The art of receiving

In December, the always thoughtful Ross Gittins wrote about studies on how spending money on gifts and donations makes people happier than just buying things for themselves. It’s one of many studies that show how economics and altruism can combine to make people more satisfied with their lives.

However, while the art of giving is the subject of much analysis, I’m not sure as much thought is given to how well we receive things – whether it be gifts, help or compliments.

It’s true that some things are too extravagant to accept, and it may be better to demur on those occasions. But some people are unable to accept even the smallest token or word of appreciation, and fight so hard to reject both that the giver may end up feeling like they were trying to pass on something stinky instead of something nice.

It can be hard to accept things graciously. Perhaps we think that by refusing a compliment or offer of help, we’re being thoughtful and modest, or maybe we’re just embarrassed and don’t feel like we deserve it. Mostly, we don’t think how the person at the other end of the exchange feels about our repeated cries of ‘No, no, no, you mustn’t! I can’t!’

When Tim and I returned from three years of living overseas, we came back with almost nothing. We had no jobs to return to and we came back fretful from some things that had happened while living in Poland: notably the murder of our landlord in the downstairs of the building in which we lived. I don’t think we realised how distressed we were at the time, but our need to get home meant that we weren’t able to prepare better for coming home.

We needed help from our friends and our families – and they did not desert us. A friend let us stay in her house until we were settled. That was a few months of two more people in her home, until we could find work and then a flat to live in. It took a little while to be able to contribute towards household costs, too. We tried to be good guests, doing our share of the cleaning and cooking, but it must have been a bit of a strain. Once we moved, she and others helped us to move the little we owned and donated some furniture as well. Everyone was very kind and incredibly generous, particularly as we had no idea when or if we’d ever be able to repay them.

It was my first lesson in learning to receive with grace. I had to accept help knowing we might never repay that help in kind – but knowing that I’d do what I could if they ever needed me. I resolved to pay it forward whenever I could, because kindness and generosity like that is inspiring.

I said a heartfelt thank you, and let my friends help me.

It’s strange how difficult a thing that can be. To let someone help you without feeling guilty, to accept a compliment without protesting too much. Accepting a kindness or a good word with grace is a kind of gift itself. It allows someone the pleasure of giving, which itself can be an act with the subtext of ‘I care about you’.

Friendships aren’t based on keeping a ledger in which you tally up the favours.  As long as you both know that you’ll help out when and where you can, it shouldn’t be a numbers game, weighing up the number and worth of the things you do for each other. That’s a business relationship, not a friendship. Friends do what they can, when they can, however they can, in ways both large and small.

Graciously accepting that compliment or offer of help, with a heartfelt thank you, is freeing, as well. It feels good to let your friends be nice to you, and builds up positive feelings which make it easy to be there for others when they need you.

So learn to accept those declarations of friendship and love with grace and a smile, and give them in return, unconditionally. It’s an art, I know, but one worth learning.

Narrelle M Harris is a Melbourne-based writer. Find out more about her books, iPhone apps, public speaking and other activities at www.narrellemharris.com.

2012
01/23
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Review: The Gift by Alison Croggon (AWW Challenge #2)

The second book of my Australian Women Writers reading challenge is The Gift, by Alison Croggon.

Alison Croggon is a Melbourne writer, poet and theatre critic. She’s recently been writing a libretto as well, so her association with music and storytelling (such central parts of her world in the First Book of Pellinor) has a strong foundation.

When I tweeted that I was reading the first of the four Books of Pellinor, Alison Croggon replied that she had just been editing out a bunch of adverbs from this book, in preparation for a UK publication.

There are quite a few adverbs in The Gift (known in the US as The Naming), but I didn’t feel as overwhelmed by them as Croggon feared.

The Gift certainly is a Big Fat Fantasy novel, and it follows many of the traditional tropes. It’s about an orphan child who actually comes from noble lineage and who is probably the subject of a great prophecy; her rescue by an older mentor who trains her up her raw magical skills; and a perilous journey to seek the truth before a final confrontation the sends hero and mentor off on a new quest.

But, as they say, there are no new stories. There are, however, new approaches and new voices in which to tell them.

This story feels fresh and lively, and I read half the 462-page book in a single sitting, it flowed so smoothly. Croggon has a light touch with her prose, even with allthose adverbs. The text is often lyrical and never pompous (a tendency which some epic fantasies have).

