Malinda Lo was born in China and moved to the United States as a child. Ash, her first novel, was a finalist for the William C. Morris YA Debut Award, the Andre Norton Award for YA Science Fiction and Fantasy, and the Lambda Literary Award for Children’s/Young Adult, and was a Kirkus 2009 Best Book for Children and Teens.

Her second novel, Huntress, is a companion novel to Ash and is an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. Her young adult science fiction duology, beginning with Adaptation, will be published in fall 2012. Formerly, she was an entertainment reporter, and was awarded the 2006 Sarah Pettit Memorial Award for Excellence in LGBT Journalism by the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association for her work at AfterEllen. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and has master’s degrees from Harvard and Stanford Universities. She now lives in Northern California with her partner and their dog.

Cels: Thank you so much for dropping by and visiting us here at Burn Bright. Both our reviewers who read Ash and Huntress fell head over heels for the stories, and for myself, Huntress is one of the most thought provoking, heart-wrenching novels I’ve had the pleasure of reading. Not only does it contain a poignant and beautiful love story, here we meet two amazing young women who must face the choice of obligation over their feelings. I enjoyed the fact that it wasn’t society placing the obstacles in front of them, but the girls’ own career aspirations that challenged them. How important do you think works of fiction are when it comes to challenging/changing societies ideal/beliefs?

Malinda: Thank you! That is such a compliment!  Fiction can be so powerful, I think, because the format of the novel is so intimate — it’s like having someone whisper inside your brain. I love that the connection a reader can develop with a character can be so close. With a good book, you really get to know a character, and often you come to identify and sympathize with them. If you don’t share their beliefs that can push you to broaden your own, or at least gain some understanding into why they think differently than you do.

As a writer of fiction, I don’t purposely write to change anyone’s ideals or beliefs, but it’s not a black-and-white situation. I have to be true to the characters and the story I’m telling, but also, my own beliefs probably come through in the fiction I write. I believe that’s the case with every writer, though. I’ll probably never write a story that is sympathetic to a homophobe, for example, because I doubt I’d ever want to.

Cels: Ash is the tale of Cinderella with a unique new twist. Which fairy tale’s captivated you as a child?

Malinda: You’ll be shocked to learn that my favorite fairy tale as a child was Cinderella. 🙂 I even loved the Disney version! As I grew up I came to have a more complicated relationship with the Cinderella story than I did as a child, but I think I still identify with the tale of someone who works very hard and ultimately is rewarded for her labor. The reward I’d want now is different than the one I wanted as a six-year-old, but it’s still the same general story. Also, I’m a romantic!

Cels: You have a new novel “Adaptation” releasing later this year. Can you tell us a little bit about what’s in store for us?

Malinda: It’s very different from Ash and Huntress. For one thing, it’s contemporary science fiction, set in the United States, so there aren’t any enchanted forests or fairies! It was a very fun book to write; I sort of think of it as my version of a popcorn movie. There’s a lot of action and exploding thingies, and also quite a bit of making out. (Really, more than I expected!) It’s inspired by my love for The X-Files, so you can expect conspiracies and mystery and some creepiness. I hope people enjoy it!

Cels: Which of your fictional characters burns brightest in your mind and why?

Malinda: Currently I’m writing the sequel to Adaptation (yes, there is a sequel!), so I’m very deeply in the heads of those characters. There is one, in particular, who seemed to spring from my imagination fully formed from the very beginning. I feel a little guilty about saying this, but this character is hands-down my favorite character I’ve ever created. (I can imagine all my other characters making faces at me.) Sometimes creating a character is like pulling teeth — I can’t figure out why they want to do things or even what they want to wear. But with this character, I knew all of it from the get-go. I have no idea how or why, but I think the magicalness of this character’s birth is part of why I love this one so much. (You noticed I said nothing about who this character is, right? Ha!)

Mandy: Cassel Sharpe’s family are curse workers, and he’s the only non-magical member. Which is a bonus for him, since magic (aka talent) is outlawed in the world Holly Black has created for her latest series.

