Deborah J. Ross's Blog, page 44
November 16, 2020
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 luc
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.
November 14, 2020
Coping With Post-Election Stress
Earlier, I've posted suggestions for coping with despair and anger due to the magnitude of cumulative stresses of 2020. My series, In Troubled Times, began shortly after the 2018 elections. It turns out that most folks feel some degree of depression following a presidential election. Whether it's a let down from months of effort, disappointment in the results, fear for the future, or simple exhaustion, it's common. And there are steps we can take to recover from it.
In this article in The Conversation, Christopher Ojeda (Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Tennessee) offers the following suggestions:
Focusing on healthy living will help restore your energy. Give yourself breaks from the news – and politics. Get enough sleep, eat well and get some exercise.
Limit time on social media, or better yet, log off altogether for a few days. While it’s a way to connect with other people and share information, it’s also a key source of political misinformation, echo chamber conversations and polarized thinking. Overall, too much time on Facebook or Twitter can intensify anxiety and depression.
Seek out social support. Talk to a trusted family member, friend, community leader – or find a social support group in your area. While that may be a bit more challenging in a pandemic, with the need for social distancing, it’s still possible to pick up the phone, get on a FaceTime call or set up a virtual appointment with a mental health professional. But also remember Goldilocks’ rule: Social isolation intensifies negative feelings, but so does spending too much time talking about problems.
Affirm the value of democracy. Electoral loss is scary because it means having to contend with unwanted or disliked policies – and can create extreme polarization. But accepting loss is part and parcel of democracy. One way to bridge political differences is to join a group, such as Building Bridgers, which brings together citizens with diverse political views to engage in structured conversations.
Once you’ve accepted the outcome, get involved with politics. Elections are just the start of what is a complex policymaking process. Participating is empowering and can help alleviate psychological distress. There are many ways to contribute, from contacting elected officials, protesting, running for local office or donating money to joining advocacy organizations or starting a political discussion group.
November 13, 2020
Short Book Reviews: Remote Space Exploration Goes Wrong
Nucleation, by Kimberly Unger (Tachyon)
Kimberly Unger’s debut novel opens with a brilliant premise: space exploration, overcomes the vast distances involved by squirting “eenie” nanobots through very tiny wormholes. The eenies then follow their programming to construct whatever’s needed to explore and exploit their material surroundings, such as an alien moon. Included are particles that allow an Earth-based human operator and her navigator to remotely manipulate robotic devices. This is such a nifty set-up, I was hooked from the start. Almost immediately, however, Things Go Wrong. As fast as the eenies can build machinery, other nanobots “the Scale,” are tearing it down, and these are alien, not human-created nanobots – but to what purpose? Who programmed them? Where did they come from? And can our heroine stop the process before the alien bots gain access to inhabited planets and launch a major remodel of Earth?
The story quickly morphs into a murder mystery industrial espionage thriller space-gadget adventure with a most satisfying, intelligent, and determined female protagonist. Unger moves the reader from one vivid scene to the next, skillfully weaving in context and background. Even the most exotic, remotely accessed environments become accessible as we follow our characters from Earth to the far-flung stellar mining outposts. Corporate power structures and personal relationships emerge through action, so that even complex, subtle aspects are balanced with dynamic plot twists. Unger’s handling of breath-taking tension and reflection held my attention, page after page.
The verdict: A spectacular debut novel, at once thoughtful and exciting, packed with innovative ideas and plot twists. I’m looking forward to Unger’s next!
November 11, 2020
[shameless self-promotion] Dashiell Harrison Reviews Collaborators
Here's another rave review for Collaborators, this time from Dashiell Harrison:
Collaborators immediately sets itself apart from standard first contact type stories by focusing primarily on the alien perspective. Human characters feature heavily in the first few chapters, but no sooner have we come to know and like the Terran astronauts than Ross subverts our expectations by whisking us out of the relative familiarity of the Terran-crewed spaceship and drawing us into the rich and complex world of the Bandari aliens as they grapple with the effects of Terran occupation on their already fractious society.
