This issue:

(Y Alternative Christmas-y movies for this holiday season

(¥ Chairman of the Board: Who needs story?
(Y Steven’s Man-Cave: A mother’s final wish

And more!

Seen something worth sharing?
Contact: Cheryl Minns, Arts Editor
Marts@theotherpress.ca
www.theotherpress.ca

 

Truth versus fiction in
‘Moss-Hatlred Girl’

» Winner of 3-Day Novel Contest comes to Vancouver

Cheryl Minns
Arts Editor
Marts
@theotherpress.ca

Wie NaNoWriMo coming
to a close this week,
there’s another time-limited

writing competition worth
checking out: the International

 

Labour Day weekend, writers
are challenged with producing a
novel of about 100 pages in just
72 hours. San Francisco author
Rachel (R. H.) Slansky won the
2013 contest with her novel,
Moss-Haired Girl, which will be
published by Vancouver’s Anvil
Press.

The novel begins with
Joshua Chapman Green
looking for answers about his
family in his recently deceased
mother’s attic. He comes across
an autobiography by a circus
performer named Zara Zalinzi
that might be real or fake.

“I wanted it to be in the
voice of the lead character, but
the whole point of it is she is
telling lies about who she really

was to cover up the more painful to me that basically having

> an Afro is the ideal of white
occurred to me that I could have : beauty.’ Slansky said. “I have

: very curly hair myself and I had

truth,” Slansky said. “Then it

somebody who's annotating this
autobiography.”

The idea to change the

story’s format came to Slansky

: only two days before the contest
: began, giving her little time but
lots of inspiration.

“T already knew I was going

: to write about Zara; I didn’t

: know that I was going to have

: this other person who was going
: to be researching her life,” she
3-Day Novel Contest. During the She penfec thine bat ess
know if I can pull this off. I don’t
: know if I have enough time to

: create these two characters and

: tell the story in this way’ But

: that’s why it was fun.”

In Moss-Haired Girl,

Zara performs in a sideshow

: as a Circassian beauty. The

: Circassian beauties from

: Russia’s North Caucasus were

: considered the ideal image of

: light-skinned people in the

: 18th century, which led to using
: the term Caucasian to describe
: race. Then, in the 19th century,
: showman P. T. Barnum hosted

: exhibitions featuring light- :
: skinned women with Afro-styled :
: hair masquerading as Circassian
: beauties.

“It was kind of interesting

: always thought about Circassian
: beauties as really intriguing.”

Slansky has participated

: in the 3-Day Novel Contest five
: times so far because she enjoys
: the time constraint that forces
: her to produce work quickly.

“I’m not very good at

: getting things done unless I

: have a real hard deadline,” she

: admitted. “The main reason why
: I started doing the contest was

: I knew that I would complete

: something in those three days

: if] signed up for it and told

: everybody I was going to do it.”

Her first novel for the

: contest—a sci-fi, historical,

: western—began as a way for her
: to deal with emotional trauma

: ina fictional setting.

“I could sort of have therapy

through talking about it ina
: setting that it absolutely did not
: happen in,” she said.

Slansky will be promoting

: Moss-Haired Girl at the
: Brickhouse in Vancouver on
: November 29 at 8 p.m.

“I’m looking forward to it,”

: she said. “Even though I grew

: up in Portland, Oregon, I’ve

: never made it up to Canada. I’ve
: always really wanted to go.”

: For more news on Moss-Haired
: Girl, you can follow Slansky on

: Twitter @RHSlansky.

 

 

Comic Corner: Dystopia and the dame

» ‘Lazarus Vol. 1’ review

Brittney MacDonald
Staff Writer

OOOO:

par: is the newest project
of the award winning duo
of writer Greg Rucka and artist
Michael Lark. As much as |
anticipated and enjoyed this
read as a quintessential sci-fi
narrative with a strong female
protagonist, I was let down a
bit—but only a bit.

Lazarus follows the story
of Forever Carlyle, a strange
mix of guardian, protector, and
spy for her powerful family. In

: this dystopian future, material
: wealth is everything and if
: someone wants something you

: have, then they can just come in
and take it. Hence the need for
a Lazarus, an agent within the

: family that uses manipulation
: and physical force to both

: guard and enact their family’s

: will. But it all goes terribly

: wrong the day that Forever is

: shot—and killed. The real fun
: starts when she doesn’t exactly
: stay dead.

Plot-wise, I can’t fault

: Rucka. Lazarus is a page-turner,
: that’s for sure. His unique,

: character-driven take on

: science fiction perfectly lends

: itself to a graphic novel format.

With such titles as The

: Winter Soldier and Gotham

: Central, I expected a lot out of
: Lark, maybe a bit too much.

: Don't get me wrong, the art in

: Lazarus is good. The use of cool
: tones, lots of heavy blacks, and
: extreme detail make the book

: dynamic. But there’s a lack of

: “wow.” Everything is so dark

: and heavy that nothing really

: pops out as being particularly
exceptional.

I would definitely

: recommend this book if you're
: looking for something a little

: less run-of-the-mill than

: the usual superhero meets

: Uber-villain.