Traveling Restaurant

The Traveling Restaurant by Barbara Else

Nothing goes right for Jasper Ludlow.  After being separated from his family while fleeing their home for mysterious reasons that have to do with the Provisional Monarch Lady Gall, he finds his way aboard the Traveling Restaurant.  Magic, even the mention of it, has been outlawed by Lady Gall, but Jasper senses that the boat is magic.  A high-seas adventure to reunite him with his family ensues.  Pirates, whirlpools, secret forest enclaves, and pies make for an exciting story, coupled with the low undercurrent of forbidden magic that slowly rises to the surface during Jasper’s adventures aboard the Traveling Restaurant.  I loved it.  From Jasper sneaking aboard Lady Gall’s boat to save the orphan child, to Polly teaching the pirates to cook for themselves, The Traveling Restaurant was both exciting and funny.  This mid-grade reader is sure to be a favorite at any family’s read-aloud story time.

Scorpions of Zahir

Scorpions of Zahir by Christine Brodien-Jones

Zagora Pym desperately wants to be an explorer and she has her chance when her archaeologist father brings her and her brother along to Morocco in search for his long-lost partner.  The exotic location, combined with magical mythology makes the story jump off the page.  Zagora’s a spunky little girl and throws herself head-first into her adventure.  She doesn’t always think before she acts.  I felt her character was very believable, from her disappointment in her brother’s bookish ways, to her impulsive decisions.  This adventure story has enough suspense to keep a young reader interested.  There’s mystery and mythical magic, and some very creepy, very over-sized scorpions.  The female protagonist will appeal more to girls than to boys, though I think both will enjoy the story.

Diary of a Parent Trainer

Diary of a Parent Trainer by Jennifer Smith

This British mid-grade reader is a delight.  13-year-old Katie Sutton is an expert in parental behavior and wants to share her knowledge on how to maintain your parent in its highest working capacity.  This instructional guide details the different operating modes and what to do in case of Overheating.  Happy mode is ideal, and Katie has operating her mother down to a science until Mom’s new boyfriend enters the picture.  Katie is determined to resolve the situation and get him out of their lives for good.  But despite her expertise, her plans go awry.  Diary of a Parent Trainer had me laughing throughout.  It also contains a nice little message about meddling in the affairs of others.  This is a nice, quick read for a young girl.  Just make sure Mom & Dad don’t get their hands on it or they could go into ‘grumpy mode!’

Castle of Shadows

Castle of Shadows by Ellen Renner

Plucky Princess Charlie has led an independent life every since her mother, the Queen of Quale disappeared five years ago.  Her father, the King, has sequestered himself in his rooms and spends his time building castles of cards.  Charlie is left to her own devices and runs about the castle like a little ragamuffin.  When she finds an unfinished letter penned by the Queen before her disappearance, Charlie begins a mission to find her mother.  Charlie’s character is fresh and fun and very sympathetic.  I wish the antagonists in the plot didn’t seem so flat and singularly sinister compared to Charlie, but I think children will overlook them and cheer harder for Charlie because of it.  Again, a girl-centered story.  Tobias, The gardener’s boy, and Charlie’s companion in her quest to find her mother, will appeal to boys.  There’s a little bit of violence towards the end, but nothing gratuitous.  I don’t want to put in a spoiler, but I was disappointed in the end.  I wish the King survived, he was an eccentric character, and I would have liked to see the family reunited.  However, this is another great story for summer night read-alouds.

The Peculiars

The Peculiars by Maureen McQuerry

Afraid that she has goblin blood and searching for the father who left her and her mother years ago, Lena flees to Knob Knocker, the border town on the edge of Scree.  Warned against traveling to Scree, the land of outlaws and Peculiars, Lena find employment helping in the library of an eccentric explorer and inventor.  But, everything is not how it seems and she is quickly drawn into a lawman’s plot while trying to discover her father’s less than upholding past.  The fast-paced plot kept me reading and I had a very hard time putting it down.  Recommended for young adult readers who are looking for something strong in paranormal weirdness that is not bogged down by the withering romance so common in the genre.  (I don’t mean to mislead you; there are two romantic interests in Lena’s life, however they are secondary to her search for her father and add to the depth of the characters.)

