this and that and BOOK PORN!!
(I'm having problems with our internet connection - the DSL light on the modem keeps disappearing GRRR - yep, there it goes again! I don't even know what DSL is!)
Had a great time at Polaris - got to meet Michelle Sagara West ( Cast in Shadow etc. - she's incredibly talkative!!) - I instantly thought of you, janicu! - Lesley Livingston (Wondrous Strange - she's a laugh; she reminded me of my aunt, Steffi: has that kind of sense of humour) and RJ Anderson (who signed my ARC of Rebel Faeries: Spell Hunter :D), and sat in on some interesting panels - I was particularly interested in what Livingston, Anderson and a few others were saying about "middle grade" and YA fiction - I hadn't thought about it in these terms but they were talking about how it's okay to have violence, but not sex, and that the Bible Belt has a lot to do with that.
(On a side note, it seems very despairing that pleasure, delight, desire, the body etc. are still so heavily tarnished with this old label called "sin" but blowing shit up and mowing people down with machine guns etc. is acceptable - it's fascinating, from a historical and anthropological perspective, but at heart it's horrible, just horrible. It would be funny if it weren't so damaging, that love and sex are more threatening than knives, guns and all the rest of it. Talk about an insecure religion!)
Having just finished Alyson Noël's new book, Blue Moon (review to come when I get time), it's glaringly obvious now. I mean, it's like the movies isn't it - sex gets an R rating or, what is it? MA? while violence slips easily in PG films.
There is a difference, though, between U.S. YA books and those from home or the UK, for instance. I seem to remember reading an awful lot of books as a young teen that dealt with teen issues: sex, drugs, relationships etc. I've read some good American ones that do as well, but toss in the paranormal and it's definitely hands off. Interesting.
I saw a lot of people there letting their inner fan out: wearing a wild assortment of Queen Amidala, Klingon, Dalek, Batman, Jedi knight, Stormtrooper and Princess Leia costumes, among others. Of particular adorableness was the family of Jedi's: father and three little boys wearing the brown/off-white Jedi costume; and the slightly older boy wearing a very realistic Stormtrooper outfit. So cute!
I was bummed, though, about one thing: Claudia Black (Farscape!!!!!!!) was there, signing autographs, so with my miserly funds I bought a photo, you know the kind, and queued for an autograph (the queue took up two rooms), only to discover that you had to buy a ticket and it cost $30 per autograph!! What kind of craziness is this! Thank god authors don't charge! So that was my introduction to conventions: you need pots and pots of money! I also saw funky figurines of daleks that were just begging to come home with me, but oh well.
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We went for a long walk to the Humber River today - I'd say every city has its river (or beach) where girls get raped and murdered and the Mafia dumps dead bodies: the Humber would be Toronto's. But it's quite pretty and tucked-away and makes for a nice, peaceful destination.
______________________________________________________________________________
I rearranged my books the other day and got all my non-fiction in one place, minus reference books (fifth picture from the bottom, if I can count), then had to scramble to find room for the books they had displaced, which far outnumbered them. Hence more books than ever are now hiding, and my Georgette Heyer collection is no longer unpolluted. Hm. It might actually be really exciting, uncovering them in a few years and finding all these cool books I'd forgotten about!
Anyway, since I was all excited about letting my inner librarian out, I thought I'd update a bit - like rainsweptviola, I love staring at books! I just wish I could see all of mine at once :( I think I only have about four shelves (black ones) that aren't doubled up!
This is completely gratuitous, but here goes:
Now I'm off to watch Transformers (the first one) :D
Had a great time at Polaris - got to meet Michelle Sagara West ( Cast in Shadow etc. - she's incredibly talkative!!) - I instantly thought of you, janicu! - Lesley Livingston (Wondrous Strange - she's a laugh; she reminded me of my aunt, Steffi: has that kind of sense of humour) and RJ Anderson (who signed my ARC of Rebel Faeries: Spell Hunter :D), and sat in on some interesting panels - I was particularly interested in what Livingston, Anderson and a few others were saying about "middle grade" and YA fiction - I hadn't thought about it in these terms but they were talking about how it's okay to have violence, but not sex, and that the Bible Belt has a lot to do with that.
(On a side note, it seems very despairing that pleasure, delight, desire, the body etc. are still so heavily tarnished with this old label called "sin" but blowing shit up and mowing people down with machine guns etc. is acceptable - it's fascinating, from a historical and anthropological perspective, but at heart it's horrible, just horrible. It would be funny if it weren't so damaging, that love and sex are more threatening than knives, guns and all the rest of it. Talk about an insecure religion!)
Having just finished Alyson Noël's new book, Blue Moon (review to come when I get time), it's glaringly obvious now. I mean, it's like the movies isn't it - sex gets an R rating or, what is it? MA? while violence slips easily in PG films.
There is a difference, though, between U.S. YA books and those from home or the UK, for instance. I seem to remember reading an awful lot of books as a young teen that dealt with teen issues: sex, drugs, relationships etc. I've read some good American ones that do as well, but toss in the paranormal and it's definitely hands off. Interesting.
I saw a lot of people there letting their inner fan out: wearing a wild assortment of Queen Amidala, Klingon, Dalek, Batman, Jedi knight, Stormtrooper and Princess Leia costumes, among others. Of particular adorableness was the family of Jedi's: father and three little boys wearing the brown/off-white Jedi costume; and the slightly older boy wearing a very realistic Stormtrooper outfit. So cute!
I was bummed, though, about one thing: Claudia Black (Farscape!!!!!!!) was there, signing autographs, so with my miserly funds I bought a photo, you know the kind, and queued for an autograph (the queue took up two rooms), only to discover that you had to buy a ticket and it cost $30 per autograph!! What kind of craziness is this! Thank god authors don't charge! So that was my introduction to conventions: you need pots and pots of money! I also saw funky figurines of daleks that were just begging to come home with me, but oh well.
_____________________________________________________________________________
We went for a long walk to the Humber River today - I'd say every city has its river (or beach) where girls get raped and murdered and the Mafia dumps dead bodies: the Humber would be Toronto's. But it's quite pretty and tucked-away and makes for a nice, peaceful destination.
______________________________________________________________________________
I rearranged my books the other day and got all my non-fiction in one place, minus reference books (fifth picture from the bottom, if I can count), then had to scramble to find room for the books they had displaced, which far outnumbered them. Hence more books than ever are now hiding, and my Georgette Heyer collection is no longer unpolluted. Hm. It might actually be really exciting, uncovering them in a few years and finding all these cool books I'd forgotten about!
Anyway, since I was all excited about letting my inner librarian out, I thought I'd update a bit - like rainsweptviola, I love staring at books! I just wish I could see all of mine at once :( I think I only have about four shelves (black ones) that aren't doubled up!
This is completely gratuitous, but here goes:
Now I'm off to watch Transformers (the first one) :D