Following the Sun

Heavy laden, ecstatic with endeavour,
the bee stumbles,
brown on brown, pollen dusted,
across the sunflower.

Burdened with death, hurried by hope,
I stagger,
soul amid souls, love touched,
across the world.

Ophelia by John Millais

I find Pre-Raphaelite work eerie.

[Source: Wikimedia]

Lurking in the Open

Pepys' London

I've ignored virtual exhibitions for too long. Pepys' London from the Museum of London is charming. I wonder what else is out there?

Afghans, telegraph lines and camels

Expect to read more of all the above. I'm turning over an idea for a djinni romance set in Australia and need to research who came to Australia with the camels and what their lives were like. Were they Afghans, or was that just lazy naming in the Nineteenth Century? If they brought a djinni with them, how would he have fit among the spirits of the Aboriginal Dreaming? Somehow I picture him turning into a laidback surfer. I don't think that works, so clearly more research is called for :) Research and imagination. Writing is fun.

Digging up ancient curses

The Onion made me smile. Now I know why Indiana Jones armed himself with a bullwhip.

On a related note: If you haven't read Elizabeth Peters early Amelia Peabody books, when her son Ramses is young, you're missing out on a treat. Egypt, curses, master villains--and the world's most irritatingly endearing precocious hero.

Prince Balthasar by Velazquez

Ridiculous expectations riding on a child's shoulders. For all the power of the royalty, Velazquez captures the pathetic element of royal childhood.

[Source: Yorck Project, Wikimedia]

Being Human

I'd never stopped to consider that anthropomorphism and dehumanisation are two sides of the same coin. At least, that's what I carried away from this article at Phys Org.

Perceiving or bestowing humanity on non-human things as we interact with them has always seemed sensible to me. It brings the unknowable (like storm and earthquake gods) into the realm of "I can deal with this". Anthropomorphism of animals and plants and machines is a friendly habit.

But dehumanisation, making people lesser so we can justify nastiness toward them, that is horrible.

So is the issue (positive or negative) psychological (as the article suggests) or is it a power strategy?

Maciejowski Bible

The Maciejowski Bible is fascinating. They illustrated it with reference to their contemporary world, and the result is vivid life. Beautiful. A living faith.

David and Goliath

[Source: Wikimedia]

Touching

Interesting post on the power of touch over at Mind Hacks. Have we outlawed touch, because of the risk of sexual harassment and abuse, only to lose an important element in human communication and encouragement? Interesting application in education and medical treatment.

For romance writers, toward the end of the post is the insight that a man who lightly touches a woman's arm in a club is more likely to connect.

The article reminds me of the monkey troops that groom one another and so reaffirm group bonds. Maybe humans still have this response buried in their psyche?

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

I'm re-reading for the umpteenth time Patricia Brigg's Moon Called. It's an excellent series opener with a strong narrator (sometimes first person POV can drag down the reader if the voice gets whiny or artificially smart). Mercy (the narrator and heroine) is strong, compassionate, vulnerable. Great voice. And the contemporary setting with its fantasy twist is beautifully believable and yet strange enough to draw you in. The characters live and breathe and struggle in this world. There is laughter to balance the pain. Re-reading is like visiting friends.

Church at Auvers sur Oise, June 1890 by van Gogh

[Source: Wikimedia]

My favourite author bio

There are hilarious bios and there are very proper, non-fiction, expert bios. There are bios that lay out a person's life and pain for the world to read. But I'm talking about my favourite bio about me, and it's this one:

Jenny Schwartz is an Australian writer. She once lived in a city where kangaroos hopped through the streets, but has since moved somewhere safer.

All true. Canberra is a Australia's capital city. It's threaded with bushland, surrounded by bushland and that means kangaroos are possible just about anywhere. I once saw an echidna ambling along the side of a suburban road.

And don't think kangaroos aren't dangerous. When they jump in front of a car, they are a major hazard.

It's Pink. Otherwise, Unidentified

Ancient humans wander into pre-history

Flores Island startled the world with its tiny human skeletons. Now there's a suggestion it'll re-write the history of ancient humanity. Imagine a species similar to homo sapiens that lived closer to our age than did the Neanderthals. This might be the story of Flores Island.

Author Bios--don't forget writing credits

In the earlier post I forgot to type (it was in my mind, I swear, just the fingers forgot) that most ezines are happy to include a short list of writing credits in your bio.

Online publications also generally include a link to your website in your bio.

The Perils of Internet Communication

A frail word
spun across
the distance of technology
echoes and echoes...echoes.
We hear what was never said.

Author Bios

How do you write an author bio and what do you include?

Obviously, you write about yourself, but you have to do so in a very short paragraph, maybe only a sentence. What you choose to say about yourself has to be appropriate to the market. My bio in the British women's magazine, My Weekly, was very different to the bio I provided for the literary journal, Westerly.

You have to think about the aspect of yourself you're sharing with the market, with the people reading your story, article or poem. Are you the friendly neighbour next door or a thoughtfully reflective, reserved person? Are you an expert on a subject, through experience or education? A short bio means selectively presenting yourself. What will a particular audience be interested in learning about you, and does it support your story, article or poem? [Sneaky hint: read other people's bios in the same market. Catch their flavour.]

It's like condensed cocktail party introductions. Hit the high notes. Never lie. Be true to yourself, but be interesting. And if you can't be interesting, humour can be memorable--although humour can also damn you forever if the joke falls flat.

I hate writing a bio, but an author photo is worse. [Hence my golden retriever, Toby, gracing the blogger ID space where my photo should be]. When faced with the task I always discover I'm the most boring person I know :)

Flappers

The 1920s are irresistible. Just as soon as I have time, I'm writing a romance in this Golden Age, squished between the Wars and killed by the Depression. A desperate age.

