Jeff Vandermeer has a very interesting GUEST post BY Angela Slatter about celebrity culture trying to spread to writers:

You need to have a product. You need to build a reputation based on your writing. If you’re a Mafia-hitman-in-training, then surely your resume should have some instances of actually putting horse heads in beds, rather than simply saying “I totally want to be a Mafia hitman and put horse heads in people’s beds, Mr Gotti.” Surely one must show a record of achievement.

Otherwise, where’s the substance of you as a writer? You’re just Paris Hilton, all surface, all self-pimping, no depth, no achievement. Why bother?

link: Ecstatic Days » Blog Archive » Pondering Author Platform

There really is no end of quality product around, which is probably why people that want to join in the melee and have taken on the message of self-promotion that you hear. You need to get up that slush pile it seems and showing that you are active online or at least can be when the need arises i.e. when you have a book coming out into actual print from an actual publisher. But trying to make a name for yourself without anything to back it up really isn’t going to get you anywhere. The world is full of people that want to write a novel (including me).

We do worship writers. We have alters dedicated to them (they are called bookshelves). But we do so because we have fallen for them, head over heals in some cases. We don’t do it because they are a writer unless you’re Neil Gaiman or J.K Rowling but even then it’s because what they have written rather than who they are.

The key to the Gatekeepers is always writing that grabs you and won’t let you go, which is a feeling I have at the minute. I can see why Peter F. Hamilton is one of the biggest SF writers around. I’m totally immersed.

A question:

Which writer has grabbed you recently?

I’ve been giving the whole book blog thing a bit of a think. It’s heathy to pause for thought every now and again just to assess if you’re going in the right path or not. Books and blogging about books can turn into a time and mind consuming hobby. And as I’ve been reading The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential, in Business and in Life by Leo Babauta I’ve been wondering how essential this blog is and if it is essential what should I be doing with it.

For me it’s always been about sharing but recently I’ve been wondering if I’ve been sharing the right things to the right audience.

On the one side you have those that want a book to be given a weight and gravity by considering it’s worth compared to ‘canon’ and what importance it has in the wider picture and then you have those who are good at showing you the chocolate box and describing something enough so that you want to taste it even if you don’t know quite what you are going to get.

I’m definitely a box of chocolate guy. I want to find out if I like a strawberry centre or a caramel cream or at least find out if a Cadbury Caramel Cream beats a Nestle one.

That isn’t to say there isn’t a middle ground but I think that most people enjoy the stories as they are and just want enough idea to know if a book is going to be for them or not.

I like the whole carnival around books from the covers to the content but not a big fan of academic deconstruction. I don’t really enjoy pulling things apart. I’ve tried it when I was writing my review of The Holy Machine and didn’t like the processes. . I could tell you about some clever moments but taken out of context they just feel sterile and cold.

I like my books still beating. That’s why I read. I want to enjoy the ride. Now enjoyment is a big net that catches a lot of things but I hope I get across what I did and didn’t enjoy when I write my reviews.

So I’m going to strap the Pom-pons back on and get back into the carnival atmosphere that is the enjoyment of reading.

I’ve had a great two weeks seeing two completely different sides to the states. On the one side the Nation’s Capital.

And on the other Vegas, which really is like no where on Earth. It’s my second visit to the USA and I was more than happy to stay and fly on to San Fran. Maybe next year.

I won’t bore you with too many photos or reminiscences thoughI do want to share a couple of things.

The food is stunning. I have dinner plate sized pancakes and some of the best burgers I’ve ever had:

I think I had too much high-calourie and unhealthy food than is good for me but it’s a holiday right? I was doing a lot of walking and to prove it the scales said

I’m 2lbs heavier but 3% less fat than when I left. Not that I wanted to walk. 105F is a bit much and that was DC. Vegas was hitting 115F+ This is nice if you’re lying buy a pool but it makes sight seeing interesting.

I saw lots of sights in DC.

I stayed in Luxor in Vegas. The pyramid is stunning though I didn’t get a shot of it as it’s all blocked in by other hotels except the back and I didn’t realise that until heading back to the airport. I did get to see Camelot every morning so I can’t complain.

I did buy a couple of  books.

It looks like I’ve got lots of catching up to do. Rumour has it there is a 6ft pile of parcels in the Post Office. Monday might see a very unamused post man.

