I Need Your Help

Help me, Lovers of Asian Fantasy! You're my only hope. Mmmm. Sorry. I couldn't help myself.

The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Competition is upon us all once again and I intend to enter. The first year I did this, I received outstanding feedback by posting my work on the Createspace Preview Gallery, so I'm doing that ahead of time this year. I hope what feedback I receive might help me over a hump. Who knows, maybe I'll even get farther in the competition this year.

I've written once of those books with an unusual setting (China) that readers need to be eased into before the plot speeds up. I've done the best I can at providing atmosphere, characterization and the plot's forward momentum. However, this is a war novel and it takes three chapters (30 pages) before the characters march off to war. I'd love to find an ingenious way for atmosphere, characterization and plot to be solid and understandable within one chapter. The site allowed me to upload the first twenty pages, but that should give you an idea of what's happening and what I might be able to trim or reorganize.

If you're willing to help, please go to my entry, Mourn Their Courage. I'll be happy to provide a reciprocal critique!

An Interview with Bo Caldwell, author of City of Tranquil Light

I'm delighted to say I was allowed to interview Bo Caldwell, author of "City of Tranquil Light."

1. I know you based the novel on the experiences of your relatives, but I noticed you also referred to other missional memoirs like "The Small Woman," so I wondered throughout the novel if you used true events that were related to you. If so, what events were real? 

It's very hard to go back and recall exactly what was fictional and what was true.  That said, even when I made up characters and events, I worked at keeping them true in spirit to what happened to the missionaries I read about.  For example, the threat of bandits was very  real, and although I made up "my" bandit, he was based on individuals I read about.

2.  What suggestions would you give to those interested in entering the missions field?

I really don't feel that I'm an expert on missionaries or the mission field -- I would only say what I would say to anyone about pursuing such a demanding commitment:  to do all they can to be sure that God is calling them to the work, and  not their egos or pride.

3. Have you done any other books on this topic or in this setting?

My first novel, The Distant Land of My Father, was based on the life of an uncle of mine, who lived much of his life in Shanghai.  The novel takes place in Shanghai and Los Angeles from 1937 to 1961, and in that respect, it's a prequel to City of Tranquil Light, though it's not based on the same characters.

4. If you had one hope to express for this book, what might it be? 

If you mean one hope about what comes from the book, I would say that it would mean a great deal to me if the book gave people hope -- hope that joy is always possible, even after great loss, and even late in life.  I believe that it's always possible that the best is yet to come.

Thanks so much for the inspiration and joy I received from your book, Ms. Caldwell and for the opportunity to chat.

New Market

Many thanks to Rashda Kahn for telling me about this via the Authors of Asian Novels group. Do you happen to have a story about a monk in your repertoire? Say no more! Rashda found a market for this little niche called "Monk Punk." (Don't you love that title?)

Get thee to  http://www.duotrope.com/market_5062.aspx and read their guidelines. They're interested in all varieties of monks and genres.

Book Review: City of Tranquil Light by Bo Caldwell

     City of Tranquil Light is a novel based on the lives of the author’s maternal Aunt and Uncle. The fictional story of Will and Katherine Kiehn is so moving that I devoured the first 111 pages in a single sitting. After that, I continued to read, but many times with the greatest agony.

     Not because the writing turned to a lesser quality, but because the characters' little girl dies. As the couple work through their grief, there are questions raised with such honest poignancy that I could not read more than one paragraph at a time because I wept so hard. Anyone who has ever grieved deeply will feel the depth of Katherine’s despair in her talk with God:

     “We buried our daughter yesterday, and I am brought up short by the harshness of Your ways. I have given my all for You and in return you have taken the gift I love most – my sweet child. But perhaps I loved her too much I am mistaken; perhaps I haven’t given my all, but have held something back. Did I love her more than You? I know you are a jealous God, but are You that jealous, that You would take the other object of my devotion? I feel broken, as though there is a great gash inside of me, and my only prayer is a question: ‘What have You done?’ I ask not from anger, but from confusion, for I truly do not understand.

     Perhaps You are a flawed God, imperfect as we are. We are, after all, made in your image. Perhaps it was not Your intention to take Lily, but your inattention. Did You look away for a moment?  Was your mind elsewhere? Many times a day I ask myself what else I could have done and search for some mistake I made.  But perhaps You are at fault, not I. It seems there is so much You could have done.”

     Who among us who has met with loss hasn’t asked these questions?  It is the first of many tragedies they live through, but Mrs. Caldwell allows us to see the glory and wonder of how God can work. The man who stole the medicine that might have saved Lily’s life comes to Will Kiehn and demands – at gun point – that Will treat his son.

     Will knows what this man’s banditry has cost him and I’m sure many of us might tell this bandit where he and his murderous son could go. Will doesn’t. He heals the son and the bandit’s men and earns their trust and gratitude before he’s allowed to return to his wife. Before he does so, he shares the Lord’s Good News with his captors both through the bible and through his actions, but Will's forgiveness is a long way away.

     Time continues and the bandit’s son goes on a murderous rampage, after which he is captured, tortured and executed. The bandit returns to Will and in an amazing scene filled with the bereft father’s sorrow and humiliation, the bandit chief turns himself in as justice for having raised a shameful son. He is beaten and awaiting trial when Will brings him food and medical treatment. Neither man expects the bandit to survive, but God's ways are mysterious and wonderful.

     Their lives intertwine throughout the novel, which is a must read for anyone interested in China, missional history or the mission field. If the tremendous losses and beauty in City of Tranquil Light kept me by my tissue box, the heroism, faith and selflessness displayed by Caldwell’s characters kept me reading. 

