K.R. Gastreich's Blog, page 36

Stock Up on Your Holiday Reading!

The holiday season is here, and with it multiple chances to win FREE books for your winter bookshelf! 

Heroines of Fantasy is sponsoring a holiday giveaway this month. Enter to win an ebook bundle with four novels by HoF authors, including

Eolyn by Karin Rita Gastreich,

The Poets of Pevana by Mark Nelson,

Your choice of Finder or A Time Never Lived by Terri-Lynne DeFino, and

Your choice of The Song and the Sorceress or The Northern Queen by Kim Vandervort.

It's easy to enter; just comment on one of our weekly posts, or choose from other entry options, such as liking the Facebook page for Hadley Rille Books.  The giveaway will run until the end of the month; winners will be announced on January 31st.  Visit Heroines of Fantasy to find out more, and enter to win!


If ebooks are not your thing -- or if you're looking to enter multiple raffles this December -- check back on this blog later this week for the Winter Book Blast.  Enjoy an nine-day virtual tour of great titles across many genres, including romance, mystery, historical fiction, fantasy, and young adult. 

The Winter Book Blast is being organized by author DelSheree Gladden.  It will include a Grandprize Giveaway of 18 novels, as well as individual giveaways sponsored by participating authors.  Visitors to the blog for Eolyn will have the opportunity to win one signed copy of the beautiful hardcover edition.  Enter away -- you never know when you might get lucky!

Last but not least, as my personal gift to you, this month I have at last posted a preview to High Maga, the companion novel to Eolyn.  My annual Christmas reading, which will be posted on December 24th, will be an excerpt from the new book.  Come January, you can look forward to more previews, updates, and giveaways for this story of war, courage, endurance, and triumph.

That is the news for this week.  Again, please check back December 15th thru 23rd to register for your chance to win free novels as part of the Winter Book Blast. 

Happy holiday reading!


Enter to win a signed copy of the beautiful hardcover edition of Eolyn:Visit Heroines of Fantasy and enter to win an ebook bundle of four fantasy novels by HoF authors.Visit DelSheree Gladden's Winter Book Blast to browse multiple giveaways, including a grand prize giveaway of 18 novels.

Winter, Reading, and Story...

 

 


 Winter, Reading and Story...

 Hello folks, Mark here!

My post this week is a short one because I'm neck deep trying to please my editor and finish what we both hope are final major edits to King's Gambit. If my head doesn't explode, I promise to have something different for January.

In keeping with the season, I had a number of questions running around in my hind brain regarding weather. In Washington, November is the period where the great change usually occurs. Eastern Washington makes the great fade in a month of color transition, scudding clouds and dipping temperatures. Some years we get snow early. I recall several late October snow fests that put a different spin on trick or treating, but most years we get a dusting in November and some "real stuff" in December. I don't mind a white Christmas as long as I don't have to drive in it. I love looking at winter from my deck with the heater going and a good glass of wine or a stiff hot toddy, toasting weather's worst as it advances down the ridgeline to leach all color into shades of black and white.

Snow is really cool when seen from the inside of a clean picture window...

Let me be clear: I don't like the cold. If I am ever able to retire from teaching and can afford it, I will find a place with desert colors and heat. No question. I love my seasons, but my body functions better in the heat. I don't care how old we get, shorts are still cool and most of us appreciate a good tan. :)

But I will say this for winter, in addition to Terri's excellent comments about food last week, I think the season is ready-made for reading. In fact, I think in my life at least, there are two such seasons: summer and winter. I read all the time, but as an educator, those are the times when I can really dig into multiple books, great movies, and great meals. We start break in a week, and I have several tomes waiting my down-time attention. Teachers use such breaks to grade papers and make plans, but we also use that time to treat ourselves to reading stuff we don't teach. These are guilty pleasures times. I'm talking about the full pot of coffee, slippers and the cat and a stack of great books. I'm thinking of those late-night-can't-put-it down-and-gee-no-school-tomorrow-so-go-ahead-and-read-three-more-chapters kind of moments.

Glorious exhaustion.

I could ramble on forever, but I would rather have your responses to several questions:

When do you read the most? Do you tend to read certain kinds of literature according to season?

AND, on a seasonally related front: What are some of your favorite works that use winter as a prime component in the story-line?

Martin's use of the cold in his huge epic is well-documented. Tolkien treated the seasons with the deft skill of a Raphealite artist. Williams used it effectively in his first trilogy. LeGuin made winter a prime motif in Left Hand of Darkness and other early books. I'm sure there are others; post here and let the rest of us know.

AND, on a writerly front: how hard is it to use the cold/winter as an element in one's prose? What challenges confront the writer trying to allow weather to dictate the exploits of his characters?

Questions, questions, questions...ok people...how about some answers!

Happy Holidays!

Mark





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Guest Author: Karen L. Azinger

Friday, December 7, is the last day of classes at Avila!  One week more of finals (and grading grading grading), and we are DONE. 

I am very excited about the weeks between now and Christmas Eve, as we have a lot going on both here and on Heroines of Fantasy.  There will be games, giveaways, blog hops and more surprises; opportunities for you to win books of all genres -- even book bundles! --as we get closer to the year's end.  It is shaping up to be a very exciting holiday season, so please stay tuned to learn how you can join the fun.
 

Today, it's my pleasure to welcome Karen L. Azinger, author of The Silk and Steel Saga. 

Karen has always loved fantasy fiction, and always hoped that someday she could give back to the genre a little of the joy that reading has always given her. Ten years ago on a hike in the Columbia River Gorge, she realized she had enough original ideas to finally write an epic fantasy. She started writing and never stopped. The Steel Queen is her first book, born from that hike in the gorge.

Before writing, Karen spent over twenty years as an international business strategist, eventually becoming a vice-president for one of the world's largest natural resource companies. She's worked on developing the first gem-quality diamond mine in Canada's arctic, on coal seam gas power projects in Australia, and on petroleum projects around the world. Having lived in Australia for eight years she considers it to be her second home. She's also lived in Canada and spent a lot of time in the Canadian arctic. She lives with her husband in Portland Oregon, in a house perched on the edge of the forest. The first four books of The Silk & Steel Saga have already been written and she is hard at work on the fifth and final book.

Please join me in welcoming Karen L. Azinger.

