Tara Chevrestt's Blog, page 28

The Burning Land Raises Interesting Questions in a Fantasy Context

The Burning Land is the second book I've read by Victoria Strauss.  I read and reviewed her historical fiction Color Song on this blog here .  I happen to be a fan of fantasy as well as historical fiction and the description of this one sounded like it might deal with interesting themes.  I received The Burning Land from the publisher via Net Galley in return for this honest review.

                                                   

Like another review that I recently saw on Goodreads, I originally thought that Victoria Strauss was re-creating Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism in a fantasy context.  There were indeed some parallels, but there were also some key differences.  The first one I noticed is that Strauss' fictional religion, Aratism, is messianic.  It's a central tenet of Buddhism that anyone can become a Buddha.  There are Bodhisattvas who strive to awaken others to their Buddha nature, but each Buddhist is actually still the one engaged in his or her own salvation.  So there are no messiahs in Buddhism. Another seriously critical difference between Tibetan Buddhism and Aratism is that Tibetan Buddhist monks practice non-violence.  The Brethren of Arata don't adhere to such a code.  In fact, violence among Aratists is central to the plot.  The sort of violence that occurs is reminiscent of historical conflicts between Christian sects. I came to the conclusion that Victoria Strauss has constructed a syncretic religion composed of elements from Buddhism and Christianity.  It's East meets West in a fantasy world.

The male and female protagonists are both complex.  Gyalo, the male protagonist, evolves in an unexpected direction while still maintaining the essence of his character.    I don't agree with the Goodreads reviewer who seemed to think that Axane, the female protagonist, had been "ruined" by traumatic events.  For me, the strength of a female character is demonstrated by how she reacts to trauma.  Axane is severely impacted by trauma, but she's a survivor.  She is eventually able to move on with her life.  I appreciate that sort of portrayal of a female character.

The fantasy aspect involves paranormal powers.  Strauss confronts the issue of ethical responsibility in the use of paranormal powers through the differing approaches of Aratist sects.  Can this decision be safely left up to the individual who possesses such powers?  This issue reminded me of the Deryni series by Katherine Kurtz which also focuses on whether the paranormally gifted can be trusted to use their powers ethically.  Both Strauss and Kurtz answer this question in a complex fashion.  Some individuals are more trustworthy than others, but persecution increases the likelihood of the abuse of paranormal powers because survival usually trumps ethics.    So how should societies respond to the threat of unethical use of paranormal powers?  The Burning Land shows us that there are no easy answers.

Another related issue that Strauss deals with in this book is whether religious belief makes a difference in adherence to ethics.  Again,  this varies among individuals.  In The Burning Land, people who have an internalized sense of ethics continue to be ethical even if they lose their faith.  People who are only ethical because of the expectations of their religion, will discard ethics along with their faith when catastrophic events rip their beliefs from them.  I agree that whether someone worships one deity, ten thousand deities or none isn't a determining factor when it comes to ethical behavior.

The Burning Land is a thoughtful book that I recommend to readers who are interested in compelling fantasy that addresses religion and ethical responsibility.                                            
                                         

Vintage-Looking Clutch You Can Make Yourself

There was a time when needlepoint clutches were in style. I don't see why we can't bring them back. And heck, you can make your own thanks to this awesome kit I found recently and made, with a modification. (I added a string of "pearls" on elastic to the side that when carried looks like a bracelet but actually serves as a handle. Plus, if you just leave your purse sitting there, it looks like you have a string of pearls hanging out. Elegant, eh?)

I bought the kit on Herrschners here.

The kit comes with purse form, yarn, needle, clasp, instructions. and I actually prefer this form over the forms I've been buying at JoAnn's and just stitching up.



What do you think?

This one has been gifted. I sure hope the receiver likes it as much as I do.

The Theory of Everything Shows the Evolution of Love

When I first contemplated watching this movie, I thought to myself, "But how can it be a romance when we already know they get divorced later in life?"

But I was intrigued...and I watched it...and I must say despite the fact that Jane and Stephen get divorced later, that this is a story about love. There are many different kinds of love and you can love someone one way and later find you love them another way. You don't stop loving them; your love just changes. I think this movie should have been called The Evolution of Love. I do.

The movie starts in 1962(3?) Cambridge and we meet a young student Stephen who is working on his PhD and Jane who is majoring in some kind of poetry. I saw something special in Jane right away. This is a girl/woman is one tough cookie. The girl Jane does not take no for an answer. When she finds out her boyfriend has only two years to live, when Stephen's own family warns her she should walk away now, she sticks to her guns. She's going to marry the man she loves and enjoy what times she has with him.

