Rona Gallery's Opening Night...

Come and see the New Rona Gallery, we're up, we're open and looking good.
Here are a few photos of the opening night - more to come soon

ReOpening Soon! Watch out for Mrs Mo's Monster and Paul Beavis.

There's so much happening - and we will update very soon with all the events, but in the meantime, mark Sunday 19th of October into your little monster's calendar! A great book event for young and old to enjoy together.
 
Our website is in the process of being changed, and might be a bit tricky to find for a while, so here's a link, so you can easily keep up to date with all the news.
http://www.richardponder.com/

We're Rebuilding

Out with most of the old and in with the new, the demolition stage is almost over and we'll be rebuilding soon. 

We hope to keep you in touch with what's happening during the rebuilding process, and are looking forward to the final product, including a cafe, a perfect accompaniment for books and art.

Rebuild Sale on Now - 30% off all Rona Gallery Stock

Yes, we're going to be rebuilding the gallery - but in the meantime why don't you save heaps - and just before Christmas, too.

30% off means you can either get 30% more presents OR use the money to go on a longer festive holiday - you choose. 

Love to see you soon.  Hopefully we'll keep you updated of the build as we go.

Gallery will close over Christmas and Boxing Day
Afternoon Hours only 12-4 until the 31st December

Thank you so much for visiting - see you back real soon with a cafe and a beautiful new front inspired by Huderwasser.

White Cloud Worlds: Opening and Events 2013

We're really excited, there's so much on during this upcoming exhibition.  Looking forward to the White Cloud Worlds Opening, it's going to be crazy busy setting up and we're expecting lots of the artists, including Paul Tobin, Weta artist and founder of White Cloud Worlds and Gino Avecedo who will be speaking on the night about his art and his roles in Weta - so if you want an invite now's the time to ask (Rona Gallery 562 8062) and of course the life drawing demonstration with a costumed model will be fun (Sun 17th).  Gino's also threatened to break out the movie makeup on Sun 10th during the signing which will be seriously awesome.

Wicked, by Gregory Maguire

Loved the idea of this book, but somehow it never delivered on its amazing second promise (not first promise because I thought the first few pages were dreadful) The plot had some interesting twists and turns, but it never really seemed to tie tightly together, the characters were shallow, and they did do stuff, but often for motivationally weak purposes. But most jarring was the changeable style - all the way from fairytale, to political angst, to where can we throw in some totally jarring sexual references, yeah - that'll sell the book.

The sad thing is he was probably right.

Even so I'm glad I read it - which is why it I gave it two stars on goodreads, hell I made it to the end, and there are alot of books where that never happens.  Besides there was something about it - an almost there.  Patches where I just had to know what was going to happen next, and was totally carried away by the story.  For example, I thought, some of the romance between the not quite witch yet, and her lover, was quite well done.

But still, by the end, I was driven totally insane - and am very happy to be moving on to Ian M Banks and the Hydrogen Sonata - and find myself really enjoying his quirky, well written style - (so happy because after this and totally failing to finish the last Wheel of Time book, was beginning to think my love of reading had died.)

Anyway, appologies for the crappy review, perhaps almost as disjointed as the book ;)

Never mind, I've heard the musical is awesome :)

A.J. Ponder

Our New Vlog

The video where Becks is thoroughly nervous, and Alicia is reading a chapter from her book "Wizard's Guide to Wellington,"   Stand by for the next exciting instalment - who will read or perform a book review, will Joanna or Richard be in shot?  will we be able to get the light so the video isn't quite so fuzzy? 

Calling all Artists in the Greater Welllington Area

Young and old, professional or amateur, why not take part in Rona Gallery's The Magic of Wellington Art Competition?  We're looking for pieces of all types that in some way show  Wellington in its true light - by in some way encompassing the theme, "The Magic of Wellington."art


 We're really looking forward to this event - and are expecting some fantastic artwork to arrive - but that's going to rely on YOU - all you artists - sculptors, painters, drawers, computer and photographic geniuses - we're hoping you are going to show us all just how beautiful, fascinating and magical Wellington really is.

See A.J's and local author's latest books at Rona Gallery Books  http://www.ronagallery.co.nz/shop/books

Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence

Been a bit slack with the book reviews of late - but every so often a book comes on the radar and it's so startling  that it's worth mentioning.

