Rachel Neumeier's Blog, page 369

Top Ten Want-To-Read at the Moment: Kindle edition

It’s true I’ve read some great books so far this year. BUT there is no end to great books I haven’t read! As you know, I am not reading much fiction right now. And I expect this list will change before I have time to read a lot of other people’s stories. Nevertheless, here are ten titles I HAVE RIGHT HERE IN FRONT OF ME on my Kindle that I would really love to read:

1. Above by Leah Bobet. I’m sure I mentioned this before, but this is the very first book I ever got on my Kindle, and have I read it yet? No. That’s just wrong.

2. The Goblin Emperor by “Katherine Addison”. I know many of you have read it and loved it already! In fact, I just noticed Maureen has her review of this one up today.

3. Mistwood by Leah Cypess. I’ve heard lots of good things about this title for YEARS.

4. Tempting Danger by Eileen Wilks. Chachic has been pushing this UF series and I’d really like to try it, but do I have time for a multi-book series? Not this year.

5. Jellicoe Road by Marchatta. I know lots of people have been recommending this and it sounds great. I hope I get to it this year!

6. Scarlet by Gaughen. Because, Robin Hood retelling! I love the idea and really want to read this.

7. The Emperor’s Edge by Lindsay Buroker. This is a self-published title that Sherwood Smith recommended, and I like the author’s blog.

8. A Posse of Princesses by Sherwood Smith, because I’ve really enjoyed all her books so far and I want to read more of her backlist.

9. Above World by Jenn Reese because I’ve heard good things about it and besides, I met her a few years ago.

10. Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews because hey, Ilona Andrews!

As I say, I HAVE all these titles. I just don’t know when I’m going to get a chance to READ them. IF I read any new-to-me-fiction before August, a big IF, it will probably be Regency romance or contemporary — categories which don’t take as much attention because you don’t have to pay much attention to the worldbuilding.

Meanwhile, incidentally, the TBR pile does keep growing. I never pick up a free or “daily deal” book just because someone mentions it on Twitter, but then on the other hand if someone I know and trust recommends a book, that’s different. Martha Wells just recommended a book called The Whitefire Crossing by Courtney Schafer; it was a Kindle daily deal yesterday, so I read some of the reviews and then picked it up. Sounds like the author does a great job pouring her hobby (mountain climbing) into this story. By the time I get time to really read, who knows, maybe that will jump over the entire list and wind up as my first choice.

Top Ten Books of 2014 So Far

Good heavens, it’s halfway through June. Also, after an extra month of spring, all of a sudden, it’s summer! Hot and humid, people, HOT AND HUMID, and am I ever glad I have air conditioning. I’m taking the dogs out at six in the morning now because after that it’s too hot for Dora, who agrees with me about the virtues of air conditioning unless she’s chasing dragonflies, in which case it can’t be too hot. (I do watch her for heat stroke when she gets into dragonfly mode.)

Anyway! I took a week off while waiting for a) Michelle at Random House to get back to me about KERI; b) Caitlin to get back to me about KEHERA, which btw she thinks has good commercial potential and she wants to try to place it with a traditional publisher; and c) Caitlin to get back to me about the 100 pp of WHITE ROAD, my other possibility for Random House.

I’m still waiting for all those comments, BUT I have had a quick unofficial note from Michelle that she hasn’t finished the KERI partial but loves it so far. So that looks good! And that means that my break is over. I wrote 1000 words of KERI this morning and need 1000 more tonight. That’s a pace that should get me to a finished work by the beginning of August, which is the goal. IF I don’t let myself get distracted by reading! I got three new cookbooks to help me avoid fiction (THAI FOOD and THAI STREET FOOD by David Thompson, and THE NEW BOOK OF MIDDLE EASTERN FOOD by Claudia Rhoden).

