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Tremontaine #2.1
Convocation
Swordplay, scandal, and sex—welcome to the world of Tremontaine, a glittering new entry in Ellen Kushner's classic Riverside series.
This is the 1st episode in the second season of Tremontaine, a 13-episode serial from Serial Box Publishing. This episode written by Ellen Kushner.
All eyes are on Duchess Diane Tremontaine at the Convocation, an annual soiree that opens the Council of Lords. With her mad husband exiled to the country, Diane is on the hunt for a new lover and better fortunes. But the path to power—and revenge—is never without obstacles.
Welcome to Tremontaine, where ambition, love affairs, and rivalries dance with deadly results. A Duchess whose beauty is matched only by her cunning; a handsome young scholar with more passion than sense; a foreigner in a playground of swordplay and secrets; and a mathematical genius whose discoveries herald revolution when games of politics begin, no one is safe. Keep your wit as sharp as your steel in this world where politics is everything, and outcasts are the tastemakers.
This is the 1st episode in the second season of Tremontaine, a 13-episode serial from Serial Box Publishing. This episode written by Ellen Kushner.
All eyes are on Duchess Diane Tremontaine at the Convocation, an annual soiree that opens the Council of Lords. With her mad husband exiled to the country, Diane is on the hunt for a new lover and better fortunes. But the path to power—and revenge—is never without obstacles.
Welcome to Tremontaine, where ambition, love affairs, and rivalries dance with deadly results. A Duchess whose beauty is matched only by her cunning; a handsome young scholar with more passion than sense; a foreigner in a playground of swordplay and secrets; and a mathematical genius whose discoveries herald revolution when games of politics begin, no one is safe. Keep your wit as sharp as your steel in this world where politics is everything, and outcasts are the tastemakers.
46 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 18, 2016
4 people are currently reading
123 people want to read
About the author
Ellen Kushner
139 books606 followersEllen Kushner weaves together multiple careers as a writer, radio host, teacher, performer and public speaker.
A graduate of Barnard College, she also attended Bryn Mawr College, and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. She began her career in publishing as a fiction editor in New York City, but left to write her first novel Swordspoint, which has become a cult classic, hailed as the progenitor of the “mannerpunk” (or “Fantasy of Manners”) school of urban fantasy. Swordspoint was followed by Thomas the Rhymer (World Fantasy Award and the Mythopoeic Award), and two more novels in her “Riverside” series. In 2015, Thomas the Rhymer was published in the UK as part of the Gollancz “Fantasy Masterworks” line.
In addition, her short fiction appears regularly in numerous anthologies. Her stories have been translated into a wide variety of languages, including Japanese, French, Dutch, German, Spanish, Latvian and Finnish.
Upon moving to Boston, she became a radio host for WGBH-FM. In 1996, she created Sound & Spirit, PRI’s award-winning national public radio series. With Ellen as host and writer, the program aired nationally until 2010; many of the original shows can now be heard archived online.
As a live stage performer, her solo spoken word works include Esther: the Feast of Masks, and The Golden Dreydl: a Klezmer ‘Nutcracker’ for Chanukah (with Shirim Klezmer Orchestra). In 2008, Vital Theatre commissioned her to script a full-scale theatrical version. The Klezmer Nutcracker played to sold-out audiences in New York City, with Kushner in the role of the magical Tante Miriam.
In 2012, Kushner entered the world of audiobooks, narrating and co-producing “illuminated” versions of all three of the “Riverside” novels with SueMedia Productions for Neil Gaiman Presents at Audible.com—and winning a 2013 Audie Award for Swordspoint.
Other recent projects include the urban fantasy anthology Welcome to Bordertown (co-edited with Holly Black), and The Witches of Lublin, a musical audio drama written with Elizabeth Schwartz and Yale Strom (which one Gabriel, Gracie and Wilbur Awards in 2012). In 2015 she contributed to and oversaw the creation of the online Riverside series prequel Tremontaine for Serial Box with collaborators Joel Derfner, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Malinda Lo, Racheline Maltese and Patty Bryant.
