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ladybusiness2011-11-23 04:14 pm
renay) wrote in ladybusiness2011-11-23 04:14 pm
Every topic in this entry could lend itself to drinking. Rad.
Hello, Internets! This entry comes to you in three parts:
Part #1: UNIVERSITY
Did you know I am about to (maybe) graduate in December after I pass my last three classes (dubious)? YES. The Bachelor of Arts in English I have been working on since 2005 will be complete (possibly). We will not talk about when I started university because then we have to talk about how long it took me to earn one degree and the time I've spent on this one I could have earned a B.A., masters, and perhaps started on a doctorate. So: no talking about it. Agreed? Agreed. I am both terrified and excited at the prospect of never having to enter a classroom again.
Part #2: Author Event!
Earlier this month![[twitter.com profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/e0caa790ec10/-/twitter.com/favicon.ico)
echthroi and I trekked to Memphis to see Cherie Priest at an author event. It was harrowing and I continue to believe that I am not cut out for large cities. Why are there so many cars! Why is everyone going so fast! Why do they not warn for road construction!? Memphis is not even that scary, driving wise — New Orleans was much worse. I will never survive outside a city larger than 80,000 people. Cue terrified country girl in big city.
This was my very first author event, because publishers don't believe people in the South read and they never send authors I like to Memphis, sob. The only novel by Priest I have read is Boneshaker. I liked it, but my feelings were mixed? It's been so long I don't remember the mixed feelings in detail, only the "hey, this was pretty great!" because I enjoy books that take history, shake it, and then suddenly zombies (or dragons, or vampires, or dinosaurs)! How do you go wrong?
The event itself was pretty laid back, very chatty. There is some super awesome news that can't be shared on the internet and it's exciting! I hope she gets to release it soon, because seriously, I would be throwing some dollars at it, and I do not throw dollars easily. (eta: The news, it is released!) I asked the question put to me by some people who knew I was going, about Priest's interaction with book bloggers. Predictably, it went immediately to the ARC place. God, I have so many feelings about ARCs and they're pretty much all negative and after this even talking about them makes me want to set every concrete ARC I've ever received on fire. I want all ARCs to be digital so this can stop being a thing I have to combat when I say "I am a book blogger". Note: I did not ask about ARCs, I asked about her experience with book bloggers, and yet we still went to Planet Book Bloggers Want Free Stuff and Here's How You Get It. I wasn't specific enough at the time with my question, because ugh, crowds. Looking at me. Judging me. sdlk'fk'a;lsdlsd
Maybe I am in the minority here, but when I was a book blogger (back when I read books? In....2010?) I actually preferred to buy the books, or ask my library to buy them, rather than hound an author or their publisher for them. This goes back to me not enjoying asking for or accepting free things and my general terror of talking to strangers. I am horrible at it. I managed two requests directly to an author in three years when I was active. The reaction to my question threw me, because the answer ended up in ARC territory (which I don't care about) and then also went sailing down by the "this is how many hits this other teen book blogger gets" river, and I had no paddle and felt really awkward and embarrassed that my question about interacting with book bloggers went to a money/fame place immediately when I a) don't blog about books for ARCs or anything but my love/hate of a specific title, b) get like five hits a month and therefore rank about -1000000000 on the importance scale. Sigh. I promise, all the other people in the crowd, I wasn't asking how to get books for free. I am just really interested in how authors think about book bloggers, how they interact, if authors have had good/bad interactions with them, if they're looking for stronger relationships in the community, etc.. Looking back, I am not sure how my question was phrased and it was probably terrible and confusing. I had other questions that I wanted to ask, but after that I was too embarrassed to bother speaking up again. The lesson I learned was that book bloggers who don't accept ARCs are rare these days, which makes me sad. I remember discussing this with Dewey, I believe, in 2007, when the ARC movement was picking up as a social tool in the YA community and expressing regret over it. Insert GET OFF MY LAWN macro here.
