Just What The Hell Is Wrong With Us?

That's a question Richard K Morgan asked a while back in a rather heated article about backbiting factionalism in Sci-Fi and Fantasy. If you've been reading my posts for a while you've heard me say lovely things about my fellow spec-fic writers. Things are good. I like these people. They like me, it seems. But that may be a new arrival's rosy-eyed view of things.

If you've visited here in the past you may also know that I respect Mr. Morgan as a writer. I dig what he does. I'm interested in what he has to say, and I'm aware that I'll be thinking about his complaints in this essay often as I navigate my upcoming sci-fi/fantasy events (ReaderCon in July and Denvention in August).

Anyway, here's the post if you're interested. Let me know what you think...

Newly Inspired Liar

Okay, tomorrow we'll do the drawing for that copy of the UK edition of Acacia. I meant to do it today, but my kids came up with a rather elaborate way of choosing the winner this time. They spent a while practicing and by the end of that they were too tired to actually do the drawing. So, tomorrow it must be.

I did have this other thought, though, that just came to me...

It was prompted by two things. One, I heard an author interview recently that I thought was really good. Thing is, I didn't believe very much of the what the author was saying. Complete rubbish, but exactly the type of rubbish that listeners want to hear. Gets chuckles. Feeds authorial myths... It was really well done, and it made me reconsider my tendency to tell the truth when I do interviews. My approach has been kinda lame: I get asked a question; I answer honestly, even if the honest answer is dead boring. That's where I've been going wrong. I've got to lie more! Why didn't I see this sooner?

Quite a revelation this, and especially timely as (point # two) I just got a list of questions from a high school student preparing a paper. Heehee...

A Little About WisCon

Actually, the thing I wanted to mention most about WisCon is that I reconnected with some people and met some others - authors in particular - that I'm thrilled about. I'll mention that in another post.

I was a little thrown off that course, though, because I clicked over to see if the Angry Black Woman had posted about it. I knew she would. I knew she was there, and I had the pleasure of hanging out with her on a couple of occasions. She's been a great advocate for Acacia - even as she's always pushing me to become more properly a feminist writer. Thing is, what I found at her blog was a post called "What Rachel Moss Did". It's about another blogger that attending the con and chose to post - very negatively - about the event, the panels, and about many of the people that went to it. Yikes. You can check out ABW's post here, which references the original in depth. Claire Light has also written about it at her blog, SeeLight.

I don't even know where to start with addressing that and the response it's going to get in the days to come. My inclination regarding the scene at WisCon is to not say too much, not judge too harshly, and certainly not to belittle. It is a crowd unlike that at any other con. Many of the people that choose to go to WisCon do so because they're connecting with a network of people that share a complex variety of perspectives - and we're not talking mainstream perspectives. There were, in fact, many panels and many discourses going on that I really couldn't add to. I heard lots of things said that I didn't particularly agree with. And I heard lots of things that I just couldn't get purchase on. And I heard lots of things that added new insights to other people's perspectives. Although some of the discussions were hostile to a lot of things that I am - a heterosexual male that does have a lot of privileges - I never felt that I wasn't welcome. Just the contrary, many of the groups so passionate about the difficulties facing them do want allies. They just want many of those allies to be willing to shut up and listen a bit, because privilege does not equal wisdom.

I dig that, and instead of responding with public approval or disapproval, humor or malice or even complete praise I'm going to let some of it sink in. No doubt I'm better off for having gone to WisCon. I may not have sold a ton of books, but I'm a little less ignorant about a lot of things. That's what I'm taking away from it.

Salman Rushdie

You know, I bought The Satanic Verses back in the late 80's when it came out. Never read it, but there was a poster campaign at Johns Hopkins - where I was taking some classes - and it seemed to have a high cool factor. Don't know why I never read it, though. Nor am I quite sure why I haven't read him since then, either. I think I thought of him as kinda cranky or something, and got jealous that he hung out with U2 and dated models...

But that might have just changed. I heard a rather engaging interview with him last night on NPR. He was talking about his new novel, The Enchantress of Florence. He was light and witty and smart, and generally an old pro at the interview thing. He managed in eight minutes to convince me to give him and this new book a try. I may do that.

Here's the interview.

River Maids!

So I'm back from WisCon and should have a ton of stuff to say about it. I do have a few things, but I've also arrived back to a household half packed for a move. So there's been a good deal of stuff to handle today. I'll soon say a bit son about some of the folks I met and/or got to know better at WisCon, but for tonight let me just mention that I came home to a conundrum...

Not for the first time, I found a piece of paper (it's my current rental lease, actually) with the words RIVER MAIDS! scrawled across the bottom. I know... Yes, KNOW that I wrote those two words during a fit of inspiration. I know that said River Maids have some role, either in Acacia's story in or other epics to come. I know that I imagined them in some very specific manner, enough so that I wrote the words in BIGGISH letters. BUT... I can't for the life of me remember what the hell they are/were/could be.

Any ideas? Suggestions...

Some Questions From Vincent...

I recently got a nice letter from an aspiring writer named Vincent. He had kind things to say about my work, and was excited to have finished his own novel recently - one that I believe is in the multi-cultural fantasy vein. He had some questions about getting published, including wondering what I thought about self-publishing.

Here's a bit of what I said...

Congrats on finishing a novel! No matter what happens to it that's a great accomplishment. Most writers don't make it that far, so you have reason to be proud. As for publishing advice... Well, I recommend doing things the old fashioned way. Personally, I wouldn't choose self-publishing without first having looked into the traditional agent and publisher route. Some books can certainly work in self-publication, but a multi-ethnic fantasy might be a tough sell.

Frankly, if your material is good, I think you'll find the genre open to it and eager for new writers. Having said that, it's still hard to break in, and you should expect some rejections and dismissals along the way. Just for context, Frank Herbert had a hard time getting anyone to publish Dune. It was rejected by 23 publishers! It's now sold well over 12 million copies... That's unusual - and it's a terrific book, but I'm just mentioning that rejection is always part of this game. I do think you should seek out professionals first and for a while, even if it means some discouraging times. The fact is that mainstream publishers can get your book to an audience via many avenues. They can also help make sure you're delivering the strongest book possible. That's not something that family and friends can always do for you.

