It's here, the final week of October, and Samhain/Halloween/All Hallows Eve! Spooky time! I'm really looking forward to November and December, with all my family's birthdays and the holidays that I love the most (I love unwrapping gifts by a warm fire in a cozy chair!). The trees are so beautiful this time of year, and the air is so crisp and cool/cold. I much prefer warming up after being cold than sweating and trying to get cool during the summer months. Blech. Anyway, here's some inspiring book/TV/films news and some reviews for your perusal.
I'm so thrilled that they're doing another season of this wonderful series based on a great, funny and fabulous novel by the late Terry P and the delightful Neil G. The first season was fantastic.
TV: Good Omens Season 2
Good Omens creator Neil Gaiman "has revealed the sweet tribute to author Sir Terry Pratchett https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50039739 on set of season 2, writing that his late friend is there 'in spirit,' " Metro reported, noting that as filming is taking place, Gaiman "shared a behind-the-scenes snap on social media of a chair set up on set in Terry's honor, with his multicolored scarf draped over the back and his hat perched on the armrest."
Michael Sheen and David Tennant reprise their roles in season 2 of the series, which is based on the 1990 novel co-written by Gaiman and Pratchett, who died in 2015.
"Terry is here in spirit and hat and scarf https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50039740. When we shoot in the bookshop we will hang them in there but for now they are here on his chair. #GoodOmens2," Gaiman tweeted. The scarf and hat also appeared in the first season of the show.
I met and talked to the brilliant Ursula LeGuin, and her loss was a huge one to the SF/F community. I'm glad that they're honoring her with a prize for speculative fiction. I think she would have approved, especially if the award were given to women writers.
Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction to Launch Next Year
The Ursula K. Le Guin Literary Trust has announced the creation of the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50040899, with $25,000 to be awarded annually to a writer for a single work of imaginative fiction.
The award will be given for the first time on October 21, 2022, (October 21 was Le Guin's birthday) and will honor a writer "whose work reflects the concepts and ideas that were central to Ursula's own work, including but certainly not limited to: hope, equity, and freedom; non-violence and alternatives to conflict; and a holistic view of humanity's place in the natural world."
Nominations for the inaugural prize will open on February 1, 2022. To be eligible for the prize, a book must be "a book-length work of imaginative fiction written by a single author; published in the U.S. in English or in translation to English (in the case of a translated work winning the Prize, the cash prize will be equally divided between author and translator); and published in 2022.
Theo Downes-Le Guin, Le Guin's son and literary executor, said: "Many will appreciate an irony in that Ursula herself was suspicious of literary awards and prizes. At the same time, she recognized their genuine value in honoring a writer and increasing the visibility of good, undervalued writing. She also knew that a bit of money, at the right moment and in the right spirit, can be a turning point in a writer's ability to continue writing. I hope the Prize will provide meaningful help and recognition to writers who might otherwise not receive it."
The award will also give weight to writers whose access to resources may be limited due to race, gender, age, class or other factors; who are working outside of institutional frameworks like MFA programs; who live outside of cultural centers such as New York; and who have not yet been widely recognized for their work.
The Ursula K. Le Guin Literary Trust will create a shortlist from the nominated works, and a panel of five jurors will choose the winner. The inaugural list of jurors includes adrienne maree brown (Grievers), Becky Chambers (the Wayfarers series), Molly Gloss (Unforeseen), David Mitchell (The Bone Clocks) and Luis Alberto Urrea (The House of Broken Angels).
This is a review for a book that I would really like to read, as I feel that women, especially women in history, have gotten short shrift, if they were noted at all. This brings many deserving women into the spotlight after millennia of invisibility.
Book Review
The Defiant Middle: How Women Reclaim Life's In-Betweens to Remake the World
Women, notes journalist Kaya Oakes, often find themselves caught between opposing expectations: what their families and societies want for them, their own dreams and ambitions, and the limits (and surprises) of their experiences. In The Defiant Middle, her thought-provoking fifth book, Oakes examines the lives of women throughout history, with a focus on the medieval era, who "defied expectations and reinvented themselves, along with their world."