What's in a Name? What’s in a name? Everything! Names evoke mystery, menace, magic and wonder. Whisper a single name and readers are instantly transported to another time and place. Arthur…Camelot…Excalibur…Frodo…Mordor…Voldemort, these names shimmer in our hearts and dreams like magical touch-stones. Some evoke wonder while others embody dread. More than any other genre, fantasy tasks authors to create unique and interesting names, but these names should not be a jumble of alphabet soup, impossible to pronounce and even harder to remember. For my medieval epic fantasy, The Silk & Steel Saga, I took great care in choosing the names for my main characters, striving for names that are both unique and memorable and reflective of my characters’ prominent traits.

Liandra, the Queen of Lanverness, is one of my favorite names in the saga. Naming this character was one of my top priorities. After discarding half a hundred mundane names, inspiration finally struck. As soon as I thought of Liandra, I knew I had the perfect name. Lyrical and feminine, yet it has an underlying strength, a fitting name for a queen who uses “beauty to beguile, spies to foresee, and gold to control.” Liandra is a unique name, one I’ve never seen used in fantasy, perfect for my Spider Queen.
Kath, the princess of Castlegard, is a strong female character who is often underestimated and frequently overlooked. Because she is ignored and overlooked, I wanted her to have a common girl’s name, but I also wanted my character to be bold enough to name herself. Katherine is her birth name, the name her father calls her, the name of a princess destine to wed for the good of her kingdom, but my character rejects that destiny and therefore rejects that name, choosing instead to be called Kath, a unique and catchy twist on an otherwise common name.
The Mordant is the name for my darkest character. This name pays homage to the land of Mordor in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, but instead of an eye wreathed in flame, the Mordant is a very real, very complex character who has lived for over a thousand years. One of the unique aspects of The Silk & Steel Saga is the way the reader gets to view the world from the perspective of a very malevolent evil. It is through the Mordant that my books explore the mechanisms of evil.
Sir Blaine is my classic knight, always striving to be worthy, determined to be a sword wielding hero. This character required a very “knightly” name. When naming a knight, one instantly thinks of the Knights of the Round Table, but authors need to steer clear of stereotypical names like Lancelot, Galahad, Gwaine, Percival and Tristan. Instead I chose a name that sounds like it belongs among Arthurian legends yet is fresh and unique. Blaine rhymes with Gwaine, the perfect original name for my classical knight.
In epic fantasy, the names of settings deserve just as much thought as the character names. If you get stuck, just glance at any world map for inspiration. For example, Inverness is a city in Scotland and also in New Zealand. I’ve never visited either place yet the name always struck me as lyrical, magical, even mystical. Putting my own twist on the name, Inverness becomes Lanverness, the only kingdom of Erdhe ruled by a queen. For the capital city of Lanverness, I chose the name Pellanor, a twisted spelling of Pellinore, a king from Arthurian legend who is famous for hunting the Questing Beast. Choose the names of your kingdoms, cities, and castles with care. Names can instill a touch of classical legend in your epic fantasy.
And last but certainly not least, writers must choose the names for their books. A book’s name should infuse an instant sense of genre. The name should attract attention, create expectation, and be easy to remember while being distinctive. The name of my first book, The Steel Queen, was chosen by my London editors. They wanted a name that could work as a cross-over title to attract both fantasy and historical fiction readers. After a month of e-mailing long lists of names back and forth, they finally settled on The Steel Queen. Once I broke free from my London editors and reclaimed the rights to my books, I chose the rest of the titles as well as the saga name. To “brand” the titles and identify them as part of a saga, I patterned all the titles after first book, resulting in, The Steel Queen, The Flame Priest, The Skeleton King, and The Poison Priestess.
Choosing a saga name is similar to choosing a book name, but with an added twist. In the fantasy genre, epic sagas are often referred to by their acronym, so The Lord of the Rings becomes LOTR. One of the things I love most about my saga name, The Silk & Steel Saga, is that the acronym is SASS. I hope my readers will agree that the women in my saga have a lot of sass!
What’s in a name? Everything! Choose wisely! About The Poison Priestess
While Kath and her companions chase the Mordant into the far north, the southern kingdoms erupt in Flames. The Lord Raven marches south, unleashing a holy war against Lanverness. Vastly outnumbered by a ruthless enemy, Queen Liandra spins desperate gambits in a dire struggle to save her kingdom. New alliances and new awakenings hatch deeper levels of intrigue. The Oracle Priestess and the Lord Raven form a tenuous alliance, while deep in the Southern Mountains the Kiralynn monks stir, revealing more than prophecy. Armies clash, battles rage, and cities fall, as lives, loves and crowns hang in the balance, but swords are not the only way to wage war. Treachery, deceit, assassins, and the power of seduction will face-off against steadfast courage, forgotten magic, and the power of truth. The Poison Priestess is the fourth book in this epic tale of Light versus Dark.

Winter Traditions

We heroines (and one hero!) of fantasy have been busy. Writing, editing, work, family...and now the holidays are upon us. I don't know about you, but once Halloween hits, the end of my year goes into warp speed. I feel like no sooner are the pumpkins cut open for the crows than the Christmas tree is being tossed onto the bonfire with a whoosh and a crackle and a warm, glowing series of pops.

I look forward to the slower pace of January, February, March when my brain isn't on overdrive. Still, there is something magical about this chaotic time of year. I thought it might be nice to break away from the usual here on Heroines of Fantasy, and instead revel in the joy, the excitement, the special moments with family and friends.

The food.

Holiday foods seem to lean heavily on tradition. We all have that holiday fare culture or region give to us. I'm a Jersey Italian, and southern Italian at that. This time of year is full of some really nasty tidbits, like fried smelts and baccala. Don't let the pictures fool you, this stuff reeks! I don't care how they taste, there's no getting away from the smell.

It lingers for days--on your clothes, in your house, your hair, cats, rugs. It doesn't matter if you've cooked it, or only had it brought to you. I am pretty sure that the twelve days of Christmas has its origins in how long it takes for the smell to dissipate.
We're not even going to talk about the tripe.

In my home, we don't do the traditional seven fishes on Christmas Eve. We go out for dinner, because Christmas Eve is cookie-baking day--a tradition all its own, and not even remotely related to being Italian. Well, except the feeding people part. It started when my oldest was a junior in high school. I don't know why I waited so last minute to bake the Christmas cookies that year, but I had. With all the ingredients out and ready, I was not prepared for my daughter's million friends to drop by--but they did.

