Harper Voyager's #VoyagerCon

VoyagerCon

So, after a couple of posts about working my way through The Wheel of Time series, it's time for a post a little more about me (sorry!). 

I follow Harper Voyager on Twitter, as the publisher behind some of my favourite authors such as George RR Martin and Robin Hobb.  Both behemoths of the SFF genre.  After all, Robin Hobb and Fitz are the reason I got hooked on Fantasy fiction in the first place.  

Anyway... Harper Voyager tweeted about 'VoyagerCon', a two-part event that took my interest.  The first part was a panel titled 'How to get published...' and the second was a number of panels of authors in the evening.  Looking to spark my growing motivation to progress my own work, I decided it might be fun to go along.  First, to get those tips on getting published and then for the inspiration that I always find with hearing authors discuss their work. 

Treating myself to a day off from the day job I took the train into London.  After spending part of the afternoon as a cliché and working on some of my short stories in a coffee shop, I headed to Waterstones Piccadilly for the event. 

How to get published...

This was an engaging panel made up of publishers, editors and agents, giving their insights into what they're looking for from authors in order to publish their work.  Natasha Bardon (publishing director) led the panel, contributing her own thoughts with Jack Rennisson (assistant editor), Vicky Leech (editor) and Harry Illingworth (agent) all contributing to the discussion and answering questions posed by Natasha.  The fact that all the questions I had scribbled down in notes beforehand, ahead of a one to one quick fire session afterward, were asked was a nice bonus.  

The panel talked about a range of topics including perfecting your elevator pitch.  That one sentence summary that's going to pique their interest and make them want to read your work and makes it stand out from the hundreds of submissions they receive.  It was an interesting thought process and made me start to think how I would summarise my own story. 

This went hand in hand with a conversation about setting a good impression with your submission.  Harry gave an agent's viewpoint in making sure you've followed the correct guidelines for a submission.  Although they may be very similar, each may have it's own subtle differences.  To this end, be accurate with whether you've been asked for the first ten thousand words, or the first three chapters. Another consideration was making sure your cover letter doesn't have any mistakes.  After all, it's representing the standard of your work.  If you can, make it personal, find someone who is interested in the genre you're writing and would be more likely to connect with your work.

The 'dreaded' book two was also discussed.  This is something I hadn't really considered before.  You have all the time in the world to write that first book, when you're an unknown and just working on a personal project.  You're ready when you're ready and then starts the task of running that publishing gauntlet.  However, if you're fortunate enough to be published then book two is going to need to be written to a deadline.  

Vicky spoke around the importance of using your editor, as they're there as a support net.  If they ask you how it's going and your response is along the lines of 'It's fine,' but secretly it's really not fine, then your editor can only assume that everything is as you say.  I liked how Vicky equated this to the classic meme;

Solid advice around book two was along the lines of; plan, plan, plan.  Get a plan down, use your editor, ask any questions you have and get a rough draft delivered.  Even if it's far from the finished article, it gives you something to work with.  For me, it's fingers crossed on book one.  I am sure I will see it differently if I get there, but right now, book two syndrome would be a nice problem to have. 

The, what I imagine to be, growing question of social media presence was also tackled.  The consensus seemed to be that it's a nice to have, but not necessarily an essential.  It's a great tool to have at your disposal, once successful and you have books to market and promote, but prior to that it's more of a way to connect with the community.

From my personal experience so far, through following a number of my favourite authors, is that the SFF online community is a friendly and supportive one.  The panel recognised that everyone is different and authors, like all of us, are a mix of extroverts and introverts.  Some might not be as comfortable as others in putting themselves out there, but it shouldn't be viewed as a negative. 

As I mentioned, following the panel was a quick fire drop in session and I was paired up with Jack for a five minute, one to one, chat.  I appreciated the time he spent with me and providing me with the benefit of his experiences and expertise.  We had a good conversation about where I was with my half finished novel and working on a collection of short stories.  As well as my hope of building a platform and networking with the wider SFF writing community.

The biggest take-away, which I know, and I've been told countless times, is to finish your project.  I've been working on my novel for years now, between working the day job and other various vehicles of procrastination.  Though something Jack said did hit home.  I spoke about the short stories as a litmus test for my writing, and although he supported them as a tool for honing my writing, he did say that if the novel was my passion and main goal, that's what I should focus us.  It's a good way to look at it and I am planning to crack on and finish the first draft.


Over the years I've been working on it I've created a high level plan for the plot and have written about half of the book itself.  The simple fact is, I can't submit half a book.

