She spots a potential victim

The attack!

Pressing her advantage

It always amazes me how fast puppies develop. Last week this puppy was barely on her feet — now she can bounce around like anything. Same with playtime: a week ago, five minutes out in the living room wore her out and then she crashed for five hours or so. Now it takes half an hour to wear her out, and she’s up again in two hours or so. In just one week!

She mostly wants to play with her mother, which is only barely satisfactory, as Kenya is not very playful. Single puppies are at such a disadvantage! Of course, I play with her. She thinks of me as “hands” and “feet”. She is so surprised when I put my face down to her level — she growls and backs away from this enormous strange not-dog person. Then she edges forward and bumps me with her nose. Next week she will not just be climbing into my lap, but licking my nose.

Soon she will be able to keep up with the teenagers a bit better and she will switch her focus to them. I do hope Folly and Giedre make room in their duo for a little sister. Maybe I’ll send one of my teens to stay with friends for a few weeks to help the other bond to the baby.

I’m pretty sure I’m going to name this baby Anara Honeysuckle Rose, btw. And, yes, I will probably call her Honey.

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Is kinda like if Javert joined forces with Jean Valjean to go after Thenardier — if Thenardier were a servant of the Devil.

And also, admittedly, if Valjean were a master criminal, and Javert not quite so rigid.

Plus: necromancy! Desperate flights into the sewers! Ladies with all the acting chops! In summary: this book was all kinds of fun, even though I continue to love The Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy better.

Also! I actually read this in paper, because I had a used hardcover on hand. And you know what? I actually prefer the reading experience on the Kindle, because it is lighter, and also easier to prop up so I can read during meals. Plus, since I have all of Wells’ books on Kindle except the Raksura trilogy and this one . . . well, anyway, I’m giving the hardcover away and picking up this one on Kindle.

The thing I like least about the Kindle? That I cannot give away books. I already knew I gave away a lot of books, some to the local (tiny) library and some to people who like SFF who I know can’t afford to buy a lot of books.

What I didn’t realize is that it actually kind of bothers me — not fingernails-on-the-chalkboard bothers, but it does bother me — if I can’t get rid of books I don’t really like. I mean, of course I can take them off “the device” and put them just in the archives. But . . . usually I give those books away. And now I can’t. I am forced to look at them listed in alphabetical order every time I scan through the books in the archives. And the people I might have given them to, who might have enjoyed them, don’t get a chance to find out.

And I don’t like it. Even if as a writer, I’m all for encouraging different individual readers to buy their own copies, thankyouverymuch. This isn’t necessarily a conflict, anyway, since whomever I give my hardcover of DEATH OF THE NECROMANCER to may fall in love with Martha Wells and buy her other books. So, listen, Amazon, get on that, okay?

How about you? Would you (do you?) get rid of a lot of the books you buy by giving them away? Would it (does it?) bother you to be stuck with those books forever?

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If what you want is really a dog to lie quietly at your feet and lend doggy ambiance to your peaceful, serene home.

In the voice of the border collie.

Hah!

This is why I have adorable quiet peaceful — well, relatively — Cavaliers.

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And / or puppies, chocolate, and WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE?

A great post that puts negative reviews in perspective, plus this post is the funniest one you’ll read today.

Well, at least, there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy it if you click through, okay?

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Isn’t it something to find a new favorite author? With the added plus that she has a dozen books or more out already, so I can just immerse myself in her writing. How fun is that, right?

After reading The Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy, I have declared that March is Martha Wells Month and I’m going to read through her entire backlist. I may of course have to cheat and extend Martha Wells Month into April, but hey! It is my month and I can do that if I want.

The Fall of Ile-Rien:

Okay the first thing to know is: If you’re starting THE WIZARD HUNTERS and you’re not sure you like it? Read at least three or four chapters before you decide.

The Characters:

We have a third-person divided pov structure, Tremaine in a world with the flavor of, say, mid-1800s England; and Ilias in a very different world that doesn’t map terribly well onto any real historical era I can think of but is much less technologically advanced. It’s important that you wait for the two plotlines to converge before you decide whether you like the characters or the story, because I just about guarantee you will once the plotlines come together. Which they do very early on, so there’s actually not much patience required. And after that, the books really take off!

Tremaine is my favorite character EVER! She is right up there with my other favorite-ever characters, like Miles Vorkosigan and Vlad Taltos and Eugenides. She is prickly, sarcastic, ruthlessly practical, sometimes insecure, occasionally suicidal, and doesn’t have a romantic bone in her body. You know that discussion a week or two ago about books with female protagonists but without a lot of romance? This is that book. I mean, there is romance — but it starts late in the series and it is never, but never, a gushy obsessive romance.