For the next several hours, my kids, my daughter's friends and I mixed and baked and ate cookies and talked and laughed and ate more. I went through about a gallon of milk, a box of tea, and several dozen cookies, but it was one of the best Christmas Eves on record.



We continued the tradition through high school, then college, and even after they were all out in the world, doing their thing. One year this one couldn't make it, another year that one couldn't. Whoever could make it, came. The tradition continues to a lesser degree with the other kids' friends. My oldest daughter, now married with a child of her own, still comes home every Christmas Eve to bake cookies. Once in a while, one of the other "kids" will drop by. It's enough.

What holiday tradition do you hold most dear?

Women and Archeology: The Queens of Ancient Ur

The course Women and Science has two areas of emphasis. One of these focuses on the obstacles women scientists encounter due to gender dynamics, as well as the many contributions women have made despite these obstacles. The other area of emphasis examines how gendered perspectives influence the substance of science: How scientists see the world through a gendered lens, and how gender biases can influence our interpretation the data. 

Earlier in the semester, as the class was reading Londa Schiebinger's Has Feminism Changed Science?, I was reflecting on Schiebinger's discussion of how the archeological record is often subject to interpretation based on contemporary gender stereotypes.  Schiebinger's attention to this topic reminded me of the Archeology Series, a special collection of historical fiction published by Hadley Rille Books, wherein the lives of ordinary women are reconstructed based on sound archeological evidence.  I decided to contact the author of one of these novels, Shauna Roberts, and to my delight she was willing to provide a guest post that touches upon this topic.

Shauna Roberts, Ph.D., is a novelist, short-story writer, and editor in California.  She writes primarily science fiction, fantasy, and historical fiction. A 2009 graduate of the Clarion Writers' Workshop, she won the 2011 Speculative Literature Foundation's Older Writers Grant.  Her publications include short stories, and the historical novel Like Mayflies in a Stream, based on the "Epic of Gilgamesh". Her new fantasy novel Ice Magic, Fire Magic will be released from Hadley Rille Books in 2013. You can visit Shauna at http://shaunaroberts.blogspot.com.

As a side note, I also want to let our readers know that Hadley Rille Books will celebrate its birthday this weekend, and that ALL its electronic titles, including the Archeology Series, will be on sale for $0.99 (Kindle and Nook editions). Browse Hadley Rille's great collection of historical fiction, science fiction, and fantasy, for quality gifts and great holiday reading.

~*~Did Queens Sometimes Rule Ancient Ur?
Even the greatest archaeologists can be led astray by the prejudices of their era. Sir Leonard Woolley, who with colleagues excavated the ancient city of Ur in Mesopotamia from 1922 to 1934, was ahead of his time in the carefulness of his excavations, the exactitude of his notes, and his respect for his Arab workers.

Even so, some of his practices and interpretations have not stood the test of time. His correlations of his finds with events in the Bible were often invalid. After excavating 2,000 graves at Ur, Woolley threw out almost all of the skeletons, never guessing that radiology, computed tomography (CT), DNA analysis, isotope analysis, and other technologies would one day make skeletons priceless goldmines of information. Woolley also assumed that all rulers in ancient Mesopotamia were male. Thus, when he excavated the “Royal Graveyard” at Ur, he labeled the elite men as kings and the elite women as wives or relatives of kings.
Headdress and jewelry of Queen Puabi
as reconstructed and displayed by the
University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
Object 17711. Courtesy of the Penn Museum.
http://www.penn.museumThat interpretation was challenged in 2008 by Kathleen McCaffrey (1), then a graduate student at University of California at Berkeley. Her reanalysis of the graves and/or grave goods of three women suggests that they were ruling queens, not queen consorts.
The sixteen burials Woolley designated “royal tombs” at Ur date to 2600 to 2450 B.C.E. Each burial included one person of obviously high status: The person occupied a separate chamber within the tomb and wore jewelry of gold and precious stones. The small chamber often contained an identifying cylinder seal (which was used to “sign” legal, accounting, and other documents) and luxury goods.
The main portion of the tomb contained more luxury goods and food … as well as one or more adult bodies carefully positioned and aligned with compass points. Recent CT scans of two skulls revealed that these grave attendants were killed by blunt force trauma to the head, perhaps from being hit by a battle axe (2). This study and another recent study (3) of the alignment of bodies suggested that after death, the grave attendants were washed, dressed, and added in separate groups to the tomb.
McCaffrey noticed that in Woolley’s itemized records of the contents of tombs, the gender of the grave goods did not always match the sex of the presumably royal body. According to McCaffrey, Woolley inventoried royal graves accurately, but his interpretations were founded in stereotypes of sex and gender. In cases of sex-gender mismatch, he came up with ad hoc explanations for the mismatches, “normalized” the artifacts (for example, referring to weapons as “tools” when they accompanied an elite woman), and/or avoided talking about the mismatched grave goods.
In three cases, graves that would ordinarily have been identified as belonging to kings were not, because the elite occupants were women.
Case 1. The elite woman in tomb RT/1054 wore a dagger at her waist. Her grave goods included some male-gendered items such as a bronze axe, a whetstone, a bronze hatchet, a spare man’s gold headdress, and a king’s seal bearing the name Meskalamdug. Woolley assigned ownership of most of the male-gendered items to attendants—even though the items were made of precious imported metals, the attendants were poorly dressed, and Woolley had repeatedly asserted that attendants were buried with no grave goods of their own. Woolley concluded that the royal seal in tomb RT/1054 could not belong to its occupant because she was a woman.
Cosmetic box lid buried with Queen Puabi. The box was made
of silver. The lid is made of shell and lapis lazuli and
shows a lion eating a ram. Object B16744A.
Courtesy of the Penn Museum. http://www.penn.museumCase 2. Queen Puabi (tomb RT/800) had a lavish burial with incredible wealth and 26 attendants. Her grave goods included gold and silver spears, axes, daggers, saws, and chisels and were nearly identical to those of a man Woolley identified as a king. However, Woolley and others assumed that Puabi was not a ruler, both because she was a woman and because her seals identified her as a nin. Archaeologists usually translate nin as “queen” in the sense of “the wife of a king.” However, the meanings of the word “nin” are far more nuanced and complex (4).
Case 3. Tomb RT/1050 was stripped by looters in ancient times. However, the robbers missed a cylinder seal. The text on the seal is in the standard format for a king’s seal: The first line of text lists the king’s name, the second line lists the city name, and the third line identifies him as lugal (king, owner, master). A rule follows, and the fourth line lists a name and identifies that person as the spouse. The seal read:
            A-u-sikil-am6             (of) Ur
            the lugal
            —————
            A-kalam-dug, his/her spouse

