Heather Heffner's Blog, page 22

Author Spotlight: Multiculturalism in YA Fantasy, Sci Fi, Paranormal, and Fun Books

Hi Everyone! To folks in the US, I hope you have a lovely Fourth of July weekend!

I was recently selected for an Author Spotlight in the Goodreads Groups, "Multiculturalism in YA Fantasy, Sci Fi, Paranormal, and Fun Books." I've had a lot of fun participating in the thoughtful discussions here and meeting folks from all over the globe. It's fantastic to hear about so many other indie books that are breaking out of the mainstream, Euro-centric mold. You'll definitely want to be part of the discussion. Check it out here:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1398656-a-blend-of-urban-and-high-fantasy-with-a-strong-latina-protagonist-autho

For those of you who don't know, this Goodreads groups is moderated by the fabulous duo Libertad and Guinevere, who run a wonderfully thought-provoking blog dedicated to celebrating multicultural entries into YA fantasy. They conduct book reviews, host discussions, and keep us updated on their upcoming novels, so please drop by!

http://twinjabookreviews.blogspot.com/

July Book Review of the Month coming soon! Karen Marie Moning is well-known for her Scottish romance novels, but in her dark fantasy Fever Series, we get to go to Ireland :) I had the marvelous opportunity to spend time over there in the small coastal town of Galway, so I'm excited to revisit old legends of the Sidhe in Dark Fever.

Author Interview

Hi All,

I was recently interviewed by fellow author Alexandra Butcher, who hosts a great blog for readers and authors to interact at the Library of Erana. Alexandra is also the author of The Light Beyond the Storm Chronicles. 

You can find the interview here . 

To US readers, have a great Fourth of July!

Jjimjilbang It! 찜질방에 가자!

KOREAN TEACHERS unfortunately have to work on Saturdays, but if you're a foreign English teacher, you most likely get weekends off! There are probably a number of places you’d like to visit for a quick weekend getaway, but hotel costs have you worried. Or maybe you find yourself out in Seoul for the night, and you don’t really feel like taking an hour-long subway ride home. Jjimjilbangs are the famous Korean bathhouses that offer hot spas, saunas, massages—and even a little mat on which to spend the night. 
Image courtesy of koreagetaround.wordpress.com .
 This is your poolside alternative to motels and hostels. Visits can cost as little as 8,000 to 14,0000 won per night ($8-14), depending on the bathhouse. Inner city jjimjilbang stays may cost more. 
I’ve stayed at a number of different jjimjilbangs in Seoul, North Chungcheong, and Jeju Island (which featured one built over natural hot springs). The main routine is basically the same: at the counter, you will be given your jjimjilbang clothes—usually pink or orange shorts and an overlarge T-shirt—and two locker keys on a bracelet for your shoes and clothes. The first room is where you will deposit your shoes for the duration of your stay. Next you’ll arrive at a main co-ed room, set up with a snack counter, TV, and mats & pillows for sleeping. One of my favorite Seoul jjimjilbangs was built like a multi-level hive with massage chairs, quiet/loud rooms, and sand rooms for stripping the dead skin from your feet.
Image courtesy of http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/ .
We arrived in the dead of night, so there was a lot of competition for sleeping space. At the very top floor, we managed to find a cluster of little “dens” built out of wooden blocks that you could climb up ladders to nest in. Surrounded by strangers and suffering from an incredible paranoia of getting my phone jacked (ever since I nearly got pick-pocketed in England many years back), I think it’s safe to say I didn’t sleep well. It was incredibly warm, though.
At other jjimjilbangs, I’ve fallen asleep on massage chairs or mats. It’s generally a pleasant free-for-all with families, couples, or working people spending the night there, and you get to enjoy delicious snacks like sikhye (rice juice) and most awesome of all, patbingsu (shaved ice topped with sweet red beans, kiwi, strawberries, and whip cream).
An amazing patbingsu. Image courtesy of www.thewalrus.com/blogs .
 The next day, we got to explore a bit before checking out. The baths are segregated, so men and women go to their separate locker rooms, strip down, and enter a steamy room filled with hot and cold baths, dry heat saunas, and depending how creative your jjimjilbang is—ice, crystal, sand, or wood rooms. Regular showers are available to use before entering the spa, and most include some combination of mirrors, sinks, blow dryers, soaps, and sometimes even shampoo—but don’t count on it. 
My hat is off to foreigners who go by themselves. Korea is a pretty homogenous place, so your birthday suit will often earn gawks and gossip from the older crowd. However, if you go with a group of friends, it isn’t so bad. Tuck up your hair in Sheep Head , or the “Princess Leia” look (luckily I had a friend along who could show us how to fold the towel!) and relax.
 Image courtesy of Cyworld.com . Link to English translation KpopNews.org .
“Itaewonland” in Itaewon (이태원) is a jjimjilbang famous for where famous actor Hyun Bin (My Name is Kim Sam Soon, The Snow Queen) filmed scenes for the successful K-Drama Secret Garden. You get to take a picture with the cut-out!)
 Image courtesy of http://www.lostintherok.com/.
To find a jjimjilbang, look for the Hangeul characters, 찜질방, or find the sauna symbol of three heat waves, pictured below:
Above, you might recognize "사우나": Sa-oo-na, or Sauna. Image courtesy of www.hobotraveler.com .
Some may be several floors up or down in a building, so look carefully for floor numbers (L1 = Level 1, ect). It’s recommended to travel with someone up to speed on their Korean, as there may be no English speaking services available, and it's also the best way to take full advantage of massage/bathing routines available (like the "thread face shave"! :D). And perhaps don’t go to a jjimjilbang too close to where you live—you never know if you might run into one of your students out with their family for a spa night. 
BONUS MATERIAL  If you’ve read Year of the Wolf , you’ll remember that some foreigners are still working through their bathhouse culture shock. Here’s a snippet of a conversation between Citlalli and Rafael on an important initiation night:

WARNING! Spoilers!

Twilight carpeted the land. Overhanging oak branches blocked what little light was left, so all I could see was the glint of Rafael’s white T-shirt ahead of me and a flash of raggedy jeans. He caught me looking at him and grinned, falling back into step beside me.
“Is that really what you’re going to wear?” he asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked up and down my leather jacket, shimmering silver V-neck, and skinny jeans.
“Well, yeah. I didn’t expect it to be such a hike to get there,” I huffed, dragging my tote bag along. He didn’t make any effort to help me carry it.
“I’m just saying,” he gestured to that white T-shirt hugging his lean, defined muscles. “We wolves go through clothes pretty quickly. It’s not like clothes can change with us. We’ve all seen enough of each other at one point or another—or too much, in Jaehoon’s case.”
I must have looked mortified, because he grinned evilly. “Come on, Citlalli. You’ve lived here for four years? You must have braved the jjimjilbangs at one point or another.”
The jjimjilbangs were Korean public bathhouses, notorious for scrubbing off all that dead, nasty skin until you were left raw and clean and fearful of any ajumma wielding an abrasive sponge. However, there was a strict no bathing suit rule. Mami had made me go once. I’d had to break into the liquor cabinet to summon up the nerve. Everyone was naturally curious about foreigners, and had no qualms, none at all, about staring. I was terrified, absolutely terrified, of public nudity.
I tossed my hair and glanced back at Rafael. “Sure. I have no problem with it.”
—© Year of the Wolf
Disclaimer: The above is depicted as fiction, not fact.

YEAR OF THE TIGER *free* for Father's Day Weekend

YEAR OF THE TIGER, the second book in the urban fantasy Changeling Sisters Series, will be free June 15-16th on Amazon.com . 

"Citlalli Alvarez checks her pride in order to convince the Seoul werewolves to launch a dangerous scheme, while her half-sister Raina plays a risky game of seduction in order to steal the soul of a gorgeous 16th-century vampyre. One thing's for certain: no one is waiting on rescue."

Free Copy can be downloaded onto Kindle, Kindle App (Smartphone/Tablet/iPad), and Kindle Cloud Reader (PC).

June Book Review of the Month: Eon

EonBy Alison Goodman~Book Review~

*Minor Spoilers Alert* 

YOU KNOW that online mythology quiz, the one where they ask you: "If you could be any mythological creature, which one would you be?"?

Dragon. Hands down. Every time. Not original? I don’t care. One time I might have said “unicorn,” just to be different…and I felt guilt well up every time I looked at the dragon icon’s face.

Just kidding.

