Listening to a Liar

One of the things in my “book world” that I have been umming and ahhing about is whether an audio book is better than the paper book. It has always frightened me that electronic devices will take over the paper world and my career will be flushed down the toilet. But fear not, my readers, for I have tested both and finally have the answer, nay, the OPINION that will help me continue in my career and, who knows, perhaps save the paper world forever.

It all started when I began reading Justine Larbalestier’s new release Liar. Her words captivated me as soon as I opened the story and it kept me locked into the characters twisted mind. While making one of my trips to Sunbury - which is my usual trip a lot of weekends now - I was stuck on the freeway in beloved peak hour and was itching to read Liar. I was at a stand still in traffic and knew I wasn’t going to move for the next 20 minutes so what was the harm? Alas, I did the right thing and left it lying in my bag. When I got to my destination in Sunbury, which is my boyfriend’s house, I begged him to amuse himself for at least half an hour while I finish off a couple of chapters. It then occurred to me that this is the time that people would find an audio book quite handy.
And so I bought one.

And yes I know what you’re thinking. What a waste of money right? When I was already half way through the book and the only time I’d listen to it is in the car. But you will be very surprised that I used over half the CD’s in the case and thoroughly enjoyed the experience ALMOST as much as the book in my hands.

The positives of an audio book:
The voice of the audio book keeps you intrigued. Especially for Liar because the lady who read it aloud created different voices for each person, was really enthusiastic with every word and kept me..well…listening!
Creates nostalgia. I remember loving library classes when the teacher would read out the picture books on the shelf. It was never the same experience when it turned into quiet reading time by yourself.
Allows you to multi task. My drives to Sunbury, and sometimes people listen to them while they clean!
Gets you through a story much faster than myself reading. Basically I’m a slow reader. I don’t like rushing it, which is why I never need to read something more than once.
Lets you hear a different tone of voice. I might read something in my head in a different tone than what the lady on the tape thinks it is. Both are right in a way, but at times her tone was more exciting!

However, there are negatives and only because I will always love the book more than anything else.

Negatives:
Doesn’t let you visually see things that you might like to see. For example, I’m dying to listen to the audio book Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld mostly because the voice is Alan Cumming but also because I think it would get me through the dense and complicated story better than reading it myself. However, because there are so many creatures in his world he has made his new book illustrated and I would like to flick through the book and follow the drawings along with the story. It's not that I have a lack of imagination, but rather Scott Westerfeld doesn’t allow imagination, as the image is meant to be staring us right in the face. Just like Liar. It doesn’t have illustrations like Scott, but it does have lists of things, short chapters that are sub chaptered into lots of different sections and it takes a bit to get used to visually!
I will never be able to listen to it in bed. I only listen to music in bed and its mostly Iron and Wine or The Shins…basically slower music to put me to sleep. Not a voice in my ear telling me a story. I like curling up with a lamp, book in hand and bookmark next to me resting next to my glasses. It’s a perfect image in my head and I never want to get rid of it.

So there aren’t as many negatives but they still count for something. Besides, I’d rather pay 20 bucks for a book rather than 50 to listen to it in the car. It was a great experience none the less, however I think I might stick to music in the car…must make more CD’s though…

Honestly yours,

Jinx xx

Character Development: X-Men Series

I celebrated my birthday yesterday. Turning 19 isn’t a very special number, but it did make me sit back and think about the year I’ve had. I have made quite a few changes in my life, whether it is going to a new school, meeting new people, or even getting rid of the people who didn’t make me happy in the first place. I am both surprised and proud I was able to do all of this in such a short amount of time.
To celebrate my birthday and achievements in my own special way I give to you the last character I have created. She is my only finished character because firstly, the series has finished so it was easier to decide her fate and secondly, she dies. The reason I put this character last is because she was the one character that had my ultra weakness as her personality. Every action she did annoyed me, but I knew deep down I probably would have done the same a few years ago. Looking back, I can see her character as fragile, naïve and weak. I guess that’s why it was so easy to kill her in the end!

I’m working on another one at the moment, but she is merely a shadow in the background of a very dense story. I do hope she finds herself a new personality like myself, that is very different from this one below.


Name: Aileé (French for “wing”)
Mutation: wings that repel anything besides fire
Lover: Pyro
Story: parents died in a house fire just as she was starting to grow her wings. Not being able to save them she escapes to Xaviers school. There, she meets Pyro and falls in love with him. She is still fearful of fire but continues to trust in him. When Pyro leaves at the end of the second X-men film to be with magneto, she becomes angry and hurt. However, in the third, they continue to see each other secretly; though Ailee is still upset he chose the brotherhood over her. With failed attempts of convincing him to come home, she concentrates on working hard for Xavier and the X-men.
During the last battle she notices Pyro and Iceman fighting. Desperate to break it up she ends up getting in the way of both and Pyro accidentally hits her with a fireball. She dies in his arms.
Costume: bandages from third degree burns from the house fire. Ink, shows a fireball and love heart in the middle with chains around it, to show her fear of fire. Green colours in both her clothing and in her eyes.

Thanks to everyone for their gifts and wishes for my birthday. Some special presents so far are below in pictures:
Picture ONE: Russell the Elephant, from Ben
Picture TWO: Alice In Wonderland frame, from Tory

Picture THREE: Fyson the Octopus, from Tory

Strongly yours,

Jinx xx

Wolfgang Iser Vamps It Up

It is nine days until Twilight: The New Moon storms the screens of theatres. I was sitting at home yesterday reading the latest Vogue when I came across an article named Vamping it Up which was explaining why and how all these women are obsessed with vampires recently. It made me think back to a class I had with my publishing teacher where we were discussing genres. It appears after Stephenie Meyers series Twilight, vampire books have been taking over the young adult section, and even a whole section in a bookshop. She has created a new genre, Paranormal Fiction, but how did this happen? And why her, when before her time hundreds of other series were already sitting shyly on the shelves?

I’ll tell you why, with the help of Jo Abbie, writer of the article Vamping it Up.

It’s all about Wolfgang Iser again. If any of you read my post Wolfgang Iser vs. JK Rowling
http://book-unfinished.blogspot.com/2009/07/wolfgang-iser-vs-jk-rowling.html
then you will remember that his main idea is that “It’s being able to ask not what the text means, but what the text does to the reader”

When I read Twilight, I was captured by Edward, as most of us were, but there was always the question of how this came to be. It wasn’t the chiseled features, his cool skin or his protectiveness over Bella. No, I think the main idea about Edward, which is why he appeals to women young and old, is that he is “109 years old – wise, compassionate and dangerous, eternally trapped in the body of a 17-year-old.” He offers that nostalgic feeling, whether it be reminding us of an old crush, or dreaming up this perfect guy that you wish really existed. It’s not about the blood sucking vampires that women love. We don’t actually want our necks bitten…well, not in that way! We love vampires because they’re old, while being physically young at the same time. Whether we like it or not, women love the bad boys, but we also love the wise guys and romantics, so what better way than to stick them both together to make a vampire! They’ll seduce you with their amazing sex appeal, kill you, and then read you some poetry from the 17th century. *sighs happily*

I guess what drew me in was that stupid red apple. I took a bite and there I was, in that world of Forks with Bella and Edward. Perhaps for some other people like my Mum, who is 50 years old, she was captured by word of mouth from her friends and their daughters. I find it hilarious now when adults come into the store and sneak into the young adult section claiming the next book in the series is for their daughter. I feel like going on a rant about Wolfgang Iser saying that we, the readers, decide what any text does to us in different ways, and not what the text means being in a young adult section. But instead, I sum it up by just saying “don’t worry, almost every woman in the world loves this book”

And I think I’m right when I say that, because lets face it, we all love a bit of romance. And don’t worry guys, I know that some of you out there have read and enjoyed the book just as much without being gay. My explanation for that is because perhaps, when we look at the big picture, there is a little bit of Edward in all of us.

