The Hugo Shortlist 2019!

Oddly enough, I have actually read some of this year’s Hugo nominees, something rare for me - and also some of the classics in the retro Hugos. It will be interesting to see how those votes will turn out. I’ve bolded those I’ve read or seen and commented. 

The 2019 Hugo Awards

Best Novel

The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor) - a wonderful novel set in an Alternative universe 1950s in which the space program has to be speeded up because of a natural disaster that will make Earth unliveable in a few years - and women have to be given a chance to participate, because there’s no point in setting up male-only colonies...

Record of a Spaceborn Few, by Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton / Harper Voyager)

Revenant Gun, by Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris)

Space Opera, by Catherynne M. Valente (Saga/Corsair)

Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik (Del Rey / Macmillan)

Trail of Lightning, by Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga)

Best Novella

Artificial Condition, by Martha Wells (Tor.com Publishing)

Beneath the Sugar Sky, by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com Publishing)

Binti: The Night Masquerade, by Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com Publishing)

The Black God’s Drums, by P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com Publishing)

Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach, by Kelly Robson (Tor.com Publishing)

The Tea Master and the Detective, by Aliette de Bodard (Subterranean Press / JABberwocky Literary Agency) Reading  this now, very enjoyable so far! Aliette made one of her earliest sales to Andromeda Spaceways. 

Best Novelette

“If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again,” by Zen Cho (B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog, 29 November 2018) I’ve read this. To be honest, I enjoyed her Regency fantasy more. Personal preference, I guess. 

“The Last Banquet of Temporal Confections,” by Tina Connolly (Tor.com, 11 July 2018)

“Nine Last Days on Planet Earth,” by Daryl Gregory (Tor.com, 19 September 2018)

The Only Harmless Great Thing, by Brooke Bolander (Tor.com Publishing)

“The Thing About Ghost Stories,” by Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny Magazine 25, November-December 2018)

“When We Were Starless,” by Simone Heller (Clarkesworld 145, October 2018)

Best Short Story

“The Court Magician,” by Sarah Pinsker (Lightspeed, January 2018)

“The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society,” by T. Kingfisher (Uncanny Magazine 25, November-December 2018)

“The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington,” by P. Djèlí Clark (Fireside Magazine, February 2018)

“STET,” by Sarah Gailey (Fireside Magazine, October 2018)

“The Tale of the Three Beautiful Raptor Sisters, and the Prince Who Was Made of Meat,” by Brooke Bolander (Uncanny Magazine 23, July-August 2018)

“A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies,” by Alix E. Harrow (Apex Magazine, February 2018)

Best Series

The Centenal Cycle, by Malka Older (Tor.com Publishing)

The Laundry Files, by Charles Stross (most recently Orbit/Tor and Tor.com publishing)These are wonderful books about a British agency called the Laundry, which is about anything but washing clothes! More like keeping Earth safe from critters from a Lovecraftian universe. 

Machineries of Empire, by Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris)

The October Daye Series, by Seanan McGuire (most recently DAW)

The Universe of Xuya, by Aliette de Bodard (most recently Subterranean Press)

Wayfarers, by Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton / Harper Voyager)

Best Related Work

Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction, by Alec Nevala-Lee (Dey Street Books)

The Hobbit Duology (documentary in three parts), written and edited by Lindsay Ellis and Angelina Meehan (YouTube)

An Informal History of the Hugos: A Personal Look Back at the Hugo Awards, 1953-2000, by Jo Walton (Tor)

www.mexicanxinitiative.com: The Mexicanx Initiative Experience at Worldcon 76 (Julia Rios, Libia Brenda, Pablo Defendini, John Picacio)

Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing, by Ursula K. Le Guin with David Naimon (Tin House Books)

Best Graphic Story

Abbott, written by Saladin Ahmed, art by Sami Kivelä, colours by Jason Wordie, letters by Jim Campbell (BOOM! Studios)

Black Panther: Long Live the King, written by Nnedi Okorafor and Aaron Covington, art by André Lima Araújo, Mario Del Pennino and Tana Ford (Marvel)

Monstress, Volume 3: Haven, written by Marjorie Liu, art by Sana Takeda (Image Comics)

On a Sunbeam, by Tillie Walden (First Second)

Paper Girls, Volume 4, written by Brian K. Vaughan, art by Cliff Chiang, colours by Matt Wilson, letters by Jared K. Fletcher (Image Comics)

Saga, Volume 9, written by Brian K. Vaughan, art by Fiona Staples (Image Comics)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

Annihilation, directed and written for the screen by Alex Garland, based on the novel by Jeff VanderMeer (Paramount Pictures / Skydance)

Avengers: Infinity War, screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo (Marvel Studios) I enjoyed this and I’m not even that familiar with the Marvel universe - I did have to ask my friend for details when we were watching. 

Black Panther, written by Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole, directed by Ryan Coogler (Marvel Studios) Again - not familiar with the universe, but it worked as a stand alone film. I loved that all the women in it were strong, including the one who was the equivalent of Q in the Bond films. 

A Quiet Place, screenplay by Scott Beck, John Krasinski and Bryan Woods, directed by John Krasinski (Platinum Dunes / Sunday Night)

Sorry to Bother You, written and directed by Boots Riley (Annapurna Pictures)

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, screenplay by Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman, directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman (Sony)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

The Expanse: “Abaddon’s Gate,” written by Daniel Abraham, Ty Franck and Naren Shankar, directed by Simon Cellan Jones (Penguin in a Parka / Alcon Entertainment)

Doctor Who: “Demons of the Punjab,” written by Vinay Patel, directed by Jamie Childs (BBC) One of this season’s best episodes. A nice touch to have the Doctor suddenly realise that she was invited to the women’s group the night before the wedding...

Dirty Computer, written by Janelle Monáe and Chuck Lightning, directed by Andrew Donoho and Chuck Lightning (Wondaland Arts Society / Bad Boy Records / Atlantic Records)

The Good Place: “Janet(s),” written by Josh Siegal & Dylan Morgan, directed by Morgan Sackett (NBC)

The Good Place: “Jeremy Bearimy,” written by Megan Amram, directed by Trent O’Donnell (NBC)

Doctor Who: “Rosa,” written by Malorie Blackman and Chris Chibnall, directed by Mark Tonderai (BBC) Oh, yes! Loved this one! And nice to see a children’s/YA novelist writing for Dr Who! 

