And before I forget ................ #readit2011

The #readit2011 Twitter reading fest has been an amazing journey so far. All the details can be found here - http://readit2011.wordpress.com/ - and here - http://readersadvisory.wetpaint.com/page/2011+Twitter+Reading+Group

Not to mention the shirts you can buy the shirts from RedBubble here - http://www.redbubble.com/explore/readit2011

There are plans afoot to continue the love next year too in conjunction with the National Year of Reading and make it bigger and better and broader and bookier!! .............. is that a word? You get what I mean, I'm just a tad excited about it all.

Now, I'd best be off to update my reading challenge list on the RA wiki .............................

And now for something completely different.......... #risg2011

Last Tuesday, May 24th, was the annual Reference @ The Metcalfe seminar, #risg2011.

The day had an exciting line-up, including David Lee King (via skype), Craig Thomler, Mitchell Whitelaw, Paul Hagon, and Ross Balharrie. Not to mention Megan Pitt doing her bit to showcase CNRL's fabulous CWA Country of Study webpage. Plus loads more.

All the details and presentations can be found here.

I missed attending this day in person, but thoroughly enjoyed following the action via twitter. A huge bonus has been the ability to view the Twapperkeeper stats and feed after the event to catch up on those moments when I wasn't shackled to my desk following the twitterstream.

As always a huge thank you to the RISG team for putting this event together and especially to Ellen Forsyth (@ellenforsyth) for all the hardwork she puts in when the rest of us simply can't make it to the post.

Dragons in the Metcalfe - #ra2011 – part nine (last but not least)

Finally we finished the day with Garth Nix. Such a superb storyteller! He really brought the day full-circle, having started with Brent Weeks that’ morning.

Garth Nix reads everything – Rosemary Sutcliffe, Arthur Ransom, Georgette Heyer even rated a mention as an adventure story! For him, fantasy writing and reading is about myth, legend and superstition.

After weaving his magic on a spell-bound audience Garth reminded us that writing fantasy is about taking pieces of reality and adding in elements of the fantastic (or mythic) so that readers know it’s not true but will happily go along with the tale. And we certainly did that!

For him, finishing novels is one of the most important things a writer should do – regardless of whether or not that novel is ever published. As a writer it is important that you don’t quit, just keep going and when done move on to the next book. Write the books you want to read – Garth does.


Okay, so what is fantasy?
Often lumped together with Science Fiction
Plot; character; narrative; structure; emotion
Ask, what if…..?

Taking ordinary things you know well and making some small change


What advice does Garth have for writers?

Read Locus magazine – especially, the year in review (www.locusmag.com)

Pursue how-to-write literature: Ursula le Guin – “steering the craft”, books on writing

Exercise:
3 lines – beginning, middle, end
3 paragraphs – beginning, middle, end
Keep expanding on that

Plan / plot
Eg. Keys to the Kingdom series
Knew the 7 titles
Knew the big story, but not the smaller stories
Knew how the story would end, etc

Editors – very useful



Garth Nix’s first book was The Ragwitch, he has this beautiful cover fold-out of all his book covers which has he unfolds more covers makes you realise just how many books he has written and how diverse they have been – but all Fantasy, and all popular with audiences.


When the day finally ended it was with such a positive vibe in the room. Yet again the RA working group had put together an excellent seminar. I’m sure we all look forward to next year’s seminar and whichever theme it explores.
Well done!

Dragons in the Metcalfe - #ra2011 - part eight

Next up was Vassiliki (@vaveros) with her delightful presentation RA and Twitter which is viewable via Sharepoint and on the RA wiki (along with all the other presentations from the day).

And then yours truly ( @CatyJ) showcasing the delight of #readit2011 and #bookbinge plus the range of shirts now available from RedBubble to support these events.

Dragons in the Metcalfe - #ra2011 - part seven

Next up was Sally Dowling, Acting Childrens & Young Adult Librarian at Waverley Library, bringing together a YA Librarians perspective of providing recommended reading for teens. This was an insight into the committment Sally has to her role - participating in a teen reading group (building rapport and relationships with readers), reading YA titles, reviewing journals,newspapers, and publishers' websites, checking out the new stock as it arrives at the library and spending time on teenreads.com.au and the CBC website.
Sally came armed with some Fantasy author suggestions for teens:-
ED Baker (The Frog Princess)
Steven Orgerod
Scott Westerfeld (fabulous steam punk series: Leviathan, Behemoth, etc)
Justin Lalalesteley (?? not sure of the spelling of this one....)
Garth Nix (Sabriel is a great YA read)
Andrew Butcher
Brian Jacques
Jonathon Stroud
Holly Black
Sarah Singelton
Anthony Horowitz
Diana Wynne Jones
Eion Colfer
James patterson
Sophie Masson
Tamora Pierce
Philip Pullman
Stephanie Meyer
Erin Hunter
Anne McCaffrey
Darren Shan (Cirque du Freak / the Saga of Darren Shan; Demonata series; The Thin Executioner; etc)
Catherine Jinks (Evil Genius series; The Reformed Vampire Support Group; etc)
Francesca Lea Block
Gillian Rubenstein

