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Dash It All!
 More grumbly bits for PUNCTUATION WEEK! English language typography once had a full quiver of dashes in different lengths. These were useful when eighteenth- and nineteenth-century writers wished to keep their references anonymous: “In the small village of P——————,” for example.For journalists, that approach conferred plausible deniability: “You think ‘the corrupt G————— B—————’ refers to ‘Governor Bernard’? No, I’d never thought of that. I was writing about my, um, cousin, George, um, Barleycorn. Now there’s a corrupt fellow.” Gradually those dashes boiled down to three main types: hyphen - en dash – em dash — The last two got their names because they're the width of the font's lowercase n and capital M, respectively. (There are still standard uses for two-em and three-em dashes, but they're specialized. Also, according to some standards the en dash should be half the width of the em dash, whatever the font's n looks like.) Then, about a century ago, came the Great Typewriter Squeeze. As I mentioned yesterday, typewriters offered a limited number of symbols, and required them to all be the same width. Those machines made no distinction between hyphen and en dash, so people basically forgot it (not that many people probably knew it to begin with). Since a lowercase n and a capital M were the same width, typewriters didn't offer an em dash at all. That punctuation mark is so useful, however, that typists came up with ways to approximate it. The most common were--a double hyphen -- a double hyphen with a space on each side - and a single hyphen with space on each side. Millions of people learned one of those forms in typing class. Now, with laser and inkjet printers setting type in proportional fonts, we can go back to using em dashes as they were meant to be used--but people are still typing double hyphens. And not just in fonts like this one, designed to replicate the typewriter look. I still see double hyphens used in proportionally spaced fonts. As a result, dashes--which can be a most elegant form of punctuation--don’t get to spread out as they should. And the result looks unlike a book, and unprofessional.Of course, in their never-ending quest to make life easier for us, whether we want it or not, many word-processing programs will now automatically convert double-hyphens to em dashes. People still struggle over whether to put spaces before or after those punctuation marks. The standard answer, according to American and traditional British typesetting style, is that there should be no spaces around an em dash. However, some confusion can easily arise because modern British typesetting style is different. As part of what I've called “The Great British Punctuation Shortage”, many modern British books use an en dash with a space on either side where in America we use an em dash with no spaces. That opens the door to using spaces around en dashes or em dashes if it looks good on a document--as long as one sticks with that style symmetrically and consistently.
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More about what students write to authors
Apparently there is a discussion going on at some listserv about teachers assigning students to communicate with authors. I've talked about this here before. It can be wonderful (most of the time) and frustrating, especially if a reader's grade hinges on hearing back from the author, or if the reader writes demanding the author explain all of the symbolism, setting, and themes of her book. But mostly it's great. I thought I'd post one day's worth of notes so teachers could get a sense of things. Here is the email I got yesterday. (There was snail mail, too, but I am months behind on that.) This comes from a teacher: A fairly detailed request, from a reader who hasn't yet found the Biography or FAQ pages of my website: like tell me thing what you liked to do in How did you become intersted in writting? What other degrees did you earn? Did you earn one to become a writer? how was your family? anty brothers/sisters? What are your most important awards/honrs? What your favorite book? Well i would apprecitate it VERY much if you took time to answer me these questions and tell me about your self!" Ah, spelling. But you have to love the sweet tone of this one: Never been asked for this before: Students are not the only ones writing: Do you have anything—and I mean anything—that you could send me to help me out? Anything from signed books to a stack of bookmarks would be fantastic. Not a lot goes down around here, so we are trying to make this as fun as possible. Let me know, and I can send you the store address and my manager's name." This one is wonderful... she forgot to include the link to the site she was talking about, but did so in a post later in the day: i read 'speak' in high school, maybe when i was more part of the Target Audience, but now, finding 'twisted' at 22 i wish more than anything my (older) brother could have read it when he was most vulnerable.. it could have really saved him. you are doing immensely important work, i hope you know that.. though i understand you are terribly busy & probably inundated with emails like this, i would really be honored if you would look at something i made / am making... just a little nothing in the forest. click the house when it lights up. if you find a moment, thank you, it takes awhile to load, i hope it's worth it. oh, and your website is beautiful, by the way." This is simply lovely: As is this: Gotta love this, too: My conclusion: Any thoughts? |
