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First things first!

I’m going to call the deadline for this here giveaway in which you can net yourself a couple of fine, signed copies of Tome of the Undergates and Black Halo by the end of this week.  So if you’re figuring on fixin’ to take one, you might as well send me a post!

Also, if you’ve been wanting to hear my melodic voice as I gush quietly about Batman and Gail Carriger, why not have a look at this podcast I did for Touching for the Monolith. I guarantee no monoliths were touched without express consent.  If that’s still not enough for you, you might want to check out this interview I did over at Drying Ink Books.

Okay.

Let me tell you about Moneyball.

Here, look at this image:

Now look at this one:

Now look at this one:

Congratulations.  You have now seen Moneyball.

Brad Pitt stares off into the distance.  Jonah Hill does something slightly awkward.  Then there is math.

It is boring.  If you see it, you are a bad person.  Like me.  You spit on children and put orphaned kittens into families that cannot and will not ever understand them.  You think math is fun and when you die and reach whatever dark hole your soul is going to, you will have slushies poured down your pants and get a lot of wedgie’s from Satan’s jocks.

Admittedly, I am not a tremendous sports guy.  My repertoire of buzzwords that I bust out whenever the conversation switches to sport is limited to “penetrating offense,” “tight end,” “rear play,” “Bangkok rules,” “dirigible maneuver” and “groin-slappingly good.”  I do like hockey, owing to the corrupting influence of nefarious Canadians, but that’s about it.  I find soccer boring, football weird, rugby unexciting unless I’m watching the All Blacks, baseball brings up tragic memories and I absolutely cannot abide volleyball and have burned many nets out of protest.

You could say Moneyball was not meant for me.

But I’m having a hard time figuring out who Moneyball is for.  I get that it’s all about how the sport of baseball was revolutionized by way of math from a sport in which chubby men in pajamas grunted and spat and talked about “feelin’ the grip of a ball as it clocks you square in the beanbag” to a sport in which people obsessively discuss stats and percentages with all the fervor of World of Warcraft raiders.  In truth, this movie is a quiet tribute to a victory by nerds.  But those nerds are math nerds, mortal enemy of the arts nerds, the kinds of nerds who use phrases like “warp drive” and “hyperion engines” and “don’t hit me with that stick.”

But the reality of the movie is that it’s pretty boring.  It’s a glorified documentary featuring more believable dramatizations.  It’s a lot of discussion about statistics and doing things your own way with a very hamhanded helping of emotional manipulation shoveled down your craw in the most predictable of ways.

In truth, I might be baggin’ on Moneyball simply because it’s a mirror held up to my face and I’m seeing a very hideous reflection.  Halfway through the movie, when I saw Brad Pitt’s character meeting his daughter by his divorced wife, I realized I was being emotionally manipulated.  Chiefly because once a kid is introduced, she either dies or someone else dies for her and it’s a very cheap way to introduce emotional tension without actually having to develop a character.

And in truth, I don’t actually mind that a movie tries to emotionally manipulate me.  Nor do I entirely mind when I realize it is.  What I mind is when I get no emotional payoff to go with that manipulation.  If a dude makes a grand, eloquent speech, there better be a big, badass battle to go along with it.  If a cop says he’s two days from retirement, he better get shot in the next scene.  If two lovers tenderly look into each others’ eyes and confess the feelings they’ve always been afraid of, one of them better get kidnapped, tortured and have his/her mutilated body show up on the other’s doorstep.

And this is where Moneyball sheds an uncomfortable truth on me.  I’m an elitist.  A reverse elitist.  I like big, cheesy payoffs.  I like sappy stories.  I’m not as patient as I thought I was and I have a hard time accepting emotional manipulation that doesn’t have an emotional outcome.

And yet, I’m okay with that.  As okay as I am saying that Moneyball is boring.  It’s boring and dull and predictable and someone thought it needed a humanistic angle that went nowhere and I’m totally okay with saying that I want it to go get hit by a truck.

If you see it, I’ll beat you up and take your lunch money.

So, I note that Cherie Priest and Gail Carriger both use these things called “word metrics” which allow people to keep track of exactly what the progress of their projects is based on a meter that goes up as more words are put into the document.  That’s all fine and good…for someone who actually uses the metric system and/or knows how to measure based on multiples of ten.