Anyways, Chinese dragons have to be some of the coolest depictions of dragons around. Mainstream culture usually depicts them as wise, benevolent creatures with long flowing beards, not your gold-hoarding Smaug type. So I was very excited to read about Alison Goodman’s take on the celestial zodiac as “spirit” dragons who renew the earth by choosing a new apprentice every rotating cycle. These twelve dragons then form the Dragoneye Council, who have power on par with the Emperor himself. However, the greed of one man will endanger the Rat Dragon’s choice, and thus the future of the empire itself.

After reading that these dragons are named after the twelve Chinese zodiac, you may ask: Wait. So if there’s a Tiger Dragon and a Horse Dragon, then does that mean there’s a…Dragon Dragon? Goodman avoids this redundancy trap by referring to this particularly elusive one as the “Mirror Dragon,” who has not been seen for some time. And that’s where our heroine comes in.

Goodman is a master at strong characterization. I immediately felt sympathetic for “ Eon ,” also known as “Eona,” a sixteen-year-old girl disguised as a boy, who fights for the chance to become a Dragoneye apprentice. She is an interesting mix. Although innocent enough to be blindsided by the political life’s darker intentions, she also carries a hunger for power, something the greedy Rat Dragoneye is quick to manipulate. She comes off as endearing despite her flaws; you know she’s making the wrong choices, yet at the same time, you understand why she’s making them. Also memorable is Lady Dela, the first Two Spirited character I’ve ever come across in YA fantasy, and Ryko, one of the “Moon Shadow” warriors, who are castrated to ensure they will not have children. Now that’s one of the most star-crossed romances I’ve ever encountered. Goodman breathes such vivid life into this supporting couple that some readers will find them more appealing than Eona. The villainous Lord Ido is another scene-stealer, and I’m hoping for more motivation behind his quest for power.

While the world and characters are easy to lose oneself in, the plot and pacing lag farther behind. The story’s build-up is slow, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it seems like more action was needed to keep the momentum surging forward. Action doesn’t have to be a fight, but it seemed like there was a lot of info-dumping that could have been conveyed in more plot-advancing ways. There is one critical problem between Eona and her dragon that the reader will know how to fix a mile away, but it takes Eona a bit longer to connect the dots.

Despite the shuffling pace, the end is well worth the wait. I found the interwoven Eastern philosophies to be refreshing, the world-building complex and thoughtful, and the supporting characters incredibly well-realized. I particularly liked how Goodman used the different stances of fighting. Highly recommended to have Book II: Eona on hand. You'll just have to find out what happens next! 

Recommended for fans of Julie Kagawa and Kristin Cashore.

The Hospital: To Go or not To Go?

Update: 

While I am still out on the sidelines when it comes to physical activity, writing is very much within reach again! I do have this to share about my hospital experience:
We've been conditioned to go to work no matter what. Everything depends upon us being there. To call in at the last minute and say "I can't come in," means someone else has to rearrange their schedule to cover for you, the business will suffer, and a volcano might explode. Maybe two. 
Your coworkers will find a way to survive. You, however, shouldn't overlook what your body is trying to tell you. I am so guilty of this. In South Korea, I tried to convince myself I wasn't coming down sick, even when I could barely speak without coughing, and I ended up in a small hole-in-the-wall clinic strapped up to an IV-bed in a coat closet. Hey, it was a private room. And now recently, when I had sharp lower abdomen pain that kept me up all night, I managed to tell myself that it was indigestion. Maybe I would call in sick. When I started throwing up, okay, maybe it was time to go to urgent care. I could drive myself. Thankfully I called my boyfriend's mother, who told me I was being stupid. 
Ask for help. I had this debate with myself about whether or not to go to the emergency room—the emergency room means steep bills, and lots of them, and really, aren't there people who need the ER's attention more than me? It's good to have such supportive family and friends who dropped everything, because they sensed I probably wouldn't make the smart decision for myself. Especially my boyfriend, who, although starting a brand-new job that day, dashed out of there with barely a word on where he was going. All of that can be straightened out later. Know what can wait and what can't. Struggle against the conditioning. Take a couple weeks off, because even with all the medicine and the incredibly cool new surgical technologies that make recovery time faster than every before, your body is a far cry from Iron Man's.
That brings to me to the second part: Man, do I ever put my characters through the ringer. Here I am, cowed by one medical emergency, while in the Changeling Sisters books, I put my characters through fist fights, stabbings, and worse. I truly am a horrible author to my characters. This will make me re-evaluate how I write fighting sequences in the future. Definitely a reminder to keep the "miraculous recoveries" under wraps. So here's to getting better and treating our bodies well! Cheers.  
Earlier:
Hi Everyone,
Unfortunately I'm currently recovering from an unexpected surgery, so I'll be out for a bit. It was successful, so as long as I stick to my mochi-juk-jello diet, I should be fine :) Thanks for the well wishes. 
Best,
Heather

