Author's Note

The opening page has a long list of books to click on and download and the express instructions that users cannot “borrow” more than 5 e-books in a 2 week period (violation will result in banning from the site) and that after the user is finished with the e-book, he/she is on the honor system to delete the book from his/her e-reader. My first thought was that this is not so different from what I do when I buy a hard copy book and then loan or pass it on to a family member or friend who I think will enjoy it. It also follows closely to the absolutely legal brick and mortar library model. But as I cruised through the website I noticed a few things –

1) The size of the list – it’s huge. I find it really hard to believe that this man has purchased and read every single one of these books since the advent of e-readers. Not impossible, but hard to believe.

2) Throughout the website there is inflammatory rhetoric about the “thieving publishers.” All publishers are thieves? Really? While I don’t defend or condone any shady business practices on the part of any business, and publishing is a business, I don’t think that we can paint ALL publishers with such a broad brush. There are plenty of snakes in the grass out there, but there are also a lot of editors and publishers who are honestly in love with the written word and who just want to get good books into the hands of eager readers.

This was all starting reek of scam, not someone who was just trying to share the joy of reading. Then came the part that got my hackles up…. He begs for donations to keep the website up, citing having to pay for bandwidth because of all the downloads and also spending so much time sourcing the e-books. And then he lists different donation amounts and what extra perks come with those amounts, which pretty much amounts to buying a membership in the site – And for 90 euros you can receive a DVD of the entire collection. WHAT?!?!?!

This now goes way over the line, my friends. A blank DVD does not cost much, and while postage (depending on where it’s going) can be more than a pittance, the cost of both of those together is not even close to the 90 euro mark. He does not write the book; nor does he participate in typesetting, editing, or proofing the book; nor does he bear any of the cost of promoting or distributing it, and yet he’s making money off it. And that, my friends, in my humble opinion, amounts to thievery.

The man is a thief and a scam artist. He’s not just magnanimously spreading the joy of reading and helping people in 3rd world countries have access to literature. I hope he gets shut down.

I’m all for making sure people have easy access to books. As a writer, it’s in my best interest to increase the reader culture, not do things that prevent it from growing. But at the same time, I want the people who are doing the work – the writing, editing, proofing, promotion, distribution, etc. – to be fairly compensated for that work. I don’t want some lazy, unethical jerk to ride on their backs and make an easy buck (or euro).

I’ve included a link to the website so you can decide for yourself. But count me among those who are angry and have their hackles up.

http://www.truly-free.org/

It’s funny where a random conversation can take you.  I’d intended today to write a blog about Virginia’s Woolf’s famous piece about a room of one’s own and how things have changed (or not) in modern times, but instead I found myself woolgathering about the subject of genre after a random hallway conversation with a work acquaintance. 

It all started with the subject of pen names and how many authors have them.  She remarked that she had been amazed to find out that some authors have two or three pen names, and write different types of books under each name – like Snuggie Lovelace for romances, Jimmy Lasersight for science fiction, and L. P. Mystereo for mysteries.  My coworker thought that the writers should be proud of their versatility and have a single name that stretched across the genres.  But it’s not really a lack of pride that keeps writers from using the same name no matter what they write; there are other forces at play here. 

I rolled out the usual explanations to her.  Readers like to know what to expect when they pick up a new novel by a certain writer.  Booksellers like to know where to shelve things.  The marketing departments of publishing houses like to know where to spend their advertising dollars.  It would be awfully silly to buy advertising space for the latest fantasy blockbuster in a magazine aimed at mystery enthusiasts.  Having clear genre boundaries and everyone settled down into neat little boxes seems to make everything run a little smoother in the publishing industry.  But smoother doesn’t necessarily make for great books…. 

In fact, the really great books seem to be the ones that break past these boundaries and defy the neat, orderly boxes of categorization.  One of my favorite books, “The Time Traveler’s Wife” by Audrey Niffenegger, does this.  It’s a romance.  It’s science fiction.  It’s a carefully crafted literary character study.  It is a wonderful book that makes me laugh and cry every time I read it.  I think publishers should publish more books like this in spite of the shelving and categorization confusion it might cause. 

