Sam Sykes Answers Questions Five

Sam Sykes is a young debut author who has hit the SFF scene hard – right in the balls (sorry to be crass, but this is a Sam Sykes interview and it’s not for the faint of heart – or someone overly sensitive to language). And to add a bit of trivial info to this introduction – Sykes is actually a pen name that Sam uses in part to distinguish himself from his mother, writer Diana Gabaldon. Sam’s debut novel is Tome of the Undergates, the first book in the Aeon’s Gate Trilogy (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound, my review). Book 2, Black Halo (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound) should hit the shelves in 2011. Sam’s distinctive public persona is a breath of foul air in the world of SFF (and I mean this in the best way possible).

Thanks again to Sam for submitting himself to Questions Five (and for producing arguably the most entertaining entry in this interview series)!

Joe Hill, a magical pug, a Mexican, Joe Arpaio, and Lou Anders go on adventure seeking the Tome of the Underpants. How do things go?

“Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god,” Joe whines. Tears are in his eyes, blood is on his hands. It’s getting hard to keep track of the fluids.

“Shut up, just shut the fuck up,” Lou says. He’s wanting to rub his head, wanting that brief clarity of mind that only comes from hand-to-head-sans-hair contact. But he can’t take his hands off the wheel, not until they reach Mexico, not with a dead body in the trunk.

“Jesus fuck, Lou,” Joe says, “I killed him. I killed that guy.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“The fuck it wasn’t my fault! I said I was just going to talk to him!”

“Look, man, it’s not like you did too bad. It’s Joe Arpaio. He provoked you. You…you know…you’re kind of blameless.”

“Then why the fuck are we going to Mexico, huh? Why the fuck is he in the trunk?”

“I don’t know, dumbshit! Why the fuck did you kill him for having the same first name?”

“You don’t know what it’s like, man! You’re not a Joe. You don’t. Fucking. Know.”

“Gentlemen, please,” a voice, deep and bass, speaks up from the backseat.

Neither of them look back. Neither of them want to see the pug in the tuxedo. Neither of them want to believe it can talk, just like neither of them want to believe that those pills they took at the gas station were anything more than aspirin. But they look into the rear view window and the pug is still there, still talking, and it’s getting harder to believe anything else.

“Do I look like a young lady?” the pug asks. “Do I have curly golden hair? Do I wear a pretty little dress and dream of vampires instead of wearing this fine Armani and long for a day when I can put you both far behind me?”

“I guess not,” Joe says.

“Man, don’t fucking talk to it,” Lou snaps.

“No,” the pug says. “Because I am not a fucking little girl. I’m fucking more man than either of you little pieces of shit, so when I say to do something, you fucking do it like a man told you to, comprende?”

“Fuck is…is he Mexican?”

“Well, what the fuck do we do, then?” Lou asks. “You’re a fucking talking dog, what the hell do we do?”

A pug can’t smile. This is fact. But as they look up into the rear view, neither of them wants to believe that they see a pair of canine lips curling up into a broad grin.

“Have either of you heard, by chance…of the Tome of the Underpants?”

If Tome of the Undergates were a fortune cookie, what would its fortune be?

“Your god is deaf. Your heaven is a lie. Go to the water. Drink deeply. We will meet you there and we will all go to a world of endless blue and oblivion. Together.”

How would you interpret this fortune if it were your own?

Well, I guess I’d go drown myself. I mean, I’m not dumb. I’m not going to piss off a fortune cookie.

Please describe one reason Tome of the Undergates would inspire a reader to strip naked and run screaming into the forest?

If that reader is a fantasy reader: they would do so because the sheer amount of imagination would cause them to realize that nothing in life could possibly be as cool as a dragonman fighting a ten-foot-tall emaciated demon and the only way to live life to the fullest would be to go to that world and, going by the Terminator principle, one needs to strip naked and run around and hope for the best.

