Last week, fellow SpecFicNZ-er, Mark English, drew my attention to the following article:

22 Rules of Storytelling by a Pixar Storyboard Artist

The 22 rules are attributed to Former Pixar storyboard artist, Emma Coates, and have apparently been collated from her tweets.

Anyway, I think they constitute a very interesting list, and the following particularly resonate:

• Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it.
• Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.
• Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.

But do check the 22 out for yourself and choose your own favourites. 😉

The Wall of Night Series map; design by Peter Fitzpatrick

The A Geography of Haarth series features locales and places from The Wall of Night series’ world of Haarth.

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“Argent:  one the main rivers of Emer, in the Southern Realms of Haarth.”

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“The countryside they rode through was a far cry from the emptiness of the Northern March. Whitewashed homes, some roofed with deep thatch and others with lichened tiles, were dotted amongst fields divided by neat hedgerows. Each house had its garden and orchard, and Malian frequently saw the curved sails of a windmill in the distance. Every other crossroads boasted a smithy or an inn, sure signs of prosperity, and the whole great valley of the Tenne, from the Bonamark border to the river Argent, was as fertile and peaceful as the River lands.”

~ from The Gathering of the Lost: The Wall of Night Book Two; Chapter 30 — The Welcome Cup

Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor (Hodder & Stoughton, 2012; 513 pp)

“Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war.

This is not that world.”

When I did a “Just Arrived” for this book in November (and you will find the back cover synopsis there), I confessed to having read and enjoyed the first book Daughter of Smoke and Bone last year but forgotten to blog about it: mea culpa indeed!

When you read the second in a series, especially when you have really liked the first book, there is always this niggling fear that you will be disappointed, even horribly disappointed. So I was very pleased to find this was not the case with Days of Blood and Starlight. I liked the way the story developed overall and will definitely be reading the next book.

I did have one major concern, which was that the character of  Karou (‘our heroine’) had changed in quite major ways from the previous book, but not in a way that I felt the action satisfactorily explained. In other words, I felt her character was changing to make the plot work, rather than being true to who she had been and her experiences. The development of Akiva, the other central character, was more consistent in this respect.

The concern around the character of Karou did not spoil the book for me overall, but I definitely felt it as a ‘niggling uneasiness’ after I had finished reading.

Nonetheless, if you like a paranormal fantasy and/or paranormal romance that is beautifully written and has a deeper story to tell, then I think you will enjoy Days of Blood and Starlight a lot—just as I did.

UK/AUS/NZ

With the mass market edition of The Gathering Of The Lost recently published in the UK, I’ve been re-posting a few of the features from last year’s Blog Tour.

This post was first published on Australian author Trent Jamieson’s Trentonomicon blog, but since Trent has subsequently revamped his previous blog and started anew, it is now only available here.

I also feel it complements my recent post on my UK publisher Orbit’s blog (although the content is different): War and Power—Sources of Conflict In The Gathering Of The Lost.

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“Romance vs Reality: War & Conflict in Epic Fantasy and The Gathering of the Lost

The Wall of Night series is epic fantasy and deals with the grand sweep of events and conflict between peoples. These conflicts range from political manoeuvering, personal quarrels (the central society in the series, the Derai, have a tradition of blood feuds), street fighting and skirmishes, through to the threat of full-blown war. At one level, this is very much the fare of epic fantasy, in part because war is shorthand for conflict on the grand scale, and partly because historical tradition tell us that major conflicts do frequently lead to war.

A common criticism of epic fantasy is that it romanticises war, focusing on the glamour of combat and weaponry, rather than presenting the real consequences of armed conflict—the “war is hell” so succinctly attributed to General Sherman, who undoubtedly had plenty of experience of its realities. I believe it is true that this sense of “dead and mangled bodies … the shriek and groans of the wounded and lacerated” (also Sherman) is rarely emphasised in epic.

The romance versus reality of writing war and combat is an ongoing tension for The Wall of Night series—and perhaps most of all in this new book out, The Gathering of the Lost. Much of the action takes place within the knightly society of Emer (very loosely based on that of the Burgundian knights during the hey-day of their power) and since I like an adventurous story, the combination of action with heavily armored knights lends itself to both tournaments and armed engagements. Plenty of scope, in other words, to romanticise plate armour and chivalry.

Chivalric, adventurous stories are always fun to read, too, and I for one enjoy reading them. Nonetheless, I remain wary of romanticizing, not just war but the medieval period of western European history, which was both warlike and frequently a very harsh time in which to live. In The Gathering of the Lost, I have tried to balance the tension between romance and reality by setting the action in an environment where starvation is much an enemy as an armed knight, and a history of prolonged warfare has given several main characters a passion for peace. In the words of the Duke of Emer:

“Sometimes in order to have peace we need to make peace—to give something, as well as demand concessions.”

