The Daily Monocle

Video Interview with Max Barry!

2011-08-24T07:35:00.000-07:00

Hello all my children of literature!

I just started school back, hence the lack of updates. BUT, to make it up to you all, I've just posted a video interview with Max Barry. Max Barry is the author of four quirky novels, including Machine Man (which we recently reviewed), and Syrup, which is currently being adapted into a movie.

You all must watch the video below. It's awesome.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

2011-08-21T06:32:00.000-07:00

James Halliday was the world’s greatest video game mogul. The pioneer of virtual reality software, OASIS, Halliday transformed the way the world lived their every day lives. People now spend the majority of their days logged into OASIS, traveling, working--even attending school.

When Halliday dies a multi-billionaire with no apparent heirs, he leaves behind a set of clues to a hidden artifact called Halliday’s Egg, somewhere inside OASIS. The Egg could be on any world, in any place, found by anyone. And the finder of the artifact will inherit Halliday’s fortune.

Wade Watts is an eighteen year old gamer living in the slums of modern America. Along with millions of others around the globe, he too has dreams of finding Halliday’s Egg. Armed with an insane amount of geek knowledge, and inherent tech savvy, Wade finds himself suddenly thrust into circumstances he never imagined when he stumbles across the first key to the egg. Now he’s up against monsters, traps, crazy gamers and domineering corporations in the biggest cyber race the world has ever seen.

Ernest Cline’s debut novel, Ready Player One reads like the lovechild of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and an MMORPG. It’s fast, fun, and full of geeky nuggets of unconventional goodness. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that Ready Player One is the feel-good sci-fi book of the summer.

Wade’s is a casual, personable, relatable character. Far from perfect, but willing to change. It’s his eagerness and drive that really propels the novel in the first place, and we readers just have to follow along. Not that we mind much.

Plot-wise, Ready Player One is almost always made of pure awesome. At it’s core, it’s a genuinely epic quest through the heart of geekdom that will keep readers both engaged and playing along. There’s a brief lull in the middle of the book, yes. But come on people, I finished it in one sitting. There’s not much to slow you down.

But the magic of Ready Player One really lies in the author’s geek technique and mode of storytelling. Every time Wade is presented with a clue in Halliday’s hunt, readers will scramble to connect the dots right along with him. Sometimes they’ll be able to scrap together some semblance of an answer, and sometimes they’ll have to wait for Wade to figure it out first. But it doesn’t really matter either way. The magic of the book lies in the fact that readers feel involved.

Of course, none of this would’ve worked with Cline’s obvious love and affinity for geek culture (which is also apparent in his film, Fan Boys), and I applaud the author all the more for it. This isn’t to say that the less science-fiction inclined won’t appreciate the book, but those of you with geek cred will enjoy it all the more.

In the end, Ready Player One is a risky sort of novel. In a market currently dominated by dark or dystopian selections, Cline’s debut stands out as a quirky piece of feel-good fiction, and once the sci-fi community catches wind of it, it’s popularity will spread like wildfire.

By the end of the year, every geek with a bookshelf will be asking: “Are you ready, Player One?”

Ready Player One hits shelves this Tuesday. Make sure to run out and get it! NOW!

Machine Man by Max Barry

2011-08-09T10:02:00.000-07:00

This review first appeared in issue #6 of Bull Spec magazine. It appeared in a collection of half a dozen or so interviews by yours truly, and you should really go check out the magazine. It's pretty spiffy. :D

Also, be sure to check out our video interview with Max!

What is it that makes us human? Is it our collective parts, or our collective self? Is it our emotions and intellect? Is it the things that we do, and the people we love? Max Barry lets readers decide for themselves as they rip through the pages of his latest novel, Machine Man.

Charlie Neumann is emotionally as mechanized and industrialized as his job as an engineer at mega company, Better Future. But when Charlies loses one of his legs in a machinery accident, he takes it upon himself to build a better prosthetic--a biological upgrade--and suddenly finds himself wired into a world on the cusp of creating cosmetic prosthetics and weaponized limbs. And the more in touch he becomes with the people around him, the more fantastic and illusory reality seems.

Max Barry’s dark comedy Machine Man takes Charlie’s prosthetic journey and turns it into something that’s a superhero/comedy hybrid with a character drama on the side.

Plot-wise, Machine Man is at once terrifyingly believable, and utterly absurd. And that’s what makes it magical. The dynamic characters--complete with likeable Prrostheticist Lola, anxious middle manager Cassandra, and insecure security guard, Carl--keep things fresh when the plot slows. Charlie grows from a cardboard engineer/inventor, into a living, breathing creature of the page.

Stylistically, Barry’s writing is bizarrely minimalist and technical, but still humorous and personable--a fact that becomes particularly clear when readers realize that under layers of comedic gold, Machine Man is an emotional story. One that questions not only ethics, but the definition of humanity. Where do we draw the line between mostly-man and mostly-machine? And do these lines change our perceptions of those around us?

Riveting? Yes. Absurd? Yes. Original? Heck yes. Max Barry’s Machine Man is a biting near-future tale that seems all too realistic to discount. We’re living on the cusp of the science-fiction age, my friends. And though literature continues to toe the line between fact and fiction, that line is more and more easily blurred.

An Interview with Steve Hockensmith (Part One)

2011-06-17T06:36:00.001-07:00

Steve Hockensmith, author of Dreadfully Ever After, sequel to the much-lauded Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was kind enough to stop by The Daily Monocle for an interview. We'll be posting his interview in two parts, due to length.

***

Well, to start things off, I was wondering if you could tell the readers of The Daily Monocle a little bit about yourself?

Oh wow. Okay well, my name is Steve, and I write books, among other things and golly, the books that people might be the most familiar with are the prequel and sequel I did to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls and Dreadfully Ever After. And I’m a Leo, and I have brown eyes, and I like spicy food.

Okay, and about how long have you been writing?

Well, Let me think here. I mean, I have been writing I guess, you know, I’ve been writing since I was about four [years old], which is the same for everybody I guess. Except for you perhaps, I expect that you might’ve been a prodigy.

Laughing: No, no, I wasn’t a prodigy.

Okay. But, for me, I got started around preschool/kindergarten. But when I got serious about it... it wasn’t until I’d been out of college for a few years. I was a journalism major so I knew that I wanted to write for a living, but I tried to be practical about it, and I thought (genius that I was), “Oh, journalism! That’ll be around forever. They’ll always need people to do that kind of stuff.” So that’s the field that I went into.

But in terms of fiction, I didn’t really start--I didn’t really give it a shot--’til I was probably, oh, 23 or 24, or something like that. And I spent some time kind of wondering in the wilderness, trying to figure out what kind of writing I wanted to do. And it wasn’t until, oh gosh, I was around the age of--it was a little bit before I was 30, somewhere in my late 20’s--that I figured out... I sort of stumbled into writing mysteries, and that seemed to do real well for me. And through that door, stumbled into writing RomZomComs: Romantic Zombie Comedies.

So, but, kind of a long answer to your question, I guess I’ve been writing pretty much all my life. You know I was one of those people--and I’m betting you were the same way--that when you got an assignment in schoo, in like fifth grade you know, like “write a sentence with each of your vocabulary words”, I wouldn’t just write a sentence with each of the vocabulary words (‘cause that’s boring), I would write a story with all of the vocabulary words, which would be quite challenging if, you know, “circumnavigate” and “boulder” or whatever, you know a very odd mixture of words. I guess “circumnavigate” and “boulder” wouldn’t be *that* hard, but you might have some very interesting words from which to choose. And it was fun to see how you could put them together, and the teacher would be like, “Uh, Steve, you didn’t have to do that.” and I’d be like “I know!” But, you know, I always had the urge to have fun with words.

Let’s see... what made you want to write “altered classics”, you know with these zombies and such?

Well that would... I wanted to do it because it was an opportunity. I wanted to do it because they *needed* somebody to do it, and I wanted to give it a try. I mean, the story is that there’s this brilliant editor--I believe his title is “associate publisher” now--at Quirk Books and his name is Jason Rekulak. And he’s the guy who actually came up with the idea for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. This would’ve been about three, four years ago. He had this brainstorm and thought: wouldn’t it be fun to take a public domain classic, you know something that’s no longer under copyright--you can have as much fun as you want with [it] and no one will sue you for it--and combine that with some sort of classic element of geek culture. So as I understand, he got a legal pad and drew a line down the middle and on the left hand side he wrote down classic novels, you know “Moby Dick”, and “Vanity Fair” and what have you. And on the *other* side he wrote “Robots”, “Ninjas”, “Vampries”, “Werewolves”, “Pirates” (if I didn’t say pirates already... maybe he wrote it twice, I don’t know.).

So he then started to draw lines, back and forth, connecting them. You know “Moby Dick” and “Pirates”--which, actually, there might be a link but just didn’t have the magic. Or “The Scarlet Letter” and “Mummies”--which would be like “no”. But then there was that magic moment with “Pride and Prejudice” and “Zombies” and a franchise was born. And he hired a guy--Seth Grahame-Smith--who had worked for Quirk before to take that idea and run with it (which he did beautifully). He did it so beautifully though--a massive sensation--and Seth got bucketloads of money from it and could go off and do other things. So, what does one do when one has a hit property?: One extends the branch. So he needed someone to do a prequel and my agent heard they were looking for somebody, so we threw our hat in the ring, and got the gig.

But to take it back to why did I want to do it... From the first time I heard about that magical combination of words: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, I thought it sounded hilarious. I thought it was a stroke of genius. And then when I read the book I thought, they [had] pulled it off, it’s a lot of fun. But the thing I would not have wanted to do it--and this is not a knock on anybody who did the mashups--but I would not have wanted to do the mashup. I wouldn’t have wanted to take another writer’s work and stick my little jokes into it. And I’m not denigrating that, I’m just--it was not something I wanted to do. And what appealed to me was that I would be able to take this completely wacky world that had been established and tell new stories in it, and try to kind of make sense of that wacky world, because in the original it’s part of the humor, you just kind of have to go with it. [There are] very incongruous elements: ninjas and zombies that are stuck together and the juxtaposition of those things is funny, but once you try to create a *story* you have to take that world more seriously; you have to make it make sense. And I really liked the idea of that challenge.

Alright.

I’m probably talking way too fast, considering you’re going to have to transcribe this... So my apologies to you for that.

You’re fine. You’re completely fine; I type fast, it’s no problem.

*laughs* Alright cool.

Okay, so were you ever concerned about alienated fans of the Austen work? Or were you pretty much tied in to the mashup already and you weren’t worried about that?

Well it was nice to know that the section of the audience that was going to be offended had been pre-offended. They were already up in arms because they made their feelings known about the first book--the one that Seth did. And there were definitely some haters--there are many out there, in fact. And there you go! They are offended. So what do I have to worry about? The people that are going to hate this concept and get their hackles up about it.. they’re hackled. So I initially didn’t really let it worry me. When I went into it. And yeah, I think that was the way to do it. You can’t write with that kind of fear. It’s an interesting mix because you’re trying to please two very, very different audiences. So that, for me, [was] more of a challenge. Not so much in trying to to offend everybody, but trying to please everybody. Or--not please everybody, because you can’t do that--but you have Austenites, Janeites, Austen fans on the one hand, and the romance fans who would be receptive to this material. And you’ve got horror fans, and zombie fans and those are two very, very different groups of readers. And you had to give them both what they wanted. And that was a challenge, to try and hit that balance. But I wasn’t worried about--I wasn’t worry about anyone coming to my home brandishing pitchforks and torches.

Well that’s good... we wouldn’t want any pitchforks in the way of the writing!

No! That can be very distracting.

Yes. Well, I noticed in addition to all of the blood, guts, gore and Victorian lace, there was a lot of sociopolitical commentary in Dreadfully Ever After. And I was wondering if this was intentional or just a natural byproduct of the setting and the circumstances of the characters?

Well thank you for noticing! Oh, it was 100% intentional that I really felt like with the last book, with Dreadfully Ever After, I did pump up the volume on the social criticism and satire. And that would be because, why do this if you’re not going to have fun with it in that way? Why go to the trouble if you’re not to lend some kind of unique perspective to it? And, I suspect what a lot of Janeites would not like--because what they want is a piece of writing that captures Jane Austen’s view of things and her style of approaching that in prose. And that from the beginning was not what I wanted to do. I’m looking at many of the same things she [Jane] looked at, but I’m looking at them from an American guy’s perspective. Which doesn’t mean it’s a raunchy fart-fest, or anything like that, it just means I just thought “why do this if you can’t bring your own, unique perspective to it?” So I do a lot of poking of fun at the British--or the English, I should probably say. But it’s good humored poking of fun. It’s poking of fun with love. Because I’ve always been an Anglophile. I’ve always loved English culture. But, you know, I think we can all admit--plenty of English who admit this today--there’s things that one could probably point at that are less than admirable in any society, and that would include English society. There were just so many opportunities that the whole “zombie” element provided, to open that up, and have some fun.

Blood Red Road by Moira Young

2011-06-03T18:35:00.000-07:00

Books--especially YA coming-of-age tales--are often touted as literary journeys. And some, in the most cliched ways, are actual journeys or quests. But rarely does one come across a book like Blood Red Road, which is, in fact, a YA journey novel that avoids the cliche trap.

Brought up in the post-apocalyptic settlement of Silverlake, Saba has lived the whole of her eighteen years in the shadow of her twin brother, Lugh. All of that changes when Lugh is kidnapped by four horsemen arriving in a cloud of dust. Suddenly Saba finds herself on a mad quest to rescue her brother, but she’ll have to brave enslavement, combat, and a host of other obstacles first.

Blood Red Road by debut author Moira Young is visceral, harrowing, and helps fill the battle-shaped gap left by a market saturated with glossy dystopians.

The story itself is in quest-format, but the plot is fresh. How? Young has landed her protagonist in a dusty, ugly post-apocalyptic world that’s part future-esque, and part old west. It isn’t glossy--it isn’t glamorous--and because it is admittedly dark, sets itself apart from other novels on the same shelf.

Young also chooses to take the literary high road, so to speak, and allows her story to operate on two different planes. Rather than falling for the YA device of dumbing her story down, or over explaining, Young respects her readers enough to allow Blood Red Road’s quest factor to operate on both a psychological and physical plane.

Young’s characterization skills are powerful, exhibited in polar personalities as the elusive Lugh, and the rogue, pirate-like Jack. Even Saba herself begins Blood Red Road unlikeable, ungainly and insecure. But by the end of the book, Saba’s strength rivals that of every YA heroine on the shelves.

The only downfall here is the dialect in which Young chooses to write. This self-imposed “limit” doesn’t cripple the story by any means, but the book could’ve been even better had the author allowed herself a more extensive vocabulary and educated manner of speaking. The strange, often intentionally misspelled slang will snag readers who are used to the way words look and feel, and comes across gimmicky, rather than as a point of strength.

They say that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, but Moira Young takes that saying to a new level with Saba and her story. Blood Red Road is daring, different, and challenges its YA contemporaries to raise the bar.

Dreadfully Ever After by Steve Hockensmith

2011-05-30T08:16:00.000-07:00

For four years Mr. And Mrs. Darcy have been living in wedded bliss... and then disaster strikes. While taking an amiable stroll together in the countryside, Fitzwilliam is caught off guard and bitten by a young unmentionable, and by all reasonable accounts, is doomed.

Of course Elizabeth won’t give up that easily. Lady Catherine de Bourgh says there are rumors of a cure rising in London. To save her husband, Elizabeth will take up the katana again... but at what cost?

Dreadfully Ever After by Steve Hockensmith is the third book in the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies romantic zombie comedy (RomZomCom) trilogy.

Hockensmith’s take on the stricken Regency England is quirky and fun, but still offers a more realistic and modern vision than the original PP&Z. With Austen’s original prose out of the way, Hockensmith suddenly has the ability to exert full control over the story. What emerges is a surprisingly thought-provoking foray into not only the customs and tendencies of the Regency era, but a sociopolitical commentary on the issues of the time that adds a level of depth previously unseen in the trilogy.

Stylistically, Hockensmith’s prose isn’t steeped in pseudo-Regency vernacular. It isn’t as “true,” I suppose one could say, to the times and situations, but still preserves the base integrity of Austen’s intentions with the original Pride and Prejudice--that is, to show a vivid, romantic representation of England in the early 1800’s... it’ just that this England has been overrun by zombies.

Dreadfully Ever After’s real strength lies indelibly in it’s characters. Kitty and Mary Bennett in particular finally get a chance to shine. Kitty rises above being the shadow sister of the promiscuous Lydia Wickham; Mary--though still a little stiff--emerges as a thoughtful and intelligent feminist sort. Even Darcy’s cousin, Anne seems a little more alive (and creepier than ever, but that’s another matter entirely).

Dreadfully Ever After’s weakest point is it’s plot line. And while the plot itself isn’t necessarily tepid, it is convoluted. A little on the predictable side--a little slow at parts. The backbone of the story is definitely its characterization, but that doesn’t mean the plot is bad by any means. Just not as deep as it’s characters.

Strong as a standalone, but stronger in the context of the trilogy, Dreadfully Ever After is another delightful romp in stricken Regency England. Hockensmith offers readers an alternate view into history that, while stylized and fun, still presents a thought-provoking commentary. Definitely a fun summer read for the eclectic beach reader, and a fresh take for zombie fans.

Author's Website

Amazon

Oscar Wilde and the Vampire Murders by Gyles Brandreth

2011-05-27T04:55:00.000-07:00

The name of Oscar Wilde conjures up that of a brilliant Victorian-era playwright: a man who challenged social norms, whose humor was arguably the best of it’s time, and whose sharp, timeless wit is quoted even now, over a century after his death.

What “Oscar Wilde” may not conjure is the image of a super sleuth who wears carnations in his buttonhole and trails opium smoke in his wake in the parlor. And this image is exactly how Gyles Brandreth has re-imagined Wilde in Oscar Wilde and the Vampire Murders.

The fourth book in Brandreth’s Oscar Wilde mystery series, Oscar Wilde and the Vampire Murders takes the flamboyant playwright on another rollicking mystery with friends Arther Conan Doyle and Bram Stoker in tow. Only this time, instead of merely solving crime over dinner, Wilde is faced with a supernatural opponent: vampires... Or is he?

The plot of Vampires is steeped in delightful Victorian melodrama, complete with accomplished actors, beautiful people, and of course, the flamboyant nature of Wilde himself. Only a bit predictable, and troubled only by a tepid mid-section, Vampires delivers another satisfying mystery. And perhaps best of all, despite being the fourth installment in a series, it stands alone, so that new readers are instantly welcomed to the Wilde party.

Brandreth’s characterization of Wilde is that of a witty--sometimes acerbic--playwright, which is consistent with what we know of Wilde today. Brandreth uses a wide variety of Wilde’s original quotes (which fans will recognize) as a backbone for the character, and then fills in the gaps with witticisms of his own. This would be fine, except many of the sayings seem a bit overwrought.

But by the same token, one must commend Brandreth for his usage of Victorian-esque language and mastery of Wilde as a character. Even the most avid of Wilde fans have to admit that he is nearly perfectly captured in Brandreth’s prose, as are Doyle and Stoker. Through Brandreth’s storytelling skills, Wilde becomes less of an enigma, and more of a personification.

Brandreth’s writing will not lose readers--it’s just complex enough for the story it tells, without too much extra fluff. And Vampire’s quiet narrator--one Robert Sherard, a journalist and contemporary of Wilde himself--offers a unique, close perspective on Wilde, even though the account is entirely fictional.

Brandreth has once again succeeded in mixing history with mystery--fact with fiction. Wilde fans eager to get closer to the master himself will delight in this latest offering. And mystery fans looking for an alternative to the conventions of the genre will enjoy the witticisms and setting in Vampires. Although not for everyone, Oscar Wilde and the Vampire Murders continues down the path of Victorian-era intrigue laid down by it’s predecessors in the series, and leaves room for more.

Reviewer J. P. Wickwire is an author of speculative short fiction and verse whose work has appeared in a number of publications including Vicious Verses and Reanimated Rhymes and Bull Spec magazine. Her short fiction appears in the November/December 2010 issue of Cicada magazine.

Amazon

Crucified Dreams edited by Joe R. Lansdale

2011-05-20T07:54:00.000-07:00

Strictly speaking, horror is one of the most widely-disputed genres. What truly makes a book scary? What will send chills down the reader’s spine? One author’s guts-and-gore fest won’t appeal to another’s psychological horror cravings. And let’s not forget about the audience that demands zombies and tales of the undead without comedic effect. In a word, umbrella-term horror simply won’t suffice.

Enter Crucified Dreams, an alleged collection of urban horror edited by writer and anthologist Joe R. Lansdale. Comprised of reprinted short stories by legends (such as Stephen King) and relative new-comers alike, Lansdale has attempted to define horror as he sees fit.

Crucified Dreams ranges from the visceral, to the psychological--from the tangible, to the supernatural. For example, Harlan Ellison’s stunning “The Whimper of Whipped Dogs” (which opens the anthology) provides both psychological and graphic visual representation of what is the popularly perceived horror genre (murder, dark beings, etc.). Norman Partridge’s strange western-esque “The Mohave Two-Step” isn’t so much horror as it is highly strange and borderline surrealist. And the various crime stories sprinkled liberally through the volume don’t seek so much to scare the audience, as they do provide a gritty sort of context that filters through the page and into the real world.

Standout stories include the aforementioned Ellison tale; “The Evening The Morning and the Night” by the late Octavia Butler; and “The Quickening” by Michael Bishop.

And what makes each of these stories special? Quite simply, the single element that makes anthologies like this one so tricky to pinpoint in the first place: each author’s own personal brands of horror. While Ellison prefers to stick with the most basic interpretation of “urban horror”, Butler expands her horizons into something more akin to a zombie-style epidemic (which, admittedly, would be most dangerous in a city setting) and Bishop’s hapless main character falls into a Tower-of-Babel-like situation with nothing but his wits to guide him.

Interestingly enough, although each of these stories has it’s own unique flavor and style, they’re all connected by the elements which make up the foundation of a horror story: isolation, deprivation, panic, and pain.

Operating on a wide spectrum of definition, Crucified Dreams allows authors to explore their own personal writing style, while adhering loosely to the genre at hand. Readers need to keep in mind that this “loose” adherence is what defines the anthology; that arguably, no two stories are in the same specific genre or sub-genre. At the same time, this very element is what makes Crucified Dreams so interesting: it’s like an self-sufficient eco-system of horror, where new “breeds” create themselves on every page.

Ultimately, Crucified Dreams isn’t necessarily a volume of “urban horror”; its stories aren’t especially scary, as much as they are thought-provoking and engaging. And honestly, the truly striking stories in this anthology are a bit scarce. Nevertheless, Crucified Dreams is an enjoyable foray into the seedy underbelly of city life, and does provide some thoughtful material for the reader who’s willing to pick and choose.

***

Find it on Amazon

Those That Wake by Jesse Karp

2011-05-16T19:17:00.000-07:00

And hope is just a dream of those that wake - Matthew Prior

16 year old Mal grew up in the foster care system, fighting his way through life. But when he receives a distressing phone call from his estranged older brother, Tommy, Mal decides to take his future into his own hands. Upon arriving at his brother’s apartment, Mal has no choice than pursue the sinister path his brother did...and finds out that Tommy has mysteriously vanished.

That same day, in another part of the city, teenager Lena comes home from an interview gone wrong, to find her parents with no recollection of ever having a daughter. And her school doesn’t have any records of her either. It seems that Lena has been completely forgotten.

So begins Those That Wake, a YA psycho-thriller by debut author Jesse Karp. Part neo-zombie novel, part conspiracy theory, Those That Wake is an exciting foray into genuinely frightening teen literature. And with the YA market being overrun with dystopian romances, books like this one stand out with their sheer originality.

The plot itself is unpredictable--a rare feat in YA lit today. In part one, every chapter introduces a new character, which not only keeps us readers mentally involved, but keeps the story fresh while Karp establishes his writing style. In part two, Those That Wake becomes surreal and unwaking; and by part three, the story has snowballed completely out of the reader’s control.

Those That Wake is just disturbing enough to get under the skin of its audience. In the vein of all worthy urban legends, Those That Wake calls forth the fear of all children (that they’re parents will forget them), and the foreboding of a conspiracy theory (specifically The New World Order conspiracy). Karp has managed to create a story that’s just dead creepy. It isn’t gory, and the author doesn’t resort to amateur scare tactics. But it’s scary nonetheless.

The character are flawed and three-dimensional. Lena at times seems a little shallow, but she evens out. Mal is fully fleshed-out and accessible to the reader. Impressively, even the minor characters are well-written--another rarity in the teen literature market.

Karp’s writing is striking, never sacrificing style for content (or vice versa).With deft use of subtle repetition, and offbeat descriptions, Karp constructs a story that stands on the head of a pin; a story that would not work if written in a different style.

My biggest complaint here is the ever-present too much telling, not enough showing of first-time authors. That being said, Karp seems to hit his stride after about a hundred pages, and the problem slowly dissipates.

The more books I read, the more easily I find myself absorbed in other people’s realities. And let me tell you, Those That Wake is a scary reality to get stuck in. Suspenseful and psychologically unhinged, this remarkable debut novel is a beautiful stand-alone piece, but still remains open for a sequel. Jesse Karp is definitely an author to watch.

Amazon

Bumped by Megan McCafferty

2011-05-13T19:57:00.000-07:00

Faced with a world of infertile adults, humanity turns to teens to carry the next generation.

Sixteen year old Melody has inked a contract that will ensure her the most valuable conception possible. Her womb is her greatest commodity.

Unbeknownst to Melody, in super-religious Goodside her twin sister Harmony has been living a life to prepare her as the perfect wife and mother... and to believe that these “conception contracts” are sinful. When Harmony shows up on her doorstep, both girls’ lives are changed... and not necessarily for the better. In a true case of mistaken identity, Melody and Harmony are strung along in a story that’s as cautionary as it is entertaining--one of teenage pregnancy, the value of human life, and glorified sex.

Author Megan McCafferty’s latest offering, Bumped, is a disturbing new dystopia that will polarize the author’s fan base.

First off, let me say something: whatever is said about Bumped, it is not--I repeated not--like any other dystopias out there on the shelves. And not because it’s subject matter is strikingly original; rather, it’s the approach to said subject matter that sets it apart.

McCafferty’s writing is perfect for the YA set. It combines a new, yet familiar, set of vocabulary/slang with existing teen dialect. While simple at times, it still retains enough artistic integrity to attract even cynical readers.

Character-wise, I found Harmony and Melody both to be a little shallow... particularly Harmony, who seems to be multi-dimensional, but only knows how to express one of those dimensions. However, rather than fault the author for this, I’m going to blame it on the character herself. It’s in her nature to act in such a manner. And Harmony was still dimensional enough for me to vehemently hate her guts by the end of the book.

Bumped’s strength definitely lies in it’s plot. Original, dark, and deeply satirical, McCafferty has taken the notion of reproductive dystopias to a new level within the YA genre. I applaud her for her originality, and the execution thereof.

The polarizing factor here lies in the way McCafferty has portrayed Harmony and her attraction to a man who will remain nameless for the sake of spoilers. As I’ve already said, Harmony is from a super-religious background. She likens the man in question to Christ... and then develops a very intense sexual desire for this guy. I understand that McCafferty was trying to portray the devotion Harmony has to Christ, and her naivety in regards to men, but this was taking it too far. As a devout Christian myself, I just want to put it out there that this whole scenario rubbed me the wrong way.

So many people will love Bumped and many people will hate it. I loved it, but hated parts of it. Go figure. Either way, however, Megan McCafferty’s newest offering is definitely something to at least try, if not endorse, as it’s one of the best YA dystopias out on the shelves.

