Blog Title: Blog of Author Paul S. Kemp

Shadowrealm Release Day

Lock up your daughter.
Lock up your wife.
Lock up your backdoor, run for your life.
The man is back in town!

All of which is AC-DC's way of saying that Shadowrealm is officially released today.

If you have any questions or comments about the novel, please post them there. I'd love to chat about it. I presume there will be spoilers aplenty. *
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* And if the book moves you for good or ill and you have the time and energy to review it somewhere, you'd have my gratitude.  As you know, I rely on my peeps to spread the word.

In the Realms for December

This month, we have Plague of Spells, book one of the Abolethic Sovereignty Trilogy by Bruce Cordell, and Shadowrealm, the third and final novel in the The Twilight War, by me.

Regarding Shadowrealm, I'll throw up a discussion thread tomorrow (the actual release date for the novel), since at least some folks have read it already and may have some questions or comments.

Meanwhile, read and enjoy.

Shadowrealm in Some Stores

Shadowrealm is in some of the chain bookstores already. It may or may not be shelves (it's in the back in my local B&N) but you might be able to snag a copy early if you're so inclined.  If it's not on the shelf at the store you frequent, you might have to ask them to get a copy out of the back, but it's not a strict-on-sale title, so they should be willing to snag it for you.  If they won't, you could always threaten them with physical harm, NOT that I'm advocating that, of course.  :-)

If you do score a copy before December 2, let me know.

Fantasy Football

So, those of you who follow the blog and are interested in fantasy football know the quarterbacking woes my buddy and I have had this year on our co-managed team.  Derek Anderson -- bust.  Matt Shaub -- gets injured when he gets out of bed or eats too fast.  Brady Quinn(picked up off waivers) -- inconsistent rookie. 

With five weeks left, we've still got a shot at a finish in one of the three money spots, mostly because we've gotten surprising performance out of our receiving corps (I'm looking at you Roddy White and Lance Moore).  We also have an abundance of good running backs.  So, in desperation, we traded Clinton Portis, the NFL's leading rusher, to the first place team (who we will not catch) for Kurt Warner. 

Given the scoring in our league, I think we've markedly improved our team (and improved the team to which we traded Portis, since Warner was his backup QB; Brees starts for him) but we're running out of time to make a run at third or second overall.  We'll see how it turns out.  Half our squad plays on Thanksgiving, including Warner, so we'll know by late Thursday night if we've got a shot at Place or Show.

Financial Planning

I've decided that Paul S. Kemp, Co., Ltd., Gmbh., is too big to fail.  I will, therefore, reorganize as a bank and get me some of that hot bailout on bailout action. 

One more pre-release Shadowrealm review

Graeme, at Graeme's Fantasy Book Review has some nice to say about Shadowrealm in the review here.

Sez Graeme:

‘Shadowrealm’ is a book that resonates with the clash of sword against shield, thunderous spells being cast and the death throes of entire planets as they fall under the sway of the Lady of Loss. Considering the book is only three hundred and thirty eight pages long, I think Kemp does a bloody good job to fit all of this in! The pages crackle with excitement in a story where no space is wasted. Spectacle is the order of the day and Kemp comes up with the goods in battles and duels that are intense to say the least.

My thanks to Graeme for taking the time to read and review the novel. 

Shadowrealm Review

John O., at Grasping for the Wind, provides a thoughtful, non-spoiler review of Shadowrealm. My favorite line:

As a writer, Kemp is one of the best. His name should be mentioned alongside not only R. A. Salvatore, but also such luminaries as Neil Gaiman, George R. R. Martin, Terry Pratchett, and Tad Williams. Although Kemp's style and content are completely different, he - like them - moves beyond the setting to the deeper themes that can be found in all good writing, and are very much a part of our everyday life.

I will now mention my name among those John named, thusly: Paul S. Kemp admires and idolizes a panoply of vastly superior writers, including R.A. Salvatore, Neil Gaiman, G.R.R. Martin, and Terry Pratchett.

There. :-)

Seriously, thanks John. Much appreciated.

Meanwhile, let me thank all of the other reviewers who were kind enough to provide pre-release reviews of Shadowrealm -- Charles at The Bibliophile Stalker, Andrew at The Beezer Review, and one of the winners of the print galley contest, Epheros.

None of these reviews contain spoilers, so feel free to read them if you're interested and you want something to tide you over until the release date. Only a short time now.

