Instead of going on about how much I didn't write this morning, I decided instead to talk about an author I first encountered a few years ago.  How I came upon the writing of Kristopher Reisz was a happy accident.  I was reviewing books for SFReader.com and one day a new selection of books arrived in my mail and among them was Reisz's debut Young Adult novel TRIPPING TO SOMEWHERE:



I read and reviewed it and afterward was still so impressed with not only the book, but with the author's talent as a writer that I tracked down his website and emailed him to tell him so.  I've always believed in paying credit where it's due, so when I read a particularly good book, I like to tell the author I thought so.  We struck up a conversation and, months later when his second book Unleashed was due to hit stores, he asked if I'd like to review it.  Hells yeah, I said.  And it was even better than the first book.

I can't say what it is about Reisz's novels that impress me so much, if it's anything in particular.  I suspect it's what all authors strive for, a combination of great story and believable characters under the umbrella of just plain old fashioned excellent prose.  I mean, what's not to like?  The thing that strikes me the oddest about his books is that he's writing Young Adult novels, but he's writing them for Adults.  At least, that's how it seems to me.  There's nothing "young" about these stories, other than the characters.  Certainly the situations and emotions flowing through his plots are all things adults can relate to, even if they take place in a high school.  So while his target audience might be my oldest son's age, Reisz is definitely not writing down to them, which is good.

I asked Reisz to say a few words himself, offering any information he could on upcoming projects:

"Despite nobody seeing it coming (including myself), Unleashed became a minor hit. So Simon Pulse has decided to give it a quick spit and polish and re-release it in trade paperback this June.

 

"My other project coming out this year is a short story collection called Quiet Haunts, which should come out around the same time as Unleashed. I'm releasing it myself as an ebook, and after going through the grind of getting two books published with a big publisher, it's wonderful to have so much control over a project. Right now I'm working with my friend Constance, who does these incredibly striking lino block prints, to illustrate it.

"Looking further down the road...

"I'm at the beginning of the end of writing my third novel. Right now it's called The Drowned Forest, and it's about Jane, whose best friend drowns in the Tennessee River and becomes a ghost. Jane has to help her friend move on while figuring out how to move on from the tragedy herself. I just sent it to my beta readers this morning. It's the first time anybody's read it besides me, and it's pretty nerve-wracking. But they're all smart folks, and I'll listen to any suggestions they have, fix as much as I can, then send it to the agent and publisher.

"Also, Simon Pulse has plans to re-release my Tripping to Somewhere next February. Again, this will be a trade paperback edition with a brand new cover. I'd also love to write a couple more short stories this year and a steampunk comic book-thing that's still very much on the drawing board. All-in-all, this is shaping up to be a very busy year for me."

Over the years I have read a TON of crap, and not all of it on purpose.  It's my opinion that, with the abudance of bad bad writing from amateur authors who haven't yet learned the rules of writing, much less when to break them, it's all the more important now to support great writing when we come across it.  Word of mouth is a powerful tool, so I just want to do my part in getting the word out about how good Kristopher Reisz's work is.

His characters are believable, his plots are interesting and exciting, and his writing is pretty flawless.  When I read his work, I don't feel like I'm watching some newbie more interested in publishing credits than in actually learning to write.  There is a definite learning curve to this thing, but with the plethora of small presses out there, way too many people who shouldn't be are getting published anyway.  But sometimes publishers get it right and the people with the talent wind up on the shelves.  Reisz is one of those instances.  And you should go out and get one, or both, of his books.

It's a tricky business modeling your super-hero or villain persona after an animal.  The question arises, how far do you take it?  Do you adopt only the name, or the name and attributes?  What about appearance?  I mean, if you're gonna be named after an animal, you have to have the visual, too.  There are times when this naming yourself after an animal totally works out.







And then there's the times it goes horribly horribly wrong.  Case in point, Marvel Comics' Razorback:



Arkansas native Buford Hollis (actually, I think with a name like Buford Hollis, telling people you're from Arkansas is probably redundant), came to New York City in order to save his sister from a religous cult, which he did with the aid of Spider-Man (one of the more successful animal-themed heroes).  Through a series of adventures, he eventually found himself in space, piloting the shuttle Star Blazer.  Oh, and he wears a giant boar's head on top of his own head, a device he apparently built himself.  The hood can be electrified, and it also adds over 2' to his overall height.  And it looks very incredibly stupid.

It should be noted here that the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe lists Hollis's intelligence as "normal", which begs the question what the hell passes for an average IQ in the Marvel Universe if regular folks are building things like this?  I sure couldn't do it, and I like to think I'm at LEAST of normal intelligence.

But back to the costume.  Even in the most comic booky of universes, it's going to take a special kind of person to wear something like this and not have his ass handed to him on a regular basis.  6'8", 410lbs, yeah, that sounds like about the right kind of person.  But realistically?  There's no way.  I mean, we don't even have to dissect this costume, it's apparent right away why this would never work in the real world.

Green jumpsuit with yellow accessories, sure that works--just barely--but that hood!  Sweet fancy Moses, man.  WHAT?



I don't know enough about Razorback--he was a product of the 70s, I believe, which wasn't just cruel to normal people in terms of fashion, but to comic book characters as well--but I can only begin to guess at what in the world has to happen in a man's life that prompts him to even consider one day maybe possibly thinking about getting the idea to eventually design and wear something like this.  And then there's the actual construction of the thing.  Don't you think some time during the fabrication of a giant electrified pig's head, your friends would stage an intervention?  Where was Jeff VanVonderen when Buford Hollis needed him?

I think mostly it's the artists I feel sorry for.  Hollis made his own costume, it's up to him to live with the consequences, the chuckles as he walks by, the calls of "soo-YYYYY" when he's trying to use a public bathroom.  You ever try to buy a Christmas ham dressed in a giant pig's head?  Buford Hollis has.

The artists, though, poor bastards.  Some guys get to research cool animals like snakes and hawks.  Razorback's artists have to visit the farm, study the SNOUT!



You can try and try, whatever scene, whatever pose, whatever threat you want to try and imagine to make it work, but at the end of the day, Buford Hollis, AKA Razorback, is wearing a giant pig's head.  And it's not okay.