To sum up, in the words of Jo Abbie I leave you with some wise words from her explaining why almost every woman would love Edward:
“Edward Cullen is indeed the archetypal literary hero: part Mr. Darcy, with a bit of Heathcliff’s angst and torment thrown in, and even a dash of the mills and boon-style love interest, who saves the day, replete with rippling muscles and perfect hair.”

Twilight: The New Moon is out November 19th

Go to the cinemas just to see the crowd, both young and old and you’ll see what I mean

Jinx xx

Sunburnt Stories

It was a Thursday morning when it happened…
Forgetting how hot the sun is in the mornings I got up really early (9 o’clock and hey, that’s pretty good considering I didn’t have to) and decided to sit by my pool and read. Given that uni is breaking my balls at the moment I haven’t really had time to sit down and read something I want. So I said damn to the man and I sat outside until 12 o’clock reading my favourite author Scott Westerfeld. His new release Leviathan was so bubbly that I completely forgot the blissful white sunscreen or even my awesome bright purple hat. So it seems the man got back at me by giving me ouchy sunburn as I was too engrossed in my story to even realise my skin yelling for help. What makes this situation worse is that I have very, very, very sensitive skin. I’m talking:
RED
BLISTER
White…thanks, skin!

From now on it’s sun-smart stuff, because apparently it’s going to be a hotter summer than last year. Urgh, I miss open fires and my Dr. Seuss bed socks already!

In other news, it is one more week to go before I am free from uni and assignments. But for now here is one of my pieces due for my last Fiction class assignment. Constructive criticism would be much appreciated, please!

This is a flash fiction piece, and titled The Beginning of an Ending

I stand at the edge of the platform. Grey faces walk past me in a blur as I concentrate on the yellow digits above me. I enter the train as it pulls to a stop and push myself through the doors as they slide open. The lights are bright. They flicker like the strobe lights in a disco. The floor under my polished black shoes is sticky from old vomit and bird shit. Even as I step further inside the train spilt alcohol along with other dark patches cover the floor. The grey faces become still, as if no disturbance was made. I walk forward. And walk. And again, I walk until I reach the front cabin. I pause outside the door. My hands are shaking as one clutches the door handle, the other holding a gun. I try to pull myself together. I try to justify my actions. I try to open the cabin door and do what I was told must be done. But instead I stand. I wait. And wait. And again, I wait until my breathing has steadied. My mind has justified itself. And my hands have stopped shaking.
There is movement inside the cabin. A whisper. A suitcase clipped open. He knows I am here. He can hear my breathing. He can feel the presence of my gun. He can taste my panic. But now, I can hear his breath. I can feel the presence of his gun. I can taste his panic. I steady myself once more and stand at the ready.
The train chugs on as I breathe. I listen. I swing the door open.
There is a gunshot…

A scream.
A silence.
An ending

Ambiguously yours,

Jinx xx

Character Development: Wicked Lovely Series

Another character, another reason for you to laugh at me!

This character is the silly side of me. The more bouncy, happy side exaggerated into a character for a dark world. The Wicked Lovely Series is one of my favourite series to read. Once again, the series is not finished so I haven’t decided what happens to her, but I would like a happy ending to break up the darkness that circles the story.

***Spoiler Alert***

Name: Tara
Glamour/Speciality when she becomes a fey: Her glamour includes black clothing, lots of piercings and ink. When she becomes fey her black clothing turns multicoloured (picture shows transformation from glamour to fey). Her speciality is her vine tattoo being able to move and extend out in shadows binding people until she stops moving/dancing.
Personality: bubbly, optimistic person. She’s sarcastically cheesy towards Rabbit because she knows he gets annoyed and embarrassed. She becomes very serious around Irial because of the respect she holds for him, but is always secretly intimidated by him.
Court: Dark Court
Fear: Irial
Ink: Black vines on arms that move according to her heartbeat. Love heart on breast which is the Ink Exchange that binds her to Rabbit and makes her part fey.
Lover: Rabbit/Bunny Boy
Story: In Wicked Lovely, she gets a part time job at Pins and Needles where she falls in love with Rabbit. Because Rabbit also loves her, he keeps her involved in his secret life as a faerie. She asks to become a faerie so she can live in his world, but to also have the sight so she feels safer around Rabbits family and friends.
In Ink Exchange, Rabbit agrees to give her the heart on her breast in order to make her accepted into the Dark Court. Her story is a happier one so far because unlike Leslie, the Ink Exchange worked for her. Perhaps in a way because Tara was stronger in her love towards Rabbit, but more because she knew more about the exchange than Leslie did.

Wickedly yours,

Jinx xx

Character Development: The Inheritance Series

If anyone else has done this, then tell me so I don’t feel as embarrassed or nerdy!
Whenever I read a really well written, awesome book, I start to think about what I’d be like, if I lived in that same world. And soon, all these ideas start popping into my head and before I know it I have done it…created a character.

The catch, you ask? I cannot disturb the story in any way. So for those Twilight fans out there, you cannot end up with Jacob or Edward, that’s blasphemy, people! And also very sad…

So far, I have created three characters and I will post them one by one, as I’m seriously overdue for new posts!

To start, this character is for Azz…so he doesn’t kill me for not reading all of Brisingr yet!

***Spoiler Alert***

Name: Evieé
Costume: Black and green pants with green and black top that wraps around stomach; bandages down right arm and shoulder; ink on left shoulder of crest with two swords crossing each other, which is a symbol that she is the best swordsman in all of Alagaesia.
Fear: Dragons, Galbatorix
Lover: Murtagh
Story: In Eragon, she grew up with Murtagh when they were kids and had plans to be married. He tells her about the sword Morzan throws at him so they decide to leave. Murtagh was to leave first in order not to create suspicion and Evieé to leave after. She searches for him and ends up at The Varden, becoming friends with Nasuada and Arya. When he arrives, she helps him escape and they are united once again.
In Eldest, when Murtagh disappears she becomes angry and heartbroken and doesn’t talk to any members of The Varden but Eragon. She only leaves her room for training and dinner. When she fights in the war on The Burning Plains, she meets Murtagh when she sees him fighting Eragon. When running to break up the fight he knocks her out with magic and kidnaps her
In Brisingr, because I haven’t read all of it, it makes her story all the more interesting because I haven't decided her fate!
Personality: She has a strong backbone. The only person who can tell her what to do is Murtagh which becomes her weakness in the end. Very loyal to Nasuada and The Varden. Very proud of her swords, which reminds me of Wade Wilson/Deadpool when he uses his swords in Origins
Wade Wilson: Okay. People are dead.
Team: The Varden

Enjoy laughing at me!

