Shaun Tan does it again!

Rejoice! Having won a Best Artist Hugo only last year, our very own Aussie Shaun Tan has now won an Oscar for the short film based on his book The Lost Thing. Not only that, but they're talking about doing a feature-length version of the wonderful The Arrival.

It's terrific to think that a guy who does books for children can do so well in the world and his name can be known to more than just the kids and the librarians and teachers, like me.

I remember when I first saw The Arrival - I can't say I read it, because it had no text, but it told a story it took me some time to absorb, about a man who arrives in a new country, fleeing the old one, to make a place for himself before sending for the family. It said so much about the refugee experience - and the migrant experience in general - without a word, and I then saw a play version, again without words.

Maybe it will get him another well-deserved Oscar when it's filmed?

I'm going to drink a toast to Mr Tan tonight.

Blood Maidens By Barbara Hambly. Severn House Publishers, 2010

It's 1911. Oxford university lecturer and former spy James Asher and his doctor wife Lydia are asked by their vampire friend Don Simon Ysidro to accompany him to Russia. He's worried. He's had a letter from a woman he once knew in England, now settled in Russia's vampire community. Something terrible may be about to happen in Russia that will affect the world.

Well, that's what he wants them to believe, anyway. In fact, it may be more personal than that - and yet, he might be right. Once again, in this third novel in the series that began with a book called Immortal Blood on my side of the world and Those Who Hunt The Night in the US, James and Lydia are caught up in adventure and danger.

The question in this one is - can vampires love? The answer seems to be yes, and not only for Ysidro, who once begged this woman not to turn, but to tell you more here would be a spoiler.

I like the way Barbara Hambly presents her vampires. Unlike many other writers in this time of the mega-selling paranormal romance, she doesn't sentimentalise them. The reader is never allowed to forget how Ysidro and his fellow vampires survive. Even Ysidro admits that you have to be pretty selfish to agree to become a vampire. At the same time, he has enough positive qualities for James and Lydia to try not to think too hard about this.

A nice touch here is the way the Russian aristocracy behave like vampires towards the lower classes. No one actually says it, but you can't help thinking so as you read. And reading it, you know exactly what's going to happen to those aristocrats in only a few years...

Barbara Hambly's books just keep getting better and better.

Recommended!

From Slushpile to Art

I answer inquiries for Andromeda Spaceways - both general ones and art inquiries. I also arrange with artists for them to illustrate stories and do our covers. I really enjoy this. I get all sorts of inquiries, from oh-so-professional freelancers who inform me that they can spare some time in November to do a cover for our publication to those who have no idea what we do publish because, like some of the writing students, they haven't checked out our web site let alone read our magazine. Mostly, of course, we get fabulous artists whose work I look at and think, "Oh, my god, has she checked out our rates? Does she realise how little we can pay her for a LOT of work?" And mostly, they assure me that yes, they've checked and the small payment is fine. Those are the ones who love spec fic and think this would be a nice thing to do as long as they don't have a commission from someone who can actually help them pay their bills. Occasionally they haven't checked and have to withdraw their submission.

Then there are those who have looked at the web site and still don't seem to get that we publish science fiction and send me a sample that would be fine for an advertising campaign but has no connection with what we publish. I ask them politely if they have something more appropriate and rarely hear from them again.

I don't blame them for trying. You have to check out any market you can when you're trying to make a living. But a quick look at our web site ought to convince most graphic designers who do advertising that this really isn't the market for them and save them a disappointing reply from me.

I will say that one young woman who lived in Melbourne and wasn't actually a science fiction fan, just an artist looking for a market, did take the trouble to go to Collected Works Bookshop, ASIM's Melbourne over-the-counter outlet and buy up the back issues to study her market. She never got back to me, but she at least had a go.

How do I know, apart from samples (they don't always send one with their inquiry) that they haven't checked? Well, there are the ones who send you what's clearly a standard inquiry, e.g. "As a book publisher, you must...", "I've been impressed by your catalogue of books..."

Thank heaven this is a minority! And thank heaven for the first-class artists who do work with us!

First Writers' Club for the Year

Today we had our first meeting of the campus writers' club. There were some new Year 7 students who had joined us. The usual suspects from last year, after I'd shown them the web site of Express Media and told them that Voiceworks pays young people $100 an item, settled happily down to work on their latest masterpieces. some on Inkpop, some just in Word. The new Year 7 students were keen to start work, then one of them said, "Miss, we don't have our logins yet." The computer teacher does these, but was busy elsewhere, so I had to log in to my account for them, recommending they emailed their stories to themselves. With great enthusiasm, they got started on their own epics. Robert had done a couple of pages from scratch before the bell rang, the others a bit less.