All in all it was an enjoyable panel and I could have happily listened to more than the 45 minutes it was scheduled for.  My thanks to the guys for their time and sharing their wisdom.  

One final takeaway for me was to try and come up with another idea to write some kind of Red Dead Redemption Pirate crossover epic...

Author Panels

I can be quite a slow reader, so when I get stuck into some classic re-reads of Robin Hobb, George RR Martin or my annual guilty pleasure Harry Potter marathon, it can take some time.  To that end I'm pretty bad at picking up newer or even established authors.  I hadn't read any work from the panels previously, but was excited to use the event as an introduction to them and hear them talk about their books.

Myth and Legend

The first panel was with Rebecca Kuang (@kuangrf) and Shannon Chakraborty (@SAChakrabooks) discussing the mythology, historical influences and tropes that they use in their work.  Both authors were fantastically engaging and I enjoyed listening to them talk about a range of topics.  So much so, that I ran into the store at the end of the event and picked up their books (I'd promised myself I would only get a couple) to add to my backlog.  I'm excited to get started, and meeting both as they signed the books was an added bonus.  

Some highlights were hearing Rebecca talk about influences of Kung Fu Panda and writing from a Chinese/Western background.  It was also insightful to hear her speak about how different provinces in China have their own unique ways of celebrating events, which are again different to her experiences growing up in the US, and how she understands that not everyone will agree with the her portrayal of things, and that's ok.  

Shannon Chakraborty shared her love for murderbots(!) and how she wanted to explore the less publicised view of Islamic women and breaking the stereotype of the 1,001 nights type of tales.

Both authors have academic backgrounds, which lends to their writing in a firm knowledge of the history of their cultures.

Bad Ass Women

The second panel of the night was a double dose of Anna.  Anna Stephens (@AnnaSmithWrites) and Anna Smith Spark (@queenofgrimdark) talking about their experiences of being women in the field, and the portrayal of women in their work.  These women are certainly badasses and it was inspirational to hear how they overcome the challenges they face.  It's clear that both authors don't let it phase them and I'm looking forward to dipping into their work.

It was interesting to hear them talk about breaking the mould for women in fantasy.  They discussed moving away from the classical knight in shining armour model of high fantasy and looking to write female characters that they could relate to.   

A couple of stand out points for me were Anna Stephens talking about being told she can't write about war, because she doesn't know what it's like.  Her stance was clear, if it was someone who had done three tours of Afghanistan she would be happy to talk to them and learn about it. The sad truth is that it's more likely coming from 'some fat dude' (Anna's words!) sat at his computer.  A level of armchair critic you feel men in the field encounter less.

Anna Smith Spark shared what felt like a deeply personal experience in how she fell out of love with writing and it was nice to hear that she managed to rekindle the joy and come back to it.  Alongside this she spoke about the challenge of writing at the same time as raising a family. 

One poignant comment toward the end was around having previously been asked 'What does your husband think about your writing?'  It's a question that I doubt many, if any, male authors are asked about their significant other's views on their writing, by virtue of their gender.

Escape the Dungeon 

I thought that this was going to be a third panel, but what it turned out to be was something entirely different, and great fun!

We had Peter Newman (@runpetewrite) and Den Patrick (@Den_Patrick) guiding us through a dungeon that we had to escape... or die!

The concept was random encounters with monsters coming from each of the books of the authors present (which was a really nice touch), with multiple choices posed to the audience in how they would deal with them.  We had a fifteen minute time limit to escape and pass each monster, including terrifying encounters with fantasy authors and editors!  

It was a brilliantly executed game, with a lot of laughs and a nice way to close VoyagerCon ahead of the authors signing copies of their books. 

What's next for me...

One of my personal objectives for attending VoyagerCon, and particularly the publishing panel, was to help reignite my motivation for my own work.  This has certainly been successful and my train ride home was full of ideas and thoughts for my novel and subsequent (fingers crossed!) books. 

Thanks to Harper Voyager for putting on a brilliant Con, it was their first one (I think they said!) and I hope they count it to be a success, as it certainly was.  Hopefully more of the same next year!  Also thanks to the authors for a thoroughly entertaining evening.

The biggest challenge I have now is to balance my Wheel of Time re-read with the itch to dive into the works of the fantastic authors I got to meet last night.

Cheers,

Steve L 

The Great Hunt (Wheel of Time Book #2)

The Hunt is on...

So, the Wheel turns and I'm on to Book Two...

I think I enjoyed The Great Hunt more than The Eye of the World, which isn't to say that I didn't enjoy it(!), as per my review.  

