Richard Paolinelli's Blog, page 27
October 16, 2020
The Last Ancestor by Alexander Hellene
Every week I will be featuring a book by an author that you really should be reading.
This week it is:
The Last Ancestor, by Alexander Hellene
8 years ago, Growlers killed Garrett’s father. Now Garrett has the chance to be a hero… if he makes it out of the Growlers’ forbidden city alive.
Get your copy of the book here: The Last Ancestor
#FridayReads #SwordandPlanet #ChristianFiction #PulpRev
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Free Read Friday: October 16, 2020
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October 11, 2020
Superversive Sunday Spotlight: Denton Salle
Welcome to this week’s Superversive Sunday Spotlight. Every week we will chat with a Superversive author that you really should be reading.
This week we welcome Superversive author, Denton Salle:
How long have you been writing?
Depends on what you mean. In my real life, with science and other non-fiction topics, almost 40 years. As a fiction writer, about 3.
Which writers inspire you?
The older writers – Kipling, Chesterton, Doyle, Service, London. Out of the modern ones, it’s mixed bag – major writers – people like Butcher, Correa, Burst, Aaronovitch, and Wright. But all of them only with certain work. Then there are a lot of newer writer: Josh Reynolds, Jagi Lamplighter, Declan Finn, Paul Piatt – I wish I could do humor as well, Gail Martin, Ben Stevens… we could be here all day. I read less than I did and I still average one or two books a week.
And then Dean Wesley Smith – less his writing although I liked the Cold Poker Gang Series than his classes. I’ve also taken classes with Jagi Wright and Margie Lawson. Different missing skills. One thing my day job taught me is you die when you stop learning.
So, what have you written?
I have shorts published in Fantastic Schools Volume 1 – Deep School Tuition, Sol – What Hides from the Sun, and Impossible Hope – moulin Rouge’s Last Secret.. I also have on Amazon and other places some shorts as singles or collections – West Texas Cozies, Texas Otherworld, A Genetic Vampire and Lovecraft Lied are up.
For Novels, I have Daemonic Mechanical Artifacts and Thawing Hearts. I’ll be putting a few more mysteries and other shorts up in the next week. Then I want to get these novels out.
There are also some non-fiction writings. You can find this all on my Amazon Author page.
What draws you to Superversive writing?
So much writing is of the grim/dark. Heroes who aren’t. People who really any decent society who treat or get rid of. You can see it in the riots these days. A love of destruction and ruin for it’s own sake. As Chesterton says in the White Horse, we know what spirit inspires this.
And it’s a lie. Especially if you are at all Christian. There are very good people out there. Heroes have flaws but those flaws don’t deny the strength. In much of my life, and I’ve been around in this 60 plus years, I’ve meant good people who inspire and act as lights in the darkness. Some have been scientists, some martial artists or monks, but others have been ex-criminals. Heck, a few are still in the life. As one of my characters says “The whole dark/grim world is a lie. It’s a mask over glory.”
I think it’s as someone said “The point of stories is not monsters exist. It’s that monsters can be defeated.” (It’s not Gaiman. I think it was a paraphrase of Chesterton but I won’t bet money on it)
[image error]What are you working on at the minute?
As we do this interview, I am 3 weeks away from finishing a challenge to do a short story a week for a year. This week’s is a story in my fantasy world of Napoleon’s Genie. Historically, there were a few points where luck stopped Napoleon. He was sick at Waterloo and Wellington said it was still a near thing. His airship changed the Battle of the Nile, the Russian Invasion, and, well, in my world, Waterloo is a bloodbath the other way. Why? Because as I traveled worldwide in my day job, I learned how much history taught in the US comes from the Brits and reflects their propaganda rather than the truth. Like Islamic rule in Spain for example.
We aren’t going into fight scenes and violence in most stories. It makes pandas cry.
Outside of the challenge, I have four things in work: a YA novel about a boy who changes into a panda in a world roughly based on the old Slavic wolf-wizard – very very roughly. Like I stole words. Another is a story of Rus Vikings in China and that’s also YA, I think. And finally a urban fantasy novel about a nice engineering student who finds myths are real and one is trying to eat him. Again based on the idea of the Slavic myths but set in my beloved Texas.
I’m leaning Russian this year. I guess it counterbalances the Genies’ series. I have another romance in work too. Set near but not in Ms. Bokerah Brumley’s Yearly Texas. It may be a bit saltier than the first. When we talk of people who helped me get started, she was my guardian angel in some ways.
