So many memes, so little time

Because I wasn’t able to blog since Friday, I’m going to catch up with some memes today!
 
 
 

 What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?  (Hosted by Should Be Reading)

 
 
I’m currently reading:
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

I’m almost 200 pages into the book, and I’m comfortable with GRRM’s writing style so far.  However, I can’t be sure if this is because I recognize most of the scenes and the dialogue from the HBO series.  I remember that this helped a lot when I read J.R.R. Tolkien after seeing the movies. (What’s with the double Rs?  Hrmmm.  Note to self: Think of a pseudonym with double Rs when you publish a story someday. )  I think the true test of my capability to read GRRM will come when I read A Clash of Kings before Season 2 comes out.  If I find the text readable even when I’m faced with unfamiliar situations and characters, then that means GRRM (or at least A Song of Ice and Fire) is for me.  I’m still trying to decide, though, if I’m going to do that or if I’m going to hold out until Season 2 is out.  I was able to hold out on the Sookie Stackhouse books for 3 seasons of True Blood, so…

What I like about reading A Game of Thrones right now is the invaluable insight into the characters’ emotions and motivations.  While the showrunners did exceptional work in adapting the book and capturing some of those inner character moments, there is still so much that someone like me who is new to the series can take from the book.  I like the Daenerys and Jon POVs, which comes as no surprise considering I liked them on the show.  It’s a bit unsettling trying to reconcile the ages of the book characters with the actors, but they fit the personalities of the characters well enough that it’s easy to forget about age.
 
 

I just finished reading:
The Hero of Ages (Mistborn #3) by Brandon Sanderson

Oh man, I can’t remember crying so much over a fantasy book!

It took a while to finish this as it was DENSE (700+ pages).  Dense but not too dragging, although Sanderson tends to ramble.  However, that’s expected of a Sanderson novel, and I’ve gotten used to it.  His ramblings, while sometimes long and unnecessary for character development or plot, tend to be mentally stimulating, so I find myself actually reading them and paying attention to them rather than skimming over the pages until the next plot-related action comes along.  The monologues do enrich the mythology and philosophy of the book, and I find it easier to find logic in what’s happening in the story after reading them.

This book took an emotional toll on me because of the focus on the war against Ruin and the life-changing journeys that the characters had to go through to survive it.  So much has changed since Mistborn: The Final Empire, and Sanderson did an amazing job making the evolution of the characters and the world very believable.  And because even the mythology evolved, the series has become not just a plain epic fantasy story, but Sanderson’s personal commentary on the genre.  Sanderson is not as easy to read compared to other fantasy giants out there like, say, Margaret Weis, but there are a lot of rewards for those who will persevere.  He understands fantasy very well and I believe this is what Robert Jordan’s wife saw in him and why she selected him to finish The Wheel of Time.

I found myself re-reading Book 1 (The Final Empire) several minutes after I got a hold on my emotions after finishing this book.  Life was as simple as it could be back then for the characters, and I wanted to relive those days and to try to look for any clues that Sanderson might have left then about the conclusion of the series.  I loved the scenes where Vin pretended she was Lady Valette and had to attend all those society balls and events.  She was terrified, and yet she loved the gorgeous dresses and the dancing and the frivolity in spite of her fears and prejudices, and I do too.
 
 

What’s next:
In Too Deep (The 39 Clues #6) by Jude Watson

I’m going to take a break from the epic fantasies to try to finish The 39 Clues series.

I managed to get Books 6-9 as a bundle during the Scholastic Warehouse Sale, so I might as well finish all four.  I need to catch up before everyone starts discussing the second series.  I’ve already had to endure a lot of spoilers for the first series because I came into it too late, so I’m not anxious for a repeat of that, especially considering that one of the draws of The 39 Clues is trying to figure out whodunnit and howtheydunnit.  It’s not as fun if you already know the “who” before getting to read about the “how”.

Oh, and Jude Watson! I’m very biased in favor of her last The 39 Clues contribution before this one, so this should be a lot of fun.
 
 
 

“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event hosted at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

 
 
My pick for the week is:

The Son of Neptune (The Heroes of Olympus #2)
By: Rick Riordan
Publication Date: 4 October 2011

In The Lost Hero, three demigods named Jason, Piper, and Leo made their first visit to Camp Half-Blood, where they inherited a quest:

“Seven half-bloods shall answer the call,
To storm or fire the world must fall.
An oath to keep with a final breath,
And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.”

Who are the other four mentioned in the prophecy? The answer may lie in another camp miles away, where a new camper has shown up and appears to be the son of Neptune, god of the sea…
—

Riordan left fans high and dry at the end of The Lost Hero, so this book ranks very high on my wishlist.  It’s going to be a treat to find out just how Riordan treats this section of his new series considering there were so many loose ends from the first book that he has to seamlessly integrate into this one.

