Book Review: CassaStar by Alex J. Cavanaugh

 

CassaStar by Alex J. Cavanaugh

October 19, 2010 Science fiction/adventure/space opera

ISBN 9780981621067 Dancing Lemur Press LLC

        When I received my ARC of Alex's novel, CassaStar, my first impression was of how beautiful the book is.  I love the cover art.  Well yes, you see it in the picture above but it's even better in person, quality artwork on a 6x9 trade paperback that feels good in your hand.  Here's the back cover blurb:

        They say "no man is an island," but young fighter-pilot-in-training Byron is putting that theory to the test.  He arrives on the Guaard moon base for his final phase of Cosbolt pilot training with a cocky attitude and an underlying need to prove himself and immediately falls under the watchful eye of the decorated senior instructor, Bassa.

        At first, Bassa sees in Byron an uncanny likeness to his own deceased younger brother, another brash, rebellious pilot, and he's determined not to let this skilled young pilot meet the same fate.  After discovering a rare hidden talent (not to be spoiled here!) giving Byron's already ace piloting skills an edge, Bassa takes Byron's training under his wing.

        But the last thing Byron wants is Bassa's attention.  Though he yearns for recognition, he also clings to his solitude, finding it hard enough to link telepathically with his friend and navigator, Trindel.  When Trindel decides he no longer wishes to be a navigator, Byron feels betrayed.  He has to choose now to open himself up to a new navigator or lose what he'd worked for all this time.  Ultimately, he completes the training driven by his desire for accomplishment.

        When he arrives at his prestigious first new command, his jets are cooled by the discovery that Bassa has secured orders as his new navigator.  He resents the man's presence, seeing it as intrusive and controlling.  Their relationship is rough, but to survive the rigors of combat and work well as the skilled team they are, they have no other choice than to rely on each other.  With war against a deadly foe brewing, Bassa must trust Byron's judgment and Byron must open his mind to true communication and trust in their friendship.

        Byron expects the worst from people but learns that others can and will surprise you.  Assuming Bassa's interest in him is fed by guilt over his younger brother's death, Byron is stunned to discover the man's genuine affection for him.  Bassa might have initially seen Byron as he saw his brother, but I believe he later saw a reflection of himself, another soul like him having trouble making real connections with others.

        This friendship is at the heart of CassaStar.  The story drives home that to experience true acceptance and friendship, you have to open up and share yourself, to even be vulnerable, but you'll become a stronger person for it. This character-driven story will widely appeal to even those who don't read sci-fi.  The descriptions give the readers a picture to color in with their own imaginations, not overly-detailed like many sci-fi novels and the action scenes are edge-of-your-seat.  I'd recommend CassaStar not only to adults but also to fans of YA.

        It took a few pages to get to know Byron, but the more I learned about him, the harder it was for me to put the book down.  Byron's a great guy who came from a hard life and grew his defenses well, but still managed to stay out of trouble and always perform at his very best.  I really identify with his fear of opening up.  Who hasn't been there before?  Now when's the sequel coming, Alex?

Remembering 9/11

After the fall...

        That day nine years ago, it was late at night for me.  I was on deployment half a world away on the aircraft carrier, USS Carl Vinson, just a couple hours from entering the Persian Gulf.  When I saw the scenes unfold on CNN, I remember thinking it couldn't be real.  As bad as I am with my memory, I still have no trouble recalling all those mixed feelings I had on that first night.  The confusion, the fear, the anger, the sorrow.  So many innocent people's lives ended or torn apart in one day.  But we knew it was real when we were ordered away from the Gulf to head toward the North Arabian Sea.  The word hadn't come down at the time, but we were at the front line of the war to come.
        We spent weeks cut off from our families, from any communication, so when the orders finally came to bomb away, it was almost a relief.  I later found out my husband and children were scared for my well-being, but I never felt like I wasn't safe.  I was worried for them.  In my mind, after seeing the attacks, they were a likelier target than my battle group armed more heavily than most countries on Earth. 
        What I took away most from all of it afterward was an unshakable confidence.  Despite any horrible events we may face, I know our strength as a country comes from all of us together.  You could hit our Pentagon, our major economic centers, even our White House or all of Capitol Hill, but that's not where the heart of America is at.  We wouldn't crumble, and we wouldn't weaken.  We mourn, and then we rebuild...

