#Even her debut novel had education as a plot point

[sleeppaw]

Authors and how they use their wealth

John Green: Uses his wealth to help fight tuberculosis

Rick Rhodian: Set up a publishing arm for Black, Asian, Hispanic and Indigenous authors

Andrea White: Campaigns for education and reading.

Many other authors have highlighted injustice.

Suzanne Collins: Disappeared into the woods

Then you have JK Rowling who is using her wealth to fund hate.

If I ever become a successful author, I would use my wealth to fight against injustice or pull a Suzanne Collins and disappear, only going out in public to promote a new book.

[oquinn53]

There are so many things this brings up for me, but the first thing that it made me remember was when I was working as a paint instructor for a small paint and wine place. You know, those places where the instructor teaches the public how to paint a painting, step my step, in two to three hours in a casual setting?

My boss, the owner of this business, had put me as an assistant manager where my raise for this extra work was commission. This also meant we had a lot of chats. At this job, in South Carolina, I was paid $9/hr to teach and I got 50% commission of my paintings that sold IF they sold at full price (which was $25 dollars).

There were other parts of the job besides painting and teaching, such as clean up and customer service, etc.

Context aside, the first moment I should have noticed something was off (besides the pay, when I had a Bachelor’s in design) was when her daughter (I believe she was nine at the time) came up to me and said “when are you going to get a real job?”

I looked at her, as I was working, prepping paint for people, and I said, “It is a real job. I take time to be here and practiced skills to be good at it. And I learn every day. I clean, I work the register, I help schedule events—but even if I did none of that, just painting is work.” I wasn’t the most eloquent, but I tried to tell her. She wouldn’t listen, of course, but I couldn’t blame her. She was nine and could only have been echoing what she heard.

And then there was a moment, when the owner and I were chatting. I will never forget this because those other instructors were barely paying bills, barely able to advertise their own work, and struggling in so many personal ways. The trash was forgotten, once. And the owner bitched and bitched about how artists just wanted to come here to have fun and since painting is only fun and they don’t do any of the actual work. She said she was thinking of punishment to show they needed to do more work, and that punishment was to take away commission. On the paintings WE painted. They were copies, yes, but we painted them. Our skill, our eye for detail, our education, our patience. Yes, we were paid hourly, but if the hourly was all that mattered the quality of the painting didn’t. And we were timed. If we went over, she cut hours. Which, of course, not being able to go over time meant we either clocked out and continued working or we just weren’t able to finish (hints, the trash).

All this is to say: art, writing, is WORK. And work can be joyful! Do I work another job to pay my bills even though ai’m an author and an artist? YES. Do I want to? No. I will. Those jobs aren’t beneath me at all. I used a Lyft and the driver was using that job as an extra so his wife could take care of their disabled child. It’s a skill, too. (I could never keep my car that clean, or be a functioning person at 3:30am, etc)

And another thing I would like to point out on the writing side. Writing takes TIME. It takes so many skills, but because if capitalism let’s just look at time. One of the biggest writing challenges there is: NaNoWriMo. The challenge to write 50k words in the month of November. That is a CHALLENGE. A “don’t do anything else” challenge. 1,667 words a day. And if you are thinking of a debut novel length in, say, urban fantasy, 50k is not a full length. Think more 70-90k (mine was 89k) and that is the first draft. That doesn’t include the planning, the learning of skills, the practice, the character development, the plotting—and then, after, it doesn’t include the next draft, or edits, revisions, rewrites, alpha reading, beta reading revisions, sensitivity reading revisions, and then that all doesn’t include the actual publishing part, which can go in many levels of involvement and/or money put into it.

A finalized book of 90k words took me seven years. And I did it part time, sure, because I had to work. But you know everyone who wants the next book, the next season, the sequel movie sooner?

We need time. Which means we need to get paid to produce it, and to be able to prioritize it instead of “what puts food on the table.”

I had this mentality. I went into college, going into art, expecting to be starving because that’s what everyone told me I would be. But I’m not starving because I’m relying on my art. I’m starving because I’m not paid for it fairly, and the jobs I get to supplement don’t fit my skillset.

I want to work with the skillset I have.

But I barely can, because people look at a painting that took me eight hours and offer me $40. The profit of that is $30 after supplies. So that’s 30/8. $3.75 an hour.

I know the writer’s strike doesn’t include visual artists (I hope that’s the correct terminology) but they are artists. The actors and writers are creators. They deserve to get paid for their time. And their skillset. And their passion. This mindset exists so deeply, that you shouldn’t get paid if you enjoy it, but does that mean people, in general, should be miserable to accept their skillset or occupation?

I still find myself wanting to give friends my art for free, but they pay me still, because they support me and know how hard I work.

I 100% back the strike. I will gladly wait and be happy, in the future, when I know they’re getting paid fairly.

(Thank you, Neil Gaiman)

I'm sorry Neil, although I love your writing and agree with your opinions on most subjects I have to disagree with you on the writers' strike. No-one should have a more privileged life as a result of being clever and creative. I worked from the age of 15 to the age of 65 in low-paid jobs, taking 1 year off to go to drama school and 3 years off to get a fine art degree. I worked in terrible but necessary jobs, labouring, stacking boxes, unloading trucks, running errands, filing, going to work on a bicycle at all hours of the day and night on shift work in all kinds of weather. Even when I was a student I was still working in part-time cleani8ng jobs and even during periods of unemployment I worked in volunteer jobs for charities and social services.

According to Mensa I have an IQ of 160 and according to Plymouth University I have a BA hons in Fine Art but I cannot accept the idea that writers and other creative people should avoid normal jobs like driving an "Uber" or working in an office/shop/factory/construction site. To accept that idea would be to create a new aristocratic class when we should abolishing the old princes and aristocrats.

What we need, I feel sure, is a redistribution of labour so that everybody who can do so would spend some time each year in blue collar work and everybody who can would get higher education and a chance to make art of one sort or another.

The idea of doing other jobs to supplement writing or drawing shouldn't be seen as a terrible thing, a punishment or a suffering. Sharing the jobs around should be seen as normal.

I mean, I've done my half century of sweat labour and it didn't hurt me too much. I'm retired now and still making art of various kinds and I've never asked anyone to pay me for any art piece I've made. making art, writing, drawing etc. is the fun stuff which we get to do in exchange for the blue collar stuff which puts food on the table.

The worst pop song ever written was Sting/Dire Straits song "Money for Nothing" which ridicules the working class from a position of educational privilege.

So what's my question? My question is: What's wrong with a writer doing other jobs to make ends meet? Sounds perfectly fine to me.

Nothing's wrong with a writer doing other jobs to make ends meet. Writers and artists have been doing that since the dawn of time. Actors too.

But by the same token, there's nothing right about assuming that writing isn't a blue-collar job, or that writers and other people who make art can only make it for love and that thus they need other jobs to subsidise their craft.

I like living in a world in which the people who make the things that make the world worth living in get paid for their work. For me, that includes the people who make films and TV, books, art and music and comics.

Having spent a lot of time on film and TV sets, it's a blue-collar world on set, and everyone is working long and hard to make the shows you love. I'm never going to suggest that the riggers or the gaffers or the make-up team or the focus-pullers should drive ubers in order to have the privilege of being on the set and working there.

Or to put it another way, from the most blue-collar writer I ever knew...

[pintsizeddeepthoughts]

The Top Ten Books I Read in 2023

Beginning Educator: Navigating a Second Year in Teaching - Tim Clark

Written by my favorite teacher from high school and published posthumously, this collection of newspaper columns is balm to an educator’s soul. With wit and economy, Clark captures the tempest of emotions teachers go through on a daily or (sometimes) a class by class basis. Never before had I run into a book that captures what life as an educator is really like.

This Other Eden - Paul Harding

Harding’s debut novel Tinkers is a top ten book for me - lyrical, elegant, and unapologetically New England. Harding’s third book is more of the same, only with melancholy tinged with rage. Based on a shameful chapter in Maine’s history, Harding’s story breaths life into a community on the periphery and gives it back its dignity.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold - Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Somewhere in Japan there’s a cafe where you can travel into the past. However, there are rules. Lots of rules. Originally written as a play (and it reads like one), this novel has an irresistible premise that drives a beautifully character driven plot that slowly builds to an aching, moving crescendo that overcomes the flaws in its craft. I haven’t been able to stop think about it for weeks.

Writers & Lovers - Lily King

Set in a specific time (the 90s) and a very specific place (Cambridge, Mass.), King’s story captures a woman at a crossroads and in crisis - some of her own making, some not. At times I felt seen while reading this. The rest of the time I was enthralled with King’s empathetic, conversational style.

Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel

In the words of Bill Adama of Battlestar Galactica, "it’s not just enough to survive, one must be worthy or survival.” In a world where over 90% of the population perishes in a flu epidemic, a traveling troupe of actors goes from town to town putting on Shakespeare for the shattered remnants of civilization - refusing to let the light of art die out. There’s more to the story, of course - one that Mandel writes with grace and impressive depth; it’s a rare post-apochalytic novel that offers a glimmer of hope because people chose hope.

Moon of the Crusted Snow - Waubgeshig Rice

What would happen if the electricity suddenly went out for good? We’ve seen that story before. What we haven’t seen before is that story from a Native American perspective. A story about the clash of individualism and communalism and of resiliency and reclamation, Rice has a gift of brining a new lens to a familiar situation. I cannot wait to read the sequel when it comes to the U.S.

We Took to the Woods - Louise Dickinson Rich

A Maine classic that can be found in many a cabin, this autobiography of a sort presents a side of Maine few people outside of the state know. This chronicle of life deep in the Maine woods with her husband and infant son struck a chord with me because of my own family history. The attitudes, ethos, and worldview had me nodding as I read - hearing a world that was at once distant and achingly close whisper in my ear.

We Need to Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver

Simply the most disturbing book I’ve red in years. Shriver excels at creating a sense of foreboding. You see the train wreck coming and at certain points I almost screamed in frustration for someone to do something. No one in this story is an angel, which only makes things worse. Even now, as I write this, I feel the creepiness tingling in my skin.

Aftermath: The Remnant of War - Donovan Webster

Who cleans up the battlefield after the battle is over? Webster travels the world to find this out. His opening chapter where he helps dig up artillery shells from the battlefields of the First World War, a harvest of iron almost a century old that has no end in sight. It doesn’t get any easier from there and it’s as good an argument as any that the destructiveness of war cannot be contained. 

The World Without Us - Alan Weisman

How long would it take for what we’ve built to disappear if we suddenly did? If Thanos did his snap twice and we all were gone, how long would our house last? Our bridges? Our monuments? This is a very meditative book is at once depressing and oddly hopeful. I didn’t finish the book with a sense of dread but rather a sense of appreciation for what we’ve built and the knowledge that everything is reversible given time. 

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

Review: Social Queue by Kay Kerr Rating: 4/5        #LoveOzYA

“Living each day in survival mode doesn’t leave a lot of space for contemplation.”

Zoe Kelly is tired of only experiencing romance second-hand but dating is hard when you combine a complete lack of experience with autism and anxiety. Writing about this struggle at her internship for an online magazine, Zoe discovers that there have been times in the past when people have been interested in her, she just didn't quite notice. So she's taking a stroll down memory lane to figure out how she missed the signs and what she can do to make sure love doesn't pass her by again.

All aboard the Kay Kerr train! This was leagues ahead of her debut, Please Don't Hug Me, with a much tighter plot, a wonderfully well-developed protagonist and a much more confident stance on how disabled people deserve to be treated by the people around them.

What struck me most about Social Queue is that it’s a perfect reminder of how much extra effort and work disabled people have to put in just to meet the (usually pointless) standards of able-bodied people. To navigate social situations, to meet expectations about how to present yourself, to cope with negative emotions and experiences. The world weighs so much more heavily when you experience it differently and Kerr does an excellent job of portraying that with Zoe.

But having said that, I did wonder why Zoe never figures out - on her own or with guidance from her supposedly supportive friends and family - that she doesn’t have to live up to the standards of able-bodied, neurotypical society. She doesn’t have to have the perfect dates and meet “the one”. She doesn’t need to shower and do her make-up and dress perfectly for every single occasion. She’s allowed to say when something or someone bothers her. She’s allowed to be daunted by the idea of conflict or arguing. She’s allowed to get things wrong and not be made to feel foolish or ashamed. I was waiting for her to realise that but the turning point never came.

Another turning point that never came was that Maia, Zoe's colleague who keeps writing ableist articles, never acknowledges and apologises for the articles she wrote and then made Zoe read and fix. If I was in Zoe's position, being forced to read and edit ableist news stories for a colleague, I would expect my corrections to lead to some sort of actual change but we never hear Maia's thoughts on Zoe's notes and attempts to educate her. I really would've loved a scene where Maia even just thanks Zoe for her help and apologises for her mistakes but instead, Zoe is loaded up with this emotional labour and never gets to debrief about it.

Luckily, the romance is pretty cute even if Zoe and her beau getting together is a little rushed and convoluted. I also loved that Zoe questions her sexuality for the first time during the course of the book! I really related to the whole "I just said I liked boys because I thought I was supposed to" situation she experienced as a teenager and I loved seeing her open herself up to the idea of being something other than straight (even though that little story thread kind of got lost in the dust as well).

An engaging, thoughtful novel about navigating the world of romance with some important disability rep and a lovely romance. I just wish all the storylines had been tied up a bit more neatly.

Warnings: misogyny, ableism, anxiety, panic attacks and one scene involving police brutality.

[mediaeval-muse]

Book Review

In Search of Scandal. By Susanne Lord. Sourcebooks, 2015.

