Whispersync Will Change Your (Book) Life

Obviously I’m a massive reader but last year I really struggled to get through many books. Instead I was watching TV shows on my commute and, as it turns out, that’s the only time I really have for reading. So I set myself a goal of reading more books this year and one of the things I’m using to achieve it is audiobooks.

The only time I’ve used audiobooks in the past was when I was a kid and I listened to Roald Dahl stories on cassette during long car journeys. I remember loving the atmosphere and getting to hear the characters was amazing to my young mind. It also meant I could get on with other important things at the same time, like playing Sonic the Hedgehog on my GameGear.

The Wait Continues

I'm not sure I'm okay. I mean, it's just so frustrating and disappointing, two emotions I do not do well. I'll grin and bear it, like always, but I... just... don't know. I don't know how much more of this I can take.

Winds of Winter will not be coming out before March.

In fact it may not be coming out for some time, as according to Mr. Martin there is "a lot still left to write. I am months away still... and that's if the writing goes well." 

I sometimes wish I hadn't started reading the damned books and had started with the TV show instead. Especially as at this point I'm going to be as clueless as everyone else come Season 6 in April, which will no doubt have spoilers for the books. Then again shoulda, coulda, woulda isn't my style so I'll go into the next season hoping they continue the trend of diverging massively from the books. And where they cross, well, at least it means I get to find out what happens. Because the more Winds of Winter is delayed (and the consequential delay to the one after it, A Dream of Spring) the more I fear a Mervyn Peak situation. If that were to happen I'm not sure how I'd handle it - to say I'm invested in The Song of Ice and Fire would be... an understatement. It just doesn't bear thinking about.

No erotica before ten - at least in Germany

Something I find endlessly fascinating are the differences between cultures and countries on this fair planet of ours; the varieties in aesthetics, practices and outlooks is a great reminder to take nothing for granted. However, sometimes you're left boggled by decisions made in parts of the world.

Germany have now introduced a law that prohibits ebooks aimed at adults to be sold before 10 PM and after 6 AM, local time. The German Publishers & Booksellers Association has been told by the Youth Protection Authority that all ebooks are now subject to the same controls that have existed for print media since 2002, which limits the sale of hardcovers, paperbacks, magazines, and graphic novels to minors when those material are clearly aimed at adults. From now on all publishing houses and self-publishers will need to fill in a new field in the metadata calling out if the content is for an adult audience.

The oddness of this decision is mitigated by the fact that it may not in fact be enforced; Germany have a number of rules around what can and can't be sold or shown but these aren't always followed. With the fine being €500,000 for breaking the law though it will be surprising if new adult sections don't start popping up in online book stores across Germany.

From my time in the DVD world, I know that similar rules exist for rated 18 and up movies and TV, to the point where even buying them abroad can result in them being confiscated by customs until you prove your age (though it's a rare occurrence). But books are an odd medium to put these kind of age limits on; reading isn't as easy as sitting back and watching a movie, or playing a video game. Britain doesn't currently (and hopefully never will) have an age rating on books. Graphic novels are also not rated, though there may be an argument for that given they're much more of a visual medium then books. I'm not sure where I stand on this; I read a lot of non-age appropriate books and comics growing up, but then again my mum bought those for me after checking them... 

Is it okay to sell a copy of Fifty Shades of Grey to an eight-year-old, without a guardian present? Do we control the distribution of books by a person's age? And why does the idea of  that make a shiver go down my spine? Worth puzzling over, but I suspect there are no easy answers; and in the meantime each culture will do what works (or seems to) for them. See, I told you cultural variety is interesting.

The Strange World of Guilty Pleasures

There's been a recent kerfuffle over whether adults should or should not be embarrassed about reading Young Adult books. The original article in Slate came in for some criticism which the author, Ruth Graham of the original piece, has responded to as best as a critic can, though it seemed to boil down to, "what I think is a worthy book is good, anything else is not". It got me thinking overall about the strange phenomena known as "guilty pleasures" and why exactly we should feel bad about liking something.

