Ooh . . . Books!

Yet Another Blogging Hiatus Sigh

noreply@blogger.com (Cara Powers) — Thu, 27 May 2010 20:20:00 +0000

I'm staying in a hotel this week and moving to Florida this weekend. I won't be blogging again until I get a good internet connection. Slow internet drives me crazy. I'll try to be back in two weeks. It depends on the cable and internet company.

Sorry.

Giveaway: Live a Life You Love by Susan Biali, M.D.

noreply@blogger.com (Cara Powers) — Mon, 24 May 2010 02:38:00 +0000

I rarely read memoirs, but when I was offered a book entitled Live a Live You Love by a woman who quit her Emergency Medicine residency to become a writer, you know why I wanted to read it. I wanted to hear her story. I wanted to see how she made it through. When I received the book in the mail and saw the subtitle, I thought, "Dammit, I don't read self-help!"

If Live A Life You Love were an honest memoir, it would have been interesting. Instead she glosses over her decision to leave medicine and makes her life after medicine seem easy and carefree.

She also offers some very classic self-help tripe. Raych from books i done read has already reviewed Live a Life You Love.

In the interested of keeping my book collection to a minimum and passing along books to people who might actually enjoy them, I'm giving away my pristine copy of Live a Life You Love. This book is so not the kind of book normally seen on my blog, so if you're on Twitter, tweet about this give-away.

Contest Rules:

1. Leave a way to contact you in the comments.
2. Tell me why you want the book.
3. Be in the US. (Sorry, I'm unemployed and trying to save money.
4. You have a week to enter.

FreeVerse: "Community Creatures" by Adam Rulli-Gibbs

noreply@blogger.com (Cara Powers) — Wed, 19 May 2010 04:01:00 +0000

I don't think any poem I post for FreeVerse will beat last week's. This week I searched teh internets for "fantasy poetry" and found the website of Adam Rulli-Gibbs. The site, Fantastic Poems, is devoted to his SF/F poetry. He says that he prefers funny and narrative poetry like I do. I thought the blogging community would especially enjoy this one.

Community Creatures
by Adam Rulli-Gibbs
A colony of bloggers secure in their topic
ranging in size from massive to microscopic.
The lesser ones surround and support the great
who set the direction for the others to debate.
A flock of forums grazing on knowledge
their shepherds guiding them to fresh foliage.
Free to chew the cud and relax within their walls
trusting the guardians to banish the jackals.
A hydra, a multi-headed oracle, it must be a wiki
tackling all problems from the simple to the tricky.
The multiple heads give it so much knowledge you see.
The only problem is... they do not always agree.
A mob of social bookmarkers, much like meerkats
take turns looking out and deciding what's good to peer at.
Hoping none of the sentinels is actually a pretender
directing them all according to their own agenda.
In the distance, a herd of social networkers
dashing all over the place. There's no room for shirkers.
Without any shepherds they all, every day,
have a role to play in keeping predators at bay.
©Adam Rulli-Gibbs 2007

Remember to only post permalinks in Mr. Linky!

Announcements, announcements, annou-ouncements!

noreply@blogger.com (Cara Powers) — Tue, 18 May 2010 03:40:00 +0000

The winners of the 2009 Nebula Awards were announced this weekend. Of the short-listed books, I've read three and reviewed two.

The nominees for best novel were The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, Boneshaker by Cherie Priest, The City & the City by China Miéville, The Love We Share Without Knowing by Christopher Barzak, Flesh and Fire by Laura Anne Gilman, and Finch by Jeff VanderMeer. From the book cover I chose from this post, I bet you can guess which book won.

Flesh and Fire is the first in a fantasy trilogy, and I'll definitely be reading it (hopefully pretty soon). I have read The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, Boneshaker by Cherie Priest, The City & the City by China Miéville—the three that were also short-listed for the Hugo Awards to be announced at AussieCon 4 September 2-6, 2010.

You can read my review of The Windup Girl and my review of The City & the City. Sorry that I didn't review Boneshaker. I will take this space to recommend it unequivocally even to those who aren't into steam punk. Boneshaker has alternate history that's well thought through. More importantly, Boneshaker is about a mother's love for her son and includes great backstory.

The Windup Girl is brilliant, but I found it to be the least enjoyable of the three. I had difficulty connecting to and caring about the characters. In a tweet conversation with @paolobacigalupi, he told me that his readers seem split down the middle—about half love the characters while the other half have a similar reaction to mine.

I do plan to read the other three novels on the Hugo Awards short list—Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America by Robert Charles Wilson, Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente, and Wake by Robert J. Sawyer (even though I'm definitely not a Robert J. Sawyer fan)—and reviewing them. Thanks be to God that I have until September. My reading and reviewing have definitely slowed down.

I most recently read The Mortal Instruments trilogy by Cassandra Clare. I've been putting off the review for almost a week now, but hopefully I'll get it up soon.

So what have I been doing that's been keeping me from reading?

I'm moving to Florida soon and have been trying to tie up my life in Northern Virginia. I've also had bursts of creative energy lately. Unfortunately, those bursts of creativity haven't added any words to my manuscript. Instead, I've designed a built in banquet and a built in desk for my mother's new kitchen/family room, I made myself a rosary (they're super in style right now) and made a beaded bracelet for my best friend (she finishes her bachelor's degree at the end of the month). Want to see pictures of my latest jewelry creations? Of course you do. Really.

The best thing about making your own jewelry is that it is more of an expression of your personality than anything you can buy in a store. Note the lack of crucifix and saint on my new rosary.

FreeVerse: "Rebranding" by Robert Borski

noreply@blogger.com (Cara Powers) — Wed, 12 May 2010 04:01:00 +0000

This poem may disturb you. What may disturb you more is that I think it's chuckle-funny. From 12 April 2010 edition of the fabulous online literary magazine Strange Horizons, I give you Robert Borski's "Rebranding".

Come now, don't be squeamish—
even if it is your first time.

Perhaps a lesson from the food
industry will help.

Back in the day—yes, I know
the sun is now accursed

and remains forever off-limits—
but long before

your taste buds, along with the rest
of you, died off,

restaurateurs leaned how much
more likely an item

was to sell if its pedestrian or street
name was replaced by

something more exotic or palatable
sounding: hence sweet-

breads, escargot, and mountain
oysters; phoenix

talons (the braised feet of ducks)
and Chilean sea bass

(the less than toothsome Patagonian
toothfish); even kiwi fruit

(née the Chinese gooseberry).

All sound delicious, do they not?
More than likely, as

gourmet items, they'll also put a huge
dent in your wallet.

So why not do the same with tonight's
repast? Believe me,

the aversion to calling what now forms
the only foodstuff in our diet

anything other than it is will pass soon
enough, whether it's

two-legged steak, neck tartare,
metropolitan lamb

served au jus, or simply Swift's Veal.
Of course, unlike

your five star establishment, all of these
menu items must also

be caught and dragged down first, but
it's not like between dusk

and dawn, we post-human walkabouts,
we necro-gourmands,

we Homo semimortui, have anything
better to do.

If you haven't read Jonathan Swift's "Modest Proposal," or if you don't think it's funny, you probably won't have appreciated this poem either. Maybe you'll enjoy some of the poems in the Mr. Linky.

Remember to only post permalinks into Mr. Linky!

Review: The City and the City by China Meiville

noreply@blogger.com (Cara Powers) — Wed, 12 May 2010 03:37:00 +0000

Oh blogging, how I love thee! Without the I would never have "discovered" China Miéville.

Seriously, I've found that blogging requires me to keep up with literary award annually and not just when I'm looking for something to read. It leads me to books I probably wouldn't have picked out at a bookstore otherwise.

Recently, China Miéville won his third Arthur C. Clarke Award for The City and the City, a book that has also made this year's Nebula and Hugo Award short lists. All of this recognition is deserved, I believe, because The City and the City is unique, genre-bending, and genre-defying. It can be read as modern "Literary" fiction and as a crime/thriller.

The City and the City opens when Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Besźel Extreme Crime Squad begins to investigate the murder of an unidentified young woman, a Fulana. The case becomes more complicated when Borlú discovers the woman is from Ul Qoma.

