Ruth Hull Chatlien's Blog, page 9

Janus: the Two-Faced God

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Head of Janus, Vatican Museum, Rome

The month of January is said to be named after the Roman god Janus, who was the god of beginnings, transitions, and endings among other things. He had two faces, which enabled him to look to the future and to the past.

I find this fitting because that’s what my husband and I always do on New Year’s Eve; we talk about the milestones of the past year and we set our hopeful goals for the future.

One of the biggest milestones of 2017 for me was the publication of my second novel, Blood Moon: A Captive’s Tale. In some ways, getting that second novel out into the world was even more satisfying than the first because it proved that getting published wasn’t a fluke and that I wasn’t going to be plagued by the “sophomore slump.”

However, 2017 had its writing difficulties too. One of the big adjustments I had to make was to completely abandon the idea for my next novel after having spent six to eight months researching it. The more I read, the more I realized that the person I thought was I was going to write about just wasn’t a good fit for me right now.

So I am starting over from scratch, and the reboot coincides almost exactly with the beginning of the new year. The good news is that I am very excited about the new story idea, and I can already feel the creative juices stirring in a way they didn’t last year.

Watch this space. Over the next few months, I plan to share some of the intriguing tidbits that I uncover during my research process.

And I wish each and every one of you a wonderful 2018 in which you achieve some of your own deeply cherished goals and received some pleasant surprises!

What I’ve Been Reading: Tan

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TAN by David Lawlor is a solid adventure / war story. The pace is quick, there is plenty of action, the plot has twists and turns. If you want a quick read set during the Irish War of Independence—and one with a pro-Irish slant—you’ll probably enjoy it. But the book has weaknesses. I thought the characterizations were disappointingly black and white. The book is populated with good characters and bad characters without much of the complexity that most humans display.

I was also disappointed to see that the book had errors that should have been caught before publication. I found many punctuation mistakes and several typos—such as the character of Eoin suddenly being called Eon. And there were distracting misused words: cygnet ring instead of signet ring; heap of slack instead of heap of slag, and others. No published work is ever completely clean, but there were more issues than I would expect from someone with this author’s experience.

What I’ve Been Reading: The Secret Language of Women

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The Secret Language of Women by Nina Romano is such an unusual and exotic story. Lian, a half Italian-half Chinese woman, falls in love with Giacomo, an Italian sailor whose ship is patrolling the waters around China during the violent Boxer rebellion of the late 1890s when Chinese nationalists tried to drive all foreigners from their country. In such a difficult situation, the lovers’ lives are endangered simply because of who they are, and their relationship only places them in more jeopardy. I don’t want to say anything more about the plot for fear of giving too much away. But what I loved most about the novel was the way rich aspects of both Sicilian and Chinese culture are interwoven into the story and the way these two very different people realized they are kindred spirits.

What I’ve Been Reading: The Painted Girls

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I recently finished The Painted Girls and gave it five stars on Goodreads.

Although on the surface about ballet and art, this book certainly shows the underside of Paris. Three sisters, whose father is dead and whose mother cares only about absinthe, live in grinding poverty and dream of finding a way out. Each tries to make it as a ballet rat (young dancer), with varying success. Of the two oldest girls, Antionette is a strong and insolent fighter who falls in with a boy of bad character. The other, Marie, comes to the attention of Edgar Degas and models for him as a way to earn extra money. Each makes questionable choices that she must struggle to overcome. I was moved by the book’s ending.

Review at A Bookish Affair

Check out this new review of Blood Moon: A Captive’s Tale by Meg at A Bookish Affair.

Two Woman Forging Their Own Paths, Guest Post by Ruth Hull Chatlien

Source: Two Woman Forging Their Own Paths, Guest Post by Ruth Hull Chatlien

Goodreads Giveaway

Goodreads Book Giveaway


Blood Moon
by Ruth Hull Chatlien

Giveaway ends July 18, 2017.

See the giveaway details

at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

 

Blood Moon: A Captive’s Tale. Ruth Chatlien.

I was happy to find a new review of Blood Moon this morning.  I love it when readers engage seriously with my work.

Source: Blood Moon: A Captive’s Tale. Ruth Chatlien.

Historical Fiction Round Table

Today I’m taking part in a round table discussion with four other novelists on the blog of Sophie Schiller, author of Transfer Day and Race to Tibet. You can read the discussion here.

The other guests are Weina Dai Randel, author of The Moon in the Palace; Antoine Vanner, author of Britannia’s Amazon; Marie Laval author of The Dream Catcher, Blue Bonnets, and Sword Dance; and Lindsay Downs, author of romantic suspense.

Get It While It’s Free!

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The Kindle version of The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte is free through June 24. You can get it here.

And not only will you receive my entire first novel, you’ll also receive a preview of the recently published Blood Moon: A Captive’s Tale.

Who could ask for more than that?