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Nicole the Wonder Nerd

Over mijn bibliotheek

About the tags:
* I use "history" for books ABOUT history, and "historical" for books that are themselves of historical interest (generally but not always published before 1900). A book may be both: Geoffrey of Monmouth's "History of the Kings of Britain", for example.

* Omnibuses (omnibii?) or short story collections get awards tags (e.g. "hugo winners") if at least one story contained therein received the award (in this example, a Hugo (in any category)). One book gets a maximum of one award tag for the same award, regardless of how many stories received the award. Example: Connie Willis' "Winds of Marble Arch" gets ONE "hugo winners" tag and ONE "nebula winners" tag, though it reprints several Hugo and/or Nebula winning stories. I've made NO attempt to attach the award tag to the story that won it--all you can tell from a short story collection tagged "hugo winners" and "nebula winners" is that at least one story--possibly but not necessarily the same story--won each award.

* Short stories vs. essays vs. anthologies vs. omnibuses: There's a fair amount of overlap. I tend to use "essays" for collections of short nonfiction, "short stories" for collections of short narrative fiction, and "anthologies" for collections of everything else (e.g. poems, scripts...) Omnibuses are usually collections of material previously published separately.

* Illustrated vs. graphic novel: in what I call a "graphic novel", story and pictures are laid out in the familiar comics sequential format (lots of boxes). "Illustrated" works may be richly/lavishly/beautifully decorated/illustrated, but don't have the same sequential feel as comic books. Sometimes I use "illustrated" to indicate that I'm especially fond of the pictures in my copy of the work: e.g. my copy of "The Land of Little Rain", which is illustrated with Ansel Adams photos.

*Use of the "heroine" tag can be a little vague and/or spotty. The sort of books I use it for are books that, if they'd been written fifty or maybe even fifteen years ago, would have had male protagonists as a matter of course: a pulpy space opera starring an adventuring archaeologist, for instance, or a young sorcerer's coming-of-age quest, or the story of the last and most powerful member of a long line of inventors/mad scientists carving a trail of mayhem through Europe. Strong, nuanced, smart, flawed, well-rounded central characters, the heroes of their own stories, who happen to be female. "Heroine" stories are almost always at least *implicitly* feminist, but I reserve the "feminist" tag for works that *focus* on feminism, gender relations, etc.

*Alternate worlds vs. alternate history vs. fantasy vs. historical fantasy
** "Alternate worlds" stories are set on worlds recognizably LIKE ours (e.g. continents/countries/major cities correspond to our world), but with one or more key differences in the fabric of the world. Usually the story will have travel between alternates. Examples: Phillip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy, or Kim Stanley Robinson's "Three Californias" (alternate worlds WITHOUT travel between them).
** "Alternate history" stories are set on THIS world, where a known historical event or events turned out differently. Example: Jo Walton's "Small Change" trilogy (Farthing / Ha'penny / Half a Crown).
** "Fantasy" stories are set in worlds that were never intended to correspond to our world (e.g. high fantasy).
** Worlds best described as "our world, except with magic" are usually tagged "urban fantasy". Actual city not required.
** Worlds best described as "urban fantasy, except in the past" are tagged "historical fantasy".
** "Steampunk" gets its own tag, because it's that cool.

*Science fiction vs. fantasy
Are the same, per Clarke's Magic-Technology Equivalency Theorem. Still, most works have a "feel" of one or the other, and are tagged accordingly.

*Fantasy vs. urban fantasy vs dark fantasy
"Fantasy" is a catchall tag. When it appears alone, it generally means high fantasy: Tolkienesque sword'n'sorcery tales like the ones lampooned in "The Tough Guide To Fantasyland". I use "urban fantasy" for works that are set basically in our world, except with magic. "Dark fantasy" is a little trickier. I use it as a sort of horror/fantasy hybrid: for works that, while they may superficially treat with subjects traditionally associated with children (e.g. folk tales), use them to pursue themes that are not really appropriate (or, to be fair, intended for) children. Margo Lanagan's "Tender Morsels" is an excellent example of what I mean by "dark fantasy".

Over mij

Mild-mannered engineer by day... mild-mannered engineer by night... freelance superheroine on alternate prime-numbered Tuesdays.
Hobbies include dancing (English Country, Morris (Cotswold), and Irish low-style and ceilidh), blinding people with science (I have a Master's degree... in science!), playing the bones, making coffee, drinking coffee, and--when time permits--pretending to work.
Lives in a happy house with cat and mortgage.

Woonplaats

Los Angleles, CA

Homepage

http://ellipticcurve.livejournal.com

Ook op

BoardGameGeek, BookMooch, eBay, Last.fm, LiveJournal, Wikipedia

Momenteel aan het lezen

The Blind Assassin door Margaret Atwood

Kraken door China Miéville

Favoriete auteurs

Douglas Adams, Dave Barry, Peter S. Beagle, Lois McMaster Bujold, Angela Carter, Ted Chiang, Neil Gaiman, Ursula K. Le Guin, Charles de Lint, P. B. Medawar, Garth Nix, John Scalzi, Connie Willis

Lokale favorieten

Boekwinkels: Cliff's Books, Continental Comics, Skylight Books, Sweet Briar Books, Vroman's Bookstore

Bibliotheken: Los Angeles Public Library - Granada Hills Branch, Los Gatos Public Library

Overig: Los Angeles Times Festival of Books

Leden connecties

Vrienden

argyriou, LisaShapter, noirem, theoldman, wookiemonster

Interessante bibliotheek

evilrooster, leennnadine, nicolu