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1635: The Papal Stakes

Filed under: Reviews — 2 Comments
March 19, 2014

Oh, and this cover scene is actually in the book.

Several months ago, I met author Charles Gannon at Capclave, and he asked me to review his 1632 series book, 1635: The Papal Stakes. It picks up the Spain/Italy/Church thread that I detailed in another post, but I hadn’t read it when I met him so I didn’t really know what it was about.

Now, the reason he requested me to review his book is because of some credentials I have in regards to both the Catholic Church and the historical period. I have a very in-depth formal education in Catholic theology, philosophy, and history, and at least half of the work I do is with Catholic authors. Gannon was hoping that I could give a favorable review that would interest the Catholic audience I deal with, due to the subject matter of the book.

Note: This review was not commissioned or supported in any way by either Charles Gannon or his publisher, Baen Books, including through review or gift copies, or discounts of any kind. My conclusions are my own. View full article »

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1632: Not Your Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandaddy’s History

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Note: I was asked to write a review of 1635: The Papal Stakes. I decided to do a separate post to provide context for those who don’t know what the series is about.

My friend and sometime employer Regina Doman, who owns the small publisher Chesterton Press, is extremely picky about the covers of the books she publishes. I’m not quite as picky, but there’s good reason to pay attention because it’s often the first thing that a potential reader will see. It gives a sense of the adventure you’ll find inside; or perhaps it’ll make you curious about the symbols or people shown there; or, sometimes, there will be something so incredibly grabbing about it that you’ll pick the book up and say “That had better be in here!”

Many years ago, I was browsing the Baen Books catalog of upcoming releases when I spotted the latter kind. Rather than describing anything else first, let me just show it to you:

To quote my friend Andy after seeing this for the first time: “Wh-wh-whaaaaaaaaaaaaa?”

This is 1632, by Eric Flint, first book in the Ring of Fire series (originally The Assiti Shards, and now more commonly known as just the 1632 series). This impossible scene doesn’t quite happen in the book, but it comes close. Yes, those are modern Americans with modern guns. Yes, those are 17th-century soldiers with 17th-century guns and armor. No, those 17th-century guys don’t know what they’re getting into.  View full article »

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A Personal Milestone

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February 26, 2014

I’ve seen a lot of authors get attacked for not being “real.” They’re usually genre authors, and/or often mocked as writers because they are religious, or atheist, or pagan, or liberal, or conservative, or self-published, or indie, or whatever. Invariably, the mockers have never read the author’s works and simply reject them outright due to prejudicial assumption. View full article »

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Rising Book Sales Lift All Authors (Or: “Shut Up and Write!”)

Filed under: Industry, News and Updates, Publishing, Resources, Writing Tips — 6 Comments
February 25, 2014

You may or may not have heard the latest faux controversy about J. K. Rowling. No, it has nothing to do with her characters. Instead, it’s a Huffington Post writer named Lynn Shepherd complaining that Rowling is such a good author that she’s crowding out everyone else. She tells Rowling that she should just stop writing and give other people a chance. If you don’t want to click on her article, here’s the summary: Rowling has too much of a market share, which means every book she publishes is a book overlooked from another author who hasn’t become famous yet.

There has been a lot of pushback so far. I won’t post more than one link, mainly because the BBC’s article has more than enough links from successful authors who say this is ridiculous. I wasn’t even going to do more than link to that article, because every single point has been refuted multiple times by the authors linked there, and that’s just a small sample so far. What could I add? View full article »

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NSA Protest Day

Filed under: News and Updates, Personal — Leave a comment
February 11, 2014

This ninja doesn’t like being spied on.

The reason I picked the moniker “novel ninja” to describe my editing philosophy is because I don’t really like being the center of attention. I’ve worked to fix that over the years, but when it comes to editing I prefer to let the author take the limelight. It’s his or her story, after all. I just helped make it better.

I also don’t like talking politics . . . well, on this blog. (My personal Facebook account is quite opinionated.) While I’m open about my beliefs on just about anything, I want this blog to be about writing and stories and not get bogged down by arguments about the sort of things we go to stories to find solace from. View full article »

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The “Harmione” Controversy

Filed under: News and Updates, Reviews — 1 Comment
February 10, 2014

If you’re a Harry Potter fan, you know what happened last week. I was asked what my opinion was. Well, I didn’t wind up feeling like it was worth a blog post because while I jumped into the discussion early (on my personal Facebook, though), others were quicker with the articles and went into more depth than I would have. View full article »

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Is The LEGO Movie “Special”?

Filed under: Personal, Plugs and Promotions, Reviews — 3 Comments
February 7, 2014

Readers of the blog know I like Lego. It’s a great toy, arguably the best single toy investment you can make for a child. Unlike a video game, its operating system doesn’t go obsolete in three years; every Lego brick you buy today is compatible with the same company’s products going back decades — and they’re not going to change that in the future. It rewards creativity, teaches spacial and structural awareness, and can be combined in so many different ways that you can never say you’ve beat the game.

And then, as an adult, you can stick with it and turn it into a genuine art form. Years of experience, an adult’s funding and patience, and that little kid inside of you that still shouts “THIS IS SO COOL!” — all joining together to show kids that art can be fun, and their fun can be true art.

Well, there’s a movie out this weekend that’s based on the toy. I got to see the press screening last weekend with Wamalug (the Washington Metropolitan Area LEGO Users Group), so I’m here to give you my review. View full article »

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So Ninjas DO Show Up on TV!

Filed under: Just For Fun, Personal, Reviews — 1 Comment
February 5, 2014

In a rare public appearance, I appeared for a TV interview this last Monday.

And I managed not to break the camera!

And I managed to not break the camera!

Having attended a press screening of The LEGO Movie on Saturday, I and fellow brick enthusiast Bret Harris were invited on Let’s Talk Live for a quick appearance to give our impressions of the film as well as show off the sort of thing you can do with Lego bricks.

As you can see in the interview, I went in expecting to be underwhelmed and wound up impressed. (That’s right, I expected a movie based on one of my hobbies to suck.) It deserves its own review, but I figured I should at least put up the interview so you can see what your friendly neighborhood novel ninja looks like and sounds like.

Yeah, I’m sorry, I should be kinder to my fans rather than subject them to me in living color. But hey . . . Lego!

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Stories with Messages

Filed under: Industry, Writing Tips — 2 Comments
January 30, 2014

Currently, the SF&F blogs are embroiled in a mild (well, for some of them, very much not mild) tizzy over whether or not stories should be written with a particular cause in mind. I’m not going to mention what the specific argument is, because 1) if you don’t already know, you probably don’t want to be involved in the first place; and 2) it really doesn’t matter, because I want to talk about cause-fiction in general.  View full article »

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What I’ve Been Doing Lately

Filed under: Just For Fun, Personal — 1 Comment
January 20, 2014

So I’ve had another period where I haven’t been posting anything, and I haven’t even been updating on the Facebook page (which you should totally like). Well, this is a major part of what’s been occupying my attention:

Hang on, I got some dust in my eye or something . . .

Hang on, I got some dust in my eye or something . . .

Now, just to be clear, that is not me in that photo. I’m the one taking it. And the radiant beauty in white is my dear friend, mutually-adopted sister, and future co-author Elizabeth Amy Hausladen.

Er, wait. Elizabeth Amy Hajek. Yeah. Got to remember that. Fortunately, she likes hearing people repeat themselves on this subject.  View full article »

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