strange and random happenstance

The Adventuress by Tasha Alexander
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: October 13th, 2015
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Jeremy, the Duke of Bainbridge, has dedicated his life to achieving the title of the most useless man in England. He wants to live a life of semi-debauchery and avoid all the society mothers trying to snare him for their daughters. He knows he will have to wed eventually, his younger brother Jack would never forgive him if he inherited the Dukedom due to Jeremy's licentious lifestyle. But Jeremy claims his dear friend Lady Emily holds his heart, and since she is happily married, his finding connubial bliss is never going to happen. Emily sees his infatuation as nothing more than hyperbole and is proven right when Jeremy falls victim to the wiles of an American buccaneer. Amity Wells is the dream woman, she might even be more debauched than Jeremy! She knows what he needs even before he does. So what if she's a little loud, a little beyond the pale, she's the girl for Jeremy. A girl who Emily realizes she will never be friends with within minutes of meeting her. Yet Jeremy is Emily's oldest and dearest friend and for him she will make an effort. She will stick her courage to the sticking place and celebrate his engagement in the extravagant manner to which Amity is accustomed.

Amity plans a grandiose engagement party on the French Riviera with her parents footing the bill. There are excursions everyday, on land and on sea, nightly walks along La Croisette, delicious dinners, and sumptuous breakfasts. Amity even prides herself on organizing a lads night for Jeremy and his friends at the local casino where there will be dancers direct from Paris. Though that particular festivity ends differently than anyone expected, with Jeremy's friend, Chauncey Neville, dead in Jeremy's suite of an apparent suicide. Emily isn't convinced this dear, sweet man would have ended his life in such a fashion. Yet Emily's husband Colin tells her that with suicide it's not like their murder investigations, they aren't neatly wrapped up, there will always be questions which they will never know the answers to. Emily isn't sure. Even if Colin doesn't want to investigate she feels it necessary to start a discreet investigation. This will at least distract her for the forced joviality of those remaining after Mr. Neville's funeral and Amity's brother Augustus who puts her on edge. But soon weird things start to happen to discredit Emily. Could she be getting close to a truth someone wants hidden? Or does Amity just want her out of the way?

Years and years ago I became obsessed with this miniseries I kept stumbling upon on one of the higher cable channels in the middle of the night. I had no idea what it was called because I would always find it after the opening credits and would usually fall asleep before the end credits rolled. Remember, this was the nineties. Not everyone had computers they could access and find the answers they sought in an instant. As for my trusty TV Guide, well... it didn't list the higher channels in some sick game it liked to play with me where it loved to leave me in ignorance. And yes, I fully believe it was sentient and thought this was funny. Therefore I spent years in ignorance clutching to the few facts I knew. The miniseries starred Carla Gugino, the star of the Thanksgiving Pauly Shore classic Son in Law, and that the house from the Brideshead Revisited miniseries was in it. It turns out I was watching the 1995 adaptation of Edith Wharton's unfinished novel The Buccaneers. The story is about four eligible and wealthy young American girls who go to England to marry into the aristocracy. If I had known these women were called buccaneers perhaps I would have figured out the title earlier. But as it was, all I knew is I wanted to be one, despite not being the daughter of a robber barren. I could become British through an advantageous marriage! And yes, this dream is still with me.

My obsession with these young buccaneers is what enthralled me with Tasha's The Adventuress. I was getting to read a murder mystery with a buccaneer at the center, Amity Wells! Dream come true! Like Emily, there was something I instantly disliked about Amity, but at the same time I was drawn to her. The little chapters spaced between Emily's narrative showed a different side to Amity. Could Emily be an unreliable narrator in this instance? Could Amity really want to befriend Emily? Amity being so "American" as the Victorian Brits would put it left an interesting impression in my mind. She's very layered, making her a far more worthy adversary for Emily than some of her past cases gave her. This is a girl who has a secret, yet at the same time her desire for freedom and to get out from under her parents makes her almost reckless in the way she's willing to morph herself into Jeremy's perfect mate. This made me think of her as a kind of Victorian mean girl. She's outside the pack, but also setting the rules. It's an interesting dichotomy. I couldn't help thinking of her as Emma Roberts from American Horror Story or Scream Queens. She comes into any situation and can be either the ringleader or the victim depending on how she decides to play it. But underneath there's iron. She's getting her way and just playing her part to get it.

Though Amity's most interesting purpose within the story is not how she affects Emily as a person with all her Americanness, but how just her presence will forever change Emily's relationship with Jeremy. Even if Emily doesn't believe for an instant that Jeremy is hopelessly in love with her and is convinced he's using it as an excuse to avoid marriage, losing his constant attention and devotion that she is constantly plied with is a blow. She views that she is losing the Jeremy that she's always known. He's not flirting with her, he's not as attentive, he's not pissing off Colin with comments about how he and Em would make the perfect couple. In other words, his attentions are firmly on his fiance and Emily has to come to the cold hard conclusion that this annoys her. She liked being the center of Jeremy's world. She liked all the attention she was getting. Whenever she was feeling down Jeremy could boost her ego with a few remarks. And throughout the story she views this change as a negative. The fact is that Jeremy has grown up and Emily hasn't. You can see the lie clearly when Emily tells Amity that Emily's relationship with Jeremy will be in flux until it settles into the new pattern of them both being married. We've followed Emily on all her adventures and her behavior to Jeremy has never changed. Luckily for Em things turn out all right for her in the end.

