Books | Saints and Trees

The Alera Codex: a model for coming together in divisive times

February 16, 2018 at 4:32 pm (Books)
Tags: Fantasy, Jim Butcher, The Alera Codex

Jim Butcher knows how to tell a cracking good story.

He also knows how to undergird it with a morality that is desperately needed in these divisive times.

furies of calderon

First, I should issue a general spoiler alert, not because I’m going to give away any particular details, but because my general observation may spoil some of the twists in his story. So you may want to stop here and read the whole series for yourself, and then come back to this post. In that case, I’ll give you a general picture before coming to my larger point.

I’m not always up for epic fantasy. I think it is one of the most difficult genres to write really well because the characters can get lost in the trappings of plot and setting. But Jim Butcher writes such believable, well-rounded characters that I immediately get caught up in their stories. Even if you think fantasy isn’t your cup of tea, I urge you to give it a try. Then get back to the rest of this post. The first book is called CALDERON’S FURY.

For those who have already read the entire series and those who are simply curious to read on, consider yourself warned of my general spoiler, the whole reason I’m prompted to write about this particular series of books at this particular time. The hero of our series is a young man named Tavy, whom we first meet as a teenager hoping to escape his rural life. Tavy doesn’t want to flee the countryside because he is bored or has no job prospects, but because in his world, where almost everyone is born with some kind of magical talent, he has absolutely none.

Throughout the series, Tavy consistently makes his way by befriending his enemies. Not all of them, to be sure, and not by giving up his values or objectives.

Rather, he unites with those he has been taught to fear and hate in the interest of working together to fight against a common enemy, for common objectives. And in so doing, they create friendships and a better world.

Not a bad model for our times.

6 Comments

Warrior Cats

June 24, 2017 at 7:57 pm (Animals, Books, Childrens Books)
Tags: cats, Erin Hunter, Warrior Cats, Warriors series

The New Prophecy, book 1

I just love the second set in the Warrior Cat series, THE NEW PROPHECY (six books). It’s all about coming together across boundaries, a message that we desperately need to hear and act on in these divisive times. If every child read these books and internalized their message, I venture to say that we would be looking forward to a world where justice and respect for the natural environment are key values of society.

I hasten to add that the Warriors series is anything but didactic. They are addictive, page-turning stories about four “clans” of feral cats who live in a forest on the edge of a human community.

The hero of the first set of six books starts out as a “kittypet” named Rusty who becomes curious about the wild cats he sees on the edge of his yard and eventually decides to join them and forsake his safe, comfortable world for the call within himself to hunt his own food, experience the untamed natural world, and enjoy the camaraderie—and the rivalries—of living amongst his own kind, unbeholden to any human providers.

The stigma of being raised as a “kittypet” rather than being born to the clan is one of the many ways that the author, Erin Hunter, artfully raises questions of belonging and prejudice among humankind.

Into the wild

These books teach political lessons, too. The dark shadow of the clan’s deputy, Tigerclaw, overshadows the span of the entire series. Tigerclaw, ruthless and cunning, who seeks power at any cost, forms a stark contrast with our hero, who on entering the clan as a kitten-apprentice is rechristened “Firepaw.” Throughout the series, Firepaw consistently reaches out to cats in need of help—whether they hail from his own “Thunder Clan” or one of the three rival clans who populate the wood and meet in peace only on the nights of the full moon, where they discuss common threats and negotiate boundaries and other concerns, much like nations coming together at NATO or the UN.

I realize these books are wildly popular, and some readers may feel inclined to rail at me for publicizing them rather than equally deserving, but less well known, children’s books. My feeling, however, is that any books which have so much potential to instill a love for wilderness and wild things along with an appreciation for the role of compassion and justice both within and across social boundaries deserve all the publicity they can get.

If you decide to read them or pass them on to the little ones in your life, please note that they really need to be read in order! The original series begins with INTO THE WILD, and there is a handy list of all the books on the website: Http://warrior cats.com. Be careful venturing beyond the booklist on the website, though, or you will encounter spoilers.

Thanks to Sam and Violet, my nephew and niece (niece’s daughter, actually) who piqued my interest in the series.

