A Million Miles Away
So I officially became a published author today, when I self-published A Million Miles Away on Amazon.
I started writing it as part of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), surpassing the goal of writing 50,000 words or more in the month of November. This was in 2020, the first fall of the pandemic and before the first vaccines were available, so we sure as hell weren't traveling anywhere. The timing, for bad reasons, couldn't have been better.
But the origin of the book goes back decades. I had written the first paragraph almost word-for-word when it was actually still the '80s.I just never had anything else to add to it. People always say "write what you know" but as far as I could tell, all I knew was the IT stuff that I've now done for four decades. I (conveniently?) forgot all the other stuff that I've done, including owning a rock and roll club, running the local chapter of an animal rights group at the height of the last AR movement in the early 90s, being a half-way decent photographer, etc. It hasn't been a boring life.
When I put together the Rhythm Alley Redux blog posts in 2014, I started thinking that maybe I really could write a book. A couple of ideas started forming but it was still many years later before it started coming together into some sort of narrative.
A Million Miles Away was actually originally conceived as a mystery, even though that's not a genre that I read. But that's not where the story took itself. Side characters wrote themselves into starring roles, other characters' motivations changed from what I thought they were in order to find their truth. I've always heard people talking about how characters wrote themselves or took on a life of their own - I know that to be true.
I've edited this thing to a fare-thee-well and gotten the help of a number of folks (mentioned in the Acknowledgements section) and it should have been out at least a year ago, but getting rights to publish song lyrics, figuring out if I wanted to pursue a publisher, and all the other stuff that goes along with putting something out took time.
And now it's here! You can search for the title in Amazon and wade through a dozen or more books with the same or similar title. Or you can search "Tony Patterson" and wade through all of the copies of Richard North Patterson's "Tony Lord" series. But I hope you'll make the effort to find me. I'm rather proud of this thing.
You could also try this link
I hope you'll read it, I hope you'll enjoy it and I hope you'll let me know what you think - good, bad or meh. I've got a pretty thick skin.The main thing is that it was fun as hell to write!
One disclaimer - YOU are not a character in this book. While I do name-check a few real bands and a few real people (all of whom remain off-screen), none of the characters are based on real people or are even composites. They all take up real estate in my head. And now maybe yours. :-)
Labels: Books, Music, Writing
Why has no-one filmed...?
It hit me today while waiting to watch Dune tonight and while reading a GQ article on the filming of The Wheel of Time and being reminded that Tolkien's Second Age is also coming to Amazon, it's time to re-up the discussion on what sci-fi/fantasy series are out there waiting to be turned into cinematic or streaming hits.
The Chronicles of Amber - I've long thought that Roger Zelazny's Amber series would be perfect for a movie or series treatment. I would do the first series, based on Corwin, as a movie trilogy and then do the same for the second series, based on Corwin's son, if the first was successful. The right are apparently held by Disney/ABC, but I've heard nothing of any development. The first series is heavy on family intrigue, power politics, sword and sorcery - Game of Thrones material. The second ventures more into cyber-thriller territory. As I recall, they both feature some strong female characters that could be updated.
The Belgariad - A Science Fiction Book Club discovery for me, not long after they came out. And I read the subsequent series and one-offs as they were released. Best-sellers, even if some people wrote them off as Tolkien-light. Polgara is one of my favorite literary figures. Yes, it's another literal hero's journey (as are LOTR and Wheel of Time) - lots of walking and riding from place to place, but that lends itself to cool scenery and world-building.
Saga of Pliocene Exile/Galactic Milieu - Julian May's series is another that I jumped into about half-way through its publication history. It takes place both in a near-ish future as well as six million years in the past and would make one hell of an extended prestige TV series, with lots of opportunities for fabulous sets/costuming and some pretty cool CGI work.
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant - NOPE. Nopitty-nope-nope-not-on-a-bet.
According to Wikipedia, classicist Nick Lowe (not the singer) suggested "a way to derive pleasure from Stephen Donaldson books. (Needless to say, it doesn't involve reading them.)" This proposal involved a game he called "Clench Racing", wherein players each open a volume of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
to a random page; the winner is the first to find the word "clench".
