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Where Have All the Cow-Men Gone

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From a long bout of abstinence from fantasy novels, I have returned.  Today, I am reading The Dragon’s Path by Daniel Abraham.  His other series, The Long Price Quartet, didn’t really work with me, since me am dumb fantasy reader.

It’s quite good.  His sense of focus doesn’t really jive with mine (which is something I’ll talk about later), but there’s a lot to praise here.  I haven’t seen quite as much as I’d like to for purposes of making a solid judgment, but there is one thing I’d like to talk about while it’s still fresh in my mind.

The Dragon’s Path takes place in a world of war and political intrigue, of fighting and carnage and, what I really liked, a world full of all kinds of different races living together.  Not always in harmony, mind, but they’re there and they’re raw.  It was about the time I saw the first unusual race that it struck me as to just how unusual this was.  Races other than human, defined by more than culture.  Honest to God alien, weird, scaly, furry, angry, jeweled weirdos walking alongside humanity.

It was then that another question struck me: exactly why did we give up unusual races in fantasy?  I guess there’s a few reasons, really.

Some authors are sparse with magic and with creatures in an effort to make them more impactful when they finally do show up.  If you think back to the old Conan stories, most of the wizards and sorcerers didn’t do a tremendous lot beyond making people poop themselves or lifting heavy objects as frail old men.  And yet, it was pretty intense when that happened, because no one else could do it and no one was really sure what it could do.  And, likewise, a hulking lizardman is a lot more scary if there’s only one of him, because you have no idea what he is, exactly, if he doesn’t have a tribe or culture.

But there’s a bigger reason.

The people who accuse fantasy of not being realistic are not exactly wrong and not exactly for the reasons you’re thinking of.  “Escapism,” as the word is so often used, usually carries with it the connotation of disingenuousness.  It’s not realistic, it’s not accurate and it’s not human.  Perhaps in an effort to shed that stereotype, we also shed the magic, the monsters and the races in favor of politics, intrigue and more things that all of us can relate to…like being thrown out a window for discovering a royal incestuous coup.

Who hasn’t that happened to?

I kid, of course.

These practices have worked well for the authors that use them, but I think we might have lost something in our abandonment of fantastic races.

As I said, the people who throw around escapism as equating to disingenuousness are not exactly wrong, but they’re not exactly right, either.  When you use fantasy races as cut-and-paste bad guys or nondescript ethereal beings of great wisdom, then yeah, you’re not really creating much beyond cannon fodder and/or plot devices.  But when you make a race more than just a name and a war cry, when you apply a culture, an attitude, a struggle and a history, you’re making a commentary on humanity, whether you intended to or not.

I’m not saying that anyone who writes a story in which orcs aren’t all that bad is qualified to give a seminar on race relations, but that story has put an idea out there.  It’s made a point that we can accept, refute or apply to our own lives.  And when that point is made, when it clicks for the reader, then the conflict from which that point came from is more easy to invest into, making a stronger story.

A strong culture behind an alien race = stronger identity = stronger point = deeper conflict = deeper reader involvement = stronger story.

If you do it right.

And while I make it pretty well known that I don’t really care about worldbuilding, I make an exception when it comes to alien races.  The reason being that I loathe when worldbuilding stands segregate from character development.  Creating the race and the culture integrates the two.  We are closer to the world because we are closer to the race because we are closer to the character of that race.  It’s an excellent way of investing the reader in the world without beating him over the head with an epic poem.

And finally…

You remember Star Wars, don’t you?  Remember the Tattooine Cantina?  Remember seeing all these weird, alien creatures hanging out together?  Remember what that felt like?

Wonder.

Awe.

“What the–”

That’s what fantasy is all about.

To me, anyway.  It might be something different to you.  But then, what do you think?  Do you prefer your books bundled with lizardmen or do you prefer a straight-up, no-nonsense human-filled romp?

Tell me.

Tell me everything.

Go read The Dragon’s Path.

Peace.

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More like Peter Orfoolian

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Fact: when you get to at least a modicum of celebrity, such as the vast and unrelenting stream of hard-packed, oiled bodies and adoring masses chanting one’s name that comes from being an author of a book that involves a farting girl and a kid who wets his pants after shooting fire from his hands, things get a little weird.

