Clean as Bone, Clear as Light

Day Eleven ~ Staying a Course...a Talkative One

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 05:15:20 GMT

I've reached the point of this book where I have room in my head for other stories to fit.
This is also the point where one is throwing cues around and hoping for an exit strategy... The significant lack of plot is going to be fixed soon, though. I just have to wait until the time zones align and then--WHAMMO.

Freedom's problems go nuclear mutant.

This is, in any case, the theory.

Today there is climbing of trees, and silver headbands. Also, reappearance of eyeliner angst.

Nano Count: 23802 (total MS count: 40387)

The greatest thing about this book is that it's full of girls--they talk all the time!
The worst thing about this book is that it's full of girls, and...

Day 8 ~ Playing Hooky

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:40:20 GMT

Right now, the Backlash Girls are discovering the delights of the Danger Wood training ground at their new school which include:
a fort, trip-wires, and menacing ponds.

I'm particularly proud of that trip-wire image--despite the fact that it was sheer luck I came across it. Man, I love autumn colors...

The Facts Are...
I have no neuroses to report today, nor any particular triumphs. I was up to almost
14,000 words
new since NaNo started, though. (As of yesterday.) That makes the novel a little over
30,000.
I think it's a little fat, but this is a voice-driven YA superhero story. Whatcha gonna do? She's just *talking*...

The Big Question:
To bring to writer's group or not to bring?

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:51:48 GMT

Down Side To Being Internet Free Most of the Day:

I have a lot more time to be thinking of all sorts of things, including things to blog about. Sorry, kids.

I've been also not watching shows so much close to bed time. This means...
having my own dreams, not based on other stories!

...My primal imagination is A BEAST.

I was at the funeral of a villain-type with a bad goatee, and he was alive to leer at me in anticipation (of my discomfort). At least while everyone was gathering. Once dead, he was sent off with fire, but in such a way as to have a spectacular roll of burning coals to be rolled to the four points of the compass, 43 times, 44...45...

Grotesque (not gross, there's a difference) and strangely anthropological in impression. Despite the fantasy edge to it...

Though I'm not sure I always dream in color, some moments of them definitely are.
The corpse scorched a black streak in the lush grass.

Sometimes I don't know how I write such sane stuff, when I get a look Back There.

Day 4 ~ Blatant Revisionism

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:42:42 GMT

Okay, it's official.

Backlash Girls is the book I'm writing this month.

(Yes, this is a mini-collage for the book. Yes, Ouran's Kyoya is pertinent.)

State of the NaNo

For one thing, the other project I tried to start is just not mature yet.
(My judgment about this has been way off lately, so I'm trying to be more careful. The signs are, it still needs to wait a bit.)

And I was reading it aloud to my sister, and my brother Dan joined, both laughing enough they got hysterical, when *everything* was funny.
Which is the kind of fuel I need to keep going. I'm more of a performer than I think.

Also, my heroine and a few of the other characters have started taking on that extra dimension of life that's so important. (Sometimes you just need to keep plugging secondary characters in until you have Chemistry...) So, that's that.

Snippet:
in which superhero costuming is just concluding...

When we were done, I noticed a woman with steel curls close to her head and the expression of a vet watching us from the entry to the stairs.

“Hello Freedom,” she said. “What a perfect hero name. You're going to be sorry.”

“That I got turned into a Power? If that's a warning, you're late to the party.” I collapsed dramatically to the floor, and winced away from the construction-sign orange on my legs. “Orange. Curse you, Ena, I hate orange.”

This is Wolf...Wolf was not in my plans, but now the plans have been rewritten. (As if I wrote a plan...)

Day 2 ~ Renaissance of Dubious Habits

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:28:32 GMT

Intervention Program Status

Today I only thought about getting on the Internet 3 times instead of 15.
I did break down and use my own Internet on my own computer with my own bookmarks yesterday. I did not write a whole 2000 new words, either. But I figured it's all about moving in the right direction...

photo found searching for "november sky"

Book Report Card

I did not write on the same project today, but I decided to allow that.

