Greg Hamerton's Blog, page 3

The Lifesong, and the search for Truth

Over the centuries, sages have attempted to pass on the spiritual truths they have discovered in their lives. The problem is that 'knowledge' you gain in life is totally subjective. Life is a chaos-system of the highest degree. There are so many variables that affect everyone's actions that using one's life to establish 'truths' is as hopeless as trying to define the future by the imagined 'interaction' of the stars.

I'm an atheist, and yet, The Tale of the Lifesong is deeply spiritual. How can I write it? Because atheism (or any ism or ity) is a point of view, and when I write, I lose myself. I am inspired.

In that state, I cannot instruct or preach. I am an instrument and the Lifesong is the music. I am not trying to offer you the Truth; I am dancing and invite you to join me. Isn't being alive beautiful?

As to the truths that might lie within the Lifesong, I don't think life has truths and laws, it is an organic and fluid situation … we are always required to engage the present moment, to evolve; to be alive. Truths and laws are, in a way, laziness, the natural tendency of the mind to simplify things and to find patterns in recurring events. In this respect, 'truth' is what we need to guard against. It can lead to narrow-mindedness, arrogance and fundamentalism.

The wisest path I can see is to reflect on one's situation and try to consider all the consequences before acting. We are always learning, and never 'know' the truth of how to live. Intuition can be helpful, but when we believe our intuition guides us to Truth, we end up 'knowing' that the earth is flat, that witches must be burned, and that the charming conman really can save us from the impending disaster of our own spiritual annihilation.

What I suspect is that spiritual knowledge is too individual to be taught, but some people have a magic about them, acquired through the choices and actions that form their character. They've got it, but they can't pass it on very easily. That's why the wizards (the learned) are not nearly as powerful as the sorcerers (the self-taught) in the Tale of the Lifesong. And the Lifesinger simply enlivens, not claiming any knowledge for her own, but willing to share the joy with everyone.

To me, that power is worth more than all of them put together.

Ty Johnston on Love, Hope and Fantasy

Fantasy writer Ty Johnston is touring the blogosphere this month, in part to promote his latest e-book novel, Demon Chains, but also because he loves blog touring. His other fantasy novels include City of Rogues, Bayne's Climb and Ghosts of the Asylum, all of which are available for the Kindle, the Nook and online at Smashwords. To learn more about Ty and his writing, follow him at his blog tyjohnston.blogspot.com.

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and for a lot of people this is a special time of year. Couples share gifts and love with one another, and even those who have yet to find that special someone often will celebrate the holiday with friends or with another who has potential to become that special someone.

As a fiction writer, I would like to think I know a thing or two about love. At the very least, I would hope I can convey such emotions in the written word. But since I write mostly epic fantasy in which swords and slaughter are usually on the menu, how can my writings relate to love?

Remember the old saying, "absence makes the heart grow fonder?" Well, misfortune and disaster can also make the heart grow fonder, at least under certain circumstances. What can bring people closer together than facing seemingly unbeatable odds together? Even the individual will often find a new love for his or her fellow men and women after surviving what appears to be insurmountable obstacles.

True, sometimes bitterness can fill the heart after one comes face to face with deadly circumstances. Some will become hateful, believing they have seen the worst there is and that the world is filled with nothing but horrors and those who must be detested. That way can lie madness.

Yet there is always hope. In a world of love, there can always be hope.

Despite the darkness that seeps around the edges of my stories, and sometimes drops right into the middle of them like a bomb going off, ultimately I write about the hopes of mankind, about the love we can all share with our intimates and with those we barely know.

To me, that is what epic fantasy is about. Hope. Yes, there will be losses, favored characters who ultimately fall to an enemy, but such only reinforces the love that can be found or rediscovered at the end of a tale.

Happy Valentine's Day, from my sword to yours.

More Books by Ty Johnston

         

Fantasy Book Review: The Riddler’s Gift reviewed by David Wagner

David Wagner is a Graphic Artist by profession (and an author, musician and actor/director). He just posted a great review of The Riddler’s Gift on his blog.

“Other than The Heroes, by Joe Abercrombie, this book by Greg Hamerton is the most enjoyable fantasy book I’ve read in the past year. That includes all the noteworthy books listed in my 2011 Reads list over there on the right side of the blog page there. GRRM’s entire series, Pat Rothfuss’ latest, books by Brett, Parker, Scalzi, Sanderson, etc. All of them. I’m belaboring this to let you know that I am not saying this lightly, or off-the-cuff.

