Cheek by Jowl

Rather disturbing day. Lucy and I returned from our trip to the mountains to discover that our house had been re-let. The new chap was standing in our living room, in a shirt and suit pants, looking uncertainly at my collection of first edition TinTins. His partner was stocking our fridge with yoghurt.

Lucy and I retreated to our room for a discussion. These people certainly seemed pretty sure of themselves. I ventured out to take a look at their papers, which were scattered on the kitchen table. There was a rental agreement there, with our landlord's signature on.

Typical of our landlord. He's always sending people around without informing us. Plumbers, carpenters, tree removalists. Clearly this is a passive-aggressive attempt to evict us, in favour of a pair of 'Young Professionals'.

It's dreadfully awkward all round. From what I can see, Lucy and I really have nothing in common with these people at all. Still, we have no intention of leaving. This is our house, and we're paid up until at least the end of next month.

I went through some of the chap's boxes which were stacked in the living room. He has a whole box full of self-help guides. 'Six Steps to Becoming a Persuasive Speaker' and so forth. He clearly wasn't comfortable with me glancing through his things, but he apparently hasn't reached the Step of being able to handle confrontations yet. He busied himself hanging pictures in the study until I went back to the bedroom.

Dinner was uncomfortable. The four of us shared the table, Lucy in front of me and the other woman on my left. There was nothing to be said, so we simply treated our new housemates like a couple seated too close to us at a restaurant. I refuse to be pertubed by these people. I am a scholar, and my habits must not be disrupted.

They're moving their bed into our lounge room now. It looks like we might be in for a long haul here.

Cheek by jowl - a fiction project

Dear all,

Over the delightful task of creating a souffle or 'pouf-perraire' with friends tonight, we stumbled upon the conversation topic of landlords making changes to your house without telling you. From there we fell straight into the obscure rabbit hole that is to be this project. What if someone else moved into your house without telling you. And what if, feeling enourmously uncomfortable, you both just continued to live there completely ignoring each others presence. The diary entries associated with this project will all be under the heading "Cheek by Jowl" and are the fictionalised accounts of the two couples living in this awkward coexistance written by myself and the lovely Jack. It is an experiment and a bit of fun, so read and enjoy!

White Crow

Marcus Sedgwick is such a dark YA author, and I love that he writes books which give young adults credit for being able to read fiction that is of such a high standard, without talking down to the reader. The fact that he has such a large following proves to me that although readers do enjoy some light escapism, that they will read a wide range of fiction, and that people who underestimate the value of a good story rather than a gimmick, don't really understand their audience at all.

I always find that it takes me a while to pick up the latest Sedgwick, knowing that I will be in for an unsettling read. But not once have I been disappointed, and I always find that once I've started the book I am entirely unable to put it down. White Crow is no exception.

 "Supposing you wanted to prove something, something important. Supposing you wanted to prove, for argument's sake, that there is life after death."....."You might say that although you have not seen every crow in the whole world, every crow you have ever seen is black. Therefore the chances are very great that all crows are black. In fact, you have decided for a fact that all crows are black. Now of course, if someone could show you a while crow, everything would be overturned in a moment. But all crows are black. And in the same way, you conclude that no one lives after death. There is no 'other side'. There is no white crow. But, supposing I said I had seen a white crow? Just one. A single white crow. What then?" (an exert from White Crow)

This is a chilling concept, and a chilling narrative, which bounces from a gothic tale of religion and life after death, to an equally gothic contemporary story of two girls, who form an uneasy friendship which takes them to the very borders of existence. The setting for this book is a remote cliffside town, which, battered by the winds and the sea drops its borders into the sea without warning. Ferelith has grown up in the town, but has been an outside all her life. Rebecca is new, but feels equally alienated. She is seduced by Ferelith's strangeness, although she does sense an unease about her new friend. Taunted by her own demons, she follows Ferelith into the dark obsessions of her mind, linked to the horrific past of the town. 