Thando handed me several pages of close print to read. Dylan and Selena were working on editing his piece for Inkpop.

I ran around like a headless chook and lost a vital password to the Conspiracy365 web site (Gabrielle Lord's YA site) while checking out books, taking people's stories and passing on a DVD to a staff member. It was in my email, though, so I checked out the site's email address and after lunch sent off my request.

I think I got in about five minutes to eat my lunch...

Phryne Fisher goes TV

I just heard, tonight, at a meeting of Sisters In Crime - the wonderful Phryne Fisher novels of Kerry Greenwood are finally making it to TV, as a 13 part series. I Googled, but not much is known yet - the funding has just been approved and the series will be shown on the ABC. The books have just been crying out to be filmed. Historical crime is doing very well on TV, and 1920s Melbourne would be fabulous. I'll look forward to reading more about it as the information comes through.

Whale's Tale review copies

I've had a request from Liz Bright at Peggy Bright Books, asking me to offer, on her behalf, review copies of The Whale's Tale by Edwina Harvey (reviewed on this site and January Magazine some time ago) to bloggers who might be interested. She knows this site does a lot of speculative fiction reviews and is read by those interested in the area.

So how about it? Anyone want a free book to review? All I can tell you, apart from my own review, is that the students at my school have been enjoying it very much. They were lucky enough to meet the author at Book Club when she was in Melbourne last year for Aussiecon and had a great time discussing it with her.

If you're interested, contact Liz at the following email address: editor@peggybrightbooks.com.

Various promos for my book

I've been very lucky in the promotions field. If anyone wants to hear the interview I did with Robert Jan on Zero G, there's a direct download up - www.rrr.org.au and scroll down to Zero G. It came out well, I think, though I'm cringing at the sound of my voice, as we all do, I guess. You never sound the way you do in your head.

Recently a lady called Rachel, who had reviewed Wolfborn on her blog, Fictional Fantasy, asked me for an interview, and it's just gone up. She asked me for a picture of my writing space and I just don't have one - I write all over the place - so I sent along a pic I took for a previous article in which I'd commented on the perception that writers do all their work in cafes, like J.K.Rowling, who actually did. It was a joke picture of me in my local cafe, with glass in one hand and a Harry Potter book in the other. I actually did work on one book in that cafe, but it was less the writing than the research - the place has free wifi and I'd run out of dialup time.

Anyway, the interview is up and it looks great.

My editor from January Magazine, Linda Richards, has kindly given the book a plug on her web site. She has a policy of not reviewing books by her reviewers, but still gave it a plug, which was nice, I thought.

Back to work next week and I will soon see what those students who borrowed the book for the holidays or got their own thought of it!

Look What I Found! A new Barbara Hambly book!

Yesterday I was in the library when I stumbled across a brand new book in the series that started with a book that's called either Immortal Blood or Those Who Hunt The Night, depending where you live, and continued with Travelling With The Dead.

I read both the books about James Asher, university lecturer and spy in the Edwardian era, and his intelligent wife, Lydia, who found the various vampire residences through checking paperwork. They're exciting and entertaining, occasionally funny and deeply touching. Barbara Hambly's vampires can be likable, but she never gets sentimental about them, reminding her readers constantly that the charming, witty Don Simon Ysidro, who came to England with Phillip of Spain when he married Queen Mary, is a killer thousands of times over and, like every other vampire, is a selfish bastard, because you have to be, to survive as a vampire - even Ysidro admits this.

Imagine my delight when I found this brand new book in the series, admittedly with a rather dreadful cover and title of Blood Maidens. If it had been anyone but this writer, I probably wouldn't have bothered even to open it, but once open, the book is as wonderful as the others. I'm halfway through it and trying unsuccessfully to slow down and relish it. Alas, I will be finished very soon and have to wait for whatever is her next offering.

I am a fan of Barbara Hambly. I began with Dragonsbane, in which an earnest young man goes looking for the only knight who ever managed to kill a dragon and finds out that he is a man who'd rather be reading than fighting and that he did it with poisoned harpoons because it had to be done, and that was the only way. I had to read more.

I love the way all her stories are just a little bit different from others of their genre. You care about her characters. A woman who is a history scholar saves the universe using her research skills. A wizard hero has been locked up for years because his mentor was an evil dark lord (The Silent Tower)That was, of course, Antryg Windrose, my favourite of her characters. He was so very like the Tom Baker Doctor, except he wore cheap jewellery instead of long scarves. He even had his own "Council of Timelords" who hated him!

The Magicians of Night was also just a bit different. The hero, a magician from a world where the mageborn are persecuted, is lured into another universe by a cry for help from people he thinks are also being persecuted - only to find himself in Nazi Germany, summoned by Hitler's magicians! It was the sequel to The Rainbow Abyss, but i think a better book.