Riordan’s brand of YA fantasy depicts how mythology is present in our mundane world, and it’s something that he explores with such wit and humor, so I always have fun reading his books.
 
 
 

“Want Books?” is a weekly meme hosted at Chachic’s Book Nook and features released books that you want but you can’t have for some reason. It can be because it’s not available in your country, in your library or you don’t have the money for it right now.

 
 
The Night Circus
By: Erin Morgenstern

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.
—

I first learned about this book when I read that David Heyman, producer of the Harry Potter films, bought the film rights and was planning to produce the adaptation. Then when I interviewed Samantha Sotto, she also mentioned this. The story sounds intriguing, and it would certainly make for a great movie.

The Fairytale Nerd told me that this book is available already, but only in hardcover. My wallet is still in dire straits, so I’m going to have to wait a bit longer to get my hands on this.
 
 

Readercon Filipino Friday #3: Being a reader in the Philippines

 
This meme is hosted by the official Filipino Reader Conference site to promote the 1st ever Filipino Reader Con on September 14th.
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How hard or easy is it to be a book lover in the Philippines? What are some of your frustrations as a Filipino reader? And what are the positive aspects of being a reader in the Philippines?

Being a book lover in the Philippines used to be very difficult. Yes, even more difficult than it is now. Trying to find books a few years ago, especially if they’re published in the US or Europe, used to be a chore. But with the advent of technology, it’s getting easier to buy books online and have them shipped here, and I know a lot of people who do take advantage of this when they can’t find the books they’re looking for in local stores.

My problem is I don’t have the capability to buy books online, so it’s more frustrating for me than most. I have to wait for the local stores to get the books or to wait weeks for the stores to order the books for me. It’s fortunate that stores do have better selections nowadays, so I have yet to be too frustrated to have to resort to asking a relative or friend to buy something online for me. Yet. Also, the almighty Local Tax imposed on imported books scare me. And corrupt customs officials scare me even more.

Availability issues are especially true for me when it comes to obscure science fiction and fantasy titles.  My only consolation is a certain store tries very hard to maintain a good selection for this genre. (Thank you, Store-That-I-Shall-Not-Name-But-You-Probably-Know-Which for carrying Sanderson titles!)

Sometimes when stores do have what I’m looking for in stock, they would only have one format available, so I either have to shell out too much for a hardbound copy of something I only wanted a paperback of, or to settle for a paperback of something I wanted a hardbound copy of. When I’m really unlucky, they would only have a box set in stock. Then sometimes when they do stock a hard-to-find title, I look at the price tag and find out I can’t afford it.

I can’t entirely blame the stores, though. (Look at what happened to Borders, and that’s a book store giant!) Books are not the foremost form of entertainment in this country, so they have to ensure that their business is viable and that most of their stocks are titles that are sure to sell. I’m still glad we have more options now, but the local stores’ ability to balance availability, variety and affordability seems to still be a hit-and-miss affair.

I came up with a personal strategy to cope with problems that I experience and to ensure that I can somehow get my hands on most of the books I want. I maintain a priority list of old and upcoming releases that I must purchase, either because they’re part of a collection or something that I just have to read as soon as possible. These are the books that I pester the book stores’ customer service personnel about or that I tend to ask fellow readers for “sightings in the wild” for.

I also have a list of books that I would like to read sometime, but are not priorities. These are books that I wouldn’t mind scrounging around in book bargain bins for or wouldn’t mind just borrowing from someone. These are also the books that make me wish the Philippines can afford to put up and maintain many good public libraries, but that’s too much to hope for right now.

I recently learned from friends who have traveled abroad that books are still generally cheaper here, and that’s a relief. It’s also great that local stores are starting to become more adventurous with their marketing strategies, what with the recent series of author events, which benefit both the store and the readers.

—
Previously, on Filipino Friday:
FF #1: Introduce Yourself
FF #2: Your reader’s story

“Waiting On” Wednesday 08.24.2011

Another meme? Why not? ;p

“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event hosted at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.
 
 

My pick of the week (or maybe even the year) is:

Goliath (Leviathan #3)
By: Scott Westerfeld
Illustrations by: Keith Thompson
Publication Date: September 2011 (that’s next month! woot!)

Synopsis from Simon and Schuster: Alek and Deryn are on the last leg of their round-the-world quest to end World War I, reclaim Alek’s throne as prince of Austria, and finally fall in love. The first two objectives are complicated by the fact that their ship, the Leviathan, continues to detour farther away from the heart of the war (and crown). And the love thing would be a lot easier if Alek knew Deryn was a girl. (She has to pose as a boy in order to serve in the British Air Service.) And if they weren’t technically enemies.

