There have been a lot of deaths in January 2020, so I started this year hopeful and am already viewing the year with a more jaundiced eye. Neal Peart of the fantastic Canadian rock band Rush died of cancer, and Stan Kirsch, who played Richie on the TV show "Highlander" (I was a huge fan of that show, and not just because Adrian Paul played a hot Scot with a sword) committed suicide a couple of days ago, at only 51 years old. Add to that the recent snowstorm and this kerfuffle with the Romance Writers of America, and I am already yearning for a vacation.
RITA Awards Cancelled for 2020
After several months of heated controversy and mass
resignations by members and board members of the Romance Writers of America,
the association has cancelled its RITA awards in 2020. In an announcement, the
RWA said that "many in the romance community have lost faith in RWA's
ability to administer the 2020 RITA contest fairly, causing numerous judges and
entrants to cancel their participation." It expects the 2021 awards to
encompass 2019 and 2020 titles.
The RWA added that it is hiring "a consultant who specializes
in awards programs and a DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] consultant"
and will seek member involvement in remaking the awards. "Recent RWA
Boards have worked hard to make changes to the current contest, striving to
make it more diverse and inclusive, relieve judging burdens, and bring in
outside voices," but those kinds of changes have been
"piecemeal," and the hiatus will allow the RWA "the opportunity
to take a proper amount of time to build an awards program and process--whether
it's a revamped RITA contest or something entirely new--that celebrates and
elevates the best in our genre."
The move isn't a surprise after the turbulence of the past
half year, which started when author Courtney Milan (the pen name of Heidi
Bond), a former RWA board member and an advocate for diversity in the
publishing community and in romance books, tweeted that a 1999 historical
romance, Somewhere Lies the Moon by Kathryn Lynn Davis (which has a heroine who
is half-Chinese, like Milan), was a "f*cking racist mess."
As recounted by the Guardian, Davis and Suzan Tisdale, a
romance writer and publisher who has worked with Davis, filed an ethics
complaint http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz43018718
with the RWA, alleging cyberbullying by Milan and a loss of professional
opportunities--a three-book deal--because of the tweet. (Davis later said that
there had been no final deal; rather, discussions on a deal had ended.)
Bizarrely, at the time the ethics complaint was filed,
Milan, the subject of the complaint, was chair of the RWA's ethics committee.
The board, it says, asked her to resign and added members to the committee who
had no connection with Milan.
On December 23, the RWA board suspended Milan from the RWA
for a year and barred her from any leadership positions for life. In reaction,
masses of members resigned and many on the RWA board left. The RWA quickly
rescinded the punishment.
In the meantime, a recall petition for RWA president Damon
Suede was submitted this week to the association, which has also hired a law
firm to "conduct an independent audit of the recent matter involving its
code of ethics and to make recommendations on appropriate adjustments moving forward
on ethics policy and procedures."
This looks like an amazing film that I will have to keep an eye out for.
Movies: The Mad Women's Ball
Melanie Laurent, the French actor (Inglourious Basterds) and
filmmaker (Galveston), will write and direct The Mad Women's Ball http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz43045802,
a period thriller based on the novel by Victoria Mas, Variety reported. Alain
Goldman's Legende Films is producing, with Laurent writing the adaptation.
A Queen in Hiding by Sarah Kozloff is an ARC I received from either the publisher or Goodreads (I am not sure which, because I sign up for free copies of books all the time, and it usually takes at least 6 weeks for them to send me one), that is part of a four book series that will be released once a month in sequence from January through April of this year. Though it claims to be an epic fantasy, I found it to be more like an overwritten script for a Netflix series. Many authors wish to follow in George RR Martin's footsteps with a Game of Thrones epic fantasy, but few have the narrative power of Martin's political gore-and-sex-laden books. Kozloff's prose is, by comparison, young and amateurish, with a lot that gets stalled by info-dumps and descriptions that go nowhere but are meant, I think, to be poetic or evocative. Here's the blurb:
Debut author Sarah Kozloff offers a breathtaking and cinematic epic fantasy of a ruler coming of age in A Queen in Hiding first in the quartet of The Nine Realms series.