Prince of Thorns is one of those books.

 Now don't believe the "Excellent - on a par with George RR Martin" on the front cover.  Couldn't be further from the truth.  This is an easy read.  Quite deep in content but the language is plain and simple - sometimes to an extent where I found it lost it's mark just because of a lack of a certain richness I crave in terms of vocabulary and sentence structure.  Startling.  I'm going with startlingly good, a gripping read that will keep you turning the pages and finally when it is done - cursing the end of the book


The Plot

Young prince Jorg, determined to be king,  is a ravening fiend out on a blood and revenge fuelled rampage across the countryside - deter.  Yes I know, rather awful, and normally I wouldn't be endorsing a book with a character so unlikeable and downright evil.  But against all my better value judgements - this one somehow hits the mark and this is because the young prince and his motivations are somewhat humanised by the back story and a wayward contrariness that seems to fuel his every action.  Of course at some point Jorg needs to go back home and confront his father - and while it is obvious that is not going to be a happy meeting the sheer scale of the disaster is great, and played with the same very subtle black humour that threads it way through the story like a piano-cord - as if waiting to tighten the noose.

Well that's it I'm afraid folks - if you like dark fantasy this book is unmissable.  so read it!!!!  And if you write I suspect copying this simple and dramatic style will be far easier than the more accomplished, but sometimes cumbersome storytelling of the inestimable George RR


Another slightly more comprehensive review - http://www.afantasticallibrarian.com/2011/06/mark-lawrence-prince-of-thorns.html

Until next time (probably the King of Thorns) but I'll try to finish NaNo Wri Mo first.  I think can hold of reading it - possibly - until the end of the month!

Halloween is coming early to Rona Gallery 2012

Yes, Halloween came early to Rona Gallery this year, Mary and Joanna came down with witch's disease - seriously cool - but they both could have done with hats to complete their ensemble - and we all had a wonderful evening with the creepy heart of Mansfield's stories turned into something more - more evil, more wicked, and more exciting - but still containing the beating heart of the originals.  Enough to keep not only the teens in the audience fascinated - but also the Mansfield purists. 

So thanks to everyone who came, you were a great audience, and thanks also to Matt and Debbie Cowens for unearthing the macabre in these New Zealand masterpieces and then sharing the process with us.



ORIGINAL POST
Be prepared to get scared - and maybe learn a little bit too with Matt and Debbie Cowens and Rona Gallery, Friday 26 October - 6.30 - and yes there will be a couple of spot prizes for the best dressed.
The book is awesome - some great twists make the atmospheric Katherine Mansfield stories into something - just a little scarier.  Don't believe us? Why not read the New Zealand Herald Review here.

"The authors leave much of her sentences intact but they fill her gaps with blood and gore, bloodsuckers, aliens, otherworld creatures, zombies; and they twist the detail here and there to summon the shocking."

Grandma McGarvey's Christmas - Book launch and fun!

So much fun thanks to Jenny Hessel and Grandma McGarvey.

We hope everyone who came all enjoyed the occasion - we did - and mostly because we had such a  fantastic and well behaved crowd - so thanks everybody!

  We had a great time at this event - and here's the proud winner of the Grandma McGarvey Book Collection worth over $200!   - here's the fantastic flier - so all that's left to say now - is why not find out just how cool this book is too. 

 

RONA SALON: Peasant Society in the Peruvian Andes with Ray Watters

Don't miss one of our last Rona Salons for 2012.  We're particualrly looking forward to this one, Ray Watters is extremely well regarded in his feild of Geography and has undergone many projects both in the pacific and the wider world to improve the living standards of the local people. So don't forget to put this date in your calendar August 31 6:30 And come, travel up the Amazon with Ray Watters...

Margaret Mahy Day in Eastbourne Sat 11 Aug

Don't miss Jenny Hessell, Jill Harris, Maggie Rainey-Smith and Mary McCallum reading their favourite Mahy books at Eastbourne Library, then a short trip down the road to Rona Gallery at 11.45 where Joanna will read "Down the Back of the Chair" - and then onto the serious making of TREASURE BOXES

A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge

When you open a Frances Hardinger book there is this sense of anticipation, the pages beckon - something noteworthy is about to happen - and as you sink into the especially designed prose - for each world has it's unique style - the world enfolds you in its own bizarre and haunting way until you feel you could never have lived in a world without having read that adventure, explored that place, known those people.