So I suggest getting a copy of the Writer's Market. They're available at most major bookstores or through Amazon. There may even be some specially for fantasy/sci-fi. Start with agents, looking up different agencies to see who represents material at all like yours. Also, go look at authors you like and check the acknowledgments. A lot of times they'll thank their agent, so you can figure out who represents them. And then, when you have some likely candidates, send them submissions in whatever format they ask for - some will just want a letter to start with, some might want a sample, some might want the entire book. Make sure you follow their guidelines. If you don't they may loose interest before they've even looked at your work seriously. If you sign with a good agent they'll be able to take your novel in to publishers with a professional approach, likely speaking to editors they know and have worked with. They'll also be there to look after your interests - because your interests and theirs will overlap...

And I'll mention that - while I'm very happy for my career to be where it is now, I also began just as unpublished as anybody else. I scanned the Writer's Market. I wrote those letters. I got those rejections in the mail. It wasn't easy, but it's not supposed to be. That's why it's so wonderful when you finally break through and get that acceptance letter. I hope that happens for you!

And I do. I also remember well the hunger of those lean times, sending my work out into the world, checking the mail, checking the mail, checking the mail... and more often than not finding polite rejections in it. (Insert Sad Face Here.) Think I've got it made so that past rejection stuff must be old history?... Well, it is, and yet it lives with me still. I've got the documents to prove it. Take a look.

Here, for example, is my first rejection from an agent...


Funny thing about this one is that some ten years later - after I'd published three novels and been asked to judge the Pen/Faulkner Awards - I happened to be at an award ceremony function with this self-same agent. I mentioned that I'd submitted to him, which he hadn't recalled. We both laughed. So it goes. I was pleased to be able to say that he'd missed an opportunity, and he was gracious enough to concede the point.

Now, was he mistaken in not representing that novel? Well, no. I did get an agent for it soon after (the wonderful Marie Brown), but it's not a novel that ever sold. I had to write two more before that happened. Instead, that novel began to wrack up rejection notices. Some examples...


Note that passing months. These are just representative, mind you. Each month contained several more just like them...


While I was living in the UK, I even tried repackage some of my material as British and send it to British publishers. I managed to sell a few short stories over there, but the book publishers generally came back with variations of this...


So it goes. If I can end all this rejection stuff on another positive note, however... The same Transworld that rejected me in 1997 came on board several years later. They published Pride of Carthage, are about to publish Acacia, and are set to publish the sequel as well. Were they wrong for not grabbing my earlier novel? Not a chance. It might have felt that way to me at the time, but I'm thankful that this process - filled with rejection for several years - pushed me to write bigger and better. Seems to me that's part of what the process is about...

1,000 True Fans?

A friend on my Forum mentioned this post to me (which I think he saw because of a Scalzi connection). It's on the 1,000 True Fans Theory - Kevin Kelly - The Technium.

So, 1,000, huh? Is that daunting or encouraging? Whadda ya think?

Some Questions from Kenneth...

From time to time I receive emails from people kind enough to say nice things about my work. I always appreciate that. (Thank you.) I also occasionally get questions from aspiring writers. I've tended to answer them directly, but I just got to thinking that I could also do so here, in a more general way. So, this time I'll be answering a few questions from my new friend, Kenneth. Read on if you're interested!

Kenneth asked...

Do you set for yourself daily writing goals of a certain number of pages or word count?

Uh... Kinda. Or perhaps the answer is "ideally, yes". There was a time - in grad school, writing Gabriel's Story and... well, all my novels up until the one I'm currently working on - that I did set specific word count goals. In the early days things were lean and I really had to get something published, so I wrote about two thousand words a day. Sometimes more, but usually at least that much and on a five-day work week. That slipped a little bit when writing Pride of Carthage, maybe becoming more of a fifteen hundred word goal. That's because of family responsibilities, etc.

Either count is pretty good, I think. And both quickly add up to book length manuscripts. I do recommend such goals. You don't have to always meet them, and you may not always write your best stuff while trying to. But I do find that discipline and tenacity pays off. I believe the process helps create moments of inspiration, so the more time you spend in it the better.

Having said that... I'm afraid I don't set the same sort of limits at the moment. Right now, I get done what I can when I can. In addition to my family, a lot of my time is taken up with my teaching responsibilities. I may only be in class a few hours a week, but it seems like there are always stories to be read, assignments to be graded, applications to read, letters to write, etc. It's ironic that at the same time my books are reaching more readers than ever before I'm also busier with non-writing responsibilities than ever before. I might balance things out differently in the future, but that's how it is now. I still have tenacity, and some discipline. It's just shaped a little differently now. In this, I'm no different from anybody else trying to make a writing life work.

What advice would you give to choosing an MFA program?

I guess I would say try to consider as many aspects of the program as you can. Don't just focus in on one thing. For example, a program with a great reputation might look attractive, but that doesn't mean it'll be the place where each individual will learn best. A famous writer may attract you, but just because the person is famous doesn't mean they'll make a good teacher for you.

I'd also say do the research to find out who the faculty members really are, what they've written and what they seem to be like as people/teachers. There are some prominent programs out there that just aren't going to be a fit for some writers because of a whole host of personality, style, theory issues. So don't waste your time applying to programs that don't like or support the type of writing you do. I've read applications to several programs, and it does stand out when an applicant can sincerely express an interest with working with a particular person in the program.

And after all that... take the best deal you can get. Fellowship? Jump on it. Scholarship? Same. If you can get financial aid great. If you can get a TA-ship that's terrific, too. The MFA experience is always going to be somewhat hit or miss, so I can't really recommend that anybody turn down an offer of support from one program just because they got accepted - with no perks - to another, more prominent program.