Four books. Four months. Nine Realms.
Readers will be able to binge this amazing fantasy series with beautiful interlocking art across the spines of all four books.
Orphaned, exiled and hunted, Cerulia, Princess of Weirandale, must master the magic that is her birthright, become a ruthless guerilla fighter, and transform into the queen she is destined to be.
But to do it she must win the favor of the spirits who play in mortal affairs, assemble an unlikely group of rebels, and wrest the throne from a corrupt aristocracy whose rot has spread throughout her kingdom.
The Nine Realms Series
#1 A Queen in Hiding January 2020
#2 The Queen of Raiders February 2020
#3 A Broken Queen March 2020
#4 The Cerulean Queen April 2020
Four books. Four months. Nine Realms.
Readers will be able to binge this amazing fantasy series with beautiful interlocking art across the spines of all four books.
Orphaned, exiled and hunted, Cerulia, Princess of Weirandale, must master the magic that is her birthright, become a ruthless guerilla fighter, and transform into the queen she is destined to be.
But to do it she must win the favor of the spirits who play in mortal affairs, assemble an unlikely group of rebels, and wrest the throne from a corrupt aristocracy whose rot has spread throughout her kingdom.
The Nine Realms Series
#1 A Queen in Hiding January 2020
#2 The Queen of Raiders February 2020
#3 A Broken Queen March 2020
#4 The Cerulean Queen April 2020
While I think it's obvious that Kozloff is a "debut" (meaning new) author, I still enjoyed the story arc, and I liked the definitive characters...ie the princess in hiding who has to learn to be a regular working person, (and learn empathy for the common man/woman/child) the evil sociopathic regent who enjoys the power and privilege of being on the throne enough to kill anyone to stay there, and the brilliant dreamy scholar Thane, who has to learn practical uses for his eidetic memory to help his family during wartime. There were a lot of POVs in this first book, probably because the author wanted to introduce each of the main protagonists and antagonists in a personal,intimate fashion, so that we'd know their motivations for what they were doing. That said, so many POVs got to be somewhat headache-inducing, and unnecessary. I'd give this book a B-, and recommend it to those who love epic fantasies that are clearly outlined and don't offer any surprises or gore, for that matter.
Sisters of the Vast Black by Lina Rather is a science fiction novella that starts slow, but builds swiftly into a powerful and intricate meditation on the ethics of space travel and religious missionary work. Here's the blurb:
The sisters of the Order of Saint Rita captain their living ship into the reaches of space in Lina Rather's debut novella, Sisters of the Vast Black.
Years ago, Old Earth sent forth sisters and brothers into the vast dark of the prodigal colonies armed only with crucifixes and iron faith. Now, the sisters of the Order of Saint Rita are on an interstellar mission of mercy aboard Our Lady of Impossible Constellations, a living, breathing ship which seems determined to develop a will of its own.
When the order receives a distress call from a newly-formed colony, the sisters discover that the bodies and souls in their care―and that of the galactic diaspora―are in danger. And not from void beyond, but from the nascent Central Governance and the Church itself.
Years ago, Old Earth sent forth sisters and brothers into the vast dark of the prodigal colonies armed only with crucifixes and iron faith. Now, the sisters of the Order of Saint Rita are on an interstellar mission of mercy aboard Our Lady of Impossible Constellations, a living, breathing ship which seems determined to develop a will of its own.
When the order receives a distress call from a newly-formed colony, the sisters discover that the bodies and souls in their care―and that of the galactic diaspora―are in danger. And not from void beyond, but from the nascent Central Governance and the Church itself.
Though this short work is also debut fiction, I felt that Rather had a much better handle on hearty prose style and a surprisingly intricate plot, considering the short amount of space she was given to complete the story arc. The Reverend Mother, with her Tokyo Rose secret past life, Sister Lucia and Sister Gemma (and Sister Faustina of the perfect name) are all so well drawn as characters that they seem to live and breathe. The patriarchy, in the form of a horrible zealot priest sent to censor the Sisters adds even more spice to the already heady brew of a plot. I'd give this novella an A-, and recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Mary Doria Russell's excellent "The Sparrow" which will be used, I suspect, as a comparison standard to this novella, and any book dealing with missionaries in space, dealing with aliens.
