Archive for the ‘Books’ Category
Guest Author Stephanie Osborn: Why I Like Writing Sherlock Holmes
Folks, it is my great privilege today to welcome back author Stephanie Osborn to the Elfyverse.
Stephanie and I have known each other for several years, and she’s been a strong supporter of my writing from the get-go. But that’s not the main reason why I’m so happy to have her back today.
Nope.
Instead, it’s because she has a great new novel out called SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE MUMMY’S CURSE. (Yes, when Shiny Book Review gets back up and running, I definitely plan to review her novel soonest.) And I asked her if she wanted to stop by and discuss her novel, and anything else she felt like talking about…thus this post, about why she adores writing about one of the world’s most beloved characters, Sherlock Holmes himself.
Take it away, Stephanie! (And do go buy her book.)
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Why I Like Writing Sherlock Holmes
By Stephanie Osborn
I like Sherlock Holmes. Pretty much have, from the time I was a kid – though my first encounter with him was nearly my last.
See, someone gave me a copy of The Hound of the Baskervilles for my birthday, when I was all of maybe 8 years old. I loved Holmes, but think about it: An 8-year-old kid with a vivid imagination, who dreams in color, and who has what would later be diagnosed as anxiety disorder, reading about a spectral cu sidhe that goes around killing members of an aristocratic family? Yeaaaaaah, no. It was years before I FINISHED the book, let alone picked up another Sherlock Holmes story.
But when I did, I kinda went nuts. I discovered that big ol’ compendium – you know the one, with the mustard and rust colored dust jacket – in my high school library, and I checked it out and kept it until I read the whole thing, cover to cover. Twice. And then I wrote my first ever pastiche.
It was a short story. I don’t even remember now what it was about; this was well before the days of personal computers, and I had to get Mom to type it up on the electric typewriter. (Yeah, so I’m old. Sue me.) And I submitted it to the school literary magazine…
…Which threw it out. First ever rejection notice and I wasn’t even out of high school. And it was a HIGH SCHOOL PUBLICATION. Problem was, the submissions were blind-judged – nobody knew who’d written anything – and the English Lit teacher, in her “superior knowledge,” decreed it was a direct, word-for-word plagiarism of one of Doyle’s actual stories. (No, she didn’t even try to check that big ol’ mustard-and-rust compendium.) At the end of the year, she discovered that I was the one who wrote it and she knew, straight-laced kid that I was, that I would never have plagiarized it. She also knew that I had the ability to write something like that.
I don’t think the story was that great, to be honest. I didn’t at the time. In fact, today I don’t remember the name of the story, or even the plot. See, I was still learning how to put stuff like that together, and I knew there were some plot holes when I wrote it, though I disguised ‘em well. But it was still pretty good for a kid that age, if I do say so. I think the whole episode might say more about the teacher than about my story, but hey.
And I watched the various and sundry films. I would have liked the Rathbone films better, I think, if Nigel Bruce hadn’t played Watson as a bumbling oaf; I simply couldn’t stomach that characterization, and it spoiled the films for me. Some years later, I discovered Jeremy Brett’s Holmes…and Holmes came to life for me. But I never tried my hand at another Holmes story.
Until I was already in the whole writing/publishing milieu. I picked up an anthology of Holmes science fiction and loved it. I thought it was something I’d probably adore writing. But it was all Victorian, and I tended (at that time) to feel a bit limited by Victorian science. It’s pre-relativity, pre-quantum mechanics, pre-everything that makes modern science and science fiction so very…out there. And after all, I AM a scientist.
Long story short, I worked out a way to bring a version of Holmes to the modern day from an alternate reality’s Victorian era, and The Displaced Detective series was born.
Enter this guy named Tommy Hancock. Tommy happens to be the co-publisher and editor in chief of Pro Se Press, one of the movers and shakers in the New Pulp movement. Turns out he’s a fan of the Displaced Detective. So he approached me at a science fiction convention, and asked me to write Holmes for him – only he wanted a more traditional, Holmes and Watson in Victorian Britain, kind of story. So we sat down and talked. We decided what we’d do would be to create a prequel series to the Displaced Detective, so that alternate-reality version of Holmes would have chronicles of his past, with “his” Watson in his original continuum. And so the Gentleman Aegis series was born.
