Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison

I picked up this book (and then the remaining books in the series) on a recommendation from a good friend of mine whose taste in literature is similar to my own. I was between Sookie Stackhouse books (which are way better than the show, by the way), waiting for the most recent book to arrive from Amazon.com, so I started on Dead Witch Walking.

It is, to say the least, great.

Kim Harrison has created a world that is chock full of possibilities. Vampires, witches, demons, pixies, trolls, leprechauns, and all other supernatural creatures of lore are commonplace, and this helps to make the world very dense. There’s a lot going on in the first book. We’re not only introduced to this world and the main characters that inhabit it, but there are complexities Harrison only touches on–like the ley line witches who tap into some sort of portal to the ever-after, which is very dangerous and deadly if used incorrectly. Also, there are two kind of vampires–day vampires and dead vampires–and we only receive a short explanation of each. A lot of the world we find out along the way–almost in a stumbling manner. That can be frustrating at times, but the characters are fun enough to make it worth the ride. The storyline is pretty solid, though I felt like we got a little lost at times (again with the stumbling). When the main character, Rachel, decides to turn into a mink to break into the bad guy’s office and then gets caught and then gets put in the underground, black market rat fight rings, I thought we might be getting a little off topic. I know she was using it as a means for Rachel to escape the bad guy, but really, she could have done it in a less confusing manner.

Nonetheless, the story and the characters are captivating, and she has a lot to work with for future texts. My only big complaint–and it has nothing to do with the story–is that this was the worst proofread book I’ve read in a long time. We’re talking spelling errors, inconsistent name spellings (it will be Francis and then Frances–on the same page!), punctuation errors, grammar issues, etc. And there were even copyediting problems–sentences would just stop making sense. This only happened a few times, but it was enough to make me take notice. It’s bad. And it’s not like it’s only in the last quarter of the book, which is common because the editor pushes the proofreader to finish the job right away, or they pull the book from the proofreader in order to meet a deadline, and the last part of the book gets neglected. This happens all the time, and though it’s frustrating as hell still, it’s almost to be expected if there is going to be any proofreading issue. No, the proofreading problems are throughout the text, almost from the beginning, and that leads me to believe either the editor didn’t have it proofread professionally (by someone other than the author) or they had a really bad proofreader on the job. Or maybe they didn’t have enough funding to hire a proofreader. That happens, too. When I see something like this, I feel bad for the author. It reflects poorly on them, though those of us in publishing realizes that it’s really the publisher’s fault. Well, that’s not entirely true. The author shares a large part of the responsibility of how the final product turns out. They do see proofs (at least they do at our house). Hmmm…. I could go on and on, but you get the point.

Obviously, the few issues I had with the story and the major problem of the proofreading aren’t going to keep me from reading the rest of the series. I have all of them on my bookshelf, and I’m going to be starting The Good, the Bad, and the Undead tonight, just as soon as I’m done writing this post. I really do recommend Dead Witch Walking to those of you who enjoy a good urban/modern fantasy; just don’t pay attention to the proofreading. Otherwise, you’ll get the twitches.

Books 4 Me, Books 4 U. . . . Wait, nope, just 4 me. Unless you have purchased some for yourself; in that case, you’re welcome to join the cool kids club with me.

I’ve been stimulating the economy. What have you been up to?

Actually, I’ve been purchasing an obscene amount of books lately. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it’s because it’s been a while since I put out a few bucks for a book. Or maybe it’s because I don’t get books for free anymore as a side perk of my job. I do get to read all the books I want at work, of course, and I get the ones we publish for something like half off but no freebies. *sigh*

Anyway, I’ve been hitting up the Barnes & Noble and Borders nearby (and the Target and Vault of Midnight in Ann Arbor), and Amazon is always my steadfast friend, too. I did learn, though, that purchasing from B&N and Borders (and local bookstores, if you have any!) actually benefits publishers and authors more–they receive more money from those purchases than those bought online from Amazon, Half.com, etc. I try to keep that in mind when I spend $17.99 for a hardcover YA book. Plus tax. Yikes. And it’s even worse now that I can easily gauge how much that book cost them to print (side effect of being in charge of getting printers for journals [i.e., paperback books]). Especially when the book was printed in China or somewhere else overseas. It kills me to see that because the publisher I work for has it written into their mission statement that we will print in the U.S. And I have a great deal of respect for that and agree in its ideal wholeheartedly. And I know the cost difference. (P.S. It’s not that much and worth every penny.) OK, I’m getting off my soapbox now.

