tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68961606523806752412024-03-27T05:48:07.864-07:00C. Litka – Works in WordsNews about, and background on, the imaginary worlds of C. LitkaCharles Litkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15182265039055575093noreply@blogger.comBlogger463125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896160652380675241.post-60979089373862518922024-03-27T05:46:00.000-07:002024-03-27T05:46:31.109-07:00Passage to Jarpara, Final Thoughts and A Map<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJSGUK8JzIPnUXZ3ZRHmeD4vwaPNL4Q-nPZLkHvLeU3pvSZVHQMl8V7scnYxRZqUfJPU9z2xnPIvHIYpshV9jiPl-BQA0V1G-NhqBhnH6agF_yvlK5P7avNs6pbvJ7_AKIJXJZI4CJYOmAzfLlB8U9RiUqKrNLGvITi0TVySjSXVxKvpQHV3_RB2co2g0/s2000/Audiobook%20Passage%20to%20Jarpara%20cover.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="2000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJSGUK8JzIPnUXZ3ZRHmeD4vwaPNL4Q-nPZLkHvLeU3pvSZVHQMl8V7scnYxRZqUfJPU9z2xnPIvHIYpshV9jiPl-BQA0V1G-NhqBhnH6agF_yvlK5P7avNs6pbvJ7_AKIJXJZI4CJYOmAzfLlB8U9RiUqKrNLGvITi0TVySjSXVxKvpQHV3_RB2co2g0/s320/Audiobook%20Passage%20to%20Jarpara%20cover.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I've talked a length about <i>Passage to Jarpara</i> in several previous posts, so there isn't all that much more to say about the book. I rather rushed my volunteer beta readers to get this book out on the 21st of March. In part because this book, </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">with all its fits and starts, </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">has been in the works for some 18 months, and I just wanted to be done with it and have it out the door. The other factor is that I ain't as young as I used to be. I don't think I have one foot in the grave just yet. But at 74, I could drop dead tomorrow and no one would raise an eyebrow. Like Captain Hook with the crocodile that swallowed</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> a clock, and had</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> eaten his hand and found it tasty, one hear the faintly ticking of the clock at a this age. So there is no time like the present. For every writer, one of their books is going to be their last one, and if they die in harness, one left unfinished. I'd spent too much time and liked these characters too much to run the slightest risk it being that unfinished one. Hopefully it'll not the last.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">As for the story itself. As I've said several times already, I've never been into writing epics. I enjoy reading small scale stories that somehow make everyday life interesting, either with pleasant characters, an interesting time and/or locale, and/or a quiet, but engaging plot. And that's what I enjoy writing as well. In this story I pretty much doubled down on that. The only overarching plot element is the journey to Jarpara and its University in the hope of finding employment. Every other element of the story is incidental. And almost, but not quite all, are everyday events, at least in the islands and on seas of the Tropic Sea. The story then depends on its pleasant characters, and interesting places with a travelogue motif. Hopefully that works for my readers.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">This book is different from my other ones in that the romance element is subdued. The chase is over and Taef and Lessie are married. I had hopes of being able to write some witty dialog between them, a sort of Nick and Nora type of relationship, but I don't think I succeeded. In part I may've beyond the limits of my talent. But I will also blame the characters. Writers will sometime talk about their characters taking the story in ways they never envisioned, as if they had an agency of their own. I can see how that happens, though in this case it wasn't so much as taking the story where I wasn't expecting, rather it was the fact that Lessie never had all that much to say in either of the proceeding stories - she is a quiet character, especially in the company of her sister Sella, and I was unable, and/or unwilling to reinvent her for this one. I would've hoped to have made their relationship a little more complex than I was able to. But, as I said, that probably isn't in my wheelhouse as a writer.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I did enjoy the opportunity to bring back a lot of the minor characters from the previous books. I may've stretch coincidences a little to do so, but I used the opportunity to bring them back, even if only for a little walk-on part. It gave me the opportunity to explore Taef's beliefs and attitudes. I also had fun writing several new characters, one in particular that had been lurking off the page in the first two books. I won't say who, but that character was always going to be part of this story. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">A number of my beta readers expressed a desire to have more stories with these characters and setting, suggesting possible story lines. There are certainly plenty of story lines to pick up and run with, but I'm not planning to do so, at least not until I'm 84. As I've said when introducing this book, writing sequels of less than a bestselling series is for chumps. Stand alone books, "singletons", with open endings are the way to go until lightning strikes and you have a bestseller on your hands. Then you can write sequels until the cows come home or readers don't. Of course, if you look at my back catalog, I don't follow my own advice. However, I intend to going forward. No more sequels - except maybe, someday, a novella sequel to The Lost Star's Sea just to get Litang and Cin back together again at the ending. But, mind you, I'm not promising that, it is just something I'd like to do, just as I wanted to give Taef a job.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Well, I guess I've rambled on long enough to fill this post without saying much about <i>Passage to Jarpara</i>. But I hate spoilers, and hate spoiling my books more, so this is the last post for now on that book. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Below is the official map for <i>Passage to Jarpara</i>. I don't include it in the ebook, as using maps in ebooks is a pain. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRh4H6NW5s3dSZ_pyOuwTB5dsJOduOLWf0gWsdBgGEt8-Iwa4REuaFTYIl4MLAcjTCkh4V8gN2izxzPuhMIWsNF3tkYji3SKp7VJ7cB0FJJv-no-Mr6GZp4LIyO55z__lWXkuR5w29kvxR3s67D8KqZGr_qnbpAxg5gjdjzHjRVP73ZZrD-ARNTShsG3E/s3666/Map%20for%20book%20%20color%202.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2379" data-original-width="3666" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRh4H6NW5s3dSZ_pyOuwTB5dsJOduOLWf0gWsdBgGEt8-Iwa4REuaFTYIl4MLAcjTCkh4V8gN2izxzPuhMIWsNF3tkYji3SKp7VJ7cB0FJJv-no-Mr6GZp4LIyO55z__lWXkuR5w29kvxR3s67D8KqZGr_qnbpAxg5gjdjzHjRVP73ZZrD-ARNTShsG3E/w640-h416/Map%20for%20book%20%20color%202.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p>Charles Litkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15182265039055575093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896160652380675241.post-87786990245272886392024-03-23T05:57:00.000-07:002024-03-23T05:57:53.433-07:00The Saturday Morning Post (40)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUiTIM2GnqgPfOMh5NyhYYAowC5aSUp2eYvWj0BGaxnG2Hehc63lQeG8poTn6fBm5y_q9YegNO2eRD35RX09ox2Bpj2WcQvu1ASkvbhiJ-Hrl2ErTNC46VXPJVobnZ8zcrRQMzwSRj-U5UomunVYEZbtz1KhmtlyaTH79Lpc65Im4hfyOAxIhcW2pm6HY/s700/Violetsandbook%20for%20Saturday%20Morning.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="700" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUiTIM2GnqgPfOMh5NyhYYAowC5aSUp2eYvWj0BGaxnG2Hehc63lQeG8poTn6fBm5y_q9YegNO2eRD35RX09ox2Bpj2WcQvu1ASkvbhiJ-Hrl2ErTNC46VXPJVobnZ8zcrRQMzwSRj-U5UomunVYEZbtz1KhmtlyaTH79Lpc65Im4hfyOAxIhcW2pm6HY/w400-h266/Violetsandbook%20for%20Saturday%20Morning.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">"What's this?" you say. "Another mystery story? I thought you weren't a fan of mysteries, and here you are, two in a row."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Well, as I mentioned in my last Saturday Morning Post that I'm out of books to read. I've read all the recommended books I had on my list, so I'm on my own for reading material. My wife had just read this library book on her Kindle, and thought I might like it, as it had a first person narration, and none of the things I dislike, like contemporary settings, flashbacks, and multiple points of view. So I decided to give it a try before she returned it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">My reviewer criteria.</span><i style="font-family: verdana;"> I like light, entertaining novels. I like smaller scale stories rather than epics. I like character focused novels featuring pleasant characters, with a minimum number of unpleasant ones. I greatly value clever and witty writing. I like first person, or close third person narratives. I dislike a lot of "head jumping" between POVs and flashbacks. I want a story, not a puzzle. While I am not opposed to violence, I dislike gore for the sake of gore. I find long and elaborate fight, action, and battle sequences tedious. Plot holes and things that happen for the convenience of the author annoy me. And I fear I'm a born critic in that I don't mind pointing out what I don't like in a story. However, I lay no claim to be the final arbitrator of style and taste, you need to decide for yourself what you like or dislike in a book.</i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Your opinions are always welcome. Comment below.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIVf8yCdw2oe5i_FZvjRuAb183E6EOgzTRADghtK6SdwJHk_RNeqVZfZQrAuVOMgR4NNbB7ALv3CEqYmpcSsew2_JvO1qbnfzD5hDMOAFHSDoahX99WS_hLZnNEzXaec6BGx4J-O6U7USGySg0ZJnwqJwJhkTlFbzN5N7yIac-JayojlE0WiS_qW9gUF4/s1000/duty%202.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="664" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIVf8yCdw2oe5i_FZvjRuAb183E6EOgzTRADghtK6SdwJHk_RNeqVZfZQrAuVOMgR4NNbB7ALv3CEqYmpcSsew2_JvO1qbnfzD5hDMOAFHSDoahX99WS_hLZnNEzXaec6BGx4J-O6U7USGySg0ZJnwqJwJhkTlFbzN5N7yIac-JayojlE0WiS_qW9gUF4/w265-h400/duty%202.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Duty to the Dead</i> by Charles Todd C+</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">This is not a bad book. It reads well, has an engaging narrator, and is set in a historical period that sounded right to me. Unlike that Victorian era historical mystery I read some time back, the authors (a son and mother team) did not try to impress the reader with their research with mini-lectures drawn from Wikipedia. By chance it is the first book of a (currently) 13 book series whose stories take place during and immediately after World War l.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The story involves a British World War l nurse, Bess Crawford. She survives the sinking of the hospital ship Britannica in the Mediterranean Sea in 1916, though her arm was broken. She finds herself on medical leave in England until her arm has healed enough for her to do her job once again. She had been given a message by a dying soldier to deliver to his brother in person. Just two sentences, that told her nothing. Using her leave, she decides that the owes it to the dead soldier, who she had warm feeling for, to deliver this message. After contacting them, she is invited to the family home, and delivers her message, which opens up an ugly can of family worms. An ugly mystery, and her promise to the dying soldier, compels her to uncover the events that took place 15 years </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">before</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> the story opens and their repercussions, in order to uncover the truth. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">My major criticism of the story is that I found it hard to suspend my disbelief in some key aspects of the mystery. While the authors made a valiant effort to make the reader believe that these people could do what they did, and that the authorities could do what they did, I must admit that I never quite bought it. The backstory and some of the actions of the characters just seemed too contrived. Still, I read the entire book, and that says a lot when it comes to me. I don't waste my time reading books I don't like. I think fans of mysteries, especially ones set in historical settings would find this book just fine, and probably enjoy the series as well.</span></div>Charles Litkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15182265039055575093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896160652380675241.post-5402184967641929022024-03-22T05:23:00.000-07:002024-03-24T13:40:18.373-07:00A New Novel and New Audiobooks<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuriEr7CIuUnJ43XbZCYblZ4ZUQN3oeNkTfX3VEl_SmL3gB6FyY3WaqQQ5QaCPWplGYlIxFlrCfcInY3OadX2bXNBavznwCkuMgdGWOVzs4anXmor8aGbYJrCRtg2DIqxn2s8j2Fe_GDTJGPcgXHOitBQDdk3FFwZZ3zEzjOtmVHXbwFAadvR1MZdeG-w/s2469/A%20Passage%20to%20Jarpara%20%20ebook%20cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2469" data-original-width="1609" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuriEr7CIuUnJ43XbZCYblZ4ZUQN3oeNkTfX3VEl_SmL3gB6FyY3WaqQQ5QaCPWplGYlIxFlrCfcInY3OadX2bXNBavznwCkuMgdGWOVzs4anXmor8aGbYJrCRtg2DIqxn2s8j2Fe_GDTJGPcgXHOitBQDdk3FFwZZ3zEzjOtmVHXbwFAadvR1MZdeG-w/w261-h400/A%20Passage%20to%20Jarpara%20%20ebook%20cover.jpg" width="261" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><br /></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>The 2024 C. Litka Novel - Passage to Jarpara</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I am happy to announce that my 2024 novel, <i>Passage to Jarpara </i>was released on Thursday, 21 March 2024.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The story:</span></p><p style="line-height: 100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><a name="docs-internal-guid-c4347e66-7fff-586e-fd"></a>
<span style="color: black;"><span>Taef
Lang must set out on his grand quest…</span></span></i></span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><span style="color: black;">…
</span><span style="color: black;"><span>To
find a job. </span></span></i></span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Now
a married man, the time has come for Taef to begin his long-delayed
career as a professor of Island archaeology and/or Island history. To
do so, he and Lessie, along with Sella and Carz, set sail for the
Island and the University of Jarpara.</i></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Passage
to Jarpara is a travelogue of that journey. It’s an account of
islands called on, old friends and acquaintances met, new ones made,
as well as potential pirates, curse-beasts, haunted Tiki palaces,
fire islands, and a hidden race of immortals. In short, it’s an
episodic record of the everyday life of the island-studded Tropic
Sea.</i></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><span style="color: black;"><span>Passage
to Jarpara </span></span><span style="color: black;"><span>is
the third and final volume of Tales of the Tropic Sea from the pen of
C. Litka. It draws a fitting conclusion to the adventures of Taef,
Sella, and Lessie that begin with their voyage to Redoubt Island and
continued with the freeing of the Prisoner of Cimlye. It blends
fantasy, science fiction, adventure, and romance told in C. Litka's
classic lighthearted style. Like all his novels, it features engaging
characters, witty dialog, meticulous world-building, and mysteries to
be solved in unexpected ways.</span></span></i></span></p><p style="line-height: 100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The ebook version is now available for FREE from these ebook retailers. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1539733" target="_blank">Smashwords</a> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://books.apple.com/us/book/passage-to-jarpara/id6479808547" target="_blank">Apple</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/passage-to-jarpara-c-litka/1145146921;jsessionid=077E294BBD98D83F5BEC3C4AB1E1C193.prodny_store02-atgap07?ean=2940179515104" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/passage-to-jarpara" target="_blank">Kobo</a> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=upz8EAAAQBAJ" target="_blank">Google</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">And several European ebook retailers, including; <a href="https://www.thalia.de/" target="_blank">Thalia</a> , <a href="https://shop.vivlio.com/product/9798224720415_9798224720415_10020/passage-to-jarpara" target="_blank">Vivlio</a> .Borrowbox, Odilo.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(It is priced at $.99 at Gardners.)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The FREE audiobook version is available from <a href="https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details?id=AQAAAEBSDkROBM" target="_blank">Google</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The ebook version version is available from <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Passage-Jarpara-Tales-Tropic-Book-ebook/dp/B0CW1B5JZJ?ref_=ast_author_dp&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Z_bPO1NyruqqJfniY63SFh5iBtv9eEvxi_Wc1oi_5FnDsu8nzr9Psnp-CcRa6keNhhHKnAX-wMgEdRafhhjXT23H4JMisFHlChBRiZYTa862_AwRwqUmDYvA1d9efpXY44T-WPVVdUe2JtblRblz1GZo5JmH_XHX_tpAdmUp-RPyehOb1Fg9v1JN_XfeXHTfvGiNJztK0tJXdq_1_yUAtaN-4lwGP5N5r4GblIoenv4._f672CIulndX33ZDsGHgFVtmbdqKzK8KNiq2ZJ2dOLI&dib_tag=AUTHOR" target="_blank">Amazon</a> for $3.99</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The audiobook version is available from <a href="https://www.audible.com/search?keywords=Passage+to+Jarpara+&k=Passage+to+Jarpara+&crid=f6bd466b7e4e42f6b899993d7e03c0be&sprefix=passage+to+jarpara%2Cna-audible-us%2C183&i=na-audible-us&url=search-alias%3Dna-audible-us&ref=nb_sb_noss" target="_blank">Audible</a> for $3.99 You can add the ebook for $1.99 more</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The trade paperback is available from <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CYX36Q9M?ref_=ast_author_ofdp" target="_blank">Amazon</a> for $11.99</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>NEW! C. Litka Audiobooks are now on Audible!</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">And my second announcement is that most of my books are now available as audiobooks on Amazon and Audible for $3.99.(The minimum price Amazon allows) These auto-narrated audiobooks from Amazon are part of a new beta program that I was offered and was more than happy to take part in. I have to say that I was very happy with the AI narration quality from Amazon. The only hitch in the program so far is that for some unknown reason, I've not been able to get <i>The Bright Black Sea, The Lost Star's Sea, and Shadows of an Iron Kingdom</i> working as audiobooks. Hopefully I'll get that worked out with Amazon shortly. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I also have six audiobooks available for FREE on Apple Books, the rest are hanging fire, and have been for the better part of three months. What Google and Amazon can do in hours, Apple appears unable to do in months.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> Hopefully at some time in the not too distant future Apple will get around to converting the rest of my books, though a this point I'm not holding my breath. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUOSYgKkgir9tS53N2Frddnf8upNfXvyy59IobOB5wnNI0JNIHr3T_WeLUxTB-Ix3_TENAFJHzRtnwzn93ABFSEPUDEwQc5pWg2uBx0JIdBkso-SFdCdw-NU63EZiXvYeWdbcOkrfLdxCql4AscJ5kKRXZ5hzOotSKygDPtX7_yrUB86h2y_jtFH6Trb0/s3972/16%20titles%20small%202024%20style.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1521" data-original-width="3972" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUOSYgKkgir9tS53N2Frddnf8upNfXvyy59IobOB5wnNI0JNIHr3T_WeLUxTB-Ix3_TENAFJHzRtnwzn93ABFSEPUDEwQc5pWg2uBx0JIdBkso-SFdCdw-NU63EZiXvYeWdbcOkrfLdxCql4AscJ5kKRXZ5hzOotSKygDPtX7_yrUB86h2y_jtFH6Trb0/w400-h154/16%20titles%20small%202024%20style.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p>Charles Litkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15182265039055575093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896160652380675241.post-90076948643495591622024-03-20T05:12:00.000-07:002024-03-20T05:12:07.709-07:00Writing Passage to Jarpara<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFD1WQkG-sh1lvYDPcddPYXBXt6phx-Sg9BhpBgzjPcZpunXOlU1kUIbVpWLEcmCrOyJBx8w-_Mplhhv5ikufO5HdC5M1QpJcIdI2BrShPBjaV_blKb-SXIOXkRvopOtRqzsdT0q2OeQFl25krGonm0qzf_xV0q74G91pVVQx0rMz4gZyv13-Hez6PX-c/s3666/Map%20for%20book%20%20color%202.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2379" data-original-width="3666" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFD1WQkG-sh1lvYDPcddPYXBXt6phx-Sg9BhpBgzjPcZpunXOlU1kUIbVpWLEcmCrOyJBx8w-_Mplhhv5ikufO5HdC5M1QpJcIdI2BrShPBjaV_blKb-SXIOXkRvopOtRqzsdT0q2OeQFl25krGonm0qzf_xV0q74G91pVVQx0rMz4gZyv13-Hez6PX-c/w400-h260/Map%20for%20book%20%20color%202.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">click for a larger map</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">As I told my beta readers, this is a totally unnecessary story. I had left Taef and Lessie sailing for their bright future together, a more definite ending then I usually provide. So why then, does it even exist? There are several reasons.