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Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club

Paranormal

Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club

June 5, 2016 by Sheree 4 Comments

This year at Sydney Writers Festival I attended my first TeenCon.

As we filed into the room, volunteers handed each of us a calico bag containing six books. Yes, six. Not three years old, let’s-chuck-‘em-out books, but ones published within the past year, many within the past six months. The first one I read was by Alison Goodman.

Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club was already on my radar,
as I love Alison Goodman’s writing.

However, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Descriptions in some reviews, including “Jane Austen meets Cassandra Clare”, sounded to me a lot like a Regency version of Clare’s prequel novels (The Infernal Devices). Instead I found a meticulously researched story with a heroine who is gutsy but consistent in her era.

The protagonist, Lady Helen, understands and complies with the proprieties of the time, believing in the limitations women have been socialised to accept, but though she resists the call of her growing knowledge, she steps up when it counts.

The Dark Days Club is best described as an urban fantasy
in Regency era London.

27074515The Dark Days Club begins in 1812, the second year of the Regency. Lady Helen lives with her aunt and puritanical, oppressive uncle as her parents, the Earl of Hayden and Lady Catherine, died a decade before. Rumours persist that her mother betrayed England to Napoleon.

When Lady Helen attends the palace to be presented before Queen Charlotte with other young ladies of genteel families, she is introduced to Lord Carlston, who reputedly murdered his wife three years past, though it could never be proven. So begins her entrée into the world of the Dark Days Club and the hidden perils from which it protects all of Britain.

Goodman has managed to walk a fine line.

She presents Lady Helen as a product of her age rather than an anachronistic modern feminist, while still portraying her as a strong character who doesn’t shrink from the difficult role she is being called to fulfill. Her initial reticence is a common part of any hero’s or heroine’s journey, serving only to underline her later determination.

26066905The story builds gradually, layer by layer, well-paced and well-crafted, and though this is the first in a series, provides a resolution that doesn’t leave the reader hanging.

This isn’t just a story with a Regency backdrop. Neither is it a Gothic novel, though it contains some Gothic elements. It’s a story of a Regency young woman, faced with secrets and responsibilities she’d rather not have, coming to terms with who she is in a society that has little tolerance for female non-conformity.

It’s also got some kick-ass action scenes.

I had high hopes for Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club, and it didn’t disappoint. I’ll be watching out for the second instalment, The Dark Days Pact, in January 2017.

Details
Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club
Angus & Robertson
ISBN: 9780732296094)
Pub: Dec 2015

Links
Alison Goodman’s webpage

AUSSIE-AUTHOR-2016Aussie Writers Challenge

 

 

 

image-200x300Australian Women Writers Challenge

Posted in: Aussie books, Australian Women Writers, Books, Fantasy, Historical fiction, Paranormal, Romance, Writers Festival Book, Young Adult Tagged: #aussieauthor, #aww2016, #LoveOzYA, Alison Goodman, Book review, Books, Fantasy, Paranormal, Review, Romance, Sydney Writers Festival, urban fantasy, Young Adult

Everybody Loves YA Panel #nswwc

July 21, 2015 by Sheree 4 Comments

Speculative Fiction Festival,
NSW Writers Centre #LoveOzYA

It was quite a line up. The NSWWC Festival was a star-studded event with big names in Australian speculative fiction making up every panel. The Young Adult panel was a prime example as we were treated to the collective literary wisdom of Marianne de Pierres, Garth Nix, Richard Harland, Isobelle Carmody and Amie Kaufman.

Richard was the host and he began by introducing the panel and their impressive credentials. He posed a number of questions and each panel member responded. There was plenty to absorb, so what follows is an attempt to capture as much of the excellent advice and insight that poured forth in the session as possible. I’ve done a lot of paraphrasing and it’s not in strict chronological order, as I’ve tried to group similar topics together.

