The Daily Monocle

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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?
***

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.

***

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