You get strange emails.  People tell you odd things.  They sometimes ask you to look at growths on their bodies and sometimes sign them and you don’t say no because it’s sweet that they’re asking and you’re happy that people are paying attention to you at all and–

…anyway, if you’re the Ranting Dragon review site, your adoration comes in the form of a staple question posed to all interviewees: “How would you beat up Sam Sykes?”

In what may be the most divisive question to face society since “is there a God and does he hate me for what I do at night,” this is sure to have a strange and wondrous impact on the face of literature.  If you are a reasonable human being, your answer will undoubtedly be “I won’t, it’s just impossible, he’s so big and handsome.”  If you are slightly less reasonable, you might come up with some toss about providing me sport before I rend you asunder with teeth and claws.

If you’re Peter Orullian, recently-signed author with Tor and ageless child of 1991, though, you might provide the answer in the form of a weird-as-heck three-page fanfiction about an air guitar battle.

Go on.  Read that.

Consider it a fond example of an exercise in denial.  Use it well when you wish to write a scene in which there is no hope and fleeting ability to survive in the face of overwhelming odds.

Then consider what happens next.

Pretty intense, right?  I was feeling a lot of stuff when that came out.  Not all of it good.

I suggest you have a saunter over to this here poll and take your time selecting my name.  Go on.  Drift over it.  Maybe make like you’re going to click Peter’s name and then back away shyly.

I want him to feel hope before I consume the rest of him.

Happy Friday!

Love,

Sam

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Fly Away, Little Bird, Fly, Fly

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Yes.  Those are nine copies of Black Halo going away to various reviewers, gurus and people I like in general.  Busy little worker bees, they go out to pollinate the brains of people and harvest their sweet interest to bring back to the hive, where they shall be slowly digested by a queen and poured into tiny hexagonal shapes to later be harvested by greedy grizzly bears and adventurous, portly men with veils and thick glasses who sweat perpetually.

…I think I may have tortured that metaphor to death, but you get the idea.

I have one for myself, of course, but I don’t think there’s much of a need to keep a lot around.  If you love something, you must set it free, after all (this philosophy tends to backfire when it comes to kidnapping, protip), and, as a result, I kind of like giving stuff away.

Speaking of…

ARE YOU (CHOOSE ONE):

[ ] A DUTCH GIRL WITH LOW SELF-ESTEEM

[ ] A DUTCH MAN WHO RESENTS HIS PEERS

[ ] DUTCH, DUTCH-RELATED, DUTCH-CAPABLE AND POSSESSED OF A NEED TO READ TOME OF THE UNDERGATES IN DUTCH

[ ] A TRICERATOPS

Give me a holla.  I’ve got SEVEN Dutch Editions of Tome of the Undergates to give away!  I WILL HOOK YOU THE FUCK UP.

NO THERE’S NO PITHY ENDING QUOTATION FOR YOU TO FEEL GOOD ABOUT

THAT’S HOW I ROLL, YO

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How Not to Do It

6 Comments /

Hey.  Look at this: I was Shortlisted for the David Gemmel Award.  It’s a nice thing.  I don’t think there’s anyone on that list I would mind winning.

Also, look at this: my Babel Clash with Ari Marmell is over.  So sad.  You can read it all in the backlogs if you missed it.  Or you could just go read Patrick Rothfuss and Jim Butcher sloppily make out over two weeks.  You know.  If you like that sort of thing.

These are all neat things to talk about, but look at this.

…yeah, you’ve already seen it, haven’t you?  That’s because this is the internet.  You probably found it whilst browsing for your pornographs or looking at feline pictures or whatever it is you kids like to do.  And this being the internet, it’s pretty much everywhere.

Truly, it kind of depresses me.  Mostly because I lament how easily it could have gone. If she had simply asked if he got the emergency backup copy instead of “YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG,” it might have gone better.

I think there’s this weird sort of perceived animosity between reviewers and authors, like they’re the mongooses to our cobras slithering in baby cradles.  I suppose that’s understandable; there are some reviewers out there that seem to believe this totally and take it upon themselves to try to be as aggressive as possible, even at the expense of honesty.