It is in the interactions between the Bandaris that Ross reveals a mastery of world building which rests firmly on her background as a biologist and international traveler. The Bandari feel simultaneously alien and human, with single-sex bodies that exhibit sexual dimorphism only when they are pregnant or in heat and a single-gender culture that is as exotic as their urban, clan-based society is familiar.
Ross strikes a neat balance between humor and thoughtfulness in the scenes when the Chacarran diplomat Ferro first meets with the Terran landing crew. How does one read emotion on the face of a creature without a crest? He wonders. What kind of civilization crews a spacecraft with pregnant personnel?
The characters - both Chacarran and Terran - come through vividly and sympathetically, each the hero of their own story, each painfully ill-equipped to understand the needs and customs of the aliens with which they are suddenly forced to interact.
At its core, Collaborators is a tragic tale of cultural misunderstandings and a compelling journey into how they can be fixed.
Here's where to order the book (ebook, trade paperback, and hardcover editions):
Amazon (ebook and trade paperback)B & N (ebook, trade paperback, and hardcover/laminated cover)
From your local bookstore, order via Ingram:
Trade paperback: 9781952589003
Hardcover/dust jacket: 9781952589027
Kobo (and other ebook retailers)
November 9, 2020
Jaydium: Chapter 5 Free on Curious Fictions
Jaydium, Chapter 5
By Deborah J. Ross
Nov 6, 2020 · 1,761 words · 7 minutes
Art by Vincent Di Fate. Edit Art · Remove Art
From the author: Far in the future, an interplanetary civil conflict has ground to an uneasy halt. Kithri, abandoned on a desolate mining planet, meets Eril, shell-shocked pilot. A freak accident sends them back to a time when their desert world was lush and green, when an alien civilization stands on the brink of a war of total destruction. They must choose to remain outside the conflict or to stand up for what they believe
An audio version is available for this chapter. Listen online →
JAYDIUM
Chapter 5
For a moment Eril considered telling her the truth, that he had as much chance of getting into the Corps without her as she had getting off Stayman without him. In the mood she was in, she'd probably tell him to stuff a comet up his pitouchee. The only thing to do was to keep his mouth shut and wait for another opening. He hoped he'd get one.
Kithri picked up the water bottle, took a long swallow and then dropped it, sputtering. She pointed down the tunnel.
As he followed her gesture, Eril's mouth went electrically dry. The last time he'd looked, the tunnel had been empty except for the two of them and the scrubjet. Now a man-shaped mist hovered in the middle of the 'hole, one moment diaphanous, then condensing into near solidity. In stark contrast to the rosy glow of the partly-sealed jaydium, it was a clear, untinted gray. Eril made out a bulbous head, two arms, and two splayed-out legs. He thought he saw markings on the head section, but they faded so quickly he could not be sure.
"What the hell is that?" Kithri whispered. "I've been running these tunnels for years, and I've never seen anything like it."
"Space ghost," he said, dredging his memory. "They're sighted along the old interstellar routes. There are only about six or seven documented cases known, never this close to a planet. By our best guess, they're relics of early attempts to exceed the speed of light. Residues of energy that just happen to be shaped like humans. They probably don't actually exist in three-space."
As he spoke, the figure descended until its feet seemed to touch the tunnel floor. For a moment it stood there, motionless. Then it began to move. First one leg and then the other stretched out and swung back as it drifted along in a mechanical parody of walking.
Here's the link to the rest...
https://curiousfictions.com/stories/3...
November 8, 2020
Election 2020: A Love Letter From Ruth
“We must criticize without wounding and debate without dehumanizing our opponents. Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”
-- Ruth Bader Ginsburg
November 6, 2020
Short Book Reviews: A Medical Rescue in White Space
Machine (A White Space Novel), by Elizabeth Bear (Saga)
My introduction to Elizabeth Bear’s gorgeously inventive “White Space” novels was Ancestral Night (check our my review here). While I highly recommend be read first, Machinestands on its own. Both are huge books in the sense of sweeping plots and vast universe-building.
