Thoughtful Thursday at FanLit

Check out this week's Thoughtful Thursday at FanLit. This week's topic: things an author does that makes you stop reading. You'll need to log into Google FriendConnect to leave a comment. Just look for the link at the bottom of the page.

Genre Break - Gaslight Mysteries, Volumes Three through Six

Every once in a while, the lure of the wonderful Gaslight Mysteries tempt me away from fantasy to the world of New York City during the waning years of the 19th century. The Gaslight Mysteries are written by Victoria Thompson. I reviewed volumes one through three a few months ago.

I wish Ms. Thompson would give the year that her novels take place. The only historical marker I have is Theodore Roosevelt's tenure as a Police Commissioner in New York City. According to his Wikipedia entry, those years were 1895 to 1897, so these novels take place during those years.

Murder on Washington Square is my favorite of the series so far. There's lots of character development for both Frank and Sarah, and their interest in each other becomes more evident. The romance still proceeds at a glacial pace, because, after all, once you have a Happily Ever After, it would be difficult to continue the story.

In Murder on Washington Square, Sarah's neighbor Nelson Ellsworth finds himself the suspect in the murder of a young woman whom he had been ready to marry. In previous volumes, Mrs. Ellsworth's favorite activity was sweeping her porch so she could keep track of the goings-on of her neighbors. But with reporters crowding her doorstep, looking for the scoop of Mr. Ellsworth, she's in hiding.

Sarah continues her tactic of detection-by-nosiness, although it's not as evident in this book. This dress features a cross-dresser, women who prefer their men married rather than single, and Sarah getting high on opium. Oh, and a kiss.

Murder on Mulberry Bend, by contrast, is my least favorite of the series so far. In this novel, a young woman from the Prodigal Son Mission is murdered in a park wearing Sarah's clothes. By coincidence, a man who helped her previous investigation lost his wife to a fever while she was volunteering at the same mission.

The story of a young woman murdered while wearing Sarah's clothes seemed to have so much potential, especially since Frank is finally beginning to get somewhere with his investigation of Sarah's husband's death. However, the author evidently didn't think of what I hoped for.

The mystery in this novel was very frustrating, and Frank is ordered to terminate the investigation, leaving Sarah much on her own. There are a host of suspects--all kinds of shady characters. It was darker in tone that most of Ms. Thompson's novels, and the progression of the romance between Frank and Sarah comes to a frustrating halt.

Still, it was an enjoyable tale with new characters who return in subsequent books.

In Murder on Marble Row, Ms Thompson is back in her groove with scintillating dialog and humorous situations. It also offers a return to high-society New York--or rather, it's steamy underbelly.

Mr. Gregory Van Dyke has been blown up in his office. Frank is given the job of solving the murder by Commissioner Roosevelt, himself. Mr. Van Dyke's heir, Creighton Van Dyke, is a prime suspect because of his association with "anarchists".

Sarah's mother--of all people--helps Sarah solve this murder. The situations they find themselves in are hilarious, especially when the two of them venture to New York's rough Lower East Side to visit the anarchists. Their stop in the First Street Saloon was especially fun, but it wasn't as fun as Frank Malloy taking the two of them to a chop suey joint for lunch.

Great fun. However, this novel was way too plot heavy with almost no character development.

Which is my only flaw in the series, itself. I read books like this for the characters, not the plots. Alexander McCall Smith is a master of writing character development stories under the guise of mysteries with his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. Sure, the mysteries are fun and the whodunits are a blast to guess, but the characters are the true reason I keep coming back.

I have the rest of the books in the series except the last one, but I probably won't read them for another three months or so. I'd love to read them back-to-back, but all the fantasies on my self are calling my name, and I'd better not neglect them for long.

If you like historical mysteries, these are wonderful. If you don't, you might want to try them anyway and like me, discover a new addiction!

Writer Wednesday - Dialog

The art of writing dialog is a tough skill to learn. We learn all the basics. We punctuate properly. We avoid excessive dialog tags. We avoid modifying our dialog tags with adverbs. We read it aloud to make sure it flows right. And we never make our characters give long speeches unless they have a damned good reason.

But still, we get told our dialog is stilted.

