it's been a long time

I've been hiding out, so to speak, determined to say nothing, make no promises about writing.  I can't even pretend to engage or do all the things authors are supposed to do. Testing regarding health issues continues, currently for MS. I've had an irregular MRI, blood work irregularities and been crushingly tired. Floundered for months with Rising Wolf. 

But the amazing thing is how today, through all the brain fog and the body pain and discouragement, their voices came through so perfectly clear as I was writing. I didn't expect it.

It's so nice to listen to characters speak and put words down.

review: Scowler by Daniel Kraus

Scowler by Daniel Kraus
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The book is well done, driven and effective, but there were a couple of things that kept me from being wild about it.

I found some of the wording pretentious. I hate saying that because this writer knows words and has an ability to feed them to the reader in a way that truly horrifies, but when I pay more attention to the use of the language than to the feeling evoked, it's over the line for me. Especially so in a story where it has the effect of stopping the action. Your mileage may vary.

Somehow I never came to care for the characters on a personal level, though I felt bad for what happens/happened to them, and pity for Ry and his state of mind. It's a bit odd that I didn't, because the portrayal of Ry is so impressive. What was done to him hurts. (SPOILERS FOLLOW)
However, I didn't particularly buy into Ry sounding suddenly reasonable and somewhat mature at the end, not after the level of batshit crazy so impressively displayed. Might have been better if he'd come out of this with a manic-confidence - I'd have believed it, and still hoped for Ry's future.

There's a brilliant, vivid, surreal flashback scene complete with quotes from Mr. Furrington and Jesus Christ. I'd recommend reading this book for that chapter alone. It was that good.

Final note: this is, as other reviews have stated, horror. It's not sugar-coated for the YA audience and I don't think of it as YA, aside from almost all of it being from the POV of a nineteen year old.









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An explanation, and continuing efforts

I need to talk about the fact that I've not met my announced and intended goal of getting Rising Wolf out this year. It's not that I've stopped working on it. It's that my health has declined. I admit I'm floored by the personal limitations and my own poor adjustment to the changes. I'm finding these limitations and consequences when I try to ignore these limitations very difficult. I am struggling with this and with other personal issues, and have been for quite some time.

I hate writing this, and I hate admitting defeat in terms of meeting a goal. I want to offer my apologies if I've disappointed anyone. I hope that in the end I make it worth the wait.

I'd like to focus on the positive. The fact that Rising Wolf seems to have turned into a full-blown novel is one of those positives.

Novels are their own animal, aren't they? They have a different pace, more threads in the tapestry so to speak, a more deeply realized world within the story.  It's fascinating and challenging to weave it into a strong, cohesive piece.

I've not forgotten the people who love Mal and Zach and want to see more of them. There IS more of them, I promise you that. I will share them with you as soon as I can. All other projects are on hold while I finish their story. I am not stopping the work. I am focused on getting it done.

Looking into the lives of Mal and Zach the way I have been, expanding on their pasts, their families ... writing about how hard they fight to stay together, I'm not completely sure that this novel is the end of their story. Time will tell.

To those of you who love these guys as a couple and want them to be together, I'll tell you this: so do I. And so do they.



(Read the first chapter of Rising Wolf)

working draft - cover for RISING WOLF

review: Horns by Joe Hill

Horns by Joe Hill
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

My first Joe Hill book. The author is skilled, but I didn't find the characters engaging. The action felt a bit clumsy at the end, or maybe just too understated. As much as I enjoy certain kinds of horror, this was ugly *and* dreary, proceeding at a glacial pace. I'm not objecting to horror being ugly and dreary. Part of the reason I disliked it so was precisely because, horns notwithstanding, much of it felt possible and true to life in the ugliest of ways. I want to give the author credit for that, but I still can't personally rate it with even two stars. The story was meandering, and since I didn't engage with anyone, I didn't care to meander with them.

Things I did enjoy - the conversations between friends during the course of the book felt natural and real. The ugliness at the beginning with the compulsive conversations between Ig and loved ones was wicked sharp and hurtful, a terrible contrast. I was glad that even with the horrors Ig faced, in the end he found the truth of his relationship with Merrin. The Lee POV scenes and revelation of how he treated his mom were pure psychopathy, striking when juxtaposed with the kindness of his friends - a punch to the gut I hated, but appreciated the skill with which it was done. Loved Mom's last lucid, strangely dignified conversation with Lee.

Hated all the italics.

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JOYLAND review

Joyland by Stephen King
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

First, the cover: I loved it. A callback to pulp fiction at its finest. There's a hardcover edition, but I far prefer this art.

I like King when he writes small (small is less than 300 pages - for King, anyway). No huge cast, just Devin Jones and the people he interacts with. It's a coming of age novel, which I'm always interested in (or writing about). It's got an amusement park, which I'm always fascinated by (strange, considering I don't ride rides, never have). And it's horror, King style.

Except it's not that horrific. No, it is, but it's not in your face monsters-aliens-supernatural horror. No spaceships here. It's quieter. Matured, the same as Mr. King. It's the monsters that adults recognize - the ones that come for little kids and adults in the form of disease, that comes for others in the form of a psychopath.

Sure, the story has a hint of other-worldness, ghosts flitting around the edges of the frame, but mostly it's life and death and courage, lost love and growing up. It's not fast-moving, but it's good, fascinating characterization.

As for the ending - my guess was correct well before the reveal. It didn't hamper my enjoyment.

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