There’s no easy way of saying it, so I’ll be as blunt as a spoon. It doesn’t matter if your story is character-driven or plot-driven; if you don’t breathe life into your main cast then your story is like a decapitated chicken – dead from the neck up! So how do we make sure our main characters come alive for the reader?

Okay, so here we have our two main characters. Let’s call them Paula and Fred. At the moment they are like cardboard cut-outs. Sure we could add a bit of colour by saying Paula has black hair and hazel eyes, and Fred has ginger hair and blue eyes, we could say they are tall or short, thin or chubby or variations in between. We could go one stage further and include that Paula has a tiny scar above one eyebrow or Fred has a wart on the tip of his nose; it’s a start – it gives the reader a little something to picture – but is it really breathing life into them? The simple answer is, no.

We need to give them personalities, emotions, hopes and dreams, in short we need to make them realistic and relatable.

You need to spend some time getting to know Paula and Fred; find out what makes them happy or sad, angry or soft and gooey, what their aspirations are, whether they are essentially good or bad and what makes them tick. Once you’ve gone through this process of building a personality profile for them you then need to make that personality come alive.

The most effective ways are through dialogue and through showing their emotions.

So if you were writing a scene where Paula was angry about something Fred had done and she was giving him a serious tongue-lashing, the worst thing you can do is just pen the obvious drivel some writers call dialogue. Put yourself in Paula’s shoes and make the dialogue realistic to fit the scene. It’s okay for Paula to stutter in her anger and call him names. It’s fine for her to get her words a bit mixed up in the heat of the moment. Isn’t that what happens in real life? Now think of how Fred might defend himself (if he does at all – that’s your call. He might be the type of guy who holds his hands up, admits he’s dropped the ball and wants to make things better) and make his dialogue as realistic as hers.

Now we’re getting somewhere. But what is the magic ingredient? Showing!

Think about the expressions on their faces and describe them. No you don’t have to go to the nth degree, but a phrase like ‘her flashing eyes narrowed and her voice was laden with venom’ paints a very strong picture for the reader to get hold of. Now think about body language or gestures they might be using. ‘Fred held his hands up as if to ward off her words, taking a step away from her’- again this allows the reader to form an image of what is occurring in the scene. Using small phrases to show how your character is feeling and reacting to a given situation makes them much stronger, which culminates in a story which is now much more interesting than two-day old dishwater.

The vast majority of readers want to connect with the characters in your story, they want to feel their emotions, be able to picture the scene and see how each person is behaving, some even want to imagine themselves as either Paula or Fred. But they can only achieve this if you bring those cardboard cut-outs to life.

A quick tip to help you with characterisation is to people watch (and no I don’t mean for you to stare at people until you get a punch on the nose or a visit from someone wearing a uniform and carrying a badge). Take snippets from what you see and hear around you. When you’re out shopping or at the movies or wherever, watch how people relate to each other and listen to extracts of their discussions. Make mental notes or even better, carry a notepad around with you and if you see or hear something you think you could use, jot it down.

All your characters need to be given life; they need hearts and minds to make them relatable and speech to make them realistic.

RED SEAS UNDER RED SKIES
by Scott Lynch

Published by: Gollancz, 2007
Pages: 584
ISBN: 0575079258
Copy: trade aperback
Series: Gentleman Bastard #2

My rating: 9,5/10

First sentence: Locke Lamora stood on the pier in Tal Verrar with the hot wind of a burning ship at his back and the cold bite of a loaded crossbow’s bolt at his neck.

Thief and con-man extraordinaire, Locke Lamora, and the ever lethal Jean Tannen have fled their home city and the wreckage of their lives. But they can’t run forever and when they stop they decide to head for the richest, and most difficult, target on the horizon. The city state of Tal Verarr. And the Sinspire.The Sinspire is the ultimate gambling house. No-one has stolen so much as a single coin from it and lived. It’s the sort of challenge Locke simply can’t resist . . .
. . . but Locke’s perfect crime is going to have to wait.
someone else in Tal Verarr wants the Gentleman Bastards’ expertise and is quite prepared to kill them to get it. Before long, Locke and Jean find themselves engaged in piracy. Fine work for thieves who don’t know one end of a galley from another.

I was highly critical of this book before I started. One of the reasons I waited until now was the deep impact Scott Lynch’s debut novel had had on me. I didn’t feel like I could continue right away. I still had to wrap my head around certain events, remember who lived and who died, and how brilliantly Scott Lynch has spun me along. But my yearning for these beloved characters prevailed and I dared to pick this one up.

To say I was as blown away as I was by its predecessor would be a lie. There was a certain element of novelty to Locke Lamora that is not present anymore. A fantasy story where the fate of the entire world does not depend on one young (chosen) boy’s actions. Just a bunch of con men who trick rich bastards out of everything they got. Thank you, Scott Lynch, for giving us more of everything you do best. Locke and Jean are in the middle of another elaborate con as we meet them again. Two years have passed – two years which we catch up on in flashback chapters and which I found to me among the most impressive bits of the book. After an adventure like theirs, you don’t just happily run off to the next city and steal from noblemen. Clearly, Locke had to get over the first book, too.