Rating: 2/5 stars

Genre: historical romance

Part of a Series? Yes, London Explorers #1

Summary: All of London is abuzz with the tale of Will Repton. The lone survivor of a massacre in Tibet has returned to England a hero, but the traumatized explorer has no time for glory. Another dangerous expedition awaits. Nothing will deter him from his quest, and no one will unearth his secret—until Will meets Charlotte Baker. Vivacious Charlotte Baker also has a mission—to find a man whose bold spirit matches her own. When she meets Will Repton, she immediately recognizes him as her soul mate, and she’s naively willing to turn her back on the rules of propriety to ensnare him. Will is torn between his fascination with Charlotte and his vow to finish his quest. He knows what it is to risk life and limb—but what if his most perilous adventure doesn’t lie across an ocean, but within his own lost heart?

***Full review under the cut.***

Content Warnings: graphic sexual content, poisoning, physical assault (not sexual), near miscarriage; mentions of: disemboweling, blood, violence, corpses, murder (including the murder of children)

Overview: I will admit that I felt a little uneasy going into this book. Seeing “a massacre in Tibet” in the summary gave me the impression that there could be some Orientalism (or, if not, some straight up depictions of racism), but since my favorite romance author blurbed and recommended it, I decided to give it a try anyway. I can’t speak to the book’s treatment of China and Tibet, though given the history of Victorian imperialism, it felt somewhat “accurate” here; I didn’t get the impression that the region was over-exoticized, though it was treated as a subject of curiosity and characters bring back “artifacts.” I suppose it wasn’t too bad, given the book’s setting, but I still don’t know how I feel about the whole massacre subplot. That aside, the author’s prose was well-crafted, which was impressive for a debut novel. My main reason for giving this book a middling rating, therefore, had less to do with the premise or writing craft and more to do with the characters and the romance itself. I had a hard time rooting for the main couple, and I wish Lord had spent less time forcing them into awkward situations that made for a tumultuous love story and more time exploring characterization and meaningful connection. As it stands, this book receives an average rating from me, but I would be interested to see if (and how) Lord improves in her future books.

Writing: Lord’s prose is surprisingly well-crafted for a debut novel, achieving a nice balance between description and exposition using a straight-forward style that is characteristic of many romances. While Lord’s prose is easy to read, it doesn’t lack fun flourishes, vivid imagery, and compelling figurative language, when appropriate.

I do wish, however, that Lord had been more attentive to how she crafted the scenes in her book. Many individual scenes felt like they were drawn out for no reason other than to provide Charlotte and Will with a chance to encounter one another, which is fine, except that they didn’t really build on one another to create a meaningful progression in the protagonists’ relationship. They seemed rather like a series of awkward moments, following a pattern in which they would awkwardly try to make conversation, get to a point where they were feeling comfortable around one another, do something like kiss or have a sexual encounter, and then Will would push Charlotte away, usually by insisting that he’s not good for her, that he is going on his expedition no matter what, etc. which would upset Charlotte. They would part, and Will would do something to try to make up for his behavior, and the process would start again in the next scene. It was somewhat cyclical and even frivolous at times - many of Will and Charlotte’s encounters didn’t quite end with the two developing as characters or as a couple, and I wish Lord had built her encounters on something more substantial.

On the flip side, this book was also missing scenes that could have helped with characterization. We’re told, for example, that Will has nightmares, but we’re never shown him having one until very late in the book. Having a scene earlier (not necessarily the beginning) might have helped establish why his expedition was so important to him, while also revealing something about his personality that informs his behavior in his encounters with Charlotte.

Plot: The plot of this novel basically follows Charlotte, a well-educated woman entering her third season, as she attempts to find a husband that will accept her family, and Will, a man attempting to raise money to go back to Tibet to make amends for a role he played in a violent encounter. Charlotte’s predicament in itself was very compelling; torn between wanting to be accepted by London’s upper class Society and her love for her family, she struggles to find a husband that will simultaneously make her happy but also raise the status (and thus, social security) of her brother and sister. I do wish Lord had put more emphasis on this aspect of the plot, and perhaps let it be a defining characteristic of Charlotte’s personal growth. Charlotte is torn between selfish desire and doing what she thinks she must for her loved ones, and I think there was a lot of room in there for an exploration of, say, women’s self-effacement in the name of “duty” or “responsibility,” or even more of an exploration of the hypocrisy of Society.

Will’s plot is a bit less compelling. Though we do see moments when he is meeting with potential investors to fund his second expedition into Tibet (and China, by extension), it never feels urgent. While the expedition holds a lot of personal significance for Will, so much is shrouded in mystery that it was difficult to see the stakes of going versus not going, and I personally didn’t care whether Will stayed in London or traveled abroad. I think revealing more to the reader could have helped with this, and the climax of the novel could have been less focused on revealing Will’s involvement with the massacre to the reader and more on revealing it to Charlotte.

In terms of the romantic plot, I’ll discuss that in more detail below, but I will say here that a lot of the drama felt manufactured. Every situation seemed set up to throw the main couple together, allowing them to express their physical attraction while still allowing Will to be obstinate about getting emotionally involved. I especially didn’t find the marriage of convenience compelling, nor anything that happens afterward, and I wish Lord had spent more time thinking about what the conflicts in the relationship might look like if it were built on something other than Will’s own stubbornness.

Characters: Charlotte, our heroine, is something of a social butterfly. She attracts people to her and is beloved by almost everyone, and she always has something to say to fill gaps in the conversation. While I did like that she was very agentive, pursuing her desires and doing what she wanted despite what was considered “proper,” I did think some of her more interesting characteristics were overshadowed by her obsession with Society and her single-minded pursuit of Will. Lord writes of how Charlotte reads Will’s more scientific reports by begging her brother to acquire copies from the Geographical Society, which is exclusive to men. Charlotte also meets with a group of women weekly, and Lord mentions that part of what guides their conversation is the fear of men seeing them as “too intellectual.” I honestly think Charlotte’s character could have been better served by having her thirst for exploration and knowledge denied to her by her gender competing with her desire to provide for her family by marrying well. It would have presented an interesting conflict for when Will comes along, who has traveled and seen the world, but doesn’t hold the social sway of a duke or earl.

Will, for his part, wasn’t an enjoyable character. He spends much of the book speaking gruffly to others, and when he’s not wallowing in self-loathing, he was saying things to Charlotte that were at best awkward and at worst cruel. He starts out reserved, but quickly grows possessive, and his temper could become violent. His main saving grace is that he’s attentive - he brings Charlotte the flowers she likes when all other suitors ignore her preferences, and he notices the care she puts into things like her appearance. But other than that, I did not find him likable, and my sympathy for his on account of his trauma ran out quickly.

Supporting characters were a bit more enjoyable to read. I liked the bond that Charlotte had with her brother, Wally, and wish more was done to showcase their closeness. I also liked that Charlotte’s sister, Lucy, married for love, and despite being socially shunned, their happiness seems to set the bar for what Charlotte wants in her relationship. I would have liked to see some of the main, unimportant scenes between Charlotte and Will cut and more scenes devoted to Charlotte’s relationship with her family, and perhaps even more done with Wally, whose sexuality caused the family to fall from grace in the first place. Perhaps if Wally had a subplot where he finds happiness again would have been a nice compliment to Charlotte’s arc of defying Society for the sake of her passions.

The antagonist, however, was not nearly so intriguing. Starting as one of Charlotte’s admirers, he quickly becomes over-the-top evil when rejected. I guess powerful men can be reactionary when it comes to not getting their way, especially if they’re sexist to begin with, but I just didn’t care for the conflict with the villain. I was much more intrigued by the possibilities of the protagonists’ inner conflicts.

Other: As I mentioned above, I had a hard time rooting for Charlotte and Will as a couple. Charlotte admits to imagining herself with Will before they even meet, and her reaction to him when they do come face-to-face for the first time is something like insta-love. For the majority of the book, Charlotte’s one-sided love for Will and pursuit of him despite his behavior towards her feels juvenile. It felt a lot like hero worship or a celebrity crush, and even though Charlotte says she becomes disillusioned with him and sees Will as a person, the fact that she sticks around when he’s acting like a jerk did not endear me to her or their relationship.

Will, for his part, seems to fall in love with Charlotte for no reason other than she’s pretty, and even though he’s attentive to her favorite things, I couldn’t see what Charlotte saw in him. He constantly pushes her away and says or does things to upset her, including directing his unattractive anger at her, and I was wishing that Charlotte would just cut her losses and find someone better. I think their dynamic could have worked if more focus was placed on Will’s social awkwardness rather than his self-imposed denial of romantic affection. For example, if he’s shy and awkward in Society, maybe Charlotte’s social personality draws him out of his isolation and allows him to connect with people. Maybe her influence also allows him to attract investors, and he finds himself so impressed by her abilities and support for his expedition that he finds it harder and harder to leave. Something more than the manufactured drama that makes every interaction between the two feel cyclical.

Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in historical romance (especially set in Victorian England), 19th century exploration, botany, love triangles, and marriages of convenience.

[aion-rsa]

Hamilton and 10 Other Ways to Watch the American Revolution

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Hamilton will debut on Disney+ on July 3rd, the start of a long holiday weekend. The Walt Disney Company paid good money for the Broadway phenomenon, a reported $75 million for the rights to the film, which features performances by the original cast (we wrote a primer on the cast and where they are now).

If you’re healthily avoiding crowds and already had your fill of fireworks, here are 10 more movies and TV shows that explore the American Revolution from different angles. 

1776 (1972)

Making the Founding Fathers sing was truly revolutionary when Sherman Edwards’s musical debuted on Broadway in 1969. The plot traced how the Second Continental Congress decided on independence; there are lots of fun character moments but really no other story. After the show won the Tony for Best Musical, Hollywood mogul Jack Warner hired most of the cast and director Peter Hunt to make a movie. Then Warner cut a big production number (now restored) to please President Nixon. This is John Adams’s view of history, so he’s the hero and John Dickinson the antagonist—but Dickinson still comes off better than eminent jurist James Wilson. Recognizing 1776 as an inspiration, Lin-Manuel Miranda gave the song “Sit Down, John!” a shout-out in Hamilton.

More of This: For rollicking fun in the 1700s, everybody should see Tom Jones, the 1963 film by Tony Richardson that made Albert Finney a global star.

April Morning (1988) and The Crossing (1999)

Howard Fast, proud leftist author of Spartacus, published April Morning as a novel about the Battle of Lexington and Concord and The Crossing as a nonfiction account of the Battle of Trenton. Now we recognize both as historical fiction. Fast’s robust stories were adapted into television movies with stellar leads: Tommy Lee Jones played a Lexington farmer guiding his teen-aged son in 1988, and Jeff Daniels portrayed Gen. George Washington trying to get across the Delaware in 2000.

More of This: In 1984 and 1986, CBS dramatized the life of George Washington over 10 hours. Barry Bostwick played George and Patty Duke Astin played Martha, so they got the height differential right.

The Book of Negroes

At the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783, British authorities evacuated thousands of Loyalists of African descent to Canada. The names of free black refugees were recorded in a document labeled “The Book of Negroes,” and Canadian novelist Lawrence Hill borrowed that title. (In the U.S., his book was retitled Someone Knows My Name.) In 2015 Hill turned his award-winning novel into a six-episode miniseries with writer-director Clement Virgo. This globe-spanning story follows a woman kidnapped in Niger, enslaved in South Carolina, and evacuated to Nova Scotia; she then returns to Africa to help found Sierra Leone. The Book of Negroes thus explores personal and political liberty, war, and nation-building—but not confined to the U.S.

More of This: The 1990 biopic Divided Loyalties profiles Joseph Brant, leader of Britain’s Mohawk allies during the Revolutionary War. Why do we see such side-eye on the American Revolution from Canada? Oh, yeah… 

The Devil’s Disciple

It’s always fun to watch Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas work together, enjoying each other’s company and trying to steal scenes. How about adding Laurence Olivier to the mix as real-life British general and playwright John Burgoyne? All in a 1959 adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s first successful play, set in upstate New York during the crucial 1777 campaign. You might think the battle scenes acted out by wooden dolls are the most unrealistic part of this film, but wait till Lancaster blows up a room full of redcoats and stays on his feet. Because he’s Burt Lancaster, dammit!

More of This: To be frank, John Ford’s 1939 adaptation of Drums Along the Mohawk with Claudette Colbert and Henry Fonda is a better Hollywood movie set in upstate New York during the Revolution, but a more conventional one. 

John Adams

HBO’s seven-hour miniseries from 2008 remains the gold standard for Revolutionary drama because of the terrific acting by Paul Giamatti as John Adams and Laura Linney as Abigail Adams. The screenplay throws John into the center of events even more than his own autobiography did, and historical shortcuts often shortchange the facts. But the smart, cantankerous, high-minded spirit of the Adamses shines through.

More of This: Back in 1976, PBS covered the same ground in its thirteen-episode series The Adams Chronicles, which continued into the next two generations. Compare and contrast. 

Liberty’s Kids

PBS, DIC Entertainment, and a slew of celebrity voices taught Gen. Z about America’s Revolution in this 40-episode animated cartoon. Three years before Avatar: The Last Airbender debuted, this series showed a bunch of teens navigating a world at war. The young heroes managed to go almost everywhere the action was, and also not to age much between 1773 and 1789.

More of This: For another animated take, seek out Disney’s 1953 short “Ben and Me.” To see teens caught up in the start of the Revolution, Disney also offers Johnny Tremain from 1957. Even better, read the novels by Robert Lawson and Esther Forbes. 

Mary Silliman’s War

This is undoubtedly the most historically accurate film about life during the Revolutionary War. Mary Silliman was a housewife in Fairfield, Connecticut. Her husband was a militia officer imprisoned by the British, and she pursued his release while managing their farm and evading a Royal Navy attack. Educated and pious, Silliman kept a journal, which Joy Day Buel and Richard Buel, Jr., studied to write The Way of Duty. That biography was the basis of this independent drama from 1994 directed by Stephen Surjik, whose more recent work includes episodes of Daredevil and The Umbrella Academy.