Cassel’s mother is and Emotion worker, and currently spending time in jail for her confidence tricks. His grandfather is a Death worker, able to kill people with a single touch and his older brothers have special skills of their own. In this alternate world, everyone is forced to wear gloves and anyone is a potential criminal. The Mafia prizes workers, and folks like Cassel’s grandfather are highly sought. But the biggest problem for workers isn’t always the legal issues – it’s the physical blowback they get from using their talent. Cassel makes up for his lack of magic by becoming an excellent con artist and thief, skills which are admired in his family of shady crims. Cassel’s life would be easier if he shared the family gift, and he runs a full range of emotions between embarrassment of his heritage, to wanting a ‘normal’ life, to wishing he was a worker himself. Things would certainly be easier if he was – or would they?

With his home-life less than stellar, Cassel gladly attends an exclusive boarding school, Wallingford, where he acts as the school bookie, taking bets on everything from who will be cast as the lead in the school play to how many times brownies will be served that week in the cafeteria. His life is pretty good – and profitable – until the night he wakes up on the school roof after dreaming of a familiar white cat… and the girl he killed three years ago.

White Cat confused me in the beginning, and it took a while to get my bearings. The back cover blurb and cover art didn’t do a lot to give away what type of story it was, and I was expecting a high fantasy, when really, it’s anything but. White Cat is dark and gritty and once you get the hang of the world being the same as ours, but a step or three to the left of reality, it’s easier to sink into. Black’s clever meshing of the criminal world with the magical is unlike anything else out there, and having a male protagonist was a welcome, refreshing change. I loved the explanation of ‘the con’, the steps a criminal takes to convince their victim they’re the good guy, the mind games Cassel and his family plays. Cassel himself took a bit of getting used to as well, but his lack of angsty whining combined with intelligent internal dialogue kept me on my toes and looking forward to book two – Red Glove.

Kylie: I agree that White Cat was engaging enough for me to continue reading and look forward to the second instalment.

Like Mandy, I was confused at first. What is presented is a very real world view, so the “rules” of the magical world created within it were quite unclear and took me by surprise at the beginning of the book. Once my confusion had abated though, it was easy to accept this other reality.

I found that I didn’t really engage with any of the characters as much as I would have liked to. I didn’t like any of them enough to barrack for them and, equally, I didn’t dislike any enough to wish for their demise. I remained detached throughout the book which was a great disappointment.

My other major criticism of the book was that the timing seemed to be off in parts. Some of the big reveals were anything but a revelation – and I doubt that was due to any shrewd reading between the lines of the plot. Much was not only predictable but actually spelled out for the reader so that instead of a revelation, the climatic scenes were an anticlimax.

Other scenes were so unpredictable that they left me cold. There hadn’t seemed to be any warning signs or clues to lead to the author’s conclusions.

Despite my misgivings, I did actually enjoy the ride, particularly, like Mandy pointed out, the descriptions of the cons and the profiling of their con victims.

White Cat by Holly Black

Orion Publishing Group (imprint of Gollancz)

Paperback, 310 pages.

ISBN – 978 0 575 09671 4

Is it summer yet?! Where is the sun? Where is the warmth?! I want to be able to finally leave my house without wearing three jackets and still be freezing cold!

I’m not sure where you might live, but here, where I am, it’s raining every day. If I’m really unlucky, we’ll even have high wind speeds to top it off.

Even though, I could go for hours complaining about how crappy the weather is here in the Northwest, I’m actually here to show you a few cute nail polishes that would be perfect for spring! Besides reading, blogging and school, I really enjoy doing my own nails, make up, and dressing up. (I’m not only addicted to buying books, but also clothes….oh and shoes!)

There are tons of different nail polish brands that vary in price ranges. I usually prefer, not spending more than five dollars on a bottle of nail polish (who would want to buy one bottle, which costs twenty-five dollars, where I could buy five instead?). So the nail polishes I’ll be showing to you will either be five dollars (sorry I’m not sure of prices in other countries, but you can easily just look them up online), or less!

1. Tickled Pink (Wet n’ Wild, Wild Shine)

Light pinks are really in this spring! I really like this brand, this line is actually only 99 cents! But they do have different lines, that vary from 99 cents to I think around 7 dollars. I do actually own this one, but I haven’t tried it yet!

