Last week I ran a giveaway Philip Mann’s The Disestablishment Of Paradise (Gollancz), to run over the full week.

The draw is now done and the winner is:

Gillian Polack

Congratulations, Gillian!

For everyone else, thank you for participating and I will do more of these on an ad hoc basis, so keep watching the Saturday space.

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In terms of the question, which was: “What book first got you into reading science fiction?” — here’s the list:

Analog, Science Fiction and Fact

Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game

Robert Heinlein, Have Spacesuit Will Travel

Robert Heinlein, The Door Into Summer

Anne McCaffrey, DragonFlight

William Sleator, The Green Futures of Tycho

Yoko Tsuno, The Three Suns of Vinea

The Wall of Night Series map; design by Peter Fitzpatrick

The A Geography of Haarth post series is traversing the full range of locales and places from The Wall of Night world of Haarth.

After a brief but excellent sojourn in “I”, we now enter “J.” 😉

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Jaransor:  a range of uninhabited hills that lies to the west of the Gray Lands

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‘Kyr looked at her curiously.  “What do you know of Jaransor?” he asked

Nhairin shrugged.  “Only what anyone does. Those hills have long been forbidden, off limits, because too many of our people have foundered there.  And the old records say that Jaransor is hostile to both the Derai and the Swarm.  They claim that it is one of the ancient places of this world, possessed by a power that sleeps but lightly and is dangerous if woken.  They also say,” she added, “that Jaransor is ghost-ridden and drives people mad.” ‘

~ from © The Heir Of Night: The Wall of Night Book One; Chapter 25 — The River Of No Return

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‘Kalan stared at the cairn, recalling the first and only time he had seen the Winter woman: a rider cloaked in white and seated on a white horse amidst falling snow, with a hawk resting still as stone on her forearm. In Jaransor, he thought—and was seized by the loss, pain, and terror, mixed with exhilaration, that had accompanied their flight through those hills. He clenched his hand hard around his sword hilt to stop himself crying out against the memories’ sharpness. The metal of pommel and guard pressed into flesh, cold as the snowflakes that had fallen from an iron sky, five years before.’

~ from © The Gathering Of The Lost: The Wall of Night Book Two; Chapter 31 — Tenneward Lodge

Earlier in the year I ran a series titled “Here’s SpecFicNZ-Christchurch”, in which I featured fellow Christchurch members of SpecFicNZ.

SpecFicNZ, you may recall, is the “national association for creators, writers and editors of speculative fiction in or from New Zealand”  — in other words, there are  a lot more fun and interesting folk to meet from around the country.  Accordingly, I thought it was time to pop over to the North Island and meet a few of the SpecFicNZ-ers from the capital. 🙂 (Wellington, for those who may not know.)

So from next Thursday I’ll be bringing you “Here’s SpecFicNZ-Wellington”, a post series in which Wellington members will have the opportunity to introduce themselves using a series of headings:

• Here’s Who: a short, first person introduction to the member

• Here’s Why: the member writes or publishes speculative fiction, as opposed to any other genre

• Here’s What: an example of the member’s work

• Here’s Where: you can find out more about the member and their work

I am really looking forward to it and hope you will enjoy it as much as I will.

I would also like to thank Darusha Wehm of the SpecFicNZ committee for making the series happen.

Until next Thursday then… 😉

by Rebecca Fisher

Introduction:

An old and macabre Jewish folktale does not seem like the most appropriate source material for a children’s film, and perhaps if the weight and eccentricity that Tim Burton’s name carries hadn’t been behind it, Corpse Bride would have never been made.

The original tale is recorded in a 17^th century volume called Shivhei ha-Ari, and involves a young man on his way to his wedding. Halfway there he jokingly puts his bride’s ring on a gnarled twig poking out of the ground and recites his vows aloud to the forest. To his horror, the ground opens up before him and a dead woman emerges, wearing the ring on what he supposed was simply a twig, but which is revealed to be her bony hand. According to her, they’re now legally wed.

He flees the forest with the corpse bride in pursuit, seeking help from Rabbi Isaac Luria of Safed (a real historical figure), who discovers the truth about the dead woman: that she was murdered on the way to her own wedding and has been waiting for a husband ever since. However, Rabbi Luria’s ruling in the rabbinic court is that the unlikely couple are not married due to the fact that the dead have no claim on the living. Accepting his authority, the corpse bride returns to the grave, and the young man is free to wed his living fiancée.

