Hope y’all having a fine whatever-day-it-is where you are. Before I launch into the inquisition of SSA Conway, I mean ask Ellie a few questions… would you all please join me in wishing our most fabulous Hagelrat a very very happy birthday!
She’s off celebrating today and has let me loose on her blog. Wise? We’ll see! If you can’t trust a fellow Sagittarian (or two) who can you trust? And Ellie is totally trust worthy, hello – badge and gun.
So there you have it. Cat Connor (that’s me) the kiwi author of killerbyte and terrorbyte, and SSA Ellie Conway the American main character of killerbyte and terrorbyte. We’re here to chat and maybe enlighten you some regarding our relationship.
I thought it would be fun if I asked Ellie a few questions. (I prepared some earlier –she has no clue –surprise!)
Q. Ellie, you’re the main character in both killerbyte and terrorbyte, and there are more adventures to come. What’s it like working with Cat?
A. It’s not bad. She’s quite easy to get along with –mostly she listens and writes it as I tell her. Sometimes she gets a bit ‘I’m the writer’ over scenes. That can get ugly real quick.
Q. In killerbyte, a killer preyed on your chat room friends. And in terrorbyte, the Unsub chooses victims from your Foundation forums. Does that make you want to keep off the internet?
A. Quite honestly it makes me want to curl up in a little ball and sob like a 3-yr-old whose sand castle was stomped on. I hate the idea that I’m providing hunting grounds for psychos. My screen name doesn’t pop up anywhere near as often as it used too, so yeah, a lower profile, which isn’t very easy. I don’t know if it will help. I seem to be a freak magnet and freaks are everywhere.
Q. Christmas is approaching fast. How do you celebrate?
A. My mother-in-law owns Christmas. I think she beat Santa with something akin to a vacuum cleaner pipe until he let her have Christmas. We are summoned to attend my in-laws by eight on Christmas morning. (My brother and father are included in the directive.) Mac’s brother, Eddie, starts drinking on Christmas Eve and doesn’t stop until he passes out sometime on the 26th. Last year Eddie (the bother-in-law from hell) bailed me up in the kitchen and wanted me to run away with him – he got a little handsy for my liking. His ex-wife was propositioning Mac in the living room at the time. This year I’ll be wearing body armor, a side arm, and a stun gun. Perhaps I’ll adorn my vest with tinsel and maybe I’ll make Eddie wet his pants by zapping him as he staggers by. I know, it’s mean but damned if he doesn’t ruin Christmas every freaking year. Just quietly, making Eddie pee himself is more fun than a hot summer with six-pack and a bug zapper.
Q. When you look back over the adventures you’ve shared with us, so far. What one thing has had the greatest impact on you?
I don’t think I can narrow it down to one thing. Having my poetry splashed about crime scenes has had a huge impact on me. So much so that I have stopped writing. I haven’t written a poem since the whole Jack Griffin/Son of Shakespeare incident in killerbyte but that didn’t stop someone using one of my poems in terrorbyte. Having ones house explode is a life-changing thing. Discovering the dismembered bodies of friends –does leave an impression. There’s always a silver lining, you just have to look – sometimes really hard! The Butterfly Foundation is a positive aspect that was possible because of the hell we went through. It was our dream to provide support and help for kids of the mentally ill. That was a dream we achieved and an ongoing project, I’m quite proud of it. The other thing that has changed my life completely isn’t something I want to talk about. You’ll have to read terrorbyte; I believe the question answers itself.
Sorry, I’d like to leave it here. Just got a call into work. No rest for the wicked. Thanks Cat for springing this on me, and many happy returns Hagelrat!
Ellie x
And with that Ellie has ridden off into the sunset… and I shall now head off to bed. It’s nighttime here at the bottom of the world.
Fantastic giveaway at the bottom of the page. Podcast is here.
Saturday 28th November Zombies took over the new Phoenix Square in Leicester. Day of the Undead is an annual event organised by Terror4fun who are also behind a number of zombie walks all over the UK. Check out the website for all sorts of zombie fun, including make up tips if you are planning on being a zombie any time. Anyway, the event. 12 hours of zombie movies, kicking off with the original Dawn of the Dead and finishing with the new release Zombie Land at a midnight showing. There were authors in attendance and makeup artists helping initiate visitors into the realms of the undead. 20 minutes before the first film started the cafe was packed with zombies and fans.
I went to see Dawn, it's years since I watched it and never on the big screen. It was funnier than I remember, great entertainment and fairly gross. Ed did a great job of running things and introducing the films.
A large part of the purpose of my visit however was the podcast. I got together with Zombie Ed (terror4fun), Jasper Bark (author), Michael and Nick Thomas (authors), Dr Jennifer Cooke (zombie academic) and Sharon (my mate) and we had a good chat about Zombies.
We started out by looking at the enduring appeal of the zombie, the main themes here seem to be the idea of not needing to be exceptional or superpowered to try and fight them and that we can do terrible things to zombies without the moral repercussions involved with other monsters, or people. We considered the plague metaphor and the spread of infection as well as the earlier haitian concept of zombies. We also conisdered survival and I definately would not count on any of these guys to keep me alive, they are more likely to stab me in the leg with a screwdriver and leave me to buy them time. One of the points that as a fantasy/horror fan I found especially interesting was the way zombies fundamentally differ from other monsters like werewolves and vampires. The fact that zombies are so limited, with no super powers or benefits and of course we discussed the loss of individuality. There are a number of strange and some very worrying films referenced by people who know their zombies much better than I do and we touch on the fast viral zombie type.
They were a great group to talk to and it was a fun and interesting chat. Go and have a listen then come back here and give us your thoughts!
For more information of our guests: Zombie Ed - terror4fun worldwide information and UK events, including the annual film festival and zombie walks. "we fight...we die...we eat flesh". The terror4fun guys can also be spotted making up the flesh eating hoardes in UK zombie films.
Dr Jennifer Cooke - Lecturer in English at L'boro, poet, writer and zombie academic. We first saw Jennifer presenting a paper on zombies adapted from the final chapter of her book at short fuse (check out our archives, it was fantastic).
Nick and Michael Thomas - martial artists and authors of How to survive a Zombie Apocolypse, or ZomPoc. The brothers considered all the advice and requirements for surviving any apocolypse, then tailored it for zombies.
Jasper Bark - author, Jasper has written a number of books, including Way of the Barefoot zombie where releasing the inner zombie is considered as a positive life change, in amongst some fairly odd goings on. And an additional link for Jasper on Youtube
and me and Sharon and there are no links for us. that's Dr Zombie between us.
