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Book Funnel Promos

Everyone,

I thought you might like to know that I’m doing THREE promos this month for FAREWELL MY LIFE. Tap the buttons below if you wish to participate!

Warmly Cynthia

Lose yourself in Fall 10-30 November Winter Historical Fiction: 1-30 November Historical Romance Lovers: 13-27 November

FLY AWAY by Kristin Hannah, narrated by Susan Ericksen

Wow! What a book, and what a response!

Bainbridge Island, where Kate, Johnny Marah, and the twins made their home.

I’ll start with the book first. I actually enjoyed this book, partly because I know Kristin Hannah’s writing well enough to know that we would have a happy ending at the conclusion of the all the angst. But this volume really plumbed the depths when it came to the sordid realities of life, such as how a teenaged girl can fall apart so completely that she courts dangers in the shape of a menacing young man with guy-liner and tattoos. Of course it is not the guy-liner nor the tattoos that make him menacing. Rather, it is the expression in his eyes and way way he stalks her. Unfortunately, Marah Ryan is all of 18 years old, and although a child both emotionally and in her lack of judgement, is an adult in the eyes of the law. And so her father is powerless to helps her when she makes such horrible choices.

Seattle, where Tully had her top-floor condo.

Then there is Tully. Poor Tully is one of those women who are now becoming increasingly common in our culture, who have a blazing career and a dismal home life. When she walks away from her TV show “The Girlfriend Hour” to care for Kate in the last volume FIREFLY LANE, it never occurs to her that she is ruining her career. We find out in this volume just how unforgiving people in showbiz are. And so Tully’s life craters. A workaholic, she has nothing to do all day, until she hits upon the bright idea of writing a memoir.

But Tully is so lonely. And like so many of Kristin Hannah’s alpha female characters (Meghan Dontiss in BETWEEN SISTERS comes to mind) she doesn’t have a clue as to how to take care of herself. She drinks, she gets high, she even snorts, and (of course) the men around her are the worst specimens one could never hope to meet.

U-Dub (University of Washington), where Kate & Tully both went to school, and where Marah attempted to go before quitting on her path of self-destruction.

So when Marah, in a fit of pique, sells her godmother’s secrets to the newspapers, Tully his rock bottom. Which is when she has the car accident that is the engine that drives the novel, since this novel is about the long road to recovery after a terrible (and terrifying) accident.

As promised, Kristin Hannah’s characters find redemption in the end, but what a ride we are on!

As in FIREFLY LANE, Ms. Hannah deploys her considerable craft in the cutting back and forth between past and present (and in this volume The Afterlife), which she did brilliantly. I loved how she fed her readers important details bit by bit and NOT in chronological order. IMHO this novel was both brilliantly paced AND a masterclass in how to deal with backstory. So it was a shame to see how many readers were disappointed by this novel, because, they said, it was so depressing. I get that, I really do. But personally, I found this volume un-put-down-able. Five Stars.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

A THOUSAND SHIPS by Natalie Haynes, narrated by The Author

I have never heard of Natalie Haynes before, so I was completely unsure as to what this volume would entail, apart from it being (yet another) retelling of the Trojan War.

Calliope, the Muse of Epic Poetry

In some ways, I was disappointed. I felt that in places (not always) the narration was lacking in sensuous descriptions. I wanted to know more about the clothes the women were wearing, the smells and the sounds of the world they inhabited. Instead, what I experienced was mostly monologue.

But as the book gathered steam, as Penelope grew more exasperated, as Calliope complained more and more about the men she was expected to serve, (“Sing Muse”) I began to enjoy it more and more.

Circe Invidiosa painted by John William Waterhouse (1849-1917)

I especially loved Penelope’s unbelieving skepticism as to what the (male) bards were singing about her husband’s adventures. For starters, she has a hard time believing all the monsters that he “met.”

Then there are all the women he encountered, like Circe, a powerful Sorceress who has the unnerving habit of changing people that she doesn’t like into animals. Although most sources (including Wikipedia) claim that Odysseus visited her for just one year, it seems that he actually stayed a lot longer, enough time for her to produce at least two sons.

In Natalie Haynes retelling, Penelope opines that when Circe finally let him go, she deliberately sent Odysseus home along the most perilous route, thus prolonging his journey and making his wife wait TWENTY YEARS before she was able to see him again. (Note: The Romans referred to Odysseus as “Ulysses.”)

Penelope at her loom, painted by Sidney Meteyard (1868-1947)

And then there are the many many tragic stories: the sacrifices of Iphigenia and Polyxena at the beginning and end of the Trojan War, Cassandra’s tragic condition, and Andromache’s unspeakable grief. Ms Haynes deftly cut out all the blood and gore of battle in Homer’s Iliad, replacing it with the stories of the silent women who surrounded that tale, pointing out that the women were just as heroic as the men. Four stars.

SUMMIT AVENUE by Mary Sharratt

Black Forest Travel Poster from the 1930s

Like so many immigrants, 16-year-old Kathrin Albrecht believes that by coming to America she will escape a narrow, confining future in the Old Country (in this case, the Black Forest Germany), that of being married off to whoever will take her, a life of babies and drudgery. Instead, her uncle hopes she will go to college and acquire an education.