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Lynda Barry
If you don’t know the work of Lynda Barry, you should. She is an amazing comic artist. Her syndicated comic strip, Ernie Pook’s Comeek, has run for years and years. I first came across her via some small book collections of these comics and then saw a play based on her wonderful coming-of-age book The Good Times are Killing Me. For many reasons she sort of faded from view, but fortunately is now getting some well-deserved attention again with the publication of her latest book, What It Is, published by the terrific Drawn & Quarterly.         |
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Seven Questions Over Breakfast with Julie Paschkis
I remember during Blogging for a Cure last year when David Elzey at the one-and-only the excelsior file featured Paschkis’ beautiful 2008 snowflake and did this great, little write-up about her work as an illustrator. I think he summed up the appeal of her art work well when he wrote: “. . . there is something in her illustrations that draws me to them. It’s a strange magnetism, a quiet attraction not unlike the way a whisper can pull you closer and cause you to pay more attention over the din that surrounds it . . .” And, in talking about her illustrations for Julie Larios’ Yellow Elephant: A Bright Bestiary (Harcourt, 2006), he described her art work as having “a warm glow from within.” I love that. He nailed it. And, hey, he also talked about her Boston Globe–Horn Book Award acceptance speech for Yellow Elephant and how she shared a detail of one of her paintings with the audience — in lieu of a long speech. Nice. And you were there, weren’t you?
Also, I remember she had on some very cool tights. Lacy, I think. Possibly purple. Jules: Well, let’s get right to it, shall we? I know we’re both so honored she stopped by for a cyber-breakfast. And what is Julie’s breakfast of choice? “I have oolong tea — fragrant and floral. About an hour later, I have a huge bowl of homemade granola with yogurt and whatever fruit is in season. I am addicted to Straus Family Farms plain yogurt. It is so good I wrote them a fan letter.”
While we’re setting the table, let’s get the basics from Julie: (more…) |
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Help me out here, people (esp. if you're in publishing)
 My search stats are going nuts this week--with searches for:
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The Oxford English Dictionary
"I use dictionaries as a reference to life. I see the dictionary as a kind of poem about everything - it's every story waiting to be told....Through language we make ourselves up. And if it's a reflection of us, it's also the means through which we become ourselves and share ourselves. So I suppose this massive dictionary is a sculpture of us somehow." Fiona Banner, Another Magazine, Spring/Summer 2008 TODAY'S WORD Pingle (PING-ul) - to nibble or pick at food; eat with little appetite. How I could have used this word when my children were little. "Stop pingling!" julius.lester@gmail.com |
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Thinness as character trait
Most characters in YA and middle grade literature are thin. Lean, willowy, slender, slim, slight. A character's thinness can mean a million different things. It can mean they're likeable, attractive, elegant, normal; it can mean they’re intelligent, mature, responsible, disciplined, moderate; it can mean they’re vulnerable, young, awkward, immature. It can mean myriad things. Most of thinness's connotations are positive, whether it’s a role-model/admiration type of positive or an empathy/sympathy type of positive. When thinness connotes something negative or temporary (vulnerability, immaturity, some kinds of youthfulness, some kinds of awkwardness), fatness or plumpness are never the positive contrast. Fatness and plumpness are never symbols of the character growth, the emotional achievment, the victory. Even when thinness means something bad, its opposite isn’t any level of fatness. Sometimes the opposite of thinness is simply "acquires boobs and hips." The plethora of thin characters helps construct our cultural associations with thinness, and at the same time, it draws on them. It uses them for literary art. It’s a pretty healthy dialectical relationship – unless you happen to question or resent those very associations. Unless you happen to notice that the cultural meanings ascribed to thinness are slamming fat characters and real fat people, and are creating a world of investors in The Fantasy of Being Thin. In case anyone is poised to misunderstand, I'm not calling for all literary characters to be shades of fat. I'm calling for a weight-neutral world where thinness isn't automatic praise, and where a body of any size deserves default respect. It would include all sizes of fat and thin. Often in YA lit, characters are thin for what seems no particular pinned-down reason. Their thinness may vaguely connote something positive, but the symbolism isn’t clear or necessary. Thinness is a shortcut to making a character likeable. An amorphous Mary Sue quality, a wish fulfillment, an aspiration, an achievment, a piece of candy to attract affection and loyalty from readers. That may be the saddest part of all. |
