Random Jordan's Blog, page 11

Diverse Book Reviews and Imps

So not only has it been a while since I last posted something (which I do have some more book reviews coming they are just half done like everything else in my drafts). And since I never actually explained how I would be doing book reviews on my site, I figured it was time I brought up the strange way I’m rating books and what kind of books I’d be dealing with on this blog.

So without further ado, I’d like to introduce my five little imps:

I know, they are adorable. And trust me, they know it too. In fact, they never let me forget it. Because there is only one other thing they talk about so often other than their cuteness and that is the books we read together. Now each of my little imps enjoy certain things about books, and so whether they like the book or not often depends on those things.

If you’d like to know more about what each imp likes, you can look at my book review page.

Now because each of my imps like different things in books, they actually became a great way for judging how well a book does, with my snobbiest fifth imp only liking the best of books. So, this became the perfect way for me to review books and provide some kind of tangible star system. So yep, I’m using my five little imps as a star system, don’t worry they were excited about it. Of course they want better representations of themselves to be used, because now they are calling me speciest for thinking all imps look the same. For now though, that is what they get.

Along the same lines, some more book reviews will be popping up over this next week too! And even some like… old-fashioned blog posts with possibly some mixes of manifestos. Most of my creative writing stuff is on hold while I finish up the work with the anthology. But book reviews still come because they are quick to write-up and usually quick to read the books (currently I’m on two really long books though which is taking longer).

However a collection of reviews focused around fairy tale anthologies should be coming up with the soonest one likely to be Kissing the Witch. There will also be a review of one of Jeanette Winterson’s older books popping up soon too, because I HAVE to review something of hers that I’ve already read. Likely to be Powerbook I think.

That’s all for now though Go check out my book review page if you want to look at some of the other books I’ve already done though.

The Magic I Once Possessed

I’d ask you,  but some part of me thinks you wouldn’t understand. Or worse, I’d run the risk of never hearing your voice again.

And so… I’m a coward like that. I’ve never been one to overcome inertia, whether in life or more, so I guess it shouldn’t be any surprise that I haven’t asked you something I’ve often wondering myself.

Instead I sit silent, responding, and going with the natural flow I’ve come to know so well. And leave all my questions unanswered.

But maybe that is the way it is to be. Some questions are not supposed to be answered right?

No, I don’t believe that. I think, at the very least, all questions should be sought after, even if they can’t be answered. For the journey to the answer is far more crucial than any question asked in the first place.

So maybe I’m the fool for not following through with the quest(ion)?

It’s not the first time I have been a fool, and I doubt it will be the last. However, I don’t think this question is the one I’m meant to seek an answer for. If anything it’s a question you will have to ask yourself first, before someone else brings it up. And I’d rather not rob you of that option if you haven’t done it already.

Still, it has plagued my mind to the same degree that our untold and unknown story continues to do.

I’ve stopped mourning a future that will never exist, but in its place as appeared futures that I also want to exist and I know will never pass.

And that is okay. Because the pain of not seeing all those infinitely possible futures snuffed out, is not as great as the love of how many more possible futures I may see yet.

You won’t be the last person I’ll want to answer that question I refuse to ask. I know that much. But maybe one day, if you continue to grace me with your thoughts, you’ll answer it without a word from me.

For now, I think you must learn the answer to that question on your own. And you’ll have to do it without knowing the question.

But that’s okay too. Because so many people search for the answer to life’s greatest questions, without even knowing what questions they are trying to answer.

Then again, maybe you already have the answer. In which case, I’m just hiding behind my cowardice so that I won’t have to know it.

It makes sense. I am just a coward, a cowardly imp disguised as some ridiculous magician. But you, like many before you, could see through that illusion eventually. And instead you come to find that my magic is draining, and maybe once I had been what my illusion cast me as, but now all I am is a shadow.

A shadow with no words to ask what should be asked, and no fancy lines to say when they should have been said.

I should have known the illusion would never hold. They never do. For my illusions are case differently than other magicians. Others use lies to cover up their truth, but me… I use truth to cover up the truth.

And far too often, when the illusion is wiped away, the truth underneath frightens those it had enthralled.

