OBIR: Occasional Biased and Ignorant Reviews reflecting this reader’s opinion.
Shatter Dark – by R. Graeme Cameron
Publisher: Celticfrog Publishing, Clearwater, British Columbia, Canada, May 2025.
Cover art by M.D. Jackson.
Premise:
After a limited nuclear war, climate warming, and the rising of the oceans, what could possibly go wrong? Something much worse.
Review:
HOW DARE I?
True, utilizing my column in Amazing to provide advance publicity for my debut novel Shatter Dark is a tad presumptuous, but… so what? I mean, it took me 58 years to get a first novel published. I had originally intended it to be the beginning of a life-long career, and so it is, but at the end of my life rather than the beginning. With luck, I have nine years left. (Statistical average for Canadian Males = 82 years.) Never mind being humble, I’m shouting this from the rooftops. Got no time to waste.
Besides, my role at Amazing is to review the latest Canadian Speculative fiction. Shatter Dark fits right in, I think.
THE PLOT
Instead of attempting to describe the plot, I present a wonderful review by Colleen Anderson, Rhysling Award and SFPA poetry contest winner:
“Graeme Cameron’s Shatter Dark is a delightful romp of nonstop action through a future plagued with infertility and absent blue skies. When the techgrid collapses, society—now hopelessly dependent on it—spirals into misconceptions and stone age chaos. Rudwulf the Smiter, clearly the world’s most successful opportunist, is swept up in a cascade of disasters, along with his allies: Myriad, and Buddy-Bod, an invisible AI Mate armed with knowledge and snark. As oligarchs and dictators attempt to revive lost civilizations in their bid for control, Rudwulf manages to stay one step ahead. Satire or prediction? Shatter Dark is wildly entertaining—I can’t wait to read the sequel.”
THE CAST OF CHARACTERS
All of them are in perpetual competition with everyone on planet Earth, including themselves.
ASHURBANIPAL – Minor psychopath ruling a minor kingdom, that of Assyria. Like everyone else, he aspires to conquer the world but resents being forced to stand at the back of the queue.
BEEDLEWOOD – Enthusiastic prophet and cult leader of the Quetzalcoatl Druid Reform Movement. An advocate of free love in a puritanical world, he has the most lecherous smile imaginable.
BUDDY-BOD – A nanotech mentation implant that resents being trapped in the skull of meat puppet Rudwulf. On the other hand, it considers attempting to keep both of them alive a fun challenge.
MARK HANDLY – Former bodyguard to the Emperor Norton of California. Now a mercenary for hire, his immaturity and impulsive violence don’t look good on his resumé.
HERMANN HOREMHEB – German Pharaoh of Egypt. Entirely comfortable with his divine status, he constantly seeks to uncover the apostates in his entourage. Not an easy God to serve.
FUCKY LOO – A nanotech mentation implant in the skull of Myriad. Totally dedicated to keeping her and Rudwulf alive as long as possible.
FUZZ BUCKET – A nanotech mentation implant in the skull of Titus. They work seamlessly together to bugger up the world order on behalf of Mussolini II.
MUSSOLINI II – A wannabe World Emperor, he’s obsessed with offering his vision of a reborn Fascist Roman Empire as the solution to everyone’s problems. He is annoyed that no-one takes him seriously.
MYRIAD – Secretary and bodyguard to Rudwulf. Widely considered to be the deadliest assassin on Earth. Rudwulf considers it a pity she prefers hairy men.
VASCO DE PÁTZCUARO – The Caique of Tzintzuntzan. Everything was going swell till his disastrous economic policies reduced his people to poverty and starvation. Needs to upgrade his public relations propaganda.
RUDWULF – The last living Smiter, he advises world leaders how to protect themselves from their faithful followers. Since his reputation is based on flimflam, ballyhoo and hype, many of his clients want him dead once they realize he doesn’t know what he’s doing. The trick is to get paid and leave town before reality penetrates his employers’ delusional expectations.
