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Book Club - by Suhaili

Philip Pullman is unarguably best known for his children's fantasy trilogy, 'His Dark Materials'. These three spectacular books have attracted hardcore fans from all age groups, and the first of these books, 'Northern Lights' (known as 'The Golden Compass' in America), has recently been adapted for film and is due for release December 2007. And I can't wait to see it!

Pullman has attracted controversy and praise with the popularity of these books and the criticism they level at the more corrupt facets of christianity. Pullman has taken his theological criticism that one step further with a public deconstruction of C. S. Lewis' Narnia books, taking them to task for the conservative and backwards subtexts that riddle them.

Pullman has also written a quartet of Victorian-set adventure novels featuring the young heroine, Sally Lockhart, along with various other stand-alone children's novels. He has become something of an expert on children's literature, and his mature and assured philosophy has no doubt played a big part in making the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy a modern classic.

Pullman started out as a school teacher in the early 70s. He won the New English Library's Young Writer's Award for 'The Haunted Storm' in 1972. He stopped full-time school teaching in 1986 after the publication of 'The Ruby in the Smoke'. From 1988 to 1996 he taught part time at Westminster College, Oxford, and he won the Carnegie Medal (amongst other awards) for 'Northern Lights' in 1995. In 2002 he won the Whitbread Award for 'The Amber Spyglass'.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Haunted Storm (1972)
Galatea (1976)
Ancient Civilisations (1978) Non-fiction
Using the Oxford Junior Dictionary (1978) Non-fiction
Count Karlstein (1982)
The Ruby in the Smoke (1985) Sally Lockhart 1
The Shadow in the North (1986) Sally Lockhart 2, originally released as 'The Shadow in the Plate'
How to Be Cool (1987)
Spring-Heeled Jack (1989)
The Tiger in the Well (1990) Sally Lockhart 3
The Broken Bridge (1990)
Frankenstein (1990) Play
The White Mercedes (1992) Re-issued as 'The Butterfly Tatoo' in 1998, currently being adapted for film.
Sherlock Holmes and the Limehouse Horror (1992) Play
The Wonderful Story of Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp (1993)
The Tin Princess (1994) Sally Lockhart 4
Thunderbolt's Waxwork (1994)
The Gasfitter's Ball (1995) Sequel to 'Thunderbolt's Waxwork'
Northern Lights (1995) His Dark Materials 1, known as 'The Golden Compass' in America
Clockwork, or All Wound Up (1995)
The Subtle Knife (1997) His Dark Materials 2
The Firework-Maker's Daughter (1995)
Mossycoat (1998)
I was a Rat! or The Scarlet Slippers (1999)
The Amber Spyglass (2000) His Dark Materials 3, winner of the Whitbread Award
Puss in Boots: The Adventures of That Most Enterprising Feline (2000)
Lyra's Oxford (2003) Short Story follow-up to 'His Dark Materials'
The Scarecrow and his Servant (2004)
The Book of Dust (not yet released) A companion book to 'His Dark Materials'

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Islamic Australia

March 7th 2007 07:44

Randa Abdel-Fattah is an Australian author of Egyptian and Palestinian descent. To date she has written two published novels for teens, 'Does My Head Look Big in This?' and '10 Things I Hate About Me'. She is also a lawyer.

Late last year, whilst working at a bookstore in Campbelltown, I was lucky enough to be involved with a talk given by Randa Abdel-Fattah at Campbelltown Library, where she also signed copies of her succesful debut novel, 'Does My Head Look Big in This?' The central premise of this book is that of a 16-year old muslim girl who decides to wear the hajib (the headscarf worn by muslim women as a sign of their faith), the only thing is - she goes to a non-muslim school and this culturally-significant act sets her apart from her peers. She just wants to be a normal girl.

I haven't read this book yet, so this isn't a review. I just thought I'd write a bit about the author, Randa Abdel-Fattah. Ms. Abdel-Fattah based this book on her own experiences as a teenage girl, when she was 12 she decided to wear the hajib and continued to wear it throughout her school years, despite the fact that she went to a catholic school. As you can see from the photo at the top of this page, she no longer wears the hajib. At the talk I attended she spoke about her experiences as a muslim girl in a predominantly non-muslim community and country, how empowered she felt by wearing the hajib, and also about her book in general - including a brief reading of an excerpt. The talk was attended by all kinds of people... Islamic people from all walks of life and backgrounds (including a young female muslim scientist from Campbelltown), your typical middle-class anglo-saxons, book fans in general, etc, etc.