Best Professional Editor, Short Form

Neil Clarke

Gardner Dozois

Lee Harris

Julia Rios

Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas

E. Catherine Tobler

Best Professional Editor, Long Form

Sheila E. Gilbert

Anne Lesley Groell

Beth Meacham

Diana Pho

Gillian Redfearn

Navah Wolfe

Best Professional Artist

Galen Dara

Jaime Jones

Victo Ngai

John Picacio

Yuko Shimizu

Charles Vess 

Best Semiprozine

Beneath Ceaseless Skies, editor-in-chief and publisher Scott H. Andrews

Fireside Magazine, edited by Julia Rios, managing editor Elsa Sjunneson-Henry, copyeditor Chelle Parker; social coordinator Meg Frank, special features editor Tanya DePass, founding editor Brian White, publisher and art director Pablo Defendini

FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, executive editors Troy L. Wiggins and DaVaun Sanders, editors L.D. Lewis, Brandon O’Brien, Kaleb Russell, Danny Lore, and Brent Lambert

Shimmer, publisher Beth Wodzinski, senior editor E. Catherine Tobler

Strange Horizons, edited by Jane Crowley, Kate Dollarhyde, Vanessa Rose Phin, Vajra Chandrasekera, Romie Stott, Maureen Kincaid Speller, and the Strange Horizons Staff

Uncanny Magazine, publishers/editors-in-chief Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, managing editor Michi Trota, podcast producers Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky, Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction Special Issue editors-in-chief Elsa Sjunneson-Henry and Dominik Parisien

Best Fanzine

Galactic Journey, founder Gideon Marcus, editor Janice Marcus

Journey Planet, edited by Team Journey Planet

Lady Business, editors Ira, Jodie, KJ, Renay & Susan

nerds of a feather, flock together, editors Joe Sherry, Vance Kotrla and The G

Quick Sip Reviews, editor Charles Payseur

Rocket Stack Rank, editors Greg Hullender and Eric Wong 

Best Fancast

Be the Serpent, presented by Alexandra Rowland, Freya Marske and Jennifer Mace

The Coode Street Podcast, presented by Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe

Fangirl Happy Hour, hosted by Ana Grilo and Renay Williams

Galactic Suburbia, hosted by Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce, and Tansy Rayner Roberts, produced by Andrew Finch

Our Opinions Are Correct, hosted by Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders

The Skiffy and Fanty Show, produced by Jen Zink and Shaun Duke; hosted by Jen Zink, Shaun Duke, Paul Weimer, Alex Acks, Elizabeth Fitzgerald, Trish Matson, and team

Best Fan Writer

Foz Meadows - an Aussie writer, who wrote some good stuff for Ford Street Publishing  before she left to live overseas for a while. I follow her on Twitter, but am not really familiar with her fan writing.

James Davis Nicoll

Charles Payseur

Elsa Sjunneson-Henry

Alasdair Stuart

Bogi Takács 

Best Fan Artist

Sara Felix

Grace P. Fong

Meg Frank

Ariela Housman

Likhain (Mia Sereno)

Spring Schoenhuth

Best Art Book

The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition, illustrated by Charles Vess, written by Ursula K. Le Guin (Saga Press /Gollancz)

Daydreamer’s Journey: The Art of Julie Dillon, by Julie Dillon (self-published)

Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana: A Visual History, by Michael Witwer, Kyle Newman, Jon Peterson, Sam Witwer (Ten Speed Press)

Spectrum 25: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art, ed. John Fleskes (Flesk Publications)

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse – The Art of the Movie, by Ramin Zahed (Titan Books)

Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth, ed. Catherine McIlwaine (Bodleian Library)

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Katherine Arden (2nd year of eligibility)

S.A. Chakraborty (2nd year of eligibility)

R.F. Kuang (1st year of eligibility)

Jeannette Ng (2nd year of eligibility)

Vina Jie-Min Prasad (2nd year of eligibility)

Rivers Solomon (2nd year of eligibility) 

Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book

The Belles, by Dhonielle Clayton (Freeform / Gollancz)

Children of Blood and Bone, by Tomi Adeyemi (Henry Holt / Macmillan Children’s Books)

The Cruel Prince, by Holly Black (Little, Brown / Hot Key Books)

Dread Nation, by Justina Ireland (Balzer + Bray)

The Invasion, by Peadar O’Guilin (David Fickling Books / Scholastic)

Tess of the Road, by Rachel Hartman (Random House / Penguin Teen)

And here are the retros! Most of those I have read were familiar to me from my early years of reading SF and fantasy. They are still worth reading, and I’m pretty sure you can get some of them free in Project Gutenberg, or cheap in the 99c SF Megapacks. 

1944 Retrospective Hugo Awards Finalists

The 1944 Retrospective Hugo Awards were presented on Thursday, 15 August in Dublin.  The report of the winners is here.

Best Novel

Conjure Wife, by Fritz Leiber, Jr. (Unknown Worlds, April 1943) A group of wives of university academics who are doing witchy things to support their husbands.  Good stuff! 

Earth’s Last Citadel, by C.L. Moore and Henry Kuttner (Argosy, April 1943)

Gather, Darkness! by Fritz Leiber, Jr. (Astounding Science-Fiction, May-July 1943) I’ve read this, but it has been such a long time! 

Das Glasperlenspiel [The Glass Bead Game], by Hermann Hesse (Fretz & Wasmuth)

Perelandra, by C.S. Lewis (John Lane, The Bodley Head) One of Lewis’s SF trilogy. It’s religious stuff, of course, and shows the Garden of Eden on Venus, only this time the snake fails...

The Weapon Makers, by A.E. van Vogt (Astounding Science-Fiction, February-April 1943) 

Best Novella

“Attitude,” by Hal Clement (Astounding Science-Fiction, September 1943)

“Clash by Night,” by Lawrence O’Donnell (Henry Kuttner & C.L. Moore) (Astounding Science-Fiction, March 1943)

“The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath,” by H.P. Lovecraft, (Beyond the Wall of Sleep, Arkham House)

The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Reynal & Hitchcock)

The Magic Bed-Knob; or, How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons, by Mary Norton (Hyperion Press) Made into a Disney movie, Bedknobs and Broomsticks! 

