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Review – Book 2 of Embracing Entropy

You know what I never do? Review a book. Mostly, it’s because I generally suck at it. I want to say things like: Read it, you’ll like it. That’s not a review. I’m also one of those jerks that usually gives books I like 4-stars, with a few exceptions. I mean, like, Harry Potter, yeah, 5 stars, but most everything else I like – 4 stars. It’s just how I think. As a writer, I know nobody wants to see that, they want to see 5 stars. With that in mind, I read a book over the weekend that I want to talk about. Yes, I gave it 4 stars, and I like it and think you should read it. The book I want to talk about is a novella, Wish for survival, by Jessica Marie Baumgartner. It’s really the middle part of a trilogy of novellas that have been turned into a book Embracing Entropy which was released today (03/15/2016). I haven’t finished the 3rd book, yet.

I did a couple of brief reviews on Goodreads and Amazon, about the book itself, to be honest, these reviews are only a little bit more informative than: read it, you’ll like it. I’m not going to directly re-hash those because this blog is supposed to be about writing, and one really interesting thing about this book is the writing itself. Don’t get me wrong, the story is good too, and if you want to read it for just the joy of reading a good book, do that.

First off, it’s in first person present tense. If I were forced at gunpoint, or knife point, or just asked politely to choose a single piece of writing advice to dole out it would probably be: “Don’t ever, ever, ever write a book in first person present tense”. However, and this is truly interesting, Jessica M. Baumgartner pulls it off. It works. Why does it work? I don’t know for 100% sure, but I’ve got an opinion, but first another observation. The book isn’t just a series of events that builds to a climax where, against all odds, the hero pulls off a win. I mean, it is that, that’s what books do, but what I’m trying to say is that it’s from a completely different angle. It’s for this reason, I think, that it works. So what is the angle?

As a reader, you experience events through the ‘right now’ emotion of it more than a description of events that have already occurred. Thinking about first-person past tense, I’d argue that the focus on emotion wouldn’t be nearly so complete and might even be a little distracting. This style gives the flow a slightly clipped, raw feel, where the reader is bouncing through the emotions of the main character, it’s a bit like each event being a slightly larger wave crashing into the reader.

In spite of the unusual approach, the story is engaging and doesn’t prove a difficult read, it reads quite as well as anything else. As with so many cleverly constructed books, I did find myself stopping to ask: “What about…?” This happened to me when I read the Martian. For the first pat of the book, I found myself being not super impressed, until I realized that the writer was being intentional and, in fact, it was all very well done.

For most of us (writers), having a reader stop to ask a question is a bad sign. You don’t want that. In this case, I think that’s the point, perhaps not intentionally, I don’t know, but the reader isn’t meant to know the answers to a lot of questions. The main character doesn’t know the answers to the questions we’re asking, she’s asking the same questions, or would be if there weren’t more important things to think about. We’re supposed to be experiencing her part of the story through her feelings and the narrow band of what she can see. By the end of the book, I reached the point where I realize that the questions I was asking myself: Why are the bad guys attacking? What do they look like? What sorts of weapons are they using? didn’t matter. What really mattered was what the main character was feeling, the immediate need to resolve the right now concerns. Who cares about the motivations of the bad guys when a close friend might be dead? Does it matter what they look like if there’s no future for the children? That’s what is important in the moment, not motivations or the mechanics of the enemy weaponry.

See that? It’s the right now that’s important, and that’s why this story could pull off the first-person present tense, and actually, in order to have the same impact and feel, it almost has to be written from this perspective. We as readers are meant to be standing in the moment where we’re blind to so many of the events going on outside the direct sight of the main character.

So, from that perspective, I’d recommend reading this one. Not just because the story is solid, but because the execution of the story is unique and compelling.

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We’re too young for this nonsense.

Before I start here, I just want to say that this is not a writing blog post. It’s a little more personal than that, but it’s an interesting story and not the sort of story you can make up, so I’m going to toss it out there.

Yesterday, while I was at work, I learned that an old friend from college had passed away suddenly in her sleep. I’m 37 and she was 36. This sort of thing just doesn’t happen to people of our age, does it? I mean, when I’m in my 80s, well yeah, that shit is going to happen. It does when you get old. It still sucks, but it’s also a part of life, it’s just not something you expect when you’re in your mid 30s. My friends are still having kids for crying out loud.

When I first read the texts I thought it was maybe another famous person. It didn’t register that it should be the person that I had known by that name. Nope. It was one in the same. Now, I wasn’t close friends with her, and neither was my wife. We hung out, had coffee and chatted – the usual stuff you do in college. My wife’s history with her went back further into high school. Now, none of this alone is so poignant or significant. After all, we live in a sparsely populated state. The saying runs something like: If you don’t know someone, you know someone that does. To wit, I once visited former Governor Bill Scheffield’s house to help him with a computer problem, and attended a funeral with former governor Tony Knowles, I even once attended a 4th of July parade where I was obligated to shake Sarah Palin’s hand, and had her dad as a substitute teacher more than once. So, to know someone who has passed away is not, in and of itself, an unusual thing here. What makes this so absolutely disturbing is the following story:

Before my wife and I started dating, at the age of 19, she was trying to get my attention. She stalked me, invited me up to her room to check out her Christmas lights, and asked a friend and I to join her for dinner. I’m an idiot, and so none of this really struck me as interested. What finally did it was the Symphony. I was at dinner with the young woman that would some-day be my wife and her friend. They were chatting comfortably and I was in a stupor of exhaustion due to some very intense and competitive nights stealing wooden pallets from teams in other dormitories for our annual bonfire party (we won that year BTW). Anyhow, my someday wife’s friend turned to her and said, I can’t make it to the symphony this weekend, sorry. My someday wife turned to me without missing a beat and asked ‘I have an extra ticket, do you want to go?’ Naturally, I assumed that I was only being asked in order to use up a spare ticket. When my someday-wife arrived to pick me up, she was wearing a dress. In retrospect, this was not a shot across the bow, but a full broad-side. I only know this because getting my wife into a dress these days requires an assurance of a $300 romantic night on the town. Even then, it’s a debate. In any case, the symphony date was the first of many and here we are nearly 20 years later. That, however, is not the point of the story. What is the point of the story is that the woman who died in her sleep yesterday was the very same who had given up her ticket in what I was, and still am, sure was one of the best wing-woman plays of all time.

How is it that the young-woman who helped get my wife and I together could end up dead in her sleep? I don’t know, it doesn’t make sense, and I know that’s life, it’s full of those sorts of things. I still don’t have to like it though do I? Anyhow, I know you’re not around to hear it anymore, but thanks Katie, you bailed on your friend at precisely the right moment in our lives once, I just wish I’d thought to say so sooner.

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Siblinghood of the World Blogger award

siblinghood-of-the-world-award

Thanks to Jessica M. Baumgartner (jessicamariebaumgartner.com), I’ve been nominated for the sibling of the world blogger award. Before I go an answer the questions though, go and check out her book By the Stars. There’s another one coming out pretty soon.

1. What do you like to eat when writing?

Carrots. Carrots and whiskey. Especially Alaska (Mat-Su valley) carrots and scotch. That’s what I’m doing right now.

2. If you could be any monster, which would you be?

Sully from Monster’s inc. He’s big and friendly with broad shoulders, nice teeth, and a shiny coat. That would make me feel super-good about myself.

3. Do you find that the psychological effects of writing warp reality at times?

Yes, sometimes and only when I get really into it. Most of things I’m working on now are tongue-in-cheek kinds of things and so the whole point is warped reality so it gives me a bit of distance from what’s going on. Reading actually tends to warp my reality more. Crime and Punishment made me feel like I was losing my mind.

4. Blanket, hoodie, or robe? (You can only choose one)

Hoodie!

5. What do you hate most about editing?

The part where I have to do editing. It sucks, necessary, yes, but still a pain.

6. What do you love most about the writing process?

Making shit up. I love the fact that there is a legitimate way you can daydream on paper and let other people in on it, without being a total weirdo. I mean think about it. I’m fantasizing about some romantic interlude, scratching that down on paper and then someone reads it, maybe even likes it – and somehow that’s not weird.

7. Caterpillars or butterflies?

Caterpillars are way creepier than butterflies. The whole thing is bizarre though. A worm that turns into a flying insect. The only thing stranger is the tadpole frog situation. It’s almost alien.

8. What are your thoughts on the possibility that the characters you create could be real on some plane of existence?

For the sake of my characters, I hope not, but the universe is a bizarre place and I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if one of my characters was trying to write me as a character in a book (a book that would suck, BTW.)

9. When sending work out for critiques how do you cope with waiting?

Whisky and more writing. It’s the only path. If I get feedback, that’s great-even if it’s tough. If not, that means the work really extra sucked, and that’s not awesome.

10. How do you celebrate when your work gets published?

I’ve never been, so I’ve never had occasion. I’ve been co-author on a lot of technical papers on subsistence in Alaska, which is cool, but it’s just work, so no celebration. If I did get one of my stories published though, I would celebrate with whiskey and more writing. It’s the only path.

Now, it’s time to pass along the joy of the blog award nomination. These awards are great because they allow us to connect and give us an excuse to talk about ourselves. So, here are my nominations:

Matt Bowes (pontiuscominius.wordpress.com)

Gabriel Penn (officialgabrielpenn.wordpress.com)

Emily Russel (pisscoffeeandvinegar.wordpress.com)

May B. B. (http://maybbooks.com/)

Tarquin Carlin (blogofmanycolours.wordpress.com)

Jeff Baumgartner (jbaumgartner13.wordpress.com)

I know I should have more, so if you feel like you’ve been left out, assume you’ve been nominated and feel free to berate me for not officially nominating you. If you’ve been nominated, just answer these questions and pass along the nomination with your own questions.

  1. Do you agree with Scully or Mulder, why?
  2. If you could write an episode for a TV show, which one would it be?
  3. How much time do you spend writing?
  4. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
  5. Why do you love/hate Star Wars?
  6. Do you have an elevator pitch for your work in progress (WIP), what is it?
  7. What’s your opinion of the #7?
  8. What was the last book you finished reading?
  9. What was the book that got you interested in reading?
  10. Why do you blog?

There are my 10 painless questions. Answer and send this along to some other bloggers!