But I live in AMERICA. I eat meat with every meal and I don’t tread on nothin’. And I ain’t got time for puny metrics.  So I put together a chart to illustrate the progress of The Skybound Sea in a much more logical, easy-to-understand fashion.

I think that makes things perfectly clear.

What?  Not enough?

Oh, fine.  Here, have a mini-excerpt featuring your favorite rogue for redemption:

Denaos looked at himself in the mirror.  No scars, still.  More wrinkles than there used to be.  A pair of ugly bags under eyes that he chose not to look at.  But no scars.

He had that, at least.

Appearance was one point of pride amongst many for him.  There were other things he had hoped he would be remembered: his taste in wine, an ear for poetry and a way with women that sat firmly between the realms of witchcraft and barroom brawling.

And killing, his conscience piped up.  Don’t forget killing.

And killing, he was forced to admit to himself.  He was not bad at it.

Still, he thought as he surveyed himself, if none of those could be his legacy, his looks would have suffice.

And yet, as he saw the man in the mirror, he wondered if perhaps he might have to discount that, too.  His was a face used to masks: sharp, perceptive eyes over a malleable mouth ready to smile, frown or spit curses as needed, all set within firm, square features.

Those eyes were sunken now, dark seeds buried in dark soil, hidden under long hair poorly kempt.  His features were caked with stubble, grime, a dried glistening of liquid he hadn’t bothered to clean away.  And his mouth twitched, not quite sure what it was supposed to do.

Fitting, he thought, for he didn’t know who this mask was supposed portray.

Looks, then, were not to be what he was remembered for.  His eyes drifted to the far side of the table, to the bottle long drained of its deep crimson liquid.  His preferences in alcohol, too, had broadened to “anything short of embalming fluid, providing nothing else is at hand; past that, anything goes.”

He would not be remembered as a handsome man, then.  Nor a man for wine.  What else was left?

The glistening of steel answered.  He looked down at the blade resting gently upon the table, its edge everything he wasn’t: sharpened, honed, precise.  An example, three fingers long and with a polished wooden hilt and a taste for blood.

Killing, then.

“Are we doing this or what?” a growling voice asked.

That, he thought, and the way with women.

He titled the mirror slightly.  She was still there.  He had hoped she wouldn’t be, though that might have been hard, given that she was bound to the chair.  Still, less hard considering what she was.

Indeed, it was difficult to see how Semnein Xhai was still held by the rawhide bonds.  They might have bit into her purple flesh, they might have been tied tightly by hands that were used to tying.  But that purple flesh was thick over thicker muscle, and his hands were shakier these days.

She stared at him in the mirror, her eyes white and without pupils.  Her hair hung about her in greasy white strands, framing a face that was sharp and long as the knife before him.

And looking oddly impatient, he thought.  Odder still, given that she knew full well the knife was there and knew full well what he could do with it.  The old scar on her collarbone attested to that.  The fresh cut beneath her ribcage, shallow and hesitant, gave a less enthusiastic review.

He had been wearing a different mask that day, that of a man who had a better legacy than him, a man who was less good at killing.  But he would do better today.  He had people counting on him to find out information.  That was a slightly better legacy.

Still killing, though, his conscience said.  Or did you think you were going to let her go after she told you what you wanted to know?  Pardon, if she tells you.

Not now, he replied.  People are counting on me.

Right, right.  Terribly sorry.  Shall we?

His face changed in the mirror.  His mask came back on.  Dark eyes hard, jaw set tightly, twitching mouth stilled for now.  Hands steadied themselves, plucked up the steel before him.  He smiled into the mirror: knife-cruel, knife-long.

Let’s.

Firstly: Don’t answer that just yet.

Secondly: What the heck, guys?  I’ve been getting some good submissions in my Most Givingest Away Ever, but not nearly enough and there are not nearly enough bribes. How the heck do you think this works?  Jeez!  Send more entries!  SEND MORE RIGHT NOW, GOD DAMN IT.

…okay, now you can answer that.  Once you read the rest of this blog post, anyway.

