Kate Elliott's Blog, page 32

Authenticity and Authority

Writer Malinda Lo has a really great post up on her blog on the topic "What does authentic mean, anyway?"

I'm going to excerpt a few things to comment on, but you should read Malinda's entire post if you want to comment on what she said rather than what I'm discussing. In fact, you should read it anyway, because it's a great post.

There are many elements to discuss. I'm only excerpting a couple at the moment.

There is so much concern over authentic representations of minorities because there are so few of them. Nobody really worries about whether they're being authentic in representing white, heterosexual people, because there are so many of those representations in the media.

There's a lot to discuss in the above comment, which I agree with in the general sense. Lo goes on to say that "authenticity is a ghost. You can chase it but you can never catch it."

One of the interesting elements for me in representations in popular literature and media of what is culturally considered normative is that often the most stereotypical normativity trumps more nuanced, realistic portrayals.

I see this in depictions of "gendered" behaviors all the time.

A couple of years ago I read a book set in Scotland, written by a UK writer, in which a pair of Americans appear in the plot (they are distant relatives of the main character). Their broad speech patterns and stereotypical bluff, hearty behavior amused me; it was a stock rendition of "the Americans" as written by a person who wasn't American, and fell quite in contrast to the far better rendered depictions of everyone else. But, you know, it was a specifically a depiction as written by someone who was observing the Americans as interlopers and outsiders, working from surface impressions.

These ruminations are really a distraction, however, from Lo's exploration of authenticity as a "construction."

I think it's more useful to talk about two concepts that are related to "authenticity," but are much more specific: (1) anxiety; and (2) authority.

Anxiety — This is an anxiety over cultural boundaries, or marking out what defines a particular identity. You can see this in the question, What makes a "real" American?

Authority — In other words, who has the authority to declare that something is authentic? Or, when writing about the Other, who is authorized to do so? This is entangled in issues of power and appropriation.

When we were in Mali in January/February 2010, we visited an artisan compound in the town of Segou where young men were making bogolanfini, the mudcloth for which Mali is justly famous. The subject is too complex to go into here, but to simplify for a moment, while some of these artisans were using traditional design, others had branched out into their own design and artistic aesthetics some of which was quite modern. Furthermore, this cloth was produced for the market and to a great degree specifically for the international market, not for traditional use. Is this authentic?

I could not help but contrast the quite interesting artistic elements there with the remarkably skilled stone carvers in Cambodia who, again creating for the international market, hewed pretty much to historical forms. That's what the market wanted (although there is a growing modern art scene in Cambodia, it isn't much attached to the  archaeological tourist market). Is this authentic?

Meanwhile, in Sawankhalok, Thailand, a special kind of green ware called Celadon, quite astonishingly lovely, became an export ware several hundred years ago, sold across South and East Asia. It is now, of course, of historical and archaeological value. Is it authentic? That industry also flourished for the international market.

I don't have answers to any of these questions, but I think the way Lo explores them (within the constraints of a short blog post) demonstrates how complex such questions are.

As Lo says: "cultures and traditions are not tightly bounded; they are fluid and many times hybrid."

 

Mirrored from I Make Up Worlds.

Cold Fire Spoiler Thread

If you want to discuss Cold Fire, Cold Magic, and the Spiritwalker Trilogy so far, OR if you want to ask specific questions about either of the books or the series, this is a place you can do so, with spoilers.

I'll start with a great line from a very thoughtful review of COLD FIRE over on abookandashortlatte:

Though I was initially disappointed to read what appeared to be the start of yet another love triangle, I am so glad Elliott included it in this installment, for it is one of the only instances I have encountered where the triangle was not merely a plot device.

Also, over at the Orbit Books blog, I've posted on the subject "Why the first chapter of Cold Fire covers much the same ground as the last chapter of Cold Magic."

Don't forget there is an extra chapter, which I plan to post online after all editions and regions of the English-language-edition are available. For now, email me if you want the chapter and I'll email the file to you.

