My friend Bill

has just created his own website, to communicate with the web-world at large about his fiction.

It can be found at

http://sublimetales.googlepages.com

Bill's work is reminiscent of Tom Robbins or Kurt Vonnegut -- satirical, with a sci-fi edge, but directed at the world's immediate problems, ie., the dominance of power and wealth seeking individuals and organizations in all decisions of global importance. Bill's background is Buddhist, and the speculative elements of his fiction draw from Buddhist philosophy and mythology as much as garden-variety 20th c. intergalactic tradition. The notion of "aliens" is only part of the framework for some very funny and philosophically incisive narrative.

If that's the sort of trip you're up for, William W. Wraith is an author to watch.

A little slow

I'm a little slow updating things here, I guess.

I didn't make the 100 cut in the ABNA, but neither did my hands-down favorite, Swimming in the Rainbow. Other good things didn't make it either. One I liked very much that did make it is The Raider's Wife by Cathy McCallum.

I'm glad for myself to be out of it, because now I can concentrate on my writing. I haven't stopped revising or working on new things, ever, but I'm doing much more work now that I'm not thinking about the contest 20 hours a day.

My new novel on the origins of Lord Valmur Karoli, Chancellor of Vaaseli and definitely arch-villain of the first two Alliance Chronicles books, is moving on apace. That is, I've written several scenes from throughout the story in my mind, and have completed four chapters (available to read in first draft at The Wood Beyond the World on writerscafe.org.)

I'm using a new and slower method of composition, after learning some hard lessons from my summer revisions of Of Two Minds. Writing scenes in my head is a large part of the process. Though I've always done this (usually flat on my back in the bedroom, just before dropping off for a nap) I'm doing it much more consciously now, and working on bits from throughout the story, not necessarily in chronological order. I'm planning to use only the most significant and striking of this material in the actual first draft -- though other bits will be available, of course, if my beta readers think there's something lacking.

I've realized already that this particular story has a definite operatic tone to its plot: madness, murder, rape, revenge, in an escalating spiral. I'm going with my friend Bill's advice to make language more colorful, use more simile and metaphor. Just hope I can keep it from being too potboiler, retain some literary qualities.

Finally found one

Last night I finally read an excerpt in the ABNA contest that really blew me away. Not only is it perfectly written, in a technical and stylistic sense, it's exceptionally original, and completely compelling.

It's Swimming in the Rainbow, by Rebecca Crandell. A very odd story, but constructed with such grace and aplomb, that only someone rather devoid of imagination could fail to be swept away by it.

It's the only thing I've seen that I really could back a hundred percent to enter the finals and earn the grand prize.

Rebecca, I'm now your biggest fan.

Waiting out the ABNA

The last days of the ABNA semi-finals are fast approaching. On February 19 our numbers will be reduced from 835 to 100. None of the entrants can figure out how this is going to be accomplished. Some entries have 100 and more reviews with 5-star ratings, but very poor Publishers' Weekly reviews. Some entries judged superior by PW are hardly reviewed at all. The contest administrators have pledged, on the ABNA homepage, to take customer reviews into consideration when picking the 100, but how they're going to reconcile profligate stars and inferior writing, neglected works of great quality, and the more professional judgments of PW and Amazon Top Reviewers is baffling.

As my PW review found serious fault with the last half of Of Two Minds, and made mock of my protagonist's psychological development, I have little hope of advancing, so I'm just waiting it all out at this point, and continuing to work on other things. Reviews still trickle in, almost entirely from fellow-entrants -- very fine, thoughtful reviews, that I appreciate more than I can say.

But somehow 100 good to excellent novels must be selected, and the ABNA will have to at least seem to fulfill its promises.

I haven't looked at more than a tiny percentage of the semi-finalists' excerpts, but I haven't really seen one that I thought was entirely publication ready. I have seen several that had commercial success written between every line, and I expect to see them in the cut of 100.

I wonder what will become of the rest of us?