What We're Reading: Midnight Lady, Doctor Sleep, Variants and Gentlemen Bastards

Happy Weekend! We've been busy on all sides of the Atlantic, but not too busy to share what we're reading. I've got my fingers firmly crossed for some nicer weather here in London this weekend (it's been rainy and miserable this week). But, even if the weather stays grim, I've got a good book to read so that's a win! 

Genn: This weekend I'm reading Doctor Sleep. I read The Shining around this time of year many years ago. I remember because I had just finished applying to colleges and as I was reading the book, I was completely terrified. I kept saying,'this could never happen to me, I don't live in an isolated place where it snows 9 months out of the year...' this was just weeks before I was accepted into lovely liberal arts college in rural upstate New York where it snowed. A lot. And was quite isolated. Needless to say, The Shining is a book that has always stayed with me and when I heard about the sequel I couldn't wait to read it. The thing is... this book is equally terrifying. I'm incredibly grateful that my mom bought me a dreamlite for Christmas this year. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure I'd have nightmares.

Jenny: I'm reading Rosemary Rodgers' Midnight Lady. A hugely cheeseball romance novel, but I'm immersing myself in romance novels because I'm writing a book with a big romance component, and this one was lying around. I kind of love getting back to my roots.

Angel: My current read combo. Needless to say, I'm having dreams of Gentleman Bastards and nightmares where fears and anxieties manifest in bizarre extremes. The Variant Effect is not for the faint of heart or stomach and not for someone who already fears... Fear.

What are you reading this weekend? Let us know in the comments or tweet us @gennmcmenemy, @thegenuinejenny and @miabrightborn. Happy Reading! 

What We're Reading: Memorial Day/Bank Holiday Edition

Happy Friday! On both sides of the Atlantic we're looking forward to the long Bank Holiday/Memorial Day weekend. Which means one thing . . . more time for reading in the *hopefully* sunshine. Here's our weekend reads!

Angel: Thanks to a few surprising recent life events I have yet to get beyond chapter 1 of Red Seas Under Red Skies. However, tonight, I'm taking Locke to bed for some overdue quality time. Cheers!

Genn: In addition to the long weekend today was also payday and I paid a visit (sorry for the pun) to my local bookshop. I might have accidentially bought two new books, Doctor Sleep and Nights at the Circus. Both come highly recommended. Now I just have to decide which one to read first  . . . decisions, decisions. Maybe I'll just read them both.

Jenny:  Contact by Carl Sagan, an oldie but goodie that MJ gave me for Christmas. I loved the movie, never read the book. Also, in other news, I actually finished two books last week! Making progress on my enormous pile.

 

What We're Reading: Red Seas, Good Luck and Sophie's World

Happy Friday! We are settling in for a spring weekend of reading. Here's our #FridayReads that we'll be tucking into over the weekend! 

Angel: My next read is Red Seas under Red Skies, sequel to the Lies of Locke Lamora. I'm looking forward to it!  Lies was my big "look forward to" read last year, which means I'm looking forward to this, too. Yay Friday!

Have you read any of the books in the Gentlemen Bastard series? If you have and want to chat about them you can tweet Angel @miabrightborn or leave a message in the comments.

Jenny: I'm currently reading Sophie's World: a book that blends philosophy with

an eerie magical-realism-ish story about a little girl in Sweden and her mysterious philosophy teacher. This one is a birthday present I'm finally getting around to finishing--hopefully cutting into the enormous stack of books-to-finish that I have!

Want to talk Sophie's World? You can tweet Jenny @TheGenuineJenny or leave a message in the comments.

Genn: I've got a long weekend here in London. I'm finishing my re-read of Far From You (so bloody good!) and still working my way through A Dance with Dragons. But, I'm going to start The Good Luck of Right Now this weekend. I've been wanting to read it since the book came out last month. I loved The Silver Lining's Playbook. The book was fantastic and I adored the movie. Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock was one of the most interesting and important books I read last year about school violence, revenge, suicide and abuse. So, I'm really looking forward to reading The Good Luck of Right Now.

If want want to chat books, especially Matthew Quick novels especially The Good Luck of Right Now you can tweet Genn @gennmcmenemy or leave a message in the comments.

