31 May 2007

Summer Reading, part II

We've talked at Word Nerd already about some of the hot book picks for summer reading this summer, but if you need some more inspiration/motivation to hit the books (fun books, that is) during the next few months, maybe this will help.




Join the RBL Summer Mystery Reading Challenge 2007.




What do you have to do, you ask, to be part of this challenge. Easy -- read six mysteries by six authors you have never read before between June 1 and August 31. Why? Because challenge organizers say that the mystery genre has exploded in the last few years. Instead of just sticking with the gumshoes you know, it's time to go sleuthing for somebody else. Plus, if you complete the challenge, there could be prizes. For full challenge details, click here.

Word Nerd's already working on what six mysteries she's going to read. You can help out by voting in the poll over there ---> to help her decide what new P.I. series she should read one from.

If a mystery book challenge isn't your thing, check your local library for what summer reading program they are offering. For you Oshkosh folks, the Oshkosh Public Library has summer reading programs for adults, teens and kids. Again, they all have prizes (noting a theme here?).
So, grab the beach towels, picnic baskets and best-sellers and get reading!

30 May 2007

Author Answer with Victoria Houston

If you want to get "hooked" by a new author, then cast your eyes toward Victoria Houston, author of eight northwoods Wisconsin mystery books. Her latest book featuring dentist-slash-fisherman Doc Osborne and police chief Lew Ferris -- Dead Madonna -- was released this spring from Bleak House Books.

For more on Houston, check out her website.

WN:
Dead Madonna is the eighth book in your series… what do you like about your characters that keeps you coming back to tell more stories involving them?

HOUSTON: Each of my main characters is distilled from memories of people I knew growing up: People I found fascinating, people for whom I had great affection. The famous author, Willa Cather, once said “people write from the memories they have from before the age of thirteen” and that is very true for me. Take Doc Osborne for example. My father was a dentist, my grandfather was a dentist, my uncle was a dentist – and I worked in the dental office as a teenager. Doc Osborne is distilled from my memories of those three men – their virtues, their flaws, the good and the difficult times in their lives.

So each book is an opportunity to spend time with dear friends.

WN: Your books involve fishing… do you fish yourself?

HOUSTON: I sure do. I grew up in a household where it was understood you practiced dentistry for only one reason: to be able to afford to fish. I fished almost every day as a kid, which was easy – went with my grandfather or to the kiddie fish pond that the Jaycees had built in the middle of town. Fished for pan fish. And, at age eleven, gave up fishing for boys – but at age fifty I saw the light and gave up boys for fishing! Actually, I took up fly fishing when I moved back here in 1996. I try to get out bait fishing during the summer, too, for bluegills, walleye and I would LOVE to catch a muskie. I’m not an expert by any means – but I love it.

WN: How else does living in northern Wisconsin impact your writing?

HOUSTON: I’m able to observe the people, hear the voices and spend time in a landscape – the water and the woods. It’s a world that never ceases to charm me. I feel the landscape of the northwoods is a character in my books as much as the people are. Don’t know if I could write it as easily as I do if I weren’t able to see, hear and feel it around me every day. This is the culture that I grew up in and it is comforting to live back here.

WN: Were you a reader as a kid… what turned you on to reading/writing books?

HOUSTON: Oh yes! I was the eight-year-old who checked out 20 books a week from the library. Today I am on our library board – my way of “giving back” for all the pleasure I got from reading as a kid. It helped that both my parents were readers. We got the Readers Digest Condensed Books every month and I devoured those. As for writing, I’ve always loved words, enjoyed (believe it or not!) diagramming sentences. Writing is an enjoyment for me and I like to think I’ve always had an aptitude for it. Better than singing that’s for sure – I can’t sing a note but I can write a full paragraph!!

WN: What’s the best part of being a writer to you? What’s the most challenging part of writing for you?

HOUSTON: The best part is the total escape that writing offers me – once I sit down to work, which I do for only an hour or two a day, five days a week – I’m in a zone that I find very satisfying. The hard part is making myself sit down to do it. I worry that I’ll not do a good job and I have to remind myself that I’ve written eight books before and I can – and will -- do it again.

WN: What’s next for you as a writer?

