Sequels and Secrets

Here's the most difficult part about writing the companion novel to Eolyn: 

Every so often -- actually, more often than not -- I get very excited about something that just happened in the story, and I want to tell the world about it. 

I can't, of course.  Because these are the plot reveals and little details that will make the story rich and surprising for the reader, and as the author I have a moral (and commercial) obligation not to spoil that experience.  So I must bite my tongue, and sit patiently on all the delicious secrets of High Maga until the day you discover them for yourself and can let me know what you think. 

This is one of the reasons why I think I will always be a writer who needs to run in a pack; to have companion authors with whom to share the thrill of discovery involved in story telling.  People who can also help chart the course of the story, and tell me whether that 'brilliant' idea I just had really is brilliant, or whether it's a dud that would best be deleted before the larger public discovers just how bad a draft can be.  I'm very grateful to have companions in writing at the moment.  So thank you, Companions -- you know who you are -- for sharing the adventure.

I've been spending an inordinate number of weeks trying to figure out what Sir Drostan would do next, as part of a battle scene I'm crafting for the new novel.  Yesterday I had a chance to sit down with it again, and I think I am very very close to at last pulling all the threads together and making the scene work the way I want it to.  When I finish with Drostan, we'll be at about 105K for the current novel.  I'm estimating High Maga will wrap up at about 130K, though it may extend a shade longer than that.  If everything works out as planned, we will know by this summer.

Last week was a good week for Eolyn  on Amazon, as customers posted three more five-star reviews.  Here's what one of them had to say:

"It amazes me when I read a book that can transport me into a new world.  I loved this book...it was wonderful...delightful...exciting...I couldn't put it down and was surprised with the unpredictable ending.  I can only hope that there is continuation of the Eolyn saga!  PLEASE GIVE US MORE!"

What can I say?  It gives me a great feeling to read such positive feedback, and a lot of motivation to keep writing.

On Heroines of Fantasy this week, guest author Sandra McDonald picks up the topic started by Kim Vandervort last week, with her post Sensible Clothing for Heroines.  Please stop by to read and comment.

Also, remember Down to Earth 2012 is just around the corner, and Eolyn's birthday bash will follow soon after that. Stay tuned for more details.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you are in for a great week.

Season of Renewal

Crocuses provided the inspiration for "rose aethne",
a wildflower in Eolyn's world that is the first
to blossom in spring.

In my 2010 post Names in Eolyn, I talk at length about the origin of Eolyn's and Akmael's names.  Actually, the multiple origins, because like many good names, theirs were inspired by a couple different sources, and can be interpreted in a variety of ways.

In the untold backstory of the novel, Eolyn's mother Kaie chooses 'Eo-' in reference to one of the pagan names for spring equinox, 'Eostar'. Eolyn was born in the springtime, but Kaie was also expressing a hope that her daughter would bring a new 'springtime' -- a renewal of magic -- to her people.   So any time spring rolls around, I am reminded that this is Eolyn's season, one of color and renewed life, of warmer days and shorter nights.

Of course, spring is not all sunlight and butterflies.  In Kansas City, March is also a time of strong winds and violent storms; of unexpected freezes that can kill the new buds and strip delicate flowers from the trees.  Renewal is not always easy; sometimes achieving it involves overcoming great odds.  This is as true in life as it is in fiction; it is certainly true for Eolyn and Akmael.

I'm starting the final stretch now of High Maga, the companion novel to Eolyn, where our beloved maga continues her difficult struggle to restore magic -- particularly women's magic -- to the people of Moisehén.  Will she succeed?

Eolyn's powers are greater; experience has made her wiser.  But the challenges she faces are also much more intense, by a magnitude of order I would say, though I'm looking forward to hearing whether or not you agree when the novel is at last released, probably during the latter part of 2013.

Looking for something to do until then?  We've got some great activities coming up just around the corner. 

April 13th is Down to Earth, a meet-the-author event with Hadley Rille Books, hosted by Jayhawk Ink at the University of Kansas.  Participating authors will include James Gunn, Christopher McKitterick, M.C. Chambers, Eric T. Reynolds and me.  For more information, visit the Facebook event page for Down to Earth.

May is Eolyn's birthday month (for the novel, not the character).  We have some special surprises planned for the birthday celebration; make sure to stop by around mid-April to find out more.

At the end of May, Hadley Rille Books will host several events in and around the dates of ConQuest, Kansas City's own science fiction and fantasy convention, including signings at local bookstores and the launch of Terri-Lynne DeFino's new novel A Time Never Lived.  As dates and times firm up, I will be posting them right here. 

