Much Ado About Murder Review

Much Ado About Murder -- edited by Anne Perry

Mystery stories inspired by Shakespeare? Count me in.

These are mostly period stories or stories about the events of the plays, rather than modern tales involving Shakespearean elements – perfectly valid, and because of my interest in translating mystery to a “standard” fantasy setting, more up my alley. I did start with some prejudice, however: I am dubious of any anthology where a) the editor describes the stories in the introduction, in glowing prose and b) the editor has a story in the anthology. I imagine it’s torture for an editor NOT to pitch in with a themed anthology, particularly if they took on the project with personal interest or as a labor of love … but I find it a bit tacky.

Jeffery Deaver’s “All The World’s A Stage” is an Elizabethan tale about a London man who learns that his father was murdered by a man now favored at court – and sets about to have his revenge without being caught. Mystery story? Perhaps not, but a well-paced tale cleanly unfolded nonetheless. At first, the involvement of Shakespeare seems gratuitious – an interjection made only to pacify the editor – but it comes clear in a fashion that is more than satisfying. The details in this story are authentic, but some segments of the narrative seemed “info-dumpy” – seems as if this author got caught up in the novelty of his research. As always, using period dialogue but modern narration is a tricky balance, and there are places where it jars, but I appreciate the authentic speech.

Enter Carole Nelson Douglas’ “Those Are Pearls That Were His Eyes,” a story which occurs after the events of The Tempest and also involves characters from The Merchant of Venice. Caliban is the principal point of view character, but the story invokes the format of a play early on, and moves into a half-omniscience. Here, the dialogue is natural, suited to the lingering, evocative narration with which the story opens. Thereafter – to the detriment of the tale – it becomes almost pure dialogue, difficult to follow. The intimations of play-hood are not enough to dispell this sensation of disembodied talk. For other reasons, I found this story confusing to follow. Caliban was well-portrayed as a sympathetic character, however, and the ultimate conclusion was a satisfying one.

“The Fall of the House of Oldenborg” by Robert Barnard is a tongue-in-cheek retelling of the events in Hamlet, as told by the Silent Irishman, a scheming syncophant who accompanies “Hammy” on his quest. Again, this isn’t truly a mystery story – at least, we know from the start how it will turn out, though there are some surprises along the way. I enjoyed some of the humorous elements of this story, but I thought that it trended into the category of “too silly” – it was hard to identify with the characters through the comic detachment, or to sustain much (if any) tension. I didn’t find it funny enough to overcome these weaknesses, though this is a clever read.

There is great delight in Sharan Newman’s “Jack Hath Not His Jill,” a period story written as a letter from Anne, Princess of France. After a puzzling reception, she sets out to determine the true force behind the throne of Navarre. Where this story shines is its narrator, bright and feisty while still being a perfect portrayal of early royalty. I did become a little lost in the letter. I also had trouble keeping track of the cast of characters, but I think this is a flaw of my not being familiar with the play on which the story was based – and possibly how tired I was when reading the story. I still enjoyed the conclusion, and there was much fun in being along for the ride.

I came away from “Gracious Silence” by Gillian Linscott with exactly one thought: wow. This is the tale of timid Virgilia, wife of Coriolanus – whose silence carries her forward until she can be silent no more. Since reading The Handmaid’s Tale, I thought that a passive character couldn’t be a sympathetic narrator, nor star in a fulfilling story – this one proves me wrong. I came to sympathize deeply with the main character and her plight, and had a full appreciation for the strictures imposed on her both by ancient Roman society and by her imposing mother-in-law, Volumnia. If there is a flaw in this story, it is due to its placement: this is neither a mystery nor even really a murder story. What it is is a thoroughly engrossing read.

Yay! Twelfth Night!

Courtesy of Lillian Stewart Carl, “A Dish of Poison” fits seamlessly into the events of the play, a quasi-prelude wherein the newly-disguised Viola/Cesario is sent by Duke Orsino to discern the true facts behind the death of his beloved Olivia’s brother. This is a quick, lively tale with easy to follow clues (but not too easy) and a solid mystery at its core. There is even a smooth info-dump in the beginning for those not familiar with the plot of the play. A few famous Shakespearean lines weave naturally into the dialogue. Both old characters and new are well-defined and realistic – they come right off the page.

Not a mystery story, but “Too Many Cooks” by Marcia Talley is a delightful take on the events of Macbeth, from the POV of the (hapless) Weird Sisters, desperate to make a living from their sorcery with spell ingredients on the cheap. It is great fun to see how their good intentions run amok, and there are some really clever segues from the witches’ mistakes to the events of the play. My only small complaint with this story – and it scarcely marred my enjoyment – is that in the second half of the story, the witches are fairly passive, and the conclusion isn’t really in their hands. The characters are sympathetic, the story light and fun ... and you have to love an unexpected happy ending.

“Squinting at Death” by Edward Marston is a straightforward tale of detection centered around a murder that occurred on the bloody battlefield of Agincourt. He cleverly combines historical figures with characters from Shakespeare’s Henry V. The aftermath of the battle is depicted authentically without resorting to gore, and the main character’s determination to solve a crime in the midst of so much other death provides an interesting contrast. From a zinger of a comment in the denouement (to say more would be to give it away) to the ethnic pride of the Welshmen, this story is flavorful and enjoyable. I did feel that I was being “red-herringed” into expecting a political conspiracy in the beginning, however.

Simon Brett presents “Exit, Pursued,” a story set in the twilight days of Shakespearean theatre, when the bard battles with bear-baiting and an apathetic public. When one of the company is murdered, Charles Parys becomes an informal detective. This is a solid mystery story built on the foundations of its time and place – evocatively described and entertaining to read. I had only two small complaints: one, I thought that the characters perhaps spent too much time quoting the plays (there is a point when skillful incorporation becomes “laid on too thick”), and two, the conclusion hinted at a lack of conscience on the part of the detective that I found disquieting – and it didn’t seem supported by the rest of the story. Ultimately, this didn’t mar the story, and I intend to seek out more of Brett’s work.

“Richard’s Children” from Brendan DuBois wasn’t my cup of tea. This is a contemporary story of conspiracy surrounding two Richards – Richard the Third of Shakespearean (and historical) fame, and Richard Nixon. It’s an interesting premise that appeals to the paranoid theorist in all of us, but the story felt somehow hollow to me. Maybe the pacing was off; maybe I felt something was promised that wasn’t delivered. Certainly the connection to Shakespeare is more tenuous than I would have expected: we’re dealing with the historical Richard here, with only a few gratuitious references to the Bard thrown in. This almost feels like the first chapter of a novel … maybe what disappointed me was the worldbuilding turned into little more than a punchline.

Margaret Frazer’s “This World’s Eternity” presents an interesting variation on the mystery. The story contains an italicized monologue from one of the characters … but which is it? This one follows the events King Henry VI, and presents a satisfying tale at heart – for all its characters show the range of their vices. The opening of this story is somewhat shaky, as it bombards the reader with names and conflicts too rapidly to be digested, but it evens out as the tale continues. This wasn’t one of my favorites, but it is an interesting study of characters and subtle influences.

“Cleo’s Asp” by Edward D. Hoch takes us back to ancient Egypt and a clown turned investigator who must figure out which of Cleopatra’s maidservants have betrayed her. This is a well-written story with a sympathetic narrator and good pacing, but there are some flaws. With two servants, and the narrator having close sympathy for one of them, the conclusion paints too broad a stroke regardless of the guilty party. In addition, he knocks out a potential murder suspect – but alerts no guards and does nothing to restrain him. How does this make sense? I found the murder in this mystery to be bare, and it invited a twist that was too spurious to be effective.

Kathy Lynn Emerson’s “Much Ado About Murder” tackles one of Shakespeare’s most beloved heroines – and one of my personal favorites. She introduces Beatrice and Benedick seamlessly into the history and lives of her series sleuth, Lady Susanna Appleton – who takes it as a personal charge to smuggle Protestants out of the country during the rule of Queen Mary. When one of the transients turns up a corpse, it is up to the two women to find out who killed him. The main characters of Much Ado About Nothing are beautifully depicted; I was immediately taken by Emerson’s Beatrice. There is also nice trick of casting criminal suspicion on Shakespearean characters: would the author go that far from the traditional portrayal?

“The Serpent’s Tooth” by P.C. Doherty explores the possible murder of the most integral figure to Shakespeare’s works: the Bard himself. The physician Siggins arrives by royal decree to question daughter Susanna, and her husband, John Hall, in the wake of Shakespeare’s burial. This tale builds suspense and curiosity in a slow, effective expansion of details – the cat and mouse game between Siggins and the Halls is tense and absorbing to read, and build sympathy for the pair. There is one fairly major flaw in this story, a pair of uneven POV shifts with no scene break to demarcate them, but this is the only thing to interrupt the skillful construction of the story.

