I am a regular blog book tour hostess for Tomorrow Comes Media, whereupon in conversations with Stephen Zimmer about enjoying high fantasy over other aspects of the genre, I was offered to receive a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review direct from the publisher Seventh Star Press. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Initial Thoughts:
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect whilst looking over my copy of The Brotherhood of the Dwarves, as I had revealed inside Mr. Adams’s Guest Post on writing the series that I had first thought the inspiration behind his creation was due to the dwarves in The Lord of the Rings. Although, I have started to pick up my interest into reading the realms of science fiction & fantasy late in 2013, previous to my wanderings thus far along I hadn’t actually delved into stories or authors who focused on dwarves! My entire knowledge going into reading this book is based mostly on my memories of Gimli! Therefore, this is my first example of dwarves in fiction as I entered the sage of Gimli through the motion pictures not the text! (the complete Histories of Middle Earth & Lord of the Rings are on my tCC TBR list!)
Author Biography:
D.A. Adams was born in Florida but was raised in East Tennessee. He received a Master of Arts in Writing from the University of Memphis in 1999 and has taught college English for over a decade. His first novel, The Brotherhood of Dwarves, was released in 2005 and has been described as a solid, honest work about camaraderie, bravery, and sacrifice, a very personal journey, more interested in the ways that a person is changed by life’s events than in epic battles and high magic. In 2008, the sequel, Red Sky at Dawn, was released to the exaltation that this novel thunders along, at times with dizzying speed. The action is visceral and imaginative without being gratuitous. Book three, The Fall of Dorkhun, came out in 2011, followed by book four, Between Dark and Light, in 2012.
In terms of writing style, Adams exhibits an effortless narrative voice and a masterful balance between richly detailed descriptions and tightly worded minimalism. The pacing of his stories is breathtaking, with relentless action and captivating plot twists that keep readers riveted page after page. But his true talent as a writer lies in character development. Readers find themselves empathizing with, fearing for, and cheering on the characters as they overcome their personal shortcomings and grow as fully rendered individuals.
Adams is also the father of two wonderful sons and, despite his professional accomplishments, maintains that they are his greatest achievement in life. He resides in East Tennessee.
Understanding the order of Dwarves:
Adams does a great job at introducing the reader to the world within The Brotherhood of the Dwarves by outlining the differences of each tribe therein. I appreciated seeing the slight differences in both appearance, personality, temperament, and tone of living. Being an artist and a writer myself, I was leaning towards Roskin’s kingdom of Kiredurk as they focused on art and beauty rather than savage battlements of war. I lit up a bit within the intricate descriptions of the underground city as the engineering feat it would take to create such a structure piqued my interest! (after having read The Race Underground recently for a Book Browse First Impressions selection)
The pace picks up a bit whilst understanding the rite of passage within the hierarchy of the dwarf system. I was reminding myself of the Amish who are allowed to choose whether or not to remove themselves from their Order whilst travelling in the world of the English, or if they choose to take their place within their own society. In this story, young Roskin believes his destiny is attached to not only sorting out the mysteries of his past, but in seeking a long forgotten relic of treasure which is the namesake of the book series! Quite clever when I realised this revelation!
My Review of the Brotherhood of the Dwarves:
The Brotherhood of the Dwarves is set within a well-envisioned world, where each of the individual tribes of dwarves adhere to their own rules and regulations of order. There are dwarves who consider bloodshed and battle the mark of a true dwarf and of strength of their people. Whereas there are other more peaceful dwarves who feel that the pursuit of battle completely is not the best plausible way to live. (I happen to agree with the latter sentiment!) It’s Roskin’s pursuit of unearthing his ancestral roots that interested me the most due to his status as half dwarf and half elf.
Torkdohn is a guiding force in aiding young Roskin in the opening bits of his journey, not only in the sage advice he imparts upon the lad but in the knowledge of the lands outside Roskin’s native Kingdom. Torkdohn is the type of character you wonder if you can trust. The journey Roskin is undergoing is a twist on coming-of age, where he will have to settle out his thoughts and beliefs as far as how he wants to live and the manner in which he applies the lessons he is gaining. He isn’t one to play the fool nor is he one to relish in ignorance. His strength lies in sorting out the middle ground between being a dwarf who can hunt and kill without conscience of the consequences and being a dwarf who embodies the principles of only killing what one needs for subsistence; or for self-defense if need be.
I was quite surprised that I could settle into the narrative as the context dips between the psychological and emotional imagery of the life of dwarves to where the reader is front-row center to the action. There is a necessity of caution between the Kingdoms as distrust and broken alliances are clearly evident. What kept me in the story was Roskin himself who was very much a seeker on an adventure to discover more about himself as much as what it meant to be caught between worlds of the dwarves and elves. As the skirmishes evolve in the story, a few of the sequences were a bit much for me, but given the wager between the incidents was life or death, it stood to reason the battle would be heroic bloodshed or the grave! At one point I was wondering if most of the story was going to be hinged to battle, as although I respect warfare and enbattlements; there are times where I prefer more dialogue and narrative of the back-story or forward motion of the characters.
One of my favourite sections of the novel is when Red and Roskin are sent into exile with a hermit in the mountains named Kwarck. I eased into this section because I appreciated the interactions of the land with the labouring of the characters attempting to pay retribution and gratitude to their host. The inner demons of their conscience hearts were on trial throughout the story as each man had to learn how they would best wrangle out a resolution for their haunted memories. It was here in these passages that I felt were the strength of The Brotherhood of the Dwarves, as it laid the groundwork for why friendship, loyalty, and forgiveness are so very important to grab a hold of.
A sociological conscience is threaded throughout the narrative:
One of the things I appreciated the most about the writing style of Adams is that he lights the undertone of the novel The Brotherhood of Dwarves with a sociological conscious. Where for every cause and effect there is a conscience desire to sort through the internal strife of battlefield emotions tempered with the clarity of seeking a way to avoid confrontation. The way he interweaves the history of the dwarves themselves with the network of experience each dwarf must tackle is a way of endearing the race to the reader. Giving you a window into the reasoning for their differences but also empathy for why they make the choices they do. I think for those who appreciate high fantasy strong in warfare and survival based on hand-to-hand combat action will thrive in this setting because Roskin and his friends give a lot towards that end. For me the violent exchanges bordered on the excessive but another reader might feel they were more mild in nature. I think it depends on your personal levels of acceptance.
Fly in the Ointment:
Despite my own surprise of finding a niche in the story, The Brotherhood of the Dwarves bends a bit too much towards bloodshed for my own heart’s sensitivity. I readily enjoyed the engaging dialogue between the secondary characters and the main protagonists but I quickly surmised that what I enjoyed within the story itself was countered by another battle right around the corner. I think I could have fared better if those who were hunting Roskin had taken different paths to find him, allowing him the flexibility to travel on his journey without as many incidents of mayhem and death. Afterall, there is only so much one can stomach back-to-back.
This Seventh Star Press focus week was brought together with the help of Tomorrow Comes Media, of which I am a blog tour hostess and book reviewer. To keep up to speed with which authors and books I will be featuring on Jorie Loves A Story in the near future via Tomorrow Comes Media, please check out my Bookish Events!
{SOURCES: The 2014 Sci-Fi Experience was granted permission to use the artwork by Stephen Martiniere in their official badge for all participants to show their solidarity during the event! The Brotherhood of the Dwarves cover art, D.A. Adams photograph & biography provided by Tomorrow Comes Media and used with permission. Post dividers were provided by Shabby Blogs, who give bloggers free resources to add personality to their blogs. Book Review badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs.}
Acquired Book By: I am a regular blog book tour hostess for Tomorrow Comes Media, whereupon in conversation with Stephen Zimmer about my curiosity over the contents of this anthology due to the overwhelmingly creative book cover art; I was offered to receive a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review direct from the publisher Seventh Star Press. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Intrigued to Read:
Being I am a writer of science fiction stories set in a modern world akin to our own and based on science fact (I always had leanings towards hard sci-fi rather than soft!), I am always quite the intrepid girl who becomes interested in reading the latest book of writing advice, tips, and sage wisdom from those who have gone before me and cast their stories out into the hands of readers! Science fiction was in my blood long before I ever put thought to pen, as I inherited a passion for Trek & Star Wars which goes back to the original canon of both franchises. I never expected to live in a generation where having to say I support the ‘original canon’ of either one would even come to pass! However, that aside, what drew me into this anthology wasn’t just the context of the subject at hand but the excellent cover art rendering by Matthew Perry! Whose knack for presenting such a cleverly creative jumping gate of a writer’s muse is in good form! I knew whatever was contained inside the anthology was content I was determined to read! The musings of writers always makes me smile, yet its the enduring spirit of putting your heart on the line, owning your own work irregardless of its popularity and being strong in your belief an audience is awaiting to read your story is what invigorates me!
Within the Workshop, you’ll find:
Prominent writers within the craft of science fiction and fantasy story-telling, impart sage wisdom and advice given through anecdotical essays, pertinent interviews; set to a rhythm of appearances which makes Editor Knost appear nearly telepathically inclined as the reader weaves through a symbiotic rumination!
Contents Therein:
Michael Knost: Introduction
Neil Gaiman: Where do you get your Ideas?
Lou Anders: Nebulous Matters or Speculation on Subgenres
Lucy A. Synder: Ursula K. Le Guin Talks about a Lifetime in the Craft
James Gunn: Beginnings
George Zebrowski: Middles
Jay Lake: Endings
Nayad A. Monroe: Time Powers Talks about Writing Speculative Fiction
Orson Scott Card: On Rhetoric and Style
Pamela Sargent: Talking Too Much, or Not Enough: Dialogue in Science Fiction & Fantasy
G. Cameron Fuller: How Alien the Alien: A Primer
Nancy Kress: “The Green-Skinned Zorn Laughed with Grief” Character and Emotion in Science Fiction & Fantasy
Harry Turtledove: Alternate History: The How-to of What Might Have Been
Jude-Marie Green: Larry Niven Talks about Collaboration
Joe Haldeman: Hemingway Talks about Writing
Nisi Shawl: Unbending Gender
Alan Dean Foster: Reverse Engineering
Alethea Kontis: Kevin J. Anderson Talks about Spin-offs, Prequels, & Fan Fiction
Elizabeth Bear: Tactics of World-Building
Jackie Gamber: Ann VanderMeer Talks about Weird Fiction
Michael Knost: Short Fiction: A Roundtable Discussion with Short Story Editors
Max Miller: Long Fiction: A Roundtable Discussion with Novel Editors
I will be making selections of my reading to focus on throughout this bookish girl’s review of the ruminative musings which ignited in her mind’s eye as she drank through the pages with an eagerness all writers will understand! Writers reflecting on their craft and opening an honest discussion about the inner workings of writing as art is a moment to celebrate and cherish!
