The Power of Simplicity

As I round the 60,000 word mark in my WIP, things are starting to get complicated. I am trying to weave several different threads together, and to make sure they all make sense side by side. There's pacing to consider, and whether my characters are still humming along on the right track. I worry about this, sometimes, because it's easy to overcomplicate stories. You think you need to add in rather than take out; to add in more drama and more monsters, or else you'll lose people's attention. That's the stuff that keeps readers reading, right?

Except then I see a book trailer like this one, reminding me that evocative storytelling doesn't have to be complicated. Sometimes it's more powerful when it's not.



You don't know what this story is about, right? All you know is that this kid who likes music is having a hard time, and that he's trying to find ways to deal with it. No words are spoken, no secondary characters introduced. There is only this kid with a bloody nose walking off with an axe...and I really want to know what he's going to do with it. Don't you?

Currently Writing To: "White Blank Page" by Mumford & Sons

YALLFest 2011

I recently had the opportunity to hop down south and go to YALLFest: the first annual Young Adult book event held in Charleston, SC. I got to stay and hang out with my fabulous critique partner, Ryan Graudin, who posted a lovely recap of this amazing festival. I got to meet (and by meet, I mean skulk near) some of my favorite YA authors: Carrie Ryan, Michelle Hodkin, and many more. Alas, a certain literary crush of mine with lumberjack chic wasn't able to come to the festival, so I wasn't able to woo him as I'd planned. Next time?

I brought back a lot from my weekend in Charleston: new authors to read, books to rave about, and a healthy dose of writerly inspiration. Oh yeah - some pictures, too.

Book Review: Those Across The River

Those Across The River by Christopher Buehlman
Genre: Horror (with historical southern flavor)

I've never waited so anxiously for a debut novel to come out. I read about it earlier this year on Charlaine Harris' blog and fell in love with its title. It's got to be up there with The Sun Also Rises and The Sound and the Fury in the "best-sounding titles" awards: read it out loud. Are you in love with it yet? And then I saw the amazing cover and there was no going back for me.

It's about professor Frank Nichols, who leaves academia under a cloud of scandal after absconding with his co-worker's wife and moves down to an old family home in backwoods Georgia. He intends to write a book about his great-grandfather, a Civil War soldier and slave abuser whose ruined plantation stands somewhere in the woods. But Frank is haunted by memories of his time in the Great War. And the more he learns about what lies in the woods, the more he comes to realize that the town is as haunted as he is. Except the things in the woods have a score to settle, and it's Frank who is going to pay the price...

Let me start by saying that this book is geeeroSS in places. It's a horror novel, people: body parts do fly (and land with lots of squishy splats). But it is so well written and engrossing that I found myself not really minding the gross.

To say this book is atmospheric is putting it mildly. Buehlman invokes the sound and feel of the 20s with grace and believability and paints a funny and affecting portrait of the small southern town of Whitbrow. I love the playful affection in Frank's relationship with his young muse, Eudora, and how Buehlman uses the lighter elements to make the nasty bits all that much more affecting. This is a classic horror novel in the sense that its true creep-factor lies in what you can't see; Buehlman leaves just enough to the imagination to keep you up at night, in a good way.

The narrative voice is unique, lyrical, and haunting with a lot of surprisingly funny moments. It's one of the most original werewolf stories--or any story, really--I've read in a while in the way it is crafted. The fine craftsmanship is the thing I both loved and sometimes felt frustrated by.

Buehlman likes to do single-line paragraphs.
Which sometimes is haunting.
And sometimes lovely.
And sometimes breaks up the flow of the story.
Because it creates big pauses.
Like this.
And this.

This book is not warm and fuzzy. But if you like mystery, horror, history, and damn fine writing, you should most definitely give it a whirl.

Book Review: Dark Matter

Dark Matter by Michelle Paver (2010)

Genre: Mystery/Horror

Dark Matter is a work of fiction based on a real-life expedition to the Arctic undertaken by four young Englishmen in the 1930s. The main character, Jack, is desperate to scramble out of near-poverty in London, so he joins in with three guys who are planning to 'overwinter' for a year at a desolate place called Gruhuken. At first, Jack is amazed and delighted by the isolation and strangeness of the Arctic. But as mysterious circumstances pull his pals back to the mainland, Jack is forced to survive alone in their cabin and endure the endless winter night. But Jack isn't really alone. Something walks the black, snowy hills, an angry echo looking for vengeance...

