Upcoming Release: The Gospel of Loki, by Joanne Harris.

It's no secret that I love Joanne Harris' work. When I found out that she's about to be releasing a new novel, The Gospel of Loki, well, I got rather excited.

Not just because, to me, Loki looks like this:

 

Ms Harris does some incredibly insightful and evocative work, from the ongoing small time #Storytime hashtag on Twitter to the recent MBE insignia for services to literature she received from the freaking Queen of England!

Of course, like any author of relative popularity, she doesn't always receive high acclaim for all her works. I recently read a review of her Four Quarters of the Orange which, among other things, stated that the reader is an adult and wants to read about adult things. Funnily enough, that review and what I already knew about Joanne Harris just made me get around to reading this book faster. And what a read! Filled with such amazing and evocative writing as usual:

"The secret is to leave the stones in. Layer cherries and sugar one on the other in a wide-mouthed glass jar, covering each layer gradually with clear spirit up to half the jar's capacity. Top up with spirit and wait. Every month, turn the jar carefully to release any accumulated sugar. In three years' time the spirit has bled the cherries white, staining itself deep red, penetrating even to the stone and the tiny almond inside it, becoming pungent, evocative, a scent of autumn past. Serve in tiny liqueur glasses, with a spoon to scoop out the cheery, and leave it in the mouth until the macerated fruit dissolves under the tongue. Pierce the stone with the point of a tooth to release the liqueur trapped inside and leave it for a long time in the mouth, playing it with the tip of the tongue, rolling it under, over, like a single prayer bead. Try to remember the time of its ripening, that summer, that hot autumn, the time that well ran dry, the time we had the wasps' nests, time past, lost, found again in the hard place at the heart of the fruit."

Delicious!

Her latest novel The Gospel of Loki tells the story of the trickster god (no surprise there) finally taking the stage after being thoroughly misrepresented in histories and the tales we know of him. He's going to set the record straight on May 24th later this year.

New Release: Shelf Life, by Stephanie Lawton

Stephanie Lawton is an author I've had the pleasure of 'meeting' via a Twitter hashtag #NALit (New Adult Lit). She writes the kinds of books I would love to pen. And with each publisher she goes through, she unerringly seems to end up with some of the most winning, imaginative covers I've seen.

I'll admit, that when I first saw the cover for her latest release, Shelf Life, I thought we were in for a bit of a tamer read than what we'd seen before. 

In some ways, it is. Shelf Life isn't so much a romance as a year in the life of its main character. Pete. Not what I expected, but I like the way it built.

At its best points, this book had moments of Neil Gaiman and Francesca Lia Block. That's not to say this is a book with any magical elements. It's not. But the writing is descriptive, vivid. It gives you a sense of character, and solid views into the minds of the characters playing in the world.

The book culminates in this horrible storm that most of our main characters get stuck in. For this part of the book, there is not a page that is not fast paced or quick reading. Lindsey, our heroine, is portrayed as a bit of a brat in the early section of the book, but Stephanie brings her back into the fold with skill and empathy. Her return in the latter half of the book brings a comforting balance back to the book, though I often found myself wishing someone would pound on Lewis' door (Lindsey's brother and Pete's best friend) until he finally opened it.

The only character I couldn't find redeemable in the end was the character of Jay: the bully.

There were a couple of points I felt let the story down. It was a little bit slow to start, which can be forgiven, especially when the slowness was due to thorough world building. The slightly bigger point was that there felt like there was too much going one that was extraneous to the main plot. Characters were introduced and then dropped in favour for others and, though Pete thought of the friends that had come before, his university life felt like the opening to a separate book rather than a separate section in the same book of Pete's life. I found myself wanting to know more about Evan and Jenna. Instead, Jenna felt like a placeholder for Lindsey's return.

 There were also two scenes written from Jay's point of view in seemingly isolated parts of the otherwise first person narrative that I wasn't sure added the desired empathy for the character.Lastly, I thought the book might have benefited from a trigger warning for the event at the drunken party at the end of the first act. Otherwise, it was a thoroughly emotive book with many memorable characters, and a good edition to Stephanie's work.

To buy this release on Amazon:

Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Shelf-Life-Crestlane-County-1/dp/0991161114/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385741262&sr=1-3&keywords=Stephanie+Lawton

Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Shelf-Life-Crestlane-County-Series-ebook/dp/B00H06D7TS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385820060&sr=8-1&keywords=Shelf+Life+by+Stephanie+Lawton

New Book Release: 'The Ocean at the End of the Lane' by Neil Gaiman

Several years ago, I decided I wanted to be one of these people who love being a Neil Gaiman fan. I'd heard stories about the kinds of things he wrote and thought I liked the sound of them. Most of all, I thought I liked the sound of the novel American Gods.

