Tim Jones's Blog, page 27

Please fill in this survey by Sunday for a student research project

A couple of months ago, I helped out student Shannon Patraj with the first part of a research project on blogging. Now Shannon would like the help of readers of this blog with the next part of this research - by filling in this short five-question survey. The questions in it are especially applicable to writers:



http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KNFVYLX



The deadline for responses is Sunday 18 February, so it's close - sorry for the short notice!



Shannon has provided the following context for the survey:










"I
am studying Creative Media Production at the Higher National Diploma level, and
one of the current units I am doing is Contextual Studies. The first assignment
done on your blog, was to identify and demonstrate an understanding of the
institutional context which impacts on its production.


There is a follow up assignment that has be
built on the same media production as the first. Understanding of the product
should be deepened by conducting various primary and secondary research
methodologies. The research is to explore how consumers
of the media product receive the chosen product using theoretical approaches.


This essay will be accompanied by a power
point presentation in class to demonstrate a thorough understanding of what was
written."




I hope you'll be able to fill in the survey and help Shannon out.
You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.

Tuesday Poem: Dante And Isaac Asimov

Dante and Isaac Asimov

agree to divide up the world.

"You can have the facts, Isaac,"

says Dante, waving his bagel,

"and the fiction. Just leave me the poem, O.K?"



Isaac thinks about that. He's

unsure of this underfed stranger.

"The poem?" "Inferno and so forth. It's

all the fame I need." "That's fair," says Isaac.



Dante spreads his hands and smiles.

"Write all you like, my friend.

They'll still remember me

when you are long forgotten.

Don't you agree?"



Isaac shrugs. "You're too

concerned about such things.

Ten books a year and I'm happy-

it doesn't matter much what on."



He sees that his plate is clean,

shoves back his chair. "Excuse me, please.

My typewriter calls. Perhaps

we'll meet again?"

"Perhaps. Enjoy your work, my friend."



Isaac is swallowed by the wind.

The poet lingers, looking at faces

swirling by his window.

"Always hurrying," he says.





Credit note: "Dante and Isaac Asimov" is from my first collection, Boat People (HeadworX, 2001).




Tim says: Isaac Asimov was a famously prolific writer on a wide range of topics besides the science fiction novels he is best known for. Dante was not so prolific (as far as we know - though some scholars believe he wrote most of John Grisham's legal thrillers under the assumed name "William Shakespeare".)




The Tuesday Poem: Marches on with measured tread.
You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.

The 52 Books I Read In 2012: Part 2: 27-52

As I have been doing since 2009, I kept track of my reading during 2012 on LibraryThing. This post is a compendium of those notes. The quality & depth of comments on the books I read varies widely - this is much more likely to be a relfection of how busy I was at the time, rather than the quality of the books!




My previous post covered the first 26 books I read in 2012. This post covers the remaining 26, and a third post will discuss my thoughts on the reading year past and the one ahead.




Note: the links from the book title and author, where available, are to the relevant LibraryThing pages.




27. 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson - novel/SF (4/5)



I
enjoyed this return to the inhabited Solar System of KSR's magnificent
Mars Trilogy - in many ways, this book is a sequel to the final volume
in that trilogy, Blue Mars.



This
book doesn't have any characters who are as memorable as the half-dozen
or so leading characters of the Mars trilogy - but all the same, if you
want a single-volume tour of KSR's future system, this is a fine place
to start.




28. The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi - memoir/graphic memoir (4.5/5)



I
thought the first part, covering her childhood in Iran, was
outstanding, but although the second part, covering her adolescence
outside Iran and eventual return to the country is also good, it didn't
grip me quite as much as the first part. All the same, this was well
worth reading - and everyone in my book group liked it very much, which
is rare indeed for our group!




29. Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel - memoir/graphic memoir (5/5)



Another wonderful combination of graphic novel and memoir from Alison Bechdel. After Fun Home, which centred on her father, the focus of Are You My Mother?
isn't a surprise: this time, the parent is seen through the prism of
psychoanalysis rather than literature, but the result is just as
thought-provoking, involving and moving. Highly recommended.




30. Hide Me Among the Graves by Tim Powers - novel/historical fantasy (3.5/5)



This
was pitched somewhere between Powers' alternate-history fantasies
involving the lives of the poets with added Nephilim, and his
ghost-catching mythology. I like the former but dislike the latter, so
it's no surprise that I found this book very good in some parts and
frustrating in others. The literary clan in peril here is the Rossetti
family, but compared to the portrayal of Shelley and Byron in previous
novels of this stripe, they never really came alive for me as
characters.



So ... good, but not great, Tim Powers.




31. Graft by Helen Heath - poetry/collection (4/5)



A
fine collection by Helen Heath - the highlight for me being some
excellent poems about science and scientists, such as this award-winning
one:




http://theredroom.org/2012/01/17/tuesday-poem-making-tea-in-the-universe-by-helen-heath/




32. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick - novel/science fiction (4.5/5)



When
I went through my "Philip K. DicK phase" in my late teens/early
twenties I read many of his novels, but never this one. That's a pity,
because it's very good, bringing back that distinctively Dickian sense
of living in a Universe whose arbitrary, provisional nature can almost
be sensed.




33. Blood in the Water by Jane Haddam - novel/mystery (3.5/5)



Entertaining and well-plotted police procedural, although the ending didn't work all that well for me.