Oakes organizes her work into several provocative categories of identity, including "Barren," "Angry," "Crazy," "Butch/Femme/Other" and "Alone."
Her subjects are sometimes officially saints: women who are now venerated by the Catholic Church and other religious groups. But all of them are gloriously messy humans who, during their lifetimes, elicited powerful reactions in the (mostly male) people who had control over their lives. She touches on women from the Bible, most notably Mary Magdalene, discussing how women's significance in the text is often limited to their fertility and their purported sexual histories. Oakes also explores the stories of women who express different gender identities or dressed like men for particular purposes, spanning eras and continents, including Joan of Arc and Pauli Murray.
Oakes shares anecdotes and frustrations from her own life (acknowledging her privileged status),and blends them with scholarly research and incisive analysis of what her subjects' stories might mean for women today. After a meditation on Julian of Norwich, she writes about "how to tell the difference between loneliness and its longing for others, and longing for solitude's pitched and heightened awareness." And in a chapter that reimagines "barrenness" as a potentially fertile field of selfhood, she writes, "This is the unexpected second bloom, the surprise spring of water, the stranger appearing, walking on the heat-shimmering road. The woman, emerging, on her own."
While Oakes admits that it probably won't get easier to be a woman even with gradual progress toward gender parity in many areas, she does offer a mix of inspiring role models, food for thought and wry encouragement.
Most of all, she urges her readers to see every aspect of their identities--especially the ones labeled deviant, inadequate or "too much" by society--as opportunities for discovery. Both an unusual feminist text and a tribute to trailblazing women, The Defiant Middle offers a lens and a roadmap for women seeking to grow beyond constricting and conflicting expectations. --Katie Noah Gibson , blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50040970
I read this book and enjoyed it, though I did have a few problems with the plot and characters. Still, I think that will all be smoothed out in the TV version, where visuals can make the oddities more understandable, in context.
TV: The Henna Artist
Netflix will develop The Henna Artist https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50042134, a series based on Alka Joshi's debut novel from Miramax TV. Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire), who will star and executive produce, told Deadline last year: "The Henna Artist has tremendous potential to become that bingeable, high-quality, multilayered television show that honours the glory and beauty of India, its culture and its people."
The project will be written and executive produced by Sri Rao as part of a first-look deal Rao has signed with Netflix. Deadline noted that under the pact, "he will create and develop scripted and unscripted series for Netflix through his Sri & Company. Mirsada Abdool Raman will continue as Head of Development for Sri & Company, a role she has held since October 2020. The company's mission is to tell stories that center on South Asian characters and artists, with a particular focus on women and the LGBT community."
Rao commented: "For the longest time, no one in Hollywood was interested in my experiences as an Indian-American person. I often found myself creating worlds that were filled entirely of white characters. But I held on long enough to get to this point where the industry is slowly changing. Our mission at Sri & Company is to find the most talented South Asian writers, actors, authors, and other artists from around the world and create compelling content that's entertaining for all audiences, regardless of the color of their skin."
I wish that I'd seen this portrayal of Poe in St Charles. I imagine he was scary but very interesting as a storyteller.
Image of the Day: Edgar Allan Poe (played by Howie Hirshfield) stopped by Main Street Books https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50074814 in St. Charles, Mo., as part of the town's annual Legends & Lanterns Festival. Every year in October, characters and historical figures like Lizzie Borden, Stingy Jack and Guy Fawkes roam the street and "terrorize" the citizenry. Some of the more popular folks, said Main Street Books owner Emily Schroen, are the authors who hang out in the Writer's Block, including the Brothers Grimm and Mary Shelley. This year, Poe "deigned" to "pose with a collection of his work."
I loved O'Connors works, and I am glad that Roxane Gay was part of the selection process. Congrats to Ms Johnson.
