I’ve written about Melissa Caruso’s delightful writing before, both about her Swords & Fire trilogy and The Obsidian Tower, the first book of her Rooks & Ruin series. Last summer, I was fortunate to receive a copy of The Quicksilver Court. Now seems like an opportune time to share it, as the third book, The Ivory Tomb, is due out later this year. (The fact that I went looking for the release date should give you a hint as to how good this series is.) This review was originally published in the October 8, 2021 issue of Booklist Online.
Kicked out of her home by her demon-possessed grandmother, Ryx has teamed up with the Rookery in The Quicksilver Court, the second book of Melissa Caruso’s Rooks and Ruin series. Ryx’s magical ability to destroy everything is contained by a jess, allowing her the freedom to interact with other people for the first time in her life. She and her Rookery allies need to hunt down and contain the demons – other than her grandmother – unleashed in The Obsidian Tower, without knowing their goals or which of the nine demons are loose in the world. They find themselves at the court of Loreice, a place vastly different than Ryx’s Morgrain home, pursuing the Zenith Society and an artifact that could destroy an entire domain by killing every living being in it. Melissa Caruso continues to seamlessly incorporate gender equality, LGBT relationships, and non-binary characters in her unique fantasy setting, exploring familiar coming of age topics as Ryx struggles with human interaction and her personal and literal demons.
I just realized that the sequel to The Raven Spell is coming out soon, which seems like a good time to share this review of the first book in the Conspiracy of Magic series. This review was originally published in the February 15, 2022 issue of Booklist.
Luanne Smith kicks off a new magical series with The Raven Spell, set in Victorian London where a pair of sisters, Edwina and Mary, run a trinket shop. Living in a large city makes it easier to hide their magic from mortals and avoid the attention of the Witch’s Constabulary, which enforces laws relating to magic. Mary’s ability to capture a person’s memories at the moment of their death, transforming the memories into a small stone, is the catalyst for this story when the sisters find a private detective, Ian Cameron, dying on the shore. When Ian survives, Edwina accidentally restores the wrong stone – with somebody else’s memories – into his mind, then embarks on a mission to help Ian retrace his lost time without magic. As Edwina grows closer to Ian, she becomes aware of the growing distance between herself and Mary and the mystery of Mary’s nighttime activities. Smith wraps up the plot neatly while leaving a clear hook to entice delighted readers back for the next book.
I’m not sure I can do justice to the Paramount Theatre’s latest production, Hand to God. It is everything live theatre is supposed to be: intense, insightful, and, in its own way, educational.
It is also, according to the Paramount’s own ad on Facebook, offensive. Their website and the ticket reminder both state that its rating is “Suggested for ages 18+ for strong adult language, sexual harassment, simulated sex, simulated statutory rape and violence.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, people were offended. Some were even offended enough to leave at intermission (and then respond to the Facebook ad, so we could all see they were offended). You know, after Act 1, when the characters have done almost every stupid thing they can, and the audience is questioning the characters’ wisdom and sanity, wondering how in the world they’ll recover from their mistakes.
The real problem, as I see it, is other than the possessed puppet, people were offended by things that happen in real life. And while we should absolutely be offended when they really happen, including them in theatre helps bring awareness to these issues. And, as expected, the characters grow and learn in Act 2.
Hand to God is playing at the Copley Theatre through July 10th. I highly recommend it.
We had eight days plus an evening, and almost four hundred miles to cover while picking interesting places to visit, ranging from Key West to Orlando. We tried to select a mix of interests, which seems to have resulted in mostly nature and science stops.