Joining us today as Featured Writer is Lisa Shearin, a master of witty dialog. She is the author of Magic Lost, Trouble Found, Armed and Magical and The Trouble with Demons. Her books have consistently been available on the shelves of bookstores everywhere since she was first published, and her books are notable for their laugh-out-loud dialog. It's a real treat to have here here today. She provided two excerpts from The Trouble with Demons to give us some discussion fodder. I had a really hard time choosing between them, but here it is:

~*~

Piaras wasn’t having a good day; yesterday had started off the same way and by last night, it had slid downhill into a cesspool.  Today was showing all the signs doing the exact same thing.  

There was no easy way to ask what I needed to ask.  Sure, I could just come right out and say it; it was a simple enough question, but the words just refused to come out.

“You and Katelyn like each other, right?”  Yeah, I know, it was the cowardly way in, but at least it was a related topic.

Now the kid was completely confused.  “Yes, we do.”

“A lot?”

“Yes, a lot.  Why do you ask?”

“The two of you haven’t . . . done anything about really liking each other, have you?”

Now he was confused and concerned.  “Not yet.  I . . . that is, we want to . . . we think . . . but . . .”

“But what?”

“Before I came to class, the archmagus and I had breakfast together.”

I pressed my lips together so wouldn’t snicker.  Oh, I knew what was coming.  Uncle Ryn had done the same for me.  Any boy—or a couple of years later, any man—who wanted to see me socially had to go through The Talk.  One of my hopeful suitors said going through The Talk was like being forced to walk through fire, except without the fun parts.  You tried to get through it as quickly as possible and told yourself the pain would be over soon.  To the best of my knowledge, Uncle Ryn had never actually laid hands on one of my suitors, but he’d always made it plain and clear what behavior he expected, and what actions would be taken if he was “disappointed” that the boy/man’s behavior fell short of those expectations.  Needless to say, I didn’t date all that much.

Piaras was looking at me.  “What?”

I swallowed a snort.  “Nothing.  Go on.”

Piaras glanced at the door; it was closed, but he lowered his voice anyway.  “Archmagus Valerian said he would know if Katelyn and I . . . you know.  Raine, I’d like to live long enough to graduate, or at least graduate in this form.  He can’t really turn me into a squid, can he?”

“Is that what he told you?”

“And a couple of other things.”

“He can’t do it, at least not the squid part.”

“You’re sure?”

“Positive.”

Piaras let out a relieved breath.  “That’s good.”  His look turned suspicious.  “Why are you asking about me and Kat?”

I really didn’t want to come out and say this.  “I need to find the Scythe of Nen.  And by the way, you weren’t too far off the mark.  It is a dagger.”

“What’s it look like?”

I told him what my dad had told me.

“Something that small won’t be easy to find,” Piaras noted.

“No, it’s won’t.  And apparently a certain type of person is helpful for finding this kind of thing.”

Piaras’s eyes narrowed.  I had a sinking feeling he’d figured out where I was going with this.

“What type of person?” he asked.

I winced.  “Uh . . . a virgin type of person.” 

His lips narrowed into a thin line to match his eyes.  “And when you found out you needed a virgin, you immediately thought of me.”

“Not immediately.”

“What, so you had to wait two seconds?”

“More like five actually.  Don’t feel bad about it.”

“You think I’m the only virgin on this island!  How’s that supposed to make me feel?”

I grinned hopefully.  “Special?”

Piaras gave me a look.  You know the one.

I threw my arms up.  “Okay, I’m sure there are other virgins on this island, but I don’t have time to find them.  I was pretty sure you were qualified—”

Piaras glowered.  “As a virgin.”

I held up a hand.  “No, no.”  I was just getting myself in deeper.  “I knew you were qualified in other ways to help.  Level headed, good in a fight, that kind of qualified.”

Piaras arched an eyebrow.  “Nice try.”

I hung my head and sighed.  “Kid, just help me out here, will you?”

Silence.  I looked up.  Piaras was grinning.

“What do you need me to do?” he asked. 

I told him.

“One question,” he said when I’d finished.

“Shoot.”

“This virgin thing, does thinking about it count?  Just because I haven’t done it doesn’t mean I don’t think about it.”  He lowered his voice again.  “A lot.”

