Deborah J. Ross's Blog, page 32

Short Book Reviews: A Zimbabwean Ghost-Talker in Scotland

The Library of the Dead, by T. L. Huchu (Tor)

This book is just marvelous. It’s got a near-future dystopic setting, with all the creative and dysfunctional ways people adapt to crumbling civilization and a devastated ecology. A world in which ghosts hang around, pleading to speak with their loved ones and a secret academy trains wizards in the depths of Edinburgh. Best of all, though, is teen narrator, Ropa, a “ghost talker” who blends her Zimbabwean heritage with snappy Scottish slang, a gift for compassion, and intellectual curiosity.

Life is hard enough for Ropa. Along with her grandmother and smart-talking younger sister, she lives in a decaying RV and is always behind on paying rent for their spot. She’s had to drop out of school, her ghost-talking work is unpredictable, and the future doesn’t offer much. To make matters worse, children have been disappearing…and when they’re found, they suffer from extreme premature aging. In a seemingly unrelated incident, an old school friend from a posh family sneaks her into an underground library of the occult where she’s threatened with immediate execution for trespass until she’s given a student pass. Now, armed with a new classmate, she’s off to discover who’s taking the missing children and what’s happened to them.

The voice of narrator Ropa is the best part of the book, vivid and compelling and smart. She’s so engaging that I kept turning pages even when it seemed the mystery and other story elements were never going to come together (they do!) It felt like a braided novel, but I was more than happy to go along with Ropa as the linking thread. It’s impossible to overstate how powerful the narrative voice was.

 

I Survived a Nigerian Scam. Part II: Raising the Stakes

 

As 2021 drew to a close I realized that I had fallen into a scam I hadn’t heard of: befriending a person on social media and then inducing them to set up a GoFundMe for a medical emergency. Fortunately, I came to my senses before I sent any money from that campaign. Until then, it had never occurred to me that I had been manipulated over a year and a half. As embarrassing as the experience was for me, I’m going public in the interests of educating others.

 The first part: Setting the Hook is here.

In April, 2021, C, the Nigerian, was back with another tragic tale.

C: i was called earlier today that my Dad was not feeling fine and his in the hospital.  Will be traveling tomorrow to P-- to see how's doing.

C: My heart is so heavy and i weep. Today life has brought me the greatest shock of my life and has left a wound in my heart. Why is life so unfair to me, why will i keep losing the once i love the most even in the face of untold hardship. I arrived P-- after 4 hours trip and gotten to the hospital i found out that the only thing that ever made sense and mean the world to me was no more and the reality of my present has left me with a broken heart and broken spirit. I lost my Dad today Deborah

C: Please i know am only your friend on fb and in a matter of fact i am not related to you in any way but you have been so kind to me irrespective of me being a stranger. Please help me talk to your family or probably your husband that i need you people assistant. People i never thought would assist me did that during my Dad's funeral and and i borrowed little money to add up with the one i have to make the burial successful as the first son. Please am begging you with what you hold secret. I need you help now than ever and i don't have who to run to. I need a loan of $300 so i can put things in other and pay few debts and take my younger once along with me. They can manage them self even if my house is not that big enough. I feel so ashamed of myself asking for help from you but i don't have a choice because if things were moving fine for me i won't have ask for any help from you.

 

Commentary: By now I was firmly hooked, so I lent him $300. Notice that he asked to speak with my husband, figuring he might be an easier mark. I didn’t mention this to my husband, which left me feeling uneasy and dishonest. C and I spent a couple of months talking about how he could repay it. In the end, I forgave the loan. During July, he tried to get me to help set up an account at Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk), a crowdsourcing marketplace. Since I already had an Amazon account linked to my email address, it wasn’t possible. This was actually a trial run to see how far I would go using dubious means to promote his interests. I’m relieved it didn’t work, although even unsuccessful attempts served to further cement the relationship.

Direct gifts of money aren’t the only payoff for scammers. Setting up fraudulent accounts and campaigns like GoFundMe with the scammer as beneficiary are equally lucrative and, as in my case, don’t trip alarms as readily.

 

C’s requests were coming at about monthly intervals. No sooner had I forgiven the loan (July 2021) than this arrived:

C: Aug 1, 2021.  Things has been so difficult for us this period. S (his sister) is about to sit for her exam next week and she said she will not be allowed to sit for the exam if she does not pay her school fee. S school fee for the whole academic session is $200. She's studying medicine.

C: If there's anyway you can help Sarah please do. She has refused to eat anything since morning and i feel for her. She said her friends in school will laugh at her for not being able to pay this session school feel. I just hope she won't do anything stupid to get her fee

 

Commentary: The laudable cause of a young woman struggling through medical school was now irresistible. C’s last statement implied that unless I sent money, harm would come to her through desperation. I caved and sent the money.

 

Here’s what happened next.

C: S is so excited and she said i should extend her gratitude for your kind heart towards our family for paying her school fee. You are such a lovely and a wonderful person Deborah. You are one friend that has not left me even in times of difficulty. You always stood by me and my family.

I asked how S did on her exams.

C: S is doing well with her exam just that she has not been feeling to good

Me: Is she ill?

