Jessica Knauss's Blog, page 58

Catherine the Great by Robert K. Massie

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie

I haven't read Massie's other books about his obsession, Russia under the tsars, but if the others are anything like Catherine, then I have no doubt about why he's received a Pulitzer and why this book was so highly anticipated. Compulsively readable, Catherine takes a giant, intimidating subject and makes her accessible. From the first few pages, the reader sees into Catherine's most intimate thoughts through the invaluable resource of her childhood diary. The focus remains sympathetic even while the research provides an overall view of Catherine's time with verifiable facts.

The reader will come away with a deep understanding of Catherine's problems and decisions. On a more personal note, as a woman reader I appreciated the way Catherine learned to wield power in a man's world and have a significant impact while maintaining a traditionally feminine personality, demonstrated by her appreciation of the arts and fine things and love of pets.

This book is packed with enough relationship drama and court intrigue to be a novel, while the reader can impress the people he knows with his new knowledge. With Catherine, Massie has made a valuable contribution not only to women's and Russian history, but also to literature. It should be considered a must-read by any student of world culture.

This book releases on November 8, 2011.

Six Sentence Sunday: The Bloody Wedding Gets Legal

This week, we start up where we left off, with the highest secular authority in the land taking control.

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The count raised his voice in announcement. "Let it be known to all present that I, García Fernández, Count of Castile, hereby pardon Gonzalo González for the unintentional slaughter of Álvar Sánchez." Doña Lambra let out a strangled cry and, in what looked to Sancha like an exaggerated gesture, toppled into the arms of her poor serving girl. The count ignored her. "I further pardon Ruy Blásquez for his offense against Gonzalo González's person and consider that any debt incurred for such wounding has been paid with the breaking of Ruy Blásquez's nose."           Ruy Blásquez emitted a loud snort and then winced in pain, but don Gonzalo Gustioz nodded enthusiastically in agreement. 

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Don't forget to look at the family tree if you're wondering who's who. Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate comments ever so much. The other great sixes are here.

Historical Wednesdays Halloween Countdown - Columbus Day

Columbus monument in Phildelphia.
"Naturalist" = student of nature.Many Americans get confused because the official holiday always falls on a Monday, but true Columbus Day commemorates October 12, 1492 (Julian calendar), the day of first landfall somewhere in the modern Bahamas. I just love this holiday because it brings into current dialogue the period in history that signifies for me the dawning of the modern age, and the results are so controversial. People can get het up about the mysterious figure of Christopher Columbus the way they can about no other.

There are a lot of scary elements to Columbus Day, not least of which is the unprecedented way the world changed after that meeting of cultures. Today I'd like to focus on the fear of the unknown that must have plagued most of the crew members.

Imagine yourself as a regular seaman aboard one of the caravels. Many had been conscripted to take this wild journey against their will. While most European sailors of the day stayed within sight of the coast, on October tenth, no one had seen a lick of land for three months since leaving the Canary Islands in August. If they were unsure about Columbus's experience and calculations when they left Spain, imagine the growing terror after so many days of endless water. While no one really feared sailing off the edge of the world, they might have dreaded sailing so far south, into areas long theorized as so hot they were uninhabitable. Columbus had to play psychological games, fudging distances and times and making up reward systems like the CEO of a failing company, and still had problems managing the reluctance of his crew.

There might have been less fear aboard the Pinta and the Niña, which were captained by the trusted Pinzón brothers, who could have turned back and abandon the Santa María to certain death if obliged by their crews and their better judgment. No one aboard the cramped ships had a very clear idea of who Columbus was or what his intentions were, so they couldn't quell their fears by focusing on a charismatic leader. I haven't read any fiction based on the first voyage of Columbus, but the passage itself has the makings of a thrilling psychological horror story.
Replica of the Pinta in Philadelphia. Living on the caravels was not
for the faint-hearted -- or the claustrophobic.Please also see the Top Five Misconceptions about Columbus.

Jan Holmes Frost's Eight Things You Need to Know to Write a Novel

A lot of potential writers never end up with anything written, either because they don't know where to start or because they read too many complicated, over-detailed how-to books. This slim volume could be the unexpected, ultimate answer to that two-pronged dilemma.