[Source: Life magazine, 1922, Wikimedia]

Death in Berlin by M M Kaye

Death in Berlin by M M Kaye is one of six unconnected mystery novels written as Kaye travelled and lived in the fading British empire. If you can accept the social attitudes of a text for the time it was written, then these books have charm. They are Sunday afternoon movie stories.

In Death in Berlin Miranda Brand is spending a month's holiday with her closest family, an older cousin and his wife, in their new army posting at Berlin. For her, it has the disconcerting effect of recalling the forgotten time as a very young child lost in the dislocation and violence of the early years of WWII.

There are diamonds and treachery and a cold sense of the post war years. A nice contrast to the touch of romance and happy ending.

A College of Magics by Caroline Stevermer

When I read a YA I'm never sure whether it's going to be a wonderful experience or a disconcerting "oh dear, if only I'd read it when I was younger, I'd have loved it".

A College of Magics by Caroline Stevermer works as an adult novel. Neither heroine nor hero (not that our heroine needs a hero) are stereotypes. Yes, Faris is a young woman growing into her powers--that's the point of a fantasy quest--but her alternation between stubborn, dreamy, obsessed helps to make her different. And the ending asks her to pay a price I didn't see coming. Very effective.

The book pays a nod of homage to The Prisoner of Zenda and that field of romantic adventures. What it lacks is a rising sense of tension. The bad guys aren't bad enough. The threat isn't time limited. In its evil, the novel is YA. Accepting that, it's unfair of me to get caught up in the story and want it to be more.

A solid fantasy quest with an interesting world of magic, a mysteriously desirable college life and an attractive band of friends.

Bottoms Up

White Rose

Making Light

Thank goodness for Boing Boing, which reminded me of the intelligence over at Making Light. I'm adding it to the Great Sites, Wonderful People list.

Halt progress, buy gun

Conflict conservation is The Economist's title for their article on the fact biodiversity is protected when areas are so violent people are scared to visit, let alone live there. I'm not sure though that this is "fact" or a generalizable condition. I keep thinking of gorillas killed in Congo's wars. Still, interesting and sobering.

Where do you buy books?

Or more to the point, where do you find/choose books to buy, and why?

I think this is a great question. Kalayna Price raises it over at Magic District, commenting that an author's work doesn't finish with the printing of the book. There is publicity. There must be, fingers crossed, sales. Comments suggest recommendations from other readers (strangers!) at book review sites is a big influence. So too are covers. For all that a book is the purchase of words, it seems the visual image turns us on, or tunes us in.

Fashion Victims

[Source: Harper's Weekly, 1857, scanned H. Churchyard, Wikimedia]

[In case the print wasn't clear--

ARABELLA MARIA: "Only to think, Julia dear, that our Mothers wore such ridiculous fashions as these!"

BOTH: "Ha! ha! ha! ha!"]

Not sleeping, but processing

Apparently a midday nap aids learning. Something for all those lecturers cursed with the after-lunch lecture to think about. Their snoozing students aren't slacking, they're storing away the morning's work. Of course, they're still missing out on the afternoon lecture and the lecturer's immortal words.

And do you think this excuse holds water for writers? I'm not sleeping, I'm dreaming.

Technology Alters Perception

ArtDaily reported an exhibition opening in Dallas on the links between Impressionism and photography. It started me thinking whether photography changed our requirements of painted art. In a sense, the camera framed a scene in a new manner. This was not simply a matter of space, but also of time. Snapshots (instants in time) became an accepted way of engaging with the world. The camera was the equivalent of Twitter, personal, potentially unposed. The Impressionist painters carried this sense of immediacy into their work.

Philanthropist alpha hero

Men are sexy when they're kind. Is this study a huge news flash? Not really. Millionaire, and now, billionaire romance heroes tend at some point in a novel to reveal a philanthropic streak. Unredeemably mean buzzards just don't make the reader's heart go pit-a-pat.

Operator error--here's Lear

[Source: Wikimedia]

The Pyramids Road, Edward Lear 1873

Lear,_Edward_-_The_Pyramids_Road,_Gizah_-_1873.jpg

A wonderful evocative image by a favourite writer/illustrator, and I really want to see if I can link directly from Wikimedia (yes, I'm pathetically technologically challenged).

Pampered Pooches

“NO SUCH LUCK.”

Young Lady. “Is it Hungry, then? Come along, little Darling, it shall have its Dinner.”

Street-Sweeper (overhearing, and misapplying). “Here y'are, Miss! Right you are! I jest am!”

[Ah! but it was Fido she was speaking to!]

Punch cartoons are fantastic. 1870 [Source: Wikimedia.]

Pre-commitment writing check

Whether a book is bought or borrowed, reading it is a fair commitment of time and energy. So how do I make the decision to commit?

A lot of people talk of first pages. Not me. A great first page is a bonus, it's not a decider.

A good blurb--essential. Including positive quotations by favourite authors--useful.

A random dip into the middle of the book. I've been known to reshelve famous names because the random dip found something icky.

At this point, I'm often happy to dive into the book. However, with mysteries I have an unfortunate weakness. I don't always indulge it, but I like to know the ending before I start. I know, horrible reader behaviour. It's just I don't want to "love" a character who turns out to be the killer. Also, I like to know the ending's happy. Although, there's really no justification, is there, for a self-imposed spoiler?

[This post was prompted by comments at the Pyr post about new submission guidelines. Lesson: always read comments.]

Urban Fantasy--Pyr accepting unagented MS

For some lines, Pyr has just announced it will accept unagented submissions. Urban fantasy is one line. (Is"line" the right word? I need another coffee. Read the link, it's very clear. And very clear the guidelines must be followed scrupulously).

