Thanksgiving again. Who doesn’t love the idea of it? The idea, that is. Up until probably last week we were all excited to see distant relatives again, have a sit down meal and really get to catch up.

However, by now, a weekend of crowded grocery shopping, insane parking lots, nagging family members, traditions to follow, and an insanely large menu to be cooked all within the span of one or two days?

Yeah. I logged on SL too. <3

So! A shopping spree later, and I feel all better! Plastik’s Bael Special Edition skins are absolutely amazing. As you’ve probably seen, I’m always pale as the undriven snow, but these had such an amazing glow and vitality to them that I couldn’t resist, and the makeup options had me agonizing over which to choose for an hour. They come with three different sets of her artfully created elf ears, all matching perfectly, and an interesting set of eyes. The original version had the right eye blacked out on an eye layer, and a white contact for the left, but I’m a sucker for Poetic’s eyes still, so I just shifted the contact to the right and colored it black.

Cause who, cooking thanksgiving dinner, hasn’t decided that running outside is more enjoyable at one point or another?

The new Miel boots gave such a delicate look to the whole ensemble, as well as the airy feeling of the skirt, so I threw on a few dark, rich colors to get the feeling of Thanksgiving in. It really is a lovely time of year, even with the stress!

So, no matter what your family does, or how they irritate you, just remember. There are more shoes in SL to be bought.

Skin – Bael Special Edition – Fuk – Plastik

Hair – Green – Maitreya

Eyes – Poetic

Sweater – Ballet Sweater – Fri.day

Skirt – Chifone – Oyakin

Leggings – Niniko

Shoes – Miel

The good folks at Brimstone Press have announced the table of contents for their latest volume of Australian dark fantasy and horror, collected from the 2008 crop, and — big smile — my story, “Smoking, Waiting for the Dawn” (one of several to be included from Dreaming Again), is in there. It’s rubbing shoulders with some mighty good yarns:

“The Last Great House of Isla Tortuga” by Peter M. Ball

“The Claws of Native Ghosts” by Lee Battersby

“Pale Dark Soldier” by Deborah Biancotti

“Heere Be Monsters” by John Birmingham

“Teeth” by Stephen Dedman

“Her Collection of Intimacy” by Paul Haines

“A Guided Tour in the Kingdom of the Dead” by Richard Harland

“Moments of Dying” by Robert Hood

“Just Us” by Pete Kempshall

“Painlessness” by Kirstyn McDermott

“The Casting Out” by Miranda Siemienowicz

More details here.

Una cosa está clara, Luna Nueva es, sin lugar a dudas, una de las películas más esperadas de este año. La segunda parte de la saga Crepúsculo llegó este jueves a las salas mexicanas y su estreno estuvo acompañado de cientos de colas de fans enloquecidas por los vampiros y lobos adolescentes. Eso sí, ¿va acompañada la cantidad de fans con la calidad de las películas? De este fenómeno se podría hablar largo y tendido.
 

Luna Nueva, dirigida por el estadounidense Chris Weitz y adaptada de la novela de idéntico nombre, está, técnicamente, a años luz de la primera parte de la saga (algo que era de esperar teniendo en cuenta sus casi 400 millones de espectadores). Sin embargo, a pesar de su aventajada técnica, el argumento sigue siendo muy pobre y mantiene los fallos de su predecesora. Aquí lo interesante es señalar que los errores de ambas historias parten de la novela, que carece de innovaciones narrativas .

La película comienza totalmente focalizada en la relación entre Bella y Edward, con un simil a la obra "Romeo y Julieta", obra en la que claramente está inspirada la relación de los jóvenes protagonistas. Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) decide abandonar a Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) para mantenerla alejada de los peligros del mundo vampírico. Con la ayuda de Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), su amigo de la infancia y miembro de la misteriosa tribu quileute, Bella intentará superar el abandono de Edward.

A partir de aquí todo lo que se nos ofrece es una repetición de la primera parte, cuya única diferencia es la presencia de los hombres lobo sustituyendo a los vampiros. Nos encontramos ante una casi calcada repetición de escenas en las que Jacob Black pasa por las mismas fases por las que pasó Edward Cullen cuando se enamoró de Bella, tratando de alejarla de él por miedo a herirla pero acabando por atraerla más aun a su entorno.

En cuanto a su elenco principal, los mundialmente famosos Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart y Taylor Lautner, destacando la presencia casi protagonista del hombre lobo ante la prácticamente nula aparición del vampiro. Sobre sus capacidades artísticas no hay mucho que decir: ninguno destaca por estos dotes, sin embargo, sí han sabido destacar el nuevo físico que luce el hombre lobo en plena pubertad, y se ha querido aprovechar esta atracción de cara al público más hormonado (podrían contarse con los dedos las escenas en las que Jacob Black aparece con la camiseta puesta).

