"Well, I'm Back."

Today I end my journey - today is the last stop on the long road 'West of the Moon'. And I'd like to thank all of you who've come along with me, even for part of it, for your tremendous patience with this slightly odd business of an author hyping her own book.  I mean, gosh, it's not really the way my mother brought me up.  I, like you, was taught not to blow my own trumpet.  You were supposed to receive a compliment with a deprecating smile and some such remark as, 'Oh it's nothing, really'.  The phrase 'He's not backwards at coming forwards!' was not used with approval.

But times have changed, and I'm not sure now how useful some of that advice really was. There are a lot of books in the world, and to assume (or hope) that one's own will attract attention while one stands modestly in the wings waiting for the applause, may actually be more arrogant than to go out there and tell people about it.  If it was worth writing, perhaps it's worth talking about.

I hope I haven't bored you.  I hope I've managed (I certainly tried) to find different approaches, different ways of saying - effectively - I spent getting on for ten years writing this book, I loved doing it, I love the characters, and I love the folklore and mythology which overshadow and permeate it.  I want to share my enthusiasm and joy not just in the book I created but in the wider and greater context of all the stories I discovered along the way - folktales from Iceland and Norway and the Orkneys, the Icelandic sagas, the Eddas, and the stories and legends of the Mi'kmaq of Canada.

Anyway, today I am delighted to have been asked to talk about anti-tales (and anti-heroes) at The Paradoxes of Mr Pond .  Here you will find me talking about characters such as Bluebeard, Lady Mary, Mr Fox and my own Harald Silkenhair.  And to celebrate the end of the tour, there's also a rather unusual competition at The Hog's Head to win a signed copy of 'West of the Moon'.

It'll be back to normal on Seven Miles of Steel Thistles after this.  But I've enjoyed every step of my journey and met some wonderful people along the way.  Especial thanks to all the fantastic bloggers who hosted me. And now at last I can say (drawing a deep breath):

"Well, I'm back."

Diana Wynne Jones - In Memoriam

I never met her.  But many of you will know exactly what I mean when I say that in a way, I feel as if I had known her for years.  That mysterious connection between reader and author, between the storyteller and those who love to listen, worked its inextricable magic and linked us forever.  And this feeling is particularly strong when the author concerned is one whose work we first met and loved as children.  I was in my early teens when ‘Wilkins Tooth’ came out in 1973, and I’ve never stopped reading her books from that day to this.

And such wonderful books!  Diana Wynne Jones is – for as Jane Yolen has said, her writing will continue to shine for us – a writer whose warmth of personality fills her work.  Her range was extraordinary.  Sane, witty, exuberant, compassionate, yet also eldritch, eerie, poetic, tragic.  There’s the wild fantasy of the Dalemark Quartet, a world in which the gods come and go in a way that raises the hair on the back of your neck, yet – typically for Diana, a grounded writer if ever there was one – a world full of complex politics, flawed heroes and difficult moral choices.  She understood anger.  She understood grief.  She knew that bad things happen to good people, and good people can do bad things.

Many of her heroes are underdogs, people who feel insignificant and disadvantaged - until under pressure they discover hidden talents, hidden strength.  On the other hand, she also wrote about the responsibilities of power.  In ‘The Lives of Christopher Chant’, she shows us why young Christopher uses his power to help his uncle exploit other people in other worlds – unloved and naïve, he falls for his uncle’s flattery – but his innocence is not really an excuse.  We see that Christopher hasn’t used his intelligence.  When he finally does put two and two together, it is too late for the mermaids.  Christopher feels guilty and he deserves to.  As Chrestomanci, it will be his duty to police the world of magic, to ensure that power is harnessed, not abused.

I don’t know which of her books is my favourite.  There seems to be one for every mood.  It could be ‘The Time of the Ghost’ – a tour de force of such intricate construction that even though I’ve read it countless times I still sometimes can’t remember the identity of the narrator, the poor speechless ghost who goes whirling through the tragi-comic chaos of her past life.  Or it could be ‘The Homeward Bounders’, that wonderful take on the legends of Prometheus, the Flying Dutchman, the Wandering Jew – and on war-gaming – in which displaced Jamie wanders forever between the worlds, trying to get back Home.   Or it could be ‘Dogsbody’, or ‘Eight Days of Luke’, or ‘Drowned Ammet’, or ‘Fire and Hemlock.’

And she was so funny.  Think of the hilarious Sci-fi and Fantasy convention in ‘Deep Secret’ (clearly drawn from life!) and the indispensable ‘Tough Guide to Fantasyland’ which will unerringly lead the would-be author – safe, but goggling – past every one of the innumerable potholes and mantraps on the road to writing a fantasy.