They Would Sleep

I tore the sunlight
into strips to bind your wounds.
You were bleeding shadows
into the old town.

Shadows of truth, and old pain.

The monsters shambled,
townsfolk hanging from their teats.
"Come away," I whispered.
"We're waking them."

Rose crazy

It's the tail end of summer, and a lot of the other plants have given up flowering--only no one's told the roses. So they're capturing the camera.

Caravan on the Silk Road

[Source: Atlas Catalan, Wikimedia]

Does anyone care?

Linked here is a brief article from Phys Org on the placebo effect. I know nearly everyone's heard of "tricking" the mind into healing the body by convincing the mind there are active substances in the medicine being taken. However, if you read through the article to the very end there's a suggestion that with a few people even when they know they're taking a placebo, the placebo still helps. Mild depression and anxiety are mentioned as two conditions that could possibly benefit from placebos--old fashioned sugar pills--which makes me wonder if the real "trick" is the doctor's interest. The fact that someone cares how they feel (something daily reinforced as they take the medicine the doctor's prescribed) is helpful in itself.

The Price of Freedom will be published by Carina Press

Back in December last year, just before Christmas, I lived the season of hope and submitted a novella to Carina Press. I wrote a post about it because the submission process is always scary, even with the nicest editors. Well, they've offered to publish it.

Just as soon as my fingers stopped shaking, I typed "YES!!!" (I was fractionally more subtle) in response. I am so excited and honoured to be a Carina Press author.

Happy, happy, happy :)

A yellow rose for friendship

Reading e-books years later

Phys Org has brought up an issue that's bothered me for a while. Given that ebooks are software defined, and software changes, will we be able to read ebooks bought now if we change devices, or simply, if devices change on us over time? In other words, do ebooks become more like magazines--a once-only, disposable read rather than keepers? Or will fanatical readers be rigorously "updating" the compatability of their ebook files?

Do editors dream?

Over at Carina Press the editors have just shared their wishlists, the romances they'd like to read. Two things struck me.

First, the push for Steampunk. I've yet to get my head around this subgenre. Dark or humorous, violent or clever, or maybe, all of the above? I think Steampunk has generally been Victorian England, but the Edwardian world would be a vibrant era. The sense of geographic and technological expansion mightn't be so strong, but there was a confidence, most of all a sense that globalisation was inevitable. WWI shattered the confidence, but the era is a great time.

Second, one of the editors mentioned FOOD. Now, there's a rich subgenre to develop. Growing, cooking, and eating food are all lusty and satisfying activities. And the sensory descriptions would be amazing. Can't you just see the romance at a farmers' market?

Lovely, lovely ideas.

Dictionaries

Well, I've studied the reviews, checked page count (I don't want to buy high school pocket book size by accident) and basically gone for a recognised Name, Oxford. I've bought the Concise Oxford English Dictionary for those times I'm not online (actually quite often) and need to look up a word. I'll let you know if this blind trust in a Name is justified when it arrives.

And no, I wasn't writing without any dictionary at all--the two English ones currently in the house are either old (we're talking decades, oops) or really, really concise (high school level).

The Flying Carpet by Victor Vasnetsov

[Source: Wikimedia]

Adam and Eve

The choice at seventeen:
to be human, or surrender
to the hunger for divine.
She chose death and went ahead,
a shadow on the wind,
holding nothing, only crying
when he chose as she had done.

New characters--where do they spring from?

Happily writing away, clear on where my heroine is going and what she's going to do when she gets there (acquire information), a new character launches himself into the scene. Where did Jake come from? One moment Lyn's leaving the house locked and lonely, next she's installing an ex-marine as guard. As far as I know he won't enter the story again (well, maybe he'll be mentioned as a spark to jealousy. After all Stephen will find Lyn gone from home but a powerful, protective man quite at home). I didn't plan Jake. But now he's there, he's not a distraction and he's staying. After the strangeness of the magic world, he grounds the story, a reminder of Lyn's non-magic life and the strength in it.

Of course, a redraft or two later, there's no saying what will happen to Jake. But for now, I'm blown away by the unexpectedness of what my fingers type.

Willwagtail

Out of focus? Blame the bird. These critters are in constant motion, and sometimes it seems, constantly scolding. Chit-ttt-chitt-tt-tt.

Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews

I've reviewed "Magic Mourns", which is a novella (in Must Love Hellhounds) in the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrew, but as I'm currently re-reading the third book in the series, Magic Strikes, I thought I'd add a quick comment. Mostly to say how awesome the world building is. It's fresh, strong, threaded with violence and redeemed by honour and compassion. The alternative world is literally pinned in place by references to our "real" world sites, and I think that grounding emphasises the strangeness. There's also humour and a narrative voice growing in resonance. An excellent series that stands up to re-reading.

Scientific Inquiry

I'm not a Latin scholar, but I think the phrase on the dragon kite translates as Wrath of God. Imagine flying the wrath of God? Electricity isn't in it.

[Image from Kircher Project at Stanford Uni, via Wikimedia.]

Spec Fic

The sociological gaze says to step outside, then look in.

If aliens were to look at our society, would they conclude we see work as self-rewarding? Those who work have access to food and shelter, clothing and entertainment. Those who don't work are, in addition, given gold and toys to comfort and distract them from their lack of personal productivity.

Lemon Blossoms

Urban Fantasy Happenings

There's no use kidding myself that I keep up with the latest happenings in Book Universe. New covers appear, and I find out about them a week later--an eternity in blogdom. Books are launched or available for pre-order, and I'm huffing and puffing along behind trying to keep up with the PR train. So, if anyone's interested in the latest urban fantasy book happenings, I recommend dropping by SF Guy's site (which you probably already do). I'll add it to the sidebar.

Red-wired

What romance writer doesn't need to know that red really does make men view women as more attractive?

