This wasn’t going to be a themed link post and then at the last minute I looked at the list of links and – well, yes!

NK Jemesin is interviewed for Locus.
This is only a taste of the full interview which I really enjoyed reading from the paper version of the magazine last week. The last pullquote on this page is particularly good but I liked the expanded version better where she discusses some of the amazing roles women and people of colour have had in history, that are often forgotten about by people reproducing “history” in their fantasy novels. This is a call to arms for better, more diverse fantasy and if you can get hold of the magazine, it’s well worth reading the whole thing. Makes me very excited to read The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms which is currently climbing to the top of my To Read pile and waving a bunch of flags at me.

Karen Healey, meanwhile, is guestblogging at The Book Smugglers, a blog with I have to say the best header banner ever! Karen is talking about awesome female characters, and why she prefers that phrase to “strong female characters” and why cheerleaders are particularly excellent. Karen also talks about Teal Sherer, the actress who plays the fabulously evil Venom in The Guild and yes, does use a wheelchair in real life. (but hopefully is less SCARY MEAN than Venom in real life). As if that isn’t enough for a blog post, Karen also recs a whole bunch of cool girl books, some of which I agree with wholeheartedly (The Demon’s Covenant, Moonshine & Princess Ben), some I’ve been meaning to read (Girl Overboard) and many, many, many I have never even heard of but now am piling on to my Buy After Worldcon list.

Also, over on Alas! A Blog which reposted my Joanna Russ review, I was pointed towards this article about women of the Literature genre complaining publicly about the difference in review coverage between male and female authors in the field. I really don’t approve of the title because “all the sad young literary women” sounds awfully weak and disempowering when the article is really about some literary powerhouses such as Jodi Picoult getting vocal on Twitter about some really important issues of gender imbalance. They’re not being sad, they’re being ANGRY.

Over here, Margaret Atwood discusses her latest spec fic novel, “The Year of the Flood” and talks about science fiction, climate change and some other things, generally managing to sound about 10 times smarter than whoever it is interviewing her.

I’ve been following Karen’s blog for the last couple of months, and was particularly caught by her post about the importance of New Zealand as the setting of her debut novel, Guardian of the Dead. The post came out of her frustration that overseas readers were referring to her and her book as Australian.

I read the book with this in mind, and I have to say that my first reaction was one big ‘what are you people, high?’ I can see why Karen was so outraged, as the book is not just rich in detail about its New Zealand setting, but the plot itself turns on the mythology and experience of that country.

The second thing that occurred to me was… wow. I really know almost nothing about New Zealand. And I mean nothing. Guardian of the Dead paints such a detailed picture of New Zealand culture, mythology and how they blend into the lives of modern New Zealanders, and… I’ve never seen this before. My entire pop culture experience of New Zealand consists of Hercules, Xena, Lord of the Rings, a couple of Margaret Mahy novels and that Worzel Gummidge series. I can’t help feeling deeply ashamed that this is a country so very close to my own, with so many overlapping ties, and I’ll bet there aren’t many 32 year old New Zealanders who don’t have a far more comprehensive understanding of Australia, our popular culture, and what it might be like to live here.

I loved the delicious mix of mythologies in this pacy, emotionally resonant YA paranormal novel. While Maori legend forms the largest part of the story’s influences, there was also an acknowledgement of world mythology as a whole, and how it works. I loved the connections made between stories and magic, and the idea that everyone has their own body of myths through which they see the world.

(more…)

It’s the end of my ‘holiday’ March and I’m exhausted – between our big room swap and a family emergency which has led to many visitors, I’ve basically been cleaning house for a week. Seriously. How do real housewives do it? How did housewives cope before podcasts? And will I ever be able to listen to Radio Free Skaro again without getting mild asthma?

We have some lovely friends who have pitched in and helped, and while all this was going on, the baby learned to creep (like crawling but flatter and sneakier), has consumed half a bright orange eggbox spider (mmm, orange paint), and has basically proved that she can no longer be left lying adorably on a quilt. Time to reclaim the playpen! (It’s been Raeli’s soft toy depository for a long time…)

As March draws to a close, so does my two month of not buying books. I can’t say it’s been a time of deprivation – my to read shelves aren’t looking any lighter, and thanks to be being a bit heavy on the old Fishpond pre-order button, I have in fact still had new books arriving during this whole time. (the last of the pre-orders in fact arrived this week – Chicks Dig Time Lords – hooray!)

