Memoirs From Fairyland

I wish to share with all who read this the review I just did on Amazon:


I acquired this book for a class in the literature of horror and began to read it only to realize that I couldn't stop laughing. Any sci fi/fantasy/horror writer reading this will probably have heard of "The Eye of Argon", an infamous short story that writers read in groups, passing it around from one person to the next to read when the previous reader dissolves into laughter at the bad writing.

"The Exorcist" is worse than "The Eye of Argon". Blatty uses simile and metaphor to ill effect, causing laughter when a table somehow manages to be "the color of sadness", when he compares a city to a "rubbled, mud-stained benediction", and when a character mysteriously manages to look into "the dark of the other [character's] concern". This is all in the prologue; I haven't even yet gotten into the first chapter, where wooden dialogue is mixed with choppy sentences, intending to create a feeling of suspense but falling flat. The entire first few pages of this chapter are based on the actions of the main character, Chris MacNeil, when she becomes irrationally irritated by a strange tapping noise. Agh. Her thoughts are interjected into the prose at inconvenient times as well, detracting from the story.

Read this book for comedy only. I guarantee that you'll be laughing for days. And a recommendation? Read it out loud, and to other people. More entertaining than "The Ruthless Italian's Inexperienced Wife".

* last sentence modified from Amazon version.

* A short addition: This phrase was uttered in the first chapter to describe the way a man entered a room  - "Catting in lithe." *dies*

After a very long, tumultuous trip back home-- I was supposed to leave Pittsburgh at 12:50PM and get back to Ithaca at 3:40-ish, but that flight was canceled and I had to take another one to Newark at 3:00, and one from Newark to Ithaca that kept getting delayed, so I finally got back in at 1:30AM-- I am here. I miss the Alphans! GAH! I've also realized that my Stuff was not as worthy of missing while I was away as I thought, as there is too much of it and I think I need to clean my room.

I can however say that, after four hundred and fifty pages (and still not done), The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller (Kingmaker, Kingbreaker series) is full of awesome. I just wish that someone had edited the damn thing. Quotation marks instead of apostrophes abound, as do misspellings, and I'm not sure whether the wrong prefixes of words are on purpose or a mistake. Despite this, though, still made of goodness. Anyone who sees this post: read the book. She has a good feel for tone in prose with regard for character, and considering how long it is and the fact that it's part of a series (well, of two), you'll be amused for a good long time.

Okay, so the typos/whatever were a bit less in "Dance With the Devil" versus "Fairytales Slashed": there were seven typos, one missed period, and (I think) one case of a capitalization that should-have-been. That being said...

Holy crap!!! Go Megan Derr!! I actually hadn't read "Dance With the Devil" yet; the formatting had me confused, though I had no trouble with it in hard copy-- but it was damn good, and I don't say that lightly. The cases in it were excellent; due to the repetition of a certain line that the main character, Chris, and his coworkers used, I really felt like it was a detective novel. It almost had a Sherlock Holmes feel to me, but not. It's hard to explain. It was a detective novel, of course, but that repetition cinched it for me. The romance between Chris and Sable was stellar, as was the relationship between Doug and Zach. I loved Phillipa, too! She reminded me of Cordy from AtS and BtVS, actually. It was all very lightly done, very perfect, and good gods, Megan, you did it again! Despite the editing mishaps (pleeeeease fix!) I would willingly, readily, and immediately buy any novel that you put out. On that note, if you need another editor, I would pay you to let me do it, because the typos are driving me nuts.

Highly recommended; only ten bucks; go forth and buy!