Bred Any Good Rooks Lately?

GNTLGNT

on it like a puma.

Kurben

Before i started on Queens on Conquest i read The Skin Gods by Richard Montanari. The hunt for a serial killer that likes to kill his victims by recreating a known scene from some movie. The first was, of course, Psycho. But not recommended. The serial killer genre feels old and satiated at the moment with very few new ideas. I really prefer when the killer has a motive and not is a random picked one. The old masters never wrote any serial killer novels. Some point to the ABC-Murders by Agatha Christie or Cat With Many Tails by Ellery Queen but in both cases the killer is just disguising his crimes with more crimes. The victims are far from random. I also tend to think, possibly a bias from my side, that to use the serial killer motif often is kinda lazy. A reason (really an excuse) not to dig too deep into the complicated world of motives but continue to throw bodies around so the story keeps going.

Kurben

Got hold of The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle on a sale. Actually never read it. It is one of his adventure novels. Professor Challenger leads an expedition to a lost valley in some high mountains where Dinosaurs have survived. Also some other not so lovable creatures. I have always thought of it like Crichton minus the science so now  we'll see if i was right!

GNTLGNT

...you will see that your assumption is correct.....

Hedda Gabler

Just received Richard Chizmar’s The Girl On The Porch. Pleasantly surprised it was signed. 

I got this with a credit I received by entering a month long promotional thing Richard did. After Scott let me know I could enter by mail, I checked it out. And I hatched a plan. I bought a pack of blank cards. 

Every day was a new giveaway, but each post card had to be postmark EACH DAY. You couldn’t just send 30 post cards all at once. 

So, stuck in house because of COVID, bored out of my ever loving brains, and very last minute,  I started painting a portrait of Richard Chizmar surrounded by items from his books/covers. 

Because I had to get the first postcard out the very next day, i didn’t have the kind of time I wanted. But maybe that’s what made it so hilariously bad, but fun.  Each postcard was part of the puzzle. Each post card had some random bullshit comment.  And every day, I walked into the post office with a new piece of the puzzle to get from one coast to another. Faithfully trying to blend one card into the next, let it dry and then send it out, I never got to see it fully done. 

About 2 weeks after contest ended, I contacted Mindy at Cemetery Dance and asked her,  “did anyone play with me?” And the bigger question, “did you get them all?”  I expected some to be missing. 

She had not opened the mail, but she did right then and she put it together and she got every single post card! I was tickled. She took a photo for me so I could see how it turned out. Just dumb fun to enter his contest.  I had fun!

Thanks for my gift, Richard. 

Here it is. 

  Well hell. I can’t get it here. 

 

Hedda Gabler

 

Hedda Gabler

Did that work?

Hedda Gabler

That is some hilarious shit right there. 🤣😂🤣😂❤️❤️

GNTLGNT

...what a GREAT thing Deej!...incredibly creative and as a plus, I bet you'll enjoy the hell out of the novel....

Kurben

Started In the Shadow Of The Queens by Alison Weir. Weir is basically a historian but here she got an offer she couldn't resist. Everybody knows that she is deeply fascinated with the six wifes of Henry VIII. Now she got the question if she wanted to write a series of historical novels, one for each Queen, Where she could go that extra step and tell their stories including their feelings, thoughtprocesses and interactions with their surroundings. That meant that she could do some speculation where sources are not at hand. It would be a very bad idea for a historian to speculate in a biography but as a novelist its OK. This is the short story collection that ties the 6 novels together with stories told from the vievpoint of some chambermaid or maid of honor that lived close to these queens. A bit uneven in quality but interesting.

Neesy

Hedda Gabler said:

 

You're very talented!

