I don’t write many book reviews. As a reader, I’m pretty tough to please (which sucks, believe me). But I recently found a pretty fantastic little fantasy novel by an independent author named Ben S. Dobson. As an ebook it’s usually priced between 99 cents and $1.99 in the kindle store (sometimes as much as $3.99). By the way, I have my own novel on a temporary 99 cent ebook sale right now, too.

Here’s my review of Scriber, which you can also find at Amazon and Goodreads:

Scriber by Ben S. Dobson

Scriber might be the best fantasy book I’ve read, or at least it might be my favorite. It’s not dense like Erikson or Martin, but it has the two things I always look for and rarely find together: great writing with great storytelling.

The best thing about Scriber is the telling of the tale through the voice of the incredibly flawed scholar Dennon Lark. This is first person epic fantasy, and first person is not easy to pull off, even harder when the lead character is a self-hating wimp. But it works. Brilliantly. One reason it works is because it makes sense that Dennon would be telling you a story since he is a historian–first person often feels artificial, but not this time–and because Dennon’s humility helps us root for him. And if you’re not sure at first, keep reading. You might find the author stumbling a little bit here and there (or not at all), but if you do, don’t worry and just keep reading.

Scriber isn’t “high fantasy.” No dragons (though the characters sometimes curse by saying “Damn it to the Dragon!”), no elves, no magical swords. There are wonderful fantastic elements, though, mostly related to a mysterious semi-undead enemy and nature spirits. The story is unconventional in many ways, but it also sticks to some tried and true fantasy tropes (big heroine, big stakes)–in just the right balance of being both different and familiar. The setting feels medieval and the author writes that flavor well. And it’s a true standalone story and a fast read (in the good way).

The story features the scriber and a large band of female soldiers. One of the few issues I had with the book was the abundance of characters in that troop. The women were referred to by first name only and, especially early on, I sometimes had a hard time telling them apart and remembering who was who. Another reviewer recently wrote that this wasn’t a problem for him, so that could just be me. I have to say that Sylla was my least favorite; she was believable enough but still a bit one-dimensional, but at least she played a good role. Also, I have to say this: Orya for the win. I loved Orya.

The book has two major characters, Dennon Lark and Bryndine Errynson, the leader of the company of female soldiers. No one else gets fleshed out as much as these two. The one limitation I wish hadn’t been in the book is that we never got deep into Bryn’s head–because the book was written in first person from Dennon’s point of view. Bryndine is a memorable, noble character and so easy to root for. I started playing a paladin in a D&D campaign recently and I had to resist the urge to name the character Bryndine (she’s really inspiring). On the flip side, though she was very human, she also had few flaws and she never felt quite as real to me as Dennon did. But that’s mostly understandable considering the first person pov. Still, I can’t help wondering how great it would’ve been to be able to take a peek inside the mind of Bryndine.

One of my favorite scenes in the book was a meeting between Bryn and Dennon when they first opened up to each other about their vulnerabilities and soon laughed at them–just a beautiful scene full of believable humanity. This is where I think the author’s gift for characterization really shone through.

The story is heavy on dialogue, maybe a little too much for my taste, but at least the dialogue was great. The plot sometimes moves forward in ways that are a little too convenient, but I never cared to nitpick because I was having too much fun. The pacing was excellent, although somewhere around the three-quarters point I though it sped up a little too much (after the big return)–this was the only part of the book that felt out of place with the rest, in my opinion. I thought the fight scenes were good, not great, but this isn’t a book about fight scenes.

This is a book about a man struggling against the shame of his past and trying to uncover lost truths about his world’s history. It’s a book about a colorful band of women warriors. It’s a book about a heroine as noble as any you’ve read. It’s full of great worldbuilding, heaps of mystery, and mature, skillful writing. And it finishes with a great crescendo.

As a horribly picky reader, I almost never find books that come this close to being perfect for me. That’s one of the reasons why I became a writer myself, because I wanted to at least try to take readers on the kind of journey that I want authors to guide me through, the kind of ride Ben Dobson just led me on. I’ve talked to Ben some since I started reading his book, but I didn’t know him before I picked up Scriber for free in the kindle store.

I just want to be clear in saying that although Ben and I are both independent authors writing in the same genre, and although I only write reviews for the rare books that I love, this review has nothing to do with a prior relationship with the author (we had none, even though he had already read my book and I didn’t know it) and everything to do with me loving this outstanding book and wanting to recommend this book to everyone. So this is just a guy named Moses, telling it on the mountain:

I’ve never found a free or cheap ebook as good as this one. It’s fantastic, and I’m so glad to have found a new favorite author. Ben, thanks for a great story told well. And sorry to be selfish, but I really hope you write more books as great as this one.

