Night Child gets four stars from the Romantic Times!
"Forensic investigation takes on a whole new connotation in Battis' absorbing paranormal detective tale....[T]he combo of cutting-edge technology and magic highlights a procedural thriller filled with ominous twists...[h]is stubborn, rule-breaking heroine keeps the tension high and the risk palpable." - Jill M. Smith
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Romantic Times Review
Mary Tyler Moore Moment
I'm on the Penguin SF/Fantasy Website! Check it out here.
My cat Guinevere is now officially a star, and will only grow more conceited as she achieves global exposure.
Twilight
Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer. Little Brown, 2006.
It took me a while to read Twilight, mostly because I was wary of all the buzz. Then I heard about the film deal, and I started to fear that it might turn into another Blood and Chocolate, which didn't fare so well. Then there was the sheer size of it. At 500+ pages, it's heavy YA reading, but I'd just finished Cassandra Clare's lovely City of Bones, so I was craving another long, intense read.
'Intense' is probably the best word to describe Twilight. It begins with a familiar premise: Bella Swann moves from Phoenix to the small town of Forks, partly to escape her over-protective mother, partly to rekindle a relationship with her distant father, Charlie. But her life turns upside down when she meets Edward Cullen, a sexy, brooding young man whose entire family appears to be...not from Forks. And not entirely human. What separates Twilight from other vampire novels, and specifically from other YA fantasy novels, is its precise and elegant attention to the relationship that unfolds between Bella and Edward. All of the routine, day-to-day questions about life as a vampire that never get asked on Buffy...that's what Meyer is concerned with. What does blood really taste like? Why don't they go out in the sun? What would their house look like? What music do they listen to? What makes humans so attractive to them? Bella asks Edward all of these questions, and more.
As a genre, YA has to walk a very fine line between sexual exploration and 'responsible' writing, particularly when its characters are underage. With that in mind, the physical relationship between Bella and Edward is sheer genius. Hundreds of pages go by before they even touch each other. The book itself actually mirrors the intense frustration that a teenage girl would feel, having a crush and not being able to do anything about it. As the reader, you find yourself screaming "just kiss him, already!" It's like reading Northanger Abbey, and in that sense, Twilight is very different from other fantasy-romances. It's suspense is romantic, as well as horrific. When Bella actually touches Edward's marble-cold hand for the first time, it's more amazing than most sex-scenes that I've read in other Urban Fantasy books. Meyer reminds us how intoxicating these small gestures can be, and she uses the vampire mythos to reimagine adolescence, which is all the more brilliant.
I was surprised when the last 200 pages or so of Twilight suddenly kicked into a full-speed thriller, and I devoured them, staying up til 2am just so that I could find out what happened to Bella in the end. Meyer is also very good at writing suspense, and her antagonist becomes quite fascinating simply because his motivations are so mysterious. Her vampires are the most alien and un-Buffy-like vampires that I've read about in some time, and that's great.
Cons are mostly structural. Despite the need for the story to unfold slowly, Twilight still seems a bit too long. At times, the placidity with which Bella accepts new facts about Edward--always a surprise to him--can seem a bit weird, as even the most devoted Goth-girl might freak out a little after seeing her boyfriend's flesh start to glow like a Christmas tree. Bella's friends and suitors at school didn't really cohere for me as likable characters, but thats probably just because her relationship with Edward is so fierce and immediate.
I don't really have to remind you to buy this book, since it's already a blockbuster that's being made into a movie. But trust me when I say that it's a great read.
Sam Adams Victory
Sam Adams is now officially the mayor of Portland, which makes him the first openly gay mayor of a large American city. Well done! The guy's just adorable, too!
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Luke and Noah From ATWT
Is it a bird? A plane?
Former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov--now highly involved in The Other Russia democratic movement--was giving a speech last weekend in Moscow when he was interrupted by a flying cock. I'm not joking. I couldn't make this up.
I love when the security dude has to jump up in the air to bat it away. Yeah, hit that!
Monday, May 19, 2008
AIDS at 25
What do you think about this article in AFP on the 25-year history of AIDS?
"The mood [in 1983] was upbeat. Never had a new, killer pathogen been identified so quickly."
No mention of GRIDS. Sounds pretty fucking patronizing to me. What about all the LGBT activists, writers, and artists who worked so hard to develop strategies for living with AIDS?
Go Sulu!
George Takei just announced that he'll be marrying his long-time partner, Brad Altman, now that same-sex marriage is legal in California. You rock, Sulu!
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Myanmar Aid Insufficient
(Posted on Bitch PhD's blog):
"I heard a devastating statistic on NPR yesterday. 10 days after the 2004 Asia Tsunami, internet donations totaled $7 million. 10 days after the Myanmar cyclone, $620,000.
I think there are a few reasons for this. One is timing: the 2004 tsunami happened the day after Christmas, when people are more likely to be in a generous spirit than at the onset of summer. Another is racism: the tsunami impacted areas that westerners frequent on vacation, and the news footage often showed American and Europeans running from water (I was one of them).
But I think the biggest reason might be the extent to which media coverage of the cyclone has emphasized the military government's disallowal of aid workers in and aid shipments. People don't give because they think it is futile.
