I'll keep this short... When I think of how much meaningless drivel (ugly, vacuous, violent, divisive, etc.) Hollywood produces and America (and the world, too) consumes I'm... Well, actually, I try not to think about it. I'm just used to it. All the gore in the aisles of Blockbuster... But coming out of Wall-E yesterday, I couldn't help but be amazed at the positive power of film and the sheer joy of being taken away by a great story.
If you haven't seen this movie, please go and see it. Take a kid if you have one available, but go even if you don't. It's special, and the filmmakers deserve your money in payment for them making it. I didn't know how powerful the experience was until the final credits rolled. Don't get me wrong, I am talking about a kid's flick. It is funny and light and enjoyable... But that's why I was so struck at the end. This movie is, thematically, about big issues. What's so stunning about it to me is that the filmmakers manage to be critical of human (Western) folly without being shrill or accusatory. This is a film about the biggest mistake humans can make, an enormous crime that we are in the midst of right now, but it's made with love, not anger. (Well, not exactly...) Man, these guys are smart...
So here's a heartfelt, but qualified recommendation. I'll get to the heartfelt part later, but first the qualifications...
There are many reasons to read Dan Simmons' The Terror. Many. But don't - please, just don't - read it if you can't deal with multiple point of view characters. Don't read it if you have a problem with long books. Don't read it if you think historical novels have to follow some literal version of the truth. Don't read it if your such a buff on Sir John Franklin's last expedition that you're only looking to find fault in a novelist's version. And don't read it if you can't stomach scurvy, murder, amputations, cannibalism, and generally watching white guys flail...
And it's not that I look down on you if those things don't work for you in fiction. Honestly, I don't for a minute think that my wife would like this book. She gets my utmost respect, but the descriptions of scurvy alone would do her in. So, I'm just saying, if this book ain't for you it ain't for you...
Okay. If you're still here... The Terror is an amazing book. As a writer of historical fiction, I know exactly how complex and difficult it is to render historical material credibly. Simmons does that. Early on I forget that I'm reading an American author at all. His predominantly British characters are completely credible, rendered in a variety of formats, intimate third person, journal entries, omniscient and even fairly mystical moments.
This is, ostensibly, the tale of Franklin's 1840s expedition and its doomed search for the Northwest Passage. But Simmons doesn't let the sparsity of real historical detail - the fact that the expedition's two ships disappeared with very few signs of what might have happened to the crew - get in the way of his imagined history. Nor does he limit it to straight historical fiction.
Right from the start we are told of a "thing on the ice" that is tormenting the trapped ships. It's hard to know what it is exactly, but the wondering and speculating is part of what makes the novel so engaging.
No doubt, it is a long haul at 784 pages, but I'm not one to throw stones at large books. For me, this novel is a remarkable bit of detailed, nuanced historical fiction. It's also a work of Gothic horror. I'd argue that it's ultimately more mystical than horrific, but in order for that to make any sense you'd have to read it to the end. By the way, I rather liked the end. I won't say a thing about it, other than to note that I, for one, did not feel let down by how it all played out.
Okay, enough from me. I liked the book. If you want some other opinions there are many out there, including these...
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.
Locus has come up with a list of the sci-fi and fantasy books that appeared on the most Best of the Year lists. Pleased to say Acacia is one of them! You can check it out here. Good books in this group, but I'm biased...
For the record, I noticed they didn't include Kirkus Reviews in the sources they picked from. If they had I've have earned another point and been bumped up to next to Pat Rothfuss.
I've just learned some very good news. Colleen Lindsay (aka La Gringa) has jumped from one side of the literary desk to the other. She's an agent now! She's just accepted an offer from FinePrint Literary Management, and she'll be handling science fiction, fantasy and graphic novels.