What are you reading this weekend? Let us know in the comments or tweet us. Happy weekend! 

What We're Reading: Dragons, Monsters and Death

Every Friday, we'll be posting what we're reading here on the blog. Because frankly we are bookish and can't help but share (or document) what we're reading.

Genn: This weekend is forecast to be a grey and chilly one here in London. So, I'm curling up with an insanely good manuscript. I don't want to say too much because the book isn't out until later this year and there's nothing worse then hearing about a good book you can't read for a while yet . . . but OH.MY.GOD. this book is amazing! Just . . .  I can't. I promise a full update a bit later. I'm also reading A Dance with Dragons because it's Game of Thrones season and each week I'm reminded that it's seven days between new episodes. I need my Westeros fix! Want to chat Game of Thrones or books? You can tweet me @gennmcmenemy  

Jenny: Just bought a book today I've been DYING to read: Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor. THIS is a date

book. The kind you take out to dinner. Not Chipotle, either (although I do love me some Chipotle)--a fancy restaurant, where you order any appetizer and dessert you want--hell, go nuts, get wine!--and it's just you and the book. And some good food. And some wine. 

So. If you're wondering what I'm up to sometime this weekend...it's going out on a date. With my book. You can tweet Jenny @TheGenuineJenny

What are you reading this weekend? Let us know in the comments or tweet us. Happy weekend! 

"Jon Snow never bothered me anyway"

Finally something that combines my love of Game of Thrones AND my love of Frozen.

((SPOILERS!))

My inner fangirl is freaking out.

The Difference Between Porn and Romance Novels

So my friend Lynsey wrote a post a while ago that I’ve been thinking about a lot. The essence is: Do women get off to the sex scenes in romance novels like they would to porn?

My immediate response was no way. Then: well, actually, sort of.

 For me, at least, it’s complicated. I can’t answer for every reader’s relationship to the sex in these books, but I can talk about my own.

I discovered romance when I was fourteen, and I’ve adored it ever since. I can still vividly remember how I felt reading my favorite stories. How strongly I identified with the heroines and fell for the heroes. How I thrilled to their first meeting, to the give and take of their courtship, to the drama of their arguments. How I ached to see them come together, and how the writers brought the couples so close—only to tear them apart.

After all that—the emotional roller coaster ride that I went through with my favorite novels—the first sex scenes were sometimes overwhelming to me. Sometimes I had to stop reading and shut my eyes for a second, just to deal with it. I would read those scenes over and over, under the covers with my flashlight so my parents wouldn’t know I was up late.

Sex scenes in romance novels can still be an intense experience for me if I’m reading a book I really love. But what it isn’t, for me at least, is a physical experience. The satisfaction I feel is deeply emotional.

That said, I do see parallels between porn and romance. Both are fantasies. With both porn and romance, sometimes those fantasies are problematic. Sometimes what works for you in both is something you know you don’t want in real life—I’ve written before about my preference for dark, scary heroes in romance, and why I wouldn’t want to actually date a guy like that. One hazard of being a fan of both porn and romance is that sometimes it's a little embarrassing to admit which subgenres of each really do it for you. Both can be guilty pleasures, and your fantasies in both may not always toe the appropriate lines of political correctness. For many people, both seem to tap into a part of the brain that wants what it wants, appropriateness be damned.

But the fantasy in romance is only tangentally about the sex. In fact, some romance authors don’t give detailed sex scenes at all. Whether explicit or not, the sex is the payoff—the intense emotional release the reader craves after the tease of two people clearly absolutely crazy about each other who come so close to getting together—but don’t. And don’t. And don’t—until they do, in an explosion of passion that’s (hopefully) as epic as we imagined it would be.

In my experience, porn is not about the story. Sometimes there is one, but usually it’s not very developed. And that’s fine, because I think most people don’t come to porn for the story. They come for the sex. I don't know very much about erotica, but from what I've read it seems a closer relative to porn than romance; although story might be a little more emphasized in this genre, it’s still mainly there to set up the sex.

