Delighted to be able to say that MBT 2, Lamplighter has been shortlisted in the 2009 NSW (meaning New South Wales for the uninitiated) Premier's Literary Award's The Ethel Turner Prize for a work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry written for young people of secondary school level. The list of us all goes a little like this:
Dianne Bates - Crossing the Line
Michelle Cooper - A Brief History of Montmaray
D.M Cornish - Monster Blood Tattoo Book Two: Lamplighter
Alison Goodman - The Two Pearls of Wisdom
Nette Hilton - Sprite Downberry
Joanne Horrniman - My Candlelight Novel
I feel like a bit of an upstart occupying a list with such luminaries. VERY VERY gratified to be recognised in one the countries big awards, thank you so much to those that put me there. With all this good news I just might explode with joy... if, of course, my stupid character flaws would just stop getting in the way and spoiling the glee...
For all the shortlistings for the entire gamut of the NSW Premier's Awards for this year go here!
27 comments:
Congratulations on another slice of recognition for your efforts.
Is it May 2010 yet...?
Wow, you're amazing!
Hmm.. the only author on the list I recognize is... D M Cornish. Have no idea who the others are.
Congratulations Master Cornish. Once again, your books are earning the recognition they so rightly deserve.
Congratulations again AGAIN!
and again!
whersib: a word that sound like it begins with K or possibly C or even Q but actually starts with T or X
I agree with Anna. You're the only author on that list I recognize! So therefore I shall root for you!
oveaste - can't think of a definition right now, therefore I'm oveaste!
Hope Lamplighter wins. Yay! But Alison Goodman's Two Pearls of Wisdom should get an honorable mention or second place. It was good but MBT is way better.
Lamplighter is most probably the best on the list.
Haven't read the others.
and again, and again...
... congratulations!!!
yaaay! short listings again! :D
Congradulations!
Congrats!!!!
Well played sir! You deserve all the good things coming your way. Keep going and enjoy the moment.
o, and on a side note, mr Cornish [waaay aside]: remember the talk some while back about the Misbegotten Schrewd and his 'poo ditty'? yesterday i was witness to a 3 1/2 year old with lengthy bathroom arias of his very own and thought instantly of MBT.
sorry. had to share...
Is the book Inkheart and good?
Portals: in a word...no.
The characters are flat and dull and the premise isn't incredibly original either. The best part of the book is that every chapter starts out with a quote from another book that pertains to the chapter.
Still, read Inkheart if you like, but UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should you read Inkspell (the sequel). The worst book I ever read. It's one of those books that takes 900+ pages to say nothing at all (it ends with a 'to be continued'...I wanted to throw it across the room).
And there's my two cents! :)
Subil: a weapon disguised as or hidden inside of a belt buckle.
I have sentimental value for Inkheart because one of the characters closely mirrored an early version of my own, but it's not the best. I think I would have prefered to read it in the original language--maybe some of the sentimentality gets overly cheese-ified in translation--but unfortunately I do not speak german
I know it's not a very good book, but I like it anyway. In a way it inspired me to be more creative in inventing characters [largely because the villains were unoriginal] and sometimes it's conforting to have something mediocre to read.
and yes. the ending of Inkspell was INFURIATING.
...but if you're looking for something new and exciting, Portals, then I'd have to agree with Noelle: turn your eyes elsewhere
cantedic: a voice singing in harmony with itself, such as Perdita X Nitt
OK, Thanks.
okay... I thought it was actually a really good series...
seems like I'm the only one...
Susan:
i didn't think it was awful, per se. but it's sort of an acquired taste, and you have to look past a lot of the writing style and awkward grammar because it was originally written in another language. s' just not most people's kind of thing.
I imagine it would be better in the original language, but my biggest issue is with the characters. I'm very forgiving of ludicrous plotlines and less-than-original settings as long as the characters are good (why else would I still be watching LOST?) but the characters in Inkheart were very two-dimensional and almost stereotypical. I remember searching desperately for a favorite character, which I always have to have or else I can't enjoy the story, but I just couldn't relate to any of them.
However, I did read all of Inkheart and I slogged all the way through Inkspell, so there must have been redeeming qualities, although it's been such a long time that I can't remember what they were. Usually if I'm not interested in a book I just return it to the library without finishing it.
Whew. That was a lot more than two cents...that was a couple dollars worth of ranting there :)
Wow, commenting is slow...
Portals and all the rest...
I just finish the fourth (and hopefully last) book in the Tide Lords series written by another Australian author (Jennifer Fallon). I have to say that despite the awful work of the editor(s) and some obvious problems with time continuity and plot line I liked the series.
I'm not native English speaker so for me to be able to find not only grammar mistakes but also blatant and (worst) some more subtle problems with syntax is a lot to say of the proofreading abilities of the author and editor. I think that some books are rushed into print for reasons unknown to me at the expense of quality. And this entire series suffers from that careless-rushing disease. I think that the other two faults of the books: plot line and continuity that also derive from this rushing-to-print-without-properly-checking problem are more the author's fault and that is almost unforgivable because if you do not care for your creations how do you expect others to care?
Anyway I'm digressing, I was going to say that despite these problems I found the books interesting, the characters likable and believable, and the world as a whole rich and multi-layered. Is about immortal beings that wreak havoc in a fantastic world called Amyrantha and a secret society trying to destroy them.
It is an interesting read and long enough to last me a week or two depending on how busy I am. But I have to say that I'm not so sure that I'll read them a second time.
If you want a timeless classic can I recommend 'the annals of the western shore' series by Ursula K Le Guin. The books are superb and each one is a story in itself so you don't need to read them all. Also the last one 'Powers' is been nominated to the Nebula awards. They are a kind of follow up to the Earthsea series. Really good reading!
sometimes I find books that are full of great ideas and interesting characters but have been written/edited by someone with all the talent of a slice of cheese. hard to say, though, being a writer myself [hem, hem *presumptous and snooty little cough*] whether it would be better if someone else took the idea and wrote about it. It would make for better reading, but in a way it would be stealing from the original writer...I dunno.
ahh, I do like some Ursula K le Guin. :) I remember reading The Tombs of Atuan over and over so many years ago.
The pressure to rush a book is great, especially when you take as long as I do to make them. There is a real tension between taking enough time to do well whilst still attending to the real commercial needs of the people who have taken you on. Gentleness and respect is the most winsome way I have found such tense stuff to work - plus a willingness to do the hard yards as required (though I find my soul needs to be dragged along kicking a screaming me often than I would like).
I reckon I am going to give The Annals of the Western Shore a looksee - like Ms LeGuin's, I do...
Klesita, for not being an native english speaker, you use difficult words that I don´t even know what they mean.
I´m trying to avoid words that I don´t know what they mean and words that I´m not sure how to spell. Well, as you all have seen my spelling is sometimes off the wall. I so wish that I could practice my english writing and speaking, more than I do. It´s a bit difficult with the speaking part cause not many here uses english, if they are not tourists.
Congratulations!!! you really deserve it, with all of the work that you put into the book!
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