Archives
1. I am now officially an award-winning author. Sort of.
Daughters of Earth just won the Susan Koppelman Award for Best Anthology, Multi-Authored, or Edited book in Feminist Studies in Popular Culture which is given by the Popular Culture Association. How cool is that? No book of mine has ever won an award before.
As I didn't write Daughters---other than the introduction anyways---I'm not sure this qualifies me as an award-winning author. I guess what I am is the editor of an award-winning book. I sure did put a lot of work into it and so did all the contributors. We're very proud and thrilled that someone else likes it well enough to give it a prize. Woo hoo!
Thank you ...
Posted by Justine at 17:41, February 28th, 2007 under Daughters of Earth, Magic or Madness trilogy, New York City/USA, Praising, Vainglory |
I've been dipping my toe in the worlds of manga and graphic novels over the past year or so. Allow me to express some neophyte enthusiasm: WOW!!! Seriously, I've loved the majority of what I've read and the stuff I haven't like that much in the early volumes (I'm looking at you, Saiyuki) has become fabulous later on.
I'm pretty sure the 90% rule ((Otherwise known as
Sturgeon's Law: "Ninety per cent of everything is crap".)) still applies, I just happen to have very excellent guides (thank you, Micole, Rachel, and Doselle). And
Anne Ishii of
Vertical Books who led me to
Osamu Tezuka's Ode to Kirihito, which I loved so much I feel compelled ...
Posted by Justine at 23:55, February 27th, 2007 under Manga, Praising, Reading, Viewing |
The Norton shortlist is now final:
Devilish---Maureen Johnson (Penguin Razorbill)
Magic or Madness---Justine Larbalestier (Penguin Razorbill)
Life As We Knew It---Susan Beth Pfeffer (Harcourt)
Midnighters 2: Touching Darkness---Scott Westerfeld (Harper Eos)
Peeps---Scott Westerfeld (Penguin Razorbill)
The King of Attolia---Megan Whalen Turner (Greenwillow Books HarperCollins)
All the books on the list are wonderful ((The only one I haven't yet read is the Pfeffer which I've heard from people I trust is amazing. I can't wait to get my mitts on it. )) (except mine obviously). I'm so honoured to be in such incredible company. Wow.
Yet despite the glories of Maureen's catholic school girls demon fighters and Scott's reimainged vampires and magic twenty-fifth hour, if I were to vote right now ((And if I were a member of SFWA.)) ...
Posted by Justine at 0:01, February 27th, 2007 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Scott's books, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 1:02, February 26th, 2007 under Bloggery, Cons & Other Gatherings, Fans & readers, New York City/USA, Praising, Travelling, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 0:01, February 23rd, 2007 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Frippery, Reading, Unicorns, Viewing, Zombies |
This Saturday me and Scott and some other illustrious young adult literature types will be talking about our books and life (and the superiority of zombies over unicorns) and anything else you care to ask us about at a teen literary festival in Humble, Texas:
Saturday, 24 February, 2007
Humble ISD Libraries'
Teen Lit Festival 07
Guests are: Chris Crutcher, Gail Giles,
Justine Larbalestier, Benjamin Alíre Sáenz,
Scott Westerfeld and Chris Yambar
Atascocita High School Campus
Humble, Texas
The event is open to the public so if you're anywhere in the vicinity do come and say hi. Even if you're not into mine or Scott's books, it'll be totally worth it just to hear
Chris Crutcher's keynote address. He's an incredible, awe-inspiring speaker. I heard him last ...
Posted by Justine at 1:19, February 22nd, 2007 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Travelling |
Posted by Justine at 0:06, February 21st, 2007 under Writing process |
Writer and artist,
Chris Howard, was so inspired by reading Magic or Madness he painted a portrait of Reason:
It amazes me that my books have inspired
some folks to commit art. Makes me all teary!
