YA book for strong-stomached young adults

DEPARTMENT 6 IS THE ARMY.


DEPARTMENT 13 IS MI5.

DEPARTMENT 19 IS THE REASON YOU’RE ALIVE.

When Jamie Carpenter’s mother is kidnapped by strange creatures, he finds himself dragged into Department 19, the government’s most secret agency.

Thus reads the blurb on the back of the paperback of Will Hill’s Department 19.

Consequently, when I added it to my pile of children’s/young adults’ books, I imagined I was buying a spin-off of Anthony Horowitz’s mega-selling Alex Rider series about a teenaged James Bond. Instead, however, I found just another ...

... vampire book.

Oh dear. Will Hill has an afterword in which he thanks a number of people, many of them with the surname King. He also gives several writers credit for inspiration, a list that includes Stephen King and JK Rowling, but not the dreaded Stephanie Meyer. Yet, if there was ever a spin-off from Meyer, this is the one. There are even vampires that control their base desire for human blood and prey on animals instead, just like Meyer’s coven – though Hill does have the sensitivity to have them feeding on cows, leaving endangered species in peace.

There is also an unacknowledged debt to Horowitz – though Jamie Carpenter has much less character and angst than young Rider, he has natural skills with all kinds of guns, earning himself lots of claps from admiring Department 19 toughs. Instead of human villains, he battles vampire nasties, with the help of teenaged vampire Larissa, who is not only beautiful (except when her eyes go red) but is also the only well developed character in the book.

Larissa can’t bear to suck human veins, so feeds on the blood scattered around the walls – and there is plenty of that. The word “abattoir” is used quite a lot. The vampire nasties are also incredibly sadistic, in the legendary Bram Stoker mode.

So, it sounds as if it would take a strong-stomached teenager to enjoy this book. It is quite harmless, however , being so comic-book in style that it is impossible to take it seriously.

Hill does have a fertile imagination, and writes well enough to make this a page-turner. If he turned to adult science fiction/fantasy, the result could be very interesting.

Q&A with Linda Hall

My interview with Linda Hall

From Linda:

This book is absolutely fascinating.

From the tale itself to the drawings, paintings and sketches it really is something anyone with an interest in history should read. In fact I think it would make a great addition to school's history reading. I love the way it is written, almost like a novel with the characters emerging and growing before your eyes.

Tupaia the Remarkable Story of Captain Cook's Polynesain Navigator takes readers onboard the Endeavour, introduces them to sailors good and bad who were with Cook when he landed in New Zealand.

According to author Joan Druett, Tupaia, a Tahitian, sailed with the Endeavour from Tahiti and was one of the ship's most important artists and helped Cook's crew with the language barrier when thy landed at different islands around the Pacific.

I asked Joan some questions about her book.

Q: How did you discover Tupaia?

A: I was aware that a Tahitian named Tupaia sailed on the Endeavour, because his name kept on cropping up in academic books and journals, but my image of him was very vague — he was a man without personality. Then I read an interview with Dr Paul Tapsell in which he said that  the noble priest, Tupaia, considered by the Maori to be the most important man on board, would have been the one who was gifted the precious taonga that Captain Cook and Joseph Banks carried to England, and presented to royalty and museums as if they had rightful ownership.  I felt a rush of sympathy for this man who had been cheated after his tragic death, not just by his shipmates, but by history, too.  He turned into a real human being for me.  I suddenly wanted to know a great deal more about him.

Q: You say his story has never been told so how did research him?

A: When it was pointed out to me by a friend that a biography of Tupaia had never been written, I realized it had to be done by a maritime historian — someone who understood what his daily life on the Endeavour would have been like, and could compare it to his previous experiences on voyaging canoes.  “I could do that!” said I.  And I set to work reading accounts of the earliest European voyages to Tahiti the very next day — 11 February 2008.  That is the way I work, by reading the logs, journals and memoirs of the people who were actually there.  Because I am a maritime historian, I understand what they are talking about, and can visualize their surroundings — I can read between the lines, as it were.  Once I had read all this basic, primary material, and had made my own deductions and opinions, I turned to what academics had written about the voyage of the Endeavour, which was very helpful.

Q: How long did it take you?