“We Print the Truth,” by Anthony Boucher (Astounding Science-Fiction, December 1943)

Best Novelette

“Citadel of Lost Ships,” by Leigh Brackett (Planet Stories, March 1943)

“The Halfling,” by Leigh Brackett (Astonishing Stories, February 1943)

“Mimsy Were the Borogoves,” by Lewis Padgett (C.L. Moore & Henry Kuttner) (Astounding Science-Fiction, February 1943) A scientist sends some toys into the past as an experiment. They are found by kids, who make more use of them than the kids for whom they were just toys. 

“The Proud Robot,” by Lewis Padgett (Henry Kuttner) (Astounding Science-Fiction, October 1943) Very funny, and easily available on line. 

“Symbiotica,” by Eric Frank Russell (Astounding Science-Fiction, October 1943)

“Thieves’ House,” by Fritz Leiber, Jr (Unknown Worlds, February 1943) 

Best Short Story

“Death Sentence,” by Isaac Asimov (Astounding Science Fiction, November 1943)

“Doorway into Time,” by C.L. Moore (Famous Fantastic Mysteries, September 1943)

“Exile,” by Edmond Hamilton (Super Science Stories, May 1943)

“King of the Gray Spaces” (“R is for Rocket”), by Ray Bradbury (Famous Fantastic Mysteries, December 1943)

“Q.U.R.,” by H.H. Holmes (Anthony Boucher) (Astounding Science-Fiction, March 1943)

“Yours Truly – Jack the Ripper,” by Robert Bloch (Weird Tales, July 1943) Robert Bloch did a number of Jack the Ripper stories. I think this one inspired his Star Trek episode “Wolf In The Fold”. 

Best Graphic Story

Buck Rogers: Martians Invade Jupiter, by Philip Nowlan and Dick Calkins (National Newspaper Service)

Flash Gordon: Fiery Desert of Mongo, by Alex Raymond (King Features Syndicate)

Garth, by Steve Dowling (Daily Mirror)

Plastic Man #1: The Game of Death, by Jack Cole (Vital Publications)

Le Secret de la Licorne [The Secret of the Unicorn], by Hergé (Le Soir)

Wonder Woman #5: Battle for Womanhood, written by William Moulton Marsden, art by Harry G. Peter (DC Comics) 

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

Batman, written by Victor McLeod, Leslie Swabacker and Harry L. Fraser, directed by Lambert Hillyer (Columbia Pictures)

Cabin in the Sky, written by Joseph Schrank, directed by Vincente Minnelli and Busby Berkeley (uncredited) (MGM) A musical with Eddie Anderson. Lena Horne was the vamp. He is a man being tested by Heaven and Hell alike. I’ve only seen it on late night TV. 

A Guy Named Joe, written by Frederick Hazlitt Brennan and Dalton Trumbo, directed by Victor Fleming (MGM)

Heaven Can Wait, written by Samson Raphaelson, directed by Ernst Lubitsch (20th Century Fox)

Münchhausen, written by Erich Kästner and Rudolph Erich Raspe, directed by Josef von Báky (UFA)

Phantom of the Opera, written by Eric Taylor, Samuel Hoffenstein and Hans Jacoby, directed by Arthur Lubin (Universal Pictures) 

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

The Ape Man, written by Barney A. Sarecky, directed by William Beaudine (Banner Productions)

Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, written by Curt Siodmak, directed by Roy William Neill (Universal Pictures)

Der Fuehrer’s Face, story by Joe Grant and Dick Huemer, directed by Jack Kinney (Disney)

I Walked With a Zombie, written by Curt Siodmak and Ardel Wray, directed by Jacques Tourneur (RKO Radio Pictures)

The Seventh Victim, written by Charles O’Neal and DeWitt Bodeen, directed by Mark Robson (RKO Radio Pictures)

Super-Rabbit, written by Tedd Pierce, directed by Charles M. Jones (Warner Bros) 

Best Professional Editor, Short Form

John W. Campbell

Oscar J. Friend

Mary Gnaedinger

Dorothy McIlwraith

Raymond A. Palmer

Donald A. Wollheim 

Best Professional Artist

Hannes Bok

Margaret Brundage

Virgil Finlay

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

J. Allen St. John

William Timmins 

Best Fanzine

Futurian War Digest, editor J. Michael Rosenblum

Guteto, editor Morojo (Myrtle R. Douglas)

The Phantagraph, editor Donald A. Wollheim

Voice of the Imagi-Nation, editors Jack Erman (Forrest J Ackerman) & Morojo (Myrtle Douglas)

YHOS, editor Art Widner

Le Zombie, editor Wilson “Bob” Tucker 

Best Fan Writer

Forrest J. Ackerman

Morojo (Myrtle Douglas)

Jack Speer

Wilson “Bob” Tucker

Art Widner

Donald A. Wollheim

Of course, I’ve heard of such folk as Forrest J. Ackerman and Donal A. Wollheim, but I’m not familiar with their fan writing. 

So, is anything on either of these lists familiar to you? And bcor3 I find out who actually won, who would you/did you vote for? 

Today I Met... A.J Blythe!

This morning, I got on the tram and went to the Mercure Hotel in Albert Park to meet a visitor from Canberra, fellow blogger Anita Blythe, whom I’ve only encountered on line before. It was sort of like  meeting a pen pal back in the old days when we were communicating by snail mail. We follow each other’s blogs and know each other from the A to Z Challenge.

Selfie courtesy of Anita, who is using this on her own blog.

I did know Anita writes “cosy” crime fiction, but not all the stuff she has studied and experienced to make those novels believable. Her series - not yet published, but having a promising response from an agent - is about the adventures of an Aussie bush mechanic(female). She has experience enough to know what she is talking about there.

She was in Melbourne for a conference of the Romance Writers of Australia. It’s not that she writes romance fiction, but she is impressed with how much you can learn as a writer from these conferences, and yesterday she ran a workshop in Biometric Facial Recognition, in which she got a Certificate 4, to help create a believable character who was a forensic scientist.

We found we had plenty in common, in our attitudes to writing, and in some of the kinds of books we enjoy. I had only intended to stay for about an hour, but we finally said farewell after two hours, and only because Anita had to see someone at 12.15, and I had to go to pick up a bottle of wine I left on the counter at the supermarket on Friday, before heading for the library to work on my story.