Do you read much and if so who are your favorite authors.
As I mentioned above, two books or so a week and every 4 or so, I try to read something old. Kipling, Heinlien, Dumas, Anderson… one of the people who wrote in a different time. That’s limited because of the technical stuff I read for work and some theology and craft stuff.
And cookbooks. I love reading cookbooks.
One thing I have noticed, and I suspect it’s financial, is that many writers I like have series that run too long. A bunch of folks I used to read, I find I stopped because the story fades and grows stale. I think it’s very hard to go over some number of books without going stale. I don’t know that number. One guy I read managed 12. Most of the time it’s about 9 or so. Sometimes its three. I’m trying not to do that.
How can readers discover more about you and your work?
My amazon page, dentonsalle, has what is on Amazon. I have a website at www.dentonsalle.com and I’m also on FB althro it might be months before I go there. It’s kinda a swamp.
Thanks for sharing Denton. Be sure to check out Denton’s books and be sure to check back next Sunday for our next chat with a Superversive author.
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October 10, 2020
The Calling: Part 2, Chapter 16
A Work Of Star Trek Fan Fiction By Richard Paolinelli
© 2020 RICHARD PAOLINELLI . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO COPYING OR ANY OTHER REPRODUCTION OF THIS STORY IS PERMITTED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION. This is a work of fan fiction based in the universe of Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry. It is not intended to be sold, to be used to aid in any sale and is not to be copied or used in any other way by any other party.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Approaching Spacedock, Captain.”
“Thank you, Mr. Sulu,” Kirk replied, casting a glance over at Forelni. The two-week trip back to Earth had been uneventful, giving the Etalyan plenty of time to pack and say his goodbyes. Within two hours he would be leaving for his new command.
For now, Forelni stood on the Enterprise’s bridge, staring at the viewscreen while waiting for his first up close look at his command. He was trying to look nonchalant and was fooling nobody.
When the new Dreadnought came into sight, even Kirk felt a pang of jealousy. Enterprise was a lovely lady, sleek and elegant. Forelni’s ship was a beautiful ship in her own right, but she was also a War Maiden. Enterprise’s job was to patrol, explore and handle whatever trouble she might encounter. This new ship’s job was to patrol for trouble and show trouble out the door with a form boot in the backside for good measure.
“That’s a fine lookin’ ship ye have there, lad,” Scotty said from his station.
“Aye, Mr. Scott, that she is.”
“Of course, I would’na trade her for the Enterprise, lad,” Scotty added.
“I wouldn’t believe otherwise for a moment, Scotty.”
“Mr. Forelni,” Kirk called out. “I believe you are expected down in the transporter room in thirty minutes.”
“That should give me just enough time to finish packing,” Forelni agreed, turning to the turbolift. He’d individually thanked the bridge crew earlier, and had bade farewell to the night watch crew and his Security staff the night before. But he paused at the lift and took one last look around.
“There are some ships,” he said aloud. “That anyone who boards them leaves a part of themselves behind with it, and they take a little part of those ships with them where they go, no matter how much time they spend aboard them.
“Take good care of her,” he continued as the doors opened behind him, then glanced up at the ceiling. “And you take good care of them.”
He gave the Royal Bow of the Etalyan Court and stepped back into the turbolift, allowing the doors to close.
* * *
The lift doors parted on the main transporter deck and Forelni stepped out. The cargo master had already had Forelni’s belongings transported over to the Dreadnought as soon as they were in range. There were only a few small items to slip into a satchel, a quick tour of his quarters to make sure nothing had been overlooked and then he headed up to the transporter.
He came to an abrupt halt, barely two steps out of the lift. Members of the crew were lining the walls of the corridor. All the way from the turbolift down to the transporter room.
“Attention!” Butler, the new Chief of Security, called out and everyone snapped to attention.
Forelni nodded his head and walked the gauntlet, thanking each of them as he passed.
“Keep them safe, Dan,” he held out his hand to Butler when he reached his replacement. “And thank you for this.”
“My pleasure, Sir,” Butler replied, taking the proffered hand. “And good luck.”
Forelni stepped inside, relieved to find only Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scotty waiting for him.
“Doctor, thank you for everything.”
“It was a pleasure, son. You be careful out there without us looking out for you.”