Meanwhile, I have actually managed to read a reasonable number of books this year so far. I don’t know, about 40? A good many have been re-reads, including all the Shadow Unit books in April, when I was working hard on KEHERA and didn’t read anything else. Anyway, here are my picks for this year so far. It’s a WAY more diverse list than it was last year — last year, the top ten list included only five authors (Martha Wells, Andrea K Host, NK Jemisin, Laura Florand, and one by Maggie Stiefvater). This year, no repeats in the actual list, though actually plenty of repeats from last year.

TOP TEN IN THE FIRST HALF OF 2014, in rough (very rough) order:

1. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie — an amazing, ambitious debut SF novel that you have probably already all read, right?

2. by Elizabeth Wein.

3. The Fall of the Ile-Rien trilogy by Martha Wells, which I loved even more on a re-read than I did the first time around. My comments.

4. Jinx, by Sage Blackwood, one of those outstanding MG stories that works for any age. My comments.

5. The Castle Behind Thorns by Merrie Haskell, which ditto, and I really do not know which of these two MG works I would put first, but they are both definitely on my top ten list for the year. My comments.

6. The Chocolate Touch by Laura Florand, which on a re-read is still my favorite of her Chocolate romances. My comments.

7. Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart, which I have read many times, though not recently. This time, I really appreciated the structure of the story in ways I couldn’t when I first read it (in my teens).

8. Dolly and the Bird of Paradise by Dorothy Dunnett, another one which I first read many years ago (reissued as Tropical Issue btw). I will have to write a review eventually — these “Johnson Johnson” mysteries are thoroughly interesting from a writer’s perspective, as well as being great fun. Incidentally, this one was published sixth but is set slightly earlier than the other “Johnson Johnson” stories, so you can read it first or last if you want to try the series.

9. Kindred of Darkness by Barbara Hambly. An excellent addition the the Ysidro vampire historicals, though in my opinion, Ysidro himself is a less complex and less interesting character in this particular book. Lydia shines, though.

10. Across a Jade Sea and the sequels by L. Shelby. My comments.

Let’s see, that’s one SF, one historical, one romance, two MG fantasy, two adult fantasy, one historical/UF, and two mysteries, every work by a different author. As I said, a more diverse group of titles this year than last year! Still fantasy-heavy, which is normal for me.

Okay, yes, I would like to write reviews for AIRS and BIRD OF PARADISE and KINDRED, but, hey, I just read (or re-read) these recently and I’m busy! There’s a lot to say about them, though, and for that matter I have recently read several books I enjoyed that aren’t on this list and there’s a lot to say about some of them, too. I’ll just have to see how it goes with KERI. Sometimes writing something quick and casual and above all short is a nice break from putting words in a row for the actual WIP.

Now, on the theory that one can never have too many books stacked up on the TBR pile, what if anything has particularly stood out for all of you so far this year? Any of these on your 2014 lists so far?

Elderflower cordial

It’s one of those activities that feels very medieval: making a cordial — really a syrup — with elderflowers. Obviously it’s good for a writer to try things like this (right? Even if you’re putting off writing?).

I’ve made elderflower fritters, too, but to me the cordial is more worthwhile. I think perhaps the fritters are too subtle for me.

Anyway, it’s certainly time to pick elderflowers if you’re so inclined, at least if you’re in Missouri. There will be plenty of flowers around for a couple weeks yet, and those of you with a later spring may have longer than that to lay your plans if you’d like to make this cordial. Elderflowers have a lovely honey-floral fragrance that infuses the syrup. There’s no substitute.

Elderberries are extremely easy to grow, by the way, if you live in zones four through six and have room for a BIG couple of shrubs. They’re quite handsome and prefer a little afternoon shade and moist soil, but they’re tolerant plants. Incidentally, Elderberry ‘Black Lace’ is a lovely ornamental, much tougher than Japanese maples and rather easy to propagate from cuttings, but I don’t know about using the flowers in cordial. I haven’t checked to see if ‘Black Lace’ flowers are fragrant because I have the ordinary bushes for harvesting flowers and don’t need to investigate the ornamentals.