I do hope we can meet again(and am seriously considering checking out the RWA for myself).

Thanks for catching up today, Anita!

CBCA Shortlist 2019, #1: Between Us by Clare Atkins. Black Inc Books

With Children’s Book Week coming up, I thought it more than time I read the shortlist. I’ve had this particular book for some time, so have read it first. Books on year’s this shortlist in the Older Readers category are mostly grim, judging by the blurbs, and this one is no exception.

Ana is an Iranian refugee imprisoned in one of Australia’s mainland immigration detention centres, but allowed out to go to school. She has a bad case of PTSD after nightmarish experiences in Iran. Her pregnant mother is stressed at being parted from her boyfriend, who was kept at Nauru. Both of them worry that they might be sent back after Ana’s mother gives birth.

Jono is a boy whose Vietnamese father Kenny works at the detention centre. He is intelligent, and decent, but plays up at school and has issues with his father after his mother and sister have both left. His best friend is persuading him to do things he shouldn’t.

They fall in love.

The novel is seen from both their viewpoints, and that of Kenny, who only wants the best for Jono, and is terrified that something bad will happen if his son gets involved with a detainee. He hasn’t been in his job for long and has already been scared by fellow guards who warn him against being nice to the detainees, after he had the nerve to be friendly to Ana on the school bus.

You get the feeling, reading this, that it just isn’t going to end happily. Let’s just say it doesn’t have a pile of bodies, and some things work out, but no, not wonderfully happy either. I felt it fizzled out somewhat, though I could see why it ended as it did. 

It’s something along the lines of Zana Fraillon’s The Bone Sparrow, (reviewed by me here) a novel for younger readers, which featured a friendship between a boy who has been brought up in immigration detention and a girl from outside, though The Bone Sparrow was gentler and a bit less grim. 

You might say, yes, but the situation is grim, and needs speaking about. And that is true. The author says in her acknowledgements at the end that she can’t name some of the people she wants to thank, because under our current laws those who work with refugees in detention aren’t allowed to speak out about what they have seen. 

Too sad for me, I’m afraid, but read it anyway, and if you are an American currently shocked by treatment of your own refugees, find out that you’re not alone in this. 

The chapters are short enough to be fairly easy reading for teens who are reluctant readers - not non-readers, but those who just can’t handle thick books with long chapters. 

Recommended for teens from about 14 years up. 

Book Blogger Hop - On Carrying A Book With You

This week’s Hop asks if you always carry a book with you.

Well... yes. Always. In fact, several hundred books now, that I have my trusty iPad with its Apple Books app and the Kindle app I added when we were beginning an iPad program at my school, as the kids’ iPads all had that, and I wanted to help them use it.

I travel by public transport. Before I had my ebook apps, I had to stick to books that were not too thick or heavy, and absolutely no hardcovers.

But even now, I usually take a print book, in case my battery runs low. The one currently in my tote bag is Lois McMaster Bujold’s Miles Vorkosigan novel The Warrior’s Apprentice, in which teenage Miles convinces a bunch of hardened space mercenaries that he is the leader of a nonexistent army, the Dendarii Mercenaries, and makes it real by taking over their army. I’ve read it enough times that I may need to buy the ebook to keep it from falling apart.

My newest book, Harry Turtledove’s Alpha And Omega, is hardcover, so has to be left at home. I did take that with me for a while, in my knitting bag...

Just so you know, there is no room in my home that doesn’t have books in it, including the smallest room! (Where I am currently rereading Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire). If I can’t be without a book at home, why would I go out without one? 

Some Female Sleuths I Like!

With this year’s Davitt Awards for women’s crime fiction coming up, I thought it might be fun to talk about some fictional female sleuths I’ve enjoyed reading about over the years. I prefer cosies to thrillers, though I do enjoy the occasional police procedural. In fact, I will be including an unusual one in this post, of which more later. 

Firstly, the most famous of this lot is Jane Marple, Agatha Christie’s elderly heroine, who is best known for the village mystery, though she does travel, usually as a gift from her nephew Raymond, who is a successful novelist. Wherever she goes there is bound to be a murder! 

Miss Marple is sharp as a tack. She tends to be underestimated by the baddies, for whom she plays dumb, but the police generally respect her if they have worked with her before. Her ability to solve crimes is helped by her understanding of human behaviour. Quite often she will comment that a suspect reminds her of someone in her village - and she’s right. In her first story collection, The Thirteen Problems, she is part of her nephew’s Tuesday night friends group, who gather to discuss unsolved mysteries. Without any examination of the crime scene or footprints in the flower beds, she listens carefully and works out the answers to all the mysteries. 

She has a wide variety of friends and relatives upon whose expertise she can count for her research, whether it’s a boy who knows about maps or, in The 4.50 From Paddington, a freelance housekeeper friend whom she asks to get a job in a house near the site of a murder seen by a friend of hers on the train one evening. This is different from other detective characters who don’t seem to bother with outside expertise to help them. 

Two of Australian author Kerry Greenwood’s women sleuths are next on my list. Since the hugely popular TV series,  1920s detective Phryne Fisher is well known to all, so I’ll keep it short. I discovered these books after reading about them in a newspaper article. They sounded fun - and so they were. Phryne Fisher lives and works in Melbourne in 1928-29. She is a professional private detective who does charge for her services, although she will also investigate a case that she feels is important. She has the money to be able to do what she wants, without worrying about what others think. She has two minions, taxi drivers Bert and Cec, who are Communists, and two wards, Ruth and Jane, with whom she lives in a “bijou” house in St Kilda, not far from where I live now. Her maid Dot is also her assistant, able to identify any clue with 

domestic connections, whether it’s the kind of notepaper used in an anonymous note or how recently the floor has been waxed and polished at a crime scene. 

I loved the flavour of the 1920s in the city where I live, and enjoyed all the books, though the earlier ones were better, in my opinion.

