Flying Whale Productions

Soulless - Gail Carriger

Alexia Tarabotti has several strikes against her as far as society is concerned. She’s a spinster-at the dried-up age of 25, she’s a hopeless bluestocking, and her father, who at least has the good grace to have died when she was an infant, was a scholar of things best not talked about in civilized drawing rooms, and Italian too boot. So it’s not surprising that due to an attack of boredom, and the poor quality of food on the buffet, at the Duchess of Snodgrove’s Ball Alexia takes herself off the the Library and orders the servants to bring her tea . Just as she is settling in to exploring the Duke’s under appreciated library a vampire rushes into the room and tries to bight her neck – without a proper introduction! Well, Alexia my be unconventional but she won’t stand for things like that. Unfortunately for the vampire in question, who is shabbily dressed in last season’s style of evening wear, Alexia has inherited more than her unfashionable tan skin, robust figure, and strong nose from her father - Like him she is soulless.

In this enlighten period of the triumph of science this isn’t a religious statement, but a description of her physiology. It seems intelligent creatures are divided into three groups. The vast majority of people are Naturals, with just enough soul to go through a normal life. Some people have an excess of soul, they are Supernatural. If they die under the right circumstances they become Vampires, Werewolves or Ghosts. A few people are Preternatural, they have no or very little soul. Contact with them negates the advantages extra soul gives Supernaturals. Vampires, Werewolves and Ghosts are all productive members of society. There is not of the preying on innocent Naturals that went on in the past. Supernaturals are licensed and policed by the Bureau of Unnatural Registry Alexia unintentional kills her vampire attacker with her trusty parasol. This complication brings Lord Maccon, head of the BUR, chief werewolf in London and close adviser or Queen Victoria on Supernatural matters, into the picture. He and Alexia have been something between friends and enemies ever since the infamous hedgehog incident at a house-party the year before. He’s large, loud, handsome, and almost civilized, for a Scott. Reluctantly he accepts Alexia’s help trying to find out what Vampire Hive is letting its fledglings our so poorly dressed and lacking in manners. They discover a trail of missing lone wolfs and solitary vampires that is quite perplexing. Then the plot thickens… The best comparison I can think of for this novel is Amelia Peabody meats Buffy. But that does not do it justice. It is charming, engaging , has HEA, and best of all is the planned first book in a series of adventures featuring Alexia and Lord Maccon.
There is a little violence, and some sex, but nothing that is beyond very mild.

Rough Draft The Official Propaganda Organ of the Cincinnati Writers Project Autumn 2009

Rough Draft

The Official Propaganda Organ of the Cincinnati Writers Project

Autumn 2009

 

 

 

Plain Words

“... Dogs,” she added, in explanatory aside, “are habit, I think.”

This line from the short story, Aunt Tatty, by British author Elizabeth Bowen, aptly describes the portion of my life that runs like a backdrop, keeps me normal. When I don’t understand what humans are trying to tell me, I look to the pack to put it in simpler terms.

Our alpha male, Hunter, is ancient, creaky with arthritis, mostly blind and just plain old tired. As we watch him take the last tentative steps toward that big rabbit hunt in the sky, I can’t help but wonder what he makes of the whole thing. Sometimes he stands, his nose almost touching the wall, waiting. Mostly I think he’s confused and angry because his body will no longer do what he asks of it.

Boy, does that sound like home.

I was thinking that death is probably like autumn then--a splash of color, the last dramatic sigh before the leaves fall off. Eventually, we all become humus for next year’s mulch because, as the title of our earlier anthology pointed out, Somebody’s Gotta Die before the cycle begins anew.

So we wait for Hunt’s leaves to drop and, waiting, we enjoy the color, what there is left of it.

Marcia Eckstein, Editor-at-Home

meckstein@lys.org

 

Dying is an art, like everything else.

Sylvia Plath

 

2009 Membership Party in November

This year’s membership party is tentatively scheduled for the first Saturday in November at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Rookwood Plaza, Norwood.  See Mary’s article below.

 

Presidential Ramblings

Mary Fitzpatrick

It is that time of year again. CWP dues are due. Paying dues is not mandatory, but your dues are the source of the seed money we use to publish our anthologies. If being a CWP member has helped you become a better writer, or if it has just kept you out of trouble on critique group nights, please help support the group by paying your $25.00 either at the Member’s party or by sending a check to the CWP PO Box.  (CWP, PO Box 29367, Cincinnati, OH 45229.)

