First, an awesomely detailed interview with Kelly Meding–from where Metawars came from to her favorite comic book heroes (and she has taste). Second, my review–and as can be expected, Trance got an A. I should know A material; I’m a teacher. ;)
Where did the Metawars world come from? What research did you have to do?
The earliest ideas for MetaWars actually began when I was a teenager. I’d always know the main superheroes, but around the age of twelve I became obsessed with comic books, and with one particular series. It wasn’t until high school that I entertained ideas of being a writer, so I kept a notebook of ideas and sketches for my own team of superheroes. I still have it and use it for current notes, and it’s fun to look back at the earliest incarnations of these characters. Fast-forward to around 2006-ish, and I was searching for a novel series idea. I’d just discovered urban fantasy, but I didn’t really want to write about the same things everyone else was writing about in that genre. So I figured why not superheroes? The series didn’t sell for a few more years, but that’s how it began.
Most of my research involved maps. I’ve been to both New York City and Los Angeles, so it was easy to set action in those places, but I still needed to double-check details. GoogleMaps Street View is an amazing research tool.
Not too many adjustments, actually. I wrote both Trance and Changeling before I ever even wrote Three Days to Dead, so the adjustment went the other way. Dreg City is darker and more gritty than MetaWars (even though MetaWars has its fair share of darkness and drama). The thing I love most about Dreg City is that this is Evy’s story. She’s the narrator, and we’re experiencing her life and her emotional journey along with her. MetaWars has shifting narrators–it changes with every book–but I adore the series because, hey, superpowers! And it lets me play with comic book tropes a little bit, just like I play with UF tropes in Dreg City.
One of my favorite comic series is “The New Teen Titans” that began its run in 1980. I love team comics, and this one rocks. The one thing I remember most is how the powers of each team member complimented the others, and/or was unique from the others. I wanted my characters to have a variety of powers, not only so I could have fun with them, but so that them being a successful and winning team made sense. Some of their powers are familiar, sure. Marco is an animal shape shifter. Renee can stretch her body into crazy contortions. Ethan controls the wind. William has super-strength.
Gage was particularly hard. In my original notes, he didn’t even have powers, and then my world-building required that he did, so it took some consideration. I liked giving him hyper-senses, because it isn’t a physically dramatic power, like Teresa’s power-balls. It’s a more subtle power, but no less useful. Teresa’s power came from the needs of the story–she had to be the one gifted with crazy, powerful abilities, which would thrust her into an unwanted leadership position. I fine-tuned exactly what her limitations were, but she was kind of easy. And Specter? What’s creepier than a villain who doesn’t even have to be near you to affect you, get into your brain, and make you kill? Having a villain like that was fun, because it kept readers guessing about the bad guy all the way until the end. But it was also difficult, but I had to keep coming up with reasons for why he was toying with the Rangers, instead of killing them outright.
Fun times. :)
Who is your favorite character from Trance? Would you want her powers? Would you want anyone’s? Do you have a favorite superhero outside of Metawars?
My favorite MetaWars character is Ethan Swift. He has a good-sized role in Trance, gets to do a lot more in Changeling, and then book three is his book. Ethan is the friend everyone wants to have at their back. He is smart, funny, incredibly loyal, and he would give you his coat in a snowstorm. He’s also got some personal drama that will begin to surface a bit in the next book. And yes, I would absolutely want his powers. Who wouldn’t want to be able to fly? I also wouldn’t mind having little Caleb’s powers; I’ve always been fascinated by telekinesis.
Outside of MetaWars, two of my favorite superheroes are Donna Troy and Dick Grayson, in whatever guise they are fighting crime. I fell in love with both of them in “The New Teen Titans,” and I just adore their friendship. Granted, it’s changed a lot in the last fifteen years, but what in the DC Universe hasn’t? All I can ever promise with MetaWars is to never do a major back-story reboot of my entire universe. I swear.
And for that, we (or maybe just me) thank you. I can’t take a do-over there, too. I mean, they killed Batman. Kinda. Thanks again, Kelly. You rock. To find out more about the wonderful Ms. Meding, check her site. Tweet her. Give her all your geeky love. <3
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TRANCE Review
Trance has a beautiful cover (as you can see), a captivating name and a promising premise.
What Kelly Meding does is deliver on that promise. When I read Three Day to Dead, I thought Meding’s straight-forward style was a symptom of her no-BS character Evy. But it continues to her Metawars series and it is just as effective, if not more. More, because as realistic as a world with trolls can be in Dead, the war is really brought home with Meding’s cast of veterans and what really amount to be refugees.
Superheroes have been near and dear to my heart since I can remember, and to get this fantastical look into a few of their lives in such an agonizing tale, quite frankly, brought me to tears. But I wasn’t boo-hooing from the get-go, as tragic as the begining was.