700,000 hungry children in the United States last year

700,000 hungry children in the United States. A sobering number, and something to consider as the new President prepares to take office.

Overall, the 36.2 million adults and children who struggled with hunger during the year was up slightly from 35.5 million in 2006. That was 12.2 percent of Americans who didn't have the money or assistance to get enough food to maintain active, healthy lives.

Almost a third of those, 11.9 million adults and children, went hungry at some point. That figure has grown by more than 40 percent since 2000. The government says these people suffered a substantial disruption in their food supply at some point and classifies them as having "very low food security." Until the government rewrote its definitions two years ago, this group was described as having "food insecurity with hunger."

Given the trajectory of the economy, this is likely to get worse before it gets better.

You know, at some point, being poor in this country became, in the minds of some, a sign of moral turpitude rather than misfortune. This is all tied up in the notion that in America, all you need is a strong work ethic, some pluck, and you'll be good to go. Of course, that just isn't so. And tying poverty to moral failure makes it easier to cut the strings from the social safety net. After all, the recipients don't really deserve that aid, do they? They are, to a man, woman, and child, shiftless, indolent, crime-prone, and utterly lacking in initiative. Right?

As the economy falters and more and more of the one-time middle class fall into the ranks of the poor, I'll be curious to see if being poor starts to lose some of its moral stigma. I suspect it will.

Anyway, consider that the total annual cost to the Federal government of the Food Stamp Program is roughly equal to the cost of two months of the war in Iraq, a fraction of the recent Wall Street bailout, and about equal (by some estimates) to the annual subsidies received by oil companies.

Policymaking is about prioritizing spending. Where should our priorities lie?

Restlessness and Royalties

I had been suffering a period of creative restlessness. No big deal, really. I'm a planner, so I had been looking ahead a few years, realistically considering where I wanted to go, both commercially and artistically, and then trying to figure out how best to get there. The ins and outs of that created some restlessness, mostly triggered by my recent royalty statement.

A week or two ago I received the largest royalty check I've received to-date that wasn't primarily attributable to sales of Resurrection. This is great, of course, but the statement got me to thinking (and the thinking made me a bit restless).

Sales per title were typical for a quarter, maybe slightly higher than usual, which accounted for the uptick in the royalty amount. Each title sold anywhere from 1,000 to 2,500 units. Multiply that times the eight or nine novels in print (I'm excluding anthologies, which generate smaller royalties and smaller sales) and the number of books sold in the aggregate during the quarter looks reasonably large (at least to me). Again, this is a good problem to have. As I mentioned before, the Long Tail for the Cale books has been reasonably fat/thick and, so far, pretty stable.

But it's that stable part that bugs me. I want the numbers to grow. Obviously, I'd rather have them stay reasonably stable at a respectable level (as they are now, as far as I'm concerned) rather than decline, but I would prefer periods of upward slope from time to time, a further fattening of the Long Tail. Maybe this quarter signifies a forthcoming upward trend, but maybe not. That's the irritating thing about this. There just isn't much I can do that I'm not already doing and the uncertainty is bothersome. Hence, the restlessness.

Anyway, I recognize that these are all small problems in the grand scheme of things, and good problems to have (this, I suppose, is what jaylake means by "trading up to bigger problems"). In the end, I suppose writers just have to write the best books they can and let the chips fall where they fall on the commercial side of things. Fretting about it is mostly useless. It's just that I don't stand still easily. :-)

Shadowrealm Contest Winners

The random number generator has spoken, and the winners of a free copy of Shadowrealm are spatricola and sethlen1. My thanks to all who entered. Congratulations to the winners. Please drop me an email at paulsvantekemp at yahoo dot com so that we can arrange shipping.

This is Sparta!

The Cale Trilogy appears to have been translated into Greek, which is cool.

Wonder if this guy would like it? If so, I've got to believe Riven would be his favorite character. :-)

November Shadowrealm Snippet

November's snippet from Shadowrealm is behind the cut. This one is very short, very much a teaser. Apologies. As I mentioned before, I'm having trouble finding coherent pieces that don't spoil a whole bunch of stuff. Despite its brevity, I think these few paragraphs are pretty powerful. Hopefully you agree, and this whets your appetite for the novel.

Meanwhile, the Shadowrealm giveaway contest continues. We've only got 100 entrants so far, so the odds aren't bad at all. Why not throw your hat in the ring.

The silence over the battlefield ended with a roll of thunder. Lightning lit the sky. Rain fell anew. The keening of the remaining shadows—still a multitude—started once more. They swarmed in an enormous, whirling column.

