There are two big reasons you should come out to the convention and visit the Apex table. First, apparently getting to the vendor area does not require paid membership. As a vendor, I adore this policy, and is the first time I’ve encountered this. That means you can come shop for games, comics, and books for free. Second, my senior editor Janet Harriett will be there. She’s made a few remarks about giving a discount to shoppers directly in proportion to the amount of non-coverage of her clothes. At first, I greatly feared I would be losing money due to Janet’s generosity, but she has assured me that I won’t be giving out 80% discounts nor will our table be creating a scandal (or geek boy riot). I’ve heard estimates of 39% bandied about which is well within the bounds of public modesty.

However, it is supposed to be in the 90s this weekend so…

All teasing aside, do come out and visit the Apex booth. Especially if you’re from the central Kentucky area. It’ll be too hot to do anything else, thus gaming will be a viable entertainment option for all!

The convention runs Friday through Sunday and starts at noon Friday. A three day pass is $25 and a one day pass is only $10.

http://forgecon.ning.com/

http://www.facebook.com/events/310140272389092/

A real spirit-lifter, this one…

Simmons imagines what happened to the  Sir John Franklin expedition, which set out from Britain in 1845 in search of the Northwest Passage only to never be heard from again. The construct of the tragedy gives a talented guy like Dan Simmons a massive sandbox for his imagination. Even the most creative-stunted individual can conjure up a whole bunch of terrifying and frightening encounters the doomed crew of the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror might have faced. Having Simmons feeding these types of possibilities into your head… well, that can induce nightmares in a reader (and did so with this one!).

As always with the most horrifying tragedies, it is the against-all-odds heroics that make for the most compelling stories. The book opens after the two ships have become icebound with our primary protagonist, Captain Francois Crozier, speaking to many of his men and walking the ship. It’s a smart bit of writing that establishes many of the important characters, and familiarizes us with the confined spaces of the ship.

Captain Crozier is drawn as a flawed man, stupid and naive with women, a drunk, but he’s also an effective leader who has a remarkable warmth and empathy that gives the novel so much of its emotional pull.  He a pathetic fool during flashbacks to a foolish fling with young noble woman. His friendship with Captain Fitzjames (a fascinating and withdrawn character in his own right) and their quiet support of one another leads to a heartbreaking scene toward the end of the book. Crozier burns with the need to survive, and his gritty determinism resonates throughout, even as the reader basically knows how things will play out.

The book also follows several secondary protagonists, and amazingly they’re all nearly as interesting.  Foremost is Dr. Goodsir, one of four ships’ surgeons and the only one not to meet an early demise. Dr. Goodsir goes from disrespected weakling to a man with more resilience and honor than anyone imagined. Along with the aforementioned Captain Fitzjames, we follow Lieutenant Little, a likable officer who has the misfortune of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. There are Bridgens and Peglar, a pair of learned sailors who hold intellectual discussions and a secret passion (that is handled with amazing deftness by Simmons).  Finally, Ice Master Blanky should be mentioned, if only for the jaw-dropping and toe-clenching chapter where he is hunted by the monster during a terrible snow storm high in The Terror‘s masts.

The antagonists are rather ho-hum in comparison. Sir John Franklin is portrayed as a typical royal buffoon. He’ s the type of idiot who brings fine china and other fancy accoutrements to an arctic expedition. Naturally, his arrogance ultimately leads to the two ships being bound by ice. Caulker’s Mate Cornelius Hickey is Captain Crozier’s primary foil. He’s a right bastard of a man… unfortunately, we don’t know much about Hickey until late in the book. Even then, he’s pretty much a right bastard for no real reason other than that he just is (which is true of many assholes, I suppose).

The speculative aspects of Simmon’s novel exist solely in the monster and a mute young Eskimo woman called Lady Silence by the crew.

I could spend another 2,500 words talking about the symbolism and metaphors tossed out by Simmons. The monster as nature’s retaliation against the atrocities committed to her by humanity. Lady Silence as an emblem of native innocence. Sir John Franklin as a placeholder for our modern arrogance. But this isn’t a term paper and I ain’t being paid by the word.

What I will tell you, that other than a slightly ill-fitting conclusion, this is a wonderful novel. Dan Simmons now has three books that place among my personal all-time favorites: the Hyperion Cantos and now The Terror.

http://www.josephbeth.com/Products/82063-terror.aspx

Saturday, July 14, 10:00 am-1:00 pm $35

Finding the right publisher for your genre work can be a challenge. SF, fantasy, and horror are filled with multitudes of niche publishers that show up on the bookshelves right next to the larger book companies. Small press, micro-press, big six… join the Hugo and Stoker Award-nominated editor and publisher Jason Sizemore of Apex Publications as he lays out the many paths to publication you may take in both the novel and short fiction markets. We’ll discuss the leading publishers in the field, the qualities you should seek in a genre publisher, and the types of fiction currently sought by editors.