If that reader is a romance reader: they would realize that Tome of the Undergates’ awkward, often violent romance between two people who love and hate each other at the same time is probably closer to reality than anything read in a book and, not wanting to live in such a world, would go in search of the nearest bear and hope for an end to the misery.

If that reader is a horror reader: they would be moved by the idea of horrific beasts that view mankind as a pitiful thing in need of release from an uncaring world and view drowning as the quickest way toward a caring deity and, out of gratitude, would strip naked and run through a forest directly to my house to thank me.

If that reader is a guy named Stephen: you fucking owe me twelve bucks, you shit. If I catch you naked, I’m going to be pissed.

Why should Tome of the Undergates be the next thing that everyone reads?

Because it’s a new way of thinking: hateful people bound together by self-loathing instead of heroism, hateful people learning to overcome that and be bound together by something more…but not heroism, villains who are possibly more kind and loving than anything else on earth, character development taken in a way that can be sometimes hard to digest, but ultimately rewarding and engrossing.

Also, crotch-stomping. Oh, lord, the crotch-stomping.

Bonus question for inclusion in The SFF Literary Pub Crawl:

Please recommend a favorite pub or similar establishment – it doesn’t have to be local to you, but that is encouraged and if you can’t limit to just one, recommend more, but try to keep it to 3 or less. And don’t forget to say why it’s so great.

I love The Wine Loft in downtown Flagstaff. My hearing isn’t so great and I’m a man who hates the sight of other people having fun, so a bar with good beer, good wine and an atmosphere that doesn’t involve a bunch of people dancing to loud music is one I enjoy.

Also, the owner seems to like my dogs, so he must be a good person.

[For what it’s worth, this is my favorite place for drinks in Flagstaff as well]

Related Posts: Review of Tome of the Undergates

Review: Tome of the Undergates by Sam Sykes

Tome of the Undergates (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound) is the debut novel from Sam Sykes, a relatively young writer with a rather distinctive public persona. This tome combines classic Sword & Sorcery with a bit of epic fantasy while inverting the noble band of adventurers as is the first book of the Aeon’s Gate Trilogy. It’s violent, witty, foul-mouthed, and unpleasant – and depending on one’s perception, it’s either perfect or horribly wrong.

Tome of the Undergates could read like the standard Sword and Sorcery adventure quest – there is wizard, a priestess, a shict (elf equivalent), a dragonman (troll/orc/ogre equivalent), and a talented man all following an inspirational leader. That’s where it ends because this merry band of adventures hate one another – not in the we don’t really get a long way, but in the I want you to die a brutal death as I carve out your heart with a spoon kind of way. Most of the characters are morally reprehensible, all are greatly flawed with mysterious pasts full of violence, pain and punishment, and it’s really hard to figure out how they haven’t already killed each other. Under the leadership of Lenk, who is slowly going batshit insane, the band is bonded not by noble mission or even the desire for a big paycheck – the band is bound by their own self-loathing. The only thing the hate more than each other is probably themselves, so the company, however unpleasant, is actually better than the alternative of being alone. And at least together they seem to get the chance to kill a lot.

All of this is told in the distinctive, dark wit of Sykes’ writing. It’s funny, it’s snarky, it’s sarcastic, and it’s over the top. The only thing more over the top is probably the violence – typically described in visceral detail. The violence is in your face from the beginning – not quite gratuitous, but so close it becomes semantic. Let’s be honest – in this, Tome of the Undergates is something a 14 year old boy would love. Or someone with a sick sense of humor. Or someone who wants to read an extended Dungeons & Dragons campaign. But it would be a mistake to dismiss this book simply because one of those doesn’t apply to you.

