Follow-up and news

[cleolinda]

1) Update on the Wicked Pretty Things anthology: Brenna Yovanoff is the fifth writer to drop out in protest.

ETA: Seanan McGuire is #6, and Ann Aguirre is dropping out of a separate anthology.

2) Diana Wynne Jones has passed away. She was one of those writers I knew was amazing but had never read any of her work. Please tell me about your

Comments

[scornedsaint]

So devestated about Diana Wynne Jones. I reread at least two or three of her books every year. She was very good at pacing, which I have this insane admiration for.

My favorites DWJ books are the Dalemark Quartet, the Chrestomanci series (especially The Lives of Christopher Chant), and even though this is apparently a ~controversial~ answer, my very favorite of her books is The Merlin Conspiracy.

[therecklesslady]

Out of curiosity, how is the Merlin Conspiracy controversial? I enjoyed that series, even if I wanted to slap a few of the characters now and then.

[scornedsaint]

From my ventures into the fandom, it seems as though people don't care for it. And I make it controversial because I really didn't care for Deep Secret and think that MC is much better plotted.

[allichaton]

Howl's Moving Castle, definitely. Though my first introduction to her was The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, which is hilarious and awesome.

[eaemilia]

I loved both of those books too. I feel like I have to go and reread them now.

[allichaton]

Yeah, I'm definitely wanting to reread Howl's Moving Castle now.

[burningbright]

When I heard this morning, the first thing I did was pull out my Guide and read through it.

[maetang]

That's funny about Beatrix Potter! I once went to a talk by Roald Dahl. As a boy he went to see Beatrix Potter. He was very excited about meeting her. He walked up to her house and garden, and was standing nervously by the garden gate. He saw a woman gardening, but didn't dare to approach because he was shy. After a while, she looked up and saw him and asked what he wanted. He said he was here to see Beatrix Potter. She said: "Well now you've seen her, so get lost!"

Charming, eh? ;^)

[snowandsunshine]

Arthur Ransome and her apparently didn't have an amiable meeting either

"She even met Ransome "a small man with lots of beard", very briefly, while she was there.

He rushed by the shocked five-year-old in her home to berate the women of her household for allowing their children to be so noisy"

[maetang]

LOL! :^D

It could be a whole genre: children's authors who seem strangely unsympathetic to children.

[maetang]

Oh, I'm really sad to hear about Diana Wynne Jones! I enjoyed her books as a child, and still sometimes read her as an adult.

I love her Chrestomanci series. If you want a good standalone though, another of my favourites of her books was Dogsbody, about Sirius, the Dog Star, being forced to live on earth as a dog. The book makes me cry, because of the relationships which the different characters develop with each other.

And also, if you like dogs, I think it's hard not to like it! :^)

[notemily]

OMG DOGSBODY IS MY FAVORITEST. Well, maybe Howl's Moving Castle is my favoritest, but Dogsbody is amazing. I recently reread it and I was like "dude, this had all sorts of subtext about discrimination against the Irish in England that I completely missed as a kid."

[calenture]

Dogsbody. I read the hell out of it as a kid and I wish I knew where my copy was now.

[killiara]

Seconded.