I hesitate to label my first author event a success. The discussion was awesome and I love listening to writers talk about their work because they get so excited. I also got things signed! Priest was super kind and accomodating and signed both of the things I brought and I got a button. But the whole question thing just looped me and cast this really gross sheen over the event, like, great, I am That Person wanting Book Handouts. All in all, I am glad I went, and now know to prepare questions better next time, ask with more precise language, and perhaps make the person with me ask the potentially humilating ones. :)
Bibliography for Cherie Priest:
Part #3: This Sucks, or, Vampires!
I am planning something. But to plan this something I actually need to do some research, which means I needed to create a list of books about vampires. I asked on Twitter, which got me started and led me to additional titles:
The problem with vampire novels is that they're everywhere! It's impossible to get beyond skimming the surface on your own without having to dive into the vampiric equivalent of a ball pit and hope there's nothing horrible underneath the brightly colored friendly plastic. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open!
Part #1: UNIVERSITY
Did you know I am about to (maybe) graduate in December after I pass my last three classes (dubious)? YES. The Bachelor of Arts in English I have been working on since 2005 will be complete (possibly). We will not talk about when I started university because then we have to talk about how long it took me to earn one degree and the time I've spent on this one I could have earned a B.A., masters, and perhaps started on a doctorate. So: no talking about it. Agreed? Agreed. I am both terrified and excited at the prospect of never having to enter a classroom again.
Part #2: Author Event!
Earlier this month
This was my very first author event, because publishers don't believe people in the South read and they never send authors I like to Memphis, sob. The only novel by Priest I have read is Boneshaker. I liked it, but my feelings were mixed? It's been so long I don't remember the mixed feelings in detail, only the "hey, this was pretty great!" because I enjoy books that take history, shake it, and then suddenly zombies (or dragons, or vampires, or dinosaurs)! How do you go wrong?
The event itself was pretty laid back, very chatty. There is some super awesome news that can't be shared on the internet and it's exciting! I hope she gets to release it soon, because seriously, I would be throwing some dollars at it, and I do not throw dollars easily. (eta: The news, it is released!) I asked the question put to me by some people who knew I was going, about Priest's interaction with book bloggers. Predictably, it went immediately to the ARC place. God, I have so many feelings about ARCs and they're pretty much all negative and after this even talking about them makes me want to set every concrete ARC I've ever received on fire. I want all ARCs to be digital so this can stop being a thing I have to combat when I say "I am a book blogger". Note: I did not ask about ARCs, I asked about her experience with book bloggers, and yet we still went to Planet Book Bloggers Want Free Stuff and Here's How You Get It. I wasn't specific enough at the time with my question, because ugh, crowds. Looking at me. Judging me. sdlk'fk'a;lsdlsd
Maybe I am in the minority here, but when I was a book blogger (back when I read books? In....2010?) I actually preferred to buy the books, or ask my library to buy them, rather than hound an author or their publisher for them. This goes back to me not enjoying asking for or accepting free things and my general terror of talking to strangers. I am horrible at it. I managed two requests directly to an author in three years when I was active. The reaction to my question threw me, because the answer ended up in ARC territory (which I don't care about) and then also went sailing down by the "this is how many hits this other teen book blogger gets" river, and I had no paddle and felt really awkward and embarrassed that my question about interacting with book bloggers went to a money/fame place immediately when I a) don't blog about books for ARCs or anything but my love/hate of a specific title, b) get like five hits a month and therefore rank about -1000000000 on the importance scale. Sigh. I promise, all the other people in the crowd, I wasn't asking how to get books for free. I am just really interested in how authors think about book bloggers, how they interact, if authors have had good/bad interactions with them, if they're looking for stronger relationships in the community, etc.. Looking back, I am not sure how my question was phrased and it was probably terrible and confusing. I had other questions that I wanted to ask, but after that I was too embarrassed to bother speaking up again. The lesson I learned was that book bloggers who don't accept ARCs are rare these days, which makes me sad. I remember discussing this with Dewey, I believe, in 2007, when the ARC movement was picking up as a social tool in the YA community and expressing regret over it. Insert GET OFF MY LAWN macro here.
