Rachel Neumeier's Blog, page 382

BLACK DOG review

Another one worth printing out and keeping handy for those moments of insecurity, over at Random Musings of a Bibliophile.

“Black Dog has so many elements I look for in my favorite books: strong characterization, deep and layered relationships, rich setting and world-building, and an intense plot that doesn’t shy away from the darker elements it explores. It is going on my favorites shelf and will be one I revisit again. And I’m really hoping there will be a sequel sooner rather than later. (I’ve heard there is going to be one, though this works perfectly as a stand alone.)”

Yes, as those of you who drop by frequently are aware, there will certainly be a sequel! I’m glad this one feels right as a standalone, though, because I definitely prefer that myself as a reader.

Recent Reading: The Chocolate Temptation

Wow, I sure had to struggle to give Patrick the benefit of the doubt for the first, I don’t know, maybe the first quarter of the book.

The thing about Patrick is, he really is acting like a selfish jerk when we first meet him. It’s hard to admire a guy who’s seducing an intern who is his direct subordinate, no matter how brilliantly he performs in other areas of life.

Since this is Laura Florand, though, Patrick turns into a sympathetic character after all. I bet you could see that coming, right?

Part of that is the way he was presented as a secondary character in The Chocolate Heart, which takes place contemporaneously to this book. Remember how insightful and loyal Patrick is, as he works so hard to get Luc over himself enough to admit he needs Summer? Well, here we see that relationship from the other side, and by the end of The Chocolate Temptation, we have seen just how deep that loyalty goes. For me, Patrick’s never-voiced love and loyalty for his foster brother is crucial to make Patrick work as a character.

We don’t see this through Patrick’s own eyes, or not exactly. We see it through Sarah’s eyes. The other thing that makes Patrick work for me is Sarah. She is not a very easy intern to take advantage of, actually. If she hadn’t wanted to be seduced, it wouldn’t have happened; and she wants Patrick because she sees right through all his (thick) layers of defenses to the man hidden behind them, even from himself. It’s impossible to dislike Patrick when you see him through Sarah’s eyes:

“You like to take care of people. You like to take care of strong people who are going for their dreams and to make sure they know how to reach them.”

Sarah also reinterprets that initial unsympathetic picture of the boss who seduces an intern:

“But I did use my position of power over you to seduce you, didn’t I?”

“How?” she asked, genuinely curious.

He looked at her as if she was being willfully dense. “I made you trust me. I got you used to me being in your space. I made you admire me. God, you think I’m perfect.”

She tilted her head. Put like that, it sounded oddly like a – “Patrick. That’s not abusing power, that’s, that’s –”. . . . “I think that’s how it’s supposed to go,” she said carefully. “When you’re – interested in someone else. You build their trust. You try to get them to think well of you.”

After that, it’s hard to see Patrick’s earlier actions in quite the same light. Especially as it becomes more and more clear that he really is the kind of guy Sarah thinks he is, no matter how screwed up he is about love, about admitting to anyone that he really cares about anything.

Again, it’s his relationship with Luc, not with Sarah, that drove this home for me. That thing with the MOF contest, that was amazing. It was just so perfect for showcasing the real Patrick. The importance of the relationship between Luc and Patrick was unexpected in a romance novel, but that is the relationship that really convinced me about Patrick’s quality. That’s the point where I wound up really rooting for Patrick.

Not quite as much as I was rooting for Sarah, though. She’s something special. She’s the one who figured it out about the MOF contest. Of course she figured it out; she’s always thinking, always figuring stuff out. Especially stuff about Patrick.

Sarah’s mother is from Korea, we get that early on, but the North Korean thing, I didn’t see that coming at all, and wow did it add layers to Sarah’s background, and to the story. Any writer could learn a lot from Laura Florand about handing her protagonists difficult, complicated backgrounds that echo forward to inform all their actions and motivations, and this time she did that in spades for both Patrick and Sarah. I wound up loving both of the protagonists as well as the overall story.

So, yes, this one is another excellent novel. I don’t think it’s possible for Laura Florand to write anything less.

Plus, Cinderella! Again, with a light touch, so don’t go in expecting a real retelling of the fairy tale. But it’s fun to pick up the echoes.

It’s come to this:

Possibly the worst rejection letters ever written by agents, quoted here.

I saw this via a tweet from Victoria Strauss.

