The first book in the Tracker Trilogy, available November 6, 2019.
Two generations ago, Earth’s richest citizens—the Hoarders—seized control of the planet’s resources, retreated into their heavily guarded Enclaves, and left the rest of the population to fend for itself.
Until recently, when the Hoarders began to randomly implant people with a new kind of micro-technology, capable of converting their unsuspecting hosts into violent and deadly automatons. They also created the Trackers, chemically and mechanically enhanced creatures fanatically devoted to hunting down and killing anyone unlucky enough to have an Implant.
Amos Morgan and Aubrey Carter, together with a small band of fellow Runners, must unravel the mystery, racing against time before the Trackers discover them.
And before their own Implants change them into . . .
The Enclave’s walls are impenetrable, insulating society’s richest — the Hoarders — inside their protective barriers. Outside, the majority of humanity is left to survive as best they can.
Two generations later, the Hoarders began kidnapping and experimenting on those outside their walls. The Implants — micro-technology surgically forced on their unwitting victims — convert ordinary people into lethal time bombs waiting to activate.
Thomas and Sarah are on the run, narrowly eluding the Trackers, the sub-human killing machines programmed and deployed by the Hoarders to exterminate anyone with an Implant.
The young couple’s instinct for survival is second only to their determination to save their friends, victims of the Implants, from certain annihilation.
This isn’t what their first year of marriage was supposed to look like.
It’s a valuable piece of advice most of us have heard more than a few times. It also applies to the plethora of available “how-to” resources for writers—not all of whom agree with each other.
It’s a good idea for aspiring authors to read as many different voices as possible, but in the end, you’ll have to decide for yourself which ones qualify as meat and which are bones.
That’s why it’s difficult to say which books should be on an aspiring author’s “must-read” list. Every genre has its own unique personality, and what might make obvious sense in one may be incomprehensible gobble-dee-gook* in another.
*highly technical writer’s term
That being said, there are a few books which I’d suggest are indispensable, regardless of genre, sub-genre, and/or the unique and twisted personality of the would-be writer.
It’s worth its weight in gold, diamonds, and assorted other gemstones. Why? Because it will persuade grammar nazi’s (and editors) to put their long knives away.
The craft of story-telling as recounted by a true master of the skill.
Subtitled “a 21st Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story”, Le Guin’s book is a pleasure to read. The writing exercises she includes are a challenging and fun way to immediately put her recommendations into practice.
I’ve re-read this one several times. It’s just that good.
King includes his own journey as a writer, which is as entertaining a read as any of his works of fiction. Nuggets of wisdom are sprinkled throughout—including his famous (and oft-debated) axiom: ‘the road to hell is paved with adverbs’. In a word: inspirational.
I’ve read quite a few additional tomes on speculative fiction, world-creation, character arcs, dialogue, etc., but I keep coming back to these three.
That’s not to suggest I don’t “spit out the bones” at times (with the exception of Elements—ignore it at your peril), but any aspiring author should give these three books a permanent place of honor on their desk.
Creating characters who are genuinely interesting = putting in the time and energy it takes to write their “back story.”
Characters are like real people: they have likes, dislikes, hopes, anxieties, dreams and phobias. They have families, friends, and life experiences which shaped their thinking, beliefs, instincts, reactions, and motivations.
Real people are a wonderful, messy, walking mass of contradictions, and believable characters are the same.
One of the earliest and least-expected decisions I faced as an indie author was identifying a genre for Tracker (Book 1). I assumed the answer would be simplicity itself.
Well, duh. Sci-fi, Sherlock. It’s not rocket science. Yeah … except when some people hear “sci-fi,” what pops to mind is something resembling this pulp fiction-era artwork.
Um, well — ahem … Pulp fiction art is retro-cool, but it doesn’t adequately represent the wide range of stories in the genre.
Science fiction is a subcategory of what’s known as “speculative fiction.” Within the sci-fi genre itself, there are a surprising number of subgenres. And, to further muddy the waters, “cross-genre” writing is also alive and well.
A few weeks ago, I attended my first Creative Ink Festival for Writers and Readers in Burnaby BC. It was a packed weekend—sardine-worthy in terms of overflowing workshops and sessions.