Sisters of Glass

Sisters of Glass by Stephanie Hemphill

Presented in a series of poems, Sisters of Glass is a beautifully sharp story of two sisters on the island of Murano.  The narrator, Maria, wants nothing more than to carry on their deceased father’s business of creating beautiful glass.  Instead, his will makes his wishes clear, that Maria wed a suitable senator, a fate more suited to her beautiful older sister Giovanna.  Suitor after suitor rejects Maria, for she never paid attention to the feminine arts that were the realm of her sister.  When the latest suitor Signore Bembo shows more interest in Giovanna than Maria, the two sisters concoct a plan that will mean happiness for them both.  The poetry in Sisters of Glass flows seamlessly and I very quickly became lost in the story, forgetting that I was reading a series of short poems.  This is a very fast read and can be devoured over the course of a few short hours.  It is a lovely story, though it has a markedly female audience.  Recommended for young adult readers who enjoy poetry, history, and art.

Erebos

Erebos by Ursula Poznanski

An exciting addition to our young adult fiction section, Erebos features a male protagonist, which seem few and far between in the influx of trending young adult paranormal romance.  I am excited to have a new book to recommend for boys, but I think that girls who enjoy science fiction adventures will also enjoy Erebos.  An underground video game is sweeping Nick’s school, and one of the rules is that you cannot talk about it.  The game’s instructions bleed over into the real world and soon become sinister.  People get injured, others are threatened with death.  Nick is determined to discover Erebos’s secret.  This fast-paced book kept me reading late into the night to discover what would happen next.  The main characters are well-developed and believable high school students, but some of the secondary characters read a little flat to me.  However, it didn’t bother me too much and I was able to overlook it because of the continuous excitement and suspense of the plot.  Highly recommended for teenage boys looking for a summer read, as well as any young adult who is looking for a story with substance.

Starters

Starters by Lissa Price

This high-concept YA science fiction novel will appeal to readers who enjoy post-apocalyptic stories.  Biological spore warfare wiped out everyone between the ages of 20 and 60.  Now, the wealthy elderly, known as Enders, can pay money to have their personalities inserted into young bodies.  They’re out joyriding young bodies and Callie, an unclaimed minor, volunteers herself for the program so that she can provide for her sick little brother.  Things go horribly wrong when Callie’s implant malfunctions and she wakes to find herself in her renter’s life, and deeply involved in a devious plot.  Starters is hard to put down, and its strong female protagonist is easy to identify with.  Recommended for older readers, as some material might be too complex for the younger crowd.

I love writing critiques of other genre writers’ stories and works.  Not only have I found others’ critiques of my own stories helpful, I feel like I get a stronger feeling for what works in my own stories by seeing what is working and what is not in the stories of others.

A couple of months ago I was a dedicated reader for a young adult novel.  I read all 80,000 words and did what I believe was one of the most comprehensive critiques.  The author was amazed by all my work and wanted to give me extra points (too bad the system doesn’t allow it).

So, given my past with Critters, I was expecting some solid critiques of the first chapter of Strange Essence that I posted.  I was also hunting for dedicated readers to read the whole novel and give me their feedback.  You can imagine my disappointment when I received only five critiques this last week.

Five!  For past stories I have received anywhere from 25-30.  And I could hardly call three of them reviews.  Comments like: “this is the best unpublished manuscript I have ever read” are not very helpful.  Neither is asking “where are all the typo’s and grammatical errors?” when there are none.

I was hoping for at least three dedicated readers so that I could get a couple of different opinions on the story.  Well, out of those five critiques, I did get one offer from a dedicated reader, and his critique had actually found a typo that the other reviewers missed.  While I am pleased to have one dedicated reader who appears to have an eye for detail, and is excited about the novel, I can’t help but be disappointed.  I was hoping for so much more.

Critters has never let me down before, and this last week of few critiques was a complete surprise.  So, in the hopes of getting more feedback, I am opening it up for suggestions from you, dear readers.  If you would like to take a look at the first chapter of Strange Essence, a science fiction novel about what happens when spacebound humans return to a post-apocalyptic earth, and let me know what you think of it, send me an email at annie [at] annietupek [dot] com with ‘Critique’ in the subject line.

Flight of the Avia at 10 Flash Quarterly

Flight of the Avia, a fantasy short story, is now available to read online.  Check it out and let me know what you think!  It’s less than 1,000 words, so it’ll only take a couple of moments to read.

I had a lot of fun writing this one; it’s a little glimpse into a world of flying creatures, and the characters have been whispering more and more about themselves.  Like so many other short-shorts, there’s a larger story here.  I’ll be revisiting Firva and Nemene in the future.  Enjoy!

