Author Archive
Welcome to the November 2021 issue of my newsletter, “News from the Crypt,” and please visit Carter’s Crypt, devoted to my horror, fantasy, and paranormal romance work, especially focusing on vampires and shapeshifting beasties. If you have a particular fondness for vampires, check out the chronology of my series in the link labeled “Vanishing Breed Vampire Universe.” For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
Also, check out the multi-author Alien Romances Blog
The long-time distributor of THE VAMPIRE’S CRYPT has closed its website. If you would like to read any issue of this fanzine, which contains fiction, interviews, and a detailed book review column, e-mail me to request the desired issue, and I’ll send you a free PDF of it. My e-mail address is at the end of this newsletter. Find information about the contents of each issue on this page of my website:
A complete list of my available works, arranged roughly by genre, with purchase links (gradually being updated as the Amber Quill and Ellora’s Cave works are being republished):
For anyone who would like to read previous issues of this newsletter, they’re posted on my website here (starting from January 2018):
This is my Facebook author page. Please visit!
Facebook
Here’s my page in Barnes and Noble’s Nook store:
Barnes and Noble
Here’s the list of my Kindle books on Amazon. (The final page, however, includes some Ellora’s Cave anthologies in which I don’t have stories):
Carter Kindle Books
Here’s a shortcut URL to my author page on Amazon:
Amazon
The Fiction Database displays a comprehensive list of my books (although with a handful of fairy tales by a different Margaret Carter near the end):
My Goodreads page:
Goodreads
Please “Like” my author Facebook page (cited above) to see reminders when each monthly newsletter is uploaded. I’ve also noticed that I’m more likely to be shown posts from liked or friended sources in my Facebook feed when I’ve “Liked” some of their individual posts, so you might want to do that, too. Thanks!
Happy U.S Thanksgiving!
Writers Exchange E-Publishing has just re-released my contemporary fantasy elf romance, PRINCE OF THE HOLLOW HILLS. Two elven princes and a half-elf baby complicate Fern’s life after the mysterious death of her sister:
My story collection formerly titled DAME ONYX TREASURES has been republished, slightly revised and with a new bonus story, as LOVE AMONG THE MONSTERS. (If you ever tried in vain to follow my old link to DAME ONYX TREASURES, I didn’t realize it had become invalid with the closing of the original publisher. Sorry!)
Here’s the Draft2Digital page for purchase from retailers other than Amazon:
Below is an excerpt from one of the stories original to this collection, “Fantasia Quest.” The heroine, Carrie, and hero, Rolf, are stuck inside a computer fantasy roleplaying game. Graystreak is Carrie’s familiar, a flying squirrel. Rolf’s sword, by the way, sings movie lyrics.
“Chocolate Chip Charm,” my story in the Wild Rose Press Christmas Cookies line, will be released on November 16. How can you fix the mess you’ve made when a love potion baked into a batch of chocolate chip Christmas cookies goes horribly wrong—or maybe surprisingly right? Here’s the preorder link on Amazon:
This month I’m interviewing Ellie Gray, author of contemporary romance and romantic suspense.
*****
Interview with Ellie Gray:
WINTER STORM, by Ellie Gray
Q. What inspired you to begin writing?
A. I didn’t actually begin putting pen to paper until in my late teens, but I have always written stories in my head – full-blown, complete stories – it used to help me get to sleep. It just never occurred to me that I should write them down until much later.
Q. What genres do you work in?
A. I write contemporary, heart-warming romance and romantic suspense. I also write YA fantasy fiction, although haven’t yet had any of these published. I’ll get around to it someday…
Q. Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
A. I guess a bit of both? As I said in my first question, I started off by writing the stories in my head, and I still do that now. I don’t start writing it down until I have the full story written in my head. That doesn’t stop the story from changing or expanding when I do start actually writing it – quite often the characters start to become a little more vocal in terms of where they want to go!