But this change in Emily and Jeremy's relationship brings to the fore one very important question. Does Jeremy really love Emily? Yes, he obviously loves her as his closest and dearest friend as she does him, but could Emily be so blind that she's never realized that Jeremy is indeed in love with her? I think she is. What's more, I think Colin knows and is a bit exasperated that Emily, his astute wife who is able to see murder where everyone else sees suicide, can not see behind the flirtatious ways of Jeremy to see his real feelings are a deep and abiding love. I don't just have my observations that I've coupled with Colin's, oh no, for the first time in Amity's storyline we see how Jeremy felt about an incident that happened in A Fatal Waltz: "That kiss. That kiss. Could it be that, at last, he had found someone who could make him forget another kiss, on a cold day in Vienna? A kiss that ought never have happened, but that still consumed him, even after all these years?" He was CONSUMED by his kiss with Emily! CONSUMED! If he hadn't loved her before he obviously has been in love since that day and it makes me pity Jeremy and just want the best for him. To have a love that is never to be? He deserves some happiness. He deserves someone who loves him like Emily loves Colin. Oh, how my heart breaks for him.

And because I don't feel like ending this review on a sad "Poor Jeremy" note I'll end it on the Roman Feast that Amity was planning for the excursion to Nice and the visit to the ruins at Cimiez. Everyone was throwing themselves into this feast that would let them live in the decadent style of a Roman if just for a night. Well, everyone except Colin, who would not be caught dead in a toga, and Emily, who prefers Greece to Rome. There's a part of me that awhile back would have been all for it. I didn't know anything about Roman feasts, except vomitoriums, because obviously growing up kids remember the disgusting stuff. Within the story they mainly talk about the clothes and that eating is done while reclining, something I can never believe is good for the digestion. But I know OH so much more all thanks to Sue Perkins, Giles Coren, and their show, which used to be available on Hulu, The Supersizers. The Supersizers "went" to different time periods and "ate" different decades, and the weird title shift is what happened between season one and two. For the finale of season two they "ate" Ancient Rome. I was fully nauseated by the whole episode. Seeing as a feast might start with such "tasty" dishes as brain and rose petal patina I'm saying right now, you are NEVER getting me to EVER participate in any kind of authentic Roman Feast. You can see why Emily wants to stick to Greek foods!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Fatal Waltz, Alexander Autumn, American Horror Story, Ancient Rome, Duke of Bainbridge, Edith Wharton, Emma Roberts, France, Love, Pauly Shore, Rome, Son in Law, Tasha Alexander, The Adventuress, The Buccaneers

The Adventuress by Tasha Alexander
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: October 13th, 2015
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Jeremy, the Duke of Bainbridge, has dedicated his life to achieving the title of the most useless man in England. He wants to live a life of semi-debauchery and avoid all the society mothers trying to snare him for their daughters. He knows he will have to wed eventually, his younger brother Jack would never forgive him if he inherited the Dukedom due to Jeremy's licentious lifestyle. But Jeremy claims his dear friend Lady Emily holds his heart, and since she is happily married, his finding connubial bliss is never going to happen. Emily sees his infatuation as nothing more than hyperbole and is proven right when Jeremy falls victim to the wiles of an American buccaneer. Amity Wells is the dream woman, she might even be more debauched than Jeremy! She knows what he needs even before he does. So what if she's a little loud, a little beyond the pale, she's the girl for Jeremy. A girl who Emily realizes she will never be friends with within minutes of meeting her. Yet Jeremy is Emily's oldest and dearest friend and for him she will make an effort. She will stick her courage to the sticking place and celebrate his engagement in the extravagant manner to which Amity is accustomed.

Amity plans a grandiose engagement party on the French Riviera with her parents footing the bill. There are excursions everyday, on land and on sea, nightly walks along La Croisette, delicious dinners, and sumptuous breakfasts. Amity even prides herself on organizing a lads night for Jeremy and his friends at the local casino where there will be dancers direct from Paris. Though that particular festivity ends differently than anyone expected, with Jeremy's friend, Chauncey Neville, dead in Jeremy's suite of an apparent suicide. Emily isn't convinced this dear, sweet man would have ended his life in such a fashion. Yet Emily's husband Colin tells her that with suicide it's not like their murder investigations, they aren't neatly wrapped up, there will always be questions which they will never know the answers to. Emily isn't sure. Even if Colin doesn't want to investigate she feels it necessary to start a discreet investigation. This will at least distract her for the forced joviality of those remaining after Mr. Neville's funeral and Amity's brother Augustus who puts her on edge. But soon weird things start to happen to discredit Emily. Could she be getting close to a truth someone wants hidden? Or does Amity just want her out of the way?

Years and years ago I became obsessed with this miniseries I kept stumbling upon on one of the higher cable channels in the middle of the night. I had no idea what it was called because I would always find it after the opening credits and would usually fall asleep before the end credits rolled. Remember, this was the nineties. Not everyone had computers they could access and find the answers they sought in an instant. As for my trusty TV Guide, well... it didn't list the higher channels in some sick game it liked to play with me where it loved to leave me in ignorance. And yes, I fully believe it was sentient and thought this was funny. Therefore I spent years in ignorance clutching to the few facts I knew. The miniseries starred Carla Gugino, the star of the Thanksgiving Pauly Shore classic Son in Law, and that the house from the Brideshead Revisited miniseries was in it. It turns out I was watching the 1995 adaptation of Edith Wharton's unfinished novel The Buccaneers. The story is about four eligible and wealthy young American girls who go to England to marry into the aristocracy. If I had known these women were called buccaneers perhaps I would have figured out the title earlier. But as it was, all I knew is I wanted to be one, despite not being the daughter of a robber barren. I could become British through an advantageous marriage! And yes, this dream is still with me.

