Dark Like Deep Water

Camera Redux

2006-06-22T22:13:00.000-07:00

My short, Camera Eye, published last year at Apex Digest, continues to hang out in the top ten from month to month.

Kinda cool.

Great Heinlein Quote

2006-05-24T13:55:00.000-07:00

Not much of a Heinlein fan, but I ran across this:

"1. You must write. 2. You must finish what you write. 3. You must refrain from rewriting, except to editorial order. 4. You must put the work on the market. 5. You must keep the work on the market until it is sold." -Robert A. Heinlein

and was suitably inspired.

Uggh.

2006-05-20T17:27:00.000-07:00

No good news yet.

Instead: three rejections this week.

I'm Back

2006-04-21T09:40:00.000-07:00

I hate Jan. -> Mar. I never get anything done.

But now it's spring and I'm back.

Not that anybody reads this thing anyway.

Got a few lines in the water as far as stories go. Hopefully I'll have some good news to post soon.

Amazing what a few beers and a little self-pity can do:

2005-12-08T07:18:00.000-08:00

I feel much better this morning about not winning the Apex contest.

Congrats to the winners!

Bleah

2005-12-07T14:53:00.000-08:00

Well, I made the final twelve of the Apex Digest Halloween Contest, but didn't make it into the top four prize winners.

Sucks.

Cool Quiz

2005-12-07T10:27:00.000-08:00

I am:

Samuel R. "Chip" Delany

Few have had such broad commercial success with aggressively experimental prose techniques.

Which science fiction writer are you?

Grateful Dead : 11-6-79

2005-11-14T07:58:00.000-08:00

Stream

C. Miller has once again graced us with a new transcription of a classic '79 show, and it's one of my fave-raves. It's often discounted because of the great company it keeps (10-27, 11-9 etc.), which is a freaking shame, considering the perfect nature of set II.

Set I shouldn't be overlooked. Vocals are spot-on and Jerry's cooking, but it's standard for the period, smoking as it is.

Set II is the real craziness: four songs (and Drumz) encapsulating and condensing the GD second set gestalt into that old proverbial nutshell. The song list runs:

Terrapin->
Playin'->
Drumz->
Black Peter->
Good Lovin'

...signifying:

Parable->Enlightenment->
Statement of Purpose->Exploration->
Chaos->
Death->
Rebirth

Beautiful, aint it?

Really Big Fantasy Novels: Malazan

2005-11-03T09:36:00.000-08:00

I've sort of lost my fascination for these now, but I picked up Steven Erikson’s Gardens of the Moon last week (part one of the Malazan series). Decent at best.

The prose is sloppy, characters that should be 3d are cardboard (though really cool-looking cardboard), and the tropes are mostly familiar chestnuts, right down to a giant soul-sucking sword. Elric, anyone?

But Erikson fails to follow the most important rule of Moorcockian/Cookian fantasy: give your characters noticeable weaknesses or flaws. Everyone in this book has hidden power or has been touched by a god or is a god. It makes for great spectacle, but it weakens a reader’s bond with the characters and it can destroy a plot. Indeed, the plot holds only by tenuous ties in this first book (and nearly comes unravelled in the last few chapters), and who knows if he can keep it up for the planned ten(!) volumes.

This is all sounding like I hated the book. Not true. Erikson is a gifted storyteller (if not a writer), and his background in anthropology gives this book a flavor that others in the genre don’t have: the weird and ancient races feel weird and ancient. The history of Erikson’s world is brought alive by this feeling, and soon I was more interested in what secret would be uncovered next than what was happening to any of the characters. Which is maybe a complaint again. Ahh, well.

Erikson is a welcome addition to the field, despite my concerns. I’ve heard the story really takes off in book two (and the prose tightens), so I’ll have to track it down.

Random Book Thoughts

2005-10-16T10:44:00.000-07:00

1. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke

I haven't finished this yet, but I like it fine so far. I don't, however, feel the greatness or Hugo-ness that everyone else seems to; maybe this will change by the time I wade through all 800+ pages. The conceit, the period prose, and general wryness are all top shelf, but it lacks...something.

Also, any work containing the exclamation "Huzza!" is a bit rough for any MST: 3000 fan.

2. The Taltos books - Steven Brust

I've always loved these books (despite their problems), and as I was re-reading Dragon the other day, I had a sudden revelation. Part of what makes these books really work is Loiosh. More than just comic-relief or the cliched animal companion, Loiosh is Vlad unhampered by humanity. Brust uses this to perfection, and while some of the philosophical bits of the Taltos books seem out of place or tacked on, Vlad's discussions with Loiosh never do.

Brilliant.

~J.

Ruby and Jade

2005-10-07T22:25:00.000-07:00

My second story, Ruby and Jade, is up for perusal at Apex Online, right in time for the Halloween season. R&J is featured next to a great Steve Savile piece, which is very cool for me, and much less so for him.

~J

Live Dead

2005-10-05T09:05:00.000-07:00

For my own amusement, I've set up a link to a rotating, downloadable Grateful Dead show of note. The first edition features a high-energy (and predictably sloppy) '84 show with a weirdo setlist. This is a new seed of this show transcribed by the wizardly Charlie Miller, and it sounds freaking amazing.

I'll try to include a review of each show as I update the link, also for my own amusement (I'm under no illusion that anyone is actually reading this, or caring if they are).

~J

Kermit Rocks (props to whomever)

2005-10-01T12:27:00.000-07:00

Camera Eye Review

2005-09-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

Bryn Sparks (a damn fine kiwi SF writer) was kind enough to post a glowing review of Camera Eye in the Apex Digest forums a while back and I'd like to take this chance to thank him. It meant a lot to me.

An excerpt:

The story is a good example of modern SpecFic with a strong handling of punk subgenre elements. The narrative is not sacrificed for style, and indeed the story gains great relevance in light of America's post 911 War on Terror and Homeland Security climate. Somehow Allison manages to coment on the natural politics of art, society, drugs, music, mind, and perception, all within a moody SpecFic frame.

It should be noted that Bryn is a friend of mine. I did not, however, bribe him in any way.

Here's a plug for his excellent blog, Fat Merchant Princes(tm), in lieu of payola. Check out his many cool stories, some of which are available in/on Apex.

~J

Camera Eye

2005-09-30T08:27:00.000-07:00

My only published piece to date is Camera Eye, available for consumption at Jason Sizemore's groovy Apex Digest. Check it out!

This was written a few years ago now, and while I've moved away from the cyberpunk stuff, it remains a good example of what I'm trying to do thematically.

~J

Everyone else has got a blog...

2005-09-29T11:09:00.000-07:00

...now so do I.

Hey there, I'm Jon Christian Allison, a struggling SF writer. Here you can keep up with what I'm writing at the moment and point and laugh at my failure to get it published.

~J