A better month for reading, to be sure. Sadly, many starts and stops included, but I’ll take those any day over not getting a shot at reading enough at all, as in too many other months.
Read
Starter Villain – John Scalzi
Green Arrow, Vol. 1: The Death & Life of Oliver Queen – Writer: Benjamin Percy, Artists and Colorists: Otto Schmidt and Juan Ferreyra
Started and Stopped
Storm Front – Jim Butcher
Green Arrow Vol. 2: Island of Scars – Writer: Benjamin Percy, Artists and Colorists: Stephen Byrne, Otto Schmidt and Juan Ferreyra
Magic Forest Beginners – Kelly Link
13 Bullets – David Wellington
Reading
The Athena Project – Brad Thor
I’ve long said that Neil Gaiman is my favourite author, but wholly crap, is John Scalzi ever bucking for that place in my heart. Everything I’ve read of his has been solid. Not one of his books has been put-down-able for me. Last month I read the very first book he ever wrote — literally, as he writes in the foreword, it was written entirely because he had always been known in high school as a writer and didn’t want to go to a high school reunion without being able to say he’d written a book, so he wrote Agent to the Stars — and even that one was good. Not his best, but way better than a lot of other stuff I’ve read from even professional writers well on their career paths.
A couple of days ago Scalzi posted online that he signed another 10-book deal with his long-time publisher, Tor, which will kick in after he finishes the next seven books of his current deal. They’re that pleased with his best selling track record (and his pace of 1-2 books per year, and his books usually getting optioned for TV or film, and award nominations and wins…)
Looking forward to reading everything else he comes up with.
The started and stopped books were for the usual mix of reasons not being my thing. Mostly, in these cases, for the writers stepping outside something that would actually happen, entirely to move the plot forward.
As I’ve said before, I’m willing to suspend my disbelief in whatever way a writer needs for me to enjoy the story they’re telling. But if within those rules something happens that simply wouldn’t — let’s say… oh… an astute character doesn’t notice that someone else slipped a mystical watch onto him until its dire effect has begun!, or a normal human character is somehow able to push inoperable, seated construction equipment, over rough terrain, to save another character who’s a blink of an eye from getting killed by a lightning-fast vampire! — then you’ve totally lost me.
There’s something to be said for reading material that isn’t good, just to learn from it (i.e. to learn what I don’t like about it and, well, not do any of that in my own writing).
And I get that.
But frankly I read slowly and infrequently enough as it is that I just want to actually enjoy what I’m reading as an escape. So if that enjoyment drops far enough over a silly thing that often (sorry/not sorry) speaks to lazy writing, I’m out.
Like… c’mon. Make the watch a gift the guy actually likes and wears which then turns out to have sinister powers, rather than have him caught off guard by a watch being on him at all.
Have the vampire fall into the road construction pit closer to the construction equipment with the big, diamond-toothed sawblade rather than having a human need to push two tons quickly.
Stuff like this legitimately makes me wonder why I haven’t sold any writing yet.
On the upside, I’m trying (trying) to channel that frustration into energy to push myself to write more and get material out into the wild.
For now, though, the least I can do for myself is put down those books and pick up something that may be more enjoyable.
So far, The Athena Project is fitting the bill nicely.