A: Just over two years.  The American edition went into production in September 2010, and was published at the end of the year.  More work went into the New Zealand Random House edition, as it is lavishly illustrated, and captions had to be composed.  This was a great pleasure, as I was able to add observations and anecdotes, but it took extra time.

Q: Apart from Tupaia, who else onboard the Endeavour stood out for you?

A: The four men who had already visited Tahiti, on the Dolphin in 1767 — John Gore, Frank Wilkinson, Richard Pickersgill, and Robert Molineux.  I had already come to know them well, through reading the journals these very young men kept on the Dolphin, and so it was a pleasure to see their characters develop through the Endeavour voyage.  I was also very intrigued to find a journal kept by Joseph Banks’s footman, James Roberts, in the Mitchell Library in Sydney.  It was a very unusual voice from the lower deck, and one that gave me extra clues to Tupaia’s character.

Q: What first sparked your interest in history?

A: I fell into a grave!  Seriously, while staying on Rarotonga in 1984, I became intrigued by a piece of wasteland that was reputed to be a graveyard for “outsiders”, and while exploring it I fell over the gravestone of the wife of an American whaling captain, who had died at the age of 24 in 1850.  I wanted to read a book about the strange life she led, and found I had to research and write it myself.  Luckily. I was given a Fulbright grant to travel to New England, so I was able to do it. Quite by accident, I became a world expert on the daily lives of families under sail.

Q: Tell us a bit about yourself.

A: I live in Wellington with my husband, Ron, who is a maritime artist.  We also lecture on cruise ships occasionally, so if you see us on the high seas, say hi!  I talk about women under sail, women pirates, shipwrecks and castaways (I joke that the audience should be wearing life jackets for that one).  And, of course, I talk about Tupaia.

Q: Who do you think would enjoy your book?

A: I work hard to turn history into a book that reads like a novel, and so I hope it will be widely read, and enjoyed by many people.  Everyone has heard of James Cook and Joseph Banks, but the story of the Endeavour should be that of three remarkable men, not just two.  I have my fingers tightly crossed that my biography of this extraordinary Polynesian will help to set the record straight, and make Tupaia’s name as famous as theirs.

Q: What's next on the agenda?

A: The nonfiction story of a rousing episode in New Zealand’s early maritime history — and a seafaring novel, set in the sunset days of the East India Company, in the South China Sea.

A comma and a twitter fight

A report that Oxford University had changed its comma rule left some punctuation obsessives alarmed, annoyed, and distraught. Passions subsided as the university said the news was imprecise, incomplete and misleading.

Catch the difference between the two previous sentences? An "Oxford comma" was used before "and" in the first sentence, but is absent in the second, in accordance with the style used by The Associated Press.

Guides to correct style differ and the issue became heated on Twitter after reports of the Oxford comma's demise.

But have no fear, comma-philes: the Oxford comma lives.

Oxford University Press, birthplace of the Oxford comma, said Thursday that there has been no change in its century-old style, and jumped into the Twittersphere to confirm that it still follows the standard set out in "New Hart's Rules."

The only explicit permission to dispense with the Oxford comma - apparently the cause of the alarm - was in a guide for university staff on writing press releases and internal communications. "It's not new, it's been online for several years already," said Maria Coyle in the university press office.

Yet the report caused a Twitterstorm.

"For teaching me that the Oxford comma resolves ambiguity, I'd like to thank my parents, Sinead O'Connor and the Pope," said Twitter user Aaron Suggs (ktheory), deftly illustrating the potential damage that can be caused to a sentence's meaning.

The kerfuffle at least answered the musical question posed by indie band Vampire Weekend: "Who gives a -- about an Oxford comma?"

Well, people like Heather Anne Halpert (blurryellow): "Are you people insane? The Oxford comma is what separates us from the animals."
Some style guides advocate the comma, others advise against it. Most also counsel using common sense to make the meaning clear.


William Strunk, Jr, who has guided generations of writers through The Elements of Style, wrote in the book's first edition of 1918: "In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last."