As in The Heir of Night, the first book in the Wall series, when people pick up weapons and attack each other, they are frequently wounded and often die. The focus of the book may not be on Sherman’s “dead and mangled bodies”, but when fighting occurs that reality is integral to the story. Or to quote from the book again:

“So now you know what battle is,” the hedge knight said. “There is no field of glory, only the charnel house.”

I would still argue that The Gathering of the Lost and The Wall of Night quartet are very much big epic. But rather than focusing on a romanticised view of war, it is the internal conflict within the protagonists—their struggles between the pressures of self-interest, the socio-political forces in their societies and the codes they hold to be true and right—that drive the power and drama of the narrative.”

Home Thoughts From Abroad

Oh, to be in England
Now that April ‘s there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England—now!

And after April, when May follows,
And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows —
Hark! where my blossom’d pear-tree in the hedge
Leans to the field and scatters on the clover
Blossoms and dewdrops — at the bent spray’s edge —
That ‘s the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first fine careless rapture!
And though the fields look rough with hoary dew,
All will be gay when noontide wakes anew
The buttercups, the little children’s dower
— Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!

Robert Browning, 1812-1889

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Again this week, I’m continuing my Tuesday Poem theme of poems on a theme of summer, although technically this is as much spring as early summer. Nonetheless it’s a wonderful poem and a longtime favourite—and you really just can’t beat a line like:  “The first fine careless rapture!” (Imho.)

Despite the plus-200 year time difference between their era’s, Browning’s poem, like Shakespeare’s sonnet last week, is distinguished for me by its accessability, as well as the beauty and richness of the language. In both cases, I also really love the way the end rhyme is almost ‘invisible’ because it’s so seamless—the rhymes don’t jar the reader out of the poem, as a lesser rhyming scheme too-often does. But when you recite the poems aloud—ah, then you hear it, the fluidity and the power of those rhymes.

To read a biography of the poet, see Poets.Org: Robert Browning.

To read another Browning poem, featured here in 2010, click on Ferrara: My Last Duchess

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To read the featured poem on the Tuesday Poem Hub—and link to other Tuesday Poets posting around NZ and the world—either click here or on the Quill icon in the sidebar.

Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child by Bob Spitz (Knopf, 2012; 529 pp)

This book, a biography of American food writer and pioneering television cook, was one of my Christmas presents. As I wrote on January 20th:

“It’s an impressive looking book and I loved the film Julie: Julia so am going to be very interested to see if my interest in food and in Julia Child will see me through the 529 pages, given biography is generally not my vein of reading gold.”

The verdict is that I did enjoy the book overall, quite a lot even, in places. The biography is comprehensive, and I found the sections on Julia Child’s family background and early life, as well as the French era when she was learning to cook and then developing The Art of Mastering French Cooking very interesting. This latter period is that covered in the film Julie: Julia, by the way.

The level of detail is good and the writing style very accessible, although I did find some of the “teasers” that subsequently went nowhere a little annoying. For example, when talking about the French holiday home built on friends’ land, the writer suggests that Julia would be learn to “be careful what she wished for.” This hints at ructions ahead—but there are then none reported.

I would also say that this book takes a very kindly view of Julia Child. The author’s gloves are very much on—but nonetheless one catches glimpses of a Julia who was a relatively tough customer, and possibly difficult to work with, although the construction in the book always falls to the positive side of any event or circumstance. I believe it’s a true picture, but gained this sense of the glasses used being rose tinted—which made me wonder if there might not be other, less kindly ‘takes’ on the same events out there.

Having said that, one thing that really impressed me in the book was the rigour of Julia Child’s approach to French cooking and developing recipes that would work—really work—for American home cooks, and quite simply, how hard she worked. I also gained the sense that she was very generous to the causes she supported. These qualities alone are enough to make me raise my glass and say: “Salut, Julia.” (Although her phrase, of course, was always: Bon appetit!”)

If you like biography, particularly of contemporary figures, are interested in food and its history, or in stories of women who have changed their—and our—world, then I think you will enjoy Dearie.

So yesterday I talked about having have  Frost Burned, the very latest in Patricia Briggs‘ Mercy Thompson urban fantasy series as the latest ‘hot off the press’ item on my TBR table.

But how about you? What are you reading right now, or hoping to get to soon on your ‘to-be-read’ table?

And any hot tips for your best read so far for 2013?

I have loved Patricia Briggs‘ Mercy Thompson urban fantasy series—about an automative mechanic who is also a coyote shapeshifter—since I first read Moon Called in 2011.

So I’m very pleased to have my very own copy of Frost Burned, the very latest in the Mercy Thompson series on my TBR table already. 🙂

Given some time out and a sunny corner, I’ll give you three guesses what I might be doing this weekend…

Meanwhile, here’s the blurb from the back cover:

“Mechanic……Shapeshifter……Fighter

Mercy Thompson’s life finally seems to be calming down — but not for long.  After a traffic accident,  she suddenly can’t reach her were-wolf partner, Adam, or the rest of the pack. All she knows is that Adam is angry and in pain.