C: She but don't worry she will be fine

Later, C: The doctor asked her to come to the hospital for check up after her exam. She is always tired.

C: Aug 20, 2021, 2:10 pm. She just finished her exam few days ago but her health is something i don't really understand......The doctor have been running text on her but all they keep saying is malaria and typhoid. There's a hospital  a friend of mine said we should take her to

Aug 30, 2021, 10:57 pm. Please pray for S. Her illness has started again

Sep 9, 2021, 3:56 am. I just don't know what is really wrong with her and it has been one hospital to the other but we are hopeful she will be fine

Sep 29, 2021, 10:40 pm. S is not getting any better. I was advised to take her back to the hospital rather than taking her to an herbalist home for local treatment. They said that might worsening her condition

Oct 26, 2021, 1:37 pm. My whole world has come crashing. Life has been so unfair. First it was my mom, second my Dad and now Sarah is diagnose with end stage kidney disease. The doctor said she needs to under go a kidney transplantation and right now she is on dialysis for three months why preparing for the transplant. Is S going to die? Please talk to me

Oct 26, 2021, 2:25 pm. I'm confuse and i don't know what to do

Oct 26, 2021, 10:34 pm. She said i should not let her die and whenever i remember her word i cry because they are all i live for. Every sacrifice i made was to give them a better future and now where is the future. We are been given 3 months to get her ready for the kidney transplant. How on earth are we going to do that

C: The doctor said we need to raise $15,000 for the transplantation or we should bring a donor if we have any

C: Why me

C: Why my family

Oct 28, 2021, 2:09 pm. Please i think i will need your help on this. We can as well sort of funds for Sarah's kidney transplant if probably you are welling to help save her life. We can start up a campaign to raise funds for her from now till 3 months given to us by the hospital why and dialysis. Please i want you to help start a campaign (GoFundMe) I believe we can save Sarah's life please. If not for anything but for the mercy of God and for the life of my sister.

Commentary: Purest melodrama! That is aside from the issue that no matter whether Nigerian health care is not as good as that in the US, any halfway competent physician should be able to detect kidney disease from a simple blood chemistry test, and kidney disease, malaria, and typhoid have very little in common. More red flags!

C went on: We are already talking to people for assistance and also going to radio to ask for help from the public as suggested to us. The first doctor we took Sarah to is the one taking care of experience for the Dialysis and other little things. Right from the day he knew Sarah is a medical student he has been so helpful and supporting to us. He said Sarah is just like a daughter to him and he will assist us in his own little way to try to save her life and her future

I agreed to set up the GoFundMe. After drafting the statement, I sent it to him.

C: You did a great job in the write up you sent me on my mail but i have a question. My country is known in the world as a country with so many crime committed be few Nigerians who has sold their conscience to put people in pains which the Americans and other part of the world has been victims. Even here on fb whenever i tell someone i am a Nigeria did judge me and the say to me Nigerians a evil. Don't you think it will affect us?

Donations to the GoFundMe came in slowly, despite my promoting it on social media and directly to friends and family. C ramped up his emotional manipulation.

C: Please, for the sake of God and what you treasure most on this earth try to save Sarah's life. I'm not saying it is mandatory you must always help my family but remember we have come along way as a friend and as family even tho you don't consider me to be one but you are to me. Please help me, we are really running out of time as the day breaks.

C: Nobody knows what am going through, nobody knows the pain in my heart. You are the only i talk to because you give my hope with your words and i feel much alive. Sometimes i feel like running away but looking back at my siblings i just can't

C: Nov 18, 2021, 11:27 am. We almost lost S today. She stopped breathing and was enable to say anything and immediately she was cold but we were lucky because of the intervention of the doctor. They said she's getting weak by the day that we really need to carry out the surgery

Nov 27, 2021, 5:54 pm. Please, I know you have done so much already for us but you know how important this surgery means to S and we her family which has to do with life and death. Can i talk to your husband if probably we can get a loan at least to add up with the one you have generated so far and the one i have already on my account to get this surgery done. I just want to make sure we save S’s life first then we can look for modalities on how to repay back. What is more important is ensuring she's fine, healthy. Please i don't want anything bad to happen to her

Me: It is impossible for us to loan money. Please don't bring it up again.

Commentary: By this time, it was way too late to set boundaries, if indeed that was ever possible. C was in full disaster-appeal mode and I had made myself a vulnerable target by already giving him money.

 

In the next installment, I’ll show how the scammer went full-out disaster relief mode.

 

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Short Book Reviews: Sinners and Saints by Jennifer Roberson

In my review of Life and Limb, I wrote: “A new Jennifer Roberson novel is always a treat, but a new Jennifer Roberson series is a cause for celebration.” Sinners and Saints, which continues the story of Gabe and Remi, an ex-con biker and a Texas cowboy, is even better! The two unlikely brothers-in-spirit share part-angelic ancestry and all-too-human limitations. Now, abandoned by their heavenly guide and thrown on their own resources, they’re about to face an unexpected menace: the spirit of Jack the Ripper (yes, thatJack the Ripper) who is bent on savagely murdering women who share the names of his historical victims. As if that weren’t enough of a challenge, Lucifer’s own shock troops are out to destroy the two.