Kerry Greenwood’s other heroine, Corinna Chapman, has not yet made it into a TV series, alas! There are seven books so far in the series. Corinna lives in the present-day Melbourne CBD, in a building called Insula,  designed as a Roman apartment block, over shops of some of the owners, including Corinna’s bakery, Earthly Delights. Her neighbours are a kooky and likeable bunch, who end every novel with a party down in the basement. Corinna looks a lot more like her creator than the sylph-like Phryne and, unlike Phryne, enjoys cooking. The recipes included in each book are Kerry’s, and easy to make, unlike those in many other cosies I’ve read. Corinna has a gorgeous boyfriend, Daniel Cohen, who is the actual private detective in this series, but of course, she helps him in puzzling the mysteries out. Oh - and they aren’t murder mysteries, though there are occasional baddies who threaten death. There are things, and sometimes people, missing. In one case there were sabotaged chocolates from a high quality chocolate shop. Each novel has a theme, whether it’s Christmas or TV soapies or cults. They’re great fun. To be honest, I like Corinna’s adventures better than Phryne’s. And I’ve made some of the recipes, successfully. 

Another female sleuth I quite like is Kathy Reichs’s Tempe Brennan. Her adventures have become a TV series, Bones, though I haven’t seen much of that. I have read a number of the books. Temperance Brennan, who works in Canada, is a forensic anthropologist like her creator. That means she examines the gruesome remains of murder victims(usually before unwisely investigating whatever crime has been committed to create those dead bodies). I have been fascinated by forensics since being commissioned to write an article about it for the NSW School Magazine many years ago. It’s connected to my love of archaeology. 

Tempe does seem to have at least one scene in each of the books I have read in which she is caught in a locked room with the killer who snarls some variation on, “You interfering bitch! I’ll kill you!” But the books are entertaining stuff anyway. I heard the author speak at a Melbourne bookshop once, and say she had been invited to do a cameo on Bones. She said no until she found out she was going to meet David Boreanaz(better known to me as Angel, the vampire with a soul, from Buffy). That changed her mind quickly.

Agatha Raisin is another sleuth who has turned up on TV. The books are by M.C Beaton, who also wrote Hamish Macbeth. Agatha is a delightfully flawed middle-aged woman who has taken early retirement to live in Carsely, a village in the Cotswolds. Agatha is vain, gets jealous easily, smokes like a chimney and is willing to cheat; she solves her first mystery, in The Quiche Of Death, because she has to - she cheated in a village baking contest and the judge dropped dead, apparently from eating the quiche she entered. While not a fan of gardening, she cheats again in The Potted Gardener, getting a whole pre-planted garden delivered overnight to look good in a gardening festival. But she is a likeable character in general, basically kind-hearted, and very good at the crime investigations, and she eventually sets up a detective agency. There are quite a few murders for such a small place, to the point where, whenever she has been in London or overseas, her friends in Carsely joke that things have been quiet while she was away, no murders, but now she is back...

There are a lot of quirky characters in the books. But that seems to be the way of the village mystery. 

Guerline Scarfe is the heroine of  Simon Petrie’s Matters Arising From The Identification Of The Body. This one is a sort of police procedural, but set on Titan. Guerline, a sole parent with family issues, is also a police detective investigating the death of a girl who went out into Titan’s freezing, poisonous atmosphere and took off her spacesuit helmet. Unquestionably suicide, but... why? I liked that the story was crime fiction but also hard SF and that the answer was science fictional. I’ve reviewed it on this blog, if you want to check it out. There is a planned sequel not yet out at this writing, but definitely read this one! 

So, those are some of my favourites - what about yours? 

My Moon Day!

So, today I went to the Sun Theatre in Yarraville to see the Apollo 11 moon landing in real time, apart from a bit of footage of the craft taking off. It was interesting to see all those men - yes, they were all men, as far as I could see - at their desks, doing the work of getting the ship going. The CAPCOM was astronaut Bruce McCandless, who didn’t actually go to space for some time afterwards, but did some exciting things when he did. There’s a video of him flying around in a chair thing(MMU) in space, on YouTube. But we also saw the young Charlie Duke, who was in Melbourne earlier this year.

So, the ship got to the moon, the LM landed. We watched it all happening - well, the approach to the moon from the Eagle’s window and  their getting out of the LM, anyway. There were the historic moments - “The Eagle has landed,” , “One small step...” and “Magnificent desolation”, to applause from the audience, and then the astronauts got to work, collecting samples and setting up equipment for experiments. They talked about how they managed their walking, what the surface felt like and so on. They set up a camera to film themselves as they worked. 

As people were taking photos of the screen and nobody said we couldn’t, I did the same, and here is one blurry shot. You can’t see it from this, but the light and shading on the left side of the LM looked to me like a portrait of Lenin. Once seen, I couldn’t unsee it! 

So, most of it was work related, and I became aware, after a while, that those on Earth were taking great care that Buzz and Neil didn’t run out of air. There were regular comments on “portable life support systems” and the astronauts were called back up to the craft before they could run out. You probably also know that they landed with just enough fuel to get them back to the Columbia.

 Apparently Nixon had two speeches prepared, one for their success, one in case they got killed. Think about it: blasting off into space on top of a huge bomb! Scary! 

Unfortunately I have a tendency to doze off in the dark and I missed the planting of the flag. Well, it was history, after all. 

I believe this was also done at some other centres in Australia, at the same time. 

Some years ago, I wrote an Apollo 11 story for the Ford Street anthology Trust Me! The hero was a boy who missed the moon landing, due to a bully and the need to help his grandfather out. If you’re interested, the anthology is still available on line, in print or ebook. 

I did a lot of research for it, in 1969 newspapers, not only the articles about the actual moon landing, but also what was on TV, the theatre and the movies, how much groceries cost, letters to the newspapers... I didn’t use it all, but it made me feel comfortable in the era. There was even an article in which the journalist described his personal experience, so that I knew what the weather was like in  Melbourne on that day! (It was a fine, sunny winter day). 

So, how did you celebrate today’s Moon Day? 

Of Using Social Media When You’re A Writer Or Reader

So, why have a social media account when you’re a writer or reader? 

I mainly only belong to Twitter. My sister keeps trying to persuade me to join Instagram, where she keeps the family photos, but really, I’m doing enough in this area. I have more than one blog, though this is the only one I use regularly, and a Twitter account and one in Goodreads, which has allowed me an author page and shows these blog posts. 

