Welcome to the 2009 Winter Blog Blast Tour! (You may ask yourself, "What's a WBBT?" Click here for the answer.) I'm happy to help kick off this year's events with this interview, in which Courtney Sheinmel considers character names, middle school memories, and cheese, as well as more serious matters, such as AIDS awareness and the effect of divorce on children.

I started things off by talking about her newest book, the positively wonderful novel Positively, which I highly recommend.

Your second novel, Positively, is about a young girl who is HIV-positive, having acquired it from her mother during the pregnancy. The story was inspired, in part, by your involvement with The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, which we talked about in our previous interview. When writing Positively, you were no doubt drawing on past experiences and people you've known, some of whom have lost their battles... It must have been a difficult story to write.

Oh yes, writing POSITIVELY was extremely difficult. The narrator, Emmy, has to face life as an HIV-positive teen, and as a motherless daughter. I had some very emotional conversations with kids I know, who have experienced both of those things.

But more than that, sometimes I felt like I didn't have a right to tell the story. After all, my mom is alive and well; I can see her and speak to her whenever I want. And I'm HIV-negative, and don't have to take pills several times a day. I wanted to do right by Emmy, and I didn't want to offend anyone who was living with HIV. One night I had dinner with Elizabeth Glaser's son, Jake. He has been HIV-positive since birth, and when he was ten years old, he lost his mom to AIDS. I told him that I was really scared and that I felt like a fraud. He encouraged me to keep going. He said he believed in me, and believed I could tell the right story. I will always be grateful to him for that.

How did you select the name for your lead character, Emerson, better known as Emmy?

Sometimes I name characters after people I know, but in real life, I don't know anyone named Emerson. It was important to me to give her a name that wasn't attached to any of my friends or family members. I love androgynous names for girls, so I was thinking about Dylan or Blake. My agent suggested I give her a more feminine name, and I was quite pleased with myself when I thought of Emerson, because of the nickname "Emmy." I gave her the middle name Louise, so her dad could call her "Emmy Lou."

I wish I had a meaningful, poetic answer to why her name is Emerson – like it was inspired by a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote. The truth is that I just really love the name, and I think it suits her: it is beautiful, complicated, and unique, and to me Emerson is all of those things.

( Read more... )

Drop by Courtney's website and blog.

Related posts at Bildungsroman:
Interview: Courtney Sheinmel (2008)
Book Review: My So-Called Family by Courtney Sheinmel
Book Review: Positively by Courtney Sheinmel

Visit all of today's tour stops:
Jim Ottaviani at Chasing Ray
Courtney Sheinmel at Bildungsroman
Derek Landy at Finding Wonderland
Mary E. Pearson at Miss Erin
Megan Whalen Turner at HipWriterMama
Frances Hardinge at Fuse #8

Here's the Bildungsroman schedule for WBBT 2009:
Monday, November 16th: Courtney Sheinmel
Tuesday, November 17th: Laurie Faria Stolarz
Wednesday, November 18th: Jacqui Robbins
Thursday, November 19th: Thomas Randall
Friday, November 20th: Joan Holub

View the full schedule for WBBT 2009.

This community is pretty much dead now, isn't it? Livejournal communities in general seem to have been on the down-wind for a while now.

Anyhow, before I peace out, I just wanted to throw out my goodreads account for those who are interested in being friends there:

http://goodreads.com/angabel

Goodreads, in my experience, has really been the best book-related site out there. You don't have to pay to add more than 200 books (LibraryThing) and it's not just a visual bookshelf sort of deal; it's really a social-networking site for us bibliophiles, in addition to the bookshelf/review aspect of the site.

Hope everyone is doing well!

term 18;
sorting contest #04
sorting elite.

term 18;
sorting period #03
new members.

secret_savior

elise_the_great

rattsu

ohcarousel

alephz

hogwarts_elite

sorting_elite

ministry_elite

diagon_elite

marauder_elite

animagus_elite

term 18;
sorting contest #03
sorting elite.

alephz

One of my ongoing projects is to scan my old photos so that I can upload them to my Facebook and/or Flickr accounts. Sharing photos is fun, and that's part of why I take them--I want for others to be able to experience, in some small part, these moments of fun, beauty, or randomness. Tonight, I scanned in some photos of Maine. As most of you know, I live in NYC now, but I grew up in Maine. However, I'm not sure that I've ever successfully managed to convey just how different the two places are. So, what follows is an image heavy post, showing where I grew up and what I used to do for fun.


