Magazine.
I'm still waiting.
There were a lot of things during that time that got in the way of my writing. A global pandemic happened and that only managed to add to the stress of my day job, teaching middle schoolers history. I also came to understand that I am lazy and, more often than not, distracted. While there are still a number of stressors in my life, many of which I can't control, I do recognize things about myself that I do not like, and that I am able to influence. With this knowledge, it is my intention to move forward with my passion for storytelling, albeit on a more focused path.
You see, I am a man of many interests. I love dinosaurs and all things prehistoric, I love history, I love that niche genre known as "Sword & Sorcery", I love Westerns too. Unfortunately, juggling all of those different genres and passions makes for an unproductive writer (at least in my case). Interestingly enough, a much-respected acquaintance of mine, author Scott Oden ("A Gathering of Ravens", "Memnon"), recently expressed similar experiences on his own blog. I suppose, his confessions and revelations, at least in part, led me here.
You see, out of all the things I love and am passionate about, I am most driven by what I call "Adventure". In fact, this is what got me into reading in the first place.
I was maybe 10 or 11 when my mother took me to a recently opened Barnes & Noble bookstore in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was the first major bookstore in my area, so it was a pretty big deal. See, I have always loved books, but that was mostly relegated to scanning pages for pictures of dinosaurs.
That day changed me.
There I was, scanning the shelves of the Young Adult section when I stumbled upon a spine that read "INCA GOLD" in big, bold letters. It was the story of an adventurer and his team of daring do-gooders battling an evil artifact smuggling ring as they raced to find a hidden treasure. Sitting beside it was "SHOCKWAVE", baring a similarly action-packed back-piece. The pair were toned-down-for-kids versions of novels by a man name Clive Cussler. I devoured them and soon my shelf at home was lined with used paperbacks emblazoned with the man's name. Under the deft hand of Mr. Cussler, his main characters Dirk and Al took me on modern-day, swashbuckling adventures akin to something like a love child born from the loins James Bond and Indiana Jones. Much, much later in life, I would discover James Rollins who would remind me why I loved these books as a kid.
The action.
The daring.
The exotic locales.
THE ADVENTURE!
This is what I want to write. A place that "REMNANT" firmly fits into. Mike and his partners at Primal Publishing have been very good to me. Currently, I'm sitting at about 150 reviews and maintaining a solid 4.5 stars. I'm happy with that. I'll never not love what I created in Ada and Penny, but, like old high school friends, I seem to have lost touch with them. I can see them in my mind, I can remember the adventures we had, but I don't really hear them anymore, they don't speak to me. Not out of any kind of animosity, but because we simply took divergent paths. For me, they remind me of a time in my life that I don't see represented in the man I am today. So, I think it's time for me to move on from them. That isn't to say I won't ever revisit the Price sisters, but for the foreseeable future, they will be relegated to reminiscing and fond memories.
But the adventure is not over. Not while I'm still fighting to hang on. I am currently outlining a new adventure that highlights all the things I loved about those old Cussler novels. Just thinking about it all makes me giddy.
I think that's a good sign.
I'm going to try to post stuff here every week or so. I'll do the usual reviews and thought-pieces, but my main goal is to give updates on this elusive Work-in-Progress. I'd love to catch some new readers, but honestly, it's mostly for me.
The Adventure starts here.
July 1, 2020
Head in the Stars: Sci-Fi in Fantasy Fiction
I haven't been a productive writer as of late. Most likely a symptom of the turmoil in my everyday life. When I say that, I mean that I haven't been a productive fiction writer, This is my third blog in like two weeks. I pumped out a 5 part Sword and Sorcery story, titled "Hunter of the Masks", and posted it here. I also whipped up a Historical Adventure set in the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula in the days before WWI that I called "Honor Among Rogues". I am happy to say, that it was picked up for publication by Rogue Blades Entertainment for their upcoming anthology "We Who are About to Die", where the theme centers on the idea of sacrifice. That's really cool, and I'm hoping to see that one out around X-mas time.
