Marie Brennan's Blog, page 208
April 4, 2012
In which I get ranty about money and politics
Or rather, in which I link you to other people being ranty. I've had some of these sitting around for a dog's age, and I'm never going to wrangle my thoughts into anything like a coherent enough mass to make an actual post out of it, so instead you get other people being articulate for me.
Must the Rich be Lured into Investing? Who are the Real "Job Creators?" -- Supply Side [economic theory] assumes that the rich have a zillion other uses for their cash and thus have to be lured into investing it! Now ponder that nonsense statement. Roll it around and try to imagine it making a scintilla of sense! Try actually asking a very rich person. Once you have a few mansions and their contents and cars and boats and such, actually spending it all holds little attraction. Rather, the next step is using the extra to become even richer.
How Capitalism Kills Companies -- There's no limit at all to the amount of growth that the public companies will demand: in 2007, for instance, after a year when Citigroup made an astonishing $21.5 billion in net income, Fortune was complaining about its "less-than-stellar earnings", and saying — quite accurately — that if they didn't improve, the CEO would soon be out of a job. We now know, of course, that most if not all of those earnings were illusory, a product of the housing bubble which was shortly to burst and bring the bank to the brink of insolvency. But even bubblicious illusory earnings aren't good enough for the stock market.
Central Tendency in Skewed Distributions: A Lesson in Social Justice -- The point being, the lesson of the positive skew, is that the distance between being middle class and being poor is very, very small.
Radical Solutions to Economic Inequality -- There is something almost quaint — but decidedly refreshing — about the commissioners' blunt language. "Effective action by Congress is required…," the report proclaimed, "to check the growth of an hereditary aristocracy, which is foreign to every conception of American Government and menacing to the welfare of the people and the existence of the Nation as a democracy." Far from debating whether "corporations are people," the commission took for granted that concentrations of corporate power were undemocratic, that gigantic fortunes "constitute a menace to the State," and that it was the duty of government to restore a balance of power.
Jubilee. Jubilee. Jubilee. -- Reduce the principle, forgive a portion of the debt, proclaim a jubilee. It would save taxpayers money. It would keep hundreds of thousands of families in their homes.
But it can't happen if we decide to act like jerks.
Person, Person, Corporate Asset.
And one I missed including in the race-related link dump, that you absolutely should read if you have not already: Teju Cole on The White Savior Industrial Complex.
Must the Rich be Lured into Investing? Who are the Real "Job Creators?" -- Supply Side [economic theory] assumes that the rich have a zillion other uses for their cash and thus have to be lured into investing it! Now ponder that nonsense statement. Roll it around and try to imagine it making a scintilla of sense! Try actually asking a very rich person. Once you have a few mansions and their contents and cars and boats and such, actually spending it all holds little attraction. Rather, the next step is using the extra to become even richer.
How Capitalism Kills Companies -- There's no limit at all to the amount of growth that the public companies will demand: in 2007, for instance, after a year when Citigroup made an astonishing $21.5 billion in net income, Fortune was complaining about its "less-than-stellar earnings", and saying — quite accurately — that if they didn't improve, the CEO would soon be out of a job. We now know, of course, that most if not all of those earnings were illusory, a product of the housing bubble which was shortly to burst and bring the bank to the brink of insolvency. But even bubblicious illusory earnings aren't good enough for the stock market.
Central Tendency in Skewed Distributions: A Lesson in Social Justice -- The point being, the lesson of the positive skew, is that the distance between being middle class and being poor is very, very small.
Radical Solutions to Economic Inequality -- There is something almost quaint — but decidedly refreshing — about the commissioners' blunt language. "Effective action by Congress is required…," the report proclaimed, "to check the growth of an hereditary aristocracy, which is foreign to every conception of American Government and menacing to the welfare of the people and the existence of the Nation as a democracy." Far from debating whether "corporations are people," the commission took for granted that concentrations of corporate power were undemocratic, that gigantic fortunes "constitute a menace to the State," and that it was the duty of government to restore a balance of power.
