BEA/HNS conference trip, day 11

After two years of planning and preparation, it's hard to believe the Albany conference is over. It was a pretty intense three days, and it's hard to describe (and record) everything that happened since Thursday, though I'll try to write up my own experiences, at least briefly.

I didn't get to nearly as many panels and workshops as I'd have liked, as I was too busy getting people settled in / answering questions / whatever, but those that I did get to went very well, at least it seemed to me. My own panel ("the best new historical fiction: what to read and why") was slotted second on Saturday morning, and we nearly filled the room, despite being scheduled opposite Stephanie Cowell/Judith Lindbergh/Lyn Cote (in one room) and Irene Goodman (in the other). Two fellow librarians and I "booktalked" around 35 of our favorite historical novels from the last two years, telling the audience what they were about and why we enjoyed them; a slideshow of book covers accompanied the talk. We went in chronological order by the novels' settings, and finished exactly on time. I even got a few laughs, which was gratifying if occasionally surprising. I have the habit of unintentionally making double entendres, though if people thought I was being funny on purpose, I'll take credit for it.

I didn't make it to Chris Humphreys' panel first thing Saturday morning, or anything scheduled opposite for that matter, though apparently he did such a great job that his novels sold out at the bookseller room right afterward. He also had a huge line at the group book-signing that afternoon. Mary Sharratt's panel on "rewriting the role of women" was also a favorite, with all the panelists sharing their perspectives on writing about historical women, both fictional and real. And lots of people were taking notes during the "publishing continuum" panel run by Tamara Mazzei, Nancy Attwell, and Patricia Wynn during the final timeslot this morning at 10:30.

I didn't attend the "writing love scenes" panel, but I heard much laughter coming through the walls.

Note to self to stop making snarky comments about BEA in LA next year (only in relation to the weather, mind you, as I've never complained about the show itself), as there's a chance I'll end up going after all. It's fairly easy to convince me to go to book events.

Probably the best part of this conference was meeting so many people I've known only over email and/or this blog. Karen Mercury and I hung out at the Saturday evening dinner, I got to meet many authors, HNS members and reviewers for the first time, and I reconnected with other people I haven't seen since Salt Lake City. Since the conference was on the east coast, many HNS members from the UK and Europe made it over; I had some nice conversations with a historical fiction fan from Dublin, and a few others who were based in London. And, hey, I even sold seven books - and got to sign two of them. The Salt Lake City bookseller was convinced they wouldn't sell and only ordered three of them, which sold out immediately. This time, the bookseller (Blackwood and Brouwer out of Kinderhook, NY) ordered ten.

Mark didn't go to the conference per se, although he volunteered to chauffeur some of our guests of honor to/from the train station in Rensselaer. He picked up Irene Goodman on the 4pm train Friday from NYC and promptly got stuck in Albany rush-hour traffic on the way back to the Desmond, but I understand the people in the back seat (other conference goers also en route to the hotel) kept everyone entertained.

Oh, and the food at the Desmond was delicious - no "rubber chicken" or "rolled stuffed hamster" there (that's Mark's phrase to describe typical conference fare, normally chicken cordon bleu or some such). In her keynote, Diana Gabaldon mentioned it was the best food she'd ever had at a conference. I'll be curious to hear what other attendees thought, about this or any other aspect of the conference, pro or con. Any attendees reading this who didn't fill out a feedback form, my address is on the top if you want to mail it back to me, or just email me your thoughts if/when you get around to it. We really do take all comments/suggestions seriously, and we used a number of the ideas on the Salt Lake feedback sheets to plan the program for this one.

I came back from the conference energized, eager to start working again on v.2 of my book, though I'm sorry it'll be another two years until the next conference in North America. We'd do these conferences every year if they weren't so much work, and if we weren't obliged to rotate locales around the continent (which means choosing a new hotel). The good news is, though, that we've had many expressions of interest from people interested in helping with the next event, and after we decompress a little, we'll start evaluating our options. And maybe Mark and I will head to York (England) next April, where I understand the next HNS conference will be.