4 Comments

Wendell Berry for Easter Week

April 1, 2016 at 10:38 am (Books)

I know I’ve been remiss about posting, but can’t resist sharing one of my favorite poems, quoted by one of my favorite bloggers:

Mike Angell

I was tempted to read this whole poem for an Easter sermon. I didn’t, but I don’t know of a better sentiment for Easter week than Berry’s “Practice resurrection.”

Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front
by Wendell Berry

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.

So, friends, every day do something
that won’t compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace

View original post 274 more words

1 Comment

How I Spent my Summer

September 10, 2015 at 11:32 am (Books)
Tags: childrens books, SCBWI, writing

My summer began with a writing conference sponsored by the New Jersey chapter of SCBWI, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. It was a great experience. I signed up for a peer critique, where we were divided into groups of four and received the first 15 pages of each other’s work to review. Thanks to that, I now have a new critique partner. I loved her book and she loved mine, too, and we both had useful suggestions that would improve our work. The best kind of mutual admiration society!

I also signed up for a critique from an editor at a well-respected children’s publishing house. She had some great comments which opened my eyes to areas where I need to better my writing, comments which will help not only with this book, but all of my fiction projects. It was a privilege to be able to receive this kind of feedback.

In addition to that, there were great lectures and opportunities to meet with other writers and illustrators, both published and unpublished, who work in everything from picture books to those geared for older teens.

Leeza Hernandez, one of the principal conference organizers and a published author and illustrator. Her books include the adorable Cat Napped! She was incredibly helpful when I hit a snag during registration.

I spent the rest of the summer revising my novel about a 13-year-old witch who is uprooted from her comfortable life in a little town where everyone is a witch and thrust into what we would call the “real” world. Her particular witching talent is the ability to understand and speak to animals in their various languages, and she uses this ability to investigate the strange rash of supernatural fires that breaks out in her new, supposedly ordinary, town.

I sent the revised version on to my new critique partner a couple of days ago. I was also accepted for another New Jersey children’s conference where I’ll be matched with a writing professional—an editor, agent, or writer—for further critique. Stay tuned for further developments!

4 Comments

The Mystical Mystery Sisters

April 21, 2015 at 2:00 pm (Books, Guest blogs, Interviews)
Tags: Amber Foxx, Marion Eaton, mysteries, paranormal fiction, paranormal mysteries, Virginia King

Guest Post by Amber Foxx

Marion Eaton and Virginia King and I have three different takes on the mystery genre, all of them unconventional. Our protagonists, in various ways, pass through the barrier between ordinary reality and something else—another time, or perception and knowledge not accessible by the everyday mind. We’ve come to appreciate each other not only as writers but as friends. Virginia and Marion have actually met—Marion, from England, happened to have already planned a trip to Australia, where Virginia lives, shortly after we started communicating. I haven’t been so lucky yet, but I feel fortunate in their long-distance friendship. To introduce my Mystical Mystery Sisters, I thought it would be fun for each of us to answer the same questions.

When you started writing the first book in your series, did you know where it was going or did it surprise you?

Virginia: I’m a “how would I know what’s going to happen, I’m only the author” kind of writer. The First Lie started with one sentence: All she had to do was jump. This applied to my main character, Selkie Moon, and also to me. I wrote that sentence with no plot and no plan. Selkie is named after the Celtic seal people—the ones who peel off their skins and dance in the moonlight on human legs—but The First Lie is not a retelling of the selkie myth. Selkie Moon is a Sydney girl who’s run off to Hawaii and got tangled up in the mythological layers of a deep mystery. The mythical elements that popped into the story as I wrote it became complex threads that converge in a stunning conclusion – because it certainly stunned me. It still makes me cry whenever I read it.

Amber: I knew what The Calling was about, but not how it would end. When I put the prologue up for my online critique group, one member mentioned that it was clear that Mae’s missing father was going to be a key mystery. Oh? I’d thought he was backstory. Mae’s struggle with her psychic gift was to be the main plot—but then I realized that her search for her father would be the unifying thread, in the background behind the family struggles and the mystery of what Dr. Tann can do with his own strange gift. Already the book was on a new track based on that observation. I didn’t know how any of the relationships would work out—or not work out. The characters had to go through all of it for me to know.

