Came across another lovely review of The Unexpected Miss Bennet, from Barnes & Noble’s Romantic Reads book blog:

 I always thought Mary probably had a rich inner life and would therefore make an admirable heroine, and Patrice Sarath has taken up that challenge. What results is a moving character study of a middle child, a woman at a point in her life in which she must take her life into her own hands or remain devoid of any sort of happiness.

You can read more here.
Due to the magic of e-books, when I turned on my Kindle this morning, The Unexpected Miss Bennet was waiting for me there as well.

And Savvy Verse & Wit has a guest post by me about writing spaces.

Tonight will be a further celebration of Book Day with the holiday Christmas concert at my son’s high school. Although probably that has nothing to do with me and everything to do with the holidays.

I love Book Day. It’s like Christmas and birthdays all rolled up into one.

I loved Halloween as a kid. Such a spooky, scary night, running all over the neighborhood without parents, dressed in all kinds of homemade creative costumes, and candy. It was cool, dark, windy (usually), leaves scattering across the street, voices wafting through the dark, and flashlights darting to and fro.

There was a little bit of danger, of transgression — out after dark! Without parents (well, they trailed behind)! Candy! Staying up late! And even some mischief — what with egging houses (actually a bad one) and smashing pumpkins.

And now? Grownups dress up. Kids wear store-bought costumes and go trick or treating in the mall.

Grownups got Halloween. Kids got rocks. (name that reference).

It was a busy weekend. Coffee on Saturday morning with writer friends so we could commiserate about not being at WFC like all the other “real” writers. (Maybe that last part was just me.) Then the Pflugerville Science Fiction and Fantasy Meetup, which was a good time. One thing that doesn’t change — the kids who like science fiction and fantasy are some of the smartest kids around.

Then a party! With karaoke! And Rock Band! And general silliness.

And for Halloween at work I went as Inigo Montoya, because our theme was heroes and villains. So I had a little bit of the Halloween spirit, okay?

There’s more news to come about The Unexpected Miss Bennet — I will keep you posted.

So, bittersweet, yes, and well worth it. I will probably read it again, like visiting with an old friend — it will stay by the bedside for those sleepless nights when I want a comfort read at 3 am, when the world is darkest.

I was going to post a reasoned column about the ArmadilloCon panel on the Elizabeth Moon-Wiscon controversy and have decided not to. I don’t think the panel served any purpose except to make people angry and sad and solidify existing points of view.

Life goes on. After a convention I am re-energized and ready to create. I finished a new short story, and I need to crank out a second draft by Sunday to be able to get it to my writers group so they can read it in time for next week’s meeting. I’m trying to ramp up my creative output. If you are of the mindset that creativity doesn’t happen on a schedule, that is true, yes, but it is also true that while one can wait for one’s muse to strike, it is better to strike one’s muse. I heard that over the weekend. It’s not mine and I can’t remember who said it, but whoever it was is a genius.

Also, and this is strange, but I got a great idea from either my work business blog or another business blog. The idea of “fast fail,” in which you create so many different iterations of a product or campaign, with the idea being the faster and more often you fail, the more you learn…quantity brings a quality of its own. I think this can be very powerful and probably won’t cause me to burn out.

Next week I will be a featured author on another Jane Austen blog — I will be sure to give you all a heads up when that goes up. It’s for this site:

My Secret Jane Austen Book Club

Check it out when you get a chance.

1) Your own favorite Austen character and why?

Patrice:   My favorite Austen character changes with the book I’ve read most recently, so currently it’s Emma Woodhouse. She’s very young and very meddlesome, but girls like her are so common nowadays. They are the leaders and sometimes the mean girls in high school, and they are the very opinionated young mothers at play group and who volunteer at the schools. But she is also good-hearted and loves her father very much. Emma is so timeless. Austen really knew her stuff when she drew her characters.

2) Your favorite Austen book.

Patrice:     Persuasion. I think Austen had fully come into her writing powers at that point and what a tragedy that she died so young. I love and will always love Pride and Prejudice, but I think Persuasion is a better book. She captures family dynamics with a keen eye and sharp wit, and much like Emma, it’s so modern.