This is very good news for writers in those fields. I've known Colleen since last spring, when she signed on as my publicist for Acacia. She was - for Doubleday and me - the expert advocate we needed to navigate into a new genre. She did a freaking great job, and has a share in any success Acacia has had - or will yet have, really. She knows her stuff. She's tireless, connected, enthusiastic, and pretty darn funny as well. Her cats seem to boss her around a bit, but that doesn't often effect her work.
So... looking for an agent? Make sure to write some good stuff first, and then give her a call...
Hey, here's a way to sample a new author for just .45 Cents. (That's nothing!) Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, author of two well received young adult fantasy novels, has a new story up for sale on Amazon: The Albino Girl. Take a look.
I think what's she doing - bringing African storytelling traditions into contemporary fantasy - is just awesome. I'm also happy to point you in her direction because I've had the pleasure of meeting Nnedi. She's great fun to be around, a real unique spirit. And it's not just me that thinks so. Ursula LeGuin blurbed her and Neil Gaiman conversed with her with the type of rapt interest that makes other authors purple with envy. (I know this. I was there and saw it with my own eyes...)
Anyway, here's a bit of info on her...
Nnedi was born in the United States to two Igbo (Nigerian) immigrant parents. Though American-born, Nnedi's muse continues to be Nigeria, where her parents have been taking her to visit relatives since she was very young. Because Nigeria is her muse, this is where her stories tend to take place, either literally or figuratively. Because she grew up wanting to be an entomologist and even after becoming a writer maintained that love of insects and nature as a whole, her work is always filled with startling vivid flora and fauna. And because Octavia Butler, Stephen King, Philip Pullman, Tove Jansson, Hayao Miyazaki, and Ngugi wa Thiong'o are her greatest influences her work tends to beon the creative side.
Her first novel, Zahrah the Windseeker, was published by Houghton Mifflin and will be published in Nigeria in 2008 by Kachifo Ltd. It was shortlisted for the Parallax Award and Kindred Award, a finalist for the Golden Duck Award and nominated for a Locus Award (Best First Novel). Zahrah the Windseeker takes place in a highly technological world based on Nigerian myth, culture and land.
Her second novel, The Shadow Speaker, published by Disney's Hyperion Books for Children (Jump at the Sun), takes place in the countries of Niger and Nigeria. About The Shadow Speaker, Nnedi says: Spontaneous forests, polygamy, strange insects, Nigerian 419 scammers, really really fast cars, a different kind of Sahara Desert, male beauty contests, the apocalypse, life, death, sword fights, fat chiefs, assassins, this novel is kind of nuts!
Nnedi earned her PhD in English at the University of Illinois and is currently teaching creative writing at Chicago State University. Learn more about Nnedi at nnedi.com.
That Tess Gerritsen post from a while back created a nice little discussion. People had interesting interpretations of (and issues) with her post, which I enjoyed hearing about. Right from the start, though, I was thinking about an off-shoot that wasn't really her topic. That is, what to make of reviews that attack works you love as if they had absolutely no value, quality, anything of interest to anybody? Every book that's been read by enough people has a few of these reviews on Amazon. (And they happen in paid-reviewer venues as well.) They're usually in the minority, sure, but they can feel like tiny worlds all to themselves, worlds in which the reviewer acknowledges no other perspective than his/her own (or dismisses those other perspectives as crap)...
Okay, so here a few quotes taken from one star Amazon reviews of four books. Each book gets a few choice critiques. See if you can guess the book by the quotes. They're all completely famous books. I'll name the books down at the end.
BOOK ONE:
"Clumsy writing, heavy-handed symbolism, self-righteousness, unbelievable dialogue, characters even a comic book would blush at. A book that insults the intelligence at every level."
"This was not a good book. The dialogue is stilted, the characters are caricatures, and everyone's always "hissing", "glaring", or "swallowing with a dry throat"... from where I stand, XXX is a poorly-written, lackluster, repetitive tale."
"This is a chore. I don't go for complex storylines and this book is the worst of the worst for those. I kept turning back to read over parts I had not taken in the first time, and in the end I gave up. I got to almost half-way, but I had lost interest way before then."