Meanwhile, in my cowardice, I back away and let the thoughts you think be your own. For whenever I cling to you and try so hard to keep the illusion in tact… it only results in your complete abandonment, like so many before you.

I won’t tell you not to worry, because I know it is pointless and too controlling a phrase. Instead I say explore. You experienced my magic, and for a while you reveled in it. But eventually, like most, the magic consumed you and suffocated, until all you could breathe and think was about it and you had to rip yourself away from it or risk losing yourself forever to it.

And that is why I won’t risk my question. The very ramifications of asking it could result in you being consumed or pulling away at first whiff of it. Because the answer to it would put you back under my truth-spun illusions.

And we both know that is the last thing either of us wants.

So I’m done saying sorry, I’m done fretting over what went wrong, and I’m done with my magic. It does not define me, even though for so long I thought it did.

But I do not cast aside my magic in pain, or in hope that you might fall back to me if it would not suffocate you any longer. In fact, I do not even cast it aside.

For you see, instead of asking for something like an answer from you, I would rather give you something that I think you desperately need and not necessarily want.

No, it is not my heart. That you have already been given.

Instead it is my magic, my illusions, all the energy that I’ve kept together for so long while I tried to figure out who and what I was. It was a blanket for me, while I solved what lied beneath it.

I do not give it to you because it is something you want, for I think you instead despise it for suffocating you.

I do it, because the answer to the question, no matter what answer, will require something to keep you safe while you search for it. My magic is not much, but if anything, I know it will help you when you need it most, and not when you want it to. It won’t wrap around you and suffocate you, instead it will appear and disappear at a moment’s length like a wind meant to guide and guard you.

It’s all I had for so long, but thanks to you, it is not needed any longer. It helped me become many people in my life, for the sake of other’s needs. But because of you, I’ve found who I am, and no longer need it.

But I can’t cast it off, because it is still part of me. For learning who I am, I discover I am just as much the illusion and magic, as I am myself. So I don’t cast it off, I simply cast it away… to you.

It’s all I can give, and I know you would rather just hand it right back to me in the same way you wish you could do with my heart. But this is a different kind of gift than one given at holiday. It’s the kind of gift that will always stick with you, and never leave. On the same level of knowledge, wisdom, and friendship.

My magic is love. And love will always stay with you once it has been given, or else it was never love to begin with.

And with that gift, I request only one thing: Use it. Use it as your own, and maybe one day you’ll find your own hidden within you.

Book Review – Huntress

Disclaimer: As with all my reviews there is the possibility of spoilers, though I work my hardest to avoid them when I can.

When is a Faerie Tale Not a Faerie Tale?

As I mentioned in my review of Ash, by the same author Malinda Lo, Huntress is something like a prequel and referenced in Ash as one of the ‘faerie tales’ that one of the main characters tells. But I’m not here to talk about Ash more, I mention this because one of the coolest things about reading Huntress was that half way through it I realized this tale was one that was told in Ash, but had the real details in it of what actually happened and not just following the legend that was told! It was awesome to have that little reference and provided the same mentality that many people enjoy seeing in urban fantasy, connecting to stories that the reader already knows (usually through pop culture references in Urban Fantasy).

Now unlike Ash, I will be mentioning some of the plot of this book, because it was one that could very well stand alone as its own, and wasn’t exclusively based on any known faerie tale besides when it was mentioned in one of Malinda’s other books. Huntress is set in the same world as Ash, which means there is faerie (fay) beings called Xi (Pronounced like ‘She’ I believe), lords and ladies, kings and castles, and journeys mostly made on foot or horseback. Very much a faerie tale type of setting in a world of magic and it is only proved further by the two main characters, Kaede and Taisin, being part of an order that teaches them to use rituals and forms of magic that are more concentrated to things you would see in our world, like Taoism and Buddhism. Except, Taisin proves that she can use a bit more magic than the average person, so much so the whole story is thrust to life because Taisin has a vision that involves Kaede and a mission of them going to see the Faerie Queen together.

Of course they are joined by a prince and a few guards, and they set out on their journey to try to save the kingdom from the eventual destruction of the world. And all along the way you get to see so much of Kaede growing into a stronger and more capable person that struggles the whole way with morality. Meanwhile Taisin is struggling with something else, her increasing obsession and passion for Kaede, which she continually doesn’t want to admit to because she’s afraid of the loss that she knows is coming, thanks to her visions.