When this writer turned to historical mystery, I followed, being a lover of crime fiction, and was pleased I had. Benjamin January, her African-American doctor/musician/investigator, lives in New Orleans during the era of slavery. Ex-slaves have only so many options. However he feels about it, Ben's family live there and he has to work around it. The city is a character in its own right; you can hear, see, smell it.

Excuse me. I have to get back to my book, before I read the latest YA vampire novel.

WHAT I’VE BEEN READING – NON-FICTION

I enjoy reading non-fiction. Sooner or later you have to look up stuff for what you’re going to write, but in between books it’s good just to read anything that comes your way and looks interesting. Sooner or later you can use it – and if you don’t use it directly, you at least feel you know what you’re talking about.

I read New Scientist quite regularly – I’m still making my way through the Christmas/New Year issue, which always has something amusing in it, such as what cheese does to you overnight. I’m just reading the article about robot actors. I got a real taste for layman’s science when I was working on my second book, Potions To Pulsars: Women Doing Science and really had to understand what my heroines had achieved. I used children’s books that could explain it in simple terms and dictionaries of physics, biology, etc. That was around the time I started to read New Scientist and found an article about Hedy Lamarr who, apart from being a beautiful woman and actress, was an inventor. She created a communications thing to help in the war effort, based on the way a pianola works, and while it wasn’t used till after the war, it did end up forming the basis of the mobile phone. She got a much-belated award for services to science.

You never know what you’ll find that helps in the writing and meanwhile you have a lot of fun.

I pick up most of my books in second-hand bookshops, Collected Works Bookshop in Melbourne and remainders book stores – you know, the kind which open up a few weeks before Christmas to sell off stuff and close by about February? It’s amazing what you find there. Among other things I’ve found a history of coffee, a history of chocolate, of sweets and a history of tourism. Tourism was fascinating, from Romans trotting around the empire to mediaeval pilgrims and Thomas Cook’s arrangements for people to go to temperance meetings. There was a wonderful story in the book about the White Ship, a ship which was supposed to carry the heir to the throne of England and his mates back to England after partying in France. This was the son of Henry I. The night before the voyage, lots of booze was sent to the ship from the party. The sailors got drunk, the ship smashed on the rocks and the passengers were drowned. They were, in fact, a lot of the young aristocrats of England. As a result of this incident, the new heir was Henry’s daughter Matilda, the mother of the future Henry II. This led to a civil war between her and her cousin Stephen. Eventually, he got to be king for life and her son became the next king, bringing us the Plantagenet dynasty, and what followed on from that. So our European history is the way it is because a bunch of sailors got drunk one night early in the 12th century. I found that delicious and thought, one of these days I’m going to play around with the alternative universe history that comes from this. Not yet, but eventually….

I’m reading a book called Drinking For England, a history of boozing and lechery in England. Oh, that Prince Regent! I recently finished a history of the Roman games, which taught me that in ancient Rome, executions in the arena happened at lunchtime. That stuck in my mind more than anything else in the book, though I am certainly impressed by the rest of it. Think about all those stories of Christian martyrs being thrown to the lions – and then get it into your head that it was just not all that important to the Romans, just another lunchtime event while you waited for the gladiators, who were what you'd really come to see. While the martyrs were singing hymns and facing their deaths, in the stands above people were rummaging in their picnic baskets for the last of the olives and debating whether they should take the chance of losing their seats by going to the lavatory or finding the Roman equivalent of the hot dog stand. The richer patrons, of course, had a season ticket and went off to a much better lunch somewhere else.

In other words, that scene in Monty Python’s Life of Brian in which the rebels are sitting at the games, buying hot nibbles from Brian and sneering at the Judean People’s Front was not that far off the mark. Of course, the Pythons were a pretty scholarly bunch. They met at university and at least one of them, Terry Jones, is still writing very enjoyable books of history (get hold of his book on the murder of Chaucer if you can. He sure convinced me Chaucer was murdered!).

I have just started to read a book about clothes in Anglo-Saxon England – fascinating! And perhaps useful for my next book...

Andromeda Spaceways 50th anniversary issue

You all know, by now, that I've been involved with Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine for some years. I read slush, I answer inquiries, both general and art-related and I occasionally select and edit a story. We're making a big thing of our 50th issue, which is the next - and I have chosen a story for it! There's some good stuff in there, so even if you haven't been subscribing, you might like to check out this one.

Edwina Harvey says it better than I could, so here are her words:

With Andromeda Spaceways Inflight magazine issue 49 printed and distributed, we're working our way towards our half century.

