I've had some early, positive responses to "Unearthed." Having moved on to other projects, I'd forgotten everything that went into that story, so it's gratifying to hear from readers who appreciate the tale. Such reactions provide me with both a sense of a readership (beyond myself) and encouragement to do even better on the next component of the "Old Man" stories.
That next story, "Absolute Zero," follows the events of "Helping Them Take the Old Man Down" by several years. I'm hoping to have a complete, if tentative, draft by summer's end.
Here's a wildly glowing review of "Unearthed" by Canadian author (and television extra!) Andrew Salmon: http://allpulp.blogspot.com/2012/07/guest-review-salmon-reviews-prestons.html
12 comments:
I look forward to the next stories!
Me too! (But how FAR forward?? It had better not take me too long!)
Hi William,
Just read "Unearthed" and absolutely loved it. I just starting to read it again now because I got greedy and wanted to know what was going to happen, so I read through it too quickly. Got to go back and savor it a bit more slowly now.
Dear Anonymous,
I'm glad to hear the story was both a page-turner and something worth rereading. Truly, that's my aim, to provide a story that's a fun ride as well as worth a good reader's attention.
Thanks for taking the time to send me a note.
Cheers,
Bill
Bill, I'm three quarters into it and just sent "Asimov" a gushing fan letter about your work. You have accomplished what the genre needed: You have captured the essence of pulp with a literary approach that modern readers expect. I wish we could get you a book deal (if that's what you wanted). You are the torchbearer. In fact, you may have introduced a new genre. Literary pulp? Neo-pulp?
Anyway, thanks!
Matt Hiebert
Thanks for your enthusiastic response, Matt. Much appreciated. (And thanks, too, for the note to Asimov's.) I'll keep plugging away at whatever-the-heck-it-is-I'm-doing.
Bill
I just wrote an article for Jay Ryan's Big Book of Bronze about Doc's physical development. I was going to focus on Pilates (largely to agitate the fans), but then discovered it was introduced after his formative childhood years and so I focused on George Hebert's methods. Now that you've introduced Contrology, I may revise and add some details of Pilates early work. Deadlines over but Jay may give me a few more days.
Why would Pilates have troubled the fans?
I hadn't known about Contrology until doing the research for this story. What a great name, eh? Its creation gave me a nice historical touchstone for that element of the character.
The thing is, if you're really writing about Doc, I suppose you have to follow whatever nuggets of history and chronology are considered canonical. As I keep telling people, my guy isn't Doc (as should be especially clear in the biographical elements introduced in this story), so I don't feel bound to check my details against some established canon.
Pilates: just because I think they'd feel it's an exercise targeted toward women. Although I've tried them. Incredibly difficult.
Yes, I stretch canon considerably in the article, certainly straying into Wold Newton territory. Dent's exercises only touched on a kind of isometrics and I didn't find that satisfying for the feats of strength Doc could perform. I felt his exercises would be targeted to train him to be an "adventurer."
And I do I have to remember that Little Boss/TOM aren't the guy Dent wrote about. Sorry about that.
>Pilates: just because I think they'd feel it's an exercise targeted toward women.
That's funny, I've never perceived them that way. And I've done some rudimentary Pilates as well (we had someone at school here train some of us a few years back). Good stuff.
>And I do I have to remember that Little Boss/TOM aren't the guy Dent wrote about. Sorry about that.
No worry: I just didn't want you to assume something from my character could be conveniently pulled over into Doc territory when it's likely
WAY off. I certainly don't mind readers conflating the two characters, but I try to reinforce a tension in which you have to keep my character in mind even as you're recognizing elements of the existing character. At least, that's how I try to juggle it myself.
I recently read "Unearthed" and *finally* posted my comments about it.
Bravo!
Hurrah! I've been awaiting your thoughts. It's great to hear that you enjoyed it.
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