K.R. Gastreich's Blog, page 39

The Value of Freedom

"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety” –Benjamin Franklin

Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson working on the Declaration (Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, 1900) The anniversary of our nation’s declaration of independence is upon us once more. There will be barbecues, fireworks and celebrations. There will also be quiet moments of prayer and warm thoughts for those soldiers home and abroad, those who’ve touched our lives, and those lost in support of the value we Americans hold most dear: our freedom.

But what does it mean to be free? This is a question considered deeply by the writers of the Declaration of Independence, and one we ponder as a society on almost a daily basis. When does my right to free speech impinge upon the rights of others? Why is freedom to assemble an important right? More often than guns and bombs, the true questions of freedom are decided every day in a thousand small ways and venues, from quiet, civil conversations to demonstrations to court judgments. And in fiction, these themes are explored and discussed, turned over and examined, in our ongoing attempt to understand what the concept of freedom truly means.

This question has become a standard of modern Young Adult fantasy, best exemplified in the skyrocketing popularity of Young Adult fiction. The debate between freedom and security—how much is too much safety? What freedoms are we willing to sacrifice in order to remain secure?—is a running theme in these novels. Suzanne Collins writes in The Hunger Games, “District 12. Where you can starve to death in safety,” a comment that epitomizes this new, ongoing debate. The world in Allie Condie’s Matched trilogy is one of health, safety, and moderation. Regulated food portions are delivered, pre-cooked and pre-portioned for each person, directly to the home at meal time. Exercise is regulated to ensure the optimum health of the citizens. People are matched to their jobs and to their potential mates. And the freedoms of choice and variety have completely been eliminated. Cory Doctorow’s seminal YA novel Little Brother riffs off of Orwell’s 1984 and questions the value of security and the meaning of freedom in a post-911 world. Veronica Roth’s Divergent trilogy, Lauren Oliver’s Delirium, James Dashner’s Maze Runner… and the list goes on.

When I discuss this trend in my university courses, I don’t ask the students why they think this upswing in depictions of strict government control and the desire for freedom is taking place. This is, after all, an theme as old as civilization itself. I ask my students, “why now?” And more importantly, “why is this an American Young Adult trend?”

One need only look at the news media for a simple answer. The debate over X-ray body scanners in airports. The 99% vs. the 1%. The Patriot Act. The long-standing argument between Democrats and Republicans about too much vs. not enough government control and intervention. There is a push and pull between government control and personal independence in our society that is as old as America itself, yet made more prominent by the tragedies and subsequent responses to 9/11. And at our core, we fear that our young people, those who have the power and responsibility to change our future, are just not paying attention.

Here’s the truth of it: they aren’t. And their parents aren’t, either.

With so much media handwavery—the Real Housewives, Jersey Shore, Cake Boss, Dawg the Bounty Hunter, the move from hard news to “reporters” exchanging sexual banter and wearing low-cut tops, the penultimate desire to just sit and be entertained—the debates about body scanners and elections and personal rights and freedoms seem so… unglamorous. It’s not fun to be informed, to debate, or even to think.

But here’s the thing: these YA dystopian novels, packaged as entertaining stories with strong, interesting characters, are dealing with powerful issues that challenge us all to do just that. They ask us to question whether we truly want to live in a world where we are completely safe, yet we cannot choose our own meals, when to exercise, whom to marry, or even when we die. They ask if we are willing to trade our freedom of speech and assembly for a “safe” world. They hold up a mirror to our decadence and our blindness about the realities of suffering. They ask if we are willing, as Little Brother asks, to allow the government to track everything we do online, where and how we travel, what we buy—all in the name of security. And, as all of these novels ask in the end, where is that line between freedom and security? How much government control is too much? Where does it all end?

On this Independence Day, it’s important not just to celebrate our freedom, but to continue questioning and debating, and above all, to keep fighting with our words, thoughts and ideas that war our forefathers started. As readers, writers, and thinkers, it is our patriotic duty.

On Writing Heroines

I am pleased to welcome our June guest blogger, Sharon Shinn! Sharon has published 22 novels, one collection, and assorted pieces of short fiction since her first book came out in 1995. Among her books are the Twelve Houses series, Archangel and its sequels, and her latest, the contemporary fantasy The Shape of Desire. She has won various awards, including the 2010 Romantic Times Book Reviews Career Achievement Award in the Science Fiction/Fantasy category. Still Life with Shape-Shifter, a sequel to The Shape of Desire, will be published in October 2012.