ASIM issue 50 promises to be a bumper issue, with a solar-system of editors selecting their favourite stories to bring to you, a wrap around cover by our founding cover artist, Les Petersen, and featuring a "Where are they now" special looking at what people who have belonged to the ASIM co-op at various times have acheived iover the years (and if you were a member of the ASIM co-op, and this is news to you, send me an e-mail real damn quick so we can include you in our spread)

IIf you are a former ASIMite you probably know Edwina's email address, but if you don't and want to contact her, ask me.

To celebrate our milestone, we're looking at running a few special deals, so keep watching this space. {I'll add anything new as I find out.)

And of course, if you're a writer with a book being published soon, or an editor of another magazine, or even a craftsperson, and you wouldn't mind advertising in ASIM 50, please contact me because our prices are negotiable, and we will consider contra deals.

You all know we're slowing down a little after issue 50, don't you? We'll be cutting back to 4 issues a year but gracefully giving over to middle-age spread by upping our page count per issue, so our subscribers don't miss a single word for their subscriptions.

Just so you know, the reason for cutting back numbers of issues per year is not because we couldn't be bothered or are about to close but because it's got to the point where these are only so many deadlines a year we can meet and do it right. And we all have Real Life and writing of our own. But the issues will be longer, so subscribers will still get the same amount of new fiction.

More publicity!

The interview went well, I think. The information is up on the RRR web site under "Zero G" and the podcast will be up as soon as Rob Jan, the host, can put it up. That should be in the next few days, so if anyone is interested, go check it out on www.rrr.org.au

Meanwhile, there's a Q and A up on Good Reading Magazine http://goodreadingmagazine.com.au/meettheauthor.cfm - fantastic publicity!

Also, Random House, my publisher, asked me for five entries for their blog - two are up already! Nice!

This is my two hundredth post on this blog, so it deserves a bit of fuss. I originally started it because there were some books that weren't possible to review for january Magazine, but deserved reviewing, and I wanted a place on-line that was mine. I do have Livejournal blog which I don't do a lot with, because I put most of my energy into this one, and I have another Blogger one whichI set up as an experiment and still use for everyday stuff, such as what I'm doing with my students. I doubt it gets anywhere near the number of hits this one does, but people do occasionally tell me they've been reading it and finding it interesting. I sometimes copy and paste between blogs because most of my Livejournal "friends" don't read this one and vice versa (some do - hi, Morva!)






Because this is a book blog, I'll just mention what I'm reading right now. Scott Westerfeld's Behemoth is proving just as good as Leviathan, to which it's a sequel - more of this when I finish and review it - and finishing up Melissa Marr's Fragile Eternity, which I've borrowed from my school library, third in the Wicked Lovely series of novels about Faeries. I like that this writer has done her research on the subject. The first book had quotes from a whole range of classic texts about Faerie folklore, some which I've read myself. Faeries are not nice or sweet and I like the way she has made the Summer King, looking for a queen, not the ideal boyfriend. This one, I think, is getting a little more into Faerie politics than I would have expected, but we'll see how it's used in the next book. Meanwhile, the students at my school are reading them and enjoying. You can't ask more than that.

Interview on RRR

For anybody who has time to turn to 3RRR, I will be doing an interview about Wolfborn on Rob Jan's science fiction program, Zero G, Monday at about 1.00 p.m. Rob's program has been running for quite a few years and he manages to get interviews with some big-name writers, actors and other big names. If you miss the program, there may be a podcast at some stage, as well as streaming on the day.

If you do listen and manage to record, please let me know. I'm still trying to get the hang of podcasts on my new computer and broadband connection.

I hope it goes well! I haven't done a radio interview in quite some time and my first interview I stuffed up beautifully. Well, I think I did, anyway. It was going fine and the interviewer, who had told me off-air that she hadn't actually had the chance to read the book because the publisher hadn't sent her a copy on time, was doing very well bluffing her way through the cover blurb when she mentioned "the woman scientist who had disguised herself as a man" and unthinkingly, I asked, "Which one did you mean?" (There were two in my book). We did manage to bullshit our way through the rest, but still... This interviewer has read the novel, though. Wish me luck!

New Follower, New Link

I've added a link on the side to a web site called Marcus Marcus And The Hurting Heart. The author, Rab Fulton, who has just joined this site, is an Irish storyteller and poet, currently doing a writer in residence post, who is writing a speculative fiction novel on-line, as a blog. I don't know if I'd ever have the courage to do that!

Go check out his ghostly murder mystery set in the future, which he's writing a chapter at a time. I certainly intend to read it.

Welcome to The Great Raven, Rab!

