Anne Lyle's Blog, page 21

Book giveaway: September

August winners

Congratulations to Reetta (Stealing Fire from the Gods) – there were no takers for The Owl Killers, so that's off to the charity shop…

September giveaway

Page After Page, by Heather Sellers

Subtitled "Discover the confidence and passion you need to start writing & keep writing", this is very much a book for beginners, which is why I don't need it any more!

From the Amazon blurb: "Ninety percent of beginner writers stop practicing their craft before they have a chance to discover their talents. This essential and encouraging guide: Helps readers build a writing life, one that will help them continue to write without giving up; Approaches the writing life without using new age and self-help techniques, so writers from all walks of life will benefit from the advice; Provides engaging exercises to help readers shape their writing life and achieve their goals; Written by an author with more than twenty years of teaching and writing experience, Page After Page helps writers keep writing, page after page, day after day."

Mindstar Rising, by Peter F Hamilton

This is another freebie I picked up recently and will probably never get around to reading, since I'm not really into military SF. It's a reprint of Hamilton's debut novel in the Greg Mandel series.

"It's the 21st century and global warming is here to stay, so forget the way your country used to look. And get used to the free market, too – the companies possess all the best hardware, and they're calling the shots now.

In a world like this, a man open to any offers can make out just fine. A man like Greg Mandel for instance, who's psi-boosted, wired into the latest sensory equipment, carrying state-of-the-art weaponry – and late of the English Army's Mindstar Battalion.

As the cartels battle for control of a revolutionary new power source, and corporate greed outstrips national security, tension is mounting to boiling point – and Greg Mandel is about to face the ultimate test."

Same rules as always – only UK/EU residents may enter, owing to postage. Leave a comment below, saying which book you'd like (or either, if so inclined!), before noon (UK time) on the second Saturday of October. Please use a valid email address in the comment form so I can contact you to get your snail-mail address if you win (don't put either in your comments, for security reasons!).

Please note the extended entry time – I will be at FantasyCon on Saturday 2nd and then on holiday the following week, so I won't be around to pick winners and send the books out until Saturday 8th October.

Good luck!

Travelling hopefully: the pleasure of reading

The other day I was reading The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie, and after I put it down (to get off the bus and walk home!) I reflected on why I was enjoying it so much. Part of it, of course, was the wonderful writing and great characters, but then I realised that a significant part was simply the pleasure of not knowing what happens next.

As an author under contract, I spend a lot of time revising my work, re-reading it, editing it some more, checking other people's copyedits and proofing…in short, I soon know my book inside out, and though I still love it, it is no longer capable of surprising me. And sometimes I want surprises.

On the one hand, recent research suggests that knowing the ending doesn't spoil enjoyment of a story. And yes, I'll happily re-read a favourite book (e.g. Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett), even though I know the story practically by heart. There's a lot of pleasure to be had in revisiting old friends, of picking up nuances that you missed on first reading in the rush to find out What Happens Next.

And yet, and yet…There's a special thrill to discovery, of watching the story unfold. Will it all work out in the end, or collapse into tragedy? Will it enthrall, or puzzle, or (hopefully not!) merely bore? Reading a new book, I can understand the thrill experienced by agents and editors – will this be the Next Big Thing that I fall in love with? Or just another also-ran?

I went through a stage of not reading much fiction because I was too focused on my own work, but since starting a regular blog at the beginning of this year – and needing material to populate it! – I've begun reading a lot more. And boy am I glad. What started out as a purely practical endeavour, i.e. to catch up with the best of my genre, has become a true pleasure. It reminds me that I became a writer because I love reading, and I love reading because I love the stories (other) people tell.

