Zombies in my Dreams

Actually it was one zombie, maybe two, in my dreams last night, zombies that catapulted me from the dream when the zombie was outside the bathroom door. I couldn't get the lock to catch and was braced against the door looking for a way out when I was hurled from the dream. Something saved me and I'm not sure what.

My zombie dream wasn't the usual variety of being attacked by hordes of moaning zombies gnashing their rotting teeth. A man I knew stopped by to ask my help. He had a few yellow pods in his hand and the pods were wriggling and jiggling. He threw them on the floor and stomped on them releasing a squirming mass of slug-like creatures. He stomped and stomped on them as he explained they were difficult to kill -- and he had just released them in my room in my house. I stomped on them, grinding the slimy creatures into the carpet. As soon as I thought they were gone, the creatures would inflate and go wriggling off.

That is why the man came to me to help him figure out a way to destroy them -- so he said. What he really came to do was to infect me and bring me over to the slug side. From somewhere, a corpse that had obviously been laid by for the purpose was reanimated by the slugs. It came to me that the slugs couldn't enter a healthy living body easily unless ingested or the skin cut and the creature inserted, but the creatures could easily invade the decomposing flesh of a corpse. Instant zombie but with a purpose -- and it was coming after me to either kill me or hold me down while I was forced to accept one of the creatures.

I ran for the bathroom because it was close and I could lock the door, but the lock wouldn't catch. Hard as I tried, the lock failed to keep the door from opening and that is when I woke up with the zombie at the door and me on the other side looking for something to brace the door closed.

I realized as I was sitting on the toilet in the bathroom after I woke that I could open the window and get out that way and run for my life. And then another thought occurred. If the creatures looked like slugs, maybe they reacted like slugs when doused with salt. Despite what could be the answer to the dream I stayed up for a while, wrote down the dream, and then worked on some cross stitch before going back to sleep at about 4:30 AM. I am intrepid, but don't usually actively court nightmares. No, siree, Bob. (I wonder if that's bob or Bob? I don't really know.)

What I probably have is a short story or maybe the beginning of another novel. I get stories like that from my nightmares, especially when the theme is horror. I get safer books from the usual dreams, although those dreams can be pretty far out in space. That's where I get science fiction and some fantasies, like the one with the faeries, wormholes, and worlds held stationary at the event horizon of a black hole where the time dilation effect works. But that's another post -- or more likely another story.

I don't really care for zombie literature, except for World War Z, or zombie movies and series, except for The Walking Dead, which also goes for the graphic novel. Once in a while, I find myself pondering a zombie story, like the one that takes place on the battlefield at Gettysburg. I have one favorite zombie novel, The Rising by Brian Keene, and a few zombie short stories, like Almost the Last Story by Almost the Last Man by Scott Edelman, and a flash fiction story about a southern family trying to get zombie Grandma to tell them where her money is, by Mary Ann Peden-Coviello that is deliciously wonderful.

I see zombies as a metaphor for how the wealthy are devouring the earth and their fellow man like ravening revenants. Most people just see walking, moaning corpses with rotting flesh and putrid innards chasing the living to devour and infect them. I do try to avoid zombies, especially since I don't care for them, but then someone will talk about a really good book or story and my curiosity gets the better of me -- and now that curiosity has infected my dreams. Oh, what a world! I suppose it could be worse. I might not get a story out of it. I just never know.

So, while I'm climbing out the bathroom window looking for a big truck full of salt before the zombie attacks, I'm going to stop thinking about zombies and think about something safer. Fluffy bunnies maybe. No! Pink wiggling noses and white fur and . . . .

That is all. Disperse.

Review: Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison

Too many people, not enough resources. That is the central theme in Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison.

The story is set in New York City where there are 35 million people crammed into a very small space, where jobs are scarce and have to be bought, where paper is only in old books, and air conditioning is only for the wealthy. In this jam packed world lives Andy Rusch, a detective with the NYPD who spends less of his time detecting and most of his time on riot control with the rest of the boys in blue. He shares an apartment with an old man, Solomon, and is seldom there. Sol did not want to live alone and threw up a thin panel between the bedroom and the main room, probably what is called a studio apartment nowadays, and put up a notice at the local police department, which is when Andy became his roommate.

Their shared resources, food, light, and heat, are mainly composed of soy and lentils (when it is available and is called soylent), but mainly margarine made of oil and rendered whale fat on weedcrackers. Meat is a thing of the past and only for the wealthy who have the Ds to buy it. Sol converted the stove from gas to electric and finally to seacoal and powers the refrigerator with a bicycle rigged up to car batteries that Sol pedals, thus keeping fit and making ice with their water ration.

Andy catches a case at Chelsea Towers where a high ranking mob boss is violently murdered with a sharpened tire iron. His girlfriend, Shirl Greene, and the bodyguard were out at the time and found Big Mike when they returned. Since Big Mike was a big presence in political circles, Andy must find the murderer, a change from the usual SOP of finding the killer if possible and moving on to the next murder. Big people want answers about Big Mike and Andy will lose his job if he doesn't find the killer.

Make Room! Make Room! is a far cry from the usual murder mystery in that Harry Harrison's main focus is on showing how precariously humanity is perched at the edge of the abyss. With 7 billion people on the planet and 337 million people in the United States using up all the resources, the level of their comfortable existence must also change, and all because there is no birth control and the Catholic Church opposes anything that will kill babies. Harrison isn't talking about abortion, but about the pill, a case he has Sol make to Shirl after she moves in with Andy.

Birth control is an old argument, but considering that Harrison published his argument for birth control in 1966, that should also be considered. Harrison theorized that humanity would be living on top of each other by 1999 and that a population of 7 billion people would use up all the resources until there was very little left.

I found the story to be basically straight forward and the conditions appalling, which is what Harrison wanted. I did not, however, find the story completely credible. There was no mention of using the vast water resources locked in the poles or of any kind of apparatus or movement to catch and use rainwater. Harrison relies completely on artesian wells because rivers and streams are so polluted. No mention is even made of purifying the river water in a city surrounded by water.

While the premise and the way Harrison sets up his crisis is interesting, he relies more on emotion than on facts to make his case. I do agree with his stance on birth control and what would happen in a world where no one is wise enough to look beyond their immediate surroundings for an answer, but few people are that stupid and fewer still, pushed to the extremes outlined, would be content to suffer without trying everything possible.

Despite Harrison's projected numbers, there are currently 7 billion people on this planet and 8.245 million in New York City. Water is still plentiful, as are food, space, and resources, if costly. Even so, Make Room! Make Room! is interesting reading when taken in the context of its time and social conscience.

Harrison's novel was adapted for the screen as Soylent Green, a movie in which the central theme was the greenhouse effect and soylent green was made from people.

Review: Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank

I've been on this whole science fiction/post apocalyptic kick lately and Alas, Babylon was the second such book I tried because I'd read about it in the after word of another book. Isn't that how you find new books?

Another book suggested was Neville Shute's On the Beach, which I read about 8 or 9 years ago when the guy at the post office suggested it. Alas, Babylon and On the Beach both deal with the world after a nuclear strike, except in Neville Shute's world, based in Australia, all human life was annihilated and Australians would soon be dead of radiation poisoning, saved on by their lower position on the globe. In Pat Frank's post nuclear holocaust world, specifically America and Fort Repose in Florida, many people died from the nuclear blasts and more of radiation poisoning, but many survived in a world without technology, electricity, and most of what modern people consider necessary: salt, medicine, antibiotics, doctors, etc.

At the beginning of Frank's novel, Randall Rowzee Bragg is on the super highway to dissipation. Randy begins with a bit of liquor in his coffee and runs around with women, many of which come from Pistolville, the other side of the nonexistent tracks in Fort Repose. His family name is old and distinguished, but Randy spends more time in the red at the bank than in the black. He's friendly and well liked, but not what one would consider a pillar of the community unless the pillar is leaning drunkenly to the side and about to topple over.

