Two books this week, both quite dense and complex in their own ways. Both first novels, and both very very good.
Toby Bell - The Vaults
The cover material presented this book as having a "dystopic 1930s setting", but I'm not seeing the dystopia. Although, perhaps, anything set in the 1930s is a little dystopic. Certainly, the government of The City is corrupt, but a corrupt government does not a dystopia make. Other than that, I was very happy with the book.
It was very noir, with one of those plots that builds slowly on itself, circling and circling the point and slowly accreting facts until you arrive at the end and everything makes some sort of sense. There were multiple character view points , which was very nice, although shifting abruptly from one character to another with each chapter was a little jarring in places. Over all, though, the technique was well done, and gave the narrative depth. The character names struck me as a little inventive - perhaps to blur the lines of which city, if any, The City represents. At any rate, the principle characters were Arthur Puskis, the archivist (he works in the Vaults); Frank Frings, the muckraking journalist; and Ethan Poole, the socialist private eye (and former college football player, and WWI veteran). Other characters included Feral Basu, who does dirty work for the mayor (and is, perhaps, East Indian); Reiff deGraffenreid, a criminal who we never actually meet, although he plays an important role; Joos VanVosen, a former legal transcriptionist for the city, and current amateur crime historian; and Red Henry, former boxer and current mayor of the City.
The plot focused on 1930s style machine politics (also very nicely presented), and some good gangland type stuff. The book was set in The City - possibly New York, maybe Chicago, could be Boston, or Milwaukee, or really any big US city circa 1930, which is the point. Frings, Poole, and Puskis each come into the plot at different points. Poole is involved in blackmailing one of the major businessmen in the City so that he will allow a strike (organized by Poole's girlfriend) to go ahead. Frings is following a lead involving the businessman that Poole is blackmailing, something entirely unrelated to the blackmail or the strike. Puskis is following up on a shocking error he has discovered in the Vaults - a situation where two folders for the same criminal exist, with essentially the same information, but a different photograph. All three stumble into a complicated plot by the previous mayor, designed to save the City money, which has been co-opted by the current mayor in an even more complicated plot to make the mayor money. I hope that hasn't given too much away.
At any rate, the various plot lines twist and squirm in on themselves and on each other, building to an exciting climax. An altogether satisfying book, and an excellent first novel. I would happily read more by Mr. Bell.
Anthony Huso - The Last Page
This is also a first novel. Unlike Bell, Huso has written a complicated political novel of dark fantasy with a hefty dose of steam/magicpunk tossed in for good measure.
Caliph Howl is the heir to the throne of Stonehaven. Stonehaven is on the verge of civil war, and unless Howl can keep several political and diplomatic balls in the air, while amassing potent weapons (both magical and technological), he is going to lose. He is aided, and hampered, in this by his lover, Sena.
Sena is a witch, part of a group of witches known for their espionage and assassination skills, as well as their promiscuity (in service of espionage and assassination). She has discovered an ancient magic text which, if she can open it, may be the key to saving Stonehaven. But opening the book will require her to betray Howl.
Around them both are forces, political and magical, which do not want them to succeed, and will stop at little to prevent them from achieving their various aims.
I love dense political novels. I am, as you all know, a fan of the steampunk genre (and this book has just enough of that flavor to count, I think). I'm not necessarily a fan of the dark fantasy genre - this book has a lot of blood and oogy critters, a great deal of the magic involves blood (and one of the things the various magic users are seeking is the means to do magic with someone else's blood), and the big magic (not the one that Sena is looking for, but the OTHER big magic - the atomic bomb of magic) deals with trapped souls; forcing animals, and people, to work forever, beyond death. It's a little squirm-worthy, and I can see, easily, why some might find it off-putting.
Politics, complex magic, moral dilemmas, deep realistic characters - all yummy stuff, but all things that other authors have done too. Even the zeppelins and big magic weapons combined in the same world. What does Huso offer that is truly unique? Well, let me tell you, Huso has invented a number of new languages for the book. I am not a linguist, but they look like they follow a set of fairly rigorous rules, and each is distinct and used in a fairly reasonable way. The Old Tongue (which a number of characters use periodically) has delightful accents scattered throughout the words - umlauts, cedillas, the whole bit. Additionally, Huso made very interesting use of fonts - the Unknown Tongue (the language used by magicians to effect changes to reality) uses a unique font, and the language that Sena's books is written in - the Inti'Drou Glyphs - well, there are two examples in the text, and they are very very impressive. They are huge things, all complicated lines and eerie images, like Lovecraftian beasts eating each other all over the page. Very imposing. I wish I could find you an image, but I can't - you'll have to get your own copy of the book to see them. I would almost say the glyphs are worth a trip to the library.
Initially, I wanted a pronunciation guide, eventually I found it, hidden in the back. It wasn't quite enough - a glossary would have been nice, perhaps a short note on the various languages, and I would have liked it up front - but it was almost enough, and the experience of new languages (which were, largely, translated anyway - some phrases were used repeatedly, and thus were not translated beyond the first instance. Some of the magic words were not translated) was nice.
The only other thing I would have added is more maps. This is a novel featuring a war. The campaigns don't move all that quickly, but it would have been nice to see more clearly where things were happening, and it would have been nice to see more clearly where Stonehaven fit into the broader world. This would have been nice, but, ultimately, not necessary.
