Monday, November 27, 2017

Mondays Need a Good Book: INK AND BONE

Ink and Bone (The Great Library, #1) 
THE BLURB: The Great Library of Alexandria has survived the test of time.…

Ruthless and supremely powerful, the Great Library is now a presence in every major city, governing the flow of knowledge to the masses. Alchemy allows the Library to deliver the content of the greatest works of history instantly—but the personal ownership of books is expressly forbidden.

Jess Brightwell believes in the value of the Library, but the majority of his knowledge comes from illegal books obtained by his family, who are involved in the thriving black market. Jess has been sent to be his family’s spy, but his loyalties are tested in the final months of his training to enter the Library’s service.

When his friend inadvertently commits heresy by creating a device that could change the world, Jess discovers that those who control the Great Library believe that knowledge is more valuable than any human life—and soon both heretics and books will burn…


THE SCOOP: I loved, loved, loved this book! Alternate history--check. The Alexandrian Library the only government that matters--check. Inventive details centering on books--check.
 

The book is clever, inventive, interesting--the characters are flawed and still likable--and the plot is twisty.

THE VERDICT: Caution! Only three of the four books in this series are out. I read the third book with growing concern that the author wouldn't be able to wrap the series up in time, only to find that there will be a fourth book. 

But the three that are out are fabulous!

Friday, November 24, 2017

Caught My Fancy Friday: Thanksgiving

I prefer 'Thanksgiving' to 'gratitude' or 'thankfulness.' The word has an old-fashioned ring and is both a noun and a verb.

In my writing life, I give thanks for:
  • a husband who has never complained about the time and money I devote to writing
  • children who critique my manuscripts with a heavier hand than nasty Goodreads reviewers
  • parents who filled our home with books and supplied me with great reads 
  • the libraries that widened my horizons in youth and saved my sanity as a young mother
  • my local writing group who offer emotional support as well as critiques
  • my first local critique group, now disbanded, who started this journey with me
  • my book club, for reminding me that no book appeals to all readers and that I can appreciate a book I dislike--and for some of my closest friendships
  • writing conferences that leave me rejuvenated and determined to work
  • generous authors who share their wisdom and paths to publication
  • my agent, who knows when to be tough and when to be gentle
  • the many dear writing friends scattered across the country who swap manuscripts, publishing horror stories, and encouragement with me
  • the thousands of books I've read that have opened my eyes to the human condition in myself and others

Monday, November 20, 2017

Mondays Need a Good Book: THE TETHERED MAGE

 The Tethered Mage (Swords and Fire #1)


THE BLURB: In the Raverran Empire, magic is scarce and those born with power are strictly controlled -- taken as children and conscripted into the Falcon Army. 

Zaira has lived her life on the streets to avoid this fate, hiding her mage-mark and thieving to survive. But hers is a rare and dangerous magic, one that threatens the entire empire.

Lady Amalia Cornaro was never meant to be a Falconer. Heiress and scholar, she was born into a treacherous world of political machinations.

But fate has bound the heir and the mage. And as war looms on the horizon, a single spark could turn their city into a pyre.

 
THE SCOOP: I loved this page-turning high fantasy. I especially enjoyed the relationship between the Falcon and the Falconer. They are two different types of strong women, and their clashes and developing respect for each other is well executed.

The romantic subplot explores one of my favorite clashes: desire and duty. I love that the author does explore that conflict instead of throwing all responsibilities out the window in the name of true love.

The political plot does grow complicated at times, but it is never too confusing. And I do love me some Machiavellian machinations with dangerous doges and untrustworthy friends! The Venetian-inspired world thrilled me on every page.

THE VERDICT: This book nicely straddles that line between YA and adult--it's certainly meaty and explores the important issues YA readers love. Give it a try, if you can stand waiting for the next book in the series to come out!

Friday, November 17, 2017

Caught My Fancy Friday: NaNoWriMo

National Novel Writing Month! I'd drafted a couple of novels before I heard of this. I love the energy and enthusiasm of writers buckling down at home, in coffee shops, and in libraries across the country, so I wanted to join in.

I decided to draft every November. I've never registered on the NaNo site, and I usually begin with a meaty outline or some chunk of the novel already written, but I've enjoyed buckling down and drafting while my other writer friends are doing it, too. I aim for 2,000 words/day, except for Sundays, but it's not daily for me. Some days I write 10,000 words, if my other responsibilities are quiet, and other days it's 200. The variance doesn't bother me.

These are the projects I've wrapped up during the last few Novembers:

2014: MURDER AT THE PRINCE OF WALES
2015: THE TSAR'S POISONER
2016: IN BLOOD
2017: STARLET

I only had about 30,000 words to go on STARLET, so I'm also beginning . . . a Regency romance. I know, it's not really me! I'm part of a Regency critique group because I'm friends with the women in it, and I had an idea that I thought I'd explore during NaNo this year.  I'm only a few thousand words in, and I still haven't decided if it's going to be a straight Regency or a historical fantasy.