Key West: a rooster at sunrise, a butterfly at the Key West Butterfly & Nature Conservatory, a polydactyl cat at the Hemingway House, all set against the background of a rainbow crosswalk
Lego rabbits at Mounts Botanical Garden in West Palm Beach; a colorful lizard of some sort at Vizcaya Museum & Gardens; an orange flower at Mounts Botanical Garden; part of the garden at Vizcaya; artwork outside the Richter Library at the University of Miami; the fountain and new dorms at the University of Miami; sand and ocean at Miami Beach; part of the Rocket Garden at Kennedy Space Center; an alligator by the path at the Everglades National Park
The next few days weren’t quite as hectic. We started most mornings whenever we were ready, including the day we went to the Everglades National Park… that involved getting a tire replaced on our rental car, having picked up a roofing nail the evening before. (In case you hadn’t heard, there’s a bit of a shortage on rental cars; they didn’t have a replacement car available nearby.) We started at the visitor’s center just outside the gate (be sure to ask about the junior ranger activities if you have younger kids), paid our admission at the gate (good for 7 days), then drove all the way in to the Flamingo Lodge. We lucked out and saw a single manatee while exploring around the lodge, then drove back out to the Snake Bight trail for a nice, long walk in the heat. (Largely shaded, but still, hot.) Our final stop in the park was at the Anhinga Trail, which the ranger at the entrance visitor’s center had said was the best chance of seeing wildlife. The alligator by the trail clearly hasn’t read the rules that say people should stay at least 15 feet away from animals.
Our next day involved moving from Florida City to Miami Beach, with a stop at Vizcaya Museum & Gardens on the way. I had visited the gardens once, when they still hosted a renaissance festival in the spring, but had never been inside the house. What struck me about the style of the house, which was built in the early 1900s but designed to look older, was how similar in style it is to Spanish colonial buildings in Guatemala, with an open courtyard and some garden in the center of the house. Of course, it also has extensive gardens beyond the mansion, which most houses in Guatemala don’t have.
We met a friend at the University of Miami, revisiting my old stomping grounds – mainly the library, though we glanced at some of the new buildings as well. (We went off campus for a lovely lunch, which I’ll cover in my next post.) The visit to my high school was similar, rehashing memories with familiar buildings and amazement at some of the new areas of campus. (The motivation for the trip was my high school reunion.)
Then we headed north! On our way to meet up with friends in Palm Bay and Melbourne, we sidetracked to Mounts Botanical Garden in West Palm Beach (compensating for missing the Miami Beach Botanical Garden because Vizcaya and lunch ran later than we expected). By chance, they were having both a plant sale that day (no, we didn’t buy anything, it was all tropical) and a Lego exhibit. From Melbourne, we continued on to Kennedy Space Center, missing a shuttle launch by a couple days and several hours (even I wasn’t up before 4am on vacation), which was delightful and educational. Or delightfully educational? Something like that.
Orlando – Gatorland: warning sign that reads “Plese Be Safe. Do not carry children on your shoulders or stand, sit, or climb on fence railings anywhere in the park. If you fall in THE GATORS WILL EAT YOU! And that might make them sick. Thank you.”; some baby alligators including an albino; a collection of young alligators on a boardwalk; a bird perched on the back of an alligator
Our final day in Florida was spent in the Orlando area. Instead of visiting the better-known tourist traps, some of which we visited a few years before (pre-blog, sorry), we opted to visit Gatorland. With “over 2,000 American alligators” onsite, the location name is stunningly accurate. Really the only disappointing part was not trying the zipline (yes, over gators) and arriving after they had already picked a “volunteer” to hold a tarantula at the Up-Close Encounters show.
We headed home the next day and were delighted to find out that the cats are all still talking to us. Mostly to say we should feed them, but hey, we’ll take it.
Behold, a non-fiction book on my reading list! Yes, it’s a rarity. This particular book has been on my wish list since it was released, both because it’s about the US national parks and because the author, Conor Knighton, was on our Galápagos cruise along with Efrain Robles, the video journalist mentioned repeatedly in the book. When we met them, they were working, exploring nature and documenting the (50th? I don’t actually recall) anniversary cruise along with the owner of the cruise line.
In his book, Conor, reeling from a break-up, set as a goal to visit every national park (but not monument, trail, or site) over the course of one year. This book has fascinating details about each park he visited, but should not be mistaken for a travel guide; it’s clearly a deeply personal memoir of a geek searching for direction in his life. By all accounts, he found it: he convinced CBS to pay for his travels, and was rewarded with a deeply reflective experience and additional travel assignments. As I said, we met him the following year in the Galápagos, where he was working… I had to use more than half of my vacation time for that trip.
