Happy New Year! - My Top Ten Books Of 2015

Well, it’s just ahead of us. I’m talking about 2016, of course. In fact, in just nine hours (here on the United States’ east coast, anyway), we’ll be toasting 2015 out and welcoming 2016 in. So, before I go no, let me say Happy New Year! I wish you a healthy, happy and successful 2016. 

This is also the time of year when all the various Top Ten lists come out in magazines, newspapers, entertainment and news shows and, of course, blogs. Not wanting to be left behind, as I do every year, here is my Top Ten list of books from 2015. Well, they’re the top ten of the books that I read in 2015 so some of them may have been published in previous years.  Anyway, here they are. Maybe you read some of them this past year too.

1. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami. Translated by Philip Gabriel. Vintage Paperback, 2015 (First published in 2013)

2. Monkey King, volume 19: Masters and Disciples by Wei Dong Chen, Chao Peng (illustrator). JR Comic, 2012.

3. The Stranger by Harlan Coben. Dutton Hardcover, 2015.

4. The Wicked Will Rise (Dorothy Must Die #2) by Danielle Paige. Harper Collins, 2015.

5. Saints (Boxers &Saints #2) by Gene Luen Yang. First Second Paperback, 2013.

6. Boxers (Boxers &Saints #1) by Gene Luen Yang. First Second Paperback, 2013.

7. The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri. Vintage Paperback, 2014.

8. Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña. G. P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, 2015.

9. Tina’s Mouth: An Existential Comic Dairy by Keshni Kashyap, Mark Araki (illustrator). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Hardcover, 2012.

10. 1Q84 (1Q84 #1-3) by Haruki Murakami. Knopf ebook, 2011.

Honourable Mentions: The Young Elites (The Young Elites #1) by Marie Lu, Star Wars: Aftermath by Chuck Wendig, We Are In A Book by Mo Willems, Guardian (Proxy #2) by Alex London

Review: Proxy by Alex London

In a word, Alex London's Proxy is 'lux.'

I didn't know anything about Proxy when I first saw it at Barnes and Noble. The YA sci-fi dystopian was in its own display rack, adjacent to the other teen and YA books, and its shiny cover, with mirror image faces, like when you look into a brook, and catchy one word title caught my attention. So, I walked over and grabbed a copy. Then I flipped it over to read the book blurb but what I found was not the book blurb but, probably something more influential. (When I was growing up, book blurbs seemed always to be on the back cover. Nowadays, with hardbacks anyway, sometimes they're on the front flap.) My instinct to turn to the back, then, wasn't fluke or happenstance. What I found was advance praise from two authors who are among my favourites; authors who've been very supportive of my own work and one of them is someone I've  studied under - Marie Lu (Legend, Prodigy) and Matt de la Peña (Ball Don't Lie, Mexican WhiteBoy, The Living). Seeing their endorsements of Mr. London's Proxy was enough for me to buy the book and, once I turned the final page, I am (not surprisingly) glad to report that both endorsements are spot on.

In a future  where the rich have everything and the poor much less of it - strikingly similar to our world in 2013 - the rich have the additional luxury of having their debts and punishments satisfied by someone else. Hence the title. But as things come to a head that even Knox, one of the book's protagonists - the rich one - can't simply turn the other way and let the system run as it normally does, he decides to help his proxy, Syd, escape from one destiny to fulfill another. Accompanying them is Marie, another affluent member of society, who has her own set of reasons to flee the city for the outskirts of a deserted wasteland in search of the rebel group known as The Rebooters. Pursued by Knox's powerful father on one side and underground mercenaries, The Maes, on the other Syd, Knox and Marie undergo a breathtaking, twist-turning series of adventures that sets the stage for volume two in the series. For those of you of a certain age and who enjoyed the movie Logan's Run, reading Proxy made me, on more than one occasion, think about the 1970s sci-fi thriller. I emailed Mr. London and asked if the movie had served as any kind of inspiration. He replied by telling me it hadn't, since he hadn't seen it, although he did say he may need to watch it since I wasn't the first one to bring up this similarity. Publisher's Weekly did so in its review. 