Book 1 of that series was just released: Sherlock Holmes and the Mummy’s Curse. So what is it about?
Holmes and Watson. Two names forever linked by mystery and danger from the beginning.
Within the first year of their friendship and while both are young men, Holmes and Watson are still finding their way in the world, with all the troubles that such young men usually have: Financial straits, troubles of the female persuasion, hazings, misunderstandings between friends, and more. Watson’s Afghan wounds are still tender, his health not yet fully recovered, and there can be no consideration of his beginning a new practice as yet. Holmes, in his turn, is still struggling to found the new profession of consulting detective. Not yet truly established in London, let alone with the reputations they will one day possess, they are between cases and at loose ends when Holmes’ old professor of archaeology contacts him.
Professor Willingham Whitesell makes an appeal to Holmes’ unusual skill set and a request. Holmes is to bring Watson to serve as the dig team’s physician and come to Egypt at once to translate hieroglyphics for his prestigious archaeological dig. There in the wilds of the Egyptian desert, plagued by heat, dust, drought and cobras, the team hopes to find the very first Pharaoh. Instead, they find something very different…
I do hope you like it. I certainly had a great time writing it.
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Stephanie Osborn, the Interstellar Woman of Mystery, is a 20+-year space program veteran, with degrees in astronomy, physics, chemistry and mathematics, “fluent” in others, including geology and anatomy. She has authored, co-authored, or contributed to some two dozen books, including celebrated Burnout and the Displaced Detective and Gentleman Aegis series.
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Purchase links for Mummy’s Curse:
Smashwords electronic (epub/mobi/pdf): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/590130
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Displaced Detective book 1: http://www.amazon.com/Case-Displaced-Detective-Arrival/dp/1606191896/
Displaced Detective Omnibus: http://www.amazon.com/Case-Displaced-Detective-Omnibus-ebook/dp/B00FOR5LJ4/
Displaced Detective book 5: http://www.amazon.com/Case-Spontaneous-Combustion-Displaced-Detective-ebook/dp/B00K98AI6Y/ref=pd_sim_351_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=51RvnSdsIVL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR104%2C160_&refRID=1AB9HXZQEH5DP0H06Z7W
Where Have You Gone, Judith A. Lansdowne?
Folks, it is no secret that I’m partial to romance novels.
As such, I’ve been asked often what I like about them. Because these are often the oldest stories in the world — boy meets girl, boy either takes to girl right away or can’t stand her (or vice versa), and in the end the couple walks off into the sunset.
This is the case in ninety percent of traditional romances, whether set in a historical period like England’s Regency, or in the current day.
But some romance authors add more. They add wit, charm, style, a certain zing — it’s hard to quantify, but it’s very easy to spot.
Judith A. Lansdowne has this extra ability. From her very first novel, AMELIA’S INTRIGUE (which I recently read via Inter-Library Loan) to her latest, JUST IMPOSSIBLE, Ms. Lansdowne found a way to weave in suspense, intrigue, humor, genuine pathos, and anything else anyone could ever want in a story.
Ms. Lansdowne hasn’t been active as a novelist since 2004. I’ve heard rumors that her husband was not well, or that there was some sort of family health crisis that took her away from her writing.
I have to assume that this is the only reason why her books haven’t re-emerged as e-books in the intervening eleven years. Because these are truly excellent books; they make you laugh, they make you think, they make you wish that every romance had this much charm.
In my own case, I often look at these romances between difficult women — too intelligent, maybe, or too forthright (as they used to put it in the Regency Era, “not quite in the common way”) — and prickly, dangerous, or a bit off-center men and find bits of myself and my late husband in there.
Even in the more “tame” romances, such as MUTINY AT ALMACK’S or JUST IN TIME, there’s always something different, something intriguing, to hold my interest.