Croggon’s characters are deftly drawn. Cadvan, the powerful and lonely Bard with a dark past, and Maerad, the slave who is actually a gifted but untrained Bard from a lost but legendary Bardic house, make an ideal foils for one another and the central duo who anchor and pace the novel. Maerad’s progress as she grows into her power and maturity and her interactions with the traumatised child Hem, is another important relationship.

The idea of the Bards is a terrific binding force, too, informing the world’s intricate history as well as its fate. The Bards are more than mere minstrels – they have great powers, including the secrets of a way of communicating with animals and nature called The Speech. Their job is to maintain the balance of the world, to keep the land and its people healthy and bountiful. They can do magic, of course, but the Bards are bound to communities and the sweep of time in greater ways.

Mainly, though, the magic of this book comes from the wonderful detail of the world Croggon has built. The lands of Annar have a rich, complex history and is filled with the texture of landscapes, peoples, cultures and languages.

Croggon even uses the entertaining conceit that this book is the translation of ancient texts of a pre-Ice Age civilisation that have been the subject of much academic study. The end of the book contains notes on the related, complex history of the world and some very convincing footnotes referring to other translations and studies.

I’d put off reading The Gift (after picking it up at Aussiecon 4) in part because it was so thick and I kept feeling like I didn’t have the time to read SO MUCH BOOK. But now I’m immersed in that world, and I can’t wait to get into the next three Books of Pellinor. (Though that may have to wait until I’ve completed more of the AWW Challenge.)

The AWW Reading Challenge:

Narrelle M Harris is a Melbourne-based writer. Find out more about her books, iPhone apps, public speaking and other activities at www.narrellemharris.com.

2012
01/19
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Review: Scarlet Stiletto The Second Cut (AWW Challenge #1)

Late last year I signed up for the Australian Women Writers Challenge for the Natoinal Year of Reading 2012. This is my first book and first review for the challenge!

I picked up Scarlet Stiletto The Second Cut at last year’s SheKilda convention. It contains a selection of prize-winning entries from Sisters In Crime‘s Scarlet Stiletto awards. It turns out to be a terrific collection of crime writing from twenty new (or newish) women writers in the genre.

Some of the stories are less polished than others. I initially thought The Key Suspect was too straightforward (and not gruesome enough) for my tastes, until I realised that the author, Jane Blechyden’s story had taken out  the 2007 Young Writer’s Award when she was only 10.  This wasn’t even her first writing prize. Clearly, Ms Blechyden has a great future ahead of her.

Badge designed by Book'dout (Shelleyrae)

On the whole, the writing from these women is assured and full of deft observations and intriguing darkness. The narrator is sometimes the investigator, sometimes a witness, sometimes a killer. Each has a distinct voice and many stories incorporate unique elements of women’s lives into the character and even plot. Motherhood, the role of carer, and sexual and domestic abuse all inform the writing. Some stories are incredibly funny, others are poignant or chilling. Contemporary, historical and futuristic; urban and rural – it’s a smorgasbord of styles and settings.

Each of the 22 stories is enjoyable, but the following tales were the standouts for me.

Smoke by Aoife Clifford. I’m a sucker for a combination of crime stories and the Labor party. Move over, Shane Maloney. Aoife Clifford is gunning for your spot.

Persia Bloom by Amanda Wrangles. Amanda sent me this story to read a year or so ago, and I was just as impressed on re-reading it. Funny, fresh and uncomfortable, this story of a hairdresser with psychic skills and a need to solve her clients’ unhappiness is full of surprises.

Cold Comfort by Sarah Evans. Evans has just the right lightness of touch for this macabare and hilarious story of a woman helping her grandfather out of an awkard situation.

Poppies by Kylie Fox. This one is a poem which begins with embroidery and ends with someone stitched up. It’s melancholic and moving with just the right touch of acidity to be thoroughly satisfying.

Undeceive by Evelyn Tsitas. Another prose poem, this one reads like a series of moving images, very visual and again, a satisfying story of getting even. Tsitas’s science fiction crime story, Xenos, is also excellent and unexpected. I’d love to read more in this universe.

Death World by Eleanor Marney. This story and Marney’s other, Tallow, are both standouts. In Death World, a heavily pregnant profiler is persuaded to work on one more set of unsolved murders before her baby is born. In Tallow, a woman writes to her twins to explain a shocking truth about their family. Both stories are superbly crafted with strong, engaging protagonists.

