Tansy Rayner Roberts's Blog, page 122

Never Mind Domestic Science… my Parenthood is all about Domestic Art

As a parent, you get called on at times in your life to be creative and artistic in a domestic setting. There's no actual obligation, but we've all had those notices about bringing cakes to the school (or as my friend received this Christmas, a summons to provide a plate of "something healthy" arranged in a suitably festive shape, such as a Christmas tree or snowman). There are school plays, fancy dress parties, never mind basic arts and crafts activities.

I'm a sucker for domestic art. I don't do it very often – and I am entirely comfortable with time saving alternatives – but I love an opportunity to do something creative for my kids, given a comfortable timeframe, a practical plan, and a little breathing space.

The most common demonstrations of my domestic art skills in this house are costuming, and the provision of birthday cakes. Nothing fancy – sure, I once produced a hand-sewn Cleopatra costume for an Asterix party which was worn for all of 3 minutes, but I'm just as likely to run out to the shop to find a lion mask at a moment's notice (give me a month and ebay, and I can dress you as ANYTHING, my darling, but a week's notice? Aargh!). I've even been known to dress my kids up for occasions other than costume parties – like, for instance, my book launches.

This year, we knew with at least six months notice that Raeli wanted a Doctor Who party, and that she wanted to go as a lady Silurian, and my Mum was totally okay with making that costume, as long as it was confirmed as wanted 2 months before the party. 2 months before the party, Raeli changed her mind, and wanted to be River Song instead. We called the party 'aliens and earthlings' so as not to alienate the non Doctor Who watchers who were invited, and sort of forgot about the costume.

Meanwhile, I had a plan for Jem's costume for the same party, which would be a TARDIS dress. Having seen all the gorgeous ones out there, I plotted to remix a plain denim dress, got the makings, and got very excited when I learned about the advances that have been made in T-Shirt Transfer technology.

Somehow, with less than a fortnight to go, we had not organised Raeli's costume. Her more recent plans to be young Melody Pond ran aground when we checked that episode, and the kid was basically wearing a dress and a cardigan, which can not be made to look like a proper costume. Alarm bells rang. She was sent off with a stack of Doctor Who magazines to figure out what she wanted to look like.

She came back with bright, starry eyes, and the request for an astronaut costume.

Well, why the hell NOT? Of course, with a month's notice, I could have just bought her a fabulous astronaut's costume on eBay, claimed it was a birthday present, and washed my hands of it. But with less than two weeks to go…

The family pulled together. I shopped frantically on the hottest day of the summer so far, discovering that no toyshop in Hobart had ever considered that a kid might want to dress as an astronaut. I found a cheap, white police helmet with a visor in one shop, white gloves in another, a baggy white top at Big W, and hoped for the best.

My mother, op shopping queen, vanished mysteriously one afternoon and returned with oversized white trousers, a white belt, and a white skivvy. My honey refitted the helmet with a spare, larger visor he had begging, printed out NASA stickers, and made a few designs. My mother returned two days later with a strap-on box arrangement to make Raeli's baggy whites look like a proper space suit.

MAGIC HAPPENED.

Meanwhile, that dress I had organised for Jem? Didn't happen, and didn't happen. I made the transfers, but faced with learning a new skill, I piked daily, until of course it was the night before the party. Technology got the better of me, I handed the iron to my honey (he's a physicist, I'm sure it was better he do that one) and left the frock in his hands, while I… frosted a chocolate TARDIS.

Because, yes, for this party I was costuming (with my support team of wonders and miracles) AND baking Doctor Who themed cakes. Two of them.

There were no further cake disasters this morning, though I was so nervous that I revealed the cake to Raeli before sticking candles in and transporting it. She was delighted, luckily, and nothing horrible happened en route.

We dressed the girls up (I admitted at this point that I hadn't tried Jemima's dress on beforehand – oops! Luckily it fit) and took plenty of pics before we left for the party, because of course you never get a chance at the place itself.