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what you can't help doing
Sorry about the font-mess of yesterday's post. I did it using Safari on a PC, and the result was hellish. Obviously these are not two things that work well together when playing with Blogger. And each attempt to clean it up on my part made it worse. (Thanks to the Web Goblin for fixing it.) I did a second draft of the Waterstones "What's Your Story?" story (only a few words I wanted to change, but it meant handwriting the whole thing out again), and FedExed it off today. My thanks to the Eagle Award voters -- I was thrilled that Absolute Sandman volume 2 won an Eagle Award for Best Reprint. (Last year it was Absolute Sandman volume 1. Next year the vote will probably be split between Absolute Sandman volumes 3 and 4, and something else entirely will win.) (I was looking to see if there were covers for Absolute Sandmans 3 and 4 up yet at Amazon, and noticed that volumes 1, 2, 3 and 4 are all on sale for $62.37 [and that they are going to weigh a grand total of 29 lb altogether] and the last two have 5% preorders discounts up as well. Which I mention mostly for those people who write to me and grumble about the Absolutes being $100 books.)
Not sure if the cover for Absolute 4 is a mock-up or the real thing. I suspect it's not the final, mostly because I'm pretty sure that face is from Sandman #1, and for Absolute 4 we'll be taking a cover portrait from somewhere in the last 20 issues.
Regarding the Julie Schwartz Memorial Talk at MIT on the 23rd of May: To reiterate from the other day -- over at http://cms.mit.edu/juliusschwartz/ticket ... An ebay auction with a story... I've been rereading some old Batman comics recently, although I don't think I'd want these. But the story that comes with them is wonderful... I'm worried and upset about the earthquake in China. From Nancy Kress's blog I learned that at least some of the friends we made in Chengdu last summer are okay -- and so are the pandas. ... Rice pudding re-prompt! Once you get home to proper milk, of course. "Your general guidelines for a batch of rice pudding please, Mr. Gaiman!"Thank you!! ^_^b I'm working on it, honest. Decided to figure out the proportions I'd used by a) finding a very similar recipe on the web and starting from there and then b) fiddling with it. Two night's ago's rice pudding (the web recipe) was much too salty and wrong. I fiddled with the proportions and last night's was a lot better but now too sweet. Tonight's rice pudding would have been perfect I have no doubt but I forgot to buy more milk, so I didn't actually make one. Dear Neil, The press down here in Brazil have enthusiastically announced you'll be here for the Paraty International Book Fair, first week in July. But since you're also scheduled to lecture at Clarion, I'd like to ask if this is true. Or maybe you have a doppelganger. Or maybe the organizers here had a dream. Or maybe you're taking a weekend of from Clarion down here in Rio (if so, it'll be winter here, and rainy, not the best time to come...) Best regards,Eric That sounds right, yes. (I teach Clarion the 3rd week in July.) Hello hello hello, To quote one of your other fans, “I have a question for you about writing”. I find that my own writing will echo the style of which ever author I am currently reading. Any idea how I might get around constantly mimicking others? You write more. I don't think there's anything wrong with copying other people's styles -- it's a skill you'll need, after all. Many actors begin as mimics. You don't worry about it, and keep writing, and after a while you'll have written enough that you can't help sounding like yourself, whether you want to or not. Style is what you get wrong, that makes what you do sound like you. Style is what you can't help doing. Style is what you're left with. (I just googled "style is what you can't help doing" because it sounded half-familiar, and I wondered who said it originally, and discovered that it may actually have been me, as I found myself looking at an extract from a speech I gave to an audience of comics artists and writers in 1997 at ProCon in Oakland: We are creators. When we begin, separately or together, there’s a blank piece of paper. When we are done, we are giving people dreams and magic and journeys into minds and lives that they have never lived. And we must not forget that. And it's still true. (That speech is, along with another speech about tulips and comics, and an essay on how to do successful signings, available in Gods And Tulips, illustrated by Chester Brown, price $3 from the CBLDF commercial website.)(And for those of you after instant webby gratification, the whole Procon speech is up at the Magian Line archives at http://www.woxberg.net/gaiman/magian/3-2.h |
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Interview: Christina Meldrum