Woman Jane is amazing. She has to juggle small children as well as an invalid Stephen, so it's like having a grown kid on top of the little kids. I don't mean this in an insulting way, but she has to dress him and feed him and all that, and it's obvious she has her hands full and for many years her husband refused to hire outside help.

And you can tell at times that she's unhappy but she's hanging in there. And she's faced with some difficult choices. And she never breaks down.

She does not walk away until Stephen basically tells her to. And then finally she's permitted to find her own happiness.

And yet she still loved him; her love just evolved into a different type.

There are parts of the movie dedicated to Stephen's theories. I didn't understand much of it. It confused me, to be honest. If you are proving your theory from a few years ago wrong now...what makes this theory right? And why are theories so applauded when they're constantly proved wrong? It's all very confusing to me. Thankfully the movie didn't expand on that stuff too much. I may have blown a brain fuse.

But I really enjoyed this movie, the settings, the acting...omg, the acting was something. I applaud them all, especially the actor who played Stephen. And I walk away from the sofa now with a new thought planted in my head...as long as there is life, there is hope.

I bought this movie expecting a romance or a dramatic biography about the famous physicist, but I think Jane's strength stole the show.

Interview with Rachel Tsoumbakos

Today I have author Rachel Tsoumbakos hanging out with us. She recently had a new release titled Unremembered Things. Let's get to know the author behind the story a little bit better.

Welcome. You’re here to promote Unremembered Things (Book #1 in the Wood Nymph Chronicles), a paranormal romance. Tell me, please, what was the inspiration behind this story (or series)? How did it come to you?

This novel was actually several years in the making. In fact, it was the very first novel I ever wrote to completion. It has, over the years, had several complete rewrites and the story now is very similar to the original concept I had all those years ago when I was just dreaming about writing and came across a glade of redwoods unexpectedly when mushrooming.

We focus a lot on heroines here on Book Babe. Tell me what makes your heroine strong. 

Indiana has no recollection of anything prior to twelve months earlier. She also has to deal with the fact a vampire has moved – uninvited - into her cellar and her part time boyfriend is not what he seems. Through these challenges, Indiana never gives up; against all odds she is determined to find out the truth.

Do you see any of yourself in her?

Besides being about the same height and sharing a shoe fetish, we are very dissimilar. Although, I guess we both share the same pigheaded determination to see things through to the very end – no matter how painful that might be.

Was there any particular part of this story that was the hardest for you to write? Tell me why.

Considering I usually write novels that sway more towards the horror genre, reigning back on my need to put terror and violence into this novel was hard. This story had hung around waiting patiently to be written, so I had to constantly tackle this hurdle in order to achieve what I had originally set out to do.

What kind of research did you do when you penned this novel? Did anything surprising come up in your search?

Research is one of the things I love most about writing. I have had to do extensive research on my previous novels, and Unremembered Things was no exception. Nothing surprising came up in the writing of Book #1 since I had researched nymph myths and legends and had mapped it out according to the fables I was following. However, in my current rewrite of Book #2, Misbegotten Things, I had a character previously named in haste. When researching into her name, I couldn’t quite make her story gel together with everything else going on in the storyline. After much study, I came across a lesser known Greek fable that fit in just nicely with this troublesome character. So nicely, in fact, it has bought the whole trilogy together in a way I hadn’t considered up until that point.

What would you like readers to gain from reading your book? Is there a strong moral? Do you hope they will laugh, learn something about a particular subject/person, ponder a point?

I want people to realise that love comes in many different forms and crosses many different barriers; you just have to trust your instincts.

Your book takes place in Australia. If I were a tourist, what would you recommend I see in this town/country? 

Unremembered Things occurs in the fictional town of Greendell, however it is based loosely on a town called Warburton. Warburton was the birthplace of Sanitarium Food Company and was founded originally thanks to the gold rush. The town is visually beautiful and is host to a large man made redwood forest. There is also a fantastic Nordic festival held every second winter and watching the town transform into a Viking village is just fantastic!

Moving on to personal things...if you could time travel to absolute any time and place in history, where and when would you go and what is it that draws you to this time period? What would you do whilst there?

Currently my favourite TV show is Vikings (on the History Channel), so it would be pretty cool to travel back to that era and learn how to be a shield maiden! Honestly though, I find it hard to pinpoint any one time or place. It would also be amazing to travel back to ancient Greece or to Australia when it wasn’t a white colony.

What’s the one thing you hope to accomplish before you die? Your main goal?

To continue writing books. That’s it. That’s what I love to do the most.