The tension thickens as the Leviathan steams toward New York City with a homicidal lunatic on board: secrets suddenly unravel, characters reappear, and nothing is as it seems in this thunderous conclusion to Scott Westerfeld’s brilliant trilogy.
—

I’m very excited about this book! So excited that it’s on top of my Goodreads wishlist this year.

I don’t read much steampunk, but my beloved and a friend–whose taste in books I trust–really loved this series, so I decided to give it a try.  I’m now reading Westerfeld’s other works (the Midnighters series), but this series is still my favorite among his books so far.  :)

 

Meme: WWW Wednesdays 1

Memes are fun! This one is hosted by Should Be Reading, and this is my first contribution.
 

 What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?
 

 

I’m currently reading:

The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
This is book 3 of Sanderson’s Mistborn Trilogy. I discovered Brandon’s work just this year, but he is already one of my favorite fantasy authors. There’s just something about his writing style that engages me. He writes long books, but I only notice it after I read the last word and look down at the page number. The Hero of Ages is okay so far. We’ve already had one action-packed Allomantic fight, so…yeah, we’re definitely off to a good start!
 

 

I recently finished reading:

Clarity by Kim Harrington
I did not expect to like this because the synopsis does not make it seem like an interesting story, but I turned out liking the simplicity of the plot and the premise. It’s nice to take a break from complicated stories once in a while. Clarity is a fast read, and I enjoyed it. I’m actually looking forward to the sequel to this one.
 

 

 
What’s next:

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
There’s a long weekend coming up, so this will likely be next in line. I finished watching the HBO series a few weeks ago, and I’m hooked! I can’t wait to get into the world as GRRM sees it.
 

 

 

 

“Beauty Queens” by Libba Bray

 
Title: Beauty Queens
Author: Libba Bray
Read Date: 1 July to 12 August 2011
Goodreads Status Updates: Click here.
Review in a nutshell: Awesome and original premise, flawed execution.
Warning: I wouldn’t personally recommended this to very young teens. Maybe 16 years old and up, or do you think I’m just being conservative?
Special Award: Most Number of Footnotes I’ve Ever Seen In a Fiction Book, beating Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell and The Amulet of Samarkand by a glittering mile.  Hell, even the acknowledgments have footnotes.
————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Publisher’s Synopsis: The fifty contestants in the Miss Teen Dream pageant thought this was going to be a fun trip to the beach, where they could parade in their state-appropriate costumes and compete in front of the cameras. But sadly, their airplane had another idea crashing on a desert island and leaving the survivors stranded with little food, little water, and practically no eyeliner.

What’s a beauty queen to do? Continue to practice for the talent portion of the program–or wrestle snakes to the ground? Get a perfect tan–or learn to run wild? And what should happen when the sexy pirates show up?

I like Libba Bray’s humor, I really do—she’s witty, she’s snarky, and she writes a mean satire. But Beauty Queens is just too over the top for my tastes. And to think I was actually expecting it to be over the top based on how she approached her previous book, Going Bovine (which I liked)!

This book uses an almighty in-world entity called The Corporation as a framing device for the main Plane Crash Survivors story. The Corporation allegedly edited the account of the crash to ensure that it’s appropriate for everyone’s consumption, and took to censoring curse words and inserting footnotes and commercial breaks into the story to promote its various products, TV shows, and celebrities.

It’s actually an interesting device, which allows Bray to inject much of her aforementioned wit and snark into the main story. But there’s something about it that’s just a little bit iffy on the logical implications, especially when we read about a character’s innermost thoughts. (Just how did The Corporation know all of that?) *shrug. maybe that’s just me.*

Anyway, I liked the footnotes and whatnots in the beginning—they were hilarious—but halfway into the book, they just became very tiresome. They interrupted the flow of the story most of the time, and just when there was something good happening in the plot too. There was one too many of those footnotes and crazy products when a handful could have just as easily driven the point home.

ACME doesn’t stand a chance against The Corporation’s products!

I can’t help feeling that the treatment for Beauty Queens would have worked better if there was a multimedia aspect to it. Maybe they could’ve created a micro-site with a catalogue for all the products mentioned in the book, with video archives of commercials, and even MP3 downloads of Boyz Will Be Boyz songs. With that, it wouldn’t have been necessary to put so much extra stuff in the book, and it would’ve helped readers to focus more on the main story rather than the world. But then again, I guess that would’ve pandered to the consumerism that the book was mocking in the first place. Oh well.

Or maybe a glossary or insert of the product catalogues at the end of the book would’ve worked instead of the descriptions being tacked on to every other page as footnotes?

Okay okay, I’ll stop proposing solutions to this book’s problems and get on with the commentary.

Beauty Queens has this under-edited feel to it, as if somebody needed to make another pass at it and correct typos and maybe slash off some of the sections that didn’t move the plot forward or didn’t involve character development. There were some boring sections and sections that didn’t make sense at all, like the pirates!

