One Book To Keep

There is that one book on your shelf that defines you. One book that, while you may not have read it for awhile, makes you gasp in horror if somebody mentions you might want to let it go. We all have one and it is mind blowing to make the choice of which one is your favourite.  I have asked a few people in the book industry, what is that special book is for them and the response has been quite interesting.

Abigail Nathan from Bothersome Words Editing Services.

“ You know this is just a fancy way of asking "if you could only have one book..." and those questions are IMPOSSIBLE! I shall go with sheer sentiment and say Diana Wynne Jones's 'Charmed Life'. That was my first DWJ novel and I think it's the most reread book I own. It's one of the books that got me properly into fantasy/speculative fiction and probably the book that made me realise I wanted to spend my life working with books and words and fictional worlds.”

Alan Baxter – author of the upcoming martial arts/fantasy book Bound

“Oh, man, that is almost impossible to answer! One book? The horror! Errr. first that comes to mind is Clive Barker's "Cabal". And his book "The Great and Secret Show". And Le Guin's "A Wizard of Earthsea". And and and... I can't just pick one!”

Michael Pryor, Author of the Law’s of Magic series and the new Machine Wars.

“The hardback copies of 'Lord of the Rings' I got when I was thirteen”

Kim Wilkins, author of Rosa and the Veil of Gold and winner of an AUREALIS Award.

“Beowulf”

Jason Fischer, author of the Tamsyn Web series and the short story collection Everything is a Graveyard.

” Definitely Mary Stewart's "Crystal Cave", beautiful piece of Arthurian storytelling.”

Karly Lane, author of Northstar

“Mine would be Cross stitch by Diana Gaboldon . I think it's called Outlander in the US. Best. Book. Ever!”

Pamela Freeman, author of the Princess Betony books

“So many... the poems of WB Yeats. Or Lord of the Rings. Tough to decide.”

Fiona Palmer, author of Outback Heart

“Vampire Academy series. It's my big escape “

Fiona McIntosh, author of the Quickening series and Tailor’s Girl

“Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay”

Carla Caruso, author of Catch of the Day

“Mine would be 'Looking for Alibrandi' by Melina Marchetta - I read it when I was an Italian-Australian teenager, like the main character, finishing high school and wondering what the heck I was going to do with the rest of my life. It still resonates! 'The Undomestic Goddess' by Sophie Kinsella is also a feel-good, comfort read I love dipping into again. “

Jacqueline Harvey, Author of the Alice-Miranda and Clementine Rose series.

“The Book Thief with a beautiful inscription to me from Markus.”

What is even more interesting is the fact the genres that these author’s write does not always reflect what they love to read. A lot of people assume that just because you write in a particular genre then that is all you will read. This goes to show that is not the case at all.

For myself, I don’t have favourite books. I am like most people who, when they are asked this question recoil in horror at picking just one book. It is simply a hard question that can make your mind go blank when you are trying to pick a title. If I had to choose on the basis of a book that I read the most, then I would have to choose Tamora Pierce’s ‘Song of the Lioness #1 Alanna the First Adventure’. I re-read that book (which leads into 20 others in the series all following the same characters for about 30 years) at least once a year. I’m not sure why that series draws me to it, but I love the relationships of the characters and I think it is one of the books that really cemented it for me that I wanted write.  Also there is Patricia C Wrede’s Lyra books.  I loved the grittiness and emotion found in that series.

A big thank you to everyone that participated in my post and I hope you all go and check out these wonderful authors and their many books and you may find that one book you can never get rid of!

What is your One Book?
Tarran

Book Review - Battle Magic - Tamora Pierce

Battle Magic by Tamora Pierce

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


We get to see a different side to Rosethorn, Briar and Evvy. Their travels take them to the far side of the world and to the famed gardens of the Emperor, where they are at first treated with regard. After seeing things that make the group want to get out of the summer palace, they are then faced with the dilemma of helping Rosethorn fulfill her vows to the Living Circle or getting to safety when the Emperor decides to invade a neighbouring country where all religions are based in.

The only thing I was dissapointed in was the battle scenes. In previous books, Briar is haunted and changed about what happens in this book, but the battle scenes weren't very dteailed. I can understand Evvy's point of view, but it seemed to me to be a little glossed over. Apart from that, I really loved reading from Rosethorn's point of view and getting back to the world of the Winding Circle.

Very well written and I loved the characters. It is a must read!

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Author Interview - Tamora Pierce

The lovely Tamora Pierce kindly agreed to let me interview her. Here are the results of that interview.

Does your computer have a name?

Oh, no.  I used to name them, but then they started to get familiar, taking breaks without asking me, not getting permission to go on vacation, bringing their friends into the office after work for parties.  It was more than I could stand.  Now they're just nameless office devices, silent and helpful (when they aren't being difficult.  Yesterday was a difficult day.  I fear today will be as well).