When I think about it, then it's probably not that surprising.  I often find that, especially with visual media like films, the first one in a series is always the best.  It has that originality 'X-factor'.  Then the sequels come across as just more of the same.  It's not necessarily a bad thing, if you have a formula that works.  The in-jokes, action sequences or use of superpowers being portrayed in the first movie seems to lose that cutting edge come the sequels.  I tend to feel this way a lot with the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the origin movies compared to the follow up, such as Iron Man 2 or Thor: The Dark World.  (Note: this probably also relates to the EXCESSIVE use of lightsabres in the Star Wars prequel movies...).  

Don't get me wrong, I mean there are exceptions to the rule... Terminator 2 anyone?  

On the flip side I find, particularly with fantasy series, that the first book often serves as more of an introduction.  It helps set the scene down to locations/the world, the characters or an overarching story arc.  Then the following books are where things tend to kick on and build upon that foundation.  You're invested in the characters by that point and you start learning more of their backstory or about the world they inhabit.  That's how The Great Hunt felt to me.  Particularly in the case of Rand al'Thor, who takes more of a starring role, with his companions reduced to almost more cameo roles in the second installment.

Perrin and Mat, more often than not, play support characters within Rand's chapters as a part of his journey.  Mat didn't feature too heavily in the first book, being more the victim of circumstance centering around his dagger from Shadar Logoth, but we certainly had more of Perrin in The Eye of the World.  As a counterbalance within The Great Hunt, we have a little more time from Nynaeve, who grows a little more from our first glimpses of her in the first book.

The Great Hunt does introduce and develop some key plot points, for the series, as well as embellishing on concepts that were previously set out in The Eye of the World.  Along the way we also get more exposure to some of the characters of the first book, whilst others take more of a back seat role.  Through Loial we learn a little more of the mysterious race of Ogier as well as some characters from the Shienarans of the Borderlands, that featured at the end of the first book.

The title itself refers to the hunt for the Horn of Valere, a mythical and revered item of some power, reported to be able to re-call long dead heroes from the grave to fight in the final battle against the Shadow.  Running centrally to The Wheel of Time is the constant idea of good Vs evil.  The Light Vs the Shadow, with the 'Light' often spoken of with religious undertones such as 'May you walk in the Light' or 'the Light illumine you.'

The cyclical nature of the series suggests we are headed to the conclusion of this particular 'Age' with a final showdown in the form of a good old fashioned dust up, the battle referred to as Tarmon Gai'don.  The Horn is painted as a key part of this, to call those long dead heroes to fight in said battle.

The main arc of this story revolves around the three main protagonists from the first book, Rand, Mat and Perrin having to strike out to follow try and recapture the Horn, which was recovered from The Eye of the World at the end of the first novel.  Along the way are different and mysterious characters, such as the Lady Selene a highly beautiful woman encountered in another world that joins up with Rand and is obsessed with greatness.  Not all is as it seems there.

Inter-spliced with the events that revolve around the Horn in this book we are introduced to a little more detail of the mysterious Aes Sedai and the infamous White Tower of Tar Valon.  The Aes Sedai use 'The One Power', which is Wheel of Time's take on magic.  It comes from a source, which is split between a female and male side.  The female side wielded by the Aes Sedai and the male side, which seems to be much rarer and is said to cause madness in men.  Any man proven to be able to channel will be dealt with harshly, stemming from The Dragon Reborn having gone mad and broken the world with his use of the magic.

A different element that is brought into the second book is a war-faring race known as the Seanchan, with their own claimed links to history and myth.  They have strange customs and ways of thinking that are at odds to the lands we have been introduced to.  Particular interest is in how they deal with those that can channel, such as Aes Sedai.  

I find the varied people and locations within the world absolutely fascinating.  Each city has it's own residents, that are vastly different to others in their customs.  In this book we are introduced to the denizens of Cairhien.  What struck me about them is their obsession with Daes Dae'mar, the great game.  A 'game' of political intrigue, with a goal of getting ahead and holding power.  Try as you might you will be drawn into it, as no action is an action in itself.  A game of chess on a huge scale, played beneath the surface with people as the game pieces.  To me there is a sense of threat and tension on par with any of the physical danger encountered through the two books so far.

The threat in the second book is less focused on 'The Shadow' in the form of Ba'alzamon, who was more prominent in the first book.  Instead, it is more focused around him waiting in the wings and pulling the strings.  Across the world are 'Darkfriends', who are people sympathetic with The Dark One, and willing to help him in his bidding.  More often than not to prove their worth and get a position of power when he escapes imprisonment in Shayol Ghul (the dark one's prison).  Again, it leaves this feeling of unease looming over the characters, like nowhere is safe, where you least expect it more often than not. 

