It has been a crazy 10 days since I last posted, with a lot of things going on, both inside and outside my home. We're coming up on the last days of October, and along with two doctors appointments, Halloween has been cancelled at our house this year, due to the Coronavirus threat. November and December mark birthdays for all three of the members of my family, as my husband and I will both turn 60 this year. I'm looking forward to a vaccine and better health and a healthier society in the coming year. Meanwhile, I've been reading a lot of free and cheap ebooks to supplement my paper book collection. Some have been fascinating, others, not so much. So let's get started with some tidbits, an obit and book reviews.
My husband and I both are big fans of Watchman, and I was fascinated by V for Vendetta, mostly due to Hugo Weaving's awesome performance.
Alan Moore Talks About The Show
Comics legend Alan Moore (Watchmen, V For Vendetta and many more) "is attempting to break into the film business on his own terms with original project The Show http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz45950379," starring Tom Burke and directed by Mitch Jenkins, Deadline reported, adding that "the fantastical adventure, set in Moore's hometown of Northampton, follows a man's search for a stolen artefact, a journey that leads him into a surreal world of crime and mystery." Moore granted a rare interview to Deadline to discuss what "has been something of a passion project for the writer." Among the highlights from the q&a:
You retired from comics after finishing The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in 2018, any thoughts on getting back in the saddle?
I'm not so interested in comics anymore, I don't want anything to do with them. I had been doing comics for 40-something years when I finally retired. When I entered the comics industry, the big attraction was that this was a medium that was vulgar, it had been created to entertain working class people, particularly children. The way that the industry has changed, it's 'graphic novels' now, it's entirely priced for an audience of middle class people. I have nothing against middle class people but it wasn't meant to be a medium for middle aged hobbyists. It was meant to be a medium for people who haven't got much money...."
You said you feel responsible for how comics have changed, why?It was largely my work that attracted an adult audience, it was the way that was commercialized by the comics industry, there were tons of headlines saying that comics had 'grown up.' But other than a couple of particular individual comics they really hadn't. This thing happened with graphic novels in the 1980s. People wanted to carry on reading comics as they always had, and they could now do it in public and still feel sophisticated because they weren't reading a children's comic, it wasn't seen as subnormal. You didn't get the huge advances in adult comic books that I was thinking we might have. As witnessed by the endless superhero films..."
In retirement, are you still creating, do you still write?I've only retired from comics. I'm finishing off a book of magic now. It's been stalled for a while but I'm also working on an opera about John Dee with [musician] Howard Gray. I've got some short stories coming out. And I've also been thinking a lot about what we want to do after The Show feature film. We hope that it's enjoyable as a thing in itself, but to some degree it could be seen as an incredibly elaborate pilot episode, we think there's quite an interesting story that we could develop out of it as a TV series, which would imaginatively be called The Show.
I started watching Conchata Ferrell on a show called Hot El Baltimore back in the 70s or early 80s, and I loved the fact that she was a larger woman who was unapologetic about her size at a time when there were very few actresses on TV who weren't "perfect" and tiny and gorgeous, like manequins come to life. Conchata was real, and loud, and hilarious. Rest in peace, you great lady!
Obituary Note: Conchata Ferrell
Conchata Ferrell, a beloved longtime character actress whose vast list of credits included roles in TV series like "Two and a Half Men" and films like "Edward Scissorhands" and "Erin Brockovich," has died, according to Dan Spilo, her manager.
Spilo, who remembered Ferrell as a "wonderful, kind-hearted, strong woman," told CNN she passed away around 12:30 p.m. on October 12.
"She will be missed," he said.
In a career that spanned five decades across TV and film, Ferrell earned three Emmy nominations. The first was for her work on "L.A. Law" in 1992 and earned two others for her role on "Two and a Half Men," on which she played salty and sassy housekeeper Berta.
Ferrell, who was 77, was also an accomplished theater performer, winning a Drama Desk award in 1974 for her work in "The Sea Horse."
Her film credits also included roles in "Mystic Pizza," "Mr. Deeds" and "Krampus."
Upon news of her death, former "Two and a Half Men" co-workers were among those who paid tribute to Ferrell.
Creator Chuck Lorre said in a statement to CNN, via Warner Bros. TV: "We called her Chatty. And we all loved her. Twelve years of highs and lows, and lots and lots of laughter. Through it all she was a rock. One of the greats. I was privileged to call her a friend."
Jon Cryer remembered Ferrell as "a beautiful human" in a statement on Twitter.