Here’s Scriber on Amazon.
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This morning, I decided to start a thread at the Writer’s Cafe at Kindleboards. It turned into this (I’ll just reproduce the post here).

On Facebook, someone said:

“I give my boss (who owns a small editing company) a weekly update of all the hot topics in book publishing news, and I get so tired of reading about people recommending self-publishing as essentially another get-rich-quick scheme. I feel like it’s all about the business end of things rather than the honor and prestige of producing a quality piece of literature.”

To me, this rings true. I understand that we’re mostly interested in talking about the business end of things over here (I like to talk about these things too), but that’s really the point. Indie authors are for the most part, all about the business end of things. Does this help us when readers see this? Does this help us in reality?

Why aren’t we talking–with other writers, on our blogs, on Facebook and Twitter–about books that have inspired us, whether classics or recent indie works? Why aren’t we analyzing what goes into great writing, great scenes, great characters, great plots, great dialogue. Why aren’t we lauding great books over great sales, at least more often than we do? Do we love words or do we love numbers? Poetry or spreadsheets?

We all have different goals and we’re all in different situations. I don’t believe that anyone’s goals are better or more important than anyone else’s goals. I have enough trouble judging the worth of my own goals. Entertaining thousands of readers through a combination of good books and smart marketing is a worthy goal, period. I think most of us want to write the best books we can and market them as well as we can so that we can reach more readers and make more money.

But, I offer this question: what is your heart’s desire as a writer? Because that is what you will tend to create in your life. Is it money? Fame? Respect? Craftsmanship? The journey or the destination? What are the inevitable outcomes of these goals? There are no right or wrong answers–just wherever you really are. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying money or fame.

I ask myself this question a lot and the answer isn’t always clear. But mostly for me it comes down to the journey of crafting good (hopefully great, perhaps someday classic) books. For me, that goal is more sublime. Money and fame come and go, and fame in particular is a mixed blessing. Respect is nice, but there’s no freedom in being enslaved to other people’s opinions.

What reading and books are all about–for readers–is beholding something touched by a muse of inspiration, raising your consciousness to behold the beauty and magic in a great story crafted with love, skill, and devotion. When that’s the goal–for an author–the only number that matters is one. One reader is all that matters. Whether that one reader is you, the author, or someone else–that’s up to you.

I respect anyone who wants to make enough money to live comfortably, support a family, or support their favorite causes. I respect anyone who wants to go on the roller coaster ride that is fame; life is short and at least fame brings you into other people’s lives. I respect those who wanted to be respected. Critical appreciation is as good a measuring stick for value as anything else.

Here, there are no right answers. Only honest and dishonest ones. Life will eventually show us the value of our goals, and then we’ll change again.
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Short and sweet today. My epic fantasy novel, The Black God’s War, is currently free at Amazon UK and at iBooks/iTunes. I’m not sure how long it’ll remain free, so if you’re in the UK or if you use iBooks, please my guest and download a full copy of the novel. Reviews are appreciated, but never expected. Enjoy!
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Tags: Amazon.co.uk, Epic Fantasy, Fantasy Books, Free, iBooks, iTunes, The Black God's War, UK

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Tags: Adventures in SciFi Publishing, Interviews, Malazan, Malazan Book of the Fallen, Podcast, Steven Erikson

From Moses: Full disclosure: I like Ty. He’s a really good guy with a fantastic imagination, working hard on writing in so many realms. He also runs a great blog. I’m happy to share this guest post from Ty, where he talks about the importance of rules for magic systems in fantasy fiction, as well as the magic in his own created world.

Fantasy author Ty Johnston’s blog tour 2011 is running from November 1 through November 30. His novels include City of Rogues, Bayne’s Climb, More than Kin, all of which are available for the Kindle, the Nook and at Smashwords. His latest novel, Ghosts of the Asylum, will be available for e-books on November 21. To find out more, follow him at his blog tyjohnston.blogspot.com.

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GHOSTS OF THE ASYLUM by Ty Johnston

Magic is a common element among nearly all fantasy fiction. Some fantasy tales are strong in magic, while others only hint at the magical. For a reader to believe in the magic of a given tale, the author has to create, understand and follow logical rules concerning magic in his or her story.

