Andy Gavin's Blog, page 170

The Darkening Dream – Free Today!

The title pretty much says it all. The Darkening Dream, my dark fantasy novel, is free on Amazon for the Kindle for just 24 hours — all of April 3, 2012.

Download it here!

This is a special one day only promotion via Kindle KDP Select. Make sure to grab it while you can, tell your friends about it, and promote everywhere. At the end of Wednesday at midnight it will go back to its normal price. If it does well during the promotion Amazon will bump it up in their internal ranking and it should get a lot of regular sales afterward. That's what happened last time.

A few words about the book:

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As the Nineteenth Century gives way to the Twentieth, modern science and steel girders leave little room for the supernatural. But in dark corners the old forces still gather. God, demon, and sorcerer alike plot to regain what was theirs in Andy Gavin's chilling debut, The Darkening Dream.

1913, Salem, Massachusetts – Sarah Engelmann's life is full of friends, books, and avoiding the pressure to choose a husband, until an ominous vision and the haunting call of an otherworldly trumpet shake her. When she stumbles across a gruesome corpse, she fears that her vision was more of a premonition. And when she sees the murdered boy moving through the crowd at an amusement park, Sarah is thrust into a dark battle she does not understand.

With the help of Alex, a Greek immigrant who knows a startling amount about the undead, Sarah sets out to uncover the truth. Their quest takes them to Salem's brutal factory workrooms, on a clandestine maritime mission, and down into their foe's nightmarish crypt. But they aren't prepared for the terrifying backlash that brings the fight back to their own homes and families. Can Alex's elderly, vampire-hunting grandfather and Sarah's own rabbi father help protect them? And what do Sarah's darkening visions reveal?

No less than the Archangel Gabriel's Horn, destined to announce the End of Days, is at stake, and the forces banded to recover it include a 900 year-old vampire, a trio of disgruntled Egyptian gods, and a demon-loving Puritan minister. At the center of this swirling conflict is Sarah, who must fight a millennia-old battle against unspeakable forces, knowing the ultimate prize might be herself.

NOTE: Free downloads do not count toward tickets for the Naughty Dark Contest.

Game of Thrones – Episode 11

Title: Game of Thrones

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Watched: Episode 11 – April 1, 2012

Title: The North Remembers

Summary: Amazing!

ANY CHARACTER HERE

It is with great relish and anticipation that I sat down to devour the first episode of Season 2 of Game of Thrones — and it didn't disappoint. Like many of the earlier episodes in season 1 this is an establishing episode where we rotate through the players and put into place who is where on the board. But it does suffer a bit from Martin's widely expanded scope in A Clash of Kings. There are so many characters in so many different places that we see each major thread exactly once, for what is usually two scenes. Arya we barely see at all, only for a tiny shot at the end, and Renly not even that. Only Cersei and Joffrey get multiple segments as they are at the center of things in King's landing. This left me licking my lips, like after two sips of wine. I can't help but feel the season would have been better served by twelve hours and a two hour premier.

Still, I have no major complaints. Already I'm getting the feeling that the producers have taken steps to address a couple of my major problems with season 1 (and don't get me wrong, I adored it). The shots felt bigger. The new King's Landing feels a little different, and certainly larger, and it's vaguely obvious they moved from Malta to Dubrovnik. It looks more coastal now, with the sea close at hand. Malta is an Island, but it didn't feel that way in the show. There are also several notable dire wolf shots in the first episode. All CGI, but who cares, I'm just glad to see the wolves. Although where was Ghost?

Tyrion is awesome as always, I just wish we had more of him. Two young veterans from Skins are in evidence too (Gendry and Craster's daughter Gilly). Joffery is not only as unloveable as ever, but actually seems to be getting more nuance than in the books and hence Cersei also. I really like the way it's showing him getting away from her. With what he does to Dontos they take a page from Caligula (I can't remember if it went that way in the books). The new characters are fine. Stannis comes off as cold an ass as he should. Davos seems likable, although it's hard to tell in three minutes. The sad enter of his Maester though lacked any real punch as there was no time in the abbreviated version to actually build any sympathy for him or his position. I'm still cold on Melisandre. I'm no big fans of the whole Stannis sub-plot in the books. And one wonders why the hell we have Ros in here  at all, and how a provincial whore from the backwaters of Winterfell is suddenly the high and mighty mistress of a King's Landing brothel. And that scene starts off the most significant change from the books (SPOILER ALERT) an early purge of Robert's bastards. Perhaps it's just the producers trimming down the cast or perhaps it's just add even more drama and menace.

