214 - October 31, 2021 - Trial of Thieves, Susanna Clarke, Perinesi, Chuck Palanhuik

Jon Cronshaw's Author Diary

Welcome to Jon’s author diary for the week ending October 31, 2021.

This is the Halloween special of Jon’s author diary.

And like all of my previous Halloween specials this episode is like any other, except I’m wearing an awesome vampire costume.

For those watching the video, you’ll obviously notice the lengths I want to make this costume as genuine as possible -- I am of course a modern day vampire who has done all he can to blend in with the populous.

This week has been the half-term break.

My wife and son have been at home, so I’ve done very little in the way of work.

I have spent a bit of time going over Trial of Thieves, which is the second book in my Dawn of Assassins series, previously called A Murder of Crows.

I want to make sure that the changes I made to Dawn of Assassins are reflected in the second book.

It’s basically meant adding an extra scene and removing references to an event that no longer occurs.

It also means I’ve got a new subplot in the story, which is always fun.

Not that this book isn’t complicated enough with its weaving subplots...

In terms of reading, I read Piranesi by Susanna Clarke.

This is one of those books that gets under your skin.

It’s marketed as a fantasy book, but it really isn’t.

The story is excellent.

The world is fascinating.

The audiobook performance might be one of the best I’ve ever heard.

But it’s not fantasy.

It might appear on the fantasy shelves in a bookshop.

It might have been nominated for a bunch of fantasy awards.

But it’s not fantasy.

Or, at least, if it is fantasy, it’s fantasy in the same way Robert Holdstock’s Mythago Wood is fantasy, or Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five is sci-fi.

It feels like fantasy, but it isn’t.

It’s realism masquerading as fantasy.

But this isn't about arguing the borders of genre.

There's something very interesting going on with this book.

And calling it a fantasy would be taking away its power.

Piranesi is about a man living through something very traumatic.

The hints are littered throughout the text that this is a character living with Dissociative Personality Disorder in order to cope with the awful situation he finds himself.

It’s subtle. But it’s there. And it’s disturbing when you piece it together.

This is one of those books that I know will stick with me for years to come.

This led me onto another book about Dissociative Personality Disorder: Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk.

I’ve watched the film, so I knew the twist.

But the book is excellent.

The voice is off the charts.

And I’m convinced that Tyler Durden isn’t the only extra personality inhabiting the narrator.

I also read a non-fiction book by Carl Abrahamsson called Occulture.

A fusion of the words occult and culture.

This essay collection explores how occult ideas influence the development of art, philosophy, music, and film.

If you’re interested in thinkers like Carl Jung, Aleister Crowley, and Anton LeVey, this will make for a fascinating and insightful read.

Next week, I’m back to work on Trial of Thieves.

And I need to start packing for my research trip to Egypt, which still looks like it’s going ahead.

I have to say, I feel like I’m playing a game of chicken, and that I can’t get fully invested in the idea of going on a trip because of everything that has gone on during the past year-and-a-half.

I’m in the mindset that I’ll believe it when I get off the plane in Cairo.

Take care,

Jon

P.S. My novel Blind Gambit is now free on all major ebook stores.