We went to Kids Bizzz (yes, really 3 z's) because it's two minutes from our place, and we didn't have energy for a big home-based party this year. I felt exhausted anyway by the time we arrived! It was lovely not to have to do anything, though, but pour drinks for the kids, co-ordinate the present opening, and pull out a cake at the end. Both girls had a ball – and Jem ran riot on the climbing equipment!

Over coffees, sharing costuming nightmare stories with our friends (whose son chose to be a Cyberman at 24 hours notice and oh boy did they rise to the challenge – even his sneakers were spray painted silver!), the theory was advanced that I had chosen to do the crazy costuming and elaborate cake baking because if I didn't feel just a bit frazzled and challenged at the party, I might feel like… well, like I hadn't done enough.

Heh, well it's a THEORY. I certainly had no problem justifying buying Raeli a Wonder Woman costume last year when I knew we were saving money on a home-based party… but I also sure as hell would have bought her an astronaut suit if she'd given me notice. And then we wouldn't have had the fun!

And, stressing over frosting dramas aside, it was fun. I wouldn't do it if it wasn't fun. Oh, Raeli would have parties and costumes and cakes, sure, but the only time I tend to go the extra mile is when I'm inspired. When she had a fairy party, I bought plastic dolls and stuck them on a cake (which looked awesome, by the way!) and last year I did plenty of internet ordering. Also a valid choice.

But once Raeli's requests dovetail with my own geeky interests, then… well, the occasion is worth not only rising to, but surpassing! Also, and here's the gender thing, in a world where girls Raeli's age (now SEVEN) are expected to like princesses and fairies and pretty much nothing else, when your daughter says she wants to dress up like an astronaut… well. Awesomeness like that is to be encouraged. Princesses and fairies can be awesome too, but they're easy. When a nearly-seven-year-old moves beyond the mainstream to gaze into space, it's something you want to encourage!

Jemima, I might add, indicated no particular interest in dressing as the TARDIS, but she was pleased enough when I told her she was, and happily showed off her dress to everyone at the party. It was a far more practical costume than Raeli's, which of course was on her for a total of 5 minutes before she chucked off the hard bits and went to play.

Thank you, Gallifrey cosplayers, for showing me how it can be done!

I do love playing with domestic arts and crafts. The best thing about doing something extra special for birthdays is that it's out of the ordinary, and you don't have to feel obliged to repeat such glorious experiments. Believe it or not, this was the relaxed birthday year, when I was deliberately keeping things simple because we're going away on holiday next week!

No idea what we're in for next year, but I can promise you one thing – Raeli is already planning it, in that devious little head of hers. Birthdays require a LOT of planning, after all… and it's only 12 months to the next one!

And the good thing about Domestic Art is – well, Raeli doesn't care that I used packet cake mixes instead of baking from scratch, and Jem doesn't care that her TARDIS dress started out as a second hand denim frock, and the knockabout astronaut costume that me, my honey and my Mum put together is as beloved and appreciated as one bought on ebay with a month's notice would have been. And really, to be honest, if I'd put my foot down originally and said no costumes, they would have been happy enough on the day to put on ordinary play clothes, as long as they got to jump on the bouncy castle and slide on the slides, and so on.

But when you have small children, days and weeks and summer holidays and years just slip through your fingers like water. I don't feel the need for my kids to grow up with memories of an epic childhood, but it feels good to occasionally put some Art into their lives, to balance out the days that I let them do nothing but watch TV in their pyjamas. If nothing else, it makes great photos to add to the annual albums we give out at Christmas…

Plus, Jem has a TARDIS frock now. Perfect for any occasion!

Twas the Night Before Birthday Party…

Here, for those who requested it, proof that I made a TARDIS cake for Raeli's birthday party tomorrow. It's not finished yet, as I plan to have a cupcake light on top, and some decorations around the border, but those will be added tomorrow, so more pics then! (as well as pics of my two lovely girls, dressed as an astronaut and the TARDIS)

This is basically cake (two packet mixes swirled together so some is vanilla & some choc), cut to size & liberally spread with chocolate frosting. The windows and panel are made from roll-out white icing, the details from slices of a metre-long liquorice strap, and the fancy white writing parts from one of those squeezy writing icing things. All bought from the supermarket.

