Catla and the Vikings by Mary Elizabeth Nelson

Published in 2012 by Orca Books
ISBN: 978-1-4398-0057-1

Rating: Enjoyable (3/5)

Taking place in 1066, this slim mid-grade novel involves a young girl needing to save her village after it is invaded by Vikings. Catla happens to be in the hills above her village when the ships sail in and she sets off on foot to the next village over (where she had never been) to seek help, not knowing whether they will be willing to provide it, but knowing it's her peoples only chance.

A sub-plot of the novel involves Catla finding her place among her people and deciding whether to accept the marriage proposal of Olav, a peddler known to the village, as her father wishes her too. While a young girl being promised to an older man is historically accurate, I did find the author overdid the unattractiveness of Olav. He is not only older, but ugly, peevish, and demanding -- he even smells bad. I would have been more impressed if he had been a mix of good and bad in him, rather than leaving the wish to please her father as Catla's only reason to consider accepting. Even a few hints that Catla's vision of Olav is not strictly accurate would improve the sub-plot immensely.

Nelson exhibits an awareness of language that indicates such a change would not be outside of her skills. Nelson carefully tailors her language around how the women and young girls would be treated by the invaders, indicating to older readers what the reality would be while remaining subtle enough that younger readers would not pick up on the issue. While I was pleased to see that Nelson pays attention to language, avoiding obviously modern words, some of the language in the novel becomes awkward in an attempt to sound archaic. For example, the phrase "short shadow meal" instead of the simpler "mid-day".

While she has produced an enjoyable story, the author employs her skills intermittently, leaving me with the dissatisfying knowledge that this book could have easily been even better.

Cate

Naming the Bones by Louise Welsh

Publishing in 2010 by HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN: 978-1-55468-698-8

Rating: Enjoyable (3/5)

Many writers conflate creating a likeable protagonist with creating an interesting one. In Naming the Bones, Louise Welsh provides an excellent example of a character who is not the former, but is definitely the latter. I would not be interested in having Murray Watson for a friend, but I certainly enjoyed reading about him, even as I shook my head again and again over his personal life.

The main thrust of this book concerns Murray's in-progress biography of a poet who only ever producing on slim volume of poetry, then died young, disappearing at sea off the remote island of Lismore. A carefully crafted sense of place, both in the cities of Glasgow and Edingburgh, and later on the island of Lismore also aids the reader in falling into Murray's world, and his obsession with Archie Lunan keeps us there.

Cate

Unraveled by Courtney Milan

Published in 2011 by HQN Books
978-1-93724-802-4

Rating: Liked it (4/5)

One reason I enjoy romance novels is the inherent tension that abounds when historical attitudes or opinions meet modern readers. Some authors deal with this by giving their characters thoroughly modern attitudes. In other cases, authors try to find a happy medium, creating characters that don't quite fit with either time. My preferred authors tend to take the more difficult and subtle approach of givng characters certain attitudes, whether common or unusual for their historical time and, in the best cases, allowing the narrative to give comment and contrast.

The trouble comes when that commentary is missing, giving the author's tatic blessing to reactionary attitudes in the characters. In Unraveled, I feel Courtney Milan goes this with her heroine's reaction to her father's depression. Miranda is speaking to the hero, Turner.

"I told you I know what broken is. That is broken -- staring at the wall and weeping, while creditors hammer on the door and your troupe slowly slips away, stealing the best costumes in lieu of wages. When your friends leave you and you still cannot move, and nothing your daughter says can break you out of the spell. No man is broken because bad things happen to him. He's broken because he doesn't keep going after those things happen. When you told me about your mother, and how it made you resolved to be the person you are...What I thought was, 'Yes, please, I'll take him.' Because you didn't break."

This is a fabulous piece of characterization, but even as I read it, I winced. It's a prevalent attitude not only of past eras, but of our own, that people with depression should be able to just pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Because the narrative doesn't comment on Miranda's opinion, it silently condones it.

Contrast this with Unraveled's attitude to homosexuality. Too frequently, romance novels and other historical fiction abound with people who accept homosexuality without question, which is dismissive of the struggles that gay men and women have made over the centuries. Here is Miranda's reaction again:

"They hang them," Miranda said. "And it doesn't matter how good the men are, or how much they keep to themselves, or how kind they are to inquiring children." Her voice trembled. "It doesn't matter if they can translate ancient Greek into the most beautiful thing you've ever heard in English. They hang men like that. Do you know what it's like to live in fear of one whisper, one rumour, one false step? Do you know what it is like to fear love, because it will get you killed?" She punched his other shoulder. "Do you know what it's like to never stay in one place, just so nobody become suspicious of you?"