...we start anew.

The Dog Ate It and other s*** happens

       In my case last night, the dog happened to be my not-so-trusty thumb drive. It must have been planning this for a while 'cause I’ve had the thing for four years, and it’s never failed me before. So what happened was (ya know something bad or weird’s gonna happen when the story starts out with this) I finally started rewriting my Chapter 6 after putting it off for about three weeks.

        After much agony, I spent two and a half hours of blood, sweat and tears to pump out 2500 words. I saved it after each paragraph because I’m anal about preserving my work. I was about to upload it to my Dropbox and hit Ctrl+S one more time and my document crashed.  Yep, crashed. Irretrievable. My heart deflated in my chest and I felt like crying and throwing up all at the same time.

        Why couldn’t it have crashed the other document I had open, my entire manuscript? At least that was on Dropbox, all safe and sound. Well, after trying to recoup it for about half an hour, I started rewriting the chapter all over again, uploading to Dropbox every two minutes in a fit of paranoia. On the bright side, it was only a chapter rewrite and I have a tendency to read back over and over again as I progress, so I remembered about 90% of what I’d written. I still mourn for the lost 10%.

        My thought process about this as I walked back to my ship feeling crushed and dejected was ‘why does this crap happen to me?’ I had to remind myself shit happens. I pulled out my own words I’d offered to a coworker, a shipmate, who was young, getting a divorce, having financial and roommate problems, and having Mom’s boyfriend conflicts.

        It seemed pretty rough, but I looked back at the rough times in my life and everyone else around me and it wasn’t any rougher. She asked when it would ever end and just settle down. I said it won’t. It’s LIFE. It’s like this for everyone. There’s always a challenge or an obstacle. Whether it crushes you or not depends on how you deal with it. Can you accept the challenge, handle it, and move ahead?

        I dealt with my obstacle last night by rewriting the chapter all over again before it wasn’t fresh in my head any longer. So what if I was up until 3 AM doing it? I feel so much better now that it’s done that the initial loss doesn’t hurt so much any more. I had to work at it instead of throwing my hands in the air and giving up.

        Some obstacles are harder than others, obviously, but when it comes to the day to day grind, you have to pick your fights. I won’t be crushed by anything as small as the dog eating my work. I’ll save my breakdown for something big.

        So how do you deal with life’s challenges? What carries you through? What advice do you give to those who are struggling? And how long should you have a thumb drive anyway before you replace it with something new that won’t eat your manuscript???

PS, off the subject, head over to Alex J. Cavanaugh’s blog and join his Top Ten TV Shows Blogfest! And don’t forget to sign up for my Blogfeast on Sep 23.  I've also updated my "Books" page to better reflect what books I'm working on.  You can check that out in the upper left corner.  Yep, waaaay up there.  Have a great holiday weekend!

Feels so good to go home!

My beloved family...

        I can't say how incredibly good it was to spend time with the hubby and kids after being away for six months.  It's indescribable.  I can say I'm a little more energized, recharged.  I just sort of wind down without them after a while.  We didn't even need to do anything together for me to enjoy it.  We did, however, catch up on Season 3 of True Blood!  This picture isn't the most recent, but I love it because they are for once all looking toward the camera and smiling.  Soon, hopefully by next summer, I will be home for good...

       Before I leave the blogosphere for the evening, I wanted to share another 'thank you' to my writerly bloggies.  I found recommended often on the blogs the book On Writing by Stephen King.  The book's been out for a while, but I'd never read it until I found it, a new, shiny hardbound copy, at a thrift store for $5. Money more than well spent I say.  It's not that I didn't know already about most of the writer's toolbox he offered.  I learned most of that as well from the blogosphere.  It was his story, his writerly journey.  There were parts of it that brought tears to my eyes.  Yes, my eyes.  I don't cry over books!  It's a good read, and I also put my stamp of approval on it as a recommended read for writers.