It’s a fairly simplistic, albeit creepy tale, and naturally the makers of Corpse Bride do a lot in fleshing out the bare bones of the story.

Premise:

Victor van Dort is a timid and rather gormless fellow, but also a sensitive sort who likes to draw butterflies and play the piano. His wedding day is on the morrow, but far from being excited about it, he’s filled with trepidation at the thought of marrying a woman that he’s never even met.

It soon becomes apparent that it is his parents who are putting him up to this. Mr and Mrs van Dort are fish merchants and members of the nouveau riche, having organised their son’s marriage in order to boost their own social standing. Victor’s future in-laws are Lord and Lady Everglot, desperate to make a wealthy match for their daughter Victoria due to the fact that their fortunes have dwindled. A lot is riding on the success of this wedding, and as the opening song reveals: “that’s why everything, every last little thing, every single tiny microscopic little thing must go according to plan!”

Disaster strikes in about twelve seconds…

With a setup like that, things are bound to go wrong. But it’s out in the parlour, far away from the eyes of their pushy parents, that Victor and Victoria meet for the first time. And what do you know! If their matching names weren’t evidence enough, their similar demeanour and gentle manner with each other soon demonstrates that they’re perfect for each other. Feeling a little happier, the rehearsal commences…

But Victor is easily flustered, and after accidentally forgetting his lines, dropping his wedding ring, infuriating the priest and setting the bride’s mother on fire, he races to the forest in humiliation. There he begins to practice his vows, culminating in him placing the ring on a twisted root protruding from the ground. And… well, you should already know what that leads to.

Potential bride #2

Now that Victor is torn between two prospective brides, he struggles to find a viable solution to escaping his marriage to a corpse, returning to the world of the living, and fixing the mess that he’s left in his wake. Despite his yearning for Victoria, he learns over the course of the story that the corpse bride (whose name is Emily) is something of a kindred spirit.  And to make matters worse, the mysterious – and presumably wealthy – Barkis Bittern has already introduced himself to Lord and Lady Everglot, revealing his own designs for their daughter…

Story:

Set in an unspecified 19^th century European village, one drenched in drab monochromic shades and filled with restrictive social mores, the film makes much of the irony of the world of the dead being a lot livelier than the realm of the living. The underworld is filled with colour, music and laughter (dancing skeletons that use their bones as xylophones is a given) and Victor is caught not just between two women, but two worlds. Down amongst the vibrancy of the dead he is reunited with his family pet and freed from his responsibilities in the upper world – yet he can’t forget his rightful place among the living.

The narrative rules that surround the divide between the living and the dead are a little unclear. I was left wondering why so many of the denizens of the underworld looked like desiccated corpses when it’s demonstrated that on dying, their bodies are left on the surface. Or what Emily was actually doing lying in the ground with a single hand raised up to resemble a tree branch. Or why Victor has to go to great lengths to get back into the realm of the living to escape Emily the first time around, whilst by the end of the film all the dead inhabitants can simply walk up there with perfect ease.

Yeah, it’s best not to think about it too much, and chalk the inconsistencies down to the “whimsical horror” that permeates the entire film.

Characters:

Co-directed by Mike Johnson, Tim Burton assembles his usual team of cast and crew to infuse the film with life: Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter provide the voices for Victor and the titular Corpse Bride, and Danny Elfman once again comes on board as a composer and song-writer – with the unenviable task of providing lyrics to two different songs that fully explain the situations and backstories of the main characters.

An animator/puppeteer at work on the bride herself…

As well as that, it takes a huge team of artists and immense patience to bring the characters to life, not just the likes of Victor, Emily and Victoria, but also a number of minor characters: a hyper-competent butler, a tactless town-crier, an elderly nursemaid who is almost bent double – and that’s not even going into the colour and imaginative force behind the underworld denizens.

As charming as they are in themselves, the characters of Corpse Bride are not quite as iconic as those from The Nightmare Before Christmas. That said, there is a depth and maturity to Corpse Bride that its predecessor lacked. All three participants in the love triangle act with empathy and responsibility toward the other two, and the film continually touches on themes of sacrifice, tragedy, early death and unrequited love that inevitably leads to a rather bittersweet ending.

Conclusion:

A macabre fairy tale starring a dead woman? Only Tim Burton could toe the line between necrophilia and romance. Corpse Bride certainly isn’t for everyone, and some children that can handle The Nightmare Before Christmas might find this too scary, but it’s another strong inclusion in this month’s line-up of stop-motion animated films.

