Tuesday, July 14, 2009

More Richard Armitage treats



Look what I found out tonight: the series of Spooks, which has been playing over in England for 8 years now, is beginning with the season that stars RICHARD ARMITAGE tomorrow night!! To quote from the BBC Canada site:

'Spooks
Wednesdays at 9pm ET/10pm PT
Having spent the past eight years in a Russian prison, Lucas North (played by heartthrob Richard Armitage) is welcomed back by MI5 figurehead and old friend Harry Pearce, who was instrumental in securing his release. But after eight years with only a high-ranking Russian spymaster for company, can Lucas's loyalty really be taken for granted?'

Link here. Here is the BBC website for Spooks. If you look closely, Jane Austen fans will note that the star of the recent ITV version of Persuasion, starring Rupert Penry-Jones, also stars in Spooks.

I saw an advertisement on tv this evening and almost squealed with excitement! I thought it would be years before this particular season of Spooks made it over here!!! More Richard Armitage!!!! Rupert Penry-Jones! On the same tv show!!!!Is there any more reason needed to watch this program? For us in Canada, tomorrow night (Wednesday) at 9 pm.

Monday, July 13, 2009

"Art Saves"...'The Plain Janes'' and "Janes in Love"


LIBRARY LOOT

I am so far behind that I'm beginning to panic. How will I get all these books reviewed? At last count, I had 16 books to review. 16! So I'm thinking of creative ways to review, because I enjoyed all of them. It is so rare that I like everything I am reading, that I want to give every book it's day!

So I'm going to begin with two library books I recently brought home, and post about my library books, because they have the graphic novels everyone is so curious about. Yes, I took out some graphic novels! My experience with Castle Waiting was so good that the graphic novel section was the first place I headed to when I found myself at the library two weeks ago.

This is what I took out:

1. The Mislaid Magician or 10 Years After - Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
2. The New Policeman - Kate Thompson
3. Twelve Impossible Things Before Breakfast - Jane Yolen
4. Triss's Book - Circle of Magic # 2 - Tamora Pierce
5. The Changeling Sea - Patricia McKillip
6. Wyrmwood - G.P. Taylor
Graphic Novels:
7 &8. Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Season 8, vol 2 & 3, - Goddard, Whedon, Jeanty
9. The Plain Janes - Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg
10. Janes in Love - Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg
11. Angel - After the Fall - Whedon, Lynch and Urru

As you can tell, I stayed in the teen section. Since I was alone and couldn't give the books to my husband to carry (thus taking out twice as many!) and didn't bring a bag with me, I had to limit myself to what I could carry. I did look for Emma, the graphic novel everyone is blogging about - just today, Kim L at Bold. Blue. Adventure. reviewed it, here, but I couldn't find it.

Now, for the first reviews of the graphic novels:
The Plain Janes and Janes in Love - Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg.

The Plain Janes
I fell in love with them. I love the concept - a girl moves to a suburb from the inner city, and finds a group of girls at high school who are all Janes. They are all different, and outsiders, and when Jane from the city arrives, she makes them into a group.

She is no ordinary Jane, however. Most of the story is about how she finds meaning in her life after surviving something awful. I don't want to give it away, as it is integral to the the story, what has happened to her and how she struggles to give surviving a meaning. I hope it suffices to say that the subtext of this book and the sequel, Janes in Love, is 'Art Saves'. How cool is that? Two whole books about people and art and life.

I don't want to make it sound serious - it's not. Both books are funny and heart-breaking and wise and so very much about life. P.L.A.I.N. stands for what gives Jane her will to go on: People Loving Art In Neighborhoods. The Janes decide to secretly transform their world by making free art. How they do this, and how their school chums and the adults in the city react, is charming and funny and realistic. How they bring art into their lives, and their city, makes for fun reading. I wish I'd had a group like that in high school! They also invite the only gay guy, James, at the high school to be part of their group, when he stands up and sings - one of the P.L.A.I.N. initiatives - against the principal's express command not to. He is as much an outsider as they are, and their kindness in bringing him in brought a lump to my throat. Bravery is found in so many places, in so many unexpected ways.

Janes in Love is the sequel, and it is just as heartbreaking and funny and delightful as The Plain Janes. In this one, it's coming up on February 14, and the Ides of March dance in February. The Plain Janes fall in love, and decide to take their art to a higher level - they apply for a federal grant, to take over an empty plot on one of their streets rather than see it become another mini-mall. Do they get the grant? Do they find true love? Another tragedy finds Jane's mother refusing to leave the house while her father lives in the tent outside. Jane: One of the reasons I want to make the world beautiful is so my mother can remember it is.

