Elizabeth Knox: The Angel's Cut

Well known speculative fiction writer, Elizabeth Knox, author of the Vintner’s Luck and the Printz award winning  Dreamhunter/Dreamquake duology, was in Christchurch last night for an event sponsored by Women on Air, Plains 96.9 FM (the radio station and programme for which I do interviews.)

The weather was agin the event, but  Elizabeth Knox has a dedicated following so the numbers, although smallish, were enthusiastic as Knox spoke of her love of the Fantasy genre; although, in fact, she describes her writing as “fantastic naturalism”—fantastic happenings (if I have this right) in worlds that are very real. For example, even though the world in the Dream- duology is not our world, the society described is realistically Edwardian. And in terms of topography and landscape, very like Nelson/Golden Bay in New Zealand. (You see, not just Middle-Earth.)

Knox also spoke of the current gulf that exists between so-called “literary” fiction and the rest of literature today, a gulf that led her to steer away from the “Fantasy” label with novels such as Vintner’s Luck, in order to be taken seriously as a writer. If I understood Knox correctly, she believes that the gulf is artifical and so-called “literary” fiction simply another genre that has cleverly managed to occupy the moral high ground of the literary world. She then went on to talk about what for her is the great attraction of writing ‘Fantastic Naturalism’, in that it enables the writer to step outside  the straitjacket of realism, e.g. how the world really is, and/or the constraint of how history really happened, and make one’s own rules.

The evening concluded with a reading from Knox’s latest book, The Angel’s Cut, which is the sequel to Vintner’s Luck and follows the fortunes of the angel Xas in 1930s Hollywood. Audience members also had the opportunity to talk informally with Knox afterward.

Amongst the audience were eight of the incipient SpecFicNZ, an umbrella organization for NZ writers of SpecFic (including Fantastic Naturalism), which will be launched in Wellington in August, as part of Au Contraire, the 2010 Science-Fiction Fantasy convention. (SciFi, Fantasy, SpecFic, Fantastic Naturalism—as you can see, we’re definitey spoiled for choice of terminology.) Once the Knox event—definitely what brought us all out!—was done, we repaired to a local coffee house (The Coffee House, in fact)  for refreshment and conviviality in what was definitely a first ‘meet in person’ for most of us.  Writers of Epic Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Speculative Short Fiction and Supernatural Horror were all represented. Most importantly, a good time was had by all—and we have  agreed to ‘do it again soon’ over the traditional long lunch.

On Sunday 20 I wrote about winter solstice and Matariki, the Maori name for the Pleaides and also for the Maori New Year: the rising of the Pleaides into southern hemisphere skies was the traditional signal used to judge when to plant many of the next year’s crops. And as I wrote Sunday, the celebration of Matariki could be “anywhere from immediately, to the rising of the next full moon, or at the next new moon after Matariki first rose.”

Yesterday, the section of The Gathering of the Lost (The Wall of Night Series, Book Two) that I was working on centered around a festival called Summer’s Eve, which is “always held on the first new moon of summer.” Which got me thinking about influences on our writing, especially where the author is trying to create a world that feels “real” and resonates with the reader (yes, even when writing “Fantasy”).  For example, influences such as Matariki being celebrated, by certain Maori tribes (hapu or iwi), on the first new moon after the Pleiades constellation rose.

Other, perhaps clearer (given Matariki is nearer midwinter), influences for a festival of Summer’s Eve would be the northern hemisphere’s May Day, with its tradition of mumming (acting out folk stories), crowning the May Queen and (in England, anyway) dancing around a Maypole.  But when I lived in Sweden, the festival of Valborgsmassafton, which is also celebrated in Germany as Walpurgis Night, seemed almost as important as the May Day that followed. The nights are definitely shortening by 30 April, and Valborgsmassafton is celebrated by lighting bonfires in the long clear evenings and dancing and partying through the night and into May Day itself.  You can argue that bonfires are a traditional celebration in many circumstances, but I am sure it is not accident that one way in which “Summer’s Eve” is celebrated in my story is by lighting “fires for Imuln.”

