Katharine Beutner's Blog, page 2
September 1, 2011
Alcestis Twitter chat this Sunday (Sept. 4)
On Sunday, September 4, at 2 pm Eastern time, the #FeministSF book chat on Twitter will be discussing Alcestis. Djibril Alayad of The Future Fire has kindly organized this chat and I am so looking forward to snooping and possibly participating! If you've read the book, please do join in — and even if you haven't read the book, feel free to check out the conversation by searching for the #FeministSF hashtag on Twitter. You can contribute to the chat by posting a tweet which includes the #FeministSF hashtag.
You can also see a list of other books that are scheduled for future chats, or are being considered for scheduling, on the Feminist SF wiki.
Hope to see some of you on Twitter discussing the book!
August 13, 2011
Links again
Because that's what you get this summer, apparently. I've been working on Killingly and course prep and an eighteenth-century abstract this week, and I'm wiped.
The Hairpin has a great interview with Kate Beaton, who talks smartly about many things, including dramatizing history in comic form and why people reacted so weirdly to her calling-out of sexism in comics. And for your enjoyment, a recent Hark! A Vagrant strip sure to delight c18 nerds: Fop Gun.
Thriller writer Will Lavender describes his path from writing literary fiction he wasn't satisfied with to writing what he loves.
A long piece in the Atlantic about the development of the current YA market.
And a lovely review in PW for my friend Merrie Haskell's forthcoming middle-grade book, The Princess Curse.
August 7, 2011
A few worthy reads
First, read this interview with Ana Menendez at The Rumpus. Ana taught the first workshop I took in graduate school, which guided the revisions of the first three chapters of Alcestis. Her new book sounds delightfully odd.
Then read Kari Kraus's op-ed in the Times about digital preservation and archives, which opens by discussing Bruce Sterling's donation of his archive to the Ransom Center.
I also liked this post by Molly Wizenberg, talking about the kind of writing-avoidance we all practice sometimes. (You can tell me that you don't, but I won't believe you.)
July 17, 2011
A brief appearance
I'm now in Wooster, Ohio, and have finally just about finished unpacking. I would kill for a papas, egg, and cheese taco from Tacodeli right now, but I'm enjoying the cool Ohio mornings (and sometimes, entire cool days). Everyone here is complaining about the heat, but after a month of 100+ weather in Austin, it feels heavenly to go for a run in a 65-degree breeze, even if the afternoons do get close to 90.
This summer is full of transitions, professional and personal, and I'm trying hard to get a bunch of writing done before the semester begins — so I may be a bit quiet around here. I hope to have time to post more about the courses I'm teaching this fall, though.
One quick bit of news: a few days ago, I was delighted to see this recommendation of Alcestis at After Ellen's Across the Page. It makes me really happy to know that readers are continuing to discover the book.
June 26, 2011
Writer’s block, and also beauty
Two points of view about writing that might seem opposed. I don’t think they are, though.
I don’t believe in writer’s block. I think writer’s block is just a myth that was invented by people who either don’t want to work or people who aren’t ready to get an idea down on paper. So if I can’t write, if I’m stuck, it’s because I’m trying to figure something out. The other thing is my husband, who is a doctor, goes to work every single day, and he doesn’t get ‘doctor’s block’. He doesn’t just say, “I don’t have any idea what this patient has, and I’m just gonna go home and lie on the couch and stare at the ceiling and eat popcorn.” Which is what writers do. It’s like we have this built-in ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card going called Writer’s Block. But if you work, you just work, and sooner or later, you’ll get through it.
And The Intern, “on finding beauty again“:
You can’t remember what inspired you to write your novel. It’s a vicious ugly cold-hearted thing and it’s eating you alive. You’re a vicious, ugly, cold-hearted thing too, an evil plumber with a bag full of tools. You couldn’t find the pulse of your novel if you tried. It’s turned into a dead thing—or a thing towards which you’ve become dead.
“Writing is hard work,” you reassure yourself.