All in all, I just want to see more. But we have to wait a week, sigh.

Some clips from this episode can be found here

or See my review of A Dance With Dragons.

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or all my Game of Thrones posts or

Season 1 reviews: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]

Season 2 reviews: [11]

The Hunger Games – Novel & Film

Title: The Hunger Games

Author: Suzanne Collins

Genre: YA Distopian

Length: 388 pages, 99,000 words

Read: 2008

Summary: Intense!

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The book: I read it four years ago on the recommendation of a friend. The beginning didn't totally wow me, but the second 2/3 certainly did.

It's written in a tight first person present, which for this kind of thing is my favorite tense/POV combo (I use it in my novel Untimed). Collins expertly builds sympathy for the character of Catniss via her harsh circumstances, sympathetic voice, and self sacrifice. This crucial "inciting event," the selection of Catniss' sister as tribute, occurs at the end of the first chapter, at the 5% mark. First rate construction. Our heroine's choice and the voyeuristic need to find out what happens in the arena drags us through the 30% of preparation and political mumbo-jumbo.

I had mixed feelings about this future world. I liked certain elements. I enjoyed the setup, the whole lottery thing with escalating danger of more copies of your name being added every year or in exchange for food. But I just didn't buy the political scenario as a whole. America is a big place, yet this district 12 felt like a small mining town where everyone knows each other. Small towns are less than 15,000 people. I would have bought it better if Catniss' town were one among many in a whole region that was district 12. I know it sounds minor, but I'm a stickler for these kind of things. The level of economic/technical imbalance between the capital and the provinces seemed too great. How could this one little mining town really be that important? How could a whole continent be represented by one city?

But none of that really mattered once you pop into the arena at the 40% mark. Here Collins' set up combines with the tight visceral present voice to work some serious magic. The action of young kids fighting and killing each other in a televised Lord of the Flies smackdown just worked. It felt real. It felt intense. There is some great survival writing here and that is what — for me — this book is all about. It's made richer by sympathetic and well painted characters and by Katniss' need to chose between her feelings and the practical requirements of survival (which includes the interest of her family). Nothing like a helpless little sister to up the sympathy factor.

Great stuff. A book doesn't have to succeed on every level. This is one that hits 10/10 in perhaps 3/4 areas, and that is more than enough.

I can't say I felt the same about the sequel which languished for too long in political marshland. But being a reader of real history, I have high standards with regards to politics.

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Film: The Hunger Games

Director/Stars: Jennifer Lawrence (Actor), Josh Hutcherson (Actor), Gary Ross (Director)

Watched:  March 28, 2012

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The film: Of course this is one of the most anticipated movies of the year, particularly for book lovers. I have to say that it executed effectively and faithfully as a translation. The story is identical to the book, although reduced of course. At a meta-level I thought that the pre-arena period, although a tad too long, was actually slightly better than in the book, and the area slightly inferior.

Overall, it lacks the true visceral intensity of the novel. Not that it isn't well done, or isn't engaging, but I sensed a restraint or hesitation on the part of the filmmakers to commit to the full reality of a bunch of teenagers killing each other in the woods. The movie is superbly cast. Jennifer Lawrence is great and does a fine job acting to fill in the missing narrative voice. She can't make up more than some of the distance, but she does as well as any actress could. Interior connection and emotion is a strength of the novel format. Film can't compete.

But it does do better at grand scenes. And I thought the costumes and makeup of the funky 19th century nano-punk world very effective. Perhaps not realistic, but certainly entertaining to look at. The adult actors are all good. Donald Sutherland is boilerplate but pitch perfect as President Snow. The sometimes annoying, sometimes fun Woody Harrelson leans toward fun. Lenny Kravitz is great as Cinna. Katniss' mom kinda sucked.

The movie feels medium budget. The effects serve, but occasionally seem a little cheesy. This is just an observation, and for the most part, not a detraction. An exception involved Catniss' two flaming outfits. Maybe it's just the concept brought to life, but they fell pretty flat. The director does employ an interesting overall stylistic approach. By combining minimalist scoring, a sort of Appalachian feel (underscored literally by the soundtrack), and loose handheld shots, the film comes across as "underproduced" or "not very Hollywood." This was an effective stylistic choice. He manages to squeeze a bit of genuine emotion out of us at the appropriate moments, like the death of Rue.