Randy gets a telegram from his brother, Colonel Mark Bragg, to meet him at a nearby Air Force base as Mark is on his way back from Puerto Rico and will touch down there to refuel. He is sending his wife and two children to stay with Randy in Fort Repose, signing his message, "Alas, Babylon," so Randy will know it's serious.

Randy goes, meets his brother, gets the bad news that there will be war with Russia, nuclear war, gets a check for five thousand dollars, and drives back to Fort Repose to the bank where he has some trouble cashing the check, but walks away with the cash and a remark to the manager of the bank that cash will be the only thing that matters in a very short time. Randy gets most of the supplies on his list and drives the next morning to get his sister-in-law, Helen, and Ben Franklin and Peyton, his nephew and niece, all of whom were reluctant to leave their father in Omaha at the Strategic Air Command (SAC) base.

Nuclear war comes with a double blinding dawn and soon the cessation of electricity amid panic and a world turned upside down where Randy becomes the strongest pillar of the community, coming alive with deadly purpose to preserve his family and his town.

Alas, Babylon was published in 1959 at the height of fear of pending nuclear war with Russia -- and Cuba -- and amid racial segregation and the struggle for civil rights. Randy Bragg lives next door to the Henrys, a black family of modest means who were once the Bragg family's slaves. The Henrys bought the land on which they live and are a major asset in sustaining life and purpose for Randy and the extended family he gathers around him. The Henrys are the difference between life and death.

Frank was writing at a time when he had intimate knowledge of politics, nuclear capabilities, and civil rights, having written about them as a war correspondent, reporter, and chief of a couple of newspapers. He knew first hand what life would be like in his family's home in Florida and the struggles he -- and indeed the country -- would face. Alas, Babylon is as true today as it was in 1959.

I found the characters engaging and amusing and wonderful in their differences and their similarities and enjoyed the change especially in Randy as he squared his shoulders and took charge. Dated though some of the information seems at a glance, Frank pegged human nature, which seldom changes. People rise and fall in times of adversity and those that surprise us the most are the people we often discount before disaster hits. I highly recommend Frank's view of America after a nuclear holocaust, not only for its insights, but for its humor and its pathos.

Since I read the Kindle version, I will warn you that there are many mistakes throughout the text with wrong words, doubled and missing words, and typos with most of the mistakes coming at the end of the book. It will take a few seconds to puzzle out what is supposed to be there, but it shouldn't slow you down too much. That is the reason for 4/5 stars when the book itself deserves a hearty 5-star review. This book stands the test of time.

Forbidden Planet

Forbidden Planet has always been my favorite science fiction movie since I first saw it as a child at the theaters and on television. I was captivated by the story, which is what was meant to happen by filmmakers who took some liberties with the original book by Irving Block and Allen Adler, a fact I didn't know until I found the book earlier this week.

I am no stranger to the way Hollywood changes books to fit the Hollywood version of happily ever after when there is no happy and sometimes no ever after. Very seldom does Hollywood stick to the script, except in the case of Cecil B. DeMille, and that is mostly because he remade his blockbusters at least three times and used the same script each time. The problem is that even DeMille changed the script to fit his vision of what the book should look like; I know that because I actually read Ben Hur:A Tale of the Christ, for instance, by Lew Wallace, who also wrote several other historical novels. That is a story for another time.

Although director, Fred M. Wilcox, stuck pretty closely to the book's dialogue and story, he softened Edward Morbius and left out the dialogue that covers the real reason why Morbius was such a danger to mankind and the universe and chose to die with the planet. Morbius committed the ultimate sin; he wanted to create life.

Do you remember the scene at the Gateway -- it was called the Teacher in the movie? Morbius at down at the machine with the probes touching his head and he "sculpted" a figure of Altaira, his daughter. Morbius said the figure was alive because Altaira was alive in his memory from moment to moment. Big lie! And what about Alta's friends? How did they get to Altair IV and remain exactly the same for 2000 centuries (that is 200,000 years in Earth time when math is applied)? Would not animals brought from Earth to Altair IV have adapted to their new world with protective coloring and attributes? Wouldn't they also have been destroyed in the night and day that destroyed the Krell? And yet there are monkeys (one of five different species, all males), two female deer obviously in their first year of life, and a Bengal tiger roaming the planet far from any other herds or visible life, and they just happened into Morbius's compound. Funny how the men from Earth spaceship C-57-D never glimpse any movement or signs of herds or life of any kind on Altaira IV when they arrived.

Also missing from the movie is Major Ostrow, the doctor, dissecting a titi monkey Captain J. J. Adams just happened to back over when they were trying to uncover Morbius's secret meetings with the Krell still alive and kicking on the planet. The rest of the monkeys were also absent, but that may be due to having to deal with five monkeys on the set. They weren't really needed since the point of the monkeys in the first place was deleted from the script.

Are you beginning to get what is missing? What Hollywood thought too shocking for the American family in 1956 to grasp and see splashed across the scene in Disney's best special effects?

The real reason for the Krell's demise in the book is hinted at in several ways on the screen, and the annihilation of an entire species becomes more of a punishment for usurping the Universe's -- or God's -- power. It is the same power that Dr. Morbius usurps and why he wants to hold onto the planet without Earth involvement. He has gone beyond Earth's power and he wants to keep it that way.

Major Ostrow dies in the movie after using the Krell Gateway to expand his mind, but in the book he does not do so rashly. He is detailed, at his own request, to watch over Morbius and Alta, while the captain makes the ship ready to rocket back to Earth with Morbius and Alta in tow -- even if they have to be tied and gagged. Doc takes the opportunity to expand his own mind slowly and safely over the course of the night while Morbius is in the hands of psychotropic medication that keeps him awake -- mostly because Morbius is afraid to sleep -- and blissfully drugged. Short bursts from the Gateway give Doc what Morbius missed when he was first exposed and lay in a coma for a night and a day -- knowledge. What Morbius has spent 20 years trying to achieve Doc gets in his safe short bursts of Gateway use. Doc understands what really destroyed the Krell and what is at the heart of the Force that has torn apart some of the ship's men. At least Hollywood left that part alone and got most of it right.

It was Morbius's souped up Id that was sneaking out when he was asleep to tear the ship's men limb from limb and sabotaging their ability to contact Earth. That monster of the unconscious mind no longer ruled by social convention or reason and fueled by the unlimited power of the Krell furnaces is determined to keep Earth from knowing what Morbius has done and wishes to continue doing -- create life.

There it is, the reason behind Morbius's furtive actions and his warning to stay away from the planet or be destroyed by the Force. (This is a different Force from the Force that a Jedi uses, although it could be a taste of what perverted Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader, but that's another story altogether and happened much, much later.)

Alta's friends are Morbius's attempt to create life, life that when dissected could not live. The vital organs are missing and what is left between what organs are part of the animal's makeup is a kind of stringy gelatinous mass like bloody stuffing. Remember, Morbius is not a biologist for a philologist, a scientist of words and languages. He has probably the most basic knowledge about how life is put together and thus he fills in the blanks in his knowledge with the bloody stuffing. It is unlikely that the animals even eat and certainly couldn't procreate since that would take a more profound understanding of biology than Morbius possesses.

In the book, Alta tells Captain Adams that her friends just appeared one day when she was a child and had been there ever since. Animals that do not age or procreate or kill for food or grow old and die, but what a life is the absence of true life. Life means growth and change and inevitably death. Morbius hasn't gotten that right yet.

The book is a good one and I recommend it for fans of the movie and for fans of science fiction.

While I enjoy the movie still, I find myself looking for clues in what Hollywood decided should be on the screen for what was central to the book. Morbius confronts his monster at the end and Doc does die, but Doc dies of exhaustion and not from a single blast of using the Gateway. Doc was much smarter than that. Morbius is alive and still on his feet at the end of the book. He sets the self-destruct sequence and choose to go down with the planet while Captain Adams and what remains of his crew fly away with Robby the robot and Alta, thus destroying the might and power of the Krell and their drive to create life that killed them -- and Morbius -- in the end.