A very good debut novel. Lots of praise for the knotty politics and a complicated magical system. Minor points off for lack of a full glossary and not enough maps, but full points for zeppelins and great big electric swords. If dark fantasy doesn't put you off, take a look - if dark fantasy is exactly your cup of tea, definitely take a look. I'm watching for Huso's next novel, Black Bottle.
Friday, May 6, 2011
More on the HarperCollin's e-book thing
Here's an article from LibraryJournal.com, here is another - a number of libraries and library systems have decided to boycott HarperCollins until they change their policy on e-books (26 views, then the library must purchase a whole new copy of the book). I'll be looking into this at my local library, which has just started offering e-book borrowing.
Here's some thoughts on the whole matter by Kate Sheehan (who's blog will be linked in my blog roll on the left) (eta - for some reason, I cannot add this blog to my roll, and so I have not).
Here is another well written post by another librarian (Sarah Houghton-Jan) proving once again that messing with deeply intelligent, well informed, highly verbal people (like authors and librarians) is a bad idea in the internet age. (Not that it was a great idea in the pre-internet age - deeply intelligent, well informed, and highly verbal people have always been good at making their ire known.) Here's another, which provides further details about this issue. Needless to say, Sarah's blog will be added to the blog roll, which is, as always, too the left.
Here is a lovely, and very short, explanation of the issue.
Here is a nice page to help you all keep track of the ongoing situation.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Library activism on a Thursday
(This is totally copy and pasted from a Change.org mailer to me. None of the following are my words, although I endorse them fully. Andy's blog, referenced below, is here, and I am adding it to my blog roll, the the left.)
By day, Andy Woodworth is a mild-mannered librarian. By night, he's still a librarian, just less mild-mannered.
Andy is kind of famous in the librarian community, mostly for getting the Old Spice guy to do a video about how great libraries are, and unsuccessfully campaigning to get Ben & Jerry's to create a flavor called the "Gooey Decimal System." (If you don't get the pun, just ask someone ten years older.)
Oh, and now he's using Change.org to help lead the charge in a fight against NewsCorp, one of the world's most powerful companies.
See, more and more libraries are beginning to buy e-books, like those read on a Kindle or similar device. They're programmed to be like normal books -- lent out to one reader at a time, returned, and downloaded by another reader. It's simple, and especially great for working parents or the disabled who have a hard time making it to a library.
But publishing giant HarperCollins (owned by NewsCorp) is trying to force libraries to only buy e-books that literally self-destruct after the 26th reader in an attempt to maximize profits.
Having to repeatedly buy the same book will be a financial and logistical disaster for libraries, one that could force a few to close their doors.
Even worse, there are signs that other publishing companies may soon follow the lead of HarperCollins, which could devastate libraries all around the world.
Some amazing librarians have launched a full boycott of HarperCollins until the decision is reversed, but they urgently need widespread support to force NewsCorp to back down.
Andy's petition demanding an end to self-destructing e-books has a goal of 100,000 signatures -- click here to add your name now:
Andy declares on his blog that "The world needs more badass librarians." It's true, though right now the world also needs more readers who will stand alongside them.
Thanks for doing your part,
Patrick and the Change.org team
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Wednesday Hickey of the Beast Post, 5/4/2011
(Subscription page link)
First up, I think I lose my official geek card if I don't mention that today is Star Wars Day - May the Fourth be with you.
We are up to Chapter Eight, and things are starting to move now. There are 30 chapters, so we're not quite 1/3rd of the way through the book. Now is a good time for the plot to really start kicking in; for our heroine (if she IS a heroine, and not a protagonist, or even the villain in disguise...) to start sensing that this is really about her; for the novel to start wrestling with it's central premise, to start asking the big questions. Izzy does not disappoint, Chapter 8 is a doozy.
We open with a little world building. Actually, this is interesting, because the novel is set in New England, so Izzy isn't really doing world building, per se - it's not like she has to describe the tall blue trees and the corkscrew shaped mountains in the background, or explain why the elves live underground and the dwarves live in trees (contrary to the usual tropes/cliches of the genre). She just has to describe New England as it actually is - but she does have to do that, because most of us are not lucky enough to actually live in New England. And here, at the beginning of this chapter, she does that - we get a breathtaking vision of New England in early Autumn, when the northeastern United States are really at their best. I can almost smell the woodsmoke and see the reds and oranges on the trees.
Then, we get a further piece describing the school environment - the season sets off the grounds nicely, and the students, forced to dress for the weather, are at their wholesome best, so brochure pictures are being taken.
Then, we get a nice piece of character building - Connie is a tad boy crazy. We meet Tony Alligo. I believe this is the third or fourth boy we've met with a name, and Connie has (in her letter to Amanda) rated each of them as to their datability, explaining that she doesn't have a crush crush on any of them (really), but it's clear that Connie evaluates boys this way on a regular basis. As is right and proper, of course. As a reader, by the way, Tony is the first guy thus introduced that I feel any identification with whatsoever, and so I hope we see more of him later in the novel; either as a love interest, or as part of Connie's Scooby Gang, or whatever. Tony and Connie compare notes on their history papers about mythical beasts (I mentioned this, right? The students are writing history papers on mythical beasts, and the possible real world causes for the myths.) - Connie has written on vampires around the world, and Tony has written on sea monsters. This comparison of notes feeds into the description of the class, in which Tony and Connie are called upon to present their papers, briefly.