I'm off to the library today to pick up a book by Billy Connolly called Windswept and Interesting (his autobiography)

Hedda Gabler

Kurben said:

Started In the Shadow Of The Queens by Alison Weir. Weir is basically a historian but here she got an offer she couldn't resist. Everybody knows that she is deeply fascinated with the six wifes of Henry VIII. Now she got the question if she wanted to write a series of historical novels, one for each Queen, Where she could go that extra step and tell their stories including their feelings, thoughtprocesses and interactions with their surroundings. That meant that she could do some speculation where sources are not at hand. It would be a very bad idea for a historian to speculate in a biography but as a novelist its OK. This is the short story collection that ties the 6 novels together with stories told from the vievpoint of some chambermaid or maid of honor that lived close to these queens. A bit uneven in quality but interesting.

I really enjoy Alison Weir. 

Kurben

Hedda Gabler said:

Kurben said:

Started In the Shadow Of The Queens by Alison Weir. Weir is basically a historian but here she got an offer she couldn't resist. Everybody knows that she is deeply fascinated with the six wifes of Henry VIII. Now she got the question if she wanted to write a series of historical novels, one for each Queen, Where she could go that extra step and tell their stories including their feelings, thoughtprocesses and interactions with their surroundings. That meant that she could do some speculation where sources are not at hand. It would be a very bad idea for a historian to speculate in a biography but as a novelist its OK. This is the short story collection that ties the 6 novels together with stories told from the vievpoint of some chambermaid or maid of honor that lived close to these queens. A bit uneven in quality but interesting.

I really enjoy Alison Weir. 

Have you read her historical fiction?? Or her biographies??

Hedda Gabler

Kurben said:

Hedda Gabler said:

Kurben said:

Started In the Shadow Of The Queens by Alison Weir. Weir is basically a historian but here she got an offer she couldn't resist. Everybody knows that she is deeply fascinated with the six wifes of Henry VIII. Now she got the question if she wanted to write a series of historical novels, one for each Queen, Where she could go that extra step and tell their stories including their feelings, thoughtprocesses and interactions with their surroundings. That meant that she could do some speculation where sources are not at hand. It would be a very bad idea for a historian to speculate in a biography but as a novelist its OK. This is the short story collection that ties the 6 novels together with stories told from the vievpoint of some chambermaid or maid of honor that lived close to these queens. A bit uneven in quality but interesting.

I really enjoy Alison Weir. 

Have you read her historical fiction?? Or her biographies??

I’ve read

Six Wives of Henry The VIII
The Life of Elizabeth the I
Innocent Traitor

and there is another but I can’t remember and looking at covers isn’t helping my memory. 

I’ll look at my book journal.

Kurben

Hedda Gabler said:

Kurben said:

Hedda Gabler said:

Kurben said:

Started In the Shadow Of The Queens by Alison Weir. Weir is basically a historian but here she got an offer she couldn't resist. Everybody knows that she is deeply fascinated with the six wifes of Henry VIII. Now she got the question if she wanted to write a series of historical novels, one for each Queen, Where she could go that extra step and tell their stories including their feelings, thoughtprocesses and interactions with their surroundings. That meant that she could do some speculation where sources are not at hand. It would be a very bad idea for a historian to speculate in a biography but as a novelist its OK. This is the short story collection that ties the 6 novels together with stories told from the vievpoint of some chambermaid or maid of honor that lived close to these queens. A bit uneven in quality but interesting.

I really enjoy Alison Weir. 

Have you read her historical fiction?? Or her biographies??

I’ve read

Six Wives of Henry The VIII
The Life of Elizabeth the I
Innocent Traitor

and there is another but I can’t remember and looking at covers isn’t helping my memory. 

I’ll look at my book journal.

I've read the first two. Her historical novel of Jane Grey i havent read. Was it good? I think that when i start her historical novels i probably start with her books focused on Catherine of Arogon and the one on Anne Boleyn.

FlakeNoir

Hedda Gabler said:

Just received Richard Chizmar’s The Girl On The Porch. Pleasantly surprised it was signed. 