While working as a litigator, Christina Meldrum started to make court scenes of her own - on the page, that is. Those drafts turned into her debut novel, Madapple, a mystery with many layers. Let's peel them back, question by question... What or who planted the seed for the story that became Madapple? When I was an undergraduate studying comparative religion, I was fascinated by the many parallel mythologies that cross religions and cultures. ( Read more... )
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Harvard's new supposed Healthy Eating Pyramid has a scale on it. A scale. On the triangle's BASE -- the triangle's lowest level, that you're supposed to partake of most often. Way to go, Harvard. |
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Interview: Gaby Triana
Gaby Triana is a mother, an author, a teacher, a baker, but not a candlestick maker. She's also my interview subject today, willing to ponder my questions while celebrating the release of her most recent book for teens, The Temptress Four.
What led you to teaching? I used to say it was because I had teachers in my family, but the more I live and breathe, the more I realize it was because I didn't know what else to do at the time. I wish I would have known myself better when I was in high school so I could have made a better career decision. I might have studied film, journalism, pastry arts.any of these would have put me on a path to the things I truly enjoy a little sooner, and I wouldn't have had to make a career change later on. But I've always been a late bloomer when it comes to realizing potential. What then led you to writing? I've always written short stories. I just didn't have my eyes open wide enough to realize it's what I should've been doing all along (see above). I might have 20+ books under my belt by now had I started in college. But because I was teaching, I finally got around to writing a middle grade novel one summer, saw how awesome it felt to finish writing a book, and have been writing ever since. ( Read more... ) Visit Gaby's website and LiveJournal.
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end of semester one
--"Bush calls new attack on US his worst worry." So subtle! There's nothing blatant about the timing, I mean, in admitting that having invaded someone else's country based on obviously false data has not lessened the U.S.'s danger of being attacked by terrorists, right about the point when the Bush administration has nothing to lose by admitting to having totally fucked up on security issues, but the next Republican candidate can now benefit by playing the exact same "we're in imminent danger and electing a Democrat is like bending over and using your underwear as a white flag of surrender" card no one in particular used in 2004. Parse that, I dare you. --May's Camberville kickball was on the 10th. I did not damage myself as badly as last time, but we won anyway. I think winning has something to do with being on Joye's team. --My last class of the semester was on Monday, Reference class. I seem to have been straddling a B+ most of the semester, but when the prof came by the student lounge after class to give us the recalculated grades after the reference research question presentations, my B+ had been transmuted into an A-. I am very pleased, and suspect I won my full portion of discretionary points by virtue of being a loudmouth in class discussions. It's nice to get credit for talking in class, because I enjoy talking and will do with little to no provocation anyway. I loved the class. I think it's clear I am not going to be initiating any Reference research initiatives, but boy, is that class ever worth the work, and I am hugely grateful I got to take it with Smith, who is intelligent, wise, a good teacher, and a poster child for keeping abreast of your field even after four decades of teaching. I don't know about Archives yet; even if I was trying to calculate my grade, I still haven't gotten back my final paper, or heard anything about the internship/internship report and those things constitute a big portion of the grade. I'll find out soon enough, anyway. I am still ambivalent about Archives. If I'm going to have a track, this will be it; I think it is such an important approach to information science--it concerns the memory and permanence of knowledge; all of tomorrow's questions about yesterday lead inevitably back to the question of archives--but aside from the likelihood of my getting bored as a processor, I have to admit that I lack the right passion to really devote myself to archives alone. The thing is, I know that eventually the sun will go supernova, which will kill whatever life remains on earth after rising tides and nuclear weapons have destroyed humanity as we know it, and it's not going to matter whether or not James Joyce's grandson burned the letters of his mentally ill aunt because he didn't want biographers writing books about her, and, frankly, I'm inclined to agree that she's nobody's damn business, because James Joyce's daughter didn't write any great works of literature and she didn't ask to be Joyce's daughter or mentally ill, and can we please have some respect for people who never wanted for their letters to end up an archive? Of course not, we've archivists, and we don't give a crap about blind donors. It would be too much work. --I have been convinced to be