Dust Girl by Sarah Zettel

The imagery in Dust Girl is evocative of the 1940′s dust bowl.  The sense of place that I got from reading it was overwhelming.  I loved that Callie used music to manifest her magic and the author worked song lyrics into the story seamlessly.  They never felt overused or out of place.  The plot flowed and there was enough danger that I wanted to know what happened next.  There are some suspenseful parts and dangerous happenings, but I think it is appropriate for a more adventurous advanced younger reader.  From the locust-like Hoppers to the bluesy Shimmy, and evil Bull Morgan, all of the supporting magical characters are fully developed and pair nicely with Callie and Jack.  I found Dust Girl a rewarding read and am definitely interested in the sequel, whenever it might come out.

Revealing Eden (Save the Pearls Part 1) by Victoria Foyt

While I liked the concept of racism in the book, I wish it had been done with more subtlety.  The author does do some showing of how the Pearls and Coals any everyone in between don’t get along, by far I felt a majority of it was being ‘told’ to me as a reader.  I would have preferred for a few more scenes at the beginning to reveal the strained race relations instead of just being told that the Pearls are inferior to the Coals.  Also, I would have liked for the narrator’s character to make less use of the derogatory terms for the different races.  This only bothered me because the narrator herself referred to these terms as derogatory and is herself fighting racism.  I don’t think I would have had a problem with it seeming to clash with her personality had she not mentioned that the terms were racist.  The story did take an unexpected turn and I enjoyed the adventure that it became.  The aspects of the love story are suitable to the target audience.  I am interested to see where the author takes the story in the sequel.

How to Slay a Dragon by Bill Allen

This is a great book for youngsters who like fantasy.  I love the word play throughout the book and I think this would make for a fun read-aloud while exhibiting the properties of homonyms.  This book is full of positive messages and lessons, from Greg gaining confidence to the eventual and good-natured ‘sleighing’ of the dragon.  There is a lot of adventure and suspense in How to Slay a Dragon and I had a hard time putting it down.  The tension is appropriate for a middle-reader audience, though I think both younger and older readers will enjoy it.  In fact, with the word play, it could make a great read-aloud to exhibit the properties of homonyms.  Greg’s character is relatable and authentic.  I found a lot of humor in his disbelief and crankiness and unwillingness to go on the quest that he is given.  I’m looking forward to the next book in the series.

My Name is Olivia and I Can’t Do Anything About That by Jowi Schmitz

This is such a sweet little book about a ten-year-old girl coping with the death of her mother.  She lives on a boat in the backyard of a barbershop with her grief-stricken father and everything is temporary in their lives while her father deals with the loss of his wife.  It was originally published in the Netherlands and I just loved it.  The ten-year-old narrator is so genuine in her feelings as she moves through the stages of grieving.  This would be a great book for a child dealing with the loss of a parent and would be a good purchase for libraries.

Why Can’t Elephants Jump by The Editors of New Scientist

This book is filled with a grand miscellany of factoids.  Read it with a martini in hand and learn the science behind James Bond’s request that his be shaken and not stirred.  It’s not just a great line!  Do you know what & where the Continental Pole of Inaccessibility (CPI) is?  Does running through the rain instead of walking actually get you home drier or are you only risking a twisted ankle from a slip on a slick road of sidewalk?  If you’re one of those people who need to know the answer to everything, add this book to your library.

Rogue Pirate’s Bride:

While Rogue Pirate’s Bride by Shana Galen does follow the traditional formula (girl meets boy, girl is attracted to boy, forces keep them apart, but together they overcome those forces in the end and live happily ever after), it does have a uniqueness to it.  Our heroine is Raeven, a spitfire of a young woman, daughter of an Admiral, and raised on a ship of the British Royal Navy.  Her confidant, while traditionally a female secondary character in most romances, is instead male.  I found this little change to be refreshing.  I also liked that we spend a decent amount of time, I’d say roughly 40%, in Captain Cutlass’s (our hero and the ‘pirate’ the title refers to) point of view.  The author was meticulous in her historical and nautical research and it was seamlessly integrated into the story.  It’s a sexy story with twists and turns, and a happily-ever-after ending.  I recommend it for anyone who likes historical romances, and I look forward to reading more books from this author.  Romance novels are candy-reading; too much is not good for you.