If you want a paper copy (pamphlet designed by Lucy Softich), come (or send a minion) to my signing (with the most excellent Blake Charlton, of Spellbound and Spellwright fame) at Powells, Portland OR (Beaverton branch) 20 September 7 pm. OR order a signed copy via Powells before the signing which will come with the pamphlet of the extra chapter.

I will also be attending an open house for writers at Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego on Wednesday 26 October 630 – 830 pm, and I will have the pamphlet there as well. And also at World Fantasy Convention in San Diego (October 27 – 30).

Mirrored from I Make Up Worlds.

ATLA S1 Ep3: The Southern Air Temple

Having set up the basic world situation in the first two episodes, episode 3, The Southern Air Temple, offers a bit more backstory for two of the characters, our young avatar Aang and the angsty Prince Zuko. This episode functions structurally as a dual story of, if you will, a youth in conflict with his own past, the thing that has brought him to the difficult situation he is in now.

Aang takes Katara and Sokka to the temple where he was raised and shares with them some memories of the monk who was crucial to his training, which include the monk's predilection for practical jokes. He has to figure out how to pierce the inner heart of the temple, with its statues of the avatars who came before him, and then he has to face the truth that all his people are gone and his home destroyed.

Prince Zuko must face Captain Zhao, an ambitious man who wants to humiliate Zuko and force him to return to the Fire Kingdom in disgrace. Rather than acquiescing, he fights him, not without aid from the cunning Uncle Iroh. The writers do a particularly nice job of dropping in the crucial information that Zuko was banished from court for an unspecified offense (if it was specified, I missed it).

Since my initial guess was that Zuko had been given this task to prove himself, I was intrigued by this new layer of complexity to his situation: He's not just proving himself, he's trying to restore his honor and get back the place he desires, not to mention echoes of a father/son dynamic with plenty of room for drama. It adds a level of interest to his character, not least because now, as a viewer, I wonder what he did and why it mattered and why Iroh is with him and for what purpose. As a writer, I note that these are all excellent questions to have the viewer asking herself because it makes her want to keep watching in order to get her questions answered.

Two emotions stand out in this episode.

First is Aang's grief. His grief consumes him and, indeed, makes his power erupt. The overwhelming and dangerous emotion is contained by the presence of Katara and Sokka, his new family. This was nice and a little predictable, but that's all right. I felt we were still getting eased into the larger story.

Zuko, of course, is defined by his anger, which is multifaceted but which swirls around his sense of himself as a failure, a person dishonored. This is the charge Zhao throws at him. But fundamentally for me, while Zuko does find his power and defeat Zhao, he does so in large part because his uncle has stuck with him. Again, the ties of family mean he is not alone. Although he doesn't really appreciate it yet, he is strengthened and protected and lifted by his uncle's belief in him.

I really like this underlying message. I suspect it will become one of the main thematic concerns of the series.

Mirrored from I Make Up Worlds.

Cold Fire is now available in the USA

Unexpectedly, I woke up this morning to find COLD FIRE shipping in the USA from Barnes & Noble and Amazon (the only two places I checked). That's for the paper version. The lay-down date (date it was originally scheduled to be placed on shelves for sale) is Sept 26, and indeed the e-book versions will evidently not release until that date.

As for other bookstores, like the wonderful independent bookstores I love to give business to, I just don't know, but you can call or visit and check.

This does preempt my once-generous offer to sign pre-release copies at the Sept 20 signing at Powells Bookstore (Cedar Hills branch) in Portland, Oregon, but life is full of these sorts of surprises. I mean, I'll still lovingly sign mail-ordered copies at Powells and enclose a physical copy of the bonus chapter with each book ordered from there. And it is still the only place I'm doing a signing for Cold Fire (as of now, although I will be in San Diego for World Fantasy Convention at the end of October).

So I guess this is by default some manner of book release day.

I hope you guys enjoy the novel. I did a massive amount of revision on this novel, and as much research as I could manage, although I have to say that I literally could not have written the book it became without the help of Dr. Fragano Ledgister and Dr. Kurtis Nishimura (as well as my son Alexander and my other beta readers, the list of whom is too extensive to list here, but I love all you guys).