Sinners and Saints succeeds on so many levels: fascinating world-building that draws from diverse folklore, myths, and legends, plot twists and superbly handled tension to keep the pages turning, and a mystery worthy of a volume of its own. The best part for me, though, is the hallmark of Roberson’s work: the depth and intricacy of her characters. Gabe and Remi are not only heroes to fall in love with over and over, but reminders that even fallible humans are capable of tremendous courage, loyalty, and self-sacrifice. No matter what the odds and reversals, no matter how many times they stumble, they never give up. The world is a better, more hopeful place with them in it.

I Survived a Nigerian Scam. Part I: Setting the Hook

I don’t consider myself naïve about scams. I know to never give out any my bank or credit card numbers, Social Security number, or date of birth to anyone who phones me out of the blue. In fact, when I am in a cranky mood, I might lecture the caller about how what they’re doing is fraud. I read articles about romance, grandkid-in-jail, phony arrest warrants, and other scams. As 2021 drew to a close I realized that I had fallen into a scam I hadn’t heard of: befriending a person on social media and then inducing them to set up a GoFundMe for a medical emergency. Fortunately, I came to my senses before I sent any money from that campaign. Until then, it had never occurred to me that I had been manipulated over a year and a half. As embarrassing as the experience was for me, I’m going public in the interests of educating others.

It all began in July 2020 with a Facebook Friend request from a young man in Nigeria. I didn’t believe that all Nigerians were scammers. Some very fine science fiction writers are Nigerian Americans. I accepted his request. Here’s his response.

 

C (the Nigerian): Where are you from? I'm from West Africa. Nigeria precisely! I know not every white lady likes comunicating with a black man  and i hope in your own case it's different. I have had couple of friends here on fb and when ever i tell them i come from Africa and Nigeria they see you as an asshole and stop talking to you because am black and i come from Africa. I still have good white friends that has influence me positively and i respect them so much. I wish every white lady out there can see things the way you do.

Commentary: From the first, C tackled the issue of Nigerian scammers and put me on the defensive about his race. On face value, this seemed to be reassurance that he is not a scammer. In actuality, he was fishing for a response of, “I’m not racist, so I will trust you.” Then he added another layer of what an admirable person he is. This will be a recurring them. He used praise as a manipulative tool. 

Over the next couple of months, C sent messages like these:

8/3/20, 10:59 am. You stopped writing

8/16/20, 2:29 pm. Hello

9/2020: Things are really deficult for i and my family right now and i was thinking about starting a frozen food bussinss here but i don't have the capital to start with. I discussed it with a friend in the US and he said he was going to help me. So, he helped in set up a gofundme campaign and here is the link. He's name is M a very good friend of mine i met on fb.

C: Life over here in Nigeria is really not easy. I'm a graduate of civil engineering but ever since i finished school no firm wants to hire me for my service. It is more political over here searching for a job because jobs are only given to relatives, family members and well wishes. If you don't have someone who has connection to help you, getting a job becomes difficult.

 

Commentary: First, C demanded my attention. He elicited reassurance as well as the commitment of my timely responses. Then he segued into how hard life is for him, what an admirable person he is, and how an American friend is trying to help him. (This was one of C’s tactics to convince me that it was okay to act on C’s behalf because others have done it.) This GoFundMe ended before reaching its goal.

 

Later in September, 2020, came the first request for money.

C: Please I'll like to talk to you for a while if only give me few minutes of your time, it will be appreciated. I've searched for help from everywhere i know i can but all to no avail. I have contacted institutions that gives loan but none wants to help and right now things are really difficult for i and my family and my Dad is sick with stroke and can't go out of his room. Can you help me access loan of small interest rate and i can pay within 2, 3 months if i get this new business running [Note: the GoFundMe was for $1,500.]

C: I'm scared might Dad condition might get worse because of lack of treatment. He's been taking care by a herbalist through local root and leaves. The reason i want to start this business is to enable me help take care of the family bills and take care of my Dad and siblings. We already lost mom some few years back and dad is the only thing we have left. My family means the whole world to me because they are what i live for

C: There's no much progress in my gofundme campaign. Please, can you help me with a low interest low i can pay back within 3 months time

Me: Sorry, we're not able to do that.

 

Commentary: The emotional manipulation of this request is obvious, including the father’s illness, C’s devotion to his family, and their desperate plight. I said no but didn’t think further than that. The first request for money should have been a major red flag.

 

C: M is the only friend who believed in me and stood by me during my difficult times. He paid my rent few months ago when i and my family was kicked out from our appointment. You have no idea how many people, organizations i have cried for help just to achieve my dream in life.

C: I know you can help me talk to friends about my gofundme campaign, you can as well help set up one for me with and try to communicate in a compelling manner. 

Commentary: When I said no to a loan, C shifted from a direct request for money to promoting the existing GoFundMe and setting up a new one for him. He coupled it with how much this friend, M, had done for him. This built on a picture of C as someone whom kind people will go out of their way to help. I failed to recognize the renewed attempt to get money from me (indirectly). I ignored this red flag, as well as the initial request. Watch what happened next.