Q. What have been the major influences on your writing (favorite authors, life experiences, or whatever)?
A. I was one of those children who always had her nose in a book, as I’m sure most writers were and still are. I read a lot of Enid Blyton as a child – I loved those books – but quickly developed an eclectic taste in genres. As a teen I read a lot of Stephen King but also Mills and Boon which I think inspired my actual writing as that fitted my style; although I love Stephen King, it just wasn’t the type of writing that I naturally fitted into, whereas romance was. And, of course, romance always has a happy ending….
Q. When creating fiction set in the area where you live, do you tend to mention real places or “disguise” them?
A. A little of both. In Winter Storm, the little isolated village where Willow lives is called Millendale, and this is based on a real village in the Yorkshire Dales called Thixendale, so I changed the name and layout of the village to fit the story. However, for Warwick’s Mermaid, much of the story was set in the North Yorkshire coastal town of Whitby, and I described parts of Whitby and the Abbey in detail in the book.
Q. What is your latest or next-forthcoming book?
A. My next book, following Winter Storm, is Love on the Nile, which has previously been published, but is now being re-released by The Wild Rose Press, with a lovely shiny new cover. As you can probably guess by the title, it is set in Egypt. Kiya goes on the holiday of a life time and meets handsome but grumpy archaeologist, Kyle – sparks fly!
Q. What are you working on now?
A. I’m working on a new romantic suspense novel set in Scotland, and am hoping to be able to release this later next year.
Q. What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
A. Every author will say this, but read as many books and different authors as you can. If you can afford it, go to a writer’s workshop to learn the technical aspects. It really helped me to know about the craft of writing – plot, structure, character arcs. There are plenty of books available to buy which can teach you those things too. It really makes you see things in a different light, and it helps you as you write your book because you are already looking out for those errors that editors will pick up on.
What is the URL of your website? What about other internet presence?
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
RATIONALITY, by Steven Pinker. This book by one of my favorite nonfiction authors, a psychologist at Harvard, is subtitled “What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters.” Chapter Ten of the eleven chapters asks the vital question that doubtless occurs to most of us now and then while reading or watching the news: “What’s Wrong with People?” Before we get there, however, Pinker takes us step by step through the many obstacles to rational thinking that can trip up perfectly intelligent people. He analyzes the meanings of rationality and its opposite, as well as when it’s reasonable to make an apparently irrational decision. He explains the rules and application of formal logic, plus an array of biases and fallacies (which have an index of their own in the back of the book), such as confirmation bias, all-or-none causation, sunk cost, discounting the future too steeply, and many others. Even though I took a logic course in college and enjoyed it, I found some of the diagrams and formal propositions heavy going. YMMV, if you happen to be more visually-oriented than I. His exposition, however, is as lucid and entertaining as always. Also, as in most of his books, he illustrates the messages of the text with cartoons from various sources, including “Peanuts.” In answer to what’s wrong with people, Pinker maintains that it’s not that we’re inherently irrational or even simply that our brains evolved to cope with a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. We can learn better. RATIONALITY exhibits the same hopefulness about humanity’s future as his earlier books THE BETTER ANGELS OF OUR NATURE and ENLIGHTENMENT NOW.