Dragons in the Metcalfe - #ra2011 - part six

What is your fantasy?
After lunch Jenn Martin (@wateryone) led us through a series of small groups discussions on the various Fantasy titles we had read prior to coming to the seminar. We approached our reading from the viewpoint of Nancy Pearl's 'doorways' of language, character, setting, and story/plot and considered our expectations of reading a Fantasy title versus the actual experience of the one we read. the bottom line was to consider the appeal of Fantasy to our library clients.
This was a fun session, highlighted by Vassiliki's (@vaveros) reading of Urgum the Axeman who keeps trying to die heroically only to be constantly foiled by the gods he worships who want to keep him alive as he is their last believer and without him they would perish and be forgotten. For Vassiliki reading this was all about character.

Dragons in the Metcalfe - #ra2011 - part five

Ellen Forsyth from the State Library of NSW (@ellenforsyth) spoke briefly regarding the Stock Quality Health Check (SQHC) - a project to develop a practical tool which enables public libraries to undertake an assessment of the relevance, depth and range of collection stock in relation to the communities they service.


Sound fancy?


Actually, I think this is a fantastic project and one I can really see the usefulness of in my workplace. To be honest I'm quite excited about this project - compiling an indicative list across numerous AF genres which can then be used to gauge the coverage of the library's collection is such a useful and practical idea. I'm also looking forward to parts 2 & 3 - nonfiction and junior/ya fiction

Dragons in the Metcalfe - #ra2011 - part four

Just before we broke for lunch at Dragons in the Metcalfe we were introduced to Sophie Morales sophiam@galaxybooks.com.au , who runs a paranormal romance book club at Galaxy Books (where she also works) introduced us to some of the sub-genres of Fantasy, plus a bit of a look at what’s hot, what’s not, and what’s going to be hot over the next 12 months. A delightful presenter with an amazing generosity on sharing what she knows, Sophie again reinforced the advantage of having presenters from Book Shops at these seminars – she really knows her stuff.

Order me / Tell me / Twitter / Facebook / blog / monthly newsletter

Subgenres of Fantasy

Dark – Stephen King : Eyes of the dragon
Merrvyn Peake - Gormenghast trilogy
Michael Moorcock
Fritz Leiber – Our Lady of Dark
James Clemens – The Witch series
Stephen Leather – Nightfall / Midnight
Kate Griffin – In the Midnight

Comic – Terry Pratchett (the ever poluar and the best!!)
Terry Brooks

Urban – tied to setting – Jim Butcher (suggest that libraries should get all his titles)
Simon R. Green
Patricia Briggs
Ilona Andrews
Epic – Robert Jordan
Joe Abercrombie
Patrick Rothfuss

Heroic –

Historic ? – Guy Gavriel Kay - Ysabel

YA – Tamora Pierce
Kirstin cashore
Suzanne Collins – The Hunger Games series
Julie Kagawa – The Iron Court series
Holly Black
Melissa Marr – themes of dark faeries / tattoos
Gail Carriger – steampunk, Victorian, very cool

Upcoming themes ? – mermaids, zombies, minotaurs

Dragons in the Metcalfe - #ra2011 - part three

Next up at Dragons in the Metcalfe were the ever popular Lightning Talks – 5 slides in 2 minutes.

Martin Mantle – Armidale Library – Non-western motifs in Fantasy fiction.
· Raymond Feist / Janny Wurts
· Western / European
· Japanese
· Middle East
· India
· Sophie Masson – Mulsim / Hindu / Buddhist – a local Armidale author! –
· Graphic comic book - the Ninety-Nine / The 99 – al-tisa’a

Heather Thomson – Monavale Library – Holding The Book : using kindles in reading groups
· 1 purchase allows 6 copies
· Catalogued kindles to allow issues/returns
· Portable / storage / clarity (of screen)
· Blandness of reading experience

Anne Duffield – Ultimo Library - @Edwirinia – What are you reading?
· Listening to others (staff) talk about books
· Broadening knowledge
· Getting to know who reads what, what titles/authors are out there

Martin Mantle – Armidale Library – Disability in Fantasy Fiction – a fantastic talk, left everyone wanting more!!
· Impairment vs Disability
· Impairment – Body, Mind, Senses
· Disability – Environment, Technology
· Stephen Donaldson - The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Unbeliever – has leprosy
· Garth Nix – asthma of main character is what enables him to enter fantasy world

Dragons in the Metcalfe - #ra2011 - part two

Dragons in the Metcalfe exposed public library staff to some interesting speakers.

Following on from Brent Weeks, Rowena Specht-Whyte - @Rowena-SW - spoke to us next about her role as an Aurealis Awards judge and #specfic (Speculative Fiction / Fantasy) in particular. The Aurealis Awards were established in 1995 by Chimaera Publications specifically “to recognise the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror writers”. The awards cover five categories: science fiction, fantasy, horror, young adult, and children’s fiction (ages 8-12 years, added in 2001). The YA and children's categories cover works in all three speculative fiction genres. These categories each have two separate awards, one for novels and one for short fiction. To qualify an author must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident and have published an appropriate title during the set period (currently 1st Nov through to 31st Dec of the following year). It is up to the judges’ discretion as to which category a book fits into.