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The first is that I sort of always wanted to see Taef get the job he wanted, and I thought that </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">there might be a story in </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">a long trip across the Tropic Sea. A second reason is that I really like these people and the Tropic Sea, so I didn't need much of an excuse to revisit Taef, Lessie, Sella and Carz, and the Islands. Thus, there was always a motivation for one more story.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Next was opportunity. In 2022 I had written and submitted <i>The Girl on the Kerb</i> to a publisher during their un-agented open period, and had to wait at least 9 months to learn that they passed on it. And during that time I had, just for the experience, been querying agents while I waited on the publisher. So with that book hanging fire, it was time to start another one, even if <i>The Girl on the Kerb</i> looked to be my 2023 novel.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">And then there was the fact that story ideas are very scarce on the ground for me these days, and quite frankly, that sort-of-story idea I had, was the only one I had. So when fall 2022 came around, and with it, the writing season, I decided to run with the one story idea I had. And that story idea was summed up in the (not serious) working title <i>Zar Lada, Taef Lang, and the Island of the Slumbering God</i>. I didn't care if it turned out to be a novel or a novella, I'd play that by ear.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The basic idea was that I'd have Taef, Lessie, along with Sella and her new husband, Carz sail east to Jarpara and during the voyage get talked into making a side trip to view the slumbering god, or some such mysterious thing, by a person they met aboard the ship. I wanted to see how I could write a married couple, once the romantic chase was over. I had hoped to be able to write some sort of Nick & Nora type of small talk between them. I also felt that I could use the story to bring back a some minor characters for their final bow as well. It was never going to be an epic quest. I've always been into small personal, character-focused stories, and this was going to be a very small scale, low stakes, character-focused story.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I started writing it on 14 Sept. 2022 and by 6 Nov., I had about 25K words written. I stopped work on it at that point because I had no idea what a slumbering god, or any Island mystery, could be. This has been a curse of mine recently, starting a story, with a vague middle part, and once into it, unable to come up with that middle part. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the 2 Jan. 2023 I once more started on the project, starting with a new beginning scene - the return to Lil Lon to introduce Lessie to Taef's parents, which was not in the plans at the end of <i>The Prisoner of Cimlye</i>, but seemed like a good idea. I had 38K words written before the project petered out again a few weeks later. During the following months, I returned to it in spurts - mostly editing what I had - so that by 6 June 2023 I had 44K words done. At this point the story clearly wasn't going to be a novella, and so I needed to come ups at least 30K more words to make it a respectable novel. 30K words for which I didn't have the faintest idea where to find that slumbering god, or any other attraction could be.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I then spent the summer daydreaming up other potential stories, one a portal fantasy novella inspired by a girl I saw at a London bus stop during one of the virtual bus rides I was taking on YouTube. And a second, very mundane fantasy story, somewhat inspired by the stories I've been reading by D E Stevenson and Molly </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Clavering, which is to say stories that don't involve more than domestic trials and perhaps a bit of romance. I like to color outside the lines, and given how popular the epic & grimdark fantasies are, with their dragons and epic battles, I wanted to write something completely different. I spent all summer working a story out to the point were I probably could've written it, but...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">But I had half a novel sitting unfinished, and I feared that I might find myself burned out on this summer story idea half way through writing it, so I decided to buckle down and finish <i>Passage to Jarpara.</i> To trust that I could find the slumbering god </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">when I needed it </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">and just start writing. So on 1 October, I once more started in on </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">Passage to Jarpara,</i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> inserting another new chapter in what I'd already written, editing what I had written, and then writing forward. I came up with two ideas for side-trips, one minor, the other major.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The major idea I came up with for the slumbering god motif came to me while I lay awake one night. It was actually a return to an early idea I had for what Sella, Lessie and Taef would find on Redoubt Island in the first book of the series. I modified it somewhat, but the core idea for what they would've discovered in my first version of Redoubt Island will be found on Recluse Island in <i>Passage to Jarpara.</i> I thought it a fitting way to draw the series to a close. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">So it all worked out and I finished the first draft of the story a few days before my self-imposed deadline of 1 Feb 2024, with a 105K novel. Now people often say that you should put the story aside for a few months before coming back to it for a second draft, but at my age, I can't take that chance. I spent February doing my second and third drafts and running it through Google Drive and Grammarly, before turning it over to my wife Sally in early March for her proofreading.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">And being an old and impatient man, I decided to publish it on the first day of spring, 21 March 2024, no doubt putting my beta readers on the spot.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I will write more about the story itself after its release. Stay tuned!</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9qx_kCwHVoBKu-iISMnRhwypI_zUFmi4YtG5z2KhlCvwXX9cjJaQofVjeCOZGw9SConGaVUIy-5y7uO2ZRknLzlui0MI8PgbNsVWS3gaXKihQUc07ZJfjMHFuEDVHPnEh51jWh_OdyxHdoHGlb9pnw66VEJ98g8nt3rWYGqYGCVhc6BFk3mAMklGmDaI/s3388/A%20Passage%20to%20Jarpara%20wrong%20sizer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2475" data-original-width="3388" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9qx_kCwHVoBKu-iISMnRhwypI_zUFmi4YtG5z2KhlCvwXX9cjJaQofVjeCOZGw9SConGaVUIy-5y7uO2ZRknLzlui0MI8PgbNsVWS3gaXKihQUc07ZJfjMHFuEDVHPnEh51jWh_OdyxHdoHGlb9pnw66VEJ98g8nt3rWYGqYGCVhc6BFk3mAMklGmDaI/w400-h293/A%20Passage%20to%20Jarpara%20wrong%20sizer.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></p>Charles Litkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15182265039055575093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896160652380675241.post-71106908366366654702024-03-16T05:31:00.000-07:002024-03-16T05:31:24.702-07:00The Saturday Morning Post (No.39)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr80vyUK5lPZsHPGNSTWMOTPdpufi6KsX_XQKWmB4cbxLQBvgjHh3EwE3FJ0r5fE6x7J-JW5r56sh3Qb90R6LL64a83BW1SO2mCOCoUq7o5J7cLZ8TAU0HxxsBygspUv-6NiQO2ho45HsgLWpwyXwQZEDqMRMU3qtHyUZyu7mwiccyC_Mt7mCSnTLOihk/s1500/TopoftheBureaumfor%20Saturday%20Morning.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1085" data-original-width="1500" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr80vyUK5lPZsHPGNSTWMOTPdpufi6KsX_XQKWmB4cbxLQBvgjHh3EwE3FJ0r5fE6x7J-JW5r56sh3Qb90R6LL64a83BW1SO2mCOCoUq7o5J7cLZ8TAU0HxxsBygspUv-6NiQO2ho45HsgLWpwyXwQZEDqMRMU3qtHyUZyu7mwiccyC_Mt7mCSnTLOihk/w400-h289/TopoftheBureaumfor%20Saturday%20Morning.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">With the last two massive books dealt with, one way or another, I found that my TBR list was blank. I had nothing to read. So I went to the bookshelf and pulled out volume three of the Brother Cadfael series, and read the next story in that series.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">My reviewer criteria.</span><i style="font-family: verdana;"> I like light, entertaining novels. I like smaller scale stories rather than epics. I like character focused novels featuring pleasant characters, with a minimum number of unpleasant ones. I greatly value clever and witty writing. I like first person, or close third person narratives. I dislike a lot of "head jumping" between POVs and flashbacks. I want a story, not a puzzle. While I am not opposed to violence, I dislike gore for the sake of gore. I find long and elaborate fight, action, and battle sequences tedious. Plot holes and things that happen for the convenience of the author annoy me. And I fear I'm a born critic in that I don't mind pointing out what I don't like in a story. However, I lay no claim to be the final arbitrator of style and taste, you need to decide for yourself what you like or dislike in a book.</i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Your opinions are always welcome. Comment below.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzPq0FYKjpukLQGL6l1PxupvNG4IpngpjlxmQEL_Y4PBlZA1dPJw9e_gR5adcuLOqVMN5sPTgBxBBK7DonrPvKC7EWjhKW-DFHBLOGfNyJGq-lnZDXLhfg1c9utc03EfU8Kib0jbIra-jdTjjtOKMlg-XBSqnSY8SfAusIIm0PRkOZRjGxDgXtfzqRPRE/s475/sparrow.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="297" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzPq0FYKjpukLQGL6l1PxupvNG4IpngpjlxmQEL_Y4PBlZA1dPJw9e_gR5adcuLOqVMN5sPTgBxBBK7DonrPvKC7EWjhKW-DFHBLOGfNyJGq-lnZDXLhfg1c9utc03EfU8Kib0jbIra-jdTjjtOKMlg-XBSqnSY8SfAusIIm0PRkOZRjGxDgXtfzqRPRE/w250-h400/sparrow.jpg" width="250" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>The Sanctuary Sparrow</i> by Ellis Peters B+</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In this story we meet a young, traveling juggler and musician who is fleeing an angry mob of towns people who are accusing him of murder and robbery. He makes it to the Monastery and into the church, which, by law, gives him sanctuary for 40 days, or as long as he stays in the church. The person he is accused of murdering, does not, in fact, die, so only the theft charge hangs over him. Still, might be enough to hang him in this time period. Bother Cadfael is called on to dresses the wounds the juggler received from the mob, and in questioning him, believes his claim to be innocent of both crimes. But that impression must be proven and Cadfael, along with his friend, the under sheriff, set out to find the true facts in the affair.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The crime took place on the night of a wedding celebration in the house of a wealthy, and miserly goldsmith, and in the course of the story we get to know the inhabitants of that house. As customary with Ellis Peter's Cadfael stories, the person in trouble is a young man, and there is an element of (an unconvincing) romance involving him as well. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Like always, this is an interesting tale, with a lot of time spent finely drawing the characters involved in the mystery, with some detective work mixed in here and there. Like the previous story, <i>The Virgin in the Ice</i>, i</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">t has a very dramatic closing scene </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">which, I must confess, I'm not overly fond of. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">In some ways I think these dramatic climatic scenes are not only unnecessary, but seem out of place with the general tone of these stories, with their focus on the everyday life of the 12th century monastery, the city, and surrounding countryside, then on the extraordinary event - the mystery to be solved. And I think that's best solved in the classic murderer mystery style of some sort of review of the evidence, and the unmasking of the criminal. But as always, that's just me, though in this case I was also unconvinced that the who in the whodunit had sufficient motive to do it. Even so, it was an enjoyable read, though not quite top tier installment of this excellent series. I think that </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">you can't go wrong with a Cadfael mystery.</span></p><p></p>Charles Litkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15182265039055575093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896160652380675241.post-75032718178968466582024-03-13T05:45:00.000-07:002024-03-13T05:45:46.015-07:00Proofreading<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaEWVC7nV0QKgG4Y-NxpcTQ8lJbV7XvlCCQ1oAghvqYjkhx82-aa6Ylk4YyZx86MD0l9lKI4gqhrDNJLZ_brSSIQJYgGZKqaRgCfQvfmnKxNt-V8EnmhrF1kNxK5MEeZquc0DyumruZyBQ5QBzHSE30kY2XoQXCSyUqxZvSU8v4tC7ikUsF2bggqKExJk/s3972/16%20titles%20small%202024%20style.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1521" data-original-width="3972" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaEWVC7nV0QKgG4Y-NxpcTQ8lJbV7XvlCCQ1oAghvqYjkhx82-aa6Ylk4YyZx86MD0l9lKI4gqhrDNJLZ_brSSIQJYgGZKqaRgCfQvfmnKxNt-V8EnmhrF1kNxK5MEeZquc0DyumruZyBQ5QBzHSE30kY2XoQXCSyUqxZvSU8v4tC7ikUsF2bggqKExJk/w400-h154/16%20titles%20small%202024%20style.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Any long time reader of mine is well aware that the first editions of my early books had too many typos. While I was well aware that I couldn't spell English to save my soul, I didn't realize how blind </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">I was </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">to my typing mistakes. I read what I expect to read, whether the word(s) is(are) actually on the page or not. As a result, I often miss in both typing and reading the little words that aren't there but should be. As well as the double words that arise either out of stopping to think of the next phrase, or from moving lines about in editing, and the use of the wrong words that look similar to the right ones. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Proofreading is a very specialized skill, and though my wife, unlike me, knows the rules of grammar, spelling, and was a high school teacher for decades, she only </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">finds 95+% of my mistakes, so that </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">some of my mistakes</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> inevitably through.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Thankfully,</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">over the years, </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">some very kind readers have taken the time to point out the errors they come across to me that I then correct. Some of these kind people have since become my beta readers, and with their generous help I've been able to slowly improve all my books over the years.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I'd like to believe that having been at this writing thing most of my life, I've gotten better at it. And while I think I have, I'm still far from perfect. I have, however, started using several programs in addition to LibreOffice to process my work. Three years ago I discovered that Google Docs has a much more robust grammar checker than LibreOffice, so I ran all my published books through it, and now upload all of my new books to proofread my stories before handing the story off to my wife. It finds many of the double words and some of the wrong and missing words. But not all. My wife still had to do her proofreading, and my beta readers still find some typos that had escaped both Google Docs and my wife.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">For <i>Passage to Jarpara</i>, I decided to add a second layer of automated grammar checking, and ran the story through the free version of Grammarly, after running it through Google Docs. It found a number of double words and wrong words that Google Docs had missed. I had hoped that between the two programs, I'd be able to hand my wife a clean copy that all she'd need to do was read it. Alas, this was not the case.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Spelling wise, few words escaped detection. There were several missing little words, mostly "to" that were missed by both programs. Grammarly liked </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">hyphenated words, i.e. "white-painted house" and having no opinion one way or the other, I went along with Grammarly on that. However, something like 75% of Grammarly's suggestions involved the elimination or insertion of commas. I may not know the "rules" about comma placement, but place them where I think a speaker would pause, which, given that my books are now auto-generated audiobooks, is pretty important. Still, </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">I made the lazy decision just to go with Grammarly on commas.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> My wife, however, quickly complained about the lack of commas where commas ought to be. I also found them missing where I would've, and maybe did, place them, so I spent a lot of time adding commas back in. Another point was that for some crazy reason, I decided to use semi-colons instead of my usual dashes. Grammarly didn't complain about them at all, but my wife has very strong and narrow opinions on the use of semi-colons/colons, and so I had to go back to dashes to please her. I'll never use a semi-colon again.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Both these programs tend to ignore words that make no sense, so that they usually don't try to correct my made-up words. This simplifies things greatly. However, LibreOffice will underline them. And unfortunately I will misspell my own made-up words, and since they are all underlined, I never realize that I have. I could tell the program to ignore those words as I write them, but it seems to lose those instructions as soon as I close the program, so they're all underlined again the following morning. This time around, I spent several hours working on the final proofread draft, telling the program to ignore the correctly spelled made-up words, so that I could find my misspelled ones. I found maybe 20 of them. So frustrating.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I haven't given up hope of finding a completely reliable, and free, grammar checker, or perhaps use three or four of them in succession to see if I can eliminate all the errors that one or two programs seem to miss. But that will be for the next novel. This time around, I'm hoping that my beta readers don't find too many errors, none being too much to hope for. In any event, Passage to Jarpara should be a close to perfect as a C. Litka book in this world will ever be.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5tv_fl9nYzcRrOnf8S_QWOW8hY3kkKfIKWlGpI58ZDHuFa6ioHK9xzkWKNa_oBZJYXNN7qRwYRt6P94wJgZ0jPvz4PzJYjLjioPzwcD8nNjBDg_4LkYirgWtuTlPogSaOJhiqL1aNh-HGcz12BBMPZJUljz5HkBUxD__eRWz-WA0S606TMG1eEsaptwQ/s2469/A%20Passage%20to%20Jarpara%20%20ebook%20cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2469" data-original-width="1609" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5tv_fl9nYzcRrOnf8S_QWOW8hY3kkKfIKWlGpI58ZDHuFa6ioHK9xzkWKNa_oBZJYXNN7qRwYRt6P94wJgZ0jPvz4PzJYjLjioPzwcD8nNjBDg_4LkYirgWtuTlPogSaOJhiqL1aNh-HGcz12BBMPZJUljz5HkBUxD__eRWz-WA0S606TMG1eEsaptwQ/w261-h400/A%20Passage%20to%20Jarpara%20%20ebook%20cover.jpg" width="261" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p>Charles Litkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15182265039055575093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896160652380675241.post-92091389423282312872024-03-09T05:52:00.000-08:002024-03-09T05:52:09.974-08:00The Saturday Morning Post ( No. 38)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2uCtONu5CboUAWntmvUiH5TQrDl6zQyGAGNA3hr4RAtg7XMENfJRWA0e2GkuOqB2NJPuxLRkeuhLvsswm8tMlJPdELIz1XZm53abrw15bQDs_14N3RDaSPV0w70S7AgnGRnnAythQoQTSLZaH_gv8E78x17HgDOBdV__DMV0W5tab_ZK1C5w-vHNCIAQ/s700/Violetsandbook%20for%20Saturday%20Morning.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="700" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2uCtONu5CboUAWntmvUiH5TQrDl6zQyGAGNA3hr4RAtg7XMENfJRWA0e2GkuOqB2NJPuxLRkeuhLvsswm8tMlJPdELIz1XZm53abrw15bQDs_14N3RDaSPV0w70S7AgnGRnnAythQoQTSLZaH_gv8E78x17HgDOBdV__DMV0W5tab_ZK1C5w-vHNCIAQ/w400-h266/Violetsandbook%20for%20Saturday%20Morning.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">This week another long book with a page count coming in at 843 pages. It is a book by one of America's favorite authors, an author I hadn't read yet. So, without further ado, let's open up this can of worms.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">My reviewer criteria.