Welcome to the Oakenwyld

In which I fail at self-promotion

2010-01-07T13:21:40Z

OH HAI GUYS I FORGOT TO MENTION I'M DOING A SIGNING IN TORONTO TODAY:

January 7, 2010 @ 7 p.m., Yorkdale Mall Indigo Books
with Megan Crewe (author of Give Up The Ghost)
and Neesha Meminger (author of Shine, Coconut Moon)

Both Megan and Neesha's books are beautifully written and they are also lovely people, so even if you are justifiably sick of me waving Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter under your nose, you might want to come out and say hello to them and pick up some great new reads in the process.

Or, you know, you could say hi to me and get me to sign your books and stuff. Whatever.

***

Also, today is the OFFICIAL release date of Rebel in the UK which means it should now be freely had at all good bookstores (including the noble law-abiding ones in Ireland who have been clinging fast to that embargo notice). Yay!

IT CAN BE SPRING RIGHT NOW YES?!

2010-01-01T20:47:35Z

Okay, I shamelessly admit to skipping the entire S4 finale and I doubt I'll change my mind on that point, but this preview has me all pumped for S5, despite* the occasional romantic clichés we've seen in every season so far, such as Companion Unexpectedly Kisses the Doctor.

So do we have an actual date for the beginning of S5, or just this vague promise of "Spring"?

~~Note to self: Need Matt Smith icon.~~

--
* Oh, all right, maybe BECAUSE of that part. What can I say, I'm an Old Skool Whofan, I still haven't got over the novelty of it.

Goodbye 2009, hello 2010

2010-01-01T03:44:35Z

2009 has been a really tough year, and I think many of us are glad to see the end of it. However, I will always hold a warm spot in my heart for 2009 nonetheless, because it's the year I Finally Got Published.

When I wrote the first draft of Knife back in 1993 I had no idea if it would ever amount to anything. I only knew that I loved the characters, and that the kernel of the story was sound and strong even if I wasn't quite sure how to get to it yet. Over the years of submissions and rejections and revisions that followed, I never lost the conviction that there was something in that manuscript, and that I shouldn't give up on it. And ultimately, my faith in Knife and Paul's story was justified -- not only did it see print this year, but it's become a UK bestseller. I could never have foreseen that, and I am tremendously grateful to my publishers and my readers for making it happen.

Another reason I feel kindly about 2009 is that at the end of the year, I finally completed a working draft of another book I feel passionately about, Touching Indigo. It took me nearly three years of research and writing, during which I foolishly unmade my own creative process and had to cobble it back together again. But in the end I was proud of what I'd done, and so was my agent, and we both look forward to seeing what 2010 brings for the manuscript.

***

As for 2010, my current resolutions are as follows:

1. Follow a regular, disciplined schedule for no less than 30 days (I already have this plotted out on a chart, a PDF of which now serves as my desktop so I can't ignore it)

2. Get a complete draft of my current WIP done by April.

The second is dependent on the achievement of the first, I believe -- I'm going to have to hold myself very firmly to a routine if I'm going to get the time I need to write, and still spend the necessary time on family and other commitments.

I'll let you know how it goes.

***

Finally, in the spirit of writing and resolutions, I'd like to share with you this great video from YA author Jackson Pearce, in which myself and a slew of other authors were happy to participate. The advice is simple, but sound, and I hope it encourages those of my friends who are trying to write and publish their work in the coming year.

Happy New Year, everyone!

In which I suffer a shock and need a bit of a lie-down

2009-12-21T03:20:55Z

I was just poking my nose in at some online listings for Rebel, and then I noticed at the top of the Waterstones page for the book:

10+ copies in stock.

What? says I. It is not supposed to be available until 7 January! But then I checked out the stock availability in the physical Waterstones stores.

IT IS OUT THERE, PEOPLE.

Uh, I hope you like it?

MERLIN: "The Last Dragonlord" (2x13)

2009-12-20T03:20:17Z

Oh, show. You give me John Lynch being... John Lynch, and Colin Morgan turning in one of his most brilliant and heartbreaking performances (the fact that he can hold his own with John Lynch, and that Bradley also does it to a less obvious extent with ASH in this episode, is really impressive) and more Arthur/Gwen goodness and CGI that isn't dodgy at all, and then you tell me I have to wait another year for S3. WHY. WHY MUST I WAIT.

The Knights of Camelot are like the redshirts in TOS, only worse because instead of them getting offed by ones and twos, they get toasted by fives and sixes, or in this case, twelves. HARSH.

Yay for the Morgana mention! (I miss Katie McGrath already. I know she wasn't the greatest actor in the cast, but she wasn't that bad and she was always so lovely to look at. I hope they find more uses for her next season.) And for Gaius and Gwen having that lovely conversation. I <3 Gaius. There are so many brilliant actors on this show, all around.

I was pretty sure the dragon wasn't going to die. I'm kind of glad he didn't, actually, because I can see Useful Plot Things he could do later on -- but I'm also glad that they've now broken out of the formula of "Hey, Merlin, got a problem you can't solve? Go down and visit the dragon!" It'll be interesting to see how Merlin solves things next season without benefit of the Draconic Oracle.

