Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 114

Happy Book Birthday, Moonlight Mistress!!!

Leave a comment about your favorite werewolf book or movie, and tomorrow morning I'll choose one name randomly to win a free copy.The Moonlight MistressRead some excerpts, and more about the book, in these posts.

Have His Carcase - Peter Wimsey on tv

I'm guestblogging today over at Crista McHugh's blog, on "Take All Chances."Have His Carcase stars Edward Petherbridge as Peter Wimsey. The production is notable, for me, for the excellence of the sexual tension portrayed by Petherbridge and Harriet Walter, who plays Harriet Vane. Some of it arises from the book, most importantly their big fight, which can be summed up as "saving a woman from

Strong Poison - Peter Wimsey on tv

The Edward Petherbridge adaptations of the Peter Wimsey novels follow the books less closely than the Ian Carmichael adaptations; there are still huge chunks of verbatim dialogue, but these later ones move scenes around a bit more freely, not really to the detriment of the story as seen on screen.As far as casting goes, Harriet Walter makes a wonderful Harriet, even without a deep, husky voice

Gaudy Night - Peter Wimsey on tv

The most recent Wimsey series, so far as I know (shown in America on PBS' "Mystery"), starred Edward Petherbridge and Harriet Walter. It includes Strong Poison, Have His Carcase, and Gaudy Night. I'll start with the last one because it's my least favorite.I first saw the Gaudy Night adaptation when it aired in the United States for the first time. I remember being bitterly disappointed, because

Murder Must Advertise - Peter Wimsey on tv

Dorothy Sayers' Murder Must Advertise was adapted for television in 1973 with Ian Carmichael as Peter Wimsey. Other notables guesting were Peter Bowles as Major Milligan, Fiona Walker as Miss Meteyard, John Hallam as Ingleby, Christopher Timothy as Willis, and Paul Darrow as Tallboy. Mark Eden and Rachel Herbert are wonderful as Charles and Mary Parker (i.e., Peter's sister, nicknamed Polly). I

An Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club - Peter Wimsey on tv

This adaptation of Dorothy Sayers' Peter Wimsey mystery An Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club features Derek Newark, whom I rather liked, as Bunter. He and Ian Carmichael as Peter have a wonderful scene as they prepare to begin questioning the denizens of the Bellona Club about the General's death; Newark manages to look quite offended when Ian Carmichael tells him he's too tidy to be disguised

The Nine Tailors - Peter Wimsey on tv

While I'm out of town for Thanksgiving, I thought I'd post my comments on various television adaptations of Dorothy Sayers' Peter Wimsey novels. It's as good a way as any to occupy myself while I wait for release day for The Moonlight Mistress!Those novels are a major part of my fictional consciousness. I read them for the first time in the early 1980s, then again in the late 1980s with a much

Introduction to Steampunk

I'm visiting the Romance Junkies Blog today, so please stop by! Tomorrow at my own blog I start six days of posts about television adaptations of the Lord Peter Wimsey novels by Dorothy Sayers.#Steampunk RecommendationsComics:Fullmetal Alchemist is a wonderful Japanese steampunk series, available as both manga and anime.Also in comics, Lea Hernandez' Cathedral Child and Clockwork Angels. Phil

Three Takes on the Marriage of Convenience

I recently read, in succession, three new books by Mary Balogh, a perennial favorite of mine in historical romance. The three books about three sisters each featured a Marriage of Convenience plot, and each one approached that basic plot from a different angle.Warning: there are some plot spoilers in this post.First Comes Marriage was the most traditional. The heroine's teenage brother,

Edmund Blunden, "Report on Experience"

Report on ExperienceI have been young, and now am not too old;And I have seen the righteous forsaken,His health, his honour and his quality taken.This is not what we were formerly told.I have seen a green country, useful to the race,Knocked silly with guns and mines, its villages vanished,Even the last rat and the last kestrel banished --God bless us all, this was peculiar grace.I knew Seraphina;