Embarrassingly yours,

Jinx xx

Which Hand Will Sign This Paper?

I never thought I’d ever say this, but I’m beginning to like Non-Fiction better than Fiction. Of course, I still love my YA fictional books but something in me sparks when issues such as the one I am about to mention, makes me so passionate about writing and publishing.

In my non-fiction class today we were discussing what makes non-fiction. First I must ask my readers what do you think IS Non-Fiction? The most common answer you will find is “the truth” which isn’t wrong on any level. But as I found out today, now we have to question “what is truth?” which is a little harder as you will find…

One example of this is Truman Capote, who was the first author to write a non-fiction event in a literary form. His novel In Cold Blood was based on true events, however even though he spent a lot of time with everyone involved in the murder, he didn’t tape record any events or take any notes. Does this affect the authenticity of the text? A lot of texts have been skewed into different types of genres in one, this is called Gonzo Literature. Is it non-fiction or is it more fiction? Can it be both?
It’s the same with the Hunter S Thompson novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. In fact it’s been done so many times they can probably count them down in 20 to 1
But what happens when you take the identity of non-fiction and skew the truth so much that you take it too far?

One of the greatest hoaxes of all time (sadly did not make it on 20 to 1 greatest pranks and pranksters list) would have to be the Ern Malley hoax. In the 1940’s Harold Stewart and James McAuley thought modernist poetry was pretentious nonsense. So to take the piss out of Max Harris who was the editor of Angry Penguins, they made up a guy called Ern Malley, copied and pasted together poetry from existing modernist poets and forged a letter from Ethel Malley, Ern Malleys “sister”, to the publishers telling the story of her brother that died and while cleaning out his room she found these poems. Max Harris was almost drooling over the papers feeling so lucky that he came across them not realising that he was made a fool of after publishing them and promoting them around the world. Its one of my favourite stories to tell, that notion of what makes good literature is forever stained because of this trick that McAuley and Stewart played on all of us.
The reason why they decided to play this prank is because they were taking the piss, and because quite frankly people take themselves too seriously! However, as much as I love that story, it is possible to take it too far.

Anyone know the name Helen Demidenko?
How about Helen Darville?
Well they’re both the same woman. Though it was Helen Demidenko that apparenty “signed the paper”. It was her story The Hand That Signed The Paper that was a hoax that went too far. Helen was apparently Ukrainian, who was writing about her true experience of the holocaust. She dressed Ukrainian, danced their traditional dance, but it was later found out that she was in fact an English woman…with no connection to the holocaust what so ever!
This lady annoys the HELL out of me! How dare she lie to that extent and fool an entire nation of people. It makes you wonder how Ukrainian people would have felt about the situation, pretty darn insulted I think! What makes me so angry at her and make it different from the Ern Malley situation is that they did it for a good cause, it was almost like an extended April Fools Day if you like. Helen, however, wasn’t ever going to admit that she wasn’t actually Ukrainian until someone finally caught her out. The novel won a lot of awards and what for? For a true story that was about the holocaust…yet ended up being fictional. Could the story have stood on its own imaginative legs if she had of been honest the entire time?

It reminded me of when I saw John Boyne at Deakin Uni Library with Tor Dor. During question time one lady asked him
“Have you ever received hate mail or complaints about writing about the holocaust when you are Irish?” and he answered with
“I have a whole box at home full of them. At one literary event someone came running at me and had to be restrained” his novel The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas is a fictional young adult genius piece! And he was honest with it and called it fictional, yet it still had controversy and pissed people off in a good way. Why did Helen think she had to lie?! I think Mark Harris said it all when he mentioned in an interview “the myth is sometimes greater than its creator” and it’s so true when Peter Craven proves this point by saying “everyone was interested in Helen Darville for what she was not”

There are so many accounts like this out there. Links of different situations are below.

Ern Malley

www.ernmalley.com/

JT Leroy "Terminator"

www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/archive/.../jt_leroy/

Norma Khouri

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/23/1090464860184.html

Tell me what your thoughts are about these people? Do you think Helen Demidenko has spunk and balls to pull that off? Or do you think she took this literary hoax too far? For me, I have learnt to question more about what I think good literature is, also the question whose reality is it that makes the genre? The author or the reader?

To conclude…its best to leave the “pissing people off” to fags like Kyle Sandilands.
At least when he pisses people off, he’s honest about it.

Jinx xx

Taking over the Melbourne Writers Festival

It has been a while since I wrote a new post on my blog and I did realise a while ago that I didn’t end up questioning you guys about an issue I was talking about in my uni class. However, it did occur to me that there was so much more to write about than to rant on about copyright…seriously it was going to be about copyright.

So many more important things…like…MEETING SCOTT WESTERFELD
Yes. The photo above you is REAL. I am not that skilled at photoshop!

This week the Melbourne Writers Festival is on! I’d never been before today, honestly because I didn’t know about it until last year, but if you happen to be roaming the city in the next week, please stop by and soak in the literature!

I’ve only seen one lecture so far with Scott Westerfeld, Justine Larbalestier and Isobelle Carmody but I can honestly say it is a really great experience to sit in a small room, so close to someone you admire and talk to them about the writing and publishing world.

The lecture I saw was called “Taking over the Grown Up’s Table”
http://www.mwf.com.au/2009/content/mwf_2009_events.asp?name=2335
Surprisingly, it was incredibly laid back and a lot of fun! I was expecting a uni lecture set up, however Scott Westerfeld cracked jokes, the audience joined in on what was discussed and a lot of really interesting things were said.

Some of the issues that we discussed started co-in siding with my course, which was really cool, including covers of books and how important it is to please the audience as we’re the ones who “judge the book by its cover” and decide to pick it up off the shelf.
We also talked about the YA section in general and why its so important to keep the section alive. Which is kind of inspiring in a way because my dream is to open my own publishing company, where I will publish children and YA books. So to listen to these authors telling us how much of an honour it is to write for the YA community, it really made me want to jump ahead in time and start up this publishing company! Though I quickly learnt from this lecture not to grow up too fast!

The fun really began when we all got a chance to meet the authors after. Which meant I finally got to meet Scott Westerfeld! Anyone who has met me before, even for a minute, will know two things about me
I love to read
my favourite author is Scott Westerfeld
So, you can imagine how I was feeling! Clutching my book So Yesterday (the first book I ever read by Scott) I approached the table and realised
“Oh shi- I have no idea what to say! My vocabulary has gone!!”
I even said to Mel as we’re lining up
“Mel…I don’t know what to say!”
I didn’t make a fool of myself too much in the end though…at least I hope I didn’t. I instead told him that his books changed the way I thought about the world as well as mentioning his Uglies series changing the way I felt about myself. And I also had to mention my Food Tech hamper I made for him in year 12 (of course, I’m still ranting about that!) which he remembered and was very appreciative of (yaay!!)

Pictures of the finished hamper once again!

