Another great review of FLORA'S Dare, this time from Wordcandy.
There's no higher praise that a writer can receive, IMHO, then that the reviewer thought the middle book of a trilogy was not just a middle book of a trilogy. It's so hard to get that bridge right--you aren't starting the story (Book I) , and you aren't finishing the story (Book 3), so the temptation to make Book 2 just filler is pretty strong. I tried super hard to make Book 2 not just filler, but rather to give it a heft and importance of its own. So, I'm very happy that, as far as this reviewer was concerned, I succeeded!
Also, also, I was super pleased that to see that Wordcandy's "Author of the day" was one of my own personal favorites, the now oft' overlooked Mary Stewart. In my salad days, I loved her books--so gothic, so atmospheric, and so proto-feminist!--and even tho' my salad is slightly wilted now, I love her still. Wordcandy recommends NINE COACHES WAITING but my favorite Stewart book is THE GABRIEL HOUNDS. Tho' her most famous series is probably the Merlin trilogy, I never quite got into those books. With the exception of THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING (ranked among my biggest influences) and LE MORT D'ARTHUR, Arthurian legends never really did much for me. I was much more interested in gothic melodrama--and unsurprisingly, still am!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Got Evil?
If you think you are pretty bad--not just bad, but actually Bad, and can run with the Really Bad Boys, er, Horses, er Supervillains then here's your chance.
The Evil League of Evil is recruiting.
Yes, Bad Horse, the Thoroughbred of Sin, Doctor Horrible, and their evil compatriots are looking for some evil company to round out their league of rogues.
Come on, don't you want to help them sow discord and trouble everywhere, not to mention kick Captain Hammer right in the middle of his carpenter's pants?
You know you do. So hop right on it. If I were in any position to hop, you can bet I sure would.
The Evil League of Evil is recruiting.
Yes, Bad Horse, the Thoroughbred of Sin, Doctor Horrible, and their evil compatriots are looking for some evil company to round out their league of rogues.
Come on, don't you want to help them sow discord and trouble everywhere, not to mention kick Captain Hammer right in the middle of his carpenter's pants?
You know you do. So hop right on it. If I were in any position to hop, you can bet I sure would.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
True Blood
Last night Devilman and I watched the first three episodes of TRUE BLOOD, HBO's new series based on Charlene Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels. I've never read any of the Sookie books (tho' I've always admired their covers--very American comic book primitive), but judging from the tv show they are very Southern Fried Gothic. You know--moonlight, magnolias, psychobilly, snake-charmers, rednecks and vampires.
The show takes place in the Deep South and follows Sookie, a telepathic waitress, as she slowly becomes involved with Bill Compton, a 200 plus-year-old veteran of the War Between The States, who owes his longivity to his habit of drinking human blood. A habit that he is able to now break free of thanks the Japanese invention True Blood, a synthetic blood that fulfills all vampiric nutritional needs. Thanks to True Blood, vampires no longer need to hide in the shadows; they've 'come out of the coffin' and are now demanding equal rights with humans. (The show clearly wants to sorta kinda explore the issue of racism in America substituting vampires for other minority groups, but so far that trope has taken second fiddle to Sookie's growing desire for Bill, and that's probably just as well--that sort of substitution can become pretty heavy handed pretty quickly.)
TRUE BLOOD has been getting mixed reviews, but I rather liked it. Anna Paquin, who plays Sookie, does an excellent job of imbuing the character with just the right amount of Southern sass, steel magnolia and naivite. Stephen Moyer, who plays Bill, does a pretty good job of brooding and looking romantically old timey and inscrutable.
I also appreciated that the writers did attempt to inject some sort of historical perspective to people's reactions to the vampire. For example, when Sookie's grandma finds out how old Bill is, she asks if he'll come speak to the local chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy--that would be my exact reaction if I ever ran into a vampire who had fought in the Civil War. Well, not the Daughters of the Confederacy part, but wanting to hear a first hand account of the war--definitely yes! And Bill does seem like the kind of guy who could have been born in the 19th century--he still retains some of those old timey qualities, whereas most tv vampires seem utterly contemporary (Angel & Spike--I'm looking at you!)