"Luna nueva" incorpora cambios sustanciales respecto a su primera parte: cambio en la dirección, una fotografía diferente (como ya intuimos en la portada),un score mesurado por parte del gran Alexandre Desplat, incorporación de nuevos personajes a la trama y unos efectos especiales más destacables (aunque, por suerte, no llegan a comerse la película ya que no se abusa de los mismos).

El principal defecto de esta entrega es la falta de ritmo en múltiples momentos y que se va haciendo más evidente conforme avanza la historia, lo que no ayuda, precisamente, a hacer llevaderas sus más de dos horas de metraje. Rematamos con ese seco final, muy decepcionante y orientado a que nadie se pierda la tercera parte de la saga, "Eclipse", que ya se encuentra completamente rodada, por lo que no tardará mucho en volver a reventar taquillas.

Estamos, por lo tanto, ante una película técnicamente muy aceptable, pero con un argumento muy pobre y, de cara al espectador que no ha leído los libros, un factor sorpresa prácticamente nulo, pudiendo adivinar en todo momento por dónde van a ir los tiros. Sin embargo, puedo asegurar, sin equivocarme, que será un exitazo de taquilla y que hará las delicias de cientos de miles de fans de esta historia de amor en todo el mundo.

Al grano: La producción se empeñó en mejorar los desastres de la primera parte, sin embargo, el problema de historia sosa, viene del libro.

* * * / 5

How To Look Young

How To Look Young

****Harold’s wife bought a new line of expensive cosmetics guaranteed to make her look years younger. After a lengthy sitting before the mirror applying the ‘miracle’ products, she asked, ‘Darling, honestly, what age would you say I am?’

Looking over her carefully, Harold replied, ‘Judging from your skin, twenty; your hair, eighteen; and your figure, twenty five.’

‘Oh, you flatterer!’ she gushed.

‘Hey, wait a minute!’ Harold interrupted. ‘I haven’t added them up yet.’

Behind a Forced Smile, I Harbor a Grown Shadow

Myro woke slowly to the sound of several dragens talking at once. Then one voice over-rode them all. “Hush, friends. Elder Myro has been through a great deal. More than anything he needs rest.” The voice was a familiar one. It hadn’t been that long ago since he’d heard it. He let it draw him back to consciousness.

“Where am I?” he said blearily. He forced his eyes open but his head felt like it was stuffed with cotton and he was having trouble getting his eyes to focus. He’d heard Elder Jesin, but he didn’t really recognize anyone else.

“You’re in the Starburst Cliffs,” an older sire said from close by. “I’m Elder Taurin. You saw me at the convocation but we didn’t speak to one another. How are you feeling?”

Myro closed his eyes, trying to shake the cobwebs loose from his mind, then opened them again and sighed when things stayed just as unfocused. “I’m still a little woozy,” he admitted. “The fire dragen elder… I should know his name…”

“Zarentil,” Elder Jesin supplied. “You said he attacked you. What happened exactly?”

“I got overheated and landed in a stream – or the meadow that surrounded one, rather.” He closed his eyes, giving up on forcing his eyes to focus. The thought that something might be seriously wrong with them flitted through his mind but he pushed it away. Now was not a good time to let his more hypochondriacally driven tendencies run away with him. “I splashed water on my face but it didn’t help that much, so I decided to take a short dip – wait for the sun to go down a bit and the heat of the day to lessen. I was just starting to relax when I heard a familiar voice. I looked up and saw that it was the fire – Elder Zarentil and he had a horde of demons with him. He was quite calm about the whole thing too. Then he told me to relax and began chanting in some strange guttural language. He was just about to grab my shoulder and… I suppose assault me, so I flew.”

“You found your way here and away from them and then collapsed,” a sea dragen dam said. She seemed familiar as Myro opened his eyes to look at her. His vision was starting to clear as well, much to his relief.

Much like the age old questions, “chicken or the egg?”, and “pirates or ninjas?”, Science Fiction vs. Fantasy is one of those unanswerable questions of life. But, while I can see the appeal of the first two questions, I have to wonder why we bother to ask this third question in the first place. I believe Fantasy and Science Fiction are two sides of the same coin, different only in the trappings, not in the actual spirit of pure imagination which I believe goes into both. Furthermore, the line between these two genre’s is blurry at best. Let me explain.