Now this one took a little while to really get the feel of - but I happily took that in my stride after all the bizarre world Neverfell lives in is inhabited by people who are truly different from surface dwellers.  They have no expressions apart from the ones they are taught - making them expert liars and manipulators.  Neverfell is warned by the curmudgeony cheese maker who took her in and raised her never to take off her mask.  She is also warned not to get involved with the court - but of course she does - and of course she runs into so much trouble, and so many fascinating characters every bit as flawed - if not more so - than she is - slightly mad and skittering from trouble to deeper trouble in a desperate effort to make things better.


The Guardian review, 'Inventive, gripping and well imagined, this is a brilliant and suspenseful tale. It is exceptionally well written and a must read for all fantasy lovers'  

 What else can I say - Frances is a talent the likes of which we haven't seen since Ursula le Guin - if ever - and her followers are every bit as rabid - maybe more so.  And deservedly so, who else could create such a crazy fantastic world and reveal it through exciting character driven plot and all with prose that is not just flawless but perfectly apt.  Maybe I preferred "Verdigris Deep" because that was a modern day fairy tale - and by far the best I have ever read - but this - this is completely crazy, completely amazing and totally fun.

I would recommend it for extremely good readers - so you are probably looking at adults who like children's stories - or children who read adult books for the challenge.




  

Liar by Justine Larbalestier

I couldn't wait to read this book.  Everyone told me exactly how great it was, refusing to give away any story information with all the furtiveness of secret squirells unable to give away where the nuts are hid.

The protagonist seems likeable enough and is in the horrendous situation of having her boyfriend die... and then it all unravels just like the rest of her life of lies.  At least that's possibly how it was supposed to work.  But for me it just didn't.

Micah seems pathologically unable to tell the truth - and I love that because it keeps a reader on their toes, but what I don't love is...

*

SPOLIER ALERT - read no further if you hate spoilers - (and those people who read my reviews know I normally go out of my way not to divulge plot - but while enjoyment possibly doesn't need detailed explanation, I beleive criticism should be as specific as possible.)

 *

...that nothing really seems to be the truth, and then suddenly in what seems like a perfectly normal mainstream book suddenly we are supposed to believe even for an instant that the main character is a werewolf.  Not on your life.  I read that part of the book completely without my usually ample willing suspension of disbelief and it all crashed downhill from there.   I mean if she really was supposed to be a werewolf where were the signposts previously in the story to indicate it was a fantasy?  At no point was I convinced or even willing to contemplate the idea was true, and the whole section fell down around its ears - or its fangs if you prefer.  
 

SPOILER ENDS

All in all there is no guiding rudder, at the end she could have said the whole thing was a lie and her boyfriend didn't die and it would have been as believable as anything else.

So no, I don't think it was a great story showcasing how an unreliable narrator should be written, but on the other hand it did illustrate very well for aspiring authors both the benefits and the pitfalls of the unreliable narrator and of how to write a character driven story.  In that respect it was right on the button.

Review by Alicia Ponder
 

Feed by Mira Grant aka Seanan McGuire

Alright - first off - the book is fantastic, a great light read and more about that later.  How dare I publicise an author's real name after they wrote under a pseudonym? Well, apparently it's an open pseudonym specifically for "horror." 

Given there's nothing quite like tying up loose ends it's probably worth noting Seanan won the John W Campbell award for best new writer in the Hugo Awards here  and Feed has been getting some great press and this is why...

The characters are fun.  The premise is amazing.  The writing is sharp and to the point, and if the characters aren't up to the hips in danger then there are interesting emotional diversions and the story is making little snide commentaries on the American electoral system (at a level that's not too hard for even foreigners to follow - so long as they've watched maybe a couple of episodes of the Daily Show).

Georgia and her brother Sean grew up with Zombies, their adoptive parents pushing them into the life of the media, not of glitz so much as dangerously living a life as close to that children would have enjoyed before life became too dangerous for people to frivolously risk going outside.  A dangerous life.  And all for the ratings.

