Monday, April 12, 2010
I sold a book!
I sold one of my historical romance manuscripts! I've decided to publish under a pen name, so you can read all about my upcoming book (release date still TBD) at my "Susanna Fraser" blog:
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Books from the last three weeks or so
I've been letting this blog grow cobwebs of late, being simultaneously occupied with Easter, my daughter's sixth birthday, buying a house, and a case of bronchitis. The house is going to keep me occupied indefinitely, but Easter and the birthday are over and my lungs are on the mend.
Anyway, I figure it's high time I caught up my book blogging, at least.
A Cartoon History of the Universe, Vol. I (Larry Gonick, 1997) is an irreverent yet well-researched account of our history from the Big Bang up to Alexander the Great. And I should really go put Book 2 on hold...
I've now read All Mortal Flesh (2006) and I Shall Not Want (2008), so I'm fully caught up on Julia Spencer-Fleming's Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne mysteries...just in time to learn that the next book, One Was a Soldier, has been delayed and won't be out to 2011! Woe!
I love this series, I really do. Wonderful characters, brilliant writing, perfect combination of humor and angst. I don't want to give away spoilers, since these should be read in order, but suffice it to say there's more motion in the "soap opera" part of the plot than in previous installments. After reading All Mortal Flesh on Easter afternoon, I was so eager to find out what happened next that I couldn't wait the few days for the library to deliver I Shall Not Want, so I bought it for my Kindle and stayed up till 1:00 AM Thursday finishing it despite the whole bronchitis thing.
Anyway, I figure it's high time I caught up my book blogging, at least.
A Cartoon History of the Universe, Vol. I (Larry Gonick, 1997) is an irreverent yet well-researched account of our history from the Big Bang up to Alexander the Great. And I should really go put Book 2 on hold...
I've now read All Mortal Flesh (2006) and I Shall Not Want (2008), so I'm fully caught up on Julia Spencer-Fleming's Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne mysteries...just in time to learn that the next book, One Was a Soldier, has been delayed and won't be out to 2011! Woe!
I love this series, I really do. Wonderful characters, brilliant writing, perfect combination of humor and angst. I don't want to give away spoilers, since these should be read in order, but suffice it to say there's more motion in the "soap opera" part of the plot than in previous installments. After reading All Mortal Flesh on Easter afternoon, I was so eager to find out what happened next that I couldn't wait the few days for the library to deliver I Shall Not Want, so I bought it for my Kindle and stayed up till 1:00 AM Thursday finishing it despite the whole bronchitis thing.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Blogroll Updated
Of Wimseys and Wellesleys is taking a week off. I'm now on my fifth day of the Worst Cold Ever, and I find myself lacking the energy to contemplate common fictional errors in 19th century British inheritance law. It'll be back next week, or perhaps the week after, since next Sunday is Easter. If I can just get my voice back by then I'll have a full day of choir, following which my husband will cook me a delicious dinner prominently featuring pork (preferably in the form of a ham).
I did, however, update my blogroll today. Please check out the new additions, especially soon-to-be-published historical mystery author Gary Corby's A Dead Man Fell from the Sky, my cousin-in-law Mary's adventures as a children's librarian, and the always amusing Unhappy Hipsters.
I did, however, update my blogroll today. Please check out the new additions, especially soon-to-be-published historical mystery author Gary Corby's A Dead Man Fell from the Sky, my cousin-in-law Mary's adventures as a children's librarian, and the always amusing Unhappy Hipsters.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
This Week in Books
I seem to be falling into a pattern of one Julia Spencer-Fleming mystery and one other book per week. I'll be sad when I catch up on this series--what will I read then?--but that doesn't seem to be slowing me down.
This week's "other" was Chalice of Roses (Jo Beverley, Mary Jo Putney, Karen Harbaugh, Barbara Samuel, 2010). It's an anthology of romantic novellas featuring heroines from assorted historical eras who are charged to use the Holy Grail to bring peace and/or protect England. I enjoyed it, though the romances were a bit too magically predestined for my taste.
To Darkness and to Death (2006) is another unconventional mystery--it doesn't open with a body, but with a missing person the reader knows to be still alive, and solving the murder that eventually occurs doesn't even remotely solve the story problem. Oh, and Russ and Clare's forbidden bond continues to grow more complicated and poignant.
This week's "other" was Chalice of Roses (Jo Beverley, Mary Jo Putney, Karen Harbaugh, Barbara Samuel, 2010). It's an anthology of romantic novellas featuring heroines from assorted historical eras who are charged to use the Holy Grail to bring peace and/or protect England. I enjoyed it, though the romances were a bit too magically predestined for my taste.
To Darkness and to Death (2006) is another unconventional mystery--it doesn't open with a body, but with a missing person the reader knows to be still alive, and solving the murder that eventually occurs doesn't even remotely solve the story problem. Oh, and Russ and Clare's forbidden bond continues to grow more complicated and poignant.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Books
I seem to be having better luck finding fiction I enjoy this year than I have in awhile, which is a good feeling. There's nothing more relaxing for me than escaping into a good fictional world.
This week's reading had an unlikely commonality: time-line jumping.
Out of the Deep I Cry (Julia Spencer-Fleming, 2005) is the third mystery featuring Episcopal priest Clare Fergusson and small-town police chief Russ Van Alstyne. Rather than the usual mystery pattern of a dead body in the first chapter or two, this entry gradually reveals what happened in a missing person case from the 1930's that's left a long impact on the people of Millers Kill. The book flashes back and forth from the present to various points in the past, and it's very effective. (I do love this series and am rushing to catch up with it in time for One Was a Soldier to come out next month.)
The Secret History of the Pink Carnation (Lauren Willig, 2005) is a swashbuckling romantic romp set among English spies operating in Paris during the Peace of Amiens in 1803, with a framing device of a present-day history student finding a cache of papers revealing the long-hidden identity of the super-spy previously known only as the Pink Carnation. I liked the 1803 story much more than the modern bits (of course I did, since a good 90% or more of the fiction I read is set in the past), but I thought the whole thing was fun in a smart chick-lit way. I'll definitely seek out the rest of the series.
This week's reading had an unlikely commonality: time-line jumping.
Out of the Deep I Cry (Julia Spencer-Fleming, 2005) is the third mystery featuring Episcopal priest Clare Fergusson and small-town police chief Russ Van Alstyne. Rather than the usual mystery pattern of a dead body in the first chapter or two, this entry gradually reveals what happened in a missing person case from the 1930's that's left a long impact on the people of Millers Kill. The book flashes back and forth from the present to various points in the past, and it's very effective. (I do love this series and am rushing to catch up with it in time for One Was a Soldier to come out next month.)
The Secret History of the Pink Carnation (Lauren Willig, 2005) is a swashbuckling romantic romp set among English spies operating in Paris during the Peace of Amiens in 1803, with a framing device of a present-day history student finding a cache of papers revealing the long-hidden identity of the super-spy previously known only as the Pink Carnation. I liked the 1803 story much more than the modern bits (of course I did, since a good 90% or more of the fiction I read is set in the past), but I thought the whole thing was fun in a smart chick-lit way. I'll definitely seek out the rest of the series.
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