"Romantic red: red enhances men's attraction to women." J Pers Soc Psychol. 2008 Nov;95(5):1150-64. [Mind Hacks]

Bee Sparkly

Bronze Age Find

Since pretty much every contemporary society on Earth is known and in contact with the global community, new societies can be discovered only via travel in space or time. Discoveries such as that off the coast of Devon substitute for time travel. Archaeology fascinates us because it offers glimpses into alien worlds so much like our own.

Reality Based Romance

What on earth is reality-based romance? Galley Cat answers your question. It's a fictionalised account of a real life couple's romance.

It feels voyeuristic to me, but then, I'm not a reader of true confessions magazines, true crime novels or a viewer of spill-your-guts TV.

Will RB Romance take off? I think so. There's a market out there. People who want to be reassured that romance and happiness is real. Possibly an economic downturn is an ideal time to launch.

Hiding Out

Purple Prose

Having posted on euphemisms, the obvious next post is purple prose.

One person's purple prose is another person's lush description. For me, if it "throbs", it's purple. Doesn't matter if the thing pulsating is genitalia, machinery or alien lifeforms, throbs is a warning sign of authorial enthusiasm. [When hearts throb, they're cliched.]

That's the thing with purple prose, I think it sneaks in to what the author considers a vital scene. Whether this is because the author knows the scene is important, but has run out of steam and compensates by over-writing, or because the author is just so damn enthusiastic that their keyboard runs away with them, I don't know. When a whole book is purple prose, well, unless you like that sort of thing, the best action is to walk away quietly. You don't want that purple exploding and flinging magenta and violet gunk everywhere.

Of course, editors are meant to safeguard readers from purple prose.

As a writer, first you have to catch your editor, and purple prose is a major handicap. Editors are wary creatures. Purple prose is like hunting them with bells on all your toes and fingers. You give the wary editor way too much warning, and they run.

So, how do you identify purple prose when you've written it and it glows with perfection (in your eyes)?

If I knew the answer to that question, I wouldn't write the damn stuff. My opinion, for what it's worth, is that purple prose shows up as redundancy. If it's open to parody, you're stepping on throbbing ground. If it's so bright you have to wear sunglasses, you might want to tone it down--use the filter of "keep it real".

Writing poetry and submitting it for open critique is a useful method of identifying and stripping purple prose.

Re-making the World

According to Professor Mautner humans have a moral responsibility to "seed" Earth life through the galaxy. Panspermia may be a useful policy for far-future human survival. I'm really not the person to give a considered response. However, I can't help but notice the similarity of thinking to that which encouraged shifting plant and animal species around the globe under the whim of European sailors and settlers. Australia has feral populations of goats, camels, water buffaloes, etc as a result. Let's not mention the rabbit plague. In other places the results for indigenous species were even worse. Throwing species into unknown environments has unknown consequences. Is the risk worth it? How do you calculate the risk? and, as with all space activity, can you justify the money?

Flamingos

Actually, these are frangipani flowers, but they remind me of flamingos.

Happy in Euphemism Land

When you begin writing romance, one of the big decisions is heat level. So, how do you decide? For me, it's write what I read.

Sweet romances. I read them, and I'm comfortable writing them. I do have a problem writing the ones which adhere to Christian market rules. I accept that life has swearing, drinking and gambling. In the Christian "sweet" market, these don't exist. Sometimes I forget and have to go back and take out mention of a glass of wine with dinner.  

Sensual romances. I read a lot of Harlequin category romances. So this is the heat level I tend to write at--sex happens, but the word "cock" never occurs. When it comes to reading and writing, I live happily in euphemism land.

Patricia C Wrede

I'm a big fan of Patricia Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles and her Lyra novels are perfect fantasy. If you're learning the craft of SF and Fantasy writing, you'll come across her world-building advice. Everyone mentions it. There's more advice for writers at her blog. I'm adding it to the sidebar.

A Green and Woolly Mammoth

Great images prove irresistible. Shared with thanks to Albert Jankowski for posting at Wikimedia the mammoth inhabiting the Warsaw Botanical Gardens.

Happy Chinese New Year

Tasmanian Tiger

[Gould, from Wikimedia]

Trouble in the Brasses by Alisa Craig

Charlotte MacLeod/Alisa Craig wrote wonderful cozy mysteries with joyously eccentric characters, be they proper Bostonians, independent-minded Canadians, agricultural experts or Welsh musicians. They are comfort books to cuddle up with when life is winter-ish.

Trouble in the Brasses is a couple of books into the series of Detective Inspector Madoc Rhys (a Canadian Mountie) and his practical, charming bride, Janet.

Madoc's Da is a famous conductor, and he's having trouble with his orchestra. Madoc is called in to resolve the problems, but before he can there is murder, a plane crash, and enforced encampment in a ghost town. Rescue arrives in the unlikely form of Ace Bulligan, ancient aeronaut, and Madoc solves the mystery in fine style.

[I hope the wretched image I've linked from Amazon appears--it's not in draft form. If it doesn't, the white space ought to be a pretty picture of a blood stained musical score.]

Stardust Farming

Moon-grown cocoa
to sleep by.
Mars-burnt coffee
to wake.
Venus-powered viagra
to rise?

Deja vu

The experience of deja vu is wonderfully freaky. It hints that the linear arrow of time has shuddered. Because so many of us have had this experience and encounter with an "other" reality (even if we quickly explain it as just a brain blip), it's a great place to spin off a story.

Incompetently Brilliant--Beginning to Write

Over at Mind Hacks (yes, I do read other blogs) they mention the Dunning-Kruger effect whereby people incompetent at an activity ae so incompetent that they can't perceive their own incompetence and believe they're quite good at the activity. Wikimedia explains this more lucidly. At the other end of the scale, highly skilled people underrate their ability.