</span><i style="font-family: verdana;"> I like light, entertaining novels. I like smaller scale stories rather than epics. I like character focused novels featuring pleasant characters, with a minimum number of unpleasant ones. I greatly value clever and witty writing. I like first person, or close third person narratives. I dislike a lot of "head jumping" between POVs and flashbacks. I want a story, not a puzzle. While I am not opposed to violence, I dislike gore for the sake of gore. I find long and elaborate fight, action, and battle sequences tedious. Plot holes and things that happen for the convenience of the author annoy me. And I fear I'm a born critic in that I don't mind pointing out what I don't like in a story. However, I lay no claim to be the final arbitrator of style and taste, you need to decide for yourself what you like or dislike in a book.</i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Your opinions are always welcome. Comment below.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_fPdO1MP2c71ieNGDFGV6qPipbNUEZgbN05HvuTvRgbPlMQvfGAEKn9CGFkDYXOKc1sNRulIPRjI7D-uACnqpPOmXSOLt8wtaUndSOkdsZJ4byXyYp291fAIknW1O7rVQF7zYU7Jbbt-dZHEo0mN3VvuOFKL9Y74jcEnLZ-3Wsdt2xbUEj6FM-0wK3-g/s445/king.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="296" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_fPdO1MP2c71ieNGDFGV6qPipbNUEZgbN05HvuTvRgbPlMQvfGAEKn9CGFkDYXOKc1sNRulIPRjI7D-uACnqpPOmXSOLt8wtaUndSOkdsZJ4byXyYp291fAIknW1O7rVQF7zYU7Jbbt-dZHEo0mN3VvuOFKL9Y74jcEnLZ-3Wsdt2xbUEj6FM-0wK3-g/w266-h400/king.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>11/22/63</i> by Stephen King DNF (pg 131)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The eagle eyed reader will already discovered that Stephen King and his time travel story about an effort to prevent President Kennedy from being killed in Dallas on 11 Nov 1963 did not prove to be my cup of tea. King is one of the most popular authors still writing today, and he seems to be a </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">favorite author</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> of several of the booktubers that I look in on. I'm not a horror fan, so he never was going to be one of mine, but I thought that this might be the book to sample his work without delving into the horror genre. And well, my wife liked it, so I thought, why not give it a try? I did, and now I'm here to talk about why it wasn't for me, since I'm certain you're curious to know why. Spoilers for the first 131 pages and the premise below.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Let's start with King's writing style. This is a first person narrative, which is my favorite story style. However, right from the beginning King's style just didn't sit well with me. While I have nothing against slow starts, I use them myself, I thought the start of this book was, if not too slow, too scattered; too many things tossed about rather haphazardly in order to set the scene and character. And perhaps more importantly, he has the reader more in the head of the narrator than I like. In short, I found the narration to be too granule, with too many thoughts on too many inconsequential matter, all of which prevented me from connecting with the narrator and the story.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">And then we have the pet peeve of mine. I want the author to stay hidden behind the characters of the story. One thing that, for me, brings the author out from behind the characters is when he starts sprinkling the story with all sorts of trivia, and then explains it for our education. To me this smacks of an author showing off how much research he's done, how adept he is at using Wikipedia. I'm sure this is justified in the author's mind as "world building, scene setting." but too much of it just becomes trivia. As I said last week I like learning history within well researched historical fiction, but there is a difference between setting a story within a historical context, and just sprinkling it with all sorts of trivial, which I think is what King did here. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Do we need to know who's on a pre-1958 $20 bill? Or that a motel was called a motor court, or a V8 was a Y-block, or modern dimes would not work in a pay phone, or how everyone smoked and the brands they smoked, the obsolete soft drinks, the songs on the 1958 radio, the lack of air conditioning and three channels on a b&w TV? It struck me as King went out of his way to highlight all the differences between 2010 and 1958 by having the narrator notice and comment on all these trivial things, as if he had been actually hatched in 2010 and all this past was brand new to him, even though the narrator was 40 years old, so that some of these things would've been hardly new to him at all. I've complained about this before, but boy, did it bug me here, as it seemed to be a major focus of the story up to the time I gave up on it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Next, let's talk about the story. A time travel story is always going to be a hard sell for me. They never make sense, no matter how much handwaving is employed to make it seem like it does. I was, however, willing to suspend my disbelief for this story, and since my wife liked it, I thought I'd give it a try. I had, however the idea that it would involve some sort of organization sending someone back in time to stop Oswald. This proved not to be the case. It's just a fellow who has a fissure in time, with steps, in the pantry of this silver trailer hamburger joint and who thinks the country would be in a better place if Kennedy wasn't killed. However, he as a problem; he's dying of cancer and can't stop Oswald himself, so he talks the narrator into doing it instead. I found the baseline premise rather lame with lots of little problems overlooked.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The way the time travel works in this book is that the restaurant owner has discovered an invisible fissure in time, with invisible steps in his pantry, which takes a person to one, and only one day in the past; Tuesday September 9th 1958. After arriving in the past you can stay there as long you want, and when you find the fissure and climb back up the steps to the pantry, </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">you will have been gone exactly two minutes in 2010. The hamburger joint is (in)famous for the cheapness of its hamburgers, made possible by the fact that the owner simply goes back to 1958 to buy his hamburger meat at $.50 a pound.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(An example of the types of problems I had with this story: The restaurant owner needs to pay for the hamburger meat with pre-1958 currency. How hard and expensive would it be to acquire that currency in 2010 in the volume needed? So how would it pay to do so?)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The restaurant owner discovered that he could change the future while in the past, but as soon as he went back again, the future was reset to what it had been when the last time he visited. Every time he goes back, everything is almost the same as it was the first time he visited the past. I can hear you thinking; </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">Groundhog Day</i><span style="font-family: verdana;">. And you'd think King with his emphasis on trivia, or one of the characters in the story, would be thinking that too, but there's never a mention of the movie in the story, at least in the part that I read, even though the concept is an extension of </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">Groundhog Day's</i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> basic premise, with the major difference being the day is not repeated like it is in the movie, time just keeps going on just as long as you stay in the past. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In any event, if one is going to prevent Kennedy from being killed, a person would have to spend over 5 years in the past, and if he returns to 2010, he can never go back again, for that would reset the future and erase what he did. In this story, time travel is really just magic, with steps. As you can tell, those steps really bugged me. Why would any sort of fissure in time have steps? Not to mention why are they there? And is this fissure attached to the trailer, or the place it's parked, and why has no one in the past tripped over the invisible steps and found themselves in the pantry of a hamburger joint in 2010? Who knows? My wife couldn't help me, she forgets details like that. I didn't care enough to find out.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">At the point where I bailed on the story, our narrator has gone back to the past in order to prevent the gruesome murder of a mother and three children, in which one of his GED students survived, just to test if you can really change time and change it back again. To do so, he has to spend several months in the past to get to the date in 1958 when the murder happened, as well as to the city in which it happened. The story, set in Maine, which I gather is usual for King, and the city, Derry, is a dirty, gloomy, city with a Lovecraftian air about it. We learn that there has been a serial killer of children loose, and something about the sewers - so many of them, built in the depression... and then a light went on in my head. What King horror story was this describing? I think it is <i>It</i>. Having watched these booktube videos that mention King, I gathered that he likes to link all his stories together with references to his other stories, all of which take place in a multiverse known as the Macroverse, and this is an example of it. At this point, I was out.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">As I said at the beginning, I'm not a fan of horror so this would likely be the only book I would've read of his. However for all the reasons I've talked about above, and because this story is at least tinged with horror, this story simply wasn't for me. </span></p>Charles Litkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15182265039055575093noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896160652380675241.post-51273734726189916302024-03-06T05:21:00.000-08:002024-03-06T05:21:50.463-08:00Passage to Jarpara Release Date<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_SSBcmxbSUwIpILREEeG50dRHpSzbQfwiLGEk5Puteky0_q8TP35OfjfggAgiNcsEx77_P4M5NqAZz0d437mJ0vawZXmCP70Nyg75Mwn_2voog72Qrx42-7lrir8TD69G63WT_mGasSYIn42JrocQq7j49ihlSPIY5Iu4RCzvbkLJsOd8fZ5SoyzGndo/s2469/A%20Passage%20to%20Jarpara%20%20ebook%20cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2469" data-original-width="1609" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_SSBcmxbSUwIpILREEeG50dRHpSzbQfwiLGEk5Puteky0_q8TP35OfjfggAgiNcsEx77_P4M5NqAZz0d437mJ0vawZXmCP70Nyg75Mwn_2voog72Qrx42-7lrir8TD69G63WT_mGasSYIn42JrocQq7j49ihlSPIY5Iu4RCzvbkLJsOd8fZ5SoyzGndo/w261-h400/A%20Passage%20to%20Jarpara%20%20ebook%20cover.jpg" width="261" /></a></div><p><br /></p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The ebook and audiobook versions of <i>Passage to Jarpara</i> will be released on 21 March 2024 and shortly after for the audiobook. It will be priced for free on Google for both the ebook and audiobook, as well as on Apple, B & N, Kobo, Smashwords, and in various other European ebook stores. The Amazon version will be priced at $3.99. I am looking into bringing audiobooks to Amazon as well, and if that works out, it will be priced at $3.99 as well - Amazon's minimum.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Look for the paperback version of the title to be released a week or two ahead of the ebook release, as I will publish that version once I hear back from my beta readers. I'm always eager I to get my hands on the paper copies of my book so that I can send off to my beta readers. Hey, if I didn't buy them, no one would.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Speaking of Amazon's audiobooks - they have introduced a Beta program where they are offering to convert ebooks to audiobooks, I assume for free, since no price is quoted. However, to qualify, the ebook must have a table of contents, which I've not included in my ebooks. I see no useful purpose of a table of contents in an ebook of fiction as they always open where you left off, and searching back is a pain table of contents or not. I am, however, looking to add a table of contents, and this title will likely be the test bed for that. If it works, look for my audiobooks on Audible in the near future.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the past Amazon has price match most of my free books in the US store, but starting this year, only two of my books are free on Amazon. Last year, with the release of <i>The Girl on the Kerb</i>, I launched it at $3.99 on Amazon and Amazon, all on its own, dropped its price to free a week after release. Amazon is a mystery box, so if you are an Amazon customer, you can wait to see what they do this time. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">As I have long said, I'm not publishing books to make money, but to entertain readers, so free is my preferred price.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSSHYJ5IGd7SC5y5eemX1uVFnQMXMSN-p0iFcsZugzUWMvPS75f19UKJ9tAo1R3QNNPbG7tYxFG4p0-7MzVvfZuMyWCU0w_NWRcBgTiJvcCQR63RceoG9JLEXe6nZyGVrKxWMGQsVmL8L5fKco9dp79AyWP_xcfLHBXzt6N_s4dcP6ag4myY9igKWMFHc/s3972/16%20titles%20small%202024%20style.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1521" data-original-width="3972" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSSHYJ5IGd7SC5y5eemX1uVFnQMXMSN-p0iFcsZugzUWMvPS75f19UKJ9tAo1R3QNNPbG7tYxFG4p0-7MzVvfZuMyWCU0w_NWRcBgTiJvcCQR63RceoG9JLEXe6nZyGVrKxWMGQsVmL8L5fKco9dp79AyWP_xcfLHBXzt6N_s4dcP6ag4myY9igKWMFHc/w400-h154/16%20titles%20small%202024%20style.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p>Charles Litkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15182265039055575093noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896160652380675241.post-82630941624507896842024-03-02T05:53:00.000-08:002024-03-02T05:53:50.476-08:00The Saturday Morning Post (No. 37)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgTO0PKcUtzBWIcKr684lxJGvET81mRn9KBwu9gRY06Fs6JA12nK5MmZRVh85-wJk-SNFon1RC2oo4ng3iJYvErQ91qUzhhGBUX7Bgtp4VIPGK9uzN5Zrq4IyQkKcH3cNzfuAOZmWHoPTOs-aDuGr0FFniEtMmWMVB1h_nS1SpsUOywuZCbvMdSbYs0is/s1500/TopoftheBureaumfor%20Saturday%20Morning.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1085" data-original-width="1500" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgTO0PKcUtzBWIcKr684lxJGvET81mRn9KBwu9gRY06Fs6JA12nK5MmZRVh85-wJk-SNFon1RC2oo4ng3iJYvErQ91qUzhhGBUX7Bgtp4VIPGK9uzN5Zrq4IyQkKcH3cNzfuAOZmWHoPTOs-aDuGr0FFniEtMmWMVB1h_nS1SpsUOywuZCbvMdSbYs0is/w400-h289/TopoftheBureaumfor%20Saturday%20Morning.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">We have a modern classic to talk about today. With its own old, and now new, TV miniseries. So without further ado...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">My reviewer criteria.</span><i style="font-family: verdana;"> I like light, entertaining novels. I like smaller scale stories rather than epics. I like character focused novels featuring pleasant characters, with a minimum number of unpleasant ones. I greatly value clever and witty writing. I like first person, or close third person narratives. I dislike a lot of "head jumping" between POVs and flashbacks. I want a story, not a puzzle. While I am not opposed to violence, I dislike gore for the sake of gore. I find long and elaborate fight, action, and battle sequences tedious. Plot holes and things that happen for the convenience of the author annoy me. And I fear I'm a born critic in that I don't mind pointing out what I don't like in a story. However, I lay no claim to be the final arbitrator of style and taste, you need to decide for yourself what you like or dislike in a book.</i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Your opinions are always welcome. Comment below.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOem0NzMOd3_Ib4I5HkQ6LJVQKe2H9iw7Uwc0viHvgf4uVnJBPrpNEEsu9DCJmqUvInPVEPUIMYhDh824npfWdw7ekkiUcV5OY9qzozA_qxFPcdyKy7I1sRdw-OZK29b3EatV0HUU45Nqy2a90dimn8dyrOBGS3C79grfJVHqQGirHDhxilK0JpHLyUgY/s500/shogun.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOem0NzMOd3_Ib4I5HkQ6LJVQKe2H9iw7Uwc0viHvgf4uVnJBPrpNEEsu9DCJmqUvInPVEPUIMYhDh824npfWdw7ekkiUcV5OY9qzozA_qxFPcdyKy7I1sRdw-OZK29b3EatV0HUU45Nqy2a90dimn8dyrOBGS3C79grfJVHqQGirHDhxilK0JpHLyUgY/w266-h400/shogun.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Shogun</i> by James Clavell C+</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I never watched the old miniseries, but the impression I had about the book was that it was about a western seaman shipwrecked in Japan and becoming enmeshed in Japanese culture of the 16th century. Which is an element of it, and while it may've been the focus of the original miniseries, it is not really the focus of the book. Blackthorne, the English pilot of a Dutch ship is merely the hook to draw in western readers of this novel, and the window into </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">17th century </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Japanese culture that Clavell illuminates in the story; its culture, philosophies, and politics. The main character of the book is a historical Japanese noble, Lord Toranaga, who at this point in history has designs on becoming the ruler of all of Japan, the Shogun of the title, though he denies it. Being an</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> almost 1,200 page novel, with an intricately plotted semi-fictional story grafted into known history, it is impossible to do the plot any justice by attempting to summarizing it. So I won't. I will say that it is a very impressive work of research and storytelling which earns it the "+" I gave for it. Ultimately however, it only earned a C grade from me for three main reasons.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">First, and one I can't blame the author for, is that the story desperately needs a map of 17th century Japan to give the reader some idea of what was going on politically. I read a library copy of the mass market paperback (with tiny 6pt. type) so other editions have one. But if they don't, it's a glaring fault. Much of the meanings of the political actions that take up most of the story is lost without such a map. And while you could probably find that backstory, perhaps with maps on the internet these days, those sources would also spoil the story, since this is a historical novel, not a novel of alternate or counterfactual history. At least that is what I feared. And if you do look up sources to supply things like maps, and perhaps character background, you'll discover how the main story ends (though off screen in the book). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">By the same token,</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> since Clavell had to fit his story within known history, without altering it, if you know anything about Japanese history, you will have a clue as to the fate of </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Blackthorne, who </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">I gather is based on a real historical person, as well as Lord </span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Toranaga. S</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">trangely enough, if you even know a little about Japan, Clavell spoils the ending himself simply because he can't keep himself from educating the reader on Japanese culture by introducing the invention of the role of the geisha girl in Japanese society.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The second, and more significant reason for my C grade is it's length and complexity. I found it simply too long, and too politically intricate, for me with little knowledge of Japan going into this book. That said, I generally like long books, and love learning history from a fictional book, George MacDonald Frazer's Flashman books are a perfect example of a mix of real history and fiction. And I certainly enjoyed learning about Japanese culture from this book and how it compared to the European society of the period. So much so that</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">by the time I reached the last 200-300 pages of the story, </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">I was quite Japanese. But more on that in a bit. However</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">, after a week of reading it, I was feeling the fatigue of all the intricacies of Japan and period history that Cavell was spoon feeding me. It delved too deeply into the weeds with too many point of view characters, some of whom seemed to be brought in merely to introduce us to one or another aspects of either European or Japanese society or history. I also grew weary of all the endless schemes and ploys of both Blackthorn and Lord Toranaga, many of which come to naught, over and over again. In short, for me, there was too much information for the plot to carry.