Herding Cats - the reading challenge

I've just found Herding Cats the reading challenge.

I'm trying to work out what my list would include. At the moment, my thoughts are:

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
The Gate to Women's Country by Sherri Tepper
Gibbon's Decline and Fall by Sherri Tepper
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Gate of Ivory by Doris Egan
The Crow Road by Iain Banks
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon
Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones

but I see that I've got two Sherri Tepper's in there and I want to have ten different authors.

I'll have to come back to this. Tomorrow I go to York for a few days, so I shan't be posting for probably a week.

Fashions in science fiction writing

I'm reading Mary Gentle's Orthe at the moment. It was published in the 80s and is a leisurely, descriptive book about an ambassador to another world. It reads more like fantasy than science fiction to me, although it has space travel and a futuristic version of our Earth.

I'm enjoying it but it is very different from the kind of science fiction I grew up with - the more laconic writings of, say, John Wyndham or the early Brian Stableleford books, of which a particular favourite is Critical Threshold.

I'm wondering what the fashion is now. Most of the writing advice seems to be to get into the action as quickly as possible and to keep it coming. I think there needs to be a balance between too little description so no one knows what is going on and too much description so that the reader is bogged down. Maybe every reader has a slightly different idea of what they want.

I think I'm going to write the kind of story I want to read and hope that there are other people around who will want to read the same kind of story.

Two nations divided...

It was GB Shaw that said that the US and the UK are

Two nations divided by a common language

I've been thinking about this as I enjoy blogs by writers from the US. It's often in the everyday things that we show our differences. Now, I would call top object a purse and the lower one a handbag. I believe that my American friends would call the large black object a purse and the small colourful one a wallet. I suppose it doesn't matter, until one of us talks about a "purse" without giving enough context. I'm pretty sure I couldn't get my mobile phone in my purse. Or should I say my cellphone won't fit in my wallet?

I've noticed that in the UK we tend to expect to find a bath in the bathroom - otherwise it's a toilet. We don't have restrooms but you can sometimes use the toilet in an old-fashioned cloakroom. Although many of our cloakrooms are just places to put coats.

It doesn't have to be confusing. We just need everyone to realise that the UK way is the simplest and best.

Cat with book

From: Cats With Attitude. I just can't resist intelligent cats that like reading.

We're assured that

no books were harmed in the making of this photo

So that's all right then.

Bizarro

You can see more of Dan Piraro's comics at KingFeatures.

I've actually been doing some writing so I'm afraid that's all you're getting today.

Writing fun

I'm in a bit of a dilemma at the moment. One reason I'm not getting on with writing my current science fiction story is that I can't decide whether to write in the first person or in the third.

For sheer fun in writing, you can't beat first person. I can get into the story as the Main Character (MC) and just romp along. The problem is that the story isn't terribly easy for anyone else to follow. Too many of the details that the reader needs to know wouldn't be in the mind of the MC.

When I write in the third person, it's easier to follow but harder to write. So I suppose it comes down to the question of "Who am I writing for?" If I ever want anyone else to read what I write, and I do, I think maybe I need to take the harder path. Either that, or write the whole thing out as it comes and then go back and third-person it.

Vacuuming the Cat

I've heard that the activities writers do to avoid writing are known as "Vacuuming the cat". (Unfortunately I don't know where I saw that to give credit so please let me know the source if you do.) What I'm doing to avoid writing is reading a lot of other people's books and I was delighted that my copy of Personal Demons arrived today! That's a couple of month's earlier than amazon said it would - good old amazon.

It's a strange feeling reading a book by someone that I've met online - although I'm not sure which of my friends on the various writing sites sent me off to look at Stacia's book. Maybe I found it on her blog.

Stacia's website lets you read the first chapter, which really helps me to decide if I want to buy a book or not. I'm glad that amazon often includes a 'Search Inside' feature now, even if I do sometimes have to go to the US site to see it.

So far I'm enjoying the book, although I'm not entirely convinced by the counselor in it. Maybe counselling practices are different in the US. At any rate, it looks like being a lot of fun.

More About Endings

I was Stumbling around and came across a page on Endings - which is about endings in science fiction series. The author made a point about the emotion generated at the end of a series which I think also applies to any story: whether book, film or tv series.

Happy or sad is good. Disappointed, angry or indifferent is bad.

I must admit that I prefer happy to sad but the other feelings are in a different category. Anything that comes under the heading 'unsatisfied' can spoil the whole story for me.

Satisfying story endings that I have come across recently include Son of Rambow, which I saw last night. It was a very enjoyable film and the ending felt satisfying. If it hadn't, for me it would have spoilt the entire film.

Home library

I've been feeling very pleased with my home "library", or landing as it is sometimes called. I thought I needed a lot of space for my books but someone has worked out a solution with this library under the stairs The blog shows the stairs from the top as well, so you can see that some of these shelves are in fact steps.

I'm not sure how practical it is but it looks wonderful. By the way, this isn't my library - I wrote about that in A Room of My Own.

Northern Lights

My son has just read this and passed it to me to reread. I can see why they called it The Golden Compass in the US and for the film, although I prefer the title Northern Lights. It seems more evocative to me, although maybe that's just because it was the first title I knew it by.

It was another easy read, although not so full of wish fulfilment as Kim Harrison's books. I do love being swept up into another world and I love the daemons. Who wouldn't want their own daemon? I think mine would be a cat - or I'd like to think so.

Now I have to find where I've put The Subtle Knife so I can read the follow up.