***

Author's Website

Amazon

Divergent by Veronica Roth

2011-05-09T06:29:00.000-07:00

In the future world, society has divided into five factions: Abnegation (selflessness), Candor (honesty), Amity (peaceful), Erudite (knowledge), and Dauntless (courage). Everyone is born into a faction, but during the ceremony of your sixteenth birth year, you are to choose the faction where you’ll spend the rest of your life, and hope you survive the initiation.

When Beatrice Prior makes a dramatic choice at her choosing ceremony, she finds herself in a world completely alien—a world where she has nothing to rely on except her instincts. To make matters worse, Beatrice soon discovers that she isn’t like everyone else—she’s a divergent: a person who doesn’t quite fit into any one faction. And this secret she harbors could cause her death, or worse—the death of those she loves.

Debut author Veronica Roth’s inaugural offering is more than another YA dystopian. Divergent is a fast-paced thriller about finding love, finding yourself, and facing your fears.

The concept behind Divergent has been used over and over again in dystopic fiction; this illusion of freedom that comes with a predetermined “choice”. And while I could write about how this is actually an astute commentary about the notion of free will, I’ll instead say that although the concept is a bit tired, Roth’s take on it is fresh enough.

Divergent’s plot is almost colorful enough to mask its predictability. Almost. Attentive readers will know within the first fifty pages or so, who Beatrice’s love interest is going to be, and what “bad thing” is going to happen as a cliffhanger towards the end of the novel. But the nuances of the plot—the vivid images and character descriptions, are engaging enough to keep readers hooked.

Character wise, we have a few archetypes, but not enough to hinder the story telling. Beatrice is likeable as the strong in-your-face heroine, even though at times she tips over into Mary Sue territory. Likewise, Four (who has an awesome name), Beatrice’s brother, and Christina, are dimensional enough. All in all, the cast is varied, if a little flat.

My biggest complaint here is that the subject matter and the style of writing didn’t match. Divergent reads like a good film with a PG rating that would’ve been a terrific film if it had been rated PG-13. (And, even more apt, apparently Hollywood is looking at buying the rights to Divergent). Roth’s writing is very simple, and the concept could’ve been so much more complex. And with her target audience being highschoolers, Roth probably wants to consider making the next book in the series more mature.

Readers of The Daily Monocle will know that I’m a stickler for three things in fiction: writing, plot, characterization. To be honest, Divergent didn’t really stand out in any one of these respects… but I loved it, nonetheless. The writing is tangible—the scenarios, fantastic. All in all, Divergent is an atmosphere-driven novel. I finished it in one evening.

Veronica Roth’s highly stylized offering isn’t the next Dickensian masterpiece. But it’s fast, powerful and vivid, and will sit comfortably alongside The Giver and The Hunger Games on your shelf. Great for fans of dystopian fiction looking for a summer read without gratuitous fluff.

***

Author's Website
Amazon

An Interview with Jon Armstrong

2011-05-06T07:02:00.000-07:00

Jon Armstrong, author of revolutionary "fashionpunk" sci-fi novels, Grey, and Yarn, has been kind enough to stop by The Daily Monocle and answer a few questions for us. :)

***

How long have you been writing?

I started writing in Mrs. Lentz's class in my senior year of high school back in Maryland. We had to buy one of those marble composition books and write something each week. If it was okay, you got a check. If she liked it you got a check plus. If it wasn't to her liking, you got the rare but dreaded check minus. I started the year writing one page spoofs a la Saturday Night Live, but by the end of the year, I was cranking out twenty-five pages a week about myself, my friends, philosophy, and I don't even remember what else. I doubt Mrs. Lentz is still teaching, but if she is, here's what I learned: mention urination or any bodily function and it was always a check minus. You've been warned!

When did you get the idea to work fashion into science-fiction?

I developed an interest in fashion while an exchange student in Japan. Needing a coat, I found a store whose inventory was black and white clothing as contrasted with much of the garish, neon, costume-like clothing that dominates the press coverage of Japanese fashion. Through discussions with the owner or the store, I became aware of how much technology and engineering is behind the scenes. When in New York City after college I followed up this interest by taking courses in fashion history, technology, and design at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
When it came to writing scifi, I suppose the old adage applied: Write what you know.

How did you choose the settings for your novels?

The world views that I create can be thought of as multiplying the excesses of Japanese culture by the influences of consumerism and applying the result to existing locales, some of which are places where I have lived.

Who was your favorite character to write?

That might be impossible to say. It's the characters who were cut, I disliked.

I am amazed by the vivid descriptions and offbeat names of things in your novels. Did these just flow naturally from the story, or were you consciously thinking about them?

Yes and no. I actually cut back (in some cases dramatically) on the descriptions during the editing process of Yarn, but I'm glad you enjoyed them. I have done a lot of work in visual media, so perhaps I tend to think that way. The language flows from the impulse of the story. Then, after they occur, I review them consciously.

As for the names… Naming characters, places, things, restaurants, etc. can take hours and hours. It may seem odd, but it can really be one of the most difficult parts of writing. Often I'll come up with a name and love it for forty pages, only to, inevitably, hate it and change it again. I'll fiddle around in another files with versions of words, click through the dictionary, Wikipedia, and doodle and doodle. For example, there was a relatively minor tailoring shop where the protagonist of Yarn, Tane Cedar, worked for a chapter or two that I called YeOld#1CostumeShoppee. Below is a list of some of the ideas I went through for that one minor name:

SuperNumberOneLuxMart

Super#1LuxuryMart

Fantastic#1Luxury Mart

YeOlde#1CostumeMärt

SeattlehamasYeOlde#1CostumeMärt

YeOld#1CostumeShoppee

SkyHiSeattlehama#1 Epic Shoppee

sKY-hi Seattlehama IchiBan Epic Thread Shoppee

On average, how long does it take you to write a book?

It's probably too early in my career to take a meaningful average. Grey took decades; Yarn took a couple of years. I'm writing faster now, but we'll see what emerges when.

Do you have any writing rituals?

My writing doesn't need any special food, drink, drugs, clothing, postures, artifacts, sounds, smells, or sights. It's best when I am writing on an electronic device not otherwise connected to the world-at-large so that interruptions are minimized. Otherwise, it can be about anywhere, at my basement writing desk, while waiting in a car, in a bank lobby etc. etc.
I tend to listen to rhythmic music. It seems to keep the fingers moving and some part(s) of my brain occupied. I employ everything Bach to electronic.

What is it that you find so interesting about the world of fashion?

I grew up like a lot of guys, wearing whatever my mom bought for me and never giving clothes much thought beyond wondering: I don't look like a dork, do I? or Are my jeans highwaters? Later on, when I began to learn what went into the designing, engineering, and manufacturing of clothes, I got very curious.

Take blue jeans—it was originally a specifically engineered product built for a specific task. (Yes, I've used the word engineering twice talking about fashion!) Levis Straus devised a pair of pants made with a twill fabric and riveted seams to create the most popular fashion of the last century. We're probably all familiar with the rivets, but what blew my mind a few years ago was that the reason they're blue and lighter on the inside was to produce a fabric with a tough exterior, using indo dyes on the top yarns and softer on the inside with undyed yarns there. It wasn't just whim, or accident. That to me is what's so interesting about fashion: that something we use daily, take for granted, we know almost nothing about.

Are you an author who outlines before he writes, or do you just wing it?

Yes.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

House repairs and golf. I prefer the house repairs; they're much more satisfying.

Since making your debut with Grey in 2007, you’ve been nominated for numerous science-fiction awards, including the Philip K. Dick award. Has this changed your outlook on writing, or the way you write, at all?

I have been surprised and pleased at the critical attention, but I am not aware that it has had any affect on my writing.

Who would you say is your greatest writing influence?

Kobo Abe. J. G Ballard. Annie Dillard. Witold Gombrowicz. Vladimir Nabokov. William Gibson.

Do you have any plans to continue writing in the world of Seattlehama, or are you looking towards new projects?

I have several more projects, including at least one short story and maybe two more novels.

Thank you so much for stopping by The Daily Monocle!

***

Be sure to check out the author's official website, and his works on Amazon!

This Girl is Different by J. J. Johnson

2011-04-07T05:54:00.000-07:00

Evie isn't your average teenage girl. She's been homeschooled by her counterculture mother since birth, never done schoolwork in a textbook, and spends her days barefoot outside. But during her last year of schooling, Evie decides to make a change, and attends the local high school for her senior year.

Having been homeschooled from birth by a counterculture mother (though not as extreme as Evie's mom), and rarely having used a textbook myself, I'm always leery of things written about homeschoolers. As a community, we’re often falsely characterized as under-socialized, underprivileged weirdoes who live on the fringes of society away from modernity and mainstream activity. And maybe somewhere there are homeschoolers like that, although they are few and far between.

So when I picked up This Girl is Different by J. J. Johnson, I was prepared to condemn with red pens and an angry e-mail. The press release I read for this book said something along the lines of "Evie… is going to experience authority, having friends her own age for the first time, and her first love." So naturally, I was skeptical. This description makes it sound like Evie has lived her life in a bubble… which is possibly the most common misconception about homeschoolers in existence.

But when I actually got around to reading the book, all of my preconceived notions flew out the window. Why? Well, because although Evie is different (as the title implies), these differences have less to do with her being homeschooled, and more to do with her being a driven, offbeat young woman. In fact, I think that the homeschooling element is more of a plot device to make the main character more interesting. Evie could just as easily have transferred from another public school. She is by far the most dimensional character. Love-interest Rajas is a bit flat; cheerleader Jacinda, a bit more so. But these secondary characters do augment the story in their own way.

Johnson’s writing is in the succinct first-person-present-tense style that has taken the YA market by storm. Both confident and temperate, her writing never moves too far into any one extreme and manages to stay simple without being boring.

This is definitely a character-driven novel. The plot itself isn’t a thriller—it’s not action oriented, or even particularly engaging. Evie is this story’s sole driving force. Thankfully, she drives it very well.

Johnson didn’t dwell on negatives of either schooling situation—she didn't make this book a case against homeschooling (which is what I'm used to). In fact, she was pretty neutral on both standpoints.

This Girl is Different is a teen book of self-discovery… but not Evie's self-discovery. Rather, she helps the other characters solidify who they are, and who they want to be. And although the plot is a bit convoluted (or predictable) at times, it's a refreshing take on the girl-meets-boy-in-high-school tale. More than social norms or misconceptions, This Girl is Different is about the impact of free speech, and the importance of standing up for what's right… even if you're standing alone.

In short, I liked this book. And yes, J. J. Johnson, you just earned the homeschooler's stamp of approval.

Author's Website
Buy it on Amazon

An Interview with Lauren DeStefano

2011-04-01T14:07:00.000-07:00

Today we have special guest Lauren DeStefano doing an interview at The Daily Monocle! DeStefano's debut young adult dystopian, Wither, hit shelves just a week or so ago. Enjoy!

***

First, we’d like to thank you for stopping by The Daily Monocle today!

So what made you want to write Wither?

I started writing it with the intention of it being a short story, which I was mostly writing for fun and to relieve some writer's block. But as I kept going with it, the world and characters expanded into much more than I realized was there.

About how long did it take you to write it?
The first draft took roughly 24 days.

You deal with some touchy subjects in Wither, including polygamy and forced/arranged marriages. What do you think readers’ reactions to these things will be?

I'm not sure what the reaction will be. It could go any number of ways; but I strongly believe there's no such thing as a wrong reaction to a book.

One of the most striking features of your book is the stunning imagery. Did you use storyboards, or other visual aides to help you establish this connection?

I avoid any type of outline and mostly just see where the story and its characters take me.

Wither is full of, well, creepiness and ominous foreboding. Was this a natural byproduct of the subject matter, or did you have to consciously try to make it creepy?

I can't say I consciously tried to make the story any certain way. I just started writing it one day and let it guide me.

The YA market is almost saturated with dystopian novels now. What do you think makes yours stand out from the masses?

I can't say that it will or it won't. When I was writing Wither, I wasn't thinking "This will be a breakout dystopian" or even "This will be for this specific type of audience." My focus was just on writing a story, and hopefully it will entertain readers. That's what's most important to me.

Do you think society could ever become anything like the world you’ve presented in your novel?

Anything is possible.

Can you tell us anything about the second book in the Chemical Garden Trilogy?

Not just yet.

If they made a movie out of Wither, who would you cast to play the main characters? Who would you want to direct it?

I actually get these questions a lot, but if my book were to become a movie, while I'd enjoy seeing my story come to life, I wouldn't want a say in any of those things. My focus is on the writing. That's my job, and that's what I owe to my characters, my readers, and this entire process.

Did you listen to any music while writing your novel? If so, could you tell us part of your playlist? Sometimes I prefer silence, but other times I play music. My playlist is completely random--anything from Italian soft rock to uptempo dance mixes.

Would you want to live in the Ashby mansion?

I probably wouldn't get along with the sister wives.

What author do you consider to be your greatest influence?

T.S. Eliot.

Thanks so much for stopping by The Daily Monocle!

Be sure to check out Wither at your local bookstore!

Author's Website

Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente

2011-03-28T10:31:00.001-07:00

He is the opposite of death: devilish, dark, and dashing. He is as ancient as the heavens, but as young as you want him to be. He is the Tsar of Life, and he’s looking for a bride. He is Koschei the Deathless, and he’s coming for Marya.

Marya Morevna’s sisters have already run off with men-creatures of the supernatural world. She lives in a house governed by goblin-like beings, and has always felt in tune with things beyond the human realm. So when the immortal Koschei takes her as his bride, she doesn’t question her path.

Enter Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente, a modern retelling of the Slavic folktale, “Koschei the Deathless.” Bewitching and darkly sensuous, Deathless is a new breed of fairytale for the eclectic reader.

The characters of Deathless are interesting creatures. In many cases, they’re not so much people, as they are personifications of highly-complicated, but abstract, concepts. That’s not to say they aren’t enjoyable—in fact, Valente’s characterization of Koschei and Marya are some of the most vivid, tangible people to appear in recent literature—but they’re different; more than humans, but less than monsters.

Readers familiar with Slavic folk traditions, or the original tale of Koschei the Deathless, will recognize such memorable characters as Baba Yaga, Ivan, the domovoi, and of course, Koschei and Marya themselves. However, these characters have been modernized and fleshed-out in the fullest sense.

The plot itself is a bit difficult to follow for the first hundred pages or so. It gets lost behind the mountain of prose scattered across the pages. Depending on your point of view, either the reader accommodates themselves to the prose after this point, or the story becomes the more prominent feature. Either way, once it gets rolling, Deathless becomes a story that’s difficult to let go.

Valente’s prose itself is both unique and highly stylized. Though at times she does bury her story under the weight of her words, the words themselves are beautiful. Not exactly lyrical, and not exactly literal, the writing in Deathless is a wonderful combination of a Russian folk tale, originality, and having a dictionary crammed into one’s brain. It is, for lack of a better word, mind-boggling.

Deathless is the fairytale for a new generation of readers. Dazzlingly exotic, and expertly restrained, you may find want to read it twice: once to understand the depths of the story Valente has presented, and once to revel in the power of her words. Although Deathless will primarily appeal to an eclectic audience, it’s one of the best books of its kind, and is sure to intrigue, if not captivate, everyone who gives it a chance.

Deathless hits shelves tomorrow! Be sure to check it out at your local bookstore.

Author's Website
Buy it on Amazon

***

This post is sponsored by...

Bilingual Education Certification

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

2011-03-18T07:14:00.000-07:00

Due to a flaw in the genetic engineering designed to prolong the life of the population, men only live to 25 years of age, and women only live to be 20. Because of this, teen girls are taken from their homes and given as brides to wealthy young men in hopes of keeping the human population alive.

Sixteen year old Rhine has been in hiding with her twin brother since their parents died. But when bride snatchers kidnap Rhine, she is married off as one of three brides to aspiring architect, Linden Ashby. Imprisoned in a world of illusions and beauty, Rhine's "sister wives" begin jockeying to be Linden's favorite, while all Rhine wants to do is go home. Now she's caught between a life of luxury with Linden—who genuinely seems like a good guy—and the desire to escape her gilded prison for the perils of living on the street.

Wither by Lauren DeStefano is the first in an unconventional (although predictable) romance trilogy taking place in the dystopian future. Readers will find that it lives up to the hype as one of the most anticipated young adult releases of 2011.

Like many recent, popular YA releases, Wither features a strong-willed, female protagonist. However, unlike her many peers-in-literature, Rhine's story isn't one of self-discovery. Instead, it's the story of a genuinely head-strong young woman struggling to keep hold of the person she always has been, and wants to remain for the rest of her doomed life.

Readers are presented with a skewed presentation of reality, as the story is told entirely through Rhine's eyes. This mode of narration provides a visceral, but limited representation of the world of Wither. At times readers will feel as though they're only getting a single piece of the puzzle, but of course, this may be an intentional ploy on the author's part, as it adds to the story's allure, and allows ample room for expansion.

The story itself is a bit predictable, with Rhine's romantic tendencies showing through at the beginning of the book. Attentive readers will guess the main arc of the book early on in their reading. But the nuances of the main story, and the subplots woven around Rhine's sister wives and their collective husband, keep things interesting. Not to mention the many descriptions of technological and medical advancements that seem freakishly realistic to be merely fiction.

Hidden beneath the glossy veneer of subtle science-fiction, Wither deals with human trafficking, domestic slavery, and polygamous marriage cleverly disguised as the last refuge of the human race. DeStefano has done an excellent job dealing with the delicate nature of such subjects, all while preserving the edgy and sometimes frightening reality of Rhine's circumstances.

DeStefano's writing isn't challenging, but it does help readers establish an emotional relationship to the main character and her surroundings. She is generally straightforward, without just giving a dry-cut of the story, and doesn't resort to condensation in an effort to please the younger crowd.

Wither is a story of hope and love in the face of impending death. It takes place in a world of ignorance, filled with people who thirst for knowledge. Rhine is a teen who knows what she wants, and is ready to stand up for those choices, whatever the cost, without becoming unbelievable in the reader's eyes.

All in all, DeStefano has written a poignant and satisfying teen romance that is sure to spawn many sequels. Wither is poised to take the market by storm; it's just what the YA genre needs.

Wither by Lauren DeStefano hits shelves March 22nd. Make sure to go to your local bookstore and check it out!

Author's Website

Buy it on Amazon

An Interview with Kelley Eskridge

2011-03-14T15:31:00.001-07:00

Kelly Eskridge, author of one of the most unique sci-fi books I've read in a while, Solitaire, decided to stop by The Daily Monocle for a quick interview. Enjoy!

***
Firstly, I'd like to welcome you to The Daily Monocle, Kelley. Thank you so much for joining us today.

It's my pleasure! Thanks very much for inviting me.

Alright to start things off, how about a fun question? Can you describe yourself in three words or less?

Resistant to limitations.

And now I must take more words to explain, or risk being labeled snarky and uncooperative (which certainly describe me in moments, but not, I hope, in general). I have spent so much time trying to expand – in my life, in my work – that I find it hard to be reductive, even in jest. In my house, I am known as the Option Queen.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

Not that long after I started reading: I fell in love with story as soon as I could read Clifford, the Big Red Dog to myself, and I've never looked back. I wrote poems as a child, and a few stories along the way. I got serious about writing when I was in my mid-twenties. I attended the Clarion Writers Workshop in 1988, and made my first professional sale a couple of years later.

About how long did it take you to finish Solitaire?

A long time. I was working full-time, and found it hard to switch my brain from corporate mode to fiction mode. That's a challenge for a lot of writers, and I never found an easy way to meet it. It just takes some of us longer, and that can be hard. But it takes as long as it takes.

It's also hard to put a number of years on the completion, because I started thinking about the ideas in Solitaire long before I ever wrote a word of it. That thinking, that accretion of story, is an essential part of the writing process. All told, I'd say about eight years.

Are you an author who outlines, or one who just wings it?

Solitaire is definitely a product of the "just wing it" school of writing. I worked it out a little bit at a time, and was always pretty much on my own bow wave in terms of knowing where the story was going.

I do not recommend this as an approach. I ended up having to discard an 11,000 word section of the story – a year's work – because I had taken a wrong turn and wasn't willing to admit it to myself for a while. If I'd done more story work up front (even on a section-by-section basis), I would have saved myself one Very Bad Night and a lot of re-work.

These days, I try to be a little more of a planner. I will probably never be a major fan of detailed outlining for fiction, but I certainly do much more conscious structure/story work now, and more importantly, I am constantly assessing the story as I explore/write it. I very rarely fool myself these days: if something isn't working, I recognize it pretty quickly, and I stop and do the work to get the story back on track.

I write screenplays as well as fiction, and I'm definitely falling more into the "get the story right before I write it" approach. It's a different kind of writing, more rigorous in some regards, and even easier (for me) to wander down a false trail.

Although, having said all this, there's no way to nail the story the first time in either fiction or screenplay. There are always surprises, and things always change. The perfect first draft is a fantasy.

Who was your favorite character to write?

Hah. Do you know, no one's ever asked me this?

I love all my characters, every single one, even the creepy and unpleasant ones. I lived in Jackal's head and heart for all those years, and that makes her special. But pound for pound, Crichton was the most fun.

Were there any scenes for you that were particularly hard to put on paper?

Yes. The videophone conversation between Jackal and Snow before Jackal goes into virtual confinement was brutal to write.

I also had a hard time with the opening of the last section, when Jackal is released from confinement (those 11,000 words…). That wasn't because it was emotionally difficult to write, but because it took a while to find the truth of what it would be like for Jackal.

Did you do any sort of research before writing Solitaire?

I did some research on the operational principles and philosophy of the penal system, and on people's experience of both solitary confinement and voluntary solitude. I also did enough scientific research to find the basis for the Garbo technology.

What was your reaction when Small Beer Press wanted to re-issue Solitaire?

I was thrilled. Small Beer is a great publisher with an enormous presence in the literary and fantastic fiction landscape. They get a lot of choice about what to publish, and I'm honored they think so highly of Solitaire.

Other than the new cover art (which is fantastic, by the way), were there any changes made to the new edition?

I love the new cover. Frances Lassor is the designer, and did a brilliant job.

There are no content changes to the book. Unfortunately, there was a text flow issue and there are some rogue italics in this first printing that will be corrected in the next. Those aren't editorial or authorial changes, just vagaries of technology.

I hear Solitaire is being made into a film! What are your thoughts on this? Any news to share?

I am delighted! Although I should clarify that the screen story bears very little resemblance to the book story in terms of the particulars. Virtual confinement is a part of the movie, as are other features of the technology, and the protagonist is called Ren. Apart from that…. well, there's very little similarity in story terms, although a great deal of thematic similarity.

I'm completely fine with this. Better than fine, since I'm now the lead screenwriter on the project and am stone in love with these characters and their story. But if the movie is made, I'll have a lot of explaining to do to reset reader's expectations!

No news to share. Always in motion, is the movie business. I'm learning a lot and enjoying it immensely. Screenwriting is some of the most challenging, terrifying and exhilarating work I've ever done.

If you could choose, who would cast to play your main character, Jackal?

Since the Ren of the movie is really not the Jackal of the book, it makes it even more tricky to think about. Thank goodness they don't pay me to make casting decisions! The thing about actors is that the good ones can make you believe they are anyone, and the bad ones can look perfect for a role and still be deeply unconvincing. So I will be happy with a good actor and intensely interested to see what she does with the role.

And who would you choose to score the movie?

Trent Reznor, Eddie Vedder, David Bowie or maybe The Crystal Method. The playlist for most of the writing included all these guys plus Duran Duran, Simple Minds, Suzanne Vega, Madrugada, Madreblu, Paul Oakenfold and Gotye.

One of Solitaire's main themes is that of isolation and desperate loneliness. Why did you choose to write about this?

I wrote Solitaire in part to explore the ideas of being alone and being lonely, because I don't think they are the same thing, although our culture tends to equate them. I also wanted to think about the individual and the community, and when they are good or bad for each other.

Isolation is one obvious way to explore these topics – take a person whose identity is all about community, and then isolate her completely from community of any sort. What happens? Who are we when we have only ourselves for community? Is being alone only terrible, or is there also joy to be found there? How do we create a community for ourselves when we are strangers? How do we warp ourselves in order to be part of a community, and what are the benefits of that trade off?

I think that times of desperate loneliness are part of the experience of every human life: at least, I've never met anyone who hasn't felt it at some point. Connection is also an essential experience, and one that most of us seek. But not all connection is good for us, and not all alone-ness is bad.

For those who are interested, I've written in more depth about this aspect of the book as part of The Big Idea series at Whatever.

If you were isolated for a long period of time, do you would handle the seclusion in the same way as your main character? Why or why not?

I don't know what I would do. I spent a great deal of time alone as a child and young adult, until my very late twenties, and I am quite comfortable in my own company. But that's not the same thing as the kind of isolation that Jackal experiences in virtual confinement.

I wouldn't want to spend six years without any human contact. I think it would damage me in ways that would be hard to bear. I also think that it might transform me in ways that I can hardly imagine, some of which might be joyful or even ecstatic. Does Jackal end up damaged, or crazy, or has she found a way to be even more fully herself? Or all of the above? Has she been reduced or expanded by her experience? These are some of the questions of Solitaire.

Are you working on any projects right now? Care to share?

I am working on a couple of new screenplays (at various stages of development) and the early stages of a YA novel.

Thank you so much!

It's been a pleasure! Thanks for the interesting questions and the chance to have this conversation.

Be sure to check out the author's website here, and buy Solitaire for your summer reading lists! :D

An Unconventional Update

2011-03-05T15:19:00.000-08:00

I know. I haven't updated in a long time. And this isn't the most normal Daily Monocle fare. That being said, I hope you'll enjoy it until my midterms are over, and I can get back on track. :)

***

For one of my classes, we're examining feminity in beauty pageants, as well as ethnic and cultural definition through gender constructs. This is a sort of reflection I wrote on the book, The Most Beautiful Girl in the World by Sarah Banet-Weiser.

Beauty pageants seem to be missing the point of pageantry altogether. These contests revolve around the feminine ideal, or, beauty as an external concept. Globally, with so many judges and contestants crying foul over the issues of race and ethnicity within the pageant world, one begins to wonder if perhaps these so called “beauty pageants” are really contests in order to assert one’s national identity. Or is national identity just one of the many facets of beauty within a beauty pageant?

Instead of merely being satisfied with the concept of “woman”, contestants are broken down categorically by race and ethnicity. Of course this is going to cause problems. I truly believe, however, that race wouldn’t be such an issue if it wasn’t emphasized so strongly. As controversial as that view may be, I can sincerely say that, as a young woman who grew up in a family that was essentially “color blind”, I’ve never understood racism. And when beauty pageants, of all places, bring in cultural background as a measure of external beauty, I want to turn the television off.

As Banet-Weiser says, beauty pageants are, and probably always will be, a struggle “over both national and international gender identity.” We, in turn, cannot expect any one pageant to represent the cultural and ethnic identity of any one nation, regardless of the ethnicity of the majority of the contestants. Likewise, the argument that global pageants today have been “Americanized” is largely invalid, seeing as American beauty relies not on its own, native properties, but rather on attempted homogenization of social constructs.

If beauty pageants are to be viewed as cultural events, they should be styled as such. However, this would require each culture to define beauty through their own, distinct “eyes”, which, with the advent of common travel and immigration, is virtually impossible. True markers of cultural beauty have been all but mythologized, or are often thought of as “barbaric” or “primitive”.

The lines between cultures blur too often to truly make a deductive statement regarding the base nature of feminine beauty. Many markers of beauty are too controversial to be quantified. For example, there has never been a Miss America with a visible tattoo. Maori women, however, ritually tattoo their lips and chins as a mark of femininity and beauty. Many African and South American cultures also embrace skin markings as either a rite of passage, or a measure of femininity. And while one could use this to show that beauty pageants only emphasize antiquated, Anglicized traits of femininity, we forget that during the English Victorian era—arguably the most conservative of recent eras in the West—it was fashionable for young women to get small tattoos.