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">And thirdly, as I said above, I had become very Japanese by the time I reached the last third of the book. How so? Well, in this period </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">in Japan</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">, life was cheap. The samurai class could chop up anyone, other than a samurai, on a whim. They solved a lot of problems that way; killing people, including their parents, wives, children, and when honor or a casual order from their superiors demanded it,</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">themselves</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">. In this story many of the characters were simply waiting for the opportunity and excuse to kill a rival in order to advance, or to kill themselves in order to escape this vale of tears. Death was an escape. And many characters escaped, like it or not, that way. But, you see, that's just </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">karma</i><span style="font-family: verdana;">. So by the time I was reaching the last third of this book, I no longer cared what happened to any of the characters, including Blackthorne, Whatever happens, happens, it's just</span><i style="font-family: verdana;"> karma,</i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> eh? Whatever... And well, Japanese mind-frame or not, when I'm that indifferent to the fate of the main characters in a story, an average grade is about all the story can expect to get from me.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">All that said, give it a try. Don't let my objections keep you from giving this book a try if you are one of the few who haven't read it already and are interested in Japan and undaunted by its length. You may well like it, and like it a lot. Millions have. You will certainly find yourself immersed in a very strange and fascinating world, engaged in an interesting, if </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">by the end </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">wearisome</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">narrative</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">, and learn a great deal in the process. Who needs dragons and magic to live in a strange and magical world, when you have history?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">There is a new miniseries just starting on I believe Hulu in the states, Disney + outside of it. I only watched the trailer and thought it looked far too dark and gloomy. I guess that's how they film things now days. I would've filmed the story in rich colors; the greens of the land, the blues of the sea, the rich colors and intricacies of the clothing and housing -- in short, a very pleasing landscape to emphasize the fact that only its characters are vile.</span></p>Charles Litkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15182265039055575093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896160652380675241.post-40805285225990610432024-02-28T05:51:00.000-08:002024-02-28T05:51:54.558-08:00Passage to Jarpara Update<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUt2e0n9my0hKLiGGpFQD8Ln4tKV2fGQm4THWT2e9lerXD_xvx4hvW2UuhzH9DcAT8k3pZYbkd14DQJfqKy0Iz6zykj9MIuTKZoiM55eptHwwdFw94sE7f1y8ozp1rZX_bpWxFmPl_EotfAAiwCde0VKgtJ3ecdnwb4ah3gDX-EpkhPijmYxOMwgUKmbo/s3388/A%20Passage%20to%20Jarpara%20wrong%20sizer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2475" data-original-width="3388" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUt2e0n9my0hKLiGGpFQD8Ln4tKV2fGQm4THWT2e9lerXD_xvx4hvW2UuhzH9DcAT8k3pZYbkd14DQJfqKy0Iz6zykj9MIuTKZoiM55eptHwwdFw94sE7f1y8ozp1rZX_bpWxFmPl_EotfAAiwCde0VKgtJ3ecdnwb4ah3gDX-EpkhPijmYxOMwgUKmbo/w400-h293/A%20Passage%20to%20Jarpara%20wrong%20sizer.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I've finished the second and the final third draft of Passage to Jarpara. The third draft is where I read it on an ebook reader, and hopefully just find things to tweak in the text. That was the case this time, so now the story is what it is. With those drafts behind me, I've shifted to the proofreading process. The first step is uploading the LibreOffice document to Google Drive and then opening it in Google Docs. While I write it in LibreOffice, that program does not have a very robust grammar checking function. Google Docs does, so opening it in Google Docs and making most of the corrections it suggests saves a lot of work for my wife and other beta readers. And trust me, it is discouraging to see all the little words that I seemed to have read in the three to six times I've read parts of the story that aren't really there. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">I guess I read what I expect to read, even if the words aren't actually there.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">This year, f</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">or the first time ever, I'm also going to run the book through the Grammarly. I did one chapter last night, and Grammarly did find things to change as well. It likes hyphenated words, like white-painted, instead of white painted, and has its opinion on comas. Seeing that these are things that I have no strong opinion on, I'm going along with these changes. There are a few things that I like and will keep, despite neither Google Docs or Grammarly liking it, chief among them is the use of "to" instead of "at" as in "I looked to Lessie" instead of the AI proofreaders' "I looked at Lessie." </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">After all this automated proofreading is done, I usually turn it over to my wife to proofread, and then, after she has found more mistakes, it is off to my volunteer beta readers. However, I'm thinking that with the addition of Grammarly's proofreading skills, I might be able to send </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">the story off to my beta readers </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">in good conscious before my wife has completed her read through. That will depend how clean of a copy she finds after reading a chapter or two. If she finds no errors, off it goes.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In any event, I'm looking to release the book on either 21 March or 28 March 2024, unless something unexpected crops up. I should be able to give you a definite date next week. Stay tuned.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIzL9RWgU7buZCgVc2zmc8LACgUzizARBObSldLLhUP3Vl2zTUXByXVTjC3wsI6ablmVyNCSFVLG8X8WPZdCVJQ6tQISETQGDjsn7j5xoz2rzjtYRYKQsc9jHUGwEklDvHIrK7b1tUfNP0ALUD34ffJ932Wi-34VXY2djnsYUVF4q7kOdG9-rOuaDSMvo/s3972/16%20titles%20small%202024%20style.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1521" data-original-width="3972" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIzL9RWgU7buZCgVc2zmc8LACgUzizARBObSldLLhUP3Vl2zTUXByXVTjC3wsI6ablmVyNCSFVLG8X8WPZdCVJQ6tQISETQGDjsn7j5xoz2rzjtYRYKQsc9jHUGwEklDvHIrK7b1tUfNP0ALUD34ffJ932Wi-34VXY2djnsYUVF4q7kOdG9-rOuaDSMvo/w400-h154/16%20titles%20small%202024%20style.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p>Charles Litkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15182265039055575093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896160652380675241.post-58143570836388336302024-02-24T05:29:00.000-08:002024-02-24T05:29:27.844-08:00The Saturday Morning Post (No.36)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoDPW9BNZssQQusKihgkjDoj5piw6WA4yVMqD8tunGsZtf3u_MyUbVGkwAOwVjh_-D0q4lDkleVLhdS6VZyWC-i1TwRQbf7DNeNBybA1hx9uNTaaW8fHi9YXrjGP4EJ7FYr0UfLWbw1LeMvSWenvJDhQdAKg0VV1AfggvCwOvh3hDynA089yg6bJYNihQ/s700/Violetsandbook%20for%20Saturday%20Morning.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="700" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoDPW9BNZssQQusKihgkjDoj5piw6WA4yVMqD8tunGsZtf3u_MyUbVGkwAOwVjh_-D0q4lDkleVLhdS6VZyWC-i1TwRQbf7DNeNBybA1hx9uNTaaW8fHi9YXrjGP4EJ7FYr0UfLWbw1LeMvSWenvJDhQdAKg0VV1AfggvCwOvh3hDynA089yg6bJYNihQ/w400-h266/Violetsandbook%20for%20Saturday%20Morning.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">This week we have a book that my sister-in-law gave to my wife. Since she wasn't going to get around to reading it just yet, I decided to give it a try.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">My reviewer criteria.</span><i style="font-family: verdana;"> I like light, entertaining novels. I like smaller scale stories rather than epics. I like character focused novels featuring pleasant characters, with a minimum number of unpleasant ones. I greatly value clever and witty writing. I like first person, or close third person narratives. I dislike a lot of "head jumping" between POVs and flashbacks. I want a story, not a puzzle. While I am not opposed to violence, I dislike gore for the sake of gore. I find long and elaborate fight, action, and battle sequences tedious. Plot holes and things that happen for the convenience of the author annoy me. And I fear I'm a born critic in that I don't mind pointing out what I don't like in a story. However, I lay no claim to be the final arbitrator of style and taste, you need to decide for yourself what you like or dislike in a book.</i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Your opinions are always welcome. Comment below.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ-LjNog2BKwVKCCIOs5otwwAIK1i3sVoO3dn-bRJmz0CAE4Q3vxDUHNzrxQr2uJqF6T0zjZlrVL27JbJ_iNuFwIvYiiIUpzSDqf69Xk_DGPySLgcGrUXjuH0BNCoWM881iE_IsWlvGYeN70AMlihEud0xT_mAvoKg-rX-hOmLf9xRa6ZFNsevqmW0FB8/s500/bright.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="331" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ-LjNog2BKwVKCCIOs5otwwAIK1i3sVoO3dn-bRJmz0CAE4Q3vxDUHNzrxQr2uJqF6T0zjZlrVL27JbJ_iNuFwIvYiiIUpzSDqf69Xk_DGPySLgcGrUXjuH0BNCoWM881iE_IsWlvGYeN70AMlihEud0xT_mAvoKg-rX-hOmLf9xRa6ZFNsevqmW0FB8/w265-h400/bright.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Remarkably Bright Creatures</i> by Shelby Van Pelt DNF 12%</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">This is almost certainly the case where I'm not the author nor the publisher's target audience, so that when I say that I utterly failed to connect with the story, it should come as no surprise. I thought that after enjoying <i>Lessons in Chemistry</i>, I might find another rather female reader orientated book enjoyable. But this one, well... 45 pages into it she was still introducing her cast of characters, one of which is an octopus, without a discernable plot. I decided to bail. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The beginning of this novel reads very much like some of those cozy mysteries I tried last year; a recital of everyday events and lots of people. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">The main point of view character - but not the only one - is Tova, a widow whose 18 year old son mysteriously disappeared 30 years before. The blurb on the cover flap says that Marcellus, an octopus, becomes a friend of Tova and helps her solve the mystery of her son's disappearance. So it's a cozy mystery? Reads like one. But...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Now I'm a fan of leisurely paced books. I actively dislike slam-bang openings, so I shouldn't be complaining about the opening. But, there is slow, and then there is slow and cluttered, and this opening is so very cluttered. Not only did almost all of characters we're introduced to seem to be minor ones, but all the everyday incidents that are intermingled with a collection of seemingly unimportant background stories buried the narrative line of the story, at least for me, with trivia. Except for one random scene with a </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">seemingly</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">minor character who is </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">apparently unconnected to Tova. This character is a guy who doesn't know who is father was/is. Given the blub on the cover... it struck me as suspicious; for once there seemed to be rather obvious reason for his inclusion, but of course I could be wrong, not having read the book. Just say'n;)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The most significant character after Tova is the octopus, Marcellus, who has his own first person narration chapters. After a dog as a character in <i>Lessons in Chemistry,</i> I thought this might be interesting. I was wrong. I found the octopus to be far too human to be even remotely believable as an octopus. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Somehow I was supposed to believe that this octopus had learned to read and understand spoken English, while living underwater in an aquarium tank. Not only did I find that I could not suspend my disbelief that this was even remotely impossible, but i</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">t seems to me that if you're going to have a first person octopus in your story, you should come up with a clever way to make the octopus seem more than just a human in a fish tank. The octopus needs to be at least a little bit alien in its thought process. Not so here. Other than describing its actions as an octopus in an tank, it just think and sounds like a human.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Add to this the fact that since I read to escape the everyday life of the world around me, I really don't care for stories set in contemporary times. This book only reinforced my disinclination to read anything set in our time and/or place.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">This is, however, a best selling debut novel, so obviously, once again, it's me, not the book. Next up, two very long books from the library. We'll see how they fare.</span></p>Charles Litkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15182265039055575093noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896160652380675241.post-60647361677326380232024-02-21T06:06:00.000-08:002024-02-21T06:06:00.305-08:00The Apple Audiobook Saga<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2kotdR2rFz4ARClIIV1-iwv3xu5Ip00Hgo3rSWVUAvG1LvOYCIN7cgX9XOKKE7yaEPCm1xk8FZZ-dMR_mNVkT9BgyAtgDUCzc47BMK0-ak-aCjx4q0IioT8EDep2vzGJAJPkNpueSFuozh9BYYLbI4uRsK67QSRPWD_zhdbM5NNf59F3OS8gm6OO3eRs/s2000/Audiobook%20Valsummer%20cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="2000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2kotdR2rFz4ARClIIV1-iwv3xu5Ip00Hgo3rSWVUAvG1LvOYCIN7cgX9XOKKE7yaEPCm1xk8FZZ-dMR_mNVkT9BgyAtgDUCzc47BMK0-ak-aCjx4q0IioT8EDep2vzGJAJPkNpueSFuozh9BYYLbI4uRsK67QSRPWD_zhdbM5NNf59F3OS8gm6OO3eRs/s320/Audiobook%20Valsummer%20cover.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">You know, I didn't believe them when Draft2Digital said that it could take up to two months to produce an audiobook for Apple, since Google could deliver an editable version of one in two hours. But I was wrong. It looks like it can, and will, take two months, or more, to spit out the audiobook versions of all my novels. I signed on to Apple Audio books via Draft2Digital on the first of January 2024. <i>The Secret of the Tzaritsa Moon </i>appeared on the 18th of January, two more appeared on the 8th of February, two more 16th of February, and here we are, on the 21st of February and they are still not all out. So, yeah, they weren't just under promising.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Beggars can't be choosers, so I'm not exactly complaining. I'm just noting the glaring differences between the two companies, in terms of products delivered.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">There are many other differences as well. Let's start with Google. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">First, you have to upload your own homemade ePub file to Google. And once they have your ebook, you can then select the audiobook option. Within a couple of hours you have the text, or more correctly, the audiobook script, available to you prior to release which you can edit before releasing it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Google offers about a dozen different English narrators in both male and female voices to choose from; two each with different English accents, including American, British, Australian, and Indian. You can also alter the narrators speed to further customize the voices.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">You can review the text, and highlight words to hear how the AI pronounces them, which is very handy in the case of invented words; names, places, etc., and you can alter the spelling in the audiobook script to get these words to sound the way that you envisioned them. You can also insert pauses where you think they're needed, but not inserted automatically.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">You can also choose to assign different voices to different characters, though you would have to go through the script highlighting each instance of that character's dialog, perhaps a hour or two's worth of work. If the character's voice is distinctive enough, you might also be able to eliminate dialog tags ("he/she said.") as you go. You get distinctive voices rather than one narrator "doing voices," which honestly, I find sort of annoying, though I've not heard the popular voice actors doing it, so it might be better than the small sample I've listened to.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> I haven't taken advantage of this feature because I picture the story being told by a single narrator. However, from some of the samples of my stories I've listened to, I can see the advantage of this feature, since without the visual clues of the text, it can be unclear who's doing the talking. But if you do one character, would you need to do all the major ones as well? A slippery slope...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">When you're happy with how things sound, you just select a price, and hit "publish." It will take a few hours for it to be live. You can go back and edit it, whenever you like.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Turning to Apple, you do Apple's auto-generated audiobooks through Draft2Digital's page for the book you want to offer as an audiobook. Click on the audiobook option, and then on the Apple option.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">After that, the audiobook is produced from the ebook version published by D2D. All you have to do is select the genre you want to offer the book in and its price. Apple offers only two male and two female voice, and they select which one will be used based on your book's genre. Click publish and wait. You can not modify the audiobook text for free after that, and have to keep it up for at least six months. It's very simple, but you have very limited options.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Both services require a square cover; Google a 1Kx1K pixel one, Apple a2Kx2K one, though D2D will create one for you from your ebook cover. I used my own.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">So what do they sound like? The first link is to the sample page for <i>The Mysteries of Valsummer House </i>on Apple Books. Hit Listen. The second is that book's audiobook page on Google, once again just hit play, though it starts at the beginning instead of a minute or two into the text like the Apple sample.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/the-secrets-of-valsummer-house/id1724217250" target="_blank">Apple</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I'm not sure what voice Apple used.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details/C_Litka_The_Secrets_of_Valsummer_House?id=AQAAAED8C2hLhM" target="_blank">Google</a></span> <span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Google voice is "Archie," a British</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> English voice.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Whose AI do you think does a better job at creating a human narrator? And if you're a regular audiobook reader, how far from human narration are these books?</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDdii1a5RRasgAcEXwik1X5nKxBd60_hnU9072cwFyyoYkemPt0Frd4UHfS_keuA91aQDOFAwTFiOBY-FeYsVj6EnqoxmTxlIWJBrkrLeHRUD8cxVLSua4OqjlY3Kxdaztu_kQUqGJAespgjd6ruTYrC7X3XPbW4zC_6RPPuz4eUMZKHUH-CUSLNjnrdA/s3972/16%20titles%20small%202024%20style.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1521" data-original-width="3972" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDdii1a5RRasgAcEXwik1X5nKxBd60_hnU9072cwFyyoYkemPt0Frd4UHfS_keuA91aQDOFAwTFiOBY-FeYsVj6EnqoxmTxlIWJBrkrLeHRUD8cxVLSua4OqjlY3Kxdaztu_kQUqGJAespgjd6ruTYrC7X3XPbW4zC_6RPPuz4eUMZKHUH-CUSLNjnrdA/w400-h154/16%20titles%20small%202024%20style.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p><p><br /></p>Charles Litkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15182265039055575093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896160652380675241.post-33538170213950912762024-02-17T05:57:00.000-08:002024-02-17T05:57:11.097-08:00The Saturday Morning Post (No..35)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi15ZSFnSg6SXwUyGSVU1ZUi-fnktaV663J0jVOqbXYBavAbMf2spyMIJ_1wRDMrql6XEAHWh65pqXsagNHaH9NT_-02uvhb_HGNirapia2mZ5l3ZNRnkwEqMbFEGSh9otK9XLR-0E-hxCPdtZgTMt4wz1Xqd3oHAMNGSQzl37V7ZjVIgUkvo6OgE69yho/s1500/TopoftheBureaumfor%20Saturday%20Morning.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1085" data-original-width="1500" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi15ZSFnSg6SXwUyGSVU1ZUi-fnktaV663J0jVOqbXYBavAbMf2spyMIJ_1wRDMrql6XEAHWh65pqXsagNHaH9NT_-02uvhb_HGNirapia2mZ5l3ZNRnkwEqMbFEGSh9otK9XLR-0E-hxCPdtZgTMt4wz1Xqd3oHAMNGSQzl37V7ZjVIgUkvo6OgE69yho/w400-h289/TopoftheBureaumfor%20Saturday%20Morning.