With the werewolves fighting a political battle to gain acceptance from the public, Mercy fears Adam’s disappearance may be related — and that he and the pack are in serious danger. Outclassed and on her own, Mercy may be forced to seek assistance from an unlikely ally — no matter how grave the consequences.”

You can read an interview with Patricia Briggs—about Frost Burned—here.

And to read a review of her recently released epic Fantasy omnibus, Aralorn, click on the title below:

Book Review: “Aralorn—Masques & Wolfsbane” by Patricia Briggs

The Wall of Night Series map; design by Peter Fitzpatrick

The A Geography of Haarth series features locales and places from The Wall of Night series’ world of Haarth.

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“Ar:  a city of The River.”

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“I am called Tarathan of Ar and I am a herald from the Guild House in Terebanth, in the lands of the River.  Amongst other things, I seek out the hidden and find the lost. “

~ from The Heir of Night: The Wall of Night Book One; Chapter 12 — The Hero’s Fire

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“…And this”—the tune became eerie, with a thread of darkness through it—“is the opening sequence from the ballad that tells of the founding of the Shadow Band to ensure that Kelmé, the child prince of Ar, lived to grow up.”

~ from The Gathering of the Lost: The Wall of Night Book Two; Chapter 28 — Border Crossing

Introduction:

On September 10, 2011, I posted a “What I’m Reading” report on Justin Cronin’s, The Passage. I liked it, so today I’m very pleased to bring you a  review of the sequel, The Twelve, from another new “…on Anything, Really” reviewer, Lou Stella.

Lou’s reviewer bio is below, but I feel the review more than speaks for itself.

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Book Review:  The Twelve by Justin Cronin — Reviewed by Lou Stella, (Orion Books, 2012, 568 pp)

The Twelve is the sequel to The Passage, in which Justin Cronin’s post-apocalyptic world is over-run by nightmarish monster-cum-vampires.

Eviscerating and devouring humankind (and any other large animals they find), they reduce humanity to a few tiny, besieged enclaves under constant and unrelenting threat of falling prey to the monsters after nightfall. The eponymous ‘Twelve’ are twelve ‘infected’ death-row prisoners who—transformed by a military biological weapon experiment-gone-wrong—escape, dismember and chow down, and multiply by infecting some of their human victims who are then linked forever to their monstrous maker.

The story in The Passage centres around several of the people from one community — the ‘First Colony’ (perhaps the last colony, as far as they know) — who have been completely isolated for many years, and their journey out into the world as their community faces a fast-approaching crisis and annihilation. In The Twelve, a central protagonist, Peter, and his friends from the expedition, learn that if humanity is to survive they must do the seemingly impossible — in order to destroy all the immensely powerful ‘virals’, they must destroy the Twelve, and only then will their offspring perish. They are drawn to a concentration-camp-like place called the Homeland, ruled by a few despotic and monstrous people.

Like The Passage, I enjoyed this book for its dark nightmarish mood, for its pervading sense of imminent and catastrophic danger and for the good yarn about how ordinary people (and some extraordinary ones) team up, and step up, in the face of a seemingly hopeless situation and virtually omniscient foe.

The stories of what were minor characters in The Passage drive the tale, linking elements of and enlarging the world Cronin has created. For me, Cronin’s empathetic portrayal of people who have endured a lot of very bad stuff brings Stephen King’s writing to mind.

Big thumbs-ups to Justin Cronin also for plenty of good female characters. The only niggle I have with the (many) characters and their linking stories is that I was continuously trying to find where I had come across them earlier in the story – I got a bit confused, but that could just be one of my character flaws (I felt like I needed a flow diagram).

I enjoyed the earlier and middle parts of the book most of all, probably because that is the part of any story I usually like best, rather than the big drama  finishes.  I enjoyed ‘The Field’ chapter in particular: great delivery, scene-setting, sense of imminent doom … But I did wonder why the H&S checks were less than complete (would never pass at my workplace!).

My only other gripe was the continuous dismemberment etc. of people – it was getting a bit tiresome by about halfway, perhaps because I reread The Passage, and then read The Twelve over one weekend.

That I did read it in a weekend is strong evidence of my enjoyment though, since the days of reading for hours is pretty much in the past for me. Overall, a damn good read — creepy and a bit scary, an engaging and involved story that drew together many threads and characters.

If you enjoyed Cronin’s first novel The Passage, novels by Stephen King, or Max Brook’s World War Z, you will probably enjoy The Twelve as well.

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About the Reviewer:

Lou Stella is a scientist, conservation worker, and former plumber who removes gorse and pines from her rural land with chainsaw and scrubcutter, before replanting with native trees. She then lies exhausted on her couch and reads—and occasionally reviews—dystopia and historical fiction.