I spent April in the woods and the weeds of both WIPs. I wish I could say that I had a clear plan for what I was doing, but it was more a case of “write the next thing you think might happen here” and hope for the best. I’m not sure any of it will end up in the final versions, but I feel as if I learned some things I didn’t know about the characters. And, of course, any words are better than no words.
I met my target of 10,000 words so gold star for me, I guess.
As a break from the WORDS & MUSIC series (because, quite frankly, we haven’t started working on the next video yet!), here are the best things I’ve read since the beginning of 2022.
FICTION
Matrix, by Lauren Groff. A beautifully written book about the life of a young woman who sent to be the prioress of an impoverished abbey in Eleanor of Aquitaine’s England. A nice supplement to my earlier reading of Sylvia Townsend Warner’s The Corner that Held Them.
Sudden Traveller, by Sarah Hall. I was so in awe of the stories in this book that I read some of them twice. Just bloody brilliant writing.
Burntcoat, by Sarah Hall. A short novel that came out this year, encompassing both the timely (pandemics) and some of my own personal obsessions (artists and their work). The sex scenes in this one are very different than those in romance novels but I admit I still skipped over them. The rest I devoured and then reread key passages. More bloody brilliant writing.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built, by Becky Chambers. Charming and very human (even if some of the characters are robots) science fiction.
Bewilderment, by Richard Powers. Not quite as successful as The Overstory, but a compelling and sad look at loss, both personal and planetary.
The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead. I put off reading this book about escaping slavery but was glad I finally bit the bullet and plunged in. The magical realist conceit (the railroad is a real railroad, the places it goes are not quite real places) doesn’t take anything away from the brutal truth of oppression and the persistence of hope.
Sea of Tranquility, by Emily St. John Mandel. I might quibble a bit of the SF elements but this is Emily St. John Mandel, so the prose is wonderful, the story booms along at an incredible pace, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Echo Wife, by Sarah Gailey. A scientist specializing in cloning discovers that her ex-husband has made a clone of her. Gailey isn’t afraid to take this scenario to it’s darkest conclusions and provides a masterclass writing lesson in the art of revealing that your first-person narrator is not at all a nice person.
Non-Fiction
The Master and His Emissary, by Iain McGilchrist. Subtitled “The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World”. I was never convinced by the central premise but it was an interesting read with some thought-provoking ideas. I admit to being put off by the contention that modern and contemporary art is a symptom of the left brain (which is bad) because it’s not beautiful and uplifting.
Being You, by Anil Seth. A look at the science of consciousness and being human. It takes a bit of concentration to really grasp the science but Seth does a great job explaining and it was an interesting combination with the book mentioned above.
Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs, by Camilla Townsend. I was fascinated by the South and Central American cultures when I was younger but this book was a revelation.
Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas, by Jennifer Ruff. Ruff explores the latest archeological and genetic evidence that support the various theories and proposed timelines for the settlement of the Americas. Includes a great chapter on the process of working with DNA, explores the history of European attitudes to the indigenous inhabitants (past and present), and outlines ways scientists are now trying to build respectful partnerships with the descendants of the first peoples to arrive on the continent.
Second-HandTime, by Svetlana Alexsievich. A few years old but very timely. Alexsievich interviews a wide range of Russians about the changes to their world in the early 1990s.
This was the book for which I had the most difficulty choosing a passage to read. I had sections that I’d performed successfully before, but they tended to be long, require explanations, and lack any shorter sections that had internal arcs. This latter is very important in readings, at least for me, because I want there to be a sense of story, even in a short excerpt. It needs, at the least, a movement towards something, even if the climax of the scene isn’t included. Ending on a cliff-hanger works, too, but there needs to be enough before that point to make the tension meaningful.
In the end, I went for the opening of the Hiroshima entry from Fujiwara’s diary. I used to read the entire chapter at events and inevitably would choke up on the last paragraph. Which made me very happy, even when I had to go off-stage wiping away my tears.
It was a challenge to find appropriate images but the illustrations for the Night Parade of 100 Demons proved a good starting place and set the style for the highly processed images that Richard assembled to match the mood of the words and music.
Don’t forget to check Richard’s Youtube channel for his other compositions and videos.
That’s the perennial question for an avid reader. My “to read” list is always much too long but now I’ve got a new way to make it longer. I was contacted by Shepherd, a new site for connecting readers, authors, and books. Authors are invited to provide a list of five recommended books on a particular topic, with information about the books and what makes them special. They asked me if I would be interested in providing some suggestions related to vampires or witches or ghosts or werewolves or just about anything. The author also has the opportunity to showcase one of their own titles that relates to the topic at hand.
I decided to go back to my roots and suggest some of my favourite novels featuring female vampire protagonists. This turned into a way to revisit and reread a number of the books that influenced my writing and my thoughts about vampires. My selections ranged back into the 1980s for SABELLA by Tanith Lee and up to 2015 for CERTAIN DARK THINGS by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
I’ve also been poking around on the site myself – because I clearly need more books to read – and have added books on Spain (because someday I will actually get there), Venice (because someday I will go back there), fairy tale retellings (because I love them), and apocalypses (because of course).