~*~

As usual, please keep your excerpts to 300 words or fewer, and please put your excerpts and your critiques in separate posts.

And let's have some fun!

Debuts Wanted!

I'm running low on Debut Showcases so I thought I'd post a reminder--you can always let me know about an upcoming novel using this form. I usually only showcase books that are published by major, traditional publishers, but I make exceptions if the publisher seems exceptional. For example, ChiZine has started publishing books, and I put one of their novels on my calendar.

So if you're a newly-signed author, please let me know about it! It helps me out tremendously because I don't have to do as much research, and therefore I can use the time to cover more stuff.

Next Writer Wednesday

For our next Writer Wednesday, we'll have as featured writer someone whom several people have requested--Lisa Shearin! Our topic will be Dialog. She's given me a couple of great excerpts from The Trouble with Demons for me to choose from; the hardest part for me will be to actually make a choice!

I've Accepted . . .

. . . a flatteringly repeated offer from Fantasy Literature to become a regular contributor to their site. We're still discussing my role, but I've decided that all of my "Debut Break" type reviews will be for FanLit, plus non-current ("Historical") debuts and probably my debut graduates beyond that first "graduate" novel (for example, third novels and beyond). I have a lot of authors I enjoy following, but they aren't debut authors anymore.

Of course, I'll post snippets of all my reviews here, with links to the full review. All science fiction and non-fantasy ("Genre Break") reviews will remain here. Most of my work for FanLit may well be behind-the-scenes (editing, coding, etc). And it will be extremely part time.

I enjoy Fantasy Debut too much to give it up, but I also think it would be fun to be part of a like-minded group of individuals. I like what FanLit has going, and it helps that they really wanted me on board. It's nice to be wanted!

Drawn into Darkness by Annette McCleave

Drawn into Darkness by Annette McCleave

As you can tell by the cover, Drawn into Darkness is a paranormal romance. When I read the excerpt, I thought it was urban fantasy-ish. I used to be a bit fuzzy on the difference, but now it is absolutely clear to me. The first clue is the cover. Such covers aren't usually to be seen here at Fantasy Debut. Ab muscles abound. I usually go for arms and legs. And since I'm a product of the 80s, a little hair on a guy's chest is actually a nice thing.

Due to the cover, I never would have picked up this novel if I saw it in the store. Which means I'm probably pre-judging a lot of good books. I do wish romance publishers would stop making such embarrassing covers. However, I've figured out--so I'm slow--that these covers are kind of like a code. The lower the guy's pants, the steamier what is inside. These pants are only kind of low.

Before I go any further, a caveat. I don't really feel qualified to write this review. I read fantasy and mystery, and I feel qualified to review both genres. I haven't read romances since the 80s. So I'm just going to write what I think.

Lachlan McGregor is a soul gatherer. It's his job to grab a newly-dead soul and keep it safe until an agent of Heaven or Hell arrives to claim it. Problem is, Hell wants to claim all of them, and a soul-gatherer often has to fend off demons until the busy angels can arrive. The novel starts in Lachlan's point-of-view, and for the most part, the story focuses on him, because where he is, the action is. When the book starts, he habitually wears the disguise of a priest. This disguise sets the tone for the Christian aspects of the novel, which are partially Catholic in origin.

Rachel is a divorced mother of a fourteen year old named Emily, and she has her hands full. In the first scene of the book, Lachlan saves Emily from a bus accident. Ever since the bus crash, Emily has undergone a marked personality change. It turns out that Hell has a greater-than-usual interest in her, and they've sent one of their best lure demons to "lure" her into a spectacular death-suicide. And it turns out that this particular lure demon has a history with Lachlan.

Lachlan is a great dude, with a tortured past and rock-hard pecs from all the sword fighting he does to keep in shape and battle demons. The only problem I had with him is he was once a Scottish laird, which I'm starting to find a bit tiresome. Surely, there are lords of other nationalities who might be just as interesting. I liked him better than Rachel, who isn't even up to an argument with her daughter. I do feel for Rachel--having a rebellious teenager must be a horrible thing to go through. But she's just so danged weak. She doesn't even call the police when her daughter is dating a 22 year old man. I wanted to shake her. Part of the point of a novel is to have the character grow, and Rachel does grow, but it was hard for me to develop true sympathy for her--rather than just pity--when I found her actions so infuriating.

