Link Sprinkling

Via the Guardian blog, comes news of news that Random House has jumped onto the YouWriteOn.com bandwagon, and will "read and consider highly rated Top Ten Chart stories on YouWriteOn from April to September in 2008." The site began in 2006 with the idea of helping new writers develop their talents; the site’s affiliated literary agents include Curtis Brown and The Christopher Little Literary Agency agent of J.K Rowling, of course.

While this development is met with quite a lot of writerly hysteria from some quarters, the more cynical among us wonder if this is just for show. We've read just this week at Galleycat about real writers being rejected by fake editors. It's hard to suddenly believe in a kinder, gentler publishing world... but maybe...

This weeks SF Chronicle has some great YA kid reviews, including two books I'm dying to read: How I Saved My Father's Life (And Ruined Everything Else) and Lesley M. M. Blume's Tennyson, as well as a slew of nonfiction, which is good to see. (There really seems to be more nonfiction ...visible this year already. Hurray for that!) My favorite things are the book blurbs, though. Yay for kids responding to literature!

"We didn't buy any Anne dolls or cookbooks, nor did we visit the "Green Gables" facsimile farmhouse, which - judging from online accounts of it - is as complete as Sherlock Holmes's digs on Baker Street, containing everything from the slate Anne broke over Gilbert Blythe's head to her wardrobe of puffed-sleeve dresses to the brooch she was accused, wrongly, of losing. There's even a pretend Matthew who gives you drives around the property, though he's not described as running to hide out in the barn at the approach of lady visitors, as the real Matthew would have done."

Another awesome Canadian author, Margaret Atwood gives Anne-with-an-e a send up in the Guardian. The 'Annery' as she calls the hoopla for the 100th year anniversary, is indeed well in hand. I've lost my ancient copy of my Anne somewhere (my copy was from the 50's and is probably in my parent's house, camouflaged among all the others from that era) but I'm quite tempted to see if I can't find another thrift story copy somewhere and reread it. (Hmm. Another Big Read idea. Sorry, Leila. Maybe I could join you on one you're DOING instead of continually suggesting them? I'm getting there!)

Don't miss our buddy Cynthia's awesome link round-up and giveaways, including talk about two sequels I've been looking forward to -- the second Hallowmere novel and the newest Melissa Marr, Ink Exchange. And YIKES, there's a third Hallowmere coming. I'm already falling behind!!!!

And finally, in the CUTE OVERLOAD category from Mangesh at mental_bloss, an article about an elephant who... went to film school. BBC1 will be broadcasting the amazing, stupendous and awesome footage pretty soon. (I love mental_floss's blog, can you tell? Where else do you find out that it was Grace Slick singing to you all those times on Sesame Street!?)

Poetry Friday: The History Between Us

I first read this poem at Thanksgiving, the title blurring with traditional Thanksgiving themes about blessing the 'ties that bind.' Those binding ties have sometimes served to bind in ways not so sanguine, and I though the poem tied in nicely with some thoughts I'd had about leaving home and familiarity. Later, I reread the poem just after a rather disastrous meal with a couple who turned on each other after dinner, a squabble that turned to bickering and bitter recriminations. There are, I reflected, things that bind us; certain things that are knotted between us and cause us to stumble as surely as a coil of rope on the floor, encountered in murky darkness.

I read this poem a third time this morning, and decided that it was high time you read it, too.

For What Binds Us

There are names for what binds us:
strong forces, weak forces.
Look around, you can see them:
the skin that forms in a half-empty cup,
nails rusting into the places they join,
joints dovetailed on their own weight.
The way things stay so solidly
wherever they've been set down-
and gravity, scientists say, is weak.

And see how the flesh grows back
across a wound, with a great vehemence,
more strong
than the simple, untested surface before.
There's a name for it on horses,
when it comes back darker and raised: proud flesh,

as all flesh
is proud of its wounds, wears them
as honors given out after battle,
small triumphs pinned to the chest-

And when two people have loved each other
see how it is like a
scar between their bodies,
stronger, darker, and proud;
how the black cord makes of them a single fabric
that nothing can tear or mend.

-- a poem by Jane Hirshfield from Of Gravity and Angels © 1988, Wesleyan University Press.

Listen to a bonus poem by Jane Hirschfield, and find the rest of the Poetry People at Gina's today. Visit Cuentesitos, little stories, and leave a link to your own. If you've got the leisure to read a few more stories today, don't miss the shyly grinning Markus Zusak, being interviewed at The Guardian on "Why I Write", and more news about Spielberg's Tintin. I should definitely, um, read the books or at least look at the cartoons before the movie comes out...

