Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Your Summer Blog Blast Tour
Check out Colleen Mondor's blog for the Tour schedule for YA authors being interviewed across the blogosphere. The Tour started on Sunday and finishes this Saturday.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Still open
Hi everybody.
It's been brought to our attention by a kindly passerby that some markest listings are listing us as temporarily closed to subs.
This is *not* the case. We're still open to submissions, and we'll make an announcement here if that changes.
We still have a few slots to fill in our first year's worth of issues, so keep sending us the good stuff!
Ben
It's been brought to our attention by a kindly passerby that some markest listings are listing us as temporarily closed to subs.
This is *not* the case. We're still open to submissions, and we'll make an announcement here if that changes.
We still have a few slots to fill in our first year's worth of issues, so keep sending us the good stuff!
Ben
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Shiny Natcon
Since I'm the one with nothing to brag about, it's my duty to blog that all three Shiny editors went to the latest Australian Natcon, where the three of us met for the first time. It was very cool to hang out with my co-editors, who are three times more charming and intelligent in person than they are in blogland.
Tansy launched her very cool children's book Seacastle, at a very swish do at the Melbourne library.
Alisa picked up three Ditmar awards for her editing work at ASif!, including the Best New Talent award... the first time the latter has ever been won by an editor!
And I achieved nothing, but just generally had a good time
(file photo)
Peace out,
Ben
Tansy launched her very cool children's book Seacastle, at a very swish do at the Melbourne library.
Alisa picked up three Ditmar awards for her editing work at ASif!, including the Best New Talent award... the first time the latter has ever been won by an editor!
And I achieved nothing, but just generally had a good time
(file photo)
Peace out,
Ben
Monday, May 28, 2007
Shiny Sneak Peak
Here at Shiny we’ve received a decent amount of submissions – enough that I don’t feel that we are being forced to take things we don’t absolutely love and not too much that we are being overwhelmed to the point that we can’t move for slush.
We’ve accepted 4 stories with one pending acceptance, in my opinion. We need 9 for the 2007 series. That’s 3 issues each with 3 stories. So I guess that puts us at the half way point. I get to send out the rejections. Rejections are not the fun bit about being an editor. You know that someone is waiting at the other end of the email you are writing, maybe a bit excited, and when they read what you’ve written, it’s kinda gonna put a dark cloud over their day. On the other hand, being involved in the Last Short Story project at the same time has really helped me get over the rejecting of slush woes. Because … rejecting work does the writer, the reader and the magazine a favour. There are far too many markets out there being too nice. Far, far too many.
But every now and then you get a STORY. You know the kind … the one that stands out from the rest. The one that is so gripping and intriguing that you shut out the world and inhale it all in one go and get really excited that you get to be the one to accept and publish it.
For me, in the Shiny project, that story is called “The Sun People” and it was written by Sue Isle. I jumped on the Isle bandwagon last year reading her 2006 works “Daughter of the Red Cranes“ and “Mary Bennet gets a Life”. Isle has such a strong and unique voice. She writes from her own perspective and puts something fresh out there. She writes for characters that are usually the wall flowers in stories and she makes them compelling. She speaks for the unspoken and that makes me, as the reader, feel like I’m stumbling across something new and important. And maybe just a bit fragile.
I asked her to consider submitting something to Shiny and she told me she can’t write under 8000 words. I have to admit to being in a novelette kinda mood these last months. As a reader, I’m erring on the longer story as a preference so 8000 words didn’t faze me. And then she submitted “The Sun People”. I’m so excited about this story. There is so much to *be* excited about with this story. It’s a strong YA piece. It’s set in Perth and centres around a transgendered youth. It’s a quest for self identity and survival in a post apocalyptic, globally warmed world. It’s tightly written and moving. It’s very possibly my favourite story that I’ve read all year.
Alisa
We’ve accepted 4 stories with one pending acceptance, in my opinion. We need 9 for the 2007 series. That’s 3 issues each with 3 stories. So I guess that puts us at the half way point. I get to send out the rejections. Rejections are not the fun bit about being an editor. You know that someone is waiting at the other end of the email you are writing, maybe a bit excited, and when they read what you’ve written, it’s kinda gonna put a dark cloud over their day. On the other hand, being involved in the Last Short Story project at the same time has really helped me get over the rejecting of slush woes. Because … rejecting work does the writer, the reader and the magazine a favour. There are far too many markets out there being too nice. Far, far too many.
