The Literary Duck

Speculative Fiction: a broad literary genre encompassing any fiction with supernatural, fantastical, or futuristic elements – Collins Dictionary

When I was ten or eleven years old, I read a post-apocalyptic trilogy, called The Tripods, by John Christopher. Those three books—The White Mountains, The City of Gold and Lead and The Pool of Fire—set me on a long and happy love affair with speculative fiction. For the next decade or more, I was absorbed by Isaac Asimov, Anne McCaffrey, J.R.R. Tolkien, Arthur C. Clarke, Ursula Le Guin, Robert Asprin, Marion Zimmer Bradley, all the great science fiction and fantasy authors of my formative years.

Then I went to college and started reading “important” books—the classics and the literary greats. Along the way, my expectations about quality of writing changed. Once I was introduced to truly excellent craftsmanship, there was no going back. Speculative fiction dropped out of my life as I started making room on my bookshelf for the Great American Novels, the Pulitzer Prize winners, the finest examples of art and craft. Boxes of my once beloved science fiction and fantasy novels went to new homes in my friends’ libraries or to the used bookstore.

It turns out, though, that while I was immersing myself in these literary endeavors, speculative fiction was growing up. continue reading >>

As you can see, we’ve been doing some remodeling here at the Literary Duck Blog. We’ve not only freshened up our look, we’ve also made it easier for you to navigate. Do you want to read the most recent posts? Now all you have to do is scroll down… No more clicking back and forth between the home page and the new posts! And now it’s easy to search by author and category, too.

You will find a few other changes, as well. Based on customer and reader feedback, we’ve moved information about local book events and the Literary Duck Book Club off our blog, to our Duck Store website. You can find them HERE.

Thanks for stopping by. We hope you’ll sit a spell and browse.

~ The Literary Duck Staff ~

There are some great new kids’ books out for May reading. Check out this baker’s dozen!

The Cats of Tanglewood Forest By: Charles de Lint

In this enchanting expansion of De Lint and Vess’ 2003 picture book, A Circle of Cats, the duo tells the story of Lillian Kindred, a spirited orphan living on a farm at the edge of a forest with her beloved aunt. While exploring, Lillian is bitten by a snake but saved from death by the magic of the feral cats she has befriended, who turn her into a kitten. Seeking a return to human form, Lillian makes a deal with Old Mother Possum, only to discover that her aunt has died of snakebite. A complex series of adventures, transformations and tradeoffs occurs, involving a number of De Lint’s typically syncretistic magical characters, including Aunt Nancy the spider woman and T.H. Reynolds the fox, who unapologetically informs Lillian that he’s eaten Mother Possum’s husband, saying, “I’m a fox. It’s what we do.” De Lint zestfully combines the traditional and the original, the light and the dark, while Vess’ luminous full-color illustrations, simultaneously fluid and precise, capture Lillian’s effervescent blend of determination and curiosity. Ages 8-12. (Publisher’s Weekly)

Steam Train, Dream Train By: Sherri Duskey Rinker

Like this team’s bestselling Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site, this vehicular bedtime book revs up before winding down, and both text and [...]
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One day, at the ripe old age of 26, I was looking in the mirror for new zits to pop when I noticed something gleaming in my hair. After several minutes of hunting (it was a slippery little devil), I finally found it… a silver, sparkly strand of hair. I said to myself, “This can’t be a gray hair; it’s too glittery. Look at how it catches the light so magically. Gasp! Maybe it means I’m part fairy!”

It is a sign that you are in the deepest of denials and the most psychotic of delusions when you’re a grown woman and your reaction to something is “maybe it means I’m part fairy!” Another sign of my denial and delusion? I kept referring to the hair as “silver” without ever making the connection that “silver” is a polite way of saying “gray” or “your hair makes you look like the fifth Golden Girl.” So, there I was: 26 and in extreme denial about my first gray hair. Yet, since it was only a single hair, and it didn’t seem to grow back after I plucked it, I quickly forgot about it.

I forgot about it until last month, when my scalp gave birth to that silver hair’s babies. Just weeks shy of my 28th birthday, I caught a glimpse of not one, not two, but eight gray hairs sprouting up like something out of the Stephen King novel I just made up, The Woman Who Went Prematurely Gray (a prequel to The Shining).

Quick cut [...]
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Book people in Oregon know that spring means we can finally take our reading outside into the sun. What better way to spend a lovely May morning than on a porch swing with a latte and a great book? We know, it’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it and the Literary Duck team is ready and willing. Here are some of our favorite reads—perfect for front porch sipping.

Ten White Geese By: Gerbrand Bakker

I found, Ten White Geese, by Gerbrand Bakker, winner of the IMPAC Prize for The Twin, fascinating enough to read twice in close succession. In some way the novel reads both like an Emily Dickinson poem and a mystery with a slight Stephen King quality of menace hovering hauntingly throughout.  A woman calling herself Emelie and an Emily Dickinson scholar has fled from Amsterdam to a remote farm in Wales. Why has she run away from Amsterdam? Why won’t the young man leave and will her husband find her? The novel is rich in allusion, conciseness, presentiment, and the slow revealing of motives as Bakker juxtaposes Dickinsonian poetic nuggets with what may be going on in the mind of a woman with hidden purpose. The reader is enveloped in the mystery, beauty of nature and compassion that are revealed as Emilie works toward that purpose. If you like a novel with a bent toward the literary, that provokes thought, finds meaning in the smallest details, and is [...]
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A few months ago I was out hearing my friend Mike’s band play live. A young woman in the crowd said to Mike: “My mom loves you guys. She said I needed to check you out.” After she walked away, Mike (who is also married with a young daughter) rolled his eyes and said to me, “Great. We’re big with moms.”