The only media I have ever felt that my tastes may be judged is music. This is what happens when you have an ex-folk singer for a Mum and a late-60s/early-70s rock connoisseur for a Dad. I admit it changed my listening habits growing up, so I refused to even listen to mainstream Pop (or did so secretly on the radio on my Walkman) and I was a huge Indie Rock fan in the 90s. As it happens I do generally prefer Rock and Alternative over other types of music. But I no longer bar Pop music from my iPod; I have a collection of Beyonce, Lady Gaga and even Ms. Spears (among many others) that I listen to when I want a bit of light relief. Some of it is "good" and some of it is not, if such subjective measurements can ever really be assigned to something as personal as music. But I like the songs, which is ultimately all that matters. And yes, I take great pleasure in telling my parents this and arguing with them that Lady Gaga is actually really rather good if you give her a try. They remain unconvinced. I remain unrepentant. We talk about other things.

My current read and to be read pile #5
So, which of these books am I meant to feel guilty about exactly?

Graham's assertions seem a bit odd to me and I've long wondered why one piece of art or media is more deserving than another. I've done my duty and read or tried to read the classics;

• Great Expectations - dull, only ever get to the fourth or fifth chapter before I give up
• Moby Dick - good, but massively racist and the language is so hard to read with this damned 21st century perspective.
• War and Peace - just no.
• Pride and Prejudice - love, love, love. I've reread it so many times I now have two versions; one well thumbed and one intact for future read-throughs.
• The Odyssey - adore and again have re-read countless times.

The only thing the books I like have in common is that I like them. Yes, there's common features such as interesting female characters, magical or supernatural elements or explorations of far flung worlds and future times. But I'll give anything a go, especially in film and TV (takes less time to consume so even if I don't like it I won't have lost more than a few hours of my life) so the idea I should feel guilty for enjoying something just seems… odd. If I like a thing all it says is that I like it. Nothing more. It may mean a friend of mine likes it too, if we share the same tastes. Then again, maybe it won't. But no one needs to be embarrassed or feel guilty, regardless whether we both like a thing or don't.

A big part of this whole discussion over "guilty pleasures" or keeping your penchant for glittering vampires secret, is simply snobbery; some folks think they're better than others and they use a person's taste in entertainment to justify that view. I'll be perfectly honest here and say I have much the same problem but in reverse; I have no time for literary novels and watch very few (if any) art films or "serious" films. I generally find them boring and tedious, which inevitably makes me judge people who like these things with the assumption that they likely share these characteristics. It's wrong and unfair, but it is what it is. However I would never tell them they shouldn't watch or read in these genres. That's none of my business. I wonder how long it will be before the favour is returned the other way? In the meantime I'll continue to watch my Buffy the Vampire Slayer on repeat, cheer away to Kaiju being hit in the face by giant robots and delve into the latest novel (YA or otherwise) that feature vampires, assassins, sorceresses, the undead, aliens, conspiracies or any combination of the above.

Realising My Reading Habits are Unusual

My reading habits are not the norm. Not because I read fiction about hedgehogs in space (though I totally would if that was a thing) but because the majority of the books I have read in my life are by women writers. After reading a great piece about the lack of women writer's represented in bookshops, not to mention in literature generally, I realised I am not typical in my reading choices.

When I first took those tentative steps into the realm of Fantasy and Science Fiction I was blessed to have a mum who loved these genres too. And who also had an unusual habit of picking stories by women. She did this for the same reason I now do; they tend to write about women main characters. It's not that I will discriminate against male writers. In fact I'm currently reading my fourth book in a row written by a man. And in all those cases the main protagonists have, in the main, been male. Again this isn't a problem but I begin to feel a bit under represented if I carry this on too long. Tellingly the next book I've chosen to read is written by Tanith Lee and is based around a female main character.

Mum's collection has definitely had an influence; growing up it never crossed my mind that women writing Science Fiction or Fantasy was unusual, or even something that would present any hurdles. I know better now. In any bookshop, in any genre (apart from Romance) it's a tough task to try to find new books written by women. Seriously, go count them the next time you're in a bookshop or online. It's thoroughly depressing. And yet women appear to make up the majority of readers. So what's going on?

