Tag Archives: pilgrim of the sky

Pilgrim is the GeekMom Book of the Month at Goodreads!

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That’s right. If you’ve been waiting to talk about Pilgrim of the Sky, now is your chance. I’m thrilled that the book was chosen as the Goodreads book of May for the GeekMom Book Club over at Goodreads*, and the conversation has already begun. Don’t worry if you’re not a mom, it’s not a requirement!

If you haven’t picked up the book yet, it’s available at the Candlemark & Gleam Website, at Amazon, and at Barnes & Noble (Kindle and Nook included).

As a bonus, I’m hoping to hold a Google Hangout at the end of the month to talk to the readers of the group and answer questions, and we may even do a Twitter event (depending upon when exactly my little squirmy bundle of joy decides to grace us with her presence).

*And in other tangentially related news, we’ve just announced that GeekMom is to become part of Wired.com. How cool is that?! I couldn’t be prouder.

Reading the tea leaves for 2012

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Well, hello there, readers. It’s been a while! Rather than sit here and give excuses, I’ll just apologize briefly for being not the best blogger lately. It happens. I’ve been blogging for a long time, when you look at the big picture, and well, sometimes there just isn’t a whole lot of time for sitting down and pondering the writing craft these days between family and the full time job and other things. But it’s not like nothing is happening. So here’s a bit of what’s been happening about these parts.

First and foremost, I’m currently heading into week 25 of my second pregnancy. And I’ll tell you: being pregnant does a number on your brain. Not only do you lose gray matter (like, your brain loses weight… so trippy) but hormones coursing through your body can change your personality (not to mention that your kid’s–and by extension your mate’s–DNA floats around in you permanently). For me, I’m under a nice, warm blanket of calm. If there are stresses in my life, I just seem to let them roll off my back. Oddly enough, stress tends to fuel my writing, both fiction and blogging and otherwise. I don’t feel that desperate need to create because, well, I’m creating. Right now. The little one is currently almost a foot long and weighs about a pound and a half. She’s a squirming, somersaulting, dancing little creature who, quite honestly, takes up most of my thoughts during the day. (No, I’m not writing SF right now… why do you ask?)

I’m okay with not writing a ton. Instead, I’ve been reading. As far as publishing and writing go, 2011 was not productive. Not in the output sense. But I haven’t stopped reading. In fact, I’ve read more in the last year than I’ve read in the last 5 years combined (in no small part thanks to my commute and the suggestions of my dear friend Samuel Montgomery-Blinn in the realm of audiobooks). I think of it in much the same way as I do my pregnancy: I’m feeding the creature. The best books I read this last year were Howards End by E.M. Forster (which will forever move me), The Age of Innocence  by Edith Wharton, Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor and The Magician King by Lev Grossman. Yes, that’s an unusual cross-section. But each of those books spoke to me in a really important way that will, undoubtedly, impact my writing permanently.

There’s also the book release. Pilgrim of the Sky has been let out into the wild, flying like the skylark. Overall, I’ve been thrilled with the reception, and have learned (mostly) how to ignore and move on from the less enthusiastic reviewers (how on earth someone mistook my book for YA, I will never know…). Which, thankfully, have been mostly the exception. A first book out there in the real world is a scary thing, but I’m glad to have gone through the experience. I’ve got a post brewing about the book that answers, hopefully, some of the questions/misconceptions people might have. If you haven’t had a chance yet, you can check out some of the reviews posted recently! (There’s a few I know of that are waiting in the wings, and I’m trying not to be impatient!) Additionally, I was interviewed by the Outer Alliance about the queer aspects of Pilgrim of the Sky, and how Maddie’s sexuality fits into the book as a whole; you can hear the interview here. (Additionally you have until the 16th to enter the contest for a signed copy of the book by yours truly.)

Not to mention that, along with the other GeekMom editors, I’ve been working on the Geek Mom book! We sold the book to Crown Publishing a few months ago and are swiftly approaching our deadline. So I’ve been immersed in geeky child rearing, projects, and cooking. Not a bad thing, but definitely doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for even more writing.