A couple nitpicks: The secondary tributes (basically everyone but Catniss, Rue, and Peeta) felt indistinct and underdeveloped. No one got very dirty. Come on, if you are living for a couple of days in the woods fighting for your life, you get really grimy and smelly. Hell, camping as a kid we looked downright gross without any homicidal incidents. Even as she's dying, Rue's cute little fro looked all perfect. The film felt to me like an 8/10, but if it had fully embraced the dark and nasty side, it might have been a 10.

For more book and film reviews, click here.

Or read about my own historical fantasy novel here.

Game of Thrones – Season 2 Episode 1 Clips

HBO has released six 30 second clips from "The North Remembers" which is the first episode of season 2. Spoiler alert! And the show is only 2 days away. Woot! But maybe, like me, you can't resist.

Dragons!

Oh, how we love Tyrion.

And more Tyrion.

Beyond the wall x 2.

Robb isn't bending no knee.

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The Call – Down the Rabbit Hole

On Tuesday I got the call. (Technically, I'd gotten the call a couple of times before, but this time it was from someone that fit)

Backing up. Two months ago I sent a small blast of query letters regarding Untimed to a few top literary agents. Unlike a couple years ago when I did this for The Darkening Dream, I only sent them to people I was really interested in, and I didn't engage emotionally (a few rounds of arbitrary rejection will inure you to that peril).

Untimed is more high concept than TDD, so my full request rate was a stellar 20%!

Eddie Schneider of JABberwocky sent this short email two weeks in:

Please send over the manuscript — this is definitely something I'm interested in!

Short – but sweet. So I sent the manuscript (about 30 seconds later). A month after that I got a note that he was reading and "so far, so good." Then I flew off to the Maldives (in the Indian Ocean) for my friend and business partner Jason Rubin's wedding (totally awesome BTW, pic here). In the back of my head there was that usual hope/worry thing, that voice that alternately mumbles "it's a great book" and "probably, just another rejection." Remember, of course, that publishing and literature are hugely subjective and even Harry Potter and A Wrinkle in Time were rejected countless times.

But on Monday, when I saw an email from him in my mailbox I somehow knew it was positive (of course I "knew" this on several previous occasions too…). But this time I was right.

In any case, I had a great (and long) phone chat with Eddie and we hit it off. And I like the intuitive feel of Jabberwocky. First of all their website is awfulagent.com - obviously they have a bit of a sense of humor – and second they represent a large stable of "real" science fiction and fantasy authors. Authors I've read like Charlaine Harris, Brandon Sanderson (my Way of Kings review here), Elizabeth Moon (I read her gritty military fantasy series way way back and loved it), and more recently Mark Hodder (my Spring-Heeled Jack review here). Eddie likes video games and graphic novels and got excited when I started talking about Julian the Apostate (more on that here). No one gets excited about Julian the Apostate.

And did I mention that he thinks Untimed is great as is (i.e. no big fifth draft – which I would do if I thought it'd make the book better, but I'm certainly happy to skip after four drafts and the line edit to end all line edits).

So we haggled out the paperwork. I'm represented. Now off down the rabbit hole to see what the publishers have to say. Will they be willing to offer Untimed the treatment it deserves? Time shall tell. We hope so.

Nice to have a another we in the equation!

Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:

Long time the manxome foe he sought–

So rested he by the Tumtum tree,

And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,

The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,

Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,

And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! and through and through

The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!

He left it dead, and with its head

He went galumphing back.

"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?

Come to my arms, my beamish boy!

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"

He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

San Fran – Starbelly

Restaurant: Starbelly

Location: 3583 16th street, san francisco, ca 94114. p 415.252.7500

Date: February 11, 2012

Cuisine: Pizza

Rating: Great pizzeria +

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We needed to seat a party of 13 including two young children in San Francisco at the last minute and so we ended up in this castro new-style pizza joint. This is the kind of reinvented American pizza that came out of New York 7-8 years ago. Fusing Cal pizza back with Neapolitan influences. I have to say it's a good movement and Starbelly did a great job.

The menu.



An inexpensive Rosso from the list.

"house made chicken liver pâté, buttered bread, sweet onion marmalade & grain mustard."

"house cut fries with three dips."

"warm calamari, giant butter beans, onions, cilantro & citrus caviar."

"butternut squash dumplings, sage, brown butter & shaved bucheret."

"burrata di stefano, grilled bread, prosciutto and basil."

"grilled lamb meatballs., dried cherries & pistachio, minted greek yogurt."

"Pizza margherita – no basil"

"Pizza margherita"

"Pt reyes blue cheese, market pears, roasted onion & arugula."