Finally, the plot rears its head. Becky, the featured guest in Connie's most recent nightmare, is called upon to present. She spaces out a little (Connie notes that this is normal for students at about this time of the semester - especially given that most of the class was probably up until after midnight finishing the paper. As an educator, I cringe, but I also know this to be true.), and then, after speaking a sentence (she has written on the Sirens), she collapses. Staring in Connie's nightmares has consequences in the real world, and now it's fairly clear that Connie is a little freaked out.
So, I think Izzy is setting us up to look out for vampires. Connie has presented on vampires, and not necessarily blood sucking ones, but rather vampires that feed on various forms of life essence (Chinese qi drinkers, incubi and succubi [although she carefully does not mention these sex related demons in her class presentation], etc). She's had dreams involving giant mosquitoes - blood sucking insects. The result of those dreams seems to be the collapse of the featured guest. That points to vampires, I think - but perhaps this is too obvious, perhaps it is a red herring. Perhaps it is a real clue cunningly disguised as a red herring. Perhaps... perhaps I will have to wait until next week to see where the story goes.
First up, I think I lose my official geek card if I don't mention that today is Star Wars Day - May the Fourth be with you.
We are up to Chapter Eight, and things are starting to move now. There are 30 chapters, so we're not quite 1/3rd of the way through the book. Now is a good time for the plot to really start kicking in; for our heroine (if she IS a heroine, and not a protagonist, or even the villain in disguise...) to start sensing that this is really about her; for the novel to start wrestling with it's central premise, to start asking the big questions. Izzy does not disappoint, Chapter 8 is a doozy.
We open with a little world building. Actually, this is interesting, because the novel is set in New England, so Izzy isn't really doing world building, per se - it's not like she has to describe the tall blue trees and the corkscrew shaped mountains in the background, or explain why the elves live underground and the dwarves live in trees (contrary to the usual tropes/cliches of the genre). She just has to describe New England as it actually is - but she does have to do that, because most of us are not lucky enough to actually live in New England. And here, at the beginning of this chapter, she does that - we get a breathtaking vision of New England in early Autumn, when the northeastern United States are really at their best. I can almost smell the woodsmoke and see the reds and oranges on the trees.
Then, we get a further piece describing the school environment - the season sets off the grounds nicely, and the students, forced to dress for the weather, are at their wholesome best, so brochure pictures are being taken.
Then, we get a nice piece of character building - Connie is a tad boy crazy. We meet Tony Alligo. I believe this is the third or fourth boy we've met with a name, and Connie has (in her letter to Amanda) rated each of them as to their datability, explaining that she doesn't have a crush crush on any of them (really), but it's clear that Connie evaluates boys this way on a regular basis. As is right and proper, of course. As a reader, by the way, Tony is the first guy thus introduced that I feel any identification with whatsoever, and so I hope we see more of him later in the novel; either as a love interest, or as part of Connie's Scooby Gang, or whatever. Tony and Connie compare notes on their history papers about mythical beasts (I mentioned this, right? The students are writing history papers on mythical beasts, and the possible real world causes for the myths.) - Connie has written on vampires around the world, and Tony has written on sea monsters. This comparison of notes feeds into the description of the class, in which Tony and Connie are called upon to present their papers, briefly.
Finally, the plot rears its head. Becky, the featured guest in Connie's most recent nightmare, is called upon to present. She spaces out a little (Connie notes that this is normal for students at about this time of the semester - especially given that most of the class was probably up until after midnight finishing the paper. As an educator, I cringe, but I also know this to be true.), and then, after speaking a sentence (she has written on the Sirens), she collapses. Staring in Connie's nightmares has consequences in the real world, and now it's fairly clear that Connie is a little freaked out.
So, I think Izzy is setting us up to look out for vampires. Connie has presented on vampires, and not necessarily blood sucking ones, but rather vampires that feed on various forms of life essence (Chinese qi drinkers, incubi and succubi [although she carefully does not mention these sex related demons in her class presentation], etc). She's had dreams involving giant mosquitoes - blood sucking insects. The result of those dreams seems to be the collapse of the featured guest. That points to vampires, I think - but perhaps this is too obvious, perhaps it is a red herring. Perhaps it is a real clue cunningly disguised as a red herring. Perhaps... perhaps I will have to wait until next week to see where the story goes.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Wait, what, it's Tuesday? What happened to Monday? Library Post, 5/3/2011
My wife points out, quite rightly, that I have not made a Monday post yet this week. I have no excuse - I went to the library yesterday, I had the time yesterday evening, I honestly don't know. Anyway, two books:
Michael Capuzzo - The Murder Room
This might be true crime? Maybe? I don't know. The subtitle is "The Heirs of Sherlock Holmes Gather to Solve the World's Most Perplexing Cold Cases," which sounds intriguing to me. It could be dreadful. I guess we'll find out.
Holly Black - Red Glove
The second of Black's "Curse Workers" novels - YA, magic meets caper novel. I haven't even read the plot synopsis - I enjoyed White Cat
enough to pick this up without even thinking about it.
