Conventions... Conferences... SciFi and Fantasy!

There are so many interesting conferences/conventions out there... I hope my work schedule will in fact change soon so that I will have weekends free.  It would be nice not to have to take time off to go to these all the time.  What am I planning on?


Norwescon – April 5 -8.  “Seeds of Tomorrow” Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention in Seattle, WA.


Westercon – July 5 – 8.  “ConClusion” Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention this year in Seattle, WA.


Mythcon – August 3 - 6.  “Across the Continents” Mythopoeic Society Conference in Berkeley, CA.  (This one I don’t know if I can swing, but I really want to go!)


Foolscap – September 21 – 23. Science Fiction and Fantasy writing and art in Redmond, WA.


Anybody want to join me?  Or are there conferences/convections out there you are attending?

Goals for 2012

Inspired by Rachel Stark at Trak Changes my first post of the New Year is going to be a list of goals for 2012.  However, I want to begin by briefly looking back over 2011.

Last year, I completed four short stories and got one of them to the point where I am submitting it to online and print markets.  I held three launch parties for Fjallind, Eonia and Tav’uran, as well as working on the Idhuan religion. In April, I attended Norwescon and starting in September I began attending the North Seattle Science Fiction and Fantasy Meetup group.    My fellow editors and I published the second issue of the Amber Grimoire in November.  I am amazed and pleased by the amount I have accomplished last year and am excited for the coming year.

My writing goals for 2012 are as follows:

  Write 4+ short stories
  Edit 4+ short stories to the point where I am submitting them
  Have 2+ short stories published, at least 1 in a qualifying market for SWFA
  Hold 4 launch parties, get 2+ new guests at one or more of the parties

  Publish The Amber Grimoire twice as was our original intent
  Attend at least 2 fantasy/writing conventions
  Improve my networking skills by:
    Read 1+ good books on online/otherwise networking
    Hand out business cards at conventions, etc.
    Add people to my Facebook and Google+ circles
    Find ways to promote my blog

I am excited about the coming year – I feel that it will be a good one.
What do you think?  What are your goals for 2012?

Book Review: The Dragon's Path

The Dragon’s Path
The Dagger and the Coin Book 1

Daniel Abraham
Orbit 2011


“There are two ways to meet the world.  You go out with a blade in your hand or else a purse” (526).

The Dragon’s Path is the beginning of an interesting tale.  Following multiple viewpoints through a world that is preparing for great change, this particular story spent a little bit too much time on introductory elements and only got into the meat of the tale near the end.  The characterizations are very well done – rich, well-rounded and always an energizing mix of likeable and dislikable.  It is hard to get entirely comfortable with any of the characters, which fit the uncertainty and uneasiness of the world they live in. 

There are two main threads of the story, corresponding to the two “ways to meet the world:” one of commerce and the other of war.  Both threads contain characters who are growing into their worlds, coming from the isolation of childhood, education and obscurity into the arena of adulthood, application of learning and recognition.  The first thread of the tale starts with a doomed caravan guarded by an aging hero, Captain Marcus Wester, his lieutenant Yardem and a troupe of actors pretending to be mercenaries.  In the caravan is Cithrin, a young banker’s ward who has been charged with the task of smuggling a vast amount of wealth (in the form of silks, gems, spices and tobacco) from the city Vanai, which on the verge of war.  This particular strand develops the world of the commerce as Cithrin plunges into the risky and intricate world of banking, juggling issues of trust, honesty, legality, opportunity and necessity.  She becomes both betrayer and betrayed; pawn and free agent.

Similarly, the other thread of the tale follows Geder, who like Cithrin, is pulled to and fro by the events of his world, sometimes seeming to direct his own fate, other times fully at the mercy of those around him.  His tale is that of the sword.  He begins as the target of every joke made by his company, which is a part of the forces of King Simeon.  After they take Vanai, he becomes a convenient sacrificial lamb to one side of the political forces struggling to gain the upper hand with the King.  Yet from the moment he is given any sort of power, his choices keep unexpectedly changing his own fortunes, as well as the stakes of the whole conflict.
 