Toon Thursday: Stages of Rejection #3

I've also got a handful of links today, because I've been cruising around everyone's blogs, trying to get caught up! This past week I got a kick out of the 7-Imps' interview with illustrator Kadir Nelson, who TadMack and I got to see at the SCBWI summer conference last year. Gorgeous man, gorgeous artwork--don't miss the Q&A with E&J.

Speaking of interviews, Cynsations is really on a roll with the 2008 SCBWI Bologna interviews. Don't miss another great interview with Cybil SF/Fantasy finalist Kathleen Duey, author of Skin Hunger.

Courtesy of PW's ShelfTalker comes another creative way to deal with rejection. The column's hilarious, but don't miss the photo... On a totally different note is Children's Book Week, coming up in May--the Children's Book Council announced in a press release that they are launching the Children's Choice Book Awards. Twenty-five finalists were announced in five categories, and kids can vote for their favorites at the website. The whole thing seems like a great potential classroom activity to me. Plus I was happy to see a few Cybils finalists in there...

Another potential classroom resource is BigUniverse.com, a new contribution to the world of online children's books where you can read books online and connect with other children's book readers and writers. It's also possible for members to publish their own online children's book on the site. It's a nicely designed, friendly site for picture book enthusiasts.

It's Complicated... And Stuff.

If you heard about photojournalist Robin Bowman's new photography book, It's Complicated: The American Teenager on All Things Considered, then you'll really enjoy the photo gallery from the book from NPR online.


I have to admit that as a writer I love looking at photographs of people. There are so many stories behind the eyes that stare out at you challengingly or with visible happiness or melancholy. It was a treat to hear last summer that Tamora Pierce uses acres of National Geographics and fashion magazines for the same purpose -- just the pictures of the people. The human face can be fascinating, and can provide a needed bump to the imagination when a writer gets stuck.

Recently, The Library of Congress set up a Flickr site for their old photos, and they provide a fascinating glimpse of the past. This photo of a glam 40's chick, putting rivets on a bomber makes me smile. Her lipstick matches her nail polish, her eyebrows are plucked to within an inch of their lives, and she's wearing a huge ring, but that doesn't mean our girl isn't working.

See? You could write a fifty word flash fiction piece about her right now.

Randomly: Wow! MIT has free online college courses!? Who knew? (Well, apparently mental_floss, and a hat tip to them for the great link.)

A One Shot World Tour: "O, CANADA!"

I absolutely adore Canada.
My favorite college professor -- who introduced me to the works of my favorite Canadian adult author, Margaret Atwood -- is Canadian. My first time sitting in a neck-deep spa-tub was in Canada (and trust me -- that was enough to gain the country my undying love). And my very first piece of fanfiction at age 9 was set on the magical grounds of Prince Edward Island. Despite the whole Red Green thing (!), Canada gets some serious love from me.

Like many books published outside of the U.S., books published by Canadian authors aren't always readily available in American bookstores, which is a serious shame. This is why, until this last Cybils Season, I'd never even heard of Canadian author K.V. Johansen whose novel, Nightwalker, is not, in fact, her debut work. No, it's one of nine novels she's written!

NINE novels!? Where have I been?!

K.V. Johansen holds a Master's Degrees in Medieval Studies and in English, which gives her work great details and historical depth. Her nonfiction book on children's fantasy literature, Quests and Kingdoms: A Grown-up's Guide to Children's Fantasy Literature, is one that I would dearly like to own. It is a chronological overview of fantasy which received rave reviews from diverse audiences, including history teachers, the Mythopoeic Society, and librarians. It's a great teaching tool or reference, and the style makes it appropriate for young adults, too.

K.V. Johansen's Nightwalker was added to VOYA's Year's Best Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror list for 2007, and you can find out more about her writing in these interview clips and on her very informative website. The videos of her reading portions of her work only whets your appetite to read more!!! Some great stuff here!

(Psst! Treason in Eswy, the second book in the Warlocks of Talverdin series, hit Canadian bookshelves March 1st. Has anyone else read it yet?? I'm looking for it in the UK -- no such luck yet...)

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And now, a BONUS Canadian for Writers:

However thin the stream of books flowing between writers and readers in our two countries, there has been one steady stream of writing wisdom coming from Canada in the form of Debbie Ridpath Ohi. Debbie kept me company those years after college when I was pretty sure I had a Great Novel Within Me, but kept getting in the way of my own prose. Inkspot was an amazing discovery, a writing resource that made sense. I avidly read the marketplace pieces, which kept me going between my Writer's Market subscriptions. It was deeply ironic that my first major sale coincided with Xlibris buying out Inkspot -- running Debbie into the ground, and then closing the site down. I must admit that I shed a few tears of rage, as this was a bummer of major proportions. There were other writing sites, pulled together by great people, but it just wasn't the same.

