Women's History Month: Sophie Masson

I forgot to ask Sophie for a bio! She's one of the most supportive writers I know. She has given many young writers a hand-up at one time or another. I met her, however, through our shared Arthurian interests. While her post has seen the light of day before, it's being republished here because it's apposite. Not only does it fit our shared love of history, but it is directly relevant to WHM and also to her new book The Understudy's Revenge.

Writing historical novels

When you're writing a novel set in a period that's not your own, research is an inescapable part of the equation. Not that it bothers me—I love setting off on in my mind-powered time-machine on a journey of discovery into the 'foreign' yet teasingly familiar country that is the past. It is indeed often so much fun that it can be hard to tear yourself away from the research to begin the hard work of the book itself! And you also have to temper enthusiasm with temperance—to know the point at which enough research becomes too much. And not to paralyse your creativity with too much emphasis on logistics or facts—to remember you are writing a historical novel, not a historical textbook. Over the years I've become familiar with those tipping points and now, by instinct, know when to stop—and not to become enslaved by historical fact. The trick is to learn enough facts and absorb enough cultural atmosphere to feel as though you are comfortable in that period; but not to think you need to know absolutely everything—after all, you don't even know absolutely everything about your own times!

( To read the rest of Sophie's article. just click here. )

ETA: Sophie has kindly given me a bio. She did it when I posted this, but my brain was to pieces and I put it in a safe place. Let me put it here, which is an even safer place.

SOPHIE MASSON—BIOGRAPHY
Born in Indonesia, of French parents, Sophie Masson came to Australia with her family at the age of 5. All her childhood, the family went back and forth between Australia and France, so Sophie grew up between worlds, and between languages, something which has always influenced her work. Sophie has had many novels published, in Australia and internationally, for children, young adults and adults. Her books have been shortlisted for many awards. In 2002 her alternative history/mystery novel, The Hand of Glory, won the YA section of the Aurealis Awards. Her most recent novels are The Hunt for Ned Kelly(Scholastic 2010) The Phar Lap Mystery(Scholastic 2010) The Understudy's Revenge(Scholastic Feb 2011) and My Father's War(Scholastic April 2011). Forthcoming is The Boggle Hunters(Scholastic 2012).
Sophie has also written many short stories, articles and reviews, which have appeared in many publications around the world, including Quadrant.
She was a member of the Literature Board of the Australia Council for four years, is presently on the Management Committee of the Australian Society of Authors and is the Depity Chair of the New England Writers' Centre.

Ian Whates: City of Hope and Despair

It's Angry Robot time!

I know I have a thousand things I must do this weekend, but life without new books is just not right, and Angry Robot put a set of new e-ARCs on their Robot Army website very recently.

City of Hope and Despair is part two of the trilogy that began with City of Dreams and Nightmares. The trilogy is closely connected - you need to start at the beginning. If you don't, the book will still make sense, but you'll lose a lot. And there's a cliffhanger ending.

You may remember that, while I didn't adore the first book in the trilogy, I said it was worth hanging in there and reading on. That hanging in is paying off. While this is not a great adventure fantasy trilogy, it's a solid one. Perfect fare for northern summers (perfect fare for southern summers, too, but the southern summer is so far off that it doesn't bear thinking of) or slipping into an overnight bag to take on a weekend away.

Whates is more secure in his voice in this volume, although he doesn't always assign the right amount of time to a particular narrative thread to keep us hanging. Some of the action sequences are still overdescribed and some are skipped over almost entirely. For the most part, though, it's a great deal of fun. Whates isn't scared of giving his characters a hard time, which means that there's no guarantee of most happy-ever-afters. Real jeopardy equals real tension.

It's not a big book. It's a comforting read, however, for lovers of adventure fantasy, and it has enough inventiveness and strong enough characterisation to be definitely worth a look.