“I will,” he smiled as he turned to Spock. “I intend to have a rematch for that galactic championship, Commander.”
“I will be honored, Captain,” Spock raised his hand in the Vulcan salute. “Live long and prosper.”
“Peace,” Forelni returned the salute. “And long life, Commander.
“Captain,” he continued as he faced Kirk. “It has been an honor to serve with you.”
“The honor is mine, Captain,” Kirk shook Forelni’s hand.
Forelni walked up and took his place on the transporter.
“Mr. Scott,” he called out. “Mar sin leat.”
“Aye, lad,” Scotty grinned broadly. “Farewell indeed.”
“Captain Kirk,” Forelni said. “Permission granted, Captain. Fair winds and following seas. Energize, Mr. Scott.”
Forelni dissolved in a sparkle of transporter effect.
“Were you ever able to find out what he named his ship, Jim?”
“No, Bones, I wasn’t. We’ll have to wait for three days along with everyone else for the launch when they officially christen her.”
“I hear there’s a betting pool below decks on the name. The Genoa is the betting favorite right now.”
“It would seem to be a logical choice.”
“Gentlemen, speculate all you like, but we’ll find out soon enough,” Kirk said. “I suggest you all enjoy the next few days of down time on Earth while you can. After we take part in the launch ceremonies we are shipping back out.”
“Where are we heading, Jim?”
“You’re favorite vacation planet, Bones. The Forever World. It seems Dr. Whitme would like to make use of the information he got from Queen Avion and use the Guardian to fill in the blanks. Forelni put in a good word for the idea and Starfleet approved. We’ll remain in orbit for a few days until they are done and then return them to Chandera.”
“Sounds fun,” McCoy never dripped sarcasm, he heavily ladled it out.
* * *
“Welcome aboard the ’64, Captain,” Paulo Mansi, wearing the command gold with a full Commander’s stripes, greeted when Forelni re-formed on the transporter pad of his ship.
“The ’64, XO?” Forelni asked his First Officer.
“Well, since you won’t tell anyone what her name is we have to call her something, Sir.”
“Then the ’64 will have to do until we launch, my friend. Ship status?”
“We continue to load provisions,” Mansi reported. “We nearly have all crew aboard and settled. We’ll launch on time.”
“Even if I have to push her out of dock with my bare hands, Capitano,” Bartolo Rinaldi rumbled in his deep baritone.
“Bartolo,” Forelni clapped a hand on his ship’s Captain of Engineering. “You old dog. You should be home with your wife and eight children.”
“Because my wife does not want child number nine, Capitano,” Bartolo’s laugh rumbled across the room.
“Well, I am glad you are here with us. My ship is in good hands.”
“Thank you, Capitano, but I should get back to engineering, otherwise I will have to push this ship out of dock.”
Mansi waited until the engineer and the transporter tech had left the room then looked long and hard at his friend and Captain.
“How are you?”
“I’m fine,” Forelni replied, puzzled. “Why do you ask?”
“Doctor McCoy contacted Doctor Lastra who then contacted me about what happened at Chandera.”
“Bucket mouth seems to be a common affliction among the medical profession,” Forelni groused.
“We are worried about you, my friend. You have known your share of women. I have never known you to have been affected the way this one did you. She must have been very special.”
“She was,” Forelni said softly. “I wish you could have met her.”
“I’ve seen the portrait,” Mani replied.
“It does not do her justice…,” Forelni visibly shook himself and changed the subject. “But she is lost in the past and I have a new lady in my life now. I am already jealous of you, knowing more of her secrets than do I. Come, show me my ship, Paulo.”
* * *
“Starfleet Command,” Forelni toggled a switch on his command chair. “This is NCC-1964. We are on station.”
“Acknowledged, NCC-1964. The bottle is on target. Estimated impact in thirty seconds.”
Launched from Etalya on a warp sled two weeks before, the bottle had been detached from the sled just outside lunar orbit and was tumbling toward its destination: The long grey rectangle covering the name of the new ship on its hull below the NCC-1964.
Once the bottle smashed open, the covering would dissolve to reveal the ship’s name. So far, only Forelni and four others knew that name and all were sworn to secrecy. Dozens of ships, including the Enterprise, had formed a v-shaped gauntlet with the Dreadnought making the point of the ‘V’.
The bottle flew true and smashed dead center of the rectangle and the grey melted away.
