I’ve been so busy with stuff related to the conference and panel I’m going to be on that I completely forgot I had a stack of lovely books on folklore and fairytales from the uni library. I decided to photograph a couple for your visual delectation.

And here’s the stack of books that I’ve been poring over as I try to write the Conference Paper From Hell. I love the topic I chose, but my line of argument is frustrating me because I can’t find the right words to frame my thoughts. Tearing my hair out here!

While I pack my bags for the conference, I think about the care I take with assembling the clothes I wear and why fashion is important to me. It’s a point that was driven home today by this beautiful post by definatalie about how big/fat women are marginalised by more than one means, and one of them is fashion. I think most of us who have spent most of our lives overweight know how difficult it is to be taken seriously, and why fashion/appearances, to a certain extent, mean a lot to us. The way you carry yourself can either add to or mitigate the degree of marginalising your experience. I still remember the turning point in my life when I realised I could wear normal clothes like jeans, be halfway “hip” and how empowering it was for me. It’s not just about looks, it’s about how it makes you feel inside to take control of your own destiny and interactions. These things become necessary in a world where, lamentably, these little visual triggers add up to society’s mental “imaging” of who you are as a person. Strangers assume it’s okay to give you unsolicited advice about everything from your eating habits to how you dress, people assume you’re lazy and slothful, or just mentally retarded. I’ve found evidence of this behavior even amongst the supposedly highly educated, and I think it’s a societal anathema. More so than us well-meaning, well-rounded individuals who struggle to balance diets with busy schedules and our body chemistry that often fights against our efforts.

I don’t post about clothes and fashion on this blog, mostly because I’ve grown comfortable not talking about the personal aspect of my being here. It’s more of a privacy thing, but I really admire people like definatalie who are part of the fatshionista movement, because they are bringing positive thoughts and empowerment for women who may come in bigger shapes and sizes but are still beautiful. Some days, we all have to be reminded we’re beautiful.

Public Service Signal Boost

In other, book-related news, Norilana Books is celebrating its 4th Anniversary. An independent publisher, Norilana Books has an impressive list of books in its catalogue, inclusive of the Clockwork Phoenix series of anthologies (and if you haven’t read them, you should! The stories are quite awesome!), Vera Nazarian’s own lyrical fiction, Eugie Foster’s Returning My Sister’s Face, which I’ve reviewed over at m/c reviews as one of the best books to come out of 2009, as well as Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Sword and Sorceress anthologies. The state of the economy has made times hard for the press, so if you have money to spare and have a liking for any of the books, do buy a book or two, for yourself or as a gift. I’ve got, in my personal library, five books from the press (bought during the course of two years) and I’m happy with all of them. They’re beautifully designed and bound, the typeface is kind to the eyes, and the stories are lovely.

Felt like I hadn’t had any gratuitous book-pr0n inspired posts for awhile, so, here’s a glimpse at my ‘light reading’ for the weekend:

Assignments must be written and research must go on, despite one’s precarious position of being without a principle supervisor and having to look for a new one.

My copy of Cabinet des Fees 3, which the lovely Erzebet Yellowboy very generously mailed to me. (Thanks!!)

A fuzzy companion for the journey into critical texts.

A friend for the dark road ahead, apparently.

Finally, the favourite snack for this financially challenged asian postgrad. Dried prawn fritters with spring onions, turmeric, garlic, onion and chilli.

Spot the gratuitous musical reference in the post title and I’ll award you brownie points. Or cookie points. I am quite determined to make chocolate and almond cookies tomorrow for tea.

Rather overwhelmed with research (in a good way!) and working on two thesis chapters simultaneously right now. I borrowed a stack of books on the Gothic, memory and trauma as well as Yoruba myth and ritual. Spent a lot of time organizing my research the past couple of days, making sure I know where everything is, because I realized that I seem to have forgotten how to be methodical.

Here are some bits of information and notes for you guys, while I remember to post them

1. While organizing my external hard drives and research folders, I rediscovered a handful of things I wrote during the coursework segment of my M.A. in Literature. An academic review I did of Jack Zipes’s Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion is therefore now up at The Mythogenetic Grove.


2. If you like either Lost or Dollhouse, there are two threads/posts up over at Mythic Folk. While we have a chatroom that has spurts of being robust, with witty conversation and a good (albeit busy, since we all have lives) community, the blog is still rather forlorn. Do show it some love and participate or post since it’s meant to be a community blog rather than a static thing.


3. Via Mike Allen’s and Rose Fox’s blogs, I was made aware of the current situation with regards to a certain publisher. Not going to delve in detail on that, since I don’t know the full story beyond the blog posts. However, I will note that the author Brenda Halpin (Seamus Cooper) is giving away copies of Mall of Cthulhu on Scribd and she requests that if you read it and like it, do consider buying the Kindle edition on Amazon.com to support both this book and the sequel that she is writing. Thought I’d post it, since I’ve pledged this blog towards aiding endangered and independent writers (also indie/semi-pro publishers) whenever I can. Also, I like pointing you guys to cool (and legal) ebooks. Go read a cool book and support a writerly cause!(UPDATES: Here’s the response from the publisher concerned about the situation.)