It is also time for CWP elections.  As things stand we have two elected offices, president and treasurer. Rough Draft Editor, and Web-guru are appointed offices. I’m willing to stay on as President for one more year. Although she and her husband may be moving back to India sometime next year because of his job, Saloni is willing to stay on as Treasure until or unless that happens.   As of the time I’m writing this, no one has come forward to run for either office. If you are interested please let a member of the CWP board know.

 Both the voting for the CWP board members and paying of dues usually happens in October at the annual CWP member’s party. This year’s member’s party is tentatively scheduled for the first Saturday in November, which gives you a little more time to think about both. I had really wanted to have the details on this year’s party worked out in time for the Fall Rough Draft, but I’m still negotiating with the good folks at Jo-Beth. Keep your eyes peeled for specific member’s party details in the near future.

And one last thing, we have around thirty unsold copies of our Anthology, Not From Around Here, Are You? .  Right now they are camping out next to my writing desk in my dining room, all looking for permanent homes. I’d like to try and set up some reading events over the winter where we could get positive exposure for our group and sell some of the anthologies. If you know of a good venue for a book reading and/or if you are willing to help organize one, please let me know. Also, remember the gift giving season is not that far away and CWP anthologies make great stocking stuffers.

 

Suddenly I realize

That if I step out of my body I would break

Into blossom

A Blessing, James Wright

 

Prologue Pros and Cons

Op-ed by Tom Groh

 

Novice writers, of which I am one, sometimes come to rely too heavily on literary devices. We tend to fall back on clever word play and other syntactical gimmickry in lieu of fully realized characters, a well-developed plot and theme. While prologues don’t fall exactly into the gimmickry category, it’s too easy for them to lean in that direction.

We’ve seen a lot of prologues come through the Wednesday night critique group lately, and though I am not an expert (that’s what Op-ed means) I thought I’d weigh in on the topic.

A prologue is introductory material set apart in time, space or viewpoint from the main part of the story which nuances and creates intrigue for the story to come. The good stuff of the prologue should exist outside the framework of the main story at the same time providing essential details, information and insight into the main story that cannot be shown in a better way.

A good prologue, while linked to the main story, can stand alone. It is filled with drama and tension all its own. Most of all, it entertains while casting an illuminating light on some aspect of the story to come. 

One of the main troubles with prologues I’ve seen is that the writing is often back-story and nothing else. These slow-moving, often backward-moving chunks of narrative don’t launch the drama of the story. If you want folks to keep reading, launch.

I’m not anti-prologue. Honest! In fact, if you still want to open with a prologue and you’re wondering, “How can a prologue help my story?” the short answer is, In Many Ways. And to show you what a good guy I am, here’s a brief list of Good Things Prologues Can Do which I’ve borrowed and amalgamated from different sources:

A prologue can be used to...

1) Introduce essential facts about the past or the future.

2) Spark the reader’s imagination and get her primed to jump into your story. However, if this is really all your prologue does, maybe it would be better suited as Chapter 1.

3) Establish a mood and atmosphere.

4) Provide back-story that can’t be told in the main body of in a better way.

5) Create a hook or pose a question.

6) Introduce an imagined, strange and confusing story world to your reader before launching into your narrative.

7) Establish who’s telling the story and why. (Think Sherlock Holmes.)

8) Introduce a large cast of characters. (This technique is a bit outdated.)

 

This list is not intended to be comprehensive; certainly, the best prologues are multi-taskers. Just as you should strive for in all your writing, your words should work for you in more ways than one. So, too, the best prologues will weave several elements together at once. You can introduce your protag, give back-story and create a somber mood all with a sentence. Try it.

To balance things a bit, I thought I’d give you some Prologue No-Nos:

1) Resist the urge to tell everything you know. Don’t overwhelm and annoy (read underestimate) your reader by dumping a bunch of information into the first five pages. This will only muddle things.

2) Don’t tip your hand. You dilute your suspense when you give away too much too soon. If you’re going to tell me who the murderer is, you better have a good reason for doing so, and the story you develop better be absorbing and intense.

3) A good prologue has its own sense of drama, but it must be linked to the story. A prologue so far removed in place or time from your main story line will be confusing and misleading to the reader, and it will not serve as a strong opening for your novel.

4) Prologues should not be vague or confusing. They should intrigue, and enlighten, and most of all, make things cooler and clearer.

5) Lastly, a personal peeve, prologues should never be written in the passive voice.

 

That’s my take on prologues. Use ‘em if you have to, don’t if you don’t, but if you do, make them entertaining and make them work for you.

 

Either he’s dead or my watch has stopped.

