strange and random happenstance

Mother of Souls (Alpennia Book 3) by Heather Rose Jones
Published by: Bella Books
Publication Date: November 29th, 2016
Format: Kindle, 240 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

Luzie Valorin grew up in a family of musicians. When she married she thought she had put that life behind her but the untimely death of her husband forced Luzie to make some difficult choices. She could have run off to the bosom of her family in the countryside but instead she turned her home into a boarding house for theatrical souls. Though opening her house to strangers didn't make ends meet as she had hoped and she supplements her income by teaching piano lessons and doing copy work for her father's old friend, the great classical composer Fizeir. All this just to honor the memory of her dead husband and send their two boys to his old school. The only joy in her life is in composing. She writes little musical pieces to help her students. Whether it's for more confidence or to showcase their current abilities, it brings her joy. She even got up the courage to show Fizeir her work, but he broke her a little when he said he didn't think much of it. But he is willfully "blind" to Luzie's talents as she will painfully learn. She doesn't have just talent, she has the ability to create magic from her compositions. And to think, Luzie would have never known if Serafina hadn't come into her life. If a room in her house hadn't become available and Serafina wasn't in need of a roof over her head. Serafina changed everything.

Serafina Talarico is the daughter of Ethiopian exiles who settled in Rome. Her life was happy until the death of her mother. So many things changed, but what forced her into the arms of Paolo was her interfering sister-in-law who wasn't just domineering, but didn't want any Ethiopian taint in her life. Paolo seemed the perfect choice of husband, he was going to teach Serafina about the mysteries she could see but couldn't perform. Soon his displeasure with his wife's inabilities leads him to spend much time abroad while Serafina takes comfort in the arms of his cousin. Though everything changes for Serafina when she stumbles on the notes of Margerit Sovitre and sees a kindred soul. Throwing caution to the wind she journeys to Alpennia and joins Margerit's inner circle hoping to achieve a mystery that will capture the happiness she experienced in her mother's presence as a child. But she knows Margerit's hospitality can only last so long with Serafina's continued frustration at being unable to perform the simplest of miracles. Therefore she takes a room at Luzie Valorin's boarding house and is shocked to find that the composer is unaware the she is creating magic with her compositions. Serafina encourages Luzie's composing and leaps at the opportunity to help shape an opera whose magic might effect more then these two lonely hearts who've found each other.

Mother of Souls is the first book in Heather Rose Jones's Alpennian series that I feel achieved it's full potential. With each book building off the previous volume everything started to click into place over time and here with the larger cast of characters there was a better balance than just the two previous couples featured. The narrative no longer felt constricted by only four viewpoints and there was a wonderful blending of talents and interests, from music to printing, mysteries to sorcery, religion to godlessness, Alpennia to the rest of the world, here we have a Bloomsbury set for Alpennia. We have artists and free thinkers, a family, a tribe is being created. All these women who felt like they fit into society like a square peg in a round hole come together in salons and aren't crushed under foot by the patriarchy. Seeing as this series is Ruritanian lesbian romance a lot of inference can be made about educated women and their sapphic ways and at times it strains credulity and feels a little stereotypical especially given the previous two installments, but to these niggling criticisms I say that one, it's romance, and two there's Luzie. I should say Luzie and Serafina because I really like how their relationship forms and eventually ends. They are a different kind of heroine. Both have been married, both have been thrust into a new world that they aren't sure will accept them, but both have amazing resilience, and both end up in a place you wouldn't expect them to. That I think was the best part of Mother of Souls, the unexpected.

Yet among all these characters there is a strong theme of female empowerment running rife. This book is a rallying cry, as is the opera Luzie writes about the female philosopher Tanfrit who is only remembered through her connection to the male philosopher Gaudericus! Women have been told to be quiet for far too long! Men are always keeping us down and taking credit for what we do and when that can't work just erasing us from history. I literally can not think of a woman who won't identify with Luzie's relationship with the composer Fizeir. Here is a man that needs her and his need leads him to purposefully insult her work which he obviously thinks is worthy because he passes it off as his own all while she hero worships him. Who hasn't been taken advantage of by a man in power in one way or another? To be told you are "less than" just so that they can keep you in line and keep themselves on the top of the heap. At times I was just filled with rage for Luzie and her situation. She has real talent and has been kept down by the male status quo. While things are still far from equal I really don't know what I would have done if I had been raised in a time when women and their education were frowned upon. To not be allowed to read and learn? I shudder at the thought. Which is why Margerit's founding of the female academy named after Tanfrit is such a wonderful counterpoint to Luzie's journey. Here is a place where women and education is prized and that makes me immensely happy.

What also makes me immensely happy is the expanding of what is considered "magic" in the Alpennian world. The first book Daughter of Mystery dealt with thaumaturgy and The Mystic Marriage dealt with alchemy. These are both "sciences" that were practiced in medieval times. Yet the thaumaturgy we see here is very specifically on the religious mysteries end of the spectrum and the need for devotion to God. Which is why the introduction of alchemy in the second book was cunning in that it can be learned by non-believers and was paving the way to a new magical system. We were slowly moving away from God and looking for a "word other than miracles." In fact it's very clear with all that is happening that "[t]here was more magic in the world than could be encompassed in Margerit's theology." I nearly cried for joy that Margerit was dinged a little. I am such a strong non-believer that I rebelled at a world where only the prayers of certain people were answered and this was what "magic" was. I am not joking that I DID cheer when Margerit's partner Barbara said "[s]ometimes I think we need a different word than 'miracle.'" Sing it sister! Non-religious magic is here to stay! And how is it here to stay? In Luzi'e music. Yes, you could argue that originally music was a strong part of religious devotion, but I'm not going there because I finally have magic unencumbered by the church! Music, to me, has always been magical. Theater even more so. Therefore combining the two is a rare form of magic. Just look how much Hamilton changed our world and it's easy to see that in this world, as in ours, music and performance can change anything.