Don’t tell me those “agents” aren’t getting kickbacks. They have to be. I’m sure you all would recognize this as predatory, right? None of you would be suckered by this appalling attempt to scam hopeful writers.

I only wish every aspiring author in the world followed Victoria Strauss on Twitter. It’s outrageous to think anyone could actually make money through this kind of scam.

A lexicon for newborn puppies

I’m fascinated by the variety of sounds newborn puppies can make. It’s a longer list than you might expect, considering that happy puppies are very quiet. Like this:

Tiny little occasional purrs and cheeps: I am happy, comfortable, and as awake as I can be considering my brainwaves at this age are the same whether I’m awake or asleep.

Moderately loud cheep-cheep-cheep: He’s touching me! Make him stop touching me! (When puppies shoving blindly for the same nipple.)

Louder, more persistent cheep-cheep-cheep: I’m lost! I’m on the wrong side of mom and can’t find a nipple!

One sharp CHEEP: I was asleep and someone startled me awake.

Muffled eeeh-eeeh-eeeh: Mom rolled on me! Get her off me!

Loud, angry, persistent CHEEP CHEEP CHEEP while nursing vigorously: Mom doesn’t have enough milk! Feed me! (I haven’t heard this with the current litter; they are a quiet bunch. Of course, I supplemented a lot the first day or two. Giedre’s milk is fully in now, and I think I’m about done supplementing.)

Loud, panicked, persistent CHEEP CHEEP CHEEP CHEEP CHEEP: I’m cold! I’m cold! I’m going to die!

A cold puppy really will die, too. They are right to sound panicked. A newborn can’t control its own body temperature and must be kept warm by its mother or a heating pad. If chilling doesn’t kill a puppy outright, it’ll be terribly susceptible to pneumonia afterward. You can see the remnants of wild instinct in the way a mother will tuck herself tightly around her puppies to keep them warm. I honestly am amazed that canid puppies survive in the wild. Those wolf mothers must be really, really obsessive about keeping their babies warm.

Infectious disease is scary, but the two things that mostly kill newborn puppies are trauma and chilling. This is why I sleep right next to the whelping box for literally weeks, until the puppies are too big to be lain on and much more resistant to getting chilled. Quite a few puppies are lost to smothering, but not MY puppies. Even more are lost to cold, but again, not mine! They have a normal body temperature by the time they are three weeks old — and they are also safe from some of the scariest infectious diseases at that point. I always breathe a sigh of relief when we make it to 21 days.

This is my tenth litter. For those of you who can count to the letter “I”, it’s the tenth, not the ninth, because I lost the only surviving puppy in my first “F” litter when he was three weeks old, so I used that letter again later. Anyway, the point is, I now find that muffled mom-rolled-on-me wakes me up instantly — Giedre rolled on a puppy last night — but I barely notice sharp he-shoved-me-off-a-nipple cheeping.

The babies are doing great! If I supplement at all today, it’ll just be for Boy 2 if he shows any signs of stalling. Girl has gained more than an ounce over her birth weight and is now the second biggest puppy, a hair bigger than Boy 2, who started higher but has gained only half an ounce. Boy 1 is still the biggest, obviously, though he also is just half an ounce over his birth weight.

Girl is the dark one on the bottom, Boy 2 is in the middle, and that’s big Boy 1 at the top.

BLACK DOG reviews . . . here they come!

My favorite review so far, at least of the ones I’ve seen, by Sarah Higbee over at Brain Fluff.

“I’m conscious that this review gives the impression that this is some worthy read full of interesting world-building and complex characters – and not much else… What I haven’t mentioned is that from the moment I picked up this book, it hauled me into the world and I read faaar into the early morning to discover what happened – while Himself, who has started five books this week and wandered off, muttering into his beard that they’re all a bit boring, devoured this offering in a single greedy gulp.”

That’s what I like to hear!

Also, I have a guest post up today at The Bookish Outsider, on “feeding the muse,” if you would care to click through and read that.

ALSO, I have a completely different guest post up now at Books Without Any Pictures, on designing the black dogs and their world.

AND, remember there is still the giveaway for a copy of BLACK DOG at The Bibliophibian.

BLACK DOG tour . . . and yes, a puppy update

So, check it out! The BLACK DOG blog tour has officially begun!