Groucho Marx

 

 Greetings from the Drake Writers’ Group

Marcia Eckstein

 

On July 29th, Barbara Slavinski, the medical librarian from Drake Center brought three members of the Drake Writer’s Group on a field trip to CWP’s Wednesday Fiction Critique group. Drake’s focus has changed over the years and it is almost exclusively a rehab center for brain injury patients now.

Ms. Slavinski encourages patients and workers to express themselves through the writers’ group. At the end of our session, the Drake group was presented with a copy of Not From Around Here, Are You? for their library.

Drake Writers’ Group meets on Tuesdays and Fridays from 2 to 3 pm in the Drake Medical Library. Writers read their work and the group offers support. Ms. Slavinski said, “We welcome your visit to us.”  If you are interested, call Barbara at 418-2684.

 

We all go: only a few, first class.

Titanic, David R. Slavin

 

Paying for An Editorial Review

By James Montgomery Jackson

 

I heard the praise: “Clean writing.” “Great characters and each an interesting individual.” “Fine dry sense of humor.” “Terrific relationship between Seamus and Paddy.”

More importantly, the damning: “I really liked the book once I got into it.” “It really perked up when I got to …” “Great opening and I thought the ending was terrific.” “I wasn’t quite sure about…”

A niggling whisper in my brain said something was not quite right, but no one could tell me exactly what or how to fix it.

After many agent rejections of Bad Policy the whisper became as loud as the Niagara River at the falls. In one sense I believed my writing was better than many, maybe even most, commercial mysteries. In another sense I knew it was a failure. Based on their oblique comments, critique groups and individual readers sensed something, but couldn’t provide me with enough insight so I could tackle the problem. A sage once said the definition of being crazy is to do the same thing over and over and over again and expect a different result. I needed to do something different if my writing was to succeed.

I belong to the Sisters-In-Crime and their Guppy Chapter (for the little fish swimming in the waters: the not-yet-published or lightly-published). From a recently successful author I got a recommendation of a professional to analyze Bad Policy.

Before signing on as a client, I traded a couple of emails with Jennifer Fisher of JSF Editorial to make sure I understood her process and she understood what I thought I needed. The estimated cost was $750. It seemed like a fit, and I sent her a hardcopy of my manuscript.

What did I get for my money?

I got confirmation about both of my presumptions. I can write a good sentence: “You are a very clean stylist and write with a sense of immediacy which is great for a mystery. Typically your sentences are tight and punchy and your word choice is right on target. And I applaud you for your grammatical sensibility…” I had problems: “But as you well know a book needs more than strong writing to hold it together…”

Her approach is to take notes as she reads the manuscript, primarily focusing on problems or questions, but noting good stuff as well. The advantage of these notes is to give you insight into her impressions as a reader, albeit one with a more critical eye than typical. After she completes the book, she summarizes her findings and makes general and specific recommendations. She also gave considerable thought to alternative strategies that would help strengthen my book.

Was it worthwhile?

My first reaction when I read Jennifer’s eight and a half page, single-spaced critique was that I was a hopeless hack who could write a decent sentence, but couldn’t be trusted with anything more than a paragraph. Erica Jong once said, “Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn’t.” Amen. After a suitable mourning period, I reread the letter and mined its gold. I had sensed Bad Policy had a saggy middle; Jennifer not only confirmed my fears, she showed where I should apply liposuction and radical surgery. She gave me insight into how I could add depth to the manuscript with additional subplot and character development.

She challenged several of my deep-rooted assumptions about Bad Policy, and I realized I needed to hold a wake and wish them a wonderful afterlife. Starting with her ideas I brainstormed others and developed some interesting approaches. The thinking reenergized me, and I became enthusiastic to do the necessary work of a complete rewrite.

After several weeks considering Jennifer’s feedback, we spoke on the telephone for half an hour. I provided her additional insight into my characters and their motivations and then suggested my new proposed opening, additional subplot and what I thought I’d leave on the cutting room floor. We batted ideas back and forth and improved them.

Should you consider paying for a critique?

With self-study and critique group feedback I continued to make incremental improvements, but my writing had essentially reached a plateau. To be successful I needed to reach higher ground, and I needed a guide to show me the way. There are other approaches that could work for you: concentrated writing conferences, school courses, a mentor. Living far into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan woods, none of those was practical for me.

I consider the $750 money well spent. What I learned will not only assist me in improving Bad Policy, it will affect the way I write in the future.

I guess I’d better get to it, eh?

 

I’m trying to die correctly, but it’s very difficult you know.