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I suspect that this will be the first of many reviews coming in 2024 of Ellis Peters' Cadfael mysteries. As I mentioned previously, I picked up all seven 3 book omnibus versions of these stories - 16 novels and a number of short stories, that I will hopefully be reading at a nice sedate pace. The problem will be finding something better to read.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In any event, two more novels, this time from the Second Cadfael Omnibus.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">My reviewer criteria.</span><i style="font-family: verdana;"> I like light, entertaining novels. I like smaller scale stories rather than epics. I like character focused novels featuring pleasant characters, with a minimum number of unpleasant ones. I greatly value clever and witty writing. I like first person, or close third person narratives. I dislike a lot of "head jumping" between POVs and flashbacks. I want a story, not a puzzle. While I am not opposed to violence, I dislike gore for the sake of gore. I find long and elaborate fight, action, and battle sequences tedious. Plot holes and things that happen for the convenience of the author annoy me. And I fear I'm a born critic in that I don't mind pointing out what I don't like in a story. However, I lay no claim to be the final arbitrator of style and taste, you need to decide for yourself what you like or dislike in a book.</i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Your opinions are always welcome. Comment below.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8F8IrAtQNEBPRuL_zbqW2GLZM1Aer3AXOfFBI7KXk5hOWhjGz2CPxkiw3PFZkKMoZ4a7xEZmvt_rVd2ErfFV16djnm-OMPwwhINWA81WbK4LJYLjZEK3YwcA9QROW54GR19qNTG9FikpXmIgFINNzYox__BeZ_mFk2jO-a5Sh1sMJCmkN6_WnAAPoX8w/s475/leper.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="296" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8F8IrAtQNEBPRuL_zbqW2GLZM1Aer3AXOfFBI7KXk5hOWhjGz2CPxkiw3PFZkKMoZ4a7xEZmvt_rVd2ErfFV16djnm-OMPwwhINWA81WbK4LJYLjZEK3YwcA9QROW54GR19qNTG9FikpXmIgFINNzYox__BeZ_mFk2jO-a5Sh1sMJCmkN6_WnAAPoX8w/w249-h400/leper.jpg" width="249" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>The Leper of Saint Giles</i> by Ellis Peters A</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In this story we have a young lady of 18, an heir to a large English estate, being forced to marry a 60 year old nobleman, as a business deal arranged by the young women's guardians. The wedding is to take place at the Abbey of St Peter and Paul. The young lady is in love with a squire of her future husband, and he is in love with her. When this is suspected, the squire is framed for theft, and when the bridegroom doesn't show up for the wedding, for murder. Along the way we have a mysterious Leper currently residing in the leper house of St Giles, as well as the usual crew of unlikely suspects... As always, an entertaining mix of murder mystery with a monastery and medieval backdrop.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In all these stories, Cadfael is the monk who is out and about because he has a far wider experience in the world, having spent his first 40 as a soldier and a sailor during the Crusades and is trusted to look into the worldly matters. Thus h's the one to examine the bodies, and investigate the circumstances surround them. And he's always to determine truth of the events, based on his wide experiences. That said, a lot of the story goes on around him as well, so it isn't all Cadfael all the time. This usually makes the stories more interesting, as each one features new, and often young, people in trouble. Still, as you will find in the review below, it doesn't always work.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizd_af904GlK1gMpp-fW04l3VgzxqWw7cM7_97hBFS-QFGjVWKbXttYzY0PFjLJZ-tRh9lRg52zccDxw2Uwf_UXeiYBAd2fCRqy1f9tGq2M44nnSZ6feN7-Q_11Ldog7sXqfOhyUPVxkBY6I3FbuoRce_a3jxWSRDUcmz9sAbbf4nZJ03uc5cfmmTabU4/s1000/ice.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="602" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizd_af904GlK1gMpp-fW04l3VgzxqWw7cM7_97hBFS-QFGjVWKbXttYzY0PFjLJZ-tRh9lRg52zccDxw2Uwf_UXeiYBAd2fCRqy1f9tGq2M44nnSZ6feN7-Q_11Ldog7sXqfOhyUPVxkBY6I3FbuoRce_a3jxWSRDUcmz9sAbbf4nZJ03uc5cfmmTabU4/w241-h400/ice.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>The Virgin in the Ice</i> by Ellis Peters B-</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">My least favorite entry in the series, so far. I think because it was rather unfocused and too sprawling. Plus there seemed a lot of coincidences needed to tie everything together in a pretty bow.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The basic premise is that the sacking of Worchester during the ongoing civil war in England, resulted in a lot of refugees. These refugees including two orphans; an 18 year old girl and her 13 year old brother, along with a nun, who were bound for the monastery of St Peter & St Paul, but never arrived. A search is made for them. In the meanwhile Cadfael is called to a neighboring monastery to doctor a monk found naked in the snow. This mook seems to have some contact with the missing children and nun, which leads Cadfael out into the winter woods where he finds a woman frozen in a creek - the murder to be solved in this murder mystery. But there are the children to be found and lost again as well, plus, a band of bandit raiders to be located and dealt, plus there's the square of the King's enemy, Empress Maud, who has been sent by the children's uncle to find his niece and nephew who Cadfael must be consider a as well. As I said, sprawling and somewhat disjointed, more of a mediaeval adventure story than a mystery. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Worth reading as it gives Cadfael a little more background, but not quite up to Ellis' high standards for this series. </span></p><p></p>Charles Litkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15182265039055575093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896160652380675241.post-89900870806228358072024-02-14T05:18:00.000-08:002024-02-14T05:18:58.864-08:00Introducing Passage to Jarpara <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4-94cX5Sz0vQRUpG7fKuS0XzD5kcrxjP4HY17ml1iX7geiPKhK28xvGDqmqzgvWqvuBUBRj6tc8rBM57QYRUvVxZyZw7jHjTsLIkz4yxqHIlO_nINF_0WyEvBfTchiYN6d02m7JX0LBwXv0-UWChRTOMrm8cvgjrrEx42o5I7g1fr4XstGefVryezsEE/s2469/A%20Passage%20to%20Jarpara%20%20ebook%20cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2469" data-original-width="1609" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4-94cX5Sz0vQRUpG7fKuS0XzD5kcrxjP4HY17ml1iX7geiPKhK28xvGDqmqzgvWqvuBUBRj6tc8rBM57QYRUvVxZyZw7jHjTsLIkz4yxqHIlO_nINF_0WyEvBfTchiYN6d02m7JX0LBwXv0-UWChRTOMrm8cvgjrrEx42o5I7g1fr4XstGefVryezsEE/w261-h400/A%20Passage%20to%20Jarpara%20%20ebook%20cover.jpg" width="261" /></a></div><span><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The first draft of <i>Passage to Jarpara, </i>my 2024 novel is completed, and I'm hard at work on the second draft. I'll announce a solid release date when I'm confident I can make it, but I can pretty much promise that it will be released before the end of May 2024.</span></p><p><span>F</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">rom a business point of view writing, <i>Passage to Jarpara</i> was a terrible choice. It's a well known fact that every book in a series sells fewer copies than the book that proceeded it. And with only some 3,400 copies of </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">the previous book in the series, </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">The Prisoner of Cimlye</i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> sold, I'll be lucky to sell 500 copies of the book in 2024. Now, compare that likely sales number to that of my 2023 stand alone novel <i>The Girl on the Kerb</i> with sales of almost 6,000 copies in its first year,</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> you can see the clear advantage of stand alone books. Of course I need to point out that I was very lucky to have Amazon somehow promoting </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">The Girl on the Kerb</i><span style="font-family: verdana;">, out of the gate. It was an exception to the rule for my books. Still, nearly a thousand copies of a new release in its first year used to be a more typical result. Seeing that it gets ever harder to sell books out of the mainstream, 500 books may be optimistic. Nevertheless those 6,000 copies serve to illustrate the potential up side of a stand alone book, one that is not tied to the sales figures of the previous books in a series - unless, of course, that series is a bestseller.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In view of all this, why in the heck is this my 2024 novel, you ask? Simply because it</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">'s a story I wanted to write. I wanted to wrap up the series with Taef Lang landing his dream a job, and that's what this story is all about.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">There was, however, one other important factor going for it, namely that I had actually started writing this story back in the fall of 2022, and with a few weeks' work put in on it in January of 2023, I started in on it again in earnest, beginning on the first of October 2023, with 45,000 words already written. Which is to say, potentially more than half of the book written. I'd stopped writing it because I needed to come up with some </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">30,000 to 40,000 words worth of</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">scenes, </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">incidents, and stuff to do to fill out the middle of the story, for which I had no clue. Still, 45K words was too large of a story fragment to leave undone, so this fall I decided to push ahead and trust that push come to shove, I'd come up with something to fill it out and get the darn thing done. And, lo and behold, I came up with enough scenes, incidents, and stuff to do to end up with a 106,000 word story. The million dollar question, however is; are all those scenes, incidents, and stuff entertaining? Iffy, as always.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I'll talk more about the substance of the story in the coming weeks. I'll just say that it's not an ambitious story. Rather it reflects my taste for small, slice of life stories. Which has been true of all my stories, but I've doubled down on that vibe since reading the stories from Molly Clavering and D E Stevenson. This story is simply an episodic travelogue, an account that takes Taef and Lessie, along with Sella and Carz, on a sea voyage across the Tropic Sea to the Jarpara Islands, in hopes of landing a job as a professor of Island archeology and/or history. That's the entire story arc; finding a job.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The one challenge that I wanted to tackle was to write Taef and Lessie as a married couple, to see what I could do with that situation. Usually I fade to black when my couples get close to that point. Spoiler alert: I don't think I nailed it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I also wanted the opportunity to bring back some old side characters for a final bow. as well as introducing one new character that I thought it would be fun do. In short, this story offered me one last chance to revisit some of my favorite characters and setting. How successful I was at this, will be up to you to decide, dear reader.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_KTzx19pmf_O-4DwryrDgcZ8w2m_hlKfLnNIyPOB0o5CLnG2_C45jJihIYzWXdkIppwR7Tnx9Eq8Hq2xcOlQhnuAeXrjyuG5GXdofX3Bf4oyY-lMlwI0ZT9xKz1zHq15lle9t5IDojIIUSHDI21lT0vv4SZNWKMsUNTYH0yfwAMaWI60nQXWNZCW5u3A/s3972/16%20titles%20small%202024%20style.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1521" data-original-width="3972" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_KTzx19pmf_O-4DwryrDgcZ8w2m_hlKfLnNIyPOB0o5CLnG2_C45jJihIYzWXdkIppwR7Tnx9Eq8Hq2xcOlQhnuAeXrjyuG5GXdofX3Bf4oyY-lMlwI0ZT9xKz1zHq15lle9t5IDojIIUSHDI21lT0vv4SZNWKMsUNTYH0yfwAMaWI60nQXWNZCW5u3A/w400-h154/16%20titles%20small%202024%20style.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p>Charles Litkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15182265039055575093noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896160652380675241.post-50940489516041188422024-02-10T05:04:00.000-08:002024-02-10T05:04:42.559-08:00The Saturday Morning Post (No. 34)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxU9fku_eoISv5FBBcgQmgpvhxIyiAu4kFyGcABmLTBttv0QFFyqUBRYT9NVOzaPYQcIeUshFFZID6DPe3O-4nDjWO4V7Kkabkl4fLIEHalx2RAPjRAb0gbG7pYdqZza2t18TlY2FcsW0dBa1m1Z6BRax6UgRIjiGLLoEKvgoeg_CDpqmpuCJ5oHTVSRI/s700/Violetsandbook%20for%20Saturday%20Morning.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="700" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxU9fku_eoISv5FBBcgQmgpvhxIyiAu4kFyGcABmLTBttv0QFFyqUBRYT9NVOzaPYQcIeUshFFZID6DPe3O-4nDjWO4V7Kkabkl4fLIEHalx2RAPjRAb0gbG7pYdqZza2t18TlY2FcsW0dBa1m1Z6BRax6UgRIjiGLLoEKvgoeg_CDpqmpuCJ5oHTVSRI/w400-h266/Violetsandbook%20for%20Saturday%20Morning.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Today's book is another book mentioned in that blog post of James Harris' in which he describes several books as "science fiction". Not as the type of book we think of when we hear "science fiction", but as a book of fiction that concerns itself with science. And like the first book from that post I read, </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">The Signature of All Things</i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> by Elizabeth Gilbert, </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">it is a story about about science, the times, the role of women in the world, and the world's expectations for them. And once again it is about a woman who defies those expectations. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">My reviewer criteria.</span><i style="font-family: verdana;"> I like light, entertaining novels. I like smaller scale stories rather than epics. I like character focused novels featuring pleasant characters, with a minimum number of unpleasant ones. I greatly value clever and witty writing. I like first person, or close third person narratives. I dislike a lot of "head jumping" between POVs and flashbacks. I want a story, not a puzzle. While I am not opposed to violence, I dislike gore for the sake of gore. I find long and elaborate fight, action, and battle sequences tedious. Plot holes and things that happen for the convenience of the author annoy me. And I fear I'm a born critic in that I don't mind pointing out what I don't like in a story. However, I lay no claim to be the final arbitrator of style and taste, you need to decide for yourself what you like or dislike in a book.</i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Your opinions are always welcome. Comment below.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>My Last 2023 Read</b></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNlnX3w7ECFeniRArCyQpswEJcGFl6EdgUzTMKm0HLfXxzNbta8ZQgu8v4sVx2Sl1N3heGq0c-YK_4I1Nhfhdcrkt7-lVfP4Ju9va1WqrGRTZUkXP-vN93C4tF4RHATK3rDxefLvyMpy3_tpIXcShUoKCLFYCKjG_qZX4Xp6P9Aa67I_Urt97LmeRGEpw/s600/lessons%202.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="395" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNlnX3w7ECFeniRArCyQpswEJcGFl6EdgUzTMKm0HLfXxzNbta8ZQgu8v4sVx2Sl1N3heGq0c-YK_4I1Nhfhdcrkt7-lVfP4Ju9va1WqrGRTZUkXP-vN93C4tF4RHATK3rDxefLvyMpy3_tpIXcShUoKCLFYCKjG_qZX4Xp6P9Aa67I_Urt97LmeRGEpw/w264-h400/lessons%202.jpg" width="264" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Lessons in Chemistry</i> by Bonnie Garmus A</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">This is a very popular book. When I placed a hold on <i>The Signature of All Things</i> at the library, I also intended to place a hold on this book. However, I found that between my place in the line and the number of copies the library owned, I'd be waiting like a year for it, so I didn't bother. However, unknown to me, my wife had placed a hold on it as well some time earlier, and it became available in December. When she mentioned how much she liked the book she was reading I was delighted to discover that it was <i>Lessons in Chemistry</i> and that the library loan was long enough for me to read it as well. So on to the book.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">This story is largely set in the early to mid 1950's. The hero of the story is one Elizabeth Zott, a brilliant scientist, and, as it turns out, a brilliant teacher. She was very unfairly denied the opportunity to earn her PhD in chemistry, and as a result, was forced to settle for a much more menial position in a scientific research company; not, however, comfortably so. She knew that she was more brilliant than all but one of the company's employees, but that fact would never be acknowledged simply because she was a woman - a woman who doesn't fit the accepted pattern of womanhood in the society of the era. This was not fair and she fought against that attitude. That is the theme of this book, and it doesn't shy away from saying so, just like its main character, Elizabeth Zott.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">As usual, I don't really want to go into the details of the plot, on the off chance that you haven't read this book yet. Suffice to say that the story concerns her finding an oddball, but perfect mate, a failed-at-bomb-detecting, but brilliant dog, and the unconventional raising her extremely brilliant daughter. She finds a way to use her knowledge of chemistry to make a difference in the world </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">in a very different way with</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> her all her chemistry knowledge, along with an attitude. Not in the way she envisioned it, perhaps, but in a wider and more impactful way than just making discoveries in a lab. While the story has many touches of humor, the message is serious and clear; women have the same rights as men to live the life they want to live, and pursue the career they find most rewarding.</span></p><p><br /></p>Charles Litkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15182265039055575093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896160652380675241.post-42967927639324711552024-02-07T05:24:00.000-08:002024-02-07T05:24:03.387-08:00The 2024 Novel Cover Reveal<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDnC1YhQ9ChVcn198UXekz-mF3lbfbbGizL0bfujNMq6X53YxPEdW9G3Frg0DocqzZetM1b7bd1OYeXxxDTV_2copvTg5Glk2AIaIUuCmGCuld_qw_lgMsqx3LhyaCez2vI1qrUHd0qA9GCNzPVXDEZXJCtt2p7rvqyP8-5RmOJorNfO3O2Z7Xfhb3aO8/s2469/A%20Passage%20to%20Jarpara%20%20ebook%20cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2469" data-original-width="1609" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDnC1YhQ9ChVcn198UXekz-mF3lbfbbGizL0bfujNMq6X53YxPEdW9G3Frg0DocqzZetM1b7bd1OYeXxxDTV_2copvTg5Glk2AIaIUuCmGCuld_qw_lgMsqx3LhyaCez2vI1qrUHd0qA9GCNzPVXDEZXJCtt2p7rvqyP8-5RmOJorNfO3O2Z7Xfhb3aO8/w261-h400/A%20Passage%20to%20Jarpara%20%20ebook%20cover.jpg" width="261" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I am happy to announce that <i>Passage to Jarpara</i>, the third and final volume of the Tales of the Tropic Sea series is my 2024 novel. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Since this is a cover reveal, we'll talk about the cover with only the blurb to describe the story at the end.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">About the time I was writing<i> Sailing to Redoubt</i>, I painted half a dozen very impressionistic paintings of the island of Lil Lon, and the harbor of Fey Lon. The goal was to try to make them bright and tropical, without being too concerned about exact details. I used a section from one of the harbor paintings for the first edition, which can still be seen on Goodreads. I've changed the cover several times since then. The last, and present cover uses a painting entitled,<i> Sunrise on Lil Lon</i>. Being lazy, and knowing how iffy my painting is these days, I decided to use its companion piece, <i>Sunset on Lil Lon</i> for this book. I also decided to use the same color for the spine and print boxes as that book, to make the two a matching set (with middle book, <i>The Prisoner of Cimlye,</i> being an outlier). Both these paintings are impressionistic street scenes set on the little island of Lil Lon, but, as I mentioned, my main focus was on nice, bright colors - and lots of them. Do they work, as covers? Who knows? I'm not too concerned about whether covers draw readers or not. I don't think my readers care. Plus, I did have one reader/reviewer say that she was attracted to<i> Sailing to Redoubt</i> by the cover, so that's one win. The one thing I am concerned about is making my covers an expression of my "brand" hence their uniformity in design.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">As for the current blurb, here's what I have;</span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i> Taef Lang is on a quest…</i></span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>… To find a job.</i></span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Now a married man,
the time has come for Taef to seek his long delayed career as
a professor of Island archaeology and/or history. After introducing his new bride to his family, he and
Lessie, along with Sella and Carz set sail eastward across the Tropic