Both these graphic novels celebrate life, and finding beauty - making beauty for others around you. Each of the teen girls is very realistic, though, and prone to mood swings, and despair, as is Main Jane (her online msn name with the others!) herself as she continues to recover from the terrible event that still shapes her and her parents' lives. There are so many different viewpoints about how to cope with life, about whether to run away and hide, or find something to give back, or do. Other students suffer too, from their families, deciding if they want to be part of P.L.A.I.N. too. What a remarkable heroine, and group of friends.

I love the theme "Art Saves.' I wish this could be the motto for our world today. It's going to be the theme of my blog now!

I highly recommend these graphic novels. 5/5 for each!

And I want thank every one of you, Gentle Readers, who has blogged about graphic novels over the last year and a half. I wouldn't have found these if it wasn't for you!! I love them so much I am putting them on my To-Buy list. I will want to read these again.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

unexpectedly......

This seems to be the story of my year so far. I unexpectedly developed a cold on Canada Day, and spent the weekend recovering. Suddenly being diabetic means any cold medications are off-limits, and my sugar is high again. So, instead of plowing through my three graphic novels I took out of the library, I watched North and South. Again. The entire 4 hours. And gardened on Sunday, when the sun finally came out and I felt well enough to get outside.

Then, Julia at Piece of My Mind tagged me for a fun meme, and I went there to get it to do here, except I unexpectedly saw this picture of Richard Armitage, and well, *sigh*.


And not only that, but there is a an interview with him posted on Vulpes Libris, here, that will make all of us Richard Armitage fans drool a little more. Because he reads, and he reads a lot. And he's thoughtful, and interesting. Many thanks to Julia at Piece of My Mind for the link to the interview, and I'm afraid I scooped her on the interview posting.....

I also have been watching the HBO television series True Blood, based on the Sookie Stackhouse vampire thrillers. Vampire Bill? Oh my, very hot *fans herself*. Quite graphic also (one scene of a particularly gruesome murder I just can't get out of my head), delightful setting, okay dialogue, very good acting. I have watched half the season already.......good for getting through a cold, bad for reading books!!!

So, unexpectedly, not about books, but about things revolving around books.

And yes, you read it correctly: I have 3 - no, I have 5 graphic novels out of the library. Unexpectly, the rewards of the blogging community are that I find a new type of novel to explore.

Also very unexpectedly, I can't seem to find a copy of North and South anywhere. I want to read it now, since I think there is more explained in the book (of course there is! there always is!!!) than the series can show. I can find lots of Gaskell's other books, but not that one!

Happy reading, Gentle Readers!

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Jane Austen Challenge - I could never resist this!!!

Stephanie at Stephanie's Written Word is hosting her very first challenge, starring one my favourite writers, Jane Austen. The Everything Jane Austen Challenge, lets you choose 6 things, any thing with Jane - about her, by her, featuring her or her characters in some way - from July 1, 2009, to Jan 1, 2010. This means anything - one challenger is making a quilt and making three recipes from the Jane Austen Cookbook. So, if you have a needlepoint cushion featuring Jane in some way, hidden away, or have been waiting for an opportunity to watch the entire 6 hours of the best version of Pride and Prejudice ( the one featuring *Colin Firth* and Jennifer Ehle), or watch the entire oeuvre of Jane Austen movies/tv productions available, now is your chance! Stephanie has a wonderful list of Jane-related books and movies also availabe on her site to choose from.

Well, I had two books to read, and was wondering which of the films I wanted to see or novels to reread when, miracle of miracles, at the old used bookstore I used to work at many eons ago - the Bookmarket - I found an out-of-print book that I had given up on finding a few years ago: Letters to Alice, On First Reading Jane Austen, by Fay Weldon.

I think I might have made an audible sound of joy. There is no other way of describing that 'eep' 'eeek' 'oh' and 'ah' mixture that escapes when I first see a book unexpectedly, and joyfully. That book went into my hand and I clutched it all the way home. I'll talk about the other books another time, but this was such a thrill to find. I don't have the book with this cover - I'd give a lot to find that editon!! - my edition (Coronet) alas does not have the cover available on Amazon.co.uk, as it's an English paperback version. It's nothing like that, but does feature Jane on the cover. And, it's about reading Jane Austen and writing. How to be a reader, and how to be a writer. Perfection.