BRIARHEART, by Mercedes Lackey. This fantasy novel based on “Sleeping Beauty” isn’t part of either of Lackey’s two long-running fairy-tale retelling series, 500 Kingdoms and Elemental Masters. BRIARHEART is narrated by the endangered princess’s teenage half-sister. Her father was the king’s best friend, killed in battle, and the king married Miriam’s mother after a suitable interval. Their household is refreshingly free of typical fairy-tale step-family hostilities. Miri loves her royal “Papa,” who sensibly indulges her love of a physically active lifestyle in addition to giving her plenty of books and a proper education. Since she’s technically not a princess, she doesn’t have to endure most of a royal daughter’s duties. Far from being jealous of the baby, Miri adores her new sister. I was mildly surprised that the future Sleeping Beauty bears the name “Aurora,” a choice that would seem to violate the precaution “don’t mess with the Mouse.” Character names, however, can’t be copyrighted (although they can be trademarked), and all the details of the story differ so much from the Disney movie that it’s hard to see how even the most sharklike lawyer could find grounds for a suit. At Aurora’s christening, of course, the family’s serenity is shattered. They’ve taken meticulous care to invite all the Fae in their small kingdom. The Rules of the compact among Light Fae, Dark Fae, and humans protect the latter as long as they don’t give offense in any way—and Fae are easily offended, especially the Dark ones, who actively seek excuses to incite the human anguish and terror that nourish them. A Dark Fae unknown to anyone, human or not, shows up at the christening and tries to curse the baby. When Miri impulsively leaps to protect her sister, the evil magic bounces off. Without knowing what she’s doing, Miri blasts the attacker into oblivion. Now, with magical power of unknown origin, she has to be instructed in its use by one of the Light Fae. For non-supernatural protection, she and a few of her friends are designated as Aurora’s Companions and assigned to combat training. Miri quickly comes to enjoy her new training regimen and rejoices in her growing skills as fighter and magic-user. The acquisition of these skills takes up a large proportion of the narrative. The characters are engaging, and watching them interact is a pleasure in itself, as in all of Lackey’s fiction. Miri, although talented and well-meaning, isn’t perfect. Her impulsive reactions to the dangers that arise get her and her friends into trouble. When facing the climactic crisis, however, she makes the correct although unorthodox choice. Along the way, she meets other kinds of inhuman creatures, including a unicorn, a dragon, trolls, and the keepers of the Goblin Market, but so far the source of the threat to Aurora remains a mystery. I must warn you that (to my dismay) this book proves to be only the beginning of what will probably become a multi-volume story. At the end, Aurora is still a baby.
THE CHRISTMAS PIG, by J. K. Rowling. A fantasy directed at a younger audience than the Harry Potter series, with a seven-year-old boy, Jack, as the protagonist. He loves DP (Dur Pig, baby-talk for “the pig”), his security object since infancy, more than any other toy. In Jack’s mind, DP understands him and communicates with him on a human level. The relationship between boy and stuffed animal is portrayed as a deep emotional bond, complete with vivid descriptions of the toy’s comforting smell, which has to be renewed whenever Jack’s mother insists on a spin through the washing machine. Up until Chapter 13 (page 41), Jack’s story proceeds on a mundane track with realistic problems. His parents get divorced. Eventually his mother remarries to a nice man with a teenage daughter, Holly, who had been kind to Jack when assigned as his mentor during his first year in school. Now that they’ve become step-siblings, though, she bullies him half the time. When she quarrels with her mother and insists on spending Christmas with her father and his new family, a fight between Holly and Jack leads to her throwing DP out the car window on the highway. At that point, magic enters. On Christmas Eve, “the night of miracles and lost causes,” the replacement toy bought for Jack—CP, the Christmas Pig—comes to life and offers him a desperately dangerous chance to recover DP. Shrunk to toy size, Jack crosses over into the Land of the Lost, where the “Alivened” souls of lost things go. From the temporary holding area of Mislaid, Jack and CP travel to the districts of Bother-It’s-Gone (home of things people miss and want back) and Disposable. Constantly having to outwit the Loss Adjustors, who make sure Things don’t wander where they have no right to be, and in danger from the giant, monstrous Loser, who eats whatever Things he can catch, Jack and CP receive help from a few friendly creatures. Eventually they find their way to two other parts of the Land of the Lost, whose existence the creatures in charge of Bother-It’s-Gone and Disposable don’t want to admit. To get there, they have to risk the Wastes of the Unlamented. From resentment and active dislike of CP, Jack gradually comes to depend on and finally love him. The countries and creatures, both inanimate objects and personified abstractions such as Bad Habits and lost Hope, Happiness, Power, and many others, are wildly inventive. I get the impression that Rowling’s world-building in this more limited setting is better organized and less ad-hoc than in the Harry Potter series. Other than the character of Hope playing a somewhat dea-ex-machina role at one point, the story rigorously follows its own rules. A beautifully detailed, black-and-white, two-page spread illustration introduces each of the book’s nine parts. The age range of the book’s intended audience isn’t quite clear. On the premise that a children’s or YA protagonist should be the same age as or slightly older than the prospective reader, this story should be meant for six- or seven-year-olds. I doubt many of them would be able to read a chapter book of this length and vocabulary level on their own. As a read-aloud experience for children of that age, however, it’s perfect. It would also appeal to many older fantasy fans, including adults, provided they aren’t put off by a hero who, in the mundane chapters at the beginning, sometimes comes across as rather childish (tantrum-prone) for his age. His adventures mature him, though. On the whole, I found THE CHRISTMAS PIG highly entertaining and suspenseful, worthy of a reread.