Michael Capuzzo - The Murder Room
This might be true crime? Maybe? I don't know. The subtitle is "The Heirs of Sherlock Holmes Gather to Solve the World's Most Perplexing Cold Cases," which sounds intriguing to me. It could be dreadful. I guess we'll find out.
Holly Black - Red Glove
The second of Black's "Curse Workers" novels - YA, magic meets caper novel. I haven't even read the plot synopsis - I enjoyed White Cat
enough to pick this up without even thinking about it.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Friday Review, 4/29/2011
A little house cleaning this week - I ploughed through a bunch of books that needed to go back to the library. I even got a couple of them back to the library in time to avoid library fines.
Faith Hunter - Host
The last of the Rouge Mage trilogy. Last week, as I reviewed Seraphs, I hoped that the trilogy would improve considerably in the last book. I hoped that Seraphs suffered from 2nd book syndrome. That hope was not met, alas. The first book was very good, and the trilogy went down hill fairly steadily from there.
Points in favor of the third book - Thorn does not sleep with the odious male mage who appears at the beginning of the book. It was a possibility - they hated each other from first sight, which sometimes translates into steamy sex by the end of a book. Thankfully, not here. There was a delightful scene where Thorn does diplomacy and politics with a certain amount of flash and aplomb. I am a big fan of politics and political drama, so that scene was good. Hunter backs Thorn into a situation where she cannot call on the aid of the big, strong (male) Seraphs, and must draw on her own resources to solve a problem (great, but several of her resources are big, strong, male Champards. [ick.]). The series resolves fairly decisively - I suppose Hunter could write the continuing adventures of Thorn, Rogue Mage, but I think it unlikely. A decisive end is always a plus. Finally, the world building remained strong throughout, with a caveat.
Things I didn't like. Thorn is clearly unsuited for the role she is designed to play - either she's a big tough battlemage who can fight her own battles or she isn't. If she isn't (and she isn't), people should stop acting as though she is. Mistrend. (Mistress Friend) Ick. Rose as deus ex machina. Possible continuity error - it seemed to me (and my wife confirmed it) that Rose had been taken away while Thorn and Rose were children. Thinking back, in the first book I think it was moderately clear that this was not the case - that it had been relatively recently that this happened - but why we should both have gotten this impression from the second book, I'm not sure. And the caveat for the world building - Hunter includes some short paragraphs at the beginning explaining that, post apocalypse, the US government remains in some form, contact with Asia was cut off (because ships don't work anymore? This is unclear) and Africa has become an unlivable wasteland. (Why? Again, unclear) S.M. Stirling did post-apocalypse better, in terms of politics and such.
In the end, the world building carried this series for me. I didn't really like Thorn all that much as a character, and the further away from Thorn characters got, the less likable they became. Read the first one. If you feel compelled to do so, read the second. Skip the third. The good guys win.
Jeff Greenfield - Then Everything Changed
A work of alternate history, nominally non-fiction. As I mentioned when I picked it up, there is a word for this sort of work in the History discipline - we call them counter-factuals.* Greenfield explores three scenarios in which his narrative diverges from the original history, asking what if Kennedy died before his inauguration (there was a suicide bomber; he saw Jackie kiss JFK goodbye, and couldn't kill Kennedy with his wife watching); what if Bobby Kennedy didn't die in California, and what if Ford had taken the opportunity to clarify a flubbed question in the debate against Carter.
Greenfield's thesis is that not a lot would have changed in the biggest scheme of things. Johnson would have taken over after Kennedy's death (and would have dealt with Khruschev more forcefully, which would not have forestalled the Cuban Missile Crisis, which Greenfield takes in an unpleasant direction when Johnson takes the advice of his military advisors, resulting in the nuking of Guantanamo, and also Smolensk); Bobby Kennedy would have ushered in the era of middle right politics, with a slightly gentler and more sincere hand than Nixon, and Ford election would have resulted in a) Gary Hart running in 1980 rather than 1988 and b) a Democratic victory in 1980, instead of Reagan. The big things don't change that much, the details do.
Greenfield has a light and easily readable tone - reading this is more like reading a novel than a history (which, as far as I'm concerned, makes it a well written history). The book is filled with sly winks to the reader - for instance, Reagan chooses Sandra Day O'Conner as his running mate in the 1980 election, and one of his aides says "well, at least we don't need to worry what she'll say if someone asks her what she likes to read." - a clear jab at Sarah Palin. Greenfield also highlights the way in which people in politics are often in the background for a lot longer than they are in the foreground - Dick Cheney, for instance, crops up in all three of these scenarios, offering advice to more significant figures. It's easy to forget that politicians, as a rule, don't wake up one morning and decide "hey, I want to be President!" - they start out somewhere and work their way up to the big show.
Greenfield has extensive notes - not quite footnotes, more of explanatory notes - at the back of the book, explaining why he decided which direction the details would go, where quotations a speeches post historical break came from, and fleshing out some of the sly winks and perhaps odd moments (John McCain aiding Gary Hart in the 1980 campaign, for instance).
