Weekly Geeks #24

This week’s theme is: fun facts about authors.

How to:
1. Choose a writer you like.
2. Using resources such as Wikipedia, the author’s website, whatever you can find, make a list of interesting facts about the author.
3. Post your fun facts list in your blog, maybe with a photo of the writer, a collage of his or her books, whatever you want.
4. Come sign the Mr Linky below with the url to your fun facts post.
5. As you run into (or deliberately seek out) other Weekly Geeks’ lists, add links to your post for authors you like or authors you think your readers are interested in.


I have a hard time deciding on one author, but since I had read and enjoyed so much about Mo Hayder's crime thrillers, I decided to do this post about her.

1. Mo Hayder left school at fifteen. She worked as a barmaid, security guard, film-maker, hostess in a Tokyo club, educational administrator and teacher of English as a foreign language in Asia. She has an MA in film from The American University in Washington DC and an MA in creative writing from Bath Spa University UK.

2. Her debut, BIRDMAN, published in January 2000, was an international bestseller. Her second novel, THE TREATMENT, also a Sunday Times bestseller, won the 2002 WH Smith Thumping Good Read award. Her third novel Sunday Times bestseller TOKYO, which was published in May 2004 in the UK, won the Elle magazine crime fiction prize, the SNCF Prix Polar, and was nominated for three CWA dagger awards. Tokyo was published as THE DEVIL OF NANKING in the US March 2005. PIG ISLAND her fourth best seller was published in April 2006 and was nominated for both a Barry Award for best british crime novel and a CWA dagger. Her fifth book, RITUAL, the first of THE WALKING MAN series, has been nominated for The CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger award and is currently available.

3. Hayder lives in Bath with her daughter Lotte-Genevieve.

The Becoming

ISBN-10: 0441014569
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Published: December 2006
293 pgs


My name is Anna Strong. I was thirty on my last birthday, and I will be thirty when you read this. In fact, physically I will never be older than thirty no matter how many mortal years I have on this earth. I am vampire. How I became, and what is the nature of my existence, is the reason for this story. I tell it the way it happened so you will learn the truth as I did. It may not be what you expect. ~ Foreword from The Becoming


Anna Strong is a bounty hunter; in other words she is known as a bail enforcement agent. Together with her work partner, David, they are to look for a man who called himself John Donaldson who had skipped out on his bail bond. Unfortunately, the race turned out badly when David is hurt during the search and Anna ends up being attacked by Donaldson unexpectedly when she went out to look for David and Donaldson as she is getting too impatient waiting for David to bring Donaldson while waiting in the car.

The next thing she knew she is lying in the hospital bed with an attractive doctor by her side. Dr Grant Avery is concerned of her overall well being, but that is because he knew she had been turned into a vampire, and in fact he is one of them actually. When Anna came to know about it, she is shocked but she overcame this and took it quite well under the guidance of Dr Avery. With her newly telepathic skills and night vision, Anna vows to find Donaldson for revenge not only for personal reason but he is a threat to others as well.

During this time, Anna is also attracted by Dr Avery despite she is into a relationship with Max, who is mortal and a DEA agent. Their relationship is rather discreet due to his deep undercover operation, and most of the times there is no telling when she will hear from him until he gets in touch with her.

And when her house is burnt to ashes and David has gone missing, naturally her first thought goes to Donaldson but it turns out there is someone behind who is out to get her. To add on to this intrigue, there is also someone whom she dubs 'Casper' who has been helping her in several dangerous situations through telepathic ways, and she will do anything to find out everything by all means.

The Becoming is Jeanne C. Stein's first installment of the Anna Strong series, featuring this heroine from a first person POV. Having read several vampire novels in the past, I find the plot to this story original but most of all it breaks away from the traditional belief of vampires (for example, they have telepathic ability and they are not really afraid of sunlight due to long-term immunity et cetera.) There are more surprises and intrigue as compared to the action scenes in this story; and I quite enjoyed reading Anna Strong being a strong and fearless heroine. I have the rest of the installments in my pile and I definitely look forward to reading them in the near future.

Friday Fill-Ins

1. My blueprint for success includes working hard and never give up.

2. Grape flavour lollipop was the last candy I ate. (My eldest daughter insisted I ate it with her the previous day.)

3. The best facial moisturizer I've ever used is nothing as I believe our lifestyle and what we eat will affect our complexion in a way.

