Notes from where I'm at for the end of January 2006:
1. The Ed Sci Fi Project has opened up to folks who want to write more than one short story appreciation. (Thanks to Gwenda for the link!) My first appreciation was for On Bookstores, Burners and Origami by Jason Wittman and I really hope more folks jump onboard this project. (I will be returning for sure.) It means a lot to writers to hear from grateful readers - I see this again and again when I contact authors to let them know I have written a review of their book. (And I certainly know what it's like as a writer.) So please, if you love Sci Fi, take a look at what we are trying to do.
2. I'm trying not to get frustrated over the difficulty I'm having reaching the folks behind The Neighborhood Story Project. I know that it's hard to track down anyone in New Orleans and I just have to be patient. I really want to be able to interview the project founders and at least one or two of the authors though. I have so many questions to ask, and it's hard for me to sit still when I'm this excited about a review, (or in this case - five reviews!)
3. On the plus side (in a major way) I received a long email from Rosemary James today answering all my questions about the collection she edited, My New Orleans. This is a fabulous book - can't recommend it enough. The theme I kept feeling again and again as I read it was "home, home, home". These writers all miss their homes so much, the places they knew, they hung out at, they considered vital to their creativity. It is a very good collection - honestly, not a bad essay or poem in the bunch! And Rosemary has been so wonderfully candid with me. Her book will be the first one I review for the Voices of New Orleans site and I'm very happy about that. (And while you're visiting the site, take a peek at Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans - the essay collection I am part of that is due out in mid-February!)
4. And also on the plus side, Bill and Mary Lavender have been blowing my mind with their emails about how they researched the San Francisco earthquake for Bill's young adult historical novel, Aftershocks. They are very committed to bringing obscure or forgotten history into young adult literature in a way that is interesting and informative to read. Honestly - you don't realize when you are reading Aftershocks that you are learning so much - you're just too caught up in the story to put it down! This interview will run in Bookslut in April - the 100th anniversary of the quake. And I really hope a lot of people buy this book - especially library type people. It's the kind of book every twelve year old should read.
5. Everybody and their third cousin has been sending me review books lately - I have received over 20 in the last week! Most of them I have not requested, but I've learned over the past couple of years to take a long look at these unexpected arrivals before casting them aside - alot of times I find something to love. (Case in point - next month's column at Bookslut includes The Misadventures of Maude March a book I knew nothing about until it showed up and I read the first page and then could not put it down!) Still, it's a little intimidating to be so popular all of a sudden.
6. Right now I'm reading the very very end of Rebecca West's wonderful The Fountain Overflows. If you love a great big British family drama, don't let this classic pass you buy. I also just received Passarola Rising and it seems more and more like a Jules Verne fantasy/adventure every minute - and I mean that in the best of possible ways. I can't wait to find out what happens next. Also, Justina Chen Headley's Nothing But the Truth (and a few white lies) arrived last week in a big package with several other requested Little Brown titles and it is so funny! I was eager to read this book as it is nearly impossible to find bi-racial titles for young people that are not afterschool specials. I just want to let folks know about a girl trying to figure things out who has the added difficulty of a mixed ethnic identity to deal with. So far, I'm enjoying it immensely.
And next up in The Neighborhood series is Between Piety and Desire by a brother and sister writing team.
7. If you have any youngsters around the house you must plan to get them Dear Fish by Chris Gall. (Due out in May.) The illustrations are stunning and the story is hysterical! My four year old loved it, and that's about the highest recommendation I can give. It will be reviewed as part of a larger picture book section in the next issue of Eclectica.
8. My January total for the 75 Books Challenge is 18 (19 if I finish Rebecca West tonight!). That included 9 young adult books, one WWI nonfiction title (written in 1918), 3 novels, 2 memoirs (I double checked - quite well researched a factual memoirs, both to be reviewed in March in Bookslut!), 2 essay collections and 1 nonfiction study of Arctic exploration. And one of the NOLA books for the Story Project. More on all of this for the Feb 1st entry.
9. My YA novel has sadly languished as I reworked the Alaska aviation book but it is now off to my buddy Bruce for some editorial suggestions (because, you know, he has nothing else to do!) and I am back to dragon world. It was good to be away from thinking about it for a little while as I've finally decided that really, my chick and her crew need to run home to get away from the big bads and the home will be where my father is from - an old mill town in N England that has fallen on hard times but still has an amazing French Canadian feel and a ton of grand Catholic churches and history. It's funny - most people who go there think it is horrid, but I guess because so much of my family's history is there, I can't see it as a bad place. And when you are running, it is good to go back to the house that has been part of your history for over 60 years.
It's the right place for her to fight.