That position is backed by The Chicago Manual of Style and the style manual of the US Government Printing Office. The style guide of the BBC also commends liberal use of commas "in those pesky lists," and advises a comma to separate each item.
But style guides from The Associated Press and the London newspapers The Times and The Guardian dispense with a comma before the conjunction. The Queen's English Society agrees that "there is no need for a comma before the 'and' unless the sense demands it."
And there is even a third school, exemplified by Henry W Fowler. In The King's English (2nd edition), published in 1908, he gave this example his approval: "Industry, honesty, and temperance, are essential to happiness."


"We unhesitatingly recommend the original and fully stopped form, which should be used irrespective of style, and not be interfered with by rhetorical considerations; it is the only one to which there is never any objection," Fowler said.
Students at Oxford University are free to choose a style in writing their papers. "They are just expected to use proper spelling and punctuation," Coyle said.

British writer Lynn Truss observed in her popular style guide, Eats, Shoots & Leaves - another example of how a comma or no comma changes meaning - that there are strong opinions on both sides.

"I'll just say this: never get between these people when drink has been taken," she advised.

Thanks to Don Gilling.

Interview with CHRIS LAIDLAW

My great interview with Chris Laidlaw was broadcast Sunday morning

To listen to the podcast of us chatting about the legendary TUPAIA, tune into http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/ and search for my name...

A Woman of Great Courage

Rose de Freycinet, lover, seafarer, castaway
A favourite in my bookshelf is a handsome translation of the letters of Rose de Freycinet, who stowed away on the corvette Uranie to sail around the world with her handsome husband, Captain Louis-Claude de Freycinet, and endured shipwreck on the homeward lap of the voyage. Called A Woman of Courage. The Journal of Rose de Freycinet on her Voyage around the World 1817-1820, her amazingly intimate and confiding correspondence was translated and edited by Marc Serge Rivière, and published by the National Library of Australia.

Dressed in blue frock-coat and trousers, 22-year-old Rose stole on board just after midnight on September 17, 1817, the day that the expedition sailed from Toulon. Her heart beat with fear and excitement, but the tolerant French officers welcomed her into the afterquarters, toasting her brave feat in wine. And, despite her cross-dressing, her illegal presence did not stay a secret for long. On October 4, the Monitor Universel declared, “This example of conjugal devotion deserves to be made public.” Reportedly, Louis XVIII was amused.

By contrast, the Lieutenant-Governor of Gibraltar, the first official to receive visitors from Uranie, was scandalized, and the French Ministry of the Navy was not very happy about it, either. One result of this was that every now and then the two artists of the expedition, Pellion and Arago, painted the same scene twice, one work being true to life, and the other sans Madame. This subterfuge was necessary for the official record, Voyage autour du Monde…exécuté sur les corvettes de S. M. l’Uranie et La Physicienne, which was prepared by de Freycinet and published between 1827 and 1839.

From Gibraltar, the expedition sailed for Western Australia via Tenerife, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town, Mauritius, and Bourbon Island, and from there to Timor, the Moluccas, the Marianas, Guam, and Hawaii, arriving in Port Jackson on November 18, 1819. These “stopovers” (as the fluent and readable translation dubs them) were all described with great attention to detail by Madame, presenting a vivid and novel view of these places, partly due to the writer’s bright, pert personality, but also because she was so very French. For surely only a Frenchwoman would observe that a certain Australian lady was not just “very pretty,” but had “a ravishing ankle, or so Louis noticed!”

Departing from Sydney on Christmas Day, the corvette rounded Cape Horn on February 6, 1820, struck a submerged rock, and was deliberately beached in the Falkland Islands so that as much as possible of the scientific collection could be salvaged before the ship broke up. The party camped on the shore (Madame slept on a plank set up on two casks, with just a sarong for covering, but never complained). Their plight was soon noticed. Two American vessels – the whaler General Knox and the trader Mercury arrived, but alas, the captains were more avaricious than Christian. Instead of rescuing the desolate Frenchmen (and one Frenchwoman), they vied with each other to charge the most to carry the party to Rio. This was finally resolved, after many complicated maneuvers, by buying the Mercury and taking over the ship. They promptly renamed her Physicienne, but sadly for Rose, this did not make her any more comfortable or seaworthy.

An amazing and compelling tale, highly recommended to anyone interested in early nineteenth century Pacific and life on board a discovery vessel, here described from a fresh and beguiling perspective.

Shakespeare’s Bible?