[Where Do You Get Your Ideas? an essay by Neil Gaiman]
The curious nature of readers is always to formulate a question directed towards the writer they unabashedly follow throughout their career as to explain the seemingly bottomless well of ideas the stories oriented from. The honest truths of where the genesis of an idea is first garnished is brilliantly executed by Mr. Gaiman (of whom I am aware of his works but haven’t yet read)! Your ideas percolate at a pace that you’re at times not even expecting to be able to fulfill a request of, because of the nature of the human brain’s processor of information! A writer is willfully able to head into the direction the first spark of inspiration alights in mind, but to follow the originating idea through germination and tether it to a solidified ending is walking through the unknown; proportions of which, none of us truly know of until we’re sitting down to write.
And, it’s within this boiling and brewing of ideas where I gather my energy for the story about to transfer out of my mind’s vortex and unto the written page! To take a thread of an idea, nurture it into being and then, allowing the freedom of the idea to transition and transmorph into its full-bodied existence of what its meant to be is a writer’s realised dream. Nibblements of ruminations sprinkled throughout a lifetime of experience and adventure start to ink out into our imagination. Transcending both time and memory, as pieces of ourselves are wrangled into the lifeblood of our characters! Being a writer is akin to being a nurturer of ideas and of ideals. We take our observations from our living realities, and pour our heart into our works attempting to yield a story that others might find palatable. I say ‘might’ find as I am one writer who writes the stories which flow through her rather than write a story which is hinged to a specific audience or topic. We (writers) all hope that the momentum and passion we have for an idea will garnish itself a foothold in a reader’s queue. Perhaps even, enlighten their outlook or perception, but moreso than naught, to give them a hearty piece of narrative which leaves them pensively grateful for the idea which started the words to fill the page!
[Nebulous Matters or Speculation on Subgenres – an essay by Lou Anders]
I felt especially blessed to find this particular section included in the Workshop, as I am always befuddled to understand which ‘genre’ is the stepping stone of each of the ‘subgenres’ in which I read! I have spent quite literally hours exhausting resources online to sort through the myriad labyrinth of descriptive analysis always walking away feeling a bit more muddled than clarified! There are a few exceptions, as one post floats to mind which I read during (#RRSciFiMonth) Sci-Fi November (my endearing name for “Sci-Fi Month” hosted by Rinn Reads!*) which was Top Ten Sci-Fi Sub-Genres (Part 1: Cyberpunk) by Leanne of Literary Excursion! Whilst I read her engaging post on a slice of science fiction I never felt I could honestly attach myself, I shared this remarkable observation:
I have a keen interest in the subject as I never knew what the differences were and its part of my learning curve this month with SFN! Cheers to you!
You know, I hadn’t even realised Steampunk came OUT of Cyberpunk! Learnt something new there! And, I was researching a LOT myself to educate myself on the origins of Steampunk but I must’ve missed the key references that would have connected these dots for me! Thankfully, you stepped in and saved the day!
Wait! Hold the TARDIS! I like “Dieselpunk”!?! Seriously!? Wow. I didn’t see that coming at all! But, right there in your essay it explains that “The Rocketeer” and “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” (I *knew!* I missed one on my Top List for Films!) are listed! I seriously adore those films!!!
Wow. OKay, so I’m still processing,… I am a Cyberpunk who fits inside the Steampunk + Dieselpunk genres!? Wow. I can see I have more research to do after SFN! Thanks for pointing me off in two new directions!
You can clearly see that “Doctor Who” had a direct impact on my life at the time, as I actually said “TARDIS” as an expression rather than as a direct reference of the Doctor’s travelling box! Laughs within a smile. One of the resounding benefits for me in being part of SFN is that it allowed me the advantage of not only interacting with other sci-fi enthused readers, but it allowed me to talk about a branch of literature I’m over the moon passionate about! And, within that perimeter, I gained growth in the knowledge of how the genre is both supported, explored, and constantly being revolutionised by new ideas! I am going to be going back through all the lovely blogs of whom were populated with posts during SFN as I make my exodus backwards and through the rest of my own SFN experience!
Leading back to the book at hand, Mr. Anders brought to light several classic key points which interested me dearly:
The word “speculative fiction” has plagued me since Autumn 2013, as I was trying to unearth if it were in fact the broad stroke of description attributed to science fiction, fantasy, & horror OR if it were a new definitive space of works within those keystrokes which pushed past the barriers of straight-up foundational beliefs and entered into the cross-section of the unknown, the unfamiliar, and the remarkable. His answer finally closes the theory of mystery for me!
My mind was enraptured by science since I was a very young girl, to the brink that following myself into studies for various sciences was the track I was going to bookend to my creative pursuits. Those who know me well, know which of the ‘sciences’ pulls at my heartstrings the most, and as I blog about my reading escapades I am quite certain it will be revealed for others as well. Here, I only wanted to say that due to my background in science (and the continued studies I am pursuing on my own) the branch of hard science fictionis quite appealing as it goes into the exploration of where the limits of known science and theoretical science are heading right here in the living now of time. It was not a surprise to me to see Ringworld mentioned in relation to this branch, as Niven is one of the authors I have earmarked off to read since I first broached science fiction in the first place!
The curation of mundane science fiction fascinates me due to the dexterity of how far the writers can take the stories without the ‘theories’ of the inclusion of hard sci-fi elements. There is always going to be a balance between the personal beliefs of a reader & of a writer, as to how far each is willing to extend their imagination and the stories in which they each choose to define as a whole component of the living context of the genre. I’d be keen to seek out writers of this branch and see how their approach is leading the genre forward.
Space Opera was an inherent choice of mine to pursue! One of my favourite ‘personal discoveries’ was Babylon 5, as it eliminated the ‘box’ of how science fiction serials were once defined. For me, it leapt out of the convention a bit moreso than its counterpart of Deep Space Nine, which was still set to work inside an established reality and space. I even appreciated the folly of Galaxy Quest as a comic and cheeky side of being a geeky sci-fi appreciator! (I am not one who would normally gather a mirth of joy for folly, farce, or parody!) The ramifications for living interstellarly is too keen of an idea not to indulge in reading! And, there is of course the tv movie from the 1980s I am still trying to unearth the title of,…where they had to choose whether or not to stay on the moon or return back to earth?! The woman was pregnant and the choice would be between where to live and how the choice would affect their family long-term. Not a lot to go on, but it was brilliantly done at the time and I regret my memory cannot remember more!
New Space Opera leaves me curious as I am always seeking to read more British literature, and if the Britons have sorted out a new method of curating stories of this nature, I am definitely going to sort out how to find them! Verse Military Science Fiction taking a limited backdoor of plausible interest. I think for me, the film Starship Troopers wrecked the joy! As I watched it when it first premiered, had I know the level of intensity I would experience I would have omitted the desire. Conversely, I have a deep appreciation for military fiction stories, as I have been a long-term supporter of JAG, NCIS, and NCIS: LA, as much as seeing various incarnations of the military fiction in both tv and film. I never fully close a door, as I might wander back through with a book in hand which changes my perspective and illuminates a character which my heart grows empathy to meet. Two examples of military fiction I have been over jupiter’s moon in favour of are: Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy & Sebastian’s Way: The Pathfinder by George Steger.
New Wave Science Fiction is one that I have noticed without the realisation of what I was seeing! And, yet am a bit on the fence if I am a reader who can attach herself to the stories of this category! Time will reveal… Cyberpunk I already revealed was a startling discovery of interest!
Steampunk Is a sub-genre I’ve had a deep appreciation for which was knitted out of a love of the Victorian Gothic clothing movement, the sub-culture of indie artists on Etsy, and a firm appreciation for Victorian technology merged into story-lines which elicit a new generation of science fiction with the heart of the old age intact yet re-defined for today! I am only in the very beginnings of reading ‘steampunk’ as my next foray will be The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart! (blogged about my discovery of the book) (posts on Steampunk)
Epic &/or High Fantasy Is singularly my absolute favourite to read due to the breadth and depth of the stories which bind together living worlds of imagined joy! I love wandering around a well-fused story, anchored by characters whose lives are visibly flawed but contain within the mirth of their scope an adventure, a journey, or a mission which takes you to the heights of their world and yours. I get all giddy about discovering new authors to seek out, because I know the story I’m about to merge my heart into is going to be one I’ll not quite forget! The author who proved her salt and my adoration for this branch was Kate Elliott’s Crown of Stars saga which I began reading at the age of seventeen!
Sword & Sorcery as well as Urban Fantasy Are two branches I am always a bit hesitative to indulge in as I am not a grisly, gruesome, or intensely horror-filled sort of reader. Having said that, I have read Urban Fantasy books which might have resonated an issue with my personal preferences but the heart of the stories staid with me much longer than a twitching of an issue over a book turnoff contained within their covers! I always keep an open-mind whilst I read due to the fact you never know which book your going to read that might push you outside your known envelope of acceptance into a story that gives you back something you were not expecting to receive.
Dark Fantasy & Paranormal Romance Are two more areas in which I find myself at odds to begin reading; only because I haven’t yet found my proper footing to explore the writers who pen their tales! There are aspects of the paranormal which intrigue me to read (clearly, as I read the Ghost Harrison series by Heather Graham!), but its in finding which author who pens which story of whose characters resonate with me in printed form as much as say “Ghost Whisperer” does in its motion medium.
Sci-Fantasy To me sounds like a merger of two of my favourite literary excursions in which I cannot wait to journey inside! To empathises and mix the two genres into a lively genre-bender exploration of story and thought is beyond genius! One of my favourite genre-benders for science fiction (Sci-Mystery?) is The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester, another story I read at seventeen!
Ander’s way of capturing the tick-tocking dance of enticing offshoots of the genre, electrify the eagerness to drink in more of the stories which give us the most joy to read! His enthused approach to make the complexities of genre explainable to the causal reader as well as the experienced is a credit to his skill in understanding the foundations of science fiction. IF lack of space hadn’t been an issue, (as I presume all essays within the Workshop were under a limited word count), I would have rejoiced in reading more on the subject! Eek. Exciting stuff! And, for a girl transitioning back into the genre, it’s quite literally ‘a road map and treasure trove of where to wander off next!’
*As you may or may not be aware of, I am resuming where I left off with my Sci-Fi November postings, to where I want to complete what I originally set out to accomplish! I have numerous notes on the Doctor Who episodes I watched, as much as I want to complete the viewings I scheduled as it was such a fantastic introduction to the tv serial! My gratitude to Rinn for conceiving the idea & for running with it is a deep as the galaxy itself! I do hope it becomes an ‘annual’ event as it was quite literally the light and joy of my November!
[Jake Lake: Endings]
As it so happens the day I was first preparing this review to go live on my blog, I ended up readily engaged in quite a lively conversation through #LitChat which is a bi-weekly (Monday & Wednesday, 4-5 EST) literature conversation for the bookishly inclined! I stumbled across their feeds late in 2013, only to realise that it feels like I have found a nexus of readers who are as geeky and bookish as I am! The topics change weekly, as do the guests they feature on Wednesdays! As you can see, the topic on Monday was “Cliffhanger Endings” which I felt was appropriate to include here being that I was reading an essay on this very topical issue! How to properly end a story!
