An Indulgence Project

I am down to single day digits for my time left in India. A week on Wednesday I’ll be back in Edinburgh, catching up on all I’ve missed and doing some exercise to compensate for a complete lack of anything in almost a year. 

‘Waters Deep,’ is complete in the first draft. I’m putting it aside so I can forget as much about it as possible, so that when I return the story and characters will feel that little bit fresher. I will also use the time to do more research and some work on one part of the novel that acts as the tie in for the series. 

In the mean time, I’m starting work on my first proper comic book idea, ICONz. This is something that has been hanging around in the back of my mind for some time (a couple of years, at least). It’s an indulgence project as I know it will have very little commercial appeal, instead its something I need to do, if only to prove to myself that I should never try the format again.

ICONz looks at the power of fame and the media’s interpretation of events once a person becomes a star, but seen through the concept of the super hero. A familiar trope, but one I hope to approach in a very unique fashion. At the moment I plan to write six episodes in rough, which I’ll then refine as I concentrate on the art work. If the art work is rubbish (a good chance) I might look at working with someone else. At the end of it (if I finish it, which will be years from now) I’ll probably give it away for free before collecting it and selling via one of the online POD publishers.

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Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

How Fforde manages to keep every concept and idea he has up in the air as he introduces a myriad of characters and world building is beyond me. He must have a mind like a sparking plug kept inside a well partitioned filing index. Shades of Grey is a departure from his world of nursery rhymes and living novel characters and instead sets up a world where colour hierarchy rules. Here you can, in the main, see only one primary colour, all the others are grey. Depending on which colour you see most prominently (purple the highest, grey the lowest) indicates your status in life.

Eddie Russet has been sent to the Outer Fringes to learn some humility. Arriving with his father in the quintessentially quaint town of East Carmine, with its odd ball residents, the boy find himself falling in love with a Grey, whilst realising that the once ‘black and white’ world is not all it professes to be. Dystopian science fiction has never been so amusing. 

The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón 

I have a suspicion that ‘The Angel’s Game’ was actually conceived before Zafón’s hugely enjoyable and successful ‘The Shadow of the Wind.’ Whilst it has a similar feel to the first book, it has naiveté about it, as if written by a much younger, less confident author.

It follows the life of David Martin, a young man who wants to be a successful author living in Barcelona. After a childhood of neglect he finds a sponsor and friend in a rich journalist, and soon starts writing pulp fiction under a pseudonym. As his fame increases he is brought to the attention of the mysterious Andreas Corelli, a man who makes him an offer he can’t refuse, but puts his life and soul in mortal danger.

Dark, brooding, with depiction's of Barcelona as an organic maze, this is a throw back to the gothic works of the 19th century. However, unlike his first book it seems both over and under worked in places. Good, but not a classic.

Read this week:

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Going up the mountains

I’m working through ‘DarkFather’ in the two weeks respite I get from the editing of ‘The Missing’. I’m tidying up the story in places and increasing the presence of characters who I think need a little more room to breath. I also want to make the start a little bit punchier.

I’m off to Aviemore this weekend, cycling over mountains raising money for three charities. So far I’ve raised over £400 with all funding matched by the organisers. I imagine it will be hard going as it’s rained constantly throughout August and the weekend forecast does not look much better. I’ll put up some picture next week of me all exhausted and muddy.

Got my tickets through today for a writer event I’ve been waiting some time for. Mr Neil Gaiman is coming to Scotland, and what’s more he’s coming to the book shop just up the road from me. I’m looking forward to his new work as it’s YA and will be an interesting read in line with my own work.

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The Fourth Bear is Jasper Fford’s latest in the Nursery Crime Division works. As always with Fford (that is his real name by the way) the laughs come hard, fast and often with allusions to other works of literature, music or film. You could spend forever and a day trying to keep up with the wry nods but instead you should enjoy the books for their quirky humour. He is one of the best writers around today for laugh out loud prose.
I was fortunate enough to meet him this summer and you can tell there is a keen mind behind these works, one that enjoys puzzles and word play. I asked him if anyone had ever considered turning the works into comics as they are rich in nursery rhyme characters and he said that many had but nothing had ever happened. If there’s any budding comic book authors reading this, get on to it now.

