Landless: September 2013

Cutting remarks

Science fiction becomes reality yet again.

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The Pigments of My Imagination Tour: Angela Kulig

I met Angela Kulig earlier this year as a friend-of-a-friend. She's one of the writers in the Green Envy Press writing co-op, along with my pal Larry Kollar. One of the things that struck me as we got to know each other was the energy and vision she brings to her writing life. Among her talents is the singular ability to create just the right cover art for her work, a skill I am MOST envious of. Her new book, "Pigments of My Imagination" is being released by Green Envy as e.book at Amazon, B&N, or Kobo and in a beautiful paperback edition for the dead tree enthusiasts.

Here’s the Goodreads synopsis:

From the moment Lucia steps into Bayside Art Academy, she is fed a steady stream of lies, but it’s not until she meets William that she begins to question the people she trusts. Unraveling fact from fabrication seems impossible until Lucia finds her first painting, and discovers the dead do not lie—at least not to her.

A dozen lifetimes ago, Lucia started a war. Not a war with armies or guns, but a bloody war nonetheless. The path leading Lucia to the truth is hidden within lovely art that spans the ages. In this life, however, Lucia doesn’t know where to look. Lost, she turns to the one thing she knows with certainty—she is in love with Leo, and has been before.

To celebrate and kick off the book's debut, Angela has a Goodreads giveaway of two paperback editions.

You can also win a Kindle Fire and other cool stuff at a Rafflecopter giveaway a Rafflecopter giveaway

Angela is running blog stops all over the place, so the more you follow her, the better your chances at winning the raffle. Check the links below to get the next stop on the tour:

Blog: angelakulig.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/angelakulig
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/authorangelakulig

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Kick Ass If You Need To, But Be The Boss

I'm over at WinningEdits today, talking about writing, day jobs, the market for serial fiction and fanfic, Yog's law and the best thing you can do to understand the business side of writing. Give it a read. You can comment there or here.

Also, buy my book. You'll love it, I promise.

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Superheroes and alcohol

As Launch Week for "Verbosity's Vengeance" winds down, I'm over at my pal Cecilia Dominic's Random Writings blog, talking about superheroes and drinking:

Batman is a fitness junkie who treats his body like a temple, Professor X is an abstemious aesthete. Superman is a workaholic and Captain America is a boy scout, but alcohol doesn't have any effect on either of them, anyway. Of heroes who DO drink, Thor's banquet hall mead quaffing is like a frat house joke, Wolverine's Molson-and-Canadian-Club boilermaker habit is just part of the tough guy rep he works to maintain, and Tony Stark's alcoholic boozing is a standard pillar of playboy excess. Each of them is a literary archetype of a different kind: moral repugnance ascribed to drinking and virtue ascribed to not-a-drop abstention. Where is the moderate, social drinking of the kind enjoyed by billions of people around the world every day?

And where does the Grammarian fit into this picture? What kind of libations does he indulge in? Pop on over and give it a read.

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"Verbosity's Vengeance" is just $2.99 at Amazon.com for the Kindle version. Don't forget, Amazon makes lots of apps to read Kindle books on the PC, Mac, iPhone, Android, Blackberry and other smartphones.

If you don't want to buy from Amazon or prefer an EPUB or PDF for reading on your Nook, iPhone, iPad or desktop computer, shoot me a line and I can sell you those formats directly via PayPal. Click the button below to get started!

Quiz contest: grammar and superheroes

How good is your grammar? Do you have perfect punctuation? Think you know your superheroes? As Launch Week continues for "Verbosity's Vengeance", I'm giving away copies of the book to the first ten entrants who can correctly answer seven of the following ten questions (without Google):

1. In the sentence, "Wow, the Grammarian's ability to heal himself with self-editing is awesome!", what part of speech is "Wow"?
2. In the same sentence, what part of speech is "awesome"?
3. What movie did Bruce Wayne's parents take him to see that fateful night?
4. True or false: the rules of grammar cannot ever be broken
5. Serial commas go by several other names. Give one.
6. Name this punctuation mark: ‽
7. What are the lenses of Cyclops' visor made of?
8. Exactly how wonderful are semicolons?
9. True or false: strident hectoring about the rules of grammar is the best way to encourage grammatical speech online
10. Other than the Grammarian, name one other superhero who uses superpowered grammar, punctuation, spelling, or a comparable power.

