Tim Capps's Blog, page 4

Judging Angels Recognized at New York Book Festival

I am pleased to be able to pass along the news from my publisher, that Judging Angels received an "Honorable Mention" in the fiction category at the 2017 New York Book Festival.
This is a first for Hope and Life Press, and  I am very happy to share the recognition with my publisher. 

"Fully Fashioned Lingerie"

Dialogue of the Day from the sequel to Judging Angels. I wonder who is speaking to whom? And where do you think they are?

Ginger in Follow the Fleet (RKO 1936)

Stars Harriet Nelson and Randolph Scott.
Follow the Fleet (1936) RKO: Three out of Five Salmon ***

Follow the Fleet is not the one I would recommend as an introduction to the famous screen partnership. (That would be Swing Time.)

Follow the Fleet is a different sort of movie. Part of it is the un-glamorous setting. Fred's a swabbie on a battleship and Ginger is the failed half of their previous dance partnership. Harriet Nelson (of Ozzie and Harriet fame) is Ginger's plain sister who falls in love with Fred's buddy, played by Randolph Scott.

The plot revolves around getting Randolph Scott and Harriet Nelson together so he can be captain of the ship her seafaring father left her. (And, it goes without saying, getting Fred and Ginger back together.) Harriet's rival is a married rich woman played by a cute and curvy yet elegant Astrid Allwyn. Fred torpedoes that affair and Scott suddenly decides he loves Harriet Nelson after all.

Forget the unforgettable Adrian gowns. There is only one number (in a show-within-the-show right out of a Mickey Rooney - Judy Garland movie) where Ginger gets a lovely sheer silk gown and Fred his usual tux. Otherwise, she's wearing pants, a sailor outfit, or something else forgettable (although the pants and tight top showcase her figure in a franker way than the usual gown).

Harriet Nelson gets not one, but two songs, stealing precious Ginger screen time.

The plot meanders all over the place, but you don't watch one of these for the story, which is a weak excuse for stringing together the dance numbers. The romantic tension, often based on mistaken identity, is reduced here to petty pranks and the usual squabbling seems sillier than usual, although the introduction of a monkey does liven things up a little.

Yes. Inserting the monkey turned out to be a good idea. You know you have problems when a reviewer says that.

Besides the monkey, there are none of the talented supporting players like Eric Blore or Edward Everette Horton that are so memorably funny from other pair-ups. Betty Grable is in a trio that makes a don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-it appearance, and a statuesque peroxide Lucille Ball has a line or two. I don't know about you, but I'm always surprised at what a knock-out Lucy was in those old movies.

This is the only film of the ten where Ginger gets to dance alone. She does a competent tap (and shows a lot more leg than usual) but she's no Eleanor Powell. It illustrates, however, what she brings to these films. Her superb acting makes Fred look like a desirable romantic partner when they dance. Without that chemistry, the number just seems to lack something. It's not Fred. It lacks Fred-and-Ginger.

It all begins with a Fred number, See the Sea, that will now look uncomfortably like Channing Tatum's gay subtext sailor number from the Coen Brother's Hail Caesar.

Let Yourself Go is cute. Ginger is in a cheap pay-to-dance joint, her career on the rocks after she split up with Fred. The pair reunite, of course, and find themselves in a dance contest against stiff competition. They gradually dial up the dancing until they win, which costs Ginger her job. Fred vows to get her before a top agent and win back her affection.

I'm Putting All of My Eggs in One Basket is funny. The pair is completely out of sync in the dance, and Ginger's comic flair is spotlighted.

Let's Face the Music and Dance is the one glamour number at the end. Here we get what we expect: an iconic (if relatively modest) Van Nest Polglase art deco set and the aforementioned elegant gown. However, other than the gown, there is nothing particularly memorable, if that can be said of any Fred and Ginger number. Supposedly, Fred got slapped in the face by her weighted sleeve in this take, but I missed it.

At 110 minutes you may feel like you've fallen asleep and had a weird dream where you signed up for a three-year tour in the Navy alongside Harriet Nelson. An enjoyable oddball of the ten, or a bit of a flop without the elements we expect? Probably some of both. You will not want to miss it for the songs and dance numbers, though.

And if you're a big Harriet Nelson fan, this will be your favorite.

Radio Days and Audiobook Progress

Samson C01U ProThree Audiobook Chapters Finished
Three chapters are under my belt for a proposed audiobook, read by the author. (You can hear Chapter 1: Last Things HERE.) Let me know what you think.

The next chapter is going to be the biggest test so far because of the large cast of characters, including the debut of a major one who poses... unique challenges. I am learning the trick is not to go all out trying to impersonate the different characters, but give each just enough of his or her own voice  to clearly distinguish them.

