Katherine Nabity's Blog, page 224

Fright-Fall Readathon 2013 & Bloggers Dressed in Blood

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril and Gothic September were the beginning. October only gets better!

Fright-Fall Readathon 2013

Hosted by Michelle @ Seasons of Reading

All you have to do to participate is read at least one horror/scary book.  For the faint-hearted among you, it can be a spooky mystery, a scary thriller, or something classically gothic.

I’m currently working on The Seance Society by Michael Nethercott. Thus far, it hasn’t been too spooky. I’m hoping. Next up: A White Room by Stephanie Carrol. I’ve heard good things about it. Back up book: Magic by William Goldman. Yes, I’m going to rely on the author of The Princess Bride to get me through a horror challenge.

Bloggers Dressed in Blood

Join Steph at The Fake Steph and Danielle at Mercurial Musings and Kate at Midnight Book Girl for a month full of bookish terror and delight!

Bloggers Dressed in Blood begins on October 1, 2013.

What Else in September

Writing Work

I’m just being a putz and not getting things done.

Query-wise:

# of submissions for Luck for Hire: 6

# of responses: 2

Eric and I (mostly Eric at the moment) are working toward presenting Model Species and the rest of Weordan in a non-traditional publishing format.

Other Life Stuff

In the rear-view mirror, September seems fragmented and tiring. The trip to Omaha is part of it. September just seems to have been a very social month and it’s left me with a chronically low battery. Which is why I’m jumping into a readathon tomorrow…

Thankfully, the weather has cooled. Fans have been turned off. The water heater will soon be turned back on. Welcome autumn!

Books Obtained

Omaha Book Haul pretty much sums up my book buying in September.

Other Books I Want to Read

At Goodreads & the GPDL:

Extra Mile: A 21st century Pilgrimage by Peter Stanford
How to Read a Graveyard by Peter Stanford
Linking Rings: William W. Durbin and the Magic and Mystery of America by James David Robenalt
Magic: A Beginner’s Guide by Robert Ralley
Do You Believe in Magic? The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine by Paul A. Offit, M.D.

Review ~ A Study in Silks

This book was provided to me by Del Rey via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A Study in Silks by Emma Jane Holloway

Evelina Cooper, the niece of the great Sherlock Holmes, is poised to enjoy her first Season in London’s high society. But there’s a murderer to deal with—not to mention missing automatons, a sorcerer, and a talking mouse.

In a Victorian era ruled by a council of ruthless steam barons, mechanical power is the real monarch, and sorcery the demon enemy of the empire. Nevertheless, the most coveted weapon is magic that can run machines—something Evelina has secretly mastered. But rather than making her fortune, her special talents could mean death or an eternity as a guest of Her Majesty’s secret laboratories. What’s a polite young lady to do but mind her manners and pray she’s never found out?

But then there’s that murder… (via Goodreads)

There is a lot going on in this book. Steampunk London. Forbidden magic. Sherlock Holmes’s sister’s daughter whose father was part of a traveling circus. To her credit, Emma Jane Hollaway eventually does a good job juggling all that.

While the novel is 500+ pages, and the beginning of a trilogy, most of these elements are introduced in the first chapter in the background while Evelina Cooper, our magic-using tinkering heroine, sneaks around her friend’s house. It’s a lot. Add to that a scrambled timeline at the beginning as we catchup with other events that are going on at the same time as the murder of a house maid. I’m not sure it’s the most elegant way of organizing plot. Thankfully, the rest of the book isn’t as loopy. After about the 45% mark, the action picks up and the story starts moving.

I’m not much of a fan of YA, which this is. Much time is spent on Evelina’s presentation into society and a love triangle between her, her “aristo” friend’s brother, and a guy she grew up with in the circus. All of the above are concerned about their places in the world. It’s all very emotional and tortured, and is an aspect that felt was over-wrought. I would have been happier if the story was more firmly about the murder, the forgeries, and the blackmail. You know, the good stuff.

Most of those plot elements, while secret from our protagonists, are unraveled rather quickly to the reader. We’re given enough points of view to see pretty much all of the story. Most of the suspense in the book is about *how* Evelina will figure things out more than *if.* While the first of a trilogy, A Study in Silks ends in a fairly satisfying manner. The main mystery is solved, other threads are left loose.

I’m always very dubious in YA stories of young people that are very competent at many, many things. At age 19, I knew pretty much nothing about every thing. Even if she is Sherlock Holmes’ niece, Evelina is an accomplished acrobat, well-read, and able to machine tiny animal automata. If she were in her 30s, I could buy it. That would be a steampunk story I would read. Apparently, her magical talent is substantial as well, a hook into the next book.

