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Just saw this
gorgeous photo essay on
John Green's blog of him finding out that he'd won the Printz award. It's dead cute.
Of course, the main thing I took out of it was relief not to be in NYC. So. Very. Cold. Look at all those clothes! Uggh.
Congratulations, Mr Green!
Posted by Justine at 9:07, January 31st, 2006 under New York City/USA, Young Adult literature |
Apparently I'm married to a "whip smart" "softly spoken" and "laconic" Texan who's an "authority on all things trendy". Who knew? Check out Mike Shuttleworth's
excellent interview with Scott in the Melbourne Age. I love the photo!
(The Age requires registration but you can always go to
bugmenot for a user name and password.)
Posted by Justine at 18:57, January 29th, 2006 under Praising, Reading, Scott's books |
Magic or Madness just made its fifth best books of the year list with its inclusion on
Locus' 2005 Recommended Reading List. I'm in ace company with the likes of Elizabeth Bear, Judith Berman and John Scalzi. Scott made the YA list along with Holly Black and Carol Emshwiller and other excellencies. Best of all they listed Midnighters 2: Touching Darkness which has been mostly ignored by the other lists. Dunno why. It's fabulous.
Anyways, I'm off to stick my head in a bucket of cold water in hopes of reducing the swelling.
Posted by Justine at 11:21, January 29th, 2006 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Scott's books, Vainglory |
I have a question for sf/fantasy/horror etc readers. Who are the new feminist voices you're most excited about? I'm hearing great things about Sarah Monette. And I know all about
Lauren McLaughlin and
Meghan McCarron. But who am I missing out on? Who now is writing books and stories that look at questions of identity, gender, sex, race, class in cool and interesting ways? Who talks about these issues in exciting ways on their blogs? Tell me!
I just heard that,
Daughters of Earth, my feminist sf anthology will be out 1 May. Just in time for
WisCon! Most excellent!
I've been working on a post for awhile now about all the fabby blogs about the publishing industry ...
Posted by Justine at 7:38, January 27th, 2006 under Bloggery, Daughters of Earth, Feminism, Reading |
The
Young Adult Library Services Association has just announced its lists of recommended books for 2005. Getting on one of these lists is a very big deal because they are frequently used as a guide for building a collection etc. The two main lists are the
Best Books for Young Adults (BBYA) and the
Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers.
This year both Scott and me were on the BBYA. I'm so thrilled. Magic or Madness is one of the best young adult books of the year! Woo hoo! Even cooler, Scott made the list with two books, Peeps and Uglies, and Peeps was on the
top ten BBYA of the year. How bout that?!
Here's my ...
Posted by Justine at 7:26, January 26th, 2006 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Scott's books, Vainglory, Young Adult literature |
I just pressed the send button, and now Magic! Magic! Magic! Oi! Oi! Oi! is winging its way across the Pacific, and then across mainland USA, all the way to Hudson Street in New York City. Except that, you know, technology, being what it is, my baby is already there. Freaky, eh?
I can now watch the Sri Lanka v South Africa One Day International in good conscience. Who am I barracking for? Sri Lanka, natch. But it would prolly be more interesting for the competition if South Africa won. But, frankly, without Makhaya Ntini South Africa just ain't that interesting. Even if Sean Pollock does look uncannily like my husband.
Sean Pollock aka
Scott Westerfeld (
original source)
Can ...
Posted by Justine at 21:45, January 24th, 2006 under Cricket, Magic or Madness trilogy, New York City/USA, Sport, Writing goals & milestones |
From Jonathan Yardley's Washington Post
article about John Gregory Dunne comes this quote:
"Because one has written other books does not mean the next becomes any easier. Each book in fact is a tabula rasa; from book to book I seem to forget how to get characters in and out of rooms -- a far more difficult task than the non-writer might think. Still I went to my office every day. That is the difference between the professional and the amateur. The professional guts a book through this period, in full knowledge that what he is doing is not very good. Not to work is to exhibit a failure of nerve, and a failure of nerve is the best definition ...
Posted by Justine at 12:13, January 24th, 2006 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Writing life, Young Adult literature |
It seems that the direct translation of Magic or Madness is less than euphonious in French, so my publishers there,
Editions du Panama, have opted for a new title for both the series and the first book. The series title will be:
AU-DELA DE LA PORTE (BEYOND THE DOOR)
and Book 1 will be:
DANS LES GRIFFES DE LA SORCIERE (IN THE WITCH'S CLAWS)
Interesting, eh?