RBE, if you are reading this, when are we getting "Reach for the Sky?" (I kid. But seriously. *insert laughing/tongue out/winky face emoji*)
I am eagerly awaiting the aforementioned anthology not just because my story "Box of Bones" is in it, but because the theme was a mash-up of the Wild West, and Extraterrestrials. I was overwhelmingly underwhelmed by the film "Cowboys vs. Aliens" that likely had a hand in the publisher's creation of this anthology, so I am really excited to see what kinds of things other author's pull out of their brains. If you couldn't tell, I love westerns. Part of why I love living in the Southwest is that the lingering atmosphere of the days of high adventure drips from every old building, cactus spine, and sun burnt rock.
On the flip side of that particular anthology's theme, Aliens scare the living shit out of me.
I'm serious.
I am terrified of little green men popping through my window to take me up in their beam of white light and poke at me.
Ghosts don't scare me. The idea of demons is a joke. Serial killers stopped being scary by the time I watched "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" for the 20th time as a high school kid obsessed with horror. I think some of this stems from me not being a religious man. I simply don't believe in ghosts, demons, or whatever else.
I don't have to believe in extraterrestrial life. I already know it exists. I'm sure many of you have heard that it is mathematically impossible for Earth to be the only planet with life in the universe. While we only know of a handful of Earth-like planets out there, and only a handful of those are within the so-called "Goldilocks Zone", statistically there are countless planets out there capable of supporting life, an no doubt some of them do. Now, I'm not saying they are pop culture's versions of the aliens. I'm not even saying they are multi-celled. And hell, they probably don't have the technology to reach us. Still, it exists out there somewhere. It had to.
And that terrifies me.
But it's also really friggin' cool.
This plays a huge part in why the author H. P. Lovecraft remains not only a favorite of mine, but a major influence on me as well. I know there is a ton of controversy about the man. He was a racist, so of course there is. I am not here to talk about that. There is nothing I could say that would add anything to that already tired conversation.
However, something that really gets my goat, is that the world Lovecraft created is super misunderstood. If you did some quick Googling of Lovecraft related material, not only would you find plushies and "Vote for Cthulhu" stickers, you would probably notice all kinds of stuff like spell books, tarot cards, and even the in/famous Simon Necronomicon. I hate that! It is very apparent to me that Lovecraft went to great pains to explain his world "scientifically". While there are a number of stories where what appears to be "magic" comes into play, each occurrence can also be explained by something more science fiction than fantasy fiction. In "Dreams in the Witch House" the magic is actually math. In "Dunwich Horror" and "Case of Charles Dexter Ward" the magic is chemistry, well alchemy, but still. Lovecraft's most famous creations are monsters of science, biology, and even mathematics (also terrifying). I know the Dreamlands exist, but that's a whole different phase in the man's writings.
I assume that when Chaosium created their "Call of Cthulhu" RPG, that is when the spells and magic stuff started gaining traction, but they aren't the only ones to blame. August Derleth, who took over the Lovecraft stuff when H. P. kicked the bucket, had a deep misunderstanding of what Lovecraft had created, making Elder Gods analogies for elements, the Greek Pantheon, and even Christianity, in order to fit it into his own, more religious worldview.
Yuck.
I promise I'm going somewhere.
We all know that Lovecraft was pen pals with Robert E. Howard, creator of "Conan the Cimmerian". Conan is fantasy, Sword and Sorcery, sure. It has magic in it.
Sort of?
Sort of.
I'm not saying that magic doesn't exist in the Hyborian Age, because it does. That being said, a lot of it also boils down to alchemy and aliens. In the first Conan story published in Weird Tales, "Phoenix on the Sword", the evil sorcerer Thoth-Amon summons a "demon from the outer dark". It looks like a mummified baboon and doesn't take damage from mundane equipment. But what is this "outer dark" that Howard invokes? When I first read it, I thought it meant space. I imagined that whatever Thoth-Amon did, he called a creature from somewhere beyond the stars and brought it to Earth to do his bidding.
In the next published Conan story, "Tower of the Elephant" Howard goes full bore and now we are dealing with an alien being flying through space on wings not unlike Lovecraft's Elder Things in "At the Mountains of Madness". Extraterrestrial creatures show up in Conan again and again. Like the winged creature Conan uses to reach Aquilonia in "Scarlet Citadel", Thog in "Slithering Shadow" is undoubtedly a Lovecraftian entity, and the creature in "Vale of Lost Women" is too. Howard also followed Lovecraft's queue in using evolution as means to horror, but that's totally another post.
