you should read this

This year I’ve been reading for the Andre Norton Award, which has been great in that a ton of books have arrived and insane in that a TON of books have arrived and need to be read. I wanted to call out some of my favorites so far.

• The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black: Vampires, yes. But an interesting twist on them, and a protagonist who drags us along to Coldtown to find its secrets.
• The Rise of Renegade X by Chelsea M. Campbell: This is listed as Jan 2014 for the paperback edition, but I believe the e-version was self-published in 2013. It’s a terrific teen superhero adventure, featuring a protagonist trying to figure out if he’s a hero or a villain. IT has a sequel as well, The Trials of Renegade X.
• Conjured by Sarah Beth Durst: I don’t usually like protagonists who wake up with amnesia, but here Eve and her situation grabbed me and made me care much faster than such narratives usually do. The book managed to surprise me, and did so in a really engaging way.
• Contanimated by Em Garner: This is a zombie story, so I didn’t expect to like it much. But the zombies are caused by a diet drink, and the challenge is integrating the contaminated into society. When that contaminated is your mother, it’s a whole new issue. The ending is not as satisfying as it could be – things feel a bit too easy — but overall this was a gripping, hard to put down book.
• Control by Lydia Kang: Plenty of corporate-controlled futures in the YA I read this year, and this was one of the more interesting ones. The ensemble of teen characters are engaging, entertaining, and above all believable.
• The Color of Rain by Cori McCarthy: This features a fairly adult theme, in that the protagonist prostitutes herself to get herself and her brother off planet. But the sex is fairly low-key and not depicted in the thorough way it might be for adults. It’s a good story with a charismatic main character in desperate straits.
• Twinmaker by Sean Williams: This book is an extended exploration of the implications of matter transporters. It’s a lot of fun, fast-paced, and ingenious.

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When I taught at Hopkins, the students used to defiantly bring up King as an example of what they liked to read. It always surprised them when I said I liked him too. It feels like I’ve been reading Stephen King all my life. At least, for a very long time. He’s produced a lot of wonderful books, including one of my favorites, The Stand. In this book you get to see beneath the covers on a lot of those books.

What: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King is divided into two parts. The first is an autobiographical look at his writing over the years. It is unflinching and honest and well worth the read. The second is stuff about writing. It is also unflinching and honest and well worth the read.

Who: If you are a writer who buys writing books, it maybe impossible for you not to know about this book already. If you’re a writer who doesn’t read books about writing — this one’s worth picking up.

Why: Read this to become a better writer, or just to understand the craft better. King uses the metaphor of the writer’s toolbox, which is a very useful one.

I want to suggest that to write to your best abilities, it behooves you to construct your own toolbox and then build up enough muscle so you can carry it with you. Then, instead of looking at a hard job and getting discouraged, you will perhaps seize the correct tool and get immediately to work.

What goes in your toolbox? Vocabulary and punctuation. Point of view. Literary Devices. Foreshadowing. You get the picture.

When: Read this when you’re feeling a bit starved for the muse and want to be reminded that writing is a matter of work, not divine inspiration.

Where and how: Read it with pen in hand, ready to underline and make notes that apply to your own writing. Read it with King’s books close by, so you can reach for them and see his principles played out in their pages.

Enjoy this writing advice and want more content like it? Check out the classes Cat gives via the Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers, which offers both on-demand and live online writing classes for fantasy and science fiction writers from Cat and other authors, including Ann Leckie, Seanan McGuire, Fran Wilde and other talents! All classes include three free slots.

Prefer to opt for weekly interaction, advice, opportunities to ask questions, and access to the Chez Rambo Discord community and critique group? Check out Cat’s Patreon. Or sample her writing here.

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Another adequate movie that was a brilliant book. I came to Cold Comfort Farm having seen it referenced somewhere as a comic novel. It was that, in spades.

What: Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons was published in 1932. It’s a send-up of all the books of the time romanticizing the rural life. It references many of the popular novels of its time, adding a layer of appreciation if you’re familiar with that work, but it isn’t necessary to know that much order to enjoy it.

Who: People who enjoy English humor at its subtlest will particularly enjoy Cold Comfort Farm, as will those familiar with the literature of the time. And, if you are a woman who has ever been hit on by a particular type of academic male, you will recognize Mr. Mybug and glory in the very very accurate portrayal of a man soaked in nature’s fecund blessing.

Why: If you’re considering writing humor, this is an excellent book to take a look at for its myriad of different strategies, including a very accurate send-up of the ways dialect are often portrayed. At the same time, it remains an interesting and engaging story.

When: Read this when you want a little humor and charm. Read it when you have been too long among the self-important, and need to see them skewered a little.

Where and how: Don’t read it in the woodshed; there’s something nasty in there.

