Tag: Fiction

Give Away Results – and Thursday Thoughts on Covers

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations6 Comments

I’ve mentioned once or twice that I was doing a give away, right?  😉  The period to enter ended yesterday, so today I have results!  And the winner chosen from a metaphorical hat is…

 Emma!

If you didn’t win (or missed entering!) there’s another event coming up later in May to celebrate Children’s Book Week–so stay tuned!

On to the other business of the day…I recently heard about a new-to-me book blogging meme, Thoughtful Thursday, hosted by Reading Is Fun Again.  Similar to the Blog Hop, a book-related discussion question is posted each week.  Here’s today’s question!

Thoughtful Thursday

What features do you like in a book cover? Do you like plain covers? Do you like covers with drawings on them? Do you like covers with photographs on them? Do you like movie-tie in covers?

Well, I gush about pretty covers probably about as much as anyone…Wildwood Dancing and Entwined both come immediately to mind.  But a pretty cover won’t necessarily be right for every book…and mostly this question has led me to think about what I expect from a cover.  Mostly, I use covers to tell me about the genre and the style of the book.  And sure, plot summaries do that too, but as they say, a picture is worth… (I actually don’t think that applies all the time, but that’s a different story!)

I know they say we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but I think it works to a point.  Does the cover feature a girl in a Regency-era dress?  (historical fiction!)  Is there a dragon?  Are there pretty fairies?  How about any icons from fairy tales? (fantasy!) Or is there a couple locked in an embrace, possibly with faces obscured but the man’s chest visible?  (and that would be half of the covers in the Romance section…)

So much for genre, which I suppose most books are labeled with anyway–but covers are a fun way to find out!  As to style…if a book has a cartoony cover, I expect it to be lighter than, say, a stark cover with a military symbol (Hunger Games, anyone?)  I will probably expect some romance out of a cover that has a long sweeping skirt somewhere on it, and I definitely expect excitement if there are dragons and swords.  I know covers get it wrong sometimes, especially when it comes to style, but I do think they get it right more often than not.

This is all before I read a book.  After I read the book–then I want accuracy!  In style, of course, but also in the details.  I’m the kind of reader who will notice if the cat’s eyes are the wrong color, or the main character shouldn’t be carrying the sword and the spear at the same time, because of chapter five…and so on.

As to that final question up there, on movie tie-ins–I do have a few books on my shelves with movie tie-in covers, but I’m only willing to buy them if I really liked the movie.  If I disliked the movie, I will always pay more money for the non-tie-in version.

I also tend to be a loyalist about covers.  If I get very attached to a library copy of a book, when I go to buy it sometimes I want that same cover.  Even if I can acknowledge that other covers are more accurate/prettier/etc.  And I can be ruthless about covers.  If I somehow ended up owning a book with a cover I hate, I re-cover paperbacks and get rid of hardback dust jackets.

All right, so much for my rambling cover thoughts!  I’m not sure I exactly answered the question, but I think I covered 😉 the subject.  What do you look for in covers?

And for some cover-related news on my next novel, visit again tomorrow!

From Beijing to France, with Cyborgs and Lunars

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Science Fiction, Young Adult9 Comments

I’m waiting in line at the library for Cress, the third book in the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer.  Waiting turned out to be a good thing…because it gave me time to reread the first two books, Cinder and Scarlet.  You can click the links for my original reviews, but I thought I’d do a quick re-read review too!  (Some spoilers to follow for Cinder)  These are sci fi, but since they retell fairy tales, I’m still counting them for Once Upon a Time.

The Lunar Chronicles are set a vague but significant distance in the future. Earth has formed itself into seven countries, all at peace–but in an uneasy truce with the Lunar Colony, ruled by the cruel Queen Levana.  Lunars possess magic-like abilities to manipulate the minds of others, and no one is more powerful than Queen Levana.

Cinder is a teenage girl living in New Beijing, a gifted mechanic–and a cyborg.  Despised by society and her adoptive mother, her best friend is Iko, a robot with an overactive personality chip.  Her path crosses that of Prince Kai, shortly before the annual ball (can we see where this is going?)  At the same time, life begins to spiral out of control for both of them–Cinder’s sister is deathly ill with the letumosis plague, Cinder begins to find out startling revelations about her own past, and the death of Kai’s father forces him to take the lead in dangerous political dealings with Queen Levana.