This week, author Kim Vandervort is up on Heroines of Fantasy with a fun post about short skirts and big swords.   Stop by for a read, and please let us know your thoughts.

Most of all, enjoy this season of renewal.  Walk in the rain, smell the flowers, watch a storm roll in, bask in the sun, fly a kite -- whatever you most want to do.

In the meantime, I'll keep writing...

LunaCon 2012

Lunacon Weekend has finally arrived!  New York's oldest science fiction and fantasy convention starts this Friday, March 16.  I'll be there the entire weekend, along with fellow Hadley Rille Books authors Terri-Lynne DeFino and Lawrence M. Schoen. Guests of Honor for Lunacon include John Ringo, Howard Tayler, Tamora Pierce, and Andy & Kristin Looney. 

I was very excited to learn this past weekend that I've been assigned to several panels and events.  Here's my schedule for the con:

Saturday, May 17

12:00pm -- Hadley Rille Books Authors Panel.  Terri-Lynne DeFino will also be on this panel, as will Hugo Award nominee Lawrence M. Schoen.  The panel will be in William Odelle, and we will follow up with an autograph session afterwards at 1:00pm in Westchester Assembly.

5:00pm -- Ecology of Fantasy Worlds.  I'll be moderating this panel discussion.  Our panelists will include Lawrence Kramer, John J. Pierce and Laura Anne Gilman.  Look for us in William Odelle.

7:00pm -- Reading.  I haven't decided what I'm going to read yet.  It may be an excerpt from Eolyn, or one of my short stories.  Or maybe I'll give a sneak preview of High Maga, the companion novel to Eolyn that is currently in the works.  Look for me in Bartell, and feel free to tell me what you'd like to hear!

Sunday, May 18

10:00am -- The Alternate Regency.  Okay, I admit I don't know what the focus of this panel will be.  Which means it's a good thing I'm not the one moderating.  But I'll be sitting at the table with something to say, along with Byron P. Connell, Meredith Schwartz, and Susan de Guardiola.  Look for us in Birch.

11:00am -- Creating Believable Fantasy Animals.  This one's mine, all mine, to moderate.  Bwahahahaha!  Panelists will include Keira Sokolowski, Robert J. Howe, and fellow Hadley Rille author Lawrence M. Schoen.  We'll be in Birch.

That's my schedule.  Other than these activities, I'll be attending as many panels and meeting as many people as I can, hopefully adding some excellent reads to my list, getting a few books autographed, and all and all finishing the weekend happier than I started it.

If you're planning to go to Lunacon, please stop by and say hi.  If you would like to view Terri-Lynne DeFino's schedule, it's available on our LunaCon Schedule Page at Heroines of Fantasy. 

Speaking of Heroines of Fantasy, I'm up this week with a post on tears and crying.  When and under what circumstances is crying acceptable for our fantasy heroes and heroines?  Stop by to read my take and please, share yours.  Here's the link:  No Woman No Cry.   Looking forward to seeing you there.

Welcome March, and Welcome Spring!



Pre-Launch for Eolyn at Avila University
April 2010

 I'd like to update you on a couple exciting events that are just around the corner. 

The weekend of March 16-18 is LunaCon, the 55th Annual Convention of the New York Science Fiction and Fantasy Society. 

This will be my first LunaCon ever, and I am very excited.  

Guests of Honor this year include John Ringo, Howard Taylor, Tamora Pierce and Andy & Kristin Looney.  I'm especially looking forward to seeing Tamora Pierce again, who was also the guest of honor last year at Kansas City's own ConQuest. 

At least two other Hadley Rille Books authors will be attending:  Hugo Award nominee Lawrence M. Schoen, author of Buffalito Destiny and Buffalito Contingency, and Terri-Lynne DeFino, author of Finder and the soon-to-be-released A Time Never Lived.  To find out more about LunaCon, please visit the LunaCon website.  If you are in the New York area that weekend, you must stop by to say hi!

On April 13, Hadley Rille Books will host Down To Earth 2012, a meet-the-author event at the University of Kansas Bookstore, Jayhawk Ink.  Several area authors who have published with Hadley Rille Books will attend, including James Gunn, Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master and Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas; Christopher McKitterick, Director of CSSF and author of Transcendence; and M.C. Chambers, author of Shapters' Veil.

The master of ceremonies will, of course, be the editor and founder of Hadley Rille Books, Eric T. Reynolds.