Now the siblings plan to become blogging stars with their own network, Sean as an "Irwin" (yes, that's right obviously a tip of the hat to old Stevo), his job is to keep his followers happy with exciting footage of himself getting into dangerous situations.  Georgia on the other hand is a "newsie" and she's only interested in the truth, keeping her readers appraised of what it going on in her part of the world.

To kick-start their career Georgia applied to follow a prominent politician.  It was their chance to make the big time.  But it wasn't the easy gig they expected. The problem is that while poking zombies with sticks is very very very (etc) dangerous - telling the truth is positively suicidal.  Especially where politics is involved...

ok that'll do.

Read it.

And don't worry- a zombie never, ever, ever says "brains". And it's not really what I'd classify as horror either - maybe adventure horror?

Shadowheart by Tad Williams with almost no spoilers

(If you wish to find out more about books one and two of this series, click this link)

I was almost up to FINALLY reading Shadowheart when George RR Martin's latest Game of Thrones came out and I had to put it on the back burner again.  It's times like this where you think maybe two epics in a row is probably going to be too much.  But no.  Shadowheart is an awesome conclusion to this series by one of the greatest fantasy epic writers of the day.  It was like coming home to warm slippers and hot cocoa after being shredded by wolves.  The story was fun, the plot ripped, the poet Tinwright was such a lot of fun.  If I had the tiniest, tiniest complaint - Please Tad, don't do the George thing and call girls manly or whatever because they're in armour.  Besides, armour is actually quite feminine with bulging chest-plates and the flairs at the hips...

Still, if you love epic fantasy, Tad Williams understands epic fantasy in a way so many writers don’t - and I'll go as far as to include George in that number (although here's no doubt the guy can write).  Far from being a let down, the final to this Shadow war series not only holds its own, but I found it the high point of the series.  Well worth reading.  Go and get a copy - it'll keep you quiet for quiet some time.  Enjoy!


mini-review by Alicia Ponder

A Dance with Dragons - Game of Thrones by George RR Martin

What can I say about this epic - that hasn't already been said?  It's brutal - it's magnificently epic in its scope - and its back on track.  The last couple of books, I admit I was wondering which way it would go - strung out plotlines and the usual epic dithering, or falling back to a tighter framework.

Neither apparently, although, according to George, the next book does see many of our far-flung heroes become a little less far-flung.  (At least those that are still alive)  For death and dishonour in the game of thrones, is merely part of the game.  And nobody is safe or exempt. 

The characters are compelling, although everyone has their favourites. For instance I hated Daenerys, in Game of Thrones, still do - fortunately now she has the redeeming feature of dragons.  And boy, that is one huge redeeming feature, so of course she is a favourite for many.  The Imp - Tyrion, is also many people's favourite - one moment he is insufferable, and the next awesome.  What a fantastic character.  Oozing with charm and - is insufferability a word? - well you get the idea anyway.  I'm not even going to mention my two favourites - because I'm pretty sure one of them is dead.  And if you haven't read the book you can't understand how angry that makes me.  I'm furious.  Spitting tacks, but to continue, because I don't want to give the game away none of the characters are the ciphers that you expect in less well written fantasy, from sellswords, to nobility they run the spectrum from evil to benign - but never weak.  Although the child king is, and surely, surely he can't hold the throne for long...  Even "ordinary" men and women who live in a this dangerous and unforgiving world are breathed upon with life, as the plot gallops along, running over, past and through anything and anyone that gets in its way.

If you love epic fantasy and you haven't yet read Game of Thrones, the only acceptable excuse is that you are too young.  (And even if you're ninety, that could be a good excuse - because some of the content is not extremely AO.  A couple of instances in "A Dance with Dragons" were real scrub-your-brain-out-afterwards stuff. --  You'll have some idea if you've been watching the HBO series, Game of Thrones.  But if you think the tv series is good with its catchphrase "Winter is Coming" - this is why its good - the writing - and its so much more than you could ever just watch.)

but no.  I'm not reading the next book.  Never. No.  not ever.  I'm too upset.  At least... not until it comes out...unless, perhaps I can get hold of a reading copy slightly earlier? 

Because winter is finally here.  And it's hit with a vengeance. 