Abraham plays his cards very close to his chest.  Throughout the novel, I found myself uncertain as to where he was going with some of his elements.  It appears that Geder is shaping up to be the villain, but it is possible he will realize the danger of the road he has chosen.  It also appears that the pair of Cithrin and Marcus Wester will be in a position to stand against Geder and the sinister forces he has unknowingly loosed in the world.  However, Abraham kept me guessing through The Dragon’s Path, and I am sure he has some further reversals in the continuing tale.

Book Review: The Name of the Wind

The Name of the Wind

Patrick Rothfuss
Daw (2007)

When I was given The Name of the Wind I felt a little bit daunted by its length.  It’s not that I don’t enjoy long books, but I have tried to read too many (fantasy) books that are massively long without having good enough pacing, plot and simplicity (or complexity) to sustain the page count.  I was very pleasantly surprised with The Name of the Wind.  Rothfuss has created a fascinating, complex world and an interesting and nuanced set of characters with which he deftly spins into a story that is at times humorous, sad, exciting, unexpected and always engrossing.

The book consists of multiple layers of stories – in the present the protagonist Kvothe tells the story of his life to the Chronicler who has come to coax it out of him.  This present is infused with a sense of gathering gloom as demonic creatures are discovered to be reemerging and tales of strange happenings filter down into the little village where Kvothe is tending an inn.  As his history unfolds, the mysterious layers of Kvothe’s life begin to emerge.  He is recognized at the beginning as a myth – a man who has faced the strangest things in the world, who is a magician, actor, musician, begger, storyteller and many more things just hinted at.  Perhaps it is this voyage of discovery that makes the tale so compelling.  Rothfuss carries the reader along in the creation of a legend, showing us at once how the life of this mythic character is far more mundane and yet just as astonishing and magical as the tales that are told of it.

Layered within the story of Kvothe’s life are legends of the world he lives in, and like his life sometimes they hold more truth than they seem, while other times they are illusions built upon an ordinary base.  They are interwoven so skillfully that I never lost track of what story I was in or how they were relevant to each other.

At times Kvothe seemed to know a little too much of everything – and, perhaps, given his dishonest tendencies, maintains the moral high-ground with too little effort.  Additionally, his love interest Denna, was a little too unreachable for me.  She was one of those female characters that fascinate the male character with her distance and elusiveness.  She is the flesh and blood personification of Dulcinea: “she’s made of flame and air,” and as such, she is too easy to idolize and doesn’t provide any counterpoint to Kvothe’s fantasy of her.  She could very well be all in his head, which might make her more compelling than as an intangible free-spirit with hints of tragedy about her.  However, this book is only the first in a trilogy and so there is still a chance for her character to become more fully realized in herself, and not just as a object of desire for Kvothe.

The next book, The Wise Man’s Fear, is coming out at the beginning of March, and Patrick Rothfuss will be in Seattle, at the University Bookstore.  My housemate, M, and I are planning on going to hear him talk.  I am eager to discover the next installment of this compelling story.

Book Review: Sorcery and Cecelia

Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot

Patrica C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer

Graphia (September 1, 2004)

    If, as I do, you enjoy both fantasy tales and Jane Austen, this is a lovely little epistolary novel that captures some of both genres.  It follows the adventures of two cousins, one, Kate, who is having her season in London and the other, Cecelia (Cecy) who has remained back in the country.  Somewhat accidentally they become involved in the contretemps of some not so up-and-up magicians and the pair of young men who are the targets of their schemes.  The young men – the Mysterious Marques or Thomas Schofield and James Tarleton – are somewhat dismayed at the cousins’ contributions, but in the end the villains are thwarted with much witty banter along side.

    Don’t look for a serious consideration of what effect magic might have had on the history of England, as there is little exploration of how it works and how it affects society.  It is apparently a subject appropriate for woman to study as well as men, but again there is little discussion of that aspect.  However for a charming romp with two spirited heroines who keep their heads in challenging circumstances, this amusing little tale is quite enjoyable.  More than the plot I appreciated the amusing comments the cousins made to each other:  “I sympathize with your position, but I am very much afraid you have let your justifiable annoyance run off with your sense” (93) says Cecelia to Kate over her “sham” betrothal to the Marques.