Books Read These Last Few Weeks ? ? ?

My pilgrimage to Washington state and subsequent illness threw quite a damper in my usual prolific reading schedule and then I had to juggle a few other projects so this has been my slowest book marathon in ages, but here are the completed ones.

A Storyteller In Zion, Orson Scott Card
This is a collection of essay's from quite a varied amount of sources compiled and edited by OSC and distributed by Bookcraft (anybody remember them?) I liked the
whole thing overall, it is packed with great perspectives for writers. The interesting aspect is---I have to admit to not being a terribly big fan of OSC. I truly never cared for Enders Game and couldn't bring myself to read the sequels. I liked his Folk of the Fringe and Alvin Maker series much better but still thought it moved a little too slow or made villains out of really cool guys like Jim Bowie, and Jim Bowie rocks! The piece here that grabbed me the best and has honestly influenced me to the point of writing a novel was the first essay taken from a speech given at BYU in 93 for Life,The Universe and Everything titled "The Book of Mormon-Artifact or Artifice". It is a pretty good run down on how Joseph Smith could not possibly have had the info to write a book covering things from the ancient world so accurately, contrary to what people like Tal Bachman think Joseph could not have been just a great storyteller and been this lucky with things. My one beef with the essay which I addressed recently in the comments at Banner, Sword and Shield was Were the Mulekites really from Jerusalem. Card asserts that King Zarahemla may have tried to BS Mosiah that "Hey were from Jerusalem too and yeah, were descended from
your last king so we ought to be in charge of you" No dice, I think Card is dead wrong. King Z gave in and Mosiah became king. My argument is based off what the Book of Mormon tells us between the lines, and I thank Hugh Nibley for starting the ball rolling with the assessment of the name Lachoneus the Governor from Nephi 3 being a GREEK name. It means man from Laconia or SPARTA. I looked the text over and the Book has numerous Greek names including Judea, Jonas, Jesus Christ, Timothy, Lachoneus and Archeantus and all the Anti-names, possibly Onidah and my personal theory of Manti being a contraction of Mantinea a Greek city. Thinking about all this I did a boatload of research and came to the conclusion that King Zedekiah of Jerusalem had Greek mercenaries serving him at the time of the Babylonian invasion. I wrote a novel based upon a Spartan mercenary getting Mulek out of Jerusalem and to the Promised Land. That's a real quick rundown-I am blazing over so many details, but it explains why no Greek names are in the Book of Mormon before they meet the Mulekites or even the River Sidon named after a Phoenician city, because it was named by Mulekites not Nephites. Card has a lame excuse in my opinion and it has to assume that Mosiah is duped-at least in part. My explanation covers all the bases and doesn't require being an apologist which to me is a dirty word. I have thoroughly jacked the review of Card's book for discussing my own but it is because I read Card's essay a year and a half ago that inspired me to write "Bless The Child" Overall this was a great book for writing thoughts-that was just the piece that made me say I have to write this novel and give a fictional take on what I think actually did happen.

Night Winds, by Karl Edward Wagner
This is a favorite Sword and Sorcery writer of mine. This was a reread for me simply because I wanted to get back in touch with some of his wonderful prose. Wagner is a master at mood and setting. He has a brilliant way of giving you that resonance of ancient ruin and myth come alive. The main character in all the stories is Kane/Cain who makes for an incredibly interesting anti-hero which I don't usually like. In a less gifted writers hands I wouldn't care less but Wagner makes you interested in even such a villain and murderer. I wouldn't want to be pals with Kane but he does make for invigorating reading.

Moon of Skulls, by Robert E. Howard
This was another reread of mine by a favorite. I found this,(I have been looking for a copy for the last couple years and being such a used book hound never bothered
to order it online anyway) I found in a little used book shop next to the Pike Street Market in Seattle (where they throw fish) and was excited because it contained the last big REH story I had not read yet "Skullface" its about an ancient sorcerer attempting to unite a lot of the third world nations against western imperialism. It is probably one of the least PC stories Howard ever wrote but then it was written back in the 30's so I don't let any of that get in the way of a good tale-which it is. Along with a number of other short stories I love REH poems, this collection had over a half-dozen and they were all very good, if you like that hint of violent colorful (as in bloody and heroic) like I do.

Legend, by David Gemmell
Obviously I have been reading the more fantastical, sword and sorcery stuff lately and this one was new but no disappointment. Legend is grim fantasy grounded in familiar history, in many ways this could have been a tale about an eastern European fortress city defending itself against the Mongols. The magic is light, I like that, I like for magic to be grounded in a scientific way and have a cost for its use and not to be used as if its a blank check, that's the surest way for me to not care about a fantasy book. Gemmels other strength is he knows human nature and composes well written characters with believable dialogue and intelligent insight. I especially liked the lead character Druss an aged warrior fighting his last, but all the secondary characters were worth rooting for as well both good and bad. I have only read a couple Gemmell books but I will be going back for more.