The good news is that I’ve settled on my next project (or rather, which project to continue) when February is over and our deadlines are met. Not sure how much writing I’ll get in, what with the brain the way it is, but it’s worth trying. I’ve also started taking a look at some of my back-log of novels and considering What Next To Do. Surely I can’t keep sitting on them. That does no one good!

To everyone who’s supported Pilgrim of the Sky – thank you! I can’t say it enough. My friends, family, and beyond have helped make this experience truly memorable. And it’s just starting, y’know? Here’s to 2012 and beyond.

Where to buy Pilgrim of the Sky!

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I mentioned this over at the Pilgrim site, but forgot to do so here. I blame illness. And pregnancy! Anyway…

You can purchase the novel at the Candlemark & Gleam Website, at Amazon, and at Barnes & Noble.

And some reviews:

From Library Journal:
Maddie Angler’s lover, the brilliant and eccentric graduate student Alvin Roth, has disappeared and is presumed dead. Instead of moving on with her life, Maddie travels to Boston with Alvin’s socially challenged younger brother, Randy, to deliver a box of research papers to Alvin’s adviser, Dr. Keats. This simple action propels her into a parallel universe where she discovers through encounters with a more gregarious Randy that Alvin is not only alive but that he has discovered the secret of multidimensional travel and grown dangerously powerful.

VERDICT
Steampunk meets goddess worship in this unusual and highly original story of loves that cross the borders of time and space. Exploring the concept of multiple universes and the social, artistic, scientific, and religious differences among them, Barron’s debut is an sf adventure that mixes high action with exquisitely detailed depictions of everyday existence in these alternate worlds.

From The Steampunk Chronicle: (full review)
“Natania Barron’s first book, “Pilgrim of the Sky” from Candlemark & Gleam publishing is magical romp between worlds mundane, affluent, spectacular, primitive, and then back again.  This is a work of romantic Steampunk fiction where faces and bodies can be switched almost as quickly as fortunes and loyalties.  Behind those faces and – as she learns – behind Maddie’s own face, lie enormous power that brings the various worlds into great peril if she cannot solve the mystery of her beloved Alvin’s machinations and decide which allies she will draw close and which enemies she must draw closer.”

From Stories of My Life: (full review)
“Maddie is one of the best heroines I’ve read about. Or perhaps I should say she’s one of the best written: Natania Barron manages to take us to the deep pits of anodine life and near-depression at the beginning, when she thinks her old boyfriend is dead. She manages to confuse us with her feelings regarding the “special” brother of said boyfriend, with whom she’s forged a bond that, at times, feels uncomfortably close to love.

“Then, she blends it perfectly into the misgivings of a whole new reality, a place where she doesn’t know who to trust and where faces, familiar and alien alike, haunt her from a past that only at times belongs to her. In this world, Maddie makes mistakes and amends, and her change towards heroine begins.”

From So Many Books, So Little Time: (full review)
“Pilgrim of the Sky is a trip through the looking glass and down the rabbit hole for a new audience of readers. It is a ethereal mirage of splintered gods, improbable magic, and the threads of humanity that weave us all together. Above all it is a story about love, in each of its aspects and all of its possibilities.”

You can also check out the Goodreads page for the book, where apparently the trend is to ask for a sequel. :)

July July July

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Edith Wharton

Life has been spinning by at a trajectory altogether too fast for me these days, but that’s what happens when you smoosh an actual career in between being an author, a blogger, a mom, a sister, a wife, and an editor. It’s really unfair of me to complain, since it’s the bed I’ve made, but thankfully our summer beach vacation is looming just around the corner and I am looking forward to a week with as little technology as possible, and basking in the sun reading books and maybe (just maybe) doing some writing.