Oh and I’ve found my Vegas song

So this is a quick post to say:

I have feeling that I’m not going to be very connected whilst I’m gone. I’m taking one book for the plane and maybe one more but that’s my lot. It’s not as if they don’t have books where I’m going is it? Along with all the other things I’ve probably forgotten to pack!

So whilst I’m away  a question:

What books you taking aways with you this summer?

Catch you all soon!

Chris Beckett’s novel The Holy Machine is one of those books. And the skin it gets under is, in some cases, artificial, in others, virtual, as well as our own real skins. Though mainly it’s about the skin of one ‘ASPU’ – Lucy – and a man named George Simling.

Find out more about what I had to say about  The Holy Machine on this month’s edition of SFRevu.com. Hint I loved it!

The Fuller Memorandum
Charles Stross
Orbit Books
Out Now

We’re used to series having a regularity and rhythm to them. But The Laundry series is a little more erratic to say the least. Not that it’s anyones fault as such. We’ve had two almost full novels, 4 novella/shorts, this full novel and two more still to come (hopefully).

After finishing The Fuller Memorandum I hope Stross has chance to write both The Armageddon Agedna and The Nightmare Stacks and surprises us with a stack of more short stories.

You can take it from the above that I’m a fan of the series right? Just in case you’re in any doubt I love what

Stross has done with The Laundry. When I grow up I want to tell stories like this.

I’d better explain why it’s hitting my buttons then.

I do have this thing that’s been slow burning for Lovecraftian-esque horrors and it’s slowly creeping into my reading see:

• Kraken
• The Domino Men
• Hunter’s Moon/Eagle Rising
• Never the Bride/Something Borrowed/Conjugul Rites/Hell’s Bells (though these are more wonderful quaint horrors)

as well as the first two book in this series:

• The Atrocity Archives
• The Jennifer Morgue

In my review of The Jennifer Morgue I said:

In the next one I’d love to see the horrors a bit more horrific just to see how far Bob can cope and I want to know more about the origins of his boss Angleton. And if I’m being picky I’d like to have the pace toned down a little bit to have more time to digest stuff.

I think Stross must have read my review as he’s done all of that and more.

Time has shifted again. Bob is now married to Mo not surprising after the events of The Jennifer Morgue but their connection is forged by what they’ve seen and can’t share with the outside world more than love. They have a strange but understanding relationship. They both agents for The Laundry, a branch of the British secret service, tasked to prevent hideous alien gods from wiping out all life on Earth.

Stross always seems to come back with something different but retaining all the things you like about Bob and The Laundry. This starts with his unofficial boss giving him a little errand. All he needs to do is check out a disturbance in the Royal Airforce Museum and seeing as he’s all ready going it’s suggested that he checks out a white elephant in Hanger 12B. Unfortunately there is an accident and he doesn’t get chance to investigate the elephant, which is only the start of Bob’s problems.

All The Laundry stories are retold by Bob which gives them an emotional and personal edge that might be lost if they were told in third person. We do occasionally get to see some events retold by Bob from other people’s points of view so we’re not limited to Bob as there a few key moments that we need to see and couldn’t see them any other way.

I really can’t fault Stross for his characterisation. He manages to dish out Chuthu-lian horrors at the same time as making paperclips and the need for an autopsy like inspection of a violin mix in as if it’s normal.

And it is normal to them. Especially having an upgraded Jesus phone with magickal apps plus injecting geek humour by accusing it of a having a strong glamour that just pulls you in. You know what I’m almost convinced they do.

It’s this mix of supernatural and the mundane that makes Stross such a convincing writer. He can pull out the horror and when I said I wanted Bob to suffer I wasn’t sure that Stross could actually do what he did to Bob here. It’s not pleasant and it’s disturbing as it’s not carried out by anything alien but fanatics who believe in something enough that they see what they do as means to an end. And he can also pull out plot twists that have you seeing things completely differently.

You get to see the history of one of the more enigmatic characters in the series so far and what you learn is more ‘oh’ than ‘err’ but only just. I wonder what else Stross is hiding from us?

All the end of the world horror is mixed with Stross personal brand of geek humour and the character could be average-if-he-wasn’t-dealing-with-the-supernatural-Bob, not forgetting the rest of eclectic crew of The Laundry, shows what rich world Stross has created. I’m sad that we’ve only got to see glimpses of it so far. I hope this isn’t the last we see of them.

