Today's the day!

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

...that All This Could End is officially released! I do so hope you like it.

p.s. Here's an interview with me about it.

Alex As Well by Alyssa Brugman

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

What do you do when everybody says you’re someone you’re not?

Alex wants change. Massive change. More radical than you could imagine.

Her mother is not happy, in fact she’s imploding. Her dad walked out.

Alex has turned vegetarian, ditched one school, enrolled in another, thrown out her clothes. And created a new identity. An identity that changes her world.

And Alex—the other Alex—has a lot to say about it.


Alex is a forthright, sometimes-obnoxious and engaging protagonist, and a transgender girl - very underrepresented in YA fiction. Alex As Well is compellingly written, not just an 'issues' book, though the aforementioned issues are dealt with brilliantly and with great nuance. I think every teenage reader would be able to relate to Alex's struggle for identity, even if they don't experience a disconnect between how they feel and how they appear to such an extreme degree.

I think one of the many highlights of this novel is how realistically the relationships between Alex and her parents are represented - they're complex and difficult, and neither Alex nor her parents are perfect. Alex herself is inconsistent (understandably), and her parents deal with her expressing her gender identity very badly indeed, but their flaws make them realistic. It's much easier to empathise with Alex than her parents, however.  I loathed Alex's mother intensely, but the excerpts from her posts on a mother's forum (complete with spelling mistakes and self-important commentators, which were a lovely touch) were very authentic.

It's a brilliant, honest and original contemporary YA (so honest it's somewhat uncomfortable at times). Highly recommended, and not just for YA audiences - I think it's worth a look for adult readers as well.

On Goodreads.
On the publisher's website.

Burning Blue by Paul Griffin

Sunday, February 17, 2013

When Nicole Castro, the most popular girl at her high school, has her face splashed with acid, her classmate, loner and brilliant hacker, Jay Nazarro, does more than just gawk at her. He decides to find out who did it.

The deeper he digs, though, the more he falls for Nicole…and the more danger he’s in. Everyone is a suspect—even Nicole herself—and whoever did it seems ready to strike again.

Told by Jay and through Nicole's diary entries, Burning Blue is described as a psychological thriller, but I think it's more of a contemporary YA romance and mystery in one. Though it started out slow (even though it begins with the catalystic event, it being retold to the reader made it lack immediacy), and both Nicole and Jay are kind of acerbic to begin with (Nicole for good reason), it's intriguing enough to continue reading. It's definitely one of those books that is - I hate to use the dreaded word-that-isn't-actually-a-word "unputdownable" - very difficult to put down once you reach a certain point. It's thoroughly original, and certainly did not end as I expected it to. I enjoyed all the hacking stuff (there's a lack of that in YA, oddly), but really wanted to hear more from Nicole.

Though Burning Blue is quite dark (and I'd definitely recommend it to older YA readers), it's comparatively not as intense as the author's previous novels. I read Ten Mile River by the same author several years ago, which I enjoyed but I think pales in comparison to Burning Blue. I had a copy of the author's second novel, Stay With Me, which I never ended up reading because, after hearing the author do a reading of the novel (which was actually excellent), knew it would be too unpleasant for my reading sensibilities. I think the characters of Burning Blue are a little more mainstream than the characters of the first two novels (Ten Mile River is about kids who have escaped from a juvenile detention centre; in Stay With Me the teenaged protagonist commits a murder), so I think it's probably the most accessible of Griffin's novels for a wide audience.

There is an incredible twist. It is somewhat made-for-TV-movie ridiculous, which I love, but in case you don't, rest assured it makes sense within the novel. It's really quite startling. It took me a while to warm to Burning Blue, but it definitely gathers momentum and is an intense but ultimately uplifting read.

(By the way, I love the Australian cover and think it suits the novel well. The US cover is the one visible on Goodreads, and I don't think it quite captures the novel. It's not just a mainstream thriller.)

On the publisher's website.
On Goodreads.

Plot twists that endlessly delight me but most people hate (because they are ridiculous and melodramatic)

Thursday, February 14, 2013

'It was all just a dream!'
'She's actually in a coma!'
'The girlfriend/best friend only exists in the main character's head!'
'The evil twin is really just the main character's other personality!'
'Everyone is evil and in on the plot except the main character!'
'Main character is actually dead: they'e a ghost, with unfinished business!'
'Every secondary character is the same person in a variety of disguises!'
'Character who supposedly died at sea and is a ghost haunting main character is actually alive!'
'Random middle-aged character is actually main character's long lost parent!'
'They're actually in the Matrix!'
'They're actually characters in a story within a story!'
'They're in an alternate universe!'
'The unreliable narrator is actually the killer!'
'Everyone else is actually a cyborg!'
'Everyone else is actually an alien replica!'
'Everyone else is actually the cast of an elaborate reality TV show that the main character is not aware they are the star of!'
'Main character is a cyborg/alien replica/reality TV star and doesn't know it!'
Plus anything to do with amnesia or mind reading. I love that stuff.