HOUSTON: Well, I’m under contract for two more books in the Loon Lake Mystery series. Also, I have a full time job in public relations, which requires good writing. And I’m taking notes for another book, not so much a mystery, that will be fiction and set in the northwoods but that’s likely a few years away from being finished.

WN: What is the best/most influential book you have ever read and why did it inspire you?

HOUSTON: I love Willa Cather's work. Two of her books, O Pioneers! and My Antonia, continue to have an enourmous influence on me. I reread them every few years. Her prose is sparse and very contemporary. You can see and hear the people and the land and be instantly caught up in that world. I just hope I can do that for my readers.

29 May 2007

Book Banter -- Most Wanted

Title: Most Wanted
Author: Michele Martinez
Length: 366 pages
Genre: thriller/mystery/suspense
Plot Basics: US Attorney Melanie Vargas takes her baby, Maya, out for a walk and finds herself at the scene of a fire and murder of high-profile attorney Jed Benson. Melanie fights to keep control of the case to jump-start her career. But while her career might be getting ahead, her marriage is falling apart. As Melanie pursues the case, she has to work with FBI agent Dan O'Reilly, who might have more than just professional interest in her.
Banter Points: A suspenseful read with several plot twists. The Melanie/O'Reilly plot was good too... a good blend of believable attraction plus the right amount of cold feet for Melanie. It was also fun to see a female investigator with a background in investigating, instead of some of the other amateur chick lit sleuths.
Bummer Points: Some of the bad guy characters (and a couple of the good ones) all talk in something similar to ebonics. Word Nerd supposes it lends the characters some degree of authenticity, but it's annoying to read sentences with poor grammar.
Word Nerd recommendation: Martinez has a few other Melanie Vargas books out which Word Read plans on reading.

23 May 2007

Author Answers with Kelly Parra

If you want to find this week's author, Kelly Parra, on the web, you won't have to look too hard.

Parra's got a handful of websites and blogs where she's a regular writer. She's regularly on her blog, Words of a Writer, chats up authors at Words of an Author edits the flash fiction site Fictional Musings and talks about YA fiction on YA Fresh. You can also find her debut novel, Graffiti Girl, on shelves now.

WN:
Tell us about Graffiti Girl…. How’d you give the idea for the story?
PARRA: Graffiti Girl is about a high school Mexican-American artist named Angel. Angel is drawn into the underground world of graffiti art, feeling this is the only method her artwork will be accepted and still allow her to stay true to her cultural identity. It's a story of finding where you belong and believing in your talent enough to be different.

The idea for Graffiti Girl came about because I was big on art during high school, and I had friends who were into graffiti art. I tried my hand at the style on paper with no success but I always admired the bold artistic style. So when I thought of the story line, I started research and put together a proposal.

WN: What was the process like from when you got the idea to now and having a book out?
PARRA: Since Graffiti Girl is my first young adult novel, it was an uphill battle. I hadn't read much YA since high school and was unsure of the voice I wanted to write for teenagers. Did I have to change my writing tone? Did I have to write in a way that was uncomfortable to me? It took a couple of drafts for a partial that eventually sold to MTV/Pocket Books. I then heard from my new editor and she gave me a revision letter. I had a brief deadline to finish the book, which was a splash of water in the face. I couldn't just write when I felt like it anymore! The whole process to first draft, revisions, copy edits, to packaging has all been an interesting and rewarding experience.

WN: You’re a mom in addition to being a writer. How do you balance those parts of your life since both are time-consuming?
PARRA: The balance is often uneven. When I'm not on deadline I'm doing all I can for my family, but when it comes to crunch time, I have my face on my laptop any spare moment I can manage. I depend on my husband and children to help with some of the duties I usually handle. It's definitely a team effort.

WN: Were you a reader as a kid… what turned you on to reading/writing books?
PARRA: I was addicted to V.C. Andrews as a kid, yet I didn't decide to try my hand at writing an actual novel until I was pregnant with my first child and had a lot of time on my hands for reading. One day I read an author's bio that she was a stay-at-home mom and living in a neighboring town. It was the first time I thought I might be able to try and write a book too, and that day sat down to write.

WN: What’s the best part of being a writer to you? What’s the most challenging part of writing for you?
PARRA: The best part of being a writer is to be able to think up people that don't exist and have them come alive for readers. And it's really a great feeling to be paid for something I love.