Click the link above for the rest!

That’s one of the questions brought up by the storm over the Wall Street Journal opinion piece by Meghan Cox Gurdon on the current fashion in YA lit. Gurdon’s review of the genre, called Darkness Too Visible, called out publishers and writers for — in my reading of it — both sensationalizing and normalizing pathological behavior.

“If you think it matters what is inside a young person’s mind, surely it is of consequence what he reads. This is an old dialectic—purity vs. despoliation, virtue vs. smut—but for families with teenagers, it is also everlastingly new. Adolescence is brief; it comes to each of us only once, so whether the debate has raged for eons doesn’t, on a personal level, really signify.”

This is an old argument indeed; kids have always been reading literature that their elders have disliked.

But I think Gurdon has a point, and it’s been lost in the cries of censorship and outrage that the writing and reading community have given voice to. What exactly is YA? Who is it aimed at? You will find many fans of the genre (is it even a genre? Or is it an age group? It’s so confusing) are in their 20s or older, so even Gurdon can hardly complain about their reading material. But every parent should ask whether their child should be reading the darker, harder stuff that’s out there. Should a 13-year-old read Tithe, by Holly Black? It might be fine for an older teen, but who makes that consideration? Parents get ripped for being too lenient with their kids nowadays, but shouldn’t parents be able to make that judgment?

Back when most adults were children, the readers among us had a similar upbringing; no books were off limits. Some readers self-regulated; I found myself in some pretty adult territory a few times, and in retrospect I wish I didn’t still have those books in my head.

Nowadays, I don’t think parents have the luxury of giving their kids the same leeway. And I think what Gurdon is saying is, if this is all that is out there aimed at teens and tweens, what does that say about the genre and why is that all there is to it?

I think it’s a bit disingenuous of authors to say, hey, I’m just shedding light on a tough issue, whatever the issue is (pedophilia, cutting, eating disorders, etc.).  Sensationalism has always sold books, and we are all in this business to sell books and tell stories and provide fans with a satisfying reading experience. My goal is to keep you up past your bedtime on a work or school night reading one more chapter; teen readers crave that same breathless sensation.

At a book signing a couple years ago, a mom approached me about the violence level in Red Gold Bridge. Yeah, it is violent. There is a mad general with a fixation on a 16 year old girl so it’s not only violent it’s icky. This mom’s daughters were in high school, well within the age group for my books but she opted not to buy it for them.

Darn. When I related the story to friends, we all kind of laughed at this overprotective mom.  After all, who hates to lose a sale? And yeah, considering that my books are not very dark, even though dark things happen, really, it would have been fine for her daughters.

But she has that right to make those kinds of decisions. I have the right to keep writing what I want and people who want to read those things will buy my books.

YA editors have a particular love for the novels they bring to their readership, and are true evangelists for the genre (or the age group).  Gurdon might be jaundiced by what she sees on the shelves, but I don’t think that editors and publishers are as cynical and self-serving as this review implies.  I see this review as opening a dialog. Now it’s our turn to talk about the books we love and why we write them.

During my last signing at Barnes and Noble, I spent more than half my time explaining to customers that no, there aren’t any vampires in the book, the main character is male, and the only tattoos present on any character are prison tattoos. As much progress as has been made in SciFi and Fantasy circles* and in American society in general, we’ve still got a long way to go. So, let me get something off my chest here and now. As much as I’m okay with Romance’s interest in all things Fantasy, it can be, let’s just say, extremely frustrating for someone like me.

Because I don’t like Romance as a literary genre, and I never have.

And then from a blogger called Mfred there’s this rebuttal:

Which leads me to the part where I do start to feel a little bit of a gender betrayal— Leicht, wanting to both write a good novel and to be perceived as a good writer, changed her character to male and makes sure to emphasize how it’s not a romance?