As the blurb promises, our boys take up piracy in this truly swashbuckling adventure. As things go from worse to worst and everything planned goes utterly wrong, Locke and Jean find themselves on a pirate ship – and everything goes wrong yet again. I just loved how these character got into ever more trouble to the point where I thought, they would never get out of all of it, and then slowly, Locke’s mind (or rather Lynch’s mind) comes up with intricate plans to save their hides.

Crooked Warden, give me a golden line of bullshit, and the wisdom to know when to stop spinning it, he thought.

I could fill entire pages with reasons this was another great book by Scott Lynch. Let me just say that the charm’s in the details. Little things he does make the world come to life. All characters are three-dimensional – even if we don’t get to see a lot of them – the places are vibrant and full of believable people. Plus, the humor was totally up my alley and the relationships between the Gentlemen Bastards bring tears to my eyes. What more can you want?

“Mew,” the kitten retorted, locking gazes with him. It had the expression common to all kittens, that of a tyrant in the becoming. I was comfortable, and you dared to move, those jade eyes said. For that you must die.

THE GOOD: A fantastically quick-paced, clever adventure, with quippy dialogue, endearing characters and cons within cons within cons. It’s a heist lover’s dream.
THE BAD: I can’t really find anything negative. Other than the evil sort-of-cliffhanger ending.
THE VERDICT: If you liked the first book, you will enjoy this one just as much. Maybe even more, depending on if you have a soft spot in your heart for pirates and the microcosm of a ship. I loved it.
BONUS: Any journey on a ship requires women and cats – for safety and so as not to piss off the gods.

RATING: 9,5/10  Very close to perfection

The Gentleman Bastard Sequence:

1. The Lies of Locke Lamora
2. Red Seas under Red Skes
3. The Republic of Thieves (2013)

While funny in its own right, it resonates with me because it demonstrates the essence of a mantra that I have come to hold very dear: Set up for success.

Keeping regular blog entries is one way I am setting myself up for success in writing, though in many ways it is the smallest amount of success possible. Using my cork board and index card system is another. I am not trying to solve the big problems all at once, to go from zero to 60 in a writing career. Would I love to? Certainly. Of course, if a fairy godmother was going to pop into existence and anoint me a great writer I imagine that would have happened by now. I think I will take things at a reasonable pace instead.

Rather than lament over not having completed a publishable draft of a novel yet, I am focusing on setting myself up for success in as many ways as I can manage. The better I am, the more likely I will (gasp) find success in what I desire. There are two points to consider: 1) Nothing is guaranteed and 2) In order to set myself up, I have to have a very clear definition of ‘success’.

Over the weekend I pondered this lesson and how it relates to the story now in progress. It is obvious that the lesson applies to stories as well as life’s endeavors but what I found more interesting was how it applied to the endeavors of my character’s lives. Yes, they already have dreams and goals and plans to achieve them. What they didn’t do so well with those plans was to try and set themselves up for success (either smartly or otherwise)…

Although it’s the start of a new trilogy, it really won’t make any sense if you haven’t read the previous five books in the Fever series. Just after, so really, spoilers abound. This book is set in the Fever universe after the events of Shadowfever. However, instead of following Mac, Iced is the first of a trilogy with Dani “Mega” O’Malley as the protagonist.

I had some reservations about that, because I had problems with Dani’s way of speaking before, but I think Moning got into Dani’s voice a lot better in this book. Or maybe the voice just worked better for me because I started getting more of Dani’s POV and history. Despite Dani’s age and unfortunate speech habits, it doesn’t read like YA, either. Dani is great as a protagonist because she’s incredibly active, observant, and clever, but she still has a lot of room to learn and grow. If you loved the Fever series, Iced has all the darkness, in-jokes, mythology, cleverness, and depth that made the Fever series so great.

I don’t want to give many specifics for those who haven’t read it or Fever, but if you’ve read Iced: the bit in this book about how Ryodan ends his questions is hysterical.

It is also a great case study on the Hero’s Journey.

I’ve heard numerous references to Toy Story in studying the Hero’s Journey but I did not pay much attention since it had been so long since I watched it and until recently I did not own a copy. Each time we played the movie through, I started to see more. The ticking clock (the family’s impending move) was obvious but played nicely in the background. It faded into the background but was always present. The characters never forgot. The story’s central conflict was more interesting as I compared it to my own. In the story, two toys fight for the affections of the boy to whom they belong. One, the old favorite, is deposed and must learn to accept his place – now sharing the spotlight. His jealousy undoes him and plunges the conflict forward. At the same time, the second toy has a similar arc. In his case, he is learning to be a toy – dispelling his illusions.

There were some interesting idiosyncrasies (such as the boy’s room decorations changing within a week of the move) but even watching it for… okay, I still can’t admit how often I’ve watched it. Regardless, every time I see those odd shortcomings I can easily forgive them. They are done out of necessity. Woody has to watch as the world he knows is taken over by a new toy. The realization that he is no longer the favorite has to be complete and the best way to show that requires that Andy’s room undergoes some transformation.

