Katherine Nabity's Blog, page 220

Dreamy December Days Challenge 2

Hosted by Always Lost in Books and Books Keep Me Sane

Today’s Daily Challenge is called Dreamy Destinations. It’s pretty simple, all you have to do is tell us which place/s you want to go for the holidays. It could be a real place or a fictional one (i.e. Hogwarts at Christmas). If it’s a fictional place be sure to add a little book reference. You can add pictures if you like.

After a decade of living in Arizona, I seem to have become allergic to the cold. For example, I’d like to visit family Norway one day, but not in December. Instead, I’d like to spend Christmas somewhere it’s flat-out summer. Like…Australia!

Of course, my preferred method of travel would be:

So who knows where I’d end up!

It’s Monday! What am I Reading? (12/2/13)

Hosted by Sheila at Book Journey

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between! This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

Happy Monday Everyone!

Between Dreamy December Days Readathon, the Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge, and 2014 Sci-Fi Experience, I have a lot on my reading plate.

There’s Christmas-y, science fiction-y, and…a library book.

Up next (or possible list jumpers):

Happy Reading, Everyone!

Dreamy December Days Challenge 1

Hosted by Always Lost in Books and Books Keep Me Sane

Happy December everyone! Welcome to today’s Dreamy December Days Daily Challenge. For Day 1, tell us your Bookish Christmas Wishes. You can answer any of the following questions: What are the bookish merchandise or books that you would really love to receive this Christmas?

In the land of extravagant:



I’m working on a novel about David Abbott and Joseffy and this is an elusive set of sources. Poking around the internet, I can’t even find a copy for up for auction at the moment. The deluxe set includes a CD with film footage of Mr. Abbott and Joseffy, which would be pretty awesome to see.

On the more reasonable end:



Been reading a lot of non-fiction. About magic, magicians, spiritualism, and other related subjects. The list of books I still want to read on these subjects is still happily long.

WEORDANWeordan is a world of apothos.The chemistry of ...

WEORDAN

Weordan is a world of apothos.

The chemistry of glowing yellow blood sustains life and drives technology. Apothos is a personal technology practiced by apothynom, talented men and women who train their whole lives to build their metabolic capacity and hone their skill at directing that energy in novel ways. They construct apothic machines called emetanisms, mostly as tools to enhance their personal apothic capacity, but also to perform simple tasks in place of apothic effort.

Learn more about Weordan, the setting of the Apothic Man series.

MODEL SPECIES

Book #1 of The Apothic Man

In Kenos, the city of enlightenment and innovation, a body with bizarre wounds is fished from the bay.

On the case are a middling apothynom, Investigator Paulos Gaent, and a religious objector to apothynom rule, Clerk Teria Bellaphaerenous. At cross purposes, a private investigator, Laros Nero, is hired by an anonymous client to discover the identity of the murderer for reasons other than justice.

It will take more than keen investigative abilities to stop the ongoing series of crimes in Kenos. It will require the unearthing of dark apothic knowledge that has been buried for an age.

Model Species is available for FREE from Smashwords (no log-in required).

Dreamy December Days Readathon

DREAMY DECEMBER DAYS READ-A-THON

Who: ANYONE~

What: Weeklong Read-a-thon

When: December 1-7, 2013

Where: Always Lost in Books and Books Keep Me Sane

Why: Because we can~

How: Simply sign up at Always Lost in Books or Books Keep Me Sane

LIST / GOAL

Finish The Turk.
Finish Christmas Tales of Terror.
Make some progress on In the Company of Thieves or Death from a Top Hat (library book).
Will probably read something not at all on this list!

What Else in November

Writing Work

Despite NaNoWriMo dreams, I didn’t quite get 10K added to the Abbott project. Instead, Eric and I have been working on the Big Damn Plan. By the end of next week, the website should be online and Model Species should be available for download.

Query-wise:

# of submissions for Luck for Hire: 6

# of responses: 1

# of submissions for Model Species: 0

# of responses: 1

Other Life Stuff

Basketball season began, signifying the beginning of winter for me. Fall league ended, signifying…uh, a week devoted to setting up winter league and New Year Fest. This is the busy time of year in Phoenix for disc. My team went 0-3 after winning the play-in game, but it was a fun team and my favorite part of finals is catching up with people I don’t see too often. You can’t do that when you’re actually playing in finals.