Why are these rules necessary? Mainly to make the use of magic believable and sensible to the reader. Most times it is not even necessary for the reader to fully understand these rules, but the writer must, and should use the rules for story balance. Keep in mind, in works of fiction writers are asking readers to temporarily suspend their disbelief, to accept the implausible, and in fantasy this is even more so. To help readers in that suspension of disbelief, fantasy tales must contain logical rules for the existence and use of magic.

In my latest epic fantasy novel, Ghosts of the Asylum, I was writing a sequel to my Kobalos Trilogy, so fortunately I already had a magic system worked out for my world. Below is a basic look at how magic works within my writings.

Two Types of Magic

Magic is powered from one source, the soul or souls of living beings. That being said, magic is then broken up into two types.

High magics are magical powers or spells derived from one’s own soul. A wizard, or magical creature or item, draws upon its own soul energy to perform magics. This is the most common type of magic during the time of Ghosts of the Asylum. Nearly all mages uses high magics, as do most magical beasts.

Low magics are the opposite. Low magics are spells or effects that draw upon the soul or souls of other living creatures outside of the spellcaster. Low magics are not common during the time of my novel, though they were at one time in its history, and are generally considered evil.

The distinction between the two types of magic seems non-existent to the non-initiated, but it is quite distinctive and has had huge impacts upon the history, religions and societies of my Ursian world.

Two types of wizards

Traditional wizards are the most common, and have been throughout my world’s history. This type of mage learns his or her craft from someone else, sometimes officially from a professor at a university, but often times spells and knowledge are passed down through family ties or from one singular caster to another. Sometimes a solitary mage has learned his or her craft on their own, through a codex or scrolls or simply from paying attention to another wizard. Theoretically, anyone could be a traditional wizard. The ability to cast spells is not based upon intelligence or wisdom, though creative minds have been shown to be most open to the arcane arts. Strength of will is important, giving a caster more stamina in casting spells, so as not to be too weakened. But all of this is superfluous.

Wizards are not more common than they are in my world for a variety of reasons, most of them being social. Until recent history, the end of the Mages War almost sixty years earlier, wizards were outlaws and hunted and executed. But times have changed.

Natural mages are a much rarer breed. Natural mages are born with the innate ability or knowledge to cast magical spells. Natural mages also tend to be much more powerful with their special abilities than traditional mages. Some natural mages have also studied under traditional wizards, learning more knowledge and becoming better able to work their spells. An untrained natural mage can be quite a dangerous thing.

The importance of Ashal

To the Eastern and Western churches in my world of Ursia, the almighty Ashal was a living god who walked among men for roughly 30 years approximately 2,000 years earlier, spreading words of wisdom and performing miracles.

Educated wizards know better, and have a tradition of their own. Ashal was no god. He was a flesh-and-blood man. He was also the first known natural mage, and he was the first known caster to use high magics. He is traditionally considered to be the first true wizard.

There were spellcasters before Ashal, but all would at best be considered traditional wizards by today’s standards, having learned their spattering of knowledge from one another and from the ancient tomes of the Zarroc. Also, all of them used low magics. That is why sacrifice was necessary in performing magical rituals in earlier times, the caster literally drawing forth soul power from the sacrifice, and using that energy to perform magics.

According to church doctrine, Ashal was a god, and all wizards are evil humans who use only low magics. This simply is not true, but 2,000 years of evidence to the contrary has not changed any minds. Unfortunately, the churches have had much more sway politically and socially than the spellcasting classes, thus the general public’s opinion of magic and wizards tends to sway toward that of the churches. During the time of my Kobalos Trilogy and the novel Ghosts of the Asylum, times are indeed different, but it is a foolish mage who would show himself anywhere in Eastern Ursia or even in remote or rural regions of Western Ursia.

The Zarroc

The general public knows next to nothing about the Zarroc in my world. It is known they existed. A few of their structures, mainly ancient temples, partially stand in the southern deserts. A very few of their ancient writings are rumored to exist, though no wizards or university will admit to having such items. There have even been discovered a few skeletal remains of what might be members of the Zarroc race.

The Zarroc were not human. They lived during the time of the great lizards, long before the ages of men, and it is surmised the Zarroc themselves were a race of bipedal lizard creatures with intelligence and language and a society of their own.

Why they died out, no one knows.

There is no known true history about the Zarroc, but there have been some intelligent guesses about them over the centuries. They apparently were the first intelligent creatures to use magic. Also, supposedly they were great makers of many magical weapons and items. Even the honored Sword of the Elements, the birthright of King Alexandre of Caballerus, is rumored to be one of the Zarroc’s great weapons.