The following tweets were inserted using WP’s automated Tweet App: (as such I was trying to only include my words but the top tweet appears as well! They also appear in ‘reverse order’ because I like to be quirky!)
#LitChat My blog expresses the eclectic nature of my reading adventures! :) Laughs. Its a great time to be geeky and bookish! @LazetteG
As you can clearly denote, I have a keen interest in why certain books are set to swirl my head with bone crushing emotion and anguish, only to have no resolution of the core of the climax! These are the stories which nestle into my heart, the characters of whom I have followed through strife and joy, only to emerge out of their adverse circumstances with an unresolved distaste in my mouth! I whole-heartedly understand when stories cannot end well in later chapters if it’s the beginning of a serial, but what about the stand-alone books which oft-times are written by début authors!? What then, pray tell? Do you chance the hope that a sequel will be penned and released within a twelvemonth or do you anguish over the grief of not having a proper Epilogue to guide your heart back through to reality outside of the realm of the book!?
Endings if you ask me, are dicey, and these were my ruminations BEFORE I entered into Lake’s essay! Whoa!
I am quite comfortable if the elucidation of the story’s resolve remains vague if enough of the climaxical angst feels as though nothing more can be said or done to alleviate the character’s anguish. There are as much unresolved endings in fiction as Lake credits to real life; and I completely concur! Except to say, there is a measure of a breadth of leeway for science fiction & fantasy to a certain extent. However, my comments in the LitChat feed was a broad stroke recollection of inter-genre discussion. As such, I never specifically said which genre or branch of literature I was respectively discussing nor which particular author. I’d rather debate the merits of a tool of the craft, in this case, ‘the cliffhanger ending’ rather than to specifically denounce a preference of a writer. Because in the end, the issue with the ending is mine. I’m the reader who picked up the story in the forethought of expectation of an ending I could live with once the book was set down on my shelf. IF my presumption worked against my heart in the end, it is only half on the fault of the writing. It’s difficult to brace ourselves for unresolved endings when in life we are constantly dealing with the peculiar nature of the unknown! Sometimes it is nice to have a purported dimension where more or less resolution is commonplace rather than elusive!
According to Lake’s assessment my key issue is with accepting a story which is writ in normative and non-normative format! I knew there had to be a reasoning behind my discontempt! Yet. There are moments in certain stories I would suspect or even hope that the ending wouldn’t be resolved if the issues contained within the heart of the journey are ones beyond the scope of the book. A story can only yield so much insight into the world in which it thrives in the space in which it inhabits. I think my classic mistake is expecting too much out of certain stories in which present a journey with an open-ended definition of ‘the end’.
I was smiling when I read the bottom paragraphs of page 51! At the footfall of page 52 arching into page 53, Lake touches on the exact sentiment I was attempting to explain myself! If a story is generated to be a complex tome of narrative, the reader not only presumes but requires the ending to resonate with a deft complexity as the rest of the text! Thank you, Mr. Lake! His final sentence of page 55 is precisely what I was hinting at! Precisely!
Ah, ha! My malaise can lift! I suffer from broken endings under the influence of the parachute technique!
[G. Cameron Fuller: How Alien the Alien: A Primer]
The opening sequence of this essay illuminates one of my favourite [fantasy] films of the past decade: Avatar! I quite literally wanted to soak into the world in which the Na’vi lived! To soar into the skies as a warrior would have made my heart thrive on the electric pulse of purpose! Except to say, I believe my gender is against me in this one regard, but oh, I suppose there is a bit of a feminist in all of us who strive towards equality for all genders to pursue what they individually wish to achieve! Including in fictional worlds we drink in with a mirth of a nod in awe!
What fascinated me is that the conjecture of the tone in this section is that the Na’vi were not altogether alien in the traditional sense but rather a humanoid species living on a different planet from our own! Strangely or not, this mirrors my exact thought processes whilst I was in the darkened theater watching it on the silver screen! The aliens for me were the para-military minded soldiers whose taste for blood winked out the last bit of my inner resolve for warfare! No one wins in war, but warmongers are not my favourite characters to meet in fiction nor in motion pictures. The level of the emotionally gutting plane is enough to eclipse a moon!
I could even reflect that whilst I was becoming a Whovian during the 50th Anniversary month of Doctor Who, there were more than one occasion where I felt the ‘alien’ species being highlighted were less alien than the contemporary humans! Did anyone else think the nurses whose faces were cats was not all that unrealistic? Or, what about the fact that the Doctor himself is quite alien but prefers to be human?! Data ring any bells!? (as in: Brent Spiner’s character!)
He delves further into a study of some of my most memorable ‘alien’ characters: from Star Trek, Star Wars & Battlestar Galactica (all originals for me!); to the HAL computer of Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the evolution of fear of technologic advances as explored in the works of Michael Crichton which I read from thirteen to seventeen! I devoured Crichton because I appreciated the balance of science fact and science fiction. Who else jumps into a dedicated passion for quantum mechanics and quantum physics due to the immersive jauntings of chaos theory encapsulated by the character of Malcolm in Jurassic Park? Which previously had been encouraged by Macgyver!
To put it more plainly, my personal preference of an alien race is one whose blendability is as translucently unseen as the subtle CGI special effects of films where unless you were given an outline could not deduce which sequence was digitally enhanced and which was shot in live-action!! Too much CGI makes a film portioned out of position which goes to say, that an alien who acts wantonly alien is going to have a more difficult chance of drawing empathy out of a reader!
[Nancy Kress: “The Green-Skinned Zorn Laughed with Grief” Character and Emotion in Science Fiction & Fantasy]
Compassion for characters through being a receptacle of their emotional cues whilst reading their stories unfold on the printed page is one of the main reasons I read fiction! I want the visceral experience to be all-encompassing without limiting myself of how far I am willing to take my emotional keel! I want to ache and anguish alongside the character who is woefully going through strife and adverse circumstances before embarking on a path towards redemption or enlightenment. I want to emotionally be convinced that my time spent with the character is one where I can feel as moved as though I had lived their life by the time the story concludes.
I do have my limits, naturally, we all do, but what I am referring to here is to be ensconced into a story within my limits and living every inch of the character’s life therein.
The following tweets were inserted using WP’s automated Tweet App: (as such I was trying to only include my words but the top tweet appears as well! They also appear in ‘reverse order’ because I like to be quirky!)
I couldn’t find the exact tweets I was seeking, which made me realise that perhaps the conversation was half contained in LitChat and half contained elsewhere! My memory is not drawing forward the exact ‘moment’ the topic was examined but the tweets I did discover to include bank around to the topic of why empathy for written characters is crucial to the reader’s experience of the story! If we cannot attach ourselves to the lead or supporting cast of characters on an emotional level, be that intensive or fanciful, we are not going to feel as though we read a transformative piece of story. We transform ourselves through the characters we read, as our minds process the experiences of their lives as experiences that become a part of our own threads of living. We process and analyse everything we drink in, which is one reason we all have to be cautious of what our internal limits are for subject, topic, and genre explorations! Its one thing to read to expand our horizons, it’s quite another to focus on literature which has a negative effect on our overall well-being. Which for me includes how far I am willing to absolve myself in gutting emotions if the off-set of the anguish is not released by a resolved ending!*
*The Time Traveller’s Wife (motion picture); Remember Sunday (tv movie); Follow the Stars Home (tv movie); The Notebook (motion picture); Backdraft (motion picture); Saving Private Ryan (motion picture); Life is Beautiful (motion picture); Alice I Have Been (book); The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (book); are key examples of stories I watched or read but should have exited without seeing the conclusions. The emotionally gutting angst and anguish which followed each of them was wrecked physically by the nightmaric flashbacks and migraine! Sometimes writing can feel so hauntingly real to me, that I have to watch that I do not traverse through a section of narrative that will render me worse than when I first became engaged! Woe to all sensitive hearts like me!
Whereas despite the heavy emotional keel I experienced whilst watching Road to Perdition it was the sociological perspective of understanding the character Tom Hanks portrayed that leveled out the angst of watching his life unfold. I gladly rallied through Girl in a Blue Dress (book), The House Girl (book), and even The Spirit Keeper (book) to emerge out of where I had started. I cherish the stories which push the envelope only ‘nay far’ to where I can enter and exit without side effects of my visit.
Her conclusion is my reason for reading itself: to walk away feeling physically moved and changed by the story I’ve read to the brink where the characters, setting, and place are able to stay with me for many years yet to come! I crave seeking out the stories which leave pieces of their imprint on my heart!
[Elizabeth Bear: Tactics of WorldBuilding]
Her essay was keenly lit in my eyes as I had already blogged about my Top Ten Book Turn-Offs late in 2013. Wherein I would disclose that one of the hardest issues I have in reading is when I am ‘taking out of place’ within the confines of the story. I completely concur with her lamentations about the purity of research and the extensive amount of said research it takes to create the true atmosphere of a world built on a sturdy foundation. I personally thrive on research because I happen to have a curious mind of which is rarely quenched! I adore snaking through corridors of the past to spotlight a key notation that could lead to a recognition in a story I am creating. I love wandering and absorbing everything that whets my general interest in the subject at hand as well as the focus in which I am pursuing for a specific reason. I try not to limit my research in scope but rather in a methodology that allows me the genesis of spontaneity of creating dialogue and narrative at the brink of discovery!
There are two key elements for me when it comes to world building in narratives, which may or may not be as prominently important for others. Is the author a wordsmith? And, did the author conduct the research to stitch in clues of the ‘place’, ‘time’, and ‘setting’ in which the story is erected!? These are key for me, because I am not one who always appreciates the redundancy of words in fiction. There are certain genres which sometimes flutter an ire inside me, because they relay on the usage of ‘trigger’ words which repeat, reflect, and insinuate themselves to have their own harmonious hum in the story. I still read those stories if the character and context interest me, but my ire is aflame a bit to wonder, why not pick up a thesaurus?I should have mentioned this in my Book Turn Offs, but I didn’t originally believe I had enough to fill the list! The research falterations can become readily apparent to me in most instances and less so in others. It depends if I am reading for mere pleasure or if I want a heartier read where I quite literally want to feel, touch, and sense the world in which I am reading. The difference is subtle but the elements can reflect whether or not its a causal author you read OR if it’s an author you want to pursue long-term.
Her exposition on writers using other writers to give them the foundation of their stories is something I picked up on myself whilst reading certain genres which are saturated. You can start to notice the telling truth of writers who write stories solely based on the books they read themselves. Mostly because their own creations are limited to the world in which they read by another writer’s vision. Her intuition of a readers who send up ‘red flags’ whilst reading is reflective of my own reading life! If I reach more than three flags, I am considering why I am bothering at all! If it feels like a tornado siren is going off in my head, I simply discontinue right where I am!
