These days, when someone says "gothic," everyone thinks body piercings, dyed black hair and Doc Martens. But the term also refers to a literary genre, one that has crept into a lot of today's YA literature (a good example is Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl). Rebecca Maizel's Infinite Days also contains a... Continue Reading →
The lovely and talented Cassandra Clare is still holding onto the No. 1 spot this week with her latest, Clockwork Angel. Last week's bevy of newcomers is also represented. Given the recent rash of books involving angels -- fallen and otherwise -- I'm curious about Halo by Alexandra Adornetto. Anyone read it? How does it compare... Continue Reading →
Today closes out our week-long feature on poet Elka Cloke, whose new collection, Bitter Language is now in stores. And once again, Sara's outdone herself with three wallpapers featuring Elka Cloke's poems, "Thames River Song," which appears at the opening of Cassandra Clare's newest book, Clockwork Angel, and "Bitter Language," which appears in City of Ashes. A... Continue Reading →
Lenah in Infinite Days may detest Kate Chopin's classic, The Awakening, but thousands revere it as one of the first modern pieces of feminist literature. It would be easy to say Lenah thinks the book is "dreadful" simply because Rebecca Maizel, the author, dislikes it -- and that may be true -- but if we... Continue Reading →
Hello! This is Elka Cloke, author of Bitter Language, guest blogging for Novel Novice. I’m going to talk about poems and song lyrics in today’s blog, which is one of those topics I can go on about forever because I feel so strongly that song lyrics are poetry. In order to illustrate this I’m going... Continue Reading →
Forgive the steampunk pun, but what makes a poet tick? Elka Cloke took some time to answer this and a number of other questions about her new collection, Bitter Language. __________ Q. Two of your poems are featured in books by Cassandra Clare. How did that come about? A. Cassie and I have been friends since we were 13.... Continue Reading →
 "Evil be he who thinketh evil." This quote not only serves as the motto of The Order of the Garter, in Rebecca Maizel's Infinite Days, it's tattooed on Lenah's shoulder by a knight of the original Order. The Order was first established in 1348 (or 1344 depending on the source) by King Edward III as a... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: Readers will find themselves transported to a hidden world by the verses of Elka Cloke's first poetry collection. Lush language and evocative words yield a blend of the fantastic-within-the-mundane. ''Cloke's gift is in unerringly choosing the perfect words to describe a feeling, sensation or moment... a lyrically transportive work.'' --Cassandra Clare ''Lush and decadent yet... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: From Publishers Weekly: Maizel’s dark and dreamy debut reverses the vampire trend with a heroine whose heart’s desire is to regain her humanity and abandon her evil past. After more than 500 years as the queen of her English coven, perpetual 15-year-old Lenah finally has her chance to become human again when her vampire sire... Continue Reading →
Now that everyone's had a chance to digest the awesomeness of Cassandra's Clare's latest, Clockwork Angel, you might have noticed the poem that opens the book -- "Thames River Song" by Elka Cloke. When putting together "Tessa's Poetry List," Cassie was kind enough to put me in touch with Elka, who in turn, was kind... Continue Reading →
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