credit: B Miller

Last month, I kicked into the new year with fiction, posting Part 1 of the short story Bird Of Passage on the Supernatural Underground.

Today I’ve posted the second and final part:

“The following morning was grey and overcast, threatening rain, and the house was so quiet I thought Debbie must have already gone out. “Fry up time,” I said out loud, and broke some eggs into the pan. I was buttering the toast when Debbie appeared, yawning mightily and looking pale above a man’s old fashioned, plaid dressing gown. But it wasn’t the dressing gown that made me pause, knife in mid-air…”

To read on, click:

Supernatural Underground: Bird Of Passage, Part 2

But as with last month, there is more.

Anyone who comments on either Part 1 or Part 2 of Bird Of Passage (or both), will go into a draw (via Random.org)  to give their name to a character in the next short fiction I publish on either the Supernatural Underground or here—all part of getting fictional on 2015. 😉

But because I understand some of you may have had difficulty posting on last month’s instalment, you may also enter by leaving a comment on this post.

“Don’t romanticise your ‘vocation.’ You can either write good sentences or you can’t. There is no ‘writer’s lifestyle.’ All that matters is what you leave on the page.”

~ Zadie Smith

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“All that matters is what you leave on the page”—you know, I think that is so true. The full quote comes from Zadie Smith’s 10 Rules Of Writing, published by The Guardian newspaper in 2010.

Maria Popova described Smith’s 10 Rules as her favourite of the series, “an exquisite balance of the practical, the philosophical, and the poetic” and I definitely agree with that description.

Although it’s hard to beat “All that matters is what you leave on the page”, many other of Smith’s rules also resonate. To check them out for yourself click on:

Zadie Smith’s 10 Rules Of Writing

As I observed last week, one of the great things about being on holiday is having the time to catch up on your reading—and as you will know from that post I have a nice stack of books to get through. Next up is David Mitchell’s debut novel, Ghostwritten.

I thought I had better start at the beginning since Mitchell has said he’s writing an uber-novel—and the backcover of Ghostwritten does sound intriguing:

“An apocalyptic cult member carries out a gas attack on a rush-hour metro, but what links him to a  jazz buff in downtown Tokyo? Or a  Mongolian gangster, a woman on a lonely mountain who talks to a tree, and a late night New York DJ?

Set at the fugitive edges of Asia and Europe, Ghostwritten weaves together a host of characters, their interconnected destinities determined by the inescapable forces of cause and effect.”

Which kinda suggests the book could be about anything at all really, although a peek at Good Reads suggests its something of a genre-bender.

Whatever the case,  the best thing to do is start reading and find out more—so I intend to do just that. 😉

credit: PJ Fitzpatrick

Back in December, when I started this series, I promised you that the scope would extend beyond the Wall Of Night series and include Thornspell, which was my first novel published (even further back in 2008.)

So today I thought we’d kick off for the new year with two characters from Thornspell to illustrate the “rogue.”

Just to remind you what the series is all about, for each entry I’ll take a word that means either a “bad guy”, eg ruffian or rogue, or a “rough diamond”, eg a roughneck, and match it with a character from my novels. As in the A Geography Of Haarth series, each entry will be accompanied by the identification of the character and a relevant passage from the books.

The definitions are taken from Merriam Webster Online.

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The Rogue, Part 1

Rogue:  a dishonest or worthless person, a vagrant or tramp

So who better than:

Fulk and Rafe

“Another two men had joined their company before the night was out, and Sigismund suspected that they must be brothers, or at least close kin. They were both lean and ragged, with the red hair and blue eyes common in the western reaches of the kingdom, and said their names were Fulk and Rafe. In the days that followed they would never meet Sigismund’s gaze directly, looking away whenever he spoke to them. He suspected that they might easily turn cutthroat if opportunity arose and wished that it was customary for serving men to carry swords. The only weapon he carried openly was his servant’s dagger; and Quickthorn was trussed into a bundle on the bay horse’s back, together with his other arms. The horse-copers had bows and staves, which made Sigismund feel a little safer, but he took to sleeping lightly all the same.”

~  from © Thornspell, Chapter 12 — The Road West

I  first posted on some of my favourite SFF cover art a-ways back in 2010.

Those featured included the first, US mass market cover for A Game Of Thrones, by artist Stephen Youll. As I posted at the time, “…the whole look of it [the jacket]  just reached out to me and said: “Buy me, I’m your kind of story!” And it really was!”

I also mentioned the Mel Odom cover for Guy Gavriel Kay’s Tigana and the wonderful Kinuko Craft jacket for Juliet Marillier’s Wildwood Dancing.

Others I’d throw into the “favourites” mix include the Donato cover for Patrick Rothfuss’s The Name of the Wind, a UK mass market cover for Robin McKinley’s The Blue Sword, and the jacket art for James Norcliffe’s The Assassin Of Gleam.

