Liebster Award (again)

First of all, congratulations to JeffO and cestlavie22, who correctly answered the question I posed last post. Which British author invented the paperback novel, the serial and coined the term 'cliff-hanger'?  It was Charles Dickens. JeffO and cestlavie22, if either of you would like to do a guest post on my blog, or an interview, etc, let me know and it can be arranged. 

Next up, EJ has given me the Liebster Award. I've already received this once so I'm not going to pass it on again, because it will just be the same people, but I will do the questions thing...

Rules (not all of which will be followed): 

1. Bloggers nominate other up-and-coming bloggers (with less than 200 followers) for the award.
2. If you receive the Liebster, you must:
- Tell 11 random things about yourself.
- Answer the 11 questions the nominator has asked you.
- Nominate 11 other bloggers and make sure you notify them.

11 Random Facts: 
1. I'm a little obsessed with anime. 
2. I know how to party both with and without alcohol. (I prefer with.) 
3. I write a lot. Duh. 
4. I am currently watching some talk-show where the guest on stage and a lot of members in the audience are signing instead of talking... in different accents.
5. I spent yesterday reading the names off the map that shows different Aboriginal groups/languages that's on a wall at the school my mum works at while I was waiting for her to stop talking to her teacher-friends in there.
6. Controversial humour is my favourite.
7. iPhones make me feel dizzy, but other smartphones don't.
8. If I could have a superpower, I'd be able to set things on fire.
9. I'm a bit of a pyromaniac. At least... I like fire.
10. I prefer real books to Kindles and e-readers.
11. I'M PUMPED TO HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED INTO MY UNIVERSITY OF PREFERENCE! WOOO!!!!!! (I had to save the best one for last :D )

Questions from the nominator:

Who is your favorite blogger?

I don't like picking favourites, but JeffO never fails to make his blogposts entertaining and interesting :)  

Where are you from?

Australia. Or as we tend to pronounce it, 'Straya'. 

What social media sites do you have?

Facebook and Blogger. 

What do your think about yourself?

"I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best." Marilyn Munroe quotes for the win. 

Who inspires you the most?

How do I answer this question? Tim Burton? William Shakespeare? Patrick Rothfuss? P!nk? 

What is your life motto?

Live as if you'll die tomorrow. Dream as if you'll live forever. 

Favorite city?

Melbourne! 

Describe your style?

Style? What's that? I have style? I'm probably the most miss-matched, dorkiest... you get it. 

What is the first thing that you put in your bag?

Phone.

What are you reading at the moment?

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. 

Well like I said, I'm not going to pass the award on because that takes too much effort... But if you have less than 200 followers and want to be given the Liebster Award, then I CHOOSE YOU! 

- Bonnee. 

Thoughts: 'Paper Menagerie' by Ken Liu

First of all, NaNoWriMo is coming to an end! I reached my goals. Did you? That's great if you did, and better luck next time if you didn't. What happens next though? I think Chuck Wendig answers that question rather... colourfully... over at his blog in the post about wasting your efforts.

But on another note, today I wanted to talk about a short story that has won all three of Science-Fiction's major awards: the Hugo, the Nebula, and the World Fantasy Award. I just so happen to be talking about Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu. I'll thank Nathan Bransford for the link to the story he left on his blog, where I read it just minutes ago.

First of all, let me just say that I have a soft-spot for sad stories. The themes presented somewhat reminded me of the stories in Haruki Murakami's after the quake, which you've heard me gushing over plenty of times before. However, at the same time, it was a completely different experience. I really loved the story overall. My only issue was the (SPOILER ALERT) long letter at the end from Jack's mother, giving her life story. It seemed like an info-dump to me, but placing it at the very end of the story resolved some unanswered questions and tied things up nicely. Paper Menagerie is well written, heavily sentimental and presents real issues faced by some children from interracial families, whilst weaving the scenes with a touch of Chinese magic.

After reading the story, I continued to read the comments left by other readers. I was SHOCKED to see so many negative reviews slamming it! Initially, it really pissed me off and I sat there thinking what a bunch of thoughtless, narrow-minded pigs. And while I still hold some of that resentment, I've taken a step back to consider why those people reacted that way. Yes, it was a very sentimental and melodramatic story. That's part of why I enjoyed it, but I guess other people have different preferences to me.

Although I really did love this story, admittedly, I am among those who are surprised that it won all three of those awards. I didn't feel it represented the genre of science-fiction as well as the winner of those awards should have. Science-fiction isn't really my genre though (yet fantasy is? Is that weird?), so I probably ought not be the judge of it.

So there's two things we can all discuss in the comments: How did your NaNoWriMo go and what is your take on Paper Menageries? 

- Bonnee.

WriteUpCafe.com Award: WriteUp of the Month

A quick note before the good stuff: I have to thank the Writer's Digest blogs, namely the Poetic Asides blog,  with all it's writing prompts and competitions etc which have gotten my arse into gear over the past week (which is roughly how long I have been following). I'M WRITING ON DEMAND AGAIN! Anyone else who needs some writing inspiration, head on over and see what they can do for you!

So over on my WriteUpCafe.com account, which you can find a link to in the Find Me tab, I received an award for a poem I have posted on a few writing websites now, Colours of Sunset and War, which I may have mentioned a few posts ago. Head on over and check it out if you fancy.

I don't attend to this account so much, and I'm not 100% convinced that the site was worth joining. No one seemed to have even read the poem until I got the award for it. But I'm cool with the award and the slight boost of attention it got me :) You can find the original version of this poem on my FictionPress account, and the same version that won the award on my Wattpad account. Just check out the links in the Find Me tab.

If you scroll riiiiiight to the very bottom of the blog page, under the huge list of blogs I follow, you will see the 'badge' I received for it.

- Bonnee.