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Initial disclaimer: I realise that just by announcing that I'm not that fussed I'll be seen as protesting too much. To which I respond: Whatever.
In the course of reading
Diana Peterfreund and
Carrie Ryan's lovely posts about all the ways in which YA is dismissed by people who know nothing about it and have read at most two YA novels, and the
New Yorker blog post that set Carrie off, I realised that I, in fact, wasn't particularly annoyed or outraged by it. There are a few reasons for that:
The post in question, while declaring that it is the exception that proves that YA is not worth reading, raves about a novel by a truly wonderful writer: ...
Posted by Justine at 0:02, December 23rd, 2008 under Sport, Travelling, Unicorns, Young Adult literature, Zombies |
Diana Peterfreund and
Carrie Ryan saved me from writing a post I'd been sort of planning for awhile---on the various lame ways people dismiss YA---but which I kind of couldn't be arsed actually writing. So bless them both!
I've come across this example all too often:
“XYZ is pretty good, for a book for children, but I doubt the author will be allowed to take it to the next level, because children’s books rarely do that.” (The “that” in question, by the way, is a rebellion against the powers-that-be by the teen main characters, which is so common in YA fantasy and SF books that it’s practically a cliche.)
Succinctly put, Diana!
Though mostly what I get from adult writers and ...
Posted by Justine at 4:49, December 20th, 2008 under Bloggery, Praising, Sydney/Australia, Young Adult literature, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 20:03, December 14th, 2008 under Reading, Unicorns, Young Adult literature, Zombies |
Yes, there will be a zombie-un***rn story. I hope you're happy. Because personally I think that's a bit gross.
No, I can't tell you the names of any of the contributors. But trust me, they are all fabulously excellent writers.
Yes, it is a YA anthology. It will be edited by the marvellous Karen Wojtyla. That's right, me and Holly, who are editing the Zombie versus Uni***ns anthology, will in turn be edited. It's, like, a whole editing chain.
Sorry, the anthology is closed.
Yes, there will be lots of different kinds of zombies. Not just your regular Romero types.
I have no idea about the uni***n side of things. I doubt there's more than one kind. And if there is, who cares? Hmmm, ...
Posted by Justine at 8:54, November 18th, 2008 under Unicorns, Young Adult literature, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 16:00, November 17th, 2008 under Unicorns, Young Adult literature, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, November 11th, 2008 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA, Unicorns, Young Adult literature, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 1:00, November 6th, 2008 under Praising, Ranting, Unicorns, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, October 28th, 2008 under Liar Book, Whingeing, Writing life, Zombies |
One of the biggest culture shocks for me as an Australian living (some of the time) in the USA is
voting. Every election year I've been here there have been
voter intimidation and
fraud scandals. Maybe I missed it, but that does not happen at home. Not every single election.
Seems to me that the aim in the US is to make voting as difficult as possible. Why? I don't get it. I've had friends disallowed to vote because the official said they had the wrong ID. It didn't exactly match the name on the voter rolls. As in, their driver's license had their middle name spelled out in full, "Rachel", but the voter roll had just ...
Posted by Justine at 0:00, October 22nd, 2008 under New York City/USA, Praising, Ranting, State of the World, Sydney/Australia, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, September 30th, 2008 under Bloggery, Book challenges, Cons & Other Gatherings, New York City/USA, Praising, Reading, Science, State of the World, Travelling, Young Adult literature, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, September 26th, 2008 under New York City/USA, Next novel, Ranting, State of the World, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 14:42, March 2nd, 2008 under Unicorns, Writing goals & milestones, Zombies |
The wonderful Kathleen T. Horning of
Worth The Trip ((Oh, and yeah, she's a
mover-and-shaker librarian in her spare time.)) sent me this fantastic art by Madison Hartup:
You can check out Madison's other work over at
DeviantArt.
And my apolgoies for posting this to
Maureen who's a little bit zombied out right now.
Posted by Justine at 0:00, February 28th, 2008 under Viewing, Zombies |
Congratulations to Adrienne and Danielle for making the finals and to
Adrienne for winning. I'm relieved I wasn't allowed to vote cause I have no idea who I'd've voted for. I thought both pieces were fabulous.
I shall miss Zombie Idol. Literature without zombies popping here, there, and everywhere, well, it's hardly worth reading, is it?
Posted by Justine at 22:28, February 26th, 2008 under Zombies |
I have been remiss and forgotten to point out that
voting is now open for the finals of ZOMBIE IDOL!!!
Go vote!
Voting is open for another (almost) six hours.
That is you must vote before 7PM Eastern US of A time.
Go!
Posted by Justine at 13:09, February 26th, 2008 under Zombies |
That's right
us judges have done decided and now you get to choose which is the bestest.
And if that isn't enough on Monday you get to choose between the winner of round one and the winner of round two for the utlimate uber-winner of Zombie Idol 2008.
Go, zombies!
Posted by Justine at 14:23, February 22nd, 2008 under Frippery, Zombies |
The final five of Zombie Idol have been selected. Now all you have to do is
go and vote for your favourite.