Marion: It surprised me. I had a rough idea of what I was going to write – a memoir of a special time in my life when I was young and the world was rosy. I started writing and came upon something mysterious to which I had never found the answer, and suddenly, the book took a completely different direction. From a rather boring factual account I suddenly found myself writing a fictional mystery thriller complete with ghosts and a time-slip.

Which of the mysterious phenomena in your book comes closest to something that has really happened to you?

Virginia: I’ve mostly taken true things and let my imagination make them bigger than my own experience. But there is one scene where Selkie has an out-of-body experience and heightened perception of her surroundings. This has happened to me several times—once for an hour in a garden where I felt completely connected to one rose, to every curve and tint of its petals, to every tiny flaw, to every drop of dew. I’ve also had amazing insights into my own mind through psychotherapy and there’s a scene where Selkie has to dive into the murky depths of her mind and discover a dark secret. I couldn’t have imagined the mystical layers of that scene if I hadn’t experienced the process myself.

Amber: Two come very close—one creepy, one beautiful. The creepy one is the wolf spirit. It would be a spoiler to say any more. Some of the visionary and energetic experiences Mae has when she starts practicing as a healer are similar to some things I felt when I had a little training in that field.

Marion: Actually, many of them are close to my personal experience. Perhaps the most unnerving was the sound of a horse being ridden fast up a deserted High Street late at night — when there was nothing to be seen. The experience was even more unnerving because it was so close and so real that my husband pushed me out of the way, and he was not normally given to flights of fancy. The most mysterious was when all the clocks stopped— the incident which provided the title of the book. But that was not my personal experience: I overheard the conversation between two of my friends.

What do you do to refresh your creative source—to water your inner garden?

Virginia: Writing itself refreshes me. I’ve almost finished Selkie’s next mystery, The Second Path, and as my imagination puts surprising things into the evolving story, I get energized to follow them. This is my idea of fun. Then in the middle of the night, connections emerge from that day’s writing, so I keep a note book by the bed and decipher my scribbles in the morning. The moments when I’ve not quite woken up often produce pages of notes and these subconscious connections inspire me back to the keyboard. I live in a valley full of birds in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, so I also carry my notebook when I walk.

Amber: My daily yoga practice smooths out my energy and helps me focus; it’s good for me that I forget about writing while I’m doing it (although I do get ideas for teaching yoga classes). I occasionally incubate dreams to get an answer to a plot problem. I dreamed one of the scenes in The Calling when I was stuck—a new minor character showed up. My best flow happens when I’m running, though. Something gets knocked loose; some little dam in my mind crumbles and ideas move. Often, I get back from a run and have to take notes before I lose track of all the inspirations. And I need to be around people, too. Go out dancing, do something social. Unlike many writers, I’m an extrovert. People give me energy—and they inspire characters, of course.

Marion: I love that you called it an inner garden, because my garden is the source of much delight and renewal. Spending time working or dreaming there, or walking in nature, always calms, refreshes and fulfils me. For many years I have had a daily practice that makes my day go swimmingly. In the morning, I do a little yoga or tai chi, followed by a dancing or breathing meditation, then I take my dog for a walk through the beautiful Sussex countryside. By the time I come back, I am full of ideas and itching to get on with the day, and particularly to write. I also meditate for 10 minutes before I fall asleep at night, so I wake refreshed and happy. If I find myself stuck when writing, I close my eyes, take a deep breath and call on my Muse for help. She never fails me.

The Mystical Mystery Sisters have teamed up for a giveaway. Enter the drawing to win a paperback copy of the first book in each author’s series. To enter, click here: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/eb0a35092/

The drawing will be held midnight, Sunday April 26.

The Calling

The first Mae Martin Psychic Mystery

Amber Foxx,
author of
The Mae Martin mysteries

Obeying her mother’s warning, Mae Martin-Ridley has spent years hiding her gift of “the sight.” When concern for a missing hunter compels her to use it again, her peaceful life in a small Southern town begins to fall apart. New friends push her to explore her unusual talents, but as she does, she discovers the shadow side of her visions— access to secrets she could regret uncovering.

