[REVIEW] The Girl in the Steel Corset – Kady Cross

Kady Cross
The Girl in the Steel Corset (Steampunk Chronicles, Book 1)
Harlequin Teen (US: 24th May 2011; AU: 1st June 2011; UK: 17th June 2011)
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Cherie Priest and Scott Westerfeld revived steampunk a few years ago, and since then the subgenre has grown – particularly within the ranks of romance novelists. Kathryn Smith is known for her adult paranormal romances, but is rebranded as Kady Cross for her young adult debut: The Girl in the Steel Corset. The first in a series with continuing characters, romance begins here but is rather chaste.

I’m a bit sceptical of steampunk, as some of it just seems to be historical paranormal with fashion ripe for costume ideas. The title and cover of this book suggest the same, but the steel corset does indeed feature, though not with a red dress.

Finley Jayne may be the centrepiece of the story’s summary, but Emily O’Brien is far and beyond the most engaging character: She’s a mechanic, engineer, medic, and altogether awesome. Oh, and she makes that titular contraption. And she’s Irish. You can’t NOT like her – and I want that mechanised cat, damn it!

Sam Morgan originally struck my fancy, though, for his description in the summary as “part robot”. Kady Cross writes automatons so well that I dip my dirigible captain’s hat to her. And automatons play a major part in the external plot, thanks to The Machinist. Gotta love mad science!

Predictable but vastly enjoyable, this clockwork treasure should go down a treat.

P.S. The Organites totally remind me of the worms Futurama‘s Fry had in a particular episode

P.P.S. My favourite quote: If the city of London was a body, Whitechapel would be the groin; a great unwashed area that only showed itself under the cover of darkness, and only for the most salacious of entertainments. No one of “proper” birth ever admitted to going there, but they all did at one time or another – or at least they wanted to. Slumming was very popular these days. Ha!

[REVIEW] The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide – Stephenie Meyer

Stephenie Meyer
The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide (The Twilight Saga)
Hachette Little, Brown (US, UK & AU: 12th April 2011)
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This was originally slated to be published (sans illustrations) a year or so ago. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner was to be included, but that short story turned into a novella; The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide is hefty enough as it is. That it’s in hardcover adds to the weight, as does the thicker paper – and it all adds to the price, too. Best-suited for die-hard collectors, but it should be popular enough that your local library has a copy in its system.

Fellow author Shannon Hale has a lengthy interview with Stephenie Meyer featuring much of what we already know. But contrary to popular belief, SM didn’t deliberately put “messages” into the novels. She didn’t have preaching in mind, and created the characters and stories around them. The characters came first, and the conflicts arose because of who they are, and their histories.

(Then again, you wouldn’t admit to spreading propaganda under the guise of “entertainment”. Well, some do, but authors definitely should not – fiction readers don’t like being treated as if we’re stupid, though some arguably are.)

Lengthy sectors explain the vampire covens, werewolf packs, and humans. Every character has a dossier. Since I haven’t read Breaking Dawn yet, it has new-to-me info: Joham and the vampire hybrids are the most intriguing.

The timeline and key plot points of each book form a decent summary. But then the guide falls into ridiculousness with a section on which cars (and bikes) each character has, and what the vehicles symbolise. Really, people, does your car match your personality, or did you buy what was within your price range and availability? Those Cullens have way too much money, which is strange considering Carlisle is the only one with a job (that I remember, anyway).

There are playlists for each book. The fan art gallery, while pretty, is non-essential, as is the international cover gallery. The scene outtakes were excluded from the final text of the novels for good reason. As for the FAQ…if readers can’t figure out the meanings and significance from certain things, is the author or the reader at fault?

This guide is informative enough, but ideally consumed in small doses (my attention faded when I tried to get as much read in as short a time period as possible). Best borrowed from the library instead of purchasing.

[COVER ART] Rebecca Lim, Anna Sheehan & Lili St. Crow

May 2011 Releases

Done with April 2011 Releases? Here are May 2011 Releases. To see further into the future, check Reading Wishlist.

Cultural Diversity in Fiction

I tried writing a review on Kelley Armstrong’s The Gathering, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and it also made me think…about cultural diversity in fiction.

I like cultural diversity: different countries, different sexualities, different lifestyles, different viewpoints. It’s all interesting, and goes toward grounding fiction in reality, making it more accessible. But I prefer diversity to appear incidentally, and not just there to serve the plot.

You can have a gay character without making the story about sexuality. You can have a transgender character without making the story about gender studies. You can have a Christian character without making the story about religion.

And you can have a Native American character without mentioning shape-shifters. Though not in the case of The Gathering.

Maya Delaney was born and left abandoned as a baby in the US state of Oregon. She has Native American blood, but isn’t sure which tribe. Meanwhile, her adoptive father is Irish-American, and her adoptive mother is Canadian, from the Haida tribe of the First Nations. The Delaneys accepted jobs in the medical-research town of Salmon Creek on Vancouver Island in Canada, and Maya’s grown up here.

