The Time of AAAAGH!
Posted on 25. Apr, 2010 by susie in Gingerbread Who, blog, books i've been reading, doctor who, project poppy, telly
The Guardian may think the Daleks win the monster-off, but for the stuff of nightmares nothing can top Weeping Angels. Blimey.
The Time of Angels. Click if you dare!
Whovians are a crafty lot, btw: check out this spiffy birthday cake, and the magnificent cosplaying femme!Doctors (complete with a really intriguing answer to the ‘why are you doing that, then?’ question). Telly: it’s not just for looking at, you know.
Della Says OMG! – the debut novel from Chicklish’s co-founder Keris Stainton. It’s the best/worst night of Della’s life: she kisses the boy of her dreams, only to discover her diary has been stolen – and whoever has it is intent on torturing her, posting extracts online and into her friends’ pockets. It’s a great set-up for exploring issues of trust and privacy, but above all this is a first-love story, written in sparky, convincing prose. There’s a strong language warning on the back (which is definitely accurate!), but I hope parents and book-providers aren’t put off giving this to mature younger teens: there are wonderful positive messages in this book, about self-confidence and understanding your own body without shame. This could be the Forever of the 21st century, girls…
My one quibble is with the cover, which is gorgeous but made me expect a very different book (something more immediately OMG!tastic, like Lauren Myracle’s Internet Girls series, or, erm, Big Woo/serafina67). But if it makes the book leap off the shelves into readers’ hands, then it’s done its job – and the writing is so fresh, fun and beguiling that you’ll probably be halfway through the book before you’ve noticed. A teen-lit voice to watch.
Note to self: PLANNING. We do that now. I sat down all excited to write the next chapter, and then realised I didn’t know what was going to happen in it or what any of the characters were like. Have thus ended up with a lovely meandering string of crap jokes about Jane Eyre and ramen noodles, that goes nowhere at all. (“It’s stream of consciousness, Miss! Virginia made me do it!”) Also decided this week that Project Poppy is carp personified and I might well throw it away and start again. So, funtimes.
Crawling to the gym for the first time in 3 weeks, ooer; watching Ashes to Ashes in open-mouthed awe; discovering baked sweet potato and blue cheese (taste: om nom nom; visual: Giant Mouldy Wotsit).
To purple or not to purple, that is the question
Posted on 22. Feb, 2010 by susie in books i've been reading, cooking, doctor who, my invisible boyfriend
Lovely blog readers, let me steal your brains! This here shiny website is shortly to undergo a grand transformation, and (as well as exclusive extracts, noisy things on YouTube and general time-wasty shenanigans) SusieDay Towers will be getting a new coat of paint. This makes me happy. And confused. I am so indecisive I have been known not to have any lunch because I can’t decide if I want cheese on toast or soup, so picking my favourite of two colour schemes is utterly beyond me. So: halp?
Which new dress shall my website wear?
- Purple and Converse Green (53%)
- Teal and Poppy (47%)
Total Voters: 15
Loading ... Am currently reading The Official Nancy Drew Handbook: Skills, Tips & Life Lessons From Everyone’s Favourite Girl Detective. V handy as I bunked off Girl Detective School the day they did How To Train a Carrier Pigeon and Advanced Kidnap-Thwarting. Alas, I am less interested in Nancy’s help in flower-arranging and, um, How To Get That Ring on Your Finger and That Man to the Altar. Hush now, Nancy dear: I’m reading the Usborne Detective’s Handbook which has proper criminals with straggly beards in. Now where’s my Whifflepoof?
CUT CUT SNIPPETY TYPE CUT SLASH HACK ARGH! SLURP. Or: I am editing Project Poppy. So far this mostly involves deleting entire chapters and drinking a lot of tea while trying to think of things that are funny. Dairylea triangles = funny. Explaining how time travel works = not funny. Oh, but guess what I’ve got? The brand new not-out-till-March-1st North American paperback of serafina67 *urgently requires life*! Still as pink and gorgeous as ever, and now with a sneaky peeky at My Invisible Boyfriend tucked away at the back too. Woo, etc.
cooking tagine in my new tagine (eee! even if I need to learn to actually read a recipe on occasion); wondering who thought BSG’s Razor was a good idea; giggling at the sheer lolarity of the new Doctor Who trailer; throwing things in skips; eating lotus flowers while harassed by a dragon for Chinese New Year.
3, 2, 1, Zero Moment!