I'm also made teary ((Best segue ever, eh?)) by the awesomeness of the vast majority of librarians. The recent kerfuffle over a
dog's scrotum has led many to think that librarians in the US of A are all for banning books over a single word. This is emphatically not the case. The
American Library Association has a
whole division that goes to battle to protect
intellectual freedom in the US of A. They're the ones who bring us ...
Posted by Justine at 0:15, February 20th, 2007 under Bloggery, Fans & readers, Magic or Madness trilogy, Praising, Vainglory |
Given that it's now late February and Magic Lessons is available in a corrected and cheaper paperback edition in the US of A, and Magic's Child is a mere month away from pubbing, ((Two months if you are in Australia or New Zealand. Many more months if you're looking to score a copy in a
language other than English.)) I thought I would celebrate by posting the
very first draft of the first two and a bit chapters of Magic or Madness:
Chapter One
Reason missed her mother. She lay on her new bed in her new home missing her mum, Sarafina, so much it hurt. It was her first day in her grandmother's house. She should get ...
Posted by Justine at 10:37, February 19th, 2007 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Writing process |
What have
I started? Arguments about the relative merits of
zombies and
unicorns rage across the intramanets. And on each thread someone suggests the zombie-unicorn hybrid. Great minds think alike? Or fools seldom differ?
I was greatly distressed that lovely friends of mine like
Holly Black,
Cecil Castellucci,
Meg McCarron and
Literaticat have fallen pray to the false glittery charms of unicorns despite the fact that being virgin fascists unicorns would have nothing to do with them. I guess it falls into the whole desiring-what-you-can't-have camp. Perhaps to resolve our issues Holly and I should collaborate on a Zombies vesus Unicorns novel? I will write the zombies and she can have the unicorns. Though ...
Posted by Justine at 12:54, February 18th, 2007 under Bloggery, Book challenges, New York City/USA, Praising, Ranting, State of the World, Unicorns, Words & Language, Young Adult literature, Zombies |
I am so proud that my
serious, soul-baring post about the trials and tribulations of blurbs wound up turning into a
debate about whether unicorns or zombies are better. Sometimes I just love my genre people.
This response to
Scalzi and me on blurbing also made me smile. I am, indeed, very proud of this sentence:
"How do you tell someone you shot their dog cause you really hate unicorns?"
The writer of that post suggests that it would be amusing to just blurb everything and if you don't like a book give it an ambiguous blurb of the "I cannot praise this book too highly" variety. Clearly they meant it in jest, but it reminded me that ...
Posted by Justine at 0:26, February 16th, 2007 under Bloggery, Publishing business, Unicorns, Writing life, Zombies |
John Scalzi has a post up explaining
his blurb policy. He even kindly explains what blurbs are.
I think his policy is so spot on that I've adopted it (slightly amended) as my own:
1. Yes, I am happy to look at books and if I love them I will blurb them.
I adore reading my peers' work and getting to read them ahead of publication is particularly exciting. It makes me feel like I'm really part of the Young Adult publishing world with my little ole finger right on the pulse. Not to mention that being asked for a blurb is an honour. ((Though who gets asked is a mystery to me, seeing as how I get asked to ...
Posted by Justine at 9:02, February 15th, 2007 under Bloggery, Publishing business, Reading, Unicorns, Writing life, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 0:33, February 14th, 2007 under Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 10:07, February 13th, 2007 under Bloggery, Cricket, Excuses, Praising, Sport |
Posted by Justine at 11:08, February 12th, 2007 under Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction, Bloggery, Fans & readers, Magic or Madness trilogy, Praising, Vainglory, Writing life |
Scott just sent me this because we both love cricket and monkeys. ((He
found it here, but I'd love to know the original source.)) It is the personification of our love. It makes me so happy!
Though I gotta say that's a pretty suspicious looking bowling action. And why is the umpire lying on the ground? Because the monkey is totally using body line? Check it: the monkey's aiming at their heads! Or perhaps because the monkey has used six different balls? That's gotta be worse than ball tampering, right? Bad cheating monkey!