“Starfleet Command,” Forelni said. “This is the U.S.S. Avion’s Star. We are ready to depart.”
“You are cleared for departure, Avion’s Star,” the controller answered cheerfully. “Godspeed, Captain.”
* * *
“Well, I’ll be,” McCoy said as the name of the ship was revealed. “I didn’t see that one coming.”
“You should have, Bones,” Kirk replied, handing the Doctor a slip of paper, a betting slip from the ship’s pool on the Dreadnought’s name. McCoy unfolded it and read what was written on it in Kirk’s own hand.
It will incorporate the name Avion in some fashion.
“How did you know, Jim,” McCoy asked, shocked.
“You remember that sailing ship I bought on Earth last year?”
“Yeah.”
“I named her the Edith Keeler, Bones.”
On the screen, the Avion’s Star moved forward on her impulse engines until she was safely away from Earth’s gravity well, then she vanished in the rainbow effect of a ship going to warp.
“A good ship going into harm’s way,” Kirk said as he watched her departure. “Speaking of departure, Mr. Sulu, I believe we are scheduled for our departure as well.”
“Aye, Sir, course plotted and laid in. Ready to go to warp on your command.”
“Let’s get going, Mr. Sulu.”
The Enterprise created her own rainbow as she headed away from home once more.
* * *
“Captain,” Spock reported as he walked up to Kirk’s command chair. “Mr. Butler reports that Dr. Whitme’s team should be finished with their work down below sometime tomorrow. I believe we should be able to break orbit for Chandera shortly thereafter.”
“Good news, Mr. Spock,” Kirk replied. “The Armstrong is scheduled to arrive in the morning to take over keeping an eye on the place.”
Ever since Enterprise had discovered the planet, Starfleet had kept a ship in orbit and a security team on site to prevent the Guardian from being misused. Rarely was a ship of the line, like the Enterprise, involved but there was always a ship here. Enterprise had relived the Hercules upon arrival until the Armstrong could arrive to take over the duty.
While the ship patrolled above, the archaeologists studied Chandera’s past with the aid of the Guardian. Security Chief Butler was down on the surface keeping watch.
“Captain,” Sulu called out. “Multiple contacts approaching the planet. They just dropped out of warp and are heading this way at maximum impulse.”
“Yellow alert,” Kirk responded. “Who do those ships belong to?”
“They appear to be eight vessels similar in configuration to known Orion pirates, Captain,” Spock reported.
“Red Alert,” Kirk ordered. “Raise shields, arm photon torpedoes and ready phasers. Uhura, warn those ships away. Tell them we will open fire if they do not break off.”
“Captain,” Spock called out. “Massive contact, same heading as the Orions. It’s the Avion Star.”
“On screen,” Kirk replied.
The Dreadnought had come out of warp much closer, having been in pursuit of the Orions. And she wasn’t waiting to give out warnings, she opened fire, picking off the two ships at the rear of the Orion formation who’d had all of their power shunted to their forward shields.
The lead ship continued its course toward the planet. Three peeled away to engage Forelni’s ship while the other two broke toward the Enterprise.“Bring us around and get us between the lead ship and the planet, Sulu,” Kirk barked. “Fire phasers and torpedoes at all three ships.”
One torpedo found its mark on the lead ship, disabling its engines and dropping its shields, but not before it fired a torpedo of its own. But neither of the Starfleet ships was its target.
The torpedo streaked to the surface before Enterprise could do anything about it. A massive time wave erupted from the surface. All of the ships were caught in it, tossed about violently list a skiff caught in the middle of a hurricane.
When the Enterprise finally stabilized, the bridge crew picked themselves up off the deck.
“Damage report,” Kirk demanded.
“Systems are down around the ship, Captain,” Uhura responded. “Engineering reports they are bringing them back online as fast as possible. We have multiple injuries on every deck, no fatalities. Sickbay is responding.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Kirk replied. “Status of the Orion ships?”
“They appear to be dead in the water, Captain,” Spock reported, then paused. “I detect no life signs on any of the Orion ships.”
Kirk paused to let that sink in.
“What is the condition of Avion’s Star, Spock?”
“They are hailing us now, Captain,” Uhura cut in.
“Put them on screen.”
“What the hell was that, Jim?” Forelni asked, blood trickled down the side of his face from a cut just above his right eyebrow.
“We’re still trying to sort that out ourselves, Bari,” Kirk replied, rubbing his left shoulder which had come out on the wrong end of a collision with the bridge railing. “Why were you chasing the Orions?”