I admit to not being familiar with the play on which Peter Robinson’s “The Duke’s Wife” is based. To his credit, he attempts to summarize the events which leave Isabella married to the Duke and her good friend Mariana married to the scandalous Angelo … whose most recent crimes turn Isabella into an amateur investigator. However, the summary is somewhat clumsy, and the story which hangs on it somehow lacking. Maybe there isn’t enough space to develop sympathy with the characters. Maybe full connection with the story involves knowledge of the play, summary notwithstanding. For whatever reason, this one missed the mark with me.

Peter Tremayne often slathers on his historical information, and “‘Let The Game Begin!’” is no exception to this – but heavy history notwithstanding, this is an enjoyable story. This anthology opened with a tale of actors in jeopardy … now it closes with two in sequence. Constable Hardy Drew is summoned to the Red Boar Inn to investigate the death of a gentleman, but all is not as it seems. I liked this character and the strong sense of history in the story. The plot is well-paced with an interesting conclusion – enjoyable to follow with just enough clues to guess where it might be going. There’s also a nice, clear emotional arc for the main character, a lesson learned without being preachy.

Despite my reservations above, “Ere I Killed Thee” by Anne Perry is a worthy addition to this anthology. It is set in the Victorian period around a stage performance of Othello, and the theme of this work is elegantly woven into the tale of jealousy and revenge played out by its actor characters. While I was left with some questions as to the narrator’s early inaction, the mood and motive is otherwise expertly illuminated. I confess, however, that I guessed the murderer early on, which is a rarity for me and makes me wonder how well it was hidden. Finally, the ending involves a device that even I (who hasn’t read that many mysteries) recognize as a cliché. Flaws aside, this one balances out as an enjoyable tale, and a solid ending to the anthology.

Overall, this was a strong anthology with only two real mis-steps that I could see. One, half of the weakest stories were put right in the front. I can easily see a picky reader giving the entire anthology a miss on the basis of those stories, and that would be a shame. Two … no A Midsummer Night’s Dream? Given some of the plays that were used, the absence of this one seems to be a gaping hole. You might argue that the fantastic element makes it difficult to work with, but there’s a story about The Tempest in the anthology, and the representative Macbeth story is fantasy in character. Perhaps the editor simply didn’t receive any stories in this vein, or attempts to solicit one met with lapsed promises. Maybe I’m just biased.

Or maybe I’ll write one …

Deviant!

Just for the fun of it, started a Deviantart account. I'm over at:

http://aiara.deviantart.com/

Another Art Spurt!

It's bleeding out of my fingers! But I've got an obscene amount of space on my website, so why not? I have done some computer modulation, but only to make the scans look as much like the original pages as possible.

This was a free-form drawing, with no photo for reference. After starting it, I immediately wished I had used only white pastels. One small computer modulation beyond those described above - I originally had her eyes a bit too high, and the first pencil mark was faintly visible in the scan, so I smudged it digitally.

http://www.lindseyduncan.com/WaterNymph.jpg

Just for fun, I put it into Paint Shop Pro and blue-scaled it:

http://www.lindseyduncan.com/WaterNymphBlue.jpg

This one, on the other hand, was sketched by hand and then colored in PSP. The title is "Chocolate Bard" - a combination of my trying to "fantasy up" my work and my really bad pun sense:

http://www.lindseyduncan.com/ChocolateBard.JPG

But wait. The puns get worse. Much, much worse. This one is entitled Waite-d Dice:

http://www.lindseyduncan.com/WaitedDice.jpg

Finally, I went kind of nuts and bought myself a starter set of acrylic paints. This is the result:

http://www.lindseyduncan.com/WarriorHills.jpg

I'm having fun conceptualizing things that I can draw without using copyrighted models - and basically giving myself permission to experiment and be not terribly good at it. ;-) I'm taking a roll of film right now to see if my camera even works ... I'll be shocked if it does, considering the film that was in it when I found it was from 2005 ... but it was a good camera, so there's a chance.

Spaaaaace Sirens!

I just sold a story entitled "Precious Cargo" to the anthology Space Sirens, edited by Carol Hightshoe (of The Lorelei Signal and Sorcerous Signals - always gracious and professional). Essentially, the theme of the anthology is female-centric adventure science fiction. She was looking for some humor / tongue-in-cheek - I'm not totally sure where my story falls on that spectrum, but I was trying. ;-)

Fantasy ...

"Fantasy, abandoned by reason, produces impossible monsters; united with it, she is the mother of the arts and the origin of marvels." ~Francisco Goya

Mirror, Mirror

Dry spell broken - sale!

Mirror, Mirror will appear in the debut issue of Speculative Mystery Iconoclast (http://specmysticon.wordpress.com/) sometime towards the end of July. I rather think I'm going to enjoy this magazine, m'self ...

Boot Camp Revised

Finally decided on a two-day cycle:

Day 1: Pitch and first three pages
Day 2: Remainder

I did a script yesterday, but I may be putting off the rest of the "camp" to start next Monday. I am having a wildly over-busy week and it's just one thing too many on my plate. Will heavily depend on whether I get a script started today.

Writers' Boot Camp: Part Two

A while ago, I did a self-imposed Writers' Boot Camp: I went through the book The Three A.M. Epiphany in order, one exercise a day, skipping only the ones that didn't fit easily into a single day's work and taking breaks only under extenuating circumstances. Now, I'm pondering a different idea.

Since participating in the 48 Hr Film Project, I've become intrigued by script writing. The random prompt generator the Oblaks set up for practice pitches is still there. I thought I might make use of it to write a whole bunch of short scripts. A rough guideline is one minute per page, so if I stay within the 48 Hr guidelines, which I see no reason why not (brevity practice is always good for me), it would be aiming for 4-7 page scripts. I'll go easy on myself and say to max out at ten.

I'm not going to come out of this with a product I can sell. My hopes are two-fold:

A) Come up with some material that can be converted into short work / flash fiction, and/or that can be used within a story - a play within the work, for instance.

B) More importantly, improve as a writer by stretching and trying a completely new medium.

My only quandry here is how to set it up advantageously. In the past, my boot-camp was designed to leave me enough time per day to work on my continuous projects. I'm not sure that I can write 4+ pages of script and not have it take up the whole day. However, if I say per 3 days, then I lose the element of having an obvious goal for each day. I think I'm going to try a couple over the next few days and see how it goes; then I'll decide how to proceed. But I'm thinking a two-week "camp" is my final goal, and/or ten scripts minimum.

Not Quitting My Day-Job

Every now and again, I like to draw - hindered somewhat by the fact that I'm not very good at it. I also prefer to have something to draw from, which is a problem when photos are copyrighted, etc ... I feel a bit "off" claiming it. Also complicating matters is the fact that I feel the urge to "fantasy up" everything I draw. Anyhow, I've gone through another phase, and thought I'd post a few for the heck of it.

Old work:

http://www.lindseyduncan.com/mask.jpg
http://www.lindseyduncan.com/briallan.jpg

I really liked the inverse shading I had to do with the pastels for the second one, so am planning on trying something similar.

Currently, some found objects from my house:

http://www.lindseyduncan.com/Spilled Rocks.jpg

And I felt the overwhelming need to fantasy-ize this one by making it anthropomorphic:

http://www.lindseyduncan.com/PepperGrinder.jpg

This next one, I was initially going to do three ways (pastels, pencils and digital), but I couldn't get the lines distinct enough to "work" them on the computer. So:

http://www.lindseyduncan.com/Traveling Musician 2.jpg
http://www.lindseyduncan.com/Traveling Musician.jpg

I had a huge rant prepared about how the background of the second one was supposed to be a carpet, so expansive that there wasn't really a horizon in the perspective, but it turned into a psychadelic trip ... but *then* the carpet color didn't really get picked up by the scanner.

So. Yeah. Not an artist.

Just Goes To Show ...

I am a horrible judge of my own work. I had discounted my entry for the May Fantasy-Writers.org Writing Challenge, because I'd read a couple other entries that I thought were significantly stronger than my own.

Read:

http://www.fantasy-writers.org/

(I'm Aiara.)

I am sort of mystified. But pleased!

(No more 48 Hr updates for a while. Next step is the screening next week, of all twenty films in our group ... I'm hoping to attend.)

48 Hour Film Project: 46hrs to Zero Hour

So the mysterious secret of the editors' demesne twas revealed, and after getting myself thoroughly lost off the exit (go me!) I finally trolled in about 5:30. An hour and a half until submissions opened, two hours until the final bell. With sixteen minutes needed to make two tapes, the crew was busily working on the audio. It was crazy, watching the last minute blitz. Amy was in nail-biting mode, but too tired to actually do any chewing.