Jubilee. Jubilee. Jubilee. -- Reduce the principle, forgive a portion of the debt, proclaim a jubilee. It would save taxpayers money. It would keep hundreds of thousands of families in their homes.
But it can't happen if we decide to act like jerks.
Person, Person, Corporate Asset.
And one I missed including in the race-related link dump, that you absolutely should read if you have not already: Teju Cole on The White Savior Industrial Complex.
A folktale for Legend of the Five Rings
We had another session of our L5R game on Sunday, which astute readers will recall was April Fool's Day.
The Togashi monks -- of which my character is one -- are renowed for doing kind of weird and/or inexplicable things. Clearly I needed to play a few April Fool's jokes in character, right? Unfortunately, I'm not much of a prankster, and by the time I thought up this idea, I was already at FOGcon (meaning my brain was well on its way toward being fried). The only trick I managed to come up with in the end was to give the Ikoma libraries a text they did not have, namely the Book of the Cricket: the world's tiniest scroll, detailing the many calamities that should have killed my lucky cricket but haven't. (And I do mean tiny. I had to use a magic tattoo to be able to see well enough to write it, and the Ikoma had to use a pair of spells to copy the scroll and then enlarge the copy before they could read the damn thing.)
But because my brain can apparently do folklore in its sleep, I did come up with a story for why there is a tradition in Dragon lands of playing tricks on the last day of the month of the Dragon. For any interested parties, I give you the tale of Chibuta and the passing of winter.
In the earliest days of the Empire, not long after the Kami fell, it came to pass one year that the spirit of winter refused to leave Rokugan. The ground was as hard as iron, and the air was so cold that Lady Sun could only come out for a few hours each day. Nothing would grow. All the followers of the Kami sent messengers to winter, begging him to let spring in, but he refused.
One day Chibuta, the first of the ise zumi, came before the spirit of winter and bowed very low. "My lord," he said, "as you reign supreme over Rokugan, it is my duty to tell you that a strange creature has been sighted in your lands. It is an agent of spring, here to scout out your defenses. If it escapes, it will tell spring what it has seen, and you will be overthrown."
The spirit of winter said, "Tell me what this creature looks like, so I may hunt it down."
Chibuta bowed again and said, "It is a small creature, my lord, with brown fur and short limbs, and powerful claws for digging. But the ground is so hard, I am sure it will not be able to burrow down and escape you."
Without hesitation, the spirit of winter took up his spear, which was a great icicle, and his bow, whose arrows were the piercing winds. He mounted a great, starving wolf, and rode out to hunt this creature.
The agent of spring was certainly more than a natural animal, for it fled before him, and no matter how fast the wolf ran, it could never quite catch its prey. The creature dodged this way and that, always just out of reach. So caught up in the chase was the spirit of winter that he did not notice that the creature was leading him steadily northward, until at last, on the final day of the month of the Dragon, he passed out of Rokugan entirely, and spring came in at last.
Chibuta was not seen again after that. It is said that one of his tattoos allowed him to transform into a small, brown-furred animal, with powerful claws for digging. But no ise zumi after him has ever had such a tattoo.
To this day, it is tradition in Dragon lands to play tricks on the last day of that month, to make certain that winter remains too confused to return to Rokugan before his allotted time.
. . . it would work better if it were the first day of the month of the Hare, since that's the official start of spring, but our game just had the cherry blossom festival, which is on the 23rd day of the month of the Dragon. So I had to work with the timeline I had. Also, "chibuta" means "earth pig." Plug in a couple of synonyms, and you'll see the terrible joke I made there.
(And yes,![[info]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380938211i/3404277.gif)
starlady38
, I think I mashed the wrong readings together again. But I only had my cell phone dictionary to work with at the time -- not to mention the four brain cells that had survived FOGcon -- so please forgive the error.)
Clearly our game needs to last long enough that a year passes IC. Next time, I'll be less exhausted, and more able to think up good pranks.