My obsession with these young buccaneers is what enthralled me with Tasha's The Adventuress. I was getting to read a murder mystery with a buccaneer at the center, Amity Wells! Dream come true! Like Emily, there was something I instantly disliked about Amity, but at the same time I was drawn to her. The little chapters spaced between Emily's narrative showed a different side to Amity. Could Emily be an unreliable narrator in this instance? Could Amity really want to befriend Emily? Amity being so "American" as the Victorian Brits would put it left an interesting impression in my mind. She's very layered, making her a far more worthy adversary for Emily than some of her past cases gave her. This is a girl who has a secret, yet at the same time her desire for freedom and to get out from under her parents makes her almost reckless in the way she's willing to morph herself into Jeremy's perfect mate. This made me think of her as a kind of Victorian mean girl. She's outside the pack, but also setting the rules. It's an interesting dichotomy. I couldn't help thinking of her as Emma Roberts from American Horror Story or Scream Queens. She comes into any situation and can be either the ringleader or the victim depending on how she decides to play it. But underneath there's iron. She's getting her way and just playing her part to get it.

Though Amity's most interesting purpose within the story is not how she affects Emily as a person with all her Americanness, but how just her presence will forever change Emily's relationship with Jeremy. Even if Emily doesn't believe for an instant that Jeremy is hopelessly in love with her and is convinced he's using it as an excuse to avoid marriage, losing his constant attention and devotion that she is constantly plied with is a blow. She views that she is losing the Jeremy that she's always known. He's not flirting with her, he's not as attentive, he's not pissing off Colin with comments about how he and Em would make the perfect couple. In other words, his attentions are firmly on his fiance and Emily has to come to the cold hard conclusion that this annoys her. She liked being the center of Jeremy's world. She liked all the attention she was getting. Whenever she was feeling down Jeremy could boost her ego with a few remarks. And throughout the story she views this change as a negative. The fact is that Jeremy has grown up and Emily hasn't. You can see the lie clearly when Emily tells Amity that Emily's relationship with Jeremy will be in flux until it settles into the new pattern of them both being married. We've followed Emily on all her adventures and her behavior to Jeremy has never changed. Luckily for Em things turn out all right for her in the end.

But this change in Emily and Jeremy's relationship brings to the fore one very important question. Does Jeremy really love Emily? Yes, he obviously loves her as his closest and dearest friend as she does him, but could Emily be so blind that she's never realized that Jeremy is indeed in love with her? I think she is. What's more, I think Colin knows and is a bit exasperated that Emily, his astute wife who is able to see murder where everyone else sees suicide, can not see behind the flirtatious ways of Jeremy to see his real feelings are a deep and abiding love. I don't just have my observations that I've coupled with Colin's, oh no, for the first time in Amity's storyline we see how Jeremy felt about an incident that happened in A Fatal Waltz: "That kiss. That kiss. Could it be that, at last, he had found someone who could make him forget another kiss, on a cold day in Vienna? A kiss that ought never have happened, but that still consumed him, even after all these years?" He was CONSUMED by his kiss with Emily! CONSUMED! If he hadn't loved her before he obviously has been in love since that day and it makes me pity Jeremy and just want the best for him. To have a love that is never to be? He deserves some happiness. He deserves someone who loves him like Emily loves Colin. Oh, how my heart breaks for him.

And because I don't feel like ending this review on a sad "Poor Jeremy" note I'll end it on the Roman Feast that Amity was planning for the excursion to Nice and the visit to the ruins at Cimiez. Everyone was throwing themselves into this feast that would let them live in the decadent style of a Roman if just for a night. Well, everyone except Colin, who would not be caught dead in a toga, and Emily, who prefers Greece to Rome. There's a part of me that awhile back would have been all for it. I didn't know anything about Roman feasts, except vomitoriums, because obviously growing up kids remember the disgusting stuff. Within the story they mainly talk about the clothes and that eating is done while reclining, something I can never believe is good for the digestion. But I know OH so much more all thanks to Sue Perkins, Giles Coren, and their show, which used to be available on Hulu, The Supersizers. The Supersizers "went" to different time periods and "ate" different decades, and the weird title shift is what happened between season one and two. For the finale of season two they "ate" Ancient Rome. I was fully nauseated by the whole episode. Seeing as a feast might start with such "tasty" dishes as brain and rose petal patina I'm saying right now, you are NEVER getting me to EVER participate in any kind of authentic Roman Feast. You can see why Emily wants to stick to Greek foods!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Fatal Waltz, Alexander Autumn, American Horror Story, Ancient Rome, Duke of Bainbridge, Edith Wharton, Emma Roberts, France, Love, Pauly Shore, Rome, Son in Law, Tasha Alexander, The Adventuress, The Buccaneers

Dreams of Empire by Justin Richards
Published by: BBC Books
Publication Date: August 3rd, 1999
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

The Haddron Republic has just ended a mighty civil war. One of their leaders, Kesar, took it upon himself to make the Republic an Empire. His Empire. Though his dreams were destroyed by his childhood friend Trayx. They fought a mighty war and in the end Trayx was victorious. Kesar was sentenced to imprisoned exile among the stars. Kesar and his remaining loyal followers would live on Santespri with a garrison of Trayx's soliders. Though his exile isn't what truly brought Kesar low, it's the attack on him after his sentencing, he was disfigured so badly he now wears a metal mask while spending all his time playing chess with his second in command, Cruger. The hope is that chess will make the two of them see why their coupe failed as well as while away the hours.

The TARDIS materializes in a lower section of the castle on Santespri just as Trayx has come to visit Kesar and a murder has happened. At first considered persons of interest, The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria, soon are viewed as allies when The Doctor points out, not only can they not be the murderers, but that there's a ship, an unscheduled ship, heading straight for Santespri, and that they should marshal their resources and get ready for attack. But is the ship coming to rescue Kesar to lead him to the throne he once desired, or is it coming to kill him and make of him the martyr Trayx hoped Kesar would never be. A symbol to rally around and restart the civil war. Or is there more going on then any of them know?