34. Just Then by Harry Ricketts - poetry collection (3.5/5)



Harry Ricketts is best known for The Unforgiving Minute,
his biography of Rudyard Kipling, but he's also a fine poet. There's an
element of miscellany about this book, but the best poems are very good
indeed. This is my favourite: http://theredroom.org/2012/06/12/tuesday-poem-phoenix-foundation-by-harry-ricketts/



35. The Heir of Night by Helen Lowe - novel/heroic fantasy (4.5/5)



Very
well-written and well-constructed first volume in a heroic fantasy
tetratology - although there may be science-fictional elements to this
world as well. Helen Lowe is an excellent writer and brings a richness
of detail to this novel that makes it well worth reading.




For news on the progress of this tetralogy, and plenty more besides, check out Helen's excellent blog.



36. Mansfield With Monsters by Matt Cowens and Debbie Cowens - short story collection/mash-ups (3.5/5)



This
(to my knowledge) is the first New Zealand example of the mash-up genre
- it's superficially in the tradition of such books as Sense and
Sensibility and Sea Monsters, but in fact the spirit of this book is
much more respectful towards the original stories by Katherine
Mansfield, the great New Zealand short story writer of the early 20th
century.



How well these Mansfield-with-added-horror stories work
depends for me on the tone of the original stories (some but not all of
which I'm familiar with). There is a good dose of New Zealand gothic in
Mansfield stories such as "The Woman at the Store", and the extra
elements of horror work very well here. In some of the other stories,
they didn't work quite so well for me - but overall, the concept pays
off and Matt and Debbie Cowens have done a very good job with this book.



Here is my interview with Matt and Debbie Cowens: http://timjonesbooks.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/mansfield-with-monsters-interview-with.html



37. The Gathering of the Lost by Helen Lowe - novel/heroic fantasy (4.5/5)



Impressive
continuation of the tetralogy begin in The Heir of Night (#35 above).
The protagonist, Malian, has aged from 13 to 18 between the two novels,
allowing this one to have a darker tone and more adult material - The
Heir of Night felt like a YA novel, but this one much less so. In
addition to the quality writing and characterisation, the hints being
given out about the background of the world make me want to keep
reading. Looking forward to the next volume!



38. How It All Began by Penelope Lively - novel/realist fiction (4/5)



Well-written
novel about the chain of consequences set in motion when an elderly
woman is mugged, and how this affects a range of characters. The main
storyline is beautifully written and well-resolved - some of the other
storylines are less appealing, or dealt with too abruptly. Very
enjoyable, though.



39. Triptych poets: issue three - by P.S. Cottier, Joan Kerr and J.C.Inman - poetry/collection (3.5/5)



I enjoyed 2/3 of this three-poet collection very much - the final third wasn't as good, but still interesting. My full review is here: http://timjonesbooks.blogspot.co.nz/2012/11/book-review-triptych-poets-issue-three.html




40. Warm auditorium by James Brown - poetry/collection (4/5)



Seventh collection by New Zealand poet James Brown. I have reviewed this collection for Landfall Review Online and the review should appear in their February 2013 issue: http://landfallreviewonline.blogspot.co.nz/




41. Rock Bottom by Sarah Andrews - fiction/mystery (3/5)



I
have read several mysteries by Sarah Andrews. She is excellent at
writing about landscapes, geology, and the science v creationism debate -
and here she has the canvas of the Grand Canyon to work with. But the
mystery is perfunctory and even a doofus such as I was instantly able to
see whodunnit. This would have been better as a nonfiction book about
rafting the Grand Canyon - I would really have enjoyed that.




42. Firewall by Henning Mankell - novel/thriller (3.5/5)



The
first Henning Mankell novel I've read was the last Wallander novel he
had published, and although I didn't know that when I read it, I had the
sense of an author who had grown tired of his character. Not bad at
all, but not as good or as gripping as all the praise for the Wallander
novels had led me to expect.



43. Dwarf Stars 2012, edited by Geoffrey A. Landis and Joshua Gage - poetry/anthology (4/5)



The
Science Fiction Poetry Society's annual Dwarf Stars anthology collects
up the best short-short speculative poetry of the past year. I have read
several of these anthologies (and nominated one of the poems included
herein, Rod Usher's "Before Science Stepped In"), and I think this is
the best that I've read. In addition to Rod Usher's poem, I especially
liked "The Robot Scientist's Daughter" by Jeannine Hall Gailey and
"Containers" by F. J. Bergmann.



More information about "Dwarf Stars" and the SFPA's other publications is available at http://www.sfpoetry.com/



44. The View From Up There by Gerry Te Kapa Coates - poetry and fiction/collection (3.5/5)



A
first collection - mainly poetry, but also a few stories - from Gerry
Te Kapa Coates, who is now showcasing his skills as a writer to go with
those he has already demonstrated in engineering, iwi leadership,
sustainability and a whole range of other areas.



I discuss with Gerry his writing and how it relates to other areas of his life in this interview: http://timjonesbooks.blogspot.co.nz/2012/11/an-interview-with-gerry-te-kapa-coates.html



45. The Great Fortune by Olivia Manning - novel/war novel (3/5)



I
read this for my book group. The first novel in the author's "Balkan
Trilogy", it came well recommended, and several other people in the book
group liked it - but I found the characters uninteresting and the
story, although potentially engaging, told in too roundabout a manner to
hold my attention.