Are there common mistakes you notice in your students work or tips that you give your students?

You kidding? There are tons of common mistakes! I won't even try to answer this thoroughly. I'll just answer with the first couple of things that come to mind...

I think it's a mistake not to seek out readers and be open to the criticism they offer you. Any new writer is going to make mistakes. (Veterans do too.) Any story is going to have areas that readers might want more or less from. I am not saying to do everything thing you're told. Definitely not. Plenty of times (and for many reasons) criticism can be off-base, unfounded, malicious, or just silly. The point is as writers we need to be capable of taking it all on board, considering it, and then discarding or using what you will. You do it as student writers; you do that when working with an agent or editor; you do it when being reviewed by strangers both professional and not. It's something you should get used to early, I think. I'm always a little disappointed when I see writers wilt (or flare) in the face of criticism. Neither need happen.

Oh, and learn how to use quotation marks, attributives! Look, I'm not great with the grammar myself, but I have managed to get a reasonable working knowledge of it and/or know how to write clearly when working outside the rules. There are times, though - even at the graduate level - that I'm amazed to find aspiring writers don't know some basic things like how to attach a bit of dialog to the character that's speaking it. Such things really detract from the reading experience.

Part of why they do so, I think, is because mistakes like that suggest that the work I'm spending my time reading may just be the work of somebody who isn't truly a reader. You know what I mean? If you've read hundreds (thousands) of stories and novels - as you should if you want to be writer - you should know how to write down a conversation between two characters with reasonable grammar. You should have absorbed it over the years. When I see early signs that somebody hasn't done that I start to wonder about their seriousness as writers. I also start to wonder how much of my time I should be giving them...

And, with that mention of time, I'll conclude. I'm off to bed. Need the rest, as I plan to get up and write a smashing scene tomorrow...

Orphaned Works Madness?

Recently, a student in my MFA program posted a link to our listserve concerning "Orphaned Works" legislation that's allegedly before Congress. The article she linked to was at Animation World Magazine, called "Mind Your Business: You Will Lose All The Rights to Your Own Art" by Mark Simon. I clicked over and read it, but quickly felt my suspicions rising...

The stuff he was claiming was about to happen was so absurd I couldn't imagine anyone reasonably thinking such legislation could become law. There's also the fact that he's so intent on scaring people, never states basic information like the Bill # and uses CAPS SO THAT YOU KNOW HE'S SERIOUS! I didn't get through the whole thing, but just thought it was strange. Totally frightening if it was true, but...

Fortunately, another student mentioned a follow up post, "Six Misconceptions About Orphaned Works", by Meredith L. Patterson on Radio Free Meredith. Now this one made some sense. She's a lucid writer that seems to stick to the details more than the hyperbole. I found it interesting, and reasonably comforting, actually. (Like, for example, this legislation doesn't really seem to be before Congress at the moment, much less in imminent danger of passing.) Clearly, this copyright stuff is an issue that artists have to be concerned about, but not in the frantic way that Mr. Simon was encouraging.

Anyway, poking through these articles and the comments managed to swallow an hour or so of my time. Just thought I'd share that with you...

Creating History?

I'm always a little surprised when I get comments on posts that are several years old. I guess I shouldn't be, though. The posts live on, and they can be discovered by anybody at anytime. This is never more true in my case than with anything to do with Hannibal and Pride of Carthage. Way back when, I posted About Hannibal's Race. It's sort of ancient history to me (pun intended, kinda), but I just had an interesting exchange. It started like this...

Anonymous said...

Well, I dont think he was black, probably some Semitic type. We shouldnt forget that his mother was an Iberian noble and his wife too, so I dont think that he looked that much different from them. But mingling of Barca family with some sub-saharan Africans is also possible...

Well, pretty strange arguing about the identity of man so long dead :)

I slightly shortened that, but didn't change any of the substance. I responded thusly...

Hello Anonymous,

(This thread has more "anonymous" posters than any other thread.)

Personally, I'm not arguing with anyone. I agree that it's ancient history, and no matter how hard we try to believe absolutes we're not going to be right about it. The truth - whatever it really was - is long gone.

I don't recall coming across anything that said Hannibal's mother was Iberian. If I had I would've been happy to include that, but I mostly recall his mother being a blank. Since he was born in Carthage and since his father had not yet headed for Spain I thought it reasonable that Hamilcar's wife be North African.

Hannibal's wife, on the other hand, was said to have been Iberian. That's exactly what she is in my novel. She's an important character in the book, really, with her own scenes.

I've said it before - and people that have read my book know it to be true - but part of what I love about the Punic Wars is the multi-ethnic/polyglot character of it. It included so many peoples, and so much crossing of cultural boundaries. I think our perceptions of race have very little to do with that ancient reality.

That said, I'm living now, so our hangups can't entirely be ignored...

Anonymous came back promptly with...

Hi, its me again. Wow, now I noticed you are a well known writer, interesting.

So first I would like to take back claim that Didobal was Iberian. I did read on wiki and few forums that she was a daughter of Iberian king, but I wasnt able to find any quotation of the source. Except of that that name sound quite Phoenician - I think Dido was founder of Carthage, right? What did you use as a source for Hamilcars biography?

So its pretty hard to tell how he really looked like, probably some mix.

I have to admit being surprised that anyone reading my blog doesn't know I'm a writer, but I guess he could come across that post in purely Hannibal terms. So I get it. There was something in that response that I didn't get, though. Here's how I explained it to him...

I was struck by your use of Didobal's name. I may be wrong about this - and if you can find any documentation of it let me know - but as far as I can remember I MADE THAT NAME UP!