I put my elderberries in about five years ago and they’re good-sized and flower like anything. Very handsome shrubs, even though they’re not meant as an ornamental. Last year I didn’t get around to making elderberry syrup, which is supposed to be good for colds, by the way, so maybe this year. But the elderflower syrup is strictly a taste treat rather than medicinal as far as I know.

Here’s the recipe I used:

30 elderflower heads, picked at nine in the morning, after the air had warmed up and the dew had evaporated and most of the insects were off the flower heads. I picked heads with just a few unopened flowers in the middle and fresh-looking flowers right out to the edges.

1 quart water

4 C sugar

Juice of two lemons

Zest of two lemons

1 tsp citric acid

Okay, strip the flowers off the stems, leaving behind most of the green stems, which are mildly toxic. Don’t worry about it, for heaven’s sake, just strip the flowers off and leave the bigger stems behind. I suggest you go outside to strip the flowers because you will get little flowers sprinkled all over as you do this. I found only a very few insects that needed to be removed from the flowers, so I do think collecting in late morning was a good idea.

Now, combine the sugar and water and bring to a boil. Cool slightly. Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, and citric acid. The citric acid is to help prevent spoiling, so if you’re going to use the syrup right away, don’t worry about it.

Add the flowers.

Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and leave at room temp for three days. I stir the syrup every day, but the instructions don’t say you need to.

Strain the syrup into clean jars and store in the fridge.

You can combine the syrup with ice water or sparkling water for a drink, or just drizzle it over fritters (apple fritters are good) or pancakes. I bet you won’t have any trouble using it up. It does not taste of lemons, by the way. It tastes of the floral-honey elderflowers, only a little sharpened by the lemons.

Elderberry shrubs grow all over the roadsides and at the edges of woods, so even if you don’t have your own, keep an eye out. You can easily nick thirty flower heads without in the least disturbing the handsome appearance of the shrub, so anybody might be willing to let you collect flowers from their plants.

Anyway, now I’ve got to make a note to check for berries in a month or two, hopefully before the birds get them all!

I’m in good company –

Over at Speculative Post, a Top Ten list of YA titles that adults should enjoy.

I’ve never heard of a couple of the titles Janea picks, but I’m inclined to look those up, because she included BLACK DOG on her list. Always flattering to make someone’s top ten list!

Especially when my book is sharing space with Tamara Pierce and Garth Nix. And Patricia Wrede! Very nice company.

Recent Reading: SUN-KISSED by Laura Florand

So, SUN-KISSED. My advice is: Don’t read this story . . .

. . . until you have read Florand’s Chocolate romances. In case you don’t have them all straight in your head, these are:

THE CHOCOLATE THIEF — Cade and Sylvain

THE CHOCOLATE KISS — Magalie and Philippe

THE CHOCOLATE ROSE — Jolie and Gabriel

THE CHOCOLATE TOUCH — Jaime and Dom

THE CHOCOLATE HEART — Summer and Luc

THE CHOCOLATE TEMPTATION — Sarah and Patrick

“Snow-Kissed” — Kai and Kurt

SUN-KISSED — which is a longish novella or short novel — is, in important ways, a gift to fans rather than a standalone story. That’s because it’s set during and right after Jaime’s marriage to Dom, and virtually every main character from the other stories is a guest at the wedding. So we get little glimpses of ALL THESE OTHER CHARACTERS, and I don’t think a reader can appreciate this properly without reading the earlier Chocolate romances first. One of the little tidbits that I especially enjoyed, for example, was the way all the other couples moved to protect Dom and Jaime from the unadulterated attention of the photographers during their first dance at the wedding reception.

Of course SUN-KISSED is sort of a sequel to “Snow-Kissed,” since it focuses on Ann, Kurt’s mother; and on Mack Corey, Cade and Jaime’s father. Ann was a distant character in “Snow-Kissed” — a very intriguing distant character; I was glad to see her again. In earlier books, Mack got a bit shortchanged compared to his own father James, so it was nice to see him pulled into the foreground as well.