I don’t think I’ve ever met one, though.  I’ve had chats with some reviewers who liked my book (whee) and some who didn’t (aww).  It’s not that big a deal.  In general, I think most reviewers enjoy talking about what they’ve read.  Just talking with them like they’re people tends to work pretty well for me.  And if not, there’s nothing wrong with just…not going berserk on them.

This is a short post.

I am watching Traffic Light on Hulu starring that asshole from The Office that you didn’t like and a British guy.  They drive around, talking about stuff that happened in college and talking about relationships.

Relationship humor is the lowest form of comedy.  This I truly believe.

My wife occasionally asks me to contribute to the well-being of our household by doing menial chores that occupy my time that I might rather spend doing other things.  We’ve all been there, right, fellas?  The other day I was watching television and she came in and said: “Sam Sykes, you are a man who occasionally indulges his own hobbies and/or leisure time at the expense of what society demands I, as a woman, must want.  A good example of this behavior would be that I occasionally wish to discuss the shoes I bought at the store, while you are watching football.  You possess a penis and I a vagina.  We are in a relationship.  This is comedy.”

And you know what?  It was.  I laughed.

I laughed all the way out of the chair.  I laughed as I got into the car.  I laughed as I drove down to the old quarry.  I laughed as I tied a rock around my leg and hurled it off.  I drowned laughing.

Sam Sykes is dead.

Relationship comedy killed him.

It will kill you, too.

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Live Free or Blog Hard

7 Comments /

Hey!  Do you want a copy of Black Halo for butt-fucking FREE?  Look at the BULL SPEC contest in which they ask to create a better backhanded blurb than the one John Scalzi gave me.

I do not wish Sam Sykes dead.

That’s a hard one to beat, admittedly.  But if anyone can do it, you can.  I believe in you…and your ability to make me feel bad 🙁

Also, holy shit, is there seriously only one review by Harriet fucking Klausner on Black Halo? Come on, guys.  I can’t live with this shame.  Give me some more.  If you do, I’ll give you…a prize?  I guess?  No, seriously.  I’ll find one.

But, hey, let’s talk about something new.

That link right thur?   That’s worth reading, especially if you’re a blogger.  My envy of the YA scene grows each day that there are such open conversations and in-depth discussions between authors and readers.  How come we never do things like that?  Huh?  HUH?!

I don’t really follow a lot of blogs anymore, what with the fact that I’ve mailed some of them body parts.  But I share Author X’s lament in that there seem to be too few of them that don’t actually do a lot of talking about books or writing.

To me, the best book blogs are the ones that sort of act as tiny book clubs unto themselves.  The Book Smugglers and Floor to Ceiling Books are two of my favorites because they do just that.  Reviews are there, in addition to news, but they also do a lot of talking about issues in the industry (Ana and Thea brought to my attention the issue of whitewashing on covers, which is something very much worth bringing to everyone’s attention) and they also talk a lot about writing.  Rob Will Review is another good one because he frequently makes the all-important distinction between a book that isn’t good and a book that didn’t work for him, and goes into detail describing exactly why.

I’ve always thought that blogs were better served by performing as hubs for discussion, rather than lists of proclamations, if that makes sense.  Reviews are great, but more because they inspire said discussion, give insight into why something worked or didn’t work, note what themes really struck home and what was just tired, offensive or uncomfortable to read.  These are the sort of reviews that are helpful to the author, the ones we like to read.

“So, basically, Sam Sykes, a good blog is one that conforms to your particular views and/or gives you good reviews?”

Admittedly, I have a fondness for blogs that like me more than hate me (though if you want, you can go find the Book Smugglers’ review of Tome and why it didn’t work for them), but no, I’m not suggesting that the definition of a good blog need be one that is thoughtful and brimming with discussion.

Heck, I’m not even saying that reviews should be written for the author’s benefit (though, as I say, I do sort of envy the fact that YA authors can be so open with their blogging buddies).  Presumably, of all the reasons to start a blog, the best one is “because I have something to say.”  What you have to say should be just that: your opinion with your goals in mind and you leading the discussion, however much or little you want.  If you want gossip, go for it.  If you want reviews only, roll out.  If you want to trash someone, go hog wild.