Sykes displays strong potential with his writing. Under all of the over-the-top humor and violence, there is some real talent. The adventure is one that I couldn’t help but follow – I needed to see it through. I became strangely devoted to the characters in spite of their questionable morality, rampant racism (err….speciesism?), reprehensible ideas, repeated blasphemy, and awful love stories. I wanted them to live, I wanted them to win, I wanted to see them kill some more creepy beasts. And I wanted to know more about their pasts – why are they so devoted to Lenk, why don’t the kill each other even though they really want to, why do they hate themselves, why don’t they kill themselves. And in the moments when Sykes provides glimpses into their pasts, he excels. Sykes underscores this as the real point by continuing the story well past the climactic battle with his most impressive bit of writing, particularly the section from Gariath.

Unfortunately, the writing has a few more downs than ups. This is Sykes’ first book and as a relatively young writer (only 25 at publication) his youth and inexperience show through. The pacing is off – the battles are too drawn out, a bit too clever, and the dialogue can be equally drawn out and overly clever. The points of view tend to shift both gradually and abruptly without warning or break in the text (this is one of my biggest pet peeves). Many will feel the violence is too much, the language too coarse, and the characters too nasty (in fairness, I think a good many people will consider this a positive). He keeps his characters a bit too mysterious, unrealistically so. And this nearly 500-page book could be much shorter without losing anything. But ultimately, these issues diminished in the face of a fun story.

Some books aren’t for everyone, and that is certainly the case for Tome of the Undergates. However, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t for some people – it succeeds well within its goals. It’s a book full of violence, adventurers with questionable morals, nasty creatures, with an interesting out-right inversion of the noble quest. And really, that 14 year old boy who doesn’t like books (but likes comics and/or video games) just may think this is the coolest thing ever. I liked it – with reservations – but overall I think it’s a great start for a promising young writer (and in spite of what my wife may claim, I’m no 14 year old boy and I think this book will appeal to a wider, if still limited audience). 7/10

Related Posts: Sam Sykes Answers Questions Five

Full Disclosure: Sam Sykes lives in the same city I do and I have met him on a few occasions, including one in which he bought me a beer and introduced me to George R.R. Martin as we gossiped about writing, publishing and blogging.

Beyond One’s Comfort Zone

Against my better judgment, I agreed to participate in an experiment/provocation by author Sam Sykes that he calls The Bravest Challenge. I’ll let his own words explain the problem as he sees it:

If I have one complaint for reviewers, it’s that they occasionally tend to find their comfort zones and settle into them. As such, they start getting a little predictable. We start seeing certain blogs going into routines: they review the same books, they give the same scores and no one’s learning anything.

First, there is inspiration.

Then, there is stagnation.

The truth is that I can’t disagree with his sentiment. This is something that could be defined as a problem if you were so inclined. There are lots of reasons why blogger/fan reviewers fall into this trap, and I don’t really want to get into them here – that’s for a different time and place. In fact it’s a pretty regularly re-occurring discussion around the blogosphere.

So for Sam’s Bravest Challenge twelve blogger/fan reviewers have agreed to attempt to read a book that Sam selects for us that he feels is out of our comfort zone and to post a fair review of said book (as I define it, fair does not necessarily equal positive). On the whole it’s a good idea – challenge some willing schmucks to get out of their comfort zone.

Sam has announced his choices, and this is where I see a problem. Anyone who has followed this blog closely knows that I don’t shy away from expanding beyond my comfort zone, though admittedly it’s not something I do all that often. So, I was a bit anxious to see what Sam would come up with. I was expecting him to challenge me – I’m a rather liberal guy and I don’t hide that fact – so I was anticipating Sam to take square aim at that huge blind spot common to the vast majority of liberals: conservatives. I’ve railed against a few douche bag authors before (that tend to be authors who announce what I consider hateful conservatism on their soapbox), so this was the ‘assignment’ I was dreading. Something that I was sure to hate and disagree with rather than allow to challenge me – as with most, I am rather certain in my beliefs, which is not only big problem but a great source of hypocrisy as I denounce certainty in others. So, what does Sykes choose for me – again, I’ll let his own (flattering) words tell:

Ken, as we all know, is the epitome of the dignified fantasy reviewer: his tastes are refined, his mind is honed to a razor’s edge and his eyes are scrutinizing enough to pick parasites off krill. I’ve never read Arrows of the Queen (though I do like some of Lackey’s other stuff), but an associate of mine who wishes to remain nameless described it as: “Telepathic ponies that are your special BFF!!!! Oh-so-spunky and rebellious heroine! It’s every 12-year-old girl’s fantasy!“ Have fun, Ken.