Florand is wonderful about creating characters the reader just falls in love with. I’m so happy for Ann and Mack — especially Ann. SUN-KISSED is a delightful, touching story about long-term friendship and about letting yourself fall in love again after loss. It’s a particular pleasure to see a romance where the main characters are in their fifties. This is a lovely addition to Florand’s expanding list of romances.

But read the earlier stories first.

How not to write a sequel

So, recently I read UNDER THE LIGHT by Laura Whitcomb, a book I’ve wanted to get to for a long time. It’s the sequel to A CERTAIN SLANT OF LIGHT, which was a book I really loved.

A CERTAIN SLANT OF LIGHT involves Helen, a ghost, and James, another ghost, and the two teenagers whose bodies they possess (but not in an evil way). Shannon Hale commented recently on Twitter that she disliked the book because all the religious people were evil, which is true, but I would say that the overall book showed religion in a very positive way despite this. I thought the story was innovative and beautiful, with all this interplay between the ghosts (adults) and the teenagers, with all four lives (or “lives”) interweaving.

But in the sequel, Helen, who had overcome her Issues from the first book, turns out to actually still be struggling with Issues after all. And Cathy, a secondary character who had broken from her nasty-piece-of-work husband, turns out to still pretty much be under his thumb.

Why? Why do this? Once you resolve the Angst, can’t you let it stay resolved? Aren’t there other issues that could arise and present challenges to the characters?

This is not the only sequel that has this exact problem, which for me turns out to be one of THE problems for a sequel, something that just seriously turns me off.

Anybody read MIDSHIPMAN’S HOPE?

I loved this book. Loved it. You can learn a lot about tight plotting from a book like this, where nearly every problem that looks independent actually turns out to result from one core problem that spills out over everything. The main character is very angsty, really too much so for me, but — and this is the key — he not only performs brilliantly despite his personal issues, at the end he is clearly well on his way to overcoming his personal angst and becoming a more emotionally balanced person.

Until the sequel, where lo! He turns out not to have overcome his Issue at all. It is still right there, screwing him up in exactly the same way as in the first book.

This is something which wouldn’t bother me if the first book wasn’t so good. I get hooked on it and pick up the sequel with delight and then — WHY not leave the problem that was resolved in the first book resolved? Why do you have to put it BACK?

Okay, one more. Has anybody out there read FIRE DANCER by Ann Maxwell?

This is a boring cover. I like the cover on my (old) copy better. But still, at least it is still available!

I loved this book. It’s got lots going for it, including the angst-filled relationship between Rheba and Kirtn. Which is RESOLVED at the end of the first book, but UNRESOLVED AGAIN in the sequel.

Aargh!

I want to emphasize that although all three of these books are completely different, the first books of each series are very good. If you like Horatio Hornblower and Aubrey/Maturin, you are very likely going to enjoy the Feintuch series. If you love romances with plenty of adventure, you are likely to enjoy the Maxwell series. I recommend A CERTAIN SLANT OF LIGHT to almost anybody.

BUT. Just be prepared, if you go on to the sequels, for the issues that ought to be resolved and that looked like they were resolved, to actually not be resolved at all.

I definitely prefer a series where the protagonist (and other continuing characters) grow and change and mature and get over things and deal with new things as they go along. See: Bren in the Foreigner series. Miles in the Vorkosigan series. Meliara in Crown Duel / Court Duel.

Anybody have a favorite suggestion for series in which the protagonist and other important characters change, mature, and improve with time rather than staying the same?

I will add that it doesn’t bother me if the character stays the same for ages if that is appropriate to the series (eg Nero Wolf’s characters), as long as there is no bait and switch with angst that is shown as resolved but turns out to be unresolved after all.

On my wishlist: CALIFORNIA BONES by Greg van Eekhout

Early last year I read THE BOY AT THE END OF THE WORLD, which unfortunately turned out to be one of those MG books which reads too young for me. I was particularly sorry about this since I’d met Greg van Eekhout at the World Fantasy Convention the year before and was hoping to really enjoy his book, but no.