I had a near-disaster when I put gladwrap over the whole thing (having refrigerated the cake for some time I assumed all the icing was set – the frosting WAS but the writing sadly got smeared all over the place) so I recovered by putting a whole piece of liquorice strap over the mess, tidying up with a bit of spare chocolate frosting (always save the last spoonful just in case!!!) and re-writing the text.

It looks like a TARDIS, anyway! Imperfect, but delicious.

[and if anyone, not looking at anyone in particular, hon, thinks I was overreaching myself, I show further evidence that my goals in cakeitude are sensible, rational and achievable, unlike some people who take TARDIS-related cake art to EXTREMES - thanks to @greenspyders for the link]

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that this is Raeli's second cake of the birthday season – I also made a gluten-and-dairy-free Time Vortex icecream cake for our weekly friends dinner last night, which consisted of mango and lemon sorbet swirled and refrozen in a silicon cake mould, with lolly dinosaurs, musk sticks and not-Lego Daleks stuck every which way into the swirl.

Imagine the kids faces (five of them) when I said "Every kid gets a Dalek." The birthday girl was magnanimous in the sharing of mechanical monsters, and all 5 children (including the 2 year old Jem) played happily with them afterwards. No one tried to eat one. Happy ending!

Friday Links Mansplains to the Masses

by Aviv Or

I love you, Tehani, but sending us this link first thing in the morning? Meant I started my day feeling rageful and cranky.

(it's a Salon article by some bloke about how Jennifer Weiner is too rich and successful to be allowed to complain about ingrained sexism in the literary world, and poor male authors struggle more despite having a whole bunch of admittedly sweet gender-based privileges)

Luckily, before I had to turn my squishy pre-breakfast brain into some kind of 'well your face is stupid' riposte, John Scalzi did it for me. Cheers, John! Some of the comments (on both posts) are, well, you know, but overall I feel now like I have the renewed strength to go on with my Friday without spending the whole morning typing furiously at you all. Hooray!

In other Scalzi news, he also wrote a post about the general awesomeness of Starship Troopers the movie, which I stand behind entirely.

That post is part of Tor's theme week on military SF, which also includes this post by the incredibly well read Jo Walton, about women in the world of Miles Vorkosigan (and Lois McMaster Bujold).

the new Galactic Suburbia is up, and we're on to Episode 51 before I come to terms with us hitting the big 50. There's a bunch of links there, which I won't repeat. Check in particularly to hear me squee about the upcoming World's Finest comic, featuring the Helena Wayne Huntress and her Earth 2 best friend Power Girl. Hooray, my favourite versions of both characters! Also nice to see Nicola Scott with another DC gig, doing the art for new title Earth 2.

Robin Hobb pays tribute to the influence of Anne McCaffrey. I've kind of been collecting these, as I think the importance and influence of many (female, you know it!) writers in this genre of ours gets overlooked, or forgotten.

I've been enjoying Paul Cornell's Casual Friday posts, and this one is especially good because he plugs Outland! I also thought he had some smart things to say about authors blogging about their eligible works for awards, and how that isn't the same as campaigning.

The Mary Sue reports that a Sweet Valley High musical is in development. WE ALL NEED THIS MOVIE IN OUR LIVES!

A snarky recap/parody of The Wedding of River Song, an episode I love no less for reading this post.

One of the more interesting posts about Irene Adler I have come across in recent weeks – I think Ragnell puts her finger on why the character has become so problematic in retellings of modern Sherlock Holmes stories, and it's free of the kind of bile I have seen elsewhere on the internets.

