Matthew Ledrew's Blog, page 46
April 6, 2017
Meet your Fantasy from the Rock team: Christopher Walsh
[image error]We spent most of January announcing our Fantasy from the Rock all-star lineup, but without actually reading the stories (and you can’t, not until April 27th!) it’s hard to get to know the authors that are helping make up this epic collection. With that in mind, here’s our interview with Christopher Walsh, author of the Gold and Steel Saga and one of the all-star fantasy authors of this collection!
1. What is your favorite word?
Chris: Palindrome. That was a bit of a thinker. I’ve never thought about what might be my favourite word before. I think ‘palindrome’ is a fun word, though. Say it over a few times in your head. Plus, once you start using the word often, you’ll start looking for palindromes in word and number sequences you see.
2. What is your least favorite word?
Chris: Very. When used as an adverb for emphasis before an adjective. It’s a word I’m as guilty of using as anyone else in my daily conversations, but it’s one I have a made a conscious effort to purge from my writing vocabulary going forward. Any time the word ‘very’ comes to mind or I catch myself typing it, I pause, read over the sentence again and try to find an adequate replacement for the adjective so that ‘very’ is no longer needed.
3. What is your favorite movie?
Chris: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. This will come as a surprise to nearly no one who knows me or even knows what Gold & Steel is. Tolkien is the founding father of what we know as the fantasy genre today and to me, the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings are required reading for any fantasy fan. It’s the starting point of it all. Everything in the genre that came after can trace some of its inspiration back to his work. It’s classic, ageless material. The film adaptations of the LotR trilogy lived up to the epic feel of the books. Regardless of where you fall on what was and wasn’t used from the source material, there’s little denying that the Lord of the Rings movies by Peter Jackson, like their source material, set the bar for fantasy on the big screen (and small screen). While FotR and RotK were both incredible movies in their own right, it was Two Towers that still sticks out to me as my favourite. To this day, if I see that army of Uruk-Hai marching on Helm’s Deep, my hair stands on end.
4. What sort of music do you enjoy listening to? Do you listen to music while you write?
Chris: I’m all over the place musically. I usually have music playing while I write and what I have playing really depends on the scene that I’m writing. For instance, in a scene that requires a sombre tone, I will likely go to modern classical composers like Dustin O’Halloran or Jorge Mendez; the composers of my favourite RPG games, like Nobuo Uematsu and Yasunori Mitsuda and the Baroque-rock band Sleeping At Last. If I’m writing an action scene, I’ll typically go for power metal. However, my default setting these days for listening preference seems to gravitate towards Led Zeppelin (always Zeppelin, no matter what else I might be in the mood for, Zeppelin above all), 90’s Grunge/(Canadian) Alternative and singer/songwriter folk music. For example, I’m a huge fan of bands like Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, City & Colour, Glen Hansard, The Tragically Hip, Our Lady Peace, Neil Young, Stone Sour, Kathleen Edwards, Alter Bridge and Hozier. There’s a lot I’m into musically and my tastes derive first and foremost lyrically. I want music that makes me think introspectively and of the world we live in.
5. What is your favorite book?
Chris: The Hobbit. Following the theme of the movie question, it’s my favourite book, bar none. Some have come close, like the LotR trilogy, A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords from ASoIaF, To Kill a Mockingbird and several of the Harry Bosch novels by Michael Connolly, but the Hobbit stands on its own above them all. It is a book I can read again and again and never once get tired of it.
6. What was the last book you read for pleasure?
Chris: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Recommended and lent to me by a friend. It’s one I started reading, but got sidetracked and came back to it lately. I’m really enjoying it the second attempt around.
7. What are you currently working on?
Chris: The Worth of Gold: Book two in the Gold & Steel series. I’m not one to give away details, but I will say that progress is being made.
