Indie Lit Awards 2011 - Update

They're Back - Are You Getting Excited!?

As you may know, I will be participating in the 2011 Indie Lit Awards, as a Voting Member on the GLBTQ Panel. From time-to-time, I will be sharing information about these awards, including updates on the nomination timeline and process, and how you can get involved.

What are the ILAs?:

The Independent Literary Awards (ILAs) are awards given by literary bloggers*.  All judges and panelists for theses awards are completely independent and do not receive compensation for reviews nor their work on the award board.  The Independent Literary Awards is currently in its second year and will be presenting the winners for the 2011 calendar year in March of 2012.

What Genres Are Considered?:

Biography/Memoir
GLBTQ
Literary Fiction
Mystery
Non-Fiction
Poetry
Speculative Fiction

How Does This Work?:

1. Titles are collected via nominations by literary bloggers in each of the above listed categories. To see the nomination lists or to add a title to them, please see the specific genre page. (Nominations are open September through December.)
2. Nominated titles will be tallied and the top 5 nominated titles from each category will be placed on a Short List.
3. Short List titles will be read and voted on by the Director and Voting Members of each category.
4. The top 2 titles from the Short List will be considered Finalists.
5. The winners from each category will be chosen by the Director and Voting Members of each category from the Finalist titles.

Important Nomination Information for YOU:

• You must be a literary blogger; and a link to your blog must be provided so we can verify this. (You may not be the author, publisher, or publicist of the book you are nominating).
• Books nominated must have a 2011 release date.
• You may nominate a book that has already been listed (the books with the most nominations will be what we add to the Long List).
• You may nominate books in more than one genre, but only one per genre.
• Nominations are open midnight PST September 1, 2011 – 11:59 PST December 31, 2011.
• Follow Us on Twitter (@indielitawards @RoofBeamReader)

Check out the ILA website for more information and to see which books won in each of last year's categories.  You can also find author interviews from last year's nominees/winners as well.

*Lit bloggers write about books and literary related items. They are the fastest growing form of publicity in the literary world, though most are still independently run and do not receive compensation for their reviews or recommendations.

Updates & Upcoming Author Events at RBR.net

Hi, Folks!

I just wanted to update you all on some exciting events coming up soon here at RBR.net!

May: 

• RBR.net featured on Scene of the Blog meme at Kittling: Books. (Wednesday, May 18th)
• Guest Post by author Renee Ahdieh in anticipation of the release of her first novel, Fanfare (Revolution, 2011). (Wednesday, May 25th)
• RBR.net featured on When I'm Not Reading meme at The Unread Reader. (Date TBD)
• Armchair BEA (Book Expo America) (May 23rd-27th)

June:

• Blog Tour for The Circle Cast with Author Alex Epstein.
• Interview with Donovan O'Malley, author of Lemon Gulch and Our Yank, both of which will be reviewed soon here at RBR.net!

Also, I received an exciting e-mail today from K.B. Dixon, author of The Ingram Interview (Review Found Here)!  He dropped me a line to let me know that The Ingram Interview has been selected as a finalist for the National Indie Excellence Book Award in the Literary Fiction category.  Many congratulations to you, Ken - it was a fantastic book and the honor is well-deserved!


Lastly, don't forget the upcoming Blog Bash (June 22-26) as well as my giveaway with Shannon Silver of One Thousand Paintings - we will be giving away three books from three differeng genres, and accompanying each book will be an original painting inspired by that work (painted by Shannon Silver).


Exciting Stuff!  Thanks for all of your continued interest and support.


Happy Reading! 

Review: The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan

The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan

Final Verdict: 3.25 out of 4.0

YTD: 26

Plot/Story:

3 – Plot/Story is interesting & believable.