I’ve used the writers first names hereafter, for brevity and because I don’t want to sound like a British boarding school teacher by using just surnames. This isn’t the place for Harry Potter role play. Though… no, no, it’s not.

Everything that follows is gleaned from my notes and memory along with excellent tweets from numerous sources. I’ve also added links and comments, just because I can.

NSWWC YA3

Why is YA so popular, particularly with adults?

This question was thrown at Marianne first. Her response was that it allows those of us past adolescence to revisit that time in our lives, perhaps before life has become difficult or complex, to re-imagine our youth or what our lives could have been like if it had gone in a different direction. YA stories are often about identity, and so they appeal whether we’re in the process of finding our own identity or re-examining it. Young adults are also good bullshit detectors, so authenticity of voice is crucial, and that is inherently appealing in a story.

GN Story is kingYA has won the industry’s attention, said Garth, but we can overthink its popularity. He stressed that people shouldn’t get hung up on categories. Books put on YA shelves provide strong, clear stories with interesting characters, so naturally people other than teenagers are going to want to read them. “Story is king.” The best books always have multiple layers of meaning that can be appreciated at different stages, and can be revisited with a new perspective at a later age.

Richard RH Lit YCpointed out that literature has always been full of young characters going through change. (I  thought of Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, Tom Brown, Jane Eyre and Holden Caulfield.) “It’s an interesting time of life. Your impressions are stronger than at any other time.” The emphasis on YA in recent years is more about the way books are marketed. The writers came back to marketing a little further on.

“No wonder YA is so popular,” said Isobelle. “Who wants to be an adult when we see what adults have done to our world?” She told us of the 20 year old MP in the UK she watched on Youtube the previous night.

Mhairi Black’s maiden House of Commons speech

This young woman had made her think a lot about YA books. Adults have made such a mess of the world and those in positions of power are behaving in such juvenile ways that there is a yearning, in both young people and those older, to return to ideals that seem far from being lived out in the real world. We crave a clearer sense of values which YA provides, as its characters strive to work out who they are in the world.

Basic motivations are also something that drive Isobelle, striving to understand why people do what they do. She thinks about what famous people were like in their formative years. What was Martin Luther King, Jr. like in school? Was he different to the other kids? What about others who grow up to be shining examples or do horrific things? What formed them? YA resonates with adults because it holds the seeds of who you become.

IC Inside every ageIsobelle is drawn to adolescent POV because they are characters who are growing, changing, becoming, but the core within doesn’t leave the child’s perspective behind. “Inside you is every age you’ve ever been – they don’t die or go away!” If the writing is good enough, it will resurrect the 12 year old inside of you.

Amie reminded us that YA is the literature of transformation, “and we’re all going through transformations, all the time”. Everyone, can identify with YA stories. Good stories are about change, so YA stories are inherently appealing. She said that in her teens she was working out who she was, then in her twenties sAK tranformationhe felt like she was already supposed to have worked it out. She found YA stories still spoke strongly to her then, and perhaps the YA appeal is about exploring who we are no matter our age.

Then Amie discussed how she has found it difficult being told someone doesn’t read fiction because they “don’t read something they can’t learn from”. After the gasps and incredulous laughter died down, from panel and audience alike, Amie said what we all know; in fiction we walk in others shoes, and learn so much about other people and the world that we could never understand from non-fiction.

Can Reading Fiction Improve Empathy? (PsychCentral)
Can Reading a Fictional Story Make You More Empathetic?
(Psychology Today, n
eurobiological emphasis)

Richard pointed out that imagination in itself it incredibly valuable. Einstein, for example, developed his theories of relativity through his ability to imagine. The stimulation of imagination is one of the most important things we can cultivate in our children and young people, and society in general.

Richard found the labelling of speculative fiction as ‘escapist’ fiction, using it as ‘dirty word’, offensive.

