Charlinder and I can’t please everyone, but we do make an impression.

Week Two of Monster’s First Blog Tour has drawn to a close. I guess? The review that was scheduled for today hasn’t appeared, but there’s no time like the present to do the weekly roundup.

A.B. Shepherd’s Reinvented Reader assures us:

Charlinder’s Walk is really a thought provoking book about many topics including religion, ecology, sexism, racism, education, morality, sexuality, family, and ethics. But it doesn’t do any of this in a preachy or lecturing way. I’m glad Alyson Miers wrote it and I’m glad I read it.

(However, I do occasionally put nasty language in my characters’ mouths. It’s…actually pretty tame compared to the nasty language I use on this blog, come to think of it.)

M.K. McClintock soon figured out this was not a YA book:

What I liked most about this book was Charlinder’s journey and once he began his ‘walk’ the story drew me in a bit more. The author’s imagination and attention to detail cannot be missed. Charlinder is an interesting character and you’ll likely find yourself encouraging him along as he experiences struggles, adventures, and meeting new people. I’d have to say that his travels were the best parts of the book for me and what I found most engaging. The author does a good job letting you see the journey through Charlinder’s eyes.

Bex Brennan of Bex Book Nook says the book feels more like a fantasy than a dystopian, which she appreciates:

Ms Miers writing style is easy to read and understand, while not losing any of it’s descriptive qualities.

She concludes:

I would suggest Charlinder’s Walk without reservation to any dystopian fiction fans, or anyone interested in a well written coming of age tale with some really interesting and unique plot twists.

Suzanne van Rooyen found the book a bit outside her tastes:

It asks some really difficult questions particularly of religion while examining societal norms, challenging established gender roles and even family construction. I appreciate how fearlessly the author dived into this topics. It made for some interesting and thought provoking reading.

On the other hand:

I’m not a fan of stories with such strong religious and socio-political content. I found this book difficult to read, not because of bad writing but because of the subject material. The writing is actually very good, it’s the content I didn’t like although it did make me think.

Okay, the cat’s out of the bag. There is all sorts of socio-political content going on in my novel.

Martha’s Bookshelf gives us an embarrassment of attention. She starts off with a review in which she tells us about ALL the socio-political stuff:

If you like discussions on social issues, you would like this book.

She praises my writing flow as smooth and easy reading, she says Charlinder is likable if a bit odd (yeah, that sounds about right), and she gives us the full disclosure:

This is suitable for mature YA and adults but, in addition to social issues engaging some thought effort, I caution parents that there is some open sexual discussion and activity. I’d say this story is best read with an open mind that is willing to see and ponder the dilemma of cultural oppressions.

But that’s not all! She also interviews me and Charlinder:

This life and this world are all we have, so we need to make the most of the time we get on Earth and be good to the people and creatures around us.

–says Charlinder, the outspoken humanist.

Inga Silberg at Me and Reading gives some very nice feedback, such as:

Charlinder’s Walk by Alyson Miers was a book which surprised me positively. It was well-written with lots of thorough and detailed descriptions, interesting settings and it engaged me from the very beginning.

And…

I think that the strong side of the book was Charlinder himself. His thoughts and how he experienced the world, what he saw and how he acted actually created the whole book. Author did an excellent work with Charlinder’s character.

Finally…

Charlinders’ Walk by Alyson Miers is a book which you need to take time for in order to enjoy it fully. I think it was not very easy to read due to long and captivating scenery, but it was all worth it. The world which the author has created is unique, and there are surprising twists and turns which come along with the story!

Yeah!

Evangeline Han at Audacious Reader seems to have found Charlinder’s Walk perhaps a bit too audacious?

But then, the issues about society in the novel aren’t pleasant as well. Charlinder’s Walk is definitely a novel that goes all out at its approach of issues that aren’t in the comfort zone.

She likes the mystery and intrigue but doesn’t like Gentiola. She likes Lacey, though.

What I like about Charlinder’s Walk is that it doesn’t force you into thinking a certain way, it doesn’t propagate. It does, however, bring up issues and cause you to view them at different angles. Along the way, you’ll decide (or judge) your position on those issues. Charlinder’s Walk causes one to think, rather than make one view strongly prominent than the other.

[English teacher mode: by "propagate" I think she means "proselytize."]

Her review has given me some gristle to chew on, so I’d like to make a couple of notes here. The first is that Gentiola is the closest thing the story has to a bad guy. Villain? No. Antagonist? Yes. I put some status updates on She Writes last year about how my antagonist was so viciously difficult to write that she was driving me to drink. Not that I need any encouragement to drink, but the antagonist in question? Gentiola. I also didn’t expect anyone to view the interaction between her and Charlinder as a romance.

I’m thinking about writing up some FAQs about Charlinder’s Walk, in which I’ll go a bit further into reviewers’ reactions, but it should wait until the tour is finished. I like to err on the side of thoroughness.

To finish up, here is a charming little graphic I found on Pinterest. Something about it bothered me, though…

Writers should know better than to abuse apostrophes.

This post is unrelated.

Since Gov. O’Malley signed the marriage equality bill into law last night, I joined a bunch of my friends for a little celebratory get-together at our local cafe, and while we were there, Greenbelt 2012 came to get our thoughts on the matter. What happened was, I got off the bus, went straight to the cafe, and sat down with my fellow queer Greenbelters over a beer and some baba ghanoush. After I’d pounded the beer and enjoyed some laughs with my peeps, Eric, armed with his suped-up camera and digital recorder, found me and asked if I’d answer some questions. And I was all like, “Yeah! I will totally answer your questions!” So he held up the recorder and I gave him my thoughts on civil unions, religious freedom, voter referenda and joining the 21st century. He doesn’t quote my answer about religious organizations that offer adoption services, but my thoughts were basically: you get public funding for your charitable organization, you follow the public’s rules. You do without the public funding, then you can follow your own rules.

