The Gruffalo (Gift Edition)

I'd mentioned when book shopping with my parents that I was after the Gruffalo. I was surprised for them to suddenly present me with a copy today. Even more so that it was the special gift edition. This is my review of it...

The Gruffalo is a picture book aimed at young children and Polenths. It was written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. I won't include enough to be a spoiler (why do picture book reviews do that? If it has less plot, write less about it.... no need for the whole thing just because it's short. Ending tangent now.)

Story: 'Tis the tale of a mouse out for a walk in the woods, who tells those he passes about the Gruffalo. The story is told as a poem and has repeating plot elements. It's a funny story and the Gruffalo is as quirky as his name.

Art: The art is colourful and there are nice details such as forest bugs in the background. A number of the pages have full-page pictures, as well as little pictures throughout the text.

Education Stuff: The story mentions several animals and colours. Someone reading it to a child could point them out. Your child will also learn about Gruffalos, including how to say the word.

Gift Edition Comments: The gift edition is nicely done. It is a hardback with traditional woven cover. The cover is inlaid with gold pictures and a small picture of the Gruffalo. The book slips into a cardboard sleeve which has the normal Gruffalo cover picture on it (a picture of a big hairy brown monster).

Overall: I enjoyed the book. A cute monster, a funny poem and bright pictures... you can't go far wrong with that. The gift edition is great, but better for the older end of picture book readers. A toddler would just shred the thing and that would be sad. I used to have trouble getting books out of sleeves when I was a toddler. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Musings on The Golden Compass

Today I went to see The Golden Compass (or technically yesterday... when you're nocturnal your days don't quite match up). The simple review would be that I enjoyed it and I'd recommend it.

I often visit the bookshop before films and this time was no exception. The number one paperback slot was filled by Phillip Pullman's books. Nothing beats getting your book made into a film. I played with the sparklie books in the kids section, but I didn't have any money to buy them. I did find it funny that the bookshop had three tables upstairs... books for him, books for her and books for the sharp witted. I'm not sure if they intended to imply that sharp witted people were the previously unknown third gender.

I was hoping I'd get to see the Prince Caspian trailer before the film, but they didn't show it. They did show a trailer for the Christmas episode of Doctor Who. Yay for that!

The daemons were handled well. The film makers didn't shy away from having to have everyone with a daemon, including the people in the background in crowd scenes. That must have been a nightmare for special effects in itself. I liked the fluffy cat version of Lyra's daemon the best.

I'm glad they avoided having all the kids speaking in Queen's English. American film makers are prone to that, even when it isn't appropriate. The child actors did a good job. I particularly liked Charlie Rowe, the little boy who played Billy. The kids they get can make or break this sort of film.

There had been a whole religious debate going about the film, long before anyone had seen it. I didn't find it offensive in any way, but I'm alot more relaxed about the whole religious freedom thing than some people. Bring on the armoured bears and fluffy cat daemons! Let's hope they make enough money to want to do the sequels.

Short Stories and Malaysian Jive Monkeys

The problem I've always had with short stories is that I spend too long thinking. After some hours of thinking as I walk the miles to wherever I'm going, the story is too long to be a short story. I've been trying to work around that recently by writing rough drafts before I have time to think.

But mostly this post is about the short stories written by other people. I went on a wander to find out what other people were writing, focusing on paying markets.


Very Speculative Sci-Fi/Fantasy

The easiest stories to find were speculative fiction stories that are very concerned with the speculative part. These stories often don't have endings. They end at the end of the middle. Common themes are child abuse, victims of violent crimes and dysfunctional families. I've found I do write things that could class as this sort of story... when I've not slept or I have a fever. The problem with being happy all the time is that writing depressing stories isn't easy.

Strange Horizons lives up the strange bit of the name. I liked 'The You Train' (N.K. Jemisin). I wasn't too fond of the phonecall style, but I did like the concept. I used to commute by train so I can understand where the main character is coming from. I was also one of the few people who knew the numbers for each route, rather than just the destination. Commuting every day does things to your brain.

Fantasy Magazine seemed to have the same sorts of stories as Strange Horizons, just without any sci-fi ones. Most of them didn't strike me, though I did like 'Swan' (Elis O'Neal). It's a sad sort of story, but I appreciated the folklore-inspired theme. It also deals with everyday hardships (her relationship with her parents... not the swan bit, unless you have a much more exciting everyday than me), rather than having to have the characters attacked, die of cancer or something else equally extreme.


General Fantasy/Sci-Fi

This is more the sort of fare that would make a good novel. I couldn't snuggle up with a cup of tea to most of the previous stories. I'm just not a fan of the modern trend towards depressing real life angst in my fantasy/sci-fi.

Nature has a few of its 'Futures' shorts available online. 'Ringing Up Baby' (Ellen Klages) was my favourite, but 'Are We Not Men?' (Henry Gee) has to get a special mention for the Malaysian Jive Monkeys. I'm starting with the funny ones, because I needed a laugh after the previous stories.

Then there was Analog. I remembered the name from the histories of various famous authors. It turns out the ebook copies are cheap and you can buy them with PayPal. It did feel like stepping back in time. The artwork and stories reminded me of the older short story collections in the house. My favourite of the shorter shorts in the December 2007 issue was'"Domo Arigato," says Mr. Roboto' (Robert R. Chase). A.I. and robot stories tend to catch my interest. 'Salvation' (Jerry Oltion) was the one I liked the least. I don't like stories where the issues take over from the plot, and it becomes a sermon rather than a story.


And so the monkeys stop jiving...

It did occur to me as I was writing this that people don't review short stories much. The online magazines that let people comment on the stories don't get many comments. It doesn't make much sense really. People enjoy reading short stories. Writers enjoy writing them. Yet we rarely talk about them or share ones we like.