Uncle Sherlock does put in an appearance, but he’s a pretty bland Holmes. Evelina worries often that Holmes will accidentally ruin her friend’s family due to connections with a crime. That is a flaw that is out of character for the Holmes of Doyle canon.

The world-building was decent, for as many irons as there are in the fire. Occasionally, though, I felt like Hollaway was trying to be a little too clever with the cogged-out inventions. A paper shredder made of multiple flourishing Edward-Scissorhand-style shears isn’t practical. At all. Ever. There is a reason most objects are designed the way they are regardless of how they are powered.

I’m not enough of a fan of YA or of urban fantasy steampunk to read the rest of this series. I found A Study in Silks to be a fairly serviceable book, which I did enjoy in parts, but it didn’t sell me on the next 700 pages.

Genre: Mystery, Steampunk, Urban Fantasy

Why did I choose to read this book? Was willing to give it a try.

Did I finish this book? (If not, why?) Yes, though it took a while to get going.

Format: Kindle eBook

Procurement: NetGalley

Adventures of the Writerly Writer ~ Rededication

Mr. Abbott and his famous talking tea kettle.

Today is David Phelps Abbott’s birthday. His 150th.

Gleaning information from blog entries, it seems that Eric and I first talked about my current writing project, still woefully untitled, on September 19, 2012. I didn’t start writing until November for NaNoWriMo, but I’ve been thinking about it and doing research since about a year ago.

I’d like to get a full draft done by my birthday. If I assume a 75K manuscript, I have 60K to go in the next 12 weeks. That’s do-able-ish.

Saturday Cinema ~ R.I.P. Edition, Vol. 2

This week: Reviews of three old-school horror movies. All are on Martin Scorsese’s list of 11 Scariest Horror Movies of All Time; completely coincidental that I watched them recently.

Night of the Demon (1957), also known as Curse of the Demon, Directed by Jacques Tourneur, Starring Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, and Niall MacGinnis

A couple of weeks ago I found out that episodes of Harlan Ellison’s Watching are available on YouTube. If you’re unfamiliar with Ellison, he’s very opinionated. When the Sci-Fi Channel first began broadcast back in 1992-ish, “Harlan Ellison’s Watching” was a 3-5 minute segment at the end of their sci-fi related news show. (This was obviously long before it was Syfy and when it still had predominantly speculative fiction programming.) During episode two, Harlan relates a list of near-forgotten gems. One of those is Night of the Demon.

Based on the M.R. James story “Casting the Runes,” Dr. John Holden (Dana Andrews) is cursed on the eve of a conference to expose a witch cult while investigating the death of a fellow skeptic. Andrews plays Holden with unexpected dry wit, but it’s Niall MacGinnis that steals the show acting-wise. I’m not sure I’ve encountered too many villains as truly menacing as MacGinnis’s Karswell. And he does it with subtlety. No scenery chewing occurs. It’s also a wonderfully shot movie. There are some beautiful parallels between modern architecture and pagan ruins. The only place the movie falters is in showing the demon. The effect isn’t very good and it undercuts the psychological aspect of the plot. As it happens there was quite a bit of controversy about showing the demon. The wrong choice was made, but still a worthwhile film.

The Haunting (1963), Directed by Robert Wise, Starring Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, and Richard Johnson

The Haunting has a couple of things in common with Night of the Demon. Both are based on classic works of suspense and horror. While I haven’t read “Casting the Runes” yet and can’t vouch for it, The Haunting is based quite faithfully on Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, a frequent re-read for me. Plot-wise, both play with the notion of psychology vs. the supernatural as Eleanor, a woman with a great number of personal demons, navigates her independence and a very bad house. The Haunting is also shot in black and white. While lacking the vistas of London and rural England, Wise shoots Hill House from skewed angles that make rooms unfamiliar every time we see them; not forgetting the very inventive and affective special effects.

The Changeling (1980), Directed by Peter Medak, Starring George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere and Melvyn Douglas.

This is a movie that my friend Tania introduced to me in college. I hadn’t seen it in quite a while, but I remembered it being one of those great old-style ghost-story-mysteries that seem to be prevalent in the 1980s. What I had forgotten is how down-right unsettling this movie is.

