(no subject)
1. Kia ora Tui
I am delighted to let you know you have been accepted for the Diploma in Publishing (Applied) in Wellington. Your formal acceptance letter and enrolment pack with further information will be sent next week. [etc etc etc]
I guess I'm going to publishing school which is really awesome because they typically take only half of their applicants and I was very nervous. So, um: I'm really hyped! Woo and hoo!
2. I am also super-hyped for the following events this autumn (in rough chronological order):
Megan Whalen Turner, A Conspiracy of Kings
Karen Healey, Guardian of the Dead
Diane Duane, A Wizard of Mars
2.1 Diana Wynne Jones' Enchanted Glass was going to be on this list but apparently it's already out in the UK, so imma hassle Unity about ordering it in tomorrow morning (!)
2.2 karenhealey is an extremely hardworking (she writes books and a PhD thesis! At the same time! This didn't used to impress me but then I wrote my research essay and yuletide right after each other, and then I briefly thought about doing them both at the same time, and they were only 10000 words long and I still felt this kind of HORROR) and funny New Zealander living in Australia. I am very excited to read her book - at my interview for publishing school I was asked what my ideal YA fantasy book would look like, and I said "exactly like my friend Karen's", so there you go. It has brilliant girls and boys, wide-ranging depictions of sexuality, a sensitive and clever use of Māori mythology (think Gaelyn Gordon's Stonelight, fellow kiwis), and funny bits. So this is a very belated rec, but for Christmas Karen wrote a christmas story for her Adoring Public, and I didn't link to it because I wasn't sure if I could, and then I didn't link to it because of Yuletide recs, but NOW I am going to link to it and you all should read it because it is seriously funny. It is called Queen of the Kitchen.
3. A few days ago I made public my 2009 list of new books read, of which there were 64 (I didn't count my re-reads.) This is not quite (hah) the 100 new books I was aiming for, though. Anyway, there's a little basic analysis there & a sentence or so on each of the books I read. May be interesting to someone, I can't imagine who though!
4. I am presently reading the new Wheel of Time book, A Gathering Storm> by Brendan Sanderson who is, of course, taking the reins after RJ's death. And guys... I hate to say it, but it's actually sort of good? IMO, it's at least as good as Path of Daggers, maybe even better, and it is a TONNE better than books 9, 10, and 11 (I don't even remember what happens in 11. Actually, I'm not entirely sure I *read* 11, though I'm pretty sure I did.) Anyway, the writing and pacing are a tonne tighter, and all the characters who used to be cool but became INSUFFERABLE (i.e. all the women!) are actually back to their coolness again! Egwene does really well this book - I am usually pretty blah on Egwene but I found her segments pretty interesting, although one thing she does strikes me as a little OOC - and I liked Nynaeve again, which is pretty cool. For the last, oh, five, six books, Nynaeve has been a woman defined by three things: 1. she's a bitch, 2. she likes healing people, and 3. she's in love with, and then married to, Lan - admittedly the most consistently characterised, consistently virtuous people in the whole series. Maybe the only person consistently virtuous. Anyway, I like Lan, but that's not really a character, that's a sketch. Remember how she used to be good with people, care for the former Emond's Field kids, and have some good advice to give from time to time? She does again! Holy shit! She becomes competent again! Holy shit! She doesn't cry anymore! Holy shit! Anyway, it's a huge relief.
Siuan also has a good book. Actually, I mean, they don't get rid of ALL the endemic sexism, but compared to RJ's women who are bitchy and universally hate each other, I'm REALLY impressed. Yay!
I am delighted to let you know you have been accepted for the Diploma in Publishing (Applied) in Wellington. Your formal acceptance letter and enrolment pack with further information will be sent next week. [etc etc etc]
I guess I'm going to publishing school which is really awesome because they typically take only half of their applicants and I was very nervous. So, um: I'm really hyped! Woo and hoo!
2. I am also super-hyped for the following events this autumn (in rough chronological order):
Megan Whalen Turner, A Conspiracy of Kings
Karen Healey, Guardian of the Dead
Diane Duane, A Wizard of Mars
2.1 Diana Wynne Jones' Enchanted Glass was going to be on this list but apparently it's already out in the UK, so imma hassle Unity about ordering it in tomorrow morning (!)
2.2 karenhealey is an extremely hardworking (she writes books and a PhD thesis! At the same time! This didn't used to impress me but then I wrote my research essay and yuletide right after each other, and then I briefly thought about doing them both at the same time, and they were only 10000 words long and I still felt this kind of HORROR) and funny New Zealander living in Australia. I am very excited to read her book - at my interview for publishing school I was asked what my ideal YA fantasy book would look like, and I said "exactly like my friend Karen's", so there you go. It has brilliant girls and boys, wide-ranging depictions of sexuality, a sensitive and clever use of Māori mythology (think Gaelyn Gordon's Stonelight, fellow kiwis), and funny bits. So this is a very belated rec, but for Christmas Karen wrote a christmas story for her Adoring Public, and I didn't link to it because I wasn't sure if I could, and then I didn't link to it because of Yuletide recs, but NOW I am going to link to it and you all should read it because it is seriously funny. It is called Queen of the Kitchen.
3. A few days ago I made public my 2009 list of new books read, of which there were 64 (I didn't count my re-reads.) This is not quite (hah) the 100 new books I was aiming for, though. Anyway, there's a little basic analysis there & a sentence or so on each of the books I read. May be interesting to someone, I can't imagine who though!
4. I am presently reading the new Wheel of Time book, A Gathering Storm> by Brendan Sanderson who is, of course, taking the reins after RJ's death. And guys... I hate to say it, but it's actually sort of good? IMO, it's at least as good as Path of Daggers, maybe even better, and it is a TONNE better than books 9, 10, and 11 (I don't even remember what happens in 11. Actually, I'm not entirely sure I *read* 11, though I'm pretty sure I did.) Anyway, the writing and pacing are a tonne tighter, and all the characters who used to be cool but became INSUFFERABLE (i.e. all the women!) are actually back to their coolness again! Egwene does really well this book - I am usually pretty blah on Egwene but I found her segments pretty interesting, although one thing she does strikes me as a little OOC - and I liked Nynaeve again, which is pretty cool. For the last, oh, five, six books, Nynaeve has been a woman defined by three things: 1. she's a bitch, 2. she likes healing people, and 3. she's in love with, and then married to, Lan - admittedly the most consistently characterised, consistently virtuous people in the whole series. Maybe the only person consistently virtuous. Anyway, I like Lan, but that's not really a character, that's a sketch. Remember how she used to be good with people, care for the former Emond's Field kids, and have some good advice to give from time to time? She does again! Holy shit! She becomes competent again! Holy shit! She doesn't cry anymore! Holy shit! Anyway, it's a huge relief.
Siuan also has a good book. Actually, I mean, they don't get rid of ALL the endemic sexism, but compared to RJ's women who are bitchy and universally hate each other, I'm REALLY impressed. Yay!