There was always a little bit of info on Hasdrubal in any bio of Hannibal, but not much. I don't recall ever reading an account of who Hannibal's mother had been, other than a vague mention that the Barcas were an established aristocratic Carthaginian family. When I did have names I'd use them, even if - as in the case of Hannibal's sister Sapanibal - they were only mentioned once. But this mother figure was a blank. I combined the "bal" structure at the end of so many Carthaginian names with Dido, but... that's my authorial license at play also. Dido is the name given to Carthage's mythical founder by Romans - as in the Aeneid. In Carthaginian lore the same character is call Elissa. In my book I use Elissa as the founding queen, but as a bit of play with the fact that so much Carthaginian history came to us via Roman sources I combined their version with a Carthaginian name and come up with Didobal. If I got that name from any other source I don't recall doing so. I'm pretty sure the name is mine.

I just Googled the name and found mostly references to my own work/comments. I didn't see any mention of that name on Wikipedia. I did see that a person on some forum about Hannibal's race mentioned Didobal and that she was Iberian, and that amuses me greatly. In my novel Didobal is not Iberian. But I also don't think Didobal exists anywhere but within my fictional pages. Whomever that person was has some garbled version of this stuff - a version that includes a fictional character that wasn't even depicted in the way he thinks!

Classic.

That discussion board that Anonymous must have come across is HERE. I'll quote the relevant portion. Somebody wrote:

Hannibal was 25% phoenicians (caucasian race, not black) and 75% iberian (ancient spaniard). His father was the great general Hamilcar Barca (50% phoenician 50% iberian). HAnnibal's mother was Didobal, a iberian. Hannibal's wife was too iberian (Himilce).

That's it. No mention of where he got this two thousand year old info. It's unforunate that Hannibal's wife was "too iberian". (When can you ever be too Iberian, I wanna know? But anyway...) What can I say in the face of such numeric certainty?...

I haven't heard back from Anonymous yet, but I was amused enough by this to post about it. On one hand, I'm... well, "amused" is the word, by the fact that a name of a fictional character of mine could become someone's staunch argument about an historical personage, and further amused that the character in question has already gone through "historical" morphing. I'm not in the least surprised at this because the people that have the strongest opinions on Hannibal often seem to know the least about him. Strange, that...

On the other hand, should I be troubled? Am I putting false information out in the world? Need I track down future Didobal references and set the record straight? Or will I soon find that she's worked her way into historical books? I should do a search for Imco Vaca. Tusselo. Aradna... Who knows what I'll find about these "historical" figures?

Ah, the perils - and the power - of the historical novelist...

100+ Amazon Reviews, a Look at the Numbers...

I had this idea a while back that it would be incredible when I reached 100 reader reviews on Amazon.com. I don't mean 100 reviews for a particular book (although that's going to be cool, too). I just mean when the total number of reviews for my four books added up to a century. I know, those reviews can be joy. They can be pain. They can be gushing missives from friends or hatchet jobs by enemies... But no matter what, as an author, it's hard not to keep an eye on them...

Well, I wasn't paying attention when the number turned, but it has! Actually, I only noticed when I was at 106 reviews. 106! Do you realize that there was once a time I had exactly 0 Amazon reader reviews? Crazy.

Okay, but how's the math look? Have things gone well? Positives above the negatives? Let's take a look...

For Acacia, it looks like this: (34 total)
20 Five Star
10 Four Star
0 Three Star
3 Two Star
1 One Star

For Pride of Carthage, it looks like this: (40 total)
18 Five Star
9 Four Star
5 Three Star
5 Two Star
3 One Star

For Walk Through Darkness, it looks like this: (14 total)
10 Five Star
4 Four Star
0 Three Star
0 Two Star
0 One Star

For Gabriel's Story, it looks like this: (18 total)
16 Five Star
1 Four Star
0 Three Star
1 Two Star
0 One Star

Adding those all up by Star rating: (106 total)

64 Five Star
24 Four Star
5 Three Star
9 Two Star
4 One Star

So that's the way the numbers fall. I'm happy with that. The stinker reviews are always disappointing, but they're also a sign that the books are getting read by a wider range of people - and by more people, which is important. I'm not saying I'd encourage you to go and write me a one starred "I don't like this book cause it sucks!" review, but there's a place for them...

Wait... What am I doing? It didn't really take me that long to put this post together, but still it's been 26 minutes of my life that I won't have back again to write meaningful fiction! Why didn't you stop me? My apologies. Man, Resistance can be devious. It can even get me doing math. Enough!

I'm going to write now...

Thanks for Those Thoughts

To folks that responded to my Saturday evening question, thank you. Thoughts and opinions noted and filed away, now I'll go off to ruminate. More later...

Undiluted Scum?

I'm reading a book just now. I like it. It's by an author I've been interested in for awhile, but never read before. I'm sure I'll post something about this book (as it combines two fields that I love) in the near future, but I'm not done with it yet.

I bring it up because I've just had a reader experience with it. By that I mean I was emotionally and viscerally engaged as a reader should be, but in a way that I'm often not as a writer. Often I'm watching what and how other writers do what they do, which can be quite different than reading for the pure entertained experience of a reader. Anyway, yesterday some developments in this book got me, like hooked me, pulled my emotional guts out, pissed me off, made me want to flip back a few pages and rewrite. NOT because I didn't think what happened was perfect for the story at hand, but because I just wished it wasn't so. (Alright, I know, some people may have had the same experience with my books. A bit of my own medicine, I guess...)

But what actually interested me was that these unfortunate events unfolded because of a slimy bastard of a character, a weasel, a reprobate, a bit of scum that manages to inflict damage on a loved character while also stupidly putting many more in danger. Ach! But, but... it makes sense. Something like this happening was in the making for several hundred pages...

So, my thing is this. I don't know that in Acacia I had anybody that was evil for purely selfish, puerile or base reasons. Did I? Hanish can arrange your writhing demise. Maeander is a deadly bastard. The Numrek kick ass. Rialus might have done so, if he had the guts. The backstabbing and politically jockeying is considerable... but everyone has an objective - grievance - history - motivating factor that explains the things they do. They may be murderous, but they mostly do it for the betterment of someone other than themselves. Right?

