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G is for Goofy: Because Fantasy Can Be Funny

April 8, 2014 by Alison Runham

Don’t worry, we will get to the goofy part. Yes, it was a bit tenuous. But I wanted to finish off the whole fantasy books thing, ok? Just settle down…

I know a lot of the time scales have overlapped, because from around age 12 -25 I read a lot of these series simultaneously. Sorry; of course if I’d looked into the future, I would have bought all the books and then started on them as each series was complete – just to make it easier.

So we’re back around age 13 again, and I start on:
Raymond Feist: The Riftwar Saga, The Empire Trilogy, Krondor’s Sons, The Serpentwar Saga, The Riftwar Legacy, Legends of the Riftwar, Conclave of Shadows, The Darkwar Saga, The Demonwar Saga, The Chaoswar Saga

For a long time I’d have named Raymond Feist as my favourite fantasy author, and I’m still following this never-ending, spin-off producing series of series which all started with Magician.
But he should have stopped around two series ago. There are still mysteries to be solved and it’s enjoyable enough, but it’s getting repetitive. There aren’t enough new characters or twists, and it feels thin. Also the writing is getting sloppy. In the last one I read, a paragraph of description (of a specific demon, if you’re curious) sounded far too familiar. I went back a chapter or two and found the identical paragraph. Identical! Ouch.

Tad Williams: Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series
I think I must have read these in my mid-twenties. Just like Raymond Feist’s series, this starts with a young boy who’s apprenticed to a magician. The rules aren’t as complex, but the action is compelling, the characters are likeable (where appropriate!) and well-drawn, and unlike Feist he knew where to stop – with a trilogy (although the last book often appears as two volumes, as it’s a bit weighty). No insights into the meaning of life here – just a darn good trio of fantasy books: The Dragonbone Chair, Stone of Farewell and To Green Angel Tower. Thanks Tad. And thanks to the editors of the Legends anthologies (short stories that are spin-offs from major fantasy series by various authors), because you introduced me to Tad and Robert Silverberg, jsut down the page there. Although I may never forgive you for starting me off on Stephen King’s Dark Tower series and Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time. Oh, those wasted years…

Robert Silverberg: The Majipoor Series
Love, love, love Robert Silverberg. I think we’ve reached my mid to late twenties now. I love all the different races, a huge world that’s so similar to ours in some ways and so different in others. Some intriguing ideas (having your morals tweaked in your dreams?) and the sense that he’s making subtle statements about real life (something I enjoy in TV sci-fi and fantasy as well. I’m often surprised the USA aired the Canadian produced Stargate – some of the criticism wasn’t that well-hidden!).
He’s written dozens of other novels and short stories under dozens of pen names and is still writing, although unfortunately he seems to have pretty much finished with Majipoor (although I notice he’s recently produced a ‘Tales’ book I don’t have – *reaches for birthday list*).

Now as promised: the goofy side of fantasy. Please welcome the Right Honourable…

Sir Terry Pratchett: the Discworld Series, The Nome Trilogy, The Johnny Maxwell Trilogy
I was probably around 18 when I read the first Discworld book, The Colour of Magic, and met the most-definitely-goofy wizard, Rincewind. I was well and tuly hooked from the start and now of course, Rincewind is an old friend – as are Mort, Death, the Three Witches and Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler. What can you say? The man’s a genius, whether he’s wandering into out-and-out parody (the classic ‘When shall we three meet again?’ “Well, I can do next Tuesday…” still makes me grin) or weaving in satire so subtle it’s hard to spot (I’m thinking the recent non-Discworld novels here: Nation, The Long Earth). He can handle fantasy and sci-fi with equal ability, and has produced some of the funniest material I’ve ever read. Long may he reign!

I still read Feist and Pratchett, and I don’t plan to leave Williams and Silverberg behind either. I’ve got my eye on them, but so many books, so little time… Alongside these, most of the fantasy and sci-fi I’ve read in the past 10 years or so has been aimed at 10-18 year olds. But I’ll save those for a future post.

F is for Fascinating: My Teenage Fantasy (Novels!) and Beyond

April 8, 2014April 7, 2014 by Alison Runham

In which we carry on with our trip through the fantasy (novel) loves of my youth 😉

I’m 12 now, and I’ve read The Hobbit, but we’ll get to Tolkien in a bit because I won’t read Lord of the Rings until much later.

