Malinda Lo
Blog
Dec 4, 2009
Reminders and newsy bits
This weekend kicks off Holidaze With the Debs, a series of author events across the U.S. (with a stop in Canada!) with the 2009 Debutantes.
I’ll be participating in a few of the Bay Area events, starting this Saturday afternoon from 3-4 p.m. at the Borders in San Rafael, CA. We’ll be signing our books, recommending others for holiday gift-giving (we know our YA books!) and generally enjoying ourselves. We hope you’ll stop by!
I also wanted to share a few links with you about Ash.
- The blog Band of Thebes recently invited 56 writers to select their favorite LGBT books of 2009, and Nicola Griffith kindly recommended Ash. The list is great, though, for anyone interested in reading more books with LGBT characters/themes!
- Somebody has written something in Italian about Ash! Sadly, I can’t read the Italian, so I have no idea what it says (it could be totally panning Ash for all I know!), but I can tell you that I’ve heard through the grapevine (aka Facebook) that Ash will be published in Italy in January 2010.
- Here is fellow Deb L.K. Madigan’s hilarious take on getting the news that her novel, Flash Burnout is a finalist for the Morris Award. Yay Lisa I’m so excited for you!!!
- I also wanted to share this review of Ash from Black-Eyed Susan’s, which starts off most excellently this way:
In the classic tale, Cinderella is forced into servitude. She grieves. Blah, blah, blah. She meets a handsome prince and lives happily ever after. Snooze.
LOL! Susan then goes on to explain why she stuck with it, despite not being a fan of Cinderella. Read the review here.
And that’s it for my newsy bits, but I wanted to leave you with this video I saw recently (via @ColleenLindsay), because (1) it is super cute!; (2) it’s about Ireland, where I’m going on vacation next year!; and (3) it makes the political personal.
Wasn’t that so great? Have a great weekend, folks, and if you’re in the San Rafael area on Saturday afternoon (3-4 p.m.!) stop by and see me, Lauren Bjorkman, Cheryl Renee Herbsman, J.A. Yang, and Sarah Quigley. Ciao! (That’s all the Italian I know. OK, other than some food terms.)
Congrats on everything, yay for the new list of books for me to sort through, and you’re going to LOVE Ireland, regardless of their political issues. Make sure you take paper or your computer, there wasn’t a single spot I went when I visited Ireland that didn’t inspire me to write. You have to go to Killarney Abbey. It’s beautiful, mysterious and the nuns make ridiculously good chocolate! Oh, and I love the video! That’s a great commercial!
Malinda, I’m sure your Italian is way better than my Chinese but here’s a translation to the “something” for you, in case you were wondering. I’m really glad you’re getting published here, by the way!
Romantic and magical, “Ash” is Malinda Lo’s debut novel for modern Cinderellas
Hold on to your seats, all you modern days princesses and Cinderellas: a new book is coming, in 2010, that promises to capture our hearts and minds. We’re talking about Malinda Lo’s “Ash”, a novel that perfectly represents the new trend in young adult literature of speaking to and about contemporary kids by resorting to an intimate style closer to classic fairytales than urban cinematic montages.
The American launch had as much visibility as Twilight’s, with Amazon and Barnes & Noble shortlisting “Ash” among the best new books for young adults. “Ash” it’s more than a retelling of Cinderella; it’s a love story that, brilliantly trascending time and gender, portrays the confusion and the struggle for self-definition that’s so typical of adolescence.
In a realm beyond time, Ash lives alone with her father in a big house by the forest’s edge. Her beloved mother has only recently passed away and all that’s left of her is the wonderful stories that she used to tell Ash. For Ash, however, those are not just pretty fairy tales: they’re the realm where her mother still lives, surrounded by magical creatures. One day, Ash’s father decide that it’s time for him to marry again and so he and his daughter leave the forest behind to move into the City.
Sadly, Ash’s father dies shortly after and the young girl becomes a house slave to her stepmother and her two daughters.
At times, though, Ash manages to slip away and go back to “her” forest to visit her mother’s grave. There, she has two encounters that will change her destiny forever: Sidhean – mysterious young man, ambiguous and gifted with magic powers – and Kaisa, the young and beautiful King’s Huntress. Transfixed by the beautiful huntress and desperate to see her again, Ash strikes a pact with Sidhean: she will give herself to him but not without him using his powers to turn her into a princess first – so that she can be invited to the Prince’s ball and see Kaisa one more time. At the ball the Prince only has eyes for Ash, but she spends the whole night in Kaisa’s arms, dancing. But what will happen when midnight comes and Ash will have to face the consequence of her choices in the forest where Sidhean is waiting for her…?
Romantic and magical, “Ash” is an outstanding debut that reminds us in an unforgettable, enthralling way, what it means finding ourselves and falling in love.
Thanks for the rec for Killarney Abbey! Sounds magical.
Thanks so much for translating! Wow, they give a lot away. Good thing they don’t necessarily give away the truth.
Also, I *love* that they say ASH had a launch as big as TWILIGHT’s. LOL!!
I finally got around to looking at your blog again!
I’m from Ireland and I heard about Ash through Meg Cabot’s website. I can’t wait to read it! (We have to wait a while for it here!).
That commercial is cute. There is, unfortunately, homophobia still in Ireland, but then again condoms only became legal about 20 years ago, and that was only for families.
But you should still come here because it is really quite stunning.
Just to warn you, its rainiest here in summer, winter and especially spring. Its actually not that bad in autumn. Best time to come if your set on summer is early June, exam time, when the sun shines just to spite you.
Depends on where your going I guess, but I suppose the best places to see are Newgrange, Glendalough in Co.Wicklow, its a monastery and a valley. Ireland’s lovely if you walk around all the sites, albeit in rain gear. Going up north is always a good idea, there’s the glens of antrim and the giants’s causeway and the mountains are gorgeous. Glenveagh is worth a visit.
You should look on heritageireland.ie, it will tell you all the best places to go. A heritage card may be worth buying.
Renting a car might be a good idea, but on busy days, weekends its hard to get parking in the cities.
If you’re travelling around the country, spend a night or two in a family run b &b, sometimes they’re lovely. Be warned about renting a mobile home, it can be cold.
Bring clothes, lots of clothes.
And enjoy!