Serena’s Articles at Savvy Verse & Wit, Page 354

Testimony by Anita Shreve, Part Deux

March 7, 2009 by Serena

I reviewed Testimony by Anita Shreve back in October 2008 when the book debuted; you can read my review here. My mom is always looking for a new book to read, so I shipped my copy up to Massachusetts for her to read.

She’s here today to share her thoughts on the book with you. Welcome, my mom, Pat:

At Avery Academy, a prestigious New England boarding school located in Vermont, the headmaster, Mike Bordwin, finds in his possession a video tape–a disaster in a small package waiting to stir up trouble for the students at the academy. The sexual acts displayed on the tape involve four older students–juniors and seniors–and a freshman girl. The headmaster also engages in illicit activity following the incident and its fallout.

The events are set in motion, and Shreve uses testimony from all the students involved in the incident, the headmaster, and numerous other characters to tell her tale. These stories are woven together to show how this one incident impacts all the students involved as well as others in the book. Additionally, readers will get a glimpse into what happens in the lives of these students after the scandal breaks.

I give this book 4.5 stars and declare it is a must read.

Filed Under: fiction, Hachette Books, Pat review Tagged With: Anita Shreve, testimony

Proximidade Award

March 5, 2009 by Serena

This award represents:

“This blog invests and believes in the PROXIMITY-nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this clever-written text into the body of their award.”

Ok, so I received this great award from Toni at A Circle of Books, Luanne at A Bookworm’s World, and Sheri at A Novel Menagerie and have been remiss in acknowledging it on my blog and awarding it to 8 other bloggers, but since this is a week of blog giving, I’ve decided this is the week to do it.

Here are my eight choices:

Diary of an Eccentric
Literarily
Bookish Ruth
MariReads
My Thoughts…Your Thoughts?
Lesa’s Book Critiques
Give Reading a Chance
Brooke Reviews

I hope that you all will pass this award on as well.

Don’t forget about my Carnival Giveaways for:

The Kingmaking, here and here. This one has an international copy up for grabs, my gently used ARC.

Drood, here. Sorry publisher says U.S. and Canada residents only, no P.O. Boxes.

Filed Under: awards

Interview With Poet Mary Biddinger

March 4, 2009 by Serena

Originally published at La Fovea

MY UPPER PENINSULA
by: Mary Biddinger

We were all suffering from a kind of incandescence.
Would rather fling all the freshly-baked rolls
down the stairs than face the accuser.
I wondered if I was moldering. My mother
didn’t even recognize the ravioli that I edged
with my spinner. I’d filled it with scraps of cloth
anyway. All the girls in my class had hair like Journey
and mouths the slashes of red a wolf leaves behind.
Save me, oh god of direct and swift evacuations.
Some day I would be lecturing a class of students
or getting tangled in the horizontal blinds
in the middle of an emphatic statement. Nobody
there to wield the tin snips. My pack of girls only
a trigger on a night at the county fair, the reek
of funnel cakes scissoring long-sleeve blouses
into the ratty tanks we’d stash in our purses for later.
There was something dangerous under our skin.
I ask my class again to mark up this draft of the globe.
They’ve never been drunk in Nice and vomiting across
multiple electrified rails. In a dream, the double that is more
authentic than the original walks down a street with me.
We stagger in unison. We’ve both had to begin the dessert
again from scratch, not being able to resist a swift punch
to the center of the springform pan. We’d both rather
surrender all of the wooden coins before anyone asks.
Is there anything more exhilarating than a good wait
in damp clothing, or the moment you open your mouth
and realize you know the language after all, you can call
off the dogs or invent the numbers for the payphone,
and the man who shows you to your room won’t leave out
a tour of the aluminum shower down the hall.
He whispers you can both fit in there. He’ll write down
every stranger who leaves a card at the front desk.

I’ve been working on a interview project with Deborah at 32 Poems magazine, and she kindly allowed me to interview past contributors to the magazine. We will be posting the interviews throughout the coming months, and our sixth interview posted on Deborah’s Poetry Blog of 32 Poems on March 3.

I’m going to provide you with a snippet from the interview, but if you want to read the entire interview, I’ll provide you a link for that as well.

For now, let me introduce to you 32 Poems contributor, Mary Biddinger:

1. Not only are you a contributor to 32 Poems, you also founded Barn Owl Review. What “hat” do you find most difficult to wear and why?

As a kid I loved the Dr. Seuss book The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. Little did I know that it would be a literal representation of my future. I’m a poet, an editor of Barn Owl Review and the Akron Series in Poetry, and a writing program administrator moving into the directorship of a large, consortial MFA program (the Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program, or NEOMFA). Outside that, I’m a mother and homeowner, a book club facilitator and a photographer of random Rust Belt detritus. I’m a person who rarely knows what day it is, but who plans what to cook for dinner a week in advance.

