Tuesday, August 31, 2010

It Seems Introductions Are In Order

As my first post, I wanted to tell you a little bit about myself and what I hope to do with this blog. My name is Dylan and I'm an aspiring writer who has begun working on the first draft of my first novel. I'm a Star Wars fan, particularly in the Expanded universe of novels and comics. Though, admittedly, I am becoming more and more jaded with the novels that Del Rey is putting out. And one of my purposes is to talk about why that is.

When I was fourteen, I picked up my first Star Wars book, Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen by Troy Denning-
 (I didn't notice that it was book two of a trilogy. I just saw that Leia was wielding a lightsaber on the cover and I had to know why!)

-and I continued to pick up and read Star Wars novels for three and a half years with only one other book,  the Handbook of Short Story Writing, between the books. At this time, the final count is 54 SW books under my belt. (Keep in mind, I wasn't a very quick reader. Just a few chapters here and there and sometimes with long car rides) There's some that I like, some that I love, some that are somewhere between 'meh and mediocre, and a couple that I don't like or can't stand. But just over a year ago, when I decided to take my writing a bit more seriously, my father turned me on to Stephen King's On Writing. He's an avid King fan, and after reading that fantastic book and followed it up with the first book of his Dark Tower series, The Gunslinger, I was hooked as well. Now, I'm trying to branch out from Star Wars novels and try other genre's. Though it wasn't one of the original purposes, this blog might be my chronicling of my venturing out into the literary world, with classics, modern, and everything in between.

I've been home-schooled for going on ten years and keep myself busy with writing and reading (and I would have it no other way). I write Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and pretty much anything that comes to mind. I'll probably post some short stories and fan fictions here, or at least provide a link.

Now to the main reason I made this blog. In short: To review and rant about books and anything else that I think could potentially be interesting. I've started writing notes while I'm reading. Now, chances are I won't review everything I read. And I can't promise a new review every week, or even bi-weekly, but I am going to try to get at least one review/rant out a month. If anyone reading them would like to talk about the review/rant, or to just tell me I could not be more wrong, I'll gladly talk and debate with you.

There's not much more to say. I suppose I can tell you that I'm currently reading The Passage by Justin Cronin, (will definitely be reviewing it someday, if I can ever get through it all)  and The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout.

I'll update once I figure out which book will be first on the chopping block. But you can inspect it sometime in September.

EDIT:
Well, I've decided to start this blog with a personal gripe of mine: Star Wars: Crosscurrent by Paul S. Kemp.