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Jo Walton

Goodreads Author

Born

in Wales, The United Kingdom

December 01, 1964

Genre

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Member Since

February 2010

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/bluejo

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Jo Walton writes science fiction and fantasy novels and reads a lot and eats great food. It worries her slightly that this is so exactly what she always wanted to do when she grew up. She comes from Wales, but lives in Montreal.

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Hi, I just wanted to ask how you came up with the concept for the fairies in 'Among Others'? They are both intangible and yet as real as every other character in the book. What made you think of them the way you've depicted them there? (Absolutely loved the book by the way!)

Jo Walton As with a lot of my writing, the reason I chose to do this comes from problems I have with the way other people do things. When I read urban fantasy I…moreAs with a lot of my writing, the reason I chose to do this comes from problems I have with the way other people do things. When I read urban fantasy I generally find it hard to suspend my disbelief -- if these things really existed and behaved that way, I'd have to be stupid to have missed them. So I wanted to have magic that was non-falsifiable, and had plausible deniability. And I didn't want to use the Celtic stuff that would have been natural to the landscape I was writing about, partly because I've done it before (_The King's Peace_ uses Celtic mythology) and partly because it has been so overdone by everyone in the world that it feels cliched. There is in fact some pull towards the Celtic things in there -- the Halloween section -- but I wanted to avoid that as much as I could. And I wanted a child's understanding of that the fairies were -- that's why they're deliberately called fairies and not elves or fae or faerie or any of these more sophisticated terms. She knows she doesn't really know what they are, she knows they're something, and she has known them since she was a child and she's using a childish word. Then so many people write fantasy where True Names are important, so I thought well, she's going to call them fairies, what do they call themselves --- how about if I do completely against that and they don't use names? Or even nouns? That's interesting. (Hard to do, but interesting.) And she's given them names from Tolkien and mythology. The thing that makes them real is that she's absolutely matter of fact about them -- they're real to her, they're a real problem, the same as her family or the girls in school.(less)

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Hi Jo! I adore Among Others, and a lot of the thoughts Mori has about romantic/sexual relationships really struck a chord with me. Being aromantic asexual myself, I would love to know if she was intended to be aro/ace-spectrum, or if something else was going on? (either way this book was a very refreshing read, and it's always top of my recommendation list for anyone looking for a book with little or no romance)

Jo Walton

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Combine Editions
Jo Walton's Books

Average rating: 3.76 · 39,593 ratings · 7,744 reviews · 49 distinct works · Similar authors

	Among Others 3.68 avg rating — 16,582 ratings — published 2011 — 35 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	My Real Children 3.76 avg rating — 3,944 ratings — published 2014 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Just City (Thessaly, #1) 3.78 avg rating — 3,609 ratings — published 2015 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Farthing (Small Change, #1) 3.80 avg rating — 3,415 ratings — published 2006 — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Tooth and Claw 3.83 avg rating — 3,196 ratings — published 2003 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ha'penny (Small Change, #2) 3.88 avg rating — 1,562 ratings — published 2007 — 17 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Half a Crown (Small Change, #3) 3.91 avg rating — 1,227 ratings — published 2008 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Philosopher Kings (Thessaly, #2) 3.91 avg rating — 1,067 ratings — published 2015 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	What Makes This Book So Great 3.88 avg rating — 620 ratings — published 2014 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The King's Peace (Tir Tanagiri, #1) 3.56 avg rating — 561 ratings — published 2000 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Jo Walton…

778 posts
Jo Walton's Blog

A Trump Christmas Carol

So I didn't mean to post that poem in the last post, I thought of it as I was thinking about writing this post.

Laurie Penny, who is awesome, had the great idea of writing a version of A Christmas Carol where Trump gets visited by people of artists who died in 2016. And she and John Scalzi and Roz Kaveney wrote bits of it, and then Laurie asked me to join in, and I did, using Bill Higgins's exce... Read more of this blog post »

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Published on December 25, 2016 05:04 • 36 views

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Series by Jo Walton

Small Change (3 books)
by Jo Walton (Goodreads Author)
3.84 avg rating — 6,203 ratings

Thessaly (3 books)
by Jo Walton (Goodreads Author)
3.82 avg rating — 5,138 ratings

Tir Tanagiri (3 books)
by Jo Walton (Goodreads Author)
3.67 avg rating — 1,054 ratings

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Jo is Currently Reading

Jo Walton is currently reading

Patrick Leigh Fermor: An Adventure

by Artemis Cooper

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Dec 24, 2016 11:05PM

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Bernard Berenson (Jewish Lives)

by Rachel Cohen

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Fairies and Fusiliers

by Robert Graves

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Dec 24, 2016 11:04PM

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Jo’s Recent Updates

Jo Walton wrote a new blog post Not the Christmas Poem You Were Looking For This is not the Christmas poem I was looking forI wanted to have candles and a treeA light against the darkness to be shelter from the stormA place... Read more of this blog post »
Dec 26, 2016 10:27AM · 1 like · like
Jo Walton has read The Helliconia Trilogy: Helliconia Spring, Helliconia Summer, and Helliconia Winter by Brian W. Aldiss	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 26, 2016 03:01AM · 1 like · like
Jo Walton finished reading Can You Feel Anything When I Do This? by Robert Sheckley	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 26, 2016 03:01AM · like
Jo Walton has read Brontomek by Michael G. Coney	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Jo Walton wants to read Songs for the Open Road: Poems of Travel and Adventure by The American Poetry and Literacy Project	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Jo Walton wants to read The Complete Poems of Cavafy: Expanded Edition by Constantinos P. Cavafis	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Jo Walton started reading Patrick Leigh Fermor: An Adventure by Artemis Cooper	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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More of Jo's books…

Quotes by Jo Walton

“It doesn't matter. I have books, new books, and I can bear anything as long as there are books.”
― Jo Walton, Among Others

tags: books

2786 likes

“There's a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they're absolutely free. Don't miss so many of them.”
― Jo Walton

tags: appreciation, nature, sunrise, sunset

258 likes

“Libraries really are wonderful. They're better than bookshops, even. I mean bookshops make a profit on selling you books, but libraries just sit there lending you books quietly out of the goodness of their hearts.”
― Jo Walton, Among Others

tags: libraries

254 likes

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Polls

November 2014 Science Fiction Nominations

Redshirts by John Scalzi

12 votes 21.1%

Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay

10 votes 17.5%

Blackout by Connie Willis

8 votes 14.0%

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

7 votes 12.3%

Against a Dark Background by Iain M. Banks

4 votes 7.0%

Macrolife by George Zebrowski

3 votes 5.3%

Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille by Steven Brust

3 votes 5.3%

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

3 votes 5.3%

Sufficiently Advanced Technology by Christopher Nuttall

2 votes 3.5%

The Bloody Sun by Marion Zimmer Bradley

2 votes 3.5%

Ice by Anna Kavan

2 votes 3.5%

Farthing by Jo Walton

1 vote 1.8%

57 total votes

1 comment

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