Ul Qoma and Besźel are the city and the city. They take up the same topographic space but are divided into two distinct cities with two distinct languages, cultures, and governments. Citizens of the two cities are trained from birth to unsee and unhear things and people belonging to the other city.

No one knows how the split (or maybe the merge) happened, but illegal crossing over between jurisdictions is policed by and entity know as "Breach" which exists between the cities. Something else may exist between the cities, but that's part of the mystery.

The City and the City is crime noir with stock characters, but having stock characters serve a purpose. First, they place the brilliant world-building in the forefront of the reader's mind. They also underscore the central idea of the novel—that people can become invisible to one another, that people "unsee" what they don't want to see.

Some controversy exists over whether The City and the City is really science fiction, because it contains no "hard" science. There are no aliens, no spaceships, no speculation on the macroscopic effects of quantum theory. Instead, Miéville takes a sociological phenomenon and takes it to the extreme; he does what the best science fiction writers do.

We are all familiar with the way we unsee the homeless. We're appalled by the way so many German and Polish citizens were willfully blind to the horrors of the Holocaust. We drive by traffic accidents all the time while pushing them to the back of our minds so they won't impact our thoughts.

Imagine that rubber-necking at an accident could actually be punishable by the death. Imagine living in a city with two populations trained to not see each other. Imagine the house next to yours exists in another city and you can't permit yourself to see it. Imagine the bureaucracy of that city, the lives of its people, the folklore that could be spawned. That's what China Miéville has done.

Was reading this book worth my time?
Absolutely. It's giving Cherie Priest's Boneshaker a run for my theoretical Hugo vote. I can't wait to read Miéville's other books, especially Perdido Street Station. I also think that most people will be able to appreciate The City and the City.

FreeVerse: The Poem That Won Under Heaven

noreply@blogger.com (Cara Powers) — Wed, 05 May 2010 04:01:00 +0000

I am so glad I conned Guy Gavriel Kay's assistant Alex Lynch into judging the poetry contest for my ARC of GGK's Under Heaven. I was overwhelmed with all the good poetry. I also might not have stuck to my criteria as well as Alec did. Here's what he had to say about the contest and the winning poem:

First and foremost, I would like to thank Cara for inviting me to judge her giveaway contest for an ARC of Guy Kay’s Under Heaven, and to all of you for generously sharing your work. As Cara pointed out when she announced the challenge, a poetry contest is quite fitting, given the place poetry has in many of Guy Kay’s books, and especially so in Under Heaven.

Secondly, I would like to complain (cheerily) to Cara for inviting me to judge and to all of you for sharing your work, as what initially promised to be a fun and simple contest became increasingly difficult with each clever and artistic submission. I am going to request on the behalf of any future judges that you all not be so wonderfully proficient. So no, not a fun and simple contest at all (well, OK, it was still fun!).

Happily, Cara set down some rules that helped me find my way through the process. Entries were to be on the short side, evoke an emotion and, finally, suggest an image.
So without further delay, your winner is . . .

. . . Kelly, for her haiku:

Each one leaves the nest
Taking with them as they fly
A piece of my heart

For one, it certainly meets the size requirement of the contest. As you know, with poetry less is often more, and Kelly uses these three short lines to good advantage.

There were perhaps other entries with more vivid images, but this one nevertheless sets up a scene with the first two lines. And the “leaves the nest”, while probably evoking different things for each reader, already has a certain emotional investment. What clinches it is the twist, or punch, achieved by the third line, where that initial emotion is fully realized, and in an unexpected way.

I’ll admit Kelly perhaps gave herself an unintended advantage as well. There’s a conversation in Under Heaven where some soldiers are stopped from killing a swan, as the people of that land believe that these birds carry the souls of the dead to the next world. Kelly’s image of birds carrying away “a piece of my heart” neatly echoed this passage of the book for me.

Thanks once more to you all for inviting to your contest.

Alec Lynch

When Kelly sent me her poem, she mentioned that she was working on a few for Mother's Day this coming Sunday. I think that's a fabulous idea. She will at some point post her final Mother's Day poem in today's FreeVerse Mr. Linky. Keep a look out!

Remember to only post permalinks into Mr. Linky!

Reader Opinion Poll: Should I Keep Opening Passages

noreply@blogger.com (Cara Powers) — Mon, 03 May 2010 18:10:00 +0000

As many of you know, "Opening Passages" is my version of the "Friday Firsts" meme. I give you the first few paragraphs of a free online short story, my short analysis (which, of course, you don't have to read), and give you a link to the rest of the story.

But thanks to the wonders of Google Analytics, Webmaster Tools, and Site Meter, that almost nobody follows the link to read the short stories. Now, on think I don't know is if anyone who subscribes to my RSS feed is following the links.

So, I need to know if "Opening Passages" is something you enjoy. Do you click on the links in your feed aggregater? In short, I need to know if you think I should keep posting "Opening Passages" every Friday.

Please, click over to the blog and fill out the poll at the top of my right sidebar. Leave any comments you have in the comments in this post. I'd like to know if I've been posting a feature nobody enjoys. I'd like to know how I can use Fridays better.

Thank you,
Cara

Friday Firsts: "The Button Bin" by Mike Allen

noreply@blogger.com (Cara Powers) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 13:28:00 +0000

Thanks to Mike Allen, the editor of the Clockwork Phoenix anthologies from when last week's award-nominated short-story came, I once again was saved from trolling teh internets for a Friday short story for you. He pointed me to his Nebula-nominated short story online at TRANSCRIPTASE (points if you know what that word means).

The Short Story: "The Button Bin"
The Author: Mike Allen
The First Paragraph(s):

You know he’s the one who made your beloved niece disappear.

He’s come out of his shop now, fussing with gloves that look expensive, a match to his long glossy overcoat. Glare from the streetlight glints on his bare scalp. Above that light, impotent clouds wall away the moon, render the sky a blank carbon sheet.

My Response:

I'm stopping there because I'm afraid to give too much away.

The implicit promise: This short story promises to be a noir, crime noir.

Is there a character to focus on? Two in fact. We have the guy who killed the niece and the guy who appears to be stalking him or lying in wait.

Is there a conflict? Oh yeah! I'd say our narrator is out for revenge?

Specificity: I think starting off the first sentence with "you" whether the narrator is talking to the reader or talking to himself definitely sets the story apart. Plus, that second paragraph is chock full of mood-setting detail. We get both a sense of who the shop owner is and who the narrator is (by the details he chooses to focus on). Am I being a bigot by assuming the narrator is male? I think I'm basing that assumption on the fact that the author is male.

Well, to find out, you'll just have to go on over to read "The Button Bin" at TRANSCRIPTASE. "It's worth it," I say in a taunting tone. (Really must figure out how to write in a taunting tone, but oh well.)

Giveaway | Admit One: My Life in Film by Emmett James

noreply@blogger.com (Cara Powers) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 11:33:00 +0000

Many of you might know that I recently donated over 700 books in my library to charity. I'm no longer keeping every book I read. After reading my review of Emmett James's Admit One: My Life in Film, if you want to read it, just say so in the comments. I'll choose a winner randomly. Sorry, I'm broke, so contest is only open to residents of the US.

Oh, leave me a way to contact you in the comments, too.

Review | Admit One: My Life in Film by Emmett James

noreply@blogger.com (Cara Powers) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 08:30:00 +0000

I agreed to review this book thinking it would be about one man's struggle to live his dream. I hoped to be inspired. I was only inspired to write the most snarky, blatantly negative review I've ever written and ever hope to write: "An Open Letter to Emmett James"

Dear Emmett James,

From the prologue, nay from the introduction, nay from the way you signed my review copy of your memoir, Admit One: My Life in Film, you have managed to offend my sensibilities. I'm writing this review as I read just so I don't forget to chronicle any of your offenses for my audience (you know, your intended audience?).

First, I've never heard of you despite the fact that you had a role in Titanic and a recurring role on America's oldest running soap opera. (Given the movie snobbery that just oozes off the pages of the introduction and prologue of your book, should you really be so proud of your accomplishments? More on that later.) Again, I've never heard of you, and you only vaguely look familiar in pictures. These facts make me think the way you signed my book was just a little narcissistic?