(for the record I really liked A Scandal in Belgravia, but I completely support those people who felt uncomfortable or enraged by some of the story choices surrounding Irene Adler, not just because that camp includes some of my best friends. I have the benefit at least of having no preconceptions about the character, and thus no disappointment, and I kind of thought she was awesome, but other responses are valid. On the other hand if anyone tries to tell me Mrs Hudson was not a fabulous feminist icon in that episode I will fight to the death)

Speaking of Sherlock, which I won't speak about TOO much because of that whole not screened in Australia yet thing, I only just found out about John Watson's blog! Go check it out – but don't read the ones which are episode summaries if you haven't seen the episodes yet!

We're getting ready for our ROR workshop – a week of critiquing, industry chat and maybe a bit of holiday too! Rowena talks about it on the ROR blog.



A roundtable on SF and YA including our own Tehani Wessely along with some more well known names – a good read with much crunchy thought-provoking material!

Galactic Suburbia Episode 51

The new episode is up! Go fetch it and consume it with digital gusto!

In which women aren't funny, don't write important books, but come in handy as assassins and thieves.

News

Connie Willis

Liz Bourke on Strange Horizons & the art of the mean review

Survey shows that men (as well as women) often play characters of the other gender while gaming – in many cases, men are bored with or alienated by the big musclebound male characters, which game designers think they want. Sound familiar?

Hoyden about Town are asking for guest bloggers to crosspost their Australian Women Writers Challenge reviews on Hoyden (ASIF also keen to do so)



More on feminine tosh: a good solid article in the Australian media (shock!) about the women in literature issues of recent months (and, you know, decades).

Have we been following the "Women aren't funny" stoush that played out in NYT? This interesting development.

DC Comics – cancellations & new titles – Tansy is especially excited by World's Finest (featuring the Earth 2 Huntress & Power Girl)

Stranger with My Face – Women in Horror film festival in Hobart, Tasmania – 17-19 February



Tansy's book launch for Reign of Beasts (Creature Court Book Three) on 2 February at Hobart Bookshop, 5:30pm.

What Culture Have we Consumed?

Alex: Ashes to Ashes season 2; Dr Who season 1; Rocannon's World, Ursula le Guin; The Declaration, Gemma Malley; Grey, Jon Armstrong; The Collected Works of TS Spivet, Reif Larsen. BBC 4 "Cat Women of the Moon" podcast



Tansy: Destination: Nerva (Big Finish, audio), Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon, The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, DVD Extras Include Murder, by Nev Fountain

Alisa: absorbed in novel submissions; The Big Bang Theory; Swordspoint Audiobook, written and performed by Ellen Kushner

GS Award will be proclaimed… in a short while!

Winner of Alex's Yarn giveaway: Jo

Tansy: Creature Court trilogy give away!

Email to tell us about one book you read after we talked about it on GS to be eligible

Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don't forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us!

February is the Cruellest Month (she says)

Okay, you won't have seen this coming. I'm going to be a guest speaker at a 'women in horror' film festival in February. "Stranger With My Face" is the first of its kind for Hobart, and will be taking place around Salamanca Place & the Peacock Theatre from 17-19 February.

Stranger With My Face is run by Australian filmmakers Briony Kidd and Rebecca Thomson and will take place in Hobart, Tasmania, from 17-19 February 2012.

Deriving its name from the novel by Lois Duncan, the festival explores themes of the the shadow self, tapping into archetypes like the evil twin and the mad woman in the attic.

Mainstream film continues to present its female monsters as exotic, the 'other' (the 'monstrous-feminine' as Barbara Creed would have it), failing to recognise that this doesn't represent the perspective of at least half of the audience. Where are the stories for women about the monster within? Where are the stories about dangerous women that are not 'mysterious' and 'unknowable'… because they're us? For that matter, where are the female Freddy Kruegers, Jasons and Candymans? Yes, slasher films have been known to feature strong female protagonists, but this is just one subgenre…and it's not enough.

By contrast, female novelists have been delving into the dark side of their own natures for centuries… from Mary Shelley to the Brontës, to Daphne du Maurier and Shirley Jackson. Stranger With My Face looks to literary as well as cinematic traditions, understanding that one enriches the other.