The nature of beauty is so subjective that we as a collective species should stop trying to find a definition. Beauty is not quantifiable. And seeing as no one culture can identify strict parameters for beauty in its own ethnicity, yet wants to argue about natural identity and ends up relying on anglicized measures of beauty, pageant judging seems nothing if not absurd.

While pop culture continues to romanticize the world of beauty pageants and the notion of “natural” beauty, I can’t help but think that the attempt to quantify beauty as a uniform, external, attribute undermines the concept of “beautiful” altogether. As the adage goes, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” And the only true way to regulate that “eye” is to ask, not only the contestant, but the proverbial beholder themselves to sacrifice their individuality. Studies have shown that humans find symmetry and uniformity attractive, but never to such an extent that women should feel like they have to violate their natural identity to achieve a dystopian image.

In order to truly crown the queen of any pageant, one must first define tangible examples of intangible beauty. Beauty, as a concept, is tangibly defined differently for every culture, nation, and race. When put in these terms, beauty is something that either exists everywhere or nowhere at all. Advocates of external beauty may argue that certain traits, such as a waist-to-hips ratio, or bust size, are held as uniform beauty standards, regardless of culture. But one need only do the most basic amounts of research to turn up countless cultures that defy these stereotypes.

If feminine beauty is a social construction—and all evidence points to this conclusion—then no one culture, race, nation or ethnicity will ever be able to quantify beauty to an extent that will satisfy the rest of the world. So how can any beauty pageant truly wish to crown the “most beautiful” contestant?
Homogenizing beauty is impossible. Race in beauty pageants should be a non-issue. The fact that most pageants around the world today use an “Americanized” judging scale is flawed, but inevitable, if one regards America as a cultural melting pot.

Although I know that Banet-Weiser doesn’t solely focus on ethnicity and feminine identity, I feel as though both of these issues are the driving points behind pageant controversy in general. Unless beauty becomes a universally uniform commodity—in which case it will become a dystopian concept, rather than a utopian concept—beauty pageants as a way to quantify the feminine ideal are future exercises in the fickleness of human nature. We will always be changeable creatures—will always shift our ideals in order to reflect the changing social and economic standings around us—and therefore, beauty will always be an individualistic concept.

Sleight of Hand by Peter S. Beagle

2011-02-25T14:39:00.000-08:00

Sometimes a book comes along, and you get this pleasant feeling of déjà vu. Not in the sense that you’ve read the book before, per se, but that the book knows you. It’s the feeling of familiar tales; warm tales—the kind of tales told in old world taverns to weary travelers by the fireside.

Peter S. Beagle—author of such fantasy classics as The Last Unicorn—has created a world of such familiar magic in his newest offering, Sleight of Hand. Gloriously simple, and open-mindedly innocent, this thirteen-story anthology will entice even the most jaded reader to read long hours into the night.

Beagle’s writing revels in the simplicity of childhood wonder. Most of the stories in Sleight of Hand are good on paper, but cannot be given true justice until they are read aloud. Beagle consistently strikes the bittersweet chord between The Brothers Grimm and the lullaby your mother sang you to sleep with. These are stories penned in old world calligraphy; here there be dragons.

The stories themselves are predictable in the same way that a fairytale is. Of course, there is a happy ending… but it’s not necessarily the ending you expect. Which yes, kind of belays the concept of predictability, but that’s beside the point. It’s more of a flavor of familiarity than predictability, and Beagle uses this familiarity to pull his readers closer, and wrap them in words.

He even uses familiar characters—at least, characters that are familiar to him. The first two stories in the collection seem to feature the same wizard whose claims his most sophisticated trick is pulling fantastic objects out of people’s ears. And in Oakland Dragn Blues, we are acquainted with an unfortunate story dragon blocking traffic in the human world.

Standout stories include The Children of the Shark God, an imaginative and melancholy take on sea-side folk tales; The Rabbi’s Hobby, in which a Rabbi is haunted by the image of a beautiful woman who seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth; and The Rock in the Park, which is a true story (or so Beagle claims) of the author himself and a childhood friend who meet a family of lost centaurs in the park.

Transcending the age boundary, Beagle has created, not just stories, but living, breathing images for anyone who chooses to open his book. Delighting in the small people and simple sorcery, Sleight of Hand will beguile and enchant, threading together the most disconnected stories with the steady constant of ordinary magic.

Sleight of Hand hits shelves on March 1st

Buy it on Amazon
Author's Website

Guest Post with Sean Beaudoin

2011-02-21T12:00:00.000-08:00

Sean Beaudoin, author of You Killed Wesley Payne and Fade to Blue, offered to do a guest post for The Daily Monocle on five YA books you should read. So enjoy, and don't forget to leave us comments and feedback! Who would you like to see guest posting on The Daily Monocle?
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Five YA Novels You Should Immediately Read

I’m not sure that my opinion of what defines “Young Adult” is typical, but in general I see it as encompassing just about any book that would have made me a more perceptive, kinder, less self-involved, and better informed sophomore. You know, with some exceptions. And chain store shelving practices to the contrary.

1. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

Vonnegut’s open prose and deceptive ease of expression, let alone his resignation at the futility of finding meaning or assigning rationality to anything, influenced me powerfully. The book, with a typical lack of ambition, deals with ecological catastrophe, the military industrial complex, the effects of institutionalized religion. Not to mention the near-inevitable end of the world due to the hubris of modern science. Cat’s Cradle is also narrated by a failed writer, which seemed to me to be the ultimate sarcastic aside, and which desperately made me want to be a failed writer, too.

2. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M.T. Anderson

This is a novel of immense scope and sheer intellectual urgency, written in a mix of crystalline prose and Revolutionary War-era argot. There’s no way it should work on any level, and yet it does, setting an impossibly high standard within YA and without, while investigating notions of individuality, altered history, slavery, classical education, fecal heft, and the evolution of language.

3. The Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll

This book terrified and fascinated me as a fifteen year-old. It deals frankly and honestly with drug use, but also just about trying to grow up tough and cool. The prose is very simple, and often extremely funny. It’s sometimes hard to stomach, but has a sweetness about it that’s very appealing. Even so, it’s probably not the book you want Mom to leaf through after you forget it on the kitchen counter next to your peanut butter and jelly. This one’s for under the mattress.

4. Dune by Frank Herbert

Most people would categorize this as straight sci-fi, but my money, it’s the perfect YA novel. It’s a coming of age story about a boy in a privileged family who, through a series of dire events, ends up developing extraordinary powers. Sound familiar? Well, this was written forty years ago. But it could have been written yesterday. It’s a political saga, but is also full of action, cool gadgets, sword-fighting, mind-reading, intrigue, evil siblings, more-evil barons, giant worms, and tons of generic treachery. Fantastic.

5. Stop Me if You’ve Heard This One Before by David Yoo

Albert Kim falls in love with the astonishingly beautiful Mia while working a typically crappy summer job. Really, what else do you need to know? Consistently hilarious and full of truthful observations that may cause you to cringe. But also surprisingly subtle in turns. A read for people who like their hearts broken. At least literarily. And maybe literally.

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Here's another big thank you to Sean Beaudoin for working so closely with The Daily Monocle!

Contest Winner + Interview!

2011-02-07T17:04:00.000-08:00

Congratulations Livs F.! You are the winner of a signed copy of Fade to Blue by Sean Beaudoin!

And now, after a week of set-backs and difficult stuffs, here's an interview with Sean Beaudoin. Enjoy. :)

***

To start things off, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself... in rhyme?

There once was a man from Seattle, who was paid to toss off entertaining prattle
He wrote with aplomb, on his left hand was an extra thumb
All the better with which to hitchhike, plug dikes, and respond as if addled.

When did you first know you wanted to write professionally?

Probably around fifteen. Various teachers were complementing me on my essays and vocabulary and so forth, without ever complimenting me on much else. So, it seemed a natural.

What was it like getting your first novel published?

A colossal relief. Vindication. Permission to drop the whole mantle of embarrassment around saying “I am a writer” out loud. A temporary reprieve from certain economic concerns. Like being indoctrinated into a secret society where everyone wears pointy hats.

You have published three novels--Going Nowhere Faster, Fade to Blue, and You Killed Wesley Payne. How has your writing changed since getting your first book published?

I think you keep getting better, just as if you spent X number of hours a day playing saxophone. You begin to know yourself and your limitations more clearly. Your chops are honed, instincts heightened, bad habits slowly pared to the bone. On the other hand, I’m eight years further away from being a teenager and caring who Katy Perry is.

How long does it usually take you to finish writing a novel? How about reading one?

Writing a novel, when you factor in all the non-writing aspects, usually absorbs about eighteen months of my life. Reading time really depends on which novel. I’m a fast reader. I can whip through a book in a night. Or, I might savor it slowly if it’s especially good. I’m obsessive about finishing books I start even if I don’t like them. Those books tend to take longer.

What inspired Fade to Blue?

A girlfriend I had in high school. What it was like lying on the rug in my room with her, listening to records. Holding hands. Watching her from across the gymnasium and marveling that she would soon be sitting next to me. Also, a profound confusion about the nature of the afterlife and metaphysics in general.

Would you consider your novels character-driven, or plot-driven?

That’s a good question. I tend to find novels that are solely plot-driven to be fairly dull. I hope mine are idea-driven.

Do you outline, or just wing it?

I wing the outline.

You have tackled what could be called one of the most difficult concepts in literature: humor. Was this a conscious decision, or did it just kind of happen?

I think it’s bad form to say “I’m funny.” But usually when I’m having one of those moments where I’m talking to someone and being all vulnerable and honest and we’re taking turns saying what we like about each other, people whisper “you’re funny.”

If you could choose one of your books to be turned into a film, which would you choose and why?

I want all of them to be immediately optioned by the guy who made Zombieland. Or, you know, Martin Scorcese. But I think You Killed Wesley Payne is practically a script in book form. I think a person with the right vision could make a fantastic, hilarious, crazily high-concept movie out of it.

Who is your favorite character to write?

It’s like asking who your favorite child is. I love them all the same. Except that the answer is probably Sophie Blue.

If it was that character’s birthday, what kind of cake would they eat?

One with black frosting, shaped like a giant lipstick.

You get to spend an hour with any writer in history. Who is it?

Apparently Norman Mailer was a lot of fun at a party. And Herodotus would definitely be able to put a few mysteries to rest. But I think I’d go with Vladimir Nabokov. Poet, historian, professor, linguist, raconteur.

Are you working on anything right now? Care to share?

My next book, Wise Young Truck, is already done and in production. It’s a rock and roll saga. I’m actually working on the one after that at the moment. Suffice it to say it’s vampire-free.

Do you have any advice for writers trying to break into the market?

Read constantly. Write at least one really great short story before you tackle a novel. Keep in mind that an exceptional short story may require thirty or more drafts. Be disciplined. Don’t follow trends. Don’t be too clever. Practice being interviewed. Essentially, writing is way too hard to waste your time on if you don’t passionately want to do it.

Thanks so much for joining us at The Daily Monocle!

Fade to Blue Book Giveaway

2011-01-24T10:07:00.000-08:00

Hello my lovely bookworms. I'm pleased to announce that The Daily Monocle is hosting it's first signed book giveaway! Sponsored by Sean Beaudoin and Blog Reach Solutions, The Daily Monocle is giving away one signed copy of Fade to Blue. If you're interested in participating, just fill out the form below. :D

This giveaway is just the first bit of excitement at The Daily Monocle this week. Later on, we'll also have a guest post by Sean Beaudoin, and an author interview! So be sure to keep checking back.

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Sean Beaudoin is the author of three young adult novels, including the aforementioned Fade to Blue, and his newest work, You Killed Wesley Payne. You can watch the book trailer below:

Brave New Worlds edited by John Joseph Adams

2011-01-18T13:13:00.000-08:00

This is a world where the government has absolute control; agriculturally, technologically, reproductively and culturally. This is a place where it's illegal to have children, because the elderly live forever. This is a place where people are stoned to death in the name of tradition; a place where jesters cause chain reactions just to throw the world off schedule. These places are called Brave New Worlds.

Terrifying, isn't it?

Brave New Worlds—edited by anthologist extraordinaire, John Joseph Adams—is a collection that seeks to revolutionize the definition of dystopic fiction by taking one of the oldest concepts in sci-fi, and the hottest authors to today and combining them into one, winning volume.

Adams has culled a careful selection of stories from today's market. With well-known names like Harlan Ellison and Orson Scott Card—to relative newcomers such as Paolo Bacigalupi and S. L. Gilbow—readers are treated to textured and diverse styles of writing.

Standout stories include Ten With a Flag by Joseph Paul Haines; Of a Sweet Slow Dance in the Wake of Temporary Dogs by Adam-Troy Castro, and Caught in the Organ Draft by Robert Silverberg, among others. Orson Scott Card's latest offering has his trademark characterization and personal feel, while Cory Doctorow's follows his mode of detached, technologically-based science-fiction. Each author is free to showcase his or her personal style of writing. And because of this literary freedom, there are very few stories which readers will skim or skip over.

The stories themselves are diverse in subject matter as they are in style, ranging from reproductive dystopias (Like Bacigalupi's Pop Squad), to tales of poverty and claustrophobic surroundings (Like Billenium by J. G. Ballard). Neil Gaiman treats his readers to a story of political extremism told in comic-strip form, whereas Vylar Haftan treads the boundary between "utopia" and "dystopia" with her readers in the form of a choose-your-own-adventure tale. Some concepts (as explored in Jordan's Waterhammer by Joe Mastroianni) are so far-fetched as to not seem dystopian at all. But they all share the common thread of desperation.

These stories and styles, although different in texture and subject matter, really boil down to the same message: no one can wield excess power. By taking the concepts of the perfect society—immortality, peace, happiness—these writers seek, not only to entertain and enthrall with tales of the fantastic and extravagant, but also to shock their readers. In the great tradition of near-future science-fiction, these authors (and their esteemed editor) seek to provide us with a picture of what the world could become, if society moves into any one extremity.

This stunning anthology will delight fans of science-fiction and devotees of the dystopian genre, alike. Its one major vice is, if consumed in one marathon session, readers will tire of the dystopian, and perhaps not give each story the credit it deserves. However, as one of the hottest sub-genres in sci-fi, dystopian fiction is sure to continue its ascent, and Brave New Worlds will become a treasure for years to come.

Buy it on Amazon

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

2011-01-16T17:20:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow's world is one where everyone can be cured of the most deadly disease: Love. Known now as Deliria Nervosa, this sickness is said to cause hardship, mental instability, debilitation, and eventually, death.

Lena is almost eighteen—almost old enough to be cured of the Deliria forever. But just months before the final procedure, she meets a boy named Alex, and, wouldn't you know it, they fall in love. Now it's a mad race against the clock: will Lena choose to leave Alex forever and have a happy, normal life? Or will she run away with him into the wilderness and leave everything she knows behind?

Delirium by Lauren Oliver is one of the most highly-anticipated YA novels of 2011. With all of the heavy marketing, it's easy to assume the book world is bracing itself to get slammed with new fangirl hysteria. Unfortunately, Delirium fails to deliver. With poor characterization, and a plot that's practically transparent, this book has little literary signifigance. In fact, I finished Delirium for the same reason I finished Twilight: to see what all the hype was about.

Oliver's writing is typical of teen novels. Probably at a third or fourth grade level. Very easy to read; easy to lose yourself in. I finished Delirium in about two hours, despite the fact that it's nearly 450 pages long. Granted, I did skim the occasional passage because there is a lot of "fluff" language describing minute details better left to the reader's imagination.

Main character, Magdalena "Lena" Holoway, seems to have a pretty pathetic existence. Taken from a mother who was unfit to raise her as a child, she grows up in the company of her aunt and uncle, with a little sister who is mysteriously mute to everyone but Lena herself. She lives for the day she will become cured, knowing things will be "different" after the procedure.

The picture of life after the cure is one of monotony; it's supposed to be frightening to us as readers, this dystopia where people spend the rest of their lives completing the same tasks with mindless devotion. But that's what Lena's life is before the procedure anyway: just a long string of events that we don't really care about. Lena is apparently clumsy, not so pretty, doesn't get great grades, worries about everything and never breaks the rules. She describes herself as an "inbetween girl"—one who is never at any extreme. The first 50-100 pages of the book are her explanation of all the things she dislikes about herself.

Love interest Alex is, by contrast, the dream guy. Smart, funny, confidant and willing to take risks—not to mention ridiculously good looking, his role in the story ultimately amounts in Lena "finding herself". Alex doesn't have a character arc at all—he is the faultless male on a pedestal for the duration of the book. And we can hardly follow poor Lena's shallow arc.

The background characters—Lena's mother, perhaps; the government; Lena's government-selected partner—could be genuinely interesting people. But we'll never know. They were completely shoved out of the picture by two main characters whose flat stories we've read time and time again.

Honestly, the concept of love as a disease sounds corny at best. But with the right writer, and the right back story, it could become a unique dystopian experience. Unfortunately, Delirium has too little development. We know from the start what the story is going to be about; it's a formula teen romance, masquerading as dystopian fiction. Lena is going to fall for Alex. The rest is just details, and therefore, isn't worth developing. Even the subplots, subtle as they are, could've added a positive element to Delirium had been properly fleshed out.

The only truly surprising bit of Delirium is the ending (which, ironically, I rather liked). It showed that Lauren Oliver has real promise, and could craft an exciting YA novel. I loved some of the descriptions she used throughout the novel, but her best sentences were far and few between. And towards the end of the book, we really did see some development in Lena. Some of the minor characters really came alive. And I wish that I had liked the bulk of the book as much as I liked the last fifty pages. Likewise, I love the chapter intros—the excerpts of government propaganda and medical texts of the future. I wished they had been used more heavily.

Also, I have to give the artist who did the cover for Delirium props. The typographical cutout book jacket that reveals Lena's face is both brilliant and striking. (You can see pics here).

I said before that Delirium is one of the anticipated hottest books of 2011. And with the marketing it's getting, I'm sure it will be. Delirium has faithfully followed the formula for a winning YA romance, but suffers for lack of originality.

If Oliver had gone with a more complicated plot, and put her secondary characters in the spotlight, rather than the main characters, Delirium could've been a thought-provoking foray into the dangers of too much government control. Unfortunately, Delirium instead comes across as a poorly developed romp in teenage fluff.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver hits shelves on February 1st.

Author's website
Buy it on Amazon

The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card

2011-01-12T09:44:00.000-08:00

Fifteen-year-old Danny North is powerless; a drekka in a race of mages descended from the gods of legend. When a practical joke gone awry leads Danny to awaken his dormant powers, he realizes that he's not a drekka at all. He’s a gate mage—a teleporter who will be condemned to death as soon as his powers are discovered. Desperate to save himself, Danny escapes the mage compound and ventures out into the human world, bent on finding others like him, or, at the very least, information on gate mages of the past.

In another world, a family is picnicking in a meadow by a large tree that looks suspiciously like a man. What no one expects is for the elusive "Man in the Tree" to reveal himself to an inquisitive little girl, and disappear from the tree forever. Now at large in the city, the Man in the Tree takes refuge in the royal garden, with no memory of who he has been, and no idea of what he will become.

The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card is the author's second release in as many months. But readers need not be worried about quantity-over-quality. The Lost Gate is well-written, intelligent, and shows off Card's impeccable style.

I think I've mentioned before how Card takes two seemingly unrelated stories and weaves them into one, cohesive piece. Well, he's done it again in The Lost Gate and if you think such a formula would get old… it doesn't. Very few authors are able to take me by surprise, and for some reason, no matter what I do, I can never anticipate the end of Card's books. Neither story is superfluous, and both threads are worth following.

Once again, Card shows his prowess writing children and young adults. Danny’s story is a sort of coming-of-age tale. But it isn’t cheap teen romance and a tragedy that makes our young hero grow up. Instead it’s the threat of death, and the pain of exile--it’s stealing, and pranking, and outsmarting the authorities in the human world that cause Danny to grow. it’s pain, and bitterness, and a sort of dark humor atypical of Card’s writing that defines him.

Likewise The Man in the Tree (who we come to know as Wad) isn’t the innocent man we first perceive him to be. He’s quiet and cunning, and lethal; more than willing to do bad things and almost gleeful in his accomplishments. This dark element adds a deeper dimension to The Lost Gate than some of Card’s previous work.

Card’s writing is analytical and intelligent without sacrificing it’s poetic integrity. Although there is a lot of internal explanation, it doesn't slow the story down, and is often necessary for the reader to understand what’s going on.

The Lost Gate is not science-fiction. Rather, it’s a rich urban fantasy with a catchy, logical magic system. Mages are classified with an endless supply of creative name combinations, and their powers are matched in the same fashion. Drawing on historical influences, Card shows us a world within a world, in the vein of such contemporaries as Neil Gaiman.

In fact, the world may be the most complete part of the novel. The world of The Lost Gate is one a reader can live in. It couold easily spawn sequels, a movie or even a dice-and-cards role playing game (which I would love to see).

So The Lost Gate is typical Card, and it isn’t. It explores darker, new concepts with a familiar flavor. I think Card is expanding his horizons, delving into subject matter that will attract a new circle of readers, and that’s definitely a good thing. I eagerly await the sequel.

Check out the book trailer!

Buy it on Amazon
Author's Website

2011 - The Year of Wonderful Possibilities

2011-01-10T11:05:00.000-08:00

Hello to all of my lovely bookworms! I have several exciting new developments to share with you.

For one, The Daily Monocle is now part of Nuture Book Tourz, which means that we'll have some wonderful authors stopping in from time to time to talk to us about their works. I'm also continuing to contact authors independently, and have one high-profile author interview lined up, and another on the way.

The Daily Monocle is going to have a slightly different slant this year. Because of my current occupations, I can't read books as avidly as I might like. But as a student, I write a lot of literary critique papers and read a lot of classics. So The Daily Monocle is going to start having some more articles and "classic" reviews for your reading pleasure.

And last (but not least), I want to post this welcome (after the break) to 2011, even though it is a bit late. Ten days into the new year, and I still can't get my act together! I would love to hear your thoughts on anything and everything regarding The Daily Monocle. And please know that we'll be back to a (semi) regular posting schedule by next week, with at least one review up a week, and hopefully an interview to go with it. This will continue until this summer when I'm not at school!

People ask me sometimes what it's like to review books for a blog, or publication. I tell them it's not much different than writing a short, analytical paper (something which my nerdy self has always loved to do).

I used to be able to read books and feel satisfied. I could read the last page, sit back, and smile. Think about all of the things I had seen in that book, and all of the things I could sit back and think about. I even wrote fanfiction at one point, for a large, well-known science-fiction franchise and would show it to my friends.

But I'm not like that anymore. Now when I finish a book I feel empty. All of the life that the book brought with me is gone when I close the page. Granted, I know I can open it again and re-read (that's part of the magic of books), but I become so emotionally invested in each story I read that when I close the book, the story lingers, but still comes to a stop. As they say, great works of art are never finished, merely abandoned. Well, readers never die either, we're just orphaned when we close the page.

This is a good thing.

I always keep two books on my person at any one time, because when I finish one, I immediately delve into the next, or write a review. And I don't just read one book at a time either. I have five or six open at any one point, and a little notepad I keep in my pocket, or in my purse, with notes on style and characterization and spiffy-sounding anecdotes.

I don't get paid for my reviews, and I don't have an exceptionally large readership (though it continues to grow). But I'm passionate about my fiction, and I review as a way to get it all out of my head and onto the paper. Because for me, literature is more than just a hobby—it's more than a passion—it's an addiction. An addiction that prompts me to write down my thoughts and feelings and to keep on going faster and faster towards different books, to see how much I can absorb.

Even as a little kid my reading habits were there. I've read The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White at least a dozen times, and Charlotte's Web at least that many times. Why? Because when I finished a book, and my mom couldn't drive six-year-old me to the bookstore, I just re-read. And re-read again.

I just can't get enough of the written word.

Like I said, it's an addiction.

What I'm trying to say is I don't think I'll ever be able to kick the blogging habit now. I'm always reading; always writing; always posting. There might be a week between posts, but that's generally because I have papers due, and yes, I force myself to put my college degree before my blog posts. If there are breaks between posts, keep checking back, because I will always get some sort of an update out there, so long as God keeps my fingers typing.

So, hello 2011! Let's make this an awesome year for the written word.

There are some addictions you don't really want to kick.

The Last Post of 2010

2010-12-24T12:03:00.000-08:00

Huzzah my friendly bookworms! The first year of books has passed at The Daily Monocle. We've seen all sorts of different genres--different authors with different styles. We've seen the good, the bad, the awesome and the ugly (and yes, the awesomely ugly). We've been able to watch The Daily Mononcle grow from a single word into a full fledged blog. And through it all, we've stayed steady.

This is a post recounting all of the books I've read this year, which ones I recommend to everyone, and an account of the trends I spotted during 2010. And who knows? Maybe we'll make some trend predictions for 2011.

You can find my original "52 Book Challenge" post by clicking the link.

Complete list of books I read during 2010: (and undoubtedly, there will be a few more added to this before the end of the year... I have a week, afterall. :D)
1. Who is Mark Twain? - Mark Twain
2. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
3. On Writing - Stephen King
4. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane - Katherine Howe
5. The Nanny Diaries - Emma McLaughlin
6. Captain Alatriste - Arturo Perez-Reverte (English translation)
7. The Angel Maker - Stefan Brijs (English translation)
8. Overclocked: Stories of the Future Present - Cory Doctorow
9. John Dies at the End - David Wong
10. Switching Time - Richard Baer
11. Sweeney Todd - Robert Mack
12. A Woman of No Importance - Oscar Wilde
13. Lady Windermere's Fan - Oscar Wilde
14. Little Book of Pandemics - Peter Moore
15. The Art of the Hunchback of Notre Dame
16. Lost Boys - Orson Scott Card
17. Xenocide - Orson Scott Card
18. Children of the Mind - Orson Scott Card
19. Solitaire - Kelley Eskeridge
20. Repo Men - Eric Garcia
21. Starstruck: When a Fan gets Close to Fame – Michael Joseph Gross
22. City of Bones – Cassandra Clare
23. The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
24. Catching Fire – Suzanne Collins
25. Twilight – Stephanie Meyer
26. Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse – Edited by John Joseph Adams
27. The Fruit of the Fallen – J. C. Burnham
28. The Blindspot – Jane Kamensky and Jill Lepore
29. James and the Giant Peach – Roald Dahl
30. Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie
31. Finding Emmaus – Pamela S. K. Glasner
32. Pirate Latitudes – Michael Crichton
33. The Singer – Calvin Miller
34. Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
35. Next – Michael Crichton
36. Fortuna – Michael R. Stevens
37. The Handmaid's Tale – Margaret Atwood
38. Tuck Everlasting – Natalie Babbitt
39. The Know it All - A. J. Jacobs
40. The Angels are the Reapers – Alden Bell
41. The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi
42. About Jenga - Leslie Scott
43. Mudbound - Hillary Jordan
44. The Know It All - A. J. Jacobs
45. Thomas Riley - Nick Valentino
46. Revolution - Jennifer Donnelly
47. Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
48. Hold Me Closer, Necromancer - Lish McBride
49. Matched - Ally Condie
50. The Clockwork Three - Matthew Kirby
51. The Man Who Loved Books Too Much - Allison Hoover Bartlett
52. Pathfinder - Orson Scott Card
53. Of Love and Evil - Anne Rice
54. Wither - Lauren DeStefano -- Review Coming Soon!
55. The Stepford Wives - Ira Levin
56. Zombies vs. Unicorns - Holly Black & Justine Larbalestier
57. Delirium - Lauren Oliver -- Review Coming Soon!