I'm sure this is true of a lot of organizations, but AmeriCares is on the ground distributing aid in Myanmar. It's just one example, you can find your own or leave it in the comments if you'd prefer to give to another organization."
Middle East 2008
Bush decided that it might be productive to lecture "the Arab world" (Reuters' phrase) on feminism and human rights, and so he held court at the Red Sea Resort, which, we all know, has long been the site of famous demagogues addressing the working class. Right.
"Too often in the Middle East, politics has consisted of one leader in power and the opposition in jail," Bush said. Um...that sounds more like American politics, actually. I love how totally fucking unimpressed Salam Fayad looks to be sitting next to him.
Palestine doesn't need lectures on 'human rights,' as Bush has defined them (i.e., shit that happens in other countries but not in the US). Palestinians need to be given control of their own state so that they can make their own decisions. We've given enough air-time to the two-state solution, and it hasn't worked out. It's time for the creation of a single, democratic state.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
City of Bones
City of Bones, by Cassandra Clare. McElderry, 2007.
Fifteen-year-old Clary seems to have a normal life in Brooklyn with her over-protective mother and long-suffering best friend, Simon. Hoping she might be an artist someday like her mother, she suspects that there's a secret in her past, but doesn't know for sure until she runs headlong into a group of demon-hunters. Shadowhunters, actually. Clary is drawn immediately to Jace, an arrogant, fair-haired boy who also happens to be a member of the Clave, a secret society of warriors whose magical strength, speed, and healing powers come from sacred tattoos inscribed on their bodies. After she watches Jace and his sister, Isabelle, dispatch a demon, her life takes a turn for the strange.
City of Bones is one of those rare books that starts out quite good, but after the first 30 pages or so, it becomes astonishingly good. Then scary-good. Clare paints shadowy and beautiful worlds with an enchanted palette: bone cities, ebony carriages, eyeless monks, seraph blades, and even a pack of werewolves living in an old Chinese restaurant. Her imagination is vast, and each chapter introduces a new thread in what can only be called an epic storyline. Best of all, her teen characters are smart, strong, and engaging. They don't use stupid slang or defer to adults or cry "why me?" Even in the face of terrible odds, they keep fighting. Clary could obviously be compared to Buffy Summers, but she's actually less of a type--the sassy cheerleader--and more of a confused, scared, and real kid who actually 'nails her courage to the sticking place' and cowboys up when the moment calls for it. Then, just when you forget that she's only fifteen, she does something selfish and stupid, and Clare reminds you of how enormous and awful this new world must be for a teenager from Park Slope.
Jace is the perfect mix of arrogant, entitled kid and otherworldly fighter, with enough quiddity thrown in to remind the reader that he's somewhere between human and Shadowhunter, a product of the Clave who probably wishes, deep down, that he could just be a 'mundane' like Simon. And Simon, Clary's sharp-tongued sidekick, has enough of Xander Harris in him to actually be damn sexy without realizing it. I like that Clary has to save him, and not the other way around. She also has to save her mother, but I don't want to say too much. The plot is nefarious, byzantine, and sometimes even sadistic, grabbing you by the collar when you least expect it and shaking you around. Clare's demons, warlocks, and 'downworlders' are all resoundingly inhuman, but you'd still kind of love to meet them at a party. Just don't drink anything blue. In fact, don't drink anything at all.
My cons are very subjective. At 486 pages, City of Bones could be seen as a tad over-long, although YA books do seem to be getting longer (Meyer's Twilight is a good example). The story is so epically charged that, at times, a reader can feel as if they're sitting down to a very cool lecture on demonology and the history of Clare's world. Some of the exposition chapters could have been nicely broken up with more action and dialogue, athough I do appreciate the need to solidly tie things together. Also, though Clare puts her own interesting spin on all the familiar denizens of Urban Fantasy--from vamps to werewolves--it sometimes felt like demon taxonomies were just exploding up everywhere, and each one needed to be carefully explained by Jace or Hodge. If I were Clarry, I would have passed out in a dead swoon from all of this information, but she holds up admirably. On a separate note, kudos for Alec and Magnus Bane, whose complicated histories and motivations are ones we don't always see in YA lit.
I really can't recommend this book enough. As an academic, I was teased and tantalized by all the little bits of history, mythology, poetry, linguistics, and other curiosities that Clare embeds her narrative with. Some of the characters' thoughts and observations, as well as the descriptions of otherworldly vistas and strange artifacts, were downright beautiful and haunting in their complexity. Clare has a gift for both sharp dialogue and crafted description. I can't wait to pick up City of Ashes.
Buy it from Amazon
Dollhouse
A publicity shot from Joss Whedon's new show, Dollhouse. So far, the cast includes Eliza Dushku, Tahmoh Penikett (Helo from BSG), and the brilliant Amy Acker in a recurring role. It will be premiering in the same timeslot as 24. which means that Fox must have a lot of confidence in it (maybe they still feel bad about burying Firefly in the worst slot ever). Speaking as someone who actually watched Tru Calling (because I love Dushku so much), I think this show is gonna rock my face off.
Yeah!
There was no kiss following Ellen's very public proposal to Portia, so here's an image from the past. Get down with yer bad selves, babes!
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