Conference photos forthcoming, eventually.

We're in Newington, Connecticut tonight and most of tomorrow, heading back to Indy and Charleston tomorrow night.

BEA/HNS conference trip, day 7

I did absolutely nothing useful today, aside from answering about a dozen conference-related emails. Instead, we drove south on Rte. 9 toward the Connecticut shoreline, heading to our favorite used bookstore in the area, the Niantic Book Barn. If you want more info on it, I blogged about this place last December when we were here last.

Even better, this time we took photos. Take a look.

BEA/HNS conference trip, day 6

Today was my half-day workshop on readers' advisory for historical fiction at the Western Massachusetts Regional Library System up in Whately/Deerfield. Judging by what attendees told me, it went pretty well. I thought so, too. Things I learned:

- I am, indeed, capable of talking about historical novels for a three-hour period (with a short break in between). Who knew? Seriously - this is the longest workshop I've done, and I was relieved that I had enough material. In fact, I skipped over a few minor things I'd thought about covering.

- People really are reading the pieces I write for NoveList, HNS, and such. Again, who knew? I get very little feedback, besides from my editor. The conference organizer had acquired and xeroxed nearly every article I'd written in the past year and distributed copies to the 20 or so attendees. This was a nice surprise, and flattering, too.

- Half-day workshops aren't all that much more work than ones that last an hour. They're just longer. Refueling with carbs midway through does help.

I had a number of good questions, and the audience was interested and responsive - it makes things go so much better when they are. (The hardest workshop I've ever taught was to a class of freshman English students who didn't say a word the entire time - they didn't even put fingers to keyboards during the hands-on portion. Talk about awkward.)

That said, with BEA and this workshop within two days of one another, I admit I'm tired. I have one day of downtime before we leave for Albany, and I'll be taking advantage of it.

BEA/HNS conference trip, days 4 and 5

The good news is... nobody had broken into my box in the mailroom overnight, so yesterday morning we sealed it up (after acquiring a few more ARCs in the exhibit hall) and mailed it off. There wasn't all that much going on at BEA on Sunday - a few people I meant to talk to had left already - so we took the shuttle back to the hotel, hung around a bit, and found lunch.

We didn't stay for Tracy Chevalier's LongPen signing at 1:30, though I did see this technology demoed earlier that weekend, as Margaret Atwood signed several books remotely (via video and computerized pen) on the Saturday afternoon.

I guess the bad news is that this is it for BEA for me for another two years - it's in LA in 2008, and I really have no desire to go to southern California in the summer. New York at close to 90 degrees and humid was enough. ALA is also in California next year (Anaheim), and I don't plan on attending that either, so 2008 may be the year we finally make it back to Europe for vacation.

On the train ride back to Hartford, I began reading Tim Willocks' The Religion, which is very good. I'm up to p.100. I wasn't sure it was my type of book, but after finding that I've enjoyed more than a few books I didn't think I would, I'm redefining what "my type of book" is. It's an epic adventure about the siege of Malta, first in a forthcoming trilogy, and begins with a very violent scene - I'm sure there will be more of these to come - but it's extremely well written.

I have no real plans for today other than laundry and thinking about tomorrow's workshop, though I've already prepared about as much as I can for that.

BEA/HNS conference trip, days two and three

Longest. Post. Ever. You're warned. And please excuse the fact that I'm not italicizing titles now, I'm on a laptop without a mouse and it's a real pain...

It's around 7pm in NYC, we’re back in the hotel after dinner, and we may end up staying in – Mark’s watching the Red Sox game, and my legs don’t want to move after walking around almost continuously for two days straight. Mostly on concrete. Ow.