"house made chorizo, sunny eggs & cilantro pizza."

"Pt reyes blue cheese, market pears, roasted onion & arugula with added prosciutto and salami."

"Prather Ranch burger, house cut fries & pickle, grilled sesame bun."

The dessert menu.

This meal was straightforward, but immensely enjoyable.

For more San Francisco dining reviews click here.

The Pillars of Hercules

Title: The Pillars of Hercules

Author: David Constantine

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Length: 411 pages

Read: March 16-17, 2012

Summary: Bronze-punk!

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The Pillars of Hercules is a very fun read and takes a serious stab at something I haven't really seen before and is very much up my alley. For lack of a better term: bronze-punk.

What we have — for at least the first two thirds — is a combination alternate history and speculative technology book, set in 330 BC. Now this is a fun and tumultuous period, that of Alexander the Great and one which was to see (in real life) immense changes in the euro-Asian political scene which shaped the world we know. At the political level, David Constatine is clearly knowledgable and very fond of the period. He speculates on a number of specific deviances from real history: The success of Athens' disastrous (in real history) Sicilican campaign, giving rise to a stronger Athenian Empire. And the survival of both Phillip and Alexander past their fated dates. I found this play out fascinating and entirely reasonable.

To this, he adds a rather extreme amount of extended technology based both on secret discoveries from previous (read Atlantian) civilizations, and real ancient tech amplified by geniuses such as Aristotle who are astoundingly more practical (in the vein of Tony Stark x 1000) then their real life counterparts. Most of these inventions are weapons and war machines. Plenty of this tech does have precedents in the ancient world such as steam engines. But in a society where the cost of labor was nearly zero (slavery being more the rule than the exception) there was no impetuous for mechanization (That would take the depopulating effect of the middle ages and the plague to bring about). I found this stuff fantastic fun. But Constantine does take it a bit far for little purpose in the form of semi-sentient gear work golems and the like (not that I don't have clockwork men if my own in Untimed). The almost magic tech of the "gods" was also a little much. But it was good fun.

Against this rather magnificent backdrop we have an adventure and war story of lightning pace and heroic proportions. Point of view-wise about two-thirds of the story is told by a Gaulic mercenary who is along for the ride with a Persian noblewoman "in the know" about some of this extreme tech in her quest to stop Alexander from taking over the world. The big political scope of the book involves Alexander, having survived his in-real-life fatal illness/poisoning, and who goes on to try and conquer the Western Mediterranean from the Athenian Empire. In the other third of the narrative we see Akexander's plots and conquests through the eyes of a couple of his generals and foes. One of these, his right hand man, gets a good number of pages and has a developed POV. Most of the others serve as human cameras.

The first two-thirds of the book is therefore mostly glorious (and very fun) high swashbuckling action on the part of the merc or generals in the midst of a near-continuous series of huge battles, sieges, daring breakins, escapes, and naval chases. There isn't much focus here on emotions of character arcs. The characters aren't cardboard either, just fun, and free of internal serious flaws that need resolving. And the action is often so grand as to completely stretch the reality factor. But it is good fun and reminds me of some of the best Philip Jose Farmer.

Then at about the 70% mark most of the threads pass west of the titular Pillars of Hercules and things get weirder. Not that the pace of action lets up, but instead of being set in the likes of Alexandria, Athens, Syracuse, or Carthage, literally descends into a sort of mechanized Hades filled with machines of the gods. While well executed, and providing the book with a larger mythic framework, I personally can't help but think Constantine went too far. That the overall effect would have been a little more satisfying sticking to this fantastic world closer to our own.

Still, highly, highly recommended.

For more book reviews, click here.

Or read about my own historical fantasy novel here.

Very Best Fantasy

I'm frequently asked for a list of favorite novels and big influences on my own writing. So I drew up this list. In order to prevent my head exploding I kept it exclusively to adult fantasy. I have plenty more favorites in other genres, but this will keep anyone busy for a while — particularly considering many are the first in a series.

The Anubis Gates

by Tim Powers

Time travel, crazy 4,000 year old Egyptian sorcerers, romantic poets, and Victorian England. Oh, and it all works brilliantly.


A Game of Thrones

by George R.R. Martin

Simply the best modern fantasy work. The scope is huge, the characters intensely real, and the medieval-ness (as in "go all medieval on his ass") is incredible.