As I’ve said before, I’m always a little wary of proceeding into blog posts that have to do with reviews, reviewers or reviewing policies for a number of reasons.  I’m ever worried about the prospect that I may simply be using an otherwise intelligent post to vent my own frustrations or views on negative reviews (of which I’ve had a few) and thus compromise both myself and the integrity of the post.  I’m also worried that voicing my own concerns on reviews could influence someone else’s opinion and thus compromise the integrity of their reviews.  And if neither of those come around, I’m always at least slightly worried of seeing a big ol’ “WHO THE HECK DOES THAT SAM SYKES PALOOKA THINK HE IS TELLIN’ ME WHAT I CAN’T BE REVIEWIN’, THAT UGLY JERK” headline on a blog site.

As yet, no one has called me a palooka, but gosh darn if I don’t live in fear of the day that someone does.

With all this in mind, let me pose this question that I have posed to twitter, facebook and other forms of media over the past few days…

Is a novel that frustrates inherently superior to a novel that doesn’t and I am insane for thinking “yes, it is?”

Before you get angry (and if you are angry, before you get the sticks with nails in them), let me explain.  It’s been my assumption that the worst crime a novel can commit is to be boring (something I’m rather pleased to not have suffered) and it’s also been my rather sad experience that some novels are just that: boring.  Listless.  Dull.  Full of easy choices, characters that are always rational and motives that are frequently identifiable as the right choice.

By contrast, I sometimes find that the stories I really like are the stories a lot of people have complaints about: the characters do stupid things, people occasionally act in ways that aren’t immediately relevant to the plot, the book frustrates frequently.  It’s always been my experience that a novel that frustrates is a novel that engages.  It’s what makes a story gripping, what makes you involved in the characters, what invests you in the conflict.

There is a reason that Locke Lamora valued gold over sense, that the Bloody Nine was ultimately unable to overcome his own past, that Ned Stark has his own tumblr named after his bad choices: they’re frustrating.  And because they’re frustrating, we’re the ones who are screaming “OH GOD NO DON’T DO IT” at the pages instead of going “oh, well, isn’t that nice.”

Now, that’s not to say that all frustration is good.  Being frustrated by the writing is certainly not ideal, as it’s very hard to get invested in the character if the author can’t decide if his eyes are green or brown or whether armor is spelled with a “u” or not (it isn’t…EVER).  And given that the essence of conflict is uncertainty, it’s debatable as to whether conflicts that are solved the same way each time are a good kind of frustrating.

But it’s also possible that the character that does something stupid, irrational or unwise has a purpose to both himself and to the story.  It’s possible that frustration is integral to conflict as conflict is integral to story.  And it’s possible that, unless we get mad at a story along with all the other emotions we feel for it, it’s just not gripping.

…then again, maybe I’m simply trying to convince myself of something that I occasionally come up against. It’s entirely possible.

Hence the title of this post.

What do you think?

 

Admittedly, given my rather lengthy absence, there are a lot of things I should be blogging about instead of this.

I should probably tell you about my time at DragonCon.

I should tell you what I’m going to be doing at Surrey International Writer’s Conference next month.

I might tell you the new news about our eBooks and why Black Halo is still late.

I definitely should tell you about the giveaway of three signed sets of Tome of the Undergates and Black Halo I’ll be giving away, since we hit 1200 followers on twitter.

So, to address those in that order: it rocked and we sold out of Tome, I’ll be doing a panel on writing with all five senses, there was a mix-up and an employee was dumb so it’s coming soon, and it’ll happen as soon as I can figure out a giveaway contest.

So, with that all discussed, I’d like to tell you that Andy Whitfield is dead.

I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned my utter, borderline alarming adoration for Spartacus: Blood and Sand on this blog before.  That seems odd, as anyone who has ever heard me speak of God of War knows I tend to rave a rather curious amount about anything involving blood, naked breasts and half-clad men of the ancient world.  Odder still is that I should come out here and call the show not only one of my favorites, but an inspiration to be respected and admired as a work of art.

Admittedly, that can be tough to swallow (tee hee) when a good 90% of the scenes tend to involve genitalia, swords or genitalia coming into contact with swords, but hear me out.

If you have ever seen the first episode of Spartacus, you are probably remembering the same feelings I was possessed upon seeing it.  To put it into words: “come on, guys, I liked 300, too, but this is a bit much,” followed shortly by “good God, did anyone in ancient Rome wear trousers?”  To be blunt, it was a very silly, very derivative episode that made me wonder why I had chosen it in the first place.  The romance was sloppy, the gore was excessive, the villains were ridiculous and the hero was even moreso.  I was very close to just writing it off as something wacky and never seeing it again.