I’m not sure where we go from here. The Laundry is a hotel corridor of horrors just waiting to be walked down and any door could lead to a nightmare.

Oh and then there is ‘The Power of Less’ – I’m slowly altering my thinking and re-evaluating things in my life – not as scary as it sounds but it’s one reason it’s a little quiet around here.

So do you have any TBR priorities?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

And I’m not really back full time as I’m going fishing (not literally) in early July with ultra limited internet access though when I come back I’ve got a celebration planned for a certain author. The review is done, just need to get the interview questions sent and returned and that’s as far I’ve planned for next the next half of 2010.

Seeing as I’m taking a break I thought it might be an idea to have a look at my reading so far this year.

I’ve reviewed 21 books and here are five highlights from the year so far:

Green Review: Killer by Dave Zeltserman (Serpent’s Tail)

Green Review: Horns by Joe Hill (Gollancz)

Green Review: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)

Green Review: Florence & Giles by John Harding (blue door)

BSFA Best Novel 2010 Nominee: Yellow Blue Tibia by Adam Roberts (Gollancz)

Now I know I’ve left out China Mieville – shock – but I’m only allowed five and these got into my heart as well as my head a little more.

So the original plan was to review 36 books by this point. I’m a little behind but I did get distracted. Both online and offline. I think I’m going back to 52 books max.

Speaking of numbers. I am a little blown away. It wasn’t until this year that I truly realised the scale of the publishing industry. Not in terms of people in it as it quite small when you get down those at the heart that keep our imaginations fed.

I’m thinking more of out put. It’s amazing. How they decide from all those books and writers that they could publish and that’s not even the hard part. Then they have to send them into battle with all the other books that are either out there, just out or coming out is overwhelming from this weird state that is book blogging. I don’t know how people that follow blogs actually decide on one book

I know my brain went pop a few weeks ago trying to keep up. So I’m not going to try if I do great but boy my little head was maxed out.

Anyway, enough of all this analyse and introspection. Lets get back to books.

I’m having trouble reviewing the audio books I’ve been enjoying in the gym. Usually I can manage to have a little thread running in my head when I’m reading processing what I’m reading but trying to run and think beyond what I’m reading just ain’t happening, which I’m fine with but it is frustrating as I’d love to share that experience.

All I can say is that audio books in the gym are so much better than music in my opinion especially if you have a great narrator and a short story collection – you know the end is coming soon it helps you push on just a little more.

As far as reading goes I’ve had a ball so far. And that’s not going to change in the rest of 2010.

Hope you’ve had a great year so far too.

I really, really enjoy China Miéville, but it seems sad to me that he is one of the UKs best writers under 40. He’s quite good, but I wouldn’t even put him on my top 10 sci-fi writers list. Additionally, the New Yorker did include people who write good genre fiction. Silly Telegraph…wait, it’s just the Telegraph? Wake me up when Granta puts out their new one.

link: Heads up, New Yorker! Here’s a “writers under 40″ list that includes SF authors

I’ve heard of 7 out of the 20 not too bad considering that i don’t pay attention to the lit fic side of the fence very often. But this comment amused me and confirmed some things I’ve been thinking about reading in general:

Who you read is generally more important than what you read if you want to have a conversation about it.

Don’t believe me? See how several blogs always mention the same books, which is odd really considering the thousands of novelists they could be talking about. Now that isn’t to say that you can’t find reviews of others books and you can if you hunt down and around but generally if a novel is being talked about you want in. And if you try something different then you have to be very persuasive. Everyone wants to be in rather than on the outside – that’s where the spotlight is after all.

Seemingly The Telegraph didn’t convince the above commentator that their list was on par with Granta’s. Not that Granta has ever got my pause raising from their list when I was more into lit fic than I am now.

I’ll honestly say that China isn’t the world’s best storyteller and might not give you a characters emotional journey but that isn’t the point of what he is writing. He’s folding and unfolding ideas in front of you so you can think about things differently.

And it seems that:

‘London-as-a-magical-undeworld setting has been done well, done often, has more or less run its course.

The quote is pulled from a ‘meh’ review of Kraken, as it happens, from the lastest SciFi Now.