Briony and I only met formally a couple of weeks ago, but I think we instantly recognised something in each other – that whole kindred spirit thing. We've both been having the same conversation, the same argument, embracing such similar themes and issues both with our creative work and with the business side of that work, and yet in two separate fields.

I was a little unsure at first about speaking at a festival about horror, but as Kirstyn McDermott thoroughly kicked my butt about in the last year, I do ACTUALLY like horror fiction, I just tend to like it when it's feminist and awesome, and just because a lot of it isn't feminist or awesome doesn't mean I should dismiss the genre as a whole. It just means I need to look harder at it. Especially when I've just finished a trilogy which has a whole lot of horror tropes in it, along with the magic, the politics, the frocks and the smut…

And let's face it, the Creature Court isn't the first or last work I've written that can be looked at through a horror lens.

[also, I LOVED Lois Duncan as a kid, her books are the quintessential teen chillers with girl heroes]

So yes! I will be giving a talk entitled Genre and gender in our own landscape – From Australian 'dark weird' to Tasmanian Gothic which will not be entirely about how everyone needs to go read Kaaron Warren, Margo Lanagan and Kirstyn McDermott short stories and then make fabulous indie films about them, but it will sort of be about that. I'll also talk about the emotional fallout from writing a novel which brings krakens and devastating god explosions to my home town, and probably some other stuff. I'm excited!

So you can come along to my talk at 4pm on Sunday 19 February [at the Peacock Theatre] for a gold coin donation, which would be fabulous, but I recommend all Hobarters check out the programme as a whole because there's some exciting films being shown and some great seminars/workshops on topics as diverse as how to make your own blood & gore special effects, and how to write horror/thriller for the stage.

Life with a Miniature Batgirl

Hot evening, nearly-seven-year-old daughter to entertain.

Me: How about we watch that animated Batman movie you got for Christmas?

Him: Okay.

Daughter: Yay, Batman!

*family starts Batman Year One*

–Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham

–Lieutenant Gordon gets beaten up in street

–screen fills up with thugs and (underage) hookers

Me: Starting to think this film is not in fact appropriate for nearly-seven-year-olds

Him: Most definitely

*family examines DVD case*

Me & Him: Oh, crap, M Rated!

*lunge for DVD, turn it off*

*daughter wails with disappointment*

*we explain why M rated means not appropriate for nearly-seven-year-olds*

*we put on other animated Batman episode which is far more appropriate, with icecream to help daughter through the transition*

Me (guiltily): I think I just remembered that Batman: Year One was originally written by Frank Miller

Him: That explains a lot.

And this is why checking the film rating is sometimes not a bad idea, the end.

Friday Links Strike a Pose

Pretty sure everyone on the internet has seen the latest feminist post by Jim C Hines, this time with him putting his male body through the bizarre poses displayed by women on various fantasy covers. Needless to say, he hurt himself in the attempt.

Malinda Lo riffs off a Kate Elliott post, talking about being a woman writer and still having to actively check your manuscripts to make sure the female characters are not being screwed over. I do this too! Did I accidentally kill off all the women in my book? Oh, crap. Rewrite!

NK Jemisin talks about why her editor, Devi Pillai of Orbit Books, should be considered for the Hugo race – she had me at 'Paradol Protectorate'!

A lovely article about cosplaying the TARDIS, bringing steampunk into her design, and just how female the TARDIS is anyway. The cosplay/crossplay phenomenon as a feminist statement is something I never fail to find interesting, and the fannish craft evident in this post is awesome. I say this as someone who is planning to make two birthday cakes next week – a TARDIS and a Time Vortex.

Speaking of which, 3D TARDIS cookies are the best use I can think of for 3D printers…

The Guardian looks at the outpourings of mancrush inspired by the return of Thierry Henry to the Arsenal and questions why football is so institutionally anti-gay when, quite frankly, even the straightest of fannish football blokes are set all aflutter by certain men in certain shorts, scoring certain goals. It's actually a slightly more serious article than I suggest here, and worth reading.

