| Volume 2 | 2001 |
| Front Page | Masthead | Back Issues | Newsgroup |
Holly has sold (to publishers) over twenty novels over about ten years and her writing covers many areas. In her own words, " . . . my work is tough to categorize (I've written high, dark, and contemporary fantasy, hard SF, and things that make my agent shake his head and sigh," She's one of the most original writers currently in print, like the Alan Parsons Project of Fantasy and Science Fiction, each novel or series being nothing like the ones before.
Her development as a writer is easily seen in a comparison of her Arhel and Secret Texts novels. In the Arhel novels (her first series, from about ten years ago) character motivation was sometimes sketchy. In the Secret Texts novels (her latest work) that isn't the case. However, character and world development each carry a price, and where the Arhel novels often seemed to fly, The Secret Texts, while seldom slow, don't usually match that pace.
Her early work had several traits that I especially adored; it lacked long assages of description and anything that even resembled exposition. In addition there was no preaching, no long-winded speeches.
In The Secret Texts she's gotten away from some of this. But her work is also richer now. Her characters, as a group, are deeper, seeming more real. The world she's writing about is more intricate and well balanced. So while I wish she would return to the earlier, simpler style, I also see the tradeoffs, and overall, I'd have to say they were worthwhile.
Holly's first great strength as an author is her ability to create and maintain tension. This was true ten years ago and she's only gotten better at it. She chilled me at times as I read Diplomacy of Wolves, even though I already knew some of what was happening (having previewed "Courage of Falcons").
Her second great strength is her use of humor. While her books cannot be considered funny she manages to work in some of the simplest and most effective humor I've found in Fantasy. That isn't just true for Diplomacy of Wolves, but for her writing in general.
Third is her avoidance of preaching. That isn't to say she doesn't have her points to make, or that her characters don't, but we aren't mugged with them. She gives us a sentence or two of what she wants to convey, then drops it, giving the reader credit for having a brain.
Just three years or so ago I read an article that said trilogies that are really one extended novel, and books with cliffhanger endings, died out with Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings", that books from then on, ad infinitum, would be complete within themselves. Since then I've read five exceptions; The Lucas/Claremont Shadow books, Kate Elliott's Burning Stone, Sean Russell's Initiate Brother, S.L Viehl's Beyond Varallan, and now Holly's The Secret Texts.
I'm not sure I like that or not, yet. Lucas/Claremont didn't do it well; Elliott did it pretty well, Russell's was really just a chopping off of the story; Viehl did it very well; Holly did it well, leaving the ending open but in a way that makes the next book even more appealing, rather than annoying the reader.
As most writers struggle to reach various levels of success, they promise themselves and anyone who matters to their career that they will do anything it takes to succeed. They vow to self-promote in anyway necessary, do whatever needs doing, sacrifice what must be sacrificed. Few writers ever follow through. Holly Lisle has.
Her efforts to promote herself, while at the same time helping less successful writers, are remarkable, especially when compared to the efforts of most writers. She's has spent hundreds of hours developing her website (HollyLisle.com: Forward Motion), making it someplace that writers and readers can come to talk about their passions, where they can come to learn from or teach others with the same passions, and where writers can have work critiqued by other writers. More, she is actively involved with the site, participating in many of the conversations, answering the questions posed by readers and writers, and answering more email than any author should be expected to.
She writes her newsletter herself, and another letter, a forum, really, like a news group, where her fans mainly just yak, but also get some really great info from Holly about her work and about publishing. She talks to people there as though she were sitting with them in her kitchen and had known them for years. Ok, so she really has known a few of them for years, but that's beside the point. She also has Lisle's Lunatic League, where fans can sign up to be the equivalent of Star Trek red shirts in one of her books.
She really cares about the people who use her site. Now that I moderate on her site I've seen several examples of her reaching out to members who feel slighted, hoping to keep them in the community. Her site is successful on its own, she doesn't have to do this. But, she gives a damn, and she doesn't let her ego get in the way of expressing that.
In all of Holly's work you'll find the underlying themes of Community and Trust. Look a little harder and you'll see that this carries over to her work with HollyLisle.com. Not only has she built a huge online community at considerable expense of time and her own money, but she's given the keys to the place to roughly fifteen individuals who help her run the place.
I asked her about the apparent connection between her development of her online community and the way she uses and/or observes community and/or human interactions in her writing. This is what she told me.
| "It goes the other way, actually. I write about the communities I would like to live in and be a part of; as I think of ways to define them, I try to bring these new ideas into the little virtual community I've created online. I believe people are capable of altruism, and I believe most people are better than they give themselves credit for being. I am trying to create a place that lets people pursue their dreams with some real hope of making them come true, and to help them do that in a way that lets them help other people pursue their dreams. I've met people I like via the community, and I have included some of them as characters in my books. This is fun for them, and fun for me -- but the characters I write aren't based much on the real people. Sometimes not at all except for name. I don't pull much from the community into my work, at least not consciously. I do draw inspiration when I'm down or tired. And I get a boost to my enthusiasm sometimes when I see new writers who are making real progress. |
"People -- most people, anyway -- are worth trusting and taking chances on."
A list of Holly's work includes:
The Secret Texts novels: Diplomacy of Wolves, Vengeance of Dragons, Courage of Falcons
The Arhel novels: Fire in the Mist, Bones of the Past, Mind of the Magic
Holly's immediate plans include a stand-alone sequel to The Secret Texts, called Vincalis the Agitator, which occurs a thousand years before the story of The Secret Texts. This is already contracted for with Warner Aspect.
She has other books she'd like to write about the world of Matrin, but no commitment on them, yet. Avon Eos has agreed to publish the first three books of a new series called Sentinels. For now, the working titles are: Sentinels: Mirrors; Sentinels: Rumors; and Sentinels: Old Gods. These works are scheduled over the next three years.
Copyright © 2002 By Chris Hughes. All rights reserved.