More of This: The 1997 documentary A Midwife’s Tale dramatizes crucial moments in the life of midwife Martha Ballard while focusing on how historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich recreated that life from the bare bones of Ballard’s post-Revolutionary diary. 

Revolution

After making the so-very-British Chariots of Fire, very-British Hugh Hudson turned in 1985 to the American War for Independence. And he cast not-at-all-British Al Pacino and Nastassja Kinski as British colonists caught up in the fighting, plus Canadian Donald Sutherland as a sadistic British sergeant. The result was widely derided as an epic mess, but there are some powerful visual sequences. Hudson later made a director’s cut that’s unusual in being 10 minutes shorter than the original version, as well as more coherent.

More of This: The next time Hollywood tried a Revolutionary War epic with a foreign-born director, Roland Emmerich delivered The Patriot, starring Mel Gibson. Such an invincible hero, such cartoonish villains, such whitewashing of the period’s sticky issues—it made Revolution look better.

Sweet Liberty

This 1986 comedy by Alan Alda hinged on the making of a movie about the 1781 Battle of Cowpens. Alda played a local professor and reenactor trying to stand up for historical accuracy. Michele Pfeiffer and Michael Caine were over-the-top actors come to South Carolina to star in the movie within the movie, and Saul Rubinek and Bob Hoskins played the crass filmmakers. It’s a mild satire of Hollywood clashing with genuine folk, but dedicated eighteenth-century reenactors who trained the troops in The Patriot say this film is the most accurate reflection of their experience.

More of This: For real drama behind Revolutionary reenactments, check out Nyier Abdou and Adya Beasley’s 39-minute documentary Being George on YouTube.

Turn: Washington’s Spies

From 2014 to 2017, this 40-episode AMC series told a highly fictionalized account of the Culper Spy Ring that operated on Long Island, slipping information from British-occupied New York to the American command. Later seasons covered Benedict Arnold’s betrayal and carried through to Yorktown. Though most of the main characters were inspired by real people, only Ian Kahn’s portrayal of George Washington felt deeply rooted in history. But adherence to the documentary record wasn’t the point of Turn—melodrama was, and the plot twists and romantic entanglements are many.

More of This: For more eighteenth-century melodrama, check out the 2013 filming of Moonfleet on Amazon. (But beware: The website offers cast info about Fritz Lang’s 1955 version instead.) 

The post Hamilton and 10 Other Ways to Watch the American Revolution appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/38rGftS

[alexsfictionaddiction]

Review: Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid

I am always intrigued by an insightful debut novel and Such A Fun Age was pitched as ‘a page-turning and big-hearted story about race and privilege’, which put Candice Carty-Williams’ Queenie in mind. So I was very excited when I was accepted for it on NetGalley.

The novel follows 25-year-old babysitter Emira Tucker, who is about to be kicked off of her parents’ health insurance when she reaches her 26th birthday, so she needs to find a ‘grown-up’ job with benefits. She works for the glamorous Alix Chamberlain, whose mission to empower young women everywhere leaves her unable to take care of her two-year-old daughter Briar, which Emira is only too happy to do. When Emira is confronted by a security guard in a supermarket while looking after Briar one night, Alix is determined to do everything she can to help make things right. Then Emira begins dating someone new and an unexpected link is made between the two women that threatens to undo everything.

‘Emira didn’t love doing anything but she didn’t particularly mind doing anything either.’

As a woman in her late twenties who has never been particularly ambitious, it has been a while since I related to a character as much as I relate to Emira. For the past few years, so many contemporary novels have been driven by young go-getting women with an active agenda of bettering themselves professionally. While they’re very inspirational and great fun to read, I’ve never found them very relatable. I’d actually like to thank Reid for finally representing the girls who just want a happy simple life and not much else.

Almost the entire plot is driven by racial difference and there is so much wise and profound social commentary. I’ve read a few books that focus on contemporary black issues and my eyes are opened a little wider each time. In the above passage, Emira is considering her future with her boyfriend Kelley. She knows that as a white person, it wouldn’t cross his mind to educate their children on the things that would affect them as mixed-race people, which is a huge indication of how different their experience of life and the world is. 

The book also explores the question of what family is and the difficulties of bringing an outsider into it. As a life-long privileged person, Alix has always had help around the house and she likes to consider those that work for her as family. After the incident at the supermarket, Alix is so ashamed that she spends most of the first half of the book trying to absorb Emira into the family unit. However noble her intentions seem, she makes several misjudgements and fails to notice the inherent differences between what she wants and what’s best for Emira. During her above exchange with Briar, Emira points out that families always consist of people who are essentially equal. She is smart enough to know that she couldn’t possibly be a true part of the family because of her position and the fact that her skin colour means she isn’t considered a true equal.

Emira’s relationship with Briar is one of my favourite aspects of the book. The chatty, curious two-year-old is hilarious and the conversations that Emira has with her are so heart-warming. The final chapter brought tears to my eyes when I realised that Briar is, of course, forever changed for the better because of the time she spent with Emira. She’ll always have a part of her babysitter with her throughout her life, even though she may not necessarily remember her. This gives a strong bittersweet flavour to the ending, which is otherwise incredibly triumphant and satisfying.

Such A Fun Age is a fantastic mature coming-of-age story that actually has the pace and tone of a thriller in places. It’s a charming, thoughtful debut that I couldn’t put down -ideal for fans of clever, contemporary fiction.

[rebeccaheyman]

reading + listening 10.05.20

We Can Only Save Ourselves (Alison Wisdom), eBook, ARC (pub date February 2021). The comp titles cited in the market copy are totally on-point (Little Fires Everwhere/The Girls/The Virgin Suicides), but I’d also say readers who loved ASK AGAIN, YES and/or BIG LITTLE LIES should have this title on their radar. My four-star review on NetGalley:

Alison Wisdom's tension-filled, haunting debut, WE CAN ONLY SAVE OURSELVES, exposes the dark underbelly of sunny, safe suburbia. When Alice, a native daughter of wholesome Anywhere, USA, decides to follow a mysterious stranger to a decidedly less-wholesome bungalow filled with lost girls, she leaps feet-first into a version of the wider world that puts her very identity at risk.

WE CAN ONLY SAVE OURSELVES is narrated in first person plural, a la The Virgin Suicides or Then We Came To The End. The neighborhood's mothers keep one foot on their front lawns, even as they follow Alice beyond the confines of the old familiar places; the results are as enigmatic as they are specific -- propulsive, even as the distance between "us" and "her" grows. Like all parents, the narrative chorus has eyes everywhere -- "a superpower we gained as we transformed from women into mothers."

The novel drew me along with stunning prose, deftly drawn characters, and a looming sense of impending dread that made it impossible to look away. For all the qualities that sustain it, WE CAN ONLY SAVE OURSELVES reserves one of its finest features for last: it ends perfectly, and in the perfect place. It's so rare to find a novel that says everything that needs saying, but also leaves unsaid a single extraneous word, but this one does it -- and beautifully.

[I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

A Deadly Education (Naomi Novik), aBook (narr. Anisha Dadia). It’s not a stretch to say I am o b s e s s e d with UPROOTED -- so I’ve had this newest title from Naomi Novik on my radar for some time. Friends, it does not disappoint. NINTH HOUSE meets The Winternight Trilogy meets THE HUNGER GAMES in a vividly realized, voice-driven story that will have you pining, probably not for the first time, for the chance to abandon life as you know it and go to wizard school. 

Our heroine, Galadriel, is destined to be a Dark Queen and prophesied to reap destruction within the magical community, but she’s fighting her baser instincts to walk a path more aligned with her mother’s more inclusive, love-and-light mentality. This struggle makes life at the Scholomance even harder for El than it usually is -- and it’s usually deadly.

I don’t like to get mired in plot specific in these reviews, but suffice it to say A DEADLY EDUCATION boasts all the thoughtful, detail-rich world-building you’ll find in Novik’s other works, along with a powerful, snarky, savvy heroine; a well-drawn secondary cast; compelling conflict in both episodic mini-arcs and myth-building arcs that will carry through the remainder of the trilogy; and a school that is literally trying to kill its students. It was a fantastic romp from start to finish and I’m already looking forward to a relisten/reread when book 2 comes out. 

Anisha Dadia, who I’ve not had the pleasure of listening to previously, knocked this out of the park. Her tone and style remind me a lot of Priya Ayyar, which is high praise in my book.

Angel in the Devil’s Arms (Palace of Rogues, book 2) (Julie Anne Long), eBook. I discovered the first book in this series when Libro.fm featured it in their September Kiss Club recommendations, and the second installment does not disappoint! Julie Anne Long’s style is in line with Tessa Dare or Courtney Milan, in the sense that she gives equal weight and detail to the external, non-romantic elements of the plot as she does to internal/emotional/romance-driven elements. ANGEL takes us back to the Grand Palace on the Thames, where the mysterious return of Lord Bolt sends Angelique’s world into a tizzy. The prodigal viscount is back in London for revenge, but his plans go sideways once love is in the mix. Crossing my fingers that the third book-in-series, due in May 2021, shows up on NetGalley sooner over later.

One to Watch (Kate Stayman-London), eBook. I’ve been trying to up my intake of body-positive fiction lately (and if you are too, please add IT’S BEEN A PLEASURE, NONI BLAKE and ACT YOUR AGE, EVE BROWN to your TBR immediately), so ONE TO WATCH was naturally on my radar. The premise here is that a Bachelorette-style reality TV program casts a plus-size fashion blogger, Bea Schumacher, in the starring role. Stayman-London moves far beyond this premise, though, by integrating public and private media responses to the program itself within the text; blog posts, blog comments, tweets, text threads, Slack chats -- the intertextual input is strong throughout, but the meta-commentary never feels forced or frivolous. I’ve been pushing my authors to utilize intertext more thoughtfully in the past couple years, so I was especially glad to see it done beautifully here.

There’s so much to love about ONE TO WATCH: the portrayal of dynamic female friendships; fat rep, yes, but also authentic-feeling racial, asexual/aromantic, and nonbinary rep; deep exploration of the mental and emotional impact of cultural fatphobia; thoughtful exploration of what it means to find love after the emotional trauma of failed romance; and so much more. I confess that I’ve never been able to stomach Bachelor/Bachelorette-style shows, which I find hopelessly awkward and dull, so I was a tad skeptical about this book -- but ONE TO WATCH moves far beyond its core premise, and is 1000% more interesting than the shows it uses as a reference point. I’m already looking forward to Stayman-London’s next book [insert cheeky “she’s one to watch” pun].

The Perils of Pleasure: Pennyroyal Green book 1 (Julie Anne Long), aBook (narr. Justine Eyre). I wanted to dive into Julie Anne Long’s backlist after enjoying the Palace of Rogues titles so much. Her 11-part Pennyroyal Green series seemed like the right place to start. Once again, Long provides a juicy, twisty non-romance plot to bolster the slow-burn romance between our leads -- who meet when Madeline orchestrates an eleventh-hour rescue from the gallows for the falsely-accused Colin. This was satisfying enough, but things got rushed in Act III, and ultimately the resolution of the external plot relied overmuch on one character monologuing at length to reveal all. I’ll keep listening eventually, though I don’t feel compelled to inhale the series all in one go; skeptics like myself will recall that Kleypas’s Ravenels series starts with a middling book 1, but delivers some seriously satisfying plot (and romance) as the series progresses. I’ve got other titles queued up for listening next week, but I’ll circle back to Pennyroyal Green in the near future.

[meetmitsui]

Congratulations, 2017 Survivor!