I have two favorite lines in the book, both of which only work in context, so I won't quote them here except to say that one includes the word "cow" and the other includes the word "goose."

Oh, hey, I'm going to add a link to one of my favorite lovely and generous songs and its beautiful video, Balance (by Sara Tavares). I would embed it here from YouTube if I knew how (haven't done that yet), but meanwhile, the link leads to the fabulosity.

Balance by Sara Tavares

Mirrored from I Make Up Worlds.

Reminder: Booksigning for COLD FIRE at Powells Sept 20

A reminder for those who may have missed it before.

The fabulous Blake Charlton and I will be reading and signing at Powells, the Cedar Hills (Beaverton) branch (not downtown), in Portland, Oregon.

Tuesday, September 20. 7 pm.

Blake's second novel, SPELLBOUND, is released tomorrow (Sept 13).

I'll be reading from and signing early release copies of COLD FIRE, book two of Spiritwalker. Also, everyone who comes will get a printed copy of the Bonus Chapter! the one too (redacted) to put in the novel itself.

Also, if you cannot make the signing but would like a signed copy of COLD FIRE (together with a copy of the Bonus Chapter, which will be included in all mail order copies as well), you can preorder here.

By the way, copies of COLD MAGIC and of my other novels (Crossroads Trilogy, Crown of Stars series, Jaran, Golden Key) will also be available for purchase, and Powells allows you to bring your own books in to be signed–if you have questions about that, email or call them for their store policy.

I'll be adding one more reminder a couple of days before the event, since I always discover that someone, somewhere, will later tell me they missed the announcement. For those who are already aware of the signing, my apologies for the repetition. It's the rule of three: You have to say it three times before it sets in. Or is that the rule of twelve?

 

And for those who made it this far, and who missed the previous mention, the first chapter of COLD FIRE can be found HERE.

Mirrored from I Make Up Worlds.

Empty Space: Some thoughts on openings in novels

I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage.  A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged.

(Peter Brook)

Everything you need to know about openings is present in this quote by theater director Peter Brook.  The essence of storytelling lives in this moment:  one (metaphorically or perhaps literally) walks, another watches.  This happens every time we open a book and start reading.

The director and actor make choices just as the writer does.  How does the man walk?  Is he triumphant?  Frightened?  Weary?  In love?  How is in-love-ness conveyed?  Why?  And why have you made that choice and not another one?

Openings are part of the overall plot arc, the overall narrative.  The opening carries within it the ending, it can foreshadow, reflect, parallel, hint at, paint the mood of, contrast with, or lay the groundwork for the ending.

I'm not a believer in the One True Path.  I am not going to tell you there are hard and fast rules that govern openings.  If you can make it work, then it's working, whether it is the rule or the exception.  But I do have thoughts on the issue of openings in fiction.

Here are three things I consider when I am searching for the right place to begin.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mirrored from I Make Up Worlds.

Watching ATLA: S1 E1-2

Avatar: The Last Airbender Season1 Episodes 1-2

I watched the first four episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA) last year because my son's girlfriend owns the first season and they urged me to watch it. We watched those first 4 episodes together, and then the watching with them lapsed and so I stopped watching even though I had enjoyed what I had seen so far. I am one who prefers to watch tv shows with other people so we can make comments as we watch and share observations.

I need to mention a few things:

1) I have three children, now all college age. ATLA's three seasons ran from 2005 – 2008, which coincided with the end of their high school years, so these did not come up on my radar at that time, although I expect that was in large part because we don't have cable so would have had to wait for it to come out on DVD regardless. By the time they were all in middle school I was in any case really burned out on children's tv and films; it has taken me some years to even be open to viewing any again, as I came to pretty much loathe almost all of it. For years I had to take my kids to see films that bored me to tears or which I all too often really disliked for their male-centered reductionist vanilla-USA view of the world.