THE LAST GRADUATE, by Naomi Novik. Prospective readers of this YA dark fantasy need to have read its predecessor, A DEADLY EDUCATION, the first volume in what’s apparently shaping up as a trilogy. To recap: Narrator El (short for Galadriel) attends a uniquely designed school for wizards in its own pocket dimension. The quasi-sentient Scholomance has no teachers, no kindly Dumbledore or even a harsh Snape, only self-guided study. Assignments, grades, and class rankings magically appear out of nowhere when students aren’t looking. They arrive as freshmen and don’t leave until graduation—if they survive the four years. They have no contact with the outside world aside from information gleaned from the annual crop of newbies. Personal possessions brought with them fall under a tightly restricted weight allowance. In theory, the school provides the necessities of life, but in erratic availability and quality. The vast, labyrinthine building is infested with mals, a catch-all name for the myriad species of supernatural creatures ravenous to eat wizards, their mana (magical energy), or both. Graduation consists of fighting through a horde of mals in the Great Hall to reach the exit portal to the real world. As THE LAST GRADUATE begins, El is a senior. She’s reluctantly falling in love with Orion Lake, a student from the privileged enclave group, enclaves being clans of wizards rich in mana, material wealth, and political connections. Orion has a reputation as a rescuer of other students, effortlessly slaying mals and actually enjoying the experience. El, on the other hand, has been shunned by her classmates for most of her school career because she’s a known high-powered maleficer, capable of lethal magic if she loses control. No matter that she’s never seriously hurt another student; they fear her dark side anyway. In the first book, however, she made a few friends with whom she developed a formal alliance. Now alliances and teamwork become all-important as seniors complete their final semester of course work and prepare to spend the last six months of the school year strategizing and practicing for graduation. Despite the interpersonal friction and the outright hostility of some of her classmates, who have no qualms about trying to murder fellow students, El trades favors and draws others into her network. Gradually she learns that it’s possible to reach out in kindness, even altruism, without getting stabbed in the back, contrary to the ingrained selfishness all students have customarily depended on for survival. As the end of senior year approaches, she concocts a mad scheme to get her entire class through graduation alive. You’ve seen those TV previews that claim “the next episode will change everything”? Well, about a sixth of the way from the end of this book, El discovers a secret about the Scholomance that changes everything. Her friendships and her determination to save those she cares about (albeit some grudgingly) deepen, as does her finally acknowledged passion for Orion, even though he often exasperates her. Although I’m not a great fan of “snark” in general, I enjoyed El’s acerbic narrative voice, a veneer over the loneliness she’s reluctant to acknowledge. To her own surprise, she ultimately becomes as much of a self-sacrificing hero as Orion. Be warned: The last line of the book leaves us dangling from a figurative cliff, and we probably have to wait another year for the resolution.
*****
Excerpt from “Fantasia Quest”:
Carrie conjured the usual floating globe. They dismounted and led the horses. Just beyond the cave’s maw, the space opened up enough to let them walk side by side. “Looks like a tunnel,” she said. “Would have been nice if the map had told us about it.”
Several paces on, a gossamer veil shimmered across the span. A web. Desiccated corpses of two birds and a bat hung in the network.
Rolf’s fist clenched on the hilt of his sheathed sword. “Damn. If the spider that spun this is hanging around, I don’t want to meet it. This has to be a surprise Zack planted for me.”
The tension in his voice reminded her of the arachnophobia he’d confessed. “I’ll get rid of the web.” Surrounded by rock, the strands could burn without endangering nearby plant life. At her arcane word, flame shot from her wand and engulfed the web. It blazed for a second, then crumbled to ash.
Graystreak volunteered to scout to the end of the cleft. When he glided back to Carrie’s shoulder, he said, “It’s a tunnel and there’s a spider guarding the other end, all right. A big one.”