I have never had a Facebook page, even though so many businesses are there, so it’s inconvenient. Mainly it’s because, as a teacher, I really didn’t want kids pursuing me there, although you never know where they will find you. I’ve had one student say, at lunchtime in the library, “Ooh, Miss, you’ve got a YouTube channel!” and another, an anonymous Year 7, say hi to me, quite politely, on a video I put there. Really, I was impressed that they managed to spell my name correctly enough to look me up, though in some cases it might be counted as stalking. Not really, in these two cases, they were just curious, and pleased to find that Miss had a life outside the school, apart from those books on the library shelves. But you can see how it might get nasty, and we’re not allowed to have kids follow us, or follow them, on social media. The more I read these days about what’s going on on Facebook, the happier I am not to be a member. 

Does Goodreads count as social media if you’re only using it to keep track of what you’re reading and making the occasional comment on someone else’s review? A lot of people do use it for more. The impression I get is that many authors are advised, by agents or publishers, to get a social media profile because it keeps them in the public eye and fans can follow and be thrilled to talk to their heroes. And that’s the last you hear of them. The only books on their Goodreads shelves are their own. Same with Twitter, though no shelves, of course. Many others join as readers, e.g YA authors Michael Pryor(who also has a blog, though not connected to GR) and Tamora Pierce, both of whom write reviews like the rest of us. Then there are others who answer questions of their fans, e.g SF author Lois McMaster Bujold, who patiently answers even the oddest questions, week after week. I tip my hat to her! 

It does get the occasional social media vibe when there is a drama. Last year I looked up a book I’d been sent for reviewing, out of curiosity, and found it was the centre of a particularly nasty discussion- not because the book itself was especially controversial, just another YA contemporary, but because the author had been extremely rude - and threatening - to a reviewer who had given it a polite but not enthusiastic review, for reasons that were explained. There are rules on Goodreads. You are absolutely not allowed to respond there to reviews, not even when the reviewer says, “I’m glad I didn’t have to pay for this book!” or “I only read eight pages, hated it!” And yes, I’ve had both of those in my own reviews! And gritted my teeth, but didn’t respond.  It’s not a professional site, after all, just one where readers share books they have read. They will say things pro reviewers never do, however rude those reviewers might be about a book. It is very influential, though. People make book choices according to GR reviews. 

So, I rarely use the star rating system and never rate a book I haven’t read. But others do. A popular author often gets five star ratings for books not yet published or even read by the reader concerned. And others, angry with an author for one reason or another, decide to stuff up the star ratings for him or her, by giving it one star without actually reading it. That happens sometimes - this wasn’t the first time. 

If you think you know which book and author I am talking about, I don’t want them named here. The drama has been over for a while. It’s not that I have any particular sympathy for the author, who behaved unprofessionally. I didn’t care much for the book, either, so I gave the author an interview, to let them explain it, as there may be plenty of others who will enjoy it. Then I gave it away. 

But I was shocked by the childish behaviour of all those readers who did the one-star thing as revenge. No. Not on. If you hate a book, fine, say so. If you think the author has misbehaved, absolutely say so. But don’t rate books you haven’t read. Not five stars for an unpublished, often unfinished, book by a favourite author, or one star for a book by someone who has made you angry. 

I did wonder for a while if I belonged there, but I’m still a member, posting the occasional review and updating my books and, of course, these posts appear on my author page . 

I joined Twitter, at first, because I was sick of missing author events in Melbourne, especially at the Wheeler Centre, where they have semi-regular talks and panels, and their Twitter account announces those.

Then I realised that despite some truly nasty political discussions and racist louts, there were also plenty of authors and artists, teachers and librarians, all chattering away about their work. There are celebrities who are happy to chat to their fans, as well as those who set up an account in order to get that social media profile and never actually tweet. There are big name writers who do post - Neil Gaiman, who krpt his fans up to date with the filming of Good Omens and answered what questions he could, and J.K Rowling. Harry Turtledove, author of alternative universe history(and, more recently, a fantasy thriller along the lines of Dan Brown, only he has a sense of humour, and his characters actually eat, sleep and, presumably, go to the bathroom, something that didn’t happen in The Da Vinci Code. I only knew about it because he mentioned it on Twitter). And many Aussie authors - a small community, so nice to be in touch and know when new books are being launched. 

And the occasional astronaut. Buzz Aldrin has an account and posts regularly. Amazing how fit and good he looks for his age! He chatters away cheerfully about stuff he is doing, and last year at this time, when someone invited us all to remember where we were on THAT day and Buzz said hilariously, “I was on the moon.” 

What social media do you do? And do you enjoy being able to speak directly to your favourite authors? 

Book Blogger Hop: Self Published Work

This week’s  Book Blogger Hop asks what you like or dislike about self published books. 

Okay, to start with, I don’t review self published work here unless the author has a track record as a paid author in the regular publishing industry. The reason is that, while there is undoubtedly some wonderful work in that area, I really don’t want to wade through the rest to find it. It’s a bit like online fan fiction. Anyone can publish online now. The fanzines I used to read in the old days had a filtering process. Someone had to want to publish it. That doesn’t mean there were no awful fanzines - there were plenty, just as there is plenty of dreadful stuff being published by the big four. But there is less chance of finding badly written stories with poor grammar, punctuation and spelling. Someone had to edit it, and quite a few self published authors don’t want to pay an editor. I’ve received so many review requests from them and their marketing companies that give me a snippet which presumably is supposed to draw the reader in. All I can think of when I read them is, “If that’s the best bit, what’s the rest like?” My favourite of these was one who had written some horror fiction with a historical background, but clearly hadn’t done her research. A music box appeared in 17th century Salem! And the evil witch had that well known Puritan name of Natasha. Another had written a children’s book with eleven year old lawyers.

There are many reasons why people self publish. I’d like to mention that one of my authors in Andromeda Spaceways #60 had been self publishing, but submitted to us and made her first sale, and the last I heard from her, she had acquired an agent. She had discovered that publishers might be willing to pay her for her work, so decided to have a go at finding them. 

Some do it because they want to keep their rights and their money. Usually they are people who have been published before, but not always. It might be a niche subject that regular publishers aren’t interested in. If you know what you’re doing, fine. Not everyone does.

I have to tell you, I’ve been blocked from the blog of an author who had been going on for years about how horrible “trad” publishers were and was a militant self pubber, though she hadn’t actually done it yet. My crime was suggesting, quite politely, that I hadn’t had any particular problems with them. By the way, the lady has still not done her first book, despite her carry on about the matter. I can only assume she had had a few rejections to make her so angry.