8. How did you get involved with Engen?
Chris: Sci-Fi on the Rock. I met Matt and Ellen at the 2014 convention for the first time and got to talking a bit with them. This was my first introduction to the little underground writing community they foster and I discovered I’m not alone in terms of being a Newfoundland writer who doesn’t want to write strictly about Newfoundland and Labrador. Not only does this community exist, but Engen are the ones leading the charge with it. I ran into them again at next year’s Sci-Fi and by that time As Fierce as Steel was near completion and I was actually in the process of preparing it for release. We got to talking much more and between then and the few other conventions around the island where we crossed paths, they welcomed me into the fold with open arms.
9. What is your favorite Engen Book?
Chris: Sci-Fi From the Rock, 2016 edition. It’s the first one I had ever laid eyes on, to be honest. I think the entire premise behind the From the Rock series is just wonderful and it’s gaining momentum year after year. There is no other outlet in Newfoundland that celebrates all local fiction writers, regardless of story setting or topic as wholly as Engen and the From the Rock series. Until I discovered them, I never knew there was anyone in the publishing game on the island who was interested in material outside of the Newfoundland niche. What From the Rock does is give you a thorough snapshot of each of the writer they showcase. Some are established novelists, like Kenneth Tam and Scott Bartlett and others prefer writing in shorter form, like Melanie Collins and Matthew Daniels and some, like Sam Bauer, are fresh new faces on the rise. All of the above would have or actually have been given a cold shoulder for not writing about Newfoundland. More experienced writers like Tam and Bartlett have forged their own way through, but I have to wonder how many from our age group started out trying their hand at writing when they were Bauer’s age and just gave up when the local publishers turned them away? If not for Engen, would anyone in the local publishing community given his story, The Locket, a second glance? The answer is quite likely a solid no, unless he tacked on the word Newfoundland to the location of the hospital. It’s such a silly metric to determine who does and doesn’t get published here. Luckily, we have Engen and regardless of age, experience or preferred story form, From the Rock offers a taste of what each of these writers have to offer. If those writers have further material available, you can easily look to the back of the book and find out where to get more. If Engen is heart of the writing community in Newfoundland, From the Rock is the pulse.
10. What (professionally) would you most like to accomplish?
Chris: I would like to be financially stable from writing alone. Nearly every author dreams of being the next Stephen King or J.K. Rowling and I’m no different in that regard, but realistically speaking, I would be quite content if my books sold well enough that I could focus on writing.
11. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
Chris: Political journalism. It’s a field as important to the maintenance of a free society as the leaders they write about.
12. What’s next?
Chris: More Gold & Steel! It’s a big series, after all, gotta keep writing that. I dabble in short stories set in that world too, so, always something to work on.
Pick up Gold and Steel and the entire Engen Books library at Elaine’s Books downtown St. John’s, and join us all for Sci-Fi on the Rock 11 April 28th 2017!
April 1, 2017
April Fools | George RR & JRR team up for Fantasy from the Rock
We made the bulk of our Fantasy from the Rock announcements back in January, announcing veteran fantasy scribes like Christopher Walsh and Heather Reilly as part of the team, but we kept our largest announcement until the month-of-release!
Engen Books is proud to announce that it has worked out a deal with the estate of JRR Tolkien to bring one of his famed “Unfinished Tales” to life in this new volume that celebrates the fantasy genre. Even better, the tale has received a posthumous conclusion supplied by epic fantasy author George RR Martin!
“We’re so excited,” says Engen founder Matthew LeDrew. “To be working with George is incredible, and to bring one of the Unfinished Tales to life is the fantasy holy grail.”
When pressed for plot details, RR Martin said that: “All the characters you loved in The Lord of the Rings die. The hobbits are revealed to be a race whose slight stature have arisen from generational incest spanning multiple families beginning with the royal Brandybuch twins. The entire race is wiped out when a pie is poisoned and all the hobbits eat it anyway, and I spend thirty-two pages describing one meal.”
When asked what drew him to the project and Engen Books, Martin said: “It was either this or finish my sixth novel, and we both know that’s not happening.”
