National Buy a Book Day - September 7th

John Ottinger, of popular sci-fi and fantasy blog Grasping for the Wind, asked for a logo for National Buy a Book Day—which started last year. I heard and obeyed and below is the result. Everyone should go over and read the full post on GFTW, share the logo everywhere, and support your favorite authors, publishers and booksellers.

*Note, there are many logo sizes to choose from, go click-ety and you'll see.

Logo by Clifton Hill

State of Things

An update on the state of Clifton, where I’m at, where I’m going...

Patrick and I are starting the 14th week of the Shadow Bytes webcomic. I think we’re doing quite well, and it is a lot of fun to hear from the burgeoning fans. Big thank you’s to Kat Magendie, Paul Weimer, and Charles Tan. I hope we can continue to entertain.

So far, I’ve managed to build up the buffer to one week and looking to build it further. When that eventually happens, time permitting, we may add more days than just twice-a-week and we may go color—like television making the shift to technicolor. I just hope everyone’s computer monitors can support it... *ahem*

Meeting Expectations

Part of writing professionally is fulfilling reader expectations. It’s why we read. We expect to be swept away into a new world, to be endowed with incredible powers, to run the gamut of emotions, gain fortunes while losing everything and to experience that which can not. But what happens when a writer sets up an expectation and then doesn't fulfill it? If the reader is left hanging off of the cliff, ready to fall, realizing that what they had read hundreds of pages for would not come to be?

There’s a great Writing Excuses podcast on this very subject (I think it's here). But I find it just so interesting, I had to post too. When you go to get a burger and fries from your local fast food joint you don’t expect to eat healthy. In fact, you almost demand to eat something greasy, salty, calorie-soaked and unfortunately, very mouth-watering. This is an expectation. If you waltz on in and see all your delectable morsels replaced with sparse salads and tofu patties, I think you would raise hell.

Same goes true for fiction. Story starts, reader expectations are set and if some are not met you are left with an unhappy, grumbly bear of a reader. I think this happened with the sparkle phenomenon for Twilight, where some people went in thinking to see some kick ass vampires and were surprised to see it was paranormal romance.

Naturally, you don’t want to meet all expectations; if that was necessary, then surprise twists would not be so gratifying. Finding that balance and knowing what you’ve promised are difficult things to figure. I know when I re-read a story I’ve written I try and look at it from a reader’s perspective (and reading out loud certainly helps me experience it differently), then I write down everything that bothers me and needs to be tweaked.

What have I promised? What do I, as a reader, want to see come about? This is not easy. We plan so much when we write. Each session of writing brings about new thoughts and storylines and we want to tackle them all and fear more than half of them. Then we shake at the thought of weaving it all together into a cohesive piece. I know I do.

Taking that first draft of wandering prose, half-formed characters set in white rooms and shaping it into a complete piece of fiction that satisfies as it confounds is not for the faint of heart.

It is for the Writer. Read them roar.

Customer Disservice

I'll diverge a little from the norm here to tell a story of bad customer service.

In a recent fiasco of epic proportions where a large Amazon seller falsely advertised a price on a twin mattress (illegal) the seller was quite clear that they weren’t going to do anything about it. More or less. And we’re not talking about a small difference in price, this was HUGE.

After a lot of trouble and lost lunch hours, things appear to be on the mend, so I’ll leave their name out of this, but I think the story itself deserves telling, and the lesson learned:

The Sparkly Hurts the Eyes

We’re all very familiar with the anti-sparkly phenomenon, and in contrast the utter love for the prettification of vampires. Some have made a direct comparison to the sparkle equating a poor book. I don’t know about that. Does it not jive with some readers’ expectations? Apparently, and that’s a whole other topic.

During a recent read of The Greyfriar (see my review), which has vampires, I’ve got to say one thing about this book: The vampires are not sparkly...but it doesn’t help it ONE bit. I am shocked by the level of annoyance people exhibit towards the sparkly-phenomenon.

Vampires are a fictional monster. Fiction. As in not real. Therefore if someone wants to mess with the mythos. Go for it.