Until a few years ago, my system of priorities in writing was fairly regular. I had one project that was the Main Project, and a few others waiting, including a Side Project. The Side Project was picked up when I was stuck on the other. Occasionally, it took pre-eminence after kicking into gear and replaced the first Alpha Book as the Main Project.

I've had various theories running around each other in my head like competitive gerbils about why all my projects felt like Side Projects lately. My two courses of action have been:
- Purposefully delaying starting a book (something I've forgot to do in a while)
- Allowing myself to nominate a Beta Book

(also found under "november sky")

Stats
So, Backlash Girls is functioning as the Beta. Today I worked on that, and also wrote a 1500 word story that is probably Not A Story, but hey, tale as old as time as far as I'm concerned... (It's about the Song of Endings, in case this ever comes up.
And, hey! I wrote over 3000 words today, even if none of it counts toward a strict NaNo tally.

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:49:38 GMT

I'm writing this from someone else's computer. (One of the approx. 10 in the house...)

I am not being held hostage, have not broken anything, or lost my Internet service.
I have, however, decided, to revoke my connection privileges until I remember how to Write for Serious.

I'm kind of using NaNo as an excuse.
I'm not sure I'm going to be focusing on word-count so much as writing ONLY for some time every day.

Obviously, I'm going through withdrawal. I've only scribbled on two pages so far, though I did also create a bad map, racial distinctions, and
decide to make international tensions a much bigger factor in my heroine's Senior Project. I may be here every day just to whine.

But. I DIDN'T get on the Internet probably 8 times before I came out to take a break.

Current Research Roster:
Odd Girl Out: bullying among girls
Introvert Power: reclaiming the internal gifts
Blink: what we know without thinking

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:17:44 GMT

Two books with a sequel I grabbed as soon as I could:

I don't remember if I already reviewed The Magic Thief. Everyone who mentioned it had good things to say. I was a little hesitant, (mostly from a perverse wariness of too many people saying good things) but once I read enough of the opening, knew I'd read it to the end.

The world has intriguing dark corners, the magic is familiar, but not stale, and the hero sounds like a little boy, but not a boring one.

This book has crinkly edges of the otherworldy--in a Dr. Suess's menagerie sort of a way. It is charming not saccharine, with a sense of humor more latent than obvious. It just makes me smile. I want to have these books on the shelf for kids of my own.

I'm still reading Ottoline and the Yellow Cat and The Magic Thief: Lost. But I know they're going to be good.

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:34:11 GMT

Dan and I will be participating at Open Mic Night at Cappuccino Corner tonight (in Claremore), 7pm!

Plan to debut Crow Road and my Sherwood song.

I don't know if anyone on my friends list is at all interested, but thought I'd put it out there. ^_^

The Hero says "Yes"

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:20:43 GMT

"One of the most important of the rules that make improv possible, for example, is the idea of agreement, the notion that a very simple way to create a story - or humor - is to have characters accept everything that happens to them. ... 'Good improvisors seem telepathic; everything looks pre-arranged,' Johnston writes. "This is because they accept all offers made - which is something no 'normal' person would do." ~ Blink, Malcolm Gladwell

This slightly different in angle (referring to accepting offers, in improv comedy) but is very much in line with what is said in Audition about not saying "no". Shurtleff corrects to actors who say "my character wouldn't do that".

If a character doesn't believe in love at first sight, but loves at first sight, isn't that more interesting? Doesn't that make for story?

Mulling on This

Thinking about this, I'm looking at stories, to see if this is true. Do all heroes say yes when someone else (the reader, for example) would say no?

In Seven Daughters and Seven Sons, the first part of the story is about Buran getting other people to allow her to say "yes"--and before that her father said, "I will teach my daughter chess, since I have no sons".

Frodo says "Yes, I will take the ring."
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell say, "Yes, we will revive magic together."
Eugenides says "I will steal the impossible."

An Example, from improv comedy

First with a "NO"
A: I'm having trouble with my led.
B: I'm afraid I'llhave to amputate.
A: You can't do that, Doctor.
B: Why not?
A: Because I'm rather attached to it.
B: (Losing heart) Come on, man.
A: I've got this grown on my arm too, Doctor.