Dreams of Empire is one of those books that struggles to get started. I just wasn't able to connect to this outer space Roman Empire redux with delusions of Napoleon's exile in Elba but peopled with robotic legionnaires. The empire didn't seem logical or even plausible, plus those Cylon wannabes (they are far more advanced then Cybermen, so I'm going with Cylon) being "Legion" well... the hive mind was a little too similar to the previous book about The Doctor I just read, seriously, whomever picked these books didn't really care about diversity of storytelling now did they? Doctor Who usually excels at combining the old with the new, but here it felt like a puzzle that didn't want to fit together right, like there was a piece missing. In his introduction, Justin Richards talks about ancient Rome in a very muddled way with a lot of what ifs. The fact that he seems muddled even in this story's inception I think makes it clear that he would have troubles pulling off this imagined empire. Plus, while I do have a basic grasp of Roman history, Richards seems to almost expect you to know the play by play of the senate and the consuls in order for you to make any sense of the politics. Also, are these people really wearing tunics but have advanced weaponry and bombs? Yeah... not feeling it.

Thankfully everything in the book changes once we get to Kesar's (Serisouly, Kesar? Is he the Quasar Caesar?) exile on Santespri (yep, another asteroid like the last book, sigh). Because then the book isn't about Empires and political backstabbing, then it's about people, people who you feel a real connection to, and lots and lots of chess games. But more importantly it's about The Doctor, and Jamie (woo hoo) and Victoria. The 1st Doctor book I read annoyed me because it could easily have been a book without The Doctor. He could have been omitted entirely and the book would have still worked. He was a background character used to tie up loose ends. Seriously, if you write a Doctor Who book it should have The Doctor front and center all the time. Dreams of Empire not only had The Doctor front and center but perfectly capture both who The Doctor is, but also really captured Patrick Troughton's Doctor perfectly. You could see him so easily in your mind's eye that at times it was a little eerie. Yet I think the true genius of this book relates to something I believe Neil Gaiman said. That while this is a second Doctor story, you could just as easily see Tom Baker or Matt Smith delivering these lines. Justin Richards has caught a hold of the elusive heart of The Doctor that I have felt missing in some of this past season of the show and made this book 100% Doctor.

In fact, The Doctor is able to carry the rest of the book despite its flaws. The book occasionally gets bogged down with technology and almost heist like antics with the security cameras working or being looped. The bad guy is laughably obvious, even how he's doing it is so transparent that you're just waiting for The Doctor to spring his trap. And the "twist" well, how should I put this... ah, I don't want to be rude seeing as I actually liked the book, but, well... it wasn't a twist, just something blindingly obvious. Like so obvious there was an arrow above it in neon going, here's the obvious. In the end, there's just too many historical and technological things vying against each other to make it a truly cohesive story, but somehow, it works. If you can make it a couple of chapters in you won't be disappointed, except perhaps in the fact that the title of the book is repeatedly said by the characters. Here's a good tip for authors, don't obviously use your book title in the book, it's a bit too meta and lame.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Chess, Cybermen, Cylons, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Book Challenge, Dreams of Empire, Jamie, Justin Richards, Matt Smith, Neil Gaiman, Patrick Troughton, Rome, The 2nd Doctor, Tom Baker

The Reincarnationist by M.J. Rose
Published by: Mira
Publication Date: January 1st, 2007
Format: Paperback, 449 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy
Josh Ryder has been having weird spells ever since he survived a terrorist attack in Rome. He keeps slipping into the past, into what could only, logically, be his past lives. There is too much detail for any doubt to exist. He has sought out help from The Phoenix Foundation, who specialize in helping children understand their dreams which aren't really dreams but past life regressions. Malachai and his aunt take Josh on because he has such clear visions, one of them involving their building. A discovery in Rome sends Josh back there with Malachai. A Professor Rudolfo and his assistant Gabriella have uncovered an unknown tomb. Malachai and Josh hope that not only will this discovery help Josh, but perhaps will shed light on the mysterious memory stones, stones said to allow you to see all your past lives.

Josh is so haunted by his past that in a daze he wanders for miles till he stumbles on Professor Rudolfo's site hours before their meeting. There he finds Sabina... or the well preserved corpse of Sabina, his true love back when he was Julius, all those hundreds of years ago. Tragedy strikes the tomb again and Rudolfo is killed. Josh is arrested as the primary suspect but soon is released. While his time in Italy is at an end, the memory of Sabina still stirs him. He will find the answer one way or another. Back in New York he connects with Rudolfo's assistant Gabriella. Josh feels drawn to her, was she Sabina in a past life? Soon their knowledge of the memory stones lead to the kidnapping of Gabriella's daughter Quinn. If Josh and Gabriella can't solve the mystery that has baffled people for centuries, Quinn might die.

Part Indiana Jones, but more Da Vinci Code without any kind of narrative drive, this book was a struggle to get through. If I hadn't thrown out my back and been immobile, I don't think I would have finished it. Besides having the hardest title of a book to ever say, I dare you, try to say it out loud, this book left too many lose ends and me saying "well, that happened." While I don't look favorably on books like The Da Vinci Code, at least Dan Brown kept the urgency, kept the plot moving. For something so dire, for a race against the clock, the pace of the book was quite languid. Not to mention, the sub plot with Rachel and her Uncle Alex being so secondary until the end was pointless, hence eliminating them from the synopsis. Use them throughout OR don't introduce them till you need them. They felt like they where thrown on stage three acts before they where needed. I also felt that Josh's jumps into the past a little too cliche. "He smelt Sandalwood and Jasmine" now he gets a giant erection and can only dream of the dead girl. I kid you not, the biggest sex scene in this book, and there are a few, are between Josh, aka Julius, and the memory of Sabina, while in the shower.