I mean, Tremaine used to write plays? And at one point, she thinks to herself that when she used to write in a romantic relationship, the audience wouldn’t be sure if the two characters were supposed to be in love or not. And by then you can just imagine the way Tremaine would write romance, and it makes you laugh.

There’re lots of secondary characters from Tremaine’s world — of the ones we see from the start, Gerard is possibly my favorite of them because I have a thing for dedicated do-the-job types. I love Florian, too, though. I kept rather hoping Ander would get shot or fall off a cliff or at least see the error of his ways and start taking Tremaine seriously, but, sigh, I guess there really are jackasses like that in the world and he does provide a certain something. Like, a contrast to Ilias, for one thing.

Because Ilias! Tremaine is my fave, but Ilias is also great. He’s like the Muscle-Bound Barbarian Warrior, only for grownups: complex and believable, fascinating backstory, highly competent but plausibly so. I love his relationship with his friend and foster-brother, Giliead. And I love the way their society is so different from Tremaine’s and how those differences echo through the whole story.

You are probably getting the idea that there are a lot of characters. This is true, and more as time goes on, but Wells handles them all extremely well, and gives them all time off as appropriate rather than trying to clutter up every scene with the whole bunch of ’em, and so it’s easy to keep track of everyone. Particularly since everyone is distinctive. Mostly Wells sticks with Tremaine and Ilias as the pov protagonists; as we go on through the trilogy we do get little sections from other points of view, but this is beautifully handled and never obtrusive or annoying; there’s none of that dilution of pov you get in some modern epic fantasy until you can’t tell who the blazes the main character is supposed to be.

The world:

Oh, it’s so much fun! I’m actually not always in the mood for a gaslamp fantasy setting, so gating from Tremaine’s world into Ilias’ and back mixed the settings up and kept everything feeling exciting. Those gates! New corners to peek around just everywhere, and this is Martha Wells, right? So you know the scenery is going to be grand-scale and stunning. Ruined cities everywhere, and all of them different. But the ruined cities aren’t the only thing on a grand scale: check out the Revenna. One of my favorite lines from the first book was something like: “So, we’re going to make our secret escape on the biggest ship in the world.” (And they do.) I thought the ship was modeled on maybe the Queen E, and I was almost right — Wells has an author’s note that says she actually based the ship on the Queen Mary.

I love Tremaine’s world — like a gaslamp fantasy, right? But with fey that seriously affected things until cold iron became more common. My favorite exchange in the third book, one of the few times we actually see a fey, it says to Tremaine: “You look tasty, little girl.” And she levels a gun at it and says, “So do you.” (The fey is in fact more intimidated by Tremaine than the other way around.)

I love Ilias’ world more. We get to see a good bit of it, but Ilias’ home town is my favorite. The customs are so different and the interaction between the characters is really enhanced by this. I don’t want to be too specific. Just take it as read that every scene is beautifully set, okay?

The plot:

The overarching plot is complex, but it hangs together just fine. It’s an invasion story — as suggested by the title of the trilogy, right? — and of course the plot is concerned with taking back Ile-Rien from its conquerers. The conquerers are . . . really interesting. Almost anything I say about them would be too much, so silence seems the best policy here.

The first book is really pretty well self contained, which is handy if you want to give the trilogy a try without committing to all three books, but the second definitely feeds right into the third. The romance could not be more removed from the simplistic insta-romances we see everywhere today and that for me are such a turn-off. Wells handles her romance with subtlety and humor and lets her people be complicated and conflicted. But not in an annoying way! Not that kind of conflicted!

There was some political idiocy in the third book, which was painful to read. I mean, don’t we get enough political indiocy in the real world? Thankfully the scenes where we have to endure moronic self-serving politicians working hard to seize defeat from the jaws of victory are quite brief. And I hope you don’t mind if I just say that the worst of the lot gets what’s coming to him. Too bad we can’t deflect nasty curses onto deserving politicians in the real world!

Anyway, I would like to find out sometime whether Wells knew the basic structure of the plot from the beginning. I think it’s likely she didn’t — from comments she made during a panel at WorldCon last year — but The Fall of Ile-Rien reads like she did. It’s a nice coherent plot, all the complicated problems on three different worlds arising from one basic source. The tiny little deus ex moments here and there are actually fitting and believable.

Overall:

This is a great trilogy. It was the first really good story I’ve read on my Kindle, so now I know: yes, I like the experience of reading on a Kindle just fine. It’s comfortable to hold with one hand for long periods, and I’m glad they designed it to be held with either hand, because I didn’t realize this before, but I prefer to hold a book in my left hand.

