David Anthony Durham's Blog, page 19
March 24, 2012
Neth Speaketh
Seems like the Acacia Trilogy is getting a flurry of series-wide reviews.
Neth Space has another one up, in which he says interesting things like:
"Durham wants to show what a progressive message in epic fantasy can look like. Not the conservative, nostalgic end so common and not a cynical response to that conservatism. He presents a truly progressive move forward rather than backward or a simple reestablishment of a status quo – a vision of hope that could translate into our own lives and society."
Agree with that? Check it out HERE for more.
Neth Space has another one up, in which he says interesting things like:
"Durham wants to show what a progressive message in epic fantasy can look like. Not the conservative, nostalgic end so common and not a cynical response to that conservatism. He presents a truly progressive move forward rather than backward or a simple reestablishment of a status quo – a vision of hope that could translate into our own lives and society."
Agree with that? Check it out HERE for more.
March 23, 2012
One Book After Another
There's a very interesting piece on the Acacia Trilogy over at the blog One Book After Another.
It not so much a review as it is a wide-ranging critical/philosophic/political examination of the books.
Take a look HERE.
It not so much a review as it is a wide-ranging critical/philosophic/political examination of the books.
Take a look HERE.
March 22, 2012
Some Thoughts on a Young Man's Murder
Trayvon Martin. His story tears me up. It's hard for me to know how inundated folks are about news stories in the States (since I'm in the UK), but clearly this story has been getting much play.
If you don't know much about the story, you could read about it HERE, at the good old BBC.
Or HERE at the Guardian.
Or you could listen to the On Point show about it HERE.
Or just do a search. Plenty of stories out there. They'll tell you about a teenage boy that got shot to death while armed with Skittles, a bottle of iced tea, and a cellphone. He got shot because a paranoid neighborhood watch vigilante seemed to really be afraid of black males he didn't know. Despite the fact George Zimmerman weighs 250lbs and had a handgun (compared to Martin's 140lbs and convenience store items) he claims to have felt his life was in danger. With gun in hand, he shot. An irreversible action. The local cops accepted that. Didn't even arrest him.
Wow.
When I was a teenager I looked much like this boy. (I would post a photo of me at the same age if I had one with me.) He could be me. He could be my one of my friends. He could be Chris, or Omar, or the other Chris, or the other David, or Dwayne or... I could go on. Neither I nor any of my friends ever did any crime more serious than teenage mischief. None of us got arrested. None of us were a danger to anybody.
Like Trayvon... accept that we were luckier than him.
There was a time in college when I - influenced by eye-opening African-American history and literature courses - went a bit Afro-centric in my look. Grew my hair out a bit. Wore a knit cap with a Rastafarian vibe. Sported t-shirts with African themes. The more convincingly I grew into my African appearance, the more I noticed how differently people looked at me. Librarians that I'd known for years didn't recognize me. People seeing me approach them on the street grew clearly nervous. And...
I will always remember one time on campus, when I came out of the stairwell in the English Department. It was late in the day, maybe 7pm or so. I came face to face with one of my professors, a middle-aged white man with whom I'd taken two courses the year before. Apparently, I'd changed enough that he didn't recognize me. He flinched, and slid to one side of the hallway and... bolted passed me.
I stood there thinking, "What just happened?" Not only had he been my professor for two courses, he'd given me A's in both of them. He knew that I edited the college literary magazine. He'd been in the jury that awarded me the college fiction award. At least, if he'd recognized me he would've known all those things. But that evening he didn't see the young man he knew. He saw a black youth that scared him. Instead of saying, "Oh, hi David. You gave me a fright," he bolted like his life was in danger.
That's what concerns me. This professor had no reason at all to think his life was in danger. He should've recognized me from hours in his classroom - hours in which I consistently earned top marks. I was on campus, entering the department in which I had an office (as the magazine editor). And yet he ran from me because I looked - in that moment - like someone he thought was scary. How was I scary?
I had puffy hair and a funny cap. Oh, and I was black.
I've never forgotten that moment, but I hadn't thought about it for awhile. I hope that anyone reading this will have sympathy for Trayvon Martin's family. I also hope you'll ask for actual justice to be applied to his killer, and to the police that didn't feel this boy's death merited criminal examination.
If a law says you can shoot someone because you're afraid - as the Florida law apparently says - innocent people will die (are dying). Being outraged by the misguided act of an individual is one thing. Being outraged by organizations and politicians that facilitate irreversible violence in another.
I'm angry at both right now.
If you don't know much about the story, you could read about it HERE, at the good old BBC.
Or HERE at the Guardian.
Or you could listen to the On Point show about it HERE.