The conclusion to the book is along the same lines as book one.  A revelation, albeit the confirmation of one, rather than something new for this book.  It sets up nicely for the next book to see how things will unfold further.  

Overall I would say I give The Great Hunt 8.5/10.

If you've read this one, let me know what you think.

Thanks
Steve L

Here we go, The Wheel of Time... The Eye of the World (Book #1)

A Great Undertaking

So, here we go again...

A bit of background

If you've read my intro post you'll know I've been a fan of Sci Fi & Fantasy since my youth.  Once upon a time I picked up Book one 'The Eye of the World' of The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.

If you're unfamiliar with the series it's a biggy.  There are fifteen books in the series (one of which is a prequel novella).  Sadly, Robert Jordan passed away in 2007 and hadn't finished the series himself, though he did make plans of how to do so following a diagnosis of a terminal heart condition.  The mantle was picked up by Brandon Sanderson, who completed the series across three books, following the plan put in place by Jordan.

Due to, I'm claiming, the poor attention span of youth, I think I managed to get about seven or eight books in to the series before moving to something else.  Now, several (I don't want to say quite how many) years later I've decided I owe it to myself, and Robert, to give it another shot and read this fantastic series.  I'm going to start from the true book one and revisit the prequel novella at a later date.

The plan for my reviews is to touch on plot points, but largely keep them spoiler free.  With this particular review I have tried to discount that I have previously read the book and several of the subsequent books, which probably give me a little more context than if I had been going in blind.

So, here we go.  The Eye of the World.  Book one. 

The Eye of the World

I enjoyed this book, a lot.  Though it is very difficult, when knowing the context of it as the start of a fifteen book series, not to see it as scratching the surface of something much larger. 

At it's core, it's the beginning of a tale as old as time (sorry!) of good Vs evil.  However, what the Wheel of Time series does, is weave (if you know, you know) it into a more complex tapestry of a cyclical nature.  That is to say there is a premise that everything that will happen has already happened in another age and will play out again, each time the wheel of time itself turns. 

There are a multitude of characters, each with their own unique, well written, personalities and motivations behind what they do.  Initially you think the story is going to centre around three village born young men in Rand al'Thor, Matrim Cauthon and Perrin Aybara.  All from Emond's Field in the Two Rivers.  As the tale unwinds further we start to get more time with some of the supporting cast with the likes of Egwene al'Vere and Nynaeve al'Meara.  The women of the Wheel of Time series are, generally, without fail, exceptionally strong characters.

We're introduced to Emond's Field as a small rural community, simple in their ways, preparing for the enjoyment of an annual festival with great anticipation.  There are a number of strangers in town as well, that add to the mystery and excitement.  Unfortunately though, on the eve of the festival catastrophe strikes and we're soon launched into the beginning a long journey and the start of the adventure.  

The journey, and the dangers that accompany it, are what really start to shape the characters in their experiences along the way.

One of the strangers in the village, prior to it all kicking off, is Moiraine Damodred, an Aes Sedai.  One of the themes of the opening book is ambiguity.  Often we're informed of mixed opinions on any number of topics within the world, from people through to places.  Aes Sedai are one of those polarising topics.  They're both feared as something evil or revered and respected as important and powerful individuals.  Not a lot is known of them, from the perspective of the Emond's Fielders, but we are slowly introduced to them through the character of Moiraine Sedai, to give her the correct suffix.  

One of their key characteristics is keeping their own counsel and not explaining themselves.  A characteristic that is shared by their Warders.  In Moiraine's case we have al'Lan Mandragoran (Lan for short).  A deadly warrior who partners and guards Moiraine.  Again we don't get exposed to too much information around the relationship between an Aes Sedai and their Warder.

It is something that comes up again and again throughout the book.  An introduction or reference to a race of people (such as the Aiel), historical events (both of legend and in terms of more recently such as wars) or any number of monsters or magics (Aes Sedai's 'Ajahs').  If Robert Jordan had a plan for an epically sprawling fantasy series, it makes sense that he would only tease some of these concepts and leave them for later books, but it does leave you feeling a little frustrated at times, wanting to know more or finding it as a distraction from what is happening. 

There are times when it feels as if the pace drops a little, but overall there is a lot of action throughout the book.  Due to some events, characters become split up and we see different pairings and detours from the main story arc.  Some events are followed in detail, whereas others seem to happen in a flash, almost as a way of introducing characters, which will crop up again later down the line.

