Harry Connolly's Blog, page 36

Back to drafting new fiction

As I mentioned on Twitter, yesterday I wrote the first sentence of my next book. Here it is:

On the summer solstice in the year 402 of the New Calendar, Chatayzik ward-Safroy de-Safroy, admir-Safroy hold-Safroy slipped into his own funeral in disguise.

Actually, that’s a revised version of that first sentence, because first sentences get changed over and over.

I was planning to write a second sentence today (or maybe even two!) but my wife has injured her knee and I’m taking care of her. I still have time to type (obviously) but first chapters require a lot of concentration. But who knows, I might manage something later.

For the record, this is the first new novel fiction I’ve drafted since August, 2013. Since then, I’ve written some short fiction, revised the hell out of The Great Way and Key/Egg, and done endless promotional work, including 40+K worth of blog tour and 50K worth of game supplement. But no new novels.

It feels a) good and b) nerve-wracking. I’ve done this before, right? I don’t have to feel intimidated by my own work, right? Right.

Also, I’ve sold the audio rights to The Great Way. If you want to be notified when that becomes available, sign up for the newsletter in the sidebar of my blog.

HumbleBundle Progress

So, the books/Kickstarter HumbleBundle that started last Wednesday is creeping up on $55K. That’s pretty good, I’m guessing. They also gave me a widget to post:

Hmf. I don’t know that I like that one much. I mean, it shows the number of backers and the countdown, but not the work that’s being offered. It’s funny, adventurous, political, and simply beautiful to look at. And on the 22nd, more books will be added.

Also, the cost of the “average” level is continually going up. If you’re not getting the top tier stuff, it’s cost effective to buy in now.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ant-Man

ANT-MAN is funny.

It’s not the most hilarious movie ever made, but it does rise above the typical poo-faces portentousness of most superhero films. Contrasted with the BATMAN V SUPERMAN trailer before it, it looks surprisingly friendly and human.

It helps that they include cameos from the most charismatic actors in other shows, but it’s not overloaded with them, the way AGE OF ULTRON was. It also helps that the show takes its absurd premise and has a good time with it.

Still, it’s missing much of Edgar Wright’s visual style, even if he is co-credited with the script. The sight gags are great, but the film also has a bit of that “Best Lines Improvised On Set” feel that modern comedies have. Unfortunately.

I’d compare it to WRECK-IT RALPH, a terrific movie that cam late in a trend of other terrific movies, when the genre wasn’t so shiny and new any more. It’s still a good movie, even if it doesn’t feel revelatory.

Important: There are *two* post-credit sequences.

The Kickstarter HumbleBundle is live

Hey, you guys, did you know that my Great Way trilogy is part of a HumbleBundle devoted to Kickstarter projects?

Also included:

That Julie Dillon fantasy art book.

The Choose-Your-Own Adventure Hamlet

Issue #33 of John Joseph Adams’ Nightmare Magazine

A new Michael J. Sullivan novel

A Steampunk anthology that focused on protagonists from outside the US and Great Britain

A humorous Greg Pak comics anthology

A superhero comics parody

A zombie apocalypse comic set in 1943 Soviet Union

And more. I mean, obviously, there’s much more there.

Several of these were projects I wanted to back but couldn’t, for a variety of reasons. Now is my chance to grab a copy, and help charity, too.

If you’ve been meaning to try my work, or if you just like really sweet deals, check it out.

Randomness for 7/13

1) Why do people go bald? Video

2) A conversation between graffiti artists and removers.

3) Fearless girl rips out own tooth with a slingbow. ::faints::

4) .

5) Assigned to write an essay about a “leader” a group of teens decide to stand out from the pack and contact gangster Whitey Bulger in prison. He wrote back.

6) Ten Paintings of Guy Fieri as a Renaissance Baby.

7) The Detective As Speech. “An early letter I received after publishing my first book, Indemnity Only, came from a woman who wanted to know why V. I. Warshawski was allowed to “talk back” to men without being punished. The writer wasn’t seeking help in learning to talk back herself; she was criticizing V. I. for behaving in a way that was neither right nor natural.” h/t James Nicoll

In which I have an honest to god hallucination

My back pain is still ongoing, and the usual steps I take to manage things have not been terribly effective. That sort of pain is draining, and I’ve been falling asleep at odd times.

Like yesterday afternoon, when I fell into bed and lay there like a stone in a riverbed.

But when I woke up, I was astonished to see the biggest spider I’ve ever seen in my life (and Seattle has some bigass spiders) crawling along a horizontal thread over my bed. With it’s legs curled around it as it moved, it was about the size of a tennis ball. It was so big I shouted “WOW!”

My wife heard from the other room and rushed to find out what had happened. By the time she got there, the spider had become indistinct and then disappeared. It was a hypnopompic hallucination, something I’ve never had before.

That was hard to explain to her, in part because she was standing beside the bed asking me what was wrong before I understood how to answer. It was only later that I thought I might be afraid of the spider, that it might have dropped down a web line toward me, but then I think spiders are cool.

Rats, on the other hand…

The Hero-Free Zone: revisiting Conan the Barbarian (1982)

Having just enjoyed a birthday re-watch of the LOTR movies on July 2nd, I saw the original John Milius Conan had appeared on Netflix and turned it on. What the hell, right? Why not?