Which is not to say I haven’t been writing, only that the writing is slow. Instead of writing at usual breakneck pace, I’ve been reading quite a bit in preparation for writing Glassmere, and am currently about three quarters of the way through Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence (which won her the Pulitzer Prize in 1921 — the first time it was awarded to a woman). I’d read Wharton before, in college, during a modern novel class. We read The House of Mirth and I was rather depressed after reading it. And at the time I was pretty much opposed to anything American and modern, so I really didn’t read her as I ought to have.

But that’s the joy of growing up and continuing to read. I am absolutely besotted with Wharton at the moment, and in love with her ability to turn a phrase and move me with words. I often speak of Keats as being delicious to read — that is, his words seem to taste good when you read them. There’s a musicality to Keats, to his careful words selection, that just makes my brain vibrate. Wharton is very similar, though obviously through prose. Take this bit, for example:

“It would presently be his task to take the bandage from this young woman’s eyes, and bid her look forth on the world. But how many generations of the women who had gone to her making had descended bandaged to the family vault? He shivered a little, remembering some of the new ideas in his scientific books, and the much-cited instance of the Kentucky cave-fish, which had ceased to develop eyes because they had no use for them. What if, when he had bidden May Welland to open hers, they could only look out blankly at blankness?” — Book One, Chapter 10

The book deals with many of the same issues I’m working through on Glassmere (though it’s set in the 1870s, much still holds true). And the tone is just… well, it’s very similar to the tone I want to achieve with Glassmere. Initially I attempted a more complicated tone, hopping from character to character in that English style, but I find it doesn’t achieve what I want it to. Part of it has to do with the fact that it’s a historical book, and the readership now isn’t familiar with the setting–adding even more complication with multiple points of view just muddles it up. So, even though the book has made a decent start, I’m going to rewrite it all again strictly from Evelyn’s point of view. Wharton does this with Newland in The Age of Innocence to great success, with a narrator following him closely and revealing his innermost thoughts. However, the narrator’s voice is distant enough and strong enough to be able to zoom out on occasion to comment on the society at large, which would work far better in the context of Glassmere as well.

Glassmere needs to be smooth, especially considering where the story ends up (low, low magic, but it’s there). And Evelyn is the heroine of the story, even if entirely unconventional.

Still, what strikes me the most about writing this book is how much reading I’ve done just to make the first 10K. Between the diaries of women written at the turn of the century to the countless historical articles to the novels of the period (most notably lately The Edwardians and Howards End – two very different but marvelous books) I’ve spent the majority of my spare time these last few months ensconced with books. It even inspired me to buy a Kindle for my birthday, which has proven wonderful for reading all these public domain books (and it doesn’t cost me a penny past the purchase of the device!).

But enough about that. Additionally I have been following the creation of the book cover of Pilgrim of the Sky by my friend and astonishingly talented artist Brigid Ashwood. Her ability astounds me, and to see Maddie come to life in vivid color (down to the mille-fleur jacket!) has got to be one of the most exciting moments of my writing career to date.

The book is slated for December, but in the mean time I am also working on a bit of a novelette that will accompany pre-orders for the book, which is an epistolary addendum to the book. It’s written between two of the main characters and serves as a sort of appendix to the book, by explaining some of the more complicated magical workings of the twains, while revealing some back story. For the first time I’ve been able to slip into first person with Randall, who serves as Maddie’s love interest in the book, and I’ve got to say it’s immensely enjoyable. And easy. Some characters have such loud voices that writing them seems to take no effort at all.

And there, a post. There are many other things going on in the realm of the real, where my father is preparing for a second heart surgery (very risky) and work is eating me whole. But the written word is a solace in the storm, and even if I don’t have time to write it I’m doing as I’ve always done: reading. Just as when I was little, curled up with C.S. Lewis for the umpteenth time, so too will I weather this… clutching my Kindle.