The only conflict between hats seems to be the administrative hat versus the artistic hat. They don’t want to stay on at the same time. The administrative hat wants to cover up the artistic hat. The artistic hat tells me to lie on the floor of my office and think about poems, while the administrative hat tells me to run down the hall and start ransacking the filing cabinet. Thankfully, the editorial hat doesn’t conflict with any of the other hats. It’s sort of the best of both worlds for me.

2. Poetry is often considered elitist or inaccessible by mainstream readers. Do poets have an obligation to dispel that myth and how do you think it could be accomplished?

I remind my students that poetry predates literacy, and that it belongs to all of us. I’ve found that today’s young people (school-agers) are more open to poetry than they were in the past. I think it’s the convergence of freestyle and academic poetry that creates the rift, though it really doesn’t have to be a rift. I try to keep my own poems out of the realm of the allusive and grounded in the everyday. If you’ve seen rebar before, you can “get it.”

3. How do you stay fit and healthy as a writer?

I work out at the gym about four days a week. I lift weights, run on the treadmill, attack the elliptical. I’m naturally an antsy person, and sitting at a desk doesn’t suit me for long periods of time. Working out gives me some balance. Otherwise, I try to eat healthy all of the time. No sweets, lots of protein, fruit, veg. There were times in my life where I existed only on pasta, and now I avoid it. I have a penchant for Basmati rice.

I used to get sick a lot, but so far 2009 has treated me well. I believe in the power of citrus. I drink too much coffee and diet coke, but hope that my good habits outweigh the bad.

4. What current projects are you working on and would you like to share some details with the readers?

My follow up to Prairie Fever, currently titled Hot Corners, is just starting to circulate to some publishers. This book contains a series of persona poems on a fictional reinvention of Saint Monica, patron of wives in bad marriages, among other things. Hot Corners includes non-Monica poems as well, and you can find poems from the book in current or forthcoming issues of Gulf Coast, Fifth Wednesday Journal, The Laurel Review, Memorious, Ninth Letter, North American Review, /nor, Third Coast, and many other journals.

The poem that’s forthcoming in 32 Poems, “The Velvet Arms,” is part of a new series that explores the urban transient hotel as a locus of everyday desire and transgression. The poems aren’t cemented in any particular timeframe, and slide between the 1940’s rooming house and the contemporary SRO (single room occupancy). I was inspired to write this series thanks to an apartment building I lived in for many years when I was in Chicago. It was an old vaudeville-era hotel, and I kept thinking of how I wasn’t so different from the people who had inhabited it before me. A number of the poems from this series, including “The Velvet Arms,” are written in exactly twenty lines of blank verse.

Beyond that series, which may be more of a chapbook that a book-length collection, I am working on a new manuscript that begins where Hot Corners ends. It’s coming together organically, rather than as a premeditated project. I’m not sure where it will go, but I can promise that there will be dirty snow, trembling baguettes, a terrifying carousel pony, and a watermelon tied up in a tree.

Want to find out what Mary’s writing space looks like? What music she listens to while she writes? Find out what she’s working on now, her obsessions, and much more. Check out the rest of my interview with Mary here. Please feel free to comment on the 32 Poems blog and Savvy Verse & Wit.

Mary Biddinger Bio:

Mary Biddinger was born in Fremont, California, in 1974. She grew up in Illinois and Michigan, and attended the University of Michigan (BA in English and Creative Writing), Bowling Green State University (MFA in poetry), and the University of Illinois at Chicago (Ph.D. in English, Program for Writers). She is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Akron and NEOMFA: Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts program, which she will begin directing in the summer of 2009.

***Current Giveaways for the Carnival are here, here, and here. The Kingmaking has one international ARC available and 3 copies for U.S. and Canada residents (no P.O. Boxes). Drood is U.S. and Canada residents (No. P.O. boxes) only.***

Filed Under: Interviews, poetry Tagged With: 32 poems magazine, Mary Biddinger

Interview with Helen Hollick, Author of The Kingmaking

March 3, 2009 by Serena

I’d like to welcome Helen Hollick to Savvy Verse & Wit! If you missed my review of The Kingmaking, which will be published by Sourcebooks this month, check out my review here.

Without further ado, here’s my interview with Helen:

1. What inspired you to write The Kingmaking? Was it a subject you were familiar with before you began writing?

Until I became interested in Arthur I was a science fiction fan – in the years when Star Wars first came out!

I was bored by history at school. Lessons were given by a teacher who read from a book – I say read, she actually droned. I remember nothing of those “lessons” at all. The only lesson I enjoyed was English. Mrs Llewellyn brought passion to the classroom. She encouraged my writing and showed me how to make my essays so much better. I would so like to say thank you, but this was 1968 – a long time ago.