BOOK TWO:
"I was stupefied by its thick, plodding, contrived plot and bizarrely drawn characters. I do not understand why on earth this book has received the altitudinous praise it has received. I would not choose to teach it again and I would not recommend it. Maybe something else by XXX (who I feel is an "okay" writer, but certainly not an American great) would do."
"Awkward, boring, poorly written, nearly incomprehensible. I admit I did not get to page 75 - so maybe I shouldn't even write a review. But even getting to the point that I did, took extreme perseverance... honestly, I hated it - or the part that I did read... Didn't work for me at all. Don't bother with XXX."
"Simply Unreadable."
BOOK THREE:
"I admit I only read the first 120 pages. Reading the entire book is not my responsibility. Instead, it is the author's responsibility to maintain my interest."
"Completely disappointing. Read to learn how not to write."
"The reason I hate this book is because it sucked! I was astonished that it got so many great reviews. The plot was extremely slow and dull. And the whole story seemed unoriginal, like I've heard it many times before. The author has been praised for his amazing characters and personally I found them flat, boring and predictable. They seemed to have no original thoughts or feelings and some of their actions were unrealistic in human nature. I felt as if everyone had a blank expression on their face and they were speaking in monotone... I think this is a horrible author and you would do good to avoid his work."
BOOK FOUR:
"I really didn't like this book. Maybe it's because you need an imagination to read it, and mine isn't always there. It just seemed too unrealistic, and I just hated it."
"I found this book the most boring and monotonous book I've ever read... I literally had to slap myself a couple of times to stay awake and read this darn book. I just found this book disgusting boring, but that's just my opinion."
"To call this book an enduring American classic gives America a bad name."
"This book was a profound disappointment. It offered nothing in the way of plot, characters, or theme. It is a long, painstaking, tedious read. Don't bother with this book."
"Simply put: What a lousy novel! Maybe this was his first novel...I don't know. Anyways, I sure hope he doesn't plan on writing anything else. I read this book, initially, in the author's native bulgarian language...and it was even worse! The translator was probably trying to do us a favor by touching up this P.O.S. novel, but I think it would take an act of God to save this text..."
And just what books are these (so you know to avoid them)?
BOOK ONE: Dune, by Frank Herbert
BOOK TWO: Beloved, by Toni Morrison
BOOK THREE: A Game of Thrones, by George RR Martin
BOOK FOUR: Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
Anyway, these are just a few I picked out. Any book that's been read by a lot of people ends up with reactions like these. (Go look up one of your favorites.) My books have gotten a few as well, so even little me hasn't dodged the angry reader's wrath. (Except for Walk Through Darkness, which has only Four and Five starred reviews. Go figure...)
Oh, by the way, I highly recommend all four books. They're totally different, but I think they're each awesome in their own way. Does that mean I think everyone will love (or even like) everything about them? No, but unlike these detractors, I'm not saying I have the intelligence and knowledge and insight to damn them for all possible readers. I'm just saying that at least this one person (me) found something wonderful in each of these. That's quite different than suggesting that because I hated something everyone else will/should also. I like that kinder and gentler approach...
I just learned that Acacia was chosen as one of Kirkus Reviews ten best works of fiction this year! Whaah? Really? How strange, in a nice way. The list isn't ten best works of sci-fi/fantasy, or best by an African-American author or any other sub-category. It's just there as one of "The Best of 2007 - Fiction". Period. I'm sharing space with writers like National Book Award Winner Andrea Barrett, National Book Award nominees Mischa Berlinski and Amy Bloom, and Orange Prize winner Valerie Martin.
It's actually really gratifying to have this stellar year of recognition from Kirkus. I think it's fair to say they can be pretty hard to please. (That's putting it mildly.) In my case I've had my ups and downs with them. They gave Gabriel's Story a great starred review, but then rather trashed Walk Through Darkness (and almost sounded like they wanted to take that earlier star back because of it). Their review of Pride of Carthage was absolutely fabulous, arguably the best pre-pub I've ever had. They kept the star close to their chest, though, and didn't let me have it. Enter 2007, and they came on board unreservedly: starred review, feature in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy Special Edition and now this best of the year nod. Thanks Kirkus.