My favorite thing about Cinder may be that she is just so level-headed.  I never understood Cinderella’s relationships in the original story, but I love how Meyer has reimagined things for Cinder.  She has no choice but to stay with her adoptive mother, because as a cyborg she’s legally property.  Cinder is fiercely loyal to her kind younger sister, and her robot friend, so we know she cares about people…but she doesn’t fall immediately under Kai’s spell.  Oh, there’s a crush going on…but she keeps perspective about it all.  It feels like how someone might legitimately feel about a near-stranger they’re attracted to.

I love a Cinderella who would rather run away and start her own life than go to some ball and dance with a cute prince.  Not that she wouldn’t like to dance with the cute prince, but she has priorities!

Oddly enough, much as I love the not-ridiculously-fast romance, it backfires to a certain extent in that I don’t find myself especially rooting for Cinder and Kai as a romantic couple.  Cinder gave us the very beginning of a romance for them…and I hope subsequent books will give us more so I can get more invested in them as a pair.

My other favorite part is Cinder’s amazing cyborg abilities–from the relatively mundane, like having a cabinet in her calf, to the really awesome like being able to detect lying.  They’re woven throughout the book in a very cool way.

Scarlet picks up right where Cinder left off.  Cinder is now a fugitive from both Queen Levana and the Earth authorities, and winds up joining forces with the dashing Captain Thorne.  In his stolen spaceship, they’re on the trail of information about the missing Lunar heir, Princess Selene.  The trail takes them to France, to intersect with our other heroine of the book, Scarlet.  Scarlet is desperate to find her grandmother, who vanished two weeks previously.  She meets Wolf, a street fighter who fluctuates between gentle and fierce, who may have a clue to her grandmother’s abduction.  Although she doesn’t really trust him, Wolf is her only help, and they set out together for Paris.

I liked Cinder, but I really liked Scarlet.  Scarlet is fiery, impulsive, and even more fiercely loyal than Cinder.  And unlike Cinder and Kai, I definitely got behind this romance.  Yes, it’s fast–yes, it doesn’t always make sense–yes, I know all that…but it just works.  Although I tend to like Brooding Heroes with Hearts of Gold (it’s a thing), so that may be a factor…

And a purely personal aspect that will probably not matter nearly as much to anyone but me–a big chunk of the book takes place in the Opera Garnier!  It’s never identified by name, but trust me, it’s the Opera Garnier, former home of the Phantom of the Opera, and Meyer clearly researched the floor plan.

With broader appeal…much as I enjoyed Scarlet’s storyline, I also enjoyed Cinder’s storyline, which kicked into a higher gear in this installment–and how can I not love Captain Thorne, roguish and charming, if not quite as charming as he thinks he is.  I have this thing about arrogant charmers too, so this book was just hitting all my favorite hero-types.

I have to say, I am even more excited for Cress now, which was kind of the point…that, and making sure I’d actually remember who everyone was when I picked up the new book!  I also snagged on to a possible clue about Cress in the first book that I’m sure I didn’t spot on a first read, and I can’t wait to find out if my guess is right. 🙂

Let’s see…#15 in line, and with 27 copies circulating, that’s not so bad!

Don’t forget, you can win a signed copy of my fairy tale retelling, The Wanderers! Just put #WanderersGiveAway in your comment to enter.  Ten days left!

Author’s Site: http://www.marissameyer.com/

Buy them here: Cinder and Scarlet

Classic Review: Silver Woven in My Hair

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Juvenile, Reviews5 Comments

I don’t know about you, but what with one thing and another, I find myself in a fairy tale mood!  So until I have time to finish reading something fairy tale-related and review it for you, here’s a classic review of one of my very favorite retellings of Cinderella…

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Silver Woven in My HairI originally read Silver Woven in My Hair by Shirley Rousseau Murphy from the library when I was…maybe nine?  I don’t really remember.  Young.  I read it several times, and then it somehow disappeared off the shelf.  Miraculously, I remembered the title–I usually don’t.  I usually remember something like, there was a bit in there where the girl is watching the royal family come back from the island and she sees the goatherd, and then she invites him into the kitchen at the inn to have dinner and it makes her stepfamily mad but he just laughs so it’s all right…oh and then they had a picnic later on in the book, and there was that really good part about the owner of the sword.

