Soundtracks To Write By #3

Some tracks can’t wait to get to their bombastic fanfares. Some are playful and full of character. There are some pieces that hold their cards to their chest, building slowly and ascending with emotional range. The two tracks that follow fall into that final category. They are brave in their early restraint and their movements subtly affecting. Both pieces have vertiginous climaxes that are well worth the wait. Each puts the listener at the centre of this intensity and significance: certainly a fertile and inspirational place for a writer to be.

Both tracks are by the excellent Hans Zimmer. The first is called Journey To The Line from the soundtrack to the equally excellent film, The Thin Red Line. The second is simply called Time from the climax to the brilliant Inception. Enjoy.



Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse

I had a strange conversation on the way home. One of my sons had seen a post-apocalyptic children’s programme where all the adults in the world had disappeared. This led into a conversation in which he asked me what he should do in the event of some kind of apocalyptic event, if he were similarly left on his own. Before I knew it we had been talking for some time on the subject of where best to head, preferred modes of transport, avoiding mobs of survivors, what to do about water, where to find food while everyone else is rioting in the supermarket aisles etc. It was an interesting conversation. His questions were serious and my answers – after some initial light-heartedness – were increasingly serious also. This reminded me of an article I had read about the Centre for Disease Control issuing advice regarding what to do in a Zombie Apocalypse. I’d initially thought that it was a joke. Apparently not. There is indeed a page on the CDC website devoted to this subject. So, if you are worried about what to do during a Zombie Apocalypse (I don’t mean selecting a baseball bat over a chainsaw or the 357. Magnum over the pump-action) and need a plan, you could do a lot worse than taking the advice of Rear Admiral Ali S. Khan, MD and Assistant Surgeon General, who leads the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response (OPHPR). He’s thought it through and you should too!

http://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/2011/05/preparedness-101-zombie-apocalypse/

Soundtracks To Write By #2


Does art imitate life or does life imitate art? I don’t know. I know Oscar Wilde had a fairly definite position on the issue. No sooner have I initiated the ‘Soundtracks to Write By’ blog entries than Heresy Online joins the movement. I’m going to have to agree with Bane of Kings at Heresy that the Eleventh Doctor’s tune is pretty damn special. Here it is. Life reflecting art reflecting life back at itself. What do you think of that, Oscar? Talking of life and art, Oscar Wilde would have made an excellent Doctor.

For Services To The Blog

Double blog entry today. A big thanks to Aaron Spuler who helped me out with some minor but important alterations to the blog. The site looks classier for it and I should have done them myself. Image is important in this game. Brother Spuler nominated for the Iron Halo for services rendered to the Blog. Now that Aaron and I have bonded over the fires of website design features, I am going to send the gentleman a friend request on Facebook. We have colour schemes to discuss!

A Thousand Words

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, so I’ll go easy on the old lexis and let the images do the talking. This is the cover art work for my novel Atlas Infernal by the excellent Stef Kopinski. You can enjoy more of his stunning work here. This is the full, un-cropped illustration without the design features and title. In the piece we get to see Inquisitor Bronislaw Czevak getting to grips with a daemon world denizen. Click on the image to see more of its warped and gorgeous detail.

Soundtracks To Write By #1

I lead a busy life in a busy house. I don’t have the luxury of a writer’s retreat – a cabin in the woods or a cottage on an isolated island. I do have a shed, like Roald Dahl, but it’s full of junk. In such circumstances a pair of headphones can help to create an enclosed space. Any music can provide a barrier. When I’m writing I tend to favour choices that stir the emotions. Some are bombastic pieces, some delicate and atmospheric, some quirky and exciting. They provide a creative ambiance – a wall of sound against which the mind’s eye can be projected.

I listen to a range of pieces at any one time – the vast majority coming from cinematic soundtracks. The great thing about soundtracks is that they already have drama and emotion written into their movements. I’d like to share some of my favourites - not in any particular order - from time to time and encourage others to indulge in the magic of individual tracks. Also, good films can have lousy tracks and awful films can be blessed with some excellent music. For me the tracks exist in isolation: I like the films to which some tracks belong and dislike others. The first is the soundtrack suite from the film Apollo 13 by James Horner.

Electronic Shoeboxing

Like sportspeople and actors, writers try to keep track of reportage and responses to their works / performances. They cut out reviews from magazines and profiles / interviews from newspapers and keep them in a folder or shoebox. The internet complicates this rather old-fashioned process, simply because of the sheer number of responses there might be to a particular text on any one day. It is also difficult to cut responses out of the internet. It occurred to me that this blog might be an appropriate place to set up an ‘Electronic Shoebox’ – a place where relevant snippets can be stored and enjoyed.

Like many Black Library writers I am a sporadic haunter of discussion boards and forums relating to speculative fiction and the specific setting / sub-genre in which I write. Heresy Online is one such hang out, where a range of opinions - both positive and negative - are exchanged in relation to Black Library books. Forums are a mixed bag for all writers. There are no authors, BL or otherwise, that receive universally good or bad feedback on such sites. Apart from the ‘Ask the Author’ section at the Black Library Bolt Hole, I tend not to intrude on such conversations (largely due to time constraints), but in fairness, I know authors that do and enjoy debating the merits of specific opinions with friendly forumites. The best thing about discussion boards for any writer, regardless of their genre, is the almost immediate nature of feedback. Before the advent and popularity of the internet, writers and publishing companies had much less of an idea regarding the specifics of what their readers thought and wanted.