What type of books do you read?

Middle grade and teen contemporary, historical, fantasy, and science fiction; adult fantasy, science fiction (rarely anymore, this one), and alternate history; mystery; historical fiction; contemporary thrillers; military history; medical history; disaster history; sociology of crime, events, movements in human cultures; poetry

The Tortall world has been going on for a long time, do you find it hard to keep track of everybody?

I keep a list of characters for both of my universe, plus biography forms for all of the main and secondary characters, and files by series of characters' faces.  I started doing this with the Daine books, when I realized I was going to start mixing things up in a hurry if I didn't!

I have heard rumours that the Winding Circle world and Tortall are connected somehow, is this true?

Oh, no!  The magical systems are different; the gods are different; the land masses are different.  I don't ever want to connect the two universes.  When I am worn down from time in Tortall, I go to the Circle universe for a vacation, and vice versa.  I can do things in the Circle `verse I can't do in Tortall, and the opposite is true.  I always want it to stay that way!

Who is your favourite character in Tortall and Winding Circle – why?

It really depends on my mood of the moment.  Obviously I love my main characters, or I wouldn't dedicate whole books and series to them, but I also love characters who get far less "screen time," like the darking Secret in Trickster's Queen, or some of the creations that appear in the forthcoming Battle Magic.  I'm very fond of my big, cheerful men--Raoul, Taybur Sibigat, Farmer--which is why I keep writing them, but I keep wishing I could do more with Zhegorz the over-medicated mage of Will of the Empress and Yazmín in Street Mage.  And some I'm waiting until they grow older, like Irnai the seer, Tris's girl Glaki, and Neal's daughter.

Will there be any more books like Beka Cooper only with the ancestors of say Alanna, Jonathon or Miles?

I have no idea.  :-[

The next Winding Circle book comes out later this year in Australia, what do you have planned next?

Right now I'm working on EXILE, which begins when Ozorne receives word that his older brother has died and he is now heir to the imperial throne.  Arram Draper, his best friend, is 17, and has no idea yet just how strong his magic is, because his teachers have been giving him private classes.  And nobody knows that things are about to blow up in their faces, sending Arram on the run from his best friend, unable to use his magic for fear of being tracked by Ozorne's mage-hunters.

If you could have a cuppa with anyone from history, who would it be?

Unfortunately for my image as a citizen of the world  ;-)  , it would be one of two very American figures: General William Tecumseh Sherman from our American Civil War, the first modern general, a very crisp and clear writer, a thinker well ahead of his time, funny, with no patience for the shibboleths and niceties of the Victorian era, and/or the writer known as Mark Twain, my literary idol (together with Louisa May Alcott--all three are redheads, by the way!).  Everything I said about Sherman I can say about Twain, except he wasn't a general--in fact, he was a deserter from the enemy army.  Twain's writing is so crisp and clear that he is as readable now as he was when he was alive, and unfortunately, his writing on political and religious issues is just as much to the point.  Also, he loved cats.  (So do I!)

What do you love most about writing?

Spinning stories.  Seeing what my characters do.  Having it come out well.  And then receiving mail and hearing from fans how much my books mean to them.  Books saved my sanity in my younger days, so it means a lot to know I am helping people in the same way.

How much research goes into your writing?

A great deal!  Some of it I do well in the future of a book--I developed the idea for the pigeons and the dust spinners in the Beka Cooper books nearly fifteen years before I found a place to use them; the source of my idea for the Queen's Riders came from reading I had done in military history ten years earlier, and the historical figure on whom I'd based Blaise the Nothing Man was someone I first discovered when I was 14.  Other research I'll start a year or two before I begin a book, as I'm finishing the previous one: I stockpiled books on Chinese and Tibetan culture, which apply to BATTLE MAGIC, starting four years or so before I began to write, and began to read and leaf through them a year before I began.  I started to dissect a real-world map to turn it into the map of the countryside covered in BATTLE MAGIC several months before I began to write, and visited a Tibetan museum exhibit in New York City about eight months before I began to work.  And some research I do as I write.  When I was working on THE EMPEROR MAGE, I spent two hours one morning in the rainforest habitat of the Central Park Zoo in New York City, observing all of the birds that flew in the open their, and choosing which ones I would place in Ozorne's aviary.  I attended Renaissance faires and watched the jousting before I tried to write Kel and friends as they jousted, and I made the acquaintance of jousters and their squires.  I've also watched countless movies and tournaments of martial arts and sword fighting to be able to write about it.

If you could choose one of your series to give to someone, what series would it be?

