Recent Reads

Posted on May 5, 2013

Reading, reading, reading!
Image (c) Deliciously Fictitious.

Been doing a lot of reading lately, and a lot of writing – mostly short fiction for my Masters. Admittedly this has led me to be somewhat remiss on the reviewing front. (Sad face.)

A quick recap, then, of some of the books I’ve read in the past few weeks:

The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing – a pithy novella with elements of magic realism, about a family struggling to raise a child who appears inhuman. The book focuses on the mother’s internal fight between revulsion and duty. Well-written and easy to devour in a sitting.

The Wild Girl by Kate Forsyth – haunting historical fiction, about the love affair between Wilhelm Grimm and his next door neighbour Dortchen Wild, who told him many of the stories that were to become Grimms’ Folk Tales. Following on from her historical fiction/fantasy blend Bitter Greens (a retelling of Rapunzel, which I reviewed here), Forsyth artfully combines research and imagination in a dark tale with a beautiful silver lining. …Click here to read the rest!

Apr 30

ABC Radio National talks sex in YA fiction

Posted on April 30, 2013

Another lovely sunny day in Sydney! Just a quick update to point people to a great broadcast ABC Radio National Books and Arts Daily ran this morning, picking up my Newswrite magazine article on Sex in Young Adult Fiction.

You can read my article in full by clicking here. A quick recap… in it I ask publishers, parents, booksellers and teen readers ‘how far is too far’ when it comes to depicting sex in books for teenagers.

On the ABC’s program this morning, host Michael Cathcart asked authors Margo Lanagan (author of Tender Morsels) and Julia Lawrinson (author of Losing It) what they thought about writing about sex for teens. He also chatted with 19-year-old Steph Bowe (also a YA author), to get a younger reader’s perspective.

A bit of background… Lanagan’s Tender Morsels is a reworking of the Brothers Grimm fairytale of Snow White and Rose Red, and contains rape, incest etc. It was published as both an Adult and Young Adult book in Australia and the UK (but only as Young Adult in the US). Lawrinson’s Losing It is about four teenagers who make a pact to lose their virginity before schoolies week. It’s fairly explicit, but also humourous. I wonder whether this helps to soften the blow for the ‘censors’ (parents, school librarians etc)…?

It was a great discussion, though I for one would have loved it to have gone a little longer! You can catch it by clicking here.

I was also invited to ‘guest tweet’ during the program. If you’re interested, you can read my tweets (hopefully spelled correctly – it was all a bit of a whirl!) right here.

Better still, tell me what you think! How much sex is too much in teen fiction? What does it depend on? Do you think books like Tender Morsels and Losing It deal with it appropriately?

Would love to hear your views!

~ DF

Apr 10

Scribbling bibbling… and a new story in ‘Newswrite’

Posted on April 10, 2013

Sex in Young Adult fiction… how far is too far for our teens?
Image (c) Gerardo Arévalo Tamayo via Flickr

It’s been a little quiet on the DF front lately. What have I been doing? Well, lots of things.

First, I’m excited to have an article published in the latest edition of ‘Newswrite’ – a writing magazine published by the NSW Writers’ Centre.

This one’s all about sex… in Young Adult fiction. In it, I speak to YA publishers Laura Harris (Penguin) and Sue Whiting (Walker Books), as well as parents, booksellers and teen readers themselves about ‘how far is too far’ when you’re writing for teenagers.

They’ve got some very interesting things to say, so be sure to check it out! There are also some great articles in there about the lawyer/novelist crossover (which resonated with me, given my first career was as a corporate lawyer), the concept of ‘negotiated memoir’, and how to market your first novel.

In other news, I’m now 5 weeks into my Masters of Creative Writing, and absolutely loving it. I’m soaking up the wisdom of prize-winning author Sue Woolfe in my Fiction Workshop class, and getting up close and personal with a few new genres as part of a great literary theory subject which examines major movements in contemporary prose.

It’s been a busy but rewarding few weeks. One of the most interesting things I’ve learned so far is that my plotting dilemmas with my own book, which I’ve written about in passing before, may best be solved by simply forgetting all about them for the time being.

Sound counter-intuitive? I thought so, at first. But you know that feeling you get when you’re writing something and you’re on a roll, and you’re almost not even aware that you’re writing anymore, and when you put down your pen (or keyboard) you sort of feel a little glazed, maybe a little exhausted, but also as though you’ve got wings?

