My article on Geraldine McCaughrean's The White Darkness is up in the new issue of the Journal of Mythic Arts from Endicott Studio. There are also many other articles and stories including one from the lovely Gwenda Bond! Go Gwenda! (And Emma Bull, Will Shetterly, Holly Black, Midori Snyder, Terri Windling and on and on.)

The issue is all about young adult fiction so if you read those books and maybe have not checked out Endicott in the past, get over there. And for those of you who have read my review of Salon Fantastique in the current issue of Bookslut, the Christopher Barzak short story I mention is also in this issue and thus available to read online.

I loved The White Darkness and was so impressed by how Geraldine combined a thriller set in contemporary Antarctica with the very real life and death of explorer Titus Oates (who was part of Robert Scott's doomed South Pole expedition). She was a great author to interview - very kind and thoughtful in her responses - and I do hope that I can bring her book some new fans. This is an excellent choice for boys or girls, middle grade and up and should be recommended all over the place. Here's a bit of my Endicott piece:

It is through dozens of internal decisions and conversations like these that Sym identifies more and more with her ideal of Oates and separates herself first from family trauma and later from the insanity she finds in Antarctica. McCaughrean knew that Oates was the perfect choice for Sym's fixation as he holds a similar fascination for so many others. ". . .there is something about this taciturn, stoical, insouciant, wry 32–year–old 'outsider' to Scott's group, the manner of his death and the fact that his body was never found, which renders him Romantic in the true sense of the word — like Antoine de St Exupery flying his plane off the radar and into immortality. I needed Sym's companion to be impossibly Ideal," she explains, "someone every female reader could easily fall in love with, every male reader admire; handsome brave, funny, quirky, modest, tragic. . .The more I read up on Oates, the better he lent himself to my purpose. . .the Indian sunshine, the debonair bravery, the pet deer, the useless spelling, the crazy exploits. . . ." This romantic vision is the Oates that Sym needs; the purest and finest Oates that the historical record preserves. But even Sym's ideal will not give her all the answers.

He is strong until the end, even when he is not really there, even when he is only as one writer, and one girl, could imagine him.

I can't recommend The White Darkness enough; it is truly outstanding.

(Post title from Geraldine McCaughrean.)