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Okay, okay (a meme)
 I haven't done a meme in a long time, but I was just tagged by The Reading Zone for a meme I've not seen before. So, I thought I'd give it a shot. What were you doing five years ago? Same thing as now: teaching Russian and Russian lit at a small liberal arts college. What are five things on your to-do list for today (not in any particular order)? Well, since it's evening, here's what I have done today:
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Last Speaker Standing
I've been spending a lot of time this past month preparing for a couple of speaking engagements that involve new material. Today I had a speaking engagement at which I discussed...my speaking engagements. I was a guest of the Connecticut Library Consortium at its Children's Librarians' Roundtable (Southeast)'s Authors@The Library Programming Showcase. Whew. Six children's authors did presentations about their work and their programs for children. You know how you go to a social event and you feel that you were either over or underdressed? Well, for once I was dressed just fine. However, all the others kids had great (sometimes really great) PowerPoint-type presentations describing their presentations or they had lovely visuals of other kinds. Like a giant whale, in one case. I had to try to hold these people with the power of my personality. I began with my Suze Orman impression and later went into my little riff about how I can't understand why other people don't find the Puritans fascinating or enjoy original sin humor. Yeah, I had them eating out of my hand. Katie Davis, who I sort of know through the ABC listerv, was there, though I arrived too late to see her presentation. We did get to speak and shake hands, so that we sort of know each other beyond the listserv now. I did hear Dana Meachen Rau's presentation, though. (We're both on the New England SCBWI listserv.) She gave a very good talk on her school and library visits. What I found particularly notable is that she has a number of presentations for kids in pre-k through grade 2, a group I'm preparing to speak to at the end of this month. (Dana speaks to older kids, too.) There were three other speakers today, but they were all nonfiction writers. I'm going to save talking about them until next Monday and do a Nonfiction Monday post. |
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Book 'Em Dano!
The grad class, she is done! Paper turned in! Done-zo! Now I'm going to go home and drink a Schlitz! Tomorrow I am tutoring in Roxbury and then I get all dolled up for the grand opening gala for Cardenio. I've heard rumors this will be the most glam night ever! |
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Mind Games
Gawker has a story up about games the D.C. Metro has dreamed up to entertain commuters and/or distract them from suicidal thoughts. My longstanding subway game is less complicated: I pretend I'm an extra in a movie scene, and I have to pick out the one other person on the platform or in the car or who is the star of the film, and decide what the movie is about. It's quite diverting. I also have a new game inspired by my allergic reaction to the title of Jerry Spinelli's latest book, Smiles to Go. It got me wondering why children's book titles seem to tolerate more sugar than do books for adults, and that got me thinking about what adult books with children's-book titles would be like. For example, Tuck Everlasting is surely a Jan Karon novel, last in a series, about the picturesque town of Tuck, itself tucked away in the timeless foothills of the Piedmont. And The Chocolate War is by John Le Carre and involves Colombian narco-terrorism. Charlotte's Web? Linda Fairstein thriller about an internet-adept serial killer in stilettos. If you're as easily amused as I, add yours in the comments. |
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Airhead Release Day
It’s finally here! Airhead is officially in U.S. stores everywhere TODAY! The day their book is finally released in stores is always a special day for authors. We celebrate in various ways. Some authors send themselves flowers (if their mom fails to do so first). Some authors ... |
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The House in the Night
The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson, illustrated by Beth Krommes. This cumulative tale follows the pattern of nursery rhymes, naming common objects in a bedtime house. Open the door with the key, move into the warm glow of the lamp, discover the book on the bed, and away you fly. Out you go, into the night where the stars shine, filling the night sky with their glow and the moon beams upon you. This book exudes warmth, comfort and blessings. The images done in black and white primarily are given beacons of warmth through the use of yellow. Done in a classic woodcut feel, the illustrations pay the same homage to classic nursery rhymes as the text does. Recommended as a cozy winter bedtime story. Curl up with your child, discuss how the moon reflects the sun's light, and be reminded of how lucky we are. |
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Where in the Wild?