Also, that last pre-battle conversation between Arthur and Merlin? Heartbreaking. I really thought for a moment Arthur was going to tell him to look out for Gwen for him if anything happened (which would have been a little misguided, but sweet), and then he spouted that heroic nonsense about no man being worth tears. Idiot. And yet... that's Arthur. And Merlin's joke about the armor was so Merlin. I love their friendship. Loved the scene in the inn where Arthur was clumsily trying to get Merlin to open up, too. He's such a giant meathead sometimes.

...Do I really not have a MERLIN tag? Is this actually the first time I've posted about this show I've been watching (first skeptically, then indulgently, and finally with delight and deep affection) for the last two years? Wow. Okay then.

And why do I have no icons of Colin Morgan?

Winter Snow and Other Follies

2009-12-18T23:57:15Z

Winter Snow
Originally uploaded by rj-anderson

An utterly inconsequential video really, but it is proof that I have discovered how to shoot videos with my camera and upload them to the Internet, which may mean ~~very bad~~ good things later on.

And speaking of multimedia, I discovered today that the complete and unabridged audiobook of Knife as read by British actor Emma Parish is now available for sale. There's a 5-minute sample from the first chapter on that page if you're interested -- the accent she's given Wink is rather adorable, IMO!

And finally, I have decided that SWIFT (book #4 in my faery series) will be set in Cornwall, land of my maternal ancestors, and that I ought to go there as soon as possible in the interests of ~~eating pasties and saffron buns until I asplode~~ research. Whether this will actually happen is anyone's guess, but I like to think about it, you know?

Your last chance to win great prizes from the Debs!

2009-12-15T12:32:05Z

Can you believe 2009 is almost over? I can't. But thanks to my fellow MG/YA authors at debut2009, it's been an exciting year with lots of new friends and good reading in it!

So here's our parting gift to you, dear readers:

Saffron Cake

2009-12-13T21:12:31Z

At this rate, people are going to expect my next publication to be a cookbook! But patty1943 asked for the recipe after seeing my icon, so I figured I might as well share it.

I love this cake. It is the essence of Christmas and family to me. Just the smell of my mother baking it makes me deliriously happy, and all my siblings (and her siblings*) feel the same way. Even my three little boys all agree that they like the taste -- which makes me suspect there's something genetic involved, because my husband loathes the stuff and my brothers' wives aren't particularly keen on it either.

All of which is to say that if you don't have Cornish genes in your family, or think that the combination of saffron, candied peel and currants tastes like medicine (as my husband does), this cake may not be for you. Furthermore, Spanish saffron threads are wickedly expensive, so you have to be pretty committed to even tackle this recipe in the first place (which is why my mother, like my grandmother before her, only makes it once a year).

Nevertheless, it's unlike any other fruit cake you will ever eat -- a dense and slightly moist (but not soggy like traditional Christmas fruitcake) golden loaf, lightly sprinkled with currents and bits of candied peel, seasoned with the most expensive spice in the world yet at the same time homey and unassuming, as one might expect of a Cornish delicacy. It does not require icing, or jam, or even butter -- in Cornwall it's sometimes made into buns and served with clotted cream, but to me even this seems unnecessary. Just a thick slice warm from the oven (or slightly heated in the microwave) and a cup of tea to go with it is all you really need.

One last caveat: this is a bulk recipe that makes five generous loaves, and I am an idiot when it comes to math, so I won't subject you to my clumsy attempts at downsizing it. If you've got this far, you'll have to do that yourself. :)

***

SAFFRON CAKE

7 grams of Spanish Saffron (threads, not powder)
12 cups All-Purpose Flour
2 lbs. currants
1/2 lb. mixed candied peel
1 lb. lard
1/2 lb. butter
2 cups white sugar
2 tsp. salt
3 pkgs. yeast

Steep saffron overnight in 3 cups boiling water and pinch of salt.

In a large ovenproof bowl, rub lard & butter into flour & sugar & salt until crumbly. Add fruit and stir until well mixed.

Set yeast in 1 1/2 cups warm water + 3 tsp. sugar. Let foam a bit.

Heat saffron to hot but NOT boiling. Pour hot saffron onto flour mixture, then add yeast and mix well.

Put oven BRIEFLY on LOW then TURN OFF. Put bowl of saffron batter into oven until doubled in size, which takes 3 hrs. plus if you use traditional yeast.

Take out bowl and divide batter into greased loaf pans (2/3rds full). Reheat oven as above and put pans in until batter rises to top of pans (about 1 hr.)

Take loaf pans out carefully while you heat oven to 350 degrees. When heated put pans in again and bake at 350 for 30 minutes and then at 325 for 30 minutes.

Makes 5 loaves.

***

If anyone does decide to tackle this enterprise, let me know how it turns out. Especially if you figure out how to convert it to a smaller quantity.

--
* I am not kidding. One year when my mother mailed my uncle George his Christmas loaf, he composed a lengthy poem on the subject of his love for Saffron Cake and sent it back to her as a thank-you note. Not a bad poem either: it both rhymed and scanned. My mother had it laminated.