After the talk Ms. Abdel-Fattah fielded some questions (and there were a lot of questions, it went over time a bit)... she was very articulate and intelligent and even though I like to think I'm pretty anti-racist I have to admit that a few stereotypes were dispelled in my mind at this meeting, not just by the author, but by the other muslims in the audience too. Ms. Abdel-Fattah said that deciding to stop wearing the hajib was a hard decision to make, but she had to do it as she felt she would never get ahead in her career as a lawyer in Australia whilst wearing it. She spoke of her hopes to be the first lawyer in Australia to wear the hajib, and says when she puts it back on it will be back on for good - when the time is right.

Anyway, her books sound great - funny, dramatic and with a point, kind of like if 'Looking For Alibrandi' had been written by a muslim. I was very impressed by Randa Abdel-Fattah's talk and I think she's an excellent role model - not just for muslim girls but for girls and people in general. Her tireless work in the inter-faith community should be commended.

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Roddy Doyle

March 1st 2007 07:34

Roddy Doyle is one of the most celebrated Irish authors of contemporary times. Devoting himself mostly to the realm of literature, he also occasionally dabbles in writing for film and theatre. Doyle was born in 1958 and graduated from Dublin University. He worked as school teacher for several years before publishing his first novel in 1987. He didn't become a full-time writer until 1993.

Doyle is probably most famous for his highly popular Barrytown trilogy (the first book of which, 'The Commitments', was made into a popular Irish film). Doyle also won the Man Booker prize in 1993 for 'Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha' - which may have been a motivating factor in his giving up teaching.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

NOVELS
The Commitments (1987) Book 1 in the Barrytown trilogy
The Snapper (1990) Book 2 in the Barrytown trilogy
The Van (1991) Book 3 in the Barrytown trilogy
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha (1993)
The Woman Who Walked into Doors (1996)
A Star Called Henry (1999) Book 1 in 'The Last Round Up'
Rory and Ita (2002) Non-fiction
Oh, Play That Thing! (2004) Book 2 in 'The Last Round Up'
Mad Weekend (2006)
Paula Spencer (2006) Sequel to 'The Woman Who Walked into Doors'
The Deportees (2007) Short Story Collection
Untitled Book (????) Book 3 in 'The Last Round Up'

CHILDREN'S BOOKS
Not Just For Christmas (1999)
The Giggler Treatment (2000)
Rover Saves Christmas (2001)
The Meanwhile Adventures (2004)
Wilderness (2007)

FILM SCRIPTS
When Brendan Met Trudy (2000)

TELEVISION SCRIPTS
Family (1994)

PLAYS
Brown Bread (1987)
War (1989)
The Woman Who Walked Into Doors (2003)

The Commitments, The Snapper and The Van have all been made into films. The Van was also shortlisted for the Man Booker prize.

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An exclusive interview with D.M. Cornish, author of 'Monster Blood Tattoo'

February 20th 2007 12:06

Well, I'm going to do something new today, the following is an exclusive interview with D.M. Cornish, an Adelaide-based illustrator and the author of the recent teen-fantasy novel Monster Blood Tattoo: Foundling. The second book in the series, 'Monster Blood Tattoo: Lamplighter', is due for release this year. Before we get on with it I'd like to say a big thanks to Mr. Cornish for granting this interview. Read on!

It's said that you created the world featured in 'Monster Blood Tattoo' over 10 years ago... did you create the Half-Continent with a view to writing fiction about it?
Ultimately yes, though I just enjoy inventing a setting for the sake of it, ‘cause I could not help myself: I read and see things and ideas just bubble up of their own volition. Over the years all the disparate ideas have kneaded together into a homogenous whole. At times it feels I was made for ‘world invention’ – if I may call it that.

You're quite an accomplished illustrator... what do you consider yourself to be first? An illustrator or a writer?
That is a very pertinent question, for previously I have always considered myself an illustrator – a drawer – as has anyone who has known me. Yet over all these years the thing I have been filling notebooks with is not drawing, but writing. So maybe I am really a writer? Yet getting to illustrate for a period after a solid stint writing feels like a holiday – so maybe I am an illustrator first … one who can write. Then again perhaps I am both in somewhat equal measure.