On the other hand, the novel is well written
at a sentence-by-sentence level, and I was trying to read it at a
particularly busy time when anything more complicated than Janet and John might have been too much for me, so I am giving it a cautious three stars.



46. Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years 1969-1979 by Michael Palin - nonfiction/diaries (4/5)



These
diaries cover Michael Palin's Monty Python years, though their coverage
of "The Holy Grail" and "Life of Brian" is better than that of making
the TV series, and Ripping Yarns, and towards the end begin to look
ahead to the second half of his career - the travel programmes and
non-Python films.



For a Python fan such as myself, these are well
worth reading. Non-Python fans might find the minutiae of the Python
years less interesting, but these diaries also give a good picture of
what Britain was like in the 1970s - very different, in many respects,
from today.



47. The God Species by Mark Lynas - nonfiction/environment - (3.5/5)



I
have only skim-read this book so far and want to reconsider it in more
depth. Lynas argues that the environmental movement needs to reconsider
many of its most cherished attitudes, notably its opposition to nuclear
power, because the alternative to nuclear, i.e. coal, is far worse for
the climate.



I'm with him on the fact that we must stop new
coal-fired power stations being built, and ultimately phase out coal, if
we are to maintain a liveable climate - but I also got annoyed by his
lone-prophet-in-the-wilderness tone. Despite that, I think this book is
well worth reading - and I may reconsider the rating above when I have
read it in more depth.



48. Invaders (What They Don't Tell You About) by Bob Fowke - nonfiction/children's/history (3.5/5)



As
an appetiser to the next book on the list, I read this MG-ish
nonfiction history of the Roman, Anglo-Saxon and Viking invaders of
Britain. My main interest was in the latter, but I enjoyed the first two
sections too. These books are in the tradition of "Horrible Histories" -
that is, history as nasty, brutish and short.



49. Blood Of The Vikings by Julian C. Richards - nonfiction/history (4/5)



I
was looking for a book about Viking Britain - in particular, the area
of Viking-occupied Britain known as "the Danelaw". This book was too
general a history of the Vikings in Britain and Ireland to give me the
details I was looking for, but it is a good introduction for a
non-specialist such as myself.



It's the book of a TV series,
which means that some sections appear to be written to facilitate shots
of a rugged presenter addressing the camera while walking along a
windswept beach - but, if this is a fault at all, it's a minor and
understandable one. Worth reading if you're interested in this
under-emphasised period of British and Irish history.



50. My Family and Other Strangers by Laurice Gilbert - poetry/collection (4.5/5)



I
enjoyed this first collection by Wellington poet (and New Zealand
Poetry Society president) Laurice Gilbert tremendously, and I say a few
things about that and share one of Laurice's poems here:



http://timjonesbooks.blogspot.co.nz/2012/12/tuesday-poem-i-would-rather-by-laurice.html



51. Stalin's Ghost by Martin Cruz Smith - novel/mystery (4/5)



I
have the first three of Martin Cruz's Smith Arkady Renko detective
novels, and didn't realise that this was the sixth. The first three are
excellent - this is till good, but feels a bit like a retread of the
first in the series, Gorky Park. Still worth reading if you like mysteries and/or Russia, though.



52. The Return of Captain John Emmett by Elizabeth Speller - novel/mystery (3.5/5)



A
mystery set in 1920 and focusing on the consequence of the execution of
a British officer for cowardice during World War 1. I found the
description of the era fascinating, and the mystery is interesting too,
but rather let down by an ending in which the villain of the piece
explains his motivations and actions in considerable detail.



You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.

The 52 Books I Read In 2012: Part 1: 1-26

As I have been doing since 2009, I kept track of my reading during 2012 on LibraryThing. This post is a compendium of those notes. The quality & depth of comments on the books I read varies widely - this is much more likely to be a relfection of how busy I was at the time, rather than the quality of the books!



This post covers the first 26 books I read in 2012. The next post will cover the remaining 26, and a third post will discuss my thoughts on the reading year past and the one ahead.



In a subsequent post, I'll talk about my highlights of the 2012 reading year, and some thoughts about the year ahead.



Note: the links from the book title and author, where available, are to the relevant LibraryThing pages.



1. Sympathy for the Devil by Justin Gustainis - novel/supernatural thriller (3.5/5)



A real guilty-pleasure holiday read, this one - I enjoyed it, though
there were some fairly large plot and character motivation holes to
navigate around. If I tell you that among my tags for the book are
"demonic possession" and "Republican Party", that should give you a
pretty good idea of whether you'd enjoy it!



2. When A Billion Chinese Jump by Jonathan Watts - nonfiction/politics/environment (4.5/5)

A
well-written account of the many environmental issues China - and
therefore the world - is facing by the Guardian's Asia environment
correspondent. Fascinating but rarely encouraging reading.



3. delicate access by Madeleine Marie Slavick - poetry/collection/dual language (4.5/5)

This
book was the perfect complement to my #2 - a collection of poems
written in English and translated into Chinese by Luo Hui, dealing,
sometimes obliquely and sometimes directly, with life in China and Hong
Kong. There are many very fine poems in this collection.