All of us will be available to answer questions about our work and sign copies of Hadley Rille Books novels and anthologies. As part of the event, Hadley Rille will launch its new anthology Aftermaths, featuring short stories set in possible futures unleashed by global climate change.  The activity starts at 4:00pm; if you're in the area, please stop by!

Last but not least:

May is Eolyn's Birthday Month!

We have planned some very special surprises and events leading up to the birthday celebration for Eolyn.  Please watch this blog, or subscribe to Eolyn's facebook page, for more information in the coming weeks.

This week on Heroines of Fantasy, our special guest is author Peadar O'Guilén.  Stop by to read his take on what fantasy readers want, and while you're at it, tell us what you want from the fantasy novels you read.  Looking forward to seeing you there.

Eternal Love, Eternal Pain



The Kansas City Ballet presents Romeo and Juliet.
Photo by Steve Wilson.

 The Kansas City Ballet's performance of Ib Andersen's Romeo and Juliet was spectacular. 

I have only one memory of seeing this ballet before last night; on TV when I was growing up. My most vivid image from that performance is Juliet begging her father not to marry her off to Paris. 

Funny how that was the one thing that stuck, when the ballet as a whole is so richly woven in all its scenes.  Last night we were treated to brilliantly choreographed sword fights, passionate love scenes, grand masquerades, and a host of characters whose personalities were extraordinarily vivid, an especially admirable achievement when one considers ballet dancers are never allowed to speak their character's thoughts.  Everything must be commmunicated by bodily action and facial expression.

Here's some fun trivia about the history of the ballet.  Back when composer Sergei Prokofiev was trying to sell his idea, first to the Kirov Ballet, then to the Bolshoi, no one wanted it.  Why?  Because dead people don't dance.  Without the two principle characters alive at the end, there could be no grand finale. 

Prokofiev refused to lose faith in his project, however.  He continued to perfect the score, and finally managed to convince the ballet company in Brno, Czechoslovakia, to take it on.  Romeo and Juliet premiered in 1938 with great success, and soon after ballet companies around the world -- including the Kirov and the Bolshoi -- were lining up for their chance to perform it. 

After all the different interpretations I've seen of this tale of doomed love, one would think I'd be 'over it' by now, that the ending would cease to invoke an emotional response.  Yet last night when the curtain went down on the third act, I had tears in my eyes again.

To be fair, it wasn't just the story that got to me.  I was moved by the exquisite work of those wonderful dancers, by the grandeur of the production and the beauty of the new Kauffman Center for Performing Arts, and by pride in my home town of Kansas City, which now boasts a world-class ballet that is loved and supported by its citizens.

I was thinking during the third act, as I watched Angelina Sansone's wonderful interpretation of the character of Juliet, about the immortality that we give to certain characters whose stories for whatever reason never fail to inspire us, generation after generation.  Juliet is one of these characters.  How many times each year is her presence invoked across the globe?  In Prokovief's beloved ballet, in high school and professional productions of Shakespeare's classic play, in replays of old and not-so-old movies, in modern derivations of the original tale, such as Bernstein's and Sondheim's West Side Story, which itself has been subject to countless interpretetations and re-interpretations.

What would Juliet say, if she could speak to us about this propensity to bring her back to life so many times, and in so many ways?

Would she thank us for this immortality, for having allowed her story to transcend death itself?

Or would she say, "Enough.  I have lived this joy and this pain too many times.  Let me rest.  Let me be at peace." 

This is one of the great paradoxes of story telling:  Characters are imagined, and yet they have a life of their own.  Every author has felt it; the tension between the power of one's own imagination and those frequent moments when one looks at what was just written and asks, "Now wait a minute.  Who's telling this story?" 

There is a great novel that captures this dynamic, Halide's Gift by Frances Kazan, a work of historical fiction about the life of Turkish author Halide Edibe. In Kazan's telling of the story, Halide is heiress to a long line of women who have had the gift of hearing the dead.  But Halide hears no one, and spends much of her life believing she did not inherit the gift, until she starts writing and realizes the stories of her characters are made possible by the voices of the dead. 

If Halide Edibe had been present when the Moscow theater manager rejected Prokofiev's ballet on the conviction that "Dead people don't dance," she might have argued otherwise. 

I cannot say from a literal perspective whether she would have been right. 
 
But figuratively speaking, the dead do indeed dance. 
 
They danced for us last night; and I am deeply grateful for the stories they told.