Let's be honest. It's probably gonna end up with some funky magic, steampunk, or crazy science. Because I like having fun when I write.

I enjoy NaNo because I try new genres--a murder mystery in 2014, and the most fantasyish fantasy I've ever tried last year, and now a Regency. Writing for adults! I never thought I'd see the day!

My local critique group meets one morning a week during November to companionably clippity-clap on our laptops. No critiquing--just writing. I find it peaceful and invigorating to draft alongside other writers.

November is a happy time!

Monday, November 13, 2017

Mondays Need a Good Book: THE SENSATIONAL PAST





THE BLURB:

Blindfolding children from birth? Playing a piano made of live cats? Using tobacco to cure drowning? Wearing “flea”-colored clothes? These actions may seem odd to us, but in the eighteenth century, they made perfect sense.

Journeying through the past three hundred years, Purnell explores how people used their senses in ways that might shock us now. And perhaps more surprisingly, she shows how many of our own ways of life are a legacy of this earlier time.

The Sensational Past focuses on the ways in which small, peculiar, and seemingly unimportant facts open up new ways of thinking about the past. You will explore the sensory worlds of the Enlightenment, learning how people in the past used their senses, understood their bodies, and experienced the rapidly shifting world around them.

THE SCOOP: Wowzers! I picked this book up from a library display--unusual for me since I am usually blinded to all but my objectives there--brought it home, and stuck so many post-it notes in it that I had to purchase my own copy.





Her historical anecdotes are engaging, charming, and new to me (and my emphasis in graduate school was the eighteenth century!). Her argument is fascinating--that the Enlightenment prioritized seeing over the other senses and that we do, too.

THE VERDICT: Writer friends. If you're even THINKING about a book set in the 1700s or 1800s, you need this book! I love how she explores the differences in the way people in the past experienced and processed the world. Real differences, beyond no indoor plumbing and fancy manners, but differences in how they viewed museum exhibits (you need to see, touch, and probably taste them) and rotten meat (mask it with spices).

Friday, November 10, 2017

Caught My Fancy Friday: Midwest Storymakers Conference, Part IV

Elena Johnson gave the keynote address at this conference. She taught the very first class I ever attended at the Storymakers conference. She taught Blake Snyder's Save the Cat method for novels, and I was spell-bound. It's awful to admit, but I had signed with an agent already and had never heard of any outlining methods other than what I learned in ninth grade!

So. It was fun to hear her speak. And it was the most inspiring keynote address I've heard in a long time. I was teary several times, as she talked about times she felt like a failure and like both the engines in her plane had given out. And then she talked about how to deal with it, how to live as a writer, and how to move forward and save that plane that's crashing to the earth.

Monday, November 6, 2017

Mondays Need a Good Book: TOPAZ REIGNS

Topaz Reign (Altered Stones, #2) 


THE BLURB: It has been four months since Maggie learned the dark truth behind the tale of the Princess and the Pea and freed Princess Lindy from the cursed Emerald. Lindy is now back in the past where she belongs, queen of her tiny Scandinavian country, and Maggie is a fully reformed ex-stalker.

Except … she can’t stop doing internet searches on Lindy and her country.

One morning, Maggie wakes to find history turned on its head. Apparently, you can’t destroy a centuries-old curse without consequence. In order to prevent the changes in history from wiping out the present, Maggie resurrects her stalking gene and learns that fairy tales don’t stay dead for long.

Or at all.

THE SCOOP: I loved meeting these wonderful characters from EMERALD BOUND again! Second books in a series sometimes don't satisfy me, but this one was great--you could read it without having read the first one, because the author does an amazing job of reminding us what happened in the first book without dumping it all out on the first page. (but you'll enjoy this one more if you have read the first one, because the characters are so likeable).

I especially loved seeing Lindy go back to the seventeenth century with her modern experiences. Her growth was fun, and the gentle development of her romance was perfect.
THE VERDICT: The story is FUN. It's clever, the plot twists unexpectedly, the characters are endearing, and it's a really fresh approach to time travel and the question of whether you can change history. I love watching characters explore the implications of time travel, and this story had such a charming and intriguing answer to those questions.

Friday, November 3, 2017

Caught My Fancy Friday: Midwest Storymakers Conference, Part III



I first attended this conference in 2015. Jen Geigle Johnson and I were both in Sarah Eden's boot camp. Jen brought the first chapter of a Regency manuscript, and at this storymakers, she sold copies of it in the bookstore!
Image result for nobleman's daughter

Feast your eyes. Isn't it gorgeous?

And crazy. Jen's book went from an unfinished draft to a published book in two years! It's more than I can say for my progress, sadly, but I'm thrilled for her. It was so fun. Pick up a copy!