Wedding Bells in TunFaire?

Amazon is showing something I haven't seen reported anywhere else. The thirteenth of Glen Cook's Garrett, P.I. novels is scheduled for release on November 2nd of this year! Glen had mentioned a year ago in an interview that he was writing his next Garrett novel under the working title of "Gilden Latten Lovers." Now, it seems the actual title will be Gilded Latten Bones.

I'm glad to see one of Glen's projects attain a publication date. He also has a new Black Company short story due for release soon in this anthology. There's no sign yet of the Dread Empire sequel to An Ill Fate Marshalling, or the third and fourth Instrumentalities of the Night books. At least for the latter, Tor are reissuing the first two this spring and summer, as trade paperbacks. This suggests to me that they will continue the series in this format, and that there will be announcements about this soon. I can at least hope so.

In the meantime, I'll be continuing to read through Steven Erikson's Malazan books, but a discussion of that can wait for another time. For today, I'll close with the advice to avoid green beer, and instead stick with GOOD beer. I have some Sierra Nevada Torpedo on hand that comes with a green label, that's close enough to Irish for me ;-)

Life and all that

Now that it's March I'm finally finding time and motivation to update this site. What's happened since October? Well, I was preparing to move to the New York City area, to break into New York publishing. But to move required LOTS of small matters being attended to.

The first was to make sure I still had a job when I got to the area. It wouldn't do any good to be a starving would-be editor, even if that would offer motivation for my job search! So, I had to arrange a transfer with FedEx, and find an appropriate situation. As I looked at FedEx's internal job site, I found a good opportunity in Clifton, New Jersey. I went through the process, and was hired as the evening Lead Production Coordinator (LPC) for the store. I arranged to begin work on January 4, 2010.

My old friend Lisa lives in New Jersey with her husband. I stayed with them, about an hour outside of New York City, when I visited the area on a scouting trip the last week of October. That trip went well, which persuaded me to go ahead and make the move, and arrange my transfer. In early December I began sending boxes of my books to Lisa's house. This process continued up through the morning I left Colorado, on December 30th! I ultimately sent 57(!) boxes to her house, and loaded my car up with everything else that would fit. I paid to have my bed hauled away, gave away my beloved blue leather recliner, and threw out many other items.

I was worried about how to move Ember, as she's too high strung to ride in the car for three days. But first, I had a more important concern. I was driving home from work late at night on December 8th when an idiot kid drove over some ice, lost control of his car, and knocked mine like a bumper car into the ditch on the side of Parker Road. My driver-side door was ruined, and I had to have a rental car through December 28th, when my car was finally fixed and ready for use. Fortunately, the kid's uncle or cousin had insurance, so I was eventually reimbursed for my expenses, but it took until late January for that to shake out.

No sedation I tried worked on Ember. My last resort was to use the U Ship It website, and through it, I found a guy who transported Ember to New Jersey for $450. Lisa and her familiy would be out of town when he arrived, so I had to arrange to keep her at a kennel near by. This too all worked out.

I hit the road on December 30th, and drove to my friend Russ's house in Columbia, Missouri. It was good to see Russ and Katie again, however briefly, and have a place to spend the night. I drove away the next morning, stopping outside St. Louis at a Pizza Hut for lunch. They had the $10 for-any-pizza special going, so I had half a large for lunch, and saved the rest for dinner. I arranged for a motel room in Columbus, Ohio and got there in the evening. It was New Year's Eve, so I watched the ball drop on TV, and went to sleep just after midnight. Two hours later, I woke up and was violently ill. Over the next five hours, I was sick again every thirty to fortyfive minutes, leaving me exhausted and dehydrated.

I should have pushed through all the way to Lisa's house on January 1st, but I was too tired. I had planned to stop in Bedford, Pennsylvania, to visit Patti Bonn at Aegis/Aberjona. Bedford was at the halfway point of my remaining drive, but getting there was all I could manage. I decided to take up Patti's offer of spending the night in her spare bedroom. We chatted pleasantly for a while on this occasion, our first face to face meeting after years of working together on book projects via phone and email! A good night's sleep had me ready to finish the trip on the 2nd.

I did indeed arrive at Lisa's house in the early afternoon of my fourth day on the road. That evening, I collected Ember from the kennel, much to her relief. She was so happy to see me, but had to stay in Lisa's basement, due to cat allergies in Lisa's family. I would visit Ember several times a day, in between working my new job and finding a place to live.