His face set in a strained mask, Rolf glanced at her, then back at the web. “How big?”
“You don’t want to know,” the squirrel muttered.
“I’ll find out in a second anyway. It’s not like we have an alternative.” Rolf whispered to the horses, patting their necks and commanding them to stay put. He drew his sword and strode forward.
At his side, Carrie flourished her wand to the sword’s lyrics of a spy thriller title song about a villain with a spider’s touch. Fifty paces in, they glimpsed a multi-legged lump silhouetted against a patch of daylight at the far mouth of the tunnel. It shambled toward them with a scrabbling of claws on rock. Once inside the passage, its eight eyes glinted scarlet in the dimness.
Rolf halted, a visible tremor in his upraised sword arm. The shaggy thing in front of him looked like a tarantula the size of a pony. Venom dripped from its fangs. It headed for the bladewarden, who only stared as if paralyzed.
Carrie cast an acid dart at the spider. It shuddered when the dart sizzled in its bristle-covered torso but turned toward her only for a second before looming over Rolf. He still didn’t move.
It’ll bite his head off for all I know!
“Rolf, do something!”
He took a step backward, his sword arm frozen. Shouting his name again, she charged between him and the spider. She flung a spray of rainbow dazzle at the monster’s head, blinding it. It staggered in confusion but not before its mandibles nipped her arm. Pain stung her, brief but sharp.
She stumbled and fell to one knee.
“Crystal, no!” Rolf surged into action with a yell of rage. He sliced off two of the spider’s legs before she managed to struggle to her feet. Though he hadn’t stopped shaking, he brandished his sword between her and the monster. In spite of its temporary blindness, it scored a glancing bite on Rolf. With his mouth twisted in revulsion, he cut off a third limb.
-end of excerpt-
*****
My Publishers:
Writers Exchange E-Publishing: Writers Exchange
Harlequin: Harlequin
Wild Rose Press: Wild Rose Press
You can contact me at: MLCVamp@aol.com
“Beast” wishes until next time—
Margaret L. Carter
Three Connected Light Paranormal Romance Novellas, in E-Book and Print:
Yokai Magic:
When Val unearths a Japanese scroll and a cat figurine inherited from her grandfather, magic invades her world. The statuette, actually a cat spirit named Yuki–a yokai–enchanted into that form for her own protection, comes to life. With her old high-school boyfriend, she searches for a way to vanquish the threat from the spirit realm, while facing the attraction they thought they’d long since put behind them.
Kitsune Enchantment:
On the verge of losing her job, Shannon leaps at the chance to sell her graphic novel series to a major publisher. She’d love to have a closer relationship with her artist collaborator, Ryo, but how can she count on a man who keeps disappearing with the flimsiest of excuses? Ryo feels the same attraction to Shannon, but he isn’t sure how she’d react to the truth. He’s a kitsune–a fox shapeshifter–prone to transforming at awkward moments. When a wannabe wizard follows him to a science-fiction convention, Ryo’s secret, liberty, and budding romance with Shannon are all threatened.
Kappa Companion:
Two years after her husband’s sudden death, Heidi hopes to make a fresh start with a new love and a new home. But she hasn’t planned on sharing her century-old house with her son’s not-so-imaginary friends–a ghost child and a Japanese water monster. At least the creatures aren’t dangerous–or are they?
Order from Amazon
Welcome to the October 2021 issue of my newsletter, “News from the Crypt,” and please visit Carter’s Crypt, devoted to my horror, fantasy, and paranormal romance work, especially focusing on vampires and shapeshifting beasties. If you have a particular fondness for vampires, check out the chronology of my series in the link labeled “Vanishing Breed Vampire Universe.” For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
Also, check out the multi-author Alien Romances Blog
The long-time distributor of THE VAMPIRE’S CRYPT has closed its website. If you would like to read any issue of this fanzine, which contains fiction, interviews, and a detailed book review column, e-mail me to request the desired issue, and I’ll send you a free PDF of it. My e-mail address is at the end of this newsletter. Find information about the contents of each issue on this page of my website:
A complete list of my available works, arranged roughly by genre, with purchase links (gradually being updated as the Amber Quill and Ellora’s Cave works are being republished):
For anyone who would like to read previous issues of this newsletter, they’re posted on my website here (starting from January 2018):
This is my Facebook author page. Please visit!