Being a think writer myself, I understood where she is pointing her guiding hand; she wants writers to become aware of their worlds to where you could quite literally walk blind through them knowing every inch of its space. You have to be conscience of the dynamics your world is creating for you to build the story. If your confidence grows out of the knowledge of your world, your readers will automatically endear themselves to the novel long before the middle is reached! Whilst reading her essay I found a like-minded soul who reads with the same apprehensive excitement as I do!Apprehensive here refers to whether or not she or I will find what we are hoping to read inside the cover!
I am not one to generally gravitate towards a manual of ‘writing tips OR how to’ yield the most out of our craft [writing]. Except to say, I can honestly credit Writers Workshop of Science Fiction & Fantasy alongside Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg as being my favourite discoveries thus far! The key elements of the craft are interlayed into both books, and I daresay, no matter what you elect to create, these are the two books of ‘writer’s craft’ guides you need in your personal library!
I have unearthed three distinctly different Twitter Chat interfaces this week, which I happily suggest you find time one week to engage in directly!
*(runs concurrent with The Star Chamber Show, unfortunately! In which you may not see me until its concluded!)
Do you know of any other chat feeds and the days in which they chatter about a literary topic? Kindly share your experiences in the comment threads!
This Seventh Star Press focus week was brought together with the help of Tomorrow Comes Media, of which I am a blog tour hostess and book reviewer. To keep up to speed with which authors and books I will be featuring on Jorie Loves A Story in the near future via Tomorrow Comes Media, please check out my Bookish Events!
I open up the discussion to continue through you, dear hearts! Which of the sections I have highlighted through my own musings attached themselves to your own curious heart? Which inclinations of writing resonate to you the most? Which of the three branches of speculative fiction do you write? Which do you draw a breath of curious excitement to read? Are any of the writers contained in the anthology ones you read regularly? I’d love to hear your thoughts and takeaways from your visit! And, as this is a focus week on an Indie Press, which Indie Press do you gravitate towards for science fiction, fantasy, and horror? OR have you hesitated to read an Indie Press title or author? Which specific sub-genre do you gravitate towards the most?
{SOURCES: The 2014 Sci-Fi Experience was granted permission to use the artwork by Stephen Martiniere in their official badge for all participants to show their solidarity during the event! Michael Knost photograph & biography, cover art for Writers Workshop of Science Fiction & Fantasy were provided by Tomorrow Comes Media and used with permission. Blog News badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Tweets pulled from Twitter were able to be embedded by the codes provided through WP’s Tweet App in the Media section. Likewise, tweets can also be directly added by individual tweets on Twitter.}
You can read Gamber’s Full Biography, on her website, however, I learnt quite a few things about her whilst I was composing my questions for an interview! For instance, the essence of what she knew of dragons that originated from a dream she had that was the impetus to create “Redheart” shattered the misconceptions and perceptions of dragons, thus known in fantasy! She has a wicked sense for knowing which teas pair nicely with the books your palette is whet to taste! She took up knitting for its meditative qualities. If music is in the background whilst she writes, it has to be instinctively nondescript and ambient in nature, as if she hears a curious lyrical line it could shift her scene whilst its being penned! She is a retired servicewoman, secretary, and beloved Mum! She finds a keen balance between her writing and her family life. She adores the zoo beyond what words can express. She is a prolific short story writer. She runs a multi-verse platform for story-telling entitled: Allotrope Media, alongside her husband. Believing that a story has the freedom to express itself through multiple mediums. Insofar as being an accomplished playwright and screenwriter! She excels at genre jumping but her heart is attached to science fiction, fantasy, and horror.
By which the interview commenced,
between Jorie and Ms. Gamber!
I am thankful to announce that I have my second Seventh Star Press author dropping by my blog for an interview today! I am always seeking to propose questions that are not overly asked previously, and I am hopeful, that if you have known of Ms. Gamber’s work previously, you will find something new to learn about her through her visit on Jorie Loves A Story! I look forward to listening to her replies and learning more about a writer who showcases dragons, as they are one of my favourites in the fantastical realms to encounter! Let me yield, to Ms. Gamber!
I presume that dragons are your favourite fantastical creature who reside outside our physical realms, as they are at the forefront of the Leland Dragon series? Was this a lifelong passion to bring dragons into a sweeping epic such as the Leland Dragons, or did it develop a bit more slowly, taking you for an adventure as it unfolded?
Gamber responds:
My writing of the Leland Dragon Series definitely came as an adventure as I went along. I’ve always been drawn to science fiction and fantasy as a reader, and as a writer, because of the “what-ifs” and the vast storytelling capabilities; I love the challenge of making something utterly fantastical seem perfectly probable and real. Kallon Redheart and Leland Province grew from that place. I had a germ of an idea, and wanted to make Kallon and his world as real as possible.
I can appreciate this myself, because whenever I settle my heart and thoughts to write in a fluid moment of clarity, I find that my pen yields to the adventure of discovery! I never know precisely where my pen will lead, as I always have attributed writing as being a vehicle that is inspired by One not of ourselves but as a Guide to allowing the creativity to flow through us and outwardly fuse inspiration into ink which spilts onto the page! The adventure for me in pursuit of story and characters is singularly one of the best moments a writer can experience! And, I could not have stated it better ‘making something utterly fantastical seem perfectly probable and real’ as this is a sentiment I could have spoken myself on behalf of my own writings! We breathe life into nothingness which paints a palette of pictures through the words which give life to our stories!
What draws your eye when it comes to story-telling in general?! Were you a natural bourne writer or did you have to develop it as you progressed from one story to another!? Did your pursuit of writing stem out of your love of reading, such as my own path developed!?
Gamber responds:
I’m not sure which came first; my love for reading or my love for writing. I remember loving books as mysterious little tickets into great unknowns. I remember teaching myself to read, and struggling over words that didn’t look like something I remembered hearing. I wanted to read, so I could go to the places books promised to take me. I wanted to write, too, because I had so many worlds in my own head, so many places I’d escape to in my imagination, and I wanted to make stories for others to escape into.
In a sense, then, I must have been born into writing. But just as I was driven to improve my reading, I have also been driven to always improve my writing. If talent is a seed, it must also be nurtured and cultivated, and practiced. My ultimate goal is that each story I write is a little more skillfully told than the last; in that way, I get closer and closer to opening each world a little more real.
You struck a chord inside me with this response, as I have always referred to myself as ‘a natural bourne writer’ yet I think I mistakenly left out a significant piece of the puzzle! As like you, the lines between when I became the ‘writer’ and the ‘reader’ are blurred,… due to my learning difficulties as a child I did not have the ability to learn to read on my own, but I yielded the words inside the stories to my Mum! She had this magical way of imparting the inflections of character, story, setting, and locale in such a way that I had my favourite ‘go to reads’ of which she read to me nightly! A winding path lateron led me to a quirky out-of-the-box 4th grade teacher who helped me develop my ‘passion for reading’. Yet. At the very same time, I was ‘writing’ solely through the influence of my maternal grandfather’s insistence that I ‘play a game’ called “Once Upon A Time” — a game that involved world-building and story structure! No action. Just your thoughts and your creativity! I concur with your ability to rise in your growth as a writer – each story I craft I notice stepping-stones of progression that although rather microscopic in size I can see the transformations!
Has your writings always developed out of your dreams? In this way, would you consider yourself a think-writer!? Whereupon your characters and stories stir together through your mind’s eye, traversing the gates of your imagination before you bring them into the present?
Gamber responds:
Wow, I really like that term, “think-writer”. That’s exactly how I would describe my process. I’m rarely ready to sit down to a story without a good lot of pondering, first. I do find that morning time, in between sleeping and being fully awake, to be some of my richest fodder for creating. When I’m starved of that time, I generally suffer for it.
Ahh, yes, I wish I could explain exactly ‘when’ and ‘where’ I first learnt of the expression “think-writer” but ever since the very day a fellow writer imparted the merit of what this term encompasses; I have had the honour and privilege to pass on the term to other writers who create their stories in this manner! It opened a door inside my mind as a way of self-reflection and self-expression of ‘how’ I create and in that truth, I understand a cardinal piece of who I am as a writer. I am thankful that I not only recognised it as a possibility in you (smiles) but that in my mentioning of it you have found it applies to you! I love random joy! No one has quite put into terms my own methodology of writing practice until I read this reply of yours! Its one of the moments in this interview I saw myself looking through a reflection of a mirror and was touched by the blessing of our paths crossing each other!
Do you remember the origins of your passion for epic fantasy? Do you recollect a singular book, author, or character that leapt off the page, and gave you the impression that your heart would be warmed by fantasy evermore!? I am not necessarily asking about your ‘favourite’ or ‘go-to’ author/book, but rather, where the underpinnings of your passion for the genre first developed!?
Gamber responds:
I know exactly what book I was reading when something clicked. I didn’t realize at the time, of course, that it would be considered “fantasy”, I only knew it was a story about kids just like me who got caught up in a supernatural adventure. I realized then that stories didn’t have to be about here, and now, they could be about anything! Anywhere! I decided then that’s what I wanted to figure out how to do. The book, which I still own today, was “The Frightened Forest” by Ann Turnbull. It was a Scholastic Book I ordered through my elementary school back around 1974.
Oh, my dear stars! Books through schools! A programme they had whilst I was growing up a few years following you (as I was in elementary school in the early 80s) which sparked a curiosity inside me! They were called ‘book faires’, where inside the libraries (ironically my grades never had the option to go to the library very often! perhaps too crowded?) on such rare occasions we could go in them to find a long table (several put together into one long line) stacked high with books! I was the cheeky girl (as I was told by the attendants!) who refused to find books ‘in her own age group’! I had special permission to choose a book a good two grades if not more higher than my ‘supposed’ reading age! This is even before I met my 4th grade teacher who helped me find true enjoyment in reading without making it arduous! I had the curiosity, I had the will to read, but I had hurdles! Ironically or naught, my inspiration to write and read fantasy fiction came from two motion pictures (rather than books!): “Pete’s Dragon” and “The Neverending Story”!! (the latter is a book but I didn’t realise this at the time!)
Are there storytellers, artists, musicians, artisans, and other creatives in your family who might have planted the seed for the creative arts in your life from an early age!?
Gamber responds:
My mom is definitely a creative who has always strived for outlets. She was involved in Community Theater and similar pursuits. She loved to sing. She had a box of snippets of writing; stories, I think, and poetry. I didn’t understand the significance at the time, but I remember now how she had enormous bookshelves, always filled, and that many of the books were “how-to’s” for writing. She never talked about it, but I think she wanted to be a writer, too.