Craigslist seems to be the current best way of locating a place to rent. I spent a week at Lisa's, making a 45-minute commute to and from work, and checking on rentals on my days off. I found a place in Union City on Sunday, January 12th, and moved in that night. Ember was very happy to no longer be cooped up! Weekly trips back to Lisa's followed, for the next five or six weekends, until I at last had all my possessions in my room. That room overlooks the Manhattan skyline, and is just over the Lincoln Tunnel. In fact. I live atop a hill above the Weehauken little league baseball field, a landmark I rode past every day during my October visit to the area!

By mid-January I had a room of my own, a job, and a short commute to work. The reimbursement of my expenses for my car being hit seemed to be coming together, and I was gradually collecting my boxes of books into my room. My car needed an alignment before the accident, and it was supposed to be done as part of the repair. In fact, it was not done, and the long drive, in a weighed-down car, did my tires no favor.

As you might imagine, all of the above was extremely expensive. I held off getting new tires in order to increase my bank account first. There was plenty of other matters to keep me busy, such as updating my address with credit cards, banks, my cell phone carrier, and so on. I had new neighborhoods to explore, by where I live and by where I work. I also did some unpacking, though I'm typing this next to stacks of boxes. But at last, a week ago, the time was right, and I got my car an alignment and new tires.

That hurdle is in the past, and spring has sprung in the NYC area. The weather is warming up and daylight savings time means later daylight. The "settling-in phase" is declared over, and I announce its replacement by the "get a publishing job phase." Happy St. Patrick's Day, let the games begin!

Music that Bites!

I'll be spending the last week of October in the New York City area, going on as many interviews as possible as I try to land a job in the publishing industry. Wish me good luck!

As part of my early preparation, I'm adding more music to my MP3 player. I'm ripping songs off of my CDs, mainly from my collection of European Heavy Metal. But I'm also revisiting some other CDs that I haven't listened to in a while. I play some songs, or parts of songs, in my car on the way to or from work.

Today I listened to The Very Best of Asia. I mostly find the classic output of the band can be summarized as "Geoff Downes dumbing down the talent of John Wetton, Steve Howe and Carl Palmer," but there's individual songs I like quite a bit. Only Time Will Tell is probably the best known of their hit songs that I actually like. Open Your Eyes is another good one, and I'm sure Sole Survivor and Wildest Dreams will make the cut. I'm still not sure whether I'll add The Heat Goes On.

Listening to the Asia CD this morning had the same effect it has had on me on other occasions. It left me "itchy" inside. I had the uncomfortable feeling of needing to listen to something heavy and ass-kicking, something with some bite! I found the right song for the moment in The Will to Give, from Woods of Ypres' The Pursuit of the Sun and the Allure of the Earth CD.

I find very heavy rock and metal music to be extremely soothing. I thrash around on the inside while listening to it, and that becomes therapeutic. Conversely, calm and peaceful music, even upbeat tunes like Asia's, fill me with pent up energy looking for release. I have friends who experience music the same way, but my impression is that the majority of people actually find aggressive music to be agitating, and gentler music to be calming. As a guess, Metalheads may be more likely to share my reactions, while non-metal/punk fans may be the opposite.

Regardless of hows and whys, I know what works for me, and most of the songs I'll be adding to my MP3 player kick serious tail!

Another Volleyball Update

Colorado State University Volleyball played great this weekend (well, sort of a weekend), in getting 3-0 sweeps of both New Mexico and TCU at Moby Arena in Fort Collins. The Rams beat the Lobos Thursday night in what Coach Hilbert called "the most complete match of the season." Redshirt Freshman Megan Plourde particularly shone, with 10 kills and a massive .786 hitting percentage.

The Rams then put away the Horned Frogs Saturday afternoon, with Plourde again playing well. The whole team is coming together well, and playing at a high level. The chemistry among these mostly-young players has been a pleasant surprise this fall. I like CSU's chances of winning the Mountain West Conference and returning to the NCAA Tournament. They should get a chance to work some bench players into the mix this week, when the Rams host Northern Colorado on Wednesday (a good, but lesser team), and then travel to Wyoming on Friday (an okay team that seems down this season). Go Rams!

Read about Plourde here.

Volleyball Update

As I Tweeted recently to my legions of Twitter followers, “Nothing could be finer than three wins in Carolina!” Colorado State University Volleyball this weekend won a tournament in Chapel Hill. The Rams lost just a single set in the event, sweeping previously undefeated Marshall, beating Tennessee 3-1, and sweeping host North Carolina. CSU played very well, especially since this was the first road trip for a bunch of young players. The Rams did lose at Duke to begin the trip, a few days earlier, but showed they quickly figured out how to stay composed and competitive on the road. This will be a valuable lesson for the rest of the season. Danielle Minch was named MVP of the North Carolina Tournament after racking up an impressive kill total in each match, so congratulations to her and to the entire team.