Some other websites of interest for the zombie fan, some of which we touch on in the podcast: Zombie Command - a good variety of zombie related chat including survival tips and reviews. How to survive a zombie apocolypse - improv show and seminar. Zombie Undead - upcoming local movie from Dark Waters Entertainment. Zombies don't run - for anyone who feels the virul infected undead of 28days later aren't real zombies Zombie pin ups - if I have to explain this, you need fresh brains. And now a FANTASTIC ZOMBIE GIVEAWAY. I love you all so much I picked up an extra copy of Zompoc and got it signed for you. Added to that terror4fun and capcom have generously donated a goodie bag with bookmarks, a preview selection from Abaddon books, a couple of badges, postcards and fliers and some neat swine flu style face masks with a resident evil twist and a gorgeous resident evil t-shirt.
All you have to do is come and comment, tell us your favourite zombie movie or book, or whether or not you count fast zombies as zombies, whether you have ever been a zombie, or anything else related. Give your views. The contest is open worldwide and closes on the 10th December, which is totally arbitary, but that's the date. Randomiser will pick the winner. Comments on either this post or the upcoming zombie romance review will be included.
Everyone needs poetry in their soul, whether they realise it or not. Poetry is notoriously difficult, both in understanding and liking. The range and depth of it is much like everything in this world, where 98% of everything is either mediocre or worse.
However, I have my pretentions, and like some poetry. The one I have chosen to write about, Ted Hughes' 'Tales From Ovid', crosses several areas I love: Ted Hughes, classics, Gods and monsters, men and women, death, depression, beauty and meaning. Now, to those who see Hughes only through some wrong-headed feminist hatred (oh! Poor Slyvia! Please. Read around it, received wisdom is anything but, plus, he was a much better poet) he is hard work. Rather than that, I find his work achingly raw, both his adult and children's works as it happens. (Maybe I will review 'The Dreamfighter', which I read to my progeny many years ago, and is a beautiful book. Or even 'The Iron Man', another heart-rending piece of prose.)
But 'Tales From Ovid', as selection from 'Metamorphoses', which is a collection of myths from antiquity, is retold with more force than even the originals. Or a differently directed force, as these aren't literal translations. (My Latin struggles with some of it, that muscle while not quite atrophied within me, certainly not overly stretched recently). As in 'Birthday Letters', his later work is more telling in the way the world works, or how his view of it, from the latter part of his life, is seen.
The myths of ancient Greece and Rome are relevant to us today, in what they say, and reading these beautifully poetical version of that reinforces why. The range of human emotions, the interaction we have with each other, whether it be face to face, or in relation to the gods and they signifigance that holds, are all on display here, as important now as it was three thousand years ago. The reason Classics are important is that we forget we are not the height of civilisation, we have an arrogance that is equally on display throughout the downfall of those in these verses.
It is a regret that he didn't (re)translate and (re)interpret the rest of 'Metamorphoses', as I for one would have loved to have seen that.
And do you know all the genre fiction you love? The horror, the sci-fi, the terror? It all has its roots here, every story, every tale, every journey lived before. And Hughes' retelling is a masterful (re)working of it all. Give it a go, you might be suprised as to what poetry can do, beyond what you (and I) were forced to recite in our schooldays.
I'm home, went to the pub from the zombie film festival. It was fantastic fun, Ed and the terror for fun guys run a great show! I went to see the original Dawn of the Dead and recorded a chat with the visiting authors, Zombie Ed and Dr Zombie from the short fuse post. Can't wait to post in full, but have to. It's my birthday this weekend and we have visitors. In the mean time I thought you might enjoy these victims of Umbrella Corp.
Which means several days of Zombie oriented posts from me. First of all today I am going to go to the new Phoenix to see the original Dawn of the Dead by Romero on the big screen. There are 12 hours of zombie flicks in total including the pre premier showing of a film made locally and a selection of shorts, sadly I can only make the first one. Then I will be meeting up with Zombie Ed and a few others to record a podcast about zombies, which will be posted later in the week. There will naturally be two posts about the event, one to tell you how it all went and another to accompany the podcast. Lots of lovely linkage. I also have an anthology of Zombie romance stories to review for you this week. So it's all fantastic fun. In the meantime, if you need a fix check out some of our previous zombie reviews, "and god created zombies" by Andrew Hook or Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I'll be back later, with pictures!
I sat down on last week and watched Children in Need, during which I was surprised to see Nick Mason drumming on a 'making of video' for Bandaged (the Children in Need Album). Now Hagelrat or indeed any one who knows me will tell you that Pink Floyd are my favorite band. It is one of the few things I obsess over. Pink Floyd music is useful for me to help collect my thoughts and when I listen to it I find my imagination goes into overdrive. So I don't think you will be to surprised to find Nick Mason's personal history of Pink Floyd on my book shelf.
Nick Mason's involvement in Pink Floyd began in 1963, when Roger Waters asked to borrow Nick's 1930 Austin Seven 'Chummy', which is also where the book begins. Generally autobiographies are not my thing, I think I have got only two or three as a lot of them are quite badly written, or have been mucked about with by ghost writers. As you can gather by that fact that I am reviewing it this book is an exception.
I don't know how else to describe Mason's writing other than, charming. It is rather like sitting down with some tea, coffee or what ever is your poison, listening to him relate hilarious anecdotes. It feels very personalised, like he is writing to you a very odd experience for me in an Autobiography as I normally find them arrogant back slapping affairs, usually written by the kind of people I despise (Katie Price or Jonathan Ross anyone?). Certainly a temptation with Autobiographies (like political memoirs) is to take the opportunity to attack anyone you feel has done you wrong. This does not really happen here, as I expected, considering Pink Floyd's volatile history. The very fact that the book is subtitled 'A Personal History of Pink Floyd' indicates Mason's wish to show that it was his own view and by no means definitive. Which I respect when it would be so much easier to be malicious and arrogant. He even thanked the other members of Pink Floyd in the book.
Mason plods through Pink Floyd's history in a witty way, you can almost see him grinning from ear to ear as he writes. Appearing within the book are lots, of what you know I love, PICTURES!! Right from the time when Nick was playing in a band (looking impossibly young) called the 'Hotrods', to a picture with the famous lineup in 2005. So as you can imagine a person as easily distracted as me found himself constantly looking through the pictures.
It is just great to read about a part of music history that will never come again, due unfortunately to the untimely deaths of Syd Barrett and Rick Wright.
So read on you crazy diamonds! (Alright alright I know that joke is a step too far, but you should have heard the ones I decided NOT to add). Give the book a go.
This time I’m reviewing the very popular NARUTO series, arguably one of the most famous series to make it to the West since... I don’t know... Astro Boy and Pokemon xD
NARUTO follows the story of a young boy ninja from one of the larger Ninja villages (Konoha) in some indefinable point of japanese history when Japan was divided into different nations but ninjas wore bright colours and watched TV.
Basically, the setting is an anything-goes fantasy which opens with a short history lesson. Konoha was attacked in it’s past by a demon fox which had laid waste to mountains and countries in its time. All the ninjas of Konoha were called to fight it with little hope, but then the young village leader managed to seal the spirit in a newborn child.