I fancy that Fantasyland has fallen very quiet today.  And that every pennon of every castle, from the Tower of Sorcery to the Dark Citadel, has been lowered to honour the passing of the queen of fantasy.  Diana Wynne Jones, a great lady and a great writer.

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Things have got a bit ahead of me over the last few days - I was busy most of yesterday with the Daily Telegraph letter, and although I don't know if they will use it, heartfelt thanks to everyone who signed it and/or sent emails of support.  As Pamela, in the 27th comment to my last post, points out, it's just daft to make speeches about promoting literacy while at the same time cutting libraries and library staff.

But now I'll get off my soapbox (which I rarely climb) and get back to the West of the Moon tour - which will end at the end of the month, you may like to know (it's really not going to go on for ever!) To return to the metaphor of the journey which which I set out, I'm over the Misty Mountains and have reached a safe haven at Serendipity - where I'll be until Saturday, answering questions and writing about this and that and generally lounging about having a good time.  Today is an interview about my 'Big Break' - the wonderful day when I finally got a publisher.

And if you missed the last couple of stops and would like to visit, recently I've been at Girls Without A Bookshelf (how do they manage?) issuing my Ten Commandments of Creative Writing, at The Book Mogul trying desperately to choose my Five Favourite Books of All Time - and at Bloggers[heart]Books - where they asked me some really lovely questions - including which fantasy world I would like to visit, and my definition of love. (Wow.)

Thankyou all for staying with me - the end is in sight!

'Leading Authors' to propose list of 50 books children should read.

Having read this article in the Daily Telegraph, which reports Michael Gove as about to begin an initiative to get children reading 50 books a year, with the help of a list of suggested titles to be compiled by 'leading authors', we, the undersigned, have written to the Telegraph as follows:


Dear Sir,

Everybody must approve of children reading more, so Michael Gove’s wish to raise the number of books we expect our children to read is no bad one in principle. However, the idea of a list of 50 titles ‘that every child should read’ sounds prescriptive and inflexible - likely to concentrate on classics or high-profile books which teaching professionals will already know.

There are plenty of guides to good reading for children: for example the School Library Associations's 'Riveting Reads', or ‘The Ultimate Book Guide’, published by AC Black, which lists more than 700 titles, chosen by a broad field of over 170 children's authors, with short descriptions and links leading from one book to another on the ‘what to read next’ principle. 

But in any case there are skilled, professional people who know more about this than we do: librarians.  What is needed is a flexible approach which can offer children the books most suitable to their ability and preferences. Librarians can do this.  It’s no good suggesting to a child that she ‘should’ read ‘The Wind in the Willows’, if she doesn’t actually like it. Instead of a golden standard, the list of fifty books could become just another bugbear. 

It seems perverse to begin this initiative against a background of the proposed closure of a high percentage of English public libraries and the sacking of many school librarians. Fifty books a year would cost well over £300 per child: much better to share them!  Perhaps Mr Gove should consider protecting school library provision by law. 

Sincerely,

Katherine Langrish
Keren David
Ellen Renner
Charles Butler
Nick Green
Jackie Morris
Marie-Louise Jensen
Tamsyn Murray
Adele Geras
Debi Gliori
Maria Nikolajeva
Susie Day
Bryony Pearce
Frances Thomas
Annie Dalton
Fiona Dunbar
Liz Kessler
Gillian Philip
Mary Hoffman
Celia Rees
John Dougherty
Michelle Lovric
Dennis Hamley
Malorie Blackman
Joanna Kenrick
Catherine Johnson
Savita Kalhan
Dee Shulman
Jo Nadin
Philippa Francis
Malcolm Rose
Julie Sykes
Elizabeth Baguley

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Over at the Book Mogul today.  She asked me to list my five favourite children's books of all time. Yikes! For this way-too-difficult task, I got my daughter to help.

Finding Your Voice

This morning I am over at my other home, The Awfully Big Blog Adventure, collective blog of the (British) Scattered Authors Society, where I am thoroughly enjoying myself.  You see, yesterday I hauled out all my old manuscripts going back to when I was ten, and took a look at them.  In between cringing, laughing, and occasionally exclaiming 'Wow - not bad...!' I had a  heck of a lot of fun, and thought I would share with you some of the steps along the way to what is called 'finding your own voice'.  I don't know if there are any short cuts.  There weren't for me - but I loved every minute of it.

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I'm spending this morning  at My Favourite Books where there's a lovely review of the first part of 'West of the Moon', plus a giveaway, plus an interview in which I answer some questions about what, for me, is the hardest thing about writing, what makes an author 'successful', researching folklore and more.

(Incidentally when you've read it, scroll down to Liz's review yesterday of the new Melissa Marr novel, which sounds rich and dark and wonderful.  Can't wait!)