Anyway, I don’t know where Ms. Lansdowne is. I’ve never met her. I do know that she, like myself, is an alumna of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. (She was class of ’75, while I was class of ’94.) And because I know that at least some of my readership consists of Parkside graduates, my hope is that this little blog post will find her.
Because she may be thinking, at this late date, that no one wants to read her writing. And that’s just not true.
Or that her writing didn’t matter, which isn’t true, either.
One, final thought: Over this past week, when I had many disappointments — including the realization that I must push back the release of CHANGING FACES as despite my efforts, it is far from complete — Ms. Lansdowne’s words have given me hope, and have reminded me of what’s important in life.
My husband Michael believed in me, and believed in my writing. Just because I have a lot on my plate right now, that doesn’t at all mean I can’t get it done…I just have to believe in myself, and keep going.
And for the moment, Ms. Lansdowne’s work is helping me stay focused and centered.
So, wherever you are, Ms. Lansdowne, know that you’ve got a new fan in me…eleven years after your latest book came out.
Just Reviewed “Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty” at SBR
Folks, I wanted to point your attention toward my latest book review of Charles Leerhsen’s TY COBB: A Terrible Beauty, which is up right now over at Shiny Book Review (SBR for short, as always).
Now, why am I so proud of this review?
I think it has to do with two things. One, Mr. Leerhsen’s baseball scholarship is superb. And two, I was pleased to realize, after reading Leerhsen’s book, that Cobb was not at all the virulent racist he’d been portrayed to be.
See, all of the stuff I thought I knew about Cobb was wrong — well, except for the actual baseball facts. (I knew Cobb hit .367 as a lifetime batting average, for example, and was the all-time hits leader until Pete Rose moved past him in the mid-1980s.)
Basically, Ty Cobb, since his death in 1961, has been the victim of a shoddy narrative. Apparently his “biographer” Al Stump was no such thing; instead, Stump invented the wildest flights of fancy about Cobb, figuring that as there was almost no film or still pictures or even radio accounts of Cobb’s play, Stump could do as he liked and no one would be the wiser.
Besides, monsters sell. So Stump made Cobb a monster.
Leerhsen proved just how fallacious Stump’s account actually was by going back and reading all of the various newspaper reports, which were readily available in the archives. (Thank goodness for archives, eh?) Stump made so many erroneous assumptions that it’s hard to believe Stump didn’t know what he was writing was dead wrong; in fact, Cobb himself was in the midst of a lawsuit at the time of his death, because he’d gotten wind of what Stump was about to do to him in the guise of Cobb’s “autobiography” (which was ghost-written by Stump), and wanted no part of it.
The most egregious fallacy of Stump’s was to paint Cobb as a racist. Cobb was anything but — in fact, according to Leerhsen, Cobb used to sit in the dugout with players like Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige during Negro League games, and famously remarked that “The Negro (ballplayer) should be accepted, and not grudgingly but wholeheartedly.” And Cobb was a big fan of Roy Campanella’s, plus he enjoyed Willie Mays and Jackie Robinson.
And as far as being a mean, nasty, vicious old cuss — well, how mean, vicious and nasty could Ty Cobb have been if he was willing to help the young Joe DiMaggio out when Joe D. signed with the Yankees? (Cobb understood baseball contracts, and young Joe didn’t.) How mean was Cobb when he helped Campanella and his family out after “Campy” became paralyzed? And how vicious was Cobb when, after his playing days were over and he had nothing at all to gain by it, he and Babe Ruth became fast friends?
Leerhsen has dozens of stories about Cobb, and very few of them depict anything close to the man Stump portrayed (and Tommy Lee Jones later masterfully acted in the movie version, Cobb).
While Cobb was a difficult man to know — he was prickly, quick to anger, and settled things with his fists more than once — he was not a monster.
Instead, Cobb appears to be the victim of one of the worst narrative frames in the history of all narrative-framing.