I have also recently reread A Moveable Feast, by Ernest Hemingway but I discussed that recently already. I have also been skimming a number of research books for the sake of my writing but that should be reserved for another time. I should be back on my usual schedule of reading soon.

Thoughts Expressed Through Visual-Means

My 3 Year Old Tried to Make Breakfast

This may be a greater window into my home life than I intend but Oh Well.
My 3 year old decided he was going to do something nice for me, he was going to make me breakfast. So he proceeded to try. If the pictures don't do it justice, those are eggs all over the floor and some in the pan. Not pictured because I had already dumped it was the pitcher of orange juice with a good 2 inch thick helping of coffee grounds. YES, I don't need a section 89 reminder there are multiple reasons I'm not going to get into right now, besides that really isn't an issue anymore is it?

5 Novels That Shaped My Writing Voice

These are not influences on what I write so much as how to write, I don't claim to write like anyone here so much as they influenced my thoughts on voice, technique, and what I hope to accomplish as a writer.

A Moveable Feast, by Ernest Hemingway
I read a lot in the blogs lately about people not liking Hemingway,(Prusso excepted) I used to not like Hemingway but that was back in High School when I was forced to read the Old Man and the Sea. I hated it because I was force-fed all this gibber
ish about what it really meant and I couldn't have cared less. Years later I found quotes by Hemingway that there was NO ALLEGORY to it, that the old man was just an old man, the sea was just the sea, the fish was just a fish and the sharks were just sharks and anyone who thought otherwise was full of $h%T. Man I wish I had that back in Mr. Grant's sophomore English class. I decided years later to try my hand at reading classics and I chose "The Sun Also Rises" and I really liked it and found I had better re-think Hemingway. I read a lot of his other stuff some better than others and found "A Moveable Feast" really spoke to me and influenced how I would write, at least when it came to thinking about how to write and interpret a natural true dialogue. Most of W. Prusso's Hemingway blog post from a few days ago is taken from Hemingway's writing advice within "A Moveable Feast".
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The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Yes, I love all of his other stuff as well, but not even LOTR's has the same farreaching epic quality of this fantasy bible. I completely give that some of the parts are difficult to follow but among them are so many gems to be mined when it comes to dealing with human nature even if its an elf, dragon or dwarf. As a huge history buff, this book fascinated me in relation to the Hobbit and LOTR and all that entails. I don't expect that this would be on many other peoples list's in comparison but because of the depth behind the more beloved stories this meant a lot to me. I was also very pleased when The Children of Hurin was released because it just meant a greater depth to a great tale from the Silmarillion.

Conan the Usurper, by Robert E. Howard

This wasn't actually a book by REH so much as a compilation of his short stories put together some 30 years after his death but still it's relatively his prose even if it was edited with a heavy hand and strung together. It contains the earliest of Conan stories written by Robert E. Howard alongside some of the last. It was put together for the chronological sake however. Reading these fantasy tales written in the 30's by a true American master had me re-think how to present action stories period. I have to credit REH as my biggest writing style influence for Heroes Of The Fallen.

The Iliad, by Homer
There is something about the translations I have read or listened to (I have the audio for this as well) that makes it such a savage joy for me. The heroic nature of men speaking with one another and the beautiful poetic lyricism describing how men die is like nothing I have ever read. I love the Odyssey and the Aeneid as well but I can't say that they shaped how I want to write like the Iliad does. Someday I want to write my own tragic battle tale and no not even Heroes of the Fallen is going to be like these others, I am thinking on the Jaredites, specifically Coriantumr, Shiz and Ether and would probably make it a stand alone book rather than a series.

Wolverine, Comics from about issue 31 to 109, by Larry Hama
This is probably rather unorthodox but I imagine to list a comic book writer as a major influence for someone who would like to think they are literary, but I
practically learned to read on comic books. Larry Hama has had a rather distinguished career in the field having helmed G.I.Joe back in its heyday of the 80's when I was a major fan of that as well. And its obvious to anyone else who is a fan how much his G.I.Joe and Wolverine titles had in common. They each had indomitable characters who could persevere and survive whatever was handed them. I'm listing Wolverine here because of how much Larry's voice as a writer influenced how I would like to say things and I would especially recommend the series after issue 75 when Magneto ripped the adamantium from Wolverines skeleton making him significantly more vulnerable, that just made for a better book in my opinion.