WOLFGANG SENEFERU – Son and brother-in-law of Pharoah Horemheb, prone to multiple obsessions due to his father’s habit of killing potential successors. Makes for uneasy family gatherings.
TECHGRID – The worldwide AI responsible for keeping the human race alive. Lately it has become petulant, finicky, and unreliable.
TITUS – Plenipotentiary and Chief Factotum for Mussolini II. Titus considers himself a better diplomat than Machiavelli, Metternich, and Kissinger combined, or would if he had ever heard of them.
TIZOC – The Tecuhtli, Great Speaker, and Lord of the Spears of the modern Azteca Empire. He can’t wait to reintroduce human sacrifice. He’s particularly keen on constructing his first skull rack.
TLALOC – Competent but temperamental captain of the coastal trading vessel Flores. He resents the fact that no-one appreciates his artistic talent.
OLAF TRYGGVASON – Former bodyguard to the Emperor Norton of California. Now a mercenary for hire, he draws comfort from his faith in his ancestral Norse Gods.
THE COVER
Mainstream publishers frequently choose the cover. Often the author has no say in the matter. Alex McGilvery of Celticfrog Publishing generously let me handle the arrangements for Shatter Dark’s cover. This is a great and unusual privilege.
A number of excellent artists expressed interest, but ultimately I chose M.D. Jackson because of his extensive experience in designing book covers. Delightfully, we engaged in back-and-forth collaboration to produce the finished result.
I requested a Mesoamerican pyramid on the cover as a backdrop to Rudwulf confronting the viewer. It was to be pristine, brand new, as contrasted with a derelict bulldozer and ruined “modern” buildings in the background. And I conceived Rudwulf threatening the viewer with an Azteca macuahuitl sword in his right hand while holding an AK-47 with his left. Above all, I wanted him staring directly into the eyes of the viewer, as if challenging them to buy the book or die. This is what is known as subtle advertising.
In addition to listening to me, Jackson read the entire book. Thus, he was thoroughly in tune with my desire to contrast the ancient future with the modern past in order to convey the underlying tension of the novel’s premise. All the subtle details, clever composition, and choice of “style” are his invention. In fact, 99.99% of the visual strength of the cover is the product of his talent and imagination. I am supremely happy with the result.
His cover art strikes me as something that will really stand out on a bookstore shelf, something dramatically different from generic covers. I hope it proves addictive. As soon as you see it, you gotta have the book. I believe the cover is so impactful it will allow the book to promote itself. Thank you, M.D. Jackson.
WHY DID I WRITE THE BOOK?
In 1967, at the age of fifteen, while lying in bed doing my Latin homework and wondering what sort of life that was preparing me for, I experienced a revelation. I envisioned a shelf full of paperbacks with lurid covers and my name on the spines. Yes, why not become a science fiction novelist! I imagined living a routine of typing for two or three hours every morning, then having the rest of the day free to do whatever I wanted, funded by the numerous advances and royalty cheques pouring in. A remarkably stress-free way to earn a living. Ideal.
Thus, I have written numerous novels over approximately six decades. Apart from Shatter Dark, none of them were published. This is why I call myself a “professional beginning novelist.” Oh, I don’t mean to imply that I’m a professional writer. I’m not. I’m an amateur and dilettante. But I AM a professional beginner. I know what it’s like to write year after year after year without ever getting published.
This is why I identify with beginning writers. It’s why I founded Polar Borealis Magazine, to provide a market for beginning writers. But I digress.
Point is my publication history can be taken to suggest I have no value as an author other than to lecture beginners on “How NOT to write a novel.” That was true, until now. Alex McGilvery was brave enough to offer to publish my book. A miracle! This implies I did something different this time. Indeed. What, in particular?
FOR WHOM DID I WRITE?
The first radical change I adopted was to give up trying to figure out the target readership. Lots of authors put considerable time and effort into pinning down a comprehensive image of their potential fanbase. In my opinion such research is tantamount to appealing an infinite number of times to a jury composed of an infinite number of members. Impossible to get a definitive result.