I have been thinking about my love of the slightly ridiculous (and sometimes incredibly ridiculous) in stories lately (I am not a fan of soap operas, though, oddly). I don't think ridiculous and genuine have to be mutually exclusive, or that literary fiction has the monopoly on affecting and brilliant stories. I think as long as there are characters the reader can empathise with, a ridiculous plotline will work (and some degree of self-awareness and irony helps). As a reader at the moment I don't have a lot of interest in overly realistic and serious stories. I am not the sort of person who thinks fiction should always be depressing or always be serious. I think you should get joy out of stories wherever possible (or at least learn something, if it's depressing), and always entertainment. I am tired of people saying 'Fiction isn't supposed to be uplifting'. Because, well, why not? Why can't fiction be weird and fun and still be meaningful?

Things I think about that I wonder whether other people think about

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

I wonder whether television and stories and movies are actually good for us, or whether humans have trouble differentiating between the real and the unreal on some deep level and as a result we are all unhealthily infatuated with people who do not exist.

I wonder whether any great books actually exist or we are all just fooling ourselves that certain works are particularly profound because the idea of there not being greatness to aspire to or some meaning inherent in some particular words is just really depressing.

I wonder whether everyone walks around all the time feeling like an alien, but pretending like they fit in fine. I wonder whether someone might have done a psychological study on this. I wonder whether anyone thinks about asking 1000 people 'Do you walk around all the time feeling like an alien?' for the sake of science. I wonder if we are a nation of 20 million weirdos but no one will admit it.

I wonder whether, had I been able to choose before being born, I would choose to be a human. I know if I were a human I would choose to be me, because my life is comfortable and easy but I am not so rich I feel guilty all the time, but I think I may have chosen to be a preying mantis or a salmon or a germ instead.

I wonder whether I believe what I believe because I think I should believe it, and do what I do because I think I should do it, and whether any aspect of me is anything other than a product of everything around me and everything that has happened to me. I have possibly read too much Chuck Palahniuk.

I wonder whether achieving great things and being remembered is really important at all, whether maybe the important bit is just being a kind person day-to-day. What's the point in being remembered and admired once you're dead? You won't really be there to enjoy the adoration.

Things that seem like they would be a lot of fun but actually aren't

Monday, February 4, 2013

Being professionally photographed. The whole 'I will look cool and glamorous' thing is quickly overwhelmed by the fact that it's terrifying and intimidating, especially with the weird lights and the ridiculous lenses. I am not exactly sure why anyone wants to become a model. It seems like it would be a really tiring job.

Reading reviews of your own book. Hypothetically I can think of nothing more exciting! Knowing what people think, after working on the book in a bubble for so long! But then I actually read them and even the good ones just make me feel sort of odd. Like, this is none of my business! If the good reviews are true aren't the bad reviews also true? I shouldn't be reading these!

Going to author parties. But then you sort of stand in the corner (with your non-alcoholic beverage) because your life is a Smiths' song, and really there's just a lot of people trying to impress other people, which doesn't really make for an exciting party at all. Parties are much better when no-one is trying to act cool and keep up their writerly mystique. Also parties are much better when there is fairy bread, which I have not had at a party since about 2004 which is a serious oversight on the part of all party hosts who have invited me to their parties. I think I may be overusing the word party there.

Being a public speaker. When people are being public speakers in films, you always see the end of their speech and their really profound conclusion and everyone clapping and asking for autographs. In real, live public speaking, it's really hard to be cool and relaxed and natural, and say meaningful and inspiring stuff consistently, especially if you're doing an hour long talk. Plus public speakers in films are never depicted getting lost on a sequence of buses and trains as they try to get home, which is what happens to me, generally.

Being an adult. You think, as a child, I'll be able to go where I want and do what I want and stay up late and eat rubbish all the time! And then you're a grown up and you have to worry about earning money and paying taxes and health insurance. And by the time you're done with all that (plus getting an education and planning for a career and investing for your retirement), you're just too tired to stay up late. And I haven't even moved out of home! Imagine how time-consuming being a real adult is going to be.
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