Almost... but not quite!

Steampunk is fashionable, these days. And this book had almost all the characteristics to make it a champion of the genre. I actually rescued it from the non-genre part of the bookstore, and indeed it  almost had the literary qualities to be shelved there. It reminded me a lot of Susanne Clarke (the main character, Edward Moon, really feels like a clone of Mr. Norrell). And indeed, the atmosphere of the book has almost the charm of the Jonathan Strange saga. The characters are almost as quirky as in a Gaiman book (and indeed the Prefects are totally lifted from Neverwhere, of which the Somnambulist unfortunately lacks the wit. Finally the grandiose underlying conspiracy, and the gothic details are almost as pictoresque as in any Adéle Blanc-Sec graphic novel.

Don't get me wrong: I almost had a lot of fun reading this one :)
Also cited, for anyone interested:

In other news and information

My story, Fatebook has been chosen to be one of the finalists at the Match-that-Artwork AnthologyBuilder contest. The finalists names have been now posted. It'd be a great Christmas gift to be the winner, but being one of the finalists is already pretty cool. Below the image that inspired the story.

Meanwhile I'm slowly (very slowly) dragging my feet through the first few chapters of the NaNoWriMo novel, Forgotten Sons (working title). Looking for the right voice, wrestling with words, seeking the vein to tap to get it to flow...

NaNoWriMo & Christmas

While according to the calendar, half month is now officially shot, the count still stands at a solid and round zero. I was glad however to discover that the story that delayed my NaNoWriMo start has been selected as "recommended" at the Spec the Halls Christmas Story contest.

Also, as of today I finally have an outline for the first novel of the Forgotten Children saga, the very one I should be writing this month. Sure, the outline still has enormous holes, with words like "rescue" or "something horrible happens" that takes the place of entire chapters. But even a safety net is full of holes, and I finally feel I can start to swing on the trapeze. Wooooh, the view is really scary from up here!