First, a couple of definitions, as gleaned from our friend of the Information Age, Wikipedia.

“Fantasy is a genre that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting” from the Fantasy Page.

Science Fiction – “It differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically-established or scientifically-postulated laws of nature (though some elements in a story might still be pure imaginative speculation)” from the Science Fiction Page.

I like to think of Science Fiction and Fantasy as two ends of a spectrum. At either end you have the extremes, Asimov at the SF end, and Tolkien at the Fantasy end. In the middle, the exact distinction becomes less clear, with authors such as Anne McCaffrey and Raymond Feist. McCaffrey’s Pern books are a brilliant example of this blurriness. At the beginning of that series (within the timeline), the books are almost pure SF, with space travel to other planets, genetic science and computer technology. Yet as Pern progresses, they become Fantasy novels, with quests, dragons, and in a strange sense magic, or at least communication with what are essentially large animals.

Another prime example of this fuzziness between the genres is actually Robert A. Heinlein. The book that I am thinking of specifically is called The Glory Road, and is one of my favorite works of Heinlein’s. However, I could not consider this book to fit neatly into either Category alone. While there is space travel, or rather travel between dimensions, and technology, there is also a sword-wielding hero, dragons, and in some sense magic. Now, I also think that Heinlein deliberately was blurring the line, as several times one of the characters explains her technology to the less technological Earth-man as “magic”. And indeed, it sounds like magic. But it is also equally clear that to her this ‘magic’ is as simple and straightforward as computer technology is to us.

I feel that I also must touch on the sub-genres of Urban Fantasy, and Steampunk/Cyberpunk and the many variations thereof. Steampunk and Cyberpunk are both technologically driven, though the aesthetic is rather different, yet Steampunk is considered a sub-genre of Fantasy, rather than Science Fiction. Urban Fantasy is another odd example, combining as it does themes such as elves, magic, dragons, vampires, werewolves, and modern day technology. One might almost dub these three sub-genres “Science Fantasy”, for they clearly combine the magic or semi-magical elements of Fantasy, with rational scientific explanations for many parts of the story.

Though I can by  no means claim to be the first to have these thoughts (or else why would the Bookstores shelve the two genres together?), I do think they are important considerations for an aspiring author. I think the question should not so much be “Science Fiction or Fantasy” as it should be a question of weaving your story clearly within the framework of the world or worlds you create.

Thought for the Day: “One man’s magic is another man’s engineering. Supernatural is a null word.” Robert A. Heinlein

Currently Reading: Village Life in Ancient Egypt: Laundry Lists and Love Songs ~ A.G. McDowell

A 4th UNDERWORLD Movie Is Getting The Greenlight After The Strong Performance Of 'UNDERWORLD: RISE OF THE LYCANS'

THE SHIELD was THRALL WORLD’s best television experience EVER (narrowly edging out BABYLON 5) and the writing was MINT.

——-
——-

Where I Got the Book From: Bought the hardcover version (seen left) from Barnes and Noble.

Ever since I was able to read (when I was about four years old, I believe), I always found something admirable about authors. Perhaps it was just so magical the way they picked out words, stuck them here and there, sewed them together, and, voilà! had their stories collected in nicely-bound books. It was as if they were a sort of literary witches and wizards. But now, they also strike me as chefs; some give you a tasty but calorie-packed hamburger with deep-fried French fries that fill you up but make you want something more (your everyday fluff fiction—which I’ve read none of), others cook up a plate filled with a perfect piece of filet mignon along a delectable side dish of vegetables (beautiful classics, e.g. Pride and Prejudice), and a few serve way a Thanksgiving dinner-type meal with too much to take in but are very good otherwise, like a Thanksgiving dinner (War and Peace, A Tale of Two Cities—not that I’ve actually read or finished either). If this was so—if those cheesy YA lit authors flipped burgers at McDonald’s and Jane Austen was the Julia Child of this world—then Shannon Hale would most likely be a sous-chef of the latter. Or perhaps I’ve just been watching a tad bit too much Food Network and cooking-related shows.

Summary: Everyone gets grounded by their parents for misbehaving once in awhile; sometimes a ten-year-old can’t watch his or her favorite TV show for a week, or a teen is forbidden from calling their friends every night for a month. What would you do if you had the option to stay with a friend who was to be grounded for seven years in a tower, and if you didn’t step up to stay with her, no one would? This is exactly the question that Dashti, a young mucker living in medieval Mongolian times, faces when given the chance to become the maidservant of Lady Saren, who is given this sentence for refusing to marry a man she has feared ever since she was a young girl. If Dashti said no, this story would be nonexistent; but she said yes, and thus, an adventure began. I really can’t say more than that, or I’ll give it away, but if you read the “recipe” above, that is exactly what this three hundred-odd paged book contains: an intriguing plot, marvelous lyrical writing, characters you feel like you’ve known all your life, and fantastic adventure fantasy with the right amount of romance that will keep female readers young and old swooning (here’s a secret: I totally LOVED the romance and swooned for days on end ).