Comparing the elements of Toy Story to the weave of my own work in progress has been very helpful. My confidence in parts of my story is solidified and I have attained new perspective in areas that felt muddy. The ticking clock and the sense of shared conflict were two areas I struggled with for quite a while. I feel much better about one and I can see where the other may not be as well worked as it deserves.

The single best take-away from watching Toy Story?

While I am learning a lot about my writing, there is something more. I get to watch it with my son.

THE GOLDEN FOOL
by Robin Hobb

Published by: Voyager, 2002
ISBN: 0006486029
Pages: 712
Copy: paperback
Series: The Tawny Man #2

My rating: 7/10

*MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR THE FARSEER TRILOGY AND FOOL’S ERRAND AHEAD*
I actually didn’t post the first sentence because it contains a huge spoiler for the entire series.

Fitz has succeeded in rescuing Prince Dutiful from the clutches of the Piebald rebels, and has returned with him to Buckkeep castle. With Dutiful safe again, Queen Kettricken can proceed with plans to marry him to the Outislander princess, Elliania. However, with tensions building among the peoples of the Six Duchies over Kettricken’s tolerance of the Wittted, even Buckkeep is no longer safe. A reluctant Fitz is assigned to protect the young prince, and also train him in the Skill, and in doing so he finally makes contact not only with his estranged daughter, Nettle, but with someone in Buckkeep who may possess a greater Skill talent even than Fitz. And who may represent a terrible threat to the Farseers. Meanwhile, Elliania arrives and, before she will accept Prince Dutiful’s betrothal, challenges him to undertake an impossible quest. He must kill a legendary Outislander dragon.

Robin Hobb’s books start out slowly. In light of the events of Fool’s Errand, I knew this was going to be no exception. Fitz has a great deal of drama to get over and it wasn’t until a third into the book that I felt the plot actually dragged. I saw the threads the author was holding in her hands and there is a lot of setting up later events in this middle volume. However, with the first two trilogies in the Six Duchies universe, I always liked the middle volume best. Not so here.

As plot goes, I’d say that more than half of this book could easily have been cut without the readers missing any essential information. But that is another thing about Robin Hobb – she writes carefully and she explores her character’s emotions and actions to the core. If you don’t enjoy things like that, then this is not a book for you. But if you don’t mind slow passages – sometimes very long slow passages – that favor character development over action, and if you enjoy beautifully wordy prose, Robin Hobb is your girl!

No other author – except maybe Cat Valenet – teaches me so many new words and the use of words (to me, English is a foreign language of course, so most of you may not be as impressed with her writing) as Robin Hobb. When I read her books, I feel like this is a woman who not only goes into the deepest depths of her characters’ lives but who also has a very, very firm grasp on the English language. It is a pleasure to read and another reason I don’t mind long-winded descriptions of inner turmoil and contemplation.

Despite all of that good stuff, this book simply lacked an ending. Now that I’m finished, I feel like it exists solely to set up the events that are going to happen in the final instalment. Sure, Hobb makes us extremely curious (and worry about certain characters) but does that justify an entire book? Political intrigue, injuries, family drama, and true friendship feature in The Golden Fool but the usual culmination of all those events at the end of the novel was simply missing here.

There’s little I can say without spoiling things for you so I’ll stop it here. It is a Robin Hobb novel so I recommend it despite its flaws. What it did manage extremely well is making me want to read the next book – and finish the story of the Fitz and the Fool.

THE GOOD: Beautiful language showing strong, independent characters and their incredible development.
THE BAD: Drags a lot during the beginning and doesn’t really have a well-rounded ending.
THE VERDICT: Any Robin Hobb book is worth reading. If you’ve come this far in the trilogy of trilogies, then you’ll like it.

RATING: 7/10  Very good

The Six Duchies Series:

• The Farseer
  
  1. Assassin’s Apprentice
  2. Royal Assassin
  3. Assassin’s Quest

   

   

• The Liveship Traders
  
  1. Ship of Magic
  2. The Mad Ship
  3. Ship of Destiny

   

   

• The Tawny Man
  1. Fool’s Errand
  2. The Golden Fool
  3. Fool’s Fate

   

This sets the scene for a novel in which various other characters perform various other less-than-worthy acts, most of which engender messy and painful consequences. Because of this, The Heart Broke In—while indisputably an assured and vivid piece of fiction—is also a difficult novel to read. Its central characters are so awful that it becomes hard to care about the increasingly compromised positions they find themselves in; although, as Meek’s gradual machinations slot into place and move towards an inevitably catastrophic conclusion, the narrative tension becomes palpable.

The Heart Broke In is a complex web of love and betrayal, played out against a backdrop of contemporary London, and—briefly—malaria-ravaged Tanzania. Its characters are all connected, either by blood or by circumstance: Meek carefully and cunningly plays his cast of siblings, old friends, colleagues and former lovers off against one another in a complex unfurling of deceit and desire that can only end badly for most parties involved.