If the story had remained in Italy, perhaps there would have been a better chance to connect with the narrative. But once they left Italy, I really couldn't care less. Then the fact she brings out the kidnapping trope... ug, just no. I will give her credit that in the last page she did give a little bit of a game changer, which was nice, but I knew who the bad guy was from the beginning, and all your running around and adding plots on plots and more and more stupid characters will not take away from the obviousness of everything. Again, a book not finished by the majority of my book club... but sub par writing with one too many cliches will do that, and, if the writer can't be bothered to finish the story and tie up the loose ends, the memory stones, etc, then why should a reader be bothered with finishing it? Also, nothing pisses me off more than an obvious lack of understanding something. M.J. Rose obviously doesn't understand that a yard is equal to three feet. He was so close, only 3 yards away... dood, that's not that close if you're in a tunnel and trying to get out. Also, if you are interested in something good about reincarnation, rent Dead Again and be done with it, don't read this book.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Da Vinci Code, Dead Again, Indiana Jones, Memory Stones, MJ Rose, Reincarnation, Rome, The Phoenix Foundations, The Reincarnationist

My Sister's Song by Gail Carriger
Published by: Wilberforsian Ink
Publication Date: August 30th, 2011
Format: Kindle
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy
You've got female warriors outsmarting Romans with bees! How could you not want to read this little story? Mithra is a warrior, while her younger sister is able to enchant bees with her beautiful voice. With their combined knowledge of human fallibility and the dangers of eating certain honey, the lesser troupes are able to easily destroy the larger Roman legion. Based on historical facts of Roman troops being poisoned in the first century BC under Pompey the Great when they were attacking the Heptakometes in Turkey, you can see how this story bridged the two worlds of Gail Carriger and made them one. In her first sold story you see the archaeologist in her. The history lover writing about a world that only exists in artifacts and dig sites. Here Gail has brought this once alive and now dead world back. We get to see through the eyes of Mithra a world long gone. Also, on a side note, it's nice to find out that Gail can write other great and compelling stories besides The Parasol Protectorate series... because I don't know what I'd do once those books end if she couldn't handle other genres and styles. A definite read for apiarists and lovers of Caesar.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Apiarists, Archaeologist, Bees, Gail Carriger, Mithra, My Sister's Song, Rome, The Parasol Protectorate

Now to that most surly of men... is he good... is he bad... do we really care? Bring on Lord Vaughn!

Name: James Purefoy

Dream Character Casting for the Lauren Willig Miniseries: Sebastian, Lord Vaughn

First Impression: Mansfield Park... why did they have to kill him!?! WHY! Just... oh, I can't get started on how I hate this film again... one of the reasons? James Purefoy dies!

Why they'd be the perfect actor for the Lauren Willig Miniseries: Could there be another actor out there who can do haughty humor while looking drop dead sexy? Plus did you see how great he looks in Regency clothes?

Lasting Impression: A Knight's Tale, so cute as the King... he was the King right? Prince? Whatever, he was cool while wearing hot furs, the plot, eh, not so important.

What else you've seen them in: Ah... Rome anyone? Also... you really see all of him if you get my drift. From films to television, he's willing to star in and easily adapts from Bronte to Austen, from Cambridge to Comics... He's not one of those stars, who once they hit the big screen, won't go back to the small. Personally I'll watch him in anything, from Solomon Kane to The Philanthropist... of course that was sadly canceled.

Can't believe it's them: Bedrooms and Hallways... just watch it and see. Plus a whole new way that Margaret Thatcher has been debased in the popular media, and rightfully so.

Wish they hadn't: Left V for Vendetta, I love this movie, but his voice and body over Hugo Weavings, yes please, any day! But there's more, I have many Purefoy regrets... WHY did he do that awful Mansfield Park and WHY did he do Maybe Baby!?!? But then again, an actor so prolific, is bound to do crap every once in awhile... like that atrocious Vanity Fair... did they understand Becky is supposed to be unlikable!?!

Bio: James is one of those actors who, after the first time you see them, you know you have to see more. You in fact get very angry when watching A Dance to the Music of Time, because for some reason the final episode recast him, and you're not having any of that, thank you! Sorry, personal grievance there... I have some issues to deal with.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 13 comments  

Labels: A Knight's Tale, Bedrooms and Hallways, James Purefoy, Lauren Willig, Lord Vaughn, Mansfield Park, Pink Carnation Spotlight, Rome, The Seduction of the Crimson Rose, V for Vendeta, Vanity Fair

As a final grace note to Michelle's big week (you remembered to go out and get her book right?), Michelle is back answering your questions, so lets see what Michelle has to say...

Question: What sparked your interest in archeology and ancient civilizations?

Answer: The inspiration for Nefertiti: A Novel began with the PBS television program Reading Rainbow. I was eight years old when the program featured a children’s book about dinosaurs. On the screen, a group of school children were huddled around a dinosaur bone, dressed in khakis and safari hats. They were squatting over a gigantic femur and tenderly cleaning off the dirt with their brushes. “That’s what I want to do,” I announced, and when my mother signed me up for a children’s course in paleontology at the Natural History Museum, I knew I wanted to join a dig someday.