This makes me wonder if I've had enough scumbags in play? Don't you love to hate a character? In a way I think I have more scumbags in my earlier novels than were at play in Acacia: Marshal and Caleb in Gabriel's Story, Humboldt in Walk Through Darkness, Monomachus in Pride of Carthage. (I've likely missed some...)

Maybe The Other Lands needs more undiluted scum. What do you think?

About the Agents

A few people have emailed me privately to ask about how I got my agent. After answering a few times it occurred to me I could post about it here, and maybe answer the question for a few other folks that never got around the asking me about it. I am very happy with my agent, and happy to acknowledge the somewhat rocky road that led to that state of bliss...

I got my first agent (yes, this story features more than one) in the mid-90's, while I was a grad student. I attended a Washington Writer's Conference. There was a panel of agents, which I listened to with keen interest. After the panel, there was a session where you could meet the agents. I went up to two of them, presented myself, talked about my work, and - when they made polite noises of interest - I pulled out copies of my first novel manuscript. Both of them went home with it. One of them turned me down. One of the asked to sign me. So Marie Brown became my first agent.

Marie is a lovely person, with a long history as an agent. In particular, she specializes in work by African-Americans. That was appropriate for me because I am an African American and my first novel, Cicada, was a contemporary novel about an African-American family. Under Marie's wing I got a warm introduction to... well, to rejection letters. Yep. Rejection letters. Lots of them. Usually polite, but always rejections. I wrote a second novel, August Fury, that Marie also kinda represented. It was also contemporary and African-American, and likewise it never got anywhere. Didn't even make it as far as racking up rejection letters, really.

So... Time passes. I revise. I get rejected. I revise some more, get rejected some more. So it goes. By the way, I also lived and loved through all this. I paddled a lot of whitewater as a kayaker and raft guide, and I traveled in Latin America, the Caribbean, and in Europe. Met my wife in Scotland, got married, got pregnant... So life went on, as did the rejections.

Eventually, though, the leads Marie was working dried up. We went our separate ways. Time to give up? Nah, forget about it! I was a writer; the world just didn't know it yet! I began to work on an entirely new novel. What I ended up with was Gabriel's Story. I was still writing about black families, but this time I set it in the Old West, and shot it through with a good bit of drama, violence, movement. I was able to send it directly to a young editor at Doubleday, Debbie Cowell, who had liked my earlier novels. Actually, she had worked for Marie before moving to Doubleday, so she'd been an advocate for a few years already.

Anyway, I sent it straight to her. I knew she liked it, but she was going to have to convince the powers that be at Doubleday to agree - and they'd already turned down my earlier efforts more than once.

While they deliberated, Debbie suggested I look into getting a new agent. She put me in touch with one, actually, a guy that had placed a very, very (I mean very) successful book with Doubleday. (I'm not gonna say who, by the way, but believe me...) They had a great relationship, and they were making loads of money. I was thrilled. This is awesome, right? Here I'm getting an intro to a successful agent, and it's coming from a prospective publisher that has a great history with that agency. This guy calls me, chats, sounds great, and he says he'll read the book and get back to me.

Time passes. Deliberation continues. Agent-guy doesn't call. Eventually, I called him. What's up? Doubleday may make an offer any day now. Are you going to represent the novel if/when they do? Agent-guy says... "Ah, well... No. I'm got going to. I've thought about, and I see some problems with the novel that aren't easily fixable. I'm not confident Doubleday is going to buy it, and if they don't I'm not sure who would. So, sorry, but no."

Talk about ways to make a guy miserable. In the front of mind I thought his explanation of what wasn't working in the book was vague and silly and kind of a load of crap, but still, what if he was right? What if he knew stuff I didn't? What if Doubleday was going to say no yet again, and what if even my third finished novel wasn't going to see the light of day? What if I was actually going to have to keep my job selling Brit-pop at the Virgin Megastore? I did have a month old baby to support...

Okay, I won't wallow. Fast forward to the next week. Debbie calls me, Doubleday has finally had that big acquisitions meeting. They want to buy my book! (One week it's all misery; next week it's all joy - just like that.) Actually, they want to buy it and my next book. They lay down an offer, the terms, the money involved, and I - giddy, of course - agree to everything. (Not, by the way, a strategy I suggest.) Once that's done, then Doubleday suggests that I really might want to get an agent now.

They had a think on it, and connected me with Sloan Harris at International Creative Management. I couldn't have known it at the time, but Sloan was (and is) a guy on his way up. He's co-head of publications for ICM now, as described in this Variety Article. (Not bad for a guy that started in their mail room.) All I knew was that he read my book fast and called me with all the right kind of enthusiasm. He talked about the many things yet to come, and talked about the things I should think about long term. I suppose I could have looked into others, but I was sold. I knew of ICM as the agency of Cormac McCarthy and Toni Morrison and many more. If ICM is good enough for them... I signed on the dotted line again, and I've never regretted it.

You might ask, "Why get an agent when you'd already sold the book?" Answer: every reason in the world. Just selling a book - although a huge step - is only the beginning. It's like qualifying for the race, making the team, entering the game, etc. But there's so much to do thereafter that I can't imagine trying to navigate it all without a professional advocate.

ICM has a website, but before you rush off to contact them you should know that there's not much there other than a few addresses and a few contact emails. Not much. Nothing saying "Submit Here" or "Give Us A Call"! ICM is not really that type of company. While I'm talking them up, I'm not suggesting you start packing up your manuscript and call FedEx. Could I have landed Mr. Harris with a query letter before getting the offer? Nope. Not a chance. Actually, about the most detailed bit of information they have on the website is their "Unsolicited Submissions Policy". That goes as follows:

ICM has a policy that neither it nor any of its agents or other employees shall accept or consider any unsolicited material, ideas or suggestions of any nature whatsoever ("Unsolicited Materials"). Accordingly, you may not use this website or information obtained there from to submit Unsolicited Materials to ICM via any means (including, without limitation, via mail, fax or e-mail). Should you nevertheless contravene this express prohibition by sending Unsolicited Materials to ICM, please be advised that the Unsolicited Materials will not be considered by anyone at ICM, and if possible they will be returned to you with no copies kept. Unsolicited Materials will not be forwarded to or discussed with any third parties.