At first, we're talking about leaving to be there by 7pm. Then leaving by 7. And then, as a few of the boys head off to scout the way ...

Kachunk. Disk failure. Reboot. Reboot again.

We need sixteen minutes. It's past 7. ... and it's not going to happen.

A disheartened crew is ready to push through even despite, but the energy is gone. Then a cameraman has the idea to copy the second tape on the way over. "But we don't have this cable!" "I do!" "... my battery is dead." Eventually sorting out the mishmash, we race to the car, waiting and ready to drive. (I am not driving. Are you crazy?)

A lone figure surges out of the apartment. "I checked the rules! We only need one tape!" And whoosh, we're off, pedal to the floor, clocking like crazy for downtown, and very tempted to run some red lights downtown. We pull up by Fountain Square - out jumps Jim with the tape - and a crazy swing down into the parking lot to park. I really wish I'd known I was going to be running: I literally ended up out of one of my sandals as we hurried to join him. (Only he needed to be there, but - still! Fervor!)

We made it, less than two minutes to spare. Off to celebrate, swap shoot stories, snack on appetizers and (quite a bit) stare into space. What a ride.

48 Hour Film Project: 43 hrs

Just received a call from Amy - turns out they banned anyone who wasn't an editor from the editing room, and didn't even tell most of the crew where said editing was occurring. She said that it would probably be open in a little while, but I've got a lunch date for Father's Day, so ... and the last stage, of course, is the drop-off, with celebratory dining afterwards. Not sure whether or not I'll be able to make it down there ...

48 Hour Film Project: 17hrs to 25hrs

Ah, the dreaded phonecall:

"It doesn't read like a road movie."

Unfortunately, with about ten minutes until I left, the mail came in, and it included a rejection on an agent query. So I felt this irrational compulsion to get it back into the "mail" (email in this case) immediately ... complicated by the fact I'd decided to multi-query. I finally told myself I was being silly, as long as I had the destinations chosen, there was no way a couple hrs in sending was going to matter ... but still, getting myself out the door with the queries unsent was unnervingly hard.

Managed to get a parking space out front, then realized I had only one quarter. One of the apartment owners was outside with Randall (puppy!). I rushed up to ask if I could trade for some change. He asked if I'd checked around the corner for alley parking. I turned, in sort of a rush because I was fifteen minutes late (1pm was the requested meet-time) and ... smack. OWW. I crashed thigh-first into a flower-pot. The fact that it leapt out of nowhere and viciously attacked me became a running joke for the rest of the day.

But I have a war-wound! (Actually two of them - cut my finger later trying to pull the dog back on one of those darned auto-retractable-extendable-whatever leashes.)

We decided to extend the travel sequences and add some monologues, including one about kayak being a palindrome ... why isn't palindrome a palindrome? Anyhow. Also some other conceptual neatos, followed by the slow trickle in of necessary personnel before ... uh ... turns out the crew that wanted to start filming as soon as the new draft was approved couldn't go anywhere because they had the kayak, but no way to secure it.

Eventually, everyone got out the door. Amy and I ended up doing some clerical work and coming up with a possible form for the credits. Since she was the only other one there, I hung around for a bit before clocking home ... mainly because we weren't conversing, I was monologuing and I was turning increasingly more idiotic.

There was a lot of hurry up and wait today, but we got some good, strong work done, and I'm feeling better about my contribution to the collaboration. Tomorrow -- editing, and that's mostly an observer post again.

Halfway there!

48 Hour Film Project: 9hrs to 16hrs

Zzzzzz.

Woke up this morning and sent probably the second text message of my life to Amy to find out if they'd slept yet. Turns out they want to meet at 3pm to do some editing, so unless it becomes earlier, I'll be shipping out in a bit to play observer. I'd also think the editing process should have some creative elements ... not that I'm necessarily providing them, but I can pretend. ;-)

At this point, I want to step aside and discuss a basic problem with fiction: Inspired By True Events.

Truth is stranger than fiction. "Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities - truth isn't." (Mark Twain) It all boils down to this: we tolerate coincidence in the real world, but we don't tolerate it in a story, except as maybe a catalyst. ("Oh, look, a kayak!" That's fine.) For real events to work as a translation, they have to have an underlying causual integrity. And sometimes, the way things actually happened don't necessarily make for a better story.

So there's a push-me-pull-you between, "But that's how it happened!" and the evolution of script and story. It's not all one way, either - we want to keep the core, because there is something really fresh about the fact that this actually happened. But it has definitely been a confounding factor.

48 Hour Film Project: 5 hrs to 8 hrs

Location scouting! I have no business being part of this, but it involves being on the streets of Cincinnati at 12:45 in the morning, so hey. Eerie cloud passage overhead. It's amazing how alive the streets are, and then they clear out, and in that possessive stillness I'm reminded of a favorite poem about a very different place -

And suddenly, a silence ...
Takes your breath away

There's something very magical about this illusion of emptiness in a city.

Not quite so magical: random drunk man trying to high-five everyone.

Quinn compares parts of the script to Douglas Adams. Terry looks blank. Scott and I are shocked. You poor deprived woman! Or maybe I should say, "Our jaws hung open exactly the way bricks don't."

There are bits I'm not fond of - I've got a limited tolerance for crude humor. (Yeah, call me a snob.) But it should hang together well.

The kayak arrives!

Peanut butter brownie cookies I bought on a whim are a hit. Seriously, I just stared at all the cookie varieties until I saw two that I particularly wanted to have. There was very little public appeal thought to it, but for some reason it seems like everyone else was in the same cookie mood.

I could have left at this point - and I know there will probably be creative disputes after I did leave - but I was curious to catch the beginning of the filming. It's a slow process of hurry up and wait, but passerby seemed to be both courteous and very interested.

Could have stayed over and slept there - I did bring my sleeping bag - but I put my back out a week ago, and that struck me as really dumb. So stayed until I could feel I was edging on too much pain and too much sleepiness to drive safely, then took off for home. Will call when I wake up to see where everyone is ...

Cannot go to bed without shower. Spent way too much time petting dog and way too much time around smokers. Will wake up as one ball of unremitting allergy otherwise.

What a crazy, surreal, eclectic experience. This is a whole new form of collaboration for me. Still processing. More as the film continues ...

48 Hour Film Project: -2 hrs to 5hrs

A man, a plan, a ... kayak?

Today is the ... no, yesterday is the day. I really wanted to collect all my thoughts before I slept. Actually, what I really want is a shower, but I don't want to wake anyone else up. ;-)

4:50pm -- Amy telephones me and lets me know they're en route to draw their random elements for the film. Stuck on Fields-Ertel, which is one of those nightmarish roads upon which construction occurs, but no improvement. Everyone needs to be at the Plum Street Cafe in downtown Cincinnati by 7pm to begin work as soon as elements are announced. I'm planning to leave around 6:30 ... leaving fifteen minutes earlier usually just puts you that much closer to the rush, so you end up arriving at the same time with more glunking in the car.

6:10 -- Amy again, "Hey, Linds, where are you?" Me, "I'm not driving yet, leaving in a few minutes." Her, "Well, there's this accident ..." Me, "Aaack. Getting in car. Now."

6:50 -- bumper to bumper traffic, thirteen miles to go and OMG WHY IS THERE A BUS DRIVING ON THE LEFT HAND BERM?

7:26 -- finally downtown. Circled around once. No parking. Saw Amy and her husband Jim, tried to beep at them, probably ticked off other drivers. Phonecall, picked her up on the next go-round, and finally got parked.

Inside at last for the moment of truth:

Genre: Road Movie
Required Character: Winston (or Wilma) Weatherby, an auctioneer
Required Prop: A roll of toilet paper
Line of dialogue: "There's no way this is going to work."

I think there are a dozen people in the room, and we get down to coming up with a general form. Some things are kicked around - I suggest a bicycle road movie, someone brings up Antiques Roadshow. Turns out there's a true story about the brothers who own the apartment we're taking over and one of those things that sounds like a good idea when one is drunk: an epic tale of trying to bring a dumped kayak back to their apartment.

There are a couple other suggestions, but this seems to lead. Everyone contributes to general form, possible incorporation of the elements, and by just a little after nine o'clock, we have a rough outline. Terry, Scott (I think) and I are turned loose to script-write. Terry takes the typing and the lead; she's opinionated but not roughshod, so this works really well. I feel like I'm quiet, but I do contribute some. I am inordinately distracted by the fact that we have a storyboard artist drawing shots of the scene as we're scripting. Too. Awesome.

(Also, I stop to have a conversation with Randall, the dog. No one finds this odd.)