However, that’s not the translation Woolley’s linguist, Eric Burrows, published. A-u-sikil-am6 is a female name, and A-kalam-dug is a male name. Burrows found it easier to believe that the sealmaker made three major errors in engraving the seal than that a woman could have been lugal. So he rearranged the lines and published the translation as:
            A-kalam-dug, his/her spouse             —————
            (of) Ur
            the lugal
            A-u-sikil-am6

We know that Burrows’ translation was rearranged because Woolley and his colleagues followed the good practice of publishing the rationales for their interpretations. As a result, scholars today can look back at their evidence, logic, and conclusions and decide for themselves whether the reasoning was sound. Unfortunately, not all current scholars follow the same good practice.
McCaffrey concluded that Meskallumdug, Puabi, and/or A-u-sikil-am6were ruling queens of Ur. She said, “scholars project current assumptions about gender into the past when analyzing mortuary remains…. We see the binaries of our own gender logic in the material record because deeply ingrained preconceptions prevent us from seeing anything else.”
We can look to other cities in the ancient Near East for possible supporting evidence. Archaeologists from Johns Hopkins University have discovered a possible royal cemetery at Umm el-Marra in western Mesopotamia (present-day Syria) dating to 2300 B.C.E. (5). Some of the people buried with riches and attendants are women. Their graves raise the same questions—and may have the same answers—as the graves at Ur.
Also, according to the Sumerian King List (6), a woman was lugal of the city of Kish and ruled Sumer sometime between 2500 and 2300 B.C.E. This woman, a former tavernkeeper called Kug-Bau in Sumerian-language sources and Kubaba in Akkadian-language sources, must have done a memorable job: Her son and grandson succeeded her as lugal, she was deified after her death, and shrines to worship her sprang up in Mesopotamia and later in other areas.
Kug-Bau’s example makes clear that women did rule in Mesopotamia. A fresh look at the tombs of Ur suggests Kug-bau was not the only ancient lugal.  

References and Footnotes
(1) McCaffrey, Kathleen. “The Female Kings of Ur.” In Diane Bolger, Editor. Gender through Time in the Ancient Near East. Lanham, Maryland: AltaMira Press, 2008, pp. 173–215.
(2) Baadsgaard, Aubrey, Janet Monge, Samantha Cox, and Richard L. Zettler. “Human Sacrifice and Intentional Corpse Preservation in the Royal Cemetery of Ur.” Antiquity 85:27–42, 2011.
(3) Vidale, Massimo. “PG 1237, Royal Cemetery of Ur: Patterns in Death.” Cambridge Archaeological Journal 21: 427–451, 2011.
(4) The word “nin” was sometimes used as a title for gods, both male and female. John Alan Halloran’s Sumerian Lexicon (Los Angeles: Logogram Publishing, 2006) defines ninas queen, mistress, proprietress, lady, and lord. The etymology of nin suggests that it may have originally meant a person who is much feared or respected. Even more confusing, the cuneiform character for nin (MUNUS.TÚG) also meant eresh. Halloran defines ereshas lady, mistress, proprietress, queen, and wise one. Its etymology is complicated; it may have derived from the combination of e (speaking, prayer), ri(to throw, to cast, to expel, to beget, to inundate, and several other verbs), and isi (mountain). Scholars continue to debate both the difference between the two words and when to read MUNUS.TÚG as nin and when to read it as eresh.  University of Pennsylvania researchers currently believe that eresh is the correct reading Puabi's title.  Even though McCaffrey based her argument on reading MUNUS.TÚG as nin, I believe her general point is still valid:  We do not yet understand the full meaning of Puabi's title, so we cannot say it excludes her as ruler of Ur. 
(5) See page 3 of the project’s Website at http://neareast.jhu.edu/uem/index.html.
(6) http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section2.... Note that although this translation (and all others) uses “he” and “son,” the characters so translated meant “he, she, it” and “child” in the original Sumerian. Thus, Kug-Bau may not be the only woman ruler on the list.

Guest Author: Julia Dvorin

We are so happy today to welcome another sister at Hadley Rille Books, author Julia Dvorin. 

Julia is a woman of many hats and little sleep, who tells stories wherever she can. A proud graduate of the Viable Paradise workshop for speculative fiction writers, she fits her writing in while parenting two young boys and promoting a collaborative art project called “Fly Your Freak Flag High” (FYFFH). Julia holds an MA in Sociology from University of California, Santa Barbara, and has been a college lecturer in Sociology and Women’s Studies. She has also worked in consumer products licensing and sales, and has run her own web solutions business. In 2010, Julia’s novelette “Cupid For a Day” was published in the Renaissance Festival Tales anthology from Hadley Rille Books to high acclaim. You can visit Julia on her website: www.parentheticals.com

At the end of Julia's post, we will have an excerpt from her novel, Ice Will Reveal, so please keep reading!

Prophecy, Destiny, and What Is Revealed

Prophecy. Whether religious or secular, we see it all the time in fantasy writing, and there are infinite variations on the concept. Mighty beings, wreathed in thunder and lightning, speak directly to the people. In times of greatest need, the mystic with a direct conduit to God(s) or Goddess(es) is given a vision with a message for the faithful. A previously unremarkable commoner has a single or recurring dream that turns out to be a divine revelation that sets them on a collision course with kings and wars. Secret messages from previous aeons are decoded and brought to light by intrepid researchers. Perhaps people believe the prophecy and it rules their lives, their culture, their everyday actions; or perhaps prophecy is discarded, scoffed at, hidden or forgotten. Sometimes a story lets us see the act of prophecy as it happens; sometimes the prophecy has already happened and the story we read is about the prophecy’s result, which is often the time when it comes true (or not). We find reluctant prophets, eager prophets, fanatical prophets, and persecuted prophets. Then there are those special people who are the focus of prophecy, the ones who will save the world (or possibly doom it): the One, the Chosen, the Foretold, the Named. We are warned about or against them; we must watch for, identify, find, encourage, or stop them.

