Pawnstorm Digital Press

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer is a Young Adult novel by Lish McBride (who appears to have a temporary site up at lishmcbride.com). At first it seems like it might fall too well into the oversaturated subgenre of teen-paranormal-romance, but fortunately she takes it in a different direction (much like the fun Dust of 100 Dogs).

The story follows Sam, a college dropout who begins the book working in fast food, and appropriately snarky about it. Then he learns that there is something special about him, something special that draws the attention of a very scary man (as you might guess from the title, the book has a strong supernatural element to it). Action, drama, comedy, and romance all ensue.

The short version is that this is an extremely entertaining book. It was well written, and would appeal to anyone with a sense of humor. It is clearly intended as the first book in a series, and I look forward to the next one. The very short version is this: go read it.

All of that being said, there are a couple of rough edges that I want to point out. I am doing this primarily for my own benefit (as a writer it is important to be able to critique), but I thought that the wider world might benefit from this too. If the author happens to read this post, I don’t mean to be overly harsh, and I would hope that she in no way took this as a sign that she shouldn’t go on producing awesome fiction (and heck if she’s just totally pissed off at what I say, she (or anyone else (yes, I know I’m nesting parentheses, sue me)) can drop me a line and tell me so (if it makes them feel better)).

Here There Be Spoilers

My first issue with the book was the inclusion of Douglas Montgomery’s backstory early on. Basically, chapter three was a flashback to his childhood. The chapter was well written, but it really didn’t serve much purpose. Douglas’s actions throughout the book did a great job of showing what an asshole he was. The only real bit of information that we gained was that he was able to suck the power out of other necromancers, and that is what he was planning on doing to Sam, which could have been worked in just about anywhere else. And normally this sort of thing wouldn’t have been such a big deal, but the story basically stopped moving forward for a chapter, squandering momentum (sure, it showed him planning on killing Brooke, but the reader would have figured it out by the end of the next chapter anyway, at the latest). Since this is a novel, it does have to have a minimum length, so the argument could be made that this chapter couldn’t be cut. The flashback could be moved to a more appropriate spot or more time could have been spent developing Brid’s character, which brings me to my second point.

Brid first shows up in chapter five, which takes the reader away from Sam’s story again, but it wouldn’t have been so bad if chapter three hadn’t been spent with Douglas (after chapter five, the reader has spent about 40% of the book so far with characters who are not the primary viewpoint character). My issue with Brid, though, is her lack of development. She is shown only in the context of her relationship to the pack, she has no life outside of it, there is no tension between the two worlds in which she lives. I would much preferred to learn more about her than Douglas. Second, her character felt a bit like fanservice, which isn’t the worst thing in the world, but bothered me nonetheless. Were-hound or no, I just don’t buy her being ok with being naked, especially while being held prisoner in a cage.

Finally, the sex. It was tastefully done, which is more than many books can say, but I felt that it wasn’t used to its fullest effect. I understand the whole “it’s the end of the world, let’s get it on” thing, but again, it felt a bit like fanservice. I would have been much happier if the author had played it for more tension at the end, when Sam was in the hospital. If he had done more second guessing their relationship, when he didn’t hear from her immediately, it would have totally been worth it, but to me there was no tension in it, no worry that she had only jumped his bones out of desperation or that her father was going to tear his throat out.

All in all, the main issues wasn’t that anything was wrong, but rather that there were missed opportunities, all of which amounted to little more than annoyances for me. The author didn’t seem hesitant or timid, and I especially appreciated that she was willing to kill off likeable characters (Brooke’s death was a surprise, and used to great effect). The characterizations, description, dialogue, were all great, and the storytelling never felt heavy handed. I’m looking forward to him dealing with his uncle, the pack, Ramon, his half-siblings, the big-ass raven, and the fact that he might have a darkness at the very core of his being.

All in all, a great read.

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer is a Young Adult novel by Lish McBride. At first it seems like it might fall too well into the oversaturated subgenre of teen-paranormal-romance, but fortunately she takes it in a different direction. The story follows Sam, a college dropout who begins the book working in fast food, and ...

