Y.S. Lee's Blog, page 34

The whole Mary & James thing

Okay, so the #1 question I get from readers – and this is by a long shot – is, "Will Mary and James get together?" Naturally, I don't have a simple yes-or-no answer for you. James is back in The Body at the Tower but the path of true love is never entirely smooth, know what I mean? I go into a bit more detail in an interview with Cecilia at the Epic Rat, but it contains some spoilers for both Spy and Body. If you can't stand spoilers, feel free to email/tweet me your questions and I'll do my ...

Happy bookday, Body!

I will refrain from gag-inducing metaphors of birth & infancy. Suffice it to say that today, the second Agency novel, The Body at the Tower, is published by Candlewick Press. I'm one-third disbelief, one-third out of my mind with excitement, and one-third "Stop it, Ying, you're such a nerd".

Fortunately, it's not all about me. The Body at the Tower blog tour is at Steph Su Reads today, where I guest-post about Notorious Victorian Joseph Merrick – aka the Elephant Man – and the way he used...

Notorious Victorians, celebrity edition

Welcome to the second week of The Body at the Tower blog tour. My theme for the next 2 days is the idea of celebrity and today I'm guest-blogging at A Reader's Adventure about one of the most notorious of Victorians: writer, dandy, aesthete, and scandal-magnet Oscar Wilde. Once again, the Victorians seem oddly contemporary in their adoration and hatred of the limelight.

Mariah also reviews Body. As she warns, you're in for "slight spoilers for first book. And possibly some fangirling."

I'll...

Notorious Victorians, days 2-5

Hello, friends. On Tuesday, the Body at the Tower blog tour stops at Bookworming in the 21st Century. There, I talk favourite books and writing challenges in an interview with Kristen. And Body gets a 5-star review!

I'm going to have patchy internet access for the next few days, but the blog tour rolls on. Do check in at GreenBeanTeenQueen on Wednesday for my essay on Notorious Victorian activist Annie Besant and Sarah's review of Body.

On Thursday, I'll be talking about Charles Darwin as a...

Notorious Victorians, day 2

Hello, friends. Today the Body at the Tower blog tour stops at Bookworming in the 21st Century. There, I talk favourite books and writing challenges in an interview with Kristen. And Body gets a 5-star review!

I'm going to have patchy internet access for the next couple of days, but the blog tour rolls on. Do check in at GreenBeanTeenQueen on Wednesday and Cornucopia of Reviews on Thursday for the next installments in the Notorious Victorians essays. Tomorrow's is about firebrand Annie...

Notorious Victorians

Welcome to the first day of the Body at the Tower blog tour! My theme this time round is Notorious Victorians and today, I'm guest-posting over at the Story Siren about the scandalous Victoria Claflin Woodhull, aka the first woman to run for president of the United States.

I'm also interviewed by Sara at the Hiding Spot, where we discuss favourite scenes, novels, and words. Mine's "quiddity". And yours?

London at last

I know – it doesn't look that special, does it? But this is the British Library, aka my spiritual home in London. I spent 6 joyous months there researching my PhD thesis and even now, when I walk through the doors, I smile grin like a lunatic. That may sound a bit deranged, but come on – where else might you pass an antique printing press on your way to the loo? So this was my first stop when I got off the train at Euston. I didn't have anything to look up this time, but went in anyway to...

Steam trains and castles, oh my

Hello friends,

I'm in England with my family! Now that we've all adjusted to local time, we're tourist-ing it up. We began with a steam-train expedition on the East Lancashire Railway, which was perfect on a rainy day:

The weather helped towards a Victorian atmosphere.

It was a diesel engine on the way out but we came back by steam.

Waiting for a heavily laden tea-trolley to trundle by.

The East Lancs Railway is run primarily by volunteers – especially impressive when you realize that it runs...

Love and poetry

This week, two of my dearest friends got married. When Sarah and Steve asked me to read a poem at their ceremony, I was thrilled to be part of their wedding – as well as by the discovery of a new-to-me poem: Frank O'Hara's "Having a Coke with You".

Here's O'Hara reading it:

This is the full text of the poem, at the Poetry Foundation archive.

And here's the abbreviated version my husband & I joked about improvising, in the event that I lost my specially marked-up reading-aloud version (the one...

A deleted scene from Body

Hello friends and readers! The second Agency novel, The Body at the Tower, hits stores in North America in just over a month. That really sneaked up on me. To celebrate, I thought I'd offer you a deleted scene from the novel.

Context: When James Easton goes to India, he catches a severe case of malaria. On the voyage home, still just recovering from his illness, he becomes acquainted with Jeremy and Sybil Alleyn, a brother-and-sister duo who were raised in India. Sadly, Body became very long a...