MGOC Series on Fantasy - David J. Corwell

Let's give a warm welcome to David J. Corwell, another guest blogger in the Many Genres, One Craft fantasy series! He's a great writer and a good friend. To learn more about the author and Many Genres, One Craft, please scroll to the bottom of the post.


Fantasy by David J. Corwell

List two older fantasy novels which impacted you, then give a sentence or two why:

1. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Tolkien remains a master worldbuilder and storyteller; Middle-earth is a living testament to his tremendous skills in both arenas. Its magnificent environs and the struggles of its peoples live on long after the book is closed.

2. The High King by Lloyd Alexander
The culmination of the first four books in the Chronicles of Prydain series, Alexander expertly weaves many story threads into an emotionally satisfying whole. A compelling story about choices and how these shape one's destiny.


List two newer fantasy novels which have impacted you, then give a sentence or two why:

1. Hawkwood's Voyage (Book One of the Monarchies of God) by Paul Kearney
Brimming with military stratagem and political intrigue, Kearney's world mirrors the Arab conquests in Europe as well as the search for a new world and vividly captures societies in the midst of tremendous upheaval. Yet, seemingly sworn enemies may not necessarily be the true danger, for something darker stalks the chaos.

2. The Adamantine Palace (Book One of Memory of Flames) by Stephen Deas
I've always loved dragons, and Deas breathes new life into these majestic creatures, wherein they form the power structure of the ruling aristocracy. But the human's tenuous hold on their "power base" is threatened when one dragon disappears. Did I mention I love dragons?


List one or two of your fantasy stories, then give a sentence or two about them:

1. "Susto" (Dia de los Muertos: A Day of the Dead Anthology)
An intimate reunion becomes a struggle for survival when a curandera (folk healer) invites her deceased husband home for Dia de los Muertos and also inadvertently summons La Llorona (the Weeping Woman), a vengeful spirit out to exact revenge. A fictional reenvisioning of a popular Southwestern legend, which also incorporates elements of Catholicism and curanderismo (Mexican folk healing).

2. "Conqueror of Shadows" (Tales of the Talisman magazine, Vol. 6, Issue #2)
An Apache boy faces a cunning, hidden enemy in order to save his father's life. A great Southwestern coming of age story with supernatural elements based on Western Apache witchcraft.



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About the Author

David J. Corwell’s stories appear in Cloaked in Shadow: Dark Tales of Elves (Fantasist Enterprises), Daily Flash: 365 Days of Flash Fiction (Pill Hill Press), Día de los Muertos (Elektrik Milk Bath Press), Voices of New Mexico (LPD Press/Rio Grande Books), and Tales of the Talisman (Hadrosaur Productions). He is an indefatigable promoter of his work, and his latest lineup of book signings can be found at http://booktour.com/author/david_j_corwell. David is also a 2006 graduate of the Seton Hill WPF program and the New Mexico sales rep for Fantasist Enterprises. He lives in Albuquerque with his beautiful wife and three daughters. His articles "Successful Book Signings: The Personal Touch" and "Top Ten Reasons People Give for Not Buying My Books" are part of the writing guide Many Genres, One Craft.



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About Many Genres, One Craft

Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction (Headline Books, 2011)is an amazing anthology of instructional articles for fiction writers looking for advice on how to improve their writing and better navigate the mass market for genre novels.

MGOC is available for purchase from Amazon and Barnes & Noble!




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NEXT UP: Chun Lee, the next guest blogger in the MGOC fantasy series!

A Step Back

Wow, it's been a seriously long time since I've done a purely personal blog entry. I guess that's a good sign - it means I have tons of other material to cover!

If you prefer not to read my ramblings and updates, feel free to stop reading and come back next week (when I will continue the MGOC on Fantasy Series). But if you don't mind my craziness, don't hesitate to read on!

I figured it was time to take a step back and examine what I've accomplished so far this year and what's ahead of me for the rest of 2011. It's always good to assess, as it can help refresh what still needs to be done.

