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Due to
boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much for awhile. Fortunately I’ve been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
I do not know
Bernice McFadden, but when she wrote to me about possibly doing an exchange of blog posts, I decided to invite her to guest post here because I have been hearing wonderful things about Sugar for years, and because her story is both ...
Posted by Justine at 11:38, April 28th, 2010 under Guest post, Publishing business, Writing life |
A question for you, dear readers: what are your favourite long-running series?
Mine is probably Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins series. Because it got better and better with each book. The characters and the world grew. It never felt like Mosley was churning them out for a buck. They more than stand up to rereading.
To define my terms: I consider a series long-running if it has six or more books in it. A series can tell one continuous story like Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond books or have same character(s) but different stories in each book.
So what are your favourites? And why?
Posted by Justine at 8:27, April 26th, 2010 under Praising, Reading |
Last night Scott read to me
Mark Twain's essay on Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper. I'm sure most of you are familiar with it but I was not. Dear readers, I laughed. A lot.
Mr Twain, it seems, was unfond of Cooper's writing. In one of the bits that made me laugh the hardest, Twain sets out the "nineteen rules governing literary art in the domain of romantic fiction," and exactly how Cooper violated them. The fifth of these rules requires that
when the personages of a tale deal in conversation, the talk shall sound like human talk, and be talk such as human beings would be likely to talk in the given circumstances, and have a discoverable meaning, also a ...
Posted by Justine at 8:21, April 21st, 2010 under Fashion, Reading, Writing life |
You're going to have to excuse this post (and the crappy photo) but I can't help myself. A package just arrived from my wonderful Australian publisher, Allen & Unwin. It made me scream. In a good way.
This is what was in it:
That's the official
Children's Book Council of Australia short-listed book sticker and it's on Liar! And it's not a joke or an accident!
*Faints*
Um,
I may have mentioned that the CBCA awards have always been a huge deal for me. Ever since I was a tiny person. This really is a dream come true.
And on that cliched note ((Hey, they're cliches for a reason.)) I am off to ...
Posted by Justine at 12:15, April 20th, 2010 under Liar, Sydney/Australia, Vainglory, Young Adult literature |
Due to
boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much for awhile. Fortunately I’ve been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
Margo Lanagan is probably the award winningest Australian YA writer of all time. She deserves every single one. When I'm asked who I think the best living YA writer is, which is a really dreadful question given how many wonderful ones there are and how I ...
Posted by Justine at 12:04, April 19th, 2010 under Guest post, Sydney/Australia, Writing life, Writing process |
I have been very pleased that so many of you are concerned that our Sydney garden will suffer in our absence. Thanks for writing and let me know! Nice to know I am not alone in loving that garden. Oh, how I misses it . . .
To reassure you: the garden has an automatic irrigation system. On top of that my parents and my sister are keeping a close eye on it and handwatering any of the plants that seem in need. They're also killing any caterpillars or other evil beasties they come across. Do I not have the best family ever?
Here is the last photo I took of my beloved garden:...
Posted by Justine at 9:27, April 16th, 2010 under Garden, New York City/USA, Sydney/Australia |
Due to
boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much for awhile. Fortunately I’ve been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
Jaclyn Moriarty is a wonderful Sydney writer who used to be a lawyer and is responsible for some of my favourite Aussie novels of the last few years, especially The Betrayal of Bindy McKenzie and Dreaming of Amelia. But, trust me, all her books are amazing. Be ...
Posted by Justine at 14:54, April 15th, 2010 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Guest post, Sydney/Australia |
Okay, after yet another spam hammering I've had to switch comments and pinging off on many of the posts that were getting hammered. I'm really at a loss as to what to do. I don't want to switch comments off. I love your comments. But right now I'm battling so much spam that loads of geuine comments are not making it past the filters while too much spam is. I'm only spending four hours at the computer a day so I cannot use most of that time dealing with spam.
Oh, how I hate spammers!
Anyone got any cool wordpress plugins or other suggestions?
Update: Forgot to say I already have Askimet. Which was working brilliantly.