An excited six-year-old girl still tries my dignity, though.

Tech Stuff and Radio Memories
I am using Audacity as my recording program, which has a lot of nice features, running on a Surface Pro 4 with Windows 10.

The main tool of the trade is a Samson C01U condenser USB mic with headphone jack for zero latency when recording narration. This is a very nice mic for close in work, and I mean close. When I get into a character's mind, I drop my voice and move in nearly close enough to kiss the mic.

I do not use a spit screen, needless to say, and pros don't pop. I worked at three different radio stations: an AM farm day-timer, an AOR FM station (Adult Oriented Rock, or "All Over the Road") and an NPR affiliate. I put in my share of time as "a personality" in every slot there is, but mainly did news and NPR essays. Each station was very different and provided valuable experience.

The management of the first one was a real old-school character but he taught me all the vintage tricks. Why we see Gary Owens putting his hand next to his ear in Laugh-In and the mysteries of "making love to the mic," which are secrets of the fraternity that I must not reveal.

I will say that audio is the most intimate medium. Sometimes in a creepy "Play Misty for Me Way." It is the only medium where it is just you an a single person who may be devoting her whole attention to you.

I got a lot of "you don't look anything like I imagined," and "you have a perfect face for radio." I'm sure both are true.

I also use a portable sound-deadening semi-circular background that I call the Cone of Silence. It gives a nice acoustically dead recording environment without building a studio. More time is spent on retakes and post-production than recording. The dogs go nuts from time to time, although the family does a good job of respecting the virtual "RECORDING" sign.

I am very pleased with the results, and "read by author" means read by an author who was a Radio-TV major with significant broadcasting experience. In other words, I think people will find it is a professional recording. I encourage people to check out Chapter 1: Last Things. The above (and below) link goes to the recording on SoundCloud.

"Free" is a bargain for a 43 minute-long chapter! Judge for yourself. (Yeah, second link.)

Next In Rubricatae Chronicles Series: (Yet-to-be-Titled)
Meanwhile, the sequel to Judging Angels is moving along. It is divided into two main settings, with the action in one having a decidedly noir atmosphere. I had to stop writing to work out the backstory of a complex plot but think I've got it all figured out now.

So now it's time for re-writing a couple of chapters and forging ahead to the imminent collision between the two stories - the one Judging Angels readers will know about and another, unrelated mission during the same 28 days that introduces new and colorful characters: Joey Catania, Admiral Demarest, the Big Woman and the rest of the Rat Pack.

And Pecksley is back, having earned a more prominent role because he's just so darned adorable.

And then there's Mia.

Has Red finally met her match?

Judging Angels & Author Featured in Dappled Things

I am pleased to pass this one along: Judging Angels received very kind treatment in the current issue of the Catholic literary quarterly, Dappled Things, which you can read here. The author was licking his chops over an interview with the sort of Catholics who understand what he was trying to accomplish with his genre-bending epic.

A while back, the author of the piece Jonathan McDonald and his now-bride met us for the traditional Latin Mass at the Oratory in St. Louis and both couples enjoyed lunch afterwards on the St. Louis landing. It was a pleasure to meet such a lovely and erudite pair of young Catholics.

As a firm believer that redheads are undeniably God's greatest gift to the eye of man, and having been married to his own "dappled thing" for 40 years, it is particularly gratifying to appear in a fine journal with the seeming inevitable name. (For the record, the redhead in Judging Angels does not have freckles, which fact alone should call into question her origin.)

Hallmark Cards - Judging Angels Versions

Aw, isn't that sweet?




And for some redheads it's blood sport.

Chapter 1: Last Things Read by Author

Here is a little treat - the audio of Chapter 1: Last Things, read by the author. 

Curl up in your favorite chair, turn down the lights, and enjoy the psychological thriller element of the novel, as you are introduced to George Able - a disgraced lawyer who is being divorced by his wife and disbarred by the state. When he celebrates Christmas Eve with some dangerous company - Messrs. Daniels, Smith, and Wesson - you just know things are not going to end well.

At the present, there is no audio version of Judging Angels and this is not necessarily the version of Chapter 1 that will be used should that project get the green light. Just another way of sharing, and a little experiment to see if I could pull it off.

NOTE: SoundCloud does not provide a way to disable autoplay. If you are creeped out at the end of the reading, my Russian Orthodox Epistle chant or maybe something will definitely get your attention! So you might want to stop the player after the chapter ends.

Writing Character Background

I used to HAVE this one!I love to write. Whatever the opposite of writers block is, that is what I have. Writing is the easiest thing in the world for me.

Too easy. I want to jump right in and start recording the adventures and character revelations in my latest novel.