But every now and then you get a STORY. You know the kind … the one that stands out from the rest. The one that is so gripping and intriguing that you shut out the world and inhale it all in one go and get really excited that you get to be the one to accept and publish it.
For me, in the Shiny project, that story is called “The Sun People” and it was written by Sue Isle. I jumped on the Isle bandwagon last year reading her 2006 works “Daughter of the Red Cranes“ and “Mary Bennet gets a Life”. Isle has such a strong and unique voice. She writes from her own perspective and puts something fresh out there. She writes for characters that are usually the wall flowers in stories and she makes them compelling. She speaks for the unspoken and that makes me, as the reader, feel like I’m stumbling across something new and important. And maybe just a bit fragile.
I asked her to consider submitting something to Shiny and she told me she can’t write under 8000 words. I have to admit to being in a novelette kinda mood these last months. As a reader, I’m erring on the longer story as a preference so 8000 words didn’t faze me. And then she submitted “The Sun People”. I’m so excited about this story. There is so much to *be* excited about with this story. It’s a strong YA piece. It’s set in Perth and centres around a transgendered youth. It’s a quest for self identity and survival in a post apocalyptic, globally warmed world. It’s tightly written and moving. It’s very possibly my favourite story that I’ve read all year.
Alisa
Friday, May 11, 2007
Ben searches for his inner YA
So we have a third of our shiny shiny stories selected now. All you authors aspiring to appear in our first year’s worth of issues, start polishing those shiny stones!
I’ve written a review of Scott Westerfeld’s The Last Days over at ASif! (www.asif.dreamhosters.com). I know, I know, we’re always ranting about Westerfeld around here. But it’s a damn good book, and if you want to find out just how good YA can be, it’s a book you should check out.
I keep mulling around and around in my head, while we’re slushing, trying to work out what this thing YA is. On the one hand, I think adhering too vigorously to what is essentially a marketing category is crazy. But on the other hand, it’s obviously how we define ourselves, as a magazine, and so we have to have some kind of idea.
I’m still at the kind of “I know it when I see it” stage. There are stories we get that are well written but just aren’t YA. Stories that seem like they’re written for forty-five year olds. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that, but it ain’t the Shiny tone.
On the other hand, I’ve been happy that we’ve been able to find stories that differ in tone. YA isn’t a tightly-defined, narrow genre. There’s a lot of room to move within it, and the authors sending us stories have proven that.
One of the fun parts, for me, of the process, is trying to get back in touch with my inner YA self. Fortunately I don’t have too far to go, as I was never hugely wise or mature to begin with. But it’s enjoyable to try to reconnect with the way you engaged with the world when you were younger, before all the years of baggage and social conventions started to close you up and limit your personality. YA-time is a time of potential, a time of discoveries and coming-into-being. It’s a time when you’re free to define and redefine yourself, where you dig unashamedly into the guts of your mind and try to find out just who you are.
I hope Shiny reflects that sense of discovery and redefinition and honesty.
I’ve written a review of Scott Westerfeld’s The Last Days over at ASif! (www.asif.dreamhosters.com). I know, I know, we’re always ranting about Westerfeld around here. But it’s a damn good book, and if you want to find out just how good YA can be, it’s a book you should check out.
I keep mulling around and around in my head, while we’re slushing, trying to work out what this thing YA is. On the one hand, I think adhering too vigorously to what is essentially a marketing category is crazy. But on the other hand, it’s obviously how we define ourselves, as a magazine, and so we have to have some kind of idea.
I’m still at the kind of “I know it when I see it” stage. There are stories we get that are well written but just aren’t YA. Stories that seem like they’re written for forty-five year olds. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that, but it ain’t the Shiny tone.
On the other hand, I’ve been happy that we’ve been able to find stories that differ in tone. YA isn’t a tightly-defined, narrow genre. There’s a lot of room to move within it, and the authors sending us stories have proven that.