Personally I see a great many women writers on my Twitter feed, but then again I would wouldn't I? It's classic subjective bias. In the industry itself we have women editors saying they'd love to sign up more women writers but find they just don't get the same amount of submissions as they do from men. We also have existing women writers (particularly in the Science Fiction & Fantasy genre) stating they've experienced discrimination because of their gender. I'd add that it's no coincidence that "Joanne Rowling" went with the moniker of "J. K. Rowling" when she came to having her fantasy series published that features a little boy as the main character. Because industry logic seems to be that boys won't read a book if it has a women's name on it and boys/men are the target market (despite not reading as many books as girls/women). Hell, it's no coincidence that I go by my initials rather than my name on the interweb - I get less hassles that way. I also want to use it as my writer name, but mainly due to liking the opportunity to use my otherwise forgotten initials and liking my privacy, rather than because I think it will help sales. Though I do admit, it crossed my mind.

A lot of this boils down to issues far larger than just the literary sphere. In Europe and the USA we still have deeply entrenched gender roles going on, along with the usual stereotypes this brings. If anything, I think we're becoming more obsessed with gender division, not less, if the current trend in gender segregation of toys is anything to go by. What it all means though is it marks women who write Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, or any genre other than Romance, as unusual (and the resultant curse of always being called a "woman writer" *shudder*) and it marks boys who read as "soft" or "wimps" *deeper shudder*. All thoroughly depressing but what can we do about it? Here's my plan:

1. Ignore it utterly and write the best stories I can in whatever genre I like.
2. Encourage everyone to read. Every. One.
3. Never be put off from doing something just because it's deemed "unusual".
4. Call out anyone who says otherwise, as long as it's safe and productive to do so.

It's not that we should read books because they're written by a woman, or not read them because they were written by a man, but we should, at the very least, notice if we tend to swerve one way or another and think about why. In fact, most choices we make in life could do with us stopping to notice if there is some bias in what we're doing that we weren't even aware of. But, for me, the most important thing is to keep being as unusual as possible.

Reading Resolutions

As always I've set myself some goals for the year, except this time I'm breaking it down into 12 week chunks. Every 12 weeks I have a number of things I'm going to do (there is no try!) and one of those things is to read more. It may sound strange but I find I only read when I'm travelling now and while it means I have regular reading time everyday, it's hard to get into a story when I know I'm going to have to stop within 40 minutes of starting. I'll also try to record on here or on my other social media what I've read as I finish it, but I'm more interested in trying to get through at least three books every 12 weeks (depending on length).

This has all come about because I was given a lot of books for Christmas this year; not just new ones but also my Mum's sci-fi/fantasy collection, as she's looking to clear out some space. It's a bit like getting my inheritance early as I've been coveting her books for as long as I could read. The picture below includes a lot of her books:

See all those Tanith Lee, Anne McCaffrey, Megan Lindholm and (out of shot) Sheri Tepper books? All of those (and the ones behind them) are my Mum's, collected over the last 40+ years. Most are original publications and I think I'm going to have to learn how to repair books as some of their pages are coming loose. I've read a lot of them already, in my formative teen years (thanks to Mum) and would love to read them again as an adult. But I want to keep reading stories I've not read before too, hence the reading goals.

Right now I'm reading "The Passage" by Justin Cronin and "Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters" by Rick Riordan. They're different enough from each other that it's refreshing to read them at the same time (well not literally of course - even I'm not that good) and I'm finding I'm noticing the writing techniques a lot more as a result. It also helps that one is on Kindle and one is physical, which is something I might try to continue as part of the goal. That and because I just bought a tonne of Kindle books for cheap in Amazon's 12 Days of Christmas sale. There's no such thing as too much to read after all.

Oh, and I also got a load of art and comic books over Christmas too. I need to fit them in somehow…

I'm interested if I'm the only one who finds it a struggle to keep up the reading rate, with the many shiny distractions the world has for us. How do you ensure you keep up with reading? Or do you not? Do you have any tips on how to fit more reading into your life? All comments and muttering will be welcome.

