Review of *Farewell to Tyrn* by Ryan Harvey

Lying in bed I found myself stumbling through the Amazon book store and I located a novelette I've been reading about in the blogs, titled, Farewell to Tyrn, by Ryan Harvey.

I hadn't intended on buying anything. I had intended on reading some M.R. James. But, there I was, lying in bed, looking at a new novelette that costs 99 cents. And before I know what was happening...!

I bought it. I read it. I enjoyed it. I fell asleep.

And here I am drinking coffee and reviewing it.

Let me say this up front: it was worth 99 cents. And, truth be told, probably more, though I think 99 cents, is, at this point, a kind of threshold. It was just cheap enough for me to say, "What the hell? Why not try something new?" I'm glad I did.

Some details: it's approximately 9000 words, and it reads, I'd say, in about an hour. The novelette is a good genre for a lunch break or a last read before bed. A comparison to other media: in terms of narrative pace, think of a Star Trek episode.

What's it about? Two things: the story of a little girl and a threat to her and an interesting "secondary" world. In other words, there seem to be two functions to this story: (1) to showcase an interesting science-fantasy setting and (2) to tell an exciting story about a girl whose life changes. Let me take these one at a time.

(1) The world showcased is very interesting and beautifully sketched. I've learned Ryan Harvey has another story in the Writers of the Future anthology series (volume 27) "An Acolyte of Black Spires," that is also set in this world, and so I'm eager to read it. The world, Ahn-Tarqa, is a kind of hybrid. It's shaded by "science-fictional" and "fantasy" tropes. Put simply, there are references to swords, sorcerers, wilderness, towered cities; and there are also references to technology and dinosaur-like creatures.

(2) The story about the little girl, Belde, drew my interest. I won't give it away. Suffice it to say, some parts of it are leisurely, allowing you to enjoy the milieu and to understand the character; other parts surge at breakneck speed and are very exciting. Some characters were flat, but not for want of characterization; rather, they show up, enticing you with their mysterious presence, and then leave, and you find you want to know more about them.

How's it written? Quite well. It's written from a first person perspective, which carries with it both its own challenges and affordances. Challenge: would the protagonist, a little girl, be this articulate? This observant.  Affordance: what better way to immerse your reader in your world and characters than putting them "behind the eyes" of the main character. Harvey strikes a balance between these poles.

Conclusion: A wonderful reading experience. A good "entry point" for Harvey's Ahn-Tarqa. I hope Ryan Harvey writes more.

Short Fiction: Making the Premise Conform to the Treatment

So I wanted to write a post explicitly centered on the writing of science-fiction, fantasy, and horror, and in the service of doing that I went to the writing section of my bookshelf and took down How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction (Cincinnati: Writer's Digest, 1987). The first thing you'll notice, I'm sure, is the date. How relevant is a twenty-five year old book on the writing of genre fiction? Good question. Let me try and make a case for this.

First off, this isn't a monograph written by a single author, it's a collection of essays. Who wrote the essays? Here is where my main argument for the relevance of this book is made: Robert Bloch,  Ray Bradbury, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Richard Matheson, etc.. Yes: these are classic weird writers who have had success and whose work populates many of the "must read" lists of this genre. 

With that said, there is a lot in this book that doesn't seem relevant today, namely, advice on navigating the the road to publication: e.g. preparing a manuscript, locating an agent, market studies, etc.. I have another book coming for that: Booklife: Strategies and Survival Tips for the 21st Century Writer, by Jeff VanderMeer.

But there is a lot this book still has to offer, something that comes through in the introduction. Written by Robert Bloch, it is titled "How to Write Horribly for Fun and Profit." It offers some pretty good advice that he distills into one statement: 

"My primary advice to science-fiction writers and would-be writers is to evaluate story ideas objectively and write them up in whatever length is most effective" (8). 

I find this advice refreshing. Often times I wonder if what I'm writing is the most effective length. Frankly, I struggle with longer fiction because I rarely think my story idea necessitates a novelistic treatment. 

I've written short stories a brief as 3000 words and as long as 10,000 words. One of my short stories wouldn't end and crept up to 16,000 words. I'm currently engaged in writing what I intended to be a novella (my aim was 30,000 words) and I'm 10,000 words in and realize this is going to be much longer. 

The key, I think, is to at least have a plan for length before you begin. And also, that more often than not a story idea can sustain, at most, a short story form. Or less, a flash fiction.

I understand reservations and feel them myself.

The difficult thing about short fiction is its marketability. I get the impression the short fiction market is difficult to break into, though I believe current developments in e-publication and e-readers is making the writing, publication, and selling of short stories easier to do.

Because of their lack of marketability, I think folks are reluctant to write in and master the short stories; accordingly, they want to write novels. And this is because of market realities. And so the issue becomes, are you interested in marketability or aesthetics?

Bloch's advice is that aspiring writers should write their stories in the form they need to be written, market considerations aside. I find that really refreshing. It gives me license to say, "The hell with it. I'm writing a short story because that's the kind of treatment that conforms best to this premise." 

Until I'm confident I've become a good writer, aesthetic considerations trump market considerations. 

Brief Update: Original Flash Fiction with a Short Meditation on Hack Writing for Profit

I've been reluctant to post my work online. Why?

First off (this one is obvious), I'm not one of those writers who is very willing to share their writing for fear that it sucks.

Secondly, I'm not one of those writers who like to do a lot of work for nothing. I'm a mercenary. I'm a self-styled hack.

Don't get me wrong: I don't need a lot of payment for my work. Considering many of my favorite writers were pulp hacks, I romanticize getting paid crappily for spinning yarns.

And yet, I think payment validates artistic efforts. Unlike many literary artists who historically fear the market as a contaminate, I believe a modicum of profit motivation keeps writers "honest".

Blasphemy you say? Let me explain!

Off the top of my head I can think of two substantial justifications for why writing for money is good and productive:

1) The pleasure of the audience doesn't become wholly subordinate to the artistic vision of the writer. 


2) The writer must respect the fundamental "communicational" nature of language, its social utility; thus, "money-writers" are more reluctant to withdraw into solipsistic flights of subjective delirium. 

I don't mean for this to sound cynical nor do I mean to downplay the power Modernist aesthetics.

Forsaking the market and writing for themselves and themselves only was a move that Modernist writers made that produced some of the most stirring and enduring literary masterpieces.

My strange attempt to celebrate hack writing is not to denigrate pure literary art. That's not the point!

My point is to celebrate lowbrow writing that was written for cold, hard cash with specific markets, audiences, and, if you will, social needs in mind (being entertained is a social need, yes?)--writing that was puffed up to eek as much money out of a cents-per-word markets as possible!

I believe this kind of writing, in moments of intensity, effects a unique and profound type of beauty.

For many pulp writers making good art was concomitant with making a sale.


What does this have to do with the introduction of flash fiction to my blog?

Well--I feel less guilty leaving a 500 word short flash fiction on my digital front porch with nothing but the honor system protecting it than, say, a 10,000 word short story or a 30,000 word novella I've spent hours of my time and lots of my emotional energy on.

But I do feel compelled to share some of my fiction and would be honored if you glanced at it.

Some self-imposed rules: the fiction I release on this blog will be written for this blog and will not exceed 600 words in length. These fictions will be complete narratives--nothing unfinished will be posted. And they will be of diverse generic modes. I might try my hand at a science-fiction one month, a horror another, a fantasy another; I might do serials. I might do stand-alone narratives.

Here is the inaugrual one, a sword and sorcery about a rogue who assassinates a god-king with a sorcerer's demented trinkets: The Rogue and the Emerald Eyeballs.