So what does an Aurealis judge look for in a Fantasy novel?
· World building
· Character
· Supernatural / ‘fantastic’ element
· Consistency


Some winning authors:

· Sara Douglass
· Isobelle Carmody
· Juliet Marillier
· Garth Nix
· Traci Harding
· Patricia Wrightson
· Sean Williams
· Kim Wilkins
· etc
· etc
· etc



Rowena is a passionate reader whose enthusiam was an inspiration for everyone!

Dragons in the Metcalfe - #ra2011 - part one

Back on March 9th I had the fun of participating in the annual Readers Advisory seminar at the State Library of NSW – Dragons in the Metcalfe. It’s taken me some time to compile my thoughts on that day, but here they are…….. (this may take a while .............)

Following on from an Intro from Ellen Forsyth & the Executive at NSL, we launched straight in to a fabulous Skype session with American Fantasy Author, Brent Weeks - @brentweeks - the author of The Night Angel trilogy and The Black Prism (first title in the Lightbringer series). Inspired by Edgar Allen Poe at 12 yrs old, Weeks was comforted by the language and sense of kindred spirit he found in reading books – and noted that Librarians have the skills necessary to give the right books to the right people!!

After a beautiful description of his relationship with his older brother, Weeks explained how he came to write The Black Prism – a book about brothers and what happens when the “rules” for fighting are broken. In any novel you use the people around you to inspire characterisation. In The Black Prism, Gavin & Dazen have a love / loathing relationship (like many siblings). The use of Kip as ‘the fat kid’, the outsider who is necessary for success is pertinent to this story. It’s about keeping secrets and complicated love – “the human heart in conflict with itself”. Personally, it’s absolutely brilliant!

Weeks went on to talk about Fantasy as a genre as some authors he regards as being important to the genre. Whilst Tolkein popularised the genre it did not start with him. Rather Lester Del Rey had a bet with other publishers which led to the genre becoming commercially viable.
* Terry Brooks and his Sword of Shannara promoted the genre and really kicked it off.
* Robert Jordon’s Wheel of Time series shows the sheer scope of huge Fantasy (epic at 13 books with Book 14 due out in 2012).
* The 1990’s brought us George R. Martin and the concept of Fantasy without the Romanticism (A Song of Ice and Fire series).
* Joe Abercrombie’s Fantasy is gritty (UK, First Law series).
* Whilst Scott Lynch is described as “oceans meets Fantasy”.
* Brandon Sanderson, currently finishing Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, writes very fast, has a number of YA titles already (including Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians), and is bound to be as big as George R. Martin.
* Peter V. Brett – The Painted Man;
* NK Jemison – The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms;
* Nnedi Okorafor – Who fears death?;
* Paolo Bacigalipi – YA, exploring political / social issues; Sci-Fi / dystopian future;
* Pat Rothfuss – The Name of the Wind, has beautiful prose and is literary Fantasy, will be a best seller.
*For YA / Urban fantasy try Gail Carraigher – Soulless, Blameless, Nameless (light Victorian vampire novels), and
* Jim Butcher (huge!).

So why did Brent Weeks choose to write Fantasy? Fantasy as genre is huge, like a playground without fences. The sky is the limit for imagination – the author creates the world, presents the unfamiliar, and allows readers to see things with new eyes. In reading about the ‘thugi’ in India during the period of British Imperialism (ambushed travellers by joining merchant caravans and at an agreed spot would strangle merchants and disappear with the goods – they did not believe in spilling blood), discovers how hard it is to untangle the truth of history, where our own perspectives influence how we view the events / or the import/impact of the events. Writing Fantasy allows authors and readers to break away from this and create a sense of magic exploring new cultures – telling stories with lots of action and moral dilemmas.

I was impressed by Brent Weeks’ presentation, especially when our webcam went a little skewed and whilst we could still see him, he lost all sight of us and got a lovely shot of the ceiling!! Presenting via Skype isn’t easy but he was an absolute joy to listen to and so open and forthcoming with his viewpoints and ideas and oh so generous in giving of his time to talk with us as he did.

On a personal note. I first read The Night Angel trilogy and decided that I had found my new favourite Fantasy author. I was re-inspired to read more and to get closer to this genre which is already one of my favourites. Reading The Black Prism I was completely blown away by Weeks' capacity to create this amazing, believable world and characters that I simply needed to know more about.
I had always read light fantasy stories about dragons and faeries and the like as a child but I was first introduced to Fantasy as a very young teenager when someone handed me The Lord of The Rings and I did not sleep until I finished it (yes, 3 days is a very long time, thank goodness I started it on a Friday evening!), closely followed by Stephen Donaldson's The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Unbeliever. From that moment I was hooked on Fantasy. The Night Angel trilogy and The Black Prism has brought me back to that point and I am inspired once again by this fantastic genre!