Where in the Wild?: Camouflaged Creatures Concealed... and Revealed by David M. Schwartz and Yael Schy, illustrated by Dwight Kuhn. This book combines visual puzzles with vivid photography and inviting poems. Each page is dedicated to a single animal who is camouflaged in the accompanying photograph. The poems reveal information on the animal but remain poetry, nicely bridging art and information. The images are inviting, amazing and great fun. Fold out the page, and you find the answer to the visual puzzle along with some fascinating facts about the creature. A welcome addition to any science book collection, this book is best used one-on-one due to the intricacy of the images and the reader's need to linger and learn more. Recommended for use by 6-9 year olds. |
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Celeb Children's Book Blog?
You know, someone needs to start a blog devoted exclusively to celeb children's books. Just think, you could post each new publishing deal and even review their product. Seriously review their books. Fun, no? Here's the latest: Kelly Rowland I have to say I'd read said blog. I'm not up to writing it though. Any takers out there? |
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It's a Hallowmere Book Birthday!
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Stop Underlining, People!
 PUNCTUATION WEEK continues with some good old-fashioned grousing! The English language had a fine system of punctuation and typography until the typewriter came along. (Illustrated history of early models here.)While that machine made it possible for every office and eventually every household to produce legible, standardized text, it also came with some technical limits. The typewriter keyboard offered writers a smaller set of symbols to choose from. The machine required each character to be exactly the same width. And between those two limitations, our notions of punctuation became sadly impoverished. Over the last twenty years, laser and inkjet printers have made it possible to approximate the typesetting we see in books. But most people are still typing in ways they learned back in high-school typing classes, and I think the results are ugly. One example is how typography uses italic type to emphasize a word or indicate the title of a book or similar long artistic work. (Titles of short works, such as songs and short stories, should appear in quotation marks.) Typewriters couldn’t provide italic characters, so early on their manufacturers came up with an alternative. The standard instruction to typesetters to italicize a word in a handwritten manuscript or a proof was to draw a line underneath it.* By backing up and using the underline key, typists could put lines under their letters. So the style manuals declared that underlining was the typewriter equivalent of italics. But we don't need underlining anymore, at least not for this use. It looks ugly; that's why we rarely see it in books. And a manuscript that contains both italics and underlining just seems confused. Let's make the shift to italics once and for all! * Similar proofreading instructions:
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2008 Sydney Taylor Book Awards
Celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Sydney Taylor Book Awards by taking a look at the latest winners! Younger Readers
The Bedtime Sh'ma: A Good Night Book by Sarah Gershman.
Older Readers
The Entertainer and the Dybbuk by Sid Fleischman.
Teen Readers
Strange Relations by Sonia Levitin. Honor books and notable book lists are also listed. |
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Summer in May
Oh man. I thought the pub date for this amazing book was at the END of May. But it is OUT! OUT NOW! So you should rush out and buy it immediately! Do you all know Andrea Beaty? She's one of the Three Sill Chicks. Not only is she an amazing picture book author (Iggy Peck, anyone? Doctor Ted? When Giants Come to Play?), but she is also now officially a brilliant novelist. Cicada Summer is a beautiful story about a girl who has lost much. Her grief is so great it has silenced her. But she has spunk. And dreams. And she notices things that quiet people always do. Andrea's book is about more than loss and silence, though. It's about love and learning how to live. It's about discovering your voice and where you fit in your world—and how important that space is. I love this book. I also love Andrea. Can you guess who she is? Here's a hint: Congratulations, Andrea!!! I'm so excited that your book is out in the world!! xo |
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Craigslist or Freaky Friday?