Top Five Books of the Year:
(in no particular order)
1) The Angels are the Reapers - Alden Bell
2) The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi
3) Pathfinder - Orson Scott Card
4) Wither - Lauren DeStefano
5) Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
(hmmm... I think I like post-apocalyptic/dystopias... and Orson Scott Card. :p)

Honorable mentions:
Solitaire - Kelley Eskeridge
Matched - Ally Condie
(again with the dystopias...)

Falling trends:
Vampires (finally!)

Trends at their peak:
Zombies
Dystopia/Post-Apocalyptic (brought on by the Mayan 2012 prophecy, no doubt)
First-person, present-tense, narration
Contemporary/Historical Fiction parallels (see: Finding Emmaus, Revolution)

Rising trends/predictions for 2011:
Superheroes (yes, actual novels about superheroes... not just comics)
Angels
Graphic novels
Hybrid books (i. e. books with multimedia options)
Aliens (good, old fashioned alien abduction stories)
Cover art: random objects floating on an abstract background

What will 2011 bring for The Daily Monocle?
MORE reviews!
MORE author interviews!
MORE giveaways!
MORE opportunities for you to get involved.

Thanks everyone for a wonderful year! We will resume our posting after the new year. :)

-J. P.

The Floating Islands by Rachel Neumeier

2010-12-23T17:12:00.000-08:00

Trei has lost his family and everything he's known. Now he has to go join his relatives on the Floating Islands, away from everything he's ever known. There he meets his cousin Araene, a girl about his age who frequently travels in the guise of a boy in order to circumvent the strict laws and boundaries set for the females of the country.

The Floating Islands are unique for their kajurai—the people who ride great, winged gliders through the sky. And only natives of the island can be flyers… or can they? With his cousin constantly breaking the rules, Trei finds the courage to follow his dreams and the legacy left for him in his mixed heritage.

The Floating Islands by Rachel Neumeier is supposedly for ages 12 and up. However, both the writing and the story itself seem aimed at a much younger audience. Girls dressing up as boys, and the "underdog" story presented for Trei are highly predictable by the age of 12.

I read 100 pages of this book, and nothing had really happened. The slow pace, combined with the aim at a younger audience, really just seemed to weigh the story down. If, perhaps, the story had been more complicated, or if the characters had been more engaging, this would have been an age-appropriate book for 12 year olds… but definitely no older. The Floating Islands isn't a bad book at all—it's just aimed at the wrong audience.

The Floating Islands hits shelves in early February

Author's Website Buy it on Amazon

You Killed Wesley Payne by Sean Beaudoin

2010-12-23T17:09:00.000-08:00

He's infamous to the authorities, but completely unknown to his peers. He's the slick seventeen year old detective coming to your school. He's Dalton Rev and now he's going to catch whoever killed Wesley Payne.

Wesley Payne was found hanging upside down on the goalposts of his school's sport field. And in this school, where there are more cliques than is probably humanly possible (and they all seem to hate each other), there's no telling who committed the crime. Now it's up to Dalton Rev, Payne's sister, and a motley of other students to solve the murder.

You Killed Wesley Payne by Sean Beaudoin is a fun detective tale written in a faux-noir style of mysteries of the past. Full of quick quips and colorful characters (and yes, annoying alliteration of names), one might think that You Killed Wesley Payne might be just what the YA market needs. Unfortunately, it straddles a fine line between the fun and the ridiculous, and crosses over to the latter side a little too often.

This book just seemed to be trying too hard in every respect. From the over-the-top personalities and their respective cliques, to the absurd You Killed Wesley Payne couldn't find secure footing. If any one thing could be picked on, it would be the style. Although Beaudoin tried to emulate the noir writers of the past, he didn't succeed. Instead, the story came out muddled, buried under a lot of ridiculous quips. Even if viewed as a comedy, it's highly difficult to digest.

I honestly was bored just a few pages in, and by 100 pages, I couldn't read another word. Maybe if you're a big fan of mysteries you'd like this one. Otherwise, You Killed Wesley Payne is one you probably want to skip.

You Killed Wesley Payne hits shelves in early February

Author's Website
Buy it on Amazon

Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card

2010-12-15T18:47:00.000-08:00

Rigg can see the paths of the people who have come before him. Like colored blurs of light, they hover above the ground, guiding and refining his hunting instincts. Under the tutelage of his father, Rigg becomes a wise and careful hunter. But after a freak accident, Rigg is suddenly thrust into the company of thieves, royalty, and unexpected friends. Now he's up against all odds to claim his rightful place as future king in a society that all but wants the royal family dead.

Simultaneously (in another place and time) a spaceship filled with the last remnants of humanity is attempting to cross the galaxy in an effort to find a hospitable planet. With a captain who seems uncertain under pressure, and a team full of "expendables" at his aid, the voyage seems doomed from the start... or does it?

With his usual flair for the intellectual, and startling ability to combine two seemingly-unrelated stories, Orson Scott Card has once again presented science-fiction fans around the world with a story worthy of the top of their to-be-read piles.

Pathfinder is as intelligent as it is fantastic. Card successfully writes the "quest" story without becoming too cliche. Rigg's ability to see these paths is deceptively simple, but allows ample room for exploration. Likewise, the concept of a colony ship heading towards an Earth-like planet with the last remnants of humanity has potential while still being a "root" concept of sorts. On their own, neither of these concepts could've carried the book, but when combined they present an intricate and thought-provoking read.

In addition to this, Card handles the paradoxes of time travel with dexterity. (In fact the only book that I've seen hand time travel comparably well is Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife, a book whose plot I didn't care for.) Card allows time travel to react and fold back into itself without it taking over the story, and without alienating casual science-fiction fans. That being said, if you come into Pathfinder looking for a hard science-fiction offering, you'll come away disappointed. Pathfinder is borderline fantasy, and will not satisfy fans of hardcore, or technological sci-fi.

Pathfinder hosts a plethora of complicated characters, each with their own distinct personality. And while each character was complete and well-developed, I couldn't emotionally attach myself to any one person. Card's strength is definitely in his subtle storytelling skills and character-driven plots. Pathfinder is definitely more plot-driven. This may be due to the fact that it's the first book in a trilogy, or it could simply be a new approach to writing (as I felt much the same way about Empire). Thankfully, the story itself is strong enough to keep readers glued to the page.

Card's writing is intelligent without becoming academic; straightforward without being juvenile. And although Pathfinder is being marketed as a YA novel, it doesn't bear the brand of condescension that most YA novels carry. And yes, it has that distinct Card flavor, with many circumstances of characters "thinking on the page". This trait of over-explanation does get in the way sometimes, but never actually hinders the story.

In many ways, Pathfinder is Ender's Game's older, wiser and more fanciful cousin. Each features a young protagonist with extraordinary gifts; each one is thrust into unusual and frightening circumstances. But whereas Ender seems to suffer under the pressures of his given task, Rigg flourishes. And while I'm sure the author might get a little tired of readers constantly referring back to Ender as the epitome of his writing, I'm presenting the comparison as a way of showing how much Card has grown as a writer. Pathfinder is truly a story for all ages, accessible to all audiences, and is just the sort of "YA" novel that should set the standard for teen literature. I can't wait to read the sequel.

As an aside, I met Orson Scott Card at a local book signing where (quite obviously) he signed my books. It was wonderful getting to hear about the characters and the story straight from the author, and I look forward to reading more of his books in the future.

Buy it on Amazon
Author's Website

Nevermind...

2010-12-15T18:24:00.000-08:00

Remember that hiatus I was talking about? Well... I lied.

Because, you see, there were a few things I forgot to mention. One being that I have a few reviews that need to go up this month. Like, right now. So, there will be reviews. There might even be interviews. And there will be one post summing up the year, my favorite (and least favorite) books, trends to keep an eye on, etc.

So keep checking The Daily Monocle for more updates! Who knows what you'll find?

-J. P.

Contest Winner+Announcement

2010-12-13T17:41:00.001-08:00

Congrats to Rebecca H. who won the Matched giveaway! Sorry it's taken so long for the announcement. I assure you that the book was mailed shortly after the contest ended. :)

And, as a brief (and somewhat sad) announcement: The Daily Monocle is going to take a break until January. I haven't had time to keep up with my reading, and I'm SLAMMED with pre-release books right now. So, in turn, I don't have any update material. Rest assured that we will return full-force with the new year.

Merry Christmas everyone!

-J. P.

Of Love and Evil by Anne Rice

2010-11-29T09:59:00.000-08:00

Assassin-turned-time traveler Toby O'Dare is back in Of Love and Evil, the second installment of Anne Rice's Song of the Seraphim series. After leaving behind life as a ruthless killer, Toby has joined forces with angel Malchiah to help right the wrongs of the past. Recently reunited with his long-lost love Liona, and the son he never knew he had, Toby begins to tread the unsteady path between human desire and Divine influence.

When Malchiah whisks Toby into fifteenth century Rome to solve a crime of poison, Toby finds himself in the middle of a blood feud. Ghosts, greed, temptation, and a dash of romance attempt to carry readers through the next installment of Rice's latest supernatural work, but unfortunately miss their mark.

The prose is flawless. Written in a tone that can only be described as "biblical", Rice's lyrically haunting style of writing suits her newest work very well. Her descriptions—especially those involving guardian angel, Malchiah—are vivid and tangible, a difficult balance to achieve when writing of supernatural beings. Although not archaic, Rice's prose carries the weight of the historical era in which Toby is involved, and this weight carries over as a reflection of Toby's emotional journey ahead.

However, unlike the prose, the story itself is rather tepid. It never fully leads readers in any one direction. Of Love and Evil could've been a romance, had Rice played up the interaction between Toby and Liona. Instead, they are written only as the couple who miraculously haven't changed in the ten years they've been apart. Of Love and Evil could've been a thriller, or a mystery, but Rice doesn't seem interested in providing her readers with any element of suspense. Methodically, she lays out each detail of the plot and how Toby will solve said plot, before doing exactly as we presumed she would.

This lack of excitement may, unfortunately, deter new readers from the Songs of the Seraphim project. Of Love and Evil reads like a "bridge" book, existing solely to tie two works together, despite the fact that it isn't the middle book in a trilogy, but rather one of the first books in a proposed series.

Rice's internal characterization of Toby is, for the most part, unseen. Only glimpses of his true emotions are given to the readers. None of the other characters are important enough to develop themselves. Rice does manage to pull Toby's character together by the end of the book, but many readers will be discouraged, and give up before this point.

While the great pitfall of writers can be "too much telling; not enough showing", Rice has managed to do the complete opposite. Toby doesn't have much of a character arc, because she doesn’t tell us anything about him, other than what we learned in the first book. Conversely, she tells us everything about fifteenth century Rome, and leaves no room for imagination. While Of Love and Evil has a lot of potential, it unfortunately misses the mark because of murky characterization and a shallow plot. But with the promise of a third book looming on the last page, perhaps Rice will develop The Songs of the Seraphim into a compelling and meaningful story.

Of Love and Evil hits shelves tomorrow!

Buy it on Amazon Author's Website

Rivers of Gold by Adam Dunn

2010-11-24T18:42:00.000-08:00

In the year 2013, New York City has plunged into a state of ruin. The city has fallen from its former heights, and now consists of nothing but the seedy underbelly of the world. And here, in the midst of the fashion, the lights, and the drugs, is Sixto Santiago, a taxi-driver/fashion photographer extraordinaire.

In this world, the men who drive taxi cabs are New York's law enforcement core. They're also your drug dealers—your heartbreakers—and anything else you could possibly imagine.

Rivers of Gold by Adam Dunn presents and exciting and original premise. Who wouldn't want to read about a decrepit New York—where ordinary citizens play the ultimate anti-heroes. Unfortunately, I couldn't get past the first 100 pages, because of one, simple problem:

Too much sexual content.

At the most basic level, good books are a balance of necessary elements. It's up to the author to decide what those elements are. If the author tips the scale in any one direction, they end up with a caricature of a story that could've easily been avoided with the removal of just a few things.

The thing that killed Rivers of Gold for me was the gratuitous graphic sex. As stated in my blog policy, I will always read 100 pages of the books I receive for review. However, I had a difficult time even reading that much.

I feel like if I could've spent more time with Rivers of Gold, and been able to really explore it's world, I would've been able to lose myself completely in the story. Dunn has developed a complicated world for his readers, one that is worthy of exploration. But we as readers need to see it through a different lens. I found this book confusing, muddled, and far too occupied with pleasures of the flesh. I could understand a scene or two, but when I find myself cringing on nearly every page, I know it's time to put the book down.

Matched by Ally Condie + Giveaway!

2010-11-22T08:29:00.000-08:00

On Cassia's seventeenth birthday, she goes to her Matching ceremony. This is the moment she's waited for—to see her perfect Match for life. Of course, when she's Matched with Xander—her childhood best friend—it feels like a dream come true. But when another boy's face flashes across the screen for just a second, it plants the seed of doubt in Cassia's mind. After all, can anyone truly be perfectly matched?

Set in a true dystopic society, Ally Condie's Matched is undoubtedly one of this year's hottest reads, sure to gather comparisons to the work of Lois Lowry (The Giver; Gathering Blue) and Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games).

While some readers will be tempted to group Matched with one of the aforementioned titles, discerning readers will hesitate to do so. Simply put, Matched isn't like other dystopias on teen shelves today. Where most dystopic fictions emphasize the differences from the elusive time before and the jarringly perfected now, Condie's debut novel instead offers a story that is eerily similar to the world we already know; a hallmark of a complete dystopia.

The plot is simple enough. In fact, 50 pages into the book, one may still wonder where the story is going. What casual readers won't realize is the fact that Matched is a subtle story; a hidden story. One with different emotions, and gentle characters that carry the reader from page to page, not with their mind-blowing actions and larger-than-life personalities, but with their sheer humanity. The characters are not extremes of each other; every attitude and action is measured and temperate. And yet, they are distinct; each acting in their own way. Each element of the story is built on a previous—or future—element. Everything falls neatly into place.

It's a bit eerie. The writer, clearly in control of her characters, allows herself to play God to the highest level. She allows herself to know and think and feel with her characters, and successfully translates this onto the page. In a way, it's almost too easy to fall into the writing; the prose could've been more enjoyable, had it been more complicated. But for this particular story, the simplicity works.

And here is where this book strays from the norm of dystopic fiction. It's only been about 70 years since the world of Matched became a dystopia. Old habits die hard, and clearly, the discontent, the cruelty—the desire and the real human emotions—have not yet been bred out of the people. The world of Matched is a world still teetering on the edge of what was, and what could be.

While dystopias threaten to become the next super genre fad like quest-style fantasy, paranormal romance, and zombies, there of course, will still be books that stand out from the crowd. Matched isn't a colorful book. This isn't a book that will make you smile, or ache, or really evoke any extreme emotion. Instead it settles into you; lingers with you. It requires you to think.

And sometimes, those are the best books of all.

Make sure you mark your calendars for November 30th when Matched hits the shelves!

Author's website
Buy it on Amazon

The Daily Monocle is offering Matched as our November giveaway! To enter, just fill out the form below. Open to residents of USA and Canada only. Contest ends on November 30th

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This is a post

2010-11-19T14:18:00.000-08:00

At last, I am posting again.

College finals are coming up, and the world is crazy. Never fear. I will be posting new material shortly. All of those wonderful books on my "coming soon" list? Have you been anxiously waiting for their reviews? Do not worry any longer! Our next four reviews will (most likely) be:

Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card
Of Love and Evil by Anne Rice
Rivers of Gold by Adam Dunn
The Clockwork Three by Matthew Kirby

Just to name a few!

Now, the reason I haven't been updating? Well, other than school work (and finals and studying and all that good stuff), I've been participating in NaNoWriMo, an online challenge where you write a 50,000 word novel in a month. Needless to say, it's crazy. XD

So, this is just kind of a head's up post. I'm not dead. I'm still living on the face of the earth, and I will have a wonderful update on Monday.

I hope to see you all then. :)

An Interview with Lish McBride

2010-11-05T15:34:00.000-07:00

Lish McBride, author of Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, was kind enough to stop by and give us this epic interview. I hope you all enjoy it, and be sure to check out her website, and her book!

***

What inspired you to write Hold Me Closer, Necromancer?

Boredom, originally. The book started as a really terrible short story when I was stuck in alternative school with nothing to do (I’d already finished my work). Then I rewrote it when I was in college. It was still terrible, but I needed a story to turn in for class, and I wanted to work on something fun. Then I just kept thinking about the story, changing things, adding things. I don’t know if there was ever a light bulb kind of moment.

And about how long did it take you to write it?

To actually get the first draft out, maybe three to six months? I’m not sure. I was in grad school at the time, and the book was my thesis to graduate. So, while I was working on draft one, I was also turning in short stories and screenplays and working on the school journal. Then we spent a couple of months doing revisions before shopping it out to publishers. After Holt bought it, we spent another year and a half or so working on it because we had time…so, maybe two to three years total? But like I said, I was doing a lot of other stuff at the time and then taking my time with my editor.

Your protagonist, Sam is a teenage guy, a voice in which many women find it difficult to write. Was it difficult for you to write in a guy's voice?

You know, people ask me this a lot and I don’t really get it. What I mean is, authors tend to write outside of themselves. No one asks if it was hard to write from the point of view of someone who can raise the dead or turn into a wolf, and I’m not any of those things either. I think if you’re writing a fleshed out character, it doesn’t really matter what gender you or your character is, especially now. We’ve moved into this great time when there are all different points on the gender scale. Sam is a guy, but he’s kind of a gentle beta male. He’s not going to talk about hot rod cars or work on his pecs. He’s just not that kind of dude, and I know a lot of guys like Sam. Plus, I’m not the girliest cat in the universe. I was raised with three brothers and it shows.

In college, I had three male roommates. It’s always been easier for me to live with boys. We took a vote one day and decided I was the most masculine in the house. We’ll put it this way, three people in our house had seen the Princess Diaries, and I wasn’t one of them. Most of my friends just aren’t uber masculine.

I think a lot of people get caught up in trying too hard to make their characters sound like teens (or like their gender) and they forget that, well, teens are still people, and no two people talk alike. So, Sam just sounds like Sam. I didn’t try too hard to make him sound young or like a guy. I just wrote it, thinking that no one would see it, since it was just my thesis to graduate.

Speaking of Sam, I know he works at a fast food restaurant and has some… amusing experiences there. Have you ever worked in a similar situation and/or gone through some of those same experiences?

Sadly, yes. I know first hand what a grease traps smells like. I’ve played potato hockey—though I played this later at a bakery since the fast food place I worked at didn’t have potatoes, just pre-cut frozen fries. We spent many an hour playing “guess what I put in the fryer.” A coworker dared me to drink straight soda mix once (before the carbonated water or whatever it is added) and I ran around like a humming bird until I slipped on some grease. And yes, I did catch the grill on fire. Grease is flammable, people.

Unlike many contemporary books, Hold Me Closer, Necromancer presents a tangible "bad guy" in Douglas. How did you like writing a definite villain?

What’s kind of sad is I think I have to edit his parts the least. Douglas is definitely one of my “louder” characters. Writing him is more like channeling, which can be a little scary to read back and think, “Huh. So that’s in my brain. Good to know.” The thing about Douglas is he makes me kind of sad. He was warped pretty young by his psychotic aunt, and he didn’t really have a choice. So with all of his later decisions, there’s a kind of inevitability about them—I know he’s going to make bad choices and I can’t stop him. It’s kind of like watching your kid learn how to ride their bike. They fall down a lot, and it hurts to watch, but you have to stand back and let them fall or they’ll never learn.

The flipside is that villains are fun to write. When I write Sam, who is a much nicer person than I am, I have to always check my decisions and see if that’s the right thing for him to do. Not so with Douglas. He’s very much a do what I want when I want kind of person and not many of us can get away with that kind of thing.

I think one of the defining factors of your book is that it's set in the present-day "ordinary" world. Why did you choose to do this?

I love urban fantasy. That being said, when I was younger, I was set on writing traditional fantasy only…well, I’m not very good at it yet. But I love the contrast of urban fantasy. Magic cheek to jowl with technology creates a lot of interesting friction. In this case, I’m not sure it was a conscious choice. The book always started at the fast food place, and that pretty much locks you into here and now.

Paranormal fiction is a huge market right now, especially in the Young Adult genre. Most of these stories deal primarily with paranormal romance, however Hold Me Closer, Necromancer uses paranormal romance only as a backdrop. Was this a conscious decision on your part, or did it just happen like that?

I prefer to let the story come out, and whatever happens, happens. Shaping is what you do during editing. It’s good to know what’s popular I guess, but if you try to aim your books, well, that can back fire. I do like paranormal romance, but remember when I said I was raised by brothers and that I’m kind of like a dude? Make that a twelve year old dude who’s still pretty sure they need cootie shots, and you’re getting close to the mark. My man friend is more likely to buy me comics than flowers, for sure, so I’m not I’m the best target audience for romance. (I do like flowers; it’s just that they don’t last long and comic books are forever.)

However, Sam had a crush on Brid from the get go. I was planning on introducing them in book one and saving any romance-y stuff for later, but both of them told me no. They said now and I had to listen. My characters are very bossy.

Your book is written with a healthy dose of "black humor". Do you naturally write like this, or was it something you had to strive for?

I can’t stop it. Seriously. I used to get into trouble all the time because of “my smart mouth” and all of my research papers had notes on them about my lack of academic tone. I don’t mean to do it sometimes, but I’ll write something down in all seriousness and someone will read it and say, “that’s very funny” and then I get confused because, well, I was trying to be serious. I’m just not very good at it, I guess. My family is pretty funny and I was introduced to English humor (Monty Python, A Fish Called Wanda, etc.) and Canadian humor (Kids in the Hall, SCTV) at a young age, not to mention the fact that I learned to read by flipping through Garfield comics.

On top of that, my family is pretty medical, and I think humor is a natural coping mechanism. My mom has been an ICU nurse forever. She’s seen some pretty terrible things, and at some point, it’s either laugh or cry, you know? I used to have to pick her up from work and I’d have to walk past the “quiet room” (which was never quiet because it was a padded room for drunks or people that had come off their meds and they liked to shout things at passersby), past people coming down from heroin screaming their lungs out, people with massive injuries, and that was just to get to her office. All very sad things, all of which can really take it out of you. So, we crack jokes.

Looking back, I don’t think I had much of a choice with the dark humor thing.

Who was your favorite character to write?

Man, that’s tough. Ashley is fun because she’s snarky and I don’t get to write her all the time…and I like doing the back and forth between Ramon and Sam. I don’t know if I have favorites, to be honest.

All of your chapter titles are song lyrics (and there are some excellent songs in there, I might add!). Did you have a writing playlist? If so, do you care to share any of it?

I don’t have a writing playlist. I used to put music on when I wrote, but then I realized that I block it out anyway. Albums would be long over and I wouldn’t even notice. I tend to write in a café now (so cliché, I know) and they play some good music, so every once in awhile I’ll surface and hear a random song, but that’s it.

I do love music, though. I think that’s pretty apparent.

Now, as I mentioned in my review, I love the cover art on this book. What did you think when you first saw the cover?

Relief. We’d been having some cover issues. I really liked the original cover, but Barnes and Noble didn’t like it so we had to change it. They wanted something with a more realistic photo on the cover, and I had this fear of getting a bunch of mopey teens on my book. A gaggle of emo kids is good for a dramatic book, but my book isn’t like that. So the illustrator (who’d done an awesome job) had to go back to the drawing board. The next few covers I saw were quick mock ups but they were covered in sad faced teens and they had the same Alexie quote about the book being funny and I kept thinking, “Well, it sure doesn’t look funny.” So when they finally put together the current cover and the designer had made it interesting and different, I was really happy. He’s amazing, and if I ever get to meet him, I’m going to hug him in a very awkward manner.

How long have you been writing?

Forever. I’m one of those jerks who always knew what they wanted to be. For a short span of time I wanted to be a veterinarian and a writer, but then I realized vets had to poke animals with needles, so I crossed that one off. I think I was six. Then in high school I told a friend I might want to try and be a comedian and a writer, but he told me I wasn’t funny. And now I get paid to be funny. Win!

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer is your debut novel. Was getting this book published everything you thought it would be? Why or why not?

Yes, and no. I went to a creative writing program and they were pretty good at preparing me for some of the stuff (like having no control over your cover) but there’s a bunch they never tell you, and some stuff you just don’t think will happen. Part of the problem is we tend to shroud the process in mystery so people aren’t prepared. Luckily, most of my surprises have been pleasant. I thought agents and editors would be scary, but all of mine are super nice. My publisher flew me to New York for a lunch meet-and-greet this summer. They flew me cross-country for LUNCH. The whole time I kept thinking that it was silly and people didn’t actually fly somewhere for lunch. And then I was worried about the meet-and-greet, but everyone was so nice and friendly.

I guess a lot of it hasn’t sunk in yet. Every time I see my book on the shelf, I feel like there must be another Lish McBride out there and someone made a big mistake. It’s all very surreal.

Would you like to continue writing in the world of Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, or are you going to move on to another project?

When Holt bought HMCN, they also bought book two. I’m editing it now. We’ll see what happens after that.

In fact, if you're working on a novel right now, do you care to share any details?

Hopefully book two will be done soon, and when that’s off into copy editing land, I’ll get back to a new project that I’m working on that’s totally different. It’s still YA, but that’s all I’m saying…for now.

Do you have a certain room you like to write in the best?

I’ve learned that I can’t write in my house. The layout is terrible and there’s nowhere off to the side to go and hole up. I kept getting distracted by chores and books and shiny things. So I’ve been meeting a friend at a coffee shop. That’s been working nicely.

You have ten words in which to convince people to read your novel. Go!:

Talking severed head, skateboards, and a zombie panda. That enough?

Have you ever had any sort of paranormal experience like those in your novel?

Nope. I keep trying, though. One of these days, I’m going to raise me a zombie.

If you were one of the magically inclined sorts that are present in your novel, which one would you be and why?

Tough question. There’s a Fury in there, and though we haven’t really seen her much yet, she’s pretty badass. It would be cool to talk to the dead, but it might be kind of spooky, too. I like the Harbingers, but I wouldn’t like being dead. Probably a were. I’d love to be able to change into something else. James would also be a good answer, but you haven’t read book two yet, so you don’t know why. Mu ah ha ha ha! (Sorry I’m such a jerk.)

Halloween just passed. Have you ever considered dressing up as one of your characters? Did you dress up this year?

Not really, no. My editor went as Ashley last year, which I thought was pretty sweet and my friend dressed her baby up as Sam for Halloween, which was cool, though it’s probably doomed him to geekdom forever.

I usually dress up because I love Halloween. (I miss living in New Orleans. They do Halloween right, for sure.) This year I just put on some horns and helped my friend hand out candy. I grew up in the woods, so I never really got to do that. She took pity on me and let me help, which was awfully nice of her. Last year I made a black, glittery mask, wore some stars on my head, and made a black cape with stars and bats on it and went as The Night. It was fun.

Thanks again to the wonderful Lish Mcbride!

Thomas Riley by Nick Valentino

2010-10-25T08:03:00.001-07:00

Thomas Riley is a brilliant weapons designer working from the safety of his laboratory in West Canavia. His violent creations are the pride and joy of the army and their efforts in the war against Lemuria. And with Cynthia, his wonderful assistant, to keep his feet on the ground, what could possibly go wrong?

When the soul of a high ranking official's daughter gets stuck inside Cynthia's body after an alchemy accident, Thomas finds himself confronted with problems he never knew existed. Now he's caught between two enemies—the Lemurians, and his own people—for the fight of his life.

Thomas Riley by debut author Nick Valentino is a highly-imaginative steampunk offering, perfect for those new to the genre.

Thomas Riley's strength lies mostly in its imagination. Riley himself is a genius, and his inventions are the sort that will enchant even the most jaded of readers. These imaginative creations are often at the core of a good steampunk tale, and they help keep the reader engaged. One of this book's chief joys is the plethora of devices, and wondering what Riley will come up with next.