It would depend on that person's interests.  If they like kings and palaces and knights and wizards, I would say the Lioness or the Protector books.  If they like animals, the Immortals quartet.  If they like spies and revolutions, the Trickster books.  If they like magic, I'd say the Immortals or the Circle of Magic books, and if they like crime, the Beka Cooper or the Circle Opens books.  It all depends on taste. 

Visit Tamora here on her website for more information about her books :D

 Battle Magic due in Aust. in September 2013

Three fantasy books that I love - Tarran Jones

Here are a few of my favourite books:

Fionavar Tapestry #1 The Summer Tree – Guy Gavriel Kay

This book deepened my love for world myths. Not only does it have the Arthurian Traditions in it, the author combines Nordic and Gaelic myths as well. A well written series, that makes me remember scenes from it even though it has been years since I’ve read it.

 The Summer Tree is the first novel of Guy Gavriel Kay’s critically acclaimed fantasy trilogy, The Fionavar Tapestry. Five university students embark on a journey of self-discovery when they enter a realm of wizards and warriors, gods and mythical creatures--and good and evil…

It all began with a lecture that introduced five university students to a man who would change their lives, a wizard who would take them from Earth to the heart of the first of all worlds--Fionavar. And take them Loren Silvercloak did, for his need--the need of Fionavar and all the worlds--was great indeed.

And in a marvelous land of men and dwarves, of wizards and gods, five young people discovered who they were truly meant to be. For they are a long-awaited part of the pattern known as the Fionavar Tapestry, and only if they accepted their destiny would the armies of the Light stand any chance of surviving the wrath the Unraveller and his minions of darkness intend to unleash upon the world…

Tide Lords #1 The Immortal Prince – Jennifer Fallon

I really enjoyed Jennifer Fallon’s writing style in this one. The story flowed and I loved the characters. The premise of the Tide Star is a fantastic one and works well. This is a series you should read if you love High Fantasy.

When a routine hanging goes wrong and a murderer somehow survives the noose, the man announces he is an immortal. And not just any immortal, but Cayal, the Immortal Prince, hero of legend, thought to be only a fictional character. To most he is a figure out of the Tide Lord Tarot, the only record left on Amyrantha of the mythical beings whom fable tells created the race of half-human, half-animal Crasii, a race of slaves.

Arkady Desean is an expert on the legends of the Tide Lords so at the request of the King's Spymaster, she is sent to interrogate this would-be immortal, hoping to prove he is a spy, or at the very least, a madman. Though she is set the task of proving Cayal a liar, Arkady finds herself believing him, against her own good sense. And as she begins to truly believe in the Tide Lords, her own web of lies begins to unravel...

Lioness Quartet #1 Alanna: The First Adventure – Tamora Pierce

I believe that I have re read this series around 20 times. I read it at least once a year I love it so much. A fantastic world the author has drawn for us to explore. Very believable characters and plots. This book has stayed with me for years and my copy of it is pretty worn. Highly recommended!

"From now on I'm Alan of Trebond, the younger twin. I'll be a knight."

And so young Alanna of Trebond begins the journey to knighthood. Though a girl, Alanna has always craved the adventure and daring allowed only for boys; her twin brother, Thom, yearns to learn the art of magic. So one day they decide to switch places: Disguised as a girl, Thom heads for the convent to learn magic; Alanna, pretending to be a boy, is on her way to the castle of King Roald to begin her training as a page.

But the road to knighthood is not an easy one. As Alanna masters the skills necessary for battle, she must also learn to control her heart and to discern her enemies from her allies.

Filled with swords and sorcery, adventure and intrigue, good and evil, Alanna's first adventure begins -- one that will leard to the fulfillment of her dreams and the magical destiny that will make her a legend in her land.

Book Review - Beka Cooper #3 Mastiff - Tamora Pierce

Mastiff by Tamora Pierce

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love Tamora Pierce's writing! Ever since I picked up Alanna: The First Adventure when I was 12, she has had me hooked. My favourite world of hers is Tortall and the characters that inhabit this world. I have just finished reading Mastiff, book three (yes I said that right, 3 not 4) in the Beka Cooper series. It was brilliant! Made me tear up and I didn't see coming an event at the end.

You get to see in this book how the end of female knighthood came about also some big issues with the running of the country. Well written and it had me completely absorbed in the world. You don't get bored with this series like you can do with other longstanding series.

Tamora seems to write from her heart and you can tell she loves these characters. I can't wait to see what new adventures she creates. In fact i really want to start the series over again with Alanna and go from there.

Highly recommened!!!

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What book is everyone hanging out for?

Just a quick question - What book is everyone hanging out for? I know I am looking forward to Tamora Pierce's
'Tortall- A collection of tales' which comes out in Febuary!

Tamora Pierce Interview - Bloodhound