We begin with the aforementioned Richie, once a rock star, now a wealthy and successful record producer with a curious addiction to chocolate pudding pots and an even curiouser belief in his own (imagined) integrity. It’s a trait that remains elusive to everyone but Richie: by not telling his wife, Karin, about his latest affair, he naively believes that he’s keeping his family safe.

Meanwhile, Richie’s sister, Bec, a gifted scientist working on a Malaria vaccine, has just split up with her boyfriend, the creepily fanatic newspaper mogul Val Oatman. When Bec meets Richie’s old friend and bandmate, Alex, another scientist whose work is apparently on the verge of revealing the secret to eternal life (at least, this is what Alex’s Uncle Harry believes), the two begin a relationship.

The stage is set for catastrophe when Val’s bitterness—and his association with a sinister organisation called the Moral Foundation—prompts him to seek revenge on Bec via Ritchie.

Val’s strategy is both cunning and roundabout, and once we learn of it, the narrative branches out to follow Bec’s story, leaving Ritchie—who must slowly grapple with an increasingly grating moral conundrum—to fade into the narrative background, as his sister and her new partner face their own upheavals. As Bec and Alex’s groundbreaking scientific work propels them into the adoring media spotlight (they are ‘science’s golden couple’, presenting a double-whammy of deadly disease cure and possible eternal youth), their struggle to conceive a child threatens to unbalance their domestic equilibrium. In a masterfully orchestrated parallel of personal moral struggle, Bec, like Ritchie, must ultimately confront the conflict between her desire and her loyalty, and face the consequences of her choice.

This conflict between personal desire and the (alleged) greater moral good propels the narrative action. Meek makes it all the more topical by situating it in the context today’s celebrity-obsessed culture: when Alex is given the opportunity to front a TV series about the genetics of ageing, Bec’s response is cynical: ‘“you won’t be a scientist, you’ll be someone who talks about science,”’ she admonishes him. ‘“It’s as if people think the highest form of anything in this country’s not doing it, it’s going on television and talking about doing it.”’

In the meantime, the sense of altruism that ostensibly fuels Bec’s and Alex’s work—curing a deadly disease, prolonging human life—falls into sharp contrast beside the complications of their own desire for a child, and the fallout it eventually creates.

Alongside this, Meek skilfully weaves the connecting stories of his ambitiously large cast: Alex’s Uncle Harry, sick and dying and convinced that his nephew can cure him; Alex’s brother Dougie, a sad and drifting soul who falls for Bec, and his devoutly religious cousin, Matthew; and, of course, Ritchie, who must make a choice upon which the narrative’s final climax turns. Layers of want and self-preservation cloak each character’s decisions and motivations: no matter who you are and what you do, Meek seems to be saying, the tables can always turn; trust and loyalty are flimsy tightropes that can only take you so far.

The Heart Broke In gives us a tightly knotted chain of intimate actions and reactions, showing how the doubts and desires that pulse beneath our closest relationships shape the trajectories of our lives. It’s an unflattering portrait of human nature, but also an undeniably compelling and accurate one.

GRACELING
by Kristin Cashore

Published: Full Cast Audio, 2009
ISBN: 1934180890
Pages: 471
Hours: 12,5
Copy: audiobook
Series: The Seven Kingdoms #1

My rating: 7,5/10

First sentence: In these dungeons the darkness was complete, but Katsa had a map in her mind.

Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight—she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug.
When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change. She never expects to become Po’s friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace—or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away… a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.

I remember first reading this when it came out in paperback and being drawn into the story very quickly. Katsa is a wonderfully independent heroine and she stays true to herself throughout the entire story – despite a scrumptious love interest, she never loses sight of who she is, and she keeps her convictions. This is something I don’t see a lot in YA fiction. Mostly, the appearance of a man makes the female lead change her world view and, in proper Twilight fashion, turns the man into the focal point of the girl’s life. Not so in Graceling.

This is clearly a character-driven book. Kristin Cashore does have a story to be told but the plot is simple and straight-forward and, in and of itself, not very exciting. But she also gives us a small cast of characters that are intriguing enough to stay interested and, at times, glued to the pages. Katsa and Po’s interaction was enough for me to keep reading. Their development is believable and heartbreaking. I said Katsa stayed true to herself but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t change. Po teaches her new things about herself, and falling in love is always a pivotal point in life. All of this, the author brought across in this novel, and it was as thrilling on a re-read as it was the first time around.

Maybe I have become more critical since I first read this, but the prose didn’t strike me as particularly good. A lot of times, we learn Katsa’s thoughts, then hear them again, repeated in speech. The structure is plain, the narrative straight-forward. It’s not great but it also isn’t terrible. The repetitions got on my nerves every once in a while but not enough to diminish my enjoyment of the story.

What really strikes me about this book is how daring it is. It breaks the clichés of YA fantasy romances while retaining all the elements that make it captivating. A strong, independent heroine, a love story that is subtle and overwhelming at the same time (in a good way), and an ending that’s not all happy, but all the more convincing.