Oh, man, the pirates. Were they there just to drive home more of that “reality TV is ridiculous” point (taken! and from the very beginning, too, sans pirates.) Maybe to put some romance into the story? (Well, there was that ornithologist already, and the LGBTQ aspect.) Maybe so one of the girls can complain that they should not have to serve the men? (Noble but predictable, and it would’ve been easier to just leave the boys out because the ladies can survive by sheer girl power.) Or maybe it’s just because getting stranded on an island wouldn’t be complete without pirates? But all it achieved, at least to me, is to tell the readers to their faces that True Love Knows No Gender and Please Practice Safe Sex. Oh, and that in another universe, pirates actually love Justin Timberlake. *cough cough*

See, I appreciate that Bray probably wanted to impart some life lessons through the story, and that’s okay. She did that at the end of The Sweet Far Thing, too, but that was WAY more subtle than the “I’m not gonna get it on with you if you don’t use a condom” scene in Beauty Queens.

Thank you for dropping that anvil on my head, Libba.

With all these issues being addressed and with all the characters and the Corporation stuff, I feel like the book ended up being too “everything but the kitchen sink.” It’s as if Bray had way too much fun writing in everything she can think of and nobody thought to put the brakes on it.

Speaking of the characters, while there were some standouts (Adina, Taylor, Jennifer, Petra,) the others bled into each other a lot. It didn’t help that the girls often referred to each other as “Miss New Hampshire”, “Miss New Mexico,” etc. At some point, I entertained the idea of making a cheat sheet just to keep track of which girl was which. (To put things into context: I never made a cheat sheet for Harry Potter.) After a while, though, I just didn’t care anymore. I wanted them all to make it out alive, and I even genuinely rooted for some of them, but I didn’t feel any real fondness for or attachment to them.

I think one of the reasons for this is some of the characters were just too surreal and the setting and framing device fluff made them even more so. And for the record, MoMo B. ChaCha, the eccentric dictator of some obscure republic, has got to be the most cartoonish character I’ve come across in recent memory. And that includes actual cartoon characters.

Actual cartoon character. Beep beep!

Yes, I know this is a satire, and I’ve already accepted that Bray likely wrote everything the way she did intentionally, but that doesn’t mean I have to like all of it.

Despite the things I didn’t like, I still recommend that you read the book if you can manage it. Bray can bring on the snark like no one else can, and she actually has great comedic timing when she’s not pushing things too far. She’s an innovative writer who has a unique way with words, and it really shows in this book. I did like the overall plot arc, premise, and general idea of Beauty Queens. I know some readers and critics really enjoyed the book and reveled in the things I didn’t like, so I’m disappointed that I couldn’t make myself love the execution more. It’s fun and brilliant, yes; it just tired me out. Maybe your experience will be different from mine. And maybe I can try the audiobook sometime; I heard it’s more entertaining.

This is a polarizing book, I think, and you wouldn’t know in which end of the spectrum you’re likely to end up unless you read it. If you’re not a fan of Bray’s writing in the first place, however, this is going to be a tough hurdle.

One final point: I think this book will be more effective and will be more powerful for readers who are immersed in or who have knowledge of American or pop culture. Otherwise, some of the jokes and references will just go over the reader’s head. I’m skeptical about the book’s appeal to a global audience, so it’ll be interesting to hear from a more diverse group of readers. I could be wrong, of course, so if you’ve read it, do leave a comment. ;p

 

Avatar change!

So I changed my profile avatar from the awesome photo manipulation by photographer genius Michael O. to the awesome re-imagining of Lunitari (The Red Moon, Goddess of Magic, Patron of the Order of the Red Robes) from the Dragonlance Saga by Gary Mayoralgo.  The deities of Krynn change forms a lot, so it can be said that Lunitari as a woman is one of the goddess’ avatars (although this seems to be her default form), so my profile image is an avatar of an avatar (who is not an Airbender, haha!).  Yeah.  Okay. o_O

Want Books: The Way of the Wizard

 
Hey, so why don’t I give this meme a try?

Want Books? is a weekly meme hosted at Chachic’s Book Nook and features released books that you want but you can’t have for some reason. It can be because it’s not available in your country, in your library or you don’t have the money for it right now.

Okay, this should be fun.

One of the books on my wishlist is The Way of the Wizard anthology edited by John Joseph Adams. If I see this in a book store, I’ll probably have to perform some very strong restraining magic on myself if I want to stick to my book budget.

Power. We all want it, they’ve got it – witches, warlocks, sorcerers, necromancers, those who peer beneath the veil of mundane reality and put their hands on the levers that move the universe. They see the future in a sheet of glass, summon fantastic beasts, and transform lead into gold… or you into a frog. From Gandalf to Harry Potter to the Last Airbender, wizardry has never been more exciting and popular. Enter a world where anything is possible, where imagination becomes reality. Experience the thrill of power, the way of the wizard.