Though I wouldn't be me if I didn't have something that annoyed me to no end. So Antuniet Chazillen, one of our two heroines from The Mystic Marriage is now a royally appointed alchemist and one of our Alpennian Bloomsbury set. She actually has REAL power. Power that I feel could be used dubiously, but that's an issue I had with the previous volume, not this one. Antuniet also is obsessed with her family's legacy and therefore despite having the Vicomtesse de Cherdillac as her life partner she is determined to have a child. She plans to go about this in the regular fashion, think of it as a 1800s sperm bank because she's so not the type to marry some man just to have a child, leaving Jeanne in the process. But she's so obsessed with her reputation, and here I scratch my head because come on, she lives with a woman and is doing magic, that she decides to fool everyone as to how she became with child. She decides to claim that she created a homunculus because it's the second great act of alchemy and she is THAT GOOD! Excuse me!?! WTF!?! This is so counter intuitive. Antuinet is actually an alchemist and she is resorting to the tricks of charlatans? My mind boggles. I have a real problem with people who have abilities, doesn't matter what kind, artistic, whatever, who resort to "alternative methods" to achieve what they want. Because it isn't fair! It's like plagiarism, you are getting credit for something you didn't do. Nope, nope, nope. Plus, just as an aside, wouldn't people see the baby and be like, nope, not what a homunculus is supposed to look like? No? Just me. As always. But then again... "When a mystery works with nature and not against it, it's hard to distinguish truth from fraud."

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alchemy, Alpennia, Bloomsbury, Composer, Daughter of Mystery, Hamilton, Heather Rose Jones, Homunculus, Lesbian, Magic, Mother of Souls, Music, Opera, Regency Magic, Reglion, Ruritanian Romance, The Mystic Marriage

Heather Rose Jones is an interesting mix of modern and historical. Be it biotech or linguistics, she seems perfectly suited for whatever time period she lands in if a time machine were to show up on her doorstep and take her on a journey. Her early life was far flung, from the various corners of the continental United States to several European countries, though she currently calls the Bay Area home. Growing up in an academic family surly spurred her passions for research and teaching. She loves "to share my knowledge with anyone who will stand still long enough to listen." Though who knows how long that would be given her fascinating and diverse interests! Heather has a BS in zoology, after which she spent a decade in medical research, only to go back to school for a PhD in Linguistics from U.C. Berkley where she specialized in the semantics of Medieval Welsh prepositions. While she might have come to my attention due to her fiction writing, I'm amazed at the sheer scope and dedication to all her various interests.

Her "Skin Singer" series of short stories have appeared in Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress anthologies, but you can surly guess by now that she wouldn't limit her prodigious talents and interests to just one writing outlet. Heather has written for many non-fiction publications as well on topics ranging from biotech to historic costume to naming practices. As for her Alpennia books, think of them as historical fantasy with a detailed belief system with lesbians. In fact her passion project is the Lesbian Historic Motif Project she began to change the unexamined assumptions about the place and nature of lesbian-like characters in historic fact, literature, art and imaginations. She is also a total geek for historic textiles and clothing, making little doll reproductions of archaeological clothing finds. Is it any wonder with these passions coupled with geeking out over linguistics, historic cooking, and much more that she is a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism? There she's known by a far more Welsh handle than Heather, she's Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn. I should just let Heather, or should I say Mistress Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, take the wheel.

Question: When did you first discover Jane Austen?

Answer: I have a sheepish confession that I read her books well after I’d fallen in love with a number of movie treatments and with the Regency romance genre in general. I was certainly aware that she was the ur-text on which the genre was based. And it isn’t as if I had any aversion to reading novels of the era. (I read Thackeray’s Vanity Fair just for fun back in 1975, after all.) I’m still working on getting a complete collection of the works of Georgette Heyer.

But at some point about 15 years ago I realized I’d never actually read Austen herself, so I marched off to the bookstore and picked up a complete set and read them all straight through. I certainly have my favorites and my less preferred works. (I seem to be alone among my friends in liking Emma, but every time I re-read Mansfield Park, I want to throw it across the room.) I also have audio versions of my favorites in heavy rotation on my anti-insomnia program. (My favorites are the free recordings at Librivox.org, and my favorite narrator is Karen Savage.)

Question: What do you think Jane Austen would think of her impact with so many literary offshoots, from parody to pastiche?

Answer: I tend to be wary of trying to second-guess authors’ attitudes. Even the authors I know personally can surprise me in their take on questions like this. Given the circumstances of her life, I can guess that one of her reactions might be, “Gee, I wish I could have gotten a cut of the take!” I suspect she might be astonished that her work is remembered at all two centuries later. But I refuse to guess at what she might think of all the people re-purposing her stories in the vastly different ways we’ve seen. People have very individual and emotional reactions to that sort of thing, and all of them are valid.