This is where I lived from 3rd grade until I left for college. My family rented the second floor of this 150+ year old farm house up until a couple of years ago. Now my parents live in a smaller apartment closer to town, but this is where I grew up.

( More photographs of my childhood home and haunts )
So, from time to time, when I talk about how my heart aches for nature, for mountains and ocean, for trees and meadow, you'll understand why Prospect Park just doesn't cut it.

Oh my sweet God, no movie as stupid as 2012 has any right to be TWO HOURS AND THIRTY-EIGHT MINUTES. I drank HALF a smuggled 12 oz bottle of Coke (Tiny Coke, if you will), and nearly DIED. My bladder is BRUISED.

My mom's the disaster movie junkie--she hasn't seen a movie in the theater in six months (I think she last one she saw was Up), so I went for her sake. Man, I hate disaster movies. I worry about this stuff enough, you know? I'm not really into watching implausibly connected characters run and weep and do noble shit and die horribly for two hours (AND THIRTY-EIGHT MINUTES). I'm okay with watching shit blow up; I just don't want to watch the cast meeble on about it. And let me tell you, internets, shit does not start blowing up until FIFTY-SEVEN (57) minutes into the movie. If you think I give a shit about John Cusack's ex-marital problems, you are WRONG, Roland Emmerich. And even the next hour and a half has way too much wibbling about humanity. BLOW SHIT UP. BLOW IT UP NOWWWWWWWWWW. Seriously: go buy a ticket to this thing, walk in fifty-seven minutes late, watch John Cusack and family outrun an earthquake in a limo (because this part is THE MOST AWESOME THING I HAVE EVER SEEN, at the very least the most awesome thing I have ever seen involving either an earthquake or a limo), and then after they get to Vegas, LEAVE. If you've seen Deep Impact and The Poseidon Adventure, you've pretty much seen everything else. In fact, you can probably just watch Dodge the Freeway in the trailer; I didn't watch it, but my mother says pretty much all the awesome stuff is in there, and the rest of the movie is just a game of Guess Who's Gonna Die (a winner is me!). I was also able to call not one but TWO ridiculous romances, because it was that kind of movie. Honestly, earthquake in a limo and Thandie Newton's French: best things in the movie. Everything else I laughed at until I was seized with urinary tract regret for the entire last hour.

(OMFG THE WOLFMAN TRAILER WAS SO AWESOME IT IS WHAT THE INSIDE OF MY HEAD LOOKS LIKE. I was seriously just sitting there all a-squee, clapping my fists [so it would be quiet!] chanting "WOLFMAN WOLFMAN WOLFMAN!!!!!!" and my mother was like, You are so weird.)

I also grabbed a few sheets of printer paper to fold up and stuff in my purse--turns out that you can just squeak by on six pages and the back of the first page if you take notes sparingly.

(THIS IS THE THING OF WHICH WE DO NOT SPEAK. WE DO NOT JINX IT. IT MAY STILL NOT HAPPEN.)



(Zomg e-book! The Annotated Movies in Fifteen Minutes: Wizards!)

quizzicalsphinx posted this meme about roleplaying characters. I answered it!

Rules:
~ If you don't have at least 8 OCs I wouldn't recommend this meme.
~ Add on questions to this meme! It will make it bigger!

I think for those of you who don't roleplay but who write, you could totally do this for your writing charries too! It was fun and some of the questions were actually hard!

( i have a lot of characters! )

I made this easy to pick up for anyone who wants to:

<br /><br />Rules:<br />~ If you don't have at least 8 OCs I wouldn't recommend this meme.<br />~ Add on questions to this meme! It will make it bigger!<br /><br /><br /><strong>1) First list all your OCs by first name so we can see your list of all your wonderful OCs:</strong><br /><br /><strong>2) Who is your favorite OC?</strong><br /><br /><strong>3) Who is your least favourite?<br /></strong><br /><strong>4) Who is your most developed?<br /></strong><br /><strong>5) Which OC would you want to date if they magically came to life?<br /></strong><br /><strong>6) How many girl OCs do you have? Boy OCs? It OCs?<br /></strong><br /><strong>7) If you were stuck in a burning building what do you think the third OC on your list would do?<br /></strong><br /><strong>8) Name one thing you regret about one of your OCs.<br /></strong><br /><strong>9) Which of your OCs do you think would make the best father/mother/it parent out of all your OCs and why?<br /></strong><br /><strong>10) Which of your OCs do you think will most likely be put in jail?<br /></strong><br /><strong>11) The eighth of your OCs was put into the future! What will their job be?<br /></strong><br /><strong>12) Name the first OCs catch phrase!<br /></strong><br /><strong>13) Do all your OCs live together or are they separated?<br /></strong><br /><strong>14) Are there any pairings that are in your OC list? (they can't be with someone else's)<br /></strong><br /><strong>15) Your seventh OC switched bodies with you for a day! How will they react at the end of the day?<br /></strong><br /><strong>16) Your last OC just became a fifteen year old. What do they do?<br /></strong><br /><strong>17) Now randomly select a person on your OC list. Who was it?<br /><br><br /><br /></br>18) That OC you just chose? Yeah, they think they are superman (even if they are a girl) and are on the roof about to jump off.</strong><br /><br /><strong>19) Are any of your OCs bored of this meme?</strong><br /><br /><strong>20) Would your second OC prefer the beach or the mountains?</strong><br /><br /><strong>21) Would your 5th OC battle a shark?</strong><br /><br /><strong>22) Which OCs hate each other?<br /></strong><br /><strong>23) Which OC did you create first? And last?<br /></strong><br /><strong>24) What would character #3 want for Christmas?<br /></strong><br /><strong>25) What was Character 5's childhood dream?<br /></strong><br /><strong>26) Are your OCs fat or skinny?<br /></strong><br /><strong>27) What are your first 2 OC's favorite foods?<br /></strong><br /><strong>28) If your listed OCs were in a fight to the death, who would emerge victorious?<br /></strong><br /><strong>29) There's a zombie attack and your OCs are stranded. Who do they elect to be their leader?<br /></strong><br /><strong>30) During said zombie attack, who's the first to die?<br /></strong><br /><strong>31) Which one of these OCs do you think would have the most fangirls/boys?<br /></strong><br /><strong>32) Okay, so does OC number four have any last thoughts?<br /></strong><br /><strong>33) If possible, what's your characters' height?<br /></strong><br /><strong>34) Can your characters dance?<br /></strong><br /><strong>35) What tv shows would your characters enjoy?<br /></strong><br />

This week I bring you another round of suggested reading coming out of LJ Idol. As usual, when putting together this list, I have tried to sample works that are well-written, thoughtful, and may be of interest to the people on my friends list. And, as always, this isn't an exhaustive list of the best, just a sampling.

superhappytime (poll #2, Tribe Apathy) entry: A post about gun legislation, which includes personal narrative, footnotes, and snark. Even if you're not usually one to go in for politically colored posts, you should check this out.

rejeneration (poll #4, Tribe Sexual Ethics) entry: A gorgeous piece of original fiction, dealing with consensual sexual relations between siblings. The author does a phenomenal job of balancing our natural tendency toward revulsion with feelings of empathy. The last time I had this sort of reaction to a piece was when I was reading Lolita.

emo_snal (poll #3, Tribe Beauty) entry: A thoughtful perspective on the intersection of environmental issues and zombie apocalypse. This includes evocative speculative narrative, literary critique, and gorgeous photography.

alisandre (poll #3, Tribe Beauty) entry: For those of you that love pie or food porn in general, this post is for you! It starts with a recipe for a pie called "A Dark Alchemy", proceeds with discussion of the product and the author's experience with it, and ends with photos. It was a great little bit of food blogging (and I really want to make this pie, now).

thaliontholwen (poll #3, Tribe Beauty) entry: A reflection on the evolving treatment of war veterans, through the lens of her own father's experience. It describes the discrimination that Vietnam veterans faced upon their return home from a controversial war. It also explores the way that vets are treated now, in the midst of another controversial war.

eggsnail (poll #4, Tribe Sexual Ethics) entry: Four vignettes exploring the double standards that society has toward men and women when it comes to sexual relations. It shows why labels can be detrimental to human relationships, and even has a few bits of analysis that were unexpected.

If you would like to read more entries and/or vote for some, links to all of them can be found at the voting post. My own entry from earlier this week dealt with debunking the notion of sex as binary, in case you missed it. If you want to vote for mine, the poll is behind the cut. Remember, you can vote for as many people as you find deserving.:

( Look Behind the Curtain )

Thanks again to those of you who have been offering me support and encouragement. A special thanks this week to eschatologies who beta'd my post this week.

Let me know what you think of my suggestions if you check any of them out. And, let me know what some of your favorite posts were this week, if you'd like!

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

Over the past two weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of tasting two very distinctive American gins, both from Massachusetts.