And that’s not going to help anyone find the story they’re looking for.  But fortunately I remembered the title, and by the time I was in high school the wonderful world of online booksellers existed and I was able to buy Silver Woven in My Hair for my very own, and I spent an entire afternoon rereading the whole book.  It was lovely.

It’s one of the best retellings of Cinderella I’ve ever read.  It’s a story about Thursey, and her terrible stepfamily.  The royal family was coming back from that island because they were there while the queen and the prince recovered from being captured in a war.  Thursey’s father went to the war and never came back, so this Cinderella actually has a reason to stay where she is–even though she knows he’s probably never coming back, she can’t bring herself to leave, just in case.

Thursey doesn’t have a sparkly fairy godmother, but she does have friends who want to help her go to the ball at the palace.  There’s Anwin the monk, and there’s Gillie the goatherd, who’s funny and charming–and very far from a sparkly fairy godmother.  🙂

I love that Thursey is a Cinderella who loves Cinderella stories.  Her family runs an inn, and she collects stories from the travelers who pass through–all the different Cinderella stories from different cultures, Cendrillon and Aschenputtel and Catkin and so on.  Even though Thursey’s life isn’t very good, she never stops dreaming.  The ball is one aspect of the story, but Thursey’s dreams have a lot more substance than dancing a single night at a ball.

The characters, from Thursey to Gillie to the nasty stepfamily, are well-drawn and life-like.  The story is very grounded in reality, in a practical world where dishes have to be washed and goats have to be fed and there’s none of the impossible and incomprehensible leaps that the original fairy tales often make.  Yet there’s also something whimsical about the tale.  For some reason the word “gossamer” keeps coming to mind, and I think it has to do with the writing style.  Murphy has kept some of the poetry of the old tales, while giving us characters and a plot that are more substantial.

Silver Woven in My Hair isn’t exactly a fantasy…or it could be.  Murphy leaves it up to the reader to decide whether some elements are really magic or not, and I’m not entirely sure what I think.

But even if you decide it’s not a fantasy, it’s definitely a magical story.  And a marvelous tale.

Author’s Site: http://www.srmurphy.com/

Other reviews:
Ex Libris Draconis
Mel’s Desk
Anyone else?  I am sad that this book is not better known…

Buy it here: Silver Woven in My Hair

Classic Review: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Juvenile, ReviewsLeave a comment

This Classic Review might have made more sense a few months ago, when I was beginning my reread through Narnia…but as I approach the end (just The Last Battle to go!), it seems like a good time to re-post my review of the first (or chronologically, the second) book in the series…The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis.

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I know I read this one before, but I honestly couldn’t tell you how long ago it was.  Years and years, although the story is so familiar that in some ways it doesn’t feel that long.  For those who don’t know the story (sidenote–I once overheard a woman tell a librarian she’d never heard of the series, so it’s possible), it’s the story of four children who go through a wardrobe and find themselves in the magical country of Narnia.  There they meet the great Lion Aslan and fight an epic battle against the White Witch.

It’s a wonderful story on many levels.  It’s a lovely children’s fantasy with dashing heroes, not too much blood, magical creatures like Mr. Tumnus and Mr. and Mrs Badger, and several stern admonitions that it’s very foolish to shut oneself inside of a wardrobe (I honestly think Lewis was worried about this, he repeats it so many times).  On a symbolic level, there’s a clear Christ story being retold.  I feel it works on both levels, for however you want to take it.  I’ve always thought that was the mark of the best kind of book–a good story and a strong message where neither one gets in the way of the other.

I enjoyed Lewis’ style very much–things happen so quickly!  Lucy, the first child into Narnia, gets there by page six.  As the adventures continue, they go on at a tumblingly-quick rate.  There’s even a point where Lewis writes, of an unpleasant night journey by sledge, “This lasted longer than I could describe even if I wrote pages and pages about it.”  Thankfully, he doesn’t bother, concluding, “But I will skip on to the time when the snow had stopped and the morning had come and they were racing along in the daylight.”