A dauntless traveler, Ellen Kushner has been a guest of honor at conventions all over the world. She regularly teaches writing at the prestigious Clarion Workshop and the Hollins University Graduate Program in Children’s Literature.
Ellen Kushner is a co-founder and past president of the Interstitial Arts Foundation, an organization supporting work that falls between genre categories. She lives in New York City with author and educator Delia Sherman, a lot of books, airplane and theater ticket stubs, and no cats whatsoever.
A graduate of Barnard College, she also attended Bryn Mawr College, and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. She began her career in publishing as a fiction editor in New York City, but left to write her first novel Swordspoint, which has become a cult classic, hailed as the progenitor of the “mannerpunk” (or “Fantasy of Manners”) school of urban fantasy. Swordspoint was followed by Thomas the Rhymer (World Fantasy Award and the Mythopoeic Award), and two more novels in her “Riverside” series. In 2015, Thomas the Rhymer was published in the UK as part of the Gollancz “Fantasy Masterworks” line.
In addition, her short fiction appears regularly in numerous anthologies. Her stories have been translated into a wide variety of languages, including Japanese, French, Dutch, German, Spanish, Latvian and Finnish.
Upon moving to Boston, she became a radio host for WGBH-FM. In 1996, she created Sound & Spirit, PRI’s award-winning national public radio series. With Ellen as host and writer, the program aired nationally until 2010; many of the original shows can now be heard archived online.
As a live stage performer, her solo spoken word works include Esther: the Feast of Masks, and The Golden Dreydl: a Klezmer ‘Nutcracker’ for Chanukah (with Shirim Klezmer Orchestra). In 2008, Vital Theatre commissioned her to script a full-scale theatrical version. The Klezmer Nutcracker played to sold-out audiences in New York City, with Kushner in the role of the magical Tante Miriam.
In 2012, Kushner entered the world of audiobooks, narrating and co-producing “illuminated” versions of all three of the “Riverside” novels with SueMedia Productions for Neil Gaiman Presents at Audible.com—and winning a 2013 Audie Award for Swordspoint.
Other recent projects include the urban fantasy anthology Welcome to Bordertown (co-edited with Holly Black), and The Witches of Lublin, a musical audio drama written with Elizabeth Schwartz and Yale Strom (which one Gabriel, Gracie and Wilbur Awards in 2012). In 2015 she contributed to and oversaw the creation of the online Riverside series prequel Tremontaine for Serial Box with collaborators Joel Derfner, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Malinda Lo, Racheline Maltese and Patty Bryant.
A dauntless traveler, Ellen Kushner has been a guest of honor at conventions all over the world. She regularly teaches writing at the prestigious Clarion Workshop and the Hollins University Graduate Program in Children’s Literature.
Ellen Kushner is a co-founder and past president of the Interstitial Arts Foundation, an organization supporting work that falls between genre categories. She lives in New York City with author and educator Delia Sherman, a lot of books, airplane and theater ticket stubs, and no cats whatsoever.
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October 16, 2016After the spectacular first season of Tremontaine, now we get season two.
The first episode begins at after summer, with Diane, Duchess Tremontaine, making her usual perfectly timed entrance to the glittering Convocation of the Opening of the Council of Lords.
This provides us with an overview of most of our Riverside cast of characters, and includes the introduction of some promising new ones, most notably the gorgeous ambassador from Chertil, who promises to become one of the main players, and the young Kinwiink Arthur.
Old characters are not neglected—such as Rafe, whose impetuous boyishness appears to have been honed to purpose as sharp as hunger, and arrayed against him the Duchess, now acting alone.
It looks like it’s going to be another exhilarating season.
Episode one provided by NetGalley
April 18, 2022
The start of Season Two episode One of Tremontaine titled Convocation written by Ellen Kushner.
All eyes are on Duchess Diane Tremontaine at the Convocation, an annual soiree that opens the Council of Lords. With her mad husband exiled to the country, Diane is on the hunt for a new lover and better fortunes. But the path to power—and revenge—is never without obstacles.