C: 9/29/20. You can also help me achieve my dream by doing this for me and i and my family will forever remaining greatful and hold you in a very high esteem

1:38 pm. You didn't reply me message

7:01 pm. Hello

12:05 pm. I never heard from you again and i was just wondering. I hope am not asking for to much?

Commentary: Here he returned to demanding both my immediate response and my reassurance.

Me: Yes, you are. I said no. I don't know if this is a cultural difference or a gender thing, but as a woman, I get annoyed when I say no and a man ignores that I have set a boundary. I was happy to do what I have already done for you [a small donation to the GoFundMe], and I told you that was my limit. Please respect that.

C: Please i don't mean to offend you. I'm sorry ok. You can forget about sharing my gofundme. You have already done so much. Once again am sorry. My sincere apologies 

Commentary: I didn’t handle this well. I offered explanations instead of ending the FB relationship. A few months had created an investment in the conversation that made it difficult for me to walk away. We chatted about food and culture, creating the illusion of a mutually beneficial relationship, yet another ploy to keep me hooked. My willingness to keep talking encouraged him to follow up with more demands for money. 

In November, C tried again: I want to talk to you about something. I know it's not proper asking a stranger for help but when you face the challenges of life you just tend to keep pride away and seek for solution. Please bear in mind that you are not doing this for me but for the love of humanity.

C: Since every effort i made to start up a small business failed i have not give up on myself. Please assist me $100 so i can look for something doing to help myself and my family even if it means Hocking on the street. Consider it to be a loan and i promise to pay back once i start making sales. A friend in need is a friend indeed. I really need you help now than ever.

11/26/20., 9:11 am. Can i we talk

11/28/20, 1:00 pm. You stopped talking to me why?

Me: After I was VERY CLEAR I would not give you money, you ignored my boundary and asked AGAIN.

C: Please don't get me wrong ok. I just lost a brother and you know how hard things has been over here

Me: If you EVER ask me for money again I will block you. I understand you are in dire straits and I have been encouraging you as a friend.  It's fine to share how hard it is, and I am sympathetic. But it's a HUGE issue that I set a boundary and you ignored it.

C: Ok, i am sorry. I was only trying to reach out to you as a friend. Sometimes i just don't know what to do and believe me when i said am trying to help myself. I promise i won't ask you for help again.

Commentary: I thought I was being firm in holding a boundary. Actually, my continued engagement was a green light for the scam. As it turns out, eventually I did give him money, so keeping me in the conversation paid off.

This is the first and only mention of a just-deceased brother, by the way. In other conversations he mentions one younger brother, still living. 

In December, 2020, C changed tactics, returning to earlier strategy. He said: I felt so bad because when i needed people i called friends they all left me in the middle of no where. I have a whole lot of questions i want to ask you. Those being a black man make me an evil person? Being a Nigerian make me a scammer?

C: I saw how angry you were when i asked you for help and you said you were going to block me. Though i felt bad not because you refused helping me but because you also have that mind set that am also part of those Nigerians who takes advantage of people which within me i know am not. Please bear in mind that you are not doing this for me but for the love of humanity 

Commentary: Here C returned to the question of race, linking denial of being racist with his not being a scammer. Then he reiterated how hard things were for him and tied helping him with saintly altruism.

 

C went on: When i was kicked out from my apartment and i need just $100 to complete my rent these back lady i don't even know or chat with helped me and was part of the reason why i have a roof on my head today. If she had the same mind set most Americans have, consider every Nigerians to be a scammer she would not have help me and for her generosity i remaining debited to her.

 

Commentary: This was one of the first of many glaring inconsistencies. Earlier he’d said that his friend M paid his rent. Now it was a woman he hadn’t even chatted with. The other contradiction was how many brothers he had. One, R, was supposedly a law student.

In January, 2021, C came back to the rent issue. He said: Please this is very important to me and i don't want you to be upset about it. Please i need your assistance, I need you to help me with a loan of ,$50 so i can pay someone i borrowed money from, she has been on my neck for days now. I promised her i was going to pay back this month end, and the month is ending few days from now and i don't have it.

Commentary: In a video call, he described being scammed at the ATM by another Nigerian, thus losing his rent money. By this time, I was invested enough in the relationship to believe his story. I sent him $50. This was another huge mistake! 

In Part II I'll show how the scammer upped the pressure even more.

 

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BOOK RELEASE: Bright Morning, an Anthology in Honor of Vonda N. McIntyre

I made my editorial debut in 2004 with the first volume of the Lace and Blade series and discovered that I loved working "on the other side of the desk." Since then I have edited more volumes of Lace and Blade, The Feathered Edge: Tales of Magic, Love, and Daring, co-edited Sword and Sorceress 33, and took over editing the Darkover anthology series, beginning with Stars of Darkover. Over the years I've had the privilege of working with Tanith Lee, Judith Tarr, Catherine Asaro, Jay Lake, Mary Rosenblum, Chaz Brenchley, Harry Turtledove, and many other, stellar authors.

Now I proudly present the latest gathering of luminous stories of hope and courage. The anthology, stories by writers hanging out together in the Treehouse, arose from a desire to honor our friend, teacher, and colleague, Vonda N. McIntyre. For this anthology, I included both original and reprint stories. 