So, this is my Jane list:

Books:
1. Letters to Alice, on first reading Jane Austen - Fay Weldon
2. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
3. Persuasion - Jane Austen
4. What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew - Daniel Pool

movies:
1. Persuasion - version with Ciaran Hinds and Anne Root
2. Lost in Austen

I don't own Lost in Austen yet, but I've found a video store that carries it.

Now, for those of you who think they want to do more than 6 things with Jane this year, there is already a mini-challenge: one of Stephanie's challenge acceptees, Austenprose, has created a mini-challenge to read or do something with 12 things featuring Jane: Everything Austen Challenge xTwo!! I'm a double winner here - I can easily do 12 things featuring Jane in 6 months! And I've found a new blog that is all about Jane Austen's writings! *sigh*

Of course, what I really want to find is the Jane Austen Cookbook. I saw it years ago in a bookstore and didn't buy it, and now I'm regretting it....actually I regretted a few hours after leaving the bookstore not picking it up. And I haven't seen it since!
Oh dear. I went to Amazon.ca, and it was there. Oh dear, I bought a copy. Hmm. I'll figure out some way to explain it to my wonderful husband. So, when it arrives, I will be making two or three recipes from it. There, I'll tell him I needed it.

So, now that I have given in to the dark side (Empire Strikes Back is playing on the tv in the background today, for my daughter. I've given in to the dark side! Or maybe it's the light, nothing about Jane is dark side!!!), I think I will also join the Everything Austen X Two challenge also.

So my 12 things featuring Jane Austen are to be chosen from this list (I am beginning to realize that I need some room to choose what I feel like reading or seeing, or I feel too pinned down and this is supposed to be fun!) now:

Books:

1. Letters to Alice, on first reading Jane Austen - Fay Weldon
2. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
3. Persuasion - Jane Austen
4. What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew - Daniel Pool
5. Jane Austen: A Life - Claire Tomalin (a re-read)
and from among:
6. The Private Diary of Mr Darcy - Maya Slater

7. Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict - Laurie Viera Rigler
8. Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict - Laura Viera Rigler
9. Jane Austen Ruined My Life - Beth Pattillo
10. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

movies
:
1. Persuasion - version with Ciaran Hinds and Anne Root
2. Lost in Austen
3. Pride and Prejudice (Keira Knightley version, I don't have Colin and Jennifer in DVD yet)
possibly
4. Northanger Abbey (latest ITV version which I loved)

Cookbook:
The Jane Austen Cookbook - Maggie Black, Deirdre Le Fayre
- 2 recipes

There. Everything Jane, indeed, for the next 6 months!!!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Happy Canada Day!!! and Canadian Challenge 2 Wrap-Up



Happy Canada Day!!! July 1 is our national day, a holiday from coast to coast. Here in Ottawa we have a huge party on Parliament Hill, which I wrote about last year, here. This year, my husband isn't feeling very well, so we are staying close to home. We were going to go back to the Dinosaur Museum (which everyone who lives here calls the National Museum of Natural History), but this time we are going to a park nearby, Andrew Haydon Park, where there are rides and games and fun for everyone. As I'm doing this post before we head out because storms are expected later (and you know me and lightning.....) I'll add pictures later. We are all, by the way, wearing red again! Wherever you are, enjoy July 1!!


In keeping with today's theme, I thought I would wrap up the 2nd Canadian Book Challenge, Eh? and review a Canadian book, my last for the challenge. I'm so patriotic, aren't I?





Well, bad me. The Canadian Challenge 2 Eh? is over, and I read 3 out of 13 books for the challenge. So not so patriotic after all!! John at The Book Mine Set hosted this one for the second straight here, and his wrap-up is here. I was supposed to read 13 books by Charles de Lint. I read The Blue Girl, Wolf Moon, and The Dreaming Place. I haven't reviewed The Dreaming Place yet, so here is a quick review, as it was the best one out of the three, and a very good story.


The Dreaming Place was read for both Carl's Once Upon a Time 3 Challenge, as well as the Canadian Challenge 2 Eh? I was really hoping it would be better than The Blue Girl, which I reviewed here, and I am happy to say it is. The Dreaming Place is a young-adult novel about two cousins, Nina and Ash. Ash has come to live with her cousin after her mother has died. Ash is angry, and being stalked by a mysterious man. Nina has hippie parents, including a half-Native father, and this is important later in the book. Nina is unknowingly learning how to shape shift into the bodies of different animals. However, this is done through dreams, and she cannot control it. When she goes into a coma because she is trapped by a spirit - a manitou in the dream world, only Ash is able to go save her. Ash's negative emotions drew the spirit's attention, but Nina also has a link through her father to the manitou, that must be broken to save Nina. I really liked too, how Ash learns about her anger, and that she has choices.