Rick Riordan’s The Throne of Fire is an incredibly fantastic follow-up to Book 1 of his Egyptian mythology series, The Kane Chronicles.  Once again, Sadie and Carter Kane narrate us to the end of the world and back again – poor kids!  Just when the Kane family feel like their greatest threat – Set – has been muted, a new danger arises.  The Lord of Chaos, Apophis, is beginning to awaken, and without the Lord of Ma’at around (Ra, the Sun God, lost in a deep sleep deep in the Duat), Chaos may manage to take over and destroy the world.  The Kanes find themselves not only in a race against time to find and awaken King Ra, but also to save their friend Zia from a magician-induced coma and find a cure for their ailing apprentice Walt.  With so much going on – with so many foes, and so few allies – most of whom are unprepared, there seems to be little hope that Sadie and Carter can triumph again – but help is found in unexpected places, new gods rise to the challenges and grave sacrifices are made to aid the Kanes in their quest.

Characterization:

3 – Characters well developed.

Sadie and Carter, the main characters, are just as well developed as in the first book – which is good and bad.  They are written well in general, which of course is a good thing, but a bit more growth and development would have been welcome, as I like to watch characters grow (not just in age, but in maturity and roundedness) in a series.  The auxiliary characters, however, are much more developed and just down-right fun to read than in the book’s predecessor.  Some of the new gods, such as Bes, are given near-equal page time as the magicians, which adds another layer of intrigue and interest to the story.  Old gods and magicians, like Bast, Anubis, and Desjardins are back and better than ever – truly more developed and connected with the story.  The newest evil, Vladimir Menshikov, the third most powerful wizard in the world, adds an element of mystery and empathy to the overall story – another added layer to the overall story, which makes it more than just a YA fantasy, but a psychological examination as well.

Prose/Style:

3 – Satisfactory Prose/Style, conducive to the Story.

As with The Lost Hero, I found the prose and style concurrent with the mood and reading level of the book, as well as the subject matter; however, once again, like with The Lost Hero, there were numerous proof reading errors.  I am highly frustrated by this, as Riordan is a major author and these mythology series’ are hits – his publisher (Disney/Hyperion) needs to be more responsible with their final editing reviews before publication – I wonder if the same people are responsible because, if so, I would strongly encourage Mr. Riordan to choose new proofreaders.  Five or six major errors (like missing or incorrect words) in a publication marketed and anticipated at this magnitude is unacceptable.  That being said, six (or so) errors in a book of this length is not exactly distracting, even if it is irritating to someone as ridiculously meticulous as this particular reader.  The pace is great, the dual narration works well again, though it is not always easy to distinguish which character is speaking when, even though each chapter has an identified narrator (sometimes I realized I mixed up narrators – thinking Carter was speaking, until little comments about the hotness of Anubis or Walt were dropped in).  In total, though, the language level is appropriate, the structure is appealing, and the prose is fluid and progresses at a great pace.

Additional Elements: Setting, Symbols/Motifs, Resolution, etc.

4 – Additional elements improve and advance the story.

Once again, what is so great about these Riordan mythology series’ is their ability to teach as well as entertain.  By the end of the book, you find you have learned so much about Egyptian (or Roman, or Greek, whatever the case may be) mythology and history without even knowing it, because you were having such a great time reading the story and engaging with the characters’ adventures!  I find Riordan to have an advantage over many writers in this regard – he does his research and incorporates the mythologies into modern culture seamlessly, with a style that is appealing to contemporary readers.  The larger issues and topics, too, such as the importance of loyalty to family and friends or the need to work with people we do not necessarily like in order to overcome larger problems are well presented and woven into the stories so as to guide and teach without preaching to or overburdening the reader with glaring didactic motives.

Suggested Reading for:

Age Level: YA+

Interest: Fantasy, Mythology, Action/Adventure, Magic, History, Family/Friendship

Review: Our Lady of the Flowers by Jean Genet

Our Lady of the Flowers by Jean Genet

Final Verdict: 3.0 out of 4.0

YTD: 25

Plot/Story:

3 – Plot/Story is interesting & believable.

