I am not the sort of woman who cries alone in a theater while watching a children’s movie. Watching the first and long-awaited film adaptation of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. at a London theater in June, my tears fell automatically, as if my eyes were sweating. I actually wondered if I was […]
Original source: https://www.nybooks.com/online/2023/08/11/dear-judy-blume/
Whenever I can, I have been diving into the next October Daye audiobook. A Red-Rose Chain by Seanan McGuire delivers a dark, suspenseful and insightful look into the darker side of fairy.
A Red-Rose Chain
by Seanan McGuire
Series: October Daye #9
Narrator: Mary Robinette Kowal
Length: 12 hours and 47 minutes
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Source: Purchase
Purchase*: Amazon | Audible *affiliate
Rating: 
Narration: 5 cups Speed: 1.5x
Things are looking up.
For the first time in what feels like years, October “Toby” Daye has been able to pause long enough to take a breath and look at her life—and she likes what she sees. She has friends. She has allies. She has a squire to train and a King of Cats to love, and maybe, just maybe, she can let her guard down for a change.
Or not. When Queen Windermere’s seneschal is elf-shot and thrown into an enchanted sleep by agents from the neighboring Kingdom of Silences, Toby finds herself in a role she never expected to play: that of a diplomat. She must travel to Portland, Oregon, to convince King Rhys of Silences not to go to war against the Mists. But nothing is that simple, and what October finds in Silences is worse than she would ever have imagined.
How far will Toby go when lives are on the line, and when allies both old and new are threatened by a force she had never expected to face again? How much is October willing to give up, and how much is she willing to change? In Faerie, what’s past is never really gone.
It’s just waiting for an opportunity to pounce.
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The life of a hero in fairy is never, ever easy. Toby finds herself once again thrust into the middle of things. Queen Windermere’s seneschal is elf-shot by agents from the neighboring Kingdom of Silences. The Queen asks Toby to travel to the Silences and act as a diplomat. Her job is to convince King Rhys of Silences not to go to war against the Mists. The tale that unfolds was dark, complicated and filled with twists.
We continue to see growth in October’s abilities, but it comes with a cost. I am fascinating my her ability to read & change blood. The more fae she becomes, the stronger her skills. But at what cost?
Tybalt, Walter, Quinn and Walter, the alchemist who have assisted her in the past, accompany her to the kingdom. It’s a good thing because the King and the former Queen of the Mists are dark, twisted souls. It turns out Walter is from the Kingdom of Silence and offers great help despite his reluctance.
The story is dark and twisted. Things are happening within the kingdom, unpleasant and horrible things. Toby is in grave danger, as are her friends. I was spellbound and never wanted to set the audiobook down.
The world building from the caste to the different kingdoms and courts is fascinating. I am not sure who terrified me more, King Rhys or the deposed Queen of the Mist. What they did and were willing to do to secure power was horrific.
Despite the darkness, we learned more about Walter, and even Tybalt. Toby will be tested and some good comes of their visit. The characters have become important to me and I love this misfit family that Toby has created for herself.
Despite leaving off in a good place, I was once again left craving the next audiobook in the series. Which in truth I devoured shortly there after.
I highly recommend listening to the series. Mary Robinette Kowal narrates and does such a terrific job of bringing this story and the characters to life.
Amazon | Audible
A Red-Rose Chain by Seanan McGuire delivered a dark, addictive installment in the October Daye urban fantasy series narrated by Mary Robinette Kowal.
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Seanan McGuire is a native Californian, which has resulted in her being exceedingly laid-back about venomous wildlife, and terrified of weather. When not writing urban fantasy (as herself) and science fiction thrillers (as Mira Grant), she likes to watch way too many horror movies, wander around in swamps, record albums of original music, and harass her cats. Seanan is the author of the October Daye, InCryptid, and Indexing series of urban fantasies; the Newsflesh trilogy; the Parasitology duology; and the “Velveteen vs.” superhero shorts. Her cats, Lilly, Alice, and Thomas, are plotting world domination even as we speak, but are easily distracted by feathers on sticks, so mankind is probably safe. For now.