One of the fun parts, for me, of the process, is trying to get back in touch with my inner YA self. Fortunately I don’t have too far to go, as I was never hugely wise or mature to begin with. But it’s enjoyable to try to reconnect with the way you engaged with the world when you were younger, before all the years of baggage and social conventions started to close you up and limit your personality. YA-time is a time of potential, a time of discoveries and coming-into-being. It’s a time when you’re free to define and redefine yourself, where you dig unashamedly into the guts of your mind and try to find out just who you are.
I hope Shiny reflects that sense of discovery and redefinition and honesty.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Shiny 5 with Alisa Krasnostein
1. What's your favourite kind of story to read?
Stories that change me in some way. I like a story that has an unexpected ending or that educates me on an issue or subject or reveals a new perspective or point of view.
2. Do you prefer character or plot driven stories?
I think I’m going to have say that I prefer plot-driven stories but with the caveat that all plot and no character investment makes for a dull story. I do need some kind of direction and pay off. I’m not really all that taken by 2000 word vignettes of a character that don’t develop or go anywhere.
3. Would you rather be stranded on a desert island or on a space station?
See I want to say desert island. They always look so luxurious in the travel pamphlets – all those palm trees, and clear blue water and long sandy, deserted beaches. Of course, I hate to sunbake, I’d have brought the wrong book and there’d be no-one to bring me cool drinks in tall glasses with umbrellas. I’ll have to go for space station and hope it has one of those food dispensers like on the Enterprise and a comprehensive database of reading material.
4. What do you like about YA over other subgenres?
I like that they’re shorter and easier to read. When did it become the goal of writers to write books so long that you can use them as book stops when you’re down and filled with pages and pages and pages of unnecessary world building that’s totally irrelevant to the actual plot? I want to get to the story, right straight into the angst, by the end of chapter 1 and be really invested in what’s going to unfold. A lot of YA does that really well.
5. What are you looking for in stories submitted to Shiny?
I’m looking for new ideas and fresh perspectives. I’m looking for stories that don’t patronise the reader and aren’t self-conscious. I’m looking for stories that are tightly written and draw me in so that I can’t put them down till the end. I’m looking for stories that have something interesting to say or an absorbing tale to tell. I’m looking for stories that will be a great way to spend a coffee break and will leave me better off for having read them.
Stories that change me in some way. I like a story that has an unexpected ending or that educates me on an issue or subject or reveals a new perspective or point of view.
2. Do you prefer character or plot driven stories?
I think I’m going to have say that I prefer plot-driven stories but with the caveat that all plot and no character investment makes for a dull story. I do need some kind of direction and pay off. I’m not really all that taken by 2000 word vignettes of a character that don’t develop or go anywhere.
3. Would you rather be stranded on a desert island or on a space station?
See I want to say desert island. They always look so luxurious in the travel pamphlets – all those palm trees, and clear blue water and long sandy, deserted beaches. Of course, I hate to sunbake, I’d have brought the wrong book and there’d be no-one to bring me cool drinks in tall glasses with umbrellas. I’ll have to go for space station and hope it has one of those food dispensers like on the Enterprise and a comprehensive database of reading material.
4. What do you like about YA over other subgenres?
I like that they’re shorter and easier to read. When did it become the goal of writers to write books so long that you can use them as book stops when you’re down and filled with pages and pages and pages of unnecessary world building that’s totally irrelevant to the actual plot? I want to get to the story, right straight into the angst, by the end of chapter 1 and be really invested in what’s going to unfold. A lot of YA does that really well.
5. What are you looking for in stories submitted to Shiny?
I’m looking for new ideas and fresh perspectives. I’m looking for stories that don’t patronise the reader and aren’t self-conscious. I’m looking for stories that are tightly written and draw me in so that I can’t put them down till the end. I’m looking for stories that have something interesting to say or an absorbing tale to tell. I’m looking for stories that will be a great way to spend a coffee break and will leave me better off for having read them.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
The Rundown
Well this morning we accepted our 4th story for the 2007 Shiny Trio Series. At almost the halfway mark, I thought it might be interesting to have a look at some of our stats.
We've received 120 submissions.
Of those, 44% have been from female authors with a ratio of 61 male subs to 53 female and 6 unknown.