Alicia Ponder 

For readers 18 or older

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Another post apocalyptic novel by Bacigalupi.   He received a nebula for his debut novel, the Windup Girl but to be honest I preferred this one.  It seemed more honest, and the simple determination and courage of his characters shines through in a world now almost devoid of oil, and where even small children are put to work breaking up wrecks for the small amounts of metals they contain. 

Nailer's days on his job are numbered, almost too big for light crew and the job of crawling through ducts for wires, and too small for heavy crew he faces an uncertain future.  His only remaining family a brutal father strung out on drugs, he has created a family of sorts among his crew, but loyalty in this world is a hard thing, bought in blood and broken for money. 

When a rich girl washes up with a storm, he is left with the choice to slit her throat, take her wealth and make a better life for himself - or can he justify the risk of keeping her alive?

A gripping book without the technical or scientific bullshit of his previous novel, this was for me the ultimate teen read even if, from what I understand, it is being sold for adult consumption. Great fun!

This and That. Books. And Things. Apologies for being so slow to post.

 There's something about books, going into a bookstore and looking around to see what's new.  There's always something exciting, some new author, or an old favourite just waiting to be read.  And because I work there, I can be real fussy.  If I read a paragraph and don't much like it, I'll try another, somewhere a little further in. That's it.  No more chances, unless it's come recommended or I've enjoyed reading the author before.  I almost threw down the latest Sanderson book, even though I think he's a great writer, because the characters at the beginning weren't empathetic or compelling enough.  Then I made the mistake of saying that to my husband.  He looked at me with utter shock.  "But you can tell it's going to get good."  Yes, but for me it had to get EXTREMELY good to make up for the mucking around.  And I still think that first section could have been pretty much edited out with no/little loss of story. 

Then I was chatting about books with a friend, and to a certain extent we liked the same sort of thing, but I was shocked that she could love Hyddenworld by William Horwood.  Someone had recommended it to me so I stuck at it for the requisite hundred pages, maybe even one or two more.  But in my eyes it was unoriginal hack.  Nothing new, nothing original, the same old same old... more Tolkien anyone?  But for her it was like cuddling up with a favourite blanket, and a warm cup of cocoa.  Nice, and warm and friendly.  Now I'm busy struggling though Tad Williams latest book, and I love bits of it, and hate others.  Shadowrise is I continuation of his Shadow... series.  And some of it is exactly the blanket and slippers and cocoa and its fantastic and some of it - I have to wonder what he was thinking.  It's just not as succinct as I expect from a writer of his calibre - and it's not that its not succinct because some of the charm of the series is that its epic.  And I love epic.  Truly properly epic, but I think it's just because its at the stage where Robert Jordan, and even to a certain extent George RR Martin struggled/are struggling with their epics.  There's just so much happening, and the characters are so beloved it's hard to focus on the real story and the way it.  Now George, well he was earning enough that he could spend the years it takes to knock his behemoth into shape (and hopefully he has - because boy, I haven't looked forward to a book half so much as I've looked forward to his latest - due out July 12 - in America) but Tad Williams undoubtedly lacks that luxury, so he just keeps on keeping on, which is great because for me these books are that cosy blanket, the hot drink, the gluten free muffin, yes, it has many aspects of trite fantasy, the very stuff I railed against in Hyddenworld, but there's a life here, a soul, a little unexpectedness, and an unexplored world - that for me still holds some excitement, and enormous potential.  So, yes, it's taking a while but I'm happy to keep reading on, to find out if Briony and Barrick will ever fulfil their early potential, to see if Flint, the orphan boy is really who I think he is, and if Qinnitan will eventually find her freedom, and the King too, and to see if Tad can do what he always seems to have in the past, pull his series together in a surprisingly good ending.  And once I've finished this series, there's China Meiville, George RR Martin, and I live in hope, another Frances Hardinger, Robin Hobb... and that's not counting the new authors, the ones where you pick up the book and can't put it down, I found both Frances Hardinger and Emma Clayton that way, and there's always the hope that I'll find another un-put-down-able author - and may be this time they wont be kids books.They'll be the "important sort of biographies that Joanna and Mary like so much, the literature...  No, who am I kidding, I like what I like - and as many have said before, there's no accounting for taste and still, that's half the fun.

Yes working in a bookshop is very rewarding, because there's nothing a writer likes better than talking about books. Great Books.