Johnson Wins Flannery O’Connor Short Fiction Prize
Toni Ann Johnson won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50112466 for her collection Light Skin Gone to Waste, which will be published by the University of Georgia Press in the fall of 2022. The prize "seeks to encourage talented writers of short stories by presenting their work to a wider readership," and winners are offered publication of a book-length collection and $1,000.
Flannery O'Connor series editor Roxane Gay said: "Toni Ann Johnson's Light Skin Gone to Waste is one of the most engrossing short story collections I've read in recent memory. These interconnected stories about a black family living in a predominantly white suburb of New York City are impeccably written, incisive, often infuriating, and unforgettable. At the center of many of these stories is Philip Arrington, a psychologist who tries to reshape the world to his liking as he moves through it, regardless of the ways his actions affect the people in his intimate orbit. With a deft eye for detail, crisp writing, and an uncanny understanding of human frailties, Toni Ann Johnson has created an endlessly interesting American family portrait."
The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl is a memoir/autobiography of the famed drummer for the groundbreaking grunge band Nirvana, and the founder of the Foo Fighters, a band that he's also had considerable success with. I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, as I wasn't the worlds biggest fan of grunge or Nirvana, and I was often creeped out by Kurt Cobain, who killed himself and was a heroin addict, leaving behind a mentally ill and drug addicted wife and a daughter who was still a toddler by the time he died. I'd heard a great deal about Grohl, however, being a very positive influence on other musicians and being tapped to play with a number of other famous musicians (like Paul McCartney) and bands (like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers). It seemed that with the Foo Fighters he'd proven his solo musical prowess, while at the same time being a humble fan of the greatest rock and punk bands of our time. I was therefore a bit surprised that Grohl is not only a talented musician, he's also a decent writer and a genuinely good guy. Here's the blurb:
So, I've written a book.
Having entertained the idea for years, and even offered a few questionable opportunities ("It's a piece of cake! Just do 4 hours of interviews, find someone else to write it, put your face on the cover, and voila!") I have decided to write these stories just as I have always done, in my own hand. The joy that I have felt from chronicling these tales is not unlike listening back to a song that I've recorded and can't wait to share with the world, or reading a primitive journal entry from a stained notebook, or even hearing my voice bounce between the Kiss posters on my wall as a child.
This certainly doesn't mean that I'm quitting my day job,
but it does give me a place to shed a little light on what it's like to
be a kid from Springfield, Virginia, walking through life while living
out the crazy dreams I had as young musician. From hitting the road with
Scream at 18 years old, to my time in Nirvana and the Foo Fighters,
jamming with Iggy Pop or playing at the Academy Awards or dancing with
AC/DC and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, drumming for Tom Petty or
meeting Sir Paul McCartney at Royal Albert Hall, bedtime stories with
Joan Jett or a chance meeting with Little Richard, to flying halfway
around the world for one epic night with my daughters…the list goes on. I
look forward to focusing the lens through which I see these memories a
little sharper for you with much excitement.
Fair warning, the chapters are often very short, and he doesn't get to his time with Nirvana until you're halfway through the book, and then it's only a short chapter that ends with how devastated he was after Kurt Cobain's death. His claim that initially he had no idea that Cobain was a heroin addict rings just a bit too naive, but the rest of the book is so full of his joy at meeting all of his rock and roll heroes and legends and playing music with them that you forgive him for not drilling down on the whole Nirvana thing. He also never even mentions Cobain's widow Courtney Love, or his daughter Frances Bean. I have a strong feeling that was on the advice of an attorney. There's a great quote toward the end of the book that about sums it up nicely, " I believe people are inspired by people. That is why I feel the need to connect with my fans when they approach me. I'm a fan too." Still I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book, even as a non musician who is just a fan of regular rock and roll. I'd give this funny and optimistic look at a life and career an A, and recommend it to any young people who find that their passion leads them to a life as a performer.
