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DEBORAH J. ROSS






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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2023


SHORT BOOK REVIEWS: AN 18TH CENTURY ASTRONOMER



 An Astronomer in Love, by Antoine Laurain (Gallic Books)








I loved this combination of the historical adventures of the 18th Century French
astronomer, Guillaume Le Gentil de la Galaisière, and a modern-day love story.
Le Gentil was part of an international effort (proposed by none other than
Edmond Halley of Halley’s Comet) to measure the distance to the Sun, by
observing the transit of Venus at different points on the Earth and
triangulating the distance. The transit of Venus occurs when Venus passes
between the Earth and the Sun and can be visualized against the brightness of
the Sun. (I was fortunate enough to view this in 2012, using proper eye
protection, of course.) Le Gentil’s expedition was  a saga of one disaster after
another, including his ship being blown off-course (for the 1761 transit), after
which he remained in India for 8 more years until overcast weather made
observation of the 1769 transit impossible. By the time he returned to Paris,
everyone believed he was dead, and he had quite a time recovering his property
and position.

Two and a half centuries later, Parisian realtor Xavier Lemercier chances upon
Guillaume’s telescope. It’s turned up in a locked closet in an apartment he had
once sold, and the new owner wants nothing to do with it. When Xavier sets it
up, he inadvertently spies the apartment across the way, inhabited by a zebra
(taxidermied, he later finds out) and a beautiful woman. She walks into his
office, much to his surprise, in search of new digs. In the process, romance
blossoms, aided by their children, who have become best friends. Now he has to
find a way to confess that he was spying on her without the whole affair blowing
up.

The two stories alternate in an interwoven pattern as Xavier discovers the
telescope and becomes intrigued by Guillaume’s story. Guillaume’s adventures are
dramatic enough to fill volumes and he was apparently a prolific diarist. I like
to think that if they ever met, they would have appreciated one another.



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Labels: astronomy in fiction, book reviews, love stories



MONDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2023


[SHAMELESS PROMOTION] ANOTHER FIVE-STAR REVIEW OF THE LARAN GAMBIT



The Laran Gambit has another five-star review!










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Labels: Darkover, rave reviews, The Laran Gambit



FRIDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2023


SHORT BOOK REVIEWS: THE LATEST "OCTOBER DAYE" ADVENTURE



 Be the Serpent, by Seanan McGuire (DAW)








I’ve loved Seanan McGuire’s “October Daye” urban fantasy since the very first
volume and looked forward to each new installment. Be the Serpent is every bit a
treat for long-time fans of the series. It is not, alas, an entry point for the
new reader. Long-running series are often burdened by sheer weight of backstory.
McGuire is skillful enough to weave in bare-minimum necessary details, but after
15 previous volumes, that amounts to a lot. Even though I had read all the
previous volumes, some more than once, I found myself wondering who is this
person and when did that happen? I wished for a “refresh my memory” synopsis
from time to time, especially when supporting characters had similar names (like
Simon and Sylvester, although there aren’t enough letters in the alphabet to
give everyone in Toby Daye’s world a name starting with a different letter). I
have the greatest sympathy for the poor, unsuspecting reader who tries to jump
into the middle of the story. To be fair, there are plot elements that don’t
depend on an encyclopedic knowledge of What Has Come Before and are engrossing
in their own right.

Be the Serpent has the same delicious blend of Faerie, magic, romance, mystery,
and action, not to mention great characters, as has come before. Fans will love
it, me among them. If I was disappointed by once-terror-inspiring characters
descending to warm-fuzziness, the switch from BFF to arch-enemy more than
balanced it out.

The story ends on a partial resolution, a false cadence as it were, promising
that the story isn’t over yet. This is great news for fans, maybe not so much
for someone still trying to figure out what’s going on.

I tried to read the attached novella, but I kept falling asleep.

 



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Labels: action adventure fantasy, October Daye



MONDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2023


[PERSONAL] MY LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH CHANUKAH





For the past decade or so, whether Chanukah falls in early December or overlaps
Christmas, I have wrestled with the meaning of the holiday. I grew up in a
devoutly secular Jewish family, although my father used to tell us stories of
the holidays. It wasn’t until I had children of my own that observing Jewish
customs became important to me. Their father, my first husband, came from a
family that celebrated Christmas as a paean to overconsumption, an amalgam of
showering each other with cheap gifts and gorging on indigestible food while
sniping at one another. In our own home, however, we would have a modest tree, a
modest meal, and presents that had something to do with the interests of the
recipients.