Lawrence Durrell

 

 

 

Context Review

Mary Fitz…

I know I’ve talked about Context in the past but I went again this year and was even more impressed that usual in the quality of the Context Writing workshops. Context is a Science Fiction Convention held every year in Columbus, Ohio. Don’t let that spook you, it’s not the sort of Con where you’ll run into chicks in chainmail in the elevator or members of the fighting 501^st in the hotel bar. Context is a small, low-key, non-media oriented Con that focuses on writing and writers. They have a full schedule of the sort of panels you might find at any Con, but they also have a full schedule of mini writing workshops.  Although it is a SF Con, most of the writing workshops are geared to anyone writing commercial genre fiction.

This year I did two workshops. One was on Conflict and Plot and was lead by Tim Esaias who is one of the professors from Seaton Hill’s MFA in the popular novel program. The second was called Improv for Writers. This workshop taught us how to use the sort of “story spine” actors and comics use to improve as an outline for longer works of fiction. Ellen Klages, who ran this workshop, is both a published writer and an experienced improv performer. She started the workshop by pairing us up and having us actually do some improv. It’s far harder than it looks. After we had all looked silly doing that, she walked us through the how-to use a - “Once upon a time…And every day…But one day… And because of that… And because of that… And because of that…Until finally…And ever since then…” Story Spine to plot out a story or novel. At first this formula seemed off, but she showed us how work from everyone from Garrison Keller to Charles Dickens follows this format. Using a story spine is a great way for someone who is more pantster than plotter to chart out the flow of their work.

If you are writing commercial genre fiction and you are looking for a nearby, not horribly expensive writing workshop you should look into Context in 2010.

 

 

Published,the Few, the Proud

 

Tom Groh’s story, Little White Bunnies, was published by Badlight Magazine in July. His flash fiction story, Fork, was accepted and will appear in the webzine, The Green Flash, this October.

 

 

Conferences, Contests, Workshops, Gatherings

Celebrate Danny Miller and Appalachian Writing

“Voices from the Hills”, a celebration honoring the life and work of Danny Miller, will take place at NKU on September 26^th with, among others, Wendell Berry, Gurney Norman, Crystal Wilkinson and Frank X. Walker.

For details:  htt://English.nku.edu/people/dannymiller/voices.php

The Independence Inklings Writer’s Group is open to all writers, of all skill levels and genres. The group is hosted by and meets at the Durr Branch of the Kenton County Public Library in Independence, Kentucky, on the first Sunday of every month at 1 p.m. Details www.dawnrinken.com  or drinken@therinkens.com.

SinC Into Great Writing!  Sisters in Crime will sponsor a writing workshop October 14, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency in Indianapolis, IN, $50 for SinC members, $150 for nonmembers. Email Beth Wasson sistersincrime@juno.com. Deadline: September 22, 2009.

Backspace Writers Conference, Nov. 5 & 6^th, 2009 and May 2010 in NYC with agent-author day and opportunity to be critiqued by minimum of 12 agents. Go to www.backspacewritersconference.com

 

Boucheron 2009, World Mystery Convention, Oct 15-18. Event run by fans, for fans. www.Boucheron2009.com

 

www.sleuthfest.com Feb. 26-28,2010 in Deerfield Beach, Fla. Sponsored by the Florida Mystery Writers of America. Short story contest.

 

www.Writersinparadise.eckerd.edu Conference Jan. 16 – 24, 2010, St. Petersburg, Fl. With Dennis Lehane, Laura Lippman, Anita Shreve, and others.

 

Ether Tools

Links, Blogs, and Helpful Websites for Writers

Brainyquote.com – fun; ssa.gov/OACT/babynames – trying to name a character?; ***urbandictionary.com – modern; 

Nanowrimo.org – National Novel Writing Month (November)

Book-in-a-week.com – Their motto: BIC HOK TAM.  Butt in chair, hands on keyboard, typing away madly;

thestorystarter.com – need a kick start

Online Writing Groups and Communities

absolutewrite.com – navigate at your own risk. 

ed2010.com -  for learning about the magazine side of publishing thwritingbridge.com – Application process. If approved, you’re on probation and must keep up with the required critiques/submissions

agentquery.com – Indispensible, free, and all you need

duotrope.com – handy for finding markets for short stories; writersdigest.com, the magazine on-line. 

