Werewolves vs. Vampires: A Conversation

*Contains spoilers from Gail Carriger's Heartless*

Late at night as we were laying in bed trying to fall asleep, I told my husband that my mom had just finished Gail Carriger's Heartless. I'd bought the book the second it came out and passed it along to her to read. Mom emailed me, jokingly lamenting that when I have my baby, it's not going to turn into a little wolf cub or vampire depending on what sort of supernatural creature is currently holding it, like Alexia's baby does at the end of Heartless.

I told my husband, "Honestly, I am a little disappointed too. Although the set up would be reversed in our case. You would much rather be a vampire, and I'd rather be a werewolf."

Husband: "Really? You'd want to turn into an animal?"
 
Me: "Yeah, it would be really cool. I could turn into a wolf, and run around, and smell stuff, and get in people's way--"

Husband: "And eat people."


Me: "No, I'd eat deer or something. At least I wouldn't be dead."


Husband: "People die all the time."

Me: "You'd be drinking blood all the time, gross."


Husband: "I wouldn't be allergic to silver bullets--"


Me: "--holy water, crosses, garlic, stakes..."


Husband mutters darkly: "If I was a vampire, they'd never find me."

Me: *laughs* "That's right honey. They would never find you."


Then we went on to talk about how humans should never actually be able to beat vampires if they are as powerful as they were back in Dracula's day, since they are practically demigods. Also how vampires would control overpopulation if the vampires in question were really strong and immortal, and don't die easily.

Just a normal late night conversation in the Poole household.

The Year In Review

Happy New Year!

I know today is the first day of 2011, and most people review their year yesterday, or the day before...but that's just silly! How can you review a year that hasn't past yet?

Now that the year has truly past, here is a brief look at all the things I accomplished this year:


Personal Life

*Started a New Job
*Married my husband
*Moved into a new apartment


Writing Life


*Took Holly Lisle's online class for writers. How to Think Sideways and How to Revise Your Novel. These classes are absolutely amazing. It's like having a pro writer for a mentor. 

*Took a three day writing seminar from Aaron Allston and Michael Stackpole. It was absolutely spectacular. The classes were short, yet packed with information. They talked about a lot of issues like Plot Analysis and Writing a Series that doesn't get a whole lot of coverage. Michael Stackpole has a newsletter full of goodies, and he's bundled them, along with some How-to writing books that I bought, and I still refer to frequently. 

*Read NUMEROUS books on writing. I have lost count, honestly. 

*Took Kristin Nelson's webninar about writing query letters. It was soooooooo informative and awesome. She is one of my favorite agents, and it was great to hear from the agent's mouth about some of the pitfalls of fantasy and science fiction queries.


(**A short aside: Many would-be and even published authors debate the merits and flaws of reading books about the craft of writing. Some writers argue it takes away precious time when you could be writing or reading fiction, which is also essential to a writer. Obviously I think there is some merit to reading books about writing, since I own so many, and have taken classes. 


While every writing style is different, I like to be ahead of the curve. I like to learn what I can from the people who have "been there, done that" and make my own mistakes. It's partially in this spirit that I blog, actually. Hopefully someone can learn from the processes and mistakes I am making. There's no short cut to good writing, but I honestly feel like these books have helped me. The caveat is that not all How To writing books are created equal, and you should do lots of research as to the content of the book and the author.)


*Read tons of fiction books. Also lost count. Some highlights were Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series (Soulless, Changeless, Blameless, Heartless) and Jim Butcher's latest addition to the Dresden Files.

*Started a blog! And meet all kinds of wonderful people like Joseph Selby and Charity Bradford and Mia Hayson and more people too numerous to count! I would like to mention Lena Hoppe here, even though I met her a few years ago during NaNo. Just because she's been an awesome part of my writing life, and this is starting to sound like an acceptance speech. Acceptance for what????


*Revised a book and decided with much debate to trunk it. It was a hard decision, but ultimately, in order to bring it up to standards I would have had to rewrite the entire thing. I might do that in the future, but I needed some space. The other issue I have with it is the book is really like two small books fused together. And the love interest is from one book, and the main character from the other, so I am having a hard time imagining how I would rewrite it into one coherent book and keep the love interest there.
 Also, with my current WIP I took the subplot, and made it the primary plot so I worry there might be too much conceptual overlap.


*Started three books. The third one is being writing right now (no, not literally). The other two...well, they had issues.


Whew! That was a busy year!


I don't know about anyone else, but I am pumped for this coming year. Last year was great, and I can't wait to see how the next one turns out. I also have some exciting things (secret things!) planned for the blog, and I can't wait to get the ball rolling. Until then, I hope everyone has a great New Year!

Book Review: Soulless, by Gail Carriger

Delicious Anachronism

Hello all!

Yes, my wisdom teeth are still bothering me, and yes I am still medicated. You have been warned!

But happy news today! I just read a wonderful new book!

The book itself isn't new, but it's new to me. I randomly picked up the second in the series in BAM, and was so intrigued I located the first book, and bought both of them immediately. 

The book is called Soulless by Gail Carriger



It's a wonderful alternate urban fantasy/Steampunk novel with a strong romance subplot. I finished it all in one day, if that tells you anything.


It's set in Victorian England, in a world where supernatural creatures are not only known about, they work with the Queen of England. Alexia Tarabotti is spinster of good breeding who is "soulless", and therefore able to negate the abilities of supernatural people/creatures when she touches them. It starts when a rouge vampire tries to kill her at a ball, and events spiral out of control from there. Highlights include a comedy of manners, and Alexia's gay vampire best friend, Lord Akeldama. I think he's my favorite actually, and calls her all sorts of funny pet names like, "my dove" and "my squash blossom".


The book is written in a wonderfully light, slightly sarcastic British tone, and from omniscient viewpoint, which works very well despite my initial trepidation. I laughed out loud several times, and couldn't put the book down. Honestly, I have been looking for a book just like this for a while, and am so happy to have actually found it. Ms. Carringer has several sub-genres going in the book; I was really impressed with how well she blended the various elements without it feeling forced.

I really enjoy steampunk, but some novels feel like the main thing going for it is the setting, the book virtually screaming, "Lookit me! I am steampunk and that's why you're reading me! LOOK AT MY DIRIGIBLES!"

"Soulless" manages to not only steer away from this plague, but to also make the steampunk elements work in a logical way in the setting. Even if romance-alternate histories don't seem like they would be up your alley, you might consider reading the book for no other reason that to look at how well Ms. Carriger blends the various pieces of her setting and plot so seamlessly. Ms. Carriger also characterizes very well, with every character feeling living and breathing to me. 

In all, there's really nothing I would say needs to be better. The pacing moves along swiftly, the plots events fresh and original, and the characters realistic and funny. I am half way through the second book in the series, Changeless, and the quality is just as good, so "Soulless" was no one hit wonder. 

Gail Carriger has a third book in the series coming out August 31st called Blameless, which fills me with so much joy I can barely contain myself. 

In short, this book was a breath of fresh air, especially since my own WIP has developed some decidedly steampunk elements. It was wonderful to find a fresh new take on elements of my genre that I have become very familiar with. I would use this book as an "icebreaker" to ease people into fantasy. 

But don't just take my word for it, go check out the series for yourselves! Who doesn't need to read an awesome new book? 

I would love to have this on my wall!

 (thank you Wikicommons for the pictures!)