So do, please, read my review of Charles Leerhsen’s book TY COBB: A Terrible Beauty. Then please, if you have any interest whatsoever in early 1900s to the “Roaring Twenties” Americana, baseball history, or just want to find out what’s actually the truth about Ty Cobb, go read his masterful book for yourself.
Time for a July #MFRWhooks Blog Hop, Atlantean Union-Style!
OK, OK…WordPress did something weird here, and posted this a full day earlier than I scheduled it.
I’m still very happy to do the #MFRWhooks Blog Hop for this novella, set in my late husband’s Atlantean Union milieu.
Now, back to my original post.
Folks, I am a proud member of the Marketing for Romance Writers organization. They do a lot of good for authors, most particularly small press and indies…and they’ve given me many tips that I’ve found quite useful.
One of the other things they do is on every Wednesday, they open up something called “BookHooks.” It’s an opportunity to “hook” new readers, something no writer can do without.
As I have two new releases out — and as I’ve already done a paranormal blog hop or two in previous weeks for Michael’s “Columba and the Cat” novella — I figured I’d rather take part this week with my new military science fiction novella, “To Survive the Maelstrom.” (My late husband is credited, because I wouldn’t have written this story at all without the two thousand words he left behind.)
Here’s the blurb:
Command Sergeant-Major Sir Peter Welmsley of the Atlantean Union has lost everything he holds dear. He wonders why he lived, when so many others died at Hunin — including his fiancée, Lydia, and his best friend Chet.
Into his life comes Grasshunter’s Cub, an empathic, sentient creature known to those on Heligoland as a “weremouse.”
Weremice are known for their ability to help their bond-mates. But how can this young weremouse find a way to bring Peter back from the brink of despair and start living again?
And now, a few sentences from “To Survive the Maelstrom” that explain exactly what Peter’s emotional state is before he meets up with his destined weremouse:
How long had it been since he’d smiled? Three months, perhaps? Surely the six months he’d spent in a medically induced coma while his skin regrew didn’t count . . . did it?
Even the pleasant heat of the spring couldn’t keep him away from his thoughts any longer. Why hadn’t the damned pirates left Hunin the Hell alone? Nine times out of ten, they ran; the tenth time, like Hunin, they stood and fought. And this time, they’d landed a lucky shot on HMS Niobe, where Peter had served as a platoon sergeant. Peter had quickly assumed command in the emergency as the senior NCO, considering all of the officers were dead or incapacitated.
But it hadn’t been enough.
Why was he alive, when so many good people were dead?
Now, in case you were intrigued by this sample, go to Amazon forthwith and get yourself a copy. (Right now, Amazon is the only place that has it, though in 90 days I hope to get “To Survive the Maelstrom” up at Barnes and Noble and Smashwords as well.)
And do check out the other participants in this week’s blog hop, will you? They’re all wonderful authors, and you might just find yourself a new favorite if you only give ’em half a chance.
Time for a Paranormal Blog-Hop Wednesday, Elfy-style!
Folks, I’m proud to take part in Paranormal Love Wednesdays’ Blog Hop. I found out about this because I’m a member of Marketing for Romance Writers…as a writer of humorous YA urban fantasy/romance (with ghosts), I thought AN ELFY ON THE LOOSE might find some new readers this way.
And that’s important, especially as A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE is coming soon…
Let’s see what a bit from AN ELFY ON THE LOOSE, chapter 18, can do, hm?**
Drum roll, please:
“Trust me.” He winked. Bruno was gratified to see Sarah smile at him. It was a small smile, but he wasn’t picky. He’d take any smile he could get.
He walked away from Sarah. The spirit followed him. Bruno almost felt as if he could sense the spirit wondering what he was doing, walking away from Sarah like this. He asked once, “Sarah? Do you feel anything?”
“No, should I?”
“Hmmm,” he said. He decided that since leading the spirit wasn’t doing any good, and trying to contact it directly hadn’t done any good either, he might as well ask it what it was doing there. He walked directly toward it. This time, it stayed put. Bruno felt a sense of astonishment from the shape before he addressed it. “I mean you no harm; neither does Sarah. Can you help us?”
