It is finally Release Day for my latest novel, which is a prequel to The Shard, the first novel I ever wrote. Both stories are written to be able to stand alone, though they also mesh well with each other, though set 800 years apart. They do share some characters, such as the wizard Xax, and some long-lived elven characters. Here is the blurb:
The magic of the Spire of Peace has banished evil from the Known Lands for more than twelve hundred years. When a dragon destroys the spire and murders the king, the realm is thrown into turmoil. As civil war looms, can the royal Kaldarion family regain control over the kingdom and restore peace?
Livia, 20, is the eldest child of the slain King Varun Kaldarion. Though the wisest and most learned of the surviving family members, tradition says she cannot inherit the throne.
Balmar, 18, is too feeble-minded to rule, but his uncle, Duke Erol, crowns him anyway in order to appoint himself regent.
Darus, 17, was exiled by the spire's magic due to his bitterness that his father never named him heir. By force of personality and skill at arms, he has risen to command the army of exiles at the fortress of East Gate. Now he plans to invade the realm and take back what he feels is rightfully his by birth.
Imric, 13, was disavowed by his father after his mother died birthing him. Raised by his sister Livia, few in the realm even know he exists. Little more than a pawn in the conflict between Duke Erol and his brother Darus, Imric may hold the key to reuniting the fractured realm.
I don't write about my job much, mainly because I prefer to concentrate on my writing. But my career as a diplomat is soon coming to a close, as I intend to retire after one more year, thus allowing me to focus full-time on being a novelist. Since 1993 when I first moved overseas to work at the American Embassy in Moscow, I have been moving every 2-4 years to different countries. It has been exciting, but the process of constantly moving also wears on a person after many years of doing it. So this year, after moving from Rome to Luxembourg, I decided I've done enough with the Foreign Service, and now it is time to try to simply be a writer.
My wife and I left Rome in mid-July and had to do what is called 'Home Leave' in the United States. It's a requirement for US diplomats, so that we don't lose touch too badly with our home country. Home Leave typically lasts about a month and a half. Since our two sons were in Wisconsin, but I was also trying to figure out places that might be interesting for my retirement, we settled on St Louis as the place to stay. It was close enough to Wisconsin for us to easily drive up to visit our sons, but it allowed us to check out whether or not we would like St Louis. This city has the most famous chess club in America, which was a big consideration for me, as I'm passionate about playing serious tournament chess. The photo below is me at the World Chess Hall of Fame, across the street from the famous St Louis Chess Club.
We were surprised at how much we liked St Louis. I don't think we'd have had such a great experience, except that we lucked out and happened to stay near the fabulous Tower Grove Park. There is a reason this is the one US city park to be designated as a National Historic Landmark. It is easily the nicest park I have seen, and the idea of living nearby (there is also a botanical garden adjacent to it) and getting to walk there every day is highly appealing. There is no guarantee we will settle on St Louis as the place for us to retire, but I'm definitely checking out houses in the park area.
In late August, we arrived in my final overseas diplomatic posting of Luxembourg. It's a nice way to cap my career. It's one of the wealthiest and safest countries in the world. I absolutely love that it has such a brilliant public transportation system, and it is completely free.
The first weekend, a new colleague from work drove my wife and me to see the ancient Bourscheid Castle in northern Luxembourg. It was a great way to start life in a new country.
Our apartment is very near the center of the small city. The photo below was taken just a short walk away, and it highlights how gorgeous the city is. It is built over multiple levels and everywhere you look there are ruins of old castle walls. You can click the photos to get a better look at them.
My wife and I are definitely happy to get to spend our final year overseas in such a lovely place!
Since my previous post rating the top songs by Porcupine Tree (which I posted because I'm about to see their concert in Amsterdam) did not include any of their latest album Closure/Continuation, I'm going to rate the new album now. I did not rate it before, because I had not listened to it enough at that point to have fully formed an opinion. I've been listening to the album nearly every day now, so I have a pretty good idea of how each song stacks up. Having said that, I know from past experience that even after a hundred or more listens, I tend to change my mind about songs later due to tiny nuances that begin to stand out to me.
So, I think this new album is probably my second favorite of all of their albums now, right behind The Incident. There may be individual songs I love more from other albums, but it is the overall strength of nearly every song on this album that makes it so good.