Thoughts on 30: Goals for writing, goals for life

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I honestly can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to tell stories. But I can tell you when I started taking telling stories seriously (well, not entirely seriously… thankfully). I was 25, had just had a baby, and went through the ringer with postpartum depression. On the other side of that, a truth glimmered. I don’t mean to be hokey or corny, but in the space of a few weeks it became abundantly clear that writing, being a writer, required my attention. It was one of those things that made me, and something I’d been ignoring a long time in favor of more acceptable aspirations.

I’ve talked about this before, of course. But as I’m approaching my 30th birthday, I think of another goal I made myself at the time: get published before 30. Not short story published, novel published. At the time I had 3/4 of one book, and a few chapters of another. (Now I’ve got considerably more than that, which is good to know.)

Honestly, such a goal was silly. Maybe. On the surface it has no meaning. Time is irrelevant. Quality is important. These days, I’m okay with writing one book in a year. Or one book in two years, now. Writing books isn’t something I need to prove to myself I can do. But at that point, five years ago, I needed to finish. I needed to cross that line. And a silly self-imposed deadline definitely helped.

Granted, Pilgrim of the Sky will release sometime around my 30 1/2 birthday, but I count it as a win for my goal. At least, I consider that the fuel that fed the flames were set when I decided I needed to write for myself, and I needed to make writing Plan A (and set the timer on the whole “by the time I’m 30″ thing). So, it hasn’t turned out exactly how I thought. Life has a funny way leading you through its own back alleys while you’ve got your eyes on the sky.

But still: goal accomplished. So what does that mean for me now? Time for a new goal? Or time to meander down those dark alleys conscious of what makes me, what’s important, and which stories need to be told? I’m not sure.

I’m not where I want to be at the moment, writing wise. Distractions are high, time is sparse. That sense of determination, that drive I had when I was younger and sincerely unpublished has dimmed. But maybe that’s okay. Maybe one can find peace and inspiration in the flow, rather than in raging against it. Maybe it means going slower, planning more, and being more precise. I’m not sure.

What I am sure of, though, is what I want out of this book. I’d never have guessed that Pilgrim would be the first to publication, but here it is in all its strange complexity, all its layers and symbols and filigree. I want readers to follow me on the journey within the book, escaping not only from this world, but into the many worlds in the book. I want to share this story more than I ever have before. And there’s no time limit on that!

Updates in Nutshell. Or a Clam Shell.

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I’ve been inexcusably quiet here the last few weeks, and no, it’s not because of NaNoWriMo. Again, real life and things got in the way of that. Let me tell you, there’s nothing I would have rather done than write a novel from scratch, revel in the joy of creation, and bask in the awesome of writing for the month of November. But life has a way of being a stinkypants sometimes, and that’s totally what happened. I won’t get into the details of the personal life stuff, but it comes down to the fact that I’ve been job hunting, working on GeekMom, doing the holiday thing, working on Crossed Genres, and using my extra time to catch up on some anthology submissions (and a sale) as well as edits for Pilgrim of the Sky. When I had less work to do, NaNo was far easier.

In addition, we just released the first issue of Crossed Genres edited by Jaym Gates and myself. A momentous occasion, to be sure, as I’ve never been an editor of such proportions before. I really enjoy the process of finding those stories that shine. I’m particularly fond of the steampunk/Chinese influenced world of Jaymee Goh’s story “Lunar Year’s End“, but the TOC is really strong all throughout. What other magazine brings you such a width and breadth of genres? It’s truly fun to be part of the Crossed Genres team, and we have lots in store for the months to come.

Also important to note, I decided to axe the original ending of the Pilgrim of the Sky in favor of something more… transcendental. The book now contains 100% more quahog and 100% sphinx. I will rework some of the 10K I chopped, including the climax scene, but my heroine needed more punch. And now she’s got it.

Meanwhile, I am doing my darndest to focus on Pilgrim and edits and publication and try not to let other issues in the publishing industry get to me. But it’s hard. My husband is always the first to remind me that I’ve made a huge amount of progress in the last few years, but I can’t let go of that annoying voice in the back of my head. The one that doubts. That tells me I’m really not terribly marketable (squids and exploding eyeballs and whatnot).

