HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!! And a Tag :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day. :) I hope youse all have a wonderful, lovely day. Me, I am going to have a BEAUTIFUL day. Count on it. We are going to have Irish coffees, and yummy desserts, and all kinds of good stuff. Wine and beer and things like that. :)

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Now, the Literary Dinner Party Tag! I will be honest. I was not tagged. But Treskie shared the idea with me, so I decided I was going to do it, tag or no tag! For that reason, I'm not tagging either. However, if you want to do this cool tag, by all means do! Just let me know, kay? I want to read your post too as well. :)

So, for this tag you are going to plan a dinner party. The guests? Characters from your favorite books! So review all the books you own, and get ready.

FOR THIS PARTY, INVITE:

1.) One character who likes to cook.

I'm going to invite dear old Mr. Clarkson from Mixed Blessings. He's an eccentric man who takes over the cooking duties from his distracted, too-busy landlady. :)

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2. One character who has money to fund the party.

Sara Crewe from A Little Princess: either before her father died and she lost her money, or after the Indian gentleman takes her in as his daughter.

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3. One character who might cause a scene.

Nick Mallory, from the Merlin Conspiracy. MmmHmmm. :)

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4. One character who is funny/amusing.

He is not a person. Does that matter? I'd invite Polar Bear from The Father Christmas Letters. He's always good for a laugh!

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5. One character who is super social/popular.

Peter Guthrie, from Bloomability. "Sono Libero, Libero, Liberooooo!"

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6. One villain.

The Man Jack, from Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book. He is creeeeeeepy!

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7. One couple (doesn't have to be romantic).

Well, it's gonna be! Morgon of Hed and Raederle! I love, love, love these two. Quite so much. :)

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8. One hero/heroine.

Cyril from Pageant of Life. He. Is. Amazing.

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9. One under-appreciated character.

Faramir, son of Denethor, from The Lord of the Rings. There is a man completely under-appreciated by most readers. 

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10. One character of your own choosing.
Just one? Very well. It'll have to be a Diana Wynne Jones character. I'd invite Chrestomanci!

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There you go! I hope you enjoyed that. I rather did. It would be quite an epic gathering: some high fantasy characters, talking their archaic talk, some normal fantasy characters nattering away like Brits, some saintly people, some not-so-saintly people, and some not people! It would be interesting, indeed. :)

I have a couple new items I'm going to post in my Etsy shop in the next couple days, so when I do that I'll post some pictures here for you. :)

If you decide to do this tag, let me know! I want to check out your post. :) :)

Until next time,

God bless!

Cat

P.S. This is my 300th post! That's exciting. :)

Aunt Maria: by Diana Wynne Jones

The whole ordeal with Aunt Maria probably would never have happened if Dad hadn't driven off the road on his way to visit Aunt her in the village of Cranbury-on-Sea. But he did, and that's how Aunt Maria entered into the lives of Christian and Naomi Laker.

Before they have a chance to catch their breath, Chris and Naomi (more familiarly referred to as "Mig") find themselves bundled in the car with their suitcases and speeding off with Mum to Cranbury-on-Sea to tend to poor old Aunt Maria.

At first, Aunt Maria seems to be a demure old woman, cuddly as a teddy bear and oozing forbearance and patience. But there is a hard, iron side to Aunt Maria that can hardly be believed at first because it is cushioned so sneakily between layers of fluff and sweetness. But gradually the Lakers realise that they are expected to keep house, look after Aunt Maria, and provide the cakes (home-made, not store-bought, mind!) for the tea parties that Aunt Maria has every day with other women from the village.

This is bad enough, but gradually Chris and Mig discover that not only is Aunt Maria not what she seems, but the whole village is amiss. Men wander around like grey-suited zombies. The children are locked away in an institution-like orphanage and chaperoned by some of the ladies that attend Aunt Maria's tea parties. There is a ghost that keeps appearing to Chris at night, and the cat that stalks around outside Aunt Maria's house looks suspiciously like the servant that had been in Aunt Maria's employ before the Lakers arrived.

Aunt Maria's quavering gentleness is offset by Chris's incredibly rude attitude toward her, which becomes refreshing as the book goes on because Aunt Maria just gets more and more sweetly horrendous and you can't wait for Chris to speak his mind. You know there's going to be a point where something happens, for Aunt Maria has to be more than just an eccentric old woman with a whole village wrapped around her finger. Could she be a witch?

Once she turns Chris into a wolf, it seems pretty likely. But how will Mig be able to break the spell on Chris, release the ghost, and save the whole village of Cranbury-on-Sea from Aunt Maria's clutches by herself?

Diana Wynne Jones has written another zinger of a story. Aunt Maria is this perfect villain, devious and horrendous while at the same being so perfectly cozy, and Mig is portrayed as the perfect shy foil to Aunt Maria's prodigious slyness. Before the end of the book you are heartily hating Aunt Maria and just waiting for the climax when you know she will be taken down.

This book can be found on Amazon under the titles of AUNT MARIA and BLACK MARIA.

