Bookstore Signing Report and Abyss and Apex Review
World's Biggest Bookstore Signing
The signing last Tuesday at the World's Biggest Bookstore with Grand Prize winner Stephen Kotowych and Robert J. Sawyer was a delightful event, and gave a chance for our friends and family who were not able to attend the ceremony in Pasadena to hear about the contest from Rob. Rob gave an excellent overview of the Writers of the Future Contest. My sister, mother, stepfather, and partner were all able to attend. Extraordinarily nostalgic was seeing my high school geography teacher (and curling coach) who came with his wife to see me. Thanks to everyone who dropped by.
Afterwards, Steve, Rob, and I went to the Pickle Barrel for dinner, and Rob gave us sage advice on where to go next with our writing aspirations. What a great guy!
More coverage is available at the World's Biggest Bookstore blog, maintained by my friend Jessica Strider, whom I met at Ad Astra and teamed up with in the Under Cover of Darkness alternate-reality game/book launch event.
Abyss & Apex Review
A splendid review of my novelette, "Metamorphoses in Amber", is up at The Fix Online.
Tony Pi has composed an elegant, multilayered tale in “Metamorphoses in Amber.” Jewel thief Felix Lea is one of a small group of humans-the Elect, named after the Greek word for amber: electron-with the ability to tap into the lightning inside amber, shedding his body like a cicada sheds its shell. In the middle of waging his centuries-long war against nemesis Mantis, Felix contracts a debilitating disease, one which will ultimately change him from male to female. Only the help of longtime friend and lover, Spider, and the aid of his hated enemy might he be able to halt a transformation that is not only permanent, but dreaded.
The action in “Metamorphoses in Amber” never lets up, and the plot advances at a fast clip without sacrificing details. But the strongest feature of this work is the themes that Pi has interwoven; he touches upon gender, and what it means to be male or female, and what it means to stay true to yourself and your purpose while staying flexible enough to survive the fluctuations that occur with time.
Pi also incorporates colorful characters from the past, both real and imagined. I have a weakness for such stories because they bring people I’ve only imagined vividly to life. References to the Sheriff of Nottingham, Little John, Nefertiti, Helen of Troy, Guinevere, and Machiavelli call to mind deeds and character traits that help shape a reader’s idea of who these new characters are supposed to be and whet the appetite for the twist and turns to come. Felix, who starts out a bit too glib and idealistic, seems one-dimensional at first, but sheds his layers to reveal that he is just as complex as a fly caught in amber.
I really loved this story. The characterization and the descriptive language worked especially well. When Pi works in the phrase: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” I knew that “Metamorphoses in Amber” was going to keep me engaged.
-- Nicole McClain, The Fix Online
Read the rest of the review of Abyss & Apex 24 here.
The signing last Tuesday at the World's Biggest Bookstore with Grand Prize winner Stephen Kotowych and Robert J. Sawyer was a delightful event, and gave a chance for our friends and family who were not able to attend the ceremony in Pasadena to hear about the contest from Rob. Rob gave an excellent overview of the Writers of the Future Contest. My sister, mother, stepfather, and partner were all able to attend. Extraordinarily nostalgic was seeing my high school geography teacher (and curling coach) who came with his wife to see me. Thanks to everyone who dropped by.
Afterwards, Steve, Rob, and I went to the Pickle Barrel for dinner, and Rob gave us sage advice on where to go next with our writing aspirations. What a great guy!
More coverage is available at the World's Biggest Bookstore blog, maintained by my friend Jessica Strider, whom I met at Ad Astra and teamed up with in the Under Cover of Darkness alternate-reality game/book launch event.
Abyss & Apex Review
A splendid review of my novelette, "Metamorphoses in Amber", is up at The Fix Online.
Tony Pi has composed an elegant, multilayered tale in “Metamorphoses in Amber.” Jewel thief Felix Lea is one of a small group of humans-the Elect, named after the Greek word for amber: electron-with the ability to tap into the lightning inside amber, shedding his body like a cicada sheds its shell. In the middle of waging his centuries-long war against nemesis Mantis, Felix contracts a debilitating disease, one which will ultimately change him from male to female. Only the help of longtime friend and lover, Spider, and the aid of his hated enemy might he be able to halt a transformation that is not only permanent, but dreaded.
The action in “Metamorphoses in Amber” never lets up, and the plot advances at a fast clip without sacrificing details. But the strongest feature of this work is the themes that Pi has interwoven; he touches upon gender, and what it means to be male or female, and what it means to stay true to yourself and your purpose while staying flexible enough to survive the fluctuations that occur with time.
Pi also incorporates colorful characters from the past, both real and imagined. I have a weakness for such stories because they bring people I’ve only imagined vividly to life. References to the Sheriff of Nottingham, Little John, Nefertiti, Helen of Troy, Guinevere, and Machiavelli call to mind deeds and character traits that help shape a reader’s idea of who these new characters are supposed to be and whet the appetite for the twist and turns to come. Felix, who starts out a bit too glib and idealistic, seems one-dimensional at first, but sheds his layers to reveal that he is just as complex as a fly caught in amber.
I really loved this story. The characterization and the descriptive language worked especially well. When Pi works in the phrase: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” I knew that “Metamorphoses in Amber” was going to keep me engaged.
-- Nicole McClain, The Fix Online
Read the rest of the review of Abyss & Apex 24 here.