How many books will be in the 'Monster Blood Tattoo' series?
The intention at this point is just the three. I reckon we might have seen enough of Rossamünd after three books. I would very much if I am allowed, like to write of other folk doing their doings in the Half-Continent or in other parts of “the world”. We shall have to see whether I am a fad or here to stay I suppose.

What is the current release date for 'Lamplighter'?
Ahh, here comes some less happy news. It had been set for May this year but there is a lot of reworking to be done by me now that editors are at their work so that will delay its release. For this I most humbly apologise to those who had read on my blog that it will be in May this year. However, as the maker of the Ultima series once said, something is late only until it is released but it is bad forever. So as much as it is an ache to me to let readers down and not have a completed copy in my own palms sooner, I would rather I gave people the best I could late, than average early.

Have you started the third book yet? Does it have a title?
The third book is in preliminary stage and it has a working title but not an official one – so perhaps I had better keep mum on that till things are clearer.

After you finish 'Monster Blood Tattoo', will you be writing other books set in the Half-Continent?
Sorry, I think I answered this in question 3. To answer the question here: I sure hope so – these might include books about actually serving in a navy or life on the vinegar seas or exploring the same. Also, a compilation of the Explicariums of MBT plus even more information, done for those who like the Half-Continent and would like to stroll about it at their own pace without the interference of a narrative.

Were you happy with the reaction and reception 'Monster Blood Tattoo' has gotten?
Umm, yes, most definitely. There have certainly be those few (that I know of) who do not get it, or for whom it is not their “cup of tea”. Bad reviews are inevitable, yet I reckon it is far better to engender a reaction from people than incite only ambivalence. On the other hand, it is a deep delight to find that MBT has actually struck a chord in some, hit them in the way I so hoped it might and made the Half-Continent a place to retreat to when times are troubling.

Sean Williams wrote a rather snazzy forward for 'Foundling', how influential was he on your work as a writer?
Sean is an brilliant role model for how a writer should be, and in that he is still having an influence on me. I am exceedingly grateful (that sounds rather formal but it says it accurately) for the “snazzy” forward and the support he has shown MBT and me. He even launched the book here in Adelaide. As far as writing goes, his influence has not been so direct, though in some ways I reckon you can tell we’re both from Adelaide.

What other authors and books do you like?
Lots and lots: I tend to cite Kafka, HP Lovecraft, HG Wells, Mervyn Peake, ER Eddison, Austin, Steinbeck, Fitzgerald, Hesse and Mr. JRR himself when asked this question. TA Shippey’s Road to Middle Earth has had a profound influence on me, even The Boland Light Railway by BB has had its effect. Since publishing Foundling, a suggestion of Patrick O’Brien in my work has actually got me reading (and LOVING) the Jack Aubrey books. Can’t wait for The Deathly Hallows to be out – I know the pain of waiting for a great book to come out (re: question 4)

A lot of children's fantasy books are currently being made into films, or seeking to be made into films (Harry Potter, Eragon, Amulet of Samarkand, Inkheart), can you ever foresee 'Foundling' being adapted for film? If so, who would you cast as the key characters?
Yes and I reckon it might be best made as an all CG or animae feature, or maybe a mixture of puppets and CG. We shall see… As for real life actors I have now idea – what do you think?

What influenced you when you created the Half-Continent?
That is a question with a potentially very big answer (i.e.: I could rattle on and on if allowed to). Briefly it begins with Star Wars when I was five, then aforementioned Boland Light Railway then Warlock on Firetop Mountain (a Fighting Fantasy book – the very first one in fact coming out in the early 1980’s – I still have a copy) then LotR when I was thirteen (very much a “bolt of lightning from a clear sky” for me), throw in an abortive attempt at a Tolkien-copy fantasy world when I was 13, some HP Lovecraft, EA Poe, HG Wells, Dune, many sessions of role-playing (including the invention of our own settings and rules), Frankenstein, and a whole lot of creative fun at University and you have the foundation, the flower bed if you like, upon which and from which the Half-Continent eventually emerged. It was not until I had finished reading Peake’s Gormenghast series back in 1993 that I was finally motivated to actually begin what gradually became the Half-Continent. It began with one fellow called Icarus who wore mechanical wings on his back like his mythical Greek namesake and lived and struggled to survive in a city called Brandenbrass (which, you might note, is phonetically similar to “Gormenghast”) Since then history, especially European history from the Reformation through to Waterloo has had a great influence, as has visits to New York, London, and other place beyond here. This is not comprehensive but probably more than enough.