Now with a "YES"
A: Augh!
B: What is it?
A: It's my leg, Doctor.
B: This looks nasty. I shall have to amputate.
A: It's the one you amputated last time, Doctor.
B: You mean you've got a pain in your wooden leg?
A: Yes, Doctor.
B: You know what this means?
A: Not woodworm, Doctor!
B: Yes. We'll have to remove it before it spreads to the rest of you.
(A's chair collapses)
B: Quick! It's spreading to the furniture!

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:54:47 GMT

I may do NaNo after all...
I just have to figure out my hero, and whether I'm going to botch this project, too.

P.S: I am sick to death of sputtering out on projects, but I do not know what's wrong with me. Yes, I'm whimpering, here.

This is the sequel to Thirteen Orphans, Jane Lindskold's fantasy where magic of ancient China has been coded into mahjong for the heirs of the Thirteen Orphans: powerful incarnations of the zodiac plus the emperor they served.

The fresh clothing of magic and the interesting background of the characters is really well served by Lindskold's ability to evoke images without bogging down into imagery. The Asian culture gives real color, and depth, too. The weak point in these books has been (to my eye) the rather wooden information-through-dialogue points. When one person shares knowledge, backstory there is no problem. When more than one person is talking about what they're doing, though, it is not fluid.

This bugs me, but not enough to pull me out of the story much.

I recommend this series, and may have to go looking for her other series' to last me until the next comes out...

Random Unfinished Short Opening:

SeBria was sitting on her duffel, looking about like every other cheap commuter in the station when o,Dickon came to pick her up. She swung up and grabbed her bag in a motion fluid enough for a wandswoman, but she was lanky and sat immodestly—he really didn't think he was going to like her kata. Didn't matter though; this was a favor to his sensei.

He still would hate to be on the short end of the trials-time gibes.

“From o,Dickon's doujo?”

“I'm o,Dickon. Pleased to meet you.”

At least she bowed, instead of offering her hand. SeDan had done that. Only o,Crichton would let Se get away with that sort of attitude, even when going to trials.

“I am Bria Campbell. I will rely on your guidance, many thanks to you, o,Dickon.”

“I hope it will be my honor.”

He walked fast back to his station wagon. She was surprised enough at his youth it could be a problem, and he didn't want to seem friendly.

...this story is one of the ones where I've used odd bits of Japanese culture/language to create something completely different. In this case, the overall concept of martial art and some bits of honor-language. I keep messing with this in short stories: hopefully someday I'll have a powerful enough idea to bring into a novel.

Since all my short stories still sound like Exercises in Fiction.

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:56:57 GMT

More Writing Philosophy from Unusual Sources

I think I'm condensing a few different statements into one idea (so I can't find the quote) but in Michael Shurtleff's Audition, he talks about when you're working with a partner who isn't working with you.

This, he says, is valuable, because the harder you have to fight to get across, the stronger the impression.

For me, this immediately clicked into writing terms. The harder the character is fighting toward or away from something, the higher the tension and drama and...ROMANCE.
(again, not in terms of love romance, but narrative romance.)

This made me go back to work on a story in the Aolon book, because of all the stories I've written, that one is tight with that fighting tension.

Maevidh's mother was angry—she could still feel it in her chest, though she had even left the city. She gritted her teeth.

I Need to Remember...

Maevidh is heir to a witch-queen. She has grown up fighting her mother--they are in each others' minds.*
She has grown up fighting physically, because they are warrior-witches.

At the start of the story, she's fighting off a soldier who claims he volunteered to be her guard, when she suspects he is a spy for her mother or someone else. She is also going to break a treaty with an empire they fought for 60 years only a few decades ago. Agents of the diplomat she both loves and hates are on the hunt for her, and even if she succeeds, she can look forward to being anathematized. Of course, she also fights herself.

It may verge into melodrama at points, but that can be fixed with a little pruning.
The idea that the more distance there is, the harder a character will fight to get closer has clarified why this story interests me every time I look at it, though the sentences hurt. She's surrounded by people she's fighting.

In the other stories of this book, this is true as well, though not to the same extent. Not just their enemies, but the ones they want to love, and they are fighting.

I need to think about this, and try to approach stories that way again. ...Without the labyrinthine grammar.