At this point, time begins to bluuuuur. I think it took us two hours to get a rough draft - four pages, which at about a minute a page (and with a couple of action/montage scenes) put us comfortably in the 4 - 7 minute restriction. Time became of the essence because, while conceptualizing the script, we realized it had to be shot completely at night. So - shooting would start (has started) tonight and be finished Saturday night.

(I have a chocolate orgasm. This is a cookie. My diet is more shot than a tourist trap.)

Readthrough, suggested minor changes, and then some more significant thematic issues, handled with a few lines. Amazing what focus and clarity can be conveyed in minor tweaks.

Laura and Quinn pop upstairs at this point and have written us a themesong. Chords, lyrics, melody and campiness about being in a kayak with no paddle. Themesong. Seriously. Wow.

Continuing into tomorrow ...

In Memoriam

Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of putting my dog Nimi to sleep. Here she is, enjoying a last car-ride:

http://www.geocities.com/wyrin/NimiRide.jpg

A year later, I still think this says it:

"I'm on the move
I'm gettin' on
I'm breakin' out
And it won't take long
Behind the wheel
Got a song
Pedal's down
And I'm gone ..." --- Cadillac Car (Dreamgirls)

The Mystery in a Mystery?

I just finished Glen Cook's "Sweet Silver Blues," which I've heard described as a (loosely) noir-style mystery in a fantasy setting. This is the way I want to take my own fantasy-mysteries - a period investigator in a fantastic setting, rather than the urban detective in a paranormal contemporary world that seems so popular - so I was particularly interested in this one. It certainly has some elements of a mystery story, and I did like the noir intrusions into a fairly standard fantasy setting, but it didn't strike me as a mystery for one reason: no fair play.

There was no way that a reader could have guessed what was going on before the detective, because most of the time, the background clues, hints and relevant world knowledge was provided only a few pages before the attached solution. I got the impression that I was somehow expected to intuit any number of possible fantastic elements ... or there was no play-along aspect to the mystery.

Since this is the first book, I would expect this to balance out in later novels. Undecided whether I'm going to try to pick up future volumes to see. I was curious to see what would happen, but I didn't feel invested in the characters, so I wasn't interested in their survival ... a loss of tension. I am very very picky about my character development, though, so odds I'm being overly harsh - high.

Laptop Woes

My laptop has - twice now - abruptly turned off and refused to reboot. This usually happens after I've had it on for a number of hours, so I'm working on the theory the fan might have died. Going to see if it does it again, and then possibly take it to a repair place ... I really hope it's not very expensive to fix if so. I also keep procrastinating on getting the CD burner on my desktop fixed because the last time I had my desktop repaired, the Gateway people held it hostage for two months ...

Random work update --

Journal of the Dead - just a tiny bit shy of 72,000 words. Protag and her bodyguard are about to have a blow-up over his romantic interest in her.
Miss Understanding - full manuscript under review. Keep your fingers crossed.
A Dose of Aconite (short) - Challenge story for Fantasy-Writers.org. June is "Write a story from a/the villain's perspective." So my villain has just knocked out my heroine ...
Flow - about to post my synopsis on a private writers' group. I think.

48 Hour Film Project

So I decided to step out of my comfort zone - way, way out of my comfort zone - and attempt this:

http://www.48HourFilm.com

Essentially, teams in every host city get a randomly selected genre, character, line of dialogue, and I think maybe a prop. They then have 48 hours - from 7pm Friday evening to 7pm Sunday evening - to script, cast, shoot and edit a 4 -7 minute film. I've only dabbled in screenwriting, but obviously I'm intending on pretty much helping with the creation aspect and then stepping back ... though if there's a need for a crowd scene, I'll be happy to be involved.

My friend Amy (the flutist) and her husband are in charge of this group - Eikonoclast Films, responsible for the winning entry in Cincinnati last year, "ATM: A Time Machine." We were talking about it while I was in Connecticut last year for my cousin's wedding ... really wish I could have been there for the scifi entry.

I know a bit more about how it works now and I'm pretty excited. My main fear is that I'm going to sit there dumbly, because my track record with collaboration is spotty, but it's too fun not to try.

Review!

A brief view of A Time Two ... Volume 2, with one of my flash fiction stories (Retirement) in it:

http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/BookReviews/Atimetovolume2.html

I always get jumpingly nervous the moment I see there's a review up. This one is positive, if brief.

American Gods

I've lost track of how many people have recommended Neil Gaiman's American Gods to me. I don't remember how long I've been meaning to read it, or how long the book (picked up at Half Price Books) has been sitting on my shelf. I suppose it was inevitable that there would be a shift between the various expectations people have built up and the actual book, but now that I've finished it, I find myself thoughtful and vaguely disquieted. (A few spoilers ahead. I tried not to, but there were a couple things I simply had to say.)

American Gods plays by dream logic, both in the way the story fits together and the way the point of view character accepts his world. Things happen that are impossible, without causality (or with strange causality) or simply only half-glimpsed ... and neither the reader nor the character asks questions, because this is the way of dreams. Symbols appear, figures and forms whose meaning is somehow known. Yet there is a search for sense in this dream-world - is it found? I'm not sure. The large questions are answered; smaller ones remain, and I feel almost as if the thing this dream lacks is the waking up. I came away from the novel feeling as if something had not been explained.

Maybe it would have worked in a three, four hundred page book, but I found that the character of Shadow was too passive. His actions were generally reactions, with a few exceptions - the checkers game with Czernobog, for instance. For someone who has as much strength of past as he seems to ... he stays very much in the background of this game that goes on around him.

What shines in American Gods are the people, the bizarre, prosaic random things they say and do - the little details that Gaiman sketches - their bizarre actions that inevitably make you say, "That's a person." They're people you might know, people you can imagine existing ... and the humans are far more vivid than the gods, in this respect. Many of these characters existed for the sheer purpose of coloring Shadow's world, and they did a beautiful job of it.

What was also interesting was the interludes depicting the lives of people who had created, influenced and been influenced by the American versions of the gods. These sub-stories were enjoyable to read ... and they also quieted a fear of mine about my "Journal of the Dead," where I have a number of side-stories that take up the equivalent of several book pages. Side-narratives, even long ones, can play a key part in fleshing out the underlying framework of a novel.

Overall, I'm glad I read the book; I'm not totally sure I liked it or the conclusion. One thing I was glad about was the fact that there was no "happily ever after" with Shadow's wife. After some of the things she'd said and done throughout, I thought a happy conclusion would have been false and hollow. An interesting experience.

Fatecraft

The sale of this story - to Darwin's Evolutions - is now final. Hooray! Will update with a publication date when I have it.

Sigh

No Sword & Sorceress publication for me this year, again.

I just wish I knew what I was doing wrong and why I haven't fixed it in a year. ;-)

I am getting old, darnit!

Projects Out and About

For (possible) entertainment, here are the projects I currently have looking for homes, in order of when they were put into circulation:

Miss Understanding - novel - submitting to publishers
Pens In Silver And Gold - novel - submitted to Baen; basically, my "last chance" slot before retiring, as they keep it for about a year
Scylla and Charybdis - scifi short story
Butterfly's Poison - novel - querying to agents
Instructions For An Initiate - flash fiction fantasy
Humane Warfare - scifi short story
The Changeling Letter - fantasy short story
Remember - flash fiction fantasy
Mirror, Mirror - fantasy short story
Servant of Winter - fantasy villanelle
The Seeds of Profit - fantasy short story
Protocol - fantasy short story
If These Walls Could Speak ... - fantasy short story
Twice Given - fantasy short story
Ten Cities Down - fantasy short story
Lightning Strikes - fantasy short story
In These Shoes - fantasy short story (currently being held by Sword & Sorceress 23)
Precious Cargo - scifi short story
Four Tests - flash fiction fantasy

Which is to say - dang, I have too many things out there right now.

Not Perfect

Had a six-hour gig Sunday - 11-2, then 5-8 - and between the long drive there and having to find a Panera to while away the interim time, I reached and went through my last CD mix. This is the partial one - Letting Go bled forward - and I kinda slapped it together. It's called Not Perfect and features ladies (and in a case or two, gents) who maybe need to get their acts together ... in the songs, that is. Or maybe they're just right the way they are.

