Tag Archives: marie brennan

Am Reading: February 2014

This entry is part 5 of 6 in the series Am Reading

Started off February with a bang primarily because bad news meant I read more as a coping mechanism. After War of Honor, I slowed down because I got sick, because I distrusted the next book in the series, and because my attempts at reading my collaborator's fiction screwed with my writing, and I gave up. Then I did a little rereading to lift my rotten mood, but rereads don't count, remember?

  1. Doppelganger duology by Marie Brennan - compelling, couldn't put it down
  2. Flag in Exile by David Weber - layered and amazingly good
  3. Honor Among Enemies by David Weber - very good, enjoyed thoroughly
  4. In Enemy Hands by David Weber - reduced me to a quivery, cringing mess—in a good way. I was in no way up to reading the next book immediately and took a reprieve
  5. Mindtouch by M.C.A. Hogarth - even more amazing than expected and ended on a cliffhanger! love, love, love—except the cliffhanger
  6. Mindline by M.C.A. Hogarth - heartpounding, awww-inducing awesome. Love
  7. Echoes of Honor by David Weber - wow, loved
  8. Ashes of Victory by David Weber - oh, my heart
  9. War of Honor by David Weber - There are too many characters I want to strangle right now, not least of all High Ridge and Giancola. I hate how it ended and had to go read the summary of the next book to be sure it would fix it. It will. I must sit through watching my favorite characters fight each other. Gut-wrenching.

Breaking this down by genre:

  • 2 books heroic action-adventure fantasy
  • 6 books military science fiction
  • 2 books general science fiction*

*meaning I haven't the foggiest which subgenres the Mindhealers duology belongs to, but it was awesome and clearly SF.

By series:

  • 2 entire series
  • 1 continuing through a series
  • 0 stand-alone novels
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Metafiction vs. Fanfic

As for metafiction vs. fanfiction — I *do* think there’s value in having different terms, rather than lumping all derivative stories together, because not all of those derivative stories are talking to the same audience or trying to accomplish the same thing. I personally would reserve the term “fanfiction” for the intensely social realm of fandom, where the stories can be in conversation not just with the source material, but also with the fans and the other stories those fans have told (both about the source, and about other things). And I agree with your take on “metafiction;” I would use that word for fiction that is aware of its own fictionality in some fashion. That’s a different conversation, but it’s a cousin to the fanfiction one, and sometimes they overlap (as in the case of “The Chuck Writes Story”).

Marie Brennan

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Reading and Writing, October 7

This entry is part 7 of 103 in the series Daily Scribble Reports

So I had a late night last night that terminated with the end of my deep virus scan at 3 o'clock this morning. To say I'm feeling only minimally inspired is putting it mildly. On one hand, I think the story from inferno, also known as "Dowse and Bleed" is finally done. I sent it back off to my beta late, late last night and she graciously consented to give it another gander. Thank you, Lord, for an awesome beta.

On Betas

And on that, in_the_blue is a contributing author to two anthologies, including Dragonthology. You can check out her website as Gwynne Jackson on Wordpress.

I have been fascinated in a probably-too-involved sort of way at Elle Casey's blog post about action in story and… betas. She considers being a stranger to be a requirement because friends hold back. It's human nature. I consider being a stranger to be a great way for me not to know your reading style and my beta (love you!) does not hold back on me and I don't hold back on her, and that MATTERS.

I'm not afraid of getting hurt by my editor. I'm a writer; my fears are significantly more predictable: that my story sucks, that it doesn't make sense, that I'll never finish something worthwhile, etc., etc. I'd rather my beta tell me nicely to go back to the drawing board than have a reader tell me I should have quit while I was ahead. But let's face it: it's the real world. I'm gonna get a healthy dose of both.

And on that, thank you also lithiumlaughter for being the queen of all things poetry and for all your help as a new-to-my-fiction reader of the anthology. Between the two of my betas, I think I might be able to salvage what I'd hoped for from that mess. (I say 'mess' with all due affection).