4. The Amazing Story of Quantum Mechanics by James Kakalios - nonfiction/physics (4/5)

My
son, who is very keen on physics, keeps asking me questions about
quantum mechanics that I can't answer. Before I get to the stage where I
can't even understand the questions, I thought I'd give this
backgrounder on quantum mechanics a try.

I enjoyed the early
chapters, but found the later chapters on the applications of quantum
mechanics in technology less interesting - I would have preferred more
on the fundamental scientific and philosophical issues raised by quantum
mechanics. But that wasn't this book's brief, and it did what it does
do very well.



5. Tymon's Flight by Mary Victoria - novel/fantasy (4.5/5)

Really enjoyable first novel in the Chronicles of the Tree
YA fantasy trilogy by Wellington writer Mary Victoria. It's not often
these days that I get caught up in a fantasy or SF story as I used to do
when I was teenager, but Tymon's Flight brought back those delicious "what's going to happen next??" feelings.



Here is my interview with Mary Victoria: http://timjonesbooks.blogspot.co.nz/2012/04/interview-with-mary-victoria.html



6. Backbone by Harry Laing - poetry collection (3.5/5)

Some
good poems in here, especially in the closing sequence "Heated", but
also a number that didn't come alive for me. I have heard Harry Laing
perform his poetry and he is excellent - I think I'd gain a new
appreciation of these poems if I heard them live.



7. Relinquished by Thomas W. Devine - novel/thriller (2.5/5)

8. In Cold Pursuit by Sarah Andrews - novel/thriller (4/5)

A
pair of thrillers to carry me through a busy couple of weeks. The
woman-in-sexual-peril plot of "Relinquished" didn't appeal to me, even
though it's quite well done, but I did enjoy "In Cold Pursuit", despite
some deficiencies when viewed purely as a thriller, as I said in my
review:

The strength and weakness of this book is that it is
based on a two-month stint the author spent in Antarctica. She does a
great job of writing about the places she visited and the people she met
there (or their fictional analogues), but the attempt to graft a
thriller plot onto the travelogue doesn't work so well, as the
protagonist of the thriller goes on side trips that tell the reader a
lot about Antarctica and about climate science but threaten to derail
the plot.

So, if I was rating "In Cold Pursuit" purely on its
thriller elements, I would give it about three stars - but, if you are
at all interested in fictional descriptions of Antarctica, people who
choose to live in Antarctica, climate change, and the way science is
done, as I am, it's well worth four stars.



9. Land Below The Waves by Julie Leibrich - poetry/collection (3/5)

10. Samiha's Song by Mary Victoria - novel/fantasy (4/5)

Reading has taken a bit of a back seat in the last few weeks, but I have finished these two. Land Below The Waves is a New Zealand poetry collection from 2004 that has some very good poems but seemed a little uneven to me.

Samiha's Song is the second volume in Mary Victoria's Chronicles of the Tree trilogy. I didn't like it quite as much as the first volume, Tymon's Flight,
mainly because it took a while to get going, but it does the things the
second book of a fantasy trilogy should do: it deepens the world in
which the story takes place, introduces new complications, and prepares
the main character for the trials to be faced in the concluding volume, Oracle's Fire. I think that should be a cracker.



11. The Prince of Soul and the Lighthouse by Fredrik Brouneus - YA comedy fantasy (4/5)

I liked this book a lot. It's the first book for which I've been asked to provide a book-cover quote, and here is what I said:

"This
road trip with reincarnation is full of teenage hormones, forbidden -
well, inadvisable - love, signs, portents and coffee-addicted zombies.
If the Dalai Lama and Terry Pratchett collaborated on a novel, it might
read something like this."



12. Road Markings by Michael Jackson - memoir/travelogue (4/5)

Michael
Jackson is a distinguished NZ-born anthropologist, now teaching at
Harvard. This book is the narrative of a recent return trip he made to
New Zealand. There are some fascinating reflections on national culture,
'firstness' and the dilemmas of the expatriate here.



Here is my interview with Michael Jackson: http://timjonesbooks.blogspot.co.nz/2012/04/interview-with-michael-jackson.html



13. No Ordinary Deal by Jane Kelsey - nonfiction/international politcs and trade (3.5/5)

This
is a book about an important subject - a highly secretive set of
international trade negotiations over the Trans Pacific Partnership
Agreement, which if enacted will lock participating countries even more
firmly into the failed neoliberal model of international trade and
finance.

Unfortunately, most of the chapters are written by
academics who do far less than they should to make the subject matter
clear and comprehensible to the general reader. That's a great pity,
given the importance of the subject matter.



14. Oracle's Fire by Mary Victoria - novel/fantasy (4.5/5)

Concluding volume of the "Chronicles of the Tree" trilogy, and I think it makes for a very strong finish to the trilogy.

I wouldn't say I'm the target market for a YA fantasy trilogy, but I enjoyed these books a lot.



15. Hilary and David by Laura Solomon - epistolary novel (4/5)

I
enjoyed this recent novel by NZ author Laura Solomon, which I reviewed for Landfall Review
Online: http://landfallreviewonline.blogspot.co.nz/2012/07/friends-on-facebook.html (NB: For some reason I have a lot of trouble with links to Landfall Review Online reviews. If this link doesn't work for you, please just go to the LRO home page and search for the review.)



16. The Quantum Universe: Anything That Can Happen, Does by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw - nonfiction/science (4.5/5)

A very good concise guide to quantum theory, especially as it applies to elementary particles.