Does this apply to writing?

Well, I haven't hit the highly skilled end of the spectrum, so I can't judge this unnecessary modesty. However, looking back at when I began to write and submit my short stories and first novel--hoo boy. Did I ever over-estimate my ability. As a result I was quietly hurt and frustrated that editors couldn't see and appreciate the brilliance of my writing. True, it had lots of adjectives and a thundercloud of adverbs, I repeated people's names about ten thousand times, and there was often little or no conflict. Oh, and the stories were hackneyed plots. Actually, there were lots of problems. I just couldn't see them.

As you practice any new skill, the flaws in your work gradually reveal themselves to you. And to give editors the credit they deserve, they are generous with kindly criticism and advice that helps to open your eyes. Over at Carina Press, Angela James shared the most common reasons for rejection of romance manuscripts. There are lots of other sites that offer similar writing advice. A Google search will find them. And participation in the discussion at Absolute Write (sidebar link) will restore your dented confidence. Writing is try, try, try again.

Maybe one day we'll all reach the point of undervaluing our writing skills.

Authors should promote, promote, promote

Simon and Schuster's have just published promotional advice for authors, concentrating on internet presence. It makes my head spin to think of social networking to this extent. And when an author's presence isn't genuine (Hi, here's my book. Buy it. Bye), does it really help promote them? Simon and Schuster do warn against this reader off-putting behaviour.

So how much of an author's online presence is an extension of their natural interest and sociability, and how much is manufactured? When the author becomes "brand", how is integrity measured?

Frederick Church, His Tiger's Eaten a Professor

Looking through Wikimedia for a tiger image to celebrate the New Year, I was tickled to find this satisfied tiger.

Feeding a civilisation

I wanted an illustration that didn't idealise farming. However, during the search, I fell in love with this instead. [Source: Wikimedia]

Respecting resilience

The huge yields of monocrops have tended to blind us to the dangers of crop failure--and this despite the awful example of potato blight and the Irish famine. In the natural world, systems build in resilience, which is simply alternative ways of surviving. To risk all on one method alone is to court disaster. The complex markets that support developed societies conceal the risk to individual farmers in less developed places who follow the "wisdom" of monocrops. Sure, if their gamble pays off they may get a higher return at the end of the season. However, if they lose the gamble and their crop fails, they have nothing. The alternative is mixed smallholdings: a range of crops, vegetables and livestock. In an increasingly uncertain world, resilience is vital.

Defining mental illness

Working definitions of mental illness have just been updated. There's been a lot of talk and pre-emptive criticism of the new psychiatric "bible" and I was curious what the changes would be. Mind Hacks has come up trumps, again, with a readable summation and links. Creation of the psychosis risk syndrome is a tough call. At what point are we mad if a fair proportion of the population routinely lives with hallucinations and disorganised thoughts? Disorganised thoughts--are they defining writers?

It's not really funny, nor is the new paraphilic coercive disorder. I'd say getting your kicks out of rape is a moral failing, not a mental one.

Insults

I was thinking of insults, yesterday--possibly because I was ironing at the time, and I hate ironing. My thoughts drifted to a horrible politician currently inflicting himself on Australian society and how I'd describe him.

The thing is, I don't like insults. Too often I've found that in passing judgement on someone, I don't have all the facts. Later I learn something that modifies my opinion, and I regret my rash words. Besides, insults hurt. I'm not going to be part of that bad karma.

Still, faced with liars parading across the TV screen, I do shout a bit. So, what do I shout?

Idiot. Liar. Buzzard (well, the word sounds somewhat similar). And an imaginative usage of Australian colloquialisms. Not to mention good, old Anglo Saxon plain speaking.

But as I ironed, I challenged myself to think of insults beyond those that spontaneously express themselves. My conclusion? Worst insult: If I heard he'd rescued a child from a burning building, I'd still think he wasn't fit to be near the child.

The reason for going on about insults is because in writing they might be a key element of a conflict scene and an expression of character. I think well thought out insults in a moment of high drama and snappy dialogue ring false. They should be raw and real, here. However, in reflecting on character, introducing or otherwise revealing them, a more developed insult may be appropriate. The other vital point to consider is that what might be an insult to one person, such as to be described as arrogant, could be simply an empty descriptor to another person or even a compliment.

What amazes me in considering this topic is how often insults are also accusations. The other amazing point is how much I've found to say on insults. Insult: I talk too much.

Pray to the God of Housework

William Blake, Man Sweeping the Interpreter's Parlour

Wikimedia

Another rose, no reason

Historical Romance Submission Call

Carina Press is looking for historical romances of any heat level and any time period. Minimum word count is 15,000 so this might be a place for your historical novella.

I love writing regencies. The sparkle of the language is simply fun, and I've read so many that I swear I could talk like that in real life. But I've also been obsessed with an idea for 1920s England, an American heiress (with social conscience and unwanted beauty), her overbearing dad, an impoverished earl and an old fairytale, King Throstlebeard. If my urban fantasy weren't obsessing me more, I'd write this story. And then there's the challenge of Ancient Hattush and the Hittites. Warriors, captives and palace intrigue.

Joy

On my hand, a ladybird clings.
Her tiny feet tickle kisses
from a summer garden.

I am captive

until abandoned
for the pleasures
of a wine dark rose.

A Rose

Poetry Pamphlets as Artform

My guess is that poetry pamphlets celebrate the visual impact of poetry in a way stripped down words posted on blank blog space (as I do) can't match. They certainly add an element to the enjoyment of new poetry. The Guardian blog post is last year's, but the contest it concludes with is open again (see British Library for details--British published only, I think). It makes me consider the presentation of my poems, the intersection of the visual and the verbal.