I smiled whilst reading about your Mum and her secret dream of being a writer. I have a grandfather in my family who dreamt of being a writer as well, and am thankful I too, have pieces of his writings left behind to not only cherish but to see the beginnings of his own writing life! At first I felt sorrowful that he couldn’t obtain his dream, but then, a part of me reflected that if he hadn’t worked on writings and drawings in his spare time – the legacy of his talents might not have filtered down in my family line! As creativity is one of those rare gifts that is best given through passion and time ignited in harmony. All creatives, whether professional or amateur give back to the greater whole simply by leaving a fingerprint of their creative soul behind for others to find! How lovely you had someone to inspire your own path too!
I learnt in a previous interview you had mentioned that you were ‘a soldier, a secretary, and a Mum’, of which I found fascinating, because writers’ live such dynamically different lives, as the whole of our experiences shape our perceptions and inspire the stories that nestle into our spirits that find their way spilt onto the page! I would well imagine you’d have a lot to draw from given this revelation! First and foremost, thank you for your service, as I always try to give back a bit of gratitude to soldiers’ whenever I can (which is why I volunteer with Soldiers’ Angels), and secondly, my own Mum was a secretary so I know that the fast pace of an office can be such an interesting set-up for diverse characters and personalities! Do you find that people you’ve either interacted with or met have formed the basis of a character of yours?
Gamber responds:
Thank you for appreciating those who serve!
I think everyone I meet, or even observe, has become the basis for any number of my characters. Many of my “why” questions come from meeting or knowing someone whose choices puzzle me. I get to wondering about motivation, about what might have happened in their past to set the framework for their life perception…all that stuff. Those are the good bits that get tucked away into the corners of my mind for me to do my “think-writing”. Somehow, and at some point, from all that pondering, characters are born from it.
Your quite welcome! Its my pleasure and honour to give back to those who give so much to all of us! Little ripples of gratitude I am thankful I can give freely and randomly! Its nice to give a piece of joy to someone who least expects to receive it! I smiled seeing you incorporated your new favourite superlative into this response! I do this as well, but more than naught, not necessarily from ‘people watching’ but rather from environment watching! I get caught up and lost in the small details of everyday hours. Usually attached to my museful eyes peering out into nature through the windows of the car and/or whilst walking in nature. My mind’s eye is free to associate wherever a creative thought wants to take me. I created some lovely poems lost in my daydreams, think-writing in the supreme sense, only to wander back inside to my desk and pen — the words lost and tangled in the thoughts which resumed from whence I returned! I think though seeds of those ramblings etch themselves back into my writing when I least expect them too! Do you find this as well?
Have you ever found your creative voice to take a backseat or absence, whilst you had to live through a particular period of your life?! How did you walk through that time, and what led you back to the pen, so to speak!? IF you’ve never experienced writers’ block, what do you think helped forestall its arrival, in case others’ are worried it could affect them!?
Gamber responds:
There have been long, dry periods in my life when there has been no writing. At all. Sometimes it’s been by choice, thinking my real life needed me to be perfectly present. Other times, I’ve suffered a block, when I haven’t been able to get my thoughts in line to make any kind of sense worth writing. I used to think that people who say, “I write because I have to, or I’ll go crazy!” needed a reality check, because I thought I was able to set aside writing as I needed, if life needed me to, and I was just fine. Becoming older (and hopefully wiser), though, I’m realizing that even during dry periods, whether by choice or by block, I never really stopped processing. That whole “observe life, input questions, fill in the blanks, make character-people” is so much of part of how I live, not just write, that it goes on whether I’m aware of it, or not. Sometimes it’s in full swing, under a bright, blue sky—other times it’s getting smothered, as though I’ve thrown a blanket over it. The more I learn to release the process as a part of who I am, the better I feel. And the stronger I become.
Any time I’ve suffered a block, it hasn’t been my writing that’s stoppered up. It’s me. When I understand that being blocked isn’t a wall, it’s a signal, it helps me find that thing in my life that’s out of alignment. Address that, and the words flow again.
When I first read your response I was partially confused – did I write a longer paragraph of a question than I remembered? OR was Ms. Gamber’s response so bang-on accurate for my own inner reflections that I could not distinguish her voice from my own! It was a brilliantly classic moment of seeing how the writing world is as small as the art world! You tend to seek out and find others’ who create in a manner in which is familiar to your own style as much as you find others’ who write in a different vein. At this moment, I found happiness in seeing another writer I could directly relate too speaking on a subject I could personally attest to being one of my own struggles as much as one of my own transitions! This particular question I asked to better understand what was rather dear to me to know! Thank you for helping me connect the pieces!
I know you’ve referenced your heritage in several interviews, as you disclosed how you passed on the gene for webbed toes to your son, however, I was curious, did your family pass down living histories of generations past!? Mine did, but even with that blessing, my Mum and I are still unearthing family lore and hidden ancestral roots that we could only have dreamt possible a few years ago! Do you find research into your family’s history an enjoyable adventure that sparks ideas of setting, time, place, and locale!? I am starting to find that my own wanderings are encouraging me towards historical fiction, even moreso than my own readings of that branch of literature! Have you uncovered anything particularly smashing to share? For us, it was sorting out that our fabled Civil War Captain was actually bourne of immigrant parents who crossed over from Ireland! Learning about our connections to the Underground Railroad is also rather exciting, but for each piece we recover, we find a labyrinth of questions!
Gamber responds:
Much of my family history is an enigma. Dysfunction has splintered generations; I knew my paternal grandmother, but that’s as far back as any real history I’ve got. However, my dad has done a lot of research on his side of the family, and discovered a whole book written about “The Gentle Johnstones” (that’s my maiden name) and our ancestry from prehistoric Scotland, to Northern Ireland, and into the New World. “Gentle” was meant to be ironic. Apparently they were fiercely territorial! And I remember reading a passage that described their women as just as fierce, and hefty, with big arms that could swing weapons with all the might of their male counterparts. And the men were proud of their women for it. It clicked something in me to read that; a sort of acceptance of myself I hadn’t previously had, because I’m no petite woman. My husband likes to say I’m “strong like bull”. And I’ve fought my whole life against my own body; starving it, punishing it, hating it, wishing I could fit into today’s standard of waif-like beauty. But look at my ancestry! This body has been hundreds of years of genetics in the making, and today’s fads don’t have anything to do with it. I’m healthy and strong, and finally, I’m okay with the way I’m made. My dreams don’t have anything to do with the size of my jeans. Or genes.
Thank you for being fearless, honestly open and forthright in your sharing of such a impactful moment of your life! This is such a powerful and empowering statement of growth and self-acceptance! The connecting ties to your ancestry as much as pulling forward from the annals of time a singular truth which as it was brought forward to the present directly impacted your own self-image and self-confidence! Rock on, Ms. Gamber!
What do you like to do when you decompress from writing!? Do you like to travel, walk in nature, or pick up an interest or pursuit that has to fall by the wayside whilst your either knee-deep in research OR wholly consumed by the current story at hand!?
Gamber responds:
I love nature, nature, nature. The more I’m in it, the better I feel, and the more fuel I have for more writing. My husband has a love for motorcycles, and when he finally talked me into riding on one with him, I accidentally discovered I loved it! I get to be up close and personal with nature, all over the place! I love to be with trees, and to touch them and smell them, and to hear them shimmying about in the wind.
By Jupiter’s moons, I could not agree with you more! Every daring chance I get to resume my sojourn in nature, I take the chance! Even the day before this interview went live I had a small window of where I could take a walkabout drinking in the Wintry breezes, clean air, and lumbering stillness of the natural world. I stumbled across a lazy alligator (a baby by all counts!) rolling through the drifting waves of the lake-shore as he ambled along to a berm! His entire countenance was of ease, tranquility, and joy. You could barely make out the essence of his head above the surface of the water, whilst his tail haphazardly appeared every so many feet strokes! (alligators tend to swim by dog-paddling using their tail as rudders!) Off in the distance as the crow flies was a lovely elegant White Egret who took flight just as I was dipping around a corner as the softest blue sky you ever did see was shrunken from sight due to the foliage of the forest obscuring its view! Do you know trees speak to you? I would love one day to visit a tree long enough to hear its whispers! My favourite embrace of a tree was given at a Welcome Station in New England as I met the biggest tree of my years and simply had to give the tree a big ole bear hug! I never fail to acknowledge the gentle lullings and movings of trees as the winds shift through their branches,… absolute bliss if you ask me!
I read in a previous interview that you took up knitting, (back in 2011), have you continued this pursuit as you were lamenting that you weren’t sure if you were going to improve OR simply enjoy the mediated repetitiveness that knitting can provide? I speak as a novice knitter, who took up the needles herself, infused with yarny dreams in the Spring of 2009, and can actually assert she can ‘cast on’ in 2013! As previously, I had to have a bit of assistance, as I was better at the ‘stitches’ than I was at beginning the casting! I celebrate each milestone I achieve, as I find knitting to be my balm in the sea of life! If you continued to pursue it, do you have a favourite type of yarn or pattern?
Gamber responds:
I do still pick up knitting here and there, in fits and spurts, and usually have to re-learn again each time I want to make something. I love wool, and the wool blends of today that make it softer and practical for washing. As an extremely tactile person, yarn is such a boon for my creative senses. When it comes to really decompressing, from writing or otherwise, the best of both worlds is to knit outside. An ideal life would be a front porch rocking chair, looking out onto leafy mountains, with soft yarn in my hands.
To borrow a sentiment of knitting from my Mum (whose my knitting soul sister!), the textural joy of threading natural fibers through your fingers is both a blessing and a blissful joy of comfort! I was like you for most of the years since my first cast-on project – constantly having to re-learn and be re-taught how to do everything. I tend to be the tortoise in the room, where I might take a bit to pick up something I am learning but then, I reach the stage where I even surprise myself, tucking my skirts into a rhythm of knowledge that flows freely through my fingers! My Mum put it best when she said working with wool and natural fibers (she and I adore alpaca and baby llama!) is such a tactile love of happiness! Ohh, I want to live inside your dream as to where to ‘knit’ and ‘be’.
Have you always been a tea drinker!? I read in one of your interviews (from 2012) that you’ve mastered the art and delicacy for making homemade green tea lattes! I find this wicked sweet, as I, myself, have started to make green chai infused tea lattes with almond-coconut milk! My journey towards incorporating natural medicines, green and herbal teas started in my early twenties. Nowadays, although I do indulge in a sinfully smooth coffee latte, my favourite is still soaking into the aroma of a tea latte! I have found that this can change per region (whilst on my travels I noted this!), as I had a Dragonwell Tea Misto in Fargo, North Dakota, but to interpret this in the Southeast I nearly found it impossible to duplicate without confrontation! Have you noticed differences in tea culture as well!? And, do you still continue to match tea with books?