“Don’t tell me to take a break,” you snap at your well-meaning loved ones.
You fight your way grimly through the brambles.
Meanwhile, the world goes on lush and sun-filled just outside your field of view.
Writer's block, and also beauty
Two points of view about writing that might seem opposed. I don't think they are, though.
I don't believe in writer's block. I think writer's block is just a myth that was invented by people who either don't want to work or people who aren't ready to get an idea down on paper. So if I can't write, if I'm stuck, it's because I'm trying to figure something out. The other thing is my husband, who is a doctor, goes to work every single day, and he doesn't get 'doctor's block'. He doesn't just say, "I don't have any idea what this patient has, and I'm just gonna go home and lie on the couch and stare at the ceiling and eat popcorn." Which is what writers do. It's like we have this built-in 'Get Out of Jail Free' card going called Writer's Block. But if you work, you just work, and sooner or later, you'll get through it.
And The Intern, "on finding beauty again":
You can't remember what inspired you to write your novel. It's a vicious ugly cold-hearted thing and it's eating you alive. You're a vicious, ugly, cold-hearted thing too, an evil plumber with a bag full of tools. You couldn't find the pulse of your novel if you tried. It's turned into a dead thing—or a thing towards which you've become dead.
"Writing is hard work," you reassure yourself.
"Don't tell me to take a break," you snap at your well-meaning loved ones.
You fight your way grimly through the brambles.
Meanwhile, the world goes on lush and sun-filled just outside your field of view.
June 10, 2011
Interviews & audiobook discount; #YAsaves
First: Ed Battistella of Literary Ashland just posted an interview with me about Alcestis, Killingly, my dissertation, and numerous other topics. I read from Alcestis at Ashland's wonderful Bloomsbury Books in 2010 and was interviewed for Ashland's "Open Books, Open Minds" TV program when I was in town. (My parents retired to Ashland, and it's one of my favorite places on earth.) Many thanks to Ed for the insightful questions!
Second: Diane Havens, the wonderful narrator of Iambik's audiobook of Alcestis, answers five questions, some of which make me blush. Iambik is offering Alcestis at a 50% discount in June — enter the code "#jiam2011″ at when prompted at checkout.
Third: #YAsaves. I wish I had time to write up a full and thoughtful post about this, but since I'm swamped with moving preparations, course prep, and writing, I'll just direct you to this excellent overview at Publishers Weekly and to Sherman Alexie's heartbreaking and inspiring piece in the WSJ in response to Cox Gurdon's classist stupidity. (It's not just that Cox Gurdon dismisses teen readers who aren't sheltered and privileged — it's that she doesn't even seem to know that other kids, less lucky kids, read. Or exist, for that matter.)
May 30, 2011
TILTS, links, a long goodbye
I spent most of Friday and Saturday at the third and final TILTS 2011 conference at UT. I'm not exactly a digital humanist by trade, though I've worked on digital humanities projects (like eComma). But I'm interested in humanities computing, to use the older phrase, and the breadth of this conference's speakers was really wonderful — linguists, literary critics, anthropologists, bibliographers, librarians, and others. Intellectually and socially, it was a nice send-off.
Today I cleaned out — well, 95% cleaned out — the cube I've been sharing with T. since 2005, our second year in grad school. Then I stopped at the co-op and ran into Rita, who sold us Lahrs the Saab. I've been experiencing a lot of serendipitous meetings lately, even though many of my friends from graduate school have decamped for other cities. It's strange to be getting ready to leave myself. I've been living here for seven years now, and I'm going to miss it terribly, excited as I am about my new job in Wooster.
And now, links to share!
First of all, the fabulous Malinda Lo recommended Alcestis (as well as books by Jacqueline Carey and Robin McKinley) in a short piece she did for NPR last week. This was up on NPR's Facebook page, as well, which resulted in a number of my friends leaving "holy crap, I know her!" comments on the NPR post. Sometimes social media does give one a warm and fuzzy feeling!