Anyway, here’s a rundown of the books I now possess (or are coming) and will be reading soon:

• My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison (currently reading)
• I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak (currently reading, and seriously, could this guy be any cuter? I think not)
• Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz
• The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor
• Seeing Red (sequel to The Looking Glass Wars) by Frank Beddor
• The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (recent winner of the Newbery Medal)
• The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman (the only comic book [so far] to win a Pulitzer Prize)
• Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs
• A Hat Full of Sky by Sir Terry Pratchett (because I must own every single book written by this brilliant author, and if you want to read this one, read The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents [which is freakin' amazing] first)

Even though everyone is going to be reading The Graveyard Book because of its recent award, I had to pick it up while shopping my darling friend Laura, as we both agreed that we love Neil Gaiman because he’s eccentric, knows it, and doesn’t give a crap. And he’s so damn talented. This guy writes best-selling, award-winning graphic novels (ex: The Sandman series–these are “holy-sh*t!” good, seriously), amazingly popular adult fiction (ex: American Gods), and stunning (I’m not even exaggerating here) YA and middle-reader fiction. His stuff gets turned into films (ex: Coraline), and the dude writes films, as well. He has a huge, dedicated fan base and is considered a rockstar in the literary world. And you know what has launched him into the “super cool” bracket in my mind? He has chosen to live near Minneapolis, Minnesota. Yup. I love the guy without even knowing him. And I’ve decided he’s someone I would love to be friends with, eccentricities and all. Then again, most of my friends are ridiculously eccentric. As am I.

I am so stoked for the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. I love love love the books. They are fantastic.

As some of you already know, I’m a FirstLook reader for HarperTeen books. Since I enjoy reading YA fiction (and edit it extensively–it’s actually one of my specialties–if I’m allowed to have those yet), this is a great way to keep up with the books being published by HarperCollins, one of the largest book publishers in the U.S.

I sign up each month for books I think will be interesting, and then I wait until the beginning of the next month to see if I’ve been picked to read and write a review for them. The readers are randomly picked via computer, so it’s always a crap shoot whether or not I’ll have something to read for the month.

Even though I know full well that it’s chosen randomly, I still feel rejected somehow when I get the e-mail stating that I haven’t been chosen this month to read (fill in name of book[s] I signed up for). I’ve reviewed three books for them so far, and I do really enjoy lending my voice and opinion to an up-and-coming book.

Sometimes I’m unexpectedly too busy that month to really fit in time to read another book, even for review, and really should feel grateful to unnamed computer in New York for not picking me, but I still feel rejected.

Rejected by randomness.

Sherman Alexie is visiting my university on November 5th. I’m totally there.

I got to see and speak with Kate DiCamillo a little over a week ago at the downtown Borders in Ann Arbor. I should be online at Borders Live at 01. We’ll see if my question merits airtime.

Sometimes, it’s rockin’ awesome to live in such a literary area. *sigh of happiness*

Internship Post #1

I was fortunate enough to be a part of a brainstorming session at the pub. house I interned at. By the time the session arrived, quite a few people knew who I was, but many may have seen me, knew I was an intern, but really knew nothing about me. That was fine. I’m pretty outgoing.

I was to be the notetaker. A menial job but one I didn’t mind because I was able to be a part of it all, to listen to these incredibly talented minds come up with new book ideas, ones nearly on the spot while others were researched and detailed down to the specs of the book’s size.

I had received an e-mail from the EIC, along with the rest of the editorial department, telling me to prepare two ideas for the session. I knew she didn’t mean me personally; I was only an intern (though very often I wasn’t treated that way at the pub. house). I assumed I wasn’t even going to be acknowledged during the session–I had heard enough stories about interns–little fish in big, talented, smart ponds.

But I was asked for input. One of the editors running the group asked sincerely; the other, I think, asked out of obligation, perhaps. I don’t think she was expecting much from me. When I passed both times, I kicked myself. I could have made a difference. Or could I have?

During the sessions I learned about the requirements of a new series–and the intense research that goes into each one, making sure it’s good enough to fly, even pass the VP. I hadn’t known this ahead of time, and even though I did have a few ideas, they weren’t nearly prepared enough to be put out there, to let them roam free and be used or abused.