Vonda N. McIntyre preferred to keep her author's biography short and sweet: "Vonda N. McIntyre writes science fiction." While true, this modest claim conceals accomplishments that earned her multiple accolades and an enduring place among the most influential fantasy and science fiction writers of the 20th and 21st centuries.
 
Even more important to the authors of this tribute anthology, McIntyre was a kind and generous supporter of other writers. In Bright Morning, eleven career writers of science fiction, fantasy, and other genres share stories of hope in her honor, along with their memories of working with McIntyre. Profits from the anthology will benefit a charity that promotes literacy for children all over the world.

Table of Contents

Chautauqua, by Nancy Jane Moore

Dog Star, by Jeffrey A. Carver

Emancipation, by Pati Nagle

In Search of Laria, by Doranna Durgin

A Plague of Dancers, by Gillian Polack

Sanitizing the Safe House, by Leah Cutter

Smiley the Robot, by Amy Sterling Casil

More Lasting Than Bronze, by Judith Tarr

Panacea, by Pati Nagle

The Soul Jar, by  Steven Harper

Cuckoo, by Madeleine E. Robins

Unmasking the Ancient Light, by Deborah J. Ross

To Kiss a Star, by Amy Sterling Casil

Harden, by Gillian Polack

Though All the Mountains Lie Between, by Jeffrey A. Carver

The book is available now in ebook form from all the usual vendors and will be released in trade paperback next month. Reviews are especially welcome!

[politics] New California Laws Look to a Better Future

The California state legislature has been busy with a wide range of new laws on voting access, police reform, housing, single-use plastics, sexual assault, and more. 


Universal Vote By Mail

All active registered voters in California will automatically be mailed ballots in all future elections, beginning in 2022, AB37 by Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park).

Police Reform

AB490 prohibits the use of restraints that risk suffocating a suspect. Assemblymember Mike Gipson (D-Carson)

AB48 bars police from firing rubber projectiles and tear gas at protesters if the situation is not life-threatening.  Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego)

AB89 raises the minimum age to become a police officer to 21. Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles) 
AB958, which allows departments to fire officers for joining a law-enforcement gang. Assemblymember Mike Gipson (D-Carson)

AB26 requires police officers to report when they see a colleague use excessive force. Officers who witness excessive force but don't intervene will face punishment. Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena) 

SB16 makes public any records related to excessive force, unlawful searches and other misconduct. Sen. Nancy Skinner, (D-Berkeley) 

Criminal Justice 

SB81 by Skinner authorizes judges to give more weight to mitigating factors such as childhood trauma when considering sentencing enhancements.

Wiener's SB73 ends mandatory minimum sentences for drug-related crimes that are nonviolent.

"Stealthing" Ban

"Stealthing," the nonconsensual removal of a condom during sex, is now considered a form of sexual battery, and victims can sue for civil redress.  Assemblymember Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens)

Spousal Rape 

California criminalized marital rape in 1979.  Another bill by Garcia makes spousal rape equally punishable, with mandatory prison time and sex offender registry for anyone convicted of spousal rape.


Housing

SB9 by Sen. Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) streamlines the process for property owners to add second units, divide large lots or convert homes into duplexes.

Additionally, two new laws authored by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) make it easier to increase housing density in certain areas. SB10 eases the environmental review process for cities rezoning properties near public transit to allow for more density. SB487 eases restrictions that tie the square footage of a building to lot size, allowing for more units in apartments complexes.

Workplace

Under AB 701, California is the first state to ban massive retailers (like Amazon) from firing warehouse workers over quotas that interfere with rest breaks. The measure also bars companies from disciplining workers for following health and safety laws and creates an avenue for employees to take legal action over unsafe quotas.

Health Care
SB221 requires insurance companies to reduce wait times for mental health and substance abuse treatment and to provide timely follow-up care.

Reducing Waste and Trash

AB1276, which bars restaurants and food delivery apps from handing out plastic utensils and condiments unless requested by a customer. Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo (D-Los Angeles) 

Gender-Neutral Toy Section

AB1084 requires major retailers to have a gender-neutral area in addition to aisles that segregate boy's toys from girl's toys.

To-Go Liquor

When restaurants shut down early in the pandemic, the laws governing alcohol sales were loosened, allowing them to sell to-go liquor. The move helped compensate for the loss of dine-in revenue and has been extended through 2026. Sen. Bill Dodd's (D-Napa) SB389.

From Patch.com

Short Book Reviews: A Dinosaur Hunting Romance in the Wild West

Every Hidden Thing, by Kenneth Oppel (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)

Oh my. Dinosaur hunters and the Wild West and star-crossed lovers, all in one fast-paced, eminently readable novel.

The late 19th Century was marked by, among other things, rivalries between paleontologists. The equivalent of a fossil Gold Rush sent them into the West, in this case the Badlands, in search of ever more spectacular finds. Amateurs vied with professors for the fame of their discoveries, although by the time of Every Hidden Thing, professional journals and museums were already favoring those with academic credentials. To say these bone hunters were cavalier about their treatment of fossil-bearing sites, their understanding of anatomy, and their ethics in dealing with one another is an understatement. Bribery, theft, lies, luring away employees, and outright destruction of excavations were not unheard of.