Romance is all about the relationship. I come to romance to read about a love that’s intense and passionate in a way that it’s unrealistic to expect my real-life relationships to be. In real life, lasting love often involves a trade-off between passion and stability. Romance lets me live, for a while, in a world where I can have both in one person, and I don’t have to compromise. That’s a fantasy, I know—but one that gets to me every time.   

Slendergames!

So I've been off the blog for a little while, since my two random rants about television shows I've been watching (the HIMYM one is totally out of date, too, since they resolved that issue in the last episode. But I just had to express my annoyance).

An update with me: life has been filled with querying my novel, working on my second novel, working on a poetry chapbook, running around to auditions, and meanwhile doing work stuff. I've gotten a bunch of poetry published! Here's some. Plus my boyfriend's in town, which means lots of additional socializing and kicking back. When I'm by myself, I sometimes work until I fall asleep on various projects...which probably isn't healthy. My boyfriend reminds me to eat dinner and chill at night.

Anyway. I'm working on a few longer blog posts, which will be up starting next week. In the meantime, I leave you with THIS.

Why you should all be following: Heal Yourself, Skeletor

I recently came across the Heal Yourself, Skeletor Tumblr and I think I'm a little in love.

Full disclosure, I had a She-Ra Princess of Power Castle when I was a kid. My brother had the He-Man castle. We were big fans. We even went to see the arguably awful Masters of the Universe movie when it opened in cinemas. Well, I say we did, but I ran screaming out of the theatre when Skeletor appeared on screen. To be fair, I was six and Skeletor was terrifying. It took my incredibly patient mom a long while (possibly some popcorn bribery) to convince me to return to the movie.

So, when I came across this Tumblr yesterday I was a bit skeptical. I mean, motivational/inspirational thoughts from Skeletor? Well, as you can see, it definitely works.

Happy Tuesday.

Skeletor Affirmations (by ghoulnextdoor)

You can find more Skeletor Affirmations at Heal Yourself, Skeletor on Tumblr. If you aren't following them yet you really should be. 

I'll Drink to That . . .

Things have been a bit  . . . batshit (I really did try to find another word, but that's the only one that fits!) lately. In a good way. In a very good way. But, I don't have time tonight to explain all that. It's my husband's birthday. So until later this week (or early next) I promise a full update. For now, let's just leave it with this gif . . .

How I Met Your Mother: The Woman Always Gives In

Okay. I realize I just went off on a rant about another television show last week. But I just have to talk about “How I Met Your Mother” for a second. I love this show and I hate this show. I first noticed the ubiquitous sexism in Barney’s character—Barney is a guy whose purpose in life is basically spouting stupid pick-up lines to get women to sleep with him. The running joke in the show is how stupid his pick-up lines are, and how stupid the women are who fall for them. (Spoiler: the women always fall for them.)

I keep watching Barney’s antics and wonder: why is this show telling me that beautiful women are stupid? And that there are so many stupid women in New York? Is it just me, or is HIMYM telling me that “stupid” is pretty much the default setting for women?

Abortions Are Bad--Even In the Zombiepocalypse

I’m a bit of a latecomer to the Walking Dead party. I started watching it a few weeks ago, and for a while it was my latest Netflix binge. I stopped watching lately, though, and I want to talk about why.

[NOTE: Spoilers below.]

So in case you’ve never watched the show, the setting is a post-zombiepocalypse wasteland. The dead are everywhere—and they have a serious craving for human flesh. Non-zombie humans stay alive by sticking together in small groups and moving from safe spot to safe spot—no place stays safe forever.

So in this extremely unstable, dangerous existence, one of the main characters, Lori, gets pregnant. In a world where there are no safe havens, where zombies haunt the woods, towns, houses and roads, and where even other healthy humans aren’t always trustworthy, pregnancy doesn’t just seem like a bad idea. It seems suicidal. When Lori gets her hands on some RU-486—the abortion pill—it seemed like a smart choice to me.

Then she takes the pill—and immediately makes herself throw up. Watching that, I couldn’t help but think—what? Even in a show about an apocalyptic zombie wasteland, we can’t show abortion as a totally sensible decision?

Best "Let It Go" Cover. Ever.