Mary Robinette Kowal is the author of The Spare Man,The Glamourist Histories series, Ghost Talkers, and the Lady Astronaut Universe. She is part of the award-winning podcast Writing Excuses and has received the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, four Hugo awards, the Nebula and Locus awards. Her stories appear in Asimov’s, Uncanny, and several Year’s Best anthologies. Mary Robinette, a professional puppeteer, also performs as a voice actor (SAG/AFTRA), recording fiction for authors including Seanan McGuire, Cory Doctorow, and John Scalzi. She lives in Nashville with her husband Rob and over a dozen manual typewriters.
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Original source: https://caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/2023/08/a-red-rose-chain-by-seanan-mcguire.html
Nursery rhymes are an excellent way to teach rhyming words, word families, and rhythm in the English language. For decades, nursery rhymes have served as a way of introducing the youngest of emerging readers to the characteristics of text, story elements, and basic sight words. Pam Gittleman, author of Nursery Rhymes for Kinder Times, has taken nursery rhymes to a new level by incorporating social and emotional learning into her new and refreshing versions of age-old rhymes we will all recognize. Gittleman’s rhymes range from “Three Kind Mice” to “Baa Baa Bright Sheep.”
Social and emotional learning is key to cultivating relationships and creating a stable and caring learning environment in classrooms. Nursery Rhymes for Kinder Times, by Pam Gittleman, is a bright spot in literature for young readers in that it delivers important lessons in becoming aware of one’s own feelings. Gittleman’s versions of classic rhymes are relevant and relatable and will quickly catch the interest of young readers, whether they are shared as read-aloud or read independently. The author has done a beautiful job of incorporating feelings into each rhyme in a way little ones will find comforting. The use of emojis at the conclusion of each rhyme really serves to bring the entire book full circle.
I have missed the presence of nursery rhymes in early elementary classrooms. Their benefits are many and desperately needed with regard to literacy. Gittleman knocks it out of the park with her renditions of classic rhymes. I look forward to seeing her work become commonplace in elementary classrooms and guidance curricula.
Pages: 46 | ISBN : 1637558015
Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2023/08/11/nursery-rhymes-for-kinder-times/
Sascha is turning six, and all he wants for his birthday is a bunny. He believes a bunny will make not only a great pet but a wonderful friend. Sascha is a little boy who doesn’t have many friends and thinks this is his chance to turn things around. Sascha’s mother is as cautious as Sascha is insistent. For every positive he gives his mother, she gives him a reason that a rabbit will be a challenge for them both. When Sascha wakes up from an after-dinner nap one evening, he is greeted by Yakov, his new bunny friend, and their strange adventure begins.
The Not So Funny Bunny, written by Michele L. Sayre and illustrated by Christina Cartwright, is the story of a little boy who learns a difficult but valuable lesson about owning a pet. Sascha is introduced to the rigors of owning a rabbit following an evening nap. When he awakens, he is taken on an unforgettable journey by Yakov, a quirky and mischievous character. Yakov will remind young readers of The White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. His hyperactive ways keep both Sascha and readers on their toes as they watch him advance from one naughty incident to the next.
Sayre’s book is meant to both entertain and teach young readers. Sascha’s frustration is palpable–he can’t seem to stop this amazing rabbit who walks, talks, and destroys everything in his path. His mother’s advice on pet ownership begins to ring true, and Sascha soon sees what most every parent wishes their children to understand–pets are an immense responsibility. Parents really do know best when it comes to talking about pet ownership.
The Not So Funny Bunny, written by Michele L. Sayre and illustrated by Christina Cartwright, will appeal to parents who are facing the pet talk with their little ones. This book is an excellent tool for teaching responsibility and emphasizing careful decision-making. Cartwright’s illustrations are crisp and vibrant and seem to take on a life of their own. I found this author/illustrator team to be one that will be difficult to beat!
Pages: 76 | ASIN : B0C9LC7FR7
Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2023/08/11/the-not-so-funny-bunny-happy-tails/
Olive remembered, fondly, childhood summers spent on Cape Cod with her aunt. The sense of community, the palpable history, and the slower way of life seemed like another world from what she was used to in Boston. With her aunt’s passing, Olive now found herself in possession of that same house she used to visit, and quickly realized a permanent life there was more than possible- it seemed almost inevitable. In the midst of making new friends, introducing old friends to the Cape, and delving into a centuries old family mystery, Olive realizes that there are many pieces that connect to make a place feel like home.