This books is fantastic on two fronts. First, it's delightfully creepy. It's just scary enough that it makes you cringe, but not so much that you can't sleep for a week afterwards. It's not often that I come across a truly surprising and affecting ghost story, one that makes me smile and cringe in the same chapter. There's very little dialogue, but the epistolary narration gives the whole thing an intimate, haunted feel. Jack's a great character, both pragmatic and sensitive, and he makes a compelling narrator from start to finish.

The other thing I loved was all the detailed research. You can tell Paver's done her homework when it comes to life in the Arctic, and the result is a brilliantly-realized story that feels like a true window into what it would be like to endure weeks on end of never-ending darkness. Paver's writing is poetic and well-paced and she's crafted interesting, complex characters.

Well worth a read, even if you're a wimp like me.

Added 12/4/2011: I've just listened to the audiobook version, read by Jeremy Northam. Twice. It's good. SO SO GOOD. It enhanced my enjoyment of this story tenfold.

Book Review: The Dark And Hollow Places

The Dark & Hollow Places, by Carrie Ryan, is a YA-classified dystopian thriller/romance and the third and final book in a series. (I reviewed the other two books here and here.) I've had a bit of a reading dry spell these past few weeks, so I was really excited to get my hands on this one.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world where zombies are not-so-slowly weeding out the living, Annah struggles to live by herself in the crumbling remains of what used to be New York City, waiting for her love to come back and find her. But when he comes back with her long-lost twin sister in tow, everything she'd hoped for is thrown asunder and she has to try and figure out if living is worth fighting for.

I loved this book for the same reason I liked the others: strong, lyrical writing, a heart-stopping pace, and taut love stories that have to survive in the face of absolute destruction. I also really liked that Annah is damaged (she fell into a pit of barbed wire that has left her significantly scarred) and self-conscious, but also incredibly strong. I loved getting to see the zombie issue from the eyes of Catcher, an equally-damaged Immune (having been bitten by zombies without being turned into one) who won't let anyone close to him. There's something about watching to human train wrecks colliding and finding a way to rescue each other that I find irresistibly enthralling and Ryan has done it beautifully here. There were some syrupy sermonizing moments that put me off in the first two, but they are few and far between in this installment.

Although Annah and her sister are 'protected' by their manfriends, they do a lot of kick-ass surviving all on their own. I like that, instead of having Catcher save Annah, Ryan lets Annah have the courage to fight and save herself. It's that terrified-girl-does-her-own-rescuing that helps to set this series apart.

Job Hunting (Sucks)

I'm sure you've known someone (maybe more than a few someones) who has unexpectedly found themselves out of a job. If you don't, now you do.

Ah, the sweet, unfortunate nightmare of realizing that, despite your best intentions, you are without the luxury of waiting for the perfect job. Instead, you find yourself trolling the streets and the internet for (almost) anything that pays, because you're an adult with bills and a hungry book addiction to feed. Suddenly all those jobs you thought you'd left behind you forever start to look shinier than they've looked in many a year. You start adding things to your resume such as 'can juggle miscellaneous fruit, perfect for spicing up board room meetings' and 'comfortable dancing in ten-inch platform heels'. Some friends call this 'liberating' and 'a great transition time'. You try not to call this 'astoundingly depressing'.

Which is perhaps one of the reasons I fell in love with Michaela McGuire's book Apply Within. McGuire, a twenty-something writer living in Melbourne, takes us on an hilarious adventure through her eclectic resume, detailing the woes of temporary employment. She talks about her time overseeing private lap dances at a gentleman's club and chronicling a bank executives' stamp collection. Using her dry wit and deadpan humor, she details the absurdities of working for a politician who thinks a trip to a barbershop for a haircut counts as getting out into the community and the harrowing, soul-sucking silliness of trying to sell anything door-to-door.