These are my highlights in a book filled to the brim with gory goodness. Several of the writers have gone on to become published novelists too, so you can’t fault the award’s eye for talent.

Scarlet Stiletto The Second Cut is published by Clan Destine Press. You can get the book from them directly. The Book House also sells the paperback, and you can get Scarlet Stiletto – The Second Cut for Kindle from Amazon.com.

Narrelle M Harris is a Melbourne-based writer. Find out more about her books, iPhone apps, public speaking and other activities at www.narrellemharris.com.

2012
01/16
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Competition: What Doctor Who means to me (Win a TARDIS iPhone 4/4S case)

The TARDIS iPhone case in its box, and on my own phone

I don’t really remember who my first Doctor was. I wasn’t really into Doctor Who as a kid, though I watched it when my brothers did. I liked stories about ponies back then. But later, when I discovered science fiction through Star Wars, Star Trek and Blake’s 7, I rediscovered Doctor Who and took a shine to Patrick Troughton. I’ve loved all of the Doctors to varying degrees since then, even if it did take me a while to warm to Colin Baker.

So, after 30-odd years of regular viewing, what do I see in that show? What does the Doctor mean to me?

Doctor Who means a lot of different things to me. I’ve learned that adventures are more fun when they are shared; that new things and new places are not always safe, but are often exciting and an opportunity to learn; and that it’s important to stand up for what you believe.

As flawed as individual stories are – which is inevitable over such a long history and the constraints of it being a TV series, after all, and not a philosophy – I find that, for me, the themes of courage and valuing intelligence were consistent and influential.

You need courage to choose the unknown, to trust someone to have your back and to stand up for your beliefs. You also need courage to allow your beliefs to be challenged and to see things from another perspective. Stories with the Silurians have shown three incarnations of the Doctor urging the competing sides to attempt to share and understand, with the earliest ones making an impact on me, as did Tom Baker’s contemplation on whether he had the right to destroy the Daleks, even with all the evil they had done.

I also love how the Doctor respects intellect. He encourages people who can think under pressure and, particularly in new Who, delights in people solving things before he does. It was always great seeing female characters who were active and intelligent, including many scientists. In fact, I saw a lot of strong, smart women of all ages in this series, particularly when I was younger and I didn’t see a lot of them in other TV shows. Not just Barbara, Zoe, Liz and Sarah Jane, but among the supporting cast as well. Amelia Ducat in The Seeds of Doom is still a pretty good template for the kind of old lady I’d like to be. In new Who, there is the exquisite Donna Noble, and how I loved the fact that the Doctor thought her take-no-prisoners mouthiness was “brilliant!”.

Despite the science often being terribly wobbly (or non-existant), Doctor Who taught me the value of seeking empirical answers. Even with the advent of a lot of mystical clouds in the current series, I have always enjoyed even the most nominal attempts to say ‘It’s not magic, it’s science.’ Science can be understood, and so you should at least try to do so, rather than falling down in superstitious awe or taking things on face value.

On more personal terms, Doctor Who has other meanings for me. It’s through a Doctor Who fan club that I met Tim, my partner of 25 years. We’ve been having adventures together ever since, and that’s a darned wonderful thing.

I still love Doctor Who. I love it when the Doctor is enabling others to use their intellect and skills, and to find their own courage to be activists in their own lives. Even in the silliest episodes, where the science stinks and the women are squealing and tripping over tufts of grass: the encouragement to use your brains and find your courage remains as powerful and empowering for me now as it always has done.

THE COMPETITION

Naturally, being a fan, when I was looking for a case for my new iPhone 4s, I was delighted to find a wonderful TARDIS case at Redbubble.com. I ordered one, and when it didn’t show up and I contacted Redbubble, they immediately replaced it. Then, wouldn’t you know it, the first one escaped from its time loop and arrived three days later. I asked Redbubble if they wanted me to post it back and they said ‘Don’t worry about it: just give it to a good home.”

So in the spirit of their good customer service, I’ve decided to have a competition to find the TARDIS case (pictured) a good home. It fits an iPhone 4 or 4s and is valued at around $40.

All you need to do is email me at narrelle@iwriter.com.au with the subject heading ‘Dr Who Competition’ to tell me in 100-300 words what Doctor Who means to you.