Rex Mundi is a comic book that started life before Da Vinci Code which is interesting because they contain similar themes. Unlike the Dan Brown book Rex Mundi is set in a world where the American Civil War has ended in stalemate and the Catholic Church controls most of Europe, also sorcery is a real problem.
The story is a little sparse in places, but the artwork by EricJ is lush and precise, turning Paris into a dark mediaeval / 30s inspired city. There are also some good scenes under Paris, travelling along the vast sewers that mimic the street layout above so accurately that they share the same names (true), plus mention of catacombs being found containing the bodies of prior inhabitants (also true). Well worth a read and I’m sure I’ll get book 2.

****
Read this week:
The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fford
Rex Mundi: The Guardian of the Temple by Arvid Nelson et al.

Watching the Authors

Down to the last chapter of 'The Missing'. I've had my sweep through and a made a few subtle changes. I'll have a call with Maureen later this week, make further changes before printing the entire novel off and reading it as a reader. I want to try and put myself in the position of someone picking the book up off the shelf for the first time and reading it for enjoyment. At the same time it will be read by the chief editor at Libros where further changes can be made.

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The book festival is now up and running and I was able to see Jasper Fforde read from his new work which is set in a world where colour is a key indicator to your position in life and society. Like all Fforde books the concept sounds alien and completely off kilter but no doubt he'll pull off something unique and funny and tight. If you have never read any of his books pick one up, he's as funny as Pratchett and as clever as Adams. Well worth reading.

Also got to see John Connolly, who was amusing and seemed more at ease speaking to large crowds than when I saw him two years ago. He speaks and reads so fast that he can fit into half an hour what most authors drivel on about for at least two. He read from a work in progress which is a new Charlie Parker novel out next year called 'The Lovers'. It's sound like the supernatural elements have been upped in the new book, which is good because it was something I missed in the last.

I'm off to see Alan Campbell tomorrow which I'm looking forward to.

Outside of the Book festival we saw Jimmy Carr, who was quick and clever and funny and immensely rude in all of the right places.

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Finished 'The Secret History of Moscow', which is a subterranean fiction work set in Russia where creatures of fable, old Gods and characters from history exist below Moscow. Its from the point of view of Galina who's younger sister turns into a jackdaw and flies away whilst giving birth. Trying to track her sister down she meets with several strange individuals all who suffer from the dislocation of living in modern Russia in a big city that is crime and prejudice ridden.
The book has very much of a Russian feel to it, reading like Tolstoy (thankfully not as long) with plenty of wit. The subterranean world does not feel as fleshed at as the city above but Ekaterina Sedia has an inventive and playful mind and is able to pull on the history of her country and its myths.

'Nevada' is strange and funny and shocking and clever all at the same time. I only heard of Steve Gerber just after he died earlier this year when I discovered he was the creator of Howard the Duck, a character I remember from a film which involved aliens, comedy and inter species love (not something that seemed strange when I was about 10 years old).
This comic book was realised back in 1999 and I picked it up via the excellent book swapping site 'Read it, Swap it', based on Gerber's name. It revolves around an exotic dancer in Las Vegas, her pet ostrich Bolero, time and dimension travel, daemons and cosmic answers. It's a great read and worth picking up, I'll definitely be searching out more of Gerber's work on the back of it.

'Ocean' by Warren Ellis is a straight forward action comic set in space where coffins from an alien race have been discovered in the ice below Europa. It's about corporate greed and the inherent violence of the human species. Great art work by Chris Sprouse and Karl Story.

My final read this week is 'The Vinyl Underground - Watching the Detectives' which is a spin on Hellblazer but with a modern cool edge. It's good and I think it could grow into something very good but at the moment it doesn't have the skill or self awareness of Hellblazer.

****

Read this week:
The Secret History of Moscow by Ekaterina Sedia
The Vinyl Underground - Watching the Detectives by Si Spencer
Ocean by Warren Ellis
Nevada by Steve Gerber