Then I tell myself to shut up. Because, in the end it doesn’t really matter, does it? It comes down to the fact that, hell or high water, I write. And writing will happen whether or not I’m marketable. Maybe one of the weird ass books I write will start a trend. Or maybe it won’t. It makes me happy. And that’s the most important part. *cue the strings*

Anyrot! The gears do keep on moving, and I am the machine. So tally-ho!

Official Pilgrim of the Sky Announcement from Candlemark & Gleam

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I’m not terribly good at describing Pilgrim of the Sky. But thankfully, my publisher is! To get a better idea of what the book might be about, and what I’m currently immersed in edits with at the moment, consider the following from their announcement post:

How to describe this novel? Hm. That may be a tough one. It’s sort of…a world-hopping, reality-bending, art-historical, socio-religious steampunk odyssey. And that’s just for starters.

It takes place both in our world – in a corner of the world that I’m particularly familiar with and fond of, Western Massachussets – and in a number of other worlds, each of which has its own character and flavour. Natania has an unbelievable knack for description and imagery, and I can honestly say that the lush descriptions of Sixth World make me want to pack up and move there, just to get a taste of floating mansions, copper corsets, and electromagnetic horseless carriages in a refined pseudo-Victorian society that has some truly surprising twists to it.

But that’s only part of this novel. Pilgrim of the Sky also features murder, ambition, greed, multidimensional travel, and opiate abuse. You know, as you do.

That about says it, indeed.

Wait. Are you telling me Jesus was a dragon?

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So. I’m editing. After talking with Kate at Candlemark & Gleam on a few plot issues, we agreed that expanding Pilgrim of the Sky in a few places is definitely the way to go. Initially my goal was to write an 80,000 word novel. For some weird reason in 2008, when the book was written, I was under the opinion that this was What I Needed to Do. Keep in mind that the second draft of The Aldersgate was a whopping 160,000, and you can probably see that my intentions were well-founded.

However. To get the book to where I want it to be for publication I need to add some stuff. I need to fluff out the world a bit, bring out a few of the characters who fell by the wayside (Joss Raddick and John Iosheka in particular) and just generally go in with a finer brush.

At this point I’m about 1/3 through on the first pass edits, and just finished my first bonus scene in which there is a magic compact and frequent use of the word transcorporeal. Also, some debate as to whether or not Jesus was a dragon. (He wasn’t.)

But anyway. I’ve got a net gain of about 1K at this point, but I anticipate much more heading into the meat and potatoes of the book. Oddly I also cut down on cursing. Much of the dialogue was written ages ago (what feels like) and I’m spending a lot of time making it flow better. It’s not so hard with Randall, who speaks more or less like most of the characters I write (i.e. a sort of casual Victorian thing)–but my main character is from the present. And this whole talking like a normal person thing is just harder for me.

Yes, I like editing and I have a hard time writing modern dialogue. I’m weird. (My husband Michael thinks that the difficulty stems from years of MUSHing; I think it’s just from years of reading very little that takes place any time after 1900).

So, considering I’m back in the swing of things I thought I’d present a shorter update/status/metrics thing. Behold!

One thing I loved: The elevator. There’s an elevator in the Roths’ house and I absolutely adore it. It’s all shiny and weird and steampunk and uber-Victorian. It’s really dorky to love an elevator, but there you go.

One thing I loathed: Well, there are quite a few things I loathed, but I got rid of them. This is why editing is fun. Mostly they were large chunks of exposition that said something to the effect of “Maddie felt frightened and/or on the verge of panic and didn’t know if she should trust Matilda/Randall.” The delete key, it is my friend.

Best quote: Randall has just taken Maddie to his office, which he shares with one J. G. Iosheka, who is apparently not in attendance.

“Who’s J. G. Iosheka?” asked Maddie, shivering into her stole. It was alarmingly cold in the office. There was a fireplace, buried behind a chest of drawers, but likely not much of a chance that it was in working condition.