I’m writing this now so I’ll have something to look back on in the weeks and months ahead. I could be wrong with my prediction, but I think the Rams have a good shot at winning the Mountain West Conference and returning to the NCAA Tournament for the 14th consecutive season. Yes, the Rams are breaking in a bunch of young players, who are new at their roles, but they are settling in and, after finding success at home, now also started to win away from the friendly confines of Moby Arena, as mentioned above.

CSU is fortunate that all the traditional powers in MWC Volleyball are also in rebuilding mode. Utah, like CSU, lost to graduation some of the best players in their program’s history. The new players have struggled, losing to teams Utah normally beats. BYU lost good players, and their coach in only in her 2nd season, so they’ve struggled too. New Mexico graduated one of the best hitters in the country. And I’m not sure what is up with UNLV, but they have played poorly so far this season.

CSU seems to have reloaded and forged ahead sooner than their rivals, the teams that will be their primary opponents in the weeks ahead. From all I have seen or read so far, I expect the Rams to lose a few matches along the way, but to emerge in late November at the head of the pack in a league where the automatic bid to the NCAAs is up for grabs. Go Rams!

See Ram Volleyball for more about the team.

Edited to add a link to a nice article about Minch

The Case for Garrett

Glen Cook is best known as the creator of the Black Company series. His Instrumentalities of the Night series is in-progress, and his Dread Empire series is back in print in nice omnibus editions. He has written other series over the last 30 years, including Darkwar and the Starfishers. Yet since 1987 there’s been one constant to Cook’s writing: Garrett, P.I.

Garrett debuted Sweet Silver Blues. That book introduced readers to the human investigator in a fantasy world. He was a modern character, based on the hard-boiled dicks of American 20th Century detective fiction. His city, Tun Faire, and the surrounding kingdom of Karentia, were similar to 17th Century London and Britain, only with the existence of magic and non-human races such as Elves, Dwarves, and Ogres. Thus, familiar elements were made fresh by an unusual setting and the mixing of genres.

Cook has been writing about Garrett ever since. He has mentioned in interviews that he generally has a Garrett book in progress all the time, no matter what he is focused on writing at a given moment. The series continued in the late 80’s, through the 90’s, and into the new millennium. The twelfth volume, Cruel Zinc Melodies, came out in 2008, and the thirteenth is under contract for eventual release.

Most of the earlier titles have been reprinted recently, and Cruel Zinc Melodies is on its fourth printing in a little over a year. The series has benefited from Cook’s latest round of popularity, which was touched off by the Black Company and Dread Empire omnibus versions. In fact, there’s a visible correlation between how successful Cook’s other books are, and how well Garrett sells. Cook’s success grew through the 80’s as the Black Company books became word of mouth successes. This led to the continuation of the Black Company series, with three new books coming out in 1989 and 1990. The first five Garrett books were available by this time, and each had several printings. The final four Black Company volumes were released between 1996 and 2000, and so 1999’s ninth Garrett book, Faded Steel Heat, went through at least four printings. Cook then didn’t write much for several years, so that 2002’s Angry Lead Skies and 2005’s Whispering Nickel Idols each had but a single printing (the latter was recently reprinted). But as mentioned above, the success of the Dread Empire and Black Company omnibuses, which debuted in 2006 and 2007, respectively, helped renew interest in Garrett, and helped the latest Garrett book sell very well.

Cook was ahead of his time in writing the gritty, militaristic fantasy of the Dread Empire and Black Company books. Just as those helped influence a generation of writers such as Steven Erikson, the Garrett books helped set the stage for the current poularity of urban fantasy. Authors such as Jim Butcher wouldn’t be writing their own fantasy detective stories if Cook hadn’t shown that it could be done successfully.

Why does this mix of detective and fantasy work? In Garrett’s case, it is because Garrett IS Glen Cook, just as Croaker is in the Black Company. The stories are told first person by Garrett, as if he was relating them to some buddies at the bar while downing a few pints of ale. Garrett is a good guy who means well, but who sometimes makes mistakes and falls prey to his weaknesses. He likes to sleep late, chase redheads, and avoid work as much as finances allow. He has a sarcastic sense of humor, and interesting friends such part-Elf rogue Morley Dotes and a physically dead (yet psychically alive) elephant man. Garrett’s cases involve murder, kidnapping, and a criminal underworld.

