Uncreated Conscience

Dear internet, I don’t believe I had adequately acquainted you with my mother. Like any mother-daughter pair, we’ve gone through some strife, but thankfully we managed to survive my melodramatic teenage years with our relationship intact and stronger than ever. It probably doesn’t hurt that the older I get, the more I realize we’re pretty much the same person. We even look like clones.

Like mother, like daughter.

Also, she is funny. And smart. And quite possibly a spy. (I’m not kidding about that. And no, I still don’t know to this day.)

All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does, and that is his.

- Oscar Wilde

Stylish, snarky, vivacious, beautiful, and intelligent, I want to be this woman when I grow up. Some hilarious exchanges beneath the cut.

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So I tried to get a few rolls of film developed, but unfortunately none of the shots came out. I think something’s up with the Canon (who still has no name, poor thing) so I need to have her checked out. :(

Nothing much going down for this Photo Friday. Haven’t had much opportunity to shoot anything, as I’d been alternating back and forth between Argos and the Canon. This week’s theme is New York City (how unoriginal, but what can you do?).

W. 18th St.

Exposure 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture f/4.0
Focal Length 50 mm
ISO Speed 800
Exposure Bias -2 EV

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This seal does not want. I do not want either.

This is going to be one of those personal opinions posts that I’m sure will probably enrage a lot of people, but lately I’ve been getting a little frustrated with my reading, both for work and pleasure, so I’m going to make a very general, very broad statement.

I can’t stand books that have FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELINGS.

You know the sort, I’m sure. Books are about That Hot Guy! And This Ordinary Girl! Who Fall in Love! And it is Tormented and Be-Obstacled (me and Sarah Palin–who’s apparently the new Shakespeare–makin’ up words) with so much Conflict (internal or external) that I must know if they get together by the end!

Seriously, it’s gotten so bad lately that the instant any hint of FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELINGS crosses the page, I drop it like I’ve just been burned. And I have been burned. Figuratively.

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You might as well hang this sign by the YA section in bookstores these days.

This morning on Twitter, Cindy Pon directed me to a very interesting discussion at Enchanted Inkpot about “boy books” and “girl books” in YA and why there seems to be a discrepancy between boy-oriented fiction and girl-oriented fiction.

The dearth of boy books in YA is an on-going discussion, with question of “Why aren’t there more boy books?” arising again and again.

The thing is, there are a lot of boy-oriented books, but they’re not being bought in the same numbers as girl-oriented ones.

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Right, so it’s been weeks since I’ve last posted a Photo Friday (Jesus, so busy), but it isn’t as though I haven’t been taking photographs. In fact, I’ve been shooting away like a busy little bee! In addition to Argos the Nikon D60, I’ve finally pulled out my mother’s old Canon EOS Rebel XS, which is a 35mm plastic SLR. The thing is nearly 20 years old, and for three years, languished at the back of my closet, forgotten and unloved. I finally replaced its battery and bought some film and have shot a few rolls, but since film seems to be passé these days I have not yet developed them.

My mother's old Canon EOS Rebel XS, who very badly needs to be named and loved.

This Canon camera needs some loving. She also needs a name. Argos was named for the hundred-eyed giant who stood watch over Io. Argos was also called Panoptes, which means “all-seeing”, and I liked that he could see things through his lenses that I would have never noticed. Suggest names for me! Feminine names, I think, because she feels entirely different in my hands.

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Wow, from an extended blogging silence to two posts in a day? Is the apocalypse nigh?

Anyway, two things for you! The first is a video I dubbed for the Oslo Freedom Forum. The speaker is a North Korean defector talking about his time in a gulag…in a girl’s voice. (The material is serious, but I couldn’t resist.) Can I just say that dubbing is much more difficult than I thought?

Trying to keep the flavor of the Korean language + trying to make it sound closer to idiomatic English + keeping the timing more or less together = REALLY, REALLY HARD. That’s why my voice sounds so monotone; I had to try and figure out how best to phrase things while keeping in time with the speaker, so modulating my voice just wasn’t going to happen.

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So this blogging more initiative. It’s not being very successful at the moment, due to the fact that I simply have not had the time. La Redactora is busy enough for ten editors, not to mention things have been moving along with Cap’n Sweet Valley.

News! Cap’n Sweet Valley has acquired two more titles, this time in the nonfiction category.

1. WORKING GIRL: The Fabulous life on Thirty Grand by Laurel House
   A comprehensive guide for young women in their twenties and how to live on a very terrible salary. I found this incredibly useful. Publishing might be my dream job, but it, uh, doesn’t exactly pay millions. Included are tips on how to keep healthy, exercise, diet, what to do if you realise you need to break up with your college significant other, dating etc.
2. THE WOMEN’S PILL BOOK
   Um, this doesn’t exactly fall into the category of fiction and nonfiction for twentysomethings, but pills and pharmaceutical industries are kind of Cap’n Sweet Valley’s pet/personal interests. A reference guide to drugs on the market, specifically tailored for women: from everyday colds to hormonal therapy.

Anyway, the biggest news of all: The website is live for SWEET VALLEY CONFIDENTIAL!

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The hardcover of SILVER PHOENIX by Cindy Pon

Recently there have been rumblings in the blogosphere about the re-jacketing of Cindy Pon‘s book SILVER PHOENIX that have been brought to my attention. Reactions have been mixed, from outrage to support, with many bloggers pointing to the re-jacketing as yet another example of publishing cover racefail (the first being Justine Larbalestier’s LIAR and the second being Jaclyn Dolamore’s MAGIC UNDER GLASS).

This is a bit of sensitive subject and I was a little wary of writing about it. It isn’t the topic; I’ve blogged about race and cover matters before and I try to champion novels with POC themes, settings, and characters whenever possible, but this situation requires delicacy for a few reasons.

1. This is not directly analogous to situations in either LIAR or MAGIC UNDER GLASS.
2. I am not Cindy Pon’s editor or publisher so I obviously don’t know all the details.
3. Despite my best intentions to keep neutral, there may be some finger-pointing (not at Cindy or her publisher).
4. What I say may come off as a little defensive even though I don’t mean it that way.
5. Contrary to what we want the outcome to be, in this situation, we as the concerned reader may not be able to effect much change.

Those reasons aside, I did feel I was qualified to say something about this topic based on these reasons:

1. I work in editorial.
2. I am a woman of Asian descent.
3. I ain’t happy about this either.

Above is the original cover for SILVER PHOENIX. The re-jacketed cover is below the cut.

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