“Moms are sexy. We’re married to two of them,” I replied.

Mother’s Day is coming up.

Mother’s Day is an American invention—typical, given it’s largely become what I call a “Hallmark Holiday” to most people: or, in other words, an excuse to go out and spend money. Holidays honoring Moms have been around for a while; the ancient Greeks had “Cybele.” Ancient Romans had the festival of “Hilaria.” The American tradition began in 1908, officially adopted as a holiday in 1914. Founder Anna Jarvis was already disappointed in the commercialization of the day by the 1920s.

Commercialized or not, having a kid has taught me moms do deserve a day off. With many young children’s natural and normal predisposition for “mommy,” that’s easier said than done.  So it’s good we have one day a year to say thanks for all her hard work.

As previously stated in this blog, planning ahead for holidays is not my modus operandi. Here at the Literary Duck we’re ridiculously perfect for the procrastinating gift buyer. The publishing business is silly with options for women, and moms in particular. We have a running joke around here that [...]
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I am a recent Eugene resident and a confessed sufferer of wanderlust. I moved here at the end of last summer after finishing my Master’s degree in Scotland, and the transition was not an easy one. After spending limited durations of time in different cities for about a decade, I wasn’t prepared for the prospect of being in one place for five to seven years while my partner completed his PhD at the University of Oregon. I also didn’t know how it would be possible to sate my growing need for travel on a limited budget and in a state that seemed to be mostly farmland.

This perception changed rapidly after I started working in the Literary Duck department at the Duck Store. While shelving one day in our travel section, I noticed a book with a gorgeous picture of Mount Hood on the cover called Scenic Routes and Byways: Oregon, by Tom Barr. The book promised over 80 itineraries to different places around the state, including several that were no more than an hour’s drive outside of Eugene. After flipping through a few pages, I was convinced that it had what I was looking for: a way to get to know my new state without having to spend a lot of money on travel expenses.

I started with the McKenzie and Santiam Pass Loop, a gorgeous, winding drive along the McKenzie River which reached up into snow covered pines and leveled out [...]
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It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are. – Ernest Hemingway

The League of American Bicyclists rates Oregon as one of the most Bicycle Friendly states in the nation. Our largest city, Portland, is considered by many to be the Bicycle Capital of America, so much so that CNN once declared Portland to be one of eight American cities that are “pedaling toward a transportation revolution.” We’re so bike friendly, that the AAA auto club of Oregon offers roadside service for bicycles.

With spring upon us, and people happily gearing up for long sunny rides through the Pacific Northwest, the Literary Duck has some excellent ideas for you intrepid cyclists. If you’re planning a ride—short or long—you’ll find a wealth of information at Ride Oregon and at Cycle Oregon. And don’t miss Ellee Thalheimer’s blog at Cycling Sojourner.

Also check out these books for planning your trips, and see below for some fun books to read with your smallest cycling buddies—all about how bicycles gave 19th century women unprecedented freedom.

Cycling Sojourner: A Guide to the Best Multi-day Tours in Oregon By: Ellee Thalheimer

Breaking the mold of traditional bicycling guides, this handbook provides all the tools bicyclists need for multiple day, self-supported bicycle tours [...]
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When it was first suggested to me I might exhibit ADD traits, my initial thought was: “No way, I’m not that guy.” I don’t fit the stereotype of ADD—crashing cars, lighting fires, generally impaired by impulses and addictions. I take naps! How could a hyperactive person be such a prodigious nap-taker?

I soon learned there’s a vast difference between ADD and ADHD (the trademark condition forming the basis of what many think when they think ADD/ADHD), and even within each condition there are many different ways one might fit into one category or another. Just because your body isn’t particularly hyper doesn’t mean your brain isn’t. After confirming with a counselor that I have and do show signs of ADD, I began to learn as much as I could. ADD isn’t really a disorder unless… well, whatever happens to you creates disorder. In other words, it’s not a problem unless it’s a problem; I hold down jobs, maintain relationships and have stayed out of rehab. In general, I’m doing ok for myself.

But looking back through my history and childhood I find definite signs that were missed—poor grades, a checkered college career, and problems with depression to name a few. At first it seems everyone is ADD: “who isn’t like that sometimes?” We’re all occasionally distracted, we all have organization issues now and then, or issues with focus and motivation. There are things we all wish we’d done differently. On the other hand, some cope with ADD by becoming hyper-motivated and focused, the classic type-A [...]
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Earth Day is celebrated in over 192 countries every year, with millions of people showing their support for environmental protection and reform. Here at the Literary Duck, we’re celebrating with some of our favorite children’s books by some of our favorite authors—because we believe that one of the best things you can do for our planet is to educate the next generation of Earth’s stewards. Happy Earth Day!

  The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge By: Joanna Cole

In this addition to the innovative and hilarious series, the Magic School Bus gets refitted as a hybrid and Ms. Frizzle and her class challenge readers to go green. After traveling in their bus-plane and showing in storyboard style example after example of the Earth’s changing climate, Ms. Frizzle, reluctant traveler Arnold, new South Korean classmate Joon, and the gang ride sun rays to the Earth, and then get back on the bus as those rays (and riders) get caught by heat-trapping gases. Microscope-goggles make CO2 and other molecules visible as strings of bubbles, and the class observes that people using energy is an overwhelming source of these gases, and they decide to conserve right away. They put on a play about global warming, grabbing the attention of the media and inspiring the whole town. Children won’t want to miss the punning online Q & A chat page wrapping up the challenge and Ms. Frizzle and Liz on their tandem bike. Pair this book [...]
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