Nov. 7th, 2007
Two Recommendations
Nov. 7th, 2007 11:14 amThe nice thing about having a lot of friends who are writers is that it adds a whole new dimension to reading. There's that added thrill of pride and satisfaction in reading something great written by a friend, because (if you're a writer yourself) you know how hard it is to really pull it off.
The tough thing about having a lot of friends who are writers is it's impossible to keep up. But I wanted to post about a couple of recent things that deserve an extra added level of hype.
First, and most belatedly, is Chris Barzak's debut novel One for Sorrow. This is a ghost story, a love story, a coming-of-age story . . . it's The Catcher In the Rye if Holden didn't come from money and saw dead people. And what this book does so well--what Chris always does so well--is to write about emotions in a way that's raw and true and utterly convincing without being overly sentimental. Sex, talking shadows (so creepy), the social interactions of ghosts, running away, being seduced by death. All of this in the voice of Adam McCormick, a smart but (or is it "smart, hence"?) dissatisfied kid living in rural Ohio. Adam's journey, in all its dimensions (through adolescence, through the Ohio countryside, through the borderlands between life and death) rings true, and more than that it's familiar: his anger, his confusion, his love for the world and his despair at the state of it. This is a lovely book. Buy it, read it, tell your friends.
The second thing I want to talk about is a novelet in the current issue of F&SF by David Moles, "Finisterra." What David's done here--aside from creating an OMG-cooool galactic and planetary setting of the sort that inspires people to create RPGs--is present a story that, while it doesn't flinch from showing the darker side of humanity, ultimately points towards something hopeful. (This is something that it has in common with Chris's book, in fact.) It's the hopeful part that I have to give him mad props for. "Happy" endings almost always ring false to me, but sometimes the best place to end a story is with a character making a choice, and to have cued the reader so that they'll understand what the decision is going to be. If, in the meantime, you can throw in giant fish that swim through the air, the London Caliphate, and an intriguing backstory of planet-builders, you've got a winner.
The tough thing about having a lot of friends who are writers is it's impossible to keep up. But I wanted to post about a couple of recent things that deserve an extra added level of hype.
First, and most belatedly, is Chris Barzak's debut novel One for Sorrow. This is a ghost story, a love story, a coming-of-age story . . . it's The Catcher In the Rye if Holden didn't come from money and saw dead people. And what this book does so well--what Chris always does so well--is to write about emotions in a way that's raw and true and utterly convincing without being overly sentimental. Sex, talking shadows (so creepy), the social interactions of ghosts, running away, being seduced by death. All of this in the voice of Adam McCormick, a smart but (or is it "smart, hence"?) dissatisfied kid living in rural Ohio. Adam's journey, in all its dimensions (through adolescence, through the Ohio countryside, through the borderlands between life and death) rings true, and more than that it's familiar: his anger, his confusion, his love for the world and his despair at the state of it. This is a lovely book. Buy it, read it, tell your friends.
The second thing I want to talk about is a novelet in the current issue of F&SF by David Moles, "Finisterra." What David's done here--aside from creating an OMG-cooool galactic and planetary setting of the sort that inspires people to create RPGs--is present a story that, while it doesn't flinch from showing the darker side of humanity, ultimately points towards something hopeful. (This is something that it has in common with Chris's book, in fact.) It's the hopeful part that I have to give him mad props for. "Happy" endings almost always ring false to me, but sometimes the best place to end a story is with a character making a choice, and to have cued the reader so that they'll understand what the decision is going to be. If, in the meantime, you can throw in giant fish that swim through the air, the London Caliphate, and an intriguing backstory of planet-builders, you've got a winner.