Here is a complete list of Saturday Seminars.

Do consider signing up. I have this great fear that I’ll show up and it’ll be me and one other dude, and that dude promptly leaves after pitching me his Community erotica novel (that I would probably buy). Being my first time at the Carnegie, I want to make a good impression with a strong showing in attendance.

I’ll post this again a few days before the day of the class, but register now to make sure you get a spot!

Learn more about the awesome Carnegie Center for Literacy here.

Even though this was my fifth spin through Mo*Con, I would venture to say that it was the best one I’ve attended thus far (I missed the first two, alas).  Mary Robinette Kowal was the featured author guest of honor. Certainly, this warped my perception of the weekend because I hadn’t seen Mary in nearly two years and having that drought broken made me happy. John Edward Lawson is someone I hadn’t seen in six years. I’d never met Nate Southard or Mary SanGiovanni. Good folks all around.

The food this year… oh the food… in particular the Saturday evening feast of Indian food. The vegetarian korma was insane. The chicken vindaloo was spicy and tasty. The lamb was divine.

Mary performed a shadow puppet show. She held a seminar about how to do effective author readings. Maurice Broaddus read “The Cracker Trap” (soon to be appearing in Shroud Magazine).

On top of all this, the nice people of Mo*Con gave me the Sara J. Larson award of appreciation for running Apex Publications. That it was named after Sarah made this extra special (Sara passed away recently after a long battle with breast cancer. She organized the first six Mo*Cons). The little Maurice head that adorns the certificate was an unnecessary bonus.

(The two missing signatures on the certificate were eventually supplied)

Really? Are we up to seven of these things?

Let’s talk about the annual convention Maurice Broaddus puts together in celebration of “himself and all things Maurice” in the big city of Indianapolis, Indiana.

Against all odds, this event is the most fun of the ten conventions (or thereabouts) I do each year. While the con is quite Maurice-centric (for instance, the games… Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Maurice… live nude readings from King Maker, the annual Riesling-in-a-box bath), there are interesting panels and most excellent guests. For example, the Guest of Honor this year is none other than the AMAZING Apex Presents Mary Robinette Kowal (Apex is sponsoring her, so Mo*Con is contractually obligated to list her as such). Other great guests in attendance are Nate Southard, John Edward Lawson (Raw Dog Press), and many more!

Continuing Maurice’s ongoing blatant disrespect of his publisher, I am not a guest of honor.

This convention is probably the only horror convention held in the basement of a church. Each year,the convention is centered around a theme and last year’s theme was homosexuality in horror fiction. There were some great discussions and panels, but I kept expecting the church to cave on itself in a Rick Santorum cry of despair.

Maurice and his gang of Indiana Horror Writers feed the guests three times (Friday night, Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening). And we’re not talking tin pans of crappy bbq mini-sausages. Saturday’s course includes a full Cajun spread followed that night by a full spread of Indian food. Friday night and Sunday morning are times of socializing and conversing with friends either at the church or local restaurants.

Saturday night involves lots of booze.

Apex Presents Mary Robinette Kowal. Free Cajun and Indian food. Convention in a church. Saturday night house party.

If this doesn’t convince you to go, nothing will.

Do come, commiserate with me, break bread with that creepy Apex dude (me).

The Hunger Games

Katniss Everdeen, our sixteen-year-old heroine, lives in District 12 in the country of Panem. Every year, the Capital drafts two teenagers from each of the twelve districts to participate in a “last (wo)man stand” showdown that functions as a cause for bringing the people of Panem together to celebrate, and as a reminder of a yearly punishment meted out to the districts for a vaguely defined rebellion 75 years prior.  When Katniss’s little sister is selected as one of District 12′s tributes, Katniss volunteers to take her place in the games. The second tribute from the district is a baker’s son named Peeta who may or may not harbor real feelings of love for Katniss.

So off to the Capital we go, where the games begin in a controlled outdoor “arena.” Twenty four kids fight it out to the death. The winner receives lifelong acclaim, a big fancy house, and lots and lots of food.

SPOILERS AHOY!