Mages who have attempted mighty spells to look back into the time of the Zarroc have discovered nothing. Perhaps the Zarroc shielded themselves from such prying.

In closing

Much of the information above is not needed for readers to enjoy my epic fantasy novels (at least I hope they enjoy the novels). And I did not give away all my secrets, elements I’m saving for future writings. However, I did give away some secrets. For instance, the Zarroc have not been mentioned in any of my novels, though their name does come up in one novella (at least at this point). Yes, I have future plans that will include the Zarroc or at least will be related to the Zarroc. But I’ll keep that to myself for the time being.

Also, I could have gone on into quite a bit more depth concerning magic in my world of Ursia, but I hope not to bore the reader with minutia. The rules of magic in my writings are known to me, and I find them necessary in spinning my tales. Those rules help me to write, and hopefully they help to bring some realism to my fantastical tales and to the reader.

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KINDLE 3

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Tags: Ghosts in the Asylum, Magic, Rules for Magic, Ty Johnston

I knew I had to record a little bit of history when I saw this in my World Fantasy Convention 2011 program:

Founders of Steampunk - Saturday, 1:00 pm

Steampunk was first defined in a letter over 20 years ago. The writer of that letter, and two of the authors whose work helped define the subgenre, talk about their inspirations and look at where steampunk literature has gone.

John Berlyne (M), James Blaylock, K. W. Jeter, Tim Powers

The panel was fascinating, and a lot of fun too. K.W. Jeter (the man who coined the term ‘steampunk’) was hilarious. You can find his novels at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. When I talked to him, he was especially enthusiastic about his new Kim Oh books.

If you like the video, please share it with someone else who might enjoy it.

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Tags: 2011, Founders of Steampunk, James Blaylock, John Berlyne, K.W. Jeter, Steampunk, Tim Powers, Who first wrote steampunk, Who started steampunk, World Fantasy Convention

I met Bryan Thomas Schmidt last year when I was looking for a roommate at World Fantasy Convention. Turns out, he’s written a scifi/space opera that’s been summarized as “Moses in Space!” His first novel is out–he’s written a tremendously fun throwback story that reminds readers of Star Wars. Here’s Bryan’s guest post with tips for writing with better characterization. He makes a number of good points, and I was able to pick up some nice ideas from his article:

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The Worker Prince by Bryan Thomas Schmidt

One of the keys to good storytelling that hooks readers is creating relatable characters. What are the tricks apart from character naming to accomplish this challenging task?

To start with, create individuals not stereotypes. Yes, characters have a story function. Yes, some of them are even like tropes, filling necessary roles like comic relief, the buddy, the confidant, etc. But that doesn’t mean you should stop there and fail to flesh them out. People are unique, no two the same, and so should it be with your characters. Each character should respond differently to a particular situation from any other character. For example, fight scenes, can often be a place where characters blend into one and all react the same. Instead try treating such common scenes as opportunities to reveal character through uniqueness. How would one character fight differently than another? Work this in and your story will be richer, your characters stronger. There are many other common scene types where you can similarly emphasize the uniqueness. Look for them.

Second, each character should have his or her own vocabulary. People use words differently, so your characters should as well. One of the best ways to distinguish and develop characters is through dialogue. Educated people use more sophisticated words, while less educated people structure sentences  differently. Think of this as you develop each character’s voice and use it to set them apart, create conflict and develop them throughout your story. Vocabulary, in fact, is far more effective than attempting to create accents. Phonetically, accents already pose problems and can even devolve into silly or, far worse, confusing dialogue styles which detract from the story.

Third, another way to develop character is by choosing the protagonist whose point of view will tell particular scenes. I tend to consider who has the most at stake in a particular scene and make the scene happen in that POV but there are varied theories. Whatever your method, your characters can be developed well through use of POV. For example, I had a scene where a couple are fighting. At the same time, an old enemy is stalking them with intent to do them harm. I told the scene from the enemy’s POV, even though he never interacts with the couple because it allowed me to further both the romantic storyline and the antagonist’s storyline in one scene through his internal monologue as he witnesses their discussion. Three character arcs and two plotlines were thus furthered in one short scene.