Just don't spoil it for me, OK? I want to enjoy the journey, just this once…

Book review: Ten Ruby Trick, by Julia Knight

Black into white into blue into grey into black. Order and pattern are the way of Holden's life, buffering his mind from the reality that he is mage-bonded to the Master of the Archipelago, with no choice but to obey his every whim or die in agony. So when the Master commands him to capture the notorious privateer Andor Van Gast, Holden has no qualms about using his former lover Josie to do it. Josie, herself a pirate captain of no mean repute, is well known to be Van Gast's worst enemy, so surely she will be happy to help Holden? In fact Josie and Van Gast are secret lovers, using their famed rivalry to fool their victims into siding with one or the other in elaborate confidence tricks–and Josie intends Holden to be next. This time, though, the stakes are higher than money or treasure. If anything goes wrong, both she and Van Gast could end up dead–or worse.

Ten Ruby Trick is in many ways the perfect swashbuckling romance. Van Gast is the quintessential rogue-with-a-heart-of-gold, always ready to do the stupid-but-exciting thing; Josie is cunning as a bag of foxes and stubborn as all hell. There are sea battles, storms, chases (lots of chases!) and a really nasty villain to boo – what's not to like?

This is no bland medieval fantasy world, however. The majority of the inhabitants are dark-skinned, apart from the Viking-like Gan, and gunpowder weapons sit comfortably alongside magic that can quell storms or erect forcefields against cannonades. Most intriguing of all is the magic of the Archipelago, which crystallises on its users' skins, turning them into helpless grotesques, barely able to move and reliant on their slaves for everything. This is nasty, dark magic at its most imaginative.

I began my review with Holden, as does the book, because although Van Gast is undeniably the hero of the story, Holden is the anti-hero. He's the guy we want to fail – and yet whose struggles against the vile magics that hold him in thrall cannot help but engage the reader's sympathy. The theme of this book is freedom, and no character embodies that theme better than Holden.

If you enjoyed Pirates of the Caribbean or Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar books and don't mind a dash of unsoppy romance with your fantasy, I recommend you give Ten Ruby Trick a whirl!

Ten Ruby Trick is available as an ebook published by Carina Press.

The Alchemist of Souls: release dates

I hate to disappoint my fans who are eagerly awaiting their copy of The Alchemist of Souls, but I've just learnt that Amazon have been using the wrong dates in their database. The correct dates are:

US: 27th March 2012
UK: 5th April 2012

Angry Robot have informed Amazon, who have fixed their database and hopefully have emailed everyone who placed a pre-order.

On the upside, this means my book comes out in the UK over the Easter weekend, which means even more reason to look forward to Eastercon!

My first interview

No "proper" blog post this week – I'm head down in the draft of The Merchant of Dreams – but whilst you wait for my next book review, you can read an interview with me by fellow Angry Robot author Chuck Wendig:

Anne Lyle: the Terrible Minds interview

Find out a bit more about The Alchemist of Souls, and what "the dog's bollocks" really means!

Cover art for "The Alchemist of Souls"

At long last I'm able to unveil the cover art for my debut novel The Alchemist of Souls – and what a cover it is!

Mal Catlyn in all his glory - click for larger version!

I was delighted when Marc at Angry Robot told me he was commissioning Larry Rostant, who has done covers for practically everyone from George R R Martin downwards – I had been admiring Larry's work not long beforehand, on the cover of Jon Courtenay Grimwood's The Fallen Blade. I was asked for a description of my protagonist and one or two other characters from the book, then when Larry sent in a couple of slightly different versions of the design, Marc and I discussed which one worked best. Fortunately we were in complete agreement, quickly settling on the version you see here.

Ultimately the purpose of a cover is to sell the book to readers, not to stroke the author's ego, and to that extent, I really don't mind what goes on my covers as long as it achieves that aim. Of course I'd be upset if the artwork wasn't up to scratch – I've seen some appalling fantasy covers over the years, with badly proportioned, disjointed anatomy that would shame a first-year art student – but if there's one thing you can say about Angry Robot, it's that they take their cover art seriously. I don't think I've seen a single one that's less than good, and many are utterly gorgeous in their different ways.

