I was sad to learn yesterday that Diana Wynne Jones had died — I remember, last year, seeing reports that she was quite ill. The Guardian’s obituary gives a lovely account of her writing and her life, which had a pretty rocky start — see her own autobiographical essay (thanks to Zen Cho for the link). Diane Duane also memorializes her in a blog post, here. I didn’t have a deep personal connection to DWJ’s books as a child, though I remember enjoying Witch Week and Charmed Life very much. But I’ve been meaning to read Howl’s Moving Castle ever since seeing the Miyazaki version (which I love as its own story; I’ve heard that it’s very different from the book). Many of the posts I’ve seen this weekend also rhapsodize about Fire and Hemlock. If you’d like to give her books a try, her official website includes a list of all her works.

Speaking of fantasy stories set in the UK, you should read Zen’s: “起狮，行礼 (Rising Lion—The Lion Bows).”

In addition to yesterday’s Lambda Literary news, Alcestis has also been chosen as a finalist for the Publishing Triangle‘s Edmund White Debut Fiction Award, along with Michael Alenyikov’s Ivan and Misha and Catherine Kirkwood’s Cut Away. Here’s what the Publishing Triangle site says about the Edmund White award:

Inaugurated in May 2006, this award recognizes outstanding first novels or story collections by LGBT authors. It is unique among the Triangle Literary Awards, in that women and men compete in the same category. The award is open to first-book authors of any age whose work contains queer themes. Writers can have published works of nonfiction, and their short fiction can have previously appeared in a published anthology. The book nominated must be the author’s first work of book-length fiction.

This award honors the distinguished Edmund White, who won the very first Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1990. White is the author, among many other works, of A Boy’s Own Story, States of Desire, A Married Man, Fanny, and Arts and Letters. The winner receives $1,000.

Past winners are:

2010 — Lori Ostlund, The Bigness of the World
2009 — Evan Fallenberg, Light Fell
2008 — Myriam Gurba, Dahlia Season
2007 — Martin Hyatt, A Scarecrow’s Bible
2006 — Mack Friedman, Setting the Lawn on Fire

The Publishing Triangle’s judges have picked 22 books in categories including Lesbian Nonfiction, Gay Nonfiction, Lesbian Poetry, Gay Poetry, and LBGT Fiction. I am thrilled that Alcestis is included in this group and am very much looking forward to reading the books on the list that I haven’t gotten to yet (also true for the Lammy list, of course, though it’s much longer!). If you’re looking for even more amazing LGBTQ books to read, don’t forget to check out the Band of Thebes Best LGBT Books of 2010 survey. (I picked Emma Donoghue’s lovely Inseparable, which just so happens to be a finalist in the Publishing Triangle’s Lesbian Nonfiction category and for the LBGT Nonfiction Lambda!)

Sadly, as the Publishing Triangle Awards ceremony is scheduled for six days after my planned dissertation defense date, I’m not sure I’ll make it up to New York — I’ll probably be stuck in Austin making sure I’m ready to officially file my dissertation. But I’ll try to do something glam here to celebrate this marvelous event! I’m so excited to be a part of it, even in absentia, and thrilled that Alcestis has received a finalist nod. Congratulations to all the other finalists for the Publishing Triangle and Lambda Literary Awards!

Which is, as I was just saying to a friend on Twitter, a nice change from the rest of the news this week. (Can’t stop thinking about the workers who stayed at the Fukushima plant.)

But on to the good news: Alcestis is a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award in Lesbian Debut Fiction! When originally nominated, the book was also listed in the “bisexual” category, and even though it ended up being chosen as a finalist in lesbian fiction, I want to thank Lambda Literary for their creation of bisexual and transgender categories. (Notably, the transgender category included enough entries to require splitting into fiction/nonfiction categories this year, just like the bisexual category did last year!) As a bisexual writer, it’s nice to be included, especially as the Lambda nomination pool gets bigger — the press release notes that this year’s crop included “more than 520 titles represented from about 230 publishers.” How exciting!

The awards will be announced at the Lambda Awards ceremony on May 26 — tickets have just gone on sale. I’m not sure if I’ll be there or not, but I’d love to go.

And now, back to formatting my dissertation! A life of glamor, I tell you.

… the other news I hinted at when posting last week: I got a job! Starting in August, I’ll be teaching creative writing (primarily fiction) at the College of Wooster, in Ohio. This is a three-year visiting assistant professor position, an excellent way to start, and I’ll teach introductory and upper-level workshop courses as well as directing senior independent projects. I am tremendously excited: about the job, the town, my already-delightful future colleagues, the whole deal. The academic job market is really tough these days; I am very, very lucky, and not just because I’ve gotten nothing but support and love along the way from my department, my family, and T.

And yes, this means that working on Killingly — and whatever comes after — will be part of my job. Like I said: lucky. And so relieved and happy I’m still sort of breathless with it.

The deadline for entering the Goodreads giveaway of three paperback copies of Alcestis is tonight! There are, as I post this, about twelve and a half hours showing on the countdown clock on the site (apparently the widget is a little slower to update?):

Still recovering from my busy week, and now from spring forward, too. Mostly I spent the latter half of the week reading — I finally finished The Ambassadors, then read Jessica Stern’s Denial: A Memoir of Terror, then Cynthia Ozick’s Foreign Bodies. (I put up short reviews on my Goodreads page if you’re curious.) I’ve also been looking at things on the internet, as you do. Some of those things have been upsetting — like this incredibly unsettling video of some of the most minor effects of the earthquake in Japan (cracks in the ground, filling with water).