Question: Where do you get your inspiration from?

Answer: My stories are, at heart, the stories I wish other people had written so that I’d have been able to read them at important points in my life. So I’m inspired by the echoing gaps in my literary life that are begging to be filled. I’ve spent most of my life searching through bookstore and library shelves for books that recognize and respect core aspects of my identity: being a woman, being a geek, being a lesbian, being an intellectual. One gets very tired of being told implicitly that one doesn’t exist, or at least, that one isn’t worthy of being included in stories.

On a more practical basis, I’m inspired by the life-long love of European history that began when I spent a year in Prague at the age of ten. (My father was a university professor on sabbatical.) I love immersing myself in the everyday material culture of places, times, and peoples different from my own.

Question: What makes the early 19th century mesh so well with magic?

Answer: Is is heresy for me to say that I don’t think there’s anything special about the early 19th century that makes it suited to magic? Every age, every culture, and every literary genre inspires particular flavors and approaches to magic. I think that the existing popularity of the Regency setting (and of the Regency romance genre in general) made it inevitable that fantasy writers who loved that setting would look for types of magic that fit into it well.

I think some of the key characteristics of Regency magic have to do with the eras and movements it balances between. The Industrial Revolution creates some major challenges for designing a magical world. Do you view it as a threat to pre-industrial magic or as a context for a new industrial-based magic? The social and political shifts in Europe from the remnants of old-style monarchy to more populist governments similarly present a challenge to motifs of magic as an echo of aristocracy or as the basis for a “everyman makes good” plot. To the extent that magic is viewed as anti-rational, any 19th century understanding of magic needs to be in dialog with the 18th century Age of Enlightenment and its consequences for philosophy and religion.

Questions of this sort exist for any historic setting. A Renaissance magic setting will similarly be driven by and need to deal with the social and technological changes in which it operates. The entire genre of Urban Fantasy asks the question of what magic can look like in our current world. So to return to my original answer, I don’t think magic necessarily meshes better with a Regency setting in comparison to other eras. But the setting will certainly generate a particular flavor of magic unique to that era.

Question: The world building and system of magic varies greatly in the regency fantasy genre, how did you go about creating yours?

Answer: I had the setting before I decided/realized it was going to include magic. (The very first ideas for the Alpennia books were much more along the lines of an ordinary historical romantic adventure.) I wanted a form of magic in which it would make sense that the existence of magic hadn’t created massive divergences from our own timeline and historic development. So I looked to existing mystical themes in history and asked, “What if, sometimes, for some people, this actually worked the way that people at the time believed it worked?”

In Daughter of Mystery, the main magical focus is religious in nature. I started with the proposition: what if aspects of folk religion, and especially the folk-religious aspects of the cults of the saints in Catholicism, were a bit more...functional than they are in our world? What if some people could work “miracles” fairly reliably? But what if the nature of those miracles was such that it was impossible to turn them into a science? It was also important to me to treat the religious basis of the magic in a respectful way. As an atheist, it meant the world to me when various of my Catholic friends told me I’d “gotten it right.”

In the world of Alpennia, people have varying levels of ability of magical causation. Some have none; some have so little that you’d need a lot of people working in concert to make anything happen; and very rarely some people have enough ability to produce “miracles” on their own. But alongside this, I imagined that the ability to detect miracles was similarly distributed. Some people can’t see anything unless it has a direct visible manifestation--and most often that could be explained away as chance or coincidence. Some people can perceive the workings of magic itself in sensory form: visions of the forces at work, auditory or tactile sensations. Very rarely, someone has both the ability to work magic and to see the mechanisms by which it works well enough to develop their talents into a reliable practice. If they have the proper guidance. And if society thinks it’s appropriate for them to do so. And if the results of their efforts don’t cause them fatal problems.

Channeling the understanding and practice of magic through religious ritual both created a context for passing along “effective” practices, but also for diluting them into mere rote ceremony. So I had my context in which there was the possibility of a particular individual having and developing significant magical skills, but where that possibility didn’t translate into the development of a “technology of magic”.

In later books, we see that religion isn’t the only context in which the magic in my world manifests. The Mystic Marriage centers around alchemy--a field that my characters treat as if it were purely scientific, but where it’s clear to the readers that the same mystical forces that lie behind miracles are driving the results of alchemical experiments. In my current work in progress, Mother of Souls, we see mystical forces being channeled through other practices such as music and art. But in all cases, the effects can range from barely perceptible to world-shaking, depending on the practitioners and the practice.

Question: If you had to choose between writing only period literature or only fantasy literature, which would win?

Answer: I’ve always refused to accept false dichotomies. I’ve spent most of my writing life feeling like I had to choose between writing characters like me and writing characters that I could sell stories about. Or between writing the stories I wanted to read and writing the stories other people wanted to read. When I had the finished manuscript of Daughter of Mystery in hand, I had to make the very important choice of whether to try to publish it as a mainstream fantasy novel or as a lesbian novel. I refuse to be boxed. I’ve sold purely historic stories (“Where My Heart Goes”, a historical romance short story set in 16th century Italy). I’ve sold purely fantasy stories (the “Skinsinger” series in the Sword and Sorceress anthology series). And I’ve sold historic fantasy set in both the Regency and medieval periods. I will not erase any part of my writing self, not even just for fun in a quiz.