I don't mind a novel that draws on Christian themes as long as it is respectful. Ms. McCleave is respectful, but she imposes odd restrictions on the power of God that at times defied logic. For example, there's a Trinity Child, whom God creates every thousand years or so, and who can visit all three of the "planes", Heaven, Hell and Earth. However, God himself cannot visit Hell -- even though he created the child. Another logical problem was that God could not reverse a death mark, even though a certain resurrection is one of the basic tenants of the Christian--and Catholic--faith.

There are only two sex scenes in the novel, of which I was glad. We fantasy fans don't read for sex scenes. Even urban fantasies tend to keep sex scenes to a page or less. Fortunately, Ms. McCleave didn't give away any plot secrets in the midst of the sex scenes, so I was able to skip past them without feeling like I missed out on the story.

All in all, the pages just flew by and it was a nice way to spend a Saturday when I didn't feel well. The originality of this story might work well for lovers of urban fantasies who are tired of the usual mythologies.

This novel releases on September first. I'll link back to this review when I do the Debut Showcase, at which time I'll do my usual linkfest.

Writer Wednesday - Writer's Voice

Today's topic -- by request -- is a writer's voice. Voice is an elusive thing. When submitting to agents and publishers, among their guidelines, you often read that they want "an engaging voice." But how do you achieve that?

Voice to a writer is like light is to an artist. For an artist, skill is one thing, but the paintings truly come alive in in how you see -- and reproduce -- the light on canvas. It can be taught, but only to an extent. It's really something that must grow. The same goes for writing. When I first started writing, my voice was obscured by whoever my favorite writer was at the moment. As time went on, I started sounding more and more like myself. Nowadays, my writing sounds like "me" no matter who I'm reading at the moment.


Nathalie Mallet will be joining us for today's discussion. Her novels, The Princes of the Golden Cage and The King's Daughters, feature the voice of Prince Amir. Here are her thoughts on a writer's voice:

Finding one's voice is a term that one hears frequently in writing courses. But although one may know about the elements that make up voice—diction, syntax, tone and dialogue—it does not guarantee success. The way I do it is to simply assume the voice of my protagonist. And usually the tone of the narration comes from whichever details of the main character’s personality speak the loudest to me. In Amir’s case, it was his overly careful nature and his strong desire to remain anonymous.

Here’s an excerpt from The Princes of the Golden cage that best exemplifies this:

Being noticed meant having your potential evaluated. Never a good thing when one lived caged with so many power-thirsty brothers. To say that you didn’t want to become the next Sultan, that surviving was enough for you, was useless, even if true. For many of my brothers, only dead princes posed no threat. I counted myself lucky for being of average size, for having the dark hair and brown eyes shared by most of my siblings. Because of this I could blend easily in their midst. With its high cheekbones, square chin and short well-groomed beard, my face was one of many alike—unremarkable. I cultivated every bit of this blandness. I slumped whenever I was with shorter brothers, tried to sound dull when with dimwitted ones, and mimicked the affectations of my high-ranking brothers when near them. Even in my choice of clothes, I was careful. Blue and green were the predominant color of the palace’s walls, and therefore of my kaftans. Even my name, Amir, was common. There was at least four or five other Princes Amir still alive—a real blessing. 

I liked this excerpt because it really captured Prince Amir's personality.

Please join in with your own comments. Remember to keep any excerpts to 300 words. Please post replies and your own excerpts as separate comments, to make for easier reading.

Thank you for joining us, Nathalie!

Tomorrow and Beyond

Don't forget that Nathalie Mallet will be joining us tomorrow for a discussion on Voice. My review of Drawn into Darkness will go up on Thursday evening. I could have put it up tonight, but I prefer to give my reviews at least 24 hours of "time on top". And the Writer Wednesday discussions often last well into Thursday. In fact, I may move them to Thursday because I usually don't plan anything for Friday. Something to think on.

I'm still not ready to start the Discovery Showcases again. Probably when the school year starts.

A Quick Congratulations

Congratulations to David Anthony Durham, winner of the John W Campbell Award for Best New Writer! I loved his novel, Acacia, and I can't wait to read The Other Lands next month.