"Berta's gruff exterior was an invention of the writers. Chatty's warmth and vulnerability were her real strengths," he wrote. "I'm crying for the woman I'll miss, and the joy she brought so many."
Sheen, meanwhile, called her "an absolute sweetheart," "a consummate pro," and "a genuine friend."
Ferrell survived by her husband, Arnie, and her daughter, Samantha, Spilo said. https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/13/entertainment/conchata-ferrell/index.html
I really need a copy of this book, as I was a preteen and teenager in the 70s, and I remember being frustrated that there were so few women in Rock and Roll, and the ones that were made it clear that they had to fight hard just for a seat at the table. Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart were instant favorites, but every interview that they gave made mention of their sexuality, not their talent at being rock stars. I imagine it was worse for women who came before them, like Janis Joplin.
Book Review: Nobody Ever Asked Me About the Girls: Women, Music and Fame
Here's an idea: instead of publishing a cool book of archival interviews with several dozen famous women in music, publish an even cooler book of their insights organized around themed chapters (e.g., "Motherhood," "Sex," "Drugs"). This bright idea comes from pioneering rock journalist Lisa Robinson, whose Nobody Ever Asked Me About the Girls: Women, Music and Fame is part music history, part social history and no part minced words.
Robinson (There Goes Gravity: A Life in Rock and Roll) began editing rock magazines in the 1970s, when "rock music journalism, just like rock music, was a boys' club." She spent more than four decades racking up interviews with heavy hitters, among them Joni Mitchell, Stevie Nicks, Beyonce; and Adele. Inevitably, Nobody Ever Asked Me About the Girls gets into the sexism encountered by many of Robinson's interview subjects. In the 1980s, Joan Jett relayed to Robinson what radio stations were telling her: "We can't play you on the radio.... We're playing a woman already. We're playing Pat Benatar."
Some of the challenges that Robinson's subjects face are common to male musicians as well--how to be a good parent despite a rigorous tour schedule, say--but Robinson is attuned to the different expectations placed on women. Of Patti Smith's decision to move to Detroit in 1979 to be with her eventual husband, the guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith, Robinson notes, "There never was any thought whatsoever of him moving to New York to be with her--even though she certainly had the bigger career."
Robinson supplements her interview snippets and blunt opinions with choice autobiographical asides ("I got the nickname 'Hot Pants' on the 1975 Stones tour as a sarcastic nod to my prudishness"). She's measured about whether, back in the day, she was remiss in not writing about the exploitation of groupies by rock stars, but she's unequivocal when the music business disappoints her, as it did when it produced what she clearly sees as the twin evils of Madonna and MTV.
Nobody Ever Asked Me About the Girls touches on some of the positive changes Robinson has seen in the business, especially the fact that women, having all too often been exploited by their male managers, are increasingly taking charge of their own careers. Another improvement: there are many more female rock journalists out there now, although it's hard to imagine one as winningly blunt, unpretentious and on-target as Robinson. --Nell Beram author and freelance writer
I'm sorry to hear that Ireland and Wales will be under lockdown, but I hope it is effective in stemming the tide of Coronavirus cases in their respective countries.
International Update: Wales, Ireland Under New Lockdowns
Bookshops are included among the "non-essential shops" in Wales and Ireland that must close temporarily http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz46055857> under new Covid-19 lockdown orders announced earlier this week. The Bookseller reported that in Wales, the "firebreak" lockdown will be from October 23 until November 9, with people "advised to stay at home. Gatherings of more than one household both inside and outside will also be banned."
In Ireland, restrictions asking people to stay at home and non-essential shops to close go into effect at midnight tonight for six weeks, but will be reviewed after four. Northern Ireland imposed tighter restrictions last week, with hospitality venues closing but most shops allowed to remain open.
Tim Batcup of Welsh bookshop Cover to Cover http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz46055858 in Swansea said: "Obviously this lockdown I saw coming a mile off but as it's only two weeks I'm not too stressed about it really. I think it's the right thing to do. I'll do what I did in lockdown which is basically hammer social media, hand deliver books, have a bit of fun online--I've almost got my stock online anyway--and then of course Bookshop.org is coming on. So all the channels are open as it were. How the customers respond we'll see, but it is just two weeks. A lot of my business is customer orders for the next day but if I've got say it's going to be another week people will understand I think."