Posted by Justine at 16:52, February 11th, 2007 under Cricket, Frippery |
I am cranky. Two main things are contributing to this state.
1. As some of you may have noticed my site has been down on and off today. Grrr. Also for the last two days my email has been mostly down. Double Grr.
2. Maureen Dowd.
To try and uncranky myself I sat down to read today's New York Times. I carefully skipped the newsy parts cause they often cause crankiness to multiply. Unfortunately, the first thing I read was Maureen Dowd's
breathtakingly stupid column about chicklit.
Bloody hell! What a morass of ignorance and misinformation. On the one hand, she's trying to say that all chick lit sucks. On the other, she talks about books like Sylvia Plath's The ...
Posted by Justine at 14:45, February 10th, 2007 under Feminism, New York City/USA, Ranting |
Posted by Justine at 0:07, February 9th, 2007 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Vainglory |
Posted by Justine at 2:13, February 8th, 2007 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Sydney/Australia, Vainglory |
A friend from the frozen north,
Chris McLaren, is choofing off to Melbourne soon and will have a whole day to spare for sightseeing. What should he see? And will he be able to see anything given the bushfires?
I recommended
the Croft Institute because it has test tubes in it and they make me happy.
He would welcome any advice, recommendations and warnings about the fair city of Melbourne from actual Melbournites.
Posted by Justine at 14:09, February 7th, 2007 under Bloggery, Sydney/Australia, Travelling |
Posted by Justine at 0:15, February 7th, 2007 under Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction, Bloggery, Daughters of Earth, Reading, Vainglory |
For ages people have been telling me that I have to see
Lagaan. Well, now I have. And everyone's right. It is the best movie of all time. No contest.
It has everything that should be in a movie: cricket, the British are the baddies, more cricket, dancing, singing, a love triangle, and more cricket. Lagaan is perfect. (Well, it could have been longer with a wee bit more cricket and a few more songs, but other than that---perfect.)
At least seventy minutes of the movie is a cricket match. How did that make any sense to American viewers? Cause most of the folks who've recommended it have been yanquis who know nothing about the noble game. How did you keep ...
Posted by Justine at 1:34, February 6th, 2007 under Cricket, Sport, Viewing |
Posted by Justine at 11:13, February 5th, 2007 under Bloggery, Publishing business |
I have been whingeing more than somewhat about the cold since we landed in NYC. As I type this it's -9 (15.7F) outside and the winds are howling. Both of which strikes me as just plain wrong.
But rather than focuss on the utter misery and horror of it, I'm trying to think of some positives. Like, um, er, ah, um, . . . Okay, I got nothing. I can think of nothing good about weather this cold.
Can any of you help me? Do any of you like the cold? See something positive about it? Do please share. Because I haven't left the flat since Friday and I'm kind of not planning to until we get to June and warmth.
Give me ...
Posted by Justine at 1:26, February 5th, 2007 under New York City/USA, Ranting, Whingeing |
On the plane from Sydney to NYC, I watched a lot of films and most of them were awful. Especially The Departed. Once again, I sat there, jaw dropping, thinking this is what racks up gazillions of award nominations? What are they seeing that I am not? Am I the only one who cares that no one's motivations make any sense? That there are plot holes so deep and wide you could ride all the world's horses through them?
Warning: Spoilers follow.
Not that you will care within about ten minutes of the film starting. Frankly I was hoping they would all die. It was the only way in which the film gratified my wishes.
Like why would you, on finally (at long ...
Posted by Justine at 12:50, February 4th, 2007 under New York City/USA, Ranting, Viewing |
Posted by Justine at 22:35, February 2nd, 2007 under Bloggery, Ranting, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 4:40, February 2nd, 2007 under Bloggery, Sydney/Australia |
Posted by Justine at 16:02, February 1st, 2007 under Daughters of Earth, Magic or Madness trilogy, Scott's books, Vainglory |
Posted by Justine at 10:26, February 1st, 2007 under Bloggery, Ideas, Magic or Madness trilogy |