Check out the way his signature takes up half a page. That's not the worst. Check out the way he underlined "my life" in the subtitle. Is that not just a little weird? Ok, it's a memoir. I get that it's your life. You also have the right to write it any way you want, but you didn't get off to a very good start.

First in the introduction, while I appreciate your reference to Aristotle's Poetics and six dramatic situations, did you really have to insult Bruce Willis and his movies? I like Bruce Willis. A lot of people do. I like action flicks (and FYI, not every Bruce Willis movie is an action flick).

Then you really put your foot in it by displaying your movie snobbery in your "Prologue: An Open Letter to Steven Seagal." I'm sure he's not bothered. His house is probably much, much larger than yours. However, when you write that "watching [Steven Seagal films] is just disheartening and quite unnecessary, like pissing down your own leg," you can expect backlash.

When you then write that "movies are about fantasy" and in the same paragraph write

There's an unwritten rule in Hollywood that you obviously haven't been told about, Mr. Seagal . . . (sic) movies should never be as mind numbingly dull as the day-to-day of real life. We can watch that sad reel anytime we want,

you contradict yourself and display your own ignorance. Steven Seagal movies are fantasy. They in no way resemble the day-to-day of real life. They may be mind numbing, but as action flicks, they are, by definition, not dull.

You do list many great films in your prologue. However, your display of film snobbery gets my anti-book snobbery hackles up. Saying there is no place in film for Steven Seagal is like saying there's no place in literature for romance novels or thrillers or genre fiction. It's like saying that we should only read "Literature" and watch art films. (Reminder: Don't you make a living on soaps and such drivel as Titanic? Oh yes, Titanic is drivel, despite its many Academy Award nominations and its ability to make me cry.)

The idea to tell your life story in chapters around a movie that affected you at the time is really quite brilliant. It's funny that you actually slept through the first one, The Jungle Book. My father took my mother to see that movie on their first date. I actually started to like you (just a little) in that chapter.

Then came Grease. You write about your frequent forty-minute "jaunts" into Croyden to go to the movies.

The area would gain some notoriety later in my life, entering England's consciousness by coining the slang term Croydon Facelift. This derogatory phrase referred to the the working class hairstyle each girl in the area proudly displayed. The bleached ponytails were pulled back so tightly that their wearers' skin became taut, therefore ultimately saving Croydon women a bundle on cosmetic surgery. It was that type of town, inhabited by those types of people, living that type of crap life.

Was that last sentence really necessary? You really are playing into all of the worst stereotypes of "Hollywood people."

Ah, in the chapter centered around The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (the version starring John Phillip Law) you become likable again. The writing in this chapter is aggressive in its overuse of figurative language, but you're likable. Wait. Isn't The Golden Voyage of Sinbad a B-movie and an action-adventure B-movie at that?

Oh God. In Chapter 4, the Star Wars chapter, you used capital letters for emphasis. YOU. ARE. NOT. A. WRITER.

Finally, after chapters of shallow and saccharine childhood reminiscences, you finally start writing about beginning your acting career. Chapter 12 has one hell of an anecdote. It shows you were an arrogant prick from the get go, but it is almost laugh-out-loud funny. It's a definite improvement. If you'd been in America, he'd have put a restraining order out on you. Is this incident why you changed your name from Emmett Humphries?

Oh, in Chapter 13 you mention Clint Eastwood without criticizing him for playing the exact same character in every movie he was ever in. Now, I don't see anything wrong with making a career that way, but you? I'm surprised.

And in Chapter 14, you get snotty again. First you get fake work IDs (not the snotty part), then you insult film extras. Lovely. Just lovely.

Extra work is not a healthy thing for any primate to do by any stretch of the imagination, and rest assured there are many monkeys making a career in it. Actors who haven't yet made it, or rather probably wouldn't ever make it in the film world congregate in droves to do extra work. . . . I'm pretty sure if Amnesty International was made aware of the extra problem they would drop their programs around the world and focus on this mess. It really was that bad.

Now Emmett, aren't you being just a little melodramatic here? Aren't there other ways to be funny without invoking Amnesty International? Anyway, the subsequent story is quite funny enough and gets your point across. You humiliate yourself without putting anyone else down. That laugh-inducing technique is really much more endearing.

Thanks for the party crashing tips in Chapter 15. Now if I could ever get down to a size 4, or at least a small size 6 again. Wait. You're British. Have you been in the Colonies long enough to learn women's dress sizes? Oh God! I have 70 more pages of you to read. I really don't know if I can power through.

And in Chapter 18, you insult the wait staff. No, that was never an option for you. You could never take the kind of shite that waiters have to take. It is true that those of us who try to make our way in the industry are often exploited, but then I've never had to get naked for anyone. Yes, just go on insulting people. Forget that it's honest work, work that needs to be done. No, instead you became a photo re-toucher or as you call it "a computer forger," and you show that you have no frakking morals. It really is quite a lovely chapter.

You've devoted both Chapters 20 and 21 to your role as First Steward in James Cameron's Titanic. Clearly, this is the highlight of your life thus far. I'm happy that Cameron kept you on as an extra for a while after you shot your one scene. Hmmm. Being an extra on the set of Titanic wasn't so bad, was it?

Okay, the book ends with another insult to Steven Seagal after an ode to the role of film in society. Yawn. Mr. James, I don't care if your book was called the "Best Book of the Year" by USA Book News. That call is yet another example of how mainstream literary critics can't be trusted.

You're memoir is not cohesive. Should you care to write another one, I have some books on the art of memoir you could borrow. Believe me when I say that memoir is an art. First, you need a voice. More importantly, you need a voice that will cause your readers to like you, even if you are in life an arrogant and despicable person. It can be done. It's been done. You did not do it.

Second, you need to have something to say. You may, but what you said wasn't focused. To rephrase, if you had a point, you didn't stay on it. I believe you were trying to get across the magic of film and how it's affected your life. If I'm right, your memoir is about three revisions short of finished. It also lacks depth and substance. You gloss over everything that could make this book a good memoir—the kind of memoir that lets readers know what its like to be another person.

I'd apologize for the blatantly negative review, but as they say, "Any publicity is good publicity."

Sincerely,
Cara Powers

Was reading this book worth my time?
No, it really wasn't, unless you found this review entertaining, in which case it was. I guess. This piece is also the closest thing to creative writing I've done in quite sometime. I'm wondering about the backlash. This could get really interesting.

FreeVerse: Poetry Contest for GGK's Under Heaven

noreply@blogger.com (Cara Powers) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 04:01:00 +0000

Remember that April is National Poetry Month and check out the blog tour stops Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit has arranged. Today, I happen to be the tour stop. A lot of things have happened since a told Serena I'd be a tour stop. At the time I'd had nothing planned at all. Then I thought I'd talk about genre poetry again after I found an award dedicated to spec fic poetry. Then I posted my review of Under Heaven reviewed Guy Gavriel Kay's newest novel, Under Heaven.

Guy Gavriel Kay (hereafter referred to as GGK) is actually an accomplished poet. He's published a book of poetry called Beyond This Dark House. Poetry also features heavily in all of his novels, and GGK writes I it all. Because the world in Under Heaven is inspired by 8th century Tang Dynasty China where one had to be a poet just to pass the civil service examinations, GGK included a lot of Tang-style poetry in the novel. Here's the first example (not counting the opening quotation from Li Shimin, Tang Emperor Taizong):

Before my bed the light is so bright
it looks like a layer of frost.
Lifting my head I gaze at the moon,
lying back down I think of home.

I think it's only appropriate to hold a poetry contest for my ARC of Under Heaven for FreeVerse today. Even if you don't want the ARC, you should still compete. Alec Lynch, one of GGK's assistants has agreed to judge the contest, and the winner will be the highlighted poem for next week's FreeVerse. (We meet here every Wednesday, folks.)

While I may not be judging this contest, I am using my personal preferences to set the rules. Long-time readers know that I have poetry ADD, so no entries can be over sonnet-length. All forms (or non-forms) will be accepted. All poems must evoke a strong image and emotion. The strength of the image is utmost. The imagist leanings of Chinese and Japanese poetry greatly influenced modernist poets.