I’m a dog mom, so I always ask this. Do you have pets? If so, tell me about them and do provide pictures.

My friends refer to me as the crazy cat lady, so, yeah, I’m a cat person. LOL. I currently have three fur babies as well as seven chickens. When I first met my husband, he had to win over my cat before I’d go out with him. Before that he didn’t like cats at all, so it was a VERY hard sell.

About Unremembered Things
One woman, two worlds and nothing but UNREMEMBERED THINGS separating them.

Indiana Shamira has a dark secret that could shatter her version of reality and get her killed in the process. Now if only she could remember what it is…

When Indiana wakes with no memory of her past life and a vampire called Sam hanging from the rafters in her cellar, she knows things are about to get nasty. Not only does Sam know all about her previous life, but he seems intent on seducing her as well. Of course her boyfriend, Kurt, has different ideas – like making her open the portal to hell!
And then there is the nagging suspicion that Indiana is not entirely human, now she can see ghostly images from the Otherworld. Or could it be from the life she can no longer remember? They include the flickering effigy of Kurt and a redwood forest that conjures up deeply repressed magic.

Not only will Indiana have to risk everything to keep the door to another dimension closed, she will have to decide whether she is ready to lose her heart to someone who has more secrets than herself.

Set in the lush Australian bush, UNREMEMBERED THINGS is a fusion of fantasy, paranormal and forbidden romance.

Wadjda: A Look at the Lives of Saudi Women

If you read the blurb provided on IMDB for this movie, it's very simple and non-detailed. A Saudi girl wants a bike. Her mother and others say girls can't ride bikes. There's a variety of reasons for this, namely that it could hurt her virginity and then she'd never get married.

But, oh my, there's so much more going on here. So much more. Through Wadjda, we see the lives of Saudi women, the superstitions, the lack of rights, the people with control issues.

We see a woman abandoned because she can't "give" her husband a son. We see the control men exert over their wives (What does it matter how he prefers your hair when he's never around to see it?), even when they aren't around. And the school...how quick the adults are to assume the worst of young ladies, how fast to expel and destroy the lives of young, misunderstood women. Did I mention the girls aren't supposed to laugh or be heard by men? Nor are they permitted to have different shoes from everyone else.

And that scene I mention there...has me docking a bike. There's a situation Wadjda witnesses. Actually, it's not a situation. Something is misunderstood and two girls' lives possibly ruined. Wadjda has a chance to speak in their favor and yet she doesn't do it, very unlike the Wadjda we come to know throughout the movie otherwise and I can only guess it was because she was either 1. tired of being picked up on the principal herself and wanted in the lady's good graces or 2. had to do with the contest for the money.

And yet we never see Wadjda learn anything from this. There are no repercussions from her lying, no lesson.

I'm not sure either if the Koran story line was intended or not, but I felt there was a side issue with Wadjda pretending to be a devout person with the Koran thing, when really, all she wanted was to win the money for a bike. And yet, this really showed us how very easy it is to fool others, especially when they are seeing want they want to see.

I thought this was a terrific movie. I'd love to know what becomes of Wadjda in the future. I hope her spirit does not get trampled. (Yes, I know this is fiction but when I watch a movie, it feels real to me, especially movies like this.)

I think my favorite scene was when she added her name to the family tree. That moved me.

I bought this DVD on Amazon

Rebel Queen by Michelle Moran

I won't describe for you the bloodshed and cruelty I saw that day. I don't wish to remember it, and I don't like to accept that I am capable of the acts I committed.

This is a novel about Manu, the last queen of India. I've read about her before...and I cannot remember a thing from the novel I read before, meaning it left no impact on me at all. This one, I will remember.

Something I've noticed with Moran's books....they are appropriate for the young reader as well as the adult. I'm not sure if this is intentional or not, but thought I'd mention it for those of you who may want to know or have teenagers in the household.

This novel is well written and enlightened me on the war between the British and India. I knew the East India Company was naughty whilst there, but I didn't realize the British actually passed a law demanding Indian woman becoming their prostitutes and stuff like that. Nor did I realize how very worthless the queen was in all this, Queen Victoria.

And what a brutal war was this...brutal. Sad. Very sad.

I walked away from this book with a lot more knowledge than I had before.

But if you think it's about war, it's not. As a matter of fact, I feel the blurb is a bit misleading. It says, "Queen Lakshmi raises two armies—one male, one female—and rides into battle like Joan of Arc. "

And she does...but not until about 90% into it. The war actually begins at 83% and the heroine of the tale gets really into it at 89%. The queen becomes "Joan of Arc" at like 95%.