H.I.V.E; Zero Hour. By Mark Walden. London, Bloomsbury, 2010

In the first novel of this series, H.I.V.E: Higher Institute of Villainous Education, we met Otto Malpense, a computer genius who also had the uncanny power of connecting with computers, who found himself in H.I.V.E, a sort of Hogwarts for training super-villains, after showing his skills by making the Prime Minister drop his trousers on national television. There, he meets other young criminal geniuses who become his friends. The original novel was very funny indeed, throwing in cheeky references to spy movies, such as the white cat with a jewelled collar that sits in the villain’s lap; at H.I.V.E, the white cat is one of the teachers, who had been trapped in her cat’s body by accident, and the jewelled collar is her communication device. The “Neville Longbottom” character created a giant plant that almost ate the school.

As the novels continued, the humour mostly disappeared, to be replaced by straight action adventure with a speculative fiction twist. The main villain of the series was an AI called Overlord, which had gotten out of control and wanted to take over the world. We did eventually find out why Otto had those abilities and in the last book, H.I.V.E: Rogue, Otto was taken by the enemy and taken over for most of the story.

In this latest offering, the baddies – and you have to remember that everyone in this series is technically a baddie – take over the school and scatter the council of GLOVE, the organisation governing the “good” baddies who just want to make lots of money, not rule the world. They take hostages at a secret American military base and start issuing orders to the president. Now Otto, his friends Laura, Lucy, Shelby and Wing and the school’s headmaster, Max Nero, are on the run, fortunately in a fabulous piece of technology called Megalodon, trying to stop Overlord, who has demanded Otto as part of the price of releasing those hostages. If Overlord wins this time, everyone in the world will be taken over. But Max Nero has one ace left up his sleeve – something known as Zero Hour, planned years ago…

I suppose I can see why the over-the-top humour was dropped after the first novel, apart from the occasional amusing scene. The point had been made and after that, it wouldn’t work any more. The story wasn’t finished. So the direction changed and the last few books, this one included, are more like the many action-adventures being written for teenagers in recent years. This series is likely to appeal to teens who have been reading Anthony Horowitz’s Alex Rider novels and Charlie Higson’s Young James Bond books. There is an appendix at the end, which invites readers to find out for which stream of H.I.V.E they would be suitable, then whether they have what it takes to be a super-villain anyway. I got into the Political/Financial Stream, but wasn’t quite villainous for the big time.

The series has gotten to the point where books can't be read stand-alone, so read the others first. It's worth the effort.

A Toast To The Professor!

Yesterday, January 3rd, I was sitting on the beach, re-reading Lord of The Rings and loving it as always. I remember the first time I read it. I was tired after a year's work and just wanted to go somewhere that I didn't have to go out for coffee with friends or family and lie on the beach and read. I went to Sorrento, where I stayed at the YHA. The hostel owner was trying to impress a lady who was there to work on a tourist information book by telling me all the things I could do in Sorrento and all I wanted was to get to my dorm, dump everything and take my book to the beach. After listening for a while, I interrupted as politely as I could and said thanks, but I just wanted to go lie on the beach.

I am very lucky the tide didn't come and sweep me away that day. The book sure did! Since then, I have re-read it every now and then - often on the beach - whenever I feel the need for comfort and rest. I love the fact that it suggests ordinary people can be heroes - and gives ordinary problems to the epic hero types. There aren't many women in it, but when they do appear, they're strong. Even Lobelia Sackville-Baggins turns out well in the end. (I'm a member of a Tolkien list under the name of "Lobelia"). I find myself re-reading a chapter and saying, "Oh, great, this is the fabulous chapter where Aragorn..."

And I FORGOT TOLKIEN'S BIRTHDAY! Damn!

So today I'll find a nice pub somewhere and go in to toast "the Professor" and if you haven't done so yet, please do!

Me and my new T-shirt!

Isn't it great what you can do nowadays? I decided it might be nice to promote my new book, so I went to the local camera shop and using a simple JPEG file, I got a T-shirt in an hour, promoting my book for about the same price as promoting someone else's product (and I never have understood why people pay to wear a shirt advertising a brand of shoes or jeans! You'd think the company would hand out the shirts for free). I also got a shirt with my last book, Crime Time, on it, but haven't yet worn it. As soon as I can, I'll get someone to take a photo of me in that one.

Meanwhile, I got my nephew Mark to take some photos of me in my lovely new shirt and am considering getting some mugs made up for friends who have already bought the book, so what do you give them?

I know this has been possible for years, but hey, this is my first time!

Here I am in it!

UNEARTHLY By Cynthia Hand. Sydney: HarperCollins, 2011

Clara is part-angel. She has known this since she turned fourteen a couple of years ago. Like others of her kind, she expects to learn her “purpose” on earth, a task she must perform. According to visions she has been having, this seems to be saving a boy from a forest fire somewhere in the US state of Wyoming. Clara, her half-angel mother and her younger brother move to the small town where the boy, Christian, lives.

