The Cybillers are getting started pulling together panelists and judges for this year's Cybils Award. I had a great time serving on the Fantasy and SciFi Panel last year. For a hardcore reader to have a serious excuse to read intensely at all times of the day and night and to receive books--sometimes by the armful--delivered to her door is just incredible. On top of that, I had my Cybil friends to e-mail with about books. Really, I was living the life God meant me to live. I'm sure of it.
I think the Cybils are going to become an important award because 1. the nominations come from the public, and 2. bloggers can write about any of the books, not just the finalists, while they're under consideration, thus giving needed publicity to books and authors. It is truly a unique award.
Though I loved being part of the Cybils and I think they're important, I'm going to force myself to pass on getting involved with them this year because I need to pay more attention to work this fall and winter than I did last year. Not only did I blow off everything while Cybilizing, it took me a month and a half to get myself back into anything remotely like a work mode.
But if you're a blogger who would love to read for a greater good, this is a wonderful opportunity. Look into it.
Actually, my Cybils experience did help me get The Durand Cousins off the ground, even though I wasn't working on it that much during December. What happened was that I was reading all that scifi and fantasy so I'm sort of in scifi/fantasy mode. I'm simmering in it. The Durand Cousins has a science fiction element, and I needed an initial starting point for one thread to make everything work. I'm thinking and thinking about this, I don't know what I'm going to do. But, remember, scifi and fantasy was my life just then.
So one day I'm riding in the car, in a scifi/fantasy fog, when all of a sudden an idea springs fully formed into my mind. I realize that I can use the basic premise of a book I tried to write right after I got out of college. And I did use it. Only time will tell if it worked, but it made it possible for me to procede with this project.
Another great moment in Gail's Cybils experience
Friday, September 14, 2007
More Literary Happenings This Weekend
Burlington isn't the only spot with a lit festival this weekend. Boston will be the setting for the Boston Globe Children's Book Festival.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
This Could Be Interesting
I just noticed that Camille Paglia will be announcing the finalists for the National Book Award. I am rather fond of Paglia's Salon columns, even though a portion of many of them are just a bit over my head. But, otherwise, I find her to be a bit of a loose canon. I like loose canons.
I keep wondering if Paglia will read all the finalists. Will she read the finalists for young people's literature? Will she comment on them somewhere? What does she think of YA literature? I can just imagine her expounding on the evolving sexuality of the adolescent and how this is reflected in today's YA literature. Though when I imagine her expounding on it, she sounds a lot better than I just did in the preceding sentence.
Holy jump up and sit down! I just read at that National Book Award site that Fran Lebowitz has written a children's book! Had I heard this and repressed it for some reason? Or didn't believe it?
I own a copy of Lebowitz's Metropolitan Life that I bought when it--and she--were new and quite cutting edge, and I was first interested in reading essays. My recollection is that they were kind of slight and very urban for my taste. But maybe I'll give them another shot. Maybe now I'm slighter and suburban enough to not be so put off by accounts of city life. I think I remember her talking about sleeping a lot. But perhaps I'll find I was thinking of someone else.
I keep wondering if Paglia will read all the finalists. Will she read the finalists for young people's literature? Will she comment on them somewhere? What does she think of YA literature? I can just imagine her expounding on the evolving sexuality of the adolescent and how this is reflected in today's YA literature. Though when I imagine her expounding on it, she sounds a lot better than I just did in the preceding sentence.
Holy jump up and sit down! I just read at that National Book Award site that Fran Lebowitz has written a children's book! Had I heard this and repressed it for some reason? Or didn't believe it?
I own a copy of Lebowitz's Metropolitan Life that I bought when it--and she--were new and quite cutting edge, and I was first interested in reading essays. My recollection is that they were kind of slight and very urban for my taste. But maybe I'll give them another shot. Maybe now I'm slighter and suburban enough to not be so put off by accounts of city life. I think I remember her talking about sleeping a lot. But perhaps I'll find I was thinking of someone else.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Big Weekend Coming Up In Vermont
The Burlington Book Festival will be held this weekend in Burlington, Vermont. It's only the festival's third year, but look at the authors it's attracting.
Book festivals seem like a relatively new concept to me. I'm always reading of them now. Any yet book sales are going down and we're told no one is reading.
Book festivals seem like a relatively new concept to me. I'm always reading of them now. Any yet book sales are going down and we're told no one is reading.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Mom Was Cool With It
My offspring have made it clear that as far as my work is concerned, they're not interested in anything less than a book. I find it very awkward telling my nonwriter friends (who outnumber my writer friends by quite a bit) that I've had something new published because they seem to feel the line between wanting to spread the joy and just plain bragging is very fine. The spouse, of course, doesn't count.
So I made a copy of my essay for the new issue of The Horn Book and gave it to my mother because who else is left? I was a little worried about how she would take it. I was afraid she'd think that I'd portrayed us as hillbillies or that she'd be offended by the news that I desperately wanted to leave town when I was a teenager.
As it turned out, she thought the piece was true to life. Perhaps the part about my wanting to leave home came as no surprise; I may not have been very subtle about it. At any rate, her question was "Who gets this magazine?" She was hoping a woman she'd known back in the hilltown would get a chance to see it.