So anyone who is half-way through writing an urban fantasy tale in London needs to stop now. Well not Mike Carey and Kate Griffin who both have series to finish. And it’s all Neil Gaiman’s fault anyway for writing Neverwhere and China really should have stopped with Un Lun Dun in that case.

The reviewer is assuming that everyone has read all those books, and if they have do you think might like the idea of London and want to read more about it as a magical place? I’ve read all but that Gaiman (shame on me) and each treats it differently and I’ve enjoyed all of them. But each of them are different in their way. As long as London is there we are going to get stories about it but it’s not going to be the same London.

But maybe Mark Charan Newton is right:

Enough of this Urban Fantasy malarkey, because I’m now interested in Rural Fantasy.

link: Rural Fantasy

There is even a list:

I’ve compiled a starter list of Rural Fantasies (both adult and children titles), for anyone interested in reading more – and it’s worth adding that this isn’t a comment on quality either. I’ll edit this post continually, adding more titles, so do pop further suggestions in the comments section

link: The Rural Fantasy Reading List

I wonder if any of the readers that have read any of the Urban Fantasy mentioned or the Rural Fantasy List have this complaint:

While browsing a few of my fellow authors’ critiques, I happened to notice a rather disturbing trend in the commentary. Namely, that a lot of the criticism boiled down to the following statement:

“He’s not George R.R. Martin/Joe Abercrombie/Gene Wolfe/China Mieville.”

link: Sam Sykes » Voices of the Dead

And it gets worse when you consider:

I mostly concur, Sam. It’s an especially unhelpful comparison when it’s “[debut author in their 20s] is no [experienced author who's been doing this for years or decades].” Christ, find some relevant comparisons or cut the poor bastards (or maybe that should be ‘us poor bastards’) some due slack.

link: Sam Sykes » Voices of the Dead – a comment by Scott Lynch

And:

Never reveal your age if you’re under thirty. I don’t get it, and in discussion with other youngish authors, this isn’t an uncommon trend – people rarely take you seriously when you’re an author in your twenties. It’s absurd that anyone under that age should have the right to be published. What were you thinking? Because it’s not as though you sacrificed years of your life to get where you are, youngster. Oh hang on.

link: A Year Later – a post by Mark Charan Newton again

I guess this all goes back to hype:

But sometimes a good book is just a book that works on its own terms. To use Nights of Villjamur as an example I was really worried that their would be a anti-hype backlash against it when I’d finished it and compared other reviews to mine. It’s a good but – it’s not going to change your life – you aren’t going to wanting your money back at the end either. At least I hope not. But if you expect it to be the next blockbuster we’ve given you the wrong impression.

link: Comment: When a good book is just a good book… – NextRead

And I even said it in my review:

So can’t say it’s perfect and I wouldn’t want to. He’s only two novels into his career (this is his debut with a mainstream publisher) and you can tell that Newton is going to stand out. He’s mindful that he needs to create texture and colour to his characters and give them a reason for moving on the page. He’s also put thought into the environment they inhabit. And he knows the journey he needs to take his characters. All qualities that can only grow with experience and further novels.

link: Review: Nights of Villjamur by Mark Charan Newton (UK Tor) – NextRead

It’s odd really. We have to hype new writers. We have to push them out otherwise how else are they going to reach readers? But at the same time it seems that everyone is overly defensive of authors they like. I’ve been a bit protective of China in this post for example. And lots of people are protective of the positions of their favourite authors being ‘the best’.

I really don’t give a flying monkeys about who is the best of anything. I can give you a list of authors that are worth reading in my opinion and I can explain why. I can give you a list of what their strengths and weakness are. But I wouldn’t want them to get the noose of ‘best’.

When done right they are storytellers – they are idea explorers – they show us a different side to human nature – they are escapism – they are pleasure givers but it’s all a matter of taste really and people that think about what they are going to say about a book after it’s read are probably more open to the experience than people that just want one page to lead to the next and feel like they’ve had their monies worth?

Though sometimes I wish I wasn’t such an open reader. The amount of books that need to talk to me is getting quite loud now…

… though I do wonder if it’s a good idea to be cheerleader and critic – pushing goods out that you are yet to test? Maybe we all need to calm down a little and go for hand selling more the goods after inspection and pushing the unopened parcel less?

Though this won’t help raise awareness of those authors that don’t get mentioned a lot so maybe I and my fellow bloggers need to be casting that net out a little wider? Just a thought