As before, Bear uses an unreliable but highly competent first-person narrator, in this case Brookllyn Jens, a rescue operations physician ex-cop with a chronic pain condition, who relies on self-administered drugs and an exosuit for support. Despite being estranged from her wife and daughter, she’s formed deep ties with her crew and shipmind, the AI of their rescue vessel. Chance places them first on the scene of a generation ship, drifting far from where it ought to be, with a much smaller ship of methane-breathing aliens attached to it. One mystery unfolds into the next: why are both crews in cryo sleep? What’s going on with the generation ship’s android/ship-computer peripheral unit? Matters take a turn for the much, much worse when one AI after another becomes infected with a meme virus, and all too quickly Llyn realizes there is no one she can trust but herself.
My reactions to this book were very much in line with how I felt about Ancestral Night, so I’ll paraphrase them here: The book is filled with action and reflection that say as much about the different ways of looking at self vs society as they do about Llyn’s journey of self-discovery. It’s all fascinating, if a bit sedate in places, until the pieces start coming together. Then the parts I had previously found slow made brilliant sense and I couldn’t put the book down until the exciting and immensely satisfying conclusion. I say this as an advisory to other readers to hang in there: every piece is there for a reason, and it is richly worth the ride. Machineis in turns dramatic, thoughtful, humorous, hopeful, and tragic. From the government ship name, I Really Don’t Have Time For Your Nonsense to the weird and wonderful aliens to everything I’ve mentioned above, the book is as much about how we balance individual choices with the greater good. Worth savoring, and re-reading, as is the previous book.
November 4, 2020
In Anxious Times: Holding on to the Hope We Create
In 2016 and after, I wrote a series of posts called, "In Troubled Times," about despair, anger, determination, hope, and all the myriad emotions that followed the 2016 election. Now, as we await the results of 2020, I have a few thoughts to share. If the muses are with me, I'll be posting more. No matter what the results, we are in for a tough, divisive time. But we're in it together, and together we shall prevail.
First and foremost -- As I took my evening shower on Election Day, I was struck by a moment of light. No matter what happens, we always have within us the power to be beacons of hope for one another. We are not alone. We can lift each other up when despair overcomes us. I keep remembering my father's steadfast hope -- and he lived through a revolution, pogrom, starvation, the Depression, McCarthyism, and more. He never gave up working for a better world -- and neither will we.
Then I read these words from Robert Hubble:We must be patient. Biden has a path to victory that does not depend on Pennsylvania with its contested mail ballots. Biden gave a hopeful speech on Tuesday evening and urged us to wait until all votes are counted. Trump, on the other hand, declared victory in the early hours of Wednesday morning but demanded that counting cease. That tells us all we need to know about what the respective campaigns believe about the ultimate result of the election and the will of the American people. Trump is now trying to subvert that will based on a legal theory that says the functioning of the U.S. Constitution should be stopped based on his personal preferences. That's not how the Constitution works, and Trump's claim is ludicrous and meritless.
October 31, 2020
Newsletter: Late October...2020 Was Many Things...
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2020 was many things...
Some we expected, some took us utterly by surprise. Some quickly passed -- and others we are still grappling with. Now that I've had a chance to settle back home after being evacuated for a month due to the California CZULightning wildfires, I am filled with gratitude for the friends, readers, neighbors, family, and strangers who were so unfailingly kind and supportive.
As the season turns from summer's brutal heat toward winter's equally brutal (think mudslides!) but different weather, I am personally focusing on what has sustained my family and myself through the ordeal that has been this year.
You, my fans and friends.
My wonderful editor and publisher and agent.
The beautiful (if a bit singed) place in which I love.
