Blog Chain: Why I Love Speculative Fiction (in pictures)

Topic from Michelle McLean: 

What elements in your favorite genre make it your favorite? For instance, if your favorite genre is romance, what elements do you like in a romance story? A tortured hero? A spunky heroine? Steamy love scenes? Sweet romance? If your fave genre is sci-fi, what elements do you love the most (the characters, the science, the possibilities?), etc?

My favorite genre is kind of an umbrella genre: 

It's speculative fiction. 

This spans widely between sci-fi, dystopia, fantasy, paranormal, and just a touch of magical realism. What do I love about it?

List time!

• hello, it's magic! Or science stretched to the limits of imagination. Either way, it's a heck of a lot cooler than what generally goes down at the 7-11... or Circle K.

Something is afoot at the Circle K.

• symbolism. Contemporary and literary novels can also have symbolism, and it's done really well by those genres all the time, but nobody does symbols like speculative fiction does. There's just so much freedom to run wild with them (A Wrinkle in Time). Sometimes it's downright allegorical (C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien). Love it!

Wrath of the Ents (Lord of the Rings)

Inner courage and beauty (Chronicles of Narnia)

The Old Ones, wisdom (A Wrinkle in Time)

• larger-than-life conflicts really force me to suspend my disbelief and let me get completely lost in the story.

• unfamiliar settings, often exotic and/or terrifying. The setting also often provides the main source, or an additional source, of conflict (see above).

Peeta Mellark in the Hunger Games arena

Diagram of the ship Godspeed in Across the Universe
(it looks spacious, but you can't ever leave!)

• character diversity - speculative fiction gives us an opportunity to delve into sensitive subjects like racism and other forms of prejudice in a safe place where the reader doesn't feel judged by the author. Many of my favorite books deal with these kinds of war-scale conflicts between groups who hate each other just for one shared trait, like a certain magical power (Beautiful Creatures) or descent (Star Trek, Twilight and Harry Potter), or maybe the district they were born into (Hunger Games).

Statue in the Ministry of Magic (Harry Potter)

Star Trek - know your alien races

• gadgetry! Yes, I'm confessing. I'm something of a gadget geek. Whether it's science fiction, futuristic dystopian, or even steampunk and fantasy, there are often gadgets of some kind or another involved. A holly wood wand with a phoenix feather core (Harry Potter), a pill that erases only traumatic memories that have just been shared (Memento Nora), automatons that may or may not be trying to kill you (Soulless), a well-designed spaceship that doubles as the claustrophobic setting (Across the Universe).

Couldn't resist adding my favorite doctor with his sonic screwdriver

Plush pill (this one won't make you forget)

Holly wood wand with phoenix feather core

These automatons look murderous

These are the main reasons I love speculative fiction, which is why I love working for Month9Books! It's all speculative fiction all the time, and in my favorite categories: MG and YA.

What's your favorite genre, and why?

Next stop by

 Christine Fonseca's blog to see yesterday's blog chain post, 

and check out Demitria Lunetta's tomorrow.

Also don't miss the BLOG TOURS going on right now for Sidekick: The Misadventures of the New Scarlet Knight and Pity Isn't an Option (both tours linked at the top of my sidebar as well). There are giveaways involved!

Amazon Daily Deal: AMAROK!!! (and Operation Awesome charity auction item)

Housekeeping: yesterday was a huge day for YA fiction fans (who to a person adore Veronica Mars), so we have to forgive each other for completely missing out on most everything else going on yesterday. I forgive you. Do you forgive me? Okay, good. So here are the links to yesterday's blog posts:

First I shared cover love for Angie Smibert's upcoming release, THE MEME PLAGUE (August 2013), book 3 in the MEMENTO NORA series. It is fabulous, by the way. If you haven't read it, go get Memento Nora and join the revolution.

Then my husband (yes, he is awesome) posted news of the Veronica Mars Movie kickstarter page and so I went all fangirl and blogged about it.

K, flashback over.

Today, special treat from Amazon: Amarok is in the Kindle Daily Deals zone! Woot, woot! Go Angela! (That's the incredible, sweet, and talented author of Amarok.)

Here's the cover, buy link, and blurb:

On Goodreads

AMAZON DAILY DEAL: AMAROK by Angela J. Townsend $1.99 today only

Emma's life has been hell since she moved from sunny California to a remote Alaskan town. Abandoned by her father and living with the guilt of causing her mother's death, she makes a desperate dash for freedom from her abusive stepfather. But when her car skids off the icy road, her planned escape leads to further captivity in a world beyond her imagining. Dragged across the tundra by an evil mountain man and his enormous black wolf, she learns that love can be found in the most unexpected places. Amarok, as she's nicknamed the wolf, is a young man from the gold-rush era enslaved by an ancient shaman. Emma's gentle touch and kind heart win his love and devotion. When a vicious madman--trapped in bear form by the same Shaman--attacks the travelers and injures Amarok, Emma must find the strength to face her fears and free the wolf she's come to love. But that means she must face down the evil shaman, a Siberian mammoth hunter from the ice age, and he has no intention of giving up his power to her.