After leaving school I became a library assistant. There, I re-discovered Rosemary Sutcliff’s wonderful novels set in Roman Britain – Eagle of the Ninth, Frontier Wolf, Mark of the Horse Lord etc, and then Mary Stewart’s Hollow Hills Trilogy, and thus I discovered Arthur.

I had never enjoyed the Arthurian Knights of the Round Table stories. I could not accept that King Arthur could be so incompetent. He become King, married, then disappeared in search of the Holy Grail thereby abandoning his Kingdom. Surely he would have foreseen the affair between Lancelot and Guinevere? Nor could I tolerate Lancelot and those other goody-goody knights, so those tales were of no interest to me.

Mary Stewart’s novels, however, made Arthur seem real. They included an author’s note in which she stated that if Arthur had existed he would have been a post-Roman war lord, not a Medieval knight clanking around in armour. I liked the idea and read as much about this more interesting version of Arthur as I could. I was hooked.

2. On average from the first word on the page to publication, how long was the process? What tips could you offer aspiring authors about the process?

For the original publication of The Kingmaking here in the UK? Ten years!

Tips – oh there are so many! Write what is in your heart and stop saying “One day I will write my book.”

Just get on with it!

I have a useful article on my website: “Discovering the Diamond” your readers are most welcome to make use of anything they find interesting.

Please note that I mention “cowboy” self publishers. In the UK this refers to a company up to no good, but I understand in the USA ‘cowboy’ means the opposite. The differences of expressions between the UK and USA is so fascinating!

3. Most writers will read inspirational/how-to manuals, take workshops, or belong to writing groups. Did you subscribe to any of these aids and if so which did you find most helpful? Please feel free to name any “writing” books you enjoyed most (i.e. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott)

My good friend, author Sharon Kay Penman gave me a few tips when I first started out – not to use long “run on” sentences for instance. But no, I have not had any training, I suppose I am a natural writer.

I did go to a writer’s group once, years ago, in the days before I was published:

I had not written anything for my “One day I will write a novel” project for several months. I had managed several hundred thousand words (of what eventually became The Kingmaking) but I tumbled into writer’s block. Partly I think, this was because of an extreme lack of confidence. What on earth was I doing wasting my time scribbling all this drivel?

I heard about the writer’s group and went along. To my horror there were half a dozen women and their objective was to use the group as a therapy session. They all had various problems and wanted to “write them out of their systems.” I was too shy to get up and walk out, so sat there cringing as last week’s writing was discussed (“My husband/boyfriend/lover does not understand me”)

Then we were given a sheet of A4 paper and told to write what was in our hearts for fifteen minutes.

I was there because I had writer’s block – I hadn’t a single word in my head. After five minutes I realised I had to write something, even if I only put individual words. So I wrote down the first word that came into my head. Then another, and another. Then I wrote the word “battle”, then “sword” – and before I knew it I was writing a battle scene.

At the end of the fifteen minutes we were told to stop writing. I didn’t even look up, I just asked for more paper and told then to carry on without me.

That exercise ended up as the first chapter of Pendragon’s Banner.

As for useful books – well there is my Discovering the Diamond. Or I found Stephen King’s On Writing very interesting – and entertaining.

4. A great deal of writing advice suggests that amateur writers focus on what they know or read the genre you plan to write. Does this advice hold true for you? How so (i.e. what authors do you read)?

I know I am getting on a bit age wise (I am almost 56) but I am not old enough to remember the Dark Ages, so I know nothing of the subject personally, nor have I ever fought in a battle or know how to handle a sword. J

That has not stopped me writing about the period though!

If you research your subject matter you will not necessarily need to read novels of the same genre – however, you will need to read well written books.

I research my facts and read, read, read. Reading feeds the imagination. A starved imagination is an empty imagination. Fill it up to the extent that it has to spill a load of it out again!

I do, however, include things I do know about. For instance, in The Kingmaking there is quite a bit about horses – a subject I am familiar with. And whatever the period or the genre, people are people. Things happened the same then as they do now (although without the TV, cell phones or automobiles!) Messages are received that have shattering consequences, loved ones fall ill, people got food poisoning … had affairs, fell in love, out of love. Babies got born, babies died… adapt your everyday experiences into your story. That is what will give your characters reality – that is what will bring your story to life.