Set in a fictional version of this fossil race is a love story between the adult children of the two rivals, one an amateur desperate to hold on to his tattered reputation, the other a pompous academic. The young people manage to get themselves included in the expeditions mounted by their fathers, a race to find and unearth “Black Beauty,” a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton. They encounter grifters and Native Americans, the latter resentful about incursions into their territory, guides and traitors, not to mention the elements and hazards of excavation.

It’s a lively page-turner with a pair of engaging lovers, curmudgeonly elders, plot twists, and best of all, dinosaur bones!

Guest Blog: B.A. Williamson on Being a Bipolar Writer

On Being a Bipolar WriterBy B.A. Williamson
It’s pretty hard to write this right now. Each sentence is taking a conscious effort. Why? Well, I’m depressed. Unsurprisingly, given the current circumstances. Cancelling all my book launch events and conference panels didn’t help.
There’s not always a reason. Occasionally this just happens. But I can say this depression is “just a phase” without any hint of condescension, because for me, it’s true. I’m bipolar.
Sometimes I just want to lay on the couch and escape. Hours of video games are good for this, though not exactly healthy. I suffer from the emptiness and lethargy that is familiar to millions of sufferers of depression.
What’s less familiar is the other side of the coin—my manic episodes. I have unlimited energy and focus, and can dive into projects for hours on end, and the words just flow. Everything I write is the best thing anyone has ever written. (Impaired judgment is another symptom.)
Manic energy can be a superpower, if harnessed correctly. I can hit any deadline, tackle any obstacle, and breeze through it with the confidence of a narcissistic tiger owner. But as I said, it’s a double-edged sword. The crushing writer’s despair is even worse, and can wipe out all the progress I’ve made.
Writing helps. Getting things out on the page helps. During a depressive episode, it takes a monumental effort to sit down and get moving. But even as I type this, it has become easier. I do feel better. I’m not agonizing over every punctuation mark, and hey, I’ve produced about 250 words so far! Halfway there.
Routines help, too. And outlines. The less you have to think, the lower the energy it takes to get started. I don’t have to think, just check the outline, do what it says, and follow the routine. They also keep me moving at those times when I’m balanced, and don’t have that supply of manic energy to rely on.
Whenever I want to give up before I’ve even started, I tell myself to write three sentences. That’s the rule—three sentences, then you can quit. Anyone can write three sentences. My seven-year-old can write three sentences. And to this day, I’ve never stopped at three sentences. I may only get a few paragraphs, but that’s still overshooting my goal by quite a bit.

So when my precious (fictional) girl Gwendolyn Gray started showing the same symptoms, I was hardly surprised. In fact, it fit my story very well, and I had a compelling and unique character arc. I work with middle schoolers, and they suffer from depression and anxiety at alarming rates. Anyone shocked? Think back to middle school. It’s a terrifying, stressful, horrific experience for many of us. Now we have the awareness and language to properly describe the toll it takes on our kids. But conversations about mental health are all-too-often relegated to the land of Young Adult, while our adolescents are talked down to or treated as if their problems couldn’t possibly be all that bad.
I felt it was really important to show a story where a character grows up, and kids could see a reflection of their own struggles. As Gwendolyn struggles with larger-than-life monsters, readers can see a reflection of their own struggles that can feel so much bigger than themselves. And as her external struggles are a metaphorical mirror for their own, her internal struggles create a much more literal parallel. Her internal reactions give them something to relate to, and see themselves taken seriously.
It’s not terribly easy writing about mental illness in a fantasy context. They don’t have the DSM 5 in Fairlyand, there’s not a lot of anti-depressants on pirate airships, and dystopian societies aren’t big on therapy. I had to find a way to clue readers in, without using labels. I didn’t want to be metaphorical—Gwendolyn suffers from a very literal bipolar disorder. But using clinical terms was out. Her depression came across very clearly, and my readers picked up on it right away. But in terms of her manic episodes, it left many of my beta readers asking, “Why is she so annoying all of a sudden? She’s not acting like herself. Why is she being so stupid and immature?”
All of which were intentional, because that’s what mania is like. So, I relied on visual cues—the fairies in my story all glow, and they’re about as manic as it gets. The more manic Gwendolyn becomes, the more she glows. And of course, just as in life, there are toxic people around her who find her much more fun when she’s out of control, and keep pushing her in that direction.
Magic should always have a downside, and her downside is that the more she relies on her magic, the more she loses control of herself. Again, this is absolutely true. The more I indulge my manic side, the worse it gets.
The lack of labels had the unexpected benefit of making her mental illness nonspecific, allowing readers to see their own experiences reflected in it, even if their struggle isn’t a bipolar disorder, but depression, anxiety, or just the hardships of growing up.
Since I can’t very well resolve her character arc with a healthy dose of therapy and well managed medications, it gave me a chance to lay out real coping strategies, or at least the ones that work for me. Gwendolyn meditates. She exercises. She shares her struggles with her friends, and rids herself of the toxic people in her life. She consciously uses positive self-talk.
At the end, she learns that these struggles are a part of who she is. They don’t make her any better or any worse than anyone else. Her manic-depressive nature is just one more piece of different in the sea of the differences that make her the unique and wonderful person she is. And in that acceptance, she finds the peace of mind she needs to manage whatever comes next. Of course, being the kind of author I am, “whatever comes next” is probably going to be pretty horrible. I’m so sorry.
It isn’t easy. I don’t always want to leap out of bed and sit down at the keyboard. But is that really all that different than anyone else? Where is the line between depression and everyday fatigue and procrastination? But that’s not really a question I need to answer. There aren’t three different versions of me, clearly delineated between depressed, balanced, and manic. I don’t have to find a label to apply to myself each day. I’m just me, with my own moods and behaviors and quirks and talents. They may swing around more than most, but I can accept that, manage it, and in the end, use it to create great things.
Maybe there’s a reason this new book is four-hundred pages long…
But I guarantee you, every word is the best word that anyone has ever written. At least, that’s what I think half of the time.