Ouch. That's not very friendly. What's up with these people? Well, what's up, I'd say, is that ICM is a very, very established agency. They have such an incredible client list that they won't even tell you who is on it. Snobby? Maybe, but I prefer to think that they've reached a position in the industry where they can be very selective. They just got it like that. They can find the clients they need through recommendations from existing clients, other agents, editors, etc. I couldn't have written to Sloan on my own, but with the Editor and Chief of Doubleday there to connect us, Sloan jumped on board with all the professional enthusiasm I could have asked for. I'm very pleased to have this particular agent and this giant company to look out for me, but I also know many authors that love being with smaller agencies. Both can advocate for you wonderfully - if the fit is right.

That's about my only piece of agent hunting advice - know that the fit really needs to be right, and know that that doesn't always happen quickly. My first agent might have succeeded with those early books, but if she had you might not be reading my blog now. I might not be here in the capacity that I am, or she might not have been the right fit as my interests diversified. And if that other unnamed agent had signed me just because of Doubleday's recommendation (without really believing in the book), what would it mean to be with a guy that didn't personally feel the material was publishable? Naw, I like the way things worked out, and can see now that the ups and downs were all formative in the right ways.

Oh, one last thing... Gabriel's Story was a bit more than just a publishable novel. Right from the start the reviews for it were great (three stars before publication, for example). It ended up being a NY Times Notable Book, on other best of the year lists, and won several national awards. It's been in film development for several years now, and just might make it to the big screen one day. It was a success in many ways. And it was the introduction of a writer that's done pretty well since...

So why didn't that agent see the potential? He claimed later - as I understand it - that he hadn't actually read the book. One of his readers did. It was that person that wasn't impressed. Maybe that's true. If so it was a mistake. Does this agent know that? Sure, he does. I happen to know that somebody made sure he got sent a copy of every positive review I received for a while thereafter...

James McBride

Do you know James McBride, the author of The Color of Water and Miracle at St Anna? The guy has sold a lot of books, so there's a good chance you have heard of him. And there's a good chance you'll be hearing more about him soon. Spike Lee is filming Miracle as St Anna, with an impressive cast signed on. Could be very interesting.

And he's got a new novel coming out this month, Song Yet Sung and I see it's already getting some great pre-publication attention. Here's what Publishers Weekly said about it in a starred review, for example:

Escaped slaves, free blacks, slave-catchers and plantation owners weave a tangled web of intrigue and adventure in bestselling memoirist (The Color of Water) McBride's intricately constructed and impressive second novel, set in pre–Civil War Maryland. Liz Spocott, a beautiful young runaway slave, suffers a nasty head wound just before being nabbed by a posse of slave catchers. She falls into a coma, and, when she awakes, she can see the future—from the near-future to Martin Luther King to hip-hop—in her dreams. Liz's visions help her and her fellow slaves escape, but soon there are new dangers on her trail: Patty Cannon and her brutal gang of slave catchers, and a competing slave catcher, nicknamed The Gimp, who has a surprising streak of morality. Liz has some friends, including an older woman who teaches her The Code that guides runaways; a handsome young slave; and a wild inhabitant of the woods and swamps. Kidnappings, gunfights and chases ensue as Liz drifts in and out of her visions, which serve as a thoughtful meditation on the nature of freedom and offer sharp social commentary on contemporary America. McBride hasn't lost his touch: he nails the horrors of slavery as well as he does the power of hope and redemption.

Now, my fantasy readers may not immediately see how that's just up my ally, but it is. My second novel, Walk Through Darkness was about... well, about a runaway slave from Maryland and the tracker in pursuit of him. Familiar territory. So I'm very interested.

Actually, I'm also involved! The Washington Post asked me to review Song Yet Sung. I did, and the review came out today. It's here if you're interested.

Awards, ahhh, awards...

They're strange things, aren't they? They're flawed in so many ways. They invariably leave out wonderful books and authors. They can be lopsided, myopic, elitist. (This coming from somebody who has judged the Pen/Faulkner and Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards, by the way - both wonderful experiences - but you should hear some of the stories I heard along the way...) Do the judges read all the books? Do the masses pick more worthy winners than small cabals? Did my publisher even submit my book?...

An author can get a little tied up in knots as the big day approaches. This is made even worse because you don't want to look like you care, like you realize the announcement is coming, like you've given it a bit of thought... "Oh, those were announced, were they? I hadn't noticed..."

But don't be fooled. As flawed as the award process is in all its variations authors want them, need them, cherish them... They can jump start careers, sell books, win friends and enemies in high places... That, you see, is why I put the widget to the John W Campbell Award over on the sidebar here. It'll count down the nomination voting days, least anyone forget.

The Campbell is a wonderful award for new science fiction and fantasy writers. It's not a Hugo, but it's voted for in a similar manner and presented at Worldcon, which is in Denver this summer. It's got a wonderful history of predicting some major authors, think Stephen R Donaldson, Orson Scott Card, Karen Joy Fowler, Mary Doria Russell, Nalo Hopkinson, John Scalzi, just to name a few.

Science Fiction Awards Watch has a wee post up - Campbell Recommendations - which mentions me as one of the "high-profile" authors in contention. That's nice, but up until a few weeks ago I wasn't up on the Writertopia site that has info on the award. I had to contact them to ask if I was, in fact, eligible. Guess what? I am! Those little historical novels don't count in this equation. As far as fantasy goes I'm a newbie, and proud of it. Now I'm on the site!

So, I'll own up. I'll be paying close attention. I'd love to be in the running. I'd be over the moon, honestly, just to squeak in with a nomination. I won't even pretend otherwise. So if you happen to be a Campbell voter... give me a look, yeah?

On another note, you might want to check out Sandra McDonald's ongoing letter to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America voters for the Nebula. She's made the preliminary list, and she - quite respectfully (and humorously) - knocks her competition off one by one. Give it a look.