I have seen a lot of "Let it Go" covers. I feel like I collect them the way other people collect  . .  . way cooler things (cars, stamps, rare first editions, ok this list is making me sound even lamer than I am). For a long time the "Fuck it All" cover was my hands down favourite. But no longer.

Christina Bianco's "Let It Go" Cover channels divas such as Idina Menzel, Demi Lovato, Adele, Barbara Striesand, Celine Dion, Brittany Spears and so many more. It's amazing. If you've begun to be a little sick of this song this cover will make you fall in love with it again. Or even if you don't like the song this video will leave you in awe how talented Christina is! You can find out more about Christina and watch her other covers on her website.

Happy Weekend!

Happy Tuesday: Here's a Kitten!

I'm sitting in a cafe right now, doing work. It's kind of a special cafe. It's the place where my boyfriend and I got dessert on our first date. It's just across from the Lincoln Center, where he took me to a concert. He's the sophisticated, polished one; I'm more of the flaky bohemian type, although I've been navigating more toward Fancy Lady in my thirties. I kind of like it.

Anyway, it's a beautiful day in New York, and I'm looking across the street at the fountain in front of Lincoln Center and my boyfriend's handsome face, and I'm pretty content. January and February have been a bit of a rough ride for me compared to 2013 so far, but there are still pockets of contentment out there, if I know where to look. (Often in cafe's. I'm pretty sure happiness is a warm latte.)

So anyway, I'll have a more thoughtful blog post up on Thursday, but in the meantime, here's what I'm doing instead of working right now:

My Problem With the Olympics

Ordinarily I love the Olympics. Especially the winter Olympics, what with the freestyle skiing, the figure skating, the speed skating, the downhill skiing, pretty much anything that happens on skates or skis--I want to watch it.

Except this year. This year, I was deeply bothered by Russia's anti-gay legislation. Basically, the law bans public displays of affection between same-sex couples and also promotion of media that portrays gay relationships in a positive light. The purpose of the law is to protect children from seeing positive representations of homosexuality. Because oh, the horror. Or something.

It upsets me that the Olympic committee is willing to allow countries with positions like this to host the Games. The Olympics is supposed to be an inclusive event, and the committee should have a policy of choosing host countries that share that vision of inclusivity. I feel that the fact they didn't is a slap in the face to the many gifted gay Olympians competing.

It's also personal for me. I have a dear college friend who's gay, and who is living in Russia now. I think about what his life must be like, living in a society where the prevailing culture believes positive examples of people like him shouldn't be shown to children. A lot of countries have anti-gay agendas, and Russia is probably not the most hostile country in the world for gay people. I also know that the US isn't perfect in this regard. But that doesn't mean the Olympics committee can't do better than this.

I don't blame people who watch the games anyway. But I just can't with this. It makes me sick and it makes me sad.

Anyway. This made me smile today, so...I'm just gonna leave it here.

The worst possible mythological Valentines

I love love love this series on Geek and Sundry by Dael Kingsmill.

I started writing this blog about six times and just floundered. It got into a wallowing stage. So, instead, I'm sharing something that will make you smile. And either tomorrow (if I get some time) or next week I'll tell you how this all relates to my work in progress.

Happy Tuesday!

January Recap: Plus Desolation of Smaug

I was feeling a bit down lately about my January. Things feel like they're moving slowly. My fitness goals are moving slowly; I'm a bit adrift with my next noveling project; the day job has been a bit slower than usual; and the acting hasn't been insanely busy, either.

But then I decided to sit down and write a list of everything that happened in January. And once I saw it written out on paper, I felt a ton better. I think I do this a lot--I get depressed about life when I feel like nothing's happening, but don't realize exactly how much progress I've made because I'm concentrating more on how I feel than real results.

So, to recap in January:

1. I'm finally seriously querying my first manuscript. So far: three requests for fulls!

2. Auditions are a lot fewer and farther between this month, but despite that I got asked to do a staged reading of a new screenplay, booked a voiceover job, and booked a job modeling shoes for a shoe expo in February.

3. My boyfriend's in town, which isn't always the case. Having him around always makes me happy.

4. I've been reading a lot. So far I'm reading three books concurrently, which isn't that efficient, but I'm hoping I'll be able to make a dent in my huge pile of books to read this year.