Gift or curse? When an extraordinary ability intrudes on an ordinary life, nothing can be the same again.

The Mae Martin Series

No murder, just mystery. Every life hides a secret, and love is the deepest mystery of all.

Amber has worked professionally in theater and dance, fitness, and academia. In her free time she enjoys music, dancing, art, running and yoga. She divides her time between the Southeast and the Southwest, living in Truth or Consequences during her New Mexico months.

When the Clocks Stopped

The Mysterious Marsh Series, Book One

Marion Eaton
author of
The Mysterious Marsh Series

When lawyer Hazel Dawkins decides to write some wills while she waits for the birth of her first child, she unwittingly triggers dramatic consequences. Mysteriously, she encounters Annie, a woman whose tempestuous life took place more than two centuries earlier when Romney Marsh was a violent place, dominated by smugglers.

Soon that past collides with the present, and Hazel finds herself pitted against an evil that has stalked the marsh for centuries. As her destiny intertwines with Annie’s in the shifting time-scape, Hazel confronts a terrifying challenge that parallels history—and could even change it. If she survives.

Retired from legal practice, Marion lives near the sea in the beautiful Sussex countryside with a long-suffering husband, a lazy Saluki, a wild garden and an urge to write into the small hours—all of which she attempts to keep in some sort of order.

The First Lie

Selkie Moon Mysteries, Book One

Virginia King
author of
The Selkie Moon Mysteries

Selkie Moon is a woman on the run. In a mad dash for freedom she’s escaped her life in Sydney to start over again in Hawaii. But her refuge begins to unravel and she’s running from something else entirely. A voice in a dream says that someone is trying to kill her. Not that she’s psychic, no way. But the messages and threats escalate until she’s locked in a game of cat and mouse with a mysterious stalker. Entangled in Celtic and Hawaiian mythologies, the events become so bizarre and terrifying that her instinct is to keep running. But is she running from her past? Or her future?

Virginia has lived most of her life in Sydney, but has travelled to many places. She’s been a teacher, an unemployed ex-teacher, a producer of audio-books, a writer of fifty-plus children’s books, and an award-winning publisher. These days she’s a full-time writer who paints a bit, living in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney with her husband.

From April 21 – 30, each e-book will be on sale for $1.99 US.

https://amberfoxxmysteries.wordpress.com/buy-books-retail-links

http://www.marioneaton.com/mysterious-marsh/

http://www.amazon.com/First-Lie-Selkie-Moon-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00K1VC20Y

To learn more about the authors and their series:

http://www.marioneaton.com/

http://amberfoxxmysteries.wordpress.com

http://selkiemoon.com/

Leave a Comment

Interview with author Gigi Pandian

March 26, 2015 at 2:00 pm (Books, Interviews)
Tags: France, Gigi Pandian, Jaya Jones, Mont Saint-Michel, mysteries, QUICKSAND

Today I am pleased to present an interview with one of my favorite writers, USA Today bestselling author Gigi Pandian. Gigi is the child of cultural anthropologists from New Mexico and the southern Tip of India. After spending her childhood being dragged around the world, she now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and writes the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt mystery series (Artifact, Pirate Vishnu, and Quicksand) and the Accidental Alchemist mysteries (The Accidental Alchemist). Gigi’s debut novel was awarded a Malice Domestic Grant and named a “Best of 2012” debut by Suspense Magazine, and her short fiction has been short-listed for Agatha and Macavity awards.

And last week, Gigi’s second novel, Pirate Vishnu, was awarded the Rose Award at Left Coast Crime!

Please welcome Gigi to the blog.

Tell us about your journey as a writer.

I’ve been making up mysteries since I was a kid. As a small child I adored Scooby Doo, so I made up my own Scooby Doo adventures so I could have even more of them. When I was a little bit older, I wrote a cartoon series about Minnesota Smith – a female Indiana Jones. This pattern continued, but I didn’t think seriously about writing novels until many years later.