However, I do think that discussion is the sort of thing that serves everyone.  Presumably, you started a book blog because you want to talk about books.  So you can talk about whatever it is about books that you want to talk about.  And presumably, the readers are there to agree or disagree with what you said because they’re interested in your opinion.  And (most) authors tend to really enjoy talk about their own writing and what you found in their work.  Negative reviews don’t even bother an author that much, so long as they’re saying something.

In general, the only thing I suggest as the one thing for a blogger to aspire to is this:

Honesty.

Be honest in your opinion.  Be honest in your actions.  Be honest in your insight.  Whatever you say, so long as you’re acting with that, will always yield good results.

That’s what I suggest.

And that’s all that it is.

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Sam Sykes Tells You How to Live

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First, read this.

I admit, I pay more attention to the goings-on in YA than one might think.  A lot of that is because we tend to share the same tone and themes through our writing: triumphing over hardship and growing through adversity, embracing the fact that philosophy and ethics grow and wither instead of being set in stone, acceptance of the truth that bodily functions are usually hilarious.

Whatever the reason, I’ve often felt that YA and fantasy tend to have a kindred connection and that, in recent years, we’ve undergone transformations that are getting us closer together.  Both genres tend to be used as vehicles for human exploration, with YA serving as mostly a discovery of youth and fantasy serving as a discovery for everything else.  You can argue this if you like and maybe scratch your beards, possibly bring up the influence of Tolkien and the power of true myth.  Feel free to.  That’s not what we’re talking about here.

If you’ve been with the blog for a bit, you probably know my opinion of mainstream literature’s opinion of fantasy literature.  If not, let me summarize: who cares?  We’re not writing for them, we’re not trying to reach them, we’re not talking to them.  If they happen to find something in our work that they can relate to, then great.  If not, then it’s not really our concern as writers and readers of fantasy.

There’s a lot more to go into there, but I’ll end that particular thought by summarizing one of their usual cries against fantasy: it’s escapism.  It has no real value.  It does not relate to the human experience.

In more than a few ways, they’re actually right, and we’ve talked about them on this blog before.  The concept of Chosen Ones, prophecies, clean conflicts with neat endings, absolute good and evil, unquestioningly accepting a fate based on whether your mother was an elf or an orc.  Traditions.  Proud traditions.  But left as they are, unquestioned and unaltered, they move us further away from humanity.

Realism is overrated.  We’re not aiming for realism.  But we are aiming for honesty: honesty to humanity and honesty to the art.  This is the chief reason that I frequently rail against the status quo (the other reason being that I am consummate attention whore).

And yet, some people prefer that.  They like their orcs evil, their princesses in peril and their heroes to say no to tobacco and whores.  Admittedly, they can make a pretty good case against a trend in fantasy that everyone has to be grimy and gritty for the sake of being edgy (which is as dishonest as the other end of the spectrum, I feel).  I don’t blame them.  Some people read for the sake of comfort and that’s absolutely and utterly fine.  I’m not suggesting that there is only one way to write and if you dare enjoy your heroes and villains then you’re not hanging out in reality, maaaaan.

Rather, I’m suggesting that we need to avoid taking the comfort as canon and the tradition as unalterable.  Disliking, criticizing or outright not reading something uncomfortable is fine.  But denying it totally as a contribution to the work seems to be all too common.  And going even further than that, we seem to use it as an excuse to reject any part of humanity we find uncomfortable.  Hence why we often see a lack of non-straight, non-white non-male protagonists.

As evidenced by what happened in Ms. Verday’s story (you didn’t think I had a point, did you?  DID YOU?)

Admittedly, this is a subject I’ve grappled with for awhile.  For a long time, I was leaning toward the theory that it’s more honest to not put in a non-straight, non-white non-male protagonist in a story if you are a straight, white male.  After all, how could you be honest about an experience you’ve never had?  Then I realized that I write about suicidal people, religious xenophobes and schizophrenics without being any of those things.

And that’s why I’ve changed my opinion to “there is value in trying.”