It seems a very unique and distinct place, your Half-Continent, and your Explicarium shows the incredible level of detail you have invested in it's creation... how much time did you spend on it's formation? Is it an evolving process?
Very much an evolving process. Its original vibe and form are what I see now as the possible future for the Half-Continent from where in its history we reading about it in MBT. I have been working on it formally since 1993 – and only with the merest ghost of a hint of a notion of a hope that perhaps one day in my 40’s or 50’s someone might think it worth doing something with. My primary objective has been to create place as thoroughly as possible and know it well before venturing out into stories. Having said that, I find for all this preparation there are still great areas of how the Hc works that need greater work when it comes to the ‘nitty gritty’ of actually writing a narrative set there. There are areas I had only previously briefly dealt with and were nutted out because that’s where Rossamünd took us. So the invention and refining – the kneading – of the Half-Continent goes on, even now, with more notebooks being filled. The notebook my publisher first saw falling at her feet in 2003/4 was #23; I am currently nearing the end of #29.

What advice would you offer to any hopeful writers out there?
Hmm, wow, I have become a writer by such a strange path that I feel ill-equipped to offer advice. All I can say from my own experience is that it might just be ok to quietly back yourself, to reckon your stuff is worth saying even if many about you scratch their heads and give you a humouring smile. However, be tough on your ideas, push them, make sure they have a ring of truth to them (always a tricky thing) but be not destructively self-critical – ride those storms of creative angst, dare to hope bigger things (as Paul Atreides might say “fear is the mind-killer”), and easy as this is for me to say, know that monetary success or multiple publishing deals are not always a measure of a works worth. Heck, I was fiddling about with the Half-Continent for well over a decade thinking no one would be really interested (but for my dear friends Will and Mandii – to whom Foundling is dedicated), so hanging in there has been a long pass-time of mine So to all you creatives wrestling with ideas and the wider world, hang in there. (Apologies if any of this sounds lame)

Some Links
Monster Blood Tattoo - Official website.
Monster Blog Tattoo - D.M. Cornish's blog.
David Draws - his illustration website.

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Sidney Sheldon dies

February 2nd 2007 06:06

Autumnal American author Sidney Sheldon has passed away just 10 days shy of his 90th birthday. Born Sidney Schechtel and starting out as a playwright in the 1930s, he managed to distinguish himself through his work for the theatre, film and television. Around the age of 50 he turned his hand to novels, mostly of a thriller nature, and became a bestseller. It is for his work as a novelist that he is probably best remembered

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Robin Hobb

January 15th 2007 11:33

Last year I took the plunge and read some Robin Hobb. This led to me reading all Robin Hobb. She's that good. Part of me is sad that I didn't read her Farseer novels when they first came out - that I wasn't interested because I wrote it off as 'uninteresting fantasy' (I wasn't much into fantasy back then, unlike now). Another part of me is glad of this as it meant I got to enjoy her books for the first time recently, especially at a more understanding age

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Bryce Courtenay

December 19th 2006 06:41

I'm currently reading 'The Power of One' and so far it's going alright (expect a review in the near-ish future). Anyway I thought I'd just slap up a bibliography of Bryce Courtenay

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John Le Carre

December 6th 2006 12:49

John Le Carre - real name David John Moore Cornwell - is probably best known for his influential and groundbreaking spy novels of the 60s. In recent years he has expanded his stories beyond the normal constraints of the genre, and has moved more into 'political thriller' territory at times. He's about 75 now, but he's still keeping it real in a very big way (witness one of his more recent novels, the critically acclaimed 'Constant Gardner

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John Grisham

November 7th 2006 05:36

Everybody knows John Grisham. He's pretty much the man who invented the modern court-room drama in literary form. Around half of his books have been turned into films and almost every one of his books is a bestseller, and he releases a new one every year! It seems the more specialised a writer becomes, the more likely he or she is to be a bestseller... more and more I'm starting to think that people are attracted to formulaic storytelling - they want something they can understand straight away. Is this a knock-on effect from our gradually shortening media-fed attention spans

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