A cover review says 'It's quite a horrible story. I love it.' And that's pretty much it. White Crow is horribly gothic. The characters are creepy and unsettling and generally quite unlikeable. But Sedgwick has such a way with words, that reading this book is like reading a Poe story. You know it will keep you awake later, but you just can't seem to put it down. I read it at home in an afternoon and felt as though the shadows were creeping in on me from all corners. The tale is intriguing and thought provoking, and ultimately a very clever look at human nature and how far we will go to justify our own existence.

Incidentally, I found a picture of a white crow.

Blazing Twilight, Steve Toltz and ten books I intend to read soon.

So this post is primarily about the Melbourne Writers Festival, and the all too limited amount of time that I spent there. It did lead me to thinking about the books that sit forever unread on my bedside table, important enough to stay there, but not current enough to be a priority for work so I'll wrap up with a list of what they are and why I think I need to read them at the end for anyone who cares.

This year I had the very exciting pleasure of being asked to be on a panel at the Melbourne Writers Festival.

A photo of me, mid rant, courtesy of the MWF site. Van Badham is at the front here with Kate Forsyth a little lost in the middle.

The panel was part of the schools program and was a friendly debate addressing the Twilight phenomenon and discussing whether or not it was fading.

Now, intentional or not, the teams had been divided into men and women. On the negative side, that is, that Twilight is NOT fading were myself, Van Badham and Kate Forsyth. On the positive were our esteemed male counterparts; Ben Chandler, Jeff Sparrow and Glen (whose last name I'm ashamed to admit I don't recall and which does not actually appear on the program, but who is pictured below).

From the left: Jeff Sparrow, Glen (sorry!), and Ben Chandler

Now I do have to be honest here and say something a little controversial. I don't love Twilight. I know. Sorry everyone. 

I did read the first book and found the story generally compelling and addictive in the same way that most pop songs are. You know, you wouldn't buy the album, but if the song comes on in the car you can't help singing along. However, by the fourth book I was fed up, skipping forward just to find out what happened so that I could have some closure, but not really interested in what was going on in the story.

Having said that, the phenomenon surrounding the books is something that I couldn't support more. What I love about books like Twilight is that they have boosted the once solitary activity of reading into the mainstream, into the popular culture, into the hands of the 'cool' crowd. Like never before, young adults are devouring series, talking about books and interacting with their favourite authors. And you know what? Even hating Twilight is a good thing. Because if you read it and thought it was rubbish, then you are that much more inspired to find something to read that is not.

People are reading on trams, at busstops, in sneaky coffee breaks at work. And although I did seem to push a few buttons when I suggested that younger readers were reading Twilight, it's true. It certainly isn't intended  for an audience of 8-10 year olds, but if they're reading it, and talking about it, then surely they're connecting with the very purpose of reading, which is to gain new experiences, to help us grow, and to transport us to another land.

For those of you who read my very first post on this blog, you will already know all the reasons that I think Twilight is worthwhile. And I don't want to get off track in this post, which is really about the session overall.

I did love the debate that we had. It was heated and interesting and raised many valid points of view, as well as a few eyebrows. I would like to say that the boys were funny and charming and congratulate them on their win. For me, losing was entirely acceptable, because like any good debate, the point was to start a discussion, and judging from the heated audience responses, I think we can safely say that on that note, we were a massive success.

Unfortunately I didn't have the time, the money or the headspace to get to as many sessions as I would have liked at this years MWF. Recently though, I lent a good friend of mine my (as yet unread) copy of A Fraction of the Whole and she loved it so much that when I saw that Steve Toltz was going to be doing an in conversation session at MWF I knew that we couldn't miss it. For the record, I am now well into the book, and it is deserving of every bit of praise that it has received.

Steve Toltz was wonderfully candid. For someone who has skyrocketed from anonymity to the Booker shortlist and all of the attached fame, he was so warm and genuine, that I think I could have listened to him talk all night. Which explains why people are so willing to read such an epic book.

If you haven't read A Fraction of the Whole do. You can read some samples here:

http://www.penguin.com.au/afractionofthewhole/extract.htm

and I'm afraid if that doesn't convince you to read it, then there is no hope for you.