Now acclaimed editor John Joseph Adams (The Living Dead) brings you thirty-two of the most spellbinding tales ever written, by some of today’s most magical talents, including Neil Gaiman, Simon R. Green, and George R. R. Martin.

I have a certain fondness for wizards. In the Dragonlance saga, for example, I’ve always favored Raistlin. When I play video games, I tend to create a mage or sorceress character. In almost every book or movie I watch, I’m always drawn to the character who wields magic. And of course, there’s Harry Potter. Despite the weird things that happen to them and around them, wizards are fascinating to me, and it’s one of the reasons why I keep being drawn to Fantasy over and over again.

 

Readercon Filipino Friday Meme 2: Your reader’s story

 
This meme is hosted by the official Filipino Reader Conference site to promote the 1st ever Filipino Reader Con on September 14th.
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Your reader’s story: How did you become a reader?

I inherited my love of reading from my Mom, who always had a book at her bedside table. I used to accompany her to bookstores, where I wandered off to the more age-appropriate sections while she browsed for her Sidney Sheldons and Danielle Steels and Jackie Collinses and Robert Ludlums.

My elementary and high school library cards were well-used. On average, I went through 3 Borrower’s Cards per year (I needed to allot time to studying too! ).

In elementary, my reading list included Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, The Three Investigators, Beverly Cleary books, and Choose Your Own Adventure books. Oh, and Paddington Bear; let’s not forget him because he’s ridiculously adorable.

In high school, I went through the Sweet Valley and Sweet Dreams phase like most teenage girls, but I also started to pick up occasional YA fantasy fare, like E. Nesbit, Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Diane Duane, and Madeleine L’Engle. It was also in high school that I was introduced to the Dragonlance saga, which would ignite my interest in epic fantasies.

In college, I started reading my Mom’s books, and that piqued my interest in general fiction.  I also continued to hunt down Dragonlance and Michael Crichton titles.  And I read Isaac Asimov short stories in the library in between classes.

I never stopped reading since then. I try to pick up a book whenever I have an opportunity to do so, and I try as much as I can to make time to read even when I’m busy. Idle times like long commutes or long waits make for productive reading times for me.

What I love most about reading is being transported to another place and time. I don’t have the capability to travel much, so books are like my vacations. Charlaine Harris said that books are the cheapest vacations you can buy, and Samantha Sotto said that imagination is one of the few places that Filipinos don’t need a visa, and I wholeheartedly agree with them. If it weren’t for books, life will probably be like living in a boat that’s forever anchored to a port.

—
Previously on Filipino Friday:
FF #1: Introduce Yourself

Samantha Sotto’s journey before Ever After

My profile story on Filipino author Samantha Sotto is now live at GMA News Online — Lifestyle Section.

There are so many things from the interview that I wasn’t able to include in the piece because we have to stick to a word count range.

Sam and I chatted for about 2 hours, and she had so many interesting stories to tell about her publishing experience and about Before Ever After. I’ll likely submit a review of the book as a companion piece to the profile, and I hope to be able to incorporate more tidbits from the interview there. The rest will likely just end up here.

I’m having internet issues, so I can’t blog properly. I hope I’ll be able to contribute something for the Readercon Filipino Friday Meme tomorrow! *crosses fingers*

—
Photo of Sam by Gary Joran Mayoralgo

Lauren Kate: On Rapture, writing, future projects, and fan fiction

 
This is the last installment of the transcript of my interview with Lauren Kate, New York Times Bestselling Author of the Fallen series.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Meann: I read on Twitter that you tried balut. How was that?

Lauren Kate: Oh my gosh. It was scary. But it actually tasted pretty good. I was not able to eat the serious parts, but I had the broth and the yolk. This one came with a little bowl of salt and a little bowl of vinegar with chopped onions. So that was good; that was a good compliment to it.

M: How is your Asian Tour so far?

LK: It’s pretty wild to be over here. And actually, coming to the Philippines…coming back here kinda feels like a really nice homecoming. I’m still very familiar with it here, and the people are so warm. And meeting the people last year, I have kept up with so many of them on Twitter and Facebook, so it feels like familiar territory.

Whereas Singapore and KL, I’ve never been there.  It’s all new experiences, but I love it. The people are wonderful, the food is so good, and it just feels really crazy to talk about your books on the other side of the world.

In Malaysia, they actually sell the books in a number of languages: Chinese, German, and French, I think, and Japanese. There was a couple of Chinese girls, and I got to sign their books, which were in Chinese…

M: What has kept you busy these past few months?