Think classic haiku. Think William Carlos Williams, Ezra Pound, Amy Lowell.

In a Station of the Metro

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.
Ezra Pound

The Taxi
When I go away from you
The world beats dead
Like a slackened drum.
I call out for you against the jutted stars
And shout into the ridges of the wind.
Streets coming fast,
One after the other,
Wedge you away from me,
And the lamps of the city prick my eyes
So that I can no longer see your face.
Why should I leave you,
To wound myself upon the sharp edges of the night?
Amy Lowell

Remember that the image should also bring an emotion. Entries will be accepted until 12:01 am on Saturday, May 1st (the end of National Poetry Month). They can be emailed to me at oohbooks@gmail.com or left in the comments thread of this post along with a twitter handle or email address where you can be reached. If you blog, you can also leave a permalink to your entry in the Mr. Linky below; just note in your title that it's a contest entry.

Now. One last thing. Here's the poem I'd enter for this contest (it also happens to be one variation of the only good poem I've ever written):

A single crag juts

above turbulent waters.

I cling to that rock.

Remember to only post permalinks into Mr. Linky!

Review: Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay

noreply@blogger.com (Cara Powers) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 21:08:00 +0000

I've been a fan of Guy Gavriel Kay (hereafter referred to as GGK) since I read his first book in college. I like some of his books better than others, but I've read them all and am definitely a fan. Sometimes being a fan pays off. I don't know whether it was through Aarti at BOOKLUST or the lovely Mad Hatter, but somehow I got the email address of GGK's publicist and an ARC of Under Heaven, GGK's latest historically-inspired fantasy novel.

I think people have been especially excited about Under Heaven because it's inspired by Chinese history, specifically the 8th-century Tang Dynasty, as opposed to the history with which most people in Western countries are more familiar. A large proportion of fantasy readers are also interested in Anime, Manga, ninjas, samurai, and Asian cultures in general. I know I've done my share of reading on Chinese and Japanese art and poetry, politics and philosophy, and, of course, military. I've even read a couple books on Genghis Khan.

I don't think, however, that GGK was "reading the market" when he was researching and writing Under Heaven. I think he was just looking for new inspiration and ancient China had all the things he loves—poetry, political intrigue, chaos and cultural upheaval, men and women fighting against what the world has given them. Ripe stuff, that.

In Under Heaven, GGK goes back to his Fionavar Tapestry roots in a more obvious way that he did in even Ysabel. He gives a definite sense of warp and weft, focusing on the nodes where people's lives intersect, where small decisions are made that end up having far-flung consequences. GGK then summarizes entire battles, troop movements, the end of the war (of course there's a war). This type of focus along with the poetry and the lyrical writing make the book evocative of a watercolor painting or, perhaps more aptly, a faded Chinese silk tapestry.

He also shift view points, writing in present tense when writing from a woman's point-of-view (perhaps to highlight their increased perception of the transitory nature of life), and writing in past tense when writing from a man's or a historian's point-of-view. Yes, GGK drops himself in as a historian in multiple places in the novel and in the epilogue providing direct commentary in a way he he never has in any of his previous novels.

So now that I've written this review bass ackwards, let me fill you in on the setting and the characters. The book begins with Shen Tai, a man with an unusual personal history, burying the bones of the dead by Kuala Nor while mourning his father, General Shen Gao, once Left Side Commander of the Pacified West. "The West" is actually the Empire of Tagur. It's not actually pacified; it's just that too many men on both sides have died. Tai is there because toward the end of his father's life he expressed sorrow and grief over the battles fought by Kuala Nor.

Because of Tai's highly unconventional mourning period, he's earned the respect of people in Tagur and his native Kitai (not-China). The White Jade Princess, a princess of Kitai married to the emperor of Tagur as part of the peace treaty, has given Tai 250 Sardian horses. (Sardia corresponds to somewhere in Eastern Europe.) Given that the heads of the horses of the steppes are only about five feet tall to the shoulder and that the much larger Sardian horses don't survive the trip across the desert to Kitai, 250 Sardian horses is a fortune, a fortune someone would kill for.

Except someone ordered Tai killed even before Tai found out about the horses. It's a good thing that Tai's unusual life has made him some unusual friends, because he has to return to the capitol of Kitai to find out why someone would want him dead before he had the horses. He also has to keep himself alive until he can get rid of the horses. Actually, Tai's friends and family are more interesting than he is. His sister gets her own adventure. His older brother is just the kind of Mandarin you love to hate. Some ghosts and a spirit man from the steppes get involved. So do a bunch of Kanlin warriors, female Kanlin warriors.

Women are almost more important in this story than men are. They are the ones who are really in the most peril, whose choices matter most, yet who have the fewest choices. The female characters in Under Heaven are fabulous. The love triangle are interesting and the ending is surprising while still being organic.

FYI: The title "Under Heaven" comes from the fact that the rulers of the Kitai Empire rule under the Mandate of Heaven.

Was reading this book worth my time?

GGK books, even the lesser ones, always prove to be worth my time. While Under Heaven won't replace The Lions of Al-Rassan, Tigana, or The Sarantine Mosaic in my heart, Under Heaven definitely beats Ysabel and The Last Light of the Sun. Thanks to some kind of error, I now have a pre-release hardcover in addition to my ARC, so I'll be giving away my ARC on Wednesday, April 28th in conjunction with FreeVerse. Should you not be able to wait, Under Heaven is being released in the US this week—Tuesday, April 27th to be more specific.

Friday Firsts: "each thing I show you is a piece of my death"

noreply@blogger.com (Cara Powers) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 21:54:00 +0000

The Short Story: "each thing I show you is a piece of my death"
from Clockwork Pheonix 2 edited by Mike Allen
The Authors: Gemma Files and Stephen J. Barringer
The First Paragraph(s):

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

— The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark,

William Shakespeare.

From a journal found in a New Jersey storage unit, entry date unknown:

Somewhere, out beyond the too-often-unmapped intersection of known and forgotten, there’s a hole through which the dead crawl back up to this world: A crack, a crevasse, a deep, dark cave. It splits the earth’s crust like a canker, sore lips thrust wide to divulge some even sorer mouth beneath—tongueless, toothless, depthless.
   The hole gapes, always open. It has no proper sense of proportion. It is rude and rough, rank and raw. When it breathes out it exhales nothing but poison, pure decay, so awful that people can smell it for miles around, even in their dreams.
   Especially there.
   Through this hole, the dead come out face-first and down, crawling like worms. They grind their mouths into cold dirt, forcing a lifetime’s unsaid words back inside again. As though the one thing their long, arduous journey home has taught them is that they have nothing left worth saying, after all.
   Because the dead come up naked, they are always cold. Because they come up empty, they are always hungry. Because they come up lost, they are always angry. Because they come up blind, eyes shut tight against the light that hurts them so, they are difficult to see, unless sought by those who—for one reason, or another—already have a fairly good idea where to start looking.
   To do so is a mistake, though, always—no matter “good” our reasons, or intentions. It never leads to anything worth having. The dead are not meant to be seen or found, spoken with, or for. The dead are meant to be buried and forgotten, and everybody knows it—or should, if they think about it for more than a minute. If they’re not some sort of Holy Fool marked from birth for sacrifice for the greater good of all around them, fore-doomed to grease entropy’s wheels with their happy, clueless hearts’ blood.
   Everybody should, so everybody does, though nobody ever talks about it. Nobody. Everybody. Everybody . . .
   . . . but them.
   (The dead)

My Response:

As always, my response is guided by short-story guru Nancy Kress. To check out her credentials, just check out the Hugo and Nebula award winners in the short story category. She dominates.

The implicit promise: This short story promises to be a horror story.

Is there a character to focus on? No.

Is there a conflict? Um . . . maybe? Is someone going to confront ghosts? I don't really know?

Specificity: Are there details to set the opening apart from all the thousands of other short stories out there? I'd say the epigram and the style, the fact that this is supposedly a journal entry from the dead is what sets it apart.

All in all, I'd say that Gemma Files and Stephen J. Barringer thumbed their noses at most short story writing guidelines. The did, however, produce a successful short story. "each thing I show you is a piece of my death" has been nominated for the 2009 Shirley Jackson Awards. Shirley Jackson wrote that famous short story "The Lottery." I'm sure you all must have read it in school. If you haven't, you really must. (I left a link in the title.)