“The Life and Times of Harry Houdini,” muttered Garth. Pardon? Oh, escapist fiction. :)

Besides, Richard insisted, what’s wrong with escapism anyway? What’s wrong with games? We learn from games and ‘escapist’ things too. Play is essential for children. Adolescents and adults need to play too.

What Neil Gaiman was told when he asked why China is encouraging science fiction in its population.

Isobel also believes the craving for idealism and clearer values is also a driving factor in the popularity of speculative fiction.

The writers had varying responses to people who liked to tell them they “don’t like fantasy”. Garth: “I don’t like you, either.” (Most popular response.) All agreed that a lot of bias still exists about ‘genre’ fiction. Isobelle thinks many other writers would create great stories if they weren’t afraid of ‘genre’. Garth again re genre bias: “I don’t breathe often but when I do I choose air.”

Being categorized as YA

Story firstAll the writers agreed that the story came first, rather than writing to a category or age group. Richard reiterated that coming-of-age stories have been around for a very long time, but now they’re being collated and called YA for marketing purposes.

YA stands for “Yes, Awesome!” according to Garth. He considers, though, that age targets or genre categories aren’t inescapable ghettos but places booksellers and librarians situate a book that will be most likely to connect with its initial target audience, from which it will, hopefully, spread out to the rest of your potential readership. He quoted Schuster of Simon & Schuster, who said, “The most dangerous disease for a publisher is a hardening of the categories.” He also advised that writers of YA should make sure potential agents and publishers GN Yes Awesomeare interested in YA and have experience and expertise in it, as opposed to only being interested in its selling potential.

Don’t let categories determine what you write or what you read. Amie advises we should all read across genres & age groups as a matter of course, as we’ll learn from other genres, whether crime, romance, thriller, literary, or whatever. There will be aspects of all of them that will improve your own writing.

Sex, Drugs and Violence in YA

Concerning sex and drug use in one of Marianne’s books, she was told by an overseas publisher that “teenagers weren’t interested” in those things. (???)

Amie noted that when she was in high school, the John Marsden books in the library would always fall open at certain well-worn pages. (That makes more sense.)

GN Adult in YA“People forget the ‘adult’ in Young Adult,” Garth said in relation to gatekeeping in YA, and many don’t discern between Children’s and YA. These aren’t books for kids. If those things are part of your story, you should use them to tell the story.

One of the writers (Amie?) had an overseas editor ask about sex scenes in a book, and was concerned that one occurred. When she explained the scene was one of violence, there was no problem. All agreed how bizarre the value system is, to accept a scene of violent sex in preference over consensual, pleasurable sex.

Garth was proud when one of his books was banned due in the U.S. It was due to coarse language, strangely citing many words that didn’t occur in the book. He advises, though, that the forces who come out to bat for challenged books are usually more powerful than those who try to ban them.

He then advised that if you’re going use swearing in your book, don’t make it on the first page, as that seemed to be the trouble with his book. Amie helpfully informed us that it won’t be a problem if you can postpone it until after the first 50 pages. It seems the automated scanning for such things stops at page 50. I’m wondering if all authors start using this information, will the scanning algorithm be changed to random pages? There has to be a librarian joke in that, but I’d better not go there …

Isobelle: “I have to admit, one of my proudest moments was having one of my books burned.” It was a European town which she later visited. Ah, fandom.

My quote award goes to Garth Nix, who provided so many succinct quotes over the day, for this:

GN Banned

Many thanks to Festival Director Cat Sparks for an excellent day, and the staff of the NSW Writers Centre for all their work. Thanks also to all the tweeters who captured so much of the wisdom of the day, especially Tehani Wessely who storified the day’s tweets, which you can find here.

If I’ve left things out or made any mistakes, please add them in the comments.