The medical research in Salmon Creek features Native American genetic manipulation, so Maya’s ethnicity serves the plot. But I don’t want characters to be a certain race to serve the plot – I want cultural diversity in fiction because we have cultural diversity in real life.

I live in Australia, and have Irish and Scottish ancestors. That doesn’t mean if I were a character I’d be all about the dreamtime, leprechauns, fae, or highlanders. Japanese characters wouldn’t just be about the samurai. Romanian characters wouldn’t always involve vampires. Norwegians would be about more than Norse gods. And hopefully there’d be more to Native American characters than shape-shifting.

It’s true that The Gathering couldn’t work without Maya’s Native American genes. But I want cultural diversity to not be a plot point. Can’t characters be diverse just because? Not to suit the plot, not to preach a message, but just because?

Characters, like people, should be more than the sum of their parts.

8 New Covers: Anthony, Chan, Duncan, Mahoney, O’Brien, Ryan & Wasserman

Genre Cats

My latest endeavour: Genre Cats. It’s a Tumblr created as a response to Writers and Kitties – basically I’d heard of or only read a few of the writers featured there. So I created Genre Cats to showcase authors I’ve actually heard of and their cats.

Authors, would you like to submit to Genre Cats? Here’s what to do:

-Email a photo of yourself and your cat to TezMillerOz at gmail dot com (NOTE: If you can have multiple cats, you can pose with everyone together in one photo, or have separate photos for each individual cat. Yes, authors, you have to pose with your cat. Maybe later, if we’re desperate for entries, we’ll open submissions to cats with copy-edits, or them passing judgement on your cover art.)

-Be sure to include your name, your cat’s name, and the photographer. Credit where credit is due! Also provide the URL of your website, so we can send subscribers there to learn more about you and your works.

-Authors traditionally published, small published and self published are all welcome. But posting priority will go to the authors I’ve heard of – that’s the point of this Tumblr

-Then stay tuned to Genre Cats for your appearance.

-Posting schedule: There is none. I’ll post photos when I receive them. Make sure they’re of a reasonable size – no overlarge ones, please; some of us have dodgy Internet that doesn’t like mega-big files.

Ready, authors? My inbox is open for business

[REVIEW] Night and Chaos – Naomi Clark

Naomi Clark
Night and Chaos (The Deva Chronicles, Book 1) [eBook only]
(US: 18th January 2011)
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Night and Chaos lacks the humour that makes the Ethan Banning stories such a joy, but the incident at the first chapter’s end is a hoot. There are parts of Van and Effie that I’m so jealous I didn’t get to write first. And if you’re looking for a different kind of paranormal creature, you can learn about devas and asuras. The jet-setting paranormal thriller format doesn’t really work for me, but this novella is best suited for fans of Keri Arthur’s Destiny Kills. There’s a cliffhanger ending, but Blood and Bones will be published sometime this year.

[REVIEW] XVI – Julia Karr

Julia Karr
XVI (XVI, Book 1)
Penguin (US: 6th January 2011; CA: 11th January 2011)
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There’s no chance of forgetting this is a futuristic, with so much slang, similes, info dumps within dialogue, and whatnot slammed into the first 90 pages. After that, they aren’t as distracting, and the story really shines. Government conspiracies, fake deaths, and talk of shagging abound, with the eerie threat of being sent as a Cinderella girl to Mars. In a society where virginity is everyone’s business, Nina Oberon is a little too perfect to be fully believable, but it’s easy to sympathise. Sandy is dreadfully annoying, but Dee is less so. If only Mars Rising was a real book; I’ve love to read it!

6 New Deals

Lenore Appelhans‘s Level Two to Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers in a joint acquisition with CBS Films. The liminal place between our world (Level One) & heaven, Felicia spends her days reliving her memories from the security of her pod – until she gets broken out by Julian, a boy she met on Earth.

Debra Driza‘s Mila 2.0. The teenage protagonist discovers that she is a government experiment – an android with human emotions.

Gemma Malley‘s The Killables dystopian YA trilogy to Hachette Hodder (World Rights). Set in the year 2065, Evie & Raffy work for the government in a society where evil no longer exists. After a war on terror that almost destroyed the world, The City has been established; citizens may only enter after having the “evil” part of their brain removed. To be published in hardcover March 2012, with paperback publication to follow in October. The 2nd & 3rd novels will be published in 2013 & 2014 respectively.

Daniel Marks‘s YA novel Velveteen in a 2-book deal to Delacorte (NA). Pitched as a cross between Beetlejuice & Jennifer’s Body. A serial killer’s victim attempts to get revenge from Purgatory.

Jennifer Rush‘s YA novel Altered in a 3-book deal to Little, Brown (World English), for publication in 2012. Pitched as Dollhouse meets Prison Break. 17-year-old Anna finds herself on the run from her father’s enigmatic Agency, along with the 4 teen boys the Agency had been experimenting on, in a mystery of erased memories, secret identities & genetic alteration.

Jessica Spotswood‘s Born Wicked in a 3-book deal to G. P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers (World). Set in “a world of tea parties, engagement & elegant dresses), the Cahill sisters – a trio of teen witches – must hide their powers in order to save themselves from being shipped off to prison or a mental ward.