In case you hadn't noticed, I get rather rambly when I'm tired, and I'm tired, so this is rambly, but I felt it strong enough to want it off my chest before trying to pull together anything fictive. I don't thank my betas half enough and I still haven't finished that Niko + Collie fanfic, though it keeps accusing me when I flip through it in my WIP file. It's just there's this little original fiction addiction I seem to be going through right now… Right. Yeah. I'm a mess at staying disciplined with these things.

On Reading

So brief reviews of what I've been reading lately.

The Transfer

"The Transfer" is a short story by Veronica Roth about Tobias Eaton transferring from his birth faction, Abnegation, to the one that would hurt his father the most, Dauntless, where he earned a new name on his first day. We see his father/son relationship and I don't care how old this sort of material is, I was already invested in the character and the sculpture and the details and the characterization made this one hit me hard. We see the terrible ambivalence Tobias has toward his world, unable to find where he fits because there is only one thing he knows and it's the most terrible part of all. We see Tori and Amar and the fearscape. In short, I loved this and intend on picking up the next three shorts as soon as they're released.

With Fate Conspire

I recently reread With Fate Conspire by Marie Brennan. It's the fourth and final book of the Onyx Court series, historical fiction deeply interwoven with a fictional faery London that is terrible, realistic, and wonderfully fascinating all at once. I own this book because I made the winning Livejournal icon for it for the author and so got an advanced review copy: white cover, specs on the outside, and all. If anyone was wondering, I want the entire series in their proper covers. I nominated this book for Yuletide, even though it was a brand new fandom on AO3. That is my intro to say how much I love this book. Now, to the details.

There are really three stories going on here. Though the third one doesn't take prominence until the end, the echoes of it are felt throughout. Echoes? What am I saying? The earthquakes of it are rending the fabric of the world around our two protagonists, whose primary foci are quite personal. London is shot through with iron and the underground trains are being run right through the Onyx Hall. Faery London is in its death throes and while fighting desperately to hold on, see little or no way to save the Hall or their presence in London.

In the middle of this, Eliza is an Irish woman who as a girl befriended a skriker, a faery creature, then was betrayed when he stole away her friend and love, Owen. She is on a hunt through London to find the faeries that are bombing the railroads and make them give Owen back. The other protagonist is the skriker she once befriended who is caught up in his own desperate fight for survival, bound to a cruel master who breaks people for the sake of breaking them, and who may hold the only key to saving the Hall.

I love deep worldbuilding, sprawling stories, juxtaposed timelines, technical details. If you don't, this book isn't for you. If you do, this book delivers. I keep reading it and rereading it because it's the fascinating interplay of faery and human, Irish and Fenians, the church and the Special Police, science and magic, survival and sacrifice, the personal and the epic. I love this book.

Spots the Space Marine

Another book I just reread—again. Written by M.C.A. Hogarth, it's one of those awesome serials that was snippeted and scened (in chronological order) all the way through a sprawling epic with an intimate, personal look at an ensemble cast. Warning: this book is not served well by the ebook format. I could. not. read it until I got a print copy through the Kickstarter project. After I got the hefty book in my hot little hands (yes, it gets heavy), I fell wholely in love.

You have Spots, properly Magda Guitart, who just got shipped in from a part-time desk job in the Marine reserves joining a squad that's still reeling from the loss of many of their people. Then, there's Claws who takes her under wing and in turn comes under her wing as they make acquaintances and then friends with the resident alien "Fiddler," Samuel-Colt, a weapons-engineer, music-expressive bug with a huge sense of humor. Turns out, this depot off in the middle of the nowhere is in a hotbed of a crab warzone and their relationship with the Fiddler is their only way to survive as the battles get hotter and more devastating.

And Spots dances. In body armor. With a singing, cutting-edged shield. I cannot begin to do this book enough justice. Read it.