Great beginning to the second season. Oh, how I love Diane and all her delicious scheming. I love how gay this series is. And there are interesting new players introduced as well.
I managed to squeeze one more episode out of my Realm subscription before it closed the door on me. I might renew it for another year at some point after all because there are 3 whole seasons to finish and I do love it a lot. We’ll see.
(The narration is done by Sarah Mollo-Christensen (Kaab, Micah, and Tess), Nick Sullivan (Rafe and William Tielman, Duke Tremontaine) and Katherine Kellgren (Diane, Duchess Tremontaine).
Available on Realm.
f/f, m/m, m/f it’s all very fluent and gay
Themes: sex, swordplay, scandal and hot chocolate!
5 Stars
All eyes are on Duchess Diane Tremontaine at the Convocation, an annual soiree that opens the Council of Lords. With her mad husband exiled to the country, Diane is on the hunt for a new lover and better fortunes. But the path to power—and revenge—is never without obstacles.
Great beginning to the second season. Oh, how I love Diane and all her delicious scheming. I love how gay this series is. And there are interesting new players introduced as well.
I managed to squeeze one more episode out of my Realm subscription before it closed the door on me. I might renew it for another year at some point after all because there are 3 whole seasons to finish and I do love it a lot. We’ll see.
(The narration is done by Sarah Mollo-Christensen (Kaab, Micah, and Tess), Nick Sullivan (Rafe and William Tielman, Duke Tremontaine) and Katherine Kellgren (Diane, Duchess Tremontaine).
Available on Realm.
f/f, m/m, m/f it’s all very fluent and gay
Themes: sex, swordplay, scandal and hot chocolate!
5 Stars
November 19, 2016
Season 2 of this serial begins!
And... here we go! The setting of this first episode is a party at which all our main characters make an appearance. It's an obvious device to create an excuse to introduce new readers to all of our prime movers (and to remind returning readers who everyone is and where they're at) but it's really done quite well - I didn't find myself bored or annoyed by the reminders at any point.
The scheming duchess Diane is front-and-center here, and it may not be enough for her to have a lucrative trade deal with the Kinwiinick traders, and the freedom she's grabbed by getting her husband out of the picture - what if she could hold Tremontaine in her own right, rather than merely through virtue of her marriage?
And... here we go! The setting of this first episode is a party at which all our main characters make an appearance. It's an obvious device to create an excuse to introduce new readers to all of our prime movers (and to remind returning readers who everyone is and where they're at) but it's really done quite well - I didn't find myself bored or annoyed by the reminders at any point.
The scheming duchess Diane is front-and-center here, and it may not be enough for her to have a lucrative trade deal with the Kinwiinick traders, and the freedom she's grabbed by getting her husband out of the picture - what if she could hold Tremontaine in her own right, rather than merely through virtue of her marriage?
October 7, 2016
Once again, we return to the Hill and receive tantalizing hints that soon we will also be visitng Riverside. Old friends welcome us to this new season of Tremontaine and new ones are introduced. A delightful first epusode for the new season, that leaves me itching for more.
Without doubt, this episode centers on Diane, Duchess Tremontaine. Last season, we saw how she put her husband away, setting herself up as regent in his place (and more, much more). From Riverside and its sequel, we know she will become a major, if unseen, political force and will have full control of the Duchy, including choosing her own heir. This season promises to show us how she consolidates her power, weaves her political webs and acquires undisputed control of Tremontaine. How can I not love it?
Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Without doubt, this episode centers on Diane, Duchess Tremontaine. Last season, we saw how she put her husband away, setting herself up as regent in his place (and more, much more). From Riverside and its sequel, we know she will become a major, if unseen, political force and will have full control of the Duchy, including choosing her own heir. This season promises to show us how she consolidates her power, weaves her political webs and acquires undisputed control of Tremontaine. How can I not love it?
Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
January 23, 2022
Thanks to netgalley.com and Serial Box Publishing for the advance ARC copy for my honest review.