*I think i'll need to punch up this element of horror, but I'm pretty proud of the idea as it is...

This is Balthier, my latest spinning project. He and Maevidh may have a bit in common, really...

refuge from overachievement

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:00:49 GMT

I have a new song!

I may have posted the lyrics to this somewhere you've seen it--it's an autumn travel song. I'm really happy with the lyrics: I feel like they verge on real poetry. Doing the vocals recording I also felt like I got deep into the song and finally sang really well, too.

Crow Road (click to listen, see full info)

Slowly all the leaves fall from the oaks

A burnished nutshell brown

The wind sings sharp and the note is cold

It makes an uncanny round

I'm going up the crow road

Through the wastes and wood

I'm following the flight of crow

And step where no man's stood

The ground is stiff but the trees lay gold

Pillows for my head

The thatch of red and ocher hold

A canopy for my bed

I'm going up the crow road

Through the wastes and wood

I'm following the flight of crow

And step where no man's stood

Through the mountains before the snows

Fall to quench the world

I take this path to keep my oath

As the grey clouds whirl

I'm going up the crow road

Through the wastes and wood

I'm following the flight of crow

And step where no man's stood

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 01:04:00 GMT

The door kept opening into her closet.

“...Come on, I don't have time for this,” Cyrie said, slamming it again.

That was the wrong attitude. She closed her eyes, tried to embrace the pursuit of Good and Romance, and smiled as she swung it open.

It opened on a forest. “Finally,” she muttered, and stepped in, closing the door behind her.

The forest was very neat, which she noted, and the wind was hard, driving down a shower of pine-needles. The tang of pine was just strong enough she almost closed her eyes to savor it, before she saw a movement behind one of the trees.

“Hello?” she asked, always an easy one for placing if she was dealing in her own language or pantomime.

It was a young man, her least favorite kind of Rescue. Then she saw the pine needles bouncing off her forehead and sticking in her hair were piercing his skin. Where he held his arms up over his face, small beads of red blood stood, some touching and running together into a web.

Cyrie ran over and pushed him down into a kneel, and leaned over him back to the way the wind was blowing, trying to protect him though she didn't know why his skin was just bursting under the needles. The wind started to move direction, and then the needles were coming from all directions, so she hugged him tighter.

“Are they cutting you through your clothes?”

“No,” he said. His voice wasn't as deep as she expected—maybe he was younger than the usual hothead-in-duress. “Leather.”

Whoa, hard-core. He was wearing leather armor, not just a leather jacket.

She started thinking, now that she knew he wasn't going to die just because there wasn't enough of her to completely surround him. It was hard to be clear-minded with her hand on the back of some young stranger's neck, and her head hanging over his, but she already knew this wind was preternatural. That meant she could fight it with magic, and starting with a simple spell to test out the waters would probably not backfire.

“Protect me,” she said, including the victim in her thoughts, and she stamped the ground since she couldn't spare a hand to lay on it. But it worked.

This kind of surprised her, because she knew she was dealing with intended magic. But she let go of the guy and scrambled to her feet. The needles stopped swirling even around them, and the wind died, so she braced herself.

“Where are we?”

“The witchwood. Who are you?”

“I'm the Prince,” she said, feeling like she was saying something far too obvious.

“But the Prince...” Was he going to be first to actually say it to her face? “Oh, you must be a prince from the future.”

That had to be true. He was speaking her language, luckily, but with a funny tang. And the Witchwood...

“Whoa, there's a standing castle.”

“I was trying to go there, but the forest is fighting me.”

“Oh...”

The witchwood was still magic, then. He didn't talk strange enough for the castle to still be standing there, though, unless--

“What are you here to do?”

He had an adorable face, though he was as tall as she was—he had to be only fourteen or fifteen. The grim look on it now both mismatched his looks and was made more poignant because of it.

“My sister disappeared, leaving a note about going to see if the Tower Witch was alive and taking apprentices. She must have come here.”

“Did she fight with someone before that?”

“I don't think so?”

“Your parents didn't tell her to do something that she didn't want to do?”

“No, she had just gotten honors in high school. She seemed mad later, maybe, but not at us so maybe it was a guy but—oh.”