Twelve years later I found myself sitting in Anthropology 101, and when the professor mentioned that she was looking for volunteers who would like to join a dig in Israel, I practically trampled the other students in my haste. Visions of artifacts danced in my head. After all, it was Israel, and who knew what we might find? For the three weeks before the orientation meeting, I agonized over exactly what I should bring. Shorts, of course, and heavy boots. But what about brushes? Were there special brushes that archaeologists used, or would the ones from Home Depot be okay? I finally settled on brushes from Home Depot, and when it came time for packing, I lovingly placed them in protective wrap and imagined all the priceless artifacts they’d soon be dusting.

When I landed in Israel, I unpacked my brushes and laced up my boots. I didn’t own a fedora, but I already felt like Josh Bernstein and I was ready to Dig Up Some Truth. As we arrived at the dig site, our team leader walked to the back of his van. I watched enthusiastically as he unloaded twenty pickaxes. When he began passing them out to the volunteers, however, I became concerned. They’ve mistaken me for someone else, I panicked, someone who’s signed up to dig ditches instead of brushing delicate femurs. “What is this?” I asked when it was my turn for a pickax. “One of your tools,” our team leader replied. “There’s a shovel as well. You’ll be digging six feet by ten.” When he saw the shock on my face, he frowned. “You knew that, didn’t you?”

For weeks we dug ditches, shoveling dirt into wheelbarrows and hauling the barrels of dirt down a hill. Over that summer I think I lost ten pounds, and I know that I gained some serious muscle. Plus, I never did get to use my brushes. Only seasoned archaeologists were allowed to do the delicate work. But by then I had already decided that I would rather dig through history with a pen than with a pickaxe!


Question: How awesome was it being on the History Channel?

Answer: We filmed the interview in Israel with Simka, The Naked Archaeologist- who remains fully-clothed, I hasten to add! It was wonderful, but scorching even in February. We shot the scenes at the tiled remains of an ancient synagogue, in the Jordan Valley by the Dead Sea. From Jerusalem, the "shining city on a hill", you descend to well below sea level in minutes, crossing the waist of the West Bank as you go. Looking across at the mountains of Moab, and up at Herod’s fortress at Masada is an experience I’ll never forget. Simka is a great interviewer and a fascinating guy, so I can't wait for the finished product to air sometime this fall.


Question: Are you influenced by writers in similar genres, like Elizabeth Peters and Margaret George or by writers in entirely different genres?

Answer: I did begin writing as a teenager in the science fiction/fantasy realm, but my love of history made a switch away something of an inevitability. Reading novels by writers like Margaret inspired me to move to historical fiction, and being able to get to know her personally since then has been pleasantly surreal. She's unbelievably charming and kind, and supportive of younger writers, too.


Question: With your first two books being about Egypt during the time period of Nefertiti and Akhenaten, otherwise known as the Amarna period, what do you make of the Amarna Art movement where for the first time in Egypt people were being painted realistically?

Answer: In some ways, the artists working there are the true intellectual ancestors of the classical tradition, and thence the modern world. You could argue they began it all: observation, the beginnings of empiricism, and the developed skill needed to represent reality in a way that still makes us gasp. The artwork was a fantastic resource for me as an historical author, given the blend of realistic and stylistic presentation. The impressions from one painting in particular formed the embryo of the entire novel:a family portrait found at Amarna. As a young girl Nefertiti had married a Pharaoh who was determined to erase the gods of Egypt and replace them with a sun-god he called Aten. It seemed that Nefertiti’s family allowed her to marry this impetuous king in the hopes that she would tame his wild ambitions. What happened instead, however, was that Nefertiti joined him in building his own capital of Amarna where they ruled together as god and goddess. But the alluring Nefertiti had a sister who seemed to keep her grounded, and in an image of her found in Amarna, the sister is standing off to one side, her arms down while everyone else is enthusiastically praising the royal couple. From this image, and a wealth of other evidence, I tried to recreate the epic life of an Egyptian queen whose husband was to become known as the Heretic King.


Question: I’ve been asking people this week whether they would choose Egyptian or Roman times to live and, so far Rome is winning 2 to 1, where would you choose to live?

Answer: It's a hard call because some aspects of Egyptian life were more humane and enlightened than Rome. But perhaps the Roman indoor plumbing would lure me in, too! Rome had an unrivalled intellectual climate, which has to play a role in the decision. Also, the social pyramid was even steeper in Egypt than in ancient Rome, so unless I felt lucky, I think a Roman reincarnation would be a safer bet!


Question: Egypt being a feline-centric society, are you more of a cat or a dog person?

Answer: Cats! I have a psychic bond with them that causes them to find me wherever I go, like heat-seeking furry missiles.


Question: Did you watch the TV show Rome? If so, what did you think of the portrayal of Cleopatra and Marc Antony as almost an early version of Sid and Nancy?

Answer: I think James Purefoy was perfectly cast, but the drug aspects were likely overblown. As charter members of the “Society of Inimitable Livers”, however, Cleopatra and Marc Antony did know how to have a good time!


Question: Have you ever visited Pompeii?

Answer: Three times! Each time has been better than the last. There's a section on my website gallery page detailing just a few of the stunning treasures preserved there.


Question:From Ancient civilizations to revolutionary France, bit of a jump, what inspired that?

Answer: Yes, I’m halfway through my fourth novel, entitled Madame Tussaud. When you add together my love of France, as well as her incredible story, it’s proving to be a joy to write! I suppose there were three reasons. As a Francophile, I would put Jefferson to shame. The politics of the time seem instructive. And finally, after three novels set in the ancient world, I felt that my readers might enjoy a brief sojourn into the more familiar!


Question: What do you make of Madame Tussaud’s legacy, not as a great artist or revolutionary but as the wax museum lady?