I know a few people who have done both. These are known as hybrid authors. Felicity Pulman’s wonderful YA Janna Chronicles were dumped by her publisher after Volume 4, despite there being two more books to go. Some of my students were reading the series at the time. She self published the rest and eventually another publisher took on the lot. By the way, I bought her self published books for my library so the kids could finish the series. She did it for a reason and has now found another publisher.

Patty Jansen is a highly militant self publisher of SF, but has also sold enough fiction in the US to be allowed into the Science Fiction Writers of America. She knows what she is doing, so does well in her sales of her self published work. 

Another friend, Simon Haynes, started in self publishing, sold his series, then went back to self publishing. I haven’t asked him why, but I can guess one reason: publishing companies just can’t keep up with him. He is very prolific, and publishers who accept your book are unlikely to publish it for two or more years, as they have a list to get through. He knows how to put together ebooks and commission art and post them online, so why wait for a publisher to do it? 

Tansy Rayner Roberts is another hybrid author who, I suspect, self publishes because publishers couldn’t keep up with her.

Michelle Cooper, author of the terrific Montmaray series, wanted to do a book about inventions. Her book, Dr Huxley’s Bequest, was written as a novel. Her agent didn’t think publishers would like it, so she said, “I’ll do something else next time, promise!” and self published. The book has done very well, even won a major award or two. 

I should add that self published books have been short listed for the Aurealis Awards and the CBCA Awards. I am pleased for the authors. I suspect they were among those who knew what they were doing. 

And that’s the thing - you do have to know what to do. You need to invest in an editor rather than a marketing company, which will take your money and spend a short time finding blogs and emailing the lot at once. There are good freelance editors out there, many with experience in working for publishers. Beta readers are all very well,  but if they are friends they will try to be kind, and if they are in your writing group, you may decide to ignore the advice you don’t like. It’s not enough, by itself. 

You need to find a good artist for the cover, and let them get on with the task, without messing them around. Don’t try to design your own, unless you have art talent. I’ve read blog posts by authors who are asking commenters’ opinions on what to do about the cover they are designing without any skills. Yes, I know editors and artists cost money, but those who want to be seen as professionals need to make their work look professional. 

I don’t reply to anyone who sends me an inquiry but doesn’t address me by name and has clearly not bothered to read my guidelines. Please don’t tell a blogger you love their blog when you aren’t following it. I once asked nicely what in particular they loved and, as I suspected, the reply was vague. Just say that you have noticed their blog reviews the kind of book you have written and ask if they would be interested. Even a grump like me will answer that, and sometimes I even offer them a guest post, with the understanding that it’s not their press release.  It may be something my readers would like, even if I’m not interested. I just don’t review it. 

So, do I like self published work? Sometimes. Mostly, I just don’t read it. 

Happy Bastille Day - Some French Reading!

Happy Bastille Day, everyone! (And belated happy birthday to Harrison Ford, Star of some of my favourite films).

In honour of the day, I’ll chat about a few French or French-themed books, in no special order. Just a few! 

We’ll start with the historical romance Desiree by Anne Marie Selinko. Desiree Clary was a real person, Napoleon’s fiancée before he dropped her to marry Josephine. She married one of his Marshalls, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, who eventually became King of Sweden. The historical Desiree was a very strange woman - maybe “weird” would describe her better - but novel-Desiree is delightful and likeable, beautifully played in the film by a well-cast Jean Simmons. The novel is written in the form of a diary, beginning when the heroine is fourteen and ending with her coronation as Queen of Sweden. Conveniently, it lasts her all those years, so must be quite a thick book, but that’s fiction for you. Desiree is a silk merchant’s daughter whose family are passionate about the Republic. As Napoleon shows his ambition more and more, Desiree is put off a man she once loved. The Napoleonic era is seen through her eyes. I don’t know if the print version is still available, but you can buy it in ebook. 

The real Desiree - Public Domain

Next, the Father of Science Fiction, Jules Verne. (The Mother of SF, of course, was Mary Shelley, but she was British). I confess I have only read a small amount of his fiction so far, though I have seen a lot of the film versions, but even when his novel is an adventure rather than SF, he is interested in the science of his time. Around The World In 80 Days, for example, isn’t speculative fiction, but it does start with an argument over how fast current technology will allow you to travel around the world. The hero, Phileas Fogg, a man who can only be described as obsessive compulsive in his habits, is willing to bet his entire savings on proving this. He travels with his valet, Passepartout(the novel’s French viewpoint character), who only took the job because he thought it would be nice and peaceful,dammit, and, later, Aouda, a widow rescued from her husband’s funeral pyre. It’s hilarious - and, in the end, proves that 80 days is, indeed, enough time. 

And then there are the actual SF books. He was using the science of his time to ask, “What if...?”, and he did his research. His voyage to the moon sets off from Florida, for example. He had some disagreements with H.G Wells, who sneered at his moon novel, Voyage To The Moon. Verne’s response was that at least he had done his research instead of inventing some fictional element(the equivalent of those South American poisons in so many whodunnits before Agatha Christie). Which is fair enough - Wells wrote SF, yes, but his real interest was in society, so that in The Time Machine the descendants of the rich are living in the sun, doing nothing for themselves, and being fed on by the descendants of the poor, living underground. If it took some handwavium to get his story going, that’s what he would do. 

Our very own Sophie Masson, French-Australian YA author, has written a lot of fairy tale themed stories for our delight. Two of them are Hunter’s Moon, Snow White set in the 19th century, in which the heroine’s father is the owner of a chain of department stores and the evil queen is her sophisticated fashionista stepmother, whom she admires until the lady tries to have her killed, and Moonlight And Ashes, Cinderella set in the same universe, also the 19th century, which goes as far as the ball, then takes a dramatic turn. I’ve reviewed both books on this blog - check them out. More recently she has done Black Wings, a straight historical novel about the French Revolution. Apparently, some of her ancestors lived in the region where the story is set. 

An alternative universe YA novel by her is the unusual Hand Of Glory, set in a Victorian era Australia in which the English and the French share the country. Apparently this was a possibility. It’s a fantasy novel as well, and well worth a read. Not sure if it’s still in print, but worth checking. 