The best part about 2017 is that you gave it your best shot. 😌👌🏼 Yes, tables turned. Plot twists happened; LIFE happened. 🙂 Reaching breakthroughs nearly broke you, stepping off your comfort zone felt almost like the worst idea, letting go of certain things barely had you moving forward, but guess what? You’re still here, alive and ready to conquer the next decade. You’re still here reading this post along with the rest of the year-in reviews on social media. This however, is not a #2017bestnine post, sorry. 😅😂✌🏻 Perhaps more like a proud congratulatory message from an ordinary human being who survived the year of seeding and reaping just like you did. 😎👍🏻#thuglife For some reason, 2017 was indeed a year of absolute crunch if not for all, maybe for the most of us. Let me walk you through this year’s highlights. From a forex trader’s perspective, the Brexit event welcomed the year with a crash on the British Pound. This sent trading charts on disarray until almost half of Q3. Also, Trump happened... need I mention what kind of Trump actually happened? Oh yeah, tensions on war here (China), tensions on war there (North Korea), tensions on war everywhere. Anyway, so the Federal Reserve also hiked interest rates 3 times this year; enough to send the dollar to Mars. But then again, Trump happened in between (ha ha ha, but may Trump supporters take no offense) and as Janet Yellen said before she left office, the fundamentals are supportive of growth and increasing rates is still appropriate. Oil prices hit new highs and boy, of course, #bitcoin... BITCOIN made history! 🤯💸 I’ve never considered it as an investment, but well it’s a highlight yesteryear so let me give credit to where it’s due. Congratulations to those who made profits or earned valuable lessons from the heavy market waves, and all the best to your 2018 investment journeys! 🙌🏻 Meanwhile, Juan de la Cruz could be crying out “Why can’t we let the yearend event pass without a single record of damage from typhoons?!”. Urduha, Vinta, you guys happy now? Well, that’s just the tail of a long list of highlights from every Filipino citizen’s 2017 diary. Why? Well, starting today we ought to be watching our hard-earned cash flush down the drain for the new tax schedules. Too negative in context, sorry but I just really hope the government’s “Build, build, build” program would be implemented as presented to the trusting (even in blind sight) public. If the program delivers (in the next five years) then I’ll wholeheartedly salute this administration. Ikaw na bahala sa pera namin, Tatay Digong! 😅 Moreover, this year we almost lost our life-changing tech advancements. I’m talking about Grab and Uber, but I’m just happy you managed to settle issues and stay in business. At least you can still keep helping Pinoys in their daily exodus (of commuting) and you can still keep saving lives from the wonderful world of random, choosy, abusive, unpredictably unsafe cab drivers. Well done, Grab & Uber! We didn’t lose you, however we lost Angkas & Wunder Carpool just like we lost someone’s hand when MRT messed up once out of the countless times it messed up this year. So let’s take this moment to reminisce our escapes from traffic (with Angkas) and our environmentally friendly acts (with Wunder Carpool, while eliminating the number of cars in the streets and their carbon emissions)... R.I.P. Angkas and Wunder Carpool App 😔 Let’s not forget the nationwide teleseryes we’ve actually casted in without us knowing. Mocha Uson’s role stood out as she escalated (way too) quickly from being an icon of fake news to being an epitome of dedication in service to Filipinos (specially when she entered law school). But still, let’s give her a chance, we’ll never know how much things can change for her and the (fake or not) news she’s had the power to infuse in our unsuspecting minds, sarcasm aside. One other plot in our nationwide teleserye also picked sizable interest from the public. Remember the sensational pre-debut shoot in the Malacanang Palace? Of course you do, that’s the latest twist. I wonder how the story ends though. 🤔 The war against drugs is still on, but only the branches of the glorious tree (of gods and masterminds) have been shut down. The carriers of the drug biz could be out, but its origin persists. And this question also persists: is the battle truly for the purpose of eliminating narco politics in the country or just for the purpose of silencing gnawers to the business? Oh well, let’s see. 🤧 On the brighter side, Filipinos became more educated and aggressive in terms of investments. The PSEi made multiple all-time highs and settled above 8,500 in the last trading hour. I hope that our willingness to explore the local and global markets continue to grow and that we’ll still feel empowered despite an increase in tax for passive investments. Mehehehe... amazing pahabol for the year ahh. I like your style, PH gov’t. Well, who doesn’t, right? 🤣 Congratulations, my fellow Filipinos who cared enough to feel the frustrations and handle the crazy political roller coaster. Congratulations for having no choice, but to deal with adversities like we always will. #thuglife Congratulations for having the courage to post your views on social media despite huge chances of your issues being left diverted and unaddressed by the stupefying government officials. Uso pa rin naman ang welga, galit lang talaga tayo sa dakilang traffic... soooo nah! 🤗😶😂 Now enough on politics. Inhale optimism, and breathe out these words: “Thank you government of the people, for the people and by the people. Well done!” *slow clap* 👌🏼 Now if there’s anything more sensational this year, that’s your love life. Yes, your love life. It’s that piece of needle that made you feel excruciating pain at one point this year, and that thread that sewed you back together when everything fell in perfect bliss. Well, let me not dwell on this too much, because we’re not ending this novel with everyone’s love stories. 😅 Congratulations, strong and independent humans for knowing your worth and not settling for less. Congratulations, f*ck boys and girls for playing too well this year you might actually have caught yourself STD. Sorry not sorry. 😏 And of course, congratulations to those who started and finished 2017 on their own (like completely “single”). Your third wheeling skills are remarkable! 😂🙌🏻✌🏻🍻#ForeverAlone 🙃 Highlights from the world’s iconic couples though? Single, taken, married, or whatever, we all felt that heartbreak on #Brangelina ‘s split (Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt). Don’t tell me you didn’t twitch on that painful news. Oh well, at least “Jelena” (Justin Bieber & Selena Gomez) are back together before yearend, coining each other as their one true love. #MayForever na ba to? News just two hours ago revealed, Selena’s been calling JB, “my husband”. Boom!! And oh, Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth got engaged, while Kylie Jenner got preggy. 🤭 Meanwhile, from the locale, #JaDine was a highlight for allowing the battle of morales to surface among conservative Filipinos. “Come on guys, it’s 2017.” he he he. 🤷🏻‍♀️ But really, let me take this moment to shed one last tear of joy for all the “It girls” getting wedded this year, even including the mother-of-the-It-girls, Dr. Vicky Belo-Kho. #WeddingGoals emerged from this parade of love, and I can’t wait for all of them to spread lovely genes across the planet. 😂🤗 Solenn and Nico, ano na?! Hahaha! Kayo talaga hinihintay ko eh! El Patato 🐢 deserves cute company 👶🏻 ! JK! Oh, I just love this pair! Anyhow, for some time my newsfeed’s been filled with wedding-related posts of friends. In fact, I was a bridesmaid for a time so yeah, 2017 was a year of love after all. 😍Congratulations to those who tied the knots this year! All the best wishes!🍾 From the social arena, we’ve seen depression take its toll on a massive scale this year though some thinkers disvalue its existence. Hi, Tito Joey! Sorry, but depression does exist. We’ve seen people fighting against bullying and racism to name a few, and people working towards advocacies on gender equality. The battles have been tough. In fact, we have casualties. Chris Cornell of Soundgarden & Black Hole, Chester Bennington of Linkin Park, and Kim Jonghyun of K-pop group SHINee, are iconic names we’ve lost to suicide with depression being the key cause. One that triggered sadness most in me though is with Nadine Lustre’s brother where she coined #KeepGoing . The series of suicidal deaths allowed me to write the song “I Owe You”, and I hope I never get to finish it. 😔 Hello, survivors of this reaping world! Congratulations for never giving up! Congratulations for taking it all in, for standing up for what is right, for challenging yourself everyday, for battling with your personal demons and for pushing yourself to #KeepGoing . You may not be proud of yourself just yet, but God is proud of you and He will always be. 😉 Moving on, the more trivial things. Quite a number of words were added to the Filipino dictionary (unofficial but widely used) 🧐 such as “petmalu”, “lodi, & “werpa”. Vice Ganda even made a song out of these words. And speaking of songs, “Baby Shark” was almost this year’s favorite along with “Despacito”. 😅 Congratulations to all of us for enjoying 2017 with simple pleasures amidst the chaos! We truly are Filipinos for this trait. We smile amidst the storms, stand up and move forward. But really, take no offense, I’m sure we can do better than what we’ve done this year. Our creativity and love for novelty could translate to creativity for the bigger things this 2018. I am certain of this, and sure that we can attend to the issues that really matter. We need not be superstars or high profile personalities to change our bad habits that collectively destroy the world, socially, economically or environmentally. We need not be superheroes from films we’ve watched this year. No need to be part of the “Avengers” to save someone from bullying. No need to be part of “Justice League” to hear out anyone who’s close to committing suicide. No need to be “Wonder Woman” to look at humanity with hope amidst all the chaos. No need to be the big guy, because no matter how minute we are compared to this huge planet, our actions still create the Earth as our home. And what do we do to build a “home”? We build and connect our little realities. Let’s create better realities this 2018, so that next time we can congratulate ourselves for being co-creators of a better world. 🌍🌻 Too abstract I know, but well congratulations for letting that thought sink in for awhile. Congratulations for closing the year stronger than when you started. Congratulations for making it this far. Congratulations for surviving 2017! Now, get ready for a grander year. Hello, 2018! 💪🏻😎👌🏼 P.S. Congratulations for finishing this lengthy piece. hahaha! I hope you found value in it.😂

[nanowrimo]

Now What? How an Editor Can Catch the Things You Miss

You wrote a novel! Now what? NaNoWriMo’s “Now What?” Months are here—this January and February, we’ll be helping you guide your novel through the revision and publishing process. Today, author and NaNoWriMo participant Cass R. Morris shares a peek into her research and editing process:

When we think about editing, we think about the words. We think about cutting scenes, adding them, rearranging them. We might even think about “big picture” edits that change a major plot point or eliminate a character. But what about the world that all those smaller components take place in?

By the time From Unseen Fire sold, I had been living in its world for almost four years. An alternate-history version of Rome, but with magic. I knew its history, and where it diverged from our universe’s. I had maps galore. I’d gone through stacks of books about the pattern of an average Roman’s day. I had clearly defined how my system of magic worked. I would not have thought I needed to spend even more time world-building.

But I did.

My editor’s eyes caught what I hadn’t--or perhaps it’s more that her brain asked questions I had only half-answered.

A lot of them were economic -- something I’ll admit I tend to hand-wave, much though I shouldn’t -- but the one that ended up being the most fun to dig into was demographic. “Just how many mages are there in Aven?”

Well. I had a vague idea, but when she asked the question, I realized (as someone who’s always been bothered by the relative size of Hogwarts to the wizarding population of Britain) that I had to come up with a definite answer.

For a start, that meant figuring out the total population of the city. Easy enough--history gives me some guidelines to go on. Augustus’s 14CE census put the population of Rome at about 750,000; since my Aven is set some 70 years earlier earlier, has expanded more slowly, and has recently been through some rough times, I set my total at about 350,000.

Then I had to think about what proportion of the population would be magically gifted. They perceive it as a blessing bestowed by the gods, and it’s unusual, but not super-rare. There are enough that the non-mages have always been worried about their potential power accumulation and have written the city’s laws to keep them out of higher office, and--thinking back to my economics--there are enough mages who make a career out of their talents to participate in the economy, but not to overwhelm it. After playing around with some numbers, a birth rate of about one in a thousand seemed reasonable. That gives me about 350 mages in the City of Aven, distributed so that there are about 35 in each of the major districts, and thus, probably at least one or two per neighborhood.

And then I went even deeper.

I mean, if I knew how many there are, I should know who they are, right? How many are patrician versus plebeian? How many have a lot of natural talent versus just a touch, and how many have good magical education? What’s the age distribution? What’s the distribution of the various Elements, since some are more common than others? And, perhaps most importantly, what do they do? I took inspiration from research and Roman poetry, applying the system of magic I’d developed to the demographic and economic patterns of my world. Here’s a peek into the world of Aven, as seen through its magical community:

Not everyone’s world-building details will look the same, but they’re important to consider, no matter what kind of story you’re telling. If it’s historical, dig into your facts. If it’s fantasy or sci-fi, apply real-world dynamics to it. If it’s contemporary, be sure to think about the amazing spectrum of the world we live in. Having these details in your head and being able to include them in the background of your story results in a richer and more satisfying world for your readers to visit.

Cass Morris is, by day, a Shakespeare educator who develops classroom resources, writes teaching guides, and leads workshops and seminars. A graduate of Mary Baldwin University and the College of William and Mary, she lives in western Virginia with two royal felines, Princess and Ptolemy. She reads voraciously, wears corsets voluntarily, and will beat you at MarioKart. Her debut novel, From Unseen Fire, began life as a 2011 Nano novel and will be released through DAW Books on September 5th, 2017. Visit her website at cassmorriswrites.com; catch up with her on Goodreads; or follow her on Twitter @CassRMorris.

Top photo by Flickr user Amber Case.

[placetobenation]

The Fox and the Hound

Release Date: July 10th, 1981

Inspiration: “The Fox and the Hound” by Daniel P. Mannix

Budget: $12 million

Domestic Gross: $39.9 million

Worldwide Gross: $63.5 million

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 70%

IMDB Score: 7.3/10

Storyline (per IMDB): When an adopted fox and a to-be hunting hound become inseparable friends as pups, their friendship grows stronger every day in their “childhood.” But as they grow older, they grow farther and farther apart, to the day when the two old comrades’ bond is put to the ultimate test.

Pre-Watching Thoughts: We continue on as we start a brand new decade and a new era seems to be dawning at Disney as the group known as the Nine Old Men were being phased out and a new group of animators looked to make their mark. This is one of those films that I might have seen once or twice before, but have absolutely no recollection of and this is another film that some consider a very underrated film. Now I claimed that the Rescuers was the most underrated film to this point and I also thought it was a great film, and we will see if this film reaches that same level or ends up falling short.

Voice Cast: So to this point, we have had a lot of the same actors return to do these films and they had become very well known to this point, and aside from a few big names we wouldn’t see a lot of big name actors appear in these films. But it seems like that trend might seem to be changing as we saw Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor appear in the previous film and now we have some more big names appear in this one. We do have several returning actors appear here with the first being Jeanette Nolan who voices Widow Tweed in one of her last film appearances, and then we have Pat Buttram who voices Chief the dog in one of his last appearances as well. Next, we have John Fielder who voices the porcupine as he would soon transition to being on TV as well as being in film, and then we have John McIntire as Mr. Digger the badger in one of his last appearances. Finally, we have Paul Winchell who voices Boomer the woodpecker and we can clearly see that this generation of actors was starting to wind down and the next generation would soon take their place. Now moving onto the new voices we hear in the film, we have the legendary Mickey Rooney who voices Tod the fox as he was getting into the twilight of his career, and we have Keith Mitchell who voices Tod when he was a cub in what would be his film debut. We then have another top star in Kurt Russell who voices Copper the hound in what would be his only appearance in an animated film, and then we have child star Corey Feldman who voices Copper as a puppy as he was just getting his career started. Next, we have legendary musician Pearl Bailey who voices Big Mama the owl in what was her final film appearance, and then we have another legend in Jack Albertson who voices Amos Slade in what was his final film appearance prior to his death that same year. We then have TV star Sandy Duncan who voices Vixey the fox in one of her few film appearances as she would mainly stay in TV, and finally we have Dick Bakalyan who voices Dinky the finch in one of his only appearances in an animated film. This was an interesting film as you had a lot of big names with a few of them marking their final appearance in a film as well as veterans nearing the end of their run as well, and it will be interesting to see who steps up to take their spots throughout the next few films.