I’m not going to say there’s no harm in trying.  You might completely fuck something up and be ridiculed and shamed for it.  You might be utterly rejected as a writer for it.  Yeah.  That sucks.  Rejection, though, is going to be ever-present in your life as a person.  I can tell you it doesn’t stop after you get published, either.

But if it’s what you want to do, you have to try.  Even if it goes against tradition.  Even if you’re worried you might screw it up.  Even if it runs the risk of someone proposing the same ultimatum to you that they did to Ms. Verday.

We should all strive to do the same, then, and do our best to stick to our guns.

There might be some decrying that a YA author is experiencing this sort of thing before we big bad adults are tackling the issue.  After all, we’ve been pretty aware of this as an issue in our genre for a while.  I see it more as an inspiration, though.  As I said, and it might still be just me, but there is a connection between YA and fantasy and I don’t think it’s a bad thing that we take cues from each other now and again.

I don’t think it’s a bad thing that we try something new.  I don’t think it’s a bad thing that we occasionally meet a stumbling block like Ms. Verday did.  I don’t think it’s a bad thing that we sometimes mess it up entirely.

I do think it’s a bad thing if we feel constrained in our writing.  I do think it’s a bad thing if the urge to be published overwhelms our urge to explore.  I do think it’s a bad thing if the fear that we might be ridiculed, rejected or loathed for what we honestly try keeps us from doing so.

Admittedly, it’s easier for me to suggest that getting published is not that big a deal, since I am.  But what I’m not is award-winning, best-selling or possessing any other honors that might or might not be helped by writing something more safe and traditional.  And I still believe what I’ve just written.

You might dismiss this blog post entirely on that basis, though.  Or you might just roll your eyes and see another Sam Sykes anti-establishment rant.  You might just decide that this particular call isn’t for you.

That’s fine.

Because, in a way, this is another anti-establishment rant and what I’m suggesting is not for everyone.  I never suggested it should be.  What I am suggesting is that there is always value in fearlessness, that a fear of rejection is as weak an emotion as a fear of something new, that there is always room to learn and you will only ever do so by actually trying.

Think less.

Do more.

Sam Sykes Tells You How to Live Read More »

Days of Thunder

4 Comments /

Hey, guys.

I had a pretty good post I was going to make about Bruce Willis and Die Hard and how hardship defines a character, but then I got into kind of a weird spiral about action heroes and hit something I called “The Schwarzenegger Anomaly” and it all kind of got away from me.  So today’s a housekeeping post in which I tell you some stuff.

Tor.com and I are having a brief love affair lately.  When we pass each other in the hallway, I always offer a little wink and it has written my name in its math book in seven different languages, just to see how each one sounds.  Don’t believe that a love such as ours can exist?  Behold…

The first four chapters of Black Halo, free to read, as Aidan Moher watches on jealously.

A Black Halo giveaway.

An Ask Sam Sykes plea.

You see what I’m sayin’?  Girl be all into me.  Happens, yo.  Ladies go wild in the presence of Sam Sykes.  Men, too.

But, enough about how you’re growing more breathless with rage thinking about what Tor and I have.

The Ranting Dragon is quickly becoming one of the better review sites for fantasy novels out there.  I’m not just saying that because they adored Tome of the Undergates, either.  They’re well-armed, well-organized and well-prepared with a plethora of content, reviews and interviews; if this were a post-apocalypse scenario, they would probably be one of the more menacing street gangs roaming the wastelands and enslaving lesser blogs for sport.

Also, they did an interview with me that you should check out because they asked a lot of cool questions about writing.

Amanda at Floor to Ceiling Books continues to prove how awesome she is by establishing the Genre for Japan charity and they’re auctioning off several cool things.  I’d definitely check it out and see what you can do to help out.

My latest battle with Ari Marmell continues over at Babel Clash in which I’m starting to lose my identity in a bizarre spiral of insults and crawdads.  One week left until we’re forced to say goodbye, Ari drops to all fours and lets me get on his back and we ride into the sunset, never to return…until they invite us back.

Seriously, though, we’re talking about writing more than anything else, so it’s well worth a look.