The author introduces (or refreshes our memories) about the essentials: concept; plot; setting; characterization; dialogue, voice and point of view; resolution and research; editing and revising; and publishers and publishing. Each chapter is short and to the point, using popular examples everyone can identify and understand. My least favorite aspect of writing advice books is when they get too prescriptive -- write it like this or you're doing it wrong! While Jan tells it like it is, there is no sense of being pulled along on her agenda, since she recognizes that every writer is different and that there are many ways to arrive at a completed novel. The suggestions are just that: suggestions. The reader feels free to use them, to elaborate on them, transform them so they work for her/him, or discard them, which helps to jumpstart the creative process.

Because the author keeps the advice structured and simple, this book is also a solid reference for those of us with more experience, both in writing and in publishing. Jan's experience leading workshops and publishing her own novels results in a reliable, inspiring, and easy to read resource for writers at every stage and level.

Six Sentence Sunday: I'm Back!

September had its fun and its horrifying disasters, and I'm finally back! Don't miss the family tree for The Seven Noble Knights of Lara and an explanation of the names here. It's time to go back to your favorite tenth-century wedding, picking up where we left off:

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Count García arrived at the site of the commotion, parting the soldiers like the Red Sea. He made a regal, sweeping gesture at Ruy Blasquez's soldiers. "Stand down."

Ruy Blásquez looked at doña Lambra, who still flickered with rage. Holding his nose with one hand and holding up the other as evidence, he said, "Look at all this blood, my lord, at my own wedding. You really should allow such a justified feud to take place."

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Thanks for stopping by! I really appreciate your comments. I can't wait to get back to reading all of your wonderful sentences, too.

Historical (Not Too Hysterical) Wednesdays, Halloween Countdown

In honor of Halloween at the end of the month, for Wednesdays in October I've decided to post about some of the scarier aspects and anecdotes in history.

Today: deals with the devil. These stories were some of the bestsellers of medieval Europe, and still have influence on popular culture today.

What could be scarier than owing your soul to the embodiment of evil? And in exchange for what? Riches? Love? Fame? One important moral of all stories of deals with the devil is that no earthly thing you could desire is worth making such a bargain, because all earthly things fade while the soul is eternal.

The earliest versions of this story involve a man perhaps ironically named "Theophilus" -- lover of God. In spite of his devout nature, Theophilus needs more material wealth in order to help a friend, save a relative, or just to get on in the world. He makes the ultimate sacrifice, conjuring up the devil and selling his soul to him. But because Theophilus has been so devoted, God considers it a simple lapse in judgment and doesn't allow the exchange to be completed.

Indeed, most of these stories have happy endings. Once the dealmaker has been sufficiently frightened and sees the error of his ways, either a loophole is found in the contract or a trusted saint arrives to cast the devil away. Sometimes, the trusted saint is the one who finds the loophole. In these stories, we find that the devil is actually not a very good lawyer. This is in direct contrast to the saints, who spend a lot of time practicing their advocacy skills in the heavenly court for the sake of the poor souls who pass through the gates with torts and misdemeanors.

Maybe the really scary thing here is how deeply entrenched legal procedure already was into the lives of the people who first came up with this basic story. It depends on whether you think lawyers are good Halloween characters. Tune in next Wednesday for an even scarier tidbit.

Discontinued Journals

The demise of This Mutant Life, which I mentioned a while back, prompted me to systematically check on the status of all the wonderful journals that have published my stories and poems.

This Mutant Life, which had made my dearest wish come true in September 2010 by publishing my first rhinoceros story, "Rhinoceros Dreams," is gone without a trace, with no warning or communications in that regard.

On the other hand, The Shine Journal's editor wrote a nice farewell message earlier this year, explaining the end of the magazine without overjustifying. In contrast to other sites that simply shut down, this little goodbye was reassuring. It appears that the site will remain active for some time, so my poem is still available here.

The best news is that none of the other journals seem threatened. They're all flourishing, which is gratifying and shows that literary journals are a great use of the internet.

