Nalo Hopkinson makes me very happy

I’m a lucky lucky woman.

This is true in many ways. Wonderful friends, wonderful family, amazing partner, great job, rich life experience, the opportunity to do things I love, the list goes on and on. Generally just very very lucky.

But lets get back to friends for just a moment. You know what’s really lucky? Being good friends with someone who is lucky enough to be the consort of one of my favourite authors.

What this means is that this year for my birthday I was lucky enough to get her latest book, which has not even been released yet, and that I had not yet pre-ordered from Amazon.

This of course means that I’ve been lucky enough to sink my teeth into this book over the last week or so. Even though I don’t have much time to devote to reading, I do have lots of time to devote to thinking about the book, imagining where it is in my house, wishing I could be reading it, wondering what will happen next, and of course, as much as I want to finish it, I want to savour it, I want it never to end.

I really can’t tell you how much I love her work. It’s kind of like Philip Pullman for me. I don’t mean the writing or the style, I just mean my adoration of it. I want everyone to know about Nalo Hopkinson. I want everyone to read all her books. I want to go off on a major marketing campaign so that everyone can know about her and read her books. I want her to clone herself so that she can write more.

Which brings up an interesting dichotomy, because with most authors, because I have no window into their life, I just whine about why isn’t there a new book, I want a new book, whaaa! With Nalo (who I don’t really know by the way, I’ve met her in passing once, and listened with great interest when she was a panellist on the first Canada Reads on CBC radio many moons ago, but I read her blog, and I converse with her consort - apparently today I like the word consort...) I hear about the trials and tribulations of trying to write and still make a living (because lord knows writing novels for a living, well, rarely exists. Kind of like theatre in that way…) and I am torn between wanting a new book ASAP and wanting her to stay sane, happy and healthy. Too bad there wasn’t a way to do both…

Anyway, I’m loving The New Moon’s Arms as much as I loved Brown Girl in the Ring, Midnight Robber and The Salt Roads.

Quick, out you go, buy yourself some Nalo Hopkinson books and read read read!