Marcus Sedgewick: Vampires for Clever Children (and adults).

 REVIEW - Marcus Sedgewick

N.B.: This review will contain SPOILERS for both books.

 

Ratings:

 My Swordhand is Singing: ***** (5 stars)
The Kiss of Death: **** (4.5 stars)

Brief reasons for ratings: I felt that The Kiss of Death lacks some of the fear factor of My Swordhand is Singing, and does not have so strong a sense of locational horror, which I particularly enjoyed in the first novel. My Swordhand is Singing is one of the best YA horror novels that I have read in years, and takes enough from historical stories to fit in well with tales of vampire/werewolf history (the legend of Peter Stumpp, for example) while bringing a very fresh originality to the table.
 

Recommended for:

YA Fiction fans, Vampire enthusiasts.
 

Analysis:

I have recently read both My Swordhand is Singing, and it's follow-up, The Kiss of Death, by Marcus Sedgewick, and quite frankly, I am a little blown away.

Set in the 1700s and 1800s respectively, these books both feature a boy and girl, and their encounters with vampires and 'The Shadow Queen'. 

A writer with an exceptionally clear 'voice' and style, part of the eerie nature of these stories is the almost journalistic distance with which Sedgewick writes, as if observing the characters completely impartially. This is not to say that the tales are unemotional, rather, that there is a bleakness reminiscent of the everyday cruelty associated with earlier historical times, where children regularly experienced horrors we would shudder at, and learned to disassociate themselves as necessary. All four main characters -Peter and Sophia from My Swordhand is Singing and Marko and Sorrel from The Kiss of Death- have absent or troubled parents, and both Marko and Peter have taken up the role of provider and 'man of the house' for their families, which then naturally leads into an unsurprising ability to take charge even in the unusual (read: vampire) supernatural events of the books.

These books are very much a return to the 'original horror' of Nosferatu by Franz Murnau, and it seems inconceivable that movie rights should not have already been optioned for at least one of the books. Set in both a small village/forest in Eastern Europe and Venice, Italy respectively, Sedgewick has chosen atmospheric, gothic locations that ground the story and add a host of creepy details to the plot ( my favorite moments include chases through the woods at night, small village mob scenes, maliciously anonymous carnivale masks and plague island bacchanalia, to name but a few).

Move over, Dracula- the blood is no longer the life. Sedgewick very specifically moves away from the sexuality of the vampire and the carnal/bloody/bestial/fetish themes that have previously dominated and even characterized Vampire film and fiction. Instead of focusing on the reproductive/sexual bite and transformation, Sedgewick prefers to dwell on the dead/zombie vampire as a prisoner of evil who's soul has been consumed by evil. Key to the fact that they are referred to as 'hostages', Sedgewick updates the Renfield syndrome with a modern/terrorism slant that is more in touch for current audiences than the original Dracula's insidious immigrant issues and xenophobia. Both Sedgewick and Stoker are clearly men of their times, and it is interesting to see how this may be (subconsciously?) conveyed within their books.

The final fact that struck me in reading these books is Sedgewick's intelligence. Impossible to avoid, and reliably present in both novels, these books have thrillingly intricate plots and sympathetically human lead characters who are grounded in a detailed yet edgily fantastical reality. Although these books are rooted strongly enough in myth to imply a general direction for each novel, Sedgewick still manages to provide enough realistic twists and turns (and hidden pathways!) within the stories that it seems preferable to skip analytical reading on the first pass, and simply 'go with the flow' and enjoy the (goose-bump inducing!) ride.

Especially recommended for those seeking to expand their knowledge of vampire literature, and YA readers who like a clever, chilling read.

Book At This

I have a new favorite author! I have just finished reading everything ever written by J R Ward/ Jessica Bird, and my world has changed- love it when that happens!

Really great authors, especially those who have a reasonable body of work available for me to dive into, make me reconsider everything that came before...and I really mean everything. I review and mull over various life choices, friendships, thought patterns, behavior and even occasionally my wardrobe. I look at the way characters reacted to situations, and think about how and where that might apply in my life and how I can learn from what I am reading.

I like especially to read about strong female characters, because it reminds me of ways I can be/am strong myself, and that I'm fortunate to have a lot of choices in life.Being reminded that there are so many perspectives and options and choices out there ahead of us, and that we have to go get them ourselves, and not just wait for them to come to us is so important! It's so easy, as a prolific reader, to live in your head more than in the moment. That's why I think it's good to love a wide variety of genres- crime, romance, sci-if, fantasy- they all offer different encouragement to expand the mind, world view and real world experiences.