In her role as a publisher, she has published Jules Verne’s adventure novel Mikhail Strogoff, translated for the first time in a century. She read it many times in the original French, but the only English translation was poor, so she commissioned a new one. It’s a beautifully-illustrated little hardcover, now available on line.

Among the classics is The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. If you think “classics - boring stuff we had to read for school, dead white males!” think again. A book becomes a classic because people keep reading it, and loving it. It’s not for nothing that it has been filmed over and over and inspired other fiction, including Tansy Rayner Roberts’ Musketeer Space, a gender-flipped queer version set in space. And by the way, written by a dead POC, rather than a dead white male. This is one I discovered for myself, and read all 650-odd pages in a day. Great fun, and you can get it free on Project Gutenberg, though you may prefer a more recent translation. 

Joanne Harris’s Chocolat was a delightful book with just a touch of fantasy, in which the heroine, a chocolatier in a small French village, devises chocolates according to people’s personalities. There was also a film version, with the amazing Judi Dench as a villager. 

Any favourite French themed or French books in your pile? 

On Writing For Kids!

I’ve had some good news, I’m writing a phonics reader for kids in their first year at school. It’s a lot harder than it sounds! There are quite a lot of words you can’t use because they haven’t learned them yet, and several words you have to use because it’s part of the new stuff they’re learning. (Interestingly, one of the brighter kids in the prep class I’m volunteering with can write “yard”, a word on the “not yet learned” list!). One of the high frequency required words is “was”, but you can’t write the story in past tense because they don’t yet know words ending in “ed”. And you can’t even work it into dialogue, because they haven’t yet learned “ay”, so no “says”.  A fascinating challenge! It’s a(deliberately)silly story of 160 words about a family and their goat attending the Goat Cup. (You can use the word “contest” if you absolutely must, but don’t use it more than once, if you can avoid it, they prefer single syllable words) - the sound-of-the-week is “oa.” And with all that, you still have to do a story kids will enjoy - micro flash fiction! 

You won’t see this book on any awards lists. Nobody will review it on Goodreads. You won’t even find it in your local bookshop, only order it from booksellers or the publishers. But I’m learning from doing it. Who knows? I might even end up learning how to do a picture book! And it’s paid writing work. 

So, what does this lead into? 

I’m a children’s writer, with one YA novel under my belt, as well as a (retired) teacher librarian. I sort of fell into children’s writing, a while after winning the Mary Grant Bruce Award for a YA short story, but I wouldn’t write anything else now, apart from the occasional SF/F short story. It requires skills not needed in writing for adults. Both require you to be able to grab the reader’s attention. Both require imagination, though I do have to wonder about all those adult books winning awards for “beautiful writing” rather than telling a wonderful story with characters you can care about. But kids are stronger critics. If you can’t grab them right away, they won’t read your work, sorry! Not even if you are a “beautiful writer”!  And they do have to care about the characters. All those YA dystopian novels end with a brave girl(usually a girl) saving the world. Some adult books do that, but they are not required to - they tend to be more respected if they finish with “He loved Big Brother” and such. 

So, I was a bit bemused - and disappointed - to read a tweet from an author whose first book I recently read and enjoyed, complaining bitterly that just because she was a woman she was being labelled as a YA writer! How unfair was that! Men didn’t have to put up with this labelling! 

Huh? What evidence did she have for that, apart from someone maybe listing her books as  YA on a website? (They’re not, I agree. Not one of her skills, I’m afraid, and I can see her writing only for adults). Was it an assumption? And why the offence anyway? Does she really think that writing for the world’s most difficult audience makes you inferior, somehow? Yes, probably... Sigh! So many people just don’t get it. 

A friend of mine, many years ago, was offended when I told her that some short stories she had written were perfect for kids, which they were. She had characters in over the top situations who took them totally for granted. This is something you see in the short fiction of Joan Aiken. She did get it when I gave her some Aiken to read, and Joy Chant’s wonderful Red Moon, Black Mountain. She even entered the Mary Grant Bruce Award for children’s fiction, with a story she later developed into a YA novel, and sold some short children’s fiction. When she heard “children’s fiction” she thought “Enid Blyton” - though I do have to say, I’d love to have the success of that lady, whose work, racist, sexist and classist as it is, has nevertheless entertained generations of kids.

But Enid Blyton doesn’t represent the whole of children’s writing. 

Yes, most YA and children’s fiction is written by women. Not all. And not all men’s YA books are  boys’ thrillers either. Michael Pryor’s entertaining novels vary from steampunk to humorous ghost stories - and they feature strong, intelligent girls. Likewise Garth Nix, whose Old Kingdom stories are all about girls with amazing  abilities. One of his books was a hilarious Regency fantasy, Newt’s Emerald. My lovely publisher Paul Collins started as a straight SF writer and moved into writing for children and teens and publishing for them.  Same with Sean McMullen, who has written several YA books over the last few years, after a career in adult SF/F. Philip Pullman could have written SF/F for adults with a little tweaking, but instead wrote an amazing YA series, His Dark Materials. Even Jack Heath, who does write teen thrillers, wrote at least one novel in which the girl was the adventurer and the boy was her tech support. Sean Williams does both, and his brilliant YA trilogy about what might really happen if we had teleport had a girl as the main character. Plenty more where those names come from. Those are only the SF/F writers. Anh Do(who also paints and entertains) and Oliver Phommavanh(primary school teacher and comedian)and Felice Arena(formerly a soapie actor, of all things) all write wonderful stuff for younger readers. Andy Griffiths, anyone? 

They certainly aren’t complaining about being labelled for writing women’s stuff! As a matter of fact, there are, I believe, men writing Mills and Boon under female pseudonyms, and a guy I used to know for his fantasy novels was writing historical romance last time we spoke.

Of course, this lady would argue that these men had a choice, one she doesn’t have, because of being a woman. Yet there are plenty of female writers who are writing for adults without this labelling. It’s the first I’ve ever heard of it. 

I am not sure I will be reading any more of this author’s books, though I did enjoy the first one - here’s the thing, I enjoyed it, but probably won’t be rereading it, though I do reread YA and children’s books. 

I dropped out of the discussion after saying that, no, she wasn’t a YA novelist, because I will be hearing her speak at a con next year and don’t want to spoil it, especially if we end up on a panel together.

I can only hope she doesn’t do any panels on YA.