Bachelor Buttons

2009-12-13T01:12:50Z

Bachelor Buttons
Originally uploaded by rj-anderson

This is one of those cookies that doesn't look like much on the outside, but is sneakily and indescribably delicious. Really, they should be called Ninja Awesome Hidden Jam Cookies, but according to my grandmother who handed down the recipe, they're called Bachelor Buttons.

A web search yields about fifty different cookie recipes also called Bachelor Buttons, but they are ALL WRONG and DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM. These are the one and only kind of Bachelor Buttons you need. Especially if you are looking for a buttery double-layered cookie with a bit of raspberry jam in the middle that is absolutely perfect for dunking in a cup of tea.

Yes, I said dunking. In tea. Trust me on this one.

BACHELOR BUTTONS

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 well-beaten egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup good quality raspberry jam (I used Smuckers)

Heat oven to 350 F. Cream butter and brown sugar in a medium-sized bowl, add well-beaten egg and vanilla and mix thoroughly.

In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients and add slowly to wet mixture until all flour has been mixed in. You will have a fairly firm, non-sticky dough. Form into fist-sized balls.

Roll out dough thinly onto waxed paper and cut into circles with floured 1.5" cutter or small juice glass. Transfer to cookie sheet.

Use two teaspoons to drop a small amount of raspberry jam onto the center of each cookie. Cover with a second circle of dough and press gently around edges with fingertips to seal. Prick center of cookie with floured fork.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Make a pot of tea and enjoy! WARNING: HIGHLY ADDICTIVE.

I do believe in my agent, I do, I do

2009-12-11T19:39:45Z

It's unofficial Agent Appreciation Day! (Who makes these things official, anyway?) And far be it from me to hold back on declaring my very great and heartfelt appreciation for my agent, Josh Adams of Adams Literary.

I love that Josh and his wife Tracey (who started the agency) work as a team, and have young children so they understand the challenges of raising a family and trying to write at the same time. I love that they're warm, friendly, funny, generous and caring -- I've never doubted that Josh is every bit as invested in the success of my books as I am, and that he really wants to find an editorial match that's in the best interests of me and my writing, not just make a quick sale and leave me to it.

Josh encourages me and affirms me and makes me laugh and tells me not to worry (he's uncannily good at telling when I'm fretful and trying not to show it), and he's always looking ahead and exploring future possibilities. He's great at networking and following up with editors, and fantastic at keeping in touch whenever there's the slightest bit of news.

I've heard all sorts of complaints -- legitimate ones -- from fellow authors whose agents have been indiscreet, apathetic, disorganized, difficult or even downright dishonest, but never once have I felt the need to chime in. I really couldn't wish for a better agent than the one I have, and I'm so thankful that he and Tracey saw the potential in my work and took me on as a client.

Thank you, Josh and Tracey!

Best. Gingerbread Men. Ever.

2009-12-10T16:30:00Z

Gingerbread Men
Originally uploaded by rj-anderson

When my son came home from Junior Kindergarten excitedly waving a recipe for making gingerbread men, I confess my heart sank a little. I've tasted many such cookies, and even though they might look cute on the outside, the gingerbread was always so dry and bland that I couldn't even bring myself to finish it. Besides, who wants to spend all that time messing around with decorations and icing? Not me.

However, this one just said "decorate with raisins", so I thought hm, maybe it doesn't need icing and I should give it a try. And I did manage to find a gingerbread man-shaped plastic mould (it wasn't even a proper cutter -- I got it out of a Rice Krispies box) in my cupboard, so I worked up my courage, followed the recipe, and...

Oh.

Oh my.

You definitely don't need icing for these (in fact the mere idea wounds my soul). You don't need fancy decorations, either. I raided my cupboard for currants, raisins and dried marachino cherries, and a few seconds with a knife gave me all the eyes, buttons and smiles a gingerbread man could need.

And they aren't hard, or bland. They are spicy and chewy and delicious, and the only reason I am not eating the head off my third or fourth cookie right now is because I am heroically restraining myself.

***

THE BEST GINGERBREAD MEN EVER NO REALLY I MEAN IT

Sift into a big bowl and mix:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ground allspice

Beat together in another bowl:
1 egg
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2/3 cup dark molasses
6 tbsp. softened butter

Add dry ingredients slowly to wet mixture until well blended. Cover and refrigerate for one hour.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Sift flour onto your board and your rolling pin as you work to keep the dough from sticking. Roll out a portion of dough 1/4 inch thick. Cut out your gingerbread men with a floured cookie cutter.

Use a spatula to transfer them to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Place 1-2 inches apart. Decorate your gingerbread men with raisins, currants, slices of dried marachino cherries, chocolate chips, M&M's, or whatever you have on hand (kids love to do this part!).

Bake your gingerbread for 8 minutes if you like them chewy. If you like them firmer and crunchier you can leave them in for 9-10 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Recipe supposedly makes 50 if you use a 2-inch cutter -- I got 27 using a 3-inch one. But they're so easy to make I wouldn't mind doing another batch.