When I think of what has shaped me as a writer there are a million different things but when I try very hard to think on it and narrow it down these were the top, strange as they are.

Music That Has Shaped Me

Over at Thmazing's Thutopia, Th did a post on the all important 5 albums that have shaped his view on music, I liked that a lot and thought I would do the same and on top of that add the 5 novels that have shaped how I write tomorrow.

Now neither of these list's necessarily constitute what I think are the absolute best 5 in either category but the 5 that I think have shaped my musical taste and writing style the most, maybe they are close to the same thing but not quite. Th gave links to Youtube for his, but I don't have the patience.

Duran Duran: Rio
I don't know how to describe it but their sound always appealed to me, I thought Hungry Like the Wolf was the coolest song in the world when I was 10. And the appeal is still there, my daughters middle name is RIO.

Sisters of Mercy: Floodland
These guys rock with industrial drum beats, crunching guitars and backing up the deep bass of the lead singer Andrew Eldritch is the New York Choral Society on such great tracks as "This Corrosion" and "Dominion" Besides rocking, I love the lyrics which are full of savage poetry borrowing from the likes of Percy Bysshe Shelley as well as political satire. I think "This Corrosion" could be my all-time favorite song.

Sarah Brightman: FLY
She is my favorite singer and I have always loved her versatility despite being best known as Christine in Phantom of the Opera or the funeral dirge "Time To Say Goodbye" with Andrea Bocelli. I like this album much better because it is more of a
symphonic rock album with greats such as "Ghost In The Machinery" and "How Can Heaven Love Me" and as an interesting side note, Andrew Eldritch of Sisters of Mercy did backing vocals on that last track.

The Smiths: Strangeways Here We Come
It must be remembered that this title is referring to the English Prison named Strangeways and not just the idea of a strange place. In America this might have been titled Alcatraz Here We Come. This may not be the best Smiths album but it is the one I discovered them on and it does have some great songs, "Girlfriend In A Coma" and "Stop Me If You Think You Have Heard This Before" could be one of their best.

New Order: Substance
This is a best of that also included a couple of Joy Division songs(another favorite of mine) In theory I wouldn't included a best of when it comes to the "best" al
bums but this is how I really discovered them. New Order is the defining group that really put me on the path to alternative music in high school, they were just so much better than the trash I was hearing on pop radio. I even used to get "Blue Monday" and "True Faith" played at ward dances, that was quite the accomplishment for me and the Bishop's daughter when everybody else wanted Def Lepard.

Honorable mentions:

Massive Attack: Mezzanine
Great Trip-Hop with stunning sound, I never cared for their follow-up albums as much, they need to get someone like Sarah Brightman to do guest vocals for them like Liz Fraser (Cocteau Twins and Lord of the Rings soundtrack) did. "Angel" and "Teardrop" phenomenal mood music, very hard to top.

KMFDM: Nihil
I always like Industrial rock such as NIN, Front 242, and Nitzer Ebb but KMFDM is the one that really moved me and they have never been the dink sell-out that NIN is.
That and trust me, though you don't think you have heard KMFDM you have, their mu
sic has been everywhere from movie soundtracks to TV commercials and even the cool rocking techno music radio DJ's play in the background while they are talking and yet not hip enough to actually play in full. I even hear one of their songs as a sedge way music on Glenn Beck's program all the time. Classic tracks would be "Juke Joint Jezebel" "Brute" "Ultra" "Revolution" and "Beast"

Nightwish: Once
This is the definition of symphonic rock with excellent tracks like "The
Siren" "Nemo" and "Dark Chest Of Wonders" When I write within the Heroes of the Fallen pantheon this is the Nephite heroic theme music in my mind as opposed to the sinister Gadianton theme music of Rammstein.

This is a longer post than I thought, that and I realized not a one of these artists is American, (though KMFDM reside in Seattle and the female lead Lucia is American) oh well, authors and books will make up for that tomorrow.

Hanging with Jewel

Summer of 95, I was excited to finally see one of my favorite singers- Peter Murphy, formerly of Bauhaus. I like Peter better than Bauhaus but that's neither here nor there. I would highly recommend his album DEEP. The concert was held at the now departed Fairpark coliseum in Salt Lake City. I saw lots bands there - (Everclear, Primus, and some U2 cover band that Ryan Darger demanded and got his money back from because he said they weren't a good enough cover band-Zoo Station)

Anyhow as we were standing in line to get into the concert I noticed a girl with purple eyes. I remember this because it was weird AND because a very interesting man had recently told me perhaps only a couple weeks earlier that you could recognize Aliens as in extra terrestial's because they have purple eyes but are otherwise human. And he told me that if you recognize them and they know you recognize them it is a way a breaking the ice with them and becoming their friend. YES, he was serious and No, he was not a homeless drunk, I can't say who he was but he is actually a very respected local scientist who doesn't usually put such info out there.