And I really like the theme song, Jace Everett's Bad Things. Very psychobilly swamp-grass--one of my favorite genres of music. The credits are also way cool--HBO shows always have great credits even when the shows themselves are awful. (Now I'm looking at you, Carnivale)
Devilman pointed out that the writers have, at times, sacrificed plot continuity for melodramic moments, which is true, but then it wouldn't be a gothic if there wasn't quite a bit of melodrama, so that's okay with me. The first two eps mostly set up backstory and character dynamics; the plot points don't really start rolling until ep three, so if you are tempted to watch, I'd give it at least that long before giving up on the show, should you be leaning that way.
For the moment, I think I'll stick with the show.
The show takes place in the Deep South and follows Sookie, a telepathic waitress, as she slowly becomes involved with Bill Compton, a 200 plus-year-old veteran of the War Between The States, who owes his longivity to his habit of drinking human blood. A habit that he is able to now break free of thanks the Japanese invention True Blood, a synthetic blood that fulfills all vampiric nutritional needs. Thanks to True Blood, vampires no longer need to hide in the shadows; they've 'come out of the coffin' and are now demanding equal rights with humans. (The show clearly wants to sorta kinda explore the issue of racism in America substituting vampires for other minority groups, but so far that trope has taken second fiddle to Sookie's growing desire for Bill, and that's probably just as well--that sort of substitution can become pretty heavy handed pretty quickly.)
TRUE BLOOD has been getting mixed reviews, but I rather liked it. Anna Paquin, who plays Sookie, does an excellent job of imbuing the character with just the right amount of Southern sass, steel magnolia and naivite. Stephen Moyer, who plays Bill, does a pretty good job of brooding and looking romantically old timey and inscrutable.
I also appreciated that the writers did attempt to inject some sort of historical perspective to people's reactions to the vampire. For example, when Sookie's grandma finds out how old Bill is, she asks if he'll come speak to the local chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy--that would be my exact reaction if I ever ran into a vampire who had fought in the Civil War. Well, not the Daughters of the Confederacy part, but wanting to hear a first hand account of the war--definitely yes! And Bill does seem like the kind of guy who could have been born in the 19th century--he still retains some of those old timey qualities, whereas most tv vampires seem utterly contemporary (Angel & Spike--I'm looking at you!)
And I really like the theme song, Jace Everett's Bad Things. Very psychobilly swamp-grass--one of my favorite genres of music. The credits are also way cool--HBO shows always have great credits even when the shows themselves are awful. (Now I'm looking at you, Carnivale)
Devilman pointed out that the writers have, at times, sacrificed plot continuity for melodramic moments, which is true, but then it wouldn't be a gothic if there wasn't quite a bit of melodrama, so that's okay with me. The first two eps mostly set up backstory and character dynamics; the plot points don't really start rolling until ep three, so if you are tempted to watch, I'd give it at least that long before giving up on the show, should you be leaning that way.
For the moment, I think I'll stick with the show.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Flora's Dare hits the Big Time!
Speaking of reviews, FLORA'S DARE hits the big-time with a shout-out in Salon.
To wit:
"Flora's Dare" by Ysabeau S. Wilce
I'd be a total liar if I said I wasn't tickled shocking pink to be proffered as a much better alternative to the Twilight books, which IMHO deserve a epithet a bit stronger than "insipid".
Still Flora and I are both pleased and honoured at the attention.
To wit:
"Flora's Dare" by Ysabeau S. Wilce
Flora Fyrdraaca, the teenage heroine of Ysabeau Wilce's spirited young-adult novels, comes from an eminent military/political family but aspires to be a ranger, which in her imaginary land resembles a cross between a musketeer and a wizard. Like the first book in the series, "Flora Segunda," "Flora's Dare" features the pacing of a madcap farce, the intrigues of a Dorothy Dunnett novel and a Wonderland version of San Francisco in which the human residents are the colonial subjects of some vaguely Aztec-bird-headed overlords. Weird in the best possible way, Wilce's novels are what girl readers graduating from the Harry Potter books ought to be reading instead of the insipid "Twilight" series. The author's Web site is fun, too. -- Laura Miller
I'd be a total liar if I said I wasn't tickled shocking pink to be proffered as a much better alternative to the Twilight books, which IMHO deserve a epithet a bit stronger than "insipid".