Not a normal genre that I typical read, but like this one a lot, the Hill, Riverside, swordsmen, sex, scandal, the evil Duchess Diane, who thinks everything revolves around her, then you got Rafe, whose working for his parents now, IxKaab who seems to have shunned her trader family, several new characters and set at the Convocation, an annual soiree that opens the Council of Lords.
Not a normal genre that I typical read, but like this one a lot, the Hill, Riverside, swordsmen, sex, scandal, the evil Duchess Diane, who thinks everything revolves around her, then you got Rafe, whose working for his parents now, IxKaab who seems to have shunned her trader family, several new characters and set at the Convocation, an annual soiree that opens the Council of Lords.
May 6, 2017
I hadn't read the first series so this was the first book for me that I have read. This one introduces the characters, covers their back stories and set the scene for the episodes ahead. Really looking forward to starting the next book and seeing where the story takes me.
November 26, 2016
For a chapter focusing on Diane, this was surprisingly meh :(
April 3, 2018
POV – 3rd person, multi character, often omni-present
Would I read it again – Yes!
Genre – LGBT, Fantasy, Serial, Historical, Coming-of-Age, Queer
Content Warning – mild violence, sexual situations, adultery/cheating, prostitution
Orientations – MM, MF, FF
** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **
I love the world building of this series, and the talented writers who bring it all together, but I was left heartbroken by the events of Season One and I'm hopeful that Season Two will at least offer some relief from that. I'm coming straight into this, just an hour after finishing Season One, so it's all fresh in my mind. There are still the infrequent issues of editing mistakes, changes of tense that don't always make sense, as were in Season One, but the recurring issue of font change has been eliminated, which is a relief.
Because of the format Netgalley sent, or perhaps because of how Kindle interprets them, the formatting for the first half of this series of ARC's was terrible. The documents had either one or two lines then a line of gapping, repeated throughout and it wasn't only hard on the eyes, but made it more difficult to follow in terms of flow. The second half were much better formatted.
~
Episode 1: Convocation, by Ellen Kushner
★★★★☆
Pages: 46
While I love that the story picks up right after the end of Season 1, I found it a little strange that there wasn't even a hint of a recap of those events until 48% into this episode. I've come straight in from reading Season 1 from beginning to end, so I didn't need it, but I can imagine it would be confusing for anyone who had to wait for this episode to be released, after Season 1 ended.
Diane is quite a snake, slinking in and out of various plots that it's almost inevitable that she'll find herself tangled up without hope of escape at some point, but I can't imagine it being any time soon. She's too big a character to remove her, until there's another high power to take her place.
As well as all the old characters from Season 1, we were introduced to some new ones; Arthur, who is an interesting relation to Ixkaab, and Lord Lionel, both of whom will be Diane's pawns for likely the remainder of the season.
My poor Rafe was back! Just as heartbroken as ever. And what the ever loving hell was Ixkaab doing at his side? It was obvious that she hadn't shared the truth of Will's condition to him, that she was defying her family for the sake of Tess, which put all of her schemes with Diane last season to waste. I can't understand how she can call herself his friend and stand by his side, knowing how heartbroken he is without telling him about Will. She could have saved him from his insanity, and the now rampant gossip that he's as good as dead.
And now Diane is about to steal his entire heritage. Well, damn. I can only hope that one day Rafe finds Will, gets him out of his insanity and out of Diane's clutches, and they escape together off into the sunset, leaving it all behind.
Favourite Quote
“Rafe was sworn to abstinence. A little drunk one night – well, a lot – shortly after he'd joined his father's business, he'd found his way to the Temple, hacked off his long student's hair, laid it on the alter, and sworn that if the gods would help him find his William, Rafe would not so much as touch another man.”
“His short time with William, Duke Tremontaine – his beautiful, brilliant, passionate, innocent Will – seemed like a dream sometimes.”
Would I read it again – Yes!