So, it's not a bad month. Despite the fact that I'm behind on queries this week and behind on a ton of other things, too. So instead of getting all serious on you, I'm going to leave you with this. Because I'm a bit obsessed with all things Tolkien and it makes me smile.

A busy week . . .

The end of January is always a super busy time for me. My husband (a tax accountant) works late nights to meet a major UK deadline and I tend to spend that time writing. Which is why this week I'm sharing with you my favourite new YouTube find. I heart YouTube educational videos so much and when I first saw Thug Notes I knew it was brilliant. I love that each episode summarizes the book and then launches into an analysis of the text. I read most of these books in High School, but since stumbling on Thug Notes I've been feeling the need to re-read some of the classics.

Let me know if Dr Sparky Sweets PhD inspires you to re-read (or indeed read) some of the classics in the comments!

Happy Tuesday!

I’m Salieri (On Talent)

So I was re-watching Amadeus the other day. It’s one of my favorite movies, even though plenty of people say that it isn’t historically accurate. Whatever. I don’t care. I love it. I’ve seen it several times, but this time there was a character I especially noticed and related to—that I hadn’t really before.

Amadeus is laid out like this. 

There’s the Emperor; he’s the great patron of the arts, who supports Mozart in his music. 

He wants to be a music fan; he listens to a lot of music. But he has zero natural musical talent himself. He has so little musical facility that he doesn’t even know what good music is vs. what great music is. When asked to critique Mozart’s work, the Emperor has nothing to offer beyond “Too many notes!”

Then there’s Mozart. Mozart is a musical genius. I could explain, but I think it’s better to let Salieri talk about Mozart’s talent: 

“[Mozart] had simply written down music already finished in his head. Page after page of it as if he were just taking dictation. And music, finished as no music is ever finished. Displace one note and there would be diminishment. Displace one phrase and the structure would fall.”

I have very rarely been in the presence of a true Mozart-level talent in the writing world. But every so often I get a chill down my spine reading a book—or listening to something someone is reading—and I know that this person is at least close. But wouldn’t we all kill to be like that? To write the perfect novel as if it were dictated to us from above? To have our book come out—within a few drafts, at least—exactly as we envision it in our minds? I believe a true Mozart of the noveling craft is a rare animal indeed.

And then—between the tone-deaf Emperor and the cosmically blessed Mozart—there’s Salieri.

 Salieri is the court composer. He’s good at what he does. His music is perfectly serviceable. But it doesn’t soar like Mozart's. He’s human; he struggles with his music. He drafts and redrafts. And when it’s done, it’s never quite perfect. It could always be better.

Still, Salieri is no Emperor. He’s talented enough to recognize Mozart’s genius. He’s just not talented enough to ever get there himself.

And it’s torture.

[SPOILER!] This is what eventually drives Salieri mad in the end. Being near phenomenal talent, being able to recognize it for what it is—and yet never having the capacity to achieve it himself. Salieri is desperately ambitious and truly loves his art. But he just doesn’t have the capacity to be the composer he truly wants to be.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve felt like Salieri while I’m writing. I’m good at what I do. But when I read certain authors, I am all too aware of what my own art will never achieve. And every day, when I sit down to work on my novels, I’m painfully aware of how far away they are from the vision of them that I have in my head.

I think a lot of us feel like Salieri, toiling in the mud with the other flawed humans, eking out each little tiny success through massive amounts of blood and sweat—for years or even decades. I think most novelists never stop feeling like this, no matter how much success they find. If there’s any writer ever who talked about writing a whole novel—not just a few transcendent scenes here or there—like it was being dictated from above into their head, I would like to know who they are.

Then again, I was talking to a friend about my Salieri issue a while back—after more than a few glasses of wine, I’ll admit. And just as I ended my rant—with an overly dramatic, drunkenly emotional “and then I realized—I’m Salieri!”—my friend looked at me and said, “yeah, but doesn’t Mozart die young and get buried in a pauper’s grave in that movie? And didn’t Salieri do pretty well for himself, as court composer?”

Well. Technically, Salieri winds up in an insane asylum. But before that, yeah. He has a good, stable career as a musician in the highest court in the land. 