Proxy is a fast read, with its exciting storyline and (gentle) slap in the face twists. Mr. London deftly executes page turning excitement with efficient, yet, illustrative sentences and relatively short chapters; the average being about 10-12 pages long. One of the passages that stuck out for me the moment I read it and echoed in my head every time a Guardian appeared happens on page 174. As Syd and Knox begin their escape, one of The Guardians, the police force who are genetically manipulated to be strong, fast, single-minded in their approach and gorgeous to look at, pursues the two boys. Mr. London describes her pursuit like this: "She moved with  the easy grace of practiced violence. She was built to catch them. This was her nature." 

In addition to the action, Mr. London sends each character on arcs that happen naturally. Nothing in Proxy feels forced and the way he weaves in the dynamic of teenagers getting to know one another, in spite of the life-threatening circumstances surrounding them, possesses something natural that further pulls you into their story. In a word, Mr. London's starring characters -Syd, Knox, Marie - are believable and because of that you feel for them and you root for them.

In his endorsement on the back cover, Mr. de la Peña uses the word "groundbreaking" and, indeed, Proxy is. There are certain traits about each character that we don't often see - at least not obviously and/or with main characters - in other popular YA fiction. Additionally, Mr. London appears to have made a blatant decision to diversify in the ethnicities of his characters and the trappings of his novel. Yet, he does this without stereotype or alienation. There is nothing token about Mr. London's work. Yiddish plays a big part in the novel. Marie's father's name is Dr. Xiao Alvarez. There is a (secondary) major character with dreadlocks. Syd is described as having darker skin. One of the teachers in Syd's school is Indian and so too might be Mr. Baram, Syd's friend and employer; although with what you'll learn about him, he could be Israeli or Jewish. Moreover, while you can identify who the bad guys are and who the good guys are, each character is complex in that they all show traits and reactions from both sides of the right/wrong spectrum. 

I didn't know, when I finished reading Proxy, if it was a standalone novel or the first in a series. After reading the final sentence, I hoped it was a standalone. I say that ironically, though, as I am currently writing the first book in two different series. Obviously, I don't have anything against a book series. However, the ending of Proxy is so powerful that I liked the idea of  the reader having to think about and decide for him or herself what happens to the characters and the world in which they live. Such is the skill with which Mr. London writes, however, because the ending deftly leaves itself open to being continued while, at the same time, the entire story could end where it does without leaving the reader dissatisfied.

Even though I hoped Proxy, based on its ending, was a standalone, I am very much looking forward to reading the Guardian, book two in the series. If you're fan of of Ms. Lu's Prodigy, Veronica Roth's Divergent and, of course, Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, as I am, once you've read Proxy, you'll be adding Alex London to your list of favourite authors. 

Reading When You're Writing - Good or Bad?

As a writer, naturally, I read. In fact, I'm one of those people who read several books at a time; reading twenty to thirty minutes a day from each book. Currently, I'm reading Dumpling Days by Grace Lin, Chosen by Denise Grover Swank, The Collective by Don Lee, and Inheritance by Christopher Paolini. I'd read more - books and minutes per day - but the realities of life don't prevent that from happening. Recently, though, I listened to an interview in which the author being questioned said that she doesn't read much when she's writing. She didn't say it exactly but she intimated that she's too involved in her writing that she just doesn't think about reading and she doesn't want to be influenced by what she might be reading.

I've often felt that way, too, but I don't think I could stop reading when I'm writing. And, in which stage of writing would I not be reading? The two - reading and writing - just belong together. Every writer is unique in how he or she approaches the books he or she is writing. Some of us outline while others don't. Of those of us who do, the way we do it differs greatly.

My work-in-progress is a YA, Asian-American fantasy series. As I worked on the first draft of the first book, I read Catching Fire and Insurgent, among other books. I'd read The Hunger Games and Divergent and I already wanted to find out what happens in each series so I was going to read Catching Fire and Insurgent, anyway, but I figured reading them as I was writing the first draft of Sage Of Heaven would help put me into a YA mindset. But, did they just put me into a YA mindset or was I influenced by them? I already had an idea of where the second and following books were going in Sage but I made a drastic decision as I came closer to finishing my draft. The change - switching the series' protagonist from one of the male characters to one of the female characters - makes the story more complex and interesting (for reasons other than the gender change) but, how much, subconsciously, was I influenced to do that because the protags in Catching Fire and Insurgent are girls?