David (and Leigh) Eddings: The Belgariad, The Malloreon ( follow-up series) and the 3 ‘Prequels’/Spin-offs
I think I was 13ish when I started reading these, and 28 when I stopped with the publication of the last one, The Rivan Codex, in 1999. I loved them, particularly the last 3 (I prefer ‘spin-offs’ to prequels, as they also cover events you’ve already read about, just from a different point of view – a bit like Lion King 3!) The characters were well-portrayed and the books were full of humour, although sometimes Eddings did seem to lose his way a little. One day, I’ll read them all again (if I can wrest them from ArtyDaughter). I tried a couple of books from his next series but felt he’d lost it – as though he’d created all the characters he ever could and was just presenting them again, re-jigged and renamed. I was mad with him when he eventually revealed that his wife co-wrote them; she finally got her name on the cover in 1995, with the first spin-off, Belgarath the Sorcerer.

JRR Tolkien: Lord of the Rings
My English teacher gave me her own copy of The Hobbit in 1983, but I didn’t read LOTR until I was 17. I borrowed it from my cousin. I say ‘it’ because he had a huge paperback that had all three books within and a very distressed spine without. Now I know the elves keep bursting into song (ArtyDaughter’s main gripe; she prefers the films), but Tolkien is the king of atmosphere. The sense of threat when Frodo and his friends first flee and are hunted by the Nazgul is overwhelming. I’m sure I held my breath when I read it for the first time. I think everything else has been said many times before…

Julian May: The Saga of the Exiles and the follow-up (kind of…yet also a prequel *taps nose*), Galactic Milieu Series
Brilliant. Read right through to the end and I guarantee you many ‘er…what?’ and ‘OMG!’ moments. It starts off a a simple tale of human outcasts from the near future travelling through a time gate to the Pliocene era to start again and live the simple life. Enter early hominids, aliens, funky mind powers, betrayal and enough twists and turns to make your head spin as though you’ve been sleep-walking and accidentally drunk all the Scotch again. These series truly hover on the sci-fi/fantasy border, but her other famous series (yes, ‘she’s’ a girl and Julian is her real name) are a little easier; The Rampart Worlds books are sci-fi and the Boreal Moon trilogy is fantasy. But they’re all… brilliant! Oh… I already said that. These four series took me from 14 to 35.

Katherine Kerr: The Deverry Cycle
21 to 27ish. I think these are one of the few sets of fantasy novels I’ve turfed out as some point – or perhaps they’re in the loft. There are fifteen novels but I think I only read the first 10 or 11. They zip back and forth between different incarnations of the characters – similar events happening again and again until things were put right. Fascinating stories, but I think it started to feel a bit long and drawn out – perhaps that’s why I stopped reading them?

What next? I think we’ll save that for tomorrow with G 🙂

What Pleases The Human Eye

March 15, 2014 by Alison Runham

Dara O Briain: "People are tired of nonsense-peddlers"

I caught just a part of Dara O’Briain’s School of Hard Sums the other night. It’s a great show but what interested me about this particular one was their discussion about spirals – a logarithmic spiral in particular. I could see the shape they were coming up with in their drawings, but couldn’t think what it was called.

There’s something about this shape I find very pleasing. Why? I have no idea. I’m no mathematical genius (words are my thing!), so when I’m told it can be described using polar coordinates, I have only the flimsiest grasp of what that means. I did know that this particular form of spiral crops up in nature, and couldn’t remember where I’d seen good examples, so I looked it up. This geometric form has been used by Mother Nature in some of her smallest and largest creations.

The one that was lurking in the back of my mind was the lovely Nautilus shell, probably from my evolution-studying days.
“Having survived relatively unchanged for millions of years, nautiluses represent the only living members of the subclass Nautiloidea, and are often considered “living fossils.”
Wikipedia

To me, these really are things of beauty.

Even this Romanesco broccoli looks more attractive than its more tradition bound cousins.

I mean, I like eating broccoli, but I’ve not really though of it as something to look at – have you?! But this geometric formation makes it more appealing.

Many of us will be familiar with lograithmic spirals – even if we don’t realise that’s what they are – from watching weather forecasts. Those swirling areas of low pressure often form approximately logarithmic spirals.

But way, way above those weather systems are logarithmic spirals that we need a telescope to appreciate; the spiral arms of galaxies. This is the Whirlpool Galaxy, around 23 million light years away from our own Milky Way.

Gorgeous, isn’t it?

And talking of gorgeous…

This is a logarithmic spiral, but also a part of a Mandelbrot set. Don’t know what one of those is? Nor did I…

“The Mandelbrot set is a mathematical set of points whose boundary is a distinctive and easily recognizable two-dimensional fractal shape.”
Wikipedia

Well now we know. But this is the bit of the article which interests me:
“The Mandelbrot set has become popular outside mathematics both for its aesthetic appeal and as an example of a complex structure arising from the application of simple rules.”

