Katherine Nabity's Blog, page 177

Magic Monday ~ The War Magician

I like Mondays. On Monday, I am refreshed from the weekend and exhilarated by the possibilities of the week ahead. I also like magic. I like its history, its intersection with technology, and its crafty use of human nature. I figured I’d combine the two and make a Monday feature that is truly me: a little bit of magic and a look at the week ahead.

What’s this? They might be making a movie about a historical magician that *isn’t* Houdini? Maybe, yes!

Entertainment Weekly reports that Benedict Cumberbatch has been announced to play Jasper Maskelyne, the “war magician.” Maskelyne, a third generation stage magician, joined the Royal Engineers during World War II and lent his talents of misdirection and subterfuge. Just how much of an impact he made on the war effort is debatable, but it could make an interesting film in any case. I’m also hope that this might lead to David Fisher’s book on Jasper Maskelyne getting a reprint.

Here is Jasper Maskelyne in 1937 doing a variation on the needles trick.

It’s Monday, What Am I Reading?

Last week, I read Chef Maurice and a Spot of Truffle by J. A. Lang. What a fun mystery! I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series eventually.

I’ll probably finish up one or two of the books I have in progress, but I’m kind of in a cozy mystery mood. In my cozy pile I have The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie and Ghostwriter Anonymous by Noreen Wald. I also just downloaded a free short story, “Changing Habits,” which is the prequel to another series.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading, hosted by Book Date!

#ROW80 ~ December 13th Update

Round 4, Week 10 Update
Writing

I half-joked last week about scheduling a mid-life crisis. The joke led to one of those long, fraught conversations with Eric that we’ve been having occasionally for some time now.  By Monday:

Today is the first day of my writing sabbati-hiatus. Which means I'm going to do all the things I usually do, but with no pressure to write.

— Katherine Nabity (@Katen) December 7, 2015

Why?
Eric: You're unhappy *and* you're not getting anything done. Try something different.
Me: Like what?
Eric:Good question. Figure it out.

— Katherine Nabity (@Katen) December 7, 2015

(I had about five paragraphs on my state of mind, but I deleted them to spare us all the embarrassment.)

Long story, short: This isn’t the end of me and writing, but my priorities are pretty messed up right now and I need to figure some things out.

Maybe my goal for the week should be: Write another long, chain-of-thought entry about my career expectations and disappointments. But don’t post that one either. ;)

The Publishing End

Week 10:

Do the usual check-ins. – Done.
Try out a Wednesday promo for $0.99 Luck for Hire. – Done. Wasn’t terrible successful.

Goals for Week 11+:

Figure out out next bunch of promos.
Straighten out the ToC on our Kindle books.

Exercise

Week 10:

Get some sort of cardio (30+ mins) three times a week. – Worked out on Monday, played ultimate on Tues, Weds, and Fri.

Goal for Week 11+:

Get some sort of cardio (30+ mins) three times a week.

Link up and cheer for other ROW-ers!

Deal Me In, Week 50 ~ “Closing Time”

Hosted by Jay @ Bibliophilopolis

“Closing Time” by Neil Gaiman

Card picked: Eight of Clubs

From: Thrilling Tales, edited by Michael Chabon

Thoughts: When he was a young man, our unnamed narrator used to go to his “club.” Really, the place was just a dodge to avoid the mandatory 11pm pub closing time. One evening, he and another two acquaintances, fall into telling ghost stories. Most of that tales are urban legends: events that seem to have happened to everyone’s friend of a friend. But,

…then one of us said, “I’ll tell you a true story, if you like. It’s a story I’ve never told a living soul.”

This sort of narrative ambiguity (“one of us said”) always hooks me. At least when it’s in a small dose, like in a short story…

Our secondary narrator (who is maybe our primary narrator after all) tells of being dared to knock on the door of a strange little playhouse by three older boys. The door knocker is a bright red imp. He turns the tables on the boys, counter daring them to enter the eerie building. They do, and are never heard from again. Well, not quite…

I definitely picked “Closing Time” during the right week. It was perfect for a dark winter night.

Two Christmas Reviews

I enjoy the holidays. While I’m usually embroiled in a TBR list, I like to fit in a couple of short seasonal works.

Tales from Christmas in the South by Caren Rich

Tales from Christmas in the South, is a collection of three short stories. Enjoy laughter, tears, and the magic of Christmas in one volume.

Including the never before published, “Miniature Desires.” Spinster Ms. Stallworth has a hard time with the modern world. Bombarded with tacky blowup Santas and inconsiderate children, she dreams of being part of the Christmas village she displays each holiday season.

“The Christmas Gift” is a bittersweet Christian short story of love and loss. Laurel faces the first Christmas without her husband. In her search for decorations she discovers a gift left by her deceased husband.