So that's a bit misleading. Until that point it's about Sita and the queen's guard, consisting of ten highly trained women. And this was unusual at the time as India was mostly women confined to their homes. Sita leaves a difficult household in hopes of making enough money to get her sister a dowry. And there's an evil lady guard as the villain and court intrigue and drama as Sita learns to watch her back among jealous, vindictive women. And there's the British trying to take over. It's actually really fascinating and riveting; I just wish there'd been more fighting and warrior stuff on Sita's part, but once she trains, that's pretty much it until that sentence I posted at the beginning of this review. Her fighting bit in the war is told in a paragraph or two.

She does make an entertaining trip to England though as well.

I enjoyed this novel and really liked its heroine. I loved learning about the all-female guard and the customs, the palace, the gods. I felt completely transported and a part of the tale.

The Witch of Painted Sorrows

Please join M.J. Rose as she tours with HF Virtual Book Tours for The Witch of Painted Sorrows, from February 16-April 30.

Publication Date: March 17, 2015Atria BooksFormats: Hardcover, EbookPages: 384Genre: Historical MysteryREAD AN EXCERPT.LibaryReads March 2015 Pick.Indie Next Choice for April 2015.
Possession. Power. Passion. International bestselling novelist M.J. Rose creates her most provocative and magical spellbinder yet in this erotic, gothic novel set against the lavish spectacle of 1890s Belle Époque Paris.Sandrine Salome runs away to her grandmother’s Parisian mansion to escape her dangerous husband, but what she finds is even more menacing. The house, famous for its lavish art collection and elegant salons, is mysteriously closed up. Although her grandmother insits it’s dangerous for Sandrine to visit, she defies her and meets Julien Duplessi, a mesmerizing young architect. Together they explore the hidden night world of Paris, the forbidden occult underground and Sandrine’s deepest desires.Among the bohemians and the demi-monde, Sandrine discovers her erotic nature as a lover and painter. Then darker influences threaten – her cold and cruel husband is tracking her down and something sinister is taking hold, changing Sandrine, altering her. She’s become possessed by La Lune: A witch, a legend and a sixteenth-century courtesan, who opens up her life to a darkness that may become a gift or a curse.This is Sandrine’s “wild night of the soul,” her odyssey in the magnificent city of Paris, of art, love and witchery.****REVIEW****I feel it’s important to state that I would categorize The Witch of Painted Sorrows as horror. The description did give the impression of horror, but I hoped that I was mistaken.  After all, the Reincarnationist novels that I had read by M. J. Rose did not seem horrifying to me at all.   They are books about fearless explorers of strange phenomena.  They encourage readers to broaden their ideas and experience rather than narrowing them.  I really liked the premise of the Reincarnationist series which is why I agreed to participate in the blog tour for The Witch of Painted Sorrows and accepted a free copy from the publisher via Net Galley.