The two most challenging parts of writing is writing to a deadline and keeping up with the market by thinking of story ideas with a new twist. Editors are always looking for something new and fresh. Writers have to fit that bill, especially if they are debut writers.

WN: What’s next for you as a writer?
PARRA: I just sold my second young adult novel to MTV Books about a girl who anonymously blogs about her ability to see psychic images or signs on her fellow students and attempts to piece together the clues in order to help save them from unfortunate fates. I'm excited about finishing the book and playing with the paranormal element, which is a new aspect for me in my writing.

WN: What is the best/most influential book you have ever read and why did it inspire you?
PARRA: I've actually read many powerful and influential books in the last few years, however the most recent was The Pact by Jodi Picoult. She is a fascinating storyteller and able to create complex and unique characters. This book made me feel many emotions. It has inspired me to one day be able to write such intriguing stories.

22 May 2007

Losing one of the greats

Children's fantasy author Lloyd Alexander died on May 17, 2007.

Alexander, 83, was the author of the Prydain Chronicles. The fifth book in that series, The High King won a Newberry Medal in 1969. In 1966, the second book in the series, The Black Cauldron, was a runner-up for the Newberry Medal.

Alexander's last book, The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio, is scheduled to be published in August.

Word Nerd first stumbled across The Black Cauldron in third grade thanks to one of those Scholastic book order forms. Not realizing that book was a sequel, she, at the time, didn't get it and gave up on reading it, until the following year when she found the first book, The Book of Three.

After that, she was hooked on the tale of Taran, the apprentice pig-keeper, and his adventures with Hen Wen, the pig, Fflewder Fflam, the bard, and Princess Eilonwy. These characters and books were some of Word Nerd's early inspiration for wanting to be a writer.

It's too bad that the literary world doesn't have a gesture to honor one of its own, the way Broadway dims the lights of theatres. Lloyd Alexander would deserve it.

21 May 2007

Book Banter -- Destroyer


Title: Destroyer (Foreigner series bk. 7)
Author: C.J. Cherryh
Length: 345 pages
Genre: sci-fi
Plot Basics: Bren Cameron, the interpreter/negotiator for between the atevi and humans, returns to the space station above the atevi homeworld after a two-year trip in space, only to discover that the politics on the planet have fallen apart. The atevi ruler, Tabini, has been deposed and no one knows for sure if he's alive or assassinated. Bren, along with Tabini's grandmother and his 8-year-old son have to make a desperate attempt to get back on world and move against the rival political factions.
Banter Points: This book was a return to the world-based plot and politics of the first three books in the series, rather than the interstellar plot of books five and six. It was nice to see Cherryh use the plot device that things had continued on on the planet during the time Bren was gone, rather than having the crisis start when he returned.
Bummer Points: Again, lots of Bren's internal monologue that slows the plot way down in the middle of the book as the reader has to slog through his analysis with him.
Word Nerd recommendation: If you've read this far in the series, it's worth it to keep going.

18 May 2007

A new publishing wrinkle

A heads-up to authors out there shopping for a publisher for their books.

According to the Authors Guild, publishers Simon and Schuster appear to be change their contract language. According to the Authors Guild release, the new contract would let S&S retain rights for the book even when it goes out of print. Normally, rights revert back to the author when a book goes out of print. This is why a book can be re-released by a different publisher.

What the new S&S contract language could do is make it so the publishing house would never have to give up the rights to the book, or basically, that the author is stuck with that house forever. Authors Guild is keeping an eye on this to see if other publishers follow suit.

Also, in lighter news, Stacie from Raspberry-Latte is now one of the group bloggers over at Start Writing Now.

You can check out her first post here.

17 May 2007

Staying on track

Yes, the page count meter keeps moving ahead.
Word Nerd's currently enjoying the scene she's in because it's a really important one. Not that the one before it wasn't important, but this one is really important. Major plot point sort of important.
Word Nerd's only up two pages (not counting the one she needs to write today still... writing's a mostly evening endeavor). That leaves four more to try to get ahead by about Wednesday of next week, but hopefully that will be possible.

