Wednesday, November 17, 2010

The First Chapter of MONGREL

Now up at LiveJournal. Click on the post title to read it (except you, Chris).

Visible Friend is finished. Abercrombie Zombie is next. Damn, I wish I had a beer right now. Writers from Milwaukee don't need no Dom Perignon. :)

8 comments:

Chris said...

*waits for everyone to come back from LJ*

Average Reader said...

Wow, KZ, this is awesome! What a menacing encounter between these two. And the imagery!

"Clouds the color of soiled wool and urine threaded past a gibbous moon.

and

overdone facades of the buildings he passed, all strung together like a lineup of gaudy, aging whores.

just to point out a couple of really striking images.

This reminds me of a combination of an R-rated version of Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, Perdido Street Station by China Mieville (this is a compliment, ha, ha!), and Wicked Gentlemen by Ginn Hale, but it's got a real vivid and sinister feel of its own. I can't wait to read this!

Average Reader said...

Forgot to mention the pitch-perfect steampunk Victorian sounding dialog! I love Will's sales pitch. :)

wren boudreau said...

I'll have to read it later - gotta go to bed soon since I have to get up at 4-freakin'-AM to catch a plane.

But I'm sure the book will be fabulous. They always are! :)

K. Z. Snow said...

Gosh, Val, I don't know what to say. Instead, I think I'll just blush. Wow.

Ray Bradbury, China Mieville, and Ginn Hale? Lordie. I can't, in my wildest dreams, conceive of this humble book (and it truly is) bearing any resemblance whatsoever to the work of these people. I have intense admiration for the novels you mentioned. All of 'em.

But gosh, how incredibly kind of you to say such things.

I didn't adhere strictly to Victorian steampunk conventions in Mongrel. For the life of me, I can't seem to respect genre strictures. :) That's why the setting isn't identified with any specific city or clearly delineated historical period. There's no heavy emphasis on gadgetry, either. The best way to describe it, I guess, is that Mongrel is itself a mongrel -- sort of a bastard offspring of fantasy and steampunk.

I just hope the whole book measures up to your expectations. (Yikes, maybe I should've toned down that first chapter!)

Average Reader said...

Not to worry -- I can already tell that it's going to be great. I'm SO looking forward to reading this!

Lily said...

That was great. Seems like another winner for you, KZ! :)

K. Z. Snow said...

Hi, Lily, and thank you -- especially for your optimism! ;-)