Paid subscription to writersmarket.com or publishersmarketplace.com.

agentquery.com is free and has all you need; jakonrath.blogspot.com – Newbie’s Guide To Publishing

cbaybooks.blogspot.com –good glossary

Agent sites: etreidliterary.blogspot.com and nathanbransford.blogspot.com

***bookendsliteraryagency.blogspot.com –Jessica Faust of Bookends Literary Agency

pubrants.blogspot.com –agent Kristen Nelson, chatty, useful ***rejectionqueen.blogspot.com – if you want to feel better about your own rejections

anotherrealm.com/prededitors  - Preditors & Editors

literarylawguide.com/resources.htm – the go-to source for copyrights

QueryTracker.net – If you plan to send out lots of queries

sfwa.org/beware – Originating from the sci-fi crowd, watchdog site for all

armchairinterviews.com; eighteenquestions.com; noveljourneys.blogspot.com; coolstuff4writers.com – Self-explanatory

writesideout.com –Custom book covers, t-shirts, etc.

 

CWP Members blogs & websites:

www.joedriscoll.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CWP_Fiction/?yguid=177017700

Mary Fitzpatrick, Prez CWP, http://maryfitz.typepad.com/my_weblog

Bob Lewis, fiction writer, http://iaintsorry.blogspot.com

Amy Purcell, fiction, www.amypurcell.com/blog

Chris Specht  www.cspecht.com

Madeline Izzo - www.pittsburghwritersproject.org 

www.icecharades.blogspot.com

 

Classified Ads

Got something to market?  Email meckstein@lys.org. It’s free.

Support Local Authors, shop at the BOOKBANK, Cincinnati’s only local author’s bookstore, located at InkTank. Contact ann@inktank.org if you are a published local author.

Writer’s Retreat

Southpointe Villas  Two-bedroom, ocean front condo 12 miles South of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  Bring your own sheets, towels, toothbrush and bathing suit – everything else is provided, including a pool, cable TV, full kitchen, 1.5 bathrooms, private balcony with a great ocean view and sleeping room for six.  $550-990/wk depending on time of year.  Call Linda 513.379.2094 or email linda_arnest@hotmail.com.

 

The Accidental Word

(overheard in CWP Fiction Writers Crit Group – Weds night)

 

“This writers’ group is different than ours,” she said, her face a sort of apology. “Participants read their work out loud. Then we all say how wonderful it is.”

“We use tough love here,” he answered, with a mean grin.

 

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave

Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind,

Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.

I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

Dirge Without Music, Edna St. Vincent Millay

Context - Saturday

Srill having fun.  I'm up way to late typing this.  I miss the science programing, but still sat in on some good panels. Weird World of Science with Rob Pyatt was fun as always, even if we had seem much of the same stuff at InConjunction.  Improve for writers was good.  Improv is WAY harder than it looks, and the workshop gave me some writing insights that I think will be useful.  Tim Esaias' Conflict & Plot workshop was good too.  Ive been to three of his workshops now, and  have really like them all.  I wish I had the money and lives close enough to Seaton Hill to take one of his college classes. 

Singularity's Ring - Paul Melko

Singularity's Ring is the story of Apollo Papadopulo. Apollo is training to become the captain of the soon to be completed starship Consensus.  This is a future where the world is oddly changed from what we know today. The story takes place twenty years after the Exodus, when the vast majority of humans, who lived interfaced with an souped up version of the world wide web know as the Community, vanished. The Community left behind a globe circling space station known as the Ring, and several half finished interstellar space ships. No one knows for sure what happened to them. Were they all vaporized by some accident? Did they create a singularity and ascend to some higher level of being?

The humans who were left after the Exodus rejected living in an all inclusive technological link, but they wanted some of the enhanced data gathering, and problem solving, and intelligence the link provided. To get this they use bioengineering to alter humanity, so that each "person" is a pod made up of more then one individual. Pods use a combination of pheromones, and direct chemical messages passed when they touch special pads on their hands, to think and act as one entity.

Apollo is a quint, a pod of five individuals- Storm. Meda, Quant, Manuel, Moria. Storm is male, he is strong and athletic, Moria is female, she is brilliant, Meda is also female, she is a natural communicator and negotiator, Quant is also female, she lives and breathes math, and Manuel is male, he is dexterous. Each one is a separate human being with their own thoughts and motivations, but they are also part of a whole that is greater than the sum of their parts.