PLEASE DO NOT REPLY IN THE COMMENTS!

Conditions of entry:

It is a condition of entry that I may use your answer or part thereof (quoting you) in my blog, which will be online indefinitely. I’m happy to attach an alias to any quotes, but you need to let me know both your real name and preferred alias in your entry.

  • The competition will be open for two weeks, from Monday 9th January to Monday 23rd January 2012.
  • I will select the winning entry that week and post the result, along with extracts from all entries, on Monday 30 January 2012.

If you miss out on winning this case, you can find it at Redbubble – “The TARDIS” by mechantefille. RedBubble has a huge range of geek  iPhone 4/4S cases, including Dr Who and Firefly. It was hard not to buy a case for every week of the year! If I’d seen Keep Calm and Call Buffy first I might well have bought that one.

Narrelle M Harris is a Melbourne-based writer. Find out more about her books, iPhone apps, public speaking and other activities at www.narrellemharris.com.

2012
01/09
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Yvon’s Adventure with the Lifetime Reading Plan

Ennovy the black dragon

My friend Yvon Hintz – an artist and writer, among many other things – started a reading plan a few years ago. When I heard she was reading The Book of Ramayana as part of the plan, I thought it must be an interesting reading list! I knew it included Greek classics as well as books by Chinese writers, and I liked the cultural spread of books the plan contained.

I’ve asked Yvon to share more about the reading plan and what she’s getting out of it.

Yvon’s Adventure with the Lifetime Reading Plan

I always felt that I had missed out on a lot of good reading because I left school fairly early to help my parents run a shop, so when I stumbled on the Lifetime Reading List on the web, it struck me as a great idea.

Being a Virgo, I love lists and working my way through a chronological list of great writing seemed like a wonderful way to go.

By following a list I got suggestions as to what to read and a structure for that reading. If I had simply dipped at random into literature from the past I might not have read some of the titles, either through not knowing that they existed or because I didn’t fancy the sound of them. Sticking to the list, I ended up reading some works that turned out to be wonderful.

I also read some works that  were not so wonderful, but they were not a waste because  I still got something out of them… even if it was just a working knowledge of their contents so that when later authors made reference to them I knew what they were talking about.

Of the titles I’ve read so far,  it’s hard to say which was my favourite; most were enjoyable in one way or another, but  the one I probably enjoyed the most was  the Mahabharata. For one thing I was really proud of myself for just getting through it! It’s eight times longer than the Bible and took me seven months to read. But what an adventure!  The granddaddy of all soap operas!

What I’ve gained from all this reading, apart from the individual entertainment of each title, is the understanding of what a marvellous, rich literary history we have and how much of it rests on what has gone before.  I am so pleased that I chose this list, which starts with the oldest book – The Epic of Gilgamesh (possibly the oldest written story on Earth) – and goes through to more recent works.

The Mahabharata, also on the list.

To begin with, I would buy the hardback or paperback versions of the books. I had a nice little collection in my bookcase when I sold my house, and the bookcase and I moved into a caravan. With a much reduced-in-size bookcase I decided to keep only a few really special books. The copy of David Copperfield in which my mother kept locks of all her children’s hair; the  original copies of the first three SF novels I ever read; some illustrated books that I would not be able to get in ebook form; a copy of The Little Prince given to me by a friend; as well as a small collection of books written by my other clever friends.

All other books I obtained in ebook form. I was able to get most of them from the Project Gutenberg site. A few I had to buy in ebook form.

So far there has been only one book I have had to skip. Sima Qian’s Records of The Grand Historian. It’s a BIG book… usually comes in two volumes.  It came up on my list about the time I was moving house so I didn’t want to buy a physical copy and didn’t really have the money to spare for the ebook version.  I thought I would do the smart thing and borrow it from the library. To my pleasure, they were able to get a copy in for me… from the main library… but because it’s the only copy in Western Australia they wouldn’t let it out of their clutches! I had to sit in the library to read it.

I did for a while, but that got to be impractical, so I reluctantly gave up and moved onto the next title. One day I’ll go back and fill in the gap.

In addition to reading the titles in the Lifetime Reading Plan I research on the Web, get information about the work and the author and add it to a scrapbook I’m creating. It’s getting to be a fascinating book in its own right.