This is a beautiful story. Nina and Ash, Cassie, the manitou, Nina's parents, all the secondary characters, are all well-drawn, believable. The dialogue is very good (if a bit dated by references to Debbie Gibson, and the Beauty and the Beast tv show!), realistic and concise - these people are talking to each other. I loved it. This is Charles at his best. The travelling in time and space, the use of Aboriginal mythology, the shape-shifting, the magic fo the shaman - these are all accurate. I say this because I have some knowledge of Aboriginal spirituality.

This is a story about the Manitou, the Native American spirits who live in the spirit world but can tap into ours, and how dangerous it is to play at religion. There are spirits all around, and the characters - all of them - come to understand that any promise to the spirits, in whatever form it takes - prayer, ritual, playing with one's heritage - does have a price. Knowing and honouring the path one follows is one thing, but making promises without knowing the cost, is another.

The Dreaming Place is one of Charles' older books, and in it I can see the beginning of his combining of Native American and Celtic mythology into one spirit world. The danger is the same - time moves differently, manitous and faeries can't be trusted, and the spirits of the dead wander here.

This book is 4.8 out of 5. I would make it five if it were longer! A very good book.

So another challenge not completed. And I plan on entering the third round of this challenge! I refuse to give up, I will get to 13 Canadian books read in a year! I have some books already lined up: Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson (thank you Chris at Book-a-rama for your review!), Tanya Huff - (at least three to catch up on some of her series), Kelly Armstrong (same), and more Charles de Lint, since the one book I really wanted to read, Forests of the Heart, I didn't get to. Plus, since I have Canadian history books to read for the Classics by 19th Century Women Challenge - A Gentlewoman in Upper Canada by Anne Langton, Winter Studies and Summer Rambles by Anna Brownell Jameson, - and I want to read Three Day Road and possibly Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden, I think I have a better chance this coming year of succeeding. Anyway, I plan to!!!

Have a very Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadian book bloggers, and enjoy this day wherever you are in the world. Happy Reading!

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Sunday Salon - Neverwhere , fantasy at its best

The Sunday Salon.com

I read Neverwhere for Carl's Once Upon A Time 3 challenge (yes, I still have to do the wrap-up....). As is usual for me, I come upon authors late, and read their earlier books much later after other people often do. This has been the case with Neil Gaiman. Of all his novels, I believe American Gods was the first one I read by him! I'd read his short story collection Smoke and Mirrors while in England. They both almost made it onto my books of the year list, but not quite; American Gods was fascinating, but I felt somewhat removed from what happened to the character, and I still can't quite figure out why, since I enjoyed it very much. So when I read Neverwhere, after hearing for some time on our blogging world about how it's possibly one of his best written, I knew it was going to be good; except for the odd short story, I haven't read anything by him that I haven't really enjoyed. I wasn't prepared for how good Neverwhere is. It is possibly the best book he's written, or at least in a close tie with The Graveyard Book, which is one of those books that I keep turning over in my mind.

An aside here: the reason Smoke and Mirrors didn't make it on my list of favourite books for that year, is because by far the most effective story in it is in Neil's introduction, about the wedding gift - the letter - he gave his friends (or was going to give.) Very very creepy, but not an actual story! That one I can't get out of my head! Although I read it so long ago that I have to re-read it to see if Snow, Glass, Apples is as frightening as I remember....as a whole, short story collections don't make it onto my favourite reads for that year. I don't know why, it might have something to do with the unevenness - no short story collection is perfect, which is why Locus, the Nebula and World Fantasy awards have 'best novella' and 'best short story' categories........Although, I do here have to make a comment for Fragile Things, which I did read last year. In the confusion of being sick (I got strep throat in Nov) and going to England, I did finish Fragile Things, but it got left off my list of books read, and looking back now, it's not even on my list of favourite books of last year. Which is just wrong, because despite what I just wrote about short story collections, I think it's one of the best short story collections ever written! I'll have to create a special place for it, maybe one of those lists of 'books I've overlooked and don't know how this happened' kind......maybe a short story collection list......