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Not the movie. No, that was an okay movie, but this book? It’s pure gold. It’s beautiful. It’s enchanting. You should read it.

What: The Last Unicorn is, as you would expect, the story of the last unicorn. She must find out what has happened to the other unicorns, aided by a fraudulent magician, a fierce butterfly, and a would-be Maid Marian. You’ve formed a story in your head from reading that last sentence. The book is nothing like that. It’s better.

Who: I do not think anyone should call themselves a fantasy writer that has not read this. I’m sure there are reasonable exceptions. But I’m not seeing any of them.

Why: Read this for characters that will tangle themselves up in your heart and never let go. Read it for Beagle’s skill with prose, the sly humor, the sheer beauty.

When: Don’t read this when you are feeling insecure about your own writing, because it will only make it more so. Read it for inspiration as well as entertainment.

Where and how: Copy passages out and try to figure out how Beagle DID that. How the butterfly enchants us in only a few sentences. How the Bull menaces in even less space. (Be aware that Beagle did write about some of these characters again; they appear in novelette “Two Hearts,” which I only see available in The Nebula Award Showcase 2008 and The Year’s Best Science Fiction, Volume 24.

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Pogo the Possum was created by Walt Kelly in 1943, continuing on for 32 years (two year past Kelly’s own death). It’s a lovely cartoon, involving the denizens of a swamp: possums, skunks, turtles, squirrels, mice, alligators, and more. They live their lives, which sometimes oddly echo our own, or rather the politics of their time in which they were written, commenting on J. Edgar Hoover, McCarthyism, and muckracking.

What: Pogo is a comic strip. You can find plenty of compendiums for sale or you can seek out samples on some of the online sites devoted to Walt Kelly’s work.

Who: Writers interested in twisting language to their own ends should seek out Pogo, in whose pages it is beautifully wonderfully made coherent gibberish that delights the ear and cries out to be read aloud. Here, for example, is a Christmas carol that’s been Pogo-fied:

Deck us all with Boston Charlie,
Walla Walla, Wash., an’ Kalamazoo!
Nora’s freezin’ on the trolley,
Swaller dollar cauliflower alley-garoo!

Don’t we know archaic barrel
Lullaby Lilla Boy, Louisville Lou?
Trolley Molly don’t love Harold,
Boola boola Pensacoola hullabaloo!

Bark us all bow-wows of folly,
Polly wolly cracker ‘n’ too-da-loo!
Donkey Bonny brays a carol,
Antelope Cantaloupe, ‘lope with you!

Hunky Dory’s pop is lolly,
Gaggin’ on the wagon, Willy, folly go through!
Chollie’s collie barks at Barrow,
Harum scarum five alarum bung-a-loo!

Dunk us all in bowls of barley,
Hinky dinky dink an’ polly voo!
Chilly Filly’s name is Chollie,
Chollie Filly’s jolly chilly view halloo!

Bark us all bow-wows of folly,
Double-bubble, toyland trouble! Woof, woof, woof!
Tizzy seas on melon collie!
Dibble-dabble, scribble-scrabble! Goof, goof, goof!

Why: Read it because of the way gentle humor, sharp political insight, and sometimes grave disappointment in the state of America have all been combined in the lives of a cast of characters that manages to combine charm and cynicism.

When: Read it when you want some new characters to people the chambers of your head: earnest Pogo, the scowling Porkypine, too ingenious for his own good Albert the Alligator, and wanna-be trickster Churchy Lafemme.

Where and how: Read it somewhere that you can laugh freely and smile to yourself or even read a scrap (maybe more) aloud just to hear the cadences.

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This is not so much a you should read this particular book, as a you should read something like this, and you should read it in a very particular way.

What: 365 Goddess: A Daily Guide to the Magic and Inspiration of the Goddess by Patricia Telesco presents a goddess a day to take you through a year of them. Each is briefly described along with her themes and symbols and ways to remember that goddess during the day.

Who: Anyone searching for creativity should pick up this practice, whether or not you use this book. Find something that provides a daily seed — perhaps the I Ching, or Tarot cards, or inspirational poetry — and make meditation on it part of your daily practice.

Why: Because some daily touchstone like this gives additional structure and depth to your day. And, with this particular book, you will find fresh stories and influences.

When: Early in the day. Open it up to today and look to see what goddess is invoked. Reflect on what she stands for, her story, her associated colors, animals, fruits, flowers, and traditions.

Where and how: Read it mindfully, not skimming. If each day you focus on something like this, it will spur stories and ideas. You’ll notice things that you wouldn’t have noticed otherwise. If a figure pulls you, read further, deeper, wider about that goddess and see what stories she brings you.