If you're interested in seeing the rest of the list, and other titles they recommend, go here to their 2007 Special Issues page. You can then click on Best of 2007 and/or Sci-Fi and Fantasy to view the pdfs of those editions.
I've never had cause to embed a YouTube video here until today. But that was before I saw this music video by an old friend. The song is "Pull the Sky Down" and the singer in Paul Burke. About a decade ago, we were both raft guides on some wonderful California whitewater rivers. We saw some big water together that year. El Nino an all that. Paul Burke knows how to flip a raft with style. Apparently, he also knows how to keep musical dreams alive.
I dig this song. I like the combination of laid back humor, the U2-ish sound of it, garage band nostalgia mixed with the wisdom that comes from admitting the years are passing and our views of the world maturing. And I like the uplifting tone of it. Well done. If you have a minute give it a listen.
Hello. Nothing profound to say this Sunday afternoon. Just spent a few days in Tahoe, very nice. Loved the air, the vistas, the cold. It always does us good to get up to altitude.
I've been quite pleased that folks have joined my Forum and put their names in for the audio Acacia giveaway (Click Here for the Original Post About It). The contest is still open, so if you're interested in picking up a free copy of the audio version of Acacia pop over to the Forum and sign up. I'm thinking I'll leave it open until the end of the month, and then I'll do the big drawing! (Hey, it's my first giveaway. I'm digging it.)
I got a stellar review from Joe Sherry over at his Adventures in Reading blog. It's easy for me to point you his direction on this occasion, seeing as how he's proved himself an insightful reader - the kind I do figurative somersaults on hearing from. I also don't mind just sending you in his direction in general, though. He's an active blogger that has a wide range of reading tastes. He's just got his 10,000 visitor. Nice numeric milestone to reach!
Oh, I'm also pleased to say the Durham family is soon to be conducting an interview with Kai Meyer. He's a wonderful, internationally bestselling writer of many novels, known in English translations primarily for his YA fantasy. I say "the Durham family" because all of us have been reading his books. Kai agreed to take questions from adults and kids alike, so look for what we put together in the coming weeks! Maybe it'll be the start of a series of some sort...
Putting on my "literary" writer/reader cap for a moment...
I just finished Mrs. Kimble, a first novel by Jennifer Haigh. I'd known of Ms. Haigh for some time. Actually, her second novel, Baker Towers, came out about the same time as Pride of Carthage. I think we were Booksense selections the same month and did a similar round of reviews for a while. So she was very much on my radar, but she was one of many writers I'd not yet actually got around to reading. I was prompted to recently, though, because Steve Yarbrough has managed to arrange for her to visit Cal State next month. I'm glad he did. It prompted me to read the book, and that's a good thing.
It's very well-written, deserving of the Pen/Hemingway Award it picked up. Reading it I was aware of how many things Haigh does right - the kind of things I'd like my students to pick up on. Again and again I thought things like, "Oh, yeah, exactly, that's a great way to develop this character through description of simple actions that do double duty in terms of being revealing of intimate information as well". Or, "Now that's what I mean when I talk about making sure each scene both works on its own and adds to the cumulative progression of the larger narrative" etc.
Admittedly, there were times (quite a few) that I was frustrated with the various Mrs. Kimbles. (There are more than one in the novel.) But that was never a frustration directed at the author. It was appropriate to the characters, to the flaws they lived with and way those flaws affected the decisions they made - or didn't. And I was very impressed by the sense of completion and satisfaction I felt at the end. By no means does Haigh answer all the questions. There are aspects of all her characters that remain hidden. She does, however, move them toward a reasonable and realistic sort of narrative closure.