The Book of Lies by Mary Horlock

The parallel storylines of this book are both intriguing.  Through a series of journal entries and articles, the lives of the narrator’s father and uncle during the German occupation of Guernsey Island during WWII are revealed.  Along a similar journaling vein, the narrator herself, a teenaged girl, reveals the reasons for her murder of a so-called friend and fellow student in the 1980’s.  I loved the voices of the unreliable narrators in this book.  Also, the author makes use of footnotes, something that when done right just adds so much to the story for me.  (I’ve always wanted to try it in my own writing, but am always afraid it will turn out hackneyed or gimmicky.  That is not the case with The Book of Lies.)  Unlike many of the other books listed here, this one is geared towards an adult audience.  I could not put it down.  If you like historical fiction and coming-of-age stories, this one is for you.

I had a bit of a soup-accident and was unable to do a lot of typing for a couple of weeks. That’s not to say that I didn’t write anything, it was just a bit of a workout for my fingers and I wanted to focus more on some short stories and a novel idea than blogging. What happened?

I burned the middle and index fingers on my left hand. Steaming hot (and, by the way, delicious) homemade roasted-garlic-eggplant soup splashed onto my hand as I took the bowl out of the microwave. Second degree burns. I watched my skin curl up and peel. Definitely put me into a minor state of shock.

I drove myself to urgent care and got to be a trauma patient. I’ve never been a trauma patient before. The best thing about it is that you don’t have to fill out any paperwork until they’re done taking care of you. Oh, yeah. And you don’t have to actually wait to see anyone. They call for a nurse, take you to an exam room, and take care of whatever is hurting.

It was actually a decent experience. But that might just have been because they prescribed me vicodin and that pretty much erased any negative aspects of that day. That happened three weeks ago.

It was difficult to bend my fingers the first couple of days, plus I kept them wrapped because they were kinda gross to look at, like I had leprosy. Now, however, the peeling is finished and my index finger only has one small red splotch. My middle finger was a little more damaged, and a little more red, but I didn’t lose any range of motion.

For those of you who are interested, there are pictures below, starting with the one I texted to Nick immediately after the event, when I wanted to know if I should go to urgent care.  He took one look at it and texted back, “Go now, you don’t want it to get infected.”

Enjoy.

right after the soup splashed

wrapped up nice & neat

day two, the shine is from the bacitracin ointment

getting better...still a little leprous

today: a little red, a little dry, but (for the most part) healed

When O’s father goes overseas to work on a project, he sends O to his sister, Emily.  Emily has been having some health issues, and the situation is more O taking care of her aunt than Emily taking care of her niece.  An old curse begins haunting Aunt Emily, and she tries to hide the problem from O, but of course things get out of hand.

I could not put this book down.  The plot moves quickly, and there’s a bit of a love interest but nothing inappropriate for teens and pre-teens.  The prose itself is lyrical and magical, breathtakingly appropriate for a book whose central characters are poets.  I cannot wait for this book to hit the shelves at Gulliver’s, there are quite a few young (& not so young) readers who I know will love it as much as I have.

Forthcoming from Tundra Books, 4/10/12

The children in this story are universal, every child and adult knows them.  Their adventures are real, and magical, their worries are authentic.  I love the development of Edda through the course of the story and how her friends help her to gain confidence.

There are some tense scenes in the story, like  when Edda goes out into the dark and stormy night to see if the golem is in her back yard and later when Edda and her friends are running from the golem.  They have just the right amount of terror in them for children.  Frightening, but you know everything going to be okay in the end.

I love the ending when Edda and her friends transform the golem from a frightening creature into a loving one.  I also like that Edda’s friends forget about Michael Scot and the golem and that only Edda knows the truth in the end.

The fantasy of magic in How to Make a Golem is light and playful.  The items Edda collects at the botanical garden for the golem’s heart are creative.  The whole premise of the novel is wonderful.  What child wouldn’t want to make a creature that would take away his or her fears?

This book is some wonderful magical realism for children who have enjoyed the first couple of Harry Potter stories, but who are not yet ready to read the more advanced books in that series.  It’s suitable for both girls and boys, though I think a certain kind of shy, creative girl will enjoy and benefit from it the most.  It is slated for publication 1/23/12 from Floris Books.

And so, my first book review is for Priestess of the Fire Temple by Ellen Evert Hopman (ISBN 9780738729251, publication date of 03/08/12).  Historical fiction, it follows the life story of an Irish princess turned Druid priestess.  It’s not something that I would normally read, but as I perused Netgalley, something about it intrigued me.  While I feel the narrative started a bit slow, it did draw me in.  It’s a fast read, too.