Why such a fascination with prophecy and those involved with it? What’s that about? I would argue that fantasy literature is at its heart driven by the investigation of the ineffable, the unknowable, the mysterious and magical, and prophecy is something that allows us to access that through asking “where does prophecy come from?” Prophecy is also intimately related to the concept of destiny, another familiar and beloved fantasy fiction concept. Playing around with the concepts of prophecy and destiny allows us to explore the idea that even if it’s too mysterious or big to comprehend, there is a larger design that we are each a contributing part of, and that hopefully there is something or someone directing that design (regardless of whether that something or someone is obvious or hidden to us). Don’t we all want to be special, to be Chosen? Don’t we all want to be recognized for the unique contributions that we bring into the world? Personally, I find it reassuring to muse (to hope, dream and speculate) about my own place and purpose in the world, even if I don’t necessarily know their exact shape and parameters yet.
So when I started writing Ice Will Reveal, my first fantasy novel, I wasn’t that surprised to find the familiar (and personally compelling) concepts of prophecy, destiny and free will cropping up, even though it’s also an adventure novel with plenty of action and intrigue and monsters and even a little romance. Each of the main point-of-view characters in the book is in the process of struggling with her or his own destiny and purpose, and prophecy helps frame their experiences, but not prescribe them. Some characters act on faith in or obedience to something external, and some act on faith in their own internal sense of direction or morality. Some vacillate back and forth. Yes, I do talk a lot about “the Foretold”, and priests and priestesses receive “truevisions” from their Goddess, but the Goddess has also turned Her face away and become increasingly impossible to access, and visions are open to interpretation. The title refers to an ancient prophecy that serves as certain characters’ context for interpreting current events and provides those characters with reasons to set other events into motion. (Actually, the original title was The Augured, which got changed when a helpful soul pointed out that there was a double entendre possible there that I might not want. But I digress.)I wanted to write a book in which prophecy was a signpost, not a recipe; where what was happening or what “should” happen was not always clear or direct, and purpose had to come from within as well as without, because finding moments of choice was as valid and important as the willing submission to predestination. I tried to explore how people act and think in situations where “right” and “wrong” are suggested, not required, and vary based on perspective, and what it’s like to try to be a hero(ine) in that kind of “grey” context. These themes recur throughout the book, and surely reflect my own time, place and cultural zeitgeist as well as my particular life stage and personal intellectual interest. I plan on exploring them further throughout the next couple sequels to Ice Will Reveal, and heck, probably in everything I ever write. I can’t help it. Maybe it’s just what I was meant to do. J

About Ice Will Reveal

There will be one I choose to turn the wheel

To use My gift to help the land to heal; The One, the Gift, the Time

Ice will reveal. Orphaned siblings Jarrod and Whisper Thornn grew up as “mercy kids” at the powerful Holy Temple of the One Goddess. Devout, law-abiding Jarrod became a loyal Temple Guardian, whereas restless, unscrupulous Whisper escaped to an apprenticeship with a rich thief as soon as she came of age. For years, they have barely seen or needed each other.

Then, Whisper accepts a dangerous mission to steal an arcane artifact wanted by the Temple. Meanwhile, the Temple has named Jarrod as the Foretold, the One who will heal the land and turn the absent Goddess back to Her people. But prophecy is open to interpretation, and the priestesses of the Order of the Sickle have named one of their own as the Foretold. Jarrod’s test: he and his companions must investigate a breach in the magical Boundary that has long protected the land of Caledendria from the apocalyptic influence of the Blight. 

When Jarrod and Whisper’s paths unexpectedly converge, Whisper joins Jarrod and his companions on a harrowing journey to seal the breach in the Boundary. Together, they must battle life-sucking wraiths and face loss and betrayal as they hurtle toward a fateful encounter at the Boundary. 


