Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Painful Moments of Literary Observation

So 4 AM this morning as I lay (dying? writhing?) in my bed at Emergency, I was passing a kidney stone and thinking: how will this experience help my writing? I was also wondering when the morphine would arrive, but that's not pertinent to this blog. The first thing I noticed is that extreme interior pain tends to reduce one's (let's say a character's) conversation skills to one word grunts. "Painkiller. Now. Please." Also, it is a cliche, but one cannot help appealing to higher powers: "Mother. Mother. Make it stop."  (Many a dying soldier in World War One cried out for their mothers in the end). Another reaction, even if that character is not religious, is to still pray between clenched teeth: "Dear God, please make it stop." And finally, the third reaction is swearing. Which thankfully I (err, I mean the character) refrained from while the health personell were in the room.

The other thing I learned was that even in real life some symbols can hit you over the head. While alone in the room, staring up into the far too bright fluorescent light, a large fly began to buzz around me, sounding a lot like a B-52 bomber. It would land on my knee and stare, divebomb near my ears, or quietly tickle my arm. I couldn't help thinking that this fly was way to obvious as a symbolic piece of this all too real story. That fly = death. I did inform the fly that he had come far too soon and was being a little too obvious. He laughed. He knew he was safe. After all I couldn't get him with my IV hand. And various other medical cables meant that I couldn't move. I was happy when he finally left through the open door.

I also learned, thankfully, why Coleridge and other poets liked morphine so much. But I did not write Xanadu once I'd had my hit. Instead, I slept.

And there is a happy ending. The stone is passed. And I am home. Now to use all this new knowledge to my advantage.

Art

P.S. AC/DC is also a relatively good painkiller. Place iPod earphones in ear. Crank up to 11.
P.P.S Stay hydrated folks. Please.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Holy Steampunk! The U.S Island of Doom Author Copies are here...

The U.S. version of Island of Doom has arrived! So like a proud papa I immediately took photos of the books. This what we authors do in our spare time. I was going to put little hats on them, but thought that would be demeaning. Plus, I couldn't find any steampunky enough.
Anyway, it's so wonderful to see the complete series side by side and pile atop each other. Don't they look snazzy? And they practically scream "adventure!" And the other great thing is that they--



--hey, how does that Ringwraithe end up in all my shots? Don't let it intimidate you. I can hear it saying, "Buy this book or to Mordor we will take you." Ha! You can't even capture a couple of hobbits, Wraithy. Get on your horse and ride back to your master.

Anyway, as I was saying before the Tolkienesque interruption, it's great to have the series all done and the books in my home. Hard to believe they're real. Island of Doom is already out in Canadian bookstores and will be released in the U.S. on September 11th!

Cheers,

P.S. And the book will be out on Sept. 1st in Australia and NZ