The big accomplishment: completed another revision/edit of The Mind Behind the Mind. I think it cleaned up quite nicely! Not to mention it is currently sitting in the slush pile of a publisher who requested to see the full manuscript. This still excites me, and it reinforces that my first 50 pages aren't drivel - ha! So, what's ahead for this manuscript? I wait for a response back from the publisher. If they want to sign me, I celebrate (and panic about writing the sequels). If I get a rejection back, I already decided where I want to send it next. Good to have a plan. ;)

In other news, I have been running the monthly Writing Quest for over a year now! Yup, it started back in June of 2010. You can always find the event for each month on my Facebook author page. Come join us for Writing Quest - June! I feel this monthly challenge has been quite successful.

As for other writing, I mostly still have a lot to do. I'm still sending short stories out to slush piles, I still have the Dead As Dreams rough draft to finish, and I have many short stories that need to be revised. I hope to be able to work on those in the next couple months, but other things will come first.

What other things? Well, my crazy choice to go back to get the F to shove between the M and the A. I start full-time in less than two weeks! Residency starts on June 21, and after residency is over, I'll need to concentrate on a new thesis project. Daina's Dance has been on the back burner for ages, and I really want to work on it with my mentor because it's a lot of juggling (it's a working title - feel free to suggest any different titles in the comments). Here's hoping I can also finish Dead As Dreams while working on Daina. That will be quite a challenge for me! I also have another Readings in the Genre class starting in August. My main goal for the rest of the year is to survive. =D Then I need to survive the first half of next year. =/ Can't think about that right now.

So, I feel like I've been productive on many fronts at least, and I know I still have a lot of work ahead of me. Time to get out the battering ram to keep it all in place. What have you all completed this year so far? And what do you have left for the rest of 2011? Don't be afraid to take a step back, suck in a deep breath, and examine everything you've done and that you still plan to do.

Happy writing, all! Oh, and don't be afraid to add more to the chain story we started a few weeks ago: Luca's Story. I was going to end it, but unless everyone wants it to be a dark, gruesome wrap-up, someone else better add to it! It's back to reading for me now. =)



UP NEXT: A new entry in the MGOC series on fantasy from David J. Corwell!

MGOC Series on Fantasy - Anne Harris

We have another guest blog from a contributor to Many Genres, One Craft! This time it's Anne Harris. If you would like to know more about the author and Many Genres, One Craft, please scroll down to the bottom of the post. After this week, we will be taking a brief break from the series, but I assure you, there will be more!


Fantasy Then and Now by Anne Harris

Two older Fantasy novels which impacted you:

Tolkien's The Return of the King saved my life in junior high school. It didn't stop a bullet from entering my heart, but close.

Freedom and Necessity by Emma Bull and Steven Brust is a wonderful epistolary fantasy novel which woke me up to my love of romance and helped me zero in on what matters to me most as an author.

Two newer Fantasy novels which have impacted you:

I recently read Sunshine by Robin McKinley and absolutely adored it. And I'm not a big vampire fan, but this book was written in such a way that I was captivated first by the protagonist, and I had no choice but to go along for the ride.

Wicked Gentlemen is another recent fave. It's a fantasy because it has demons in it, but the way author Ginn Hale constructs a Victorian-era society informed by all the denizens of Hell converting to Christianity felt science fictional in the way that she uses that event as a point of extrapolation for her story.

Your Fantasy story:

I don't have any fantasy novels but my (2005) Nebula nominated short story, "Still Life with Boobs" was definitely fantasy. That was a story in which keeping the fantastic element mysterious and unexplained was crucial. It allowed the focus of the work to remain on the main character's personal struggle. If I'd done it as science fiction, it would have been a different story, probably one with a broader focus on the overall cultural impact of the phenomenon.


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About the Author

Award-winning author Anne Harris writes young adult science fiction under the name Pearl North and gay romance as Jessica Freely. She also mentors students in Seton Hill University's Writing Popular Fiction MFA program. Anne blogs at http://friskbiskit.com. She's also on Facebook and Twitter.


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About Many Genres, One Craft

Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction (Headline Books, 2011)is an amazing anthology of instructional articles for fiction writers looking for advice on how to improve their writing and better navigate the mass market for genre novels.

MGOC is available for purchase from Amazon and Barnes & Noble!





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NEXT UP: A Step Back - Examining my year so far and the year ahead.