Or just do a search. Plenty of stories out there. They'll tell you about a teenage boy that got shot to death while armed with Skittles, a bottle of iced tea, and a cellphone. He got shot because a paranoid neighborhood watch vigilante seemed to really be afraid of black males he didn't know. Despite the fact George Zimmerman weighs 250lbs and had a handgun (compared to Martin's 140lbs and convenience store items) he claims to have felt his life was in danger. With gun in hand, he shot. An irreversible action. The local cops accepted that. Didn't even arrest him.
Wow.
When I was a teenager I looked much like this boy. (I would post a photo of me at the same age if I had one with me.) He could be me. He could be my one of my friends. He could be Chris, or Omar, or the other Chris, or the other David, or Dwayne or... I could go on. Neither I nor any of my friends ever did any crime more serious than teenage mischief. None of us got arrested. None of us were a danger to anybody.Like Trayvon... accept that we were luckier than him.
There was a time in college when I - influenced by eye-opening African-American history and literature courses - went a bit Afro-centric in my look. Grew my hair out a bit. Wore a knit cap with a Rastafarian vibe. Sported t-shirts with African themes. The more convincingly I grew into my African appearance, the more I noticed how differently people looked at me. Librarians that I'd known for years didn't recognize me. People seeing me approach them on the street grew clearly nervous. And...
I will always remember one time on campus, when I came out of the stairwell in the English Department. It was late in the day, maybe 7pm or so. I came face to face with one of my professors, a middle-aged white man with whom I'd taken two courses the year before. Apparently, I'd changed enough that he didn't recognize me. He flinched, and slid to one side of the hallway and... bolted passed me.
I stood there thinking, "What just happened?" Not only had he been my professor for two courses, he'd given me A's in both of them. He knew that I edited the college literary magazine. He'd been in the jury that awarded me the college fiction award. At least, if he'd recognized me he would've known all those things. But that evening he didn't see the young man he knew. He saw a black youth that scared him. Instead of saying, "Oh, hi David. You gave me a fright," he bolted like his life was in danger.
That's what concerns me. This professor had no reason at all to think his life was in danger. He should've recognized me from hours in his classroom - hours in which I consistently earned top marks. I was on campus, entering the department in which I had an office (as the magazine editor). And yet he ran from me because I looked - in that moment - like someone he thought was scary. How was I scary?
I had puffy hair and a funny cap. Oh, and I was black.
I've never forgotten that moment, but I hadn't thought about it for awhile. I hope that anyone reading this will have sympathy for Trayvon Martin's family. I also hope you'll ask for actual justice to be applied to his killer, and to the police that didn't feel this boy's death merited criminal examination.
If a law says you can shoot someone because you're afraid - as the Florida law apparently says - innocent people will die (are dying). Being outraged by the misguided act of an individual is one thing. Being outraged by organizations and politicians that facilitate irreversible violence in another.
I'm angry at both right now.
March 21, 2012
L'alliance sacrée
Quite pleased to see another nice review of L'alliance sacrée (The Sacred Band).Since I'll be heading over to France for Imaginales in a couple of months it's nice to know a few folks over there like it. ;)
The review is HERE.
March 20, 2012
The Shadow Prince
I have something to announce.
I've just finished a new novel.
It's not what you might think, though. It's not the Spartacus novel. That one's going to take awhile yet.
No, what I've completed is a middle grade fantasy set in Ancient Egypt. A kid's book called The Shadow Prince. It grew on my by surprise, took over, beat Spartacus into submission, and then asked for a few dedicated months of my time. I'm so glad it did.
What's it like? Well, if I had to give it a sub-genre it would be "Solar Punk". It's not a very historical novel. Instead, it's one that takes all the funky stuff of Egyptian mythology and spins it playfully into a full-on fantasy. Weird shape-shifting gods with crazy powers? Yep. A demon fighting voyage into the underworld? Of course. A group of kids that have to save the world against impossible odds? Totally.
It's not exactly like any one series in particular, but I think of it as being similar in ways to a number of series. The demon fighting element was influenced by Jonathon Stroud's Bartimaeus novels. I tried for the playful, mild-peril of Angie Sage's Septimus Heap books. I wanted to keep the pacing brisk, like Kai Meyer's Wave Walker's books. And I have to admit to wanting my Egyptian setting to have some of the exotic - and yet contemporary - feel of the anime series Avatar: The Last Airbender. (Not the film based on it, and not, of course, the James Cameron Avatar movie either.) I'm not saying I achieved the quality of any of these artists; I'm just saying I tried.