The cast of supporting characters grows and evolves over the course of the series, and becomes quite large. By the time of Cruel Zinc Melodies the actual plot isn’t as important as simply spending time with all of these familiar inhabitants of Garrett’s world. I thought Cook mixed them all together successfully, though some reviewers wanted more action in the book. But the Garrett, P.I. series has never really been about action. It’s about showing how fantasy can be fun even without the clichés of swords and dragons and faux-medieval settings. If you like Cook’s other books, or think this premise sounds promising, don’t hesitate to give Garrett a try. I predict you’ll soon be like I was a year ago, frantically trying to hunt down all twelve books in the series.

See Wikipedia for a good summary of the individual books.

Malazan Musings

I should like The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Steven Erikson's 10-volume series of epic doorstopper fantasy novels. Erikson is influenced by authors I enjoy, such as Glen Cook, and takes the notion of "gritty fantasy" to the nth degree in his works, which often top 1000 pages per book. He is a trained archeologist, as is his friend Ian C. "Cam" Esslemont. Together, the two put their love of exploring cultures and history into the creation of the Malazan world for their GURPS roleplaying, and eventually began writing fiction in that mileu. Erikson just released the ninth entry in his series, while Esslemont has published two of a projected five or six Malazan books of his own.

I became aware of Erikson (and then, by extension, of Esslemont) because of the mutual admiration society that he forms with Cook. They have been quick to praise one another over the past few years, as can be seen on book cover blurbs and in interviews. Erikson has become extremely popular with fantasy readers over the last five years, and this fandom has often suggested that those who enjoy Erikson's books ought to give Cook's works a try. I encountered this notion often enough on various websites that, in a reversal of the pattern, I sought out Erikson's series.

I've been collecting the mass market paperbacks of The Malazan Book of the Fallen for a little over a year. I bought the first, Gardens of the Moon, new, and volumes 2, 3 and 5 in gently-used copies from stores where I have trade-in credit. At this writing, I have Erikson's books 4, 6, 7 and 8, and Esslemont's debut borrowed from the library, all in trade paperback format (Erikson's 9th volume, and Esslemont's 2nd, aren't released in the USA yet).

I very much enjoy having all the books of a series together at once. It greatly enhances my enjoyment to be able to look at volumes I haven't read yet, and collect hints and ideas about what is to come. Far from being "spoilers," as this information is to some readers, it allows me to to function as an observer as to how the author gets characters from the situations I am currently reading, to those I read later. For Erikson, I know from the cast list that several inhabitants of the city of Darujhistan, that I'm presently following in Gardens of the Moon, are still alive and kicking in Book 8, Toll the Hounds. From what they are experiencing in this first book, they shouldn't survive until that later one!

I'm almost done with Gardens of the Moon. Its story has become engrossing in the second half. I was expecting this, as it is widely reported online that the book is initially quite difficult to get into. First-time readers are encouraged to put in the effort to reach the "juicy" parts, and so I perservered, and now I'm enjoying the payoff. I can see the Cook influence, which is supposed to be much less pronounced in later volumes. The Bridgeburners unit of soldiers bears a resemblance to the Black Company, and Kruppe seems to be Erikson's take on Mocker from the Dread Empire series.

There's lots of high powered magic flying about in Gardens of the Moon. Reviews I've read suggest that this only increases as the series progresses. This is a problem for some readers, since they feel it defies logic. My guess at this point, as a neophyte Malazan reader, is that, in a sense, Erikson is retelling the roleplaying adventures of high-level game characters. I know that when I was around 13, my friends and I used to pretend that our AD&D characters met up with various demons and devils from the Monster Manual, Asmodeus for example. We'd roll the dice, and every now and then, we'd manage to do sufficient damage to kill these powerful creatures. I suspect that Erikson is having his own form of fun by putting enounters of this sort into writing.

I had tried off and on to get into Gardens of the Moon, and this time it finally worked. I now expect to continue to enjoy Erikson's books for years to come. Each is so massive that it will take weeks to get through. I read all twelve of Cook's Garrett, P.I. series between June of 2008 and January of 2009, but those average under 300 pages per book, and I'm ready for a long, pleasurable haul through the Malazan world. Esslemont's books will only prolong the experience, in a good way. I'm ready for the challenge, bring it on!

See Malazan Empire for background on the works of Steven Erikson and Ian C. Esslemont.