Someone once described my books as having gripping plots, believable world-building, hot men, and strong women. Not surprisingly, I loved this description! I work at all aspects of my writing, but the bit about writing strong women? That’s instinctive. Maybe because I’ve been surrounded by strong women all my life. Or maybe because I write the kinds of characters I like to encounter in other pieces of fiction.
I do think my approach to writing women has evolved since I first started publishing. In my second book, Archangel, I wanted to create a grand adventure with really big stakes—the fate of my imaginary world. And I wanted the heart of the book to be a love story between two characters who misunderstood each other at every turn. But I didn’t want the romance to be an adjunct; I didn’t want the hero to save the world while the heroine stood on the sidelines wringing her hands or cheering him on. I wanted the story to be impossible to tell unless both Gabriel and Rachel were on stage, playing their ordained parts.

I followed the same pattern with the other books in the Samaria series. The believer Alleluia can’t save her country without the assistance of the scientist Caleb. Jared’s voice and Tamar’s voice must be raised in harmony to stay the thunderbolts; only Susannah’s communion with the god allows Gaaron to chase invaders from Samaria. And so on. I write love stories because I like them, but I make them integral to each novel because otherwise they’re boring—and by “they,” I mean both the books and the love stories.

I took a slightly different tack with the Twelve Houses books, which I started writing about ten years later. These are all basically sword-and-sorcery adventure books, with lots of brawls, battles, and betrayals. At some point, almost everyone ends up in need of rescue—and my characters take turns saving each other. Senneth breaks Tayse free of the convent; he keeps her safe from Halchon. Ellynor heals Justin after he receives mortal wounds; he saves her from certain death. Even one of the novellas I set in this world requires the two main characters to take turns rescuing the other from peril.

I don’t want my women characters to be the sameas men, but I want them to be equals.Senneth is nowhere near as good a fighter as Tayse is, but her magic can burn down a city. Ellynor is softer, more feminine than many of my heroines, but she has a deep connection with her goddess and a powerful well of magic that are every bit as valuable as Justin’s prowess with a sword. When my characters aren’t saving each others’ lives, they’re working together as allies.
Kirra Danalustrous was one of my favorite characters to write, because she’s the whole package. She’s a lady of privilege who knows how to exploit her beauty and her position in life, but as a shape-shifter, she’s absolutely in control of her destiny. She refuses to learn how to wield a weapon, but if there’s a fight, she can take any animal shape and destroy her attacker. No one can hold her against her will—not her father, not the men who love her. Everything she does she does by choice, even when her choices are bad. And that’s the fun of writing Kirra. What kind of boundaries do you put on a woman who can’t be constrained? And what kinds of lessons does she learn when no one can force her to learn them?
As I said at the beginning, I work hard to create intriguing worlds and exciting plots. But when I read, I read for character. I think it’s pretty clear that I write for character, too. 

On how reality can be the spice of fantasy

Inspired by Kim’s Summer Reading post a couple weeks back, I’ve decided to make use of my spot this month by sharing some of the non-fantasy titles that have most inspired me. 

Yeah, yeah.  I know.  This is a blog devoted to fantasy, so why bother mentioning those other books? 
Truth is, while my focus as an author has been fantasy, I’m a strong advocate of reading across a wide variety of genres.  In fact, I really hadn’t read much fantasy at all until I started writing it. My lack of familiarity with the genre was a source of insecurity for a long time, but I’ve come to realize that broad reading habits can be a strength, not a weakness, in one’s journey as an author.  Cross-fertilization, as any biologist will tell you, keeps the meme pool alive and happy.
This is not by any means a comprehensive list of titles that have influenced me.  In putting it together, I decided to leave out historical fiction entirely (the post was just getting too long!), but historical fiction has had a huge influence on my work, so to leave it out is a serious omission.  (As recompense, I promise to spend some time on historical fiction titles on my blog for Eolyn.)  There are other titles missing, too.  Still, this short list will give you an idea of the books that have stuck with me over the years, and that in one way or another, have come to influence my approach to storytelling.



Blood, Bread and Roses. Judy Grahn’s unique retelling of human history takes menstruation from its marginalized place in today’s society and puts this expression of women’s power right at the heart of cultural evolution. Her arguments may, on occasion, seem a little far-fetched, but she opens up a new and very thought-provoking perspective on women in history.