2) I will be riffing on the show as I watch it. I invite discussion. My criticisms do not constitute condemnation, just as the great things I enthuse about may not necessarily mean I think it perfect (forex, I liked both Firefly and Buffy a great deal, but I have criticisms of both shows). I do not expect to follow a consistent pattern in what I talk about. I will raise points that interest me in the moment. Those interested in discussing the show, please respond however you wish; don't feel constrained by the points I raise. If you have other points you want to raise, then do so. Just, please, NO SPOILERS. Those of you who are superior to me in being able to tolerate spoilers, just please humor me in this. Spoil the eps I'm discussing and all those previous as much as you wish, just not future eps. Thanks.

3) I pretty much consider The Wire my favorite show ever shown on television (that I've seen, obviously). I'm approaching ATLA as an adult viewer with adult expectations and adult tastes, but with an understanding that the show is written for a children's audience. I don't expect to find in ATLA certain of the things I most loved about The Wire, but at the same time I do have expectations, from everything I'd been told and read, that this is a superior piece of storytelling that stands on its own and does not need the caveat "good for a kids' show." That is, I expect I will be watching a good story, period. Given that there are three seasons to play with, I would not be surprised to see some pretty sophisticated narrative unfold. We'll see.

4) I plan to try to post every Wednesday night my time, which means Thursday in the rest of the world. I hope to review and discuss two episodes per week, if I can manage it. After the end of Season 1, I may take a short break before beginning Season 2, and the same for Season 3.

5) I wish I had done this when I watched Season 1 of Legends of the Galactic Empire with my son, Twin A. Oh well.

I will not at first talk much about the setting and the plethora of Asian, African, and Arctic-inspired people and places. ATLA is well known for its depiction of a world that is truly diverse, and I'm just going to take that as a given for the moment. I may comment on it as the mood takes me, but let me just note straight out here that, especially considering the recent sad regression toward bland Hollywood white male normativity, ATLA stands as a beacon. (The film was obviously an aberration that missed the point of the show entirely on many levels, so I'll not mention it again.) Given ATLA's commercial success, I can only hope that it will stand as a harbinger of things to come, a promise of steady change and expansion in the diversity of what is on offer to our increasingly diverse country as well as the countries to which programs made in the USA are exported. To get political for a moment, the weird and troubling retreat toward homogeneity pushed both by Hollywood and by some sections of the American population and political establishment is not just swimming against the tide of demographics, history, and social change but is actively deleterious to the health of our culture. So, in that sense, ATLA strikes me as an important piece in our ongoing cultural evolution.

Episodes 1 and 2 function as a set, a two part introduction to the world, the characters, and the story. This go round I watched with my daughter. Her comments will be prefaced with Rhi.

The opening is narrated by practical, level-headed Katara, a girl (I'm assuming she is about 13) of the water bending tribe who lives in or around the south pole of this planet; she's ambitious, though–she wants to be taught how to waterbend, and no waterbenders remain in her tribe to teach her. She has an older brother, Sokka, who is 14 or 15 and often annoying and impulsive but also brave and loyal. Their mother is dead, killed in a Fire Nation raid, and their father and all the adult men in the village have gone overseas to someplace in the Earth Kingdom to fight against the invaders.

The story opens with brother and sister out fishing among the ice floes. The degree to which Sokka as a teen boy can be annoying (and making himself the center of attention) is constantly undercut and/or emphasized with humor. In fact, I'll come back to that point later, because humor is consistently used to leaven and heighten the way the narrative unfolds.

The basic premise: There are four elements, water, earth, fire, and air. "Benders" can manipulate those elements. The "avatar" can manipulate all four. In the last 100 years the Fire Nation has advanced a program of steady conquest, including wiping out (as far as anyone knows) all the people of the Air Nation. The last avatar was said to be an airbender.

Katara and Sokka finds a 12 year old boy encased in an iceberg. As Rhi said, "Best release of a legendary hero ever: through sibling arguing!"

Over the course of eps 1 and 2 it is revealed that our boy Aang is the last airbender, the avatar who is the last hope for humanity to halt the conquest of the Fire Nation. We're also introduced to Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, his Uncle Iroh, and Zuko's quest to prove himself by finding and capturing the avatar.