Missed Connections: leaving Stony Brook station around 6:00 PM yesterday. Me, tall middle-aged man in a bowtie listening to iPod. You, medium-height young woman reading the Horn Book. Any authors out there ever similarly catch a reader unawares? |
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Be careful what you ask for
The House Republicans have a new slogan:
In a memo to be sent to Republican members today, the leadership hints at a new slogan building on the change message that has already been shown to have political resonance with a public unhappy with the nation’s direction.I don't think anyone, least of all the Republican caucus of the United States House of Representatives, really wants a serious discussion of what we "deserve." Or as another well-known Southern politician once observed, "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just." |
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Fiction with Fangs
 ...presented by TadMack and a. fortis for your reading pleasure.a. fortis: I have to start off this post by saying that I am not a huge fan of vampire books. I’ve read some of the requisite classics like the Anne Rice quartet, as well as some modern-day popular series like the Twilight books. But there have really only been one or two vampire novels that had me jumping up and down, which is why I found 01 First Second’s recently-released books about bloodsuckers so…er…refreshing. TadMack: I'm not much on vampires, either. First up, I came to the whole Joss Whedon thing late. As in, REALLY late. As in, I was in grad school and met a fellow Mills-ite who was doing her thesis on something like 'postmodern feminism, the transgressive woman warrior and the eradication of patriarchy in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.' And I thought, What? Seriously? Yes. Seriously. And BTVS is a nuanced and multilayered – and completely ridiculous and humorous – piece of television history that was well worth her critical analysis. At her urging, I watched episodes (still not all of them yet) of the show, laughed at the dialogue, examined the themes, and got a kick out of the whole thing. But tortured, bleached-blond, undead dudes aside, I still am not into vampires. Much. a. fortis: Yes, all discussion of hotties aside…and pushing aside our biases…we thought we’d share with you what First:Second has been up to vampire-wise, along with a few other bloodsucker tales which have had us… uh…drooling.
Plus, his Romanian boss (and vampire master) is your typical convenience store mini-tyrant, shouting at his hapless employees in a thick accent and then going off to play cards with his old-country pals in a cigar-choked back room. But Dave’s coping, more or less, and his roommate, a childhood friend, is down with his alternative lifestyle. And then…Dave’s potential love interest catches the eye of Wes, a mildly homicidal, ultra-competitive, surf-crazy vampire with a taste for human blood. This book was nicely drawn, well-written, and has a great sense of humor. Don’t miss the hilarious debate about the logic of vampire myth vs. vampire reality—cracked me right up. TadMack: Wish that had worked. All it accomplishes is to encourage Mr. Elliot to pull his son out of public school… and at Vlad Dracul, boy do Cody’s grades improve. Fast. But…why? Douglas Rees wrote Vampire High as a quick-paced satire that manages to be slyly funny while looking past the surface of human nature, honor and ambition, and what motivates us. It's all about high school -- really.
TadMack: Sunshine is really well-written, and Robin McKinley, as she expertly balances tension and momentum in her plotting, could make a grocery list sound swell, so there’s much to like. At heart, Sunshine is a very edgy romance, completely UN-run of the mill, and, well, perfect because it is not like the rest. I’ve read a lot of books that include vampires, and usually… well, there’s a lot of eye-rolling. They cater to the transitory wish that many people have to be on their backs (*ahem*) and helpless about their fate – thus being more readily able to accept and embrace someone else being in control. McKinley only briefly goes there – and then moves away, while most vampire storylines wallow. To which I say a hearty, “Yuck, maybe?” None for me, thanks. If I’m going down bleeding? There will be no passive quivering. I’m going down with a sharpened stake in my hand. I have what is commonly called A Bad Attitude, which is why I’m so fond of novels in which humans resist vampires. And win. Helpless? Us? No freakin’ way!