Excerpt from Ice Will Reveal

Jarrod took a long drink of his ale and set it down half-empty on the table with a sigh.
Burning with curiosity, Whisper couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “So?” she said. “What in the Goddess’ name is so important that you had to come all the way out here to see me on a night off? You do have the night off, right? You’re not here to tell me that you’ve left the Temple or anything crazy like that, are you?”
Jarrod finally looked at her, frowning. “No, I haven’t left the Goddess’ service. But I will be taking a brief leave of absence from the Temple itself . . . and I thought you should know, as my only kin.” He looked around as if to check for eavesdroppers, but no one in the crowded, noisy room paid them the least bit of attention. He leaned in closer toward her, putting his elbows on the table. “I’m being sent to the Blighted Lands,” he said in a low voice.
Whisper goggled in surprise, her own drink forgotten in her hand. Like other Myceans absorbed in their city, Whisper thought of the Blighted Lands as mostly a cautionary history lesson, not as an actual place anyone would ever go. “What?” she managed finally, sitting up and leaning in toward him.
“Yes, you heard me.” He nodded slowly and vented another big sigh. Whisper recoiled from the smell.
“Wait a minute . . . are you drunk?” She smothered a laugh. Now that she was close enough, she could smell more than just ale on his breath. In fact, he reeked of whiskey.
Hah! My oh-so-holy brother is sauced like a duck. No wonder he was so formal back at the house. I hope Mins didn’t notice.
“Not nearly drunk enough, I think,” he said solemnly. “But it’s still early. I thought you were going to bring back something challenging. . . ?”
Whisper chuckled. “Ohhhh, don’t tempt me, brother. Even though it’s a fully amusing thought, and one I’d like to pursue for real some other night, watching you puke your devout, virtuous guts out in the alleyway is not why I’m here. It’s been a long day for me, and from the smell of you, you don’t need anything more challenging than Warbler right now. So come on—what’s going on, Jar?”
Jarrod sighed again. Whisper leaned back, waving her hand in front of her nose in mock disgust. Refusing to rise to her teasing, Jarrod remained serious, saying quietly, “It’s complicated. The summary of the story is that I’m leaving in the morning with a few companions and going to the Blighted Lands, to do some reconnaissance there. But . . . there’s more to it than just that, I think. Do you remember that stuff about the Foretold, from when we were kids?”
Now it was Whisper’s turn to frown. Of course she remembered—it was an old and oft-fondled sore spot for her. She remembered the regular visits with Supreme Mother Corandonn and the priestess’ seemingly casual but endless questioning. She remembered the speculative looks and whispers from certain adults around Jarrod, and the rumors and teasing amongst the Mercy kids that had spread even to Whisper. She remembered all the special treatment over the cycles that Jarrod never acknowledged but that she’d felt all too keenly. Tunneling to the bottom of what all that had been about was the first mystery she’d solved, and it had given her an appetite for information-gathering that she’d never lost. Wasn’t she the one who’d first overheard the word “Foretold” applied directly to Jarrod? She remembered that moment clearly: she had been eavesdropping on a heated discussion between Supreme Mother Corandonn and Mother Noyennah from her favorite hiding spot in the high branches of the old elm tree in the Temple school’s courtyard. She was the one who’d run to tell Jarrod about it, and she’d led their careful investigations in the Temple Library.
But despite their figuring out that Supreme Mother Corandonn and the other adults thought Jarrod might be “the Foretold” of prophecy they’d learned about in school, nothing had ever come of it. Eventually the looks and whispers had died away, the teasing had moved on to different victims, and she spent less time around Jarrod, so she stopped noticing any special treatment. Even so, Whisper had always closely held the hurt of not being the special one, the chosen. And as Jarrod, so humble, so determined to be good and righteous and worthy, had grappled with his apparent destiny, she’d pulled away, acting out, becoming his opposite, hoping to be noticed as special, too, even if it was only as specially “bad”. But no one had cared about her or seen her as special until Mins came along and took her away from all that.
“Yeah, I remember. You think they didn’t change their minds after all, and now it’s finally time for you to save the world, huh? Should I bow to you or something?” Jarrod didn’t smile, just looked at her with that long-suffering pious expression she hated. “But I don’t get why they’d send their special boy to the Blighted Lands. Kind of cold and dangerous out there, last I heard. You’d think they’d want to keep you all warm and safe right there at the Temple.”
“Well, they are sending me, that I know,” Jarrod said defensively, and leaned back in his chair. “So I thought maybe I’d better tell you.” He gulped the rest of his Warbler and thumped the glass down on the table, then crossed his thick arms over his chest and glared at her. Whisper, attuned always to what people weren’tsaying when they spoke, got a flash of the fear lurking behind his eyes.He’s afraid he’s going to die out there, she realized. He came to say goodbye, just in case.She felt suddenly guilty for teasing him.

McClintock, Maize, and Modern Genetics

At last, Thanksgiving break has arrived! I have a moment to breath, to eat lots of turkey, and to write a proper post.

The semester is fast drawing to a close. Following Thanksgiving, we have two weeks of classes left at Avila University, and then final exams. For my course Women and Science, the last two weeks will be filled with student presentations, each one devoted to a particular woman scientist.  This is one of my favorite parts of the semester, as it renews my appreciation of the many contributions of women to science throughout history. Also, I invariably learn about someone whose story I have not yet heard.

While the students are putting their final touches on their end-of-semester reports, I want to take some time on my blog to talk about Nobel prize laureate Barbara McClintock, the woman who discovered transposons, otherwise known as jumping genes.

McClintock's story is told in a couple different biographies, including A Feeling for the Organism by Evelyn Fox Keller. 

She was born in 1902 in Hartford, Connecticut, and attended Cornell University at a time when enrollment by women in U.S. universities was on the rise. (This trend was shut down during the 1950s, only to pick up again with the women's movement of the 1960s and 1970s.)  Even though McClintock was not entirely unique in her desire to earn a college degree, her mother was opposed to the idea because she feared it would make her daughter unmarriageable.  (As it turned out, McClintock did not, in fact, ever marry...)

There are a lot of remarkable moments in McClintock's long and illustrious career.  One of these was the difficulty she had finding a job after earning her PhD at Cornell.  Even though she was greatly respected by leading geneticists of the time, no university seemed to have a place for her. 

McClintock did the best she could under the circumstances, accepting temporary positions until at last in 1941 (fourteen years after finishing her degree), she was offered a research position at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.  Cold Spring Harbor would be McClintock's home for the rest of her career, and it was here that she completed the work that earned her the Nobel Prize. 

Her study organism was maize -- another factor that set her apart, because at the time, the biology of maize was considered more relevant to agronomists than to "serious" geneticists.  McClintock, however, did not let this prejudice stop her.  Her experiments combined controlled breeding with careful documentation of the behavior of chromosomes during cell division. 

By monitoring the appearance, position, and size of dark patches on kernels of known parentage, she was able to determine that something internal to the cell was controlling the rate of mutation in maize.  This discovery ran counter to everything that was known and believed about chromosomes at the time.  Mutation was supposed to be a random event, and chromosomes were supposed to be in control of the cell, not vice-versa. 

As McClintock dug deeper into the evidence, she discovered something even more amazing:  The elements that controlled the rate of mutation were actually part of the chromosome itself.  Moreover, these elements could move!  They could physically dissociate from one part of the chromosome and insert themselves into another part.  Wherever these elements inserted themselves, the adjacent functional genes would be turned off.

In the summer of 1951, Barbara McClintock presented her conclusions -- supported by volumes of data gathered over the course of six years -- at the annual symposium at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.  The response of her colleagues was, in McClintock's own words, "puzzlement, even hostility".  The academic community was unwilling to accept these astonishing results. Within a couple years McClintock, realizing she was beginning to alienate the scientific mainstream, stopped talking about her data and its paradigm-shattering implications. She turned instead to other research questions, such as the evolutionary origin of maize, to which she also made important contributions.

Almost a decade later, in 1961, Francois Jacob and Jacques Monod described the regulation of a set of genes called the lac operon in bacteria.  McClintock was quick to recognize the similarities between their discovery and hers, and published a paper in the American Naturalist comparing the lac operon to the controlling elements she had discovered in maize. 

These parallel discoveries paved the way to wider acceptance of the existence of mobile controlling elements within the genome, and as time went on it was recognized that McClintock's data and her interpretation were not abberations, but representative of a widespread and important phenomenon in genetics. In 1983, McClintock was awarded the Nobel Prize for her discovery of transposons.