Shakespeare’s “Good Book” on display in Sydney

Leesha McKenny reports in the Sydney Morning Herald that a collection of historic Bibles on display in Sydney is reputed to include one that has been initialled by the great playwright.

A 1607 Geneva Bible, touted to have been owned by Shakespeare is part of a travelling exhibit of 25 historic Bibles, which marks the 400th anniversary of the King James version.

It is also noteworthy that the English translation of the Bible authorized by James I includes even more quotable phrases than penned by Shakespeare himself, including such gems as:

“a broken heart”

“a sign of the times”

“at his wits’ end”

The exhibition can currently be seen at the Village Church, Annandale, NSW, where it will be on display until the end of July.

Family spat goes viral

Family Spat Goes Viral


“It is high time someone explained to you about good manners.”

Thus began an email from Heidi Withers’ future mother-in-law after what seems to have been a highly unfortunate visit to the family of her fiancé, Freddie Bourne, with whom Ms Withers lives (though she may well have moved out, considering the circumstances).

Freddie’s stepmother, Carolyn Bourne, was not the only one horrified by Heidi’s behaviour during the visit – the family dog, Bomber, was traumatised. Heidi committed several cardinal sins, it seems, staying in bed too late, cracking tasteless jokes in the wrong company, and forgetting to send a thankyou card.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Bourne listed her well-meant (?) advice in an email, which Heidi forwarded to a few choice friends. And from there it went viral.

Red faces all around. It is too easy to forget the power of the internet.

Designers get another gong

PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT designers score again


Sixteen years after winning an Oscar for their colourful costumes for the gloriously camp Aussie movie, “Priscilla Queen of the Desert,” designers Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner have won in Canada, scoring the best Costume Design award for their costumes for “Priscilla Queen of the Desert: The Musical.”

Newsweek “Diana at 50” feature reaps derision

Editor-in-chief Tina Brown, one-time friend of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, published a feature story imagining what the royal diva would be like today. The cover was equally imaginative, photoshopping Diana strolling alongside Kate, née Middleton, the daughter-in-law she will never meet this side of the cosmic curtain.

The journalistic feat met global derision. Vanity Fair came up with a wonderful parody, “James II at 310,” and discussing, tongue in cheek, the romance that never happened – between King James Two and Pippa, “the love that might have been.”

Samuel Butler, Utopian

Utopian novelist with close links to Victorian New Zealand

I was intrigued recently to see the online Oxford Dictionary of Biography feature Samuel Butler as one of its lives of the week, mostly because Butler also featured in lessons back in my school days.

Born in Nottinhamshire in December 1835, Butler began his life of self-questioning as a lay preacher at St James's, Piccadilly, where he got fed up with patriarchal Victorian hypocrisy, and expressed his views in a novel, The Way of All Flesh.

Then he aspired to become an artist, despite the disgust of his father, who declared to him that following such a course would "throw you into very dangerous company."  So, he headed off for New Zealand, the most distant British colony, with four thousand pounds from his father, who approved of the idea, believing that the rough real world downunder would knock all that artistic nonsense out of his head.

Butler, therefore, boarded the Roman Emperor at Gravesend (September 30, 1859) with his father's blessing.  After arriving in Canterbury, he set up as a sheep farmer, that kind of occupation being a popular one in that place at that time.  He wrote lots of letters home describing his new life, and his father was so impressed with them that he collected them together and had them published as A First Year in Canterbury Settlement, in 1863, with a preface written by himself.

An energetic young man, Samuel Butler engaged himself in the cultural life of the colony, wrote a utopian novel, organized the first art exhibitions at the Canterbury Club, and had essays published in the Christchurch Press.  The most famous of these is an amusing piece called "Darwin among the machines," where he imagines the consequences of the newly published Origin of Species.

In 1864, having amassed a tidy profit, he returned to London and his early ambition of being a painter.  He enrolled in art schools, produced some quite wellknown works ("Family Prayers" -- reproduced above -- being one), and dabbled in the new art of photography.  He was fated to become more famous as a writer, though -- in 1872, he finally published the utopian novel he had written back in New Zealand.  Called Erewhon, (an anagram of "nowhere"), and without his name on the title page or jacket, it received considerable acclaim -- and was fated, as I might have mentioned earlier, to feature in literature lessons in New Zealand schools.