I have been invited to become an editor of the Tuesday Poem blog—which is very cool.  In practical terms, this means that every 30th week I will get to select the poem that appears on the Tuesday Poem blog site, plus providing commentary for the selection. (What I was going to call my “terribly important thoughts” about the poem, but I don’t like the acronym so I’m going with “very important thoughts” instead. Et voila!)

I have also just had 2 poems, Giacometti and Oral History accepted for the forthcoming issue of JAAM, which is edition 28 with the theme of Dance Dance Dance and is edited by Helen Rickerby and Clare Needham. Helen Rickerby is also an editor of the Tuesday Poem blog, as well as having her own Winged Ink site, which well repays a visit. And if checking out her poetry online, I particularly recommend Empress Elisabeth. Hmm, yes: love that poem!

(By the way, have you noticed how many Helens there are in the world of contemporary NZ poetry:  Helen Heath, Helen Jacobs, Helen Lehndorf, Helen Lowe, Helen McKinley, Helen Rickerby, Helen Yong … to enumerate the few that immediately spring to mind. I have a feeling there may be more.)

Last but not least, the winner of the NZ Society of Authors Jessie Mackay Award for the Best First Book of Poetry is Selina Tusitala Marsh for Fast Talking PI (Auckland University Press.) Although disappointed that there is no shortlist for this award as there is for the National Poetry Award (are new voices so unworthy, powers that be?) I am very much looking forward to checking out Fast Talking PI.

The finalists for the New Zealand Post Poetry Award are:

Bernadette Hall for The Lustre Jug (Victoria University Press)

The Tram Conductor's Blue Cap

Michael Harlow for The Tram Conductor’s Blue Cap (Auckland University Press)

Brian Turner for Just This (Victoria University Press)

A line-up of heavyweights and—having read all three—all worthy contenders. I am going to re-read before daring to suggest a favourite … and besides, knowing 2 out of the 3 well enough to email, and one slightly better than that, would I dare, anyway?  On reflection, I may just leave it to the judging panel.

(Btw—did you notice a trend in terms of the publishers?)

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

John Donne 1571-1631

As virtuous men passe mildly away,
And whisper to their soules to goe,
Whilst some of their sad friends doe say,
“The breath goes now,” and some say, no:

So let us melt, and make no noise,
No teare-floods, nor sigh-tempests move,
‘Twere prophanation of our joyes
To tell the layetie our love.

Moving of th’ earth brings harmes and fears,
Men reckon what it did and meant,
But trepidation of the spheres,
Though greater farre, is innocent.

Dull sublunary lovers’ love
(Whose soule is sense) cannot admit
Absence, because it doth remove
Those things which elemented it.

But we by a love, so much refin’d,
That our selves know not what it is,
Inter-assured of the mind,
Care lesse, eyes, lips, and hands to misse.

Our two soules therefore, which are one,
Though I must goe, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to ayery thinness beate.

If they be two, they are two so
As stiffe twin compasses are two,
Thy soule the fixt foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if th’ other doe.

And though it in the center sit,
Yet when the other far doth rome,
It leanes, and hearkens after it,
And growes erect, as that comes home.

Such wilt thou be to mee, who must
Like th’ other foot, obliquely runne;
Thy firmnes drawes my circle just,
And makes me end, where I begunne.

Source: Donne, J., Selected Poems of John Donne, Reeves, J. ed, Heinemann Ltd, London, 1952

I have always loved the poetry of John Donne: the wealth and cleverness of his language; the extravagant intermingling of the profane and divine in his poetic imagery, juxtaposed with the taut discipline of poetic form–as well as Donne’s ability to springboard the reader into larger awareness through the use of a motif, such as the compass in this poem, which is mundane and everyday. I particularly like this poem, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, because although it displays all his hallmark cleverness, or wit, these cerebral qualities are balanced by tenderness and real depth of emotional feeling.