Gamber responds:
Your green chai sounds delectable! I do enjoy almond and coconut, both. I find that tea culture seems to be spreading throughout the U.S. of late, with even grocery stores carrying a far wider selection than they ever used to. The advent of online shopping has brought all sorts of teas into anyone’s home; it’s so great! I do see the tea cultures, though, in differing regions, and I enjoy experiencing it that way. I still have a lovely website for my Booktasting (www.book-tasting.com)* although it has been a while since I’ve added new content. I have a bookshelf of books awaiting their tea pairing! It’s still one of my favorite hobbies.
*Am not certain the website is active at the moment. I could not get it to launch. Am checking on it!
It is quite delectable! All you need to do is put in 3 mugfuls of almond-coconut milk (it comes in a blended form in the refrigerated milk section?) into a medium saucepan, turn the heat up a bit, and place the green chai tea bags (or you can use loose tea if you happen to have them!) inside one of those tea steepers? I used to have the metal ones which clasp to where you can have them bob or sink depending? I could not find those for the life of me, so I took out our mesh steeper which has a ‘loose fitting top’ and placed that in the center of the saucepan? I turnt up the heat ever so slightly (so not to curdle the milk!) until the temperature reached perfection. I steeped it for approx. four minutes or so, as I used three tea bags once the temperature of the milk was level! You simply remove the steeper and pour the decadent liquid into your favourite mug! Enjoy the cuppa!! I put the footnote on your website as at the time of this interview posting I could not get the url to go live? :(
What is the one thing that readers might be surprised to learn about you, that you haven’t previously disclosed in an interview!?
Gamber responds:
I can moonwalk! Yes, like Michael Jackson. Also, I can do a pretty darn good robot. I’ve been doing the robot as a dance since before it really became one
Loved your response here! That’s the coolest thing you could say as I love how unexpected and wickedly brilliant the answer truly is!
If you could change any part of your life, would you take the steps to make a radical change OR have you already arrived at the place by which you hoped to be!?
Gamber responds:
I’ve definitely taken steps to make radical changes in my life. I’ve always endeavored to not let fears and anxieties keep me from pursuing the things I really want (even though I don’t always manage it the first or second try. If worrying burned calories, I’d be Kate Moss). But I also believe the moment I believe I’ve “already arrived”, I’ve stopped growing. Living. I’ve still got plenty of steps to take!
You and me both on this level! I am in a season of transition and I think whilst these occur in our lives, we have to live through our faith as a guiding source of courage! Life is best lived when we embrace the risks that alter our stars in the best ways possible! Generally speaking, the serendipitous nature of change can affect our lives in such creatively curious ways, that the journey becomes an adventure in being mindful of the hidden paths are feet will walk in order to arrive where we are meant to be! The time in which we find ourselves where we are going is not always when we perceive ourselves to arrive but rather, we are led to where we are needed at the time that is right. None of us are ever fully grown until the day the world offers us no inspiration, curiosity, or a healthy thirst for adventure! May our hearts always be open to the unexpected and embrace all the seasons that life will bring us. For knowledge arrives in gentle whispers whilst we are making plans that may not be meant to transpire!
Jackie Gamber is the award-winning author of many short stories, screenplays, and novels, including “Redheart” and “Sela”, Books One and Two of the Leland Dragon Series, as well as the upcoming Book Three of the series, “Reclamation.” For more information about Jackie and her mosaic mind, visit http://www.jackiegamber.com
Thank you, Ms. Gamber for dropping by Jorie Loves A Story today! And, thank you to Mr. Zimmer for making this Interview possible as a bookend to my review of “Redheart”!! Ms. Gamber I was humbled and honoured to not only have you here today on my blog, but to peer into a window of a writer’s life which mirrored my own! The little murmurings of our synchronicity made me smile as wide as the moon! I am forevermore grateful that our paths have crossed in this way, as you truly touched me by your ability not only to be earnestly honest in your answers, but share such an intimate view into who you are as a woman, a writer, a nature-loving soul, and as a creative! My heart is full of gratitude which is overflowing! Please leave a note for the author if you have anything you’d like to say or ask!
Be sure to catch the first half of this showcase:
Jorie reviews “Redheart“, Book One of the Leland Dragon series!
This interview was made possible by Seventh Star Press! They have my full gratitude!
{NOTE: There is no affiliation with Amazon and Jorie Loves A Story,
the link to the author’s page was provided by the author herself.}
Similar to blog tours, when I feature a showcase for an author via a Guest Post, Q&A, Interview, etc., I do not receive compensation for featuring supplemental content on my blog.
I decided to include this for:
as I simply want to spread the joy of this interview!
{SOURCES: Cover art of “Redheart” by Matthew Perry and Jackie Gamber’s photograph were all provided by Tomorrow Comes Media and used with permission. Seventh Star Press logo badge provided by Seventh Star Press and used with permission. Post dividers were provided by Shabby Blogs, who give bloggers free resources to add personality to their blogs. Author Interview badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Jorie submitted her Questions to Mr. Zimmer, who forwarded them to Ms. Gamber, for which she replied in earnest. Jorie was grateful to have this opportunity to interview her. “That Friday Blog Hop” badge was provided by XOXO Rebecca!}
Acquired Book By: I am a regular blog book tour hostess for Tomorrow Comes Media, whereupon in conversation with Stephen Zimmer about my appreciation for epic fantasy, I was offered to receive a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review direct from the publisher Seventh Star Press.The book released in April 2011. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Intrigued to Read: When I first decided to become a (blog) book tour hostess with Tomorrow Comes Media, I am not sure if I ever expected to have such a wicked sweet journey unfold in front of me! Inasfar to say, the authors who I am coming in contact with are writers who create lush, living, and dynamically engrossing worlds that make you think about the content that your reading as much as to jettison your wings off into new directions of literary exploration! I am not sure if I ever mentioned to my friends’ how much I have always kept a keen interest in ‘dragons’, as mind you, I was one of the eager movie goers who could not wait for the release of “How to Train Your Dragon”!! Whilst I was growing up my two favourite dragons were in the motion pictures: “Pete’s Dragon” and “The Neverending Story”, of which I saw in such repetition I could nearly recite the dialogue and describe the scene sequences! In later years, “Avatar” held my heart!
I have oft dreamt of the day to simply carve out space to soak into popular dragon literature, as much as seek out new authors that might not always be mentioned by other readers! How thankful I am, then, that this particular book was offered to me to read and review!
About the Author | Jackie Gamber
You can read Gamber’s Full Biography, on her website, however, I learnt quite a few things about her whilst I was composing my questions for an interview! For instance, the essence of what she knew of dragons that originated from a dream she had that was the impetus to create “Redheart” shattered the misconceptions and perceptions of dragons, thus known in fantasy! She has a wicked sense for knowing which teas pair nicely with the books your palette is whet to taste! She took up knitting for its meditative qualities. If music is in the background whilst she writes, it has to be instinctively nondescript and ambient in nature, as if she hears a curious lyrical line it could shift her scene whilst its being penned! She is a retired servicewoman, secretary, and beloved Mum! She finds a keen balance between her writing and her family life. She adores the zoo beyond what words can express. She is a prolific short story writer. She runs a multi-verse platform for story-telling entitled: Allotrope Media, alongside her husband. Believing that a story has the freedom to express itself through multiple mediums. Insofar as being an accomplished playright and screenwriter! She excels at genre jumping but her heart is attached to science fiction, fantasy, and horror.
Dragons & Humans | akin to friendship:
I would nearly suspect that if I were to live in another realm, I would pick one with dragons who appreciate a living space where dragons and humans live harmoniously together! Who would want to bypass this beautiful interaction!? I oft think that inter-species communication and connection for me, goes back to my teen years whilst I was researching oceanography and marine biology for a novel I was writing. For me, singling out the interplay between whales, dolphins, and humans held fast and firm to the presumption that interactions between different species can yield insight that is limited without the connection formed at all! (An excellent film about dolphins and dogs interacting is “Zeus and Roxanne”!) In this way, I have always held a soft spot in my heart for reading and/or listening to stories of the animals who have learnt to communicate with us directly as much as the stories of inter-species communications I have uncovered from rather unique pairings of animals!
The natural world breathes its mirth of knowledge in gentle and slow breaths of enlightenment, which you can observe the more you’re spending time outside, keeping still, and reverently attune to what is being spoken around you! Gentle whispers of truth floating in the short bursts of wind, the kissings of the sun, the sway of the trees, and the noddings of clouds, as you walk into the depths of the natural environment; your perception of what is there is heightened by your presence being accepted by those who call the habitat your walking through: home.
Dragons to me, always felt to encompass human-like characteristics that gave you the impression that if any species could live in an accord with us, it would be the dragons! They are generally emotionally driven, feel things deeply with their hearts, and they have keen observation and hearing skills that make them in a position to have empathy and tolerance. I always had the sense inside me that a dragon is as curious in nature as humans, and oft-times could get themselves into a bit of trouble untoward that regard!
In Redheart, she opens the door for a dragon to be incapacitated to care as he’s shut off his emotional heart, and would rather wallow in his self-pity than to admit that he still has something he can give and achieve, if he only gave himself half a chance! She writes his character flaws well, giving light to his physical discomfort as much as his reflective mannerisms that paint the picture clearly as how you would expect to find him if you stumbled across his cave! His anguish for his deceased parents is soul-wrenching because you can tell he has not yet traversed through his grief and emerged on the other side. He grieves as though they had only just died and his blinded sight of this sorrow is part of what is holding him back. Kallon gives the adjective ‘downtrodden’ a whole new meaning, as you can nearly see his disheartened sighs as he shifts into the floor of his cave and kicks up dust as he snorts, whilst entering his domain!
I think originally when the worlds of the dragons and humans were more intermixed, the relationships and friendships they built together was easier going than it is at the time we enter the life of Kallon and Riza. Fear has changed the landscape, and greed has nearly shattered the natural environment. Yet. Dragons and humans are akin to friendship because it’s part of the wiring of who they are. They are community entities that thrive best whilst surrounded by others’ rather than isolated as recluses. With friendship, each day is a bit more special than the last, because there was someone there to share the experience, the adventure, and the conversation of simply ‘being in the moment’ as it came to pass!
Wordsmiths are my favourites next to research enthusiasts:
Ms. Gamber has a way of weaving the opening bits of this tale in such a way that your hungry for each new sentence that alights in your mind! She has a way of showing the interactions between a freaked out of her skull human and a disgruntled and reclusive dragon as though this were an ordinary tale, set in an ordinary time, and one that would easily be taken as ‘written’ and ‘true’. Her ease of giving the reader the chance to soak into her narrative is brilliant when you consider this is an epic fantasy, with a world created fully unknown to the reader who picks up the book!
Next to (writers who are) research enthusiasts, my next favourite writer is the wordsmith! The one who uses a palette of words to paint the portraits of what evolves into the stories that light up our imaginations with such a vigorous intensity! They use words in a fashion that infuses emotion, heart, and observation in a way that is both poetic and brilliantly unique. And, being emotional beings (dragons), I would wager could lead to disappointments, misunderstandings, and grievously difficult emotional keels! She eclipses the depth of their personality with deft skill! Soulful! Dragons to me, have always come across as being ‘soulful’, filt to the brim with an ageless wisdom and a mission to seek out understanding in things that they do not always understand at first.
