Category Archives: Books That We’ve Read

Cherryh’s Merovingen Nights (TM) Shared World Anthologies

Hey! Here’s a reading recommendation for you from the DAW-way-back-machine.

Merovingen Nights shared world anthology series, edited by C.J. Cherryh.

What’s a shared world anthology?

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Well, another well-known example has been Thieves’ World from Robert Asprin and Lynn Abbey.

Someone writes a cool book about an immersive and cool world and then a bunch of other cool authors jump in and write short stories taking place in that world. Neat, huh?

C.J. Cherryh wrote Angel With The Sword in 1985. Then her buds jumped up and down and said, “ZOMG! dude that’s so cool! Can I write a story taking place in Merovingen?” And Cherryh says “sure, that’s a totes fab idea, yo, but I get to edit for consistency, LOL.” (paraphrased, of course)

Merovingen is a city of small islands, canals, dead bodies, waterways. The primary mode of transportation is by small canal boat: shipping, mass transit, murder, politics and derring-do all take place via water craft. The lower city at water level is hard living, wealth and ease rise with the elevation, and much of the story centers around the interaction between the two socio-economic statuses.

Our main character is Altair Jones, seventeen and street-savvy. She makes her living polling a canal boat for hire. In Angel With The Sword, she finds Thomas Mondragon washed up and nearly dead from a dose of too much intrigue.

When we get to the short stories, it’s the editing for consistency that makes this series what it is. The story authors haven’t just dipped their toes in Cherryh’s universe. They’ve bought in, lock, stock and barrel. Cherryh writes a single short story that she breaks up into parts, focusing on the two main characters from Angel With The Sword. The parts are interspersed with tangential short stories by the guest authors, such that the characters in the short stories will be reacting to the actions taken by the main characters’ encompassing story arc. Very tidy.

Additionally, there’s some swank bonus material. What’s a fantasy book without maps, right? Well, we have not just one dinky hard to read map, but nine, yes nine maps, o soon-to-be fans! We’ve got the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, the different districts and quarters of the city, Major Eastern Oceanic Currents and –serious– maps of the ocean floor.

Now on to the appendices. In each of the different volumes Mercedes Lackey wrote up supplemental background material on the Merovingen universe. She gives us in depth info on diseases, ecology, folklore and poisons.

And, any fantasy world is totally lo-rent without fan music, yes? Well, guess what?

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(If you want a definition of “Filk”, that’s it, right there.)

All of these books are totally out of print, and mucking about with e-rights for multiple authors, some deceased, would be the headache you’d expect so don’t look for these on your e-whatnot anytime soon. But do look for them in your local used bookstore. If you’re really, really nice, I *might* lend you my copies.

Federation: A Book in Review

In last week’s post, Recycling Books, I mentioned one my all-time favorite books, Federation byJudith & Garfield Reeves-Stephens. For those of you who have not read it, I highly encourage you to do so. I believe it is must for any Star Trek fan. For those of you who have, I encourage your feedback on my perspective.

The book covers the life and times of Zefram Cochrane, from his birth in 2031, on Earth, to his death in 2367, onboard USS Enterprise-D. The storyline was written two years before the release of the movie First Contact, and unfortunately, it is not official canon. I really enjoyed the storyline depicted in this book, and I was greatly disappointed when Paramount chose to go with an entirely different, and less plausible, storyline.

Plot Differences:

Initial warp flight
– Movie: Slingshot around the moon
– Book: Month long flight from Earth solar system to Alpha Centauri. Zefram’s description of warp technology of the time depicted the movie flight as impossible.

First Contact
– Movie: Montana
– Book: Vulcan. Zefram Cochrane was chosen to establish first contact with the advanced species, who up to that point had no interest in contact with the primitive human species.

Meeting Cochrane
– Movie: The Enterprise crew never met Zefram before traveling back in time.
– Book: The Enterprise-D recovers a shuttle craft with Zefram and the Companion onboard.

These few changes cause a completely different life depiction of Zefram, who somehow went from being a young brilliant pioneer to an elderly drunk, who never would have survived to see the Alpha Centauri colony.

Aside from the different telling of First Contact there are a few other points that make this a fantastic book. One of which is a great description of the meaning behind the Star Fleet symbol. According the Zefram in the book, that strange A shaped arrowhead actually has a meaning.

