CBC Books - The Book Club - YA Death Match final round

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If you're a fan of Anne Shirley of Anne of Green Gables, you better come to her defense because she's about to get smacked down in the CBC Books - The Book Club - YA Death Match final round against Harry Potter and Clary Fray. Clary calls Anne "more suitable for tourists looking for a photo than for battle". She doesn't consider Harry Potter a serious contender either and recommends throwing Potter pity party given that he's had it so tough going to a private school and all. So, get on over to the CBC - YA Book Club and vote if you don't want Anne to be history!

Writer's Digest 11th Annual Short Story Competition

For anyone out there who happens to be crazy enough to want to get into the writing business, Writer's Digest is having a short story writing contest with some seriously sweet prizes.  They're looking for bold and brilliant stories under 1500 words.  You don't have much time.  Contest submission closes December 1, 2010.  So get writing, and once you've got a completed manuscript, edit, edit, and edit some more.

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2010 Governor General's Award for young adult lit.

Children’s Literature – Text

Wendy Phillips, Richmond (British Columbia), Fishtailing(Coteau Books; distributed by Publishers Group of Canada)

In this highly-inventive, poetic narrative, four compelling characters take the reader on a wild ride through the dangerous terrain of friendships threatened by manipulative acts. Deftly switching voices,
Wendy Phillips creates a powerful momentum in Fishtailing that leaves the reader breathless.

CBC Books - The Book Club - YA Death Match, round two bonus showdown: Boy Sherlock Holmes takes on Alanna

In more news, Boy Sherlock Holmes needs your votes in CBC's Book Club's "YA Death Match".

Which is your favorite sleuth? My colleague Shane Peacock (author of the Boy Sherlock Holmes series) is counting on your votes as his character takes on Alanna from the Song of the Lioness series. Follow the link to vote NOW. CBC Books - The Book Club - YA Death Match, round two bonus showdown: Boy Sherlock Holmes takes on Alanna.

Interesting Interview with Suzanne Collins

The "Where do you get your ideas from?" may be one of the most common questions asked of authors, but it is often a very complex one to answer.  I came across an excellent interview with Suzanne Collins, author of The Huger Games Triology in the Huffington Post.  It's well word reading.  What I found most interesting was how bits and pieces of things came together to inspire her...the desensitizing influence of television, the Greek  Myth of Theseus and the Minotaur in which 14 children are sacrificed to keep Athens safe, and Spartacus (a classic film starring Kirk Douglas as a rebellious Roman slave which just happens to be one of my all time favorites).  The magic of writing is in taking all these threads of inspiration and ideas and weaving them together into a compelling story.  No question that Suzanne Collins has done just that.

Salt by Maurice Gee

I recently read Salt by New Zealander, Maurice Gee while on a road trip to the American Southwest and couldn't put it down.  Set in a dystopian world on the brink of destruction, it it is a world that shares similarities with our own.  Salt is the classic story of a boy and a girl from opposite social classes who find themselves dependent upon each other for their struggle to survive.

Hari lives in Blood Burrow, the decaying remains of a city that lies in ruins.  The inhabitants of Blood Burrow must fend for themselves against packs of starving dogs, rats, and the "Company Whips" who come in search of forced labour.  Hari's father Tarl is captured by the Company Whips, but his resistance earns him a place in Deep Salt, a terrible mine from which no one has ever returned.  Hari has no choice but to try to save his father.  Along the way he meets Pearl, a privileged girl from the city where Company operates.  The fact that she is fleeing her former life as well as an arranged marriage, doesn't endear her to Hari.  But, he needs her help, and the help of her extraordinary maid, Tealeaf to save his father from Deep Salt.  And, the three share the same unusual ability to communicate telepathically.

The fact that Gee's pacing is impeccable, that his descriptions are easy to visualize, and that his characters are compelling, makes this a story worth reading.  Still, Salt offers much more.  The world Gee has built is one you'll want to know more of because it shares so much with our own.  It is a place where greed prospers alongside unselfish sacrifice.  It's a world with potential for greatness, and equal potential for senseless violence.  It is a world that teeters on the brink, and you'll want to know how it fares in the future.  And guess what! The second installment of this planned trilogy is available, so I'm off to buy book two, Cool.

Lest we forget

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Today's post is a poem written by John Gillespie Magee, a young Canadian  pilot who did not survive World War II.  He wrote this at age 19 a few months before he died.

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,

I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager craft thro' footless halls of air....

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue

I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace

Where never lark nor even eagle flew—

And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God

*Thanks to my friend Linda Granfield for the reminder.  She's one of those special people in the world who has been able to lead the way in helping us celebrate fallen soldiers without glorifying war itself.  Thanks for all your work Linda.