Leigh Bardugo's Blog, page 751
April 25, 2013
New Tour Dates Added - BOSTON AND TORONTO!!
Events page updated (+ new link to Fierce Reads FB page for details)
Saturday - June 15th, 2pm - Boston!!
Cambridge Public Library
Teen Room
449 Broadway
Cambridge, MA 02138
Books provided by Porter Square Books
Y’know how I’m always talking about my grandfather? Well Boston was his city.
Wednesday - June 19th, 7pm - Toronto!!
Indigo Yorkdale store
3401 Dufferin Street Unit #29
Toronto, Ontario
(Okay, this isn’t strictly a new date, but I managed to leave it off of my schedule when we updated my events list yesterday. REMEDIED.)
Join me, Anna Banks (Of Poseidon/ Of Triton), Emmy Laybourne (Monument 14), Jessica Brody (Unremembered), and Gennifer Albin (Crewel) for GOOD CHEER AND MAYHEM!
April 24, 2013
Darkness was pooling in Baghra’s palms, the skeins of inky...
Darkness was pooling in Baghra’s palms, the skeins of inky blackness floating into the air.
I saw the ghost of what must have once been a beautiful woman, a beautiful woman who gave birth to a beautiful son.
Oh I like this. Yes I do.
NEW SCENES! NEW SWAG! Pre-order campaign is live!!
Want new Shadow and Bone scenes?
Want a new Darkling scene?
Then spread the word! Reblog! Retweet! Do your Christmas shopping early!
When we hit our first pre-order goal Mac will release an original song I wrote. (I’m a little freaked out about that, but you guys will be gentle, right? Right??)
And when we hit our ultimate pre-order goal, you’ll get BRAND NEW SHADOW AND BONE SCENES told from the POV of a fan favorite character. (I bet you can guess who it is, and yes, one of those new scenes features the Darkling.) It’s basically a bonus chapter and I’m very, very excited about it.
Darkness never dies, y’all. DARKNESS NEVER DIES.
Fire & Blood! (Belated thoughts on Sunday's GoT episode)
First of all, it was awesome. Jaime in the mud. Arya speaking for the butcher boy. Sorcerer in a box. (I don’t remember that from the books, but is sure as hell worked.) Still the episode belonged to Dany and I want to talk a little about the hero’s journey.
Dany’s advisers offer her two options. She looks at the choices and says, “I see another way.” This is what heroes do. It’s what Tyrion manages at almost every turn. And similarly, though Brienne is easy to dismiss as a blunt instrument, her whole existence embodies this journey: I reject your options. I’ll forge another.
Last week, I mentioned Sucker Punch which came and went back in 2011 without creating much of a stir. It’s worth talking about from a narrative perspective because of the way that it almost actively thwarts the hero’s journey for its female leads. Here’s part of what I wrote about it when the film came out:
... my chief problem with Snyder’s girl gang is that while he has created five female leads, he hasn’t created a single hero…
In the second fantasy sequence, her grizzled mentor/coach/commanding officer tells her that she’ll have to enter a castle, kill a baby dragon and obtain a couple of magical crystals from its guts. Babydoll and her cohorts don’t question these orders or even blink a heavily-lashed eye. They battle their way into the castle and Babydoll proceeds to climb on top of a drowsy, docile little baby dragon, lift up its head and slit its throat. When the mama dragon discovers her DEAD CHILD, she becomes understandably enraged and goes after the murderers that have invaded her home. One of said minxy murderers then shoots at her from a plane shouting, “Die you ugly, mother f***r!” These are our heroes?
Heroes don’t kill babies. They don’t sneak up on helpless creatures and murder them in their beds. They question instructions like “Shoot the villagers” or “Kneecap the unicorn.” That’s what makes them heroes instead of just good little soldiers. They find a better way.
OR let’s say there is no better way. Let’s say the hero is faced with a hard choice and must do something cruel or brutal. Then she makes that choice with full knowledge of its implications and she suffers the consequences of that decision.
OR let’s say that our hero is a true antihero, someone for whom killing has become rote, who just does what she has to do to survive. Then we need to see that she’s chosen to reject her humanity, that she knows what she is, and– if it’s that kind of story, a hero’s story– then we have to see her struggle for redemption.
… in the end, it doesn’t matter if a character is dressed in armor or a sexy schoolgirl uniform. What matters is that the character is fully formed and that she makes conscious choices. She doesn’t just stumble around doing what she’s told.
Dany’s journey is doubly satisfying because she’s essentially gone from chattel to victor. (And interestingly, she’s done it under the mantle of “mother.”)
And yet… well, those of you who’ve read the books know that the path gets a lot more twisty (especially for Margaery, Sansa, Dany). I’ll admit there’s a part of me that fears investing too much in these heroines and seeing them victimized in the end (whenever that may come). But really, there’s nothing for it. The heart wants what it wants. ASoIaF for life.
April 23, 2013
eventhepartofyouthatlovedhim:
these are all of my Grisha...
these are all of my Grisha Trilogy playlists….and as you can see I’m working on one for S&S
Where can I find all of these? Are they all tagged with fanmix in your archive?
Hello! I read your book Shadow and Bone recently and was completely obsessed with the story and characters and imagery. You are a hero in my eyes. I love Alina, she's a princess- so strong and fierce and adorable. I just want to squish her and hold her tig
Thank you!!
Y’know, there’s been a lot of very worthwhile discussion lately about the way that female characters are treated online, and it’s made me doubly grateful for the love I’ve seen shown to Alina here.
Thanks again for the kind words
Hello! I read your book Shadow and Bone recently and was completely obsessed with the story and characters and imagery. You are a hero in my eyes. I love Alina, she's a princess- so strong and fierce and adorable. I just want to squish her and hold her tig
Thank you!!
Y’know, there’s been a lot of very worthwhile discussion lately about the way that female characters are treated online, and it’s made me doubly grateful for the love I’ve seen shown to Alina here.
Thanks again for the kind words