I started American Gods. I haven't finished it yet. Don't get me wrong. This isn't a criticism of the work. This is more a criticism of my ability to take in and understand it at the time. Just like his wife Amanda Palmer has said, this novel flew right past my soul.

It was one of the reasons why I was so excited to see Kevin Hearne's book Hounded earlier on this year being described as the best parts of American Gods and Dresden Files. And, also to my pleasure, it was a significantly easier read.

So now I'm entering into a one-book-per-month read-a-thon of Neil Gaiman's works (retweeted by @neilhimself), starting with The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

Early on, before any of us had started this reading, one of the girls in the group linked us all to this blog post written by Amanda Palmer:

"he started working on a short story, something he’d had in the works but wasn’t quite certain of. it wasn’t a memoir, per se, but a purée on a lower blender speed. some part of what pushed him to work on this (instead of the other four projects he had deadlines for) was to give the story to me, like some kind of olive branch, maybe….the story that never got shared that day in surrey hills...

neil started crafting a string of words that was like a long hand reaching out of his heart and across the void that i’d put between us. i didn’t understand that, then. i only see it now."

(read more)

So, I've just finished reading this latest book by Neil Gaiman. The Ocean at the End of the Lane came out three months ago.

It was... It was the kind of book that made me want to bash my head against a wall for taking so many years to actually *get* Neil's writing. The layers that this book took you through were utterly astounding. On the surface, this is a book about a seven year old child who goes through what you think is a memorable experience, only to find that there is so much more than the story of a seven year old to be taken in.

For those who are fans of Gaiman and realise this is his most autobiographical work, you will enjoy stepping into the story and finding out the difference between metaphor and imagination, appreciating the layers as you go deeper and deeper. For those who aren't, this book is easily read on its own without any prior knowledge outside of its pages just for the characters and the wonderfully crafted language.

I rated this highly. I thought it was amazing.

Poetry Time - John Keats as read by contemporary British male actors.

I post a lot about fiction on this blog. But in my undergratuate days, I was quite the fan of poetry. Shakespeare to Bryon. Keats, Shelly, Blake. Eliot, Hughes, Plath. It didn't matter to me.

It wasn't that poetry readings were stereotypically shorter than novel readings in courses that often had less time than desired for reading the course content. It was that... I could read something by any of these writers and be transported. I could put it down, only to pick it up and read it again, gaining some other insight to what the poet might have been trying to say.

From there, it was a short step to biographies, trying to find out exactly what they had been trying to say with these words, what were the influences that were pressing in on them in the times of their writing and, in Byron and Shelley's cases particularly, the connections that these poets made in each others lives.

I'm not so much a fan of contemporary poetry, but I am a fan of contemporary actors reading out Keats in their beautiful English voices. There's just something about having poetry read out to you to make you hear it completely differently.

A few years ago, a movie called Bright Star came out, starring Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish. I was, of course, one of the first people in line to watch this movie as soon as I found out it was based on the story between John Keats and Fanny Brawne, the love of Keats' life. It was there that I first saw understood the meaning written into the above poem.

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine posted another Keats reading on Twitter and drew my attention to 'Ode to a Nightingale' being read by none other than Benedict Cumberbatch.

This poem is one of my absolute favourites, filled as it is with Dryads and Bacchus and "starry Fays" and Darklings. The wonder of this poem is only increased with Benedict's deep and moving reading of it.

Darkling I listen; and, for many a time

         I have been half in love with easeful Death,

Call'd him soft names in many a mused rhyme,

         To take into the air my quiet breath;

                Now more than ever seems it rich to die,

         To cease upon the midnight with no pain,

                While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad

                        In such an ecstasy!

Edit: I mentioned Ben Whishaw in his role as John Keats in Bright Star, and lo, here is another reading: 'La Bell Dame Sans Merci' ('The Beautiful Lady Without Mercy').

"If you're upset, make art."

There's been a lot of upset about the results of the Australian election just past. As an Australian, I feel like I ought to weigh in on the conversations that are going back and forth, but "weighing in" makes me feel like just another grumpy person who is less informed than a lot of the people talking up and down about politics right now.

Also, I don't think anyone follows this blog, my Twitter or Goodreads to read about politics.

So instead, I've been burying myself in books and music and waiting for the initial rush of opinion to die away. Only then, tonight, there was this:

I've watched this through twice already, and each watching just makes me want to watch again. In this video are so many of the points all of my friends have themselves pointed out in their displeasure about the current Australian government, but with one major difference:

"If you're upset, make art."

Strangely enough, this isn't the first time I've heard such an idea. Even more strangely, the first time I heard it, it was Neil Gaiman who was speaking it in his Keynote Address 2012. I was similarly inspired back then.

"Make good art. 