Out for a Spell

Hi Everyone,

Unfortunately I'm currently recovering from an unexpected surgery, so I'll be out for a bit. It was successful, so as long as I stick to my mochi-juk-jello diet, I should be fine :) Thanks for the well wishes.

Best,

Heather

The Boryeong Mud Festival: Who says playing in the mud is just for kids?

ALONG THE GOLDEN COAST of the Yellow Sea lies the sleepy town of Boryeong*, a small city with one main street running past hotels, restaurants, museums, and a sole night club. Waves lap gently at the sandy shores, and the sun hangs lazily in the sky.

However, sometime around mid-July, huge red-and-white tents begin to pop up. A giant stage is constructed. And a vast theme park takes shape right on Daecheon Beach that is filled with, well, mud.

Source: worldislandparadise.com Unfortunately I have no pictures of my own—there was no way I was going to bring a camera into the fray.
Immediately upon entering the festival arena, you may have random strangers remedy your clean bathing suit situation with a generous handful of mud. From there, you can only get dirtier. Giant mud slides tower above the crowds, slippery obstacle courses pit you against rubber hurdles reminiscent of ABC's Wipeout!, and while waiting in line for some of the more popular attractions, like the mud slides, why not splash yourself with more mud found in the giant, oil rig barrels? Smooth and hygienic, the mud proves most soothing to the skin, and seems to be a nice sunblock to boot.


Source: http://www.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/
My friends and I went the last weekend of the festival, when it was obviously the most packed, but there was still plenty of mud to go around. We signed up with Seoul Hiking Group early on for a discounted rate (this year it looks around 70,000 won), which included transportation, food, and the hotel (several roll-out cots, heated floor, bathroom, and minimal kitchen area—really, you're not going to be spending your time in here). Also worth checking out is Shity Hiking Group , which will also arrange trips. Don't wait, since hotel prices will skyrocket over 100,000 won toward July. Admission into the Festival itself was rather cheap; around 9,000 won, depending on what kind of experience you wished to have. Off towards a quieter end of the festival, for example, there are relaxing mud massages available, as well as all-natural mud cosmetics for purchase. Also on this end are booths where you can paint your face with colored mud: pretty pastel colors of blue, yellow, and red. 

Source: www.washingtonpost.com
We started off enjoying savory barbequed clams in one of the many dining tents surrounding the festival grounds. One must be entirely showered off to enter, and then you get set up with your own barbeque and a delightful assortment of side dishes. Ordering a round of rice wine meokgeolli is also highly encouraged. I would need that liquid courage in order to enter the ferocious mud wrestling pits, slip-and-slides, and one very brutal tug-of-war, in which I was slammed repeatedly against a plastic bouncy toy wall until I slipped in the mud, and my formidable opponent dashed to go hit her bell for the win. Eventually, we stumbled onto the beach, exhausted and caked in mud from our toes to the roots of our hair. From there, it was just a simple jump into the ocean to get entirely rinsed off. With our stomachs growling at us, we immediately marched over to the local Chicken Town to eat a ton of amazing fried chicken.

Source: http://darkroom.baltimoresun.com
You might have heard that the Boryeong Mud Festival is just an excuse for foreigners to get drunk, and it's true: the only thing that might make playing in the mud even better is beer. However, it's good for all of us waygook to remember: don't ruin the festival for others, and don't go overboard. For many who are foreign English teachers: remember that you have students who look up to you, and it's hard to respect someone who needs to be pitched into the ocean and then frog-marched back to their hotel room. Keep it as classy as one possibly can when looking like a cave man. 

 Source: www.ibtimes.com
Various evening events take place throughout the week; we were lucky enough to land on the night of the "Mud Rock" concert, featuring many singers, most notably Korean rock sensation Maya (마야). The concert drew large crowds, adults and children alike, and went on until midnight, after which fireworks streaked through the air and exploded over the moonlit bay. 