“What.”

“I knew you weren't the Prince from now because he's a family friend. He just got a girlfriend and she was...”

“Okay, so she woke the witchwood so he would come. How old is your sister?”

“Sixteen.”

That was about right.

“Too bad she gets me,” Cyrie said. “This is one I have not had before...Prince-bait. Gotta love it. I'll try it next time I'm bored, swap war stories.”

***

I am a complete project hopper these days. The Conspiracy of Cons books ruined me somehow, and I'm still scraping together passion for the Next Thing like I'm trying to get the last smears of peanut butter out of a jar...

This short story is still being written, but I like it, so I thought I'd share a bit.
Smile! It's October!

I am a project hopper these days--I hate it, but it's the truth. I think the Conspiracy of Cons books ruined me somehow.
Now I'm scraping together passion for the Next Thing like it's the last smears of peanut-butter in the jar. But! This is fun, and short stories don't seem to be so hard. The real test is if I write the end of it or not...

Smile! It's October!

pretend this is a writing prompt and thus justified

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:09:15 GMT

This image is one of those that is just precarious enough,
with a tension just in the expressions that are at slight odds
(drama--romance, see even in pictures...) that it makes me
want to stare.

And it's on Etsy, advertising the feather ornament in her hair,
by charmschooldesign which is probably not strictly legal,
since the image is taken from a movie. ("Brick")
But in terms of capturing interest?

*Brilliant.*

I have a geek-love on Etsy post in the makings, some day I don't have 5 other things I'm posting about. Goblin King yarn? Bring. It. On.

Yes, this is a Reflections on Craft Post. Skip as you desire.

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:51:36 GMT

I am reading Audition by Michael Shurtleff.
It's one of the books where if you are willing to think in metaphor a little, is a perfect writing book, though not about writing. Because it is about art, and about story.

"One great missing ingredient in current acting is romance. Everyone secretly wants romance, but in these harsh, "realistic" days, no one will openly admit it. ... We must be hard, to live in the post-Vietnam, post-Watergate era of disillusionment.
But what has made EQUUS such a phenomenal success? Romance. And ANNIE HALL and ... A CHORUS LINE and STAR WARS and PIPPIN. Shakespeare's plays retain their undiminished popularity because they are ever-lasting romances. Yet most of the creators of these shows would deny that they are romances. ...Romance has gone out the window. It is time to bring it back."

I think this is a key to the more recent culture of stories.
Twilight, Harry Potter and the Various Face of Evil, The Da Vinci Code...hey, even the goth and then emo youth cultures embraced the drama of the Romance, in a fairly reactionist way.
(Since this book is from '78, as placed fairly clearly in that snippet, I am extrapolating beyond a point the author could.)

Romance being a story that is made up, that focuses on narrative be it an adventure, a journey of maturing, or an affair of the heart.

So. I'm rewriting the ending of one of the volumes of Aolon, The Epic That I Can't Name For The Life of Me. But the bones of the story keep drawing me back, because it is fairly high-scoring in the drama and romance department.

I just need to tear down the melodramatics of its adverbs and give the characters a few better lines.

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:52:33 GMT

so I thought you might like this...

Aaron Zenz is an illustrator. He hosts a blog of his kids' art, showcasing the zany humor of small people equipped with crayons and markers. As a 3 year anniversary, he opened up to "fan-art" of any of the pictures, and was surprised by the response.

Shannon Hale (whose blog I found this link on) said she loved how the pictures (many by other illustrators) "celebrate, not correct". That about sums it up...

Kid-Art Tributes
Gorgeous stuff in here.

***

Talking to a Chinese friend, was sent to look up Beijing's Summer Palace. The scale of the place is mindblowing, but I have a thing for bridges and autumnal tones, so here. Something pretty, from Natl. Geo...

Rounding it out, a poem snippet:

..The leaves like late butterflies
Twist and turn, falter and fall
In the outside racing, interlocking winds.

Lady & Gentleman ~ Richard Webber

Treasury: Librarian Chic

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 22:24:57 GMT

This treasury expires tomorrow afternoon (Sunday) but it's awesome, so if you have a minute before then:

The Librarian

The Etsy Treasury is a collection of items by different sellers put together by an Etsy member: they're temporary to make room for the next person who wants to put them up.