Of those, 16 were Australian authors (13%) and overwhelmingly 77 or 64% were from Americans. The full nationality breakdown is as follows:
16 Australian
7 Canadian
1 Israeli
3 New Zealanders
1 Swede
5 Britons
77 Americans
We have accepted 3 stories from female authors and 1 from a male. We have accepted 2 stories from Aussies, 1 from a Brit and 1 from an American.
Our submission guidelines state that we are looking for stories between 2000 and 8000 words. We have read 429,421 submitted words, with the average story being about 3730 words. It's not surprising then that 3 of the stories we have accepted are at the 3000 - 3500 mark. The shortest story we have received is 900 words and the longest is 9650 words. 14 submitted stories fell outside the submission guidelines range and of these, whilst all still fully considered, we have accepted none.
Our average turnaround for a story in the slushpile is 6 days. The longest turnaround was 61 days and 93 of the submitted stories were in the slushpile for less than one week.
Submissions are logged with a number in the order that they are received. Our accepted stories came in at 38, 78, 99 and 118. So if I put my best predictive hat on, by the numbers, we should be accepting stories 128 and 138. (Hey, I'm an Engineer ... that's what we *do*!!)
- Alisa
We've received 120 submissions.
Of those, 44% have been from female authors with a ratio of 61 male subs to 53 female and 6 unknown.
Of those, 16 were Australian authors (13%) and overwhelmingly 77 or 64% were from Americans. The full nationality breakdown is as follows:
16 Australian
7 Canadian
1 Israeli
3 New Zealanders
1 Swede
5 Britons
77 Americans
We have accepted 3 stories from female authors and 1 from a male. We have accepted 2 stories from Aussies, 1 from a Brit and 1 from an American.
Our submission guidelines state that we are looking for stories between 2000 and 8000 words. We have read 429,421 submitted words, with the average story being about 3730 words. It's not surprising then that 3 of the stories we have accepted are at the 3000 - 3500 mark. The shortest story we have received is 900 words and the longest is 9650 words. 14 submitted stories fell outside the submission guidelines range and of these, whilst all still fully considered, we have accepted none.
Our average turnaround for a story in the slushpile is 6 days. The longest turnaround was 61 days and 93 of the submitted stories were in the slushpile for less than one week.
Submissions are logged with a number in the order that they are received. Our accepted stories came in at 38, 78, 99 and 118. So if I put my best predictive hat on, by the numbers, we should be accepting stories 128 and 138. (Hey, I'm an Engineer ... that's what we *do*!!)
- Alisa
Saturday, April 21, 2007
The Shiny 5 with Ben Payne
1. What's your favourite kind of story to read?
My favourite stories are about people. They move me, or make me think about my own life or life in general. They challenge me. They make me feel less alone.
They have some aspect of life in them which glimmers and slips through my eye into my brain and makes me think "Oh yeah, that's right... that’s how life is..."
The best stories make you feel more alive for having read them...
2. Do you prefer character or plot driven stories?
I prefer character driven stories. I think that "why" people do things is a lot more interesting than "how", and that short stories tend to reflect that. The plot of a story tends to deal with how things happened, the character stuff tends to look into why the characters acted the way they did, and how the events affected them. The how stuff is far from irrelevant, of course, but it's the "why" that interests me the most.
Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule.
3. Would you rather be stranded on a desert island or on a space station
Would I be alone on the space station? Cos if not, then that one, definitely...
If I had to be alone, I think I'd prefer the desert island... less claustrophobic, and at least I could befriend a jaguar or something. It could fetch my tea and we could have interesting conversations over coconuts.
4. What do you like about YA over other subgenres?
YA tends to say, "Let's skip the bull. Let's get to the point."
I can think of a few subgenres that could do with heeding that advice.
There's less room for pretension... I don't think YA audiences are impressed by tricks... they just want to get into the guts of the story, into the guts of the characters, into the depths of our internal selves.
I think YA also appeals to me because it isn't afraid to say that how we feel and how we think *matters*... I think a lot of authors aimed at older readers become almost embarrassed by emotion... they want to hide it underneath guns or magic battles or whatever... YA authors need to get into the raw emotion because that's what their audience demands... teenagers, you see, (and select adult readers) are not yet dead inside:)
5. What are you looking for in stories submitted to Shiny?
I'm not gonna repeat what I've already said, but I'll try to sum it up.