So, to end, I am still so buzzed from the afternoon events and I really do recommend that people come to see SOMETHING. It’s totally worth it, I promise you.

Favourite quote of the day
“Adults are so precious and worry too much about what they should be reading. They’re such wankers about it!” – Scott Westerfeld

Thank you to all authors who take the time out to listen to us rant about how much we love you. Even though you say you appreciate hearing it every time, we appreciate you writing such beautiful tales every time.

Jinx xx

Intro to Fiction Writing (week 2)

Terribly slack of me to post another one of these, I know, but I promise to discuss an issue that came up today in writing class later!
This piece is another first draft. Hope you enjoy it!

I woke in a cold sweat. My breathing was heavy. I lay there slowing my breath trying to focus on something other than the dream that gripped my mind. The stone floor felt comforting against my skin and for the first time in a long time I felt at peace with myself and even with the world, even though all I could see was a dark, grey sky.
When I felt ready to face reality I sat up to observe my surroundings. The Factory was no different to how I remembered it before but it still felt foreign to me. I guess in many ways it was always a foreign concept to me. A place I would never understand and perhaps never wanted to. I said I would never return to The Factory but as most stories go, not everything is what we expect it to be and I guess in many ways, I knew I would have to return one day. To prove it happened if anything at all, even just to remind me, freshen the pain, add salt to my wound or even return to comfort myself. No matter what happened there, it was my home for most of my life.

I started working at The Factory on my 18th birthday. I remember the car crash on the way to my friend’s house. The car flipped and burst into flames with just me in it. I could smell my skin burning as I struggled to push myself around and out of the twisted metal that used to be my dads prized possession. I passed out from the pain of burning and being crushed and when I woke up, I was in The Factory. I will always have memories of the smell. I guess it was to make us believe we were in hospital, to make us believe we were going to be ok. No matter how many needles and funny machinery they pulled out to inject, poke and squeeze into, on and above you, it was still a hospital to us and everyone obeyed. It was only when the others, including myself, left our room, did we realise what The Factory was all about…

Jinx xx

Intro to Fiction Writing (week 1)

Take careful note that this is my first draft but I thought I should post another writing folio piece seeing as I’ve started back at uni now. Hoorah!
Enjoy and please criticize as much as you like!

I remember when he came for me at night. I used to wait for him, watching and holding my breath, hoping that perhaps one day, he would stop coming. When he did come, the darkness in my room settles to the earth and he almost glides to my side and whispers the events that happened that day, that year and my whole life. When he departs I used to dive under the darkness that was slowly rising to try and get a glimpse of his feet. The mystery frustrated and frightened me. He told me everything about him, but never anything about his feet. I hated not knowing the full situation, yet I hated remembering. It always made me wonder whether he was really telling me everything, or whether he was leaving something out, like his feet or some very small but significant piece of information I should know about.

My thoughts would fill as the darkness rose when he left and I would wonder every night whether I should ask questions, give my opinion or even demand to see. I never did. I sat, I listened and then waited through the rest of the day until night falls, darkness sinks to the ground and I remember.

When he came for me this evening to help me remember, he was not alone. I dived under the darkness hoping he would not see me, that perhaps on this changing evening, the man that comes for me every night would forget I existed and the man next to him would leave me be. The man standing next to him had a suitcase in his hand and brown leather shoes. When I saw the shoes as I lay on the cold earth I wondered whether this was the night I would be shown something new and not just reminded about the old. The man that comes for me every night glided as usual towards me and whispered the usual information I’m supposed to know about. I sat up cautiously, waiting for something new to be said. But I didn’t hear anything new and after he finished he glided out, the darkness rose and the man in brown shoes disappeared. After the third evening of this occurring, the man with the shoes shook hands with the other man and they walked out. On the fourth evening, I was taken…

Jinx xx

YA Alternate Worlds

Today I decided to ring one of my best friends, Tory and while talking to her about school books and how the novel Dracula explains things in too much detail we came to talking about Scott Westerfeld’s series Uglies.
For most of you who know Tory, you will know she has a very keen eye for finding books that grab your attention straight away. You will also know that she hasn’t read Uglies. For shame!
However, she has given the books a good go and what she found interesting, yet also frustrating was the fact that while being able to create a new world, Scott Westerfeld didn’t explain a lot of contraptions and new technology. She wanted to know exactly what a bungee-jacket was, but for it to still fit into the story, which is difficult, unless you use footnotes like Terry Pratchett.
This made me think back to a recent interview Scott Westerfeld attended with Holly Black and Cassandra Claire about alternate histories and how hard it is to show a story, not tell it.
I often have this trouble in writing classes and I know it will take a few years for me to get the hang of it, or maybe I won’t get the process at all, but for those who are interested in how professional writers overcome this difficult process of explaining little things in the world (like hoverboards, sneak suits, even gloves!) through the eyes of a character who has lived in the world all their life and know nothing different, here is the interview as a linkage

http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/?p=1098

To read up on the other authors, Holly Black’s page is here http://www.blackholly.com/
And Cassandra Claires book is here http://www.cassandraclare.com/

I have read Holly Blacks work before (Valiant) so I’m really looking forward to White Cat. And there is of course Cassandra Claire whose book City of Bones I have at home, yet (as I've explained to Tory) is part of my tower of "must read" books.

Enjoy!

Jinx xx

Wolfgang Iser vs. J.K Rowling

It has been a long time, but finally once more I bring to you another post about my world as a reader.
When Harry Potter hit the shelves in 1997 a change in young adult reading was formed. It is all thanks to the wonderful author J.K Rowling. But as you will find from this post, not only do young adults read this wonderful tale, but people as old as 86 can enjoy it just as much

I am talking about my Grandmother. I was having a coffee with her the other day and the conversation started with Cornelius, my cat, and where his name came from. I said
“no he’s not named after the ape from Planet of the Apes, nor is he named after Cornelius Fudge from Harry Potter” and she goes
“I thought you would have named it after Cornelius the monkey. [This is a large toy monkey that’s been in the family for 35 years] Are you excited about the Harry Potter movies by the way?”

And now it begins

When I started reading Harry Potter I leant them to my Grandma and we both got really into them! But she never wanted to see the movies because she didn’t want the image of Hogwarts being ruined for her. Her idea of Hogwarts was something she knew would be different to the director’s point of view because it’s his opinion of what it should be. When explaining this to me she then said
“What do you think makes a good story? One that can pull all ages under its spell, but how does it do that?”

Usually my answer to this question is good language AND slanguage (slanguage being the colloquialism to suit a certain age group) but of course, how can J.K Rowling write such a story that suited both my 86 year old Grandma and me, an 18 year old teenager.
I paused and thought back to what I learnt in my course trying to search for a clue to how authors seem to be able to do this. And finally I came to Wolfgang Iser. I said
“It’s being able to ask not what the text means, but what the text does to the reader. To you and I, we both picture our own Hogwarts, our own Harry, our own magic world depending on the life we’ve led so far. It’s what the text does to the reader like you and I, and not what J.K Rowling tries to pull out of the text for us. It’s just like Wolfgang Iser said, we have to create our own implied reader to gage what to expect in a story individually”

Think back to all the times you’ve read a story and leant to someone older or younger than you. Did they enjoy it on the same scale as you? What were their expectations compared to your expectations?