NEWSFLASH!

A brief summary of interesting things this week (and it's only Tuesday)...

• #RoyalBaby happened. The country seems split- cooing or furious, pick a side.
• Thunderstorms and 30 degree heat in the UK battle to surpass 6 months of winter in their bid for stardom on extreme weather documentaries.
• The Manbooker prize longlist madness begins (like a literary X-Factor)...
• Hot Pink (from out of nowhere) became an overnight trend
• A Batman/Superman mashup was announced by Zack Snyder.

I'm not sure which to be most excited about...Probably the last one? I'm such a geek...

'overseen' in Oxford....

The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers....

In the past 24 hours, a number of 'unfortunate events' (a la Lemony Snicket) have occurred. The more minor ones include:

1. Getting to the gym to discover they had sold out of still water.
2. Purchasing overpriced sparkling water which then exploded all over me, iPhone  & treadmill.
3. Dropping iphone hard on the floor, as it was slippery from water.
4. Bike breaking on the way home from gym, causing me to have to cycle like an unfit octogenarian.
5. Mudguard spoke thingy falling off as I pass a restaurant full of people- cycle of shame back to collect it from nice lady who had picked it up and hollered at me loudly to make sure I'd noticed it fall (I had, thanks- and now everyone else has too).
6. Missing the bus this morning.
7. Catching surrogate bus with a pal, and dropping sunglasses down the bus loudly.
8. Crawling all over bus floor in a rather pesky dress to get them.
9. Tripping as I stood up and flashing the (amused) spectators a substantial amount of upper leg flesh. This was, as they say, the final straw.

At this woeful point, two types of reaction lay before me- the way that adult Emma would react, and Teenage Emma's reaction.  It felt like the Matrix- everything slowed down, and time crawled past in tiny increments while I looked at my options:

Teenage Emma was cringing in shame, desperate to run back to her comfy nirvana T-shirt and cords and read fanfiction until it was all forgotten. Adult Emma was laughing her head off, and reminding me that it could have been worse (although she couldn't think how at that exact moment).

It was a moment of crazy duality, where I could picture my past and future selves standing beside me, showing me how I was evolving and where I was heading. Kind of like a concertina, every incarnation of myself suddenly stretched out in front and behind me, presenting me with an option on how to react to this compendium of minor disasters, and on who to be in that moment.

If you're interested, I chose to laugh...and allow myself some fanfiction time later. As a twenty-something, I figure that you sometimes have to accept that while you are 'grown up', there will be room for lapses. And maybe that is the wonderful thing about Tiggers- Tiggers are wonderful things, just the way they are at that precise moment. With, or without comfort Magnum ice cream.

 

Phew! It's Hot In The City...

Yes, yes it is....And while it is a little too uncomfortably hot to be in an office sans air conditioning, there is still a lot to enjoy about this heatwave!

See my list below of' reasons not to complain about the heat and to plan in something awesome to do today, even if that's just sunbathing with a glass of iced water beside you....

1. Magnums instead of tea at 3pm....yummy!
2. 6 MONTHS OF WINTER
3. Claiming you're 'too hot to think' is a genuine excuse
4. Everyone is getting a little tanned (even the redheads!)
5. Nobody is complaining about lack of vitamin D
6. Men in shorts & T-shirts ;)
7. Cycling! Everywhere!
8. Brightly colored clothes
9. Tropical fruits taste better
10. People are more willing to go for a drink (and not hurry home 'for dinner')
11. The siesta...yay, legit napping!
12. Pimms/Sangria
13. Picnic lunches outside of the office
14. Weekend walks
15. Drinks with ice (and lemon/lime) in
16. Eating chips by the water in the sunshine with friends

On that note, I'm off to implement one of these myself!

Emma

Make A Difference: Help Now.

I challenge you to Make A Difference Right Now.

Why, you ask, is this so urgent? Well, I reply, why wait? What else could possibly be more important?

Advances in cancer treatment and care have made huge leaps forward in the past years, and a significant part of this is due to the huge amounts of money raised through events like Race for Life and charities like Cancer UK, MacMillan, CLIC Sargent, Hope for Tomorrow and a multitude of other groups that have benefited cancer patients and their families and friends. However, the battle isn't over, and there are lots of ways in which we can still improve cancer care and treatment for those suffering from this disease or the effects of it. Some types of cancer still have a survival rate below 5% even with early diagnosis, or cannot be cured at all. We are still discovering new kinds of cancer, and their causes, every year.