Well, it turns out that feeling has a name.

Feb 22

Friday Uncovered – some ‘Stella’ choices

Posted on February 22, 2013

The first-ever longlist for the Stella Prize has been announced! In honour of the occasion, my Friday ‘Uncovered’ book has been chosen from the longlisted titles.

In case you didn’t know, the Stella Prize is a shiny new literary award celebrating Australian women’s writing. It will be awarded for the very first time on April 16. Exciting times, people. Exciting times.

Not having read any of the books on the longlist (yet), this is a great test for ‘Uncovered’. If I were confronted with the entire longlist on a shelf, judging the book purely by its cover design and nothing else (not even the blurb), which one would I pick up first?

Here are the choices:

The inaugural Stella longlist. Which cover speaks loudest to you?

I thought every cover was eye catching and had a real sense of ‘story’ behind it. But these two are my favourites:

The Burial
by Courtney Collins

The People Smuggler
by Robin de Crespigny

Both these covers really spoke to me. …Click here to read the rest!

Jan 10

The Next Big Thing

Posted on January 10, 2013

‘The Next Big Thing’ is a blog meme where writers discuss their upcoming projects
Image (c) Deliciously Fictitious

The lovely Kirsten Krauth - novelist and editor of the NSW Writer’s Magazine, Newswrite, has tagged me in ‘The Next Big Thing’ blog meme!

It’s a literary meme in which writers discuss their next big project, and link to other writers, who discuss their next big project. If you’ve got the time – it’s well worth taking a little meander down some of the meme’s links. There are a lot of excellent and exciting projects out there!

Now, I’m at a disadvantage here. In contrast to many (most?) of the writers tagged, my own novel is not yet ready for publication. It’s also not really a next big thing, per se, as it’s my first go at this novel-writing caper.

So answering some of the ‘set’ questions is a little tricky for me, but I’ll do my best… Here we go:

What is the working title of your current/next book?

Darn. You had to start with a hard question. I still don’t have one! Just a big blank space :) Turns out, I’m not one of those people who has to have a title before they can start writing…

Where did the idea come from?

You know what? There was no single thing that made me think of it. I wasn’t even trying to think of a book idea at all …Click here to read the rest!

Dec 12

Classics at Christmas

Posted on December 12, 2012

Looking forward to re-reading Pride and Prejudice this Christmas…
Image (c) Deliciously Fictitious

I don’t know about you, but for some reason the holidays always make me want to get stuck into the classics. So this festive season I’ll be reading some I’ve had on my ’To Read’ list for a while, and re-reading a few I’ve been dying to revisit.

Among the former are Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, of which I have, erm, great expectations. I loved Dickens’ Oliver Twist, and am already enjoying Dickens’ lovely tongue-in-cheek writing style in this book.

And speaking of tongue-in-cheek, it’s been far too long since I’ve read Jane Austen’s much-praised Pride & Prejudice, so I’ll be re-reading that over the silly season too.

I’ve also just finished Austen’s Northanger Abbey, which until recently was the only one of her books I hadn’t actually read. I’ll post a review on that shortly. Not her best work, in my humble opinion, but still an enjoyable read if (like me) you’re an Austen fan.

Oh and while I’m on the subject of classics, I was thrilled to have my first article published this month in Newswrite - the NSW Writer’s Centre’s magazine. (You can find out more about the mag, just here.)

Mine’s a quirky little piece envisaging how 10 characters from classic literature (including Elizabeth Bennet from Pride & Prejudice, Fagin from Oliver Twist, Gollum from The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, and Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in The Rye) would fare if they had their very own blogs.

If you’re a Newswrite subscriber (or about to become one), don’t forget to check it out on page 16.

Till next time!

~DF

Nov 16

Review of ‘Seven Little Australians’

Posted on November 16, 2012

This is an old-world charmer reminiscent of Jane Austen crossed with Enid Blyton or Anthony Buckeridge. Only, you know – Australian!

Vital stats:

Author: Ethel Turner
Publisher: Penguin
Format: Paperback
RRP: $17.95 (AUD)

My rating

The story:

Set in 1880s Sydney, Seven Little Australians follows the quarrels, fights, adventures and love of the seven mischievous Woolcot children, their strict father Captain Woolcot and his lovely, young new wife Esther.