Posted by Justine at 9:05, January 23rd, 2006 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Vainglory |
As
I've mentioned I recently read
Samuel R. Delany's
About Writing which is seriously very very good. One of the smartest, most inspiring books on writing I've ever read. It includes a piece on "thickening the plot" where he shows you precisely how he does it. The many moments where he goes through word by word pointing out exactly what isn't working in any given passage are gorgeous (as are the pastiches he whips up for dissection). His advice to wannabe writers is harsh and honest and reveals heaps about his own writing life. The introduction---where he discusses the difference between "talented" and "good" writing---is worth the price of the whole book (as is the appendix, "Nits, ...
Posted by Justine at 7:45, January 21st, 2006 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Reading, Writing process |
Shana tagged me and I
didn't even know it.
It's a tricky meme, I'm not saying I'm not weird and all, it's just that pretty much all the weirdnesses I'd be willing to tell you about---how much I hate socks etc. a) have already appeared on many other people's lists (and thus how weird can it really be?) and b) I just don't think that's weird. Frankly, it's the people who like socks that I worry about.
So here are the weirdnesses I'm okay with you knowing about (oh, and family of mine and close friends---you do not have permission to post comments):
1) I don't like anything with caffeine in it. Not coffee, chocolate, coke, tea, not anything. This is ...
Posted by Justine at 7:09, January 20th, 2006 under Bloggery, Food, Frippery |
Posted by Justine at 8:15, January 19th, 2006 under Bloggery, Magic or Madness trilogy |
I just found out that
Penguin Australia has made an offer for Magic Lessons! They're planning to publish it in September exactly a year after
Magic or Madness was released here. I'm thrilled! Penguin Au doesn't buy many foreign books (yes, even though an Aussie wrote them, the MorM books are "foreign" because they're being sold through Penguin USA), so it's really exciting that they've now bought two of mine, and two of
Scott's (
So Yesterday and
Peeps). Yay! It means a lot to me to be published in my own country.
Posted by Justine at 9:47, January 18th, 2006 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Sydney/Australia, Vainglory |
Posted by Justine at 8:26, January 17th, 2006 under Bloggery, Excuses, Magic or Madness trilogy, Publishing business, Writing life |
I got up all ready to start turning my sketchy draft of MorM 3 into something a whole lot better. Before starting I thought I'd have a quick squiz at the email, just in case there was something important (you know like a foreign language sale, those always start the day off marvellously well). Of course, the fact that it was Saturday in the US of A and Sunday here made that vanishingly unlikely. Instead I found
one of the most blush-worthy reviews so far, which is almost as good as a sale for starting the day off humming.
It's written by an online friend of mine,
Rachel Manija Brown. I
very much enjoyed her memoir, ...
Posted by Justine at 9:53, January 16th, 2006 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Reading, Vainglory |
Scott's Peeps is a
BCCB blue ribbon book.
And I finished the (very sketchy) first draft of Magic! Magic! Magic! Oi! Oi! Oi! Hallelujah!
Off to read the last few chapters to Scott and drink champagne. Not necessarily in that order . . .
Posted by Justine at 16:40, January 15th, 2006 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Scott's books |
A friend of mine,
Deborah Biancotti, frequently posts cool quotes on her livejournal,
often about writing. So, this one's for you, Deb:
Writers are people who write. By and large, they are not happy people. They're not good at relationships. Often they're drunks. And writing---good writing---does not get easier and easier with practice. It gets harder and harder---so that eventually the writer must stall out into silence. The silence that waits for every writer and that, inevitably, if only with death (if we're lucky, the two may happen at the same time: but they are still two, and their coincidence is rare), the writer must fall into is angst-ridden and terrifying---and often drives us mad. (In a letter to ...
Posted by Justine at 8:37, January 14th, 2006 under Bloggery, Publishing business, Writing life |
I know it's not the New York Times, but I'm pretty stoked. Especially as Pat Reardon has written a
smart and interesting article about
author photos and I'm quoted alongside the likes of Jane Smiley. Woo hoo! Here are my pearls of wisdom:
"When you're really sucked into a book, it's an incredibly intimate experience," says Justine Larbalestier, an Australian science fiction young adult writer and historian. "You're really in that person's brain."
As an author, Larbalestier is ambivalent about dust-jacket photos. She's even tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade her publishers to go without her photo. But, as a reader, there are times she finds herself gazing at the writer's image for answers. She did so recently while reading The Music ...
