So What Are you Reading?: Generations

[JD]

I've recently started messing around in my spare time on a third Jartine adventure, mostly to keep in practice while I wait for the latest round of editorial notes on my big monster novel.

Is that a big novel about a monster, or a novel about a big monster?
On the reading front, I needed something to read at work since The Children of Kings is a paperback, and it's not worth dragging it to work, so I borrowed the next volume in the IDW Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, Vol. 3 Shadows on the Past from Hoopla and started that. At this point in the series, the storyline jumps back and forth between the core TMNT series and the Micro-Series, so I'm also reading TMNT: Micro-Series Vol. 2. They didn't have that one at Hoopla so I had to buy it.

 

[bdub76]

Started Wounded Sky and my book club read All The Sinners Bleed.

Too early to say much about either. But I can say that All the Sinners Bleed hitting me over the head with social justice commentary doesn't make the book better. If anything, it's a huge distraction from the narrative. It takes away more than it adds. When did this become the norm for fiction? I had to look it up, and I guess folks are calling it woke fiction. I can say that it doesn't make for a better read. It's like having One To Grow On segments popping up in the narrative.

 

[Steve Roby]

I don't know anything about that book, but the title All the Sinners Bleed does suggest there might be some kind of judgementalness of some kind in there.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Is that a big novel about a monster, or a novel about a big monster?

What makes you think the two are mutually exclusive?

Another story into Dubious Pleasures. I feel like I caught maybe half the allusions in "Next Year in Brigadoon," but I might have only caught a third of them.
. . . and another, given that the piece that follows is short enough to qualify as "sudden fiction." Hmm. As the Canadian Brass would say, "Rudolph the Nose."

 

[Greg Cox]

Is that a big novel about a monster, or a novel about a big monster?

A big novel about monsters: rougly 130,000 words.

 

[Christopher]

A big novel about monsters: rougly 130,000 words.

And how many monsters?

 

[Greg Cox]

And how many monsters?

A werewolf, a vampire, a mummy, a Frankenstein-ish creation, a mad scientist, etc.

This is me, trying to write the ultimate old-time monster-movie homage.


Meanwhile, I just started reading Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, the graphic novel that is the basis of the upcoming movie.

 

[JD]

A big novel about monsters: rougly 130,000 words.

A werewolf, a vampire, a mummy, a Frankenstein-ish creation, a mad scientist, etc.

This is me, trying to write the ultimate old-time monster-movie homage.

I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for that one.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

A big novel about monsters: rougly 130,000 words.

What's that in MMPB pages?
(I've made no secret of the fact that I've never been able to think in terms of word count; I find it much easier to think in terms of pages and column-inches.)

 

[Christopher]

What's that in MMPB pages?

It depends on the font size. A typical MMPB runs about 250 words a page, which would make it 520 pages. But that would be really thick, so it'd probably have a smaller font size. At 350 words per page, it'd be about 370 pages.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Hmm. And Century Schoolbook, Baskerville, Caslon, or Charter is going to take more space, at a given point size, than Garamond or (especially) Times.

 

[Greg Cox]

What's that in MMPB pages?
(I've made no secret of the fact that I've never been able to think in terms of word count; I find it much easier to think in terms of pages and column-inches.)

For comparison, it's roughly the same length as my recent-ish Trek novel, Lost to Eternity, which is a little under 400 pages in trade paperback.

No definite pub date for the monster book yet, although we're probably looking at 2027 or so.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

When I started writing my novel, some 30 years ago (typesetting it in Xerox Ventura Publisher as I went along -- it has the useful property that the text remains in the original word processing file, in the word processor's native format), I expected it to weigh in at around 150 hardcover pages, tops. The current draft is over 400 pages.

At any rate, I'll be continuing with Dubious Pleasures presently. So far, nothing the slightest bit dubious about the writing.

 

[Smiley]

I'm reading about some non-Data characters with positronic brains in Robot Visions and The Rest of the Robots by Asimov.

Also in the mix are The Correspondent and a reread of Lord Edgware Dies (also published as Thirteen at Dinner).

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

I began "Fortress Memory" last night, but was too tired to read it in one sitting. Didn't realize what it was about until I picked it up this morning.

 

[Greg Cox]

Another story into Dubious Pleasures. I feel like I caught maybe half the allusions in "Next Year in Brigadoon," but I might have only caught a third of them.
. . . and another, given that the piece that follows is short enough to qualify as "sudden fiction." Hmm. As the Canadian Brass would say, "Rudolph the Nose."

Going down Memory Lane: "Next Year in Brigadoon" was arguably my first professional sale, to AMAZING STORIES back in the day. It was a shameless example of me falling back on "write what you know," which, in this case, meant fantasy literature and science fiction conventions.

The Rudolph story came about because David Hartwell invited me to contribute to a Christmas Ghosts anthology. Umpteen years later, I can't remember how I came up with the idea of doing a story about a ghostly reindeer . . . .

In general, back when I was starting out, I had better luck selling light-hearted, humorous pieces than more "serious" stories. I recall being slightly frustrated that my funny stories sold but I couldn't seem to give away my attempts at more serious science fiction and fantasy . . . not that I complained about those comedy sales!