I would have liked more complete footnotes, or at least a bibliography. Greenfield points out that the literature on the history of the mid to late 20th century is vast - but, clearly, he chose some texts and avoided others, and it would have been better history to include some sort of bibliography. I would also have liked to have seen all three of the scenarios linked - what would the 1964 election have looked like in the post early-Johnson era? The 1968 election? That would have changed the tone of the book rather dramatically, however, and would not have allowed Greenfield to have explored the points that he did - perhaps some brief notes at the end of each section bringing that section up to the modern era would have sufficed.
All in all, a thought provoking exercise in speculative history; well worth a look.
*The difference between an alternative history (alt-history) fiction and a counter-factual non-fiction is that the counter-factual has a clear thesis, while the alt-history has a plot.
Gail Carson Levine - Ever
My wife said I needed to read this to "clear my palette". It was a lovely palette-cleanser. A quick read, more of a novella than a novel, this was a Babylonian inspired YA romance/fantasy. A young wind god falls in love with a mortal girl, and they struggle to render her immortal so that they can remain together. Part fantasy, part fairy tale, all lovely.
I honestly don't know what else to say about this book - it was sweet and fresh - a new setting for fiction (at least for me), some pleasant characters, and uncomplicated plot. It was just plain good.
Lauren Willig - The Orchid Affair
The most recent of Willig's Pink Carnation books. Eloise, our intrepid modern heroine is in Paris to support her boyfriend at a family function, and also to do some follow up research on the activities of the Silver Orchid, the latest of the British anti-Napoleonic spies to bedevil the French. Laura Grey (Griscoigne) takes a job as a governess at the behest of the Pink Carnation. Her employer is Andre Jaoune, the second in command of the Paris police, a figure of terror for British spies. Naturally, she and he fall in love (gradually, and partially against their own better judgement). They become embroiled in a complicated plot to kidnap Napoleon and replace him with one of the rightful heirs to the throne.
As with all of Willig's books, this is a story of high adventure and tasteful romance. The good guys win, there is some swashbuckling, a little fencing, some (off stage) torture, some passionate kissing, and some "fade-to-black" love scenes (Willig, as a rule, does not indulge in purple prose about long, hard eagerness and the like, which is nice).
I did notice (and enjoy) the transitions between Willig's modern plot (which is mostly a framing device) and her Napoleonic main plot. The modern plot is what holds the series together - Eloise is doing research for her dissertation, the topic of which is Aristocratic Spies of the Napoleonic Period. In the first couple of books, the Napoleonic plot followed her research quite clearly - Willig would describe Eloise reading some letters, and then go into several chapters telling us the events that lead to those letters. In more recent novels, this explicit linking of Eloise's research to the broader plot has become thinner. I think this reflects the fact that Eloise is engaged in an actual plot of her own now, which doesn't link as tidily to the Napoleonic material as it originally did. This is fine - Willig does an excellent job of crossing back and forth between the main and the framing plot. Eventually, though, Eloise is going to finish her dissertation, and her plot will have to resolve, which will end the whole series - I'm not sure I'm looking forward to that. I'm not sure that Willig is, either. (Alternatively, Willig is headed towards the end of the Napoleonic era as well, and that will end the series just as effectively.)
I remain jealous of Willig's easy prose - Willig is one of the authors I wish I could be, especially since she has a degree in history.
Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson - Science Fair
Another suggestion from my wife. Madcap hilarity ensues when the students at a middle school just outside Washington DC engage in a science fair. Rich kids try to buy first prize (as they have for several years running - getting their projects from a mysterious benefactor for $50 a project, and having them constructed by a curmudgeonly store owner at the local mall for rather more than $50 a project), and poor kids try to win first prize with projects they really did themselves (which, of course, cannot compare to the glitzy work of the rich kids.) Terrorists (from an ill defined, but horrifically backwards Eastern European nation) attempt to use the fair to get their hands on top secret devices. The Oscar Myer Weinermobile features.
It's not deep. It's really very silly, and it's clear that Barry has been able to run roughshod over Pearson, at least in terms of suggesting plot points - the Weinermobile? A levitating frog? The day saved by Rollerblade Barbie, setting fire to something? Yeah, that's all Barry. But it's funny - laugh out loud funny in some places - and it's a quick read.
Rick Bowers - Spies of Mississippi
Got a history paper to write, and you've decided to look at the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and '60s? Need a twist on the topic? Check this book out. Bowers offers a fascinating (if not terribly deep) look at an aspect of the period which is not normally covered - the Sovereignty Commission of Mississippi, an independent body accountable to the governor of Mississippi and tasked with ensuring that the state policy of segregation was upheld. The Commission infiltrated civil rights organisations like the NAACP, SNCC, and CORE in an effort to keep tabs on the movement, and possibly hinder its efforts to bring racial equality to Mississippi. Actions extend to assassinations, both of character (through the efforts of obliging Black newspaper editors) and of body (through the efforts of obliging White supremacists). Bowers' take on the period is intriguing and eye opening (even to me, who has studied the era with some rigor). His writing is punchy, and easily digested - this book is aimed at young adults. It's a good place to start, and Bowers provides some suggestions as to where one might go next to continue the research. As a professor, I would not want to see this work as a strong source in a paper by one of my students, but I would not be dismayed to see it cited in a bibliography. Were I teaching middle school, I think I would be delighted to see this book in use. I would have liked footnotes, though, and a more in depth bibliography - good use of primary sources, but not enough discussion of the secondary literature.