My rating: *****

Six-Sentence Saturday 01/14/2012

Hello again, dedicated readers!

1.) Some of my family and I are going to watch WAR HORSE today - I'm super excited!

2.) I received a massive amount of Diana Wynne Jones books, and I'm going through them very methodically and devouring them.

3.) I'm on the second stage of my revision process on one of my WIP's, and I've just started editing chapter seven.

4.) Don't let anyone tell you - EVER! - that revision is easy, 'cause it's NOT.

5.) I keep having odd and random dreams that play out like book plots, and this new one that I just had last night makes me think I've been reading too MUCH Diana Wynne Jones, if such a thing is possible... it was just that bizarre!

6.) I just received an email from my Josh Groban subscription that says Josh is starting on a NEW ALBUM!! That is the news of the year for me right there. HURRAY FOR 2012!

That's all for now, except I'm also going to share the new Josh Groban music video of his fabulous song "If I walk Away." Enjoy, and God bless.

Six-Sentence Saturday 01/07/2012

Happy Day-After-Epiphany! In case you missed my Epiphany post at In Principio, you can read it here. I hope you enjoy it. I just adore Epiphany, especially since my family and I celebrate it with wine, food, and gifts.

So, here are the six sentences:

1.) I got a BOOKWYRM for Epiphany!!!... actually, it was the gift I saved from Christmas, but still, isn't he adorable?

2.) I also got a gorgeous shawl that my Mom made for me, of a beautiful blue sparkly yarn inset with lovely pearl beads so that it looks a bit like the night sky and a bit like Eowyn's cape in this scene in the Lord of the Rings. (Click here for more images of her fantastic Starry Mantle!)

3.) I wish I knew how Diana Wynne Jones' mind worked... her stories are just brilliant.

4.) I think there is nothing quite so lovely as a piece of unmarked paper.

5.) I can look up Tim Hawkins and LOLcats and laugh over them for hours.

6.) In my book, an LOLcat picture is worth MORE than a thousand words.

That's all for now. Talk to you later!

God bless.

Tough Guide to Fantasyland: by Diana Wynne Jones

Diana Wynne Jones' book, The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, is a must for the Fantasy writer working on avoiding cliche stories and creating whole new worlds that don't rely on standard formulae.

Unlike many "how-to" books, the TOUGH GUIDE is more of a handbook for the hardcore Tourist making his/her way through Fantasyland. It's set up to give you definitions of certain elements of Fantasyland while providing you with insight in how not to make your story same-old, same-old.

You open to the first official page, and you are greeted by a map. This is Fantasyland. It's a completely useless map but you are advised to keep it and peruse it at intervals, for it is the only map you'll get. Next comes a couple pages of Rules provided by the MANAGEMENT, after which you come across a page of identification elements. These are simply sign-post drawings that inform you whether or not the definition given pertains to something MAGICAL, PERSON, ANIMAL, BATTLE and/or FIGHTING. Of course, there are more categories than that, but these are some of the more important few.

Next, you can turn to the section labeled Toughpick, and here, arranged alphabetically and tidily from A to Z, you can peruse the main elements of Fantasy writing. Here you'll discover fascinating tidbits. For example, for some inexplicable reason, the further North and snowy you go, the scantier people dress, wearing only loincloths and armbands. Vice versa, the further South and sunny you travel, you meet the DESERT NOMADS wrapped to the eyeballs in robes and veils. Also you discover that, despite the shocking lack of sheep, everyone seems to wear clothing made of wool, and though no cow ever graces the pages of Fantasyland folk somehow manage to find leather boots.

In addition you'll learn about:

• Apostrophes (their cunning placement and use of in Fantasyland)
• Capital Letters (and their liberal use amongst the folk of Fantasyland)
• Colour Coding (and how to pay attention to people's eyes, hair, and clothing in order to discern if they are good or evil)
• Ecology (or lack thereof)
• Hares (and how often they are mistaken for Rabbit)
• Horses (and their amazing abilities unique to Fantasyland)
• Management (and how they assist you through your Tour)
• Official Management Terms (and how they help you understand your Tough Guide better)
• Reek of Wrongness (provided to never, ever, ever let you confuse your bad guys with your good guys)
• Swords (magical, non-magical, and the use of such a weapon)
• Stew (the only Food you'll get in Fantasyland, aside from Bread)
• Water (and how untainted it is throughout Fantasyland)
• and Zombies.

Throughout the book certain words will be italicized with the official OMT trademark beside it, to show this is an Official Management Term and not a mere phrase only.

Also for your enjoyment, at the top of each alphabetical index is a Gnomic Utterance for you to read and absorb. Have a nice Tour through Fantasyland!

The Imagination of J.R.R. Tolkien

I went to Borders again last weekend, and I found a book on J.R.R. Tolkien's world building. As though that wasn't enough, my family and I also watched the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy during the Labor Day weekend. All this Lord of the Rings inundation firmly implanted this knowledge inside me: Tolkien is a storytelling master!