Chair of Bookselling Ireland Heidi Murphy observed: "The news, by the time it broke, was expected and has ended weeks of speculation and uncertainty. Our message to the book-lovers of Ireland is bookshops are open. We know how important book-reading was to people during the initial lockdown. We know that customers want to shop early and we know that people are shopping earlier than ever for Christmas. Bookshops will rise to the challenge and via phone, e-mail, website and social media will be taking orders for delivery or click and collect for their immediate area to continue to supply Ireland's book lovers."
Battle Ground by Jim Butcher is the 17th book in the Dresden Files series, about Chicago's best Wizard. The book lives up to it's name, with battles that test the strength and might of the good guys against the forces of darkness. While it's been obvious that this war was coming for a long time, I was hoping that there would be more character development and more of Harry's sarcasm and wit. Unfortunately, there is more blood and death than anything, so I got bored by the redundancy by the third chapter. Here's the blurb:
Harry
has faced terrible odds before. He has a long history of fighting
enemies above his weight class. The Red Court of vampires. The fallen
angels of the Order of the Blackened Denarius. The Outsiders.
But
this time it’s different. A being more powerful and dangerous on an
order of magnitude beyond what the world has seen in a millennium is
coming. And she’s bringing an army. The Last Titan has declared war on
the city of Chicago, and has come to subjugate humanity, obliterating
any who stand in her way.
Harry’s mission is simple but
impossible: Save the city by killing a Titan. And the attempt will
change Harry’s life, Chicago, and the mortal world forever.
So, SPOILER ALERT, the tragedy of Karrin Murphy's death lent a pall of darkness over the entire book, because it was obvious that one of the main characters had to die, and it couldn't be Harry, as the protagonist, so it had to be his lover. I was, therefore, not surprised, but still saddened to see her exit the stage, so to speak. I also wasn't surprised by the rise of Waldo Butters as a hero, or of Marcone has a Blackened Denarius host. Creepy, but definitely on brand for the mob boss. The battles and bloodshed on nearly every page gave me a headache, though, and made the book kind of boring, as I am not a fan of extreme violence and descriptions thereof. Still Harry triumphs in the end, and I guess we are going to see what happens to all those who survived to mourn the dead in the next installment. Chicago will never be the same. I'd give this book a B-, and recommend it to anyone who has read the other books in the series.
Midlife Curses by Christine Zane Thomas was an ebook that I got for free on Amazon. Touted as a "paranormal women's fiction mystery" this apparently self-published mystery is the first book of a series that stars a middle-aged female protagonist who only comes into her powers at age 40. Here's the blurb: A Paranormal Women’s Fiction murder mystery for anyone who believes you can find your powers at any age.
Constance
Campbell has made a few questionable decisions in the run-up to her
fortieth birthday. So in a way, moving two thousand miles away from
everything she’s ever known makes perfect sense.
Creel Creek,
Virginia is the last place either of her ex-husbands would ever think to
look for her. What better place to hide from her humiliations than a
town too small to warrant a mention on a map?
Laid off, and
recently divorced from husband number two, this former workaholic moves
in with her estranged—and very strange—grandmother.
A grandmother
who informs Constance that she comes from a long line of powerful
witches. And on the day she hits the big 4-0, she’ll come into her
powers.
It turns out that she’s not the only paranormal person in
town. Under the sleepy surface, the small town is teeming with
supernatural beings.
When Constance finds the town’s resident
vampire dead, things go from surreal to scary. The local sheriff is
convinced that a killer is lurking in the shadows, hunting anyone with
supernatural abilities…including witches like her. He’s not wrong.
Can Constance learn enough magic to save herself and Creel Creek from this unknown foe?
Though this book contained a number of things that I look for in fiction, ie a strong female protagonist, magic or the supernatural and a protagonist who is not the stereotypical petite young blonde who is every man's dream lover, I was disappointed in the lack of smarts displayed by the (barely) middle aged protagonist, and her instant attraction to the sheriff, who seemed like a skeevy sexist creep to me. Still, this book was an easy read with prose that was immature, but got the job done nonetheless. I'd give this book a C, and recommend it to those looking for a distraction.
The Girl at Rosewood Hall by Annis Bell was another self published book, this time a romantic mystery that was translated from German, I believe. Anyway, I found the protagonist of this book, Lady Jane, to be a snobby and mean rich B*tch who, though she claims to care for young women of the poorer classes, still seems to treat her maid Hettie like crap, and also whips her horse with impunity. Here's the blurb:
On his death bed, Lord Pembroke took great care to try to ensure the future of his beautiful, unconventional niece, Lady Jane. Her debutante ball would feature the most eligible bachelors of London society. But when the night of the dance arrives, things do not go as planned.