Tess Gerritsen on Reading as a Writer

On Sandra McDonald's Live Journal I came across a link to a blog entry by medical/crime/thriller writer Tess Gerristen. She ponders why reader responses to books that she so loves can be so negative, and posits her take on it.

What she says makes plenty of sense to me, but a few folks who commented took a bit of offense at it.

What do you think?

You can read the post HERE.

Tananarive Due on Barack Obama

I met Tananarive Due a few years back when we both taught at a Hurston/Wright Writer's Week in Washington D.C.. Ever since I've received emails from her every now and then, letting me know what's up with her life and work. If you don't know Tananarive but have any interest in well-written horror/thriller/vampire/supernatural fiction you've got to check her out! Stephen King said, "I love this novel" of My Soul To Keep, and she's pretty much always received great reviews and endorsements from the likes of Octavia Butler and Peter Straub and Nalo Hopkinson. She's got quite a few books behind her now, and more are certainly coming, including Blood Colony, which is due out this summer. She writes with control and intelligence and a sense of history and cultural complexity, but she also takes care of the business of keeping a reader's pulse raised. Good stuff.

The email I got from her recently was about Barack Obama. I don't tend to talk politics much here, but I don't mind saying I'm looking forward to the next election. Barack Obama is part of that, although I feel there's a lot to be excited about. As a matter of fact, I recently sent in my voter registration to get all up to date here in California. I may even vote in the primary this time!

Anyway, Tananarive keeps a blog called Tananarive Due Reader's Circle, where she talks about plenty of things. Most recently, though, she wrote about hearing Barack Obama talk at her church awhile back. Tananarive was moved, and she doesn't mind saying so.

Resistance

It's been hard to blog lately. I'm not entirely sure why, except that the pressures of teaching, writing, keeping up internet dialogs and ruminating on life choices have kept me busy. I wouldn't want to let a week go by without posting, though, so I'll offer up a few random thoughts/links here on a chilly Fresno Sunday morning.

A question - are you familiar with Steven Pressfield's The War of Art? I know that many of you likely are. If you're not, though, it's worth a look. Pressfield, of course, is the highly successful writer of Gates of Fire, Tides of War and the forthcoming Killing Rommel - to name a few. His province is mostly that of men at heroic war, but a few years back he penned a thin volume that was part creative autobiography, part self help, part craft book.

What I found particularly memorable about The War of Art was his focus on the concept of Resistance - that multi-headed, ever-changing and variously manifesting force that grows out of us and tries to stop each of us from achieving the things - often artistic things - that we most want to achieve. I found the theory made a lot of sense and was easily evidenced each day. I found that I consistently did time-wasting things for no good reason at all - other than as a way to avoid my writing work. It's weird how it works. Almost feels like I'm always at the verge of becoming a zombie that's led away from the computer out of some compulsion to weed the pathway or check the pattern of the coffee grinds in an old cup or reminisce about how cool it was when I dyed my hair blond... It doesn't matter what I'm doing, which is why resistance seems so sinister. It's a shifty bastard. But, after hearing Pressfield name and shame the thing, I was better able to confront it. His book helped me refocus again and again as I worked through Pride of Carthage.

I bring it up because I'm again thinking about resistance as I work on The Other Lands, the sequel to the first Acacia book. In addition to all the old time killers, now I have the blog, the forum, and ever more websites to suck my time away. I like all of these - and they're legitimately part of my career now - but it's an ongoing battle to achieve a balance. Also, though, I'm aware that I've set some other, overarching obstacles in place. Instead of just micro-resistance I also have some rather larger resistance constructs in place. I'm going to be vague on them for the time being, but once I figure out and overcome the obstacles I'll let you know.

Anyway, The War of Art is a good little book, one that you can learn from even if you have no interest in the sword and sandals adventures that Pressfield is most famous for. Okay, now, for me... I've taken, what, thirty, forty minutes deciding to write this, find the links, choose a few photos... That's enough. I've got a lot of writing to do today... I hereby banish resistance for the next, oh, fifteen or twenty minutes...

The Book Swede Quote of the Week

I'm about a week behind in announcing this. World Fantasy sort of took over, and then I came home to a host of emails and dropped right into my teaching duties. But anyway...

A little while back Chris, The Book Swede, asked me to help him start off a new series he's going to have on his blog. Each week he'll have an author pick a quote that means something to them and then write a bit about it. I was glad to do so, and after considering some Native American wisdom I looked to Ray Bradbury for the quote..

You can check it out here, if you're interested.

National Novel Writing Month

You guys know about this? National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)? I just got an email from an old friend that mentioned it, and I recalled hearing about it in years past. Simply put, it's a group effort/challenge to spend the month of November writing a 50,000 novel (which is arguably actually novella length). You can register with them, and then you have to begin on the first and end at 12 midnight on the last day of the month. If you manage to pull it off you get... Well, I'm not sure what you get. Kudos from the organizers, I guess. Perhaps a sense of accomplishment? A project to carry on with? Or just a mess of words?...

To their credit, the organizers don't have grandiose notions about what most participants will produce. They write on their website: Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

I can dig that. As a starting point, at least.

It's received what looks like growing press attention over the years. See The Washington Post, NPR and The Boston Globe for small pieces on it.

I don't know. I sort of feel like I'm always on a writing month regime, and the word count participants have to keep up is similar to the word count I aspire to on average. BUT, true enough, I rarely feel like I accomplish what I want to by the end of any month. Fortunately, one month folds into the next and eventually they add up to something I can call a book! Perhaps there's a way to spin this in that direction, as one step toward what could become a longer journey.

Or maybe it's just some weird sort of fun. That could be enough. We need more literary "fun" in our world.

In any event, if you're prompted to try it let me know how you get on. I'd be curious...

Robert Jordan

This is the briefest of posts just to offer respect for Robert Jordan (who passed away over the weekend) and condolences to his family and to his many readers. Obviously, he was (and is) an enormous presence in the world of fantasy fiction. He'll remain so for a long time.