After having read this story and many others by Malinda Lo, I really have to say this is her strongest book out currently. Not only is it all her own, since its not based on another faerie tale, but it has personal growth for the characters, the continued realist faerie tale attitude, and it is a well put together plot that can easily rival many faerie tales, while also being a fun and unique story. There wasn’t any point along the trail of this story that I could easily pick out what was going to happen next, and yet nothing was so blindsiding that it didn’t make sense.

Best of all is the writing style for this story, I know that if I had written it, it would have been a dreadful piece, because the depth of description intermixed with the human element present in Huntress was a well done craft, it showed that she actually cared about seeing this story played out and my guess is almost that she wrote it because the story just needed to come out after she did her first novel.

One of my favorite parts is actually a description of the major faerie capital when they get to it after they’ve defeated the so-called ‘evil’ that had been threatening everyone. I could just see the grey, dusty, and faded world as though the color had been all drawn out of it so perfectly, and best of all was that the ending wasn’t rushed or not quite enough, it was perfectly set and paced, with a good climax and a soft resolution of a Unicorn hunt and discovering exactly what happens between Taisin and Kaede, which had been alluded to from the beginning.

Once again, the part I loved the most though was the last paragraph (specifically a line in the last paragraph), which had me crying at the end, if only briefly. It went:

Kaede smiled, and though her heart still ached, the love she felt was stronger than the pain.

It may not seem like so much of a line, but at the time of reading it, I had been handling some personal things that cropped up through the whole relationship between Kaede and Taisin and even where their relationship ended up going was fitting, especially this line. Plus it holds the concept that I had always held on, love has no bounds, and therefore can be stronger than anything else in the world, so long as you let it be.

Maybe it was because I could connect with a lot of the human design for these characters at the time I read it, but this is the kind of book that I would highly recommend anyone pick up. It’s got some action, adventure, romance, thrill, mystery and more. It’s not just for those who love faerie tales; anyone can find this one enjoyable to the same degree that many faerie tales are! Which only proves my point even more when it comes to describing Malinda’s writing style, it is very much Faerie Tale in Novel form kind of work. This book is what I would have been looking for with Ash, and I really hope that Malinda chooses to go back to this universe some time with more stories like this one.

In fact, I was glad she also added a little short called ‘The Fox’ bringing in a Japanese motif (although also Korean), of a Kitsune with the short called ‘The Fox’. It helped conclude that Kaede was handling the boundaries of the relationship with Taisin in honestly the same way I had for one of my relationships and that she was learning to live with it, despite the pain.

Overall, the plot and story was fascinating and the world only came to life even more after building on from what had been done with Ash. I just don’t want to see this world go to waste now.

All of my little imps got excited for this one, with practically no major issues and the belief that anyone can really dig this story, all five of my imps came out for this one.

Five Imps out of Five

Book Review – Ash

Disclaimer: As with all my reviews there is the possibility of spoilers, though I do try my hardest not to include them when I can.

(I Love this Cover)

Ashes to Ashes and Fables to Novels

Like many people, I was eventually roped into reading Ash by the simple description of ‘lesbian retelling of Cinderella’. That’s all it took for me. I mean I love fairy tales tons! So much I’ve been writing my own stories around them and creating my fairy tales, added to my love of LGBT and diversity in books and suddenly we have the makings for a perfect novel I should love! It kind of helped that my Cinderella character isn’t exactly straight as a line and goes by the name ‘Ashe’ too.

Regardless, eventually Ash by Malinda Lo was something I had to read, there wasn’t any kind of maybe going on there and I’m glad I did, because it was definitely a unique and interesting story to be told with some gender bending going on and an amazing world described in the perfect way. Malinda Lo is definitely one of my favorite new authors (though actually more because of another book she wrote), and like all my favorite authors I like to try to explain their writing style a bit.