As for the content of said workshops and sessions, it was a smorgasbord of inspiration, consternation, and passionate presenters who didn’t always agree with each other.
The wide range of opinions was both fun to observe and challenging to think upon.
Where do writers come up with their ideas? What fuels their creative inspiration?
We’ve all nodded with sympathetic understanding when someone reminds us: “10% inspiration, 90% perspiration.” But that doesn’t really address the question about the 10%, does it?
The answer could be as simple as think weird.
Or, to be more accurate, get used to looking at normal, every-day situations, and then asking yourself: “what if?”
In music, having “perfect pitch” means your ear is so finely attuned that you can pick out a single note and name it without fail.
It’s a great help when tuning a guitar, but when pop singers make a “style” of deliberately singing flat, it can be like fingernails on a blackboard.
When it comes to writing, there isn’t one—a perfect pitch, that is. Pitching a novel to an agent is trial and error. You, the author, are on trial, and you’re going to make errors. So, relax and enjoy the adrenaline.
Writing speculative fiction is not an exercise in chaos. Nor is it the literary equivalent of “throwing spaghetti against the wall and keeping what sticks.”
At the same time, this picture does feel strangely familiar. Especially when writing the first draft of a new novel.
The “rules” for writing speculative fiction are very much in the eye of the beholder. Yes, admittedly, there is a consistent body of wisdom setting broad parameters for the genre and its tropes. Yet even among the most successful authors, there is a wide range of strongly-held opinions.
I don’t remember how old I was when I chanced upon Ray Bradbury’s R is for Rocket in my school library (twelve, perhaps?), but I believe it was the first science fiction book I’d ever read.
My earliest interest in what is known as “speculative fiction” was sparked by television. The original Lost In Space TV series, for example, later reinforced by reruns of Star Trek (TOS).
I was already an avid reader as a child, but once I discovered sci-fi, I knew it was time to leave The Hardy Boys behind.
Junior and Senior high school saw my reading list expand greatly. Authors such as Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert, Douglas Adams, Ursula K. Le Guin, Lester Del Rey, Anne McCaffrey, George Orwell, Jules Verne and (naturally) J.R.R. Tolkien quickly became household names.
Early Speculative Fiction Exploration
One of the early gems I discovered was Aaron Wolfe’s Invasion. Wolfe turned out to be Dean Koontz, writing under a pseudonym. Invasion inspired me to begin writing my own stories.
The Laser Books imprint was curated by Roger Elwood, to whom I — as a naive 13-year-old — sent a sci-fi novella I’d written. He declined my submission (graciously). My very first rejection letter … I wish I’d kept it.
Andre Norton was also one of my early go-to favorites. A number of her books grace the shelves in my writing office to this day.
Ms. Norton’s ability to write on both sides of the sci-fi/fantasy genre, and to create complex worlds was remarkable and inspirational.
She invested time researching ancient cultures as background for her world-building. Never underestimate the value of anthropological and historical research when it comes to creating fictionalized societies.
The Circle Expands
Michael Crichton’s many books have joined Ms. Norton on my shelf. Crichton is an excellent example of “hard” science fiction (as is Asimov, Ben Bova and Canada’s Robert Sawyer): speculative stories set in the future but based on real science of today.
While Norton focused on anthropology, Crichton & Co. research the latest technological breakthroughs before crafting stories around them.
Fantasy continues to be represented by J.R.R. Tolkien, George R.R. Martin, Neil Gaiman, Brandon Sanderson, Fonda Lee, and Patrick Rothfuss’s on-again, off-again King-Killer Chronicles.
Supernatural thriller writers such as John Connolly, Jonas Saul, Dean Koontz, Stephen King, and an ever-evolving list of new authors round out my bookshelves.
For anyone wondering whether “speculative fiction” is a wide-ranging genre, replete with numerous sub-genres and infinite cross-genre permutations, look no further.
And while I enjoy reading books by Grisham, Ludlum, and Clancy, etc., speculative fiction will always hold a special place in my heart.
And bookshelf.
And imagination.
As Stephen King states in his worthy tome, On Writing:
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”
Hello. My name is Deven Kane, and this is my website.
The Elements of Style
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