Another of Lovecraft's circle, Clark Ashton Smith, mashes fantasy and sci-fi together as well, whether it is in the context Hyperborea or the last continent on Earth. In fact, despite not having read ALL of it, it is my understanding that the mixture of Sci-fi and Fantasy was far more common in the Pulp era than it is today.
I am 100% sure there are other examples out there, but I think the most in your face example of this sci-fi/fantasy mash up is Karl Edward Wagner's Kane. In the novel "Bloodstone" we see an all out spaceship battle as two different races war over the space-faring entity we know as the title character. There are also teleporters in that story. Not teleportation spells, but actual Star-Trek teleportation. In "Darkness Weaves" there are alien submarines that shoot lasers. Even Kane's origins have hints of him being some kind of cyborg/biological experiment. In later stories, mostly those that take place in modern day, Kane uses a portable nuclear device he took from a crashed alien space ship (with the help of Elric of Melnibone) to enter "God's" dimension and blow it to shit.
That's gnarly as fuck.
As I mentioned in my last post, I recently started reading "Gardens of the Moon" by Steve Erickson. It is absolutely not Sword and Sorcery, nor have I encountered anything I would call touching upon science fiction. It is High, Epic Fantasy at it's most glorious. I'm not saying that's bad, it's not. It's awesome. But it got me thinking. As I read about gods and goddesses meddling in the lives of mortals, I am not afraid of them. It's good reading. Their presence in the story is intriguing, mysterious even, but not even slightly scary.
And I kind of miss that.
I am not much of a gamer, and by that I mean player of RPGs. I like them a lot, but I just don't have the time or social circle to facilitate that hobby. I do however, love to read RPG settings. Probably my favorite works are published by "Raging Swan Press" because they do lean heavily on the Lovecraftian Horror of nameless things dwelling just beneath the surface, while also maintaining the fantasy setting that you would expect from a Pathfinder/5e supplement.
That being said, I recently stumbled across Planet X games, and I am in love. I first found their supplement "Occurrence at Howling Crater" and I laughed with glee. The publisher prides itself in bringing gamers B-movie-esque exploitation adventures. "Howling Crater" is a total mashup of "Hills Have Eyes" and the Roswell Incident. There is a cult of inbred hillbillies that live on the outskirts of a UFO crash site. It has robots, mutants, aliens, and everything else you would expect with that kind of set up. Their next supplement, "Escape from Skullcano Island" is an adventure tale full of Kaiju and it looks awesome. I recently saw artwork on their Instagram that showed a completely explorable (and maybe pilotable) "mecha-kaiju" that looks unsurprisingly similar to the robotic King Kong from the terrible monster movie "King Kong Escapes". I absolutely adore their unabashed use of science-fiction classics and not-so-classics in an otherwise Dungeons and Dragons oriented setting.
There are also a lot of video games that play with the same ideas, but don't often advertise it outright. For example, the old "Might and Magic' series looks like High Fantasy, but if you were to dig into the lore present in those games, you can see it become a Space Opera on a grander scale. The Elder Scrolls series also dives a little into the Sci-fi, especially in the case of the Dwemer (dwarves to humans, but not the LOTR kind of dwarves) and their robotic sentinels. The Dwarves, who are actually the tallest species of elves, attempted to fuse their souls into a giant bronze robot to create an artificial god. They botched the process and they all vanished, but their mechanical inventions persist. Even the game "Conan Exiles" touches upon extraterrestrial manipulation, as it should.
However, I think the best example of this in video games in the exceedingly difficult game "Bloodborne" by creators From Soft. The game starts you out in a Victorian-like fantasy city now populated with mutants and werewolves. There are also ghosts, and other supernatural horror baddies that roam the corpse choked streets, but the further you get into the game, the more clear it becomes that something "outside" is involved. In a bid for greater power, a religious ministry used blood from an alien being to mix with their own and began all of the trouble. On top of that, this city is built upon the ruins of an exceedingly ancient colony akin to Lovecraft's K'n-yan. Throughout the campaign, the player faces creatures straight from the imagination of H. P. and even straight up "Grey" aliens at one point. It is a hard as fuck game, but the atmosphere and use of Lovecraftian themes in bar none. Thanks, Japan.