Aesthetic appeal. But why should a pattern – a mathematical visualisation – be appealing? Most of our human preferences have been developed over time by evolution; even though it can sometimes be a murky area, we can usually see logical reasons for why we like or avoid certain things – homage to the survival instincts of a species that, by some lights, has done rather well for itself.

But what is the evolutionary value or reason for certain shapes catching our eye? What makes one pattern or a combination of colours pleasing, while others revolt us?

Cyclones, the hunting flight of a hawk, a Californian beach, a set of corneal nerves – logarithmic spirals are to be found in all these places, formed by the forces of nature. But this still doesn’t tell me why I find them so beautiful. Will an appreciation of them make me likelier to survive or live longer? It’s hard to see how!

So perhaps I should just shut my science brain off; forget evolution, archaeology, anthropology, logic. Maybe I should just be glad that these perfect patterns exist, and enjoy looking at them wherever they can be found.

I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing (Or To Recognise The Big Issues)

November 12, 2013 by Alison Runham

Okay, I wouldn’t (want to teach the world to sing, that is – and nor would you, despite my rendition of Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’ on Singstar once being labelled as ‘uncanny’ in its resemblance to the original). No, this old Coke commercial song came into my head when I read this Plinky Prompt: ‘Your entire community is guaranteed to read your blog tomorrow. Write the post you’d like them all to see.‘ Do click on the link above if you want to discover what other Plinky followers wanted everyone to see. If you stay here, you’re stuck with me – and what I want everyone to see is irrelevance.

What am I on about? Well luckily, Twitter (through no fault of its own) provided me with a great example to give you this very day. I follow Bill Bailey on Twitter and was quite excited to see him publicising Consensus, a science event where he will be sharing a stage with, among others, Richard Dawkins and Richard Fortey.

Now while I think Mr D can go off the deep end a bit, and needs to learn a little respect for others’ beliefs (however misguided he thinks they might be), he is a knowledgeable man definitely worth listening to, and I read Richard Fortey’s Trilobite, several years ago and considered it a work of genius. I’m also a big fan of Bill Bailey, so I followed the link. It was at the ExCel! I would go! I would buy a ticket! Perhaps Arty Daughter and Techy Husband would want to go to! I ….

… stopped dead when I saw what it said at the bottom of the page. ‘All profits will go to complete the funding of the Alfred Russel Wallace statue appeal, with any excess being donated to related charities.’

Aaargh! Irrelevance, right there! Is there really no cause more relevant – or ironically more important for human evolution – that the profits could be given to? They’re going to give the ‘excess’ (i.e. money left over after they’ve paid Anthony Smith to make a bloody full-sized bronze statue of ARW) to ‘related’ charities. They don’t specify what these related charities are, which is odd; but could one of them be the Alfred Russel Wallace Memorial Fund, which I looked into in the hope that under their ‘projects’ tab there would be educational outreach programmes or the like?

Plaque for The Dell Well I hope not.
Because it turns out that this Fund is dedicated to installing and renewing plaques just about everywhere that ARW drew breath, and maintaining his grave. Nothing else; just that. What a fitting tribute to a great scientist… not.
It’s the Medway Queen restoration project all over again; let’s spend £4 million (it may end up as more – just reconstructing the hull has cost £2.6 million so far) preserving a boat because it saved some lives at Dunkirk. Let’s ignore how many extra lives we might save with that £4 million pound. If I was a Dunkirk survivor, that would make me sick to the stomach; a far better tribute to the bravery shown that day is surely to fund some modern day bravery via aid workers or charities, or normal folk trying to survive life.

What about spending £1 million on malaria nets? Another £1 million helping schemes like The Big Issue to rescue people from poverty and homelessness, and five them back a bit of pride? Sending another £1 million to the Philippines? Another £1 million on dialysis machines, incubators, all those drugs our country supposedly can’t afford to give people because it’s not in their area – or our country’s – budget? We know what Alfred Russel Wallace achieved and we know what the Medway Queen achieved.

So old boats? Irrelevant.
Bronze statues? Irrelevant.
And they will carry on being irrelevant until nobody is dying for want of a few pounds. A warm bed. A decent meal. A vaccination. The right medicine.