How I liked it:

I’ve grown up hearing references to this book, yet I’ve never read it until now. I always assumed it would be rather boring – I think because I have a habit of judging books by their cover and in this case the title just didn’t do it for me.

I was pleasantly surprised. Seven Little Australians is a lovely snapshot of what life must have been like in early Sydney. The setting, the characters, the narrator’s tone are …Click here to read the rest!

Nov 13

Review of ‘The Small Hours’

Posted on November 13, 2012

This is a beautifully written book full of nuance and humour.

Vital stats

Author: Susie Boyt
Publisher: Hachette
Format: Hardback
RRP: $39.99 (AUD)

*This book was provided for review by Pages & Pages Booksellers. This has not affected my opinion of it.*

My rating

The story:

The story opens on Harriet Goodman - tall, awkward, neurotic, lonely and charming - coming to the end of decades of therapy. Estranged from her remaining family, she uses the inheritance from her father’s death to open a nursery school, determining to give ‘her girls’ the best possible start in life.

But beneath her cheerful exterior, Harriet is still fighting demons from her own childhood. Can her new project cleanse her of past pain, or will her ceaseless struggle for the recognition of her family bring down everything she has built?

How I liked it:

This is a beautifully written book, full of nuance, humour, light and shade. In it, Boyt delves into the human psyche - creating a poignant and lifelike portrait of a woman determined to make the best of things in the face of some very great wrongs. …Click here to read the rest!

Oct 26

‘The Casual Vacancy’ – uncovered

Posted on October 26, 2012

Does this cover make anyone else hungry for Macca’s fries?

Welcome to my inaugural ‘uncovered’ post: a monthly meme in which I pick a book and unabashedly judge it by its cover.

I know you’re not supposed to, but lots of readers do it, and given how much time and money publishers put into their cover designs, they know we do it too!

I thought I’d kick today off with the cover of a much talked of book I bought very recently: J.K. Rowling’s adult novel The Casual Vacancy. See right, for it in all its glory.

Given how hyped the release of this book was, it’s safe to assume a fair bit of cover-judging went on with this one! In fact, the cover design’s release in July (two months before the book itself came out) even got its own news story!

Personally I was so put off by this cover, I doubt I would have bought it if it hadn’t been Rowling’s new book. (I am a diehard Potter fan and was very keen to read her latest offering. My review is here if you’re interested, by the by.)

THIS book’s cover, on the other hand, had me salivating to read it!

Why? Well it’s all in-your-face and the red and yellow are, frankly, reminiscent of the McDonalds logo. I am very attracted by simple, clean cover designs. This one is simple but the colours and the fonts manage to make it feel ‘busy’. The more ornate covers I like tend to use more muted covers, like this Bitter Greens cover (left) which I absolutely loved earlier this year.

Funnily enough, I think Rowling’s cover may have grown on me a little. I don’t hate it as much now as I did; maybe because I enjoyed the book. And I will say this for it – the gaudy red ‘n gold made it a book you don’t misplace in a hurry!

What do you think? Did this cover make you want to read the book, or did it turn you off?

Oct 24

‘Possessing Freedom’ – author interview

Posted on October 24, 2012

Happy Wednesday! Today it’s my stop on the blog tour for Aussie Young Adult supernatural thriller Possessing Freedom.

Possessing Freedom is an “integrated short story collection” or “collaborative novel”, written by Australian authors Beau Hillier, Belinda Dorio, Rhiannon Hart, and Steve Rossiter.

Steve – who runs The Australian Literature Review – also published and edited the book (and a second collaboration called The Life and Times of Chester Lewis). And he’s running a fan fiction comp worth $2,000 as part of the launch – details here!

I chatted with Steve about the collaborative process and the other projects he’s got on the boil:

Me: Is this (and Chester Lewis) the first time you have participated in a collaborative
fiction project? What made you want to be involved?
Steve: The Life and Times of Chester Lewis was started before Possessing Freedom and took longer to write, as the Chester Lewis stories were written by 11 authors sequentially whereas the Possessing Freedom stories were written by four authors simultaneously. These were the first two collaborative fiction projects I had participated in. (However, I have …Click here to read the rest!

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