It’s been good, though. I never want to get too guilty about buying books – it is a pretty important part of my life and career, after all. But it’s not a bad thing to force yourself to think about these things from time to time. And as it turned out, it was a very good idea to let me catch up with all those pre-ordered books and start with a clean slate again.

(more…)

Cindy Pon asks questions about cultural appropriation and the responsible portrayal of diversity in fantasy fiction, and a variety of young adult writers present their answers.

On a similar theme, Karen Healey is on Strange Horizons talking about Margaret Mahy, and the use of New Zealand as a place in fantasy fiction. Reading this, and remembering other writers recently gushing about Margaret Mahy, it occurs to me that I don’t think I’ve read nearly enough of her books. I read a couple as a child and loved them – particularly Aliens in the Family and the one with the pirates and the librarians and the really spicy gingerbread, but that’s not a long considering the million and one brilliant novels she appears to have written. Damn it. There goes the to read list again.

(I just checked on the availability of The Changeover in my library and there were only two copies: one large print and one reference only. I guess I’m reading it in large print)

In other news which has nothing whatsoever to do with diversity in fantasy, Karen Gillan pretends to have a reason for wearing very short skirts (misleading headline!) but assures us all that Amy Pond isn’t in love with the Doctor. Good to know, Amy!

Karen Healey is a New Zealander living in Australia doing a PhD on American superhero comics. Her debut novel, Guardian of the Dead, a YA contemporary fantasy set in New Zealand, comes out in April.

1. Your book already has lots of people buzzing – the blurbs on your website include enthusiastic recommendations from Holly Black, Libba Bray, Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan! I was particularly interested to learn that your teen girl protagonist is neither slim nor conventionally attractive – still a rarity in current YA – and that your magic system is influenced by Maori mythology, which must come with a whole lot of cultural baggage attached to it. Were you ever worried that these factors might hold your book back from publication? That Guardian of the Dead might be too unusual to make it this far? How difficult (or indeed, easy) has your road to publication been?

No, not really, which in retrospect might have been naive, but it all worked out, so perhaps not? I do feel that the premise turned some people off – I got one rejection that thought the book was “too New Zealandy”, which made me laugh – but that’s fine. Editors have so many great manuscripts on submission, they’re answerable to their bosses, and they do have to be really picky about what they feel they can sell and what fits into their catalogues. I’m really happy with both Allen and Unwin and my American publishers, Little, Brown. My editors there like what they feel is the originality of the work, including Ellie’s weight and looks and what I’ve done with Maori mythology.

My biggest fear wasn’t that no one would want the book because it was too unusual, but that I would poorly present Ellie’s experience of being large, misrepresent Maori heritage, or cause harm to potential Maori readers through cultural appropriation (since I’m average-sized and Pakeha). I tried my best to avoid being a jerk through various methods, including a lot of research and cultural consultation, but I’m not really the best judge of whether I managed it, so we’ll see!

My path to publication was actually fairly easy, though it was of course horribly nervewracking! Holly Black saw the first chapters at a workshop and recommended I query her agent, Bary Goldblatt. I did, he signed me up as a client, and then sent the manuscript out, where it collected its fair share of rejections before getting some offers from some great houses. I had to make a few hard decisions, but I’m happy with the results of my choices.

2. I read that you’re doing a PhD on gender issues in comic books, which made me squee just a little bit, because it sounds like a thesis that really needs to be written. What do you want most from a comic, as a woman and a reader? Also, who are your favourite superheroes and why?

I actually am not! I am doing a PhD on superhero comics and fan culture, which tangentially touches upon gender issues and utilizes some feminist theory and a great deal of fan theory from women. I agree that a thesis on gender issues in comics totally does need to be written though! I think a couple of people are working on it.