There are also some running jokes established.  My favourite is probably Rand and Perrin's regular assertions, in their own head following different encounters, that the other would have known what to do in their place, as they are much better at talking to girls.

The end of the book culminates in a significant turn of events in the grand scheme of things, if not quite a cliffhanger.  Enough to make you want to get into the second book and see how it's all going to unfold.

The verdict...

Overall The Eye of the World serves as a good introduction to the series and I look forward to following it as it blooms.  I would certainly recommend it and score it an 8/10.

If you've read it, let me know what you think.

Cheers,

Steve L 

A bit about me...

Who is Steve?

Hi!

I'm an aspiring author currently trapped in the body of an IT Service Management professional, a job which is every bit as exciting as it sounds...  My dream job, would be to be a published author in SFF. 

Don't get me wrong, I don't have visions of being a New York Times Bestselling author or anything like that, I'll happily settle for being published and being able to make a career out of it.  I'm not after George RR or Neil Gaiman levels of success here, though obviously I wouldn't be disappointed with that!  Either way, it would beat having to explain service management principles such as the difference between an 'Incident' and a 'Problem' any day of the week.

I've loved reading for as long as I can remember.  I grew up reading a lot of young fiction such as the Goosebumps books, Point Horror stories and classic comics like Asterix and Obelix, which we always used to borrow from the local library. 

When I really started to read in earnest though, was after, as a young lad, I stumbled across the original Star Wars trilogy on videotape.  This was before the resurrection of Star Wars, which tells you it was pre 1999.  After wearing out the video tapes that had been used to record the films straight from TV (remember when that was a thing?!) I discovered the abundance of fiction that was written around the extended universe. 

That was, of course, before Mickey waved his magic wand and made all of that glorious canon disappear.  We're talking the X-Wing and Rogue & Wraith squadron series, 'I, Jedi' and other books about Corran Horn and even collected stories like 'Tales of the Bounty Hunters' or 'Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina'.  In the later years there was the New Jedi Order series as well.  I couldn't get enough of it.

Over time, visiting the SFF section of bookshops to get the next Star Wars novel allowed my curious nature to start picking up and reading the covers of other SFF novels.  It was a slow and gentle exposure and I think the first true Fantasy novel I took home was Robin Hobb's 'Assassin's Apprentice'.  I never looked back.

So why am I writing a book blog?

Anyway, you might (probably not, but might) be wondering what I'm going to be blogging about.

As I said above, I'm an aspiring author (maybe I should just say writer...) and I'm working on a couple of projects at the moment.  It's been a slow and long road to get as far as I have with them.  Between other hobbies that I dabble in, and having a day job, I struggle to dedicate as much time as I would like to for my writing.

I have (to date) 68,942 words of a novel written.  It's a little bit Sci-fi, a little bit dystopian future with a hint at some fantasy elements.  Basically I don't really know what genre to attach to it, beyond SFF.

I work on the novel in fits and starts, when I'm not looking at my second project, which is a small collection of short stories.  As I don't actually know if I'm any good at writing I wanted to pull together five short stories, based in the same universe, to test the water.  Two and a half of the five stories are written and I'm thinking of submitting these to some competitions once they're ready.  I thought it would be a good litmus test and it helps build up my universe.

I haven't done any writing courses or studies beyond my English A-Levels at school so I just do the best that I can.  If nothing ever comes of this, then that's fine, but I would like to at least finish that first book so I can say I gave it my best shot.

With that rambling context in place, the reason I am looking to start a blog is to try and get a little more involved in the writing/reading SFF community.  If you read the blog it would be great to start making some connections and talking to like-minded people.  Hopefully a mixture of readers to talk about what they like in their SFF and professionals or other aspiring authors in their experiences.  How do you get over those writing humps?  How do you find the process of trying to get published?  What are your favourite series/stories/authors?

The plan is to write a little about my own progress, as I continue the try and live the dream, alongside reading and sharing reviews of new and old books alike.  I've just bitten off the sizeable chunk of once again jumping into Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, so that's where I'll be starting.  The plan is to race through it, if I can, and then revisit other older books (as well as some new ones!) from some of my favourites like Robin Hobb, Brent Weeks, Mark Lawrence, Scott Lynch, Patrick Rothfuss, to name but a few. 

I'll be starting off with reviews on the Wheel of Time series, interspersed with updates on how I'm getting on with my own work.  If there's anything you'd like me to write about or have any feedback, let me know in the comments.  I'd like to make this as interactive as I can.  Just please don't ask me to explain the difference between an Incident and a Problem! :) 

All the best,

Steve L