Warp Theory

According to Einsteinian Physics, for any given mass to approach the speed of light, the energy required approaches infinity. Warp drive allows an object to reach the speed of light, using less energy.

As I don’t want to spoil the book for those who have not read it, the last great bit I want to share is piece of tactical advice passed from Kirk to Picard through individual mind melds with Sarek. “Think not of what you can do, but what your opponent cannot.” This idea saves not only Kirk and Picard, but has also saved me on more than one occasion, during hard fought battles in various strategy games. Nearly every time I play a game, I think of this quote and reflect on this book. What more can we ask in a book than a gentle reminder of good advice that sticks with us throughout our lives?

Dumb Cover Art

We’ve talked about this before, but they’re still publishing them so we gotta keep talking about it.

This is the same book, a later reprint. Same book.
Which one are you going to buy? Yah, me too.

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Publishers: I do not like these half-dressed waif teen cover images. I’m not going to buy them. This image is boring and completely misrepresents Kiernan and her quality of writing. To me, with the $evere book buying habit, this cover gets lost in the noise. I completely overlooked this and all her other titles when I had the opportunity to buy them at a book store recently. I did discover Kiernan through the older cover art, above. Kiernan deserves better than to be lost amongst the bajillion others with so similar art. It also insults me, your potential customer. The book is about paleontology. Could we compromise? Can we at least give girlfriend here a rock hammer, not that she could lift it…

Oh, wait! I get it. That’s supposed to be Dancy? Yeah, you missed that one.

I REALLY LIKE this book, Threshold, and am looking forward to reading more from Caitlin R. Kiernan and her pseudonym Katherine Tierney.

Dhampir Series

I was going to run this post later but they’re running a raffle thingy for signed books so I’ll run it now… http://www.nobledead.org/2013/01/noble-dead-raffle-2-now-open.html?m=1

I know. Another Vampire Hunter novel series. But these are actually good.

Barb and JC Hendee are a wife/husband writing team who write the series of novels titled “The Noble Dead” and starts with the title Dhampir.

The premise is a pair of con artists pretend to be vampire hunters to swindle local small Eastern-European-esque towns. Turns out, they actually do have to hunt a vampire or three, and in so doing they discover a convoluted and deep history of their own families.

There’s a dog, which is always a winner for me.

The story and characters develop as the books go on. They find out more about their hidden histories, secret powers unbeknownst to themselves, and more behind-the-scenes manipulations and shenanigans.

And there’s a nice balance between gravitas, gore, and bald humor. One tiny aspect that I really like is that the Hendees have their characters struggling with the environment: tromping through muddy snow, chasing baddies through the cold and disgusting sewers, unable to light a fire in the wind & rain.

I don’t usually have a tolerance for series that border on pulp or “candy” but these are so well written, that they make great breaks between heavier reads. They surprised me, in that they continued to be interesting, well-written and intriguing through the third novel.

What’s so engaging about these that I keep turning to them? I think it’s that the characters have a 360 development. The bad guys are not paper props, but have their motivations and failures, and the heroes are rarely heroic.

There are over a dozen in the series now, and seems to be ongoing. It’s nice to find an escape series that I can trust and turn to.

I. J. Parker

I love samurais. I like the action and the honor and the beautiful backdrop of Japan. Hubs and I watched another samurai movie and it occurred to me that there are probably books out there about samurais! Go figure! So I went online and found an author, I.J. Parker, who has written a whole series of books set in eleventh century Japan. The main character, Akitada, solves some mysteries and we learn a little about life in his era.

So I looked at my library and stumbled on a whole section of them! Who knew? I have only read a little historical fiction, mostly about US presidents or the old west. This is my first waaay-back historical fiction series, and I love it.

Akitada is extremely identifiable as a person. Even in eleventh century Japan, mothers can be difficult, work sucks, money is tight, etc. I am only 50 pages into Rashomon Gate (the first I found but technically the second in the series) but I love it. The characters are rounded, the backdrop is beautiful (spring in ancient Kyoto!), and the mystery is delicious. So far, only 50 pages in, there are already two big mysteries to solve. Akitada is intelligent, kind, respectful, and lots of other adjectives. His servant (a reformed highwayman) is a street smart clever man that perfectly compliments Akitada’s book smarts and polished people skills. I know I’ll read all of these. It’s a nice light story; a good plot but nothing too heavy to wade through or traumatic to get over. I even emailed Ms. Parker, and she responded right away! She told me that she will hopefully have more books for e-readers soon, probably the kindle. I look forward to that.