Instead, I focused on writing to please myself. This enabled me to throw away my objectivity. Even better, it allowed me to employ logic. I know I am not unique. Ergo, if I find myself chuckling at what I’m writing, all the people at large who share my quirky sense of humour will also enjoy my novel. In writing for me I am writing for them, my true fanbase.
PLOTTER OR PANTSER?
Simply put, in the past I only wrote novels after months of preparatory research, plotting, and character creation. Didn’t seem to do any good. Never got published.
A couple of years ago I analyzed my capabilities and realized I was no longer able to write the way I used to. My memory, for instance. There’s no point in producing 100 pages of research if I forget everything by the time I finish going through it. More to the point, my conscious mind is now too shallow to keep track of everything I’m trying to accomplish. Best to stay in the moment.
The epiphany which transformed my methodology is to rely entirely on my subconscious mind. Buried in my synapses is the total experience of my life, including the hundreds of books I’ve read on history, archaeology, and science. So, I decided to go 100% pantser (i.e. by the seat of my pants).
HOW DID I WRITE?
Before I went to bed, I reread however much I wrote during the day. I let my subconscious mind ponder it while I slept. In the morning, I reread the same text again, then stared at my computer screen. I had no idea what I was going to write. None. Yet, after a while, thoughts started to surface like bubbles of methane escaping from thawing muskeg and I began to write off the top of my head. After a year of effort, this produced a chaotic mess of incoherent text. The first draft was complete.
This is a very efficient way to write a book. No time wasted in research, or in conscious thought, for that matter. User friendly. The revision was a different matter. Needed to think things through, get it all to make sense, sort of.
HOW DID I RESEARCH?
By way of example, in the first draft, wherever I wanted to describe an Aztec scene, I just typed “Insert Aztec stuff.” Only in the revision process did I need to discover what an Aztec palace actually looked like or find a quote from genuine Aztec poetry. Point is I hadn’t wasted time compiling a mass of information I’d never use. My subconscious produced something that felt right. All my conscious mind had to do was find one or two authentic details to lend credibility. Worked marvellously well. Going to do this from now on.
Even better, since the premise has the characters attempting to reconstruct ancient civilizations from degraded data bases that contain even less knowledge than we possess today, I don’t have to worry about grognards complaining I didn’t get the details right. If the characters can’t get it right, why should I? Using alternative history to construct the future gives me absolute freedom to write whatever my subconscious wills me to write. Very liberating, I must say.
THE PROPER WAY TO USE SCIENCE
Consider hard science writers like Hal Clement and Robert L. Forward. They went to great lengths to ensure that the behaviour of multiple moons in the night sky of a planet in a binary star system was dead accurate astronomically. They wanted all the scientific detail to be as correct as possible. Not me. I write from my characters’ point of view, and they’re ignorant as hell. So, any scientific explanation is merely somebody’s best guess or pet conspiracy theory. This is loads of fun to write. I’m free to use my imagination.
HOW TO REVISE
There’s a natural tendency, especially among beginning writers, to be insanely proud of what they manage to put down on paper. I honestly thought the first draft of my debut novel was good enough, apart from adding a few details. This is mostly due to ignorance. You see, I know nothing about grammar. It’s too dry a subject to take hold in my brain. So, on reviewing my first draft, I missed a forest of red flags. In a sense, I was colour blind.
Fortunately, a number of people, to whom I sent advance review copies, responded with a tsunami of observations regarding my difficulties with voice, tense, syntax, wordiness, repetition, and so on. I happen to know from more than a hundred workshops I have participated in and/or moderated, that the trick is to ignore irrelevant advice and concentrate on what is actually useful. Most of the critiques, however, once my errors were pointed out, were obviously valid. This put me in a gleefully ruthless mode wherein I willingly abandoned chunks of purpose prose and reworked the entire manuscript in search of clarity and ease of reading. I believe I succeeded.
Point is, understanding why any given edit is necessary, is the key to doing it without hesitation or regret. Once you know, you know, and can’t wait to make the change. This, too, is liberating.