Still Flora and I are both pleased and honoured at the attention.
Friday, September 26, 2008
To job or not to job
In the New York Times today, David Gessner muses on trying to balance the writing life with the working life. He's trying to do both, though teaching creative writing may not be as detrimental to the writing life as say, working as an insurance agent.
Certainly, Sieur Gessner makes an excellent point when he says: "After all, there’s something basically insane about sitting at a desk and talking to yourself all day, and there’s a reason that writers are second only to medical students in instances of hypochondria. In isolation, our minds turn on us pretty quickly."
On the other hand, descending into this sort of insanity is a necessary part of the creative process (so believe I), so if one does not have the luxury of disappearing into one's work, it can be difficult to make progress. As many others have pointed out, writing is the act narcissistic act, the act of a megalomaniac, and neither of those qualities tend to be conducive to being a good employee.
Yet, most writers do need to work just to eat, and to get out into the real world to avoid disappearing into their imaginary worlds, and that's not a bad thing. Believing that one is too focused and tormented to hold down a job is not necessarily the best way to approach one's discipline. And in the end, being a successful writer (published or not) is all about the discipline. It is discipline that turns a scribbler into a writer.
I've had jobs and written at the same time, but my out-put is better when I'm only working on books. Currently, I'm lucky, as writing is my only job. That's about to change, and I'm worried about being able to do big jobs at the same time. But one thing about discipline--it can be cultivated, so right now I'm trying like mad to grow some!
Certainly, Sieur Gessner makes an excellent point when he says: "After all, there’s something basically insane about sitting at a desk and talking to yourself all day, and there’s a reason that writers are second only to medical students in instances of hypochondria. In isolation, our minds turn on us pretty quickly."
On the other hand, descending into this sort of insanity is a necessary part of the creative process (so believe I), so if one does not have the luxury of disappearing into one's work, it can be difficult to make progress. As many others have pointed out, writing is the act narcissistic act, the act of a megalomaniac, and neither of those qualities tend to be conducive to being a good employee.
Yet, most writers do need to work just to eat, and to get out into the real world to avoid disappearing into their imaginary worlds, and that's not a bad thing. Believing that one is too focused and tormented to hold down a job is not necessarily the best way to approach one's discipline. And in the end, being a successful writer (published or not) is all about the discipline. It is discipline that turns a scribbler into a writer.
I've had jobs and written at the same time, but my out-put is better when I'm only working on books. Currently, I'm lucky, as writing is my only job. That's about to change, and I'm worried about being able to do big jobs at the same time. But one thing about discipline--it can be cultivated, so right now I'm trying like mad to grow some!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
More Reviews!
Reviews of FLORA'S DARE are starting to trickle in, and I'm tickled to say that they are so far pretty positive.
I'm particularly pleased that several of these reviews have picked up on aspects of the book not normally commented on by readers--world-building, or the characterization of Flora's parents, etc. Of course it's lovely when people love the story, but even more lovely when they notice all the nit-picky stuff you really sweated over, but which often recedes into the background--and you can't tell if anyone noticed at all.
Anyway, here are two reviews to wet your whistle:
The Rush that Speaks LJ
SCI FI.Com
I'm particularly pleased that several of these reviews have picked up on aspects of the book not normally commented on by readers--world-building, or the characterization of Flora's parents, etc. Of course it's lovely when people love the story, but even more lovely when they notice all the nit-picky stuff you really sweated over, but which often recedes into the background--and you can't tell if anyone noticed at all.
Anyway, here are two reviews to wet your whistle:
The Rush that Speaks LJ
SCI FI.Com
Monday, September 1, 2008
Now in Stores!
So, FLORA'S DARE is finally available in fine bookstores near you, as well on Amazon.
I would be remiss if I didn't point out that this fine book would make an excellent house-warming, birthday, anniversary, get-well, graduation, or baby gift.
Buy soon and buy often!
I would be remiss if I didn't point out that this fine book would make an excellent house-warming, birthday, anniversary, get-well, graduation, or baby gift.
Buy soon and buy often!
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