Clara knows she must get close enough to Christian to be on the spot whenever the disaster happens. She’s also learning to use her hidden wings, in case she needs to carry him.

But there are problems. Christian, a sweet boy liked by everyone, has a girlfriend whom he loves. Can Clara help him without interfering with his love life? Does she even want to? And what about her own love life, in the shape of the gorgeous Tucker, her friend’s brother? What happens when she’s carried out her angelic mission?

And how does she survive the Black Wimgs, a group of fallen angels who have plans of their own?

After some years of one vampire tale after another, it seems that angels are taking over the popular teen paranormal romance. In fact, when I told one of my students that I was reading this book for reviewing, she asked, "And is she red-haired?"

"Er, no, she has had to dye it red," I replied.

"Blonde, then."

She was right about that. So it seems that already there are conventions in this form of fiction. On the other hand, another character, who is also a part-angel, is dark.

This is the first angel romance I’ve read, myself, and it’s good readable stuff which the girls should enjoy, even if the main angel character is the girl rather than the boy. What would it be like to try to work out how to use wings? To have to hold back in athletics, dance and such because you’re so good at them that even if no one asks questions you feel you’re being unfair to the competition? And being good at everything doesn't necessarily mean you're good at getting every boy you might want.

I liked the author's description of Wyoming, which made me think it's a place I'd enjoy visiting; she lives not far from there herself, so knows about it. I'd never ski, but found it fascinating to read about in this book; there's a lot more to it than just Girl-Angel and the boys in her life. I suspect the author is a keen skier herself.

The girls will like it for certain; several were eyeing my copy of this book before the holidays began and I had to promise it would go into the library when reviewed before I could get it out of their clutches.

They will be even more pleased to find out that it;s the first of a series.

What I enjoy about Christmas Day

Christmas isn't my holiday. I don't have any need to spend it having lunch and exchanging gifts with family members. I think we had a barbecue once, but not to celebrate Christmas, just because it was nice.

But I do enjoy Christmas Day. My usual routine on Christmas Day is: a. get up earlyish and bake bread. b. pack a picnic lunch, using my homemade bread for the sandwiches, with something gourmet as the filling - perhaps a good-quality cheese or two. The rest of the meal is a hard-boiled egg (what's a picnic without a hard-boiled egg? I was, after all, brought up on Enid Blyton, though I admit I don't take lashings of ginger ale with me), a piece of chocolate of some variety (again - taken from Blyton), some of the Christmassy baked-goods given me by friends, fresh summer fruit and a thermos of coffee. c. head for the beach with the above-mentioned lunch and whatever book or six that I'm reading at the time. d. wave at people having picnics in the park on the way. e. arrive at the beach, have my picnic and read, occasionally waving at other beach-picnickers. On the way, I enjoy the peace of the streets, hearing only the odd rattle of crockery from the houses as someone prepares lunch.

One year, a kindly lady invited me into her garden where she and her friends were having lunch together, probably thinking I was a poor soul forced to spend the day alone. I appreciated the thought, but declined the offer politely, not telling her about the yummy lunch in my backpack or the pure pleasure I get from spending the day doing just what I want.

Another year, there was a storm on Christmas Day. I had my picnic in the living-room, bingeing on episodes of Angel.

Last year, unfortunately, my family and I were in the palliative care unit where my father was spending his last days. :-(

This year, because I'd spent the Friday night at my mother's home, I managed to drag her along to enjoy the picnic with me. I did offer to bake some bread, but she thought I'd be better off having a rest, so I bought a baguette for us to share and we had it with Gorgonzola and Brie cheeses, the thermos of coffee, fruit and the world's best vanilla slice, bought from a wonderful bakery near my home.

Mum dozed a while after lunch and I read my new book, a very readable history of gladiators - anything to help with the research. Not that I have any fiction planned set in ancient Rome, but you never know. According to this book,the movie Spartacus was more or less correct, with a few exceptions (such as the ending, of course, and the fact that they didn't have retiarii for sixty years after the time of Spartacus) but Gladiator got it completely wrong - fascinating!

A peaceful day, and Mum enjoyed it too.

Seer Of Sevenwaters By Juliet Marillier. Pan MacMillan, 2010.

Reviewed by guest blogger Thando Bhebe.


Seer of Sevenwaters is about Sibeal, a girl committed to becoming a druid. Before her final vows she travelled to the northen island of Inis Eala to spend some time with her sisters. An unusual storm sinks a ship and there are only three survivors, one of which she stumbled across. He is an amnesiac with no name that the other survivors knew. Sibeal names him Ardal and he's fighting for his life.