Characterization is greatly overshadowed by the plot-driven nature of the novel. In fact, one might even go so far as to say that Riley is an exclusively plot-driven novel. That being said, a lot of great plot might have been sacrificed for the sake of pacing, which, at times, was quick to a fault. The book could've benefited from being fifty or so pages longer, and the writing could've reveled in its moments of quiet development, rather than plowing along to the next element. That being said, I'm going to contradict myself, and say that I loved the fast-paced feel of the action scenes.

Thomas Riley himself is the most well-developed character. He is sweet, and identifiable, without being a Mary Sue. The other characters were flat at times, and could've used quite a bit more development, but as I mentioned earlier, this simple issue could've been solved with the inclusion of more story.

Valentino's writing is straightforward in every way. It gets the job done, and doesn't leave much room for decorum. This is not to say that the writing was dull; it portrayed what it needed to, vividly, but it portrayed little else. I haven't read too terribly much in the way of steampunk, but with there had been a little more of a Victorian feel to the writing itself.

Riley has a lot of potential in the YA market. I didn't realize this was its projected audience while reading the book—which is a good thing, because YA is better if handled discreetly. Despite the "older" age of the protagonists, its spunky characters and imagination opens the doors to a truly ageless novel. And this, coupled with the fact that steampunk as a genre seems to captivate teens around the world, leaves a lot of marketing potential for the author, if handled in the correct fashion.

All in all, Thomas Riley is a fun read. It truly shows you the power of a good imaginative tale, and would be an excellent 'starter book' for newcomers to steampunk. The few things I could find fault with are common in debut novels, and usually by the second installment, are eradicated. I look forward to reading the sequel as soon as I can.

On another note, I had the good fortune to meet Nick Valentino at a book festival earlier this year. Although the morning quickly turned to rain, his excitement was not dampened. Decked from head to toe in neo-Victorian clothing, a pair of alchemist's goggles on his head, he signed my copy of Thomas Riley (and if you know me, you know that I would take a signed book over just about anything else), and then began telling me about his writing.

Valentino's excitement was absolutely infectious, and I couldn't wait to start reading. Unfortunately, I had a backlog of other materials I had to cover first, and so was just able to finish the book this last weekend.

Buy it on Amazon
Author's website

The Ovary Wars by Mike Hogan

2010-10-22T10:54:00.000-07:00

How does a terrorist kill four million people? He stops them from being born.

So reads the ominous tagline for Mike Hogan's The Ovary Wars, a book which admittedly has loads of potential, but suffers from poor execution.

Professor Kirby Wadsworth is a radical advocate for population control. His students often come away shaken from his lectures. He bends the lines between moral and amoral with uncanny ease, and wants to share his opinions with the world.

Soon an opportunity comes along to fufil his dream. Wadsworth helps develop Ovamort, a drug that shuts down the ovaries. But how to carry out this dream? How to convince most of the young women of the world to destroy their bodies? Well, for Wadsworth, it's simple: you don't tell them what they're taking until it's too late.

Perhaps what's so chilling about this tale, is that it could happen. I have no doubt that medicines capable of Ovamort's effects could be made. This borderline science-fiction is usually my forte, but this time, I just couldn't finish.

Hogan clearly knows what he's talking about. He is an expert in his field, and this shows in the prose. The story itself was well-developed; the plot solid. Even the characters seemed to know who they were.

However, after 100 pages, I had to leave The Ovary Wars on the shelf. Why? Simply because it was too technical for me. The prose lacked the emotion that I prefer to read in books. I could not bring myself to read it, when I felt that the writing was dry.

This could be easily remedied by another run through with a red-pen, perhaps. One final edit. A lot of times, this final edit is the difference between a good book, and a great book. And I feel like The Ovary Wars had tons of potential. Unfortunately, it just wasn't the book for me.

Buy it on Amazon Author's Website

An Interview with Jennifer Donnelly

2010-10-18T19:18:00.001-07:00

Although it's a few days late (my bad), here is the wonderful interview that Jennifer Donnelly did for The Daily Monocle. You may remember I reviewed Revolution not too long ago, and now we get to hear from the author. Enjoy! And don't forget to check out Revolution at your local bookstore. :D

***

Revolution's central concept is the French Revolution. How long have you been interested in the French Revolution?

Actually, the book’s central concept can be found in Alex’s last diary entry – and Andi’s eventual understanding of it – that “the world goes on stupid and brutal, but I do not.”

What inspired the book was not the French Revolution per se. It was an article in the New York Times about a small human heart in a glass urn that had been in the possession of the Basilica of St. Denis, in Paris, and which had been undergone DNA testing and had been identified as belonging to Louis Charles, the young son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

The article went on to explain the terrible treatment this child had received at the hands of the revolutionaries, and it really upset me. I couldn’t understand how a group of people who wanted liberty, equality and fraternity for all, denied those very things to a defenseless child. It raised a lot of questions for me, and provoked a great deal of emotion, and I had finally had to deal with it the way writers do – by writing a story.

Did you visit France before writing this book?

Yes, several times. Before and during the writing of the book.

One of the big themes in Revolution is grief. Is there a particular reason that you chose to write about grief and mourning?

It wasn’t really my choice. My subject matter, and my characters, dictated it.

Your main character, Andi is a musician, and much of Revolution centers around her musical interests. She shows classical influences in modern music numerous times. Do you feel a particular connection to music and history?
I’ve always felt an enormously strong connection to both music and history, and Andi does, too. Music sustains her. She sees and understands the rich legacy of her musical ancestors. One thing I would really like readers to take from the book is the idea that artistic legacies exist for all of us – in music, in writing, in painting. When the going gets tough, reach back and clasp hands with artists who have gone before you. Let them teach you and inspire you and carry you through.

Is there a particular reason you chose Mahlerbeau as a facet of your novel, instead of a non-fictional composer?

I don’t want to give anything away, but I needed a fictional composer because Malherbeau was someone else before he was Malherbeau.

Andi listens to a lot of under-the-radar bands. How many new musical artists did you discover while writing Revolution?

Loads! Including MGMT. Grizzly Bear. St. Vincent. Brother Ali. Arcade Fire. Spooky Ghost. Dirty Projectors. G. Love. John Butler. Some aren’t so under the radar anymore. Discovering these musicians was one of the big joys of writing this book.

If you could choose a theme song for Revolution, what would it be?
That’s an impossible question! But if I had to choose just one, it would be Shine on You Crazy Diamond.

Do you play any musical instruments?

Not one.

Each of your characters has a very distinctive name. Did you have to hunt for their names, or did they name themselves?
Yes, they do have distinctive names. That was very deliberate. Virgil is named for the poet. Like that Virgil with Dante, he leads Andi through her own hell and out again.

Marianne and Lewis...Max R. Peters...the new baby, Leroy...Jimmy Shoes and Jacques Chaussures....all echoes from the past.

Who is your favorite character?

I don’t have one. I love both girls tremendously.

A lot of writers feel a visceral connection with their characters, and their characters' emotions. Andi, in particular, is grieving for much of the novel. Did you find your emotions influenced at all by your characters?

Absolutely. This book took a huge piece of my heart. It was very difficult to write because of the emotional hell Andi and Alex go through.

How long have you been writing?

Ever since I was a young child.

About how long did it take you to write Revolution?

The idea was percolating for about ten years. The actual writing took about three.

Is there any particular time of day when you like to write the most?

I have a young daughter, so I write while she’s at school, and often go back at it at night.

Revolution isn't your first novel. How did writing this novel differ from the writing of your first novel?

I had slightly more a clue what I was doing. But only slightly!

Are you the kind of author who outlines her work before writing, or do you just go for it?

I outline obsessively. The plots and structures of my books are complex, and I need to know where the characters are going and how they are going to get there before I actually start writing.

Historical fiction novels that parallel lives from two different times are an up-and-coming trend. Were you conscious of this while writing, or did the story just come to you in this form?

I had no idea I was part of an up-and-coming trend. That would be a first. The form for Revolution came to me after I spent a great deal of time struggling to make the book either a historical novel or a contemporary novel. Neither character – Andi in the present, or Alex in the past – would give an inch of ground. So I finally had to. I surrendered and gave the book over to both of them.

Could you name three authors who have influenced your writing the most?

I can name three authors whose work I love and admire: James Joyce, Jeanette Winterson and Graham Greene.

If you were stuck on a plane with any literary character from any work—your own, or otherwise—who would you choose to fly with, and why?

Heathcliff and Cathy – what an interesting flight that would be!

If you could choose any artist—contemporary or historical—to paint a picture of your main character, who would you choose and why?

Van Gogh, because he had a huge, huge heart.

And just because I'm a huge fan of The Decemberists—do you really think that Picaresque is better than Castaways and Cutouts? And where does The Hazards of Love factor into all of this?

I’m a huge fan of the Decemberists, and no, I don’t think Picaresque is better – that’s Virgil’s and Andi’s argument. I love all their work and I think The Hazards of Love is total genius.

A big thank you to Jennifer Donnelly for interviewing with The Daily Monocle!

A few updates

2010-10-13T18:10:00.000-07:00

Well, as some of you know, earlier today The Daily Monocle was temporarily down. Our image hosting site died, and we had to find a new one. Not to worry, we're [obviously] up and running again, and with several updates to boot. Huzzah!

Firstly, we updated the About page, to include our Review Policy. This is the policy I've kept from the beginning with this blog, but now I'm making it public. Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions.

Secondly, I've gotten a few more things published, and so decided to update the My Published Material tab, in case yeou're interested in reading something by yours truly.

And lastly, I wanted to announce that on Friday, we'll be posting an interview with Revolution author, Jennifer Donnelly! Make sure to check back and read, as well as check out our review.

Write on you lovely bookworms,
-J. P.

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride

2010-10-11T14:38:00.000-07:00

College dropout, Sam LaCroix, flips burgers for a living at the local fast food joint. But when a wayward potato attracts the attention of a man called Douglas, Sam's life is turned completely upside down. You see, Douglas is a necromancer—a man who raises the dead for the highest bidder. And as it turns out, Sam is a necromancer too, albeit a weak one. Now he has to figure out how to harness his power and stay on Douglas' good side—or else.

In this delightfully absurd debut novel, Lish McBride weaves a tale that is at once hilarious, and chilling.

Sam's character is quirky and well-defined. Hold Me Closer, Necromancer is written primarily in the present-tense, first person, and so we as readers have a visceral relationship with the main characters. Sam, in particular, is full of human unpredictability and emotion, as is Douglas. The other characters—with the possible exception of Brooke—are distinctly secondary characters, but still manage to be necessary elements of the novel.

The plot is, in a word, delightful. It does have its creepy moments; some scenes were absolutely chilling. But the mild scare factor is tempered by a healthy dose of black humor and sarcasm. And although the plot is somewhat predictable, it's still a wonderful read, and is only occasionally tempered by prose that is paced a little too quickly.

Now, I have to say that the writing was one of my favorite parts of the novel; it continually surprised me with a sort of shifting style that keeps the reader engaged. McBrid's style is very easy to read, without being patronizing. Like a lot of up-and-coming authors, McBride's prose alternates between first-person present tense, and third-person past tense. It's clear that the author is more comfortable in the first-person, but still manages to write well in both.

As a reviewer, I feel that it's my job to review the prose rather than the cover art. And yes, I abide somewhat by that age-old adage to never judge a book by it's cover. However, Hold Me Closer, Necromancer has beautiful cover art, and I feel that it warrants a mention. The red-on-black opaque, vector-style is visually striking and stands out when lined up with the other books at the bookstore. And let's face it; in a world progressively becoming more and more visually focused, cover art plays a huge part in consumer reaction.

Lish McBride has presented a wonderful debut novel that holds much potential. The author leaves the ending open in the possibility of a series. Hold Me Closer, Necromancer will delight fans of books of the mildly creepy. This is not a book for fans of hardcore horror. However, if you're looking for something fun, but dark—a great story to read by flashlight--Hold Me Closer, Necromancer is probably the perfect book for you.

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer hits shelves tomorrow! Be sure to check it out at your local bookstore.

Buy it on Amazon

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

2010-10-03T17:30:00.000-07:00

Andi Alpers is a gifted teenage musician grieving over the death of her younger brother. But when her apathy and overdoses cause her to almost flunk out of prep school, Andi's distant father—a world renowned geneticist—whisks her off to Paris for a change of pace.

Alexandrine Paradis is an aspiring actress living during the French Revolution. Her constant companion is the young dauphin of France, whom she cares for and loves as if he were her own child. Amidst the turmoil and violence of the revolution, Alexandrine keeps a diary, and one night tucks this diary into her guitar case. There it waits for hundreds of years, until Andi, in a fit of curiosity, opens the book, and a whole world of secrets.

Together they embark upon a journey of self-discovery, history and music. A journey that continually weaves in and out of fact and fiction, until the lines blur into one fantastic cacophony of words. A journey which, I am surprised to say, hooked me from beginning to end.

Often, if young adult books have a character suffering from depression, the illness itself is abused as a plot device; an outlet which allows the character to wallow in angst. Thankfully, Jennifer Donnelly's Revolution bucks the trend, and presents us with a fresh, historical story that doesn't fit into any one genre.

Donnelly's characters are well-defined and flawed. From the eccentric, to the dashing, each one moves the story along in their own particular way. Andi herself is mature, if confused. Sometimes she makes bad decisions, but she manages to pick herself up again, and only occasionally hampers the story with her emotional turmoil. Her father is appropriately preoccupied, and her brother—although he is gone before the story begins—manages to crawl into our hearts. There are one or two characters that seem unnecessary, but they do not hinder the plot.

The plot moves slowly at first, but then morphs into a page-turner. Although predictable at times, (almost) every event seemed logical. And with Donnelly alternating between Andi's lyrical first-person, present-tense voice, and Alexandrine's more formal, third-person, past-tense, the writing itself remains new and exciting. Although it seems that Donnelly had to accustom herself to Alexandrine's voice, she soon becomes an exciting and necessary part of the plot.

The prose in Revolution is wonderful, lyrical and contemporary. There are lots of culture references (i. e. Sharpie instead of permanent marker); lots of contemporary ideas. But the writing itself is so personal, and it flows so well, that I could truly get lost in the story. There were times when I'd read 70 or 100 pages, and wouldn't realize that I'd been sitting and reading at all.

But my favorite part of the whole novel would have to be its musical references. From St. Vincent to The Decemberists, I'm dying to ask the author just how many independent and/or obscure bands she listened to while writing her book. As a musician myself, I love to listen to the small bands that don't get a lot of media coverage (just ask me about my obsession with /Passenger). And I appreciate how Donnelly let her protagonist choose the music that was right for her. There are also many wonderful explanations and mentions of musical theory, and how classical music has influenced rock music today… true music—real music—isn't an element often seen in teen literature.

Though not without it's flaws, Revolution is an exciting foray into history, music and grief. It's a melodic story of love and friendship—of bonds that tie time together. But mostly, it's an intelligent tale of one girl who lived and breathed her musical passion. And for that alone, it's worth the read. In any case, it is by far, one of the best young adult novels I've ever read, and one of my favorite books of the year.

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly hits shelves on October 12th. Make sure to mark your calendars and pick up a copy at your local bookstore!

Pre-Order it on Amazon
Author's Website

Contest Winner! + Important Information

2010-10-01T20:44:00.000-07:00

First and foremost, I'd like to say Congratulations to Kari! Kari (who, by the way, is team zombie) is the winner of Zombies vs. Unicorns. I'll be contacting you shortly, and your book will be out early next week. :)

In other news...

1) If you are a publicist/publisher/author, and you've given me a book to review, do not fear. I am in the process of reading it. I've finally figured out how to juggle this year's workload with the blog. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to review some of these books. If you see another review go up before I get to yours, and you know your book has been with me longer, it's probably because the review in question was time-sensitive, and I had to get it out before the book hit shelves.

2) There will be a review on Monday. And hopefully, the Monday after that too. My plan right now is to update at least twice a week-- Mondays and Fridays--with one of those being a review, and the other being an author interview. In December and January I will probably update more frequently, but for now, that's all I can manage.

3) NaNoWriMo is coming up. Therefore, I will most likely be slightly crazy for the next two months. Don't be alarmed. This is to be expected. And if you want to join me in the madness, feel free to friend me on NaNoWriMo.

4) For those of you who participated in Operation Paperback: I was not able to collect an adequate amount of books to fill a box. This isn't a problem, it just means that it's going to take me a little longer to send it off. Your books will still reach the troops, and yes, your blog will be included on my blog roll. It's just taking longer that I expected.

5) And finally, I'm not sure if I posted about this before, but I now review sci-fi and fantasy for the New York Journal of Books Online. Their new website is going up on Monday or Tuesday, so be sure to check it out and tell your friends. :)

I appreciate everyone's patience with me as I attempt to sort out this new life. All of you faithful readers are the ones who keep me going. :)

Read on, my lovely bookworms,
-J. P.

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan

2010-09-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

This is a review/article hybrid. I hope you all enjoy it. :D

***

Mud in a circle like a halo of brown. Wreathing the farmhouse and spattering the windows with dirty fingerprints. Inside the house is a family that can't breathe because the muck is plugging up the chimney and seeping over the hinges of the doors. Not even the fireplace can manage to burn through this unending wall of brown, so how can these suffocating people hope to survive?

Now, this isn't a farmhouse anymore. This is a body. And this body belongs to a young man who shouldn't ever have to worry about anything but the occasional storm. But the storms have come and rained scarlet and fire—storms of war, and race, and blind hatred and prejudice—and the mud slid down to stop up his doorway. So, if a sturdy farmhouse with a foundation gets stuck in the mud, how can a solitary man hope to get out?

Ronsel Jackson is black. This is a simple fact that should not, under any circumstances, affect him or his family, any more than a Blue Jay is affected by the color of its wings. But unlike the Jay, who will continue to fly, regardless of its appearance, Ronsel's wings have been clipped—or, more accurately, burned by the flames of war and injustice. He has fought alongside his comrades, and has died their deaths a thousand times. And somehow, he has managed to keep himself together; out of the mud.

In fact, he's managed to do more than this. He's found love with a woman who hardly speaks his language, and couldn't care less that the color of his skin differs from her own. And when he has to leave her behind amid a flurry of complications and controversy, he fights. He holds his head high. He leaves behind what he wants most, because society will not allow him to have it.

Where is Ronsel to go, when he can't even walk through the front door of a store without discrimination? How is he supposed to swim if everyone seeks to drown him further? What kind of a journey leads you in a backwards loop, taking you forward into the mess of everything you left behind?

Through no device of his choosing, Ronsel is mud bound by the color of his own skin. He struggles under the bias exhibited towards him and his community at large. However, Ronsel constantly pushes towards what he knows is right; a future where color won't matter anymore, and where freedom is as common as grass.

His character is one that many people will be able to identify with. A soldier. A fighter. A father, a friend. A lover, a brother, a farmer and a son. He is someone as human as you or I, and yet he lives in a world so radically different from our own, that we have a difficult time understanding exactly how extreme his circumstances are.

Though there are many stories of prejudice in the American South, Hillary Jordan's Mudbound seeks to best them all. With excellent skills in characterization, she succeeds in writing to life a character whose story has, unfortunately, been lived time and time again.

Mudbound is an aptly titled novel not only because it reflects the external struggle of the World War II-era American South, but the internal struggle of a suffering people. It paints a stark picture in sepia tones of blood and life and what happens when people let their false principles get the best of them. Mudbound opens a door which few people want to walk through, mainly because it opens from a path covered with mud, and no one wants to dirty their shoes.

But it we're afraid of the mud, how are we to become unstuck?

Author's Website
Buy it on Amazon

Zombies vs. Unicorns Anthology + Giveaway

2010-09-12T14:19:00.000-07:00

It is the most epic battle of all time, between two of the most epic creatures in all of history. You've been waiting for it; I've been waiting for it. And finally, it's here…

What is it? Zombies versus unicorns, of course. And thanks to editors Holly Black (team unicorn) and Justine Larbalestier (team zombie), we can find all of this action-packed epicness in a handy anthology aptly titled… Zombies vs. Unicorns.

This collection of stories exceeded my expectations. Whereas only a fraction of most anthologies are worth reading, Zombies vs. Unicorns offers something witty, surprising, and, most importantly, original on every page.

Each tale is a unique take on the tried-and-true concept of either zombies, or unicorns (or occasionally, both). And alternating between these two (three?) possibilities, we as readers get an unbiased presentation of epicness that allows us to choose our own side—zombies, or unicorns?

Zombies vs. Unicorns hosts a plethora of well-known YA, and/or speculative fiction authors. From Naomi Novik, to Scott Westerfeld—from Meg Cabot to Cassandra Clare—you'll find a vast array of different styles and textures to whet your reading appetite. And, although the subject matter exists primarily within two different mediums—zombies and unicorns, of course—I never got tired of either concept.

Although it's difficult for me to choose any one story that I liked the best, there were three that really stood out from the crowd.

--The Third Virgin by Kathleen Duey (team unicorn) – Told from the point of a view of a unicorn, the Third Virgin shows us the soul of a tortured being trapped within his existence. It is a tale of desperation and bittersweet happiness, but is characterized extraordinarily well and has a satisfying conclusion.

--Love Will Tear Us Apart by Alaya Dawn Johnson – is, in my opinion, the most well-written story within this anthology. It follows two distinct characters—one human, one zombie—and the relationship that grows between them. Again, wonderfully characterized.

--Bougainvillea by Carrie Ryan – Not only does this story have legions of the undead, it also has pirates. And while pirates-versus-ninjas is another battle entirely, I can say that I am team pirate and was more than pleased to see two of my favorite creatures combined into a plot-driven fantasy set in a small island in the Tropics.

If I'm being perfectly honest, there are plenty of other stories that could have been featured here for perfectly valid reasons. I had such a difficult time choosing only three (my self-imposed limit).

Zombies vs. Unicorns hits shelves September 21st, and it's definitely an anthology to read. Plus it enables you to answer that all-important question: zombies or unicorns?

To aid you in this difficult choice, The Daily Monocle is hosting a giveaway of one hardcover copy of Zombies vs. Unicorns. This giveaway is open to residents of the USA and Canada and runs from September 12th – September 26th. Just fill out the form below to enter. DEADLINE EXTENDED. CONTEST NOW RUNS UNTIL THE END OF SEPTEMBER!

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An Announcement

2010-09-09T11:24:00.000-07:00

I'm here to address a few questions you may (or may not) have:

1) Why aren't you updating as frequently?
--I'm a college student taking 20 hours worth of courses. I still want to update 3 times a week, but it'll probably be more like once or twice until Christmas break. I'll probably be able to do some more updating next semester too, as I don't think I'm going to take as many classes.

2) I've sent you a book, and you haven't reviewed it yet, but you've reviewed other books. Why?
--A lot of the books that I review are part of 'book tours'--that is, when one blogger gets a pre-release book, and shares it with others in the blogosphere. Usually you only have one week to read these books, so they get first priority. Also, I apply for many of these book tours, and only get selected about half the time, so I'll have random books come in the mail that I have to read immediately.

3) If I e-mail you about publicity/reviews/interviews, will you still consider me?
--Of course! Always always always.

4) Pirates or ninjas?
--Pirates. Even though ninjas rock too, pirates rock slightly more.

Read on!
-J. P.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

2010-09-06T17:45:00.000-07:00

She triumphed in The Hunger Games. Against unspeakable odds, she returned victorious in Catching Fire. She is the face of a rebellion she never dreamed existed, and carries the weight of her people on her shoulders.

She is Katniss Everdeen, and she's back in Mockingjay, the third installment of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy.

In this dark conclusion to the series that captivated the young adult audience at large, we find Katniss in a situation that is hauntingly foreign. As the mockingjay—the poster child for the District 13 rebellion—Katniss tries to live her life as it was before she participated in the hunger games. But with Peeta captured by The Capitol, and Gale attempting to forge a tentative romance, she finds solace only in solitude. To make matters worse, political tensions are mounting in District 13, and full-on war is progressing against The Capitol.

The foreign element from this story comes from the lack of the hunger games themselves. Many readers felt like Catching Fire simply rehashed its predecessor, but I think that "the games" was this element I was looking for in Mockingjay. The games themselves—as twisted and askew as they may be—are what initially drew readers to Collins' trilogy, and without them, Mockingjay is, admittedly, weaker.

Instead of the slightly off-kilter dystopian of the previous books, Mockingjay is a dark tale of post-war trauma. Of people who die a little inside, and never completely live again. Katniss finds herself thrust time and time again into situations where she could be happy, but she finds it impossible to rebuild her life. The only time she feels like herself is when she's in the middle of the war.

Collins' characterization is… difficult to define, mainly because the characters have changed so much between Catching Fire and Mockingjay. Prim is no longer the naïve thirteen year old; Finnick isn't the falsely arrogant Adonis; Peeta isn't the sweet, if misguided boy we've come to love, and Katniss herself is raw. Hollow. And yet she trudges on. These new qualities in her behavior are exhibited especially towards the end of the novel when she makes decisions that the reader will doubt. She acts as our all-too-human narrator.

The prose in Mockingjay is in the same style as the other books—very simple, first-person, present tense, but not condescending. However, the story goes from merely violent and fantastic, to dark and foreboding. This is not a kid's story anymore. This is something darker. Grittier. This is, for all intents and purposes, the story of a young soldier who is suffering from post-war trauma.

I'm afraid that Collins will lose some of her readers with this novel. However, at the same time, I think she'll gain a new audience. Mockingjay is more of a post-war story of existence, than a conclusion of redemption. And the bittersweet taste that it leaves behind will linger.

Author's Website
Buy the book on Amazon

Contest winner! + announcement

2010-08-16T14:03:00.000-07:00

And the winner of a brand new copy of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is.... Heather B.! You'll be recieving an e-mail shortly. :D

In other news, The Daily Monocle is taking a brief (read: 1 - 2 week) hiatus. I'm getting pulled in ten million different directions right now, and most if it has to do with my day job, and my school work (which, unfortunately, take top priority). I anticipate being able to get back on track within the week, but just in case, I'm letting you all know. :D

-J. P.

Operation Paperback

2010-08-13T14:22:00.000-07:00

August 28th is a very special day for me. It's my birthday. But this year, I want to make August 28th a special day for other people too—more specifically, I want to give a big ol' Daily Monocle greeting to our troops overseas. I'm talking about donating books through Operation Paperback.

Operation Paperback is a wonderful program that sends boxes of paperback books—both gently used and new—to USA troops overseas. An ideal shipment sends about twenty books of various genres, and the best part is that all of these materials are sent in by volunteers like you and me.

This year for my birthday, I'm hosting a book drive for Operation Paperback on The Daily Monocle. My goal is to fill a whole box of books (or more!) for the troops. And, my dear bookworms, as a volunteer for Operation Paperback, I'm inviting you to join me on this exciting adventure.

Now, filling a box of books by yourself can get kind of expensive. Even if the books you pack are used, they're still going to cost $3 a piece at least. Add to that something like $5 or $10 for shipping, and you're looking at upwards of $70.

So instead of asking you all to fill a box on your own, we're going to fill a box as a community. From today on through September 11th, The Daily Monocle will be hosting a book collection. There are several ways you can help:

1. I've added a 'donate' button to the sidebar of The Daily Monocle. This is through Paypal, and is completely secure. If you want to donate something towards Operation Paperback, you can use this button. Everything that is donated will go towards buying books and/or packing/shipping supplies for Operation Paperback. Keep in mind that each book costs $3-$5. And if you want me to use your donation to buy books in a specific genre, you can contact me and I'll do my best.

2. Do you have a book or two on your bookshelves looking for a home? You can send me these books directly, and I'll send them on with all the other books to Operation Paperback. It only costs a couple of dollars to send a book in a padded envelope. Contact me here, and we'll work out the details.

