The Secret Ingredient - Facade

I do not remember every paying much attention to what books looked like because I was raised to "never judge a book by its cover." Some times the best meals come from those hole-in-the-wall restaurants that look like flophouses. I know authors worry about their book covers. My favorite being Lynn Veihl's post on Paperback Writer blogspot about the "bright metallic glow-in-the-dark pink albino Robin Hood on the cover." She clearly and humorously communicated the frustration of authors with their book covers in Dilemma.

Her concern is legitimate, because last week I decided to go to the bookstore and try to find some books that had strong female protagonist as part of my reading/writing assignment. I even downloaded a list of "Formidable Female Protagonist" from Cybermage. Then I left the list in my car. Rather than walk the twenty steps back outside to my car, I decided to browse.

I cannot remember the last time I browsed. How in the world did I pick a book to choose from before I found those authors I liked, who then lead me to others? I realize that my reading experiences have been dictated by a chain of suggestions for the past fifteen or more years.

So how to decide? I started picking books at random and opening to the first lines, but that became futile quickly. There had to be a better way, and for the first time in who knows how many years - I started judging the book by its cover.

I pulled up the covers of my favorite books on my phone and compared them for clues. 9 of the 10 books had strong female protagonist (I already knew I was drawn to that!). Of the 9 books with strong female protagonist, women were featured on 7 of them, with only one of the 7 sharing the cover with a male. 2 of the covers featured objects instead of people.

The logical conclusion was to start looking for book covers that featured a female, preferably alone, on the cover. With this criteria set I went in search of book covers and found A Secret History: The Book of Ash. There were several aspects of this image that stuttered by attention. I first thought this was a man because of the armor and the hands. Then I looked closer and realized the hair was long and the face more feminine that I original judged. The armor is unexpected because it reflects a bucolic landscape rather than the gore of a battle field. I am drawn again to the hands, which are roughened and red, to the awkward pose and position of the hand holding the sword. The whole composition was unusual and I wanted to find out what the reasoning might be.

Appetizer: "It was her scars that made her beautiful."

I bought the book.

And that is how I chose a book to read, the secret ingredient is the cover and the author has no control over it.

Word Count: 499
Edits: 3

Taste Test Thursday - Hounded

Hounded by Kevin Hearne

Review: Wishing the story was better edited because it is an interesting and engaging plot but the crafting of the story is frustrating and characters need to be fleshed out more.

Appetizer: "There are many perks to living for twenty-one centuries, and foremost among them is bearing witness to the rare birth of genius."

The first line identifies an intrigue about the main character, the fact that he has lived for over two thousand years. This drew me quickly into the story which jumped straight into action. However, this excitement was soon overshadowed by problems in the meat of the story.

Meat Course: The story overall had some surprising spices to an otherwise jerky story. Much of the novel was contrived or cliche and was short on the unexpected surprises that make stories like these great. For starters the immortal Druid owns and operates an occult shop. There is nothing unexpected or unusual about that but there could have been ways to make it so. I will say the action sets in quickly with the plot's point of tension beginning with the Druid's necklace. Hearne establishes the necklace's importance defending its wearer within the first chapter. "My cold iron amulet was bound to my aura, and by now they could no doubt see it: I was some sort of Iron Druid, their worst nightmare made flesh." This if followed by a detailed explanation of its creation (read very hard to make and took many years).

Additionally the creator wears the necklace who is also very old and one assumes experienced. So what does the character do?... He takes the necklace off to clean leaving himself completely unprotected and vulnerable. For a two thousand year old man, he's really, really, really stupid. Additionally, the author uses the moment of weakness to emphasize that he has a very stereotypical testosterone driven libido towards a "naked, statuesque woman with milk-white skin and raven hair" when she "draped an arm around [the Druid's] shoulder and trailed her nails down the back of [his] neck, causing [him] to shudder involuntarily." This happens again later in the story. I am not a fan of seduction or sex without an emotional connection, so this did not work well for me.

Getting back to the crafting of the story. So fairly early in the book the author has 'shown' the reader the necklace's importance and then proceeds to 'tell' the reader why the necklace is important. This is redundant and a crafting trait found throughout the whole of the novel. It is annoying and frustrating like having to chew the same piece of jerky over and over again.

This story does a lot, sometimes too much especially when the reader gets a double dose of show and tell. On of the aspects about fantasy is there needs to be clear cut rule for the universe of the story to exists. A lot of stories run into problems because they do not establish these rules for the reader or it takes too longer for the reader to understand what the rules are. Hearne's story actually goes in the other direction, the reader is bombarded with rules of the world and the Druid's seemingly infinite powers: seeing through fae glamour, self healing, sensing metal, communicating with other paranormal, immortal, handsome, converses with goddesses (has sex with them too), has a lawyer who has ghouls on call, a dog he can talk too, can "cloak" himself to change forms, etc... That is a lot to get a handle on in the first story and a little too good to be true.