I'm not sure what I love most about this image. Maybe it's the gorgeous costume Larry chose, perfect for the period (1590s) and in colours that just happen to match those in my usual online avatar*. Maybe it's Larry's great intuition in adding a flaming torch to the original specs, thus echoing some of the recurring imagery of the book. Or maybe it's the wicked gleam in my hero's eyes…

Of course no cover ever matches the author's mental image 100%. I could point out that in the book, Mal Catlyn has a proper Elizabethan beard, not designer stubble! On the other hand the model's hair style, though superficially modern, is pretty much as I described it. Mal is an ex-soldier and formerly wore his hair in a short crop (as is seen in many portraits of the period) but has let it grow out in recent months as he's settled back into civilian life. Overall I'm delighted with the finished result, which I think captures the mood of my book perfectly.

I was tempted to title this post "Angry Robot hacked my brain", but I decided it would be in poor taste, given recent headline events in the UK. The truth is, having lived with the cover art for a while (it makes an awesome lock screen for my iPhone!), I now find myself automatically visualising Mal as the figure from the cover when I'm writing a scene about him. The first time this happened it was quite unnerving, but I'm starting to get used to it!

I can't wait to hold the finished book. I think I may die of joy

* a detail from Caravaggio's The Cardsharps, painted c. 1594

The Cardsharps, by Caravaggio

An Opinion of One's Own

The recent debate on women's visibility in SFF has thrown up a few issues facing women in the genre, but has mostly focused on male blindspots and the predominance of male reviewers, awards judges, survey participants and so on. On the other hand August started well, with proof that the trend is not universal: out of the six novels shortlisted for a World Fantasy Award, four are by women (and three of those women are black).

There's more to the issue than women writers, however. Women also publish, read and review SFF, and many of those books are inevitably by men (somewhere around 60%, according to various estimates). In fantasy in particular, where stories are often set in historical or quasi-historical patriarchal cultures, a significant percentage of male protagonists (written by both sexes) are going to be, well, less than enlightened in their attitudes towards women. I, and most women readers, have no problem with this; as a writer you have to be true to the setting you write about, and fantasy characters who behave and think like modern Westerners are just not very believable.

However this is a fine line to tread, as proved by this week's debacle du jour, which appeared on Tor.com, the web magazine hosted by SFF publishers Tor. One of their regular contributors posted a review of The Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence saying that, although well-written, it wasn't to her tastes owing to the unrelentingly brutal, misogynistic world-view of its protagonist. The review was, in my opinion, well-balanced, and admirably achieved its aim of warning away readers who might be offended by the content whilst attracting those who like their fantasy dark to the point of nihilistic.

All this would have been totally unremarkable had it not been for a comment on the post, from none other than the head of the imprint that published the book. She (and I deliberately point out the sex of the commenter) posted to deny that the book was misogynistic, her argument being that it couldn't be because she and other women at the publishers had liked it. (And made other, deeply unprofessional accusations that do not bear repeating. Visit Tor.com if you want the gory details.)

Excuse me? So now a minority of women are allowed to tell other women what they can and cannot find misogynistic? Since when has it been impossible for a woman to be misogynistic? I have to confess that I don't like my own sex all the time, often find them incomprehensible and would rather read about a dashing male hero than a stay-at-home mum – but that's not the same as wanting all women to be more like me. (Although it would reduce the birth rate and over-population problems considerably!)

I think the problem is that in the effort to reduce sexism, we have become hypersensitised, not to misogyny itself but to the accusation of it. "My author is a nice guy who loves his wife and daughters," the editor protests, "his book cannot be misogynistic." Sorry, but it can. It might not be intended that way. The author probably was intending a brutally honest portrayal of a misogynistic culture, but got so carried away with the realism that he had no idea how it would be received by some female readers. In one forum thread I likened it to Orwell's image of the future in Big Brother: "imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever". That's what it feels like to some of us to read a deeply misogynistic point of view, and that's why we like to know which books to avoid. Telling us our opinions don't matter is in itself misogynistic – and we won't stand for it.