Payback's A Witch by Lana Harper is a paranormal romance/rom com fantasy that reads like the very best YA witch stories...full of wonderful characters and intriguing situations. This book has the added benefit of being extremely well written, with nearly magical prose and a plot that whooshes along like a witch on a broomstick at Halloween. I also loved that the main character is bisexual and that she falls for a female witch during the first quarter of the book. Here's the blurb: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina meets The L Word in this fresh, sizzling New York Times bestselling rom-com by Lana Harper.
Emmy
Harlow is a witch but not a very powerful one—in part because she
hasn't been home to the magical town of Thistle Grove in years. Her
self-imposed exile has a lot to do with a complicated family history and
a desire to forge her own way in the world, and only the very tiniest
bit to do with Gareth Blackmoore, heir to the most powerful magical
family in town and casual breaker of hearts and destroyer of dreams.
But
when a spellcasting tournament that her family serves as arbiters for
approaches, it turns out the pull of tradition (or the truly impressive
parental guilt trip that comes with it) is strong enough to bring Emmy
back. She's determined to do her familial duty; spend some quality time
with her best friend, Linden Thorn; and get back to her real life in
Chicago.
On her first night home, Emmy runs into Talia Avramov—an
all-around badass adept in the darker magical arts—who is fresh off a
bad breakup . . . with Gareth Blackmoore. Talia had let herself be
charmed, only to discover that Gareth was also seeing Linden—unbeknownst
to either of them. And now she and Linden want revenge. Only one
question stands: Is Emmy in? But most concerning of all: Why
can't she stop thinking about the terrifyingly competent, devastatingly
gorgeous, wickedly charming Talia Avramov?
I laughed and cried my way through this book, as I couldn't put it down and had to read it all in one sitting. Though I know it's compared to the new version of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, I found Emmy to be more like a a richly detailed character from Leia Bardugo's Grishaverse, or Samantha Stevens from Bewitched at her most charming. And I was so glad that it has an HEA ending. I can't say much more without going into spoiler territory, so I will just give this marvelous book an A, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys well told tales of LBGTQ witches and Happy Potter Style contests that will have you cheering on the good gals who are doing their best to stick it to the bad guy.
Lakesedge by Lyndall Clipstone is a Gothic romantic dark fantasy that has such a gorgeous cover it was irresistible. I had high hopes for the inside of the book, too, hoping that it would be as fascinating as it looked. Unfortunately, it was dark and tortuous reading, really more horror novel than dark fantasy, and the characters were so melodramatic that they often made me want to laugh, when instead their situation should have elicited only tears. Here's the blurb: A lush, gothic fantasy from debut author Lyndall Clipstone about
monsters and magic, set on the banks of a cursed lake, perfect for fans
of Naomi Novik and Brigid Kemmerer.
When Violeta Graceling
and her younger brother Arien arrive at the haunted Lakesedge estate,
they expect to find a monster. Leta knows the terrifying rumors about
Rowan Sylvanan, who drowned his entire family when he was a boy. But
neither the estate nor the monster are what they seem.
As Leta
falls for Rowan, she discovers he is bound to the Lord Under, the
sinister death god lurking in the black waters of the lake. A creature
to whom Leta is inexplicably drawn… Now, to save Rowan―and herself―Leta
must confront the darkness in her past, including unraveling the mystery
of her connection to the Lord Under.
With all that mystery and moodiness and sorrow and pain, you'd think this book would run along at a clip. Instead, the overwrought prose stutters and stops over a sloppy plot that gets bogged down under it's own weight. I had several points where I had to set the book down before I perished of boredom...I just didn't care for the fate of the weird and creepy Rowan (I couldn't see anything likeable or romantic about him) and the mean and hissing feral cat-like overprotective sister Leta. Why she refused to let anyone help her with her brother, even when he begged her to let him take responsibility for his darkness himself, is beyond me. But then, I was never close to either of my brothers, so I suppose I don't understand this deep seated need some sisters have to play over protective mother to their siblings. Anyway, I'd give this book a C, and only recommend it to those who like painfully slow and horrific love stories.
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