Books!
For the last 18 months or so, I have had very little reading time. I spent my commute and lucnh hours writing on my phone, and my evenings writing on my desktop. When I couldn’t get a seat on the subway, I just read comics, because they were low-commitment, and I could drop them quick of a chance to sit and write presented itself.
It’s been hard. I feel like I have been cut off from the great creative river I am so used to swimming in and drinking from. It’s left me out of shape and thirsty.
But I am editing now, and can’t do that on my phone, so I am taking a break from working on THE DESERT SPEAR and doing some reading.
I started out with some recommendations from friends. I had heard a lot of great things about Bernard Cornwell, but The Archer’s Tale bored me, as did some other suggestions. One winner, though, was Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman. It was recommended by my evil twin, Jay (lately I think I might be the evil one, but whatever). If you’ve ever read superhero comics, you should run out and pick it up. You will laugh your ass off. Even now, a month later, I think about bits of it while going about my day and start giggling about Doctor Impossible.
I used to haunt the fantasy sections of bookstores and Amazon.com looking for new books to experiment on, but I don’t really have the time for that anymore, so I’ve been sticking to authors I know I love.
Sadly, that has led to some disappointments. I picked up the new RA Salvatore dark elf book, but it was excrucuiating to read. It’s like the 20th book in the series, and none of the characters have grown or changed significantly since their intial character arcs. It’s kind of sad, because I loved these books so much when I was a kid, and do really respect Salvatore as an author, but really, he’s just phoning this stuff in.
I also picked up the new pseudo-Shannara books by Terry Brooks. I’ve been trying to get into them, but the first 50 pages of book 1 have been all “tell” and no “show”, and are really boring me. In the old days, I would push past it, but now, when free time is at a premium and the iPod video is always tempting me with the 40 Year Old Virgin or Anchorman, it’s hard to keep going when a book is slow.
But then my friend told me the new Naomi Novik Temeraire book is out, and I ran out to get it. Novik has a really smooth, easy prose style, and characters that are so honest and pure that you can’t help but love them. I am plowing through the book at an incredible rate. Novik is also published by Del Rey books, and I hear they only publish AWESOME authors!
While I was at the store, I also grabbed the new Runelords book, Worldbinder, by David Farland. Farland has been a huge influence to me, and I love his stuff. He has yet to disappoint. That’s next on my list.
And then, this morning, I discovered that there is a new fantasy out by my favorite author, C.S. Friedman. Friedman’s intense and richly complex stories are incredibly fulfilling and totally engrossing. I can’s say enough good things about her.
Ahhh, days of milk and honey!
In an interview, Friedman makes the following comment:
If you could go back in time, what advice would you give the younger C. S. Friedman concerning her writing career?“Quit your other job sooner. This is way more fun.”
Good advice.