Tag: books

On FOUR LOST CITIES and Building this Fantasy Town

On By Steven D'AdamoIn Fantasy, On Storytelling, ReviewsLeave a comment

This post is not a real book review, at least, not entirely. I just finished listening to Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age by Annalee Newitz, and it got me thinking and rethinking the way I design and evolve cities in my fantasy universe.

A running theme in my world-building — and one of my pervading interests in history and anthropology — touches on the rise and fall of cities and civilizations. For years, I had the reductionist viewpoint that great cities rose and fell in linear patterns, and with clear markers for their demise.

When I learned that the far more common pattern is for cities (or civilizations) decay for years or decades or centuries before fading from prominence, I wanted to explore that in my storytelling.

Four Lost Cities provides a really interesting investigation into the formation and decline of cities across human history. Newitz uses archeological evidence to make the case that the evolution and dissolution of cities is not a linear path, that the very definition of a “city” and its growth are defined more by socio-cultural forces of its time than by rigid and often arbitrary models based solely on commerce.

What would this look like in a setting of my making? Would I be able to capture the uncertain rise and long decay of a city or a people in character-centric stories?

My current work-in-progress, the duology I’ve been referring to as The Herb Witch Tales, spawned from this theme. Before I knew who my characters were, I wanted to explore a city’s evolution from small port town, to sprawling tent camp of migrant settlers, to developed population center.

The story developed from the idea of the city, and I found characters to fit that initial blueprint. The duology is now much more grounded than that much broader idea, but I’ve tried to pay particular attention to the ways in which the characters perceive and interact with place — the places they’ve lost, left, or found.

Although The Herb Witch Tales is currently a duology, I can easily imagine future stories where the growth of this family is inextricably tied with the growth of the place they come to call home.

So, I must recommend Four Lost Cities, because it is informative, thought-provoking, and inspiring in a world-building kind of way.

Steve D

November Write Day: Autumn Swing

On By Steven D'AdamoIn Fantasy, On LifeLeave a comment

After a warm spell in Maryland, autumn returned just in time for Halloween, and we were able to really celebrate for the first time with our kids. Our new street put on an impressive display of Halloween decorations, and we joined in the fun. I also got to take the boys trick-or-treating for real for the first time. Our previous neighborhood never had many trick-or-treaters, and both boys were likely too young to really get into it. At five and two, they were excited to get candy, and we saw plenty of other families out and about.

October was a very strange month, but we had some fun at the Renaissance Festival, saw some family, and bought some much-needed furniture for our house.

Last Month’s Goals

  1. Read three books.
  2. Exercise every day.
  3. Write long-form at least 10 days.

Read three books?

Nope, and right after I said this was automatic for me. I finished one book in October, and I’ve made good progress on another. I decided to read another nonfiction book, and these always go more slowly for me. So, I definitely need to make more progress on my two current nonfiction reads:

I’m enjoying both books, I just tend to read/listen to them in smaller snatches, and it takes a bit more of my focus to follow along.

I’ll likely pick up at least one fiction story in November, although I haven’t decided whether I’m going to start another ambitious series yet.

Exercise every day?

More or less. My yoga flow made it fairly easy to exercise most days. I also finally signed up for a membership with the gym five minutes up the road. In two-plus weeks, I’ve gone three times, which isn’t bad. I’m currently aiming to go to the gym twice per week until I figure out my routine a bit more. What I know is that I want yoga to remain a part of my routine week in and week out, especially as a way to spell weight-lifting or more intense workouts.

Write long-form at least 10 days?

Nine days! I was so close, but we’ve had some busy weekends. I feel like I’ve made some good progress on my current work-in-progress, and I feel less stressed about what comes next. After deciding not too worry too much about Publishing and Marketing (capitals intended) my fantasy duology, I’m able to just focus on the revisions.

The good news is that, halfway through revising the second of these two novellas, I really like both stories. They need some work, but I’m enjoying re-reading them.