Were Meyer’s vampires unnaturally lucky in that they never really went toe-to-toe with anybody? Yeah. And that’s her greater failing that she didn’t put them to task, she didn’t risk her little pretties. It doesn’t matter that she made them sparkly. What she did, was she acted like they were made of delicate crystal and treated them too gently. Edward never mussed an eyebrow, despite the level of “danger” they supposedly faced.

Is there a lesson to learn here, beyond the surface? I think we can take away from this problem that you don’t take the easy route when you put your characters through the paces—whether it is the action, romance, or whatever. Make them real challenges with real consequences. Otherwise it’s just as bad as a Hollywood flick where the good guy wades through a blizzard of bullets and comes out unscathed. Are these fun to watch? Sometimes, but they lack the punch of something truly great. Risk everything and gain so much more.

Book Review: The Greyfriar, Book One of the Vampire Empire, by Clay and Susan Griffith

(This is a repost, in part, of my review that appeared on SF Signal recently - reposted here for posterity)

Paperback: 301 pages
Publisher: Pyr (November 18, 2010)
ISBN-10: 1616142472
ISBN-13: 978-1616142476

Sucked of life, this steampunk, vampire mash-up misses the mark.

Vampires have taken over the world, ruling with a clawed fist. Humanity's hope lies with a marriage of two nations, a "mysterious" freedom fighter, and a princess that is more than she appears.

Book Review: The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi

(This is a repost of my review that appeared on SF Signal recently - reposted here for posterity)

Paperback: 300 pages
Publisher: Night Shade Books (April 20, 2010)
ISBN-10: 1597801585
ISBN-13: 978-1597801584

This book springs into...Action? The Plot? Character? No, not really any of those.

This is a hard book to figure.

On the surface it seems to have it all: Distinct characters all working towards their own ends, sometimes in conflict, sometimes in harmony. You don’t know what will happen as a reader, only that something big is coming. The world is unique and plays with some of the big topics of the day.

The Windup Girl takes place in a dystopic future Thailand, where the world is beset upon by plague and famine—a result of massive corporate greed and folly. The oceans have risen and many of the world’s greatest cities are under water. Petroleum fuels are scarce and alternative energy abounds. The fruits and mistakes of genetic manipulations are everywhere. It is a difficult place to live for those not at the top.

The Reviewer's Style

How do you review a book, movie, game? Why? What motivates you? And what is your focus? These are questions I raise as I looked over a couple of my reviews in contrast with others.

I want to be a professional writer, so it is no surprise that my reviews try to analyze, not just what worked and didn’t, but why. I don’t just want to say how much enjoyment there was to be had, but why it was enjoyable.

The State of Stuckiness

Where am I at with my New Year’s Goals? Well, I’m stuck, mired, and not making much progress. Except for the webcomic. Twitter pal Patrick and I finally got that off the ground. Which makes me happy, because for too long I didn’t have any real outlet for my visual art. And cats are always fun...when they’re not annoying. But that goes true for any pet.

Good dog, good dog. Oh...that stinks. Oh, geesh, that’s a lot of... Aw crap.

Yep, there’s always a downside to pets, but something makes them worthwhile—despite.

So, yes, the writing is at a standstill, but I’m slowly slogging back through it and trying to get myself back on track.

I also finished reading The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. Despite some initial misgivings I gave it a full try and got through it. I’ll be writing up a review on that soon. I learned some things from it, I think.

Looking over my New Year’s goals, it seems like I am running at a snail’s pace. Did I aim too high? Or am I achieving too low? Certainly trying to figure that out and move forward.

So, have you abandoned your New Year’s Resolutions? Have you made any new ones? Have you decided you resolve to just enjoy the year and dump the rest out the window into the middle of a speeding four-lane freeway, where it is pummeled into oblivion by an 18-wheeler?

No? Me neither.

Battlestar Galactica: Fighting advanced robots with sticks and stones.

(Great sci-fi wallpapers)

While BSG is not new (circa 2004) it's new to me. Yeah, I know, I'm behind. But I'm loving it!

Still, some of the sci-fi about this popular show, seems a bit...off.