Some more criticism of Lego Friends (AKA Lego for girls) – in the Australian as well as over on the Mary Sue. Both articles are worth looking at for the extra dimension they add to this story – it really isn't as simple as 'Lego researched the hell out of this and gave girls exactly what they want'.

Sarah Rees Brennan answers a question about the current popularity of love triangles with – what else? A historical overview of love triangles.

Meanwhile Karen Healey takes on the popularity of the bromance and asks why the female equivalent (SROMANCE!) is so rare. Also she convinces me that I personally need to watch Josie and the Pussycats.

An interview with the new producer of Doctor Who, Caroline Skinner, with particular focus on her other hit TV show, ghost story The Fades.

Lee Battersby on his recent sale to Angry Robot, and the long road to get there.

The Boxcutters crew are trying to crowdsource a trip to the SXSW Interactive festival in Austin, Texas.

A post about why it is that celebrities fit their jeans better than anyone else – and no, it actually isn't about being a size zero…

Australian Women Writers 2012 #1 – Cupcakes, Tigers and Dragoneyes

I stated my intentions for the Australian Women Writers 2012 Reading Challenge here – and it's been exciting to see all manner of people on my twitter feed, RSS reader & GoodReads updates linking to their early reviews of books for this challenge. Yay readers of Australian women writers!

By the way, someone other than me should TOTALLY put together a list of SF & Fantasy (or any genre really) books by female authors available on the Kindle in the Aus/NZ region – to encourage all those "I got a Kindle for Christmas" participants in the challenge. Let me know if you do this, and I will link to you!

I have started out this month well, I think, with three prose books under my belt already (two of which are by Australian women writers) and four books REMOVED from my to read shelf. All this reading all of a sudden may be causing excessive eye watering, but I'm willing to take that on the chin.

Eona by Alison Goodman was an enjoyable read, good old crash and bang fantasy, with the added bonus of some interrogation of gender, Asian characters and some very compelling women at the centre of it all. It suffered for me from my not having read the first book, which I hesitate to mention, because it is entirely my own fault for doing it this way, and there's (almost) nothing I hate more than seeing someone review my Book 2 and start out with "I didn't read the first one, so XXXXXX made little sense to me…" because you know, you're not SUPPOSED to read them out of order. But I did. I'm quite intrigued to go back to Eon/Pearls of Wisdom though, because of the gender bending aspect, and because all the bits I liked most about Eona were basically the emotional ramifications of the book I didn't read.

Cooking the Books by Kerry Greenwood is, on the other hand, one of my series staples. I first discovered Greenwood through her mythological women series (I wish I had a copy of her spectacular Medea novel) and then through Phryne Fisher, the Emma Peelesque flapper detective novels set in Melbourne. I recently introduced my Dad to those books, after a decade of assuming he knew about them, and it's been great fun watching him turn into a total fanboy about them. (He introduced me to Sara Paretsky and Robert Parker in my teens, so it's delicious to have got my own back with Janet Evanovich and Kerry Greenwood) The added bonus was that he knew exactly what to get me for Christmas…

Anyway, Cooking the Books is none of these, it's the latest of the very enjoyable Corinna Chapman series, contemporary Melbourne-set whodunnits featuring a sexy, smart woman of size surrounded by a quirky community of misfits living in a replica Roman insula. She's a baker and utterly obsessed with her craft, which is something I love about protagonists, she has a hot boyfriend who likes her just the way she is, and she has a pleasant, snarky tone which she applies to the world at large. The books have a tendency to slip into moments of preachiness, when the character voice pauses to observe something which feels more like an authorial interruption, but they are brief moments and easily ignored in the face of banter, bread dough and bitchiness. Also, it comes with recipes!

Two down, eight to go!

Tansy's Australian Women Writer's 2012 Reading Challenge.