The short, titled “Curse of the Double R,” will feature in Fantasy from the Rock, released April 27 2017.
George RR & JRR team up for Fantasy from the Rock
We made the bulk of our Fantasy from the Rock announcements back in January, announcing veteran fantasy scribes like Christopher Walsh and Heather Reilly as part of the team, but we kept our largest announcement until the month-of-release!
Engen Books is proud to announce that it has worked out a deal with the estate of JRR Tolkien to bring one of his famed “Unfinished Tales” to life in this new volume that celebrates the fantasy genre. Even better, the tale has received a posthumous conclusion supplied by epic fantasy author George RR Martin!
“We’re so excited,” says Engen founder Matthew LeDrew. “To be working with George is incredible, and to bring one of the Unfinished Tales to life is the fantasy holy grail.”
When pressed for plot details, RR Martin said that: “All the characters you loved in The Lord of the Rings die. The hobbits are revealed to be a race whose slight stature have arisen from generational incest spanning multiple families beginning with the royal Brandybuch twins. The entire race is wiped out when a pie is poisoned and all the hobbits eat it anyway, and I spend thirty-two pages describing one meal.”
When asked what drew him to the project and Engen Books, Martin said: “It was either this or finish my sixth novel, and we both know that’s not happening.”
The short, titled “Curse of the Double R,” will feature in Fantasy from the Rock, released April 27 2017.
March 31, 2017
Meet your Fantasy from the Rock team: Matthew Daniels
[image error]We spent most of January announcing our Fantasy from the Rock all-star lineup, but without actually reading the stories (and you can’t, not until April 27th!) it’s hard to get to know the authors that are helping make up this epic collection. With that in mind, here’s a little bit about Matthew Daniels, who first penned for Sci-Fi from the Rock and has proven himself a formidable force in the indie short fiction scene. He returns this year with his short story: Living and Learning…
1. What is your favorite word?
Matthew: Defenestrate. I love the fact that there’s a word for throwing someone/ something out of a window.
2. What is your least favorite word?
Matthew: All of that hogwash like “on fleek” and “fam.”
3. What is your favorite movie?
Matthew: Not a big movie person. Serenity?
4. What is your favorite book?
Matthew: By default, I’ll have to say The Lord of the Rings. There are extremely few books I’ve read more than once, and this is the only one I’ve read at least four times in English. I’m currently reading it in French.
5. What was the last book you read for pleasure?
Matthew: Infinity, by Matthew LeDrew and Ellen Louise Curtis.
6. What are you currently working on?
Matthew: A novel I started with National Novel Writing Month.
[image error]7. How did you get involved with Engen?
Matthew: I read some of my work at Scott Bartlett’s open source book launch. LeDrew and Curtis were there, and I was encouraged to submit for Sci Fi from the Rock 10.
8. What is your favorite Engen Book?
Matthew: Infinity. I’m excited to explore more of their offerings!
9. What (professionally) would you most like to accomplish?
Matthew: Full-time writer.
10. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
Matthew: I tried this already, when I got a Master of Library and Info Science. Now it’s time that I started building that writing career I set aside because I was afraid of the “starving” part of “starving artist.”
11. What profession would you not like to do?
Matthew: Until I’m a full-time writer, I’d prefer to avoid mentally demanding jobs; I want to have a working mind left by the time I get home so I can get to writing.
12. What’s Next?
Matthew: A juggling act. I’d like to do more with local volunteering NPO Sandbox Gaming, get my writing going, learn to cook better than just adding fire to food, and improve my fitness. Among other things.
Thanks for taking the time to sit down with us Matt! We can’t wait to see what you do next! 
March 30, 2017
Blog interview on The Kronicles of Korthlundia | Amanda Labonté
I was lucky enough to be featured on writer Jamie Marchant’s blog, The Kronicles of Korthlundia. I got to talk about my inspiration for Call of the Sea and answered some interesting questions about speculative fiction.