Bonus prize for anyone who can answer all ten!

"Verbosity's Vengeance" is just $2.99 at Amazon.com for the Kindle version. Don't forget, Amazon makes lots of apps to read Kindle books on the PC, Mac, iPhone, Android, Blackberry and other smartphones.

If you don't want to buy from Amazon or prefer an EPUB or PDF for reading on your Nook, iPhone, iPad or desktop computer, shoot me a line and I can sell you those formats directly via PayPal. Click the button below to get started!

An interview by Icy Sedgwick

Launch week for "Verbosity's Vengeance" continues with an interview over at Icy Sedgwick's blog. Icy is a crafty writer who's well known to the #FridayFlash community.

In the interview, I describe the intended audience for my book, discuss my favorite character, and talk a little bit about myself.

"Verbosity's Vengeance" is just $2.99 at Amazon.com for the Kindle version. Don't forget, Amazon makes lots of apps to read Kindle books on the PC, Mac, iPhone, Android, Blackberry and other smartphones.

If you don't want to buy from Amazon or prefer an EPUB or PDF for reading on your Nook, iPhone, iPad or desktop computer, shoot me a line and I can sell you those formats directly via PayPal. Click the button below to get started!

The (super)power of language

I'm over at Andy Hollandbeck's blog today, talking about language, grammar and the power of a well-expressed idea:

The dour, dusty scold who snarls on the internet at every misplaced apostrophe and every split infinitive is missing the point. Grammar isn't about adherence to inherited wisdom solely for the sake of orthodox purity. It's about communication, connection, communion. Grammatical speech doesn't restrict you; it makes your ideas shine. There's a joy in linguistic expertise that is unknown to those who can't tell a well-constructed sentence from a poorly-constructed one.

Also, believe it or not, I'm talking about my new novel, which comes out today. You can see all my thoughts about the rules of grammar, as well as get links to buy my book, by visiting Andy's blog.

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Now available: "Verbosity's Vengeance"

Today's the day! Now available from Amazon.com, "Verbosity's Vengeance: A Grammarian Adventure Novel" is a book that you and your children will love! (This, of course, is assuming that you and your children love exciting, well-written superhero adventure stories with a healthy dose of true-to-life drama and plenty of witty wordplay.)

The nefarious Professor Verbosity threatens Lexicon City with a mysterious new superweapon and only the Grammarian can stop him... just as soon as he hires a decent sidekick. Mix in the interference of the Avant Guardian (a goofy superhero wanna-be), a vicious stranger who strikes from the shadows, and a beautiful, brainy college professor with a thing for superhero technology, and the Grammarian has his work cut out for him. A hero unlike any other, the Grammarian uses the strength of supple syntax and the power of perfect punctuation to fight for justice on the mean streets of Lexicon City.

An exciting and fun combination of superhero science fiction and humorous wordplay, "Verbosity's Vengeance" will thrill and delight everyone who loves superpowers as much as semicolons.

Who could resist? Don't forget to check out what everyone is saying about "Verbosity's Vengeance" over on Goodreads. Buy a copy and leave a review! Tell all your friends! If they like superheroes and science fiction, grammar and humor, they'll thank you for the recommendation!

It's just $2.99 at Amazon.com for the Kindle version. Don't have a Kindle? Amazon makes lots of apps to read Kindle books on the PC, Mac, iPhone, Android, Blackberry and other smartphones.

Don't want to buy from Amazon? Prefer an EPUB or PDF for reading on your Nook, iPhone, iPad or desktop computer? Just shoot me a line and I can sell you those formats directly via PayPal. Click the button below to get started!

And there's no extra charge for the EPUB or PDF formats - still only $2.99. Other formats will be made available as requested. Want to read "Verbosity's Vengeance" on an RPN calculator? Tricky, but I could probably do that for you, too.