Jinx xx

Sex, Scrotums and Librarians

There is a new issue that’s floating around the news recently that I believe should be talked about here, right now…on this blog. I say this because many authors have become very defensive over this issue and I think it’s high time that the young adults of this world shed their view.

I read about this issue ages ago on Scott Westerfeld’s blog about books being banned or moved from the young adult section because of its bad content; whether it be talking about sex or even implying sexual connotations. The post is here http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/?s=scrotum

So, understandably these authors must get pretty damn frustrated. I mean, they write these beautiful stories that touch the lives of some particular groups of young adults, and librarians decide to destroy it by labelling it “racy” or in simple terms BAD and therefore ban it. Not to mention the fact that a lot of money goes into publishing the one story, and now it’s not allowed to sit – rightfully - on its shelf.

But, that post was written ages ago so let me update you.
If you haven’t already heard, Maureen Johnson has recently been accused of having “racy XXX rated content” in her book The Bermudez Triangle. Only this time it’s not the library staff that are complaining but two mothers.
The story in simple terms is:
The daughter of one of the mothers picked up two random books off the young adult section in their local library. One was Maureen’s book, another Gossip Girl (EW!) While flicking through the pages herself, the mother found some of the topics “racy” and decided to call the library and ask not for the books to be banned, but for them to simply be removed from the young adult section to the adult section.
Youtube video linkage for more info and also Maureen Johnson defending herself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8aLRBhNUmo

Ahem. Cue young adult point of view

We all know that the young adult section has often been confused with different people thinking it’s for different ages. As far as I’m concerned I try to keep the young adult section for ages 14 and UP! But, obviously the age is dropping and now young adult is aimed at 12 and up, which is where the problem has started. I think what we should be doing is not banning books just because they sit in a certain section that might be appropriate for one audience and not the other, but changing the sections age group completely. The reason why I think this is because young adult writing for certain ages is so specific with language for different ages it would be silly to move it to the adult section. While a 12 year old (or her mother for that matter) doesn’t want to learn about teenagers having underage sex and it being ok, adults don’t want to read about it either so why move it to the adult section?

I can see both sides to the story. Mothers don’t want to have to monitor what their child is reading, they already have to monitor what they’re doing on the internet! But to defend the authors for just a moment I should make the statement that I agree with Maureen Johnson. Someone who doesn’t read the section, should not be allowed to make such a big statement like “MOVE THIS BOOK TO THE ADULT SECTION.” Or “BAN IT!! DO IT NOOOW!!” It is exactly the reason why I am writing this blog because, as an 18 year old young adult reader, I think the opinion that needs to count the most is people like me who actually read the section and analyse it ourselves.

What kind of young adult book doesn’t talk about boys and sex and anything dirty that comes to your mind? The reason that those topics are written is because we (teenagers) find it interesting! We talk about it with our friends and authors know this and therefore like to capture our language because their characters are meant to be us, so they must mirror our behaviour.

My dad was saying before (while I was ranting to him about it) that when my sister was in the early stages of reading young adult, he was very worried about the content of the stories. My sister used to read books like Chain of Hearts by Maureen McCarthy and Peeling the Onion by Wendy Orr. Both contain content like suicide, accidental death and self harm. He stopped worrying, however, when he could see how happy she was reading these sorts of issues in novels. They opened up her eyes, kept her intrigued and plus, she was reading! So my dad wasn’t about to call a library and ask to ban the book when he finally found a way for her to read something!
Interesting, because my sister was 14 at the time and so had a fair idea what suicide meant, could handle issues with self harm etc.

I realised that while watching these youtube videos with library staff having their say, adults who host TV morning shows, mothers and authors also having a say, that not once did they ask the daughters point of view. Sure she’s 12 years old but how do you know she was even phased with the idea of sex being mentioned? I know I wasn’t when I read about suicide in Chain of Hearts when I read it at the age of 12 - my sister recommended the book to me.

To recap, the library staff and bookstore staff should rearrange the age group of young adult sections and perhaps bring in another section labelled “tweens” and then “teens” instead of young adult period. This will be so kids don’t get confused between a book like Twilight (friendly no sex before marriage book) and The Bermudez Triangle (lesbians and underage sex being the norm) while also keeping mothers happy because their daughter/son is reading material that is safe and appropriate for their age.

In the words of Scott Westerfeld:

SCROTUM

Ha. Destroyed your mind!

Jinx xx

The Serpents Kiss

This is the final edited piece of writing for my fantasy section. The original piece before editing is here: http://book-unfinished.blogspot.com/2009/03/writing-and-publishing-week-5.html
Tell me what you think!


I tried to sit up to check my surroundings but I realised that simple task was harder than expected. I was chained. I lifted my legs and pain forced a halt. Straining my eyes I could just see ahead of me. Bruises covered my whole body, blood spilled from my slashed skin and I guessed the obvious. I was defeated…
***
“Fucking hell” I yelled “that really hurts. Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to hit a woman?” feet walked towards me. The body attached to the feet was a man I once knew and even with all those years of knowing him, I still couldn’t tell whether he was really going to hurt me.
“But you’re not a woman are you Charlie?” the man laughed and kicked my bruised thigh. I jumped and both my ankles and wrists cried in protest.
“No but I resemble everything there is about women. The mind, the appearance, the strength… everything. Except— I replied with clenched teeth
“Except the fact that you are not a woman. You are a genetic fuck up of what is human. One element of woman…yet one element of something else. Oh, rather, you aren’t human at all now. Therefore you are neither man nor woman but merely the shell of a woman that once existed. I would like to negotiate with you now, my life is far too busy to keep you held for much longer.” The man swung his leg over me and sat down on my stomach. He was light for a man of his size, but then again, I remembered, he wasn’t as strong as he looked. His mind was his strong point, I always knew that and no doubt his loyal dogs gave me these bruises and scars, not him. No wonder I was defeated, I was out numbered.
“Fuck you! I will never negotiate with a man who lies! And who are you to say what’s human and what’s the shell of a human? You made me what I am today. You aren’t human yourself. What makes us human? At least I can admit to being a beast...at least I can remain stronger than you’ll ever be!” I stare straight at the sky too afraid to look at his face, not because of what his true form held, but because if I looked at his face I was afraid upon looking in his eyes, that I would cave in, just like last time when I first saw his face in my village. He sighed heavily and shifted his weight on me making me wince at the pressure on my bruised, slashed body.
“I never lied to you Charlie; I only protected you from the truth. Why don’t you look at me anymore?” he touched my face lightly catching a tear “protecting your village is like me protecting your heart” he unlocked one chain and let my hand slide out of the cuffs. I took the opportunity to lash at him, but his hand locked around my broken wrist and I cried out in pain
“Ah ah ah” he tutted at me “naughty girl, be gentle or the cuffs go back on” he laced his fingers through mine and leaned forward blocking my view from the sky so I was forced to look at him. His eyes, I thought I can see them again. My body froze up and my mind shattered, too afraid of the information held. I could see everything that happened when the destruction of my village began. The lives I killed, everything that I destroyed, it was all there. He stared unblinking at me until he was satisfied I saw enough. The man I once loved and whom I killed for was punishing me.
And now he must finally die…

The claws of the beast within me lashed at the ground. I undug the chain that were buried deep in the earth and swung them towards his face. I heard a crunch and scream as he fell back. My claws extended further the more anger and pain shot through my body, and slowly transformed me to my chimera form. Shattering the chain, I was able to stand once more. I looked upon his face one last time as my memories showed through his eyes
“My dear you’re looking more beautiful than ever,” he said, shedding his skin and revealing his snake shaped chimera form…



Jinx xx

Chasing Cubes

I am a very excited Green Gilly today! Walking around Smith St has made me remember why I love shopping in places where people don’t usually go. And ok, a lot of people go to Smith St for the factory outlets but if you walk a little further down you will come to my new favourite shop.