I was very glad I didn’t.

In the episodes that followed, the romance was never not sloppy; it was violent, awkward and frequently troubled.  The gore was still excessive; the fight scenes were over-the-top, vicious and remain some of the few to make me shudder.  The villains were less ridiculous, but still at the point where you couldn’t help but wonder if someone had just said “fuck it, I’ll go play video games,” a lot of people wouldn’t be dead at the end.  Spartacus himself never stopped being a little strange and Whitfield never so much as blinked at it.

And that’s when I began to love it.

Because Spartacus, upon trying to emulate 300 and failing, upon trying to emulate Rome and failing even harder, promptly said “fuck it” and became something else.  In the episodes that followed, Spartacus was unabashedly, unrelentingly and unflappably itself.  It carved out a niche from a very lame first episode and sat there, king of its own domain, paying tribute to no other series or film, a work of art that belonged solely to its cast, its story and itself.

And there is something amazingly inspiring in that.

There is limited success in emulation.  That limit may be quite high and you may reach it quite fast, but it’s still limited.  Being something else is much more difficult.  It’s harder, people will not understand it, more than a few will give up on it outright and it might take a long time to hit the spot where you say “ah, yes, this is where I’m supposed to be.”

But it is something altogether more precious than whatever money or accolades you could get.

There have been a lot of 300 apes since it came out, a lot of Rome apes, as well.  There will be a lot after them, too.  They may make money, they may arrest the vision for a time, but they will never be immortal.

Andy Whitfield, despite this tragedy, will be.

I will miss his acting greatly.

So, Bubonicon was a tremendous success.  I’d take a lot of time to tell you all about the panels that we did on Future Trends in Fantasy (don’t try to follow them), State of the Art of Covers (it’s good), how I nearly got into a fistfight, how I got to judge a masquerade, how I had a pleasant, fireside chat in which we both agreed the Sean Bean’s name should be pronounced Seen Been (or Shawn Bonn).  But to be honest, I’m tired as shit, despite having come home two days ago.

Besides, I’ve always been a strong adherent to the idea that we must leave the past where it is: dead and buried under mountains of sand and crumbled pyramids.  We must instead, look to the future, which involves people in various states of undress, absurdly packed crowds, bison meat and books upon books upon books.

I speak, of course, of DragonCon.

Tomorrow, a mere three days after I returned from Albuquerque, I leave for glorious, sweaty Atlanta to take part in probably the biggest mothereffing Con I’ve ever been a part of.  I don’t have any particular paneling going on there and while I love panels, I also greatly enjoy doing what I did last year: being in our lovely Pyr Booth and talking to people that walk by (and hopefully getting them to buy one of my books).

And that’s precisely what I, and a few other peeps, will be doing this year.

I (and we) will be at the Marriott Marquis Ballroom Exhibit Hall pretty much all goddamn day for this weekend.  We will be signing such great books as Tome of the Undergates and Black Halo and AWESOME SHIT HOLY CRAP.

Don’t have a book?  BUY ONE FOR BUTT CHEAP AT THE BOOTH!

Don’t have money?  COME BY AND I’LL SIGN ANYTHING. Babies, bare flesh, sandwiches, kittens, butts, commemorative 2021 Brent Weeks bobbleheads, ANYTHING.

Already have a book? BUY THE OTHER!

Have them both?  GET A BOOKPLATE (totally free!)

NONE OF THAT APPEALS TO YOU?  NOT EVEN IN BOLD FONT?

Well, come on down, anyway, and check out our booth.  Stop in and say hello to me, Jon Sprunk, Andrew Mayer, Ari Marmell and the rest of the gang!  We really are a nice bunch of people, as some people have told us.

Limited Time Offer: Come to our booth and use the code word “Your tie looks nice” and I will make Andrew Mayer and Jon Sprunk arm wrestle.

DO IT.

DO IT OR I WILL KILL THIS KITTEN.

BALL’S IN YOUR COURT, BUDDY.

See you there!