Anyway, I digress. Here is a review from Heresy Online on Age of Darkness – the Horus Heresy anthology in which my short story The Iron Within can be found. I’ve reproduced the snippet regarding The Iron Within below but the remainder of the review, detailing responses to all the fantastic stories contained within Age of Darkness can be found here.


“The Iron Within – Rob Sanders

Finally, Iron Warriors!! We have waited long enough (I’m a fan as you can see). This story addresses the loyalties of the Iron Warriors left to garrison the compliant planets, and how they view their now traitorous primarch. The stage is set for an awesome siege with a fortress of unusual characteristics. The main Warsmith is brilliantly portrayed (having been a victim of the Hrud campaign), and the devious tactics he has up his sleeve provide an outstanding climax.

A ten out of ten for Rob Sanders, I hope much more from him going forward."

Never Let Me Go


Last week I checked out a film called Never Let Me Go. It is a British science-fiction film by Mark Romanek, starring Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield. There were three big pulls for me with this movie. First, it is a British science-fiction film and these are so rare that they are worthy of attention for that reason alone. That said, the respectable Monsters - which I previously reviewed – also falls into that category. Secondly, the film is based on the novel of the same name by Booker prize winning author Kazuo Ishiguro. Thirdly, it was adapted for screen by Alex Garland, writer of Sunshine and 28 Days Later.

For those who have not read the book or seen the film I won’t give away the central conceit, but I will say that it shares science fiction ground with many other films examining the same issues. The visual style was completely fitting in its suggestion of period / British drabness and I thought that the acting was excellent from the three leads. Their delivery was understated, yet effective – even in Keira Knightley’s case – but it was really Carey Mulligan that did a great deal with very little.

The most striking aspect of the film for me was the way in which the protagonists accepted their fate. I know in my head that this is an exceptionally brave decision for both Ishiguro and Garland in being so faithful to the book’s ending. So frequently in cinema – and science fiction films – the protagonists rebel against their designated fate and do everything in their power to resist the consequences of compliance. In Never Let Me Go the emotional landscape is determined not by highs of escape or the fears of fighting back against the system. The undulations are a great deal more subtle: love lost; the agony of isolation; the burden of loneliness and not knowing your place in the world. I wanted the characters to throw off the chains of eventuality and break free. When the story went in another - and looking back, entirely logical direction - I did feel the emotional absence of the fight and the heart-thumping satisfaction of escape. It is difficult to tell if this is a failing in the film or simply what I was intended to feel. I suspect the latter and for this reason it is an excellent, heart-wrenching and fitting conclusion. This was perfect for the novel and very restrained for Garland, but there is a reason why I hankered for characters I had grown to like to resist their fate. There is a reason why so many science fiction films dealing in similar subject matter are obliged to indulge their protagonists’ desires to battle the system. They all, in their own way, represent the irrepressibility of the human spirit. Frustratingly – and perhaps intentionally so – the human spirit and the desire to survive, seems to be demonstrated by everyone else living in Never Let Me Go's universe but – with the exception of a few minor rebellions and fantasies - not in the novel’s main characters.

If you are looking for some Saturday night, high-octane, science-fiction-actioner then you shouldn’t pick up Never Let Me Go. It is a film of ideas, excellent acting and subtlety. Its science-fiction conceit is not a peripheral concern and runs straight through the story’s heart but will probably leave audiences with an appetite for high-budget, CGI, American sci-fi severely wanting. Approached with appropriate expectations, most will find it a brave and engaging film.

Atlas Infernal... at-last

I was doing so well...

I blame this one on my day job. Exam / coursework season just blitzed me. I am intensely jealous of some my Black Library colleagues, who only have to worry about hitting their own deadlines. I have to worry about my own and a couple of hundred students as well. Oh well, exam season is over but at the time I simply couldn’t keep the plates respectively called ‘full time job’, ‘Legion of the Damned' and ‘blogging’ all spinning at the same time. Unfortunately one had to take a back seat (more like it had to be gagged, tranquilized and dumped unconscious in the boot) and that one was the blog. I also have an apology to make over at The Black Library Bolthole, where my questions have been piling up unanswered.

Anyway, I’m glad to be back. I’d like to kick off with my second novel, Atlas Infernal - that was released while I was off air and has been getting some great feedback. If you haven’t checked it out yet, can I encourage you to do one of four things: you could read an extract from the novel here; you could read a review of Atlas Infernal from the good people at The Founding Fields here; you could read a second review of Atlas Infernal from more good people at The Founding Fields here; or you could click on the link opposite and buy the novel in its entirety (rather than simply teasing yourself with extracts and reviews). That’s enough about Atlas Infernal now: lots more on it later.

I intend to get back to the kind of blogging regularity I enjoyed earlier in the year – but don’t hold me to it. : ) Thanks for the kind comments in my absence.