I am currently up to the start of Part three, working my way, with great pleasure, through the works of Shakespeare.  As with some of the titles in the Parts to come, I have read a good number of Shakespeare’s plays before, but it’s always good to read them again, and in the order in which they were written (roughly.)

I don’t know if this exercise has made me a better or more learned person. I never recall books well enough to quote them, but I do remember them and I feel that I am a more well rounded person for my literary feast.

Yvon*)  Dec 2011


So there you have it! If you’re after a new project for 2012 (the National Year of Reading, no less!) this might be the reading plan for you!

Narrelle M Harris is a Melbourne-based writer. Find out more about her books, iPhone apps, public speaking and other activities at www.narrellemharris.com.

2012
01/02
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Happy Xmas!

Happy Xmas everyone! And Happy Hanukah to those celebrating that holiday. Not forgetting the solstice celebration! I hope you’re all enjoying the break, whether or not you’re celebrating old traditions, family traditions or just having a few days off work.

For those engaged in the gift giving, if you received a Kindle or other e-reader, you might be looking for something to read! Might I suggest the following books?

Kindle:

Other e-readers:

iPhone

If you got an iPhone or iPad for Xmas, you might like to try the apps that Tim and I created:

 

Narrelle M Harris is a Melbourne-based writer. Find out more about her books, iPhone apps, public speaking and other activities at www.narrellemharris.com.

2011
12/25
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Australian Women Writers 2012 National Year of Reading Challenge

Badge designed by Book'dout (Shelleyrae)

It’s time I put my hand up for this challenge! Australian Women Writers has set a challenge for the new year: to read and review writing by Australian Women.

Since I already have a stack of books by Australian women in my stash, it makes sense to declare the reading of them part of the challenge. I’m signing up under the Franklin-fantastic category, which means I must read 10 and review at least 4 books. That’s over a whole year. I’m sure I can make it. I’ll be sure to ask for recommendations if I seem to be running out of books.

The ones currently on my ‘to read’ pile that are eligible are:

  • Lucy Sussex – Matilda Told Such Dreadful Lies: The Essential Lucy Sussex
  • Tansy Rayner Roberts – Power and Majesty
  • Alison Croggan – The Gift
  • Anthology – Scarlet Stiletto: The Second Cut
  • Tara Moss – The Blood Countess (Does Tara count as an Australian writer now?)
  • A crime book that I currently can’t remember either the title or author of.  D’oh!

Books I don’t yet have but are on my radar are:

  • Deborah Biancotti – Bad Power
  • Rowena Cory Daniels – The Price of Fame
  • Marienne De Pierres – Burn Bright

That’s nearly ten already, and they’re just the ones I remember at the moment.

So, wish me luck, stay tuned and, if you like the idea, go on over to Australian Women Writers and sign up for the challenge yourself. You don’t have to read 10 book. The Stella category is there for reading 3 and reviewing 2 books by Australian women. You can do that in a year!

2011
12/21
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Review: The Devil’s Mixtape by Mary Borsellino

Disclaimers front and foremost: the author of The Devil’s Mixtape is a friend of mine. I’m a huge fan of Mary Borsellino’s work, and of Mary herself. She has a habit of introducing me to new ways of looking at the world which are like a bucket of ice water to the face. Frequently unexpected, but ultimately refreshing and, by god, it makes you wake up and look at things. As I’m a fond of saying, just because I’m biased, it doesn’t mean I’m wrong.

Mary wrote the five-book The Wolf House vampire series, which I love. It’s full of horror, cruelty, compassion, love, art and rock music. The Devil’s Mixtape is her newest book, and it has all the power, passion, razorblade insights and ice-water dousing of her vampire novel, condensed into a single volume. Mary Borsellino does not choose safe, easy subjects – or protagonists – but she grabs everything in two fists and propels you to places you never saw coming. The other writer who most recently made me feel like this was Suzanne Collins in The Hunger Games trilogy

The Devil’s Mixtape has three interwoven stories, all about fierce women who do not even pretend to play nice. The very first chapter throws you right into the deep end with letters from a girl named Ella Vrenna. Ella once led a shooting spree at an American high school, and died at the end of it. She’s in Hell, writing letters to her little sister, now a grown woman and a rock star.

The second thread of stories follows Sally, a part aboriginal teenager, travelling across Australia with Amy, who isn’t really a girl. The third thread is told in excerpts from a book, in which rock journalist Charlotte interviews the band HUSH on the road. The members of the band are all linked, in some way, to the Ella, Sally and Amy.

