Crux, Comiccon and YA writing advice.

First, Ramez Naam’s CRUX, the even more amazing (if that’s possible) sequel to NEXUS releases today in the US (Sept. 5th in the UK)

 CRUX by Ramez Naam

Six months have passed since the release of Nexus 5. The world is a different, more dangerous place.

In the USA, the freedom fighters of the Post-Human Liberation Front use Nexus to turn men and women into human time bombs aimed at the President and his allies.

The first blows in the war between human and posthuman have been struck.

Praise and Reviews:

“Potent like Naam’s vividly imagined nano-drug Nexus, Crux is a heady cocktail of ideas and page-turning prose. It left my brain buzzing for days afterwards.” – Hannu Rajaniemi, author of The Quantum Thief and The Fractal Prince

“A blisteringly paced technothriller that dives deeper and even better into the chunky questions raised by Nexus. This is a fabulous book, and it ends in a way that promises at least one more. Count me in.” – Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother

“Smart, thoughtful, and hard to drop, this richly nuanced sequel outshines its predecessor with a wide cast of characters and some complicated, uneasy questions about power, responsibility, and the future of humanity.” – Publishers Weekly

“Crux is an outstanding speculative fiction adventure … in the same league as Michael Crichton and Daniel Suarez. Put it at the top of your summer reading list!” – Scientific American

“Sublime. This book is speculative fiction at its finest.. Mr. Naam masterfully mobilizes the zeitgeist of contemporary political and tech culture.. Tempts readers with equal parts dread and optimism. This is not a book to be missed.” – Page of Reviews

“Readers of Ramez Naam‘s techno-thriller NEXUS will not want to miss the awesome sequel, CRUX.” – Kurzweil AI

“Crux does the work of great science fiction. It makes the reader look closely and critically at what kind of world we’re building here and now.” – Kent Peterson

“Naam’s writing is always strong, fluid and sure. With gripping, heart-pounding action scenes and muscle-binding tension normally reserved for horror stories, Crux is a book you don’t want to miss.” – Allways Unmended

 A quick review of the Tampa Bay ComicCon.  GET YOUR GAME ON!  I enjoyed myself, don’t get me wrong, but this didn’t qualify for the name ComicCon, which implies a lot more than a few celebrity guests, great hall costumes and a dealer’s room.  Where were the movie trailers or anime rooms?  Where the gaming?  Where the other programming tracks?  You have so much talent to draw from in Tampa Bay or an hour away in Orlando or many, many other locales here.  And I know the attendees surprised the heck out of you by our numbers, but you called it “ComicCon”!  That alone says huge and as difficult to wield as Thor’s hammer.  We got in early, so we missed the three hour lines circling blocks.  We didn’t miss the broken escalators et al.  I would love to have a really amazing ComicCon so close, but I think the organizers might want to tap into the runners of other local cons, like Necronomicon, which is coming in October, for ideas and inspiration.

In other news, The Knight Agency newsletter is out, including an interview with Amanda Sun, an author tip of the month, agency news and advice, etc.  Unfortunately, my piece of advice about adult authors wanting to write for the YA market got left out.  You know how it is when you give a piece of your mind and it’s just left hanging.  Then you start looking and feeling like someone from the Walking Dead (sorry, ComicCon brain).  So, here are my two cents:

I’d say that if you’ve got an idea that calls to you and insists on being written, then you should absolutely go for it, but I’d never suggest jumping on a bandwagon just for the sake of riding along a trend.  You want something that leads the pack.  When writing for young adults, remember that you can’t keep them safe, and that pulling punches won’t work any better for YA than adult fiction.  You’ve got to throw your characters into their challenges and give them the wherewithal or the growth to face them.  Sometimes triumph, sometimes simply survive, but under their own steam.

While I’m at it, here’s some of the best and quickest writing advice you will ever read:  Authors write their advice on their hands.

Enjoy, all!  The blog may be a bit quiet for the rest of the week.  I’m away Thursday through Monday at DragonCon, but I will be back with lots of amazing pics, so stay tuned next week.