A Writer's Moment: 'It's that place to belong'

A Writer's Moment: 'It's that place to belong':   “I just love writing. It's magical, it's somewhere else to go, it's somewhere much more dreadful, somewhere much more exciting...

'It's that place to belong'

 

“I just love writing. It's magical, it's somewhere else to go, it's somewhere much more dreadful, somewhere much more exciting. Somewhere I feel I belong, possibly more than in the so-called real world.” – Tanith Lee

 

Born in London in September of 1947, Lee authored nearly 100 novels, 300 short stories, 1 children's picture book (Animal Castle), and many poems. She also wrote two episodes of the BBC science fiction series Blake's 7 and was the first woman to win the British Fantasy Award’s best novel for her book Death's Master – the second in her “Flat Earth” series.

 

Vibrant and exotic are often words used by critics when describing her writing but perhaps the best thing that might be said about her style is that it can’t be categorized.  Thus, she attracted a broad readership for her works.   

 

Lee, who died of breast cancer in 2015, said that while her own vivid imagination shaped her writing style, she also was influenced by writers “across the board . . . by many.”   In 2024 Lee was honored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) with their Infinity Award, which posthumously honors creators who died before they could be considered for the organization’s coveted Grand Master Award. 

 

“At an early school, when I was about 5, they asked what we wanted to be when we grew up. Everyone said silly things, and I said I wanted to be an actress. So that was what I wanted to be.  But what I was, of course, was a writer.”

A Writer's Moment: Where loyalty lies

A Writer's Moment: Where loyalty lies:   “If a man is not faithful to his own individuality, he cannot be loyal to anything.”  – Claude McKay   Born in Jamaica in September of...

Where loyalty lies

 

“If a man is not faithful to his own individuality, he cannot be loyal to anything.” – Claude McKay

 

Born in Jamaica in September of 1889, McKay was the son of peasant farmers, mostly self-taught and highly successful with his writing.  His 1912 book of poems, Songs of Jamaica, about Jamaican peasant life, established his credentials as a leading black poet, and his 1928 Home To Harlem is arguably considered the first commercially successful novel by a black writer.   For Saturday’s Poem, here is McKay’s,

To A Poet

There is a lovely noise about your name,
Above the shoutings of the city clear,
More than a moment's merriment, whose claim
Will greater grow with every mellowed year.

The people will not bear you down the street,
Dancing to the strong rhythm of your words,
The modern kings will throttle you to greet
The piping voice of artificial birds.

But the rare lonely spirits, even mine,
Who love the immortal music of all days,
Will see the glory of your trailing line,
The bedded beauty of your haunting lays.

A Writer's Moment: Low aspirations, soaring results'

A Writer's Moment: Low aspirations, soaring results':   “When I settled to writing seriously, which would be in my 30s, I did expect to be published eventually, but my aspirations weren't ve...

Low aspirations, soaring results'

 

“When I settled to writing seriously, which would be in my 30s, I did expect to be published eventually, but my aspirations weren't very high. A published book and a few appreciative readers was my idea of heaven.” – Jo Beverley

 

Born in England in September of 1947, Beverley started late but once she got going became a very prolific writer with millions of those “appreciate readers.”  Writing in historical, science fiction and romance genres, she produced 43 novels and 18 novellas lauded as well researched, filled with historical details, and peopled by communities of interesting interlinked characters.

 

After moving to Canada in 1976 she became a founding member of the Ottawa Romance Writers' Association (ORWA) in 1985 and in 1988 became the first “romance” writer to be a finalist in the "L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future" Science Fiction contest.    

 

Beverley won dozens of writing prizes and two Career Achievement Awards from Romantic Times, The Golden Leaf Award and the Readers' Choice Award.  She also is the sole Canadian romance author to be inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame.    Shortly before her death in 2016 she was asked if she could meet someone from the past, who might that be?

“I'd pick Jane Austen," she said, "because I'd like to know what really made her tick. It's my opinion that she was inhibited by her family and a desire to do the right thing. Away from all that, I believe she'd show new facets and enjoy the adventure.”

A Writer's Moment: Mastering those 'puzzly' plots

A Writer's Moment: Mastering those 'puzzly' plots:   “The funny thing is, though I write mysteries, it is the one genre in adult fiction I never read.   I read Nancy Drew, of course, when I w...