Thank goodness the Powers That Be in New York seem to be catching on.  Cross-genre seems to be latest buzz word on literati circles – Romantic Mysteries, Urban Fantasy, Science Fiction Thrillers, the list goes on and on.  So perhaps one day my coworker’s vision will come true and writers will only need one name, no matter how many different kinds of books they write.

“Before us is the empty page, the deep o’er which, like God, though modestly, we brood.” 

~ William Gass

Next to asking where story ideas come from, I think the most popular question I get asked by non-writers is whether or not what’s happening in my real world shows up in my writing, but most especially, do real people I know show up as characters.  And the answer is – yes and no.  I know, I know, another slippery, weasel non-answer.  But here’s how it works….

Situations show up a lot.  If I get lost and get panicky while trying to find my way out of an unfamiliar part of the city, you better believe that’s showing up in my work.  That kind of true, visceral emotion is too good to waste.  But it gets changed a little.  If I’m panicky about being lost, then my protagonist might be panicky about being chased or shot at, or if he/she is lost, he/she does it in another dimension of time or space.   But because of my own real life situation, all I have to do is reach into my own memories and describe my own feelings for my characters. 

Broad ideas also show up pretty regularly.  One idea I’ve been working on for a while is that of sleep, or lack thereof.  I don’t have all the kinks worked out yet, but it should be a lovely scifi story when I’m done.  And why does my mind keep wandering back to the thought of lost sleep and the hunger, the ache, for a good night’s sleep, which is dangling  just out of reach?  Because like most working Americans, I’m regularly sleep deprived because of the demands of a day job, a family, a home, and trying to make my creative dreams come true.  As a writer, if I passed up the chance to write a story that would ring so true with the hearts of so many people – well, I might as well turn in my pens and notebooks, I wouldn’t be a real writer at all. 

But characters, what about the characters….  Can anyone who meets a writer assume that he/she might find themselves in the pages of a future novel or short story?  Yes and no.  I’d be silly to cut myself off from such a rich source of inspiration for characters.  But dropping a real person, whole and unchanged from real life, into my work just doesn’t work.  I’d have to be true to that person.  I’d have to warp storylines to get every nuance of that person just so.  I’d have to risk a libel and slander lawsuit if that person didn’t like the character.  So, I borrow pieces.  Some deep family loyalty from over here, an obsession with groan-worthy puns from over there, and a soul questing for love from over here.  Not only does that free me from being true to one person, and potential story-warping and lawsuits, it allows me to create characters that everyone can find a little piece of themselves in.  And if my readers can find themselves in a character, then they can identify with that character. 

But do you want to know the real secret about who goes into making my characters?  It’s me.  Every character I create carries a little piece of my heart inside.  Even the darkest, most damaged villain has a little piece of me.  How could I write a believable character if I couldn’t identify with him/her? 

So there you have it, the real truth about whether or not the people, places, and situations a writer experiences in real life show up in the work.

Are you wearing green today?  Are you making plans to go out tonight to drink cheap beer gussied up with green food coloring?  Are you ready to claim to be Irish, even if you’re not?  This seems to be the way many Americans celebrate today, St. Patrick’s Day.  But my mind turns in a different direction…. 

Many of my stories are inspired by folklore and fairytale.  There are rich treasure troves of ideas in every culture around the world, just waiting to be mined for story ideas.  I’ve written about Baba Yaga from the Russian tradition, The Morrigan from Celtic tradition, and the Tooth Fairy, using bits and pieces from multiple world cultures (did you know the Tooth Fairy is connected to rodents in France?).  And yes, I have written about leprechauns of the Irish tradition.  A troop of proud leprechauns make an appearance in my short story “In the Town of Henry’s Fence” (as yet unpublished). 

