Annie Dalton's The Rules of Magic

YA novels really need to stop having their protagonists fail to influence the outcome of the plot in any measurable way. Especially if they have one male and one female protagonist, and by the end only the boy has actually done anything. Especially if the boy goes off to face the Big Bad while the girl stays with a nervous pregnant woman.

Fantasy novels need to stop having their characters moved around by powerful forces like chess pieces, so that, for instance, necessary plot devices like magic books magically appear in their lockers without them actually having to do anything to acquire them, and for the solutions to their problems to just pop into their minds.

All novels which aspire to me not hurling them across the room need to stop having every character including urban teenagers go on about how horrible and soulless cities and the modern world are, and how things were better in olden times when woman had no rights and plague was epidemic.

I do really like Dalton's Night Maze and Out of the Ordinary, but I can see why this one hasn't been picked up in the US.

Deliberated all day today; returning to continue deliberations tomorrow

Guess who's foreperson?

Deliberated all day today; returning to continue deliberations tomorrow

Guess who's foreperson?

Music to share

If you like the song, buy the CD. And do tell me if you like them, especially if they're new to you.

Thousands are Sailing, by the Pogues, from If I Should Fall From Grace of God. A gorgeous ballad about saying good-bye, among other things. I never even got so far/That they could change my name

Bijou, by Stew, from Guest Host. I have no idea how to describe this one, and would love to hear what you think of it. I just think it's really cool and unique. Imagine your grandma drunk with pearls/Chipped nail polish/Going home with girls

Coming Back to You, by Leonard Cohen, from Various Positions. If all you know is other people's covers of "Hallelujah," you are in for a treat. There are many in your life/And many still to be/Since you are a shining light/There's many that you'll see

Cowboy Singer, by Dave Carter and Tracey Grammar, from Tanglewood Tree. I love everything about this song-- it's a perfect little short story-- but perhaps the last verse the best. Seventeen years she has been in this world/
Wide-eyed and wistful, pretty little mormon girl

Texas River Song, by Lyle Lovett, from Step Into This House. A particularly good, and quite traditional version of an old folk song. The slow San Antonio courses the plains/But I never will walk by the Brazos again

Music to share

If you like the song, buy the CD. And do tell me if you like them, especially if they're new to you.

Thousands are Sailing, by the Pogues, from If I Should Fall From Grace of God. A gorgeous ballad about saying good-bye, among other things. I never even got so far/That they could change my name

Bijou, by Stew, from Guest Host. I have no idea how to describe this one, and would love to hear what you think of it. I just think it's really cool and unique. Imagine your grandma drunk with pearls/Chipped nail polish/Going home with girls

Coming Back to You, by Leonard Cohen, from Various Positions. If all you know is other people's covers of "Hallelujah," you are in for a treat. There are many in your life/And many still to be/Since you are a shining light/There's many that you'll see

Cowboy Singer, by Dave Carter and Tracey Grammar, from Tanglewood Tree. I love everything about this song-- it's a perfect little short story-- but perhaps the last verse the best. Seventeen years she has been in this world/
Wide-eyed and wistful, pretty little mormon girl

Texas River Song, by Lyle Lovett, from Step Into This House. A particularly good, and quite traditional version of an old folk song. The slow San Antonio courses the plains/But I never will walk by the Brazos again