A summer vlogging experiment.

This summer, I'm going to be experimenting with a little bit of multimedia and extending my blogs into a dual system of vlogs and blogs!

What this means is that the blogs will still be running here as normal, but every other week, one of the 'thoughts on' posts will also have an accompanying video -- usually explaining the topic in simpler terms and tackling one issue about it, whereas the blogs will explore multifaceted issues.

I already know I'll be making videos on whitewashing, representations of sexuality and a handful of various other things. I'd love to know what you guys want me to talk about as well! Leave a comment and let me know what you'd like to see - and don't forget to subscribe on YouTube!

Rae Carson's THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS

Giving up reviews is much harder than I thought. My gosh. I have too many thoughts and not enough space to put them.

So while WORD will continue to be discussion-oriented, if I have things to say about the books I'm reading, I'll review them; if I don't, I won't. We'll see what happens. Unlike before, the reviews can appear or disappear at any given time depending on my life.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns
Author: Rae Carson
Series: Fire and Thorns (#1)
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
How Received: publisher ARC

Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness.
Elisa is the chosen one.

But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can't see how she ever will.

Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.

And he's not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people's savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.

Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young.

Most of the chosen do.

I really loved the second half of The Girl of Fire and Thorns. The problem was getting to that second half.

See, a lot of Elisa's character development has to do with how she views herself and her own weight. In the beginning of the book, she views herself as a useless lump of lard. Literally. In the first eleven chapters, she out-rightly refers to her weight - "I'm a sausage, I'm fat" - 18 times. This isn't including the numerous mentions of eating, of other character's thinness, and of other characters calling her out on her weight. Carson hit us over the head repeatedly with it, and I wish she had lessened that blow a little, because the second half would have been as good without it. Between that and a Godstone located where you would normally find belly button lint, I had a hard time getting through to the second half of the book.

But the second half was great. Fantastic. Took Elisa's weaknesses and made them strengths; let her develop and learn and become strong in her own right, and I loved that. There were scenes where I basically fist-pumped the air because of how pleased I was by her development.

But the problem was still getting there.

If you're willing to wade through the thick and heavy-hitting first third of the book, I highly recommend The Girl of Fire and Thorns - but if you have little patience, it's not the book for you.



If this hadn't been a YAcker book - you can read our discussion here - I probably wouldn't have gotten through it.

What did you guys think?

Nicole's Five BookExpo America Tips

Hello, lovely WORDites! As some of you are fellow bloggers, you might be heading off to BookExpo America at the end of this month!


I've gone to BookExpo America before - this is my third year - fourth year? Some number of years going, and there are plenty of other posts summarizing what everything is about and what to do and all that fun stuff. But I figured I'd reiterate the tips I find most helpful.

01. This is a professional conference. Be professional.
Professional.
Professional.
Professional.

You don't have to be perfect, but try not to look like a hobo, and in the name of cupcakes, please - please - please behave professionally. Be polite. Don't shove. Don't do stupid things. Bloggers have gotten bad names because of this in the past. (My post on professional BEA behavior.)

02. Sneakers are your friend.
Unless you have another pair of more comfortable shoes, just wear sneakers on the floor. Between walking the conference floor and walking around NYC, your feet will be exhausted - and if you wear sneakers, it'll at least be a little better later.

03. Pack snacks and water bottles.
Are you a millionaire? If the answer is no, you really don't want to be buying food at the center, and it's really inconvenient to have to leave the building during the day for food to come back later. I'm a big fan of the granola bars and water bottle strategy -- it always lasts me until dinner, and I'm so busy that I don't have time to do anything otherwise.

04. You don't need every book. Don't pick up every book.
Unless you want to exhaust yourself carrying things, don't pick up every book. It's also just rude to take things you don't need. And taking two copies of a popular book? Just... don't do it. Again, be professional; this is a conference, not a free-for-all giveaway. My rule is if you wouldn't buy it or check it out of the library, don't pick it up off the BEA floor.

05. Talk!
Okay, this seems obvious, but a lot of bloggers are afraid of networking and actually talking to the people around them. Shake it off! Relax! Go talk to your favorite author or that publicist you always work with or that blogger you always admired. They're gonna want to talk to you as well, and that experience is always nicer then book you got quietly.



I'll be floating around at some of the events and around the floor for most of the days. If you'll be there and want to chat in person, just shoot me a Tweet and we'll arrange something!

Who's going? What are you excited for?

The giant post about new adult literature.

If anybody's been paying attention at all to my twitter feed over the past few weeks, you may have noticed that I occasionally go on rants about a certain age category that has recently been all over the place. Yes, "new adult" is the new big thing. It's even earned a spot in Publisher's Marketplace for new deals.

The problem is... well, a lot of things, actually.

What is new adult?
For those who don't know, new adult is a genre of literature that takes place once a character attends college and slightly after, roughly in the 20 - 26 range. So far, they've been coming of age stories that heavily feature sex and sexuality. I've discussed it before here and here.

New adult as a bildungsroman?
This image has been going around a lot lately.

Image by Dear Author.
There's a problem here. If you cross out new and replace it with young, it also works. New adult novels are not bildungromans. They are not coming of age novels.