***

Enjoy! And don't tell me you iced them or I will come after you with a wiffle bat, you philistine.

Yay, more faeries!

2009-12-09T18:24:22Z

I have been waiting and waiting for the opportunity to share this good news, and today I finally got the go-ahead from my agent to tell the world about it --

I have sold two more faery books to Orchard, my wonderful publisher in the UK!

Like Knife and Rebel, these next two novels will be more or less complete stories in themselves, but (like Rebel) they are also sequels to the earlier books, so we'll be seeing some familiar characters and plot threads cropping up as well.

If all goes well, then Arrow, the third book, will hit bookstores in the UK and Commonwealth in 2011 and Swift, the fourth volume, in 2012.

My delighted thanks to the good folks at Orchard Books UK, and to all the enthusiastic and loyal young readers, librarians, teachers and booksellers overseas who have helped to make my faery books a success!

It's beginning to look a lot like December

2009-12-07T20:02:09Z

Thanks to the anonymous benefactor who gave me my first virtual snowflake cookie of the day, as well as tartanshell and izhilzha for supplying the others. Very fitting on a day when we're getting our first real snowfall of the season here in southwestern Ontario...

I hear that there are storms a-brewing to the south, but at present the snow is drifting from the sky in a picturesque fashion, and the green is still showing through the powder, and I think I shall put on some seasonal music* and make a cup of tea. I might even do some baking -- Snickerdoodles, perhaps.

What about you? What special treats does your family make at this time of the year, and which one is your favorite and why?

--
* That would be actual Christmas carols with some dignity and meaning to them, not the annoying ditties that pass for inoffensive seasonal content. I really think that if I hear anyone's cover version of "Santa Baby" one more time, I will climb up the wall of my local department store and knock the loudspeakers off the ceiling.

My fandom lies over the ocean...

2009-12-05T03:28:19Z

Nearly all my good news these days seems to be coming from the other side of the pond -- which is not a bad thing by any means! But in any case, I found out this week courtesy of some schoolchildren who e-mailed me from the UK that Knife has been nominated for the Hillingdon Secondary School Book of the Year for 2010. The nominees are selected by a team of librarians, copies of the nominated books are read by students at all participating schools and then the final award winner is voted on by the students themselves, so I'm really delighted to be part of this!

And also related to the UK editions of my books, I just completed a short "Meet the Author" video where I talk about the inspirations behind Knife and Rebel, for Orchard Books to use on their website:

I have already been mocked* for the Scarf That Ate Rebecca's Head, so you can hold off on that one. :) Next time I shall know better.

--
* Not by my publisher, I hasten to add. And it was all in good fun anyway.

KNIFE on TV!

2009-12-01T03:41:14Z

Thanks to Rebecca Matthews on Facebook (who hasn't even read my book yet, but says she's planning to), I was just made aware that Knife received a glowing review on The Shak, a popular teen show on Australia's Nine TV network... and after a bit of sleuthing, I was able to hunt down the video. Click on the link below to check it out!

Review This!

Wrath and Love (or, in which I rant about the character of God)

2009-11-30T19:12:45Z

Yesterday, thanks to the kind offices of Twitter, I followed a link to an opinion piece about the recent controversy in the Montgomery County school system, where a teacher is being challenged and accused of corrupting young minds because of the inclusion of certain books in her classroom reading list.

No, that isn't what I'm going to rant about. Actually, the article made some quite good points about the dangers of judging these things hastily or leaping to wrong conclusions about the people or books involved, so there's not much to complain of there.

The column was nevertheless responsible for triggering this rant, however. Because halfway down the page I came across the following statement:

"I believe consenting adults should be able to write, publish, read or surf almost any loony material they please (with the exceptions of child pornography and nuclear secrets), just as I believe they ought to be free to worship anything from the fire-spewing God of the Old Testament to pet rocks."

Think you know what I'm going to rant about now? You're probably wrong. Actually, it was the "fire-spewing God of the Old Testament" part that got my dander up, and not much else.

Is the author of this piece (a pastor no less) actually saying that the God of the OT is completely different from the God of the NT, and one whom only "loony" people would worship? I would hope that I am misunderstanding him on that point, not least for the sake of my Jewish friends. But whether the author means what he appears to be saying or not, he's far from being the first to claim that the God of the Old Testament is somehow significantly different in temperament from the God described in the New. I've been hearing similar assertions from people -- not just skeptics trying to disparage the Bible, but professing believers as well -- all my life.

And quite frankly, it drives me crazy. Because I've been reading and studying the Bible since I was a child -- I've read it cover to cover several times and studied the major books of the Old and New Testament more times than I can count -- and based on everything I can see about God's character as revealed throughout the Bible, the idea that the Old Testament God is a big meanie and the New Testament God is jolly old Santa Claus is just not true.

The question of why God judged and punished certain particularly sinful individuals, cities and nations over the course of Old Testament history is a huge one, one that would require giving every one of those incidents a close and careful examination -- and there's no way I can do that here. But I can say that when you look at many of those incidents, you discover surprising things.