I had an anti-establishment rant in the barrel and ready to post.  But I figure I’ve done enough of that for awhile.  It’s getting a little boring, in any event.  The problem is that I don’t usually have a lot to talk about beyond writing, what with the fact that most of the stuff I do in life is classified and/or will get me arrested.

And yet, you people expect posts, don’t you?  Content?  Hmm? Maybe stuff about personal life and all that, so as to prove to you that I am a real man, with real blood and real heart, not some cold, unfeeling machine-chine-chine-chine-chine-chine-ERROR ERROR ERROR SHUT DOWN IMMINENT SHUT DOWN IMMINENT ACTIVATE PROTOCOL 285 KILL ALL

…sorry.

Anyway, I’m not sure if there’s any one of you reading this that does not also follow me on twitter and thus are forced to put up with everything I jabber on about endlessly, but just for consideration, I’ll fill you in on what’s been going on in my life.

About three months after I began an exercise and diet program, I’ve started to drop a lot of weight.  Thirty pounds is about how much I’ve lost so far, with more on the way.  I’ve listed off a few buzzwords as to what I’m doing to achieve this, but I get a lot of people asking for details: diet, exercise and the like.  I thought it might be nice to share what I’m doing since I know a lot of us readers and writers, what with our sedentary lifestyles, tend to struggle with weight loss and find it difficult.

To preface: this is what works for me.  It might not work entirely for you.  It might help you out a lot, in which case, I’ll be glad to have indirectly helped.  I’ll certainly take the credit, anyway.  So let’s go down an organized list, piece by piece, and see what’s up.

1. Eat Frequently

This is probably the easiest-sounding part and the hardest to actually accomplish, especially for those of us who spend a lot of time sitting at a computer writing.  We tend to not get hungry all that easily or get so distracted that we simply forget to eat until it’s way late and we’re starving.

Some people mistake a low-intake diet as helpful to losing weight, but this is a mistake.  A lot of what you lose will come from a direct change of metabolism.  If you eat less, your metabolism slows to a crawl and begins to hold onto every calorie you put into it.  It’s a double-shot-in-the-foot, too, since when we don’t eat for long periods of time we start eating an immense amount of food in single sittings, meaning that we put in a lot of food that isn’t going anywhere.  It works for bears, but not for people.  By eating frequently, you will keep your metabolism running and burning.

Consider it to be a little like a furnace.  If you continually put more fuel in, the fires will burn nicely.  If you let them go out, you have to put a crapton of fuel in to get it going and then you’ve just got a big ol’ fire raging out of control and you’ll probably burn your eyebrows off.

2. Eat Clean/Master the Obvious

This is slightly misleading, since when people hear the words “eat clean,” they probably tend to think of sitting down to big bowls of clean, crisp spinach topped with rutabegas and Guatemalan bootyflower, which is a type of rare, crisp herb that grows only in the anus of a large, sweaty IT professional working for a low-rent South American company and the whole image seems about as appetizing as that.

The truth is that a phrase like “Mastering the Obvious” is a lot easier in concept and in difficulty: just cut out that stuff that you know is inarguably bad.  Hamburgers, pizza, typical junk food are stuff you need to bid a slow, quiet farewell to.  No one misses pizza more than I do, but I realized some sacrifices had to be made.  The bonus is that the longer you go without it, the less you miss it.  The more you eat good stuff, the more you crave it.  The first few weeks can be difficult, though.

3. Balance in all Things

That said, if you try to go from a diet heavy in such foods to eating clean, chances are you’ll get frustrated and quit and go back to eating junk.  All nutritionists advocate “cheat” meal and for good reason.  They combat such cravings and give you a chance to still enjoy your favorite foods without totally screwing over your progress.

Just remember, though, to treat it like real cheating.  The goal is to not get caught.  Having a slice of pizza or a fried chicken sandwich once a week is not terrible, it’s the equivalent of palming a card.  Having a three-course steak dinner with triple-baked potatoes is the equivalent of coming to a weight lifting competition having taped yourself to a much larger, more muscular man and hoping no one notices it’s not you lifting the dumbbells.

4. Vegetables

Eat ’em.

5. Protein

Eat it.

6. Sugar

Don’t.

