Kathe koja biography of donald

I've noticed some writers have had mentors and they've maintained professional relationships and even friendships with them. Her trust taught me to trust myself. Which messages did you wish to convey with this novel, and do you think you succeeded? And the Funhole came from Nicholas, who was a character in an early, unfinished novel that was going nowhere—fitting!

The novel also has quite a following, and it has been mentioned as one of the top horror novels of the past few decades. Why do you think it has struck such a chord? And that mystery means we can read it any way we wish. How may readers access it? Tricia Reeks at Meerkat Press has been the kathe koja biography of donald publishing collaborator—she intuitively got the immersive concept as well as the story, and she and I are having a blast putting all this together.

What do you have planned for the future? Young adult [ edit ]. Short stories [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Kathe Koja. Retrieved Kay Elmore Dark Factory. US Macmillan. Michigan State University Libraries. Horror Novel Reviews. Locus Magazine. Archived from the original on Detroit Free Press. External links [ edit ]. Reviewing Buddha Boy in Publishers Weeklya critic observed that, by using Justin's flashbacks to narrate her novel, Koja "accomplishes quite a feat" by presenting a "compelling introduction to Buddhism and a credible portrait of how true friendship brings out the best in people.

Sieruta commended the novel's "original, offbeat voice," while in the Bloomsbury Review Susan Lansing dubbed the novel "a perceptive read involving karma, catharsis, and the fears and frustrations of high school alliances. Koja continued to create provocative teen fiction with her novel, The Blue Mirrora "cautionary tale of infatuation" in which the author's "writing talent … reaches remarkable fruition," according to Booklist reviewer Debbie Carton.

A characteristically misfit protagonist, seventeen-year-old Maggy, wishes she were invisible at school, where she is failing, and the rest of her life doesn't seem much better. There she meets the handsome runaway, Cole, an edgy risk taker who tells Maggy that he loves her. Although her friend Casey senses that Cole is just using Maggy to cover his petty criminal activity, the wary Maggy falls in love.

Praising The Blue Mirror as an "eerie, psychologically gripping urban tale" similar to the work of author Francesca Lia Block, a Publishers Weekly reviewer added that in her story "Koja explores the confusion between infatuation and real love—in all its cruelty and its redemptive powers. Writing is not just what I do, it's what I am, the way I see and make sense of the world.

Welsh, Witch Baby Wigg—are young," she added. And intensity is the hallmark of youth. There's no season in our lives when we are more possible: as human beings, moving creatures in a world so much larger than we are; as individuals, capable of evil or of good, or of both. When we're young our hearts are still wide open, our minds not yet fossilized into predictable reactions; change is daily and inevitable.

For a writer, this is enormously exciting, because in a place like Youth anything can happen. Kink is an "anticlimactic. Chadwell, writing in Library Journal, also felt that readers might be "disappointed" in Koja's ending, but felt that "this intense, erotic piece is a recommended launching pad" for those wanting to explore the romantic and erotic possibilities of threesomes.

Comments in Publishers Weekly for Koja's next publication, Extremities, were similarly unflattering. The critic called the collection of seventeen stories "daring but unsatisfying," indicating that Koja's "gift for sensory description" was used ineffectively. According to the Publishers Weekly reviewer, too much of the text "seemed designed merely to shock" and "such gratuitous grotesquerie" failed to be "provocative" and occasionally created "unintentional comic effect.

Kathe koja biography of donald

Atamian found the collection "powerful," with "provocative story lines and evocative prose. While Koja's previous work could be enjoyed by sophisticated readers from teenage to adult, she wrote specifically with a young adult audience in mind with her Straydog, the Buddha Boy, and The Blue Mirror. In the first of these, teenage Rachel feels like something of a stray dog herself, and volunteers at the local animal shelter.

There she encounters a feral collie mix that has been brought in, and names the wild and untamable animal Grrl. Writing about the dog in a language arts class, she attracts the attention of her teacher and another student. However, when the dog attacks workers at the animal shelter, it is put down and Rachel becomes manic for a time, trying to destroy the shelter.

Finally, though, she begins to realize that only by writing about the animal can she remain true to it; Grrl was too wild to be tamed. Acceptance leads to friendship with Griffin, as well. Koja's initial young adult offering was met with positive reviews. Paula Rohrlick, writing in Kliatt, found it a "short, swift read. Farida S. Dowler, writing in School Library Journal, commented that the "friendship with Griffin has romantic tension, but transcends high-school stereotypes.

Brabander concluded that the novella is a "fast but semi-sophisticated read for teens who haven't out-grown dog stories. In Buddha Boy, Koja features another high school outsider in a tale about a new boy who must deal with the school bullies and find his place in a new social hierarchy. The new boy at school, Michael Martin, has a shaved head and engages in strange behavior, such as begging for his lunch.

The popular Justin has no desire to get involved, but is paired with Michael by their teacher, and he begins to learn what makes the new boy tick. Ultimately such understanding leads Justin to stand up for Michael and earn the epithet of "Buddha Boy" from others at school. This second young adult novel brought more critical praise for Koja.

Writing in Publishers Weekly, a contributor observed that the author "accomplishes quite a feat with this novel narrated by [a] high school sophomore. Sieruta commended the novel's "original, offbeat voice. Koja continued her string of young adult tales with 's The Blue Mirror, a tale of yet another misfit at school. Maggy is sixteen and wants simply to be invisible at school.

She works after school at the Blue Mirror cafe downtown and the rest of the time has to care for her alcoholic mother. Sketching is her one outlet, until she meets the runaway, Cole. Attracted to this edgy risk taker who tells her he loves her, Maggy comes alive, yet is also frightened by what she senses in Cole. Whether writing for young adults or adults, Koja is a fine stylist.

What I want most is to continue working until all the lights go out.