Alex C. Telander's Blog, page 30
June 18, 2015
“Uprooted” by Naomi Novik (Del Rey, 2015)
Welcome to a fairytale for the twenty-first century. Uprooted has it all: wizards and witches, good and black magic, joy and suffering, highs and lows, and a menacing dark forest, the Wood, that will have you making wide circuitous routes around trees perhaps for the rest of your life. It is Brothers Grimm meets A Wizard of Earthsea.
The Dragon is an old wizard who lives in his tower, guarding and protecting the realm from the forest. Those who stray into the forest rarely ever come out alive; those that do come out changed, twisted, evil things looking to hurt and kill. Every ten years the Dragon chooses a girl from the valley and takes her to his tower and she is not seen for a decade, and then when she returns she is different somehow and soon leaves the village she spent most of her life in to travel elsewhere. The Dragon is looking for someone special.
Agnieszka is a plain, ordinary girl who has a beautiful best friend, Kasia. They go everywhere together, but as the day of choosing approaches for their village, both girls enjoy their final times together, knowing that Kasia will be chosen. They knew from when she was very young that she would be chosen and she has prepared for it her whole life. And then the day arrives and after some contemplation, as the selected girls quiver in terror, the Dragon goes past Kasia and chooses Agnieszka.
And so begins her journey to the tower and learning about why the Dragon does what he does, and more importantly why he chose her when it was supposed to be Kasia. In time she will become a powerful witch under the tutelage of the Dragon and then play her part in protecting the valley and fighting against the Wood.
Uprooted sweeps you up from the first page and takes you away to a magical land you won’t want to leave. The characters are complex and fascinating, the world entrancing and inviting, the Wood dark and scary, and the magic simplistic yet impressive. Uprooted feels like a lengthy fairytale that Naomi Novik discovered in some long forgotten tome and then brought it to life with its themes and meanings. You’ll feel your heartstrings being pulled, while shivers of fear run up and down your spine. Uprooted is a tale to be read privately in the confines of one’s own mind, and to be read aloud to each other in a group. Like all good tales that last for eons, it is a seemingly simple story that when finished keeps unraveling its secrets within your mind.
Originally written on April 14, 2015 ©Alex C. Telander.
To purchase a copy of Uprooted from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.
June 17, 2015
Book News: Amazon Doomed To Repeat Past Mistakes, Wedding Gifts For Bibliophiles, Actual Comfort Reading & More!
Goodreads Etiquette
Why authors really need to shut up and take criticism on Goodreads.
The Martian Trailer
The Martian is a movie adaptation of a great book starring Matt Damon. Here’s the awesome trailer.
Hot European Waters for Amazon
Amazon is facing some hot water and is being investigated by the European commission on the subject ebook pricing.
June 13, 2015
“A Tiny Tale” by Olivier Cri de Coeur, illustrated by Margeaux Bancroft (Favonian Books, 2015
Every single person on this planet has creativity in them in some way or form. As to what it is that inspires us and causes this creativity to come out in a particular art form is one of the greatest mysteries of life. But sometimes something as simple as an entrancingly illustrated book can do it. A Tiny Tale is very likely one of those muse-like books for many creative people.
The story is an unusual journey for a character who steps out of his already unusual life and takes a path not taken to something new and different. It is inspiring and encouraging on many levels. The story will very likely have different meanings and resonances for different readers and appreciators of art. But its going to hit you strong and move you.
A Tiny Tale is not simply a book, but a work of art. On the right are the varied, complex and colorful words; on the left is breathtaking artwork that sometimes illustrates the writing, sometimes compliments it, and sometimes takes it to a whole new level. Each page is special and the reader will be taken away on their own journey as they enjoy the journey of the main character.
A Tiny Tale is not a children’s book, but it’s also not an adult’s book; it is a book for everyone! Each reader will find different things to enjoy and love, as well as question and perhaps even be angry at. It is a book you may read one way one year and completely different a decade later. It is a story to cherish and read to others, but also to selfishly enjoy over and over.
Originally written on June 4, 2015 ©Alex C. Telander.
To purchase a copy of A Tiny Tale, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.
June 9, 2015
Book News: Books To Make You Queasy, When Neil Met Kazuo, You Don’t Know Ray (Bradbury) & More!