While the idea of creating life without a god's sanction might have been anathema to the mind in 1956, it is all too familiar in the 21st century where life can be -- and has been -- created in a test tube and the technique for cloning and growing human cells in Petri dishes and test tubes. Modern scientists regularly create life from retroviruses and lethal strains of bacteria to used as weapons to cloned sheep and very like humans as well as growing skin for burn victims. I wonder how far we are from creating a furnace powered by the heart of this planet that will fuel the dreams and nightmares of our collective Ids and Egos and end our race in a night and a day. Moreover, I wonder if that is what happened to Atlantis. Did Atlantean scientists tap too deep into the Earth's core to fuel their experiments with creating life and awaken the volcano on their island to their destruction? Who knows? Not all such scientific imaginings are the realm of fiction.

 

Interview: Joe Rourke, author of Fat School Confidential

In the best of all possible worlds, writing a book is difficult, especially when dealing with your own life. How does a writer justify writing a memoir if nothing out of the ordinary has happened and fame is a distant dream? For Joe Rourke, it was a series of incidences that began by accepting a position at a ritzy school for overweight teenagers that changed his life, his fortunes, and his family.  I asked Joe about his journey into a world he didn't expect and the repercussions of writing about it all.

I have read most of Fat School Confidential and there are some fascinating and sometimes painful memories chronicled, but I was interested in finding out about Joe's writing process and why he put such intimiate and personal details on the page.

JMCornwell:  Fat School Confidential is about a time in your life that seems quite painful. Why did you decide to write this book at this time? 

JoeRourke:  Actually, I waited about a year to start writing the book.  I needed to get the okay from key family members.  By the time I did decide on writing the book, the reason was simple: I wanted to tell my story.

JMC:  Most authors’ first books are autobiographical. Although that usually applies to fiction, it also applies to nonfiction. How difficult has it been to put your life on public display?

JRourke:  I spent so much time writing the book, worrying about readers’ reactions was completely secondary to me.  It has been more difficult dealing with negative reviews and fallout from friends and acquaintances than having my life—warts and all—displayed for all to see.

JMC:  What have been the repercussions from your book from family, friends, and coworkers?

JRourke:  Very few family members know that I have written a book, let alone published one.  With friends, it’s been a mixed bag.  Most of them seem supportive “on paper,” but treat me differently [now].  It’s hard to explain, and the changes have been subtle, [s]till, I notice them.  My closest friends have been my support, but then they’ve known me all along.  The people I work with today are unaware of my past, and I intend to keep it that way, unless, of course, my book [. . .] receives widespread recognition.

JMC:  Are there any fictional elements in Fat School Confidential?

Some of the dialogue is not verbatim, and I’ve changed certain characteristics of a couple of the students as they were minors at the time of the story.  The overwhelming majority of what I’ve written is exactly as I’ve remembered.

JMC:  Considering what you reveal about yourself, the school, and your life, are you worried that someone would come back and sue you over what you wrote?

JRourke:  I was worried about all kinds of things as I wrote the book.  Getting sued, receiving death threats, and dealing with stalkers, [. . .] all scenarios I played out in my mind.  Right before publishing, I changed the names of everyone (save myself) in order to minimize any litigious [action].  I still worry, but I’m glad I wrote what I wrote.

JMC:  How long did it take you to write your book? What was your writing schedule?

JRourke:  It took 4 years to write this book, much of it in fits and starts.  I [worked] odd jobs--my down time was limited at best--but I made time to write. Sometimes I only had an hour, other [times] as much as three or four [hours]. [b]ut I wrote regularly.  Once in a while I’d get hung up on a paragraph, but by and large I've stayed the course.

JMC:  Every writer has a weakness. When I first began writing my weakness was writing dialogue. What is your weakness and how did you overcome/deal with it?

JRourke:  My weakness has always been dialogue, though friends have told me how much they’ve loved certain characters; [but that] was fiction--and more specifically, screenplays.  Non-fiction is a whole other ball game—especially[since this is a]   memoir.  I had to recall certain conversations when writing. I’ve had to futz with dialogue to make it sound more natural. I dealt with it by [. . .] facing the obstacles head on. Or I’d skip to another chapter and go back [later].

JMC:  Now that you have this book finished, what would you change and why?

JRourke:  Since the book has already been put out to pasture, so to speak, I don’t know if I’d change anything. Oh, I could go back and have one of my more seasoned writer friends give it a final polish and make some recommendations, but what’s done is done.

JMC:  What do you/did you expect to get from your first book?

JRourke:  I guess it is every new author’s wish to instantly be a bestseller.  I had hoped my book would sell more than it has, but I attribute it to a lack of promotion on my part.  I had no idea what I was up against once I embarked on self-publishing.

JMC:  What did you get from writing your first book that you didn't expect?

JRourke:  I got a great deal of satisfaction knowing this was [the] first book I wrote on my own. Other than a handful of scripts, I [had only ghostwritten] or collaborated on book projects for friends or clients.  Fat School Confidential was my baby. 

JMC:  Do you plan to write any more books? What will be next?

JRourke:  I have a rough outline and some notes detailing a sequel, Fat Life Confidential. I have a couple other projects planned down the line, including a children’s book, but I’ll probably use a pseudonym for that project.

JMC:   Do you prefer writing fiction or nonfiction? Why?

JRourke:  Given that this was my first solo non-fiction book, I definitely prefer fiction. I [have written] screenplays and I’ve read/critiqued a great many for agents and writing contests. Bottom line: I’m in my element with fiction.

***

I would like to thank Joe Rourke for taking the time to answer all of my questions. I could have asked a lot more, but didn't want to wear our my welcome.

Writing is a process and an experience in learning and evolving as you grow. Writers often gravitate toward what is easiest. For me it is nonfiction writing and for Joe Rourke it is fiction. I don't know about Joe, but I continue to face what scares me most and what I dream about doing most -- writing fiction. It is the only way to evolve and grow as a writer, so I continue writing nonfiction and blend fiction and fact in writing fiction while chiseling away at fiction. Maybe next I will try poetry -- or maybe not. What is important is writing and continuing to write

Joe Rourke's memoir, Fat School Chronicles, is available at Amazon. I suggest picking up a copy and diving right in. You've nothing to lose but your preconceptions.

If you would like to discuss your book and the writing process, contact me here at blogger.

That is all. Disperse.

 

Review: Red Rising by Pierce Brown

There is nothing so satisfying as finding a new author, except finding a new author of really good, solid science fiction. That author is Pierce Brown and the book is Red Rising.

When I started the book, I was not impressed. Brown thrust me into the world of a Helldiver and the mining caste of Reds, but the true nature of the Reds didn't become apparent until I was much farther along in the book. The first chapter was all right and the writing was clear, if a bit overwhelming with all the Helldiver action and pitvipers and such, but the story was was weak. I could find no connection to Darrow at all. He's a kid in my world but a man in his own world and a newlywed and a powerful man in his own with a strong drive to excel and exceed the limits. I did have a grudging respect for him on that score, but the beginning was still slow and I stopped reading Red Rising to read other more interesting books.

I came back determined to read through to the end and suddenly Brown caught fire. Darrow won his Laurel but didn't get it because the system would not allow a Red of his clan to win. As he watched his prize and the food going to the same clan that always won regardless of how much the Lykos clan produced, I began to get a feel for Darrow's world and his wife, Eo's, dream. What followed was rage making and poignant and the real world of Mars and the Color Caste began to emerge into a light dawning on a much bigger story that moved forward with harrowing speed and force. That is when I was well and truly caught into the juggernaut that is Red Rising.

I was fooled by Brown's almost laconic beginning pace, in spite of the Helldiver action, into thinking Darrow's story was just another knock-off science fiction story. I was wrong. The pace and suspense build and build to a focused and sustained screaming Hell ride into a story that pits strength and cunning against a decadent and decaying society in the first throes of its privileged demise. The ante continues to spiral upward until Darrow assaults the gods and heaven itself in a stomach churning, adrenaline thundering story with an ending that illustrates just how far Darrow has come from the comforting confines of mines and his world view. He has seen the stars and taken hold of destiny with a fierce grip.