What holiday season is complete without fruitcake? “The Fruitcake” is a humorous short story about the dreaded holiday classic. Retirement’s not what Robert expected. His wife feeds him twigs and is afraid of mailbox bombs. If that’s not enough, a fruitcake shows up on his doorstep. Fruitcakes may be a Southern tradition, but it’s one Robert can do without. Find out how he deals with the holiday classic. (via Goodreads)

I will recuse myself, Caren Rich is a fellow ROW80-er. I’m happy to report that this is a trio of nicely crafted short stories.

“Miniature Desires”: Poor Ms. Stallworth. She just wants life to be quiet and neat and classy. And she just might get her Christmas wish. I wasn’t expecting a twist in these Southern tales, but I certainly wasn’t unhappy about it.

“The Christmas Gift”: Christmas can be hard after the loss of a loved one, and, especially, if that person was your other half. Laurel isn’t sure how she’s going to make it without John, but maybe he’s still with her in some way. This could have been maudlin and overly sentimental tale, but Rich keeps Laurel’s feelings realistic.

“The Fruitcake”: Personally, I love fruitcake. I would love to be on the receiving end of a couple! But Robert? Not so much. He enlists his grandson, Seth, and together they do a little merry mischief. Definitely a fun story.

Publishing info, my copy: Kindle edition, Caren Rich, Sept. 2, 2015

Acquired: November 11, 2015 from Amazon. Buy a copy!

 

 

Murder in Christmas River by Meg Muldoon

Every year at Christmas River’s annual Gingerbread Junction Competition, pie baker extraordinaire Cinnamon aims to win, taking down any competitor who gets in her way. But when she finds a dead body in the woods behind her pie shop just days before the big competition, Cinnamon realizes that there’s much more to worry about than cookies, frosting, and gumdrops.

Someone’s out to bring Cinnamon down. And they’re playing dirty.

Only Cinnamon and a mysterious stranger who walks into her life one snowy evening can figure out the mystery.

But can they solve it before Cinnamon’s chances of gingerbread competition glory crumble? (via Goodreads)

I didn’t care for this book. It’s been a while since I’ve written a grumpy review, so a quick cilantro and werewolf check: Is this book in a genre I generally don’t care for, and/or did I have expectations of this book that were not reasonable?

On Amazon, this book is labeled as part of the Christmas River Cozy series. Currently, I’m a bit interested in cozies. I’ve enjoyed John Gaspard’s Eli Marks series, but my familiarity with the genre has been minimal. I figured Murder in Christmas River would be a fun way to expand my knowledge base.

Unfortunately, Murder in Christmas River is really light on the murder and detection. I expected Cinnamon to be more of a factor in investigating the crime rather than being a bystander while it’s solved around her. Much of the plot involves Cinnamon moving on from her ex-husband. Even the gingerbread competition is way in the background.

So, I thought this was going to be more of a mystery (not an unreasonable assumption) and it ended up being more of a romance, not one of my preferred genres. As the first of a series, maybe Cinnamon does more detecting in future stories, but there were a couple writing tics that bugged me enough that I won’t be continuing.

Publishing info, my copy: Kindle edition, Vacant Lot Publishing, Dec. 9, 2012

Acquired: November 3, 2015 from Amazon

Genre: mystery

Magic Monday ~ Houdini & Doyle

I like Mondays. On Monday, I am refreshed from the weekend and exhilarated by the possibilities of the week ahead. I also like magic. I like its history, its intersection with technology, and its crafty use of human nature. I figured I’d combine the two and make a Monday feature that is truly me: a little bit of magic and a look at the week ahead.

Magic is getting a bit of media play lately. There’s the Now You See Me movies, Fool Us on the CW (one of the network’s top-rated shows), strong showings on America’s Got Talent by Mat Franco and Piff the Magic Dragon, and History’s Houdini mini-series. Along the lines of the latter, Fox has picked up the ten-episode series Houdini and Doyle.

While Houdini isn’t my favorite magician ever and the series will play fast and loose with historical facts, I still can’t resist period piece mystery, especially one that might involve some magic history.

For more information on the series and all things Houdini, check out John Cox’s excellent Wild About Harry.

It’s Monday, What Am I Reading?

I’m sad that I missed the Holiday Readathon last weekend. I’m in the mood to read!

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Vol. 1 by Ryan North & Erica Henderson – I bought this for my niece for Christmas and I’m making sure that it’s age appropriate. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

The Magician and the Cardsharp by Karl Johnson – Yep, still reading this one, but I should finish soon.

Chef Maurice and a Spot of Truffle by J.A. Lang – I’m interested the form of cozy mysteries and this has been on my Kindle for a while. Any cozy suggestions? Lay ’em on me.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading, hosted by Book Date

 

#ROW80 ~ December 6 Update

Round 4, Week 9 Update

Next Monday is my 41st birthday. I think the rest of December might be taken up by my midlife crisis. I haven’t decided yet.