I want stories that make me laugh, stories that grip me and hold me in my seat.
I want stories that smash my heart with a brick.
I want stories that undo my sense of self and make me reconfigure the way I think about everything I think.
I want prose that makes reading something I enjoy.
I want characters I am interested in and/or care about.
I want stories that make me feel that reading them was the best way I could have spent that twenty or so minutes of my life.
...and stories with talking birds. I like talking birds.
benpayne.livejournal.com
My favourite stories are about people. They move me, or make me think about my own life or life in general. They challenge me. They make me feel less alone.
They have some aspect of life in them which glimmers and slips through my eye into my brain and makes me think "Oh yeah, that's right... that’s how life is..."
The best stories make you feel more alive for having read them...
2. Do you prefer character or plot driven stories?
I prefer character driven stories. I think that "why" people do things is a lot more interesting than "how", and that short stories tend to reflect that. The plot of a story tends to deal with how things happened, the character stuff tends to look into why the characters acted the way they did, and how the events affected them. The how stuff is far from irrelevant, of course, but it's the "why" that interests me the most.
Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule.
3. Would you rather be stranded on a desert island or on a space station
Would I be alone on the space station? Cos if not, then that one, definitely...
If I had to be alone, I think I'd prefer the desert island... less claustrophobic, and at least I could befriend a jaguar or something. It could fetch my tea and we could have interesting conversations over coconuts.
4. What do you like about YA over other subgenres?
YA tends to say, "Let's skip the bull. Let's get to the point."
I can think of a few subgenres that could do with heeding that advice.
There's less room for pretension... I don't think YA audiences are impressed by tricks... they just want to get into the guts of the story, into the guts of the characters, into the depths of our internal selves.
I think YA also appeals to me because it isn't afraid to say that how we feel and how we think *matters*... I think a lot of authors aimed at older readers become almost embarrassed by emotion... they want to hide it underneath guns or magic battles or whatever... YA authors need to get into the raw emotion because that's what their audience demands... teenagers, you see, (and select adult readers) are not yet dead inside:)
5. What are you looking for in stories submitted to Shiny?
I'm not gonna repeat what I've already said, but I'll try to sum it up.
I want stories that make me laugh, stories that grip me and hold me in my seat.
I want stories that smash my heart with a brick.
I want stories that undo my sense of self and make me reconfigure the way I think about everything I think.
I want prose that makes reading something I enjoy.
I want characters I am interested in and/or care about.
I want stories that make me feel that reading them was the best way I could have spent that twenty or so minutes of my life.
...and stories with talking birds. I like talking birds.
benpayne.livejournal.com
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Shiny Review: So Yesterday
So Yesterday
by Scott Westerfeld
Reviewed by Alisa Krasnostein
Currently I'm in a Scott Westerfeld state of mind. In fact, he's rapidly becoming one of my favourite authors. I've just finished So Yesterday which Tansy suggested I read since she mentioned it in the Shiny Submission Guidelines and all.
What I love most about Westerfeld is his writing style. It's laid back and affable but it's intimate – he makes you feel as though the narrator is in direct dialogue with you, the reader. You never feel removed or set back from the action. Perhaps that's why I so often find myself sitting down for just 10 minutes of reading and surfacing 50 pages or more later. Reading his work is effortless and a pleasure.
Westerfeld doesn't talk down to his (intended) audience – his characters are you adults but he doesn't balk from using grown up material and language. Westerfeld also tends to use interesting and adult topics around which he writes his YA plots. In a world where young adults mature faster than ever before, Westerfeld shows himself to be in touch with his audience. Whilst his characters still struggle with the familiar YA issues – coming of age, first loves and discovery of identity and place in the world – they do so very mature scenarios. Westerfeld writes with such a likeable sense of humour that its hard not to find yourself smiling at offhanded, throwaway asides. Finally, his books are smart, the plots driven by clever devices and I always finish a Westerfeld novel in some way smarter than when I started it. I like that he writes intelligently and uses facts to inform in a fun and fascinating way.