Incidentally, if you would rather be relevant – would like to think that you’ve saved or radically improved the lives of other human being,s rather than paid for a custom-made, hand-crafted rivet on a rusting old ship or the bronze-rendered nostril of a long-dead scientist – you might like to consider donating your £24 (the price of a Consensus ticket) to The Big Issue Foundation or the Disasters Emergency Committee. Just sayin’.

You Want Me To Do WHAT? OR, Meeting Your Public

March 23, 2013 by Alison Runham

So we all know the deal these days. Whether your début novel is published by one of the Big Names and sails into the best seller charts, or whether you’re trying to sell copies of your self-published book to anyone besides your neighbour, aunt and grandma, you need to promote yourself and your work. And for most writers, the onus is on them to contact local papers and radio, tweet, set up a Facebook Page, blog, link, vlog about their writing journey, do guest posts about what their study looks like, share links to their Pinterest account, get LinkedIn… and generally put themselves about a bit.

If you want advice about how to promote your book, look no further than ‘self-confessed media tart’ Jane Wenham-Jones’ book, Wannabe A Writer We’ve Heard Of, her brilliant follow up to Wannabe A Writer. You can find info about them both on the link.

But say, after urging from your publisher and/or advice from Jane W-J, you now find yourself in front of a crowd at a village hall, in front of a pile of books at your local book store, or in the studio of a local radio station wearing big headphones, with the producer counting down to your cue while sweat pools in between your shoulder blades? Few of us come purpose-built to deal with those situations gracefully and productively. That’s where Skillsstudio could come in handy. They offer corporate, group and one-to one coaching on presentation skills, public speaking, communication skills, voice training, interview skills and media training, plus e-learning, and their website offers some great tips. As radio interviews are often the first media-facing exercise writers have to endure, those are the Skillstudio tips I thought I’d summarise and share.

Tips for Radio Interviews
“When you are interviewed on radio you have an incredibly short amount of time to make an impact. So it’s important that you don’t waste a second or mess up – as you probably won’t have time to recover from a mistake.”

Definitely true. A good friend of mine was suddenly told she would be interviewed on the radio, via telephone, about the services provided by the family centre she ran. I tuned in and listened while she pelleted poor Barbara Sturgeon of Radio Kent with a super-speed burst of facts. Barbara had no chance of getting a word in edgeways and was falling about laughing by the time my hapless friend finished. It was certainly a memorable first radio interview, but not a good one. Her message wasn’t clear because she rushed – hence Studioskills golden rules:

use the time before an interview to focus on what the presenter is saying beforehand. You may pick up some useful background information or context that you can use in your responses.
DON’T RUSH
Speak in short sentences – one thought per sentence.
Take time over the first three words of the sentence – so that you don’t rush into the sentence.
Don’t rush any syllables – make sure each syllable in the word is pronounced
Don’t butt in to the question – wait for the presenter to finish asking the question before you respond
Focus on understanding the question, rather than rehearsing your response in your head
Buy yourself time at the start of your response with a phrase such as “that’s a very interesting question” – if you need time to think about how to start your answer
Tell a story – if you imagine each of your responses are a short story – this will automatically inject more energy and expression into your voice
Emphasise important words – these are the key words that make up the essence of your sentences and will help you to sound more convincing
Smile – when you smile your voice smiles and it comes across more appealing and personable to the listeners.

If you want more tips about how to face your admiring public with confidence, pop over to Skillstudio and take a look. And next time one of your loved ones is short of a present idea, why not ask them to buy you a course? Especially as at the moment, if yours is a personal booking, you can get 25% off the advertised prices – just include the promotional code PERSONAL when completing the online booking form. You must also pay for the course within 5 days of making the booking.

Now… first question… where did you get the idea for your book? Don’t rush your answer! 😀

The Perfect Mother’s Day Gift

March 14, 2013March 14, 2013 by Alison Runham

What do you buy your Mum for Mother’s Day when she’s a writer? It turns out that my children have a fairly good idea.

Chocolates and a notebook!

Hmm. Yummy sustenance and that writer essential, the notebook.
But not any old notebook. This one’s special.

For a start, my daughter handmade it.

This is how it looks inside – gorgeous, isn’t it?

And even better, because my daughter knows me so well, on the outside it has two rather natty features.The cover consists entirely of random words for inspiration, AND – and this bit is the genius – it has a hook attached so that it can hang beside the toilet. Seriously. Because I am always bemoaning the fact that the minute I sit on the loo, I have inspiring thoughts, which my husband puts down to the fact that when I’m on the loo my brain mellows out because it knows I can’t be doing anything else at the same time. Of course now I need to attach a pen too!

GENIUS. Thanks kids 🙂 x