When all is said and done, I would absolutely adore seeing more of this sci-fi/fantasy mashup. While I clearly prefer it in something of a horror context, I think that the combination of the two genres has the potential to pump some new imagination into a genre rife with wizards and *shudders* magic systems.
In my own writings, I haven't delved too much into the science fiction side, but that is something I intend to correct. I have used Howard-esque ape things, and neanderthals, but I have also used Atlantean ghosts and evil spirits (that story will show up in a future Weirdbook issue). The only time I have used an out-right alien is in the story "Box of Bones" for the RBE anthology that I mentioned at the beginning of this consciousness stream. While I haven't actually got much writing done, outside these blog posts that is, I have done A LOT of thinking about writing. I am hopeful that all this rumination will add up to something great in the future. As I write this, an audio recording of "Dunwich Horror" playing in the background, I have an inkling of an experiment brewing in the test tubes of my mind. Something like a fantasy Dark Shadows with an Extraterrestrial bent? Sounds like it could be fun.
Do you know of any sci-fi/fantasy crossovers that I missed? I'm positive I don't know a lot of them. If you have a suggestion, let me know! As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts on my ramblings. Links to the two Indie RPG publishers I mentioned can be found below.
Planet X Games (DriveThru RPG):
Raging Swan Press:
#scifi #fantasy #fiction #lovecraft
WHETSTONE: Issue #1 Review
Good Sword and Sorcery, or even Weird Fantasy, is hard to find. At least for me. I admit to being an excruciatingly picky reader, so no doubt some of that is my fault. I read slowly, and word for word. It takes me time. If you've listened to me on a couple episodes of Rogues in the House podcast, you'll have already heard this. I have to be picky because I don't want to waste my time reading things that I won't like. It doesn't make sense to me.
That being said, I recently took up "Gardens of the Moon" by Steve Erickson after some convincing by Rogue Blades Entertainment publisher, Jason Waltz. 35% in and I am not regretting it. Maybe I'll even make it through the second book.
Anyway, I have been on something of a fantasy kick as of late, tapering off on my usual readings of Thriller books. Good timing too, as the first issue of the amateur Sword and Sorcery magazine "Whetstone" has been released.
So before I start, I feel like there's a good chance a lot of you probably haven't heard of "Whetstone". It's new, it's small, it's online only (sort of). To remedy that, the magazine itself is edited by Jason Ray Carney who is the co-editor of "The Dark Man", a pretty well known academic journal on Robert E. Howard. I admit to not having read much from that particular journal, so I can't necessarily comment on the content there. I just don't read a lot of academic stuff. I'll cite the same reasons I did above. The goal of "Whetstone" is to showcase up-and-coming voices in Sword and Sorcery, and it is stated the magazine looks for both Pulp styling and and a literary bent.
I feel like I shouldn't have to say this, but everything I write in here is solely my opinion. It's probably going to be different than yours. None of this is meant as insult, or even as any kind of worthwhile criticism. I'm not an expert, just a reader and fan of the genre.
The "magazine" is free. You can find it here:
Because it is free, there is no reason you shouldn't give this a go. No matter my opinions, I am sure that you will find something to enjoy here.
I keep putting the word "magazine" in quotes for a couple reasons. Really, the version you are going to get is online. It's a PDF of what could be a magazine, if you wanted it to be, but doesn't necessarily come that way. I know a lot of people who grumble about online only stuff. They hate reading from e-readers and PDFs for whatever reason. I get it. I used to be like that. But then I got over it because I don't have enough space in my house for 5,000 paperbacks and would rather make room for my loved ones. BUT, the wonderful thing about "Whetstone" is that the PDF is formatted expertly to be printed off as a magazine. The page margins are even mirrored so when printed, it can be stapled like a little book. Hate PDFs? Print it. Go to Staples or FedEx and do it if it bothers you so much.
/rant
Not only is the formatting of the PDF a plus, the cover is wonderful, featuring some glorious artwork from Bill Cavalier, who also designed their logo. The artwork has a cool "old school" quality that I really dig. The only downside is that I wish there was more!