Wash Ashore: A Tale of Cape Cod is a novel by Mary Petiet that follows Olive as she inherits her aunt’s family home and becomes immersed in all the history and traditions of the sleepy little village. Bringing along a couple of friends from Boston, Johnny, and Ann, the three of them quickly find the charm of Cape Cod irresistible.
Petiet has created an excellent blend of characters and immerses them with a vibrancy that creates a sense of realism regarding their tight-knit group. Never once does it seem odd that a magazine director, a hot shot designer, and a chef would be spending their days with an octogenarian gardener, a land preservationist, and various other people who had always lived right there and never do any of their roles feel forced or unnecessary.
Wash Ashore has a lot going on within its pages and truly offers a little bit of everything- history, mystery, romance, a suitably sleazy villain, ghosts (yes, really!), and even a somewhat strange secondary storyline about trying to create the most perfect clam chowder recipe. All of it combines to make a wonderfully entertaining and charming story that sees all of its parts well balanced. (Much like the decided-upon chowder recipe, which is included at the end!)
The premise of this book is fairly straightforward, and I half expected a very dry narrative that droned on with history and preservation laws, but I was so pleasantly surprised to find so much more! Each new angle that was introduced was better than the last, and while the ending was no shock by any means, it was nonetheless satisfying when you arrived.
Pages: 186 | ASIN : B0B11R14H5
Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2023/08/11/wash-ashore-a-tale-of-cape-cod/
Vanished on the Vaudeville Circuit follows a Vaudeville performer whose 7-year-old daughter goes missing one night and his search for her. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I was interested in the world of vaudeville and its traveling entertainers, almost vagabonds, since I first read the book GYPSY by Gypsy Rose Lee as a child. Gypsy and her little sister grew up in vaudeville. It was intriguing to learn that there were children who had been free of going to school and spent their childhoods entertaining, and I wanted to write about a father who was on the road with his daughters. It’s the 1920s, so I made the father, Avram, who changed his name to August, the child of immigrants, with all the resilient bravado that those who came to this country brought with them. The premise for this book popped into my head one day as I was outside drinking a coffee by the rose bushes in my backyard, and I ran right inside to start the book.
Why choose this place and time for the setting of the story? What do you find so fascinating about the Roaring 1920s?
As I said, I love the whole idea of the world of vaudeville, and the 1920s always struck me as a wonderful time. It was my grandparents’ era. I grew up listening to show tunes and also the bouncy, optimistic songs of the 1920s, loved them then and love them yet. World War I had ended. The members of the armed forces who survived returned home wanting to forget it and have a good time. It’s just an amazing decade, or it was until it ended with a crash and burn in 1929, and I put the story right in the middle of it, 1925. I also had to put the story during a time when vaudeville was still alive and well. It was in 1925, but its demise was coming.
Do you think there’s a single moment in everyone’s life, maybe not as traumatic, that is life-changing?
Oh, definitely, yes! August La May kind of “wakes up” when his younger child goes missing. Up until then, he’s not naive or anything, but he’s a lot more trusting of the world around him until that happens. After that, as we say in Brooklyn, “Forget about it!” He’s older and wiser, fast.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when can your fans expect it to be out?
I work on several at a time. At the moment, I’m not sure which one I’ll finish next, but there’s a bunch of them in the works. The genre I love the most is cozy mysteries like this one!
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website | Blog
But four years after Violetta left, all might not be well. August is sure he sees Violetta on the theater ticket line in Chicago. Later that day, seven-year-old Florabelle goes missing on the way to the stage from her dressing room. Is this a coincidence? Has Violetta really returned for only one of her daughters, or has someone else in vaudeville taken the talented child? Who, among the many rather irregular folks in show business, might have done this? August and his other daughter, savvy little April, keep touring the theaters of America, determined to find out. Where then, in the space of the entire country, could Florabelle possibly be?
Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2023/08/11/i-love-vaudeville/
The Crimson Plains follows the inhabitants of a border town who are being threatened by a powerful enemy; alliances are forged in the name of survival. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The inspiration for the story actually came from an old daydream I had when I was a child. I grew up as a single child, so I often got lost in my imagination. One daydream I kept coming back to was a gigantic warrior facing off against goblins in a very muddy town/city. You can probably guess the scene in the book that pulls from that directly. Eventually, when I got into writing, that daydream fully came back to me, and since I had grown up, I decided to make the daydream grow up too. Now, since that particular daydream/scene is at the end of the book, I started working backward to see what events would lead up to that scene and what kind of characters would be involved with it all.
