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Here's why I will never join SFWA:
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America has used the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to fraudulently remove numerous non-infringing works from Scribd, a site that allows the general public to share text files with one another in much the same way that Flickr allows its users to share pictures.
Included in the takedown were: a junior high teacher's bibliography of works that will excite children about reading sf, the back-catalog of a magazine called Ray Gun Revival, books by other authors who have never authorized SFWA to act on their behalf, such as Bruce Sterling, and my own [Cory Doctorow's] Creative Commons-licensed novel, "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom."
SFWA's attitude to ...
Posted by Justine at 11:48, August 31st, 2007 under New York City/USA, Publishing business, Ranting, State of the World |
I appear to have forgotten some vital password and so cannot access my email. I can read but I cannot send. Do not ask how this is so it just is. There'll be no email out of me till next week. Not that I've been that great at responding anyways . . .
Posted by Justine at 0:21, August 31st, 2007 under Excuses |
The train trip was fun. Biggest difference between travelling by air in the US of A and travelling by train is that the staff are happy and relaxed and like to talk to you. We heard all sorts of stories about train life (includuing gruesome stuff about what happens when someone throws themself under one).
Although the cabins are kind of on the squalorous side---especially compared to first class sleepers in Europe---it was fun hanging with Holly and Theo and Cassie and Maureen while kudzu covered forests zipped by. We dissected the YA publishing world, described the plots of our next five books, and planned collaborations that will never ever happen but would be amazing if they did. I could live ...
Posted by Justine at 22:01, August 30th, 2007 under Cons & Other Gatherings, New York City/USA, Praising, Viewing |
In not that many hours we---Holly Black, Theo Black, Cassandra Clare, Maureen Johnson and Scott and me---get on the train and head to Atlanta, Georgia for DragonCon. Is it bad that I'm more excited about the train than the con? And I'm vastly excited about the con.
I plan to blog from Atlanta but much depends on the outrageous internet charges of our hotel. I will do what I can.
My schedule of events at DragonCon can be found over on
Scott's blog.
In other news I finished the first round of editorial rewrites on The UFB today. I am knackered but really looking forward to not thinking about that book for at least a week or so. Yay!
Posted by Justine at 0:14, August 29th, 2007 under Cons & Other Gatherings, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA |
It's Christopher Barzak day! I've known Barzak for years. In fact when we first met I'm pretty sure neither of us had been published yet. And here we are both with books.
His first, One for Sorrow, comes out today. It's a wonderfully moving sad beautiful ghost story. If you don't believe me
ask Scott. It's published as adult but totally works as YA. Though it would get the 14+ classification on account of the sex in it. Steamy sex.
You can read an essay by the man himself on
Gwenda's blog. Or you can check out
Barzak's blog. But whatever you do make sure you get hold of One for Sorrow. If you're broke then make your library ...
Posted by Justine at 16:02, August 28th, 2007 under Bloggery, Praising, Reading |
So I was asked to suggest good YA sf and I lamely suggested Scott's Uglies series, which I do indeed love, but everyone's already heard of them---especially folks who read this blog. (I'd also recommend his Fine Prey which I think totally works as YA, but it is pretty dirty---not to mention being out of print.)
Thing is though I've read a fair amount of YA sf in the last few years I haven't liked hardly any of it. A lot of it is bog standard: plots I've seen before, characters I've seen before, worlds I've seen before, and nothing new done with any of it. Vastly yawn-worthy.
Remember though I spent
more than eight years doing nothing but read science ...
Posted by Justine at 10:58, August 28th, 2007 under Reading, Scott's books, Young Adult literature |
Three quarters of the WNBA playoffs have gone exactly how I want them to. Phoenix beat Seattle (two Aussies against one); Indiana beat Connecticut (one Aussie against Satan's own team); San Antonio beat Sacramento (one Aussie---assistant coach Sandy Brondello + 2 ex-Liberty stars against no Aussies and no ex-Libs).
Now we just have to beat Detroit and my basketball year will be complete. Seriously, I didn't think we'd make the post-season so for the Liberty to get past the first round would be a second miracle. I love what Shamika Christon, Janel McCarville and Loree Moore have been doing in the post-season. I'm so stoked for the 2008 season. The New York Liberty is going to be insanely good.