Adam, Eve and the Serpent. Elaine Pagels has published a large body of critical work on the early Christian Church.  In this volume, she shows how Augustine’s interpretation of sex and the “fall of man” was adopted as doctrine, not so much out of conviction and faith, but in an effort to justify the emerging power structure of an increasingly lucrative and patriarchal church. 

To Life! A Celebration of Jewish Being and Thinking. What I remember most about this book is Harold Kushner’s interpretation of Genesis.  Kushner shows, point-for-point, why the traditional Augustinian view of Adam, Even and the Serpent makes no sense.  He then offers his own interpretation, beautifully coherent with Eve front and center as a heroine of human history.  This was one of the seeds that gave rise to the myth The Origin of Magic as told in Eolyn.

Warfare in the Ancient World by Brian Todd Carey.  Everyone who writes epic fantasy knows that sooner or later, no matter how hard you and your characters try to avoid it, you will have a battle on your hands.  Carey’s classic volume describing 26 key military confrontations of ancient times was the first book I ever picked up on the topic of warfare, and it was a good choice.  Accessible and interesting, even for a reticent beginner like me.

The Country Beneath My Skin. I have sung Gioconda Belli’s praises many times and in many places.  This memoir of her involvement with the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua is a must read.  She is a true modern heroine, a poet and a warrior, and many aspects of her journey inspired the crafting of Eolyn.  

Medicine Cards.  More than an alternative tarot deck, Jamie Sams and David Carson’s collection of animal images and totems was one of my first introductions to the world of animals from the perspective of Native American mythology.  Many of the animals that appear in Eolyn are tied to the symbolism described in this and similar texts.

T he Song of the Dodo, by David Quammen.  In many ways, Eolyn is a story about cultural extinction; the loss – or near loss – of an indigenous tradition of magic.  I’ve learned about the dynamics of extinction, particularly biological extinction, from many sources, but Quammen’s is one of the best.  Superbly written, easily accessible to the non-biologist, it will transform the way you see the world and our role in it.





That’s my partial list of non-fantasy favorites.  Now it’s your turn.  What are some of your favorite non-fantasy titles, and why?
posted by Karin Rita Gastreich

What? Is it my turn?

Oh, yes, gentle readers, it is my turn to post on Heroines of Fantasy, and I--engrossed in editing two novels due out from Hadley Rille Books in October, as well as the launching frenzy of my novel, A Time Never Lived --am unprepared. You see, I currently find myself with three full-time jobs. Yes. Three. Writer. Editor. Mother. Writer is being sorely neglected the last few weeks, stepping back so that Editor and Mother can get what must be done, done. She's a bit pouty, but she'll survive. This isn't the first time she's had to get in the back seat.

And that brings me to my subject today, one I am pulling out of my ass as I sit here at my keyboard, frazzled and frenzied and wondering what the hell am I going to write about: Time.

More precisely, making it. Taking it. Appreciating it.

We get so caught up in what must be done that sometimes we forget about those things we want to do. Kim Vandervort's post last week about summer reading is a good example of what I want to get done, and that I'm neglecting.

Skychair time.
Reading time.
Writing time.

They are easily forgone because of the must-do-things life is currently bogging me down with; and because I am so bogged down, those wants get shoved further and further into the back seat. I've given myself up to those musts. As the saying goes, All work and no play makes Jane a dull girl.

You do it. We all do. I bet you're doing it today. Responsibility should not be shirked, but neither should we sacrifice ourselves completely. So this is my battle cry to you all: Do something for yourself today.

Take half an hour to read a few chapters in that book that's been sitting on your bedside table for weeks. Go for a walk--not for exercise!--but to simply enjoy the sunshine, or the rain. Write. Open up that file or notebook and let the words building up behind all the must-dos out! Play with your dog, your cat, your kids, your significant other, yourself! Have a glass of wine, a cup of tea, a piece of chocolate.

Breathe.
Enjoy.
Don't just take the time, appreciate it.

The moment I finish this post, I'm going out to the skychair without my laptop, even though I have an edit to finish. I'm going out with the book I've been trying to read, because I'm really enjoying it, and I deserve thirty minutes before running off on the next errand to enjoy it.
So what I want to know from you, right here-right now, is...
What are you going to do for yourself TODAY!
If you leave it in comments, you must do it; you will do it! There's magic in that. I promise.

Summer Reading!