Sea for the distant Island and University of Jarpara where he hopes to land his dream professorship. </i></span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Passage to Jarpara<i> is a simple travelogue, an account of that
journey across the Tropic Sea. It’s a record of islands called
on, old friends and acquaintance met, new ones made, as well as potential pirates, curse-beasts, haunted Tiki palaces, fire islands, and a race of immortals</i></span><i style="font-family: verdana;"> they encountered along the way</i><i style="font-family: verdana;">. In short, it is another colorful glimpse of life in the Tropic Sea.</i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>
</i></span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Passage to Jarpara
is the third and final volume of Tales of the Tropic Sea, drawing a
fitting conclusion to the adventures of Taef, Sella, and Lessie which
begun with their voyage to Redoubt Island, and continued with the
freeing of the prisoner of Cimlye.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Stay tuned for more details!</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUSQnEY2Fy7xcjKtIHcW1mR3sxbvbnqxVvHb_ES32SZhm-OAR7mQSgOVfk-ydU4rLNJMmBny4iuAy7hO5OuKraWdeaskevfUgiBrDjP82gUBdAiM47oP2_B7rBl39Nnkx97D8o8qZq0xnJVysfpHa2ZzeUbtfvuJrb4GcxUIcQC-P7PqeF3jaH09_1Wb0/s3388/A%20Passage%20to%20Jarpara%20wrong%20sizer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2475" data-original-width="3388" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUSQnEY2Fy7xcjKtIHcW1mR3sxbvbnqxVvHb_ES32SZhm-OAR7mQSgOVfk-ydU4rLNJMmBny4iuAy7hO5OuKraWdeaskevfUgiBrDjP82gUBdAiM47oP2_B7rBl39Nnkx97D8o8qZq0xnJVysfpHa2ZzeUbtfvuJrb4GcxUIcQC-P7PqeF3jaH09_1Wb0/w400-h293/A%20Passage%20to%20Jarpara%20wrong%20sizer.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p>Charles Litkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15182265039055575093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896160652380675241.post-52172066786548960502024-02-03T05:56:00.000-08:002024-02-03T05:56:47.908-08:00The Saturday Morning Post (No. 33)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyz1WHaqN3_3tibTSX1jQzU3RPVFJj0Xefn1DexeCLu39Wo5-v6DcV2xt92R4E3dTRqEr8A2LDbSwGx0PJoChGrCKcAaAq4mj9cG7Ou0sDQk3D-SHrLtHJmJNtWO7t5JxZrRNM1Q7xlg7TVHXYeHsxpNJzOarKt3n34spJnFind8nxzWrYhVjB84rKVAo/s1500/TopoftheBureaumfor%20Saturday%20Morning.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1085" data-original-width="1500" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyz1WHaqN3_3tibTSX1jQzU3RPVFJj0Xefn1DexeCLu39Wo5-v6DcV2xt92R4E3dTRqEr8A2LDbSwGx0PJoChGrCKcAaAq4mj9cG7Ou0sDQk3D-SHrLtHJmJNtWO7t5JxZrRNM1Q7xlg7TVHXYeHsxpNJzOarKt3n34spJnFind8nxzWrYhVjB84rKVAo/w400-h289/TopoftheBureaumfor%20Saturday%20Morning.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Time for another Cadfael Mystery </span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">But before that, just a quick note on the paintings I use to identify a book review post </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">as opposed to my regular blog post.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> I use these to paintings for my book reviews because </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">two of my books</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> are featured in the paintings. The book that appears in the painting above is </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">When Patty Went to College</i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> by Jean Webster. Published March 1903. It was my Grandmothers which she had signed in her maiden name meaning that it has been in the family for well over a hundred years. The book featured in the other painting is </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">A Princess of Mars</i><span style="font-family: verdana;">, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the Grosset & Dunlap October 1917</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">edition</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> which makes it likely over a hundred years old as well. Time flies.</span></div><div><div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">My reviewer criteria.</span><i style="font-family: verdana;"> I like light, entertaining novels. I like smaller scale stories rather than epics. I like character focused novels featuring pleasant characters, with a minimum number of unpleasant ones. I greatly value clever and witty writing. I like first person, or close third person narratives. I dislike a lot of "head jumping" between POVs and flashbacks. I want a story, not a puzzle. While I am not opposed to violence, I dislike gore for the sake of gore. I find long and elaborate fight, action, and battle sequences tedious. Plot holes and things that happen for the convenience of the author annoy me. And I fear I'm a born critic in that I don't mind pointing out what I don't like in a story. However, I lay no claim to be the final arbitrator of style and taste, you need to decide for yourself what you like or dislike in a book.</i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Your opinions are always welcome. Comment below.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>A 2023 Read</b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipv67HyFlpKUpcgmuKnIw0Ua-3Qf26IDbkjFVNuXb1WFsIN3gUS7o6lQ93QdZVvZASDlmMUPN37u8n433b8ddOdXxwimr4EqrjM3p04rKPMno59UADSKCyJ9SiZy5tRF6ENGiBEc2OOBbmgOmTKT8gIFpGhFSB7mdjA5JRJQigv8fLfVHyHu5GQoE3rkY/s500/fair.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="318" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipv67HyFlpKUpcgmuKnIw0Ua-3Qf26IDbkjFVNuXb1WFsIN3gUS7o6lQ93QdZVvZASDlmMUPN37u8n433b8ddOdXxwimr4EqrjM3p04rKPMno59UADSKCyJ9SiZy5tRF6ENGiBEc2OOBbmgOmTKT8gIFpGhFSB7mdjA5JRJQigv8fLfVHyHu5GQoE3rkY/w255-h400/fair.jpg" width="255" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Saint Peter's Fair </i> by Ellis Peters A</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">As I believe I have mentioned several times before, I am not a great fan of mysteries, in large part due to the fact that mystery writers seem to always create mysteries about murders. Whether this is due to the laziness of mystery writers or the demands of their audiences I can not say, but it generally annoys me. Especially when they toss in several more murders to cover up the first, as if that ever happens in real life. Or when every fourth person in the village is murdered every other month. All of which is to say that a murder mystery that earns a grade of A from me, must be special. The Cadfael stories are special.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">There are several factors that make them special, starting with the writing and the characters. She seem to bring </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">the characters </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">to life with her engaging writing. She gives the reader the wise and worldly monk Cadfael who plays the "detective" along with a number of young, personable, characters, often in trouble whom he helps. Second, is the setting - which includes a map, which is always a big plus for me - but more importantly, the historical setting, which is a turbulent time in England with two claimants, King Stephen and Empress Maud vying for the throne of England. Peters sets her story squarely within that historical era, each story jumping 3 or 4 months ahead over the course of 8 years. I want stories to take me somewhere else, and Peters' 12th century England does that with what seems to me to be authentic detail. They're a fantasy grounded in history. And finally, while there is in each book a murder, or two, or three, they involve events that arrive at the abbey in a turbulent time, and thus, they seem a natural element of the story and the times, not a motheaten convention.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">This story involves the yearly fair of St Peter put on by the Abbey of St Peter and Saint Paul. Merchants, customers, and perhaps others, have arrived for the three day fair. The Shrewsbury merchants are unhappy because they must close their shops for the three days, losing business, and the city, worn ragged by the siege of the previous year needs money as well. The prior declines to change the terms of the charter, and a minor riot by the youth of the city results, which apparently leads to the murder of a merchant, for which one of the city lads involved in the incident is suspected of committing. Brother Cadfael, and his friend, the under sheriff believe him to be innocent,. They suspect that the murder was not a simple act of a thief. As in all the books there is element of a whodunit in the story, but with a focus on character and colorful storytelling.</span></p></div></div></div>Charles Litkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15182265039055575093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896160652380675241.post-31537659831577180922024-01-31T05:54:00.000-08:002024-01-31T05:54:22.852-08:00January Writing Update<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNnQt58pRhyphenhyphenRfUk69l9Ss0dxSKZXKx_p4Svjjc8r-mSh7PFu2uuJNVpG_OsHKzmoCxtIZSg2BlfGJFKCe9RCtc9M_juR0ypjqQ90MJhmSFlAGZyH4hZYPl7Ey1TkH9dCepOaIL66GKgp5h1AyjRaP4YUKtqqaD2kiyhvcKwwu7bLxDTtK5Auji3662x3U/s3474/14%20titles%20small%202023%20style.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1521" data-original-width="3474" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNnQt58pRhyphenhyphenRfUk69l9Ss0dxSKZXKx_p4Svjjc8r-mSh7PFu2uuJNVpG_OsHKzmoCxtIZSg2BlfGJFKCe9RCtc9M_juR0ypjqQ90MJhmSFlAGZyH4hZYPl7Ey1TkH9dCepOaIL66GKgp5h1AyjRaP4YUKtqqaD2kiyhvcKwwu7bLxDTtK5Auji3662x3U/w400-h175/14%20titles%20small%202023%20style.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Today we have the January writing update that I had promised for last week. And just in the nick of time. I'm a mite superstitious, so I don't like announcing birds in the bush, no matter how close my hand is to them. But now, having put an hour's work on a novel nearly everyday </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">since the first of October,</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> I can announce that the bird is in hand. I am, as always, delighted to say that the first draft of my 2024 novel is complete.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">While it is only the first draft, it represents a major milestone, since, for me, the first draft accounts for something like 85% of the work involved in the writing </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">of</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> a novel. Filling the empty white page with words is the hard part of writing. Once I have words on the page I can move along much faster. T</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">he second draft is all about punching up what I wrote, playing with the words I've written; adding a bit more description here and there, touching up the dialog. I don't usually edit out much. Instead I add the descriptive stuff that I wasn't thinking about when I was writing the scene. Thus my manuscript grows instead of shrinks as it "should" if you listen to the experts. I usually get a second draft done in a month or two. As for the third draft, I read the story on an ebook reader so as to get a feel as to how it reads in "real life", hopefully, only having to tweak a word or sentence here and there. With all that in mind, wind and tide permitting, I hope to release this book by the end of May at the latest.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">You may have noticed that so far, I've not mentioned the work's title or what it's about and I don't intend to today. All the cool kid authors make "cover reveals" a big deal these days, and so I'll reveal my cover next week, along with a very brief blurb. Hey, I have this slot to fill each week, so I need to spread this out. But never fear, I always have a lot to say about my books, and I'll be talking more about it over the next month or two.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">As for other news, only one of my books, <i>The Secret of the Tzarista Moon</i> has so far been made it as Apple audiobook. I think that I got the voice I wanted. However why that book, and why not more of them have made it into audiobooks? I have no idea. Hopefully I can make an announcement soon that they're all available.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">So - drum roll - next week the cover of my 2024 novel and a bit of background on it! Stay turned.</span></p>Charles Litkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15182265039055575093noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896160652380675241.post-44638099779099636572024-01-27T06:19:00.000-08:002024-01-27T06:19:41.611-08:00The Saturday Morning Post (No. 32)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAjcAgQbPKsOvvEWPsBRBYLb9FcNz58L9-TbiaugAtEp8VNY_oimO4KQ8mL542AHX84cjHEq4LHev_DojBydIiuUPrOI50vlgGSwxkVULYZknryRcmv8U1SyN38WOkgNQvozg_s9yonONEyhpBInp6K7Ky9odTTf0pATlQR-8S0rADH8lwOr0CmUxTMhc/s700/Violetsandbook%20for%20Saturday%20Morning.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="700" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAjcAgQbPKsOvvEWPsBRBYLb9FcNz58L9-TbiaugAtEp8VNY_oimO4KQ8mL542AHX84cjHEq4LHev_DojBydIiuUPrOI50vlgGSwxkVULYZknryRcmv8U1SyN38WOkgNQvozg_s9yonONEyhpBInp6K7Ky9odTTf0pATlQR-8S0rADH8lwOr0CmUxTMhc/w400-h266/Violetsandbook%20for%20Saturday%20Morning.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Yes, we have yet another fantasy book to review this week. I can explain. I put my name on the waiting list for the ebook version of this title probably 6 months ago with maybe 30 people ahead of me. I only received it in December 2023. I don't have any more books on the waiting list, so we'll read them as we find them going forward.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">My reviewer criteria.</span><i style="font-family: verdana;"> I like light, entertaining novels. I like smaller scale stories rather than epics. I like character focused novels featuring pleasant characters, with a minimum number of unpleasant ones. I greatly value clever and witty writing. I like first person, or close third person narratives. I dislike a lot of "head jumping" between POVs and flashbacks. I want a story, not a puzzle. While I am not opposed to violence, I dislike gore for the sake of gore. I find long and elaborate fight, action, and battle sequences tedious. Plot holes and things that happen for the convenience of the author annoy me. And I fear I'm a born critic in that I don't mind pointing out what I don't like in a story. However, I lay no claim to be the final arbitrator of style and taste, you need to decide for yourself what you like or dislike in a book.</i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Your opinions are always welcome. Comment below.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Note: a 2023 Read</b></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdHd_qQ72Lrx9G1BoG-d1r7ZJjKomfR-Bf3XIPb_7UPIBW7b3dX516mZQTV6sK5B-RASubUkppI9_uL_ZwnVj8UeaZaBIh-tEqnsNvEO2yLOj4lx7t0MIIAqHCi0qVrBD3RGs9GdWPsM3qbG8BaCr_BFCWT6PoYjNZciDaREqBRPKL_0BCVFKQA_rnS8k/s375/wild.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="243" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdHd_qQ72Lrx9G1BoG-d1r7ZJjKomfR-Bf3XIPb_7UPIBW7b3dX516mZQTV6sK5B-RASubUkppI9_uL_ZwnVj8UeaZaBIh-tEqnsNvEO2yLOj4lx7t0MIIAqHCi0qVrBD3RGs9GdWPsM3qbG8BaCr_BFCWT6PoYjNZciDaREqBRPKL_0BCVFKQA_rnS8k/w259-h400/wild.jpg" width="259" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Kings of the Wyld</i> by Nicholas Eames DNF 10%</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Yet another fantasy book. What gives?<br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The elevator pitch for this book is that mercenary bands in this world are treaded like rock bands in ours. They have names, star members, and fans. The premise of the story is that we have this mercenary band whose members have been retired for more than a decade and most the most part, have settled down into ordinary lives. However, when the daughter of the former leader of the band, herself a mercenary, is trapped in a city under siege a thousand miles away, her father sets out to save her by seeking out the old band members to get back together again. To reach this besieged city, </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">a thousand miles away, </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">they have to cross the Heart Wyld forest, an place filled with all sorts of monsters and cross this wild woods and reach the distant city seemingly on foot - in time to reach a city besieged by a large army and do something to save her. Okaaaay....</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">As you can see from my grade above, the story didn't click with me. I found the premise to be sort of lame, and while the writing sort of snarky, and I found everything else struck me as off the shelf fantasy tropes. Perhaps the most off putting part of the story was the use of swear words. I have nothing against the words, bitch, shithole, fuck, bullshit, etc. Don't mind them at all. No, it's the fact that they are so ordinary, so commonplace, so much of a part of present day life, that they inevitably knock me out of the story and setting and take back into the pressroom break room or college dorm where such words were in common usage. If you are going to create an alternate world, don't be lazy. Invent your curses.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The use of commonplace curses and phrases was symptomatic of the commonplaceness of the prose and setting. Everything encountered in the first 10% of the story I read was nothing that I haven't encountered before. It was fine, but just a generic fantasy setting with generic fantasy characters. Only the premise was cute, though I doubt it really made sense. So, in the end, I found it hard to want to pick the book back up and continue reading. Life is too short, to spend time doing something you really don't want to do, if you don't have to. So DNF. But what do I know? I had to wait six months to read a five year old book, so don't take my word for it, if it sounds interesting to you go for it. It has one sequel, and another on the way.</span></p></div>Charles Litkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15182265039055575093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896160652380675241.post-85099382407703885862024-01-24T06:12:00.000-08:002024-01-24T06:12:26.786-08:00A Glitch in the Matrix<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis5uDe6Kr4DbC-35C4VwOuDo3rvkgYKW6Jl6O9_muGXMsszUl8MwfDkAJTOH7DotNq6vZVT8O-rNevL6IdSkZWHD4XlQlsVdWuVR-0jD413zzU9PmvkwZzNxS7f7epgp6zFcVTjnwpnaefO09Efs0E7iXXnSNuG2bSdvMrSAyNBc_td4CPfXVJ6c7J0w0/s150/White%20Box.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="150" data-original-width="150" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis5uDe6Kr4DbC-35C4VwOuDo3rvkgYKW6Jl6O9_muGXMsszUl8MwfDkAJTOH7DotNq6vZVT8O-rNevL6IdSkZWHD4XlQlsVdWuVR-0jD413zzU9PmvkwZzNxS7f7epgp6zFcVTjnwpnaefO09Efs0E7iXXnSNuG2bSdvMrSAyNBc_td4CPfXVJ6c7J0w0/w320-h320/White%20Box.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Glitch with Static</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Last week I may have experienced a glitch in the matrix, at lease in the dream matrix. It went down for a moment.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">By way of introduction I should mention that as an old man, I apparently don't need more than 4 or 5 hours of sound sleep a night, and as a consequence I often spend 3 to 5 hours either awake or dozing. I spent these hours thinking about whatever my current writing project is, which is </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">usually </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">boring enough to put me back to sleep. However, being on the borderland of sleep and wakefulness, dreams are sometimes half in sleep and half in (semi) wakefulness. And I was in this borderland one night last week when I experienced the momentary glitch of the matrix. Well, something glitched, anyway.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I was dreaming when suddenly, the "screen" in my dream abruptly, for no reason, when entirely white - with a hiss of static. All I "saw" in my head, in my dream, was whiteness, with a distinct hint of static. This white gap in the dream was so abrupt that it pushed me over the border to wakefulness. It only lasted a second or less before the dream continued on for a bit, but I was awake and consciously aware of it happening, and the strangeness of it happening. I can think of no explanation for it happening, except that something somewhere went "boink" for a second, either in my mind or the matrix. Of that I'm certain. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I'm not going to seriously propose that there is such a thing as the matrix, or that we are in some simulation, as some scientists propose, that might occasionally go momentarily down. And yet, I find the incident very strange, as I find my dreams. For, you see, my mind is not visual. I can't call up more than a murky approximation of an image in my mind; more like just the knowledge of what it looks like than an actual image. This syndrome is known as aphantasia. The strange thing is that I know that </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">even though I can't recall my dreams in any more detail than the murky images my waking mind can produce, </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">I know that I do see images in my dreams, complicated, full color ones, and my impression is that they can be quite detailed, including the faces of all those strangers I encounter in my dreams... I find this disconnect between my waking mind and my sleeping ones... interesting. And inexplicable. It seems to me that the disconnect between the waking world and the sleeping one for me, at least, is very hard to explain with our current knowledge. I have to believe that we know a lot less about what we think we know than what there is to know. Just say'n.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>The writing update promised for today will appear next week, wind and tide permitting.</i></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwp8HgzdznJfsKrFuyz8Syh9oICN5385T5kioY4dGzhSql95CAdhkGGRV1jZv_EfDwRlZcGMENNETDk5bU1OeBvVgYtmScMCH1W-p48d6E9beRZlY_tyV4_E23eR7vvnSJcwtpsRhAs-O6pwgL7K_BwQNtyV9U9eeyzSl6b9aF7ixr-xcqXRFzIFVd_H4/s3474/14%20titles%20small%202023%20style.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1521" data-original-width="3474" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwp8HgzdznJfsKrFuyz8Syh9oICN5385T5kioY4dGzhSql95CAdhkGGRV1jZv_EfDwRlZcGMENNETDk5bU1OeBvVgYtmScMCH1W-p48d6E9beRZlY_tyV4_E23eR7vvnSJcwtpsRhAs-O6pwgL7K_BwQNtyV9U9eeyzSl6b9aF7ixr-xcqXRFzIFVd_H4/w400-h175/14%20titles%20small%202023%20style.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p>Charles Litkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15182265039055575093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896160652380675241.post-65045247749481127482024-01-20T05:52:00.000-08:002024-01-20T05:52:39.136-08:00The Saturday Morning Post (No. 31 )<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdAqzuVF36OsmIecg8j8DmaXUn9eh7fE_Kulgd3KfVoRzUNNcKdKKFA6kQGyGXes-11mzj7EIvuJIiTELjvslH8CmmXKLQPBibd0QkcpzjyinhiUPoNerKPar8CT4MRI8sKTL-cS89rP8YbSazHKOd8RnmBGJrbDOrIknzfgIA7i0kFOi22uI-J7cYipA/s1500/TopoftheBureaumfor%20Saturday%20Morning.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1085" data-original-width="1500" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdAqzuVF36OsmIecg8j8DmaXUn9eh7fE_Kulgd3KfVoRzUNNcKdKKFA6kQGyGXes-11mzj7EIvuJIiTELjvslH8CmmXKLQPBibd0QkcpzjyinhiUPoNerKPar8CT4MRI8sKTL-cS89rP8YbSazHKOd8RnmBGJrbDOrIknzfgIA7i0kFOi22uI-J7cYipA/w400-h289/TopoftheBureaumfor%20Saturday%20Morning.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">What next? How about a review of a fantasy romance novel? A well known one, one with its own TV adoption, so it will be no surprise what book it is to most of you. As you will see below, I don't think that I am the target audience for the book since I'm not female nor am I familiar with the tropes of romance, so that fact will likely color my opinions That said, </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">I do have a lot to say about it. So let's get into it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">My reviewer criteria.</span><i style="font-family: verdana;"> I like light, entertaining novels. I like smaller scale stories rather than epics. I like character focused novels featuring pleasant characters, with a minimum number of unpleasant ones. I greatly value clever and witty writing. I like first person, or close third person narratives. I dislike a lot of "head jumping" between POVs and flashbacks. I want a story, not a puzzle. While I am not opposed to violence, I dislike gore for the sake of gore. I find long and elaborate fight, action, and battle sequences tedious. Plot holes and things that happen for the convenience of the author annoy me. And I fear I'm a born critic in that I don't mind pointing out what I don't like in a story. However, I lay no claim to be the final arbitrator of style and taste, you need to decide for yourself what you like or dislike in a book.</i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Your opinions are always welcome. Comment below.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Note: A 2023 Read</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZWvI8bCqQQPOiAyCvUJrEhdULVVgRHcNxKnACH8voq9dEVUhyphenhyphenrYYg65Q_3gGEKsb-MdzdMMBhTJrXhgajcR6g18WtG-toHy6kXHWQ1gXceU7HHEAfldeuZVbTLjj1HSHXd7wdI-Rdk2aQbqaYCedFcxH340zOlTD2mol8fvik_MQ4BJIpmFz5wKYWqVo/s466/outlander.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="308" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZWvI8bCqQQPOiAyCvUJrEhdULVVgRHcNxKnACH8voq9dEVUhyphenhyphenrYYg65Q_3gGEKsb-MdzdMMBhTJrXhgajcR6g18WtG-toHy6kXHWQ1gXceU7HHEAfldeuZVbTLjj1HSHXd7wdI-Rdk2aQbqaYCedFcxH340zOlTD2mol8fvik_MQ4BJIpmFz5wKYWqVo/w265-h400/outlander.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Outlander</i> by Diana Gabaldon C</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">This is a long book. I had the ebook version of the boxed set of the first four books in the series, and I never seemed to make much headway reading it, no matter how long I read. A percentage point at a time. Thankfully, I only intended on reading the first book - which came out at a 1000 pages of 5000 pages of the box set, on my fire tablet. I even finished it with a few days to spare on my 14 day loan.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">It is a portal fantasy/historical romance largely set in the highlands of Scotland in 1743-44. I did watch the first season of the TV show some years ago It did not impress me enough to continue on with it. Still, I thought that perhaps the book would be better. It was, until it wasn't. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Briefly, the story is set after the Second World War. Claire, our narrator and hero, was a nurse in that war and is now on a second honeymoon of sorts with her husband Frank, reunited after the war had separated them. Frank has a great something grandfather, "Black Jack" Randall, who was a British officer in the 1743 timeframe who was stationed in Scotland, and had an iffy reputation that Frank was researching. Frank and Claire observe a modern pagan ritual around a small stone ring, and when Claire returns to collect some plant specimens, she is drawn into its magical powers, and finds herself 200 years in the past, in 1743. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Right at the beginning she meets Frank's cruel distant relative, Captain Randall. Though he looks a lot like her Frank, she barely escapes being raped by him due to the appearance of some cattle raiding highlanders who save her. Her knowledge of treating wounds and illnesses serves her well as she treats some wounds while she's taken along with them, semi-accepted, semi-prisoner, vaguely suspected of being an English spy. B</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">ecause she was raised by an archeologist who traveled the world, she was used to the often primitive conditions on sites and so was able to adopt to the primitive conditions she found herself in.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Adventure and intrigues follow, with Claire eventually accepting an arranged marriage to make her a Scottish citizen, for reasons that in the end, really don't matter except to serve the romance plot.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The story is well written and told in first person by Claire, It is filled with well developed characters and well researched historical details. (Though, just to be a dick, I'll mention that in one scene she had her characters sitting on a "hay bale". An example of the occasional modern element some time creep into these types of storied. Recall that other book set in the 1920's where the characters looking at a hotel registry were looking a "screen". Details, details details. Not that it matters any.) I like how Gabaldon wrote Claire's backstory so she could realistically fit comfortably into the primitive 1743 setting.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">As I guess romances do, it contains a lot of sex scenes with her 1743 husband, Jamie. I don't mind that, though my approach to first person narratives is that the narrator is telling their story to the reader, and well, relating detailed sex scenes would seem a little awkward to me, anyway. But then, this was likely written for women, and only they know what goes when they get to telling stories... I did find one thing that I thought strange, and that was, given all of Claire's candor about sex, she only mentioned her period once, and in passing. This is significant, in that she hoped to find a way to return to the stones in order to get back to Frank, her 1945 husband. That being the case, I would've thought that she'd be paying a great deal of attention to when she could safely make love to Jamie, so as not to return to 1945 pregnant. However, the possibility never seemed to cross her mind, at least for the first several months of her new marriage. While she and Frank had been trying to have a child, without success, as a nurse in 1945, she would likely know enough about getting pregnant that the failure to do so might not be her fault, and take precautions. But as I said, this was not the case. It just had me wondering... But maybe that's a romance convention. You don't get pregnant unless the plot demands it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I was ready to give the story a grade of B when I came to this story's natural ending, and a perfect lead to the next book in the series. Unfortunately, this natural ending came half way into the book. Nearly everything that followed was unnecessary for plot and character development. Moreover, the pacing slowed so that the second half of the book really dragged for me. It was mostly spent killing time and almost killing poor Jamie. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I understand that a lot of stories put their characters through a great deal of pain and suffering, and maybe that's a trope in romance as well. But in any event, Gabaldon spent many, many pages describing the various cruelties, rape, and illnesses that Jamie had to endure. This was a theme throughout the book. For example, before the story takes place, Jamie had been flogged by Captain Randall nearly to death. This same incident is told in great detail by I believe three different people, including Jamie. The tedious second half of the book begins with a section featuring the domestic life on Jamie's estate, half of which is spent recounting the many times young Jamie had his rear end warmed by the belt of his father when he did something he shouldn't have. Why? And then, later, Jamie is held in prison where he is tortured, and raped by Randall, which once again is recounted in great detail, as well as all the painful things that Claire has to do to patch him up and nurse him back to health afterwards. Clearly all this detail has been included in the book to appeal to its potential readers, since it is unnecessary to advance the plot </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">or build character</span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">. It has me wondering if all the blood and suffering is a romance trope as well as a grim dark fantasy trope. Is it romantic for the lass's lad to suffer for her, and for her to tend to his wounds? Maybe, given the popularity of this series. Once again I'm the odd man out.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">So between the slow pacing - Claire spends several pages sneaking through a prison, and many pages describing her treatments of poor Jamie, the torture porn, and the overall extended spinning of wheels in the plot, the second half of this novel gets a D, from me, lowering the total novel a C grade. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">As I said at the beginning, this probably wasn't written for me. It might be for you. I won't be continuing on with it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>Charles Litkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15182265039055575093noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896160652380675241.post-10040588760574435272024-01-17T06:02:00.000-08:002024-01-17T06:02:22.854-08:00I Love Bots<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzUfH2vg32tMkFvjiOIf08-ni6siqQ9HYlsFh27D21ofpRSxfn_UUc8rmbs1eN21KC2H2isT2U_oDnRFL3FpLqr3T6IPuMwRBot8NVg-FVuAngJ5Vq5ywzy9QUSNi5z2WCHXRV2KQ-KjfOmHCZond-IRmqYUYu3t7TBqd-jq3Q4bG4oiRZzfn9wlKkR48/s1998/Panel%20for%20%2334%20bots.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1878" data-original-width="1998" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzUfH2vg32tMkFvjiOIf08-ni6siqQ9HYlsFh27D21ofpRSxfn_UUc8rmbs1eN21KC2H2isT2U_oDnRFL3FpLqr3T6IPuMwRBot8NVg-FVuAngJ5Vq5ywzy9QUSNi5z2WCHXRV2KQ-KjfOmHCZond-IRmqYUYu3t7TBqd-jq3Q4bG4oiRZzfn9wlKkR48/w400-h376/Panel%20for%20%2334%20bots.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"> <span><span>Bertie
knew that Barkley needed only a hard reset to be restored to his
normal, loving, playful self. But there his troubles began. He found
himself situated without a paper clip and Barkley had, earlier in the
evening in what, with hindsight, seems to have taken on a much less
mischievous cast, eaten his phone.</span></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I love the bots, who or whatever they are, who occasionally flock to this blog in the hundreds for a day or two, usually from some obscure part of the world. I don't really know what's going on with them, or why they visit this site, but it is nice to look in to see that it has had hundreds of visitors every so often. Of course I know those numbers are completely meaningless. I can't imagine why they show up. But, well, they're my best customers.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the last 8 plus years this site has had some 85,000 visitors. The vast, vast, majority of these visitors have been these bots, hackers, or whatever. These days, I might get two or three authentic visitors in a day, and occasionally maybe a dozen. I want to be clear; I'm just fine with that. I make no effort to attract viewers, rarely adding tags that search engines can use to direct traffic to this site. I'm not really blogging to attract readers. I'm blogging these days just to write things. Things like this fluff piece on bots, simply because I love to write. Go figure.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I began this blog when I first started publishing my own books, almost nine years ago. At the time, it was common wisdom that authors needed a website and/or a blog to promote their books. Web sites cost money, and I really don't see any purpose in paying for a website, so I went with this free, simple blog in order to communicate with any of my readers who might look in. Because I hate maps in ebooks, finding them annoying, and usually useless as they are too small, I posted the maps to my books on this site, to make it somewhat useful, with a link to the maps and info in my ebooks on this site. Or at least a mention of my blog, since links may have been beyond me at the time. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Blogs, however, are out of fashion these days - and so are websites it seems, since just about every author website I've ever looked in on hasn't been updated in years</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">. These days, all the cool kid authors communicate with their fans on short form social media; Like X, ex-Twitter, Facebook, Tic Tok or Instagram, none of which I use. For me, it's this blog or nothing. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">However, the lack of a large readership means that not only can I post whatever I (desperately) come up with to write each week, (like this post) but I can also post honest book reviews, safe in the knowledge that they'll make no difference. Making no difference is not exactly a lofty goal, but as I said, I love to write, and I must confess I like being a critic as well, so this blog gives me not only the chance to write</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">things a inconsequential as this post,</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> but the chance to say what I think about books, without having to bite my tongue and be nice. And it keeps me writing. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Speaking of writing, I'm hoping to be in a position to post an update to my long form writing next week. Stay tuned.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw69nxzYpEIjBq9WfdLrSRJyXyDS2bKYneEhdQF-wNPZG4iGP3BKBgPfns_on4iuvBvXAOkWwAG-knmDEkTPNBXZ_VZMIEuTYl3neP2T0Q2mSrCQhE5JCaoIE8LlIrm7zs_KyBVWHgnWZZlSnc19TAZJPnttlnDvzkB3TrLtghuP16Dv-m1f4_URkM3qM/s3474/14%20titles%20small%202023%20style.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1521" data-original-width="3474" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw69nxzYpEIjBq9WfdLrSRJyXyDS2bKYneEhdQF-wNPZG4iGP3BKBgPfns_on4iuvBvXAOkWwAG-knmDEkTPNBXZ_VZMIEuTYl3neP2T0Q2mSrCQhE5JCaoIE8LlIrm7zs_KyBVWHgnWZZlSnc19TAZJPnttlnDvzkB3TrLtghuP16Dv-m1f4_URkM3qM/w400-h175/14%20titles%20small%202023%20style.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>Charles Litkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15182265039055575093noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896160652380675241.post-63210218131220496982024-01-13T06:13:00.000-08:002024-01-13T06:13:26.133-08:00The Saturday Morning Post (No. 30)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE5Z5Eq2_2GWvNpzNFIigiNnGmoQSzKa_il7J6npNQlE8bbv7RB-qymeDgTDGTAYYcZDOrOb_rz_1_l3HLjbcvvWG0si4s8RUbf5oJ6hFfslQy9L4EIjpDM_LC_YBWxj0JDWFpXVqAo4b9F2inqmuLl8KLyxizR9HN3SvgkC83VEDVI8xI69MVljKhxgo/s700/Violetsandbook%20for%20Saturday%20Morning.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="700" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE5Z5Eq2_2GWvNpzNFIigiNnGmoQSzKa_il7J6npNQlE8bbv7RB-qymeDgTDGTAYYcZDOrOb_rz_1_l3HLjbcvvWG0si4s8RUbf5oJ6hFfslQy9L4EIjpDM_LC_YBWxj0JDWFpXVqAo4b9F2inqmuLl8KLyxizR9HN3SvgkC83VEDVI8xI69MVljKhxgo/w400-h266/Violetsandbook%20for%20Saturday%20Morning.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">This Saturday I have several mystery stories to talk about. They are, I believe, rereads. At least some of them. However if I read any of these three books, and I think I must have, I read them about 30 years ago and remembered nothing of their stories. All I recall is that I enjoyed them. So without further ado...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">My reviewer criteria.</span><i style="font-family: verdana;"> I like light, entertaining novels. I like smaller scale stories rather than epics. I like character focused novels featuring pleasant characters, with a minimum number of unpleasant ones. I greatly value clever and witty writing. I like first person, or close third person narratives. I dislike a lot of "head jumping" between POVs and flashbacks. I want a story, not a puzzle. While I am not opposed to violence, I dislike gore for the sake of gore. I find long and elaborate fight, action, and battle sequences tedious. Plot holes and things that happen for the convenience of the author annoy me. And I fear I'm a born critic in that I don't mind pointing out what I don't like in a story. However, I lay no claim to be the final arbitrator of style and taste, you need to decide for yourself what you like or dislike in a book.</i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Your opinions are always welcome. Comment below.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>These Books are a 2023 Read</b></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitCHkK3CA8Uert5IHxjcj39gpBHA4WjFf8tKPk63CTtBehTOZUaDEwfrcU4qzMYCiigg1QTqivaDXgYI1d4yXm1Z-3dNYuapuHchkpyKDIDcqb8QM2AftwNccA_17otw4MRyKo9W7bn1tygovVb5xuCxitwe0dkuCp-EYs4s4eWgdstOOmxdlAVaD1Z7k/s500/morbit%20taste%20fro%20bones.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="301" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitCHkK3CA8Uert5IHxjcj39gpBHA4WjFf8tKPk63CTtBehTOZUaDEwfrcU4qzMYCiigg1QTqivaDXgYI1d4yXm1Z-3dNYuapuHchkpyKDIDcqb8QM2AftwNccA_17otw4MRyKo9W7bn1tygovVb5xuCxitwe0dkuCp-EYs4s4eWgdstOOmxdlAVaD1Z7k/w241-h400/morbit%20taste%20fro%20bones.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>A Morbid Taste for Bones</i> by Ellis Peters A</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">This book was available as a library ebook, </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">and by pure chance, it was </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">the first of the two of the two I had placed a hold on</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">to show up. That was a bit of luck,</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> since it happens to be the first book in the Cadfael Chronicles. Thus, I began my reread at the beginning. The Cadfael Chronicles is a long series of historical murder mysteries set in the 12th century; twenty books in all, written between 1977 to 1994 by the linguist-scholar Edith Pargeter. Her writting career stretched from the late 1930's to the early 1990's totaling some 80 books in all; both fiction and non-fiction, plus many short stories under a series of different pen names. I first read these stories from the library sometime in the 1990's. I don't recall how many I read, only that I enjoyed every one of them. The other similar series by Margaret Frazer's (and Mary Monica Pulver Kuhfeld) which featured Dame Frevisse, a 15th century Benedictine nun, I read and enjoyed as well. The thing about history is that if it is knowledgably and colorfully invoked, it can be as strange and wonderful as any imaginary world. As I have mentioned, I'm not much of a lad for murder mysteries - but when they are skillfully set in a strange and well realized historical period with appealing characters, and I'm all in.