One night club and several bars stay open later. Also, although the festival grounds are closed, there is the full stretch of moonlit Daecheon Beach upon which to relax and meet other festival-goers.

If for some reason, you get tired of playing in the mud all weekend, there is the town to explore—my friends and I stumbled upon a really neat "optical illusion" exhibit at the local museum, where you could photograph yourself into paintings of King Kong, dinosaurs, and the like, which come to full, 3-D life. However, it's hard to stay clean for very long. Eventually, we just wanted to play in the mud again. 

I crawl up from the depths.
Why am I featuring the Boryeong Mud Festival so early? Because hotel rooms and great group deals sell out early, so start planning your mud adventure tout de suite! 

*Boryeong City is in the South Chungcheong Province

Event Information:Dates: 07/19/2013—7/28/2013
Transportation: Go to Seoul Central City Bus Terminal and catch the express bus (red) to Boryeong (보령)
English Information Hotline: (010)-5438-4865
(Other Language Information Hotlines, including Chinese and Japanese, found on Website)
Website: http://www.mudfestival.or.kr/english/festival/festival1.php
Last Year's Schedule: http://www.worknplay.co.kr/boryeong-mud-festival/public_events.html

Disclaimer: The above is depicted as fiction, not fact. 

Read and Review Opportunity

Hi Everyone,

The wonderful Goodreads Group, "Paranormal, Fantasy, Dystopia and Romance Writers and Reviewers," is hosting a Read and Review thread for YEAR OF THE WOLF, in which 47 free copies remain to be given out in exchange for honest reviews. Multiple formats available. Feel free to sign up here .

May Book Review of the Month: Vessel

VesselBy Sarah Beth Durst~Book Review~

I'M USED to reading books fast. Might have something to do with the library I'm expected to read for grad school. In days past, I may have had more time, but now I read with one eye on the clock, conscious that in another hour, I will have to go to work, school, cook, clean, whatever. 

Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst stops that clock. It forces you to read slowly. The world unfolds from the small patch of sand upon which Liyana’s Goat Tribe lives to reveal a lavishly-imagined desert where glass serpents ripple across the sky, and an empire is slowly but surely encroaching upon the border.

The mythology at work is a pleasant surprise—an original pantheon of gods, one for each tribe of the desert, who bring rain and blessings to the people by entering a mortal body. The one problem—the person of that chosen "body" dies. It is a sacrifice for the greater good of the people, in a communal-based society where emphasis is less on “self” and more on “helping others,” and heroine Liyana feels fully ready to become her goddess’s vessel.

But then her goddess doesn’t show. When it quickly becomes apparent that her goddess isn’t the only one missing, Liyana sets out to sacrifice for her people in a different way than originally intended—not by easily giving up the reins to some supreme higher being, but by making the tough choices, passing judgment, and living with the consequences of her decisions.

And such decisions she makes! I truly appreciated that Liyana wasn’t a passive, but an “active” heroine, who takes on a leadership role among the group of other vessels searching for their gods. Her companions sounded fascinating and all received strong introductions—blind Pia has a beautiful singing voice and is unshakable in her faith, while stubborn Raan questions why she should have to die for her goddess without a choice, without protest. Korbyn, a trickster god, entertains with tales of his past misdeeds, and Jidali, Liyana’s younger brother, is an adorable scene-stealer.

However, the storyline felt unevenly divided into two separate parts; the first one is powerful and engaging, but the second one introduces a main character too late in order to feel sympathetic for him. More time is spent focusing on a love triangle that feels out of place—what with the story’s main focus being finding the gods—and it almost seems as if Durst felt “required” to have the mandatory two love interests because of YA trends these days. As such, our earlier well-developed companions slip out of the story too soon, and a villain is introduced too late, with motivations that feel a tad cartoonish. Durst tries to bridge the two parts by having POVs from the empire early on, but they simply aren’t as compelling as Liyana and her companions’ journey through the desert.

All in all, these qualms are easily shrugged off in light of the fascinating world-building and fierce fortitude of Liyana. I enjoyed picturing the jeweled sky serpents circling her above and the huge sand worms tunneling down below. It was a welcome stretch of the legs outside of typical feudal Western Europe: values are different, and Liyana challenges the empire’s assumptions that the rooted life is vastly better than the nomadic one. I look forward to more from this author.

Recommended for fans of Tamora Pierce and Maggie Stiefvater.