1. Eona by Alison Goodman (fantasy)

2. Cooking the Books by Kerry Greenwood (contemporary crime)

Squeebk (noun): the sound an author makes when the third book of a trilogy proves its existence by arriving in the post

The Quest Of The To Read Shelf Of Doom

I don't believe in New Years Resolutions as such, though I tend to lay out some kind of general, practical plan for my new year. This year's looking like a bit of a blank slate so far, though, as I have no idea yet which of my projects I'll be writing, and I'm fairly happy with my current work-life balance.

The only thing in my life that I really need to change is that shelf. The dread To Read Shelf of Doom, the one that I refer to with such exasperation quite regularly on Galactic Suburbia. It's not just reaching the point of health and safety risk, but it's actively stressing me out.

It started out as such a nice, organised space, somewhere for me to put, well quite obviously, the books I hadn't read yet. I set it up not long after we moved here (nearly seven years ago!) and it made me happy.

But flat surfaces. I have a bad, bad relationship with flat surfaces. I put things on them. And then I put things on the things. And somewhere along the way… well, yes.

The worst part is that nearly every book teetering in piles on that top shelf is one that I actually desperately wanted to read when I acquired it. Most of them, I still do. I bought them or acquired them by other means because I couldn't WAIT to read them. And yet, there they are. And they've been entering the house way too fast.

It seemed quite obvious to me a year or two ago that my reading speed and numbers had dropped, and that my book acquisitions were outstripping them too fast. But after a year of actively trying to restrain purchases, limiting myself to an online shopping budget and so on… the tower grows higher.

Even when I don't buy books, and try not to request books for review unless I REALLY think I can read them in the next month (ha!) and keep my books for award judging in an entirely different part of the house, they just stack up and stack up and you know, I've been to houses which are basically held together by teetering towers of books, and much though I love having many books in a house, this is really not sustainable right now.

Then there's the 'archived', much neater shelf below, which for the most part is books which I have acquired but not read over the first five of the last seven years, and have not successfully culled despite much earnest staring at the shelves because, you know, I still want to read them.

Sure, there are some romances and chick lit books in there and I haven't been in a mood to read either type of books for several years, but when I am in that mood, I want THOSE books to be waiting for me! Ditto for the books about historical female authors, and the ones that were actually quite hard to find, and wouldn't be a snap to replace if I do want to read them, in two years or so.

Aaargh I say, aargh. I love my books, but they are freaking me out.

So my main goal this year is to get this thing under control. It has to happen. I am not going to let this shelf beat me. And um, I manage not to think about the storage issue of reading the books and then having to find room for them on other shelves, LET ME HAVE MY DENIAL PLEASE.

Plan #1 is that I am only allowed to buy one book for every 3 I read, with the coda that two of those three have to be books from the physical To Read Shelf. This should slow me down a bit because my Tiptree books have priority and are elsewhere in the house (though I don't have a lot of those left to read now), and there are others elsewhere like my Agatha Christie Bag. And a few others in sneaky locations.

I don't think the 3-1 ratio is going to make the shelf shift fast enough to get it properly under control within the year, but it's a start. I also need to do regular ruthless culls of those books that have been sitting around for years and years, and to be firm about returning books lent to me by others. The extra obstacle of course is that reaching the books lower down in the teetering stacks is tricky.

I've put some thought into properly shelving some books, especially non fiction works, without reading them. But let's not go nuts here. Last resort, people!

Also, full size graphic novels and download-only audio books are excluded from either the purchasing ban or counting towards my tally, because I consume them sensibly, and because they are stored elsewhere. I'm worried, though, about the way that, well, books do rather flock to me even when I take spending money out of the equation.

I'm going to be checking back on this project throughout the year. It's going to work. It is! I will adapt it as I go if it's not working fast enough. No one write any good books this year, ok? I'm not going to be keeping up with new releases as well as I have in recent years. And I can't help thinking that really that wall isn't being used for anything else and maybe my reward should be to build more shelves…

Ahem.

Let the reading COMMENCE!