Genre – LGBT, Fantasy, Serial, Historical, Coming-of-Age, Queer
Content Warning – mild violence, sexual situations, adultery/cheating, prostitution
Orientations – MM, MF, FF
** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **
I love the world building of this series, and the talented writers who bring it all together, but I was left heartbroken by the events of Season One and I'm hopeful that Season Two will at least offer some relief from that. I'm coming straight into this, just an hour after finishing Season One, so it's all fresh in my mind. There are still the infrequent issues of editing mistakes, changes of tense that don't always make sense, as were in Season One, but the recurring issue of font change has been eliminated, which is a relief.
Because of the format Netgalley sent, or perhaps because of how Kindle interprets them, the formatting for the first half of this series of ARC's was terrible. The documents had either one or two lines then a line of gapping, repeated throughout and it wasn't only hard on the eyes, but made it more difficult to follow in terms of flow. The second half were much better formatted.
~
Episode 1: Convocation, by Ellen Kushner
★★★★☆
Pages: 46
While I love that the story picks up right after the end of Season 1, I found it a little strange that there wasn't even a hint of a recap of those events until 48% into this episode. I've come straight in from reading Season 1 from beginning to end, so I didn't need it, but I can imagine it would be confusing for anyone who had to wait for this episode to be released, after Season 1 ended.
Diane is quite a snake, slinking in and out of various plots that it's almost inevitable that she'll find herself tangled up without hope of escape at some point, but I can't imagine it being any time soon. She's too big a character to remove her, until there's another high power to take her place.
As well as all the old characters from Season 1, we were introduced to some new ones; Arthur, who is an interesting relation to Ixkaab, and Lord Lionel, both of whom will be Diane's pawns for likely the remainder of the season.
My poor Rafe was back! Just as heartbroken as ever. And what the ever loving hell was Ixkaab doing at his side? It was obvious that she hadn't shared the truth of Will's condition to him, that she was defying her family for the sake of Tess, which put all of her schemes with Diane last season to waste. I can't understand how she can call herself his friend and stand by his side, knowing how heartbroken he is without telling him about Will. She could have saved him from his insanity, and the now rampant gossip that he's as good as dead.
And now Diane is about to steal his entire heritage. Well, damn. I can only hope that one day Rafe finds Will, gets him out of his insanity and out of Diane's clutches, and they escape together off into the sunset, leaving it all behind.
Favourite Quote
“Rafe was sworn to abstinence. A little drunk one night – well, a lot – shortly after he'd joined his father's business, he'd found his way to the Temple, hacked off his long student's hair, laid it on the alter, and sworn that if the gods would help him find his William, Rafe would not so much as touch another man.”
“His short time with William, Duke Tremontaine – his beautiful, brilliant, passionate, innocent Will – seemed like a dream sometimes.”
September 24, 2020
I'm burning through all of Riverside this autumn.
Season 2 begins after a summer-long timeskip, and opens with a grand gathering of nobles and merchants (with many tantalising tidbits of lore scattered throughout) and the spectacular arrival of an exotic ambassador.
A lot of new players entered the field right off the bat, and dynamics between the already-established character have shifted quite a bit. The Duchess Diane was the main focus of this episode, and her new-found freedom is coupled with new-found ambitions. I quite enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to reading more.
Season 2 begins after a summer-long timeskip, and opens with a grand gathering of nobles and merchants (with many tantalising tidbits of lore scattered throughout) and the spectacular arrival of an exotic ambassador.
A lot of new players entered the field right off the bat, and dynamics between the already-established character have shifted quite a bit. The Duchess Diane was the main focus of this episode, and her new-found freedom is coupled with new-found ambitions. I quite enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to reading more.
May 11, 2017
A great way to jump back into the world of Tremontaine. Does a good job of reminding us of all the various motivations and complications and relationships without bogging itself down in summary.
Moving forward and developing, already, in interesting ways. Probably won't write reviews for individual episodes going forward, but I'm wholly loving this again.
Moving forward and developing, already, in interesting ways. Probably won't write reviews for individual episodes going forward, but I'm wholly loving this again.