This will come as no surprise to anyone that I loved to read as a kid, and the best time to read was summer vacation. I played outside with friends plenty, but some of my favorite moments were spent lying on the couch, stretched out on my bed, or on a lounge chair outside, taking a break with my favorite characters. I spent many a lazy summer with Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary. The summer before my seventh grade year I read 1001 Arabian Nights. The next summer I spent with Douglas Adams and Joyce Ballou Gregorian’s excellent fantasy trilogy, now long out of print. In high school I discovered romance novels, David Eddings, Stephen King, and so many more. The joy was in the discovery of new authors, new stories, new worlds.
Summer has come around again, and now that I’m done teaching for the semester, I can’t wait to get reading! This year my list is full of books that have been collecting beside my bed for months. Here’s a list of the top five I’m most eager to open and explore:
1. Insurgent by Veronica Roth. The second novel in a dystopian trilogy, Roth’s future Chicago is divided into sectors defined by values. It seemed like an odd premise when I first picked up Divergent last year, but the first novel in this series was well written and thoroughly engaging. It rivals Hunger Games, and it some ways, is even better.






2. Beyond the Gate by Terri-Lynne DeFino. I’m bragging here, but I get to beta read Terri’s forthcoming novel this summer. Woot! If you haven’t read Finder and A Time Never Lived, you are missing out on some phenomenal summer reads, with unique, non-European inspired worlds and well-drawn characters you will fall in love with.








3. The Kingdom of Gods by N.K. Jemisin. I’ve been looking forward to reading this, the third book in Jemisin’s Inheritance trilogy, since I picked it up at World Fantasy last November. Her unique fantasies and worlds are inspiring, her characters rich and engaging, the writing beautiful.










4. Starters by Lissa Price. I received a chapter sample of this book at World Fantasy. My fifteen-year-old picked it up and bought the book as soon as it came out. Another dystopian, this novel posits a future in which the elderly can “rent” the bodies of young men and women in order to experience youth again. The premise is fresh and different, and my daughter recommended it, so I think I have to read it!








5. Timeless by Gail Carriger. This is the final book in Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series, which is a steampunk/ paranormal/ comedy of manners/ mystery set in 19th century London. Vampires, werewolves and soulless, those who can negate paranormal powers with a touch, abound in London’s high (and low) society. Alexia Tarabotti, wife of a werewolf and friends of vampires, is an Austen-esque heroine with a cool head in a crisis and plenty of wit.









If none of these appeal, I’d also highly recommend the fantasies of some of our summer guests, who are also on the list of my favorite authors:
June 25th: The Psalms of Isaak series by Ken Scholes is high on my list of all-time favorite fantasy series. Start with Lamentation, read Canticle and Antiphon, then wait on pins and needles for Requiemwith the rest of us.







July 23rd: Dorothy Hearst’s Wolf Chronicles are a fantastic summer read for paranormal fans and animal lovers alike. Who doesn’t love wolves?



July 30th: Sharon Shinn’s Twelve Houses series is a fantastic blend of fantasy and romance, with strong female characters and phenomenal worldbuilding.






August 13th: Jim C. Hines, our final summer guest, re-envisioned storybook princesses as kick-ass heroines long before Once Upon a Time and Snow White and the Huntsman. His damaged but awesome Sleeping Beauty is probably my favorite.

Now a question for all of you, gentle readers: what are you reading this summer? Sound off!

by Kim Vandervort

The Players on the Other Side: Some Thoughts on Villainy in Fiction

Please welcome this month's special guest blogger, Debra Doyle! Debra Doyle was born in Florida and educated in Florida, Texas, Arkansas, and Pennsylvania -- the last at the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned her doctorate in English literature, concentrating on Old English poetry.  While living and studying in Philadelphia, she met and married James D. Macdonald, who was then serving in the US Navy, and subsequently traveled with him to Virginia, California, and the Republic of Panamá, accumulating various children, cats, and computers along the way.