I find the world you created in this novel brimming with possibilities. Where did the inspiration for the setting come from, and how did it change as you were writing?
That’s a bit of a difficult one to answer. I’ve always played a tonne of fantasy games, read a lot of fantasy books, and watched more than my fair share of fantasy movies and shows. I picked the technological period I always preferred, the late middle ages, and started throwing my own spin on things. I’ve always loved larger-than-life architecture, so that’s why the walls of Valenfaar’s Central Cities are way too big! A lot of the setting of Valenfaar came while I was writing it, ideas would pop in my head and I’d note them down to keep things consistent and I would just roll with it. I also looked at all the fantasy media I had consumed and looked at the things I liked (gigantic battles such as Lord of the Rings) and the things I didn’t like (prophecies/chosen ones) to make my world something that feels familiar yet refreshing. I never wanted magic in the reader’s face all the time, while I love magic, it can get exhausting to always have various fantasies throwing their own systems in your face like it’s the air the characters breathe. I wanted my magic to be a side thing, like any other trade: A town has a blacksmith or two, a carpenter or three, a herbalist or two, and a mage or two. It’s just another facet.
As for how things changed while I wrote, it didn’t change all too much since I kept my notes consistent, but I would say that the walls of the Central Cities did actually shrink a few times. Oh, and FAR more characters made it out alive than I had initially planned. Originally only 2 primary characters were going to make it to the end of the book but now many more make it through.
It seemed like you took your time in building the characters and the story to great emotional effect. How did you manage the pacing of the story while keeping readers engaged?
Ultimately I plan out all the major plot points ahead of time. Things like: “I want this fight to happen” and “I want so and so to die” but how we get there I rarely plot out. When I write the parts of the book that connect those major plot points I’m on just as much a journey as the reader. I pull back and look at it from a reader’s point of view. I start to ask myself questions like: “What would my friends and I like in this chapter if we were to read it?” and I plop it on in. What’s great about this method — as long as I keep my notes updated and don’t contradict myself — is that I get excited at certain points too. As for pacing, I’ve watched a fair amount of TV and I’ve tried to emulate the episode structure of shows that I’ve loved. Relaxing chapter here, build up there, battle here, drama there, and if I spend a lot of time in Plainsview, I’d try to pull away to Valen for a chapter as a quick breather. Ultimately though, I always wanted to approach the end of each chapter with a fade-to-black kind of feel. With some, if it was a cliffhanger, as a sudden black screen. Like a TV show.
As for my characters, the bottom line is that I wanted them to be believable. When writing them I would essentially roleplay them and their perspective and even the narration would contain flavours of their personality or mindset. Not everything I wrote with my characters I agree with, and a lot of their thoughts I don’t agree with, but that’s the great thing about people, you don’t have to agree with someone to find them interesting. And it’s always fun to have a debate with yourself.
Can you tell us a little about where the story goes in book two and when the novel will be available?
Yes I can! The second book is actually detached from The Crimson Plains as it takes place at the same time as its predecessor but on the opposite side of the country. Throughout The Crimson Plains, you get references to children laughing, events happening in the west, and a “children’s song”. These are actually events taking place in the second book as news reaches the far east. The second book is titled The Children’s Song and follows the perspective of an older soldier, Garridan Lethar, as he’s tasked by the High Priest, Varen Highfold, to deal with a particular matter for the church. The book is actually already out! Because the events of The Children’s Song are separate from The Crimson Plains you can read either one first and not miss out. The second book contains more magic and religion than The Crimson Plains and has a completely separate cast of characters, though there is one scene that is shared with The Crimson Plains, it takes place from a different character’s point of view. For folks looking to see the continuation of Rel and Bronwin’s stories, they will have to wait until the 3rd book, Dance of Ashes releases next spring. The 3rd book will see the events and characters of The Crimson Plains AND The Children’s Song come together to deal with the problems plaguing their nation.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2023/08/11/i-wanted-a-story-that-was-believable/