I hesitate to label my first author event a success. The discussion was awesome and I love listening to writers talk about their work because they get so excited. I also got things signed! Priest was super kind and accomodating and signed both of the things I brought and I got a button. But the whole question thing just looped me and cast this really gross sheen over the event, like, great, I am That Person wanting Book Handouts. All in all, I am glad I went, and now know to prepare questions better next time, ask with more precise language, and perhaps make the person with me ask the potentially humilating ones. :)
Bibliography for Cherie Priest:
- Clockwork Century
- Eden Moore
- Cheshire Red Reports
Part #3: This Sucks, or, Vampires!
I am planning something. But to plan this something I actually need to do some research, which means I needed to create a list of books about vampires. I asked on Twitter, which got me started and led me to additional titles:
- Lost Souls - Poppy Z. Brite
- Fledgling - Octavia Butler
- Christabel - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- The Strain - Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan
- Evernight (series) - Claudia Gray
- Evernight
- Stargazer
- Hourglass
- Afterlife
- Sookie Stackhouse (Southern Vampire series) - Charlaine Harris
- Dead Until Dark
- Living Dead in Dallas
- Club Dead
- Dead to the World
- Dead as a Doornail
- Definitely Dead
- All Together Dead
- From Dead to Worse
- Dead and Gone
- Dead in the Family
- Dead Reckoning
- The Society of S - Susan Hubbard
- Salem's Lot - Stephen King
- The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova
- Carmilla - Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
- Let the Right One In - John Ajvide Lindqvist
- Fangland - John Marks
- I Am Legend - Richard Matheson
- Vampire Academy (series) - Richelle Mead
- Vampire Academy
- Frostbite
- Shadow Kiss
- Blood Promise
- Spirit Bound
- Last Sacrifice
- Sunshine - Robin McKinley
- Anno Dracula - Kim Newman
- The Last Vampire (series) - Christopher Pike
- Cheshire Red Reports (series) - Cherie Priest
- Bloodshot
- Hellbent
- Interview with the Vampire - Anne Rice
- Varney the Vampire - James Malcolm Rymer
- The Awakening - L.J. Smith
- Dracula - Bram Stoker
The problem with vampire novels is that they're everywhere! It's impossible to get beyond skimming the surface on your own without having to dive into the vampiric equivalent of a ball pit and hope there's nothing horrible underneath the brightly colored friendly plastic. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open!
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Obviously if a blogger has lots of visitors they're reaching more eyes and they're going to be a really valuable marketing tool for authors. But if you're me, who was never very popular as a book blogger (everyone hates a critic, especially a feminist one) and your main talent is lots of words and flailing around in capslock, not reviewing 100+ ARCs a year....I am not sure where that leaves me.
I feel like I should end this comment with "CRY MOAR". So I will.
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I think the way ARCs became a sort of game...where people were getting them just to say they had them was kind of awful. I don't know if that's still going on as I've been pretty absent from book blogging this year, but the idea that a blogger's worth came from which ARCs they were able to snag is basically a system set up to fail in the long run.
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The ARC business still goes on a bit, but I have stepped outside those circles into ones that are healthier for me personally and only glean the very edges (I follow some big YA and SF/F blogs that share the books they get) but avoid the memes, like, what's it...Mailbox Monday? The tone makes me want to shower.
Re: vampire novels
Re: vampire novels
Re: vampire novels
It just ocurred to me that I also have a comic called "The Vampire's Christmas" (by Mike Dubisch & Joseph Michael Linsner) that I enjoyed because the protagonist is a grumpy, misanthropic, absolutely un-glamorous vampire guy who was bitten outside a Sex Pistols concert in 1977. I usually warn that a pedophile appears in the story, nothing graphic but he gets his punishment when trying to kidnap a young boy and, well, no need to inflict that on unknowing people in case they have triggers. On the plus side, I was happy to see several plus-sized women in the comic, the art is pretty and the story is, albeit cynical and black-humoured at times, actually fairly heart-warming and funny.