The Shirley Jackson Awards are awarded for "outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror and the dark fantastic." They were first awarded in 2008. So, if you like psychological suspense, horror and the dark fantastic, check out "each thing I show you is a piece of my death."

FreeVerse: Compare and Contrast Blake's Cradle Songs

noreply@blogger.com (Cara Powers) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 04:01:00 +0000

Remember that April is National Poetry Month and check out the blog tour stops Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit has arranged.

Last week I posted "A Cradle Song" from William Blake's Rosetti Manuscript. This week I'm posting the versions from both Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience for comparison to one another. Thanks to @jasonpgignac, who is married to @pookaslaugh (Amanda Gignac of The Zen Leaf), I know where to find all the poems in both volumes of poetry free online. Here are the links: Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience.

Here's what Jason had to say about last week's post:

I first experienced Blake on my own (he doesn't get read much in America in High School, etc, which is a shame) and therefore by reading the entire book of Innocence and Experience of a piece. As such, it always feels weird to me to read one of his poems in isolation. Innocence and Experience - more than most books of poetry I've read feels very integrative (all the poems, after all, refer to each other, and have very codependent structure). So this poem, for instance, I wouldn't really look twice at on it's own, but as part of a larger book, I loved it (Innocence and Experience is one of my favorite books of poetry ever). More generally, Blake is very easy to 'quote into a corner' - if I wanted to convince someone that he just wrote cutesy doggerel it would be very easy to do so, for instance. But, this, again, speaks to an underlying complexity to me: his poetry is meant to be read as a system. Do you think?

Personally, I can't answer his question, not having read all of Blake's poetry. I can, however, tell you a little about what Blake was thinking and feeling when he was writing these collections. According to Russell Noyes, a Professor of English at Indiana University and the editor of English Romantic Poetry and Prose, William Blake had "visions" throughout his life. To Blake, innocence was childhood, Heaven, the state of Grace, but experience was Hell. Experience came when one was faced with the evils of society that crushed the spirit. Songs of Experience was Blake's protest against injustice.

"A Cradle Song"
(Songs of Innocence)

Sweet dreams, form a shade
O'er my lovely infant's head!
Sweet dreams of pleasant streams
By happy, silent, moony beams!

Sweet Sleep, with soft down
Weave thy brows an infant crown!
Sweet Sleep, angel mild,
Hover o'er my happy child!

Sweet smiles, in the night
Hover over my delight!
Sweet smiles, mother's smiles,
All the livelong night beguiles.

Sweet moans, dovelike sighs,
Chase not slumber from thy eyes!
Sweet moans, sweeter smiles,
All the dovelike moans beguiles.

Sleep, sleep, happy child!
All creation slept and smiled.
Sleep, sleep, happy sleep,
While o'er thee thy mother weep.

Sweet babe, in thy face
Holy image I can trace;
Sweet babe, once like thee
Thy Maker lay, and wept for me:

Wept for me, for thee, for all,
When He was an infant small.
Thou His image ever see,
Heavenly face that smiles on thee!

Smiles on thee, on me, on all,
Who became an infant small;
Infant smiles are His own smiles;
Heaven and earth to peace beguiles.

Now, that's a poem that one could sing over a child and expresses the idea that children are born innocents. Contrast it to the version from Songs of Experience.

"A Cradle Song"

(Songs of Experience)

Sleep, sleep, beauty bright,
Dreaming in the joys of night;
Sleep, sleep; in thy sleep
Little sorrows sit and weep.

Sweet babe, in thy face
Soft desires I can trace,
Secret joys and secret smiles,
Little pretty infant wiles.

As thy softest limbs I feel,
Smiles as of the morning steal
O'er thy cheek, and o'er thy breast
Where thy little heart doth rest.

O the cunning wiles that creep
In thy little heart asleep!
When thy little heart doth wake,
Then the dreadful light shall break.

Even this version from Songs of Experience isn't as dark as the version from the Rosetti Manuscript. Blake seems to be mourning this child's loss of innocence. Thoughts?

Remember to only post permalinks into Mr. Linky!

Review: Changeless by Gail Carriger

noreply@blogger.com (Cara Powers) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 13:00:00 +0000

I never formally reviewed Soulless, the first in Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate Series. I did, however, post the first two scenes and call them absolutely fabulous. Soulless is a genre mash-up of comedy, paranormal romance, mystery, and steam-punk. It's a blast with fabulous and colorful characters. If you haven't read it, stop reading this post (it necessarily contains spoilers of Soulless) and go read Soulless now.

First, the cover. The cover model on Changeless is a bit better-endowed than the one on Soulless making the Alexia on the cover better match the Alexia in the book. She's still not the brick house she should be, but she does look somewhat Italian. The paleness of her complexion can be forgiven since Alexia has been keeping nighttime hours for the last three months.

Changeless opens with Alexia feigning sleep while her werewolf husband, Lord Maccon, is already bellowing before sundown. The opening is even funner than the one in Soulless and that opening is awfully hard to top. Reading Alexia's running commentary as her husband bellows is great. Alexia and Lord Maccon's relationship is fabulously written—not in an "oh so romantic" way but in an "oh so real" way. Carriger writes what happens after the couple in the romance novel gets together.

The title "Changeless" comes from the mystery Alexia has to solve. Something has caused all the vampires and werewolves to become human for a time and all the ghosts to disappear permanently. Alexia initially thinks "weapon." The rest of the Shadow Counsel initially thinks "Alexia." The plot and the action are written much more tightly than those in Soulless.

When I read Blameless, I initially thought that it wasn't as funny as Soulless, but I wasn't in a very good mood. Now that I'm re-reading passages for this review, I'm thinking that reaction was my mood and not the writing. Ivy Hisselpenny and Alexia's obnoxious sister, Felicity, manage to insinuate themselves into the investigation while remaining completely oblivious and providing comic relief. Lord Akeldama and Biffy have become two of my favorite characters—a fact that isn't surprising considering that Lord Akeldama is one of Gail Carriger's.

We are also introduced to some fabulous new characters. There's a new Alpha female and a female inventor who wears men's clothing with considerable aplomb. Alexia meets her husband's gamma wolf. I just don't know what to say about him except "not my type" and "Oh, Professor Lyall."

A few mysteries are cleared up. We learn why Lord Maccon left his Scottish pack and what that octopus is all about. A new mystery develops with heart-wrenching consequences that make me glad Orbit has Carriger on a six-month schedule. (Blameless is due out in September 2010.) The main mystery is well-paced and we figure it out only just before Alexia does. A twist is foreshadowed. The twist after that twist is the heart-wrenching mystery. I did not see it coming at all, but it explains the title of the next book.

Was reading this book worth my time?

It was completely and absolutely worth my time. I plan on buying and reading every novel Gail Carriger writes. I probably won't be reviewing them anymore, though. I'm afraid I might be becoming too much of a fan girl. We'll just have to see.

I had a Twitter conversation with Gail Monday to ask, "Why octopi?"

She responded, "Why not octopi, in the end?"

She had a good point, but I had to ask, "Seriously, is that just the first thing that popped into your head? Was there brainstorming involved?"

"Oh no, I've always been a big fan. Octopodes are so very smart, cute, well-armed and tasty. Everything you want in a creature," she responded.

Good point, Gail. Yet another good point.

How I Spent My Saturday (I hope it's not too boring.)

noreply@blogger.com (Cara Powers) — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 03:59:00 +0000

Tonight I applied to get a job at Barnes & Noble. Yes, I know it's not a bartending gig, but quite frankly, I'm fed up with looking for a second gig in the DC area. Now, my boss at Cosi has made it impossible. (Tip: Never give a bar more than two weeks notice.) He took the senior bartender off the bar to make him a manager and hired three new bartenders. In any other bar, I would now get his shifts, the busiest shifts, as I am now the most senior bartender.

But no, my manager wants to make things "fair" by rotating the four of us through all seven days. I complained that this would make it impossible for me to get a second job. Today he agreed to work with me around whatever second job I could get. That won't be a bar job. Hopefully, B&N will have me back even though I'm moving to Florida at the end of May. They schedule two weeks in advance so I can give the manager at Cosi plenty of notice.

