Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Guest Post - The Geek Girl's Guide To Cheerleading

Today's guest post is written by Charity Tahmaseb and Darcy Vance, authors of The Geek Girl's Guide to Cheerleading, on their blog tour....


If writers wrote as carelessly as some people talk, then adhasdh asdglaseuyt[bn[ pasdlgkhasdfasdf.
— Lemony Snicket

I have a confession to make: I have not read any of the Lemony Snicket books. I suspect this will make me not so popular with the fair Lisa May. In my defense: I have wanted to read them since The Bad Beginning. It’s just that I want to read so many other books too. And, when I go to a bookstore, my natural ADD tendencies kick in. I am likely to purchase the first armful of books that call out to me, ‘Ooh, look over here! I’m shiny! Pick me!’

That is the essence of both what is horrible and wonderful about children’s and young adult book publishing these days. There are so many wonderful books out there that it is impossible to read them all.

That is also the essence of the difference between writing for young people and writing for adults. The next time you walk into a bookstore, take a look around. The adult fiction is segregated, all neat and tidy. Mysteries over here. Romances over there. Sci-Fi on the left. Literary Fiction on the right. The boundaries between each section are carefully drawn, but within each genre those boundaries are even more explicit.

Sci-Fi fanatics freak out if there is no actual science between the covers. Mystery readers are divided between those who prefer their stories hard boiled and the ones who expect their murders a tad cozier. The first group will be disappointed if a little blood isn’t spilled on the page. The second group might ask you to wipe your feet before you pull up a chair to discuss cats or casseroles or, ahem, the murder that has just occurred unseen, somewhere off the page, if you please.

Romance readers, oh my, there a gabillion expectations in that genre. At least one semi-sexual encounter by page 30? Check. Hero and heroine must commit to a forever love by the end of the book? Check. Adult paranormal readers expect their werewolves to know their time (full moon only) and vampires to know their place (in the coffin by dawn, please). Each genre and subgenre has its own strict rules and woe to the author who attempts to pull at those restraints.

Now take a look at the YA section of the bookstore. It’s a mess. Chances are, if any boundaries exist at all, the books might be divided between fiction and non, or between series and stand alone. Within just a shelf or two, you can find:

A book about three nerdy boys and a preppy girl who head off to follow mysterious clues about a mysterious girl who is holed up in a mysterious town that doesn’t actually exist. (Paper Towns by John Green)

A story where Death develops a soft spot for a young girl, then follows her around Nazi Germany (The Book Thief by Markus Zusak)

Or the palooza of young adult fiction – a series where a girl falls in love with a vampire who sparkles, then a werewolf who morphs when he pleases (screw that full moon thing). She must choose between these unlikely love interests while coming of age, dealing with loss and making large life and (un)death decisions (The Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer)

This is YA today. There are no boundaries, no rules and no limits for those who wish to write for young people. We are allowed to mix ‘n’ match genres and are encouraged to throw old conventions out the window.

What’s the difference between and writing Adult Fiction or YA?

Freedom.










Wednesday, June 17, 2009

I'm 'Blog Of The Day' at Fuel My Blog

In exciting and unexpected news Look At That Book is the blog of the day on the blog network site Fuel My Blog so Look At That Book is the big picture up the top of the page. I think it must just be a random thing to become blog of the day, but I think it's pretty cool regardless :)


If you linked here from Fuel My Blog, hello to you!
So yeah.. I should get to putting up some new content or something :)







Sunday, June 14, 2009

Lemony Snicket Appreciation Post (Part 10)

Like a church bell, a coffin, and a vat of melted chocolate, a supply closet is rarely a comfortable place to hide.
- Lemony Snicket

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/x3/x15308.jpg

Criminals should be punished, not fed pastries.
- Lemony Snicket

http://z.about.com/d/movies/1/0/Q/l/5/lemonysnicketsposter.jpg

When some is crying, of course, the noble thing to do is to comfort them. But if someone is trying to hide their tears, it may also be noble to pretend you do not notice them.
- Lemony Snicket

http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/harperchildrens/harperchildrensimages/isbn/large/0/9780060586560.jpg

Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it isn't so.
- Lemony Snicket

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42193000/jpg/_42193780_olaf203courtesy.jpg