The author does a fantastic job (pardon the pun) of crafting rich, complex characters. They lend themselves to shades of grey that are unexpected and yet feel oddly natural. You expect the heroine Tabitha Serannon to remain naive and good-at-heart, in spite of her trials, but as she accesses magic that is well-beyond her experience and expectation, it impacts her, changes her, in ways that catch you off guard. In fact, I can’t think of a single main character, good or evil, that doesn’t go through some level of transformation, or that isn’t blind-sided by an unforeseen event (or series of events) that forces them to course-correct. It is all deftly handled, and thoroughly entertaining to read.”

Being a writer himself, he makes some interesting observations about the action, dialogue and craft and offers some useful insight into the danger of sequels. Read the full review on David Wagner’s blog

Thanks David, and good luck with your own writing!

Fantasy Book Review: The Riddler's Gift reviewed by David Wagner

David Wagner is a Graphic Artist by profession (and an author, musician and actor/director). He just posted a great review of The Riddler's Gift on his blog.

"Other than The Heroes, by Joe Abercrombie, this book by Greg Hamerton is the most enjoyable fantasy book I've read in the past year. That includes all the noteworthy books listed in my 2011 Reads list over there on the right side of the blog page there. GRRM's entire series, Pat Rothfuss' latest, books by Brett, Parker, Scalzi, Sanderson, etc. All of them. I'm belaboring this to let you know that I am not saying this lightly, or off-the-cuff.

The author does a fantastic job (pardon the pun) of crafting rich, complex characters. They lend themselves to shades of grey that are unexpected and yet feel oddly natural. You expect the heroine Tabitha Serannon to remain naive and good-at-heart, in spite of her trials, but as she accesses magic that is well-beyond her experience and expectation, it impacts her, changes her, in ways that catch you off guard. In fact, I can't think of a single main character, good or evil, that doesn't go through some level of transformation, or that isn't blind-sided by an unforeseen event (or series of events) that forces them to course-correct. It is all deftly handled, and thoroughly entertaining to read."

Being a writer himself, he makes some interesting observations about the action, dialogue and craft and offers some useful insight into the danger of sequels. Read the full review on David Wagner's blog

Thanks David, and good luck with your own writing!

Fantasy book review: Against All Things Ending by Stephen Donaldson

Criticism is always hard to take, and I have great respect for Mr Donaldson as a writer. But this book is crushed to death under its own weight and it drags the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant down with it.

 

I review it not to point my presumptuous little finger at a great writer's faults, but to try and understand why the book itself has lost me as a reader, so I can avoid this style of writing in my own fantasy novels. It's particularly instructive for me, because I deal with similar themes in Second Sight, on a similar stage, with similar stakes (a world wracked with chaos; a female mage striving to save the essence of life; the world will end by her causing the conditions for the Apocalypse).

There's a strange kind of resonance I suspect many authors have discovered. Similarities emerge between writers when they write about a similar theme. As you write, you discover the same entities and challenges. To put it another way, when you work with the stuff Tolkien delved into, you come face to face with the same Balrog, regardless of whether you've read Tolkien or not. It's not a case of copying; it's a case of working with the archetypes that lurk in the place writers find themselves in. So I appreciate that what Donaldson is attempting to work with here is extremely difficult: gods, mages with staggering powers, doom and apocalypse, and the meaningful culmination of story arcs from two trilogies with many potent characters.

The opening is definitely not designed to cater for mainstream readers. When you compare it to something like Mordant's Need, it's plain that Donaldson knows how to write a cracking opening scene, but has chosen not to. I know we are well into a series here, but I would have still made some kind of concession to engage readers. For pages and pages we must endure the introspective exposition that is Covenant's trademark, his fractured, floundering grasp on reality, then Linden's self-doubt, and piles of explanation.



As an author, I have a large working vocabulary, and there's some academic enjoyment to be found in encountering obscure or archaic words. But the language and the overwrought specificity (see?) of this book comes across as pedantic. I know it's partly a deliberate stylistic technique to establish continuity with the 'otherworldliness' of The Land, but if I read percipience one more time I am going to bleed from the eyeballs. Where oh where was the editor's red pencil? Kill the darlings, they say.