Malinda Lo, over the course of the books I’ve read of hers, fits perfectly with telling tales of faeries because her writing style is a lot like taking a regular ol’ faerie tale with a Once Upon A Time and Happily Ever After, and expanding it hundreds of pages, then ripping out the Once Upon a Time and Happily Ever After, while adding in a touch of humanistic realism. This results in books that skirt the edge of faerie tales by offering real but still mostly kind of happy endings, and best of all it comes with a style of writing that focuses heavily on the characters being fully real and understandable and relatable despite going through events that you don’t regularly see in the real world.

Particularly when looking at Ash, you can see the styles of description also come out in full bloom, with wrapping you into a fantasy setting so easily by tugging you along lightly by the collar as you watch the events unfold for Ash, the main character. If there is anything that is easily discernible from this book, it is that settings are storytelling are Malinda’s truest form of writing. She can get you so caught up into the way the forest looks with the moonlight that you are sucked up into the world and before you know it being dragged along through the story. In fact, through the whole book, the strongest points were actually when the characters themselves were telling stories too. My particular favorite was actually one that eventually ended up becoming some kind of prequel for Ash, called Huntress.

Now, you might be surprised that I haven’t really mentioned the plot of this novel. But that is because, it is Cinderella, you can only tell the story so many ways before you end up with something similar to another. It is the Cinderella story, but with a few noticeable changes. The first is that Cinderella is aware of faerie tales in her world, the second is that her ‘faerie godmother’ is actually a cursed faerie prince, and the third is that the prince is in the background the entire time, serving more as an explanation as to why Cinderella keeps running into the king’s huntress, especially around the ball.

Overall, the story does wonderful for tying in all the old elements of what Cinderella was, including her time dancing with the prince at the ball, but shows that there is always a story within the story to be had. And Cinderella wasn’t just about the prince tracking down this mysterious girl he danced with; it had a deeper plot underneath with a young woman who captured Ash’s heart better. It didn’t just retell Cinderella, this novel created entire subplots built into the world and story to build something even stronger than a faerie tale, something I like to call ‘Faerie Fantasy’.

The best part of this novel was that there were no issues or stipulations behind a girl falling for a girl, if there had been it would have twisted from being a faerie fantasy to just another ‘coming-out’ kind of story that most young adult queer books focus on. Instead they are already in a world where love between anyone is accepted as it is, in fact there are multiple frames of reference a few times, with the narrator mentioning one girl leading another girl away from one of the parties, looking like lovers.

I shouldn’t have said that was the best part though, because actually there is one more thing I enjoyed the most. The last paragraph. And this is a recurring theme in all Malinda Lo’s books, I love her last paragraphs, they show to me that the story has ended, they are in a way, her means of saying happily ever after, without actually saying it. Here is the one from Ash though:

Then they took the last step together, and when she kissed her,                                                                                                                                               her mouth as warm as summer, the taste of her sweet and clear,                                                                                                                                             she knew, at last, that she was home.

Forget the fact that the ending before all this felt rather rushed or that it felt almost like the story was incomplete, as soon as it reached this point I had lost all thought of that issue, because that right there was a perfect moment, a perfect set of words, not at all constricted by the concept of grammar as we know it, that managed to conclude the story. Those were definitely the perfect words to end this story on. I only wish the ending before it had been explained and wrapped up better and that parts weren’t just skipped over.

Regardless, this story was well worth my time and investment, and it was fun to read and interesting to see someone else’s take on a Cinderella that loves another girl. I definitely recommend it to anyone that loves faerie tales, though because of some of the lacking elements around a solid ending, I wouldn’t say it is a must-read for everyone, but is perfect for those transitioning from faerie tales as kids to the young adult chapter books.

Overall, this one managed to attract four of my five imps, coming in as a solid novel with minor issues around the climax and conclusion of the plot that my fifth imp was frustrated by.

Four out of Five Imps, the last is busy terrorizing my garden unfortunately.

Book Review – Broken Elements

Disclaimer: As with all my reviews, there is a possibility of spoilers, though I try to keep them out as often as I can.

Urban Fantasy has permeated my life lately, quite heavily, especially with the recent realization that my book series technically can fall into the bounds of urban fantasy. But also due to the discovery of more urban fantasy books like the Mercy Thompson series and a recent series that brings in yet another different type of main character from a first person perspective: An Elemental.