So instead of throwing me to the likes of Orson Scott Card, Michael Crichton, John Ringo, John C. Wright, or Terry Goodkind (yes, he’s Objectivist rather than Conservative) Sam decides that I should read Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound).

I was relieved, dumbfounded and disappointed. Did Sam choose something beyond my comfort zone – probably. Arrows of the Queen does seem to fit a rather classic epic fantasy mold, and as a big reader of epic fantasy, that’s certainly not beyond my comfort zone. It is a book that would in modern marketing parlance fall into the YA category – while I don’t shy away from YA books, as an adult in my mid-30s, it’s not quite a ‘comfort zone’. I’ve also ranted against using YA as negative descriptor, so I don’t mean to imply that YA is bad, but YA that doesn’t aim to appeal to adults as well as the younger audience is not something I find appealing. I must stress that I have not read Arrows of the Queen (yet), so I am speculating here. The primary audience intended for Arrows of the Queen appears to be adolescent and pre-adolescent girls. Again, as a guy in my mid-30s, it does feel a bit like I’m a vegetarian who was just been recommended the extra-rare tenderloin as a nice meal. Yes, reading Arrows of the Queen may turn out to be different than anticipated and it may offer insight into what young girls are like (something I’ve certainly never understood, especially when I was an adolescent male). But, is this really an appropriate book for the challenge as it’s presented?

My gut reaction is that no, this isn’t really a good choice for a book. It’s one thing to suggest a book to challenge in some way, perhaps even a book that’s whole goal is to be that challenge. But to suggest a book that has a rather defined audience, a book meant to appeal to that audience and more or less disregard those beyond that audience (remember, I haven’t read Arrows of the Queen, so this may or may not be true of it), simply doesn’t seem appropriate. To be extreme, would it be a surprise that I would not enjoy the reading experience of The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound) or My Big Boy Potty (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound)? These are great books to share with my 2 year-old son, but not something I’m going to pick up and read for myself. Is my reading a book seemingly aimed at 12 year-old girls any different?

Or is the very fact that I don’t think this a good choice an indication of just how good of a choice it is?

I suppose we’ll see when I read Arrows of the Queen (don’t hold your breath, it’ll be a while).

What, good readers, do you think?

LepreCon 36: Or How I Lost My Con-Virginity and Met George R.R. Martin

Arizona is not one of those places that has lots of SFF-fandom related events. There are a couple of small, local cons but that’s about it. Big-name guests are uncommon and there isn’t much depth to rosters of participants. But this year was a bit different. LepreCon 36 featured George R.R. Martin as its Author Guest of Honor. He alone was enough to get me interested but it helped that the depth of participants was a bit greater than usual with authors like Sam Sykes, Melinda Snodgrass, Emma Bull, Will Shetterly, Michael Stackpole, and James A. Owen.

As the title of the post indicates, I have not been to a con before, so this was quite an experience. In my world it seems that socially I’m always meeting and hanging out with people that are pretty much in my same socio-economic ‘class’ and have similar socio-political beliefs. In other words: it’s comfortable. This con experience got me out of that comfort zone. Yes I knew a couple of people, but none well. I had met a few members of the Brotherhood Without Banners before and I had met Sam Sykes only a few days earlier, but none could properly be called true friends. There were the folks wearing medieval garments and talking chainmail and historic reenactments. There was a huge presence of pirates (where are the ninjas when you need them) a good many aging Trekkies, and the most inept staff at the registration desk (surely Trekkies should at least be able to type). The variety of others ranged from looking like they just came out of their mother’s basement to everyday-looking folks. Anyway, spending the day and into the evening socializing with such a different crowd will certainly stick with me for a while and I definitely had a (mostly) fun time. And I met several people who knew who I was through the blog – that’s always an exciting and humbling experience.