After the death of his wife and daughter in a traffic accident, composer John Russel (George C. Scott) accepts a teaching position in Seattle and rents a historical Victorian mansion that houses the secrets of an influential family. George C. Scott is so likeable in this movie. He’s heartbroken and struggling to get on with life and the escalating disturbances in the house seem incredibly unfair. Yet, Russel is intrigued and, well, chivalrous. He takes it as his duty to figure out this mystery instead of simply moving out of the house. The very end of the movie is maybe a tad bit over the top, but the meat of the haunting is disturbing as only a child ghost can be. I watched this movie on my computer and listened to it through headphones. There’s a whole level of eerie noises that I had never noticed when watching in a dorm room.

Take a gander at all the R.I.P. reviews!

Review ~ Smoke and Steel & Slabs of the Sunburnt West

Smoke and Steel & Slabs of the Sunburnt West by Carl Sandburg

1920. Sandburg, Pulitzer Prize winning poet, was virtually unknown to the literary world when, in 1914, a group of his poems appeared in the nationally circulated Poetry magazine. His work found beauty and glory in the simple America that surrounded him: the farms, industry, landscape, culture, and most importantly, the American people. Smoke and Steel, one of his earlier collections of poems, helped establish his reputation. (via Goodreads)

Carl Sandburg knew Joseffy. Even wrote a short “appreciation” of the magician which was published as a publicity flyer. That is the long and the short of why I chose a random book of Sandburg’s poetry from Open Library. Actually, it’s two collections smashed together in a 1920s-ish edition. The dubious beauty of Open Library is that the scans are of old books, missing flyleaves and student doodles included. This one had no publication data.

I’m not very analytic when it comes to poetry. What I like tends to be fairly arbitrary.

I like Sandburg.

I’m from the Mid-West/Heartland. I grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. My dad worked for Union Pacific. I remember when the Union Stockyards still processed livestock. There is an interesting tension in Mid-Western cities between industry and agriculture. And Sandburg is all over that. He paints a picture of Chicago and parts westward during the early years of the 20th century and makes me miss cornfields even as I appreciate the mountains outside my door.

I really don’t have much more to say other than that. I’ll close with my favorite from the collection, which is about none of the things above.

“Old-fashioned Requited Love”

I have ransacked the encyclopedias

And slid my fingers among topics and titles

Looking for you.

And the answer comes slow.

There seems to be no answer.

I shall ask the next banana peddler the who and the why of it.

Or—the iceman with his iron tongs gripping a clear cube in summer sunlight—maybe he will know.

Genre: Poetry

Why did I choose to read this book? Sandburg knew Joseffy

Did I finish this book? (If not, why?) Yes!

Format: In-browser ebook.

Procurement: Open Library

Omaha Book Haul

I’ve been in Omaha since last Wednesday, so my usual Tuesday review will be posted on Thursday. Instead, I figured I’d indulge in a book haul post. Rare for me since I avoid bookstores…for financial and space reasons. It’s a fast I break when away from home. I guess as hauls go, it’s pretty small, but it’s mine.

I visited two stores in downtown Omaha. The first was Our Bookstore in the Old Market Passageway. It’s a small shop with an eclectic stock. There I purchased Lightning by Jean Echenoz. Via Goodreads: “Drawn from the life of Nikola Tesla, one of the greatest inventors of his time,

Lightning is a captivating tale of one man’s curious fascination with the marvels of science.”

I also mildly ransacked the magic section of Jackson Street Booksellers. And a good magic section they have. I left a couple titles on the shelves and lamented the three Jim Steinmeyer hardbacks that I already own in softback. I did walk away with:

The Life and Many Deaths of Harry Houdini by Ruth Brandon – I’ve heard here and there that this a pretty good Houdini book.
The Magician and the Cardsharp: The Search for America’s Greatest Sleight-of-Hand Artist by Karl Johnson – Not the era of magic I’m writing about but still interesting.
The Magician’s Study: A Guided Tour of the Life, Times, and Memorabilia of Robert “The Great” Rouncival by Tobias Seamon – A curious volume.

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And I came home to my very own copy of Carter Beats the Devil in my mailbox. Now all I need is a couple more hours in the day.

Review ~ The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life; indulging his desires in secret while remaining a gentleman in the eyes of polite society. Only his portrait bears the traces of his decadence. “The Picture of Dorian Gray” was a succes de scandale. Early readers were shocked by its hints at unspeakable sins, and the book was later used as evidence against Wilde at the Old Bailey in 1895. (via Goodreads)

Like Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Dracula, Sherlock Holmes canon and many Bible stories, The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of those tales that everyone seems familiar with even if they haven’t read it. Without any particular interest in it, I think I’ve seen at least two adaptations. Honestly, I haven’t read much Oscar Wilde though I have seen a few adaptations of his plays aside from Dorian Gray. About a quarter of the way in to Dorian Gray, I wasn’t surprised that it was his only novel.