65,000 Free Ebooks--Nineteenth Century Classics

Thanks to the British Library and Microsoft it looks like we'll soon have access to an incredible number of Nineteenth Century books, and (if I'm reading the Times article correctly) the pages will look like the original paper versions. Oh bliss. Oh joy. I love Nineteenth Century sketches at the beginning of chapters and those elaborately illustrated initial letters.

You, too, can lurk

Having added Lisa Shearin's blog and the group blog, Magic District, to my Great Sites, Wonderful People list, I ought to add a couple of other sites where I lurk. Ilona Andrews writes a great blog, and Patricia Briggs, while her blog isn't always updated, has interesting forums attached. PhysOrg is my go-to place for science news.

The Blue Mob by Franz Marc (retitled by me)

I know every death in war is a waste of potential, a grievous loss. But hell. To lose Marc to the bloody trenches of WWI just underlines how much the world surrenders to violence. Those millions of men might have created a very different society.

Every man's death diminishes me, Donne

[Source: Yorck Project at Wikimedia]

Duplicate Reviews

The double review will happen, here, one day. I'm resigned to the embarassment. I re-read my books and review them as the spirit moves. Unfortunately, that may mean I'll write about the same book more than once. Fortunately, the fact I only re-read books I like will save me from panning the book one day, and praising it a year later.

Walking the Walls

I find it difficult to grasp that carpets can be hung up, should be hung up. Being brought up in the suburban fashion (ie chained to a vacuum cleaner on a weekly basis), I have an ineradicable feeling that carpets belong underfoot. But step away from the vacuum cleaner. Carpets can be works of art, and you don't wipe your feet on art.

As black as they're painted?

Although I've cropped the photo, I haven't touched up the colour. These dianthus were advertised as black carnations edged in white. Is maroon and white close enough?

Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Man of Law

Lawyers and their fast cars!

Magic Lost, Trouble Found by Lisa Shearin

The first in a series, Magic Lost, Trouble Found  by Lisa Shearin lives up to the promise of its clever title. It's entertaining and the action rollicks along, narrated in first person. It took me a while to make a mental adjustment to the world Shearin creates. From her opening pages, I kept visioning a darker medieval world, but this magic world is more like romantic Venice meets magic meets Chick Lit. There's violence, but most gruesomeness occurs off-stage.

There's a romantic triangle in the book. It's interesting, not compelling. The relationships seem stronger to me when looking at family, perhaps because it's here that Shearin allows her characters to be vulnerable.

I liked the book enough to buy and re-read its two sequels, and have pre-ordered the fourth instalment of Raine Benares adventures tied to a soul-sucking rock.

Creative Chaos

The Alchemist by Bega, from Wikimedia

Altering Thoughts

The suggestion the US Federal government might play a role breaking the closed circle of conspiracy groups and introducing new thoughts has triggered discussion at BoingBoing.

Does society (and therefore, government as its elected governing body) have a responsibility to introduce "facts" (which can still be disputed, but on balance are generally accepted in that society) into a group of people who frame their lives around an alternative view of reality?

It's a tough question. I tend to like the old quotation, "...just don't frighten the horses."

There are a lot of people out there consciously choosing to act against society. I'd focus on them before committing resources to conspiracy groups who aren't committed or approaching the aim of attacking society.

I'm no expert on group dynamics, but as an opposing view to the idea of the State as Superman-to-the-rescue, there is research (I think I read it in The Economist) that groups will actually police themselves, given the freedom to do so. Obviously some groups are sick and don't/can't do this, and other groups police themselves according to rules the wider society sees as destructive (like bikie gangs), but it remains an important point. Citizens need space and responsibility to grow into and behave as adults.

Smirk

Pelican, John Audubon

Wikimedia

Pacing

If you want advice on novel writing, try Uncle Jim's thread at Absolute Write Watercooler, under the Writing Novels subforum.

Ok. So now you know that there's good advice, and then, there's my meandering thoughts.

I think out the character responses to my novel's plot at the oddest times of day. Never mind. I'm guessing it's a sign the characters are acquiring life. Still, I have to keep a hold of the fact I'm the writer, the person driving and crafting the story's tension.

A novel can't be all suspense. There has to be moments of pullback, slowdown, reflection. Moments of joy, moments of failure. I was thinking if it would be sneaky but effective to hide away plot clues in the quieter comforting scene after high action? Should I? Will it work? I'm sure as hell going to try. Today's writing goal is to bury some information in a scene, info that will later prove pivotal.

Revelation for the day: A writer has to be a conjurer, drawing attention here to divert attention from the mechanics of the trick.

Bee Busy

Book Lists

It would be heaven to have enough money to buy every book whose blurb or review sounded interesting. However, my budget can't support my reading habit, so I've recently organised must-read books into lists.

At the top are books I'm chasing by favourite authors. When they become available at reasonable prices (I'm pinning my hopes on backlists as ebooks, but keeping an eye on secondhand book sites) I'll buy them.

Next on the list are books yet to be published, or published in hardcover (which I can't afford). These books are "buy in future".

Below them are the library books. Books I want to read once and can't justify buying, so I wait till they become available.

At the very bottom of the list is my "gloat" space. Books I've pre-ordered and which will one day magically arrive in the letterbox. I list these with their release date alongside. Terry Pratchett's on there, along with Gail Carriger and Patricia Briggs. When I look at this last list, I start wishing time to move faster. Then I think of progress on my novel, and wish time would slow down.

Clinging on

Even when we have shiny new technology, it seems something in us longs for the old, familiar days. GalleyCat links to covers for ebooks that mimic "real" books. The problem I have is the logo on the display image is a square of BOOK, which works out as BO, and beneath that, OK. Does anyone else read that as B.O. is OK (body odour is okay)?