This 'ornate and heavyweight' style makes it 'different' in a market of gritty, action-driven fantasy novels, but different is not necessarily a good thing. It makes the dialogue strange and off-key. I also struggled to understand the complicated web of conflicting motives, so Donaldson has to continually remind me what is at stake for each character, and then agonise over every possible ramification of their choices, which slows the pace even more. The strict rules of established behaviour lead to some painfully polite posturing. I wished Brand the Haruchai would say 'fuck you', just once, and kick the Manethrall's head in, but instead he says 'we will hear no more of this, Manethrall. You are unjust …' This wooden dialogue just isn't convincing from people who are all living rough: fighters, survivors, dirty smelly tough-as-nails folk, people who haven't given up in an endless fight against ultimate evil.

When some action does eventually happen, the excitement is ruined by unrealistic stop-start pacing. The rising dread of She Who Can Not Be Named (Donaldson's Balrog) is made ridiculous by being spoken to, answering in English, and then being 'paused' while the hero devises some get-out clause and thinks it through. The last time I was chased by a deadly snake, I didn't have a moment to think of anything beyond run. The bane is supposed to represent a threat ten thousand times worse.

Donaldson is the master of writing about self-torment and hand-wringing indecision, but these qualities in a lead character become tiresome and eventually, unbearable. Even while running from death, characters pause to consider the outcome of everything they do, as if Donaldson is trying hard to explain everything in case we readers don't get it. This makes me feel that he knows it's too complicated. Actions should be obvious and believable, given the situation. Instead the characters look over their shoulders all the time and try to explain why they are doing what they are doing.

While the despair and self-doubt continues the style of the Covenant books, it has been elevated to such a degree by now that it overwhelms the story. There are hints that the author cares deeply about the inspirations of his characters and their morality, but overall the mood is just too serious and entirely humourless. Even the giants laugh at unfunny moments, deliberately controlled by the author, and they seem like miscast extras going hohoho in the background of a funeral scene. I know Donaldson is trying to do something with the symbolism and metaphors and deeper meanings, but because it's so complicated and contrived I just don't get any of it.

The second and third books of the final cycle interfere with my memory of the previous trilogies and break their spell. This ponderous tale needs to be cut down to size, to make it able to stand on its own as a story. In the attempt to forge the Unifying Conclusion of Great Significance with such meticulousness, Donaldson has throttled his own creation.

If he ever writes short standalone fantasy stories I'll be right there in the front of the queue. But I've abandoned Covenant, Linden and The Land to collapse and annihilation. They do not seem worth saving.

As a fantasy author, what do I take away from this?

• When the seminal story is concluded (in this case, end of the first trilogy), end the series. Sequels can eventually suck the life out of the whole world. Be especially wary of writing the 'last' book that points back at the whole series and ties it up: you cannot make it better than it was and like analysing a joke, over-scrutiny of the original story leads to a dissipation of the magic.

• Readers don't need reasons for everything; they should be able to puzzle motives out as things develop.

• Evocative writing is more engaging than prescriptive writing.

• Lead characters need to be decisive, so they move through the story.

• Extended internal dialogues are story killers.

Fantasy book review: Fatal Revenant by Stephen Donaldson

I loved the first Chronicles and applauded the second. The third Chronicles began in a cunning way, and I was eager to be swept away into the Land once again. But this book, Fatal Revenant, dragged at my heels.

.

It could be cut by 400 pages and still tell the same story, and the excessive use of anachronistic (damn, he's doing it to me too now, I mean to say old) and downright obscure adjectives highlight the problem: Donaldson insists on telling us exactly what every single thing means, and every possible outcome, repeatedly, with painful precision. There is no space to wonder, to guess; to fill in the blanks in the writing: to be amazed.

In the earlier books I enjoyed the poetry of the Land, the way the atmosphere of the story made me feel. There was a special beauty to the fact that the world was a dream-world which Covenant did not believe in. It was real but unreal–that ambiguity was essential to the magic of the book.

But now the Land has become too real or too defined to be believable. Being the only world that exists for the lead character, it becomes a stock-fantasy story and reads like a fictionalised role-playing game with staged combat scenes. The plotting is arduous, with character motivations analysed so often that I became suspicious of the plot. I knew that if I stopped to think about it, I'd see that the characters probably wouldn't do what they were doing unless the author had insisted that they did. It doesn't ring true.