2. Sunny Side Up (also Wet n’ Wild, Wild Shine)

Their dollar line has a ton of great colors, especially for spring! They’re bright and colorful which is perfect! I do also own this one, it’s actually my second bottle, I love it!

3. Let’s Meet (Sinful Colors)

This one cost 1.99, which isn’t very much, but I love the quality and they have a HUGE selection of different colors! I’m wearing this one right now, it’s not just a yellow, it actually has microscopic yellow, orange and green shimmers. This isn’t exactly what’s in for spring, but I really like it, and it goes along with a lot of my spring clothes.

4. Innocent (again by Sinful Colors)

This is a bright and creme color green. I haven’t worn it yet, but I plan to as soon as this yellow one chips. Spring is all about bright colors and looking at Innocent, it just reminds me so much of Easter!

5. Bare (Also by Sinful Colors)

I have this one on my toes right now, and I’m loving it! I haven’t had it on my fingers, but I plan to soon. Besides bright colors, nude and cream colors are in. Look in any fashion magazine; clean cut nails are one of the newest things!

So I hoped this helped you (if it was with deciding on what nail polish colors to get, or just get you in the end of winter, and beginning of spring mood). I love nail polishes, and I’ll be sure to do more beauty posts in the future, thanks! 🙂

Perth fans this is for YOU!

Marianne is Guest of Honour at SwanCon, a SFF convention from 5th – 9th of April and would love to see you there!

For those who can’t make the convention, however, Marianne is considering having a Kaffee Klatsch (coffee morning) for fans, bloggers and vloggers in the week following the convention. If you would like to be part of this, please register your interest in the comment section below or on the Burn Bright FB page.

Below are some pics of the KK in Melbourne last year, hosted by Braiden Asciak. Marianne and Alison Goodman brought some nice grab bags for fans. As you can see, you really do get time to chat!

Since their world was torn apart two years ago, siblings Cyrus, Antigone and Daniel Smith have run made their homes at a run-down Archer Motel.  Here, amongst the faded carpet, rusting walkways and pool complete with a cracked bottom, life has settled into somewhat of a hum-drum routine. That is until the strange old Billy Bones with his skeleton tattoos and mysterious manner turns up requesting a room.

Within 24 hours Billy is dead, the motel in ashes and Daniel is missing. And for Cyrus and Antigone life just turned upside down all over again. Suddenly, they find themselves on their knees, swearing an oath to an order of explorers who have long served as the caretakers for the world’s secrets. The keepers of the most powerful relics from civilisations long lost, and the jailers to the unkillable criminals who have terrorised mankind for millennia.  Now the Smith’s are in the criminal’s crosshairs and have a lot of lessons to learn to get Daniel back before his time runs out.

The Dragon’s Tooth has all the markings of becoming the next must-read especially for boys aged 10 and up. Full of high octane action and adventure, traitorous behaviour and of course the much loved “chosen child finds his path” theme, The Dragon’s Tooth is reality based fantasy at its best.

The world building is absolutely superb and the hidden twist and turns throughout the plot will keep you double guessing throughout. The relationship between Cyrus and Antigone, in particular, is beautiful to behold and certainly adds another dimension to the already fantastic tale.  The fact that the two youngest siblings were the ones tasked with saving the older one also added to my enjoyment. Here we get to see two fairly ordinary kids face the toughest forms of adversity the author could throw at them and not only beat the odds but thrive.

There is an overly “boyish” feel to the story, I was stuck with a “rough and tumble” vibe and even though Antigone’s trials and tribulations are just as full on, Cyrus still strongly emerges as the lead player, whether intentional or not.  That’s not to say girls won’t also enjoy the tale- I certainly did and quite frankly Cyrus as the “lead” just plain worked.

The Dragon’s Tooth is the first in the Ashtown Burials series and despite being aimed at younger readers, it’s one of those fantastic and beautifully written books all ages will enjoy.

The Dragon’s Tooth- Ashtown Burials Book 1

N.D. Wilson

Random House Australia

ISBN:978-1-74275-506-9

482 Pages

Released  Feb 1 2012