I’ve got most of the Grad stuff set up. I’m getting ready to do a live Ustream.tv show for Think Sideways grads, and I may do another for anybody who wants to show up.
I’ve been doodling on the “dreaming the dead” novel, and pulling together themes and concepts and characters. Nothing much on paper, yet—some clusters, some questions. I don’t like tying myself into any one thing until I start to understand what the story is going to be, and I’m not there yet. I’m not ready to look at The Sentence. I’m certainly not ready for plot cards, or for book math. Not yet.
But I have a pretty decent research library pulled together.
In no particular order, I’m using:
- Defying Empire: Trading with the Enemy in Colonial New York, by Thomas M. Truxes
- The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City, by Jennifer Toth
- Archeology: Unearthing the Mysteries of the Past, by Kate Santon
- Chronicle of the Roman Emperors: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Rulers of Imperial Rome, by Chris Scarre
- Alexander the Great, by Paul Cartledge
- Worlds at War: The 2500-Year Struggle Between East and West, by Anthony Pagden
- Handbook of Ancient Greek and Roman Coins, by Zander H. Klawans
- Frommer’s NYC Free & Dirt Cheap: 382 Free Events, Attractions, Classes & More
- Lonely Planet New York City: City Guide
- The Taste of Conquest: The Rise and Fall of Three Great Cities of Spice, by Michael Krondl
- The Killing of History: How Literary Critics and Social Theorists Are Murdering Our Past, by Keith Windschuttle
- How the Barbarian Invasions Shaped the Modern World, by Thomas Craughwell
- Born In Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry, by John J. Robinson
- The Creators: A History of Heroes of the Imagination, by Daniel J. Boorstin
- The Timetables of History: A Horizontal Linkage of People and Events, by Bernard Grun
- Ten Discoveries that Rewrote History, by Patrick Hunt Ph.D.
- Cave Canem: A Miscellany of Latin Words & Phrases, by Lorna Robinson
- Ancient Rome on Five Denarii A Day, by Philip Matyszak
- Ancient Mysteries, by Peter James & Nick Thorpe
- Ancient Inventions, by Peter James & Nick Thorpe
- 33 Questions About American History You’re Not Supposed to Ask, by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
No, it’s not a historical novel, or anything like it. It’ll be fantasy. Big Fat Fantasy, as dark and gritty (and I hope as occasionally funny) as Talyn or Hawkspar, but set in this world, and in our day.
No, I’m not going to read all of those before I start plotting, or before I start writing. I don’t work that way. I’ll dig as I go, the way I always do.
But I’ll use all those books, and probably more, to dig out the ideas, the characters, and the details and get the story right.
It feels good to finally be getting back to the rhythm of adding folks’ work to the shop, and doing the other things I haven’t done in a while.
Like posting here.
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