In this case, Milan succeeds in contrasting what was the typical historical attitude with what her characters personally feel toward gay men. She also allows the reader to feel something of the reality of being different in a reactionary world, which is too often the experiences of gay men and women, even today. She shows the tension of change that I love so much in historical fiction.

I would have love to have seen a similar glimmer somewhere in the narrative that might have compared Miranda's accepting attitude toward the men that helped to raise her and her failure to understand that her father was just as helpless to overcome his depression as her friends were to repress their sexuality.

Cate

So, I learned that I need to read the expo website a little more carefully.

Flipping through the program on my arrival, I saw that Kate Beaton, of Hark! A Vagrant, was there.

I was attending with a friend who had talked me into way too many photo-ops, so it wasn't until today at three that I was able to make it to Beaton's table.

I looked for my copy of Hark! A Vagrant around the apartment, but the days were so long and I was so overtired that I didn't end up finding it, so I wasn't able to get it signed. I still bought a copy of her earlier collection, Never Learn Anything from History, and (because I recently read the novel and fell in love with it) a print of a drawing inspired by Moby Dick.

In my review of Hark! A Vagrant, I bemoaned the lack of Napoleon comics in that collection. She was taking the time to sketch in each of the books (typical at conventions, which made me happy I met her there rather than at a bookstore signing). I saw her draw Napoleon in one book, then a female figure in the next. I was tempted to ask if she could sketch Napoleon for me, but I didn't want to come off as a demanding fan. I don't know if she just uses the two figures, or if she was psychic, but whatever it was, I love my little sketch of her Napoleon, and it totally makes up for the dearth of Napoleon comics in her book.

Though that doesn't mean she can keep getting away with it. We're just back to even ground, for now.

Kate herself is charming, by the way.

Cate

"To my Catherine, from Erik Destler....Robert Englund."

With everything added up: poster, shipping, expo admission, autograph fee, and the frame I need to purchase, my newly-autographed Phantom of the Opera poster cost me about $150.

Worth Every Penny.

Robert Englund is wonderfully charming, and it's evident even from the back of the line that he loves to interact with the fans. When my turn came and the poster rolled out in front of him, he actually gasped and exclaimed, "I've never seen this one!" then threw up his hand for a high five. He chatted to me about Jill Schoelen (his Christine) whom he had recently seen again. She still sings gorgeously and in spite of the time and her having two sons, she still looks just like she did in the movie. We vehemently agreed that she should move from L.A. to New York and start doing off-Broadway and Broadway musicals. He signed the poster as above with a gold marker, which looks wonderful against the design.

The teeny-tiny downside was that my friends and I went straight from there to the line for our prepaid* photo-op with Adam Baldwin (of Firefly fame), arriving just at the end of the recommended line-up time. After we patiently stood in line for nearly an hour, they had to cut it off -- at the group ahead of us -- so Mr. Baldwin could keep to his schedule and get to his next event. Rather than blame Mr. Englund's chattiness, I blame those random VIP attendees who kept exercising the rights that their $300 admission gives them and cutting the line for his autographs.

Cate

* I've been told by my friends who volunteer for the Expo that if we can't get to the other sessions, we can get a refund. And barring that, I might be willing to negotiate an exchange for a photo-op with my "Erik".

Imperial Scandal by Teresa Grant

Published in March 2012 by Kensington Books
ISBN: 978-0-7582-5424-5

Rating: Loved it! (5/5)

As I write this review, I find myself thinking of an occasion when I sold both Vienna Waltz and Imperial Scandal to a customer. This in itself isn't a new occurence, but I described her books in a new way. I found myself calling them "like Elizabeth George, but historical".

I think Elizabeth George was on my mind because of what I'm sure has become a running joke on this blog. I love Tracy's books, but I don't think the covers are the most effective they could be. It's not that the covers look bad, far from it -- they're gorgeous -- it's that they shut out any appeal the books could have for male readers. My coworkers and I have convinced the odd husband / friend to read them and they come back telling us how much they like them. Nevertheless, it'll take a very confident man indeed to carry around a book with a woman in a ball dress on the cover.

I found myself thinking of mystery authors that have crossed the gender divide and Elizabeth George came to mind, which made me consider other similarities. Both authors write strong mysteries, but it's as much if not more the private lives of the characters that keep readers coming back. Both are Americans writing about Britishers. They have characters from both the aristocracy and the common people and use the tension of classes to great effect.

They even both, if I recall George's backlist correctly, play with writing stories out of chronology.