Bruno expected the spirit to do something, but he didn’t really expect what came next. The spirit darted this way and that all over the third floor. Bruno and Sarah were led on a merry chase for a few moments, until it vanished into a wall. The very wall he had been examining when the spirit had appeared.
“Now what?” Sarah asked.
*** END EXCERPT***
Want to know more? First, here’s a blurb for you:
Bruno the Elfy believes he’s very young, has no power, cannot see or talk with spirits, and has no enemies.
He’s wrong.
Quickly sent to our Earth (the Human Realm) and told to watch for magic, Bruno must unravel the lies, keep his mentor from being tortured, and—oh, yeah—figure out why he’s so strongly attracted to young, Human Sarah.
Because his life depends on it.
Now that you’ve read a bit more about AN ELFY ON THE LOOSE, perhaps you’d like to read the five sample chapters? (If so, here they are.)
Or maybe — just maybe — something here intrigued you. If that’s the case, here are my buy links:
Amazon (US): http://amzn.to/1p6xvQj
Amazon (UK): http://goo.gl/dDoBnd
Barnes and Noble: http://tinyurl.com/m8o49ad
And do, please, check out the following authors…they’re all taking part in the Paranormal Love Wednesdays Hop, just as I am:
| 1. | Margo Bond Collins | 6. | Megan Morgan | 11. | Andrea R. Cooper | |||
| 2. | Bokerah | 7. | Dena Garson | 12. | Barb Caffrey | |||
| 3. | Carrie L Wells | 8. | Jo Grafford | 13. | Jodi Hale | |||
| 4. | JoAnne’s Blog | 9. | Helen Henderson |
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| 5. | Connie Bowen | 10. | J.J. DiBenedetto |
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**Note that the Paranormal Love Wednesdays’ Blog-Hop asks for only four paragraphs, and I put up six. (Yes, I can count.) I couldn’t figure out how to do it in only four paragraphs…so please forgive me the two extra paragraphs.
Deborah J. Ross Interviewed Me About My Story in “Gifts of Darkover”…and It’s Up!
Folks, I’m absolutely ecstatic that author and editor Deborah J. Ross interviewed me regarding my story, “A Problem of Punishment,” which is included in GIFTS OF DARKOVER. This is my second-ever story in the Darkover universe, and I was very happy to talk about it with Ms. Ross.
Note that my first was in STARS OF DARKOVER, and explains just how and why the first-ever Renunciate judge, Fiona n’ha Gorsali (introduced as a very minor player in THE SHATTERED CHAIN by Darkover series originator Marion Zimmer Bradley), was appointed to the powerful Courts of Arbitration in the first place.
Here’s a bit from my interview with Ms. Ross about my second story:
What inspired my story in Gifts Of Darkover was this: how did Fiona’s parents meet? What was her father Dominic, who I already knew had been a judge before her, really like? And what had made Gorsali fall in love with him, and he with her? A romantic story of a smart man and an accomplished woman against the background of the Hellers appealed to me, especially since they fell in love prior to the Terranan returning to Darkover and didn’t have many role models that would’ve helped them out.
I think you’ll enjoy “A Problem of Punishment” in GIFTS OF DARKOVER. It’s a romantic adventure about a Darkovan judge and the Renunciate he must help rescue. I wrote it because they’re the parents of Fiona n’ha Gorsali, and I wanted to know how they’d fallen in love and created her.
Note that I’m not yet done with Fiona’s life and career. I hope to write another story about her soon, this one about her childhood — because her father, the judge, is why she became a judge…there’s a story there, and I want to tell it!
GIFTS OF DARKOVER is out today…tell your friends, and enjoy the book!
What’s Good About Science Fiction and Fantasy?
Folks, for the past several days I have been wired for sound over this SF&F contretemps (which I referenced here a few days ago).