But that was tonight. Earlier today I went into DC to see Carol at Bang Salon on U Street. My hair is now the shortest it's ever been. Without any make-up and in this particular picture, I look a little butch, but it's really cute in real life, especially with my new blue eye shadow. Oh yeah, I spent way too much money today.

After my haircut, I spent some time working on The Body Language Project, which is what this post is really about. I found a new book. Remember when I wrote about The Definitive Book of Body Language by Allan and Barbara Pease? I announced the beginning of The Body Language Project with a week of smiling at everyone. (It didn't go so well.) I also complained that while the book provided a lot of information, it didn't really tell me what I should do with it.

Fortunately, I then stumbled upon Janine Driver's You Say More Than You Think. The unfortunate subtitle is a little misleading. While Driver does give a seven-day program, it's more about becoming comfortable in interpersonal encounters, feeling more confident, and making the people around you feel more comfortable (or put them in their place if they need it). I'm taking much longer than seven days. The chapter titles are funny.

ONE The New Body Language: What I'll Tell You That Other Experts Won't
FOUR Day 3: Work Your Naughty Bits and Other Lower Extremities
FIVE Day 4: Move to the Right Side

This afternoon, I took advantage of the National Gallery of Art to do an exercise from Day 1: Walk in Their Shoes. (I've does some of the exercises from the other chapters, but I haven't been nearly as systematic as I should have been.)

Day one is about "norming people" - finding people's baseline behaviors. (I have tried to norm people at the airport. It's harder than you may think. Who's comfortable in an airport?) The exercise I did today is meant to improve powers of observation and decrease inattentive blindness.

Craft Your Art of Observation. Based on a law enforcement training program developed with New York's Frick Collection galleries and the NYPD, FBI and National Guard, this training tool has sharpened the ability of thousands of special agents and officers, helping them to pay closer attention to detail when describing crime scenes, suspect detentions, and interviews . . .

If you are able, visit a local museum or gallery and observe one piece of art for thirty minutes. Notice all the details: Who or what is the primary focus of the artwork? Secondary focus? Why was this piece created: Was it the artist's personal interest? To earn money? To reflect society? To stimulate the brain, reveal truth, create beauty, protest injustice, immortalize an event or person? How did this aim influence the artist? By taking the time to articulate the elements of the piece on such a minute level, you sharpen your ability to notice details in other situations. Then ask yourself: How can I relate this piece of art to my life and what I want?

I chose "The Loge" by Mary Cassatt because it seemed emotionally powerful to me.

These two girls seem so sad. It's not just the downcast eyes. It's also the eyebrows. Notice that they are turned up in the centers and down at the outsides? They are obviously at the opera, so they could be watching something sad. The story I made up in my head is much better though. (Originally I thought it was intermission because there appears to be a woman with her back to them to the right.)

The girl on the right is the primary focus as Cassatt has placed her in the foreground. The girl on the left is the secondary focus. The girl on the left captures my attention, though, partially because her face is hidden by a fan. The two look like sisters. They have the same nose. However, the girl on the right is the pretty sister while the girl on the right is the plain sister. They have different reasons for being sad.

The girl on the left is much more uncomfortable in this situation. Wouldn't you be if you were the plain sister? Plus, she's hiding behind a fan and has her arms crossed in a self-soothing hug. I think the girl on the right is on a date and the girl on the left is serving as a chaperon. The girl on the left is slightly behind the girl on the right, the proper place for a chaperon. Plus, the girl on the right has flowers. I've never seen a period movie where a girl has gone out with a bouquet unless her escort for the evening gave it to her. So is she sad because she doesn't like her escort or because he's abandoned her to pay attention to another?

Mary Cassatt painted mostly women and children of her relatively affluent class. She wanted to reflect her society, to show the truth of it. In this case, I think she wanted to reflect the unhappiness that social mores of the day could cause women.

What have I learned? Well, despite the girl on the right being the main focus, my eyes kept being drawn to the eyes of the girl on the left despite the fact that she just isn't as pretty. I think it was because her fan obscured most of her face. So, when I want to grab people's attention, I should find ways to draw attention to my eyes. I'm not going to start wearing a veil. I don't think I'm eccentric enough to pull off carrying a fan. I can, however wear strong eye makeup. I already where a fedora at Cosi to draw people's attention to the bar. It's tucked away in a corner. I have had people say that they came over to sit down just because of the hat.

When I got home to write this post, I googled the painting. The National Gallery of Art had a different take on the painting than I did. From the NGA website:

A number of artists, including Degas, Renoir, and Cassatt, depicted women at the theater. While Degas took many of his subjects from the stage and orchestra pit, Cassatt and Renoir focused on the audience. Reflected behind these two young women are rings of theater seats and a massive chandelier; clearly, they are sitting in luxurious boxes with mirrored walls. Like Cassatt herself, they belong to wealthy, proper families. Their careful posture is reserved, almost stiff with decorum. It would have distinguished them, despite their bare shoulders, from some other women in the audience who were coquettes brought to the opera by their lovers.

Not all the display at the theater occurred on stage, and the young women are equally on view, sitting forward to be seen. But the social code prohibits proper, unmarried young women from looking at others. The woman holding the fan is probably Mary Ellison, a friend of the artist visiting from Philadelphia. Even from behind this screen her gaze is cast modestly down. The other woman, perhaps the daughter of poet Stephane Mallarmé, is more forthright than her companion. The two seem to be mirror reflections of each other; while the young Philadelphian hides shyly, her friend is poised with self-confidence to receive the attention of other theater patrons.

I missed that they were in a box. I've never seen one with a mirrored back, but it explains the "blue woman" in the background—she is the reflection of Mary Ellison. Note the lack of neck ribbon. I still say, however, that the women's eyes are more than just downcast. These girls look sad. What do you think?

Movie: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

noreply@blogger.com (Cara Powers) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 23:33:00 +0000

I just got back from seeing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I absolutely loved Lisbeth. My mom, who normally hates movies with subtitles loved it, too. In fact I loved it so much, I just downloaded The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest onto my nook. I now have all three books in Stieg Larson's Millennium Trilogy to read, and my TBR pile is overflowing.

I know that some of you must be wondering why on earth I haven't already read at least the first two. I really was intrigued by them, especially the cover and title of The Girl Who Played with Fire. The summary on the back of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo just didn't intrigue me enough to buy the books. In addition, (and since I really don't know who reads this blog and which blogs you run, please don't take this personally), I didn't trust the bloggers I read who were giving it such rave reviews. If you've been reading me for a long time, you'll know I really don't trust print reviewers like Lev Grossman and Laura Miller. (I know I shouldn't admit that if I ever want them to give a positive review of any book I might write but oh well.)

In case you haven't read the books either, I have to warn that they're extremely dark and disturbing. The movie was also dark and disturbing. But really, the two protagonists, Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist (translated as Bill Bergson in the books for God only knows what reason), are fabulous. I can only wonder how different they are in the books from the movie.

I know the book will be different from the movie. After all, no one can fit a full book into a two-hour film without being cutting scenes and some restructuring of scenes. Characters are also often changed. So, when I finally get around to reading the book, I'll try to do a "Books & Movies" feature (even if I have to rent and re-watch the movie). But before I can start on the books I have to fulfill my duties to the generous publicists who have sent me review copies and authors who have given me interviews. I'm grateful to them—just not enough to let that bias my reviews.

FreeVerse: "A Cradle Song" by William Blake

noreply@blogger.com (Cara Powers) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 04:38:00 +0000

Remember that April is National Poetry Month and check out the blog tour stops Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit has arranged.

Today I was going to switch things up and post a poem I hate so I picked up my anthology English Romantic Poetry & Prose edited by Russell Noyes. Then I got lazy and just started trying to choose one right around where the book opened (in the William Blake section). Then I got really lazy - most of the Romantic Period poetry I dislike is really, really long, so I didn't want to type it all out.

The following poem doesn't say much about me. I like it, but I'm really including it for my readers with children. It is from the Rossetti Manuscript and was meant to be a contrary to "A Cradle Song" in Songs of Innocence. Perhaps next week I'll be ambitious and find that one.