“That’s who I’ve brought you here to talk to,” Randall said, going over to the cluttered desk. He removed a ring of keys from his pocket, and after a few tries—no doubt due to the decidedly dim light—he got the drawer open.

“He’s not in your desk, I hope,” Maddie said. She noticed a row of pickled specimens on the other side of the room and pointed. “Or over there.”

Randall laughed. “Dear me, no. But those are his. He’s a bit of a biologist. But it’s been some time since we shared the office, though I keep his things here as a matter of sentiment, I suppose.”

“He’s not here and you want me to talk to him?” Maddie asked. Perhaps Randall was more addled than she had been led to believe.

Worst quote: (Not a quote, but some juicy pre-dialogue mess) Randall shook his head, shaking his hand. (He’s all shook up, see?)

Thoughts: I really like Maddie’s sense of humor, her dry sarcasm and occasional wise-cracks. I’m trying to make that a little more apparent in this draft. But she’s one of the most humorous main characters I’ve written (at least intentionally so; I’ve got plenty of MCs who have no idea how hilarious they are at all). Her situation–being sucked into a weird, Victorianized version of her own world–makes for plenty of absurd moments.

Around the Bend: More John Iosheka, the Wilds, and Mother Mary. Yes, this all makes perfect sense to me. Also, going to have to tidy up those more intimate scenes… wait, that just sounds wrong.

Anyway. Onward!

I have an announcement…

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Today is September 22nd, which happens to be the birthday of Frodo and Bilbo Baggins, give or take. And while this day is perfect for gorging on cheese and mushrooms, taking walks in the park among the trees, and starting adventures, it’s also a good one for announcements (or so I’d like to think).

No. I am not disappearing. I have no magic rings, and even if I did own one, I’d probably have lost it by now or else left you entirely. I’m far too much of a Took to let a ring sit in an envelope for years.

The announcement is this: I have sold my first book! And no, it’s not that one. And not that one, either. But it is Pilgrim of the Sky, and it will be finding a home at Candlemark & Gleam, with a release date (tentatively) of August 2011!

I got the news shortly after I got out of surgery, and after talking back and forth (as lucidly as I could manage) with Kate Sullivan, one of the editors, I decided that Candlemark & Gleam was really the best home for Pilgrim of the Sky. I wrote the book with independent, small presses in mind, and after it received one very perplexing rejection almost a year ago, I’d been waiting for a place I felt fit the vibe of the book. When I saw a Tweet announcing submissions for this new, ambitious, small press, I figured there was nothing to lose. Plus, I really like their approach.

Even cooler? I feel like they really get the book. Which is no easy task. Pilgrim of the Sky is genre-smooshing, incorporating science fiction, fantasy, time-travel, multiverse theory, metal corsets, steampunk, romance, Romantic poetry (especially Wordsworth), and a little bit of religion and a heap of art history. (And floating mansions. And did I mention a talking raven and a guy that turns into a horse? Can you see why I didn’t query this one to agents?)

Still, as strange as the book may be in its genre, it’s still rooted in reality, being the only book I’ve ever written to take place in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts, where I grew up. A lot of what I have to say in that book comes from the 18 years I lived there, and my experiences in that unforgiving climate. For that reason it’s surprisingly personal. The settings in many cases come straight from what I’ve seen–going from Northampton and the First Churches and Nini’s Pizza to Sunderland and the great, 18th century Colonial homes, then along the Masspike to Boston. (As I said in an old post just as I’d started the book: There’s something odd about that part of the world that you can’t quite put your finger on… it’s no coincidence that Lovecraft wrote about New England, let’s just say.)

I will keep you posted in the future, as I’m going to be heading into edits, soon. I’m one of those curious people for whom the editing process is enjoyable, so I’m actually thrilled to be revisiting Maddie, Randall, and everyone else–especially knowing that in less than a year I’ll be able to share their story with readers!