Anyway, back to Neverwhere: On the post I wrote for Fantasy and Science Fiction Day three days ago, Nymeth left me a comment about Neverwhere that catches what I was attempting to say about why fantasy is relevant to our modern life. Nymeth wrote: ..."especially what you said about how fantasy creates myths for today. It reminded me of how I felt looking at the names of underground stations in London after reading Neverwhere. I know the stories are not real - and yet having them at the back of my mind makes my life a little better, a little richer, a little more mysterious. That's what myths do."

Nymeth is absolutely right. I'd just been to London at Christmas, so the Tube was fresh in my mind, as well as central London, where we spent most of our time visiting. I am in a way glad that I read Neverwhere after I was in London. Because I'm not sure I could have gone down into the Tube again. I'm pretty sure I'd be looking for doors and hidden staircases that no one else seemed to see....

Also, ever since the film An American Werewolf in London 20 years ago, I've never been able to be really comfortable in London's Tube. Plus, I hate being underground anyway. Even if it's a great way to get around London - and it is - I want fresh air and to know that at anytime, I can get away if I have to. Always now in the back of my mind is the memory of July 2005, and the bombings on the Tube . So, with all this already in my mind, already predisposed to think the Underground as fairly creepy, I opened Neverwhere.



Neverwhere is the story of Richard Mayhew and how one night, he rescues a girl who is bleeding and in distress. She turns out to be the only survivor of her family, who were massacred previously. She lives in the Underworld, where Richard follows her after he is threatened by the men who are her would-be assassins. How Richard finds her, and helps her, and what he discovers on his journey underground, makes for a fabulous imagining of what London's Underground world could be like.

Gaiman has held back nothing in creating this underworld, 'London Below Ground'. There are references to myths and fairy tales, there are monsters, evil characters and heroes. All set in a world just a little below where we live. This is real fantasy. I particularly like that Gaiman holds nothing back - one character dies, that had me yelling out "no!" and crying, in a horrific scene that is among the worst nightmare voyages across a bridge that I have ever read. There is betrayal, some satisfying - what happens to the two assassins is particulary fun to read, if graphic! - and some astonishing. I want to go to that moving market, even if it is scary and nightmarish, it still looks fun! And I really want another story with Door. I think she is the best female character he has created so far, with the exception of Coraline. I liked Door. I didn't like Richard at the beginning - I really wanted him to get a spine, the way his fiancee pushed him around! - but by the end, I did. I understood his decision, even as it feels like a loss to the world. And it is.

The power of Neverwhere is that even though Richard becomes an outcast as we would describe it 'Above World', he really finds himself in the underworld. It is a very accurate retelling of the Hero's Journey as Campbell describes it in A Hero With A Thousand Faces, except the message Richard would bring back, about this alternate society below ground, is completely unaccepted and unacceptable to the real world. No one wants to know there is a whole society underground. So all the things Richard learns about himself, all the strengths and skills he acquires, the position he attains, can't be brought out into the real world. It is an unfinished journey for the world, but for Richard his journey is done, and in the end he has to choose where he lives.

Now when I think of London's Underground, as well as all the layers I previously mentioned colouring how I see it, I have Neverwhere transfiguring it. All the way through the book, as Nymeth says, I looked at the names of the Underground stations used in the book, and I remembered what they were really like when I last saw them, and then superimposed Neverwhere's version of the Tube. *shiver* This is what really good urban fantasy does. It reimagines our landscape, using fairy tales, myths, shadows, and 'what if's' to show the landscape in a different light. Pure magic.

This book is dark and frightening and as disgusting as you would imagine life without light far in the earth to be, and it is weirdly wonderful and true and eerie, like a dark carnival. I found myself liking life underground better - there was more honesty it seemed in the life and death situations and in the rules followed, than in London Above, where Richard finds success empty if it has no meaning.

This book also reminds me about the cost of making a journey for the soul. We either take the journey and discover something precious, or we don't take it, and life half a life, where nothing is very deep. If the journey is taken, something is always lost, or has to be given up, by the hero at the end, even if it is the lie that was the previous life, or love that didn't last, or the future only half dreamt of. I know which I prefer. Neverwhere is a powerful work of fantasy. Like Coraline, it brings you through to the other side safely. It's a very dark trip, but one well worth taking.

I've already lent the book to one of my friends to read. It's one of my favourite books of this year.

I do have to say though, I still prefer to see London by double-decker red bus!

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Which Fantasy Writer are You? quiz

Which fantasy writer are you? Go here for the quiz. thanks very much to Cath at Read-Warbler, who did the quiz first......