3. Or, if you feel so inclined, you can go ahead and sign up on Operation Paperback and pack your own boxes. The suggested size is 20 books per box.

If you donate something—anything at all—to Operation Paperback through this collection on The Daily Monocle, I'll feature your blog in my sidebar for the month of September after the collection ends.

This is a community endeavor, so if you want to share this mission on your blog, you're more than welcome to grab the spiffy new Operation Paperback button in the sidebar, and link it to this post. Blog, facebook, tweet, and tell your friends about this collection.

If you do decide to participate, take a look at these guidelines, and then fill out the form below.

- Books need to be in good condition. No tanned pages, rips, highlights, missing covers or water damage.
- Books should not be racist or sexually explicit. (No erotica or romance please)
- The most popular requested genres are Action/Adventure, Thriller, Science-Fiction, Fantasy, Bestsellers and Humor.

**I know I said "interview" on the form. I meant "post". I can't fix it now though. :p**

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The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

2010-08-12T14:14:00.000-07:00

This is a world where calories are more precious than gold—where crops are engineered sterile by the titans of the industry, and the side effects of their genetic mistakes afflict the world at large. This is a world where bio-terrorism is a casual business transaction. Welcome to the world of The Windup Girl.

Emiko is a windup—a humanoid, genetic hybrid programmed to obey, and misused as a slave on the streets of Bangkok. Here she encounters Anderson Lake, a man who seems all too interested in the seedbank information one of her clients has shared. As compensation for this information, he gives her something she's never imagined: news of a place where windups live in harmony without masters; a dream which consumes her, and drives her to act as no domestic windup ever should.

Anderson Lake is a wealthy, if despised, foreigner looking for access into Thailand's coveted, unmodified seedbank. He uses his work as a kink-spring factory manager to cover up this mission. His secretary, Hock Seng—a refugee of the destroyed Malayan Chinese—has no love for his employer, and is constantly looking for ways to steal plans to the factory's most lucrative product, in an effort to secure for himself the future he's always wanted.

But as political pressures begin to rise, suddenly a bribe isn't enough to keep Anderson's problems as bay. Filled with gang lords, corrupt politicians, and men who live as gods, The Windup Girl paints a violent picture that is difficult to forget.

From the first page, Paolo Bacigalupi establishes a world so vividly different from our own, that we as readers are forced to accept it as truth. Instead of wasting time on tedious back story, the author plunges headlong into what could be called one of the most well-developed worlds in science-fiction today. This world is complete with a new political structure, social customs, history and slang.

The Windup Girl hosts a diversity of characters, each with their own agenda, operating as separate entities, rather than as a whole cast working towards a sole objective. Because of this, they act more like people than characters, and behave in an accordingly human fashion that can only be described as predictably unpredictable.

Bacigalupi's prose is very fine, having been whittled down to a dramatic, yet succinct, style that is as unique as the storyline it presents. And although the author is prone to repeating himself, this flaw stands as a way to acquaint the reader with particulars of the story that would have otherwise been lost to all but the most keen.

Unfortunately, The Windup Girl is a story so complicated, it will easily alienate casual readers. Even those more experienced within the genre may feel as though they are floundering for the first hundred pages. Much of this is due to the fact that, because of the nature of this novel, the reader will miss important details if their attention wavers for even one paragraph. And because there is no familiarity in Bacigalupi's prose, the reader may have difficulty following, or identifying with, any one thing. Add to this the often unexplained Thai words and slang terms, and newcomers to science-fiction will most likely feel compelled to stop reading early on.

Aptly classified as 'biopunk', The Windup Girl fills the earthen gap in a world of technologically-based science fiction. And with its sweeping plot, and an ending that proves thought-provoking to even the most cynical of readers, Paolo Bacigalupi's award-winning offering will intrigue devotees of the genre for years to come.

Buy it on Amazon
Author's Website

Part of Dystopian August

An Interview with Michael R. Stevens

2010-08-09T06:55:00.000-07:00

Not too long ago, I had the opportunity to read Michael R. Stevens' technilogical thriller, Fortuna. Now, Mr. Stevens has graciously agreed to an interview with The Daily Monocle!

***

Your novel, Fortuna, is a rich and exciting foray into Renaissance-era Italy, and online role-playing games. What inspired you to combine these two things?

To tell the truth, I wanted the Renaissance environment but I didn't want to be in competition with “real” historical novels because I was afraid I'd get too many details wrong. My new book is straight historical fiction. The setting is Berlin, 1923.

Of all historical time periods to choose from, why did you choose Renaissance-era Italy?

I am fascinated by the role of force in governments and societies, and that issue was central to Machiavelli, who is the source of Fortuna's intellectual underpinnings. Machiavelli is associated with manipulation and ruthlessness, but this is an impoverished reading of his body of work. There is a lot of wisdom there.

What sort of historical research did you do in order to capture the essence of the time so fully?

Tons! I studied contemporary paintings, old maps, lots of books about the major houses of the time (Medici, Strozzi, Borgia etc.), tracts on business practices and coinage, historical documents about the evolution of the Sacraments in the Catholic Church, Neo-Platonic writing... it's a long list.

Did you play any online role-playing games to familiarize yourself with the ins and outs of gaming before writing Fortuna? Which ones and why?

After the book was about two-thirds finished, I became a member of Second Life to get a reality check, as it were. As it turned out, I had gotten it right, and didn't need to make any changes in the manuscript. I chose Second Life because it is a freestyle environment where players do what they want, as opposed to environments like Worlds of Warcraft, where there are specific missions to be accomplished.

Your protagonist, Jason Lind, plays as his alter-ego, Father Alessandro da Scala in the game, Fortuna. Was there a particular reason you chose to give him this persona instead of say, a merchant or page?

Machiavelli’s central thesis is that it is impossible to be a successful prince – we might say “an effective political leader” – and also a good Christian, or, in less religious terms, a good man. My idea in making Jason a priest was to accentuate this dilemma.

Did any one thing inspire you to write Fortuna?

Yes, and I will never tell!

Who was your favorite character to write?

I would say Mara, the courtesan. I didn't think about it at the time, but she's a sort of anima figure for Jason – everything he's not.

A lot of The Daily Monocle's readers haven't yet read your book. Can you tell them why they should read Fortuna in ten words or less?

It's about the most important trend of the century. It's very entertaining. (I know, that's twelve [words].)

You're on a ten hour car trip with one of your characters from Fortuna. Who do you take, and why?

I don't want to sound contentious or seem like I'm dodging the question, but I really don't think that way. The characters are constructions, part of a whole that's supposed to have an effect. I wouldn't be telling the truth if I said that I am one hundred percent in control of every word I write, but that's the goal.

How did you get started in the writing business?

I started out as a professional writer when I was sixteen, when I got a job as music columnist for my home town newspaper, The Vallejo Times Herald. Then, after college and the U.S. Army, I needed a job and writing was really the only thing I knew how to do. So I got into technical writing, then advertising, and now, fiction. I don't know if that's an upward trajectory or not.

A lot of fledgling authors tend to think that once you write and publish that ubiquitous "first book", the writing process changes, and so does their career. Has publishing your first book changed your outlook on writing at all?

It’s had an enormous impact. I can’t even find words to describe it. I’ve been blogging about it for months at www.fortunathebook.com/blog. I can’t think of any way to summarize all those thoughts.

Is there any one book and/or author who has influenced your writing the most?

Do I have to answer? It would be the science fiction writer, Frank Herbert.

A lot of writers count music as a main way of 'setting the mood'. Did you listen to any music while writing Fortuna? If so, what did you listen to?

That's interesting. I didn't know that. I'm a serious amateur musician and, perhaps for that reason, I never listen to music while writing. It would be too distracting, and I think it would impair my ability to get the rhythm of the sentences right.

About how long did it take you to write Fortuna?

About 18 months.

Did any people or events from your life shape the events or people in Fortuna?

Not really. Of course, my humanities background from college and my time in Silicon Valley certainly influenced the overall framework.

Are you working on any other books right now?

Two. One is about the process of getting published for the first time. The other is a novel with the working title, The Allegory of the Golden-Haired Wife. It’s a thriller about industrial espionage set in Berlin, 1923.

This might be a hard question, but what is your favorite book? Why?

Der Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse. It’s about a man of a certain age who is intelligent and has been successful in the world, but feels that something important in life has eluded him. Not that I know anyone who fits that description.

You've been invited to spend a week with a writer from any time in history. Who do you spend a week with and why?

Hemmingway. Why philosophize when you can drink whiskey?

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Thanks so much for this opportunity, and for the great questions.

Thank you Mr. Stevens for doing this awesome interview with The Daily Monocle!

Don't forget to check out Michael R. Stevens' website here, and purchase your copy of Fortuna on Amazon today!

About Jenga... by Leslie Scott

2010-08-06T18:52:00.000-07:00

Jenga: a name that's synonymous with toppling wooden blocks, and for many people, long hours of good-natured gaming with their friends and family. It is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most simplistic game ever packaged. The fact that Jenga might have a living creator seems odd, right? Hasn't it been around, well, forever?

Leslie Scott, one of the few professional game designers in the world, is in fact, the designer of Jenga. And her game-to-fame (haha) hit the shelves less than thirty years ago.

Scott grew up with her family in Africa, and during the long, hot summers, they would play a game that involved stacking simple wooden blocks on top of each other until the tower toppled. It took her years to realize the novelty of this game, and longer still to realize how marketable Jenga could be. About Jenga: the Remarkable Business of Creating a Game that Became a Household Name--written by the creator of Jenga herself—charts Scott's journey from humble homemade game, to family-night fun that rocked the nation.

Jenga—which comes from the Swahili word for to build--didn't have any easy beginning. Scott suffered through bad business relationships, patent and branding troubles, insufficient funds and lack of a platform for her game for years, until Jenga finally hit the market. But—and you know this if you've ever played the game—Jenga has a sort of magic to it that draws people near, and this magic proved invaluable as Jenga's prowess reached first a small circle of friends, and then a circle of companies, and finally encircled the world with a pair of wooden arms.

About Jenga has a lot of untapped potential. Whereas Scott could have used this publication to share stories about her customers, or light anecdotes about creating Jenga, she instead decided to fill page after page with business transactions and details of her trade. This is fantastic if you're looking for a comprehensive, report-like guide to the toy industry. But it isn't so great if you go into this wanting funny comments and witty charms about the people who played Jenga, and how much fun it was to create the game. The writing is rather dry.

Scott's writing is very academic, which is to be expected of a non-fiction book. However, this academic-ness impeded her storytelling abilities, and overall hindered the few narrative qualities that this book had. Often times, she gave too many explanations-of-explanations, and it was easy to forget exactly what she was talking about in the first place. Not that these tangents aren't entertaining—many are—but more often then not, Jenga's story becomes more like a biography of the toy industry.

Like many people whose hobby becomes their full time job, Leslie Scott seems to think that Jenga is just another game. And in a way, it is…much in the same way that Disney World is just another theme park. But if you read a book about Disney World, or its creator, Walt Disney, you'll find something that leaves you reminiscing about face paint and light parades and your first ride on that flying Dumbo carousel. This missing spark of nostalgia was one of the biggest downfalls of About Jenga, and that's really too bad.

So if you're looking for a comprehensive guide to the toy industry, and a warning about the many possible mistakes one can make while marketing a game—you'll love this book. And if you are a toy aficionado, or Jenga-obsessive, you'll probably like it as well. However, if you go into this looking for a summer read, or something light and fun, you'll be disappointed.

Author's website
Buy it on Amazon

The Wednesday Batch

2010-08-04T07:27:00.000-07:00

There are some great literary happenings going through the interwebs right now.

1) How many of you have read Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth? If you haven't, I highly, HIGHLY recommend that you do. This tale about medieval cathedral builders is so engrossing, that I'm reading it a second time. And it's nearly 1000 pages. Yeah. It's that good.

Anyway, Starz is doing an excellent eight-part miniseries based on the book. Even if you don't get Starz on your television, you can watch the first two episodes for free on their website! Huzzah! Check it out.

2) In honor of their tenth anniversary, DeviantArt is hosting a live author chat with Margaret Atwood, author of many books including the widely acclaimed The Handmaid's Tale. She's chatting live at 6:00pm Eastern Time.

3) Live chat with Cassandra Claire, author of The Mortal Instruments trilogy, also tonight at 5:00pm, Eastern Time. You can see the details here at her website.

And of course, don't forget to participate in our giveaway, vote in our poll (in the right sidebar), and join us on facebook!

An Interview with Alden Bell

2010-08-02T04:52:00.000-07:00

If you've read my review of The Reapers are the Angels, you know that, not only do I think very highly of of the book, but I also think it's emotional, and beautifully written.

And while Reapers doesn't hit shelves until tomorrow(!), I was fortunate enough to be able to interview Alden Bell for The Daily Monocle. I hope you all enjoy the read.

***

How long have you been interested in zombies?

Ever since my father took me to see Dawn of the Dead when it came out. I was nine years old. You could call it bad parenting, but I like to think of it as brilliant foresight on my father’s part. On some level he knew I would grow up to write a zombie novel.

What inspired you to write The Reapers are the Angels?

It’s a combination of two literary dreams I’ve had for a long time: the first was to write a Southern Gothic novel in homage to William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor and all the other great writers I grew up loving; the second was to write a zombie novel in homage to all the horror films I grew up loving. At some point it occurred to me that these two novels might actually be one. After all, it seems as though much of Southern literature is about the loss of a majestic past—which is the perfect setting for a novel about a once great but currently devastated world.

And about how long did it take you to write it?

This was a relatively quick novel to write. It took me seven or eight months. The revision process was not long either. Sometimes a story requires heavy labor to get it told; other times, as in this case, it just seems to pour out of you naturally.

Zombies are a hot subject right now. What do you think makes your book stand out from the masses the most?

A lot of the current zombie stories are ironic or humorous. The comic zombie seems to be the standard of the day. My zombies, on the other hand, hearken back to a more traditional mythology. There’s nothing funny about them at all. Also, I think Reapers is very much about the irrepressible beauty of the world—which is probably not so common among stories of the zombie apocalypse.

Your protagonist, Temple, is a 15 year old girl. Obviously, part of your reasoning behind her age was so that she would never know a time without the zombies. Were there any other reasons you chose to write such a young main character?

I like the idea of a character whose whole life has been one thing. Older characters tend to have more texture, more complexity, more experience behind them. But what’s unique about Temple is that there’s a purity of identity in her. She isn’t old enough to have lived multiple lives: everything she has done in her short life has been about survival and violence. I think that single-mindedness is what makes her tragic but also very strong.

Temple's weapon of choice is a gurkha knife, rather than a gun or a club. Why a gurkha knife?

Mostly because of the looks of the thing. That inward-curving blade always looked brutal and savage to me. It’s not built for stabbing but just for chopping, which evokes an entirely different, animalistic kind of violence. Also, from a purely practical perspective, Temple would always prefer a blade to a gun so that she wouldn’t have to rely on finding ammunition in the wasteland. She is nothing if not pragmatic.

Temple has a complicated view on good-vs.-evil. Is this something that the character just developed as the book progressed, or did you intend this quality from the beginning?

I knew from the beginning that I wanted her character to be in pursuit of redemption for some moral infraction she had committed—but it took me a while to figure out what infraction that was. Actually, now that you mention it, I guess I tend to see her view on good and evil as relatively simple. She’s not a complex moralist: she tries to do the right thing and tries to avoid the wrong thing. The only problem she has, sometimes, is telling which is which—and you can’t really blame her, growing up as she did in such a topsy-turvy world.

What was your favorite scene to write?

To be honest, my favorite scenes are the ones where not much is happening. About three quarters of the way through the book, Temple takes a train ride across the landscape—and the action drops away in favor of lingering descriptive passages. Those are my favorite. Even though Reapers has plenty of action in it, as a reader I tend to like books that are more slowly paced, books that take their time and force you to stop and think. I prefer books that you have to endure rather than books that rush you through at a breakneck speed to their conclusion.

And were there any scenes particularly difficult to put on paper?

I always found the character of James Grierson a little difficult to write. In my mind, he is a kind of Hamlet character: tragic prince, crippled by his own moroseness. But he’s also distant, which made it hard to get behind him. I was never quite sure what he would say in any given situation—and I’m still not.

I can only imagine the research you had to do in order to write this novel. How many macabre facts did you discover?

Actually, this is an almost researchless book (and so I’m sure there are numerous factual errors that people will point out). I had to do a little research on the guns used in the story—and some on the geography of the South so that Temple’s journey would make some sense. But other than that, I’m shooting from the hip. I’ve never been such a fan of realism or accuracy. It seems to me that artifice is the whole point of art—so I let my liar’s flag fly.

Do you think Reapers has a lot of crossover potential with the YA market?

I don’t read many YA books, but I would think that Reapers could be of interest to that market. After all, it is a kind of coming-of-age novel. If I had a daughter, I certainly wouldn’t mind her reading the book. Temple is a good role model: tough, adaptable, independent, ferociously true to her own code. I think young girls could do much worse than following Temple’s lead.

Can you sum up your book in three words or less?

To blatantly rip off Faulkner from The Sound and the Fury: They endured.

If you were living the post-zombie apocalypse world, which of your characters you pick as your travelling companion, and why?

Temple, definitely. She knows how to dispatch a zombie, she knows how to travel a landscape of death and destruction, and when she sings she has the voice of a songbird—or at least that’s what she claims.

How long have you been writing?

I’ve been writing all my life that I can remember. I started with stories when I was in grade school, and I was pretentious enough to write my first (terrible, truly awful) novel when I was in high school. I can’t say I enjoy writing, because I’m never actually eager to sit down and do it. But I guess it’s like yoga for some people or psychotherapy for others: they may not look forward to it, but they know they’ll feel better once they’ve done it.

What author (or authors) has influenced your writing the most? How so?

I don’t do any writing at all that isn’t in some way an echo of William Faulkner. No one tells a story quite like him. In fact, I think very few writers are as interested in the processes of storytelling as he is. Beyond Faulkner, there’s also James Joyce—who shows you how limitless writing can be, how full of possibility and promise. You read Joyce, and you feel like you can do anything in your writing. More recently, I’ve been deeply influenced by contemporary authors like Tom Drury, Tom Franklin, Daniel Woodrell, Cormac McCarthy, William Gay. All of them have a deep, abiding passion for gorgeously wrought language.

Writers tend to be separated into two distinct groups: those who outline and control the story, and those who give control to their characters and 'watch' the story develop. Which side are you on?

I tend to be on the more controlling side, consistent with my somewhat compulsive personality. I like knowing in advance how long a book is going to be, what the major story arc is, what major events are going to occur. I do allow myself a little leeway if things begin to evolve naturally—but I don’t have that kind of faith in my characters that I know some writers do: I don’t allow them to “go where they want to go.”

I know this is probably a difficult question to answer, but could you give me your top three (or five) favorite books?

William Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom!
James Joyce, Ulysses
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
William Gibson, Neuromancer
Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49

How would you feel about Reapers being made into a movie? And who would you want to play the lead character?

There are a number of great actresses out there who could bring Temple to life. I’ve thought about this a lot, actually, and I could picture Jennifer Lawrence in the role or Mia Wasikowska or Ellen Muth. Or, when she gets a bit older, that little girl from the movie Kick-Ass. The ratio of her age to the violence she perpetrated was perfect.

Are you working on any other books, and do you care to share any details?

I’m currently working on a book that will be published under my own name, Joshua Gaylord. It’s called Frontierland, and it takes place in Orange County, California, in 1975. It’s all about the frontier of suburbia and the human desire to, alternately, escape to it and escape from it.

And finally, because I just have to ask: how long do you think you could survive in the event of a zombie apocalypse? (Thanks to a *super-accurate* Facebook quiz, I know would survive about five months)

Good question. I’ll have to check out that quiz. But knowing what I know of myself—particularly my desire to want to get along with everybody, zombies included—I would be one of the first to be eaten.

***

A big thank you to Alden Bell for agreeing to interview for The Daily Monocle!

And don't forget to check out The Reapers are the Angels at your local bookstores when it hits shelves tomorrow. You can check out Reapers on Amazon, and Alden Bell's website.

Oscar Wilde and a Game Called Murder by Gyles Brandreth

2010-07-31T08:43:00.000-07:00

Fanfiction taught me almost everything I know about writing.

I know. That sounds funny. But it's so true. I wrote Star Wars fanfiction from eighth grade on through high school, and it laid the foundation for what I write today. It taught me about plot, and dialogue, and most of all about characterization. It gave me a steady readership, so that I could feel like I was writing towards an audience.

So imagine my excitement when I found some fanfiction of sorts on in the bargain bin at my local bookstore. No, it wasn't Star Wars. This, my friend, was literary fanfiction, if such a term exists. And it involved Oscar Wilde. What more could I ask for? I gingerly plucked the gem from its paltry $3.99 stack, and began reading at once.

Oscar Wilde and a Game Called Murder by Gyles Brandreth, is a tale unlike any I've read before. Set against the backdrop of early Victorian England, this novel turns the literary master himself into an amateur sleuth.

During his weekly meeting of the Socrates Club, Oscar Wilde decides that the club will play the game "murder", wherein each guest writes the name of a person they'd like to murder on a slip of paper. The papers are then mixed together in a hat, and then read one by one, as the players try to guess who wrote which name.

But when each of the game's 'victims' begin to actually disappear, Oscar takes it on himself to catch the real murderer before it's too late. Teamed with the likes of Bram Stoker and Arthur Conan Doyle, Oscar Wilde takes us on a literary rollercoaster of witticisms, familiar faces, and Victorian intrigue.

Brandreth's characterization of Wilde is simply delightful. We as readers are treated to all the familiar charm we see in Wilde's own works, and Brandreth's style compliments these droll sentiments perfectly.

The writing style is clean and simple. It has a pseudo-Victorian feel, and I think that's due largely to the combination of modern prose, and period dialogue. It conveys wonderfully imagery—like that of Wilde in a red cape and white fedora—and a beautiful picture of the times.

How do you judge the plot of a mystery? I always find myself falling rather short here, because I don't read that many books in the genre. I've read some Agatha Christie, and, a while back, some Nancy Drew, but I just don't pick up mysteries as often as say, fantasy or sci-fi. Personally, I liked the story here—it had a satisfying conclusion and a rollicking journey to the end—but I'm not sure if I would have loved it quite as much had it not involved Oscar Wilde.

Oscar Wilde and a Game Called Murder is the second book in a series about Wilde and his friends solving mysteries. However, it stands strong independently of its companions, and offers a satisfying read to anyone who is a fan of a good mystery, of Oscar Wilde himself, or both.

Author's Website
Buy it on Amazon

A 52 Book Challenge

2010-07-28T06:46:00.000-07:00

On New Year's, I made it my personal resolution to read a book a week for the duration of 2010. A 52 book revolution. One day, I felt like I could complete this task without a problem; the next, I felt as though all I did was sit on the couch and read.

So the weeks went by, and book after book was read. At one point I gave up, and then, during a stretch where life around me seemed to stop, I read something like a book every two or three days, and got caught up. I took a speed reading class. Read some more. And finally, I started this blog as a way to get all of that information out of my head and onto the paper.

But once I started blogging, my little "52 Book Challenge" turned into a new passion. I wanted to share my take on these books with the world. I wanted to review works of independent authors. And slowly, over the course of a few months, I've been able to lay the foundation for what I hope to one day be a blog read by tens of thousands of people, rather than hundreds.

I'm not sure what direction to take this blog in. I would love to have some more author involvement. So far I've only had one author interview (with another on the way), and it was such a wonderful experience, I'd really like to interview others. And I'd like to extend my interview circle to include literary agents, editors, publishers, screen writers—even musicians with wonderful lyrics. (Remember, if you are anyone of these things, you can always contact me!)

As far as books go, I think my rule of thumb is going to be "new, indie, or obscure." Because, frankly, if I review a big release book that hit the shelves in 2000, chances are, you've already read it.

And then there are all the little things—my random articles, mini-reviews, music, polls and giveaways. I guess what I'm really asking here, is what do all of you readers want to see? I know that certain pages get more views than others—I know on which days my readership spikes. But those elements are both so technical. What do you, my flesh and blood reader, want to read? Or more precisely, what do you want me to read?

In a way, this post is a call to action. And in way, I guess I just wanted to share with you the thoughts which have been heavy on my mind. Either way, I would love to hear—no, I need to hear—what my readers want from this blog, and what they think should be changed or improved.

And, just for kicks, here's the list of books I've read so far this year:

1. Who is Mark Twain? - Mark Twain
2. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
3. On Writing - Stephen King
4. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane - Katherine Howe
5. The Nanny Diaries - Emma McLaughlin
6. Captain Alatriste - Arturo Perez-Reverte (English translation)
7. The Angel Maker - Stefan Brijs (English translation)
8. Overclocked: Stories of the Future Present - Cory Doctorow
9. John Dies at the End - David Wong
10. Switching Time - Richard Baer
11. Sweeney Todd - Robert Mack
12. A Woman of No Importance - Oscar Wilde
13. Lady Windermere's Fan - Oscar Wilde
14. Little Book of Pandemics - Peter Moore
15. The Art of the Hunchback of Notre Dame
16. Lost Boys - Orson Scott Card
17. Xenocide - Orson Scott Card
18. Children of the Mind - Orson Scott Card
19. Solitaire - Kelley Eskeridge
20. Repo Men - Eric Garcia
21. Starstruck: When a Fan gets Close to Fame – Michael Joseph Gross
22. City of Bones – Cassandra Clare
23. The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
24. Catching Fire – Suzanne Collins
25. Twilight – Stephanie Meyer
26. Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse – Edited by John Joseph Adams
27. The Fruit of the Fallen – J. C. Burnham
28. The Blindspot – Jane Kamensky and Jill Lepore
29. James and the Giant Peach – Roald Dahl
30. Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie
31. Finding Emmaus – Pamela S. K. Glasner
32. Pirate Latitudes – Michael Crichton
33. The Singer – Calvin Miller
34. Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
35. Next – Michael Crichton
36. Fortuna – Michael R. Stevens
37. The Handmaid's Tale – Margaret Atwood
38. Tuck Everlasting – Natalie Babbitt
39. The Know it All - A. J. Jacobs
40. The Angels are the Reapers – Alden Bell

You may wonder why not all of my review books are on this list. It basically has to do with some certain 'rules' I set for myself, and for those books, for whatever reason, I didn't abide by those rules. :p

Don't you wish I had started this blog earlier in the year? I do! I would have so much more material on here already.

Thanks for reading.

-J. P.

Review + Giveaway: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

2010-07-25T19:13:00.000-07:00

If you've read my essay on the decline of YA literature, you already know my opinions of the genre. It seems that most popular teen titles are shallow, and often poorly written. In order to find anything worth reading in the YA section of the bookstore, I spend hours scouring the shelves.

When I was preparing for writing the aforementioned essay, I sat down and read a bunch of YA books. One of those books—incidentally, the only book I liked—was The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

I tore through the story in just a few hours. I was, in a word, captivated.

12 districts make up the former United States of America. Every year, each district is required to pay a tribute: two children used as gladiators in a televised match to the death.

When Katniss' twelve year old sister is chosen as their district's tribute, Katniss volunteers in her place. And so a gripping story unfolds about a girl who will only go down fighting. Hard.

The characterization was spot on, and three-dimensional. The characters were realistically flawed. The writing—though simple, and typical of teen literature—didn't seem childish, and I loved the plot. Not to mention that The Hunger Games trilogy has developed the most realistic love triangle I think I've ever read. That last sentence there is saying a lot.

If plot sounds familiar, that's because it has been done before. Although The Hunger Games is lauded for its originality, it borrows heavily from Koushun Takami's Battle Royale. Personally, I haven't read Battle Royale (though I'd like to), as I find the many Japanese names confusing, and I dislike the English translation. However, I know a lot about the book, and I've seen the movie.