The first one is Greylock, from Berkshire Mountain Distillers in Great Barrington.

If you’re not a big fan of gins, or if you’re a connoisseur looking for something new, I would highly recommend Greylock: it has a delicate floral flavor that is a touch sweeter than the average gin and light on the juniper.

The second is Gale Force, distilled by Triple 8 of Nantucket, who also make Hurricane, one of my favorite rums.

Gale Force has a much more potent flavor than Greylock– heavy on the juniper, peppery, with a bit of a burn to the finish. I don’t want the “burn” bit to scare you away, because unlike a lot of “burny” liquors, this one still goes down smooth!

The challenge with these two gins was to create drinks that would compliment their very unique flavors. Here’s how I did it:

Grey Fog

For 2 cocktails:
6 oz Greylock gin
1 oz Black Duck Cranberry liqueur
1 small Seckel pear (Seckel pears are tarter than other varieties)
Scant 1/4 cup whole sage leaves

Chill two martini glasses.
Reserve 2 slices pear and 2 large sage leaves.
Dice remaining pear very small, add to shaker.
Rub sage between hands to crush, add to shaker.
Add Black Duck
Muddle contents with wooden spoon.
Add gin, shake.
Strain into glasses, add pear slices and sage leaves for garnish.

(In this case, the sage flavor balances the sweetness– Greylock in a sweeter cocktail might be overpowering, but with something very savory to balance it, you can concentrate on the floral flavors)

Port in a Storm

For 2 cocktails:
6 oz Gale Force Gin
1 oz Amontillado Sherry
6 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
1 generous tablespoon fruit jam (I used red current & rosemary)

Chill two martini glasses
Add gin, sherry, bitters, stir
Add jam and stir
Shake briefly
Strain into glasses

(in this one, the Amontillado cuts the “burn” at the back end of the drink. The Peychauds’, which has a nutty, sarsaparilla flavor, and the fruit jam complement the peppery flavor of Gale Force, giving it the same kind of balance you’ll get in a “hot & jammy” Red Zinfandel or Pinot Noir.

Mirrored from Antagonia.net.

Earlier today, I went to the Greenmarket to pick up a few things. One of my stops was the farmstand that sells chicken and maple syrup, because they also sell delicious maple sugar candies. The guy running the stand was talking with a Greenmarket employee, the usual casual banter that happens a lot. Their conversation, however, was about the term "carrot top." The man was going off on the commonly made observance that carrot tops are green, and asking why then are people with red hair referred to as carrot tops? The woman he was speaking to agreed that she didn't understand, and offered that she tended to use the term "ginger" anyway.

"Actually..." Sometimes I can't help myself. There are certain conversations that I just have to butt into. The man looked over at me, and noted with surprise my red hair. He commented about how he hadn't seen me, and might have added that he hadn't been speaking about me. He gestured to a bunch of carrots, greens still attached, sitting in someone's shopping basket.

"It's because our tops," at this point I reached up and patted my own head, "are carrot colored."

It actually took me quite a while to figure that one out when I was growing up.

The timing of me standing there, though, at that moment, and being able to explain that bit of information made me smile. Love when the universe works out like that.

I got my maple sugar candies, and the man seemed to appreciate his mini lesson of the day.

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

Seventeen years ago, Chloé was adopted by a happily married young couple.

Nine years ago, when she was in third grade, Chloé befriended a quiet, sad boy named Rock. She comforted him; he challenged her to a race across the playground. They've been racing (and challenging each other) ever since.

Seven years ago, Chloé spent the summer helping her uncle Seth fix up a motorcycle. They poured their blood, sweat, and oil into it. They named her Lolita.

Five months and nineteen days ago, Uncle Seth died.

Now it's the day after winter break, and Chloé's counting down the five months left in the school year. Before summer break arrives, she will ride, scream, cry, fall in love, find freedom on the road, seek solace at the dock, and try to bring up her chemistry grade.

Gaby Triana's latest novel, Riding the Universe, is her best yet. Chloé Rodriguez is a strong, stubborn girl who confronts her struggles - be they with science, boys, or machines - head-on. Though she rarely says them out loud, she often combines words in her mind to describe a feeling she's having, like awkwardity and stellacular. (Woo hoo for portmanteaus!)

Chloé's parents got married when they were twenty-one years old, and they are still very much in love. Meanwhile, Rock's mom moved away to be with her boyfriend right before he met Chloé. In his teen years, Rock shed his shyness and became a serial dater. Chloé often disapproves of the girls he dates, and she's reluctant to admit that could be because she's jealous, or that she knows that Rock likes her as more than a friend.