Old-fashioned wallpaper

Glaring sunlight and my ineptness with a camera have created an image reminiscent of old-fashioned wallpaper.

Quantum Computing

Do I understand quantum computing? No. But it's exciting and as a writer you can use it for a springboard to other possibilities and new worlds. If computing power increases in ways we can only speculate about now, whose to say it won't enable us to break some barriers. For a long time I've wanted to write a science fiction story of quantum computing enabling four dimensional travel. Maybe it's a ridiculous idea, but it fascinates me that powerful computing might be able to crunch enough numbers to see and "navigate" the world differently.

Wash Day

He could have lived longer

Doctors pointed out to him
the health of his bank accounts,
the reason of their fees, and
the superfluity of two kidneys in poor people.

Weekend

I've spent an indulgent weekend reading rather than working. Yet, this isn't as slack as it sounds (even if I'm behind where I hoped to be with my urban fantasy novel). The break relaxed, refreshed and stimulated my brain. Proof? A poem--short but whole, quality not guaranteed--popped into my head last night. I'm dubious with its last line (I'll post above), but it's exciting to find creativity renewed by something as simple as indulging a favourite passion--books.

The Godmother by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

The Godmother by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough is from 1994. Unfortunately, the devastation of society when welfare for the vulnerable is cut remains a real issue, today. The godmother of the title adds a strong touch of fantasy to the story, but it is Scarborough's vivid real world that sustains the book. It is a world in which people might get lost but, apart from the villains, they care. Society is saved, continually, by compassion and courage. Solid tension and well-developed characters.

Protection 3 Ways

Figs tempt a range of scavengers. You'll see a wire fence in the background. That protects the figs from the dog (or the dog from the figs--these sweet fruits have devastating digestive impact). The foil strips glitter and are meant to keep away hungry birds (nice theory, shame about reality). Finally, the plastic bottles hold a mixture of Vegemite, sugar and water that manages fruit fly infestation--and now you know why Aussies are crazy about Vegemite! we're part drunk fruit flies.

The Ship Who Searched by Anne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey

Anne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey collaborated on The Ship Who Searched which is set in McCaffrey's Ship Who... series. It is an emotionally engaging story of a girl growing up and moving through acceptance of who she is to the courage to claim everything life offers. Tia is a pleasant, intelligent heroine. The adventure has high stakes and interesting space opera elements. A good SF novel.

Trees on Mars

Okay, so I'm late to see this story, a story of ice and the human desire to believe in the impossible. Talking of impossible, I'd never looked at the Daily Mail site. The sidebar is like a list of freak stories. Have I been leading a sheltered life free of tabloids? I hadn't thought so, but now I wonder.

Alternative energy

PhysOrg has a few truly alternative energy ideas, ones that are actively being pursued. I love the idea that tramping around the city could generate power. But the moon as an energy mine is also neat.

What we pay

Kobo has an informative post on customers' buying habits versus publishers' wishes. Apparently $11 is the die point for buyers. That's how much we want our books to cost, and after that our willingness to pay drops off significantly. Actually, I think $20 is my die point (remember I'm in Australia, our books are strange prices). To pay more than that the book generally has to be non-fiction. You'll have guessed I buy paperbacks--price, shelf space and carry weight are all factors against hardbacks.

[Article mentioned on Dear Author]

The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka

The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka is an excellent coffeetable book. Enticing images and the promise of happiness are the selling points for a practical book on home design. The concept of an "away" room particularly appealed. It's a small space, a retreat. In real life, it's reassuring to see architects are incorporating such ideas into reasonably priced homes. The floor plan of "Shenton Lakes" by Dale Alcock Homes includes a sitting space opening into a front veranda that is pleasantly "away" in a small home.

Wild Horses by Dick Francis

My first review of a Dick Francis novel was appreciative but not wowed. I stand by it. But having just read Francis's Wild Horses, in all fairness I should review it because it is a much better book. It's not often a mystery writer can lead me up the garden path, but Francis managed it with one of the sub-mysteries.

Woven into the characters are interesting reflections on the experience of old age and a very interesting discussion on the value of entertainment as a profession occurs later in the book.

The framework of making a movie makes for a tight, tense plot with the action accelerating.

Memory is kinder. It forgets

The Times article on researchers electronically recording everything about their lives freaks me. One of the kindest things about daily memory is it doesn't remember everything. We remember enough to tell ourselves the story of our lives. If we had access to a complete (electronic) memory, that story would change. For the better? I wouldn't risk it. Neurotic obsession with self and reconstructing self. And then there's the issue of privacy--who else could access your electronic memory? Memory is a key component of self.

[Link came via Mind Hacks]

O Jerusalem by Laurie King

I tend to cringe when an author appropriates a famous literary character. It's not a fair response, since often the author takes the character into new and interesting territory. I guess my cringe is partly possessive. The famous fictional character belongs to all of us and I wonder what the new author is going to do to him or her.

However, none of my reservations can apply to Laurie King's brilliant pairing of Sherlock Holmes with her character, young Mary Russell. King remakes Holmes, but respectfully, breathing modern life into his sombreness while retaining his romance.

Because the Holmes and Russell novels are romances in the old sense of the word; tales of chivalry and adventure. O Jerusalem by Laurie King is my favourite. She brings alive the land of Palestine at the end of the First World War. I don't know its history well enough to judge historical accuracy, but the novel feels genuine and it powerfully conveys the passion of a land lived in for millenia.

O Jerusalem is a mystery novel, but it's more a novel of encounter--of landscape, relationships, identity and compassion. A pleasure to re-read.

Rich yet confused?