LK: I’ve just finished the 1st draft of Rapture. I’ve been working on that the whole winter and spring. After this tour, when I get home in August, I will do the revisions—probably two or three more rounds of revisions.

M: Can you tell us anything more about what to expect in Rapture?

LK: We have this main threat that all of the angels have to band together to prevent from happening; it’s something that both sides would hate to see happen. Their entire existence is being called into question. Everything is threatened. So we’ll see all the characters together again, which I missed a little bit in Passion.

For the first time, we see Luce and Daniel together in the present and in a good relationship for the whole book. That was fun to explore because, for all sorts of different reasons, we never saw that in any of the other books. Rapture is the first time…when I was writing it, it’s the first that I’ve ever been sitting at the keyboard and actually cried during the writing of a scene. It’s going to be a very powerful book.

M: Will there be more Shelby and Miles?

LK: Yeah, definitely. I really like their dynamic.

M: When Rapture is released, do you plan to go back here (to the Philippines)?

LK: I would love to. Next time, when I come back, I’ve got to spend more time here, and I’ve got to go and see some of the islands, have a vacation. I need to do it right.

M: I wasn’t able to ask about this before, but do you have any particular reason for choosing the titles of the books? Because we just keep joking about how Rapture is going to be released in 2012.

LK: Right, right. I always knew that Fallen was gonna be the title of Fallen, and that Rapture was gonna be called Rapture. I didn’t know what the two middle ones were gonna be; my publisher helped me find those titles. We had brainstorming sessions. Between my editor, my agent, my publisher, we probably came out with 300 titles and then chose the best ones for the books.

I wasn’t sure about the title for Passion or Torment at the time; now they seem very fitting. I think I was too close to the story during the time we were thinking about the titles to think that they were right. But I trusted that my team at Random House knew what they were talking about. I think titles are often very hard on writers for that reason, because you can be too close to the story to see what it’s about.

M: Did you have a working title or like a pet name for Passion?

LK: Passion, I was calling it Chaos for a long time. But Passion’s better, it’s a lot better.

—

M: We’ve seen your Passion playlist online, but some fans are asking if there’s a particular song that you associate with Fallen or Torment. Were there playlists for those?

LK: I didn’t do playlists for those. I should go back and do that, maybe.

I think for Fallen, the song by The Jayhawks called “You Look So Young”. I listened to that a lot when I was writing Fallen.

For Torment, I think a lot about the Bridezilla album. One of the songs, “Beaches”, I think, is on the Passion playlist, but the whole album… I’d just gotten it from my Australian publisher when I was working on revising Torment, so I listened to that a lot.

M: What’s your daily writing routine like?

LK: Usually, when I get up in the morning, I go for a run. I take my dog for a run. In the fall, I was training for a marathon, and so I was running a lot to do that. I’m done with the race now, but I’m still running; I’ve found that it’s really helpful to clear my head, and to focus myself.

By the time I’m finished running, usually I have the first paragraph of what I’m gonna write that day mapped out—that’s usually the hardest part for me, to get a little bit of momentum. So that way, when I sit down, I’m ready to go.  I turn off my phone, I turn off my e-mail alerts, I turn off everything, and I just write for about 6 hours and then I’m totally brain dead.

Usually, to unwind, on an average night, I love to cook. It’s very hands-on and also mindless. I don’t have to think—I can just zone out, watch TV, do something with my hands—it’s very different from writing. Then I wake up the next day, and do it all over again.

It’s pretty boring when I’m working on a draft. I see friends sometimes, but I’m sort of hard to reach, and I’m just like in a little cave with my computer. So I’m happy when the first draft is over and I can go out, see friends again, and be a real person.

M: You don’t go to any special place?

LK: I like to write in my office—it’s quiet, there’s a window that looks out on this canyon where I live. I don’t like to go to coffee shops because I like it to be very quiet, and you never know what kind of distractions there’s gonna be.

I have a lot of writing friends in LA who go to coffee shops. It’s a big scene: everybody has their computers up, and you sort of look around and everybody’s writing. I can’t deal with that. I just have to be alone. It takes me so long to get into that place mentally that I would just be too distracted.

—

M: How much of Luce is based on you?

LK: Just very very little things. Probably on every page, there are little tiny details that have something to do with me. Something like her relationship with her grandmother. A very small detail—things that she remembers, or some kind of food that she likes or doesn’t like. Those things are sometimes based on me, sometimes they’re based on other people I know or no one at all. But the core of her character is not at all based on me. I can relate to her, I feel like we’ll be very good friends, but it’s a completely different… a separate entity for me.

M: You mentioned when I spoke to you last year that Luce is not initially how you envisioned her in Fallen. Now, has she developed more into what you envisioned?