I left a PhD program once I completed my Masters, because that’s when I finally realized I needed to be doing something more creative in my life. I got a part-time job, started attending art school, and spent my free time at cafes writing a mystery novel. Now that I was following my creative passions, my whole life fell into place.

What was your road to publication like?

I began to take my writing seriously when I was awarded a Malice Domestic Grant [ http://www.malicedomestic.org/grants.html ] for a draft of my debut novel, ARTIFACT. That’s what gave me the push I needed to learn more about the craft of writing, finish polishing the manuscript, and query agents.

I took the time necessary to turn a good idea into a polished book – through workshops, books on the craft of writing, and critique groups – so I found an agent relatively quickly. Finding a publisher was more difficult. I learned that my novel was in between mystery subgenres, which made it a tougher sell to big publishers.

While my agent was pitching the novel to publishers, I was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. With so much uncertainty in life, I wanted to be in control of something in my life. I decided to self-publish ARTIFACT, with my agent backing my decision that the book was ready for publication. I had a year of cancer treatments, so I used that year to learn how to self-publish successfully. My efforts were rewarded when the book was well received.

Self publishing was so much work that I was thrilled when Henery Press made me an offer to publish the whole series, and when my agent sold my second series to Midnight Ink. Even though it took a while to find my footing, I ended up signing two three-book deals within a few months of each other. The hard work up front paid off.

One of the inspirations behind the Jaya Jones series is the late Elizabeth Peters, a grande-dame of mystery writers. Tell us about that. What else inspired you to create Jaya’s character and the series?

My favorite books when I was a teenager were the Vicky Bliss mysteries by Elizabeth Peters. Vicky Bliss is an art historian who’s brilliant and beautiful, and who uses her PhD to go on adventures across the world, solving mysteries and being wooed by a charming art thief. The books are both escapist fantasies and also incredibly smart mysteries that teach the reader about history and involve clever puzzle plots.

When I started writing, I knew I wanted to write books that combined light-hearted adventure with deeper world history, just as those Elizabeth Peters novels do. I grew up going on research trips all over the world with my anthropology professor parents, so the academic life was very familiar to me. My dad is from India and my mom is American, so writing a diverse character from two worlds came naturally.

That’s how I created Jaya Jones, a history professor in San Francisco who was born in India to an Indian mom and American dad, and who solves present-day crimes linked to historical treasures related to India’s colonial history.

Jaya’s sidekick, Sanjay, is an equally delightful character. Where did he come from? The dynamics of the relationship between Jaya and Sanjay are a great source of interest and occasional tension in the books. Was that something you planned from the beginning, or did it just develop as you began to write?

I’ll let you in on a secret. Sanjay was never meant to appear on the page at all! I needed him to play a tiny part off-stage in the first book, but as soon as I put pen to paper, he sprang to life and there was no stopping him.

Sanjay is Jaya’s best friend, a stage magician who goes by the moniker The Hindi Houdini. Magicians are such fun in mystery novels because their art of deception gives them insights into mysteries. Sanjay turned out to be such a colorful character and so good at solving mysteries that I had to give him his own set of locked-room mystery short stories – otherwise he would have taken over Jaya’s books!

Speaking of relationships, the other main character in the series, Jaya’s love interest Lane Peters, is an equally charming guy. I sense shades of Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief or Charade. Where did you find this handsome guy with a shady past?

From the loveable art thieves in novels (such as Elizabeth Peters’ John Smyth and Hailey Lind’s Michael X Johnson in her art forger series) to charming con men in movies (such as Cary Grant characters, and Neal Caffrey on the TV show White Collar), I’ve always loved this type of character.

The latest Jaya Jones, Quicksand, is set mostly in France in a series of stunning locations, including Mont Saint-Michel. (Movie rights, anyone?) Tell us a bit about this, including how you got the idea for the different locales and how you went about doing the research for the settings.

I knew I wanted to write a series that took the characters on adventures all over the world. Because of my academic background, I do a lot of research in libraries. Even today, there’s so much information you can’t find online! At least not easily. And once I have general ideas, I visit the locations in person. Again, even though there’s so much information available online, visiting a place in person provides perspective and ideas that wouldn’t have otherwise come to light.

