[Shrek & Fiona] Our Favorite Authors--Number 5

As we count down our top five favorite authors, Fiona fires first.

[Fiona]
I love the library where I grew up. The Whitinsville Social Library, a step into the past of golden days gone by. Beautiful structure with marble floors, wooden card catalogues, long wooden tables with oversized antique wooden chairs and stools. Hand carved archways, grandfather clock with spinning sun and moon faces to indicate the time of the day. I loved to watch and listen to that clock. In fact, I often went to this sanctuary to escape my dull life.

I first encountered Robert Cormier's books when I was in the seventh grade. I remember the moment clearly. I had gone to my town's library with some school friends to do research on some project. I got bored and went shopping in the stacks for something interesting to read. Right behind the circulation desk in the stacks somewhere in Dewey Decimal land of the 700s and 800s I found I Am The Cheese.

This book changed my life. I read it in one sitting. It made me rethink the way I looked at the so-called adults I was supposed to have a non-faltering faith in. I returned to the library the very next day.

I have read everything ever published by Robert Cormier. Only after I started reading his columnist work did I find out that he was from Leominster, Massachusetts. I often thought about writing to him and telling him how he changed my views on literature, life, people and how we treat each other. I regret that I never did write him. Robert Cormier died in 2000.

Published novels

Now and At the Hour (1960)
A Little Raw on Monday Mornings (1963)
Take Me Where the Good Times Are (1965)
The Chocolate War (1974) [very interesting take on fund-raising]
I Am the Cheese (1977) [My first read]
After the First Death (1979) [My all time favorite read]
The Bumblebee Flies Away (1983)
Beyond the Chocolate War (1985)
Fade (1988)
Other Bells for Us to Ring (1990)
We All Fall Down (1991)
Tunes for Bears to Dance to (1992)
In the Middle of the Night (1995)
Tenderness (1997)
Heroes (1998)
The Rag and Bone Shop (2001)

[Shrek]
Before I started reading Jacqueline Carey's books I generally didn't read books by female authors, although I don't recall any particular reason for not doing so. And I don't even recall why I picked up her first novel, Kushiel's Dart, off the stack of "remainder" mass-market paperbacks that BJ's Wholesale Club used to sell. The cover is one you would see on any run of the mill second tier science fantasy novel, and really isn't that eye catching. But for whatever reason I picked it up, and the blurb on the back sounded interesting. As I was making up my mind if I was going to buy it or not I noticed her second book, Kushiel's Chosen, was sitting atop of another stack of books. I threw caution to the wind and bought them both. Funny thing is I also ended up buying two books from Sara Douglass that day, and almost ten years later they are both still sitting in my ever-growing to read stack. Fiona has read them though, so it wasn't for naught.

Carey has written three connected trilogies set in the Terre D'Ange Universe, each one building on the series before it. The three trilogies focus on different characters, with Phèdre nò Delaunay being the protagonist in the first three books. As her story moves along Imriel de la Courcel, son of the biggest traitor in Terre D'Ange is introduced and his story becomes the basis of the second trilogy. The third trilogy is set in the future of Terre D'Ange, with Moirin of the Maghuinn Dhon, who is a descendant of the Queen of Terre D'Ange featured in the first six books. All the books, especially the first trilogy, have some mature content that may not be suitable for young readers, although nothing is extremely explicit and everything that happens truly plays a role in the story.

Many readers, myself included, were disappointed that Carey chose to jump ahead into the future with the Moirin trilogy.

Between the Phèdre and Imriel trilogies Carey released two book entitled Banewreaker and Godslayer, often refered to as The Sundering series. It's a story loose based on Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, only told from the viewpoint of "the bad guys". It's an interesting series that tells a tale that not everyone fighting for the side of "good" has honorable intentions, nor were all the bad guys truly "evil". Between the Imriel and Moirin series Carey released Santa Olivia, a standard futuresque story about an over oppressive government fighting a war.

Despite some formula in her stories I liked them all, so that gets her into my "top 5".

Published novels

Kushiel Universe series
Kushiel's Legacy series

Phèdre Trilogy series
1 Kushiel's Dart (June 2001)
2 Kushiel's Chosen (April 2002)
3 Kushiel's Avatar (April 2003)

Imriel Trilogy series
1 Kushiel's Scion (June 2006)
2 Kushiel's Justice (June, 2007)
3 Kushiel's Mercy (June, 2008)

Moirin Trilogy series
1 Naamah's Kiss (June, 2009)
2 Naamah’s Curse (June 2010)
3 Naamah’s Blessing (June 2011 release date)

The Sundering
1 Banewreaker (November 2004)
2 Godslayer (August 2005)

Santa Olivia
1 Santa Olivia (May 2009)
2 Saints Astray (October 2011 release date)

[Shrek] A Few Words About Words

I am addicted to books.

I am not ashamed to admit it, nor do I plan on doing anything to stop this addiction. I also think an intervention is unlikely as Fiona is also addicted, so at least for now I can live my life without worry of friends telling me to stop reading.

One thing that does bother me is book publishes taking advantage of us book addicted folks.

I understand that it costs a lot of money to publish a book, and while I cringe when I plop down $7.99 for a book that can't be found at the many discount retailers, I get the concept that without paying that much no one along the chain of writer-publisher-seller makes money, meaning that less books would be produced.

While I'd like the price to go back to the $2.95 it was when I started buying books, I'm not looking for them to drop the price. I get that the folks involved have to pay rent and eat just like everyone else. I do not begrudge anyone from making a little money while the book passes through their "step" in the chain.

But someone needs to tell me why the new paperback format costs $9.95.

Let me get this straight--only the print is larger, not the actual length of the book? And to accommodate this larger print you've made the pages bigger and spread the text over more pages? And for this you're charging me an extra $2?

Huh?

Case in point, the two books I'm reading now: Memorial Day by Vince Flynn, and Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey (no, not that Jacqueline Carey, the one that's a fantasy writer). Both are writers that I'd have no problem calling their previous works "great".

Memorial Day is in the new, larger format and font, and is 564 pages not including the preview if his next novel...$9.95 cover price.

Kushiel's Scion is in the standard format, and is 943 pages not including the preview of her next novel...$7.99 cover price.

Two bucks for less stuff? Huh?

Obviously the price didn't bother me that much as I purchased them both. What it really results in is now I'll be reluctant to try new writers when I see their stuff while browsing. Other folks I know have said the same thing.

That means, at least in theory, that people along the chain in the book selling profession will end up making less money. And in an economy where entertainment money is hard to come by for many folks, that could be another nail in the coffin for the book publishing industry.

Thank God for used book stores...there's lots of new authors I can try at half-cover price.