Do You Know Ray Bradbury?
Ten things I bet you didn’t know about Ray Bradbury.
Book Art
These images take your imaginings of folded book art way beyond your limits.
Folio Society Books
The Folio Society has recently produced some truly beautiful and incredible books, so check these out.
Books That May Not Agree With You
Here are five books you will want to avoid reading on an empty stomach.
June 5, 2015
“Get in Trouble: Stories” by Kelly Link (Random House, 2015)
Short story collections are a great way to get introduced to an author, especially an author like Kelly Link, who is known for her unique short stories that engross readers to the fullest. The other nice thing about anthologies is if you don’t like a story, you can always skip to the next one, and sadly this is kind of the case with Get in Trouble, where some of the stories are hit and miss.
The collection begins with “The Summer People,” the strongest and probably best story in the book, about a young girl who’s father has gone off to deal with his apparent sins while she is left to tend the cabins they own and check on the tenants. She is unwell and has a friend help out, introducing her to the summer people and the house they live in. She explains the rules for entering the house and how these strange creatures are to be treated.
“A New Boyfriend” is a strange story set in a world where teenage girls can have robotic boyfriends, except this new boyfriend is a vampire and has a “ghost” setting and the girl’s best friend thinks she might have some strong feelings for him. “Two Houses” is the moving story about a group of space travelers sharing ghost stories and questioning whether if a haunted house is disassembled, does the ghost still stay in the house?
These three stories are the high points of the collection, as the rest of the stories seem ordinary and somewhat uninteresting when put with these. Still, the full collection is worth the read, as every reader is different.
Originally written on March 23, 2015 ©Alex C. Telander.
To purchase a copy of Get in Trouble from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.
June 3, 2015
Book News: Audio Books Get Heaving Bosoms, What Are Books, Alex?, O’Connor Gets Stamped & More!
Bookish Cosplay
Looking for some awesome book-related costumes.
Kids Need Queer Books
It’s often hard to find queer books, so here’s a good list to help you.
Great Books by Women
There are obviously a lot of these, but here are four recommended ones.
May 28, 2015
Guest Post with B. D. Bruns: “How to Make a Monster”
I have been repeatedly asked how I come up with my stories. I don’t have a particularly twisted imagination or way of looking at things. It’s just that if I do get a passing thought I blow on it until it catches fire. And besides, there’s no new stories out there: only new ways of presenting age-old ideas. But one thing I’m known for is my unique creatures, especially the Finger People. So how does one make a monster?
According to rock musician Rob Zombie, making a monster likely involves a teenage werewolf and a possessed cheerleader making out in the back of a car. My process isn’t nearly that exciting, but certainly more plausible. In the aforementioned example of the Finger People, I started with a subject that fascinated me. This is important because passion comes through. I focused on a specific moment in the Civil War, all the better to reveal the grisly details without overwhelming the reader with too much history. My initial thought was to have ghouls gathering up the fallen soldiers. Ghouls, while not generally the fodder of mainstream horror, are well known to us horror fans. Certainly I didn’t want any ghosts of fallen soldiers—that had been done to death (please pardon the pun). So what kind of monster could ‘realistically’ come about during a Civil War battle? It would have to be something we haven’t heard of yet.
What evolved from this exercise was a new type of fully developed beastie, the Finger People. They act like ghouls, sure, but why? What motivates them? Do they collect the dead bodies to eat them like scavengers or for some other, more sinister reason? The latter would be far scarier. And how do they interact with their environment? And there’s a war going on—how do they handle that strain? In short, how can I skip the magic and apply evolution? Applying deep reasoning and logic to monsters is what separates them from the fantasies of childhood.
I guarantee you’ve never seen anything like the Finger People. Maybe they are why The Gothic Shift—my book containing their novella The Swamp Hive—won the 2014 International Book Awards’ Best Short Story Collection.
“I wouldn’t think that any author could come up with anything more brutal and scary than the Civil War, but this he did and he did it well. I will be dreaming of The Finger People for a while to come. *shudder*” – Horror After Dark
May 26, 2015
Book News: Literary Mortar Boards, Nightmare Fuel & Your Favorite Agatha Christie
Literary Mortar Boards: It’s graduation time, which means you need to get creative with your mortar board.
Nightmare Fuel: Five recommended horror books from Book Riot that will scare the socks off of you.
