Collected Miscellany

In case anyone was wondering (see below), I like “adult fantasy fiction” too. And Gloriana or the Unfulfilled Queen by Michael Moorcock is certainly adult in nature. Murder, kidnapping, adultery, rape, and a wide range of other types of debauchery are included in this odd quasi-Elizabethan romance originally published in 1978 and now re-released by Time Warner Aspect. Despite the obvious skill and imagination involved in creating and composing this work, I found it silly and over-wrought at times .

The Gloriana of the title is a twist on the figure of the English Queen Elizabeth I and in some way Spencer’s The Faerie Queene. In essence Gloriana rules a vast empire, Albion, that reaches from North America to Asia. She is not a politician or a ruler, however, so much as a personification of the Empire. As a result she bears a heavy burden; always forced to be Albion she has a hard time finding herself. To add to this burden she is apparently incapable of achieving orgasm despite attempting it in more ways than one could imagine (she has her own seraglio which is a cool word no?).

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As if I didn’t have enough books to read, this weekend I made the mistake of visiting the book store. I was doing fine and managing to avoid temptation until I walked into the children’s/young adult section and there was a table laid out with a variety of new and popular works. I was weak.

I am not sure why I am so taken recently with young adult fiction but I do find it fascinating. Here are some books that I stumbled upon that definitely seem worth reading:

– Last year I read the first volume in the Bartimaeus Trilogy, the Amulet of Samarkand and really enjoyed it so it seemed natural to pick up the latest volume: The Golem’s Eye. Here is a teaser:

The second adventure in the Bartimaeus trilogy finds our young apprentice magician Nathaniel working his way up the ranks of the government, when crisis hits. A seemingly invulnerable clay golem is making random attacks on London. Nathaniel and the all-powerful, totally irreverent djinni, Bartimaeus, must travel to Prague to discover the source of the golem’s power. In the ensuing chaos, readers will chase a dancing skeleton across London’s skyline, encounter the horror of the dreaded Night Police, witness a daring kidnapping, and enter the Machiavellian world of the magician’s government. Eventually, Nathaniel and Bartimaeus have to go head to head with the fearsome golem before the surprise identity of his master is finally revealed.

Sounds like fun!

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Timing is everything. Denise Mina’s DECEPTION was reviewed in the Sunday NYTBR by Marilyn Stasio.

Hi Denise and welcome to Collected Miscellany. Please tell us whatever you’d like to share about your background.

I left school early and worked as an auxiliary nurse. I got into law school and followed my degree by studying for a PhD in mental illness in female offenders. I never submitted but dragged it out for years, teaching criminal law and criminology, watching a lot of day time TV and living in a big ramshackle flat with a lot of guys who wore glasses and listened to indi music. I wrote my first novel, Garnethill, when I was supposed to be researching my PhD. Lucky for me it was published and I’ve never had to get a proper job since.

Was it enjoyable writing DECEPTION?

It was a joy to write. I had to spend a lot of thinking time working out the plot but once that was sorted out it just flowed. Of all my novels it was the most fun to do.

Lachlan is a wonderful character. How did you decide to write it in the first person?

I wanted a complete change from my previous books which were third person. First person is so immediate in comparison it almost makes up for all the limitations it imposes on plot and structure. Less enjoyably, you tend to give away far too much about yourself when you write in first person.

Are you put through the editing process twice? Once for UK, once for the US?

Yeah, the US edit usually involves changing words which have double meaning in the US, so that characters don’t keep going outside for a fag or get bewilderingly embarrassed because someone has seen their pants.

Who do you enjoy reading?

I love Lawrence Block, who always cleans my eye after a convoluted writer. I like all the Scottish Tartan noir writers, Rankin, McDermid, Welsh and Brookmyre. My all time favourite writer is Mikhail Bulgakov. He’s so good I can’t even workout what to steal or how he did that.

How do feel when you see your work reviewed? It’s such a flawed process; any thoughts on reviewing in general?