Entertaining a notion, like entertaining a baby cousin or entertaining a pack of hyenas, is a dangerous thing to refuse to do. If you refuse to entertain a baby cousin, the baby cousin may get bored and entertain itself by wandering off and falling down a well. If you refuse to entertain a pack of hyenas, they may become restless and entertain themselves by devouring you. But if you refuse to entertain a notion - which is just a fancy way of saying that you refuse to think about a certain idea - you have to be much braver than someone who is merely facing some blood-thirsty animals, or some parents who are upset to find their little darling at the bottom of a well, because nobody knows what an idea will do when it goes off to entertain itself.
- Lemony Snicket

http://www.bestoff.info/wp-content/gallery/video/movie_lemony_snicket.jpg







Friday, June 12, 2009

Review: Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells

I was intrigued by this book ever since I saw it mentioned somewhere online and was eager to read my own copy. Red-Headed Stepchild is about kick-ass mixed-blood, outcast vampire assassin Sabine Kane. She is put on a mission to infiltrate a cult that is threatening her vampire community which is where the story really starts with Sabina stuck with a demon who tried to kill her, being stalked by a hot mage and forced to let another vampire suck her blood, all while discovering some unsettling truths about things she had been told from birth. (Just a note this is not young adult fiction - there's plenty of sexual happenings in this book (but no actual sex, heh) plus swearing etc.)
Things To Do:
1. Infiltrate rival vampire cult and assassinate leader.
2. Get rid of demon houseguest.
3. Ditch the hot mage stalker.
4. Betray family.
This book is really sassy, Sabina is a sharp, witty leading lady. The banter in this book is hilarious, especially between Sabina and the demon. The action in this book is full on, Sabina is one tough half-vampire :) It's quite graphic, but not extremely so.

I really enjoyed the storyline, apparently it's 'urban fantasy'. Heaps of mythical creatures all make appearances in the book; vampires, mages, faeries, nymphs, demons etc. All living in secret surrounded by humans in a modern-day setting. It was really interesting, fast-paced reading. It raised plenty of questions and gladly supplied the answers, but there's still enough going on for a sequel, The Mage In Black, which I will be looking out for!

Highly enjoyable, somewhat addictive reading. If you're still into vampires but don't want to go through the teen romance, this one is well worth a read.

Published by Orbit, Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells is out now.







I'm Back + Meet My Dog!



Wow it has been ages since my last post, I have just been so busy but hopefully I will have some more time now! I've got plenty of reviews coming up :)

And in cool news, my dog Jack is on this week Wagging on Wednesday, which is a weekly feature on A.S King's - the author of The Dust of 100 Dogs - blog.

You can read it here!







Sunday, June 7, 2009

Lemony Snicket Appreciation Post (Part 9)

A man of my acquaintance once wrote a poem called "The Road Less Traveled", describing a journey he took through the woods along a path most travelers never used. The poet found that the road less traveled was peaceful but quite lonely, and he was probably a bit nervous as he went along, because if anything happened on the road less traveled, the other travelers would be on the road more frequently traveled and so couldn't hear him as he cried for help. Sure enough, that poet is dead.
- Lemony Snicket

http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2004_Lemony_Snicket%27s_A_Series_of_Unfortunate_Events/2004_unfortunate_events_037.jpg

A man of my acquaintance once wrote a poem called "The Road Less Traveled", describing a journey he took through the woods along a path most travelers never used. The poet found that the road less traveled was peaceful but quite lonely, and he was probably a bit nervous as he went along, because if anything happened on the road less traveled, the other travelers would be on the road more frequently traveled and so couldn't hear him as he cried for help. Sure enough, that poet is dead.
- Lemony Snicket

http://www.impawards.com/2004/posters/lemony_snickets_a_series_of_unfortunate_events_ver2.jpg

One of the world's most popular entertainments is a deck of cards, which contains thirteen each of four suits, highlighted by kings, queens and jacks, who are possibly the queen's younger, more attractive boyfriends.
- Lemony Snicket

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42193000/jpg/_42193784_orphans203courtesy.jpg

Stealing, of course, is a crime, and a very impolite thing to do. But like most impolite things, it is excusable under certain circumstances. Stealing is not excusable if, for instance, you are in a museum and you decide that a certain painting would look better in your house, and you simply grab the painting and take it there. But if you were very, very hungry, and you had no way of obtaining money, it would be excusable to grab the painting, take it to your house, and eat it.
- Lemony Snicket

http://neatorama.cachefly.net/images/2009-02/lemony-snicket-cover-redesign.jpg

It is useless for me to describe to you how terrible Violet, Klaus, and even Sunny felt in the time that followed. If you have ever lost someone very important to you, then you already know how it feels, and if you haven't, you cannot possibly imagine it.
- Lemony Snicket

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n9/n47871.jpg