And not to worry if you had a yen to enter Zombie Idol. This is just round one. The deadline for round two entries is midnight of 21 February (East Coast USA time). To whet your appetite here is
Libba Bray's take on Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown:
In the great scary mall
There were survivors
And some dark halls
And a picture of
The zombie cow jumping over George Romero
And there were three little zombies sitting on chairs
And two dead kittens
And a pair of severed mittens
And a little toy house
And a flesh-eating mouse
And a lost sombrero and pain and a ...
Posted by Justine at 0:00, February 16th, 2008 under Bloggery, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 10:28, February 15th, 2008 under Research, Young Adult literature, Zombies |
So, the whole Maureen Johnson stick a zombie into a novel thing has just gotten heaps bigger. Like heaps. You need to
go over there to check out the extent of the bigness. I heard a rumour that there are more than a gazillion entries already! A bazillion gazillion trabillion! So many that's she's extended the competition.
And gotten some judges in. Stellar judges such as Meg Cabot, John Green, E. Lockhart, and, um, me.
I'm excited and delighted and slightly nervous. How long does it take to read a bazillion gazillion trabillion entries? Also---Oh. My. God.---I'm a judge with Meg Cabot. I think I'm going to faint.
To forestall the fainting fit here is my little take on the whole thing:
I ...
Posted by Justine at 0:00, February 12th, 2008 under Frippery, Young Adult literature, Zombies |
Over at insideadog Maureen Johnson is staging
the best contest in the history of contests with the most excellent prize of an advance copy of Maureen's wonderful new book, Suite Scarlett. All you have to do is rewrite a paragraph or two of your favourite book by adding a zombie. Maureen demonstrates how it is done by
adding one to a scene from Pride and Prejudice. To wit:
“What think you of books?” said he, smiling.
“Books? Oh! No, I am sure we never read the same, or not with the same feelings.”
“I am sorry you think so; but if that be the case, there can at least be no want of subject. We may compare our different opinions.”
“No. I ...
Posted by Justine at 13:02, February 10th, 2008 under Young Adult literature, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 10:05, February 6th, 2008 under Writing goals & milestones, Writing life, Young Adult literature, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 13:19, January 28th, 2008 under Ideas, Praising, Publishing business, Ranting, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 0:04, January 28th, 2008 under Writing life, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 11:45, December 9th, 2007 under Unicorns, Vainglory, Writing life, Young Adult literature, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 12:12, December 8th, 2007 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA, Scott's books, Writing life, Zombies |
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 |
For research purposes, I am going to drastically increase my zombie culture consumption.
Thus far I've been reading and loving The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman. (I read the trades not the skinnies---so no spoilers for the latest issues!)
I also plan to read World War Z, An Oral History Of The Zombie War by Max Brooks. So no spoilers, people!
Update: Forgot to mention I have read the entire and very excellent Kelly Link zombie oeuvre.
What other zombie books and graphic novels should I be reading?
And there's the movies---because really the whole zombie thing is very movie driven.
Obviously I've seen and loved all the George Romero zombie films. Yum. My faves. Yes, even the recent Land of the Dead that I've ...
Posted by Justine at 12:11, July 27th, 2007 under Reading, Research, Viewing, Zombies |
Holly Black is
making me giggle (via
Gwenda). Now all I can think about is vampire elves and zombie unicorns and werewolf-griffins and pirate-orcs and . . . and which of all of those would win in battle and what they'd look like and what they'd eat. Would vampire elves still not like steel and not tell lies? And what would a novel with all these creatures in it be like?
Oh, hush, Justine. You have stories to write! Novels to unbuggerize! Admin to adminerate! Stop procrastinating.
Posted by Justine at 12:23, July 18th, 2007 under Bloggery, Frippery, Unicorns, Zombies |
Unlike
Mr Scalzi and a scary number of others, I am not a zombie. The flesh is still pink and I'm craving miso soup, not brains. (At least not unless they're lamb's brains lightly sauteed with lots of garlic.)
I suspect that the
apocalypse has not hit New York City yet. Figures that it would ravage the midwest first.
We have a reinforced steel door and enough food to last . . . Hang on a second.
Oh. Okay, enough food to last a few hours. But there's lots of booze. So I'm good.
And, frankly, I can think of no better way to spend the apocalypse than holed up with
me old man and two cases of really ...
Posted by Justine at 13:34, June 13th, 2007 under Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 12:44, April 14th, 2007 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Excuses, Praising, Ranting, Scott's books, Travelling, Unicorns, Young Adult literature, Zombies |
John Hinde was one of my favourite film critics of all time. He was a wonderfully warm and funny man. He could give charmingly negative reviews to sucky films without a hint of rancour, reviews that made you want to see the crappy film just to see what he was talking about. I always wanted to meet him. When he died I cried.
Now he's made me cry again by setting up an
extraordinary literary prize in his wife's memory. It's the "Barbara Jefferis Award for the best Australian novel that empowers the status of females or depicts them in a positive light." The award goes to an Australian writer, but isn't restricted by setting or genre, ...