For the past few years, I’ve heard nothing but gushing about The Hunger Games. I’ve never been a fan of YA. Speaking in broad terms, all the YA I’ve read practices the art of convenience, black and white morality, forced love stories, simplistic and cliched characterization, and characters behaving in ways that make you want to give the book a good toss across the room. BUT!!!! But I was promised by friends who claimed to know better that The Hunger Games was not like this, it was good YA.

I have no doubt that YA exists that will rock my socks. Sadly, this book was not it.

The biggest issue I have with the novel is that so many parts of the plot have been done before (and done better). Children forced to perform in a contest until all but one is dead? Check! Reality television being used for entertaining blood sport? Check! Scary totalitarian regime? Check! A male and female forced to “act” in love for the greater purpose of the plot? Check!

There are too many coincidences. That Peeta, a boy who unknowingly helped shape the person Katniss has become, is selected as her fellow tribute… that Katniss naturally plays the role of charming smarty-pants for the camera when she’s otherwise has the personality of a trout… that she has justification to kill every single time it occurs in the arena (the author is terrified of having Katniss have any faults)… that Rue (a young tribute from district 11) is so much like Prim… that the game makers decide for the first time EVER to change the rules to allow two winners (I thought this would happen from the start, and when it finally did, I performed an epic eye roll out of frustration with the author).

Oddly, the only people of color are Rue and a monster of a boy named Thresh (a bit of a cardboard stereotype, certainly) and they’re both killed (giving Katniss moral ground to do her own killing).  I don’t think the author is making any point about race… she’s more interested in class dynamics, but it is still somewhat misleading.

Despite these multitudes of issues, I must acknowledge Suzanne Collins and the outstanding job she has done tapping into our cultural zeitgeist. This is an author who knows the proper buttons to mash to get readers interested. Even though reality television has been skewered plenty of times in literature, many people recognize how openly such shows pull our emotional strings. And yet we can’t stop watching. We watch in hope of a metaphorical train wreck occurring. Suzanne Collins knows the world (and especially the U.S.) is currently dealing with a have and have not societal structure. District 12 is an open interpretation of the Appalachian region. District 11 can be viewed as people from the Midwest. District 1 and District 2, the wealthiest districts, are the upper-crust elites and government bureaucrats on our coasts (Hollywood/NYC/Washington DC).  The simplicity of her world building is staggering, but it works because it brushes up against reality so well.

There are also a handful of nice authorial touches. The muttations are quite disturbing. The punishment rendered to the avox is terrible. Cato’s torture at the end… *shudder*.

Reading The Hunger Games is like doing a popular dance (let’s say The Macarena, cuz it is always fun!). You know all the moves, yet you like doing them. The Hunger Games doesn’t surprise and goes exactly where you think it will, but you still enjoy it.

Halcyon days.

Days of youth and splendor.

However you prefer to title such times of carefree living and freedom, that’s what most of the 90s were for me. My favorite years of high school were my junior and senior years (1991 and 1992). College was 1992-1996. I had a cushy, high-paying job right out of college at IBM. I was married in 1997, meaning 1997-1999 were those wonderful honeymoon years.

Like any old fart, I find myself turning to the music of my favorite period of life. Maybe I have a biased view (and maybe the answer to that is “duh”), but this is the decade that gave us Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains… and that’s just from one city! Outside the grunge arena, the decade gave us Metallica, Snoop Dogg, Eminem (1999!), Portishead, Radiohead, and on and on… obviously there are dozens and dozens more important musicians that sprouted to life, but I’m not being paid per word writing this post, so I’ll not list them all.

Back in my college days, there was this awesome music shop within walking distance of campus. My friends and I went there at least once a month. Being broke college kids, we didn’t often buy new CDs (though we loved buying expensive rare exports and bootlegs). Instead, we ventured through the bargain bins of music the store sold for 25 cents per CD. Most of the stuff I bought was pretty shitty. What do you expect for a quarter? But every once in awhile, I found gold in them there bins.

One such piece of gold was the SPIRITUALIZED album Lazer Guided Melodies.

I’m not sure why I decided to chuck a quarter for the CD. The cover art isn’t special. In fact, it kind of reminds me of two sperm dancing or gyrating. I’d never heard of the band before, and they weren’t getting any MTV play that I remember. So, let’s call it serendipity.

SPIRITUALIZED practices the mysterious art of trance rock. Slow, melodic, electronic (and often lengthy) pieces of music. I was entranced right from the first track.

Things just kept getting catchier and better, a pulsating, almost alarming rhythm, with a pause in the middle that gives the song a second dose of momentum.

