Timothy Miller's Blog, page 16

Remember your first book?

 Check out First Book and give them their first book.

Over half of America's low-income children are growing up in homes without books.

That's millions. Millions of children live in a book desert - no books to spark imagination. No books to strengthen their critical thinking skills. No books to connect with the outside world.

First Book changes all of that.

John Crowley

 

“Learning to decipher words had only added to the pleasures of holding spines and turning pages, measuring the journey to the end with a thumb-riffle, poring over frontispieces. Books! Opening with a crackle of old glue, releasing perfume; closing with a solid thump.”

--John Crowley

Lagniappe: From Poem to Screen

 “Who’s on line two? Bob Frost?” 

    “Bobby, how’s it hanging, baby? How’s Vermont? Sap still rising?” “Oh, mending walls, eh? Make sure you get a good contractor. This guy Sophie got on the guest house, he’s a goneph. I swear, I’m pouring money down a rat hole.
 "So what have you got for me, baby? A new poem? Pitch me! Two ears, no waiting.” “Stopping in the Woods on a Snowy Evening? Great title. Says it all. Three teen-age couples, cabin in the woods, axe-murderer, chop, chop, chop, big box office, I can smell the money, these kids can’ get enough of the crap!
For the rest check out Lagniappe

Historical fiction or conspiracy theory?

 

Vincent van Gogh did not commit suicide.

He was murdered.

And I can prove it.

How? By fudging the facts. Creating doubt. Promulgating conspiracy theories.Historical fiction writers do it every day.

Let’s face it, we’re deep in conspiracy theories these days, and more and more people are latching on to conspiracies to explain the world around them. Conspiracy theories are a growth industry. Unless the market is being manipulated by the Russians, or lizard people, which would explain a lot.

For the entire article, visit Lesa's Book Critiques

Historical fiction or conspiract theory?

 

Vincent van Gogh did not commit suicide.

He was murdered.

And I can prove it.

How? By fudging the facts. Creating doubt. Promulgating conspiracy theories.Historical fiction writers do it every day.

Let’s face it, we’re deep in conspiracy theories these days, and more and more people are latching on to conspiracies to explain the world around them. Conspiracy theories are a growth industry. Unless the market is being manipulated by the Russians, or lizard people, which would explain a lot.

For the entire article, visit Lesa's Book Critiques

Interview: Historical Novel Society

A review/ interview with the Historical Novel Society:

"Timothy Miller’s second ‘Strange Case’ novel features a witty amalgamation of Sherlockian investigation with historical oddities. The Strange Case of the Dutch Painter (Seventh Street Books, February 2022) revolves around the suicide of Vincent Van Gogh, and throws up some intriguing perspectives on the era, the painter, and the power of art."
For the entire piece, visit the Historical Novel Society

A Master of Disguise

 My thoughts on why Sherlock Holmes lives a life of disguises:

"But where does his fascination with disguise come from? His need to erase himself?
Does Sherlock Holmes hate Sherlock Holmes, and if so, why?​For the answer, or at least a conjecture, I think we have to delve into Holmes’s past, and we have little enough to go on there. We know that his father was a country squire, settled in his ways, yet he chose a French woman, from a family of prominent painters, as his wife. It’s an odd match."

For the full article, visit Crime Thriller Hound

Holmes's artistic ancestry/Crimereads

 Now out, my  speculations on the Vernets in Crimereads.

"Nevertheless, at the time the Vernets were a wildly popular tribe of painters, three
generations, connected by marriage to a whole host of other successful French artists. And since there were three generations, Claude, Carl, and Horace, there is some ambiguity as to exactly which Vernet is meant. Since Horace and Carl both feature (in paintings) the aquiline nose and piercing eyes that Holmes also boasts, that doesn’t clear up the question."Read the whole piece at Crime Reads:

Historical Novel Society review of the Dutch Painter

 From the Historical Novel Society:

"While the book contains deft Holmesian plotting and a plethora of historical tidbits, the real draw for me is the extraordinary voice of Miller’s narrator: hilariously pompous, erudite, and evocative. The
sheer riot of his descriptions captivates and invites readers to linger over the sentences rather than rush headlong through the story."
For the entire review, check out the Historical Novel Sociey:

Interview with Nerds that Geek/The Dutch Painter

 
NTG: Do you think Sherlock Holmes would have good taste in art? Why / why not?
 

Timothy Miller: Watson claimed that he had dreadful taste in art, but then Watson was something of a Philistine himself. But I think Holmes would have been more apt to analyze art, to try to derive clues from it rather than simply enjoy it. I think he would have been more comfortable with abstract art, Kandinsky, for instance, which would have allowed his mind. to release its grip, the same way that improvisation on the violin did.
                 For the full interview on The Strange Case of the Dutch Painter, visit Nerds That Geek.