Justine Larbalestier

reading, writing, eating, drinking, sport

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The worst book ever written

The worst book ever written is so very bad that there are warnings on Amazon to not even glance at the cover in case it infects you with its badness. Those warnings are true! Holly Black LOVES this unspeakably bad book. So much so that she has many copies of it. So much so that she made us all read chapters out loud on the DragonTrain, which made us all laugh so hard we wept. I threw up I was laughing so hard. The book is THAT bad. Remember I was rambling recently about how you can't include all details when you write? This book attempts to do that. It takes a kajillion chapters for the protag to cross a steet. All ...

Posted by Justine at 0:03, September 6th, 2007 under Frippery, Reading | 24 Comments »

DragonCon panels

Because I have friends who insist on proper con reports I thought I'd talk about some DragonCon panels. Most of which were excellent and peopled by knowledgable and entertaining folks. First I must rant: Hey, Author People, yes, you lot, who respond to every question with deeply tedious plot descriptions of your own books and never mention anyone else's work---I have written down your names and the names of your books. And I will NEVER EVER EVER buy them or recommend them to anyone. You are boring and the death of many a potentially good panel. I am filled with hate for you and your kind. Okay. I feel much better now. Now onto the good panels which were all part ...

Posted by Justine at 10:56, September 5th, 2007 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Young Adult literature | 13 Comments »

Maureen’s editing skills

Maureen put together a vid of hers and Scott's DragonCon footage: It is fabulous in all ways! Well, except for one way: Maureen promised me that she would edit me out. She did not. I am unhappy to realise that her promises are WORTH NOTHING. Other than that everything is good. Watch, enjoy! DragonCon and DragonTrain were teh awesome. When I'm less knackered I'll tell youse all about it. Especially our dramatic readings from the worst book ever written.

Posted by Justine at 20:50, September 4th, 2007 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Cons & Other Gatherings, New York City/USA | 11 Comments »

DragonCon Blues + Urban legends

The worst thing about DragonCon---other than the way too many people thing---is that it's on the exact same weekend as the WNBA conference finals. I missed seeing Phoenix sweep San Antonio (woo hoo! Amy---sorry, Rebecca) and will miss all the Indiana-Detroit games (please Indiana win tonight!) Seeing all those insanely brilliant costumes is some compensation I suppose. Riding on the train with Holly, Theo, Cassandra, Maureen and Scott ditto. Sitting around in a hotel room with them telling ghost stories also not too foul. Which reminds me what are your favourite urban legends? Feel free to leave a link in the comments if you don't feel like telling the whole thing. So far we've done the finger nails one, the hook, the ...

Posted by Justine at 8:47, September 3rd, 2007 under Basketball, Cons & Other Gatherings, New York City/USA, Praising, Whingeing | 8 Comments »

I love the costumes!

According to Scott these two didn't know each other---they were just grouped together by photographers: Photo by Scott.

Posted by Justine at 19:02, September 2nd, 2007 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Viewing | 1 Comment »

Still at DragonCon

I'm not quite sure what to make of DragonCon. It's way bigger than any other con I've been to ever and, I gotta be honest, large crowds of people freak me out. And this place is nothing but huge crowds. On the other hand, the costumes are incredible. Say hello to Mr Resident Evil 2: Photo by Scott

Posted by Justine at 22:02, September 1st, 2007 under Cons & Other Gatherings | 6 Comments »

Maureen Johnson is Wonder Woman

And Theo Black is some peace keeper person from Farscape. He tried to get me to teach him an Australian accent. But, ya know, you're either born with one or you're not. As usual Scott Westerfeld took the photo.

Posted by Justine at 1:16, September 1st, 2007 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Fashion, Frippery | 7 Comments »

Beluga whales

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 | 6 Comments »

Train train train

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 | 14 Comments »

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