LK: Yeah, definitely. And now I really care about her a lot, I think she’s wonderful. And actually, now, when I go back and read Fallen, I feel very differently about her. I went back and read the whole series to prepare for writing Rapture and I see her as something very different than I did before. I think that having different perspectives of her character changed everything.

I think that when we talked last time about some issues I have with Luce, it’s probably just issues I was having with my writing and with the story; it wasn’t her. So I can see her now as her own entity, and I enjoy her very much. I love the way she’s grown over the series. I’m really very proud of her right now.

—

M: Are there any developments with the movie?

LK: They are very close to finishing the script. They had written one script and it wasn’t good enough, I think, so they found a new writer.  So they’re just finishing a new script, and everyone’s really excited about it.

M: Also you mentioned the idea for the new series? Can you tell us more about that?

LK: I can’t share anything about it yet ‘cause I’m still working on it with my publisher. But it’ll be a trilogy–there’ll be a new world, new characters. It’ll still have some otherworldly elements.

—

M: Have any of your fans sent you fan fiction?

LK: Yeah, I got one the other day, actually, when I was in Kuala Lumpur. I don’t go to the websites where they are posted, but I see every once in a while on Facebook, like a new one has been added.

M: Are you okay with that?

LK: Yeah, definitely. I think it’s very flattering, yeah, I think it’s really cool.

M: Some authors are very protective about their characters, and—

LK: Really?

M: Yeah, I think Anne Rice doesn’t approve of it.

LK: I think it’s amazing, actually, that people can imagine your characters well enough that they can see them in scenes that you haven’t written about. That means you’re successful in writing something that’s real and vibrant, so I think it’s really flattering.

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Acknowledgments:
Thank you to National Book Store, esp. to Karla and Chad, for giving me the chance to be able to talk to Lauren again.  Thanks to my talented photographer, Gary Mayoralgo.  And thank you, Lauren, for being such an accommodating and funny and non-frightening interviewee.

Image Credits:
- Lauren Kate: The Passion Tour photos by Gary Mayoralgo
- Front page feature image: lib-art.com

Related Articles:
- Previous excerpt — Lauren Kate: On the WSJ debacle and writing for teens
- Previous excerpt — Lauren Kate: On visual inspirations and angel wings
- Previous excerpt — Lauren Kate: On Luce’s lifetimes and writing bad guys
- An epic, romantic journey with Lauren Kate (on GMA News Online)

 

Readercon Filipino Friday Meme 1: Introduce Yourself

 
This meme is hosted by the official Filipino Reader Conference site to promote the 1st ever Filipino Reader Con on September 14th.

 

Introduce Yourself: This being the first topic, let’s all get to know each other better. Tell us what kind of reader you are. What are your favorite genres and books? Who are your favorite authors? Do you have a comfort read? And what’s the best book you’ve read so far this year? You can also include links of where other readers can find you online, such as your book social networking sites, etc.

Lauren Kate: On Luce’s lifetimes and writing bad guys

 
This is the penultimate installment of the transcript of my interview with New York Times Bestselling Author Lauren Kate last July 15th. Here, she talks about Luce’s past lives, free will vs. destiny, and Bill. (Muwahaha!)

Spoiler Warning: Some plot lines and outcomes in Passion were discussed here.

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Meann: In Passion, how did you go about choosing which time and place you would like to include in the book?

Lauren Kate: There were different reasons. Some of them are vacation spots that really affected me, like her life in Chichén Itzá. I went there 2 or 3 years ago, I think. I always thought the culture is so startlingly different from anything I know—it’s so fascinating how violent they were, but how much they value their lives. That strange juxtaposition of those 2 things really startled me.

I remember thinking at the time, I’d love to write about those, but I’m not gonna write a whole book about a character who lives there. So it’s really cool to just drop her [Luce] in for a chapter, let her sit there and deal with it, and then take her somewhere else.

A lot of them actually were based on novels that I really liked and settings that I had read about and wanted to explore, like when she’s in Milan, that’s A Farewell to Arms. So I reread that, and pulled a lot of those images and little bits of the story there into the book. Same thing with the Halston, England chapters; I’ve always loved Victorian novels. Further back, some of them are just fantasy, settings that I’ve always been intrigued by and wanted to learn more about.

M: I really love the Egyptian one.

LK: Do you? I like that one, too.

M: Which one was the hardest to write?

LK: The earliest ones—the ones that appear latest in the books, or earliest in time—those are just so foreign to me. It’s a lot easier for me to write about the 1920’s, the 1940’s, or even Shakespeare’s time because we’re so familiar…or I guess American culture is so obsessed with Shakespeare’s time that we see it a lot in movies, we read about them all the time in school.  But yeah, like the Egypt chapter, and the Shang dynasty chapter—I had to take a different approach to ground the reader and myself in the scenes.

M:  In the China chapter, I kinda envisioned her looking like Mulan.