Romance is de rigueur for vampire tales, but Kerry Nowicki is just going to the Laundromat – not the place where big romance happens, except in sitcoms. In Kerry’s case, it’s duty that brings her – her four year old brother, Ian, has had enough people let him down since their Mom left – and took the washer and dryer -- last year. Dad’s asleep, and Kerry has her Learner’s permit, so she drives to the Laundromat to pick the stuffed koala bear Ian left behind earlier that day. It’s a college town, so it doesn’t matter that it’s eleven o’clock – the Laundromat is open and the bear is there somewhere. It’s just that there are some other people there, too – adults. And they’ve got a college student tied up, beaten and bloody. They swear he's a vampire. Kerry takes a desperate gamble and helps him escape. That should have been the end of the story. But it never is, is it?. No good deed goes unpunished, and Kerry’s life turns into one long fall into the dark. I won’t give anything else away, except to note that this novel frames one of the fundamental questions of dealing with vampires: will befriending one find for you the love of your life? Or be the end of it? A novel about life, death, love -- and choice. Oh, all right. I can see some of you rolling your eyes at my Attitude. Yes. Vampires, a. fortis: I totally agree about the Count, by the way. It's like smokers, when they quit smoking by turning to chewing gum. He's just channeling his bloodlust into a more acceptable OCD behavior. Anyway, back to TadMack's overarching question: TadMack: What happens if vampires actually worked together, to take over? Would humans really win?
The only witch who can really make a difference is young Agnes Nitt. Agnes is an apprentice witch, unsure of herself, and in a constant state of internal conflict. There's something else odd about Agnes. The vampires can't quite put their finger on it, but her mind...intrigues them... The young priest of Om who bungled his first christening is having a crisis of faith. Omnians have a history of burning witches, and now there's a war going on, between witches and vampires. Oats thinks he should maybe be on the side of the witches... but that can't be right, can it? This novel -- which isn't marketed as YA but can easily be a crossover -- is a fast and funny patchwork of almost every vampire cliché you've ever heard, but with a thoughtful, Pratchett-ian twist that changes everything. Sink your teeth in and enjoy. It's Vampire Month, and there's a whole lot of biting going on! Check out the 01 First Second blog for more vampiring genius. |
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Murphy-isms -- Robin
On Monday, Cynthia Leitich Smith posted an interview with my agent, Erin Murphy. I almost didn’t read it because I thought I knew everything there was to know about her. (She really likes dark chocolate. What else do I need to know?) But luckily I checked it out and, man, if the interview didn’t just blow me away! I got to the end of it and thought: She is so dreamy…I want her for an agent. Then I kicked myself and said: She IS your agent, doofus. Now sit up straight and be grateful! So I just wanted to share with you all that I am so thankful to have such a fantastic agent (and that I’m working on my posture). About halfway down, Cynthia asks her what she sees as the ingredients for a "breakout" book. And Erin’s answer is fascinating! I think I’ve had thoughts similar to hers on this subject, but I just didn’t know those thoughts could be put together in a way that makes so much sense. (It makes me wonder who the real writer is in this relationship!) So check it out! I also wanted to make sure all you moms out there had a fabulous Mother’s Day! I told my family I only wanted one thing for Mother’s Day: three hours to myself. So I went to my favorite coffee shop and wrote two chapters in my middle grade novel. Then I went to the gym and exercised like crazy! But I overexerted myself and ended up dragging my limp, lifeless body home…only to find my son and husband proudly holding backpacks filled with snacks and water bottles. They both cheered, “Happy Mother’s Day! We’re going on a family hike!” They looked so cute and well-prepared…I couldn’t let them down. And how are my thighs feeling now? Like overcooked spaghetti. Good thing I have a sit-down job. - Robin |
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Jules: Eisha, 
eisha: I 
awake
accomplished
sleepy
excited
