The year in writing review meme
Jan. 7th, 2007 11:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pjthompsonI got this one from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sosostris2012. It's a different take on the first line meme. This is everything I worked on in 2006, finished or not. (So, I cheated a little with some of these and put the opening paragraph down—but only on a few.)
If this had been a list of everything I finished in 2006, it would be a short list indeed: Night Warrior, a novel. I did a lot of revising this year, some of it quite extensive (Shivery Bones) and started some stories, but the only thing I actually finished was NW. That novel just about killed me, which seemed to be a theme for the year.
Beneath a Hollow Moon, novel, unfinished
The body was heavier than they thought it would be.
Blood Geek, novel, finished
Spotlights pinned him like a butterfly to a board. He stood in the middle of the tent, watching without expression as the audience shuffled in and took their seats on the hard wooden bleachers. The summer heat lay on them all like God’s sweaty palm, paper fans click-clacked back and forth, perspiration glistened on faces and chests. The sweat, the heightened interest of the women, the bitter sting of jealousy from the men, the smell of sawdust and wet canvas in humid air combined in a heady aroma: show time!
A Taste of Night, (formerly Brother Wolf), novel, unfinished
The first sound he ever remembered hearing was the crunch of his own boots on gravel walking down the side of a rural highway. Then it was as if his eyes opened on the world for the first time, and it was suddenly there in all its magnificent and confusing glory: the winter sun at 10 o’clock, the sky piercing his eyes with an aquamarine wash of neon, the clouds only hints and traceries of white. Next, the chill penetrated his thin black sweater and he felt his first shiver—a wracking frisson—his teeth began chattering, his fingers so bare and cold, the wind insinuating itself up the legs of his jeans.
Charged with Folly, novel, unfinished
The angel braced himself on a black-iron lamppost, opened his mouth, and expelled a long stream of light into the gutter.
"Closes Within a Dream," novelette, finished
JK Montmorency had a dirty little secret.
"Eudora's Song," story, finished
Hop Tootie's was a cowboy bar in the boonies of Southern California: a pair of long horns on the wall behind the drink well, a juke box with tunes from that sad siren, Patsy Cline, sawdust on the floor, and a grill in back.
"Ramona! The Chickens!", novelette, unfinished
"Is there any woman in Dos Lunas County you haven't nailed?"
"The Story Shaman," story, unfinished
"Nothing exploded."
"A Tale of Two Moons," novelette, finished
A damned rainbow arched over the road to Dos Lunas County.
Night Warrior, novel, finished
What a bright ending to such a dark tale.
Shivery Bones, novel, finished
The window exploded. Shards of plate glass sheered like tiny missiles into the house's yard. Ezra leaped through the ragged hole into the night, his side and back burning.
Venus in Transit, novel, unfinished
"So, Mrs. Tattinger, you say you first noticed something strange with the chickens five months ago?"
"Band of Angels," story, finished
The sky is too beautiful on days like this, a razor-edged robin's egg that cuts my heart and blinds me.
"Green Horse Bone," story, unfinished
I don't so much find the bones as they find me.
"The Green Ones," story, unfinished
A dangerous harmonic takes place in the proximity of machines: the pitch of one hum clashes and blends with the harmonic of the ones beside it. You never know what that cacophony might call forth, but I'll tell you from personal experience: you wouldn't want to be there when it happens.
"The Heart of the Western Tide," novella (?), unfinished
West of the Flaming Bosom, over the Rimming Mountains and through the Notch of Noon, past Noctuar and Lailanleau, sat a land with little to recommend it, the unfortunate land of Cromartine.
"In the Black," story, unfinished
The absence of all light stepped through the door wearing the shape of a man.
"Loose Dogs," novelette, finished
Late at night, though the clock said morning, when the moon shone ripe and full over Los Angeles, a child was born.
"A New Face on Morning," story, unfinished
I blinked at the face in the mirror. I was a middle-aged black man.
[Yes, I know. Don't do descriptions while looking in a mirror.]