I am not a fan of horror and I prefer not to read it.  I define horror as a xenophobic genre which portrays the strange or unexplained as being universally evil and fearsome.   Within the dark universe of a horror novel the unknown should never be explored because it will invariably pose a threat. Based on the horror fiction to which I've been exposed, I know that the protagonist isn't supposed to venture beyond the familiar because that world is flat.  He or she could fall off the edges of the map into the maw of some eldritch creature which lurks there.   Characters in a horror context should also never try to understand or communicate with beings from beyond our reality.  This is especially dangerous if they’ve been stigmatized.  If your grandmother warns you against doing something, she will always be right in a horror novel.  This makes horror very predictable. The Witch of Painted Sorrows seemed to be saying “I told you so” to everyone who ever ignored a warning from their mothers or grandmothers. 
  It’s not that I think that there are no monsters.  There most certainly are.  They walk the streets of my urban environment.  I hear about them on the news. I am an unabashed escapist. There is more than enough ugliness and horror in real life.  I don’t want to encounter it in the pages of a book. 
I’d much rather be inspired.   I think that a woman like Sandrine, the central character of this book, should be inspiring rather than a cautionary tale.  She escaped from a terrible marriage and she had aspirations to become an artist.  She was evolving and becoming stronger. Yet like many women in horror novels, she makes the wrong choices.   Her choices are self-destructive because she isn’t aware of alternatives.  The ethos of horror constricts choices.   There is more than one sort of relationship possible between the dead and the living.  There was potential for the evolution of a symbiotic relationship in this novel rather than a parasitic one.  That would have been a very different story, but it would have been more original and it would have been more worthwhile to me as a reader.
I did like the historical aspect.  This novel introduced me to the real mythic symbolist painter, Gustave Moreau.  Rose seemed to be emphasizing his more conventional side in The Witch of Painted Sorrows, but there were hints in the novel that he could be more of a radical than his contemporaries realized.  I found an essay on the influence of Gustave Moreau that gave me a better sense of who he was an artist.   The author of this essay believes that he prefigured the surrealists and abstract expressionists.  Scroll down to the examples of his work below the article which show that he was a man very much ahead of his time.  
I also liked the approach of Rose’s fictional architect, Julien Duplessi.  When he spoke about his philosophy, I thought I was reading a speech by Howard Roark in Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead.  Then I remembered that Howard Roark had actually been based on the very real architectural genius, Frank Lloyd Wright.   M.J. Rose was probably inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright as well.
On the other hand, I felt that a Jewish ritual that appeared in this novel would actually offend traditional Jews because of the manner in which it was conducted.  Rose states in her Author’s Note that she believes that it was authentic.  Whoever she consulted with on this subject was clearly uninformed about an important aspect of the traditional practice of Judaism.  Orthodox Jews have a very strict code regarding contact between the sexes which would have prohibited a Rabbi from performing the ceremony as described. Due to my own Jewish upbringing, I realized this as I was reading the book and it took me right out of the narrative.  Readers who are interested should look up Tzniut.  The Wikipedia article that I’ve linked is a good introduction on the subject.  Another useful Wikipedia article to consult on this topic is Negiah which is specifically about touching between the sexes.  I also looked up how Jews have historically performed this ritual.  It was normally performed in public in a synagogue in the presence of a minyan (which is at least ten men), and I don’t believe that there was any touching involved.  If Rose wants to include an authentic historical Jewish practice in her work in the future, she should probably consult with someone who has a deeper understanding of traditional Jewish life.
Although there were parts of this book that I enjoyed, I can’t say that I liked it very much in its entirety.  It wasn’t my sort of book.  Other readers who are inclined toward horror would probably like it a good deal better than I did.
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Barnes & NobleiTunesIndieBoundAbout the Author M.J. Rose grew up in New York City mostly in the labyrinthine galleries of the Metropolitan Museum, the dark tunnels and lush gardens of Central Park and reading her mother’s favorite books before she was allowed.She is the author of more than a dozen novels, the co-president and founding board member of International Thriller Writers and the founder of the first marketing company for authors: AuthorBuzz.com. She lives in Greenwich, Connecticut. Visit her online at MJRose.com.Connect with M.J. Rose on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Goodreads.Sign up for M.J. Rose’s newsletter and get information about new releases, free book downloads, contests, excerpts and more.                                                           

Ten Questions from Tara: Interview with Stevie Henden

Tara: Welcome. You’re here to promote The Amazing Tale of Anna Himmel and the Gold Sovereign. Tell me, please, what was the inspiration behind this story? How did it come to you?

Readers, here's a blurb for you real quick:

Five stories, five people, mysteriously connected by a gold sovereign. A young soldier critically wounded at Passchendaele. A mute little girl in 2004, having to find her voice to commit a great act of bravery. A young gay man facing terrible evil in 1960’s Manchester. A homeless woman struggling to stay alive on the freezing streets of London in 1902. In the present day, Martin Griegson, a redundant banker exposed to the darker aspects of contemporary gay London.

In 1878, Anna Himmel leaves her family home in Bavaria to emigrate to New York. Through a chance meeting of the man who will later become her husband, she travels instead to London, a decision that changes her life and the lives of her descendants for generations to come. Settling in Whitechapel, she makes friends with a group of street prostitutes who will lead her towards her destiny. In 2011, Martin Griegson learns that Anna Himmel is one of his ancestors. He is intrigued to find that somehow a gold sovereign that belonged to her connects the stories of his family and friends. Employed at an LGBT outreach centre in Soho by Iris and Olga, who have their own stories to tell, following on from the events of The Lost Boy, the Doodlebug and the mysterious number 80 – Stevie Henden’s first novel – Martin embarks on a personal journey of learning, where he has to eventually confront his own demons.

Stevie: It’s the second part of a trilogy following on from ‘The Lost Boy, the Doodlebug and the mysterious number 80.’, a sort of fantasy, gay, and spiritual type of book.

The direct inspiration for ‘Anna’ was my own great- great grand mother, also called Anna, she came to London from Germany in the 1870’s. As I was researching her family history in the East End some of the basic storey of ‘Anna Himmel’ came to me. For this book and also in its pre-cursor ‘The Lost boy’ I had a number of other inspirations. Many of the characters and a lot of the incidents that happen in the narrative are directly referenced from things that have occurred in my own eclectic life as a gay man in London. On the literary front I would say my strongest influences are Doctor Who, in particular the Steven Moffat Scripts, The Book the Mist of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Dancers at the End of Time Trilogy by Michael Moorcock and lastly the wonderful Powell And Presburger 1946 Film, a matter of life and death. There are other’s but I think the ones I have named indicate the range and tone of my work.

