A few weeks after these messages were written, Tiffany ran away, and was subsequently sent to a disciplinary institution in Maine called Élan. According to what she told us later, it was a horrible place. She returned home in 1980, having spent two years there, and from that point on none of us can recall a conversation in which she did not mention it. She blamed the family for sending her off, but we, her siblings, had nothing to do with it. Paul, for instance, was ten when she left. I was twenty-one. For a year, I sent her monthly letters. Then she wrote and asked me to stop. As for my parents, there were only so many times they could apologize. “We had other kids,” they said in their defense. “You think we could let the world stop on account of any one of you?”
How do you deal with the death of an estranged sibling? That's essentially the question posed in David Sedaris' rather brilliant new essay Now We Are Five. In many ways, this mirrors the plot of The Big Chill, that sense of sharing grief in the guise of a holiday, only the reality of it makes it so much more poignant. It's a pretty spectacular piece of writing.
After the internet-explosion over the last few days, how could I not start this FF with Julia Gillard's address? There is a lot to love about this, and whilst people are (rightfully so) pointing out her hypocrisy regarding the GLBT community, this still means so, so much politically in Australia right now. This is a balls on the table take-down of a pretty nasty man, and given the recent influx of misogynistic attitudes politically and socially, this was an owning well-deserved. There's a really great round up of all of this stuff (and a whole lot more) over at The Wheeler Centre site by Clementine Ford, and it's definitely worth checking out.
- On a completely different note, the most recent AWM Speakeasy interview is with literary agent Sophie Hamley. It's a great insight into where agents see themselves in the industry and what she herself looks for in a work and, maybe more importantly, in the authors she chooses to represent. Things to take away seem to be a) don't be too precious and b) don't be too crazy.
7. Get into a fight with a famous science fiction author
Not
literally. Do not go punching Vernor Vinge in the face and then claim I
told you to do that. But sure, get into a fight with Vernor Vinge with
your stories. Find something about how Vinge depicted cyberspace
everting in Rainbows End, and write a story that shows how you
think he should have done it. Don't like how Max Barry depicted
cybernetic enhancements in Machine Man? Stick it to Max Barry
by writing your own take on the subject. A lot of how science fiction
has advanced, as a field, is authors trying to one-up each other and
responding to each other's takes on the same basic ideas. Even if you
don't prove everybody else wrong, you might get a really great story out
of it. (Again, do not actually get into a fight with anybody.)
- I'm basically in-love with this article on Angry Nerds & Sex, written by Siobhan Rosen.
Noela Stevenson is my spirit animal, and her new(ish) webseries Nimona is pretty awesome. It's funny, charming and with damn likeable characters. Plus her art is super great. (I'm a shark!) Read the series over here.
Daughter singing 'Youth' live for The Amazing Sessions on Amazing Radio is pretty close to sublime.
Also, Estelle Tang wrote a really interesting essay on empathy with abusers in fiction (particularly Australian fiction). I really recommend taking a look at it over here.
I'm totally charmed by these tiny sculptures by Diem Chau. This one is an elephant carved into the top of a graphite pencil. (found via Super Punch)
And to finish us off, a wonderful, glorious letter from F. Scott Fitzgerald to an aspiring writer. You've got to sell your heart.