This child is the titled character, Naruto, and when the series starts he’s shown as an orphan delinquent, hated by everyone else in the village and with no regard for the rules. He can’t do any of the ninja techniques (which are a bit like magic...) and the only person with any control over him is his teacher.
When his teacher shows him a little kindness (buying him a meal and sitting with him) Naruto declares his ambition is to lead the village. This is the goal that drives him through most of the series.
The next day, however, he fails to graduate from school (on his third try) and faces open hostility from the villagers for having tried to take the test in the first place. When one of the older Ninjas offers him a way out... by stealing a forbidden technique from the village leader.
When his teacher (Iruka) finds him in the woods, Naruto proudly shows him one of the techniques that he has trained hard to learn, and Iruka realises that he was tricked into stealing the scroll. The older ninja tries to steal the scroll for his own gain but together Iruka and Naruto capture and arrest him.
But not before Naruto is told that the demon fox was sealed inside him, and the reason he is so hated is that all the adults in the village know about it, and those who lost loved ones to the demon see him as a human version of the fox.
After he talks to Iruka and the village leader, he graduates from school and is placed into a small ninja team with Sasuke- a prodigy who Naruto has always been jealous of, and Sakura- the girl Naruto’s had a crush on for years.
The series follows the three as they undertake missions and grow as people under the tutelage of the mysterious Kakashi. As the series progresses, Naruto’s abilities grow exponentially and he begins to rival Sasuke, who has ambitions of one day killing his brother.
Naruto begins to make friends and becomes a valued member of the village, and he overcomes adversity with an honest attitude and a heart of gold.
This used to be one of my favourite series, and to be honest I’d forgotten how good it was. There’s always a reason why something gets so popular, and Naruto’s endeavour to become the greatest ninja he can is long, and arduous, with the moral that hard work is always rewarded.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of toilet humour and the idea that every man is easily overcome by his need for sex (don’t ask me how it works in what is essentially a children’s series, but I honestly didn’t realise how odd it was for a long time).
The action is dramatic and overly accompanied by witty quips and goading, but it works.
Naruto, it has to be said, is almost a must-read. At least some of it. Very few will read the entire series but it’s still worth trying out.
Today, I’m going to review two series- one manga, one novel. Here I’m reviewing the novel series “Dark Visions” by L.J. Smith. Yes, this is the second time I’ve reviewed her work. There will be more- I <3 her.
There is a lot to be said for her early nineties writing- it’s original and unfettered by the slight “vampire craze” going on right now, so I find it refreshing.
The series is a trilogy (in the edition HagelRat got me, it’s three-in-one. So handy!) following a group of five teenagers who have been selected from across America by a wealthy businessman with an interest in Psychic Research.
Kaitlyn Fairchild, the protagonist, has been targeted by people in her town since she predicted the death of a young boy who was abducted when she was five. She can draw the future, and is taken to sunny California where she meets Anna who can talk to animals, Lewis who can move things with his mind, Rob who heals people, and Gabriel... who I can’t tell you about. Gabriel’s ability is dangerous and his housemates don’t learn about it for a long time. (He was brought out of prison for the research trials.)
Over the course of the three books, there are several surprising character twists and you learn a lot going through.
ILoveGabriel
During the first book, you immediately get the feeling that Mr Zetes, the millionaire who gathered the group together to research, is not to be trusted. What follows is a puzzle which of the other researchers are in league with him- whatever his plan is -and who the teens can trust within their own group. There’s also another group of unknown people trying to contact Kaitlyn, so how do they tie in?
Over the course of the trilogy, the teen-y relationship dilemmas don’t actually seem that ridiculous, which helps me; as someone who was physically sickened by Edward (Twilight) and his overly gushy romance. When the group have to go on the run, the group interaction changes well to accommodate the cramped situation and tensions run believably high.
Smith’s storyline is largely dialogue driven, and it keeps the story fast paced and moving, so that the storyline doesn’t stay in one place long enough to bore younger readers (or those young at heart... hehe).
ILoveGabriel
The tagline on my three-in-one copy is “not all vampires are out for blood” which at first, seems completely and ridiculously irrelevant- this story has NOTHING to do with vampires.
The meaning is... well... read it and find out. :D
The three individual titles are “The Strange Power” in which the group are assembled and learn some dark secrets about Mr Zetes. TSP is followed by “The Possessed” following the group on the run and as they try to find somewhere safe to hide from the authorities, headed by Mr Zetes. The final instalment is “The Passion” wherein Kaitlyn takes a little more control of their mission to stop Zetes, and grows as a person.
it has to be said that there is a lot of deception in this series, it’s basically driven by each respective character’s secrets and personal motivations. Kaitlyn deceives pretty much everyone at one point, driven by her belief that it’s for the best.
Then it comes down to her choice romantically between the dark, tortured Gabriel (this stereotype, I don’t usually like... but he can be damn funny at times) and the honest, loyal Rob (I don’t know why I don’t like him much... I think he’d be perfect with Anna though).
Enough fangirly gushing. This series is great but because it doesn’t stay still for too long, one or two subsidiary characters suffer in their potential development. However, although not my favourite of Smith’s books, it’s definitely one of my favourite fantasy books.
Yes HagelRat, you can have it back... but I need my own copy one day xD (avid L.J. Smith collector)
One of the greatest pleasures of writing for Ravenous Romance (beyond being published multiple times) has been getting to know some of the other RR authors during our publicity events (the infamous Ornery 11 BBT springs to mind, as well as our current HSNBlog Blitz), author's ning (and yes, I really do have to stop myself from saying "We are the Knights who say Ning!"), and Yahoo group(s).
One of these authors is Hal Bodner, author of Bite Club (first in the West Hollywood Vampire series) and In Flesh and Stone, now out with Ravenous. I met Hal during The Zombie Stomp, an online discussion with Lori Perkins, literary agent and RR editor. The discussion was about Hungry For Your Love, an anthology featuring...well...zombies and romance!
Anyway, Hal made a comment about Thurber, one of my favorite humorists, and then lectured me on writer's block. His acerbic humor and tongue-in-cheek manner prompted me to buy a copy of Bite Club, which is a darkly funny take on vampires in West Hollywood. It's not just a vampire novel or a detective novel or for gays only. It's a damn good story and I am anxiously awaiting the next in the series. Gimme!!!
I asked Hal to write a post for Ravenous Wednesday and he obliged with one that I love and absolutely agree with: the importance of technical proficiency as a writer. I do not argue with any of the points Hal makes in the following post. Too often technical proficiency, basic rules of grammar and punctuation, are ignored. And (IMHO - I hate that acronym, but it DOES serve its purpose here) I've seen too many examples of just lousy writing becoming the next literary big hit because someone out there thinks it's really cool to never use capital letters or commas.