4. Have a nice break and having the day to yourself can be good therapy.

5. I'd like to tell you about my books collection and how it all begins.

6. Persistence is my strongest characteristic.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching some late night shows, tomorrow my plans include doing household chores and catching up on my reading and Sunday, I want to spend some time with my family!

Guest Appearance: Marsha Altman, Author of The Darcys and the Bingleys

Today, I have the pleasure of having Marsha Altman, author of The Darcys and the Bingleys as a guest on my blog.

Two days ago, I approached Marsha and asked if she is interested in making a guest appearance on my blog after receiving a reviewer copy of The Darcys and the Bingleys from her. I was thrilled when she said yes.

Now please join me in welcoming Marsha Altman!

---

Instead of going on and on, I’ve decided to invite Alternate Reality Me to interview myself, as she has not published a novel in her alternate reality.

Alternate Reality Marsha: Also we’re ruled by crab people. First question: What’s the book about, in comparison to the other Austen sequels out there?

“The Darcys and the Bingleys” is one of those immediate sequels, that picks up at the end of Pride and Prejudice and continues on for a few years. Actually part of it takes place during Pride and Prejudice, as Jane Austen summarized the wedding and the following Christmas for Mr. and Mrs. Darcy and I start three days before the wedding and follow through that.

As to the other sequels, there are some rewrites (in which the story takes a different course or is set in another time period) and some versions of Austen’s novel from other character’s point-of-view, mainly Darcy’s. This is not that. This is a sequel to the events in a blatant attempt to cash in on the popularity of the first book. You know, like the movies.

Alternate Reality Marsha: You’re not coming off very altruistic here.

Let me make this clear: I love Pride and Prejudice. I love it so much I wished the story went on. I love it so much I even bothered to imagine what would happen afterwards and then write it down, post it on a public forum, be laughed at for all my mistakes, then stake my entire career as a novelist on said story.

Alternate Reality Marsha: Do you think Austen would appreciate your efforts?

Hard to tell, but I did make the customary pilgrimage to Chawton (where she wrote Pride and Prejudice) and Winchester Cathedral (where she’s buried) to pay my respects. The exchange rate was a killer. Did you know no buses go to Chawton? You have to take a cab. You look at the meter and say, “Wow! Thirty bucks. Well we have been driving for a long ... wait, no that’s thirty pounds! That’s sixty bucks!”

Alternate Reality Marsha: Your novel has been on shelves for almost three months now. How do you think it has been received?

I knew the Austen purists were never going to completely like it, because nobody wants their interpretation of the characters from Pride and Prejudice contradicted, so you either play it safe and the characters come off kind of flat and the purists like it, or you give the characters your own spin and people have to choose whether to accept it or not. Most people seem to have accepted it. Honestly, you can stray pretty far in an Austen sequel, and if the fact that I made Darcy a lush in his University days is the biggest complaint someone has, then I’m happy with that. I want people to enjoy the book. If they think it’s a great classic of literature, great, but that unlikely anyway. I just want them to laugh at the jokes and care about the characters, and I’m wiling to settle with only the former.

Alternate Reality Marsha: It says on the Sourcebook website that a series is in development. What can readers expect in the future?

I’m very excited about book 2, which I think is a solid storyline. The first book, which is split into two parts, was getting my feet wet in the world of Austen, and introducing the reader to my interpretation of the characters. I didn’t go out to wildly contradict anyone’s worldview. In the second book there’s a bit more intrigue, and I start introducing some ancient Darcy family history that becomes relevant to the current cast. The third book goes deeper into that, and since it takes place during 1812 and Napoleon’s Russian campaign and some of the characters are stuck on the Continent, there’s a bit more foray into historical fiction. In my opinion, just marrying off the cast to one another can only be so interesting. Jane Austen could make it really interesting. Jane Austen could make a story that was essentially about dating into a classic of Western literature. I’m not Jane Austen.

Alternate Reality Marsha: What else do you write?

