Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 60
May 26, 2011
Unusual Pirates
My post on Unusual Pirate Romances is online at Heroes and Heartbreakers.
May 25, 2011
Imaginary Alleys
I'll have a new post up today at Heroes & Heartbreakers: Unusual Pirate Romances.
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London 1900: The Imperial Metropolis got me to thinking. How accurate does a historical writer have to be about the tiny details of place? Does it only matter about the major landmarks, or do the side streets count as well? How about what houses were on that street at that time exactly? Or is there no way to be perfect, because some reader will always know more about that particular place than you...
May 23, 2011
Days of Our (Future) Lives: Romance in J.D. Robb
One of the reasons J.D. Robb's mystery series has continued so long, so successfully, is that it has ongoing romantic elements. There's the main couple, futuristic police detective Eve Dallas and her financier husband Roarke, but there are also a whole host of secondary characters.
In the first novel, Naked in Death, Eve and Roarke meet and, eventually, become a couple. Their romance leading to marriage continues for several books, but once they're married, their romantic...
May 22, 2011
"Enemies," Siegfried Sassoon
Enemies
He stood alone in some queer sunless place
Where Armageddon ends. Perhaps he longed
For days he might have lived; but his young face
Gazed forth untroubled: and suddenly there thronged
Round him the hulking Germans that I shot
When for his death my brooding rage was hot.
He stared at them, half-wondering; and then
They told him how I'd killed them for his sake–
Those patient, stupid, sullen ghosts of men;
And still there seemed no answer he could make.
At last he turned and smiled. ...
May 20, 2011
Regarding the Miracle of Time
I'm blogging over at Novelists, Inc. today – Regarding the Miracle of Time.
Also, have a pretty picture:
May 18, 2011
The Jetsons Future of J.D. Robb
I've been slowly reading the Eve Dallas mysteries by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts), a few at a time, and recently passed number 25 in the series. Even while reading the first in the series, Naked in Death, I've thought the future New York City Robb presented was a "Jetsons Future."
By the way, this is not a critique. It's more me musing about a concept, and how Robb put it into practice; how she used science fictional trappings within the context of a noir detective series, while keeping...
May 16, 2011
"Garrow's Law," Series 1
I have a new post up at The Criminal Element today, titled Dynamic Duos: Wimsey and Vane.
I recently finished watching Garrow's Law, Series One.
The series is a little bit like Law and Order: Georgian England, with Andrew Buchan in the lead role. It's about William Garrow, a real historical figure, and how he changed how the accused were defended in court. He's best known because he first introduced "innocent until proven guilty." The cases used were drawn from real cases tried at the...
May 15, 2011
"Conscripts," Siegfried Sassoon
Conscripts
Fall in, that awkward squad, and strike no more
Attractive attitudes! Dress by the right!
The luminous rich colours that you wore
Have changed to hueless khaki in the night.
Magic? What's magic got to do with you?
There's no such thing! Blood's red, and skies are blue.'
They gasped and sweated, marching up and down.
I drilled them till they cursed my raucous shout.
Love chucked his lute away and dropped his crown.
Rhyme got sore heels and wanted to fall out.
'Left, right! Press o...
May 13, 2011
Where, When, and How I Read
I read everywhere. If I don't have a book with me (or these days, my Kindle), I constantly glance around, feeling as if I've forgotten something. Like a limb. Going out for the day always involves deciding what I'm going to bring with me to read.
For the most part, I read fiction. I read it fast, in greedy gulps. When I was younger, up through my first years after college, I tended to re-read favorite books, or often just my favorite parts of those books. Favorites from the...
May 12, 2011
You're My Waterloo: Napoleonic Wars Heroes & Heroines
If you missed it yesterday, I have another post up at Heroes and Heartbreakers: You're My Waterloo: Top 5 Napoleonic Wars Heroes & Heroines.
There's some discussion going about other folks' favorites in that category.