So I have to admit--that made me see this in a different light. Do Salieris struggle? Hell yes. Is it torture, sometimes, to recognize the work of a Mozart and know that what you're doing is just not even coming close? Absolutely. But Salieris are also stable, successful artists. They make good livings for themselves through their art. Sometimes they're acclaimed. Other times they feel dismal about their own talents. But I have a feeling that, in the noveling world, at least, even people I would categorize with Mozart-level abilities sometimes feel like Salieri. Because novel-writing is an extremely demanding task. 

Maybe even the Mozarts of the world still secretly feel like Salieri. Maybe the Mozart state of being is more of an ephemeral than a permament state--it's something you might achieve with one really transcendent scene or poem or novel, but not throughout your career.

And the rest of the time, maybe we're all Salieri--and maybe that's not such a bad thing to be.

Dreams don't give up on you: A Study in Garbage Pail Kids

This post is all about dreams.

You've been warned.

Turn back now if you are feeling cynical.

I won't judge.

It's Tuesday. Tuesday the 21st Jaunary to be exact. The day after Blue Monday, or "the most depressing day of the year". It's cold here in London. Its so bloody cold. I feel like all I want to do is put on my fleece pjs and curl up with a mug of chocolate tea until the world warms up. I want to burrow under my nest of blankets and let myself get completely caught up on Sleepy Hollow (I'm two episodes behind, NO spoilers! Though I heard Ichabod Crane wore skinny jeans? Am trying to rein in my swooning!).

*SWOON*

January is a dark, cold honey badger of a month. January don't care. She really doesn't. She rolls in here all filled with promise and change and good intentions. By the time that bitch leaves she's stolen your boyfriend, favourite pair of boots (the ones with the perfect heels that you can seriously walk for miles in, no fooling) and your hope. January must be stopped.

But, how can we fight this never ending war against January?

Fret not. Much like our heroes (aka "Witnesses") of Sleepy Hollow, there are things you can do. I don't have George Washington's magic Bible (ok, the more I use these analogies the sillier I feel), but I do have a story. It's a good story. If it doesn't make you smile I am beginning to think you might be on January's side.

Let's flash back to the mid 1980s. Stay with me. We open on our hero, a shy, suburban English boy who loves Garbage Pail Kids cards. Loves them. He's thrilled at the weekend when he can spend his pocket money (allowance) on buying a new pack of cards. He spends his free time playing the card game and drawing the characters. His dream is to one day design a Garbage Pail Kid card for Topps. Even as a small child he knows its an impossible dream. Topps is all the way in America. He's only a child. Many people want the same opportunity.

So he begins to draw characters in his spare time. First copying them and then, as the years go on, he begins creating his own characters.

Our hero doesn't have formal artistic training. He's just a guy who likes to draw. He likes coming up with clever concepts. He is British so he knows his way around a pun. Our hero grows up and posts his concepts/drawings on online fan forums. He finds like minded people. Praise for his drawings, but still no sign of them ever being more than a well-liked drawing on the internet.

Our hero gets married. He is busy with work. He doesn't draw as much. He loses touch with the forums he used to visit. He forgets about his dream. He's too caught up in the frantic pace of life to dream.

And then he gets an email.

You see, his dream hadn't given up on him. All of that hard work. All of his drawings. All of it was leading to this email.

After years of work, of dreaming, but most importantly of doing, he was about to be offered the chance of a lifetime. An artist at Topps loved his concepts and wanted to sell them to the company to use in the latest series of trading cards.

After decades of doing, actively working to make his dream happen, my husband got to see his drawing on a Garbage Pail Kids card.

That's how you beat January. You do. You toss off the blankets. You let your Sleepy Hollow episodes wait in the DVR and you do. Even something small. Because the dreams you have while curled up under your fleece blanket have every possibility of coming true, you just have to put down the mug of delicious chocolate tea and pick up your pen, open your Word Document, paint brush, etc and get started.

And if you needed any further encouragement, here's the trailer for the Minikins figures they made from the latest series of trading card. The trailer features the character my husband created.


Dreams are only impossible when you fail to try. Sorry, Ichabod, we've got a date for next week. This week its all about my manuscript. You understand. You've got a good work ethic.