On the audio version:
This was the first time I had an entire book read to me, with an actor for each character. It was a wonderful experience to get the unabridged story told to you. I thought that Katsa and Po’s voices were well-chosen, and I was especially pleased with Bitterblue. She sounds young enough to be believable but the actress brought a dignity to her voice that brought Bitterblue’s character to life. To create even more atmosphere, at the end and beginning of most chapters, there is a little background music – which is totally up my alley. It is a costly audiobook, sure, but it’s worth it. I might actually listen to this again many times.

I wanted to re-read this for a while and the recent publication of Bitterblue gave me the necessary kick in the butt. I will attack the third book set in the Graceling Realm very soon, because I had forgotton how intriguing Bitterblue is as a character and can’t wait to find out how she holds up in her own novel.

THE GOOD: An independent heroine, a beautiful love story, and strong characters all around.
THE BAD: Simple writing, not the most action-packed plot.
THE VERDICT: If you like YA romances set in a fantasy world, pick this up. I just loved to see a truly strong female protagonist who doesn’t lose her head when she falls in love. There should be more heroines like Katsa.

RATING: 7,5/10 Very good

The Seven Kingdoms Trilogy/Graceling Realm Trilogy:

1. Graceling
2. Fire
3. Bitterblue

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• NPR Top 100 Teen Novels

Author: Hill, Joe

Genre: Horror

Publication Date: 2007

Number of Pages: 374

Geographical Setting: New York, Florida, Louisiana, Georgia

Time Period: Present Day/Contemporary

Plot Summary:  In this chilling tale that should be read with all the lights on, aging rock star Judas Coyne is no longer touring and releasing album. Instead he spends his time dating Goth chicks, such as his current lady Georgia, and expanding his bizarre, macabre collection of artifacts including a witch’s confession and a snuff film.  So when his assistant Danny mentions an auction for the suit of a dead man that comes with a ghost, Judas is hooked and must have it.  But when the suit arrives, danger and chilling nightmares enter Judas’ life.  He begins to see the dead man everywhere swinging a deadly razor from a chain or rocking in a Shaker chair.  Judas cannot escape the ghost’s hypnotizing presence or the haunting words about taking “a ride on the nightroad.”  It turns out the ghost has a link to Judas’ past and it is out for revenge of the deadliest kind.  As the terror and sense of dread builds, Judas and Georgia are eventually forced to hit the road to face their pasts and solve the mystery surrounding the dead man to avoid the dreaded “nightroad.”  Winner of the Bram Stoker Award, it is a horror novel reminiscent of your favorite classic ghost stories but with a contemporary feel.  You will be wary with each turn of the page as the uneasy, menacing atmosphere builds throughout the story until its satisfying conclusion.  This is a great novel for both newcomers and seasoned veterans of the horror genre, and will have you rooting for its flawed, compelling characters to triumph over evil.

Subject Headings: Ghost stories, Rock Musicians, Suspense Fiction, Supernatural, Paranormal Phenomena, Apparitions, Men/Women Relations, Life after death

Appeal:  builds in intensity, atmospheric, chilling, suspenseful, menacing atmosphere, flawed characters, plot twists, well-crafted, uneasy mood, character-driven, creepy, dangerous, haunting, macabre, sense of dread, compelling, violent, engaging characters, foreboding, vivid storyline, descriptive

Three Most Relevant Appeal Terms: Creepy, Flawed Characters, Suspenseful

3 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors:

The best of H.P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre by H.P. Lovecraft

Horror fans and novices can enjoy this classic collection of ghostly stories from a pioneer of the genre.  Here are 16 classic tales to chill the bones and haunt your dreams, and are just as menacing and creepy as The Heart-Shaped Box.

Christine by Stephen King

Go from haunted suit to a haunted car with this classic novel by Stephen King. Written by Joe Hill’s father, here is a similarly compelling and suspenseful horror novel where teen Arnie Cunningham falls in love with a 1958 Plymouth car dubbed “Christine.”  This car is not as simple as it seems, and it starts to haunt and endanger Arnie as well as those around him.  With Christine, you can get to know the work of Stephen King to whom Heart-Shaped Box was dedicated.

Stir of Echoes by Richard Matheson

A horror story that also has hypnotism and a similar mood, Tom Wallace mockingly agrees to be hypnotized at his brother-in-law’s party.  But when Tom awakens from the hypnotism, he discovers that he can hear the thoughts of those around him.  Even more compelling and terrifying, through this new ability he receives a message from beyond the grave that leads Tom onto a dangerous, creepy path in order to solve the message.

3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors:

Crap I bought on eBay: 101 Crazy Bizarre, Seriously Weird, Ridiculously Raunchy Items Exposed by Cary McNeal and Beverly L. Jenkins

A great book for those fascinated by the macabre collection of character Judas Coyne.  The book highlights 101 of the craziest things actually bought on eBay by the authors.  Enjoy a mixture of laughter and shock as you browse these real-life items.

The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band by Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee, Mick Mars and Vince Neil

Get to know the crazy rock n’ roll world of Judas Coyne with this tell-all book about 80’s heavy metal group Motley Crue.  Written by member of the band with the help of music writer Neil Strauss, this book reveals the tours, drugs and alcohol, rock music and sex.  A fun glimpse into a crazy rocker’s world.