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Q & A about Verbosity's Vengeance

I'm over at Sabrina Zbasnik's blog talking about Verbosity's Vengeance. She's the artiste who did the cover, by the way. Good folk.

Book launches officially on Monday!

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Interview at Ganymeder's

I'm over at Cathy "Ganymeder" Russell's blog today, being interviewed and talking about "Verbosity's Vengeance" - what it's about, why I wrote it, does the Grammarian ever speak in the vernacular, advice on publishing, etc. Go check it out!

Reminder: "Verbosity's Vengeance" comes out Monday!

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The 100 Best Novels

Interesting list of "Best Novels" from Modern Library. Their editorial board picked 100 Best, then asked their readers to do the same. Fascinating which ones are overlapping, which ones are missing and the placement of each.

The Board’s List

ULYSSES by James Joyce
THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner
CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller
DARKNESS AT NOON by Arthur Koestler
SONS AND LOVERS by D.H. Lawrence
THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck
UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry
THE WAY OF ALL FLESH by Samuel Butler
1984 by George Orwell
I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves
TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf
AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser
THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers
SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut
INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
NATIVE SON by Richard Wright
HENDERSON THE RAIN KING by Saul Bellow
APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA by John O’Hara
U.S.A.(trilogy) by John Dos Passos
WINESBURG, OHIO by Sherwood Anderson
A PASSAGE TO INDIA by E.M. Forster
THE WINGS OF THE DOVE by Henry James
THE AMBASSADORS by Henry James
TENDER IS THE NIGHT by F. Scott Fitzgerald
THE STUDS LONIGAN TRILOGY by James T. Farrell
THE GOOD SOLDIER by Ford Madox Ford
ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
THE GOLDEN BOWL by Henry James
SISTER CARRIE by Theodore Dreiser
A HANDFUL OF DUST by Evelyn Waugh
AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner
ALL THE KING’S MEN by Robert Penn Warren
THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY by Thornton Wilder
HOWARDS END by E.M. Forster
GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN by James Baldwin
THE HEART OF THE MATTER by Graham Greene
LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding
DELIVERANCE by James Dickey
A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME (series) by Anthony Powell
POINT COUNTER POINT by Aldous Huxley
THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway
THE SECRET AGENT by Joseph Conrad
NOSTROMO by Joseph Conrad
THE RAINBOW by D.H. Lawrence
WOMEN IN LOVE by D.H. Lawrence
TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller
THE NAKED AND THE DEAD by Norman Mailer
PORTNOY’S COMPLAINT by Philip Roth
PALE FIRE by Vladimir Nabokov
LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner
ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac
THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett
PARADE’S END by Ford Madox Ford
THE AGE OF INNOCENCE by Edith Wharton
ZULEIKA DOBSON by Max Beerbohm
THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy
DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHBISHOP by Willa Cather
FROM HERE TO ETERNITY by James Jones
THE WAPSHOT CHRONICLES by John Cheever
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess
OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham
HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad
MAIN STREET by Sinclair Lewis
THE HOUSE OF MIRTH by Edith Wharton
THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET by Lawrence Durell
A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA by Richard Hughes
A HOUSE FOR MR BISWAS by V.S. Naipaul
THE DAY OF THE LOCUST by Nathanael West
A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway
SCOOP by Evelyn Waugh
THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE by Muriel Spark
FINNEGANS WAKE by James Joyce
KIM by Rudyard Kipling
A ROOM WITH A VIEW by E.M. Forster
BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh
THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH by Saul Bellow
ANGLE OF REPOSE by Wallace Stegner
A BEND IN THE RIVER by V.S. Naipaul
THE DEATH OF THE HEART by Elizabeth Bowen
LORD JIM by Joseph Conrad
RAGTIME by E.L. Doctorow
THE OLD WIVES’ TALE by Arnold Bennett
THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London
LOVING by Henry Green
MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN by Salman Rushdie
TOBACCO ROAD by Erskine Caldwell
IRONWEED by William Kennedy
THE MAGUS by John Fowles
WIDE SARGASSO SEA by Jean Rhys
UNDER THE NET by Iris Murdoch
SOPHIE’S CHOICE by William Styron
THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles
THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE by James M. Cain
THE GINGER MAN by J.P. Donleavy
THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS by Booth Tarkington