The Togashi monks -- of which my character is one -- are renowed for doing kind of weird and/or inexplicable things. Clearly I needed to play a few April Fool's jokes in character, right? Unfortunately, I'm not much of a prankster, and by the time I thought up this idea, I was already at FOGcon (meaning my brain was well on its way toward being fried). The only trick I managed to come up with in the end was to give the Ikoma libraries a text they did not have, namely the Book of the Cricket: the world's tiniest scroll, detailing the many calamities that should have killed my lucky cricket but haven't. (And I do mean tiny. I had to use a magic tattoo to be able to see well enough to write it, and the Ikoma had to use a pair of spells to copy the scroll and then enlarge the copy before they could read the damn thing.)
But because my brain can apparently do folklore in its sleep, I did come up with a story for why there is a tradition in Dragon lands of playing tricks on the last day of the month of the Dragon. For any interested parties, I give you the tale of Chibuta and the passing of winter.
In the earliest days of the Empire, not long after the Kami fell, it came to pass one year that the spirit of winter refused to leave Rokugan. The ground was as hard as iron, and the air was so cold that Lady Sun could only come out for a few hours each day. Nothing would grow. All the followers of the Kami sent messengers to winter, begging him to let spring in, but he refused.
One day Chibuta, the first of the ise zumi, came before the spirit of winter and bowed very low. "My lord," he said, "as you reign supreme over Rokugan, it is my duty to tell you that a strange creature has been sighted in your lands. It is an agent of spring, here to scout out your defenses. If it escapes, it will tell spring what it has seen, and you will be overthrown."
The spirit of winter said, "Tell me what this creature looks like, so I may hunt it down."
Chibuta bowed again and said, "It is a small creature, my lord, with brown fur and short limbs, and powerful claws for digging. But the ground is so hard, I am sure it will not be able to burrow down and escape you."
Without hesitation, the spirit of winter took up his spear, which was a great icicle, and his bow, whose arrows were the piercing winds. He mounted a great, starving wolf, and rode out to hunt this creature.
The agent of spring was certainly more than a natural animal, for it fled before him, and no matter how fast the wolf ran, it could never quite catch its prey. The creature dodged this way and that, always just out of reach. So caught up in the chase was the spirit of winter that he did not notice that the creature was leading him steadily northward, until at last, on the final day of the month of the Dragon, he passed out of Rokugan entirely, and spring came in at last.
Chibuta was not seen again after that. It is said that one of his tattoos allowed him to transform into a small, brown-furred animal, with powerful claws for digging. But no ise zumi after him has ever had such a tattoo.
To this day, it is tradition in Dragon lands to play tricks on the last day of that month, to make certain that winter remains too confused to return to Rokugan before his allotted time.
. . . it would work better if it were the first day of the month of the Hare, since that's the official start of spring, but our game just had the cherry blossom festival, which is on the 23rd day of the month of the Dragon. So I had to work with the timeline I had. Also, "chibuta" means "earth pig." Plug in a couple of synonyms, and you'll see the terrible joke I made there.
(And yes,
starlady38
, I think I mashed the wrong readings together again. But I only had my cell phone dictionary to work with at the time -- not to mention the four brain cells that had survived FOGcon -- so please forgive the error.)Clearly our game needs to last long enough that a year passes IC. Next time, I'll be less exhausted, and more able to think up good pranks.
Books read, March 2012
This post tells you a great deal about what my March was like.
Akata Witch, Nnedi Okorafor. The elevator pitch for this one might be "Harry Potter in Nigeria." Sunny, a girl with albinism, finds out she's one of the "Leopard People," which is to say people with magic, and learns how to use her power, so as to defeat an evil magician. I loved it for the setting and the differences that produced (Sunny's schooling isn't half so formal as Harry's, and the whole approach to that, not to mention the magic itself, is not much like Rowling's work), but the general shape of the story is familiar, and didn't engage me as much as a more unusual structure might have. Especially because there's a vibe common to this sort of urban fantasy, a "magic people are cooler than normal people" vibe, that rubs me the wrong way, and while there's hints in here that said attitude is not an admirable thing in Leopard People, the story itself doesn't do as much as I would have liked to deconstruct the arrogance and separatism. (Possibly later books will do more? I think this is the first in a series. Certainly the underlayer to the evil-magician thing suggests more to come.)