Gosh, is that it?  I guess it must be.  Nothing else of note has really happened…

…oh, except this.

Black Halo came out today.  Hope you enjoy it.

John Scalzi sure did.

Days of Thunder Read More »

Black Halo Countdown: Two

2 Comments /

Yes!  I can count!

Our countdown to the release of Black Halo: The Aeons’ Gate Book Two: Aeon Harder continues!  Right here!  Right now!  I asked for questions last time and got kind of a buttload of them, on the blog, on the emails, on the twitters and one guy who drove past me and screamed something out the window before he crashed violently, killing dozens.

So, you know, things just got a little intense.

Anyway, I am going to answer these questions in an attempt to titillate and tolerate and maybe tantalize your palettes.  But I never said I wouldn’t be coy about it.

Bryan writes…

By the end of it have we met all the POV characters or will the 3rd book add more?

I’m not quite as adept as George Martin at planning vast schemes.  I never rule out the possibility that one character or another might have something to say that requires us to get into their heads for a moment.

Erik Mallows Edwards writes…

I don’t have a question, and hard-candy rots teeth.

But…  congratulations to you Sam all the same.  That’s it really.  As promisied I’ll give it a go, and can you really, do much better than that?

Aw, thanks, Eric!  And while you don’t have a question, I do have an answer for you.  Yes, I can do better, but only if you were a girl with low self-esteem who played the acoustic guitar.

…it’s a complicated plan.

Rick writes…

Well, you see I have this thing for Kataria. Will any artwork be included in “Black Halo”. Nothing weird going on here understand, but inquiring minds need to know.

Pre-orders from Amazon say only paperbacks are available. I want to get a hardcover, first, first and signed to match my copy of “Tome of the Undergates”. Where do I go?

I don’t know if she goes for round-ears.  We are updating the Lost Pages with some new artwork very soon, though.  I would keep an eye out for it, were I you.

As for hardcovers?  Pyr tends to only do paperbacks.  So you might have to wait a bit to get a matching hardcover from Gollancz in the UK in a few months.

Felicity writes…

Do we get to find out what happened to the dragonmen and Gariath history?

Yes.

Dave writes…

Here’s two question for you – is someone going to push themselves in between Lenk and Kataria?
and
was it easier with Black Halo in terms of writing the book (compared to Tome)?

At least three.

and

I don’t know, really.  The need to be clever has sort of diminished with Black Halo, to the point that I can kind of just flex my muscles and do whatever the heck I want to.  As Bryan noted in his comment, the prose has really gotten stronger this time around.  I suppose improvement is simply inevitable.

Mundanename asks…

Does Gariath have a higher or lower body count in BLACK HALO?

Gariath has really entered his artistic phase in Black Halo. He feels less of a need to be part of the machine, you know?  Rejection of corporate values ‘n what not.  This time, it’s about the killing, but it’s really about the killing, man.

Mundanename presses his luck and asks again…

Will we learn more about the mechanics of magic in BLACK HALO?

Dreadaeleon will teach you more than you ever possibly wanted to know about it.

Jerome writes…

Loincloths?

Loincloths.

The Nevada Police Department writes…

You don’t really think you’re going to get away with it, do you, Sykes?

So, anyway, hope this piqued your curiosity or at least wasted your time!

Let’s all hold hands as we wait for the inevitable.

Black Halo Countdown: Two Read More »

Black Halo Countdown: Three

6 Comments /

Did you guys know Black Halo is out in four days?

How in the hell did that happen?  You think you know a month and then it comes out and pulls this shit on you.  March, you’re a loose cannon.  Turn in your gun and your badge.

Let’s celebrate by counting down together, shall we?  Every day, we’ll do a post in which we discuss something Black Halo related.

Look!  Here’s Black Halo’s first review at Floor to Ceiling Books.

I’ll level with you: it’s like 5:00 AM and I’m tired from paddling Ari Marmell and wishing I could paddle someone else.  Do me a favor and ask me a Black Halo related question, something you’ve always wanted to know, anything from what’s going to happen to who’s going to be in it to “will they ever kiss?”

Do it.

Come on.

If you do, I’m-a give you a lollipop.

Black Halo Countdown: Three Read More »

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