If done with a new theme and an eye for aesthetic, they can be spectacular...

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 04:10:40 GMT

Meet Mirkwood:

(photo by my sis)

This yarn started off as a Childremass batt, themed on (surprise) the cover of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.

{I am going to read this book again mostly propelled by my need to figure something more out about that guy...}

I still think it fits in the colors I see in JS&MrN, but as I was spinning it, it became Mirkwood. I was looking up a quote to add to the Etsy listing (here, with more photos!) and came across the perfect one:

There was a greenish light about them, and in places they could see some distance to either side of the path. Yet the light only showed them endless lines of straight grey trunks like the pillars of some huge twilight hall.

...you know. I think The Hobbit is probably my favorite fantasy book. Ever.
Most days I wouldn't admit it.
But while Lord of the Rings is amazing, The Hobbit is like home to me. It has the humor, the intruding mundane, the dragon.

I want to read it again.

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:56:22 GMT

I'm down to only 2 queries out now--I need to send out some paper ones, research up a handful more names. This is boring, as updates go, but I thought it probably ought to be said. I have 5 rejections on the wall (whoa, Hanson ambush...) and one invisible one floating around somewhere.

Something new about this stage is being able to look at the manuscript and think, This is the best thing I can make it.

When I was talking with my mother the other day about the rejection stats, she began to bring up the possibility that I need to revise, tweak those first pages...
and without feeling defensive or guilty, I said:

No.
Those pages represent the book that it is. They are as good as I can get them by myself.

Both cool and scary to have brought a project to that point for the first time.

This guy is now looking at me on my desk.
Dear. You *know* you ought to be revising that last bit of the series.
Don't make me call Birch, now, hmm?

ozark_hoodlums was updated today, starting Chapter 2: Crime in a Land of Vigilantes

trying to drown a fish

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:28:24 GMT

Today the whole first chapter of Ozark Hoodlums is up!

RECAP: this is my Robin Hood retelling, set after the Industrial America crashes. I am posting it as an online serial, at ozark_hoodlums

Teaser:

Riley was used to having hunters cut across their land, so when a boy with a sun-burnt nose and frizzed-out curly hair came squirming out of the bush, a pistol held out in front of him, she was going to ask what he was after, groundhogs? She hesitated because of the expression on his face. Then he walked toward her, barrel extended in her direction, and the humor of it died.

“Look, you need to come with me,” he said.
She stood up slowly.
“What?”
“Get up, and walk toward the pond.”
“Please,” she said, panicking. “I don’t even know you. What do you want?”
“Listen, I need you to just come with me. I’m in trouble, I need safe-passage. No one’s going to hurt me if I have you, and I have to get out of here. I’m not going to touch you.”

This was ridiculous—not “touching” someone had to include not pointing guns at their head. She went, though. What else could she do?

He looked scared himself.

Read On...

Housekeeping 401

Dear Mom,

The boys are working on their latest stop-motion Lego film in the living room. Arguing, of course, about who will or will not die.
"Oh, Elijah, no," Ben says. "That's *too* graphic."
Whoa. They have two camera angles going now...

I think I've been in the kitchen long enough to discover some habits:

Behold, the right hand side of the stove. There weren't even that many pots by the sink...

ETA:

This is one half of Mirkwood. The two plys are now done, ready to be put together...

New Project, New Book

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 20:29:58 GMT

A Plug

I'm starting a new project: writing my Robin Hood retelling as an online-serial. For a brief description:

Ozark Hoodlums: a tale of truck-banditry and communes

Set on the American continent after the fall of our unsustainable industrial infrastracture. (Yeah...)

Riley is kidnapped by a boy her own age at gunpoint. She's shoved into a car, when she's never been in a running one before, and her captor threatens her life to make men blockading his escape-route let him by.

Piper is going to be lynched for stealing and selling the town's last treasured Advil. In a society hording the last remnants of medicine, it's an offense that puts people beyond reason--and justice. He has to run.

