Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi

 This is Emi Yagi's first novel--translated from the Japanese by David Boyd and Lucy North. It's a fast read with an intriguing presence. An office worker named Shibata is stuck at a dead-end job at a factory that makes cardboard cores for toilet tissue and paper towels. She actually doesn't mind it that much, but as the only woman in her section, she's ignored, dismissed, and exploited. If there's a mess to be cleaned, she cleans it. If there's coffee to be made, she makes it and serves it. She's everyone's general dogsbody and because she's a woman, no one thinks anythimg of it. 

Until the day she's finally had enough and tells her section head that she can't clear away the detritus of a meeting she wasn't in--coffee cups stuffed with cigarette butts. She tells him she's pregnant and the smell nauseates her. Her life changes immediately--for the better. For one thing, she's no longer expected to work hours and hours of overtime. The first night she goes home at a reasonable hour, she's shocked at how packed the metro is, and how bright and inviting the supermarkets are. (Usually by the time she gets there, all that's left are limp vegetables.) She has time for leisurely baths. She has time to cook. She begins taking aerobics class and incorporates stretching exercises into her daily routine. 

She starts taking care of herself and as the lie lingers, she comes up with all sorts of strategems to maintain the ruse, including using an app that tracks pregnancy. Along the way she interacts with a large cast of characters, from co-workers to other mothers, and the book becomes a reverie on loneliness that's bittersweet and incredibly affecting. 

Yagi knows human nature. Shibata is a wonderful character and working women will completely sympathize with her frustration at being the only woman in an all-male environment. There are bits and

pieces of Japanese culture that readers may not be familiar with. For example, pregnant women can get little badges to hang on their purses to show the world their state--thus entitling them to courteous treatment on trains and other benefits. It's a heart-shaped medallion with the caption, "There's a baby inside me." 

Diary of a Void is a lovely book. You can find our more here.

Twelve Rooms with a View by Theresa Rebeck

 If you're a fan of Only Murders in the Building, as I am, you know there's a dark side to living in those beautiful old buildings that have names. Rebeck's book shares some DNA with that project, mostly because it's told through the snarky point of view of Tina, the youngest of three sisters who may or may not have inherited an apartment in an historic building called The Edgewood. But the chain of events leading up to that inheritance is a little murky (there's another family involved) and then there's the matter of the building's Board. They never liked Tina's mother, or the man she was married to either, who inherited the apartment from his late wife. 

The story of what happens when Tina's bossy older sister Lucy (scarily efficient and not empathetic at all) installs Tina in the apartment to establish residency while she and the other heirs fight things out in court is more about Tina finding her self-esteem (and love) than anything else. 

There's a lot of fun to be had with the quirky characters, the plot full of twists and betrayals and the little side trips into such topics as moss. Tina is a wonderful character and we cheer for her as she finds allies and learns how to deal with her enemies. There's a particularly delightful little girl named Katherine who figures into the mix, and also a gorgeous socialite the doorman is in love with. Rebeck winds everything up in a very satisfying way, in a way that will send you searching for her other books. She really knows sibling dynamics, and it's a pleasure to watch her move her characters around. The apartment sounds fabulous, and so do the contents of that hidden room!!

Fairytale Retellings...

 

I love fairy tales, way beyond the ten or so that are in heavy rotation. (You know the ones I mean--Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Snow White, the Little Mermaid, The Snow Queen, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Rumpletstiltskin, the Snow Queen.) I have rewritten a number of fairy tales, including East of the Sun, West of the Moon (The Road Past Winter) and Beauty and the Beast (The Summer Garden) and Cinderella (Fashionista and The Bride of the Midnight King), and Sleeping Beauty (Spite and A Dream of Sun and Roses). I also wrote a version of Snow White called Hunter's Kiss. It's currently only available as part of a book promotion but I'll be putting it out on Amazon shortly.

For this new collection of rewritten fairy tales I've gone back to Beauty and the Beast. My story is called The Dragon's Pearl, and it's a retelling set in a setting that's modeled after the Han Dynasty in China. The "beast" is a dragon and I've made a number of changes to the story, including the heroine's relationship to her father. (Spoiler alert:  He's a scholar and a jerk who does not value her.) 