#sfwapro

I read The Odyssey in college. I’d been aware of it before then, in that way any bright teen reader is: one runs into its figures here and there or else the whole thing gets boiled down into a chapter in a book on Greek mythology. (I believe I’d also seen it referenced in Ray Harryhausen movies.)

I read it for a class, one of the brief ones squeezed in between semesters, a one-credit class called On the Road, which focused on (naturally enough) stories of the road, including Kerouac’s book.

What: The Odyssey is the story of Odysseus as he makes his way back through a series of dangerous encounters to his wife Penelope, who is facing off dangers of her own at home.

Who: Anyone who wants to be familiar with one of the fountains so many stories, in so many art forms, are drawn from should read this.

Why: Because it’s a classic. It’s good for you AND it’s a really good story.

When: Read it when you want to return to the bones of writing. Read it in conjunction with Robert Grave’s Homer’s Daughter, which posits a different author for it.

Where and how: Read it aloud, the way it’s meant to be heard. Read it in one of the many good translations that treat it like the poetry it is, such as Robert Fitzgerald’s. Or if you’re privileged enough to know ancient Greek, let it sing to you in that form.

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I’ve been carrying this book around since days in Baltimore, when my ex gave it to me as a Valentine. It came in a charming little boxed set complete with temporary tattoo. Nowadays I have several real tattoos but I still draw on this book, particularly for the Literary Techniques in Speculative Fiction class.

What: Surrealist Games, compiled and presented by Alastair Brotchie is a compedium of games played by members of the Surrealist movement along with illustrations and surrealist quotes. Games include echo poems, provocations, and oral description of objects perceived by touch.

Who: Any writer is the better for a little dose of surreality from time to time, and any forays into the book will yield a few interesting phrases at the least, or perhaps even a whole new mind.

Why: Read it to find some writing games that you can play solo or with similarly-verbally-minded friends. Read it for the equivalent of a poetic whack upside the head. Read it for the creative sparks flung out by its pages.

When: Read it at a time dictated by the roll of a die or the motions of a lizard on the wall.

Where and how: Graze through the pictures and see what inspiration leaps from the paper to your brain. Don’t treat it like a manual, working your way through game 1, game 2, game so on. Instead, let it fall open and see where chance takes you.

Enjoy this writing advice and want more content like it? Check out the classes Cat gives via the Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers, which offers both on-demand and live online writing classes for fantasy and science fiction writers from Cat and other authors, including Ann Leckie, Seanan McGuire, Fran Wilde and other talents! All classes include three free slots.

Prefer to opt for weekly interaction, advice, opportunities to ask questions, and access to the Chez Rambo Discord community and critique group? Check out Cat’s Patreon. Or sample her writing here.

#sfwapro

Joan Aiken is most familiar to readers for her children’s novels such as The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and Black Hearts in Battersea. But she was a talented story writer as well, producing Dahl-esque modern day stories that often rely on supernatural elements.

What: The Serial Garden: The Complete Family Armitage Stories by Joan Aiken is a collection of children’s stories written by Aiken. The Armitage family moves through a landscape reminiscent of the England of the Pevensies or Would-Be_Goods and they have the same, non-cloying sweetness to them.

Who: Read this if you’re a MG or YA author looking for inspiration. Or if you’re a parent looking for some solid reading to share with your children..

Why: Read it because Aiken knows how to construct a short story. Look at how deftly she weaves in elements, tying them all up in endings that are unpredictable but ineffably right.

When: Read it in the evenings, as befits fairy tales.

Where and How: Read it if you’re in the mind for a little gentle silliness and the ghost of a governess conducting midnight lessons.

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What: Poetry and meditative essay mingle in Woman and Nature: The Roaring Inside Her by Susan Griffin. I found this book in grad school when I was first learning to look into metaphors to find out what they contained.

Who: Read this if you’re a woman, whether or not you call yourself a feminist. Read it if you’re a man trying to write realistic women, because the structures Griffin talks about are ones that affect all of this, but particularly women. Read it if you don’t mind some poetry mixed in with your thinking.

Why: Read this to reexamine the words and metaphors we use to describe both nature and women, to understand the attitudes behind the language.

He says that woman speaks with nature. That she hears voices from under the earth. that wind blows in her ears and trees whisper to her. That the dead sing through her mouth and the cries of infants are clear to her. But dfor him this dialogue is over. He says he is not part of this world, that he was set on this world as a stranger. He sets himself apart from woman and nature.
And so it is Goldilocks who goes to the home of the three bears, Little Red Riding Hood who converses with the wolf, Dorothy who befriends a lion, Snow White who talks to the birds, Cinderella with mice as her allies, the Mermaid who is half fish, Thumbelina courted by a mole.

When: Read this when you want to be lulled by words out of your own body and into the material forms of tree and earth and shell.

Where and how: Read this near a window, where you can look out at trees or sky or mountains or water.

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