But then I got to thinking about why they’re favourites: what causes each of these jacket renderings to “speak” to me in a way that then draws me in to reading the book?

I believe all are powerful in their diverse ways and an important aspect of  their power is that all have a strong central figure but with a sense of a larger world—whether it’s the physical landscape of winter in A Game Of Thrones, the towers/soldiers of Tigana, or the tree roots and flame in the circle surrounding the central figures of woman and demon in The Blue Sword. In that sense, all three jackets evoke a sense of both the characters and the world, and the big-in-scope stories.

I think, as well, that  juxtaposition is an important element in many of them: the flame of Kvothe’s hair against the darker background which is both trees (living/animate) and stone (inanimate) for The Name Of The Wind; the juxtaposition of Hari and the demon rider in The Blue Sword; and the black rider (yay, Jon Snow!), horse and crow (moving) against the (still) white-grey background of the A Game Of Thrones jacket.

Subtler details also have a powerful influence, like the woman (Dianora) being ‘face forward’ in the Tigana cover and directly set against the side-profile warriors, while their ‘horizontality contrasts with the ‘verticality’ of the background towers—and the scene’s sense of movement comes from the scarlet banner.

Despite it’s strong sense of darkness, there’s movement in The Assasin Of Gleam cover, too: in the edges of the cloak and the sense of the rider coming straight toward you.

The contrasts of character & world, together with the juxtapositions, work together to make the images compelling. But the other element they share is a sense of mystery, sparking the desire to know more: I want to know who the riders are, on the A Game Of Thrones and The Assasin Of Gleam covers: where they’re going and on what business?

Similarly, the whole of Kvothe’s appearance—the hair, the torn shirt, the book in one hand and the musical instrument in the other—all provoke a “Who is he? What’s going on?” response. Similarly, the juxtaposition of Hari (The Blue Sword) Dianora (Tigana), and Jena (Wildwood Dancing)—all full face against their respective backgrounds—draw you in through the desire to resolve the elements in the respective covers, which convey a rich sense of “story” to be encountered and explored.

The other element that is present in all the covers is a feeling of ‘movement’, which I mentioned above. Interestingly, many of the same elements are also present in the cover of Among Others (recently read and reported on here.) The jacket has the foreground figure of the young girl dancing (movement) against a mysterious ‘dreaming spires’ background, while the circle of stars about the girl adds to both the sense of movement and mystery… Perhaps not surprisingly , it ‘drew’ me to the book.

So there you have it, a few more favourite covers and some of the reasons they may “work” for me as a reader.

~ by Rebecca Fisher

Most of our most beloved animated films come from three big studios: Disney/Pixar, Dreamworks and Studio Ghibli, who altogether have produced hundreds of animated classics over the years. They’re so prolific that we run the risk of forgetting that there are other innovators out there – such as Cartoon Saloon.

In 2009 they released The Secret of Kells, a film set in 9^th century Ireland that gives a fictionalized account of the Book of Kells, a real manuscript and national treasure that’s currently on display in Trinity College Library in Dublin.

The story is very simple; perhaps even too simple for younger viewers who are used to a fair amount of action in their cartoons. Brendon (Evan McGuire) lives under stern eye of his uncle, the Abbot Cellach (Brendan Gleeson) in a monastery whose inhabitants are busy building a massive wall to keep out marauding Vikings. Brendan defends his uncle’s obsession with its construction, but is still haunted by the beauty of the forest he can glimpse through the wall’s chinks.

But Brendon’s interest in illuminated manuscripts is piqued when the monastery provides refuge for Brother Aidan of Iona, who has escaped from the Vikings with two valuable possessions: the Book of Iona and a little white cat called Pangur Bán.

It’s not long before Aidan asks Brendan to fetch berries from the forest so he can make more paint for the book’s illustrations. Already entranced by the artistry and colour of the book, Brendan agrees – risking his uncle’s anger in the process. The forest beyond the monastery is beautiful but filled with spirits, particularly a little fairy called Aisling (pronounced “Ashling”) who is also intrigued by talk of the book and leads Brendan to the berries he needs.

Brandon and Aisling

To sum up the entire film in a single word: charming. It’s difficult not to watch the blossoming of Brendan and Aisling’s friendship without smiling, and the portrayal of Pangur Bán captures all the haughtiness and lovability of cats to perfection. As it happens, Pangur Bán is named after a real-life cat that lived in the 9^th century and was immortalized in a poem written in a manuscript by its owner. A stanza is even recited over the credits.

The best part of The Secret of Kells is the animation, with stylized shapes and patterns inspired by the book itself, and beautiful attention to detail such as shadows on the wall or visible breath on a cold morning. One frame is split into three different perspectives of a stairwell, and Brandon is depicted from three different angles as he moves from one to the other.