Things like God telling Abraham that his descendants won't be taking over the land of Canaan right away because "the sin of the Amorites [the inhabitants of that land at the time] has not yet reached its full measure". In other words, the Amorites were bad but they weren't bad enough to merit being wiped out -- in fact God was determined to give them another four hundred years to recognize their sin and repent. Similarly, long before the Babylonians swept in to conquer the nation of Israel and take them into exile, God had been sending prophet after prophet to warn the Israelites of their danger and urge them to repent and come back under His protection. Only when Israel had sunk so far into evil that they were sacrificing their own infant children to idols did the worst of their punishment finally come -- and even then, God alternated His messages of judgment and condemnation with assurances that He would not forsake Israel and promises that one day they would be restored to their homeland.

We see this kind of thing again and again in the OT -- instead of a hot-tempered "fire-spewing" God flying off the handle and smiting people right and left, we're presented instead with a God who patiently instructs, corrects, warns, pleads with, and grieves over sinful people for days, weeks, years, decades, even centuries or millennia before He finally steps in to judge and punish them for their sins. And even when the punishment is being carried out, He still shows mercy to those who are willing to acknowledge their sinfulness and invites them to come and be healed.

"As surely as I live," God declared to the prophet Ezekiel, "I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they should turn from their ways and live." Judgment is something He does because it would actually be worse -- indeed evil and uncaring -- for Him to do otherwise, not because He enjoys making people (even wicked people) suffer. That's why He delays, and warns, and pleads, and is patient, as long as He possibly can before things get so bad that He has to step in.

And even in the midst of rebuking and condemning Israel for their gross immorality, injustice and idolatry (details about which the Old Testament is almost nauseatingly explicit, just in case you're tempted to think God is overreacting to some niggling little offences that didn't really hurt anyone), He also compares His love for His people to the love of a faithful husband for a wayward wife, and even the tender love of a nursing mother for her child. He has not written them off completely. He is not washing His hands of them. He longs to bring them back to Him and restore them to wholeness and joy -- the only reason He hasn't done so is because they themselves are not willing to accept the help He offers.

And the Old Testament is full of examples of God showing mercy and compassion to people in need, and urging His servants to do likewise; it's in the Old Testament that we find the lovely and much-quoted Psalm 23, "The Lord is my Shepherd," and many other touching and beautiful words of encouragement. Time and again God's gracious and forgiving character is shown in His dealings with flawed, confused, and sinful people -- the Old Testament is full of misfits and screw-ups and yet God accomplishes great things for and through those misfits and screw-ups nonetheless.

So no, I do not see the God of the Old Testament as some "fire-spewing" barbarian with no patience or tender feelings, whom the enlightened moderns of Christendom have thankfully outgrown. I see a righteous God who loves and cares for those who are weak and needy, and must sometimes bring terrible judgments on those who exploit and oppress them… but who doesn't enjoy doling out those punishments, either, and would much rather not have to.

And then there's the New Testament God, whom we're supposed to believe is nothing but marshmallowy indulgence by comparison. People who hold this view appear to have forgotten that Jesus spoke eleven times about hell for every single time He spoke about heaven; that in the early days of the Christian church Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead by God for lying to the Holy Spirit, and the arrogant Herod struck down by an angel of the Lord so that he was eaten by worms and died; that the book of Hebrews reminds us that "our God is a consuming fire"; and also that the book of Revelation records the most horrific spectacles of human degradation and divine judgment to be found in the whole Bible. Not to mention that according to the gospels and the epistles, God loved the world but deemed the accumulated sins of mankind so profound and terrible that He had to step into human history Himself and undergo ultimate suffering on humanity's behalf -- that no lesser payment or sacrifice could be enough.

You may or may not agree with any of this: you may not think the Bible historically accurate or even in some vague sense "spiritually true". It may be that as far as you've seen, you find both the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New to be unappealing and as such, the idea that they are one and the same hardly matters.

But I do hope this rant of mine makes it at least somewhat evident that the much-touted dividing line between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New is really no wider than a single thin, rustling page... and that the God of the Bible is -- to use a New Testament phrase -- "the same yesterday, and today, and forever," whether you choose to love and trust and worship Him for it or not.

REVIEW: A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner

2009-11-27T03:14:58Z

Today has been a brilliant day, I have to tell you. Being Canadian, I had my Thanksgiving over a month ago, but it might as well have been a holiday around here considering how much goodness has come my way in the last twelve hours.

First, I spent a lovely few hours at the house of a dear RL friend. Then I came home to find that my mother had been baking Saffron Cake in preparation for Christmas, and had left a warm golden loaf of it sitting on my counter. *inhales sentimentally* Ahh.

I was just making tea and preparing to sit down with a slice of saffrony goodness when the doorbell rang and there was the DHL lady with a package from HarperCollins, containing -- oh glory -- the ARC of A Conspiracy of Kings, the latest book by one of my very favorite authors, Megan Whalen Turner.

What can I say about Ms. Turner's Thief series that has not been said already, and better, by more seasoned reviewers than myself? Check out the glowing endorsements from Bookshelves of Doom, A Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy, and Angieville, among others (but ware spoilers on those last two links). These books are, quite simply, superb.

