David Walton's Fiction

Quintessence Sneak Peek

davidwaltonfiction — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:09:18 +0000

For those of you who enjoyed Terminal Mind and have been waiting patiently for my next book, thank you! Quintessence is undergoing some minor edits at the request of my editor, but the book is entirely written. (In fact, I’m halfway through the sequel.) “Where is it, then?” you might ask. “Where is this masterpiece, that we may read it?” Sadly, the wheels of publishing turn slowly, and small pebbles like me can get pushed out of the way by bestselling boulders. It may actually be another year yet before it hits bookstores. To help you while away the time, however, I’ve posted the first three chapters for your reading enjoyment. After you read, drop me a comment and let me know what you think!

Book Review: Blind Lake

davidwaltonfiction — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:09:16 +0000

Blind Lake by Robert Charles Wilson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is what Wilson does best: the impossible happens, some stunning scientific mystery that no one understands, which dramatically affects the lives of his characters. In Darwinia and Spin, the mystery affected the whole world (Europe, Africa, and Asia are replaced; the stars disappear). In Blind Lake, the effects are more local, when a scientific community is suddenly quarantined, their outside communications cut off, and their facility guarded by military drones who kill anyone who tries to leave. And they have no idea why.

The tensions caused by this mysterious quarantine erode the normal controls of polite society and reveal the characters as they really are: selfish or selfless, compassionate or borderline psychotic. The book started a bit slow, as the characters were introduced and the situation was set up, but once they were quarantined, the suspense really increased right through to the end. Wilson gradually reveals his secrets in generous handfuls along the way, until the final reveal, when everything is explained in typically weird and beautiful Wilson style.

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Book Review: The Hunger Games

davidwaltonfiction — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 18:37:16 +0000

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Outstanding. An intensely sympathetic heroine thrust into the most horrific situation, by her own choice, in order to save her sister’s life. Clever plotting, edge-of-your-seat danger, twists and turns, and a very satisfying resolution. There are many villains, but none of them wholly bad; all are sympathetic in some way, and yet together they are participating in ruthless murder with smiles on their faces. The author demonstrates a keen sense of how individual people, however nice, can be swept up in the values of their society, no matter how horrible. This story rings true on a number of levels. I’m rushing right out to get the sequel.

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Magdalen Eleanore

davidwaltonfiction — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 18:00:47 +0000

I seem to be better at producing children than novels, since I’m up to six of the former and still working on my third of the latter. Of course, the children don’t go out of print as easily, either. Please welcome Magdalen Eleanore, the latest addition to the Walton family! She was released on June 22 to rave reviews.

Some of you may have noticed that an ‘E’ seems to have migrated from her first name to her second. The missing first E is to emphasize that the last syllable is pronounced”len” and not “leen”. The extra E in her middle name is because she was named for my grandmother, whose name was spelled with an E at the end. And now you know.

WWW: Wake

davidwaltonfiction — Sun, 01 May 2011 01:00:59 +0000

WWW:Wake by Robert J. Sawyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this one. Probably the best Robert Sawyer book I’ve tried (though he has many I have not tried). A charming blind girl regains her sight, and at the same time discovers an intelligence living in the Internet. Yes, “artificial intelligence living in the Internet” is a pretty old SF trope, but the connection between Caitlin’s growing sight and the intelligence’s growing awareness of itself worked very well. Of course, when Sawyer finally got to the end and had to give hing a name, he settled on “Webmind”. Come on! Was that the best you could do? Great book, though, and I’ll be reading the sequel.

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The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack

davidwaltonfiction — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 02:55:36 +0000

The word is finally out: the winner of this year’s Philip K. Dick Award (judged by yours truly, with a panel of other worthies) is a delightful debut novel by Mark Hodder, called The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack. Full of manic, inventive energy, bizarre villains, a whirling plot as mad as some of the characters, it nevertheless delivers a complete and satisfying conclusion that wraps up every loose end. The alternate Victorian world is rich with detail and betrays a deep knowledge of the true history of our world, even as Hodder twists it almost to the breaking point to tell his tale. The characters are motivated by all kinds of unusual passions, but are both believable and sympathetic, even as the world around them goes mad. Ambitious, full of surprises, and very satisfying.

Judging the Philip K Dick Award

davidwaltonfiction — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 01:51:07 +0000

This year I had the honor of being one of the judges for the Philip K. Dick award, and it was quite an interesting experience. For one thing, it was eye-opening to have such a wide variety of books arrive on my doorstep, all in the category of US-published paperback science fiction. I was also curious to see how easy it would be to choose a shortlist and a winner. Would it be obvious? Would the judges all agree? The answer is no; there were definitely some different reactions, but nevertheless, we ended up with a finalist list we were all quite pleased with.

The books are as follows, and all are excellent reads:

Yarn, Jon Armstrong (Night Shade Books)
Chill, Elizabeth Bear (Ballantine Books/Spectra)
The Reapers Are The Angels, Alden Bell (Henry Holt & Co.)
Song Of Scarabaeus, Sara Creasy (Eos)
The Strange Affair Of Spring Heeled Jack, Mark Hodder (Pyr)
Harmony, Project Itoh, translated by Alexander O. Smith (Haikasoru)
State Of Decay, James Knapp (Roc)

A number of people have noticed that there are two zombie books on the list, and wondered if perhaps a judge or two was a zombie fan. Not so. None of this year’s judges expected zombie books to be up their alley, and yet here we are with two on the list. This is simply because, regardless of their topic, they are well-written. (They are also quite different from each other.) So if you think zombies are “not your thing”, give them a try anyway. You might be surprised.

All of these books are worth the read. Author and Tor Books columnist Jo Walton (no relation) does a good job of summarizing them in her post on Tor.com. I’ll hold off from comparing and contrasting for now, lest I give anything away. The authors have to wait until April to find out which book is the winner.

Contract Signed

davidwaltonfiction — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 03:25:12 +0000

Good news! Yesterday I signed a contract with Tor to publish my next book, QUINTESSENCE. It’s an exciting step. TERMINAL MIND blew away my expectations by winning the Philip K. Dick Award, but it was a work by an unknown author, published by an unknown publishing company on a small budget. Meadowhawk Press did a great job in many ways, but they weren’t able to distribute the book very widely or get it sold in many stores.

Tor is the big time. They’re the largest publisher of science fiction and fantasy in the world. When Tor publishes a book, it gets put on the shelves in bookstores all across the country. I don’t yet have a publication date, but when I do, I’ll be sure to announce it here!

Much thanks goes to my agent, Eleanor Wood, for making this deal and navigating all the contract details.

At Long Last

davidwaltonfiction — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 14:44:58 +0000

Many of you have asked about an e-book version of Terminal Mind. I’m happy to say that it’s finally here! My debut novel and Philip K. Dick winner is now available on the Kindle or the Nook, or any other device that can read e-books in those formats. Enjoy!

Book Number Two

davidwaltonfiction — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 01:48:57 +0000

It’s the first question people ask me: “When will we see book number two?” I’m happy to tell you that my second novel is finished, revised, revised again, and now sits at the desks of several New York publishers, awaiting their enthusiastic endorsement. The title is Quintessence, a brand new book full of arcane science, alchemy, human dissection, sea monsters, betrayal, torture, alternate astronomy, religious controversy, and magic.

But you’ll have to be patient. The book industry is slow. It will be quite some time before you’ll have the story in your hands. When that time finally comes, I hope you’ll think, as I do, that it’s worth the wait. Stay tuned here for updates as I have them!