Barbara McClintock is an excellent example of a woman who made fundamentally important contributions to science, and who received due recognition for those contributions. Nonetheless, many scholars argue that her career was plagued by gender discrimination, noting for example the difficulty she had finding a faculty position. 

The mysterious lag time between when McClintock presented her results in 1951, and when they were finally recognized as valid more than 10 years later, is also a point of emphasis for many feminists.  Was her work ignored for so long because it threatened the dominant paradigm?  Or was it ignored because she was a woman?

McClintock's biographers tend to come down on one side or the other of this debate.  Personally, I suspect both gender discrimation and the inertia imposed by scientific paradigm were at play.   

Barbara McClintock never believed she was subject to discrimination on the basis of her gender at any point in her career.  Regarding the initial unwillingness of the scientific community to accept her findings, she wrote in 1973:

Over the years I have found that it is difficult if not impossible to bring to consciousness of another person the nature of his tacit assumptions when, by some special experiences, I have been made aware of them. This became painfully evident to me in my attempts during the 1950s to convince geneticists that the action of genes had to be and was controlled. It is now equally painful to recognize the fixity of assumptions that many persons hold on the nature of controlling elements in maize and the manners of their operation. One must await the right time for conceptual change.

From McClintock's point of view, it would not have mattered whether she was a woman or a man. At the time she presented her results, there was simply a reluctance among geneticists to accept data that undermined their basic assumptions about how DNA worked, and whether DNA could be subject to deliberate control mechanisms imposed by the cell.  It was a matter of waiting until the scientific community was ready for the next conceptual revolution. 

So she waited. Fortunately, Barbara McClintock was still around to enjoy the moment when the rest of the scientific world caught up with her.

McClintock's microscope and ears of maize on
display at the Museum of Natural History.

Why I Wrote Searching for Slave Leia

Back in March of this year, Sandra McDonald guest posted here on Heroines of Fantasy. That post sparked a story, that...you know what? She tells it much better. I'm just going to welcome here here, and say how honored I am to have her once again guest on Heroines Of Fantasy.

Take it away, Sandra!
Remember that scene in the The Empire Strikes Back when Darth Vader, prior to interrogating Han Solo, strips away his clothing and leaves him shivering in only his little white Rebel Alliance boxer shorts? Or later, in Return of the Jedi, when the Emperor is ready to kill Luke Skywalker but first makes him put on a thong and some body oil? Probably not. Maybe I'm thinking of the blooper reel.
Or maybe I'm still annoyed at George Lucas for stealing away Princess Leia's perfectly good mercenary uniform in Jabba the Hutt's palace and sticking her in a metal bikini with a chain and collar around her neck. I didn't actually realize how annoyed, however, until I wrote a guest blog post earlier this year here at Heroines of Fantasy. My thoughts about the ridiculous costumes for science fiction and fantasy prompted some interesting debate and comments, and thank you to those who contributed.

After the blogging, I tried to let that bikini go. Believe you me, I have bigger things to worry about than a thirty year old costume decision. But, like a grain of sand in an oyster (or an Imperial thong wedged you know where), it continued to irritate. It spiraled me back in time to when I was a teenager in Revere, Massachusetts, standing in line to see Return of the Jedi after years of angsting about Han Solo trapped in carbonite. In a lobby surrounded by hundreds of other Star Wars fans, I looked up and saw a promotional display of all my favorite characters fully garbed except for one, who barely wore anything at all. I wasn't completely outraged by the display, but my disappointment grew during the movie. The leading heroine of the Star Wars universe is reduced to a sex object who is stripped, chained, sent to a hair and makeup salon, and put on display in front of her friends. Who even knows what Jabba does to her with that big slimy tongue?  
Since 1983, Slave Leia – a demeaning epithet that Her Royal Highness and future Mrs. Solo (per the books) would probably not mention at Senate cocktail parties -- has entered into Star Wars canon as a symbol of sexiness and power. She persists in pop culture today. There's a Slave Leia Appreciation Society, Kim Kardashian's Leia costume, and Slave Leia Perfume.  You can make your own Slave Leia costume for under $30.  Or you can buy one on Amazon. I'll let you discover the dubious joys of Slave Leia fanfic on your own. I admit to enjoying Kaley (The Big Bang Theory) Cuoco's funny public service announcement about the preponderance of Slave Leia in cosplay over on YouTube. Slave Leia, it seems, isn't going to go away anytime soon.
Neither was that grit in my gut, which writers know is a sure sign to start typing. Soon I was hammering out a new story that incorporated not only my feelings about Star Wars but also my experiences as a woman who worked in Hollywood and my observations as a science fiction fan over the years. The result, Searching for Slave Leia, may at times be tongue-in-cheek, but it's also one of my most autobiographical stories. My father's car shows up, as does my favorite Boston movie theater and the first temp agency I worked for when I moved to Los Angeles. (It's gone now, replaced by an office building.) You'll also see CBS Radford Studios (now called Studio Center), where I worked with a producer in a development deal with Dreamworks. That lot -- that field of dreams -- is still one of my favorite places in Los Angeles. The title of the story is a reference to the excellent documentary Searching for Debra Winger, which examines the trials and tribulations of women "of a certain age" in the entertainment industry.
To my delight, Searching for Slave Leia sold quickly to the great magazine Lightspeed, and is being published this month in Kindle ebook and online. Lightspeed is also sharing it with the io9, one of the hottest and largest destinations on the net for sf and fantasy fans. Thank you to the folks here at Heroines of Fantasy for inviting me to do that guest blog and awakening the irritation within.  Everything is fodder for a writer, even gold metal bikinis. But I'm still waiting for that scene with Han Solo in his underwear.
Since her last post here, Sandra McDonald won a Silver Moonbeam award for Children's Literature for her gay YA adventure Mystery of the Tempest (written as Sam Cameron). Her story The Black Feminist's Guide to Science Fiction Film Editing is currently appearing in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine, and she has several other short stories and books forthcoming. Visit her at www.sandramcdonald.com .

Guest Author: Juli D. Revezzo

Please join me in welcoming Juli D. Revezzo as a guest author.  I met Juli through the Magic Appreciation Tour.