Question: Be honest, have you ever dressed up in Regency clothes just to pretend for a moment you are in the past?

Answer: I’ve been deeply involved in historic re-creation for the last 40 years. In terms of organized events, it’s been mostly in the Society for Creative Anachronism, but I’ve worn costumes from Bronze Age Denmark and pharaonic Egypt all the way up through the 1930s. I love participating in historic themed “set pieces”, especially dinners and similarly structured events. I’ve prepared historic meals scattered over several millennia. (You should see my historic culinary library!) At Worldcon last year, I brought some Alpennian pastries as refreshments for my author’s kaffee klatch, based on a French cookbook of the same era. But I confess, I haven’t yet made a specifically Regency-era outfit. I have the fabric sitting in my stash and I know exactly which dress from my books I want to make. It’s just a matter of time and of having the excuse of what to wear it for.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Daughter of Mystery, Heather Rose Jones, Jane Austen, Lesbian Historic Motif Project, Linguistics, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Mystic Marriage, Prague, Regency Magic, SCA, Sword and Sorceress, Vanity Fair, Welsh

The Mystic Marriage (Alpennia Book 2) by Heather Rose Jones
Published by: Bella Books
Publication Date: April 28th, 2015
Format: Paperback, 264 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Antuniet Chazillen has been living in self-imposed exile from Alpennia. She longs to go back to Rotenek but that isn't an option. Even if she were to return no one would take her in. Ever since her brother was executed for treason and her mother committed suicide anyone bearing the name Chazillen has been ostracized. The driving force in her life now is to show the world that not everyone bearing the name Chazillen is worthless. To this end she has devised a plan with a rare alchemical text she found in Prague. If she can master the book's recipes to create precious gems of power she could present them to Alpennia's ruler, Princess Annek, and prove she can be of use to the crown and regain her standing. But wanting and doing are two very different things. Not only is her work hindered by a lack of funds, but she is being chased across Europe by someone who will stop at nothing to get their hands on the text she found. After she is discovered in Heidelberg she realizes that she must return to Alpennia earlier than she had planned in order to live long enough to restore the tattered shreds of her honor.

Jeanne, the Vicomtesse de Cherdillac, is a social butterfly. Flitting from party to party and lover to lover. Yet lately the petulance of these young women who rotate through her bedroom isn't as entertaining as it once was. And then one night Antuniet appears at her door. They knew each other peripherally years ago before Antuniet's hasty departure. It intrigues Jeanne that of all the people Antuniet knew in Rotenek she chose her. But Antuinet's only other option was her cousin and Jeanne's former lover Barbara, and somehow going to Barbara would have been too much for her pride to bear, and Antuinet has always been proud. In fact all the bedraggled Antuniet asks of Jeanne is help in securing a patron so she can continue her alchemical work. Jeanne tries her best but finding money for a dubious trade for a disgraced outcast tries even her formidable skills. But Jeanne won't abandon Antuniet, she will stick by her as she mends her flirtatious ways and develops a tendre for the alchemist. Though returning to Rotenek didn't dissuade Antuniet's malevolent shadow. Soon enough the protective Barbara and her lover Margerit, the crown's thaumaturge, come to Antuniet's aid as well. But Antuinet and her heart are vulnerable. Will she be able to repair her reputation and find love, or is it all too late?

Sometimes book series don't start out as series. The author writes a tale and for some reason or other the characters won't leave after the denouement. Whether it's their inability to leave the author's subconscious as they keep chatting away or rabid fans salivating for more, sometimes a stand-alone morphs into a series. It feels like this is what happened here. The first book set in Alpennia by Heather Rose Jones, Daughter of Mystery, focused on Anuniet's cousin Barbara and her lover Margerit. They had their story and got their happily ever after. There was an ending and it felt final. Yet here they are again getting into new adventures and new scrapes. You're probably wondering why I'm pointing this out. I should be happy at their return not dwelling on the whys. But I'm dwelling. I find this book's setup problematic. The thing is, if you are going to write a series in such a way that each volume has the secondary characters stepping forward into the limelight, the previous volume's characters need to know enough to take a step back. They aren't the focus anymore. Only someone forgot to give Barbara and Margerit this message. It makes sense that they would appear, Barbara and Margerit's actions in the previous volume having had such an effect on our two new heroines. But did they have to take up at least half of the narrative? I felt that this gave short shrift to Antuniet and Jeanne. It was THEIR time to shine, and they felt secondary.

I think this problem comes down to the fact that this book is stuck in the middle, and sorry, not sorry, for getting that song in your head. And by middle I'm referring to it's length. It could easily go either way. To go shorter, really pare down and omit Barbara and Margerit almost completely. This would give you a shorter, sweeter story. Yet I am not included in this direction. The Mystic Marriage has such court politics and machinations it's like a Ruritanian Game of Thrones. So make it like Game of Thrones! Make it a thousand plus pages! Don't just have four characters POVs have more. Have Anna, the little alchemical assistant have her say! Have Barbara's little country cousin have a chapter or two. Make this book the doorstop book to end all doorstop books. Make it the epic it wants to be! I just feel like there's so much I'm missing in this world, the details of a dress, the architecture of an alchemist's laboratory. So much is hinted at but then never developed further. I talked about this with Daughter of Mystery and how the writing felt elliptical. Here I was happy to see more time spent on the smaller details, such as the refining of the precious gems, but seriously, I craved even more. It's rare for me to say make a book longer, and editors today seem to only want books short and sweet, but The Mystic Marriage needs to expand to reach it's full potential. It needs to be fired a little longer.