Answer: It’s amazing how powerful the hold of wax figures still is in the 21st century, given the essentially low-tech nature of the craft. You would think that we would be jaded by all the multimedia, high-definition, plasma screen what-have-you. But people still throng to celebrity, from a totemic sense deep inside us that we can touch and own a piece of it. That impulse is millennia-old, and won’t disappear in a two-hundred year blink of an eye. As for the formidable Madame herself….. What would she have thought of people posing next to wax George Clooneys and Shakiras, or making indecent poses next to half-naked Kylie Minogues? As the consummate survivor, marketer and self-promoter, I think she would have nodded appreciatively at the long lines by the ticket booth!


Question: There has always been something creepy about wax works and the fact that Madame Tussaud started out making death masks seems somewhat fitting. Do you find waxworks kind of macabre?

Answer: Visiting the “halls of heads” in some factories’ darkened vaults has been a little eerie. But that’s nothing compared though to Tussaud’s experiences- having to fetch the bloody, decapitated heads of friends she had known in her jail cell just hours before, and model them by hand.

Question: On your website you have a great gallery of your favorite paintings, do you have a favorite museum or artist?

Answer: Monet! For historical artifacts, though, Athens’ Archaeological Museum is superb, and a must-visit for any antiquities fan. The Capitoline in Rome, Cairo of course, and for more oils, you can’t go wrong with Paris’ D’Orsay.

Question: What do you feel of the phenomenon of book trailers?

Answer: I had tremendous fun watching the Cleopatra’s Daughter trailer take shape: director Brady Hall is a genius. It is pricy, but in our visual culture, a chance to cross into different media is always a worthwhile way to build awareness. And who knows, perhaps a Hollywood big name might find their imagination sparked by the idea of a movie version!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 2:07 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Amarna, Cleopatra's Daughter, Contest, Egypt, Heretic Queen, James Purfoy, Michelle Moran, Monet, Nefertiti, Roman Coin, Rome

Thanks to everyone who entered for participating in Michelle Moran week here at Strange & Random Happenstance. Also sorry for not publishing this immediately, I hate getting sick. In a very apt reflection of history, Rome beat Egypt as the time when most of you would have chosen to live. Personally, I'm all for Egypt, an Empire who wrote with pictures and worshiped cats is all good in my book. Well, onto the randomly generated winner...Cindy Pon! Congratulations Cindy and take that Rome, Cindy also chose Egypt! I hope you do enjoy this lovely new book from Michelle and I hope that all of you will keep your eyes out for the book she's starting, Masks of the Revolution. Michelle is working hard on answering your questions, so be sure to check back in next Friday! Also there will be a new competition tomorrow to coincide with my blog being featured on Bookworming in the 21st Century!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 3:00 PM 3 comments  

Labels: Cleopatra's Daughter, Contest, Egypt, Heretic Queen, Michelle Moran, Nefertiti, Roman Coin, Rome

Now Michelle Moran week continues with the first part of my Q & A (remember the contest is still ongoing). Part two will be posted on next Friday, while the winner of the competition will be posted on Friday, but I need your questions for Michelle so that we have a part two. Personally I always find it hard to think of a question for an author, especially if I'm not familiar with their work. So here's part one to familiarize yourselves with Michelle so you can think up some great questions for part two. Feel free to post your questions in the comments below or to email them to me and I'll try to make sure all your questions get answered! Also don't forget to enter the contest to win a signed copy of her new book, Cleopatra's Daughter, as well as a real Roman Coin!

Now to the Q & A:

Question: What prompted you to write a novel about Cleopatra’s daughter?

Answer: I do a great deal of traveling both for research and for fun, and most of my destinations are archaeological sites. On a trip to Alexandria in Egypt, I was afforded the amazing opportunity of participating in a dive to see the submerged remains of Cleopatra’s ancient city. More than ten thousand artifacts remain completely preserved underwater: sphinxes, amphorae, even the stones of the ancient palace. Although I'm not a fan of diving, it was an incredible experience, and it changed the way I looked at Cleopatra. I immediately wanted to know more about her life, and it was mere coincidence that my next trip took me to Italy, where her ten year-old children were brought to live after her suicide. While in Rome, I was able to retrace her daughter's steps, and upon seeing where her daughter had lived on the Palatine, I knew I had my next novel.


Question: What was it like to walk where Selene walked? In particular, what was it like to visit Octavian’s villa?

A: Unbelievable. For two thousand years, Octavian’s villa has sprawled across the top of the Palatine Hill, slowly deteriorating. At one time, its vibrantly painted dining room had hosted magnificent feasts, one of which would have been the celebration of the emperor’s triumph over Marc Antony and Cleopatra in Egypt. As the heir to Caesar, Octavian was determined to rule the western world without interference. He changed his name to Augustus, and with the help of his general Agrippa and his architect Vitruvius, he turned a city of clay into a city of marble.

I had known all of this on that day in March when the villa was opened for the first time in more than a century. What I hadn’t known, however, was just how unbelievable that trip back into the world of ancient Rome would be. After three million dollars in restoration, Italian archaeologists have been able to recreate not just the intimate library and studies Augustus used, but the mosaic floors he once walked on and the vividly painted ceilings he once walked beneath with Ovid, Seneca, Cicero, Horace, and even Julius Caesar himself. As we were quickly escorted through the frescoed rooms, we stopped in the triclinium – the dining room which had once seen so many famous faces smiling, laughing, even crying for mercy. With a little imagination, it was easy to see the tables and couches that had once adorned the chamber, and there was the undeniable feeling of standing in the presence of the ancients. It was the kind of feeling you only get in Grecian temples or Egyptian tombs.


Question: In all three of your novels, your narrators have been teenage girls. Is there are reason for this?