Hidden Depths: The Story of Hypnosis by Robin Waterfield

Hypnosis was featured throughout the novel, and with this book you can become more familiar with it.  You will get to know the history, practice and modern uses of this controversial field.

Name: Margita Lidaka

Publication Date:

Author: Belva Plain

Title: Heartwood

Genre: Women Lives and Relationships

Number of Pages: 311

Geographical Setting: New York City

Time Period: 1979-1983

Series (If applicable): Werner Family Saga

Plot Summary: The last novel in the Werner Family Saga, Heartwood is a leisurely-paced story about Iris Stern’s family life. Set in the late 1970s and into the early 1980s, Iris Stern, who is a daughter of a Polish-Jewish immigrant and a professor at a university. Even though she is a modern woman with a successful career, but when it comes to family, she is more old-fashioned. Even when her marriage is unwinding, Iris stays with her husband, Theo. Additionally; Heartwood goes into the adult lives of Iris’s three children, which are two boys and a girl. Although all three of her children are described in the story, it mainly goes back and forth between Iris and her only daughter Laura. Laura married her husband Robbie in college because she was pregnant with her daughter Katie. Laura’s marriage to Robby is on the rocks because she has found success in her catering business and Robby cannot adapt to the fact that she is the breadwinner. The heartwarming novel explains the stories of Iris and Laura’s secrets, hardships and happy moments in their marriages and family life.

Subject Headings: Jewish women – New York City; options, alternatives, choices; family secrets – New York City; Jewish families; Adult children – family relationships; stern family

Appeal: character-driven; detailed; engaging; family-centered; heartwarming; intimate; leisurely-paced; moving; nostalgic; reflective; romantic; straightforward; well-developed

3 appeal terms that best describe this book: family-centered; heartwarming; leisurely-paced

Similar Authors and Works (why are they similar?):

3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors

- Pearlman, Ann, Infidelity (autobiography of three generations of a Jewish family and there family secrets)

- Rosen, Ruth, The world split open: how the modern women’s movement changed America (explains why women’s movement changed America,  how women like Iris and Laura can be successful women in the late 1970s into the early 1980s because of the impact of the women’s movement)

- Schulman, Bruce J., The seventies: the great shift in American culture, society, and politics (describes the cultural and political history of the 1970s which is when Heartwood took place)

3 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors

- Bradford, Barbara Taylor, 1933-, A Women of Substance ( first book of Harte family saga throughout several generations, woman who immigrated from Europe)

- Kristin Hannah, Winter Garden (mother-daughter relationship, secrets of family- history)

- Sullivan, J. Courtney, Maine (three generations of women who have different values, hidden secrets)

Name: Samantha Biegel

Author

Title: V for Vendetta

Genre: Graphic novel, book to movie, comic books

Date Published: Nov. 2005

Pages: 256

Setting: Alternative England

Time Frame: The near future

Series: N/A

Summary: In a different world and a Totalitarian England that never was, a young woman, Evey, is rescued by ‘V’, a charming and mysterious vigilante who stands for the downfall of the government’s tyranny and shows her a new and different way of thinking and living.

Headings: Vigilantes, Dystopias, resistance to government, human experimentation in medicine, Totalitarianism, Fascism, revenge, hope

Appeal: dark, grim, bleak, dramatic, suspenseful, thought-provoking, realistic art style, antiheroes, intricate, world-building, gritty, character-driven

Three Best Descriptions: Character-driven. bleak, suspenseful

Similar Fiction Authors:

• The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (1996) Located in an alternate Oxford, England, young Lyra must discover why local children are being kidnapped and why they are being severed from the Daemons that form part of themselves. (medical experimentation, suspense, world-building, steampunk, teens and adults)

• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (2008) In a post-apocalyptic North America known as Panem, a lottery is held every four years to select a boy and a girl from each of its twelve Districts to participate in the widely broadcasted and gladiatorial Hunger Games; in order to prevent revolution. (world-building, character-driven, scifi, bleak, teens)

• 1602 by Neil Gaiman (2004) In an alternative England, familiar Marvel comic book characters step into new roles in the court of Queen Elizabeth and have to deal with many trials (GN, historical, superheroes, teens and adults)

Similar Nonfiction Authors:

• The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt (2004) A political analysis dealing with Totalitarianism through its many phenomenas in Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia in the 19th century. In depth study for those who need a definition of the way of thought. (antisemitism, social movements, historical writing)

• Persepolis: the Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi (2003) An autobiographical  and child’s eye view at life under the Islamic Revolution. (GN, memoir, historical writing, family and relationships)

• Doctors from Hell: the Horrific Account of Nazi Experiments on Humans by Vivian Spitz (2005) Unpublished photos and documents from the Nuremburg Trials during the Holocaust (historical account, ethics, 20th century)

Name: Jennifer Palermo

Author: Marjane Satrapi

Genre: Graphic Novels; Autobiographical stories; Women’s Lives

Publication Date: 2005

Number of Pages: unpaged

Geographical Setting: Iran (present day)

Plot Summary:  A multi-generational group of Iranian women gathers after a meal to share a cup of tea and raunchy stories.  In this book, Marjane Satrapi reveals a glimpse into the world of the women in her life.  These compelling stories of sexual exploits range from humorous to sad.  Despite the fact these women come from an exotic country, the stories are accessible, engaging and full of issues that arise in the lives of most women, regardless of era, country, and culture.