What really helped me to connect to The Mystic Marriage more so than the previous volume was I felt the arcane elements were easier to understand. Thaumaturgy and the working of miracles still feels a little beyond my keen. I don't quite fully understand the process and I felt that the mysteries were left lacking definition and therefore left me a little cold. Fluctus this and fluctus that... it would help to understand a little better what fluctus even was in my humble opinion. But alchemy. I'm on far stronger ground here. Whereas we can question if miracles and magic ever really did happen, alchemy DID. I'm not saying it worked, but I'm saying that it was studied and was an accepted "science" of the time. Even if your only exposure to alchemy is the Philosopher's Stone in Harry Potter or the more detailed chemical marriages in Deborah Harkness's All Souls Trilogy, you have a grounding in it so that you are more easily able to understand what Antuniet is up to than what Margerit was. What I found particularly interesting from my point of view was the crossover of the alchemical practices and how it relates to things such as metalwork. I haven't done metalwork in many years but crucibles, flux, fire, all that I used is here used in similar yet different ways and I found that fascinating.

But it wasn't just the alchemical work itself that intrigued me, but the outcome. Antuniet was making stones, well gems really, that would have influence over people. So my first thought was, if this is the actual case with alchemy people have every right to fear it! Before I'd only ever heard of the Philosopher's Stone, which was used to increase your life, and turning lead into gold. But the work that Antuniet does is basically used to control people. Say what!?! Alchemy is basically rohypnol! Antuniet even worries that one of her stones set in a ring is responsible for Jeanne's feelings towards her. If Antuniet is worried about this how can she, in good conscience, give this power to the crown so that they can basically control their ministers? I can see the benefit for helping people with health issues, but to actually CONTROL THEM!?! I really have issues with this concept. It's taking away free will. It's like in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer season six episode "Dead Things" when The Trio use a Cerebral Dampener to make any woman their willing sex slave. It's not just wrong it's a violation of basic human rights. While you could say at least Annek's counsel "knows" the rings do something, I don't think she told them the whole truth... This just brings up a LOT of the more negative connotations of what "magic" can do. Is it even right that Antuniet made these influencing gems?

Which brings me around to the whole alchemy not really be respectable. Well, if you're controlling everyone's free will I'm not surprised alchemy has a dubious reputation! Of course it's hinted at that most alchemists are charlatans, but still, if Antuniet's morals were a little more lax, dear god! What I'm getting at is that question I wondered in the previous volume as to the acceptability of magic and witch hunts. I really like that Heather Rose Jones came back to this because I felt this was something that needed addressing. So yes, witch hunts do happen! Evil magicians are run out of town. The only reason "mysteries" and thaumaturgy are acceptable is because they have the cloak of religion giving it respectability. Which has an interesting counterpoint in the relationships of Antuniet and Jeanne, and Margerit and Barbara. Margerit and Barbara are accepted as a couple because of their eccentricity and status, whereas Antuniet and Jeanne raise eyebrows because Antuniet used to be respectable and one of the society that is now looking at them askance. Just like the veneer of religion covers a multitude of sins, so does the right combination of eccentricity coupled with title and wealth. The lower down the social ladder, the less acceptable it is to be an "other." You could in fact say that Jeanne and Antuniet face their own witch hunt with the lesbian backlash. The marriage of the mystical and mundane controversies just goes to show all the levels this book is working on. But don't worry, luckily love conquers all as long as you are willing to fight the good fight. Love wins.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 4 comments  

Labels: Alchemist, Alchemy, Alpennia, Daughter of Mystery, Harry Potter, Heather Rose Jones, Lesbian, Mysteries, Philosopher's Stone, Regency Magic, Rotenek, Ruritanian Romance, Thaumaturgy, The Mystic Marriage, Treason

Daughter of Mystery (Alpennia Book 1) by Heather Rose Jones
Published by: Bella Books
Publication Date: February 18th, 2014
Format: Paperback, 264 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Margerit Sovitre is in her first season. Though she'd rather be spending her time on scholarly pursuits in Rotenek than dancing in the summer playground of the rich in Chalanz. But she's never even been to Rotenek. Never walked the fabled streets of the University there. She's spent her life in Chalanz with her Uncle's family, always feeling out of place except for those rare moments talking to her cousin Nikule about the University and forming unrealistic dreams. But all that might be about to change. Her enigmatic godfather has arrived in Chalanz early. There are rumors about a duel that made it desirable that he leave Rotenek early; but more pressingly it is obvious he is dying. Margerit knows that she has a small inheritance coming her way that might get her out from under her Uncle's power, but during his last days on earth she forges a connection to Baron Saveze and he leaves her everything that he can; which is quite a lot. No one knows why he did this. Was it a whim to anger his nephew Estefen who inherited the title and has spent his life borrowing on his expectations? Was it to give Margerit the life she always wanted? Whatever the reason it upends the lives all those connected to the Baron, in particular Barbara.