A Cradle Song

Sleep, Sleep, beauty bright
Dreaming o'er the joys of night.
Sleep, Sleep: in thy sleep
Little sorrows sit & weep.

Sweet Babe, in they face
Soft desires I can trace
Secret joys & secret smiles
Little pretty infant wiles.

As they softest limbs I feel
Smiles as of the morning steal
O'er thy cheek & o'er thy breast
Where they little heart does rest.

O, the cunning wiles that creep
In the little heart asleep.
When thy little heart does wake,
Then the dreadful lightnings break,

From thy cheek & from thy eye
O'er the youthful harvests nigh
Infant wiles & infant smiles
Heaven & Earth of peace beguiles.

Parents, tell me what you think.

Remember to only post permalinks into Mr. Linky!

Last Week In Bartending & My Take on the Kamikaze

noreply@blogger.com (Cara Powers) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 01:49:00 +0000

No, it isn't my last week bartending. I'm just writing about last week. If you haven't noticed, these posts seem to lag behind by about a week.

Anyway, last week I had my best day behind the bar ever. The money was pretty good, but the money isn't what made it my best day behind the bar ever. No, that honor goes to my customers. I didn't meet anyone famous last week, but I did have three customers in one day who were science fiction and fantasy fans along with two more who were readers. I got to talk books all day at the bar! It rocked!

One customer noted to her companion that bartenders are among the most educated people you can meet. So true. After all, how do you think all those philosophy majors are earning money? It certainly isn't by philosophizing.

I also learned that a rail Kamikaze Cocktail can be better than a top shelf one. It's all about the Rose's Lime Juice. Too little Rose's and the Cocktail is just too sweet. Too much and it seems strong and puckery. I think it's the same for Cosmopolitan's. After all, a Cosmopolitan is just a Kamikaze with a splash of cranberry juice. I've also discovered I like Triple Sec in both cocktails instead of Cointreau. Triple Sec has a much less intense flavor than Cointreau. Personal preference I guess. Odd, I know.

Review: The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

noreply@blogger.com (Cara Powers) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 20:00:00 +0000

I've been hearing (reading) all sorts of buzz about Paolo Bacigalupi's debut novel The Windup Girl. When I discovered that it made the short list for the 2009 Nebula Awards and remembered that I'd obtained a free copy for my nook, it went to the top of my must read list.

I had no idea what it was about. I thought maybe it involved an AI that looks like a little girl? When I saw the cover, I was like "Mammoths and skyscrapers?!" and was as clueless as I was before.

Bacigalupi takes ideas similar to the ones in Margaret Atwood's Oryx & Crake—biological warfare, new plagues in humans and crops, genetic engineering, and an eccentric genetic engineer—and adds in political intrigue, corporate espionage, and the end of fossil fuels to make a dystopia that is both more believable and thus scarier than Atwood's dystopia.

The Windup Girl is set in the kingdom of Thailand umpteen whatever years in the future. So many plant and animal species have been wiped out by plagues or genetically engineered organisms that replaced them in their environmental niche. Corporations like PurCal and AgriGen, the calorie companies, sell seeds all over the world, but to maintain their hold on governments, they only sell seeds that won't grow plants that will reproduce.

Those mammoths on the cover? They're the replacement for oil-powered generators, at least in Thailand. (I guess that's a more interesting way to go than nuclear power.) The mechanical energy the mammoths produce is stored in "kink-springs" which power everything electric.

The story is told in present tense by three narrators. Writing in present tense is supposed to be terribly difficult and is used to add immediacy and suspense to the narrative. After all, if the narrator is telling a story in the past tense, that narrator must have lived to the end. Right? Personally, I wasn't particularly impressed by the effect of the present tense except where I was jarred out of the narrative.

The motivations of the three narrators are clearly drawn, but only Emiko, the windup girl, undergoes any personal growth. This fact makes her character the appropriate title character, despite her narrative taking up less than one third of the narrative space. The scenes of her sexual abuse, illustrating man's fear of the other, are disturbing but well-written.

Both Oryx & Crake and The Windup Girl contain gang rape scenes. The scene in Atwood's book seems to be more purely for shock value. The Crakers in Oryx & Crake seem more like intelligent humanoid animal's than true humans while the windups in The Windup Girl seem more like humans engineered and trained to be slaves to their bodies.

All in all, the world building in The Windup Girl is better than the world building in Oryx & Crake. The character motivations are more understandable in The Windup Girl than those in Oryx & Crake. Most importantly, the social commentary in The Windup Girl is more profound than that in Oryx & Crake, making The Windup Girl the superior novel in my opinion. Feel free to disagree.

Was reading this book worth my time?

Of course. In the three weeks it's taken me to write this review, The Windup Girl has also made the shortlist for the Hugo Awards. I've now read two of the books on this year's Nebula and Hugo Award shortlists. I'm rooting for Cherie Priest's Boneshaker, but that's a discussion for another time. Perhaps I'll change my mind once I read the rest of the books shortlisted (if I can get to it).

Guest Post: The October Daye Series by Seanan McGuire

noreply@blogger.com (Cara Powers) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 01:32:00 +0000

Normally I ignore email notifications from the Book Blogs Ning, but an email announcing a discussion about guest posting piqued my interest. When I checked out BookSexy by tolmsted, one of her reviews made me want to start a new series. So, I asked her to write a guest post introducing us to the world of October Daye.

Here it is:

Imagine being born between two worlds - human and Faerie. Then being forced to make a decision that changes your life forever, before you fully understand the consequences of your choice. Finding out your mother is Fae, not just a Fae but a powerful pure blood. Imagine trying to live up to that, and never quite succeeding. That's October Daye's life in a nutshell.

October Daye, called Toby for short, is a Changeling (the child of a human father and fae mother). In the human world she’s a Private Investigator with a husband and a daughter. In the Summerlands, home of the fae, she’s a knight-errant bound to the Duchy of the Shadowed Hills. Like all good P.I.’s (and knight-errant's) Toby has a tragic past filled with mistakes and regrets that she can’t leave behind her. Living with failure is a big theme in these book, but Toby's failures come with harsher repercussions than most. Like spending 14 years as a fish.

The first book, Rosemary & Rue, begins shortly after the curse that turned Toby into a koi has been removed. She is back to being a changeling and ready to return to her old life. But a lot changes in 14 years. The human world doesn't want her anymore, and she's not ready yet to go back to Faerie. Alliances have shifted, friends have become enemies and enemies may now be friends. For Toby, happy endings are rare and failure is a fact of life. She's hit skid row. And then... She receives a phone call. An old friend has been murdered, and her dying request is recorded on Toby's answering machine. Find the killer. The hitch? If she doesn't, Toby is dead as well.

There's a fantastic supporting cast of characters in these books - a sexy King of Cats, the paternal Duke of Shadowed Hills (a.k.a. San Francisco, California to the rest of us), his family and other members of the Fae court. Toby encounters creatures so ancient and full of magic that they existed before both humans and Fae. All seem to hold her in regard, usually higher than she holds herself. Warning: Toby comes into her power in these books, but in the meantime the reader deals with a lot of self-loathing and angst. In the end though, October Daye remains the most interesting and engaging heroine I've come across in a long time.

Seanan McGuire, the author of this series, has a real grasp of Faerie mythology and of traditional mystery formulas. Rosemary & Rue is a classic hard-boiled/crime noire. The second book, A Local Habitation, takes the conventional locked room mystery and gives it a new twist. The true brilliance of this series, though, is the underlying story of Toby as she continues to make the best of the hand she's been dealt. Despite her flawed psyche, she is surprisingly easy to identify with. I can only imagine what An Artificial Night, the third book (due out this September), holds in store.

Tempted? I am. Read more of what tolmed has to say at BookSexy.

In Which I Tell You How I Blew it and About the Blue Marlin

noreply@blogger.com (Cara Powers) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 21:09:00 +0000

NEVER BE LATE. EVER. I accidentally broke that cardinal rule last week and lost a gig with good money. I called in and was honest about why I was late (I overslept so had no good excuse.) instead of using the good story I had come up with. They worked me that day, but when I showed up (on time) the next day, I was told to go home. It's probably for the best since I was starting to have nightmares about one of the other bartenders.