What I'm saying here is Hal has my vote, no matter what he runs for! You go, Hal!
And now, please welcome Hal Bodner to Un:Bound!
Recently, I was doing an author chat, or a lecture, or a personal appearance or one of the other public events that we authors do as part of promotion, and the topic of what it takes to be an author came up. To my surprise, about half of the established writers who participated were enthusiastically waxing on about ideas, and expression and creativity. The other half seemed concerned with establishing a work ethic and the more business-oriented aspects of the profession, getting an agent, publicity and so on. The subject of my contribution, a fairly well known pet peeve of mine, was the odd man out; I stressed the importance of technical proficiency.
A dead silence descended upon the board.
Knowing how to write ‘ the basics of grammar and sentence structure ‘ isn’t very sexy. It’s far from the fodder of late night coffee house work sessions or writing groups. I suspect it’s rarely the kind of thing that pushes a writer toward an over-indulgence in absinthe or toward walking into the sea with a pocket full of rocks. It’s not racy or exciting.
Moreover, let’s face it, we all probably hated high school English classes and freshman Basic Composition 101. We were writers, dammit! We had Great Thoughts to express! The wretchedness of learning useless stuff about predicates and tense were beneath us. We were Artists, and Artists should not be troubled with such mundane trivialities.
Any time a young writer mentions he or she is using ‘heightened’ language or an ‘experimentation’ with literary style, each time a budding novelist tells me about the ‘innovation’ they’re bringing to their work, I confess, I cringe. Far too often ‘heightened’ language results in pretension and ‘experimentation’ ends up practically unreadable. The reason, sadly, is usually a failure on the part of the eager beaver to bother to learn how words and sentences work.
I’m not talking about spelling. Many people cry out against laziness induced by spell checkers; that’s not a problem for me. In the computer age, I’m all in favor of the machines correcting my added consonants in words like ‘apparel’; just as keyboards rendered the knowledge of how to block print obsolete, the computer is a tool. Of course, it helps if the writer knows the difference between ‘they’re’ and ‘their’ or ‘passed’ and ‘past’ as even the grammar checkers are not infallible. But, all in all, so long as Little Paper Clip Guy remains a helpful reminder, and not a crutch, the issue doesn’t seem worth bothering about.
But, as authors, our craft is in the words and the sentences and, in the end, our art is in communicating ideas to the reader, effectively and in new ways.
I’m generally appalled that many writers cannot distinguish between past tense, imperfect and plus-perfect. ‘Had’, ‘were’ and the ‘-ed’ ending get used with reckless abandon, mostly improperly ‘ and that’s a shame. Choosing active versus passive voice, or dependent versus independent versus parenthetical clauses are often crucial to the flow of a sentence. Yet they get mangled together indiscriminately. Can you screw around with tense, sentence structure and the like’ Of course you can. And you should. But not before knowing the rules that you’re breaking.
A painter, a good one, would never (one hopes!) slather paint on a canvass and call it Art without first knowing the rules of color and light and composition. The Impressionists could not have created new movements in the visual arts unless they were abundantly familiar with the established structure they sought to go beyond. Yet, lousy writers do it all the time.
Sentence fragments, run-on sentences, inverted subject/predicate formats can all be used to great effect but, one has to understand what they are before dicking around with new uses. As for punctuation, although the dreaded Comma Rules have changed immensely during the past several decades, deciding where to place one can make or break a sentence.
Basic grammar and structure should be so well-ingrained that it becomes instinctive. True, we all have quirky difficulties with specific things. For example, since I spent much of my youth speaking French, I’m often ignorant of the differences in the uses of ‘which’ as opposed to ‘that’; in French, we have the universal ‘que’, and all we have to worry about is masculine/feminine/plural noun agreement. It’s a grammatical rule that I may never master but, at least I generally catch myself when I place the modifier after the noun. A phrase like ‘the truck blue and pretty’ tends to stick out like a thumb sore even to me!
Funk and Wag-All (as we used to call it), and E.B. White should be on every writer’s desk, right next to the Thesaurus. And, it should be used. (Don’t even get me started on Thesaurus Abuse! Though the damned things may provide synonyms in concept, no matter how you slice it, the words ‘comely’ and ‘exquisite’ do not mean the same thing, even though you may find them both under the heading of ‘pretty’.)
Copy editors are, I’m sure, lovely people. They provide us a valuable service but, an author should rely on them only to catch the occasional oversight or omission. Otherwise, why not let the editor write the book in the first place?
So since this has to be a relatively short post, I’ll say in sum: Learn the basics. Once you fully understand the blueprints of language, once you have become as accustomed to them as you are to breathing, then twist them, alter them, use them to shape words and sentences so that your meaning can be communicated to the reader in new and exciting ways.
As authors, that is part of our job too!
Hal Bodner is the author of the best selling gay vampire novel, Bite Club. He tells people he was born in East Philadelphia because so few people know where Cherry Hill, New Jersey is located. The first person he saw in his life was C. Everet Coop, future US Surgeon General, who delivered him. Thus, Hal was ironically destined to become a heavy smoker. He moved to West Hollywood in the 1980s and will probably never leave. Hal has been an entertainment lawyer, a scheduler for a 976 sex telephone line, a theater reviewer and the personal assistant to a television star. For awhile, he owned Heavy Petting, a pet boutique where all the movie stars shopped for their Pomeranians. Currently, he owns an exotic bird shop. He has never been a waiter. He lives in a fabulous apartment with two dogs, a mini-macaw, a lovebird and an irritable, flesh-eating military macaw named after his icon - Tallulah. He often quips he is a slave to fur and feathers and regrets only that he isn't referring to mink and marabou. He does not have cats because he tends to sneeze on them. Rapidly approaching middle-age, he remembers Nixon. He got "married" very late in life to an incredible man. Sadly, after five amazing, if turbulent, years he was widowed and can sometimes be found sunbathing at his husband's grave while trying to avoid cemetery caretakers screaming at him to put his shirt back on. "In Flesh and Stone" is Hal's first crack at paranormal erotic romance and he enjoyed writing it immensely.
For Love of the Dead is his second Ravenous Romance title and it may very well be the first guy-on-guy paranormal erotic zombie romance novel ever written! He will be following up with Generations in the spring of 2010 and, like his other romance work, it is a truly unique book.
He is currently seeking incredibly hot guys in their thirties with amazing bodies as volunteers to help him do the...er...research for his next foray into erotic romance.
For sell links and/or more information on his titles, please click on the book covers!
Also, Hal is without computer access for most of the afternoon, but will stop by later today/this evening to answer any questions/comments you have for him!