16 May 2007

Author Answers with Carolyn Hart

This week's author, Carolyn Hart, has a writing career that spans more than 20 years and includes both non-fiction books for kids as well as the Death on Demand series mysteries, featuring Annie Laurance and Max Darling. She's also written the Henrie O mysteries, the latest of which "Set Sail for Murder" was recently published by William Morrow

WN: How did you create the character of Henrie O?
HART: I wrote a short story which was included in an anthology published by my then editor. She loved the character and asked me to do a series. SET SAIL FOR MURDER is Henrie O's seventh adventure. Henrie O is my tribute to women who were young during World War II. Society often dismisses those who are older as negligible. I see age as an enhancement, not a burden. Henrie O is savvy, clever, insightful, and adventurous. Past experience gives her an edge in dealing with almost every situation.

WN: You’ve been writing mysteries for years. What changes have you noticed in the genre over that time?
HART: Mystery publishing was the preserve of American men with hardboiled privatye eye mysteries and dead English ladies with traditional mysteries from the 1930s through the 1950s. There was also a market in the 50s for romantic suspense. American women writing traditional mysteries had little chance of being published.

Marcia Muller, Sue Grafton and Sara Paretsky transformed the market witht their hardbopiled private eye books featuring a female protagonist. New York published the books because they fit their conception of the American mystery even though written by women. The success of these books suggested that American readers were interested in books written by American women with women protagonists. This opened the market to writers such as myself. In the late 1980s mystery lists were dominated by male writers. Now American women provide 52 per cent of all hardcover mysteries published every year. This is a huge transformation of the market.

WN: You've been called the American Agatha Christie… what’s your reaction to that moniker?
HART: Delight. She is and was and will always be the world's greatest mystery writer. To be compared to her is a great honor.

WN: What’s the best part of being a writer to you?
HART: I love having written. It is always a struggle to begin a book and to find my way through to the end. But the wonderful day arrives when I have completed the first draft. That's when I have fun. I have the book. Now I can try to make it better. Thart is the most fun of writing to me.

WN: What’s the most challenging part of writing for you?
HART: Writing the first draft. I am unable to outline. I have to take the characters and the idera and hope by the grace of God to find the story.

WN: What’s next for you as a writer?
HART: I've already turned in two books for 2008. DEATH WALKED IN , the 18th in the Death on Demand series, will be published in April 2008. When Max and Annie restore an an old antebellum house, a hidden package brings murder. When Annie discovers the secret of Franklin house, death walks in. GHOST AT WORK, the first in a new series, will be published in fall 2008. The late Bailey Ruth Raeburn, an impetuous redheaded ghost, returns to earth to help someone in trouble.

WN: What is the best/most influential book you have ever read and why did it inspire you?
HART: When I read LITTLE WOMEN, I understood Jo's passion and knew it was mine.

15 May 2007

Book Banter -- The Haunting of Hill House


Title: The Haunting of Hill House
Author: Shirley Jackson
Length: 182 pages
Genre: literary fiction
Plot Basics: Dr. Montague recruits three other people -- Theodora, Eleanor and Luke -- to spend a summer with him at Hill House in a sort of quasi-scientific venture. All four will be chronicling their experiences with the supernatural phenomenon that happen at Hill House. Upon her arrival, Eleanor is frightened by the house with its strange layout of rooms and doors that won't stay open. And as the happenings get stranger, one of the four could be the house's next victim.
Banter Points: Jackson, who's most famous for her short story, "The Lottery," crafts a taught psychological story with "Hill House." It's not the kind of spooky story that makes the reader want to turn on all the lights, but Jackson convincingly fools the reader about what's real and what's not.
Bummer Points: The writing style gets convoluted at some points as the reader sinks into Eleanor's thoughts.


Word Nerd recommendation:If you're looking for a horror-movie type scary book, this isn't it. If you are looking for an interesting book to do a book report on in school, this one would provide enough material to do a good literary analysis.