Facebook
Here’s my page in Barnes and Noble’s Nook store:
Barnes and Noble
Here’s the list of my Kindle books on Amazon. (The final page, however, includes some Ellora’s Cave anthologies in which I don’t have stories):
Carter Kindle Books
Here’s a shortcut URL to my author page on Amazon:
Amazon
The Fiction Database displays a comprehensive list of my books (although with a handful of fairy tales by a different Margaret Carter near the end):
My Goodreads page:
Goodreads
Please “Like” my author Facebook page (cited above) to see reminders when each monthly newsletter is uploaded. I’ve also noticed that I’m more likely to be shown posts from liked or friended sources in my Facebook feed when I’ve “Liked” some of their individual posts, so you might want to do that, too. Thanks!
Happy Halloween!
My lighthearted ghost story “Desk Specter,” featuring my vampire-human hybrid psychiatrist, Roger Darvell, was published in issue 40 of NIGHT TO DAWN, which you can find here:
The opening scene appears below.
My three light paranormal romance novellas inspired by Japanese folklore—YOKAI MAGIC, KITSUNE ENCHANTMENT, and KAPPA COMPANION—have been combined into a collection titled YOKAI ENCHANTMENTS, in a trade paperback for readers who prefer hard-copy print. For those who like e-books and haven’t read all three stories yet, the Kindle edition sells at a bargain price compared to buying the novellas individually:
This month I’m introducing a new Wild Rose Press author, Susan Thomson, writing as S. Hilbre Thomson.
*****
Interview with S. Hilbre Thomson:
What inspired you to begin writing?
I have always enjoyed writing, whether it was poetry, short stories or essays. I think though that the inspiration to write a novel came from being an avid reader. After reading hundreds of books, I got the idea that maybe I could be an author.
What genre do you work in?
I enjoy writing suspense/thriller stories. There has to be a hint of humor, most likely snarky humor in it!
I want my characters to be people my readers can recognize either in themselves or a friend or relative.
Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
I would like to think that I am an organized person, but the truth is I am not. I write like I drive; I have a general idea of where I am going, but not sure how I am going to get there. It leads to some wonderful surprises, but can be frustrating as well.
What have been the major influences on your writing (favorite authors, life experiences, or whatever)?
My mother was always reading. She favored romance, which isn’t my favorite genre, but it got me reading. In my teens I was hooked on Stephen King. The gorier the better! After that I switched to writers like Mary Higgins Clark, John Grisham, and Patricia Cornwell where their stories were more realistic and didn’t leave me sleeping with the lights on!
What research have you done in the course of writing your novel?
For this book, I needed to do some research in the area of how law enforcement worked together, some of their lingo, and some scoping out of areas around Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire.
Please tell us about your forthcoming book.
Trevor is a book about a young boy, Trevor Reed, who is being stalked by Matthew Stone. Stone is from North Carolina and has experienced trauma and loss and is looking to get his son back. He believes that Trevor is his son and will not stop until they are together again. The Reed family calls in an old friend and police officer, Joe, to help keep Trevor safe. Joe can’t let the family down but has never dealt with this before. He ends up confiding in reporter Karen, who gives some insight to Stone’s past. The story follows Stone as he struggles with what he knows is right and the reality he wants to recreate and the Reed family as they work to keep Trevor safe.
What are you working on now?
I want to take two of the characters from Trevor and build on their budding relationship. They go back to Karen’s home town to solve a cold case. That case is the unsolved crime from Matt Stone’s past.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
I think when most writers give this advice, they say to write a lot, and then to write some more. In the process of getting my first book published, my advice is to be open to edits! Put the ego aside and allow those who are trying to help give you advice.
Where can we find you on the internet?
Working on that now! The plan is to get them live once I have a release date for my book.