It was well done. I'm a picky reader at the best of times, and much of what's offered and lauded as "literary fiction" these days can leave me feeling a bit tepid. Jennifer Haigh delivered, though, with a quiet, thoughtful and carefully crafted novel. I look forward to meeting her, and I plan to read her sophomore effort, Baker Towers, before I do!
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.
So I said a while back that I would recommend a book every now and then. Do my part to spread the word about wonderful writing and writers. You'll likely almost all know of Octavia Butler, but for those of you that don't I'd like to bring her to your attention. And if you know of her but haven't read her yet... well, I'd like to give you a push.
I'm putting out Parable of the Sower as a place to start, but that's really only because that's where I started with her. I've read more of her since, and every time I've been reminded how brilliant she is, how far-reaching her empathy. Her novels have great range, and I'm sure that as I read more of her over the years I'll discover new favorites.
But I really did enjoy Parable of the Sower. "Enjoy" is a strange word for it, of course, because the material she's writing about is grim in many ways. It's a near future that doesn't really look so unfamiliar. This isn't a novel of space travel and aliens - although Butler does those too. It's very much a version of our world just tweaked a bit. As such, it's frightening. I won't really go into the plot too much at all, except to say it involves the crumbling of our civil society, a collage of social conflicts, and a journey through a treacherous landscape of our own design. At it's heart is a young woman - a black woman, girl really - that dreams up a vision of a future she feels propelled to see made real.
Lest this all sound too depressing, do know that this novel is also filled with generosity and promise. Butler may be unwavering in her study of our crimes and passions, prejudices and fears, but she's also amazingly compassionate, and manages to convey the potential for love that's just as much part of our human nature.
So I recommend this one, or any other Butler book that looks interesting to you. She was a great writer, and I'm increasingly saddened that she passed away. Geez, I would've loved to have met her!
A while back I had the pleasure of corresponding with Bill at the Subterranean Press. They do lovely special editions of selected works, mostly fantasy and sci-fi. They print them in small numbers, with original covers and illustrations, and usually with an authors' signature, I believe. Great stufff for the collector in you.
Anyway, they were kind enough to send me a few sample books...
I'm particularly happy about getting Lynch's Lies of Locke Lamora. I had the rather unfortunate experience of being at the same fair in the Netherlands as Scott, but somehow managed NOT to connect with him over the course of several days. No matter, we'll meet one day. And in the meantime I now have a lovely signed copy of his debut...
I've got two Jeffrey Lent related pieces of information. First is a very early, very positive STARRED review from Publishers Weekly for his forthcoming novel, A Peculiar Grace. It doesn't come out until late July, but they obviously wanted to go on record first. Here's what they said...
Family-fracturing secrets are at the heart of Lent’s luminous third novel, a transcendent story about the healing power of love and art. Two decades after an intense romance curdled, hermetic Hewitt Pearce is living in his family’s rural Vermont home, firing up his tractor for the occasional two-mile trip to the village, sometimes hiding in his hay barn, and producing prized custom ironwork when the spirit moves him. Upheaval arrives in the form of Jessica, a psychologically troubled waif with mysterious connections to Hewitt’s late artist father. Then Hewitt learns that Emily, the girl he loved years earlier and whose life he has tracked from afar, is now a widow. Evocative flashbacks reveal his family’s turbulent history, including Hewitt’s days of sex, drugs, and rock and roll on a commune and his dark period of "death-by-whisky drinking" after breaking up with Emily. This sympathetic depiction of a decent man wrestling with his demons while deciding whether to revive an old love or open himself to a new lover is less visceral than Lent’s astonishing debut,In the Fall, and less gritty than his second novel, Lost Nation, but it’s no less magisterial and every bit as beautifully written.
Not bad. Okay, the other thing is that Jeffrey offered a blurb for Acacia. I'm thrilled about this. Jeffrey has blurbed my books before, so that part of it isn't new. But I wasn't sure at all what he'd think of Acacia. He's a highly literary writer, and his reading tastes are mostly in that area. But he read the novel with an open mind and liked it enough that he didn't mind saying so publicly. Here's what he said...