Re: vampire novels
Re: vampire novels
other vampire comics
III
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Re: III
so what you're saying is, read this for the fic
not _that_ fic
Re: not _that_ fic
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ALSO re ARCs, totally with you. I read some, at BEA I enjoy getting them, especially for drooly awesome nonfiction, but I get so awkward when people seem to assume you want them, you know? I mean, I buy almost all of my books, really. I prefer that. ASKING for an ARC or a published book just terrifies me and makes me feel all needy and awkward. I want you to know, dearest author whom I love enough to email, that I love your work because I love your work, not because I want your book free! It makes me nervous, lol. Also, that sounds super awkward at the event that she took and answered it that way.
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FISTBUMP OF SOLIDARITY on the terror. We could start a support group.
I dislike that ARCs have become an uncomfortable and awkward aspect of book blogging for me so much so that I would rather chew glass than accept them or ask for them, because they can serve a nice purpose. I don't believe they're inherently evil, but I resent the hell out of the people who have made it possible for me to get that reaction (ahhh the more I think back on it the more I feel so gross and humiliated). Ugh, Amy, I just have so many feelings. I have incepted myself into believing that if I start even accepting digital ARC copies I am going to become That Person. Although I would hope Ana and Jodie would eventually step in and go, "hey, Renay, you're being a fuckmuppet with the ARCs, cut that out." Because they're good friends and won't let me make a fool of myself....I hope....!
I do know one thing: it made me absolutely sure that any future reading I do of Priest's books will be done on my dime. I am declaring myself ARC free for this author, forever and ever, amen.
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(Anonymous) 2011-11-28 04:54 pm (UTC)(link)And yes, support group seems like a good idea! Though, what bothers me most is the author and publisher's insistence that it's all about ARCs, you know. You should be able to ask a question without the author going automatically there, or at least they should talk about more than that you know? I'd be tempted to avoid the author after that instead of just ARCs of their books! I mean, sometimes I read them and love it but it's only a small part, but I get SO ANGRY when authors are dismissive of what we do for them, if that makes sense!
I think that sometimes they are good though and hopefully Anna and Jodie will keep you in line ;) heh
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Maybe in 2012 after I've had to eat ramen for a month after buying too many books I will give into digital ARCs. I seriously can't keep bringing in books to my apartment, I am going to run out of places for ME.
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Also....Varney the Vampire? Oh man, 19th Century, never change.
Brown Girl in the Ring looks super fantastic, too, although I feel like as per usual I am going to walk in and miss the intricacies of the culture it's exploring because I don't know enough about it except the cultural diffusion I'm surrounded with, which is often pretty offensive. Hmmm.
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The idea of ST Coleridge as a sober adjudicator of taste amuses me. Like "Let me put my opium down for a moment and tell you all about how reality really is".
I REALLY think you need to add Varney to the list now.
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Coleridge is my favorite literary troll. He's so great.
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Now that I think of it, I did review 3 or 4 ARCs this year, but they were all NetGalley ones. I don't use the site much (too many books on the TBR already without me needing to add more), but I love how... impersonal it is, I guess? The automated request system removes the awkwardness from the interactions (I will totally join your and Amy's support group. I did one request in almost five years of blogging and it was MORTIFYING), and knowing that the books are there specifically to be reviewed makes me feel less like I'm trespassing. Plus they have books by small academic presses that I know I'd probably never have the chance to read otherwise. Also graphic novels. But like I said I use it seldom, and the plan is for my blog to carry on being 99% books I own or got from the library.
VARNEY THE VAMPIRE! It promises so much hilarity, but gah, it's so huge. Too much comedy for me, I think :P
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NetGalley...I need to start using it more! But even in that case I get nervous about making requests, ugh, my fear and loathing of asking for free things, even though in this case it's not free in particular, because I am taking the time to read and then have a discussion on it. That's another thing with ARCs; I feel obligated to review them and do so honestly or else I feel like a thief.
WHY DO I HAVE TO BE SO NEUROTIC. There are people that get ten ARCs a week, wave them around and then I see them review maybe two of them.
I still have to figure out where to acquire Varney the Vampire, actually. That's going to be the hard part for me living where I do, without having to go bankrupt acquiring books.
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