Rachel Hartman's Blog, page 38
January 30, 2012
Today at The Intergalactic Academy
(Where Phoebe and Sean teach exobiology and quantum phlebotinodynamics…)
Some of you will already have seen Sean's review of Seraphina which ran last Friday. Well today I have a "guest lecture" up on Science Fantasy, and why I think my book fits that genre pretty well.
Those of you who love High Fantasy, don't panic. My book is also that, perhaps even more convincingly so. As I think I've mentioned before, I'm not really interested in genre except insofar as I can poke it in the eye and...
January 26, 2012
Remind me of this in July
My friend Els (who I've mentioned twice now this week! Hi, Els!) sent me the link to Joshilyn Jackson's blog post, "Launch Day". I have a feeling I'm going to want to read that again on July 10th.
The money quote, to me:
I love this book. I am proud of this book. I think it is funny and hopeful and I bravely went down deep into the salty black mines of my own mental illness and tried to make it also truthful as I used the tale to wrestle with the questions that drive my life. And today, I have...
January 25, 2012
Road Sage
A great piece of advice from The System.
I know that looks like a cartoon about bicycles, but it's not exclusively about bicycles. It's about any situation where someone is mad or defensive.
It's like Yoda, man. On a bicycle.
January 23, 2012
Gung Hay Fat Choy!
Happy Chinese New Year!
My friend Els pointed this out to me yesterday: my book on dragons will be coming out in the year of the dragon. I'm not superstitious, but I'm proclaiming that propitious.
2012 had me kind of bummed, but a dragon year? I am so there.
Intro to my Asinine Love Song Analysis Project
I've mentioned one of my favourite music books here before: This Is Your Brain on Music, by Daniel J. Levitin. It's a good read for anyone with an armchair interest in neurology – or music, for that matter. The brain is a funny place to live, I've always felt, and this book helps delineate what's going on in there (and how it's even stranger than you might think).
(This gets kind of long. Here's a good bail-out point. No one will know!)
There are scholars (e.g. Stephen Pinker) who believe...
January 20, 2012
In other news
A few more reviews of Seraphina out in the blogosphere:
* From Diana at Happily Ever After
* From Veronica at Mostly Reviews
Thanks so much you two!
In general I only link blog reviews, because I want bloggers to get some traffic out of it and because Goodreads reviews are all clustered together in one place already. Today I'm going to make an exception, however, because Phoebe North is a friend of mine, and because I don't think she's planning to re-post the review on a blog. So here's hers...
January 18, 2012
On taking it personally
Some of my readers may not have the background for this post, so let me just start off with a few links to bring folks up to speed. There has been drama in Internet Bookland between YA authors and reviewers. In the fewest words possible: Authors, feeling hurt by reviews, have lashed out at reviewers. Reviewers have lashed back. It's been widespread and notable enough that there was an article in The Guardian about it. Numerous writers and reviewers have blogged about it as well. Here's an...
January 16, 2012
Back in the saddle again
Hello, darlings! Thanks for your patience. I had a very good week last week, minimizing internet use and getting myself back into a solid writing routine.
It's irritating (to me) how automatic it becomes to reach for the internet the moment the going gets tough. Want to avoid housework? Internet. Want to ignore the people around you? Internet. Want to put off thinking about all the difficult problems your novel is posing you? Internet.
I tend to be an avoider, I fear, and my internet use...
January 9, 2012
2012 reboot
Hello, friends! I am popping in to say I'm popping out for a week.
2012 got off to an overwrought, melodramatic start – those of you who frequent Goodreads will know what I'm talking about, but it wasn't just Goodreads. It was everything. My son was sick, good intentions went awry, and I got nothing done.
I had dreams of starting the year in a tidy and organized fashion. My word for the year, I'd decided, would be "perspective". After feeling overwhelmed much of last year, some perspective...
January 4, 2012
More review goodness
Here's a nice one at Book Catching. Thanks, Stephanie! (This one may have some spoiler-y info, depending on your definition of spoilers. I don't think it spoils anything, but I'm kind of spoiler-insensitive)
Bloggity-Blog-Blog reviews it for a second time, in more depth. Thanks again, Laura!
In other news: thanks to everyone who's dropped by here the last few days, for all the support and kind words about the cover. This is all so exciting that I'm probably going to have to put a paper bag...
