2008 - 07/2008 Meeting

Page Created: 09/16/10. Last Updated: 11/01/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 08/10/08.

DAVID KECK

Novels:

In a Time of Treason

In the Eye of Heaven

Author's Official Site: http://www.keckbooks.com/

MEETING SUMMARY:

Meeting Date: July 12, 2008.

Meeting Site: Barnes & Noble, Hackensack, New Jersey.

Official Attendance: 20.

Meeting Program: Talk by Fantasy Writer.

Notes:

Meeting Memories:

Newsletter Account:

The Science Fiction Association of Bergen County conducted its most recent General Meeting at Barnes & Noble at The Shops at Riverside in Hackensack, New Jersey on Saturday, July 12, 2008. This was our first time at this venue and overall things went quite well.

Barry Weinberger led a small but informative Ice Nine pre meeting discussion. Topics covered included the dumbing down of remakes like A JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH and the top 100 movies of the past 20 years by ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY.

David Keck, author of the fantasy novels IN A TIME OF TREASON and IN THE EYE OF HEAVEN from Tor Books, was our guest speaker for the evening. He was accompanied by his wife, Anne Lesley Groell, herself a former Association guest. Ms Groell is an editor at Bantam Spectra and a fantasy writer.

Mr Keck grew up in Canada, pursued his education both there and in England, and had funny stories about both nations. He talked about walking and hitchhiking in southern England and how the fog magically ebbs and flows, covering and uncovering the countryside. He described Canada as being surreal in an entirely different manner, with isolated settlements separated by vast tracts of open territory.

The author is a teacher with degrees in Education and Medieval History. His day job is teaching in the New York City Public School System.

The hero of David Keck's fantasy saga is young man who finds himself unexpectedly disinherited and forced to find a new place for himself in the world. To make ends meet he joins a company of down on their luck knights who stage jousts as popular entertainment. They are also opportunistic brigands. At one point the hero has a realization that he has become one of the bad guys.

Mr Keck obsessed with getting the details of life in a medievalesque world right. The hero sleeps in ditches, is accompanied by a cloud of fleas, and is weighed down by his chain mail.

Much of the storyline is a tale of two cities under siege. After he wrote the first draft, he showed it to his mother. His mother asked why there were no women in the book. Upon rereading his manuscript, he realized that he had essentially produced "teenaged military boy writing." Moreover, although his story arc had included a romantic interest in one of the later books, he discovered that this plotline was coming straight out of left field. His rewrite introduced the woman in the first book. He stated that the love interest in the first book is all due to mom.

Our guest related that his series is told through a single viewpoint because he was traumatized when reading the Lord of the Rings by not knowing what was happening to the other parties in the book due to the shifting viewpoints. Replying to questions about writers he admires and YA fantasy in general, he praised the work of Howard Waldrop but said that he never reads YA fantasy.

Damon Caporaso asked Mr Keck about the process of killing off major characters. Our guest replied that as a reader, he can become upset about the death of a likable character in a book he is reading. It's different as a writer, because he inserted the character into the book for the purpose of dying in a particular scene. There have been times, though, when it would have made things easier for him if a dead character were still around to handle a specific mission.

The funniest story our guest related was how he met his wife. Friends suggested that he attend the World Fantasy Convention which was being held in Montreal. He attended, but did not have a ticket for the awards ceremony. A mutual friend steered him to Anne Groell who had an extra ticket for the table with Stephen Donaldson and family.

The table was all the way up front, so the award presenters and winners had a birds-eye view of him making small talk and dodging various bits of food thrown at him by the Donaldson children.

Anne suggested continuing the conversation at the bar. David's friends gave him the thumbs up from behind Anne's back. David was thinking that he was doing a great job of schmoozing with an editor. Then Anne put her hand on his knee.

This led to a 12 day date in New York, followed by a move to the Big Apple, getting a job as a NYC teacher, and a wedding. David Keck was a terrific speaker. The meeting and the post meeting diner gathering both went well. Our thanks to Barnes & Noble and any club member who helped out.