The character concept is brilliant, most people have done wizards and magic user’s that can use an element, but not the actual elementals, the kind that embody their element, and that’s exactly what the main character, Aidan Brook, and many others are in Broken Elements. Akin to many urban fantasy, this one takes place somewhere around present time though the exact era isn’t particularly obvious, only to the point that wifi is pretty much everywhere.

Aidan had been pretty much a hermit for the last ten years and the whole story is moved forward by the seclusion ending from a string of murders popping up once more. Now, unlike many other urban fantasy stories, it isn’t Aidan’s job to fix the murders or protect the innocent or solve the case, she’s just a person that got sucked up in the case because of the connections to her, in a way this reminded me a lot of Mercy Thompson, which is why I mentioned her above. Unlike Mercy Thompson though, we have a more clear understanding of what kind of power Aidan does have by the end of the first novel and her potential as a water elemental and her magic.

Some of the other characters involved are the fire elemental, Sera, who is her best friend practically sister and recently estranged in a way. Vivian, an earth elemental that is better with computers than earth manipulation (And one of my more favorite characters just for the simple fact of her introduction coming with a marxist feminist shirt). Mac, an animal shifter, which is another group of individuals introduced in the story and makes you wonder what other supernatural creatures might exist. And there are many others like Simon the Cat or Brian the Ice Elemental Bartender and Sera’s father, Josiah, yet another fire elemental. All together we  end up with the Scooby Doo gang, except with a shapeshifting cat instead of a talking dog.

Most of the character’s had little quirks to them that made them all interesting at least, though Vivian did seem slightly flat and more of the token ‘LGBT’ character than any of the others, about the only thing she did have going for her was the shirt, otherwise we just don’t see much of her really come to light. But that’s only one character and the character at least had a few interesting touches to her besides mentioning that she broke up with her girlfriend (which wasn’t really necessary for the story or character other than marking her as LGBT).

Regardless the plot they are weaved through definitely provided plenty and at first it almost seemed like there was too much information being found and it was a wonder how any of this stuff would come to a conclusion in this book, but luckily we do discover everything introduced in this book, except one minor detail at the end, which is introduced at the end anyway and not necessary, but provides that… oh yeah this story is going to continue, kind of element. No matter what, the plot still feels done, unlike the second book of the Hunger Games, by the time the climax and resolution rolls around.

Overall, the minor discrepancies were very minor and the story and characters manage to deliver, which means even though this comes from an independent publisher it is definitely up there with some of the other urban fantasy types. My only major issue is not one I’d really want to talk about since it spoils a lot of the ending, but it involves discovering who the criminal had been the entire time, which although I had not been expecting it felt like a curve ball thrown in at a random time with no foreshadowing or allusion to it ahead of time.

However, it is more than an enjoyable experience and definitely worth taking a look at if you are interested in Urban Fantasy books at all. This book recently came out as of February and the second book, Shifting Selves, is set to hit the shelves in a couple of days from now. I do have the second book already, but I will likely not be getting to reading it before it comes out, unfortunately. Regardless, you can find more information about this book and other people’s reviews on Goodreads.

And without further ado, I give this book…

Four Little Imps out of Five, since the last one got lost on the way.

Book Reviews

So in recent light of discovering Amazon has a strict policy about authors reviewing novels from other authors, in combination with Amazon also buying out Goodreads, I’ve decided I would start posting my book reviews on my site instead and possibly still on goodreads, though we will see.

This means over the next few weeks I will be releasing quite a few book reviews on here, based on many of the books that I hadn’t bothered writing reviews for. The first of which on the list is likely to be this new book I recently read called “Broken Elements” by a new author Mia Marshall. The review will be up sometime tomorrow.

Until then I have another update in terms of my writing.

Currently I am submitting a piece to the Sword and Laser Anthology, which is actually based on one of the short works I had done on my site here, based around the character Emmy Manhattan. I’m expanding her life a bit more and digging into it. It might actually become a full-fledged short story for once.

Additionally I’m working on editing and revising work for the Fairy tale anthology project I’m now working on, and this will actually include a kickstarter that will be released soon enough.

