Ned Hayes's Blog, page 40
August 11, 2015
Author Reading - THE EAGLE TREE
Author Reading from the new novel THE EAGLE TREE at the Rainier Writing Workshop in August 2015.
Author Reading – THE EAGLE TREE was originally published on NedNote
"It was a particularly good evening to begin a book."
- Jansson, Tove. The Summer Book. (via wordsnquotes)
August 10, 2015
August 7, 2015
BOOK QUOTE:“People come to me on waves of memory, but all of...
BOOK QUOTE:
“People come to me on waves of memory, but all of them are ghosts. The sound of a distant ocean covers me with surf, that tide that bears me back eternally into the past, back to the place where I was born. My mother took me out in our little fishing boat, out on the open water of the sea. The thrum and hiss of surf upon the shore behind us, the breaking rhythm never ceasing. My mother waited until we were out of sight of land. She waited to tell me the secret.”
BOOK QUOTE: “Stars steam away as a pale sun rises, hot...
BOOK QUOTE:
“Stars steam away as a pale sun rises, hot coal dropped in a watery sky. Light seeps across the forest as the reedy shrieks of wood fowl echo in the trees. The path from our village to the King’s Highway is no road at all. To the east, that faint track leads up through the forest until it reaches, finally, the open country and paths that lead to other places. Hob is taking us beyond the bounds of the known world.”
— from the novel SINFUL FOLK
PHOTO: DSC0067 by Blongman on Flickr.
August 6, 2015
Eagle Tree - New Novel 2015
I’m happy to announce that my new novel, THE EAGLE TREE, has just completed the first edit cycle, and it’s out to early readers and reviewers. (NOTE: this novel is NOT published yet, and a publication date will be listed here when avaiable)
If you’d like to sign up to be an “Early Reader”, just contact me through the form on the website here, or via nedhayes AT gmail.com . Here’s a description of the novel.
THE EAGLE TREE is an unusual coming-of-age story told in the first person by March Williams, an autistic 14 year old boy obsessed with the trees of the Pacific Northwest. March’s ebullient embrace of trees is counter-balanced by his unconscious indifference to most human relationships and his (sometimes hilarious) misunderstandings of many social signals.
March’s powerful obsession with an endangered old-growth pine — the Eagle Tree — is the driving engine for his actions throughout the book. He alternates between active escape from other human beings and uncertain attempts to draw them into his campaign to save the unique tree. In the course of his unusual and often blindly-destructive story, March proves his voice deserves to be heard in his community.
Informed by my past experience teaching young people on the autistic spectrum, the EAGLE TREE is a rare story told in a lyrical and peculiarly entrancing voice that reads like an autistic memoir.
I believe that THE EAGLE TREE will appeal to readers who enjoyed the award-winning CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME, as well as Jim Lynch’s THE HIGHEST TIDE, which is also set in my hometown of Olympia Washington.
Here’s a Pinterest board all about the novel…
Eagle Tree – New Novel 2015 was originally published on NedNote
I’m happy to announce that my new novel, THE EAGLE TREE, has just completed the first edit cycle,...
I’m happy to announce that my new novel, THE EAGLE TREE, has just completed the first edit cycle, and it’s out to early readers and reviewers. (NOTE: this novel is NOT published yet, and a publication date will be listed here when avaiable)
If you’d like to sign up to be an “Early Reader”, just contact me through the form on the website here, or via nedhayes AT gmail.com . Here’s a description of the novel.
THE EAGLE TREE is an unusual coming-of-age story told in the first person by March Williams, an autistic 14 year old boy obsessed with the trees of the Pacific Northwest. March’s ebullient embrace of trees is counter-balanced by his unconscious indifference to most human relationships and his (sometimes hilarious) misunderstandings of many social signals.
March’s powerful obsession with an endangered old-growth pine — the Eagle Tree — is the driving engine for his actions throughout the book. He alternates between active escape from other human beings and uncertain attempts to draw them into his campaign to save the unique tree. In the course of his unusual and often blindly-destructive story, March proves his voice deserves to be heard in his community.
Informed by my past experience teaching young people on the autistic spectrum, the EAGLE TREE is a rare story told in a lyrical and peculiarly entrancing voice that reads like an autistic memoir.
I believe that THE EAGLE TREE will appeal to readers who enjoyed the award-winning CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME, as well as Jim Lynch’s THE HIGHEST TIDE, which is also set in my hometown of Olympia Washington.
Here’s a Pinterest board all about the novel…
was originally published on NedNote
August 5, 2015
Review -- BIRD BOX by Josh Malerman
Bird Box
Bird Box by Josh Malerman, is a powerful, elegantly written story that absolutely enthralled me.
The genius of this book is the fact that it focuses with sharp laser light on one singular story of survival, perseverance and terror.
I loved the singular focus, because it was impossible to take my eyes off the page (this sentence is a reference to something you’ll find interesting in a heartbeat here).
Imagine that there’s something in the world that causes utter insanity and homicidal mania in anyone who sees it. Where this thing came from, or why it exists does not matter. The facts of this story are that it DOES EXIST, and that if you open your eyes around it, you’re lost forever.
Given that intriguing scenario, there are a really interesting set of writing choices. First of all, the greatest temptation is to EXPLAIN and to explain what the heck is happening and why it is happening and allow the characters to make sense of it all.
Wisely, Malerman entirely avoids that deceptively saccharine and simplistic choice. He doesn’t explain. This is right in line with what I think about good fantasy and horror — the best story comes from withholding everything you can. Never explain. Josh Malerman doesn’t explain anything at all and his story is the more powerful for it.
He just allows his story to unfold, and what a shocking, provocative and mind-rending story it is indeed.
The story opens with Malorie and her two young children deciding to escape from the place she has been living for the past five years. Her very young children (who are almost never called anything else than Boy and Girl) have been raised with every precaution of seeing anything that is outside, and with all the rules in place, she decides to leave. It is a very perilous journey, because she won’t be able to see anything, and she has no idea what the world outside even looks like anymore!
This terrifying journey is intercut with the past story of how the world got to this horrific pass and how she once had friends and that all fell apart.
The way Malerman intercuts between the two storylines is masterfully done — I’ve almost never seen it done better in any book.
It is, in essence, a very simple story: survive.
And because it is a story of survival, it is, in the end, what one might call a horror novel. But a profoundly well-written and intriguing horror novel that haunts one for months afterwards.
I highly recommend BIRD BOX. It’s a beautiful, terrible story.
Review — BIRD BOX by Josh Malerman was originally published on NedNote