By the way, I am aware it’s a bit unusual for a publisher and editor to be a total dumbass when it comes to grammar. Nevertheless, I have, to date, managed to publish 299 short stories and 526 poems by other people in my two magazines, Polar Borealis and Polar Starlight. Fortunately, I have an instinctive grasp of good writing when I see it (except for my personal blind spot when reviewing my own work), and my proofreader Steve Fahnestalk is excellent at highlighting both typos and grammatical errors.
Note: 261 of the poems I published were actually selected by Rhea Rose, editor of Polar Starlight. Just to be clear.
HOW TO CREATE AUTHENTIC CHARACTERS
Simple. Your life-long social experience will allow you to vomit your characters out of your subconscious like I did. This saves a great deal of time and trouble.
It may be that some of my readers will complain that my main characters, indeed all of my characters, never seem to understand what’s happening and don’t know what to do about it. This is why my characters are true to life. In the real world, everybody pretends to know what they are doing and why, when in fact they are so clueless all they can do is react to events. To put it another way, everybody, and I mean absolutely everybody, suffers from imposter syndrome. It’s just that some are better at hiding it than others.
I mean, even the the King of England (and Canada!), after an audience, undoubtedly thinks, “Damn. What I should have said was…” His being the head of the Church of England makes for good PR, though it must be a bit of a burden sometimes, given the expectations of the faithful. Life is a juggling act, for everybody. No exceptions.
Fact is, we live in a delusional world. Everything we say and do is the product of what we think is expected of us depending on which persona we adopt for any given occasion. In a sense, we are all actors. Some are more convincing than most. The dangerous ones.
This why Rudwulf and Buddy-Bod are constantly bickering as they interpret and reinterpret the manipulative scams that other characters are pulling on them even as they attempt to carry their own scam to a successful conclusion. Survival depends on this. It’s the human version of the law of the jungle.
On being asked, “What do you think of the natural law kill or be killed?” Einstein replied, “It is a very efficient energy transfer system.”
Yes! And I would argue applying it to character behaviour is an equally efficient method of generating believable characters. (My definition of “believable” may vary from yours.)
IS SHATTER DARK SATIRE?
Like most science fiction, my novel is largely based on current events extrapolated forward if current trends continue. Current historical trends, that is. But it is also based on the universality of human shenanigans throughout recorded history. So, Shatter Dark is definitely satirical in intent.
At the same time, it is a satire of a century of science fiction tradition. Normally, for the sake of drama, the “hero” is confronted with a dilemma which must be solved, and as often as not, the resolution depends on how much fisticuffs (or raygun blasts) is involved. Rudwulf? He bamboozles his clients with empty promises and threats till opportunity comes his way. He’s more of a Ulysses than a Conan. After all, he only has two choices. He can be a successful con artist, or a dead one. Adds a certain frisson to his daily routine.
IS SHATTER DARK A ROLE MODEL FOR WRITERS?
It is, if you are a senior looking for a no fuss, no muss approach, eager to unleash your subconscious mind and give your conscious self a break, and would rather relax than sweat over a mountain of minutiae that is driving you nuts.
I genuinely believe I have stumbled upon the easiest way to write a novel.
IS SHATTER DARK WORTH READING?
For some time now I’ve been telling people I’m working on a novel weird and idiosyncratic enough to be worth reading. It’s interesting. It’s cynical. It’s different. It’s dark. It’s funny. It’s jaded. It’s entertaining. Yada, yada, yada.
Of course, it could be that my particular brand of promotion simply represents delusional thinking on my part.
I prefer to think this article gives you enough sense of what Shatter Dark is all about to determine whether or not you want to read it. Consider the logic. I enjoyed writing it. If you are at all like me, you will enjoy reading it. Makes sense, right?
CONCLUSION:
Publishing a novel has been number one on my bucket list for most of my life. Now the number one item is to get you to read Shatter Dark.
It will be available in multiple formats and venues once it is published sometime in May. I’ll let you know where, when I can.