Hero/Prince: On the surface, this doesn’t seem like the film that would have a hero in it but after delving deeper into it, I do have to give mention to both Tod the fox and Copper the hound who become friends when they are young despite being natural enemies. When they become adults, Copper believes that they can’t be friends anymore and after his mentor Chief is injured, he believes Tod to be responsible and vows revenge. Copper and his owner Slade are close to killing Tod and Vixey until a grizzly bear attacks them and Tod risks his life to save Copper and Slade. After seeing Tod save him, Copper returns the favor and prevents Slade from killing him as they finally go their separate ways remembering their days as friends. While both of them did save the other in the end of the film which does in essence make them heroes, they will probably not rank high and might even end up close to the bottom against the other heroes.

Princess: N/A

Villain: Much like I mentioned earlier, on the surface it seems like there is no real clear villain in this film aside from one and that is the grizzly bear that attacks Slade and Copper only for Tod to fight him off and send him to his death by pushing him over the waterfall. But interestingly enough, Amos Slade is also considered a villain in the Disney canon as he is the grouchy owner of Copper and Chief, and he has a serious hatred of foxes and makes no bones about it as he threatens to kill Tod even while he is under Widow Tweed’s care. After Chief is injured, Slade vows revenge on Tod and even trespasses onto a reserve to hunt him, and even after Tod saves them from the grizzly bear he still wants to kill him and it is only when Copper stands between them that he gives up his desire and walks away with Copper as he reconciles with Tweed. Unlike some of the other villains in the Disney canon, Slade has motivation to do what he does even though he is not truly evil and he is just relying on his hunter instincts, and because of that he is relatable in a way and as we see he eventually lets his hate for Tod go if anything for Copper’s sake. As a result, he is definitely not going to rank high in terms of the villains and if anything, the grizzly bear will probably rank high than him.

Other Characters: I had mentioned before that the number of other characters in these films seems to be fluctuating constantly and we go back to a film that has a pretty light amount of characters with most of the focus being on the main characters. But we do have other characters that play an important role with the first being Widow Tweed, an elderly woman who takes care of Tod when he was a cub before putting him in a reserve to protect him from Copper and Slade. We then have Chief who is Slade’s dog and he becomes Copper’s mentor before he has his leg broken when he is hit by a train, and then we have Big Mama the owl who looks over Tod before giving him to Tweed and then she brings Tod and Vixey together. Speaking of Vixey, we have her next as she becomes Tod’s love interest and narrowly avoids being killed by Slade and Copper, and finally we have the animals in the forest like Dinky and Boomer who help Big Mama as well as the badger who comes into conflict with Tod and the porcupine who tries to help Tod get acclimated to the forest. While these characters are pretty instrumental in being important to the story, there is no question that the focus of the film is on the main characters of Tod and Copper and their struggles.

Songs: Much like the Rescuers before it, this seemed like a film that wouldn’t have any songs in it if only because of the source material, but due to it being adapted into a family-friendly film you had to guess that they were going to shoehorn in some songs. We first have the signature song of the film which is “Best of Friends” sung about the friendship between Tod and Copper despite their differences and it is a nice little song to put over the main premises of the film. The next song to talk about is “Lack of Education” which Big Mama sings to Tod as she tries to warn him that Copper will become a trained killer and it was more of a spoken song as opposed to be sung, and then we have “A Huntin’ Man” that Slade sings as he comes back from his hunting trip and it is about as basic as you can get. The next song that we hear is “Goodbye May Seem Forever” which Tweed sings as she prepares to release Tod into the wild and it is a fine ballad recounting their relationship, and the final song we hear is “Appreciate the Lady” which Big Mama sings to help Tod court Vixey. While the first song is the best remembered song from this film, the other songs are just fine for the film and that’s pretty much all there is to say about it.

Plot: This is another film that I did not know was adapted from a novel and I do not recall ever hearing about a book called “The Fox and the Hound” at any point in my life. Reading about the novel and comparing it to the movie, it is astonishing at how different the film is compared to the novel though given the content of the novel it makes sense why they would change it up to be more family friendly. In the film, a young fox cub named Tod befriends a hound puppy named Copper and Tod believes they will be friends forever, but Copper’s owner Slade does not like Tod and vows to kill him if he trespasses onto his farm and the forest animals warn Tod that he and Copper are natural enemies. When the two grow up, Copper tells Tod they can’t be friends anymore and his mentor Chief hunts Tod only to be hit by a train and suffers a broken leg, and Slade and Copper vow revenge as Tod becomes close with a vixen named Vixey. In the end, Copper and Slade are close to killing both foxes until a grizzly bear attacks them and Tod risks his life to save Copper and Slade, and then Copper prevents Slade from killing Tod and they go their separate ways as Tod and Vixey return to the forest and Copper goes home with Slade. This is one of those cases where I would love to read an interview or watch something with the author of the novel and get their opinion on how they felt the film turned out, and the only reason is because I know some authors hate on the adaptations turn out and others enjoy them very much so this is definitely one of the times where I would love to find out the author’s thoughts.

Random Watching Thoughts: For being a family friendly film, this opening intro feels pretty dark and may be lulling you into a false sense of security; One of the big points of this film is that it was during the production of this film when Don Bluth and various animators walked out due to differences with the higher ups at Disney, and they would go onto form their own studio and become Disney’s main competitor for the next decade; As a result of this upheaval, the film was pushed back from its Christmas Day 1980 release to being released during the summer of 1981; Much like when Bambi’s mother was killed, we have another instance of a mother sacrificing herself for her child; I couldn’t imagine how the owl came by the name Big Mama; Tod was so scared of Big Mama at first though he quickly warmed up to her and wanted to be with her; I feel like the running gag of Boomer and Dinky trying to get that worm was added to bring some levity to the film since it does appear heavy for the most part; Poor Boomer was lucky that his beak didn’t bend further when Tweed slammed the door on him; Of all the things they had to grab, it was her undergarments; Considering how wild they are, Tweed had no problem bringing Tod into her home even though he was a fox; I find it funny how Tweed decided to call him Tod just because he was a toddler; Chief got so excited thinking that Slade had some meat for him only to find out it was a puppy; Copper was so keen to be buddies with Chief and it took a while, but eventually Chief started warming up to him; That’s quite the service of Tweed shooting milk from Abigail’s udder right into Tod’s mouth; Tod was just trying to have fun, but that chicken had to assume that he was going after her chicks and then all hell breaks loose; Tweed was ready to lay the hammer down on Tod, but he manages to get out of it by being a cute pup; I wonder how hard it was for Paul Winchell to try and laugh not like he would when he is voicing Tigger; Considering how small that worm is, how are Boomer and Dinky exactly going to split him evenly so they both get a fair share?; With as much pecking as he does, it’s a wonder that Boomer’s beak doesn’t get all bent out of shape; That brief few seconds where Boomer forgets he’s a bird and doesn’t fly to safety so he doesn’t hit the ground; For only being a puppy, Copper already has a keen sense of smell if he could smell Tod from that far away; Grits and fatback, the breakfast of champions; I wonder how many adults heard Chief’s voice and realized it was the same guy who voices the Sheriff of Nottingham in ‘Robin Hood”; That’s quite the pipsqueak howl that Copper had; To steal a quote from the great Elvis Presley, Copper ain’t nothing but a hound dog though he ain’t crying all the time; Big Mama sings about Tod and Copper being the best of friends when they literally just met; He runs off twice and Slade finds it necessary to tie him up so he doesn’t run off anymore; Tod really had no fear of Chief if he just walked on top of him and toyed with him until he woke up; Slade didn’t seem the kind of guy to have chickens; That was quite a scoop that Chief made to get all those chickens in his barrel; How was Chief able to get freed from that tree?; Considering Tod was only a puppy, Slade made no qualms about shooting him; Slade had quite a good aim with that gun even while driving, and he had no problem shooting at Tod even though he could’ve hit Tweed; Slade and Tweed as neighbors seems like a real low rent version of the Hatfields and McCoys; Considering that she shot his radiator at point blank range, the fact that it still worked is pretty much a miracle; It seemed like there was more than enough room for all three of them to sit up there especially since Copper was just a puppy; Leave it to an owl to try and teach Tod about the ways of nature; Poor Tod so desperately wants to believe that he and Copper will remain friends even though everyone tells him otherwise, and they even go as far as to show him skinned animals to prove their point; Wouldn’t Boomer and Dinky have already gone south for the winter and not try to put up with the cold?; That worm just took it upon himself to make himself at home in Tweed’s house; It was interesting that they put a lot of focus on Copper growing up and becoming a hunting dog, it’s as if they tried to make a point to the audience that Big Mama would be proven right to Tod; Copper went from being outsmarted by a rabbit to finding a family of quail with Slade getting one of them; Considering it’s only been a few months, Tod and Copper have grown into big animals; Big Mama just throws a pile of leaves out and doesn’t care where they land as she throws them on top of Tod; Tweed even went to the trouble to give Tod a collar; That was a bit rude by that worm to eat that plant while he was staying in the house; That worm literally became a glowworm thanks to some electricity; That area where Slade and Tweed are living seems to be a weird place to have train tracks, and you wonder how many trains actually come by that area; For as bad as he hates Tod, you can’t deny the love that Slade has for Chief and Copper; Even at this point, Tod still wants to believe that he and Copper can still be friends; You can tell Copper is torn because he wants to be friends with Tod, but he feels that it goes against being a hunting dog; Not only are there train tracks by the houses, but there’s a whole old station nearby with a bridge; Of course this would be the one time a train comes through; So in reading up on the production of the film, the original plan was for Chief to be killed by the train as it was in the book, but the director decided against it despite the pleas of the animation team and it was changed to Chief having a broken leg; Even though Tod technically didn’t have anything to do with Chief getting hurt, that was a pretty tense scene where Copper swears revenge on Tod; You would’ve thought Slade was going to just barge in Tweed’s house and shoot Tod on the spot; You do feel bad for Tweed because she had become so attached to Tod and had to let him go to protect him; It was weird that Tod didn’t try to chase after Tweed when she drove away which is a common trope; I know he didn’t Tod intruding on his home, but that badger was being a bit of an asshole about it; That was a kind porcupine to let Tod bunk with him; Slade is willing to break the law by hunting on a game preserve just to get Tod; Chief was lucky to escape with just a busted leg considering that fall he took off the train tracks; Slade is willing to put those traps in a game preserve not caring what ends up in them; Another interesting note is that the original director wanted to add a musical scene in the second act to make it stronger, but it was cut because they felt the scene made no sense and didn’t fit; Vixey asks what Tod looks like even though Big Mama told her he was a fox; I thought the porcupine took Tod away from the badger’s home yet the tree was right above it and Tod just happened to land on it; So Big Mama is not only a guardian to the forest, she apparently is also a matchmaker; He was so convinced that nothing was beautiful until he laid eyes on Vixey; He tries to come up with the right thing to say to her and all he ends up saying is “Hi”; He asks her if he can call her by her first name, I don’t know of many animals that have last names; He’s so confident in his ability to catch fish and yet he fails so miserably; I understand that Tod is upset, but he was out of line in yelling at her when he was trying to impress her; He presents one flower to her and she is immediately smitten with him; What is it with 6 being the right amount of children to have because Maid Marian said the same thing in “Robin Hood”?; Slade is so lucky that there was no law enforcement close by because he probably could’ve faced jail time for hunting on a private game preserve; That’s a lot of traps that he brought for just one fox; Isn’t the forest usually quiet?; That was some fancy footwork by Tod to avoid all those traps; How traumatizing must it have been for kids watching two former best friends fight each other; Not only is he hunting on a game preserve, but now Slade is creating fires; He was so confident that the foxes would have to come out towards them, but instead they throw him for a loop by going out the back way; That is the largest grizzly bear I have ever seen, even for an animate film; Of course Slade would get caught up in his own trap; Even after fighting him, Tod still thinks enough of Copper to save him from the bear; That bear must have some super thick skin that he can withstand multiple bites from both Copper and Tod; The bear was so focused on killing Tod that he ultimately cost himself is own life; That was a powerful moment for Copper to keep Slade from killing Tod and Slade finally lets his hate go, and Tod and Copper share one more smile before parting ways; Boomer and Dinky finally look to get the worm only for the worm to turn into an electric butterfly; That was mighty big of Tweed to be willing to assist Slade in helping heal his foot.

Overall Thoughts: Overall, this film was a pretty solid film though it was not up to par with the Rescuers and unfortunately, I don’t think it is deserving of being declared underrated as I feel I am properly rating it. It’s funny that there was so much turmoil going on during the production of this film in terms of the director stepping down and Don Bluth leading the exodus of the animators, so I’m not completely surprised that this film did fall a bit flat in the end. We are only a short year into the 1980s and there appears to be a feeling of flux within Disney as the theme parks were continuing to grow and they were about to expand their reach overseas. As a result, it is going to be interesting to see how things play out in the animation studio as we hit a major milestone in the Disney film canon. As for this film, it is a perfectly fine film that is probably not as underrated as some people think, but it is just fine as it is.

Final Grade: 6.5/10

[blackforestbasilisks]

Execution: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Enjoyment: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The spinners, the weavers, the dyers, the healers.

We spin the threads that bind the world… we spin blue. 

We are the Communion of Blue.

It’s fairly rare that I read any middle grade books, but I saw Niki’s art for The Deep & Dark Blue and immediately fell in love. I knew at once that I had to check this book out. The bold colours and character designs work for me. When I heard it described as “Tamora Pierce, except if Alanna/Alan got to actually be trans,” that was all I needed to know. I headed off and snagged it from Bookshop. And honestly? It completely lived up to all my hopes and dreams. 