McGuire, who seems like a smart, funny, and very capable human being, appears to take all of this indignity pretty well, which amazes and heartens me. She delights in the absurd situations she finds herself in and doesn't seem overly concerned about things like steady career progression - at least, not all of the time. That's the genius of her stories: she's taken something that most twenty-somethings fear (floating from one inane job to the next, never finding a place to belong) and turned it into fantastically funny prose. Her book gives me hope that good writers can always find a way to have the last laugh.

Apply Within took me back to all of those fantastically awful jobs I had through high school and college. These include:

1) Stuffing envelopes for a Republican I didn't like very much.

2) Painting curbs.

3) Shampooing old ladies' hair (don't even get me started on this one).

1) Waitressing at a restaurant where I had to both stare at large hunks of meat all day AND line dance every 45 minutes.

So what are your worst jobs ever?

And...

are you hiring?

Book Review: The Forest Of Hands And Teeth

I'm not all that into zombies. Werewolves and shapeshifters, absolutely. Fairies, sign me up. Vampires? As long as they come in the half-dressed-Eric-from-Trueblood variety. These are monsters with varying levels of heart and conscience and personality. Zombies have no conscience. They're the walking dead. They're gross. And, they're kind of boring.

But the Forest of Hands and Teeth might just have changed my mind on this point. Not about zombies being interesting in and of themselves, but about them being fun and fantastically fun to read about. This book is, essentially, a postapocalyptic zombie romance (not something I'd generally get excited about, but trust me as I rave). The book centers around a teenage girl named Mary and her life in a small village surrounded by ominous woods (think The Village). The woods are overrun with zombies kept out by the Sisterhood, the Guardians, and a circle of fences. Mary has always dreamed of a world beyond the fences, a place where the Unconsecrated don't fill life with fear. So when the fences are breached and Mary's world is shattered, she and the people she loves must fight their way towards that hope.

There are so many things to love about this book. It's got mystery, it's got a love triangle, and it's got the perfect amount of creepy. That, plus the fact that it's incredibly suspenceful and fantastically well paced. I couldn't reach the end of one chapter without itching to jump into the next. This was a stay-up-until-3AM-even-though-I-have-to-work-tomorrow read. There was constant danger and building drama, but the author also leaves room for contemplation. She uses the growing zombie nightmare as a means of exploring the fragility of life, of human connection, the resilience of the spirit in the face of true adversity, and the yearnings and feelings that define the human condition. Even with a horde of dripping, moaning flea bags banging at the door, this book offers tender moments and introspection. Not to mention the fact that it's very well written and that the main character's voice never wavers. I didn't always like Mary, but I always believed her and believed in her.

The zombies weren't lovable (I'm waiting for the author who can achieve that feat), but they were lovably creepy. Ryan turns the woods and the zombies that plague it into a chilling, unknown world that was a pleasure to step into. The book is tagged as YA, but I don't think this is a strictly 'teenage' book at all. This is a book that I think a huge range of readers could happily fall into.

Book Review: Linger

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

YA Urban Fantasy

It's been a loooong time since I blogged. It's been a rough couple of months. And when times get rough, I get reading. And watching period films. And, recently, Buffy the Vampire Slayer seasons 1 - 3 (something about 90s fashion and bad vampire makeup seems to sooth me).

I'm going to be upfront and say that when I eagerly picked up Linger I was already in love it. I had already read Shiver, the first book in this series, and am a regular reader of Maggie's blog. I have a huge aspiring writer's crush on her. But still: this book lived up to all of my expectations.

I loved this book for the same reasons I loved Shiver.

First, because of the strength of the story's tone. The book oozes longing - the longing for connection, for permanence in a crazy world, for escape - it pervades every sentence, every beautifully constructive phrase, hanging over the story like a good soundtrack. The mood is satisfyingly palpable, and you can see how the four POV characters mirror that longing in different ways.

I was captivated by the strength of each characters' individual voice. All four character's voices are very distinct: you could crack open the book to any page and know who is narrating. Because of this, you get a story made richer for experiencing it through very different sets of eyes. These characters become mirrors for each other, reflecting a new and surprising truth with every change in point of view. I love that the same scene would sometimes be narrated by more than one character and would bounce back and forth between two perspectives. This book is a good example of how the 'always keep us in one character's head' rule can (and sometimes should) be ignored.