I have a guest post over at The Bibliophibian, where I pick out my top-ten shapeshifters. Click on over, see what you think, and add any can’t-miss shapeshifters I didn’t include in the comments. I’m sure there are plenty, because it turned out that I sure haven’t read as many great shapeshifter books as I thought, recently. They have kind of been stacking up on my wishlist / TBR pile instead.

Also, don’t miss the giveaway link down at the bottom of the post.

In other news: Giedre is doing much better now. She started feeling more comfortable yesterday afternoon and I only barely remembered to give her the pain pill this morning. Probably not coincidentally, her mothering instincts came in at about the same time and she is now a good mom.

That is Girl on the left, Boy 1 in the middle, and Boy 2 on the right. Boy 2 really is a bit pinker on the head (and feet) than the others, and Boy 1 really is the least pink, though he is cheating by tucking his head down so you can’t see his nose. Pinkness has to do with how well developed each puppy was — it’s simple lack of hair — and Boy 2 was the one who stalled out, you’ll remember, so he had about 24 hours less fur growth than his sibs. The top of his head actually looked patchy when he was born, but the coat in that area is more even now.

All of the puppies have started gaining weight: Boy 1 is not up to his birth weight, but he is coming up from his low of 7.55 ounces. Now he is 7.75. I will keep supplementing him if he starts to slide back down or fails to gain, but I think he will probably start gaining today, and gaining well, oh, maybe tomorrow.

Boy 2 never lost much, yay, and is now over his birth weight, though barely. I don’t think he’ll lose now, but he has been slow to start gaining. If he doesn’t seem to gain through the day today, I’ll keep supplementing him, too.

I did say Girl was a go-getter, right? Girl started at 5.5, fell to 5.35, and is now up at 5.95. I gave her just a couple cc’s of supplemental formula at midnight, but only because I was doing the boys and thought what the heck. I suspect she will not be the smallest puppy by the end of the day. In the boys defense, Girl was really skinny when she was born, so just plumping up to match Boy 1 will close the gap quite a bit.

Puppies have been achieved

So you can expect me to stop obsessing quite so much. I am much, much happier with them out here where I can take care of them myself.

There were only ever three puppies. I must have been hearing the one in the rear equally loudly from both the left and the right — Well, Giedre is not very thick through there. On the other hand, I really thought one must have died in there, so hey, three! Yay!

The puppy in the rear started to show a serious decline in heart rate yesterday afternoon, which is why I thought one had died, since one dead puppy can compromise the uterine environment for others. My vet was reluctant to take the puppies three days early, because that could have been a disaster, as all three puppies might have been too premature to survive. But that one in the back would not have lived through the night, so I went and got them.

This was the right decision! There are two boys and a girl.

Boy 1 — 8.0 oz, a really impressive size for a premature puppy. Hair right down to his toes. He barely looks premature at all.

Boy 2 — 6.0 oz. This was my problem child. He is a decent size, thankfully, but if you look closely, you can see he is not quite as well developed as the others. I have no idea what pulled him down, except that those early contractions may finally have compromised his placenta. He was slow to nurse, but tube-feeding him a few ccs of sugar-water pulled him around.

Girl — 5.5 oz. I am glad the girl is the smallest, since mostly the girls are more vigorous! 5.5 is actually very good for a preemie. She is a little go-getter. I really like her! She has an extra-strong nursing instinct, very good to see in a little puppy. She was skinny at birth, though. If she was as plump as Boy 1, I think there would be only an ounce between them instead of two and a half ounces.

All three puppies are basically doing fine. They have all lost a little weight, which is not abnormal. All day today I will be supplementing with 2 to 3 ccs apiece of formula diluted with sugar-water, every two hours. I would like to see their weight stabilize by tonight. I will say, Honey lost 11% of her birth weight and took four days to get back to her birth weight — and she was fine. She looked fine the entire time. I don’t see any reason these puppies shouldn’t be fine, too. Preferably without losing more weight or being so slow to start picking it back up!

The Whelpwise people have been fantastic. Karen swears we can get these puppies gaining by tonight. We’ll see!

Okay! A bit less important than being alive, but: All the puppies are nicely marked.

The cosmetic features become visible in this order:

About two weeks: eyes open. All of them will look like they have white sclera for a while. As the pigment darkens, you can see if any will truly be stuck with an (incorrect) white sclera in either eye.

About three weeks: teeth come in. It is hard to assess bites on baby puppies, and bites can change, but I will be anxiously looking for underbites. With three nicely-marked puppies, well, surely at least one will have a perfect bite?

