Saturday, May 02, 2009
Peeling Back the Curtain on the Age of Misrule
Over on Tor.com, a big post talking with Mark Chadbourn and John Picacio about Mark's Age of Misrule series and the process that went into creating the new covers.
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That was very informative, I'm always interested in the process of making things, like books, that are actually more complicated than they seem to be. My brother is an art school grad and did a lot of sculpture and jewelry work, so we would always have long talks about process since we're both obsessive like that(for me it's research and how writing is structured), so it is always nice to peek behind the curtain as it were.
I saw a copy of the first book a couple weeks ago, almost picked it up, an oversight I am going to correct (I did pick Blood of Ambrose that day, so really no regrets).
Well, if you picked up Blood of Ambrose, how can I fault you? (Let me know how you find it.)
Meanwhile, it's not one of mine, but does involve too friends and great guys - which is that over at Clarkesworld Magazine, Brian W. Dow talks us through the process he used to create the cover for Tobias S. Buckell's Tides from the New Worlds. He carved styrofoam, froze a water ballon, shined flashlights through sand dollars... it's pretty amazing and is all documented with photos! Here is the link.
That link was simply amazing, I'm going to subject my brother to it, it sounds right up his alley, as they say. Blood of Ambrose is a grand entertainment thus far, I'll be sure to let you know once I've finished it.
Not only did I pick up World's End last night, but I also took the opportunity to grab the paperback of Brasyl and Cyberabad Days, I am quite looking forward to all three.
Couple them with Blood of Ambrose and me pulling out my hardcover of Silverheart today and I have a nice Pyr reading list to work on. No complaints here, except that I haven't picked up The Bright of the Sky. Yet.
Good Lord, Greg, you may qualify for the secret decoder ring now! Seriously glad you like us so much, and very flattered. RE: Ambrose - I am amazed by Enge's ability to be hysterical one minute and horrific the next, so I'll be anxious for your take when you've hit examples of both. You can't go wrong with McDonald, so no comments there except...you can't go wrong with McDonald. Just heard from another reader who finished World's End last night and loved it. Silverheart is a very interesting book - very much a part of Mike's Multiverse and also somewhat different from it. I don't know if you have his Metatemporal Detective but that's another very interesting book for similar reasons (but separate tone). And Kay will be there when you finish the stack! She and John Meaney top my list for "If I ever found myself running an animation studio, what would I option?"
A secret decoder ring? Wow, you guys really have things together. Wait, that was a joke, aw, nuts....
Anyway, I've about 300 pages in Blood of Ambrose, and he has an amazing, simply amazing, sense of balance in his story, managing to be funny and horrific and poignant, and all three (especially in the scene I just read with Merlin).
I do have the Metatemporal Detective, and you are right, it is part of the Multiverse, but not weighed down by being about an Eternal Champion, a big reason why I'm digging Silverheart.
John Meaney, eh? I had been thinking about picking up Bone Song anyway, so I may have to give him a chance.
Yeah, now I want one too. And I only have one of the pint glasses left over from WorldCon. We need more swag.
Isn't Merlin amazing? There is some stuff in the second book that... wait, I'm saying too much.
Speaking of Kay . . .
Read Book 2 yesterday. Started Book 3 this afternoon. Book 1 seemed to take forever, but I finally got in a groove with Book 2 - more people-oriented I felt. As Book 3 is so far.
Seattle being rainy does have its advantages! A good book, a cup of Hawaiian pure Kona Premium coffee, a fire, aaahhhh, life is good.
there is a really chilling moment in book three.... wow.
Didn't realize you were in Seattle, how is the museum, have you been?
I assume you're talking about the Seattle Art Museum.
You know, I went there right after we moved to Seattle in January 2005, before their big expansion project. It was o.k., but nearly as impressive as the Portland Art Museum (where we had just moved from) or the L.A. County Art Museum, Getty Museum, and a host of others in L.A. (my birthplace and home for 31 years).
It's said that first impressions are everything, and I haven't been back to the Seattle Art Museum since that first visit. I keep looking for a blockbuster exhibit - e.g. King Tut treasures, the Chinese exhibit that had all those terra cotta soldiers, Da Vinci - to entice me to go back to the museum, but it hasn't had any. The Pacific Science Center and The Flight Museum have had them instead.
I should go back one of these days. This summer would be good - it would be a good escape from the hordes of cruise ship tourists that descend on Seattle!
Speaking of the Getty, I always liked the James Bond villian-like fortress of the actual building better than anything in it!
Hey, how about the Science Fiction Museum? Have you been there?
Oh! I've been to the music part of the museum, but not the science fiction part - once it was closed for a private party, and once hubby decided there wasn't enough time left before it closed to do it justice.
Just finished Book 3! Must wait patiently for Book 4 and its "really chilling moment." Must wait patiently . . .
Next book - "The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox" by Barry Hughart. It's the signed - by Mr. Hughart - hardback edition by Subterranean Press, with cover art by Jon Foster. I read the first book - "Bridge of Birds" - some 15-20 years ago and then lost track of him. Now I have all 3.
No I meant the chilling moment with Helice in book 3. I haven't read book 4 yet, Kay's still polishing!
I was tempted by The Chronicles but I almost never read outside my own list now.
Oh. Helice. Yes.
Yeah, that scene.
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