I was initially impressed (and if I may, entranced) by the idea of this novel when Kelly mentioned it the last time we interviewed. And the opening of the book confirmed what I had originally assumed: that it would be a universe crafted of its own history, culture and as every superhero story demands–sorrow.
We start with the the near annihlation of the Rangers (a tentatively government sanctioned force). Their enemy? The Banes. Nothing government or sanctioned about them. But our viewpoint is from that of Teresa (Trance) as a child. And we watch her face what you would think is the worst moment of her life, when nearly everything she holds dear is taken from her brutally–including, we find, her powers.
Good time for a blurb:
Fifteen years ago, Teresa “Trance” West was a skilled telepath and a proud member of the Ranger Corps. But ever since the Rangers were inexplicably rendered powerless at the climax of the devastating Meta War, she’s bounced from one dead-end job to another. Now her powers have reappeared just as mysteriously as they vanished— only they’re completely transformed and more potent than ever. And they’re threatening to destroy her.
Trance heads to Los Angeles to track down the surviving Rangers and discover who restored her powers—and why—but a phantom enemy is determined to kill them before they can reassemble. As they dodge his deadly attacks and come to terms with their new role as heroes, Trance and the rest of the team set out to annihilate the sinister madman . . . only to discover their own powers are his greatest weapons.
–Barnes & Noble Overview
Weaving the start of story with a little background of the world, Meding does an excellent job of presenting a realistic and endlessly intriguing universe. From the exploration of the near-dystopian-making (whew! wordy) result of the Metawars to the media fall-out and handling as a result of the return of the metahuman’s powers, Meding’s made a setting that is as fun as it is terrifying. A quote says it best:
Chicago was left a smoldering husk. The Great Salt Lake became too alkaline to live near, and most of Salt Lake City remains unoccupied. Los Angeles and New York City bore the brunt of the attacks. L.A. still has half a million stubborn inhabitants, but the majority of New York’s five boroughs are abandoned. The War trickled overseas a few times—Paris, Moscow, some tiny village in the Philippines. London took the worst of it, and kids over there still sing some little ditty called “London Bridge Is Burning Down.”
Meding, Kelly (2011-10-25). Trance (p. 25). Simon & Schuster, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
And that’s just a sample of the world-building that is as pertinent and absorbing as any of the characterization that Meding does.
And she does that well, too. The more I learned about each character, the more I felt for them. Now, I didn’t feel like any of the characters were particularly unique, but their familiarity (conflicted, female lead forced into action [Trance]; hot, closeted main-guy [Gage]; quirky/sassy female friend [Renee]) actually helped me to feel for the loss they experienced.
And they experienced a lot of it. I didn’t particuarly find any fault with the novel, but nor did I feel a big connection; maybe the word I’m looking for is engagement, with the characters. But that wasn’t a problem for me because the story and the action is so damn cool.
And I honestly did tear up at one character’s death. Trying not to have much of a spolier, but at that point in the novel, the gang had gone through so much. I just wanted to scream, isn’t it enough? Meding has no problem running her readers through the ringer. I respect that and will be happy to go back for more in the second novel. I have been guiltily remiss in finishing the rest of the Dreg City series, but superheroes are my thing. I won’t miss out on the next installment. I want more, which is why I give Trance a big shiny A.
I’ve been reveling in the country-rich tones and melodies provide by The Civil Wars since the Grammy’s. From “Forget Me Not” being the new theme song that I hear every time I hug my husband to risky driving with “Barton Hollow,” I’ve been enjoying every new song I hear (and buy). But “Falling” is the kind of song that follows you around for days, which is why I’ve picked it for this Music Monday. And I wasn’t the only one to feature the Civil Wars this Monday–as can be expected. They’re phenomenal.
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Being in love is hard, but it’s even tougher if your boyfriend happens to be the reaper meant to collect you, or if your girlfriend had been on your list twice already. Such is life for Emma and Finn in Tara Fuller’s Inbetween. It’s a deliciously tumultuous premise for a YA, right? And that’s why I’m excited to be a part of the cover reveal.
INBETWEEN (Kissed by Death, #1) by Tara Fuller (August 7, 2012)
Blurb:
Since the car crash that took her father’s life three years ago, Emma’s
life has been a freaky—and unending—lesson in caution. Surviving
“accidents” has taken priority over being a normal seventeen-year-old, so
Emma spends her days taking pictures of life instead of living it. Falling
in love with a boy was never part of the plan. Falling for a reaper who
makes her chest ache and her head spin? Not an option.It’s not easy being dead, especially for a reaper in love with a girl fate
has put on his list not once, but twice. Finn’s fellow reapers give him
hell about spending time with Emma, but Finn couldn’t let her die before,
and he’s not about to let her die now. He will protect the girl he loves
from the evil he accidentally unleashed, even if it means sacrificing the
only thing he has left…his soul.Paperback Available for Pre-Order from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Inbetween-Tara-Fuller/dp/1620610833/ref=lh_ni_t
Add to your Goodreads TBR:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13055677-inbetween
And a thank you to Stacey O’Neale and Tara Fuller for sharing Inbetween‘s cover. Can’t wait to read the book!
