Kindle Love

I am in love.

I got a Kindle yesterday and it’s awesome. Now I didn’t do a whole lot of comparison. I know there are a bunch of awesome e-readers out there. For about twenty four hours I waffled between the Nook and the Kindle. I really don’t think there’s a wrong choice there (unless you were really offended by the 1984 debacle). My funds were limited so I went with the bare bones wifi model and it’s enough for me.

To break in the new device I loaded a few different docs on it. I put an extended version of Fetch on it for my wife to read. I also went out and grabbed a couple of e-books from Smashwords. That’s a great place to find new authors. There’s a mix of free and pay content there. I even have a few stories there. The best thing about the site is the sheer number of formats they have available. If you have a device, they have a compatible format.

The first story I grabbed was “Breakers” by Paul E. Cooley. I’m a big fan of Paul’s. In a world where most fiction classified as “horror” involves an excess of gore/sex or sparkly undead, he’s a breath of fresh air. What fiction of his I’ve read uses a degree of subtlety that I appreciate. It’s also horrific in ways that truly exemplify the word.

So what is “Breakers” about? Well I’ll use the synopsis that Paul chose. “Paranoia and anarchy are the tools of the Breakers. A Breaker agent explains his typical day in this bone-chilling, psychotic tale.” At four thousand words it goes quickly and the price tag of “FREE” is perfect. A true “review” of this is difficult without going into too much detail. I find that’s always true with short stories. Here’s what I can say. He sets up a world in this story that could easily be the one we’re living in right now. That alone makes this frightening.

Check it out and if you like it, I think you’ll enjoy his other fiction. I give it four out of five scalpels.

The second book I loaded (that wasn’t mine) was “A Ghostly Christmas Present” by Dan Sawyer. I’m also a big fan of Dan’s. This is the second story in his Clarke Lantham series. I reviewed the first one, “And Then She Was Gone”, here. What is it about winter time and “scary ghost stories”? Well whatever it is, I like it.

This is as noir as the previous entry, so if you like it, you’ll like this. Here’s the synopsis from the Smashwords page. “It’s hard to beat being thrown in an out-of-state jail on a trumped up charge as a Christmas present, but detective Clarke Lantham loves a challenge. So when he calls up his brother for help with bail, he thinks he’s prepared for the ordeal of spending a holiday weekend with relatives who put the “strange” back in “estranged.” That was his first mistake.”

This one is a bit more fun than the first, though no less dark or edgy. I read it all in one sitting and it kept me going until a quarter to one in the morning. If that’s not enough to push you in the direction of buying this, then let me see what I can do to nudge you along. In addition to being a modern noir, this is also a classic murder mystery with a twist. He makes a number of nods to Agatha Christie and/or Sir Doyle, but as with the classic noir of “And Then She Was Gone”, he adds modern sensibilities.

Dan takes the time to walk his readers through the processes Clarke uses to solve the crime, though never at the expense of pacing. There’s a dash of action, a dollop of sex (handled with humor and taste), and more than one laugh out loud moment. The only thing that really hurt the story for me were a few sections of prose early on that I had to re-read a time or two for clarity. I think $2.99 for a story that comes in at over thirty thousand words and provided me with a few hours of pure entertainment is money well spent. I give this story four and a half out of five bloody icicles.

Fetch – A Winter's Eve Ghost Story

I was inspired by the awesome podcast, Every Photo Tells, to write a story. Every month they post a picture and encourage their listeners, or anyone really, to turn in a one to five thousand word story based on it. You as the author retain all rights, but they record and release your story as a Creative Commons licensed episode. It’s a wonderful outlet.

This is part of the picture that inspired me.

It’s winter time and I thought the perfect story would involve ghosts. I love Ireland and it just seemed fitting to write a ghost story set there. After a little research I came up with an appropriate bogey man and hammered away until it was done.

You can listen to the story here and I would encourage you to do so and to leave a comment. You should also subscribe. I’ve heard some lovely stories and there are more to come.