Writing

Week 9:

Write First. Five days out of seven, 1 hour of work/500 words before noon. – 4 out of 7.
Rewrites on One Ahead #1 ASAP – Done.
Rough draft of One Ahead #2 by 12/13 – Only got a small amount of writing done. Been reading newspapers of the period.

Goal for Week 10+:

Write First. Five days out of seven, 1 hour of work/500 words before noon.
Rough draft of One Ahead #2 by… – Let’s say a really rough draft by the end of December.
Rewrites on One Ahead #3 by end of the round. – …Maybe.

 

The Publishing End

Week 9:

Do the usual check-ins. – Done.
Run PHYSIC promo on Saturday. – Done, though I wish I would have had a longer lead-in.
Decide whether I want to make a push to gain followers/newsletter readers via giveaways (of not necessarily my books). – I don’t think I do. My main purpose is to get rid of books. It would probably be a better to just do a book cull and take them all to Bookman’s.

Goals for Week 10+:

Do the usual check-ins.
Try out a Wednesday promo for $0.99 Luck for Hire.

Exercise

Week 9:

Get some sort of cardio (30+ mins) three times a week. – Skipped out on Tuesday’s league game, but played ultimate on Weds. & Thurs. I should go for a run today.

Goal for Week 10+:

Get some sort of cardio (30+ mins) three times a week.

Link up and cheer for other ROW-ers!

Deal Me In, Week 49 ~ “A Winning Combination”

Hosted by Jay @ Bibliophilopolis

“A Winning Combination” by Brendan DuBois

Card picked: Four of Diamonds

From: Murder on the Ropes, ed. Otto Penzler

Thoughts: Jerry Hughes is life-style writer for the Sentinal. He covers arts festivals, volunteer events, and down-on-their-luck artists. In the opinion of his editor, “losers.” Jerry’s next assignment is to cover a local boxer, a young man with a rough background, on the eve of his first big bout, a fight that he’s probably going to lose.

Jerry isn’t happy about having to do the story, and Sonny, the boxer, isn’t thrilled by the reporter who obviously looks down on the sport. That changes when Jerry is attacked by a group of thugs on his way back uptown from the gym. Sonny recuses him and reluctantly agrees to tell Jerry his story.

The newspaper story ends up being good, maybe the best that Jerry has ever written, highlighting Sonny’s determination despite being the extreme underdog. Unfortunately, since the mugging Jerry feels an incredible amount of anxiety and hasn’t been able to enjoy his success. He’s shocked when he finds out that Sonny won his bout, easily. Sonny swears the fight wasn’t fixed, but Jerry thinks differently…

I really liked about 80% of this story. I liked the setup and the characters. This anthology has been light on stories with a protagonist on the outside of boxing. Unfortunately, the twist seemed really abrupt and jarring.

Review ~ Missoula

Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer

Acquaintance rape is a crime like no other. Unlike burglary or embezzlement or any other felony, the victim often comes under more suspicion than the alleged perpetrator. This is especially true if the victim is sexually active; if she had been drinking prior to the assault — and if the man she accuses plays on a popular sports team. For a woman in this situation, the pain of being forced into sex against her will is only the beginning of her ordeal. If she decides to go to the police, undertrained officers sometimes ask if she has a boyfriend, implying that she is covering up infidelity. She is told rape is extremely difficult to prove, and repeatedly asked if she really wants to press charges. If she does want to charge her assailant, district attorneys frequently refuse to prosecute. If the assailant is indicted, even though victim’s name is supposed to be kept confidential, rumors start in the community and on social media, labeling her a slut, unbalanced, an attention-seeker. The vanishingly small but highly publicized incidents of false accusations are used to dismiss her claims in the press. If the case goes to trial, the woman’s entire personal life often becomes fair game for the defense attorneys.

In Missoula, Krakauer chronicles the searing experiences of several women in Missoula — the nights when they were raped; their fear and self-doubt in the aftermath; the way they were treated by the police, prosecutors, defense attorneys; the public vilification and private anguish; their bravery in pushing forward and what it cost them.

Some of them went to the police. Some declined to go to the police, or to press charges, but sought redress from the university, which has its own, noncriminal judicial process when a student is accused of rape. In two cases the police agreed to press charges and the district attorney agreed to prosecute. One case led to a conviction; one to an acquittal. Those women courageous enough to press charges or to speak publicly about their experiences were attacked in the media, on Grizzly football fan sites, and/or to their faces. The university expelled three of the accused rapists, but one was reinstated by state officials in a secret proceeding. One district attorney testified for an alleged rapist at his university hearing. She later left the prosecutor’s office and successfully defended the Grizzlies’ star quarterback in his rape trial. The horror of being raped, in each woman’s case, was magnified by the mechanics of the justice system and the reaction of the community.