In short, I went out and tried something new. If you want to try something new, something out of the ordinary, something not in your TBR pile, try out some mystery in ancient Japan. Start with Dragon’s Scroll or Rashomon Gate. You will not be disappointed.

Cheryl Morgan Maxey Interview

Cheryl Morgan Maxey spent some time answering a few questions for me. Cheryl is recently married to James Maxey, the author of Nobody Gets the Girl, Bitterwood, and more recently, Greatshadow and Hush, the first two in his Dragon Apocalypse series.

I started reading Greatshadow, and as these things go, I read the post-script first. I was fascinated by the story that Maxey relates therein, telling about how his writing of Greatshadow brought to fruition his hidden love for his best buddy, Cheryl.

Cheryl Morgan Maxey

They were married in November of 2011.

(I don’t see any resemblance at all between Cheryl and the depiction of Infidel on this cover for Greatshadow, do you? Nope, none…)

That’s totally you on the cover of Greatshadow.
I like Infidel, but she was a creation of James’ before we met in a short story version of Greatshadow. However, you’re not the first person to ask if I am Infidel, especially after what James wrote in the acknowledgements.

In the post script of Greatshadow is a lovely story about how you and James came to be married last November. Can you tell me your side of the story?

James sums up how our friendship changed to a relationship in the acknowledgements of Greatshadow. I think that our love and respect for each other is really rooted in the friendship we formed. We had friends that married on 10/10/10 on Bald Head Island and we were fortunate to take part in their wedding as well has spend time with them down at the beach. One morning after their wedding James and I got up early to go shelling and he proposed to me by writing in the sand. We were married this fall on 11/11/11 and it was a crazy blend of the traditional with the unique. In addition to the two of us writing our vows, James had also written a poem that we had printed on the programs and he read aloud. We really wanted the wedding to express who we were, and what we were to each other and I think we were able to do both.

I got to meet both of you at ConCarolinas, and this partnership you two have is clear and apparent. How does this partnership work in regards to the novels and the book career? All good relationships are more than the sum of their parts: how do you benefit from this?

I have been what James refers to as a “wise reader” for a while now. I feel like I’m pretty bad at returning the chapters to him with written comments the way some of his other beta readers do. However, we’ll talk about what I’ve read and my thoughts on it in the car, over dinner, before bed, doing the dishes, etc. Out of the blue I’ll say something about a character or a scene. My comments aren’t always in an email, but they build as I complete the reading of his draft. I know he’s not killed off characters because I’ve liked them.

I try to act as his PR advocate in regards to his career. James has been going to cons for a while, but he’s hesitant to talk himself up when he’s not moderating a panel. I have encouraged (badgered) him into going into our independent bookstore and now Purple Crow Books has his novels on the “local authors” shelves. I also contacted several area newspapers about Hush coming out and other events he was taking part in. Last week the News of Orange, a weekly paper in our town did a great article on his writing and the editor also read Hush and did a book review for her editorial.

Writers know writers. Have you had your “squee fan-girl” moment with famous authors?

My worst “fan-girl” moment was last year at ConCarolinas when Connor, winner of season 1 of SyFy’s FaceOff was a guest. I was practically stalking him. I’m a competition-reality show junky and love the artistry and skill that shows like FaceOff have brought to the masses.
What do you do between cons and modeling for book covers? Are you a writer?

I do not write… at all. I work as a Clinical Trials Coordinator at the Duke Cancer Center. Outside of work, I love digging in the yard. We just moved to a new house so I have new flower beds to create and cultivate. Once it’s not in the triple digits! James and I like to travel off the beaten path too. We’ve taken some great road trips where we explore the little towns between here and nowhere and on those trips I love snapping photos of things we see along the way. And cats. I was well on the way to being a ‘crazy cat lady’ when James and I started dating. So far, the stray cats in our new neighborhood haven’t found out I’m living here.

How do you see your presence in Maxey’s life influencing the books that I am reading (Dragon Apocalypse series)?

Keeping the side characters that I find interesting alive. I really pick out some weird ones that I get attached to, but I think some of the auxiliary characters James creates are awesome.
What are some of your favorite books? What are you reading now?