Trust, Determination, and Faith:
Three of the most difficult lessons we all face during our lifetimes is trusting what is happening will eventually turn around and become resolved. Staying determined that what ever befalls us will not define who we are or what we are capable of achieving. And, having the faith to encourage the strength needed in order to carry onward when our paths are not readily known or easily seen. I find these attributes at play in Kallon and Riza, who independently have to come to grips with the fact that their lives are taking a few left turns. Each of them are reluctant to admit that they are hesitate when it comes to trusting others, and each other for that matter! Slowly, as they start to spend time in each others’ company, they realise what they are missing by staying solo and isolated from companionship.
Review of Redheart:
What I feel Redheart is truly about is that a single act of courage and sacrifice is what can separate you from a crowd of maddening prejudice. It can also be the spark of the last true gift a father can bestow to his son at the time of his death. The true miracle is not allowing yourself to turn cold-hearted, to where you can no longer see what your heart is hoping you can! Our eyes are only one vehicle of sight, and if we are blinded in our hearts, we experience true blindness by not being able to see what is right in front of us. We’re surrounded by little bits of fragmented knowledge that speaks to us in the ripples of life that bursts and simmers wherever we walk. It’s knowing how to acknowledge where our lifepath is leading us to venture is the true source of understanding the greater whole of our life.
In the opening sequences of the story, the startled out of her wits human presents a classic encounter where the principal character is plucked out of her environment, taken into a new place, and has to sort out how to live where she’s planted! The fact that her rescuer is a reclusive dragon, makes the story ever more endearing, because oft-times you only hear of bold, confident dragons who are never absent of courage, or you encounter the battle-torn dragons who fight more than they alight in joy. Riza has to yield to trusting strangers in order to effectively change her stars and walk forward into a future of her choosing rather than the one that is expected.
Whilst reading the back-story of the dragons, I started to notice the similarities with their ancestral past and those of Native Americans. I grew up surrounded by Native American culture, art, and tradition as my parents always encouraged me to learn about cultures different from my own at a young age. Some of my fondest memories are the conversations I had with a Cherokee gentleman who owned a lovely art gallery and bookshoppe! Through his conversations, I have always been endeared to their cultural heritage, and as I read about Kallon’s dragon legacies of the ages, I started to recognise the underpinnings of cross-references.
An effective insurrection of power is happening in the background of Redheart, as you are introduced to such a garish brute as Blackclaw! His entire being is consumed with a thirst for blood, power, and control – to where he cannot think of anything else except the execution of engaging Dragonkind into a war with the humans! He is the complete opposite of leaders, who previously were vowed to encourage peace and civility with the humans. There is a sideline mystery about the causes of the environmental destructive patterns that are encroaching on the lands of each societies, which gives root to where the distention might have originally began.
Gamber weaves spirituality into her story with subtlety, as she begs the reader to consider the wider view of the story as a whole. To look inside our own hearts and minds, to reach past what we were expecting of the story and to see what she was trying to impart as the message that she has given us all to bear witness to. Living through faith and by faith alone is not an easy task, nor is seeing without the aide of our senses. Friendship is akin to love, and love is akin to friendship, thus so is faith akin to trust without sight.
Gamber has written a hypnotic tale that lulls you into a dreamy state of ethereal bliss, as you enter into the world of the Leland Dragons! It’s a story that you do not want to rush through, as you wander around slowly, taking in each scene and each piece of the world she’s created for the reader to become wholly enthused inside.
A Dragon Hunter with a curious complex of character!
When Jastin Armitage first comes onto the scene in Redheart, I am inwardly suspicious of his motives and of his leanings for dragon | human interactions. I gathered the sense that he was on the ‘opposite’ side of the spectrum from where I stood myself, and it came as no surprise whilst I learnt the hard truth that he ‘hunts dragons’ for a living! That aside, I found it rather curious when Gamber didn’t create the stereotypical ‘hunter’ character, but rather, gave him a bit of a working up as a man who is in conflict and attempting to be a better man than he might endeavour to represent! His gruff attitude towards Riza softened when he saw her up close, and it led me to believe that there is more to his heart than his persona as a rough-and-ready take no prisoners dragon hunter! I smirked and suppressed a giggle when I came across the scene in the The Brown Barrell where he rather cheekily gained information about the dragons he was seeking! I like cheeky humour in epic fantasy, because it helps keep the pace in-between the serious events a happy calm! He is definitely a character you are eager to read more about, with an arched eyebrow and a furrowing crease of your forehead whilst you realise he’s just this side of dangerous!
And, the story continues,…
I am in full gratitude that this is only! the first installment of the Leland Dragon series, as not since Kate Elliott’s “Crown of Stars” series and the aforementioned “Ave” series by Stephen Zimmer, have I settled into such a wonderfully wicked epic fantasy world! All these years I’ve been seeking where I should go next as far as which series to attempt to sink into and which world of whose characters would charm me with their endearing personalities,… It’s not a lightning bolt on anyone’s desk to realise that I adore full-bodied and fully realised worlds to etch myself into and soak straight into the context of the stories that draw me into their realms! The Leland Dragon series thankfully has a second installment already available, and I am hopeful, the third is shortly going to be released as it’s one of those series you are not inclined to want to put down for very long! I found a rumoured note that Book Three delves into Murk Forest whereupon dragon hunter Jastin Armitage becomes the hunted! I say ‘rumoured’ as I cannot find any mentionings online for when Book Three will drop, but I did come across the news that it marks the final installment, making Leland Dragons a trilogy! I can only hope once I reach that part of the story, I am ready to say “Good-bye”. For this story is a powerful one, that encourages you to move your fingers gingerly page to page, daring not to know what is revealed next, and yet, willing you to read where the story is leading you to go!
All I can say, is that I hope there is more ‘flying amongst the clouds and over the trees’, as being free to explore the land and sky in this way I think is every dreamers ultimate wish! Rock on, Ms. Gamber for giving me such a wicked sense of pure joy and sense of adventure by capturing how it would feel to be ‘in flight’ without the security of being in a plane! I would fathom that being astride a dragon is similar to that of a horse, as there is a co-companionship that emerges that turns the journey into a conjoined experience.
Be sure to catch the second half of this showcase on JLAS:
Jorie interviews Jackie Gamber, author of the Leland Dragon series! This review was made possible by Seventh Star Press! They have my full gratitude!
IF your a reader of dragon lore and fiction, which books and series stand out in your mind as the next ‘best’ read for me to engage in!? I’ll compile a list, and when I go to sit down with more books of this nature, I will pull your suggestions together and see how many I can read! I do have copies of “Eragon” & “Brisinger” on my self as much as I am curious about: the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik, the Rain Wild Chronicles by Robin Hobb, Pern by Anne MacCaffrey, and the Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede, of which I have stumbled across thus far! IF you’ve read any of these, which were your favourites!? And, what warmed you to the story of Redheart, as I reviewed the story!?
{SOURCES: Cover art of “Redheart” by Matthew Perry and Jackie Gamber’s photograph were all provided by Tomorrow Comes Media and used with permission. Seventh Star Press logo badge provided by Seventh Star Press and used with permission. The book trailer by Seventh Star Press had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for the opportunity to share more about this novel and the author who penned it. Blog tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs.}
Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a stop on the “Virtual Blue” Virtual Book Tour, hosted by Tomorrow Comes Media. I received “Virtual Blue” in exchange for an honest review by the publisher Seventh Star Press. The book released in August 2013. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Intrigued to Read: I always try to attempt to keep an open mind when it comes to discovering new forms of literature, as much as seeking out authors’ outside my zone of comfort! Whereupon I first learnt of this particular book and author, my initial reaction was simply thus: I would read his books anytime! Love the classic movie star vibe combined with the ghost story and leaping into lives via à la Quantum Leap! It was a precursor look into his collective works thus far along, as I gathered that he has a wicked sense of humour threaded throughout this books and I liked that aspect of his writings! His own website yields in the sub-heading to reflect his writing personality as thus as well!
It’s also a departure again for my preference for reading serial fiction in order of publication and/or in order of the series, as some books are published out of the structure of the world they are written in! Ironically or not! Laughs. There are times where I feel I can break this self-disciplined rule, and I felt I could with Virtual Blue! Let us see if I was right!
Curiously as I read the premise of this particular novel I felt like it was not entirely outside of what I’d expect to find in a story, as I am a long-term appreciator of “Charmed” (ahem! ahead of the writing derailments in latter seasons!), and I am sure this will have a connection in regards to an ill-fated film I watched (ill-fated here refers to the fact I was not meant to appreciate it!) which jumped the rails into pop culture stardom! The film I refer to is “The Matrix”, and yet, another film “Tron: Legacy” is one that I loved! However, having said all of that, I was game for a challenging read, and one that I wanted to test to see if I can carve out a niche in an urban genre mixed with the supernatural! Finding that this falls under ‘horror’ beneath the science-fiction umbrella was a bit daunting at first, as although I avoid modern horror for the most part, there are elements of stories that I enjoy that actually pertain to this branch! IF your familiar with “The Dead Zone” tv series and the “Mummy” films, you’ll know where I find myself in ‘modern’ horror, as my favourite by far are the early 1920’s-1960’s psychological suspense films that are ‘horror’ in scope, but not in grisly, gruesome, or grotesque visceral imagery! I am a quirky reader after all, dear hearts! Are you naught as well!?
Author Biography
R. J. Sullivan’s novel Haunting Blue is an edgy paranormal thriller and the first book of the adventures of punk girl Fiona “Blue” Shaefer and her boyfriend Chip Farren. Seventh Star Press released Haunting Obsession, a Rebecca Burton Novella in 2012 and Virtual Blue, the second book in Fiona’s tale, in 2013. Seventh Star will release a new edition of Haunting Blue in early 2014. R. J.’s short stories have been featured in such acclaimed collections as Dark Faith Invocations by Apex Books and Vampires Don’t Sparkle. His newest project is the Red Lotus series of science fiction novelettes for readers of all ages. R.J. resides with his family in Heartland Crossing, Indiana. Check in regularly to learn the latest about the projects of R. J. Sullivan.
Synopsis of Virtual Blue:
Did you ever wish you could escape to a virtual world? What if you could…but then couldn’t get out?
Two years after her deadly clash with a vengeful ghost, Fiona “Blue” Shaefer still can’t shake off the trauma of that night. Moving to New York with her father didn’t help. Neither did absorbing herself in her college classes. Not even her poetry provided the solace it once did. She convinces herself that ending her relationship with Eugene “Chip” Farren, her long-distance boyfriend and final tie to the horrors of that night, might bring the closure she needs. Blue travels to Bloomington to break the news to Chip in person, but her timing couldn’t be any worse.