About seven-eight weeks: you get someone to help you stack each puppy and evaluate structure. There is NO REASON Giedre’s puppies should be less than excellent. But I will sure be wanting to get a good look! Structure isn’t really a cosmetic feature, because soundness is very important, but I threw it in because it is very important and not obvious at birth. Gay tails — tails carried high — are sometimes cosmetic and sometimes indicate a structural fault. I would like to see nice tail carriage in every puppy.

About ten-twelve weeks: if freckles haven’t become evident yet, great! But late freckles can still be appearing at this point. A very few discreet freckles would be okay with me. Serious freckles would be bad.

By the way, Giedre is not super happy. She is having more pain than some, poor baby. Of course she is on puppy-safe carprofan. I think she will feel much better in a day or so. She, being a Cavalier, is happy to lie quietly and let the puppies nurse. She has no real mothering instinct yet, though, and is not cleaning the puppies, so that is my job. I’ve never had a bitch who didn’t eventually start taking care of her puppies, but I’ve had it take five days. Crossing my fingers Giedre will not take quite so long to realize she has puppies!

A friend of mine with an early section for her Kuvatz? She had to muzzle her bitch and physically pin her down to let the puppies nurse. I’m glad I have Cavaliers.

Raksura novellas!

Two Raksura novellasare just about to hit the shelves! Yay! Just thought I’d let you all know that as a public service.

Martha Wells has a very brief description of each at the link.

Me, I think . . . I think maybe I would rather get the e-copies? But then, maybe not. The two-novella paperback is supposed to include a short story or two. That would be a reason to pick up physical copies. Plus, I have the original trilogy in paper.

You know, now that I think of it, I would really like to re-read the Raksura trilogy. I think when the novellas come out would be a good time for that.

Oh, and here’s a post about Being Left Wanting More, where Martha Wells has a nominee for an author she really wanted more from. I totally agree with her choice of Janet Kagan. Mine, if I were going to pick ONE series, I really wish Doris Egan had been able to go on with the GATE OF IVORY series. For a second choice, fighting it out for the top spot, I would LOVE to have seen more books by Jacqueline Lichtenberg (writing as Daniel Kerns) in the HERO / BORDER DISPUTE world. I am glad to see those books available on Kindle, but I really want to see a third and fourth in that series.

Alas, I doubt either author will ever go on with those two series. Though with self-publishing and ebooks, who knows?

Has there ever in the history of the world been a series you loved where you did NOT want more? I’m just wondering whether it’s possible for a series to feel so complete you don’t want another book in it. I don’t think that’s ever happened to me.

Worst title ever?

Seriously?

I have an instant, visceral repulsion against this book. Who could possibly find this title a draw? That cover does nothing to counter the effect. Have I read the back cover copy? No. Nothing the back cover copy could say can make up for that title.

This particularly struck me because the Strange Chem team is not super-keen on the title PURE MAGIC for the second BLACK DOG book. Which is fine! But titles are hard, coming up with new titles is hard, developing a catchy title that will appeal to readers in the first instant they look at the cover is hard, and WHERE is the service that will come up with great titles for you? There is a definite marketing niche there, people. If someone established a sideline where they would come up with a great title and also write great back cover copy for you, I think they could do well. I’m serious.

But if they tried to sell you on WITH SILENT SCREAMS, you should demand your money back.

What do you all think? Thumbs up, thumbs down, or thumbs at half-mast for that title?

It’s hard to think about anything but puppies –

Giedre’s litter has taken over my brain. Sorry, if you’re not interested. The heartbeats are slooooowing down, but they are supposed to at this point. None of the heartbeats are dangerously low.

I REALLY can’t tell how many puppies I am hearing in there. Giedre is so small that I could very easily be listening to the same puppy from both sides. I’m trying not to depend on four. I know there are at least two. There’s no reason for one of the three confirmed two weeks ago to have died, but who knows? Sometimes that happens. I’m trying to visualize a litter of two, just to get used to the idea. Both girls. Both badly marked.

You know those uterine replicators of Bujold’s? I want one so, so badly. If anyone invents that and wants to try it on live organisms, I bet dog breeders would eagerly volunteer to be the animal trials. I want that even more than a self-driving car, and believe me I would be right there for a self-driving car. Can we move ahead with the future, already? I want cool technological stuff that dovetails with my personal needs.

I do love my smartphone, though. That’s one place the future has come through for us.