17. The Ten PM Question by Kate De Goldi - fiction/YA novel (4.5/5)

A
lovely coming-of-age story about a boy with anxiety, a mother with
agoraphobia, and the new girl in the boy's class who catalyses change in
his life.



18. How To Live By The Sea by Lynn Davidson - poetry/collection (3.5/5)

Lynn
Davidson is a skilled poet, and there is a lot to like in this book of
poems about living by the sea, family and relationships - but I have to
admit that this collection didn't really engage me.

I think
that's my fault rather than the book's - I tend to enjoy poetry
collections more when I read them in one or a few sittings, whereas in
this case I read a poem here and a poem there over the course of a month
or so. Reflective poetry and a busy life don't always go well together!



19. E=mc2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation by David Bodanis - nonfiction/science (4/5)

I
don't usually enjoy science books which are focused more on the
biographies of the scientists than on the science itself, but perhaps
because Bodanis is a historian, he carries of this mix of biography and
science very well. A strong secondary theme is the waste of scientific
talent caused by the sexism that has historically held back female
scientists, several of whom are included in this tale.



20. The Intentions Book by Gigi Fenster - fiction/novel (4/5)

I liked most of this debut novel by NZ author a great deal, but one section of it didn't work so well for me, as I discuss in my review for Landfall Review Online: http://landfallreviewonline.blogspot.com/2012/08/heart-of-ranges.html



21. The Tenderness of Light by Mary McCallum - poetry/chapbook (4/5)

Very
enjoyable poetry chapbook by NZ writer Mary McCallum, who although best
known for her novel "The Blue"started off by writing poetry. Rich,
detailed poems - I want to read this one again.



22. Master of the Grass by Nina Gabrielyan - fiction/collection (3.5/5)

This
collection consists of a novella followed by six short stories, and I reviewed it for Belletrista: http://www.belletrista.com/2012/Issue18/reviews_4.php



23. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi - novel/SF (3.5/5)

There's
a lot to be impressed by about this near-future SF novel, set in a
future which is, if not post-apocalyptic, at least post-a lot of bad
things. Both the style and the plot appear to be strongly influenced by
William Gibson's Neuromancer, with good helpings of J G Ballard and
Joseph Conrad in the mix, but this is biopunk rather than cyberpunk.

The
novel's great strength is in its depiction of its future Thailand, and
in the depiction of those characters who get enough attention to be well
depicted. Its major flaws - and they are sizeable enough to have
created a lot of controversy - are:

1) The author crams too much
in - too many storylines, too many tangents. The result is that some
characters, such as the gifted but shadowy genehacker at the core of the
plot (whose name suggests a sizeable tribute to Gibson), remain figures
from central casting - in this case, Marlon Brando playing Mr Kurtz.

2)
The titular character, Emiko, is a genetically programmed sex slave who
suffers several brutal sexual assaults in the course of the novel. Spoiler alert:
She turns into an assassin and wipes most of her tormentors out, but
nevertheless, the relish with which these scenes were described left a
nasty taste in my mouth.

Despite those criticisms, it's clear
that Paolo Bacigalupi is a very talented writer who thinks deeply about
the worlds he creates.



24. The Affair by Lee Child - novel/thriller (3.5/5)

The
book group I'm in hops wildly from genre to genre - that's the
second-best thing about it, the best being the people - and so we tackle
books I would never normally read, like this one.

I was
expecting something in the Tom Clancy line, but this was quite a bit
better than I expected - even though the solution to the murder mystery
is telegraphed quite early in the novel, which makes the introduction of
a lengthy read herring in its second half rather annoying. Jack Reacher
is an engaging character, and the milieu of the novel is well-drawn -
although I knocked off half a star for Reacher's readiness to act as
executioner as well as judge and jury. He's the human equivalent of a
drone strike.



25. Neither Here Nor There by Bill Bryson - nonfiction/travelogue (3.5/5)

In
this travelogue of a journey around Europe in 1991 or thereabouts, Bill
Bryson is his usual entertaining self for the most part, but his
frequent bitching about the strange habits of foreigners did get on my
nerves after a while.



26. Beyond Today: A Values Story by Claire Browning - nonfiction-history/politics (3.5/5)

In
1977, when I was still too young to vote, I joined the Values Party,
New Zealand's first green party (and one of the world's first). By the
time I joined, Values had passed its high-water mark, but its successor
party, the Green Party, is now a major player in New Zealand politics.

I
expected this book, published to mark the 40th anniversary of the
Values Party's foundation, to be a history of Values and how it
influences the Greens, but that's a relatively small part of the book.
Most of the book covers Claire's views of how the Greens should move
forwards, and it ends with an excellent chapter from former Greens
co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons.

If you are interested in green politics (big or small "G"), "Beyond Today" is well worth reading.



Here is my interview with Clare Browning: http://timjonesbooks.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/an-interview-with-claire-browning.html



Here endeth Part 1...You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.

