Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 29
December 9, 2013
Latest Previews
More book previews!
Heavy Metal Hearts by Nico Rosso – a short novel featuring demons in a rock band.
Mounting Danger by Karis Walsh – lesbian romance, a mystery, and equestrain pursuits.
Wallflower by Heidi Belleau – boy geeks in love, and one of them is becoming a cross-dresser.
November 11, 2013
If Batman Was Two People
“You are being watched. The government has a secret system: a machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know, because I built it. I designed the machine to detect acts of terror, but it sees everything. Violent crimes involving ordinary people; people like you. Crimes the government considered ‘irrelevant’. They wouldn’t act, so I decided I would. But I needed a partner, someone with the skills to intervene. Hunted by the authorities, we work in secret. You’ll never find us, but vi...
November 4, 2013
Linkgasm is Really Random
I’ve already posted most of these to Twitter, but I collected some of my recent favorites here, for future reference.
Gossamer Obsessions has a terrific post on To Have and To Hold by Patricia Gaffney.
This is a really great analysis at Salon – is this novel about war, or abuse? The twisted mind of Ender’s Game.
Abigail Nussbaum on 3 productions of “Much Ado About Nothing” – Branagh, Whedon, and Rourke.
The 1984 PBS version of “12 Years a Slave,” starring Avery Brooks. Also, a post on the new mov...
October 8, 2013
CapClave 2013
I will be at CapClave this weekend. You can find me at the following program items:
Saturday, 11 am, Rockville/Potomac
“1001 uses for an unpublished story”
Laura Anne Gilman, Larry Hodges, Victoria Janssen (moderator), Craig Alan Loewen, Alan Smale
Sometimes they sell, sometimes they don’t; what do you do with your unsold stories? Do you ever write anything you know can’t be sold? Do you mine the novel in your trunk?
Saturday, 4 pm, Salon B
“Doctor Who”
Kate Baker, Victoria Janssen (moderator), Kath...
September 23, 2013
I Posted Over There
For Heroes and Hearbreakers, I posted on Delicious Despair in Patricia Gaffney’s Forever and Ever.
Fresh Meat: Dancer, Daughter, Traitor, Spy by Elizabeth Kiem at The Criminal Element.
A Fatal Likeness by Lynn Shepherd, a historical mystery that takes some liberties with historical figures.
A Question of Honor by Charles Todd, latest in a series of WWI histori...
September 9, 2013
“The Kaiser and Belgium,” Stephen Phillips
The Kaiser and Belgium
He said: “Thou petty people, let me pass.
What canst thou do but bow to me and kneel?”
But sudden a dry land caught fire like grass,
And answer hurtled but from shell and steel.
He looked for silence, but a thunder came
Upon him, from Liège a leaden hail.
All Belgium flew up at his throat in flame
Till at her gates amazed his legions quail.
Take heed, for now on haunted ground they tread;
There bowed a mightier war lord to his fall:
Fear! lest that very green grass again...
August 26, 2013
August 15, 2013
In Search of Balance: Forever and Ever by Patricia Gaffney
The main discussion posts on the Wyckerley Trilogy may be found at Something More.
My main takeaway from Forever and Ever by Patricia Gaffney is that it’s a story of a relationship between equals. This might seem an odd thing to say, when the heroine owns a copper mine and comes from wealth, and the hero from a family of poor miners who expended great effort to educate him. Their class differences are a major part of the plot, and give rise to a lot of conflict between them. But in the en...
July 29, 2013
More Preview Posts!
I speculated here on what might happen in book 3 of S.U. Pacat’s Captive Prince series.
I’ve also had more book previews go live.
A Woman Entangled by Cecilia Grant – a really excellent historical romance.
The Doll by Taylor Stevens – a thriller with a heroine who reminded me a bit of James Bond.
Twilight is Not Good For Maidens by Lou Allin – contemporary mystery set on Vancouver Island, with a female RCMP officer.
The Summer of Dead Toys by Antonio Hill – a hardbitten police procedural set...
July 22, 2013
Readercon 2013 Report
Belatedly, here’s my rambling report on the 2013 Readercon! I did three panels this year, leading one of them, and a kaffeeklatsch. All of my programming happened on Saturday, so unusually for me, I had Friday completely free. Most of the time when I am attending a con, I don’t have enough mental energy to attend panels I’m not on, but this time I went through the Friday schedule and made a list of everything that seemed interesting. Which of course meant that for some time slots there w...