It’s the rare novel indeed that overwhelms and absorbs us to the point that we live fully within it. I readAcaciain four long wondrous days, unable to leave the book. Durham has created a world so familiar and distant at once that the reader is transported and transfixed- the braiding together of this world through numerable plotlines is effortlessly accomplished and compelling with magnificent prose that illuminates crisply and cinematically.Acaciais full of wonders, brought to us by a masterful writer, a wizard of mind and place.
A writer friend, Ravi Howard, was kind enough to snap this picture for me from a street in Mobile, Alabama... Thanks, Ravi, maybe someday somebody will glance up at this street sign and think of a book by the same name.
By the way, Ravi's debut novel comes out this month. It's called Like Trees, Walking, and it's very good. I had the pleasure of reading it in galleys. It's about a somber subject, the last recorded lynching of a black man in the US, and it's written with quiet lyricism and carefully crafted prose. Consider giving it a look. For more information you could also check out his website Ravi's Sight.
Just got my copy of J. Peder Zane's The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books. I was lucky enough to be one of 125 "leading writers" that was asked to contribute a list of ten favorite books. (I also wrote a brief appreciation of one of them, The Green House, by Mario Vargas Llosa. )
Flipping through it is quite interesting. The lists have some definite similarities, but there are also plenty of variety and quite a few surprises. And it's nice to be in good company here. There are lists from Andrea Barrett, Annie Proulx, Bebe Moore Campbell, Barry Unsworth, David Foster Wallace, David Mitchell, Ethan Canin, Edwidge Danticat, Francine Prose, George Pelecanos, Ha Jin, Heid Julavits, Ian Rankin, Jim Harrison, Jonathan Lethem, Kent Haruf, Michael Chabon, Norman Mailer, Paul Auster, Pearl Cleage, Percival Everett, Russell Banks, Richard Powers, Sherman Alexie, Stephen King, T C Boyle, Thomas Mallon and Wally Lamb, just a name a few. Nice company to keep, even if it's just within the pages of a book about books.
You could check it out on Amazon here The Top Ten.
My list? Well, it includes titles by Toni Morrison, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Milan Kundera, Cormac McCarthy, Ben Okri and Frank Herbert, just to name a few. Honestly, I find this quite an interesting book. It's reminded me of a lot titles I need to check out, and it's also given new insights to some of these recommenders, who at times really surprise with their choices.
Very happy to say that a novel I've been waiting for is now tangibly set for publication this summer. Jeffrey Lent, author of In the Fall and Lost Nation, has a new one coming out in August. It's called A Peculiar Grace, and here's what the publisher is saying about it:
An unforgettable tale of love, family secrets, and the hold of the past in a family of New England artists, A Peculiar Grace is the latest triumph from the author of In the Fall, hailed by The Christian Science Monitor and The New York Times as one of the best books of the year. Hewitt Pearce lives alone in his family home, producing custom ironwork and safeguarding a small collection of art his late father left behind. When Jessica, a troubled young vagabond, washes up in his backwoods one morning, Hewitt’s hermetic existence is challenged. As he gradually uncovers Jessica’s secrets and reestablishes contact with a woman he thought he had lost twenty years before, Hewitt must confront his own dark history and rediscover how much he craves human connection. A Peculiar Grace is a remarkable achievement by one of our finest authors, an insightful portrait of family secrets, and a rich tapestry filled with characters who have learned to survive by giving shape to their losses.
Knowing Jeffrey's writing this sounds great to me. Keep an eye out for this one. Or, better yet, go to Amazon and just order it now.
I guess having a bit of time off - kinda - these last few days has allowed me to get around to a few things I'd been meaning to do for a while. This installment sees me posting a wee bit of info on my father in law, to acknowledge one recent milestone in particular. So here it is...