Goals for November

  1. Read three books. I should be able to do this once I’ve figured out my next reads.
  2. Exercise every day and go to the gym twice per week. I’m forming a loose routine at the gym, knowing that I’ll eventually need to go three or four times per week to make it impactful. For now, I just want to get back in the habit of going after a four-year hiatus.
  3. Write long-form at least 10 days. Again, this includes long-form blogs and my revisions, or anything else I end up writing that is not a haiku. I feel good about making this goal this month, and I’m not concerned with trying to increase it, what with Thanksgiving around the corner.

Steve D

Creativity Sessions writing process. Evening Satellite Publishing.

A Changing of the Writing Goals: Or a Reassessment

On By Steven D'AdamoIn Fantasy, On PublishingLeave a comment

In my October Write Day post, I started to ponder what my medium-term writing goals really were. I’ve been diligent about setting monthly goals for myself, just to ensure I’m focusing some of my energy on my hobbies, like writing.

I also know what my super-long-term goal is: I’d like to have multiple published stories that I can take to conventions and book festivals. I want to actually meet people who may be interested in reading my stories, not just try to sell online.

My current work-in-progress, which I’ve generally referred to as “The Herb Witch Tales”, is a duology of novellas that I intend to publish as one volume in print, to keep printing costs down. My next intended project is the sequel to Warden of Everfeld: Memento, which will be a full-length novel. While I have a solid start on that novel I had started drafting in 2018, it will not be ready for publication quickly.

At the moment, I have one published book and a slew of online short stories that are not ready for print form. I definitely need more than one book in order to make paying for tables at conventions worth the cost.

But I’m also concerned about pushing to publish my current work-in-progress, doing a bunch of marketing, going to some conventions, and then not being able to publish anything for a few more years.

That doesn’t seem like an effective way to sell books. I also don’t want “final” drafts to languish on a hard drive somewhere without seeing the light of day.

So maybe that’s the answer. I’ll publish my current work-in-progress when it’s ready, not make a huge deal about it, and continue with my next project. Once I have three books to sell, then I can start to consider my proactive marketing and conventions.

It just may take a few more years to get there.

Do any other writers out there stuggle with this question? Do you feel pressure to publish every year?

Steve D

Book Review: SISTERSONG reignites old magic in Dark Age Britain

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Storytelling, ReviewsLeave a comment

I recently listened to Sistersong by Lucy Holland on audiobook. I’m in the midst of an era kick, where I’m almost exclusively interested in historical fiction or fiction stories set in Dark Age Britain. So, I found this book as part of my keyword search on Audible, and it sounded intriguing.

I enjoyed it, overall.

This was a very intricately and well written story. Holland deftly weaves part fairy tale, part ballad about the stories we tell ourselves and how they come to define us. This story follows three siblings who are each struggling to understand or reconcile some part of themselves, or, in my ways, some part of their relationships with their parents and with each other.

Thus, the story quickly becomes part family reckoning, part coming-of-age, and part classical drama, all wrapped in a tale of lost magic and impending war.

Having known nothing so this story or author beforehand, I found it both surprising and familiar, in the way that classical storytelling forms often are. I recognized the beats as they came, but the characters’ lives were so vivid that their inner emotional turmoil drove the tension.

Each of the three siblings at the center of Sistersong has a unique voice that reflects the others, making their interactions poignant in every scene. Holland peppers her story with enough twists and interesting character turns to make it feel unique.

The soft magic system felt a bit all-powerful for my liking, but it was not a ‘deus ex machina’ effect. Magic permeated the narrative, but did not drive it completely.

Steve D

WAR LORD rings true for THE LAST KINGDOM series and Uhtred’s legacy

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Storytelling, ReviewsLeave a comment

A couple weeks back (this post is delayed because life happened), I finished reading War Lord.

This final installment of The Last Kingdom series by Bernard Cornwell is a perfect ending for what has been a highly entertaining series.

In this story, Uhtred is old, and the only thing he wants is to die at Bebbanburg. He has lived a life of war, and politics, and striving desperately to reclaim the home he had lost as a child. Now he has, and he only wants peace. But war stirs to the north and south, and Uhtred must decide whether to fight for King Aethelstan or Constantine of Alba.