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Anyway, back to the book at hand. T</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">he "detective" in these mysteries is Cadfael, a Welsh Benedictine monk of the 12th century. The stories are set in and around English city of Shrewsbury on the borders of Wales. Unlike many of his brother monks, Cadfael had seen much of the world - having gone on a Crusade, as a soldier and a sailor, and during that period had a series of lovers - before he returned home to "retire" to the monastery. Thus he is well equipped to decipher and deal with matters that most cloistered monks would be out of their depths dealing with. In this case, it is the murder of a minor Welsh nobleman who opposed the plan of the monks of the Shrewsbury Abbey to dig up the bones of a local saint and transport them back to the abbey in England. In those days, holy relics of all sorts were used to entice the pilgrim/tourists to visit churches and monasteries bring gifts that increased the wealth of church or monastery. So the prior if the Shrewsbury Abbey was looking around for a saint to add to the Abbey's attractions. A somewhat suspect vision of one of the monks lead the monks to a remote locale in Wales to dig up the bones of a rather neglected saint. The natives, however oppose this plan to remove their saint, and when the leading figure opposing them is murdered, Cadfael sets out to find out who did it, especially since he feels that the prime suspect had been framed. Enough said.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The story is very well written. The scene well set, the key characters vivid, if the minor ones are mostly mostly just names, they are there to dress the set or act as suspects. I've graded this book as an A. Books get an A grade when I can find a book both entertaining without finding anything to complain about. As any regular reader of these posts knows, it is not hard for me to find things to complain about. I both really enjoyed this book, and could find nothing to complain about, so they earned their A. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I highly recommend this series. It is, however, a series that is best read in order, since it is set chronologically in the years 1137 to 1145 and the stories deal with the turbulent historical events of that time, a time when King Stephen and Empress Matilda (aka Empress Maud) were fighting over the crown of England. I seem to recall that while Cadfael is a minor monk in this story, his fame grows throughout the series, and he plays parts in the historical drama raging in England at this time.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I should also add that there was a TV series of 13 episodes made from these books, each one based somewhat loosely on one of the books which were aired as a PBS Mystery! series. I don't believe I've seen them, so I can't speak to their quality. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEeFW4YVJAohQoGVKw8Ms7DTNR_lrDm1ad73CB8MrDyczbk55ZiW0EVJmGlj8yMkOMz-pmrQKmDrw6vd5Wp5ZQqJmSaLMRUZc8YXJyYIt5YZLIGpCzklLnZyupi-uN120yOharoQ8H8GOCx3avKoIDQJttCkxQ50NnZlp9OT4WLI3NhbyX39YFcXlewX0/s1000/one%20corpse.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="605" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEeFW4YVJAohQoGVKw8Ms7DTNR_lrDm1ad73CB8MrDyczbk55ZiW0EVJmGlj8yMkOMz-pmrQKmDrw6vd5Wp5ZQqJmSaLMRUZc8YXJyYIt5YZLIGpCzklLnZyupi-uN120yOharoQ8H8GOCx3avKoIDQJttCkxQ50NnZlp9OT4WLI3NhbyX39YFcXlewX0/w242-h400/one%20corpse.jpg" width="242" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters A</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">After reading the first volume, I decided to read the first three books in the series, so I ordered a paper copy of this title from the library as I was waiting on the ebook version of the third book to become available.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">This story is set a year latter than the first one, during one of England's civil wars when the cousins, King Stephen and Empress Maud contended for the throne of England. The army of King Stephen has arrived in Shrewsbury and is besieging the castle, held by followers of Maud. In the ever shifting political landscape, King Stephen is told that his leniency in past actions looks like weakness and he is urged to set an grim example by hanging all the surviving defenders of the Castle after it is taken. This he does, hanging 94 of them.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">The monks of the abbey take it upon themselves to bury the dead, with Cadfael - the old crusader - in charge,</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> but he finds that there are 95 bodies under the gallows the next morning. An extra body - a body that wasn't hung, but strangled, i.e. someone who was murdered and then thrown in with the rest to cover the deed. Cadfael, and the King want to see the murder brought to justice, so Cadfael investigates... But he has other concerns as well..</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Prior to that Cadfael is given charge of a young person to help in with his garden and medical herb work; a person who has been placed in the abbey to escape capture. A person with a secret who is someone who has a clever man looking for them on the order of the King to hold them for ransom. In short, someone who needs to be protected.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">What can I say? Once again we have a book with many engaging characters, a mystery, and a sense of history, without, as far as I can see, a flaw to remark upon. In short, an A book, once again.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVWr5P3G2fcRfsMOWjncluVePoCP9qo61-2N3aMiv1L-2Vtw2G0abLHn3heKxIej44k8JYmJEv5vDX3E0d6VX0LB-0d43Kx4OrgydOeT4TZ7cXEKs6OjkOGUz0kB0pKU26dqsmyn1kX51KDKcosB5Q58Ekads0_wsDut_yac3jhiLRHVjM8XxtGslFFMM/s500/monks%20hood.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="301" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVWr5P3G2fcRfsMOWjncluVePoCP9qo61-2N3aMiv1L-2Vtw2G0abLHn3heKxIej44k8JYmJEv5vDX3E0d6VX0LB-0d43Kx4OrgydOeT4TZ7cXEKs6OjkOGUz0kB0pKU26dqsmyn1kX51KDKcosB5Q58Ekads0_wsDut_yac3jhiLRHVjM8XxtGslFFMM/w241-h400/monks%20hood.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Monk's Hood by Ellis Peters B+</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I rated this book slightly less then the first two books only because it was a bit more of a conventional whodunnit than the first two, though once again the characters were superbly and vividly drawn, and the setting evocative of another place and time.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">This time around a guest of the Abbey has been poisoned and an innocent stepson suspected of his murder. The poison came from Brother Cadfael's supply of monk's hood which was used to ease pain by rubbing into the skin, but if ingested, kills. Cadfael must discover the true murder to save the son of the girl he loved in his long ago youth.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">After reading these first three books, I decided that I want to keep on reading these stories. I'm sure that I haven't read all 16 of them, but even if I have, I don't remember any of them. And rather than rely on the library for every book in order, I went on Abe Books and ordered all of the Cadfael stories in seven omnibus editions, and thus, I can promise you that you'll be seeing more Cadfael reviews over the course of 2024.</span></p>Charles Litkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15182265039055575093noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896160652380675241.post-9312714744980741762024-01-10T05:14:00.000-08:002024-01-10T05:14:41.690-08:00A New Omnibus<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCIarVzBZZ3bTEzN3IEKVGAeCebWB2JqtfzM66JTg5JTkWjI8D3ID9qNXAun6CrD2tnw-B3SOujprYirv26HFqrINSNGn88_7wnoIHdiYDf9-5eV4JU9w-T3pOTRm0T9mxOf2-pkaDJnYopfKjpAC2s1ZV3bcpuGgWzsTc5xuTrF56Bpe84lmQwk_S82s/s2843/Before%20&%20After%20Omnibus%20cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2843" data-original-width="1832" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCIarVzBZZ3bTEzN3IEKVGAeCebWB2JqtfzM66JTg5JTkWjI8D3ID9qNXAun6CrD2tnw-B3SOujprYirv26HFqrINSNGn88_7wnoIHdiYDf9-5eV4JU9w-T3pOTRm0T9mxOf2-pkaDJnYopfKjpAC2s1ZV3bcpuGgWzsTc5xuTrF56Bpe84lmQwk_S82s/w258-h400/Before%20&%20After%20Omnibus%20cover.jpg" width="258" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Over the weekend I released an new omnibus version of two of my novels, Some Day Days and A Summer in Amber for $.99 on Amazon. They are exclusive to Amazon. I had originally intended to release this omnibus this past summer, but the first two such omnibus versions sold only a handful of copies, so I was undecided as to whether to continue the effort or not. But now, I've decided that I have nothing to lose by doing so, so I have. I will probably release a <i>After the Solar Age Omnibus</i>, which included K<i>eiree, Beneath the Lanterns,</i> and<i> The Girl on the Kerb</i>, sometime this summer. And a final one, <i>Tales of the Tropic Sea Omnibus</i> around this time, next year.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The point of these omnibus versions is to make it a painless as possible for Amazon customers outside of the US to purchase and read my books. Only two or three of my books are not free on Amazon.com, but usually only one, if any at all, are free on non-US Amazon sites. I could, of course, reduce the list price of all my books to $.99 - I have done so in the past - but I want to keep the retail price listed at the usual indie publisher's price, just to give a sense of value. I don't know it it makes a difference or not. But that's what I settled on. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">What this experiment illustrates, however, is something we all know; readers are unlikely to find your books without advertising. Between the two current omnibus versions I've sold 13 copies in like 7 or 8 months. I don't think that's going to change, but since it only takes an hour or two of work on my part to publish them, so why not?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The more important lesson to be learned by this experiment is the value of owning your own work. You, as the owner, can try different ways to sell and/or monetize your work. A traditional publisher will print only as many copies as they think will sell, and unless they sell faster than anticipated, they will leave it at that. Oh, they'll keep an ebook and audiobook version alive, so that the retain the rights the purchased, but that's it. As the publisher of your own books, you can renew, rework and promote your entire catalog. You can put on new covers, try new prices, make boxed sets, and see what works. You don't have to give up on yourself.</span></p>Charles Litkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15182265039055575093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896160652380675241.post-57831614476734699052024-01-06T06:06:00.000-08:002024-01-06T06:06:15.967-08:00The Saturday Morning Post (No. 29)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFpG7VyizY8Btb8SqiV4lGeyp_OaYwXT3ekET9uQAfYPQ9ArwGIkc3bPVblD3XIhcdxSHXvCPyPxdZWyDg0JVPVrYCo7kYmw4YMcTxfYEcdJwaRSXhp3lAtO-cnLT-cP44NN-MF-qVfMZp579ear4W02pGPdYuEaUy6JJ4MgggDYw-aUYf6cP__tkHIhw/s1500/TopoftheBureaumfor%20Saturday%20Morning.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1085" data-original-width="1500" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFpG7VyizY8Btb8SqiV4lGeyp_OaYwXT3ekET9uQAfYPQ9ArwGIkc3bPVblD3XIhcdxSHXvCPyPxdZWyDg0JVPVrYCo7kYmw4YMcTxfYEcdJwaRSXhp3lAtO-cnLT-cP44NN-MF-qVfMZp579ear4W02pGPdYuEaUy6JJ4MgggDYw-aUYf6cP__tkHIhw/w400-h289/TopoftheBureaumfor%20Saturday%20Morning.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Seeing that I was waiting on some books from the library, and feeling like reading something new, I opened up the library website and pondered, what to search for. Since it had been a little while since I read one of those Furrowed Middlebrow books, so I searched for D E Stevenson, and lo! I found two of her books as ebooks, one I knew I hadn't read, and one, well if I did, it was likely 25 or more years ago. Both were available, so I picked both of them up. My thoughts below.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Just a note; I likely read these books back in November of 2023, as it looks like I'm about 5 weeks behind in my reviews, since I have No. 35 written already. I like the breathing room that give me, so expect more 2023 reads for the next month or so.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">My reviewer criteria.</span><i style="font-family: verdana;"> I like light, entertaining novels. I like smaller scale stories rather than epics. I like character focused novels featuring pleasant characters, with a minimum number of unpleasant ones. I greatly value clever and witty writing. I like first person, or close third person narratives. I dislike a lot of "head jumping" between POVs and flashbacks. I want a story, not a puzzle. While I am not opposed to violence, I dislike gore for the sake of gore. I find long and elaborate fight, action, and battle sequences tedious. Plot holes and things that happen for the convenience of the author annoy me. And I fear I'm a born critic in that I don't mind pointing out what I don't like in a story. However, I lay no claim to be the final arbitrator of style and taste, you need to decide for yourself what you like or dislike in a book.</i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Your opinions are always welcome. Comment below.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Note: A 2023 Read</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKmQMEvCq_BcmFcBvcKDXYi0KRQdtuhWuHDbNzAweD1KH-dkt-gvN2RpV0YskhC6rXiIHZn45xO3Z0dRl6kMkeQMKlU3huzIj_OhbKVJIbRdw7C9G_5vKvi4_O5b1Xr7jztKG271od9pnKGvhP9c05pvfBnBkMdXg008DfQnsbpeugAoEF0DSh26mgKOw/s1000/Clemintina.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="622" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKmQMEvCq_BcmFcBvcKDXYi0KRQdtuhWuHDbNzAweD1KH-dkt-gvN2RpV0YskhC6rXiIHZn45xO3Z0dRl6kMkeQMKlU3huzIj_OhbKVJIbRdw7C9G_5vKvi4_O5b1Xr7jztKG271od9pnKGvhP9c05pvfBnBkMdXg008DfQnsbpeugAoEF0DSh26mgKOw/w249-h400/Clemintina.jpg" width="249" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>The Young Clementina</i> by D E Stevenson C+</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Stevenson used an interesting approach to this story. In the beginning it is written as a long letter by the narrator, Charlette, filling in her backstory, so as to clear her mind and come to a decision on what to do with her life. She is writing this letter to an imaginary friend, someone she met briefly on a bus, had a few words with her, but always remembered her. Otherwise friendless, she sets out her dilemma in this long letter that will never be sent. It seems that she has come to as crossroads in her life, and must choose. On one hand, she has settled into a lonely, but familiar rut working in a bookshop in London. On the other hand, she has an offer to take up something new and challenging that involves not only doing something she doesn't know how to do; raise a child, but by doing so she risks opening an old and still painful heartbreak. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Some time after setting out her back story, the narrator returns to present to write a long letter this imaginary friend telling her about the ramifications of her decision.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I really hate spoilers, so there is not much more I can say, except, as you would no doubt guess, she leaves her lonely but comfortable rut and takes on the new challenge, facing the old heartbreak she had endured.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">One aspect that I find interesting about these books is their class/caste attitude. I think it must reflect either that of Mrs Stevenson's or what she thinks her readers expect. In this case, the narrator, Charlette works 9:30 to 6PM in a bookshop, I suppose 5 1/2 days a week - as one did in Britain at this time, Saturday was usually a half day of work. She can't be making a great deal of money, lives in a small one bedroom flat, and yet she still employs a woman for several, hours a day to do housework and cook supper for her. The idea of any of Stevenson's heroines keeping house or cooking themselves is well beyond the pale. Nice women, even in reduced means, still employ servants to do that sort of work.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I enjoyed the book, though I have to admit that I didn't like the ending. It was too overwrought. Plus, I predicted the end as soon as I read the circumstances of one pivotal event. Quite frankly, Molly Chavering would have had the courage to do the ending right, in my opinion. Oh well, a C+ book instead of a B one.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRGHREoVX4jRxccrvwqIgKRXU125EXkjNQYOk88BwVd3qYXJ9kfm3K-YojKsZ406Zobu-UYlXnhnlw3T5yUbgh_2f4s6-fnAL6qffAR0GXwXONPVRhkv4614fz_ylukdEZkOmpgHB5ZcjJV9UznZoAecL2uNhcCUN1ZNeMftv4kZ4XUJsUsJYEbJOLcto/s1672/mrs%20tim%202.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1672" data-original-width="1199" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRGHREoVX4jRxccrvwqIgKRXU125EXkjNQYOk88BwVd3qYXJ9kfm3K-YojKsZ406Zobu-UYlXnhnlw3T5yUbgh_2f4s6-fnAL6qffAR0GXwXONPVRhkv4614fz_ylukdEZkOmpgHB5ZcjJV9UznZoAecL2uNhcCUN1ZNeMftv4kZ4XUJsUsJYEbJOLcto/w286-h400/mrs%20tim%202.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Mrs. Tim of the Regiment</i> by D E Stevenson A</span><p></p><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">D E Stevenson writes in the forward of this book that a friend of hers, whose daughter was going to marry an officer in a Highland Regiment, wanted to know what the daughter's life would be like, ca. 1930's. Since Mrs Stevenson was married to an British Army officer, she offered to let them read her diary to get an idea of the life. When they returned it, they said that everyone had found it so funny and that she could make it into a </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">very amusing book. "It just needs to be expanded, and you could pep it up a little, couldn't you?" Stevenson, doubtful at first, decided to give it a try, and so she wrote <i>Leaves From the Diary of an Officer's Wife</i>. However, she got so carried away her fictional narrator, Hester, i.e. Mrs Tim, that she wrote a second story about her holiday in the Scottish Highlands that she called<i> Golden Days</i>. However both books were published in an omnibus version, and these days both books are published together as<i> Mrs Tim of the Regiment.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The entire book is written in the form of diary entries. In the first part of the novel, the <i>Leaves From</i>... part, features relatively brief vignettes of the various characters in her life, as a military wife. I find all the little details of daily life in the 1930's England very interesting. Here again we have what I suppose is an upper-middle class family of a British officer, one who is certainly not wealthy, and they employ a staff of 3 to look after their rented house; a cook, a maid, and a nanny to look after their two children. Their son is sent off to a boarding school at the age of 11. And they apparently think that he is perfectly capable of traveling from a small town south of London to Scotland (Glasgow I think) via trains all by himself for his school holiday. Times sure have changed. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The story becomes more than an account of everyday life in the second <i>Golden Days</i> half of the book. Hester is invited to spend a fortnight in the Highlands with a friend she made after Captain Tim was transferred to </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Scotland </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">in the first half of the book. I love stories set in Scotland, and this one is as charming as any, with a cast of interesting characters, situations, and a subtle romance at its core. I'm a sucker for romance, handled as elegantly as Stevenson did in this story.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">D E Stevenson can be a mixed bag, none really bad, at least so far, but sometimes I find them to be somewhat "cold." This one, however, was a winner for me on the strength of the</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">Golden Days of a </i><span style="font-family: verdana;">holiday in Scotland in the</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> half of the book.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></div>Charles Litkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15182265039055575093noreply@blogger.com0