I found this a little odd because I was under the impression they'd had a falling out thirty to thirty-five years ago and don't speak.
So I made a copy of my essay for the new issue of The Horn Book and gave it to my mother because who else is left? I was a little worried about how she would take it. I was afraid she'd think that I'd portrayed us as hillbillies or that she'd be offended by the news that I desperately wanted to leave town when I was a teenager.
As it turned out, she thought the piece was true to life. Perhaps the part about my wanting to leave home came as no surprise; I may not have been very subtle about it. At any rate, her question was "Who gets this magazine?" She was hoping a woman she'd known back in the hilltown would get a chance to see it.
I found this a little odd because I was under the impression they'd had a falling out thirty to thirty-five years ago and don't speak.
I'm Not The Only One Who Really, Really Likes Them
Just yesterday I posted about my stint as guest reviewer at the Buy a Friend a Book Week site. Today I found two bloggers writing about two of the three books I recommended.
Leila at bookshelves of doom liked A Certain Slant of Light so much that she's probably going to go out and buy her own copy. And Colleen at Chasing Ray has very good things to say about Corbenic in a post on accepting the call in quest stories.
Leila at bookshelves of doom liked A Certain Slant of Light so much that she's probably going to go out and buy her own copy. And Colleen at Chasing Ray has very good things to say about Corbenic in a post on accepting the call in quest stories.
Monday, September 10, 2007
A Plea For Brevity
Remember Goodby to All That? The essay on book reviewing that I told you about last week? Sure, you do.
One of the author's points was that there is a movement toward shorter reviews, which does not give a good critic much space to really analyze a book. He argued for longer reviews. At Critical Mass, I just found a response to that. Michael O'Donnell says, "...rigorous writing—rigorous thinking—is concise, not stretched out, corpulent, flabby. I'll take a lean review, spare as a runner headed round a quarter-mile track. I know I can't be alone in disagreeing with the notion that it takes 2500 words to express an idea, or in feeling a little impatient with those writers who are too grand to pick the important things, say them, and then stop."
No, Mr. O'Donnell, you are not.
While I was reading Wasserman's essay I wondered about the desirability of a lot of long book reviews, too. I wasn't thinking so much of the quality of the writing as I was of my lack of time. (O'Donnell also points out that he's a busy guy.) Even if we all had all the time in the world, there's supposed to be 150,000 books published every year. The reality is that in order to be exposed to as many titles as possible so that I can make decisions about reading as many books as possible, I can't sit down and read too many term-paper length reviews. In fact, since I prefer not to read detailed reviews until after I've read a book, I like something short to make me aware titles are out there, what they're about, and a little bit of the reviewer's impression of the quality.
Now, I realize that reviewing is actually an artform, a type of writing. I should be reading them for something other than my own selfish purposes. I shouldn't be using them to seek out some other type of writing (books) that I want to read. But, well, life is short. The reality is that I have to seek out shorter reviews.
Reviewers really do have it rough. I actually read books, and look what a poor attitude I have.
One of the author's points was that there is a movement toward shorter reviews, which does not give a good critic much space to really analyze a book. He argued for longer reviews. At Critical Mass, I just found a response to that. Michael O'Donnell says, "...rigorous writing—rigorous thinking—is concise, not stretched out, corpulent, flabby. I'll take a lean review, spare as a runner headed round a quarter-mile track. I know I can't be alone in disagreeing with the notion that it takes 2500 words to express an idea, or in feeling a little impatient with those writers who are too grand to pick the important things, say them, and then stop."
No, Mr. O'Donnell, you are not.
While I was reading Wasserman's essay I wondered about the desirability of a lot of long book reviews, too. I wasn't thinking so much of the quality of the writing as I was of my lack of time. (O'Donnell also points out that he's a busy guy.) Even if we all had all the time in the world, there's supposed to be 150,000 books published every year. The reality is that in order to be exposed to as many titles as possible so that I can make decisions about reading as many books as possible, I can't sit down and read too many term-paper length reviews. In fact, since I prefer not to read detailed reviews until after I've read a book, I like something short to make me aware titles are out there, what they're about, and a little bit of the reviewer's impression of the quality.
Now, I realize that reviewing is actually an artform, a type of writing. I should be reading them for something other than my own selfish purposes. I shouldn't be using them to seek out some other type of writing (books) that I want to read. But, well, life is short. The reality is that I have to seek out shorter reviews.
Reviewers really do have it rough. I actually read books, and look what a poor attitude I have.
Gene Yang Interview
Through Blog of a Bookslut I found this interview excerpt with Gene Yang at The Comics Journal's website. You have to know a lot more about comics and graphic novels than I do to get the full benefit of what these guys are saying, but Gene Yang does talk about his faith and his experience with racism as a teenager.
I Really, Really Like Them
October's Buy a Friend a Book Week is nearly upon us. Guess who the BAFAB Week guest reviewer is for October, 2007. No! No! Me! It's me! I'm the guest reviewer!
I recommended three YA favorites of mine that I thought had good adult cross-over potential, since the BAFAB Week is directed toward a general audience. My choices: A Certain Slant of Light, Corbenic, and The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation.
A couple of years ago, I actually bought A Certain Slant of Light for a friend during Buy a Friend a Book.
So get ready to go forth and shop, people.
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