C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien were in the same writing group, The Inklings.  I’ve heard that Tolkien spent 20 years on The Lord of the Rings, and Lewis wrote The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in a matter of weeks (something that I’ve also heard annoyed Tolkien no end!)  I have to say, it shows for both of them.  Different viewpoints on writing could consider that a plus or a minus to either one, but my preference would have to be with Lewis…

He begins the book with a lovely dedication to his goddaughter, the real-life Lucy.  In somewhat contradiction to the story that he wrote the book in a few weeks, he says that he wrote it for her but she grew up faster than it did and she’s now too old for it, “but some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.”  Lewis clearly understood about the cross-age appeal of the best children’s stories.  We may go through an age where we think we’re too grown-up for “kids books,” but eventually we get old enough to realize we can come back to them too.  It seems you have to be a child to go to Narnia, but the books are lovely to visit for any age!

Fiction Friday: The Wrath of Khan, Spoofed (Part Three)

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fiction Friday2 Comments

My recent experience with The Great Khan Adventure reminded me of a long-ago spoof I wrote of The Wrath of Khan.  Read Part One here and Part Two here.  Today the adventure concludes.  I do not claim to own Star Trek, any of the characters, etc.

We pick up the story shortly after Kirk’s epic shrieking to the skies.  You know when I mean.

[Some time later; still down in the cave.  Kirk has recovered from his momentary burst of rage.  Everyone looks pretty depressed though.]

David: Well this is just great.  We’re going to be stuck here forever.

Kirk: We’ll see.  Meanwhile, are there any McDonalds down here?  I don’t know about anybody else, but I’m starving.

McCoy: How can you think of food right now?!

Kirk: [shrugs] I’m hungry.  And what good would fasting possibly do?

[McCoy rolls his eyes.]

Carol: There’s no hamburgers, but there’s enough food for a lifetime in the Genesis Cave.

Kirk: The Genesis Cave?

Carol: The cave we created with Genesis.

Kirk: I see where you got the name.

David: Come on, I’ll show you.

[David, Saavik, and McCoy exit, leaving Carol and Kirk.]

Kirk: Carol, can I talk to you?

Carol: If you must.

Kirk: Why didn’t you ever tell David I’m his father?

Audience: Wooow!  Kirk’s got a son!

Carol: You ran off and left me for your career.  I didn’t want him doing the same.

Kirk: Oh fine!  Turn the guilt around on me!

Carol: You deserve it.

Kirk: Ouch.

Carol: So how are you feeling?

Kirk: Old.  Remind me to book an appointment with my hairstylist when we get out of this.

[Soon enough, Kirk and Carol join the others in the Genesis cave.  The group spreads out a bit.  Saavik wishes to speak with Kirk.]

Saavik: Admiral, I would like to discuss the Kobayashi Maru with you.

Kirk: Are you still thinking about that, Cadet?

Saavik: That is not logical.  If I were not thinking about it, I would not be speaking of it.

McCoy: [laughs] After all these years of Spock, and she still got you on that one.

[Kirk just looks at him.]

McCoy: Well, you did walk into that, Jim.

Saavik: Admiral, how did you handle the Kobayashi Maru?

Kirk: Well, I…

McCoy: You are looking at the only person to ever beat the Kobayashi Maru.

Saavik: HOW? [coughs]  I mean…how?

Kirk: Well, I…hacked into the computer and changed the settings.

Saavik: [stunned] You cheated!

Kirk: I changed the rules.

Saavik: You cheated!

Kirk: I received a commendation for original thinking.

Saavik: You cheated!

Kirk: No need to belabor the point.  I think I’ve got it.

McCoy: No, Jim.  She has the points.  Two of them.

[They both give him a Look.]

McCoy: [shrugs] You couldn’t expect me to just pass that one up.

Kirk: Riiight.  So.  Anyone know what time it is?

Saavik: We have been here 2.000013 hours.  If you like, I can carry it out another 23 decimal place—

Kirk: That’s not necessary.