It’s been a pretty good show so far, despite the fact that some loser rifled through one of our boxes in the mailroom yesterday and stole copies of everything I’d taken two of. For historical fiction I want to read, I try to take one for myself and one to send out for review, as it’s lots easier (and more timely) to grab copies at BEA than to request them from publishers later. If I end up getting another copy in the mail later on, I pass it along to one of the other HNS people, typically. But now that I’ve gotten that complaint out of the way…

As with last year, many of the big fall titles (those being pushed heavily by publishers at their booths) seem to be historical novels. That said, I haven’t seen any huge promotions such as was done with Jed Rubenfeld’s The Interpretation of Murder in 2006. But those galleys that were piled fairly high at booths included: Jennifer Donnelly’s The Winter Rose (from Hyperion next winter; new publisher, as I remember the galleys for The Tea Rose given away by St. Martin’s Press at their booth a few years ago); Andromeda Romano-Lax’s The Spanish Bow; Erika Mailman’s The Witch’s Trinity; Ronan Bennett’s Zugzwang; Andrea Barrett’s The Air We Breathe; and Gail Tsukiyama’s Street of a Thousand Blossoms.

I went to a bunch of signings, and got copies of new/forthcoming titles from (in no particular order) Clare Clark (The Nature of Monsters), Anita Amirrezvani (The Blood of Flowers), William Martin (The Lost Constitution), Deanna Raybourn (Silent in the Sanctuary), Patricia O’Brien (Harriet and Isabella), Marie Bostwick (River’s Edge), Frank Delaney (Tipperary), Peter Melman (Landsman), and Wilbur Smith (The Quest). I hadn’t known Wilbur Smith would be there, he wasn’t in the program, but my curiosity was piqued after seeing more than few people walk by with brand-new hardcovers, and that doesn’t usually happen unless the author’s there doing a signing. So I went by the St. Martin’s Press booth (it helps to know who’s publishing what, at times) and what do you know, there he was, and there weren’t even many people in line.

Funny – the woman in front of me for the Tipperary signing was trying to get other people to join her in line by calling out: “It’s the author of Angela’s Ashes! Come on over!” Um, no, it wasn’t, but Delaney’s Ireland was a good read, and I hope she wasn’t disappointed that the author was another Irish guy named Frank.

I know I went to more signings than these, but the books aren’t in front of me anymore – two boxes are already heading back home via UPS, and another box is waiting in the mail room for Mark to come back with me and help mail out tomorrow, first thing. (If I find out that anyone’s stolen stuff from my box overnight, I won’t be a happy camper.) The library will be receiving a bunch of books from today’s loot, needless to say. Any relevant hardcovers that weren’t for HNS, they’ll get, and the ARCs of contemporary fiction will go in the staff break room for giveaways. Ditto for any extra tote bags.

Signings I didn’t manage to get to, because the lines were way too long – Rebecca Stott’s Ghostwalk, Pete Hamill’s North River, Ian McEwan’s On Chesil Beach, Lisa See’s Peony in Love. I kind of expect to find a hardcover of the latter once I get home, but I’ll have to get copies of the rest elsewhere, later. Stott and McEwan were sharing a signing line – maybe a good marketing strategy for her, because everyone waiting for McEwan (merely a few hundred people) got her book, too. I wanted her book more than his, but I ended up with neither.

I stopped and talked to a bunch of people at their booths, including two of my editors (at Booklist and Information Today), publicists I know over email, a couple friends who work in publishing. Here’s a serendipitous event, though: I almost literally ran into an old friend from college, someone I haven’t seen for about five years, while we were walking in opposite directions down one publisher’s booth. I had no idea she was in publishing. She’d told me that she had just recommended my book to a historical fiction fan who was at one of the booths, and then she happened to see me there. Weird.

Last night we went out to the Strand after hitting Mitali East down in the Village (great Indian place we went to two years ago). I ended up buying a copy of Tim Willocks’ The Religion. The publisher’s blurb says it “revivifies historical fiction” and that such a novel hasn’t been seen since the days of James Clavell… well, I didn’t honestly think historical fiction was dead before this novel appeared, but the reviews have been very good.