Finally, with all those short stories out-of-the-way I am well  toward working through my second novel of my Beyond Ever After Series and from the way things are going it looks like I will be writing the second and third novels back to back. The second one has officially been deemed with the title “A Faerie in a Purple Dress”, and the third novel will be running with: “Big Bright Green Magic Machine”. I’m super excited to introduce the plots of these two books which bring about some fun and interesting worlds and characters and expands on the first book which I recently have plans to revise and edit once more (though I’ve been holding out on doing further revisions to it until I hear back from Harper Voyager).

With that, I am off to bed!

Book reviews coming!

Fairy Tale Giveaways

And so the fairy tale fortnight giveaway has finished! Actually it finished days ago, I’m just a terrible person and didn’t bother to mention it or get my emails out.

So I ended up deciding to give up two books instead of one, and the lucky winners are:

Suz Reads

Megan Stith

They will both be receiving emails sometime later today to get the important details then the books will be on the way!

In the mean time there is still like two days for people to get involved with the other fairy tale book giveaway I am doing all you got to do is click on the cute little fairy!

Come on you know you want to

As for a little more info, I’ll be releasing some fun little fairy tale oriented things over the next few days, most of it is likely to be some poetry in honor of poetry month, but we will see!

The Magic of Words

I used to consider myself a witch many years back. I didn’t care that most of the time in stories a witch was a terrible person, especially for fairy tales. This was one of the first reasons why I didn’t feel I fit into the normal Knight (prince) and Princess (maiden) kind of mentality, or what could probably just be called the social inception of heteronormative values.

This stands in line with the fact that I have always held the firm belief that words have a particular form of magic to them. Much in the same way a lesson was taught in the manga XXXholic, you discover that words have the ability to bind and control you. Not just your own, but everyone’s words (or more specifically only the people whose words would ever hold weight with you).

To many people this may seem like a radical or fictional idea but when you actually think of the concept without bringing up the mention of it being magic or some force using the words to control you, you come up with a design that psychologically can be rather realistic.

Let’s take a simple cliché, like if I tell you to try to not think about a yellow elephant, what are you going to do?

Think about it! I used my words to manipulate and control you. Now this direct approach might not seem like something that would happen often but how many times have you told yourself that you ‘can’t’ do something. Or maybe you’ve told someone they would never be able to complete this or that. Well that is the same thing. Your words are just as effective against yourself; telling yourself you can’t do something just puts you into the mood to believe that! And soon you are believing the things you say about yourself and it becomes a terrible spiral.

Except in the cases when what you tell yourself or others is actually positive. Instead, if you are saying that you can do something that others say is ‘impossible’ you are using your own magic words to counter the ones projected by others, and your words are always more powerful when it comes to yourself. Which is why it can be more dangerous to think negatively about yourself than for others to think negatively of you.

Oh, which brings us to the next point. Words don’t have to be spoken for them to take hold, however the person they are affecting has to be aware of those words. So unless we have some people floating around with telepathy, chances are if a word isn’t spoken it won’t have an impact on the person, except if they think of the word. At that point, we also see how silence can then have a great impact too. Not saying something or not saying the right thing at the right time can also cause a person to think about what you had been wanting them to think. And once again we end up in a spiral powered by the magic of words.

And this is all just a small touch to that. Just think of how powerful we might be if we weren’t constantly doubting ourselves and putting ourselves down or listening to other people bring us down?

The things we could accomplish… would be endless.

And it all starts with a word. Or words.

Allure and Enchantment

When I started writing many years back, one of my first creative writing teachers told me that I had a method of writing that reminded him of Mark Twain. At the time I wasn’t a very well read person, and so I knew practically nothing about Mark Twain or what he wrote or how he did it. Regardless I asked my teacher what they had meant.

It was because in this particular case I had written a piece with a focus around Joan of Arc, it wasn’t long and it mentioned the very little I had read about her but it still brought her up. And my teacher said the way I spoke about her was as though she were this brilliant spark in my life, as though I loved her and I wanted to share that love with everyone else. He had only seen this once before, with Mark Twain, who wrote the recollections of Joan in a couple of volumes, about her entire trials and life.

That day, he also told me that if I managed to write everything with that kind of passion and love behind it, then there was no way I couldn’t be a great writer some day.