While on a cold weather survival test in the Rockies, that is part of the screening process for the Starship Captain's program, Apollo and several of the other pods are caught in an avalanche. Apollo only survived because of quick thinking on Storm's part, and the possible intervention of a talking Grizzly Bear. Storm's actions also save most of the members of the second pod. Instead of being reward for this Apollo is sent home to the farm where they were raised for a period of enforced rest. When the individual members of the pod compare notes, and start to investigate the accident things don't add up. It looks like the avalanche was deliberately set up to kill or break-up one or more of the pots in the captain's program. No one believes Storm's account of meeting bears who have pod like pheromones and touch pads

Shortly after this Apollo meets Malcom Leto the sole surviving member of the Community. He had been attached to medical equipment that was repairing brain damage when the Singularity happened, and so was left behind. Leto romances and seduces Meda. He convinces her to to prove her love by letting him install a computer port in her head. He has ulterior motives and Meda escapes before he can use her to start to build a new Community.

Various other things happen and Apollo is sent for a few months training on the space station where the starships are being built. This should be their dream come true, but it turns into a disaster. The pod begins to suspect that someone is trying to kill them. The more they learn the more they realize that many things about their life are not what they thought they were. Most pods are made up of two or three individuals. Quints like Apollo are rare and experimental. Apollo may be more experimental than the law allows. Storm may be able to talk to modified animals. Manuel's body has been modified for zero gravity, his feet can also be used as hands, Quint's brain seems to have been changed so she can see and feel paths needed to fly a ship through space. She is also autistic, if she had not been raised in the circle of her pod she would not be able to function on her own. Moria and Meda also have aspects of their personalities that make they unusual.

Apollo is surrounded by questions. Was the accident in the Rockies planned to set things in motion so they would meet Leto? Does someone wants a pod with the ability to use Community technology so they can access the abandon Ring? Who is tinkering with bear genes to create pods of intelligent Grizzlies and why?

Singularity's Ring is a great read. The universe of the book is fresh and intriguing. The plot has enough twists and turns to keep even the most jaded reader guessing what is going to happen next. The story is told in alternating chapters by the five members of the pod that makes up Apollo Papadopulos so the reader gets to know each one's hopes and fears from the inside. This lets the reader get a feel for what it would be like to be an individual, who is also one part of another person.

I have met Paul Melko at various Local SF Cons.  I think he lives in central Ohio someplace.  I took a workshop on good beginnings that he did with Tobias Buckell at Context one year.  Singularity's Ring is the first work of his that I've read.   It is Melko's first novel, although he has published numerous pieces of short fiction. I'm really looking forward to seeing what he does next.

Detective Inspector Chen Series - Liz Williams

This in my June Review for Enduring Romance.

It's Summer. Time for a get-a-way to someplace warm and exotic.

OK, so we all can't take off and go to Tahiti, or even Florida, or Virginia Beach, but we can travel through books. Liz Williams' wonderful Detective Inspector Chen Novels make for a great reading vacation.

The series is set in Singapore Three a sprawling city in an alternative near future. Creatures from Chinese folklore walk the streets rubbing elbows with traditional grandmothers, and urban techno-punks. Heaven, Earth, and Hell are linked by next generation cell phones, and with the right paperwork business tycoons travel between the levels of reality. Det. Insp. Wei Chen is a detective who can summon ghosts. While investigating why the ghost of a wealthy industrialist's daughter has not shown up for her appointment in Heaven, Chen is paired with Seneschal Zhu Irzh, a vice cop from Hell, literally. He's a demon, but honest and honorable in his own way, and somewhat cursed with a conscience. Chen is middle aged and hard working, he has spent his professional life dedicated to a goddess, he does not rock the boat or break rules, except for marrying a beautiful young demon who he helped escape an arranged marriage in Hell. Needless to say that complicates things when her former fiancee and her family seem to bee connected with the missing ghost.

All this takes place in Snake Agent. In the other two books the plot thickens, a goddess goes mad, two nice young ghosts have a son, who might not be all he seems, Chen, and Zhu Irzh, and Celestial Warrior, who looks like a fragile, young girl, get sent on a fact-finding mission to Hell complications insure and various adventures take place. Oh and there are Dragons. Williams books are Urban Fantasies, but without the clichés that often make the sub genre feel stale these days. She does a wonderful job of realizing Singapore Three, and it's mirror city in Hell. Williams makes her readers feel like they have been to the city, from the small stifling hot go-downs and street markets to the glittering homes and offices of the super-rich business and industrial elite to Chen's house boat docked on the edge of the City's crowded harbor. Hell is run by powerful ministries, War, Epidemics, Lust etc. Upper Class demons, and souls who's family did not follow the proper ceremonies, or pay the right fees to get then into heaven live lives much like folks on earth , the lower levels are full of mindless horrors and hungry ghosts. Heaven is perfect, peach scented and maybe just a touch boring, for those not ready to become Celestial beings.