“We got a tip they were smuggling stolen dilithium from Winston’s Planet,” Forelni explained. “As soon as we showed up to confront their twelve-ship convoy, four of them opened fire on us while these eight took off. As soon as we dealt with the first four, we stared after these. Obviously, they were up to something bigger than smuggling.”
“Obviously,” Kirk agreed.
“Captains,” Spock said, and something in his tone froze Kirk’s blood. “Aside from the planet, our ships and the Orions, there is nothing else out there, anywhere.”
“What do you mean, Spock?” Forelni asked.
“Long-range sensors are showing nothing,” Spock answered. “No stars, no background radiation, no communications, nothing.”
Spock called up the long-range cameras on the side of the ship facing away from the planet. There should have been a massive starfield on the screen.
Instead, there was nothing but a vast empty void, devoid of all light.
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October 9, 2020
Free Read Friday: October 9, 2020
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October 8, 2020
The Pulp Mindset by J.D. Cowan
Here’s a book, and an author you really should be reading:
The Pulp Mindset, by J.D. Cowan
A new frontier has opened where anything goes! We live in a pulp landscape now–learn just what this NewPub world is, how to adapt to it, and change the way you think.
Get your copy of this amazing book right here: https://amzn.to/2EmBw26
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October 6, 2020
I’m On ImpactRadioUSA
Just a quick reminder, as I whack my way through the boxes still not yet unpacked, that you can catch my monthly appearance on Dr. Paul’s Family Talk show on ImpactRadioUSA tomorrow at 11 a.m. EDT right here:
https://www.impactradiousa.com/
I talk about #indiepublishing and give useful pointers for writers new to the Indie way. So give the entire show a listen, you won’t regret it. Now, where did I put those boxcutters….
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Richard’s Reviews: The Oppenheimer Alternative by Robert J. Sawyer
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October 5, 2020
Hello From Western Colorado
Well, another move in the books. We’re still getting things unpacked and getting settled in. So this will be a very brief post.
[image error] On the Iowa side of the Missouri River, looking at Nebraska, just north of Omaha.
The one thing that has struck me is that we just moved from a city that sat on the banks of one of America’s great rivers – the Missouri – and moved to another city that sits on the banks of another great American river – the Colorado.
If we were so inclined we could raft along the river through Utah, south to Arizona – passing through the Grand Canyon. Then turn westward toward Nevada – having to get out of the river long enough to trek around Hoover Dam. Then head south, where the Colorado River serves as the border between California and Arizona, and keep right on going until the river empties out into the Gulf of California that separates Baja California and the Mexican mainland.
I’m not sure how long the trek would take, but seriously, if you’re rafting a long river in the first place, are you really in that big of a hurry?
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October 4, 2020
Superversive Sunday Spotlight: L. Jagi Lamplighter
Welcome to this week’s Superversive Sunday Spotlight. Every week we will chat with a Superversive author that you really should be reading.
This week we welcome Superversive author, L. Jagi Lamplighter:
How long have you been writing?
I started my first novel when I was 12. I wrote the first chapter and maybe one or two others. Though after that, I only wrote an occasional bad short story until after college.
After college, I went to work for my dad. I would write for two hours and work for him for six. (Only got paid for the six, but he let me spend two of the supposed eight work hours writing.
The first year, I only worked on grammar, because I knew mine wasn’t excellent. I would also write out passages by hand from my favorite authors and see how they used words, punctuation, and language in general. I still remember the semi-colon use from The Fellowship of the Ring.
Finally, I started writing. My first attempt was about a wizard who could make living things out of a magical clay and drank a lot of tea. He was trying to make a daughter. I never finished it, but, to my surprise, it was quite funny. I didn’t expect that. I wasn’t funny in real life.
[image error]I went on to try several other novels and throw out over 1000 paged. One of those novels, currently called Uncross the Stars, I am still working on. I am on version 14. Someday, I hope to finish it. (Sadly, the main thing holding me up now is that the world has changed, and the story I had been trying to tell is not as pertinent.)
In 1992, I started what was then called Prospero’s Children. After about 12 chapters, I made an outline. Never wrote another word. I see this happen to others, too. No one tells them how dangerous writing an outline is for organic thinkers. But a few friends liked what I had written and in 1998 later, I went back to it. I ripped up the outline (mentally. Not literally) and started again.