I am happy to say that A Conspiracy of Kings, the latest in the series, absolutely lives up to the promise of the earlier books. I felt confident that it would be a good story, but it even exceeded my wildest expectations of just how good it would be.

No worries, I am not going to spoil this book in my review. I would sooner cut off my hand* than spoil it for anyone. I will tell you no more about its basic premise than you can find in the HarperCollins catalog:

Sophos, heir to Sounis, doesn’t look like much of a prince. At least, according to those in power. At least, to those who do not know him or the size of his heart and the depth of his courage, loyalty, and love. But Helen, Queen of Eddis, knows him, and so does Gen, the queen’s Thief, who is now King of Attolia. Gen and the queen believe that Sophos is dead. But they also believe in hope, especially since a body was never found. So when Sophos is discovered in Attolia, the obvious question becomes: where has he been all this time?

I will say, however, that this summary is slightly misleading. There's so much more to the book than just the question of What Has Sophos Been Up To, gloriously so. There's the usual rich background, diverse cast of characters, byzantine political machinations (but they never get boring, and from someone as infamously apolitical as myself, that's saying something), flashes of wry humor, and unexpected wrenches at the heart. It's subtle and clever and outrageous and surprising and touching and thought-provoking, and all the things I've come to expect from Ms. Turner's writing -- plus some.

And it made me love Sophos -- who never really made it onto my radar in The Thief, being so eclipsed in that book by the irrepressible Gen -- more than I ever imagined possible.

I can't wait until April when everybody else can read this book, so I can discuss it with people like the good folk on sounis, whom I can confidently say are going to love A Conspiracy of Kings as much as I do -- or more. I don't want to overhype it (oh yeah, like I haven't already) to people who haven't read the series, because I am sure there will be readers out there (as with any book however brilliant) who don't connect to the story and the characters the way that I do. But I do feel confident in saying that if you have read the earlier books and are already a fan, A Conspiracy of Kings will definitely not let you down.

A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner will be released on March 23, 2010.**

--
* Sorry. That was bad, I know.
** ON MY BIRTHDAY EVEN. HOW AWESOME IS THAT.

Grief is not a sin

2009-11-25T14:58:43Z

Over the last year or so I've been reading through the Bible at the rate of about a chapter a day. I just finished Jeremiah yesterday, which is a really emotionally tough book if you identify even slightly with Jeremiah*, and as I was reading the first chapter of Lamentations I was struck by a thought that's been creeping up on me for a while.

Grief is not a sin.

Well, duh, you may say. Of course it's okay to grieve. We lose people or hear terrible news or suffer disappointment, we feel sad, it would be monstrous if we didn't react that way. And I think most people would agree that this is the case.

And yet it's easy to fall into the trap of expecting that grief, or lamentation, should only last so long or go so far. Just a nice neat little grief, not too long, something you can swallow back and force a watery smile and then put your chin up and keep marching with a smile on your face. Especially if you call yourself a Christian, because Christians are supposed to be full! of! joy! and count themselves blessed when they suffer tribulation, etc.

And for this reason people -- especially religious people, it seems -- can be amazingly cruel and dismissive toward others who are hurting, by trying to pep them up with positive talk and encourage them to stop focusing on all that negative stuff, or even (the worst) condemning and shunning them if they go on grieving and lamenting past the generally accepted time period for such things.

I think a lot of this comes out of fear -- some of it genuine concern for the grieving person that they may be doing themselves harm and not looking at things in a proper perspective, but more often I think it's a fear that grieving and lamenting is somehow sinful and poisonous and should be shut down quickly before it infects others. A fear that if a person laments about their hardships and their painful situations, they are expressing rebellion against the God who allowed these difficulties in their lives, and are therefore only a few steps away from turning away from God altogether. So the best thing to do is shut it down, bottle it up, and encourage the grieving person to paste on a smile and pretend their troubles aren't nearly as bad as they seem.

What I've been seeing as I read through the Bible, however, is just how unBiblical and ungodly this kind of "put on a happy face!" attitude is. Complaining is a sin -- in the sense of faithlessly whining about a potentially bad situation without even giving God the chance to act on our behalf, or being discontented and ungrateful for the good things He's given us. And bitterness is also a sin -- locking our hearts up so tightly against God and others that we won't forgive, won't accept help or healing. But grieving and lamenting for a genuinely horrible situation? Even at great length and in detail? That's not just allowed, that's something that God Himself does through numerous prophets and other writers of the Bible.

The book of Job is the most obvious proof that grief and lamentation is not sinful in itself -- Job's lament goes on for chapter after chapter as he struggles with his sorrow and his pain and questions why God is allowing this to happen to him (yes, the Bible indicates that questioning God, even bluntly, is not a sin either -- it's all in the attitude with which you do it). But there are also many Psalms that express this kind of desperation and confusion and pain, including Psalm 88 which contains not even the slightest glimmer of hope or uplifting sentiment and ends with the phrase, "The darkness is my closest friend."