This is how categories of books work.

Picture books tell a story to people in pictures made strictly to entertain. Children's literature tells a story that's often didactic - there's a point at the end. (Accept people for who they are, be creative, listen to your parents, etc.) Middle grade novels are the beginning of the coming of age story. By the end of the novel, the protaganist has usually learned something about themselves. Young adult novels are the bildungsroman, that full coming of age story - figuring out who you are and what you believe in.

If we're defining new adult as an older bildungsroman, it doesn't work, because the whole point of young adult literature is that bildungsroman arc. That's why adult high fantasy novels and sci-fi novels (Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey, for example) can have young protagonists and still be sliced into the adult genre because there isn't that bildungsroman. The story focuses on a character who already knows who they are.

I'd love to see new adult do that. What happens after the bildungsroman? What do you do once you know who you are? How do you handle that?

What does new adult mean for the adult genre?
If we're defining new adult by that definition, of course, what does that mean for the adult genre? How will that be defined now?

There's no strict definition for adult as a genre; it's just typically deemed that the characters know who they are and are exploring that in some way - which is the exact definition I described for new adult up above.

So... where does that leave adult fiction?



That's a question I don't have an answer to, but I've gotten some hilarious answers.

The confinement in genre.
Right now, I've seen all but one new adult book set in a contemporary time period. I've seen contemporary romances and paranormal romances and one - one - historical. And that's it, that's the genre.

A lot of people seem to be defining it as a novel that deals with the problems that arise in and after college. Finding yourself in college is something I've been dying to have young adult explore more, and figuring out who you are and then exploring that is something I would love new adult to do. But the current definition seems to fixate heavily on that college atmosphere and that age rather than the actual progression of character after the bildungsroman.

Part of this has to do with what has been published so far, part of it with the definition of the genre as we know it, and part of it has to do with sex. (See below.)

Where does that leave fantasy and sci-fi settings that don't have college? With the current definition of it, it's very hard to escape and make new adult make sense in something that isn't contemporary - because those definitions already are categorized. High fantasy and sci-fi in the adult section often feature what I've described as new adult, and high fantasy and sci-fi in the young adult section often feature what other people have described as new adult. Unless the definition of the genre changes, it's going to end up taking away from another genre or dying quickly because of the fact that it already exists.

Sex?!
And, of course, the biggest thing we've seen in new adult so far is sex. It's been described as YA erotica - and, let's be fair, that is where it started to get big. St. Martin's may have been using the term earlier to court books with the 20 - 26 age range, but it's more frequently associated now with young people having sex. It ties into the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon.

I have no problem with sex in novels where it's relevant to the plot. (This post sums it up nicely, but I have several posts about sex and sexuality on my discussions page.)

In that case, there's two halves to this:
- young people having erotic sex with no point to the plot
- young people having sex with a point to the plot

If the first, well, the books should just be shelved in the erotica section. The characters are older than 18, so it's legal by adult standards, and I have no qualms with people reading about sex and enjoying it.

If the second, it's being argued that having sex in the plot is exclusive to NA. And, uh, it's not. It happens frequently in a young adult setting. It's been argued that it's a common experience for people in college, but I know plenty of people who haven't had sex in college - and plenty who did in high school. It's a weird sort of thing to argue and takes away from both genres.

Authors focusing on sex only solidifies the stereotype that college is the place for sex and parties and nothing else, which I don't think is the case. - @notsnow_white

If there does need to be a focus on sex in the NA genre, it needs to be handled differently - not sex for the sake of romance and newness, but actually exploring sexuality. If you're discovering your sexuality in YA, you should be figuring out how to handle it in NA. Figure out you're bisexual in a young adult novel? Deal with the stigmas with it in NA! Discover asexuality and find a partner who you have to explain it to. Hell, track the experience of a demisexual with a partner who isn't demisexual and see how that works! If YA is finding what you are, and coming of age, and understanding that, NA needs to be about how you handle your coming of age and how you deal with the world around you.




I think new adult has a lot of potential if handled as I wish it would be, and while I worry about how that will reshape the adult genre, I'm curious to see where it goes. But a lot of what's happening right now is problematic and worrisome in regards to its own creation and to its affect on YA lit.

What do you guys think of new adult so far, for those who have seen it?

The Wish List (2)

The first day of every month will now feature The Wish List, which is a list of books on my wish list. It's like Waiting on Wednesday but, you know, all at one shot.

Curtsies and Conspiracies
Author: Gail Carriger
Series: Finishing School (#2)
Release Date: 5 November 2013

Does one need four fully grown foxgloves for decorating a dinner table for six guests? Or is it six foxgloves to kill four fully grown guests?

Sophronia's first year at Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality has certainly been rousing! For one thing, finishing school is training her to be a spy (won't Mumsy be surprised?). Furthermore, Sophronia got mixed up in an intrigue over a stolen device and had a cheese pie thrown at her in a most horrid display of poor manners.

Now, as she sneaks around the dirigible school, eavesdropping on the teachers' quarters and making clandestine climbs to the ship's boiler room, she learns that there may be more to a school trip to London than is apparent at first. A conspiracy is afoot--one with dire implications for both supernaturals and humans. Sophronia must rely on her training to discover who is behind the dangerous plot-and survive the London Season with a full dance card.