I'm serious. Husband runs off with a politician? Make good art. Leg crushed and then eaten by mutated boa constrictor? Make good art. IRS on your trail? Make good art. Cat exploded? Make good art. Somebody on the Internet thinks what you do is stupid or evil or it's all been done before? Make good art. Probably things will work out somehow, and eventually time will take the sting away, but that doesn't matter. Do what only you do best. Make good art...

And now go, and make interesting mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here. Make good art."

It's little wonder they are perfect together. 

I've had an on and off again relationship with Amanda Palmer for years. I loved her during the Dresden Dolls. I didn't like Evelyn Evelyn so much. I've had friends as conflicted as I and yet, after this 'song', I think this signals the beginnings of another 'on' part of the relationship. 

Just thought I'd make this my very short platform on the subject. 

September 2013 Reading List

I've felt really bad this month, aware that I'm writing some of these blog posts and then promoting them on Twitter while I have hardly had time to write anything else on Twitter. But these are the trials of building a new business. I'm sure my friends still remember me.... vaguely.

Paper Towns.

3/5 - Disappointing, especially after being floored by The Fault in Our Stars.
After reading (and being a little bit traumatised by) The Fault in Our Stars, I decided almost immediately that I would be reading more from this author. I had a dream that I got to tell him exactly how much his writing had moved me. This is how much I think about this guy's writing. This title goes straight into the book trolley.

The Emperor-Mage.

4/5 - Different to how I remembered, but only a little. Still loads of fun.
I find it really odd re-reading titles in this blog. I think it's because I already know the book is good. That's why I'm re-reading it. But it also means I don't get to write a first impression here, and most of this blog is about initial impressions. Still, I read the book before this last month, and it made me want to grab for the next one. Nostalgia reads for the win.

Magic Bites.

3/5 - An interesting beginning. Will decide if I'm in after the next book in the series, I think.
People have been telling me I need to read this book for about a year and then I suddenly found it in an op shop for like $1. Paranormal fiction with shape shifters running around the place. Score! Another one for the book trolley.

The Iron Wyrm Affair.

DNF - There's one in every month.
I was going to read Clockwork Princess this month as my token Steampunk read, but then I finished all my titles early and couldn't resist pulling it off the shelf early. (AND IT WAS AMAZING!!) So I guess this read from new-to-me author Lilith Saintcrow will have to do ;) Also, would you look at this cover art? Isn't it just completely amazing!

One Day.

4/5 - Very different story telling style, not how I imagined it, but good. 
I've read the beginning of this book before and had to put it down because at the time I was working in a book shop, not supposed to be reading in a bookshop. But it had an intriguing enough start to stay in my mind for the last couple of years, so I'm happy for the opportunity to pick it up again. Also, now there's a movie, which also looks to be right down my alley!

Written in Red.

4/5 - Amazing, I loved this, I love this author!
I have long since been a fan of Anne Bishop. I initially wanted to wait a while until a few more of the books in this series were released in case one just wasn't enough. Then, when a friend passed me a copy of this book last night, what was a girl to do? Start reading it to a small group of people at the party to many laughs, is the answer, and now of course I'm hooked.

Summer Knight.

4/5 - A lot of fun, this is where the series has started picking up for me.
This is a bit new for me. The reason why you don't see this book in the pile above is because I'll be listening to this on audio book. This is the first time I've done that on this blog. I dunno, I guess there was just a part of me that said that I had to make some inroads on a series that I hadn't read for a while. James Masters will be reading it in my ear. Nothing wrong with that!

--

As always, feel free to follow my reading via my account on Goodreads. Added bonus: The posts from this blog show up there and people even tend to have discussions around them. O.o
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6878229.Nicole_D_Fergusson

Intolerance, Orson Scott Card and 'Ender's Game'.

I write a lot of things on this blog about tolerance, gay characters, bi characters, and my excitement in the way these things are so often being tackled in the environment of young adult literature.

I've even mentioned Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game as part of a post about the broad spectrum that young adult writing is showing to our teens today.

After what I've read today, I imagine that the last thing that Scott Card would have wanted was to be grouped in with the bunch of writers and titles I listed there.

At www.avclub.com, Scott Card has been quoted as wanting to ask that his own long standing and loud intolerances and homophobia not to adversely effect the upcoming sales for his movie based on Ender's Game. This has come after numerous gay and lesbian groups have made the decision to boycott a book-to-movie release by a man who has previously stated that homosexuality is often the product of rape or abuse.

..........

From the article in The A. V. Club: "Card has issued a statement to Entertainment Weekly repudiating the boycott, saying, “Ender’s Game is set more than a century in the future and has nothing to do with political issues that did not exist when the book was written in 1984.” After thus establishing that gay rights did not exist in 1984—gay people not having been invented until that one episode of thirtysomething—Card similarly invoked the way time inevitably gives way to change, and how we must all learn to publicly give the impression of accepting that change with bitter resignation, if we are to continue making money." (read more)

I honestly don't know what to say here.