This is the second Felix Castor novel and it's every bit as good as the first. It's a great series, Fix is amusing and cynical and not invincible which is always nice. Fix is hired to find a missing ghost, which is odd in itself, but then lots of people seem to be putting the frighteners on him and no one is telling him why, which always makes life interesting. Then there is Juliet's little problem church and Rafi's sudden freak out. Life is getting interesting in London and Fix is in over his head as always. It's good solid urban fantasy. I am really enjoying the series and the side characters really add to the colour and depth of the book.
English comedy is something I grew up with. While other kids in my neighborhood were having a good catch with their All-American Dads, my father (a transplant from Germany since the late 1950s) brought me up on a steady diet of Benny Hill and Monty Python.
So although it may not come as a huge surprise that I would know and appreciate Stephen Fry's work in television comedy, it was a surprise (to me, anyway) at how affecting he can be when it comes to fiction. You would think that someone whose comedic fame stems from his erudition would of course work well on the page, but all too often what you end up reading feels like a too long stand-up routine. And The Hippopotamus, his second novel after The Liar, published in 1993, does feel a little like that, at least in the beginning. Notorious drunk/womanizer/poet Ted Wallace is called upon by his god-daughter Jane to look into Lord Logan Swafford and family, where something miraculous may be happening. Jane won't tell Ted what, but she does tell him that until very recently she was in the late stages of leukemia, and that something having to do with the Swaffords may be the cause of her remission. Something, specifically, with Ted's other god-child, young David Swafford.
The beginning of The Hippopotamus reads like the inside of Fry's head - long vignettes that are witty but leave little to push things along. Once he settles into a groove, though, the self conscious "Fry" voice goes away and in its place is something that works much better - a compassionate voice that cares more about telling a great story as opposed to showing off. It's wonderful work, and as Ted slowly becomes tied into events at the Swafford house, you really to see the care Fry puts into his characters. You also get to see a big old heart laid open, as sex jokes and uncomfortable passages (yes, there may be sex with animals here, but I'm not judging) give way to some genuine insights into how we create our own miracles, often at the expense or detriment of others.
A fantastic book that's gotten me up and hunting around for more of Fry's written work. Until then, my trusty DVD of Jeeves and Wooster will have to do.
Sometimes something drops through the letterbox that you have been aniticipating for so long and desiring so badly that you do things like, phone your husband and make him open the post and describe it to you over the phone because you are not going to be home till late.
That's how I was with Silver. I have made it clear enough that I love Steve Savile's writing, his love of language and writing style draw me in as much as his characters and stories. He hits just the right balance for me.
So, it arrived. Beautiful and shiny in trade paperback size with it's gorgeous cover art (Larry Rostant I believe) and full of promise. I spent the whole night feeling vaguely disloyal because I was out with colleagues celebrating a successful scheme launch instead of at home devoting my time and attention to the book. If I sound like a squeeing fangirl it's because I am and it's only going to get worse as you read on.
Needless to say then, that the various other books I am part way into have been temporarily abandoned in favour of this new love. Yes i'm fickle, but really Silver has been on my mind since I first saw the cover over at the Variance Blog. I harrassed the guys and variance until they promised me a review copy and then demanded a daily status update from Steve while the ARC's languished in the Swedish postal system. I had high expectations of this book, avoided reading the blurb so I would come to it fresh and prepared to rave uncontrollably about it's genius as long as it didn't disappoint. No pressure then Savile.
Thursday I came home and started reading. By page ten I was caught as usual in the web of words and intrigue that Steve does so well. Today I went to work and booked the afternoon as flexi so I could get back to the book.
We are playing with conspiracies, secret agencies, spies, betrayal, mystery, terrorism and religious intrigue and yes it moves along at a fair pace, travels around the world and everyone has more secrets than is at first apparent. I am especially delighted by some of the scenes taking place in Newcastle wondering if I did know the locations or my memory was playing tricks again.
The cover quotes make reference to Dan Brown and yes it would seem that Steve used the same basic lego box as Dan Brown, Colin Forbes and Clive Cussler in writing Silver, but if you have ever played with lego you know, the art is in the construction not the bricks and Steve did one hell of a job on the construction.
It's complex and full of twists and tension, no way of knowing how it will end and Steve never delivers typical so I knew the ending would be a bit special. And then some. The characters are solid, there is not time in this book to explain them all but there is at least one more coming and I look forward to learning more about the team, in the mean time they were easy to buy into and I I have a girl crush on Orla.
I want to tell you all about it in detail, give you examples of the humour and horror of the book but it's impossible without giving away it's secrets. I can tell you I read with the book in one hand while I chewed the nails on the other out of existance and then swapped. A habit I thought i'd beaten years ago.
If you liked The Da Vinci Code this will blow your socks off, if you thought the Da Vinci Code was rubbish then this is the perfect antidote and yeah, it's probably blasphemy if you are of a remotely Catholic persuasion. Silver, to borrow from Koni, wakes you up at four am and drags you out of bed naked and screaming.
New from St. Martin's Press is #1 New York Times bestselling author, Sherrilyn Kenyon's 3-book series, 'The League'! With over 19 million books in print, Sherrilyn Kenyon is renowned the world over as "the reigning queen of the paranormal genre that she pioneered long before the world had heard of Twilight." The third book from 'The League' series, 'Born of Ice', will be available December 1st, 2009.
Ok something a little different this Wednesday, once again I am hosting while Inara fights deadlines that are proving zombielike in their persistence and brain eating capacity. I's still qite definitely a Ravenous Wednesday though as oour beloved hostess is actually the interviewee, I thought i'd stick to Inara's colours for the interview too. Enjoy.
Inara LaVey is with epublisher Ravenous Romance. Her particular sense of humour and warmth are trademarks of her writing and whether it be gentle romance or steamy erotic fiction her characters and style make her work instantly recognisable. Inara is also our cocktail slinging hostess for the Ravenous Wednesday feature on Un:Bound.
What drew you to writing romance?
Why did I start writing romance, you ask? Well, puberty kicked in and being pretty shy in my early teens, I handled my blossoming libido by a: getting crushes on people like Christopher Lee (as Dracula and as Rochefort in THE THREE MUSKETEERS) and then Harrison Ford as Han Solo. Yup, I was a Han Solo girl, NOT a Luke Skywalker fan. At any rate, my friend Cindi (Cynthia Gentry, http://www.cwgentry.com who I've now worked with on two books, including SECRET SEDUCTIONS and the upcoming WHAT WOMEN REALLY WANT IN BED) and I started writing little romantic-verging-into-erotic vignettes with characters we made up and then plopped down into the worlds of 17th Century France and a Galaxy Far Far Away. These characters were, of course, thinly veiled and idealized versions of us. Yes, I have made out with Han Solo. :-) I branched out into non-fan-fiction and created my own worlds, characters and plots in which thinly veiled and dynamic versions of me sword-fought, flirted and had adventures with handsome and interesting men. I read a lot of romance as a teen, starting with Harlequins and Barbara Cartland (God help my soul), graduating to Georgette Heyer, romantic suspense by Elizabeth Peters/Barbara Michaels, Mary Stewart, Victoria Holt and Phyllis A. Whitney, then moving on to the more hardcore stuff by Rosemary Rogers, Katherine E. Woodiwiss, and Fern Michaels. Read so much romance for a few years that when I tried to read other genres, I had to recalibrate my brain to stop looking for the heaving bosoms and throbbing manhoods. I got into horror and mysteries after that and pretty much set romance aside other than romantic suspense until a year or so ago, whenI wrote an erotic story for my boyfriend. That story was accepted by Ravenous Romance, they asked me to expand it into a novel, and before I knew it, I had an eight book contract with Ravenous in various sub-genres, all with semi-explicit to explicit sex and a happy ending. Basically grown-up versions of the stuff I used to write as a teenager just because it was fun. Can't beat that!
