Poetry Friday: Oregon Caves

Oregon Caves

Soaring around me,

dripping rock flies in the cave

of earth's chilled belly.

Lorie Ann Grover, 2010

Unbelievable, right? I took this photo in the Oregon Caves this past weekend. Creation is AWESOME!

What a Girl Wants: Female Sports Heroes in YA Lit

Colleen, over at Chasing Ray, has posted her latest entry for What a Girl Wants. We are talking sporty books. Here's my submission. Thanks, Colleen. Yay, for Justina and Justine for giving us great female athletic characters!

"I haven’t had female sports books cross my desk like male sports books have. There is no Chris Crutcher for girls, right? The closest is maybe Catherine Gilbert Murdock with her Dairy Queen, Front and Center, and Off Season.

I do think of Justina Chen’s Girl Overboard, snowboarding at its best. Justine Larbalestier’s novel How to Ditch Your Fairy is another excellent example of sporty girls.

Thinking of Justine brought to mind this post at her blog where she discusses the topic with Doret, The Happy Nappy Bookseller. Doret Canton, my fellow panelist at What a Girl Wants, recommends:

Boost by Kathy Mackel

Soccer Chicks Rule by Dawn FitzGerald

Keeping Score by Linda Sue Park

Necessary Hunger by Nina Revoyr

A Strong Right Arm by Michelle Green

The Ring by Bobbie Pyron

Twenty Miles by Cara Hedley Hockey

Despite these examples, it’s obvious we don’t feature female athletes at the rate we feature male athletes. How athletic are our female YA novelists? Can they draw from their own history? Certainly our experiences aren't still limited like my mother-in-law's who found sports radically limited in her high school due to “the delicate constitution of females.” Rather, is the lack of YA female sports books simply because publishers deny their marketability?

Regardless, I’m betting you will find mean girls, romance, and coming of age in the sports novels that do reach the shelves. It’s not as if those elements aren’t in the athletic arena.

Here’s to challenging YA authors to represent female athletes and publishers to back them. I’m off to think…"

Poetry Friday: Kindred Spirit, Wolfhound

Kindred Spirit

Content on carpet
bred to hound forested wolves
suppressing shyness


Lorie Ann Grover, 2010

I met this beautiful dog at a recent convention. He was enormous, which I'm sorry doesn't show. Indeed he is a wolfhound, with the shyest nature around, I was told. Sounds familiar, I thought...

rgz LIVE! Transcript for March

rgz LIVE! was hot last night! Scott was such a great guest. We talked Australia, all things steampunk, Leviathan, and his upcoming works. Check out the transcript here. Thanks, Scott Westerfeld and rgz! The chatter is ongoing through March. Drop in!

Poetry Friday: Winter Writing

Winter Writing

Words crest onto my
laptop like flotsam nudges
onto chilled, rough sand.

by Lorie Ann Grover, 2010

So, I've been reading Moby Dick. :~)

Congrats to Emma Dryden, drydenbks

I'm so excited to share with everyone, my editor/friend's new venture. Just featured at PW Children's Bookshelf, Emma, quintessential editor, says this:

drydenbks offers

* freelance editorial and creative services to children's book authors, illustrators, agents and publishers;

* workshops and presentations on subjects pertaining to the children's book industry;

* consultancy services to administer direction and advice to authors, illustrators, editors, students, and anyone seeking to break into or expand their presence in the children's publishing arena.

A venture that results from my twenty-five years experience editing and publishing children's books, drydenbks continues the work about which I am so passionate: To help define, enrich and craft children's book authors' and illustrators' work to make it viable for the current marketplace.

Please visit www.drydenbks.com and become a fan at www.facebook.com/drydenbks.

Here's a big shoutout for her new beginning!

Poetry Friday: Steampunk

Photo by Emily Kay Grover

Steampunk

Like graphite smudges,
steampunk shadows flit through time
intersecting life.


Lorie Ann Grover, 2010

I'm super inspired by rgz pic Leviathan and the whole sci-fi fantasy subgenre of Steampunk. Of course, hanging at Radcon helped! Anyway, look how cool it is! This is about a recent exhibit at the Oxford History Museum of Science.



Now, pass me my top hat and goggles!