Those are the bare bones of it, but the layers of storytelling and theme are so rich, deep and varied that I can’t begin to cover them all. But I’m going to give it a shot.

There’s a lot in here about identity. Ella is no longer her whole self but reduced to ‘ellavrenna’, her full name always spoken in a breath, made a monster by a monstrous act and losing the rest of who she was in the process. Even in the way she signs her letters, Ella is always confined, but always changing.

Identity features in lots of other ways too. The sainted Stacey, one of the school shooting victims, the other side of Ella’s coin, is also remembered more as an icon than as a person.

People you know by one name in one thread are actually going by different names in other parts of the story. Where some people are building an image or identity for themselves with careful iconography, others, like Cherry from HUSH, are using Twitter to break down the icon, communicate with the fans and become more real than the rock idol. Sometimes having more than one name is a way of showing that there is more than one truth about who you are. Even Charlotte turns out to have a secret identity.

The Devil’s Mixtape is full of families and siblings torn apart by sickness, violence and death; and full of people forging new families for themselves in the aftermath. The characters are frayed, sometimes broken. They are all terribly flawed and tragically human – even (or especially) the monsters.

God and the Devil are mentioned a lot in this book. Hell, too, since that is where Ella resides, along with a lot of other people who haven’t done things half so evil as she has. But I don’t see God here really as a religious God. This god seems a personification of a conformist society, intolerant of difference: if you’re queer and won’t pretend not to be; if you’re a girl and won’t be sweet and pliable; if you fail to conform (and if you’re angry that everyone wants you to) then this God will send you to hell.

A key element of this notion is the story of the wolf and the dog, told in the early parts of the book, ending with the moral “It is better to be hungry and tired and free than to be fat and sleek and at a master’s mercy’. God will put a collar on you, so perhaps it is better to be damned but free. But being damned is not the same as being without compassion or love. The book is full of people who choose damnation selflessly, protecting others.

The Devil’s Mixtape is about refusing to conform by hiding who you are; but also about trying to find a place to belong, where you can be accepted as your whole self. It’s passionate, defiant and fierce. It’s also full of stories, parables and fables about wolves and fierce women and love. It’s full of people who are strong and vocal. They’re not always nice, but they are always, like the wolf, free.

Themes aside, the writing itself is superb. It switches from voice to voice cleanly. Ella’s letters to Tash differ in tone and style from Sally’s present-tense narrative, which contrasts with Amy’s past-tense narration even though they share a timeline. Charlotte’s use of reporting alongside verbatim interviews with the band give another tone again. This technique keeps the large cast of characters airborne and distinct and provides texture and momentum.

Then there are the turns of phrase, the unexpected observations and the sudden insights that make Mary one of my favourite writers. On this second read-through (I read one of the later drafts a few months ago) I kept finding more interlinking themes, phrases and ideas that weave the three threads together. It’s an intricate, tightly woven story that is as rewarding in rereads as the first gripping time.

The Devil’s Mixtape is part horror story, part declaration of love for non-conformists, especially those who embrace being outside the norm. It’s passionate, smart, powerful and at times incredibly beautiful.

Get The Devil’s Mixtape e-book, published by Omnium Gatherum, from Amazon.com. It’s only $3.99 and it may be one of the most disturbing and compassionate books you read. It’s like a bucket of ice water to the face; and that’s not at all a bad thing.

NEW: Just released on Amazon! The Devil’s Mixtape paperback

Narrelle M Harris is a Melbourne-based writer. Find out more about her books, iPhone apps, public speaking and other activities at www.narrellemharris.com.

2011
12/19
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News! And a story for Xmas!

It’s been a busy and exciting week!

First up: I’m very pleased and excited to announce that I have a new publisher for the second Gary and Lissa book, Walking Shadows. Clan Destine Press is an independent Melbourne publisher headed by crime author, Lindy Cameron. Lindy launched The Opposite of Life when it was released in 2008 and now has the sequel in hand. We hope to bring it to you in around May 2012.

You can read a little about what’s in store in the next book at Clan Destine.

In other news, my Twelve Planets anthology, Showtime, is coming together. The anthology contains four short stories, including one about Gary and Lissa at the Royal Melbourne Show. The proposed cover looks evocative, and the introduction by Seanan Maguire has left me almost literally speechless with wonder that someone thought those things about something I wrote. Stay tuned more news on the release date.

