JRW Conference 2007 Update

My wife and I are once again organizing this year’s James River Writers Conference. I’ve made mention of it a few times in the past months, and I’m happy so say it’s taking shape. Wednesday probably gave me the most exciting news I’ve had since we started inviting speakers. One of my favorite writers will be speaking at the conference: Kyle Mills. Kyle’s gotten quite a few mentions in “The Wildcat’s Lair,” since I started blogging. Last year, he even appeared in a “Wordslingers” interview entry, and I think any who read that will see why he has plenty to offer aspiring writers. I owe a thanks to thriller writer Steve Berry (The Alexandria Link) who helped me make contact with Kyle. I’ve never had the chance to meet Kyle in person, not even at a book signing. I’ve traded a few e-mails with him over the years as a fan, though.

While I’m incredibly excited about Kyle, I’m also happy to say we’ve gotten quite a strong lineup of speakers. Perhaps one of the most recognizable names is Sheri Reynolds, whose book The Rapture of Canaan was a New York Times Bestseller and an Oprah Book Club pick. Another New York Times Bestseller speaking at the conference is mystery writer Sharyn McCrumb... although to call her simply a mystery writer really doesn’t do her work justice. Then there’s fantasy/thriller writer Eric Van Lustbader (another fellow Steve Berry put me in touch with). Eric launched his career back in the seventies, and he’s still going strong. He’s recently taken over Robert Ludlum's "Bourne Series" of books. He was a natural pick for the job as he was close friends with Ludlum.



These are just a sample of the folks we've confirmed. There’s still plenty more speakers to invite, but we’re getting closer to locking in our speaker list. It’s really nice to see it come together.

A Council of Dragons

I’ve got a few things to post on my blog today, so I’ll start with something I promised in a reply yesterday. Ever since I started my little comic strips with Frank, I’ve realized there was a lot of potential there. I wanted to expand the cast of the comic strips a little bit. First it was just me and Frank. Then I added a bunch of family for the Christmas visit from H-E-double-hockey sticks and my kids got in on the act, too. The most recent addition has been Hip the dragon. Well, Hip’s about to steal the limelight a bit. The picture below is a gathering of my wife’s dragons (not all, but a handful of them). Within the next week, I plan to do a comic strip entry, and it will be the first without Frank. A sign that the comic strip portion of my blog is really taking on a life of it’s own.



I took a bunch of pictures of the dragons earlier this week, so hopefully I can get a lot of mileage out of these guys as Hip is inducted into the “Dragon Queen’s Council of Dragons.” For now, that’s what I think they’ll be called anyway. We’ll have to wait and see.

Speaking of Hip, I need to give a shout out to CarnivAOL. “Frank Meets Hip,” episodes I & II are both being featured in the latest edition of the blog that highlights blogs. Paul’s given the Lair a few mentions since I first started this thing, so I definitely owe him quite a bit of thanks.

HIGH NOTES: Casino Royale

Perhaps one of the most anticipated movie scores for me in recent months was the music for the James Bond film “Casino Royale.” This CD offered a lot of promise even before David Arnold scored it. The big question would be, “Did it live up to expectations?”

First, let’s discuss why this score was such a big deal. Perhaps the most obvious would be Arnold’s promise of a new sound for the Bond franchise. That’s risky given the Bond films offer an established sound fans have come to expect. Eric Serra (an excellent composer in his own right) made the horrendous mistake of banishing the “Bond” sound to the “nether realm” with the film “Goldeneye.” “Casino Royale” also marked Arnold’s fourth film within the superspy franchise. Then there was the entire premise behind the film, getting back to the franchise’s roots with a grittier Bond. To that measure, we were also given a new actor for Bond, and that upped the stakes for the entire film—score included.

So does Arnold deliver? Without a doubt. Not only do we get a great Bond score, but this is easily the best Bond score since Arnold’s first outing with “Tomorrow Never Dies.” There’s a maturity and passion to this score that I don’t think Arnold’s two previous efforts provided.

To be fair, the tone of the film does a lot to aid Arnold’s effort at something new. The grittier nature of the movie provides for a more suspenseful and grounded sound. We get something of a militaristic beat to accompany the action sequences. This shows up best in the opening track “African Rundown” and “Miami International.” The latter piece is easily my favorite on the CD and also clocks in as the longest track at more than twelve minutes long. Arnold really delivers a well-paced buildup to the excitement with “Miami International.”

What’s really interesting is to listen to the score and realize at the end, how Arnold does something similar to the film itself. Just as “Casino Royale” shows us how Bond became Bond… Arnold leads us on a musical journey as he takes all these themes and slowly builds up to the final track, “The Name’s Bond… James Bond…” which is the traditional Bond theme in all its glory. I think that might be the most fascinating thing about this score, and Arnold really deserves high praise for accomplishing this. In fact, it’s not until you reach the last track that you realize Arnold never actually gives us the “true” Bond theme prior to that point… not until Bond matures into the character we’ve all come to know. In a very real sense, the music of the film grows closer to the original James Bond theme even as the character draws closer to being “Bond.”