The site is still growing, with more lists being added all the time, so if you want to add some more books to your list, check it out.
Here’s the second installment in my collaboration with my husband on “words and music”.
This passage for COLD HILLSIDE is the most description-heavy of the excerpts I chose for this project. It’s the first introduction to the fey and I wanted to try to capture their elusive, unreal qualities before the later part of the book introduces their more “human” characteristics (such as cruelty, corruption, boredom, and politics).
I’m very fond of writing description, no matter what the writing advice books say on the matter. Sometimes I end up cutting it, but in this case I felt that, with the fey, “more is more”.
I hadn’t been able to find any good images to accompany this reading until I remembered I’d done a mosaic based on some of my mental imagery for Lushan. I took a photo and sent it to Richard, who found a way to make it visually interesting and evocative of both the colours of Lushan and the mutability of the fey.
During the pandemic, an opportunity arose to get a grant to do some digital creative work. That never happened, but it seemed like a great project to work on anyway, especially in the middle of ongoing COVID restrictions. I’ve had some experience recording myself reading but now I had the opportunity to add music, as my husband’s post-retirement project is learning to compose on his computer. A creative challenge was just what he needed (at least, in my opinion!).
I set to work picking sections roughly 3:00 minutes long from my four published novels and from The Witch Novel (my WIP). I reviewed the selections I’d done at public readings to try to find excerpts that would make sense with minimal explanation, would give a feel for the book, and would be different from each other in tone and content.
Richard would then record me and compose a background score that complemented the theme and tone of the selection. We both have had moments of “wait, should I go back and change that?” but sometimes it’s best just push the little creative craft off from the shore and let it go.
To see more of what Richard has been up to in our basement, you can check out his Youtube channel.
PROJECT #1Leontine and the Bees
This is the introduction to one of the three main characters in my Work-in-Progress, unimaginatively titled The Witch Book.
The readings for this project were all done in May and June, which was the perfect time to read this excerpt, which is set in a hot summer garden amidst lavender and poppies, buzzing with bees. For the video accompaniment, all I had to do was sit outside in our garden with my iPhone. We have no shortage of bees and they are particularly fond of the lavender, salvia, and Russian sage in our yard. When I’m pruning or weeding in those areas, I move carefully, tell them I’m coming, and we seem to get along just fine.
When I started working on this book, I decided that, just for fun (???), I’d experiment with different voices and tenses for each of the main characters. I don’t know if that will survive into the final version but I’ve enjoyed the process (well, as much as I ever enjoy the process these days).
I did A LOT of reading this year. I suppose being stuck at home during a pandemic will do that for you.
Total books read: roughly 160
Fiction: 62% Non-Fiction: 38%
Below are some of the ones I liked best, in no particular order. While I read fewer non-fiction titles, more of them stuck with me as memorable.
BESTFICTION – SF,Fantasy, Horror
Plain Bad Heroines, Emily Danforth
In That Endlessness, Our End, Gemma Files. Gemma managed to make me afraid of Airbnbs, old houses, downtown Toronto, writing groups, and Northern Ontario. Plus numerous other things. Thanks, pal.
Severance, Ling Ma – which pairs nicely with Everything You Ever Wanted, Luiza Sauma
The Ministry for the Future, Kim Stanley Robinson
The Fisherman, John Langan
A Desolation Called Peace, Arkady Martine
The Empress of Salt and Fortune and When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain, Nghi Vo
Witness for the Dead, Katharine Addison (plus a reread of The Goblin Emperor)
Temporary, Hilary Leichter
Living Alone, Stella Benson
BEST FICTION – Other
The Corner that Held Them, Sylvia Townsend Warner
The Queen’s Gambit, Walter Tevis
The Leftovers, Thomas Perrotta
Interior Chinatown, Charles Yu
The Hearing Trumpet and The Collected Stories, Leonora Carrington
The Weekend, Charlotte Wood
Leonora in the Morning Light, Michaela Carter
BEST NON-FICTION – Politics, Society, and Related
Our Own Worst Enemy, Tom Nichols
A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear, Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling
The Fifth Risk, Michael Lewis
The Sum of Us, Heather McGhee
Empire of Pain, Patrick Radden Keefe
Everything Now ,Rosencrans Baldwin
The Next Supper, Corey Mintz
Uncanny Valley, Anna Weiner – pairs very nicely with the novel Sourdough, Robin Sloan
BEST NON-FICTION –Art, Music, Literature
Villa Air-Bel, Rosemary Sullivan
On Freedom and The Art of Cruelty, Maggie Nelson
The Lonely City, Olivia Laing
Putting it Together, James Lepine
Where am I Now? Mara Wilson
Beeswing, Richard Thompson
My Rock ‘n’ Roll Friend, Tracey Thorn
Astounding, Alec Nevia-Lee
BEST NON-FICTION – Science, Nature and History
A Honeybee Heart has Five Openings, Helen Jukes
Kindred, Rebecca Wragg Skyes
The Story of More, Hope Jahren
The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan
Field Notes from an Unintentional Birder, Julie Zarankin
A World on the Wing, Scott Weidensaul
Against the Grain, James Scott – pairs very nicely with The Dawn of Everything, David Graeber and David Wengrow
The Anarchy, William Dalrymple
Alexander Hamilton, Ron Chernow – pairs nicely with Eliza Hamilton, Tilar J. Mazzeo
The Verge: Forty Years that Shook the World, Patrick Wyman
Well, I made my target of 10,000 words in November for Nanowrimo, though I have done not a thing since. Even without any more writing in December, I’ll beat 2020’s total word count by a bit.