14 May 2007

Book Banter - It's Not You It's Me


Title: It's Not You It's Me
Author: Allison Rushby
Length: 281 pages
Genre: chick lit
Plot Basics: Charlie (Charlotte) and Jas (Jasper) were flatmates for awhile, until the apartment was scheduled for demolition and Charlie makes a move for Jas that nearly demolishes their friendship. Now, a few years later Charlie and Jas are reunited when Charlie gets bumped up to first class on a plane and finds Jas on the same flight. Their friendship rekindles, but before the trip is over, both Charlie and Jas have to some truths about themselves and work out what happened the last night that they were flatmates.
Banter Points: This book was like reading a romantic comedy movie. (Why it hasn't made it to the big screen is baffling to Word Nerd). Charlie and Jas were both a bit over the top as characters and the story had some laugh-aloud moments. Word Nerd's had hard time figuring out quite why she found Charlie and Jas to be such compelling characters, but by the end of the book, she really cared about them and wanted to make sure they got a good ending.
Bummer Points: The ending is a bit abrupt. But like romantic comedy movies, a reader just has to take it on faith that everything will work out.
Word Nerd recommendation: This is a great book if you are looking for a heartwarming, fast read.

11 May 2007

What it's about. Roughly

A couple people have asked what the current work-in-progress is about.
And since I hadn't yet boiled the whole story down to a couple sentences, I decided to take a stab a that yesterday. It's not completely polished yet, this two-sentence version of my book, but it is accurate.

Ready? Here goes, the boiled down plot of Word Nerd's current WIP:
Sedine swore an oath when she became Guardian of the Crown Prince that she would share the prince's responsibility of running a kingdom, state secrets and all. But when the state secrets include conspiracy and murder, Sedine has to rethink her loyalty and her responsibility not just to the prince, but the kingdom.
Yes, it's a fantasy story of sorts, but minus any elves or any other critters and sans sorcery as well. As of yet, it's also untitled. That's a hurdle for much, much later.

In other WIP news, the May page count is on track, actually about a half-page ahead, but the word meter doesn't do decimals well. She's got to get ahead of schedule by about 6 pages by the end of the month because there are clearly some days coming up on the calendar where writing just isn't likely to happen. Word Nerd's just glad she realized this now instead of later.

10 May 2007

Book Banter -- Touch the Dark


Title: Touch the Dark
Author: Karen Chance
Length: 307 pages
Genre: paranormal/urban fantasy
Plot Basics: Cassie Palmer has done her best to avoid Tony, the master vampire, ever since she escaped his clutches a few years ago. Tony kept her around because her skills as a clairvoyant were useful to him. But when a death threat shows up, Cassie thinks he's finally caught up with her. In trying to escape, Cassie finds herself in the clutches of a group of master vamps, mages and the Fey who are all trying to either protect her... or kill her. Meanwhile, her clairvoyant powers are increasing, and the stakes for her getting stronger are ones Cassie may not want to take.
Banter Points: Pretty good addition into the whole vampire/paranormal fiction genre. Word Nerd liked how Chance took some historical and fictional figures (Count Dracula and Rasputin, for example) and turned them into characters for her book, explaining some of their stories with her vampire myth.
Bummer Points: For readers of this genre, it's far too easy to see Cassie as Anita Blake (girl with powers that she doesn't necessarily want) and Mircea the Master Vamp as Jean-Claude (the master vampire trying to woo the girl, complete with a pet name in a foreign language).
Word Nerd recommendation: Fans who like the early Anita Blake books should like this one.

09 May 2007

Author Answers with Karen Chance

This week's author is Karen Chance, who wrote Touch the Dark and Claimed by Shadow. Claimed by Shadow made the NYT Extended List and made it into the USAToday list as well.

For more on Chance, visit her website.

WN: How did you come up with your character of Cassie Palmer?

CHANCE: I wanted to do something a little different, and no one had a clairvoyant as their lead character, much less one brought up by the vampire mafia! I also wanted to do time-travel in the books, because I’m a historian by profession. My lead character becomes the Pythia, the world’s chief clairvoyant (based on the ancient Greek oracle at Delphi), who can not only see the past, but travel into it.

WN: With the boom in books having plots involving the paranormal, what's different about your paranormal world that fans of the genre will like?

CHANCE: Cassie is a strong female lead, but not a comic book type character. She has limitations and has to use her intelligence and the allies she is able to make to survive, instead of constantly gaining new powers. There are also a lot of strong supporting characters in the books, as I like the entire cast to be as memorable as the lead.

WN: From your perspective, why are paranormals so popular right now?

CHANCE: The recent successes of Harry Potter, Buffy and Lord of the Rings certainly hasn’t hurt! But I think it’s also a factor that today’s urban fantasy has very little to do with the old sword and sorcery tales. It tends to cross genre lines and combine the best of a number of worlds. For example, my books mix mystery, fantasy, romance and action/adventure. Someone who likes mysteries, but has been thinking that they’d like to try something new, might be tempted to pick up a fantasy that incorporates mystery as one element. The same is true for romance, which has developed quite a large paranormal subgenre lately.