Pillsbury Flour Mills, St. Paul Minnesota circa 1900

But, on arrival in St Paul Minnesota, Kathrin’s cousin Lotte immediately marches her off to the Pillsbury flour mills, where she spends the next two years in a soul-destroying mindless treadmill of grinding flour.

Kathrin loves books and her love of reading draws her to a small bookstore, where the Jeliniks (uncle and nephew who are Czech emigrés) live and work. The uncle, Jan Jelinik befriends Kathrin, allowing her to linger over his books, even though she can’t afford to buy any.

Summit Avenue, Home of Prosperity, St. Paul Minnesota circa 1900

The nephew John Jelinik, a thoroughly Americanized second-generation fellow, helps her to find employment with enigmatic professor’s widow Violet Waverly, who needs someone to translate her husband’s texts. The perks of Kathrin’s new position include new clothes and a room in Mrs. Waverly’s home on Summit Avenue, where all the posh people live in St Paul. It is like walking into a fairy tale…

SUMMIT AVENUE, Mary Sharratt’s debut novel

Mary Sharratt is such a talented writer that this quiet story of a young girl trying to find her way in an alien environment draws you in without any obvious hook. Not only does Ms. Sharratt deploy metaphor, simile and imagery to convey the atmosphere of life in St Paul Minnesota just before World War One, but her pacing is beautiful, allowing the emotions of the various characters to unspool on the page. It is the combination of luscious prose, deft imagery and well-modulated pacing that draws the reader in. Five stars.

If you have 5 minutes…

…and have read (or experienced) either “Farewell My Life,” or “Thwarted Queen,” you’d make this writer very happy if you could write a short Amazon review!

Click here for my Amazon Author Page!

Thanks a bunch!

THE SKY WORSHIPERS by F. M. Deemyad

Like many readers, I purchased this volume because I am fascinated by Genghis Khan, especially his relationships towards the women in his life.

Most everyone knows that Genghis Khan swept onto the world scene from the Steppes of Central Asia in 1209, surging into China, Persia, Russia, and (eventually) under the leadership of his grandsons Hulagu and Batu into Baghdad (now in Iraq), Syria, Russia (again), Poland, Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, Hungary, Croatia and Vienna in a campaign that terrified millions of people for 60 years. No-one is certain how many people were murdered, but historians now place the figure at 40 million, a staggering number both when one considers that considerably fewer people were alive in the 1200s than now, and also because that is nearly seven times the number of people murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust.

Wax figures of Borte Khatun (Empress Borte) sitting at the left hand side of husband Genghis Khan (Lord of the Oceans)

Given that Genghis Khan was a murderous thug, on a par with Hitler and Stalin, it is really fascinating to see how he treated the women around him. Of course, he was perfectly capable of being a bully, rapist, and murderer to those women who were lower down the food chain. But when it came to his mother (Hoelon), his chief wife (Borte) and his daughters (Khojin b. 1184, Altani b. 1185, Checheyigen b. 1187, Tolai b. 1188, Tumelon b. 1189, Alaqai Beki b. 1190 and Al-Altun b.1192) matters were very different.

Genghis Khan remained grateful to his mother Hoelon all his life for her resourcefulness in feeding and caring for him and his siblings when they were all abandoned by their tribe after the sudden death of his father. He respected his first wife Borte, whom he married when he was about 16, often asking her opinion about various issues. And although he made traditional marriages for three of his daughters Khojin, Altani, and Tumelon, sending them off to close kin, the other four daughters became rulers in their own right, first by marrying them to the heirs of vast lands, and secondly by sending their husbands on dangerous missions where they were likely to die, thus leaving Genghis Khan’s daughters free reign (literally).

And so Chechyigen ruled Siberia, Alaqai Beki ruled northern China, Al-Altun ruled the Uyghurs in what is now China’s Xinjiang province, and Tolai ruled the Karluk Turks in what is now eastern Kazakhstan. By these means, Genghis Khan secured the Silk Road and acquired valuable allies – via his daughters – in these strategic locations.

I say all of this because NONE of it is in Ms. Deemyad’s book! Instead we have THREE FICTITIOUS princesses – Chaka (supposedly Chinese), Reyhan (Persian) and Krisztina (Polish). All of these women have a fairy-tale of a time on their wedding nights with “handsome” and “loving” men (Ghengis Khan, Ogodei Khan & Hulugu, who in Ms. Deemyad’s telling are indistinguishable from one another) followed by identical lives of neglect and boredom. As is clear from the foregoing, this is NOT an emotionally gripping novel. Instead, it reads like a report. But the worst thing is that Ms. Deemyad NEVER MENTIONS Genghis Khan’s daughters!

What a missed opportunity to delineate some extremely interesting women. Two stars.