Of course, it isn't like Debbie herself vanished or anything. This multi-talented Canadian was interviewed last year at Women on Writing. You can also find her blogging and drawing her quirky, amusing work at Inkygirl: Daily Diversions for Writers, which is where I also go to find Will Write for Chocolate. A favorite spot also is Debbie's list of writers who were rejected repeatedly before they hit the big time. Read it, peeps. It'll give you courage.

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The One Shot World Tour concept rose fully formed from the fertile mind of our organizer, Colleen. The O, Canada! round-up at Chasing Ray includes the really adorable Daisy Dawson the CUTE ALERT monsters drawn by illustrator Kean Soo, and more. There's still plenty of Canadians where these came from! (Um... Canada?) Enjoy the literary goodness from Our Neighbors to the North all day today!

(Props to Little Willow for the flag logo!)

Fantastical Fiction from Two Northern Neighbors

Welcome to one of our two installments for One Shot World Tour: Canada. TadMack and I were both pretty excited about Canada Day, since we’ve been reading some pretty killer Canadian authors lately, and since we’ve both had some memorable trips up to the higher latitudes.

In honor of One Shot World Tour: Canada, I thought I’d tip my hat to one familiar writer and one relatively unfamiliar one from our neighbors to the north. Firstly, the familiar: I’ve been a fan of Ottawa-based author Charles De Lint’s writing since I was in high school, even though the books I read weren’t strictly YA. At the time I devoured as much urban fantasy I could find, though it wasn’t as plentiful back in the early '90s; and Charles De Lint was a natural match, with his fictional city of Newford and its motley population of artists, intellectuals, vagabonds, as well as assorted mythical and mystical creatures inhabiting parks, streets, abandoned buildings...

Newford is a place where imagination comes alive in a fantastical blend of Western European and Native American mythologies. I’m not sure which book was my first introduction to De Lint—it was either Moonheart, The Little Country, or Jack the Giant-Killer—but I was captivated by the vividness of Newford as a setting and the spunky, brave, sensitive, creative heroines that usually narrate De Lint’s novels and short stories.

The past few years, he’s begun writing books specifically for a YA audience—The Blue Girl, Little (Grrl) Lost, and the newly-released Dingo. Though so far my preference remains with the books he wrote for an adult audience, I’m glad that he’s reaching out to younger readers, and I also think that his YA books might be good for reluctant readers as well—eventually drawing them into his delicious and dark world of urban fantasy. To read more about this multitalented man and find a full booklist, visit his website.

This is sort of embarrassing, but back in 2004, I actually made a writing-related pilgrimage to one of the favorite hangouts of Charles De Lint and his wife--an Ottawa pub that happened to be quite close to where I was staying to attend a conference. I figured, since I was in the neighborhood, I’d just stop by, have a pint, and soak up the good writerly vibes. Unfortunately, he was out of town at the time, but I still checked it out, stayed for a spell, and wrote notes for my own novel. It really just made me wish I had a nearby pub I could sit in to write and peoplewatch...

Another Canadian author who primarily writes fantasy and supernatural fiction is Margaret Buffie, originally an artist, who began writing in the mid-1980s. Though she’s known for writing many ghost stories as well as an unusual and creative fantasy trilogy, the first book I encountered of hers was Out of Focus, a novel of realistic fiction and dramatic family tension that I reviewed for The Edge of the Forest. It seems to reprise some of the tense family situations that characterize her first novel, The Haunting of Frances Rain (published in Canada as Who Is Frances Rain?), which was also a ghost story.

Her fantasy trilogy, The Watcher’s Quest (The Watcher, The Seeker, and The Finder) are quite different—fast-paced, original fantasy in which Buffie creates an entire set of worlds interlaced with threads of Celtic myth. The trilogy tells the story of Emma Sweeney, who, at sixteen, has long known that she’s not quite like anyone in her family. She’s also felt a near-compulsion to watch out for her sickly sister and somewhat flighty parents. Now, as her artist father builds a sort of modern henge out in the fields of their bee farm, she senses a gathering danger and doesn’t know why. When odd new neighbors the Maxims move to a nearby farm, she takes a summer job caring for the elderly father and realizes they aren’t who they seem—or what they seem. I’m always interested in novels about parallel worlds, and I haven’t read anything quite like this trilogy, populated with a fascinating cast of characters ranging from selkies and mer-people to leaf-creatures and walking, creaking mechanical men. A very creative and very visual tale. To find out more, visit Margaret Buffie’s website.

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For more Canadian writing fabulosity, check out the full list of participants at Chasing Ray.