Barbara is also an enigma, even to herself. But then again the Baron loves his games of secrets and shadows. She was raised by the Baron to be an Armin, a bodyguard with special skills and rights. Though female Armins are rare the Baron got away with this breach in tradition by his eccentric lifestyle. But they had an arrangement, when he died Barbara would learn her name and gain her freedom. Instead he has given her to Margerit and insisted that she remain with his goddaughter until they are both of age. What at first seems like an unholy punishment soon becomes a new way of life as Barbara becomes close to the scholarly Margerit. Margerit's fortune means that she will be able to have the life she dreamt of, with Barbara's help. While maintaining the appearance of a respectable heiress for her family's sake she can studying to her heart's desire. Though the money is a temptation to desperate men, and there is none more desperate than Estefen. Moving her household to Rotenek, Margerit starts studying the mysteries all while playing the game of disaffected debutante. Though as time goes by her scholarly side keeps asserting itself. Will her studies put her in even greater danger? It's lucky she has Barbara to protect her, even from herself.

Ruritanian Romances are tricky. They have to strike just the right balance of realism and suspension of disbelief. Couple this with worldbuilding that has an alternate history that is not clearly defined and you're stuck with a book that you're struggling to connect to. The main problem I had was this disconnect between Alpennia and the rest of Europe. With the religious practices and the magic that takes the forms of mysteries appealing to the saints Alpennia has a very distinct and unique culture. Yet there are constant references to mysteries written elsewhere, like Lyon in France. So how exactly is the world outside Alpennia different from the world of our history books? Alpennia being at one and the same time a part of our world yet outside of it how are we to grasp onto what has actually changed in our world for the alternate history angle? There seems to be a distinct lack of creating a framework for the worldbuilding in which we'd be given the information when we need it most. While this could be done to have us form a bond with the characters first and the world second, you can't understand what the characters are going through unless you know the world they live in.

I almost feel like Daughter of Mystery was at a disadvantage by being a Ruritanian Romance. I have too many questions that are left unanswered, whereas if Alpennia had been in an entirely alternate world that mirrored our own, then I would certainly have less questions. But it's not just the Ruritanian aspect I have problems with. Heather Rose Jones has an odd way of writing that adversely affects the worldbuilding. Her writing is very elliptical and what she is omitting isn't for clarity's sake! It's like she just didn't want to write about something and decides to skip it. And what she skips seems like some rather important stuff. For example we spend all this build-up to Margerit's ball she's throwing in Chalanz only to not see a single moment of the ball. And this example is just a throw-away example, it's not necessary to the world like many of the omissions are. When she arrives in Rotenek I felt at sea. As for the academics? I kind of just let it flow over me and took in what I could. Because to balance her sparsity she occasionally goes for the massive info dump. This is almost worse than nothing, because then you know there's all this stuff you should remember but it was presented in such a way that you have no chance in hell of remembering a tenth of it.

For all the worldbuilding issues I did come to like the world, despite it's imperfections. The truth is, if you're looking for the "Regency" of it all, you're not really going to find it here. Instead, in true Ruritanian style, we have intrigue and high romance and royalty worthy of the House of Medici or The Musketeers. There is this old fashioned feel to it that harks back to the Renaissance, when learning was a vocation, and I really found this fascinating, in the same way a Patrick Rothfuss book is. The truth is Daughter of Mystery doesn't really coalesce as a book until we reach Rotenek and we're in this medieval town with duplicitous scholars and scheming courtiers. Though again, what is almost the most perfect section of the book is brought down, not this time by the structure, but by how the court intrigues ensnare Barbara. For the first time in the book I was furious at Barbara. Yes, you can see why she's doing what she's doing, but her motives aren't explained properly to Margerit and it looks as if the court has turned Barbara's head. I mean, yes, you could say, as if anything could turn Barbara's stubborn head? But it seems to be done just to make us doubt the connection and love our two heroines share. It feels like a cheap shot. Yes, Barbara can navigate this world expertly, but that doesn't mean she should.

This being "Regency Magic" though the magic of it all matters. I can definitively say that not another book I've read has handled magic in this manner. Not only does that make Daughter of Mystery unique, but fascinating as you delve into the magic system. Because the magic system isn't magic, per se, it's faith manifested as miracles. But it's also not as reliable a system, as shown through Margerit's studies. Not every prayer is heard. Mysteries are complex and a word replaced could change the intent and instead of protecting an entire town only the relics of a long dead saint are protected. It's a capricious system that is itself mysterious. Learning with Margerit we see what works and what doesn't, we are with her on her journey as she systematically learns how to work mysteries. I also just like the idea that magic is referred to as mysteries, because they are both about deception and illusion. But as seems to be the case with this book, now I have more question I need answered. For example, religious persecution. Witch hunts were often done in the name of faith, so in this Alpennian world are witches outcasts? Because usually people who see visions aren't treated that well... so what's the stance? Also, is it because of the mysteries that religion is still such a strong force? Because I'd expect the church's hold to eroded a bit by now. Perhaps The Mystic Marriage will answer some of these questions for me...