“Form up,” Regg said to his company. “We have been given a sign and the light is in you all.”

“And in you,” they answered, readying weapons, readying spirits.

A boom of thunder like the breaking of the world rolled, shook the ground, knocked the men and women of the company to the ground. Lightning ripped the sky, again and again, until the coal-black clouds birthed a coal-black form that descended from the sky, trailing darkness.

In size and shape it looked much like a man. Membranous wings sprouted from its back but did not flap as it gently descended to the ground. A robe of scaled leather draped its ebon-skinned form. Curving white horns jutted from its brow. Power seeped from the creature in palpable waves.

As surely as Regg knew his god had been present on the battlefield to bless them through Abelar, he knew at that moment that another god had taken the field. He was looking upon the creature that was the provenance of the storm, the origin of the darkness.

The sky again fell silent, the thunder and lightning but a temporary herald for Kesson Rel’s arrival.

The column of shadows rendezvoused with their master in the sky, swirled around him as he descended. The moment he set foot on the ground, thunder rumbled and the earth shook anew.

Giant forms stepped out of the shadows to stand beside him, towering humanoids with pale skin and gangly limbs, encased in gray iron. They bore huge swords in their hands. Shadows clung to their flesh and their weapons. There were hundreds of them.

Regg knew the company could not defeat the shadow army and their master. But the hope Lathander had put in his breast would allow him no other course than to hold his ground. They had entered the storm to face the darkness. They would do so and they would die.

Behind him he heard gasps from the men and women of the company, murmured astonishment. He turned to face them, to reassure them, and found that their surprise was not directed at Kesson Rel.

A clot of shadows had formed in their midst, a darkness the light of the priests did not illuminate, and Erevis Cale, Riven, and a Shadovar had stepped from it.

To Regg, Cale and Riven seemed weightier, somehow more defined than everyone else around them, save perhaps Kesson Rel himself. The men and women of the company seemed to sense the difference as well, for they parted around them.

All three looked past and through Regg, across the field to the shadow army and the dark god who commanded it. They strode forward and as they passed Erevis Cale put a hand on Regg’s shoulder.

“Kesson Rel is beyond you, Regg. This is our battle now.”

The growl of thunder broke the silence, low and dangerous.

Shadows poured from Erevis Cale, from his dark blade.

Regg could find no words. He turned to watch them walk without hesitation across the space that separated three men from thousands of shadows, hundreds of giants, and the god who ruled them.

Regg realized he was not breathing.

Trewe appeared beside him, eyeing the trio as they strode into battle.

“This does not seem a field for ordinary men,” said Trewe.

Regg nodded and clasped Trewe by the shoulder. “It is well, then, that there are no ordinary men on it.” He turned to his company and shouted, “Form up! Await my orders. The Morninglord’s work is not yet done on this field.”

I don't need your war machine; I don't need your ghetto scene

Jen and I are watching Season One of Lost. It took a few episodes to grow on me, but I'm digging it now. John Locke, of course, is my favorite character, and I dig the producers throwing the name in there (not to mention Rousseau). If they ever introduce a Thomas Hobbes, or a ship called Leviathan, I'll be just peachy.

State of Nature, indeed.

Shadowrealm Giveaway Contest

I have received my author's copies of Shadowrealm, book three of The Twilight War, and the book looks great. This means, of course, that I must give two copies away.

If you're interested in receiving a copy of the novel before its release date, leave a comment to this post. Please enter only once. I will randomly draw two winners from all the entrants on the morning of Friday November 14th and announce them on the blog. The contest will be open until then.

Please note that the book itself is free, but you'll have to pay me for shipping in advance via Paypal. Typically, shipping in the U.S. for priority mail via the USPS is about five or six bucks. It will be a bit more to overseas addresses. I hope that doesn't discourage you from entering.

Good luck.

Morning After Thoughts

My prediction was pretty good. Said I:

Obama wins the popular vote by 6.5-7.5% and wins 369 votes in the electoral college. Surprises for the night include Obama winning both Georgia and Indiana. He does not win Missouri (though it's close) because of the entrenched GOP voter suppression infrastructure that exists in the Show Me State.