McCoy: [moans] Tell me I’m not stranded with her forever.

Kirk: You’re in luck, Bones.  None of us are stranded here!  I’m going to call Spock.

McCoy: And Spock is going to get us out of solid rock how?

Kirk: A transporter of course.

McCoy: Which won’t have power for two days.

Kirk: [superior] On the contrary.  Some regulation or other, I forget which, insists that we must communicate in code.  Therefore, hours like days means that two days actually meant two hours.

McCoy: And you don’t mention these things to me?

Kirk: Nope.  [flips out communicator] Kirk to Enterprise.  Multiple people to beam up.

[Everyone beams out.]

[Up on the ship, things are grim.  It seems that the Enterprise is partially repaired, but the Reliant is in even better shape.  Don’t ask how, considering the Enterprise has Scotty, but somehow this is true.  Kirk has the brilliant plan of entering the Mutara Nebula where, reasons unknown, the odds will be more even.  Battle ensues.  Kirk, of course, wins.  Unfortunately, there’s a slight hitch.  Khan, in his dying moments, successfully launches the Genesis torpedo at the Enterprise.  If it hits, it will create new life.  And destroy all the old life.  Unfortunately, there’s an even bigger hitch.  The Enterprise lost warp power, and can’t escape.]

Kirk: [into comm] Scotty, I need warp speed in three minutes, or we’re all dead!

Scotty: [over comm] Um, ye don’ mean that lit’rally, do ye?

Kirk: Scotty, I need warp power!

Scotty: I was afeared of that.  The radiation flooded the chamber, and I can’t repair it!

[Spock abruptly stands up from his station and leaves the bridge.  No one seems to notice.]

Kirk: Sulu, take us out on impulse!

Sulu: Aye, sir.

[David shakes his head.]

David: We’ll never make it.

Kirk: Don’t be a pessimist.  No son of mine has any business being a pessimist.

David: Actually, that depends on whether the characteristic is genetic or learned.  If pessimism is hereditary, you’re correct.  However, if pessimism is learned behavior then there is no connection whatsoever, considering I never saw you before today.

Kirk: [blinks] If he’s my son, why does he sound like Spock?

[Down in engineering, Spock enters.  Scotty, naturally, is there.  Also McCoy, even though he’s a doctor not an engineer and has no business being in Engineering.  Scotty seems out of it already.]

Spock: Where is the problem?

[McCoy points towards the chamber.]

McCoy: In there.  The radiation levels—

[Spock, taking gloves from Scotty, starts towards the radiation chamber.  McCoy, realizing what he’s doing, tries to hold him back.]

McCoy: Spock, no!

Spock: It is necessary.  Besides, I have gloves.

McCoy: The radiation!  You’ll be killed!

Spock: I expect so.  Even despite my gloves.

McCoy: I won’t let you!

[Spock pauses and regards McCoy.]

Spock: Perhaps you are right.

[McCoy relaxes, and Spock nerve-pinches him.  McCoy slumps towards the floor.]

Spock: If I survive this, I no doubt will never hear the end of this brief moment of illogic.  But right now I lack time to be logical.

[Then, cryptically, he puts his hand on McCoy’s forehead.]

Spock: Remember…

[Spock enters the chamber.]
[Meanwhile on the bridge, things are tense.]

Kirk: [solemn] I think this may be the end…

Sulu: Sir!  We have warp power!

Kirk: Get us out of here!  Fast!

[Sulu does, and they manage to escape the Genesis torpedo, which detonates behind them, into the Nebula.  This will, in a very short bit of time, create a new planet.  Everyone sighs with relief.]

Kirk: Looks like we survived certain death after all.  Again.  [taps a button]  Engineering.  [a moment passes] Engineering?

McCoy: [over comm] McCoy here…

[Somehow, McCoy has recovered from nerve-pinching much faster than one would expect.]

Kirk: Bones, tell Scotty he’s a miracle.

McCoy: [hollow sounding] It…wasn’t Scotty.

Kirk: Spock, then.

McCoy: Spock…he…  [urgent] Jim, you better get down here.

Kirk: In a minute, Bones, I have to—

McCoy: [near frantic] No, Jim!  Get down here!  Run!