That's it for this week - it looks like a lot, but three of them were short. It was all in an effort to chip away at my ever growing "To read" stack. I'm grading papers this weekend, so next week's offering will probably be a little slimmer.
Faith Hunter - Host
The last of the Rouge Mage trilogy. Last week, as I reviewed Seraphs, I hoped that the trilogy would improve considerably in the last book. I hoped that Seraphs suffered from 2nd book syndrome. That hope was not met, alas. The first book was very good, and the trilogy went down hill fairly steadily from there.
Points in favor of the third book - Thorn does not sleep with the odious male mage who appears at the beginning of the book. It was a possibility - they hated each other from first sight, which sometimes translates into steamy sex by the end of a book. Thankfully, not here. There was a delightful scene where Thorn does diplomacy and politics with a certain amount of flash and aplomb. I am a big fan of politics and political drama, so that scene was good. Hunter backs Thorn into a situation where she cannot call on the aid of the big, strong (male) Seraphs, and must draw on her own resources to solve a problem (great, but several of her resources are big, strong, male Champards. [ick.]). The series resolves fairly decisively - I suppose Hunter could write the continuing adventures of Thorn, Rogue Mage, but I think it unlikely. A decisive end is always a plus. Finally, the world building remained strong throughout, with a caveat.
Things I didn't like. Thorn is clearly unsuited for the role she is designed to play - either she's a big tough battlemage who can fight her own battles or she isn't. If she isn't (and she isn't), people should stop acting as though she is. Mistrend. (Mistress Friend) Ick. Rose as deus ex machina. Possible continuity error - it seemed to me (and my wife confirmed it) that Rose had been taken away while Thorn and Rose were children. Thinking back, in the first book I think it was moderately clear that this was not the case - that it had been relatively recently that this happened - but why we should both have gotten this impression from the second book, I'm not sure. And the caveat for the world building - Hunter includes some short paragraphs at the beginning explaining that, post apocalypse, the US government remains in some form, contact with Asia was cut off (because ships don't work anymore? This is unclear) and Africa has become an unlivable wasteland. (Why? Again, unclear) S.M. Stirling did post-apocalypse better, in terms of politics and such.
In the end, the world building carried this series for me. I didn't really like Thorn all that much as a character, and the further away from Thorn characters got, the less likable they became. Read the first one. If you feel compelled to do so, read the second. Skip the third. The good guys win.
Jeff Greenfield - Then Everything Changed
A work of alternate history, nominally non-fiction. As I mentioned when I picked it up, there is a word for this sort of work in the History discipline - we call them counter-factuals.* Greenfield explores three scenarios in which his narrative diverges from the original history, asking what if Kennedy died before his inauguration (there was a suicide bomber; he saw Jackie kiss JFK goodbye, and couldn't kill Kennedy with his wife watching); what if Bobby Kennedy didn't die in California, and what if Ford had taken the opportunity to clarify a flubbed question in the debate against Carter.
Greenfield's thesis is that not a lot would have changed in the biggest scheme of things. Johnson would have taken over after Kennedy's death (and would have dealt with Khruschev more forcefully, which would not have forestalled the Cuban Missile Crisis, which Greenfield takes in an unpleasant direction when Johnson takes the advice of his military advisors, resulting in the nuking of Guantanamo, and also Smolensk); Bobby Kennedy would have ushered in the era of middle right politics, with a slightly gentler and more sincere hand than Nixon, and Ford election would have resulted in a) Gary Hart running in 1980 rather than 1988 and b) a Democratic victory in 1980, instead of Reagan. The big things don't change that much, the details do.
Greenfield has a light and easily readable tone - reading this is more like reading a novel than a history (which, as far as I'm concerned, makes it a well written history). The book is filled with sly winks to the reader - for instance, Reagan chooses Sandra Day O'Conner as his running mate in the 1980 election, and one of his aides says "well, at least we don't need to worry what she'll say if someone asks her what she likes to read." - a clear jab at Sarah Palin. Greenfield also highlights the way in which people in politics are often in the background for a lot longer than they are in the foreground - Dick Cheney, for instance, crops up in all three of these scenarios, offering advice to more significant figures. It's easy to forget that politicians, as a rule, don't wake up one morning and decide "hey, I want to be President!" - they start out somewhere and work their way up to the big show.
Greenfield has extensive notes - not quite footnotes, more of explanatory notes - at the back of the book, explaining why he decided which direction the details would go, where quotations a speeches post historical break came from, and fleshing out some of the sly winks and perhaps odd moments (John McCain aiding Gary Hart in the 1980 campaign, for instance).
I would have liked more complete footnotes, or at least a bibliography. Greenfield points out that the literature on the history of the mid to late 20th century is vast - but, clearly, he chose some texts and avoided others, and it would have been better history to include some sort of bibliography. I would also have liked to have seen all three of the scenarios linked - what would the 1964 election have looked like in the post early-Johnson era? The 1968 election? That would have changed the tone of the book rather dramatically, however, and would not have allowed Greenfield to have explored the points that he did - perhaps some brief notes at the end of each section bringing that section up to the modern era would have sufficed.