Tuesday Poem: I Would Rather..., by Laurice Gilbert

I would rather…








·        
cut my
toenails in the dark with a machete

·        
slash my
wrists and lie bleeding in a puddle of leeches

·        
self-diagnose
a suspicious lump by looking it up on the internet

·        
roll cheese at
Coopers Hill, run with the bulls at Pamplona,  swim with the sharks in Shark Alley

·        
trek across
Central Australia in bare feet and a black crushed velvet Goth dress

·        
answer an
online dating ad for an outgoing, intelligent and well-travelled professional man
with his own successful business

·        
visit Liberia
without anti-malarial tablets, climb Everest without oxygen, hitch-hike in
Afghanistan in a mini-skirt

·        
recite poetry
naked in Manners Mall on a Friday night in July

·        
drink water
from the Ganges during a cholera epidemic

·        
go back to
university to study accounting

·        
have the
soles of my feet tattooed




than write another
funding application to Creative New Zealand 




Credit note: This poem first appeared in Valley Micropress (May 2010), where Laurice Gilbert was the Featured Poet, and is the final poem in Laurice's first collection, My Family & Other Strangers (Academy Aotearoa Press, 2012). It is reproduced by permission of the author.



You can purchase My Family & Other Strangers for $12 by:



(a) PayPal - linked from this page: http://www.poetrysociety.org.nz/aboutlaurice



(b) Emailing Laurice at laurice.gilbert@paradise.net.nz to get bank account details for direct credit.



Tim says: I went to the launch of Laurice's collection this past Sunday. It was a warm and fun launch, filled with family and friends, and introduced by a witty slideshow compiled by Laurice's husband Wally Potts, with well-timed interjections from Laurice. The collection is full of lovely poems about family, and I had decided to ask Laurice if I could use one of them as my Tuesday Poem, when she closed the reading with the poem above. How could I resist?



But, since it's Christmas, I want to wish a Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays to all poets and lovers of poetry; to the frustrated compilers of grant applications and the  inscrutable examiners of grant applications alike; to saint and sinner, publican and publicist; to the long and the short and the tall, and all the ships at sea. I hope everyone has the chance for, and enjoys, a lovely and well-deserved holiday.



The Tuesday Poem: Wonderfully rounds out the year.







You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.

My Flash Fiction "Aftermath" Nominated For A Pushcart Prize

In 2012, I have been working steadily away on stories for a third short story collection, but I haven't yet got to the stage of making many subissions to magazines and anthologies.



I have, however, had several short-short stories aka flash fictions published by the excellent New Zealand-based monthly flash fiction magazine Flash Frontier, whose editors Michelle Elvy and Sian Williams have done a great job since starting the magazine in late 2011. They pulled together an outstanding lineup of authors for the international issue, as well as all the New Zealand authors who have been published in Flash Frontier since its inception - as shown by the list of contributors.



I was very pleased to hear from the editors recently that they have nominated my story "Aftermath", which was first published in the April 2012 issue of Flash Frontier, for a Pushcart Prize, together with five other stories from Flash Frontier. It's always nice to get this sort of recognition, and I hope to have further flash fictions in Flash Frontier - and, I hope, in other venues too - next year. Thank you, Michelle and Sian!





Aftermath



After the party we drove the last guests home down streets already filling with the desperate and dangerous. The return journey was arduous, our new armour plating proving its worth more than once.





Sir Charles, manning the machine-gun nest at the gates, gave us a cheery wave as we swept into the driveway. Our path from the motor pool was lit by the fitfully flaring skies. To our left, the men under Tompkins were taking up the croquet lawn, ready to plant kale, to plant leeks, to plant the seed potatoes long tended in secret by O’Brien. No varietal rights lawyers would trouble him now.



Mother was surprisingly chipper. She gave me a peck on the cheek and sent me upstairs to help with the blackout curtains. “Everything’s going like clockwork,” she said. “Like clockwork.”



Standing watch in the upper gallery was tedious. I will not deny that I had fallen asleep at my post when the first wave of attacks began. We heard the chattering of Sir Charles’ machine-gun; we heard it fall silent. I learned later that only the massed charge of the under-gardeners, who had been concealed in the ha-ha for such an eventuality, repelled the attackers from our gates.



In the morning, we dragged Sir Charles’ body to the petunia border for burial. We stopped for a minute’s silence to mark his passing. Then Mother blew a single, mournful note on a party favour, and we returned to the task of further reinforcing the gates.






You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.

Tuesday Poem: Delegates

Delegates




Storm stuffed with snow

stomps the sky’s boots

through hallways, conventions.




Delegates register, scatter

to the four sides of the square,

to the Four Seasons.




A corner suite. Storm

thrums the windows. Each year

they re-enact the ritual:




her hands meshed in his hair,

his stubble chafing her thighs.

She arches on the wardrobe door.




Next morning, at the plenary,

they sit apart. Each time they vote

a secret warmth escapes their hands.




Credit note: "Delegates" was first published in my third poetry collection, Men Briefly Explained.




Tim says: I can't remember why, but the idea of a couple who conduct a secret affair at an annual convention they both attend popped into my head, and this is the result. For some reason, the idea only works if the annual convention takes place in winter.




The Tuesday Poem: Keeps getting better. 



You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.

My Guest Post On Poetic Inspirations: The Swells Of The Quiet Ocean

No Tuesday Poem from me this week, but I've included several poems and extracts from poems in my guest post on the Poetic Inspirations blog, The Swells of the Quiet Ocean, which talks about my uneasy relationship with the sea in general and the Pacific Ocean in particular.



I'm very grateful to Maryanne Pale for giving me the opportunity to write this guest post for Poetic Inspirations - and I encourage everyone to follow her excellent blog.You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.