I got this with a credit I received by entering a month long promotional thing Richard did. After Scott let me know I could enter by mail, I checked it out. And I hatched a plan. I bought a pack of blank cards. 

Every day was a new giveaway, but each post card had to be postmark EACH DAY. You couldn’t just send 30 post cards all at once. 

So, stuck in house because of COVID, bored out of my ever loving brains, and very last minute,  I started painting a portrait of Richard Chizmar surrounded by items from his books/covers. 

Because I had to get the first postcard out the very next day, i didn’t have the kind of time I wanted. But maybe that’s what made it so hilariously bad, but fun.  Each postcard was part of the puzzle. Each post card had some random bullshit comment.  And every day, I walked into the post office with a new piece of the puzzle to get from one coast to another. Faithfully trying to blend one card into the next, let it dry and then send it out, I never got to see it fully done. 

About 2 weeks after contest ended, I contacted Mindy at Cemetery Dance and asked her,  “did anyone play with me?” And the bigger question, “did you get them all?”  I expected some to be missing. 

She had not opened the mail, but she did right then and she put it together and she got every single post card! I was tickled. She took a photo for me so I could see how it turned out. Just dumb fun to enter his contest.  I had fun!

Thanks for my gift, Richard. 

Here it is. 

  Well hell. I can’t get it here. 

 

I fucking love this! 😃 Brilliant plan, perfect execution, I'm so glad Rich responded and you had fun.
Just Brilliant! Right there is my ol' girl... love it! (and still not in a L- - - n - s - kind of way.😜💜)

Grant87

Time for me to wrap up the month of March. Here are the books I read:

• Fairy Tale, Stephen King. I had a really good time with this book. There's nothing like getting lost in a big Stephen King novel, no matter what genre he's writing. I flew through the last 150-200 pages in one night because I had to see how it ended. It's far from King's best, but it kept me plenty entertained.
• The Cabin at the End of the World, Paul Tremblay. Tremblay's 3rd major release. It won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel and was the basis for the new movie Knock at the Cabin. I was pretty mixed on this one. There were elements I liked, but this felt like a stretched-out novella to me. I'm going to keep working my way through Tremblay's catalog, though.
• Daphne, Josh Malerman. This one is a finalist for the Stoker Award for Best Novel. I liked this one quite a bit. It's a cool slasher/urban legend type story centered around a high school girl's basketball team. It's under 300 pages too, so if you're looking for a fun, quick read, give it a shot. Malerman is pretty hit or miss for me. I loved Bird Box, was mixed on the sequel Malorie, and was highly disappointed in his novella collection, Goblin. I'd count Daphne as a hit, though.
• The Charlemagne Pursuit, Steve Berry. Book 4 of his Cotton Malone series. If you enjoyed Dan Brown's Robert Langdon series (The DaVinci Code), check out this series. It's a lot of fun. The series is up to 18 books now, I think, so I have a long way to go!
• Red London, Alma Katsu. Sequel to Red Widow. Alma is a really good writer who goes back and forth between historical horror novels and spy thrillers. She was in the CIA for something like 25 years, so she writes from immense experience. While I enjoyed Red Widow more, Red London was still quite enjoyable. If you like spy thrillers, give this series a go. Just don't expect wall-to-wall action like a Jason Bourne movie. These are more of a slow burn.
  

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My April TBR:

• The Gunslinger (Dark Tower I), Stephen King. Starting my first journey to the Dark Tower!
• Episode Thirteen, Craig DiLouie
• Sundial, Catriona Ward. Stoker Award finalist for Best Novel
• The Devil's Hand, Jack Carr. Book 4 of the Terminal List series
• The Devil Takes You Home, Gabino Iglesias. Stoker Award finalist for Best Novel

Hedda Gabler

Kurben said:

Hedda Gabler said:

Kurben said:

Hedda Gabler said:

Kurben said:

Started In the Shadow Of The Queens by Alison Weir. Weir is basically a historian but here she got an offer she couldn't resist. Everybody knows that she is deeply fascinated with the six wifes of Henry VIII. Now she got the question if she wanted to write a series of historical novels, one for each Queen, Where she could go that extra step and tell their stories including their feelings, thoughtprocesses and interactions with their surroundings. That meant that she could do some speculation where sources are not at hand. It would be a very bad idea for a historian to speculate in a biography but as a novelist its OK. This is the short story collection that ties the 6 novels together with stories told from the vievpoint of some chambermaid or maid of honor that lived close to these queens. A bit uneven in quality but interesting.