All in all, a thought provoking exercise in speculative history; well worth a look.
*The difference between an alternative history (alt-history) fiction and a counter-factual non-fiction is that the counter-factual has a clear thesis, while the alt-history has a plot.
Gail Carson Levine - Ever
My wife said I needed to read this to "clear my palette". It was a lovely palette-cleanser. A quick read, more of a novella than a novel, this was a Babylonian inspired YA romance/fantasy. A young wind god falls in love with a mortal girl, and they struggle to render her immortal so that they can remain together. Part fantasy, part fairy tale, all lovely.
I honestly don't know what else to say about this book - it was sweet and fresh - a new setting for fiction (at least for me), some pleasant characters, and uncomplicated plot. It was just plain good.
Lauren Willig - The Orchid Affair
The most recent of Willig's Pink Carnation books. Eloise, our intrepid modern heroine is in Paris to support her boyfriend at a family function, and also to do some follow up research on the activities of the Silver Orchid, the latest of the British anti-Napoleonic spies to bedevil the French. Laura Grey (Griscoigne) takes a job as a governess at the behest of the Pink Carnation. Her employer is Andre Jaoune, the second in command of the Paris police, a figure of terror for British spies. Naturally, she and he fall in love (gradually, and partially against their own better judgement). They become embroiled in a complicated plot to kidnap Napoleon and replace him with one of the rightful heirs to the throne.
As with all of Willig's books, this is a story of high adventure and tasteful romance. The good guys win, there is some swashbuckling, a little fencing, some (off stage) torture, some passionate kissing, and some "fade-to-black" love scenes (Willig, as a rule, does not indulge in purple prose about long, hard eagerness and the like, which is nice).
I did notice (and enjoy) the transitions between Willig's modern plot (which is mostly a framing device) and her Napoleonic main plot. The modern plot is what holds the series together - Eloise is doing research for her dissertation, the topic of which is Aristocratic Spies of the Napoleonic Period. In the first couple of books, the Napoleonic plot followed her research quite clearly - Willig would describe Eloise reading some letters, and then go into several chapters telling us the events that lead to those letters. In more recent novels, this explicit linking of Eloise's research to the broader plot has become thinner. I think this reflects the fact that Eloise is engaged in an actual plot of her own now, which doesn't link as tidily to the Napoleonic material as it originally did. This is fine - Willig does an excellent job of crossing back and forth between the main and the framing plot. Eventually, though, Eloise is going to finish her dissertation, and her plot will have to resolve, which will end the whole series - I'm not sure I'm looking forward to that. I'm not sure that Willig is, either. (Alternatively, Willig is headed towards the end of the Napoleonic era as well, and that will end the series just as effectively.)
I remain jealous of Willig's easy prose - Willig is one of the authors I wish I could be, especially since she has a degree in history.
Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson - Science Fair
Another suggestion from my wife. Madcap hilarity ensues when the students at a middle school just outside Washington DC engage in a science fair. Rich kids try to buy first prize (as they have for several years running - getting their projects from a mysterious benefactor for $50 a project, and having them constructed by a curmudgeonly store owner at the local mall for rather more than $50 a project), and poor kids try to win first prize with projects they really did themselves (which, of course, cannot compare to the glitzy work of the rich kids.) Terrorists (from an ill defined, but horrifically backwards Eastern European nation) attempt to use the fair to get their hands on top secret devices. The Oscar Myer Weinermobile features.
It's not deep. It's really very silly, and it's clear that Barry has been able to run roughshod over Pearson, at least in terms of suggesting plot points - the Weinermobile? A levitating frog? The day saved by Rollerblade Barbie, setting fire to something? Yeah, that's all Barry. But it's funny - laugh out loud funny in some places - and it's a quick read.
Rick Bowers - Spies of Mississippi
Got a history paper to write, and you've decided to look at the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and '60s? Need a twist on the topic? Check this book out. Bowers offers a fascinating (if not terribly deep) look at an aspect of the period which is not normally covered - the Sovereignty Commission of Mississippi, an independent body accountable to the governor of Mississippi and tasked with ensuring that the state policy of segregation was upheld. The Commission infiltrated civil rights organisations like the NAACP, SNCC, and CORE in an effort to keep tabs on the movement, and possibly hinder its efforts to bring racial equality to Mississippi. Actions extend to assassinations, both of character (through the efforts of obliging Black newspaper editors) and of body (through the efforts of obliging White supremacists). Bowers' take on the period is intriguing and eye opening (even to me, who has studied the era with some rigor). His writing is punchy, and easily digested - this book is aimed at young adults. It's a good place to start, and Bowers provides some suggestions as to where one might go next to continue the research. As a professor, I would not want to see this work as a strong source in a paper by one of my students, but I would not be dismayed to see it cited in a bibliography. Were I teaching middle school, I think I would be delighted to see this book in use. I would have liked footnotes, though, and a more in depth bibliography - good use of primary sources, but not enough discussion of the secondary literature.