Links: Websites

Marianne de Pierres
Garth Nix
Richard Harland
Isobelle Carmody
Amie Kaufman
NSW Writers Centre

Posted in: Aussie books, Aussie setting, Dystopia, Fantasy, Science fiction, Writers Festival Book, Young Adult Tagged: #aussieauthor, Aussie setting, Books, Dystopia, Fantasy, Garth Nix, Myth, Paranormal, Science fiction, Young Adult

Boo, by Neil Smith

July 17, 2015 by Sheree 2 Comments

What if heaven was divided up by age and country? What if kids went to their own categorized afterlife until they’d lived out the number of years they should have had on earth?

cover63816-mediumOliver is a nerdy thirteen-year-old living in 1979 who’s always been picked on. When he wakes up in the hereafter it’s obvious he died from too much excitement for his defective heart, because he’d just succeeded in reciting the whole periodic table of the elements for the first time.

Life after death is not what Oliver expected. To start with, he didn’t think it existed, but if he had he wouldn’t have expected it to be in a large town with unscaleable concrete walls where everyone is American, thirteen years old and doesn’t grow older. He adjusts though, and begins making friends in a way he wasn’t able to before he died.

Then in the middle of the night, Johnny Henzel arrives. A classmate, he was one of the few who treated Oliver as a person. Johnny has been in a coma, but his sister talked to him as she sat at his bedside so he knows how they both died. They were shot by a ‘Gunboy’.

Boo* is an original and engaging story. It’s narrated by Oliver, who was given the nickname ‘Boo’ at school because he’s so pale he looks like a ghost. It’s a nice word play with the premise and themes of the story, which include fear, revenge, the impact of trauma and mental illness, forgiveness and friendship, as well as death, loss and bullying that are obvious at the beginning of the book . The voice of Oliver shines through the language, being written as though to his parents in the hope that one day he might deliver it via the fabled portals back to the pre-deceased world.

Oliver is a well-drawn character, who was obviously on the autistic spectrum in life while having high intelligence, much higher than his peers. In the Town of the thirteen-year-olds’ afterlife he finds that while his IQ may not be as high as pre-death, his ability to relate to others improves and he ponders his own response to the trade-off. Author Neil Smith uses the character’s observational abilities to good effect, allowing the reader to draw conclusions about the people around Oliver, even if he doesn’t always understanding them himself.

Of the secondary characters we get to know Johnny Henzel best, and he provides a contrast to the cerebral, withdrawn Oliver. Johnny is emotional, artistic and magnetic; he was well-liked in life, and is colourful in the afterlife. He and Oliver become friends even as he becomes obsessed with finding ‘Gunboy’ in the Town. The story of the book is really the contrasting arcs of Oliver and Johnny.

Thelma, a black girl who was murdered by racists, and Esther, a little person, round out Oliver’s friends. Thelma provides nurturing, having been in the afterlife nineteen years, and Esther has a cynical realism that Oliver relates to. As they embark on an extended journey around the Town in search of Gunboy, they provide emotional support and common sense and try to stop it from all going wrong.

Boo is clever, entertaining, and emotional without sentimentality. It explores dark themes without being macabre or offensive, and finishes with a satisfying conclusion. It may be too old for many pre-teens, as it’s an emotionally complex story, so I’d advise those looking for books for the younger end of the YA spectrum to check it out first and see if it works for the kids you know. Even if you don’t pass it on, you’ll get a really good read.

Netgalley badge* I received an e-copy of this book for review via Netgalley.

Details
Boo by Neil Smith
Random House
ISBN: 9781473518025
Published: May 2015
Link: Neil Smith’s Facebook Page
Posted in: Ghost/Afterlife, Paranormal, Young Adult Tagged: Book review, Books, Paranormal, Review, Young Adult

Deadly Novels with Bling

May 26, 2015 by Sheree 3 Comments

dead actually finalMy first encounter with Kaz Delaney was at the inaugural Newcastle Writers Festival in 2013, and she left an impression of a bubbling personality and a flair for bling. Also writing as Kerri Lane, she had over fifty children’s and YA books published, and her YA novel Dead, Actually was garnering awards. As I got to know her a little better at writing events, her warmth and generosity outshone the bling.