In the last two years of writing Back Kicks And Broken Promises (which took almost ten years to write), I'd met, was taking workshops led by and read books by Matt de le Peña. Taking a pass at some of the passages in my debut novel, and at the risk of sound self-congratulatory, I think there are some parts that have a similar flow and tone as some of Matt's books. If you read Back Kicks and Matt's books - Ball Don't Lie, Mexican WhiteBoy, We Were Here - the subject matter is similarly themed. I was drawn to Matt's books for two reasons: he was the instructor of the first fiction class I took so I wanted to see if I'd like his work AND his books, with a male protagonist who's trying to sort out his place in this world, validated my own. Matt's stories come to us through a Mexican-American/Latino eye while mine are through an Asian-American lens.

I suspect the author who was interviewed in the podcast avoids reading other novels while writing either during the first draft/creation stage of her novels or until she submits a completed manuscript to her editor, agent or publisher. At that point, the work is out of her hands (although is a book, even after being published, ever out of a writer's head?) so she may have the time and intellectual and emotional freedom to sink into someone else's piece of fiction.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm reading Inheritance, the concluding volume in Christopher Paolini's series that started with Eragon. I bought it in 2011, when it came out, but at 800-plus pages, for me, it's an exercise in perseverance to finish it. I want to know how the series concludes so I will finish it but I'm extra motivated to finish it now because it's a fantasy story with dragons and wizards and Sage Of Heaven is also a fantasy story. The vehicles through which their stories are told are very different but they're in the same genre so Inheritance, while hopefully being entertaining, may offer me some insight into fantasy writing.

So, what is best? Or, is this another one of those things that's really different for every writer; one way working for some, another way working for others, and neither working for the rest? Should we, writers, read while we're creating and, if so, should we read in the genre of what we're writing in or a different one?

Katniss meets June in Dystopian Crossover Book

Okay, so there isn’t one; at least not that I know of, anyway. Crossovers, though, are the subject of this blog post and wouldn't a Katniss and June meeting be really interesting?

Generally, I’m not a big fan of mixing things up in books and movies but when two comic book heroes or two TV shows join forces for an episode or two, or even a series of episodes, it can sometimes lead to entertaining and intelligent reading or viewing.

I remember in the late 1970s/early 1980s there were a Superman/Spiderman crossover and a couple of Marvel/DC crossovers. In the 1990s, shows of similar genre had characters jump from one show to another - and I’m not talking about characters who were on one show, are now the star of their own show and returns for a guest stint on the original show. I think there were a couple of Law & Order crossovers with The Practice. Personally, I wanted to see a Chicago Hope/ER crossover.

Literature, I don’t think, really lends itself to such things because the protagonist in a book is so deeply involved with everything that’s happening on and between the pages of his or her own book that to mix in another protagonist with his or her own depth can be a major challenge to reconcile. It’s harder still, I think if one character is written through a different POV (third vs. first person, for example) and voice (conversational vs. formal, for example) than the other.

However, as I read The Hunger Games, with its strong teenage female lead, and, having recently read and loved Legend, that also has a strong teenage female lead, I was hit with the following thought: what would happen if Katniss and June met? I don’t have an answer. I haven’t read Catching Fire or Mockingjay and I’ve done a good job of steering clear of spoilers and I don’t know what Marie Lu has in mind for June (or Day, the male protagonist in Legend) in books two and three of her dystopian series. Maybe Katniss and June both die and there’s no way for them to meet. Or, a la the Star Wars books, they could meet in a book that regales events that happen somewhere in between their own stories.

Thinking about this, however, made me wonder of other possible crossover pairings. Perhaps, Holden Caulfield, Salinger’s frustrated east coast teen, could meet up with one of Matt de la Peña’s many soul-searching Mexican-Americans on the west coast. Or, Don Lee’s cast of characters from Wrack & Ruin could run into Miles and Jack from Sideways. Or, Once A Runner protagonist, Quenton Cassidy, could (literally) run into Jean Patrick Nkuba from Naomi Benaron’s Running the Rift. Now that I’m on a roll, perhaps, it can be done. The ideas and shenanigans that these characters could get into and the morality tales they could present are spinning tornado-like in my head.

But, these were what I came up with. Do you have any of your own? Do share and, even though it’s early, Happy Easter, Passover and whatever else is being celebrated this time of year.

Social Media And Books Making A Connection

Social media. That’s what sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook are called. However, while professionals do market their talents and products on Facebook and people do make actual friends via Twitter and LinkedIn, I dare say that Facebook is probably the one that is the most social. Social, to me, connotes a sense of personal and not professional. However, and this is going to sound contradictory, it is often through those personal connections that professional ones develop.