I could do more of a plot synopsis, but I'm not interested in discussing that for this first entry. I want to talk about the exceptional job the writers have done with introducing the world smoothly, quickly, and clearly.

I do big ticket world-building, so I know what I'm talking about. This is really well done. It's a simple set up that leaves a huge amount of room for later complexity.

The writers introduce exactly as much as you need to know in each scene. Each scene is framed around either a humorous episode or a piece of action that will forward the story but which also reveals something of the basic situation in the world. The viewer never gets piled on with two much information. There's a fair amount of "tell" but it's short, to the point, and handled with absolute clarity of explanation. When the degree of information load starts hitting critical, the story breaks for something as seemingly trivially entertaining as penguin sledding. Which is then used to transition the narrative movement into another scene where more world and character building takes place. When the tone grows serious, humor breaks the mood (the little boy saying "I have to pee"), or helps to focus how the viewer is pulling in information.

These first two ATLA episodes are, to my mind, a textbook example of how to introduce a world, characters, and story. The basis for greater complexity is absolutely there but anything that isn't necessary for the initial introduction is left for later.

The character building at this point is fairly basic without being shallow, but for this entry I don't have much to say about that. Aang's crush on Katara is sweet and, together with his youth, goofiness, and mistakes, helps to humanize a boy who is otherwise ridiculously too powerful; humor also is consistently used to undercut and make manageable Aang's super power. Zuko is properly angsty, and of course I adore Uncle Iroh, a classic example of the man pretending to be a bit of a fool who obviously is a deep strategist. Although Aang is the avatar, Katara and Sokka are, to my mind, really the anchor that holds the story together, and they're both necessary in ways that I may try to discuss later. Aang's destiny is to a degree known, but Katara and Sokka have just started journeys whose outcome can't yet be predicted.

And that, I think, is where I'll end this quite long entry: After seeing the first two episodes of ATLA, I cannot in fact predict what the path is going to look like. And that's pretty impressive.

 

Mirrored from I Make Up Worlds.

Watching ATLA, Cold Fire the First Chapter, & Comfort Food

Later this week, I will begin a series of posts in which I describe my reactions to watching Avatar: The Last Airbender (the animated series). I haven't seen the series before, my children were in high school when it came out, and we didn't have cable anyway, so Nickelodeon was inaccessible to us at the time regardless. My goal is to post once a week, late on Wednesday night my time, and I hope interested parties will join in a discussion. I was put up to this by a person on Twitter. He knows who he is.

The first post will cover episodes 1 and 2, since together they comprise a single introductory story. Join me!

 

Orbit Books has posted the first chapter of COLD FIRE and you can find it HERE.

 

I've contacted the winners of the Cold Fire giveaway but I won't announce until I've heard back from all of them.

I really want to thank everyone who entered, because I have to say that reading your descriptions of comfort food was some of the best reading I've done this year. Also, it made me hungry and contented at the same time, no small feat.

Of course no discussion of comfort food is complete without a photo, this one courtesy of Melanie Ujimori.

Mirrored from I Make Up Worlds.

The Queen Lili'uokalani Race & our koa canoe, Kupa'a

The outrigger canoe race held in honor of the birthday of Queen Lili'uokalani runs on Labor Day Weekend. This year was the 40th Queen's race and had a record number of entrants: 137 women's crews and 142 men's crews. 40% of the entering crews were international crews, from places as far afield as Australia, Hong Kong, Canada, Japan, and the UK.

Here is the beach before the start, with a very few of the six-seat canoes rigged and ready to go. Note the difference between the koa (wood) canoes and the colorful (fiberglass) canoes.

There are actually three days worth of various races, but the main race is on Saturday. To quote the Honolulu Star-Advertiser article (which I can't link to because it is behind a firewall):

The main race goes between two historic landmarks: Kamakahonu Bay, King Kamehameha's capital for Hawaii in 1812-1819; and Pu'uhonua O Honaunau Natural Park, 18 miles away. Six-man crews may either paddle the race "iron" with six paddlers for the entire distance, or nine paddlers, who change out form an accompanying escort boat.