B.A.Williamson
THE FANTASTICAL EXPLOITS OF GWENDOLYN GRAY comes out April 28th. Check @bawrites on social for giveaways and prizes, and join our online launch party at bit.ly/gwendolyngrayparty at 6:00 PM EDT on 4/28. We have more giveaways, chats, readings, and guests such as Tara Gilboy, Erin Latimer, Kim Chance, and Catherynne Valente. See you there!





Deborah's Note: For more on writers with mental health and other challenges, check out :Jeannie Davide-Rivera on Writing From Our Strengths: Autism's Insights Into Fictional CharactersMy own Surviving A Murder: A #HoldOnToTheLight PostMy notes on a panel on "Managing a Creative Career with Mental Illness" in this blog post.A round table of support for an older writer struggling with grief, also here.

Short Book Reviews: Nightmare Thanksgiving

 Welcome to Velvet, Az, by Sherry Rossman

For the past eighteen years, the town of Velvet has been under a holiday curse. Thanksgiving is not about turkey and family. On that night the town is beset by Nightmares, terrifying hooded figures that embody a person’s worst fears. A handful of Velvet residents have the ability to absorb the horror of the Nightmares, so every Thanksgiving the town gathers in one place, patrolled by the guardians. The most powerful of these protectors is seventeen-year-old Boone, who was raised by an ageless eccentric and who suffers tremendously by neutralizing the Nightmares. Everyone in Velvet knows the routine. Problems arise, however, when newcomers regard the ritual as mere superstition, to be blithely disregarded, or residents bound to solve the problem with firearms (hint: very bad idea). Two recent arrivals are Nick, who used to live in Velvet and has returned seeking refuge in the midst of a breakdown, and teenager Toni, heavily armored against her traumatic past. While Toni holds Boone at arm’s length, she’s oblivious to the dangers she puts herself in. Nick, on the other hand, delves even deeper into his past and the sequence of events that invoked the curse.

What could possibly go wrong?

Keep turning the pages to find out..

Guest Blog: Italian Author Luca Azzolini Takes On Roman History

 

History offers a rich, fascinating treasure trove of people, events, and customs. Today, I'm delighted to host Italian writer Luca Azzolini as he shares with us his journey from a kid who was curious about everything to the author of a new trilogy, "Romulus."

The luck of living in a country like Italy is that you can touch history every time, everywhere. We cannot avoid seeing it, experiencing it, touching it or breathing it. Everything around us tells us about a mythical and distant past. And in some places you can live this even stronger than in others.

Mantua is the city where I live, and it is a stratification of different eras that coexist with each other. There are the remains of the Etruscan age, the Roman ruins, the medieval castle, the Renaissance palaces and squares.

I think my love for history began here. I read as much as I could. Especially essays. I realize I've always been a weird kid! Which 12-year-old would passionately study the contents of Canopic jars? Which twelve-year-old would be passionate about the genealogies of the great noble dynasties of Italy? From the Gonzaga, to the Este and to the Sforza.

Well, I was that kind of kid!

The love for novels came immediately after. There was a key moment that I remember very well. At the age of fourteen I faced a crucial choice. Of those that can change your life forever. I wanted two books and could only buy one. I was very torn.

The first was an essay by a well-known Italian astrophysicist, Margherita Hack, whose title I no longer remember.

The second was a novel, in a brightly colored cover, by an author unknown to me at the time: The Planet Savers, by Marion Zimmer Bradley.

I chose the astrophysics essay. I stayed for more than an hour in the bookshop with that book in hand.

Then I went back to the shelves, put down the essay, and took The Planet Savers away with me.

I owe a lot to that novel. Reading that book, and the whole Darkover saga, was perhaps the most beautiful, adventurous and exciting journey of my life. Not only I discovered a distant planet where I felt at home, but I also realized I wanted to write novels. Since then I have set my whole life on that choice. At the age of nineteen I chose a faculty at the University of Verona that would allow me to discover “as many stories as possible, and as many lives as possible.” My choice fell on Art History. I never imagined that, over a decade later, that choice would pay back.

Following that path, I started writing books for children and YA: first for small publishers, then for big Italian publishers. But after more than a decade as an author of children's books — a genre of fiction that I really love, because it has a strong educational and training component — I felt the pressing need to explore a territory that I never really dealt with. The opportunity arose when my literary agent informed me about a particular editorial project. A TV series was being developed in Italy set in a historical era little known to most, and they were looking for an author to write a story about the origins of ancient Rome.