Subject Headings: Family; Friendship; Marriage; Women; Sexuality; Interpersonal relationships;

Appeal:  Thought-provoking; Humorous; Reflective; Character-driven; Accessible; Conversational; Engaging; Spare; Nostalgic; Issue-oriented; Exotic; Introspective;Realistic; Bleak

3 appeal terms that best describe this book: Exotic; Humorous; Realistic;

Three fiction read-alikes:

Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea (Islamic county, Women’s lives, Sexuality)

Four young women navigate the complex line between today’s modern culture and the more traditional one of their parents and their land.

Laughable loves by Milan Kundera (Character-driven; Spare; Exotic)

A collection of short-stories revolving around the sexual games and fantasies of middle-class Central Europeans.

Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros (Character-driven, Spare, Reflective)

Family secrets unfold and sibling rivalries flare during intergenerational vacations involving road trips from Chicago to visit relatives in Mexico.

Three related non-fiction titles:

 Unlikely by Jeffrey Brown (Graphic novel, Interpersonal relationships, Autobiographical)

In this autobiographical graphic novel, Jeffrey Brown bravely shares the compelling story of his first sexual relationship and eventual breakup.

 Reading Lolita in Tehran: a memoir in books by Azar Nafisi (Iran, Women)

This is a compelling true story of a group of women in Iran, who risk their lives for the love of literature.

Passionate uprisings: Iran’s sexual revolution by Pardis Mahdavi (Iran, Sexuality)

Told from the unique point of view of a Westerner born of Iranian parents, this book explores the sexual revolution and extreme risks taking place in Iran today.

Name: Shira

Three Parts Dead

Gladstone adopts a lot of tropes readers of SFF will recognize: God Wars, craftsmen, zombies, vampires, and gargoyles (I do love reading gargoyle stories), sun and moon gods, power armor, etc. But he’s doing something new with every single one of them, and combining them in really unexpected ways. I mean, power armor and gargoyles and god wars? Who does that? Gladstone packed as much awesome as he could into one world, and it totally paid off.

One reason I’m calling it epic is because the scope of the world is vast. With so many things to explain, Gladstone was wonderful with exposition. I wanted to know many things before I learned them, but I learned them exactly when I needed to know. Because of the scope, there were times when it felt like too much to process at once, but that’s what comes with having a new, innovative world. Even if I didn’t understand everything right away, by the time I needed to put the pieces together the information had been well-integrated.

We don’t learn everything about the world, but we learn enough to suggest how big it is. We learn about the economics of paper, and how communication in the city setting differs from other places, and what transportation regulations people keep in mind.

Another reason I’m calling it epic is because of the multiple POVs. I loved that a majority of the POV characters were female, because I don’t see that enough in epic fantasy. Each POV character behaves intelligently given the information they have, and even when they disagree with each other, they give sound arguments. When two academics debate, they reference dense theoretical arguments. When an academic and a clergyman debate gods, they have trouble relating to each other. Each POV character comes from a different perspective, their scenes are written accordingly, and that also fleshes out the world more.

For the magic system, the readers get a sense that there are limits to what an individual craftsman can do with craft, but we don’t really know what the limitations of craft itself are. There is some basic theory on how craft works, enough that we believe there are rules, yet its workings remain numinous. This if my favorite kind of magic in books.

The book gets theoretically dense, which is fascinating, and packed with all kinds of ethical issues. I appreciated the underscoring themes about failure, addiction, lines that cannot be uncrossed and lines that can, the strength of platonic love rather than romantic (come to think of it, there isn’t really a romance subplot, which is kind of refreshing), and dozens more besides.

What really makes this book isn’t the world-building, though; it’s that all of the POV characters are set up as competent in some ways, but by the end they all must do the thing they believe they cannot do. Every single one of them. The moments of epic just pile up until the very final scene, which is pretty much the best ever.

I can’t find any information on whether this is stand-alone or the first in the series. Gladstone resolves all the promises he made to the reader, so Three Parts Dead works as a stand-alone, but he did set up a lot he can play with later. I’m really hoping it’s the first in a series, because I absolutely loved it.

UPDATE: Happily, there will be more books set in this world, though not necessarily with the same characters. The next one comes out this summer!

I blew through this book. Kowal describes it as “Pride and Prejudice with magic,” which is apt. The most pertinent difference for me is that I find Kowal’s prose much more accessible and direct than Austen’s.

Kowal pays attention to the particular restraints a woman in the time would have had, and I also loved how detailed she was with language choices. This book isn’t about the kind of world-shattering problems we often get in the fantasy genre (though happily, there is a final battle), but nevertheless Kowal keeps the tension strung tight and the stakes high for the characters.