So I was really interested to see this review by Liz Bourke, a review of a new adult novel called CALIFORNIA BONES.

Liz says: “Part heist novel, part re-imagination of the possibilities of urban fantasy, it’s an immensely fun and compelling read.”

Sounds promising, doesn’t it? From her description, this actually sounds a bit Tim Powers-ish to me. And although it’s the first book in a series, she notes that it stands alone, which is good to know.

Today there’s an interview with Greg at tor.com, by the way.

Anyway, it’s just one of those (many) books on my radar which I may buy any time now but probably won’t read this year. I keep thinking I will have time to take a break in September. Or November. Probably.

Favorite e-book font?

Oh, Harry Connelly also has .

Font does matter! I always forget about this until I’m forced to read something sans-serif, which I hate.

Personally, I type everything in Times New Roman, and convert other people’s word documents to that before I read them.

I’m used to Times New Roman, double-spaced, no extra spaces after paragraphs. That’s what looks right to me. Also, in case you’re curious about such trivia, I also write with N-dashes instead of M-dashes. And I double-space after periods.

Number of times I’ve forgotten to change my N-dashes to M-dashes before sending a manuscript to my agent or an editor: all but once. Number of times anybody has mentioned this little foible to me: zero. Through the magic of find-and-replace, these sorts of things are so easy to change, they’re not worth fussing about. Yes, you can do a find-and-replace to replace all your double-spaces-after-periods with single spaces, if it makes you happy. As far as I can tell, this falls under Things Not To Obsess Over when preparing a manuscript.

I get copy edits with all my italicized words and sentences underlined. The one time I tried to save a copy editor work by switching all my italics to underlining so they wouldn’t have to? They underlined it all themselves anyway with their red pencils. I think this must be a thing for the typesetting or whatever. So now I type with italics so it looks right on the page.

How to tell if someone is drowning

Apparently, not only does the media give us all an incorrect idea about what happens to cars that crash into things, but also a dangerously incorrect idea about what people look like when they’re drowning.

I don’t swim very often, I don’t have kids, and I’m probably less likely than lots of you to encounter someone who is drowning. But since the summer is warming up — well, not here, we’re actually quite chilly right now — but basically the summer must be warming up in lots of other places, and no doubt someday we’ll get sunshine here, too. So I thought I would pass this along to you all.

People who are drowning apparently do not wave their arms, splash madly, and shout for help. They just quietly drown, often very close to their parents or friends, who don’t notice until it’s too late.

You should click through and read the whole article if you’re into water sports. But briefly, here is how it looks when someone is drowning:

Look for these other signs of drowning when persons are in the water:

Head low in the water, mouth at water level

Head tilted back with mouth open

Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus

Eyes closed

Hair over forehead or eyes

Not using legs – Vertical

Hyperventilating or gasping

Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway

Trying to roll over on the back

Appear to be climbing an invisible ladder.

I happened across the link at Harry Connely’s blog, btw.

Cats in boxes

I know, I know, we have all seen many many cute pictures of cats in boxes, because cats. And boxes.

But come on, you know you were eager for a cat-sitting-in-a-box fix this morning.

Besides, this:

Shows an admirable determination to SIT IN THE BOX, don’t you think?

As you may gather, someone sent me a lot of animal-in-small-space pictures this morning. Owls perched in the end of a pipe, goats tucked into a tub that I expect is supposed to hold water, large dogs in small laundry baskets, etc.

My very own cat has a box meant to be used while picking peaches at a pick-it-yourself operation. The peach orchard is gone now, but the box remains in my living room, because, cat. He FILLS UP THAT BOX, let me tell you, because he is a big cat and the box is about the size of a (wide) loaf of bread.

I try not to let the puppies chew the box up too badly.

I don’t have a picture handy of my cat stuffed in his peach-picker’s box, but I will just note that the desire to sit in boxes appears to be widespread in the Felidae.

Because this:

Ah, the universality of instinct!