storytelling

You know that I love my map. Over there in the right hand column. O so corny of me, but then I've made a life's goal out of being easily amused. If you don't know about the map, you should go have a look and maybe even (she said hopefully) put yourself on it.

Here's the strange thing. I have a lot of readers in Australia and NZ, and I mean, a lot. Once I even knocked John Grisham off their bestsellers number one spot. I'm not sure why, really, but I get such great letters from the readers downunder, and I am thrilled that they like my stories so much.

First the mystery: why are there so many NZ readers piled on top of each other on the north island, and none at all on the south? I'm referring to the map, again.

Second, the answer to a question posed over there on the map on whether I will ever come tour in NZ. The answer is, unless the publishing business picks up, probably not. This kind of thing is always arranged by the local publisher (Bantam Australia) and the industry is in a slump just about everywhere, it seems. It's hard for publishers to justify the cost of bringing an author so far at such great expense* for what must seem to them a relatively small return.

One more thing about my map obsession. I'm thinking of scraping the trivia quiz idea and instead doing this: On a date yet to be given, I'll erase all entries on the map. Then the first hundred people who put themselves back on the map (or do so for the first time, it doesn't really matter) will be entered into a drawing. The prize will be an advance reader's copy of the new book, when it becomes available (probably in March or April). I'll post it anywhere in the world, which might encourage readers from far off have a go. Any thoughts?

*not that I charge anything to come tour or read, because I don't. But transportation and hotels and all that good stuff adds up.

Posted by at 1:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This episode from season four wraps up a trilogy that finally gets John Crichton back to earth, only to find that he doesn't belong there anymore. This is why Farscape is so good; it manages to be funny and strange and thought provoking, and most of all the character development is right up front, whether you're looking at a twelve inch tall Hynerian, or the old girlfriend who shows up hoping to hit up John for some renewed affection. (The nerve. The hussy.)

The funniest parts here are how the non-earplings (who are quarantined from the media and the rest of the world) react to the culture they see around them, most particularly Christmas.* Chiana and Noranti try to get into the swing of things and Rygel gorges on junk food (cop porn being one of his favorites), while Aeryn and D'Argo are trying to educate the NASA types about pulse weapons and advanced technologies.

Through all of this John is suffering. This episode does the most to move his character along because it makes him face many truths about earth (and I fear we'd be just about as awful as portrayed here, if we were suddenly presented with this situation) and about his own life that he had been avoiding. Unfortunately the long-awaited confrontation between John and Aeryn is interrupted by an alien with a lot of teeth, and an agenda. But then this is Farscape, and resolutions are never easy.

**In the previous episode, Kansas, Aeryn (remember, she is a life-long Sebacean soldier and fighter pilot) becomes completely entranced by... yes, Sesame Street and the Muppets. Here she's frustrated with the little girl who fumbles the alphabet song, and announces in no uncertain terms: "This girl is slow! She's slow!"

Posted by at 1:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)