FIREFLY LANE by Kristin Hannah, narrated by Susan Ericksen

In the beginning, FIREFLY LANE reads like the backstory to BETWEEN SISTERS, Kristin Hannah’s previous novel. As in BETWEEN SISTERS, we have two very different women. Like Meghan Dontiss in SISTERS, Tully Hart is driven, ambitious, bright and has no social life. Like Claire Cavanaugh in SISTERS, Kate Mularkey wants to find love, a husband and children in her life.

As the sisters in SISTERS, the friends in FIREFLY mostly find what they want…until tragedy strikes. However, the Happy Ending in SISTERS is not replicated in FIREFLY which is based, in part, on author Kristin Hannah’s experiences with her mother’s last illness.

FIREFLY is a period piece, about a 30-something year friendship that starts in 1974 when both protagonists are 14, and ends in around 2008. The blurb on Ms. Hannah’s Amazon page says:

it’s the story of a generation of women who were both blessed and cursed by choices.

Author Kristin Hannah, Amazon

I’ve never read a novel about my generation before (I also turned 14 in 1974), so it was a real pleasure to read something that was so relevant to me. What the quote is alluding to, of course, is the myth surrounding young women like me in the 1980s and 1990s, the lie that “women could have it all, both family AND career.”

Of course they couldn’t, but the culture at large didn’t realize that until the next generation of women came along. Five Stars.

How do you like to experience fiction?

Good afternoon everyone!

I’m running a poll over on LinkedIn about how people like to experience fiction, particularly Historical Fiction.

If you’d like to join in, please tap on the image!

Taken on a hike I took last weekend to the South Fork of the Shenandoah River…

Thanks so much & have a wonderful weekend!

SIDROC THE DANE by Octavia Randolph narrated by Nano Nagle

At first glance, this volume did not impress as it seemed to be about young (and very young) men having a whale of a time (pun intended) sailing on stormy seas and then raping & pillaging their way across Anglia or Angle-land, which is, of course, today’s UK.

However, when I went back to it, I saw its depths: an emotional tale about the life of a Viking boy who grows up dirt poor on Jutland (today’s Denmark), loses his father at an early age, is mistreated by his stepmother, rescued by his uncle (Yrling) and finally grows to manhood with a dangerously jealous cousin (Toki.)

The best part of the book, IMHO, was towards the end when Cerdiwen appeared. It was so enjoyable to see her and Aelfwin through the eyes of Sidroc, and to experience first hand what he thought of her when they first met. (Spoiler Alert: I hadn’t realized he wanted to marry her right away.)

So, if you are put off by the roughness and horror of life with men on the prowl, you might consider skipping to the end. Four stars.

BIG MAGIC, Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert, read by the author

I think it is tremendously hard to write a self-help book about anything WITHOUT coming across as unbearably narcissistic. So kudos to Elizabeth Gilbert for putting herself out there, knowing full well the slings & arrows she would have to endure.

Speaking for myself, I thoroughly enjoying this (short) volume. I loved Ms. Gilbert’s anecdotes (she is a gifted storyteller,) enjoyed her expressive voice, and adored her quirky views, that one must treat inspiration (or “the Muse”) as a trickster, who enjoys playing with (or tormenting) you.

Speaking for myself, I didn’t really need this book, as I am one of the few who actually enjoy playing with creativity. But that is because my very strict mother taught me to play the violin when I was three years old, and insisted that I start performing when I was five, even though I’m a recluse who hates making a spectacle of herself.

Playing the violin requires enormous dedication.

For the next 20 years I struggled to play an instrument that I couldn’t reliably play in tune (NOT good for a career in music), shutting myself up in my bedroom for three hours a day during my teenage years. In the process, I learned how to deal with creativity, that elusive trickster, when I was very young. I also learned to develop a thick skin, as I  was obliged to hear (well-meaning) adults telling me I was no good on the violin and should do something else. (Painful, but true.)

When I became an adult, I disengaged from the violin in stages. At 25, I decided to start a career in experimental psychology. At 27, I decided to quit being a music teacher. At 40, I finally gave myself permission to stop playing the violin. And what were the benefits? My struggling & suffering disappeared overnight to be replaced by…time, lots of time, time to think. And eventually (after about four years) I began my first novel.

After my experiences of being a failed violinist, writing was an enormous relief. (Of course it helped that I chose to do it myself, rather than trying to please a rather exacting mother.) After lots of therapy, I was finally able to get over my broken past, and forge a new identity as a novelist. Now, I love the times when I am creative. When I create, I see myself as a child playing in a sandbox. When I edit my novels, I see myself kneading bread.

Which I know is very annoying for the rest of you (and probably more about me than you wished to know:)

So what advice do I have for anyone trying to decide whether to buy this book?

If you read the reviews you will see that some people adored this book and some hated it. So first of all, I advise you to decide where you are in your creative journey.

If you need a little inspiration, my advice would be to buy this book, but use it ONLY for dipping into.

If you are looking for something more concrete, like craft, then I would advise you NOT to buy this book, but instead to take (online) classes as they are a great space not only for learning but also for asking questions.

IMHO we need more creative people in this world of ours, not less, so I hope that something (if not this volume) will inspire you to begin and sustain you into continuing.

My very best wishes on your creative endeavors!

Cynthia