Doyle and Macdonald left the Navy and Panamá in 1988 in order to pursue writing full-time. Since then they have lived in a big, and increasingly run-down, 19th-century house in Colebrook, New Hampshire, where they write science fiction and fantasy for children, teenagers, and adults.  Their most recent joint works include Lincoln's Sword, an alternate-historical fantasy set during and just after the Civil War, and the short story "Philologos: or, A Murder in Bistrita" (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, February 2008.)  Their Mageworlds series of space opera novels are now available from Tor as e-books at Amazon, Barnesand Noble, and other electronic outlets.  For the morbidly curious, a full bibliography is available on their web page: http://www.sff.net/people/doylemacdon....
In addition to writing, Debra Doyle also does freelance editorial and critique work at Dr.  Doyle's Editorial Services, and is a regular instructor at the Viable Paradise Writer's Workshop (for which registrations are still open until June 15th.)
I have a philosophical objection to Capital-E Evil in villains. Very few people -- even the ones who really ought to be removed from society in some permanent fashion for the sake of the greater good -- wake up in the morning and say to themselves, "I'm going to go out and be Evil today." Some of them justify what they're doing in one fashion or another, some of them simply consider that they're doing their jobs, and some of them—frequently the most appalling of them -- think that they're doing good.
No, really.  Most people have a heroic self-image that they aspire to, or fantasize about, or attempt to live up to.  If you're a writer, one of the ways to make your villains three-dimensional is to pay attention to what kind of heroic self-images they have -- the predatory businessman may regard himself as a Prosperity-Creating Captain of Industry, for example, just as the smothering, over-controlling parent or guardian may look in the mirror and see a Protector Against All Harm  And entirely too many political villains, both fictional and real, cherish a heroic self-image as The One Who Can Make Hard Choices for the Greater Good.  These people don't think they're villains.  They think they're heroes.
(And sometimes, they actually are.  The conflict of good versus evil is a steady, reliable story-engine; but if you want some real fictional horsepower, there's nothing like the conflict of good versus good.  This is what makes Magneto, of the X-Men comics and movies, into such an effective and memorable villain: He's got serious, even sympathetic, reasons for setting out on his course of villainy, and his long-term goals are not all that far from the goals of the good guys in that universe. It's his methods that they cannot accept, and that they have to fight.)
A lot of writers suffer from a failure of nerve when it comes to writing their villains.  They resort to making their stories' antagonists into two-dimensional mustache-twirlers, or cardboard bigots, or power-mad psychos, because to do the hard thing, and write the villain as though he had an honest belief in his own (however evil) actions, would require them -- for the span of time necessary to write the guy properly -- to live inside the villain's head, and to (however temporarily) become him, to do his deeds and to believe his beliefs.  Or her beliefs, since equality of fictional opportunity should allow female characters the choice to become villainous as well.
The reader doesn't need to feel sorry for the villain. But if the story is going to go into the villain's point of view at some point, then the reader is going to have to be the villain during that time, and is going to have to look at the world through the villain's eyes; and for that to happen, the writer is going to have to go there first. A lot of writers wimp out on that one -- they have their despicable antagonist's internal musings be the equivalent of gloating and twirling his mustache, as opposed to, say, worrying about whether or not his good black cloak is going to last another winter and if not, whether the current wages of sin are going to stretch far enough to buy him a new one.
In short, the villain and his allies have no fictional life outside of their villainy, which is a failure of imagination that results in flat characters and flatter scenery. If (to invent a quick-and-dirty social milieu to avoid invidious specifics) the writer's heroic and virtuous band of generalized goodness-and-light worshipers (insert deity or principle of choice here for best personal resonance) are being persecuted by the dark votaries of the dreaded Spider God . . . then the writer has to spend some time worshiping the Spider God as well, in order to know, on a gut level, why it is that an otherwise harmless bunch of Fantasyland Unitarians (or whatever) constitute an affront to the moral order of the universe as perceived by the Great Spider.
For that matter, if the dreaded Spider God is going to be all that important to the story, then the writer needs to spend some serious time thinking about Spiderian Theology (current state of, historical state of), and Spiderian Mysticism, and Spiderian Heresies.  Because the problem with one-sided axe-grinding is that it gives us all those fantasy worlds where the evil Church (always with a capital C) appears to have nothing else to do with its time except persecute innocent elves and magic-users and uppity women and anybody else the author thinks is Good and Nice.  This generic evil Church doesn't have any theology, it doesn't have any history, it doesn't have any scriptures (except possibly for a few texts on the proper oppression of elves, et cetera), it doesn't have any internal politics, it doesn't have any saints or mystics or martyrs or missionaries or ordinary hardworking clerics or even members of the Ladies' Altar Guild (all available character slots having been completely taken up by Patriarchs, Inquisitors, and Corrupt Members of the Priesthood) -- it does not, in short, function in any way like an actual, real-world religion as far as the lives of ordinary people in the created world are concerned.  It's a cardboard institution, an all-purpose demon-on-a-stick, and it makes for bad, shallow, unoriginal writing.
For good writing, respect your villains.  Let them win some of the arguments, instead of always being crushed underneath the weight of your protagonist's overwhelming righteousness.  Give them some virtues, the better to make their vices stand out in high relief.  Love them a little, even -- they're yours, and you made them, and you set their feet on the path of evil, so who else is going to care for them even as they inevitably go down?