A week ago, I was in my local bookstore on a Saturday with my wife and son and I was hoping to catch the person who I think is the owner. I’d e-mailed him earlier in the week, announcing the upcoming release of my novel, Back Kicks And Broken Promises, and I asked if carrying my book is something he’d been interested in doing. I explained that I reside locally, that I teach in the middle school down the block and that my book is set in New Jersey. He replied with interest in carrying my book and that, perhaps, we could arrange a reading.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t there but, being a lover of books, we browsed and checked out what was new. My son sat in the children’s section and flicked through some picture books. My wife checked out the new YA books, which she’s completely into after reading the Twilight series twice and devouring The Hunger Games series in a matter of days. I checked out the fiction sections.

As I perused the shelves and displays, I noticed a poster advertising that Naomi Benaron was going to do a reading from her new book, Running The Rift, this coming Saturday. I picked up the book, about a Rwandan boy who takes up running during the height of ethnic tensions in the 1990s and how his running helps him come to terms with his own identity. I’m also a runner so I was instantly interested in Naomi’s book. My own novel deals with identity issues so I was drawn to Running The Rift for that reason as well. In 1996, I wrote a science fiction screenplay, that got some agent interest, called Aliens Among Us, Part I: Discovery. The central theme of the script is racial tolerance and ethnic cleansing. With that as its theme and having written it in the 1990s, Naomi’s novel really seemed to be calling to me on a very personal level.

My wife bought me the book and I began it immediately. It’s a wonderfully written book with exciting running segments, a main character I wish I could meet in real life and revelations of what was going on in Rwanda during the 1990s. I’m still speeding through it but I was extra motivated to finish it in time for the reading. I also found Naomi on Facebook and sent her a message letting her know that I’m enjoying her book and that I was looking forward to the reading. She replied and, unfortunately, she’s had to cancel the reading due to illness. There is another reading on Monday, February 13, in Brooklyn but I don’t think I’ll be able to get there.

We exchanged a couple of messages. She told me to introduce myself if I am able to attend and she also wished me luck with my novel and my running. About my novel, she also asked for its title so that she could pick it up. That just made my day and, in a way, my entire writing career so far. I've had Twitter chats, albeit brief ones, with Lisa See and Marie Lu and Cindy Pon, all established writers. I also know Matt de la Peña, who I regard as a writing mentor, and he endorsed my novel. As a writer, part of me feels that I should take her request in stride but Naomi’s an award winning author and her book’s gotten all sorts of praise so, for someone of that stature to ask for the title of my book so she can go pick it up, I can’t help from feeling excited. It’s like Kobe Bryant asking someone who plays pick-up basketball on the weekends to play with him and share a thing or two about the game. It’s the equivalent of Chuck Norris asking me to go to his school and teach his martial arts classes.

I guess, what I’m saying is that there is definite value in connecting through social media. Most of you reading this already know that, owning your own Twitter and Facebook accounts in addition to websites dedicated to your novels and such. I’ve never met Naomi Benaron and I can’t profess to being able to call her a friend but we are fellow writers doing something we both love while trying to earn a living - or part of a living - doing it. I feel that through the simple and personal message I sent her, as a new fan of her work, I’ve also managed to make a professional connection of some kind.

So, for those of you who are unsure about getting into Twitter and Facebook and whatever else is out there, don’t be. Yes, idiots and hackers can send you all sorts of stupid - usually pornography - links and they can get into your accounts. Just be vigilant about changing your password and login settings and don’t put anything up that you don’t want anyone to see. Really, if a hacker wants to get in they will. They’re merely the dark side to the light of those people who write the security programs to block them. Most people I know - myself included - have been victims or know someone who’s been a victim but, in the end, things are restored and fixed.

The benefits, though, are worth it. I’ve made a professional contact with a well-regarded author through Facebook. On Twitter, I’m now a part of a large community of writers, indie and traditionally published, who support each other’s endeavours. With my novel about to come out, that’s particularly important. Beyond that, I get some love and validation and support for what I’m trying to do and for those times when it becomes overwhelming to do it. You’ve got nothing to lose. Give it a shot and if you don’t like it, just like at the party whose lights have flicked ‘last call’ and the kegs are drying up, you can always leave.

For me, I’m sticking around for a while. And, who knows? Some of my online friends and connections may even become real ones.