Other Scores by David Arnold:



The CD for this score isn’t without one major fault, though. For whatever reason, the CD was released without the opening titles song “You Know My Name.” That’s a pity, because David Arnold and Chris Cornell have created one of the best Bond songs in years. On top of that, they managed to make a great Bond song with a male vocalist. Most of the best Bond songs have relied on female vocalists. Some interesting trivia here: this is only the third Bond vocal “title track” not to share its name with the movie’s title. The other two songs and films are “All Time High” from “Octopussy” and “Nobody Does it Better” from “The Spy Who Loved Me.” “You Know My Name” is also rare in that the song is about Bond himself. Most of the theme songs have been devoted to the Bond girls or villains.

“Casino Royale” will remain a special score for me, because of the timing of its purchase. I bought this CD with money from my first sell as writer. The money I made from selling “I am Sam” to “Spinetingler Magazine” was used to purchase this CD—a small reward to myself.

Snot a Good Thing

Based on actual events witnessed by Wildcat during a Dayquil-induced haze…

It's Time

DUST JACKETS: SPQR: The King's Gambit

One of the more unique mystery series to come along belongs to John Maddox Roberts. The “SPQR” series is set in ancient Rome and offers us a detective in the form of Roman official Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger. While he doesn’t have the slick resources of modern-day detectives, the book still contains a certain procedural feel that makes it easy to explore this long lost world.

Decius handles one of the more violent sections of Rome, and yet when a foreign merchance and an ex-slave are murdered in his district, he feels compelled to snoop. His search for answers makes him several enemies within the very government he serves and the more he investigates, the more clear it becomes that what he has discovered is far more than a murder but a conspiracy that threatens the empire.

From a mystery standpoint, I’m not sure this book was anything all that amazing. I think many of us have come to expect certain things of mystery novels, and Roberts delivers this. What he does to make this book stand out just a little more is take advantage of his setting. He really does a nice job of bringing Rome to life, and as anyone who’s seen the new HBO series “Rome” will appreciate, Roberts doesn’t scrimp on the sex either. Roberts goes so far as to treat readers to a threesome that includes an adrogynous-looking, contortionist-slave.

Perhaps the weakest thing about this book is the ending. I don’t think I’m really giving anything away by saying Decius solves the case, but the way the truth is learned and what happens because of it just kind of disappointed me. I didn’t exactly feel like much of anything really got resolved.

Roberts has managed to turn this into a rather decent series. Despite my disappointment with the end to the first book, I enjoyed his storytelling and use of setting enough to obtain a copy of the second book (to be fair, I think my wife bought it, but I wanted it, too). The first book also earned Roberts an Edgar Award nomination.

Other Books by John Maddox Roberts:



Of late, my wife has become quite addicted to watching the aforementioned tv series “Rome.” I can’t help but wonder if Roberts’ publisher will take advantage of the tv show’s following to increase the readership for these books.

Oh, Baby!

Frank Meets Hip, Episode II

Frank Meets Hip, Episode I

Nearing the End

As the title to this entry suggests, my wife and I are finally nearing the end of our book. It’s hard to believe that after all this time, we’re finally writing the last chapter to The Last VanDaryn. We started on the chapter two nights ago. The first night didn’t go so well. We’d “known” for months which character’s point-of-view we’d need for the scene, but once we started writing it, we realized we’d been wrong.

My wife and I have run into the point-of-view issue quite a few times of late. Our story contains some very strong characters, and when they end up in the same scene together, it’s not so easy to pick the right eyes through which to see those events. We had so many issues because of it that we got into a heated debate about how the big battle (that every fantasy adventure is “required” to have) was going to work. My wife was convinced that we’d equipped our characters with a battle plan that didn’t work, because the scene just wasn’t working. I insisted that the plan made sense, and in the end, my wife was the one who realized we needed to try it from a different character’s point-of-view. It was amazing how well the scene worked once we made the change. The pacing of the fight and even the build-up to it worked so much better. Even after all these years of writing, I’ve gained a new appreciation for just how much a different perspective can change a scene for better or worse.

At one time, I’d feared the book would barely break the 90,000 word mark. I should have known better. With just a little more to write, we’re already at 110,000 words. That might slim up a bit once we do the editing, but we’ll have to wait to see. We’ll probably finish the last chapter tonight, and we plan to celebrate by popping the cork on the bottle of sparkling wine you see on the right.

I’m rather excited about reaching the end of The Last VanDaryn for several reasons. Most of all, I’m eager to hunt for an agent who can find us a publisher and thus make some money off of our book. Another reason will be my solo effort The Cold Shoulder. My fantasy/thriller novel has suffered from neglect while Sheri and I focused on our joint project. During the past year, our writing group the Ten Page Club has enjoyed the samples I’ve brought from that book. I’m hopeful that I can finish that one pretty quickly once I no longer have The Last VanDaryn to worry about.