I'm also rewriting Beauty and the Beast for my story in a billionaire collection that's a charity anthology. That one's called Hero's Kiss, and it's about a military veteran who returns from war scarred by an IED. I bought a cover to use for it years ago, but it now seems rather old fasioned. My story is going to be a bit tamer than a lot of the stories--it does have a "billionaire" cover after all. My heroine is an activist lawyer named Ruth (after RBG) and she loves her father but it turns out that he's an unlucky

gambler who has been embezzling from his boss to cover his losses. Billionaire Fling is a boxed set with proceeds going to breast cancer research. You can preorder it here.

I've also written a really dark YA version of The Little Mermaid, called Blue. That was one that I bought the cover for and then had to write a story around it. I knew from the beginning it wasn't going to be a fluffy version of the story, but then, the original story is so tragic before it was Disneyfied. I did change the ending but it deals with some pretty tragic story elements.

I've ssigned up to write a contemporary version of Rapunzel that will take place in a luxury high-rise apartment and feature a thief with our modern-day princess. I haven't worked out all the little ways in which the new story will have the old story embedded in it.  

I'm also writing a version on The Snow Queen called The Ice-Bound Heart. I'm trying to decide where I'm going to set it. Frozen set it in a mythical kingdom based on Norway. I'm thinking of something more along the lines of Russia. I'm still working that one out. 

In the meantime, if you've never seen the gorgeous fairytale retellings and illustrations by artist Kinuko Y. Craft, check her out here. She has an absolutely stunning 2023 calendar on sale.

Just look at her Sleeping Beauty.

Or her Cinderella.

Or her Beauty and the Beast

Or her Cupid and Psyche

Grady Hendrix is a genius!

 

One of the things that makes my day job so interesting is that in addition to reading scripts, I also read books. Even a bad book is often better than a mediocre script, and in the course of my job, I've been introduced to a number of wonderful writers. I still can't believe I get PAID TO READ. My grandmother never understood this job. "So you're paid to write book reports?" She didn't think a job was a real job unless you dressed up in a skirt and jacket outfit (accessorized with heels and discreet pearl button earrings, which she called "earbobs") and sat in an office all day with maybe an hour off for lunch. I work way more than 40 hours each week--112 hours on average. I work from 8 a.m. to 12 a.m. seven days a week, but that counts breaks for social media or watching YouTube videos or whatever. Anyway, my job is wonderful and that's where I first read Grady Hendrix's My Best Friend's Exorcism. (Which I didn't know had been turned into a television series. I haven't seen it yet, but it's on my TBW list.) 

If you haven't discovered his writing, please let me introduce you to him.

Here's his website. His tongue-in-cheek "About" section on his site is hilarious.

Here's his bio on Wikikipedia.

Here he is on Goodreads.  

Another new boxed set...

 

Hexes and Heiresses. 

The call for submissions had me at "Witch Queens." I once wrote a historial novella about Catherine the Great being a queen, and I keep thinking about giving QEI the same treatment. I like research, so that would be fun. But it woul also be fun to set a witch queen story in my mythical fantasy worl of the Twelve Realms. I even have a cover for it. I like the cover for the anthology. You can preorder it here.

Boys and balls!

 

Balls, Bats, Pucks, And More.

It’s all part of the game.

Watch as these guys battle the biggest game of their lives. Winning the hearts of the ones they love.

Some of your favorite authors have come together to celebrate two of our favorite things: love and sports.

Whether it's friends to lovers, brothers best friend, or midlife romance, these couples are going to score -- on the field of love AND in the bedroom.

Preorder Bases loaded now. Exclusively on Amazon.

 

Happy Birthday Stephen King

 

The first book I read by Stephen King was not Carrie. I'm not sure what it was. Maybe 'Salem's Lot. I do know that I was reading It by my dying mother's bedside (she died a couple of days after my birthday and the book had been a birthday present). I read The Stand and was blown away. And the experience was even more bizarre because I think I had the worst cold of my life while I was reading it. I loved the original miniseries that was made from it. I didn't see the remake. I thought the first one was perfect. The casting was superb. Terrible wig on Laura San Giacomo. Jamey Sheridan was terrific. The late, great Miguel Ferrer was great. Ruby Dee. Ossie Davis. Matt Frewer. Gary Sinese.  Kathy Baker and Ed Harris in cameos. Just so much fun.

I think King is the Dickens of our time. And I say that even after reading Insomnia. The less said about that, the better.  I hope he lives to be a hundred.