Now again, there was no name for the lady who conducted the conversation on the MWF site. I know that she was an editor, but I was so enchanted by Steve that her name completely escaped my attention. She asked all the questions that I wanted to know though, and quite rightly describes the book as 'relentlessly funny' a description that I couldn't agree with more. And for a book that weighs in at over 800 pages that amount of humour woven in to every page with such skill is quite a feat.

As a writer about to embark into the fairly daunting world of pitches and query letters, it was both reassuring and terrifying to hear that someone like Steve Toltz had received sixteen rejections before landing a publishing deal. And one of the things that really stayed with me from his conversation was the reminder that to write, you need to soak up as much knowledge as you can. Steve shared a wonderful quote which was that the only character that an author cannot write is an author better than himself. As writers, we can write fiction, but the more knowledge that we have behind us, the more expansive our writing will be.

So, the reason that this brings me to the pile of unread books on my bedside table is this. I have had an ARC of A Fraction of the Whole since before its publication. I knew it was good, I knew I wanted to read it. But I need to read so many books a week to stay up to date with my own reviews, and to keep my knowledge current for work, that all too often, the books that aren't brand new, that I just want to read for my own enjoyment, get left by the wayside.

I'm trying to fix that. Starting with A Fraction of the Whole, these are the ten books that I will endeavor to read by this time next year. By then of course, I'm sure that fifty more will have taken their place, but it's a start.

1. A Fraction of the Whole Steve Toltz, (as above)
2. The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood (I need to shamefully admit here that I haven't gotten to any Atwood yet, and I am quite desperate to honestly, plus I need to return this copy to the friend who lent it to me)
3. Perdido St Station China Mieville (and congratulations to China on winning the Hugo at this years World Con. I have read plenty of his work, but not to have read this seems like a gross oversight on my part, especially given my love of steam punk)
4.The Corrections Jonathan Franzen (I actually have a signed first edition of this. Aside from the fact that I know it will be good, it would be almost rude to own that and not have even read it.)
5. A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry
6. Dog Boy Eva Hornung (one of the new releases recently (ish) that has really grabbed my attention. I don't know why, I'll tell you when I've read it.)
7.The Maggot John Fowles
8. The Vintner's Luck Elizabeth Knox (I'm told that it's beautiful and a must read. I've been carrying around a copy in my handbag for about a month now, and I WILL get to it soon.)
9. Carter Beats the Devil Glen David Gold
10. A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole

There are no YA novels on there because I generally get to them pretty quickly because of work. Also, they are quicker to read. On that note, I will be posting a review of White Crow, Marcus Sedgwick's new novel soon, and some brief thoughts on the 2010 Inky's longlist.

Aussie Con 4

So for the part of this week that I haven't been fighting off a particularly savage cold, I have been at the Melbourne Writers Festival and at Aussie Con 4. I will talk about these two things separately, because even as I divide them down the middle I know that there will still be far to much for me to really recap.

The panels that I was on for Auscon4 were as follows:

Thu 1500 "Border crossing: YA authors writing for adults and vice versa"
                 (Alison Goodman, Marianne de Pierres, and Cory Doctorow with myself as chair)
And we're off! This panel was in the first timeslot of the con after the opening presentation. I wasn't sure what kind of crowd to expect or really what to expect from the session at all. It was, as were all of the sessions that I saw and participated in, lively and informative. Books that have a crossover appeal have come up frequently this week and it was fascinating to gain perspective on the matter from three such different authors.

I have met Alison before, and was very excited to hear that her sequel to Eon is not far away. Cory's book Little Brother, had me spellbound last year, with his edgy ideas of a government controlled reality far too close for comfort. Marianne de Pierre's first crossover novel Burn Bright is due out in March 2011.

So, things to note from this discussion; that spec fic is one of the best genre's to crossover in because the audience is more likely to read based on a quality story and less likely to typecast the book or author; cover's and marketing matter; the primary elements that a writer should be more aware of when writing for young adults are sex and violence, and even then it is skillful handling rather than avoidance that matters; the assumption that young adult fiction is somehow of a lower standard than adult fiction is foolish and outdated and; when describing sex in a young adult forum use nouns not appendages (Alison Goodman)


Thu 1600 "Wrought from the very living rock: Worldbuilding in YA spec fic"
                 (D. M. Cornish, Lara Morgan and Juliet Marillier with myself as chair)


This was a fascinating panel looking at the way that these three spec fic authors approach the creation of the worlds that their novels take place in. With three authors coming from such varied positions it was bound to be an interesting discussion.