Photo courtesy Kris Kaufman

I have sort of a consternated grimace going on there. Also, I’ve seen several pics of me gripping the disc with both hands after catching. It’s not an action that I’m not conscious of. I find that interesting.

Also, there was Doctor Who‘s 50th anniversary, which I seem to be celebrating until the end of the year.

Books Obtained

River City Empire: Tom Dennison’s Omaha by Orville D. Menard

Other Books I Want to Read

At Goodreads:

Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jaaskelainen
The Magician’s Assistant by Ann Patchett
The Troupe by Robert Jackson Bennett
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
The War Magician by David Fisher
Dream London by Tony Ballantyne
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought by Jonathan Rauch
The Color of Light by Helen Maryles Shankman
Trip of the Tongue: Cross-Country Travels in Search of America’s Languages by Elizabeth Little
The Blackheath Seance Parlour by Alan Williams
Affinity by Sarah Waters

Rewind ~ The Rope Trick

The Rope Trick by Lloyd Alexander

Lidi is a brilliant magician, able to perform all manner of astonishing illusions. But one trick eludes her, the greatest in the world: the rope trick. And only one person can teach it to her: the legendary magician Ferramondo. On her quest to find him, she joins up with Daniella, an orphan with true prophetic powers; a handsome outlaw with a price on his head; and a circus owner with a troupe of dancing pigs. But when Daniella is kidnapped by men who want to use her gift for their own ends, Lidi must abandon her quest and summon all of her resources and magic-working to save herself. (via Goodreads)

Original review of The Rope Trick, newly imported from my LJ to The Writerly Reader (12/29/2007):

I nabbed this book via PaperbackSwap. I was interested in what Lloyd Alexander could do with a female protagonist after reading pieces of his more “boy-oriented” Pyrdain and Westmark series. What I got was a hardback in near perfect condition and really lovely tale. There are maybe one too many narrative coincidences, maybe one too many tales told by one character about other characters, but I forgive that, as I often do with this kind of book. None of the characters are particularly detailed, but our protagonist, Lidi, is determined and a little stubborn, and there’s enough romance that, well, *I* would have liked it as 10 year old.

Review ~ Sons of Moriarty

This book was provided to me by F+W/Adams Media and Tyrus Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sons of Moriarty and More Stories of Sherlock Holmes ed. by Loren D. Estleman

A follow-up collection to well-received “The Perils of Sherlock Holmes”! Award-winning author Loren D. Estleman has curated a collection of Sherlock Holmes stories from some of the finest authors in “Sons of Moriarty and More Stories of Sherlock Holmes.” This is the first time that these stories appear together in one anthology, including “Sons of Moriarty,” a Sherlock Holmes novella, appearing here for the first time.

Estleman’s last Holmes collection, “The Perils of Sherlock Holmes,” was authorized by the Estate of Arthur Conan Doyle and was met with rave reviews. It was dubbed “an excellent collection of short stories and essays” by the “New York Review of Books,” “an entertaining and diverting read” by Bookpleasures.com, and was said to transport readers “to another place and time during the series of short stories that pay homage to the legend that is Sherlock Holmes” on the Pop Culture Guy Blog. (via Goodreads)

The cover copy says a lot about Estleman’s previous collection and absolutely nothing about *this* anthology, Sons of Moriarty, and that’s a mistake. I had three preconceptions going into this anthology:

These were all new stories. (They’re not.)
These stories were, maybe, Moriarty-centric. (They’re not.)
These stories are all classic pastiches. (They’re not.)

Looking at a few other reviews, I’m not the only reader whose expectations have been slighted.

This anthology is held together by an interesting thread: they all involve Holmes dealing with more modern crimes or Holmes written into a post-WWI setting. But it’s a very tenuous thread that bind loosely and not always successfully.

The anthology starts with “The Infernal Machine” by John Lutz. This story was a reread for me. Set late in Holmes’ career, Holmes and Watson encounter the Gatling gun. The duo, of course, meditate on the horrors that could be wrought by the titular infernal machine. It’s a good start and a great bookend to the final story of anthology. Unfortunately, it’s a rocky road between the first tale and the last.