The island community discovers that there is something strange about the shipwreck survivors. Strange things happen and secrets unravel. Sibeal is drawn into a perilous quest and has to face a decision that may break her heart. Spiritual life or love?

It's the fifth book of a series. I have read the first three before this one, but for those who haven't, there is a family tree that may help you along.

First of all, the front cover and the blurb drew me in. I liked the prologue. It went straight to the action. The way the author wrote it was so that the first chapter is fairly interesting, but then after that it keeps getting better and bigger. I liked how it sort of got a little twisted and out of control. The lies of some of the characters, the secrets and each time I flipped to the next page, it was what kept it rolling.

The good thing was that the author showed the amnesiac's point of view as well, because the reader had a bit of an idea about his struggle to stay alive, the things that happened to him when to one else was there which was added clues. Some of the clues the author gave were a bit obvious but the major ones were much harder to decipher.

The author kept to the point and didn't wander off into anything else, which was one of the things I enjoyed. To me, the ending was perfect, though a little bit predictable considering what the main characters had gone
through.

The book wasn't confusing at all, the language was proper and was very descriptive. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and sympathised with Ardal the amnesiac. It's a book worth re-reading.

If I were to rate it, I'd rate it four and a half stars.

Interview with Juliet Marillier

This interview was conducted by guest blogger Thando Bhebe. Thando is a passionate reader who is currently diving into 30 library books she took home for the holidays. She is also an emerging writer whose work is up on Internet writing community Inkpop.

Thando is a major fan of the wonderful fantasy novelist Juliet Marillier, who has kindly agreed to an interview. Welcome to The Great Raven, Thando and Juliet.

Interview questions by Thando Bhebe, a teenage reader of the Sevenwaters books and Heart’s Blood.

1.Why is the Sevenwater series set in Ireland?

Daughter of the Forest (first book in the series) is based on a traditional story called The Six Swans, a fairytale set somewhere in Europe. Irish folklore contains many stories about swans, and in particular people turning into swans. The Irish landscape suited the sort of tale I wanted to tell, with a mysterious forest and lake. So I chose Ireland as the setting for the first novel and then, of course, for the ongoing series.

2. Is it in the south or the North of Ireland?

It’s the north. Sevenwaters is based on an area called the Ring of Gullion in County Armagh. There used to be a very big forest there, though in the past it was cut down for grazing. They’re currently replanting the hillside with trees.

3. What types of books do you enjoy reading?

I like a wide variety of books and I always have. I think that’s essential for a writer! I enjoy books with strong female characters, ranging from classics such as Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women right through to recent novels such as The Distant Hours by Australian author Kate Morton. I read a lot of non-fiction, partly as research for my writing. I like books that are original and well-crafted. I have a small list of writers from whom I read every new book: Iain Banks, David Mitchell, Jodi Picoult.

4. The women of Sevenwaters seem to go through a lot – why is this?

Human journeys and relationship are at the heart of storytelling for me. My characters feel quite real as I travel with them on their adventures. I think real life is all about meeting challenges and finding out how brave you can be in times of adversity. Would you want to read a book in which the central character lived happily at home the whole time?

5. How did you think up Bran the Painted Man?

Bran’s tattoos are based on the Maori traditional tattoos of my homeland, New Zealand. Tattoos have a lot of meaning in tribal cultures and I liked the idea that Bran made a new identity for himself this way. I’d also been reading a lot about men who were traumatised by experiences in the past, for instance, servicemen returning from active duty who could not escape their memories of what they’d seen on the battlefield. All of this combined to create Bran. From the start I saw Son of the Shadows as a story about peeling away layers of memory one by one to get at the heart of his fear and alienation.

6. Are any of the characters of your books based on people you know?

No, though I use characteristics of people I’ve met. But I mix them up so no character is exactly like anyone in real life.

7. Are any of the characters based on yourself?

Oh, no! Of course a certain amount of my own experience and attitudes is going to make its way into the characters, more in some books than others. The character with whom I have the most empathy is Caitrin, the protagonist of Heart’s Blood, who is struggling to get back her sense of self after suffering a breakdown. There are also a few older women in the books who are a little like me. I’d like to be Draguţa, the witch of the wood from Wildwood Dancing, and ride around on a white fox!

8. Do you ever write a certain scene, then get emotional over it (if it’s a sad one for example)?

Scenes in which good characters have bad things happen to them are always hard to write, and can be very hard to re-read. When I’m editing my own work I often have to go over a scene many times. There is a death scene in Blade of Fortriu that I found extremely hard to revisit. The person in question was one of my all-time favourite characters. But the plot required him to die in particularly cruel circumstances.