New Market

I thought this might be of interest to some of my readers:

GAMBATTE!
http://www.writtenworldcommunications.com/content/gambatte_guidelines.html
---
Gambatte! is a magazine and book imprint of Written World 
Communications launching in 2010. Written by anime / manga 
fans, FOR anime / manga fans, we hope to offer a diverse and 
exciting magazine featuring everything from the usual reviews 
and articles to a showcase of exciting new talent. We are 
actively looking for an original book length manga to begin 
our book imprint in late 2010 to early 2011. Not wanting fan-
fiction but instead something brand new that no one has seen. 
Please send proposals with a sample chapter to 
gambatte.mag@gmail.com.


It is yet another post courtesy of Hope Clark's Fundsforwriters.com. 


And Happy Birthday, Rabbit!

Zombies: A Metaphor For Our World

     It’s 2011 and the zombies are not coming. They’re here. No, I’ve not gone off my rocker and incidentally, I’m not discussing the traditional brain-sucking undead, either. It is my contention that we are in the age of zombie literature.

     The undead in recent literature are a metaphor for our fears that nothing is new. We, as a creators fear we have used all of the creative verve the universe has to offer and all we can do is cannibalize upon what has come before.  The is mirrored by society, terrified of pseudo-resurrections from our various malaises (including economic). We don’t want a zombie existence where we’re alive, but only in the most technical of ways. Nonetheless, we suspect our best, strongest hope is to be pallid, undead vampires who sparkle.

     Fifteen years ago my husband made the utterly ridiculous claim that we had arrived at the literary age of plagiarism. All literature would be based on the work of others and, in the most extreme cases, would BE the work of others with only the byline changed. I scoffed. (Sorry, honey.)

     I’m not laughing anymore. The last fifteen years has seen the consistent use of fairytales for retellings and previous stories as jumping off points for more stories: Happily Ever After, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies being a few. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is comprised of 90% of the original Jane Austen novel mixed with 10% of Seth Grahame’s original material. Please understand, I am not knocking Grahame’s achievement. He saw the potential there and I applaud him. I am not complaining about this trend, either, as I’ve used Mother Goose rhymes in one of my strongest short stories and my first novel is based on “Romance of the Three Kingdoms.” No, I am a part of this trend, but as a fantasy writer, I do seek to understand it and perhaps stay ahead of it.

     So what are your thoughts? What caused this fear? Fear of the A and H Bombs brought on monster movies fifty years ago and one can easily see our present love affair with the undead is an extension of that time period. Still what was the modern bomb and where is the trend headed? 

CZP/RANNU FUND FOR WRITERS OF SPECULATIVE LITERATURE

These links and many others were found at Hope Clark's Fundsforwriters.

The Fund, brought to you in collaboration with ChiZine Publications, 
offers two awards per year of $500 CDN each, one for fiction, 
one for poetry, granted to two writers of speculative literature 
(i.e., science fiction, fantasy, horror, magic realism, surrealism, 
etc.), of any nationality/place of residence, at any stage of their 
career. The next round of submissions for this award will be 
accepted between November 15, 2010 and January 15, 2011. The 
winners will be announced May 15, 2011. Submit up to 5 poems 
(unpublished work), not to exceed 10 pages -single-spaced. 
Submit one short story or a novel excerpt (unpublished work) 
of no more than 7,000 words-double-spaced. If submitting a 
novel excerpt, include a brief synopsis. All entries in both 
fiction and poetry MUST be "speculative literature" in content; 
in other words: science fiction, fantasy, horror, magic realism, 
alternate history, steampunk, etc. Two Honourable Mentions in 
each category will win $50.

THE NATIONAL CREATIVE SOCIETY 
BARNES & NOBLE CHRISTMAS FUNDRAISER
FOR STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS

This is an organization whose goal is to encourage students' 
creativity as well as their participation in the creative arts.  
This year among our other outreaches we will be funding seven 
separate scholarships for college-bound high school seniors.
 
As part of our annual fund drive, we are having a book fair 
from Dec. 2 through Dec. 5. IF you were going Christmas shopping 
during those dates anyway, and IF you were planning on buying
some books as gifts, and IF you were going to make those 
purchases at any Barnes and Noble Bookstore or online at BN.com, 
THEN please consider using one of our coupons when you make your 
purchase.
 
The National Creative Society will receive a donation from 
Barnes and Noble equal to 10% of your purchase. You will 
receive a warm feeling deep down inside because you did the 
right thing, and it won't cost you a penny more than you were 
going to spend, anyway. It's a win-win situation, and you 
don't even have to print out the coupons in color.

http://www.nationalcreativesociety.com/homepage.html 
Click on "2010 Barnes and Noble Book Fair"
 
Thanks.
 
PS: If you get to the store and have forgotten your coupon, 
just mention the National Creative Society book fair and 
the salesperson can take it from there.

This Is Hysterical

If you have no idea how the publishing industry works - or how it gets screwed up by hopeful writers and sharks, take the time to watch this:

"So You Want to Be A Writer"

You might just save yourself from making a horrible faux pas with an agent, editor, or publisher.

On a separate note, if you want to suggest a great Christmas present for yourself, send folks to Irene Goodman's site. She's a literary agent who routinely (once a month) auctions her time away for a good cause. She's raising money to combat her son's illness by offering writers critiques. This month, there are fifteen critique auctions! Many thanks to Cat Woods for the info.

Addendum: Many thanks to those who let me know the link wasn't working!