Speaking of series chronology, it's interesting that this is the first book where Grant ends the book pointing firmly toward the next in the series. Malcom and Suzanne discuss that the former's next assignment is likely to be Paris -- which Tracy's blog reveals is the setting of her current manuscipt-in-progress bringing us her vision of the White Terror.

While I very much enjoyed her first Mélanie and Charles books (and hope to soon get to the Lescault novels that have been re-released as e-books), I do feel Tracy's writing has taken a nice jump with Vienna Waltz and Imperial Scandal, in which she incorporates many more historical figures and events, and raises the public stakes to much higher levels.

Imperial Scandal takes us to Brussels in the days leading up to the final confronation between Napoleon and Wellington, a fascinating time that, like the Congress of Vienna, juxtaposes the pinnacles of glamour and violence that so fascinate us about this period. Grant layers the public stakes, as usual, with private ones. The ideas of loyalty and betrayal are ripe in this novel: loyalty to one's ideals, to one's friends, to one's spouse, and what happens with these various loyalties do not fit neatly into their separate boxes.

Cate

Vienna Waltz by Teresa Grant

Published in 2011 by Kensington Books
ISBN: 978-0-7582-5423-8

Rating: Loved it! (5/5)

I have belatedly noticed that Malcolm Rannoch, Peter Wimsey and Jack Blakeney all went to Balliol College, Oxford. This pleases me.

If you have not yet read Tracy Grant's books, you are either new here or you just don't trust me. There's not much I can add about the plot and characters in a third review, so please have a look at my first and second.

I continue to enjoy re-reading Tracy's books, and this time going through Vienna Waltz, I was able to take a step back from the still-engrossing story and start to look at some of the very effective writing choices she has made.

Grant sometimes takes what would be a long cumulative sentence and breaks it up into fragments. Observe this passage from near the beginning of the novel.

She had crumpled to the carpet with no sign of strggle. As though whoever had killed her had taken her unawares. As though it was someone she had trusted. Someone who perhaps had been able to embrace her as a lover.

By breaking the sentence into fragments, Grant draws subtle attention to the bewilderment of the moment, implying with the punctuation that Suzanne isn't thinking as quickly as she might in other situations.

Grammatically, this is a single sentence and could be punctuated thus:

She had crumpled to the carpet with no sign of strggle, as though whoever had killed her had taken her unawares, as though it was someone she had trusted, someone who perhaps had been able to embrace her as a lover.

This version allows the nature of the cumulative sentence to add emphasis to the final word, "lover", drawing attention to Suzanne's questions regarding Malcolm's relationship with Tatiana.

When I pointed this sentence out to my co-worker and fellow writer, A, she offered another option.

She had crumpled to the carpet with no sign of strggle, as though whoever had killed her had taken her unawares, as though it was someone she had trusted, someone who perhaps had been able to embrace her: as a lover.

This takes the emphasis of the word "lover" that already exists and places even more emphasis on it by separating that phrase from the rest of the sentence with a colon. She and I agreed, however, that colons are rare enough in popular fiction that it's too distracting to really be effective, so we came up with another alternative.

She had crumpled to the carpet with no sign of strggle, as though whoever had killed her had taken her unawares, as though it was someone she had trusted, someone who perhaps had been able to embrace her -- as a lover.

Of course, by this time, we're beating the reader over the head with the lover idea.

Now, I'm not a grammatical pedant, so I'm not going to go all Lynne Truss on you and analyze which of these are "correct" and which are "incorrect". Grammatical correctness is of less importance than how the grammar and syntax affect the reading of the sentence, how the words hit the reader's eye or ear.

I find the variety of choice interesting. Each of these sentences emphasizes slightly different aspects of the scene and the characters. All without changing a single word -- though for the last two to really be effective, one might need to tweak the final phrase to remove a little awkwardness the punctuation creates.

There are countless alternatives to every sentence and the smallest change can make such a difference.

In truth, I think Grant's original is still the strongest, sentence fragments and all, but it's interested to examine all of the options she put aside in choosing it. It's this kind of attention to detail that we all should have with our writing and one of the reasons I think Grant's writing stands up so well over multiple reads.

Well, that and the fact that she writes fabulous characters and damn good mysteries.

Cate

The Art of Coarse Acting by Michael Green

Published in 1964 in Great Britain by Arrow Books
Published in 1966 in the US as Downwind of Upstage: The Art of Coarse Acting by Hawthorne Books
Revised edition published in 1981 by Drama Books Specialists
ISBN: 0-89676-041-3

Rating: Liked it (4/5)

This book brought me firmly back to my time in the theatre, first local amateur productions of things like HMS Pinafore and Oliver! and then my time in the drama department of the University of Lethbridge. It's not surprsing that this volume has made it into the required reading lists of drama departments. It's a perfect treatise on what not to do if you'd like to be a professional in the theatre. Not that all professionals heed it's advice, or course.