Finally, because it’s Xmas, I have posted a short story on my website for your holiday reading pleasure. Show and Tell is about what happens when a small girl takes a cursed mummy’s hand to school for show and tell. It’s the hand versus a class of seven year olds. Who do you think wins? Go to www.narrellemharris.com and follow the links to read the story.

2011
12/13
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Review: A Playground for Disobedient Dinosaurs by Mark Butler

In September, I said that self-published books did not have to be bad books. With a good writer who pays attention to detail, there is no reason a self-published book can’t be excellent.

Mark Butler’s A Playground for Disobedient Dinosaurs is a great example of this. The author, Mark Butler, is better known (by me at any rate) as a stand up comedian. He has a cheeky, smart, quick wit. Several of his shows have been language-related. In his most recent show, he delighted word nerds and grammar nazis with Grammar Doesn’t Matter on a First Date.

A man who is passionate about grammar was always going to at least produce a correctly punctuated and grammatically lovely text. (Barring a few typos, which escape even the best editors and proofreraders, and even in professionally published books).

But is it a good story? Are all those excellent word skills wasted on a poorly plotted, cliched idea full of ill-conceived and badly executed characters?

Hell, no. Butler constructs stage shows with pace and rhythm, and he brings those skills to his book as well. He’s also a published travel writer, so he has form.

A Playground for Disobedient Dinosaurs sees Red Thomas, a drifter and rogue, a heavy drinker with a gambling habit, returning to England after a failed attempt to rip off a cruise ship casino. He cons his way into a job at a prestigious secondary boys’ school. There, he teaches smart alec kids about probability, chaos theory and the dangers of taking calculated risks. And dinosaurs. Perhaps he even means to take the job seriously as a chance to start over.

Red should not be as likeable as he is, with his vast set of vices and faults, but there’s a vulnerability behind the inappropriate behaviour—even when he becomes attracted to a final year student from the neighbouring girls’ school. His troubled background unfolds slowly and you realise that in his erratic and inappropriate way, sometimes he’s actually trying to make things all right for other people.

Still, he’s heading for trouble, between the maths club in which he’s teaching boys about probabilities through games of chance and his relationship with Lucy. Red, however, is not the only person heading for an uncertain future. There’s a former pupil, now Sports Master, trying to get back to rowing glory; his student Robert, Lucy’s boyfriend and son of a prominent politician; some old friends of Red’s; and of course Lucy herself.

The book isn’t just tracking the slow collapse of Red’s newly constructed world: the plot is interwoven with those mathematical concepts of probability, statistics and chaos theory. The beat of the proverbial butterfly wings carry on past the end of Red’s individual adventures to a few weeks after the end of the school year.

It’s an interesting ride that avoids stereotypes and cliche. The characters have complexity and depth, and are as contradictory as real people. Lucy is no Lolita; she’s neither a corrupted innocent nor a sassy teen seducer, but rather an intelligent, indpendent young woman. Red is a rogue, but his instincts seem basically kind and fair, and his relationship with Lucy is complicated. His relationship with the boys he teaches can also be more complex than you’d think. Red does a lot of things he shouldn’t, but avoids being a terrible person even while he’s doing them.

The writing style is vivid and flows well. There are a few passages which flash back to characters’ history mid-action which can be a little muddy, but the flow picks up again quickly. Something of old British public school stories of old loiter around the text, as they should, but the eccentricity of such stories is distrupted by Red. There are some particularly witty descriptions and wordplay. For instance, there’s the delightful line on Red’s first day of teaching at St Johns: “A new chapter of his life was about to unravel.”  This is before he’s even taken his first class. Every now and then a turn of phrase is perhaps a little too much, disturbing the rhythm for a phrase too good to miss, maybe, but generally I loved these creative word pictures.

On the whole, A Playground for Disobedient Dinosaurs is a well paced and entertaining story about maths, dinosaurs and the unimagined consequences of a person’s actions, even when they seem to be getting away with it.

A Playground for Disobedient Dinosaurs is available from Mark Butler’s website   or from Lulu.

Narrelle M Harris is a Melbourne-based writer. Find out more about her books, iPhone apps, public speaking and other activities at www.narrellemharris.com.

2011
12/08
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