One of the things that really fascinates me about these folk tales is that if you read the old versions, they often differ drastically from what we hear in our modern culture.  Quite often, the older tale is deeper, or more frightening, or just plain more interesting than the modern one.  Leprechauns of old wouldn’t be caught dead shilling for sugary children’s cereal or fresh smelling soap, and they aren’t just happy-go-lucky little men waiting to give you a pot of gold.  The leprechauns of old were solitary fairies, usually appearing as wizened old men, but only as tall as a child.  Leprechauns were cobblers, making or repairing shoes.  They are portrayed as mischievous spirits, and very fond of playing practical jokes.  Some of them did indeed have pots of money, but the old tales tell that the leprechauns recovered it from pots that humans had buried in times of war, and then either forgot about  or were unable to come fetch them.  But there’s nothing said about rainbows or forcing a leprechaun to reveal the location of his stash.  But the part that would probably sit most uncomfortably with modern American audiences is how leprechauns dress.  In virtually all the old tales, leprechauns did not wear green – they wore red. 

So this brings me about to my original point about my mind going in a different direction on St. Patrick’s Day.  I’m not thinking about corned beef and cabbage or green beer; I’m thinking about how I can place an old-fashioned leprechaun in a modern story, and how much fun it would be to watch the characters interact and have to change their preconceived views of each other as the story unfolds. 

While I’m working on that, you might enjoy some of my other tales -

Check out In the Land of Plenty under the Freebies tab on this site, OR

For an old-fashioned feel, try Hounds of Winter and Over the Hogmanay Threshold

For more modern stylings, try Tony Came Home and Frankie’s Diner

Happy Reading – and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Romance.  What is it about that word that sets most men I know quivering in fear?  Not all of them mind you, but enough that it makes me wonder if it’s a gender-linked trait to avoid hearts, flowers, and all things mushy. 

Sometimes I wonder, “Is it so hard to make a small gesture?”  Even just a grocery store bouquet would do.  What about that rare man who makes the grand gesture without social prodding?  Perhaps it’s the hopeless romantic in this female’s heart, but I’d like to think such men exist – the type of man who will sweep a woman off her feet without reminders like Valentine’s Day. 

One of the advantages of being a writer is that I get to indulge in my love for the grand gesture without having to wait for someone else to do it.  Not all of my male characters are sensitive romantics, but at least some of them are. 

In “Hounds of Winter,” Devlin is a taciturn, but sensitive, man who lives deep in the forest with his beloved Faylinn.  When Faylinn disappears in the bitter depths of winter, Devlin’s love for Faylinn drives him out into the treacherous night, where even the wind has teeth, to find his lady love.  But restoring the status quo, even if it does mean fighting beasts of the other world, isn’t as grand a gesture as Mel Hippos makes in my short story “In the Land of Plenty.”   You see, Mel is no ordinary man.  He masquerades as one under the wide Montana sky, but he’s really one of four brothers who must ride forth to bring on the end of the world.  His brothers want him to ride but he refuses for one reason, and one reason only – Janie.  For the love of a woman he would stop the Apocalypse.  How’s that for romantic?  (Read it for free here)

So with Valentine’s Day not far past, and a little romance still hanging in the air, why don’t you curl up with Devlin and Mel, and see just how romantic a man can be if he just tries.

A season for joy,
A season for sorrow,
Where she’s gone
I will surely, surely follow

Those words, sung in a mournful wail by Sting, were what got my creative juices flowing for the short story that eventually became “Hounds of Winter.”   Sting’s song was all about a man missing his mate in the depths of winter, and I wanted to capture that feeling of aching sorrow and cold loneliness that he’d captured in song with a story. 

In “Hounds of Winter,” the main character, Devlin, finds himself alone in a frigid winter landscape.  His beloved, his Faylinn, has disappeared.  Most assume she has died, victim of a walk in the treacherous winter wood.  But then Devlin finds clues showing that all is not as it appears, and his Faylinn may yet be alive.