Answer: Actually, yes. I like to begin my novels during the time of greatest transition in a person’s life. And in the ancient world, the greatest transition in a woman’s life was often the time when she was married. Because women married at much younger ages two thousand years ago (twelve years old was not uncommon), my narrators have all been very young girls. In fact, Random House will be making a concerted effort to market Cleopatra's Daughter to young adults as well as adults. However, as my novels progress through time (my next book, for example, will be about Madame Tussaud), my narrators will be older.


Question: Is the Red Eagle based on an historical person?

Answer: Yes. The Red Eagle is actually based on several men who led slave rebellions (unsuccessfully, I might add) against Rome. Spartacus led the most famous revolt, but there were other men too, such as Salvius, who waged war with his army of slaves in ancient Sicily.


Question: You write in your acknowledgements page that the character of the Red Eagle is an homage to the works of several authors. What made you decide to do this?

Answer: Creative as well as personal reasons. First, I wanted to create a character that fans of swashbuckling adventures might love, and it wasn’t at all difficult to find historical personalities on which to base such a hero. Men like Spartacus and Salvius were heroes in the truest sense of the word. But I didn’t want there to be too much action, and certainly not so much that it would detract from the real story – that of Selene and her twin brother Alexander growing up in a foreign court. I could certainly have chosen not to include anything as obviously fictitious as the Red Eagle. But I wanted to illustrate just how threatening slave rebellions were at that time, and how ever-present the danger of becoming a slave would have been, even to captured royalty. And the creation of the Red Eagle wasn’t a huge stretch. Many rebels who came before – and after – the Red Eagle employed similar tactics: rousing the plebs, arming the slaves, and encouraging those in servitude to passive resistance.

On a more personal note, however, I wanted to include the Red Eagle because I knew it would be a character my father would have loved. He devoured anything having to do with ancient Rome, and I deeply regret not having written this while he was still alive.


Question: Was a third of Rome’s population really enslaved?

Answer: Sadly, yes. And you didn’t have to be born a slave to become one. You could be kidnapped and sold into slavery, your city could be overrun and you could be turned into a slave, or you might be sold into servitude by your own parents. Slavery meant an absolute loss of every human right we now take for granted, and as a slave, your body was no longer your own. Many slaves were physically and sexually abused, regardless of age or gender.


Question: Where did these slaves come from?

Answer: Many were Gallics and Greeks. The Gallics were from Gaul, a region which now encompasses France, Belgium, parts of Switzerland, and Germany.


Question: When did slavery end?

Answer: It hasn't. In the Western World, it was slowly - very slowly - phased out with the coming of Christianity (which was one of the reasons Christianity flourished… it appealed to the disenfranchised and enslaved, making everyone equal if not on earth than in the next life). But slavery certainly hasn't ended for everyone. There are women and children who are ensalved today, even in America and Europe. Of course, this isn't legal. Many of these victims of modern-day human trafficking have been brought over from places like Albania or Algeria and have no resources to escape. That's why organizations such as STOP International exist. You can visit them here.


Question: Is it still possible to visit the places Selene visited when she was in Rome?

Answer: Yes. In 2008, I went on a photographic safari in search of the places Selene would have gone during the brief years she was in Rome. Many of the photos are included here!


Question: What are you working on next? Will it also be marketed to both adults and YA?

Answer: Actually, my next book will be firmly adult fiction. MASKS OF THE REVOLUTION is about Madame Tussaud, who joined the gilded but troubled court of Marie Antoinette, and survived the French Revolution only by creating death masks of the beheaded aristocracy. I’m very excited about this novel, since Marie (the first name of Madame Tussaud) met absolutely everyone, from Jefferson to the Empress Josephine.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:01 AM 3 comments  

Labels: Cleopatra's Daughter, Contest, Egypt, Heretic Queen, Michelle Moran, Nefertiti, Roman Coin, Rome

So who besides me just loves anything about Egypt? Well if the answer is yes, and I sure hope it is, have you ever read anything by Michelle Moran? She has written the books Nefertiti and The Heretic Queen, about the beautiful Egyptian queen married to the ruler who believed in the one true god, the sun, Aten. Well she has a new book coming out next week! Cleopatra's Daughter has all the Egyptian intrigue but now in Rome. A story set in the time when two of the greatest empires the world has ever seen coexisted, this is a must read in my book, plus another book for my goodreads "Egypt" shelf. But even better you might be able to read this book for free? How you say? Well, I'm having a special Cleopatra's Daughter Contest sponsored by the author herself.

THIS COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

Prizes:
A Signed Hardcover of Cleopatra's Daughter
An ancient Roman coin complete with certificate of authenticity

Now how cool is that? I know a few people who would enter just for the coin!

The Rules:
1. Open to EVERYONE (worldwide), and just because you haven't been following me all along doesn't mean you don't matter.
2. Please make sure I have a way to contact you if your name is drawn, either your blogger profile or a link to your website/blog or you could even include your email address with your comment(s).
3. Contest ends Friday, September 11th at 11:59AM CST
4. How to enter: Just post below, but for my own curiosity, so you don't have to answer if you don't want to: Would you rather have lived during the height of the Egyptian Dynasties or during the Roman Empire?
5. And for those addicted to getting extra entries:

• +1 for answering the question above
• +2 for becoming a follower
• +5 if you are already a follower
  
• +10 for each time you advertise this contest - blog post, sidebar, twitter (please @MzLizard), etc. (but you only get credit for the first post at each site, so tweet all you like, and I thank you for it, but you'll only get the +10 once). Also please leave a link!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:24 AM 20 comments  

Labels: Cleopatra's Daughter, Contest, Egypt, Heretic Queen, Michelle Moran, Nefertiti, Roman Coin, Rome