So Yesterday, as hinted at by the title, is about "cool" and the manufacturing of "cool". Hunter lives in New York City and is a cool hunter – that's someone who is hired to find out what will be the next cool fad. How does he do it? He looks out for "innovators" – those people in society who just *are* cool. These are the people who invent. They invent the new gadgets and gimmicks, new ways of doing things or wearing things. Hunter is employed by "The Client" to find these on-the-verge-of-being-fads – like shoe styles, ways of wearing a cap, the new must-have mobile – so that they can commercialise it and profit off it. Just as Hunter meets and falls for Jen, an innovator who he discovers for the way she laces her shoes, his boss, Mandy, mysteriously disappears. Hunter and Jen embark on an utterly cool New York City adventure of a lifetime to get to the bottom of who abducted Mandy and why.
A couple of years ago I saw a documentary made for MTV on this very subject. It looked at the way large corporations seek out to find sub culture before it becomes pop culture and repackage it and serve it back up to consumers as their subculture. Examples in the documentary included the Pepsi Top 10 Video Hits and the Mountain Dew sponsored Pop Album launch parties. It kind of reminds me of the hangers-on at parties that somehow become part of the event. You don't really remember inviting them but you can't forget that they were there. An important part of culture jamming (that's when you subvert the adoption of some fad) is pointing out to consumers how they are being subliminally manipulated into consuming. This documentary did that for me at the time and So Yesterday worked to reinforce those ideas.
Throughout the book, the narrator refuses to label name drop, preferring to refer to labels and products in several worded descriptions. This tool works to bring the reader along and feel part of it. "Oh yes!" you think, as you recognise references to Nike, the Matrix movie franchise and so on. And it serves to make you feel ... well ... cool. That is, of course, until the culture jammers come into play. And you realise both in real life and in So Yesterday that your brand recognition is a manipulative play to make you consume what you think is cool and what you think is cool is because you feel a part of some kind of (manufactured) cool movement. Because as we all know, the truly cool are those riding the crest of the cool wave – the innovators. The rest of us are well, merely adopters.
This book is going on my 2007 list of Really Really Good Books I read. It was a quick and enjoyable read which made me think about who I am in society and what and why I consume the products that I do.
by Scott Westerfeld
Reviewed by Alisa Krasnostein
Currently I'm in a Scott Westerfeld state of mind. In fact, he's rapidly becoming one of my favourite authors. I've just finished So Yesterday which Tansy suggested I read since she mentioned it in the Shiny Submission Guidelines and all.
What I love most about Westerfeld is his writing style. It's laid back and affable but it's intimate – he makes you feel as though the narrator is in direct dialogue with you, the reader. You never feel removed or set back from the action. Perhaps that's why I so often find myself sitting down for just 10 minutes of reading and surfacing 50 pages or more later. Reading his work is effortless and a pleasure.
Westerfeld doesn't talk down to his (intended) audience – his characters are you adults but he doesn't balk from using grown up material and language. Westerfeld also tends to use interesting and adult topics around which he writes his YA plots. In a world where young adults mature faster than ever before, Westerfeld shows himself to be in touch with his audience. Whilst his characters still struggle with the familiar YA issues – coming of age, first loves and discovery of identity and place in the world – they do so very mature scenarios. Westerfeld writes with such a likeable sense of humour that its hard not to find yourself smiling at offhanded, throwaway asides. Finally, his books are smart, the plots driven by clever devices and I always finish a Westerfeld novel in some way smarter than when I started it. I like that he writes intelligently and uses facts to inform in a fun and fascinating way.
So Yesterday, as hinted at by the title, is about "cool" and the manufacturing of "cool". Hunter lives in New York City and is a cool hunter – that's someone who is hired to find out what will be the next cool fad. How does he do it? He looks out for "innovators" – those people in society who just *are* cool. These are the people who invent. They invent the new gadgets and gimmicks, new ways of doing things or wearing things. Hunter is employed by "The Client" to find these on-the-verge-of-being-fads – like shoe styles, ways of wearing a cap, the new must-have mobile – so that they can commercialise it and profit off it. Just as Hunter meets and falls for Jen, an innovator who he discovers for the way she laces her shoes, his boss, Mandy, mysteriously disappears. Hunter and Jen embark on an utterly cool New York City adventure of a lifetime to get to the bottom of who abducted Mandy and why.