Ok, so far you have Succubusted which is a short story and Ripping the Bodice which is a brilliantly witty and charming romance out with RR.Can you give us any hints as to what we might find in some of your upcoming books for RR? (NB - this interview was done over a number of weeks, Champagne is now out and it's bloody brilliant!)
OH sure! Next one up is CHAMPAGNE, about a young woman on a trip to the wine regions of France, who discovers more than good wine on her journey. :-) Lots of food, champagne, wine, sex and humor, with a sexy French couple, a dashing Breton, and a naughty Englishwoman thrown in the mix.I have a three book fantasy series involving LARP (live action role-playing) games coming up, a historical western, a post-apocalyptic romance (zombies!), and a haunted hotel.
Do you still channel your sword fighting, Han Solo snogging teenage self when writing for RR or has time altered your perspective on romance and writing?
I definitely still channel my sword-fighting, Solo-snogging self when I write romance, although my perspective on what I want in a man and a relationship has definitely matured. Well ... I still sword-fight with my boyfriend (I've always dated men who fence or do theatrical combat) and figure I will until I'm so ancient I can't wield a blade any more ..., but I don't find bad boys nearly as intriguing as I used to when I was a teenager. I think I liked Han Solo because he was sort of a bad boy, but ultimately faithful to one woman (even if it should have been ME, and not that stoopid Princess Cinnabon-Hair Leia). And I still find the character of the amiable rogue attractive. Did I answer your question? I think I'm just rambling at this point. :-)
Sooo. since you brought it up... are you a LARPer?
People often make the same comment about LARPing, reading romance or fantasy/sci fi and umm, probably of play fighting the boyfriend while he's dressed as Han Solo (or something along those lines). I hear again and again that it's escapism, i'm sure that is part of it, but as a writer/actor/reader etc.. do you think there is more to it than just escapism?
Well, I wouldn't define myself as a LARPer, but I have participated in live games and enjoyed myself thoroughly. Not the ones where people have the same character and go every weekend to continue the saga of their particular games, though.The ones I've played in were all set up by a couple I know who have this amazing 18th Century French style farmhouse (designed and built by the guy) and surrounding land. They did a lot of theater and would build sets for the games. One game had a winged demon that actually flew from the roof down to a lower level (by 'flew' I'm talking wires). We would all get assigned characters a fewweeks before the games, work up backgrounds, costumes, et al. They had a basic 'outline' in mind of how the game should run, but the character interactions were never predictable. So much fun! And sure, it's escapism, but the amount of creativity and talentin so many areas (writing, acting, set design, improvisation) takes it beyond that.
Back to your writing then. How important do you think character is to a story and to engaging a reader?
Without interesting and engaging characters, a story or book or film, for that matter, is missing themain ingredient. I've read some books with beautifully written narrative, but the characters were flatand I just didn't care what happened to them. As a result, instead of being something I'd remember forthe rest of my life and want to read again, these books are more like text books about writing good narrative.I've also read books that weren't the best written things I've ever encountered -- plot holes, some sloppy writing, etc. --but they had some memorable characters and I liked these books despite their shortcomings. I love me good characters, I do!
You've written noir, romance and erotic fiction, is it harder to write engaging and believable characters in any one genre than others?
Heh. I think you'd have to ask my readers that question. As a writer, I don't find one particular genre easier or harderwhen creating characters.
Ok, your romance novels are published through Ravenous Romance. Can you tell us a little bit about being published with an epublisher and your views on the changing market? Basically you have free license to talk about the whole internet thing. :) Well, as far as being published by an epublisher, the royalties are actually better than print publishing. I personallystill prefer to read a hard copy - I do most of my reading during my walks and it's hard to read either a print-out oran e-Book while walking. Although I did see a Kindle up close the other day and they look kinda cool. But I justlove books. So the fact my first e-Book, Ripping the Bodice, came out in paperback pleased me no end! From a writer'spoint of view and also looking at sustainability, e-books are great. The production costs are minimal, they save trees, andwe have a whole new generation growing up used to using their iPhones for everything. So why not read online? I do hope,however, that we never lose print books, bookstores or libraries!
Final question:Romance has a huge (often surreptitious) readership so what is it about romance that appeals to so many people and do you need to be a bit of a romantic to write it?(ok i cheated that's sort of two but the second one is a quickie)
Hnmm... In some cases, I think it's because we're programmed via Disney and modernized fairy tales to expect a Happily Ever After ending in our lives. We soon find out there's not necessarily such thing as a perfect HEA, so it's natural to want to find it in the books we read. I know some people who read books to escape a less than perfect home life and romance gives them the hope that no matter what the odds or obstacles, they can have a happy ending. I know even when I read/watch horror, I still want a happy -- or at least satisfying on a karmic level -- ending. And I think you either have to be a romantic or a real cynic to write romance. I know I'd prefer to read the books written by authors who believe in the possibility of a happy ending. :-)
I'm possibly not the best qualified to review a comic, but I will share my thoughts. You can watch the animated first comic here v.v. cool.
The artwork is just the sort of thing I like, dark and moody, it's gorgeous & the use of colour was clever and emotive nicely complimenting the story. So far so good.
It's only the first issue which makes it hard to asses the story but again it's a good start. It seems to be following in the footsteps of ronin samurai style stories, a lone warrior and his sword, I suspect a dark history to be involved somewhere. I'm not complaining, I love that type of tale so am perfectly happy to be thrown in. I am interested to see where it goes, which I suppose is the point.
The basic premise is that the lead character has been given seven days to collect seven souls to be freed from hell and I have to say that really apeals to me, it's a great idea and beautifully drawn so well worth a look. Also they got a great recommendation from Clive Barker who is the last word in dark as far as i am concerned. Really if he thinks it rocks you don't need to hear anything more from me.
Part III in a series. You can check out Books 1-5 here and Books 6-10 here. No books were harmed during the making of this post, although I accidentally spilled a little coffee on my dog-eared copy of On The Road when flipping through it. It didn't seem to mind.