Check out the interview at http://jamie-marchant.blogspot.ca/2017/03/guest-author-amanda-labonte.html
Blog interview
I was lucky enough to be featured on writer Jamie Marchant’s blog, The Kronicles of Korthlundia. I got to talk about my inspiration for Call of the Sea and answered some interesting questions about speculative fiction.
Check out the interview at http://jamie-marchant.blogspot.ca/2017/03/guest-author-amanda-labonte.html
Meet your Fantasy from the Rock team: Katie Little
[image error]We spent most of January announcing our Fantasy from the Rock all-star lineup, but without actually reading the stories (and you can’t, not until April 27th!) it’s hard to get to know the authors that are helping make up this epic collection. With that in mind, here’s our interview with Katie Little, author of Sage and Salt!
1. What is your favorite word?
Katie: Isinglass!
2. What is your least favorite word?
Katie: Squelch.
3. What is your favorite movie?
Katie: The Fifth Element.
4. What is your favorite book?
‘The Phantom Tollbooth’ by Norton Juster is my forever fave.
5. What was the last book you read for pleasure?
‘A Torch Against the Night’ by Sabaa Tahir, which I loved.
6. What are you currently working on?
After a ridiculous amount of time spent on worldbuilding, visual development, and general daydreaming, I’ve finally started learning how to code my own interactive fiction and visual novel games. They’re similar in format to the “choose your path”-style books we all loved as kids, but mine have sliiiiightly more creeping psychological horror than those ones.
7. How did you get involved with Engen?
Here’s the thing about selling at conventions: I’m an exhausted, delirious mess the whole time. Matthew [LeDrew] stopped by my table at a convention last summer and I mentioned the anthology, and then suddenly I blurted out “I have a story I’m going to submit!” Friends, that was a lie. A total, accidental, flat-out lie born from sleep deprivation. I didn’t have a story. I had a grand total of three sentences that I’d sworn would never see the light of day. I realized I had to write a story so that no one would know that I’d talked up something that didn’t exist. I mean, I just admitted it, so now everyone knows. But hey… honesty? Anyway, I wrote the story, and here we are, so it all worked out!
8. What is your favorite Engen Book?
The first Sci-Fi from the Rock anthology. Not only did I love it, it was the first time I’d heard of short genre fiction getting published here in the province, which was really cool.
9. What (professionally) would you most like to accomplish?
I want to be nominated for, and lose, a Hugo Award! If you’ve ever read George R. R. Martin’s blog, you’ll know about his Hugo Losers’ Parties. It just sounds like a fun, bitter time, and that’s right up my alley.
10. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
In some parallel universe, there’s a long-running Broadway version of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. I play Captain Hammer, and it’s amazing.
11. What profession would you not like to do?
I never learned to drive because I’m too afraid of causing an accident, so I think I’d hate anything where someone’s life depends on me doing my job properly. Pilot, surgeon, soldier… paramedic would be the worst, though. Driving AND lifesaving.
12. What’s Next?
Finishing my last semester of classes before graduation, working on game development, and putting the finishing touches on the zombie/astrology-themed zine I’ll be selling at Sci-Fi on the Rock in April. (Come say hi, everyone!)
March 27, 2017
Kill Shakespeare, IDW | Other Indie
[image error][image error]Figured I’d get the biased part out of the way. Usually when reviewing a new series I’d start off telling you what I know about it going in, and this is the same… it’s just we’ll realize I’m a little one-sided on this very soon.
I’ve spent a little time on Shakespeare. I will say that, on the subject of Shakespeare, I like the comedies more than the tragedies or the historicals, but that’s really just a matter of personal taste. I will also gladly state that I don’t particularly like reading Shakespeare. It wasn’t meant to be read. Shakespeare wrote them to be performed, and you can’t tell me that if he’d realized they were going to be required reading a hundred years later he wouldn’t have made different choices. I love interpretations of the work, however… just about all interpretations. I like adaptations that take place in a historically-correct time period, I like adaptations that take place in modern times, I like other work that borrow from it like Gargoyles… I like it all.