I haven’t yet been tempted to write anything with time travel in it.  But I can see the allure it has for my fellow authors that have.  It can be an oh-so-handy tool for fixing plot errors, especially in a series.  You don’t like where things have gone? No problem!  Just have one of your characters time travel back, by magical or scientific means, and change a pivotal action or decision.  Voila!  Plot re-boot!  Time travel can also be highly attractive from the perspective of righting a wrong.  Don’t like that Hitler got to choose his death instead of having it handed to him by his enemies?  Have a character time travel and get the job done.  While doesn’t change anything in our space-time continuum, there is a certain satisfaction to seeing a really bad guy get what’s coming to him at the end of your pen.  And from an author’s perspective, it’s awfully handy to be able to get your character crucial information to ensure survival/solve the crime/save the world by having a character from the future show up and share the necessary tidbit.  Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? 

So, how come I’ve never been tempted to write time travel?  It’s a simple thing, really.  I’ve always had the staunch belief that everything I’ve lived through up until this point has contributed to the person I am.  If I changed anything, I’d be someone else.  And I like who I am.  I know I’m far from perfect, but, in my humble opinion, I’m a pretty fun and likable person.  I’d be my best friend if I were someone else.   And if it goes for me, it goes for my characters too.  For example, if Judy goes back in time to warn her mother about the rogue ice cream truck that runs up on the sidewalk and kills her, then Judy and Joe’s mom survives and goes on to live to a ripe old age.  Without losing his mom at 17, Joe never sinks into the deep depression that shapes him into a dark and broody adult.  Since he’s not a dark and broody adult, he’s no longer attractive to Melanie, who likes her guys dark and broody and unavailable.  Joe and Melanie don’t have a baby from a drunken one night stand, so that baby does not grow up into Tim, who saves the world because he feels like he needs to do something spectacular to get the attention of the father who was never there as he was growing up. 

So from my worldview, any time you change the timeline, all your characters are at risk for a radical personality change.  As an author, it’s my responsibility to mark sure that I capture this and give my reader a true story, with no excuses or shortcuts.  Can you imagine how complex that could get in a novel with multiple characters?  There would be personalities and relationships changing in the blink of an eye (in book time).  And what about echoes?  What I mean is, do the characters truly have no memory of what happened in a different time stream, or will Suzy feel a pull toward Billy because they were lovers prior to the time event that changed everything, even though she’s married to Frank in the now and has no recollection of why she should find Billy attractive?

Working out all those characters and plot lines would be really complicated.  But it does sound like fun, doesn’t it?  You know something, I think I just talked myself into writing a time travel story.  Now all I need are a few good plots….

I’ve always known that when it came to stories, to read or to write, I was a fantasy kind of girl.  It’s all because of my dad.  My father was a voracious reader (and fast too!) and because of his job he had to fly a lot.  So he would come home from his business trips with big paper grocery sacks full of paperback books, and he’d spill them out over the coffee table for me and my older brother to squabble over.  Dad was pretty evenly divided between fantasy and science fiction, but early on I showed a preference for fantasy and my brother for science fiction, not that we wouldn’t read the other genres, we just knew what we wanted to go for first.  Because of my dad, I soared with Anne McCaffrey’s dragons, I skulked through the dirty alleyways of Robert Asprin’s Thieve’s World, I rode along for Garion’s epic adventure in David Eddings’s Belgariad, and I loved every single minute of it.  So it only seemed natural that I would write fantasy when I figured out that being a writer was all I ever wanted to be. 

But heroic (or high) fantasy, which is what made up the bulk of my dad’s fantasy reading, wasn’t quite the genre for me.  Sure, I’ve done a few pieces that worked quite well in that genre, but it’s not quite “home.”  Every writer has a genre that for him or her is home base.  I found my home in my late 20s, courtesy of a co-worker at my dayjob.  I’d already been writing in this genre for a little while because I’d figured out in grad school that stories without some kind of supernatural or mythical twist didn’t suit me.  But I didn’t know what to call it, it’s just what I did.  Then Sarah told me I should read Charles de Lint.  I was stunned.  Here was home.  Here was someone with enormous talent, and quite a bit of success, doing exactly the type of stuff I yearned to do.  I was completely hooked.  Welcome to urban fantasy, my genre of choice.