My favorite song so far, after about seventy listens, is Rats Return. It rocks pretty well while also having some really beautiful choruses. I had Harridan second for quite some time, but now I'm moving Herd Culling into second place. There are bits of Herd Culling that don't suit my taste as much as most of Harridan, but there is a vocal section of Herd Culling that is so astonishing and lovely that I find myself listening to this song more often just so I can hear that part again. That means, of course, that Harridan is my choice for third best song. I like so much about Harridan, though it also contains a bit that I really dislike, so that colors my perception a bit. I rate all three of these songs with five stars in my iTunes.
Dignity and then Of the New Day are the next two, both rated as four stars. None of the remaining songs are less than three stars, so the album overall is very strong.
The album can't beat The Incident, though, because I don't rate a single song on that album below four stars, and it contains a bunch that are five stars.
It's often said that Porcupine Tree is the greatest unknown band, and there really is some truth to that. They are no one-hit wonder. They're a band with numerous five-star and four-star quality songs that, for some unknown reason, simply flies below the radar for the majority of rock lovers. It doesn't help that they essentially vanished for more than a decade before returning with their latest album "Closure/Continuation".
Anyhow, I feel very fortunate to finally get a chance to see them live in concert in early November in Amsterdam. In honor of this event, I decided it was time to give my personal top 20 songs by the band.
1. Black Dahlia, from The Incident, 2009
To be honest, this song and the next are basically a tie for me. They both have similar quiet, atmospheric beauty and touch the same heart strings. Some people may find them morose, but I love them.
2. Flicker, from The Incident, 2009
You're going to see a lot of songs from this album, because every single song on The Incident is great. My favorite album by far of theirs.
3. The Incident, from The Incident, 2009
An amazing song that really can be broken down into a string of distinct songs that mesh together. The overall song is more than 55 minutes long and is well worth hearing in its entirety, though my favorite sub-tracks are Drawing the Line and The Incident.
4. Anesthetize, from Fear of a Blank Planet, 2007
Another long song, at nearly 18 minutes, but lush and filled with cool changes, including a crunchy rocking section.
5. Drown With Me, from Futile, 2003
A punchy pop/rock song with some cool choruses. The live version from We Lost the Skyline is also amazing.
6. Remember Me Lover, from The Incident, 2009
A companion piece to Black Dahlia--they really go well together played back to back.
7. Bonnie the Cat, from The Incident, 2009
An uber-cool, slightly twisted song that my eldest son turned me on to. It took a bit to grow on me.
8. Futile, from In Absentia, 2002
Blending heavier rock with lovely vocals.
9. Lazarus, from We Lost the Skyline, 2008
I'm not a big fan of the recorded version, but this live version is beautiful.
10. Even Less, from Stupid Dream, 1999
A lot of these cool songs from the middle rankings could easily swap places with each other depending on my mood.
11. So Called Friend, from Deadwing, 2005
A rocker that slows for a gorgeous chorus.
12. Fear of a Blank Planet, from Fear of a Blank Planet, 2007
13. Fadeaway, from Up the Downstair, 1993
To be honest, I can't tell which version I enjoy more, the recorded version or the live version from 2005's XM II album. The latter version is sung by guitarist John Wesley, while the original is sung by band leader Steven Wilson.
14. Trains, from In Absentia, 2002
15. Lightbulb Sun, from Lightbulb Sun, 2000
16. Waiting, from Insignificance, 1997
17. Where We Would Be, from Lightbulb Sun, 2000
18. Wake As Gun I, from Insignificance, 1997
19. Shallow, from Deadwing, 2005
20. Nine Cats, from Insignificance, 1997
Like I said, a lot of these songs lower in the list are not essentially any less worthy than ones I've ranked above them, so here are some honorable mentions that easily belong alongside some of the ones mentioned above: Hatesong, Gravity Eyelids, Arriving Somewhere But Not Here, Mellotron Scratch, Shesmovedon, Stars Die, My Ashes, Blackest Eyes, Nil Recurring. Of course, Porcupine Tree are so good that these are just my five- and four-star songs--they have tons of good songs that I personally only rank as three-stars due to not wishing to listen to them quite as often. Some of the songs from the new album are worthy of being on this list, but I simply haven't listened to them enough times to tell where they belong.