Red Rising is a heady mix of hard and soft science fiction with a fiercely wild heart. Although based loosely on the Roman and Greek pantheon of gods and goddesses, Brown has build a solar system of stunning breadth where slavery is a colorful necessity and power corrupts and changes those that can adapt in new ways. The science and medicine is fascinating and the political maneuvering breath taking in its scope, reminiscent of the best of Robert A. Heinlein and Roger Zelazny without the use of their hierarchies or ruling systems. This is quite simply the best science fiction I have read in decades. The only downside is that this is the first of a trilogy and doesn't debut until February 2014 and I have at least two more years to wait for the next installment.

With a first book like Red Rising, I anxiously await the rest of Brown's vision.

For its slow start, I give 4/5 stars, but I'd say this book is closer to 4.5 stars. It is after all only one chapter that fails to sing with the power and intensity of the rest of the novel.

 

NOTE:  Red Rising is not due out until February 2014, but this book is definitely one that should be on your list. Get it when it debuts in 2014.  It is worth the wait.

Review: Under the Dome by Stephen King

What struck me as I read Under the Dome is that the book is Lord of the Flies under glass. The fact that the main characters are adults does not detract from that comparison as the people of Chester's Mills are cut off from the rest of the world and left to their own devices. In that sense, Stephen King has imagined a rich and dark world where few people are untouched by the evil that men do -- or are the very essence of the evil that men do in the name of order and control.

The book rises like a rocket with clear intent and a purpose. The purpose is destruction and death, both of which follow in true Stephen King fashion like bloody fireworks. What follows is a close look at the thoughts and actions of the leaders of this small community and the animosity of the many against the few. as in all small town, the stranger, or newcomer, takes the brunt of all that violence and venom, which in this case is ex-Army lieutenant, Dale Barbara, also knows as Barbie. The inevitable connection with Ken follows later and becomes as irritating to the reader as it is to Barbie.

There is the owner of the newspaper, Julia Shumway, third generation reporter and publisher, the sheriff, Howard "Duke" Perkins and his loving wife, the richest man in town, second Selectman, Jim Rennie, and a cast of characters drawn from any small town in the world. There is abuse of power, needless death, murder, the strong preying on the weak, and the meek inheriting the scorched earth. There is a town drunk and a smiling and hapless first Selectman, and the token woman on the town Council, Third Selectman, Andrea Grinnell, the owner of the restaurant, Rose of Sweetbriar Rose, and adorable children, some of whom are intrepid explorers with the brains to figure out what is going on. The characters, as in all King's longer works, are legion and their parts, however small, are detailed in King-wise fashion.

The biggest problem I see with the story is that after that spectacular rocket shot to the outer rings of Saturn, the middle of the book drags and sags, pulling down any forward momentum and becoming a bit tedious. It isn't that the details are fascinating, but the feeling of "Are we there yet?" becomes pervasive. It took me a while to figure out why that is until last night, as I jotted down some notes, I figured it out. King uses seizures with visions and dreams -- another familiar King device -- to let the reader know what is coming and he gives out the ending far too soon and far too often until the "are we there yet?" mantra is sung often and often in whining frustration.

Let's get on with it already. Yes, the descriptions are wonderful and the characters complex, but can we skip to the end NOW? When I figured in that most of the action occurs in the matter of three or four days, the urge to get it over with became almost imperative. When I think that the series will cover a month instead of a week, I'm a little less anxious to see the series, no matter what changes have been made in King's original story.

When the top of the hill is reached, the rest of the story is like the roller coaster screaming down the steep hill and through the turns without too much drag on the moment. There is a bit of drag, more of the "are we there YET?" but the ending is reached and the death toll is high. In King's books, death comes to all: high and low, good and bad, smart and dumb. Some of the deaths are handed out with justice and a sense of satisfaction that the evil is dead, but so are a lot of good people, which underlines the fact that when natures goes awry, death is no respecter of persons. Many will die; few will live on to tell the tale.

I won't give the ending away, but I found the reason for the dome at once interesting and a bit too pat. Bringing the dome down is characteristic of most of King's more recent books and I find that telling. A brush with death, such as King had, definitely changes the viewpoint and the heart. Somewhere I think the heart of a little boy King once kept on his desk has been given a decent burial.

As good as some part of Under the Dome are, it is a mediocre book overall. Flash bang beginning, slough of despond in the too long middle, and a moderately satisfying ending with a very high body count. Still, it is worth reading for all that and there are some very funny spots in King's characteristic brand of humor.

Celtic Summer before summer's end

It's done. Celtic Summer is finished at last down to the date and outlining, although there wasn't much outlining, just the face and one hand. I like that kind of project. Back stitching (outlining) is quite a chore, especially with a big project because it seems to take as long as the stitching. Back stitching does, however, bring all the colors and gradations into focus and picks out the important details. It finished a cross stitch piece, or at least that is what I told Beanie when she would bring her cross stitch projects to me to back stitch. It was frustrating for her and I understood that, but I feel a sense of satisfaction when all the stitching is done and the final back stitching in place. That's when I add the date.

I just to add my initials and the date once upon a time, but the year a project is finished is now sufficient for me, not that I couldn't add a flourish of signature and date to make it really mine. I do have those skills, but a simple year of finish is enough.

Celtic Summer posed it's own problems because there are actually hundreds of beads that need to be applied and I don't really have the kind of equipment that would help make the beads stand out sufficiently for viewers to see. The only real way to appreciate cross stitch is in person. That is the way to let the glimmer of the gold braid and the shimmer of beads have their full effect. They are quite lovely and the texture is simply wonderful. The fabric is also much heavier -- and sturdier -- since the stitches, gold treasure braid, and beads have been added to the weight, and it is a discernible weight.

I don't use an embroidery hoop or stretcher bars, although I have tried both from time to time. I feel they hamper the stitching and make things a bit too awkward to handle. Instead, I roll the fabric to the point where I'm stitching (usually ends up being folded especially with fabrics like Aida which are stiff and not amenable to rolling and holding) and it works for me. I don't have problems with stretching or bunching, but I think that's because of the way I stitch -- not too loosely and not too tightly. As Baby Bear said, "Just right -- and here she is." She's not sleeping in Baby Bear's bed, but here.

Close-up of face and top border.

Details of the dress and hem.

The finished piece - Celtic Summer

Another shot of the face, which actually looks really there with the back stitching

There is a bit of sadness to go along with the joy of having finished this particular piece. It took longer than usual -- for me -- and I did work on other projects in the meantime because it was such a long, involved, and very complex piece. Seeing it now finished with every last stitch in place, I have to say that I am happy with it. There will be other pieces in this series (Winter, Spring, Autumn, and Christmas) and I imagine I will get to them all eventually, but for now this is enough. I know that I can do a piece like this and not savage random stranger or lose my  mind (what little that remains). 

I got the fabric, pattern, beads, and floss at Celtic Summer at 123Stitch.com. The pattern is, as of 07/07/13, not available, but will be available again soon, as are the companion pieces. The only part of the project not available through 123Stitch is the Petite Treasure Braid, and I found that at Stitching Bits and Bobs.  The company that makes the Petite Treasure Braid only sells to brick and mortar stores. Still, it's nice to be able to get everything I need online.

That is all. Disperse.

No longer 404

Since people were having trouble locating this from the WhiteHouse.gov website because it had been listed as 404 (probably deleted due to so many people clicking and reading) and because the White House and Barack Obama are no longer as transparent as promised in campaign speeches, I have copied and pasted from the original website, complete with URL at the end, so everyone can read what is going on. 