Dessert: That is not to say that there aren't some good points. The overall concept of the story is very different and unique making it interesting and the key reason why I finished the main course. The really good part is Oberon, an Irish wolfhound in the series that is the Druid's 'familiar.' The dog is funny and communicates in English but with an identifiable doggy voice which provides excellent comedic quality to the story. "After my bathtime story, [Oberon] wanted to be the Genghis Khan of dogs. He wanted a harem full of French poodles, all of whom were named either Fifi or Bambi."

With better editing this could have been a great novel worthy of every course being devoured.

Word Count: 719
Edits: 2 (last updated 12/29/15)

I Did Not Fail, Because I Did Not Quit

On November 18, 2015, I passed my Doctoral Qualifying Exams.*

Once I began to breathe again, my brain began to itch and twitch. Immediately upon finishing my exams, I put all my academic history and culture books away on the highest shelves of my cabin walls and escaped into the urban fantasy lives of Mercy Thompson, Meg Corbyn, and Eve Dallas. And I wanted more, more than just to read about these character’s lives, I wanted to create my own character.

This was the push I needed to get my own journal out and started writing again. I am writing every day and my engine feels waterlogged and frozen. My mind is a giant tractor left out in the rain of a fertile but barren field with the pistons rusted in place.  Reading earlier blog post, I know it is going to take me time to get back to writing the way I was before. I need tremendous willpower to unstick my mind from the muck, but I have a plan and this blog is going to help me.

During my extended absenteeism, I actually did manage to write more short stories, attend regular writing workshops and submit the stories to publications. I have also improved my academic writing. Both forms of writing will be making appearances throughout the blog as I continue this literary/cultural/historical writing adventure.

I am assigning myself two writing projects because everyone says I need to write what I read… And I tend to read two very different things, one for learning and one for escapism. The first is to write my Doctoral proposal (by May 2016) which will ultimately go into my dissertation (due May 2018). The second is to write an urban fantasy novel (by May 2020).

As a result, this blog is going to twist in another strand of writing.

*(Much has happened between October 2013 and November 2015. I did not keep up with the blog because I was in a state of shock having attended 9 funerals of close family within a 2 year period. The resulting stress in addition to work at the museum tripling and the push to finish my coursework sent me to therapy. It took longer than 18 months to pass the qualifying exams and find some stability in my life again, but I didn't quit and I passed.)

Word Count: 392
Total Edits: 5

Preventing Cabin Fever, Kismet Cabin Exterior

Now that winter is setting in, which means cooler weather and longer, darker days - I can feel the beginnings of cabin fever starting to brew. So it's time to turn my attention to the outside of the cabin because once spring gets here, I'm going to want to enjoy the sun on my face.

I spent quite a bit of time this fall cleaning the exterior of the cabin. I kinda wish I'd taken a before picture to show all the vines growing across the cabin which were starting to work their way under the clap board siding and the seams of windows, which is why they had to be removed. There's a few places along the roof line that I need to work on but over all the cabin exterior cleaned up very nicely.

There's still things to be done though. The cabin is in desperate need of new coats of paint, which of course means lots and sanding and scraping in my future. I'd like to give it some charm and character by painting it a light blue with a light green trim. Then I could use purple as accents for trellis and the screen door (I'm still looking for an old wooden one to install).

Also, the ground has been very wet every since the torrential rains began in May and carried through to Thanksgiving. This means lots of mud especially right in front of the cabin which sees the most traffic so there's no grass growing, just a dirty slushy mush. There are a few flagstones right around the stoop under the porch cover and I'd like to extend that out entirely in front of the cabin.

Right now the stoop is a stacked pile of cinder blocks. My plan is to build a wooden stoop that would act as storage for my ladder, rake and other garden supplies. I also want to put a kitchen cabinet outside to the left of the door. The lower cabinet would hide the propane tank that currently sits on the ground. Then I could use the upper cabinets for my "Little Free Library & Trading Post."

I also want to build the garden beds back up. The Herb and Edible garden would go in the front since it gets the most sunlight. The butterfly and bird garden would go on the right with a bird bath since there's a window on the side that I like to look through when I'm writing. The left side and back would be shade gardens since the trees provide so much cover.

So... that's my spring plans, but since I'm renting I need to get approval from the manager first. I'm hoping the graphics I provide will help me convince her.