4. Also, there’s an exciting new poetry semipro-market now open for submissions, the poet Rose Lemberg’s Stone Telling Magazine, dedicated to “boundary crossing” and “multi-perspective poetry”. Go show it some love, especially since there will apparently be an exciting first issue for fans of Ursula K. LeGuin.

That’s all for now, I have more Gothic literary theory to chew on. I’m in my happy postgrad place, ie; happily researching and writing while listening to neat folk music. Does that make me a unicorn? No? Well then, maybe you should Cornify me! I blame Staci Dumoski for this. Totally.

Gah. Stupid thesis chapter is confounding me. I’ve been staring at the bloody thing for the past couple of hours. Hate when that happens and you’re reduced to copy-editing and polishing instead of making substantial changes. A blog update seems to be good to break the stasis. So, some “good” news. Because I need to remind myself there’s good news in my world.

• I had a wonderful birthday with wonderful people, and wonderful food. This made me very happy.


• By my own personal standards, the paper I presented at Canberra was a “success”, in that it was my least flawed delivery, and I managed to answer all the questions well. I guess every conference I’ve been to has made me more sure of myself. Also, I think I have my conference paper presenting system down, and I can use this formula for years to come, hopefully improving on it. Last year, I realized that for me, it was more important to be a serious scholar presenting a fully written paper instead of just having nice slides or whatnot. I’ve stayed true to this. Public speaking is still terrifying, but I get over it by treating my audience like they were my students. That kind of helps.


• My abstract for Aussiecon 4 has been accepted, so I’ll be presenting there. I’m both elated and terrified. I think presenting a paper at my first Con is a good thing, though. Will give me some sort of structure and purpose.


• I also belatedly discovered that Said The Tree to the (Axe)Man is listed here. It’s for 2007. I’m utterly gobsmacked I’m listed in Locus Mag, no matter how obscurely. Granted it was my only print sale, but it’s a start, I guess.


• Speaking of print publishing, Cabinet des Fees 3, the print journal edited by Erzebet Yellowboy and Helen Pillinovsky is now out! I got a sneak peak, and I have to say, the stories are absolutely exquisite, so you should go get it now! Also, Erzebet has rolled out the new site and domain for Cabinet des Fees; there’s a teaser for the new section for Cabinet des Fees that I’ve been slowly working on this year with input from Erzebet, Demeter’s Spicebox. It’s going to be a “by invitation” project aimed at exploring lesser-known fairytale types, set in different locales around the world, and we’ve been making a wishlist of authors that we’d like to contribute.


• I have been reading books from the Hugo Voters Packet, finished reading Cat Valente’s Palimpsest over the week in Canberra, on my dopod. And, I love it. Yup. I was totally swept away by the story and enchanted by it. At its best, the intersection between worlds reminded me of both John Crowley’s style of fiction as well as Clive Barker’s Weaveworld, with some of the textual brutality of Murakami. Since the ability to be swept away by fiction when one is a jaded phd student in literature and drama can get a little strained, I’m grateful for small mercies. Next, The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. I am also rather chuffed that I’ll be able to vote for the Hugos this year. It’s a moment of geekish pride, I think.


• Music recommendations that I have fallen head over heels in love with, both old and new: Belle and Sebastian, The Decemberists, My Brightest Diamond and Bat for Lashes. I’ve heard about the two former bands for years, but never got around to really listening to them, but they are now firmly part of my soundtrack for this year. I spent the whole day listening to The Decemberists singing “The Hazards of Love” an epic indie-folk rock opera with folkloric themes inclusive of Tam Lin. So good.


• I bought red clothing in Canberra for very reasonable prices. I’d been yearning for more crimson in my wardrobe and now I have it. Also acquired T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral at an open-air used books sale.


• I am now addicted to caramel cappucino. Wait, is that good news? :-/

That’s it for now. I hope I’ll have more good news this year. A fiction or poetry sale would be nice, but one has to submit for these things, before one gets either accepted or rejected, no? Maybe I should reserve one afternoon a week for this. I think I’d hate myself if I let this year go by without a single creative submission. For now, I’m going back to trying to add another paragraph in my thesis before I sleep. Despite all the good news listed above, I’m still whiny, angsty and more than a little neurotic. Sigh.

Last.fm says I should listen to Department of Eagles, Daniel Rossen (of Grizzly Bear)’s band. I think I should, too. This song just gave me my happy feeling back. Yay!

Other cool stuff: The tenth issue of Cabinet des Fées is now up and there’s a lovely selection of poems, short fiction and articles to read. I was very pleased to note that Erzebet had also acquired a nifty article about Shirley Lim and the Hang Li Po legend for this issue. There’s also a teaser for the project that we’ve been working on and which I’m really excited about, so hopefully I’ll get some time in June to finish writing the article for it. I’m also beyond thrilled to bits that not only did we (I feel a little goofy saying “we” within this context, given I’ve been a fan of CdF for so long!) get mentioned on Terri Windling’s blog, but my name got stuck in there as well. Brain. Cannot compute!

These are the things that are good for happy making. Because one must be happy in order to be productive!

Oh, more new music for me to explore, My Brightest Diamond. Lovely!