If you are one of the legions of people who have unfortunately not heard of Porcupine Tree, do yourself a favor and give them a good listen. If you only wish to try one album, then try The Incident in its entirety.
I find this silly, especially as it means having to provide information I'd usually prefer not to put out in public, but according to iTunes, European law is requiring authors to provide the below information if we wish our novels to be available for sale within the EU. So, here it is:
legal address Unit 5380 Box 1053, DPO, AE 09710 USA
I began discussing the different POV characters of my new novel (coming out October 20) in my last post.
The second character I'd like to introduce is Sir Villem Tathis. He is a 15-year-old from the small city of Iskimir in the western part of the Known Lands. He grew up believing he was the heir to Iskimir, but after his rite of passage to manhood at the age of 15, he learned that he was actually a bastard and his younger brother was in fact the actual heir to the lordship. This knowledge, along with learning that the woman he had always thought was his rather cold mother was not actually his mother (and now he understands why she acts so coldly toward him), came as a huge shock to Villem. Naturally, he was quite bitter at the overturning of everything he believed about his life.
The Known Lands are dominated by the huge magical spire of the novel's title. The magic causes surges of strength to those with good hearts, and causes weakness and fear in those with bad. Not that Villem truly had a bad heart, but the means by which the magic detects what is in a person's heart is not a perfect system. It sees that Villem is filled with bitterness, anger, resentment, jealousy, etc., and thus it adversely affects him. Like all others who are affected thusly, Villem sets out to depart the Known Lands to escape the horrible feelings that overwhelm him.
At the start of the story, he has escaped the sphere of influence of the spire and is approaching the great fortress of East Gate, where he hopes his status as a knight will allow him a place of honor within the exile army there.
With my new book, The Shattered Spire, coming out October 20, I thought I'd provide a bit of detail about each of the POV characters from the novel. I'll start with the youngest member of the royal Kaldarion family, Imric.
Imric Kaldarion is thirteen when the story begins. His mother died giving birth to him, which led his father, the king, to disavow the baby. So Imric has been raised by his sister Livia. With his father refusing him any sort of training to prepare him as a potential heir or any skills in knightly combat, Imric mainly skulks about the castle, discovering a maze of secret passageways. The only experience he gets with his father is by spying upon him in his throne room from a secret nook. Other than his beloved sister, his only real companion is his best friend, Soot, a servant from the kitchens.
With such an unusual childhood, it's hard to believe that he would one day rise to become one of the greatest and most beloved kings of the Known Lands. In later history books, he is known as Imric the Lame, due to the terrible wound he received to his left foot during the Times of Tragedy.
It has been a long time since I have posted. Life has been busy. I finished up my posting to Rome and have now just arrived in Luxembourg. It seems very nice so far.
I'm super proud of both of my sons, one of whom is now working at a law firm in Wisconsin, and the other is pursuing his master's degree at Georgetown.
And, the best news is that after seven years, I am finally publishing a new novel! It is called The Shattered Spire, and it is a prequel to The Shard. It is set centuries before that story, and it covers how the shard came to be. It is only in pre-order for now, and only the ebook, but I'm working on the paperback and audiobooks to have them ready by the October 20 publication date.
I'm not particularly happy with how the cover art came out. It's a serious story, and I hoped to have a cover that reflected that, while to me this cover looks more like something from a graphic novel or a comic book.
Here is the blurb for the story:
The magic of the Spire of Peace has banished evil from the Known Lands for more than twelve hundred years. When a dragon destroys the spire and murders the king, the realm is thrown into turmoil. As civil war looms, can the royal Kaldarion family regain control over the kingdom and restore peace?
Livia, 20, is the eldest child of the slain King Varun Kaldarion. Though the wisest and most learned of the surviving family members, tradition says she cannot inherit the throne.
Balmar, 18, is too feeble-minded to rule, but his uncle, Duke Erol, crowns him anyway in order to appoint himself regent.
Darus, 17, was exiled by the spire's magic due to his bitterness that his father never named him heir. By force of personality and skill at arms, he has risen to command the army of exiles at the fortress of East Gate. Now he plans to invade the realm and take back what he feels is rightfully his by birth.
Imric, 13, was disavowed by his father after his mother died birthing him. Raised by his sister Livia, few in the realm even know he exists. Little more than a pawn in the conflict between Duke Erol and his brother Darus, Imric may hold the key to reuniting the fractured realm.
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