Despite being deeply personal, Leave Only Footprints is a light read with plenty of funny moments. From the way it’s written, I suspect Efrain rolled his eyes when he asked if the photos Conor requested with the Denali puppies were for Tinder. You’ll have to read it yourself to find out what the “nerdiest” thing Conor said when comparing national parks to dating. And I recommend not making a drinking game out of finding the geeky references that are thrown in, you’d probably stumble to bed before finishing the book.
Now the question… which national park should I visit next, and which ones should I add to my bucket list?
The Paramount Theatre in Aurora recently launched their Bold series at the renovated Copley Theatre, located across the street from the Paramount. They kicked off the series with Sweat, a Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a small town in the United States where most people’s goal is to work in the local plant and get their union card. The story moves through the characters’ dreams and struggles, working up to the event that landed two young men in prison and interactions with their parole officer upon their release. This is live theatre at its finest, in a small enough venue that every member of the audience feels a connection to the performers on stage. It packs a punch though, leading to conversations about unions, privilege, and the poor decisions people make out of desperation.
A week later, in an entirely different presentation style, I watched a 15-minute story called The Key on my Oculus. Virtual reality is definitely one step up the immersive ladder from a small theatre, and the story is designed with some interactive points. There’s not a lot I can say without spoilers, but the presentation and story were both riveting. The narrator leads you through their dreams and their struggle to remember the meaning of key objects in them. The story is available for free on the Oculus, or you can watch the story in a less immersive format on YouTube.
Both stories hit hard, each in their own distinctive way, and both are absolutely worth the time.
As mentioned recently, Wordle has taken the online world by storm, drawing people in with the once-a-day challenge. Like many popular games, it has spawned variants, some keeping the challenge related to language(s), and others branching out into other subjects.
There are, apparently, variants for specific fandoms, such as Lord of the Rings, Star Wars (includes dashes so you can guess droids), Taylor Swift, and Pokémon; I only recently learned of those, and would probably struggle with them. I had heard of Lewdle (the name says it all) and apparently there’s also a Sweardle (also fairly obvious). I’m not particularly good at trivia, even for fandoms I enjoy, and my usual vocabulary doesn’t seem to work well for those last two. In addition to the original game, I am enjoying these variants:
Globle, a geography game where you try to guess today’s country. The color of the guessed country indicates proximity to today’s answer. There is no limit to the number of guesses, I’ve ranged anywhere from three (on a lucky day) to twenty guesses so far.
Nerdle, a math game with a calculation to determine. There are only eight spaces, and one of them is always an equals sign, so they’re fairly simple calculations.
WordleGame, not for their English remake – I like this one for the selection of foreign languages. I occasionally remember to visit it and try the Spanish puzzle for the day.
The big one… and I mean that literally, is Quordle:
Instead of one word, you’re trying to match four. The difficulty is that all of your guesses apply to all four quadrants, so a guess that helps you on the first word may give you no new letters on the fourth one. To balance out the increased difficulty, you have nine guesses instead of Wordle’s standard six.
I’ve mentioned Marshall Ryan Maresca’s books before, specifically in this post about The Velocity of Revolution, so it’s safe to assume I was excited to receive another of his books, An Unintended Voyage, to review. This novel picks up from a plot hook left hanging in Maresca’s Streets of Maradaine series, and is a great starting point for new readers. This review was originally published in the November 1, 2021 issue of Booklist.
During Marshall Ryan Maresca’s Maradaine Saga, Sergeant Corrie Wellington was abducted along with assorted children and put on a slave ship bound for places unknown. An Unintended Voyage reveals Corrie’s plight, landing her at a debtors’ house in Mocassa working to pay off an unintended debt accrued after the slave ship. Raised believing that Maradaine was the center of the world, Corrie experiences all of the culture shock inherent in being dumped in another country and interacting with people from nations she hadn’t heard of before. Her protective streak quickly extends from her shipmate Eana and the women they share a house with to victims of random violence on the unpatrolled streets, which ultimately leads to meeting a language tutor and securing a steady job as a bodyguard. Eventually she finds herself protecting other foreigners against religious fanatics who predict – and encourage – impending doom, coinciding with a solar eclipse which will enhance magical abilities. An Unintended Voyage is another delightful read for all ages, expanding on Maresca’s worldbuilding with hints of future adventures spread across the world.
