Audio Books:
As ‘Decayed Land’ and ‘Decayed Lust’ are ready to be submitted to Audible/Amazon, I will leave off proper introductions to the relevant YouTube videos. Suffice to say, the entirety of Taiwanese history and culture through the eyes and experiences of three generations of women from 1949 to 2003 (or so).
Novels:
The Future is Then
Currently, this space opera about settling far out in the galaxy spans three separate narratives, and covers a huge amount of thematic ground. If anything, I’m concerned that it covers too much. However, I dislike inefficiency in any kind of writing. So, I would imagine it would come out ‘normal book length’. This is the planned next project, so assume that most posts will be about this for the time being.
Needing
This is a romance novel, and, for those uninitiated into the genre, it can all seem rather samey. The trick is, therefore, when writing one, is to find a way to surprise, to present breathable and convincing stories. In most genre fiction, the focus is on the plot. Not so in romance fiction, particularly as the end result is often pretty obvious, at least on a basic plot level. The real point of a romance novel is how this end point is reached, the justifications for it to happen. This puts emotion far above most other things in the book. Wielded without skill, this can thus become unwieldy and ridiculous (Calm down, character! Calm down!) I’ve cheated and twisted the who-dunnit into a romance form, which will come out Who Will it Be? Most of the time in mixed romances, the end couple will be pretty obvious. With any luck, I can avoid that.
Love and Books
As I finished a thorough second draft of this book qute some time ago, I would say that this is the novel closest to publication. It masquerades, on the surface, as a kind of sarcastic romance, and can be enjoyed on that level. But, without being particularly obscure, I’ve tried to delve into the act of writing itself, and the literary mind. It also deals with the fact that, with SO MANY STORIES existing in the world, what right has this one to exist?
Musical Biography:
Geoff Poole: Man and Music
In pursuit of non-fiction, this musical biography will largely be made up of linked analyses of Geoff’s music. I will only cover biography lightly. This is the opposite of the standard method of writing about music, where writers tend to waffle about life stories, because people like stories. For me, music exists beyond standard narratives. It literally speaks its own language. As this is how I perceive music, so it is how I would right about it. Which is to say: music first. To me, Geoff’s music, more so than most others, reaches the kind of voice that I would like in my own music. And, since every proper composer deserves a book, and such music, which is for all people, not just ‘the initiated’, deserves to be written about, it falls on my to be the one to do it. Gulp.
Music:
Mural in Four Dimensions for solo piano
See composer page for description. Almost finished this one.
