News News News!

Before I dash off to work (where I spend nearly all my time right now), a few quick updates and previews for this weekend's more extensive update:

1) I am currently working laying out pages of "The Fox and the Shadow."  A preview page will be posted this weekend!

2) Anne, the illustrator of "The Goblin Prince," sent some new character sketches.  They are absolutely fabulous and even better than before, as hard as that is to believe!  They will be posted as we start to finalize the vision.  Also, the manuscript itself is undergoing considerable changes, so it is a bit away from completion.  I'll work on it much more after my classes finish their exams and I submit my graduate school applications.

3) "Reckoning" is in the midst of a complete overhaul.  A new version will be up within the next month.  Thank you for your patience!

Writing, Rewriting, Rewriting, Rewriting

"Reckoning" is changing, both the planet and the story.  It was overly long at points, short on description at others.  Its new flaws will reveal themselves with revision and re-reading.  They will emerge like knots appears under the carver's hands.

Writing is an immensely enjoyable process.  I put down words and watch stories unfurl.  My problems forgotten, I revel in the joy of creation.  But it impossible to write something worth reading on the first pass.  For every moment spent writing, I spend dozens revising.  That is not an exaggeration.  It took about twenty minutes to write "Adam and the Misshapen Log".  It is now on its twentieth version (I track them, oddly enough) with each full edit taking a few hours or more.

It can be disheartening, this endless process of revision.  Happily, I have quotes from greater writers that promise a payoff in the end.

"I have rewritten- often several times- every word I have ever written.  My pencils outlast their erasers." Vladimir Nabokov

"The difference between the right and the nearly right word is the same as that between lightning and the lightning bug."  Mark Twain

So let me know, dear readers, if I have gotten at least one word right, if I have captured a little lightning in the latest revision and expansion of "Reckoning".  And then, next week, you'll watch the battle continue.

As for when it ends?  Well, I'll leave you with this:

"Books are never finished, they are merely abandoned."  Oscar Wilde

Fanboy! Sneak Peek! Ten Cents!

If you haven't seen the international trailer for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, do yourself a favor.  Click the link, load the video in high definition, turn on your speakers/plug in your headphones, and watch it.

Back?  Pretty sweet, huh?

If you've spent any time around me in the past few weeks, you're probably ready to murder me with a giant hammer, flaming sword, or telekinesis.  My gigantic crush on this movie starring Michael Cera and directed by Edgar Wright ("Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz") borders on obsession.

Ok, so it careens through the border of obsession and ends up barely short of mouth-breathing fanboy cyberstalking.  Deal with it (but please still hang out with me)!

The comic by Bryan Lee O'Malley upon which the movie is based caught my attention with its punchy black and white illustrations, silly dialogue, and complete disconnect from reality.  Sure, it's written by a Canadian but I'll give him honorary American citizenship and maybe build a theme park in his head.  I'd pay to watch this guy's dreams.  Ten bucks says they put any acid trip to shame.

I did find time between my fifteenth and sixteenth viewing of the trailer to think about how much of our identities are caught up in the media we consume.  My younger self was never fully comfortable with his geekdom.  Maybe he thought his soccer teammates would shun him, or his bandmates would mock him.  Neo-Matt (a term I've been using since about five minutes ago) has no clue as to the why.  But I hid my obsession with my Dad's yellowing sci-fi books from everyone outside my family and closest friends.

Something changed as I got older; just yesterday, I told my sublet-roommate about the countless days of my childhood spent in silent communion with those ten cent books.  They are objectively awful, filled with misogyny, colonialism, and horrid, stiff prose.  But instead of being shameful wives locked in the attic, they are eccentric uncles whose stories you ate up as a kid.  And as an adult, you smile during the tellings for different reasons.

Most of those authors couldn't write.  The weakness of their words hampered the power of their vision.  But even at their worst, they conjured desolate worlds orbiting dying suns.  Brokenhearted bounty hunters limping after their last big mark.  Alien geniuses plotting for the thrones of celestial empires and the hearts of eight-breasted princesses.

I am not ashamed to count myself among their fanboys.  No matter how old I become, how withered my body and brittle my bones, I will always dream these impossible dreams.

With this in mind, I proudly present a H&K exclusive sneak peek of my newest short story, "Reckoning."  It follows the last days of Sean, the sole survivor of a failed mission to an icy wasteland and maybe the last human in the universe.  You can find the first few lines under the tab at the top labeled "Reckoning" or by clicking here.  There will be more to follow on Monday.

Have a great weekend and enjoy the sample!