But the "mysteries" ie, magic, aren't the only mysteries in this book. And these other mysteries are much more problematical. While yes, I could have liked a better understanding of the mysteries of the church, they at least weren't pedestrian and predictable. They actually had some mystery about them. As for Barbara's mysterious past... well, Poirot would have been laughing to think that anyone would have found it not patently obvious. Barbara isn't a dumb woman. She is in fact very smart and has a lot of cunning to go along with her other more physical skills. To think that she has spent years and years with the answer under her nose makes no sense. Yes, she worked for a secretive man, but would she really rely on his word that one day she would know as good enough? No, she wouldn't. It just doesn't make sense. It's literally a mystery to me! It doesn't make sense that the only reason she looks into her own mystery is because of the threat it poses to Margerit. I don't think she needed love to have her face her past, her own natural curiosity should have done that. As for the mystery as to whether they love each other, I will answer with duh. While yes, I could say that these contradictions make Barbara more human, instead I'll say it makes her fickle and Margerit did have every reason to worry about being left behind. So yes Barbara, you inadvertently knocked this book down, and for someone so graceful I find that quite shocking. Also you're not mysterious, you're just eccentric.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alpennia, Armin, Daughter of Mystery, France, Heather Rose Jones, Inheritance, Lyon, Magic, Medici's, Musketeers, Mysteries, Poirot, Regency Magic, Religion, Ruritanian Romance, The Mystic Marriage, Worldbuilding

Heather Rose Jones is an interesting mix of modern and historical. Be it biotech or linguistics, she seems perfectly suited for whatever time period she lands in if a time machine were to show up on her doorstep and take her on a journey. Her early life was far flung, from the various corners of the continental United States to several European countries, though she currently calls the Bay Area home. Growing up in an academic family surly spurred her passions for research and teaching. She loves "to share my knowledge with anyone who will stand still long enough to listen." Though who knows how long that would be given her fascinating and diverse interests! Heather has a BS in zoology, after which she spent a decade in medical research, only to go back to school for a PhD in Linguistics from U.C. Berkley where she specialized in the semantics of Medieval Welsh prepositions. While she might have come to my attention due to her fiction writing, I'm amazed at the sheer scope and dedication to all her various interests.

Her "Skin Singer" series of short stories have appeared in Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress anthologies, but you can surly guess by now that she wouldn't limit her prodigious talents and interests to just one writing outlet. Heather has written for many non-fiction publications as well on topics ranging from biotech to historic costume to naming practices. As for her Alpennia books, think of them as historical fantasy with a detailed belief system with lesbians. In fact her passion project is the Lesbian Historic Motif Project she began to change the unexamined assumptions about the place and nature of lesbian-like characters in historic fact, literature, art and imaginations. She is also a total geek for historic textiles and clothing, making little doll reproductions of archaeological clothing finds. Is it any wonder with these passions coupled with geeking out over linguistics, historic cooking, and much more that she is a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism? There she's known by a far more Welsh handle than Heather, she's Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn. I should just let Heather, or should I say Mistress Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, take the wheel.

Question: When did you first discover Jane Austen?

Answer: I have a sheepish confession that I read her books well after I’d fallen in love with a number of movie treatments and with the Regency romance genre in general. I was certainly aware that she was the ur-text on which the genre was based. And it isn’t as if I had any aversion to reading novels of the era. (I read Thackeray’s Vanity Fair just for fun back in 1975, after all.) I’m still working on getting a complete collection of the works of Georgette Heyer.

But at some point about 15 years ago I realized I’d never actually read Austen herself, so I marched off to the bookstore and picked up a complete set and read them all straight through. I certainly have my favorites and my less preferred works. (I seem to be alone among my friends in liking Emma, but every time I re-read Mansfield Park, I want to throw it across the room.) I also have audio versions of my favorites in heavy rotation on my anti-insomnia program. (My favorites are the free recordings at Librivox.org, and my favorite narrator is Karen Savage.)

Question: What do you think Jane Austen would think of her impact with so many literary offshoots, from parody to pastiche?

Answer: I tend to be wary of trying to second-guess authors’ attitudes. Even the authors I know personally can surprise me in their take on questions like this. Given the circumstances of her life, I can guess that one of her reactions might be, “Gee, I wish I could have gotten a cut of the take!” I suspect she might be astonished that her work is remembered at all two centuries later. But I refuse to guess at what she might think of all the people re-purposing her stories in the vastly different ways we’ve seen. People have very individual and emotional reactions to that sort of thing, and all of them are valid.

Question: Where do you get your inspiration from?

Answer: My stories are, at heart, the stories I wish other people had written so that I’d have been able to read them at important points in my life. So I’m inspired by the echoing gaps in my literary life that are begging to be filled. I’ve spent most of my life searching through bookstore and library shelves for books that recognize and respect core aspects of my identity: being a woman, being a geek, being a lesbian, being an intellectual. One gets very tired of being told implicitly that one doesn’t exist, or at least, that one isn’t worthy of being included in stories.

On a more practical basis, I’m inspired by the life-long love of European history that began when I spent a year in Prague at the age of ten. (My father was a university professor on sabbatical.) I love immersing myself in the everyday material culture of places, times, and peoples different from my own.

Question: What makes the early 19th century mesh so well with magic?

Answer: Is is heresy for me to say that I don’t think there’s anything special about the early 19th century that makes it suited to magic? Every age, every culture, and every literary genre inspires particular flavors and approaches to magic. I think that the existing popularity of the Regency setting (and of the Regency romance genre in general) made it inevitable that fantasy writers who loved that setting would look for types of magic that fit into it well.