If you'd like to get a feel for how this wolf shapeshifting story is unique, this trailer will take you there:


As someone who's read a lot of Angela's work, I can tell you her prose is delicious, her settings vivid like sweeping masterpieces. You will feel rooted in her world for the duration of the story. You will not be able to put it down between chapters because of her expert use of suspense. And your heart will break for the ordeals of her beloved characters. If you've never read Angela Townsend's work before, I urge you to take advantage of this deal and try her out. You may discover a new favorite author. :)

Currently reading:
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (for book club)
The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu (with my husband)

What are you reading?

UPDATE: Doh! Totally slipped my mind, but OPERATION AWESOME's Multi-Pack of Awesome is up for auction at charity auction Pens for Paws today (until tomorrow)! So if you'd like to win a 20-page critique from Yours Truly, along with a handful of critiques from other OA members and signed books/swag, too, get over and bid now! (Other items for bidding include agent critiques!)

Here's a screen shot of the Operation Awesome prize:

So much goodness, it didn't all fit in one screen cap! Go check out the rest: http://pensforpaws.blogspot.com/2013/03/awesome-multi-prize-package-from.html

Unique YA Paranormal: SHIFTING by Bethany Wiggins

Le blurb: 

After bouncing from foster home to foster home, Magdalene Mae is transferred to what should be her last foster home in the tiny town of Silver City, New Mexico. Now that she's eighteen and has only a year left in high school, she's determined to stay out of trouble and just be normal. Agreeing to go to the prom with Bridger O'Connell is a good first step. Fitting in has never been her strong suit, but it's not for the reasons most people would expect-it all has to do with the deep secret that she is a shape shifter. But even in her new home danger lurks, waiting in the shadows to pounce. They are the Skinwalkers of Navajo legend, who have traded their souls to become the animal whose skin they wear-and Maggie is their next target.

Full of romance, mysticism, and intrigue, this dark take on Navajo legend will haunt readers to the final page.

You can read my Afterglow Review of this book here (that's a review written within the hour of finishing the book so you get my rawest reaction).

What's so unique about this book?

• The setting: It's refreshing to see a setting that's a) not a big city and b) feels like a real place, not just generic Small Town America. From the opener, you can feel the author's love of New Mexico in the vivid descriptions of the horizon and the sky. But you can also feel the protagonist's dread at starting over in a barren place like this. Lots of little details combine to draw a clear picture of New Mexico even for people like me who have never spent time there.

• The proactive protagonist: Maggie Mae is not perfect, but she's certainly proactive. After being introduced to the reader as an orphan with a juvie record for showing up naked in the morning streets, Maggie could easily have lounged around her new digs for a while, sulking. I totally would have understood. But she didn't. She went to school on day 1, even without shampoo to wash her hair or decent clothes to wear - no complaining to her new foster mom. And by lunchtime, she had a lead on a possible part-time job. She knows people stare because of her strange looks, and she embraces the loner label even though she'd rather be wearing a different one. Basically, she takes what life gives her and deals with it. She's got guts.

• A real girl: Maggie Mae cries. She doesn't do it to get attention or to manipulate someone. Her crying isn't stigmatized as 'being a girl'. But she's put in horrible situations, and she responds like a real person would. Sometimes she's mad at herself for crying. Sometimes she lets the tears flow. But even though she's been drawn as a tough character, she owns her vulnerability. I got the sense that Maggie just accepted herself in a way that one mean girl antagonist (Danni) didn't. Of course, there's one thing Maggie doesn't accept about herself...

• The paranormal ability: Maggie Mae wishes she didn't shift. This was different from a lot of the paranormal books I read where the character discovers he/she can do something amazing and geeks out about it pretty much immediately. For Maggie, it's kind of a curse and she lives in constant dread of somebody finding her out. But it really is an awesome paranormal ability. There's one shifting scene that had me grinning from ear to ear, even though it didn't actually work out the way Maggie Mae intended. Oh, and one more thing about this: the paranormal didn't swallow the characters. It's an important part of the book, but I didn't feel knocked over the head with it. It's also unique because it's drawn from Navajo legend. Lots of people have heard of Skinwalkers, but I've never seen a novel based on it. That makes this one pretty special. 