I tend to read what I am interested in. With writing taking up so much of my time I find reading difficult to fit in, so I feel very cheated if a book does not give me the enjoyment it should. Sad to say, if I am not hooked by the third chapter I give up. Reading time is too precious to waste on something I am not enjoying. I mentioned Rosemary Sutcliff and Mary Stewart, Sharon Penman is a guaranteed good historical read, and Elizabeth Chadwick. But I also enjoy Ian M. Banks, Dick Francis, James L. Nelson, Winston Graham (the Poldark series), C.S Forrester, Patrick O’Brian… P.G. Wodehouse. Lindsey Davis, Agatha Christie, Colin Dexter.

I’m afraid this question is rather like asking how long is a piece of string!

5. When you wrote The Kingmaking, did you have a particular routine or habit? For instance did you have music playing to inspire you? If so, what would be the top five on your playlist for The Kingmaking?

Yes, I often listen to music, but I’m afraid I can not remember what it was now (I wrote The Kingmaking over a long period, and some while ago.) I usually prefer instrumental, not songs, as I find I tend listen to the words, which is distracting. My all time favorite is Mike Oldfield.

Presently I am writing the third in my adventure/fantasy pirate based series for adults (Sea Witch, Pirate Code and the one I’m writing, Bring It Close) For background music I listen to Enigma, the soundtrack of Last of the Mohicans and Master and Commander – and Mike Oldfield (Songs of Distant Earth and Tubular Bells III – wonderful!) My apologies if these are UK based, not USA.

6. In terms of friendships, have your friendships changed since you began focusing on writing? Are there more writers among your friends or have your relationships remained the same?

Yes, my friends have changed since I was first published – but that was sixteen years ago, so I suppose that is to be expected.

My best friend, Hazel, sadly died nine years ago – I had known her since 1969, when I first started work. I still miss her very much.

I do have several authors as friends – Sharon Penman and Elizabeth Chadwick I have already mentioned, but I’ll not divulge any others as it is a little bit like name dropping. Except to say the maritime author James L. Nelson is a very good friend. He very kindly edits all the sailing detail for my sea-faring novels (see below)

Two of my good friends have taken the plunge, written their novels and become published. Raven Dane and Jo Field. While one of my dearest long term friends is now my webmaster. He keeps a very stern eye on my website.

I am privileged to have met so many wonderful people through my books. Two ladies came to interview me about Shadow if the King when it was first published here in the UK – we have remained very firm friends ever since, in fact we spent Christmas together – and a good time was had by all. I am also very fortunate to have met many eager new writers who have taken the plunge and decided to self publish. I support the Nottingham New Writers Group. Although I do not live near Nottingham – the Chair of the group asked for my support a few years ago and I was delighted to give it. The group has gone from strength to strength, producing good, quality, novels. Good for them!

And finally my best friends are my husband and my daughter. The amazing thing is, that after all these years they still do not complain about dinners I have forgotten to cook, undusted shelves, un-weeded gardens, un-ironed clothes. Nor do they mind me being grumpy when a chapter does not work as I want it to, or the fact that they often do not see me for days on end as I am entrenched in my office. Hmm, maybe that is why they tolerate me?

7. How do you stay fit and healthy as a writer?

Excuse me while I roll on the floor laughing! One big problem I have discovered: sitting on a chair all day tends to broaden one’s beam end!

Seriously, I have a hip condition – I am waiting for hip replacement surgery, so walking is often painful, especially the sort of walking you need for exercise, and I do tend to pick at food while writing. Most of my body seems to be heading southward at a rate of knots.

I would say to any writer, though, do not spend hours at a time at your computer keyboard – and make sure you have a comfortable chair, and a table/desk set at the correct height. Injuries to wrist, neck, shoulders and back are all too common – and are preventable. I frequently walk away from my desk to make a cup of tea, feed the birds in the garden, let the dog out etc.

8. Do you have any favorite foods or foods that you find keep you inspired? What are the ways in which you pump yourself up to keep writing and overcome writer’s block?

Chocolate. Enough said.

9. Do you have any obsessions that you would like to share?

Hmm. I can not write in the mornings – I am not a morning person. I often write into the early hours though (as I write this it is almost 1 a.m. ) I remember finishing Pendragon’s Banner at 4 a.m.

I often talk to my main characters. I “feel” them standing behind my right shoulder, usually nagging me. Some scenes in the Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy wrote themselves, almost as if Arthur was telling me what happened. Mind you, he would clear off when it became obvious I was stuck for ideas on how to get him out of the mess he had got himself into. Me? A demented scribbler? No…!

I often have a few scented candles burning on my windowsill by my desk at night, they look so pretty and are relaxing. By day, in the summer, when the sun moves round the light reflects on a few old CD discs that are also on the sill as “mats” beneath the candle holders. They send rainbow reflections dancing over the ceiling. Lovely!

I also have to hear a clock ticking.