Who would have guessed that years later I’d have a (self) published book and actually become a writer? I sure didn’t, I mean I was taking the class as a creative outlet means because I was by no means a very good writer, in fact it was hardly a year or so back I had been doing Hooked on Phonics because I was such a terrible reader. But there  I was, being told I had one aspect of writing down: the passion. Or as my teacher called it, I was able to bring enchantment to my stories, my characters were real and alive, even when I was only mentioning them.

But I’m not going to rattle on about my writing, I’d rather talk about the concept of what he meant. This enchantment of Joan of Arc, the same thing that possessed Mark Twain. Since then I had come to realize that Mark Twain had been critiqued with someone saying that he was infatuated with Joan of Arc and that he embellished her story, which I have no doubt, considering he was a story-teller. However I find the infatuation and interesting notion, considering Joan of Arc had long been dead before Mark Twain was even born, which means all his knowledge and infatuation was born of the memoirs and stories left about her. Mark Twain fell in love with the perfect partner for a writer: A character.

I know, many established writers would tell you not to fall in love or hate your characters, because it can affect your stories and those characters, but you know what? If you aren’t putting emotion into your own characters, you aren’t really bringing them to life. They are just characters then.

It’s the same thing with a plot. If you aren’t laughing or crying as you write your story, how are your readers going to? When you invest the emotion, it comes out on the page and that’s when your readers connect with that emotion.

And that’s how I settle with my writing. Writing is an emotional exhaustion for me. My heart pulses at thrilling moments, my tears run at heart-wrenching times, my grin is massive at moments of laughter or amusement. And based on the people who have read my story and told me about it, it did show up. I had one person tell me they had to stop and put the book down at one of the part’s of my book because they were like ‘Oh no… no… no…’ and then started laughing since it was at one of those ‘big realization’ moments. Other people have told me they’ve cried at scenes I cried at while I wrote them!

So I guess, write with emotion, if you are going to write at all. That’s probably why I always have hard times writing non-fiction stuff; there isn’t supposed to be emotion in that. Without that emotion though, you just end up with a heartless piece, written for the sake of writing. It’s missing all that allure and enchantment so full in fairy tales.

And that’s a damn shame.

Queer Fairy Tale Giveaway

Hey everyone, sorry this post is running later than when I wanted to get it out. But my weekend has been fouled up by some demon mirror glass getting in people’s eyes, unfortunately I couldn’t get them out. Regardless, like I said I have another fairy tale giveaway this week!

Now if you hadn’t noticed, I love my fairy tale re-tellings, especially when they introduce elements of diversity, such as queer characters. It’s what I try to aim for with my books and I tend to like other books more often when they include an ample set of diversity in sexuality, gender, race, religion, etc.

So, for this second book giveaway, I’m looking to give away one of quite a few selections of fairy tale retellings that introduce queer elements. In particular the focus this time around is on books that introduce Lesbian elements.

The options include:

Ash by Malinda Lo (A beautifully written take on Cinderella in a unique world, and a perfect writing style for telling fairy tales)

Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue (A favorite I read after I finished my first novel, only to discover it has Cinderella ending up with the fairy godmother!)

Sappho’s Fables by Elora Bishop and Jennifer Diemer (Love the name of this one, and the Rapunzel story in it)

Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson (I couldn’t resist adding one of my favorite author’s take on what happens after the twelve dancing princesses are saved)

And finally a choice of any one of the Princess novels by Jim C Hines: The Stepsister’s Scheme, The Mermaid’s Madness, Red Hood’s Revenge, or The Snow Queen’s Shadow. (These make me very glad I didn’t choose alliterated titles for my fairy tale series).

Regardless of which book is chosen, you can receive it as either a paperback edition or an e-book; your choice.

Now, for the entering? Well we have to do something a little different…

I want everyone interested in entering the contest to comment on this topic with a pairing of two (or more) same-sex fairy tale characters they would like to see interacting together. (I’m curious to see how many people put Prince Charming with another guy)

That’s it! Just comment and I’ll get back to you if you are the winner.

This contest will be ending along with the fairy tale fortnight event on April 6th, 2013. So you all have about 7ish days to get entered in!

Enjoy!

And if you’d like to check out the fairy tale fortnight event you can head over there by clicking the pic below!