 

J M Cornwell

 

 

 

For Immediate Release

July 06, 2012

Executive Order -- Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions

EXECUTIVE ORDER

- - - - - - -

ASSIGNMENT OF NATIONAL SECURITY AND
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS COMMUNICATIONS FUNCTIONS

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Policy. The Federal Government must have the ability to communicate at all times and under all circumstances to carry out its most critical and time sensitive missions. Survivable, resilient, enduring, and effective communications, both domestic and international, are essential to enable the executive branch to communicate within itself and with: the legislative and judicial branches; State, local, territorial, and tribal governments; private sector entities; and the public, allies, and other nations. Such communications must be possible under all circumstances to ensure national security, effectively manage emergencies, and improve national resilience. The views of all levels of government, the private and nonprofit sectors, and the public must inform the development of national security and emergency preparedness (NS/EP) communications policies, programs, and capabilities.
Sec. 2. Executive Office Responsibilities.
Sec. 2.1. Policy coordination, guidance, dispute resolution, and periodic in-progress reviews for the functions described and assigned herein shall be provided through the interagency process established in Presidential Policy Directive-1 of February 13, 2009 (Organization of the National Security Council System) (PPD-1).
Sec. 2.2. The Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) shall: (a) issue an annual memorandum to the NS/EP Communications Executive Committee (established in section 3 of this order) highlighting national priorities for Executive Committee analyses, studies, research, and development regarding NS/EP communications;
(b) advise the President on the prioritization of radio spectrum and wired communications that support NS/EP functions; and
(c) have access to all appropriate information related to the test, exercise, evaluation, and readiness of the capabilities of all existing and planned NS/EP communications systems, networks, and facilities to meet all executive branch NS/EP requirements.
Sec. 2.3. The Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism and the Director of OSTP shall make recommendations to the President, informed by the interagency policy process established in PPD-1, with respect to the exercise of authorities assigned to the President under section 706 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (47 U.S.C. 606). The Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism and the Director of OSTP shall also jointly monitor the exercise of these authorities, in the event of any delegation, through the process established in PPD-1 or as the President otherwise may direct.
Sec. 3. The NS/EP Communications Executive Committee.
Sec. 3.1. There is established an NS/EP Communications Executive Committee (Executive Committee) to serve as a forum to address NS/EP communications matters.
Sec. 3.2. The Executive Committee shall be composed of Assistant Secretary-level or equivalent representatives designated by the heads of the Departments of State, Defense, Justice, Commerce, and Homeland Security, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), the General Services Administration, and the Federal Communications Commission, as well as such additional agencies as the Executive Committee may designate. The designees of the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of Defense shall serve as Co-Chairs of the Executive Committee.
Sec. 3.3. The responsibilities of the Executive Committee shall be to: (a) advise and make policy recommendations to the President, through the PPD-1 process, on enhancing the survivability, resilience, and future architecture of NS/EP communications, including what should constitute NS/EP communications requirements;
(b) develop a long-term strategic vision for NS/EP communications and propose funding requirements and plans to the President and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), through the PPD-1 process, for NS/EP communications initiatives that benefit multiple agencies or other Federal entities;
(c) coordinate the planning for, and provision of, NS/EP communications for the Federal Government under all hazards;
(d) promote the incorporation of the optimal combination of hardness, redundancy, mobility, connectivity, interoperability, restorability, and security to obtain, to the maximum extent practicable, the survivability of NS/EP communications under all circumstances;
(e) recommend to the President, through the PPD-1 process, the regimes to test, exercise, and evaluate the capabilities of existing and planned communications systems, networks, or facilities to meet all executive branch NS/EP communications requirements, including any recommended remedial actions;
(f) provide quarterly updates to the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism and the Director of OSTP, through the Co-Chairs, on the status of Executive Committee activities and develop an annual NS/EP communications strategic agenda utilizing the PPD-1 process;
(g) enable industry input with respect to the responsibilities established in this section; and
(h) develop, approve, and maintain a charter for the Executive Committee.
Sec. 4. Executive Committee Joint Program Office.
Sec. 4.1. The Secretary of Homeland Security shall establish an Executive Committee Joint Program Office (JPO) to provide full-time, expert, and administrative support for the Executive Committee's performance of its responsibilities under section 3.3 of this order. Staff of the JPO shall include detailees, as needed and appropriate, from agencies represented on the Executive Committee. The Department of Homeland Security shall provide resources to support the JPO. The JPO shall be responsive to the guidance of the Executive Committee.
Sec. 4.2. The responsibilities of the JPO shall include: coordination of programs that support NS/EP missions, priorities, goals, and policy; and, when directed by the Executive Committee, the convening of governmental and nongovernmental groups (consistent with the Federal Advisory Committees Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. App.)), coordination of activities, and development of policies for senior official review and approval.
Sec. 5. Specific Department and Agency Responsibilities.
Sec. 5.1. The Secretary of Defense shall: (a) oversee the development, testing, implementation, and sustainment of NS/EP communications that are directly responsive to the national security needs of the President, Vice President, and senior national leadership, including: communications with or among the President, Vice President, White House staff, heads of state and government, and Nuclear Command and Control leadership; Continuity of Government communications; and communications among the executive, judicial, and legislative branches to support Enduring Constitutional Government;
(b) incorporate, integrate, and ensure interoperability and the optimal combination of hardness, redundancy, mobility, connectivity, interoperability, restorability, and security to obtain, to the maximum extent practicable, the survivability of NS/EP communications defined in section 5.1(a) of this order under all circumstances, including conditions of crisis or emergency;
(c) provide to the Executive Committee the technical support necessary to develop and maintain plans adequate to provide for the security and protection of NS/EP communications; and
(d) provide, operate, and maintain communication services and facilities adequate to execute responsibilities consistent with Executive Order 12333 of December 4, 1981, as amended.
Sec. 5.2. The Secretary of Homeland Security shall: (a) oversee the development, testing, implementation, and sustainment of NS/EP communications, including: communications that support Continuity of Government; Federal, State, local, territorial, and tribal emergency preparedness and response communications; non-military executive branch communications systems; critical infrastructure protection networks; and non-military communications networks, particularly with respect to prioritization and restoration;
(b) incorporate, integrate, and ensure interoperability and the necessary combination of hardness, redundancy, mobility, connectivity, interoperability, restorability, and security to obtain, to the maximum extent practicable, the survivability of NS/EP communications defined in section 5.2(a) of this order under all circumstances, including conditions of crisis or emergency;
(c) provide to the Executive Committee the technical support necessary to develop and maintain plans adequate to provide for the security and protection of NS/EP communications;
(d) receive, integrate, and disseminate NS/EP communications information to the Federal Government and State, local, territorial, and tribal governments, as appropriate, to establish situational awareness, priority setting recommendations, and a common operating picture for NS/EP communications information;
(e) satisfy priority communications requirements through the use of commercial, Government, and privately owned communications resources, when appropriate;
(f) maintain a joint industry-Government center that is capable of assisting in the initiation, coordination, restoration, and reconstitution of NS/EP communications services or facilities under all conditions of emerging threats, crisis, or emergency;
(g) serve as the Federal lead for the prioritized restoration of communications infrastructure and coordinate the prioritization and restoration of communications, including resolution of any conflicts in or among priorities, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense when activities referenced in section 5.1(a) of this order are impacted, consistent with the National Response Framework. If conflicts in or among priorities cannot be resolved between the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, they shall be referred for resolution in accordance with section 2.1 of this order; and
(h) within 60 days of the date of this order, in consultation with the Executive Committee where appropriate, develop and submit to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, a detailed plan that describes the Department of Homeland
Security's organization and management structure for its NS/EP communications functions, including the Government Emergency Telecommunications Service, Wireless Priority Service, Telecommunications Service Priority program, Next Generation Network Priority program, the Executive Committee JPO, and relevant supporting entities.
Sec. 5.3. The Secretary of Commerce shall: (a) provide advice and guidance to the Executive Committee on the use of technical standards and metrics to support execution of NS/EP communications;
(b) identify for the Executive Committee requirements for additional technical standards and metrics to enhance NS/EP communications;
(c) engage with relevant standards development organizations to develop appropriate technical standards and metrics to enhance NS/EP communications;
(d) develop plans and procedures concerning radio spectrum allocations, assignments, and priorities for use by agencies and executive offices;
(e) develop, maintain, and publish policies, plans, and procedures for the management and use of radio frequency assignments, including the authority to amend, modify, or revoke such assignments, in those parts of the electromagnetic spectrum assigned to the Federal Government; and
(f) administer a system of radio spectrum priorities for those spectrum-dependent telecommunications resources belonging to and operated by the Federal Government and certify or approve such radio spectrum priorities, including the resolution of conflicts in or among such radio spectrum priorities during a crisis or emergency.
Sec. 5.4. The Administrator of General Services shall provide and maintain a common Federal acquisition approach that allows for the efficient centralized purchasing of equipment and services that meet NS/EP communications requirements. Nothing in this section shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect the procurement authorities granted by law to an agency or the head thereof.
Sec. 5.5. With respect to the Intelligence Community, the DNI, after consultation with the heads of affected agencies, may issue such policy directives and guidance as the DNI deems necessary to implement this order. Procedures or other guidance issued by the heads of elements of the Intelligence Community shall be in accordance with such policy directives or guidelines issued by the DNI.
Sec. 5.6. The Federal Communications Commission performs such functions as are required by law, including: (a) with respect to all entities licensed or regulated by the Federal Communications Commission: the extension, discontinuance, or reduction of common carrier facilities or services; the control of common carrier rates, charges, practices, and classifications; the construction, authorization, activation, deactivation, or closing of radio stations, services, and facilities; the assignment of radio frequencies to Federal Communications Commission licensees; the investigation of violations of pertinent law; and the assessment of communications service provider emergency needs and resources; and
(b) supporting the continuous operation and restoration of critical communications systems and services by assisting the Secretary of Homeland Security with infrastructure damage assessment and restoration, and by providing the Secretary of Homeland Security with information collected by the Federal Communications Commission on communications infrastructure, service outages, and restoration, as appropriate.
Sec. 6. General Agency Responsibilities. All agencies, to the extent consistent with law, shall: (a) determine the scope of their NS/EP communications requirements, and provide information regarding such requirements to the Executive Committee;
(b) prepare policies, plans, and procedures concerning communications facilities, services, or equipment under their management or operational control to maximize their capability to respond to the NS/EP needs of the Federal Government;
(c) propose initiatives, where possible, that may benefit multiple agencies or other Federal entities;
(d) administer programs that support broad NS/EP communications goals and policies;
(e) submit reports annually, or as otherwise requested, to the Executive Committee, regarding agency NS/EP communications activities;
(f) devise internal acquisition strategies in support of the centralized acquisition approach provided by the General Services Administration pursuant to section 5.4 of this order; and
(g) provide the Secretary of Homeland Security with timely reporting on NS/EP communications status to inform the common operating picture required under 6 U.S.C. 321(d).
Sec. 7. General Provisions. (a) For the purposes of this order, the word "agency" shall have the meaning set forth in section 6.1(b) of Executive Order 13526 of December 29, 2009.
(b) Executive Order 12472 of April 3, 1984, as amended, is hereby revoked.
(c) Executive Order 12382 of September 13, 1982, as amended, is further amended by striking the following language from section 2(e): "in his capacity as Executive Agent for the National Communications System".
(d) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the OMB relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(e) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(f) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