For example, I knew that I wanted to set QUICKSAND partly on Mont Saint-Michel. The remote destination on the northern coast of France was once only accessible during low tide and over the years was used as a fortress, a monastery, and a prison. I read up on the fascinating history of the Mont, but once I visited I learned so much more. The experience of walking around the eerily silent cobblestone streets at night helped me create the atmosphere in the book, and my abbey tour guide told me history that I wouldn’t have learned from books. Based on her tidbits of history, I was able to do more research to verify the facts, but I would never have set off on an obscure line of research without that tour.

In Quicksand:

Historian Jaya Jones finds herself on the wrong side of the law during an art heist at the Louvre. To redeem herself, she follows clues from an illuminated manuscript that lead from the cobblestone streets of Paris to the quicksand-surrounded fortress of Mont Saint-Michel. With the help of enigmatic Lane Peters and a 90-year-old stage magician, Jaya delves into France’s colonial past in India to clear her name and catch a killer.

Sign up for Gigi’s newsletter at http://gigipandian.com/newsletter/, connect with her on Facebook (facebook.com/GigiPandian) and Twitter (@GigiPandian), and check out her gargoyle photography on the Gargoyle Girl Blog (http://www.gargoylegirl.com/).

Leave a Comment

Gargoyles: Mischievous Monsters for over a Millennia

January 29, 2015 at 2:00 pm (Books, Dragons & other fantastic beasts, Guest blogs)
Tags: gargoyles, Gigi Pandian, mysteries, paranormal mysteries, The Accidental Alchemist

I’m pleased to welcome fellow Sister in Crime Gigi Pandian as today’s guest on the blog. Gigi and I share a fascination with gargoyles, the subject of her post, and Gigi’s latest mystery, The Accidental Alchemist, features a centuries-old female alchemist and her impish gargoyle sidekick who was accidentally brought to life by a French stage magician. Take it away, Gigi!

I’ve always been fascinated by gargoyles, so when I began writing a paranormal mystery about an alchemist, the gargoyle character ended up taking over the story!

I’m not alone. Gargoyles have fascinated people for millennia. Though they were most popular during the medieval era in Europe, the first known use of gargoyles was in ancient Egypt.

Nobody has the definitive answer as to why drainage pipes were anthropomorphized as gargoyles, but many different forces contributed to their rise in popularity. Gargoyles reached the height of popularity in 13^th century Europe. Since they look like tormented souls, and were often used on cathedrals in medieval Europe, one common theory is that gargoyles symbolize trapped souls, showing people they would be safe once they entered the interior sanctuary of the church.

Within this theory, it’s up for debate whether or not those tormented gargoyles were trapped human souls, fierce guardians warding off the devil, or creatures ready to harm people who didn’t attend church. As with much religious interpretation in the Middle Ages, it’s likely that all of these interpretations were used. After all, most people were illiterate, so different ideas spread in different areas.

But what was the intent of the stone carvers themselves? Gargoyles provided an outlet where they could let loose with their creativity.

Historian Janetta Rebold Benton speculates that gargoyles have always fascinated people because we’re naturally drawn to the mysterious and the macabre. “The modern horror movie,” she says, “like the medieval gargoyle, pretends to threaten us but does no harm.” And yes, I do read books about gargoyles by historians!

Technically, a gargoyle is a water spout used for draining rainwater away from a building. But over time, the term has come to be used more broadly, applying to ornamental grotesques perched on buildings. And today, many of these modern “gargoyles” are have a much more benevolent appearance. The gargoyles of Notre Dame in Paris are even said to keep watch for anyone drowning in the Seine.

Architect Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc was the man who created the gallery of gargoyles at Notre Dame, during the cathedral’s restoration in the 1800s. Those famous gargoyles are a “new” addition to the old cathedral.

I love to use real history in my novels, so in The Accidental Alchemist, I created Dorian the gargoyle using the real history of Notre Dame. Both Viollet-le-Duc and famous stage magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin are important figures in the Accidental Alchemist series.

