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Something not to do while you're exhausted and have a head cold:
Atttempt to buy tickets for the 06/07 Ashes series.
The article does not exaggarate. I logged on just before 9AM (Sydney time) when the tickets were to go on sale. The server was busy and busy and busy and busy and busy and busy and aaargghh!!
It took me half an hour to get through to actually buying the tickets. At which point all the tickets I was interested in for days 2 & 3 were gone. I then went to buy tickets for the fourth day but just as I selected them a pop up box announced that my session had timed out.
Cue screaming and swearing.
I logged back in ...
Posted by Justine at 22:02, May 31st, 2006 under Cricket, Ranting, Sydney/Australia |
The combination of jetlag and a cold meant that I did not get as much out of this year's WisCon as I normally do. But
everybody else seemed to be having an
amazing time. There were a great many people there that I didn't even get a chance to say hello to like Suzy McKee Charnas, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Jay Lake, Kelly Link, Sharyn November, Nisi Shawl, Helen Pilinovsky and I hardly had a conversation of any length the whole weekend long.
But I did finally get to meet
Cherie Priest and she was just as fabulous as expected. More, even. (Thank you Liz Gorinsky for arranging it---lovely to see you, too!). As well as the ...
Posted by Justine at 18:35, May 30th, 2006 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Daughters of Earth, Excuses, New York City/USA, Travelling, Whingeing |
Even while I'm away at a convention good news arrives: Magic or Madness and Magic Lessons just sold to
Mondadori, the biggest publisher in Italy. Woo hoo!
I'm especially excited because I met the editor, Fiammetta Giorgi, in Bologna and she was not only elegant, cool and fun, but also had great taste. We talked for ages about our favourite young adult writers such as Holly Black and Diana Wynne Jones. And now I'm going to be part of her Dark Magic series. Yay!
Mondadori also publishes Scott, so we're now published by the same company in the US of A (Razorbill/Penguin), Australia (Penguin), France (Editions du Panama), Brazil (Editora Record) and now Italy. How cool is that?
Magic or Madness ...
Posted by Justine at 13:50, May 26th, 2006 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Magic or Madness trilogy, Publishing business, Reading, Scott's books, Vainglory, Writing life |
Scott and me were taken out for lunch by the lovely women of the
CCBC, Hollis, Katy, Megan and Merri. We talked graphic novels, manga, YA books and censorship and much fun was had.
My favourite moment was Megan or Merri's (I'm jetlagged and can't remember which) anecdote about a twelve-year old asking to borrow a newly arrived library book because the cover so appealed to her. The book was M. E. Kerr's Deliver Us From Evie. Evie of the title is a seventeen-year old lesbian; the girl wanting to borrow the book was from a very conservative rural family. So the school librarian looked at the girl desperately keen to read the book and imagined the outrage that would ...
Posted by Justine at 19:34, May 25th, 2006 under Book challenges, Cons & Other Gatherings, Manga, Reading, Travelling, Young Adult literature |
As me,
Nalo Hopkinson,
Scott and
Ellen Klages walked from our hotel to the Wisconsin Historical Society Auditorium the heavens opened up. Best. Storm. Ever.
Well, except for the little detail that we were on our way to give a panel and wound up soaked through and knowing that our audience had been at least halved. Thank you so much to the eighty or so brave, brave souls who made it.
I think it went well, but I was wet, jet-lagged and concentrating hard on moderating so I can't be sure. Go read
Sarah Monette's excellent account.
I can say that I was dead pleased that we didn't just pat ourselves on the back and talk about how fabulous ...
Posted by Justine at 10:18, May 25th, 2006 under Bloggery, Cons & Other Gatherings, Feminism, New York City/USA, Travelling |
Yup on this day a year ago at this exact time I blogged for the
very first time. And, yea verily, it were good! So good that back then I posted three times on the same day. Such profligence! Such joi de blog!
The blogging has been so wonderfully addictive that it ate my musings and possibly several novels I might otherise have written. Bummer. And yet, it's so ace! So easy. So instantaneous! Why did I not start doing this years ago?
My first post, lo those many months ago, revealed the cover of Magic Lesson. So it seems appropriate that exactly a year later I reveal the cover of the third book in the trilogy. But it ...
Posted by Justine at 19:19, May 23rd, 2006 under Bloggery |
Tomorrow night I'll be moderating the following event in Madison, Wisconsin.
If you're a Madisonian or you're in town early for WisCon, we'd love to see you! It should be loads of fun.
Posted by Justine at 4:02, May 23rd, 2006 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Feminism, New York City/USA |
In less than twenty-four hours we'll be on a plane to NYC. And while I think NYC is a bloody excellent city, and I have many wonderful friends there I can't wait to see, I'm sad about it. For the last few years I haven't been anywhere for more than three months straight. And that place was San Miguel de Allende, not Sydney. And while San Miguel is also completely ace I'm dying to spend an uninterrupted LONG stretch of time in my hometown.
Scott says I always get like this just before we leave anywhere (San Miguel, Dunedin, Buenos Aires, NYC). He says I always say that I want to stay. Maybe. But I feel it even worse when it's ...
Posted by Justine at 18:27, May 21st, 2006 under Food, Liquids, Sydney/Australia, Travelling, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 8:36, May 17th, 2006 under Bloggery, Writing life, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 12:16, May 16th, 2006 under Bloggery, Magic or Madness trilogy, Reading, Viewing, Writing life, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 11:48, May 14th, 2006 under New York City/USA, Publishing business, Reading, State of the World, Viewing |
In less than two weeks (gulp) me and Scott will be attending
WisCon the feminist science fiction convention in Madison, Wisconsin. I've been attending since 1996, I've read there, been on panels, been a part of the auction (mostly as a spender of money, but once as one of Ellen Klages' lovely assistants) and have worked as part of the organising committee--- I'm biased.