The glossary at the beginning proved to be an excellent resource for me, as I am unfamiliar with the pronunciations of the Old Irish terms and words.  However, I did not need to keep referring back to it as I read.  The author gracefully wove the unfamiliar terms into the storyline and I was able to understand many of them within the context of the story.  Still, for those places where I was uncertain, it was nice to be able to go back to the glossary for the definitive meaning.

I found Priestess of the Fire Temple to be meticulously researched.  The herb-lore was fascinating and instructive.  The details within the story of the various plants and their uses felt right and did not drag down the narrative’s pace.  Also, the inclusions of the prayers and songs added to the depth of the story’s world.

It did take me a little time to get immersed in the story.  I wish there had been more action first, perhaps starting with Aislinn’s marriage to Deaglan and then have her history and backstory worked in later.  Aislinn’s story is framed by her telling it to a younger priestess, one who will take her place.  I wish there had been more connection between the story of Aislinn’s life and the manner in which she tells it to the younger priestess.  Once the action started, with Aislinn fleeing her unhappy marriage, the story swept me up.

Priestess of the Fire Temple is a captivating story about a magical time in human history.  I recommend it for anyone who enjoys perusing the occult and metaphysical sections, as well as anyone interested in Celtic and Druid lore.

I also resumed writing critiques for fellow critters on Critters.org.  I hadn’t submitted anything since I finished my work as a dedicated reader on a ya fantasy novel.  I was going to try for a most-productive-critters award this week.  That would enable me to submit a short story to the front of the queue and not have to wait the usual three weeks to start receiving critiques on it.

I’ve got two short stories that I’m going to submit as my Clarion West sample writings and I’d like to get them critiqued on Critters.  While reading through them, I realized that they’re still in need of much tweaking and not yet ready for the light of day.  Instead of going for that most-productive-critter award this week, I’m revising them.  I’ll try for that award next week when I actually have something decent to submit for critiques.

I think my writing has improved since I joined Critters, not just from the critiques I’ve received from other sf/f/h writers but also from writing critiques of other people’s stories.  When I see what works (and what doesn’t) in someone else’s writing, I think it makes it easier to find what’s working (and failing) in my own writing.  Workshoping is great, I wish there was one dedicated to sf/f/h here in Fairbanks, but I guess I have to stick with Critters online for now.

It’s been a week since I finished my NaNoWriMo novel, and I’m back in the writing groove.  This month I’m focusing on getting more short stories submitted to the markets and polishing my Clarion West writing samples.  (And crossing my fingers about the book proposal that my store’s MPS rep submitted to Tor for me, but I don’t want to say too much about that before its time…)  Proof that I’m fully recovered from NaNoWriMo 2011: I’m itching to revisit those 50,000 words and dig for the diamonds in the shit.  It’s just going to have to wait until next year.

I pushed through the last 14,000 words in five days and finished a few days early.  Yay!  50,000 words (Okay, technically it’s 50,133) in 25 days.  It’s all verified on the NaNoWriMo site and I ordered up my Winners Circle t-shirt.  By the way, the whole point of doing NaNoWriMo is for the t-shirt.

I love the challenge that is NaNoWriMo, but towards the end there, the whole process was burning me out.  I’ve had a couple of really strong days, and I wouldn’t have finished early if not for my stress-free Thanksgiving.

It was just my brother and me this year, so I did two Cornish game hens instead of a massive turkey, and some easy side dishes (quinoa-stuffed peppers, carrots, and stuffing with pecans, bacon, and currants).  Cooking only took about an hour and a half and I had the rest of the day to write, write, write.  I churned out 5,000 words.  It was fantastic.

My story is okay.  (It’s a shitty first draft, it’s not supposed to be great.)  It has a decent story arc, I love the world that it’s set in, and finally, after fifty thousand words, I think I know who the protagonist is.  I like how my characters interact.  I like how the plot moves along.  But.  But.  But I know there is much that needs improving.

I’m going to set it aside and work on some other projects in December.  Then, in the frigid days of January, when it’s so cold out that my thermometer no longer displays the temperature, I’ll dive into the revisions.  It’s mostly set in a desert world and I’m looking forward to dreaming of hot sand.

A huge sigh of relief for finishing this.  Now it’s time to get to all the housework and filing that I haven’t touched all month.  My brain has been fried.  My fingers are numb from typing.  At least I remembered to pay the bills on time.