Rebecca A. Demarest's Blog, page 11

Interviewed by Dale J Rappaneau, Jr

Yesterday, Dale J Rappaneau, Jr. posted a lovely long interview with me about Undeliverable and my writing process. See the full interview here!

 

Writing Prompt!

So, here’s your prompt for this Friday. What if books were more important in our culture? As important as Penumbra sees them, or Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series?

I need your likes!

If you haven’t seen it already, there is a competition on Underground Book Reviews’ facebook page for the best book pitch, and I need your likes! Just click here and then click like and I have the chance to win some free publicity! Then share it with everybody you know ;D. Thanks everybody!

How nice would a 24-hour bookstore be?

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by  Robin Sloan has been on my “to read” list for a long time. Mainly because I loved the title and because the cover of the book was rumored to glow in the dark (the hardcover totally does!). Once I picked up the book though, I couldn’t put it down! Mr. Penumbra’s is a story about a young man who has lost his way in life and has landed the night-shift at an odd 14-hour bookstore full of odd characters and books that aren’t actually for sale. That’s as much as I can really divulge about the plot without giving away some major spoilers, so that’s all I’m giving you.

 

This book is a riot and a wild ride. Seriously. Its a treasure hunt and book lovers porn, all mixed up with the modern age and literary conspiracy. The characters are lively and fully developed and they bring you into their world and share their passions and their pains in such a way that you can’t go to sleep until you find out whether they will succeed in their quest or not. I may or may not have lost a lot of sleep to this book…

Once I had finished, I immediately went to see what else Sloan had written. I found two other works of his Amazon: Ajax Penumbra 1969 and Annabel Scheme. Ajax is great as it is a short story that follows one of the primary characters as he is first introduced to the nutty world of the 24-hour bookstore, before he comes to own the store for himself. I loved getting to read his book.

Annabel Scheme though is…well…I was not prepared for Annabel Scheme. I had gone from this slightly magical real world of Penumbra and dove without warning into a hard sci-fi noir, reminiscent of a mashup between the Dresden Files and Snow Crash. Once I got my feet back under myself, it was a hoot and I desperately hope that Sloan brings this world back to enjoy again, as there is a lot of material there.

Overall, I this is an author I really think you should check out. You should also check out his website for some more fantastic stories and articles. I especially love that Escape button…

 

Writing Prompt!

I want you to try something different today. Instead of writing, I want you to read–your own work–out loud. Find those spots that sound weak, or you trip over when speaking out loud and work on editing those. Then read it out loud again.

A New Fantasy Journal!

Hey everybody, two bits of news for you. First, I sold my very first short story! Yay! I mean, I actually got a real check and everything for it. Super exciting. Fantasy Scroll Magazine will be running my short short, “Grimm’s Home for Geriatric Fae” sometime this summer.

Second bit of news: this journal is now running a Kickstarter! While they offer token payments to their authors right now, they want to be able to upgrade those payments to professional level payments, and they are pre-selling editions of the journal to help with that. They’ve got some amazing talent with stories and interviews in the first few editions, so take a look! And, for all my fellow speculative writers out there, this is an awesome editorial crew to work with, so check out their submission guidelines!

The Once and Future Nerd

The other day, I received an email from a podcast series entitled “The Once and Future Nerd,” wondering if I eve reviewed audio media and whether I might be interested in taking a look at their series. I almost said no, since most audio media just puts me to sleep unless I’m reading along, but I figured I should at the very least give them a try before passing judgment. And I am very glad I did.

“The Once and Future Nerd” is a delightful podcast, comprising of approximately 20 minute tracks, following the adventures of three modern high school students who were launched into a fantasy world. I don’t want to give too much of the plot away, needless to say it is engaging, and I’m slowly working my way through the back episodes as I draw flowcharts for work. They are all available for free on their website, through iTunes, or Podfeed.

This podcast features a full cast of characters and voices, with a delightfully rich narrator and fully developed characters that translate well through audio. I think it gets off to a bit of a slow start, but once you’re past the first ten minutes, you’re hooked and there’s no going back. I love the different tones the narration takes for the modern world versus the fantasy world, and then how those tones clash while at the same time mesh to create a rich tapestry for the story to be told from. I think you should definitely give them a listen, though fair warning there is a bit of harsh language. Not a lot, I just like to give some of you a heads up. I hope you’ll check them out!

Writing Prompt!

We all have our favorite stories, so take your favorite fairy tale or just-so story or romance and change its genre. What would happen if your witch was actually a scientist or your hunky lead was a werewolf?

Watercress vs. Crescent – Neither are Rapunzel

Now that Undeliverable is well launched, and the rush of promotional blog things are somewhat out of the way, I can get back to doing what I do best: writing and talking about books. So, what have I been reading while I’ve been trying desperately NOT to think of sales numbers?

Well, I have been indulging in a bit of YA Fantasy, thanks for asking. My copy of Cress finally arrived and I devoured it, just like any good salad…I mean story. This is the third installment of Marissa Meyer‘s Lunar Chronicles, and, as my roommate and boyfriend will attest, I was put-out when I hit the end of the book, to put it mildly. The first three books are 1500 pages to set up for a revolution, and by the time you hit the end of the Cress, the revolution is hardly a sneeze away from starting. And now I have to wait another year until I’ll get to read Winter. Write faster, Marissa, write faster! 

If you couldn’t already tell, I rather liked this one. I feel like her writing has matured a little bit over the last three books, and she isn’t trying as hard to force the fairy tale to fit. The fairy tale storyline more effortlessly overlays the science-fiction world, with characters that really draw you in. That being said, the story jumps from person to person to person, trying to give us the entire scope of the revolution, which was at times frustrating when I just wanted to follow one of the groups for a little while. At no point was I actually confused by the jumps, I just wished we weren’t following so many different ones. That should be well resolved when we start the third book as we’re now down to just two different groups of heroes to follow.

Overall, I highly recommend this author to anyone who enjoys YA fantasy and sci-fi, as it straddle that genre line, just like Star Wars, with almost as much political intrigue. They are well written, unlike certain OTHER YA which I will not mention in this post, and actually do a good job of character and plot development. Now excuse me while I go hold my breath for the final installment…

Writing Prompt!

So, I’ve been thinking a lot about reviews lately (gee, I wonder why?) but in this vein, write a review. Not a serious review, but a review with a story. You know the type I’m talking about, the hilariously funny, the unintentionally heart-breaking, go for it. Give us a story in a review of a product or place!