• The romance: I saw a review of this book that claimed Bridger was 'the hot guy that inexplicably likes the ordinary girl.' I didn't get that sense at all. I thought the romance was very well-developed. I loved the author's use of gossip to introduce ideas that had a grain of truth but were ultimately false. Maggie Mae catches Bridger's eye first because of her appearance, but it's her attitude and skill on the track field that hold his interest. And then, of course, when he looks closely he sees more of what makes her special (as we all do when we choose to look more closely at someone we're already crushing on). Like everything else in this book, it felt real to me. He struck me as cocky, but in an endearing way. Also, when we get to know him a little better and what he can do, the confidence is not unwarranted. :) The attraction between them makes for some great charged moments throughout.

• The bad guys: are so creepy. Maggie Mae gets attacked a lot by mysterious things. She's strong, but she's not that strong and I pretty much freaked out every time she was pursued by the creepies. And I was suspicious of everyone, for which I give kudos to the author. :) 

So there you go. My breakdown of what makes SHIFTING by Bethany Wiggins a unique YA paranormal. 

Its book birthday was yesterday, so if you head out to your bookstore today, you should be able to go home with it!! Happy reading!

Teaser Tuesday: LOVE ME OR LET ME DIE

I know it's a bit self-indulgent to post clips of your own work. But I'm excited about this story, have spent many late nights writing it, and I'm feeling self-indulgent. So here's a taste of the dark paranormal romance I'm writing with a few holes in the narrative for which I hope you'll forgive me. My main character Lucy is eighteen in the summer after graduation. I'm still trying to decide if that makes it YA or the mythical beast called New Adult. I think the rest is self-explanatory. 

Lucy decided her stupid empath abilities were to blame for the kiss with Chase. He was feeling attracted. Ergot, she was feeling it, too, secondhand. But it wasn't real. Not like what she had with Nick.

She sighed into her pillow and swore not to think about Chase for another second. Saturdays were for Nick. Every day was for Nick.

.... {removed spoilers}

She'd sworn not to think about Chase, and she totally wasn't. She was thinking about herself—her abilities. Just because he shared those abilities didn't mean she had to think about what he did with them.

"Gah!" She buried her head underneath the pillow. It was like Mac's mean trick one day on set when she was bored. "I dare you not to think of a giant, flashing red number twenty-four." Then he'd walked away, and Lucy had tried really hard not to think of that stupid flashing number. She still saw it sometimes when she closed her eyes. The forbidden thought that wouldn't leave.

That was Chase Gillan. 

She called Nick on the drive over to the costume shop. She only wanted to hear his voice, to remember why she'd fallen head over heels for him. To forget the red flashing twenty-four in her mental rear-view mirror.  

"Good morning, my light," his sleepy voice purred.

If there was anything Nick was made for, it was making Lucy forget. She almost ran a stop sign. "Hey, sexy," she answered. "I miss you. Thanks for the flowers."

"Of course." She could hear his smile through the phone.

... {spoilers removed}

She'd been tossing in bed last night for another reason besides Chase and his confusing kiss. No matter how she figured things, Nick had something to do with her burgeoning sensitivity to the paranormal. So could she trust him with her secrets? Did he already know?

Lucy could really use some of that famous lucent clarity about now. 


Thanks for the shout-out, Tiffany!

The Difference Between Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Fiction

From WriteOnCon live chat with Andrea Laughran of Andrea Brown Lit, we have: The Difference Between UF and Paranormal! (the world makes sense at last!) Wednesday August 11, 2010 8:21

AuthoressAnon:   Hiya Jenn! I'm popping in at the tail end, but if this question squeaks through I'd LOVE to hear your thoughts! In your opinion, what are the differences between YA UF and YA paranormal? Wednesday August 11, 2010 8:21

jennlaughran:  uf Wednesday August 11, 2010 8:21

jennlaughran:  oh does that mean urban fantasy? Wednesday August 11, 2010 8:22

Jamie Harrington:  urban fantasy Wednesday August 11, 2010 8:22

Jamie Harrington:  yeah Wednesday August 11, 2010 8:22

ShannonMessenger:  I think so Wednesday August 11, 2010 8:22

jennlaughran:  I don't know, Authoress. They are kinda interchangable to me. I guess I consider fantasy to be more a made up world, urban fantasy to be a made up world IN AN CITY, and paranormal to be more phenomena in this world.  Like for example, demented fairies roaming around in the subway shooting drugs and putting spells on people, is urban fantasy.  Some psychic chicks in a boarding school is paranormal. A huge, all-caps THANK YOU to Jennifer Laughran of Andrea Brown Literary for answering a question that's been plaguing the writing community for generations. (Hyperbole intended) Check out her blog for more literary brilliance!