Author Archives: ogresan

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About ogresan

Richard Parks' stories have have appeared in Asimov's SF, Realms of Fantasy, Fantasy Magazine, Weird Tales, and numerous anthologies, including several Year's Bests. His first story collection, THE OGRE'S WIFE, was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award. He is the author of the Yamada Monogatari series from Prime Books.

Brief Commercial Interruption

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With my location and schedule being what it is, I don’t do a lot of signings, but for anyone interested I will be at the Vicksburg Public Library (700 Veto Street, Vicksburg, MS) tomorrow, Saturday, July 27th from Noon to 4PM, signing copies of Southern Haunts along with Alexander Brown, Diane Ward, and possibly more contributors to the anthology. I’ll have copies of several of my own books as well, so if you’re in the neighborhood, stop by.

Also, last week my contributor’s copies to the Clarkesworld, Year 4 compilation anthology arrived last week, which includes my story, “Night, in Dark Perfection” in addition to others by a lot of other people, you know, Hugo and Nebula winners and that ilk. Check it out.

It’s Always the First Time

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Heian LadyI don’t know who said it first, but it’s been said before and it’s the absolute truth—“I don’t know how to write a novel. I only know how to write the last one.” There’s a lot of Zen in that statement, because the clear implication is, as the Zen masters would say, “It’s always the first time.” It certainly applies here. I’ve written either ten or eleven novels before now. I honestly do not remember the number. I could go to my works list and count them, but the exact number isn’t the point, because this applies whether it’s one novel or a hundred plus. No, the point is that I now know how to write those novels, because I’ve already done them. Which is a very roundabout way of saying that I’m in the process of learning how to write the current novel. By the time I’m done, I’ll have figured it out and, having figured it out, I won’t be doing it again. A tad ironic, yes, but there it is. Continue reading →

Washing and Waxing Nostalgic

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ILucille spent last Saturday at the Choctaw Indian Fair at the reservation just north of Philadelphia, MS. The reason for that is that I was born here in MS and I’ve lived most of my life here, and I’d never been to the fair, and neither has my wife. We have it in our heads that we’re not going to live in Mississippi once I retire, so it’s best to take advantage of the cultural experiences on offer while we can, so we piled into the Yeti and took off. The fair itself was fun, and I recommend it to anyone. One odd thing did happen—as we were walking from one part to another a woman offered us free tickets to “the Duck Dynasty Experience,” since they couldn’t use them and otherwise they’d go to waste.  It seemed that “Uncle Cy” from the show was going to be on site, answering audience questions. We hadn’t planned to go, but figured WTH. So we did, and it was fine (I don’t follow the show, but I’ve known people like them all my life). Fine, that is, until some nitwit decided to turn it into paranoia politics central with a question on what he would do if the “gubmint” decides to ban guns and religion, but I digress. Continue reading →

Occasional Update

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JYMDH-AT-BNudging from the search engine terms that bring people to this site, at least some of you out there are wondering where I stand on various projects, so it’s probably time for another update. I’ll be as specific as I can be, and if anyone has any questions, I’ll do my best to answer them.

Power’s Shadow (Working title to the sequel to Black Kath’s Daughter, or more accurately, the 3rd in the Laws of Power series): I was about 17000 words into this when I had to put it on hold, and the reason for that should be clear in a bit. I’m hoping to get back to it sometime after the end of the year, but for now other projects have priority. I had to leave Marta in an interesting situation and I’m eager to get back to it, but that will have to wait.

To Break the Demon Gate (the first Lord Yamada novel): The publication date for this has slipped, but PS Publishing still plans to bring it out this year. The new target date is November, and I’ll make an announcement when I know more. Since this is PS, this will be a limited edition. I’m pleased to say that there will be a trade paper edition as well, but that’s not scheduled until 2014. I’ll give full details once I know what they are.

The War God’s Son (the second Yamada novel): This is the reason that Power’s Shadow is on hold. I’ve got a publisher waiting to see this one, so it has to take precedence, and as of now I’m about a third of the way through the first draft. My plan is to finish this before the end of the year. Right now that target still looks doable, but only if I concentrate on the book to the exclusion of pretty much everything else. So any other writing projects are going to have to wait. Frankly I’m used to working at my own pace, so having something like a deadline is…different. A good thing, but different.

Short Fiction: I have just two stories awaiting publication at the moment, at Weird Tales and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Not sure if the WT story will see print or not this year, but maybe. There likely won’t be any more until next year because I’m just not that good at multi-tasking. Especially without multi-time to go with it.

This is where the writing stands at the moment. Other non-writing aspects of the business are also in motion, and if anything else happens you’ll read about it here first. But for now, this is all the news that is.

On Not Talking About What I’m Reading–Again

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Yoshino-1As long as life lasts, there’s s&*t that has to be done. Losing friends doesn’t change that. I’m maybe a third of the way through the current project. I ran into a plot and direction quagmire that took a while to sort out, but I think I can see my way through now. Bad things are happening so that less bad things can happen later. Or more bad, depending on which character is involved and the reader’s point of view. So I’m writing. What I’m doing very little of, at least to my way of thinking, is reading. Continue reading →