First, the art. The art is stunning. Niki uses a palette of bright, saturated blues, reds, and pinks throughout the novel to great effect. Panels are bold with large swathes of color containing only minimal shading within each block. Her art style is eye-catching and creates a sense that the world is bigger, broader, and more lush than the dialogue and narration can cover on their own. 

I have a real soft spot for magic based on weaving and spinning. As Tor.com recently discussed in their blog post, In Defense of Needlework, it’s common for young girls in SFF to feel empowered by disliking feminine activities such as sewing. I think that gets just a bit old, myself, and clearly Niki is in firm agreement with me. As in The Four Profound Weaves by R. B. Lemberg (another AMAZING story featuring trans characters!), the art of working cloth has been elevated from a mundane activity that’s too-often disparaged by powerful characters into a source of power and strength in and of itself. The act of creation becomes a source of magic. 

When the sisters in the Communion of Blue spin their wool, it’s not just thread that they create. Instead, it allows them to control the elements – wind, fire, and water. They are tapping in to the world itself and changing the very fabric of reality with their magic. Not all the sisters are able to spin Blue, however; others fill different roles within the Communion. Some learn martial arts, some farm the fields, and some are chosen to become healers. Each art has its own values, even if Hawke, one of our two main characters, is a bit slow to realize it. 

Grayson and Hawke are twin brothers, scions of House Sunderlay. Neither of the pair ever expected to have much to do with the Communion of Blue beyond watching a few of their ceremonies from afar, but their life is thrown into turmoil when their sister stages a coup on their house, killing their father and his heir. They flee, disguising themselves as young girls amongst the Communion’s new initiates. 

For Grayson, however, being a girl isn’t just a disguise. For once in her life, she can be the person she’s always wanted to be: Grayce, a sister in the Communion of Blue. She’s always been Grayce, deep underneath, but only now is she in a position to embrace herself and her own life. She’s admired the sisters from afar for years, pining away as they perform their magics in the distance. Hawke, however, chafes beneath his dresses and wants his old life back. 

Hawke is admitted into the ranks of the Guardians, initially ecstatic that he’ll be learning to fight. His hopes are quickly dashed, however, when he learns that the sisters rely on balance and speed, utilizing unarmed combat techniques. He’s trained with a sword his entire life; what possible use could he have for punches and kicks? Later, however, he’ll learn exactly what sort of advantage they can bring to him. Without these skills, his quest to bring justice to his house would never have succeeded. He’s been raised as a boy and will become a man, but Niki takes this opportunity to once again highlight the strength of women and femininity. 

The acceptance and love both Hawke and the sisterhood show towards Grayce is heartwarming and beautiful. It made me so happy to see the support Grayce receives at every turn. She’s worried, and rightly so; coming out and telling people you’re close to that you’ve hidden something from them is incredibly frightening! The fear of rejection is very, very real. Hawke’s reaction made me adore him: he was horrified. Horrified that he hadn’t realized she was Grayce and not Grayson, and oh-so-embarrassed that he’d been thinking of her as Grayson this whole time when she clearly, clearly was not. Reading that scene, my whole reaction can be summed up as “omg my babies I love them they are so good and wholesome and I love them??? omg sweet babies” (don’t judge me). It warmed my heart. It’s the kind of content I desperately need more of during this whole pandemic and quarantine situation. Cinnamon rolls, the both of them. 

Now, admittedly, it is important to go in with expectations reasonable for a middle grade book. Since this is aimed at a younger audience, it’s focused first and foremost on being clear and straight to the point. There aren’t intricate plot lines that intersect and interweave, etc. It’s much simpler than Alanna’s adventures in Tortall were, in part because of the age and in part because of the medium. That said, there is still a ton to enjoy as an adult! As said earlier, my only gripe is that I really do wish there’d been a little bit more. Although it makes sense that there isn’t given its audience focus, I’d give a lot for an in-depth look at the Communion’s internal politics, more information on how the magic works, and a better understanding of its capabilities and limits. I love the world, and I do wish that I had an opportunity to dig into it a bit deeper. 

I’d highly recommend this graphic novel to anyone who’s in the mood for a quick, feel-good story about good overcoming evil. If you love beautiful art, trans representation, and highly developed characters, this is the book for you. Niki recently did an AMA with us over at r/Fantasy, which is another great resource to learn more about The Deep & Dark Blue along with its author. Loved it!

Niki Smith is an artist, writer, and lover of fine comics (and some pretty trashy ones too). I grew up in Kansas and now call Germany home, and I’m dedicated to filling the world with queer and diverse stories! My debut graphic novel, Crossplay, is a Lambda Literary Award nominee.

I’m a US author but I moved to Germany with my wife a few years ago; I was supposed to spend April and May back in the States doing a tour of comic conventions and book festivals, but, well, none of that’s happening now! I’ve also drawn serious nonfiction comics for The Nib and silly smutty (and totally educational) stuff for Oh Joy, Sex Toy.

Follow them on Twitter, Patreon, or Instagram.

Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon | Bookshop

Have you read this book? What did you think? Do you have any questions about it?

Let me know in the comments below!

 The Deep & Dark Blue by @niki_smith - I saw Niki's art and immediately fell in love. The story is heartwarming and gorgeous, and I have a major soft spot for magic based on weaving and spinning. 5/5 stars! Execution: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Enjoyment: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The spinners, the weavers, the dyers, the healers. We spin the threads that bind the world...

[aion-rsa]

The Mandalorian: How Luke’s Powers Compare to Ahsoka’s

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Just last year, The Mandalorian’s unforgettable second season finale provided the early post-Original-Trilogy glimpse of Luke Skywalker for which Star Wars fans have long-craved. Yet, it was apparent that the Original Trilogy protagonist’s powers increased exponentially in the five years that passed in the timeline; a notion that reinforced the belief that Luke is the most powerful Jedi in the universe. However, the impressive live-action debut of animated icon Ahsoka Tano earlier in the season invited a debate on Jedi powers. It’s a topic that was recently reignited, thanks to comments from executive producer Dave Filoni.

The recent premiere of Disney+ documentary series Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian Season 2, Episode 2 has proven profoundly revelatory about the technological magic that brought a Return of the Jedi-era Mark Hamill back onscreen in 2020 as Luke Skywalker for The Mandalorian “Chapter 16: The Rescue.” Interestingly, it also revealed the thought process that went behind the way that this rendition of Luke would be presented, powers-wise. After all, the scene in question, while poised to deliver the reddest of red meat moments to the fandom, still needed to be executed with the narrative discipline to present Luke as an awe-inspiring Force-powered figure while avoiding the pitfalls of making him an obscenely overpowered plot-lifting deus ex-machina manifestation. However, in explaining his though process on limiting Luke’s powers, Filoni unwittingly kicked an Ahsoka-shaped hornet’s nest.  

“It would be very easy to just make [Luke] so over-the-top skilled,” says Filoni. “But I was like, ‘You know, what’s interesting is he’s had training, but I don’t know who’s been teaching him sword-fight training lately.’ So, he had to have a style that was better than what we saw in Jedi, but fundamentally still of the same tree of sword-fighting technique. And his technique and Ahsoka’s technique should be very different. And technically, she’s had vastly more training than he ever has. She’s actually his senior, which is, I think, difficult for people to remember ‘cause of when these characters were created.”

Filoni’s comment led to a debate of sorts on (where else?) Twitter, the welcoming social media hub for measured, mature and always-respectful discourse over differing opinions. Possibly attributed to perceived bias on the part of Filoni (as Ahsoka’s creator), the comment was taken as a claim that Ahsoka is more powerful than Luke. While that, of course, remains subjective, his actually-stated notion of Ahsoka being Luke’s senior is factually accurate, based on the canonical timeline. Additionally, her training in the ways of the Force was substantially longer and more formal. While that doesn’t necessarily make her more powerful, it does likely mean that she’s more knowledgeable than Luke, not just from being older, but due to the pedigree of her Jedi training.

Ahsoka’s academic program started after being found by Jedi Master Plo Koon as a small child on her native planet of Togruta, after which she went through the regular academic wringer at the Jedi Temple under the direct tutelage of myriad Jedi Knights and Masters, patiently trained to harness her innate Force powers in what was to be a life-long learning endeavor. Indeed, the grandiose, elite life path of Jedi was first implied in The Phantom Menace when Yoda initially deemed an 8-year-old Anakin Skywalker “too old” to be trained in the ways of the Force. Clearly, Coruscant’s Jedi Temple is no one’s backup school.

Read more

TV

How The Mandalorian Resurrected a Jedi to Cover Luke’s Surprise Role

By Joseph Baxter

TV

What The Mandalorian Means for Ahsoka Tano’s Future in Star Wars

By John Saavedra

Indisputable facts state that Ahsoka was wandering the galaxy toward the end of the Clone Wars as a formidable apostate Jedi well before Luke was even a forbidden gleam in the sand-hating Anakin Skywalker’s eye. We even witnessed a notable step in her extensive training process in Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ 2008 series-launching feature film, in which an adolescent Ahsoka—already a skilled fighter—was first assigned as a Padawan learner to an initially-reluctant Anakin. Naturally, we saw Ahsoka’s skills evolve for years on the series, tested against the events of the titular war, and she would even rise to supreme splendor years later upon resurfacing on Star Wars Rebels to take on Darth Vader. Consequently, by the time we reach the post-Return of the Jedi era of Rosario Dawson’s live-action Ahsoka on The Mandalorian, she clearly achieved a sagely level—not just when comes to her signature two-lightsaber combat style, but also deep wisdom regarding her spiritual connection with the Force, through which she was able to reveal Baby Yoda’s true name as Grogu. In the very least, most can agree Ahsoka would have a lot to teach Luke—that is, if they haven’t met already, which we don’t know for sure.

Nevertheless, in a stark contrast pertinent to our pandemic era, Luke Skywalker was the original distance learner; a product of formerly-lofty institutional standards loosened out of necessity (in this case the extermination of the Jedi Order). His in-person training was—at least, as portrayed in the Original Trilogy—severely limited to a few fundamentals imparted ever-so-briefly by Obi-Wan Kenobi on the Millennium Falcon, and later from what amounted to a few days of Force training on Dagobah with Yoda. Consequently, in the arena of formally recognized Jedi credentials, Ahsoka is an Ivy League university graduate with workplace experience from years fighting the Clone Wars. Luke, on the other hand, came off a fast-tracked Jedi GED to earn a Jedi Skills Certificate from the proverbial online school of discovered Jedi texts and holocrons, making him a galactic Zoom class student, presumably deprived of opportunities to physically implement what he’d learned.

Of course, those ideas don’t necessarily seal the deal in the Luke/Ahsoka debate (if it even is a debate), since the true extent of Luke’s post-Jedi education is not really known. While “The Rescue” didn’t answer the question of who’s been teaching Luke advanced lightsaber techniques, the ease and stylistic panache with which he single-handedly dispatched a heavily-armed and armored platoon of Moff Gideon’s robotic Dark Troopers make it abundantly clear that his combat skills somehow evolved substantially from the rudimentary wide swipes and overhead caveman-swings showcased in Return of the Jedi. Thus, Luke’s upgraded skills seem attributed to something far more substantial than ancient books. Additionally, his life in the post-Original Trilogy, pre-Sequel Trilogy remains fertile ground in the Disney-designated franchise; a state due in no small part to the company’s canonical erasure of the vast array of Expanded Universe books and comics, now dubbed the “Legends” lore, which extensively showcased a now-apocryphal version of that era.

However, as we’ve seen with the Force, combat skills don’t necessarily make one more powerful, at least not in the manner through which the Jedi view the balance of the universe. For example, Qui-Gon Jinn was defeated in a duel with a mere Sith apprentice in Darth Maul, but his spiritual knowledge facilitated a subsequent trail-blazing ascension to the living Force, becoming the first fully-manifested Jedi Spirit, as vaguely teased in the Prequel Trilogy, and showcased on Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Moreover, Matthew Stover’s novelization of Sequel Trilogy closer Revenge of the Sith provides a key contextual moment omitted from the film, since Qui-Gon appears to Yoda fully-manifested as a Jedi spirit, offering to teach him the technique. At that point, the ancient and conventionally more-powerful Jedi master admits his hubris and exercises humility, stating to the spectral Qui-Gon, “A great Jedi Master you always were, but too blind I was to see it. Your apprentice, I gratefully become.”

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Pertinent to this point, the version of Luke we saw over 30 years beyond the timeline of his monumental Mandalorian moment in sequel films The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi may have been—to much controversy—disheveled, disenchanted and oddly-indifferent, but he was able to demonstrate some unprecedented Omega-level abilities (to borrow from the X-Men’s parlance). This idea proves that Luke’s Force education—such as it was—was nevertheless substantial enough for him to form a Jedi Academy to carry on the lost traditions—tragic ending of said academy notwithstanding. Consequently, any earnest debate about which Jedi is more powerful would likely require far more detail and nuance than the various agendas of the Twittersphere are able to conjure.

The post The Mandalorian: How Luke’s Powers Compare to Ahsoka’s appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[teethdollar47-blog]

My Favorite Books That I Read in 2018

Books! Why would you bother living without them? Even slowed down by life and depression, this turned into one of my favorite reading years thanks to some stunning debuts and absolute gems in my backlog. In the post-Christmas haze I've gathered up some scary stories, a Pulitzer winner, a New York Times favorite, and novellas and a lovable killing machine for you. Let's read.