7. Stuff That is Okay

Chicken, Ground Turkey (extra lean), Turkey Jerky, Diet Coke (it’s not great, but I fuckin’ need it), 2% cheese, wheat bread (though not in great amounts), brown rice (you actually start preferring it to white rice after awhile), raw vegetables, raw fruit, some cooked vegetables (corn and peas are not great), some fruit (very high, sugary stuff is not good).

8. Stuff That You Would Think is Okay, But Really Isn’t

Nuts, red meat (protein, but tends to be high in fat and red meat tends to be particularly shady in general), protein bars, vegetables that do not inherently taste like ass, dried fruits (a lot of them are straight up sugar)

9. Fast Food

Making no lies, fast food is, in general, pretty bad for you.  You should avoid it when possible.  Being realistic, though, you’ll probably want it for the convenience.  In such events, it’s about minimizing damage.  Most places have grilled chicken options, which are not really all that terrible, since most of them come with wheat bread.  You should really be avoiding stuff like burgers and other fried stuff on their menus, since it was probably somebody’s cat at some point.

Avoid sauces like mayonnaise and ranch.  Because they’re bad for you.  If that’s not enough, remember that some people use them as personal lubricant.  Not so great now, are they?  Are they?

10. Eat Frequently.  Seriously.

Most importantly is eating frequently.  Snack frequently, snack on protein (beware of bars, they tend to have a lot of sugars in them), snack on green stuff.  Be honest with yourself.  If you know what you’re eating is bad, be brave and resist and remind yourself that it gets easier later.

About Exercise

I work out with a personal trainer three times a week.  It’s tough to recommend anything because exercise works differently for everyone.  I’d suggest trying a bunch of different things and finding out what works for you.

I don’t claim to be anything even remotely resembling a fitness expert, though my friend Sandra is and you might see if she can help you out with a consultation or some shit.  But this is what’s been working for me.  Above all, remember that willpower is necessary and it does get easier.  It’s not about necessarily looking good, but it does make you feel better and no one ever regretted being healthier.

So be cool.

So, hey, I know I often bring up helpful tips, exciting pieces of information and handy writing advice, but sometimes I like to talk about myself and what I’m doing.  Because I am selfish.  So let’s do that in the form of a Q&A, except a Q&A you didn’t participate in and I just made up and decided to create an unflattering persona of you to use.

So, Sam, when’s The Skybound Sea coming out?

I’m glad you asked.  I’m well on track to have it done by winter, so hopefully a couple months after that.  It could be anywhere from spring to summer, really.  I know that’s a little frustrating, but owing to the way publishing works (and the fact that the last volume tends to take longer because of wrapping up plot threads and all), it’s going to take a bit of time.

What about the eBook for Black Halo?

I’m as frustrated as you are.  I wish I had better information to give than that, but I’m afraid I don’t.  Amazon is kind of a bitch about this.

Any chance for an excerpt of The Skybound Sea?

Yes!  Sure!  Very soon!

Any conventions planned for the next few months?

As a matter of fact, yes!

Next week, I will be at Bubonicon with the likes of John Picacio, Diana Gabaldon and some upstart called George R.R. Martin.  I don’t think his books will be very popular, so you might come by and give him some pity.

The week after that I will be at DragonCon with many Pyr authors, manning the Pyr booth, selling Pyr Books.  I wholeheartedly urge you to stop by and check stuff out.  Andrew Mayer and I will be wrestling to determine whether fantasy is superior to steampunk, once and for all.  Given that I have about six hundred pounds on him, I expect to do Tolkien proud.

Once we get to October, I’ll be doing some work at Surrey International Writer’s Conference. This continues to be my absolute favorite con-type thing to do, so I hope you’ll stop by.  I’ll be doing Blue Pencils with them and I wholeheartedly encourage you to take advantage of it.  Just think!  15 minutes with Sam Sykes judging your writing!  What fun!

And then I’ll be at World Fantasy Convention fairly soon, fistfighting Brent Weeks.  It should be a…

…Weeks-end.

As ever, if you’re running a convention somewhere and would like me to attend, please feel free to contact me.  I am the absolute best guest, as is indicated by a tiny laminated badge I stole from another guy who legitimately won it.

And that’s about it!  If you find me at any of these events, I can easily sign your book!  And if you’ve already got your book signed, you can have one of my new snazzy bookplates.

Look at that.  God it’s nice.

Hope to see you soon!