The Time of the Ghost, Diana Wynne Jones. Discussed elsewhere.
Range of Ghosts, Elizabeth Bear. Discussed elsewhere.
The Skiver's Guide, Diana Wynne Jones. Discussed elsewhere.
Changeover, Diana Wynne Jones. Discussed elsewhere.
Earwig and the Witch, Diana Wynne Jones. Discussed elsewhere.
. . . yeah. If it weren't for my determination to finish the DWJ Project this month, that list would be even shorter. February's prediction came true with a vengeance.
I hope to do better in April, but as mentioned before, I'm getting into research reading now, and that doesn't go as fast.
Akata Witch, Nnedi Okorafor. The elevator pitch for this one might be "Harry Potter in Nigeria." Sunny, a girl with albinism, finds out she's one of the "Leopard People," which is to say people with magic, and learns how to use her power, so as to defeat an evil magician. I loved it for the setting and the differences that produced (Sunny's schooling isn't half so formal as Harry's, and the whole approach to that, not to mention the magic itself, is not much like Rowling's work), but the general shape of the story is familiar, and didn't engage me as much as a more unusual structure might have. Especially because there's a vibe common to this sort of urban fantasy, a "magic people are cooler than normal people" vibe, that rubs me the wrong way, and while there's hints in here that said attitude is not an admirable thing in Leopard People, the story itself doesn't do as much as I would have liked to deconstruct the arrogance and separatism. (Possibly later books will do more? I think this is the first in a series. Certainly the underlayer to the evil-magician thing suggests more to come.)
The Time of the Ghost, Diana Wynne Jones. Discussed elsewhere.
Range of Ghosts, Elizabeth Bear. Discussed elsewhere.
The Skiver's Guide, Diana Wynne Jones. Discussed elsewhere.
Changeover, Diana Wynne Jones. Discussed elsewhere.
Earwig and the Witch, Diana Wynne Jones. Discussed elsewhere.
. . . yeah. If it weren't for my determination to finish the DWJ Project this month, that list would be even shorter. February's prediction came true with a vengeance.
I hope to do better in April, but as mentioned before, I'm getting into research reading now, and that doesn't go as fast.
April 2, 2012
A Natural History of Dragons is off
To my editor, that is, and thence to the copy-editor.
While I wait for the CEM to be dropped on me, I get to poke at short stories, and start noodling around with the second book of the series. I need to get its title nailed down . . . .
While I wait for the CEM to be dropped on me, I get to poke at short stories, and start noodling around with the second book of the series. I need to get its title nailed down . . . .
March 30, 2012
off to FOGcon
I will not be checking LJ, for the most part, and my apologies to everyone I owe an e-mail. I'll be back on Monday.
If you're coming to FOGcon, I hope to see you there! My more-or-less accurate schedule (I think it has a few details wrong) is here.
If you're coming to FOGcon, I hope to see you there! My more-or-less accurate schedule (I think it has a few details wrong) is here.
March 29, 2012
The Urban Tarot -- now with bonus content!
I mentioned before that a friend of mine is doing a Kickstarter project to raise the funds needed to complete his Urban Tarot Deck, right?
Well, I got to chatting with him. And after a bit of behind-the-scenes scheming, I have a bit of news for you all.
If the project gets funded, the guidebook for the deck will include a short piece of introductory fiction, written by yours truly.
But wait -- there's more!
There is also a new reward level: the Marie Brennan Package. One first-edition numbered deck, the tarot guidebook signed by both me and Robert Scott (the artist), AND -- specific to this package only -- a signed hardcover copy of With Fate Conspire. (This is, after all, an urban tarot deck, and that is decidedly the most urban of my novels.)