Brandon, Pangur Bán, and Aidan

It does have a rather odd ending. Throughout the story the monastery is threatened by Vikings, and the monks are given one of two options: to either run or hide behind the wall. Neither option offers a particularly satisfying outcome, and so the conclusion feels a little abrupt as a result. But it’s a unique and evocative little film, one that pays homage to Ireland’s Christian and Pagan traditions, with a beautiful soundtrack and loveable characters.

Next Time: Strings

When people think of marionettes, those born before the 1980s probably think of Thunderbirds, and those born after probably think of Team America: World Police. But puppetry is an ancient and respected form of theatre, and Strings is a film created by masters of the craft, telling the story of a banished prince and his search for justice.

About The Reviewer:

Rebecca Fisher is a graduate of the University of Canterbury with a Masters degree in English Literature, mainly, she claims, because she was able to get away with writing her thesis on C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman. She is a reviewer for FantasyLiterature.com, a large website that specializes in fantasy and science-fiction novels, as well as posting reviews to Amazon.com and her They’re All Fictional blog.

To read Rebecca’s detailed introduction of both herself and the series, as well as preceding reviews, click on:

Big Worlds On Small Screens

The Lotos Eaters (Excerpt)

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The full poem of The Lotos Eaters runs to ca. 14 stanzas so I have only give you an introduction to it here. Tennyson’s poem is informed by the homeward journey of Odysseus and his mariners from Troy and I have always enjoyed its powerful and evocative use of language in painting the seductive nature of the isle free from toil and the longing of the mariners to cease journeying and remain there. As with the best storytelling, the doubt cast on their wisdom is all in the subtext.

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To read the featured poem on the Tuesday Poem Hub and other great poems from fellow Tuesday poets from around the world, click here.

I’ve just finished reading Jo Walton’s Among Others—and it was “brill.”

As you may recall from my “about to read” post, Among Others is about Mori (Morwenna) Phelps, who sees fairies and was lamed in a battle against her witch mother that also killed her twin sister, Mor (Morganna.) As a result of these events, Mori is first sent to live with her father, and then to boarding school in England, where she takes solace in reading SFF.

The Among Others story comprises several interwoven strands. There is the backstory of Mor, Mori, their mother, and the relationship with the fairies—which also continues into the present of the story as Mori has to both come to terms with the loss of Mor and finally deal with her mother’s influence. Among Others is also a YA story of belonging and coming-of-age, in which Mori must forge a new life with her father and his family, as well as within the boarding school environment, while continuing to sustain her Welsh ties and magical heritage. Last, but by no means least, the novel is a “praise song” to Science Fiction-Fantasy literature and SFF fandom—the aspect of the story which seems most autobiographical given Jo Walton’s background and not least that, like Mori, she is lame and uses a cane.

The accompishment of the story is the magical way in which Walton weaves these threads of story together into a moving and enagaging read. I particularly like the way in which the backstory is so powerful and integral to the story, but defies the expectation that it may be retold as a flashback or rehashed at all, in fact—and this works. The 1979 milieu of school, Mori’s relationships with her respective families, and refuge in reading are also brought together into a seamless whole. And I particularly like Walton’s take on the fairies and the way in which they and their magic interact with the everyday world.

Hence my conclusion that, like Mori’s opinion of so many of the books she reads, Among Others is “brill.”

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Additional Information:

I read the US Trade paperback edition, 302 pp, of Among Others, published by TOR, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers.

Firstly, I absolutely love this, via Daniel Dalton & Buzzfeed:

If Hermione Were The Main Character in Harry Potter

But—wasn’t Hermione the main character-wot-did-stuff in all those books?

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I also really enjoyed this post from Charlie Jane Anders on io9:

10 Great Novels That Aren’t About What You Heard They Were About

This post also crept into the discussion on:

My TBR Stack Today

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Another great post was Nicki Pellegrino’s Good Reads’ reflection on finishing her upcoming novel and saying goodbye to characters:

Goodbye and Hello

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And I think this is just fan-tastic: a video of “universal wonders” compiled from NASA space shots—watching it made me feel as though I had embarked on my own personal “Interstellar” voyage:

Space Suite Concept: Universal Wonders

Enjoy!

“You and I don’t know whether our vision is clear in relation to our time or not—No matter what failure or success we may have—we will not know—But we can keep our integrity—according to our own sense of balance with the world and that creates our form … I want to create my own [form] and I can’t do anything else—if I stop to think of what others—authorities or the public—or anyone—would say of my form I’d not be able to do anything.

I can never show what I am working on without being stopped—whether it is liked or disliked I am affected in the same way—sort of paralyzed—”

~ Georgia O’Keeffe, 1887 – 1986: from letters to writer Sherwood Anderson

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This quote resonates with my own personal experience that “the book that can be spoken of is not the book”—until it’s done.

It also tallies with my own conviction that whether artists or writers we can never know whether our creative work will endure or not, we can only strive to be true to the Muse and produce the very best work we are capable of.

* I discovered this quote via Maria Popova and the wonderful 
Brain Pickings site