10. Please describe your writing space and how it would differ from your ideal writing space.

My ideal would be to have a room with windows facing in two different directions. One would overlook the sea, the other fields and trees where our horses graze – or perhaps the stable yard so I could see them looking over their stable doors. There would be a blazing log fire in winter, a comfy chair to curl up in and bookshelves with all my beloved books all my treasures gathering dust, (as they do now.)

One can always dream.

My actual “office” is quite nice though. My desk is at right angles to the window, which looks out onto the patio, the fish pond and lots of trees. I live on the edge of the London suburban sprawl, but the little piece of privacy that is my garden is an oasis of peace and quiet.

I have tall ships and pirate pictures on my walls. So, I am sad to say, I spend a lot of time drooling over Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow.

11. What current projects are you working on and would you like to share some details with the readers?

I am writing the third of my pirate Sea Witch Series (hence the pictures) called Bring It Close. Although this series is not “serious” fiction, as in my other novels – these are adventure/fantasy stories ( a sailor’s yarn!) for adults, and they are as well written and as well researched. I am now a very good armchair sailor!

I wanted to write something that was for fun, and to have a totally made up character. Writing historical fiction is all very well, but we know the ending – what happened to Arthur, or King Harold II. I wanted to write some stories that were just that – stories. My main character, Captain Jesamiah Acorne is completely mine. I imagined every bit about him – what he looks like, sounds like. His past, his present, his future is all within the scope of my creation. Only a few historical events are included – the ones of my choosing. For instance, in the present storyline Jesamiah is in trouble (again) but this time it is with the infamous pirate Blackbeard. I am having such fun writing these adventures.

I am also involved in making a proposed movie – 1066. I am co-scriptwriter. I was approached because of my novel Harold the King – the story of the Battle of Hastings. All we need is the funding, and yes, if (when) it gets made, it will be released in the USA.

I have excerpts of all my novels on my website and if you click on the Sea Witch cover, you will come across an article on how I thought up the idea for writing Sea Witch – and how I “met” my Jesamiah.

My one realisation, Jesamiah and Arthur are very alike in character. And funnily enough, I fell in love with both of them.

Did I mention something above about being a demented scribbler…?

Thanks, Helen, for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer a few questions.

Want to win a copy of The Kingmaking? Here’s your chance. Want additional entries, leave a comment on this post and you get a second entry.

Want to see what everyone else on the blog tour is saying, check them out here:

http://harrietdevine.typepad.com/harriet_devines_blog/2009/02/the-kingmaking.html 2/20
http://lazyhabits.wordpress.com/2009/02/20/the-kingmaking/ 2/21 and interview 2/27
http://carpelibrisreviews.com/the-kingmaking-by-helen-hollick-book-tour-giveaway/ 2/23
http://www.historicalnovels.info/Kingmaking.html 2/23
http://www.bibliophilemusings.com/2009/02/review-interview-kingmaking-by-helen.html 2/23
http://lilly-readingextravaganza.blogspot.com/2009/02/kingmaking-by-helen-hollick.html 2/23 and guest blog 2/25
http://chikune.com/blog/?p=488 2/24
http://booksaremyonlyfriends.blogspot.com/ 2/25
http://peekingbetweenthepages.blogspot.com/ 2/26 and guest blog 2/27
http://webereading.blogspot.com/ 2/26
http://www.caramellunacy.blogspot.com 2/26
http://bookthoughtsbylisa.blogspot.com/ 3/1
http://jennifersrandommusings.wordpress.com/ 3/1
http://rhireading.blogspot.com/ 3/1
http://passagestothepast.blogspot.com/ 3/2
http://thetometraveller.blogspot.com/ 3/2
http://steventill.com/ 3/2
http://savvyverseandwit.blogspot.com / 3/2 and interview 3/3
http://www.carlanayland.blogspot.com/
http://readersrespite.blogspot.com/ 3/3 and interview on 3/5
http://libraryqueue.blogspot.com/ 3/4
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/ 3/4
http://www.myfriendamysblog.com/ 3/5
http://samsbookblog.blogspot.com 3/5
http://goodbooksbrightside.blogspot.com/ 3/5

***Current giveaway of Dan Simmons’ Drood. Check it out, here.***

Filed Under: Interviews Tagged With: helen hollick

The Kingmaking by Helen Hollick

March 2, 2009 by Serena

Helen Hollick‘s The Kingmaking is the first of the Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy, which will be published in March 2009 by Sourcebooks. Thanks to Paul Samuelson for sending the book along for my review.