A Time Never Lived

I had a feeling Terri was not going to do this for herself, so I'm going to take advantage of my spot to talk about the most exciting event this month for Heroines of Fantasy:  the release of Terri-Lynne DeFino's new novel A Time Never Lived.

Those of you who are familiar with Terri's work will be delighted to learn that A Time Never Lived takes us back to the same Mediterranean-style world as Finder, a diverse collection of countries and cultures that surround the aptly-named Bloodbane Sea. 

A Time Never Lived takes place several years after Finder, and includes some of the same characters.  It is, however, a stand-alone novel, so you do not need to have read Finder in order enjoy A Time Never Lived.  (Let me just say, however, that if you have not yet read Finder, you are missing out! This is a wonderful novel that should have an honored place on every fantasy reader's shelf.  If you don't have the budget to order a copy on line, try your luck at the Goodreads Giveaway that Hadley Rille Books is sponsoring; the link to register for your chance to win a free signed copy is on the right-hand column.  Or check your local library.  Many public libraries carry this and other Hadley Rille titles, for the free enjoyment of all readers.)

Without going into the specific plots and conflicts of Terri's novels (you can read the blurbs elsewhere), I want to tell you a little bit about what appeals to me about Terri's work.
 
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First and foremost, I admire the authenticity of her world.  Cities such as Bosbana, and the regions of Greater Argoa and Therk are entirely imagined, yet come across as very real.  We can easily see ourselves having a cup of tea with her characters, or getting drunk with them (and suffering through the resulting hangover with them), or traveling through the hills, deserts and cities of their world.  We learn to recognize the cultural background of each character by their words and mannerisms, and we understand the challenges, conflicts and injustices they face because it all seems somehow very much a part of our own history. 

[image error] Layered over this, we have the trials and tribulations of protagonists who are thoroughly human: talented, creative, flawed, deceptive, proud, insecure, and most of all adventuresome.  In Finder we are given the love story of Ethen, hunter of slaves, and Zihariel, the slave who is hunted.  A Time Never Lived tackles a different kind of love through the devotion of Vic, who embarks on a perilous search for his lost father.  In both cases, the lives of the protagonists are embedded in a community of minor characters whose own desires and personal challenges are woven through the primary conflict, adding even more dimension, color and spice to the novels. 

A Time Never Lived will be launched this weekend at ConQuest, Kansas City's own science fiction and fantasy convention.  If you are in the Kansas City area, you will have multiple opportunities to meet Terri, purchase her books and get her signature.

On Thursday, May 24, Terri will be at Prospero's Bookstore for the event High Adventure with Hadley Rille Books, which will feature eleven authors of science fiction and fantasy from all over the United States. 

Friday, May 25, through Sunday, May 27, Terri will be attending ConQuest itself.  She will be in several panels, including a panel of Hadley Rille authors on Saturday, May 26, at 11am.  Also on May 26, there will be a mass signing with all the con authors at 3pm.  And right after that, at 4pm, we will have the official launch party for A Time Never Lived.

If you can't make it to Kansas City this weekend, there are ways you can join the fun on line.  Hadley Rille Books is sponsoring two giveaways through Goodreads, one for each of Terri's novels.  There are links on the right hand bar that can take you straight to the giveaway pages, where you can learn more about the novels and how to register to win. 

You can also join me, right here on Heroines of Fantasy, in congratulating Terri on the release of her second novel. 

Congratulations, Terri!  WOOT WOOT!  Let the party begin.

posted by Karin Rita Gastreich

Homecoming and saying good-bye

My youngest daughter just returned from four months studying abroad. Her homecoming was full of squeals and hugs and tears and kisses. As it so happened, I was just returning from a week at the beach, a yearly retreat I take with nine other writing women. Her grand homecoming was my smaller one, and both all-around joyful.

But...

There's always a but, isn't there? Coming home meant leaving something behind. In her case, it was France and traveling Europe, and friends she will likely never see again; in mine, it was beloved friends I see only once a year, the turbulent tranquility of the sea, and a week of autonomy a wife and mother of four gets only very rarely. Coming home means saying good-bye.

One of my favorite homecomings occurs in Return of the King (movie.) The Hobbits return to the Shire riding fine ponies and wearing their finery; returning heroes even if no one actually knew what it was they did. In the movie version, Saruman and Wormtongue hadn't gotten to the Shire. Life continued on almost as if Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin never left.