1. Troublemaker - Anna Sahlene
2. No Angel - Dido
3. Stepping to the Bad Side - Dreamgirls Soundtrack
4. Immortality - Celine Dion
5. Don't Call Me Friend - Anna Sahlene
6. Always True To You In My Fashion - Kiss Me Kate Soundtrack
7. Free - Faith Hill
8. How Can Heaven Love Me - Sarah Brightman
9. No Ordinary Girl - Anna Sahlene
10. Life For Rent - Dido
11. Before You - Chantal Kreviazuk
12. Hunter - Dido
13. The Woman In Me - Crystal Gayle
14. Disappear - Anna Sahlene (... this apparently tells me Sahlene writes a LOT of songs about screwy women.)
15. I Don't Know - Celine Dion
16. My Way Home - Kirsty MacColl

Pandora's Closet Review

Pandora’s Closet – ed Jean Rabe & Martin H. Greenberg

I came into this anthology with middling expectations. Daw’s anthologies tend to be solid – not terrible, not great, with good stories but a few off the mark. Very few blow me away. But this is a really fun concept – stories about articles of clothing that bring power and chaos to their bearers, that might have come out of Pandora’s closet – and I looked forward to it.

First up is “The Ring” by Timothy Zahn, where a young stockbroker fallen on hard times finds the famed Ring of the Nibelungs in a curio shop. Unfortunately, the vast wealth the ring provides its wearer comes with a price. This was a light, engaging story with multiple levels of tension, foreshadowed well without being obvious. The main character is sympathetic; perhaps a little too much so, for his faults are downplayed enough that his girlfriend seems shrewish for complaining. The story’s only real flaw is a lack of evocative description. Particularly when we’re playing with mythic elements, I would have loved to know how some of the characters looked. Still, a satisfying read throughout.

Chris Pierson’s “What Quig Found” is an absolute gem. It details what happens when a group of programmers gather in a deliberately (and comically) nebulous chain restaurant and find what appears to be the “helmet” of Don Quixote. The madcap quality of this story is a blast to read, and the narrator does a nice job of hanging a lampshade – or a shaving basin – over the absurdity. The only slight complaint I would have is that the story itself takes a bit too long to get off the ground, but the payoff is worth it.

“Technicolor” by Louise Marley maintains the trend of strong stories. In this tale, Dorothy – I’ll let you guess what her forbidden article of clothing is – longs to escape her frumpish housewife existence in Kansas. This story was a vivid portrayal of midlife despair interrupted by secret desire, and it rung a strong chord … and that’s coming from a non-traditional, non-housewifey twenty-something. The descriptions were pitch-perfect and the action satisfying – though I thought the conclusion was a little too rosey. The only other minor complaint is how broken up Dorothy is about her daughter’s aloofness. Err, she’s a teenager, what did you expect? But this is never once pointed out.

Next is “Loincloth” by Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta – and this one breaks the spell. Maybe it was the similarity of the mental transformation to that in Pierson’s story, but I wasn’t too impressed. This is an entertaining enough tale of an odd-job man who works at a movie studio and discovers the skimpy attire of a Tarzan knock-off – but it just feels like something I’ve seen before. I knew exactly where it was going, and while it was entertaining, it didn’t have enough sparkle to make the journey worthwhile. Also, I question placing “The Wedding Date” in a list of classic movies such as “Gone with the Wind” and “Casablanca.”

Michael Stackpole’s “Seamless” is a somewhat puzzling story of a young woman who asks an occultist and his assistant to look into the mystery of an ancient box her grandfather has left her. This story has an interesting plot and is well-paced, but it seems to leave some gaps – how did the antagonist find out about the box? Is the occultist working for free, and if so, why? What about the other mysterious events that serve as a hook for the opening? I didn’t find this one held my attention.

I also had trouble with “Ancestral Armor” by John Helfers. This is the story of a young clan leader who begins to act strangely – brooding upon thoughts of war. Sorcerer Asano and his young pupil Kitsune (the point of view character) are summoned to investigate his behavior. It was fairly obvious from early in the story, given the anthology and the title, what was going on. Moreover, a tale of this length can be burdened by a surplus of foreign words – particularly when a dozen of them occur on the first page alone. I liked Kitsune as a character, but didn’t find much meat in this story. (Also – genuine typo/discrepancy in character names continuing throughout.)

“The Opposite of Solid” by Linda P. Baker was, for me, the opposite of its predecessors. This is a rich, evocative story of a dependable, common-sense man who meets a mysterious woman with a jacket that possesses the power of time travel. The conclusion – and what the main character suddenly learns about himself – is startling and subtly done. Personally, I don’t understand the fascination with hippie lifestyle (or Janis Joplin, for the matter of that), but this story overcame my disconnect to keep me hooked.

I’m not sure how to feel about Jane Lindskold’s “The Travails of Princess Stephen,” due to some slight discomfort with the subject matter portrayed – but it is a light, frothy story with an endearing characrer in the lead. Stephen, the story’s protagonist, dresses up like a woman to gain an equal opportunity job at a company … and promptly falls in love with the man of his/her dreams. It’s up to great-grandmother’s wedding dress to see them through the day. The disguise is handled cleverly and even with the ending foreshadowed, it is gratifying to read.

“Lady in Red” by A.M. Strout is a delightful story for any fan of fairy tales. Our unnamed narrator purchases a red hoodie at a thrift story – and suddenly finds her life turning into a certain familiar fable. But Strout doesn’t stop there, deftly weaving a number of other fairy tale references in stylish and unexpected places. I loved the way the character’s life slid from normalcy into the wild woods, all without leaving New York. My only small complaint is that the item the main character used to solve her dilemma wasn’t properly foreshadowed beforehand.

Belle and Nancy Holder’s “A Touching Ghost Story” is a delight to read, an archaic “dear reader” pulled off with panache. The interjections of the author and her daughter as enjoyable as the chronicle of the dowdy, time-travelling mouse who is the story’s heroine. During World War II, Lightning – this redoubtable mouse – discovers a chest that belonged to a relative rumored to have shot down the infamous Bloody Rat Baron. The style of this story picked me up, carried me away, and made me grin. I only wish the story had been longer and more “plotful.” It seems to end just as it gets good.

I have to admit, I hoped that Judi Rohrig’s “Revolution: Number 9” was going to be about Love Potion Number 9. This is the story of a young woman in a near-future tyranny who discovers a pair of spectacles that quite literally change her perceptions. The setting in this story is muddied and unclear – I felt as if I were missing pieces – and most of it is told through flashback about a rather unsympathetic romance. I didn’t understand the conclusion and found the incorporation of the extraordinary object to be a letdown.

“Cursory Review” by Donald J. Bingle is a unique story that covers multiple potential objects in Pandora’s Closet. It is primarily a dialogue between a demon in the Cursed Clothing and Frivolous Fashion Accessories Division and his boss. There are some funny and entertaining moments in this story, and you follow it just to spot the eventual last laugh. Unfortunately, the later parts of the story become more pop-culture and political, to the overall detriment of the tale, and I wasn’t satisfied by the conclusion – maybe even a little offended. (Also, some factual errors with the “mere mortal” in the first scene and her use of the Jenny Craig program.)

Joe Masdon brings us “Jack’s Mantle,” the story of a man trapped in a dull life with his wife and two kids whose flea market find is an overcoat once worn by one of history’s most infamous figures. The effect of the coat is an interesting (if gruesome) one and the denouement is very well-played, but something about this story doesn’t satisfy. For one thing, the story lingers too long on the character’s obsession with the (young) female form – creepy in a way that doesn’t lend the story. More significantly, I couldn’t empathize with Bob and instantly disliked his resignation towards his wife. It is hard to be interested in or care about him.

“Irresistible” by Yvonne Coats is a simple but clever story of a woman who buys a blue garter for her sister’s wedding, wears it herself – and finds herself the subject of a spell of attraction. This is a cute story, fun to read – not exceptional, but light and enjoyable, with a solid ending. As for the source of the disastrous garters, you’ll find it in one of America’s most infamous feuds.

Peter Schweighofer’s “Seebohm’s Cap” is an uneven story set during World War II. Major Prentice Vance interrogates a suspected spy, but discovers his uncanny knowledge his more to do with his attire than his allegiance. This story seemed like a set-piece to me, a part of a longer tale – it introduced a character who really had nothing to do, dangled plot-threads, and seemed to have a plot without significant obstacles. The mileage of history buffs may vary, but I couldn’t really get into this one.

“Cake and Candy” by Kelly Swails made me tear up – just a little. After a woman’s husband dies, her grandmother gives her a pair of earrings that provide unexpected help with the grieving process. This was a gentle, moving short story that started with some unusual, grabbing imagery and then delivered. My only quibble was the (somewhat unnecessary) use of present tense for narration. This story would have been equally effective in past tense – as it was, it stood out in a few places.

Most of these stories have been set in the world as we know it – “A Clean Getaway” by Keith R.A. DeCandido is one of the exceptions. Half-elf investigator Danthres is called to investigate the problem of a previously non-existent closet and the mess that spilled out of it. This was a fairly enjoyable mystery story, though not with particularly memorable characters. I also wasn’t totally sure this one fit into intended spirit of the collection as the items of apparel themselves are incidental to the mischief. Still, like any good mystery, this story “plays fair” and gives all the clues you need to leap one step ahead of Danthres – without making it too easy.