The Name of the Wind

by Patrick Rothfuss

NOTW is a beautiful book. Of all the Fantasy I've read in the last 15 or so years, this is perhaps second best after The Song of Ice and Fire. But that's not to say that they have much in common, other than both being good Fantasy. NOTW is focused and relies on more traditional Fantasy tropes. How focused can a 700 page novel be? Not very, but it is good, and it concentrates on a small number of characters and a single (albiet meandering) storyline.


Wizard and Glass

by Stephen King

Stephen King's best. Almost pure fantasy, told with his knack for making even the weirdest situations and dialog believable.


The Great Book of Amber: The Complete Amber Chronicles, 1-10

by Roger Zelazny

Hokey at times, but I just love the concept and feel of this reality bender. The pattern has haunted me for decades.


Master of the Five Magics

by Lyndon Hardy

Pure fun fantasy, but I love solid attempts to systematize and render magic into a real and "believable" system.


Carrion Comfort

by Dan Simmons

A horrific journey into the depths and nature of evil. One of the most chilling books I have ever read.


Wild Seed

by Octavia E. Butler

History, two kinds of immortals, themes of slavery and freedom, breeding of genetic powers. How can you beat that?


The True Game

by Sheri S. Tepper

I love this world in which "powers" come in systematic flavors which combine into unique specialties of super power.




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Immortals – Quickly Forgotten

Title: Immortals

Director/Stars: Henry Cavill (Actor), Mickey Rourke (Actor), Tarsem Singh (Director)

Genre: Swords and Sandles

Watched:  March 15, 2012

Summary: Gorgeous and oh so confusing

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It's a moral imperative for me to see all films set in the ancient world (although that descriptor is stretched by this historically adrift fantasy). How this strange piece ever got made is a mystery. My best bet is that the studio wanted a movie to compete with the execrable Clash of the Titans remake (and I'm a big fan of the original).

Both share certain "themes" and elements. Stylized visuals (although Immortals notches that up past 300 and beyond), sexy female seers, pseudo-wise mentors, titans, incomprehensible writing, and irrational hatred for the gods.

What is up with this theme? I totally don't understand and it utterly ruined Clash for me. Why would an ancient people, particularly one with proof of divine presence, deeply resent this lightweight governance? While there are certainly atheistic writings in ancient times, few espouse a bitter hatred of divinity. Is this some sort of modern sentiment refocused? Or, more likely, a need studio producers have to expand the scale of the combat? In any case, Immortals is considerably better than Clash - but probably not by the standards of the mindless masses.

Let's take it apart. Stylistically this film is pretty damn cool. It's not "realistic" or accurate, but it does borrow heavily from traditional costume and such in a highly interesting way. For example, the red oracle costumes (partially shown above) were wonderfully evocative of north African and Anatolian women's dress. Even the overdone costumes of the gods were interesting — although not totally to my taste. Ares (I think) with his huge spiky headdress, Poseidon with a giant conch on his head. Interesting. The temples were cool. The over-cliffy landscape. It's even the second movie in the last few months to feature the Brazen Bull. Certainly this would seem obscure and the movie makes no effort to explain this horrific and anachronistic execution/torture device (the film is set in 1200BC and the bull was invented in 500BC).

Considering the script, the acting isn't even that bad. But this brings us to the point: the script, which largely fails at both macro and micro levels. First of all, like most big effects movies these days, there is little or no arc and characterization is minimalist at best. Archetypes all: The warrior, the old man, the evil king. All conflict is external. The basic nature of the macro external objective throws good and bad guys together. But at the micro level, this film has scenes where you go, "what the hell just happened?" Partly this was due to inexplicably black cinematography. But mostly just due to lack of editing clarity. For example, Theseus is a slave at a watering hole and the virgin oracles, formerly in their temple just show up as vague captives. Why? How? No one explains. Then they stage a breakout, which devolves into some black figures fighting in a lightless room. Then both Theseus and the real oracle and a bunch of other slaves are free and outside, and the three other virgins captive. Again, no explanation — unless it happened in the dark.

Oh, well. This movie could have been so much more. Why can't they take their subject a little seriously, and most importantly use some real writing? It's gorgeous to look at, but I crave a movie about the gods and goddesses with some real substance. Perhaps even a universal moral theme? Like the evils of war or the fatal overextension of hubris? That might be in keeping with the source material and we couldn't have that!

For more Film reviews, click here.

Zeus (where's the beard?) puts the smackdown on Ares

Game of Thrones – Price for our Sins

Just 2 weeks from Season 2, HBO has released more trailer goodness (3/18/12).  This is one of the best yet, featuring all sorts of footage from the new season, and cut into a more comprehensible story arc.

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