Before I got involved in Austen fanfic (and I will not hesitate to call it fanfic, because it’s fiction written by a fan), I mainly wrote urban fantasy and cyberpunk, which is a much harder market to break into than historical romance or general fiction - however you want to categorize The Darcys and the Bingleys. Eventually I hope to be published in some other genres, but having a series of historical fiction based on Austen is pretty all-consuming at the moment.

Alternate Reality Marsha: If Jane Austen was alive today, how do you think she would feel?

Much better, because her disease is now treatable with cortisone.

More about Marsha Altman
More about the book The Darcys and the Bingleys

Presents

Today is Deb's birthday, and she asked this question:

What, if any, memorable or special book have you ever gotten as a present? Birthday or otherwise. What made it so notable? The person who gave it? The book itself? The “gift aura?”

I love receiving book(s) on any occasion. I think my most memorable present would be Black Beauty by Anna Sewell given by my aunt during my primary school days. What made it so special is, this is the first book I received as a birthday present. I remember she had asked me what I wanted for my birthday, so I told her I wanted a book. Just a book, it is that simple. I did not even tell her what book I want because I love reading and any book would make me very happy. I still have this book in my bookshelf, and everytime I look at it it always bring me fond memories of that day.

Side note: I invited Marsha Altman, author of The Darcys and the Bingleys to be my guest at my blog today. Click here to read more about her and her book.

Teaser Tuesdays

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

My teaser sentences for today:

I am vampire. How I became, and what is the nature of my existence, is the reason for this story.

~ The Becoming by Jeanne C. Stein (Pg 1)

Me and Mr Darcy

ISBN-13: 9780340923740
Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks
Published: 2007
340 pgs

To you I shall say, as I have often said before,
'Do not be in a hurry, the right man will come at last.'
~ Jane Austen

(Extracted from Me and Mr Darcy)

I am sure fans of Jane Austen will know of this literary well-known couple, Elizabeth Benneth and Mr Darcy, in one of her novels Pride and Prejudice. In this book, author Alexandra Potter featured the famous Mr Darcy into her story and cleverly weaves a humorous yet romantic story of Emily Albright and her other self.

Emily is in her late twenties and works as a bookstore manager in New York. Being a true romantic and a big fan of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, she yearns for a relationship with a gentleman like Mr Darcy but alas, most of the men she met are either losers or are too self-centered.

Her subordinate, Stella, could not stand her losing faith in men and herself, thus she asked her along to a trip in Mexico so both of them could let their hair down and perhaps meet someone along the way. No doubt both women are good friends, she however does not share her younger subordinate's enthusiasm in fashion and views when it comes to men and relationship so she told her she had booked a Austen's literary tour to England as an escape. But the tour turns out to be a disappointment for her as the participants who signed up for the tour are mostly older ladies except a young, arrogant journalist who never fails to infuriate her throughout the whole trip.

Spike Hargreaves, on the other hand is perplexed over why Mr Darcy is being viewed as every woman's fantasy, thus he joined this literary tour as a chance to interview these participants for an article he writes for The Daily Times. Although the tour group fascinates him in a way, he is finding a hard time getting along well with Emily as it seems both of them are at loggerheads over some opinions they had for each other the moment their tour begins. Like a scene taken straight out from Pride and Prejudice, Spike thinks Emily is dull and average-looking, while Emily thinks Spike is nothing but an arrogant man who thinks he knows it all; and to complicate matters, it seems to Emily that Spike is also incorrigible and an unreasonable man based on an incident that involved one of their tour mates and the coach driver.

But as the tour continues and when Emily gets to meet the real Mr Darcy in a subconsciously manner, she could not help but compare him with Spike and towards the end, she will come to a conclusion that pride and prejudice are the factors that ruined her judgement on Spike and what she would do to overcome their differences.

Being a reader and fan of Pride of Prejudice, I find Me and Mr Darcy original and what's more, the bookstore setting and the tour the author described in this story made it a real pleasurable read (especially the museum visit). The subplot story of Stella and her so-called husband is another fun and delightful read. However, one of the things I find most enjoyable about this story is that the author had taken a different scenario and meaning of pride and prejudice and recreated it into a modern day love story. The author has also written another book, Be Careful What You Wish For and I will be looking forward to reading this in the near future.

Other blog review:
Hello, My Name Is Alice
Stephanie's Written Word
(Let me know if I have missed your review.)