Elizabeth A. Vaughan’s “Off The Rack” was pitch-perfect for me, a quick, charming read. Sarah’s Closet, a consignment shop, is struggling, until an impulsive act of kindness nets its owner just the thing she needs. This story was light, fun and ended on just the perfect note. Like its predecessor, it technically didn’t adhere to the theme, as the articles of clothing were the product of the magical item, not the source of the magic, but I enjoyed this one too much to complain.

The anthology ends with “The Red Shoes” by Sarah Zettel, a moving fairy-tale that leaps – as these stories often do – from children’s story to dark and disturbing imagery. Karen, a young woman with no feet, comes to live with Elsa and her family. At the girl’s urging, Karen tells the story of the red shoes that caused her to dance until she could bear no more. Elsa declares it is not a proper story, and sets out to give it a good ending, come what may. This story swallowed me whole and kept me rapidly flipping pages. Ultimately, I wasn’t totally satisfied with the ending – I would have liked a happier conclusion after everything Elsa goes through – but this wasn’t enough of a detraction to hurt the story.

Overall, there were several excellent stories in this anthology and some which were lopsided or missed the mark. I found that the nature of the item or whether it was famous enough we might recognize its origins didn’t factor into the quality of the stories – a good enchantment, then, is all about what you do with it.

New Ideas? Nah! Just Combine And Stir

This was up on IMDB a few days ago and cracked me up:

http://io9.com/385863/what-genre-should-science-fiction-steal-from-next

Shiny Stones

This poem - a villanelle - was just sold to Aoife's Kiss, making it my third poetry sale ever. Look for it in September!

27 Dresses

I just saw this movie. Three things are noteable, one on a personal level, one on a professional level:

1. I love Judy Greer. Seriously. The funky friend / sister / sidekick she plays is always a highlight of the movie. In this movie particularly she was priceless.

I can tell that this movie wasn't made by anyone "in the business" for the following reasons:

2. I found it ridiculous that they had to give the male lead a dramatic reason for him to be cynical and jaded about weddings. Come on. After so many weddings you are ready to throttle someone if you hear Kahlil Gibran, and odds are you want Pachelbel's Canon (objectively a really beautiful piece of music) shot OUT of a cannon. Preferrably in such a way as it destroys Wagner's Bridal Chorus (objectively a really hideous piece of music).

3. There are so many other wedding tropes that could have been touched on even in the brief sequences seen here. Some of them I've mentioned above. What about the little kid who never, ever makes it up the aisle? What about the unity candle?

Grousing aside, this really was a fun, well-written movie, if about as predictable as most romantic comedies. Still, I could feel a couple cliches coming on that they sidestepped, so I did appreciate that - and the dialogue is hysterical. (Also, see point 1 above. Judy Greer!)

Letting Go

I just breezed into my second-to-last music list - songs about letting go, moving on ... and sometimes, not. I had enough of these songs that I cheated a little and this runs over into a second CD. The list runs:

1. Suddenly -- LeAnn Rimes
2. Where Are You Now? -- Michelle Branch
3. Get Over You -- Sophie Ellis-Bextor
4. Can't Go Back -- Sissel
5. (If There Was) Any Other Way -- Celine Dion
6. Still Within The Sound of My Voice -- Linda Ronstadt
7. Coulda Been -- Kimberley Locke
8. White Flag -- Dido
9. Nah! -- Shania Twain
10. It's All Coming Back To Me Now -- Celine Dion
11. Goodbye, My Friend -- Linda Ronstadt
12. I'm Not Giving You Up -- Gloria Estefan
13. All I Ever Wanted -- Kirsty MacColl
14. Who The Hell Are You -- Emma Bunton
15. Free -- Sarah Brightman
16. The River Cried -- Sarah Brightman (oops, two in a row, same artist. Ah well. Though the musical style from Harem (Free) versus from As I Came of Age (this one) are radically different.)
17. Hard To Say Goodbye -- Dreamgirls soundtrack
18. Misled -- Celine Dion
19. Strong Enough -- Cher
20. Are You Happy Now? -- Michelle Branch
21. Loser -- Anna Sahlene
22. He Never Mentioned Love -- Kirsty MacColl
23. You Can't Walk Away From Love -- Gloria Estefan

Mysterious Additions

In listening to my "In A Name" CD, it seems to be longer than my list. I can only remember one addition that didn't make it, because it hit while driving to the post office today ... and I cracked up laughing: "Hang On Sloopy."

Actually, found the other two: Enya's "Flora's Secret" and Kirsty MacColl's "Dear John."

Apartment Tour

If you missed it the first time 'round, and even if you didn't (there's an amusing illustration and other great fiction to be had), pop over to Sorcerous Signals (www.sorceroussignals.com) to read Apartment Tour!

Fashion Advice

If you are going to try on good clothes, with patterns / fashion potential?

Do not wear an oversized bright orange shirt.

Movies!

A partial list of my favorite movies, ones I feel a sense of "ownership" about:

Ladyhawke, Willow, The Princess Bride, Clue, Miss Congeniality, Stargate, National Treasure, Conspiracy Theory, History of the World (Pt 1), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Ocean's Eleven (remake) ...

Movies like Major League, Short Circuit, The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, The Matrix (I loved the first movie and hated the sequels), Independence Day and the Lord of the Rings movies get close to this, but I don't feel the same way about them. The first list are sort of like children - you know they're flawed, but you love them anyway.

"I'll come to thee by the moonlight ...

... though hell should bar the way."

The Highwayman, as sung by Loreena McKennit. Listened to this a few days ago, and was reminded of why I asked for "The English and Scottish Popular Ballads" (Child) for Christmas a few years back. These old stories have a pulse, and they beg to be retold. Now, obviously The Highwayman is an American poem, not a ballad, and I never tackled it personally - though I "printed" an excellent prose telling of it eons ago when I was running Eye of Unicorn, Tongue of Dragon - but it is a chilling story.

Another one is The Twa Sisters or The Bonny Swans (or ... you get the idea; a lot of the Scots ballads are like that), which I did take on eons ago. In brief, the plot of this ballad is a young girl is drowned by her jealous sister, becomes a swan, and washes ashore. She is found by a harper, who crafts a harp out of her various parts. (It's delightfully unclear whether she is swan or woman - her hair is used for the strings, for instance.) He then takes it to a dinner with her family, who is a king in some versions of the story, and the harp plays on its own, accusing the false sister.

I tried a retelling from the perspective of the harper, who eventually fell in love with his instrument (don't they all?) ... and, of course, I had to answer the, "What happens next?" that the ballad never touches upon. What's interesting is I'm fairly sure I wrote this before I started playing ...

The Rejection Letter

There is definitely a skill in writing an all-purpose rejection letter that doesn't insult - by omission, by a backhanded statement, or even by false praise. ("Well, if my story was 'finely crafted' why was it rejected?" -- not actual example.) I recently received one for a themed submission that was worded in such a way that - well - I freaked out. I wondered if I understood the genre properly, where I was making a mis-step ... until I found out that someone else had received the identical rejection. Apparently, it was their generic "no" email.

This same person received an email from another location that made it unclear whether their story was being held for further consideration or bumped. In this case, I was able to clear up the confusion by observing that I'd received the same letter.

I think you have to be careful what you say when you mean to say nothing. It's definitely a difficult task!

That said, equally frustrating can be only-positive personalized rejections. "This story had great characterization and a nice twist ending." ... then why are you turning it down?

One recently made me facefault. I think I just got told my story was the last one they cut before finalizing a table of contents ... argh gibber! It was a nice compliment to receive in a way, but flail evil torture so close.

Moment of Silence

A moment of silence for the bold venture that was Staffs & Starships, a solid electronic magazine that published my "The Oracle Unlocked" - and, in that first issue, one other story that also received a Preditors & Editors Readers' poll nomination. Mr. Dryden, the editor, was always highly professional in my dealings with him, which isn't always a given in the publishing world.

Loch Norman Highland Games

Sunday, harp events at the Loch Norman Highland Games, Huntersville, North Carolina.

First off, the church service / Kirkin o the Tartans. I arrived via the harp gate, and told the crowing rooster it wasn't *that* early. The prior day, I mistook the ruins for the graveyard (an honest mistake!) and had to ask for directions when I realized there was no one *at* the ruins. I found out I had to trek quite a ways across the gamefield. But I made it in time to play several tunes for a prelude - a little under twenty minutes. (On time - I have only been late for a gig once in my life.) As always, the marching-in of the tartans is enjoyable to see, and the sun flowed brilliantly over the scene.