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
DOWN AND OUT IN PROVIDENCE, by Geralyn Wolf. At the time of the events narrated in this 2005 book, subtitled “Memoir of a Homeless Bishop,” the author was the Episcopal Bishop of Rhode Island. She decided to experience the plight of homeless people firsthand by immersing herself in that subculture. For almost a month, she lived incognito in shelters. In preparation, she changed her hair style and color, had a fake ID made, and sought advice from colleagues who worked in that field. She took $200 in cash for the month (more than some homeless people possessed, less than others), a few bus tickets, and a backpack with basic clothes and toiletries. As explained in the prologue, she made no claim to fully sharing the authentic experience of homelessness. As well as starting out with advantages many of her neighbors in the shelters lacked (e.g, good health), she allowed herself the option of going home for the night in some circumstances, such as getting sick (which she did at least once). I expected this book to resemble journalist Barbara Ehrenreich’s NICKEL AND DIMED, the account of her experiment in living on a minimum-wage income in several different American cities. Wolf’s book, however, is slanted more personal and anecdotal. It takes the form of a daily journal, from December 30 through January 24. She spent nights in shelters and most days in a community center for the homeless called Crossroads. Clients at the main shelter she slept in got food plus shuttle service between there and the Crossroads center. Wolf writes about the people she got to know, some with mental illness, substance abuse problems, or physical disabilities, and some with jobs that simply didn’t pay enough to cover the cost of a room, much less an apartment. She places great emphasis on the importance of “community and trust” among the homeless. At one point she lists positive aspects of this way of life, such as freedom from expectations, mundane tasks, responsibilities, fixed roles, and the burden of possessions. Nevertheless, obviously these features don’t outweigh the negatives. Aside from the physical discomforts and hazards, the homeless are too often not “seen,” even in churches Throughout the book, the author does insert more generally applicable, concrete information about the plight of the homeless. In the epilogue, she writes about the aftermath of her “coming out” to her fellow shelter residents and mentions what became of a few of them. She also touches upon systemic problems and potential solutions, especially universal health insurance and the need for affordable housing—virtually unavailable in many areas (including Providence) to someone working for minimum wage, even full time. Although Wolf, of course, writes from a Christian perspective, her story doesn’t come across as heavy-handed “preaching.” A moving and illuminating book for anyone interested in these issues.
HOW TO SLAY A DRAGON, by Cait Stevenson. The author, who holds a doctorate in medieval history, moderates the AskHistorians forum on Reddit. Subtitled “A Fantasy Hero’s Guide to the Real Middle Ages” and addressed in a humorous tone to “you” (the hypothetical would-be hero), it’s nevertheless chock-full of solid facts and real-life medieval events and people. The text is divided into sections titled “Preparing for Your Quest,” “At the Inn,” “On the Road,” “Hazards Along the Way,” “Winning the War,” and “Reaping Your Reward.” You’ll learn about becoming (or how to avoid becoming) the Chosen One, finding a mentor, staying clean, cursed swamps, enchanted forests, barbarian hordes, genies, dragons, unicorns (spoiler, they probably originated as distorted reports of rhinoceroses), buried treasure, kingly feasts, and many other topics. Each chapter includes accounts of interesting historical persons, such as princesses who saved themselves. There’s a selected bibliography plus a separate list of suggestions for “Further Reading.” This handsomely produced almost-200-page hardcover is a fun and educational book for readers and writers of fantasy fiction and/or roleplaying games.