If you haven’t donated to the Red Cross or another organization to support Japan’s relief effort, please do.

Some more cheerful (or at least distracting) links:

• Recommended to me by a friend: the Arvon Book of Life Writing.
• An interview with Ann Patchett about an essay of hers in Granta.
• Daniel Craig cross-dresses to make a point about gender inequality, with narration by Dame Judi Dench. (I’m not sure it’s the clearest visual argument I’ve ever seen, but who cares, it’s Daniel Craig in a dress.)
• An online exhibition of Isabella Stewart Gardner’s travel albums.
• The NYPL digital picture collection.
• A striking essay by Sherwood Smith about learning how to rewrite and get beyond the “easy phrase.”

And finally: Anthony Lane snarks about Oscar-worthy movies by predicting future winners. Here’s the best:

2013

“HOUSE”

After “The Queen,” “Elizabeth,” and “The Young Victoria,” which British queens remain to be explored? Step forward, Anne (played by a pitch-perfect Hugh Laurie), who reigned from 1702 to 1714, and who is now mainly associated with an elegant style of architecture and furniture. The last word in country-house period drama, with its soundtrack scored exclusively for cello, harp, and panpipes, and a controversial winner over David Fincher’s blistering, bang-up-to-date texting drama “Elimin8.” With Sir Michael Gambon, as Blenheim Palace, and a brief but scene-stealing turn from Dame Judi Dench, as a wingback chair with cabriole legs.

I’m so tempted to start casting my dissertation now. (Miranda Richardson as Martha Fowke Sansom!)

Also, remember that the Alcestis paperback giveaway on Goodreads ends March 15 — only a day or so left! I’ll post about this once more tomorrow, too.

It’s been a very busy and exciting week. Here are a few reasons why:

Can you tell that Inge's head is upside down in this photo?

That’s Inge declaring ownership of the box in which a copy of my (giant) dissertation is sitting. The diss. is with my committee members now, and we’re working on scheduling a defense in late April. There’s still work to do, of course. But: whew. That is the sound of me taking a short breather. (And doing some Killingly work, I hope!)

The book sitting on top of my dissertation draft includes my first substantial scholarly publication. It’s an edited collection entitled Masters of the Marketplace: British Women Novelists of the 1750s – my essay is about Charlotte Lennox’s The Female Quixote. The book looks beautiful, don’t you think?

(Inge is not responsible for making this week exciting and busy — thankfully — but she and Saki have definitely helped make it more enjoyable. Except for when they decide to race around the apartment just as I’m falling asleep.)

I’ve also learned that Alcestis is a finalist for the BSFS Compton Crook Award for 2010, with results to be announced in early April.

Finally, don’t forget that the Goodreads giveaway of three paperback copies of Alcestis ends March 15th!

After I catch my breath a bit, I’ll be back with more links and perhaps more news.

It’s been forever since I’ve done a meme like this, but I’ve seen this book meme circulating and I’m brain-fried enough to need some structure for my content this evening. So!

The book I am reading: I’m about 3/4 of the way through The Ambassadors, which I’d tried once before and hadn’t gotten into. I love James, though I think I’m more comfortable with the middle period than his late style (I haven’t read The Golden Bowl or The Princess Casamassima yet, though). The Ambassadors is — well, it’s an entire book about whether one young man will choose to leave one place and go back to another, from the POV of a fifty-year-old friend of the family who overthinks everything. It makes me want to flee to Paris myself, or rather to the Paris in the book. It’s a ridiculous book, in some ways — it has essentially no plot and the majority of the action involves characters turning each other’s words around and emphasizing things when they talk — but it’s very beautiful, too. I’m really enjoying it.

The book I am writing: Killingly — my 1890s New England Gothic about a disappearing college girl and her unusual best friend. And I recently finished writing a book-length dissertation, which should count for something, I think.

The book I love most: I’ve seen a lot of people refusing to choose, and I sympathize. Today I would say Middlemarch. Tomorrow it might be Persuasion, or Portrait of a Lady, or Possession.

The last book I received as a gift: There is a wrapped book sitting downstairs waiting for me to open it on my birthday tomorrow. I’m trying to remember what book I was given most recently before this. Possibly a gluten-free cookbook from family at Christmas?

The last book I gave as a gift: Hermione Lee’s A Very Short Introduction to Biography, which is really charming and well-put-together.

The nearest book on my desk: The fantastic Memoirs of Laetitia Pilkington, A. C. Elias, Jr.’s 1997 edition from the University of Georgia Press. It’s two volumes totaling 845 pp., the second being only notes. LP is one of my dissertation subjects, and she’s probably the one I’d most want to invite over for tea. The gossip would be exquisite.

PS. Don’t forget about the Con or Bust auction entry for Alcestis — bidding ends on Sunday.

So, the Goodreads giveaway of three paperback copies of Alcestis is still going, but I’m also contributing one signed paperback copy to the Con Or Bust auction. Con Or Bust raises funds to send fans of color to SF/fantasy cons. Originally, it supported fans who wanted to attend Wiscon, but this year it’s been broadened to support any con a fan chooses. Visit the link above to bid — bidding closes on March 6, as that post explains — and your bid will help.

I don’t think I’ll be at Wiscon this year, unfortunately, since the combo of dissertation and job market is pretty much eating my spring. But I had a great time when I attended for the first time last year and I hope I’ll be able to go back in the future.

And to conclude this post, before I dive back into scholarly work: the Viking Answer Lady. You’re welcome.