Then they speed things up with a song that has a 70s-like forward pushing melody mixed with early 90s U2.

Some amazing lyrics and electronica…

The song from the album that sounds the most “90s” to me, a prime example of trance rock from the era.

Finally, the trippy 100 Bars. Count down the bars with them.

Spiritualized have had a number of singles that received air play even on the terrible Lexington rock stations. Sadly, I’ve never gotten around to buying any other albums or records by them. Just this one, for a quarter.

I think I’ll go on iTunes tonight and buy an album proper. I’ve certainly gotten half a lifetime of enjoyment from their music.

I have not done any full feature movies (yet), and I’m not really chasing that goal right now. My main goal is to reach an audience that comes to listen to (and hopefully gets thrilled by)  my work at concerts.

As we speak, a team of wonderful people is cooking up an animated comic to accompany my upcoming live concert of “Horror on the Orient Express”, sometime in 2013. However, I’ve created music and sound for several short films, including “Darkness” by Kevin Lauryssen for which I received the “Best Soundtrack” award.

You can watch it here:

I’ve also done music and SFX for the computer game Monkey Tales which received the Medea Award last year.

Thanks, Alex! I look forward to more of your work!

Wondrous Journey

Despite knowing next to nothing about the technical aspects of music, I once again find myself compelled to author another review of the aural arts. I’m driven by a desire to share the good stuff when I find it, even if the best I can do is offer up a piddly “Hey, this sounds, oh-my-God, amazing!”

This time I’m taking up the torch for an eight minute work of symphonic orchestra music written by Alex Otterlei titled “Wondrous Journey.”

First, a bit of a caveat emptor. I’ve known Alex for several years, and during that time I’ve come to become a fan of his music. His work can be thought of in the same milieu as Midnight Syndicate (a comparison I give to provide many readers a point of reference)—symphonic, orchestral, often using electro-synth, and almost exclusively without spoken lyrics. While the Syndicate has created several movie soundtracks, Alex (to my knowledge) has not, though this is something I could see him doing with much success.

“Wondrous Journey” opens with four particularly dark and sudden bursts of music punctuated by a moment of a silence. This apprehension bleeds into a an ominous serious of quick notes that I take to underscore the occasional dread associated with long travel. But the mood lightens and becomes one of wonder as the driving melody leads the listener down a road of beauty and brightness. The last third of the piece is quieter, as we arrive at our first stop, a place of mystery, that the composer promises to share in part 2.

According to the handy composer notes provided by Alex, the style of the piece is symphonic, neo-tonal with a strongly apparent bi-tonal harmony incorporating polymetric and polyrhythmic structures. The lead scale is B Major (various modi) interacting with G minor (aeolian), ultimately leading to the Ab Overtone scale.

Now THAT is the sort of technical knowledge of music that I was referencing in my opening paragraph!

Here is a nifty trailer for the song.

You can buy “Wondrous Journey” for a mere 99 cents from the following:
CD Baby
Amazon

According to Wikipedia, Nick Lachey of the boy band 98 Degrees and current host of The Sing Off is also from Harlan.

Most importantly, Raylan from Justified has Harlan County ties.

Mari Adkins isn’t a Harlan County native, but she lived in Harlan long enough to have her blood tainted with coal slurry and the thin mountain air that addles the brains of many who live there (see Raylan, Boyd Crowder, Mags Bennett, Dickie Bennett, et. al). I really need to edit the Wikipedia entry on Harlan and add Mari to its notable past denizens…

Mari is also notable for being an awesome person and friend. Despite an insane amount of stress and worry in her own life (for a partial recounting, go dig through her blog), she always has a moment to lend and ear and empathy for whatever silly thing that might be bugging you. She always finds a way to lend her service when you need a hand… in my case, she has volunteered many hours behind the Apex exhibitor tables so that I can grab a break or a a bite to eat.

Unfortunately, Mari’s laptop finally went permanently dark. She’s not in a financial position (her hubby was recently laid off by those evil assholes at Amazon) to buy a new/used computer. Thus, I ask you to consider chipping in a buck or two to help Mari find the money to buy herself a laptop.

http://widget.chipin.com/widget/id/8269a441eb3c4bd2 (link takes you to a widget that lets you donate… WordPress is LAME because it won’t allow any embedded scripts in posts on WordPress hosted sites)

Naturally, this isn’t a solely selfless call to action on my part. It never is. Without a computer, Mari will not be able to attend to the edits I need for the novel of hers I’m publishing (Vampires. In Harlan!).

I need that novel edited.

Open your wallet!