BOOK: BLACKOUT by CONNIE WILLIS

This is not a drill. Connie Willis will be signing her new book BLACK OUT on February 2, 2010 at the LODO Tattered Cover, 7:30 p.m. I am so there. This is her first novel since PASSAGE, published back in 2001. It’s been a long wait, but it is always worth it. BLACKOUT is about three historians from 2060 who travel back to 1940s England during the Blitz. This is a two-part story and volume 2 (ALL CLEAR) is not due out until November 2010. Reviews say that Part I ends with an intense cliffhanger, so the delay between books might be too much for some readers.
Willis says she now plans to work on other things, including a short story about a robot who wants to become a Rockette and another story about Satchel Paige, the greatest baseball player that ever lived. She is also going to be working on a romantic comedy about Area 51 and alien abduction, tentatively called THE ROAD TO ROSWELL. Of course, it might be another nine-year wait for that one as well.
Go to conniewillis.net for further details on all of this as well as links to recent interviews with Publisher’s Weekly, Locus Magazine and a discussion about time travel on Studio 360.
If there is such a thing as time travel, and BLACKOUT is as good as it sounds, then I’m going to travel to November 2010. So much for cliffhangers.

TOP FIVE BOOKS OF 2009

* available from the Bret Carter Library

# 5 THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY by Erik Larson
This is the true account of the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. It is also the story of America’s first real serial killer. This book is the epitome of “truth is stranger than fiction.” While some of the greatest architects are scrambling to wow the world with buildings that would have impressed the Roman Empire, the diabolical H. H. Holmes is also making his plans. The story is so incredible, I looked on-line to make sure it was true. And every single bit of it is true. The details sometimes get a little sluggish, but all in all, it’s a wild bit of history that you never heard of. Warning: although the crimes of Holmes are not graphic, they are certainly gruesome. This book pinpoints a unique fragment of U.S. history when the nation was at its best and at its worst—at the same time.
# 4 HOOKED* by Joe S. McIlhaney and Freda McKissic Bush, MD
This is a very short book, and frankly it could have been trimmed down even more, but the information in it is invaluable. Extensive research involving MRIs and PET scans have revealed some fascinating truths about the human brain that coincide with the morals as presented in the Bible. Make no mistake, these are not eccentrics trying to stretch the information as a backdoor into Scripture (in fact, the Bible is not even brought up). The primary issue at hand is the physiological affect on the human brain—synapses in particular—as far as physical intimacy. The parameters of marriage as designed by God are clearly supported by recent discoveries.
# 3 LITTLE DORRIT* by Charles Dickens
This is a hard read, but a great story. Amy Dorrit was born in debtor’s prison because her father is an inmate there. Although Amy is allowed to come and go to do work outside the prison, it is the world she has always known. Arthur is a young man who has returned home after many years abroad working with the family business. Arthur finds himself in a position to not only help Amy and her family, but to delve into a family secret that has remained a mystery for many years. As always, it’s the characters that shine in Dicken’s work. This is one book that I would suggest you read after you’ve seen the mini-series. It is otherwise quite a challenge to keep the plot straight in your mind and to keep track of all the characters. This is one of my favorite Dicken’s novels.
# 2 SUCCESSION* by Scott Westerfield The Risen Empire The Killing of Worlds
In the far future 80 planets are ruled by the emperor and he controls this union with the gift of immortality for whomever he deems worthy. The Rix are a group of rebels who worship AI entities and are determined to overthrow the emperor. The tension escalates when the Rix plot to kidnap the emperor’s sister. This is a two-book series that is a grand space opera, stuffed with high-tech cool ideas that often went over my head. I had to start reading it twice in order to start getting my brain around it all. It is sci-fi concentrate filled with unique concepts and lots of action.
# 1 UNWIND* by Neal Shusterman
It’s hard not to strongly recommend a book without overselling it to the point of unrealistically high expectations. But I have to say, this was the best book I read this year—no contest. In the near-future, minors can be “donated” for body parts—the process is called “unwinding.” Connor‘s parents are tired of trying to discipline him. Lev belongs to a bizarre religious family that has always planned on him being a “tithe.” Risa is being raised in an orphanage, however budget cuts make it “necessary” for her to be distributed as well. Although the basic premise would be enough to make a real page-turner, this story includes other thought-provoking concepts. (WARNING: Even though this is a “clean” book, it contains one of the most disturbing scenes I’ve ever read. Many others who read it weren’t as bothered about it, but it gave me the Heebies and the Jeebies.) These kids are on the run in a world gone crazy. They escape the madness and find each other. Now if they can only survive until their eighteenth birthdays.