D. M. Cornish is the author of the bestselling, CBCA award winning series Monster Blood Tattoo. His books take place in a very detailed world, that comes entirely from David's imagination. In a Tolkien-esque way, the world of Monster Blood Tattoo was created long before the stories were. When they were turned into the trilogy that we now all know and love (Factotum is coming so so soon!). He works with maps and contradictions, but is strangely precise about small details, for example there are no dragons in his novels, so there are no dragonflies. I loved that little detail. The world of Monster Blood Tattoo is totally imaginary, and so even though David is still exploring it, piece by piece, the landscape fully exists within his imagination.

On the other hand, the lovely Juliet Marillier works largely within our world. Her fantasy is created in real times throughout history but with a touch of extra magic and myth, the hint of the supernatural. Like David, Juliet (and Lara, who I will get to shortly) is quite fanatical about details. Juliet's details are historical, and it is certainly true that while readers are willing to accept a strange beastie walking alongside them, they will be instantly expelled from the spell of reading if they are faced with a technology that they know is from another time.

And in another way entirely, Lara Morgan (who is the author of the upcoming YA series The Rose Black Chronicles) is inspired to create a world that is in many ways a futuristic version of our own. She takes issues that she is passionate about, like the climate change crisis, merges them with places that have stuck in her memory and imagination, and then adds a dash of magic.

Such different creative paths, with such wonderful results.


Fri 1100  "We're all connected, all the time: Blogs and social networking in the world of YA spec fic."
                 (Lili Wilkinson, Megan Burke, Bec Kavanagh, Mif Farquharson (chair))


I have to admit that I was a little nervous going into this panel. Although I know books like the back of my hand, and I am quite capable of using a computer and the big social networking sites, blogging and tweeting are still fairly new to me. I get the basics, but I'm still a bit hazy on the finer details.

What I do know, is readers, how they have grown, how they communicate, and most of all, what they read. And so, directed by the wonderful Mif Farquharson, and inspired by the comments from the lovely Lili Wilkinson and Megan Burke, we talked about what blogging and tweeting can do for readers.

And what can it do for readers? The key points that I believe came out of this discussion were these

1. Social networking creates community.Communities which read and then discuss books.
2. Tweeting allows us to remotely access our authors and for authors, our fans. What could be better than a virtual tour to a convention that you can't attend (Neil Gaiman at MWF) or being able to participate in an event if you are a regional school or library who cannot actually attend.
3. Like attracts like, readers will blog about what they like, other readers will be connected based on shared likes and suddenly we have a whole audience sharing their interests and favourite titles.
4. Social networking allows readers to participate in the act of reading. How great is that? Gone are the days of sitting in the corner, reading alone, now we read together!

Sun 1000 "YA speculative fiction: industry overview and insights"
                  (Zoe Walton, Kate Forsyth, Bec Kavanagh, Helen Merrick (chair))


Oh what a wonderful final panel to be on. I felt so at home in this panel that I think we could have gone on for hours and hours.

The fact that this panel was a general industry overview gave us quite a bit of free reign to just talk about why we all love books so much and the ways that we can maintain that strength within YA lit. Thanks to Helen Merrick for being a great chair, and creating such a casual, open atmosphere, and thanks for Kate and Zoe for being so warm and open with their passion for books and the industry.

The audience for this session (and kudos to you all for making it in at 10am on a Sunday morning) were so attentive, and incredibly engaged. We talked about everything from our favourite authors to blogging, community, trends and more and I came out feeling alive and inspired by a shared love of books.

One more day tomorrow, and I can just relax and watch a few sessions and then on to getting my book out there. I have no doubt that next year's round of book type events will come all too soon, and I don't want to waste a single second in the meantime!