The Literature of Longing

This morning I was reminded of how our best writing takes place from a sense of longing. The Writer's Almanac today made note of the fact that it's Kate DiCamillo's birthday. "She spent most of her childhood in Florida, but after college she moved to Minnesota to work for a book wholesaler... That first winter in Minnesota was one of the coldest on record, and DiCamillo missed her hometown in Florida horribly. She also desperately wanted a dog, but couldn't have one because her apartment building didn't allow dogs. So she began writing a story about a stray dog that helps a 10-year-old girl adjust to life in a new town..." and we know the rest of the story from there.

On the tail end of this very cold, wet, miserable winter, I can only imagine the author's horror. Snow is pretty -- when you don't ever have to go outside, or are only visiting it temporarily. I imagine that after growing up in Florida, it must have seemed impossible, yet Kate DiCamillo found room in her mind to create a place where she wanted to be, and people she wanted to be with. And she found herself a dog.

Is your writing real?
Is it so heartfelt that it's part of your inner world translated to paper? It seems that stories like these are the best things to read, and the most worthwhile to write.

A story I wrote features an older character who changed and grew with the novel until she was a major player along with the teens in the story. I really enjoyed rounding out the character and including her, because I enjoyed rewriting, in a small way, my actual history. I created a relationship like the one I very much wished for with my own grandmother, and that character has attracted favorable comment from many people.

It may seem a little... weird and needy to rewrite the world to your specifications, making yourself the heroine of all encounters. More importantly, it can be completely boring -- keeping in mind the writer's adage that Just Because It Happened To You Doesn't Make It Interesting. There's a difference between writing out your own personal history and personalizing a story by writing a real emotion. It's a worthwhile bit of digging, to find something real.

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Shrinking Violets has a few things to say on introverts vs. extroverts from the book The Introvert Advantage. Most notable to me is the assertion that extroverts "adapt more quickly to time-zone changes than introverts." Also, extravert's test performances were improved by receiving praise. This is some really fascinating stuff -- I imagine it's very valuable for parents, too, not to mention writers who have to figure out how to manage the public side of the field. Thanks, Violets!

NPR's Morning Edition discovers comic books. Comic book audiences are ...different, Joss Whedon discovers. "You can evoke ire that you've never dreamed of in TV." Yeah... Ire. Controversy. Whatever you want to call it...

WRITING CONTEST ALERT

Aerin @ In Search of Giants is hosting an April Fool's Writing Contest! It's easy -- because all you have to do is finish a story. Do you love yourself some Mad Libs? Or those 'Choose Your Own Adventure' books? Go to the site, read the story starter which has been presented by Writer At Work, and -- finish it.

Prizes are subjective, of course, but there will be a $20 SuperCertificate to the author of Writer At Work's favorite ending, one Readers' Choice $20 SuperCertificate and one $10 random lottery prize SuperCertificate by random lottery.

Reprise...

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:


Now that I've got the date right, just wanted to wish you merry -- again!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AQUAFORTIS!
May you eat CAKE!

Whizzing By...

I don't usually do weekend posts, but Cynsations had such a great series of links I had to point them out.

First, Cynthia introduces us to David Gill's Thunder Chikin, and a revision story. Since that's where the Wonderland duo is right now -- smack 'dab in the midst of revisions -- this was Must Read Bloggage. Writer Gill is amusing -- mentioning at one point that he thought the line-edits from his editors were light because there wasn't much work to do. And then he finds out he's ...wrong. The less said sometimes, the more work. D'oh! But he keeps at it, and FIFTEEN PASSES LATER, ladies and gents, he's done. FIFTEEN. (Keep that number in mind, you nameless media twerps who think writing children's lit is easy.) The last line of his revision post is the best --

"... the writer starts the neglected laundry, speaks to the attention-starved children, cleans the grungy bathroom, and goes in search of a bowl of praline pecan ice cream and a really big spoon."

That was a great chuckle for today, and you can't help but love the title of his work in progress: Soul Enchilada. Definitely one to watch!

And whoa, am I late to discovering the group of Vermont MFA authors writing at Through the Tollbooth or what? Cynthia links to a really great discussion on sexuality in YA lit (including an interview with Tanya Lee Stone and a link to her 2006 VOYA article, The Power of Sex in YA Literature). Tollbooth has recently concluded a discussion on YA violence as well. I'm glad that it wasn't just sex that was explored, since with young adults the complaint is usually that authors are rewriting Sex in the City with adolescents. I've had conversations with a number of my fellow blogger/writers on those topics, and my favorite response has been from the stalwart few who prefer to not have an opinion, but to allow the actions of the characters to serve the plot. Admittedly, I find it difficult to be that courageous. What, I find myself worrying, would my mother think? A rule of thumb for me is to write something I would have been allowed to read when I was a kid -- and I know that varies for everyone!