The Reader’s List

ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand
THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand
BATTLEFIELD EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee
1984 by George Orwell
ANTHEM by Ayn Rand
WE THE LIVING by Ayn Rand
MISSION EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
FEAR by L. Ron Hubbard
ULYSSES by James Joyce
CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller
THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
DUNE by Frank Herbert
THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS by Robert Heinlein
STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND by Robert Heinlein
A TOWN LIKE ALICE by Nevil Shute
BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger
ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
GRAVITY’S RAINBOW by Thomas Pynchon
THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck
SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut
GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell
LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding
SHANE by Jack Schaefer
TRUSTEE FROM THE TOOLROOM by Nevil Shute
A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY by John Irving
THE STAND by Stephen King
THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT’S WOMAN by John Fowles
BELOVED by Toni Morrison
THE WORM OUROBOROS by E.R. Eddison
THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner
LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
MOONHEART by Charles de Lint
ABSALOM, ABSALOM! by William Faulkner
OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham
WISE BLOOD by Flannery O’Connor
UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry
FIFTH BUSINESS by Robertson Davies
SOMEPLACE TO BE FLYING by Charles de Lint
ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac
HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad
YARROW by Charles de Lint
AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS by H.P. Lovecraft
ONE LONELY NIGHT by Mickey Spillane
MEMORY AND DREAM by Charles de Lint
TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf
THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy
TRADER by Charles de Lint
THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams
THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers
THE HANDMAID’S TALE by Margaret Atwood
BLOOD MERIDIAN by Cormac McCarthy
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess
ON THE BEACH by Nevil Shute
A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
GREENMANTLE by Charles de Lint
ENDER’S GAME by Orson Scott Card
THE LITTLE COUNTRY by Charles de Lint
THE RECOGNITIONS by William Gaddis
STARSHIP TROOPERS by Robert Heinlein
THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving
SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES by Ray Bradbury
THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson
AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner
TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller
INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
THE WOOD WIFE by Terri Windling
THE MAGUS by John Fowles
THE DOOR INTO SUMMER by Robert Heinlein
ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE by Robert Pirsig
I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves
THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London
AT SWIM-TWO-BIRDS by Flann O’Brien
FARENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury
ARROWSMITH by Sinclair Lewis
WATERSHIP DOWN by Richard Adams
NAKED LUNCH by William S. Burroughs
THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER by Tom Clancy
GUILTY PLEASURES by Laurell K. Hamilton
THE PUPPET MASTERS by Robert Heinlein
IT by Stephen King
V. by Thomas Pynchon
DOUBLE STAR by Robert Heinlein
CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY by Robert Heinlein
BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh
LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST by Ken Kesey
A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway
THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles
SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION by Ken Kesey
MY ANTONIA by Willa Cather
MULENGRO by Charles de Lint
SUTTREE by Cormac McCarthy
MYTHAGO WOOD by Robert Holdstock
ILLUSIONS by Richard Bach
THE CUNNING MAN by Robertson Davies
THE SATANIC VERSES by Salman Rushdie

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The Unknown Citizen

The Unknown Citizen (W.H. Auden)

(To JS/07 M 378
This Marble Monument
Is Erected by the State)

He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint,
For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.
Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a factory and never got fired,
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.
Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views,
For his Union reports that he paid his dues,
(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)
And our Social Psychology workers found
That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.
The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day
And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.
Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,
And his Health-card shows he was once in a hospital but left it cured.
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;
When there was peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he went.
He was married and added five children to the population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his
generation.
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their
education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.

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Head-hopping: forbidden or fantastic?