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

This is an Epic Fantasy about the real world destroying your adolescent notions of what matters. For the first chunk of the book, Rin throws herself into life at a military academy, exploring connections between drugs and the gods. The worst things in her world are an unfair teacher and her equivalent of a Draco Malfoy bully. But then she graduates and has to serve alongside her classmates in a brutal war with civilian death tolls and a nightmarish parallel to the Nanjing Massacre. The book lets us take Wizarding School tropes for granted and then rips them in half with reality. Hopefully one one reading this ever has to deal with the horrors of war, but Rin's revelation is an extreme version of the experience of so many people who hide from reality inside education systems and then have to confront the world. From this conceit, Kuang creates one of Fantasy’s greatest origin stories, showing us how Rin grows from desperate, to ambitious, to vengeful, to ruthless. We see all of the social pressures and life events that forge her into one of her world's great villains.

Witchmark by C.L. Polk

I meant to read part of Witchmark on my flight, but the book was too good, and so I finished it before we landed. Miles Singer is a healer in a Fantasy world in the shadow of a war akin to World War I, using his talents to help traumatized veterans when they come home. Something is causing his patients to become dangerously violent, possibly using their PTSD to turn them into weapons, and Miles has to solve the mystery to save them. It’s a deeply compassionate novel about trying to help those harmed by war, bolstered by a supportive romance between Miles and Tristan, another man ensnared into the plot. At one point Miles is exhausted and unkempt, and Tristan gives him a shave. Apparently allosexual read this as ridiculously hot. My ace ass read this as soothing, because the trust between them is so clear. It made me relax on a plane where I had no elbow room. Witchmark is thoroughly charming.

The Outsider by Stephen King

This might be my favorite book into King’s new Bill Hodges Universe, and makes the explicit turn to opening the supernatural there. Without spoiling, it elevates some characters into protagonist roles that will make any sleuthing against monsters way more interesting, while paying homage to the restless retiree who started it all. Here we have an identity mystery: a pillar of the community is witnessed having committed an absurdly grisly crime and have to figure out how it’s possible that evidence puts him in two places at once. We know something supernatural touches this crime, but can’t be sure what since the Hodges Universe began without any of the supernatural. King has created a great uncertainty over how much human behavior explains things, as opposed to Castle Rock where there the shadows always had thoughts. This is covered in one of King’s richest webs of characters, every point of view connecting powerfully to another, until we have a robust appreciation of how feverishly the community reacts to the news. I didn’t think there needed to be a fourth book in this series. Now I’m quite excited for a fifth.

Impostor Syndrome by Mishell Baker

If you haven't read the series so far, just go get Borderline. It's amazing.

If this is the end of the Arcadia Project series, then it's a poignant send-off and also the most fun the characters have been. Most of your favorites from the first two books band together with Millie for something that's half heroic adventure, and half psychedelic heist. My favorite part was seeing Millie's team come together as so supportive and aware of where intervention might be important for helping neurodivergent characters. Respecting the agency of our friends is hard in real life when we know they're at risk, and it's refreshing to see that reflected in something better than the duality of "hands off" or "you have no choice." The scene where Millie might be concussed and not taking her own health seriously is where we start to appreciate how far the characters have come. There are explosive events, but more important are the conversations and developments between people who didn't trust each other a few books ago.

All Systems Red & Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

I haven't read Books 3 and 4 in the Murderbot Diaries series because I'm saving them for bad days. SF&F publishing doesn't give me books like these very often and I need to ration the good vibes. The Murderbot Diaries are warm-hearted and revolve around the emotional growth of a killing machine who just wants to watch TV and be left alone. He's not a slacker hitman; he's rental equipment who longs to understand others and be emancipated. These books have some adventure and risk, but their heart is in weird bonding sequences watching soap operas with a ship's navigation computer. They are warm without avoiding heavy material, and without settling for arcs that ending in gritty choices. The heaviness is in who we want to be. This series is a modern treasure.

Space Unicorn Blues by T.J. Berry

Now this is my kind of worldbuilding. Space Opera where it turns out planets are populated by unicorns, dragons, and faeries? And they need space ships to try to outrun human colonizers? Heck yes. We’re talking about a great found family of disabled people, and queer people, and magical beings, and humans who know they’ve messed up, going on perilous adventures to create a better life for themselves. My favorite trick Berry plays is shuffling the characters, plot, and worldbuilding. Our half-unicorn hero may get stuck in a miserable spot thanks to the plot, but Berry keeps the tone light by explaining that spot through hilarious worldbuilding like the brand of pie that has a density dangerously close to black holes. When the plot gets more dangerous, the characters banter it out. One element is always allowed to be grave, and is lightened by another, turning the novel into something consistently inventive and fun.

The Power by Naomi Alderman

Not a lot of Dystopia novels let you see the Dystopia form. The Power puts its Dystopia into motion, from the start of women developing skeins and gaining the ability to instantly electrocute anyone they like, to boys being segregated from them in schools, all the way to upheavals in culture and political systems. It’s a world where women suddenly have superior capacity for violence than men. This way it easily could have languished as a 1984-like about a downtrodden man chaffing under a system of oppression, but Alderman puts her world into motion. We see the changes and new orders from the perspectives of male journalists, poor women, and aspiring politicians, each of whom give us different angles of satire and angles on the world. I’d love an anthology of short stories covering more parts of this world, and almost wrote one about what would change in disability communities.

The Red Tree by Caitlin R. Kiernan

A Cosmic Horror novel about a very bad tree. Sarah Crowe has wicked writer’s block, and fears that this time she won’t resurface and will lose her contract and career. The novel has Kiernan’s hallmark ability to get deep inside a messy character’s head as their mental health and personal life unravels. But there is a peculiar tree in the woods behind Crowe’s rented house, visible from her upper bedroom window - and that no matter how long she walks, she cannot reach. The pursuit of the tree is both a metaphor for her writer’s block, and intrinsically related, since the fascination leads her to research seemingly similar trees related to horrors that have happened throughout the region. Could they all be the same tree? Has she been attracted to it because she has similar flaws as previous people caught in its web? I bothered so many friends with my theories for weeks after finishing it. The book is a few years old, but certainly one of my favorite Horror things of the year.

Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon

Douglas Blackmon went from county to county across the southern U.S., reading court records from almost a century ago to prove how emancipated slaves were treated. What he found was a long trail of people charged for petty crimes or held without an explicit charge, often with no evidence or even oral arguments in court, and sentenced to manual labor that was contracted out to friends of the court. This way saw thousands upon thousands of people trapped in a new slavery that could be extended at the whim of their “employer,” who could charge as much as they wanted for room and board that the convicted people couldn’t refuse. They were sent into the deepest mines and most rundown mills, and when many of them died from conditions or unsafe labor, they were made to disappear. It’s a bitter book, rife with cruelty that more than one president willfully ignored. These parts of our history are ignored at our peril, and the peril of the most vulnerable going forward.

Source: http://johnwiswell.blogspot.com/2018/12/my-favorite-books-that-i-read-in-2018.html

[markgottliebliteraryagent]

Eisner Award & YALSA-nominated Graphic Novelist Jason Walz

Jason Walz is an Eisner Award-nominated comic and graphic novel creator living in Minneapolis. He is the author of several comics and graphic novels, including the Last Pick trilogy and Homesick. Last Pick was a Kirkus Reviews Best YA Science Fiction of 2018 Selection and a YALSA 2019 Great Graphic Novels for Teens Nominee.

What initially drew you to comic book arts and what do you feel the graphic novel medium affords authors and illustrators?

I grew up in the middle of Kentucky fairly well isolated from a lot of exposure to things outside that farmland. The closest movie theater was just under and hour away, and there were no bookstores nearby. It didn't take long to discover and fall in love with the comic book spinner rack that eventually got setup near the register at our local grocery store. Waiting for me every week were stories full of fantastic myths and strange new worlds. There was no hope for me after this. I was all in.

I loved (and still love) science fiction and fantasy movies, and I always dreamed of being part of that creative process someday. Flash forward through the many years I spent painting and making movies on a cheap camera with my friends, and I finally realized that I wasn't having that much fun painting, and that my movies were pretty terrible. I wanted to tell the stories in my head, but they were too stagnant on a single canvas and basically unwatchable as movies. Once I began making my own comics, I felt an unbelievable freedom to tell visual stories without feeling constrained or compromised. My comic book storytelling style is as much influenced by Spielberg or Lucas as it is by Eisner or Kirby.

Before writing Last Pick, which features various characters with disabilities, your background was in special education. Do you think that working in that space has lent some authenticity to your characters and writing about the importance of not minimizing the worth of others?

I can say that because of my experience working with students with disabilities for so many years, I have certainly gone into these books with the best of intentions, and that I had two clear objectives in mind. First, I wanted to create a character on the autism spectrum that felt like a fully realized human being. Too often in fiction, those with autism are built out of tropes that in my opinion do more harm than good when showing other perspectives. How often have we seen someone with autism as having nearly superhuman intelligence, or a purity of heart that lets those around him/her to learn lessons about themselves? Many times those with autism are depicted as burdens on those around them, or unable to show emotion. I wanted to a character that certainly expressed traits of autism in his actions and thoughts, but more than anything, I wanted him to be fully human.

“...I hoped to get across in these books was the need for our society to do quite a bit more when it comes to truly making space in our world for those with disabilities.”

The second thing that I hoped to get across in these books was the need for our society to do quite a bit more when it comes to truly making space in our world for those with disabilities. Most of my teaching jobs have been in transitions programs where I focused on daily living skills, and job skills. I helped my students get volunteer work so that they could practice the routines of a work day while adjusting to the expectations that a boss places on an employee. They worked really hard and would have been fantastic employees at a variety of different jobs, but more often than not, it was extremely difficult to convince workplaces to hire those with autism. Everyone seems to have the best of intentions, but many are still unwilling or unable to make minor modifications to the workplace to help those with autism successfully compete in the workplace. These experiences were the early kernels of ideas that eventually defined the aliens in Last Pick. They are the clear analogy (taken to the extreme) for our society when we don't take the time to see the value within every human life.

The evil alien robots from your graphic novel Last Pick communicate primarily in emjois. How did you arrive at that idea and was that an artistic choice with a purpose behind it?

I always imagined that if aliens ever explored society on earth as it currently is, one of their first points of focus would be on how we now use emojis to communicate with one another. It would be a bit like how we pour over cave drawing and try to decipher how civilizations lived in the past when might understand so little regarding the rest of their lives at that time.

I also wondered if the aliens in Last Pick might use these emojis in a condescending way since they are truly despicable creatures. The idea that these massive robotic Scoopers show up on our planet to take humans away is terrifying enough, but the fact that each one has a unique and seemingly innocuous emoji staring down on you as they search the landscape seemed even more horrific to me.

How has the school and library market responded to your graphic novel?

Fantastic! Once your book is out into the world, it's often difficult to gauge how well it's selling, and it's often the school and library markets that are the first sign for a Young Adult novel regarding how well it is connecting with readers. It's here that the reviews and recommendations really count. So far I'm extremely happy with how well it has been received, and some of my favorite experiences have been stepping back into schools and talking to students about storytelling and comics in general. You'll know pretty quickly if your intended YA audience for a book isn't connecting. Kids and teens have little patience for media that doesn't connect with them. When it does connect, you really need to rely on the schools and libraries to help get your work in front of their eyes.

“...I've learned how much easier it is to have the support and guidance of a well oiled machine working with you.”

What have you learned from the experience of having your major debut graphic novel published at the level of a big five publishing house?

First and foremost, I've learned how much easier it is to have the support and guidance of a well oiled machine working with you. The team over at First Second Books has been fantastic. They know how to get a book out into the world the right way, and it's so nice for me to be able to put my trust in them and to just put in the hard work of creating the pages.

I've also learned a bit of humility. It's rare in life that an opportunity comes along that suddenly makes everything easier, and expecting that to happen is a surefire way to live your life constantly wanting more. Getting your book put out through a large publisher certainly does put a spotlight on you work like never before, but it has been important for me to also learn that there are thousands of spotlights beaming down on new books at any given time. Like most things in life, success is defined by each individual, and if you decide that success should be defined any other way you might be setting yourself up for disappointment and anxiety. A larger stage with a larger audience doesn't always mean you've got the next bestseller. Sometimes it's just another step toward building an audience.

“...the drawings help tell the story in ways that I wouldn't be able to do with just writing.”

Writing a book is hard enough. Does writing and illustrating a graphic novel up the ante? How much time and dedication does that take?

This is a question that I've gotten quite a bit recently. The writers out there that don't also illustrate believe that what I do must add an extra layer of difficulty, but I have to say that I don't believe that's true. For me, the drawings help tell the story in ways that I wouldn't be able to do with just writing. It's not easy for me to establish and flesh out an entire scene full of believable characters and environments through only words. Rather than taking a few paragraphs to create a sense of what is happening in the story, I can sometimes get that same information across within a single comic panel through only background images and body language.

For me to sit in front of a blank screen with a blinking cursor that's just waiting for me to create a world through only text would take so much more dedication from me than just sitting in front of a blank drawing page.

You’ve mentioned that Craig Thompson’s Space Dumplins was a big influence for you. Others have expressed that they see inklings of Judd Wick’s Hilo in Last Pick. Are there any other graphic novelists or comic books that have influenced you?

Craig Thompson is a big one. His graphic novel, Blankets, is a stunning work of art, and a beautiful and honest autobiography. Because it's so phenomenal, there's little that I would ever attempt to replicate from it, but it has informed my storytelling in the sense that the emotional journey for my characters is more important to me than the plot devices that move the story along. I try to shake off as much irony as possible and to let the heart of the characters show through. I'm attracted to writers that aren't afraid of exploring "love" and "being in love" in a positive way.

Terry Moore's Strangers in Paradise is another good example of this. If you've ever read it through, you might remember that it's full of fantastic action set pieces and international intrigue, but what resonates and stays with me always is the love story at the core of all the drama. It's honest and beautiful. If I can incorporate even a small portion of that into my own work, then I'm completely satisfied that I've created the type of comic that I'm drawn to (pun intended?).