I'm really stoked to be a part of this project. As I said before, I've been hoping for years to see this finished; well, as of me posting this, Rob is halfway to his goal, and there are still three weeks to go. If you already have With Fate Conspire, check out the other reward packages; you can get the guidebook (and therefore the fiction) at practically any level of backing, or splurge and enjoy the talents of one of the deck models. Alas, Chris Hall's guided tour of the American Museum of Natural History has already been claimed, but I can personally vouch for the awesomeness of Jessica Hammer's knowledge of game design, and the deliciousness of the food at Tse Wei Lim's restaurant. (In fact, if you live in the Boston area, you should go to Journeyman at some point regardless.)
Head on over and take a look. And if you'll be at FOGcon this weekend, I'll be bringing some flyers with me, to spread the word far and wide.
Wilful Impropriety cover
I keep being totally inconsistent as to whether I use the American spelling of the title (as seen below) or the UK spelling. But anyway! Remember that anthology I sold "False Colours" to?
I'm told the cover for the UK version will be the same, bar spelling. Anyway, this is due out in September, it sounds like. I am very much looking forward to my copy!
I'm told the cover for the UK version will be the same, bar spelling. Anyway, this is due out in September, it sounds like. I am very much looking forward to my copy!
March 27, 2012
Elizabeth Bear's RANGE OF GHOSTS
On a more cheerful note: today is the release date for Range of Ghosts, by Elizabeth Bear (
matociquala
).
She had me at "Central Asian epic fantasy." I have been eagerly awaiting this book since I first saw her mentioning it on LJ, oh, more than a year ago -- maybe two. THERE IS A SHORTAGE OF MONGOLIAN FANTASY IN THE WORLD, Y'ALL. Fortunately, this is the first book in a series, and so that means the lack is being addressed, at least in small part.
The most succinct thing I can say about this book is that it's rich, to a degree I haven't seen in . . . ever? Rich in culture, rich in fantasy, rich in politics. I don't know enough about the Mongols to tell where Bear diverges from their real society into her own invention, but her Qersnyk tribesmen are not Standard Fantasy Nomads, and the care and detail devoted to the horses in the story is both beautiful and necessary. Without that, I wouldn't believe in the culture. The political complexity laid out in this first book bears no resemblance to the "good guys vs. black-armored masses" dichotomy of older epic fantasy, and promises to bear interesting fruit as the story goes along. And then there are the touches that are just pure wonder: the sky above your head depends on who controls the territory you're in, and in Qersnyk lands, there is a moon in the sky for each member of the ruling family. Temur, the Qersnyk protagonist, looks up each night to see which of his cousins are still alive.
This is very much the first book in a series. The necessity of setting things up means the story is less plotty than I was expecting; Bear can't just wave vaguely in the direction of the usual epic fantasy tropes, but has to spend time developing her world and the societies Temur and Samarkar (a female wizard from Tsarepheth, and the other main protagonist) come from. There's a lot of foundation-laying going on, and the climax of this book doesn't particularly wrap anything up, even in the short term. (There is no blowing up of the Death Star 1.0 here.) But the richness is pretty entrancing all on its own, and I'm very eager to see what grows out of it in the later books.
(And I want to see more of Bansh. Because Temur's horse is the best horse ever.)
As I said, this is the release date -- yeah, I got an advance review copy; envy me! -- so hie thee to a bookstore and see if they have it in. Between the familiarly Europeanish tone of most epic fantasy and the real-world setting of urban fantasy, the difference of Bear's world is like a breath of fresh (and magical) air.
matociquala
).She had me at "Central Asian epic fantasy." I have been eagerly awaiting this book since I first saw her mentioning it on LJ, oh, more than a year ago -- maybe two. THERE IS A SHORTAGE OF MONGOLIAN FANTASY IN THE WORLD, Y'ALL. Fortunately, this is the first book in a series, and so that means the lack is being addressed, at least in small part.