At this point, Obama sits at 349 364 with a popular vote edge of 6%. Pretty close to my numbers. I was on with Indiana (way to go, Hoosiers) but apparently off with my Georgia call. I say "apparently" because there is something screwy in Georgia with regard to the early votes, which may or may not have been counted in full (and the impressive number of which were the basis for my prediction of a Georgia surprise). I think it's unlikely that Obama pulls Georgia into the blue column at this point (I've read that there are only about 600K more early votes to count, and they'd have to break to Obama more than 2-1 for him to pull out the Peachtree State), but it's going to be a lot closer than it looks right now. Missouri is and North Carolina are too close to call. In the end, I think Obama wins NC but loses MO.  He has won NC, per the AP today (11-6).

Anyway, all of that hardly matters now. Obama won decisively. After the win, after his speech, even after sleeping on it, I still don't feel elation. Instead, I feel a profound sense of relief -- I feel like we'll soon have adults in charge. Flawed adults, of course, but adults at last.

On the subject of John McCain, a couple thoughts. First, he ran an awful campaign. Entirely tactical, muddled, with no consistent message. Second, he ran a nasty campaign unworthy of the office he sought. Fear, smear, and lies were more or less all he offered, and he went to places no politician should go. I'll acknowledge that his concession speech was a fine one, but I'm very cynical when it comes to McCain's motives. His M.O. has been to wallow in the filth with gusto when he thinks it will result in a win, then show contrition afterward to try and retake his mantle as an honorable, decent man. But honorable, decent men don't state or imply the kinds of things that McCain said and implied and no concession speech cleans that slate as far as I'm concerned. Like his campaign, McCain the man seems to me muddled and without a core principle -- his ambition wars with whatever decency he possesses and determining which will manifest itself in any given circumstance is a crapshoot.

But that's all neither here nor there. America has done something historic. Here's hoping Obama governs as well as he campaigned. I have high hopes.

For my part -- keeping in mind that Obama is a politician, even if he's also a principled, serious man -- I now move into the role of loyal opposition, for whatever that's worth on this little blog.  Accordingly, I'll be watching you come January, Mr. President. Support something like another FISA "compromise" and you'll get angry email and blog posts from me.  And you see how that worked out for McCain.  Don't make the Paulman go wild on you.

Meanwhile, though, Barack and Roll, People!  It's a new day. :-)

That One

Congratulations President-elect Barack Obama.

It is my hope, and belief, that man has met moment.

Ba-rockin' the Vote

Voted for Barack this morning as soon as polls opened. Very busy polling place.

Let me share a secret with you. I had previously joined the nationwide ACORN voting fraud conspiracy by registering Roarke and Riordan as Mini-me and Ewok. The poll workers seemed taken aback when the boys told her they were there to "ride a boat," but I explained to her that Mini-me was hungover from the previous night's coke and hooker binge and that he meant to say "cast a vote." She checked the false IDs I had prepared in advance and off we went. The boys voted in crayon, but they darned sure voted for Obama. Chalk three up for the socialist.

Voter fraud, suckahs!*

_______________________

*I kid.  There is no such thing as systematic voting fraud in national elections.  It's an extraordinarily low reward crime that almost never happens.

Find Your Polling Place

You can check your polling place and its hours of operations at Canivote.org. This is a site run by the various Secretaries of State of the various states. Very handy.

The Bush Legacy -- A Changed National Narrative

Andrew Sullivan says it well and I encourage you to read the whole thing. I think he misses an important point, though.

As Sullivan notes, among other things, President Bush has asserted the power to detain anyone he deems an enemy combatant and to hold that person forever; he has asserted the power, notwithstanding clear statutory language to the contrary, to eavesdrop on American citizens abroad without a warrant; he has asserted the power to bypass duly passed laws if his signing statement takes exception to the law's provisions; he has caused enemy combatants to be flown to jails and gulags in the third world to turn them over to regimes that will torture them for information; he has expressly condoned and authorized the torture of prisoners in U.S. custody; he knowingly misled the country into a war that need never have been fought; and he presides over a party that invests huge sums in the creation of voter suppression infrastructure in states throughout the nation.

But what Sullivan fails to note is this: that we now discuss and accept these things at all is a radical break from our past. Once upon a time Americans would not have had to discuss torture and whether simulated drowning qualified. Such a thing -- such things, for the abuses of the Bush Administration are many and varied; Sullivan only scratches the surface - used to be inconsistent with American values and we all knew it. No discussion was necessary.

But that was then.

That discussion is necessary now is the legacy of Bush -- we now must debate in public what previously would have been unthinkable for Americans. Bush shifted our national narrative, damaged the core values of the country, and too many of us went along for the ride for too long, justifying what could not be justified.