Third, the unabashed grit in the story. This is not just a 'boy and girl in love vs the world' YA story. It contains emotionally ugly, raw, and sometimes uncomfortable truths. I love that these four characters all said and did things that made me feel frustrated and disappointed. I like that Grace's parents were horrid in such a believable and unsightly way. I like that this book leaves frayed edges exposed, refusing, as many other YA books like to do, to tie up all the loose ends and make everything neat and tidy by The End. This story is emotionally jagged, and all the more enjoyable for being so.

Reads That Feed

I recently read this post from the venerable Maggie Stiefvater about books that feed her creativity while working on a project. There are those writers who don't like to read while they're writing because they don't want to 'corrupt' their own authorial voice (there are those would-be writers who hardly read at all... say what?). That's something I can understand, to a point, but not something I resonate with. If anything, I read more when writing something new.

This is, undoubtedly, a procrastination tool ("It's OK that I'm not writing. I'm reading"), but it is also something else, something important. When I'm writing, I feel compelled to turn back to the writers that rocked my world with their words and their stories. I can turn to these beloved reads and know that I can crack them open to any page and come across passages like this:

He flapped again at the flies and looked out the window at the first smear of foggy dawn and waited for the world to begin shaping up outside. The window was tall as a door, and he had imagined many times that it would open onto some other place and let him walk through and be there. - Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain

And this:

"Hello boys."

"Hello, Mrs. Lisbon" (in unison).

She had the rectitude, Joe Hill Conley later said, of someone who had just come from weeping in the next room. He had sensed (this said many years later, of course, when Joe Hill Conley claimed to tap at will the energy of his chakras) an ancient pain arising from Mrs. Lisbon, the sum of her people's griefs.

- Jeffrey Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides

And then this:

I loved hearing Anatole speak English. His pronunciation sounded British and elegant, with "first" coming out as "fest," and "brought" more like "brrote." But it sounded Congolese in the way it rolled out with equal weight on every syllable- a pig in a sack- as if no single word wanted to take over the whole sentence.

- Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible

These books are what I want my writing to be: they are powerful without being overpowering, elegant without being flowery- every word and detail adds something powerful to the story and the flow. They inspire me, chiefly, because they are beautiful examples of voice. These are voices I can pick out of a crowd, so strong and assured that they literally sweep you off your feet and into the world they are creating. These voices have a unique and undeniable pull.

There are moments when I find this exercise deflating, especially on a bad writing day ("My writing will NEVER be this good. In fact, in comparison, it is two inches shy of abysmal"). These moments are almost always overridden by feelings of awe and inspiration. Every time I open these books, I learn something new that I can bring to my craft. I am challenged to rise above my best and reach for something even better. These authors feed my creativity in ways that make me want to be better.

Other books I like to return to are The Time Traveler's Wife, Bel Canto, and (for travel writing) Confederates in the Attic. Are there reads that feed your creativity? What is it about them that brings you coming back?

Top 12 Books of 2009

I'm staring at my virtual bookshelf and realizing that this year has been, might I say, an eclectic reading year for me. My thesis- or, more accurately, the frustratingly fixed and brittle process of writing my thesis- led me in all sorts of literary directions, in search of escape. For that, Thesis Beast, I thank you. I must also thank my favorite indie, Northshire Bookstore, which I was lucky enough to skulk through (in a half-drunken state of nerdy euphoria) TWICE this year and which led me to some of the best books I've read in a long time.

(Excitement Overload.)

So, without further ado, my top 12 reads of 2009:

Mudbound by Hilary Jordan

It is: A story about a farming family trying to carve a life out in the Delta after WWII. A captivating historical drama told through the voices of a confused farmer, a haunted brother, a struggling wife, and a rebellious black man and his family. A story about justice and connection.

I would give it to: Anyone who likes historical narratives. Anyone who likes good narratives, period. My Mom.

What made it special: The narrative swept me up like a tidal wave; it was that beautiful, that intriguing. I was repeatedly arrested by the eloquence of Jordan's language. The multiple characters through which the tale is told are engagingly, complex, and completely edible. This is one of those books that I was truly sorry to get to the end of.