"I tried Grammarly's plagiarism checker free of charge because even if it was best of lines, it was the worst of lines if someone else already wrote it."

~~~*~~~*~~~

In writing a book, you have to decide on the perspective. Will it be first person ("I clipped the red wire.") or third person ("Tony clipped the red wire.")? Omniscient or limited? Present or past tense?

If you have ever seen agents or writing pundits discuss perspectives in writing, one thing which is utterly verbotten is head-hopping. Just as it sounds, that's the practice of having the perspective hop from head to head, where you get an insider's view of the thoughts and knowledge of different people in a scene.

For example:

"Tony clipped the red wire, knowing it would defuse the bomb. Uma's heart thrilled at his masterful wielding of the knife and she knew that he was the man of her dreams."

See how the second sentence tells us what Uma was thinking? Although this kind of writing was once common, modern sages of the pen eschew such constructions. The above passage would be rewritten to avoid head-hopping, limiting the knowledge to only those things the main character could know or see:

"Tony clipped the red wire, knowing it would defuse the bomb. Uma gasped at his masterful wielding of the knife. In that moment, Tony could see that he was the man of her dreams."

So, no head-hopping, right? Then what should we make of "Flashfire" by Richard Stark (pen name for Donald E. Westlake)?

I'm picking this book because, a) published in 2000, it's far from a hoary old holdover from a bygone age of letters, b) it's one of a very popular series by a very successful writer (more than a hundred books to his name(s), c) it was recently adapted into a major motion picture in Hollywood. And it has a HUGE chunk of head-hopping!

The main character, Parker, is smart, talented, and a crook: thief, killer, thug, plotter, and assassin. The book is all about his quest for revenge on some guys who cheated him on a job. Entertaining and fast moving, it's a good book, if you don't mind lots of guns, blood, heartless cruelty, and self-serving sociopathic criminality.

Anyway, the book uses a conventional first-person limited viewpoint. Parker knows what he knows and sees what he sees, but we don't get to know what other people are thinking or seeing... until Section Three (page 145 in the edition I read). At that point, the viewpoint comes unglued. We bounce around from one person to another, moving through past events and coming back to the present, being told straight out what people are thinking without circumlocutions like "He could see that the killer thought...".

First are the three guys who cheated Parker. Then we are in the head of the real estate agent. Then looking through the eyes of a right-wing anti-Zionist militiaman. Then inhabiting a rich old society belle of Palm Beach, FL (and, briefly, inside the mind of her latest arm-candy husband), before we jump to a state trooper. Curiously, the state trooper talks with Parker, but we are on the outside of Parker looking on, not inside Parker looking out as we had been for the first 144 pages.

After that, we tour around the heads of: the real estate agent (again), a different Palm Beach society lady, the real estate agent (again), the first society lady, the state trooper, the three guys who cheated Parker, still another society lady, the real estate agent, the arm-candy husband, the state trooper, the state trooper's wife, the real estate agent, all of the society ladies (each for about three lines), and we finish with the three cheating guys and the real estate agent (again!).

Finally, to start Section Four (page 227), we return to seeing the world through Parker's eyes, where the perspective stays for the rest of the book. That's about eighty pages of head-hopping, right in the middle of the novel. What gives? Why is this "rule" not just broken, but completely thrown out the window?

Because it's art and it's bloody brilliant, that's why.

On page 144, Parker was shot and left for dead in a ditch. When the head-hopping kicks in on the next page, the reader is dislocated from the main character and the main thread of the plot. In a masterful piece of writing, the viewpoint becoming detached from Parker echoes his three-quarters dead condition. We float from mind to mind like a disembodied spirit. Seeing, hearing and knowing things that Parker couldn't possibly see, hear or know.

Then, even as he comes out of his coma, we are still held at arm's length. It reinforces Parker's weakened state, as though he is battered down so far, he lacks the strength to even carry the narrative. Parker is carried along as a supporting character in various scenes, seen differently by different people as the perspectives shift. During one of the highest action sections of the entire novel, Parker is only along for the ride, not an active observer or participant in anything.

The entire structure of Section Three uses head-hopping as a meta-narrative device that not only throws Parker's weakness in high relief, it underscores his slowly returning strength when he once again takes up the narrative viewpoint in Section Four. He's still weak, but getting stronger. But is he strong enough to carry out his revenge?

It's a great piece of writing. As such, it shows just how useful and appropriate head-hopping can be when it's done right.