Lowe describes it as a "fast" game – "sixty seconds is unusually drawn
out"
So what would you guys like to see on the screen?
Labels: Books, Movies, TV
Just Read - Mira Grant's "Feed"
Just devoured (you'll get the pun in a minute) the first novel of Mira Grant's "Newsflesh" series (no longer just a trilogy as she has added a novella and short story to the arc). Set in a 2040 America that is surviving a on-going human-caused zombie outbreak, the protagonists are a pair of news bloggers covering the Presidential election (hence the dual meaning of the title - RSS and "Bra-a-a-i-i-i-n-n-s-s!").
I probably had more trouble putting this thing down than anything since some joker gave me a copy of "The Stand" the night before a final exam that I should have been studying for. Bastard. Of course Grant's work clocks in at about 1/4 of the length of King's epic (thank god) but she creates a fully fleshed out (rimshot!) world and people that you care about. I've already downloaded the second novel and look forward to reading it soon.
I do need a bit of a gap first though - like most (all?) good modern zombie stories, it's emotionally wrenching. If you let yourself get pulled into the story (and what's the damn point otherwise?), you'll likely find yourself needing to read something a bit lighter before moving on to the next one.
While I often hesitate to recommend books as tastes vary so widely, I think anyone who is likely to read my blog will really dig this (like a reanimated corpse clawing its way out of the ground). Go read it before your brain gets eaten.Labels: Books
Mr. Voldemort in the dining room with a wand...
I'm not one of those folks that pores over the Leaky Cauldron or mugglenet boards trying to piece together clues about who's going to die (and who would be mortified if anyone actually told them) but I do have my theory. And I should warn you that the two characters I said were most likely to get it in Serenity were the ones that got it, so take that for what it's worth.
I'm betting that Rubeus Hagrid and Neville Longbottom don't survive the Deathly Hallows. I'm guessing that Neville manages to off Bellatrixie (if any of the kids can muster up enough hate to utter an Unforgivable Curse, he can) and then goes down to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named before Harry finally morts Voldie. As for Hagrid, every other father figure Harry has had has died so I'm guessing Hagrid will bite it too. But I'm still not convinced that we won't see Dumbledore again before we're done.
So there - not spoilers because I have absolutely no way of knowing any of this but I figured it was only fair to throw my predictions out there to be scoffed at or wondered over a few days from now.
We're debating on whether to go ahead and buy two copies or just one. We didn't preorder any but we've never had any trouble picking up a Potter within 24 hours of release, so hopefully that will hold true again. Until we're both through, this will be a Potter-free zone...
Labels: Books
Jim "Dresden Files" Butcher writes about writing
While you're waiting for The Dresden Files premiere on SciFi Sunday night, check out author Jim Butcher's Livejournal notes on writing. Pretty good stuff. He does a great job writing in genre without letting it limit him - I'm partway into the third novel and I'm impressed enough that I'll be checking out his Alera Codex novels next.
Labels: Books
Color Me Excited!
Just a few months ago I discovered Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series of Chicago-set horror/noir novels - really good reads, comparable to Glen Cook's Garrett Files stories, except set in the here-and-now. I quickly devoured the first two and have the third one queued up behind Julian May's Ironcrown Moon. Then I found out a couple of weeks ago that starting this Sunday, the SciFi Channel is running their new Dresden Files series - woohoo! While they're being filmed in Toronto (which is where everything that isn't filmed in Vancouver or New Zealand is filmed), I'm hoping they'll do some exterior shots in Chicago to set the scene. Given SciFi's good recent track record with original series, I have high hopes for this one (although the casting for the Connie Murphy character is all wrong).
Oh, if you like audiobooks, James "Angel" Marsters reads all of the Dresden Files novels...
Update: Okay, that's what I get for trying to quickly finish this post at the coffee shop before shutting down to pick JennySlash up at the gym. Yes, James Marsters played Spike, not Angel. Amy Acker played Angel, right Spuffy?
Labels: Books