Coal Black Horse by Robert Olmstead

It is: An American Civil War story about a young boy who is sent off into the fray on a coal black horse to find his father. A beautiful portrayal of exploration and love found and sustained amidst savage violence. A portrait of a young, thoughtful boy trying to hold on to his goodness, using his connection to his horse to help guide him.

I would give it to: Anybody. Everybody.

What made it Special: I picked this up while researching my civil war short story, finding myself drawn to the beautiful cover. This is a story that succeeds in being both brutally heart-breaking and incredibly heart-warming, often in the same paragraph. It is one of the most unique coming of age tales I've ever had the privilege to read. This is a magical book.

Sharp Objects by Gilian Flynn

It is: A deliciously disturbing story of a woman journalist (a cutter who carves words into her own skin) who is forced to return home to cover a creepy series of child murders. It is about what happens when this damaged, damaging woman falls back into the laps of her manipulative mother, her destructive younger sister, and the haunting memories from her past. A story of female power, female violence.

I would give it to: Anyone who is into mysteries, or crime series, and to people like me, who aren't. Anyone who likes Stephen King-type horror stuff.

What made it Special: I don't usually do creepy. I'm not into reading about violence, especially towards women. This book was all of these things... and I LOVED it. I would have eaten it for every meal if I wasn't afraid of ink poisoning. It was that good. The writing is powerful, seductive, witty. The characters are wickedly addictive. Flynn's unique take on what happens when women use violence to gain control is riveting. It kept me up into the wee hours, wanting (and not wanting) to find out what would happen next.

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

It is: This probably doesn't need explanation, but I'll give it anyway: It's a vampire mystery/romance/adventure story about what happens when a twenty-something telepath sees a vampire walk into her bar.

I would give it to: All of my lady friends who like a romance with a little bite. Spec fiction fans. Anyone who finds Southern culture interesting and sometimes a little bit absurd.

What made it Special: This series was sort of instrumental in getting me through my thesis, so I have a special fondness for everything Sookie. One of the reasons I loved it is because it doesn't take itself very seriously (no offense, Twilight); it is a tongue-in-cheek exploration of Southern life and small-town prejudice. Harris uses her sassy, wonderful leading lady to explore themes of intolerance and hatred while seducing us with whodunit mysteries (and-let's face it- some pretty glorious sex scenes. Ooooh, Eric!). Go ahead. Just try it.

Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz

It is: A non-fiction piece of investigative/travel journalism in which the author, Tony Horwitz, travels through the Civil War South of today to try and find out what kinds of remnants it has left behind. He finds all sorts of things: monk-like reenactors, bar brawls, memory keepers, racists and abolitionists- every crazy Southern character you could dream of- written about with wit, sensitivity, and complete hilarity. This is a book about the unique and fascinating place that is the American South.

I would give it to: Anyone interested in the Civil War. Anyone interested in American culture and identity. Anyone who needs a few laughs. Anyone who loves some good non-fiction. Anyone who I can force to read it.

What made it Special: I don't read a lot of nonfiction. I try, but it's rare that one will engage and capture me the same way that good fiction does. This book was the MOTHER of all exceptions. It surprised me by making me laugh until I almost peed myself. It asked me, subtly and in stages, to think about my relationship with the South, REthink my perspective on the Confederate flag, and completely reexamine my American identity. It touched and moved and enraptured me. In short, I fell in love with it. This is a book that I will read again and again, just for the joy of it.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

It is: A YA werewolf love story, and SO much more. A story about a girl who has spent years watching the wolf that lives behind her house, only to find out that he isn't just a wolf and that he's been watching her, too. What's unique is that THIS werewolf is a boy who turns into a wolf when it gets cold.

I would give it to: Any female between the ages of 12 and... I don't know, 50? Do we ever get too old for good love stories?

What made it Special: I am a great lover of this author's blog, and I love good urban fantasy/mysticism, so I figured that I would like this book, but I didn't know I'd end up loving it. Stiefvater's writing is lyrical, a pleasure to experience. She captures so many of the unique and wonderful qualities of teenage love and feeling. Her descriptions of nature and the enrapturing pains of first love are a joy to read. The pace, the characters, the uniqueness of her take on werewolves all added up to a wonderful page-turner of a story.