As an aside, if you ever visit the Big Island, I strongly recommend you visit Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Park (aka The Place of Refuge), because it is stunningly beautiful, historically significant, and with enough information to give the visitor a basic sense of what it is and why it matters in Hawaiian history and indeed in the history of humankind.

Na wahine o Manu o Ke Kai (the women of the canoe club Manu o Ke Kai) took two nine-paddler (change)  crews, one Masters 40 (all paddlers over 40) and one Senior Masters 50 (all paddlers over 50). Our Masters 40 crew won their division; we came in third in ours. Two Manu men's crews, Open and Grand Masters (over 60) also participated as "iron"- Our Men's Open crew had a phenomenal finish, coming in 10th overall out of 142 men's crews. Also, most crews in this race go iron. We go changes because we just like the water too much; the water off the Kona coast is clear, warm, and lovely.

This is not a hard race if you're doing changes. The water (waves, currents, winds) is not usually challenging, the distance is not long compared to most races with changes (like the Molokai'i-Oahu race, at 42 miles), and the weather is usually cooperative.

What made it particularly special for our crew this year was our opportunity to paddle the race in a koa canoe. Again, I'll quote from the Star-Advertiser article:

The race has a high number of traditional koa canoes attending, because the generally calm waters of the Kona Coast are safe for the prized treasures.

Here is Kupa'a (strength, steadfast), in the water during the race with Karen, Gloria, Yolie, Jane, Julie, and Faith (Cindy, Manu, & I are in the escort boat). [Hmm: our timing is a little off, that happens sometimes, but usually we're totally in sync.]

Most canoes these days are made of fiberglass. They're "light" (350-400 pounds) and have a certain way of gliding on the waves. Koa canoes are different; you have to stroke them differently (our race coach said, "You have to caress her to get her going.")

Here is a view of Kupa'a before the race, before she went in the water. You can see the beautiful grain and the personality of the canoe. This photo is taken from the front of the canoe.

Mirrored from I Make Up Worlds.

Cold Fire Giveaway: I had never in my life been too stunned to eat.

My author's copies of the UK/Aus/NZ edition of COLD FIRE arrived today. It's visually a striking book, and I feel I can safely say that since I had nothing to do with the illustration or design (although I did help write the back cover copy).

In celebration I want to do another giveaway, this time for a  SIGNED copy of the book (it can be personalized if you so desire but doesn't need to be).

The theme of this contest relates to the Cold Fire sentence I quote in the title of this post.

I had never in my life been too stunned to eat.

Cat spends a lot of COLD MAGIC thinking about food and wishing she had food and finding food to eat and relishing the food she does have to eat.

Food plays an important role in COLD FIRE as well, as the people who have read it already know. Yes, the photo below is of a papaya tree. You know why, and the rest of you (those who read the book) will find out.

[image error]

Here are the rules.

1) Anyone can enter internationally, no region restrictions. However, please note if your mailing address falls into the US/Canada/NA region (see #4 below)(no need to specific where exactly).

2) One entry per person, please.

3) Comment below on a favorite comfort food. Your answer can be terse (chocolate) or long-winded. Feel free to entertain me.

There will be three winners:

3a) One drawn randomly from all people who comment below, worldwide.

3b) One drawn randomly from that subset of people who, living in North America, cannot buy the book until later this month, unlike you fortunate peeps in the UK/Oz/NZ region who can already find it on shelves.

3c) One entry that strikes my fancy for whatever random reason I so choose.

4) Comments will be open from NOW until Monday midnight HT (Hawaiian Time) 5 September. [if you don't see your comment show up immediately it will be because I may be offline for long periods this weekend, so be patient!]

 

The last contest, by the way, was won by Claire dT (Australia) and Cynthia B (USA).

[See this post for information on how to purchase a signed copy of the USA edition of COLD FIRE, to which I will include a little pamphlet of a bonus chapter. You can also just email me for a copy of the signed chapter, which I'll be posting online 26 Sept.]

After the weekend is over, I will return to a more usual posting program, with a less relentless "my book just came out" focus.

Mirrored from I Make Up Worlds.