Sexing up the Classics

After a lull in the bloggage, I thought I'd share my take (you mean rant surely? ed.) on the news that some classic works of fiction are getting sexed up in the wake of the brainwashing juggernaut that is the Fifty Shades books. Up front I'll say I haven't read the Fifty Shades books - I got the original fan-fic and nearly wet myself with laughter trying to read some of the worst prose I've ever seen; "I scowl with frustration at myself in the mirror." (Who the hell else would you be scowling at while looking in a mirror?), "I gasp and all the muscles deep in my belly clench... my inner goddess is doing the dance of seven veils" (Mwa ha ha ha ha!) . But they're selling like hot cakes, with free handcuffs, so it's no surprise someones come along and thought of a way to jump on the rumpypumpy-wagon. Enter "Total-E-Bound Publishing", who intend to release erotic versions of classic pieces of literature, including Wuthering Heights, Northanger Abbey, and A Study in Scarlet. Claire Siemaszkiewiczm, the founder of Total-E-Bound Publishing, says, "We're not rewriting the classics. We're keeping the original prose and the author's voice. We're not changing any of that."

Oh, that's alright then. Because, if you rewrote the whole thing, that would be more insulting then shoehorning in a sex scene where none previously existed. And I'm sure it's just a coincidence that it would also be a lot harder for your "writers" to rewrite a whole book from scratch...

School Reading Lists Suck (aka Childhood Torture Through Books)

I know it's been all quiet on this Western Front for a while. I think my brain is still in holiday mode and is taking a while to get back into gear. But I am slowly returning to my writing schedule. Slowly.

Today I saw an article about books that deserved to be banned. Swallowing my automatic reaction of "How dare they!? No books deserve to be banned" I read on to find that it was a discussion about the books that would be better to not include in classrooms and schools as mandatory reading. And not due to any religious, moral, or ethical concerns but purely because the books are no fun to read when you're a kid. I can definitely relate to that. I recall being inflicted with tortuous books in High School and College. I've purged the books before that from my mind so have no idea what they were anymore. So here is my list of books I was forced to study, and why I hated them, as well as the ones I loved (y'know, for comparison's sake):

The Harry Potter Hunt Continues

I saw this over the weekend and thought it was an interesting read for anyone into books or writing them. We all know that with the final instalment of the Harry Potter series recently released to cinemas, publishers and studios alike are on the lookout for the "next Harry". Well, the latest to be submitted is The Night Circus, the debut book by Erin Morgenstern. The story goes that this is her first novel, ever, and with not even a short story published before she has suddenly been catapulted into the big time. Not by sales (the book isn't out until September), but by marketing and investment from the publishers, with Summit Entertainment already snapping up the film rights. And it isn't even out yet...

Harry Potter Special - The Top Ten Best Things About Harry Potter

In honour of the release of the last film of the Harry Potter franchise (until Rowling realises what a money train she's given up and writes some sequel or even prequel stuff), I thought I'd do a list of my top 10 favourite things from Harry Potter. That's the books, the films, the universe - everything. Narrowing it down to ten has been... tricky, so apologies if I leave out something you consider to be really obvious. So, in ascending order...

The Trylle Trilogy by Amanda Hocking

This isn't a traditional review, more like my personal impressions and thoughts about the Trylle trilogy from Amanda Hocking. It includes the three books, "Switched", "Torn", and "Ascend". I decided to try Hocking's books as I had heard about her achievements and thought it would be interesting to see what kind of quality a self-published book (or series of books) could achieve, from someone who must be doing something right judging by her level of success. What I discovered was an interesting take on Young Adult fantasy romance, which though it's formulaic in some ways is also different enough to stand out from the crowd.

Bookstores - Done and Dusted?

Poor Borders. They're really not having a good 2011. Though they didn't have a very good 2010 either, or 2009, 2008, 2007... they've been struggling for a while and it's arguably only due to the overall unstable economy throughout the world that made everyone see just how bad things were for them. And they're not alone - other book chains are also suffering and we face the very real possibility that within a few years there will be no book stores on the high street.

Recent news about Borders has been that another 16 stores are closing in Australia, following the closure of many stores in the U.S., and it seems that even publishers have lost faith in the company and are no longer willing to give them books to sell unless they can pay for them immediately. Personally I think this is all terrible news for readers and authors both. What's happening at Borders now is likely going to happen to other bookstores soon, and this is not good for anyone.