With instructions on such important topics as a Simple Way of Wrecking a Play and How to be Conspicuous as well as a much needed examination of why Shakespeare's clowns are his least funny characters, The Art of Coarse Acting is the perfect guide for the amateur who thinks a bit too well of themselves.

And lest you think Greene neglects those offstage, he is careful to point out such treasures as the All Purpose Coarse Costume which can represent centuries in a single look, and reassures stage managers that they deserve their moment on stage as much as the actors do.

Rounding up the volume with the all-purpose Coarse play, 'Tis Pity She's the Merry Wife of Henry VI (Part One), a tragi-comedy-history, one is left in a much better position to truely appreciate the art that is Coarse acting.

Cate

Les tournoi des petits rois
Texte de Lucie Bergeron
Illustrations de Doris Barrette

Publié en 2006 par Dominique et Compagnie
ISBN: 978-2-89512-542-6

Évaluation: Agréable (3/5)

Je suis très fier de moi-même. J'ai réussi à lire un livre français du but au fin sans dictionnaire. (Ça ne fait rien que c'est un livre pour les enfants qui ont huit ou dix ans et j'en ai plus que trente.)

Le papa de Thibaud a été, en sa jeunesse, un bon prince charmant et maintenant c'est le tour du fils. Dans le tournois des princes charmants, il y a plusiers épreuves and le papa et la maman de Thibaud sont convaincu que leur fils va ganger le grand prix. Thibault et très nerveux, mais il a son fidèle furet, Filou, pour lui rendre compagnie et courage.

Cate

Post-scriptum: Si vous êtes francophone et vous avez des corrections de grammaire ou d'orthographie pour moi, dîtes-les moi, s'il vous plaît. Je veut veux bien rapprendre le français.

Shadows Cast by Stars by Catherine Knutsson

To be published in June 2012 by Atheneum Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster)

Rating: Liked it (4/5)

N.B.: The author and I were once in a critique group together. This means that while I was predisposed to like her book, I'm also likely to hold her writing to high standards. Advanced Reader Copy provided by Simon & Schuster.

One of my favourite young adult genres is the dystopian novel, from Lois Lowry's The Giver up to Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games. Reading the jacket copy for Shadows Cast by Stars I was thrilled to find someone of my acquaintance was contributing to the genre. What's even better is that Knutsson diverts from some of the common tropes into something quite unusual.

Dystopian novels often hold symbolism in the geography of their worldbuilding. One common trope is the idea of the reluctant quest: the protagonist, born on the outskirts of the dystopic society, is pulled into the heart of it and discovers/reveals the true horror that's been masked from the people. Think of Katniss traveling to the Capitol in The Hunger Games. The trope of banishment/escape is the reverse, a character who discovers the corruption of the government and leaves for the outskirts, either willingly or unwillingly, such as in Carrie Ryan's The Forest of Hands and Teeth.

The geography of Knutsson's world is built from our own, her novel set two hundred years in the future. A plague has been decimating populations. There is a cure, but it comes with quite a price. Antibodies in the blood of aboriginal people protect them from the plague. It's been decided that the ends justify the means and aboriginal peoples, known in this world as Others, are rounded up and drained of their blood to save non-Others.

As Métis, Cassandra and her brother Paul have been relatively safe from cullings, especially living where they do, on the outskirts of one of the population Corridors, but when a new outbreak of the Plague nears, their father removes them to the Island, which lies beyond the Boundary, a mysterious force that allows Others to pass through but confound the Corridor's searchers.

This is where Knutsson breaks from the usual geography of dystopian novels. Instead on starting at one of the extremes of the geographic world, she begins in the midlands. The reader (at least this one) assumes we are going to travel into the centre, but then finds that we are instead going further afield.

On the Island, Cassandra is taken on as apprentice to the local medicine woman and begins to understand some of the meanings behind the visions and dreams that have always been part of her life. Even as she finds her place and struggles to learn about her new position, malevolent forces seem to be gathering around her, including a strange creature in the lake near her house, a creature that seems to be hunting her. The reader begins to wonder if she has traded one dystopia for another.

I sincerely hope that this is not Knutsson's only novel in this new world she has created, for in creating such a rich symbolic geography, she has definitely left me wanting more. Luckily, the structure of this novel leave that possibility open to fulfillment in myriad ways: prequel, sequel, or even unconnected characters inhabiting the same future.

Cate