The excitement possible from an action sequence is inversely proportional to its length.  Just saying.

The excitement possible from an action sequence is inversely proportional to its length.  Just saying.

Try Not To Panic has just recieved its first review.  You might have guessed that I wouldn’t mention it here unless it was positive, and you’d be right.  Four stars out of five.  OK, enough self congratulation, back to writing.

Try Not To Panic has just recieved its first review.  You might have guessed that I wouldn't mention it here unless it was positive, and you'd be right.  Four stars out of five.  OK, enough self congratulation, back to writing.

So, after recommendations by a couple of my coworkers, I read The The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett this last weekend.  The book was good, but not great.  The concept is good, post-apocalyptic fantasy setting in which demons come out each night.  What this means is that the humans as a species are barely holding on, only able to be out during the day, and everything is scarce.  Good so far.

Then we come to the wards.  Apparently, there are wards that can be used to keep out demons (the old combat wards that would allow humans to fight demons on an even footing are lost).  I don’t have a problem with the wards themselves, but rather how they are implemented.  I was hoping for something like David Farland’s Runelords series (where runes are very powerful, but require scarce materials, knowledge, and a donor to work), but instead I get a book where all that is required to create wards is knowledge and time (Arlen, one of the central characters, can do it by instinct before his teens).

This leads to all sort of problems (such as why the wards aren’t tattooed on people at birth), but the problem that I’m interested in is that it is one-sided, there is no sacrifice.  If power can be had without sacrifice, you can rest assured that humans will have exploited it to within an inch of its life.  More importantly, when you have magic that requires sacrifice, it creates moral complexity, and that is one of the things that differentiates between a good story and a great one.

Ultimately, I believe that all storytelling is based on conflict, and that the conflict that we like is the conflict that we can relate to.  You may be asking what relatability has to do with Fantasy.  Well, in this case, I would say that one of the central aspects of every single person’s life is the concept of sacrifice and trade-offs, which we encounter virtually every time we make a choice.  Combined with speculative fiction’s ability to take issues and allow us to examine them without the baggage that we have in reality, you can tell a very powerful story.  In short, when you are creating a fantasy setting, magic needs to be balanced with sacrifice if it is to be at all relevant.

So, after recommendations by a couple of my coworkers, I read The The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett this last weekend.  The book was good, but not great.  The concept is good, post-apocalyptic fantasy setting in which demons come out each night.  What this means is that the humans as a species are ...

Last year, I wrote Drones, a SciFi zombie story. At about 2,400 words, it had a visceral feel, and after a few drafts, my test readers were quite happy with it (as was I). So I submitted it. And seven times it was rejected. No big deal, seven isn’t a particularly high number of rejections, and I have no grudges against the markets or editors. What bothered me, however, was how long all this took, and more importantly, what the process was doing to my other writing. Over the course of the ten months that the story was meandering its way through the submission process, I got very little writing done.

By February 2010 it was clear that something had to give. As much as I loved Drones, it is not so important that I was willing to put every other story on an indefinite hold. So I posted it on this site, and did a few minutes of guerilla advertising. The story did not become a smash hit that would propel me to fame and fortune, unfortunately, but I was under no delusion that it would. It did go over well, though, with a reasonable number of upvotes and no downvotes. Most importantly, I could write again. That week I managed to finish a rough draft of a short story that I had been struggling with for more than two years.

The whole experience prompted me to do some thinking about the whole process. First of all, let me state that I believe that we are going to see a resurgence of short fiction due to a combination of technological (digital delivery to cell phones) and social (increased public transportation due to fuel costs) factors, although that is a topic for another post. At the moment, I have no expectation of being able to make a living off of short fiction, but nonetheless it is what I plan on writing. So how do magazines fit into this picture?