Secondly, the harp workshop. I taught my arrangement of the tune Shingly Beach, a lovely tune - my version is constructed so the ornamentation does not require any change in fingering (one of the most difficult aspects of ornamenting a piece). It turned out that I had a group more advanced than I expected, so I got the entire tune taught (as opposed to just the A part, which I had planned after a "test run" of the workshop) and it still ran a bit short ... so I shared another arrangement technique I like to use occasionally. Everyone seemed to enjoy the tune and seemed comfortable with the speed and content, so I count this a success. It also gave me a better feel for what I want to do with workshops in the future.

Thirdly, the competition - or, as it turns out, the lack of it. We had one competitor advance-registered and another who signed up on the day. The former didn't arrive, and the harp coordinator and I discussed and decided that it would be best not to hold a competition under such circumstances. Instead, we gave the loyal audience an impromptu performance - she and I played several tunes, our sole competitor played her set, and another harper performed a trio of tunes. I closed with a taste of other music styles - enter my old "Andrew Lloyd McWebber" joke, and "All I Ask of You," which never fails to surprise people ... in a good way.

All in a good day, not at all the day I expected, but I'm satisfied ... and for all the good moments, ready to go home.

Operational Defintion

In explaining the difference between a harper (traditional music / lever harp) and a harpist (classical music /pedal harp), I had to comment:

Also, you're not officially a harper until you've threatened to kill at least one bagpiper if they don't go play somewhere else.

Me!

Out of town right now at the Loch Norman Highland Games just north of Charlotte, NC, for which I will be teaching a workshop and then judging. I am rather nervous about both, though less about the judging now that I suspect I will have only a handful of competitors. If I am lucky, no one will be in the same categories so I won't have to decide between performances, just whether or not each performance was sufficient to award a first. (SHSA rules state that a certain number of points must be acquired for a first to be awarded regardless of number of competitors.)

There will doubtless be a longer post after the event (tomorrow) when I have some impressions to offer. For now - wow. Coming south and watching the trees move from the fringe into bursting bloom is beautiful.

In A Name

The fourth CD rip, all songs featuring "named" characters ... in alphabetical order, of course. This actually turned out fairly well in terms of flow.

1. But Mr. Adams -- 1776 soundtrack
2. Adia -- Sarah McLachlan
3. Angie Baby -- Helen Reddy
4. Crickets Sing For Anamaria -- Emma Bunton
5. It's Alright -- Kimberley Locke ("Brenda lived out in Michigan / She always seemed a little different ...")
6. Wound Up -- Leann Rimes ("Little Carrie-Ann, what a beautiful girl / From the moment she was born she was always perfect ...")
7. Celestine -- Kirsty MacColl
8. Ciara -- Windham Hill Artists (from a sampler CD - don't have the specific singer handy)
9. Dr. Beat -- Miami Sound Machine
10. Eve -- Chantal Kreviazuk
11. Isobel -- Dido
12. Julia -- Chantal Kreviazuk
13. King Kong -- Kirsty MacColl
14. Roxie -- Chicago soundtrack
15. Sarah's Song -- Sissel
16. Terry -- Kirsty MacColl
17. Tom, Dick or Harry -- Kiss Me Kate soundtrack

The first song contains some of the best lyrics well ... anywhere. How can you not like:

Mr. Adams, but Mr. Adams,
The things I write are only light extemporania.
I won't put politics on paper, it's a mania!
So I refuse to use the pen in Pennsylvania ...

Sword & Sorceress

I have three stories queued up to submit to the next Sword & Sorceress anthology. The plan is to send the first one; if they reject before the submissions period is over, then the next, and so on. Last time they held "Coldsnap" for final consideration and then ultimately rejected it; hoping for better luck this time!

Lightning Strikes (about 5900 words): When her city is attacked by centaur barbarians, augur Diyesari begs for a sign from the gods to find her sister - and is given an unusual gift. This story is actually set in the same world as "Chatter Me Timbers," (Afterburn SF) maybe 4-5 hundred years later. "Chatter" was in a pseudo-classical Greece setting; "Lightning" is a bit closer to Rome. I don't write fights as well as I would like; I think "Lightning" contains some of the best swordplay I've written to date.

In These Shoes (about 3300 words): Assassin Rosh takes "just another job" in her home region - and finds it is anything but. There is a metaphorical thread in this story about her "kill shoes," which represent her life as an assassin and break down as she does. I'm really hoping I can think of a better title for the story, as even though there's no trace of it in the work, uh ... this went through my head when I started writing about footware and I had to use it for a working title: http://www.kirstymaccoll.com/music/lyrics/in_these_shoes.htm. This story was initially an exercise to write about an article of clothing that had history; I cut about half of the original exercise, but the core remains.

The Winter Queen (about 3400 words): Sardian, a Sword of the Realm, travels to the snow-bound realm of the winter queen in search of her beloved. But it will take more than a blade to solve this problem, and she may lose what she came to find. This story was initially a self-designed exercise where I took a list of words and had to involve one word every hundred words. In editing, I probably removed some of them and invalidated the order, but it was good inspiration.

Fatecraft

I haven't put this up on my publications page because there are aspects up in the air, but Darwin's Evolutions (www.darwinsevolutions.com) has requested to print "Fatecraft" for an upcoming issue. Here's hoping it all comes through!

Soul Siblings

(re)Sold to Sorcerous Signals! ... Soul Siblings at Sorcerous Signals. Ow, my brain. ;-) Find them at: Sorcerous Signals

Foreign Film Dub Redux

My original CD rip had a Foreign Film Dub, but I had some new songs and I believe I'd already used a couple of the ones on the original FFD elsewhere, so this is a redux.

(The term "Foreign Film Dub" is from the improv show "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" where two actors perform a scene from an imaginary movie in a gibberish language supposed to represent German, Korean, whatever, and two others translate for them.)

1. God's Child (Baila Conmigo) -- Selena (Spanish)
2. Times -- Lesiem (Latin)
3. Go Away -- Gloria Estefan (Various. A sample line from the song is, "Ciao, bye-bye, hasta la vista - fare thee well, adios, so long.")
4. Hijo de la Luna -- Sarah Brightman (Spanish)
5. In These Shoes -- Kirsty MacColl (Spanish)
6. Dove L'amore -- Cher (French)
7. Tu Y Yo -- Thalia (Spanish)
8. Cursum Perficio -- Enya (Latin)
9. Te Amare -- Gloria Estefan (Spanish)
10. Adonde Voy -- Linda Ronstadt (Spanish)
11. I Wanna (Shall We Dance) -- Gizelle D'Cole and Pilar Montenero, Shall We Dance? soundtrack (Spanish. I think.)
12. Storms In Africa -- Enya (Irish Gaelic)
13. C'est La Vie -- Shania Twain (French)
14. Oye -- Gloria Estefan (Spanish)
15. Nao Esperando -- Kirsty MacColl (Spanish)
16. Fides (Belief) -- Lesiem (Latin)
17. Molde Canticle -- Sissel (No language - no words, just "ooh"s)
18. Ay, Ay, I -- Miami Sound Machine (Spanish)
19. Libre -- Paulina Rubio (Spanish)
20. Mambo De La Luna -- Kirsty MacColl (Spanish)
21. Seallaibh Curaidh Eoghain -- Celtic Harpestry / Sileas (Scots Gaelic)

Yes, there is an insane amount of Spanish here. This can be attributed to the fact that I have a bias towards Latin-influenced singers.

My review

Thou Shalt Not Kill - ed. Cynthia Manson
(Tales of ecclesiastical sleuths)

The introduction is brief, but requires a comment. “The darker side of humankind seems all the more sinister when probed by the devout followers of the church.” Really? Why? Maybe I’m coming at the anthology from a more cynical mindset, maybe (fifteen years after the book was published) scandal in the church has become too common to ring much of a chord, but I am dubious of this statement.

“The Dutiful Son” by Ralph McInerny is a mediocre start to this anthology. Father Roger Dowling is drawn into a mystery when a man arrives, stating that his mother buried her infant in the yard of her home and that her dying wish was to have the child re-interred on consecrated ground. What is found in the yard, however, is not a baby – and the unknown man has not died of natural causes. The mystery in this story is interesting enough, with the turns and revelations paced well – relaxed but not plodding. I also enjoyed the portrayal of an old neighborhood where the residents can remember fifty years ago as if it was yesterday. We’ve all known places like this. However, there was minimal emotion and no real tension outside of curiosity. Though Father Roger Dowling acts sympathetic, the story aims at the heartbreak that occurs from the outside and remains there. The fact that the main character is consistently referred to by both names in narration becomes rather wearing; maybe this contributed to the distance.