The most succinct thing I can say about this book is that it's rich, to a degree I haven't seen in . . . ever? Rich in culture, rich in fantasy, rich in politics. I don't know enough about the Mongols to tell where Bear diverges from their real society into her own invention, but her Qersnyk tribesmen are not Standard Fantasy Nomads, and the care and detail devoted to the horses in the story is both beautiful and necessary. Without that, I wouldn't believe in the culture. The political complexity laid out in this first book bears no resemblance to the "good guys vs. black-armored masses" dichotomy of older epic fantasy, and promises to bear interesting fruit as the story goes along. And then there are the touches that are just pure wonder: the sky above your head depends on who controls the territory you're in, and in Qersnyk lands, there is a moon in the sky for each member of the ruling family. Temur, the Qersnyk protagonist, looks up each night to see which of his cousins are still alive.
This is very much the first book in a series. The necessity of setting things up means the story is less plotty than I was expecting; Bear can't just wave vaguely in the direction of the usual epic fantasy tropes, but has to spend time developing her world and the societies Temur and Samarkar (a female wizard from Tsarepheth, and the other main protagonist) come from. There's a lot of foundation-laying going on, and the climax of this book doesn't particularly wrap anything up, even in the short term. (There is no blowing up of the Death Star 1.0 here.) But the richness is pretty entrancing all on its own, and I'm very eager to see what grows out of it in the later books.
(And I want to see more of Bansh. Because Temur's horse is the best horse ever.)
As I said, this is the release date -- yeah, I got an advance review copy; envy me! -- so hie thee to a bookstore and see if they have it in. Between the familiarly Europeanish tone of most epic fantasy and the real-world setting of urban fantasy, the difference of Bear's world is like a breath of fresh (and magical) air.
Staring it in the eye
Every time I try to start drafting a post about Trayvon Martin, I run up against the impossible reach of the issue.
There's enough to say about the kid to fill an entire post, about the injustice of what happened to him. But I can't tease those things out from all the other things: Zimmerman and his history of neighborhood vigilantism; Geraldo Rivera and the bullshit about hoodies; the appalling failure to investigate this crime as it should have been, when it should have been; the Sanford Police Department and their previous failures to deal appropriately with this kind of thing; the Stand Your Ground law in Florida and elsewhere (which I had not heard of before, and which makes my blood run cold); all the way out to parenting black children in this country, or ALEC and its influence on the legislative agenda of many states. It's some kind of monster out of Lovecraft, with tentacles reaching everywhere -- and I don't mean that metaphor in a trivializing fashion. I look at this, and feel my sanity die a little. Along with my hope for humanity.
It's too much to take in, let alone talk about coherently.
Especially when my thoughts sweep outward to take in Shaima Alawadi, or
Fred Clark at Slacktivist was talking the other day about how depressing The Wire is, not despite of but because of its brilliance: it shows you how deeply ingrained these issues are in the institutions that make up our society, and how near to impossible change is. I haven't watched more than maybe half a dozen episodes of the show because I can't deal with looking that sort of thing in the eye; I need to stay away in order to preserve my belief that we can improve things. But the problem isn't in the TV show -- it's in the real world. And sometimes you can't avoid staring it in the eye.
The Sanford Police Department will likely face some consequences. Maybe we'll get the Stand Your Ground laws struck down in a few places. But hacking out those roots and digging the whole mess out of the soil of our country . . . I don't know how you do that. Days like this one, I wonder if you can.
There's enough to say about the kid to fill an entire post, about the injustice of what happened to him. But I can't tease those things out from all the other things: Zimmerman and his history of neighborhood vigilantism; Geraldo Rivera and the bullshit about hoodies; the appalling failure to investigate this crime as it should have been, when it should have been; the Sanford Police Department and their previous failures to deal appropriately with this kind of thing; the Stand Your Ground law in Florida and elsewhere (which I had not heard of before, and which makes my blood run cold); all the way out to parenting black children in this country, or ALEC and its influence on the legislative agenda of many states. It's some kind of monster out of Lovecraft, with tentacles reaching everywhere -- and I don't mean that metaphor in a trivializing fashion. I look at this, and feel my sanity die a little. Along with my hope for humanity.