I think some of the key characteristics of Regency magic have to do with the eras and movements it balances between. The Industrial Revolution creates some major challenges for designing a magical world. Do you view it as a threat to pre-industrial magic or as a context for a new industrial-based magic? The social and political shifts in Europe from the remnants of old-style monarchy to more populist governments similarly present a challenge to motifs of magic as an echo of aristocracy or as the basis for a “everyman makes good” plot. To the extent that magic is viewed as anti-rational, any 19th century understanding of magic needs to be in dialog with the 18th century Age of Enlightenment and its consequences for philosophy and religion.

Questions of this sort exist for any historic setting. A Renaissance magic setting will similarly be driven by and need to deal with the social and technological changes in which it operates. The entire genre of Urban Fantasy asks the question of what magic can look like in our current world. So to return to my original answer, I don’t think magic necessarily meshes better with a Regency setting in comparison to other eras. But the setting will certainly generate a particular flavor of magic unique to that era.

Question: The world building and system of magic varies greatly in the regency fantasy genre, how did you go about creating yours?

Answer: I had the setting before I decided/realized it was going to include magic. (The very first ideas for the Alpennia books were much more along the lines of an ordinary historical romantic adventure.) I wanted a form of magic in which it would make sense that the existence of magic hadn’t created massive divergences from our own timeline and historic development. So I looked to existing mystical themes in history and asked, “What if, sometimes, for some people, this actually worked the way that people at the time believed it worked?”

In Daughter of Mystery, the main magical focus is religious in nature. I started with the proposition: what if aspects of folk religion, and especially the folk-religious aspects of the cults of the saints in Catholicism, were a bit more...functional than they are in our world? What if some people could work “miracles” fairly reliably? But what if the nature of those miracles was such that it was impossible to turn them into a science? It was also important to me to treat the religious basis of the magic in a respectful way. As an atheist, it meant the world to me when various of my Catholic friends told me I’d “gotten it right.”

In the world of Alpennia, people have varying levels of ability of magical causation. Some have none; some have so little that you’d need a lot of people working in concert to make anything happen; and very rarely some people have enough ability to produce “miracles” on their own. But alongside this, I imagined that the ability to detect miracles was similarly distributed. Some people can’t see anything unless it has a direct visible manifestation--and most often that could be explained away as chance or coincidence. Some people can perceive the workings of magic itself in sensory form: visions of the forces at work, auditory or tactile sensations. Very rarely, someone has both the ability to work magic and to see the mechanisms by which it works well enough to develop their talents into a reliable practice. If they have the proper guidance. And if society thinks it’s appropriate for them to do so. And if the results of their efforts don’t cause them fatal problems.

Channeling the understanding and practice of magic through religious ritual both created a context for passing along “effective” practices, but also for diluting them into mere rote ceremony. So I had my context in which there was the possibility of a particular individual having and developing significant magical skills, but where that possibility didn’t translate into the development of a “technology of magic”.

In later books, we see that religion isn’t the only context in which the magic in my world manifests. The Mystic Marriage centers around alchemy--a field that my characters treat as if it were purely scientific, but where it’s clear to the readers that the same mystical forces that lie behind miracles are driving the results of alchemical experiments. In my current work in progress, Mother of Souls, we see mystical forces being channeled through other practices such as music and art. But in all cases, the effects can range from barely perceptible to world-shaking, depending on the practitioners and the practice.

Question: If you had to choose between writing only period literature or only fantasy literature, which would win?

Answer: I’ve always refused to accept false dichotomies. I’ve spent most of my writing life feeling like I had to choose between writing characters like me and writing characters that I could sell stories about. Or between writing the stories I wanted to read and writing the stories other people wanted to read. When I had the finished manuscript of Daughter of Mystery in hand, I had to make the very important choice of whether to try to publish it as a mainstream fantasy novel or as a lesbian novel. I refuse to be boxed. I’ve sold purely historic stories (“Where My Heart Goes”, a historical romance short story set in 16th century Italy). I’ve sold purely fantasy stories (the “Skinsinger” series in the Sword and Sorceress anthology series). And I’ve sold historic fantasy set in both the Regency and medieval periods. I will not erase any part of my writing self, not even just for fun in a quiz.

Question: Be honest, have you ever dressed up in Regency clothes just to pretend for a moment you are in the past?

Answer: I’ve been deeply involved in historic re-creation for the last 40 years. In terms of organized events, it’s been mostly in the Society for Creative Anachronism, but I’ve worn costumes from Bronze Age Denmark and pharaonic Egypt all the way up through the 1930s. I love participating in historic themed “set pieces”, especially dinners and similarly structured events. I’ve prepared historic meals scattered over several millennia. (You should see my historic culinary library!) At Worldcon last year, I brought some Alpennian pastries as refreshments for my author’s kaffee klatch, based on a French cookbook of the same era. But I confess, I haven’t yet made a specifically Regency-era outfit. I have the fabric sitting in my stash and I know exactly which dress from my books I want to make. It’s just a matter of time and of having the excuse of what to wear it for.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Daughter of Mystery, Heather Rose Jones, Jane Austen, Lesbian Historic Motif Project, Linguistics, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Mystic Marriage, Prague, Regency Magic, SCA, Sword and Sorceress, Vanity Fair, Welsh