Again and again throughout the Bible we're given examples of people honestly and frankly expressing their distress and overwhelming sorrow as they go through hard times. And not once does God swoop in to say, "Now stop that lamenting! Don't you know that my children are supposed to be full of smiles and happiness all the time? You're making Me look bad here!"

So why do we mere human beings so often try to leap in -- not only with others, but even in our own hearts -- to stop the honest grieving? Do we really think God needs us to defend Him?

The book of Lamentations opens with the nation of Israel, personified as a woman, weeping bitterly over her disgrace and exile. After hundreds of years of rebellion and idolatry and covenant-breaking, the people of God were suffering the judgment God had warned would come upon them if they didn't repent -- their enemies had conquered them and taken them away from their land. And now that the worst had happened, Israel was grieving, and regretting, and lamenting all she had lost and all she had done.

And it goes on.

And on.

And on.

For pages and pages.

And as far as God is concerned, that's okay. Indeed, it's only right -- and even good. The pain needs to be fully acknowledged, and explored, and processed, before healing and restoration can begin. However long that takes... and in the case of Israel at this point, it was seventy years.

It's not just in the Old Testament***, either. The shortest verse in the Bible? "Jesus wept." Before the crucifixion He spent a full night grieving intensely, not in some private place of shame but in an open garden right in front of his disciples.

So if this kind of open, frank, unabashed exploration of grief is in the Word of God -- obviously I'm speaking to my co-religionists here -- then why are we so eager to jump in and "rescue" people from grief and regret and lamentation when we see it in our churches and our daily lives?

Sin, and all the things that have gone wrong with our world because of sin, may be the ultimate cause of every grief we suffer, and it's true that one day all tears will be wiped away forever and that will be a very good thing. But until that happens, grieving and lamenting and suffering over sin and hardship are not just tolerable or permissible to a certain limited extent -- they're actually good and right.

So the next time you're genuinely upset over something terrible that has happened to you or someone you love, and somebody comes up to you and chirps, "Oh, well, praise the Lord anyhow!" You should feel free to ~~punch them in the face~~** hand them the book of Lamentations.

--
* Actually, I keep thinking there has to be a YA novel in there somewhere, because God called Jeremiah to be a prophet when he was just a young teenager. I'll keep you posted if I ever figure the plot of that one out.

** See, that's why I usually talk myself out of writing serious blog posts without spending a week editing them first.

*** No belittlement is meant by the use of this term, believe me; I would gladly have used "Tanakh" instead except that some of my non-Jewish readers wouldn't have understood what I mean by it.

Fabulous Book Giveaways!

2009-11-25T13:56:40Z

Two fantastic book prize packages are being given away soon, and my book is in both of them!

First, my fellow fantasy authors over at enchantedinkpot are running the First Annual Inkies Giveaway Extravaganza, with prizes including three bundles of eight books each -- one focused on Fairy Tales and Folklore (that's mine!), one on Adventure and Witchcraft, and another on Ancient Curses, Modern Ghosts, and Post-Apocalyptic stories. These prize packages contain a couple of droolworthy ARCs and some bestselling titles, so head on over and check it out! Contest runs until December 9, 2009.

Second, the stupendous Debs Library contest is still running over at debut2009! If you're a library professional and would like to win 46 free books by the debut authors of 2009 for your school or public library, zip on over and enter while there's still time -- the draw will be held on January 1, 2010.

Hamlet would have been a terrible blogger

2009-11-25T00:57:02Z

It occurred to me tonight as I was doing dishes that there's a reason Hamlet is my favorite of Shakespeare's tragedies. (Yeah, I think about stuff like that while doing the dishes. I'm a little crazy that way.)

Anyway, even as a teenager I sympathized and identified with Hamlet even when I could see how his actions were leading him to disaster. I totally get how Hamlet behaves in that play, with his moral indignation at odds with his need to consider things from every possible perspective, and his fatal tendency to "think too precisely on the event" when he ought to be taking action. Because he's so very like me that way.

I overthink everything, and more often than not I end up talking myself out of doing anything whatsoever. (This is particularly disastrous when I go shopping, as you might imagine.) It's really easy to convince myself that having given the matter some serious thought, even if nobody else in the entire world but me and God knows that I thought about it at all, is enough.

So no wonder I don't blog much these days. I think so hard about what I should post and whether I should post and whether I have the mental energy to write a really good post or not (and the answer is, most often, "not"), that nine-tenths of my thoughts and opinions never make it to the end of my fingers. Which has the advantage of keeping me from saying things I might later regret, but that hardly seems important if I don't end up saying much of anything at all.

Which is a rambling way of saying that I'm going to try and overcome that, and blog more often from now on. Just so I don't end up killing myself and my whole family leaving only my best friend to mourn me, you understand.

(P.S. I said that I get Hamlet, but I should mention that my favorite character in that whole play is Horatio.)

"We do not like your jokes..."

2009-11-24T21:09:59Z

It is possible that there is something more entertaining on the Internet today than the Muppets performing their own skewed take on "Bohemian Rhapsody", but somehow I doubt it.