There is a lot of work to be done, and this must be funded. So please don't wait until you or someone you love is diagnosed to make a difference- Help Now. In whatever capacity you can. I promise, you'll be glad someday that you did.

My friend and I took part in Race for Life on Sunday, which I assure you, is 5k further than I usually like to run (being more of a cycling/yoga/swimming person) but for a really great cause, one that I believe in [obvious plug: if you would like to sponsor us, thank you in advance].

In September, I plan to run 10k with friends to raise money for Hope For Tomorrow, which provides mobile chemotherapy units to rural areas, so that patients life spans do not decrease through the exhaustion of traveling miles for a treatment which takes a heavy toll all by itself. These units can save lives, or give loved ones more time together- and every month or year really counts in these situations.

I'll be fundraising more for this, and will put up links to events etc as soon as possible. If you'd like to help, or get involved, please do get in touch- or alternatively, perhaps choose a way that is personal to you to make a difference.

My brain and I love to read- but sometimes it can't let go....

[clip art].

 

I *love* reading, and so does my brain. 'Book crazy' is scarily close to a good description at times...

Yes, I love reading in that crazy zombie/daydreaming/psych-eval needing half-awake/half-in the world of the book kind of reality- and I like it that way. Sometimes, however, this leads to 'reading'  because despite having physically put the book down, my mind is still 'reading' the story.

By 'reading', you'll note that I'm referring to the way my brain cannot process the fact that the book is gone and so it makes up it's own continuation of the plot as a kind of soothing balm to cover this strange mental 'wound' caused by the sudden removal of a world that it was kind of into. Sometimes this can last five seconds. Sometimes, this leads to me writing fanfiction. Sometimes it hovers in the background until I can pick up the book again and finish it.

I've used this as a measure before, to evaluate a good writer/author/novel/series. The authors that have sent me deepest down the rabbit hole have often become favorites, and gone on to sell thousands (or more!) copies. Conversely, when I hear that someone 'can't put a book down', I have been known to ask if they have thought about the plot once they have been forced to put the book down- if yes, then I'm much more likely to take the recommendation seriously.

I love my mini-escapes into fictional worlds, and that books can give us this opportunity to expand the imagination. I also like the perspectives this can force us to consider, as we relate more closely to characters and gain deeper understanding of their motives, and within this, our own lives. Perhaps the brain is the key link between books and movies; providing a middle ground or personal cinema service that a good book can work with in order to motivate further consideration and visualization, and an even deeper 'reading' and learning experience. All I know is, my brain can take a good story and run with it- as far as I need us to go.

Social Media Adventures... I have officially dipped my toes in the deep end of the pool...

So, no updates for a while- and you can blame twitter, tumblr and facebook for that!

I have been working hard recently on coming out of my luddite shell, and embracing technology. It's so important that I dedicated whole evenings to it! Between the Publishing Industry's Digital Evolution/Revolution, and my own interests in networking, keeping up with the times, and staying connected with fabulous online communities, I thoroughly believe taking time to build a good online presence is something everyone should do.

I've really enjoyed it, and am quietly proud of my small Twitter following, and that I've been working on building followers for our Society of Young Publisher's Facebook group. I've very much enjoyed looking at and sharing in the relaxed social atmosphere of Tumblr, and all the great gifs and links that are passed around. I now think that I really truly am starting to understand and embrace the reason that these sites are called social media, as I've made some great friends who have similar interests and send me all the best articles, links and cat pictures out there...

My next goal is to post regularly here, and keep everything ticking over. Life, as always, for everyone, is busy. However, a short post from time to time, on issues that really interest me, will keep the creativity flowing and encourage me to write other things that I'm interested in. Ideally, I'd like to also start regularly reviewing books and films on here, and maybe start up a private writing project that might one day actually be published!

There have also been some important lessons- Tumblr is mainly for pictures, it seems, and I can't get the hang of Pinterest at all- ironically, I seem to have no 'pinterest' in it despite having friends/colleagues who swear by it. I've also learned that it's increasingly important to pay attention to privacy settings, and to control what is shared where/when. Personally I've also decided that it is useful to try to clearly separate out your 'work' persona and your personal life online, so that accidental crossovers are minimal/not an issue when or if they occur.

So wish me luck, and I send you all my best with your own social media endeavours! Please do share tips/tricks/suggestions in the comments if you have any :)