Uhtred’s age in this story make any significant fighting on his part a bit farfetched. That’s why the most ingenious part of this book is how Uhtred mostly becomes a battlefield spectator to be awed by a younger generation of warriors making their own reputations. He is the elder warlord whose experience and presence certainly help shape the battle, a general who commands the respect of those who follow him and tries to fight beside them as best as he can. But he no longer seeks out battle–the sword song–as he did in his younger days.

Uhtred’s relationship with King Aethelstan comes to fruition in this story as Aethelstan pays respect to the man who raised him, and Uhtred recognizes Aehtelstan for the noble and fearsome warrior king he has become.

I greatly appreciated Cornwell’s historical note to close the book, and I’ll be looking into his other historical fiction works.

Steve D

October Write Day: Steps

On By Steven D'AdamoIn Fantasy, On LifeLeave a comment

September was interesting. We spent a weekend at the beach, and both of our boys got their feet wet in the ocean for the first time. Work has been nuts for a variety of reasons, topped off by my best team member and good friend leaving for a new position. And we sold our old house!

It took me way too long to remember everything we did last month.

Last Month’s Goals

  1. Read three books.
  2. Exercise every day.
  3. Write long-form at least every other day.

Read three books?

Yes! I read three books in September by powering through the remaining three installments of The Last Kingdom series. I should have posted my review of the final book last week, but totally missed my regular post. I did not finish my current nonfiction read, but I’m picking away at it.

I’m on the lookout for my next big series, but I’m content to pick away at my current to-be-read list for the time being.

Exercise every day?

No, but I think I’ve still improved my routine. I haven’t yet gotten a new gym membership, so to ensure that I can do something each day, I’ve just started building my own yoga routine. It’s basically a full-body flow that takes me about 10 minutes, for now. I’m slowly building on it, adding moves as I see fit.

Because it’s my own routine, it’s really easy for me to just step away from desk for a few minutes and work through the flow a couple times. Once I get a gym membership, my plan is to use this yoga flow on my off days, just to stay loose.

Write long-form every other day?

No. I only worked on long-form writing on seven days. Missing my blog post last week didn’t help.

Overall, I feel motivated to continue picking away at my writing–the issue is finding and dedicating time to do so week in and week out.

What I’m really questioning is whether I have–or should have–any medium-term goals aside from just getting my current stories to final draft status. I had always assumed I would publish them when I had them ready, but then I look ahead to my next project, and I don’t see that being publishable for a few years at least. I’m at the point where I just have stories I want to write, and I know I can’t publish new stories every other year. Is it enough to publish once every six years? Or, should I put more energy into just writing.

I may be exploring this a bit more in a blog this month.

Goals for October

  1. Read three books. This is about as close to automatic as any goal can be for me.
  2. Exercise every day. I’m going to continue with my current yoga routine, since it’s been working out for me. I’m not sure when I’ll add something else to my routine at this point, but I’d like it to be soon.
  3. Write long-form at least 10 days. Yes, I’m scaling back my writing goal. I always try to be realistic about my goals, and I haven’t made a writing goal in I don’t know how long.

Steve D

Book Review: SWORD OF KINGS demonstrates Uhtred’s ability to rise above humiliation

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Storytelling, ReviewsLeave a comment

I’m very rapidly making my way through the final books in Bernard Cornwell’s The Last Kingdom series. I finished reading book #12 of 13 last week, Sword of Kings.

I greatly enjoyed this story after feeling like its predecessor, War of the Wolf, felt overly contrived.

Sword of Kings follows Uhtred as he makes mistake after mistake. For the first time really in the entire series, Uhtred’s penchant for impetuous decision-making and lack of communication with anybody significant in his life stacks up against him.

A similar trail of mistakes followed in Uhtred’s wake in War of the Wolf. The difference in Sword of Kings is that in the moment, every single one of Uhtred’s mistakes makes sense. He rationalizes to the reader as he proceeds, but events turn against him for various reasons, and by the time you reach the final confrontation, you’re left wondering a) how the hell did we get here, and b) how the hell is Uhtred getting out of this one alive?