There are some high-points, great fantasy inventions, wonderful wizardry and moments when Donaldson works his old magic to good effect, but on the whole I found I couldn't empathise with Linden Avery. I just didn't care what she did.

Fatal Revenant also has tons of back-story. It's a classic case of 'show don't tell' gone wrong. I can't believe that anything Donaldson writes is accidental, but he has perhaps over-analysed this manuscript, filling it with reminders, patches and information readers 'should know'. This exposition drags the whole series down. Linden is so insecure and uncertain. She is a woman of shallow emotions who is rather desperate as a heroine. The Extended Unabridged Chronicles of Linden Avery, the Chosen has become too tiresome for me.

Building a fantasy world: the map of Eyri

All good epic fantasy stories have a map. I suppose you're thinking of Lord of the Rings, but my first epic fantasy was Winnie-the-Pooh. Really? A.A. Milne is often overlooked as a fantasy author, yet most people would have no problem classifying Watership Down by Richard Adams as animal fantasy, or even heroic fantasy. Pooh Bear was my first hero. He went on quests. He had companions. Strange creatures inhabited his world, but I grew to love them all, even the terrifying Woozles. And right at the start, there was a map, which I could pore over and imagine all the adventures that could happen, and what the places might be like.

Some of that wonder of discovery has followed me all my life: it's why I'm a paragliding pilot, and a writer of fantasy. Thanks Pooh! So when I sat down to craft my fantasy world that would become The Riddler's Gift, I first drew a map.

It's not like Tolkien's map; it's not trying to be. It is more like the Hundred Acre wood. What I'm trying to tell my readers is this: the story world is somewhere you've never been before so you need a map, but it's small enough that you can grasp it all. I was also thinking of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, who had a little planet to himself. The Riddler's Gift takes place in Eyri, which is its own little protected world. It's intentionally simple. You know there's probably more to the The Tale of the Lifesong than this little kingdom, but it's a welcoming place to begin.

I discovered, as I descended into this apparently small kingdom, that there was more than enough going on to keep us occupied. We didn't need to go beyond the visible horizon to find adventures and interesting characters and stories to be told. Having a lake at the centre and a rim of mountains meant the whole landscape sloped conveniently down to the centre, and so wherever a chase began it would end up converging on Stormhaven. This helped to direct things towards a climax and suggested where the end of the book should take place.

Drawing a map before the story is very useful, because you can plot things out accurately, like the time it would take to get from Levin to First Light on horseback, whether a cart driven by a tricky Riddler could get to Southwind in that same time, and how long you'd need to limp along the shore from Southwind to Fendwarrow, grinding your teeth after nearly drowning in the Amberlake.

The views became clear (when writing a dawn scene in First Light, what do you see looking east?). And you can probably guess why that village gets its name, being high up on an east-facing slope (don't be tricked by the setting sun, nearby). The map helped me to see how the kingdom could be self-sustaining for so long, with a timber-yard at Llury, vegetables around Hillow, boatyards at Wright, fishing markets at Southwind, flour made in Westmill, mining at Chink and Coppershaft, farming in Meadowmoor county and fruit around Flowerton, just to begin with. These elements help to remind me what the people would be like as we pass through their villages with the flow of the story, and what would be going on in streets.

Of course, once my readers are ready to venture beyond Eyri with Tabitha (in the Second Tale of the Lifesong), there's Oldenworld to map out. That task could take us a lifetime. But there's nothing as exciting as opening up an unseen map, and being presented with a whole world to explore. Maps are what make fantasy epic.

Indie authors: is it worth joining KDP Select?

KDP Select is a new option that features a $6 million annual fund dedicated to independent authors and publishers. If you choose to make a book exclusive to the Kindle Store for at least 90 days, the book is eligible to be included in the Kindle Owners' Lending Library and you can earn a share of the fund based on how frequently the book is borrowed.

