|
|
Welcome to the Days of the Dead Blog Tour!
You'll find plenty of cool new stuff here, but please visit my blog tour partners and get giveaways, different interviews, ramblings and news about the series and the next books, The Fallen Kings Cycle:
- Ghost in the Machine Podcast www.GhostInTheMachinePodcast.com
- The Winter Kingdoms (bonus download pre-order) www.TheWinterKingdoms.com
- My Twitter Page at www.Twitter.com/GailZMartin
Many thanks to Deron at Double Dragon ebooks for the knock-out tour banner!
An interview with author Gail Z. Martin
Q: Were readers cross with you for leaving everyone in a lurch at the end of Dark Haven?
A: You could say that! (Laughs.) I had many good-natured emails from readers who weren’t looking forward to living with the suspense. On the other hand, my stories do wrap up in two books, so there’s a feeling of closure—until the next adventure.
Q: Is it true that Chronicles of the Necromancer readers have their choice of media this time around?
A: Yes. It’s been a busy year. Double Dragon has brought out all four books in e-book format, and Audible timed the release of audio books for the first four books to the launch of Dark Lady’s Chosen. I am particularly involved with the Audible project, thanks to the diligence of the voice actor, Peter Ganim. We’ve had many conversations as he worked through pronouncing all the unusual words and names in my books! And I’ll be recording the introductions to all four audio books.
I’ve heard for a while from readers who prefer to consume their books either in the car via audio or on the go with an e-reader, but it took a little doing to make the connections and bring it into reality. I’m really excited that this is the year it happens!
Q: You have a very large (and expanding) cast of characters. Is it difficult for readers to keep track?
A: I try very hard to think of my world of the Winter Kingdoms as a real place. If you think about the people you see as you go about your daily business, each of us is part of a cast of thousands on an average day. Some of those people you’ll relate to on a very intimate or personal basis—your immediate family, co-workers and close friends. You know these people very well. Others are casual acquaintances or “friendly strangers.” Think about the barista at your favorite coffee shop or the security guard at the elevator entrance at work. You may say ‘hi’ every day, may even know their names, but you don’t really know anything about them. If it were a play, they’d have a walk-on part.
In my books, it works the same way. In any given story, some people are the focus of the action. Usually, it takes the actions of several viewpoint characters to unfold the entire story. Other people will be minor characters or walk-on parts. They may show up again with more important roles later, or never be seen again. The point is, even in 600 pages, you can’t give everyone’s life story and I don’t think you need to do that any more than you really need to be best friends with the parking lot attendant. They’re part of the world, they have their own stories, but those stories may not be part of the story I’m telling right now.
I hope it’s not hard to keep track—that’s not my intent. But at the same time, I don’t think it’s a realistic picture of the world to only see a handful of characters. The world isn’t an empty place!
Q: Your series has found readers around the world, and it’s making its way into other languages. How does that affect you as a writer?
A: Well, it’s a wonderful thing to have readers want to read your stories. And it’s magical for me to see the books be translated. Right now, the Chronicles of the Necromancer series has been translated into German, French and Czech, and I’d love to see more languages added.
Of course, it’s also a little nerve-wracking, because I don’t read those languages, so I’m really relying on translators do accurately capture the feel and intent of the original, and I hope there aren’t any elements that get lost in translation. I joke that I sometimes fear that the translator may have added fluffy bunnies or something and I’d never know. So far, readers of the German edition have not reported any sightings of fluffy bunnies.
Q: You do a lot of signings and appearances. Does that impact your writing?
A: Actually, it’s nice to get out from behind my computer and interact with real people for a change! I love going to conventions, and now I have a bona fide work-related reason to do so. I enjoy talking with other authors and with readers, and just hanging out. I was a fan before I was a writer, and so I love all of it.
I think it’s important to meet readers as much as you can because it’s good to remember that there are real people reading your work. I love to hear what the characters or stories have meant to people. Sometimes, they’ve inspired one of the writers of the future. Other times, I hear that my books helped to make a difficult time a little easier for someone. That’s great. And it’s nice to know I also helped someone just pass an enjoyable evening or two.
Sometimes I have to flex my writing schedule when traveling preempts my regular writing time, but that’s a small price to pay for the experience of doing the conventions. I went to my first European convention this year—Fantasycon in Nottingham, England—and I would love to do another Euro con. It was very different from most U.S. conventions, but equally fun and I met some fantastic people. I also haven’t made it to Canada yet, which is fairly close, so that’s on my to-do list.
Q: Dark Lady’s Chosen launches Dec. 29. Will you be out in stores?
A: Absolutely! I will be in bookstores throughout North Carolina and at conventions all over the U.S., plus I’ll be returning to the Arizona Renaissance Festival in early 2010. Keep an eye on my site—I’ll post new events there.
Why We Need Summoners
As a writer, I’ve often found that themes that I write about become very personal in unexpected ways. What begins as fiction ends up taking a twist to have a real-life connection I never expected. Sometimes it’s subtle, something that no one else would realize but I see where I was probably writing from my subconscious. And other times, it’s pretty obvious.
When I started writing the Chronicles of the Necromancer, the idea of someone who could use his power to intercede between the living and the dead seemed like a cool concept, in theory. I wanted to turn the evil necromancer stereotype upside down, and re-think the idea of a boundary between life and death without the religious language that often gets in the way.
As some folks may have picked up from the acknowledgement/dedication to Dark Haven, and in the upcoming Dark Lady’s Chosen, the theme has become very personal to me over the last year since I’ve lost my mother, my mother-in-law (with whom I was very close) and a best friend. So I’ve had some time to think about what it would really mean to have a real Summoner and how that would change things.