Tara: Thank you for sharing that with us. Your grandmother must have had quite a story.

We focus a lot on heroines here on Book Babe. Tell me what makes your heroine strong. 

Stevie: I have observed, that my books seem to feature rather flakey and flawed gay male characters and very strong female ones. I’m sure my therapist would make much of this! There are a number of heroines in ‘Anna’ but I shall concentrate on two. Firstly the eponymous Anna. She is strong because she has had a tough life, losing her parents to illness at a young age, then leaving Germany to find a good life elsewhere. She ends up living in Whitechapel, and the daily grind, squalor and poverty endured in 19th Century East End is a tough and grim fight but she gets through. She is plucky, pragmatic and determined.

She has been taught from childhood to ‘try try and try and never give up’ and she never forgets this. After being widowed from her first husband she makes friends with some of the street prostitutes and in spite of the reproachment of neighbors gives them shelter and a little food in exchange for a penny or two. Later she re-marries, raises a family and lives a long life full of love but also sometimes tragedy. She is never bitter, even in her darkest hours but is practical, although prone to be somewhat impetuous. Ultimately she does something amazing (which I wont give away) and all of her up- bringing and life lessons are used to steel her will in one single incredible moment.

The other heroine I will mention is Iris. Iris first featured in ‘The Lost boy.’ She is now in her 80’s and still glamorous and capable of flirting. We never quite know what Iris is about, and to be honest I’m not sure myself, but she is able to use the power of dreams and her physic ability to help those in need. It also seems that there are different version of Iris in different worlds. In the ‘Lost Boy ‘ she felt she failed in her duties to those she love most, and in ‘Anna it is her turn for redemption. Her strength is not born out of poverty and practicality likes ‘Anna’s more from the amazing experiences that she has had, and the fact that she can call on powers that most people do not posses. In ‘Anna’ She faces a foe who is an almost a dark mirror of herself, as he too has another form which inhabits the world of dark dreams, and it is in these dreams that their final confrontation takes place.

Tara: I love the idea of a flirtatious 80 year old!

Did any particular woman in your family or life help inspire some of her traits?

Stevie: Absolutely. I tragically lost one of my closest friends, Katy, to Leukemia 5 years ago, and in my entire female ‘heroines; I feel there is much of Katy present. Katy had enormous insight into the human condition and also totally understood the nature of fully unconditional love, and I believe that something of her lives on in my writing.

Tara: That's very sad, yet very touching that you are keeping her memory alive in your books.

Was there any particular part of this story that was the hardest for you to write? Tell me why.
Stevie: I think there are two things I would mention here. Firstly the historical sections, written from the perspective of a woman, Anna. I wanted them to sound accurate, but at the same time not get too bogged down in historical detail, also for a gay man to be writing in the first person as a woman, was a challenge. Also the whole of the last part of the book ‘The sum of human potential; was hideously complex. I can’t give too much away as it will spoil the whole thing but suffice to say that I had to put my imagination into hyper- drive, but also to concentrate on the detail of the continuity to ensure that whilst the writing is most definitely fantasy, it is also believable. I must have re-written those chapters about twenty times!

Tara: What kind of research did you do when you penned this novel? Did anything surprising come up in your search? 

Stevie: Part of the story concerns Jack the Ripper, although in truth it is not really about him or his murders, However I wanted to ensure that where I refer to the killings I was correct with both names and dates, so these were meticulously researched. I think this was important to give due reverence to his victims. As I mentioned earlier, ‘Anna’ was partly inspired by my own family history, which I was researching at the same time as I was writing the book. I had no idea how much Cockney I had in me until I did this, I can trace my family back in the East End to the 1790’s. I rather hope the fact that I feel London so deeply in my blood comes through in my writing. Both books are set for much of the narrative in London; I think that in future stories I will have a lot of other family history, to call on. For example I found out one of my great Aunts, when widowed at a young age in the 1900’s (husband shot with a stage pistol who then died of gangrene), managed to keep out of the work house and feed herself by running errands for the legendary music hall star Marie Lloyd, she used to get beer and fish and chips for her. That’s definitely going to be in the next book. !

Tara: Wow! That's some cool family history and Jack the Ripper, what a choice!
What would you like readers to gain from reading your book? Is there a strong moral? Do you hope they will laugh, learn something about a particular subject/person, ponder a point?