"Where the Singing Starts," story, finished
Emily was on top of the mounded dirt fort in the vacant lot, so had a good view when the shiny blue car pulled into her cracked and pitted driveway.
sosostris2012. It's a different take on the first line meme. This is everything I worked on in 2006, finished or not. (So, I cheated a little with some of these and put the opening paragraph down—but only on a few.)If this had been a list of everything I finished in 2006, it would be a short list indeed: Night Warrior, a novel. I did a lot of revising this year, some of it quite extensive (Shivery Bones) and started some stories, but the only thing I actually finished was NW. That novel just about killed me, which seemed to be a theme for the year.
Beneath a Hollow Moon, novel, unfinished
The body was heavier than they thought it would be.
Blood Geek, novel, finished
Spotlights pinned him like a butterfly to a board. He stood in the middle of the tent, watching without expression as the audience shuffled in and took their seats on the hard wooden bleachers. The summer heat lay on them all like God’s sweaty palm, paper fans click-clacked back and forth, perspiration glistened on faces and chests. The sweat, the heightened interest of the women, the bitter sting of jealousy from the men, the smell of sawdust and wet canvas in humid air combined in a heady aroma: show time!
A Taste of Night, (formerly Brother Wolf), novel, unfinished
The first sound he ever remembered hearing was the crunch of his own boots on gravel walking down the side of a rural highway. Then it was as if his eyes opened on the world for the first time, and it was suddenly there in all its magnificent and confusing glory: the winter sun at 10 o’clock, the sky piercing his eyes with an aquamarine wash of neon, the clouds only hints and traceries of white. Next, the chill penetrated his thin black sweater and he felt his first shiver—a wracking frisson—his teeth began chattering, his fingers so bare and cold, the wind insinuating itself up the legs of his jeans.
Charged with Folly, novel, unfinished
The angel braced himself on a black-iron lamppost, opened his mouth, and expelled a long stream of light into the gutter.
"Closes Within a Dream," novelette, finished
JK Montmorency had a dirty little secret.
"Eudora's Song," story, finished
Hop Tootie's was a cowboy bar in the boonies of Southern California: a pair of long horns on the wall behind the drink well, a juke box with tunes from that sad siren, Patsy Cline, sawdust on the floor, and a grill in back.
"Ramona! The Chickens!", novelette, unfinished
"Is there any woman in Dos Lunas County you haven't nailed?"
"The Story Shaman," story, unfinished
"Nothing exploded."
"A Tale of Two Moons," novelette, finished
A damned rainbow arched over the road to Dos Lunas County.
Night Warrior, novel, finished
What a bright ending to such a dark tale.
Shivery Bones, novel, finished
The window exploded. Shards of plate glass sheered like tiny missiles into the house's yard. Ezra leaped through the ragged hole into the night, his side and back burning.
Venus in Transit, novel, unfinished
"So, Mrs. Tattinger, you say you first noticed something strange with the chickens five months ago?"
"Band of Angels," story, finished
The sky is too beautiful on days like this, a razor-edged robin's egg that cuts my heart and blinds me.
"Green Horse Bone," story, unfinished
I don't so much find the bones as they find me.
"The Green Ones," story, unfinished
A dangerous harmonic takes place in the proximity of machines: the pitch of one hum clashes and blends with the harmonic of the ones beside it. You never know what that cacophony might call forth, but I'll tell you from personal experience: you wouldn't want to be there when it happens.
"The Heart of the Western Tide," novella (?), unfinished
West of the Flaming Bosom, over the Rimming Mountains and through the Notch of Noon, past Noctuar and Lailanleau, sat a land with little to recommend it, the unfortunate land of Cromartine.
"In the Black," story, unfinished
The absence of all light stepped through the door wearing the shape of a man.
"Loose Dogs," novelette, finished
Late at night, though the clock said morning, when the moon shone ripe and full over Los Angeles, a child was born.
"A New Face on Morning," story, unfinished
I blinked at the face in the mirror. I was a middle-aged black man.
[Yes, I know. Don't do descriptions while looking in a mirror.]
"Where the Singing Starts," story, finished
Emily was on top of the mounded dirt fort in the vacant lot, so had a good view when the shiny blue car pulled into her cracked and pitted driveway.