And yet strangely I've come to take it for granted. So much so that my not being able to attend next year (prior engagement to be part of something awesome in Australia) didn't really phase me. Then I read Sheree Thomas's
eloquent explanation of why she loves WisCon and all of a sudden I'm miserable ...
Posted by Justine at 11:37, May 13th, 2006 under Bloggery, Cons & Other Gatherings, Feminism, New York City/USA |
I'm sitting at my desk watching the
flying foxes make their nightly voyage out from the Botanical Gardens. Hundreds of bat silhouettes against the darker-by-the-second sky.
Have I mentioned how much I love this flat? How sad I am that we're leaving?
Well, bugger that! I refuse to give into melancholy. Here's the view I'll be enjoying soon:
© good friend, brand-new father, and all round artistic genius
Robin Cave
That view's not so bad as all that, is it? Even if there are no flying foxes, or rainbow lorikeets, or ibis, or cockatoos . . .
Posted by Justine at 17:38, May 12th, 2006 under New York City/USA, Sydney/Australia, Travelling, Viewing |
I am now the wife of a
New York Times bestselling author! Oh my Elvis! Specials is number six and we here in the Larbalestier/Westerfeld household are over the moon. The congrats are flooding in from all over and champagne will be drunk in large quantities tonight. Woo hoo!
But what does this actually mean? Don't worry you're not alone asking. Several of my non-publishing friends---yes, I do have them---have also asked why it's such a big deal.
The New York Times bestsellers list is one of the oldest lists going and definitely the most prestigious. It doesn't matter that there's a whiff of dodginess about how it's compiled.
As Scott points out, there ain't a bestseller list ...
Posted by Justine at 16:34, May 11th, 2006 under Praising, Scott's books |
Posted by Justine at 12:30, May 11th, 2006 under Praising, Scott's books |
Posted by Justine at 13:25, May 10th, 2006 under Bloggery, Praising, Publishing business, Reading, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 8:47, May 9th, 2006 under Bloggery, Cons & Other Gatherings |
For months now Scott's been getting stacks and stacks of queries from fans all desperate for the final book in the Uglies trilogy so that they can find out which boy the protag, Tally, ends up with: David or Zane? (
Check out the "reviews" here for an idea of what I'm talking about.) I'm starting to get my own trickle of mail asking about who Reason winds up with. (Satan! She winds up with Satan!---Just kidding. ((Or maybe I'm not kidding . . .
No, really, I'm totally kidding.
Maybe.)))
How did we get so obsessed with relationships? With who's zooming who? What gives?
Is it possible to write a popular novel series that's romance free? I'm trying to think of one and ...
Posted by Justine at 17:05, May 8th, 2006 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Scott's books |
I just found out that
Holly Black has won the very first
Norton Award for her unbelievably fabulous novel,
Valiant. Go Holly! You rule! Onya!
The Norton Award is one of the first US genre awards to specifically recognise young adult books. It's been a long time coming and it couldn't have gone to a more deserving winner. I reckon Andre Norton would be dead pleased.
Posted by Justine at 17:02, May 7th, 2006 under New York City/USA, Praising, Young Adult literature |
This year has been full on for me and Scott thus far. Oodles of work travel (Brisbane, San Francisco, New York City,
Bologna, Brisbane), lots of new sales---
Brazil (me), Denmark (Scott), Sweden (Scott)---and I just heard news that MorM and ML have sold in yet another market. Hopefully I'll be able to tell you about it soon. We're both on the shortlists for some pretty awesome awards---the
Ethel Turner (me), the
MLA's Thumps Up (me, Scott), and the
Locus Awards (Scott)---and Scott's book
Specials came out this week and has been ranked very high ((As high as 232 overall and no. 5 on the bestselling teen books list. No. 2 if you just look ...
Posted by Justine at 12:03, May 3rd, 2006 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Scott's books, Sydney/Australia, Travelling |
Why is violence towards animals a deal breaker for so many readers?
Miss Snark won't represent writers who kill off animals in their books. More to the point she won't even read such books. No matter how good. I've heard the same sentiments from many others.
Now, don't get me wrong---despite the subject header---I don't want any puppies to die. Big or small, I like dogs. And even if I didn't, I am against people being horrible to any animals. Even really annoying ones. (Though, yeah, I do eat them from time to time. Not dogs. I have never knowingly eaten a dog.)
Back to my question: Why is violence against animals in books a deal breaker when violence against humans ...
Posted by Justine at 13:23, May 2nd, 2006 under Reading |
Posted by Justine at 16:57, May 1st, 2006 under Manga, Praising, Ranting, Reading, Scott's books |
Blandine Longre, the editor of the French literary magazine,
sitartmag.com, just sent me the link to a
lovely review of
Dans les griffes de la sorcière, the French version of Magic or Madness. From what I can tell from babelfish it looks like Anne-Judith Descombey's translation is a very good one indeed. Thank you! This is the first review of any of the translated versions of MorM. Colour me excited!
To reward myself for sending off the first rewrites of MorM 3 on Friday I've been reading whatever I want to read! Woo hoo! And seeing some movies. Namely V for Vendetta---most entertaining, though what accent was Natalie Portman doing?---and last night
Night Watch. ...
Posted by Justine at 10:25, May 1st, 2006 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Manga, Praising, Reading, Vainglory |