This first part in the trilogy begins in 450 AD in the midst of the Middle Ages while Britain remained in a tumultous period politically. Arthur is merely a bastard son at the beginning of this novel, and his foster father is kin to Uthr Pendragon. In the first chapters of the novel, Arthur grows into a man while visiting Gwynedd with Uthr and his abusive and cantankerous mistress Morgause. He meets Gwenhwyfar, daughter to Uthr’s faithful friend Cunedda, and begins to have deeper feelings than friendship for her. The relationship between Arthur and Gwenhwyfar is rocky in the beginning, but blossoms through understanding and mutual respect. However, there are circumstances surrounding the death of Uthr and a failed attempt to regain control of Britain that hinder the ability of their relationship to grow.

“The oars lifted then dipped to kiss the white foam. The sail dropped and the ship, tossing her prow like a mare held over-long curbed and kicking high her heels, leapt for the harbour sheltering beneath the imposing fortress that was Caer Arfon.” (Page 20)

The description in this book helps to set the scene of Britain in the Middle Ages, with its dark and ominous feel, but also its wild beauty. There is more to Britain during this time than readers may remember from their school days. My favorite passage in the book uses description to show Arthur coming into his manhood, along with the other adolescents of Gwynedd.

“The boys, stripped to the waist, were turning new scythed hay, making idle, breathless conversation as they tossed the sweet smelling, drying grass. Arthur’s bruising was a faint memory of shaded yellow against suntanned bronze skin; gone was that weary look of watchfulness and unease, replaced by relaxed laughter and happy contentment. His hair was longer, the close-cropped Roman style beginning to grow, with a slight curl, down his neck and flop across his forehead.” (Page 89)

Although there is great potential in the descriptive writing, some of the scenes fall flat as the narrative lists actions of the characters rather than showing the characters in action. Unlike the Arthurian legends of old which have mysticism and Merlin at the center of Arthur’s rise to power, Hollick’s retelling focuses on the realities and abilities of the “real” Arthur and his determination to regain control of Britain after the death of his true father.

Readers looking for mysticism and magic will be disappointed with this retelling. However, if readers are easily engaged by books with intrigue, battles, and strategy, this novel will not disappoint.

At nearly 600 pages, you can believe Hollick extensively researched her subject and it shows, from her use of place names connected to the regions at the time to the spellings of her main characters. Although portions of the book were a little dry and long, creating nicknames for some of the characters–Gwenhwyfar as Gwen or her brother Osmail as Ozzy–made it easier to become absorbed in the story.

Unfortunately, after 200 pages I stopped reading as certain scenes made me wonder what their purpose was, like when Gwen is aloft in a tree in the prime location to overhear Uthr and Morgause in intimate conversation. Considering the conversation that follows is not integral to the storyline, it makes the reader wonder why Gwen is in the tree in the first place to overhear the conversation.

***Giveaway Details*** (Part of the BookRoom Reviews Book Giveaway Carnival)

Sourcebooks has kindly decided to giveaway 3 copies of this novel to three lucky U.S. and Canadian readers.

I will pass along my ARC of the book to one lucky international reader; so please designate whether you are international when you enter the contest.

To Enter:

1. Leave a comment here; something other than “enter me” or “pick me”
2. Make sure you leave an email or blog address that works
3. Let me know if you are an international entrant, so I can place you on the list for my gently used ARC.

Deadline: March 8, 2009 at 5PM EST.

This Contest is NOW CLOSED!

Other blogs on the tour:

***My Current giveaway of Dan Simmons’ Drood. Check it out, here.***

Also reviewed by:
Historical Tapestry

Filed Under: ARC, giveaway, historical fiction, Read in 2009, reviews, sourcebooks Tagged With: helen hollick, the kingmaking

Mailbox Monday #19

March 2, 2009 by Serena

Welcome to another edition of Mailbox Monday, sponsored by Marcia at The Printed Page. Is everyone ready to see what came in my mailbox this week? It’s been a good two weeks for books.

I snagged a bunch of poetry books from Graywolf Press:

1. After Confession by Karen Sontag and David Graham

2. Antebellum Dream Book by Elizabeth Alexander (the poet who read at the inauguration)

3. Barter by Monica Youn

4. The Art of Time in Memoir by Sven Birkerts (current editor at AGNI Magazine)

5. The Book of Faces by Joseph Campana

From Author Suzanne Kamata:

6. Losing Kei

7. Call Me Okaasan

***Current giveaway of Dan Simmons’ Drood. Check it out, here.***

Filed Under: mailbox monday

Writing Goal Week #9

March 1, 2009 by Serena

The writing goal for last week was to continue work on the third poem I started, but it just didn’t happen this week. I really had a tough time juggling work, running a giveaway, posting interviews, and the numerous other projects I had going on.

Suffice to say, this was a disappointing week for me.

However, I did take Arlene Ang’s advice and submit some poems to two zines, Envoi and Identity Theory.

Writing Goal Week #9

I strive to do better this week. I hope to work on the third poem or create some new poems this week. Wish me luck!