To escape the superficial drama of the party, Jane seeks refuge in the garden of Rosewood Hall, where she discovers a gravely injured girl. With her last breath, the child beseeches Jane to find another girl, Mary, and to save her from the same fate she has suffered. Lady Jane vows to fulfill this final wish, a promise that will entangle her in a dangerous intrigue and take her from the safety of home to the hard streets of London. With the faded inscription in a tattered novel as her only physical clue, Jane sets out to investigate the region’s orphanages and infiltrate London’s most elegant homes. Can she save young Mary from a swiftly approaching doom?
Though the other orphans around London are dying in droves from abuse and starvation, Lady Jane is impervious to their pleas for help, as she's focused on only one girl. She's also reckless and stupid, putting herself in obvious danger, and when her maid Hettie falls on her in a carriage accident that is no fault of her own, snotty Lady Jane yells at her about her weight and insists that she not be allowed any more sweets, and that she basically diet to suit Lady Jane. So LJ apparently finds it okay to "own" another's body enough to tell them what they can and cannot eat, and then only gives Hettie one day to recover when she takes a knife to the ribs saving LJ from her own folly! About a third of the way into this story, I loathed Lady Jane, and wanted her to STFU at the very least. The prose was clean, if a bit prissy, and the plot moved along at a clip. However, I can't give this book better than a C+, and I won't be reading any other books in this series, as the protagonist is a hypocrite.
Graveyard Shift by Angela Roquet is yet another ebook, this one a paranormal fantasy about the major players in the afterlife. Here's the blurb: It's a hard-knock afterlife…
Lana Harvey is a reaper, and
a lousy one at that. She resides in Limbo City, the modern capital of
the collective afterlives, where she likes to stick it to the man (the
legendary Grim Reaper himself) by harvesting the bare minimum of souls
required of her. She’d much rather be hanging out with Gabriel, her
favorite archangel, at Purgatory Lounge. But when a shocking promotion
falls in Lana's lap, she learns something that could unravel the very
fabric of Eternity. If the job isn’t completed, there could be some real
hell to pay.
This book is billed as "Lana Harvey Reapers Inc, book 1" so I assume it is the beginning of a long series about the soul collectors of the afterlife. While I enjoyed learning about the different ways that souls were collected and judged in the various religious traditions of the world, I found the slacker protagonist a bit annoying, and more than a bit exasperating. Still, the prose was good and strong and the plot never flagged. I'd give this book a B-, and recommend it to those who like stories of the grim reaper and ghosts and shennanigans in the afterlife.
Spear Song by Tricia O'Malley is the third ebook of her Isle of Destiny series, which, though it's self published, stands up fairly well among it's traditionally published paranormal romance brethren. Though I am generally not a fan of "love at first sight" and "deeply passionate romances with a love that is timeless and perfect" style of story, I enjoy the magical aspect of these books, and their heroines who seem to fall into their powers and roles in the quest for magical objects. Here's the blurb:
Perpetually cheerful Gwenith Donovan is pleased with life. She owns a
hobby store she loves, carries on daily arguments with her chubby cat
Macgregor, and maintains a meticulous comic-book collection that makes
her geeky heart sing. With no need or interest in romance to muck up her
happy routine, Gwen is content to spend her days managing her shop and
her evenings over a pint with friends in the village pub.
Until the moment that changes everything – when Gwen discovers she might just be living in her own magickal fantasy.
As
a high sorcerer, Lochlain Laird isn’t used to taking orders – but even
he can’t disobey the Goddess Danu when she punishes him for making a
life-altering choice. Danu forces Loch to leave the fae realm to protect
a distracted woman on a quest. Feeling the task beneath him, Loch
remains surly as he does his best to keep his charge from being killed
by the evil Domnua all while trying to ignore her unexpected charms.
As
the tension builds on their journey to break a centuries-old curse,
Loch must learn to put his ego aside and Gwen must trust in her own
powers before everything they are fighting for is lost forever.
Loch is an egotistical, conceited ass, and though he's described at the epitome of male beauty, I found him repellent and stupid. Conversely, I adored Gwen, whose positive outlook and chubby, curvy body (and enviable red curly hair!) seemed more realistic to me than the perfection of the other characters in the book. I also found her parentage fascinating, and the siren/mermaid/fae connection kept me glued to the page on my Kindle. Lyrical prose and an unstoppable plot made me feel that this book deserved a B+, and a recommendation to anyone who has read the other books in the series, or who just enjoys juicy paranormal romances with a Celtic twist.
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