Our four heroes sit in the pub where they once sang and drank as obliviously as those all around them, they look at one another with a glance that says, "We will never be the same." There is a sweetness to it, and there is sorrow. Once out in the world, after seeing and experiencing all they had and saying good-bye to those friends made along the way, there really was no coming home again.

Homecomings can be poignant, joyous, disastrous, ,sorrowful, frustrating, hilarious or all of the above. Sometimes coming home is how the story starts, and sometimes it's how it ends. Wherever it appears, it is a transitional moment, a pivot in time, and always important. In my novel, A Time Never Lived , releasing at the end of this month, the story revolves around homecomings of all sorts. One character returns home from exile to face consequences she thought she would never have to. Another character's homecoming brings unexpected joy, and yet another pair returns only to find a new adventure awaiting them. In each case, it meant saying good-bye to family, friends, and experiences that, once had, made going home to what once was impossible.

Have you ever thought of homecomings this way? I don't know that I ever have; and if I have, it was only subconsciously. It got me thinking about other homecomings, and why they touched me, and how they connected to the necessary good-byes. I keep thinking of the end scene in The Hunger Games (movie)--I won't put any spoilers here in the body of this post. It was magnificently done, the joy and the sorrow, that sense of never being able to truly come home again. It touched me on many levels, and sticks with me even after several weeks. 

And then there's the homecomings that never happen, but are striven for throughout the story. Again, I won't put spoilers here, but I do welcome them in comments, because I can think of a few of these--and I'm getting chills doing so.


So now that I've got you thinking, I want to hear about the homecomings and good-byes that really stick with you, whether in movies or books, plays or operas, your own work or by someone else.

The Value of Tradition

May, the turning of the season, is a time for rituals, traditions, and celebrations.  When I was a young girl in Arizona, my schoolmates and I would step outside the monotony of the classroom every May 1stto twirl colorful ribbons around the maypole.  On Cinco de Mayo a few days later, we would don sombreros and learn traditional Mexican dances.  Other, lesser rituals followed later in the month: annual band concerts and talent shows, report cards, scrubbing down desks and packing up classrooms for the summer.
While I didn’t always understand the cultural significance of May Day or Cinco de Mayo at the time, the importance of ritual itself—the sameness, the excitement, the knowledge that so many before had walked these same steps and so many after me would follow—made me feel a part of something greater and more significant than myself.  I, the annoying geek, last chosen for sports and happier with a book than a ball, was no less special than those around me.  I was a small cog in a bigger wheel.  Despite my idiosyncrasies and inadequacies, I belonged.
As I grew older, the importance of these and many other rituals, as well as the history behind them, gave depth and meaning to the cultures I studied, the movies I watched, and, most importantly, the books I read.  Rituals, whether they are to celebrate fertility or praise the turning of a season, to mourn the death of a loved one or honor a life well-lived, define cultural boundaries and expectations.  They also define character (or lack thereof).  Whether or not a character chooses to pray or how one follows or defies societal norms and expectations can reveal a great deal in very few words.  
Currently, I’m working my way through Martin’s A Clash of Kings, the second in his Game of Thronesseries.  The characters often refer to “the old gods and the new,” giving some weight to the world, but it wasn’t until I read the scene in which Catelyn Stark seeks out a sept and prays to the Seven that I really understood who these gods were and appreciated the depth of her beliefs.  The scene gave a gravity to the world that made it so much more real for me.  Say what you will of Martin; he does a bang-up job of worldbuilding.  Similarly, Lord of the Rings, the gold standard of fantasy, also features well-worn worlds steeped in rituals and time-honored traditions, and one of my favorite, lesser-known series, Lian Hearn’s Tales of the Otori fully develops a Japanese-inspired world defined by tradition.  Ken Scholes’ Psalms of Isaak explores the darker side of rituals with religions steeped in torture and blood sacrifice; the conflicts that arise from the impending spread of this religion drive his series toward its conclusion.
Whether the author borrows heavily from past cultures or creates its own rituals and traditions, whether the acts and emotions of those involved are private or public, highly personal or shared by a nation, one thing is for certain: as in real life, rituals and traditions give the characters—and the readers—a greater sense of belonging.  They give weight to a fictional world; like the layer of dirt on Aragorn’s cloak, they make a world feel less new, less tidy. 
I’d love to hear how rituals and traditions play a role in what you’re reading (or writing)!  How do they impact the fiction we love, or love to hate? 
Sound off!
posted by Kim Vandervort

When is Enough, Enough?

