nindogs

Welcome to the I'll Soon Be Seeing You  series , inspired by the Cat Stevens song Katmandu and the talented atmosphere of photographers across the globe. We as creative spirits - writers, filmmakers, artists and consumers of stories - find inspiration in various settings. Laini Taylor found Prague, Leigh Bardugo found Russia - there's London, Paris, New York, Tokyo. So  I'll be exploring a range of landscapes, both conventional and not so much, to give you some ideas about your settings.  Припять, Украина (Pripyat, Ukraine) April 26, 1986: an accident at a nuclear power plant destroyed one of the USSR's young and prosperous cities. Life does exist, but in a different form - in graffiti. Photographer Alex Cheban visited the city a few years ago, and today's inspiration set are some of his photos (and here there are more). And, ladies and gents, a video! So guys, what do you think of Pripyat? What's a place you've be...

I have always dreamed, since I was a wee lad, that one day I would have the pleasure of meeting a delightfully spunky individual who might become my homeboy. I have met said individual. Her name is Meagan, and she is a debut author. Meagan Spooner's novel, Skylark , is due for release August 1, and as a part of her imaginarium blog tour , this is but a chipper pit stop to change one's tyres, etc. I am seriously psyched for this novel's release. Actually. Truthfully. Honestly. Completely. Totally. And here's why. Vis in magia, in vita vi. In magic there is power, and in power, life. For fifteen years, Lark Ainsley waited for the day when her Resource would be harvested and she would finally be an adult. After the harvest she expected a small role in the regular, orderly operation of the City within the Wall. She expected to do her part to maintain the refuge for the last survivors of the Wars. She expected to be a tiny cog in the larger clockwork of the ci...

I've been anticipating Heather Anastasiu's debut novel, Glitch , for the better part of this year. Dystopia, telekinesis, the moral discourse of society hidden in some brilliant YA. It's set for release August 7, and Heather was more than happy to answer some questions for me. Glitch is your upcoming debut novel, the first in a trilogy, and it sounds absolutely phenomenal! So, what can we expect from it? Glitch  at its heart is a hero journey where the main character, Zoe, slowly discovers she has immense power and has to figure out how she’s going to use it. There’s action, romance, and the exploration of what it means to be human. You describe Glitch  as 1984 meets X-Men . Could you identify what elements you integrated from these sources into your trilogy? I read 1984 as a sophomore in high school and loved it. There’s plenty of Big-Brother-is-always-watching type elements in Glitch , but I take it further so that Big Brother is inside people’s heads, quite lit...

I am seriously anticipating Days of Blood and Starlight , the sequel to Daughter of Smoke and Bone , especially when Laini Taylor is making such blog posts and further Russo-inspired YA like Shadow and Bone  (which is so absolutely stunning) is making my wanderlust for Eastern Europe worse. Likewise, Meagan Spooner's upcoming debut, Skylark , is very exciting. I'm actually on the official blog tour, so watch this space for a uber awesome interview with the loverly lady. And I know you're thinking Nina, honey, you must be a month behind because Timepiece is already out!  Well, the HSC is doing horrible things to my mind and the few torturous months that was between my finally reading Hourglass and its sequel's release just flew by! I ordered it off Book Depository as soon as I figured out it was out and leaving it on my desk will motivate my through my Trial exams, hopefully! You are all quite  aware of my self-professed geekiness, which we all know has b...

taken from Marie Calloway's " Criticism " The journalistic and self-effacing tone of burgeoning literary voices, particularly in the US, is beginning to impart a stigma on we writers of a certain criteria - young, and often, female. Take Marie Calloway, who, mostly through her controversial piece Adrien Brody  has been criticised as "a lazy boring writer who i know through a friend to be histrionic, predictably 'unpredictable' and most likely autistic". again, from "Criticism" Some of the debate that has arisen around writers such as Calloway has gotten me thinking about the expectations and, thus, the limitations of young writers, particularly of the female persuasion. More or less a direct result from brilliant minds and strong voices, such as Zadie Smith, Miranda July, etc., there is a preconception that any twenty-something female who decides to penn articles or stories will be inconceivably witty, well-read, insightful and...