Now I don’t know Mfred, but I would probably like talking about books with her. I do think that she took Leicht’s blog post too personally, and knowing Leicht, I bet that if the two of them sat down to talk they’d probably find plenty of common ground. Also, Mfred, if you are reading this, go buy Stina’s book. It’s really good  — you’ll like it. So she pissed you off — all the more reason to buy the book and find out what the hullabaloo is about.

The thing is, I agree with both of them.  I know what Leicht is talking about. I write fantasy, yet my books have romance covers (we’re setting Miss Bennet aside for the moment).  My books are not conventional romances, ie, they do not have happy endings.

As a result, I caused unhappiness in many romance readers, who were led to expect by the covers that my books would have happy and fulfilling romances. (Seriously, there were Team Joe and Team Crae. I should have sold t shirts.) For one reader at least, the fact that at the end of Gordath Wood, no one got the person they wanted ruined the book for her.  It seriously bugged her.

• So here’s the thing — I have no control over the covers.
• I thought I was writing fantasy, not romance.
• My books also confound people because they don’t have very much magic in them.

I love romance — but my ideal romance is the sad romance. You know, a Mal and Inara type romance. I love serious romances, like Adam and Jenny in A Civil Contract (I always want to tell Jenny that she got the better deal, Adam really loves her, etc. I have this terrible need to comfort fictional people.)  I love romances where love isn’t fantastic sex in impossible positions but people who are damaged yet strong, who have demons (metaphorical) but overcome them.

HEA (happy ever after) endings are great too, but I love them the way I love Kitkats and Reeses peanut butter cups — too much of a good thing leads to extra pounds and a queasy feeling.

And that is where Mfred and I part company. The insistence, partly marketing and partly the readership, that Romances should have great sex and an HEA, is what makes the genre so frustrating.

One of the things  that Romance does is pigeonhole women writers. A male reader of mine wondered why Gordath Wood wasn’t considered science fiction, because it was very similar to Eric Flint’s 1632. Seriously — modern people go back in time, etc etc. Flint’s were a group of United Mine Workers from West Virginia — mine were horsewomen from New York.  His had overt alien presence, mine a portal that is an alien presence (although that doesn’t come out til Red Gold Bridge and won’t be fleshed out more til the final book in the series).

My books got pigeonholed, y’all. They got pigeonholed as fantasy because I’m a woman, and the covers further identified them as Romance. And while yes, Romance is an enormous genre, and it is the most lucrative (during the recession, the only books that sold well were Romance novels), the emphasis on certain tropes is actually confining.

It’s a big tent, but it turns out, there’s not a lot of wiggle room there.

Anyway, both blogs are thought-provoking and exciting, and there’s room for discussion and commentary. Go for it — enjoy!

He made all the parts.  Gears, escapement, everything. This is probably the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.

The clock by Ben. He hand made everything, the gears and all the moving parts.

Side view.

The full view so you can see the pendulum. I didn't realize that it had to be so long.

So the group got together and created a little surprise for me.

What is the significance of the Golden Chobo, you ask? Well, when you combine a bunch of smart-ass writers and certain fantasy tropes, say, the Golden Child, and a novel with “scary hoboes,” as one member put it, you get the Golden Chobo.

The significance of the crow and the tiara with the word “malcra” on it will be clear when you read the book, and it is one step closer to fruition.

Thanks guys for pertinent, thoughtful critiques, some truly dreadful puns (that would be Fred, who in the picture below is holding a postcard for Space Squid magazine), and good laughs. My books would never be as good as they are without your insightful comments.

The mystery panel. From left, me, Lilian, Stephen, Tracy

Excellent time at ConDFW this year. As always, a well-run operation. I had a lot of fun, the panels were informative, con-goers in excellent form (smart, funny, engaging, intelligent, handsome, etc.). Tim Powers and Brandon Sanderson brought the star wattage, along with Brad Foster and Jack McDevitt. How’s that for star power?

Arrived on Friday afternoon, checked in, and got ready for my panels. First up, the movie panel, which was a bogus topic, so the panelists decided to talk about trends in fantasy and science fiction in general. Hanging out and trading opinions with Brandon Sanderson, yay!