The first chapter is here: Pain in Post-Industrial America

I may post about updates here, but if you like the start of it, go ahead and friend it: I don't know how often I'll update. I will be, however, employing Cut Technology to spare friends pages.

And A Reveiw

This is the book I got in the mail, from Rosemary Clement-Moore! ~ It's really pretty...and it just came out in stores!

The Splendor Falls is as much of a classic Southern Gothic (I believe there is such a thing?) as you can get with a wise-mouth modern New York narrator at the helm. It was awesome. ^_^

I wanted to hate one of the characters who acts as only a scene-antagonist (not a baddie) because she reminded me strongly of a person I don't want to have to deal with ever again. But that was not keeping me from being absorbed in the story--the opposite, really.

Taut dynamic with the main romantic interest, truly mysterious mystery (at least to Gothic know-nothing like me), and snappy humor: WIN.

Prom Dates from Hell

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:32:55 GMT

So I won a new book from the author of YA-Rita-Winning Hell Week.

It's awesome to win books!
...I went to order the first in her other series that I'd been hearing about from the library right away.
[/self humiliation]

I just read Prom Dates from Hell, which kicks off the Maggie Quinn: Girl vs. Evil series.

Devoured more like.

Definitely the kind of book that holds your head in its hands so you can't really think about anything else until you finish. I don't get that from many books anymore, it's a good thing.
(Not for getting home-work/house-work/anything productive done, though.)

Speaking of which, I loved how the heroine was shown trying to get her homework done, and her school life being a plot-point. Win!

To put my overall impression briefly:
This has the fun kind of voice that makes YA, with Buffy-paced paranormal adventures--only the heroine is more into being a Nancy Drew than her Seer abilities. Which gives a new feel to the classic story-line. I've got the next one lined up...

Really, just to expand on what I liked about this book (and why I think it's worth recommending)...

1) voice: this feels like Meg Cabot with monsters. Now, Cabot does the paranormal, but it doesn't feel straight-up like her mainstream books. Which is fine! And when I refer to Meg Cabot with respect, I mean her ability to create individual voices: not that another author is just like her. Maggie Quinn does not sound like everyone else. Her sassy dialogue is a bit less individual than her POV in the text, but that's kind of like reality.

2) plot: there's an interesting twist that felt very real, that didn't pull punches about teen issues. Yeah, I know, could I put that a bit more ambiguously? But really...

3) characters: I felt like there was good solid stuff in the characters, despite their sliding into stereotypes of the society they're in. And that was well portrayed, too. There's a full world that Maggie lives in, in terms of people.

4) detail: ...and the demon eats her homework. HATE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS.

On that mature note, I'll summarize: solid writing, fun reading, and I can't believe it's not more visible. So I'm bloggin' it!

HELL WEEK: Maggie Quinn goes to college...and tries to survive evil sorority recruitment? I'm in...

Housekeeping 401 ~ a mini-series

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:11:17 GMT

Dear Mom,

today I used our new vacuum cleaner!
You will be glad to know it does great on the carpets and bare flooring. It's a bit awkward for use on walls.
I'll have to try out the hose attachment next time.
Or a duster.

I vacuumed your bedroom. I hope you don't keep anything important and small on the floor! ...because it is gone.

The vacuum cleaner seems to be adjusting well, aside from a little indigestion. Hopefully now we've cleared the backlog of dust-bunnies out he'll have no further culture shock, and the occasional gravel piece will go down without too much trouble.

Hope you're traveling worry-free with me at the helm of Starship Powellclan!

Love, BN

***

My mom is on Epic Powell Roadtrip #4 of this year, which means I am keeping house for her three children and my dad. I will be posting humorous updates as they occur to me while doing more mundane tasks.

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:03:22 GMT

You'd probably be appalled if you knew what a high getting mail gives me. Sending it gives me a pretty good buzz, too. Anyway, today I got a good, long letter from a friend *and* a BookMooch arrival, after sending off a yarn.

Also, I can't imagine anything more gratifying than having people like the stuff you make enough to give money for it.