What I want most from a comic as a reader is a great story and compelling characters, and as a woman, that includes not being insulted or jolted out of the narrative by awful depictions of women, either textually or in the art. There’s nothing to shock you out of an interesting story of blowing stuff up like a female superhero apparently delivering all her dialogue from her ass, and it is just so, so dispiriting and boring to see “she was raped!” as motivation for a female character, good or bad, doing anything. It’s so lazy.

My favourite superheroes are Misty Knight, Barbara Gordon, Connor Hawke, Emma Frost, and Jean Grey – all smart, competent, complex characters with long histories and some great storylines. But my favourite of all time is probably Jaime Reyes, AKA Blue Beetle III, AKA the best person in the entire DC Universe.

3. I’m sure it’s hard to see past that April publication date, but what’s next for you, writingwise? What are you working on right now? Do you see yourself writing works set in Australia now that you live here, or is your heart always going to be in New Zealand?

My second book, currently called SUMMERTON, has sold to Allen and Unwin and Little, Brown. It’s again set in New Zealand, this time in a small, far-too-perfect, West Coast town where three teenagers try to find the real reasons behind their older brothers’ apparent suicides. Besides revising SUMMERTON, I’m working on a few things right now – researching one book (set in Europe), writing another, planning a sequel to GUARDIAN – those two are both NZ-based.

I love Australia, too, though, especially Melbourne, which I think is my favourite city ever! I actually have ideas for a YA sci-fi not-too-distant future story set in Melbourne – I think the city’s environmental challenges and diversity are fertile ground for considering the possibilities of the next century.

4. Which Australian (ha, I should say Antipodean, shouldn’t I) writers or work would you like to see nominated for awards this year? What have you most enjoyed reading?

I’m going to be completely partisan and talk about my friends’ work, so, you know, fair warning of bias.

I think that Deborah Kalin’s SHADOW QUEEN is totally brilliant – a fascinating and often painful investigation of Stockholm syndrome romance in the middle of a court intrigue/adventure story in a quasi-European fantasy setting unlike anything I’ve ever read before. Justine Larbalestier’s LIAR is an amazing work which I can’t really talk about because anything I will say is laden with spoilers, but it’s a psychological thriller set in contemporary New York told from the first person narration of a compulsive liar. If you’re into complex characterisation and unreliable narrators, I recommend both very much.

5. Are you planning to go to Aussiecon 4 in September? If so, what are you most looking forward to?

I am! And I am looking forward to the cocktails. Isn’t everyone?

———————

Previously in Snapshot: Marianne De Pierres, Richard Harland, Karen Miller, Margo Lanagan, Ben Peek, Narelle Harris, Paul Collins, Damien Broderick, Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Angela Slatter, Dion Hamill, Garth Nix, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Trudi Canavan, Thoraiya Dyer, Keith Stevenson, Juliet Marillier, Gillian Polack, Jason Fischer, Alisa Krasnostein, Tehani Wessely, Amanda Rainey, Justine Larbalestier, Rowena Cory Daniells, Glenda Larke, Adrian (K.A.) Bedford, Kaaron Warren, Nicole Murphy, D.M. Cornish, Deborah Kalin, Jonathan Strahan, Alan Baxter, Gary Kemble, Lezli Robyn, Kate Eltham, Robert Hoge, Will Elliott, Trent Jamieson, Felicity Dowker, Jack Dann, Lee Battersby, Peter M Ball, Nyssa Pascoe, Lucy Sussex, Andrew McKiernan, Amanda Pillar, Deborah Biancotti, Kim Falconer, Gabrielle Wang, Kim Wilkins, Paul Haines

Snapshot interviews will be blogged from Monday 15th until Sunday 22nd Feb.

To read them hot off the press, check these blogs daily:
http://random-alex.livejournal.com/
http://girliejones.livejournal.com/
http://kathrynlinge.livejournal.com/
http://www.mechanicalcat.net/rachel
http://tansyrr.com/
http://editormum.livejournal.com/

Will we beat 83 this time? If you know of someone involved in the Scene with something to plug, then send us an email at 2010snapshot@gmail.com.