THE DEATH OF THE NECROMANCER (which was a Nebula nominee) is set in Tremaine’s world, about thirty years before the events in the trilogy. I’m reading that one now. I’m glad I read The Fall of Ile-Rien first; I appreciate Nicolas more having met him first in the trilogy. ELEMENT OF FIRE is also set in this world, and of course that will be next.

Also, I only just noticed, but Martha Wells has various short stories, including four set in the Ile-Rien worlds, up on her website.

Enjoy!

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Well, that rather unseasonable snowstorm cut Comic Con short for me, at least. I didn’t go up today (Sunday), even though I hated to miss my panel. I mean, I actually looked up all this stuff people have said about writing compelling stories and thought about the topic and decided what *I* think is important and came up with examples of authors who I think do it just right and took notes on why their narratives work particularly well . . . and can you tell I am the sort of person who errs on the overpreparedness side? Anyway, I’ll suggest a similar topic to the Archon people and hopefully have a chance to use all this then.

So, snow aside — and let me just say, it’s very pretty even down here, where we’re supposed to get less than half as much as they get in St L, but WHOA is the snow blowing around madly out there. Even the girls don’t want to spend much time outside, though they generally love snow.

ANYWAY, as I was saying, today’s snow aside, I really did have a great time at the Con yesterday! Even though I am not really all that interested in Superman t-shirts or whatever. Did you know there is a company that makes bathrobes like the TARDIS? Really. Check it out:

I didn’t think to take a picture while at the con, so I got this picture here. But it is exactly the same robe, and hey, if you would like to buy it, or no doubt many many other really snazzy robes, you can click through from here and get one, so I trust they won’t mind I borrowed their picture.

I did take a couple pictures, though. These modern phones really are amazing, GPS for getting there and home again, cameras while you’re there, text messaging to keep track of people you’re hanging out when it’s much too loud for phone calls, and you can even look up the programming for the Con on your phone if you’re too lazy to find out where to get a program.

Anyway, here’s my second favorite costume of the many I saw:

I had to ask someone what this was. I gather it is a Predator. Love the costume, that’s for sure! I hear the movie Predator vs Alien is better than one might expect — I ought to rent it sometime.

And check out this one:

This guy, I recognized. I’m sure you’ve seen “Pirates of the Caribbean”? Well, let me tell you, this guy here? He had ALL the mannarisms and the voice and everything. I could have SWORN he was the actual actor from the movie! He was just amazing. I bet you can imagine how long it took this guy to get through the entrance hall? Like, an hour, because just about everyone wanted their picture taken with him, and no wonder.

It was worth going to the Con just to see the costumes, honestly, though even when I was eighteen I hope I would have had better sense than to wear, well, never mind, I’m sure you can imagine.

Also, I did get to hang out with Sharon Shinn and that certainly made the trip worthwhile. We talked books and authors and contracts and all that good stuff. She used to work downtown, it turns out, so I met her at her house and admired her giraffe collection and then drove from there to the convention, with her to make sure I took the right exits and found a good parking location. And the Left Bank Books staff arranged a very attractive display for us all. Theirs was the only table with actual books, so I expect they would very likely have sold out except, you know, snow. I doubt attendence was great today except for people staying at the hotels.

So, next year, if there’s a Comic Con in March, I’m in! We only get snow in March about 1 year in 4, so hopefully next year at this time it will actually be spring at this point, or at least not the dead of winter.

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Or is “normal” an iffy word for these things anyway?

I know Comic Cons are supposed to draw really huge numbers, but the one this weekend in St Louis will be the first I’ve ever attended. Stan Lee is supposed to be there, I expect he’ll be a huge, huge draw. I think there are supposed to be upwards of 40,000 people registered to attend?

I’m going because an Indie bookstore, Left Bank Books, is setting up a booth and arranging for local authors to be there for signings and panels. I normally hate signings, but Left Bank seems to think there will be enough interest from Comic Con attendees to make it worthwhile. I’ll be there on both Saturday and Sunday for signings. And I will definitely enjoy the panel — I’m on one at 11:00 AM Sunday, on compelling writing.

I’m also sure it’ll be fun because I know some of the other people who will be there. Sharon Shinn and I plan to meet and drive to the convention center together, that’ll be fun, it’s been a long time since I really got to talk to her. I love her books — you might have noticed — and I’m sure it’d be okay with her if I just mention that there will be a sequel to TROUBLED WATERS coming out this fall. I’m really pleased about that because TROUBLED WATERS became an instant comfort-read for me when it came out.