Stevie: Now that’s a question that could generate an extremely long answer.!

I think that the people who resonate with my work best are those who are spiritual and spend time pondering these matters. So ultimately I would like to think that having read Anna my readers feel somehow inspired on their spiritual path. ‘Anna ‘, as did ‘The Lost boy’ focuses heavily on people (well at least the goodies!) trying and trying to do the right thing and never give up, even in the worst possible circumstances. All of my characters, goodies, baddies, heroines, everyone all are flawed and complex human beings as that is what we all are and I hope that in them my readers identifies something of their own human condition. I suppose the strongest ‘message’ in ‘Anna’ is ‘everything is connected’ every tiny action has an affect on events in the future and all life, human, animal, everything is linked, That is my deeply held belief. Oh yes ! and I also hope that there’s going to be a good few giggles along the way.
Tara: Your book takes place mainly in London. If I were a tourist, what would you recommend I see in this town/country?
Stevie: I think that tourists spend far to much time seeing the changing of the guard, or Trafalgar Square. This is really quite boring. For an usual unusual day out visit Crystal Palace Park in South London. Here you will find Victorian Metal dinosaurs lurking in bushes then later you can wander around the overgrown Crystal Palace site and marvel as you find a huge stone Sphinx in the undergrowth. The Crystal Palace was first built in Hyde Park for the great exhibition of 1851, later moved to Sydenham and enlarged, then sadly burned down in 1936. One of the key sections of ‘Anna’ is set in the Crystal Palace.

Tara: I'm actually planning a trip to London in the next few years. I'm making a note of that.

Moving on to personal things...if you could time travel to absolute any time and place in history, where and when would you go and what is it that draws you to this time period? What would you do whilst there?

Stevie: There could be a very long list, as I am fascinated by history and major events. ! The Titanic, the Hindenburg…Eva Peron speaking to the crowd from the Casa Rosada…. But if I had to pick one single moment it would be to be able to watch the great Nazi fire raid on the City of London on the 30th December 1940. From a tall building –at a safe distance of course. I was always fascinated by this as I remember my Mother telling me that the next day, the sky was filled with bits of charred paper, she lived in Beckenham miles from the City, but when the Nazi’s fire bombed the Paternoster area all the book shops and stores burned and filled the sky with charred embers. I am fascinated by the wartime period in London and how it changed the city and am inspired by the thought of seeing the amazing sight of St Paul’s surviving whilst huge fires leveled hundreds of Acres around it. Tragic but what an amazing spectacle. !

Tara: What’s the one thing you hope to accomplish before you die? Your main goal?
Stevie: Again so many, but I want to reach peace with the gods and the Universe, feel that I have made a positive contribution in this life, and then excitedly wait for the moment when I will blink out of existence in this world and prepare for the wonders of the next. Tara: I’m a dog mom, so I always ask this. Do you have pets? If so, tell me about them and do provide pictures.

Stevie: I have a very lovely and handsome 14-year-old Black and White Cat called Max. He was a rescue cat and is incredibly loving, affectionate and talkative but also stubborn as hell. He is without doubt the boss in the house, and puts us to bed at night, then makes sure that we get up in the morning. He will wait while I hold the cat flap open as clearly he has correctly identified we are staff and there to run around after him .He will always carefully patrol under the house if the floor is up, and in the gap under the eaves, and I’m pretty sure he is checking the perimeters for evil spirits.
Tara: Thank you for joining us today and hello to Max!
*** I am a born and bred South Londoner immensely proud of my Cockney roots and very inspired by my family’s story which started in the slums of Whitechapel in the 1880's.
I now live in Dulwich with my beloved partner of 23 years, Neil and our loyal, affectionate,physic cat Max. 
I have enjoyed an exciting and eclectic adulthood, which started with a whiff of joss stick and flared jeans in the early 70’s, an era, which has greatly informed my very liberal values and open minded world view .

My writing has been inspired by both my life experiences and also,

- Doctor Who, my all time Fave TV show
-The film Random Harvest
-The film A Matter of Life and Death
- The books of Michael Moorcock-particularly 'the dancers at the end of time' trilogy
-'The Mists of Avalon' by Marion Bradley

I have a deep sense of emotion, and spirituality and this was expressed in the 80’s within a neo pagan group, and I spent some great summer solstice nights under the moon and stars on Glastonbury Tor. The amazing energy, and the Pagan world view of the beauty of humanity shape my views and values to this day. I love to ponder on the mysteries of the universe and the far beyond and hope that one day, perhaps beyond this life, I will have all the answers.’