Selfie Book Club: What if celebrities taking selfies had books photoshopped in place of their phones; yep, it’s as dumb and funny as it sounds.
[read more . . .]
May 23, 2015
“A Better World” by Marcus Sakey (Thomas & Mercer, 2014)
It’s not easy to make a sequel as good as the first book in a series, especially not when the debut – Brilliance – is nominated for an Edgar Award, but A Better World is another great thrill ride that will keep you forgetting about the world for a while and fully believing in this created one.
With a number of “brilliants” now exerting control over the United States, people are starting to get on edge about these superior beings and in congress a bill is on its way to being passed that would require every brilliant to be registered and monitored. Meanwhile a terrorist group, the “Children of Darwin,” led by brilliants, has crippled three cities, hitting them where it hurts and limiting their supplies and abilities to survive as a functioning city protecting and providing for its people.
Nick Cooper takes a new and daring assignment as advisor to the President of the United States. It’s up to Cooper to get himself dropped into the independent heart of brilliants country to get to the people he needs and find out what is making this terrorist group tick and how he can unravel it and shut it down.
Blending thrilling science fiction with action and great plot, A Better World is a great follow up to the very strong start that opens the world more but also makes things that much harder for the “good guys.” Readers will be solidly hooked and left wanting more.
Originally written on April 8, 2015 ©Alex C. Telander.
To purchase a copy of A Better World from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.
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May 21, 2015
A Personal Post on HBO’s Game of Thrones
I don’t normally make personal posts about my life and choices on Bookbanter, as I like to keep it mostly about my work, books and writing. But I feel this post needs to be done.
I have been enjoying HBO’s Game of Thrones since its first season. The look of the show is incredible; the detail that goes into the sets and costumes and design is enriching and engrossing. The writers have done a decent job of keeping to the story from the books. Because it’s HBO, they’ve naturally added extra scenes of nudity and sex and even a whole new prostitute character. While this added material hasn’t felt crucial to the story for the most part, because it’s HBO, it’s to be expected. One particular scene comes to mind involving a monologue from Littlefinger gazing out a window, while he has two prostitutes pleasure each other.
Nevertheless, overall I have enjoyed the show and with this new season, because little happens in the concurrent book, they deviated from the story, adding new material that kept the show fresh and interesting.
Except for a couple of particular incidents, unsurprisingly all involving rape.
The first is between Daenerys and Khal Drogo consummating their marriage. In the book, Daenerys is understandably terrified, but Drogo is kind and gentle with her. The TV show chose to make it a disturbing scene of Drogo raping Daenerys.
The second is between Cersei and Jaime Lannister, who are deeply in love with each other, but the writers decided a rape scene between them was necessary.
The third rape scene was in this past Sunday’s episode between Ramsey Snow and Sansa Stark, while Theon/Reek is made to watch, and in fact is the character who is the focus of the scene, as viewers see his reaction with little face-time on the girl being raped. This scene served absolutely no purpose except to abhor viewers. The character of Ramsey had already been established in the previous season with his incessant torture of Theon/Reek, and we already know everything that Sansa has gone through being married to Joffrey. It was so unnecessary.
I didn’t watch the episode, but started hearing about it shortly after it aired, and when I learned what the scene actually was – as I had been somewhat suspecting it in the previous episode – I decided almost immediately I was completely done with the show, and no matter how much they might apologize and admit their error in their terrible decision to do this, they won’t be able to get me back.
Rape seems to be the one conflict male writers turn to when they want to challenge their female characters, and seeing how omnipresent it is becoming both in real life and in entertainment media, it’s a sad telling on our current reality. And I feel the only way to start exposing this as something so very wrong and horrific and to change it is to make a strong and final choice, such as not watching the show anymore, even though there was a lot about about the show I liked.
When I tweeted on Sunday about quitting the show and my reasons for this, I soon received support and other people either doing likewise or those who had been planning to watch the show now choosing never to. There were also other comments and discussions on the events of the episode on social media and the following day The Mary Sue announced its decision to no longer promote the show in this great post.
And over the week there has been more reaction to the episode, from all areas, including TV critics. IO9 made this post addressing the episode. And then there was this fantastic post from Robert Jackson Bennett which I feel is the right note to end this post on.