It's too much to take in, let alone talk about coherently.
Especially when my thoughts sweep outward to take in Shaima Alawadi, or
Fred Clark at Slacktivist was talking the other day about how depressing The Wire is, not despite of but because of its brilliance: it shows you how deeply ingrained these issues are in the institutions that make up our society, and how near to impossible change is. I haven't watched more than maybe half a dozen episodes of the show because I can't deal with looking that sort of thing in the eye; I need to stay away in order to preserve my belief that we can improve things. But the problem isn't in the TV show -- it's in the real world. And sometimes you can't avoid staring it in the eye.
The Sanford Police Department will likely face some consequences. Maybe we'll get the Stand Your Ground laws struck down in a few places. But hacking out those roots and digging the whole mess out of the soil of our country . . . I don't know how you do that. Days like this one, I wonder if you can.
March 26, 2012
The DWJ Project: Earwig and the Witch
With this, we reach the end.
Earwig and the Witch is an illustrated children's book (aimed at ages 8-12) published this year, though it was prepared before Jones passed away. It tells the story of a girl called Earwig, who lives quite happily at an orphanage, where she's able to make everyone do what she wants. But then a very peculiar couple comes along and adopts her, and for the first time in her life, Earwig finds herself facing a challenge.
It's a short book, of course, and (perhaps because of Paul O. Zelinsky's illustrations) has a distinctly Roald Dahl vibe about it. If I find myself wanting more -- more about Earwig's friend Custard, and more about the circumstances that led to her being left on the orphanage doorstep, years ago -- that's par for the course, rather than any particular flaw in the story itself.
***
And of course, I do want more. I saved reading this book until today, and knew that sitting down with it would make me sad, because it's the last one. There's a collection of Jones' essays underway, and I'm looking forward to that; there may be unpublished manuscripts or half-finished books that will yet find their way out into the world. If any such things appear, I'll read them, because I want to soak up any last drop that I can. But in essence, there will be no more fiction from Diana Wynne Jones.
She was, as I said before, the reason I became a writer. Her books have been with me for more than two-thirds of my life. I don't love all of them; this re-read has uncovered a number that don't click with me for some reason, and a few that aren't very good at all. But her body of work is amazing.
Requiescas in pace, Diana Wynne Jones. And thank you.
Earwig and the Witch is an illustrated children's book (aimed at ages 8-12) published this year, though it was prepared before Jones passed away. It tells the story of a girl called Earwig, who lives quite happily at an orphanage, where she's able to make everyone do what she wants. But then a very peculiar couple comes along and adopts her, and for the first time in her life, Earwig finds herself facing a challenge.
It's a short book, of course, and (perhaps because of Paul O. Zelinsky's illustrations) has a distinctly Roald Dahl vibe about it. If I find myself wanting more -- more about Earwig's friend Custard, and more about the circumstances that led to her being left on the orphanage doorstep, years ago -- that's par for the course, rather than any particular flaw in the story itself.
***
And of course, I do want more. I saved reading this book until today, and knew that sitting down with it would make me sad, because it's the last one. There's a collection of Jones' essays underway, and I'm looking forward to that; there may be unpublished manuscripts or half-finished books that will yet find their way out into the world. If any such things appear, I'll read them, because I want to soak up any last drop that I can. But in essence, there will be no more fiction from Diana Wynne Jones.
She was, as I said before, the reason I became a writer. Her books have been with me for more than two-thirds of my life. I don't love all of them; this re-read has uncovered a number that don't click with me for some reason, and a few that aren't very good at all. But her body of work is amazing.
Requiescas in pace, Diana Wynne Jones. And thank you.