BARACK OBAMA

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/07/06/executive-order-assignment-national-security-and-emergency-preparedness-

Review: Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross

Was there a female pope as has been claimed in several historical books about her reign or is Pope Joan merely a hoax perpetrated on the Catholic church for some unknown reason? Donna Woolfolk Cross took what little she could find and turned the information into a novel.

Pope Joan is a historical novel about Joan from Ingelheim, a young girl who hungered for learning and was denied by her father, and the time in which she lived, because she was female. A Greek teacher recognized her intelligence and refused to teach Joan's brother John unless Joan was included, and this pattern continued until fate offered her a chance to change things by assuming her brother's name and gender. John was massacred during a Viking raid on the day of Joan's contracted marriage. Since she was the ward of a local landowner, whose wife was jealous of Joan's relationship with her husband, Joan had to go and in a way that would destroy all her hopes of a different life as an educated woman.

The 9th century was the darkest of the Middle Ages. Few people, even among the clergy, could read or write and women were meant to cook, sew, clean, and bear children, as many children as their bodies would accommodate. Many women, from the age of 14, were given in marriage and were pregnant every year. Many children were stillborn and even more never grew up to become productive citizens. It was believed that a female who could read and write used up all her fertile energy and could not bear children. It is the reverse of the modern joke that men have only enough blood in their bodies to run one brain at a time, except this was no joke, but the way society perceived women as chattel and baby factories.

Donna Woolfolk Cross uses her research skills and her background in writing nonfiction to infuse Pope Joan with as much fast as was available and considerable fictional skills to bring the times and Joan to life. The longing to be able to read and write and knowing the only obstacle in the way is one's gender is one that will resonate with many women even in today's world. To be hampered by biology is unthinkable to someone who hungers for more -- more books, more languages, more learning, and more life as a being with reason and intelligence. In this, Cross has hit all the right notes, even down to the internal war of wanting physical love at the peril of being unmasked as a fraud.

Pope Joan is a novel that encompassed the historical truths while offering a glimpse of the sacrifices made in the name of equality and knowledge. Pope Joan is the story of female empowerment at a time when women had no power and the only way to realize such lofty dreams was to hide what they were in order to choose knowledge and freedom. Many women throughout this period, and in other times in the history of the world, have donned masculine disguise to hide their perceived inadequacies and prove that the only inadequate thing about them is the society in which they live. Although Joan lived more than a thousand years ago, her story is as powerful today as it ever was.

The Catholic church has long denied the existence of a female pope, even while many of the popes who followed her acknowledge her existence and her contributions. I find it most telling that it was not until after Pope Joan's sex was undeniably proven that future popes must be publicly examined in order to prove they are male. There was no need before Pope Joan since no other woman had made it so far.

Cross's historical novel is as wonderful as it is shocking and all the more timely when women's rights and place in society is at peril. How many women in today's world are willing to sacrifice everything to realize their dreams? After reading Pope Joan, they may find the sacrifice worth the prize. With solid historical details and an understanding of the complexities of the human heart, Pope Joan is an outstanding novel for our times.

Review: The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

Who has not thought about Dracula, Vlad Tepes III, killer of Turks and purported vampire? Bram Stoker certainly did when he wrote his novel, Dracula, and that book has inspired the legions of writers currently churning out vampire novels by the thousands. There are vampires conflicted about their undead and unholy state, vampires seeking redemption and trying to find a way back to the light, vampire rock stars, vampires of every stripe and depth of evil, and Dracula even makes cameo appearances in some of these fantasies. The Historian is not that kind of novel.

Like Bram Stoker's Dracula, Elizabeth Kostova's venture into Vlad III's past is also an epistolary novel. All the action centers on a family: the father, a historian writing his dissertation, and Helen, a woman seeking revenge on the man who left her mother alone and pregnant in Transylvania. Helen Rossi is also a historian who began as an anthropologist and then decided to outdo her famous father in his own field of history, and their daughter searching for her missing father through his work. In Kostova's realm, there are stories within stories within stories.

At the heart of the tale is Vlad Tepes III, King of Wallachia and knight of the Order of the Dragon. The Historian is an adventure that takes the reader through history's archives and libraries to find his resting place before he finds them. In some ways, The Historian is much like The da Vinci Code, taking its cues from actual historical documents, but with a much darker purpose. Ancient books with a dragon woodcut at the center of each appears to Rossi, Paul, and several other historians, bringing with it a challenge and a threat. Each of the books is an invitation from Vlad, a historical come hither that begs to be answered.

Bartholomew Rossi's disappearance brings Paul and Helen together for very different reasons. Helen wants to face the father that left her mother and Paul wants to find his mentor and his friend. The search for Rossi is also the search for Vlad, for Dracula's final resting place and time is of the essence.

