The Way « Kathleen Brandt

The Way

There is a purity to having no choices, and a purity to having all choices, and in a strange way they are the same thing. If no one is making you do anything, pushing you in any specific direction, then there is no one to blame, no excuse that it wasn’t your fault, no way to do anything but face yourself and your options.

If it is all surrender, there’s nothing to fight against.

There’s something here I’m trying to say, but… it’s the result of long processes, and the ideas closest to my heart, and I don’t know how to explain without taking you through the entire process.

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She dreamed of fire, fire in a dark bodiless place where she saw, but could not be seen. The Beast stalked through it, its curiously delicate paws tracing footprints through puddles of flame, sending up streamers of black and ichorous smoke. Its lava eyes moved restlessly.

It was only in her imagination, surely, that its growl had the precise timbre of her stepfather’s grunting as his fist swung, the gnash of its teeth had the ring of his belt buckle when he pulled it off, when he pulled it off to hit--or to cast aside and draw her close. She clapped her dreaming hands to her mouth and struggled not to make a sound. The Beast is only the Beast, not him, she told herself, again and again.

But when it spoke, it had his voice. The voice of Al Sharp, janitor and righteous Baptist, the man who had regularly beaten her mother, taking up where her real father left off and adding child molestation to the repertoire. He had a gritty, cigar-ruined voice and the backwater Virginia accent she remembered so clearly, but the words were the words of the Singular Beast.

Set me free. I am fire and devastation. I am solace. Set me free. I long for your light. I long for your life. Set me free. I will kill you if you set me free.

Never, Soria cried, unable to hear her own voice. You’ll never tell me what to do again! Shame spilled like blood from her eyes, rolling hotly down her cheeks.

The Beast did not hear her. It wasn’t talking to her. Its words were the same words it had spoken in the dark place for thousands of years, spoken to no one, without hope of hearing. The words of a prisoner.

Set me free. I am power and temptation. I am sorrow. Set me free.

---- from WIP entitled "Duty and the Beast"
Suggested Reading – Fiction

As a primarily fantasy writer, that's primarily also what I read. These are my top three favorite authors. Below them, you might find some other works that have influenced me or that I feel ought to be in the bookshelf of an aspiring author. The top three are in no particular order; there is no precedence between them.

Peter S. Beagle
You probably know him from The Last Unicorn, his most well known work. But whenever you can, get your hands on anything of his that you can find; it's well worth the investment. His ability to let us see through the eyes of his characters is precise, delicate and perfect. His descriptions are quirky and unusual, yet frequently bring tears to the eye.

Connie Willis
A wonderful Colorado author, she shows a charming disregard for genre lines and a stunning ability to have everything somehow make sense by the end. Her characterization, worldbuilding and dialogue are fantastic.

Lois McMaster Bujold
Many dismiss Bujold as a writer of space opera. She is now turning her hand also to fantasy romance. These two subgenres are two of the most undervalued in the entire undervalued speculative fiction genre. Then how come she's one of the most decorated authors in the business? Because once you begin reading her work, you will find a mirror's worth of depth, going on quite as far as forever. Her characterization and worldbuilding are unsurpassed, and she has the knack of making the reader laugh and then go, "Hey...." She can offer unexpected wisdom with a single turn of phrase, offhand in the midst of the action.
Suggested Reading – Nonfiction

Germs, Guns and Steel - Jared Diamond
This book should be required reading for any fiction writer, especially those engaged in building their own worlds. It should also be on your list if you're interested in anthropology, cultural history, religion, racism, the past, the future, or any aspect of human possibility. Oh, just read it already!

Maps of Time, an Introduction to Big History - David Christian
Combining beautifully with the above, this is another worldbuilding classic. An entirely new way of looking at the way stars, planets and humans find their way to their current state.

The Encyclopedia of Fantasy - John Clute and John Grant
More than just a who's who of fantasy literature and cinema, this book gives a lot of insight into the whole world of the genre, including terminology and concepts you really need if you're going to write it well.
Suggested Reading – How To

On Writing - Stephen King
In some ways, I wouldn't want to write like Stephen King; certainly I don't share the grim worldview shown in the majority of his works. However, I admire his ability to grip the reader, juggle multiple characters, time frames and viewpoints, and tell a story that kicks butt. And in a lot of ways, this is a great book on how to write. If nothing else, it's vastly different from most how-to-write books.

Bird by Bird - Anne Lamott
Subtitled 'Some Instructions on Writing and Life', this is a fantastic book. It won't tell you how to format your manuscript for publication, but it should be required reading for anyone who wants to be published. It offers a gentle, wry, sometimes bizarre series of metaphors and deeply personal stories about being a writer, reasons to write, and the real deal about publication and what it will do for you. Highly recommended.

Kathleen Brandt

Speculative fiction, erotica, life and other fantastic pursuits.

The Way

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Pages

My Works

Other Authors

Excerpts

Suggested Reading – Fiction

Suggested Reading – Nonfiction

Suggested Reading – How To