So that’s the genre, what about the comic in particular? Well I know the writer, Conor McCreery. We met at the first Hal Con back in 2011 and played tag during my book launch of Infinity. That’s literal tag. McCreery is a kid at heart in all the best ways, and we’ve been thorns in each other’s sides every year since. I like Conor, so I’m going to say right now I am biased but will try to be fair.
I’ve also claimed to have read this before, to the point of recommending it many times… but never have. And now the sequel series is coming out and I’m getting in monthly, and I can’t review it because it would reveal I haven’t read the first series… I own the first series, I know it’s good because Ellen [Curtis] read it and loves it, and she’s a typically harsh critic. I don’t feel too bad: I’ve been busy, and to be fair, I don’t think the skinny bastard has read anything of mine yet either… so there you go. 
March 22, 2017
A Quest of Heroes by Morgan Rice | Other Indie
[image error][image error]A Quest of Heroes is a 2012 high fantasy novel written and published by Morgan Rice. This is the first novel in The Sorcerer’s Ring fantasy series by Rice, which has produced sixteen sequels to date, with her latest entry, The Gift of Battle, having followed in November 2014.
This book takes its cues from the works that cemented the “heroes journey” storytelling technique into the modern culture. There are shades of Tolkien and George RR Martin noticed and appreciated, but more importantly there are elements of the authors which inspired them: there are strong hints of influences of the epic Greek poems, strong hints of affection for the Odyssey, and iconography like the Dynasty Sword allude to Arthurian legends and folklore. There is a lot to unpack with this book from even just a meta-textual perspective, so much so that I’m genuinely shocked it hasn’t gotten more critical attention than it has: it’s a gold mine of world-building lovingly pieced together from fragments of the epic fantasy worlds that came before it, from an author who recognizes how those elements can fit together to make something fresh and new.
It took me a little while to get into this novel. It is a mammoth 346 pages long, and for the first 100 pages or so I was kind of scratching my head as to exactly what I thought of it, so much so that I did something I never do: I went online to see what other readers thought of it before I was done reading it. Usually I’ll wait till my review is cemented in my mind before allowing other conflicting points-of-view in, but this time I took exception. What I discovered is that there is an odd split online regarding this book and the series as whole. While it’s not a perfect divide, reviewers on Amazon tend to adore it while readers on Goodreads seem not to. This is even commented on by one Goodreads reviewer, whose review starts: “To be honest I am just so happy to see that the Goodreads community is a much better judge of good writing than Amazon.” When there’s that kind of dichotomy in a readership, I just have to know what’s going on, so I dove back in.
A lot of the disdain I saw in the negative reviews seems to come from the contradictory worldview that the author presents, often seemingly contradicting herself in the same paragraph. So with that in mind I actually started from the beginning of the book again and started to look out for things like that, and I think the majority of this book’s detractors are missing something: A Quest for Heroes revolves around the epic coming of age story of Thorgrin: one special boy, a 14 year old from a small village on the outskirts of the Kingdom of the Ring. Of key note is the protagonist’s age: he’s young and reads even younger, and the novel is ostensibly written from his point-of-view. As such I don’t see the contradictions that mount up as contradictions on the part of the author, but as Thorgrin’s understanding of the world being flawed and fractured, as the points-of-view of many children are. Now for this theory to have merit, the contradictions would have to slowly subside as Thorgrin gains age and maturity: and they do. They slowly regress until the point-of-view at the end is much more stable. This explains why on my first attempt the first hundred pages seemed so difficult, but on my later attempt was not.