I am going to be grinning idiotically about this all day. Thanks to Jeffrey Overstreet for the tip. And for more Muppety video goodness, check out shoebox2's recent post.

Flying Visits

2009-11-18T20:26:15Z

I drove to Toronto this morning to do an author visit with fifty schoolchildren aged 9-11, and it was so much fun. The kids all sat cross-legged on the floor and looked up at me with big eyes, which is pretty endearing to start with, and they were really attentive while I was talking about the book and reading. And afterward, they asked great questions -- I've been amazed by the insight and degree of interest some of these kids have in the process of writing.

I got a chuckle out of the boy in the front row who raised his hand toward the end of the session and asked plaintively, "Do you have any books that aren't about faeries?" He was so polite about it!

Really, I love doing visits and readings. And I hope to do some more of them now that I've joined the Skype an Author Network, which makes me potentially available to school groups, book clubs, and libraries all over the world by web chat. I got to do a little test run with a group of librarians yesterday thanks to kmessner, just a 15-minute meet the author thing (including a super-short reading from Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter), and it went off without a hitch.

So if you're a librarian or a teacher anywhere in the world, and you think you might like to have me speak to your school group or book club, check out my author page on Skype an Author Network and drop me a line!

Techno-Glee!

2009-11-17T23:40:26Z

I have been completely scatterbrained and generally useless these past few days, because on Friday the nice UPS man knocked at my door and brought me my new 15" MacBook Pro.

It has been nearly ten years since I worked on an Apple computer -- I used to use one when I worked in graphic design, but the PowerMacs we had there crashed and froze up almost as much as the PCs I was used to, and I really couldn't see what was supposed to be so great about them.

I take it back, Apple. I take it ALL back. Maybe I am just beguiled by the novelty of having a real shiny modern laptop instead of the giant 11-year-old Toshiba boat anchor I bought on the cheap a couple of years ago; maybe I am just excited about being able to access e-mail and the Web whenever I want. But no, I think it's more than that. It's just so nicely designed and has so many sensible and intuitive features! And although I still have a lot to learn about how to use it properly (and a lot of files and e-mails to somehow transfer from my PC to the laptop, ack!), it didn't take me long to get a handle on the basics.

Anyway, yes. My new laptop has a nice matte titanium finish and a shiny monitor that renders fonts and images with amazing sharpness, and the battery lasts for SEVEN HOURS, and already I am thinking I need to name this thing, which I have never wished to do with any other piece of computer equipment I've ever owned.

(Oh, who am I kidding? I've already named it. Go ahead, guess what it's called -- the first one to guess correctly gets a virtual prize!)

ETA: I suppose it's not fair to assume people know the workings of my brain (though pgoodman13 did come quite close with the explanation, just the wrong guess!) or can be expected to remember the name of a character in a book that's not even sold yet. Anyway, I'm calling it Faraday, because I bought it as a reward for finishing Touching Indigo.

WAYFARER Cover -- Revealed!

2009-11-12T23:59:32Z

Wayfarer Cover
Originally uploaded by rj-anderson

An earlier version of this cover is up already as part of the HarperCollins Summer 2010 Catalog entry for Wayfarer, but I thought it would be nice to post the more up-to-date version. So here it is! Just click to embiggen if you want more detail.

And here's the jacket copy to go with it:

The faeries of the Oak are dying, and it’s up to a lone faery named Linden to find a way to restore their magic. Linden travels bravely into dangerous new territory, where she enlists the help of an unlikely friend—a human named Timothy. Soon they discover something much worse than the Oakenfolk’s loss of magic: a potent evil that threatens the fate of all faeries. In a fevered, desperate chase across the country, Timothy and Linden risk their lives to seek an ancient power before it’s too late to save everyone they love.

R. J. Anderson has artfully crafted a world of stunning magic, thrilling adventure, and delicate beauty, where a girl far from home must defeat the pervasive evil befalling her beloved faery realm.

The official publication date for Wayfarer is April 27, 2010.

I went to North Carolina and all I got was this major award nomination

2009-11-09T13:59:35Z

This past Thursday I flew down to the AASL (American Association of School Librarians) conference in Charlotte, NC to meet some fellow debut2009 authors, hang out with my agent, drive up to visit cesario, and maybe, if all went well, get to sign a few of my books at the AASL PitStop. Those were my expectations, and they were modest and practical ones, and I had no idea that there was even the possibility of anything more. Especially since I'd left my laptop at home, my Canadian cell phone doesn't work in the US, and I wouldn't have access to e-mail or Internet until I got back Sunday night.

So I was wholly unprepared, when I met the Debs for breakfast on Friday morning, to find out from carrie_ryan that Knife has been nominated for one of the most prestigious children's book awards in the English-speaking world. The Carnegie Medal. We are talking the British equivalent of the Newbery or the National Book Award, people. C.S. Lewis won it for The Last Battle. So did Richard Adams for Watership Down.

I may have stared blankly at Carrie for about thirty seconds before I started flailing. And then I spent the whole weekend in a happy daze and I haven't come down since.

Congratulations to my fellow nominees sarahtales (The Demon's Lexicon) and halseanderson (Chains)!