And I’m acquainted with Mark Tiedemann and Angie Fox, because they both frequently attend Archon, the St Louis SF convention. Laurell Hamilton will also be there; I’m sure she’ll be the most popular author attending — at least via a Left Bank Books invite — I’ve never met her, though. I used to like her Anita Blake series, but I admit I quit reading that series about twelve books ago.

Anyway — looks a fun, busy, and extremely crowded weekend. 40,000 attendees! I am definitely nervous about the parking situation.

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First off, I have to admit, I’ve been pullllled into my Kindle and I’m having a hard time emerging. Not by the SHIVER trilogy — I am amazed that is by Maggie Stiefvater: really? I guess this YA paranormal romance trilogy is her debut effort, like, the one that got published before she learned to do it right? No offense to anybody who is in love with that trilogy; I don’t think I was in the mood for Obsessive Teen Romance. But the worldbuilding and stuff doesn’t make sense. I can hardly believe I’m complaining about the worldbuilding in a Stiefvater story, but there you go.

No, it’s not SHIVER. The series I’ve been pulled into is the Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy by Martha Wells. Love it! More about it later, when I have finished the third book. I’m about 20% of the way through the second book now. I am SO glad I discovered Wells. Fabulous author.

Obviously my own work is on hold. I don’t feel bad about that, April is going to be crazy-busy with gardening stuff, so don’t want to get too sucked in to writing just at the moment. I did write 36 pp over spring break, bringing the total up to 98 pp, or 31,000 words. That would mean I was about a quarter to a third done if I weren’t likely to overwrite by 100 pages, which I’ve done twice, so it could certainly happen. On the other hand, I didn’t have that problem with BLACK DOG, so maybe that’s a good sign for its sequel.

I’m halfway through Chapter Four, and I actually do know what’s going to happen in the second half of the chapter, so it will be pretty easy to pick up again when I get to it. I rather think that may not be till early June, though you never know. I’ll be aiming to get it finished and through a first revision and off to my agent by the time classes start in mid-August.

Aaand — I can hardly stop without the most important update!

I turned the whelping box upside down yesterday! Now it is a den. The baby does spend a lot of time tucked away in her nice warm dark den, but as you see, she also comes out to see the wider world — and collapses into a restorative sleep after toddling around for about ten minutes. She is making definite play gestures toward her mom and her toys. Next week she will be hitting the UltraCute stage and starting to play with the other dogs. My Adora, who has had puppies of her own, can be trusted to play gently with a puppy — the teenagers will take more supervision!

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Kate Elliott has an interesting post up today, on readers spotting patterns in a writer’s work — often patterns that are really there, but that the writer herself hasn’t recognized.

Kate says: “Reader A may pick up on a clever allusion that I intended while Reader B may draw a comparison or see thematic content that never once occurred to me as I was writing.”

This is so true! Except I don’t know how often I intend clever allusions. Sometimes, yes. But a lot of the time, clever things just appear, and I don’t notice them until a reader points them out to me. Then I’m like, “Oh, yes, I did that on purpose, knew it all the time,” but really, if I knew it, it was only with the back part of my brain.

Like in LORD OF THE CHANGING WINDS, after Kes first goes off with Kairaithin? She never goes home again. That first decision point carried consequences that were too big and overwhelming for anything to ever let her take it back. But did I notice that when I was writing the book? Nope, not until my brother, who read the rough draft, commented about it. And after he pointed it out, I may very sure not to mess it up with any later revision, too.

Anyway, later, Kate adds, “If a reader reads along the career of a writer then certain patterns, certain ways of approaching the creative vision, certain familiar themes or narrative quirks or a particular way of using voice may emerge as characteristic of that writer’s work. Certain subjects or questions or concerns or fixations or narrative structures or prose styles may come up in more than one project.” And then she comments about the idea that writers may put the same protagonist in more than one story.

And thinking about it, I can certainly think of very obvious examples of that kind of thing. Like, I quit reading Piers Anthony because all his protogonists were exactly the samer person, and once I noticed that it really bothered me. Or did anybody else ever read a lot of Jack Chalker and notice his fixation on mind control and magical brainwashing? And on forcibly changing people’s bodies, too, not just their minds. It actually gets pretty disturbing if you read, say, the Nathan Brazil series and then the Flux and Anchor series in succession.

I’m curious about the same question that Kate poses, too: Any patterns jump out at you when you think of any writer’s whole body of work?

Anyway, I haven’t read anything by Kate Elliott since the Jaran series, where frankly I thought the earlier books were great and then to me it seemed like the plot kind of got too baroque and spun off too many subplots and I either quit reading before the series really concluded, or else it never did actually conclude as such, I don’t remember. But I’ve heard lots of great things about the COLD MAGIC series, which I’m looking forward to reading once the third book is out.

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