When one thinks of ancient Rome, of Romulus and Remus, however, it is easy to fall into the temptation to stop at the surface of the myth. It is a well-known legend: two twins, raised by a she-wolf, who were the progenitors of a great empire. I started to read up. A truly exciting undertaking for me, that I came from studies that I was finally able to put to good use. But where was the historical truth or the archaeological evidence in all this? I was interested in reconstructing, if possible, a sort of historical truthfulness. Approaching to that story with a question: “How could it really have gone?”

Destiny, however - the Fate of the Latins - enjoys putting mortal beings to the test... I would have had to face an impressive historical research to document myself, move from one library to another, and from one archive to another. In all of this I had not considered the arrival of a global pandemic. The Covid-19 virus hit Italy hard and my region, Lombardy, even more hard. For three months we went through a total lockdown, without going out from home, and it was a dramatic moment for everyone. Despite the difficulty, I was lucky enough to recover all the university texts on which I had previously studied: the volumes of Roman history, the volume of Etruscology, the volumes of Greek and Roman archeology, the essay on the history of the Ancient Near East. In my life I have always found in books a way to deal with things, a way forward, and it has been like this again.

I had my sources, I could write. I literally immersed myself in a history three thousand years away (we are around 753 BCE). And I immediately asked myself how to convey to today's reader events, languages ​​(Osco, Proto-Latin), events that could seem so distant and alien.

Well, going into my research and studying the Latin authors who told that mythical past, I realized that yesterday's history has strong interconnections with our today. There are social motivations that reach us and still trace our time. There are cultural, religious and political — even linguistic — aspects that persist and were structured at that time. The Mediterranean basin was a seething cauldron of civilization. Everyone sought, as they could, their own modus vivendi amidst social crises, infighting and choices dictated by truly modern logics.

The eighth century BCE is a decisive era. It saw the union of thirty cities in the Alban League under the dominion of the powerful Alba Longa (the White City). From here, the step to Rome was simple, short, and almost automatic. The key to a strong and cohesive society was to be more inclusive. It sounds simple, but today we realize what it must have been this almost three thousand years ago. It was accepting the differences as an additional value. It was welcoming the other and integrating them without losing the value that this integration brings. The coasts of Latium vetus, and more generally Italy, overflowed civilizations with different uses and customs, the aforementioned Alban peoples, the Etruscans, the people of Magna Graecia in southern Italy, but also the peoples of the Sabines, Ernici, Marsi. Each of these civilizations contributed to the myth of Rome, and I believe this is a great and powerful truth.

To set up a trilogy, starting from these bases, was easy. It allowed me to create a series of parallels between yesterday and today. For example, an important step was studying the rites of the priestesses of the Goddess Vesta. The vestals — six in that distant era — had the sonly purpose of worshiping the warm womb of the Great Mother, Vesta. And to prepare the ingredients for any public or private sacrifice, such as molasauce, a toasted flour mixed with salt, with which the victim was sprinkled (hence the term “immolate”). In short, every cult began with them.

And this was a closed, segregated, virginal order, it was not free from the thrusts that we still find today. They were women forced to live for thirty years within the walls of time, and not a single day less. Yet, despite this, already at that time there were vestals ready to do anything to affirm their identity. Brave. Fierce. These women were the inspiration for a character in my trilogy, the rebel vestal Ilia.

Tarpeia, her contemporary, of which the chronicles speak, daughter of the commander of the Roman citadel, Spurius Tarpeius, intolerant of her role (so the Latin poets tell us), was corrupted with gold by the Sabine king, Tito Tazio, and allowed the enemies to cross the gates of Alba Longa.

Another, many centuries later, succeeded where the others failed. And he ascended the imperial throne. Emperor Heliogabalus, who identified himself with the sun god, married the vestal Aquilia Severa in second marriage in 220 AD, in a marriage that simulated that of the two gods.

It was easy to find my Ilia's voice in these women. She is a woman forced by men to live a life that is not hers, and to have to find her own voice (the authentic one) to face her world. The same can be said of the male protagonists, not always the “Classic” example of the Roman devoted to weapons and battle, as it has been handed down to us by the Classical Epic. No. I wanted men who were an expression of our time. Men capable of thinking and feeling complex feelings, of experiencing real torment for what Fate calls them to do. Fighting for a different future. Fighting for a new empire and to give another course to history.

The trilogy plays a lot on the parallels that I encountered during my research, and I liked that this story, distant yet so close, in some ways also speaks of our days. History is the only means we have to avoid repeating past mistakes and dramas.

History is alive and speaks to us. Are we able to listen to it?

Luca Azzolini was born in Italy, in Ostiglia (Mantua) and graduated with honors in History of Art in Verona. He started writing at a very young age and works as a writer, editor and ghostwriter. He has collaborated with various newspapers and is the author of numerous novels for children that have been translated in different countries. After The Blood of the Wolf (29 October 2020), his debut in adult fiction, The Queen of Battles (November 2020) is the second chapter of the Romulus trilogy.