The Contents section lists 10 individual stories and an Editor's Note, and totals 63 pages of content. That means the stories are short. Like no more than 2,500 words short. Real short. None of the short stories that I've had published are less than 6,000 words, usually pushing 6,500. And if you've never written a short story, let me tell you, it is tough. I've gotten really good at cutting stuff, be it words, sentences, or whole scenes. I can't imagine condensing anything I've written another 4,000 words. Not that I'm not going to try, of course. I will no doubt create something to submit here at some point in the future. I like a good challenge. That being said, the length limits what can be done in the story. "Whetstone" isn't shy about that, though. Their submissions page states that they prefer more action and less dialogue. That's what you should expect. I have my theories on why they chose such a small word count, all of which I feel are completely understandable.
I'm not going to go over all of the stories one by one. That would take forever and I don't want to spoil anything, so I'm going to stick to some standouts for me.
The first story in the lineup is "The Wizard's Demise" by Géza A. G. Reilly. By word 6, I was ready to give up. That is a reflection on me and my bias, because I hate first person. I hate it with a passion. That being said, I'm glad I didn't give up because the story was really friggin' cool. This is one I can't say much about because it relies heavily on a twist, that while I saw coming about 3/4 through, was super well done. This is one of those rare cases where I think the 1st person narrative style actually helped the story. It also serves as a reason for me to put aside my biases from time to time.
That being said, the second story didn't do it for me. Again, my personal tastes at play. I groan at the term "Northman" and I don't like the hook of a dude telling a story at a bar. Also, it uses the word "Fuck". Don't get me wrong. I'm not a prude and I partake in more than my fair share of F-Bombs, but it's a turn off for me in Fantasy. It's such a modern term that it saps all my immersion in a world that is supposed to seem old. The excessive dropping of said bombs is part of what turned me off of Joe Abercrombie's otherwise excellent "First Law" series. "Queslavalka" by J. B. Toner has all these things and just didn't do it for me.
Another standout was "As Repellent as I" by Chase A. Folmar. This story reeked of atmosphere that I think is born from his use of language. As Carney points out in his notes before the story begins, this is very reminiscent Clark Ashton Smith. I like Ashton well enough, but his humor I feel sometimes gets in the way of things. I personally didn't find any of that sort of humor in this story and I felt it was all the better for it. I also took it upon myself to do some searching of each author just to be cheeky and see just how "emerging" these voices really were. Mr. Folmar came up empty handed. I have to say, I look forward to more from this dude.
The rest of the issues has its up's and down's, but nothing particularly stand out for me.
Except one, that is.
"Kauahoa and the Tattooed Bandit" by Patrick S. Baker was easily my favorite of the whole bunch. While I hesitate to call Mr. Baker "emerging", his writings both fiction and non-fiction can be found in a myriad of publications, I have to applaud his use of language and setting, choices I can definitely identify as "emerging". This particular story is set in a Hawaiin/Polynesian milieu, complete with shark-tooth swords and native words as descriptors. I love that. It is very reminiscent to me of Charles Saunder's "Imaro" stories. It takes you to a place that looks and feels very different from what we typically see in a genre over saturated with buff Viking-dudes and pseudo-medieval European landscapes. I would be very interested to hear how much research went into this story, or how he became familiar with these terms. This is the kind of stuff I would like to see more of from the Sword and Sorcery genre. Hat's off to you, good sir. And for Mr. Carney's solid choice.
Overall, despite any reservations you may have about the story length, "Whetstone" is worth the read. It is clear that there is a lot of love for the genre, and exploring it as literature. Mr. Carney has created a great compilation of stories, despite my personal tastes not jiving with some of them. That is a conundrum that anthologies regularly face, and was not unexpected. I don't like to rate things with stars. I acknowledge that just because I don't like something, it doesn't mean it's bad. Just not my taste. That's going to happen. I can tell you, however that if you like Sword and Sorcery, you absolutely should take a look at this little publication. For being free, there is a lot here on offer. I do see that in the next bi-annual issue, they are going to be offering a token payment to authors, but I am not sure if that will change the "free" aspect of this publication. I totally understand if it does, and I still think it would be worth tossing some coins to your Witcher for. (That song is catchy af. Sue me.) Again, you can find "Whetstone" at:
#review #shortfiction #swordandsorcery #whetstone