On Thursday night, the 2011 Lambda Literary Awards were announced. Alcestis didn't win its category, sadly, but it sounds like it was a great evening, and all the winners deserve many congratulations!
250 books by women all men should read. (Also all people, but this is a response to an unsurprisingly dude-dominated reading list from Esquire.)
The opening of Jeffrey Eugenides's upcoming The Marriage Plot. I want it now.
A Times travel piece on Lake Geneva, emphasis on the Byron/Shelley/Polidori era of its history.
A super sensible piece on ebook piracy by Cecilia Tan.
A Q&A by lovely Austin bookstore BookPeople with Robin Black, primarily about her short stories.
The real origins of Memorial Day.
For some less-heartening news, "worst carbon emissions ever leave climate on the brink." And Laila Lalami posts Tom Lutz's open letter to his UC Riverside colleagues and students about the demolition of the UC system. I'm not sure which of those links is scarier.
I'm still finalizing my reading lists and syllabi, which means that I'm still reading post-apocalyptic novels, though now I'm back to some I've read before. At the moment I'm re-reading Riddley Walker. I'd forgotten just how virtuosic it is. I wish everybody who loved Cloud Atlas knew about this book, too.
May 26, 2011
A parable or a knife?
So once again, here's the current primary-source list for my post-apocalyptic and dystopian novels course (now titled "Coming of Age at the End of the World"). I dropped 1984, but reread The Giver this week — it really is the archetypal YA dystopian, Christ imagery and abrupt ending and all.
The Giver, Lois Lowry
Riddley Walker, Russell Hoban
The Knife of Never Letting Go, Patrick Ness
The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
Battle Royale, Koushun Takami (film)
Feed, M. T. Anderson
How I Live Now, Meg Rosoff
Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
Moon, Duncan Jones (film)
I'm trying to nail down the book list so that I can submit it to the Wooster college bookstore, but I'm stuck on one final decision — whether to take out The Knife of Never Letting Go, which pairs with Riddley Walker, and swap The Parable of the Sower into its place. There are elements of TKoNLG that I'd really like to discuss, the book's engagement with gender and masculinity being the most obvious, and I wish Parable were a little shorter (and better edited). But I think the scope of Butler's book matches up better with the scope of Hoban's, and I'm leaning toward including it instead. Thoughts? Opinions?
Really what I need is another month in the course so I could teach TKoNLG along with His Dark Materials (and not just because they both have knives in their titles).
May 23, 2011
Er, wow.
I didn't mean to disappear for quite so long. First I had to finish the last few line edits on my dissertation and file it, officially; and then I wrote more Killingly, worked on finding a place to live in Wooster (and I finally have, after the house I thought I'd secured fell through), worked on course planning for fall, cut my hair short, flew to Oregon, and drove one of my family's cars down to Austin, sharing the driving with my mother. Then I had a great book club meeting with a group of women in south Austin, for which I had to refresh my memory of all things Alcestis. May's been quite the month.
Did you know that an early-2000s Toyota 4Runner and a late-80s Saab convertible have veeeeery different turning radii? Still getting used to that. I'd just achieved basic competence with manual driving in the Saab, enough that driving an automatic now feels strange (words I never thought I'd type!). Next I need to master the Toyota's 4-wheel drive, before the Ohio winter, at least.
I thought I might be able to attend the Lambda Literary Awards this week, but the above circumstances and others conspired against it, so I'll be cheering the ceremony on from Texas while my lovely editor Juliet Grames attends the actual shindig. And on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, I'll be spending time on campus again for the third and final TILTS conference of the year, which has an impressively varied lineup of speakers.
I'm back to working on Killingly, and I'm also back to course planning. Given all the noise about the goofy Family Radio apocalypse predictions, my post-apocalyptic & dystopian novel course feels trendier than ever — I'm excited to delve into those trends with my students and talk about their cultural underpinnings.
Soon, moving! And packing! Gah.