I finished it in 2001. I sent it to my agent, who was an old boss of mine. He got hired by Tor, which, at the time, was the number one publisher all SF and Fantasy authors wanted to be associated with. They were adventurous and happening and still directly run by the great Tom Doherty. So, suddenly, my book was on the desk of an editor!
It took him until 2005 to decide if he wanted the book. During that time, I rewrote the book and rewrote the book and rewrote the book. It took Tor two years after that to decide that they wanted to publish it. Eventually, when it came out in 2009—as a trilogy Prospero Lost, Prospero In Hell, and Prospero Regained—I had rewritten it six or seven times.
Which writers inspire you?
Tolkien, Lewis, Tolstoy, Lloyd Alexander, Roger Zelazny, Margaret Mitchell, Alan Gardner, J. K. Rowling.
One of my first readers described my writing style as: Neil Gaiman meets C. S. Lewis or, for an American equivalent, Roger Zelazny meets Lloyd Alexander.
That is quite an accurate description of my style.
So, what have you written?
I mentioned the Prospero’s Children series. (Tor published it as Prospero’s Daughter, because they put it in the “Women in Fantasy” line. I was told that my book would be put in this line “even though it had no sex in it.” When the series moved to Wordfire, we changed the series title back to the original.) This is a story about Miranda from Shakespeare’s Tempest, searching for her father, the Dread Magician Prospero, who has gone missing. The premise is that Shakespeare misled us at the end. Prospero never drowned his books and was still around, hundreds of years later, keeping order among the spirits of the air and earth, etc. and protecting the world from supernatural nasties.
Only Prospero has retired, and the children he has fathered over the centuries have scattered. Only Miranda is left to run Prospero, Inc. and protect the world.
When Prospero goes missing, Miranda must gather together her wayward siblings, some of whom she hates and some of whom she loves—and some of whom are not as wayward as she first thought—and rescue their father…
…who has been carried off, alive, to Hell.
It’s a fun story, full of magic and wonder and humor. It’s half urban fantasy (though with few of the clichés of modern urban fantasies, as I wrote it before UF was a genre) and half Dante. The story does turn out to be a direct sequel to The Tempest, but it takes a while till that becomes clear.
I have a couple of books I haven’t published, a children’s series about the Lost Brothers (Jacob and Nicky Lost, which is kind of funny because my husband wrote a series about a Preston Lost who became Lost on the Last Continent. I wonder if they are related.) and Visions of Arhyalon, of which Uncross the Stars, which I mentioned before, is the first book. It’s what you might now call LitRPG…only the roleplaying game it was based on was designed to feel a lot more like a novel, so it isn’t anything like modern LitRPG. Premise is: When a dragon attacks earth, three young writers recognize it as something that one of them made up. They discover that Earth has a magic power: Creator Vision, the ability to see into other dimensions—only you think you are making it up. Armed with the knowledge of stories that they and others have written, they head of into a strange and wondrous greater universe—after saving the Earth, of course.) I also have a book of short stories from E-Spec press called In the Lamplight.
My current project is The Books of Unexpected Enlightenment. This series is based on a roleplaying game that a friend, Mark Whipple, ran. John and I fell in love with the premise, and I decided to write it up. It will, God willing, be a long series—possibly 24 books.
The story follows a little British sorceress, Rachel Griffin, as she attends a magic school in America called The Roanoke Academy for the Sorcerous Arts. Rachel has a perfect memory, and she discovers that this allows her to see through certain kinds of enchantments that hide things from human eyes. So, while she is supposed to be going to school, she stumbles onto mysteries that involve not merely students, but the whole world—and beyond.
Rachel lives on a world without God, without angles or demons or Jews, Christians, or Muslims. Only her first day, she finds a strange statue of a creature she has never seen in any bestiary…a woman with wings. It’s not a fairy. It’s too big for a pixie.
Soon, she begins to discover that there are many things the world once knew about that have been forgotten—and, to a girl with a perfect memory, the notion of forgetting things is particularly terrifying, so she sets out to discover what has been lost.
Meanwhile, she takes classes in magic, tries to make friends, falls for an older boy, and gets into a great deal of trouble.
There is a cast of zany characters, but the real breakout star among them is Rachel’s best friend, crazy orphan Sigfried Smith and his talking familiar, Lucky the Dragon. Siggy, who is the favorite of many readers, was played by my husband, author John C. Wright, in the original game, and is really fun to write. (John helps me with the “Sigification” going through to make sure that Sigfried is sufficiently, well, Siggy-like.)
