David Anthony Durham's Blog, page 28

Arms of Nemesis

I have a short piece up at Campaign for the American Reader. They asked me what I was reading at the moment, and I told them: Steven Saylor's Arms of Nemesis.

If you want to know why, the answer is a click away: HERE.

Who Fears Nnedi?

[image error] I was thrilled to learn that Nnedi Okorafor's novel, Who Fears Death, has just won this years World Fantasy Award. Yay, Nnedi! I'm not surprised. To quote the blurb I offered her a couple years back...

"WHO FEARS DEATH is urgently topical, at times brutal, and always wholly original. It's no surprise she's been racking up awards. There are more to come, surely."

Also, I'm just as thrilled that my friend and Stonecoast MFA Program colleague, Elizabeth Hand, won in the novella category for "The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon".

Congrats to you both!

Wild Cards Movie

It gives me great pleasure to be able to talk publicly about some news that's been secret for a few months now. Wild Cards - George RR Martin's collaborative novel series of mutants and superheroes - has a movie deal.

To quote The Hollywood Reporter: "Syfy Films, the theatrical division created in December 2010 as a joint venture between Syfy and Universal Pictures, has acquired the screen rights to Wild Cards, a superhero anthology edited, co-created and co-written by Martin."

There will be many details to come. Right now I'd just mention a couple things. Just to be clear, Syfy Films is not the arm of the channel that's been making rather dodgy tv movies. It's a new project, with Universal, that's out to develop a major superhero franchise - and they've chosen Wild Cards .

There are going to be tons of decisions to make about what stories they're going to tell, considering the large cast of characters that have twenty-some volumes of adventures behind them. It's quite possible, though, that they'll choose to start with characters from some of the more recent books. Since I've been writing for those, I'm more than a little excited. Maybe, just maybe, one of my mutant creations will get on the big screen! If so, I've negotiated a fee of $40 with my son, Sage. That's his bonus for being instrumental in the creation of my main character, Infamous Black Tongue. (No, he didn't have an agent representing him...)


HERE's the full article at The Hollywood Reporter. 


HERE's one at Cinema Blend.

Aces High

George RR Martin just sent his Wild Cards authors the official cover for the reissue of the second Wild Cards book, Aces High. He wanted us to pass it on to folks, so that's what I'm doing. The artist is Michael Komarck, continuing to do stellar work.


I'm not in this one, of course. (It originally came out in 1987 - the year I graduated high school. I wasn't quite up to writing speed at that point.) The book features stories by Roger Zelazny, Melinda M. Snodgrass, Victor Milan, Lewis Shiner, Walton Simons, John J. Miller, Pat Cadigan, Walter Jon Williams, and GRRM himself. It follows the reissue of the original, Wild Cards I, which Tor published last year. Keep your eye on these books. Good things are happening with them...

Page 69 Test

For my last few books I've had the pleasure of writing a short piece for The Page 69 Test, a website that asks authors to discuss their novels in light of whatever appears on page 69 of it. I've never found that my page 69 really captured the entirety of the book, but I've accepted the challenge every time anyway.

And I've done it again for The Sacred Band.

You can read it HERE.

Portugal

[image error] Hey, remember a while back when I posted a photo of the t-shirt that my Portuguese publisher made?

I went ahead and had my agent ask them if I could buy one. They did me two better than that! One, they said they would send me a few for free, which is very nice. Even more nice, though, is that they invited me to come to Portugal next spring when the second book pubs. Hurray!

I've never been to Portugal. I'd love to go. Here's hoping it really happens...

The D-O-G

Had a scare with the dog yesterday. What started out as a nice longish walk became a bush-wacking melodrama after Saba disappeared.

He likes to lope off the path away from us, and he can cover surprising distances when he runs, but he's never gone for long. He always comes rushing back. This time he didn't. We spent several hours running up and down the path, and cutting off from it to crash through the trees, over stone walls. We were well up away from any roads, but we also got in the car and drove up and down the nearest road. We'd just returned to the parking area, with a thermos of tea, sandwiches and a load of rain gear. Plan was to go up again, dive off the track and crash through the nearest fields that had sheep in them, and then to look up and down the fence, fearing that we'd find Saba tangled up in barbed wire.

It was starting to get dark. A very bad time for us all.

And then Saba appeared behind the car. Just sort of popped up, looking unfazed, and a little confused as to why everyone started crying. We've no idea what he was up to, whether or not it was just circumstance (like getting on the wrong side of a stone wall and not knowing how to get back to us). Or whether it's a sign he's going to have the wandering inclination.