Tuesday Poem: One's One And Only Haiku

King Arthur today

a sofa, two chairs

an occasional table



Credit note: First published in Learning a Language: New Zealand Poetry Society Anthology 2005, edited by Margaret Vos.



Tim says: Frantically busy. Running late. No Tuesday Poem posted last week - little chance of one this week. Facing being drummed out of the regiment,* possible court-martial. What to do?



Then - inspiration strikes in the form of P.S. Cottier posting a haiku. Note to self - adopt same policy - post a haiku! RSM McCallum thereby satisfied, honour of regiment intact. One problem: self not a noted writer of haiku, little inspiration to write one.



But! Chap rummages around in old files, finds the above - one and only haiku ever attempted, and by Jove, published too. Matter of Britain - most satisfactory. Not really a haiku in the strict sense but as Padre says, there are no atheists in a fox-hole. (Note to self: must ask Padre if he has experimental evidence of same. Poss. of survey, troops answering questions on religious belief or lack of while taking shelter from live fire. Would take troops' minds off their troubles, buck them up. Good for morale.)



*The regiment of Tuesday Poets. Jolly good show, everyone!




You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.

An Interview With Gerry Te Kapa Coates

Gerry Te Kapa Coates (Ngāi Tahu) was born in
Oamaru, but has lived in Wellington for most of his working life. He has been a
writer since schooldays, initially concentrating on poetry with work published
in journals like Landfall. He works as an engineer and company director, but
has done many varied and creative things in his career - from journalism and
stage lighting design to working with Ngāi Tahu and Te Tau Ihu on their Treaty claim
settlements. A past published finalist in the Māori Literature (Pikihuia)
Awards in 2001, 2003 and 2007, his book of poetry and short stories The View
From Up There was published in 2011. He is now working on further collections
and longer works including a novel. An engineer/poet is a rare breed. He still finds
that working − and looking after mokopuna – takes its creative toll.




How long has The View From Up
There been in preparation, and is it a satisfying feeling that the book has
now published?




When
I started writing, being published was only a vague notion, although I
submitted a poem in 1961 to Canta (the University newspaper) that was published
under my pseudonym at the time ‘Jerez’. In a burst of enthusiasm in the early
80s I submitted – and was mostly rejected − by the literary periodicals of the
time such as Landfall, Islands, Poetry NZ etc. The advice I was given by
publishers later was that ‘poetry didn’t pay’ and to look at self-publishing,
which always seemed to me to be rather self-seeking. It’s always a salutary
feeling to walk into a library – or a book remainder shop – and see the
attempts of the thousands of authors seeking fame. So when Roger Steele, who
had previously given me advice to self-publish, offered to publish my
collection I was very happy, and even happier with the result and the feedback.
But getting any acclaim through reviews is still difficult for New Zealand
authors, especially for poetry.




How would you describe your fiction and
your poetry to readers unfamiliar with your work?




I’m
never sure whether ‘accessible’ is a good attribute, but I think my poems are.
They are relatively straightforward and rely on the use of words to evoke a
feeling, rather than fancy devices. The same reviewer who called them
accessible also said ‘I suspect the true test of a "good" poem is
when the reader is able to pick up a poem and find something of their own life
experience in it.’ Another well-read friend of mine said ‘I find many modern
poems hard to understand. The poet is so close to his or her subject that it is
impossible for an outsider to gain entry to his thought process. But your poems
are not like this. They have depth, but I was able to enter just a little
of your world, and share your feelings.’




My
stories often tend to have a Māori flavour, but again I want them to be a ‘good
tale’ whatever the reader’s background. If I see myself as an indigenous writer
– which I do – then I make sure the ‘politics of difference’ as Witi Ihimaera
says, is evident. But sometimes I’m just a writer – as in love poems for
example.




You have had a long and successful career
as an engineer, sustainability consultant, and director of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu. Do each of these feed
into your writing, or is your writing something apart from any of these?




Yes,
many of my poems and stories are loosely based on my life-experience, but not
necessarily autobiographical – for example I didn’t fight in Vietnam, but I was
a protester against the war. Being deeply involved with Ngāi Tahu politics and
its Treaty Claim settlement process meant I was in touch with my roots, and
also aware of the red-neck anti-Māori sentiment that the settlement generated
in the form of Letters to the Editor. Apparently John Huria asked me at a panel
discussion at the Christchurch Writers’ Festival ‘Is writing a poem like
lighting an airstrip?’ according to Fergus Barrowman. I probably didn’t hear
him because the sound system on stage was so bad, but my answer (to Fergus) was
‘Maybe more like lighting a play - which I do as well!’ Everything – life,
career, reading – all feed into my work in some way.













The
View From Up There includes both stories and poems.
Was it an easy decision to include both in the collection, and are you
satisfied with how this combined approach has worked out?




It
was the publisher’s decision, but I hadn’t thought it through and the
difficulties it would provide for libraries and bibliographic listings to
adequately categorise it. In future I think that despite the book being more
interesting with a variety of genre, I will do poems and fiction separately.




In commenting on The View From Up There , author Phillip Mann says:



“I admire the grace of these poems, and the carefulness which keeps them clear and direct. I also appreciate the ease with which they are able to bring together the Maori language and English, achieving a synthesis that is uniquely true to the country.” – Phillip Mann
 
Can you tell us about the ways you have bought Te Reo Māori and English together in your work?