The place is actually really cool. It played on one of my strengths—I'm a team player. (I actually won a pin for it at TGI Friday's.) Everyone works their collective @sses off, all tips are pooled, and then the tips for the day are divided by how many hours each person worked.

I'm not going to tell you the name of the bar. I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from going. I will, however, tell you never to order a drink called a Blue Marlin. It's foul—really foul.

You pour 1.5 oz. of Bacardi Citron and 1 oz. of blue curaçao (/ˈkjʊərəsaʊ/ people—that second "c" is pronounced as an "s") into a mixing cup, shake it up with a cocktail shaker with ice, and strain into a martini glass. Then you top it off with Sprite. At this particular bar, it's garnished with a cherry. You will not find this particular recipe if you google the phrase "Blue Marlin Cocktail" and for good reason. Like I said, it's nasty. All you really taste is sweet. It could be fixed with the addition of a little sour mix (I think), but the bartender had never actually tasted the cocktail he was serving.

Personally, I believe in tasting every drink you send out. I don't want to serve swill. I take pride in my work. I take pride in keeping a clean bar. But I'll let you know what kind of bartender I want to be some other time.

FreeVerse: National Poetry Month 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Cara Powers) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 04:01:00 +0000

April is National Poetry Month! Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit has organized a blog tour extravaganza. Here's the schedule:

April 1: Savvy Verse & Wit Welcome Post, Maw Books showcases her old poetry, and Semicolon posts a Favorite Classic Poems Survey.

April 2: Diary of an Eccentric posts on Emily Dickinson, and 32 Poems interviews Geoffrey Brock.

April 3: Regular Rumination on poet Claudia Emerson

April 4: Indextrous Reader interviews poetry publisher Brick Books.

April 5: Jenn's Bookshelf reviews Tighty Whitey Spider by Kenn Nesbitt, and West of Mars introduces the Roadie Poet.

April 6: Janel's Jumble showcases Estrella Azul, and The Betty and Boo Chronicles showcases Poems from the Women's Movement.

April 7: Reading Frenzy features Edgar Allan Poe.

April 8: Books and Movies features Billy Collins.

April 9: Rhapsody in Books features W.B. Yeats.

April 10: Booking Mama will review Poetry Speaks Who I Am, and Write Meg! will feature Kim Addonzinio.

April 11: Tea Leaves will review "Song of two worlds" by Alan Lightman.

April 12: Monniblog will highlight British Columbia, Canada, poets/poetry

April 13: Life Is a Patchwork Quilt features poetry for the deaf.

April 14: SMS Book Reviews will surprise us with a poetry book review. Author Ru Freeman will talk about poetry's cross-cultural presence, such as Palestinian poet Dharwish.

April 15: KCBooks will discuss Robert Frost's "The Outsider" and how it impacted her.

April 16: the life (and lies) of an inanimate flying object will review Poetry Speaks Who I Am and host a giveaway for 2 books.

April 17: She Is Too Fond of Books will review Tighty Whitey Spider, and A Circle of Books will review a small illustrated poetry anthology, Wordsworth The Eternal Romantic.

April 18: Bibliofreak will feature slam poet Reggie Gibson and a technique for writing poetry that resembles that kid's game called MASH.

April 19: New Century Reading will review a couple of poetry books, and 1330V will also post a poetry book review.

April 20: Bermudaonion will review "The New Kid on the Block" by Jack Prelutsky.

April 21: A Few More Pages will feature Lucille Clifton.

April 22: Necromancy Never Pays will feature a poem.

April 23: Everything Distils Into Reading will review a poetry book. In Bed With Books will discuss Romantic poetry, how to read it, and review Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know.

April 24: the bookworm will feature Pablo Neruda.

April 25: Bookalicio.us will review "How to (un)cage a Girl by Francesca Lia Block.

April 26: Peeking Between the Pages will reviews for one of these poets: Jill Bialosky, Margaret Atwood or Sylvia Plath. things mean a lot will review Mary Oliver's "Red Bird."

April 27: Jen's Book Thoughts features THE LINEUP: Poems on Crime by Reed Farrel Coleman. Linus's Blanket will talk about her experience reading poetry, Reb Livingston's "Your Ten Favorite Words," for That's How I Blog show with yours truly.

April 28: Ooh . . . Books will post a poem for FreeVerse with a Mr. Linky. (Who knows? Maybe I'll write an essay on genre poetry. I didn't want to promise something too ambitious though.)

April 29: Online Publicist will interview me. Boston Bibliophile interviews Cambridge Poet Populist Jean-Dany Joachim.

April 30: Brimful Curiosities will feature read aloud poetry: Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young collected by Jack Prelutsky, All Kinds Of Families by Mary Ann Hoberman, The Wonder Book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal; Diary of an Eccentric's The Girl reviews Shel Silverstein's"Where the Sidewalk Ends."

Everywhere the words "I", "me" or "yours truly" are used in the above schedule, they refer to Serena (except when I wrote "I" in the parentheses).

No poem from me today. I figure just reading that list is enough for reading for anyone. Plus, you have to check out all the tour stops that have already posted and visit everyone in the Mr. Linky. Whoot! Celebrate National Poetry Month.

Remember to only post permalinks into Mr. Linky!

FreeVerse: f(love) = 0 by Monica M. Eiland

noreply@blogger.com (Cara Powers) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 04:59:00 +0000

f(love) = 0

by Monica M. Eiland

f(love) = 0
The function of love is undefined.

∫f''(love) = 0
impossible, infinitely uncertain result:
if circumstances were different
what would be the second spatial coordinate
that is a function of love?
but the function is fixed:
circumstances define
the hand that draws the line
Forward, backward, what will make it work?

f''(love) = 0
the quality of a nonexistent
is less than zero
what is the slope, the rise and run
of the function that dooms me?
this love has no degree
no rate of movement
by the definition of love,
undefined in an impossible f''(x).

∫f''(love)dlove = 0
area under an impossible function
if time could flow backwards,
what would be the length, depth, and height
of the product of our love?
but the product is nonexistent:
an area of undefined space,
like a black hole
Forward, backward, what will make it work?

dlove = ln love
I have never been good at math,
but here is a loophole:
how could I have missed Newton's trick
to finding area where none used to exist?
Love is like an alchemist's salamander,
fireproof, slippery, fluid in the darkness;
but wearing a coat of improbable logs
I can capture fire.

Monica Eiland has a PhD in Neuroscience an makes her living medical writing. Who'd have thunk it? Certainly not me. There's so much math in this poem about love. That's why I chose it, though - love calculations. f(love) = 0 was originally published in the 9 November 2009 issue of Strange Horizons.

I promise I'll finish writing my review of The Windup Girl soon. Must. Write. Review.

Remember to only post permalinks into Mr. Linky!

Ooh . . . Books!

Yet Another Blogging Hiatus *Sigh*

Giveaway: Live a Life You Love by Susan Biali, M.D.

FreeVerse: "Community Creatures" by Adam Rulli-Gibbs

Announcements, announcements, annou-ouncements!

FreeVerse: "Rebranding" by Robert Borski

Review: The City and the City by China Meiville

FreeVerse: The Poem That Won Under Heaven

Reader Opinion Poll: Should I Keep Opening Passages

Friday Firsts: "The Button Bin" by Mike Allen

Giveaway | Admit One: My Life in Film by Emmett James

Review | Admit One: My Life in Film by Emmett James

FreeVerse: Poetry Contest for GGK's Under Heaven

Review: Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay

Friday Firsts: "each thing I show you is a piece of my death"

FreeVerse: Compare and Contrast Blake's Cradle Songs

Review: Changeless by Gail Carriger

How I Spent My Saturday (I hope it's not too boring.)

Movie: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

FreeVerse: "A Cradle Song" by William Blake

Last Week In Bartending & My Take on the Kamikaze

Review: The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Guest Post: The October Daye Series by Seanan McGuire

In Which I Tell You How I Blew it and About the Blue Marlin

FreeVerse: National Poetry Month 2010

FreeVerse: f(love) = 0 by Monica M. Eiland

Yet Another Blogging Hiatus Sigh