I'm still deciding what to do with "Rhinoceros Dreams." How can they best run wild: in a journal that takes reprints, in a collection, or just roaming my imagination?

Sweet Sample of My Accidental Novel

This story, "Middle Awash in Talent," which I've excerpted before, has asserted itself as possibly a novel as I've been working on it in the hours when I should be doing something else.

This is an unusual excerpt, because I'm putting it out here knowing that it has to be utterly changed. When I write magical realism, I frequently don't know when I've pushed the limits of belief too far, and my writing group has reigned me in for this scene. Emily is in the back of a police cruiser with her sister Beth, who's lost control of her telekinetic powers for a moment and seriously hurt Carlos (who happens to be Emily's love interest). I have to get Beth to the hospital to save Carlos with her healing powers, and in this version, the officers very reasonably agree. I love the police officers with their Rhode Island accents being so accommodating. Are they believable? Nope. They're going back through the mill.

The whole story is pretty sweet, but the instance of random violence makes it at least PG-13.

* * *
"I thought the deal was, you wouldn't talk about Carlos and I wouldn't mention your powers." "Emily, I think it'd be great if you talked about my powers now. I'm so sorry about what I did to Carlos! I think if they let me go to the hospital, I can help him."I considered the strength of her telekinesis and thought about the surgical gash across her stomach, which she'd made a non-issue so quickly. "You can heal others as easily as yourself?""I think so. Otherwise, he might die, Emily. Die. I know you don't want that."She was right. A dead true love would be far too melodramatic for someone like me. Keeping my eye always on her, I rapped gently against the mesh. "Officer?"The one who wasn't driving turned his head toward me skeptically. "Remember how I said she had healing abilities? She says she can help the man she unintentionally harmed. Surely, that would lessen her guilt, and otherwise, I'm afraid he might be a goner." I smiled, pleading, but wasn't sure if he could see me at all through the mesh and with the unstable light as we passed under street lamps, north and south on College Hill according to the colonial street plan. They conferred in low Rhode Island tones. All I heard was something about "a wicked good tetanus shot." And quite a bit of chuckling. I'd known it was a shot in the dark, but just as I was opening my mouth to tell Beth it hadn't worked, the driver said, "So I guess you want a ride to Rhode Island Hospital?"Beth's mouth gaped open and then clamped shut as she nodded her head vigorously. "Yes, please," I said. "We figure extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures," said the passenger-side cop as we sped past the police station and over the river. "Indeed," I said. Apparently that was too much encouragement, as he kept talking about how much he knew about telekinesis and the history of the Providence Police Department with telekinetics ever since their kind had been revealed in the 1870's. "Providence has a really good school for them, did you know? Is that why your sister's here?" "Mmm, yes, sure." It was a relief to stop thinking about those concentration camps for talented people as we arrived at the hospital's emergency entrance.
* * * Do you think I should work on this for NaNoWriMo, or my historical novel? Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate it and I will stop by all your sweet samples. 

Decisions...

September, which I had intended as a full month of concentrating on my writing (with a refreshing trip to San Diego on the side), got derailed. I wrote a lot, but I didn't finish SNKL Chapter 8, and a lot of things happened that were beyond my control. So I look forward to the pledge I made to do NaNoWriMo in November as a way of asserting structure back into my professional life.

The question is, what to work on?

I could do NaNo unofficially and just pledge to write 1,667 words a day on the Seven Noble Knights of Lara.

Or, I could spend any free moments in October separating the 12,000 words I have of "Middle Awash in Talent" into chapters and sketch out the plot structure a little a more firmly, so as to prepare to do NaNo officially.

SNKL is my official project and I won't be satisfied until I bring it to some kind of conclusion. "Middle Awash" has brought pleasure to my beta readers and has gained undeniable momentum and I wonder if I should just go with its flow.

How do I decide? What do you recommend?

Reading is Fundamental

You guessed it: I love reading! I read National Geographic cover to cover every month. I read novels, the crazier the better, and I read history and even historical (not usually hysterical) fiction. What do you read?
Rest in peace, Borders.