Chen, Zhu Irzh are great characters. The supporting cast is also wonderful. There is Chen's sweet demon wife Inari, her pet tea pot badger. Robin Yuan, is a wage slave at Paugeng, a powerful multi-national pharmaceutical company and Mhara , a timid young demon being used as a lab rat in Paugeng's research diversion. Jhai Tserai, is the Paugeng heiress, a brilliant business woman, murder suspect, not all the she seems and possibly Zhu Irzh's soul mate. Mrs. Pa is an elderly widow raising the grandson because her daughter's ghost didn't want him growing up in Hell. Mai a young woman sent to Hell by mistake when she died of cholera at age three.

So, if you can't get away the usual way to some place exotic this summer try diving into a books and taking a visit to Singapore Three.

Literalry Rivalry, clever promotion or both

 From an end-cap at Joseph-Beth my local bookstore.

Butcher has good taste. I like Scalzi and Novik.  I'm going to have to look up Name of the Wind.

What is the appeal of Blood Sucking Dead Guys - Why do empowered modern women crave Vampire Romance?

I admit I went through a brief vampire fiction phase in my 20's when I hung out with theater people, had purple highlights in my hair and dressed in black.  But, since I have become a mature  adult I just don't see why any healthy well adjusted woman would want that sort of relationships that vampire fiction are all about.

Most of what bothers me about Vampire Romance is that it is all about unequals relationships. Almost always the Vampire is male, and super-alpha.  He dominates the heroine in a way I find distasteful when I sit and think about it. 

In a relationship with a Vampire a human always had everything to loose.  This seems to play out in three main ways, but in with each of the basic Vampire plots the human, who is a woman in almost all vampire fiction is in a position of weakness.

The first option in Vampire fiction is that the Vampire is immortal and the heroine is human.   She is prey and he is playing with his food. This is the plot in Dracula, although there are many other complications and sub-plots and Dracula isn't a Romance in the modern sense of the word. In this plot the woman is basically a consumable disposable item to the Vamp.  To believe a love story with this set-up you have to believe someone can fall in love with their food.  Sure I may I love Greater's Strawberry Chocolate Chip ice cream, but  I'm not going to consider it my equal as a life partner.  On top of that in this sort of plot the woman is always weak, inexperiences, and child like compared to the immortal vamp. Which makes this sort of like pedophilia with a mature person taking advantage of an unformed person and calling it love.

In the second basic Vampire Romance plot the main characters can stay together if she becomes a vampire.  This plot basically says the only way a woman can be happy is if she completely transforms herself on every level ,and gives up her old life completely to be with her man.  The difference between saying that about a regular guy and a Vampire is that a Vamp has the ability to force this transformation on his lover, it is the by-product of their lovemaking, and she will probably enjoy it. This is a variation the rape fantasy or  forced seduction scenario  that has been rejected in almost all other sub-genres of Romance.

The third Vampire Romance plot is the most rare.  In this plot  true love can "cure" the vamp.  This is basically the "If he loves me enough he will change" plot  that is at the root of all bad-boy, reformed Rake, redeemed highwayman, pirate with a heart of gold  Romances.  In many ways this is the plot I find most disturbing.  It is dangerous because being fed that sort of nonsense causes women to, at lease internally, blame a husband or boyfriend's bad behavior on themselves for not loving enough.  It leads to women staying with men who are abusive because they think the abuse is their own fault for not putting enough into the relationship.

There is some Vampire fiction out there that does not fall into these plot pit-falls.  Tanya Huff's Blood  series  and Fred Saberhagen's Dracula Tapes, and Old Friend of the Family , come to mind, but although their are love story sub-plots in these series they are not Romances.  I have not read Twilight but I saw the movie on a plane recently.  I wasn't giving it 100% of my attention but it seemed to be a mix of plot #1 and plot #2.  I'm not the target market for that book or movie but Edward gave off very creepy stalker personal space invader vibes to me. 

Despite everything women have done in the past century to become equal players on the world stage even modern liberated women seem to  want someone to come in, sweep them off their feet, and take them away from all their troubles. We've been told it is not PC to wait for Prince Charming, so are we turning to dark and dangerous Vampires to fill this roll?  Is that OK  because everyone knows Vampires are not real, so it is harmless way to indulge in a "I which someone would take me away from this" fantasy?  Is it because unwanted/unplanned pregnancy isn't a worry with a Vampire Lover?  Is it an insidious plot to keep women addicted to fiction where they are subservient to men and there by keep that as the correct state things in women's subconscious?  Is it just a fad that will pass? I've heard all that discussed at various chat-rooms and Con panels, and I'm still not sure why Vampire Romance is so hot. 

