"This Time" got a book award

Here's a photo of me when I received the award--I'm the one on the left with the goofy smile. Nearly a year ago, I submitted my novel to the Indie Book Awards for General Fiction/Novel category and although the submission was always in the back of my mind, I sort of forgot about it. It turned into a wonderful surprise to receive an email from the Indie Book Awards that This Time was one of the finalists. The Indie Book Awards included an invitation to an awards cocktail reception at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. I almost didn't go, but thankfully, I decided to attend and had the most exhilarating time, meeting other awarded authors and reviewers. I even got to speak to a reviewer who remembered my book and told me how much she enjoyed reading it. I'm still grinning. :)

Well, back to reality--must finish editing the sequel.

Book Review: The High Crusade by Poul Anderson

The High Crusade
Poul Anderson
192 pages
Science Fiction

In reading The High Crusade I returned to my first love—science fiction by one of my favorite sci-fi authors, Poul Anderson. To my absolute delight and surprise, this book satisfied a very recent love—historical fiction. Although the characters and settings are fictitious, Anderson captured the sense of the English medieval culture of the pre-plague, mid-fourteenth-century.

The highly advanced, interstellar Wersgorix send a scout ship to Earth to assess its suitability for a Wersgorix settlement. They would search out planets where they, the Wersgorix had superior technology and would quickly subjugate the natives, killing all who dared challenge them and enslaving the rest.

The Wersgorix had not counted on was to land on a planet so far removed from their sophisticated weaponry that they effectively had no defenses. They landed smack in the middle of war preparations for Edward III’s campaign against the French in the little English village of Ansby, led by Sir Roger, Baron de Tourneville. The English, armed and ready for war investigate the massive ship that lands in their midst. The alien defenses—effective against energy weapons similar to their own—are next to useless against arrows and steel. In short shrift, the English knights and yeomen penetrate the energy shields and kill all but one Wersgoran technician, suffering but a few killed and wounded themselves.

What follows is a wonderful romp where the entire town of Ansby, human and animal, take over the space ship intending to go to France to support King Edward III, but instead get transported to the last planet the Wersgorix had conquered.

Anderson seamlessly weaves the medieval culture, feudal system and warfare with a sci-fi setting for an altogether enjoyable read.

Are you a Dord?

Typos—we all make them, but some are more spectacular than others. Take dord—it’s supposed to mean density. Dord first appeared in Webster’s Third New International Dictionary for nearly all of the 1930s until an editor found it in February, 1939. It was supposed to be “D or d” but when it first went in, no one noticed there were supposed to be spaces separating the "d"s from the "or" (see The 7 Most Disastrous Typos of All Time article in Cracked.com).

My friend told one of my favorite typo stories to me about a mechanically introduced typo that nearly cost her doctorate in psychology. This was pre-word processing and my friend hired someone to type her thesis on a typewriter that she rented. What she didn’t know was that the typewriter introduced a half space after every “e” in the text. The most egregious change was to transform “therapist” into “the rapist.”

“Unfortunately,” my friend had said, “that was often the truth.”

Book review: My Splendid Concubine by Lloyd Lofthouse

My Splendid Concubine by Lloyd Lofthouse
Three Clover Press
Trade Paperback
250 pages
Historical Fiction

My Splendid Concubine by Lloyd Lofthouse is about Robert Hart. The bare facts are that in 1854, Hart left Ireland under a cloud for China to fill the role of interpreter for the British consulate. He immersed himself into the Chinese culture and learned the language and Chinese thinking so well that he was the first foreigner to become the Inspector General of China’s Customs Service. He lived in China for 54 years. Prior to the Cultural Revolution he became known as the “Godfather of China’s modernism.”

But those are merely the facts. Thankfully, Hart kept journals, many of which survive to this day. While researching Hart’s life, Lofthouse discovered that Hart kept a concubine with whom he had three children. To protect her and his children, he burned most of the journal entries concerning the love of his life. Fortunately for us, Lofthouse was able to piece together a lusty and poignant portrait of a conflicted and principled man who would not abandon his Chinese family no matter what the cost.

Rather than focus on what was already known about Hart, from his journals and official records, Lofthouse focused on Hart’s long-term affair with Ayaou, a boat-girl. Even most Chinese looked down upon the boat-people. He meets Ayaou and her sister, Shao-mei while escaping the oppressive summer heat of Ningpo to join his fellow country man, Patridge at his summerhouse on the western end of Zhoushan Island. Patridge had arranged to bring in eligible girls for concubines for his friends staying with him. Hart is immediately attracted to Ayaou and decides to buy her, but before he can do so, another of Patridge’s guests beats him to her. As you already know from my previous paragraph, Hart does eventually secure Ayaou, but you, dear reader, will have to read this book to find out how he does it and what happens to Ayaou and Shao-mei.

Lofthouse does a masterful job of not only presenting Hart and those he encountered as fully fleshed people, but also gives us a taste of how the Chinese think and what that culture is all about—an understanding that one can’t get from the news. And even though this story takes place in the nineteenth-century, I think much of the insight into the Chinese culture is relevant today.

The one fault that I have with this book is the denouement was far too abrupt. I kept flipping the last page, hoping that I really wasn’t at the end. The resolution was incomplete for me. Thankfully, the sequel, My Hart, promises to continue where this book left off. I will be reading it soon.

My Splendid Concubine received Honorable Mention in Fiction at the 2008 London Book Festival.

Thank You Google Books!

Four weeks ago, I railed against Google Books for removing the "search my library" feature. I also sent them a complaint and I wasn't very sanguine that they'd put it back. I was wrong. Even though this feature's appearance is somewhat altered, I can now search "my library."

To recap why I so desperately wanted it back: this feature allows me to search through my hard copy books electronically. To add a book to "my library", all I have to do is find the book in Google books and add it to "Bookshelves" (was "my library"). Once the book is on one of my bookshelves, I can go to "my library" and do a search for key words, for example, and all the books that I have that have these key words will be displayed. If the publisher has allowed Google Books to display a snippet view or limited view, then this can also be displayed. All public domain books allow full view.

Happy "my library" search everyone.

Bosworth Battlefield Site

It had been suspected for a long time that the battlefield site at Ambion Hill where the Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Visitor's Center is located, and the monument to where Richard III was slain, was not the actual site of Richard's final battle. Archeologists and historians have been investigating potential sites for several year and have revealed what they believe to be the actual site of the battle--about two and a half miles southwest of the Visitor's Center--based on finding evidence of a large medieval battle. Various objects found were buckles and strappings from armor, buckles, and most significantly, a boar badge of a quality that Richard III would have given to his closest lieutenants. See video clip and read article at BBC News.

Bosworth Field--a Shakespearean spoof

Enjoy!