Martha Wells and her latest novel, The Cloud Roads

I went to the short story panel to meet up with Michelle Muenzler, and although Michelle and the other panelists are absolutely correct, don’t simsub your short stories, I did pipe up from the audience to say, if you want to live on the edge, go ahead and simsub, if one market is notorious for not responding in a timely fashion. I also related the anecdote of such a market, which shall go nameless, Interzone, which sent me a rejection for a story a year after it already appeared in another magazine. Look, editors — if Gordon Van Gelder can do it, so can you. Stop holding our stories hostage, and everyone will be happier.

Michelle still spoke to me, though, and a few of us went out to dinner at a great Taiwanese restaurant on her recommendation. Stina Leicht and William Ledbetter, wonderful company all con long.

I was on the Talking During Movies MSTK mashup and it was … it could have been fun. But listen, one guy hogged the mike, and his bon mots were pretty lame. Dude, when the only thing you think is funny is that the actress is wearing a leather bikini and all you can talk about is her tits, it’s not funny. There were a lot of things that were funny in the movie. Mark Finn had plenty of great quips. You sir, on the other hand, were drunk, sexist, and not funny. So I bagged out of there, and went to the bar.

Saturday morning was the mystery panel with me, Lilian Stewart Carl, Stephen Patrick, and Tracy Morris. We rocked. I do love mysteries and we talked about our favorites, what makes a good one, and why we like them.

I almost won the spelling bee. Went down on homunculus, dammit. I was one of the cohort who came in second and took home the Tasha Yar action figure. So here’s the difference between me, say, and a true blue fan. I was thinking, hey, I can take her out of the package and bring her to work where she can join my Qui Gon Jinn action figure, my horse figures, and my little guy from the Asterix comics. Then I remembered that my husband wouldn’t let me open the package. So she’s on the bookshelf in the living room, still in the packaging. Stay mint, Tasha. Stay mint.

The creating languages panel was full of smart! Funny! Wonderful! people! In the audience and on the panel. Robert Stikmanz, who has created a language, Jack McDevitt who at first wasn’t sure why he was on the panel but hey! His latest book, Echo, is out and it’s a perfect example of why. And Taylor Anderson, author of The Destroyermen series was also on the panel. I love those books. They are so much fun. And as he pointed out, language is also a function of physiology, and that segued into body language, and how understanding the unspoken language is as important as what is spoken.

I shared a reading time with A. Lee Martinez, which was hilarious, because Alex was cracking his own self up with the excerpt from his novel Monster, so he had all of us laughing. Then I read from GWIII and signed a few books and talked with fans, and heard someone say that the excerpt made them excited for the book, and you know what, that made my day.

Other readings were Stina Leicht from her new book Of Blood and Honey, Martha Wells from her new book The Cloud Roads, Paul Black from a kickass new novel that I think was untitled (the chapter title was Bitchslapped), and Michelle Muenzler from a dark dark fairy story.

Michelle Muenzler, reading from a dark fairy story.

Moonbase vs. Mars -- to infinity and beyond will require very smart people to get us there

I finished up with attending the Moonbase vs Mars Colony panel, and was reminded once again why I love science fiction. Smart people talking about exploring space in very intelligent, exciting and interesting ways. There are people dedicated to establishing humanity on other worlds. These are solvable problems. Hugely difficult, but solvable. The optimism and intellectual curiosity of space enthusiasts is unparalleled. There’s a lot of crap going on in the world. And the message is, science can lead us to great things, science and the spirit of exploration and adventure.

We gotta solve a few things first, but you know, start somewhere.

On Saturday night I fell in with a group of new friends and old, and before you knew it, we had melded into a comfortable group. It seemed as if we all knew one another for a long time. It was a wonderful experience, all too rare, to have that kind of connection with other people. So thanks everyone, from organizers to attendees to panelists, for a wonderful weekend.

Yes, even you, Talking during Movies dude. I’m over it already.