Wanderlust - Ann Aguirre

 Wanderlust is the second in a series of books about Sirantha Jax.  She is one of the few people who have a gene that lets them manipulate Grimspace so that a ship can pass though safely.  Being able to navigate Grimspace is addictive and in the end it consumes navigators.  They live fast flashy lives until they burn out.  Jax was something of a rock-star navigator until she was set up and framed for the crash of a ship where she was navigator.  The accident also killed her pilot and lover.  The crash and the time she spent in prison getting psych "treatment" have left Jax pretty fragile, mentally and physically.  All that happened in Grimspace the first book in this series.

In Wandrlust, Jax has a newly cleared reputation, a new pilot and a clean road ahead of her.  She is also broke, unemployed, and not likely to be employed by the major jump ship players because of her roll in breaking their monopoly on folks with the jump gene.  She is on the run from unknown assassins, and she is not feeling well.  She isn't experiencing the metal burnout that happens to most navigators, but her body is breaking down.  In desperation she and her crew take a diplomatic mission, where Jax will use her fame to act as a goodwill ambassador to a powerful alien government.  It is a job that is designed to fail and Jax does not find out until too late that she has just volunteered to be a scapegoat.  This leads to a series of adventures and plot twists. 

I liked but did not love Grimspace.  I fond Wanderlust a much more enjoyable read than the first book in the series.  I did have a problem with a portion of the book where they are in underground caves on on a backwoods world with waring clans on the run from invisible monsters.  For some reason that whole plot arc read like Firefly fanfic to me.  I could not say exactly why, but being reminded of he show got on my nerves.  I liked Firefly bunches.  Watching the complete series on DVD helped me get through chemo.  I think it probably inspired more than one writer to do space opera that was grittier and less antiseptic as the standard bright shiny SW, ST scenario.  That's a good thing, but something  just didn't really work for me here.  Part of it was the invisible monsters picking people off one by one thing.  I  hate bug-eye-monster-of-the-week sort of SF.  It alwasy feels like a cheap and lazy way to pad a plot to me.  All that said I'm enjoying this series. I look forward to reading more about Jax and company.

Heart of Light - Sarah A. Holt

  I have pretty much stopped reading fantasy because the genre was clogged with Tolkien wannabe, elf/dwarf/dragon coming of age quest books or the Anti-Tolkien Sword and Sorcery Epics with lots of blood and grime and casts of thousands.  Urban Fantasy countered that somewhat, but that sub-genre has become dominated by blood-sucking dead guys and kinky sex scenarios, so it's become a little ho-hum too.  For me the bright light in Fantasy these day is in Fantasy version of Alternative History like Naomi Novik's Her Majesty's Dragon, and Heart of Light by Sarah A. Hoyt. I'm quite looking forward to Charles Coleman Finlay's upcoming fantasy set against the American Revolution.

Heart of light takes place in an alternative British Empire where magic exists. In some places every one as a small amount of kitchen magic.  In the developed world magic has been concentrated in the hands of the descendants of a few families so the upper class strong magic and the masses have little or none. 

Emily and Nigel Oldhall are young aristocratic newlyweds on a wedding trip to exotic Cairo.  They seem blissfully happy, obliviously naive about the inequality around them, and bland as warm milk.  Appearances are deceptive.  Almost nothing about them is as it seems at first sight.  The instant their luxury hotel flying carpet touches down in Cairo they become embroiled in intrigue. 

Unknown to his wife Nigel is working under cover for the British crown to find a  magical artifact that may control the destiny of all human magic users. African resistance groups, unhappy under British rule, also want the artifact, but for different reasons.  At first they try to scare Emily and Nigel away but latter they become allies of necessity in the quest to find a magic temple hidden in the heart of Africa.  Emily and Nigel's marriage isn't what it should be. Kitwana, one of the African freedom fighters, comes to question his  leaders motives, and fear he may just be changing one dictatorship for another.  His hidden  past may be the key to solving everyone's problems.  Nigel's old school friend Peter may be a government agent set to help with the quest, or he may be something else completely. 

There are plot twists and turns, action adventure, and Romance all of which made Heart of Light a fun read and really make me look forward to reading the next book in this series Soul of Fire.

More Book Reviews!

I promised Book Reviews this week and I have been remiss on posting them.  Two today to make up for skipping Wednesday.