Chloé surprises herself when she falls for her chemistry peer tutor, Gordon Spudinka. At the same time, she feels like there's something going on with Rock, something that's making them drift apart. As she becomes closer to Gordon, her priorities shift, and she and Rock spend less and less time together.

The topics of grief, adoption, and identity are handled well. The fact that she was adopted doesn't really matter to Chloé; she loves her twin brothers, whom her mother gave birth to the previous year, and she never thinks of Mama and Papi as anything less than her parents. Only recently has she begun thinking about her birth parents and blood relatives. She gets worried when considering medical scenarios: what she would do if she someday needed a blood transfusion like Seth did? Who could help her then?

Each character in Chloé's world has a distinct voice and presence. Her kind, careful mom is obsessed with astrology while her daughter prefers astronomy. Affectionate Rock often teases his closest friend, but when he's serious, he means every word he says. Gordon is intelligent but easily confused by Chloé. Gentle Papi, a fisherman for the local seafood market, is described so well on the first page of the book that one can see him instantly.

There are plenty of bumps in the road of life, along with twists and turns one may not see coming. Riding the Universe handles the curves very well, making for a memorable journey through Florida City.

Excerpt:

I read the article and find it utterly amazing how quickly things can change in this world. We learn things in elementary school that later are disproven, like Columbus not actually discovering America and Pluto going from planet to dwarf-planet status all because less than five percent of the world's astronomers think it should be that way. It makes me wonder: why should we get used to anything when nothing is permanent? Even people. Why should we put our hearts way out there for them when they're only going to die on you one day?


Related Posts
Interview: Gaby Triana
Book Review: The Temptress Four by Gaby Triana
Booklist: But I Don't Want to Be Famous! (includes a mini-review of Backstage Pass by Gaby Triana)

In less than a week, I'll be in Maine. I'm looking forward to heading up and seeing lots of folks, except, I still don't have solid plans for when I'm going to be where, and who I am going to be staying with. That lends a bit of excitement to the whole adventure. Right now my only solid plans are Thanksgiving at my sister's house just over the border in NH--for which I have promised to bake pies (which pies is yet to be determined). Although, in a fit of nostalgia, I did RSVP for a Starcraft LAN party in the Portland campus computer lab. My attendance hinges on actually finding a couch to crash on in the area for that night, but my inner dork is incredibly excited. It will be a little blast from the past.


Every time I look at this photo, it makes me feel happy. It was taken this summer, at a wedding. That's my pal Jasmine and I dancing on a small platform, having a ton of fun. Even though the photo itself isn't of the best quality, it captures a feeling for me, a moment of joy and impromptu silliness. As usual, I've been thinking a lot lately about my identity and how I conceive of myself. This image reflects a self that I really love. I've also been looking at this picture tonight. This is from my trip to NH this summer. That's me in the green jacket at the end of the dock, barely recognizable. And those are fireworks being set off in the middle of the dock, between me and the shore. It's the most incredibly vantage point, I've ever experienced--surrounded by explosions and light. Initially I was a bit scared to be out there, but I conquered that fear and ended up feeling profoundly alive. Sometimes I feel almost narcissistic, because I love looking at photos of myself so much (though not all photos of myself, some of them are pretty unflattering).

Over the past few weeks, I've added somewhere around 20 new people to my friends list, which means that I'm trying to get to know a bunch of new people. It's a smidge overwhelming, especially because I really do try to take the time to know about the people on my flist. It's a lot of information to take in. I don't even know some of your names! Really, I would love to know your name, and whatever else about yourself you'd like to share. When I wrote my LJ Idol introduction, I wasn't expecting to make so many friends, and certainly not so quickly. On the other hand, I do love making interesting new friends.

If we're going to be friends, I feel like there is more information you ought to know about me:

I am a feminist. There is no "but."

In case people worry that I'm all serious business and shit, I actually wanted to share an excerpt from an earlier conversation [abridged]:
cacophonesque: I always sacrifice my proverbial right testicle... it's easy to sacrifice, since it's proverbial and all.

java_fiend: ... you know you can go get those Nuticles, don't you? The fake testicle implants for dogs? Go get yourself a set of those and you too can sacrifice your own right nut. :-)

cacophonesque: It's like my prayers have been answered! All these years wishing that I could have my own nuts to sacrifice, without having to go through the ordeal of an unwanted sex reassignment surgery. Thank you, Nuticles.