That's it for this week - it looks like a lot, but three of them were short. It was all in an effort to chip away at my ever growing "To read" stack. I'm grading papers this weekend, so next week's offering will probably be a little slimmer.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Hickey of the Beast Wednesday, 4/27/2011
(Link to the serial page)
Today, I read my chapter on the laptop, because the video card on the desktop died. The monitor on the laptop, naturally, is smaller than the desktop (not by much, but by enough that it matters), and I have to say I really like that I'm getting the chapters in my e-mail, where scrolling down to read the material is natural. I think, if I had to read it on a web page by itself, I would be tempted to turn the monitor sideways (which I can do, but didn't have to, so that's good.). I'd love the opportunity to take a look at this on something really small - a pod or a smart-phone or something of that nature.
Chapter 7
The chapter opens the Sunday after the previous dream (on a Friday). We do not get a blow by blow description of Connie's soccer game (thank goodness!); we do get some amateur psychology from Connie's friend Jenny (which is what friends do, right?)
Jenny thinks that because the dreams feature Connie's younger brother, Julio, and the girl that Edward seems interested in at the moment, they mean that either Connie should ask Edward out (which Connie won't do, because she is a freshman and Edward is a senior) or spend more time with Julio.
This provides the opportunity for some nice character development - we see Connie in a familial (and familiar, to anyone who has younger siblings) moment, babysitting her kid brother, Julio. Julio has been having bad dreams too - at the same time as Connie. In Connie's dreams, Julio is the one who smashes the vase and lets out the giant bugs. Julio is deeply concerned with getting into trouble for breaking things. Hmmm. Could the dreams be connected? I would be disappointed if they were not. Beyond this minor plot though, the chapter is mostly character development (which is important too!). Ernesto (Connie's older brother) is mentioned in a discussion of childhood fears (Connie was afraid of large birds) - perhaps this will be important later, and perhaps not.
This chapter seems to end a short narrative arc in that it does not end with a cliff hanger. I'm trying to track some sort of pattern - Connie has a dream, something bad happens to someone, Connie fears she is responsible, her friends talk her out of it - but nothing specifically bad has happened to anyone in several chapters. So, I'm watching for that in the next chapter - something bad to happen to someone specific.
My favorite bit from this chapter:
I can relate. My eldest daughter spent all last week feeding collard greens to the bunny so that I couldn't cook them and make her eat them. (I don't understand - I cooked them with bacon, and they were yummy. Oh well.)
ETA: Speaking of my eldest daughter - it occurs to me that I'm reading this novel in the same way that I read novels to her, one chapter at a time. Although we certainly try to do a chapter a night, there have been times when we've gone several nights between chapters. This must be how my parents read chapters to me as well. Reading a book in serial format is like being read to as a child (only with more work on my part) - that's a lovely thing!
Today, I read my chapter on the laptop, because the video card on the desktop died. The monitor on the laptop, naturally, is smaller than the desktop (not by much, but by enough that it matters), and I have to say I really like that I'm getting the chapters in my e-mail, where scrolling down to read the material is natural. I think, if I had to read it on a web page by itself, I would be tempted to turn the monitor sideways (which I can do, but didn't have to, so that's good.). I'd love the opportunity to take a look at this on something really small - a pod or a smart-phone or something of that nature.
Chapter 7
The chapter opens the Sunday after the previous dream (on a Friday). We do not get a blow by blow description of Connie's soccer game (thank goodness!); we do get some amateur psychology from Connie's friend Jenny (which is what friends do, right?)
Jenny thinks that because the dreams feature Connie's younger brother, Julio, and the girl that Edward seems interested in at the moment, they mean that either Connie should ask Edward out (which Connie won't do, because she is a freshman and Edward is a senior) or spend more time with Julio.
This provides the opportunity for some nice character development - we see Connie in a familial (and familiar, to anyone who has younger siblings) moment, babysitting her kid brother, Julio. Julio has been having bad dreams too - at the same time as Connie. In Connie's dreams, Julio is the one who smashes the vase and lets out the giant bugs. Julio is deeply concerned with getting into trouble for breaking things. Hmmm. Could the dreams be connected? I would be disappointed if they were not. Beyond this minor plot though, the chapter is mostly character development (which is important too!). Ernesto (Connie's older brother) is mentioned in a discussion of childhood fears (Connie was afraid of large birds) - perhaps this will be important later, and perhaps not.
This chapter seems to end a short narrative arc in that it does not end with a cliff hanger. I'm trying to track some sort of pattern - Connie has a dream, something bad happens to someone, Connie fears she is responsible, her friends talk her out of it - but nothing specifically bad has happened to anyone in several chapters. So, I'm watching for that in the next chapter - something bad to happen to someone specific.
My favorite bit from this chapter:
I stuck a bag of carrots in the crisper. Why we even buy vegetables is kind of beyond me—they generally go bad before we get around to eating more than half of them—but Mom likes to make the effort, I guess. Maybe the thought counts in nutrition, too.
I can relate. My eldest daughter spent all last week feeding collard greens to the bunny so that I couldn't cook them and make her eat them. (I don't understand - I cooked them with bacon, and they were yummy. Oh well.)
ETA: Speaking of my eldest daughter - it occurs to me that I'm reading this novel in the same way that I read novels to her, one chapter at a time. Although we certainly try to do a chapter a night, there have been times when we've gone several nights between chapters. This must be how my parents read chapters to me as well. Reading a book in serial format is like being read to as a child (only with more work on my part) - that's a lovely thing!
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