How did you obtain your current literary representation and how did you go on to get published?

I had been a full-time teacher for the past fourteen years within special education. I really loved that job, but I also loved making comics. Splitting my energy and time between those two jobs while also focusing on my family began to take its toll on me. I needed to either just teach, or just make comics. With that in mind, I put together the early ideas for Last Pick as a final effort to reach out to the larger publishers. As luck would have it, you, Mark Gottlieb at the Trident Media Group literary agency contacted me out of the blue around that same time.

You were a fan of my first published graphic novel, Homesick, and offered me representation right away. I remember opening that email when I probably should have been paying attention during a staff meeting after the students had gone home. I couldn't believe what I was reading. The illusive agent representation was finally going to happen! I quickly researched the other authors that you represented and knew this was my best opportunity yet to focus on comics as my primary job.

“...things came together so quickly after fighting so hard to get my previous comics and graphic novels out into the world.”

Within weeks, we had the pitch for Last Pick put together and in the hands of some of my favorite publishers on the planet. Within months, I was working from home full-time and beginning to put the first graphic novel of a three book series together. There's no way for me to accurately explain how fortunate I felt and how shocked I was that things came together so quickly after fighting so hard to get my previous comics and graphic novels out into the world.

Do you have any advice for aspiring comic book creators or graphic novelists?

I do! It's the best advice that has ever been given to me. When I was working on my first graphic novel, I was feeling overwhelmed and full of self-doubt. An artist friend of mine told me to "just finish it". Simple right?

The thing is, there's a good chance that what you create will never be exactly as you hoped. It may never live up to the spectacular story that you envisioned in your mind before you ever began. You'll be tempted to just quit. Don't. Once you've completed a comic or graphic novel, you can now call yourself a cartoonist, or graphic novelist, or writer, or whatever other title you think is appropriate. You've done it! You've entered the clubhouse, and once there, you now have a bit of access to other creators out there that you can share your work with. It feels really good, and it makes sitting down to start the next one so much easier.

Can you give us a little preview or snippet of what you’re working on for your next graphic novel series or standalone title? Or can you tell us what’s to come next in Last Pick 2?

The second book comes out in October, 2019, and it's called Last Pick: Born to Run. What I can tell you is that the book switches between Wyatt and Sam's story as they both struggle for survival and try their best to escape their horrific situations. Even though they are a universe apart, their love for each other connects their two adventures together as they rise up against even more ruthless aliens and higher stakes then ever before. There's more action than ever, but I'm most excited about seeing these two characters come into their own now that they're separated and seeing how they build new relationships now that their previous ones have been stripped away.

#JasonWalz #FirstSecond #MacmillanChildrensPublishingGroup #MacKids #LastPick #BorntoRun #Graphicnovel #Comics #Comicbook #YA #YoungAdult #YALSA #EisnerAward #TridentMediaGroupLiteraryAgentMarkGottlieb

[hellosaltysaladcollectionstuff]

I HEARD MARK SARVAS READ from Memento Park nearly four years ago, and I recall the excerpt involved the protagonist Matt Santos’s complicated feelings about his father, Gabor. Mark had captured a universal human emotion in his prose. All these years later, exactly 4,149 days since the release of his debut novel, Harry Revised, it seems I got it right; Memento Park is a steady drumbeat of deep human emotion. While the novel is technically sound, it excels as a character study. I had the pleasure of sitting with Mark just days before Memento Park’s splashy debut at Diesel Bookstore. We had a damn good time unpacking the ideas behind his touching novel.

¤

ANDRE HARDY: I calculated the release date of March 13 will make it 4,149 days since Harry Revised was published. What took the baby so long to be born?

MARK SARVAS: First of all, the writing process is long to begin with. This particular journey was interrupted by the birth of my daughter, the death of my father, divorce — there was a fair amount of chaos. Then, beyond that, this was more ambitious than my first book. With Harry Revised, admittedly, I was in a rush. Now when I look back, I often wish I’d taken a little more care. With Memento Park, it was important to tell the story right.

Would you say that Matt and Harry, the protagonist of your first novel, are brothers, cousins, bros, or have absolutely nothing in common?

Gosh, that is so interesting. Until this moment, I’ve never thought about the two books in relation to each other. And your question is forcing me to consider that, to put them on a continuum with each other. They seem very different to me in most meaningful measures. Matt, you know, he’s a little more successful. He’s got his life together, he’s less of a schlemiel than Harry. Harry was a bit of a bumbler. But I think what they share is what I’ll describe as the same engine. Each of us as writers has an engine that motivates us, something that we’re wrestling with. I find in writers that I like a great deal, the same kind of terrain being worked out. I realize for me, and it came to me very starkly, I’m wrestling with levels of shame throughout my work. I think shame is what Harry and Matt share.

Recompense, restitution, or remunerate: which word would you pick to describe Memento Park?

That’s funny! One of the working titles was Restitution. My editor was still lobbying for that title until a fairly late date. But it had already been taken by other books. I preferred Memento Park, but it’s definitely a story of restitution. I think it is asking: What does restitution even mean? How do you measure it? You can restitute in dollars, obviously. The German government has been doing that for decades now. But there is emotional restitution, true? There are these things that complete us, complete our journey, restore something that was lost.

Let’s stay with our theme of “R” words. Could you tell me about the restitution of his religion?

That’s quite too big a subject. [Laughs.]

Duly noted. [Laughs.] I’m mainly considering Matt’s wrestling with the absence of religion in his life. In seeking religion, what was he trying to restore?

Matt becomes aware of this object [painting] that has historical and financial value. As he digs into the painting’s history, he must come to terms with the painting’s religious dimensions. It was a common phenomenon among first-generation, postwar immigrant families that fled Europe, the war, that they were done with religion. They wanted to blend in, not stand out. Some decided to forsake a God that had forsaken them. They had no use for a God that couldn’t save them from camps. My mother’s father, who is the most observant member of our family, was so angry after the war that he stopped his religious practice completely. So, part of what the novel is tracking is my own journey. I was raised a secular Jew. I mean, we had Christmas trees. I didn’t have any real religious education, of any kind. I would notice stirrings of resentment, as if something had been denied, whenever I have been in a synagogue. I don’t understand Hebrew, I don’t know the prayers, but I felt a sense of belonging. And I kind of felt annoyed, irritated, that I hadn’t had the chance to experience that more fully in my life. The Sabbath alone being one of them, a slice of sanctified time and space for rest and reflection. How beautiful.

Is Matt unreliable, uncertain, or unrealistic? Pick one to describe him.

Hmm? Three most interesting choices. I’m not sure I’ll pick just one. [Laughs.]

It’s an interview. You have to.

Matt, in some ways, is a conventional unreliable narrator. But, only with respect to his own feelings. We can trust Matt’s account of what’s going on. Matt is utterly reliable in that way. We don’t feel like he’s holding back; we feel like he just doesn’t have it figured out yet. Unrealistic, maybe that is the most right. Matt is an actor. His entire existence up to this point had been a performance. And he’s very aware of who’s watching and what the moment calls for. His journey is about authenticity, locating the authentic self. So, unrealistic may be the best of the choices. There is an unrealism about him that one hope recedes and become something else as the novel progresses.

Salman Rushdie called the novel a gripping mystery. Joseph O’Neill called it thrilling. Marisa Silver touched on its historical elements. What exactly is Memento Park?

I don’t care much for labels. I think classifications are for marketing people and bookstores to figure out. I consider my roots and my interests as being literary. I believe in plot. I like a story. I want to keep the readers interest. That being said, I don’t think Memento Park is really a thriller, or mysterious enough to satisfy someone who reads that genre. It’s not a whodunit for sure. Ultimately, I think it’s for readers to decide.

Who is Virgil? Is he more than just a device?

Funny you ask that. My editor and I, the only place where we clashed was around Virgil. She struggled with Virgil. She didn’t quite get why he was there, what I wanted him for, and why there was so much of him. We had gone through two edits, two full passes where she kept trying to scale Virgil back. I kept resisting. Finally, I wrote her an email. I wanted her to understand what I was going for, then, if the conception was totally wrong, she could help me prove it. I told her Matt is an actor. I mean that to the root of his behavior, he is a performer. He does not exist if he doesn’t have an audience. He must have an audience or he can’t play. That’s why Virgil, to me, was essential to the telling of the story.

Matt’s perception of his father, Gabor, appears to be at odds with everyone else’s. What is Matt missing?

The moment that you’re referring to, in which Matt is reading email tributes to his deceased father, and they’re describing him in such glowing terms, that’s taken directly from my life. I had that same moment reading my father’s emails after he died. I remember thinking, who’s that guy? It caused me to wonder which self is the truer self. Whose version of my father is more authentic? This is a key question in my third novel that I’m writing right now. Where is the self? What does the self consist of?

Matt would make an interesting subject for a psychiatrist who practices regression therapy. There is an incident where his dad spanks him until he wets his pants. Tell me where that came from and how it showed up in his adult life.

Well, there are a number of episodes in this novel that draw from life. The only difference is that I was painting a Star Trek model and not the World War II airplane. But that more or less happened as it was written. This incident in particular was important to show early on because in that moment there was a lot of fear. Earlier we talked about shame being a driver. I think fear, shame, and those kinds of things come to a head in that moment when Gabor beats Matt for spilling paint on the rug.

Would you say that Matt is lonely?

I think of Matt as isolated rather than lonely. There is a self-sufficiency that you see in Matt. He’s got a career as a working actor by the time he’s 19. The lesson he’s taken away from his family is how to fend for himself. It’s the classic immigrant work ethic that I was exposed too — that push, push, push mentality. I think that Matt felt isolated, but he was able to take away what he needed to get him out and on to the next step of individual journey to California.

So you don’t think this qualifies as lonely?

I’ll say that Matt was a little too cut off from himself to even experience emotion. He is a walking case study of fake it till you make it. I’m going to have the beautiful model girlfriend, the successful acting career, all these things that make my life look solid and therefore I am solid. His only concern was what’s the next step in my journey, where’s the next place I have to go, what’s the next thing that I have to do.

I’ve heard it said that there are really only two emotions, love and fear. If this is true, what is the genesis of Matt’s anger: fear or love?

Oh, it’s fear, surely.

What is he afraid of?

Himself. The truth. Answers. History. All of the above. I’ll pivot it back to my personal working through with this novel. I came to understand how little I had asked my parents about their childhood, about their early lives in Europe during the war. I came to realize that there was a lot of youthful narcissism, self-involvement, self-absorption. My head was too far up my own ass to care about this history or to inquire after their stories. And then, suddenly, it becomes too late to ask those questions. My father died in 2009. My mother tried to talk about her wartime experiences a few times. She literally couldn’t finish a sentence for the grief and the tears. And that freaked me out. We view our parents as these pillars and paragons who can make the world right for us. Even as flawed as my father was, he was dad. And dad set shit right. And I could trust in that. To suddenly realize, hey, wait a minute, dad is human, that can be a terrifying shift of the ground beneath your feet.

There is a scene where Matt is in the temple experiencing the singing, having an incredible moment, until he thinks about his parents. Then, all of sudden he’s pissed. What is he mad about?

He’s mad that he’s been denied his heritage. His stolen heritage, if you will. He’s angry about all that was kept from him. Even while experiencing something profound, he knows it’s just lapping at the surface. And he’s furious in the moment. I don’t believe in God. I’m an atheist. I have all of the predictable resistance to faith and religion. Yet, simultaneously I’m still aware of a deep thread that runs through the history of humankind. There is an abiding need to be a part of something bigger.

Could you talk about the craft decision to start the book at the end then work backward in time?

I was heavily influenced by two books. Joseph O’Neill’s Netherland is one of them. I love the way he handles time. He created a seamless ship through the present narrator, diving to flashbacks within flashbacks within flashbacks, and I never got lost. I marveled at how he accomplished that. More directly, I was influenced by John Banville’s novel The Book of Evidence. I joke that Memento Park is my Banville rip-off. [Laughs.] Perhaps it’s better to call it an homage. He’s so much in my veins that when I started writing Memento Park, it wasn’t a conscious thing, but I knew that structure fit the story I wanted to tell.

Is Matt attracted to Rachel, or the idea of Rachel?

Great question. And I’m going to say he is both attracted to her and the idea of her. Rachel is certainly physically attractive, but, remember, Matt shares his bed with a model. What he sees in Rachel, she represents that path of Jewish education, the culture, that long, long history that she embodies. And, let’s face it, Matt is a little rootless.

Does he know it?

I think he senses it. That’s part of why he’s so agitated. Rachel has history, a place in a culture with a long history. Remembering the moment with the Mezuzah, it’s not her that he becomes obsessed with, it is what she experiences in the moment that he wants to feel.

I thought that moment was so well done, by the way.

Thank you.

The first time Matt experiences an honest emotion is just before getting his ass kicked by a couple of goons. He describes it as feeling electrified. Why does he need pain in order to feel?

I think it’s critical to write as if you were in it, as if you’re feeling it. When I imagined what it would feel like to get my ass kicked, I literally experienced an electric jolt. Here’s why: I think there’s a moment when you recognize the chickens have come home to roost. A recognition that you can’t skate through it anymore. There is no more evading. It doesn’t always mean it’s pleasant, but this is what sets us free. And so, I remember writing and feeling a transference. Matt was finally letting go, and it felt electrifying.

¤

Andre Hardy is an MFA candidate at Antioch University Los Angeles. He is a graduate of St. Mary’s College of California and was the fourth pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1984 NFL draft.

The post Memento Park, a Backward Leap into the Future appeared first on Los Angeles Review of Books.

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