Thursday, September 24, 2009

Blog Fail

Well shoot. Fifteen days gone by with no blogging, very little writing done, almost no sleep, and a brand new hole in the sofa courtesy of my Pembroke Welsh Corgi.

It's undeniably been a busy two weeks, but I've had plenty of time to unlock achievements in the Batman game, so that's not really an excuse. If I want publish something, I have to shift my priorities a few degrees away from video games and into editing. I've got at least three stories that are just begging for more time and effort.

On the plus side, I have gotten some quality daydreaming in during my commute, and I should be able to get a few good posts done in a short time once I actually put fingers to keyboard. Look out for some reviews of writing books in the not-too-distant future. Also a possible essay on health care: not because I want to write it, but because the whole thing gets me so (let's be charitable and say "passionate") that I don't think I have a choice.

--Dave

Author's Log

I wrote about 500 words on the biology of elves, fairies, pixies, goblins, hobgoblins, and brownies. Nothing that's likely to see print, but useful background notes nonetheless.

Regarding submissions, my super-short story for Writer's Digest didn't make the top five. My short story pitch remains in limbo, where it's been for the past two months plus two weeks. Not entirely unexpected, but I'm looking forward to either a deadline for the full story (to shoot some adrenaline directly into my motivational glands) or a rejection (to end the freaking suspense already).

Current Reading

Still working my way through the Sookie Stackhouse novels, and currently on book four. Charlaine Harris really is getting better with each book. In addition to that, I reread Terry Pratchett's Going Postal and Making Money, two excellent books in the Discworld series that don't require a whole lot of background knowledge.

I also tracked down a copy of The Strain, by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. In some respects it's a back-to-basics vampire novel, in that the bloodsuckers are unquestionably evil, undead monsters that have no problem eating their loved ones. In other respects, it's innovative: del Toro expands concepts he first tried out in Blade II into a unique, terrifying new breed of vampire. Honestly, I haven't seen vampires this interesting in fiction since Brian Lumley's Necroscope series.

Being the first book in a planned trilogy, the ending isn't entirely satisfactory, and some of the plot relies on characters making bad mistakes that they should be smart enough to avoid. But the prose is good, the vampires are scary, and the sense of impending doom only increases with every page. Recommended for fans of Harry Keogh and haters of Edward Cullen alike.

1 comment:

Misty Mays said...

It seems as though everyone is taking a vacation I need one too.Have fun don't work to hard.