And yes, the title of this post is a deliberate play on Virginia Woolf's essay

Book Giveaway: August

July winners

Congratulations to Felicia (Creative Writer's Workbook) and Felix (Avilion) – I'll be in touch!

August giveaway

Stealing Fire from the Gods, by James Bonnet

Subtitled "A Dynamic New Take on Storytelling for Writers and Film-makers", this is basically James Bonnet's take on the hero's journey, drawing on a wider range of mythologies and with a lot of pretty diagrams! Although "writers" are targeted in the title, I think it more relevant to screenwriters than authors of novels, judging by the reviews on Amazon.

I suspect this is one of those books that, if you are on the author's wavelength, can provide real inspiration, but if you're not, it may leave you scratching your head. I found it an interesting read but ultimately not that useful – hence the giveaway.

(Note: this is the 1st edition, not the revised and expanded 2nd edition.)

The Owl Killers, by Karen Maitland

England, 1321. Welcome to the Dark Ages.

In the heart of the countryside lies an isolated village, where pagan Owl Masters rule through fear, superstition and murder.

When a group of religious women ill-advisedly settles outside the village, they awaken dangerous jealousies. Why do their crops succeed? How do their cattle survive the plague? Are they concealing a holy relic which protects them from harm?

The Owl Masters cry 'Witchcraft' and sharpen their talons. As torment and hellfire rain down, the women must look to their faith to save them from the darkness spreading across the land.

This "gothic" historical novel has been on my TBR pile for way too long and always getting pushed to the bottom, so I've decided it's time to let someone else enjoy it on my behalf. Note that this an uncorrected proof copy.

Same rules as always – only UK/EU residents may enter, owing to postage. Leave a comment below, saying which book you'd like (or either, if so inclined!), before noon (UK time) on the first Saturday of September. Please use a valid email address in the comment form so I can contact you to get your snail-mail address if you win (don't put either in your comments, for security reasons!).

Good luck!

21st Century Pulp

There's a lot of debate about ebooks pricing and the future of publishing at the moment. At one extreme you have Big Publishers charging hardback prices for new ebooks; at the other, self-publishers setting prices as low as 99 cents for a full novel. The latter might seem great for readers, and a really successful ebook at this price point can earn more for the writer than a typical debut advance – but as both Amanda Hocking and John Locke have shown, the key to self-publishing success is having a whole bunch more books that fans can buy once they decide they like the first one. Typically, these big hitters of the self-publishing world have not sold one book to a million readers – they have sold around 10 books to 100,000 readers. OK, so that's still around ten times as many readers as a debut novelist might reach, but let's back up to the other half of the equation. They sold their readers ten different books – which means they had to write ten books. Not one, or even a trilogy. Ten. At a bare minimum that's half a million words.

Cover of "The Black Mask" magazine (1929)

It was whilst considering this point that it struck me that today's self-publishers are not unlike the pulp writers of the 30s and 40s. For a very modest payment (royalties on a 99 cent Kindle book are 35 cents a copy) they are churning out popular entertainment which is distributed in the cheapest, most disposable form available. Back then it was cheap-as-it-comes woodpulp paper (hence the "pulp" moniker); now, it's electronic files that you do not even "own". Pulps were popular in a time of economic depression; ebooks "need" to be inexpensive right now because of the cost investment of the hardware required to read them (and the aforementioned lack of real ownership).

Of course the existence of the pulp market didn't prevent the production of more expensive editions, but it did ensure that reading material was available to everyone at a price point they could afford. There will always be people who prefer the premium edition – indeed Apple have staked their entire business on such a model, and won. So I don't think cheap ebooks will bring down the publishing industry, any more than the pulps did. But commercial publishers will have to adapt to keep up – and so will writers.