I had finished the Hunger Games trilogy when we were at ConCarolinas. I tried to space them out to enable myself to really think about the story instead of plowing through all three at once. I thought it was an incredible story on so many different levels.

I more recently just finished the 2nd draft of Witchbreaker, the 3rd book of the Dragon Apocalypse and I’m trying to keep myself available for a editing run-through before James sends it in… it’s due at the end of July. I read a lot of mystery and some general fiction too. Rita Mae Brown has a new Sneakie Pie mystery available and that the next on my hit list.

Which is your favorite convention or book-ish event?

I love going to the various cons and immersing myself into the very different world of fiction and make-believe. I love ConCarolinas. It’s a great venue and it’s awesome how they have the hall of writers. I also now know a lot of people that go to ConCarolinas so I feel like it’s “homecoming” when we go there. We also went to World Fantasy back in 2010 which was amazing. It’s not about the panels, it’s about the people. Going out to dinner, hanging out in the hotel bar, meeting people from everywhere, creating a network, hearing great music. We are returning to DragonCon this year which is the whole other end of the spectrum. Lots of people and mass chaos.
So, is a dragon farm part of your guys’ future plans?

We do plan to get a concrete dragon to put in the corner of the yard. One that’s like 4-5 feet tall.

Traveling Companions

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Me & my James Maxey took a car to take a train to take a subway to take a commuter rail today. We are now outside of Boston, ten states away from our morning coffee.

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We went to DC, NYC and Providence. We’ve been in the air, over the water, under the ground. We’ve been alone and one of 12 million people, all in one day.

Books to me are the best traveling companions. This is the book that’s going to be my comfort and my friend through the duration of this trip. They are the secure locker for my tickets and my physical security blanket when worried and lost. This will make you laugh– I literally stock my nose in their pages when the stench of mass transit is too much for my delicate Country Bumpkin nose. They are my quick escape from the hassle and jostle of the press of humanity.

What books have you had with you on your far flung travels?

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Kindred

Kindred, Octavia Butler.

A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline L’Engle, very early set my threshold for “scary” in a story. The Ultimate Nothing, mind control, compliant uniformity… yah, scary stuff to toss around in one’s head at any age. Every other book I’ve read since reading that at ten years old or so ranks a “meh” on the scary scale.

Kindred is Wrinkle in Time kind of scary, but grown up.

We become callused to the ideas that frighten us as we are growing, thoughts like trying to work out How does nothing actually exist?, and What’s the point of loving if we all die anyway? At some point we give up thinking about these things in exchange for moving on into the day-to-day bullshit of adult-hood. Kindred made me question my understanding of what it means to be an adult and realize that we don’t stop changing, even if we ignore that change.

The other thing I really like about this novel is that it is a fantabulous example of the way in which science fiction can serve humanity. What a perfect and beautiful thought experiment is Kindred.

The over-simplified premise is that a woman mysteriously gets snapped back in time to meet up with an ancestor. He’s an idiot and always nearly getting himself killed, and she figures out pretty quick that her purpose is to keep him alive long enough to…well, you know, continue on the line that will eventually bear herself into the world.

Only thing is she doesn’t know when she’ll get called back, how long she’ll get stuck back in that time, or how much danger she’s really in. If she dies in the past, does she die in the future, too?

The scary bits begin when she realizes that death would be preferable to the life she’s expected to lead while in the past. And the super scary part is when she realizes that she’s become pretty much OK with the social conditions of that past time.

Sitting here sweet and happy in the future, it’s easy to be grateful for my human rights, list them off like ingredients on the nutrition information panel. It’s easy to imagine that, if born in another time, I would be totally intolerant of my doomed lack of education, my subjugation to others, etc. But you know what? Probably not. I would likely be a completely and unrecognizeably different person. My morals, values, rights and beliefs would be alien to the person I am now.

And then (like that’s not enough for one book) there’s the discussion about how much we change our persons in order to survive, whatever that word means for our current environment. Do we learn to become meek in the presence of an over-bearing boss? Do we learn to become careless and unprepared in the presence of luck and fortune? Do we learn to become unkind and ungrateful when surrounded by bitterness? Do we learn to sever our creativity in exchange for earning a living?

That’s pretty scary.

Kindred, Octavia Butler.