I need to stop for a moment and point out what a masterful stroke that is on Rice’s part: this is a coming-of-age story in which as the narrator comes of age they transform from an unreliable narrator into a reliable one. That is brilliant. To my knowledge I have never seen that before, and in retrospect it seems like an obvious choice that has been overlooked by a generation of authors. Think of all the famous coming of age stories: Stand by Me, A Prayer for Owen Meany, The Wonder Years… in all of these, the narrator is telling the story from some future date when they are mature, and thus the character grows while the narrator remains stagnant. This is masterful storytelling, and I urge anyone who gave up on this title in the first quarter of it to try it again with that sort of reading in mind.
[image error]I love taking the Freudian method of dream analysis and applying it to literature. Quick/Dirty rundown: you take the part of the book that bothered you the most, then spin the analysis so that that is what the book is about. At least, what it’s about for you.
Two things bothered me about A Quest of Heroes, and they dovetail nicely to illustrate what the work as a whole is about to me. The first is the oppression on the part of Fathers toward their Sons in the novel: Thorgrin’s father is oppressive to him and tries to hide him from the soldiers recruiting in the area is an almost evil-stepmother from Cinderella type fashion. Once Thorgrin escapes his father, he’s quickly taken in by the King, who dotes on him while putting the same sort of mistrust on his own son.
The second thing that bothers me about this novel is the end. Without going into spoilers, Rice does a spectacular job of subverting the traditional three-act structure of a Heroes Journey. Around the 300 page mark you may find yourself seeing that all the plot lines seem to be cluing up and the novel is coming to its ‘natural conclusion’… yet there are still 46 pages left. The genre then flips in on itself, as the elements of the story that were left unguarded return and the novel becomes not about a hero’s rise but a hero’s potential fall.
Either of these elements alone could be the subject of Freudian analysis, but when taken together what they signify is that to me, this novel is about the tendency for a father’s over-protectiveness to be mistaken for oppression. It’s easy to paint the father as contradictory in Thorgrin’s view of him early in the novel, but remember that Thorgrin’s point-of-view at that point is unreliable. Is his father lording over him in an “evil stepmother” fashion… or is he taking the steps he feels are necessary to protect him from the fate he falls to by the novel’s end? Viewed through this lens, the story becomes one about point-of-view, and particularly the point-of-view of one generation viewing the one closest to it. These themes are universal, and are just some of the reason’s that Rice’s work, to me, transcended the confines of the fantasy genre.
A Quest of Heroes is both a love-letter to and a deconstruction of the fantasy genre, with all of its classic elements used or subverted in ingenious ways that will keep those familiar with the genre on their toes while keeping those to whom the genre is new surprised.
A Quest of Heroes by Morgan Rice is available in both soft and hardcover and audiobook format. But for those interested in seeing if my point-of-view on the work meshes with their own, the eBook version of the title appears to be set permanently FREE on Amazon in order to hook readers into the series. I encourage everyone to try it out and judge for yourself.
‘Other Indie’ is a recurring series of articles on Engen Books in which authors highlight the best in independent publishing, in the hopes of helping readers break through the cluster of books they may not be sure about in an age when anyone can publish via digital formats. Engen Books is an independent small-press publishing company based in St. John’s Newfoundland and is proud to highlight the talent of independent authors not our own. A Quest of Heroes is © 2012 Morgan Rice. This review is © 2017 Matthew LeDrew. ‘Other Indie’ banner photo credit: Steve Lake.
March 19, 2017
Preorder to reserve your copy of the Black Womb Omnibus and save $5! Supplies are VERY limited!!
[image error]Pre-order your copy of the Black Womb Omnibus Hardcover now! The Omnibus, which contains the novels Black Womb, Transformations in Pain, and Smoke and Mirrors will be on sale this April at Sci-Fi on the Rock 11 to celebrate Engen’s 10-year anniversary! Reserve your copy now and save $5.00 using the link below! Only available March 19-25 2017!
To order, e-transfer $35.00 (no tax!) CAD to info@engenbooks.com, down from the regular $40 pricetag!
All copies will include certificates of authenticity and, upon request, a personalized sketch inside the dust jacket!