Posted on 07. Feb, 2010 by susie in books i've been reading, kids' books i've been reading
Joshua Files launch: Agent Peter Cox, MG Harris and BBC Oxford's Bill Heine
In a change from our regularly scheduled bacon sarnies, this week I got to hear good mate MG Harris nattering about books in a slightly more glam context. The launch party for the third Joshua Files book, Zero Moment, transformed Oxford Blackwell’s into a riot of excited readers and luminous cake. MG even dished a big secret about Book 5! Now, if only I can persuade her to give me her Lime Cheesecake cupcake recipe…
I confess, I snagged an early preview so I read this a while ago – but gosh, Zero Moment really does live up to its limited-edition glowing green cover. If you’re not up to speed with all things Joshua File-y, I suggest you kidnap the nearest 11-year-old boy and insist he fills you in. (Then let him go again: it’s only polite.) Josh leaves Oxford for Mexico once again, with Mum and Tyler along for the trip, but a thrilling buggy ride across the sand ends in disaster. This time Josh isn’t the one in obvious danger – but while he’s chasing one set of bad guys, there’s another lot closing in. Throw in some nifty time-travel and a car chase on a winding Swiss mountain pass that will leave you utterly breathless, and you have, undubitably, the best Joshua book yet – and that’s high praise indeed.
The downside of having finished the first draft of The Poppy Project is that this week I had to read it. Ugh. AL Kennedy sums up the state of mind beautifully in this weekend’s Guardian: could do better.
Discovering that Wii swordfighting brings out my, um, forceful tendencies; watching so much BSG that I sincerely pondered the potential charm of an invisible blonde giant whispering in Poppy’s ear all through draft number 2; lamenting the de-relaxation properties of cancelled yoga classes.
The Snow Queen of Old Oxford Town
Posted on 06. Jan, 2010 by susie in books i've been reading, doctor who
Because why should snowmen get all the fun?
I know she looks a bit fierce, but I promise she’s ‘armless.
*hides*
Gloves probably dry now. Wonder what to make next… (Shush. You can totally have a Snow Day even if you already work from home.)
Thanks to a bumper festive haul, I am festooned with booky goodness. Continuing my Bloomsbury groupie-ing with Frank Baker’s Mrs Hargreaves, which is the lovely silly tale of what happens when poor Norman’s entirely figmentary 83-year-old loony old dear suddenly turns up on his doorstep, under the impression she really exists. Quietly philosophical and very funny (ty, S & N!). Now lolloping through some Ngaio Marsh with great glee.
HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO DO ANY WRITING WHEN EXCITING WHITE STUFF HAS FALLEN OUT OF THE SKY? Project Poppy’s plot chasm was leapt pre-Christmas, but am feeling that Januaryish sense of meh. Also, EXCITING WHITE STUFF. May have to bribe self into getting today’s 1000 words done with promises of hot chocolate.
Seeing John Barrowman in panto in the company of a 3-year-old (most. fun ever.); sniffling at the very mention of Bernard Cribbins (yet being utterly gleeful at the prospect of Doctor Eleven and Ms Pond taking over TARDIS duties); wondering why it took me so long to finally see Mirrormask (which is beeyootiful, and very reminiscent of Labyrinth: no Bowie in tights, alas; just Andy Hamilton as a hedgehog).
Cover Girls And Invisible Boys
Posted on 16. Dec, 2009 by susie in books i've been reading, doctor who, girl meets cake, my invisible boyfriend, telly
I hear murmurings from the blogosphere that the ARC of My Invisible Boyfriend is beginning to arrive in a few US mailboxes. For those of you who’ll have to wait till April, here’s a sneaky peek at the absurdly cute cover.
Look, pretty people! (Don’t get too excited, European readers: this is the US edition of Girl Meets Cake, not a new book: you’ll have to wait till 2011 for one of them. North American readers, please feel free to get as excited as is humanly possible.)
I’ve got a copy of Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go sitting next to me – yet appear to be reading Dick Francis’s Forfeit. Eh, it’s Christmas, right?
Project Poppy has been speeding along very happily, and has now careened into a wall and fallen down a plothole. Grr. Now have to decide whether to skip over the hole and fill it in later, or spend a few days with pen and paper scribbling metaphorical ladders. Hrmmm…
Listening to R4’s Shelved on how abandoned or banned episodes of Doctor Who and The Professionals reveal that people who made TV in the 1970s were, um, bonkers (a shock, I know); discovering my Christmas lights are borked; finally getting around to watching Inkheart and LOVING IT TO PIECES, OOH! – really must get round to reading the other 2 books.
latest comments