Posted by Justine at 10:23, April 3rd, 2007 under Reading, Sydney/Australia, Unicorns, Zombies |
All my friends are zombies:
Posted by Justine at 13:13, March 26th, 2007 under Sydney/Australia, Zombies |
What is it with you people?
I tell you what an abomination in the sight of the Lord unicorns are and how much I love love love zombies and what do you do? You send me an endless stream of unicorn-related stuff. Gah!
Quit it already! No more!
Now zombie related links I'm all for. Fire away. Share your zombie love with me.
But the next person to so much as type or say the u-word anywhere near me? Well, that's a paddlin'.
I hope I have made myself clear.
Posted by Justine at 22:35, March 14th, 2007 under Ranting, Unicorns, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 0:01, February 23rd, 2007 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Frippery, Reading, Unicorns, Viewing, Zombies |
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 |
Sometimes I've been writing too much, my brain is broken, and all i can do is crash in front of the box and try not to dribble. Times like those I need
Resident Evil 2 because only zombies, motorbikes and Mila will unbreak my brain. Mmmm, zombies.
What are your favourite brain unbreakers? And why?
Posted by Justine at 0:09, January 18th, 2007 under Praising, Viewing, Zombies |
There's been
much debate about what authors owe their readers out there in bloggyland. I think the whole thing is really rather simple:
When I've got my writing hat on then it's very clear that authors owe their readers absolutely nothing. Do you hear me readers? I owe you nothing!
I can write about what I want, when I want, and how I want. If I want to set fire to your favourite character's hair, push them off a cliff, and then jump on them, I can and I will, and there's nothing you can do to stop me. So nyer!
When I've got my reading hat on, then it's very very clear that authors owe me exactly the book ...
Posted by Justine at 0:03, January 15th, 2007 under Bloggery, Frippery, Praising, Ranting, Reading, Whingeing, Zombies |
Last night after a hard day's work we thought we'd order up a movie. As you do. And we're trying to pick one, but the movies we know anything about we've already seen or would rather die than see. So we're reading descriptions of movies and we both start exercising the veto like you wouldn't believe:
Scott: not watching any movie that has the word "cop" in the description.
Justine: or "battered" or "gruelling" or "genocide".
Scott: not "lawyer" either or "detective".
Justine: Isn't that covered by "cop"?
Scott: No. Look "private detective".
Justine: I rule out "bleak", "heart-warming", and "family-oriented".
Scott: Also "doctor".
Justine: Not to mention "life-threatening" and "disease", especially if they're the one phrase.
Scott: Aren't those ruled out on account of my previous anti-"doctor" ...
Posted by Justine at 9:13, August 20th, 2006 under Frippery, Viewing, Zombies |
A recent post on Miss Snark reveals
the horrible truth that often writers have no control over what their books are called. That's right, folks, your publisher can change the title to something they deem more commercial.
There was much debate over the title of the first book in my trilogy. I'd always imagined Magic or Madness as the series title with the actual books being called Reason and the Two Cities, Reason and Margarita, and Reason defeats the Evil Monster Marauding Zombies from Hell. Marketing intervened and the series title became the title of the first book, leaving me and my editors to come up with new titles for books two and three and thus the whole working title ...
Posted by Justine at 3:19, August 14th, 2006 under Bloggery, Magic or Madness trilogy, Praising, Publishing business, Ranting, Titles & names, Writing life, Zombies |
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 10:57, April 20th, 2006 under Bloggery, Magic or Madness trilogy, Ranting, Whingeing, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life, Zombies |
I don't want to rubbish a whole city, especially when I was only there for a few hours, but Atlantic City is an erky perky bleah of a place. Friends warned me it was a shithole---I had no idea they were being kind. It's ugly, full of the most hideous buildings ever built and populated by zombie gamblers, who are served by an army of twelve-year-old incompetent staff. Once you're inside one of the casinos it's almost impossible to get out again. All signs lead to more gambling areas. I'm convinced that hell will be nothing but Atlantic City casinos.
This is heresy for an Australian, but, I hate gambling. I love cards and I'll bet on them, but not with ...
Posted by Justine at 9:56, October 19th, 2005 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Magic or Madness trilogy, New York City/USA, Ranting, Reading, Science, Scott's books, State of the World, Travelling, Viewing, Whingeing, Young Adult literature, Zombies |
I been seeing a bunch of filums lately. Well, okay, two: Batman Begins and Land of the Dead. The first was okay, definitely the best Batman movie thus far (but, frankly, that's faint praise, and I will always prefer the campy tv show), the second was a most excellent zombie film and a perfect end to Romero's zombie quartet (though, I admit it, I hope there's more). I enjoyed it greatly.
However, no matter how far above Hollywood's average these films are (and Land of the Dead really really is) they still had at least one thing that drove me crazy. In Batman Begins it was Batman's whole I-will-not-kill thing, which seemed to only apply to direct killing. Indirect killing? No ...
Posted by Justine at 16:00, June 27th, 2005 under Viewing, Whingeing, Zombies |