And courier vans turning up in the driveway—seriously, two separate courier vans!—and leaving packets and parcels to open. You may recall that this happened last Monday as well, when the AREs of The Heir of Night arrived …

"Thornspell, the Paperback"

Well, today it’s my author copies of the paperback edition of Thornspell and I have to say they look every bit as gorgeous as I imagined they would do. And this means that I definitely have the giveaways for July 2 when the paperback is officially on the shelves here in NZ. So stay watching for that if you, too, want the opportunity to open a package (maybe not brown paper, maybe not tied up with string, but still, a package) with one of these gorgeous books inside. 🙂

But then the second courier arrived, this time with a packet of cover flats for The Heir of Night—and I have to say they are very cool. So much so that I know I’ll just have to give away a couple soon. Now to think of that suitable occasion … Hmm, this could require the “thinking cap”, companion to the

"The Heir of Night" Cover Flat

“sorting hat” encountered in the context of our inaugural giveaway.

There’s a  great interview with Neil Gaiman currently up on Prospect magazine’s site, here.

I think it’s a fascinating read, particularly in terms of what Neil has to say about what a short story should be and do—and, in fact, ‘story’, full stop.  Definitely worth a look.

The spark for the interview was the release of the anthology, Stories, which includes work by both Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio.

Traditionally, either June 20 or 21 is our shortest day, so without being precisely certain, I’m picking today as “the date”—the unofficially official “winter solstice.” New Zealand is a fairly temperate country, so we don’t get a lot of snow outside of the mountains, and today wasn’t even that cold, although there was plenty of intermittent rain, and wind with a sharp bite. So although I had the opportunity to scale a near-vertical hillside on nearby Banks Peninsular, slogging my way through knee deep mud and the aforesaid wind and rain, by way of a winter solstice celebration, in the end I chickened out and chose the comforts of home instead. (Lack of boots and other appropriate winter walking gear, combined with the inclement conditions, was a major factor in this decision; the fact that I was probably a cat in a past life and mislike being wet, dirty and cold if I can possibly avoid it, may also have played its part.)

Loulandia

The near-vertical hillside in question belongs to my friend Lou, who has embarked on the strenuous and time-consuming project of revegetating it in native bush. (This should signal to those who know about reforestation projects, that Lou is a conservation superhero.)

“Loulandia”, as we like to call it, is a popular picnic venue for Lou’s friends

Lou, Conservation Superhero

—despite a steepish climb to the “picnic tree.” This climb can usually be managed by 4-wheel drive, but not at present, given the steepness of the terrain and 3 weeks of rain after a prolonged dry spell. And the ascent to the summit, with fantastic views west to the mountains and east—at the very top—to the sea, is a grand fine weather expedition (for a gal like me anyway; 3 intrepid folk did make the ascent today although I gather it was tough going.)

"Amon Sul" (aka Weathertop)

One of my favourite views is to a nearby rocky hillside which always makes me think of Amon Sul (Weathertop) in  The Fellowship of the Ring.  The photo is a little out of focus but I hope you get the ‘gist.’

As well as Winter Solstice in mid-June, 14 June (this year) also saw the official celebration of Matariki, the Maori New Year. (Maori are nga tangata whenua—translated, “the people of the land”—or indigenous first people of Aotearoa-New Zealand.) Matariki is the Maori name for the Pleiades star cluster; the rising of these stars was important for traditional agriculture in terms of signalling when to plant certain crops, such as the staple kumara (sweet potato.)

The first rising of Matariki/the Pleiades occurs just prior to dawn in late May/early June, although

Matariki

traditionally the celebration could take place anywhere from immediately, to the rising of the next full moon, or at the next new moon after Matariki first rose.

And just to end with one last image of Loulandia, as we dream of a return to the sunlit green of summer, here is a photo of regenerating poroporo:

Poroporo

Catalyst is a literary journal published out of Lyttelton (the port town on the other side of the hills from Christchurch) with a focus on poetry, prose, experimental works, song lyrics, script/screenplay excerpts as well as visual art and spoken word. I personally think it is one of the more interesting literary journals currently being published in New Zealand: not only are a diverse range of “voices” represented, especially in poetry, but you can also expect to find poetry by Cuban or West African poets—amongst others—as well as New Zealanders. Expect the unexpected, in other words.