Does this matter? Some of the words aren’t very good. Some of them will end up having nothing to do with whatever the plot turns out to be. Is the whole process just in the service of persuading myself I’m accomplishing something when in fact I’m not?
I have no answers to these momentous, existential questions. I find setting word goals helpful because I’m the kind of person who goes to fitness classes rather than riding an exercise bicycle or lifting weights. I need outside pressure – or at least perceived pressure – to combat my natural laziness. At the very least, writing a bunch of words I end up cutting will probably net me more progress on the books than waiting for the perfect scene to write. In the process of just writing the next thing that happens in order to meet my target, I do sometimes discover something I hadn’t suspected about a character or a situation or a direction the story needs to go.
None of this resolves my essential problem, which is figuring out what to write not how to craft a good sentence.
I can make 35,000 words this year if I write another 1,700 words. Easy-peasy, as they say. So maybe I’ll try for that. But not today.
In the thick of my Nanowrimo drive for 2021 (target: 10,000 words). But I’m still getting some reading done. Here are my favourites of the last two months.
FICTION
The Empress of Salt and Fortune, Nghi Vo. Absolutely loved this novella about empires, hidden magic, and power in unexpected places. Bonus: Mastadon cavalries.
Black Water Sister, Zen Cho. As one review says: “Gods, Ghosts, Gangsters.” Set in Malaysia and very entertaining.
Temporary, Hilary Leichter. A very odd short novel about a woman whose temporary gigs involve being a ghost, a pirate, a CEO, and an assassin’s assistant.
The Lost Man, by Jane Harper. Some clunky dialogue and plotting made up for by vivid descriptions of life on a contemporary cattle ranch in the Outback.
NON-FICTION
I read a lot more of this than fiction over the last few months.
Our Own Worst Enemy, by Tom Nichols. Thought-provoking look at some of the broader societal trends leading to the rise of anti-democratic forces. Narcissism, rising standards of living, global peace, resistant to change are all cited. I didn’t agree with everything but I did, as they say, “feel seen.”
The Anarchy, by William Dalrympe. A look at how the East India Trading Company became a de facto arm of the British Empire in India. Full of fascinating characters, battles, politics, racism, and violence. This isn’t a period or a place I know much about, so I found it fascinating. Bonus: Camel Cavalries!
The Storm is Upon Us, by Mike Rothschild. Outlines the rise of Qanon and its impact on the US. I thanked my father for not watching Fox News after reading this.
On Freedom, by Maggie Nelson. A fascinating look at the interplay of freedom, care, and constraint through the lens of popular culture and art theory. A bit dense with jargon at times, but I wrote down a number of quotes I found important to think about more. Part of my attempt to figure out how I feel about some of the issues currently bedeviling us.
Villa Air-Bel, by Rosemary Sullivan. This came out of my reading of the novel about Leonora Carrington. Many of the artists, writers, and intellectuals desperate to get out of Vichy France before the Nazis could get around to rounding them all up lived at this villa outside Marseille while they waited for their papers. Sometimes hard to read, especially in the early going, because the reader knows how terrible things are going to become while the characters are telling themselves it will all be ok. Rather uncomfortable to consider that we’re likely just as blind.
It was almost like “the before times”, but with added masks and vaccine passports.
A planned family reunion in Picton, Ontario was cancelled but, as we have friends there, we kept our hotel reservation and went to “the county” for a few days.
Observations:
Clearly, a large number of Ontarians had decided to do the same thing. The hotel was full. The restaurants were turning people away if they didn’t have reservations. The winery parking lots were busy.
The staff were uniformly pleasant, cheerful, diligent in checking the vaccine QR codes and ID, and occasionally a little overwhelmed by the rush of customers eager to get back to the business of enjoying themselves.
October is the best time to drive the backroads in Ontario. It was seriously lovely.
After the initial shock (wait, there are people! There’s noise! There’s music! There are no masks!), it was as if COVID had never happened. Mostly.
Things I’d be happy if they stayed this way but recognize they won’t. It was very nice NOT to be seated at a two-top table a foot from another couple. It’s been quite nice going to movie theatre’s with only 8 other people. Contactless check-in at hotels is perfectly fine with me.
We can’t afford to live down there, as all the rich people from Toronto have already moved there and driven up the real estate prices.
The second part of the trip involved a family gathering in Peterborough for the other side of the family. It was wonderful to see everyone and to discover that the Comfort Inn has a room with a heart-shaped jacuzzi. Not that it was working. Not that we would have used it if it was. But still ….