Not saying I believe it by any means but I remembered purple eyes. So maybe this girl was an alien on her way to enjoy a Peter Murphy concert or she might have one of the 95% of goths in black going to the show. I remember remarking to my friends that we were almost the only people not dressed entirely in Black, but I digress because purple eyes are weird and she might have been an Alien.

As we were slowly moving inside the coliseum I saw a couple of pretty girls who also weren't dressed entirely in black and as me and my friends found a good spot to watch the show -high up in the back near a spotlight platform- I went and said "Hello," since they sat nearby.
"Hello." She was the opening acts tour manager. "Who is the opening act?" says I.
"Her name is Jewel, you'll like her, Peter himself picked her out for his tour as opening act. You should come to an after concert party," she invited, "She will play live again there." "Maybe if I like her sound," I said. I wasn't going to sound too overeager for my first after concert party invitation.

I went and told my friends about the invite and we agreed that it would be conditional if we liked her, after all as everyone knows, most opening bands stink. My first thought was her name is Jewel? I pictured the lead singer from the Cranes-their best song was titled Jewel. Very gothic band, so that influenced what I thought Jewel would look like. Frowny pale faced girl with hair black like the abyss. Instead a short smiling blonde came out with an acoustic guitar, my mind wants to tell me she was barefoot just to fit in with the down-home good old girl image but No she must have had shoes on.

I actually liked her songs and her performance, trouble is I have never ever heard those songs again. When her national career broke out a good fat year later the songs I liked were not to be found. One of them was something about a bunch of backwoods boys finding a beautiful blonde and the chorus of the song was "Da-da-da-daddy can we keep her?" It was humorous. We agreed we would go to the after concert party.

Peter did put on a particularly good show and at one point I seem to recall that he acknowledged us high up in the back on the spotlight platform. After the show, we went to the designated place a little dive off of west temple called the cyber-space cafe, cyber space being a rather novel term at the time, as absolutely redundant as it was considering it was not an Internet cafe as I recall. It was small and narrow with but a few tables crowding the length and I was hungry and there was nothing left to eat but dry biscotti. It was packed even though I would not say there were very many people there. The only table left available was all the way in the back. We took it grudgingly thinking we would not be able to see very well at all. Everyone who had beaten us there took the seats and tables closest to the door- assuming she would play there.

We lucked out. Jewel came in and set up right next to my table. We had to slide it back and crowd the people behind us to give her a little more room and she even asked if it was alright if she placed her water on the table with ours. Sure it is. As she played her set we clapped loudly and were encouraging and I drank her water. Which got me a playful scolding. Again she played some songs I liked that I have still never heard again. She told me she was Mormon but her dad got X-ed a long time ago so she didn't show up anymore. After the show we hung out for a while and it was pretty cool. It was a pleasant thing to start hearing her on the radio about a year later although most of those songs really weren't my style, it was cool to know someone who had their dreams come true after a lot of hard work.

Back in The U.S.S.A.

I am back home after a venture to pay the bills in Washington state where nature conspired against me and gave me quite the bout of allergy related asthma, a condition I had heretofore never noticed. I was in the Tri-Cities area and not the lush greenery of Seattle which I am more used to. I did go to Seattle over the
weekend and made a few contacts for the sake of my book, which is always nice, I also found a nice little used book shop in the Pike City market area and couldn't help but feel I was transported to the Market bazaar of Zarahemla from Chapter one of my Heroes of the Fallen

In any case I bailed out of the Tri-Cities area early and made my way to Montana and my parents home, I loaded up on somethings that have been stored there for ages (a pair of my Spanish swords, and old saber, some African spears and loads of my old poems and writings from my teens and early twenties) I'll have to look over what is possibly viable for future works and possible posts.

On the way back to Utah I established a relationship with a couple more bookstore for signings, one in Montana and one in Idaho. Regrettably the book is pushed back a month so anyone expecting an ARC or even a review copy is going to be waiting a bit longer. Sounds like my release date is going to be November so I'll probably be doing a load of signings in Christmas time. I will be trying to venture as much as possible for promotions sake so its all good to be making the connections now I suppose.

Anyone willing to tell me what they have liked the most about book signings they have been to in the past? Readings? Giveaways? Pictures with authors? I had a pic of me and Andy Serkus at his book signing but I can't find it now. But that inspires me to do posts about a few minor celebrities I have hung out with-I'll tell my Jewel story next time.