WN: Were you a reader as a kid... what turned you on to reading/writing books?

CHANCE: My mother read a lot and always had many books scattered around the house.
We also had a great local library where I discovered Agatha Christie, Tolkien, Rex Stout, Bradbury and many more wonderful authors.

WN: What's the best part of being a writer to you? What's the most challenging
part of writing for you?

CHANCE: The best part would probably be when someone e-mails me to say that my books
really made their day or helped them get through a tough time. The most difficult is definitely finding time to write. I have a demanding full-time job, and therefore fitting in my writing can be a challenge.

WN: What's next for you as a writer?
CHANCE: I have a novella out in August called "Buying Trouble," in a Berkley anthology entitled On the Prowl. There will also be two new books out next year, one with Cassie as the heroine (in May 2008) and another with a different protagonist (Midnight’s Daughter, in October 2008). It should be a fun and busy year!

WN: What is the best/most influential book you have ever read and why did it inspire you?
CHANCE: That’s a difficult question, as I read lot! Going back to childhood, the earliest fantasy I can remember being completely enthralled by was A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle. It was the first time I realized what a wonderful genre fantasy can be, and it shaped my reading (and writing) preferences ever afterward.

08 May 2007

Book Banter Quiz -- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Again, Word Nerd's doing a quiz about the Harry Potter book she just read instead of writing a review.

Answers are available here.

Harry, Ron and Hermoine attend the death day party of which Hogwarts’ ghost?
a. Peeves
b. The Bloody Baron
c. Professor Binns
d. Nearly Headless Nick

When Ron and Harry arrive at the Hogwarts, the flying car crashes into…?
a. the Whomping Willow
b. the lake
c. the forbidden forest
d. Hagrid’s cabin

What do the students wear in Herbology class while repotting mandrakes?
a. thick socks
b. earmuffs
c. hats
d. sunglasses

What is the title of Gilderoy Lockhart’s autobiography?
a. Wonderful Wizard
b. Magical Me
c. Travels with Trolls
d. Gadding with Ghouls


Where did Harry, Ron and Hermoine first meet Lockhart?
a. Quality Quidditch Supplies
b. Flourish and Blotts
c. The Leaky Cauldron
d. Ollivander’s

What part of Fawkes the Phoenix has healing properties?
a. his beak
b. his feathers
c. his tears
d. his ashes

Who gives Harry and Ron the clue to “follow the spiders?”
a. Hagrid
b. Dumbledore
c. Cornelius Fudge
d. Moaning Myrtle

When Harry and Ron get ready to us the Polyjuice Potion, in addition to hairs, what else do they take from the unconscious Crabbe and Goyle?
a. Their shoes
b. Their robes
c. Their shirts
d. Their wands

How many victims are petrified by the basilisk?
a. 4
b. 5
c. 6
d. 7

How does the basilisk travel through the castle?
a. Through the walls
b. Through the chimneys
c. Through the floors
d. Through the pipes

07 May 2007

Book Banter -- The Wand in the Word


Title: The Wand in the Word
Author: Leonard S. Marcus (editor)
Length: 197 pages
Genre: non-fiction
Plot Basics: Marcus, a noted children's book editor and critic, has compiled 13 Q&A interviews with some of the top names in YA fantasy books. In the interviews, he discusses with them their childhoods, how they became writers, how world events like WWII impacted them and how they were influenced by The Lord of the Rings.
Banter Points: This book was like a dream-come-true for Word Nerd, because many of these writers were people she read as a child and made an impact on her as a writer (like Madeleine L'Engle and Lloyd Alexander), and YA authors she's discovered as an adult (like Garth Nix and Terry Pratchett). Plus, those that she hadn't heard of (like Susan Cooper and Diane Wynne Jones) are now on her to-be-read list because the interviews were all so interesting. Some of the authors insights into why they write fantasy and how it relates to real life were quite thought-provoking.
Bummer Points: Sometimes the author would reference one story or a character and if you hadn't read all the books, it was hard to know what the point was being made.
Word Nerd recommendation: If you like YA fantasy, this book is a must-read to find out more about the authors responsible for some favorite titles.