--------------------
Hey, how are you? Good, good...take a seat. Welcome to the special anniversary edition of The Shelf of Fame series. Seven years ago today I stood up in an enormous church and pledged to love someone in sickness and in health, yadda yadda yadda, until the end of my days. She in turn promised the same, with the added caveat that she would put up with the hundreds upon hundreds of books I would not only purchase, but store in odd and inconvenient places through our various domiciles.
Ah, lovely to remember....
Anyway, back to the subject at hand, which is of course this week's installment, which takes more of a fantastical bent then the previous entries. Once again, each of these works speak to my on an emotional level, and are tied into the circumstance of reading them as much as the content itself. So, without further ado,here's Books 11-15:
11. Jack Kerouac - On the Road: It may be cliche, but there's a reason On the Road is so popular. It taps into something primal, something embedded in the soul of every 20-something yearning to break free from whatever ties them to their lives: parents, school, jobs...the identities they feel forced upon them by society. If you can swing it and don't mind reading a 400+ page novel that doesn't have any paragraph breaks, I definitely recommend the Original Scroll - the names are reverted back to their true owners, and there's a flowing poetry that mimics the proverbial road Sal and Dean (I mean Jack and Neal) travel.
12. Jonathan Lethem - As She Climbed Across the Table: Here start the authors where anything would be a great recommendation. I picked up on Lethem just as his first novel was published and have followed him ever since. He has better novels (Motherless Brooklyn, Fortress of Solitude), but this was the novel that pushed him from "good" to "essential" for me, and is the last book to really be overtly science fiction. Guy loves Girl, but Girl is in love with "Lack" an engineered black hole that begins to develop a personality. How do you compete with something that, by definition, is less than nothing? I reviewed his most recent novel, Chronic City, here.
13. Norman Mailer -The Executioner's Song: Oh man...Mailer is one of my giants. He might not be to all tastes, but for me he's one of the writers whose work transformed the way I think about reading and writing. I could easily point out half a dozen that would fit here, but The Executioner's Song holds a special place in my heart as the spiritual partner to In Cold Blood and as the book that kept me company during a particularly harsh and lonely winter in upstate New York, away from my family and girlfriend, fighting to break even financially without losing my mind in the process.
14. James Morrow - Towing Jehovah: God is dead. His two-mile long body lies in the ocean, and the Vatican charges a disgraced oil tanker captain to tow the deity to His final resting place in the Arctic. Morrow ties dozens of ideas and ramifications into this first part of a trilogy of novels dealing with the death of God and, oddly, left me feeling more buoyed in my faith. One scene in particular, where the captain enters the cave where His body lies, and looks up to see a veritable sea of angels left me stunned. Dunno if that was the point, but there you go.
15. Haruki Murakami - Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: Another one of my giants. This could be any Murakami novel, but the noir overtones, BLADE RUNNER setting and mindf--- this book brings just encapsulates everything I love about Murakami. Every novel and short story collection is a gift - if you can dig it then dive into his masterpiece The Wind Up Bird Chronicle and, for shorter fiction, After the Quake is delicate and perfect.
Stop looking! Call off the search parties, cancel the funeral and the tribute concert (starring people you thought or hoped were dead). I am back.... What?! You don't remember who I am. For God's sake I am the irritating one....actually that could be any of us. In all seriousness I have been busy, essays on Nazi Propaganda and East India Company rule in India taking up most of my time. So I suppose it is no wonder that history shall be the focus of my review.
As you may or may not know I am busily working on my dissertation, 14,000 words on the Bevin Boys, a subject close to my heart. Earlier this year my Grandfather died, who had volunteered to be a Bevin Boy during the Second World War, which made the subject matter of my dissertation obvious. Also seeing the Bevin Boys marching on Remembrance Sunday, gave me the idea of discussing one of the books that has been vital to my research.
Warwick Taylor's aptly named book, The Forgotten Conscript, details the formation and activities of the Bevin Boys. By May 1940, it was apparent Britain was running short of coal and worse still the coal mining industry was suffering from a crippling man-power shortage of some 40,000 workers which by 1941 and 1942 had increased to nearly 50,000. Unfortunately a great many miners and ex-miners enlisted with the armed forces, a problem which also occurred in France during their mobilisation. The Government were incapable of persuading more than a trickle of ex-miners to return to a beleaguered and dangerous industry.
So in 1943 the notoriously unpopular draft lottery was introduced, during which a number would be drawn from a hat, and all those who's national service number ended in that digit would be sent down the pits, with no hope of appeal. Not only were many Bevin Boys disappointed at not being allowed to join their preferred service, they were also quite often had to contend with the contempt of the public and suspicion of the Police, who suspected them of draft dodging or being conscientious objectors. Named for the Minster of Labour Ernest Bevin the 48,000 conscripts made a vital contribution to the war effort of the U.K., that has gone relatively unnoticed until recently.
Unlike many of books on the Bevin Boys this one is not a personal account of Taylor's own experience in the mines. It is an incredibly well researched work by someone who was actually there. While the book has much of what you expect from a particularly scholarly work, his own experience elevates the book beyond something that I have read as purely an academic source. Also unlike many more academic sources, it displays pictures of records, letters, and collieries which makes it easier to grasp the facts and figures. Importantly the book does not just cover the war years but covers to a degree the Bevin Boys' struggle for recognition (bearing in mind this is before the medal was awarded).
I realise this has been an odd book to review, but I certainly have my reasons which I hope you understand. I not expecting many people to read this review and pick it up (unless you like British Industrial history), however if you have learned something you find interesting I am happy.
by hagelratreview copy supplied by rebel e publishers with our thanks.
I reviewed Killerbyte back in August and loved it so I immediately begged for a copy of Terrorbyte to review. It came through a few days ago and everything else was dropped so I could indulge in my favourite FBI drama.
In this second outing Ellie is up against a disturbing serial killer who seems intent on making things personal. Lines from her own poems and post its addressed to her are found at each scene and she and Delta team find themselves drawn into a confusing and fast moving case. The bodies are piling up and the clues refuse to connect. The only thing that she is sure of is that somehow it connects to her and the Butterfly Foundation.
During all of this Ellie's always slightly loose grip on reality is slipping further, of course with her obsession for 80's TV shows and music I was once again treated to a walkthrough of my own childhood via theme tune. I love it. If you are too young to know who Hawkeye and Radar are then you need a note pad and a card for the video store. Oh and of course it's only a matter of time before Gibbs gets referenced.
The romance between Ellie and Mac has settled into comfortable and charming and less time is given to introducing you to her team in this one. There is an argument for reading the first book first, but it's not absolutely neccessary if you are willing to take the authors word for it.