The place is called in.cube8r. (http://incube8r.com.au/) and it is an amazing place. I fell in love with the shop when I heard about it on Jodi Blokkeerus’ website about her book, post about Chasing Feathers here (http://book-unfinished.blogspot.com/2009/03/chasing-feathers.html) and was even more excited when I remembered about it driving in the car with Cedric.
While going nuts over the soundtrack playing in the background (Iron and Wines Our Endless Numbered Days) I found Jodi’s cabinet and quietly went nuts…quietly being me bouncing and going
“It’s the lady’s book that I’ve been talking about Tash!!”
I, of course, bought her book and one of her famous sculptures. I’m not sure what it’s made out of but it looks like very hard clay and wire. Anyway, I named him Yogi after the character in her book Chasing Feathers which I found even more beautiful looking at it in the flesh.

So this post is just to praise the shop that I bounced around in for like 20 minutes and to gloat about how I finally got my hands on that book. in.cube8r is full of beautiful jewellery, clothing and Helsinki, I really think you’ll fall in love with the paintings, Cedric and I did! We were like
“that’s for our new house…that too...OH MY GOD I LOVE THAT ONE!”

A very bouncy and excited

Jinx xx

P.S Thank you Jodi for commenting on my last post! I hope you make more creatures soon, my Yogi is looking very lonely on my shelf…I already want another one!

Good Omens

I know it’s been a long time since I’ve done this, but seeing as I finally finished the novel Good Omens I think it’s only fair that I write about how good it was.

And boy was it good!

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaimen collaborated this story by sending floppy disks in the mail to each other and talking about it for hours over the phone. They say that by the time they finished editing the piece you couldn’t tell who wrote what, pretty damn cool eh!

This story is about the events leading up to the end of the world. It begins with the birth of the devils son and then finishes with the last week leading up to the end of the world and the battle between heaven and hell. Only thing is Crowley (fallen angel) and Aziraphale (angel) kinda like it on earth and don’t want the big war to happen!

The language in the story was just amazing. It’s always so refreshing to read something new in a novel. I often make the mistake of reading a novel and if I like it even slightly I will raid that authors section to see whether it was a one off or whether this author has something to offer to young adult authors. I think it may come with the obsession I had when I was younger, when I dissected the young adult section in the library by author, because I couldn’t think of another way to choose a title!
Now every time I read something that’s from a different author I’m like OMGZZZ new style!
Which is always very fun to discover; I don’t think any fantasy writer can do this story as well as Pratchett and Gaimen did. Their dry humour and intelligence shone through the pages and made the whole story gothic in approach but also taking the piss out of Christianity. Now, I am very religious - especially compared to my group of girls where half of them are atheists – but I still highly enjoyed this book and I am recommending it to anyone who has a dry sense of humour and is ok with challenging their religion. Very funny, but very smart in their approach and I think it should be on the list for good reading material.

A very devilish

Jinx xx

Dragging Suitcases (final draft)

For Mel

This was my best piece in my whole writing folio assingment, and would you believe it was a Romance story! Nobody died, had a cynical behaviour or had a horrible life. It was just plain ROMANCE!

Enjoy the finished product of Dragging Suitcases

Dragging the last suitcase upstairs proved to be more difficult to achieve than the rest of the bags. Probably because, once again, spouse wasn’t there to help me. I could just tell my booty was positively sticking up in the air too high to be appropriate or even sexy. Not that I cared. This suitcase was full of old editions, manuscripts and every other paperwork needed for my home office, which I decided to use when writing my new series. Yes, this suitcase needed skills to be pulled safely upstairs to the new apartment picked ever so carefully by me and not by spouse. This meant two things, booty sticking up, and respect points lost for passers by who don’t offer to help!

When I reached the apartment I took a moment to check my surroundings. The purple walls, chosen by me…and not spouse, and the crisp white carpet that I’m sure won’t stay white for long, especially when spouse comes home from his tour of England.
Thinking I was alone I started to sing while setting up the new office owned by me, and not by spouse. While sitting cross-legged on the floor categorising pages humming spouses tune I heard a snigger come from outside
“Man you sure can sing!” the voice sounded behind me. Embarrassed I turned to point out I was humming not singing to find spouse with his suitcase in his hands “maybe you should be the lead singer in my band and not Roy” I bowled him over with my pouncing hug and snogged him all over the face until I was satisfied he was red all over with my lipstick
“You’re home early! I thought London was a week tour not a...they kicked you out didn’t they?” spouse’s band liked making scenes at their concerts. Trying to make money yet losing more as the crowds were more pleased. How that makes sense I shall never know. I’m not into music, that’s spouse’s job.
“Well…there was a motorbike in the changing room” his face crimsoned up when I had my hands on my hips
“And you rode it on stage!?”
“And then off the stage” he squeaked back
“MICHAEL!—
Well what did you expect? They loved it!”
“Except for the people who were meant to be giving you the money, right?”
“Well yeah but…they’re gay babe” he dumped his bag on the couch and picked up one of my old manuscripts from my first novel
“This your book?”
“Are you ever going to read it Michael?”
“Probably not. Are you ever going to come to my concerts?”
“If you stop riding motorcycles off stages I might. I’m too young to die being run over by you”
“You know, I wouldn’t kill you that way babe.” he joked kicking back and flicking through the pages.

When we both settled into the new apartment we fell under such an organised routine it seemed nothing could go wrong. Our time spent together was mostly at night when he transcribed his score sheet for new songs on his guitar at one end of the bed, while I sat, legs resting on his knee, with the laptop editing my work. During the day I was mostly stuck in my office while he was out rehearsing with the boys, so night time was dubbed “special time”. Not to mention the sex. Since him coming home early and the excitement of our new apartment we couldn’t seem to keep our hands off each other! Which, in the end, was the problem…

“Do you find you’re content with the little things in life?” I whispered to him one night. He wrapped his arms around my stomach and pulled me closer to him
“Of course I am. Sure we’re not the richest people in the universe and the apartment is tiny. But, I like the apartment being small and I like the small amount of money we have. Makes me appreciate the little things”
“Oh…but you know, we’ll get back on our feet. I mean, your band will get a few good gigs and I’ve almost finished my second book…” spouse could sense my uneasiness and sat up to face me
“What did you do?” he sighed, its not that anything was wrong, he knew that or I wouldn’t have approached the matter so calmly
“Well…I’m pregnant”

Jinx xx

Time Travel

I have made a strange discovery
i think I may have travelled through time.
Let me explain
Just now I was going to sneeze, it was right there, yanno the feeling where its like tickling the back of your nose and so you look like an idiot, quite like the photo above, yeah anyway I was going to, and it was coming and then…

I suddenly have a runny nose…yet I made no sound or movement of a sneeze
So my only explanation for this strange occurrence is that…I obviously travelled through time! It’s the only logical answer I could come up with

Now, telling my best friend Mitch this, all he could say to it was:

Mitch.... [PC '08] said:
right.