Paul and Helen's travels begin in America and follow the footsteps of history to Constantinople, Wallachia, Transylvania, Hungary, France, Italy, England, Bulgaria and use actual historical documents. The chase is thrilling and the tales of loss, love, and horror palpably real. History has never been so dangerous or thrilling.

If you're looking for vampire sex and conflicted heroes, this is not the book for you. If you are a  student of history or find dusty archives and clues hidden in folk songs and crumbling vellum or fancy yourself an adventurer with a detective's keen insight, The Historian is the book for you. As a debut novel, Elizabeth Kostova has set the bar very high for every book that follows, and I think she is equal to the task.

I will add that I began the book last year and had to put it down because I was so affected by the scene in Turgut Bora's room. The descriptions left me with nightmares for days and I decided to take a break. When the E-book finally became available in a more realistic (and cheaper) cost, I decided to buy it and take the story from there. The Historian is one of those books in which one more chapter becomes half the book. There is nothing dull or lethargic at any point in the novel. This is literary art with fangs that sink deeply and will not let go--even at the end of the tale.

Review: The Life of Cesare Borgia by Rafael Sabatini

Since there are now a couple of cable series about the Borgias, The Borgias on Showtime and Borgia: Faith and Fear, I have had a look at what most of the world thinks about the Borgias. Everyone knows that Lucrezia Borgia was a poisoner without peer and I seem to remember she was involved The Shaggy Dog, something about a painting of her and a ring that turned a teenage boy into a shaggy dog and eventually into a shaggy D.A., but that is as far as my knowledge went.

Cesare Borgia intrigued me, not only because he was a handsome and charismatic man, at least on The Borgias, but because he died so young. Yes, I do surf Wikipedia while watching shows because I want to know the truth. I did it quite often while caught up in The Tudors. I chose The Life of Cesare Borgia by Rafael Sabatini and I'm glad I did -- mostly. There was so much about Roderigo (Pope Alexander VI) than about Cesare, but Cesare was in there.

Sabatini goes to great lengths to provide proof for his history and dispells the myths and bad press the Borgias have had at the hands of historians over the centuries. Someone died and immediately, even if the death was a month or more later and the Borgias far from the scene of the death on their own business, the murdered was slain by the Borgias' special poison. Right, get that one through a court of law, except there was no court of law and no charges were brought, just a lot of innuendo and carping.

Cesare Borgia was a handsome, athletic, well formed man with tons of charisma, much like his father, Roderigo. He chafed at being a cardinal and gave up the religious life for a life of the warrior, the position his brother held until he died. Roderigo meant Cesare for the church and Juan for soldiering, and he mostly got his way, except in the end with Cesare.

Sabatini lays all the accusations of murder to rest, as much as possible, and paints a very different picture of Cesare and the rest of the Borgias. Cesare was a man of quick intelligence and a master of warfare. The people loved him and many of his conquests welcomed him with open arms and the keys to the cities. He helped his father bring most of Italy back under the control of the papal state and did so with dispatch and ingenuity. He wasn't above mercy and many of the tyrants he overthrew were allowed to leave the area with their portable wealth and goods, except in a couple of cases. The Life of Cesare Borgia is a well researched look at the Borgias that puts the family and their actions in the perspective of the times and shows that they indeed were good people whose ambitions led them to the highest levels of society with a trail of jealous and vengeful colleagues and detractors bent on destroying the Spanish pope and his family.

I found The Life of Cesare Borgia heavy on proof and history and a bit light on anything more than fact about Cesare. This is a book for those interested in the history of the time and its people who aren't looking for a book with lots of action and characterization. These are the facts, just the facts, with strong proofs that paint a very different picture of the family and Cesare. I find I like Cesare and all the Borgias much better even with my gut instinct that the Borgias have been the victims of a centuries long smear campaign.

Review: Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

A depression era novel that is chaotic and joyful.

 Katya “Katey” Kontent (that’s Kon-TENT as in content as a purring cat) comes from a Russian family and seems to be the only one of her family to have made it to the Great Depression intact. She has a partner in crime, one Evelyn “Eve” Ross, who is blonde perfection from the Midwest running away from her wealthy family and their expectations (marriage, kids, farm) and determined to make it on her own.

 When Katey and Eve descend on a low rent club New Year’s Eve 1937, they cross paths with Theodore “Tinker” Grey, ostensibly looking for his brother Hank, and begin a threesome that will change all their lives.

 It would seem to be a strange choice to base a novel on George Washington’s 110 Rules of Civility, but this is a strange novel, a comedy of errors with little comedy and quite a few errors. Amor Towles takes his characters through the tail end of the Great Depression when booze flowed freely, everyone smoked, and no one really knew where they were headed . . . at first. Take two poor young women (one by choice and the other by birth) determined to have a good time during one of the most chaotic and free wheeling times of the early twentieth century and add one rich and handsome young man from old money and a secret in his past, that is not so secret, and errors will follow.

Gate crashing at wealthy homes where the booze is free, jazz clubs in the wee hours, car crashes, blighted romantic triangles, sex and the single wealthy woman with unusual tastes, and love doing someone wrong and those are just the high points of Rules of Civility. A handy guide at the end of the book lists the rules that Washington tried to live his life by, and a handy guide it is for Tinker and for Katey, both of whom seem not to be able to get out of their own way.

Towles infuses jazz age novel with the brash and carefree attitude that the twenty-something on their madcap way to something different from what their parents intended for them much like the movies during that pre-war era when Prohibition was out and the frantic life was in. Katey and Eve are one half of the famous foursome of Sex and the City and they did it first. It is as if Towles intended to show New York City as it is and has always been with youth at the helm.

 Men come and go, but Tinker remains, at least on the sidelines and in Katey’s heart, like a thread of melody in a symphony reminiscent of its humbler origins.

 “Some people are born with the ability to appreciate the serene and formally structured music like Bach and Handel. They can sense the abstract beauty of the music’s mathematical relationships, its symmetries and motifs. But Dicky wasn’t one of them.”

It is through Dicky and his affinity for the seeming chaos of jazz and his inability, despite his money and opportunities, to toe the upper crust line, that Katey faces the reality of what she wanted from the beginning and threw aside.

Rules of Civility isn’t Handel or Bach. It is jazz and booze and free love and the desire to be something better, something more, something new, in a New York City that changes its face but never its heart. This is the Great Depression of jazz babies cruising through the morass of youth to the next summit 