Unfortunately, events with the con that I wanted to attend were rather few in number. I attended a panel on pacing with Sam Sykes, Melinda Snodgrass and G. David Nordley. It was interesting and seemed to go well, though I don’t really have a baseline to compare it to. A bit after, Sam and I retired to the bar for a beer (thanks Sam!). We had a nice time largely spent gossiping about blogs, bloggers, publishers, etc. It was a fun conversation and I hope there will future gossip sessions over more beer. As we were approaching the end of our beer, George R.R. Martin came over and said hi. Sam introduced me and George was familiar with the blog (EXCELLENT!). A short conversation happened mostly about how surprised he was that the con was so small (only about 300 people) and then he moved on.

Sam left and then it was time for George to sign books. I had him sign all 9 that I had brought a long and chatted a bit more (there was no line). I was happy to see that he was freely telling people to come to the Brotherhood Without Banners party later that evening. I then went to see Emma Bull sing (she was Musical Guest of Honor rather than an author guest). It was fun. Later came George’s big panel where he was interviewed by a well prepared and well spoken host (I don’t know his name) and fielded questions from the audience – this went on for 2 hours. It was fun and informative – though as far as I could tell, nothing new was revealed. A Dance With Dragons (Book Depository, Powell’s, Indiebound) is ‘close’ to being done (as he has been saying for the past few months). I suppose a 2011 release is looking more and more likely, though I’d still not bet any real money on it. It sure sounds like George would love to have back that Afterword he wrote for A Feast For Crows (Book Depository, Powell’s, Indiebound).

Later that evening was the Brotherhood Without Boarders party (thanks again Watcher!). There was a keg, a decent assortment of hard alcohol and a beer wench to serve us – though he was a bit green and bosom-less. There were several other parties going on (those damn pirates) along the same hall, so much fun was had. George and Parris showed up a bit late (after their dinner) but immediately integrated. I had a few more fun conversations with George – he really is a very nice guy and very fan-friendly. Though I have to admit that his partner, Parris was the real hit (at least for me). She was very easy to talk with and such a pleasure. She spoke very enthusiastically about the HBO production (not revealing anything) and you can tell that both her and George absolutely love it. Alas, a bit after the naked scantily-clad, body-painted young women walked by I noticed it was way past my bedtime and said my goodbyes. I look forward to meeting both George and Parris again sometime (George of course said I should really consider going to a big convention like WorldCon – I just might).

Book Release Party: Sam Sykes

So last night I attended the book release party for debut author Sam Sykes at The Poisoned Pen bookstore in Scottsdale, Arizona. Sam’s book, Tome of the Undergates (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound), was just released in the UK and will be released in the US in September – so only UK editions were on hand (and they were a bit pricey at that). Due to the party being pre-US release and since the big(gest) local SFF convention LepreCon is this week and will also have a book release party event on Friday, it was an event with only modest attendance – mostly friends and family. Of course this made me the outsider.

Anyway, it was a fun time and I got to meet Sam and hold conversations with him for a while. Books were signed. A face was signed. The signing of other body parts was discussed (and thankfully for all present not executed). And for all those curious about the real Sam behind the crass internet persona – well, I met his mother. And I have two words – ‘Mama’s Boy’. Yes folks, you heard it here first, Sam with all his on-line personality is a Mama’s Boy. Just look at the photo – yes that is the ‘Tome of the Undercake’. A proud mother indeed. But before your opinion of Sam is crushed too much, I did hear him swear in front of his mother – Sam Sykes does indeed swear. (If you’re confused at this point, Sam’s Twitter name is @SamSykesSwears.)