I still kick myself for not preparing for the meeting. But, at the same time, would I have made an ass of myself going on and on about ideas that weren’t well-researched or investigated, with no backing in curricula and state standards and marketing, even if they were great ideas? Ideas for new books need a firm foundation in the basics: whose going to read it, whose going to need it, whose going to buy it, and how do we market it to all of the above?

But I found I love this process, this idea to book to into the hands of a needing reader. This is where I’m finding my niche, my passion, my love. Where to go from here? We shall see.

And I do have one great idea, one that was later endorsed by the editor I worked the closest with, one that may very well become my master’s thesis (depending upon how I shape it, of course…ugh). But it is one that will be developed and researched and planned to the smallest detail but will obviously still be flexible enough to have changes made without breaking the main idea. It will be pitched to a publisher–hopefully to my beloved pub. house from this summer. But all is fair in love and book publishing.

I wanted to write a beautiful tribute to Kurt Vonnegut, like Natasha did, or a cool, to-the-point comment, like Froyd did, but, in reality, I don’t know enough of Vonnegut’s work to do either. So I’ll just say this:

The literature (and free-thinking) world lost a great man when Kurt Vonnegut passed. I know we will all feel it.

I’m going to go get Slaughterhouse Five and read it. And then I’m going to read the rest of his work. It’s the best tribute I can muster for a man I never knew but respected. And I think any writer would appreciate that sort of memoriam.

I started reading A Great and Terrible Beauty on Saturday because my friend, L, reminded me that I still had her book (in the nicest way possible), and that the third one was coming out soon. I still hadn’t started the first. So I started it.

It’s freaking awesome.

I haven’t been able to put it down all weekend, which hasn’t been good for the ol’ homework. I’m going to have to rush to get a bunch of work done today, but I still want to keep reading. I’m halfway through (which means I’m going along at a pretty good clip, which is amazing for me because I swear I’m the slowest English-Major/Writing-Major reader in the entire world; I always blame it on my “reading for editing” skills, which causes me to read slower for analysis and copyediting).

Seriously, Libba Bray kicks some serious butt in the historical fiction department, young adult or adult. This has got to be one of the best books I’ve read in a really long time.

Stupid homework. Why don’t you go do yourself, and then I can get back to my book, hmm?

Lowly Review of The Nanny Diaries

I finished The Nanny Diaries a while ago, but I haven’t gotten around to finishing this review. I know I will disappoint many people when I say this, but I must admit I wasn’t wowed. It was kind of just all right for me. I’m also kind of angry I bought it because, even though I got it ridiculously cheap, I don’t think it was worth the money. I could have gotten it from the library, but I was told it was excellent.

The characterization was very good. I loved or hated every character I was supposed to, though the authors made it clear who I was supposed to love or hate. I usually like making up my own mind about which characters I will like or dislike, but I guess the authors wanted to make it pretty clear who was good and who was bad. Halfway through the book the plotline began to get a bit dull. We get it; your boss is looney and her husband is a lying, cheating, dirty bastard. And their child is precious and really clever for a four-year-old but is completely deprived of his parents’ attention. Got it. Don’t have to beat the dead horse anymore. But that’s how the second half goes on. And on and on and on. We never find out what happens with her and her extremely rich, well-traveled Harvard boyfriend. We don’t get enough time with her parents, her roommate and her roommate’s disgusting boyfriend (who are both extremely funny and revolting), and there are so many names being tossed at us (playdates, playdates’ parents and nannies, friends who are never properly introduced, etc.), it’s hard to not skim over the name and just not care. The ending is also unfulfilling, and not just because we don’t learn what happens in her personal relationship with her boyfriend. It is so anti-climatic, though I guess that is the whole point. The entire book doesn’t seem to have a real goal in mind; we just hear one incident after another that confirms our suspicions that Nanny’s boss is clinically insane. And is making Nanny crazy, as well. It seems to drag on and on and on, and we hope Nanny gets fired soon so that we can learn more about all these characters free-floating around her, attempting to bring depth to the story but only partially filling out the two-dimensional picture.

Up for tonight:

Watching “Memoirs of a Geisha” and eating DiGiorno Pizza. After that, I will finish reading “The Nanny Diaries” and work on my wedding scrapbook. My older sister will call tonight, too (she said she will), and I will talk to my mom and the hubby, as well.

Mmm… Life is good.