Krakauer’s dispassionate, carefully documented account of what these women endured cuts through the abstract ideological debate about campus rape. College-age women are not raped because they are promiscuous, or drunk, or send mixed signals, or feel guilty about casual sex, or seek attention. They are the victims of a terrible crime and deserving of compassion from society and fairness from a justice system that is clearly broken.(via Goodreads)

Actually, this isn’t a review. This is truly taking my tagline to heart: “opinions about books and other things.”

I.

Recently, I read a review of this book by another blogger who commented that one of the thing she found semi-confusing about Missoula was its “Well, what *is* this thing called acquaintance rape?” attitude. As a book published in 2015, shouldn’t it be as aware of the phenomenon as its readers–that is to say, its female readers of a certain age and background who are fairly informed? A disturbing fact of the matter is that many people don’t understand and don’t necessarily want to pick through a situation that isn’t as unambiguous as some ski-masked rapist jumping out the bushes.

II.

I wonder if some of my anxiousness in November was due to my listening material. While cleaning, I was listening to Missoula. While playing video games, I’ve been listening to Undisclosed, a follow-up podcast to last year’s season of Serial. Undisclosed combs through the investigation and conviction of Adnan Seyd. In both cases, it’s fairly obvious how flawed our justice system can be and how mistaken our assumptions about the behaviors of others often is.

III.

The author of this book is male. It shouldn’t matter that the the author is male, but to be honest, it did matter to me. It mattered that a male nonfiction writer was willing to tell this story. The narrator of my audio book is female, which led to a dissonance, again perhaps only for me. I imagine the publishers decided that it was a better choice given the quotes by the women involved. How immediately different would my thoughts on Missoula be if the voice had been male?

Publishing info, my copy: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group, 2015

Acquired: Tempe Library Overdrive Digital Collection

Genre: Nonfiction

Magic Monday ~ …And Now You Don’t?

I like Mondays. On Monday, I am refreshed from the weekend and exhilarated by the possibilities of the week ahead. I also like magic. I like its history, its intersection with technology, and its crafty use of human nature.  I figured I’d combine the two and make a Monday feature that is truly me: a little bit of magic and a look at the week ahead.

While not the most accurate or realistic magic movie ever, Now You See Me was a lot of fun. Wise or not, I’m looking forward to part 2 in the series:

(Although I would think that they could come up with a better naming convention. Would people not get it if they called it Now You Don’t?)

What Am I Reading?

November has been a very slow reading month. I’m still working on The Magician and the Cardsharp by Karl Johnson. I’ve also been checking out audio books from the library. My current choice is Neuro Tribes by Steve Silberman. For fiction, I’m reading Tales from Christmas in the South by Caren Rich and “A Winning Combination” by Brendan DuBois for Deal Me In.

#ROW80 ~ November 29th Update

Round 4, Week 8 Update

We have entered that time of year when I want to fast-forward to January in order to have all my spreadsheets clean and clear. December is often a goal-setting time for me. My birthday is close enough to the New Year that December always seems like a good time to start starting over. Despite that want for January, I do really enjoy the Christmas season. My tree is up and, bizarre as it may seem, I’m looking forward to dipping into my holiday playlists.

Writing

Week 8:

Write First. Five days out of seven, 1 hour of work/500 words before noon. – Not doing so well…
Rewrites on One Ahead #1 – Wednesday, 11/25 – Finished the first scene, which is the biggest portion of what I wanted to rewrite. Haven’t finished the rest of the story.
Rough draft of One Ahead #2 by 12/13
Rewrites on One Ahead #3 by end of the round.

Goals for Week 9+:

Write First. Five days out of seven, 1 hour of work/500 words before noon. – I’ll keep trying.
Rewrites on One Ahead #1 ASAP
Rough draft of One Ahead #2 by 12/13
Rewrites on One Ahead #3 by end of the round.

 

The Publishing End

Week 8:

Do the usual check-ins. – Done!

Goals for Week 9+:

Do the usual check-ins.
Run PHYSIC promo on Saturday.
Decide whether I want to make a push to gain followers/newsletter readers via giveaways (of not necessarily my books).

 

Exercise

 Week 8:

Get some sort of cardio (30+ mins) three times a week. – Went for a short run on Tuesday and played a nice extra long game of pickup ultimate frisbee on Wednesday. Other than that, I’m in the middle of a flare-up. There’s been a lot of self-medicating and not much exercising.

Goal for Week 9+:

Get some sort of cardio (30+ mins) three times a week. – Back to winter league this week, so I have games scheduled for Tuesday & Thursday nights. Wednesday pick up will probably happen, and maybe Friday too.

Link up and cheer for other ROW-ers!