For one thing, the boundary between life and death might not seem so fearsome with living proof of someone who could go back and forth across that line. Especially in America, despite all our religious protestations, our culture is terrified of death. We hide dying people in hospitals, send unmarked panel vans instead of hearses to pick up the body, and create “memorial gardens” with mow-over plaques so that we don’t have to look at tombstones. Mourning for more than a couple of weeks is considered bad form, and no one wears black except to the funeral. Long-gone are the arm bands to mark a relative in mourning or crepe above a door to indicate that there had been a loss in that household. We don’t want to know.
In the real world, the afterlife is a matter of religious belief, or lack thereof. There’s no empirical evidence one way or the other. If Summoners were real, there would be clarity on at least the continued existence of the soul, even if the final destination was unknown. What would that certainty mean for a society? Would it change our decision-making, if we knew for certain that death wasn’t the end? Would it change our priorities? Most of all,, would it change how we think about the dead and how we approach dying?
In Western culture, we don’t really think much about the dead at all. In the U.S., observance of Memorial Day used to be a time for putting flowers on graves and even taking a picnic lunch out to eat beside the grave of a loved one. As people have moved away from home towns, that observance has dramatically fallen. We memorialize great military losses, but only until the date passes from living memory. (Does anyone, any longer ‘remember the Maine?’)
Throughout history, that wasn’t the case. Not only were stories of one’s ancestors passed down from generation to generation via oral history, there was a belief that departed loved ones continued be involved and to care about the affairs of the living. What would it mean to a sense of personal and social identity if a Summoner could bear tidings from great-great grandmother? If we could validate what really happened with the spirits of those who were there, how would it change our understanding of our past?
And finally, what closure would individuals receive if a Summoner could bid a final farewell, let a loved one know how much he or she was cherished, or ask a practical question of the departed, such as “where did you leave the safety deposit box key?”
So while my Summoner, Tris Drayke, is just a product of my imagination, I have found myself thinking about him in a different way this year. And for the first time, wishing very much that he was real.
Why Ebooks and Audiobooks Rock
Most people don’t think about “consuming” books (although we often talk about ‘devouring’ a good story). But one of the biggest changes over the past ten years has been a choice in how we consume content—including books.
Readers have more choices now than ever before. If you wanted to read a book, your choice, in the old days, was to….read the book. Maybe the story would be serialized in a newspaper or magazine, or very rarely, made into a radio drama. A handful of books became plays or movies. But for most people and most books, a bound paper copy was your only choice.
I do a lot of book signings and events and I talk with a lot of readers. I hear how they prefer to “consume” their books. The desire for ebooks and audiobooks is strong—and growing. Many of the people I heard from wanted to listen to books because their major downtime comes during a commute or during business travel. These same ‘road warriors’ also preferred ebooks because they didn’t want to pay outrageous airline baggage fees to carry enough books to read during their trips.
I’ve also heard from people who enjoy books but who are dyslexic or are slow readers, and so prefer audio. Ebooks and audiobooks have given readers much more flexibility, as have innovations (everything old is new again) such as the radio drama-style podiobooks that are also gaining a following. So I’ve been very excited to see my books come to life in both ebook and audio format.
As a writer, it’s interesting to envision your book being consumed in a way other than being read from a paper page, and it does change some things. I’ve been working closely with the voice actor who is doing my audiobooks, and we realized that several minor characters’ names, when spoken aloud, could sound confusingly similar although on paper the spellings were different enough to avoid confusion. So we had to consciously alter the way the names were said. The actor told me that fantasy can be difficult to do as an audiobook because often, creative authors will create unpronounceable names to appear suitably “alien”, which throws a curve ball to the voice actor!
One of the great things about both ebooks and audiobooks is that a small device can hold an entire library, making it ideal for the frequent traveler or nomadic reader. It’s obviously easier to load up an iPod with audiobooks or ebooks and hike the Appalachian Trail than it is to cart enough books along for the journey! When your latest read is loaded on your cell phone, it’s less likely that you’ll forget your book when you head off to wait for your kid after soccer practice.
As an author, anything that makes it more convenient for readers to read is a good thing. Anything that makes reading more enjoyable and less of a chore means people are likely to read more books. As a reader, I appreciate choices, and new ways to enjoy and experience books. Ebooks also make it likely that books will never have to go out of print. Physical books often become unavailable when their sales drop too low for retailers to justify stocking a few copies for intermittent interest. But ebooks and audio books take up no physical space. Books in these formats can remain available forever, and even if only a few copies sell every year, it’s all good. It’s a real win for both readers and authors. I can think of several books I enjoyed that have gone out of print, and it would be wonderful to find them again, even in another format.
I am also excited about how consuming books on digital media can enrich the book experience. I’ve read ebooks that included hyperlinks, enabling me to link out for additional information or turn on audio or video or access photos or drawings to accompany the reading experience. We’re only just beginning to explore the multimedia opportunities for alternative book formats. Kevin J. Anderson recently created a music CD to go with his newest book. Readers can play the music as they read for a heightened experience.
Perhaps the day is near when background music options will be part of ebooks. Maybe the day isn’t too far removed when ebook readers have a choice of how deeply to immerse themselves in the world of their book, using all the senses. That will, no doubt, pose new challenges for authors and ebook publishers. (I would really hate to have to identify smells for some places in my books, for instance.) But the result for the reader could be glorious.
|
|