The Sisters of Baalina, vengeful cultists who practice a new form of “techno-magic,” have targeted Chip’s multi-player videogame as the perfect environment to cast a dangerous spell to free a demoness from the very pits of hell. In the process, their plan may trap Blue in a prison of the mind with no locks, no bars, and no escape.
Spotlight on the Illustrative Art by Bonnie Wasson:
Ms. Wasson does not disappoint with her stunning visual accuracy of the images that your own mind’s eye conjures to be representative of the characters in Virtual Blue! As I have come to read two Seventh Star Press releases featuring cover art and illustrated plates by Matthew Perry, I was most delighted to have my ‘introduction’ to the artistry of Wasson! You could nearly pluck “Blue” into a lovely series of stationery sheets to musefully write your friends’ the everyday adventures you seek and enjoy! Although, this is perhaps an observation only a letter-writer would make on behalf of “Blue!”
On the left, is the plate which depicts the final encounter between Marda and Blue, in Chapter Twenty-Eight. Did you notice the reflective menacing arc of the blade!? There is emotional drama in this scene, as captured in this plate, but with the presence of a blade, twinged sharp and lethal, it adds to the emotions that your feeling as you read the scene initially!
On the right, is the plate which depicts Baalina and Blue meeting at the portal at the end of Chapter Nineteen. For every good seed there must be a bad one to off-set the imbalance, which is usually when the forces of evil wage war against the good in stories such as these, as they are forever attempting to assert their ascent over the free and just! This particular scene is exactly as its portrayed as being: a showdown of wills between Baalina and Blue!
The sharpness of her details, allows you to glimpse inside the characters’ world as though they had stepped into our own, which is always something that I look for when I observe an artist’s rendition of a writers’ work! I was full of mirth whilst reading Blue’s reaction to her ‘virtual self’ in the story (Chapter Three), and I wondered what Wasson felt once she had finished rendering Blue as Daria!? As she eclipsed the full essence of finding oneself re-imaged as an improved version by a second party!
Reflections As I Became Entrenched in Virtual Blue:
A daughter’s regret on the events that led to her mother’s death overshadow the confidence that Fiona (Blue) has for moving forward with her life. I think that is a plausible problem for most who lose their loved ones under conditions that are not afforded to being naturally inclined. Your always going to question the moments (even the nanoseconds!) that lead up to their death, and question the very will you had to effectively change the outcome; if at all possible. Unresolved grief and anger can swelter in a person’s spirit, wrecking them to see the clear path towards their future. I can see how transfixed Fiona is on the past, as she experienced an unsettling incident that left her torn away from the one person she leaned on the most: her mother! What anguish she must have endured! I speak of this, retrospectively, as I did not read “Haunting Blue” but am thankful that Sullivan provided glimpses of what occurred ‘previously’ through reflections and interactions in the present. Her relationship with her father is on the rocks as well, and I can see how that could happen due to the proposed separation the two had sustained in their relationship. Sullivan sets the scene nicely for those of us coming into this series second-hand!
I was pleasantly happy to see an exchange of poetry between Blue and Drew in the opening chapter, as I am a poet myself and oft wondered what it would be like to read poems by fellow poets in a reading session! I started young like Blue in this regard, as I was still in high school when the magic of verse and poetry nestled into my heart and etched out through my pen! I wonder if she started in her senior year, or younger, as I was a sophomore!? Perhaps that is revealed in the first book! I too, know what it is like to lose the momentum to create when the absence of words stills to a near deafening silence! Interesting thread of story shaping into the exchange between Blue and Drew! Lovely and real!
I had forgotten a bit how exciting the gaming life can become, as I was a gamer for most of my younger days, and am trying to sort out the games of ‘today’ to keep up with the changing trends! I used to love computer games like: Where in the World is Carmen Sandiago?, Loom, Battle Chess, Tetris, as well as a virtual reality environment game (The Journeyman Project) from the 1990’s! It was singularly one of my favourites to play, too! The rich futuristic environment of its setting is what captured me into its world! Then, there is of course the game that was pre-loaded on my iMac which I could not play enough of: Deimos Rising! I’ll bypass the Nintendo, Sega, and PlayStation platform games that interest me. Needless to say, my gaming life is as quirky as my reading life! I was also captured by a hybrid game of Dungeons and Dragons as a teen where I had the unfortunate mishap of ‘solving’ the game-play ahead of actually ‘playing the game’ and became Assistant Dragonmaster instead! All of this is on top of traditional gaming by way of board games and card games, by which I am a dedicated player! Solarquest, Five Crowns, or Hand & Foot anyone!? I suppose you could say, I understood the inertia of building excitement for Chip and Phil whilst they were unearthing their dream game “Fantasy Free-Form”!
As a side note, the “Terror Twins” of Cyn and Van smirked a resemblance of my remembrance of the Klingon Duras sisters! And, a lot of the undercurrent terror building on behalf of Marda’s coven bespoke of episodes I watched on “Charmed”, in which, the setting of the unfolding story was not difficult to understand! I did find it a keen observation, that they would infiltrate through the upstart game in order to conquer their destiny!
Review of Virtual Blue:
Unsurprising to me, Fiona dissolves into Blue at the first meet-up with her soon-to-be-ex Chip, as she has based her self-identity on their relationship and the woman she is whilst she is around him. She has far more to give and to explore on her own path, independent of his interaction in her life, but old habits are hard to shake, when the person your attempting to break up with was there for you at such a pivotal moment in your life. I think its his attachment to her sorrowful loss that tipped the scales of uncertainty against forging a life away from him in the first place. The strength it takes to stand alone, and seek out new individuals who are more aligned with who you are ‘now’ is oft times more daunting of a task than resuming the status quo! Then, again, what if the fragment of who you were could be re-discovered through the eyes of your beloved? In only a way that a true love can bring you back from the depths of despair from whence you disappeared!? Such is the heart-aching choice Blue must decide as she embarks on a trip back to Indiana to face her past and choose her future.
As the story shifts forward, the counter-balance of good vs. evil is revealed due to the back-story of how the followers of Baalina have taken steps to assist her freedom. You start to see how determined Blue must become to shelf her own desires and forge ahead towards redeeming the liberty of everyone else instead.
By the time Blue, Phil, and Chip start to investigate, I had swirling memories of why I missed the detective and mystery series of my younger days! Innocence of youth, gleeful joy in the hunt for uncovering the mystery, and the joy of succeeding in taking down a full-on challenging adversary! I liked the tug-of-war between the threesome, as they do not always get along due to the struggle with the balance of two boys and a girl in tow whose in love with one of them! I love the classic set-up, and the irresistible intrigue that follows suit!
There are elements of fantastical lore and myth etched into the undercurrents to pitch the truth of the Kelranian historic fight against Baalina and her chosen sisters. Sullivan reaches into Arthurian lore to draw out a new seedling of inspiration to stitch the story between the past, present, and future. In this vein, the story settles into a sub-plot I found most entertaining! Sullivan has woven spirituality, religion, and faith into the pacing of the story as much as he has researched how to endeavour the reader with plausible inclusions of lore! An internal and outer struggle known throughout the centuries is at the forefront of what happens when both sides take part in a feud they did not agree to join!
Honestly, I would have loved this story truly if my eyes didn’t have to skip over all the vulgar cursing that the characters were quite attached to spewing whenever their situations turned adverse! I didn’t find it a necessary arc for the story, nor a positive attribute for Blue and Chip! And, although I appreciated the depictions of the Hell that Blue was subjected to being placed inside in order to entrap Baalina, Cyn, Van, and Marda – I think I could have fared better to have that bit shortened and have the ending stand as it is. Especially since their evil hearts were clearly evident from previous chapters! Its the ending resolution of Blue’s future that I appreciated seeing the most, as I was rather angst ridden understanding the full scope of Rebecca Burton’s!
A Most Curious Tie-In:
I was quite enthused to read in Chapter Four how the author’s depiction on the Tour Badge and Author Photograph tie-in to the story! At first, I thought perhaps its his whimsical humour settling into the fray, but no! It actually has a direct connection to the story-line and with Virtual Blue! Rock on, Mr. Sullivan! That’s the equivalent of finding Hitchcock inserted into his own motion picture!
Inasmuch as the curiously able investigator Rebecca Burton being involved in this mystery, who has previously been seen in novellas and shorts! Sullivan has a way of connecting each of his stories in such a charmingly symmetrical synchronical way! Wicked! I wonder if he is going to release the Burton novellas and shorts as a stand-alone collection!?
A Notation on the Horror Aspects of the Plot:
Honestly!? It took me nearly half-way through to realise that I hadn’t surmised when the ‘horror’ of the story had even arrived! I think for the most part, my mind was happily seeing connections between series I had seen on the screen, and therefore, perhaps, my mind and heart overlooked a few things! I know there was a proper fight scene between Blue & Marda, as well as other interactions with blades, but personally I place those instances under ‘fight sequences or stand-offs’ rather than directly linked to horror!? I wonder if this book was misfiled!? Until I reached Chapter Sixteen which has an excellent representation of the differences between Heaven and Hell. Which continues to be explored the further inside the novel you venture towards.
Fly in the Ointment:
The only criticism I can give is the inclusion of vulgar expressions that irk my ire in regards to not having the heat of the moment more creatively expressed! This book did not start out falling under what I’d consider “excessive vulgarity” but it ended with my feelings that it pushed my barometer to the extreme! Mostly due to key words which were used to express or denounce certain climaxical emotions that I would consider better spent if they had been conveyed in a mannerism that befit the story in a creative way other than the method that Sullivan chose to give. This is not necessarily a criticism directed at him entirely, as I oft find myself in this quandary of a position, as my personal leanings are more towards the Shakespearean art of insultive and pernicious declarations! For this reason, I did not choose to include the book trailer for the first half of this series, “Haunting Blue”, as I was quite aghast that the words were left in, by which had to be ‘sound clipped’ out! Oy! Generally, I am always the first to fully support all materials to help a book, but this became a personal deference of choice on my behalf. I think the main reason this struck me rather severely, is after noting that Blue was a poet, I thought she might have articulated her emotions in a more eloquent way rather than in such a common way! And, I’m at a complete loss as to why all characters simply feel the need to express themselves in a manner that is not tactful or fitting to educated society! Sighs. Clearly, not every depiction of a novel in synopsis form gives way to rendering a precise foresight of what the novel will relay. Therefore, I am sure, I am in the minority who would consider this a ‘fly in the ointment’ to even mention! However, it is what it is. Except to say, that my overall enjoyment of the story itself was not darkened by this blight of words that ruffled my feathers and twitched my nose!
{SOURCES: Cover art and inside plate illustrations of “Virtual Blue” by Bonnie Wasson; R.J. Sullivan’s photograph and biography, and the blog tour badge were all provided by Tomorrow Comes Media and used with permission. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Blog tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs.}