“The Second Commandment” by Charlotte Armstrong picks up the pace. Minister Hugh Macroy is picked up by the police after his new wife has a tragic accident in the fog – or was it an accident? This story starts at a frenetic tempo, introducing a large number of characters without becoming unmanageable. Through their eyes, we see the facts of the case, their emotions, their biases … a technique which plants a clear picture of the human element. The last ten pages or so slow down to a point that is initially irritating, but I grew used to it as the end drew near. Ultimately, this is not so much a puzzle mystery – where the central point of the story is to piece together clues in search of a solution – as an interesting exploration of the nature of relationships and universal love.

“Straight Down The Middle” by Thomas Adcock is a short, snappy story were the question is not whodunit, but how – how did the diamonds stolen by Danny Esposito vanish into thin air? (Comparisons to “The Purloined Letter” are not inaccurate.) This case is given to any cop who manages to clear their workload, and detective Larry Stein is the next in line. The characters are clever and sketched well, and include an unusual – and very enjoyable – nun. Some of the earlier details tie into the conclusion of the mystery with finesse, and the result is a satisfying ride.

About “Death of an Alumnus” by Janet O’Daniel, let me first say: BASKETBALL NUNS! The story involves the events surrounding the dedication of a new building at St. Margaret’s Home, as seen through the eyes of the redoubtable Sister Maureen, whose tongue-in-cheek internal commentary is hysterical. (And yes, she did coach basketball at the Home in her younger days.) It takes a while for this story to get to the murder, but the portrayal of the chaos surrounding the dedication and the relationship between the home’s former children and their teachers is written so well that at least this reader didn’t mind. Perhaps in consequence, it seemed that the mystery wrapped up too suddenly, without sufficient reinforcement. However, the way in which Sister Maureen’s Ideas about the participants propels the solution is supremely enjoyable. To quote the back of the book, this lady is “second to nun.”

“The Price of Light” by Ellis Peters is a small dose of the shrewd brother Cadfael, and is written with Peters’ customary artistry and eye for character. When Hamo FitzHamon decides to secure his place in heaven by a donation to the Abbey, he does so with a lavish gift intended to impress his generosity on all who see it: a pair of gorgeous silver candlesticks. When these, inevitably, vanish, the hunt is on, and it is Cadfael who must seek out the truth. The human element is key to this story, with questions of motive and strength of character brought to the fore. One moving element is Brother Jordan, whose failing eyes make him treasure the gift of light. I am biased because I adore Cadfael to bits, but this was a great, solid story. My only criticism is that there were some passages that were written with unusual clumsiness – I had to read them a couple times to understand what was being portrayed.

“A Face to Remember” by Mary Amlaw is a satisfying inverted mystery, in which we see the crime committed – and its motivation – and the enjoyment of the story is derived from seeing how the sleuth solves it. In this case, the “detective” is Mother Mary Dominic, a woman of many dimensions. When a reformed prostitute dies just before she can join the order, it is up to Mary Dominic to solve the crime using the resources at her disposal. This story uses the inverted formula very well, and the idiosyncracies of the nuns are fun to read. I particularly enjoyed how the Mother provides the solution in a way designed to “speak police” and hence convince the authorities of what she already knows.

“The Man in the Passage” by G.K. Chesterton is a story of superlatives and leading luminaries, all described to a final purpose that I’m not sure was effective. Actress Aurora Rose is called upon by two prominent men, arousing the jealousy of her co-star – and Father Brown is a quiet witness to the events that unfold. The murder is telegraphed – you know who is going to die – and preceded by a redundant double explanation of how the soon-to-be victim intends to send the other men out of the room so she can speak to the Father. Brown plays a fairly minor part in the story despite his role as its detective, and I can’t but feel he fades into the woodwork around the other sensational people.

“Justina” by Dorothy Salisbury Davis is … a strange story, and one which I am not entirely sure even qualifies for the spirit of this anthology, although it fulfills the letter – more or less. The mysterious nun Sister Justina is invited into the Willoughby by Mrs. Ryan, toting two shopping bags. When she leaves, she sneaks out and the bags are nowhere to be seen. This small mystery spirals into more serious circumstances. I’m still not entirely sure I know what happened in this story. The two narrators ended up dividing the focus of the story, and I didn’t feel as if either of them had any claim to the title of sleuth.

“In The Confessional” by Alice Scanlan Reach also misses the mark with a conclusion to an interesting premise that leaves unanswered questions and a plothole. This story doesn’t play fair with its reader. It begins with promise, as petty criminal Blue attempts to steal from the church offerings and observes Father Crumlish at his evening routine – a routine which turns out to involve an unplanned confession and some horrifying facts.

“Rumpole and the Man of God” by John Mortimer is a story carried by its narrative voice – the sometimes witty, often dour, always slightly cynical Rumpole of the Bailey. When a vicar is accused of shoplifting six shirts, Rumpole must defend him – while the vicar himself provides no explanation better than, “They just ended up in my basket.” This is interwoven with the story of Rumpole’s friend George and his new fiancee, of whom Rumpole’s wife (She Who Must Be Obeyed) strongly disapproves. As a stand-alone story, this is a good piece of fiction. However, I’m not sure the vicar or his ecclesiastical involvement were central enough to belong to this anthology. Also this story is something of a slice-of-life and it feels open-ended, both finished and not.

Overall, I thought this anthology failed to hit the advertised mark. It bills itself as a collection of stories about ecclesiastical sleuths. Of the ten stories here, in only half is the detective a member of the clergy. In the others, the clergy member is either a side character or the accused. (It should also be mentioned that, since the title is “Thou Shalt Not Kill,” it seems slightly odd that murder is not the subject of three of these stories, almost a third.) In some of the stories, the promised melding of clergy with crime seems to be lip-service. There are also stories where the mystery element is slighted, rushed or (“The Second Commandment”) not really important.

The stories that worked in this anthology, regardless of how well they fit the theme, were those that emphasized the role of the ecclesiastical worker in a defined community, and often how that role propelled them into the task of sleuthing. In those stories, it is the careful haven constructed by church devotees that is threatened and disrupted. Ultimately, I would have liked to see more of this.

In the end, I thought four of the stories were excellent (“Straight Down The Middle,” “Death of an Alumnus,” “The Price of Light” and “A Face to Remember”) – and these had the misfortune of being sequential. I thought two more were good (“The Second Commandment,” “Rumpole and the Man of God”) and two more were passable (“The Dutiful Son”, “The Man in the Passage”). The remaining two (“Justina,” “In The Confessional”), I wish I had skipped. The anthology is worth reading for the first four, but expect that it isn’t quite as billed.

Arrrrgh

There is no trial for a writer like accidental deletion. In my case, Word was behaving funny before I went to bed. I woke up, my computer had rebooted ... and I had lost my work from the prior day, including a page of my novel, three quarters of a page from my short story, and three of my reviews. Now, I write in 8pt font single-spaced, so I'm estimating it was about 1500 words - 5-6 book pages.

I spent the next three and a half hours recreating what I had lost as best I could, but when I reached the same point in the fiction, it was shorter. I knew I'd lost something, and I can't help feel that I ended up with an inferior version.

In other news, another year, another Sword & Sorceress. I've picked out three stories, ordered by my preference, to edit so I have something to send to them - and something else if they reject it before the end of the reading period - and something else. I want this to be the year.

Day By Day

Just encountered this CD mix (my second) in my driving travels. This was intended to be a mix of songs involving specific days, seasons and the use of days more generally.

1. Book of Days -- Enya
2. Another Year Has Gone By -- Celine Dion
3. It's A Beautiful Day -- Sarah Brightman
4. Lazy Days -- Enya
5. One Of These Days -- Michelle Branch
6. Big Boy On A Saturday Night -- Kirsty MacColl
7. Once In A Lifetime -- Sarah Brightman
8. Ten Days -- Celine Dion
9. Everyday -- Anne Murray
10. Yesterday -- Sarah Brightman
11. Miss April -- Chantal Kreviazuk
12. Soho Square -- Kirsty MacColl ("Just kiss me quick, 'cause it's my birthday ..." "One day you'll be waiting there, come summertime in Soho Square ...")
13. Winter In July -- Sarah Brightman (... I don't actually have THAT many Brightman songs ripped. Just how this group worked out.)
14. Last Day of Summer -- Kirsty MacColl
15. A New Day Has Come -- Celine Dion
16. Tonight (I Want To Be In Love) -- Anne Murray
17. Halloween -- Kirsty MacColl (... on the other hand, I *do* have that many MacColl songs ripped.)
18. Nowadays/Hot Honey Rag -- Chicago soundtrack
19. Oh How The Years Go By -- Amy Grant
20. Always Tomorrow -- Gloria Estefan