Your result for Which fantasy writer are you?...

Katharine Kerr (b. 1944)

-1 High-Brow, -19 Violent, 5 Experimental and -15 Cynical!


Congratulations! You are Low-Brow, Peaceful, Experimental and Romantic! These concepts are defined below.


Katharine Kerr is a US author who is best known for her books about Deverry, the result of a thought experiment of Kerr's: What if a tribe from the culture of Celtic Gaul had escaped the Romans and moved to another world? The answer is the culture of Deverry, a fantasy world with, among other things, functioning magic, called dweomer. What sets dweomer apart from many other kinds of magic is that it's a system, with detailed descriptions of how different magical actions are performed by those cunning in it, often reminiscent of new age literature, but actually drawing heavily on as diverse systems of thought as buddhism, the Kabbalah and gnosticism.


Another prominent feature of Deverry is the presence of reincarnation, with parts of the plot (or plots, really) concerning the attempts of various characters to overcome their weaknesses in order not to repeat the mistake they made in previous lives'. All this allows for some rather typical fantasy romanticism, while still allowing a huge amount of plot twists and turns, sometimes making the history of Deverry complicated to the point of resembling a highly experimental suite of novels.


Kerr's fans are often real enthusiasts and it is easy to see that those who have the brains to follow the twists and turns of Deverry history are in for a journey into great tales of tragedy and destiny.


You are also a lot like Orson Scott Card.


If you want some action, try C S Lewis.


If you'd like a challenge, try your exact opposite, Michael Moorcock.



Your score



This is how to interpret your score: Your attitudes have been measured on four different scales, called 1) High-Brow vs. Low-Brow, 2) Violent vs. Peaceful, 3) Experimental vs. Traditional and 4) Cynical vs. Romantic. Imagine that when you were born, you were in a state of innocence, a tabula rasa who would have scored zero on each scale. Since then, a number of circumstances (including genetical, cultural and environmental factors) have pushed you towards either end of these scales. If you're at 45 or -45 you would be almost entirely cynical, low-brow or whatever. The closer to zero you are, the less extreme your attitude. However, you should always be more of either (eg more romantic than cynical). Please note that even though High-Brow, Violent, Experimental and Cynical have positive numbers (1 through 45) and their opposites negative numbers (-1 through -45), this doesn't mean that either quality is better. All attitudes have their positive and negative sides, as explained below.



High-Brow vs. Low-Brow



You received -1 points, making you more Low-Brow than High-Brow. Being high-browed in this context refers to being more fascinated with the sort of art that critics and scholars tend to favour, while a typical low-brow would favour the best-selling kind. At their best, low-brows are honest enough to read what they like, regardless of what "experts" and academics say is good for them. At their worst, they are more likely to read what their neighbours like than what they would choose themselves.



Violent vs. Peaceful



You received -19 points, making you more Peaceful than Violent. This scale is a measurement of a) if you are tolerant to violence in fiction and b) whether you see violence as a means that can be used to achieve a good end. If you aren't, and you don't, then you are peaceful as defined here. At their best, peaceful people are the ones who encourage dialogue and understanding as a means of solving conflicts. At their worst, they are standing passively by as they or third parties are hurt by less scrupulous individuals.



Experimental vs. Traditional



You received 5 points, making you more Experimental than Traditional. Your position on this scale indicates if you're more likely to seek out the new and unexpected or if you are more comfortable with the familiar, especially in regards to culture. Note that traditional as defined here does not equal conservative, in the political sense. At their best, experimental people are the ones who show humanity the way forward. At their worst, they provoke for the sake of provocation only.



Cynical vs. Romantic



You received -15 points, making you more Romantic than Cynical. Your position on this scale indicates if you are more likely to be wary, suspicious and skeptical to people around you and the world at large, or if you are more likely to believe in grand schemes, happy endings and the basic goodness of humankind. It is by far the most vaguely defined scale, which is why you'll find the sentence "you are also a lot like x" above. If you feel that your position on this scale is wrong, then you are probably more like author x. At their best, romantic people are optimistic, willing to work for a good cause and an inspiration to their peers. At their worst, they are easily fooled and too easily lead.



Take Which fantasy writer are you?
at HelloQuizzy



I'm not sure I completely agree, but it's very interesting. And in keeping with the fantasy themes of my recent posts! I have read Katherine Kerr, the first two of the original trilogy, and it's something I've been meaning to continue reading when I can get all the books in the ever-exanding series. And I really enjoy Orson Scott Card!