***Current giveaway of Dan Simmons’ Drood. Check it out, here.***

Filed Under: writing goals

Secret Love Poems Winners

March 1, 2009 by Serena

Out of 25+ entrants, Randomizer.org selected five winners for Arlene Ang’s Secret Love Poems.

The lucky winners are:

Anna of Diary of an Eccentric
Jeannie of I Like to Be Here When I Can
Dawn of She Is Too Fond of Books
Keyomi of A Roller-Coaster Ride Called Life
Indigo of Scream Quietly

Congrats to all the winners, who will be receiving their copies in Mid-March!

Thanks to all those who entered. If you didn’t win this time, perhaps you’d be interested in my current giveaway of Dan Simmons’ Drood. Check it out, here.

Filed Under: winners

Drood by Dan Simmons

February 27, 2009 by Serena

I recently received Drood by Dan Simmons for a Hachette Group Early Birds Blog Tour. Unfortunately, I have not finished this 775-page novel. However, I did want to share with you some information about this engaging work. Longer novels take me a long while to finish, but this is one that has me in suspense, and I’m eager to see it to its conclusion. There is one scene in particular that keeps haunting me, and it comes very close to the beginning. Moreover, this novel has peeked my interest in reading Charles Dickins’ The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

Check out the giveaway instructions below.

From Hachette Group, about the book:

On June 9, 1865, while traveling by train to London with his secret mistress, 53-year-old Charles Dickens–at the height of his powers and popularity, the most famous and successful novelist in the world and perhaps in the history of the world–hurtled into a disaster that changed his life forever.

Did Dickens begin living a dark double life after the accident? Were his nightly forays into the worst slums of London and his deepening obsession with corpses, crypts, murder, opium dens, the use of lime pits to dissolve bodies, and a hidden subterranean London mere research . . . or something more terrifying?

Check out this fantastic Q&A with Dan Simmons, here.

Check out this Video of Dan Simmons talking about his book:

About the Author:

Dan Simmons was born in Peoria, Illinois, in 1948, and grew up in various cities and small towns in the Midwest, including Brimfield, Illinois, which was the source of his fictional “Elm Haven” in 1991’s SUMMER OF NIGHT and 2002’s A WINTER HAUNTING. Dan received a B.A. in English from Wabash College in 1970, winning a national Phi Beta Kappa Award during his senior year for excellence in fiction, journalism and art.

Dan received his Masters in Education from Washington University in St. Louis in 1971. He then worked in elementary education for 18 years — 2 years in Missouri, 2 years in Buffalo, New York — one year as a specially trained BOCES “resource teacher” and another as a sixth-grade teacher — and 14 years in Colorado.

My favorite part from Dan Simmons’ Web site is the photo of his workspace, check this out:

Giveaway: (Part of the BookRoom Reviews Giveaway Carnival)

Hachette Group is offering 3 copies of Drood to 3 lucky winners from U.S. and Canada, no P.O. boxes.

Leave me a comment here, other than “pick me” and “enter me”

You have until March 6, Midnight EST!

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED!

Here’s the other bloggers on the tour:

Filed Under: early birds blog tour, giveaway, Hachette Books Tagged With: dan simmons, drood

Thursday’s Thoughts: What Grabs You?

February 26, 2009 by Serena

Which author’s writing surprised you when you first read their work and what about it grabs you?

Since the question is mine, I figured I better answer it, and I’m going to go a bit askew and mention a poet, who has been featured recently here on Savvy Verse & Wit.

You guessed it, Arlene Ang. I’ve read her work for several years now in journals, and I will immediately read the latest issue of Pedestal Magazine or in whichever journal I find her published next.

What grabbed me first about her poetry is its eccentricty. Yes, her poetry is odd at times, but that’s what I love about it. I love the way she thinks about language and applies it in her work.

The Itch on my Scalp Means is one of my favorites; this is how it begins:

“I’ve been drinking in the nude. There was

a special occasion sometime in my past:

the sliding door stuck and I invited the maitre d’
upstairs to come through the window”

I love the inherent suspense she builds at the beginning of her poems; what is this special occasion from her past and does it have to do with this maitre d’?

How about her poem, “Shipwreck“? (I have a poem with the same title)

“Arrival is another
optical illusion of departure—

to reach the bottom,
the body is called upon
to leave first: the surface, a self,

the neck of a broken bottle
that hangs by a string.

Prior to drowning,
people shout in unison
with their faith—little fetish objects
around their throat—

but do not stop
the ship from sinking.

ii.

Even water has a pulse.

It slows down in the absence
of living, and competes
with movements that have
to do with survival.”

You’ll have to read the rest of this great poem here.

Check out these poems in Poems Neiderngasse.