Kirk: [uncertain] Well…all right, I’ll—

McCoy: Stop talking!  Move!

[Kirk does.]

[In engineering; Kirk comes running in]

Kirk: All right, what’s the proble— [he sees Spock, still in the chamber] Spock!

[Kirk tries to rush into the chamber after him.  Scotty and McCoy restrain him.]

McCoy: Jim, no!

Scotty: It’s too late…the radiation…

Kirk: Damn the radiation!

McCoy: It’s too late to help him, Jim!

[Kirk goes to the glass side of the chamber.]

Kirk: Spock!  What will we do without you?  We’ll lose fans by the droves!

Spock: Don’t…worry.  My death…is logical.

Kirk: That doesn’t make me feel better!

Spock: Sometimes…the needs of the many…outweigh the needs…of the few.  Or the one…

Kirk: Spock!

Spock: Live long…and prosper…Jim…

[Spock dies.]

Audience: Nooooo!  Spock!  [sobs and wails]

[Kirk sits against the chamber wall, and looks blankly at Scotty and McCoy.]

Kirk: [stunned] He’s dead, Bones.

McCoy: I know…

[Spock’s funeral; the crew has gathered to pay their respects.  Kirk is giving the eulogy.]

Kirk: [choked up] And of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most…human.

[McCoy nudges him.]

McCoy: Uh, Jim?

Kirk: Not now, Bones.  This is very dramatic.

McCoy: But, Jim, about the speech—

Kirk: Please, Bones, you’re spoiling the drama in my speech.

McCoy: But, Jim, Spock wouldn’t like your panegyric!

Kirk: [blinks] My what?

McCoy: Eulogy!

Kirk: I beg your pardon, I think I know Spock, and I—

McCoy: After debating with the man for years, I can state for a fact that he wasn’t exactly proud of being human!  Every time he acted human he’d get embarrassed, and then wind up even more embarrassed because he’d been embarrassed, since embarrassment is a human emotion, and emotions made him embarrassed.

Kirk: Wait, wait, you lost me somewhere…

McCoy: He wouldn’t exactly want it said at his funeral that he had a very human soul.  Trust me.  When it comes to Spock’s soul, I should know.

Kirk: Well now, come to think of it…  Let’s rewind a bit here…

Kirk: [choked up] And of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most…Vulcan.

McCoy: [shakes head] No, Jim.  You’re still not hitting it.

Kirk: No?  Okay, here we go again…

Kirk: [choked up] And of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, I can say for sure he was…a great guy!

McCoy: [shrugs] It’ll work.

Kirk: Great!  Hit it, Scotty.

[Scotty plays “Amazing Grace” on his bagpipes.  In the background can be heard sobbing, some from the crew, mostly from the audience.]

Kirk: [saddened] Send his coffin into space.

McCoy: [muttering to himself] I have the strangest feeling this is a bad idea…  [shrugs] Well, no logical reason not to send the coffin off.  [He does not seem aware he has said anything odd.]

[The coffin is sent off.]

[Later, in Kirk’s quarters.  The door chimes.]

Kirk: Come in.

[David enters.]

Kirk: Oh.  Hello.

David: Hello.  I just wanted to tell you…after watching you fight Khan…I’m proud to be your son.

Kirk: [beams] Oh how wonderful!  A bonding moment!

[They hug.  An unidentified voice shrieks from above.]

Voice: [shrieks] Kodak moment!

[A hundred camera bulbs go off, blinding Kirk and David.]

[Later; the Enterprise is on its way back to Earth.  Kirk and McCoy are standing on the observation deck, looking out at the stars.]

Kirk: I still can’t believe he’s gone.  Life just won’t be the same without him.

McCoy: I know, Jim.  But all we can do is go on.

Kirk: [solemn] Yes.  It’s what Spock would have wanted.  And while this is the end of the movie, somehow I don’t think it’s the end of humanity’s journey.

Audience: [grumbling] It just better not be…

[The Genesis planet: The view pans over tropical plants and flowers.  Everywhere there is life.  The camera comes to rest on Spock’s coffin, in an obvious bit of foreshadowing.]

Audience: Okay, so when’s the next movie?