A Most Treasured Read

It's been a good week for reviews on Eolyn's Amazon page.  Three new reviews have been posted, all of them lengthy and detailed with respect to what worked and what did not work for them.  Coincidentally, each of the reviews posted this week also have some significant spoilers; so you may want to think twice before reading them through if you have not yet sat down with the novel.  In the meantime, here are some highlights:

Gastreich was able to weave recognizable bits of fairy tale, folklore and legend into the stories that surrounded Eolyn's childhood and education of her mystical inheritance. There's also a very strong thread of Feminism that runs through this book; and I mean that in an awesomely good way....The characters were so rich and intriguing, I absolutely loved them. 

-Trish Heinrich (3 stars)

The threads woven throughout "Eolyn" are not, as with most other books in this genre, neatly tied off and snipped, and they do not form a perfect tapestry depicting "Happily Ever After". Some of the most important characters in the story are portrayed as complex personae with ambiguous morality and hidden motivations that are never revealed. It is this aspect of the book that readers will find at once disturbing and disturbingly realistic...

I cannot recommend this book highly enough, and it has already earned a place on my "Most Treasured" shelf. It is in a class of its own, and I hope to read more soon from Karin Rita Gastreich.

-Yin Haan (5 stars)

As a reader, there are certain topics or themes I really like in a book, certain tropes I particularly love no matter how many times I encounter them. Eolyn has a great many of my favorite fantasy tropes....The thing that made this book a joy to read and not just another familiar, commonplace fantasy novel is that each of these tropes were thoughtfully and deftly handled by Gastreich, often tweaked in satisfying and unexpected ways, and not just invoked as trite clichés that don't offer anything new or interesting to a reader...

I especially appreciated the feminist themes and questions of this book, which echo real life themes and questions in our world. (And isn't that precisely what good speculative fiction should do?) In the context of this particular fantasy world, Gastreich comments on sexism, sexuality, autonomy and personal choices, work vs. relationships, our relationship to our bodies and the natural world, and more. Her romance between Eolyn and the Mage-King feels true in its messiness and difficulties, and not just like a stereotypical fairytale. 

-Julia Dvorin (5 stars)

Thank you Trish, Yin-Haan and Julia.  I am delighted that you enjoyed the read, and really appreciate you taking the time to write such thoughtful and detailed reviews.


In other news this week:

Author Terri Guiliano Long is hosting the celebration For the Love of Love on her blog.  Over forty authors are posting short vignettes about the experience of love.  The event started on February 14 and will continue through February 22; I will be posting on February 22.  Please stop by to read the different contributions.  You can vote for your favorite every day, and by doing so will be entered in a raffle to win some fun prizes.  More information is available at Terri Guiliano's blog.

On Heroines of Fantasy this week, we've been talking about heroes, and especially heroes in love.  Please stop by to read everyone's thoughts and to share yours.  As always, it's been a fun discussion.  I'm looking forward to seeing you there.

Wishing everyone a great weekend!

A Season for Love

Last night I purchased my tickets for the Kansas City Ballet production of Romeo and Juliet, opening at the Kauffmann Center for Performing Arts next week.  I haven't seen the ballet in years, and I don't believe I've ever had the opportunity to see it live.  I am very much looking forward to the performance.

Romeo and Juliet has me thinking, once again, about Epic Love, a topic I wrote about on this blog some time ago.  Epic Love continues to be one of the most visited posts on this site.  I may return to the topic of Epic Love next week on Heroines of Fantasy.  I would definitely like to write something about love; we'll see what the muse inspires.

In the mean time, this week on Heroines of Fantasy Terri-Lynne DeFino has invited us to rewrite the story of Valentine and his true love Adalaide.  I have to admit, we're off to a kind of rocky start.  Last time we did a group story, it worked out really well.  But this week everyone seems to have a different story in mind; and it's not always clear that any given set of phrases is following from what was written previously.  I'm going to blame this on a syndrome Costa Ricans would call malenamorado -- We must all be distracted, in a bad way, by love.  Please stop by and help us straighten out our love story.

Speaking of love-related events, I've been invited to participate in a celebration of love on the blog of Terri Giuliano.  From February 14th through the 22nd, more than forty authors will post on her site about various topics related to love.  Guests will share their thoughts on love and family, friends and animals; on passionate and contented love; on love of food, music, language and writing. I will be up with my own post on February 22.


Visit Terri Giuliano's “For the Love of Love” event to vote on your favorite posts and have a chance of winning a unique prize: one voter will be chosen to have a character named after them in Terri’s next book! Two runners up will also win signed copies of Terri Giuliano Long’s bestselling novel, In Leah’s Wake.

That's the news for the moment.  I hope you are all having a lovely week.