Fourthly, People’s tastes vary, and so should characters’. What they wear, how they choose it, etc. can be a part of characterization. Everything from color to fabric choices to scale, formality, and even clothing cost can be used to establish character. We use such things daily as we observe others to determine things about them, and readers will use such details as clues to define characters if you include them. Sartorial Style can be a tool for characterization.

Fifthly, we all have our favorite do-dads, don’t we? Things we take with us everywhere we go. The cliches for women are purses and for men, perhaps, favorite hats, but we all have something. Sometimes it’s small enough to fit in a pocket. Other times, it’s carried around for all to see. Props are a great tool for revealing character. Spend time observing people around you. What props does each person have? Keep a spreadsheet or list of potential props for characters. Yes, when writing fantasy or science fiction you might have to be more inventive than just copying from a list you made at the mall. That’s called writing, dears. In any case, props can add great flavor and speak volumes about characters.

Sixthly, who a person spends his or her time with says a lot about them and so use it to develop your characters well. Fellow characters, animal or otherwise, can be great for revealing character. We see how they interact with each other and we learn volumes about who they are. Think about it: what would the Lone Ranger have been without Silver or Tonto? What about Batman without Robin? There’s a reason Michael Keaton quit after two movies: he was lonely (Ok, that might be just a guess).

Seventh, it seems obvious but sometimes it’s easy to forget to dig deeply into a character’s past for material to develop the character. Even things you know about them but don’t include in your narrative can be of value. All the experiences of that character’s past serve to shape who he or she is becoming, from determining responses to various stimuli to emotional hot points from happy to fearful. When your character seems to become stagnant, review what you know about his or her past, then ask yourself if maybe there might be more to uncover which would help you as you write. You can only have too little backstory, never too much. It’s core to the internal battles all people face and will enrich your ability to write your characters with depth and broadness that stretches outside the boundaries and limitations of your story itself.

Lastly, another that seems obvious, but developing your character’s likes and dislikes can take you all kinds of places, especially when you examine how they might clash with those of the characters around them and even the attributes of the world around them. All kinds of instances will soon arise where you can reveal more of the character through actions resulting from these traits. In the process, your story will have built in conflict and drama and perhaps even humor you might not have thought of before. Character traits are a great way to add spicy detail to your story, surprising and entertaining readers at the same time. And don’t just limit yourself to personal preferences either. Character traits can also include physical ticks like clenching hands when angry or a slight stutter or even a limp or other defect.

Bryan Thomas Schmidt is the author of the space opera novel The Worker Prince, the collection The North Star Serial, and has several short stories forthcoming in anthologies and magazines. He’s also the host of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Chat every Wednesday at 9 pm EST on Twitter, where he interviews people like Mike Resnick, AC Crispin, Kevin J. Anderson and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. He can be found online as @BryanThomasS on Twitter or via his website. Excerpts from The Worker Prince can be found on his blog.

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Tags: Bryan Thomas Schmidt, Relatable Characters, Scifi, Space Opera, The Worker Prince

Welllll, not quite. But the Indie Book Podcast did (in an audio review), and they filled in nicely. Spoiler: Two thumbs up. They talked about The Black God’s War for about 7 minutes, and I really loved hearing their thoughts (I especially loved that Jane liked Narayani, Aayu, and Duilio–three of my characters that don’t usually get as much love as the others). I also found their criticisms right on the mark and helpful.

IndieBookPodcast.com is a book review podcast that focuses on indie/self-published books and news about indie publishing. Next week, their episode will also feature a brief interview with me.

Thanks very much, Jane!

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SFSignal.com melds the minds of science fiction and fantasy writers every Wednesday, inviting authors to answer a new question each week. This week, my brain was invited to the stew. Ewww!

The question was:

Q: What is the role and place of maps in Fantasy novels? Which are your favorites? Why?

In my comments, I talked about my own experience with commissioning a map for The Black God’s War and gave links to some of my favorite maps, including maps from:

Jim Butcher’s Codex Alera, Book 6.
Joe Abercrombie’s Best Served Cold
David Anthony Durham’s Acacia
Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn
Kevin J Anderson’s Terra Incognita series
Selina Fenech’s Memory’s Wake
Terry Pratchett’s Discworld
And, of course, my own.

I could link to those maps from here, but then you might not see all of the cool things over there. So check it out!

You might’ve seen my map for The Black God’s War:

But I haven’t shown the original map that I drew for Jared Blando at TheRedEpic.com (he’s the artist of the above map):

Good thing there are real artists in the world, eh?

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Tags: Fantasy, Maps, Maps in Fantasy Novels, Mind Meld, SFSignal