If you're curious, here's what the Associated Press had to say about him. That's just one, though. Search for his name in the coming weeks and you'll surely find tons of thoughts and tributes to him.

Random Things

Hello. I was blogging almost daily for awhile over the summer, but I've slowed down a little now. Part of this is that there's less news coming in. Things have mellowed out a bit. (Feels like the next big thing will be when the German Acacia pubs in January - but I'm not sure I'll do anything with that other than observe what happens from afar.) Another part of it is that I'm teaching again, and that takes a good bit of my free time.

A third factor, though, is that I'm also writing again! I'm making some decent progress on Acacia 2. Still a long way to go, but I'm getting the rhythms back and getting reacquainted with the characters, seeing how they've changed or remained the same, how they've grown for the better - or worse - or something in between.

Other things... I did just notice this brief review in the Romantic Times. I don't have real grip on just what the Romantic Times means in terms of who reads it, etc, but I do note that they wrote a lovely wee review. It's not so much a review, really. It's more of an endorsement. Works for me.

I was also pleased to note a thoughtful post by Reggie H at Noctuary. He has generous things to say about me - which I'm grateful for - but he ruminates a bit on the color blind thing from his perspective, including discussing J.M. Coetzee's new book of literary essays.

Friends in High Places...

Ya know, a strange and rather enjoyable thing has been happening lately. I've found myself corresponding more and more often with other authors - authors that I've read and respect and that (surprise!) have also read and respect me. I guess the internet makes this a lot easier, and I'm thankful for that. Of course, it took me a minute to get over my initial skepticism in this case...

You see, a couple weeks back I woke up to find two emails from people whose names were suspiciously like some famous authors that I'd read. A new form of span perhaps? Some marketing campaign? Was I going to be inundated with fake emails? Or was there some other explanation?...

Happily, there was. The emails actually were from the authors themselves, and they were writing to tell me the dug my work! This was particularly awesome because I dug their work, too. And thus I entered into a mutual-admiration correspondence with both these guys. I don't suppose they'd mind if I mention them here, especially as the mention takes the form of recommendations.

The first email that morning was from Kai Meyer. Kai is a German author of lots of books for adults and children. He's sold millions worldwide, but has a quite modest American profile. What I read of his were the first two installments on his Dark Reflections Trilogy: The Water Mirror and Stone Light. They're great. Very unusual. Chock full of imaginative flares and unexpected turns and images that are original and often unnerving at the same time.

It begins in an alternative Venice, one patrolled by stone lions, with canals filled with mistreated mermaids. The city is besieged by the Egyptian Pharaoh, with his army of floating barges powdered by magicians that harvest bodies from graves and turn them into walking dead soldiers.

The second book includes an extended trip to Hell. Not quite the Hell we're familiar with from our lore, though. This is an entirely different Hell at the center of the earth, a place in turns vastly empty and thronging with life forms on a massive scale. I've never read anything like it. Phillip Pullman comes close, but I'd say that Kai's imagination works at an altogether different pitch.

I get the feeling American publishers don't know exactly what to do with him. He's been described as "very European", but I don't know what that means except that he's different in a way they can't easily categorize. Many of his protagonists are young, resourceful girls, and there is a dark streak to the material that just doesn't feel like Kansas. But I enjoyed them, and I look forward to the concluding volume.

The second email was from David Liss! He's the author of several very popular historical novels. A Conspiracy of Paper (about the early days of stock speculation in 18th Century London, featuring a former pugilist - um, boxer I guess you could say - Benjamin Weaver, who is hired to retrieve an item a gentlemen unfortunately lost to a prostitute and finds himself caught up in rather a complicated web of deceit), The Coffee Trader (about a Portuguese Jew in 17th Century Amsterdam that tries to make a killing in the exotic, "Coffee-Fruit" market), and A Spectacle of Corruption (again returning to Benjamin Weaver as he finds himself accused of a murder he didn't commit - mind, now, he does commit some murders, but not the one he got convicted of - which is bound to be a bit annoying).

At this point I've read several of his novels and enjoyed each one. In a way I feel the comfortable structure of good crime writing in them, but they're also marvelously detailed historical studies as well. These are books that you enjoy and learn from at the same time.

His lastest book is a contemporary crime novel set in Florida, The Ethical Assassin. This last is a little bit Carl Hiaasen and little bit Elmore Leonard and... well, a good bit of David Liss as well. It's interesting to see him working in the contemporary realm (if the 1980's can be considered that). He does it well, but I don't think he plans to stay here long. Seems like he has another historical novel in the works for next year, and then another Benjamin Weaver for the year after that.

That's productivity you can take to the bank. Wish I had more of that. I don't go to the bank nearly as much as I'd like... When I do I'm making withdrawals... That's not quite the way I want it to work...

Anyway, though, if any of this sounds interesting to you please check them out.

Babel...

Every now and then I remember that Pride of Carthage lives out in the world in various translations. I get to wondering what people in those foreign countries think of it, so I go a looking online. Thing is, of course, I'm a typical American in that I don't speak any second language that well. I find pages and pages in Polish, Swedish, Italian, etc... but I can't read a word of it - other than my name as it pops up. What to do?

Babel Fish Translations! Or any of the many online translation machines out there. Figuring it's worth a try, I culled some chunks of review text in various languages and gave these linguistic machines a try. Here are a few examples of what I got for my efforts...

A chunk of text originally in Polish regarding Duma Kartaginy...

As we observe most slight details of (particularities of) events how (as) on great screens by microscope. And Rome, on fields Kannów and Zamy. Intimate contrast with this picturesque fresco, portraits to details (particularities) rich Hannibala and family, allies and enemies. We learn psychological portraits excellently zarysowane wodzów and slaves, priests and plunderers of corpses, beautiful (fine) women and vacant nobilów. We are witness of triumphs and disasters, determination and weakness, love and hate of people forming contemporary history.

Okay, now that I recognize as a bi