October 22, 2017
Delicious! All the focus is on Diane: fortune restored, husband out of the way, fine and foxy and looking for action. Rafe and Kaab each made an appearance, too, quite interestingly together (well, not "together", of course, but together) as well as assorted nobles and noble ladies and some hot-diggety-DAMN fine new characters. It was SO.MUCH.FUN. I am getting very excited about my weekly fix now!
December 27, 2016
I hadn't read the first series so this was the first book for me that I have read. This one introduces the characters, covers their back stories and set the scene for the episodes ahead. Really looking forward to starting the next book and seeing where the story takes me.
February 21, 2017
Ellen Kushner does not hesitate but dives right in to season 2 with all the political intrigue and careful chess playing of season 1. I love this world!
November 20, 2016
Tremontaine Season 2 Episode 1: "Convocation"
by Ellen Kushner,
Convocation is the part of the series that sets up season 2, it gives the background of the story, providing remarkable convolutions of power and prestige. It is the meeting of lords, and traders that will govern the world. Tremontaine is the wife of a lord who is laid low by illness. Her rise to control of the family trust has not been unremarked. She has reestablished the family wealth and has remarkable ability to corner the market on trade.
by Ellen Kushner,
Convocation is the part of the series that sets up season 2, it gives the background of the story, providing remarkable convolutions of power and prestige. It is the meeting of lords, and traders that will govern the world. Tremontaine is the wife of a lord who is laid low by illness. Her rise to control of the family trust has not been unremarked. She has reestablished the family wealth and has remarkable ability to corner the market on trade.
November 20, 2016
Tremontaine Season 2 Episode 1: "Convocation"
by Ellen Kushner,
Convocation is the part of the series that sets up season 2, it gives the background of the story, providing remarkable convolutions of power and prestige. It is the meeting of lords, and traders that will govern the world. Tremontaine is the wife of a lord who is laid low by illness. Her rise to control of the family trust has not been unremarked. She has reestablished the family wealth and has remarkable ability to corner the market on trade.
by Ellen Kushner,
Convocation is the part of the series that sets up season 2, it gives the background of the story, providing remarkable convolutions of power and prestige. It is the meeting of lords, and traders that will govern the world. Tremontaine is the wife of a lord who is laid low by illness. Her rise to control of the family trust has not been unremarked. She has reestablished the family wealth and has remarkable ability to corner the market on trade.
September 28, 2016
A glorious return to the world and drama of Tremontaine. As subtle and dangerous as the duchess herself, beneath the lace of beautiful words.
And that cover art! *swoon*
What will they come up with next?!
Full response, with minimal spoilers, here: https://dvorahsperling.wordpress.com/...
And that cover art! *swoon*
What will they come up with next?!
Full response, with minimal spoilers, here: https://dvorahsperling.wordpress.com/...
April 17, 2017
Tremontaine is back!
Season 2 of Tremontaine opens with a grand party, with all the major players in attendance. If you missed last year's publishing event, you're now faced with a difficult choice: Do you start season 2 right here, or do you go back and read season 1 first? Either way, you're in for a treat!
Season 2 of Tremontaine opens with a grand party, with all the major players in attendance. If you missed last year's publishing event, you're now faced with a difficult choice: Do you start season 2 right here, or do you go back and read season 1 first? Either way, you're in for a treat!
October 20, 2016
The first in season two and I cannot express how lovely it is to be back reading about Tremontaine. This episode features Diane heavily and I have a grudging respect for her. She really is tenacious.
Seeds have been sown, I am looking forward to seeing how season two transpires.
Seeds have been sown, I am looking forward to seeing how season two transpires.
October 25, 2016
I'm actually going to listen to these episodes as they come out!
I enjoyed this first foray back into Tremontaine. I'm looking forward to seeing where the creators take these characters this season.
I enjoyed this first foray back into Tremontaine. I'm looking forward to seeing where the creators take these characters this season.
September 26, 2016
Full review is here! (ARC) http://overtheeffingrainbow.co.uk/201...
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November 3, 2016I missed this series!
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