Thoughts: I’ll be honest. I love fairy tales, especially Brothers Grimm ones. But never in my life had I heard of “Maid Maleen”, not until I heard about this novel. So after reading the synopsis of it on Wikipedia, you’d think Hale’s version of it would be exactly the same, just written and lengthened in typical Hale flair. In reality, it’s almost as if the author combined “Maid Maleen” with a trillion other classics: Mansfield Park, Persuasion, Cyrano de Bergerac,
and Jane Eyre to name a few; in addition, there is a scene towards the end that is easily comparable in artistry and intelligence to the famous pivotal trial in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Even if you don’t know me very well, you would—and should—be aware of my secret and unbearable obsession with this book, which I recommend to even the most reluctant readers. But allow me to put it this way: if you hate plots that are absolutely stunning, if you hate fantasy with a classic feel to it, if you hate heroines who have a little naïve goody two-shoes side to them, then you won’t like this book. But really, who doesn’t want at least one of those things?

Pros: Pretty much everything and anything about it, but see below for the one thing I didn’t like.

Cons: As much as I rave about this book, I may honestly say that there was one part near the ending that turned the story into complete YA (which is a little shocking, being that this is a Hale novel) and almost adult; it was a somewhat edgy scene (I don’t know if that’s the right word), and it totally came as a surprise for me. I wasn’t fond of it, and I think it could have been done without and changed.

Recommended For: I’ve heard of a few guys who have read this book and enjoyed it, but I don’t personally know any guys who like reading, so…I guess I should say I recommend this to any girl fourteen and up, and a very mature, bookworm-ish guy fifteen or sixteen and up.

Red Flags: As stated in the “cons” section, there is a tad bit
of weird stuff that those desensitized to edgy stuff will totally ignore and
those not desensitized (like me) won’t.

Grading:

Plot: 10/10

Characters: 10/10

Writing: 10/10

Overall:
10/10

Tidbits

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction

Original Release Date: September 30, 2007

Also Recommended:

• The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
• Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
• Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Check It Out!

• Shannon Hale’s blog, Squeetus
• The official Book of a Thousand Days page on Shannon Hale’s site

This is the final book in the Long Price Quartet, wherein the story of Otah Machi, Maati Vaupathai, and the andat is concluded.

I didn’t have the courage to read this book for quite a while.  After the shocking ending of An Autumn War, it ridiculously took a banner ad calling the final book ‘uplifting’ for me to steel my nerves.

I loved this book.  There are plenty of people for whom Daniel Abraham’s stuff just isn’t their thing, but it is mine.  The world of the Khaiem and Galt, the poets and the andat, the custom of poses, and of course the characters and events which led up to The Price of Spring, I think are great.

With the perspectives of Otah, his daughter Eiah, and Maati, and with the non-POV characters of Otah’s sister Idaan, and Maati’s student Vanjit, we see how ordinary, even good, people can passionately believe in opposing things.  It’s a simple idea, but here is done so well.  They are all working to put right the mistakes of the past, but in conflicting ways.

The story itself unfolds slowly.  Abraham gradually builds up our anticipation, so much so that by the end I found the tension almost unbearable.  Good but fallible people fighting for what they think is right, with horrific consequences if they fail. And Abraham doesn’t stint on the horrific consequences.

He takes his time to explore (or continue to explore) several ideas.  Great power, the regulation of it, inequality, justice, forgiveness, cost.  Although for me the ideas all work well, there is one I’d say is undeniably Star Trek – that is, that greatness, as opposed to goodness, is choosing the harder path and being prepared to face the risk.  It reminds me of the times Kirk risks his entire crew just to save one person.

We learn more about the andat, and we see the concept from new, even more disturbing, perspectives.  This is true of the whole book – several ideas are worked at from opposing angles.

With the Long Price Quartet, all the elements are interlinked perfectly.  There’s no waste (well, there did seem to be rather a lot about all the customs the Emperor had to put up with, but there was probably a reason for that I missed).  The writing is excellent.  Nothing is gratingly signposted – we are shown certain things, then left to draw our own conclusions.  One of the refreshing things about this series is how unique each volume is.  Abraham has a story to tell, and he tells it just the way it needs to be told, even if that means the third book is mostly about war and yet the fourth has not a single battle scene.