DIY Needlepoint Jewelry: What I've Been Doing for the Past Week or Two

I mentioned this in an earlier post, but just in case ya'll didn't click on the link and check it out, I thought I'd share...

I found these on
And then I made them.





















You can make them too. It's not hard; just requires some patience, time (not too much though) and good eyesight. :)

Just thought I'd share. Take a look at her shop and check out her other DIY needlepoint jewelry kits.

The Reading Radar 2/28/2015

What hit the wishlist this week? Let's see...

Spotted on HFVBT: A Decent Woman by Eleanor Parker Sapia. Why? The Puerto Rico setting, due to my own PR heritage. PR historicals are few and far between.

1900 Puerto Rico: Set against the combustive backdrop of a chauvinistic society, where women are treated as possessions, A Decent Woman is the provocative story of two women as they battle for their dignity and for love against the pain of betrayal and social change.





***
I've been seeing this one "everywhere", everywhere meaning Shelf Awareness, Netgalley, etc. It's caught my interest. Letters to the Lost by Iona Grey. (I'm a Sarah Jio fan too.)
A beautifully written and evocative novel—the story of an impossible, unstoppable love affair set in London during World War II and the present day

An accomplished novel from a talented writer, Letters to the Lost is the kind of love story that will sweep you away from the very first page. Iona Grey's prose is warm, evocative, and immediately engaging; her characters become so real you can't bear to let them go.

Late on a frozen February evening, a young woman is running through the streets of London. Having fled from her abusive boyfriend and with nowhere to go, Jess stumbles onto a forgotten lane where a small, clearly unlived in old house offers her best chance of shelter for the night. The next morning, a mysterious letter arrives and when she can’t help but open it, she finds herself drawn inexorably into the story of two lovers from another time.

In London 1942, Stella meets Dan, a US airman, quite by accident, but there is no denying the impossible, unstoppable love that draws them together. Dan is a B-17 pilot flying his bomber into Europe from a British airbase; his odds of survival at one in five. The odds are stacked against the pair; the one thing they hold onto is the letters they write to each other. Fate is unkind and they are separated by decades and continents. In the present, Jess becomes determined to find out what happened to them. Her hope—inspired by a love so powerful it spans a lifetime—will lead her to find a startling redemption in her own life in a powerfully moving novel perfect for fans of Sarah Jio and Kate Morton.
***
I'm curious about Demuth by Edward Bristol after a post about it on Historical Editorial. 
Germany, 1499

Orphaned as a child and solitary by nature, the young and beautiful Demuth has nevertheless managed to carve out a successful living for herself as a village healer. But as the Renaissance dawns over Europe, shaking the foundations of medieval society with radical new ideas about freedom and science, Demuth’s position grows tenuous. The protection of the master of the castle overshadowing her village is the only thing standing between her and the superstitious fear of the villagers who condemn her even as they avail themselves of her services. But when she is falsely accused of a heinous crime and branded as a witch, even the master can no longer keep her safe. Demuth is forced to flee for her life with her only friend, her loyal Viking dog, Hal, and her only solace—and addiction—opium.

Disguised as a mute shepherd boy, Demuth seeks safety with her only living relative in the big city of Cologne, but she arrives to discover soldiers are already there looking for her. With no choice other than to keep moving, she is aided by the kindness of strangers and embarks on a harrowing journey to seek shelter in a far-off abbey. Pursued by the grand duke’s soldiers, beset by mishaps and tragedy, saved in her darkest hour by a mysterious hermit, Demuth’s fight for survival forces her to examine her own choices, and to determine if she has the strength and the courage to embrace a future she never imagined possible.

Edward Bristol’s historical fiction debut, Demuth, is the timeless story of a young woman’s struggle to find her place in a shifting world filled with prejudice, fear, and persecution, yet also capable of acceptance and understanding, and ultimately, love.

***
Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart, spotted on Edelweiss and on my wishlist.

From the New York Times best-selling author of The Drunken Botanist comes an enthralling novel based on the forgotten true story of one of the nation’s first female deputy sheriffs.

Constance Kopp doesn’t quite fit the mold. She towers over most men, has no interest in marriage or domestic affairs, and has been isolated from the world since a family secret sent her and her sisters into hiding fifteen years ago. One day a belligerent and powerful silk factory owner runs down their buggy, and a dispute over damages turns into a war of bricks, bullets, and threats as he unleashes his gang on their family farm. When the sheriff enlists her help in convicting the men, Constance is forced to confront her past and defend her family — and she does it in a way that few women of 1914 would have dared.