Uhtred ultimately faces the most humiliating moment of his life. The shame, regret, and fear he demonstrates thereafter is poignant as a side of Uhtred we’ve never seen. After several books of seeming invincibility to anyone else’s ambitions and his own brashness, Uhtred is brought as low as possible, and he has to be convinced by those closest to him to either give in or fight for his own dignity.

My only nitpick is the quite flippant disposal of a few characters in Uhtred’s life, treated with little more than a footnote at the end of the story. Without giving away anything, I think these characters had lost their own purpose in Uhtred’s stories, and perhaps made room for new characters and narrative developments, but these are not realized until the next book.

This is perhaps one of the best novels of the series.

Book Review: WAR OF THE WOLF has points of interest, falls flat

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Storytelling, ReviewsLeave a comment

I’m working my way through the final three books of Bernard Cornwell’s The Last Kingdom series. War of the Wolf posits an interesting question: what sorts of adventures / wars does Lord Uhtred get drawn into after he’s achieved his ultimate goal?

The answer, it seems, is getting tricked into fighting a war in someone else’s land.

While I always enjoy The Last Kingdom series to some extent, this installment felt too formulaic. The book opens with Uhtred outside of Bebbanburg, the nigh impenetrable fortress of which he is lord, for a dubious reason. Someone lured him there with a lie to try to ambush and kill him. Without giving away any spoilers, the rest of the narrative follows with similarly dubious decision-making by our usually cunning Uhtred.

There were some notable emotional stakes here that helped Uhtred’s individual development, and his fealty to King Sigtryggr of Eoforwic makes for some interesting politics. Aethelstan remains a compelling character, but his presence in this story merely feels like set-up for future stories.

This was not my favorite story in this series, but it was still entertaining.

Steve D

Book Review: ANDREA VERNON AND THE CORPORATION FOR ULTRAHUMAN PROTECTION brings quick wit and plot

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Storytelling, ReviewsLeave a comment

I don’t remember the circumstances under which I picked up Andrea Vernon and the Corporation for UltraHuman Protection, but it’s been sitting in my Audible library for a good while. So I finally decided to read it.

It was quite enjoyable.

Author Alexander Kane appears to have a knack for witty and compelling storytelling that does not get weighed down by exposition. This story moves quickly and demonstrates Kane’s deft plotting. No chapter felt cumbersome, and no character was throw-away.

Each character had a unique voice, perhaps in part thanks to Bahni Turpin’s excellent narration. Andrea, as the protagonist, had the strongest scenes and sense of growth. Other characters, like Ms. Oh, were interesting in their own right, but I often found myself anticipating Andrea’s next section more than any other POV character.

This is not necessarily my preferred style of storytelling, which veers between absurd cultural references and wise-cracking one-liners to keep the dialogue bouncing along, but I respect that Kane executed it so well.

There are two other books in the Andrea Vernon series, and I just may be tempted to pick them up.

Steve D

Book Review: THE PLOTTERS digs and resonates

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Storytelling, ReviewsLeave a comment

I just finished listening to The Plotters by Un-Su Kim on audiobook, a story with the trappings of an action thriller and the tonal resonance of a slow-burning suspense novel.

This story wound through a methodical plot, at times jumping into the past to provide insight into the mind and life of the protagonist, Reseng. While the narrative focuses on Reseng’s time as an assassin and his growing discontent with his life and the people around him, this is really a story about making life choices and living with – or fighting against – the consequences. The reader finds themselves rooting for Reseng to find some semblance of understanding about his own life, even if he is not a heroic character.

The narrator had a sort of deep, droning voice for the protagonist. As the story proceeded, I think this tone worked to emphasize Reseng’s aimless resignation with his life, compared to other character who had much more distinctive voices and motivations.

I did not find this story to be suspenseful in that I was riveted to my seat, but every scene carried a latent tension that was difficult to grasp. Even the action sequences were described with such monotoned effect that they seemed to be happening in slow motion. It felt like the entire story was gradually building towards something, but the final reveal was inside the character’s head, rather than in the action surrounding them. I don’t know that I’ve ever read a story with that type of tension, and it was quite compelling.

This story asks readers to empathize with its characters despite, or perhaps, because of the horrible things they do. Really fascinating read.

Steve D