This series is extremely underrated.  That something so good is read by so few people is rather depressing.  Abraham’s said his new series should be more commercial, and hopefully he can pull this off without losing what makes his work special.

People with classic schizotypal personalities are apt to be loners, having few to no intimate relationships. They exhibit extreme anxiety in social situations, often associated more with distrust and an inability to communicate with others than with a negative self-image. They view themselves as alien or outcast, and this isolation causes pain as they disengage more and more from relationships and the outside world.

People with schizotypal personalities often have odd patterns of speech and ramble endlessly on tangents to a topic of conversation. They may dress in peculiar ways and have very strange ways of viewing the world around them. Often they harbor unusual ideas, such as believing in the powers of ESP or a sixth sense. At times, they believe they can magically influence people’s thoughts, actions and emotions.

In adolescence, signs of a schizotypal personality may begin as a gravitation toward solitary activities or a high level of social anxiety. The child may be an underperformer in school or appear socially out-of-step with peers, and as a result often becomes the subject of bullying or teasing.

Self-Image

Millon & Davis (1996, p. 626) describe individuals with StPD as ineffective and uncoordinated in regulating their needs, tensions, and goals. Their inadequate defenses lead to a disorganized and often direct discharge of primitive thoughts and impulses. They are unable to effectively sublimate their energy into reality-based activity and have few successful achievements in life. The disorganized and ineffective defenses further leave StPDs vulnerable to being overwhelmed by excess stimulation.

Chapter 6 is done!!! It is from William’s point of view. Here’s the prophecy piece and TWO snippets!

Two crowns.

One silver. One gold

Will sit on the heads of humans bold.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I followed my dryad friends to another tent, in which Carlotta, I presumed, was also changing. A muffled voice called out that they weren’t done yet, and Gareth rolled his eyes.

“Women!”

Fen and I laughed, and we all sat down on a fallen log to wait. I quickly bounced up again.

“Wait a minute! Are we sitting on a dead dryad?” The dryads started chuckling, and it quickly blossomed out into full-blown laughter. I frowned and waited for them to stop. When he finally had breath to speak, Fen answered my question.

“I suppose you could put it that way, lad. After a dryad dies, his or her tree lives a year longer, and then dies. But it’s not like there’s a dryad inside anymore.”

I eyed the log warily, and sat on the grass instead, being careful not to sit on any flowers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Your Majesties.” We all turned to see a great lion, his mane and fur golden in the bright sunshine, and his eyes sparkling with life and vitality.

“Oh! You’re beautiful!” Carlotta cried

“Many thanks, Your Majesty.” The lion replied, bowing his head. “If Your Majesties wish to follow me, I have come to show you the wonders of Riocht, and the land over which you now rule.

“That would be wonderful!” Carlotta and I cried together.

“Wait!” Eiolynn broke in. “Please give us one moment, Lion. We wish to speak to the King and Queen.” The lion nodded his permission. After drawing us aside, all the dryads, and the Eanaugh, who had joined us started talking at once.

“Hold it!” I exclaimed. “One at a time!”

Fen spoke up. “I’ll speak for all, if that is agreeable.” The others agreed that he could speak. “You have not been here long, children. You do not know Riocht well yet. You do not know that voice.”

“Know that voice?” Carlotta asked.

“That” said Fen, pausing dramatically and speaking in a whisper, “is the voice of…

AND I’M NOT TELLING WHOSE VOICE IT WAS!!!!!

-Zoe

I updated this map. You can see it bigger here.

Here’s a map of just Riocht. Sorry some of the stuff on the left got cut off. It’s supposed to say ‘The Larychan Sea’ and ‘Copyright Zoe Scrivener 2009′. You can see it bigger here.

Breathe in the final kiss of yesterday –
I watch as my hands play across your skin
Each touch a lingering pantomime of sin
As daydreams rock the churning of decay –
Don’t claim that I am lacking in my soul
That promised destinies can fight for free
While every breath brings reborn apathy
Each lonely-rippled pool of passion full
Of naught but tasteless cries to piece the moon.
You call me fickle, a vixen in disguise
You claim I tear the wings off human flies
With cries of forever and a player’s swoon:
But what is forever when the truth holds sway?
Ask for my life? No. I die every day.

The November meeting will take place on Tuesday 24th at 6pm in the usual venue of Henderson’s on Hanover Street; the book under discussion this month is the entrancing fantasy from Angela Carter, Nights at the Circus.