Tuesday, February 27, 2007

7 pages out today. Wow, I feel pretty good about getting more than expected done.

After listening to the Luther Arkwright CD a few times and being immersed in a state of concentration I haven't had in a long time, the kind that gets you really deep into the right side of the brain and creatively charged like nobody's business, I went online to find more to listen to.

I was hunting specifically for audio dramas but ran into a lot of rambling podcasts about drama by people who could not start a session without saying how sorry they were it had taken so long to get a new 'cast out. Ugh.

I found an old time radio site and listened to a few episodes of the Shadow. There was a Dr Who audio fanfic that was scary awful (I could only take a couple of minutes before I had to switch off), another Falcon Banner thing that had better production values but sounded too much like Star Trek fic, couldn't get past the first episode.

And then I found a blog called This Writing Life set up by a new-ish author named Ian Hocking. He had recently published a book called Deja Vu, a techno thriller that had received some "critical acclaim" so I decided to listen to it, chapter by chapter posted on the blog.

And my god what an addictive story! It's the kind of sci-fi I really enjoy, set in the near future, dealing with emerging technologies and their implications. It reminded me of a cross between Wim Wender's Until the End of the World and Children of Men but less bleak.

It starts off a bit choppy, throwing you into the deep end of events without any kind of floatation device and then smooths out as you get to know more about the characters. The writing is stylistically elegant and engaging and it doesn't hurt that Mr. Hocking, who reads the book, has an easy-to-listen-to, velvety voice. It's perfect for work and very entertaining.

I'm at chapter 13 and am very, very hooked.

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