It’s the first Sunday in a while since I’ve had the option to sleep in the following Monday. And I am enjoying the feeling of not having classes to prepare for. It makes this Sunday even more wonderful, and it was already awesome since it’s Six Sentence Sunday. And SSS is really easy:
- You pick six (6) sentences from anything you’ve written–a work in progress (wip), something under submission, something sold; something new, something old.
- And then you post it on Sunday (along with posting a link of suxisunday.com)! Such as I have below.
- And then you enjoy.
Her success shocked her, but it was real. She had been clever. But she had nothing else ingenious: it had been something out of an adventure novel, a shitty mystery flick. There was no way to replicate the luck. Before she could convince herself to sit and wait it out, she rushed into the middle tunnel. She squeezed her hands into fists to keep her fingers from trembling, and she braced for the impact of anything and everything; but nothing came–nothing at all.
It’s not what she expected to happen. It’s not what I expected to happen either, until I wrote it.
Next week we find what happens after the weird nothing. Make sure check out all the other awesome Sixers, too. There are many to love.
I’m taking an art history class this semester. It’s a lot more in depth than my survey class as an undergraduate–to be expected. But some concepts never change. One of them being appropriation. It’s done heavily throughout modernism and post0modernism, if you think about it. And it happens all around us.
From the use of the Civil Wars’ “Poison and Wine” in this week’s Vampire Diaries (I knew there was something I liked about that show…) to a sample from Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me” in Eminem’s “Untitled” track on Recovery.
He could have been appropriating a sample from The First Wive’s Club, though, for all I know—which is another appropriation. They take all sorts of shapes, come in all sorts of sizes.
Like a short-story that’s more like an ode to a wonderful like “In the Company of Wolves.” It’s clearly a werewolf story. I just had to write it. So I did.
In the Company of Wolves
It was silent, save for the fire’s grumbling, the clink of dishes and glasses. That was until the growling. I looked at our hostess to ask if she had dogs, but when I looked up, she was already looking at me. Her eyes had changed colors, seemed larger. She asked if I’d like a drink with her in another room. I didn’t know what else I could say besides, “yes.”
Saying “yes” then would change my life beyond recognition.
It had set my path. And it was unalterable…in the other room, my head filled with a fog that had developed from the seething marsh between my ears; I swayed as if there was music on. And she was a lighthouse in that fog, shining in the firelight that glimmered off her lipstick. When she pressed her mouth to mine, I thought I was caught on an electric fence–no, wrapped in it. Until what felt like a dozen pinpricks stabbed me around my spine.
I jerked away and the pain seared up my back, sucking the air out of my lungs (or what air was left). Now, the firelight was hell-light, for she was no longer an angel but a demon with fingers too long, a mouth too wide and full of sharp teeth. But the real thing that made her a demon was the fact that despite her appearance, she was still lovely to me.
And so I ran. As fast as I could, as hard as I’d ever, and as I stumbled through the dark halls, they filled with cracking bays and reverberating howls.
I was in the company of wolves.
I had been a’waiting for him. But I didn’t have to wait for long.
Happy Valentine’s Day.
I’m sure I’ve said this but in case I haven’t: I love bad sci-fi/fantasy shows.
I mean, Vampire Diaries, Dollhouse, Smallville, First Wave, Sliders, Cleopatra 2525 bad. Lost Girl has managed to make a spot on that list as well. For many bad shows, my husband will sit through the terrible banter, lack of special effects budget and loosely drawn plot points.
He couldn’t for Lost Girl. A sign that it’s a terrible show and quickly on the way to one of my guilty pleasures. But husband’s sensibilities have a point.
The plot is questionable, what with a succubus (who doesn’t know she is) being drawn into the world of the Fae, but allowed to skirt the outsides since she hasn’t declared a side (light or dark) yet. She accidentally kills a few people, but there’s this hot Fae who is also a cop who can change into a wolf who cleans up her messes. You can see where the “hm” starts coming in.
The special effects leave a lot to be desired. The writing is often laughable. And yet, there is a certain charm–in the presentation of a story so deeply seated in Urban Fantasy, in the choice of cast (even if the acting is so-so), in the fact that a succubus fought a fury. No, a fury and then her two sisters. Cheesy fight scene, awesome idea. There are a lot of both in this show.
It’s a C show without a doubt. But I kinda love it.
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