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Dallas, Texas, and yes, we were a big reading family. Our father read us Rudyard Kipling at bedtime, Grandpa did a mean wolf in The Three Little Pigs, Mom read us fairy tales. I loved Charlotte’s Web and The Wind in the Willows, and strangely, I became fixated on Greek mythology in the second grade. Had this big yellow book on the Olympian gods checked out of the library for an entire year.
I was always writing something—mystery stories (at least I thought they were mysterious), romantic poetry, horror stories about man-eating washing machines, illustrated stories about pretty pigs with bows on their ears and long, black eyelashes. Am I a study in contrasts, or what?
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Yes, but there was no precedent for it in our experience, so I didn’t have a lot of encouragement in that direction. I was encouraged to study the piano (as my mother’s surrogate). I was good in the way a trained monkey might be, but I knew I wasn’t really gifted in that area. Music isn’t my language. Eventually I gave it up.
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Favorite job? Even the word causes a gag reflex. I guess I liked going to markets (at first) in Cannes and New York and New Orleans, doing program acquisitions. But there was never a job I liked for itself. Always had some writing project in my bag or on my computer.
I use those experiences all the time. Working in the entertainment business has provided me with endless fodder for creating insane, ego-driven personalities, which is just about everyone in the books outside of the twins.
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At age five, when I wrote a poem about my tonsillectomy. I will never forget the thrill of accomplishment, to say nothing of the wild acclaim I received for my efforts. (The poem involved being visited by aliens while under anesthesia.)
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Actually, I identify most with Cousin Robert. Inside of me is a 300-pound, drunken aesthete trying to get out. (Don’t worry, he won’t.)
I designed the twins to represent “every woman” when combined. Kerry’s the one you were raised to be—nice and respectable. She pays the bills, abides by the laws of the land. Terry is the one you would be if you had a damaged prefrontal lobe, the reckless girl whose social conditioning didn’t really “take.” She has the courage to say and do anything, and I think most of us wish we were like that on occasion.
I love them both. A world full of Kerrys would be a very boring place, and in her heart she knows that. A world full of Terrys would be akin to the Apocalypse.
*Julia says your characters are like Elinor and Marianne from Sense and Sensibility, if Elinor and Marianne took up crime fighting in modern-day California. Well… and if Marianne was a lesbian.
True confession: I’ve never read any Jane Austen. I assume most girls read her as teenagers, and in my teens I was all about Poe and Hemingway! (That may provide the real answer to the Kerry/Terry question.)
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Well, after five years of sitting inside my house with little social intercourse, I’ve had to retool myself. Buy some clothes, recall my table manners. I went out into the world blinking like a mole, frightened of what was on the surface. But I’m finally getting used to it again.
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There has been so much back-and-forth on the issue, I really don’t have anything new to contribute. I think I’ll sit here and continue to write comedic mysteries while the conflict rages (if it still rages).
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They’re stacked everywhere. On the mantel, the end tables, in cabinets that are supposed to be devoted to linens, on kitchen shelves that should be full of china. My husband is a prince to put up with it.
I read mysteries, thrillers, comedy when I can get it (there’s not much!), and tons of books on spiritual, paranormal, and mystical subjects, plus any book on quantum physics written for the lay person.
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I have to read the second one, first! Judging by how depressed everyone is at the prospect of the series ending, I made the right decision to space them out. If I read just one a decade, I can avoid depression until well into my old age (and beyond…).
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Sorry about that! (Tee hee.)
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| Lisa Clark, creator of the awesome website www.pink-world.co.uk, has graciously given us a list of her top-ten favorite Wordcandy-type books. Take note, gentle readers, because this is a woman with some seriously excellent taste. | |
| The top ten most Wordcandy-worthy moments, books, and assorted literary phenomena of 2004. Got any bookstore gift certificates over the holidays? Blow ‘em on these: | |
| While fiction is obviously our first love, we here at Wordcandy do occasionally gird our loins and venture forth into the brave new world of non-fiction, determined to broaden our minds and deepen our understanding of the world around us. (Or at least learn why Frenchwomen don’t get fat. Whichever.) Anyway, if you’re in the market for a little mind-broadening, here are a few Wordcandy-worthy non-fiction reads. Enjoy! | |
I have long been attracted to the shōjo manga section of my local bookstore. Those bright candy colors, the pretty title fonts, the shiny covers… everything about them spoke to my Skittles-eating, Bollywood-movie-watching, essentially frivolous soul. I was dismally certain that as a non-manga-reader I was missing out on something awesome, but (cue the violins!) I was too intimidated by the sheer volume of shōjo manga available to know where to begin. (Also, I didn’t have the money just to pick up a bunch of random manga titles off the shelf. Most manga volumes are about ten dollars, and a manga series can last anywhere from five to thirty-odd volumes. In a word? Ouch.)
This sad state of affairs persisted until approximately two months ago. Now, thanks to about fifty million online recommendations, some incredibly gracious IRC tutoring from a person named Truffle (whose patience with me will undoubtedly shave off several thousand years’ worth of her time in purgatory), and the efforts of various scanlation groups, I am now able to march right up to that shōjo manga section and waste money with confidence.
Note: There are some terms, tips, and technologies you should familiarize yourself with before you embrace the wide world of shōjo manga. If you’re interested- AND YOU SHOULD BE- please check out our handy Wordcandy Manga Glossary and Tips Page! | |
| Okay, we’re a little late (surprise!), but here are our picks for the best books and book-related experiences of 2005. If you happen to have a tax refund check burning a hole in your pocket, blow some of it on these: | |
| In honor of April Fool’s Day, we would like to take this opportunity to warn you away from the following eight novels. These are books that, over the years, people have encouraged us to read, falsely assuring us that we would enjoy them. Let our suffering prevent yours, and avoid: | |
| Forget Superman. Forget Pirates of the Caribbean. Particularly forget Click, on the off chance that you were fool enough to see it. Here are five as-yet-nonexistent summer movies we here at Wordcandy would love to see: | |
| (Yes, they do exist. Sure, it would have been a lot easier to write the Wordcandy’s One-Thousand-and-One Least Favorite Book-to-Screen Adaptations list, but there are a handful of good adaptations that we really, really like.) | |
| 2006 was a good year for Wordcandy. We got the blog up and running, publishers and PR groups have been generous with the review copies, and (best of all) you, our beloved readers, have been visiting in ever-increasing numbers! Thank you for your continued interest, and we hope you enjoy our list of the top ten Wordcandy-approved happenings of 2006! (Note: For a glimpse of what we’re most excited about in 2007, check out today’s blog post.) | |
| We realize that reading Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series has become something of a cultural literacy issue at this point, but let’s not kid ourselves, okay? There are WAY BETTER supernatural romances out there, people—stories that won’t leave you saying things like “Dude! Why is she such a freaking whiner?!”, or “But why is he still in high school? I mean, he’s supposed to look 17! Couldn’t he just pretend to be a college student or something and stay home?” The books listed below are all smarter, sexier, and 1000% more genuinely romantic than Twilight, and any one of the featured authors could out-write Meyer every day of the week and twice on Sundays. |
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