My father in law, J. Laughton Johnston, is a great guy in a variety of ways. He's a naturalist, a poet and - most recently - a novelist. His context is particularly Scottish. For that matter, his focus is quite often on the Shetland Isles, where he resides with his wife, Patricia. They've got a crazy-picturesque cottage at the edge of northern seas, with views of cliffs and seals and killer whales, etc.. I've been there. It's lovely, in a brutal, windblown sort of way.
Anyway, he's written several books on natural history topics. They include the titles shown on this post, and also A Naturalist's Shetland.
You can find them at Amazon.com. But of even more recent interest is his new novel, A Dream of Silver.
It's published by the Shetland Times and a bit harder to get in the US, but it's orderable at Amazon.co.uk. It's the story he was meant to write, really, partly a coming-of-age story and partly a coming-to-rest tale, with a healthy injection of Scottish lore thrown in, most notably in the figure of the pirate Long John Silver and with the looming presences of Robert Louis Stevenson and Sir Walter Scott hanging over it all. It's an authentically Scottish rumination on literature and imagination, aging and childhood. Oh, and there's lighthouses in it, too.
I’ve become a fan of George R. R. Martin. Strangely, I hadn’t read him before completing Acacia. Actually, it had been a while since I’d read any fantasy, and most of the titles that inspired me were the classics of the genre: works by Tolkein, Ursula LeGuin, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and some sci-fi like Frank Herbert’s Dune. Author’s like these had a lot to do with why I came to write a fantasy. Thing is, having finished my book, I started thinking I’d better catch up on what had been done in fantasy the last twenty years or so. For all I knew I’d rehashed themes that other writers had been working on since I was a teenager. I began sampling some of the better known authors in the genre.
Fortunately, I didn’t find many other writers who approached their alternative world as I did. Quite a bit of what I read was disappointing, really, but from the first pages of A Game of Thrones I knew I’d found something inspired. I ended up loving the book, and I look forward to carrying on with the series. I loved it that Martin wrote complex, conflicted, duplicitous characters living out their lives in a grand, expansive world. I loved it that unexpected tragedy could befall even the main characters. I loved it that sentence for sentence he’s a solid, mature writer in control of craft, plot, dialogue. And I loved it that good and evil aren’t delineated in black and white. This last point was particularly important to me. So it was reassuring to see that another writer had chosen to break out of the mold of so much fantasy – and that he’d managed to win a loyal (and massive) base of fans.
I noticed this quote on the subject in an interview George R. R. Martin gave to Publishers Weekly. He said…
“I wanted – in writing this series – to get away from the traditional good guys and bad guys clichés of so much of contemporary fantasy. I'm a huge fan of Tolkien, but some of the things he did very well, in lesser hands, the hands of his imitators, have become terrible weights on the field of fantasy. One of them is the notion of absolute good versus absolute evil, of a dark lord who's responsible for everything and is brooding there and sending forth his evil minions in order to plunge the entire world into darkness. The struggle between good and evil is certainly a legitimate topic; but that struggle is not waged against dark lords with evil minions. It's waged within the individual human heart. All of us have good and evil in us; the question is, what choices will we make when we're confronted with difficult and dangerous situations? That's the approach [to fantasy] that I wanted to take.”
I’m happy to say I recently got a copy of Post Road (no. 11) magazine that features a piece I wrote. Post Road is a very cool journal, published twice a year out of Cambridge, MA. They feature fiction and nonfiction, poetry, photography, criticism, and they run recommendations, wherein authors recommend favorite books. That’s how I got in it. I recommended A Scot’s Quair, by the Scottish writer Lewis Grassic Gibbon. I only learned of the book while living in Scotland. Really enjoyed it, though, and – obviously – I recommend it. Among other things, I said this about it…
“It’s a melancholy work told in the cadence and vernacular of rural Aberdeenshire, filled with beautiful moments – most often prompted by sadness – and infused throughout with a longing that’s hard to define, but which will be painfully familiar to anyone old enough to look back on moments gone forever.”