J.R.R. Tolkien is my idea of the greatest storyteller. Not only did he create the most glorious and epic tale of heroic deeds and ultimate sacrifice, he was also nit-picky regarding the details of his world. Did you know that there's a chapter in The Two Towers where Samwise Gamgee is cooking his "conies", and Tolkien had to take a break from writing because he had to make sure the moon that was appearing in that chapter was the same as the moon that was appearing in a different chapter but on the same timeline? You've got to admire that kind of dedication.

I love his language, too. I love the way he wrote the Elvish languages of Quenya and Sindarin, and used Old English for his Rohirrim. Even the Nùmenòreans had a language all their own. Don't you just adore that kind of passion, that drives you to really make your world rooted in people's imagination?

I know there are some people that think his kind of language, his style, his dedication to description and culture is over-the-top. Some people get bored with that in-depth grounding. But me, I share a little bit of that passion. You have an actual world, not just a cardboard cutout.

His kind of writing is something I aspire to.

However, along with that kind of inspiring writing, I also want to write like Diana Wynne Jones. You will never meet two very different fantasy writers. He's so epic, and she's so... funny!!

Last, I wanted to let you know that Ruth Schiffman is hosting a giveaway over at her blog, Out on a Limb. Come on down and participate! There are some lovely books being given away. You will have fun joining in on the giveaway. I promise!

God bless.

The Art of World Craft from Other Writers' Writings

How perfect does the world you craft for your story have to be? Do you read other writer's books in order to glean some little sparklet of genius from their words?

Some authors really do it for me. Patricia McKillip is one author who just delights in her words, and in her worlds. She weaves together the most remarkable terms in order to create a shockingly vivid picture. Her lands, her worlds, her sense of place is solid and firm and there. You can't visualize another land except the one she snares you in during the duration of her tale. You're there, in Hed, in Sealy Head, in Ombria, wherever she takes you.

Diana Wynne Jones, of course, is another writer that does it for me. She has a real talent for picking random words, combining them, and creating a word that is completely new, bizarre, and amazingly perfect. She also has a vivid sense of place. She writes, and her worlds come alive. In between the pages you can believe in magic, in a series of worlds numbered 1-12, in an askew sense of normality. She knows how to draw you in and keep you there, in Ingary, in Dalemark, wherever she takes you.

Tolkien is the one I go to for sheer inspiration. I read what he writes, and the poetry in his words refreshes me, makes me think, makes me wonder about my world, and my worldbuilding. His sense of place, his intricate attention to detail make him one of my fantasy heroes of all times. Plus, he has a great way with words.

Below is one of my favourite passages from his book, "The Silmarillion." The beauty of his language sings like poetry.

"Then the discord of Melkor spread ever wider, and the melodies which had been heard before foundered in a sea of turbulent sound. But Iluvatar sat and hearkened until it seemed that about his throne there was a raging storm, as of dark waters that made war one upon another in an endless wrath that would not be assuaged.

Then Iluvatar arose, and the Ainur perceived that he smiled; and he lifted up his left hand, and a new theme began amid the storm, like and yet unlike to the former theme, and it gathered power and had new beauty."

From: The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien

Taken from the first chapter of The Silmarillion, with the creation of the world and the re-harmonizing of Melkor's first discord.

Wednesday: On Reading

Some writers are so brilliant, I just want to imitate them.

If you don't know it yet, I'll tell you right now. Diana Wynne Jones is one of my favourite authors in the world. She's so imaginative, and she just loves to play with words. When you read one of her books, you can generally tell it's written by her just by the way she uses words. No one else employs word usage quite the same way she does.

When I find a book by her that I have not yet read, I feel amazingly blessed that I have a chance to savour her style again. Whenever she writes, her stories are from a perspective that is entirely fresh and new. Here's an example from one of her books that I was reading a book by her the other day. This book is called "The Eight Days of Luke," and I have to say she shocked me, as she always does, with a versatility of her brain.

In this story, she introduces the main character, David, in once sentence: "Unlike most boys, David dreaded the holidays." That about sums him up. David is unlike most boys, he hates the holidays. Why? Already, you're curious and drawn into the story. Later, she describes how David has decided that smell is more important to the human race than anyone believes, and when he steps into the house it smells "thick and dampish, of polish and old cabbage." At the smell, she writes that David's heart, obstinately cheerful, goes down "about seven notches with a rush." You can just visualize that feeling. It's amazing.

I love to study the way she writes. Look at this sentence: "He got up and stalked upstairs, feeling for the wall as if he thought it might escape him unless he kept in touch with it. His bedroom door did escape him." Isn't that imagery vivid? Look here: "He picked up the skull and knocked an onion ring out of its eye socket." Brilliant! I'd never have thought of that line! Last, one of my favourite lines ever: "Christopher discovered that you dealt with obnoxious masters and most older boys the way you dealt with governesses: you quite politely told them the truth in the way they wanted to hear it, so that they thought they had won and left you in peace."

So, after reading many, many, many of her books,  I've discovered that I'm endeavouring to come up with new, fresh ways to say things that will make people think, "Wow, that totally hit the picture!"

Which authors do you read over and over again, just so you can study how they DO it?