But—and I guess this is the reason I still like this book—I think The Hunger Games did a better job than Battle Royale. It seemed more realistic to me. Grittier, and more psychological, whereas Battle Royale is gory.

Anyway…

After reading The Hunger Games, I immediately went out and bought its sequel, Catching Fire. And you better believe that as soon as I get my paycheck this week, I'm going to pre-order the final book in the trilogy, Mockingjay, from Amazon. They have an amazing hardcover pre-order price right now of only nine dollars or so. Mockingjay is released on August 24th.

The Hunger Games is the only teen book I've read in a very long time that I would ever recommend to someone else. That's why The Daily Monocle is giving away a brand new, paperback copy. Contest ends August 15th! I will randomly pick a winner on August 16th, and the winner will be notified by e-mail!

UPDATE: HEY! If you already entered in the comments below, don't worry about this spiffy form! You are entered! But if you haven't, go ahead and fill this out. You MUST do one of the entry methods (eg. Facebook, twitter, blog about, etc.) in ADDITION to leaving your e-mail address.

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Author's website

Darkness and Light by Kathryn Nichole

2010-07-23T18:56:00.001-07:00

Cristian West, an established young artist, has often been plagued by the elusive image of an unseen, but beautiful woman. Finally, after years of her face haunting his dreams and infiltrating his mind, he decides to paint her picture.

At the same time, Sage, a vampire of royal blood, is still mourning the loss of her own true love after his death a century ago. She and her coven are in attendance at Cristian's art gala, when he unveils his newest work of art: a portrait of her.

What ensues should be a fresh take on the often overdone vampire story. And maybe there was something new and exciting, hidden somewhere in there. Unfortunately, I will never know.

Why? Well, as much as I liked the premise for Kathryn Nichole's Darkness and Light, I labored through the prose. It was difficult to read, not because of unnecessary complications—or mind-bending simplicity. Rather, the prose didn't follow conventional norms for fiction. Normally, I would just write this of as a stylistic difference and keep my mouth shut on the matter. But in this case, it was well nigh impossible to follow the story.

Sometimes, five or six characters would talk within one paragraph. Their lines of dialogue were not separated at all, except that a new set of quotations began. Sometimes the quotes were missing altogether. This same sort of issue came up when reading the body of the story. Scenes were jumbled together, one paragraph after another. Rather than being separated by asterisks, or even just a blank line, they smushed up against each other, causing the reader to continually jerk out of the story.

The plot ended up developing alternately too quickly, and too slowly. On one hand, sometimes so many things happened within the breadth of five pages, I couldn't keep up. This left the characterization murky. But then, almost a hundred pages would go by without an important event—only the characters revealing their life stories, times, and troubles to each other, often to an excessive level. I'm not sure if the latter was an attempt to support the 'quicker' pieces or not, but the consistency didn't fit well with me.

As a rule, I don't like vampires, but I was willing to make an exception for this book. With some more polish time, and a better editor, Darkness and Light could've been the one vampire book I recommended to others. I loved the premise—I loved the feeling I got from Cristian and Sage. It was everything in between that caused me to dislike the book.

Author's website
Buy it/read an excerpt on Amazon

On the Abuse of the Exclamation Point...

2010-07-21T16:36:00.000-07:00

First things first: an announcement!

We will soon be adding an FAQ, and some other fun goodies, as well as updating our music selection. I know that the same songs can get boring after a while.

Also, my poem, The Torturer's Boy, is featured in the current issue of Bull Spec Magazine. I encourage you all to check it out, and buy an issue if you're so inclined. It's quite a magazine, with some pretty awesome fiction inside!

Now, without further ado, I'd like to introduce my newest talking point...

The Abuse of the Exclamation Point

Periods are necessary. Quotes and Apostrophes aren't "optional". Commas are a clean, quick way to separate, and list items. Colons: they're technical; semi-colons are experimental and academic. Parentheses (I avoid them when I can) make my inner voice whisper like that guy at the table who thinks no one can hear him, while em-dashes—the parentheses' louder, more contemporary cousin—are a bit of a trend right now. Hyphens make even the smoothest of sentences appear helter-skelter; capitol letters make the inner voice SHOUT for recognition. Slashes are best suited for technical and/or academic works. Ellipses are… well, you know. We can't live without question marks, now can we? And, oh my stars, is that an interrobang‽

You can't have a properly formed sentence without some form of punctuation. The literary world is built on the assumption that writing, as an art, can be defined and generalized by its characters of separation. But there is one mark of punctuation that I wish had never been printed. And that eponymous mark is the exclamation point.

The exclamation point is the least understood member of the punctuation family. It's annoying, childish, and for the most part, unnecessary. Why, you may ask, do I choose to pick on this poor mark? It's so obtrusive! It gets in the way! It makes everything look juvenile! It makes you end every sentence on a high note! And if you're not careful, and you use more than one, you look like a spammer!!!

Annoyed yet?

Most sentences can be conveyed with a sense of urgency without adding an exclamation point. Indeed, most of the time the use of particular mark of punctuation (also known as a "bang") jerks the reader out of the story or article.

Just as a pianist knows when to change the dynamic tone of her music, so does the reader tune his ear to the conversational shifts within the prose. It is patronizing and demeaning for an author to assume that their reader lacks the intellectual prowess to distinguish between the mediocre and the revolutionary without the help of a tiny line-and-dot on the paper that looks more like the result of an ink spell than any sort of literary genius.

Don't even get me started on using a bang outside of dialogue. It's bad enough to have to put up with a character who insists on using the dang thing; outside of their irritating voice, however, you find the realm of childish writing. For example:

"Jim's hands clutched at the wheel. He pulled as hard as he could, but the car refused to obey. He was going to crash!"

Just that one little exclamation point made an already horrid passage even worse. We know Jim is tense—heck, if the story is any good, we'll be tense right along with him. We don't need faulty punctuation to affirm this assumption.

Now, there are a few exceptions to my staunch anti-exclamationism. One being the use of a bang after a single word. "Go!", "Run!", "Jim!" or "Inconceivable!" are all examples of exclamation points that know their place. They exist to augment the prose. We as readers don't stumble over these single-word examples because they are natural, just as a period or question mark would seem in their proper place. And no, I'm not advocating comic-book style punctuation and onomatopoeia within prose (Bang! Whoosh! Zing!); let us be reasonable, folks.

The only other time it's cool to use an exclamation point is if you wrote pre-1920's fiction. Victorian era prose is home to some of the most melodramatic characters ever to grace the pages of English literature, and of course, they need punctuation to match.

Dorian Gray immediately comes to mind. He often languished over posh furniture, mingling amongst a crowd at a crush, crying out. You could say that Dorian Gray was a connoisseur of exclamation points, and, because of his personality, such a mark fits. This same principal applies to most fiction written before about 1920. I'm not sure why, but it does, and I'm not going to question the unspoken laws of literary history. So don't go marking through your Victorian lit with a red pen… save that for your own, exclamation-ridden manuscripts.

Someone once told me that you have a two exclamation point per novel allowance. No more; no less. And I think that this principle holds true for most of what I've said. Use your marks wisely; don't abuse them, and you'll come to love them. As Oscar Wilde once said, "I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon… well, I put it back again."

As a reader, it's insulting to be patronized on paper. As a writer, if I feel the need to stoop in order reach my reader, I have to stop and rethink my audience. Therefore, as a community, we need to rebel against the condescending nature of the exclamation point and just move on. It's juvenile—it's outdated—and let's face it: we've grown past the exclamation point.

Further reading: this hilariously serious article on the exclamation point

*Yes, I am, in fact, aware that this is incredibly geeky.
**If you got the Princess Bride reference, you're my hero.

Posted on July 21st, 2010

The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell

2010-07-19T05:59:00.000-07:00

Don't forget to read our interview with author, Alden Bell!

I never thought a zombie novel would make me cry. But, The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell did just that.

It's been a quarter of a century since the zombie apocalypse, and the ravaged Earth is the only home fifteen year old Temple has ever known. Years after losing the only people she loved, she wanders the bleak landscapes where hunt or be hunted is the only option

But when Temple kills a man in self-defense, she finds herself up against an entirely new sort of enemy. The ruthless Moses Todd will avenge his brother's death regardless of the costs. And so Temple finds herself on the run, caught between a man, the zombies, and the knowledge of her past sins.

This struggle is part of what makes Temple so realistic. She believes that she is truly evil, and carries this burden with her during her travels. In her short life, she's seen more death—caused more pain—than most of us could ever imagine. She lives a harsh, cruel existence, but it's the only existence she's ever known.

I've asked myself over and over again if Temple could be considered human by today's standards. She is a new creature, of a new species so profoundly different—and yet so strikingly similar—to our modern day selves, that we as readers become captives to her plight. She acts as though she is ten or twenty years older than she really is, and that in itself is kind of unnerving. Part of the power of Reapers, is the fact that everything feels so ordinary, that we can't help but believe whatever Bell tell us.

The Earth is just a shell filled with cutthroats, hunters, and people who are afraid to look out their windows, and Bell's prose captures this flawlessly. I can't quite explain the texture of his writing. Haunting. Lyrical. Macabre. Southern poetry, perhaps? He paints a bleak, but beautiful, picture of the empty Earth, and the light of life that struggles to survive inside. And although the offbeat present-tense, limited third-person view point takes a few pages to get used to, it's well worth the effort.

The Reapers are the Angels is different than any other zombie book saturating the market today. It's not a tale of valiant soldiers defending the public from an onslaught of undead monsters; it's not a tale of tortured scientists attempting to redeem themselves after unleashing madness on humanity. Heck, it's not even about the apocalypse itself. Rather, it's a riveting account of humans who become refugees in their own world.

Whereas a lot of zombie books are comical, Reapers is harsh. I wish I could conjure the language I need to properly discuss this book, but every time I try, the words escape me. Fans of World War Z, Edgar Allan Poe—fans of horror, sci-fi, guts and gore—literary muses and geeky teenagers alike: this book is for you. This is one of those books that could almost be considered YA lit—but ten times better, written without the condescension, simplicity and fluffiness of what you usually see in teen literature.

Like I said, I never thought a zombie novel would make me cry. But, thanks to its raw emotion and clarity, The Reapers are the Angels did just that.

The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell hits the shelves on August 3rd. Mark your calendars!

Author's Website
Read an Excerpt
Buy it on Amazon

Posted on July 19th, 2010

An Interview with Kevin Glavin

2010-07-13T18:29:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I reviewed Kevin Glavin's complicated satire, Rock Star's Rainbow. Today, Mr. Glavin has agreed to do an interview for The Daily Monocle! So, without further ado, I'd like to post the wonderful interview I had with Mr. Glavin. This is The Daily Monocle's first interview, and I know that you'll all enjoy it.

***

What inspired you to write Rock Star's Rainbow?

I’ve always enjoyed writing. When I was in my 20s, I wrote two novels, which I ended up throwing away; they were more of a learning experiment.
Rock Star’s Rainbow actually started out very differently. It began as a short story for a U of Iowa grad magazine, about two teenagers in love and all the awkwardness involved with that. It ends with their graduation from high school and the end of their relationship in a barren Iowa cornfield.
Years later, around 2005, I was at a coffee shop at Berkeley and had the idea of taking these characters and forming a novel around them. I started writing ideas on napkins, wondering––whatever happened to these heartbroken kids? That was the kernel, but the story changed a lot. It morphed into a celebrity adventure. As a culture, we’re obsessed with celebrity, and even more so with celebrity scandal. I wanted to explore that. So the teenage boy from the old story becomes a rock star with everything––fame and fortune, but completely unhappy; he doesn’t have the girl. It’s a satire, but not a funny ha-ha satire. It’s more poking fun at the idea of how silly our society can be when we put these celebrities on a pedestal, as if they have all the answers and should be emulated, when perhaps they’re more lost than most.

Anyway, the protagonist, he’s become incredibly jaded, something of a jerk. Early in the book, after another night of excess, he dreams and longs for a return to a happier, simpler, more innocent time before all this celebrity madness that he has to deal with. Despite living in the multi-million dollar mansion in Beverly Hills, he’s still chasing the rainbow of happiness––this impossible dream. So, you have this megalomaniacal character at the height of superstardom and of course he must fall. And so he does, many times as he goes on his adventure to find his high school sweetheart, his “Dulcinea,” hoping she’ll help him find happiness. But she’s in more trouble than he is. He finds her, and it shocks him, and in the process he reexamines his entire life. He tries to help her and their daughter (that he never knew he had), but he’s also finding himself. It’s a quest story. But I was also interested in building upon this framework, so I layered it with many literary allusions, perhaps too many. But that was important to me––I wanted to throw everything into the pot.

Did you listen to a rock and roll playlist while writing? What was on your playlist?

To be honest, I prefer silence when writing. Occasionally, I do have music in the background. If I do, it’s usually classical––something like Beethoven or Bach. I love rock music, but I can’t really focus while listening to it.

Your main character, Rook Heisenberg, is a world-renowned musician and songwriter. Was Rook inspired by any real-life musicians?

He’s a conglomeration of many real rock stars and celebrities. Think of all the famous ones at the height of their careers––“sex, drugs, and rock and roll.” Of course, the novel starts in Hollywood. I wanted it to open right in the center of the entertainment world. Sold-out show at the Hollywood Bowl (which, by the way, has a rainbow stage). The paparazzi. Beverly Hills. All the chaos. But at some point the mayhem usually becomes too much, and usually these stars seek some kind of peace, through rehab, a quest, family, seclusion, what have you.

Rock Star's Rainbow is packed with references to Rook's life and travels as a celebrity. Did you have to do any research on the places he visited, or the lifestyle he lead?

I did a lot of research. Let me say that I can’t write about a place unless I’ve been there. It doesn’t feel authentic unless you’ve actually walked around and gotten the vibe of the streets. I’ve lived in the Los Angeles area for about 11 years now, so that part was easy––I see it all the time. I went to college in Iowa, so that part was easy too. For Amsterdam and India, I had to travel there. Very wonderful places. As I was there, I kept thinking, now how would the characters act here, or there? How does this fit in with the overall plot? As far as the lifestyle of Rook, I’ve been to quite a few rock concerts and celebrity events, and have read quite a few of their stories. At the same time, I wanted the novel to be more than just a typical celebrity rehab tale––and so that’s why there are twists and turns and strange references.

What is the zaniest piece of information you came across while researching?

There’s a lot of zany stuff that I tried to include if it fit in. For instance, some celebrities actually do keep track of their sexual conquests. There really are some very bizarre private “clubs” where people do strange things. There really are naked holy men in India painted blue who smoke some strange drug. We ran into a German guy who hung out with them, and then disappeared for a few days. When he came back his face was all messed-up, horribly sunburned, his eyes puffy. What else, some people actually do lie in a coffin as a sort of shamanistic exercise to rid oneself of the fear of death and to make the most of life. Lots of strange things, things that I couldn't possibly make up. I realize some of it is stretching belief, but I wanted to get to that point where one crazy thing happens after another, where nothing's surprising anymore in this superstar's life, while at the same time, you know that it's been written by a tabloid reporter, so you can't really trust any of it.

While reading Rock Star's Rainbow, I noticed a lot of literary and/or historical references—particularly to Vincent Van Gogh. Why Van Gogh?

Yes, there are many references. Maybe too many. The big ones are Durer’s Melencolia, Don Quixote, Either/Or, Satyricon, Crime and Punishment, Ulysses, and some references to physics. But you’re right—Van Gogh is also a big part. Durer’s artwork is a key underpinning to the work—it’s faintly in the background on the cover and serves as the frontispiece and “bookmark” of the unknown author’s progress throughout the work. Durer’s work is very complex, with many symbols, some obvious and some covert, but simply put it represents a quest––a spiritual quest for meaning, but also the artist’s quest for achieving one’s vision—for achieving perfection. Van Gogh is another echo of that––of an artist giving one’s all to achieve a vision. Rook and some of the other characters in the book are on quests too. One of Rook’s quests is that of artistic accomplishment. Where do you go after you hit the top? But what is this top? Just because he’s famous and rich, does that make him artistically successful? The contrast with Van Gogh is also to show that sometimes success in art, whether it be music, painting, or whatever, can be measured in very different terms. Van Gogh achieved his vision, but was not recognized in his lifetime. You could say that not being recognized contributed to the passion and greatness in his art. Conversely, Rook is recognized and adored during his lifetime, but for what? Some silly, corny, catchy rock songs, but is that it? A new fashion line? A movie here or there? Isn’t there some magnum opus out there for him still to achieve? He knows there is. But it might be beyond his reach. And yet still, he has to at some point reach for it, and that's where the book sort of ends. Van Gogh represents this reaching, this yearning for true art, something beyond the rainbow.

Imagine: you're taking a ten hour car ride with one of your characters from Rock Star's Rainbow. Who would you take, and why?

Oh, that’s a hard question. Um, maybe Pui-Pui Poon. She’s a bodyguard, and a black belt, but feels a conflict with violence due to reading Gandhi. She’d be interesting to talk to, and hopefully would protect me if we ran into trouble.

Who was your favorite character to write?

The entertainment reporter and supposed author of the manuscript—Aitchkiss Killawathy. I very much wanted to play with this archaic idea of the found manuscript, and loved the bit that someone would be so upset as to throw this reporter out of a plane and to his death over a celebrity exposé. We first meet Aitchkiss as he’s falling off a twenty-five foot hedge, spying on Rook’s Beverly Hills mansion. He’s the omniscient narrator, falling down to earth. He’s repugnant, but likeable at the same time, and while he strives for truth, like any tabloid reporter, he’s unreliable. He makes stuff up when it suits his purposes, so you have to take everything with a grain of salt and read it as if it were a tabloid, in a way. And yet, he’s complex as well, as he struggles with his own issues. And lastly, we don’t even know for sure that he is the author, because no one wants to confirm anything due to legal reasons. He was fun to write. Perhaps I’ll figure out a way to bring him back in some future work.

Can you sum your book up in three words or less?

Chase your dreams.

Do you consider yourself a rock star in any form or fashion?

Not at all, although I do enjoy playing music with friends from time to time.

I know that you've started your own publishing company. Has this changed the way you write, or the way you look at the writing business at all?

Yes, most definitely, I did start out working with a couple of agents, but they had different ideas for my book that I was not interested in. They wanted me to streamline my story, and cut out the “editor” part and the allusions. Of course, their effort was to have the broadest possible appeal and sell more books. That’s great, but I very much wanted to follow my own vision. After all, that’s a big part of what the book is about—following your vision, no matter what it is. And so I started my own publishing company to have that freedom.

Also, it was very worthwhile learning the whole business side of publishing. From formatting the book, to distribution, to marketing, to developing eBook versions, all this has helped me tremendously as an author.

I'm not going to ask you where you get your ideas, or what motivates you to write. However, I am going to ask who your favorite author is. Have they influenced your style at all?

That’s really difficult. I read John Irving’s The World According to Garp back in high school, and that inspired me to pursue writing. But there are so many great authors that I admire and who have influenced me. Joyce, Tolstoy, Bronte, Hawthorne, Salinger…too many influences to mention.

What is your perspective on writer's block, and how do you beat it?

I find it easiest to write every day. Even if it’s just a little bit. That way you keep the flow going.

About how long did it take you to write Rock Star's Rainbow?

About 5 years.

Are you working on a(ny) book(s) right now? If so, what are they about?

I’m working on a Gothic satire. It’s more of a straightforward story, set in Ireland. I visited there a couple years ago, and walked about Bram Stoker’s old stomping grounds, and Yeats’ Sligo. It will involve an aging yet debonair vampire, and a young American woman who has inherited a Bed & Breakfast. She goes over there to set it up, and little does she know what she’s in for.

Do you have any writing rituals?

I prefer to write early in the morning, when I’m fresh. I try and pick up where I left off the day before, and keep going until I find a place where I can stop for the next day. When I’m done with the first draft, I go back over it, and revise, or add layers, or streamline it, or whatever I’m aiming for. I try and write down ideas that occur at odd times so I don't forget them. If I'm driving, I might scribble something down at a stoplight on a Starbucks' napkin, or sometimes I'll call myself and leave myself a message.

You have been given the opportunity to sit down with any author from any time period for lunch. Who do you choose to dine with, and why?

I think it would be hard to turn down Shakespeare. I don't have the slightest idea of what I'd ask him though. I'd be too intimidated.

You're stranded on a deserted island, and only brought one book with you. What is it, and why did you bring it?
Can I bring my iPad? Well, if I could only bring one book, man, that’s tough. Maybe T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land. It has fragments of everything. Or I would like to bring a blank book. That way I could write in it. While I love reading, I think I would be more tormented by the inability to create and write.

Thank you, J.P.

Thank you Kevin Glavin!

All of you bookworms, don't forget to check out Rock Star's Rainbow's website, here, or become a fan of Rock Star's Rainbow on Facebook!

Posted on July 14th, 2010

The Know It All by A. J. Jacobs

2010-07-12T05:37:00.000-07:00

How do you review nonfiction?

I can't talk about plot—how engrossing it is, or how uneventful. I can't praise the three-dimensionality of the protagonist. I mean, he is a real person, after all, and to say anything else would be like telling an actual human being that he's "as lifelike as a piece of cardboard", a description I know I've used. Clichés, and plot devices become irrelevant. Foreshadowing becomes obsolete*. If I start gushing about how wonderful a particular battle scene was, or how gruesome but fascinating this murderer acts, people are going to lock me up somewhere. And if I start picking out characters—er, people—and pinpointing archetypes, villains, or idiots… well, that's just uncool.

So, I ask you again, how do you review nonfiction?

Usually I don't. It's that simple. Because, after spending an afternoon or two reading, and then spending a week or two staring at a blank screen, I begin to wonder: is it really worth it? Was that last bit of nonfiction really that good?

This time, it was. I just finished The Know it All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A. J. Jacobs, and, in this case at least, I can actually say something relevant. Although this review will, most likely, be more like a commentary than a book review, I hope you'll enjoy it nonetheless.

Because he fears he's becoming "embarrassingly ignorant", Jacobs decides he needs to fill the gaps that have opened in his knowledge after years without academic stimuli. And what better way to do this, then to read the entire current edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica?

For some reason, I'm not finding this task nearly as crazy as most people would. Intimidating, yes; crazy, no. Maybe it's because I've embarked on a similar adventures in the past. One summer while I was in high school, I noticed I had no new material on my bookshelf. Undaunted, I decided that I would just have to read the dictionary. Mind you, it wasn't some pocket edition with 300 pages—this was an unabridged 1982 edition of Webster's Dictionary; one with thousands of tissue-paper pages. My mom used to make me look up my vocabulary words in that thing. Then I discovered Google. But I digress.

Anyway, I never finished the dictionary. In fact, I think I gave up halfway through the A's. But I guess my point in telling you all of this, is to say that I sympathize with Jacobs in his remarkable quest to read the Britannica.

Of course, he doesn't find this journey easy. Like most people, during the early letters, Jacobs finds himself distracted and daydreaming at regular intervals. The only facts that he seems to remember are the ones that are kind of awkward or crude to use in every day conversation. For example, scapulimancy is the art of predicting the future based on the shoulder blades of animals. I have no idea how that works, or if I'll ever need to know this fact, but next time I have a wayward sorcerer in one of my novels, he's going to have some odd ideas about seeing the future.

Once again, I can relate to this—this, random fact remembering. I am a geek after all. Like most other geeky types I know, I have literally books full of useless information floating in my brain (thanks in part to the multiple publications I own by the Society for Useless Information, I suppose). I play along at home with the folks on Jeopardy—even once tried out for the show—and let me tell you, no one ever wants to play Trivial Pursuit with me. I guess I just found it kind of funny that someone actually read the Encyclopedia, and came up with the same sorts of random factoids as I do.

Jacobs' journey is told through a series of abridged, paraphrased encyclopedia entries. Beginning with a-ak, and ending with zwieck, what we readers see is a witty, distilled commentary of the Encylopaedia Britannica as told through the eyes of one ordinary guy doing an extraordinary thing. Or, more accurately, extraordinary things. During his quest, Jacobs joins Mensa (one of my lifelong goals), meets Alex Trebek (I just want to get on Jeopardy), and ends up on a game show or two.

And here is what I suppose you could call the 'arc' of the book. Slowly, we get to see our author growing as a person. His internal arguments for, or against, different points in the Britannica begin to take a philosophical, almost scholarly tone, even when shadowed by difficulty—and I'm not just talking the reading load here. Jacobs also struggles with peer pressure, his own philosophies, and becoming a father for the first time.

Whether you consider yourself a knowledge junkie, or could cram all the trivia facts you know into a single fortune cookie, The Know it All is an inspiring read for the professor inside us all.

* (I do seem to find foreshadowing in my own life. For example: the other day, I was doing laundry, and spilt a bit of detergent on the floor. An hour later, due to a mistake on my part, the entire bottle of soap had puddled underneath the washing machine. Unfortunately, my first thought wasn't "oh no, it's going to ruin the floor!" Instead, it was, "foreshadowing!".)

Read an excerpt at the Author's website
Buy it on Amazon

Posted on July 12th, 2010

Fortuna by Michael R. Stevens

2010-07-08T17:57:00.001-07:00

Don't forget to check out our interview with Michael R. Stevens, author of Fortuna, here!

When you don't have any actual money (and even if you do), books are an excellent way to take a cheap vacation. But if you've read all the books on your shelf, and something astronomical has happened to keep you away from the bookstore, perhaps virtual lives are the most convenient solution to this fatal monotony. But imagine a virtual life so sophisticated—so complex—that it's run entirely by machines. Imagine a world where the lines between the game and real life begin to blur, until they're almost impossible to distinguish.

Welcome to Fortuna.

Computer science major, Jason Lind, is looking for an escape from his boring life, when he happens upon Fortuna, an incredibly sophisticated online role playing game set in renaissance-era Florence, Italy. Playing as Father Allesandro da Scala, Jason finds himself seduced by this wild world of relationships, politics, and greed that extends beyond the virtual walls of his computer.

When he incurs an in-game debt that flows over into his real life, Jason is forced to seek the attentions of his estranged computer-mogul uncle, Frank Stocker. Under his uncle's employment, Jason begins to remember and realize the secrets of his family's past, and to uncover the realities of his future.

The first word this book brings to mind is "detailed". Michael R. Stevens' Fortuna captures the essence of renaissance-era Italy with an artist's eye. From the social hierarchy, to the dangers of every day life, to the confessional at Father Allesandro's church, the historical aspects of this book are as engrossing as they are beautiful.

I also loved all the technological references. The code-speak isn't difficult to understand, but geeks like me still feel like they're getting a crash course in the antagonist's program-of-choice (of course, my knowledge is a little outdated now…). Fortuna is truly a technological thriller, but, for the casual reader, the historical elements help to balance this out.

Now, normally I'm a stickler for interesting characters, and—let's face it—Jason Lind's life is pretty boring. He and his friends are all freakishly normal, but for once, I think this enhances the book. The plot here is front and center; our eyes are ever drawn to the lush and beautiful world of Fortuna. I like it; a lot.

Michael R Stevens' writing style is very straight forward, and easy to read. I didn't find myself clamoring over the letters, or getting that 'red pen' feeling. Fortuna would make an excellent airplane book, or passenger-seat-of-the-car kind of book; both fast and engaging.

The biggest negative I have for Fortuna, would be its predictability. I know I can almost always predict the ending of a book within the first forty pages, so maybe it's just me. But I did find Fortuna to be highly predictable. That isn't to say I didn't like it—because I did. I just guessed the ending.

Fortuna is a book that grabs you and won't let go. I'm proud to have it on my bookshelf.

An afterthought: After reading Fortuna, I decided I needed to try some online gaming. Stevens' website said that the game Fortuna most closely resembles Second Life in the games available today, so off to Second Life I went. After spending about an hour creating my character (I named her Ink), I began interacting with people… and promptly got off. It was too much for me. The actual voice chatting with people I've never met; the humongous community. I think I'm internet paranoid or something, because it just made me all kinds of nervous interacting with people that way. So I want to congratulate Jason Lind on his bravery—he made it farther than I did.