        Some quickies on Contest & Blogfests:  Don't forget to join mine, the BLOGFEAST, on Sep 23.  Stretch the theme, be creative, and bring a bloggy appetite.  Oh yeah.  About that word count thingy... well, er... I'm having trouble with the 500 roundabout count.  Both of my potential snippets run around 600-700, so whatev.  Write what you will.  I've yet to see a Blogfest post not worth the read.

        If you're catching this post today before midnight EST, jump over and enter Brad's contest to win a complete boxed set of Charlaine Harris books that inspired the HBO series True Blood. 

        If you'd like to win some great books from Lisa and Laura while they're out on their vacay, head over to LiLa's blog every day this week for a book a day giveaways. 

        Next upcoming blogfest (that I know of at the moment anyway) is Stephanie's Haiku Blogfest on Sep 3/4.  Don't know how to haiku?  Instructions are on her site.  Anyone can do it!

        A couple of pitch/query-type contests are around.  Check out the Gate Keeper's contest by Sep 3.  And tomorrow you won't want to miss the special guest @ Operation Awesome tomorrow.  You may want to have your logline/pitch ready *just in case* something crazy happens.

        So who'd I miss?  Anyone feelin left out in the cold because yer not in my sidebar?  If it's not there, then I don't know about it yet.  Comment or shoot me an email if you've got something special coming up.  I'd be happy to win promote your blogfest/contest.  Anyone else having some good family time lately or have a great, must-have book to recommend for writers?

Starving for a Blogfeast?

     I'm very excited to host my very first blogfest.  For our theme, I've chosen something we've all loved and hated at some point in our lives.  Something we indulge in on a daily basis.  Something we cannot live without.  Yes, I'm having a BLOGFEAST on September 23, 2010!  Not only is it a blogfest of food, but it's also a feast of blogs.  Please join me in sharing a post regarding anything *food.*

     It can be a scene where food is central or just happens to be in the scene.  It could be a poem about food.  Heck, it could even be about a character named after food, i.e., Powdered Toast Man or Cheeseboy (might wanna ask them if yer thinking of writing a lil story about these guys, lol).  If you end up simply posting a recipe, I'll be sorely disappointed if it's not at least presented in some way resembling creative and literary, something we've not seen before :)

     I suggest shooting for around 500 words or so, but if you end up over by a few hundred, we won't beat anyone up over it.  With this 'fest, it shouldn't be too difficult to keep it fairly short.  Please sign up by September 23 on the linky thing, and if you do sign up, remember to post with a link back here so everyone can find all the blogger links in the Blogfeast.  Thanks, all, for reading, and I hope you get a chance to join the fun!

All Sorts of Random Awesomeness

            I’ve recently received my first-ten crit back from Roni @ Fiction Groupie.  She’s an amazing critter!  She addressed the issues I’ve been struggling with (see my struggle), and I’ve since rewritten my first chapter—again.  But it’s so much better now.  I prefer a good, old-fashioned gory crit as long as the suggestions are valid and constructive.  I suppose it’s also a good thing if the person critiquing has some interest in your genre, whether it’s writing or reading.  I, however, fared well.  No blood loss here :) 

            Tuesday’s visit to Alex J. Cavanaugh’s blog was fun.  I met a lot of new people, joined quite a few new blogs and gained new followers.  Which is all why I blog in the first place.  Keep your eye out for Alex’s new book, CassaStar, to be released October 19.

            I’ve posted a couple new contests in my sidebar, including an agent pitch to Mary Kole of Andrea Brown Literary.  I can’t participate, but I highly encourage all you YA/MG/PB authors to get in there.  Please take a look at a great opportunity to win a critique, publicity, copy editing and more from The Writing Show.  The show is an informative and inspirational resource for writers, offering in-depth interviews, reality shows, podcasts, and a wealth of knowledge on writing, publishing and anything related.  By entering, you'll be helping to save this great support for writers.  Also Christine at The Writer’s Hole is hosting a Rainy Day Blogfest as well as a 100 followers contest.  Check out all of the great blogfests coming up!  I’ll be posting one soon, but as I finally get to go home to my hubby and children tomorrow after six months apart, I’ll wait until I’m settled.