Juli has long been in love with writing, a love built by devouring everything from the Arthurian legends, to the works of Michael Moorcock, and the classics, and has a soft spot for the classic "Goths" of the 19th century in love of which she received a Bachelor's degree in literature from the University of South Florida.  Her short fiction has been published in Dark Things II:  Cat Crimes, The Scribing Ibis, Eternal Haunted Summer, Twisted Dreams Magazine, and Luna Station Quarterly.  She also has an article and book review or two out there.  But her heart lies in storytelling.  She is a member of the Independent Author Network.  The Artist's Inheritance is her first novel.  You can visit Juli at http://julidrevezzo.com

Following Juli's post, you'll find an excerpt from her novel, so please keep reading!

~*~
The Role of Wife in Storytelling -- Rebooted

If you look at any popular television show or novel these days, the relationship between the heroine and hero always seems to be centered in the early days of their relationship, or just about the time the wife is popping out kid number three or four (or seven, or eight) while putting child number one into her prom dress and taking boy child number two to soccer practice.

In short, the wife has become a stereotype.
No matter how strong women claim they are in real life, in fiction, the strong, the fighters are relegated to the unmarried, and don’t even get me started about the women who fight with men they have their sights set on.
In the immortal words of Moon Unit Zappa, “Gag me with a spoon!”
When I look at the women who inspire me, it’s the women who can stand on their own: the Friggas and Heras, the  Paksenarrions. It’s women like Queen Mary I, Mrs. Virginia Woolf and Madame Marie Curie who I consider the strongest figures out there.
Yet, pick up any fantasy novel and you’ll meet her: The quiet mother who tends to her household while her daughters and sons run rampant. Usually, the girls get married and the boys run off to save the world. On rare occasions, the girl runs off to save the world, though somehow, always in the end, she marries and leaves the job of defending the family to her husband. There are a few exceptions to that rule that come to mind but even if children don’t factor in, the wife somehow always ends up in a passive role.
And think of the horror genre. Those women—sheesh! Either they are the scream queens, or they’re the ninnies that check out the weird noise out back, even when there’s a serial killer on the loose. And did I mention they go out unarmed? No, no, no. Come on, ladies! As modern women, aren’t we all a little smarter than that?
Why can’t a woman marry, yet still nurture her warrior roots?  Why must she simper and preen and worry only about her children? Why must she stand back and wring her hands while the men fight? After all, centuries ago, Celtic women picked up swords and fought hard against their enemies and demons for their families.
I had this question in mind when I sat down to write The Artist’s Inheritance. The theme of the story necessitated my character Caitlin facing some scary demons both from outside herself, and within herself. She didn’t simper in a corner and wait for her hubby to do the job; she didn’t go downstairs (or upstairs in her case) unarmed when it most counted. Like Fritz Leiber’s Conjure Wife she does what she must to nurture and defend her family.
To become the true heroine. And does she defeat those demons?
Well, I can’t tell you the whole story. You’ll have to read The Artist’s Inheritance yourself to see how it comes out. I’ll tell you what, though: it is a close call. J If you’d like to try it, The Artist’s Inheritance is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, and in time for holiday gift giving, in paperback at Createspace.

Synopsis: Trouble only a witch can solve...
Settling into their new home, changes come over Caitlin’s husband Trevor. He’s obsessed with a beautiful chair he's carving, a passion that smacks of his familial curse. Armed with little experience of the supernatural, Caitlin must proceed with caution. If she fails to break this cycle of damnation, she’ll lose forever the one thing she loves most: Trevor.

Thank you, Karin, for having me here today. One last thing before I go: Strong women rock! ;)
~*~  Excerpt from The Artist's Inheritance “How much will you take for these fine drawings?” The male voice drew her attention away from Trevor’s work. A short man with black hair and a lazy eye, dressed in a pinstripe suit and straw hat, crossed the gallery to pause at Trevor’s side. “They’re your work, are they not? Are they available?” “Yes, they’re mine,” Trevor said. “They’re not for sale. Sorry.” Caitlin eyed the older man. Who’s this fella? “Don’t be absurd, Trevor.” Abby Wilkins, jumped in before Caitlin could ask. Caitlin took in his fine coat, the diamond gleaming from his ring finger. More than likely, the man could pay a fortune for the pictures. Perhaps even the chair they had stashed in the attic. Maybe they’d be rid of the stupid thing yet. “For you, Mr. Hofter? Of course they are.” “No, I’m sorry,” Trevor said. “They’re not for sale.” Abby choked and pulled Trevor aside. “Are you mad, darling? Do you know who he is?” Caitlin peered over Abby’s shoulder, seeing the man in question studying a Jeffersonian era desk. Trevor grimaced. “I can’t say I do.” “That’s Marvin Hofter,” Mrs. Wilkins said conspiratorially. “Who’s Marvin Hofter?” Caitlin asked. Abby spluttered and tugged at the collar of her linen blouse. “How can you not know him?” The name meant nothing; Caitlin could only give her a blank look. “I don’t.” “My dear, he’s only the editor in chief of Antiques Daily.” Now Caitlin understood why Trevor’s mentor was making such a huge deal. Trevor touched one of the sketches, almost, Caitlin thought, as if he would protect them. “I’m sorry, no. The pictures aren’t for sale.” Hofter pursed his lips and retrieved a card case from the pocket of his silk coat. He pulled forth an embossed business card and handed it to him. “If you change your mind, don’t hesitate to call me.” The man tipped his hat and walked away. Caitlin kept her gaze on him. Something about him made her want to grab Trevor and move as far away as possible. Like to Siberia. 
* * * *You can also visit Juli at the following links: Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/Juli-D.-Revezzo/e/B008AHVTLO/
On Author's Den: http://www.authorsden.com/julidrevezzo
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/JD-Revezzo/233193150037011
On Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/111476709039805267272/posts
On Good Reads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5782712.Juli_D_Revezzo
On LibraryThing: http://www.librarything.com/profile/julidrevezzo
On Shelfari: http://www.shelfari.com/o1514830030
And on Twitter: http://twitter.com/julidrevezzo


EOLYN Featured in Bewitching Book Tours Magazine!

The November issue of Bewitching Book Tours Magazine includes an author interview where you can learn about my favorite character in the novel Eolyn, how the name 'Eolyn' came to be, what's in store for High Maga, and more! 

In addition to Eolyn's feature article, you'll find flash fiction, book excerpts and reviews, recipes and lots of other great articles.  The e-zine is FREE, and you can view it on-line or download your own copy below.

Enjoy!

Bewitching Book Tours November Issue