Imagine being so rich you don't know what to spend your money on. I was astonished to realise there are magazines out there, like Robb Report, that help the rich keep up with the latest "must-have's". I guess it's a reasonable enough idea. After all, wealthy people have advisers in other areas of their lives--finance, medical, legal, public relations. Still, the idea of flicking through a magazine and deciding to buy a multi-million dollar yacht boggles my mind. Do they really need the validation of seeing something in a magazine? Rich and insecure? Mail order catalogues for the million-plus bank accounts? I admit though, Robb Report is fascinating.

Betterworld Books

Literacy and saving books--does it get any better? When I buy secondhand books online, it's generally at BetterWorld Books, so it seems sensible to add their name to my Great Sites, Wonderful People list. I particularly like the follow up email these guys send, purporting to come from the book/s I've bought.

I'm not sexy

I'm not surprised to discover that just as I adopt a new technology (well, new to me) it becomes unsexy. Apparently blogging is too looo-oong for Twitter-trained minds. Me, I can't express myself concisely enough to twitter. Maybe bloggers should be called Chirpers? or just old?

The Turtle Moves

Yes, I'm a Pratchett fan. Glad you caught the quotation. And apologies for the absence of elephants.

Baby Steps

Brave explorers
on chubby baby legs
toddle into trouble,
shriek with delight.
Their world is all joy,
safe in mum's love.

Neanderthal Teeth

Earth once held two sapient species. Now all we have of Neanderthals are traces of burials and physical remains, like teeth.

Writing update

I'm submitting a Regency tale to Samhain, today. Then it's back to my urban fantasy novel.

The Regency required a bit of work. Another 2,000 words and a touch more exploration of heroine and hero together. Keeping people apart when they belong together is one of the challenges of writing romance. The conflict has to be believable, but not insoluble, and deux machina must be avoided. Although in this story, "Midnight Kiss", I've allowed a family ghost a fair degree of freedom to interfere and promote opportunities for romance.

Georges Seurat, Pointillism

With thanks, again, to the Yorck Project and Zenodot Verlagsgesellschaft mbH on Wikimedia.

Ancient Glass at the Getty Museum

Look, look, look!

There is something incredibly evocative about old glass. Perhaps because it curves, recalling that other hands have held it. Perhaps it's a simple matter of beauty, or the survival of something so fragile.

Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers

Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers is a classic mystery novel. There is a murder, but there's also an understated and ongoing courtship, a tangle of relationships and choices, and the decision of its heroine about the path she'll take in future. It will make you wish you were an Oxford scholar. The writing is superb.
"Harriet flung her window open and leaned out. There was a sweet smell of approaching rain. Another flash and crash; a swift gust of wind; and then the swish and rush of failing water, the gurgle of overflowing gutters, and peace."

A perfect ending to a tense and building chapter. One of my favourite snatches of writing.

Donate your fat

Donating bone marrow is painful. I really, really hope these researchers are right and one day (soon) the stem cells needed can be harvested from fat, instead. I'm sure there's a few of us around who could afford to donate that!

Aniol i Pastuszek by Jacek Malczewski

I searched Wikimedia quickly for angel images and stumbled across the paintings of Jacek Malczewski. Amazing. I've never seen such colourful angels, part of the ordinary scene and yet alien.

Thanks to the person who uploaded them to Wiki.

Buried for Pleasure by Edmund Crispin

Only Professor Gervase Fen could consider running for Parliament as a remedy for the "queer psychological effects" of scholarly endeavour. Buried for Pleasure by Edmund Crispin is a classic mystery from the post-war period. All the characters are over-drawn, but in a charming manner that brings them vividly alive. The mystery and supporting sub-mystery play fair with the clue-hunting reader. I like Crispin's style, and he was in top form with Buried for Pleasure.

From words to visuals

Interesting collaboration.

Would you want to see art work inspired by your writing?

If you write, do you ever have ideas that work better in visuals? Occasionally I do, but my art skills aren't up to the challenge of presenting the ideas as I see them.

Sketching

Children's Encyclopedias

Since my earlier post was on the future of books and building a library, what about looking to the past?

Children's encyclopedias are brilliant for giving a sense of the period in which they were published, craft activities, riddles, photos to sketch and simple explanations when you're venturing into a new subject area. I have a set picked up for $10 that has Enid Blyton as a co-editor.

The Mettlesome Piece by Anne Hepple

The Mettlesome Piece by Anne Hepple is a wonderful old romance, one where honour is valued and rewarded. It is set in Britain after WWII, but instead of going on about austerity and the changing times, it is about love. Hepple uses quotations to good effect, and builds a complex, courageous hero in the amnesia affected Saunders. The heroine, Heth, might be a mettlesome piece, but she is also vulnerable, trying to hide her tender heart. This isn't a category romance, so it includes sub plots and relationships, but the satisfaction of the story is Heth and Saunders' love.

Who owns your book future?

The disagreement between Macmillan and Amazon is covered in a number of places. I'm linking to BoingBoing. The spat bothers me on a number of levels. Let's just pick one: the fact that a person reading electronically can be locked into buying ebooks from a particular seller. I thought capitalism was about maintaining a market and enabling creativity in an environment that rewards it. Silly me. Capitalism is about making money, even when it constrains society/culture and free choice.

Frederick McCubbin Exhibition at WA State Gallery

The promotion raised expectations that the show failed to meet. Disappointed, I walked upstairs to see which paintings from the Gallery's permanent collection were on display. I was happy to reacquaint myself with Daubigny's Snow Scene, Valmondois and discover that three paintings by Julie Dowling were on display, including Yagan. I wish the Gallery's online site included an easy way to link to these images. You can find them if you search their collection.

However, thanks to the Yorck Project, with copyright held by Zenodot Verlagsgesellschaft mbH and the image on Wikimedia, I can share a different painting by Daubigny, Boote auf der Oise.