Women’s Work

Hooray! Huzzah!

I’m employed!

That’s right. After a year and a half, I am once again an upstanding and productive member of society. Yah!

The hubs was very gracious and supportive with me during this time, and finally I’ll be able to regale him with stories about things that happened Outside The House. I’m sure he’ll be pleased.

To celebrate the awesomeness, I’m giving away some things:

1) my beat-up used to heck copy of Space, Inc., a collection of short stories about workers in the space-travel industry. This collection is edited by Julie Czerneda. Ask for it in the comments.

2) A copy of Women’s Work by Elizabeth Wayland Barber. Why? Anywhere there is both archaeology and fiber I am a fascinated and drooling creature. This book explores the role of women’s industry as the producers of fiber products: fiber, string, fabrics, clothing, embroidery, dyes and dyeing, weaving, sewing, knitting–on and on; and she goes on to show that archaeology, traditionally a man’s realm, has missed such an enormous portion of the history of civilization simply because fiber is not necessarily a part of the average guy’s train of thought (as in, they don’t typically knit for a hobby, and thus didn’t know what to do with a stash of “little stone donuts” [spinning whorls] when they were dug up on the site). She goes on to prove that the ancient world was a lot more connected than was previously imagined, all through the corrected orientation of warp vs. weft. Fascinating. I am now a part of that industry and very happy about it.

3) money (no, not to you) to the Crossed Genres KickStarter campaign. The folks who put together Crossed Genres magazine are both unemployed right now, but they want to keep things going with CG. They’re putting together two story collections with two themes that are of recent interest to Darcargo–skilled labor in SF, and older women as the main character. This got funded so fast that it may be outdated by the time you click on this link, but here it is: Crossed Genres KS. I’ve always liked Crossed Genres magazine, but think it’s especially cool that they’re still doing what they do despite troubles.

4) and a link to an interesting blog post about spinning cotton: Cotton Clouds

Cheers!

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Conversant in the Classics

On one of the YOBC posts (somewhere, I’ll find it) nrlymrtl asks why do you read these classics? For the history lesson? For the wonderful writing? Or what?

An aspect of Darkcargo is my Ye Olde Book Club list. This is a monthly selection of classic titles that I have been meaning to get to. Sometimes we discuss those on this blog, but there are shorthand notes and some discussions going on over here: YOBC. To answer nrlymrtl’s question, one the reasons why I have been trying to read more of the classics is to be able to participate in the human conversation about literature.

For example, she found a reference in modern lit to Moby Dick, and was pretty excited about that.

Another reference? The ship in Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey is named Rocinante, Don Quixote’s horse. Having read some of Don Quixote, the ship in Leviathan Wakes takes on a new meaning.

Another? The introduction to my copy of Beloved by Toni Morrison discusses Whiteness, and the White Whale chapter in Moby Dick. Hum. Am able to bring another perspective to that section of the book and its ramifications in literature.

Another? Patrick Rothfuss at his Guest of Honor speech mentioned that he reads Don Quixote off and on (he’ll put it down for a while, read some more later, put it down again) and there’s me in the back NOT jumping up and down like a dipshit “ME TOO! KEEP GOING, IT’S REALLY FUNNY. SKIP THE BORING BITS! THERE’S A COOL LECTURE ON iTUNES!”

Another? That same weekend, in a different panel on character building, Rothfuss showed how Cyrano de Bergerac is a fantastically built character who shows us many sides of his personality in the first few bits of the play. Yay! I’ve read this, I was able to follow along!

So, I was really excited about LittleRedReviewer’s Vintage Sci-Fi Month. Here’s an opportunity to get through some of the building blocks of Sci-Fi and to be able to be conversant in the discussion of, for example, the Cthulhu mythos. I really struggled with Brave New World (it wasn’t difficult, I just didn’t like it), but I’ve read it and now am able to discuss it. nrlymrtl has done an excellent Nerdy job of working through a lot of these older works, such as the Conans, E. E. Doc Smith, and Lovecraft. Kudos.

I think everyone involved with the YOBC selection of Dracula loved that book, and where that story was just a nebulous Thing From the Past, it is now a concrete story with characters and plot.

So, the point of all this rambling is this: DO pepper your reading selections with some classics, OK? It will enrich your reading of your favorite genre, whether that’s mystery, SF/F or romance.