This year's WNBA ...
Posted by Justine at 23:19, August 27th, 2007 under Basketball, New York City/USA, Praising, Sport |
In my previous life I was an academic. Not a very successful or prolific one. I spent four and a half years researching and writing my PhD thesis, while on a scholarship and doing paid-by-the-hour teaching (what's known in the US as being a TA) as well as IT support. After that I was awarded a three-year post-doctoral fellowship that my university extended for nine months. In that time I wrote and published one book,
The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction, and edited a collection of stories and essays,
Daughters of Earth as well as writing a bunch of essays and papers (and on the sly I wrote
short stories and a ...
Posted by Justine at 11:10, August 27th, 2007 under Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction, Daughters of Earth, Excuses, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Magic or Madness trilogy |
For some reason the theme broke this evening. I have no idea why. I have no idea how to get it working again. It is making me cry. In the meantime I have gone to the hideously ugly bog standard theme.
I have a book due on Wednesday which is also the day I head to DragonCon so the odds of getting the old theme working again or finding a new pretty one are very very very low. In the meantime you'll just have to avert your eyes from the ugliness of this theme.
If any of you are wordpress heads and would like to recommend a pretty three-columned theme I'd love to hear about it.
In the meantime: Waaahhh!!!
Update:
Chris McLaren ...
Posted by Justine at 21:29, August 26th, 2007 under Bloggery |
Because today I must share the negativity, a list of my current hates:
Referees who only seem to see the fouls committed by my team
Bill Laimbeer ((Though I do love hating him. Don't ever change, Bill! You were eerily calm and unaggro during today's game. A game where you don't get a technical foul is a just plain wrong.))
Friends who are always late---especially when we're meeting for dinner and I'm starving and the stupid restaurant won't seat us until the entire party is there
Restaurants that won't seat you until the entire party is there---What gives? The table is empty and just sitting there. We'll order stuff. Lots of it! You'll make more money off us if you seat us straight away. ...
Posted by Justine at 17:48, August 26th, 2007 under Basketball, Ranting, Sport |
Can you hear that screaming? That's me yelling myself hoarse with joy because we
beat Detroit in Madison Square Garden last night.
BEST. GAME. EVER.
Almost all the punters predicted Detroit would sweep us. Ha ha ha! Instead Detroit played awful. It was like they'd been cursed. And after an awkward messy first half we played great.
Of course mean old
Bill Laimbeer didn't say a word about how well the Liberty played he just went on about his own team's suckiness. Whose fault is that, Bill?
Now I think we're a more than even chance to take Detroit on their home court and I'm cranky that me and Scott're going to be at smelly
DragonCon cause it means we will ...
Posted by Justine at 9:59, August 25th, 2007 under Basketball, New York City/USA, Praising, Sport |
Posted by Justine at 0:04, August 24th, 2007 under Bloggery, Publishing business, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 9:15, August 23rd, 2007 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Words & Language, Writing process |
Holly Black urged me to read
Kathleen Duey's
Skin Hunger, the first volume of the Resurrection of Magic trilogy, saying that it was the best fantasy she'd read in years. Her blurb for it---"beautifully written, harsh and unforgettable"---is right on the money. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I read it over a week ago (and I've read several books since then).
Skin Hunger alternates between two stories and the connections between the two do not become clear until more than three quarters of the way through the book ((At least to me they didn't, but I can be really thick.)). When they do it's so terrifying that you start to hope that what you think is going on isn't.
This book is about class, politics, and power. It's also the story of a poor country girl and a rich spoiled city boy who are not destined for each other. In fact, they never meet in the book. If I'm right about what's going on then they are unlikely to meet in books two or three.
Skin Hunger is also about evil and about love but not in a hooey way. (No uni***ns or lollipops anywhere in view.) At times it reminded me of Le Guin's Earthsea Trilogy and also of some of Knut Hamsun's writing. It's bleak and disturbing yet somehow hopeful.