I first saw it in the theater when I was a teenager, and liked it a lot, although I didn’t love it. I think the problem was that I just wasn’t that impressed by the villains.

However, decades later, I was struck by something else: at no point in this movie does Conan act like a hero.

Spoilers, obviously.

He starts as a kid, then a slave. He has no agency of his own and is either neglected or brutalized. The first time he’s put into a pit to fight for his life, he’s bewildered and horrified–right up until he kills the other dude. After that, he becomes an increasingly skilled gladiator, killing enemies and glorying in it.

After he’s set free, he robs a grave, sleeps with a witch of some kind (which is possibly the first consensual sex of his life) and frees a thief.

Maybe that’s heroic, I guess? Saving a thief from his punishment? Anyway, now Conan is a thief, too, and he’s still hunting the guy who killed his family. He meets Valeria and they fall in love. They rob the bad guy’s temple, killing some people in the process. Sex. Spending stolen money. Getting busted. Beating up a gay priest to steal his robes…

There’s a princess to rescue from the guys who killed Conan’s family, but she doesn’t actually want to be saved. Plus, Team Conan is only going after her because they’ve been hired to do so. Plus, Conan’s pals ask him to put off his revenge so they can get their big score and he, the junior partner, blows them off. Plus, after they rescue the princess, they don’t take her home immediately. They have to stake her out like bait to draw in the bad guys for one big fight.

In later movies, Arnold would play villains, and he’d certainly kill a lot more dudes, but I don’t think he ever played an anti-hero like Conan again. And the 2011 version muffed the story by adding a mystical mask and a pure-blooded descendent and a threat to the whole world that Conan needed to stop, which only dragged things down.

Because the original had something that later iterations didn’t dare portray: a brutalized anti-hero single-mindedly seeking his revenge, without much thought to who else would be hurt.

Twelve years from hobbyist to pro

Want to check out an excellent post for people who a) like cool artwork and b) want to be a professional in a creative field? Well, here you go:

How I Became an Artist: The 12 year journey of my art thus far.

Takeaway: At the start, he wasn’t much better than me. Maybe a little better. At the end, he’s creating art so cool that it’s downright spooky.

But there’s no mention of the word talent–except once, in quote marks. All he talks about is hard work, and education. When he was starting out, he found a useful community for mutual support and critique. As he continued, he took classes, worked on techniques to improve the places he felt weak, continued to strengthen his strong points, and he practiced like whoa.

It’s a reflection of the growth mindset discussed in (among many others) this Atlantic article: Don’t Call Kids Smart. The way to find success is to force yourself to grow and improve, and to expect it to take a long time and a lot of work.

This is important. Too many people would look at the art at the bottom of that page, think how talented! and assume his ability to create that artwork comes from some spooky inborn trait. It doesn’t. It’s just hard work and self-education.

This is something I’m trying to impart to my son. It doesn’t have to be art; it can be anything. You suck at things when you start out, and you get better over time. With extra effort, you get really good. That’ what it takes.

Outside the Protection of the Law

Nowadays, an “outlaw” is someone whose behavior is not bound by the rule of law. They’re criminals. Rebels!

But that’s not the original meaning of the word. It used to mean a person who was no longer receiving the protection of the law. They’d been, essentially, banished from civilization. Anything could be done to them because they were outside the law. That was their punishment.

Supposedly, civilized people don’t do this anymore. When someone does something awful, we might punish them, but they deserve the same protections that everyone gets.

Especially when it comes to doxing.

If someone is committing a crime, it’s reasonable to share their real name and personal information with the authorities, but posting it online? No. Even if that person is an abusive asshole and an all-around shithole of a human being. Even if you hate that person with the power of a million cats hating a million dogs. Even if that person seems like the embodiment of evil.

No to doxing your friends. No to doxing your enemies. No one deserves to be outside this rule.

And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, consider yourself fortunate and look at some cute animal pictures.

Not fair

I return to the rallying cry of my son, from several years ago. Because guess what: shit is not going my way right now.

The continuing heat wave we’ve been suffering has been triggering my allergies. I take my anti-histamines, but I still itch down my back and along my arms.

Yeah, I know that our temps aren’t nearly as high as the temps in other parts of the country (low 90’s), but other parts of the country have air conditioning, or at least buildings that are meant to pass a breeze through them. Seattle, not so much. Bad enough that we have to run baseboard electric heat in the winter (with no insulation in the walls at all, and no storm door) but in the summer there’s nothing but to set a fan beside me and keep still.

On top of that, last weekend I had a sudden recurrence of my back spasms. It’s been years since my back gave me any trouble, but I confess that I’ve let my stretching and exercises lapse over the last few months while I wrap up the Kickstarter, and now I’m paying the price. Exercise is slowly making things better, but the sudden jab of pain when I turn my body the wrong way is not conducive to careful thought.

And I just burned my hand on the oven door.

Which is pretty fucking annoying, because I’ve finally begun work on the first book of a new series, but almost everything about my life is conspiring against me actually getting anything done. I have to work out details of the plot and the world-building, but between itchy hives and sudden jabs of/lingering pain, I can’t fucking concentrate.

Still I have an interesting book to read, and homeschooling to manage. Something will get done, if not as much as I’d hoped. I just wish I could finish the prep for this book so I could start it.