Tansy Rayner Roberts's Blog, page 164
July 28, 2010
Blyton Lite Easy Meals™
I wasn't going to comment on the news about the updated versions of Enid Blyton's Famous Five books when I first saw it a few days ago, and have since seen it grow and grow in traction in local news outlets. My initial thought was that this was in no way news. There have been updated versions of Blyton before, usually to work around issues such as the vocabulary and naming conventions of the day that are a bit unfortunately hilarious now. I used to get terribly snippy about Dame Slap...
July 27, 2010
Fridge is a Verb
Day 07 – Least favorite plot device employed by way too many books you actually enjoyed otherwise
I'm going to give an honourable mention to the trend of having YA protagonists obsessed with pop culture from the wrong era – particularly the 80's. I read several otherwise awesome books in a row that did this and, as with all dodgy plot devices, while it may work in context for a single title the pattern of seeing it so often makes you realise what's wrong with it – in this case a total cheat a...
On my iPod: Cobwebs and Martians
I continue to have a void in my life after catching up with all 200+ episodes of Radio Free Skaro. Most of my favourite podcasts come out in a group round about Monday, and I try hard to make them last, but they don't, and there is nothing more sad than an emptying iPod. I have been turning back to Big Finish plays to fill the gaps, dipping into my recent haul of these, and hoping I can eke them out because I am determined to not make any more purchases before Aussiecon.
Invaders of Mars
July 26, 2010
Twenty One Favourites
Day 06 – Favorite book of your favorite series OR your favorite book of all time
The awesome thing about the word 'series' is that it can be plural as well as singular. Here then are a selection of my favourite books from my favourite (pl) series. I haven't included series like Deathstalker which are basically one big serial, because I don't distinguish between the volumes. It's just a sea of awesome. I've left out some favourites like the various Enid Blytons because I can't think of...
July 25, 2010
Anti-Jane
Day 05 – A book or series you hate
I spent some time railing against this question. Bringing the book hate is not what I am about. Also it means that my current method of choosing what to write about (walking into my library and staring meaningfully at the shelves) would not work, right? Because I wouldn't keep a book I hated on the shelves. And besides, I don't hate books these days because you really have to know a book well in order to hate it, and I filter too hard to let that happen –...
July 24, 2010
Roman Masters (and Mistresses)
Day 04 – Your favorite book or series ever
There were a bunch of books/series that I would regularly reread every two years or so; I last read the lot of them when I was pregnant with Raeli, and suffering from what I called booksickness – that was, an inability to read anything new. Those included pretty much the complete works of Tamora Pierce, Connie Willis and Diana Wynne Jones, the Vorkosigan novels, Tam Lin by Pamela Dean and Absolute Nobodies by Lee Tulloch. For my twenties, at least, ...
July 23, 2010
Year's Best?
Day 03 – The best book you've read in the last 12 months
This was a tricky one! I went back through my reviews and book logs. There were a lot of contenders, including On Joanna Russ and The Secret Feminist Cabal, the new edition of The Writer's Tale, Lifelode, The White Cat, The Demon's Covenant, Liar, Slights, Unseen Academicals… so many brilliant books that I have enjoyed!
Ultimately I came down on The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner, which combines beautiful writing with fluid...
July 22, 2010
The Internet is Full of Tansy
Angela Slatter includes me in her drive-by interview series.
New Power and Majesty reviews at ASiF and Fangtastic Fiction.
The recently relaunched Galaxy Bookshop blog asks me some crunchy questions about books and hosts a guest post from me about the writing of Power and Majesty.
I also wrote a post for the Voyager blog, about how I created the place names for my fantasy city.
One last reminder about the Tansy podcast goodness for this month: I read "Fleshy" for TISF, Tehani Wessely reads my...
Girlfriend doesn't just mean a Girl with a Boyfriend
Day 02 – A book or series you wish more people were reading and talking about
The Allen and Unwin Girlfriend books. This is a fantastic series of short YA novels, packaged beautifully, and distributed widely through Australia. The awesome thing about them is that instead of revolving just around standard romance tropes, they cover a wide variety of characters, situations and priorities. The relationships that are most important in the story can as easily be those of family and friends as...
Girlfriend doesn't just mean a Girl with a Boyfriend (30 Days of Books Day 02)
Day 02 – A book or series you wish more people were reading and talking about
The Allen and Unwin Girlfriend books. This is a fantastic series of short YA novels, packaged beautifully, and distributed widely through Australia. The awesome thing about them is that instead of revolving just around standard romance tropes, they cover a wide variety of characters, situations and priorities. The relationships that are most important in the story can as easily be those of family and friends as...