The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney

It is: This one isn't really about wolves, Were or otherwise. It is about a young woman in the harsh Canadian wilderness who discovers a dead body that is blamed on her only son. She goes off into the wilderness with a solemn tracker to prove his innocence, finding out things about the world, and herself, that she never imagined. It is about family secrets coming back to haunt us and about going in search of one thing only to find something else entirely.

I would give it to: Anyone who likes dramatic, pioneer-type fiction. My Canadian friend Lyndsey (not so much because she's Canadian, but because she'd love it).

What made it Special: The story is immediately engaging, the setting unique and captivating, and the characters both frightening and fragile. This is a murder mystery that compels you to read greedily forward to find out what happens in the end. Between end and beginning, I discovered a beauty I hadn't expected, and a book that I thought about long after it had ended.

Giants of the Frost by Kim Wilkins

It is: A speculative fiction-type book about a young female who takes a job on a tiny island and falls in love with a mysterious man who ends up being from another world entirely. This story takes its cue from Nordic myth, transforming some of its most famed characters into unique living, breathing characters. This is a suspenseful tale about lost love, family ties, and the twisting of fate.

I would give it to: My best friend, who loves this stuff.

What made it Special: I should say that I'm a little biased towards this author. She was a teacher of mine in grad school, and if every would-be writer has a literary crush, she is one of mine. That aside, I loved this book to pieces. The way she interprets Nordic myths and themes is fascinating, the narrative fast-paced and completely spellbinding. I found myself literally grabbing at the pages- I devoured this book. Kim knows how to tell a kick ass story.

Goldengrove by Francine Prose

It is: A story about a young girl who loses her older sister in a mysterious boating accident and the effect that event has on her and her family's lives. The narrative, told from the perspective of the surviving sister, encompasses the summer after the older sister's death- the summer that changes her forever. It is about the acute pain of teenage-hood and the strange paths that grief takes us down.

I would give it to: Pretty much anyone.

What made it Special: This book is so beautifully written that the language alone makes it worth reading. But it has so much more to offer than that. The point of view is so incredibly convincing that I had to stop and marvel at the author's ability to so fully illustrate the mind of a young, grieving teenager. Reading this book felt like a gift.

In The Woods by Tana French

It is: Three kids go into the woods that border their small Irish town: only one comes out, and he has no idea what's happened. Many years later, that boy has become a cop who is drawn back to the scene of his childhood trauma by the murder of a young girl. This is an enjoyably creepy story about old wounds that come back to bite you and the blurry line between the real and the imagined.

I would give it to: Anyone who likes a good mystery/police drama with a psychological twist.

What made it Special: This book sucked me in with its lyrical language and beautiful plot exposition. The author brings the life of a murder detective to life in such a masterful and convincing way. I wanted to throttle the main character, and yet, I loved him. The story is masterfully well-woven; it will keep you up until 3 in the morning, wanting- no, needing- to figure it all out.

The River King by Alice Hoffman

It is: About a mysterious drowning at a small-town New England prep school, and the people who set out to investigate it. This is a book about first love and finding ways to belong in a small town that doesn't like to (can't seem to) change.

I would give it to: Anyone who digs books that blur the line between reality and magic.

What made it Special: After falling in love with Practical Magic, I was hoping that this book would be as good, and in many ways, it was. Hoffman throws a healthy dose of her magical realism into her story, along with an interesting cast of characters and a beautifully described backdrop. I absolutely love the way she finds ways to tell an ordinary story in very extraordinary ways.

Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

It is: How can I describe this book?... It's a kind of cruel, twisted fairy tale that stretches back and forth between two words. After suffering abuse of many kinds, the main character escapes to a world where nobody hurts and raises her two daughters there. There are men who turn into bears, and magic coins, and... all sorts of stuff.

I would give it to: Any of my fantasy-loving friends.

What made it Special: It's funny- I'm still not sure if I actually liked this book. It was disturbing and strange... so why include it? Because it was just so good. The story is brought to life in such a beautiful, forceful way. I have never read anything so inventive or tactile. The details are so luscious that you can almost taste them. The story is fresh and just... so haunting (and not at all in a bad way). It stayed with me long after I finished the last chapter, revisiting the amazing world that Lanagan described.