Since I couldn't find any decent skin for my phone (mainly because it is not an iPhone or a Samsung) I decided to design one for myself! Being "OBSESSED" with Red Riding Hood story, it was only natural to pick something along that line! Well...it was harder than I imagined it would be, making it fit and everything, but it didn't turn out that bad in the end! :)
Sometimes we hear of those in the publishing industry who dissuade authors from writing in different genres. As if YA readers don't read various styles of storytelling. YA readers do, and so do YA writers. Therefore, writers like the freedom to crossover. We choose the best genre to tell our story. Because ultimately, it's all about good story.
I'm happy to share two books by authors writing in different genres than they usually do. The first is Skin by Donna Jo Napoli. I did expect fantasy when I picked up the work, but then quickly entered into Sep's world as she discovers she has vitiligo. The realistic work is paced well as Napoli draws us alongside Sep. We feel compassion, frustration, and ultimately empathize with a character accepting her new self and redefining normal.
The second work is by our own rgz diva, Melissa Walker: Ashes to Ashes. I expected a contemporary work, which, true enough, the story begins with, but the paranormal afterlife caught me by surprise. (I don't tend to read flaps. :~) Melissa's setting is fresh and will draw you to think and ponder your own beliefs. That is of course after you've run with Callie through her trial, been pulled and torn through her decisions, and cheered her character growth. And as always, Melissa writes of real, compelling love. My favorite quote: "Life is fragile, worthy of reverence and gently care." Great thoughts for the new year!
Find these, rgz, and let us know what you think, here or on facebook. Happy new year!
Skin
by Donna Jo Napoli
Skyscape, 2013
Ashes to Ashes
by Melissa Walker
Katherine Tegen Books, Inc. 2013
Aztec mask of Xiuhtecuhtli, c. 1500, of Mixtec-Aztec provenance (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I’m using this poem of mine to lead into my subject of the day.
Window to the Soul
My presence acts as a window
To the human known as me.
Through that window you
Can see masks I wear eternally.
This mask reflects where I’ve been,
Still more show what I do with time.
Another suggests secrets held within;
Each mask a new persona.
Feathers, sequins, jewels, glitter
Before the beholder’s eyes,
Dropping hints about who I am,
Yet leaving me secured, invisible.
Each of us has gone through cycles within our lives. The practice is normal and human. We start as children learning all the lessons that will take us to an age where driving and dances are the norm. Some of us also take a path, somewhere along the way, that forces us to grow up all the sooner.
Once we have the ticket to responsibility called “a license,” we move on to planning the next decade of our lives; college or a job, singlehood or marriage, childless or not. They all make it into the mix of aspirations and goal lists.
Rules guard these bastions of normal living in our world. Each culture has its own signposts and traffic tickets. Once in a while, cultures crossover into each other, and create mutual signposts and tickets. It’s up to the average human to learn all of these and navigate the highways of modern living.
For all of the meandering we do in our lives, how much of ourselves do we really put out there for others to see or know?
“Plenty,” you say. But, do we really? The internet has made a public forum of many of our lives’ aspects. We blog, comment, dole out pieces of ourselves on Facebook on a daily basis and think nothing of it. It seems expected of web users to be “Transparent.”
The question remains. How much of our true selves do we reveal to the public?
Are we not merely shedding our masks, one at a time; those masks that protect us from revealing too much of the one who resides within the core of self?
I am a writer. I write about many things for many types of readers. My public image reveals those aspects of my writer’s mask. I’m female. Enough said on that score. I’m opinionated because I was taught to be so. Education will do that when it isn’t stifled by arbitrary bureaucratic controls.
Yet, within all I’ve revealed about who I am, few really know me, and I prefer it that way. Our deeds reveal more about us than anything we can say about ourselves.
My poem says a bit more in its way. It intimates that masks are all we see of each other. We all do it, and we do it because the world isn’t always the safest place to live.
One of
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