Thanks buddy, love you too

So the next time you have a sudden awesomely cool discovery like travelling through time (even if it was only for a second) come tell me, I’ll listen and give a proper answer and be excited.

I knew there was a reason why I opened up this window, to blog this weird thing that happened.

Speaking of randomness though I should probably, maybe, dedicate half this post to Mitchell Davis (because he’s always posting on his youtube random stuff like this) and the other half to Helsinki, seeing as she told me to post it because at least she had a good answer

Madame S. Helsinki Black CURRENTLY MISS MATRON [HIM LOVE] says:
ahahahahahah no thats HIGHlarius
BLOG IT

Love you!

Oh and by the way go watch Mitchell Davis on youtube. He’s a real laugh, plus he’s quite cute looking

http://www.youtube.com/user/livelavalive

Jinx xx

Writing and Publishing (week 11)

For Tory.

I'm so sorry I didn't mean for you to die in the end!!

Peter
She was my favourite girl in the class. I tried not to watch her, but my eyes would follow her wherever she went. She laughed like bells ringing. I didn’t even mind the short hair. They all noticed her, because she was such a lovely girl. She was friends with everyone. But it wasn’t until year 12 that I really got to know her.
It started in media and it finished one lunchtime. She had her group of friends and I had mine, but everyone liked one another. Some dated, others just kissed, but we only talked. I didn’t even mind when she dated my other friends because deep down, I knew she would end up with me. They never lasted long. By the end of year 12 when it was exam time we secretly hung out. I showed her my favourite place in the park across from the school. I kissed her before we had to go back for the media exam. I claimed it was for good luck but she knew why I really kissed her. Before walking to my seat she passed me a note that said

I’ve never done that before.

The media exam was the last one and I knew when I placed my pen on the desk that it was the last day I would ever have to write anything about the media. What I didn’t know is that it was the last day I would ever see her.

Steph
Victoria used to make me watch him when he sat up the back of media class all alone. I would tell her how many times he looked at her, the way he smiled and how he shook his hair out of his eyes. Deep down I liked him, but I knew that it wouldn’t make any difference, because it wasn’t me he was looking at.
Year 12 was my favourite year. Peter and his friends joined our group and we all sat together at lunch time. We became good friends. Everyone loved Victoria. You couldn’t help it. I dated Peters best friend, Jimmy, because he was the closest to Peter I would ever get.
Before the media exam I saw them walking to the park. I knew they were going to Peter’s favourite place because Jimmy told me he liked the bench that was near the ducks. I knew he would kiss her before they went off to sit the exam. She showed me a note before she gave it to him.

Peter
10 years had passed since Victoria died. I longed for her everyday of my life. At the burial, I let go of the note and placed it on her grave, clinging onto some kind of hope that she would receive it. The note now read

I’ve never done that before.
Neither have I.

I married Steph because she was good enough at the time. I thought I would forget about Victoria and be happy again if I married someone that was even slightly like her. After our second child we divorced and I went to live with Jimmy. He had a photo of Victoria by the phone and I threw it out the window and screamed until he punched me in the face. I guess we all loved her in the end.
Somehow deep down, I knew Steph killed Victoria. She was led back to my bench and was beaten with a rock until she bled to death. Nobody else knew about the bench except for Jimmy and Steph.

Steph
I told Victoria, Peter was waiting for her. That he wanted to see her again after the exam. I had the rock in my bag already; I put it in there when she was walking with him. She sat down on the bench and laughed. She said she loved him, and that he loved her.

Loveth thee oh Tory!

Jinx xx

Library Week 2009

For anyone who can get to Eltham…

To celebrate Library Week, painters and writers are coming together at Eltham library to join in the fun! There will be a Morning Tea on Thursday 28th May and an auction where proceeds will go to the Cancer Council.
ALSO
There will be painting on display. Each artist has created an artwork in response to selected books. All painting will be for sale and under $200

Please come and join in the fun. There’s food involved!
It’s on from 14th May until the 7th June!

Enjoy!

Jinx xx

P.S pop over to Scott Westerfeld’s blog to see the cover for his new book Leviathan!

Happy 40th Birthday Mr. Hungry Caterpillar!

Happy Birthday Mr. Caterpillar!!

The very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is one of the most popular children’s picture books ever! I don’t know why my mum never bought it in the past but I guess I was introduced to it after I experienced my first trip to the library. However, that was probably because there was a giant plush caterpillar next to the book!

Now, as an adult working in a bookshop I have come across another plush toy of the caterpillar and so have conjured up thought of…

THE KIDNAPPING OF THE GIANT CATERPILLAR!

Yes that’s right; I plan to steal the plush toy that is on display in our window. Some promotional material can be taken home by staff members, but I have the sneaking suspicion that this won’t be one of those cases, so instead I am plotting excuses to somehow take the little guy home.

I’ve come up with the following excuses:
“I’ll feed him and look after him and even change his cocoon when he has an accident!”

“I’ll bring it back in 10 years time when you want to celebrate his 50th birthday!”

“What!!? He’s only going to attract dust, I might as well give him a good home!”

Somehow, I don’t think that will work very well.
Anybody have any ideas?

Take a look at the picture! Proof that it’s a match made in heaven

Hungrily yours,

Jinx xx

Counting down the days

If you shift your eyes slightly to the right you will see the new widget countdown.
Fragile Eternity is now released in America; however I’m still waiting for my copy to be sent. Damn you guys taking four weeks to get it to Australia!!

So to celebrate something else that is book related (and which also appeals to my career path) I have decided to post a widget counting down the days celebrating “the publication of Leviathan!”
Yes, behold in all of its glory the new book by Scott Westerfeld, who hasn’t published a new series since 2005. It’s a very exciting day to march into the publishing house and be able to hand the final copy of your manuscript over to the people. Perhaps one day I will be that person he hands the manuscript over to. Well I can dream!

It will be a bubbly moment for all of us!

Bogusly yours,

Jinx xx

Writing and Publishing (week 7)

I'm finally here with another one. Except this one is more fail than the rest.
But none the less here it is in its original form. Enjoy slamming it!