The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two
Author: Catherynne M. Valente
Series: Fairyland (#3)
Release Date: 8 October 2013

September misses Fairyland and her friends Ell, the Wyverary, and the boy Saturday. She longs to leave the routines of home, and embark on a new adventure. Little does she know that this time, she will be spirited away to the moon, reunited with her friends, and find herself faced with saving Fairyland from a moon-Yeti with great and mysterious powers.

Conjured
Author: Sarah Beth Durst
Series: ---
Release Date: 3 September 2013

Eve has a new home, a new face, and a new name—but no memories of her past. She’s been told that she's in a witness protection program. That she escaped a dangerous magic-wielding serial killer who still hunts her. The only thing she knows for sure is that there is something horrifying in her memories the people hiding her want to access—and there is nothing they won’t say—or do—to her to get her to remember.

At night she dreams of a tattered carnival tent and buttons being sewn into her skin. But during the day, she shelves books at the local library, trying to not let anyone know that she can do things—things like change the color of her eyes or walk through walls. When she does use her strange powers, she blacks out and is drawn into terrifying visions, returning to find that days or weeks have passed—and she’s lost all short-term memories. Eve must find out who and what she really is before the killer finds her—but the truth may be more dangerous than anyone could have ever imagined.

What do you think of these bad boys? What books should I be adding to my list?

Top Ten Words That Instantly Make Me Want A Book

Today's Top Ten Tuesday post is ten words that instantly make me want to pick up a book. Considering that two sprang to mind immediately, I thought - well, why not make this a thing?

Dragon.
(noun) a mythical monster generally represented as a huge, winged reptile with crested head and enormous claws and teeth, and often spouting fire.

I love dragon stories. There's basically nothing I won't read if it has the word 'dragon' in it somewhere. They're my favorite mythological creature and honestly, I've never been truly disappointed by a dragon story. (Maybe once, but I can't even remember the title.)

Cannibalism.
(noun) the ceremonial eating of human flesh or parts of the human body for magical or religious purposes, as to acquire the power or skill of a person recently killed.

Cannibalism fascinates me in some weird and strange way, and I've only ever managed to see one book successfully integrate it into the story. (The Inferior, if you're wondering.) But if another book involving cannibalism, particularly a young adult one - maybe a young sleuth trying to solve a murder? - were to appear, I would probably read it. I know, it's weird.

High fantasy.
(noun) imagination, especially when extravagant and unrestrained.

I love high fantasy stories. I'm easily fascinated by new worlds. Seeing what people have created from the back of their imagination is really fun for me. It's why I can get tired of contemporary but never of fantasy. The same story may be told in fantasy, but the world is always different. Contemporary - well, it's this world. How boring is that?

Assassin.
(noun) a murderer, especially one who kills a politically prominent person for fanatical or monetary reasons.

I think assassins are fascinating; lady assassins are some of my favorite things. I need to read a few YA books recently that have come out with assassin characters. Besides, assassins are just fun in worlds in general. You never know what's going to happen.

Thief.
(noun) a person who steals, especially secretly or without open force.

In the same way that I love assassins, I love thieves; Thief's Covenant is one of my favorite books. I love characters who are beneath the law but not amoral, and thieves are excellent at portraying that. They're also just fun characters.

Queen.
(noun) a woman considered the best or most important of her kind.

I love royalty. I love queens, especially power-hungry ones. (Combine them with the words above and I get deliriously happy - hence why I love Daenerys Targaryen!)

Jane Austen.
(noun) 1775–1817, English novelist.

I love Austen and I love Austen retellings; if her name is plastered on it, there's a good chance that I'll pick it up to see how good it is. And usually, it's not any good. But I still pick them up anyway.

Jane Eyre.
(noun) a novel (1847) by Charlotte Brontë.

I also love Jane Eyre; if a character loves her, I'll pick it up. If it's a retelling, I'll pick it up. If the character magically gets dropped into the world, I'll pick it up. I just really love Jane Eyre.

Steampunk.
(noun) a subgenre of science fiction and fantasy featuring advanced machines and other technology based on steam power of the 19th century and taking place in a recognizable historical period or a fantasy world.

While steampunk isn't enough to make me pick up a book and buy it, it's definitely enough to make me pick it up and look at it. I love the genre, so even though I don't love every book in it, it's interesting.

Beauty and the Beast.
(noun) the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind.
(noun) the crude animal nature common to humans and the lower animals.

I love retellings of Beauty and the Beast; if it's slathered over the front in some way to make me know that it's a retelling, I'll pick it up.


Do any of these make you want to pick up a book?

Giveaway: THE 5TH WAVE by Rick Yancey

This giveaway is over.

Penguin's being awesome, and they had some extra ARC copies of The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey - so they gave me one to give away to you lovely WORDites!

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

Quick Recap:
[1] ARC of The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey up for grabs
[1] winner in the U.S. only
ends May 1

How To Win:
[mandatory] follow this blog on some medium
[+1] for every additional medium