Sam is well on his way into Book 2 (no title was given). He said that he has a full draft that he is now fine-tuning. It hasn't been turned in to his editor yet, so it's still a ways off, but at this rate hopefully it'll be on target for a 2011 release.

What’s Sam doing tonight? Having dinner with George R.R. Martin. Being a young debut author has its perks.

In all seriousness, it was fun little event that allowed me to get to know Sam a bit and support a local debut author.

Good Times for the Arizona SFF Fan

Living in Arizona I can say that we have few SFF events that I consider worth my time to attend. Even though Phoenix is one of the largest cities in the country, it’s a fly-over for most book tours, conventions are small, book fairs short on SFF authors, and there isn’t really a good bookstore that specializes in SFF books to attract events. The Poisoned Pen makes a reasonable effort, but its focus is mystery with only a handful of SFF events in a year. But, for Arizona SFF fans, times are good with a few upcoming events that I know I’ll try to attend.

First up on Wednesday, May 12th at The Poisoned Pen, there will be a book release party for Sam Sykes, whose debut book, Tome of the Undergates, was just released in the UK by Gollancz and will be released later this fall in the US from Pyr (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound). Only the import will be available, but come on out and support Sam – even if he will probably swear at you. I hope to be there.

This weekend starting on Thursday, May 13th and going through Sunday, May 16th will be the local SFF convention, LepreCon 36. While its focus is on SFF art, there is an impressive list of authors who will be in attendance – George R.R. Martin (Author Guest of Honor, Sam Sykes, Emma Bull (who is the Musical Guest of Honor), Melinda Snodgrass, Michael A. Stackpole and quite a few other authors that are local to the area and/or part of Martin’s Wild Cards team. And with Martin as the Author Guest of Honor, the local members of the Brotherhood Without Banners are planning fun, drinks, and the usual shenanigans. I will be at least some of these events – I’m just waiting on the con to finalize a schedule so I can coordinate with work and family and figure what I can attend.

And finally over Memorial weekend is the Phoenix Comicon from May 27-30th. This year they have an impressive line-up of the usual suspects for these sorts of events, including Stan Lee, Felicia day, James Marsters, Ray Park, Levar Burton, John Schneider, Wil Weaton, Mike McFarland, and many others. They also have author guests that include John Scalzi, Diana Gabaldon, Michael A. Stackpole, Sam Sykes, and others. I doubt I’ll make it to this one, but it sounds like a good time.

So, get out of the basement, support Arizona SFF events and have a good time!

Links to Stave Off….

It’s been a mix of a ‘blah’ kind of week and extremely hectic with lots of work to do. And I’m not finding near enough time to watch curling. Anyway, here are a few links.

As the picture shows, I got mail from Patrick Rothfuss – how cool is that? I won prize in for donating to his Heifer International Worldbuilder’s charity fundraiser, which raised nearly $200,000. I got a signed copy of The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound, my review) – free signed books are always cool, but I wish it were a book I didn’t already have. Not that I’m complaining.

SyFy is Time Magazine’s third worst corporate name change.

The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound) won’t be published in the US until Spring 2011 at the earliest – hopefully there’s still a chance of 2010 release for the UK.

A snarky interview with authors Blake Charlton and Gail Carriger.

I was mind-melded again at SFF Signal – this time about SFF TV shows that should be remade. I have no qualification for this at all, so I attempt humor.

Mark Charan Newton has an idea, a crazy idea. It’s an opportunity for writers to plagiarize remix his fiction. Personally, I’m holding out for Pride of Newton and Zombies – clearly a best-seller.

Author Sam Sykes interviews some bloggers (supposedly I’m in line – last I believe). An aside – what would you do if you found out that this guy lives in the same area as you?

And last, since I am a geologist and landslides are cool…