When
I first assembled the selection, I hadn’t realised how much Te Reo was implicit
in many of the poems. In the end I did a glossary that spread to 70 words and
two pages. Ideally a poem should be able to include Te Reo and English
seamlessly. But even a poem needs a footnote to put it in context. I can’t
recall how many readers have said they were so glad to discover the ‘Notes on
the Poems’ at the end, but usually after they needed it. Maybe next time
they’ll be footnotes.




Phil
also said after the book was published, ‘I think it is an excellent collection.
Your poems achieve what poetry does best. They explore those moments of
 realization and change which occur when life suddenly opens up before us,
sometimes terrifyingly so − as a when a loved one dies, or a car crash reminds
us of our own mortality or when suddenly we know we are happy and in love or we
confront a distasteful political reality. While the poems are personal, they
encourage us to see the universal in the moment for, as has often been said,
Death is our only certainty as in grief, and a car crash in New Zealand is very
like one in Finland or Peru, and love, it seems to me, is a flower which
thrives despite barbed wire, pollution, economic downturn or our own
tongue-tied silence. Which things said, I also admire the patient
craftsman who works on the words until they shine.’ I thank him for those
insights.




You were a guest at the Christchurch
Writers Festival 2012. Do you enjoy reading at such events, and the ‘public
performance’ aspects of being a writer?




That
was the first Festival where I’d been an invited ‘official writer’ although I
have read publicly before. I enjoy both the reading, and the selection of what
to read. At Christchurch, because it was a Ngāi Tahu writers’ panel, I chose to
read poems with a Māori context but at the end I read a new love poem I’d just written
the previous week. I was blown away by several responses including from an out
of town couple who felt deeply connected to the poem. Those interactions make
it all worth it.




Who are some of your favourite authors of
fiction and poetry, and in particular, are there authors and poets you
particularly enjoy whom you feel haven’t received the attention they deserve
from critics and the public?




The
poets I have been influenced by include (apart from the ones everyone has been
influenced by like T S Eliot etc) Robert Graves, e e cummings, Philip Larkin,
James K Baxter, Alastair Campbell and latterly Glen Colquhoun. At the
Christchurch Writers Festival I was also reacquainted with Riemke Ensing,
Bernadette Hall and Cilla McQueen whom I’ve admired. Also an amazing Māori poet
Ben Brown (Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāti Māhuta) whose performance readings are fantastic.



Fiction is more difficult to pin down. Short stories by kiwis Owen Marshall or Maurice Duggan, and by Alice Munro and Lydia Davis. And novels by authors from many countries. The Nobel prizewinners are a good start – the Norwegian Knut Hamsun’s epic Growth of the Soil or Sigrid Undset’s even grander Kristin Lavransdatter were a great influence. Also the so-called ‘Angry Brigade’ of British writers in the 60s.




The Steele Roberts website mentions that
you are working on a novel – would you care to say more about this?




An
extract from its early stages entitled ‘The Exploration of Space’ was published
in Huia Short Stories 5 (2003). It’s about a Māori rower who goes to Munich in
1972 with the Olympic team and has a love affair with an Israeli team member
who is killed, and how this, and his whakapapa history, affects his later life.
After mulling it around and writing more chapters I’m still quite a way from
finishing it. I need to deal with the ‘Enemies of Promise’ and start working on
it again, rather than my erstwhile career. Roger Steele said after my book
launch ‘This will change your life, Gerry.’ Although it’s less than 12 months
now, he was right. One of them is that writing has become more of a priority,
and hopefully some opportunities to become a writer in residence and have the
space to concentrate will arise. 




Book
availability details




The
book is available at Steele Roberts’ website http://steeleroberts.co.nz/books/isbn/978-1-877577-64-2
or elsewhere online by Googling the title or my name.




It’s
also available in New Zealand at quality bookshops such as Unity Books and the
University Book shop in Christchurch.




In addition to his Ulysses 2012, which was my Tuesday Poem this week, Gerry kindly allowed me to use another poem from The View From Up There to conclude this post.




Strawberries 





Nothing like a tube in
your neck

to make a grown man look fragile.

“Yes -I’m a part time plumber,” joked Pania

the vivacious nurse, ideal to buck up

tired spirits, except you looked a bit

too tired to be bothered with flirting

for the fun of it, despite your strength

and your manly chest - not the chest of  a

middle-aged man (as they would put in the papers)

You, at this time, in
this place

this home away from home

can only be described as looking wan.




There’s nothing like
hospital food

to push you back to life and remembering

what it was like to be eating with gusto

be well again, able to race up stairs

pee over a fence and do all those things

that being in bed proscribes - a catheter

and a bed pan in the wings do inhibit

freedom of movement, of action.

Sorry about the
strawberries - I forgot

you’d not be eating right away

but partly they’re there for titillation

if not for you, for Pania and her laughing eyes.




And you, out of the
privacy of the

operating theatre back in the light

(although it’s really
blinding in there -

just seems dark with
the loss of consciousness

and the mystery of it
all) with your tripes only

partly intact, what
now. Can you recapture that

zest for life and use your libido in other ways?

I admire your strength
and acceptance,

for in the end we all have to face it alone

whatever ‘it’ is - things that stop working,

sensations that dull, appetites that get lost
strawberries that crumble into dust.You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.