Last year, I wrote Drones, a SciFi zombie story. At about 2,400 words, it had a visceral feel, and after a few drafts, my test readers were quite happy with it (as was I). So I submitted it. And seven times it was rejected. No big deal, seven isn't a particularly high number of ...

My first piece of fiction has been published!  It is called Valentine, and you can check it out over at Flash Scribe.  I won’t say too much more, other than to thank my awesome wife, without whom this never would have happened.  Enjoy

My first piece of fiction has been published!  It is called Valentine, and you can check it out over at Flash Scribe.  I won't say too much more, other than to thank my awesome wife, without whom this never would have happened.  Enjoy

I have officially sold my first story!  It is a piece of flash fiction that is slated to run on Valentine’s Day, over at Flash Scribe, which should be officially launching today.  In any case, they seem to be an awesome group of people (AND they bought a story from me), so you should definitely go and check them out.

I have officially sold my first story!  It is a piece of flash fiction that is slated to run on Valentine's Day, over at Flash Scribe, which should be officially launching today.  In any case, they seem to be an awesome group of people (AND they bought a story from me), so you should ...

I probably don’t need to tell you about the dismal state of publishing these days, so I won’t.  What I do want to tell you about is where I see hope.  Mainly that is the in electronic publishing.  First, let me tell you about what brings this up.

I recently submitted a couple of pieces of flash fiction to a new publication called Flash Scribe.  Although they do not offer vast sums of money as I would prefer, I really like flash (my favorite piece that I have written is Bob: Employee of the Future) as a format and figured, ‘what the heck?’  So a couple of days go by.  Then I get an e-mail saying that they couldn’t open one of the files that I sent them.  Two things.  One is that it only took them two days to reply.  I realize that flash is, by definition, very short, but they still have to be on the ball to have that sort of response time.  The second is that they did not automatically reject it, which would have most certainly been much easier.

This is the sort of behavior that I simply would not expect from traditional media.  Why?  Because they are traditional, and therefore, by definition, established.  To them, innovation is not an opportunity, but a threat.  It is innovation that will save the industry, but for innovation to occur, people must take risks (especially on unknown writers like myself .  In short, I want to say that innovation is a necessary condition for hope, as it is rarely the past that saves the present from the future (quite the opposite, but that is a different debate).  In addition, I want to wish the best of luck to the various people and groups that are making a go of doing things differently.

Disclaimer – I have yet to get word on my submissions, and I am not writing this as an attempt to flatter my way into anyone’s good graces, I just thought it needed to be said.

I probably don't need to tell you about the dismal state of publishing these days, so I won't.  What I do want to tell you about is where I see hope.  Mainly that is the in electronic publishing.  First, let me tell you about what brings this up. I recently submitted a couple of pieces ...

Just read an interesting article about people doing genetics work in their homes.  Imagine tattoos that, instead of injecting ink, inject genes into skin so that it changes texture or color or becomes fluorescent.  Imagine custom bony outcroppings on elbows and knuckles.  Imagine super-ramped metabolism.  The future, if not here, is certainly on its way.  Sometimes I feel that as a science fiction writer, the struggle is to keep up with the pace of progress.

Just read an interesting article about people doing genetics work in their homes.  Imagine tattoos that, instead of injecting ink, inject genes into skin so that it changes texture or color or becomes fluorescent.  Imagine custom bony outcroppings on elbows and knuckles.  Imagine super-ramped metabolism.  The future, if not here, is certainly on its ...

After a not-so-brief hiatus, I have returned to writing.  Currently, I have several projects in the works, a couple of which are still in the rough draft stage, and one of which I plan on submitting for publication after I get some feedback.  I also plan on revamping this page, so look for changes here, as well.  Finally, as an expiriment, I have placed one of my previously unreleased short stories, Succession, for sale on the Amazon Kindle.  So we will see how that goes.

After a not-so-brief hiatus, I have returned to writing.  Currently, I have several projects in the works, a couple of which are still in the rough draft stage, and one of which I plan on submitting for publication after I get some feedback.  I also plan on revamping this page, so look for changes ...