Additionally…

If I were a good girl, I'd tell you more about thecatisacritic's work right now, but I'll save that for when I have more energy to do it justice. So my comments were less than awesome, but they exist. And I love the new story.

In related news, ran across a wonderful resource dealing with the legal status of fandom and self-regulation within the community. I am a firm believer in fandom (duh) and treat my original fiction as a canon with some self-generated fanfic and a community approach.

Wasn't I supposed to be writing…?

Yeah. That. :coughs: Okay, pick a prompt I guess and fire away. Let's just run with the theme of chairs and laps and hugs for a bit, okay?

Paused to yak comfortably to thecatisacritic over her ficlets and mine. And Shift.

I might go to bed when I get home, which would mean no more scribbling.

Counts

  • Total Fiction: 799 words - Month to Date: 10,403 words
  • Total Blog: 1314 words - Month to Date: 3439 words

365 Challenge

  • 202/365 – Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: Little Girl Reminders – 542 words
  • 203/365 – Seven Days Ficlet: The Joys of Motherhood – 257 words
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A Improperly Behaved Muse in a Properly Behaved Day

Story of the Day

So my muse had a heydey. It talked to me about two stories too sprawling for me to want to take any time to write just now, with other more important stuff to read and write on my plate, but oh! how it talked. The potential in the premises, the possibilities!

May I remind you I have The Rothnen Cycle to write, City of Glass to sketch out, and a heap of a lot of writing/publishing work for my other pen name?

Duly reminded, my muse's response went something like: Write it down! Write it down! We'll do it later and it'll be big and we can make a series of it, and we could do this and we could do that and...

May you all be blessed with more tractable, less distractible muses than mine!

Vardin Word of the Day

hieret | hyeret [ HEE eh ret ] or [ HYEH ret ] from h - l/y - r (etym. )

b. a. #n. behaving oneself properly within the traditions or demands of society, household law, etc.

In short, what my muse has not been.

Written Work of the Day

I did accomplish something worthwhile on the actual main attraction of my writing world, but I shall present a snippet from the muse's illicit love affair instead.

On the corner of Fifth Street, on the north side of the Kingdoms in the City Beshet, stands a small, dingy grey building, almost a shack rather than a building, but the walls are of moldered brick, not wood, and the glass is still quite good, so perhaps it is still just a building and an engraved brass sign hangs over the door: "Hero for Hire—Inquire Within."

Through the glass, we can see that just inside is a tall, drab grey desk stands with a man sitting pulled up to it in a chair overlarge but comfortable. He at least has escaped the drabness of his shabby, grey world and is dressed rather smartly for a man down on his luck in a fine blue sweater and respectable slacks. A pair of glasses perches on his nose, but these we must assume he removes when swashbuckling as a hero ought, and overall, the look of him inspires confidence. His name is Cameron Wyatt.

He could even be successful with such an air about him, but alas! The clients sit and cross their ankles or arms and offer jobs which he must patiently explain—over and over—are for villains, not for heroes. It is quite clear that few in this brave and fractured world even understand the difference. The young Mr. Wyatt's face grows grim as he opens his daily mail—mostly bills, we surmise—and finally, we see through the glass that he has turned inward, toward the secretary's desk in the corner, and told her something.

The next morning, a small sign appears in the window. "Now hiring, villain. Inquire within."

I suppose he grew tired of leaving money on the table.

Rec of the Day

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan

This book has excited me since Marie Brennan first started talking about it, and now there's an excerpt and it's a delight, in keeping with the word of the day, about a young lady who is anything but properly behaved (more power to her).

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Myth, Legend, and Folktale

This is the post I have been waiting for. Marie Brennan, in a guest post on Jim Hine's journal, encapsulated beautifully so many of the things I have wrestled with about my own fiction recently. My good friend, Rabia, asked me to write a post for her a while back that ended up being about flash fiction, but it was supposed to be about writing myth.

This is that post she asked for.

Continue reading

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