This week's guest blogger is Hadley Rille Books' own Mark Nelson, author of The Poets of Pevana --a man and book near and dear to my heart. I pulled Mark's book out of the slush last summer, and got past what has now gone down in HRB history as "the worst query letter of all time" to discover a true gem. I'm proud to claim this discovery, to be his editor, and now, after months of working together, I am honored to call him my friend. Thanks for being here, Mark!
First I would like to thank the ladies of Heroines of Fantasy for granting me the space to air some thoughts on a few things about something all of us who call ourselves writers have strong feelings about: story.  Some of the characters in my first book, The Poets of Pevana, hold story-telling as a sacred trust.  Poetry is a part of their livelihoods and their faith. Simply put: it is serious business and not to be taken lightly.
Homer knew his business, as did the host of ancient oral tradition versifiers who related their tales across the campfires and feast halls of antiquity. One thing that always came clear to me when I encountered some of those great stories was their innate, intrinsic rhythm, pace and depth—as if somehow made perfect through time and repetition. I am reminded of Kipling’s short fiction that my grandmother owned: Just So Stories .
Just so: what a great way to describe things that were just long enough to hold all the magic necessary to enthrall a young mind—or any mind for that matter.  The story-teller had to hold his audience with the power of his spoken word. He had to weave description, setting, tone, character—all the biggies that perplex high school students who still have to wade through generic literature anthologies as part of their required English courses—and KEEP them focused purely by the quality of his delivery.
Those ancients knew when they reached just so. They must have had amazing control of their idioms, knowledge of their subject and their audience.  I suspect the relationship in those former times was much more intensely intimate than what we generally experience today.  We read these great old tales as printed translations, and I am not so sure that Gutenberg’s amazing invention wasn’t a double edged sword. We can now preserve almost everything from the oral tradition, but something is still lost.  I think it might be, at least in part, that connection between speaker and subject, that special knowledge of just so.
What all the verbosity above adds up to is a question that has perplexed me in recent years as I observe the world of modern letters: when is enough, enough? Fantasy and Science Fiction have increasingly become ‘series centric’ genres.  I see a similar effect in Historical Fiction was well, but my issues there are less troubling.  Cornwell has been reshaping the facts of history throughout twenty one volumes in his Sharpe Series alone, and he writes very few stand alone novels. But again, I can see reasons for making an allowance there.
My main concerns are with authors who lose control of their stories in Science Fiction and Fantasy.  Please understand, there are many, many vibrant multi-volume stories out there pleasing a horde of dedicated book-buying fans.  And yet I wonder if “more and more and more” has a potentially negative impact on ‘just so.’
Tolkien lamented the LOTR was too short. Cherryh is on her 13th or 14th volume in her Foreigner series and seems intent on more. I have three drafted and a fourth planned for my Pevana project, so I might be guilty of my own accusation!  But I have encountered a number of projects where I felt the author really lost touch with their tale and began selling books rather than telling a story. I thought Twilight mighthave had a good book or two worth of material that really suffered by being stretched over four.  Jordan’s Wheel of Time had such a huge beginning with its first four volumes, but by the time I reached Winter’s Heart I had to give up. Nine hundred pages where nothing happened seemed almost insulting. Those early books had passion, power, politics, flawed heroes, epic quests, relevant good and evil. So good, but it needed to end.
I think Jordan stopped telling a story and started selling books. I think the best stories are those that manage to make a happy compromise between both goals: enrich the audience and enrich the author. I also think there is a responsibility inherent there on the part of the author, the publishing house and those that create the marketing model pushing the story to the reading public: don’t insult the intelligence of your patrons. 
So, to end this first ever rant: What are your thoughts on ‘story’? What do you think is ‘enough’ or ‘just so’?  Have you ever encountered stand alone novels or books in a series that ‘work’, that retain that freshness of the skald’s voice over the campfire?  Have you also met up with a text that seemed to lose that connection? Have you persevered through a series only to find that it lost you halfway through?
I would like to know why so many of them seem to find their way onto best seller lists…


Mark Nelson is a career educator and happily married to his best friend and fellow educator. Together they have raised three beautiful daughters and one semi-retired cat. Words, music, food and parenting serve as a constant source for inspiration, challenge and reward. To temper such unremitting joy, Mark plays golf: an addiction that provides a healthy dose of humility.