TOP FIVE MOVIES OF 2009

(the following were not necessarily released in 2009—but I saw them in 2009)

# 5 THIRTY-SIX HOURS
Days before Normandy, the Germans capture and drug Major Pike. They place him in a fake allied army base and convince him that the war is over, hoping he will casually divulge key information about the invasion. James Garner stars along with Eva Marie Saint (North by Northwest) and one of my favorite actors Rod Taylor (The Time Machine and The Birds). To top it off, it’s based on a story written by Roald Dahl. The result is a unique film with some great acting. One of my favorite black and white movies I’ve seen in a long time.
# 4 THE BLIND SIDE
This is the true story of Michael, a guy in high school whose life seems doomed to negligence and hardship until he is taken in by a family who treats him like a son. This is one of Sandra Bullock’s best roles. The story is just fun and moving. I kind of expected a film in which the climactic point would be some grand slow-mo moments in a championship football game. But it wasn’t about that. Although football is at the heart of it, they took the story to a much deeper level in unexpected ways.
# 3 LITTLE DORRIT
Rarely would I suggest this, but watch the movie before you read the book. See my summary of the book on the list above. It stars Matthew Macfadyen (Pride and Prejudice), Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings), and several other first-rate actors. It is a mini-series that was presented on Masterpiece Theatre. It won several awards and is a something I would like to own some day. Great story, great photography, great music. In conclusion: great.
# 2 STAR TREK
I could just say “J. J. Abrams” and be done with it. But I’ll say a few other things. Incredible acting—nailing yet not mimicking icons. In particular, the actor who played a young Doctor McCoy was uncanny in his mannerisms and voice. The movie has a plot that cleverly sets the stage for a whole new approach to a story that should be worn to tatters by now. The writing saved this from being just another reheated remake in a junkyard of such. I’m looking forward to a whole new series of “going where no man has gone before.”
# 1 UP
In the first ten minutes of this film there are very few lines spoken. But by the end of those first ten minutes, I was so emotionally involved, that I knew I was going to love this movie. The music was memorable and a perfect match to the story. The plot was outrageous and fun. At first, the boy (Russell) seemed to be a character that wasn’t going to work for me. I predicted that he would be annoying or merely a cliché. But I quickly grew to like him and now consider him one of the more complex characters from Pixar. I heard that there was some concern about the protagonist being a crotchety old man (Carl)—due to him being a high risk as far as merchandising. Good for you, Pixar, for not letting dollars kill your ideas. THE INCREDIBLES, MONSTERS INC., and UP are the best three of the Pixars. What order they fall into in my mind probably depends on which one I watched most recently.

2009 CALENDAR

If there was a calendar that had a photograph for each month of my life in 2009, these are the pictures you would see. None of these images exist, so I will have to describe them to you. Consider it a slideshow without the slides.

JANUARY: Here’s me presenting questions during Brainamania. I’m wearing the tie to make me look like I know all the answers.
FEBRUARY: Here’s me making the students run through the chariot-race scene in Long Live Tendonitis for the twenty-seventh time. They think I’m making them do it again so that it will get better. Actually, I’m making them do it again, because it makes me laugh.
MARCH: Here’s me watching a bunch of people watching Long Live Tendonitis. You can’t really tell in the dark, but I’m smiling.
APRIL: Here’s me in Oklahoma speaking at a seminar for Bible class teachers. Although I might look intense, that’s actually terror on my face.
MAY: Here’s me putting in a wood floor at the house. Notice the way the thin layer of sawdust makes all the furniture look rustic.
JUNE: Here’s me with my dad and sister making a run for a school building in Agate, Colorado. Just behind us, in the near-distance, you can see the tornado.
JULY: Here’s me at Kamp, pushing adolescents into a giant mud pit. Don’t overlook that everyone is smiling.
AUGUST: Here’s me at the campground in Montana getting stung in the head by a bee while climbing a steep mountain. Strangely enough, this was exactly what was written in the fortune cookie.
SEPTEMBER: Here’s me looking down. On my desk there’s a cooking timer that looks like an apple. That tells me when I can look up. This was a game I played for quite awhile called, “Save the Retina.”
OCTOBER: Here’s me watching the senior play from above the stage, waiting to drop the periscopes. I’m wearing black so that I can sneak down the ladder and hit a giant metal pole for the climactic scene. I’ve got my fingers crossed that next year I will be doing something unusual.
NOVEMBER: Here’s me in the grown-up play smashing a watermelon. Those glasses are not my real glasses, so the look of concentration is because I’m trying not to miss the floor.
DECEMBER: Here’s me driving through a blizzard two days before Christmas wondering why I always end up driving through a blizzard two days before Christmas. But look—I’m happy.

WRITING: Christmas Script

Back Story Communications (the Wilcoxes) commissioned me to write a script for a local theater. This theater wanted a story about a magical bell that transformed people into musicians. Hopefully this will be a “foot in the door” to future community theater opportunities for all of us.

FOGLIGHT: FIRST SALE

Our murder mystery business is officially alive. We made our first sale to someone living in Maryland. It’s weird to think that a group of people on the east coast will be pretending to kill someone because I put them up to it.

REAL PEOPLE UPDATE: "Signing Off"

This is a new play written by Dad and myself about the last episode of a live radio drama. It takes place in 1952 New York. It started out as a one-act, but grew into the equivalent of a full-length play.
It stars Jenn Anderson, Kenny Carter, Silas Fitzsimmons, Sara Hart, Butch Martin, Pam Weast, Denise Woodfin, Anna Marie Wilcox and myself. Anna is directing.
The performances are Dec 11th and 12th.