            One more major plug before I go.  I recently found new blog buddies, and I can’t say enough how much I enjoy their work.  It’s edgy.  It’s dark.  It’s suspenseful.  It’s fun.  It keeps me hanging on the edge of my seat from Monday to Monday.  Stilettos and Shirley Temples is a serial post written by Simon and Mercedes.  Go there, read it, love it.  You’d think these two were married, the way the story’s progressing.  Also you will be intrigued by Mercedes’ post today about the virtual masked ball.  Join in if you’d like.

            Finally an update on my current projects.  As you can see in my sidebar, I have five on the burner.  Well, only three now, the others are set aside.  My first is just about done, but I’ve got about a week or two left.  I have one major scene rewrite, which is what’s holding it up.  I open the scene to work on it and then promptly turn to my other WIP to work on that instead but, hey, at least it’s still productive. *feels guilty anyway* 

My second is smooth going and the fairly clean first draft should be complete in a month or less.  I am really having an easier time with this one than the first, maybe because I used a balanced ratio of pants to plot.  IDK.  I might like my characters even more than the last ones.  What makes one story easier to write for you than another?  Any thoughts?  And does it necessarily get any easier the longer you’ve been at the writing?

Now I just started a NEW WIP yesterday.  It’s different from the others, written in first person this time.  I am initially planning on making it a short story for the Writer’s Digest Popular Fiction competition, but we’ll see where it goes from there.  Their Short Story and Poetry competitions are now open as well.  Anyone else submitting for these?

Minus the Bitchassedness...

I’ve traveled an incredibly long learning curve over the past few months, and what’s helped me the most along the way has been—hands down—the bloggers I follow.  It doesn’t matter to me if they’re unpublished or have no agent yet or already have books out or deals made.  Even teachers can still be students and vice versa.

This business of getting published is pretty darn tough so to me being unpublished alone says nothing about the writing, although I love to see writers I follow get their agent or their book deal.  What counts to me most though is the step up you offer freely to your fellow writers with no signs of backstabby bitchassedness to be found (in public anyway, lol).  I’ve improved my writing incredibly because of what you guys give.

What I’ve personally improved on the most:

 Deeper POV.  I now remove the fat from my sentences to make the action more immediate.  For example:

Okay: She saw him walk through the door.

Better: He walked through the door.

Fewer tags.  I’ve combed through my WIPs to remove all dialogue tags that weren’t necessary.  If it was obvious who was talking, I removed it.  If I thought I needed a tag to identify the speaker, I looked for other ways to ID who it was without using a tag.  I also simplified as much as possible the tags I did need to keep in.  I wanted nothing to distract from the story.

Raise the stakes.  I figured out the plot was too shallow in my first WIP, so I’ve raised the stakes and built a better character arc for my MCs.  If the plot’s too simple, too easy, it leaves to much space for more fat (aka, scenes that don’t advance the plot) in the book.  PS—this takes a lot of work, whew!

 Be careful with the adjectives/adverbs. They certainly aren’t off-limits, but they do need to be used sparingly.  I railed against this at first, but then I figured it out.  If you use a lot, it could be an indication that you’re telling rather than showing, and showing is another way to make action/description more immediate.  For example:

Okay: He walked angrily through the door.

Better: He stormed in, slamming the door on his way.

Don’t navel-gaze.  This can apply to the writing, but I don’t usually have too big a problem with that.  I did learn not to navel-gaze too much when it comes to blogging.  I’m not just blogging for myself.  I like blogging as a way to interact with other writers.  So I try not to be all about my book, my book, my book.

I have to praise the uber-phenomenal Elana J., who was the first blogger I ever followed, before I ever moved to Blogspot to begin with.  She inspired me to completely change my blog, and through her, I found Bethany Wiggins, Suzette Saxton, and LiLa.  These people got me right on the good track with where I should head with my blog.  I’m still really working on it, but I’m getting there.

I haven’t even begun to talk about what I’ve learned about agents, querying, publishing, synopses, pitching, etc., but I’m out of space for now.  What's been most valuable to you?  Does a blogger's advice carry more weight if they're published or agented or does it depend on what the advice is?  How do you feel about offering writerly advice yourself?