A couple of years ago I saw a documentary made for MTV on this very subject. It looked at the way large corporations seek out to find sub culture before it becomes pop culture and repackage it and serve it back up to consumers as their subculture. Examples in the documentary included the Pepsi Top 10 Video Hits and the Mountain Dew sponsored Pop Album launch parties. It kind of reminds me of the hangers-on at parties that somehow become part of the event. You don't really remember inviting them but you can't forget that they were there. An important part of culture jamming (that's when you subvert the adoption of some fad) is pointing out to consumers how they are being subliminally manipulated into consuming. This documentary did that for me at the time and So Yesterday worked to reinforce those ideas.
Throughout the book, the narrator refuses to label name drop, preferring to refer to labels and products in several worded descriptions. This tool works to bring the reader along and feel part of it. "Oh yes!" you think, as you recognise references to Nike, the Matrix movie franchise and so on. And it serves to make you feel ... well ... cool. That is, of course, until the culture jammers come into play. And you realise both in real life and in So Yesterday that your brand recognition is a manipulative play to make you consume what you think is cool and what you think is cool is because you feel a part of some kind of (manufactured) cool movement. Because as we all know, the truly cool are those riding the crest of the cool wave – the innovators. The rest of us are well, merely adopters.
This book is going on my 2007 list of Really Really Good Books I read. It was a quick and enjoyable read which made me think about who I am in society and what and why I consume the products that I do.
Monday, April 16, 2007
The Shiny 5 with Tansy
1. What's your favourite kind of story to read?
Funny, or witty, with a strong character voice and bright, colourful visuals.
2. Do you prefer character or plot driven stories?
Character all the way, though it helps if the plot doesn't suck.
3. Would you rather be stranded on a desert island or on a space station
I hate the outdoors, so space station. As long as they have broadband. :)
4. What do you like about YA over other subgenres?
I find that the stories are more fluid and don't get as bogged down in trying to impress the reader as adult fiction often does. And there's more of a focus on clean prose & interesting characters and situations rather than the kind of pretty-for-the-sake-of-it writing that feels like work to read it. I don't mind working to get the most out of my reading sometimes, but when I read for entertainment I want to be entertained! Plus there happens to be some awesome stuff in the YA genre right now - some great authors who really excite me.
5. What are you looking for in stories submitted to Shiny?
Strong, character based stories in which something happens - too many promising stories have been let down by finishing where the story really should be getting started. Some fun, bright stuff would be good because so far the best stories we've received have been on the emo side, and I want contrast. We could also do with some girly toned stories that aren't completely frivolous - chick lit for teens, but with substance. I'd love to publish something of the quality of Kelly Link's "The Fairy Handbag" or Ellen Klages' "In the House of Seven Librarians".
Funny, or witty, with a strong character voice and bright, colourful visuals.
2. Do you prefer character or plot driven stories?
Character all the way, though it helps if the plot doesn't suck.
3. Would you rather be stranded on a desert island or on a space station
I hate the outdoors, so space station. As long as they have broadband. :)
4. What do you like about YA over other subgenres?
I find that the stories are more fluid and don't get as bogged down in trying to impress the reader as adult fiction often does. And there's more of a focus on clean prose & interesting characters and situations rather than the kind of pretty-for-the-sake-of-it writing that feels like work to read it. I don't mind working to get the most out of my reading sometimes, but when I read for entertainment I want to be entertained! Plus there happens to be some awesome stuff in the YA genre right now - some great authors who really excite me.
5. What are you looking for in stories submitted to Shiny?
Strong, character based stories in which something happens - too many promising stories have been let down by finishing where the story really should be getting started. Some fun, bright stuff would be good because so far the best stories we've received have been on the emo side, and I want contrast. We could also do with some girly toned stories that aren't completely frivolous - chick lit for teens, but with substance. I'd love to publish something of the quality of Kelly Link's "The Fairy Handbag" or Ellen Klages' "In the House of Seven Librarians".
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