LK: [laughs] Yeah, me too, me too! I don’t know… That’s funny, but yeah, me too.

M: I like the Mayan one, too. It was kinda scary. And there’s an actual pit where they throw in their human sacrifices?

LK: Yeah, it’s like this very green, acid green water, and you can still see the skeletons there.

M: Did you have any discarded ideas for places or time periods?

LK: Yeah. Yeah, I have a scrap pile that has little bits and pieces from here and there. I’ve gotta figure out what to do with them. Someday, I’ll figure out a format, whether it’s online or something in print.

M: What do you think Luce and Daniel would have been like in a Philippine setting?

LK: [laughs] They would’ve eaten a lot of balut. I can picture them on a little deserted island, one of the 7,000 islands here.

M: Bill. Is he really who we think he is… you know…

LK:  Yeah! He really is. Bill is going to be a force to be reckoned with in Rapture.

M:  He was fun, though, when he was a gargoyle.

LK:  Yeah. He was a very interesting character to write. Obviously, I knew exactly what was going to happen to him, I knew exactly who the readers are going to find out he was in the end.  But I had to make him… I think most readers are suspicious of him, at least in the beginning.  But those characters, there’s always a fine line between how much evil should I show, how much darkness should I show.  We still gotta stick around with this guy for several thousand more years, so you have to make him enjoyable, but also the foreshadowing has to be done just right.

M: And he’s also the guy in the Prologue.

LK: Yeah, he is. Yeah.

It’s hard for me to write bad guys; a truly vicious bad guy is no fun to read about.  You’ve got to give them some sort of charm. And then when I do that, I start to like them and I start to not want them to be quite so bad. I had to figure out how to do that.

M:  In Passion, we go back to The Very Beginning. I had a sort of Hermione Granger Time-Turner thing going on in my head when Daniel went back to the very start and realized that it was his intervention that changed everything. Can you explain a bit more about how that works?

LK:  I don’t think I should; that’s going to be in Rapture. The first meeting [with Luce] that he thinks he’s going to, he doesn’t end up there. He ends up further back—he ends up in Heaven before he ever met Luce. That moment, that is like the Elusive Mystery Moment of the whole series: when did they actually meet, why did they fall in love originally? And I’ve been teasing and teasing and teasing it, and I gave a little bit in Passion, but still, I’m backing away from it. But we’ll get there in Rapture.

M:  There’s also the element of Luce’s choice alluded to in The Ethereal Monarch’s judgment. Can you also explain that a bit, or is that going to be in Rapture as well?

LK:  Those are probably the biggest issues in Rapture. Because she’s not aware of it yet in Passion, I don’t think I should disclose it to the reader yet.

M:  The choices that the angels and Daniel make, I like that part in the book because the choices themselves are not really black and white, or good and evil, and not exactly a bad choice or a good choice. Someone said before that “Free Will is an illusion,” but is it, in the context of the mythology of Fallen?

LK:  That’s a good question, because even the characters that are operating as if they have free will, it was given to them by God. But I think what Luce and Daniel are proving is that free will is a very very difficult thing to achieve, but they’re always in pursuit of it. Their choice to love each other is constantly being swatted away, and the forces of good and evil are always trying to suppress it. I think, if and when they succeed, they’ll prove something about free will—that it’s possible.

M:  So is it more free will or destiny for Luce and Daniel, again, in the context of Fallen?

LK:  It’s very hard to tell one from the other, I think, especially with regard to their relationship. At times, it seems a lot like destiny, but in the end, I’m leaning towards free will. This is what bothers Luce a lot—she’s frustrated by the fact that they love each other because they’re supposed to. That they love each other for the right reasons is something that she’s thinking about a lot.

M:  Which is also part of the reason why she went back.

LK:  Yeah.

M:  Why did Daniel go back to that time with Cam and Lilith?

LK:  Oh.  Ummm…we’ll see.  We’ll see more of that.

M:  Because it was a little different from the other times; Luce wasn’t there.

LK:  There are a couple moments when he sort of loses track of Luce, like in the Greenland one.  I like those scenes where she’s not in it.  I mean, her role is obviously the most important, but it’s fun to show the other characters talking without her there.  That Greenland scene is one of my favorite ones.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Next time:  What to expect in Rapture, random bits of Fallen Series trivia, playlists, the movie, future projects, and Lauren talks about writing.

Image Credits:
- Lauren Kate: The Passion Tour photo by Gary Mayoralgo
- Gargoyle front page featured image from travelpod.com

Related Articles:
-  Previous excerpt — Lauren Kate: On the WSJ debacle and writing for teens
-  Previous excerpt — Lauren Kate: On visual inspirations and angel wings
-  An epic, romantic journey with Lauren Kate (on GMA News Online)