Anyway, some great, intelligent conversations have gone on in the blogosphere, so if you're a little sick from eating the heads off of numerous chocolate bunnies, these great thoughts will provide a needed antidote.

Cheers!

Write a Sequel, Dang It!

You know, when you read the notes to a novel and they tell you that this fantastic book you just read was really just sort of a lark, a one-off, a side project that didn't quite make it elsewhere...that's enough to frustrate any reader. Evidently that's the story with Interworld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves, and let me just say this--Neil? Mike? Do me a favor and get going on that sequel, please. Pretty please?

Interworld is the story of Joey Harker. To be precise, it's the story of many Joey Harkers. One day, Joey gets lost on a school field trip and finds himself...somewhere else. It looks like his town. Kind of. Until he gets chased by crazy hoversurfers who try to shoot him, and then saved by some mystery dude named Jay, and then discovers, upon returning home, that he DOESN'T EXIST AT ALL in this world.

A fun, fast-paced, and suspenseful take on the idea of parallel worlds and analogous selves, Gaiman and Reaves have created a compelling tale. It is possible to tell from the execution of the piece that it didn't necessarily get the attention it deserved--I think there's huge potential for the premise and characters that wasn't quite fully developed. Having said that, I really enjoyed it. If you're a Gaiman fan, and you like the type of sci-fi that sort of delves into fantasy at the same time, you'll probably like it. It was exciting, imaginative, and I'd be more than willing to read more about the adventures of Joey Harker and his various analogue selves--the wolf-girl, the cyborg, the girl with wings, the levitating guru. And don't forget the interdimensional bubble-creature who communicates in...colors. Much, much fun.

Poetry Friday: The Fragile Act of Creation

Point of Departure

tongue-tied, she sculpts little numbers, bits of alphabet

feels the language out in air gone thick and malleable

as clay or mud, as the breathiness of meringue

what she wants is control though she doesn't like to admit this

(not ladylike) what she wants is to name everything

petiole: stalk attaching leaf to stem

verso: left-hand page of manuscript

she invents names sometimes--or similes anyway

explaining and explaining, drafting new rules of order

like a morning of miserable phone calls, which is different from

the clean pain of a paper cut on the tongue

punctilio: a fine point of etiquette (ladylike)

she wants control--like the carpenter, not the architect

she wants the house to fit the cosmos buzzing inside her left hemisphere

she wants the baseboard to fit exactly the angle between floor and wall

no unexplained spaces, 90 degrees--there's a close miracle in that

the click click of wood fitting against wood, yes, like that

a pleasurable green--color of newborn aphids

she wants everything named and simple, everything simple

everything named with shapes that open up, willing to be understood

(she feels ridiculous wanting this, tongue-tied and green)

fortitude: the moment between this breath and, yes, the next one

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"Petiole"...I really should have one of TadMack's fabulous flower photos to accompany this poem, shouldn't I?? "Point of Departure" comes from Gillian Wegener's collection The Opposite of Clairvoyance from Sixteen Rivers Press. She's local--lives in my town--and much of her poetry is about nature, birds, seasons, interactions with others--the small things of life that are also the most important. Her poems are so visual, too, but this one in particular I keep coming back to again and again, thinking about the myriad of reasons why I write, why I draw...

Anyway, I've really been wanting to contribute something for Poetry Friday, and I've been so intimidated because not only am I not a poet but I'm in no way nearly as poetry-literate as many of the participants. Still, Wegener's poetry speaks to me so strongly that I wanted to share one. (And I might share another at some point!!) More fantastic poems can be found at Wild Rose Reader.

Poetry Friday: Dubious Spring

Christina Rossetti began writing poetry at the age of seven, and though most of her well-known poetry is complex and strange (for instance her best known Goblin Market), or of a deeply sentimental 19th century religious bent, there are the rare simple poems, and these speak to me most.

This selection was chosen specially in honor of the fact that we have, indeed, had word that the Spring of the year is ...springing. Despite the snow and rain and wild weather forecast for the Eastern part of the U.S. and the UK; despite the snowstorm that closed freeways in Arizona, despite the weather chaos that continues to rampage, it's Spring.

Close your eyes and believe...

The First Spring Day

I wonder if the sap is stirring yet,
If wintry birds are dreaming of a mate,
If frozen snowdrops feel as yet the sun
And crocus fires are kindling one by one:
    Sing, robin, sing;
I still am sore in doubt concerning Spring.

I wonder if the springtide of this year
Will bring another Spring both lost and dear;
If heart and spirit will find out their Spring,
Or if the world alone will bud and sing:
    Sing, hope, to me;
Sweet notes, my hope, soft notes for memory.