I'm really excited about it. My wife read the new pages aloud every night to my kids (aged 10 and 12), so I got immediate feedback from the target audience. (I also got to hear it brought to life by a lovely Scottish voice...) I've had several beta readers look it over, with very positive responses (and useful feedback!). It's now in the hands of my agent. Hopefully, we'll soon be talking to publishers.
I really hope this works. I'd love for this to grow into a series. I'll still write historical works and adult fantasy, but writing for kids scratches a different itch. And, for once, it's just plain fun!
Wish me luck!
I've just finished a new novel.
It's not what you might think, though. It's not the Spartacus novel. That one's going to take awhile yet.
No, what I've completed is a middle grade fantasy set in Ancient Egypt. A kid's book called The Shadow Prince. It grew on my by surprise, took over, beat Spartacus into submission, and then asked for a few dedicated months of my time. I'm so glad it did.
What's it like? Well, if I had to give it a sub-genre it would be "Solar Punk". It's not a very historical novel. Instead, it's one that takes all the funky stuff of Egyptian mythology and spins it playfully into a full-on fantasy. Weird shape-shifting gods with crazy powers? Yep. A demon fighting voyage into the underworld? Of course. A group of kids that have to save the world against impossible odds? Totally.
It's not exactly like any one series in particular, but I think of it as being similar in ways to a number of series. The demon fighting element was influenced by Jonathon Stroud's Bartimaeus novels. I tried for the playful, mild-peril of Angie Sage's Septimus Heap books. I wanted to keep the pacing brisk, like Kai Meyer's Wave Walker's books. And I have to admit to wanting my Egyptian setting to have some of the exotic - and yet contemporary - feel of the anime series Avatar: The Last Airbender. (Not the film based on it, and not, of course, the James Cameron Avatar movie either.) I'm not saying I achieved the quality of any of these artists; I'm just saying I tried.
I'm really excited about it. My wife read the new pages aloud every night to my kids (aged 10 and 12), so I got immediate feedback from the target audience. (I also got to hear it brought to life by a lovely Scottish voice...) I've had several beta readers look it over, with very positive responses (and useful feedback!). It's now in the hands of my agent. Hopefully, we'll soon be talking to publishers.
I really hope this works. I'd love for this to grow into a series. I'll still write historical works and adult fantasy, but writing for kids scratches a different itch. And, for once, it's just plain fun!
Wish me luck!
March 19, 2012
Writing Excuses 7.12
Pleased to get a mention at the very cool Writing Excuses podcast.
This is a project that combines the talents of the fantasy novelists Mary Robinette Kowal and Brandon Sanderson, the cartoonist Howard Taylor and the horror novelist Dan Wells. They dispense writing advice in 15 minute audio discussions, with humor and professional insights. Good stuff.
Acacia: The War With the Mein gets mentioned as their Audio Pick of the Week.
If you'd like to hear more, click HERE.
This is a project that combines the talents of the fantasy novelists Mary Robinette Kowal and Brandon Sanderson, the cartoonist Howard Taylor and the horror novelist Dan Wells. They dispense writing advice in 15 minute audio discussions, with humor and professional insights. Good stuff.
Acacia: The War With the Mein gets mentioned as their Audio Pick of the Week.
If you'd like to hear more, click HERE.
March 16, 2012
Something Remembered
In the process of ordering a birthday present for a certain young man (keep that quiet, though) I recalled something.It's from a few years back. Sage had fallen in love with Naomi Novik's Temeraire books
from listening to the first couple on audio. Later, he picked up a copy of the third book at the library, anxious to read it himself. He got home and dashed up to his room, book in hand, ready for some dragon action.Time passes.
I go up to his room at some point, and find him in bed, red-faced and teary. Crying.
It took me a little while to get out of him what was wrong. It was that he couldn't yet read the book himself. The sentences were too long, vocabulary above his reading level, words too small on the massmarket pages.
Much hugs ensued. My boy, brought to tears because a book he so wanted to read was, at that point, hard for him.I've been there too. Haven't we all?
I don't mind saying that he chews through big books now with nary a tear. Times change. Kids grow.
March 15, 2012
March 14, 2012
Cory Boosts My Library!
I'm very pleased to post this link to BoingBoing, wherein Cory Doctorow helps out my home town library in our fundraising drive! Go take a look. The Video is terrific!
It's HERE at BoingBoing!
Thank you, Cory. And thank you Neil Gaiman for tweeting about us!
It's HERE at BoingBoing!
Thank you, Cory. And thank you Neil Gaiman for tweeting about us!
March 13, 2012
The Flash Ad!
I just got my hands on the code for the Flash Ad Anchor made for The Sacred Band. It's been up on a few sites. Why not on my blog?