Before you get excited about the value of the payout dangled in front of your nose when you next sign in to your Kindle dashboard ($500k for December 2012) consider that you only earn a % of all ebook unit sales in the month, across all titles and genres. I have no idea what the total is, but I'd estimate at least 2.5 million ebooks are sold in a month through Amazon, in which case your titles will earn $0.20 per loan. Who knows how far out my estimate is? It's not going to be a lot of library-loan royalty you'll earn. You'll get a bit more exposure, balanced by a few lost sales (see below).

The main benefit is: "In addition, by choosing KDP Select, you will have access to a new set of promotional tools, starting with the option to offer enrolled books free to readers for up to 5 days every 90 days."

Presently, setting the zero price point is awkward, relying on Amazons bots to price-match your free book on Smashwords, but this is impossible to coordinate as the Smashwords system has random delays, and Amazons price-matching is not immediate or limited to one day. Being able to run a dated promotion is useful, if you're into that kind of promotion. I suspect there are more 'promotional tools' coming. Amazon is good at selling.

What Amazon demands in return: EXCLUSIVITY.

Ewww. How can this be a good thing for a digital product?

For me, it's not such a big deal. My experience is the sales via Smashwords (Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Sony) account for less than 6% of the market. I hate limiting the availability of my book, but doing so focuses the retail attention in one place, which helps my Amazon sales rank a little, which in turn helps sales. It also simplifies the process, because I don't have to deal with different formats, uploading platforms, tracking sales and reports. Every outlet has a management cost and introduces its own complexity.

Because most of the big publishers won't join this program at first, it offers participants increased visibility in the Library, if only for a few months. I expect the royalty from loans will offset the few lost sales. Those who can move fast will be in the Kindle Lending Library first. I foresee a flood of indie authors and small publishers trying to remove titles from Amazon's competitors' catalogues, just as the peak retail weeks hit…

The odd effect this might have is that all those who don't sell much on the other platforms will shift to be exclusively on Amazon. It's the slush rush. The traditional published books will remain on B&N.

I'd like to test out the 'promotional tools', so I just 'opted out' of all etailer channels on Smashwords. They update their feeds today (being a Thursday). Who knows how long it takes for every etailer to pull the title off their digital shelves? Until all of them have updated, I'm in limbo … I don't yet have the advantages of being on KDP Select. Yeah I could click on 'enrol' without waiting for all competing sales channels to be eliminated, but Amazon's bots are pretty active and the gorilla sounds pretty serious about the penalties, the worst one being 'removal from the KDP program'. That would be a death knell for any indie author, although I doubt Amazon would ever use that on a title that is selling and making them money.

It remains to be seen if this is worth the sacrifice. It feels creepy to agree to anything 'exclusive' in the digital age. But I'm telling myself it's only for 90 days, and if it doesn't work I'll pull the plug without having lost much. I suspect Amazon will provide (just) enough candy to keep me at the party. With digital publishing, it's important to catch the new wave, and I want to maximise my Amazon presence because it drives 94% of my digital sales.

It's a clever move by the market leader that will no doubt have blogs boiling around the world.

Will it help indies shift more books? I'll let you know.

Building a fantasy world: the art of the Lifesong

As a fantasy author, I have tons of sketches that appear on anything within arm's reach. These multiply as I write a story, and often the story only grows because of the ideas that form in the sketched scenes and scribbled creatures that appear in the margins.

That sword I sketched stuck in my mind, and became Felltang, the swordmaster's blade. My father even crafted the sword for me in steel. I almost broke my wrist trying to swing the thing at a tree. At which point I realised that the blade must be order-forged and made of a much lighter composite than steel.

The lyre was Tabitha's instrument, but although I'd seen the shape of it, it took me some time to reach the point in the story where she receives it. So drawing is absolutely vital to my writing process, because it helps to display things that have risen to the surface of my subconscious long before I understand their place in the story world. They are gifts from the Muse, or as Stephen King would say 'the bones of the story I'm digging out'.

My sketches are simple scribblings to help my creative process, but when it comes to promotional posters or cover art I encountered a problem. I'm not a commercial artist. I can't draw in colour at all. But because I was so close to the books, anything someone else drew seemed to have no connection to the story I had created. I had strong dislikes about cover art (too grungy, too gamey, too pretty, too dark), but only a vague idea of what I wanted or needed to promote The Tale of the Lifesong properly.

After a lot of soul searching, I learned that I hadn't developed the thinking skills to form the concept of the art I wanted. That conceptual thinking is hard. So I set out to learn the art form.