The sap will surely quicken soon or late,
The tardiest bird will twitter to a mate;
So Spring must dawn again with warmth and bloom,
Or in this world, or in the world to come:
    Sing, voice of Spring,
Till I too blossom and rejoice and sing.

I'm all for blossoming and rejoicing! If you celebrate, Happy Purim and Happy Easter - hope you have a wonderfully renewing weekend. Wild Rose Reader is hosting today's Poetry Friday.

Toon Thursday: Stages of Rejection #2

We're well underway on our "Seven Stages of Rejection" now. The irony, of course, is that I've already gotten over the rejection that spawned this seven-week burst of creativity, and I've already sent out new queries and gotten on with my life. On the other hand, I don't have to agonize over cartoon ideas for the next few weeks. Hmm...perhaps that rejection had quite a significant silver lining. (Click here for Stage One, in case you missed last week.)

Speaking of cartoons about rejection, I came across an excellent cartoon (originally from The Onion) on reasons for rejection at the blog of kt literary. The blog is called Ask Daphne! and it's got a lot of useful info from an agent's perspective.

I'll be back tomorrow--with my first-ever contribution to Poetry Friday! Now I've announced it to the public at large, so I can't wuss out!

Hola, Neighbors...

Got up, got dressed, and zipped up my blue cardigan sweater. Why? 'Cause
Mr. McFeely said to... I'm wearing my favorite sweater in honor of what would have been Fred Rogers' 80th birthday. I'm also wearing it because it's cold and it's raining, and Mr. Rogers pretty much advocated the wisdom of coming in out of the rain, yes?

Still, it's the first day of Spring. The Earth is tilted, the north and south poles are equally distant from the sun, so we will have almost exactly the same amount of daytime as nighttime. Soon. Never mind what the weather is doing, the end is nigh.

Match It for Pratchett is going strong. Fans of the author's work from around the world are matching funds to make his million dollar (or, £500K) gift to Alzheimer's research doubled. This is a good cause indeed.

People either love or loathe The Famous Five, and if you're in the UK I think you have to love them. It's probably in the contract. Now they're being updated -- actually, they're being given the Disney Animation Treatment. No more ginger beer, lashings of it or otherwise. Instead it's iPods, laptops and a multicultural cast. However, some people think well enough should be left well alone.

Speaking of series -- The Dangerous Book for Boys is ...soon to become a television show. Channel Five is sending celebrities and their sons on... "adventures" and it's meant to be "riveting TV." Hm.

The forecast this weekend calls for snow on Sunday, and as I write this, winds are gusting between 24 and 45 mph...

Maybe I should just wish you a Happy Spring and leave it at that.

Learning To Breathe Under Water

*"When you sit in silence long enough, you learn that silence has a motion. It glides over you without shape or form, but with weight, exactly like water."

Magdalena even has a name which is lyrically beautiful. Her world is unusual, quirky, magical -- all because of her mother. Magdalena was content to sit quietly and simply absorb all that the world had to offer, but now that her mother has died, she's cast adrift, in more ways than one. Her dull Aunt Hannah comes and fixes mushy, tasteless dinners for she and her father. He goes to work, she goes to school, and all the magic has left the world.

Windows attract Magda -- why should she use a door? The spaces in silence call to her, and at times it's like she loses her voice. Flame is mesmerizing, and so beautiful.

Magdalena knows she's sliding toward the edge. The family of imaginary fish that she sees everywhere, the fact that the faces around her morph into animals, and she herself occasionally turns into a giraffe -- these things let her know that she is, in fact, a little out of her mind. And then there are the fires... But there's too much in her mind to stay there. Her father is trying to Move On, meeting with the horribly plastic and optimistically cheerful Dorothy, and her son Andrew. All Dad can remember of her mother is that she was depressed; Dorothy says Magda's mom and dad were outright unhappy before the 'accident.' Of course, cheerful and optimism are Dorothy's middle name. Not truth.

Never truth.

There wasn't any accident, was there? Not for anyone.

Why is everyone -- including Magda -- lying?

A dark, quiet descent into one girl's private watery grave, The Shape of Water takes a collage of losses and everyday aggravation and turns them into a surprising poignant hope that eventually, even the darkest water clears, and those who drown in the sea of grief can also remember how to swim and find their way back to solid land.

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*This quote was taken from an uncorrected proof which is subject to change before final publication. Available April 2008.

More Elusive Than A Scarlet Ibis

The Ever-After Bird, by Ann Rinaldi

Thirteen year old Cecelia McGill will never be an abolitionist. It consumed her father’s attention, made him unmindful of her and cruel, and it eventually killed him. Cece resolves that she will never become so fixated on people she doesn’t even know, and neglect the ones right next to her.