So where did Chanukah fit it? For one thing, when my kids came along I decided
not to compete with Christmas. No big gatherings. No tinsel. No horribly
unhealthy meals. And no presents. Instead, we turned off the tv, and gathered
around to light the candles and stumble through reading the blessings. We’d play
dreidel using Chanukah gelt (foil-wrapped chocolate coins) and take turns
reading aloud from a collection of funny children’s Chanukah books. The
hands-down favorite was Eric Kimmel’s Herschel and the Hanukkah Goblins,
although his The Chanukkah Guest came a close second. One of the appeals of
Herschel was the way the dialog of the goblins lent itself to silly voices as
Herschel outwitted them one by one. Needless to say, the kids loved reading
together and playing games as a family. Years later, they told me that they
didn’t want to give the impression they didn’t like getting presents for
Christmas but they liked Chanukah better.


As the kids grew up, and I divorced and later remarried, I found myself
re-evaluating the holiday. I hadn’t celebrated it as a child and I no longer had
children to delight. By this time, my own Jewish identity had become
increasingly important to me. What did this holiday mean, beyond a way of
enjoying the winter in a non-specifically-Christian way?


I started reading the story behind Chanukah, and that’s when my troubles
started.

Read more »
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Labels: Chanukah, Christmas, peace



FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2023


SHORT BOOK REVIEWS: A DOMESTIC HAUNTED HOUSE THRILLER



 Just Like Home, by Sarah Gailey (Tor)








Oh, my.

I fell in love with Sarah Gailey ‘s writing when Magic for Liars hit the stands,
and  I became even more a fan with her tale of hippopotami in the Mississippi
River (River of Teeth). Her domestic thriller, The Echo Wife, took her
storytelling into new territory and new heights. Now Just Like Home unveils her
mature talent. It fits loosely within the new genre of “domestic thriller,” more
toward the “domestic horror” side with supernatural elements.

Vera Crowder returns home at the summons of her dying mother, from whom she has
been long estranged. She does so reluctantly, because her house--the notorious
Crowder House, hand-built by her father—was the scene of serial murders. The
town isn’t exactly thrilled to have Vera back. Questions like “Did you know what
was going on?” still haunt her. To make matters worse, her father and the house
have become the object of true-crime fans, and the son of a journalist who
helped to publicize it has become the mother’s caretaker (and heir) and is busy
stripping the house for his “murder art pieces.” As Vera sorts her mother’s
belongings, the memories she has long suppressed come to life, along with
disastrous truths.

I won’t say more about what those truths are because the process of revealing
them is one of the ways this book is brilliant. Vera is an unreliable narrator
who hides horrific childhood memories from herself, but she herself is not the
person initially presented. Nor are her parents. By alternating between past and
present, Gailey takes us on an ever-tightening spiral path, each revolution
bringing more and deeper connections. The final confrontation and resolution,
which would otherwise have come as a surprise—not to mention being utterly
unbelievable—proceeds inevitably and naturally from what has come before. It’s a
masterful handling of darkly gothic elements, psychopathy, domestic terror, and
gorgeously bizarre characters.

Gailey is a writer who has come of age and richly deserves the acclaim she’s
earned.


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Labels: book reviews, domestic thriller, haunted houses

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WHAT'S NEW?

Publication schedule:

2022 The Laran Gambit (hardcover, ebook)

2023 Jewels of Darkover (anthology); The Laran Gambit (trade paperback)

2024 Arilinn




The Marion Zimmer Literary Trust made a deal with Recorded Books for all my
Darkover books. Thunderlord is the first release, with The Fall of Neskaya,
Zandru's Forge, and A Flame in Hali to follow at one-month intervals. You can
find them at Audiobooks.com, Kobo, Amazon, and other stores.

I’ve set up my own imprint, Thirsty Redwood Press. Its first release was a
reissue of my Lambda Literary Award Finalist/Otherwise (formerly James Tiptree,
Jr.) Award List novel, Collaborators, is now available.

A Heat Wave in the Hellers, and Other Tales of Darkover, a collection of my own
Darkover short fiction. In print and ebook editions. At Amazon, Barnes and
Noble, and other outlets.









POPULAR POSTS

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   “October Daye” urban fantasy since the very first volume and looked...
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