6 posts tagged “reading”

outlining and rewriting

Oct 15, 2006
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While my first readers are busy slogging through the first draft of my first novel, Arts Of The Wize, I've been taking a break from writing to read other works. After finishing Paul Park's A Princess Of Roumania, I started reading Michael H. Payne's unpublished manuscript for his next novel, Too Long At The Fair. I'm about halfway through. It's really good!

Mike and I have been friends since we were in high school together, and he's been gracious enough to be one of my first readers— which is nice, because he's actually managed to persuade Tor Books to buy one of his manuscripts. He's the author of Blood Jaguar and a couple of ebooks whose names I can't recall. Blood Jaguar didn't get stellar reviews, and I haven't read it myself, but Too Long At The Fair is quite engaging— at least, the half I've read so far.

I'm also going through Arts Of The Wize in an effort to outline it in preparation for rewriting it. As I've mentioned elsewhere, it's 143,000 words and I have to find a way to cut that down by about 40%. Let me tell you: nothing helps focus your attention on how badly your novel sucks than to outline it. Okay, maybe that isn't true of all novels.

notes about a princess of roumania

Oct 10, 2006
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I finally finished Paul Park's A Princess Of Roumania, which is to say I have finished the first half of his novel that Tor Books decided to split into two volumes. The second volume in the novel is The Tourmaline, and I have not read that. (Whether I do or do not remains to be decided. I don't have a copy of it, and my bookstore doesn't stock it, so I'll have to special order it if I want to read it. Its priority may not rise that high.)

Overall, I think I like it more than not. My previous remarks about the supposed protagonist being not particularly protagonistic by the end of the first volume seem still worth making. The really interesting character in these books is the antiheroine, the Baroness Nicola Ceaucescu. Seeing how she finally gets her just desserts would be what is most likely to draw me back into the story for the second volume.

The final action sequence, where the Elector of Ratisbone makes his play for Miranda Popescu was imaginative, but it was a bit difficult to follow. I had to read it twice to be sure I wasn't missing any important details. The Elector is my kind of villain. More like him, please.

I would recommend A Princess Of Roumania to anyone who enjoys both fantasy and literary fiction. The fantasy elements are imaginative, the characters are fresh and the world Park has constructed has all the right features of a surrealist work of art: realistic depictions of fantastical objects. If the antihero is not your thing, then I'd say you should leave it on the shelf.

lit crawl

Oct 7, 2006
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I'd link to it, but Vox continues to insist on treating Safari users like 2nd-class citizens.

I think I'm going to roll down to Valencia Street next Saturday evening for the Litquake literary festival's "Lit Crawl" event. Google if you want to know more. Reprinted from their description page for the event:

The Lit Crawl is for those who like their literature served neat, on the rocks, or with a water back. It is a bona fide night out on the town. Instead of being confined to night tables, Oprah, or book club discussion groups, books take to the streets as folks gather up their friends and head out the door for their serving of authors and literature.

Thirty-one venues will host over 150 writers in genres as varied as travel, poetry, noir & mystery, literary fiction, music, erotica, science fiction, spirituality, Latino, queer, young adult, and more will clamber onto bar counters in cocktail lounges, recline in chaise lounges, or, in one case, take over a Laundromat in order to read.

All Lit Crawl events are FREE; see specific venue for any age restrictions.

more about a princess of roumania

Oct 6, 2006
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I've been reading reviews of A Princess Of Roumania, and it seems that people either gush about its virtues as literary fantasy, or they bitch mercilessly about it— some go almost as far as to call it the worst book they've read all year.

This makes me feel weird, because I can't decide whether I like it or not. I rarely respond to books this way. I usually either like a book or I loathe and despise it. Sometimes, when I like a book, I go completely non-linear over it and press copies of it onto my friends, demanding them to read it too. I almost never come down on the edge, wherein I both hate and enjoy the book.

On the one hand, I sympathize with most of the negative criticisms this book has received, but there's a nagging voice in the back of my head saying to withhold judgment. I'm not as interested in Miranda and her pals as I think Mr. Park wants his readers to be. On the other hand, the book has its charms. One of them, which I've not seen anyone who likes the book mention, is that Miranda doesn't really come off as a protagonist, and the "villain" emerges as a kind of character one rarely finds in fantasy: the antihero. Nobody else I've read uses the word "antihero" in their reviews, and I'm inclined to wonder why.

It seems to me that Nicola Ceacescu is the real main character of A Princess Of Roumania. I'm finding I care a lot more about her situation than Miranda's. Miranda, actually, is starting to seem like a villain in her own right at the point where I'm reading now. That's not to say that Baroness Ceaucescu is an admirable character. She's not— not even a little bit. Still, like the "bugs" in Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers, I find her to be the most sympathetic character. I want to see her win. I'm rooting for her, even if she is a violent, evil piece of work. Her opponents are people I actively dislike more, and I want to see them lose.

At this point, I don't feel certain this is an effect that Mr. Park intended for readers to experience. I want to believe, though, so I'm continuing to read it. I'll post more when I've finished it. I suppose I'll have to read the other half of the book, i.e. The Tourmaline, which is supposed to finish the storyline.

more about a princess of roumania

Oct 3, 2006
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My friend Mike says I've gotten further into A Princess Of Roumania than he did. I'm still working on it. Here's what I replied to him.

It put me to sleep very nicely last night after I realized that the reason I hadn't found a chapter break in Chapter 10 (of 13) is that the chapter is almost three times as long as the next longest chapter in the book. It's almost ninety pages. ZOMG. What was he thinking?

I can't for the life of me figure out why he didn't break that chapter up. I can't figure out why there are three "parts" to the book. I can't figure out what the protagonist is supposed to be motivated to be doing. One of the characters has been turned into a dog, and I've just been treated to ten pages of inscrutable dog identification atmospherics for reasons I have yet to figure out. I'm not sure who the villain is supposed to be anymore, because the obvious candidate has been turned into a kind of antiheroine, more interesting than the protagonist, and there is a new villain rotating in to take her place.

All this confusion is kinda interesting in its own maddening way. I'm doing my best to keep up with it and follow along, but I confess-- the confusion is not quite as enjoyable when Park does it as when somebody like William Gibson does it.

Maybe my opinion will improve when I finish it. At the moment, I have to say the pleasure to be derived from reading this book is probably something that only appeals to an acquired taste. I think you have to like not understanding what the author is trying to do. I'm half expecting to get to the end of this book only to discover that it abruptly stops without tying up even the most basic and central plot elements. That would certainly be consistent with how what I've read until now has been constructed. (It is the first in a series, but still...)

a princess of roumania

Oct 1, 2006
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I'm having real trouble reading A Princess Of Roumania by Paul Park. I'm about 280 pages into it, and I'm not staying awake through it. This is almost certainly a function of Leopold's continuing upper respiratory dysfunction. I'm not getting much sleep at night. Still, I haven't completely lost interest yet. The villain, at least, is interesting. I'm starting to seriously root for her. I sure hope she succeeds in whatever evil plot she's trying to hatch. I don't know what it is yet, but she's got my sympathy. Poor, poor Nicola Ceaucescu, I say. She can't catch an even break.