04 May 2007

Summer Reading

Who remembers high school summer reading books? Anybody? (Word Nerd raises her hand. Both hands actually. She was assigned a lot of summer reading).

As Word Nerd recalls slogging through "A Brief History of Time," "Les Miserables" and "The Scarlet Letter" (plus other titles she doesn't really remember) and it was no way to spend a summer vacation. On the other hand, if Les Miz hadn't been assigned for summer reading, Word Nerd probably wouldn't have made it through all 1,488 pages of that book.

This is the time of year when magazines and the like dub their summer book picks for this summer and review the latest and greatest books coming out.

So far, Word Nerd's got one book on her summer picks list: Michael Chabon's new novel, "The Yiddish Policemen's Union." Of course, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" is on the list too, but that's a given. Word Nerd's pretty sure she'll get through the last three of C.J. Cherryh's Foreigner books as well.

And she's thinking it's high time for a classic. Or two. Like the recently translated Jules Verne book, "The Meteor Hunt." Maybe.

Anything you are planning on reading this summer?

03 May 2007

Book Banter -- Nobody True


Title: Nobody True
Author: James Herbert
Length: 373 pages
Genre: thriller
Plot Basics: Jim True wasn't in his body when he was murdered. For years, True has had out-of-body experiences that as he's gotten older, he learned how to control them. When he comes back from one, he finds that his body has been gruesomely murdered. True tries to figure out whether he's now a spirit or a ghost and as he tries to let his family know he's alright, he discovers that he needs to solve his own murder.
Banter Points: Gripping and scary. Word Nerd found herself in that zone of both wanting to put the book down because it was awfully tense and yet finding herself compelled to keep reading because it had to get better for the characters, right? Some flash-forwards (if it's a flashback scene and the action cuts back to the present, what is that called?) later worked very well in the book to keep tension up.
Bummer Points: The beginning of the book was a little slow as True recounted his childhood and first experiences with OBEs.
Word Nerd recommendation: This is the second Herbert book that Word Nerd's read. Both have been good... not for a steady diet of his backlist or the faint of heart.

01 May 2007

Author Answers with Declan Hughes

Declan Hughes, this week's author, was a playwright before becoming a novelist. He was a co-founder of Rough Magic, an independent theatre company in Ireland. His second novel, The Color of Blood, was recently published.

WN: What got you interested in writing crime novels? What kind of detective is Ed Loy?
HUGHES: I always loved the genre, read Hammett, Chandler and Ross Macdonald in my teens, and kept up with newer writers while working as a playwright and theatre director with the company I co-founded in Dublin, Rough Magic. My first play, I Can’t Get Started, was about Dashiell Hammett, and I wrote another play, Twenty Grand, about gangsters that was produced at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. And Dublin had such a huge economic boom, with a rising level of gangland violence. The conditions were right for the kind of crime novel that looked, not just at individuals and their crimes, but how it all connects together, how the kid who’s shot in an alley for a €200 drug debt is connected to the upscale dinner party guest sniffing cocaine after their meal. Ed Loy is a hard boiled detective in the classic Philip Marlowe/Lew Archer tradition – he’s divorced, he drinks too much, he’s fiercely moral but a little messy, he has an eye for the ladies, he leads with his chin. He doesn’t like drug dealers or pornographers, but he’s not too keen on those who’ve come by their riches more respectably.

WN: What's different about writing novels and writing plays? Is one format harder or easier?
HUGHES: They each present their difficulties. Writing a play is more precise. With a novel, you can take more time, and describe places and characters, in a play you have to suggest everything from what the characters say to each other. All you have is the dialogue – and through that, you have to present the action. I think a play is more difficult. Certainly it’s more demanding of an audience. We’ve all read novels we haven’t been totally convinced by, but nonetheless enjoyed. But a dull play? You want to put your own eyes out.