I remain optimistic that we can fix it. And I think the repair work starts tomorrow night.

2008 Presidential Election Prediction

I was going to wait until tomorrow, but I don't think I'll have time to post then. So here's my prediction for the outcome of the 2008 Presidential Election. Yeah, predictions are silly, but still kind of fun. Previously, I had estimated an Obama win at 320 electoral votes. In fact, I've got a steak dinner wagered on that threshold. But that was a few months ago and I'll give you my new prediction now.

Polls poorly account for cell phone only users, who skew heavily toward Obama (because they're usually younger) and Obama's ground game, based on all I've read, will not only dwarf McCain's, it will be unlike anything we've seen before. So, given that, I say:

Obama wins the popular vote by 6.5-7.5% and wins 369 votes in the electoral college. Surprises for the night include Obama winning both Georgia and Indiana. He does not win Missouri (though it's close) because of the entrenched GOP voter suppression infrastructure that exists in the Show Me State.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :-)

Importantly, VOTE. That is all.

An Interview and Dragons and Miscellany

Bookspotcentral catches up with me outside the Mos Eisley Cantina and asks ten questions about my Star Wars novel.

Happy Halloween to all of you. Roarke and Riordan will be dressed as red and green dragons, breathing fire and chlorine gas, respectively. Only come near us if you have a good Reflex save.

We elect a President on November 4th. If you live in a state with early voting, have you, in fact, voted early? If you don't live in a state with early voting, you'll probably have long lines at polling places. Turnout is going to be big. Please endure it and vote.

Paizo has asked that contributors remind readers that Worlds of Their Own is available. If you've read it and can find time to post a review somewhere, Paizo (and I) would be appreciative (and be sure and let me know where it is so I can link to it).

Star Wars Novel Title

Well, it appears Del Rey and Lucasfilm have approved my proposed title for the Jaden Korr novel:

Crosscurrent.

Feel free to dig on that.

[Politics]McCain's Closing Argument

Fresh out of good ideas, McCain's last desperate plea is to argue that divided government is the best course. I'll sum up for him, just for giggles:

"My friends, all that stuff you like about Barack Obama -- his intelligence, his steadiness in the midst of a crisis, his judgment -- and all those policies of his that you think are better than mine -- the middle class tax cut, the public-private investment in green technology, the superior health care plan -- yeah, those all sound good. But do you really want those? Really? I mean, if you elect him with Democrats in control of Congress you might actually get those things. My friends, no one should get what they want. Vote McCain and rest assured that you will not get any of the policies that polls say you really want."

To which Palin was heard to add with a flirtatious wink, "And also, you betcha!"

On a related note, a recent Zogby poll showed that this argument played very well with self-identified masochists, who favor McCain in overwhelming numbers. The same poll showed these same masochists approved of placing their hands on red-hot stove tops and sticking forks in their own eyes.

Heroes Season Two

Jen and I just finished Heroes Season Two and we enjoyed it mightily. I vaguely recall posts from various messageboards complaining that Season Two was not as good as Season One but I do not agree. Me loves me some complicated, somewhat meandering metaplot.

[Politics]Realignment

Recent polling puts Obama ahead in Georgia, Indiana, Montana, and North Dakota. He won't win all of those (my money is on him winning Georgia and Indiana, though), but the mere fact that those races are close is astounding. Normally, Indiana goes red on election night the very moment the polls close. If it goes blue, or even if it's just too close to call right away, McCain is in for a very long night. What we may be witnessing here is a political realignment similar to that which the country saw in 1932 and then in 1980.

Consider: There was a time when social security and unemployment insurance seemed radical, when opponents of Medicare/Medicaid called the programs socialist (the critiques were nothing more than a variation on the cries of "nanny state" advanced by free-market Republicans and Libertarians these days). Today all of those programs are politically untouchable and for good reason -- they're good programs and they work. And once people realized that -- notwithstanding the dire ex ante proclamations of opponents -- their perception of the role of government changed, at least as it related to those programs.

Sometime between now and 2016, I think we'll see some form of government health care insurance for the uninsured, perhaps even universal care. And I suspect it will be a good program and that it will work. And when it does -- as happened with Social Security, unemployment insurance, Medicare and Medicaid -- Americans' view of government's role in the healthcare sphere will change. And the next generation of policymakers will not be able to conceive of an America that lacks such health insurance. I'm looking forward to that.