The Accidental Alchemist is the first in a series, so there’s plenty more fun with gargoyles to come.

In The Accidental Alchemist: Unpacking her belongings in her new hometown of Portland, Oregon, herbalist and reformed alchemist Zoe Faust can’t help but notice she’s picked up a stowaway. Dorian Robert-Houdin is a living, breathing three-and-a-half-foot gargoyle—not to mention a master of French cuisine—and he needs Zoe’s expertise to decipher a centuries-old text.

“Pandian launches a supernatural cozy series that hits high marks for a modern twist on an ancient practice.”—Library Journal

Gigi Pandian is the USA Today bestselling author of the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt mystery series (Artifact, Pirate Vishnu, and the forthcoming Quicksand) and the new Accidental Alchemist mysteries. Gigi’s debut mystery novel was awarded a Malice Domestic Grant, and her short fiction has been short-listed for Agatha and Macavity awards. Gigi spent her childhood being dragged around the world by her cultural anthropologist parents, and now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Find Gigi online at www.gigipandian.com, connect with her on Facebook (facebook.com/GigiPandian) and Twitter (@GigiPandian), and check out her gargoyle photography on the Gargoyle Girl Blog at http://www.gargoylegirl.com/.

Leave a Comment

Favorite Books from 2014

January 10, 2015 at 4:27 pm (Books)
Tags: Amber Foxx, Greg Baxter, Judith Rock, Shaman's Blues, Snake Face, The Apartment, The Rhetoric of Death

This past year introduced me to some outstanding books by authors new to me as well as great reads from authors who are already favorites. Here they are, more or less in the order read:

The second Mae Martin psychic mystery
Coming in 2014

Shaman’s Blues (published February, 2014) and Snake Face (published November, 2014) are the second and third novels in Amber Foxx‘s Mae Martin series. Great books that are impossible to classify, having elements of mystery, romance, and women’s fiction. Mae, the series character, is a psychic, but the books will appeal even to readers who aren’t big fans of the paranormal in fiction. Mae is a very real, very grounded character, and her journey makes for compelling page-turners that will keep you surprised. Be sure to start with the very first book in the series, The Calling. For more information, see my interviews with Amber here and here.

The Apartment by Greg Baxter was a find from the local library’s New Book shelf. The unnamed narrator of this book is an American man who has left his desert home in the States because he “wanted to live in a cold city.” The city is never named, but it sounds very much like a place in Eastern Europe or northern Germany. The author, Greg Baxter, hails from Texas and currently lives in Berlin, but this is a novel, not a memoir. What appealed to me most in this novel was the way in which the small, everyday details of life in this unnamed city are savored and the way the book’s leisurely pace shows an appreciation for the little things that make up life. I loved the European setting and the way the narrator’s past gradually unfolds in the telling.

Historical mysteries are one of my favorite genres, and I found a new favorite series in Judith Rock‘s Charles Le Duc books, which feature an engaging young Jesuit sleuth and are set during the latter years of Louis XIV’s reign, the first, The Rhetoric of Death, taking place in 1686. Charles is an engaging character, the writing just flows, and the setting and plots are always intriguing. Alas, there are only four titles (short-sighted publishers, sigh!), but I was pleased to discover that Ms. Rock is working on further novels, and will certainly keep attuned to her progress. I’ve read the first three so far, all equally excellent, keeping the fourth one in reserve as a special treat. For more information, see my interview with the author here.

What were your favorite books from the past year?

3 Comments

Interview with Fir Tree

December 11, 2014 at 2:00 pm (Books, Feasts/Seasons, Interviews, Nature)
Tags: Christmas, Christmas books, Christmas stories, Nancy Adams, Saint Nick and the Fir Tree, Saint Nick stories

Today I am presenting an interview of one of my own characters. The Fir Tree first made an appearance several years ago in the short story “Saint Nick and the Fir Tree,” and has been hanging around the corners of my mind ever since, angling for a sequel. Though that remains so far unwritten, I thought I would appease the Tree by inviting it to come to the blog for a seasonal interview. Leave a comment before midnight Dec. 18 EST and you’ll be in the running for a “Saint Nick” giveaway book.