A lot has already been said. As soon as I reposted it up on Twitter, it caught a couple more retweets and spurted a conversation that had absolutely nothing to say in favour of Scott Card as a human being. Of course. I myself am a bi-sexual woman and a number of my friends are bi or outright gay. Nobody wants to hear their lifestyle being called a "tragic genetic mix-up".

Still, I find myself having a bit of trouble stooping down to his level and waxing lyrical against his chosen lifestyle beliefs. It seems like a great waste of time of my breath and efforts. So I'm going to say that maybe Scott Card might have been able to get away with the statements he's made up to 30 years ago, but it's becoming pretty clear that it won't fly now.

And that's good.

If you can't say anything nice, Scott Card, maybe consider shutting your mouth.

Bi-sexuality in fiction and the NY Times Best Sellers List.

Earlier this year, I saw it retweeted on Twitter, but it was also on Tumblr, and everywhere of interest that yes, indeed, a fantasy novel with a bisexual protagonist had made it up onto the prestigious NY Times Best Sellers List.

That book, of course, was none other than Cassandra Clare's What Really Happened in Peru, first part of the 10 story series, co-authored by Sarah Rees Brennan and Maureen Johnson and released in e-book format only.

It's now a couple of months later, of course, and subsequent sections of this story have been released, to just as great an amount of acclaim as its debut.

Obviously to me, both as a bisexual woman and someone who writes stories featuring bisexuality, this is terribly exciting news to me! I've commonly written the things I would like to read, and seeing that this feeling must be felt by a larger number than just me is mildly exciting.

I have also been keeping an eye on Lost Girl over the last several years, watching the ratings as Bo's relationship with Lauren was introduced and maintained. Watching and seeing it really is possible to hit a lot of the same narrative points in a relationship between two women as it is between one woman and a man.

And it's something that's slowly being explored more and more often. Which probably means it's something that's going to show up again in this blog.

On Erotica, part 2.

Sometimes, it just so happens that book fans as big as me get to meet some of the authors that they most enjoy reading. Even when those fans live in a place so far away as Australia.


As it happens, I met Tracy O'Hara for the first time during the WorldCon held in Melbourne a couple of years back. She was excited to see her books featured in our book store, happily signed them and then stuck around talking with me and my co-worker for around half an hour before she went to the next panel she was in.

(I also got to meet writers Erica Hayes and Catherynne M. Valente!)

((This was also the con where I managed to score a signed copy of Charlaine Harris' Dead in the Family the year that it came out and before there was quite so much drama about her writing.))

Her 'Dark Brethren' vampire series is my most favourite, written in a style similar to Ms Harris and Patricia Briggs.

Tracy O'Hara herself is a lot of fun to talk to, and we've kept in contact over the years on Twitter as Australian writers and aspiring writers sometimes seem to do. So when I saw this interview reblogged on her feed, I knew it was bound to be good.

Erotica is not Porn: Novelist Encourages New Erotic Writers.

“Fifty Shades of Grey is not the best example of erotica. It's just the one that managed to break through here. Erotica is only a new publishing phenomenon here in Australia. In the US, it's been a best-selling and profit spinning genre since 2000,” Ms O'Hara said.
(Read more)


Now I've written about erotica on this blog once before. Then, it was to quote Julian Barnes' Telegraph article, in which he stated most modern authors feel obliged to write sex scenes if they want to see themselves published. I myself could certainly relate to this in past publishing experiences.

But Tracy's post is another side of the coin, if you will, an empowering view of the writing of erotica and separating it from the more derogatory title of "porn".

“They are stories which contain graphic sex scenes but narratives also centre as much around the mental and emotional journey of the characters as they do about the physical side of things.”


What Tracy suggests seems to be that physical aspects happen in real life and if your story is about the goings on of romance and real life characters, why not include erotica as a segment of that story? It doesn't need to be gratuitous, it doesn't need to be there, but it's an option to be considered.


Earlier in this month, I read one of Francesca Lia Block's books called The Elementals which had some graphic content. It forwarded the story, the relationship between two characters. I've also enjoyed reading her short story anthology Nymph, though that is a collection of erotica, which is not exactly the same thing.

Just before posting this, I reblogged a comment on Twitter stating that the only hard thing about writing erotica is figuring out good reasons why the characters are engaging in smutty activities.

My latest project is a joint anthology of m/m retold fairy tales, which is fantastic cause it's been a long time since I wrote anything other than het (hetrosexual pairings), but it's fun as well because some of the tales are heading towards erotic content. But they also centre as much around the mental and emotional stories of the characters, so I guess that's okay. ;)