He also took some surprisingly good-looking pictures. That first one is of your blogger.

 

More evidence of psychosis

Among people who have to see me IRL on a regular basis, I am somewhat known for making and wearing cardigans from a wide variety of unrelated yarns, mostly my handspun. My basic approach to knitting is, or has been up until fairly recently, that any project can be a stash-busting project, but now I’m growing tired of that esthetic. It looks fabulous from a distance, but up close it’s a hot mess. I like knitting with my handspun, but I don’t like wearing sweaters made from dozens of odds and ends. I want to wear something in fall weather and air-conditioned offices that shows some design cohesion and structural integrity. Since I don’t currently have enough of any one make/model of yarn (for lack of better terminology) in my current stash, I went browsing around at a retailer that’s sold me decent product before, and found something promising.

Tonight, I did a little Googling for yardage requirements, put together a nice set of three blue/greens in ColorSchemer Studio, and ordered a heap of yarn. And then some new needles to use with it. My only request for shipping was “not from UPS.”

In my defense, the yarn is almost jaw-droppingly cheap for the fiber content. 100% wool, at $2.69 for 50g? That’s a steal.

UPS fails at customer service. I mean completely, utterly fails.

I’m sure this qualifies as “First World Problems,” but the thing is, I was born in the First World and I don’t really have any usable prospects of living anywhere else. My family is here, my job is here, and accordingly, my residence is here.

My residence is the problem.

Excerpt from Charlinder’s Walk: He’s got a plan.

The book is now for sale.

Here is the passage I read at the Poetry & Prose Open Mic at The Writer’s Center today. Charlinder is losing sleep and his options for transportation are sorely limited. These two ideas are not unrelated.

Late in Chapter 6…

He, too, was part of the problem. He could hardly fault his friends for shrinking away from the debate, when he himself always found it easier to shut the discussion down than to engage. Now he wanted to engage, but not if it meant he’d be alone. He needed to do something. It was his responsibility as a teacher to offer his students the truth, but the best he could give them in some subjects was gathered from materials created over a hundred-twenty years before. What else did he have, though? Did anyone have anything better since the Plague had brought about the end of previously known life?

Oh, look! A new paint job!

Someday, I just might find a blog theme I like and just stick with it. Right now, though, I’m going for “professional and clean” rather than “colorful just like me.”

Don’t mind me, just thinking out loud.

Somehow, I got so absorbed in writing last night (the novel revisions are coming along nicely, thanks) that I didn’t even check the time until it was nearly 12:30. Preferable bedtime is 11 PM so I can wake at 7 AM and be out the door by 8. Since entering the latest round of revisions, it’s more often around 12 AM, but I try not to go any later than that because I don’t handle sleep deprivation like I used to.

But last night, I didn’t turn in for the night until after 12:30 AM, and today I feel…really quite decent. I got to work on time and read some of The Psychopath Test (Jon Ronson) on the Metro. I’ve only had one cup of coffee today. This is about as normal as I get.

This could mean either one or a combination of two things: a) I can handle sleep deprivation like a champ if I stayed up late getting shit done rather than dicking around online, and/or b) I can stay up later if I do it gradually, a sort of “tempering” process.

If this keeps up, I just might get this novel off the ground in a reasonable amount of time. I keep complaining about how there aren’t enough hours in the day, but perhaps there are actually more than I thought.

April Fools!

Happy April, everyone! I think I’ll keep the Fadtastic theme up for another day or two. Now that we are no longer in a month which is considered part of “winter,” can we please have some temperatures above 60 around here? Do I really have to keep on wearing my full-length wool coat to work?

My New Year’s Party of One

My NYE festivities included but were not limited to sitting around in my wonderfully warm house all alone, spinning and plying some yarn from a lovely variegated Corriedale roving (Corriedale is a breed of sheep, in case you’re wondering), completing the 1-paragraph synopsis for my sweet boy Charlinder, watching my lava lamp do its magic, and drinking some Kahlua. At some point I went to my grandmother’s house (I have recently moved next door to her) and let her serve me a comforting, traditional Southern dinner of hopping john and rice. I stayed up late enough to observe midnight and updated Facebook accordingly. The TV was turned off all evening. I did not have to share the road with drunk drivers or stand around in the cold.

It was a good night.

How Your Blogger Spent Her Weekend

So that you all can see how weird I am, here are my Facebook updates relating to my moving house. I have reversed the chronological order so that you see them from earliest to latest.

Saturday:

I suspected the house’s security system would be an issue for me as the new tenant with limited info, AND I WAS RIGHT.

Sunday:

First trip today: 1 secretary, 1 set bookshelves, 1 kitchen table, 1 end table, 2 chests of drawers!

Second trip: sofa bed! (it’s a large and cumbersome piece of furniture)

3rd trip: kitchen stuff, computer stuff, 3 boxes assorted junk, comic books, 4 folding chairs, AND A SPINNING WHEEL.

Fun with furniture assembly! The sofa bed: easy peasy! The kitchen table: pain in my ass!

I have shown the kitchen table who’s boss, hooked up the TV, and set up the computer. Next obstacle: internet access.

So, yeah, there’s that. Don’t be surprised if I continue to be quiet on the weekends for the near future.