(For reasons that will become apparent, this interview was conducted by a third party.)

SAT: How did you meet your writer?

FT: I was planted by a lovely man named Jack, and lived in their backyard for years and years. But time passes more swiftly for humans than it does for trees; Jack and his wife grew too old to take care of the house and yard. Eventually they sold it to Aunt Nancy and her husband. Aunt Nancy loved to garden and made sure I had plenty of yummy compost and trimmed me every year. But nowadays she stays inside more, writing, she says. Someone needs to tell her to get out and take care of me and the other plants in the yard!

SAT: Did you ever think that your life would end up being put in a story?

FT: No, I didn’t. But after I told Aunt Nancy about my little adventure with Saint Nick, she decided to write it down.

SAT: What are your favorite scenes in the “Saint Nick” story?

FT: It really is MY book. Aunt Nancy just wrote down what I told her and added a beginning and end. I suppose her parts are all right, but the really good stuff is all mine. I think I did an especially good job with the snow scene at the end, when I was worried that the ax murderer would return.

SAT: Did you have any difficulty collaborating with your author, er, scribe?

FT: To give Aunt Nancy credit, no, I didn’t. She was fascinated by the whole thing. But now all she wants to do is stay inside and write. If I’d known that’s what my story would lead to, maybe I would have kept it to myself.

SAT: Have you ever appeared in your writer’s dreams?

FT: I wish. If I did, she’d get off that stupid computer and pay attention to those of us who live in her backyard!

SAT: Do you have any hobbies?

FT: I really enjoy bird watching, and I’m in the perfect spot. There’s a hawk couple who live in the neighborhood, and it’s especially exciting when they drop by. Keeps those loud-mouthed squirrels in line, heh-heh.

SAT: Have you ever wished that you were a human instead of a tree?

FT: Of course not. Humans can be pretty strange, if you don’t mind my saying so. I think it’s much more satisfying being a tree. The other trees and plants in the yard are all friends, and so are the birds and rabbits. The squirrels, now—that’s another matter. They’re the rough element in the yard, if you know what I mean.

SAT: Are you happy with your story?

FT: Oh yes! Fir trees mean Christmas and “Saint Nick and the Fir Tree” is a wonderful Christmas story. But Aunt Nancy can’t take credit for that–most of the story is MINE. My words. My adventure.

SAT: If you could rewrite anything in your book, what would it be?

FT: Aunt Nancy’s beginning. What she calls a “punk haircut” is all her fault for not trimming me soon enough in the summer, and I don’t see why she had to mention it at all. It gives readers the wrong impression.

SAT: Do you like the way the book ended?

FT: I suppose the bit Aunt Nancy wrote at the end was all right, but personally I think it should have ended with my words. Other than that, I have no complaints. What she said was true.

SAT: I hear that you’re interested in a sequel. Any ideas?

FT: Plenty! If she’s going to be inside writing anyway, she might as well write about me.

SAT: Do you prefer paper books or electronic?

FT: A touchy question. Unless the paper is recycled, it comes from TREES. The very thought makes me queasy. Though Aunt Nancy says electronic readers may end up in landfills and that’s bad, too. If it were up to me, the book would be electronic ONLY.

SAT: What do you think of the book cover and illustrations?

FT: I have to admit Aunt Nancy had the right idea: she thought the cover should be all about me. And she found a great designer and a great illustrator. I just love my portraits!

SAT: Do you have any secrets that your author doesn’t know about?

FT: <giggle> I’m not telling.

Thank you, Fir Tree! Leave a comment before midnight Dec. 18 for a chance to win your own copy of “Saint Nick and the Fir Tree.”

9 Comments

Ursula K. Le Guin at the National Book Awards

December 4, 2014 at 2:25 pm (Books)

Ursula Le Guin is one of my favorite writers from way back. My favorite work of hers is the novella “Buffalo Gals” and I especially love her short stories. Thanks to Isaac of Ekostories for the original blog posting of this inspirational speech.

Leave a Comment

« Older entries