The Blatantly Obvious

In case you haven’t seen these yet.  So very cool.  More Here. Including Gaslight Justice League!

I owe a belated congratulations to two splendid people:

Fellow Clarion classmate and wicked-talent Catherine Cheek has just joined forces with Secret-Agent Exemplar Kate Schafer-Testerman to rock the world of adult speculative fiction.  Catherine (Kater to those in the know) is a multi-talented writer and graduate of the Clarion Class of 2007 (as is yours truly) and Kate is the owner of KT Literary (of which yours truly is a client).

It’s nice when good things happen to good people.

Seriously.

John Hodgman wrote a great review for today’s New York Times on comics. Though it still irks me that the Times tends to lump all genre material together for these kind of group reviews, it is nice to see them get some respected ink. The best part of his essay was the review of Jack Kirby’s reprinted Fourth World Omnibus - a psychedelic, epic space opera about warring gods and superheroes.

Superheroes.

What tickled me so much about Hodgman’s review was the focus a classic superhero story. It’s become trendy, if not yet fashionable, to praise comics as a medium while ignoring the slightly awkward, pimply-faced gorilla in the room wearing tights. I wholeheartedly agree that comics is much more than men-and-women-in-capes, it’s a platform for telling all sorts of stories.

But I love superheroes. I love the history, the legacy of decades worth of stories written drawn by hundreds of writers and artists. Most of those writers faded into obscurity, and a few achieved a certain level of fame, but they all contributed to the greater whole, this enormous shared world mythology. There’s really nothing else like in popular culture.  We meet these characters when we are young and they stay with us forever.  Batman.  Superman. Spider-man.  How many different hands have touched their stories?  And how long will their stories go on?

Plus, I mean, c’mon. Admit it - Batman’s just  cool.

This weekend was spent mostly hanging out with Baby Will, and we had a grand old time together reading, giggling and making spit bubbles. (I’m a slightly better reader but Will has got the giggling and spit bubble parts down pat).

It is remarkably hard to tear myself away from that little sprout and write. I often walk around the apartment moaning that “if I only had an office, I’d get so much more done” but I suspect that this is a bit of bunk. If I had a room down the hall, I would just be that much closer to the cute and therefore more easily tempted by it’s spit-bubble making trickery. The only thing the office would be good for would be displaying all of my geeky stuff. Comics, books, statues . . . on second thought the office is a fine idea. I’m back on the office train!

It’s a thing, I suppose. Time spent with Will is probably the most important job I have right now, but it’s a slippery balancing act. You’d think they would have licked this family/career thing long ago. Someone needs to get back to work on that, please.

Sorry I’ve been off the radar for a while but I’ve been . . . er . . . off the radar.

So a here are a few things that I’ve been neglectful in mentioning some Salooners during my surprise hiatus:

Justin Howe has co-authored a great article on the influence of role-playing games on fantasy writers over on Clarkesworld. Included are interviews with Jeff VanderMeer, Jay Lake, Paul Witcover, Tim Pratt, Tim Waggoner, Catherynne Valente, John O’Neill, Howard A. Jones, and China Mieville. That’s a lot of talent rolling them 20-sided dice.

Also, if it’s not too late pick up the April/May issue of Asimov’s for Nick Wolven’s story “An Art, Like Everything Else”. I saw an early draft of Nick’s story at last year’s Clarion Workshop and lemme tell you - it’s good. Heartbreaking, but good. If you can’t find a print copy you can get an e-book of the issue at fictionwise.

Check this stuff out. These guys are good.

So I’m sorry that I’ve been MIA lately - between finishing edits on Powerless and watching the unbearable cuteness that is my son I have had little time to blog.

But I have been reading and man it’s a good one. The Lies of Locke Lamora is one of those door-stopper sized fantasy novels that intimidate 98 pound readers like me. But I am about 400 pages through it so far and I am loving every page. No “chosen one” farmboys here, no axe-wielding orcs and Scottish dwarves or boy wizards - just good old fashioned skullduggery! Think Ocean’s Eleven set in a fantastical Venice filled with wit and adventure. The writing is superb. The story is absolutely engrossing.

What a great read. (so far, if the ending blows I’ll find Scott Lynch and hammer him to death with this twenty-pound monster)

Miracle of miracles - I left the house the other night for beers and burgers with friends. Trust me, between deadlines and dirty diapers this is an event worth marking.

To sweeten the deal, the friends were some buddies from my old writing group, The Fantastic Saloon, and I’m happy to say that the band (as they say) is getting back together.

Writing groups are a unique thing  - I can’t really picture groups of painters, for example, huddling together over coffee and suggesting changes to each other’s works - “You know the yellow bit really works for me, but I just don’t buy the brushstrokes in the bottom corner there.  But maybe that’s just me.”

And in New York the various groups of speculative writers have taken on a certain prestige.  There are hard-to-get-into groups, boasting memberships of hot published writers and influential junior editors, as well as the countless groups of passionate unknowns.

The Saloon definitely belongs to the latter category.  But just look out, because we’re taking our vitamins.

So many know that geek patriarch Gary Gygax died last week. The co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons has been eulogized on so many blogs, on so many websites that I didn’t feel that I had much to add. D&D influenced an entire generation. It shaped the landscape of fantastical literature. It brought together the nerds who would go on to build the information technology of today.

And the New York Times has taken notice. God rest ye, Gary.