It is a delightful series to write, filled with enchantment and wonder, humor and deeper, darker moments. It takes place on the Hudson River (literally, the island is in the Hudson near Storm King Mountain) and draws from the rich lore of that area (think Headless Horseman.) The religious elements are quite light, as by Book Five, it is still shrouded in secret, but part of what drew John and I to the story was that amidst the adventure, romance humor, and horror, it was fascinating to meet God again, as if the first time, through the eyes of an unprejudiced character.
[image error]
I also have stories in a number of anthologies, including Planetary: Mercury, Planetary: Venus, and Planetary: Luna. I co-edited Venus with the lovely and talented A. M. Freeman.
What draws you to Superversive writing?
In 2013, my husband and I were driving back from Balticon and wondering why so little modern fantasy and science fiction seemed heroic. I said that I wished there were more stories that had moments that drew you out of yourself, made your consider the wonders and majesty of God’s greater universe (whether God was mentioned or no). Then, as a joke, because I had recently heard of someone else doing this and thought it was hilarious that a specific couple had done this, I said, “Let’s start a literary movement.”
We bandied about some names for our literary movement. John recommended Superversive, a word used by the great essayist, Tom Simon. Basically, as the word was described to me, if subversive was change by undermining from below, Superversive was change by inspiring from above. I don’t know if he coined the word or found it somewhere in Tolkien or Lewis (I’ve heard both, so maybe he coined it from inspiration found in the works of those two worthy authors.)
A year and a quarter later, I launched the Superversive Literary Movement with the Superversive Blog. The first article was The Art of Courage by Tom Simon himself: http://bondwine.com/2014/10/01/the-art-of-courage/ Many people wrote for this blog. It causes a tiny stir. Jason Rennie even contacted me from Australia, asking if he could start a publishing company around this idea.
And that is how it started! (If anyone wants to know more about Superversiveness, some of my original articles have been gathered in this free booklet: Holy Godzilla of the Apocalypse https://dl.bookfunnel.com/dif3flen4g
[image error]What are you working on at the minute?
I have started The Sixth Book of Unexpected Enlightenment, which is to be called: Guardians of the Shadowlands. It starts about two minutes after the end of the fifth book, The Unbearable Heaviness of Remembering. Rachel opens the book by nearly getting staked (by someone who mistakes her for a vampire.)
I am also working on a short story called “Who Rules the World” about Miranda Prospero’s blind brother Cornelius. I have tried to write this story for three different anthologies, and it just didn’t work out, but it is for the best, because this current anthology seems like a much better fit for the story.
Do you read much and if so who are your favorite authors.
I don’t. And I say this with great sadness. But I have kids. I homeschool. I edit other people’s books. I teach writing…and when I am not doing all that, I write.
I do love to read, though. I read once a year on vacation, and sometimes, I slip in other books. This year, I was lucky. I took off three weeks and read Jonathan Moeller’s entire Cloak Mage series—15 books. Moeller has been my Indie publishing guru for years, and I had never read any of his works. The series was really fun. It was about a young woman whose brother is dying of an illness only advanced magic can cure, so she is dragooned into stealing things for a powerful elf and hijinks ensue.
I also have read most of Christopher Nuttall’s Schooled in Magic and Zero Enegma books. Chris and I write in the same genre. We just edited an anthology together, Fantastic Schools, Volume One (Volume Two is on its way) which is, to my surprise, doing quite well.
Though recently I had a real treat. I got to read House by the River by Anthony Regan—an unpublished work that I cajoled him into letting me read. It was just like my favorite books from when I was a child…where the magic is less obvious and mysterious and with a magical house. It was wonderful! I’m hoping he will send me the second book. I’m also hoping he will publish it so that the rest of you can read it!
How can readers discover more about you and your work?
I am on Amazon and at Silver Empire (they have a great new book club option. If you love reading, check it out!) There is a list of my works here, but it is not entirely up to date: http://www.ljagilamplighter.com/works/
Thanks for sharing Jagi. Be sure to check out Jagi’s books and be sure to check back next Sunday for our next chat with a Superversive author.
The post Superversive Sunday Spotlight: L. Jagi Lamplighter appeared first on Richard Paolinelli - A Superversive Scribe.