I could believe the stakes because I was invested in Jane as a character. I liked her and understood her, even when her failure to grasp certain aspects of life irked me. Whether following or breaking societal restrictions, Jane was a very active protagonist, and she was not whiny or broody like other characters, which helped string me along.

Given that the story is building toward a romance, there really wasn’t a lot of foundation for it. The two characters barely speak to each other. Kowal spent much of the book developing the romantic foundations for a different man and then discarding it all at the end.

Also, I really disliked the epilogue. Maybe if I hadn’t known there was a sequel, I would have wanted the excess information there. But there’s a reason for the “and they lived happily ever after” ending: namely, to leave readers dreaming and wondering about the possibilities.

However, I completely bought into the glamour magic. We don’t see much of how or why it works, but we see characters working glamour, and that was enough for me. All in all, it’s a fun, quick read.

Title:  Await Your Reply

Genre:  Psychological Suspense

Publication Date:  2009

Number of Pages:  320

Geographical Setting:  Various locations throughout the U.S. (including Ohio, Michigan, Nebraska) and abroad (Canada and Ivory Coast)

Time Period:  2000′s

Series:  N/A

Plot Summary:

Three seemingly disparate narratives, divided into three sections, comprise this book.

-Miles Cheshire searches for his missing, mentally unstable twin brother, Hayden- a search that has consumed him for the past ten years.

-After discovering that he was adopted, Ryan Schuyler drops out of college at nineteen to join his real father, Jay, who involves Ryan in his fraud and identity theft schemes.

-Lucy Lattimore is an orphan who runs away with George Orson, her former high school history teacher, looking for a new life.

Rotating between each of the characters, the stories are connected via themes of loss and identity, and perhaps much more.  A compelling read that addresses ideas of self and reinvention, Await Your Reply builds in intensity as readers discover the interconnectedness of the characters’ lives and the dangerous consequences of journeys ill-chosen.

Subject Headings:  Identity theft, Secret identity, Twins, Missing persons, Runaways, Adoption, Family relationships, Teacher-student relationships, Embezzling, Cybercrime, Second chances, Truth.

Appeal:  Compelling, Character-driven, Intricately plotted, Multiple storylines, Disturbing, Bleak, Complicated, Suspenseful, Unrelenting, Family dynamics, Twin brothers, Secrets, Reinventing yourself, Search for truth, Quest for identity, Criminal activity (identity theft/cybercrime).

Three appeal terms that best describe this book:  Compelling, Character-driven, Intricately plotted.

Similar Authors and Works:

Three Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors:

1. Stealing Your Life:  The Ultimate Identity Theft Prevention Plan  by Frank W. Abagnale

From counterfeiting expert and author of Catch Me If You Can, comes a book about identity theft that discusses both the methods used by criminals and the steps people can take to prevent and/or deal with becoming victims themselves.  Await Your Reply involves characters that are perpetrators of identity theft.  Readers searching for more information about identity theft may find the many case histories and suggestions included in this book to be useful.

2.  Kingpin:  How One Hacker Took Over the Billion-Dollar Cybercrime Underground  by Kevin Poulsen

Kingpin follows the rise and fall of Max Butler, a criminal hacker who stole access to over a million credit card accounts, exposing readers to hacking culture and the cybercriminal underworld along the way.  Readers who found the secretive and dangerous aspects of the crimes committed by the characters in Await Your Reply intriguing could find this title to be a compelling read.

3.  Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited  by Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein

Two sisters, separated as infants by an adoption agency, reunite later in life.  In this book, they share the journey of their relationship from strangers to sisters.  Await Your Reply includes twin brothers as prominent characters.  Readers interested in learning more about twins and their relationship with one another may find this book to be a good match- it includes both information about twin studies and statistics as well as the emotion connection that the sisters form.

Three Relevant Fiction Works and Authors:

1.  The Talented Mr. Ripley  by Patricia Highsmith

Tom Ripley travels to Italy to convince a former classmate, the wealthy Dickie Greanleaf, to return home to his family.  Plans go awry when their friendship cools; Tom kills Dickie and assumes his identity.  Await Your Reply and The Talented Mr. Ripley are both character-driven psychological suspense stories that involve stolen identities, written in a spare and compelling style.

2.  Case Histories  by Kate Atkinson

Private detective Jackson Brodie investigates three past crimes, all involving dead and/or missing girls.  Although a mystery, Case Histories is similar to Await Your Reply for being character-driven, disturbing and suspenseful.  Both stories also contain multiple storylines that involve family relationships and missing persons.

3.  The Cloud of Unknowing  by Thomas H. Cook

Diana Sears doesn’t believe police reports that find the drowning of her son to be an accident.  In Diana’s obsessive search for answers, details about old crimes resurface and questions arise as to whether several murders may have been committed.  Both Await Your Reply and The Cloud of Unknowing are character-driven, disturbing, psychological suspense stories that are compelling to read.  Both stories also involve family relationships and Schizophrenia.

Name:  Nicole