Then I saw "Iron Man 2," using a free pass my mom gave me last year that I had never gotten around to using, and afterward, I dropped by Barnes and Noble, where I picked up a compilation of Spider pulp novels reprinted by Baen under the title, Robot Titans of Gotham (with a cover by Steranko, woot!). On the discount rack for five bucks!
Just looking at the cover, I immediately felt that my too big, over-the-top novel climax was now too small. I've only read a couple of Spider novels by Norvell Page, lent to me by Sargon, and his words echo in my brain. That the novels are relentless. They never let up. I don't know if Satan's Murder Machines lives up to that Steranko cover, but that's what I want my book to live up to. And it occurred to me that it would be a cool trick if I could pull it off, to make what seems like the predictable climax happen in the second act, so that people can still be surprised when the story spins into unexpected territory.
I don't know if I can come up with an idea big enough, but that's what I'm shooting for. To have a first act where people say, "No way he would go that far," a second act where they say, "Holy shit, he did go that far, but look how many pages are left! WTF?" and a third act where all they can say is, "Dude!"
Corinne Bohrer doubts I can pull it off.
But Caroline Munro believes in me.
Corinne Bohrer can't believe I'm bringing in another imaginary kibitzer.
3 comments:
I want to read this book now.
Oh, man. I love everything I've heard you bring to OSFW. Can you point me to where I can read more of your stuff?
Off topic, but still awesome: Batman XXX Porn Parody. It is based off the '60s Batman show. They even kept the detail of the actor playing The Joker having a mustache under all that makeup. I tried ordering it off the official site, but they don't ship to Tulsa, apparently. D'oh! That's what Torrents are for, I suppose.
You want to read it? I want to read it.
Although a part of me worries that I may try to push too hard to have the biggest climax I can and end with a Roland Emmerich-style crapfest. But ideas are percolating, and I may actually be on the way to solving it, with the help of a character from a 20-year-old abandoned project who's been patiently waiting to be let out of his box. I think his time is coming.
As far as where to find more stuff I've written, not a lot is out there. A couple of stories in Baen's Universe, one story in Strange Horizons, one podcast on Escape Pod of Astromonkeys, teh Australian Daikaiju antho (link on this page) and Blue Falcon.
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