Our Lady of the Flowers is existentialism for gay French drag queens. Seriously.  The story is narrated by one of its characters, who is retelling the story of his life from prison, except that he is creating the characters and situations in his head (for the most part), and then transplanting personalities he meets in prison to recreate people from his own life.  The reader doesn’t really know who the narrator is, except that he’s interacted with these less-than-laudable characters in incredibly intimate ways and possibly his connection to those people is what landed him behind bars. There is a very real pain and longing in this narrator, which comes across in the way he tells his story and by his choice of characters (recreating his mother, for instance, or retelling the story of his first “love”).  It was difficult for me to understand the purpose, though, other than a stark portrait of the life of French homosexuals in the 1940s which aided the narrator in adding a certain “spice” to his dull time in prison – much of what he is writing seems to be for his own purpose, to entertain him and to “assist” him.  Jean-Paul Sartre called this an “epic of masturbation” for good reason.  It is, of course, also about transgression as means to freedom and trans-valuation of morals as means for expression.

Characterization:

3 – Characters well developed.

Darling Daintyfoot, a masculine gay pimp.  Divine, his drag queen lover.  Our Lady of the Flowers, a thief and murderer.  This makes up the core trio of Genet’s story.  There is also, of course, the book’s narrator (who does refer to himself as Jean – so we are to assume that the book is at least semi-autobiographical).  The reader spends the greatest amount of time with Jean in prison, as he writes his story and comments on the things happening around him, and with Divine – as he (she) seems to be playing the party of betrayed/scorned lover.  The two have clear similarities, including doubts about self-image and sensitivity to jealousies.  Darling and Our Lady of the Flowers (A.K.A. Danie, A.K.A. Maurice) have distinct personalities as well.  Darling is clearly self-absorbed and a bit oblivious.  Our Lady is naïve but dangerous.  They both seem to be incredible lovers, so though Divine wants to leave their little ménage-a-troise, he (she) can’t seem to pull herself away.  Of course, if Jean’s descriptions of the characters, their physical beauties and prowess, and their actions are realistic in anyway, it’s almost hard to blame poor, silly little Divine.

Prose/Style:

3 – Satisfactory Prose/Style, conducive to the Story.

The language and prose were perhaps the strongest elements of the book.  There is an oxymoronic beauty to this story – it is a rather crude, bare tale, but it is told so beautifully, so ethereally, that you almost forget about what exactly it is you’re reading, because it reads so well.  That being said, the style leaves a bit to be desired.  Although the language is gorgeous and though Genet has a clear mastery of prose, the loftiness (“floweriness”) of it, coupled with the fact that there are no chapter breaks whatsoever, often made it feel as if I were swimming through Jell-O, rather than water.  There was fluidity, but also a thickness that became almost oppressive at times and forced me to take many breaks. 

Additional Elements: Setting, Symbols/Motifs, Resolution, etc.

3 – Additional elements are present and cohesive to the Story.

This “inside-look” at the periphery of French society was certainly interesting and ground-breaking.  Never, before this book, had there been such a blatant presentation of gay culture and lifestyle in literature (and thereby, in society).  What Genet does with inversion of principals (death as erotic; betrayal a virtue; murder as sexual virility and attraction) is interesting in and of itself, but particularly as a means to an end, the end being liberation and freedom for gays and lesbians.  There is a deep fear and sadness woven through this story, spoken softly at times but more often only implied – a fear for one’s physical safety, sadness over one’s lack of legal right.  Much of what Genet writes in this book, much of what the French homosexual population was battling in the 1940s is what American culture struggles with now, so for a modern reader it certainly rings true and remains current and effective.  

Suggested Reading for:

Age Level: Adult

Interest: Literature, French Literature, GLBT Lit

Notable Quotes:

"My heart's in my hand, and my hand is pierced, and my hand's in the bag, and the bag is shut, and my heart is caught." 

"The despondency that follows makes me feel somewhat like a shipwrecked man who spies a sail, sees himself saved, and suddenly remembers that the lens of his spyglass has a flaw, a blurred spot -- the sail he has seen."