And especially the stories that fill my mind and my life. Those I write. Those I treasure by other writers.
Many thanks!
Deborah
First things first: Here is (Red) Sonja smooshed against Shakir. Considering that the first time they were introduced, she a mere wee kitten, she threw herself on her back and screamed, I'd say they have established trust, if not outright affection for one another.What's new on Darkover?
My agent once told me that waiting on publishers was akin to watching the movement of glaciers. I suspect this has never been more true than now, when my publisher's offices are closed due to the pandemic, and everyone is overloaded.
In the meanwhile, here is a snippet from The Laran Gambit, in which Bryn, our viewpoint character, crashes on Darkover with her father and mentor. The title is a working version and will probably be changed. And this is unedited text, so it, too, may undergo the alchemical transformation of editing.
~~~~~~~
Bryn forced herself to lay back down and breathe slowly. It was harder than she expected. She imagined the inside of the tent — their pocket of air — turning stale. What were the symptoms of anoxia? She couldn’t remember — didn’t that mean her brain was deprived of oxygen? A part of her, that terrified monkey at the back of her brain, yammered at her to get out now.
Panic will only use up the air faster. Think!
Somewhat to her surprise, she found herself calming. The moment she eased away from panic, she realized that her danger-sense, while humming away, wasn’t urgent. Not yet, anyway. She still had time to assess the situation, time to plan.
Well then: she wasn’t dead. Or badly injured. Or gasping for breath. She wasn’t in the dark, so the snow must be shallow enough for light to penetrate.
She also wasn’t alone. Her father knew about survival in cold weather. Felicity had a keen analytical mind. Together, they could surely reason out how to proceed.
As if in answer to her thoughts, the two older people began to stir. Ernst started thrashing, mumbling incoherently. Bryn rolled over and shook him. With an explosive, “What!” he came awake.
“Father, it’s all right. I’m here.”
“I — this can’t be right. Where are we? What’s going on?”
“We’re on Darkover — Cottman IV, don’t you remember?”
He poked the sagging roof of the tent. “What is this thing? It’s cold!”
Read More (this will take you to the same newsletter with the entire chapter excerpt, so don't worry about the duplicated sections!)
Here's part II of my video chat with Marella Sands. I talk about recent and current Darkover projects, editing, the writing life, inspiration, and whatever else popped into my head.
The season of gift-giving will soon be upon us. The next newsletter will include free or low-cost goodies for your loved ones (and yourself!)
October 30, 2020
Short Book Reviews: The Diabolist's Apprentices Get Into Trouble
Creatures of Charm and Hunger, by Molly Tanzer (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) This third volume in the “Diabolist” series focuses on a family of diabolists – magic workers who draw their power from pact-bound demons. There is, of course, always a catch and always a price. To minimize the danger, diabloists through the centuries have kept meticulous notes on the names, temperaments, and histories of the known demons. Nancy Blackwood is one of a lineage of librarians guarding these and other critical documents. While her sister, Edith, engages in the larger world (in this case, the end of World War II), Nancy lives in a remote British village, along with her Hollywood-obsessed daughter, Jane, and her ward, Jewish refugee Miriam, both student diabolists about to embark upon the “Test” that will lead to full privileges and their own demons. After passing their Tests, each embarks upon perilous paths in violation of the rules: Jane, eager to hide that she has in reality failed her Test, creates a familiar by placing a demonic spirit into her pet cat, but lacks the experience to truly bind it to obedience; and Miriam goes searching for her parents, captives of the Nazis, by taking over the bodies of animals and then people, at a terrible cost to her own spiritual self. What could possibly go wrong?
Tanzer perfectly captures life in a secluded, rambling house in a small British village toward the end of the Second World War, weaving in a story of brash youth, tested friendships, treacherous demons, and consequences. If this is truly the last of the series, I will be sad to see it end.
Creatures of Will and Temper reviewed here.
Creatures of Want and Ruin reviewed here.