FLATTERLAND, by Ian Stewart. This sequel (subtitled “Like Flatland, only more so”) to the classic FLATLAND (1884), by Edwin A. Abbott, features the great-great-granddaughter of “A. Square,” in-universe author of the original book, which reveals how he saw his two-dimensional world in three dimensions under the guidance of a mysterious Sphere. Teenage Victoria Square, living with her parents and two brothers, stumbles upon her ancestor’s forbidden work, which led to his confinement in a mental institution. Her outraged father burns the volume, but since this time period in Flatland corresponds to our 21st century, Vicki first secretly scans the whole text and later reads it at her leisure. As she records in her electronic diary, she’s fascinated by the book and finds a code in it, which she deciphers. Consequently, she receives a visit from a higher-dimensional entity called the Space Hopper, who takes her on a mind-blowing tour of the Mathiverse. Meanwhile, we get occasional glimpses of her parents’ devastated reaction to her disappearance. I liked the human (so to speak) interest of this part of the story, while not at all disappointed by the absence of the extended social satire found in Abbott’s book. Vicki’s travels explore not only the third dimension, but higher dimensions of spacetime. She learns about hyperspheres, quarter-dimensional spaces, fractals, triangles whose angles don’t add up to 180 degrees, rotating objects to produce their own mirror images, wormholes, expanding universes, and many other strange phenomena. In addition to explaining the math of multiple dimensions, the Space Hopper escorts her to the realms of the unimaginably vast cosmos and the irreducibly small quantum level. She’s introduced to the wild theories of mathematicians and physicists from Planiturth, including Alberteinstein. She meets weird creatures such as (among others) Schrodinger’s Cat, the Charming Construction entity, and twins who are different ages because of relativistic travel. While I enjoyed FLATTERLAND, it’s more complex than the original FLATLAND, and I must admit a lot of the explanations and diagrams left me more confused than informed. The novel can best be fully appreciated by math-minded readers and those interested in topology. Nevertheless, it’s inventive and entertaining, with the often baffled Vicki as our surrogate who constantly asks the Space Hopper to clarify the complications. I’ll probably tackle it again sometime in the future.
*****
Excerpt from “Desk Specter”:
“I want to find out if I’m going crazy.”
Dr. Roger Darvell scanned the new patient sitting—not lying, a largely obsolete custom—on the couch opposite his armchair. He’d positioned the chair so that the sunlight filtering through the window blinds wouldn’t shine directly into his eyes. While it wouldn’t harm him, it would cause discomfort he wanted to avoid. In her early thirties, Liza McCall was a slender woman of medium height with sepia-toned skin, her chestnut hair coiled in a braided crown. Her clean scent and rose-pink aura confirmed her physical health, and he read perplexity but not fear in the emotion she projected. Vampiric extranormal senses streamlined the diagnostic process.
“We try to avoid that term. It’s unscientific as well as counter-productive. Do you have some specific grounds for concern about your mental state?”
“I’ve started seeing a ghost.” She shook her head, projecting more confusion than in denial. “I tried to show it to my sister, and she didn’t see what I saw, so I must be having hallucinations.”
She flashed a smile. “But I don’t feel any crazier than I did three weeks ago.”
Keeping his disbelief in ghosts to himself for the moment, Roger said, “You spoke of a ghost. Only one?”
“So far.” She shrugged. “Isn’t one enough? Since I go to the same church as your partner, Dr. Loren, I mentioned it to her. She said it wouldn’t be professional for her to counsel somebody she knows socially, so she recommended you. So here I am.”
“Three weeks? Did the—appearances—start then?”
The patient nodded. “I just bought my first house and moved in a couple of months ago, but I didn’t see the ghost until three weeks ago. The house is only, like, thirty years old, and I bought it from the original owners. I looked up obituaries under their name, and nobody died while they lived there except a grandfather, who died of heart trouble in a hospital. So it doesn’t make sense for the house to be haunted.”
Steepling his hands, he said in a carefully neutral tone, “You don’t seem frightened.”
“Well, I was startled the first time. I thought, you know, how did this strange woman get into my house? But when she vanished a couple of minutes later, I had to admit to myself I’d seen her appear out of thin air. She hasn’t done anything scary or threatening, though.”
“Can you think of something that happened around then to trigger the phenomenon?”
“I bought a Victorian rolltop desk from an estate sale. Every time the woman popped out of nowhere, it was when I was touching the desk.” She twisted her fingers together in her lap. “I think I’ve got a haunted piece of furniture. Either that, or I’m losing my mind. I’d like to know which.”
*****
My Publishers:
Writers Exchange E-Publishing: Writers Exchange
Harlequin: Harlequin
Wild Rose Press: Wild Rose Press
You can contact me at: MLCVamp@aol.com
“Beast” wishes until next time—
Margaret L. Carter