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Next Time:

Coraline Jones is not even remotely happy at the thought of moving to a new house – even if it’s a converted flat in an old pink mansion. Her friends are miles away, her parents pay no attention to her, and the neighbours are weirdoes. But perhaps there’s something of interest behind the tiny little door in the living room… Based on the book by Neil Gaiman and directed by Henry Selick, Coraline is yet another creepy and fantastical Halloween treat.

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Rebecca Fisher

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 own LiveJournal blog.

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

Big Worlds On Small Screens

Today, your house is cold,
the coffee bitter.

Old leaves scatter,
skeletons beneath a ragged sky.

A call –
late night voicemail
blinking from an unlit room –
told me
that you were dying
………….asked me to come soon,
or not at all.

There is no map
………….to chart this ocean,
no pilot star.

I walk outside,
tip dregs
………….onto drifted leaves
.

© Helen Lowe

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About The Poem:

I always feel that poems, in the end, have to speak for themselves. I shall let this one do just that.

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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 or on the Quill icon in the sidebar.

Over the past weeks I’ve been enjoying a few epic conversations here on the blog. Mainly this spun out of some of the observations around epic fantasy that I saw arising during the Gemmell Awards voting period, and I am interested to know what you think.

So far, the topics we’ve discussed have been:

What Makes Fantasy Epic?  and

What Makes for “The New” in Epic Fantasy?

Once again, this week’s question arises out of last week’s discussion. We had got onto cycles in Fantasy and Paul Weimer alluded to ‘sword and sorcery’ being hot now, but having had a dry spell for some time.

I also perceive epic fantasy as having had a dry spell but currently enjoying a resurgence—but am I right? And if you agree, what do you think has driven the resurgence?

I would love to hear your views. 🙂

“Really enjoyed …[the first two books of The Wall of Night]… They made my bookworm’s heart happy.”

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Orare’s comment appeared on ‘What I’m Doing… “Daughter of Blood, The Wall of Night Book Three.” ‘ Needless to say, finding out I had made a bookworm’s heart happy made me happy, too. 😉

I have a few SciFi books to give away right now, so I thought I might institute SciFi Giveaway Saturday — on a strictly ad hoc basis — until they’re gone.

But to be in to win you have to participate: each time I run this you’ll have to answer a question to enter. 😉

Today the book for giveaway is Philip Mann’s The Disestablishment Of Paradise (Gollancz) and the question is:

“What book first got you into reading science fiction?”

For me, it was Robert Heinlein’s The Door Into Summer, first read at around age 13.

Just comment with your answer anytime up until midnight, Friday 25 October (NZ time.)  I’ll  announce the result next Saturday 26th, with the draw (assuming there’s more than one comment) being made by means of Random.Org

Fully international, as always!

The Wall of Night Series map; design by Peter Fitzpatrick

The A Geography of Haarth post series is traversing the full range of locales and places from The Wall of Night world of Haarth.

Now the letter “I” may not encompass all the cool places, but with Ij, the Ijir and now Ishnapur, it certainly features quite a few! 😉

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Ishnapur:  a fabled city and empire on the southern edge of the known world, which borders the great deserts of Haarth.

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“A line of pewter marked the thousand leagues of road that ran from Emer to fabled Ishnapur and beyond that again was the vast and unknown desert, a sea of dunes wrought in jasper, topaz and bronze.”

~ from © The Heir Of Night: The Wall of Night Book One; Chapter 17 — Eye of the Storm

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‘ “It is a very long way from Ishnapur to Ij—especially for the unwary.” Something in the Master’s tone sent a chill down Jehane Mor’s spine. “Bringing down the heralds will send a message that no one is beyond our reach. But they must all be dead. No one must escape the net.” ‘

~ from © The Gathering Of The Lost: The Wall of Night Book Two; Chapter 5 — The Guild House

Congratulations to Eleanor Catton, whose second novel The Luminaries won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction yesterday — a tremendous achievement.

She is the second New Zealand novelist to do so, the first being Keri Hulme for The Bone People in 1985.

You can read the official announcement here.

A full NZ report on Stuff is here.

And Graham Beattie, who attended the Guildhall dinner, offers some “random thoughts” on his Bookblog, here.

I also loved Eleanor’s speech, as heard on Radio NZ, around “worth” and “value” — I think I have that right!