There are also pieces in this edition from Ann Hood, Cathy Day, Ben Jones, Jessica Shattuck and Elizabeth Cox, just to name a few. There’s a Q&A with Jonathan Ames, wherein he talks about transvestites, David Letterman, sex and toilet humor. The mag’s website is at Post Road.
There were lots of good titles in 2004. I know that by mentioning these titles I’m leaving out some others, but that’s always going to be the case. For some reason or another each of these spoke to me and I’d like to give them a nod, for whatever it’s worth.
The King of America, by Samantha Gillison – I thought this was very good. Great atmosphere, wonderfully conveys both the wilds of New Guinea and the inner turmoil of the protagonist’s Stateside existence. The end didn’t work quite as well for me, but overall I think this is strong and indicates good things for the author. It follows her debut The Undiscovered Country, which also features New Guinea.
You Remind Me of Me, by Dan Chaon – Wonderfully written, poignant novel, with a complicated structure that I was happy to follow. Many novelists try to fragment their stories by shifting time and local and layering. Often I think lesser writers do this to disguise the fact that they’re lesser writers. That’s not the case here. Dan Chaon uses these techniques to tell his story with incredible skill and effectiveness. Very satisfying.
Angel of Harlem, by Kuwana Haulsey – I’m partial to this book because I think it’s a fine example of an important type of novel, the inspirational biopic. The author has brought to life an important character and a crucial struggle in African American history. I believe the author will accomplished great things in the future and is well on the way toward a worthy career. This follows her debut, The Red Moon.
Eventide, by Kent Haruf – Strong, emotionally involving book. I was always wondering just how/why I was as involved with these characters as I was, but I couldn’t deny that I respect the author’s compassionate rendering of simple, flawed and often struggling people. I don’t doubt that some literary types look askance at Kent Haruf now that he’s sold millions of books, but that’s silly. This is strong, effective writing that we could all learn from.
Prince Edward, by Dennis McFarland - I don't know why this book didn't get this prominent author more attention. Wait, that's not true. I do know why. It's because it not only dealt with our troubled racial history but it dealt with our recent troubled racial history. This is based on real events that are hard to believe; that and the fact that Dennis McFarland is a talented writer make it an important book.
GraceLand, by Chris Abani - Another tremendous first novel. I'm glad he got the attention he did for this one and wish him the best for the future.
Heaven Lake, by John Dalton – Enjoyed this first novel. Liked the ill-ease of a white American abroad and enjoyed following his journey from missionary arrogance to a humbler state. Great and surprising details of travel in China made it compelling and authentic.
If you haven't seen this movie, please go and see it. Take a kid if you have one available, but go even if you don't. It's special, and the filmmakers deserve your money in payment for them making it. I didn't know how powerful the experience was until the final credits rolled. Don't get me wrong, I am talking about a kid's flick. It is funny and light and enjoyable... But that's why I was so struck at the end. This movie is, thematically, about big issues. What's so stunning about it to me is that the filmmakers manage to be critical of human (Western) folly without being shrill or accusatory. This is a film about the biggest mistake humans can make, an enormous crime that we are in the midst of right now, but it's made with love, not anger. (Well, not exactly...) Man, these guys are smart...
If you haven't seen this movie, please go and see it. Take a kid if you have one available, but go even if you don't. It's special, and the filmmakers deserve your money in payment for them making it. I didn't know how powerful the experience was until the final credits rolled. Don't get me wrong, I am talking about a kid's flick. It is funny and light and enjoyable... But that's why I was so struck at the end. This movie is, thematically, about big issues. What's so stunning about it to me is that the filmmakers manage to be critical of human (Western) folly without being shrill or accusatory. This is a film about the biggest mistake humans can make, an enormous crime that we are in the midst of right now, but it's made with love, not anger. (Well, not exactly...) Man, these guys are smart...