But I can only handle so much stress. (And make no mistake about it: watching people I respect and admire savage each other is not my idea of a good time.) Which is why when Mary Robinette Kowal put up a post a few days ago asking people to talk with her about being a fan of SF&F, it got me thinking.
What is good about science fiction and/or fantasy? What do I like about it?
At its best, science fiction and fantasy can lift you out of yourself, because both genres are about ideas. And ideas have power, and value, and can inspire…
There are so many wonderful authors out there, and so many great books. They’re full of ideas. And ideas can inspire, entertain, lift you out of yourself, maybe give you a new slant on an old problem…you never know where an idea might lead you, in short.
So what’s good about science fiction and fantasy? Plenty.
Try to remember that, amidst this current controversy. And concentrate on the stories, because it’s the stories that all made us want to be SF&F fans in the first place.
A Quick Monday Update
Folks, I’ve been editing up a storm the past week. Though I still have a lot more work to do, at least I’ve been able to come up for air a little bit so I can write a little blog-let.
But what should I write about today? Hm…good question.
One of these days, I intend to discuss the different types of editing I do, including developmental (also known as content editing), copy-editing, proofreading, and continuity reading.
In other words, there are levels within levels of editing…that’s the main point I’m trying to get at. Developmental editing takes the longest; copy-editing plus a continuity read takes the second-longest; proofreading is the easiest and takes the shortest amount of time, though it’s still not exactly short if you want to do a good job.
Clear as mud, no? (That’s what happens when a huge edit gets finished, and I get short on sleep.)
Anyway, I do have a few interesting things happening this week, including another edit (for myself, this time), a story that I’m working on (currently vexing me, but I hope I’ll have it straightened out soon) that’s due in on March 1, and a guest blog/swap this upcoming Wednesday with author N.N. Light, author of the Christian inspirational fantasy PRINCESS OF THE LIGHT — I’ll be interviewed at her blog, while she’ll have a guest post here at my blog on the same day.
As for reviews, I remain behind. Right now, there are two or three SF&F books in the queue along with two shorter works by Cherylynn Dyess (those may be reviewed together, but are probably still a week off due to my workload) — the books I’m probably going to review next over at Shiny Book Review are Ann Leckie’s ANCILLARY SWORD and Emily St. John Mandel’s STATION ELEVEN, though it’s possible I may review Victoria Alexander’s latest for Romance Saturday instead. (All depends on workload.)
Oh, yes — and did I mention that I have a concert to play with the Racine Concert Band this week, too? That’s this Thursday evening over at Horlick High School, if you live nearby and are interested in coming…I’m playing the alto saxophone for this concert.
Anyway, this is a high workload week. (I’m already exhausted just thinking about it!) But somehow, I’m going to get it done, get my book edited, get the story written, and along the way I’ll definitely have that guest blog exchange with N.N. Light on Wednesday.
One, final thing — since the Milwaukee Brewers Spring Training is officially underway (at least as far as the pitchers and catchers go), I’m definitely thinking about baseball. (So could another story about my baseball-loving psychic, Madame Arletta, and her werewolf husband Fergus be in the offing?)
Stay tuned.
Two New Reviews up at Shiny Book Review (SBR)
Folks, it took me longer than I’d have liked to review two new books over at Shiny Book Review (SBR for short, as always). One was nonfiction, the other was fiction. Both were outstanding.
The first, UNBROKEN CIRCLES FOR SCHOOLS by Ken Johnson, is a nonfiction book about what schools can do to help juvenile offenders. (This is a vast oversimplification, of course.) Mr. Johnson discusses the differences between retributive and restorative justice (the latter is much better, but isn’t often used by our criminal justice system), and how schools can help. Go read my review, then check out this outstanding book.
The second, DEVIL’S LAKE, is a romantic suspense novel by Aaron Paul Lazar. It’s an outstanding novel in every respect, and I was pleased to review it on Valentine’s Day for our Romance Saturday at SBR promotion.
So if you’re looking for something new to read in either nonfiction or fiction, head on over to SBR and take a look at these two reviews.
Barb Caffrey's Blog 