Posted by Justine at 9:11, January 13th, 2006 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Reading, Vainglory, Viewing |
If you're going to completely change the climax and ending of your book, you might want to write it first, and then go back and make the necessary rewrites to the rest of the novel. I'm just saying . . .
Posted by Justine at 12:02, January 11th, 2006 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 13:30, January 10th, 2006 under Bloggery, Cricket, Magic or Madness trilogy, Publishing business, Sport, Sydney/Australia, Writing life |
Next Tuesday at 8:30PM if you're on the East Coast of the USA, or 3:30PM if you're on the West Coast, or 12:30PM Wednesday if you're in Sydney, or 2:30AM if you're in Madrid, I'll be doing the
YA Author Cafe chat with
Holly Black and
Cassandra Claire. Our host will be the lovely
Marlene Perez.
For those if you who don't know---and I can't imagine there are many of you---
Holly Black is the author of the wonderful YA urban fantasies,
Tithe and
Valiant, not to mention the mega-selling Spiderwick books. Valiant, is one of the best reworkings of Beauty and the Beast I've ever read. It only came out last year yet I've ...
Posted by Justine at 17:39, January 7th, 2006 under Bloggery, Cons & Other Gatherings, Praising, Young Adult literature |
I haven't felt this way since I was a kid gobbling up the Anne McCaffrey books, but
Naomi Novik's Temeraire (His Majesty's Dragon in North America) has led to a desperate longing for my very own dragon. It doesn't even have to be a Chinese one. Honest. But I want one! Now!
I've been stuttering around, unable to settle on any particular book for a while, and those I have finished lately, I haven't much cared for. Though it could well be me and not the book, cause the last such book is acclaimed up hill and down dale and those in the know say it's a likely Printz award shortlister. Left me cold. Worse than cold: I was ...
Posted by Justine at 22:31, January 6th, 2006 under Praising, Reading |
They worked so hard and then the weather robbed them of any chance of winning. The declaration was brave. Some would say loopy. It felt like they deserved the win, and yet their bowlers were just too thin on. Get well soon, Mr Ntini.
And how bout that Ponting? No way he's not getting the Allen Border medal. Two centuries in his 100th test? You bewdy!
Posted by Justine at 17:03, January 6th, 2006 under Cricket, Sport |
Wow, thanks to everyone for sharing all their
writers' humiliations. Apparently I'm not alone!
This post is for the bookseller who wrote to tell me that if I went to her bookshop I could sign whatever books I wanted.
On the same day I had my less than stellar experience at a chain I also visited
Galaxy,
Kinokuniya,
Gleebooks and
Better Read than Dead. All of them had many copies of Scott's books and all told me that Uglies in particular is flying off the shelves. And they all had the Oz version of Magic or Madness and were very keen on me signing them. At Galaxy I didn't even have to ask. Bless Galaxy. They rolled ...
Posted by Justine at 8:31, January 5th, 2006 under Bloggery, Magic or Madness trilogy, Manga, Praising, Reading, Scott's books, Sydney/Australia, Young Adult literature |
Because of late I've been all---look how well my book has been doing! award nominations! foreign sales! good reviews! la la la!---I thought I'd write about the less fabby side of being a writer. You know, so you don't all think my life is nothing but caviar and champagne and flying foxes at dusk. Time to talk about writer humiliations!
There was a book out a while ago,
Mortification: Writers' Stories of Their Public Shame. Part of me wants to read it; the other part cringes at the very idea of its existence: way too close to the bone! The vast majority of working writers never get anywhere near the level of J. K. Rowling or Dan Brown fame. Every ...
Posted by Justine at 14:00, January 2nd, 2006 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Sydney/Australia, Writing life |
How about this for a good omen on which to start the new year? My friend Shana noticed Magic or Madness in the window of one of the best children's bookshops in the world,
Books of Wonder in New York City:
And what's more---it's right next to The Very Hungry Caterpillar! This is going to be a very good year, indeed. (Well, for me, anyway, here's hoping it will be for the rest of the world, too. And, yeah, I'd swap for the world to be better off, but, you know, I don't think it works like that.)
Oh, and one last thing:
Scott Lynch (whose lj I just discovered via
matociquala) also had a good year---
he ...
Posted by Justine at 8:09, January 1st, 2006 under Magic or Madness trilogy, New York City/USA, Praising |