The editors are Ciaran Fox and Doc Drumheller, and besides producing Catalyst they have run several very successful poetry idol competitons as part of the biennial Christchurch Writers’ festival—as well as keeping the Catalyst Open Mic poetry nights running once a month for several years now.  The current venue is Al’s Bar on Dundas Street, on the fringe of downtown Christchurch (no, that isn’t an oxymoron) and the evenings are a little like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates—you never know what you’re going to get. From rap to ballads, straight-out storytelling to sonnets, pub poetry to post-modern offerings, actual haiku to “just very short poems”, there’s always an array of poetic fare on offer in that most egalitarian of environments: the pub. Elitist, the Catalyst open mic evenings are not; fun, they usually always are.

So if you’re a poet—or just enjoy hearing poetry—and are in Christchurch (that’s South Island, New Zealand) on the first Wednesday of any month, Al’s Bar on Dundas Street, from 8 pm until the joint stops jumpin’, is the place to be.

And just a whisper in advance—there’s changes ahead on the Catalyst blog and as part of those changes I’ll be posting a guest blog on their site on the 1st of every month, starting 1 July.  And just to get further into the giveaway spirit started here this week, I’ll be giving away some free poetry collections (ie books) as part of the opening salvo.

And what a week it’s been with several “Big Blog Days” – a welcome from Bookman Beattie on Monday, followed by my official debut on the Out of this Eos blog Tuesday, celebrating the excitement of AREs arriving and also a cover quote from Robin Hobb: giddy and heady events for any writer as we approach the shortest and darkest day here in NZ – that’s the longest and lightest, of course, for northern hemisphere readers 🙂 (The seasonal inversion takes some getting your head around, doesn’t it?)

Through all this, of couse, I’ve been working on getting that revision of Part 2 of Gathering (that’s The Wall of Night, Book Two for those of you who’re new to the blog) done as well – and guess what, today it was almost a wrap …  You may recall that last week I spoke about how sometimes, as an author, I find that the way I originally envisage a character will change and evolve in response to the action of the story and other characters encountered. When that happens, it’s necessary to go back and ensure that the character, as originally written, will evolve in a real and believable way.

So that’s the one task I have left to do with Part 2: I’ve gone through it sequentially from beginning to end, but this means that I am now aware that there are still a few tweaks required to one of the characters for the sake of continuity and believability.

Did I hear someone say, “so what’s the problem that needs fixing?” Here’s the thing: the way this character evolves, it becomes clear that s/he (not givin’ too much away here) is actually quite kickass, but there’s some earlier passages where I’m concerned that s/he may come across as too passive – and although there’s a good reason for the character coming across this way, I still need to make sure that the later transition is believable.

Next question: so why do it now rather than waiting until I’ve written the whole book? Every writer’s approach and experience is different, but I have found that it is better to address issues like this while they are fresh in my mind, especially if the effect I am trying to achieve is nuance, rather than big picture change.  And in this case, the evolution of this particular character is critical to the next stage of the story, so I suspect that getting matters right now will save a great deal more work in the future.

So not quite done with Part 2 yet, but very close – and the parts I was rereading this afternoon were really rocking along. And I have to say, enjoying your own story is as good a reason as any to reread from time to time.

But for now, whether you’re celebrating the longest or shortest day – enjoy your weekends!

Kate (from, I believe, Australia) courtesy of the official “Sorting Hat”

The Sorting Hat

Congratulations, Kate!

To everyone else who posted a comment, I am sorry there could “be only one”—but if you are one of the folk from the US or Canada, you can still leave a comment on the Out of this Eos blog and be in for one of their 5 ARE giveaways.

But don’t forget that there will be another giveaway on July 2, this time for the new paperback editions of Thornspell.

And I am sure there will be more Heir giveaways, too, as we get closer to US, Australia, and New Zealand publication in October. (UK publication is not until March 2011.)

(Note: If I have not been able to confirm with Kate within 48 hours, the “sorting hat” will be redeployed, but I do not imagine this will be necessary.)