My story doesn’t end there though. I ran into some interesting characters in this universe and will be fleshing the story out over the next week or so. I anticipate releasing the expanded version on Smashwords for sale once it is done. So if you enjoy the situation and characters keep your eyes trained on this site or on Twitter and I will let you know when it’s available!

Lilith – A Review

This is a review of Lilith by J. Daniel Sawyer. The short story can be found here.

The Bible as it stands tells us that in the beginning God created one man and one woman, Adam and Eve. There is a tradition however, in texts from the Middle Ages, that God created an equal to Adam and her name was Lilith. In the short story, or rightly classified faeirie tale, by Dan Sawyer we get to see what she might have been like had she existed.

I first got to hear this story in podcast form. If you’re not familiar with Dan’s podcast work I highly recommend it, particularly Down From Ten. You can find it all at his site http://jdsawyer.net/. Why, you may rightly ask, would I go through the expense, however minimal, of buying a short story I’ve already heard? Well, that’s a good question. I think that some stories benefit from being read in addition to being heard. There’s also the matter of thanking an author for an excellent story by buying it where there’s opportunity. My purchase of Lilith is actually a result of both.

There’s a fair amount of sex in this story, though much of it is less about titillation than it is about power. Sexual politics is at the core of this story. The struggle for equality, the different roles and gifts that men and women have, things that have been plaguing relationships since perhaps the very beginning of civilization are played out in these three thousand plus words. Of course all of this is filtered through Lilith’s point of view and like any first person narrative you have to ask yourself how reliable a witness she is. She does, after all, represent chaos and all of the pros and cons that involves.

Like any good fiction, this story raises a good deal of questions about our own reality and our relationships with others. Does Lilith fall into the same traps that some men do in achieving her desires? She holds the Voice, the creator of the universe, responsible for the state of things. We strive to do the same with God, hesitant to take responsibility for our own actions. Is that warranted? There’s a lot more I could say, but that risks revealing things about Dan’s story that I’d rather you discover for yourself.

If you’re looking for a provocative and interesting tale for your e-reader then I can definitely recommend this one. When you’ve read it make sure you reach out to Dan and let him know what you think. Then drop me a line and we can talk about the rest of the story.

I give Lilith four and a half out of five Golden Delicious.

Movember/NaNoWriMo Wrap Up

Well I’m gonna call the month of November an 85% success.

Pros – I crossed the finish line at about 8:45pm Tuesday night. That is to say I write over fifty thousand words. I don’t think they were fifty thousand crappy words. I’m pretty sure it makes for a coherent yarn and I like large chunks of it. It needs work (and it needs to be finished), but what do you expect? If you want to beta read it once I’ve finished and made one edit run through let me know.

I grew a frickin’ awesome trucker ‘stache and will be maintaining it either through December or until Leigh complains. After that we’ll see.

The snowflake method, or as much of it as I used, worked pretty well. The story deviated somewhat from the outlining I did, but the over all arc has stayed the same. I think it was a HUGE help in keeping me on track. If I had actually done all the steps it might have helped even more. Next time I use it (perhaps as early as February, I want to write two novels a year starting in 2011), I will use all the steps.

Cons – I raised no money for either Movember or the Office of Letters and Light. I did donate some money to the latter cause personally. If you want to rectify that, I think you still can.

I didn’t finish the story. This was actually part of my personal goal for the month. I wanted to not just cross the finish line, but to have a completed 1st/0th draft.

Overall I’m not too bummed about either of those things. Money was raised by some. Life will go on. I will finish the story. I plan on it being done this time next week.

It’s a solid B earned in the face of migraines, strep throat, colds, work, Thanksgiving, family time, the threat that was “The Walking Dead” and a host of other things. You can see my word count breakdown here:

NaNoWriMo gets a lot of heat from people in the writing community and I understand some of it. This may well be my last one since I plan on doubling my output and November just isn’t the best month. Or I may pull a Brand Gamblin and participate unofficially so I can cheer on my friends and compete with my adversaries.

If you did it then you’ve learned some things, one of which may be that you just don’t need a special occasion to write a novel. I know I don’t.