So, when I finally opened Dead, Actually, I wanted to like it. I was a volunteer at the National Young Writers Festival last year (though I’m many years past the target audience) and was baby-sitting a room with a computer where festival-goers could come and write a contribution to the festival website. Without a lot to keep me busy, I bought Dead, Actually.

After a few pages, I sighed with relief. The lovely lady who was so encouraging, who wanted to foster children’s and YA authors and was so gracious to beginners could also tell a great story. It might seem obvious that such a well-published writer would tell a great story, but how often do you read a book by a well-known author and find you don’t like their work? So much about what we love in books is subjective; if it wasn’t, everyone would agree on what the best books are, we’d all read the same genres, and very few writers would find an audience. In this case, though, I could tell Kaz that I loved her book – and mean it. At this year’s Newcastle Writers Festival, I bought the sequel, Almost Dead.

Bling-Bling-Shiny-Dissolved-Figure-Vector-Background

Image: http://goo.gl/gu78DW

Dead, Actually is about Willow, a teen who finds herself a magnet for the ghost of a classmate. JoJo is just as obnoxious dead as she was alive, and harasses Willow into investigating the mysterious circumstances around her death. Willow needs to convince her best friend, Macey, and Macey’s brother, Seth (who she’s crushed on for years), that she’s not crazy. She also has to deal with JoJo’s shallow and vindictive friends, who are clearly hiding something. Then the whole thing starts to get dangerous.

Almost Dead  follows Macey after Willow has gone off on a long holiday in Europe. Since the JoJo incident, Macey has become sensitized to ghosts and they’ve been turning up in her bedroom with alarming regularity. She’s worked out how to get rid of them, but when a new guy her own age turns up he doesn’t take the hint. With no one to help, Macey has to work out this by herself. Then she discovers that he’s not dead – not yet.

almost dead  index pageBoth stories are set in the world of privileged Gold Coast society. These kids are rich. They live in huge houses, have their own cars, designer clothes and anything they want, but both girls struggle with dysfunctional families. In both novels the girls’ relationships with their parents are integral to the plot, and provide a depth to the characters that the paranormal and romantic elements play against.

The romance in each story is secondary to the paranormal/mystery elements, but is handled well to give a satisfying resolution in each. It’s kept PG, erring on the G-rated side, but there’s enough emotional intensity to keep it interesting. It’s the mystery that drives each story forward, though, and keeps the pages turning when you should be doing something else.

Kaz writes in a style that’s easy to read (I finished each book in two sittings) and well paced. She’s captured the way teenagers talk and behave in a way that isn’t tied to a particular place or is likely to date quickly, and her heroines and heroes are smart, courageous and flawed. They’re the sort of people you’d like to have as friends if you’re a teenager, and it wouldn’t hurt that they’re rich, have great cars, and you could hang out at their houses.

Dead, Actually won the Aurealis Award for Best Young Adult Novel in 2012, and the Favourite Paranormal in 2012 in the Australian Romance Writers Association Awards. It was also long listed for a Davitt Award for Best Children’s/YA.

Update: Almost Dead is long-listed for the Sisters in Crime Davitt Awards – Young Adult Novel, 2015.

Details:
Dead Actually, by Kaz Delaney
Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 9781742378183
Published: March 2012

Almost Dead, by Kaz Delaney
Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 9781743313268
Published: January 2014

 Links:
Kaz Delaney’s publisher’s page
Kerri Lane page
National Young Writers Festival
Newcastle Writers Festival
Aussie-Author-Challenge-2015-300x264 50Aussie Author Challenge
 awwsml-2015Australian Women Writers Challenge
Posted in: Aussie books, Aussie setting, Australian Women Writers, Paranormal, Romance, Writers Festival Book, Young Adult Tagged: #aussieauthor, #aww2015, #LoveOzYA, Aussie setting, Book review, Kaz Delaney, Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult

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