Dragging my suitcse up the stairs proved to be more difficult to achieve than the rest of the bags. Probably because spouse wasn't there to help me. I could just tell my booty was positively sticking way up in the air too high to be appropriate or even sexy. Not that I cared. This suitcase was full of old editions, manuscripts and every other paperwork needed for my home office. I needed this stuff to be pulled safely upstairs to the new apartment picked ever so carefully by me, not spouse.
It was the purple walls that did it. So dark that if you switched the lights off they were black. I showed this to spouse numerous times, just to prove my point to him that this house is perfect just because of the purple walls. They released something wild in me. The cream walls in our last apartment weren't doing the job. So uninspiring when you stare at them. Especially when you're trying to think of what to write next for your novel. Halfway through the second one and I've started to stress whether the story is even going to work anymore. But no, the stress stopped when I saw the purple walls and suddenly I realised what I'd done...

Thinking I was alone I started to sing while setting up to the new office owned by me, not spouse. While sitting cross-legged on the floor categorising pages and humming spouses tune I heard a snigger come from outside
"Man you sure can sing!" the voice sounded behind me. Embarrassed I turned to point out I was humming not singing to find spouse with his suitcase in his hands "maybe you should be the lead singer in my band and not Ross" I bowled him over with my pouncing hug and snogged him all over the face until I was satisfied he was red all over with my lipstick.
"You're home early! I thought Hong Kong was a week tour not a...they kicked you out didn't they?" spouses band liked making scenes at their concerts. Trying to make money yet losing more as the crowds were more pleased. How that makes sense I shall never know. I'm not into music, that's spouse's job.
"Well...there was a motobike in the changing room" he went crimson when I had my hands on my hips
"And you rode it on the stage!?"
"An then off the stage" he squeaked back
"MICHAEL!--
Well what did you expect? They loved it!"
"Except for the people who were meant to be giving you money, right?"
"Well yeah but...they're gay babe" he dumped his bag on the couch and picked up one of my old manuscripts from my first novel
"This your book?"
"Are you ever going to read it Michael?"
"Probably not. Are you ever going to attend my concerts?"
"If you stop riding motocycles off stages I might. I'm too young to die being run over by you"
"You know I wouldn't kill you that way babe. I'd do it another way!" he joked kicking back and flicking through the pages. He'll never read my book because I'll never go to one of his shows, he'll always just stare at the words pretending to be interested, just like me humming his tunes pretending I just can't be bothered singing the lyrics, and not because I actually don't know them. I sat next to him and stared at his bandaged leg
Not if I get to you first I thought...only this time, I wasn't joking...

Sorry Michael. I don't actually want to kill you. In fact, the name is chosen strictly because you're in a band!
And of course because...PURPLE WALLS!

Jinx xx

Best Dad Joke

On the deck of Lord Horatio Nelson's ship during the battle of Trafalgar against the French, the sailor in the crows nest shouted "one enemy ship off the port bough sir" Lord Nelson addressed his first mate, "Jarvis! Fetch me my red coat" Jarvis replied "why your red coat sir?"
"well, there will be fighting and I may get injured. With my red coat the men won't see blood and so will go on fighting" Just then, the crows nest sailor announced "seventeen enemy ships off the port bough sir!" to wit Lord Nelson shouted to Jarvis "cancel my red coat and bring me my brown cordorouys!!"

Man I love my Dad!

Jinx xx

Catherine Jinks

Recently, while researching for an essay "My Reading Experience" I have found that when I read a wonderful story I don't try and find another story that's similar, I read through all the other novels that the author has written. Part of liking a story, I believe, is not only the plot, but the writing style, the magic of words and how someone can develop this skill over time.

My appreciation for print developed when my Dad dragged me to the library to show me the entertainment one can have over the summer break. From then on, every opportunity I had I stormed through the young adult section of my local library. While going through each author that appealed to me, one imparticular struck me as quite interesting. Catherine Jinks, who was the start of my love for science fiction.

The Future Trap and Eye to Eye are both so similar in style, yet so different it is unfair to love them as one piece, rather as separate pieces of artwork.

The Future Trap was loved because of the characters, the ideas, and it was my very first taste of feminine literature.

A girl is accidentally taken to the future where Genetic Engineering is commonplace and used so humans can survive on different planets. However, this has caused a breakdown so Paula (the human from the past) has to try and save everyone against her will. Her feminist behaviour was intriguing and I found her an enjoyment to read. She was strong, firm and stuck to what she believed in. For a Young Adult book, that is something to admire in a novel, now that I look at it from a different perspective. As a child Paula was a heroine, as an adult she is influencial and a wonderful character. One of the stories my future children will be reading!

Eye to Eye I loved because of the characters, the descriptive language and the storyline being incredibly different. Jansi, a scavenger, finds a damaged star ship and slowly forms a relationship with the computer, PIM. The characters in this story were just beautifully painted in the story. Their eventual communication skills are utterly charming to unravel and so easy to cry and laugh along to.

I believe Catherine Jinks influenced me because both stories focused on the issue with communication, developed my understanding of how we're living our lives and how this will effect our future, which is why I love science fiction so much.

What author influenced you to think the way you do, write the way you write and see what you see?

Jinx xx

Writing and Publishing (week 6)

Another week has gone and now time to post another one.
Not entirely happy with the result. I started off writing romance and soon warmed up my mind to thinking quite bitter thoughts for some reason. I seem to write better when one of the characters is bitter about something. One thing I learnt today was nobody is ever totally evil or totally a good person, there is always a balance between the two. I guess this guy is more good but obviously in his past there could have been some evil thats making him go into hiding now

But I'll let you be the judge of that!

Enjoy

The stench of the fire as water sloshed over it snaked around the living room. I listened for any sign of disturbances in my house as I crept to the bedroom, now prepared for another sleepless night as I clutched the cold metal under my pillow while my wife played with my hair on the other side. Every night previous to this she would whisper in my ear for me to lie with her again, for joy to cling to our bodies, but every time she would wrap her warm hands around my chest I wouldn’t make any effort to move from my position. She would soon braid my hair and rest her head on my chest defeated once again. I used to wake up in the middle of the night in a sweat, with my hands covered in blood from clenching, while still holding my knife. My hands are now covered in old and new scars from accidently slashing my hand.
My wife used to say the best part about me was my hands. They were soft once, yet manly at the same time. She would guide my hands over her body just so she could feel my silk strong touch, and now she’s too afraid to even hold my hand. Every scar she feels is a reminder of my fear. It’s as if fear is scraping at my skin slowly taking away my sanity. If a strong man like me is terrified of what creaks in the night then what is my wife going to do when the time comes and they finally take us away? I can’t protect her even with the knife I hold at night. It’s a poor defence compared to the weapons they use to make us cooperate.

Night washed over us as I fell into another trance wondering what to do. We could no longer escape, for it seemed every planet was taken over by them.
I sighed heavily as she tossed and turned next to me while whispering
“What will this world come to if everyone was under their spells?”
“It will die my dear” I rasped back
“So why are we still hiding when there is no hope for us anymore?” she rolled over to me and started braiding my hair “are you so afraid of freedom that you would run and hide for the rest of your life?” I thought about what she said through the whole night. I never answer her and she knows I possibly never will. I am confident though, that one day I will come up with an answer, and when I do finally reply to her I will taste the sweetness of freedom and then can die with her peacefully. Instead, I still taste the bitterness of war and like licking a battery it will remain there until I can think of a reason why following orders and slaughtering innocent people is their answer to the end of war…