I really enjoy Alison Weir. 

Have you read her historical fiction?? Or her biographies??

I’ve read

Six Wives of Henry The VIII
The Life of Elizabeth the I
Innocent Traitor

and there is another but I can’t remember and looking at covers isn’t helping my memory. 

I’ll look at my book journal.

I've read the first two. Her historical novel of Jane Grey i havent read. Was it good? I think that when i start her historical novels i probably start with her books focused on Catherine of Arogon and the one on Anne Boleyn.

I’m pretty sure I enjoyed it but it was so long ago. I tend to have a thing for anything Henry the Viii centric. 

Kurben

Will be starting Isabella - The Shewolf of France tomorrow. A biography written by Alison weir. Isabella (or Isabelle) is a highly divisive english queen among historians. She was the queen of the very inept king Edward II. Also mother of the very good king Edward III. But she also, together with her lover Roger Mortiimer deposed Edward II and ruled England in her sons name when he was a minor. The big question is did she and mortimer order Edward II,s death? What drove her to the decisions she made. When Edward III was 18 he throwed his mother into prison and killed Mortimer. A comfortable prison but still a prison. I have read Ian Mortimers excellent Biography over Mortimer, The Greatest Treator so this will be a nice compliment to that. Interesting to see how weirs view of Isabella fits with other writers of this time.

GNTLGNT

....started Owen's Curator......I'm really enjoying it thus far....he has an understated sly sense of humor.....

Kurben

One thing i noted in Alison Weirs different biographies that i've read is that she sometimes, not always, tend to get so close to her subject and start to like them a bit to much which can be a treat to the objectivity that every good historian at least must try to uphold (of course noone can be completely objective, its an impossibility, but we must aim for it if you want to call yourself an historian and not a writer of propaganda. She does never go that far but she admits herself that she find it easier to write about a subject if she like or admire it to a degree. Not all aspects of the subjects perhaps but some of them. Isabella is the most vilified queen in english history and it is a fact that she took an exiled noble as a lover and together with him lead the first successful invasion of england since the battle of Hastings 1066 and then deposed her king/Husband. True he was an incompetent king and her takeover was not impopular but she was not very competent herself in ruling. To commit adultery against the king was a deathpenalty in those days. Anne Boleyn was accused of these things but there has never been any proof that she actually was guilty of adultery while Isabella certainly was. I have just gotten to the part to where she is getting married to Edward II at 12 years of age and so all the action is ahead. We will see how Weir manages the delicate balance between liking a subject and keeping the objectivity.

Hedda Gabler

Sounds good, kurben

not_nadine

Re-Read!   

Kurben

Right now are reading The Plantagenets by Dan Jones. It starts with Henry II in 1154 after an unlawful period in England (called the Anarchy) when the cousins King Stephen and Queen Matilda fought for power after old King Henry I death in 1135. Henry II was the first Plantagenet and then we follow him and his children The Richard Lionheart and John Lackland (or as some call him Softsword) until we came to Richard II that was deposed by his cousin Henry IV, The first Lancaster King, in 1399. It is even in the hands of a bad narrator a colorful story and since Jones is an excellent narrator he makes the history live and kings, queens and archbishops come to life. If you're looking for how the ordinary people fared in these times there are better books but if you want a good, concise summary of the military and political history of the times you made a good choice.

not_nadine

Almost finished with IT.