Cat's writing is getting stronger, this book is more complex and more tense and emotive than Killerbyte. The lightness and fun are still in there though so it never becomes too dark. I love these books, they are the perfect literary answer to NCIS, Bones, Criminal Minds and so on. Other people have to read this I need someone to talk to about it and I really can't risk spoilers!
by hagelrat In a couple of weeks it's my birthday and i've managed to upset my husband. On the saturday instead of doing something nice with M I have banned him from making any plans and arranged to meet some of my team for work in town for Day of the Undead. Or Zombie Day as we are calling it at work.
D0U is an event organised by Zombie Ed and the team from www.terror4fun.com The fun starts at 12noon with a series of Zombie movies including one that has never been seen before and was filmed right here in Leicester. There will be all sorts of Zombie fun in addition to the movies including some author presence.
Needless to say I am not just going to go down, hook up with freinds and hid behind my hands while the gore sets in, no, I am taking my laptop, mic and camera and enjoying a chat with Ed, Dr Zombie (Jennifer Cooke) who presented a paper at Short Fuse and possibly the visiting authors along with my a local friend and fellow Zombie fan. So look out for that at the end of the month along with a review of a Ravenous Romance short story anthology all about zombies and romance.
There has been some fun stuff going on in the UK press about our dominant bookseller Waterstones. First of all was this article that sparked it, then all the comments. This was followed by the response from Waterstones MD and further comments. If you can't be bothered to work through all of that my summary of what I pulled out of it all.
Some people think Waterstones has become a big soulless giant that forces us to buy whatever rubbish they feel will sell and ignores everyone else.
Because it sells ereaders it may singlehandedly destroy the publishing industry.
The staff are rude and ignorant.
People don't like Costa and you aren't allowed to take books into it until you have paid for them.
There aren't enough cosy seats where you can while away the day reading the books for free.
Naturally the other article disputes this and the comments are the usual mixed bag.
I thought i'd share my experience of Waterstones and my views on this (the joy of having my own blog of course being that I can talk at length instead of just adding to the other comments.
It's survived as a bookseller, whew, i'm glad someone has!
It has a scattering of places you can sit or perch to consider, it doesn't really encourage lounging the day away, but then it's a it's in the title really isn't it, Bookseller, over gentlemans club. I would love for book buying to be (as someone put it) "like mid 90's Ellen" (or my fave Black Books) but it's not. If a few smaller stores can manage to create that ambience and stay alive then wonderful, but it's not the reality of 00's britain.
Costa is quite expensive and not always delightful and given that coffee stains are not entirely unheard of on my books i'm not surprised we can't take
them in.
The staff are a mixed bunch, in my local stores (2 in Leicester and 1 in Market Harborough) I have lately found the general friendliness and level of knowledge to be better than I have ever experienced before. I often find myself drawn into swapping recommendations or chatting about current trends. They have also been truly lovely about finding out when UK release dates are for me often answering three or four questions and dealing with my pouting about delayed delivery's in good humour. I have also been allowed to leave Un:Bound bookmarks in there stores for which I am forever grateful.
My recent experience in London at the Stirling Moss signing was that staff were on the ball at crowd handling and mostly lovely. At worst one or two were not 100% delightful and committed but they were neither rude nor lacking in knowledge. The weird posh restaurant on the top floor was a different issue, the staff were pushing rude and the price, given it is at the end of the day a bookstore, was outrageous. We ate elsewhere in the end.
It is absolutely necessary for major bookstores to sell ereaders if they don't want to be pushed out of the market by amazon. In fact being able to purchase and upload an ebook in store might be good too. I know if I could buy direct onto my ipod in Waterstones i'd be tempted to do it, even if I already had the paperback.
In fairness to Stuart Jeffries his article is not actually a "Waterstones is evil" piece. It felt more like a bit of a grumble that although it's overall probably a good thing to have them and they have upsides, there is something lacking from bookselling in the UK today. He makes some vaild points and the article is worth reading for those. Of course the comments are much more polarised, this is a topic that encourages ferocious reaction in both for and against camps.
In comparison I felt that Garry Johnson's response, was a teensy bit diffensive and never addressed the core point of the Stuart's issue. The way Waterstone's discount and push books that are already doing well and in the process baffle their readers. So what I want to know is what are they going to do to make sure they don't diversify so much and discount so obtusely that they basically fall into the WH Smith camp?
I'd love to know what you lot think of bookselling these days and how your experiances of chain stores have been.
There was a small outcry when The Yiddish Policemen's Union took not only the 2007 Hugo for Best Novel, but also the Nebula and Locus awards. Although it takes place in an alternate universe where the state of Israel is smashed after WWII and the main action takes place in Sitka, Alaska, a Jewish territory soon to fall back under American control (similar to the Hong Kong/China situation ten years ago) - it's not like it was recognizable as a science fiction or fantasy novel.
And of course it was also written by Michael Chabon, "slumming" it after writing a small novel called The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, which went on to win a small award known as the Pulitzer. Who was this guy to come in and steal all the hard-working real SF&F writers' thunder?
Simple. Like the best writers, Chabon is someone who simply refuses to work in easy categorizations. He's written contemporary literature (Kavalier & Clay, Wonder Boys), YA fantasy (Summerland), serialized fiction (Gentlemen of the Road) and copious amounts of nonfiction. All his writing - The Yiddish Policemen's Union included - have one major thing in common: all are written with a care and passion that make them as exhilarating and exquisitely readable as they are literate and "mature"...a combination, I should add, that's a sure sign to get noticed, hence the myriad of awards.
So think of The Yiddish Policemen's Union as Raymond Chandler filtered through the CoenBrother's A SERIOUS MAN. Meyer Landsman used to be the best detective on the force, but a dissolved marriage and too many sips of the bottle have left him tired and beaten in a ramshackle hotel, a month away from being evicted when Sitka reverts back to American control. When one of his neighbors, a junkie chess prodigy, is murdered things turn into something far more sinister as Meyer is warned off the case - first by his ex-wife and now boss, and then from the Jewish mafia. But the sleeping giant that is Meyer's detective skills can't let it lie, and so begins a classic noir mystery that involves mental institutions, the possible return of the Messiah, and a chess problem that may be the key to the whole riddle.
Chabon writes with a fast dry wit that's instantly recognizable - both from Chandler's hard boiled Philip Marlowe stories and from a lifetime of imitation in the movies. The trick of the novel lies in the inventive wordplay centered around (you guessed it) Yiddish, and the rituals and foibles of both a religion and humanity at large. There are times I laughed out loud, and other times when my heart reached out to Landsman as he struggles to turn his life around in the midst of the investigation.
Fantastic on all counts, The Yiddish Policemen's Union is great alternate history, a great mystery put together in the classic style, and great literature. Books like this are a no-brainer, and winning so many prestigious genre awards means that people who wouldn't normally go for Chabon because he's not technically a "sci-fi" or fantasy writer might just give him a shot.