Genie's Wish, off to make it big now. ^_^

Some years ago there was in the city of York a society of magicians. They met upon the third Wednesday of every month and read each other long, dull papers upon the history of English magic.
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell ~ Susanna Clark
The temperature of the room dropped fast. Ice formed on the curtains and crusted thickly around the lights in the ceiling. The glowing filaments in each bulb shrank and dimmed, while the candles that sprang from every available surface like toadstools had their wicks snuffed out.
The Amulet of Samarkand (The Bartimaeus Trilogy) ~ Jonathan Stroud

{Footnotes! But strangely they feel similar to me...}

On Dreamer's Plain, the gathering of delegations from the Twelve Crowns of Raine for the coronation of the Queen of Raine looked like an invading army. So the young transcriptor thought, gazing out a window as she awaited a visiting scholar.
Alphabet of Thorn ~ Patricia A. McKillip
In a hole in a ground there lived a hobbit.
The Hobbit ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

{Both main characters are chroniclers, and both have adventures they are not looking for.}

I didn't know how long I had been in the king's prison.
The Thief ~ Megan Whalen Turner (series called The Queen's Thief by loving fandom)
“She won't be angry with me,” said Alicia. “Why should she, Kate? Every word I wrote her was true. This is the most horrible place in the world. You know it is.”
The Perilous Gard ~ Elizabeth Pope

{Both protagonists are under arrest, which leads them into danger and unexpected encounters...}

Linderwall was a large kingdom, just east of the Mountains of Morning, where philosophers were highly respected and the number five was fashionable. The climate was unremarkable. The knights kept their armor brightly polished mainly for show—it had been centuries since a dragon had come east.
Dealing with Dragons ~ Patricia C. Wrede
In the land of Ingary, where such things as seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility really exist, it is quite a misfortune to be born the eldest of three.
Howl's Moving Castle ~ Diana Wynne Jones

{The protagonists go off to seek their fortunes, despite the storyland conventions which encourage otherwise, making their way by keeping house with efficiency and humor.}

Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress.
Middlemarch ~ George Eliot
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
Pride and Prejudice ~ Jane Austen

{The two books are themed on family connections and the matrimonial fates of small-town girls. The politics of class are, to varying degrees, very important to both.}

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 13:56:44 GMT

Crafty Update: The latest JS&MN yarn, which was tentatively called Childremass...has become a Mirkwood.
These things happen.

Scribbly Update: I think I almost have it, this cadence of the Island, this way of their talking.
Malachi's POV was hazy to me until I stopped to find it, and unknown voice is never good in a book of mine.

The FAVORITE BOOK 1ST LINE meme

1. Pick 10 of your favorite books or series'.
2. Post the first sentence of each book. (If one sentence seems too short, post two or three!)
3. Let everyone try to guess the titles and authors of your books

My own notes: some of these will be shamefully easy (at least, in light of who reads this blog). I've paired these so if you want an extra challenge, you can tell me what correlation they have. Some of them are more amorphous correlations, containing various links, and all are acceptable. The first one, though, I have something very specific in mind, and it may be a bit tough if you don't know one or the other... ;) Good luck!

Some years ago there was in the city of York a society of magicians. They met upon the third Wednesday of every month and read each other long, dull papers upon the history of English magic.
The temperature of the room dropped fast. Ice formed on the curtains and crusted thickly around the lights in the ceiling. The glowing filaments in each bulb shrank and dimmed, while the candles that sprang from every available surface like toadstools had their wicks snuffed out.

On Dreamer's Plain, the gathering of delegations from the Twelve Crowns of Raine for the coronation of the Queen of Raine looked like an invading army. So the young transcriptor thought, gazing out a window as she awaited a visiting scholar.
In a hole in a ground there lived a hobbit.

I didn't know how long I had been in the king's prison.
“She won't be angry with me,” said Alicia. “Why should she, Kate? Every word I wrote her was true. This is the most horrible place in the world. You know it is.”

Linderwall was a large kingdom, just east of the Mountains of Morning, where philosophers were highly respected and the number five was fashionable. The climate was unremarkable. The knights kept their armor brightly polished mainly for show—it had been centuries since a dragon had come east.
In the land of Ingary, where such things as seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility really exist, it is quite a misfortune to be born the eldest of three.

Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress.
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.