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See is the third book of hers that I have read. Each of See's novels deals with a different aspect or era of women's lives in China, often showing the power that sexism and misogyny (under the guise of tradition) have over the lives of every female in China, from ancient times to modern day society. Here's the blurb:A thrilling new novel from author Lisa See explores the lives of a Chinese mother and her daughter who has been adopted by an American couple.
Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea. There is ritual and routine, and it has been ever thus for generations. Then one day a jeep appears at the village gate—the first automobile any of them have seen—and a stranger arrives.
In this remote Yunnan village, the stranger finds the rare tea he has been seeking and a reticent Akha people. In her biggest seller, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, See introduced the Yao people to her readers. Here she shares the customs of another Chinese ethnic minority, the Akha, whose world will soon change. Li-yan, one of the few educated girls on her mountain, translates for the stranger and is among the first to reject the rules that have shaped her existence. When she has a baby outside of wedlock, rather than stand by tradition, she wraps her daughter in a blanket, with a tea cake hidden in her swaddling, and abandons her in the nearest city. (editors note: she actually takes her baby to an orphanage and watches to make sure she's taken in safely)
After mother and daughter have gone their separate ways, Li-yan slowly emerges from the security and insularity of her village to encounter modern life while Haley grows up a privileged and well-loved California girl. Despite Haley’s happy home life, she wonders about her origins; and Li-yan longs for her lost daughter. They both search for and find answers in the tea that has shaped their family’s destiny for generations.
A powerful story about a family, separated by circumstances, culture, and distance, Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane paints an unforgettable portrait of a little known region and its people and celebrates the bond that connects mothers and daughters.
Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea. There is ritual and routine, and it has been ever thus for generations. Then one day a jeep appears at the village gate—the first automobile any of them have seen—and a stranger arrives.
In this remote Yunnan village, the stranger finds the rare tea he has been seeking and a reticent Akha people. In her biggest seller, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, See introduced the Yao people to her readers. Here she shares the customs of another Chinese ethnic minority, the Akha, whose world will soon change. Li-yan, one of the few educated girls on her mountain, translates for the stranger and is among the first to reject the rules that have shaped her existence. When she has a baby outside of wedlock, rather than stand by tradition, she wraps her daughter in a blanket, with a tea cake hidden in her swaddling, and abandons her in the nearest city. (editors note: she actually takes her baby to an orphanage and watches to make sure she's taken in safely)
After mother and daughter have gone their separate ways, Li-yan slowly emerges from the security and insularity of her village to encounter modern life while Haley grows up a privileged and well-loved California girl. Despite Haley’s happy home life, she wonders about her origins; and Li-yan longs for her lost daughter. They both search for and find answers in the tea that has shaped their family’s destiny for generations.
A powerful story about a family, separated by circumstances, culture, and distance, Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane paints an unforgettable portrait of a little known region and its people and celebrates the bond that connects mothers and daughters.
I found the story very difficult to deal with (and therefore slow going) during the first few chapters. The idea that these mountain people were so sexist and superstitious that they would kill twins right after they were born was sickening. I also didn't like the fact that girl children's births were not celebrated, but boys were. Girls lives were considered worthless, yet the women of the Akha people did most of the work and helped keep the tribe going. The men were mostly idiots. Even the man that Li yan falls in love with (a childhood friend that her mother and wisewoman warns her about, but she doesn't listen) turns out to be a despicable drug addict who only wants to use and abuse her. Li yan herself often defers to the men in her life, and is altogether too naive and trusting of people who always end up disappointing her. The powerful, cinematic descriptions of the life of the mountain tribes who farm, pick and sell pu'er tea to China and the rest of the world are riveting, and the injustices modern society brings, along with money and technology, to the villages and their people provides an engaging story for the main characters to inhabit. I'd give this book a B, and recommend it to anyone who wonders about the indigenous people, particularly the women, of China and how they fared during the 70s and 80s, after Maos Cultural Revolution and the One Child Act.
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