9. Heart’s Blood is based on Beauty And The Beast – why set it in Ireland?

I was originally going to set Heart’s Blood in Eastern Europe, either in Romania or Bulgaria. My American editor thought would not be very appealing for US readers, and so the setting was revised to Ireland. There are many people in the USA with Irish ancestors and they tend to love my Irish stories. The new setting worked pretty well, and allowed me to include the historical context of the Anglo-Normans moving into Ireland and helping themselves to the territory of the Irish chieftains such as Anluan.

10. With the Sevenwaters series did you make it a big family because you wanted to make it a series or because you like big families? Do you have one yourself?

I have quite a small family, though it’s getting bigger as I acquire more grandchildren! The story of The Six Swans features a girl with six brothers, so the big family was there even before I began writing. The whole Sevenwaters saga simply grew from there. I had originally intended writing only one book. The story got longer because I thought I should investigate the effects of the swan transformation on future generations of the family. Happy endings are usually not happy for every single character, only some, and that is certainly true of Daughter of the Forest. I wanted to go down the paths of some of the characters whose lives were forever changed by what had happened. Once you get into the third and fourth generations of a family, as I’ve done with Sevenwaters, you have a big cast of characters to choose from.

11. I have noticed that in your books (Sevenwaters series and Heart’s Blood) there is always some romance. Is this because you enjoy romance or is there another reason?

I love reading a book with a good romance in it, and I think that’s my main reason for including a love story in every novel. As I mentioned earlier, I am fascinated by human journeys and human relationships, and love stories are a vital part of that.

12. Which is your favourite book, if any, and why? Your favourite character and why? For what age group do you recommend them?

My favourite book is usually the one I’m currently writing – at present that is the first instalment in a new series for young adults, called Shadowfell. If I was pushed to choose a favourite from the earlier books it would probably be Son of the Shadows because I really loved creating Bran and his motley band of warriors, and Liadan is the heroine I would most like to be. Favourite character: I have so many … Perhaps Faolan, the anti-hero from the Bridei Chronicles.

Age group for readers: Wildwood Dancing and Cybele’s Secret are written for young adults, age 13+. They are also a good read for adults. The Shadowfell series, first book due out in 2012, will suit age 14+.

All the other books are intended for adults, but they do have a keen readership among young adults, age 14+. They include ‘adult’ content, so it really depends very much on the individual reader. I’d suggest young adult readers start with Wildwood Dancing and Cybele’s Secret, and then try Daughter of the Forest or Heart’s Blood.

13. Would you like it if people wanted to turn one of your books into movies?
Only if it was really well done. A bad movie with cheap special effects would be ghastly. Now if Peter Jackson were interested …
14. If they asked you, which book would you most like to be made into a movie?

Wildwood Dancing, which is very loosely based on The Twelve Dancing Princesses, would make a great animated movie. I’d love to see my Viking novel, Wolfskin, as an action adventure film.

15. In the first Sevenwaters book the brothers turn into swans. Why swans?

The book is based on a traditional fairytale about a girl whose brothers are turned into swans by their jealous stepmother. The girl has to make shirts for each of them from a prickly plant and throw them over their necks, to win her brothers back their human form. While performing this task, which takes years, she is not allowed to utter a word.

16. In Sevenwaters, there seem to be an awful lot of twins. Is it in the Sevenwaters gene to have twins?

Yes, twins are definitely in the family’s genetic makeup. Both girl/boy twins like Sean and Liadan, and same sex twins like Conor and Cormack, and Deirdre and Clodagh. They’d be fraternal twins, not identical twins.

17. If you had a choice to pick one of your characters to come to life, which one would it be?

Gosh, difficult question! I’d have to consider who would cope well when transplanted into the extremely different setting of the twenty-first century. It might have to be one of the uncanny characters.

18. My favourite Sevenwaters women are Sorcha, Liadan and Sibeal.
Is there a reason why these women are more or less similar? Sorcha’s husband’s from Harrowfield, Liadan’s husband was once an out law and although I have not finished SEER OF SEVENWATERS , Sibeal meets Felix (Ardal ) who’s from another island. Is this because you like that type of romance, with people from different places coming and joining the Sevenwaters family?

Because the series is based around the Sevenwaters family, and because the central characters are women, their romantic partners will tend to be people from somewhere else. Sevenwaters itself is quite a big territory, so it’s not surrounded by close neighbours whose sons can provide a handy social circle for the Sevenwaters girls. In those days, young women from a chieftain’s family would usually have arranged marriages to men of similar social rank, perhaps the sons of other local chieftains. But of course, the Sevenwaters girls are unusually strong-minded young women and many of them end up on rather different paths in life, Liadan and Clodagh especially.