After studying more advanced graphic design at Sessions College, I've become a little better at communicating ideas through images. This image comes about as close as I can get to summing up the beginning of the Tale of the Lifesong, in a paragraph:

Let's see. What we've got here is a girl who sings, almost with abandon, to the point of not paying attention to those drawn to her music. The dark side: strangely seductive, but leading to evil, and beyond to darkness. On the light side: things are not what they seem to be. There's the outline of the Riddler: his presence, or his shadow. But is he really there? Or is he really made of darkness? Is he leading Tabitha to the light, or blocking her approach? He's associated with some currents of magic of cosmic proportion, because that's his background, and there's fire in there too because there's chaos burning through the order. Then a field of stars, because the story spans the universe, and there's a red colour because it's all linked by passion and … well, music. So I guess the image should have a soundtrack by Lisa Gerrard.

Then again, you'll add your own soundtrack and panoramic movie as your imagination fires things up. That's the beauty of reading.

Indie fantasy authors to watch: DAVID DALGLISH

David Dalglish is a self-published fantasy author living in southwest Missouri. He is best known for his assassin-filled Shadowdance Trilogy, which has sold over 50,000 copies.

Fantasy Book Critic said they "heartily recommend the entire Shadowdance trilogy to all lovers of dark, action packed fantasy stories".

He was remarkably friendly, considering I was approaching him from a shady back alley of the internet. I wasted no time, hooded my wink, swept back my cloak and produced an unsigned digital copy of my blog. I asked him some pointed questions, expecting some barbed answers.

ON THE PAST

Mathematics to fantasy: was that a calculated move?

(I see what you did there). And technically I had a minor in English, so this wasn't as completely out of left field as it sounds. But yeah, I thought Math would give a job to fall back on, and the lit classes would just help me in the dream of being a writer. Things kinda didn't go as planned…

What drew you to writing about half-orcs?

I spent forever telling my wife these stories, the whole overall plotline, always in sort of a "when I write it, this'll happen…" way. Finally she said either write the stories, or never tell her them again. I couldn't live without these characters, so I set about to writing, like I always knew I should.

ON WRITING

They say the pen is mightier than the sword, but wouldn't you make more as an assassin?

I'd be a terrible assassin. I can't get to the fridge and back without waking my wife, let alone stabbing a guy in a tall tower without him noticing me laboring up the side.

It looks like you released six books of roughly 350 pages each in 2010, and four in 2011? Did you work on those for years before or are you an incredibly fast writer?

I had three of the Half-Orc books finished when I first started, so that helped a ton in 2010. As for this year, it's actually just five novels, and technically Sliver of Redemption came out in January, with the bulk written the previous year. So that's sorta cheating to count that one. But for six days a week I go to the library and write. Nothing magical about it, and I'm hardly the most prolific writer out there. Since I have no one holding me back to any sort of publishing schedule, it's just full steam ahead to get my stories to my readers.

How do you maintain that sort of speed?

Caffeine, and the terror that tomorrow, this magic carpet ride will come to a crashing halt, and I need to get just one more book out to readers.

ON FANTASY

Lord of the Rings had dragons. Inheritance has dragons. Skyrim has dragons. Do you have dragons?

I have no dragons native to my world, but I do have a single dragon in Sliver of Redemption. I threw him in there at the request of a hardcore fan. He's made of bone and shadow, and was terrific fun to kill. I might have to sneak in more.

How do you stop your magic from blowing up your world?

Hahahhaahhaha.

I do blow up my world. Nothing stops it.

ON PUBLISHING

Blogging, tweeting, facebook, forums = time not writing. Is anything effective for an indie author?

Well, it helps that I do this full time. But the hours at the library I write are sacred. Everything else is just bonus. And truth be told, I don't blog often, update my website only when I have a new book, and don't have a twitter account. I think some magic is involved with my success.

ON THE FUTURE

What's next for David Dalglish?

About to release the third paladin book in December, and then onto a new Trilogy. Returning to apparently everyone's favorite character, Haern the Watcher, and his friend, Zusa.

Thanks for taking the time to share a little of your success story, David. I look forward to watching an extended reign for you on the Kindle Fantasy Bestseller lists!

Support an indie fantasy author by checking out David Dalglish's website or dive into one of his titles below: