Recently read and rigorously recommended

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

By Susanna Clarke, 2004
A unique alternate history tale about two rival magicians in 19th century England. Its slow build-up (the book is 1024 pages) makes the events of the final chapters even more shocking and fantastical. Includes magical books, servants who are not what they seem, sojourns into the realm of Faerie, travel via mirror, kidnapping, death-defying spells, and ravens—lots and lots of ravens. 

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
By Sherman Alexie, 2007 
The diary and sketches from a year in the life of Junior, a Spokane Indian teenager who decides to go against his tribe by attending a white high school in a neighboring town. Both funny and tragic, the book draws the reader into Junior's world—his coping with being poor, his attempts to fit in with his classmates and tribal members, and his internal struggle to come to terms with the devastating effects of alcoholism on his family and his tribe.
Ender's Game
By Orson Scott Card, 1985
This award-winning science fiction novel follows the life of super-intelligent Ender Wiggin, a boy bred to be humanity's hope against the buggers—an alien race that has attacked Earth twice and threatens to wipe out the human population. Sent into space to attend Battle School at the age of six, Ender is subjected to years of brutal combat training games and psychological manipulation. At the age of eleven, he must face the enemy as the commander of Earth's army—but on which side of the battlefield does true evil lie?

Fruits Basket

By Natsuki Takaya, 1999–2007
This fun, lighthearted manga follows high schooler Tohru Honda, ever optimistic despite the personal tragedies she has experienced. Living alone in a tent after the death of her mother, Tohru unknowingly camps on land belonging to the Sohma family. When she is discovered by Yuki Sohma, a popular boy from her school, he and his cousin Shigure convince her to come and live with them in their home. Once there, she meets the volatile Kyo, another member of the Sohma clan. As she gets to know her new roommates, Tohru discovers a dark secret—all three of them are afflicted with a family curse that causes them to transform into animals from the Chinese zodiac when embraced by a member of the opposite sex.

Holiday in the sun

No, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, I've been on vacation!

First Big Chimp and I went to San Diego Comic-Con, where we attended lots of panels, including ones on writing, editing, Batman, Dexter, and Harry Potter. It was AMAZING! I also acquired way too many books, including a few signed ones, like Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon (who moderated a super cool panel on the young adult genre), and The Prometheus Project by Douglas Richards.

Another huge highlight was seeing Ray Bradbury speak about libraries, writing, and the importance of colonizing Mars:

And then there was the ultra cool Grant Morrison:

The next week, we left on a California road trip, which included LA, Yosemite, San Francisco (where I acquired even more reading material from City Lights Books), Monterey, Big Sur (where we revisited the Henry Miller Memorial Library), and Santa Barbara (Yeah UCSB Gauchos!).

By the end of the trip I had accumulated eight new novels and six new graphic novels, as well as a 1928 Underwood Portable typewriter (an awesome birthday gift from my best friend—thanks Audrey!). We had to check an extra bag:

In short, it was the best vacation ever.

Now, back to writing this book!

Geographical inspiration

When I was younger I was lucky enough to travel each summer to some of the most beautiful national parks in the western United States. I traveled by bus. With about fifty relatives. And my great-uncle Joe was the bus driver. But that's a story for another time. Anyway, clearly all of the amazing landscapes captured my imagination, because they keep popping up in my book:

 The geothermal features of Yellowstone National Park appear in the Silvermarsh Province in Abernwyth. 

The beautiful rock structures of Arches National Park appear as the Archlands in the northern desert province.

And Canyonlands National Park becomes home to an isolated clan of ninja-faeries.

So, what about you—does travel inspire you? Do you get your fictional settings from real places, or places you make up in your head, or both?

Water Magic

I've been writing this young adult fantasy novel for over a year now, and yesterday I hit 60,000 words, meaning I've only got about 30,000 words to go! Now, I realize that a year is a long time for only 60,000 words, but that includes several false starts, when I had 10,000 to 20,000 words down, only to realize that the point of view was all wrong. Or the protagonist needed to be older, or a different gender. My early attempts were pretty bad, to be honest. I knew the basic idea of the story, but not how I wanted to tell it. Now, I've got something that actually feels like a book! And that's pretty exciting.

The plot of Water Magic goes like this: Two years after her baby brother Jayson disappears, 15-year-old Violet Cantwell is haunted daily by thoughts of what may have happened to him. Then she and her brother Caden, along with two of their friends, discover the entrance to a faerie world in the basement of an abandoned house. When they pass into Abernwyth they meet Loper, a Guardian who has been protecting the portal, and Zilas, his teenage apprentice. The faeries take them to meet Floridyn the Mage, the most powerful sorceress in the province. It's Floridyn who divines that Jayson has been kidnapped by the mysterious sorcerer Ezekiel Stone. And what's more, the sorcerer has been stealing children from every province in Abernwyth. Now the travelers and the faeries must band together to rescue Jayson—and all of the other children—before it's too late.

There are a few subplots that include a mandrigal (someone who can talk to animals), a clan of canyon-dwelling ninjas, a wicked dragon breeder, and a proud desert king.

The reason it's called Water Magic is that there are many different types of magic that faeries can do—elemental magic, color magic, sound magic, etc.—but water magic is the most ancient and powerful (and, as you might have guessed, it's an important feature of the story).

I usually aim to write about 1,000 words a day. But my writing is flowing really well lately, so I've set myself a goal of reaching 70,000 words by next Tuesday, when we leave on our vacation.

What about you—what are you writing right now? Do you set yourself writing goals and stick to them, or play it by ear?

THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL by Anne Brontë

 

ISBN: 9781853264887 [UK]  

 

First can I just say that I love the Brontës. Probably Emily first, then Anne, and then Charlotte. It always amazes me that these three sisters were able to write such captivating stories, all without computers or typewriters or even electricity. Imagine drafting an entire 300 page novel with a pen. By candlelight. And then having to revise and edit. Wow.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is the first book I've read by Anne Brontë. I found her style to be much less reserved than that of her sister Charlotte, and somehow rougher than her sister Emily's. Anne Brontë's characters passionate, scandalous, rambunctious, violent... anything but boring. 

The novel is narrated by the elderly Gilbert Markham, who is relating by letter the events of his youth for the benefit of his friend and brother-in-law. The story follows young Gilbert as he meets and falls in love with Helen Graham, a mysterious widow who takes up residence with her young son in nearby Wildfell Hall, an isolated, run-down old mansion.

The second part of the novel is told through Helen's journal, which she gives Gilbert to read so that he will understand why she cannot be with him, even though she is in love with him. With the diary comes the shocking revelation that Helen is not all that she seems...

Honestly, this book, despite having been written 162 years ago, was a page-turner for me. I neglected the three other books I was reading at the time in order to learn more about Helen and her mysterious past. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is a must-read for anyone who loves dark Victorian novels or tales of mysterious fugitives.

I thought this was cool

 "And Daniel Boone Comes to Life on the Underwood Portable."

This was posted on Lines and Colors, an art blog I like, a couple weeks ago. It's a typewriter advertisement from 1923, painted by Norman Rockwell.

Happy Saturday!

Epic reading feat

I'm proud—and a little exhausted—to announce that after over a year and a half of reading aloud to each other, Big Chimp and I have today finished all 1,006 pages of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. Okay, to be honest it was mainly Big Chimp who did the reading, but he has the better accent for it.

All I can say is wow, what an epic story! What an amazing build-up and ending!

Glowing review to follow.

(Now if I could only figure out whether I am a Strangite or a Norrellite...)