I've waited for years and now there's less than a month before the release of Dark Companion! Alexandra Machinist, my wonderful agent, surprised me this morning by sending the terrific review in Publishers Weekly:
Buttressing adult author Acosta's (the Casa Dracula series) YA debut are nods to the gothic tradition and Jane Eyre parallels that she encourages through epigraphs, character names, and the events that unfold. Her well-drawn characters shine--Jane especially, whose very nongothic life on the street makes for a gritty opening and influences the whole. Jack Radcliffe (the mountain-biking incarnation of Mr. Rochester) and Jane's clearly delineated classmates are vivid actors in the drama as well...It's so nice that the reviewer saw all the gothic references!
Acosta's story is an impressive contender in the crowded YA paranormal field.
I've been talking a lot about gothics, especially with readers who have questions about the genre and my novel. One reader told me that she enjoyed getting a "behind the scenes" perspective, so I decided to post a Q&A with answers to questions at Marta Acosta's Dark Companion. This Q&A is on a separate blog because it has so many spoilers.
I've done a little searching around and I think that Craig White of the University of Houston does a great job summarizing the elements of gothic fiction.
- haunted houses - castles - woods mazes - labyrinths - closed doors & secret passages/rooms
- light and dark interplay with shades of gray or blood-red colors fair &
- dark ladies - twinning, doubling, & doppelgangers
- repressed fears & desires
- memory of past crime or sin
- death & decay
- bad-boy Byronic heroes
- blood as visual spectacle and genealogy/ethnicity
- spectral or grotesque figures
- lurid symbols, creepy or startling sounds, screams in the night, groans from unknown rooms
5 comments:
This makes me even more excited to read DARK COMPANION!!! Well, when it's available :-)
Hi, Lori! My editor just told me she got her hands on the first hard cover copy and she's overnighting it, which is pretty exciting. It's my first hard cover in the US. You have a wonderful blog! How great that you got to meet Charlaine Harris and Amy Plum.
Thanks Marta! I'm so humbled you read my blog :-) I'm still new to it, so I've only blogged about meeting the fabulous authors I've met in the past month or so. Yes, Charlaine and Amy were absolutely wonderful! I always enjoy meeting authors. It's such a great atmosphere. Richelle Mead will be at that same book store tomorrow night. I met super Carrie Vaughn and the hilarious (and tall!) Molly Harper there last summer. Hope you'll get to visit someday :-)
CONGRATS on your first ever US hardcover! That's so exciting. Even better things for DARK COMPANION!
Hi, are you talking about Joseph-Beth in Lexington? I've heard of them often! It's possible that it will be on my Tor Teen Book Tour, but I don't know. All I know is "midwest and West."
If you ever get a chance to hear Christopher Moore speak, he's one of my favorites. He's hilarious and warm.
Yep, that's the one! Wow, I really hope you'll be touring there. It's a fabulous bookstore :-) Oh, I'd love to meet Christopher Moore. One of my best friends introduced me to his books and they're awesome!
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