Read an excerpt at the Author's website

The Wednesday Batch (3)

2010-07-07T09:32:00.000-07:00

How are all of you lovely readers this week? Enjoying the sun? Hating the heat? Or perhaps you're in Australia where the seasons all run backwards! (which, I know, you will argue they run normally, and *I'm* backwards, but I digress.).

Anyway, onto the links...

1)
It's a typwriter orchestra. Need I say anything more?

2) Art always inspires me to write, and I love it when an artist can capture the essence of a story. Annie Leibovitz has done an amazing thing, photographing scenes from her favorite fairy tales in this amazing collection. Aside from a few odd modelling choices, and a Romeo with freakishly tight tights on, I think it's pretty cool.

3) Finally, there are two books coming out next month that I'm really looking forward to. I rarely follow series, or seek out a certain author repeatedly--I know that sounds snobbish, but I just have this "so many authors, so little time" mentality--but there are two releases that I can't help but get excited over. The first of these would be the third books in The Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. And the second would be Ape House by Sara Gruen (of Water for Elephants fame). I'm even thinking of pre-ordering Mockingjay.

Happy reading!
-J. P.

Next by Michael Crichton & July Book Giveaway!

2010-07-05T11:05:00.001-07:00

Everything I know about genetics, I've learned from science-fiction. Or, more precisely, everything I've learned about genetics has been borne of a love of science-fiction. That's why you'll find Genetics for Dummies right along side Pride and Prejudice and Zombies on my bookshelf.

I've done a lot of research on the subject of genetics, and I've found that there are a lot of disturbing things going on in the field today. For example, there are major corporations (such as Myriad Genetics) who are patenting human genes. That way, they can legally control the research—or stop the research altogether—on said gene. This practice has crippled genetic research, and left people paying thousands of dollars on genetic tests that should cost mere hundreds.

In May of this year, the US District Court of Appeals ruled Gene Patents illegal. Not long after, Myriad Genetics retaliated. And, of course, the terse battle for the rights of our bodies continues. It's estimated that 20% of genes inside your body are owned by a major corporation. Creepy, isn't it?

Next by Michael Crichton is a book that deals with many genetic issues that we hear about in the media. Basically, it highlights the inner workings of the business of genetic science; it underscores how one little slip can cause a whole world of trouble.

I have a difficult time providing a succinct synopsis for this novel because this book tells more than one story. While most authors will provide ordinary characters and thrust them into extraordinary circumstances (or vice versa), Crichton has taken ordinary characters and put them into circumstances that would ordinary in their field. This allows the reader minimal suspension of belief, and so we find ourselves more easily drawn into the story.

Crichton is a plot-driven novelist. However, as in Pirate Latitudes, he also manages to provide distinct characters. Too often plot-driven books find themselves shadowed by characters that are as lifelike as cardboard. Thankfully, Next bucks the trend, leaving the reader with characters as diverse as the book's plot(s).

Next unfolds like a movie. Tendrils of carefully-planned plot spread to the far reaching corners of every page. The first half of the book exists to show you just how messed up the world of scientific genetics is; and the second half brings all of these issues together. What you're left with is a whirlwind tale about genetic experimentation, without focusing on any one issue as a whole.

Crichton expertly blurs the line between fact and fiction. With phony news articles and strange stories that you're sure you've heard somewhere , you're never quite sure if the anomalies of the scientific community are fact, or birthed from the author's imagination. As the preface says, "This novel is fiction, except for the parts that aren't.

Michael Crichton's Next is, plain and simple, a genetic thriller. How apt that people should be reading it now while these genetic issues are so relevant in our society today.

Author's Website
But it/read an excerpt on Amazon

***

Would you like to own a copy of Michael Crichton's Next?

Of course you would! That's why The Daily Monocle is hosting the first every Monthly Monocle Giveaway, featuring Next.

Every month The Daily Monocle will give away one new and/or gently used copy of one of the books we've reviewed. This book will be sent to you, free of charge—we'll even pay shipping!

The copy of Next that we'll be giving away is a very gently used paperback with a bright green cover. It looks just like the image featured above, but in green.

How to Enter
There are several ways to enter this contest. Each way you enter earns you one (1) entry. You may enter each way one time per contest.
---*Leave a comment on this post = 1 entry (this is required to enter the contest; don't forget to leave your e-mail in the comment).
---*Subscribe to this blog (if you're already a subscriber, say so in your comment) = 1 entry
---*Blog about The Daily Monocle on your blog (leave a link) = 1 entry
---*Put a link to The Daily Monocle on your blog/website sidebar. (leave a link). = 1 entry
---*Become a fan of our Facebook page (let me know in your comment) = 1 entry

By entering each of these ways, you can enter a total of 5 times per contest period. That's 5 chances to win a copy of Michael Crichton's fabulous book, Next! Every entry is assigned a number, and then I will use a random integer generator to select the winner.

Tell your friends. And don't forget to include your e-mail in your comment. If I can't contact you, I can't send you your prize, and it will go to someone else.

USA and Canada addresses only.

Happy reading!

Rock Star's Rainbow by Kevin Glavin

2010-06-30T06:51:00.000-07:00

Remember to check out our interview with Rock Star's Rainbow author, Kevin Glavin!

I tried really hard to like this book. In fact, I spent something like three months reading Kevin Glavin's Rock Star's Rainbow in tiny chunks, hoping that, if I digested it slower, perhaps I would be able to properly appreciate it. But I couldn't.

That being said, I felt like there was a genuinely good story hidden somewhere amidst the prose, I just couldn't find it. This book follows the adventures of Rook, a rock star searching for the meaning of life. On his quest, he ends up flying all over the earth, discovering long lost relations, and catching up with an old flame.

The skeleton of this story is good. It's a classic redemption tale with a somewhat-likeable anti-hero, set in farfetched, but compelling circumstances. And it is a satire, so there is (a bit) of humor.

But mostly, this book is just bizarre. The longer you read, the more muddled Rook becomes... and consequently, so does the prose. For me, the characters never quite came alive. Is that because of their strange—and sometimes ridiculous—thought patterns and actions? I don't know; I just know they didn't 'work' for me.

"Rock Star's Rainbow" also requires you to suspend your belief just a little too often. I can handle crazy people, love triangles, mafias, people with very strange names, tigers, washed up Bollywood stars, leeches, men who are painted blue... any of those things on their own. But when combined, the story becomes quite absurd… and not in a good way. A woman named Hula Kentucky? A kung-fu chick that gets her ear ripped off? Many, many references to Van Gogh (Partly because of the ear?), and passages that read like cheesy song lyrics?

To add to the mess, Rock Star's Rainbow also seems to express a little "TMI". There are plenty of details I never wanted to know, and wish I hadn't read. I'm not a squeamish person; I just didn't want to know all the details.

I will admit, I enjoyed a lot of the references to famous people, times, and works of art. They were unexpected—almost out of place—in this book, but I enjoyed them nonetheless. I guess you could say they were a breath of fresh air. The descriptions of India were also captivating; rich in both detail and substance.

Overall, I can tell that author Keven Glavin was really trying with his book. You can sense the effort, and, if you can sift through all the filler on top, you might find a decent story. It just didn't strike the proper chord with me.

Buy it/read an excerpt on Amazon
Author's Website

The Wednesday Batch (2)

2010-06-30T06:34:00.001-07:00

A batch of links from your friendly, neighborhood blogger.

1) Does anyone else just *love* the webcomic xkcd? Maybe it's because I'm a geek, but I find xkcd to be witty, intelligent, and it always makes me laugh. Today's comic is Lord of the Rings based. So here's a link!

2) I love free stories. And I love great stories. I like each of those things even better when they are combined. I haven't had time to read all of the stores here at Fifty-Two Stories, but there are some excellent ones mixed in. I thought you might all enjoy the link!

3) Remember my review for Never Let Me Go? Well, I didn't tell you all this, but I bought the book based on the movie trailer I saw. It just looked too excellent to pass up. So of course I have to post the movie trailer! I will warn you though, it does contain a few spoilers...

On the Decline of Young Adult Literature

2010-06-28T06:12:00.001-07:00

This is the [slightly edited] speech I've been giving at various competitions all year. Next month, I'll be giving it at the "state" competition level, so I'm pretty excited. I would love to know what you think!

***

The first line of Jane Austen's immortal "Pride and Prejudice" reads, "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."

Well, it is also a truth universally acknowledged, that a teenage bibliophile in possession of an empty bookshelf, must be in want of a novel. And if that teenager is me, I'll read almost anything I can get my hands on…except for young adult literature.

The Young Adult genre is a relatively new phenomenon. Teen literature didn't gain momentum until the eighties and nineties. Since the year 2000, the Young Adult Library Services Association—often shortened to "YALSA"—has seen a 76% increase in their membership numbers. As you can see, teenagers are flocking to books written specifically for them.

However, until now, I've been perfectly content hiding behind stacks of classics; of hardcore science fiction and post-apocalyptic dystopias. But for the purpose of this analysis, I forced myself to read a genre I've all but boycotted since I was thirteen.

My findings both shocked and disturbed me. According to Scholastic's BookAlike library assistant, most popular teen titles read below a fifth grade reading level. That's right; in genre that markets to 12 to 20 year olds, only the twelve year olds are being challenged. To put this in perspective, according to the Gunning-Fox Readability Index, this essay is written at about a 12th grade level.

The books I read as part of my preparations were: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Graceling by Kristin Cashore, Eragon by Christopher Paolini and Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. I chose these books because they all ranked towards the top of the YALSA's 'teen picks' booklist in the last five years. I will be talking about them in order from best, to worst, ranked according to literary merit, and common elements in teen fiction.

First I'd like to talk about The Hunger Games. The Hunger Games.This is an exception to the list, because, even though the writing was simple, the story was engaging. Between the fast-paced plot and relatable characters I literally had a hard time putting this book down. After losing myself between its pages, I would recommend The Hunger Games to anyone—teen or older.

Next we have Eragon. I guess the biggest problem here is the unoriginal story. It faithfully follows the post-Tolkien fantasy formula—that is, main character from nondescript family acquires an object that only they can use, and must use this object to defeat an evil force governing the land. Main character may or may not be related to said villain.

I'll admit I loved this book when it first came out… and I was twelve. But now? Well, the only thing I can see is how Eragon is an unabashed rehashing of Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, with a dragon thrown into the mix. Add to that a whiny main character who always seems to be either passing out or relieving himself in the bushes, and I find myself laughing. Of course Paolini's young success makes him appealing to a young audience, but honestly, if you've read much of anything in the fantasy genre, you aren't going to be impressed.

I'm going to say Graceling comes next, even though I couldn't finish the book. Although this story didn't suffer from an unimaginative plot, getting past the simplistic writing was well nigh impossible. Almost every sentence started with "He", "She", "It", "The", or "They", as if the author wanted nothing more than to pound her story into our heads with terrifyingly finite detail. Unfortunately, much of this detail was wasted describing a particular male characters' unbuttoned shirt and luminous eyes. In less than 100 pages, the author had told us of his rolled up sleeves four times. The only reprieve from this monotony was the occasional passage of dialogue, which was, overall, better than the rest of the novel.

Our next contender, City of Bones, has more than a few things in common with the aforementioned books. For one, the unchallenging writing couldn't hold my attention. Like Eragon, this novel thoroughly followed the post-Tolkien fantasy formula—so thoroughly in fact, that I predicted page 406's big plot twist on page 31.

But City of Bones is more than just another book in the bag. In a way, it seems that Cassandra Clare tried to stuff every teen lit trend into one volume. In addition to the things I've already mentioned, we had vampires versus werewolves, magic, a love triangle, a vulnerable female protagonist and, perhaps one of the most prevalent elements since 2005—the hot supernatural boyfriend.

By the end of the book, I was tired of hearing about our half-angel's "finely muscled arms, downed with golden hairs, fine as pollen"; I couldn't read another sentence about his arrogance, quick wit and devilish smile. To compound this issue, most of the characters in City of Bones were hotties from other dimensions, so there was no distinguishing between them. They all blurred together mid-story. And then at the end, we find out that our main character and her love interest are actually siblings. What you're left with is a melting pot, and nothing more.

Finally, we come to Twilight, a book that somehow took every negative in teen fiction and amplified it tenfold. You've heard of it; you're grandmother's heard of it. Raise your hand if you know the story of ordinary Bella Swan falling for the dangerous but dazzling vampire Edward Cullen. Twilight has transcended all reasonable boundaries and I can't for the life of me see why; it epitomizes every flaw in teenage literature.

Sometimes I have to wonder if Stephanie Meyer honestly tried to write a sincere romance. Instead, she gives us a story that's… unnerving, to say the least. Vulnerable female protagonist Bella Swan has no life of her own. She repeatedly sacrifices her happiness for those around her, and then regrets it. No friends; no social life. But they say misery loves company, and so she soon attracts Edward Cullen, a vampire who breathes life into poor Bella. Or does he?

Now, despite what most teenage girls will tell you, I've always thought Edward was a creep. But as if being undead and sparkly wasn't enough, I now see how abusive and downright disturbing he is. From the moment he meets Bella he's toying with her. Laughing when she's frustrated, mocking her when she gets something wrong. He drags her into his car when she won't come of her own free will, and threatens her when he doesn't get his way. He can be disconcertingly affectionate, but only on his terms. Slowly, over the course of the novel, Edward consumes Bella—not physically, as vampires are wont to do—but mentally, and emotionally.

Did you know that Edward Cullen matches almost every description of an abusive boyfriend?

Did you know that Bella describes him as "beautiful", "godlike", "perfect" or "marvelous" over 45 times? And the nicest thing he says about her for the entire duration of the book is "your blood is like a drug to me" and, "you're like my own personal brand of heroin."

How would you like a boyfriend who threatens to kill you, even as he says he loves you? How would you like to be 17, dating a 108 year old man whose sole purpose in life is to repeat high school over and over again, while trying not to eat his fellow students? How would you like to find your boyfriend standing over your bed at night, having broken through your window to watch you sleep? That doesn't say "romance." It says "restraining order." If you cast aside Twilight's amateur writing, gaping plot holes and love of adverbs, what you're left with is a 'romantic' read about girls who ought to submit to and idolize a man who will 'protect' them. What kind of message is this sending to America's youth? I've seen girls in elementary school practically worshipping Twilight, after all, it's written at a 4th grade level. Are these girls going to base their future relationships on Edward Cullen?

Thanks to the media, these are the books young people see when they walk into the bookstore. These are the characters we emblazon on our walls and model ourselves after. These are the authors we shower with our allowance money, and find beneath our Christmas trees.

Why are we investing in characters that make Spongebob look intelligent? Hello teenagers: we're the future of this country—of the world. Our forbearers had Dickens and Hemmingway to look to for guidance. How come, more often then not, we find ourselves looking towards Paolini and Meyer?

I've often heard people say, "I don't care what kids read, as long as they're reading", but if they stopped and looked at what was on the shelves today, would they change their minds? Perhaps Mark Twain was right when he said, "A man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them at all." Because frankly, if I had to choose between popular teen literature, or nothing at all, I think I'd stop reading.

-J. P.

Announcement!

2010-06-28T06:11:00.001-07:00

Aha! Finally! You can now join The Daily Monocle on many literary and/or social websites including, LibraryThing, Facebook, and Shelfari. Just check out the "contact" tab for further details.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

2010-06-25T10:18:00.000-07:00

Years ago, Kathy and her two best friends, Ruth and Tommy, were students at the elite Hailsham boarding school. Nestled in the British countryside, and isolated from most of the world, the children of Hailsham were always told they were special, and from their youngest days, always knew they would grow to become something different from the 'normals' outside their school.

Now grown, Kathy finds herself on the cusp of beginning a new stage in her life; of transitioning from a 'carer' to a 'donor'. With this change quickly approaching, she decides she needs to share her memories with someone, and in this case, that someone is we readers.

If this summary seems vague, or some of those terms don't make any sense, I cannot, in good conscience, apologize. Kazuo Ishiguro's fabulous Never Let Me go is best read if you know very little about the book itself (so don't go look it up on Wikipedia). Suffice to say that it is soft sci-fi, one of the best dystopian novels I've ever read, and I'm not sure why I haven't heard about it before now.

The plot is straightforward enough. Not simple, mind you; merely straightforward. It basically chronicles the life of the Hailsham students from their time at the school itself, to The Cottages—which is a transitional period between school and adulthood—into pseudo-members of society. But just as they've always been told they were 'special' at Hailsham, they are also 'special' in the world outside, albeit in a very different way. In Kathy's words:

"…she was afraid of us in the same way someone might be afraid of spiders. We hadn't been ready for that. It had never occurred to us to wonder about how we would feel, being seen like that, being the spiders".

The characters are well-defined, if very flawed. At times the characterization seems a little shallow, but I think that's a good thing. It emphasizes the larger aspects of the book. There is a lack of familial love at Hailsham, and so the characters make up for this by establishing strong, if immature, relationships. These close ties serve as a magnifying glass for every act of spite or jealousy; every kind word or work of friendship.

Never Let Me Go is a first person narrative, so most of what we see is through Kathy's eyes. Ishiguro did a marvelous job of not gender-typing Kathy, or any of the other characters in his novel. It isn't often you come across a male author who writes convincing, first-person, female characters (or vice versa).

But much of the praise I have for this book stems, not from the characterization or plot, but from the writing itself. Or perhaps, more precisely, how it was written. The students describe Hailsham as having an attitude of, "knowing but not knowing". This same attitude establishes the atmosphere for the rest of the book. Ishiguro's writing is subtly powerful, making you melancholy without your knowing why. He drops hints and skirts the heart of the matter with such skill, it feels as though you're slowly pulling back the prose one word at a time, in order to expose the stark truth underneath. His word choice is spot-on.

Never Let Me Go is written in a very 'English' dialect—that is, I could practically hear the English accent while I was reading. His meandering style of interlocking memories takes about 40 pages to get used to, but once you accustom yourself to this intimate prose, you begin to feel as if you're actually there, remembering Hailsham and reliving the characters' pasts.

You could classify this book as just another soft sci-fi/dystopian book, but more than that, it's a novel about innocence, knowledge, loss and being satisfied with the cards you're dealt. From page one, I was roped in by an unspeakable heartbreak borne out of a tragedy that hadn't happened yet, and I knew nothing about. On the last page, I had watched the tragedy unfold, and was left behind as the characters marched on.

Never Let Me Go is poised to become a modern-day classic. And if all of Kazuo Ishiguro's writing similarly evokes such bittersweet emotions, he will be a writer remembered for a very long time.

But it/read an excerpt on Amazon
Author's Website (He doesn't have a website, amazingly, so here's his Wikipedia page)

The Wednesday Batch 1

2010-06-23T04:12:00.001-07:00

So I just got back from my District 4-H speech competition. I managed to take first place, which was wonderful; I haven't taken first in a few years. I thought about just posting my speech today, but I think I'll save that until after the State competition. So you'll all have to wait a little longer to hear my opinion of the YA market today. (Hint: I boycott teen lit.)

Anyway....

On Wednesday, I've decided I'm going to post links to pertinant and/or cool things around the 'net. I'm always looking for links, so feel free to send a few my way. Do you have a blog? E-mail me and you might be featured!

Also, I need a better name for these posts than "The Wednesday Batch". Any suggestions?

1) While it isn't actually literature, it is based off of my favorite book in the series. The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader trailer is finally available! It looks like it sticks fairly close to the original story (though I have to say, they didn't show anything about Eustace and the dragon in the trailer...), but I haven't read VotDT in a while. I'll let you judge for yourself. :D

2) Although it hasn't been updated in a while, Literally, A Web Log, is one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. I encourage all those grammar police-type to go and check it out. I laughed like crazy while I read through; does that make me geeky? :p Probably.

3) Finally, something for all of the writers out there. You know when you're trying to get one of your characters to do something, and they won't listen, and end up breaking a rib? Or your stupid antagonist's brother suddenly decides he needs to be front-and-center, and to do so, disfigures himself in a fire? Yeah. I thought so. I always run into problems with rogue characters and their injuries (and I write fantasy/sci-fi. There are a lot of injuries). I was so pleased to find this wonderful resource for writing realistic injuries. I hope you all find it useful.

So those are my links for Wednesday. Hopefully you all enjoy them, and I'll be posting a review on Friday!

-J. P.

Drive-By Review: The Singer by Calvin Miller + An Announcement

2010-06-21T05:55:00.000-07:00

Announcements first: from now on, I'm going to try and update The Daily Monocle on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week. There won't always be three full-length reviews, but I'm hoping that on Monday there will be a short review, on Wednesday there will be links to cool literary stuff, and on Friday I'll have something earthshattering that makes you rush to the nearest bookstore. Okay? Cool.

***

For a while now, it seems that my only interest has been in historical fiction, light fantasy/supernatural, or some combination thereof. I can feel my tastes beginning to drift; in a few weeks, this blog will be cluttered with science-fiction reviews.

But before I switch gears, I plucked The Singer from my to-be-read pile, and settled down for what I thought would be an epic fantasy poem.

I wasn't entirely wrong. The Singer by Calvin Miller is written in the tradition of Tolkien or Lewis. Each stanza is oddly rhythmic, though the words themselves only have cadence about half the time. (The other half of the time, they either lacked the elusive element of poetry, or I thought the word choice was off). And it wasn't really sword-and-sorcery style fantasy either. There was no great quest, no evil wizards… but there was a very Tolkien-esque world developed around the characters.

I was surprised to find that The Singer is an allegory of the life of Christ. The Singer himself, son of the Earthmaker, has been charged to sing the last verse of The Song, which will result in his death. And so he travels throughout the land as a sort of minstrel or troubadour, sharing pieces of The Song and telling people about the Earthmaker. On his journey he heals a crippled child, teaches a fallen woman the difference between love and lust, and frees a 'madman'—all while fighting off evil. If you know the story of Christ, you know how the story ends.

Predictability aside, The Singer had some quotable quotes and some memorable moments. It's one of those books that likes to sit in the recesses of your memory, quietly posing questions during your everyday activities.

Although it isn't groundbreaking fantasy fiction, or earth-shattering Christian fiction, Calvin Miller's The Singer was a nice little tale. And, even though I probably won't pursue its sequels, I don't regret picking it up and reading it on a rainy day.

Buy it/read an excerpt on Amazon
Author's Website

Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton

2010-06-17T09:38:00.000-07:00

With the exception of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Hollywood has neglected to produce any historically accurate movies about pirates or privateers. To my knowledge, the publishing industry seems to have the same problem. Every single book I've ever read about sailing that's been published in the last 50 years has smacked of clichéd piratical romanticism.

I've done a lot of research on pirates. Back in the autumn of '08, while I was still in high school, I wrote a novel called Lady Wick. This novel was about—you guessed it—pirates. I read at least six pirate history books cover-to-cover and countless articles on seafaring in the 16-, 17-, and 1800's. And, while Lady Wick wasn't my finest endeavor and yes, smacked of romanticism by the end of the first draft, I learned that actual pirates are a whole lot better than the watered down lot Hollywood gives in the form of multi-million dollar blockbusters.

I guess that's why I was a bit skeptical when I received Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton for Christmas. I let it languish on the bookshelf for a while, and finally got around to reading it a few days ago.

Wow.

Captain Charles Hunter is a privateer—that is, basically a government-commissioned pirate—currently residing in Port Royal, Jamaica. Rumor has it that a Spanish treasure galleon is stuck waiting for repairs on the island of Matanceros, and Captain Hunter decides to try his luck against the Spaniards for the treasure.

With the promise of guaranteed gold, Governor James Almont of Jamaica agrees to fund Captain Hunter's venture—as long as he gets his due pay. And so, the cunning Captain Hunter sets out to gather a motley of characters as his crew.

From a mute giant to a woman masquerading as a man, the characters of Pirate Latitudes are as diverse as they are enjoyable. Many of them seem to have been inspired by history's more colorful characters. Most notably would be Lazue—whose life bears a striking resemblance to that of Mary Read.

The funny thing is that, while there are many characters whose back stories and psyches could be explored, Pirate Latitudes is an almost exclusively plot-driven novel. It's sprawling story nearly overshadows the characters to the point of excessiveness. I say 'nearly', because it stops just in time, leaving you with a plot that continues to grow and grow, and characters to interact neatly within their boundaries.

This leads me to believe that Crichton is a man in charge of his novels. Some writers (like me) have a vague idea of a plot, but they let the characters decide where the story goes, often taking it in a radically different direction than first intended. But, other writers—like Crichton—seem to have a rigid structure that their characters adhere to, and each character has a role that they fulfill… and then they die.

Pirate Latitudes is a quick, movie-like read. With all the elements (almost a melting pot) of good pirate fiction, and the historical backing to boot, you'll not only learn much about sailing in the late 1600's—you'll be entertained at the same time. If more pirate fiction was written with such care and detail, I'd be inclined to recommend more books to my friends. Authors and Filmmakers: do yourself a favor, and take a cue from Michael Crichton. History is not overrated, and this is one book you don't want to miss.

Note: I've recently been told that there *is* a movie in production based off of Pirate Latitudes. I'll be watching very carefully when it comes out in a few years, and I'll let you all knwo whether it's worth watching or not.

Buy it on Amazon
Author's Website

Finding Emmaus by Pamela S. K. Glasner

2010-06-15T06:39:00.000-07:00

Imagine a world where empathy is considered a mental illness; a world where dozens of people are medicated every day for something that doesn't exist. Imagine being so empathetic that you can feel other people's emotions all the time, every day when you walk out of the house. You can sense danger—tell when someone's lying—and more. And because of this, you've been told you were crazy.

Katherine Spencer, a 54 year old Empath, is just discovering her true nature. When, after countless doctors, dosages and side effects, her medications have no effect, Katherine's boyfriend, Danny, walks out on her. Hurt and alone, she decides to pack up and move to a small town called Weaver's Bridge.

Once there, she finds herself undeniably drawn to a country cottage in dire need of repair. Without a second though, she buys the house, only to find a mystery brewing within. And when a psychiatrist friend begins to hint that she might be an Empath, Katherine finds herself on a quest to find the true nature of Empathy.

300 years earlier, a man named Frank Nettleton lived in the same town, in the same cottage where Katherine now resides. After years of being tormented by his wild and intense bouts of emotional instability, Frank comes to realize that he is an Empath, and in order to spare future generations the same pain and confusion he feels, he sets out to create the proverbial bible of Empathy—a quest that consumes much of his adult life.

In this spellbinding historical fantasy, Finding Emmaus, author Pamela S. K. Glasner has proven her talents. Her characterization is wonderful. By the end of this book, I was attached to each character. They all have their own flaws and motives—their own ways of validating their actions and how they accomplish things. Because of this, her characters seem more like people, than flat imitations on a page. The cast is both dynamic and inspiring, and they keep the pages turning.

And while I'll say that Finding Emmaus is definitely a character-driven novel, plot isn't sacrificed. A multitude of story threads are launched from page one, and they continue to weave in and out of each other—hinting here, pulling there—for the duration of the novel. Finding Emmaus reminds me a bit of The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, in the sense of the historical and present storylines weaving so effortlessly together… but better.

The prose is also wonderful. I didn't find myself 'snagging' against the words, wondering about the word choice or grammatical errors. Every single word fit perfectly in its own little niche.

It isn't often that you find a good writer who is also a good storyteller, but I'm pleased to say that Pamela S. K. Glasner is just that. With well-developed, dynamic characters, a complicated plot, and beautiful prose, I felt each and every paragraph falling into perfect order—like a puzzle. Finding Emmaus is the first book in a trilogy, and if the author keeps up the good work, she will find in me, a faithful reader.

Buy it/read an excerpt at Amazon
Author's Website