My first thought while reading was: “This is what a novel written by Aaron Sorkin would be like. No one is *this* witty in real life.” The epigrams and amount of philosophy are exhausting. I re-read parts as I went along and still feel like I didn’t catch everything Wilde is saying. There is also occasionally an over-abundance of details which gets in the way. Did I really need 5-6 pages on Dorian’s material obsessions including embroidered tapestries? I suppose it shows hedonistic decline, but it’s some hard reading.

The more plot-aspected portions of the novel are excellent. Its creepiness is on par with Poe and with a moral focus that Poe often lacks. I knew some of the dramatic beats of the story and they all came just a little later than I expected and that tension was a good tension. In all, it’s a short novel and one well worth the effort.

Genre: Gothic horror

Why did I choose to read this book? Everyone I know is reading/has recently read this book!

Did I finish this book? (If not, why?) Yes.

Format: In-browser ebook, Kindle ebook

Procurement: Open Library & Amazon

Adventures of the Writerly Writer ~ #sitdownwrite Wrap-Up

Hosted by Michelle @ Stories Inside

Here’s a summary of the last two weeks for me as a writer:

Wrote 4,000 words, hell-bent on finally besting my NaNo draft (44,062 words) before the 6th of September. I had a fancy spreadsheet and everything!
Came to a screeching halt when I realized that I didn’t quite know where I was going.
Had a consult with Eric. He pointed out that I needed to be clearer and to up the pacing of events.
Started a fresh draft and have rewritten/revised 13,578. I’m currently freshening up Chapter 4, a scene that I thought had a pretty boring start.

It would be best if I stayed motivated for the next couple days; try to at least hit 15K before we head to Omaha. Alas, I’m actually revising a scene and am in firm procrastination mode.

Saturday Cinema ~ R.I.P. Edition, Vol. 1

Trance (2013) Directed by Danny Boyle, Written by Joe Ahearne & John Hodge, Starring James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson, Vincent Cassel.

An art auctioneer who has become mixed up with a group of criminals partners with a hypnotherapist in order to recover a lost painting.

I am never disappointed with Danny Boyle’s films. No matter what the genre and how well that particular genre might be executed (Sunshine is SF, 28 Days Later is horror, etc.), the films are visually interesting and well-acted. Trance is a twisty, twisty thriller. At its end, I was left saying, “Huh,” and felling that I should probably re-watch it. Not because I was confused, but to see if the pieces all fit. I was a dubious of the hypnosis aspect, but with a little suspension of belief, it works.

Twixt (2011) Directed and Written by Francis Ford Coppola, Starring Val Kilmer, Bruce Dern, Elle Fanning & Ben Chaplin.

A writer with a declining career arrives in a small town as part of his book tour and gets caught up in a murder mystery involving a young girl. That night in a dream, he is approached by a mysterious young ghost named V.

And also, there’s Edgar Allan Poe. Okay, a dream version of Edgar Allan Poe, but that’s how this movie rolls. Really, it’s kind of a mess. There are vampires (maybe) and a serial killer (maybe) and opera singing goths and a seven-faced clock tower in a backward little town. I had been on the lookout for this movie due to the Poe connection and due to a clip of Val Kilmer writing. I had seen it somewhere previous to the movie’s release. If you’re a writer, this is painful and funny:

Clue (1985) Directed by Jonathan Lynn

Written by John Landis & Jonathan Lynn, Starring: Eileen Brennan, Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean & Martin Mull.

Six guests are invited to a strange house and must cooperate with the staff to solve a murder mystery.

That has got to be the driest possible summary for Clue. Thank you, IMDB.

I was inspired to watch Clue when I came upon a link to the BuzzFeed article: “Something Terrible Has Happened Here”: The Crazy Story Of How “Clue” Went From Forgotten Flop To Cult Triumph. I was ten years old when Clue premiered. (In fact, it opened one day before my 11th birthday.) I remember the movie coming out and its wacky three endings/three theater gimmick. While I had already gained an appreciation for the game, I didn’t see it in the theaters. My family didn’t go to the movies much. But I was pretty enthusiastic when it came out on cable a year or so later. I liked it as a kid and gained a deeper appreciation for it as an adult. I don’t know how many times I rented it from the local Blockbuster when I was in college. I had absolutely no idea that it had been a flop. Doesn’t everyone love Clue?

All the Peril!