After her father’s funeral, her Uncle Alex, also an abolitionist, greets Cece with tenderness and honesty. So unlike her own father, Uncle Alex seems to genuinely want to bring her to live with he and his wife, to help heal some of the scars left by her cold, unfriendly father. But first, he has a little trip he’d like to take Cece on. He, together with his assistant, Earline, is going to the deep South. He’s a budding ornithologist, and he’s looking for the Ever-After bird, what the slaves call the exceedingly rare scarlet ibis, a bird Cece’s uncle would dearly like to catch, kill, and paint.

Earline is a freed slave and a student at Oberlin College in Ohio, who, on trips to the South, pretends to be Alex's slave, working as his assistant and giving him access to the slaves on the plantations. As they journey, Cece is troubled to discover that she is both repelled by and afraid of Earline. For all that her father was an abolitionist, she has never spoken to a person of African descent. Worse, it is all too easy to pretend that Earline is her slave. Bossing her around and slapping her seem to be almost second nature. Piling more troubles on Cecelia’s young shoulders is the realization that her Uncle Alex is secretly spreading the word about the Underground Railroad and distributing money to help many of the slaves on the plantations they meet escape!

While much of the novel is straightforward, the reader cannot help but interpret Earline’s sly pettiness as an infatuation with Cecilia’s Uncle Alex, and then as an emotional dysfunction which Uncle Alex repeatedly explains away, making it clear that Earline is ‘damaged’ and not to be blamed for her bouts of temper and meanness. Earline is repeatedly depicted as someone ignorant, and more ruled by emotion than by intellect. She slaps the young and recently bereaved CeCe on some pretext, insinuates that she has more personal information about Cecelia’s immediate family than she does herself, lies about Uncle Alex, and openly schemes to remain central in his affections, despite the fact that she is both older and allegedly more educated and exposed to the way the world works than young Ceceila. The drama of the first-person narrative, in which CeCe sees up close the horrors of slavery are tensely riveting; the extemporaneous “female jealousy” problem, as Uncle Alex calls it, seems largely unnecessary and distasteful, pointing, as it does, to the idea of the infantile Southern woman, living her life only to scheme and catfight over a man.

One also wonders also if the author is inadvertently giving credence to the belief many Southerners held that persons of African descent were mentally inferior by birth, and would never, despite education, approach the level of intellect that a person of European descent could hope to achieve, as their ‘treacherous’ and hypersexualized ‘animal’ natures would ever catch them out. Earline, knowing the peril that they, as abolitionists, face in the South, nevertheless meets, falls in love, and in a secret slave ceremony marries a White carriage driver they encounter halfway through the journey. When in the novel’s dramatic climax, he is killed, she weeps and carries on and has to be drugged, dragged shrieking to a couch in stereotypical Southern belle fashion.

Though this dramatic novel will hold the interest of many young adults with its tumultuous view of slavery, its historical accuracy is dubious at best, and while the novel’s rapid conclusion neatly ties up all dangling strings, as a whole this novel leaves a lot to be desired.

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This review was first published in the February '08 Edge of the Forest Children's Literature Monthly.

The Voices of the River

Rio Grande Stories, By Carolyn Meyer

Rio Grande Middle isn’t just a typical Albuquerque middle school. It’s a magnet school for kids from all over the city to come and enjoy special projects like the Heritage Project, which studies various cultures and peoples as part of the curriculum. Some of the kids at RGM weren’t too sure about coming all the way across town to a special school, but the Heritage Project has been really interesting, and slowly the students are bonding.

One of the ‘different’ things the Heritage Project kids are doing is writing a book. It’s to help the school raise money for some finishing touches on the remodel. It’s supposed to be a book about the various cultures represented at the school, a chapter written by each student. It’s an idea that everybody can get behind – almost.

Some kids, like Tony Martinez, love the idea – he’s got a great story to tell about his famous ancestor, the story his father’s been telling him since he was little, the story his mother hates to hear… He thought it was a great story, but none of the Catholic kids believe him. After all, how can he be descended from a priest!? Priests don’t have kids!

Kids like April Ellis are horrified at how excited her parents get over the Heritage Project. So far, none of her classmates know she and her hippie parents live in a bus, but unfortunately, that doesn’t last. Her Dad shows up at school to volunteer for the Heritage Project! April is furious. What does her dad, Tom, know about heritage? Or adobe!? Actually, you’d be surprised…

Even though Tomás Jaramillo was born Española and have moved to Albuquerque, he knows how many people think his hometown’s a bad joke, and that the Hispanic people there are poor and short and stupid. So, should he risk being called a cholo and ask his cousin, Johnny to bring his low-rider to school for his part of the Project?