The wizard school is as unlike Hogwarts as anything I can imagine. Put it this way (spoiler coming):
Posted by Justine at 10:31, August 22nd, 2007 under Praising, Reading, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 10:32, August 21st, 2007 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Praising, State of the World |
Posted by Justine at 0:04, August 20th, 2007 under Bloggery, Ranting, Young Adult literature |
Washington won their game which meant they were one game ahead of us, but we won our game, which meant we're tied, but we've beaten them 3 times this year so we go through to the playoffs!
YAY!!!!!
Let's go, Liberty!!!
Posted by Justine at 18:55, August 19th, 2007 under Basketball, New York City/USA, Sport |
I've been a
New York Liberty season ticket holder since 2003 (though I saw my first game in 2000) and this year has definitely been the most discombobulating. We started off with that
5-0 winning streak then later in the season we had the horrific 0-7 streak and looked to be no chance for the playoffs. Yet here we are one game left and if we win we're in. In fact, even if we lose we could still make the post season---if the
Washington Mystics lose their game.
This year I have seen the Liberty lose an astonishing number of games they should have won. They'd have a lead at the end of the first ...
Posted by Justine at 10:39, August 18th, 2007 under Basketball, New York City/USA, Sport |
So far I have deleted five chapters of the Ultimate Fairy Book. Two of them my favourites.
The truly horrifying thing? Afterwards it was like they were never even there. The changes I needed to make in their absence? Almost zero.
Sigh. Makes me wonder why I wrote them in the first place . . .
I enjoy deleting vast chunks of text. It's the easiest kind of rewriting. Plus it always makes my books better. I don't miss what I've nuked. Seriously I have never restored any deleted passages or chapters. Not once. I always save them but I rarely look at them again.
Am I alone?
Posted by Justine at 0:05, August 17th, 2007 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Writing process |
I've been an Elvis fan since I was a
small child. I can recognise pretty much any Elvis recording within half a bar. I have loved his music longer than I've loved anyone else's. When I'm down the only remedy is "Viva Las Vegas" (or any number of his gazillion other recordings). Today is the thirtieth anniversary of his death. I cried then even though I was only little and I'm a little weepy about it today.
I am not one of those fans who has any illusions about the man. Yes, when he died he was a grotesquely overweight junkie. Yes, there are many other performers who were more talented and innovative than he. Yes, Big Mama ...
Posted by Justine at 0:16, August 16th, 2007 under Listening, New York City/USA, State of the World |
Danica Eakins who starts her final year of high school in September loves books and wants to become an editor, but doesn't know how you go about doing that. Could those of you who are professional editors give her some advice? Tell her about internships and the like?
Here are her questions:
I'd like to know things like, which university courses would be most beneficial, how does one actually find a job as an editor, what are the perks and downfalls of the job, what is the average pay, etc.
I've never worked as an editor so I have only the vaguest inkling of the answers to these questions. I realise I don't even know how much editors get paid. Other than it ...
Posted by Justine at 8:00, August 15th, 2007 under Publishing business |
Posted by Justine at 9:05, August 14th, 2007 under Bloggery, Young Adult literature |
I know I said blogging about writerly achievements is tedious but I have to share when my books are translated. That's not a writer skiting thing; it's a publishing geek thing.
I love seeing what books are called in other markets. In this case Magic or Madness, the first book of the Magic or Madness trilogy, becomes
The Revelation, book one of the Blood of the Witch trilogy.
Dark Magic is the name of the imprint. Also published on that list is none other than Margaret Mahy (!). Quite possibly the world's finest living YA writer (along with Diana Wynne Jones). Not too shabby company, eh?
But what's with the cat on the cover? There are no (living) cats ...
Posted by Justine at 0:01, August 14th, 2007 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Vainglory |
Posted by Justine at 11:33, August 13th, 2007 under Bloggery, Publishing business |
The tomatoes right now are unspeakably good. I went to the Tompkins Square farmers' market this morning and bought eight different kinds. Yum. They're so sweet and flavouresome they don't need dressing. Just salt and pepper and a squeeze of lime and you have the best tomato salad ever.
They also had the first
cape goosberries (husk cherries) of the season. Heaven! And the fresh garlic keeps on. I think I'll do a stir fry tonight of kale, lebanese cukes, garlic and onion. (All bought at the market.)