I think anything is okay as long as it is a genuine opinion. I hate reviews, good or bad, where it’s obvious there’s an ulterior motive in the review like professional envy or wanting to affiliate themselves with the writer. I don’t think I’ve had any like that. I don’t know whether to be sad about that or not.

Do you attend writers’ conferences or join author panels?

Yeah, I just got back from Harrogate, the major crime writer festival in the UK and I‘ve been on at the Edinburgh festival twice this week. I keep meaning to make Bouchercon, the mother of them all, but things keep getting in the way.

Any plans to be in North America?

I’m a -comin’, baby. I’m going to be there September 2004 , the 12th to the 18th, travelling around doing readings, drawing unwarranted attention to myself. I’m coming to NY, Houston, Austin, Phoenix and LA.

Can you tell us a bit about what you’re working on now?

I’ve just finished ‘The Field of Blood’ which is the first in a series of six books about a crime journalist Paddy Meehan. The books fit together into a biography of her life because she dies at the end. The first book is set in 1981 in Glasgow and is due out next year.

There you have it. Thanks Denise. We’ll try and have a follow-up after she completes her US tour.

Professor Amardeep Singh maintains a blog of his own. In addition to erudite analysis of literature and some stunning photos of India, he recently observed that a large bank in India was offering automated blessings from their ATM machines. The devout can dispatch tithes to the temple of their choice with push button ease. Professor Singh goes on to speculate about further uses of the ATM machine such as marriage by ATM as well as divorce.

If this came to pass, the impact on noir fiction and country music, just to name a few areas of culture, would be swift and profound. The novel would be called SEVEN-ELEVEN DAMES. Billy Ray stops in for a Big Gulp, can’t remember his pin number, and marries the store clerk to discover she’s on the lam from an ARCO mini-mart. His truck breaks down near the Grand Canyon. Luckily they’re divorced at a Shell station; you get a free divorce with every fill up.

The country song would be entitled THREE TIME LOSER. She can’t marry the man she loves because her pin number has been rejected three times.

Over time I’m sure we’d adapt to this advance in technology. The long line outside the bank might frustrating, but hey, there are a lot of buttons to push. English? Espanol? Renewing your vows?

Blogging is redefining the landscape of the Internet much the same way the Web altered it by introducing HTML. If one understands the purpose of the Internet – – which was to have the ability to SHARE information across computer systems, whether those systems were local — within specific geographic limitations (such as an office or city) — or global — from country to country, across invisible boundaries of oceans/space and even, time — one can begin to digest the importance of this new millennium form of human interaction. The impact is more far reaching than envisioned 35 years ago when the first computer cables connected one machine to another, forming a network that would eventually give a voice to all citizens, regardless of age, creed, or nationality.

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Just when I thought the US mail no longer delivered west of the Rockies, books arrived from The Big Apple. There goes my quality time with Mad magazine.

As a guardian of culture( yes, I carry a fake badge) it’s always a delight and a relief to peek inside well written books. Simon Kernick’s THE MURDER EXCHANGE and all three of Rebecca Pawel’s works arrived yesterday. This came on the heels of an email from Robert Ferrigno viz. THE WAKE UP. His publicist will return from vacation next week. And Terence Faherty is sending a novel. Even lawn bowling on ESPN 14 won’t distract me. By the way, The New York Yankees have several job openings for starting pitchers. If you’re any good, please report to Tampa and ask for George.

I began reading DEATH OF A NATIONALIST yesterday. In case you’ve been out of town for a year this is Rebecca Pawel’s debut novel. It’s very good and over the next while we’ll review all of her books and hopefully have something insightful to say.

Simon Kernick’s THE MURDER EXHCANGE is next up. We interviewed Simon in August. He’ll be at Bouchercon in Toronto next month.

I hope you caught some of Donna Moore’s guest blogging on sarahweinman.com. Her send up of every known suspense genre should be enshrined somewhere.

If I didn’t have so many books to read, I’d be in Tampa trying out for the Yankees. It’s too bad. I can spit between my teeth and wear my hat sideways. Unlike these guys running for president I can hit the glove baby.