Told in alternating voices – one chapter from a student, one chapter about that student, Carolyn Meyer’s Rio Grande Stories is a tasty mélange of the sights, flavors and sounds of the Latin and Indian cultures of the Rio Grande. Through the student’s stories, the people and history of the region come to life, drawn together with the bright threads of the past and present. Perfect for middle grade students trying to find pride in themselves and their particular culture, this book delightfully reminds us how, across the cultures, we all are much the same.

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This review was first published in the February '08 Edge of the Forest Children's Literature Monthly.

Square Pegs -- MIA?

Okay, apologies if you actually remember a TV show by that name -- and its undeniably annoying theme song. I only vaguely remember the show existing -- and that I liked saying the words 'square' and 'pegs' together fast. Yes, I was annoying.

Anyway -- via Ypulse's Alli, I came across a conversation bouncing through the blogosphere. Dairi Burger queried, "Where are all the poor, ugly, awkward girls in YA lit?

That question kind of produced a "huh?!" from me, because I think... sheesh, just about every young adult has the ugly-awkwards in spades. But I take DB's point -- there are an awful lot of YA novels about models, über-rich girls and spoiled boarding school cliques. I won't bother naming titles of the ones with obnoxious, vapid characters -- we all know those. But it's important to note that a.) not all rich characters are obnoxious, and b.) just because the characters are rich, doesn't mean they aren't awkward (Girl Overboard, anyone?).

Maybe the best question is, what are some recent young adult novels which portray the 'square peg' girl -- nerdy or geeky, independent spirited and not popular but who cares?

For starters, Love, Stargirl tops the list -- she's probably still as geeky as she was in the original novel. Any other titles come to mind?

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"When you put out a book with "adult" content under a YA label, you're not a hero of artistic liberty, you're a liar and a cheat. You want to keep getting the same income by pretending your writing belongs in a category that you have left behind."

Orson Scott Card's response to last week's question @ SF Signal about whether or not YA SF/F has become too explicit. (Hmm. Do SF/F writers of YA get paid more?)

Just Checking In...

I've been incredibly busy with a sudden graphic design project and some calligraphy for a friend's wedding, but I really wanted to check in. There are two reasons for this. One is a great quote that's rather apropos of the YA vs. Adult Literature Shenanigans that everybody is sick to death of. Without further ado, here are Madeleine L'Engle's words on the subject (with thanks to KT Literary--who are soon to receive a query from me--for the quote):

You have to write whichever book it is that wants to be written. And then, if it's going to be too difficult for grown-ups, you write it for children.

Right on, sister. The other thing I wanted to tell you is to GO SEE PERSEPOLIS. The movie adaptation is fantastic and covers both the original graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi and its sequel. For more info, check out this excellent documentary clip (courtesy of TadMack).

Words Around the Web

Some really thoughtful posts out there today -- first a bit of news: Author Terry Pratchett gives his first interview about his Alzheimer's diagnosis, his writing, life, etc., and puts the heart back into tons of Discworld fans. "There's humor in the darkest places," he says, and his writing has always made that true. Whatever else happens, he's not going out quietly.

Via Jezebel's Fine Lines, an excellent KUOW, Seattle podcast interview with 71-year old Lois Lowery, talking about her life as a YA author, and the importance of YA fiction and her newest novel, which is a black comedy. Remember the Anastasia books? Completely different from The Giver, and also completely different than A Summer to Die, but it's all Lowry, and this great lady - who incidentally doesn't read YA literature, hmmm! - has been publishing now for thirty-one years. Did you know she took the photographs for a lot of the novels, including Number the Stars? A fascinating interview that's about an hour long -- a treat for me to turn on and potter around the house, listening.

Oh, my, my. The Dr. Who geek-out cup overfloweth. People: behold, the Sonic Screwdriver. It's exactly like the one on the show. Exactly.

What About Minx? Chasing Ray wants to know why it's overlooked and underselling. Some excellent points discussed, check it out.

Ooh, Miss Erin's Novel Challenge is on! (And did she not make a cute little icon for it?) The point is to achieve a specific writing goal by the end of June 2008. This is appealing on myriad levels -- as both of us at Wonderland are in the middle of revising novels and beginning to think in terms of creating new plots. We'll be thinking about what goal we could aim for -- hope you're thinking too! Check in with Miss Erin and let her know if you'd like to participate!

Hat tip to Miss Cellania @ the mental_floss blog, for today's time-wasting obsession... well, it's only time wasting if you don't learn anything, right? The FABULOUS Questionaut, which was invented by the BBC -- an adorable interactive game during which you progress if and only if you can answer the questions correctly. Also try out Samorost -- when you're done revising your chapter for today, of course...