Guest Post: D. Kai Wilson-VIola

Reading and writing – hand in hand, refilling the well
One of the major things that I’ve discovered is that if I don’t read, I can’t write.  So it’s absolutely mystifying when I speak to writers who tell me they don’t have time to read any more.  Or even more astounding – those that don’t read ‘at all’.  And while I respect that there are probably good reasons for it, I can’t get my head around the idea that writers aren’t reading – beyond the obvious stuff on social networking and blogs and newspapers and more.
Reading when you don’t have time
There’s no such thing as ‘no time’, unless, from the moment you open your eyes, until you fall into bed in a heap, you’re on the go.  Many writers that I speak to tell me that they’re picking up their kids, and then talk about the half an hour they waited for their children – or the ten minutes in the queue at the post office.  I read!  I’ve got an app on my phone, and if I know I’m going to be somewhere with any wait, I grab one of my tablets.  I’m lucky – I have a Kindle Fire and an iPad, plus the Kindle app on my phone (and Audible too!)  so I’ve always got something to read (and something to amuse my kids if we’re travelling), but if you can’t do that for any reason, there’s nothing wrong with taking a paperback with you – it’s the act of reading itself that’s important. 
Why?  Because directing your imagination and actually experiencing the events that someone else has created is the single best way to formulate and understand how to do something similar yourself.
Really dissecting a piece, to see why it works, and why it might not is good for your critical skills  and most importantly – it gives you a chance to experience and enjoy something else.
Studies show….
Reading fiction is good for you – not only does it lower stress levels (yes, I know; it doesn’t always feel like that when we’re rooting for a character!) but it teaches you to cope with and explore ambiguity – at least according to a study by two researchers from Toronto.  Literary short stories in this case, but I’m sure it extends to reading in general.
Anecdotally, but those that read more in class on my degree in Creative Writing seemed to cope better with the workload and create the best stories, and, at the end of the day, got the best grades.  I’m not sure what would have happened if we’d have said that we don’t read on the course, but we were encouraged to devour books whole, and so we did.  I held down a full time job as a copywriter, parented two children, ran a house AND did a 40 hour a week degree, and still fit in reading time – it might not have been much (in the bath, or in bed in the morning before everyone else got up) but it was doable.
Never have, never will?  Seriously?
I totally get the idea that we’ve got to make sure that our time is allotted properly, but aside from considering reading as a downtime pursuit, you can also make it double duty – research your genre, relax your mind, learn and find things that resonate with your voice.  It doesn’t have to be a chore – reading is fun.  And yet, I still encounter writers, all the time, who say that it’s not something they’re interested in even doing.
At the end of the day though, if all you’re doing is writing, and not refilling your writerly well (however you do it) you’re going to struggle – but I do think that anyone that isn’t reading isn’t doing themselves any favors.  And as writers, we have to make sure we’re preserving and protecting everything we can, and giving ourselves every tool and opportunity to be a success.
And if you really can’t face reading – Audible is about the same cost as a couple of eBooks a month  and you can listen to that anywhere, with the right equipment.  Most phones support it now, as do all of the major tablets/computers.

D Kai Wilson-Viola is a long-time blogger, writer, parent, photographer, graduate, mental health advocate and cat lover.  When not writing, editing or holding down a day job in Public Relations, she can be found offering advice on her groups and sites, reading or chasing her teen and tween and two cats.  You can read all about her adventures in publishing and writing at Author Interrupted or Language and Print.
Image credit – Mourgefile - http://mrg.bz/Pz2WNc

Review: Travels in Elysium by William Azuski

When someone tells you nothing is as it seems, believe them. They are telling you the truth.

Nicholas Pedrosa comes to Santorini on an archaeological dig, his first dig fresh out of university. Greece is under the control of dictators, the Colonels, but Santorini and the work done there is far from their control -- or so the archaeologists believe. Marcus Huxley is leading the dig and has surrounded himself with a group of like-minded individuals, emotional and spiritual orphans, following Huxley's lead from Sais to Santorini to find the answer to Plato's Conundrum.

Did Atlantis exist and has Huxley found it on Santorini? Only time will tell and Nico Pedrosa tells the story from his point of view. There could be a different reason for Huxley's disregard for archaeological protocol and his race to find the reason behind the empty homes found on one of the hills.

A volcano exploded in antiquity and the homes emerged from the pumice and ash in pristine shape. The paintings on the walls were as fresh as the day they were painted. Kitchens were neatly arranged with pots and pans stowed away. There were no signs that anyone lived in the homes during the eruption. Why were they empty? Where were the bones and the ash entombed bodies? Where were the people?

Nothing is as it seems.

The search for Atlantis is at the center of every culture and time since Plato's Dialogue with Critias.  At the heart of Travels in Elysium it is Plato's Conundrum that is at the center of the story.  Why did Plato end the dialogue in the middle of the sentence? William Azuski offers a running debate on that very question throughout his book.

While the story is off like a rocket at the beginning, it slows down to a crawl like a snail frozen in its slime trail at the middle and continues on, picking up again at the last third of the book and rushing to its conclusion. It helps to keep in mind that nothing about Travels in Elysium is what it seems just as it is also true of Marcus Huxley and the search for Atlantis, except that Huxley is not searching for Atlantis. He has another prize in mind.

What Azuski does very well is create a compelling premise, peopled with memorable characters (living and dead), and sets forth his own dialogue as a philosophical treatise disguised as an adventure. Travels in Elysium is as frustrating as it is rewarding and, despite the need to go haring off after White Lighters -- people who were clinically dead and returned to life -- everything has its place in the story. It is, however, easier to understand Huxley's obsession with finding his truth than to find the key that unlocks Azuski's fantasy until the final page.

Azuski's writing is steeped in philosophy, embroidered with metaphor, and suffers from middle of the book doldrums. Travels in Elysium is surprising and engaging -- and very frustrating at points -- but well worth the read.

Keep one thing in mind: Nothing -- and no one -- is what it seems.

Review: The Night Buffalo by Guillermo Arriaga

When the earwigs swim through your blood, the night buffalo isn’t far behind.

 Gregorio was just released from the hospital again. Manuel went to see him, unsure whether or not their friendship remained, and went home again certain he had been forgiven. That night Gregorio’s sister, Margarita, called Manuel. Gregorio was dead. Suicide. And Tania had disappeared.

Throughout their school years, Gregorio, Tania and Manuel were close. They were friends and more than friends. Tania was the glue that kept them together and the chisel and hammer that tore them apart. Tania was Gregorio’s girlfriend. Tania was also Manuel’s lover, although she could not be Gregorio’s lover. Gregorio was unable to perform with her, afraid to infect her with his madness, with his disease.

Manuel needs to find understanding. He needs to find comfort. He needs to find the sense of Gregorio’s senseless suicide and make sense of Gregorio’s message from beyond the grave. He needs to find Tania.

Guillermo Arriaga is primarily a film maker and his ventures into fiction showcase his cinematic sensibilities.  In The Night Buffalo he uses language in visual long shots and close-ups that define and refine the idea and the definition of madness in relationships.

In each scene Arriaga both informs and confuses the tangled relationships of the central characters, offering conclusions that never quite bridge the gap between sanity and insanity, imparting a sense of surreal hyper reality. Although the characters seem at first glance ordinary and nothing special, their stories and relationships common clay, throughout the narrative there runs a subtext that dances the razor’s edge of insanity until the fine line between reality and fantasy is so blurred as to be unrecognizable. In between is a no man’s land that reaches out and pulls the reader closer. The Night Buffalo is a stark and engaging tale of madness that leaves the reader wondering about the true nature of sanity and love and the nature of existence. 

Review: In the Valley of the Kings by Terrence Holt

A collection of confusing, wondrous and breathtaking stories.

Drawing from Greek mythology, Egyptian archaeology, science fiction and apocalyptic flights of fancy, Terrence Holt stories delve into the hearts and minds of what it means to be human. Among the eight stories, Holt weaves the threads of loss and fear and takes them from dusty and arid Egypt to the rings of Saturn. No matter where the stories lead, one thing is evident: humanity is a constant.

A viral plague born from a word begins the collected tales and shows the inadequacy and mystery of newspapers and the words that bring people to the brink of destruction and set them free.

Charybdis subjects an outbound spaceship crew to the dangers and uncertainties of space culminating in three men dealing with impending doom in three very different ways. In what could have been a maudlin tale, Holt makes each man’s choice not only logical, but also right.

I expected In the Valley of the Kings to be a straightforward archaeological mystery and was rewarded with obsession, immortality, and the price of intelligence. The story is infused with a subtle horror that thrills as it chills the blood.

 

There is nothing more unexpected than science fiction elevated to a search for the soul and the meaning of what it is to be human. Aurora and Eurydike are sublime in their exploration of death and resurrection. The writing transcends genre labeling with poetic precision and a sense of the macabre that is as fascinating as it is mesmerizing.

Of all the stories, my favorite was Apocalypse. Although the reason for the End isn’t clearly stated, the sense of impending doom and the indomitable capacity for hope had me riveted. The beginning of the story is slow and almost desultory, building to a climax that has nothing to do with catastrophe. Holt’s storytelling skills are magical, sounding a deep resonant chord that left me with tears and smiles.

The stories are complex and masterful, making use of repetitive phrases and swirling flights of lyrical prose that borders on poetry, windows into the psyche that exhibit the basics of storytelling—to fascinate and enlighten.