WN: How does your work with theater help with writing novels?
HUGHES: Firstly, I see a story in units, in scenes, so I’m inclined to dramatise, to show, rather than tell. Secondly, I understand dialogue is about the action, not just about the characters. And I enjoy it, it’s fun tot write, and should be fun to read. Thirdly, from Shakespeare, the impulse to depict a cross section of society, from high to low, showing how we’re all connected. Fourthly, the whole 17th Jacobean tradition of revenge tragedy – plays by writers like Webster, Ford, Tourneur and Middleton – is a huge influence on the way I see the world. These delirious plays are like a forerunner of noir: they depict a world drenched in illicit sex, violence, conspiracy and jealousy, told in a beautiful, decadent gutter poetry. They inspire me to do what I do. What’s the best part of being a writer to you? What’s the most challenging part of writing for you?The best part is having total control. And that’s the most challenging part. Because you’ve really got no-one else to blame but yourself if it doesn’t com out the way you wanted.

WN: What’s next for you as a writer?
HUGHES: The next Ed Loy book, The Price of Blood. In the run-up to Christmas, Father Vincent Tyrrell, a Catholic priest hires Loy but will only give him a man’s name, claiming he cannot say more, because what he knows was told to him in confession, and he cannot divulge it to anyone. Loy finds the case embraces the priest’s brother, FX Tyrrell, a horse trainer, and their sister Regina, two murders, and, as Christmas dawns, the truth of what happened in a stable thirty years ago.

WN: What is the best/most influential book you have ever read and why did it inspire you?
HUGHES: The Great Gatsby-- in its own way, a mystery – it’s the crucial book about how a dream can animate your life, and how it can destroy it. In our attempt to build a new life for ourselves, the past is always waiting around the corner. It is the great American novel, beautifully written, perfect in its way.

Harry Potter book two trivia answers

The answers are in bold. Thanks for playing.

Harry, Ron and Hermoine attend the death day party of which Hogwarts’ ghost?
a. Peeves
b. The Bloody Baron
c. Professor Binns
d. Nearly Headless Nick

When Ron and Harry arrive at the Hogwarts, the flying car crashes into…?
a. the Whomping Willow
b. the lake
c. the forbidden forest
d. Hagrid’s cabin

What do the students wear in Herbology class while repotting mandrakes?
a. thick socks
b. earmuffs
c. hats
d. sunglasses

What is the title of Gilderoy Lockhart’s autobiography?
a. Wonderful Wizard
b. Magical Me
c. Travels with Trolls
d. Gadding with Ghouls


Where did Harry, Ron and Hermoine first meet Lockhart?
a. Quality Quidditch Supplies
b. Flourish and Blotts
c. The Leaky Cauldron
d. Ollivander’s

What part of Fawkes the Phoenix has healing properties?
a. his beak
b. his feathers
c. his tears
d. his ashes

Who gives Harry and Ron the clue to “follow the spiders?”
a. Hagrid
b. Dumbledore
c. Cornelius Fudge
d. Moaning Myrtle

When Harry and Ron get ready to us the Polyjuice Potion, in addition to hairs, what else do they take from the unconscious Crabbe and Goyle?
a. Their shoes
b. Their robes
c. Their shirts
d. Their wands

How many victims are petrified by the basilisk?
a. 4
b. 5
c. 6
d. 7

How does the basilisk travel through the castle?
a. Through the walls
b. Through the chimneys
c. Through the floors
d. Through the pipes

May (and April) Writing Goals

So, new month, new page count meter over there --->.

The May goal is 31 pages, which is supposed to translate into one page a day. Word Nerd tries to be diligent about making that happen, though admittedly, the Friday-Saturday-Sunday pages often get written all in one sitting on Sunday. Perhaps old habits like doing homework on Sunday afternoons are hard to break...

April's monthly page goal was 20 pages, which Word Nerd met at 21 pages. April's goal was smaller for good reason. If you recall, Word Nerd was on hiatus in much of March and was still feeling under the weather at the beginning of April. A smaller page goal seemed far more manageable than the page-a-day type goal at the time.

The completion of the April goal puts Word Nerd at 181 hand-written pages. Yes, handwritten. That's how this current story is progressing. May's goal will take her into the third college-ruled composition book for this story. (Which, BTW, college-ruled composition books are harder to find, but Word Nerd can't stand wide-ruled pages.)

Word Nerd doesn't know yet how many pages it's going to take to tell this story. She knows she's getting closer to the end, but there's still a lot of ground to cover to get there. The monthly goals are a good way though to keep making sure she's making forward progress in the story.

And monthly goals mean chocolate cake when met. As if there was a need for any other kind of motivation.