Either way, it was a terrible few hours. And then, suddenly, it was over. I guess that makes us lucky. And grateful.

Blanvalet To Finish The Acacia Trilogy!

Have I mentioned this yet? I don't think I have, so let me shout about it now.

My German publisher, Blanvalet, has signed on to publish The Sacred Band! I've no idea when it'll come out, but it's happening.

I'm pleased. One of these days there will be another cover to go with these two, and they're will be completion!

Goes With The Territory

One of the great pleasures of writing novels is that, if you're lucky, people read and talk about them, and even post their thoughts on the internet. Of course, one of the really frustrating things about writing novels is that... people read and talk about them, and even post their thoughts on the internet.

I noticed a report from a book club that had just read Gabriel's Story. Rather cool that the old Western is still getting read, so no complaints there. Nor will I complain about the gripes they had with the book. That's fine. I had a hard time stopping myself from posting a comment in response to two things they said, though.

One was that I hadn't done my research, as evidenced by the fact that I referred to double barrels on a rifle. They wrote simply that rifles have one barrel, and admonished me to "do your research"! That's pretty damning. If a historical novelist doesn't even know that double rifles don't exist he's got to be pretty crap...

Thing is, there are double rifles, and there have been double rifles for a long time. They were especially used to hunt big game during the colonial period, but that included usage in America. They're not as common a single barrel rifles, but they do exist. This website - Mick's Guns - has wonderfully detailed photos of vintage double rifles. Like this one:


Now, the blogger could have argued that I have too many double rifles in the novel, but that's not what he said. He could have argued about the time period prevalence of them in my particular setting. But he didn't do that either. He just said that something I have in the novel doesn't exist, and that I obviously hadn't done my research. Someone reading that will think I'm pretty crap, but they'll think it largely because the reviewer hasn't done his research.

He also refers to skipping through the "more disturbing rape scenes". That line will leave a reader thinking not only that there were multiple rape scenes, but also that they were disturbing, presumably graphic. But this isn't true either. Yes, there is rape in the book, but it all happens off screen. It's disturbing, but not because you're forced to watch it as a reader. It's disturbing because you know that it's going on just out of view. The book did win an Alex Award from the American Library Association - which is given to adult books that they recommend for teen readers.

This sort of thing happens all the time, and usually I don't even think about responding. Not sure why I almost did this time. It was probably that personal direction - "Do your research!" - which I could consider to be directed at me. Although, to be honest, it's not just directed at me. My editor, copy-editor, agent and all the other production people have a hand in checking facts as well.

Of course, I didn't respond. It's just one of those things. Goes with the territory. Glad to be getting read. That's what matters...

Spread The Positive!

Almost two weeks since publication and, I'm pleased to say that The Sacred Band reviews have been really solid. The pre-pubs were fantastic. The blog-love has been terrific. I've even picked up a few print reviews. Fancy that in this day and age!

Not least, the reader reviews on Amazon have been good. I've got four at the moment. All very positive. I know that before long someone will write a stinker, but for now I want to bask in the kind words those most important of people - readers! - have penned for me. They include...

Reviewer #1: "I found it to be a very solid book. It was addictive to read, and often quite emotional. I strongly recommend it for readers of the earlier books in the trilogy, and the trilogy itself for readers looking for an excellent fantasy series."

Reviewer #2: "In revealing the reasons, some of which are recent, others ancient, of why the characters act as they do, the author shows empathy to all of them. He shows us what binds people to their fate and what could possibly free them. It's this sensitivity that pushes the trilogy beyond it's exciting story, solid worldbuilding and characterization."

Reviewer #3:"I for one, believe this series should be on your shelf right next to Tolkien and Martin. I could not put this book down and finished it in 3 days... Buy this now."

Reviewer #4: "Now that was an amazing read! I kinda wish now that I hadn't finished it so quickly!. The Sacred Band wraps up a fantastic trilogy that began with Acacia. I didn't know what to expect from this final installment, but I have to admit, I was blown away. Blown away by the characters, the plot, and especially the creativity."

It means a lot to get reviews like this. A lot of people seem to take some bitter pleasure out of writing negative reviews. Those can take a lot out of a writer - regardless of how wrong you might find them to be. Good ones, though, are each a reminder of why I do this writing stuff in the first place. That matters.

So... with that in mind, don't be shy! If you've enjoyed my books - or any author's books, really - say so! Spread some positivity!