Part of what is going on is ...
Posted by Justine at 0:01, April 14th, 2010 under Admin, Bloggery/Internetty Stuff |
Sibylle asked:
Perhaps I’m reading too much into it but is this question [
have you heard of Joel Chandler Harris] somehow connected to your reading of Slavery by Another Name by Blackmon?
You are not reading too much into my question. It is indeed related to my reading of Blackmon's Slavery by Another Name or, rather it's related to the research I've been doing for my book set in the early years of the 1930s in New York City. I asked about Harris because I'd never heard of him and only vaguely knew what the Uncle Remus stories were. Yet his name kept coming up in a lot of reading I've been doing. I was curious to know whether he ...
Posted by Justine at 10:47, April 13th, 2010 under 1930s NYC novel, New York City/USA, Research |
One of the results of
my recent injury, which has meant that I spend no more than four hours at my computer each day, is that I've been reading a tonne more. Here are some jetlagged thoughts, without any spoilers, on stuff (of all genres, not just YA) what I have read and loved recently: ((My apologies for how bad that sentence is. And for the bad ones which follow.))
Battle Royale Koushun Takami: Do not read this book if high school students murdering each other in graphic detail appalls you. And let's be frank, it should appall you. I'm appalled that I was not appalled. But then I kind of like boxing too so clearly I have no ...
Posted by Justine at 8:23, April 12th, 2010 under 1930s NYC novel, Praising, Reading |
My wireless keyboard is not talking to my computer. It is a beautiful keyboard. I love it more than any other I have ever owned. (A Logitech diNovo Edge if you is curious.) Before I left it was in perfect harmony with my laptop. Upon my return, despite being fully charged, despite multipe restarts, despite being placed so close to the computer they are as one, my laptop will not have a bar of it. This is unhappymaking.
I have had many wireless mouses and keyboards over the years. None of them has been functional for more than a few months at a time. But my diNovo Edge worked for six months straight. But now after a few months of being ...
Posted by Justine at 5:02, April 11th, 2010 under Admin, Ranting |
You're unlikely to get anything sensible out of me for awhile. This will be brief. First, thanks for all
the responses yesterday. That was truly fascinating.
Second, we recently finished watching Fullmetal Alchemist and Read or Die and LOVED them both with a fiery burning passion. Thanks everyone who recommended them. What should we watch next? And why do you recommend it?
Third, without googling how many have you heard of Joel Chandler Harris? And what do you know about him? And where are you from? (I suspect how old you are is pertinent also.)
Thank you!
If you're in NYC you can see me and Scott reading this Saturday:
Justine Larbalestier,
Bennett Madison,
Scott Westerfeld, &
Cecily von Ziegesar
Reading and ...
Posted by Justine at 15:21, April 7th, 2010 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Excuses, New York City/USA, Viewing |
Right now I am at Auckland airport and it is nothing like Sydney airport. For starters there are All-Blacks jerseys everywhere and people are laughing at my accent and not Scott's. It's Bizarro-world!
Now a serious question for my USian readers. Do you guys have any theories as to why so many of the USian blog reviewers of Karen Healey's Guardian of the Dead are under the impression that her extremely New Zealand book is set in Australia? Many NZ cities are named, such as Christchurch, where it is largely set. The South & North Islands are frequently mentioned as are many other very very very Kiwi things and people. No mention is made of Australia.
What gives? Are you taught ...
Posted by Justine at 0:47, April 6th, 2010 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Sydney/Australia, Travelling |
In a
recent interview Becky Hammon, who plays for the San Antonio Silver Stars had some very smart things to say about feminism. She's an amazing and very smart ball player, but her response to the following question made me love her even more.
Silver Stars Nation: What would you say to younger girls that play basketball but yet do not support women’s and girls basketball as a whole?
Becky: I think that is one of the saddest things I come across. For a couple reasons.
First of all, lets not forget our history ladies. It wasn’t so long ago that women weren’t allowed to compete in sports. So many unfulfilled ...
Posted by Justine at 20:56, April 2nd, 2010 under Basketball, Feminism, Sport |