“The Adventure of the Double Bogey Man” by Robert L. Fish is not a pastiche, but a parody. Personally, I have a pretty liberal love for Sherlock Holmes, but I really dislike parodies. Holmes need to be the smartest man in the room, arrogance and all. Yes, this story involves Holmes and something utterly new to him, but sticking a parody story in the middle of a serious anthology is not a great move.

Likewise, “The Case of the Bloodless Sock” by Anne Perry is another sort of fiction that I don’t entirely understand. Holmes is a man of expertise and experience. If you’re writing a young Holmes, he doesn’t have all of those things. Writing teenage Holmes, smarts intact, into a completely modern setting is simply pandering to a YA audience.

“Sherlocks” by Al Sarrantonio is an even further extension of Sherlock in the future. The story is SF noir and sherlocks are an information gathering technology. There is not a true Sherlock in sight.

There are no Sherlocks in “The Adventure of the Frightened Baronet” by August Derleth either, but this is more of a Holmes story than the previous three. Solar Pons was a character created to bring Holmes into the 1920s and 30s (as Wikipedia notes). The change of setting did not seem obvious to me, but this character and the story are as good as Doyle could have written. It’s a very good pastiche. I have been meaning to read some of Derleth’s stories and I was pleased to find one here.

Until I started writing this review, I had forgotten about “Before the Adventures” by Lenore Carroll. It is a fictional letter from Doyle to the editor of Strand magazine about the origins of Holmes & Watson. The inspirational Cockney personality of Budger not only provides Doyle with his character, but puts the entirety of Doyle’s life in order. I have no idea why it’s included in this anthology or why I’d find it more interesting than what might have factually been Doyle’s inspirations.

All of the stories in this anthology should be in service to Loren D. Estleman’s novella, “Sons of Moriarty.” Comprising the last 40% of the book, it is the show piece and it certainly could have withstood better companions. It is also the only previously unpublished work. While it runs a little long and is maybe little light on the deductive reasoning, it’s a pretty good pastiche. Holmes and Watson are older and encounter the Mafia. Organized crime is something that traditional Holmes never dealt with.

Despite it’s very good points, this anthology felt padded out for the purposes of making it appropriately book length. Hopefully, readers will skip the stories that don’t really belong and still join author and editor Estleman for his fine tale at the end.

Genre: Mystery, mostly.

Why did I choose to read this book? Got me with the Moriarty, who is not in evidence.

Did I finish this book? (If not, why?) Yes, but it was touch and go for a while.

Craft Lessons: Don’t pad for padding’s sake.

Format: Kindle ebook

Procurement: NetGalley

It’s Monday! What am I Reading? (11/25/13)

Hosted by Sheila at Book Journey

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between! This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

Happy Monday Everyone!

I’m terrible at keeping to a reading list. The last few weeks have been the epitome of that. Haven’t been able to get into the Pinkerton book and other things are jumping past River City Empire in my interest queue.

This week, I intend to read:

It’s a library book, due eventually.

Next up:

I’m not even going to guess. Possibly something Christmasy or Whovian.

On the blog this week:

Reviews of Sons of Moriarty and Tiny Book of Tiny Stories a retro review.

Happy Reading, Everyone!

Christmas Spirit Readathon

Hosted by Michelle @ The True Book Addict

Time to kick off the holiday season with style…reading style. If you’re joining us, remember these things:

You do not have to read Christmas books (I’m not the Christmas enforcer–haha), but if you can squeeze one little one in… *wink*
You do not have to have a blog. Join us from Twitter, Facebook or Goodreads
Have fun!

If you’re on Twitter, stop by and chat with the hashtag #CSReadathon

GOAL

Read! I’m pretty modest with my goals. 250 pages for the weekend?

LIST

 

The first two are children’s books, but I can’t resist getting goblins wrapped up in the holidays. I have one novella left in Sons of Moriarty. The last is just pure, guilty-pleasure indulgence.

Friday, November 22

Pages Read Today:

Pages Read Total:

Reading Materials:

Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric Kimmel, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman – Lovely illustrations. Imp-like goblins. Cute story although the goblins are pretty dim. (Pun intended.) “Now, Hershel, do you know who I am?” “I know you’re not Queen Esther.”
Stink Santa by Otto Fishblanket, illustrated by Gerald Hawksley – And now for something completely different. Easy rhymes, fun illustrations. Not much going on aside from general silliness. “Any similarity to any real Santa is purely coincidental.”