Even though I'm locked in working my arse off on the UFB and can't remember the last time I talked to a real human being (other than Scott) I'm still eating well! Sometimes ...
Posted by Justine at 13:27, August 12th, 2007 under Food, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA, Praising, Whingeing |
I just had a fight over which is the kiss and which is the hug: the x or the o.
I say the x is the kiss on account of it's representative of a scrunched up mouth. The o is a hug cause it's arms in a circle which (unless you're hugging yourself) is classic hugging action.
I will not share my friend's strange delusion of what they mean because, really, too weird!
Then I asked Scott and he agreed with my friend. And even google says the friend is right.
Madness reigns! Or maybe it's another one of those Oz versus US of A things? she asked hopefully.
Whatever. I have decided to ignore them all. For me the x is the kiss and ...
Posted by Justine at 14:28, August 11th, 2007 under Frippery |
Okay, why did no one tell me what a flawed masterpiece
American Gothic is? Is there any other brilliant tellie of the last twenty years you're hiding from me? I mean I never even heard of American Gothic before! Why? Twin Peaks is total rubbish in comparison. (Don't get me started on my Twin Peaks hatred. What an evil tease of a tv show!)
If my next novel features an evil but charming sheriff trying to corrupt their illegitimate child you'll know why.
Posted by Justine at 21:18, August 10th, 2007 under New York City/USA, Praising, Viewing |
Posted by Justine at 13:53, August 9th, 2007 under Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 17:57, August 8th, 2007 under Bloggery, Publishing business, Ranting, Writing life |
International Blog Against Racism Week is on again. Yay! If you're confused about racism and race you can ask the awesome
Angry Black Woman questions. She's smart and funny and will treat you with the respect that you will, naturally, accord her. It is a brave and time consuming thing she has agreed to do.
You can find lots of
links and posts here.
I was thinking of responding to
Scalzi's post about how he deals with race in his books, but
Kameron Hurly has eloquently said what I was gunna say.
I've also decided against writing about the miscegenation bruhaha over on lj because
so many smart people have covered it.
And I'm definitely not going to ...
Posted by Justine at 20:12, August 7th, 2007 under Bloggery, New York City/USA, Reading, State of the World, Sydney/Australia |
Posted by Justine at 14:36, August 6th, 2007 under Bloggery, Publishing business, Ranting, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 20:48, August 5th, 2007 under Bloggery |
Ages ago I ranted against those who say that switching point of views is evil and wrong. I did not give any examples demonstrating when pov switching not only works, but makes a scene a billion times more effective than it would have been trapped in one pov only.
So here is one. And from a fellow Australian, naturally:
There was more talk, more laughter. One moment Arabella thought that he would walk away with the other men. The next Lord Petre feared that she would turn back to the box with Miss Blount, and that his chance would be lost. The chance for what, he could not say. Neither of them heard a word of the conversation; each ...
Posted by Justine at 23:56, August 4th, 2007 under Praising, Ranting, Reading, Sydney/Australia, Writing process |
That we have
another post up on insideadog. The penultimate, we think. The last one goes up Monday morning (Oz time) and Sunday night (US of A time).
Posted by Justine at 18:38, August 3rd, 2007 under Bloggery, Sydney/Australia |
Am I alone in finding
Anne Hathaway not even remotely Jane Austen-like?
Didn't think so.
Gah!
Posted by Justine at 23:30, August 2nd, 2007 under Ranting, Toilets, Viewing |
Someone just told me I'm wrong about Bring It On being the best movie of all time. Excuse me? If I say it is then it is! This is my personal list of the best movies of all time. I cannot be wrong about it.
I'm not saying there aren't other best movies of all time. There are! The Princess Bride is one. Rififi is another. Not to mention Out of the Past and Lagaan.
I am also not wrong about
mangosteens being the best fruit.
Or The Wire being the best television.
Or Emma and Hellsing and anything by Osamu Tezuka being the best manga.
Or zombies being the best monsters.
And cricket absolutely is the best sport.
So nyer!
Though, of course, I reserve the ...
Posted by Justine at 17:23, August 1st, 2007 under Food, Mangosteens, Ranting, Reading, Viewing, Zombies |