It seems like just yesterday that Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell, was released in theaters. Alas, yesterday was closer to thirty years ago in this case. The basic premise, as described on IMDB.com is “A self-centered Pittsburgh weatherman finds himself inexplicably trapped in a small town as he lives the same day over and over again.” Needless to say, hijinks ensue as he moves through shock and denial to some extreme actions, followed eventually by making the most of it.
Broadway took what’s already an entertaining concept and added music to it, and the Paramount Theatre in Aurora included it in their Broadway series this year. Weatherman Phil sets the mood in the prelude with a handful of snarky comments, movie references, and swearing that he will never take the Punxsutawney assignment again. He doubles down on this attitude in his first song, singing about how much he hates Small Town USA.
The musical proceeds as expected given that it’s based on a movie many of us already know and love. Where the Paramount excels, as always, is some great stage effects, like watching Phil drive drunk in a snow storm pursued by a police car. Why yes, of course they crash… you could almost feel it.
As with previous shows this season, proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test is required to attend (and they’ve partnered with a local place for the test), and you’re expected to wear a mask the entire time expect when taking a sip of your drink. Unless you’re the idiots behind our subscription seats, who thought they were exempt from the rule. (I’m sure there are others, those were just the ones we could see. Sat down, took off their masks. Put them on again when the usher reminded them of the rule, but they were off again at intermission, and during the second half when there was a brief pause to resolve technical issues on stage.)
All in all, another fantastic show at the Paramount. Go see it if you can.
Like 2020, 2021 wasn’t quite the year we expected or hoped for. Here in the United States, 2021 started with a violent insurrection attempt inspired by the former president. His inability to accept defeat was predictable; as I mentioned previously, he never learned to lose. Thanks to quick thinking on the part of Capitol police, none of the lawmakers were injured, the election results were certified, and many of us were able to watch the inauguration of a new President later that month. An easy option for following the ongoing investigation into the insurrection is to read Heather Cox Richardson’s daily updates.
Going into 2021, we knew that COVID vaccines were being tested and produced and would soon be available for all adults. Unfortunately, the rollout was initially slow, though it sped up as vaccine production ramped up following necessary approvals. By summer, vaccines were also available for teenagers.
Having attended a wedding via Zoom at the beginning of the year, the opportunity to socialize as more friends were vaccinated was eagerly received. Bristol Renaissance Faire reopened after taking a year off, and I drove to Minneapolis for a friend’s barbecue. Just as things were starting to look up, we lost a young family member in Guatemala to the pandemic, right as he became eligible for the vaccine. (Countries that aren’t developing their own vaccines tend to have a slower rollout.) On the same day, we lost a friend in Wisconsin; we attended his funeral later that week. Near the end of the year, my aunt in England passed away; I watched funeral via LiveStream.
As the Delta variant wave climbed, conventions tweaked their policies to include vaccinations and masks, allowing Dorkstock to a somewhat quieter Gamehole Con in October. So there has been gaming – outside the house even – and goodness knows we bought too many board games there.
Some happier highlights from the year include writing – in addition to the ongoing character journal that I maintained for my Quest Calendar, I submitted a couple short stories for competitions and worked through the write, edit, re-write process with a local writers’ group to include a short story in an anthology called Triple Vision.
I also wrote a couple songs this year, mostly about fandom (“filk”), including a Blowin’ in the Wind parody about Avengers: Infinity War, Cthulhu Sleeps Tonight, inspired by a crafty friend, and a silly song about ducks and my friend John’s charity bike ride.
Safe to say, 2021 was neither the best of times nor the worst… just somewhere in the middle, and somewhat unexpected.