But a good novel must have a good foundation. So what I have been up to lately is developing characters. The motives of characters don't come out of the thin blue. They - like yours - come from their background, what their culture values, even their secrets. How have they been hurt? How have they best gotten by in their world? What are they like when no one is looking, and how is it different from when they are before an audience?

The motives of characters drive plot. I think characters should come first, and the plot should flow organically from them. Otherwise, you get a story where stock characters are plugged in so it rolls along and makes a certain sense but it rings false and the characters are not interesting.

Every character is getting a mini-biography. Physical appearance; background; purpose in story (imagine that!); habits and mannerisms... I want to give the reader a collection of vivid characters that are different from one another, with even those in minor roles having something to make the reader relate to and remember them.

Sadly, some are already having their fates recorded. And yet nothing is certain until the final edit!

It is so easy to find yourself writing a clichéd character that it takes some effort to avoid it.

"Trope" is not a dirty word to me. A novel without a single trope would be classified as "experimental," I think. There are only so many character roles and plot devices, after all, and a cast that consisted solely of completely original characters would be a freak show, not a novel.

Nonetheless, you don't want the reader to roll his eyes in every chapter because he has seen this exact thing before. It is fun to fake a trope so the reader expects one thing, but enjoys an unexpected twist on the familiar. I imagine that a surprised reader is not a bored reader. But you have to set up your surprises so that when the reader thinks back, the surprise seems, if not inevitable, at least not all that surprising after all.

The worst thing is a surprise for the sake of surprise or a twist for the sake of a twist. Those feel bolted on, rather than growing naturally from (and here we get back to the beginning) the motivations of the characters, or at least previously-established circumstances.

Which is why I am spending so much time getting to know my new characters for the next book of the Rubricatae Chronicles. At this stage of their development, a couple are looking a little "tropey." This is one of those problems that is easy to solve but difficult to solve well.

If there is anything easier than writing a pure trope it is trying to escape a trope by providing some arbitrary distinction. "The spunky tomboy teen girl was not only scrappy, but fluent in spoken Latin." Or was a talented ballerina. Maybe either one. Maybe both. Probably neither. Whatever it is, it has to flow from her background and make her feel more, not less, like a real person.

Finally: One Answer to the Blacklist

Remember: if you are sad, troubled,
have doubts, not positive and not living
your Catholic faith victoriously, there is
something seriously wrong with you.One Catholic media outlet was kind enough to provide an answer as to why they declined to acknowledge Judging Angels. I do sincerely thank them for the courtesy.

Without going into details, the sense was that they preferred positive stories where Catholics victoriously lived out their faith.

And, that's nice, I agree.

I have to wonder, however, what service they imagine they are providing to Catholics who may not be victoriously living out their faith. There may be Catholics who are confused, tempted and even lapsed.

I don't know. Perhaps I have it all wrong, and all Catholics except me are victoriously living out their faith and Catholic novels should solve characters' problems in a few gentle pages of rosaries and counsel from their kind and wise parish priest.

But, they have one thing right. I didn't write Judging Angels for Catholics without doubts, without temptations, and without sin. I suspect their victorious Catholics would not find much value in practical lessons about dealing with temptation and near occasions of sin, or warnings that moral choices have consequences.

And, the possibility of actually dying in your sins and going to Hell is probably viewed as an embarrassing superstition by all those Catholics victoriously living out their faith. In any case, it isn't anything they have to worry about, being victorious and all.

So, let me clear this up. Judging Angles is NOT written for Catholics who are effortlessly living out their faith victoriously. It is written for bruised and knocked-around Catholics who are confused, tempted, maybe even sinners, who are not finding a lot of help from their Church.

If your editorial standards are designed to avoid engaging those kind of Catholics, then, of course, Judging Angels is not your cup of tea, and promoting it makes no sense. That, at least, I can understand and respect.

Another " ***** " Review

I want to thank an FOB (Friend of Bear) who took the time to leave a review at Amazon on Judging Angels. Of course, it was all the sweeter for the pretty stars.

I know you get sick of hearing this, but reviews like those are what people rely on in this day and age. They really do matter enough to warrant the nagging. No, not nagging. I have my self-respect, you know! Let's call it... begging.

 I don't know much about publishing except it seems to be a "top down" process of people buying promoted books, rather than a "ground up" one of good books growing in popularity and attracting attention. My wife and I were discussing books she has recently read and did not enjoy very much. But they are the ones that are heavily promoted.

I get the model and am 100% for people making money.

The community's voice is a wonderful way to gain an audience for good books that bypasses big-money promotion and blacklisting. (See previous re: EWTN.) It is grassroots marketing that money literally can't buy. Success is relative, and my expectations for Judging Angels are reasonable, I believe. Thank you for your honest reviews and God bless.