I also adore that she experiments with her art whether its photoetry in “Like Turned Tables” or her blog.

If you haven’t checked out her by now, you should. There’s even a chance for you to win a copy of her chapbook, here. Yes, that was my shameless plug for more entrants. Today’s the last day!

Happy Thursday!

Filed Under: thursday's thoughts

Wondrous Words Wednesday

February 25, 2009 by Serena

Bermudaonion is sponsoring a new meme to introduce readers to Wondrous Words on Wednesdays, and this will be the first time I am participating. Yipee.

Here are the words I found in The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett:

1. Amanuensis: a writing assistant to conduct research and perform secretarial duties, though I didn’t mark the page I found this on, so I can’t tell you how Bennett used the word.

2. Solipsistic: someone who believes the theory of self can be proved to exist or extreme self-absorption

3. Opsimath: a person that continues or begins to learn later in life.

Although, most of these are defined in the novel.

***Don’t forget my Arlene Ang, Secret Love Poems, giveaway***

Filed Under: meme, wondrous words

Interview with Poet Barbara Orton

February 24, 2009 by Serena

I’ve been working on a interview project with Deborah at 32 Poems magazine, and she kindly allowed me to interview past contributors to the magazine. We will be posting the interviews throughout the coming months, and our fifth interview posted on Deborah’s Poetry Blog of 32 Poems on Feb. 24.

I’m going to provide you with a snippet from the interview, but if you want to read the entire interview, I’ll provide you a link for that as well.

For now, let me introduce to you 32 Poems contributor, Barbara Orton:

1. You are a contributor to 32 Poems. What do you find most challenging about your writing practices and why? Would you have any advice to amateur poets?

Even though I’ve written for publication for 18 years, my writing practice is still erratic. I admire those writers who get up and write for an hour or two every morning, but I’ve never been one of them. In a productive year, I might finish ten or fifteen publishable poems; in a dry year, maybe one or two.

Right now, my biggest challenge is balancing my writing with my academic schedule. A year ago, I moved away from Washington, D.C., where I worked as a freelance editor, to enroll in the PhD program in English at Tufts. I love being a graduate student, but it sucks away my time and energy in a way that editing never did.

My advice to a beginning poet would be to find or create an ongoing writing group, and to take classes whenever you can. The criticism, friendship, and support can be invaluable, and so can the regular deadlines.

2. Do you see spoken word, performance, or written poetry as more powerful or powerful in different ways and why? Also, do you believe that writing can be an equalizer to help humanity become more tolerant or collaborative? Why or why not?

I don’t feel qualified to comment on spoken word or performance poetry because my exposure to it has been limited, and, honestly, what I’ve encountered hasn’t been very much to my taste. I don’t mean to dismiss its value or interest to other people; I just don’t think I can make a judgment on its importance. I do enjoy reading my own poems out loud, though, and listening to other poets read their work.

I’d like to believe that writing can help people become more tolerant, and possibly more collaborative, but I don’t necessarily aspire to that in my own work. I just try to write good poems–emotionally powerful, formally successful, surprising. I love lyric poetry, but I don’t think it’s the genre I’d choose if I were trying to make the world a better place.

I always write more and better when I’m in a workshop. Over the past few years, I’ve taken classes at the Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Md., and I’m still in touch with the ongoing poetry group that developed out of one of those classes five years ago. I’ve also taken summer workshops at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

About the Poet:

Barbara J. Orton’s poems appear in four anthologies, The New Young American Poets (Southern Illinois University Press), New Voices (Academy of American Poets), Under the Rock Umbrella (Mercer University Press), and In Our Own Words: A Generation Defining Itself, Volume 7 (MW Enterprises). Her work also appears in journals including Ploughshares, Pleiades, and (most recently) The Yale Review, and in a Web chapbook published by The Literary Review and Web del Sol . She is currently seeking a publisher for her first two book manuscripts, Stealing the Silver and What I Did Instead of Love. She can be reached at [email protected].

Want to find out what Barbara’s writing space looks like? What music she listens to while she writes? Find out what she’s working on now, her obsessions, and much more. Check out the rest of my interview with Barbara here. Please feel free to comment on the 32 Poems blog and Savvy Verse & Wit.

Filed Under: Interviews, poetry Tagged With: 32 poems magazine, Barbara Orton

Testimony by Anita Shreve, Part Deux

Proximidade Award

Interview With Poet Mary Biddinger

Interview with Helen Hollick, Author of The Kingmaking

The Kingmaking by Helen Hollick

Mailbox Monday #19

Writing Goal Week #9

Secret Love Poems Winners

Drood by Dan Simmons

Thursday’s Thoughts: What Grabs You?

Wondrous Words Wednesday

Interview with Poet Barbara Orton

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