By around noon today, I was getting tired of wandering around booths and attending signings, so went to two programs, one on the mainstreaming of fantasy and science fiction, and the other, a “book buzz” panel on debut fiction in which five editors talked about the novels they’d really like to see do well. (I didn’t get into Nancy Pearl’s “book buzz for librarians” panel – BEA had scheduled this in a smallish meeting room, and there wasn’t even room on the floor. I opted for the debut fiction panel instead.)

The fantasy/SF one mostly concentrated on SF, and while all the material was interesting, I can’t say I learned all that much new, although I did note some titles/authors unfamiliar to me. David Weber, who writes military-based SF, noted that he’s had an idea for a while to write a series of historical novels, a sort of family saga set around the American Revolution – someone will probably show up and correct me if I got this wrong – but doubted he’d ever be able to write it, because he’s too busy writing his current series. There was a brief discussion about the reasons why so many SF writers started out as medievalists, and how many of them are also Georgette Heyer fans. That’s the limit of the “historical” content of this program (and probably the main interest of readers here, so I’ll move along shortly). The one bookseller on the panel – didn’t get his name – had some nice insights into the difficulties of selling SF to non-SF readers, as well. For the debut fiction panel, only one of the novels “buzzed” was historical: Pamela Thompson’s Every Past Thing, from Unbridled Books, out in September.

The plan for tomorrow is: go back to the exhibit hall early on, see what galleys are on offer, mail another box or two out, make a couple final rounds, and then head back to the hotel before lunch. Our train back to Hartford leaves tomorrow afternoon. Then, a day off back in Connecticut before my presentation at the Western Mass. Library System on Tuesday morning.

BEA/HNS conference trip, day one

I'm writing from the official BEA librarians' hotel in NYC (Holiday Inn Midtown) and there are a lot of librarians here. The publishers are even marketing to us, here in the hotel - after check-in, the desk clerk gave me a bag of goodies with a hardcover kids' book about libraries, a galley of a Jewish women's fiction novel, and promo material from Holtzbrinck, who are hosting an author breakfast here (in this hotel) tomorrow morning.

I guess this is technically day two, rather than day one, of the trip because we flew from Indy last night at 8:30 (after a day of shopping, which included some nice purchases at the Half Price Books in Castleton) and got into Hartford just after 11pm. Then, after less than 12 hours at my parents' house, we took Amtrak to Penn Station via New Haven, which was a surprisingly pleasant ride.

Tomorrow morning I expect to meet up with a few HNS people at the Javits Center, after which the grabbing of galleys will commence. I do plan to talk to a number of publishers, too, about their fall historical fiction titles, and get catalogs so that I can request ARCs later on of what they don't have here.

Two reviews online, finally

It's only been six weeks since they were published... Amazon must have hiccupped somewhere.

From Booklist: my reviews of Jonis Agee's The River Wife (one of my favorite reads so far this year) and Laura Dietz's In the Tenth House. The latter credits "Roberta Johnson" rather than me, but the print magazine has it right. Susan, Sally, Sadie, Sandra, Sondra, I've gotten, often (sigh), but Roberta is a new one.

Added later - to see what else we've been doing this holiday weekend, see Randomography (including a picture of me holding a garden cat that demanded attention) and Greasy Spoons.

Oh, all right

Since both Tess and Rachel tagged me for the "8 random things about me" meme, I'll stop dithering and post already :)

Eight random facts about me:

1. My nickname on Yahoo and Librarything, Ariadne02, dates back to 1989, when my college boyfriend ran a BBS and I had to choose a handle to post under. I'd just read June Rachuy Brindel's novel Ariadne and thought the name was cool. The "02" was added later, because some other Ariadne had gotten to Yahoo before me.

2. I've seen every episode of American Idol since Season 2, except for the early auditions when they show the people who really suck.

3. When I worked as a temporary secretary for the Michigan Dept of Transportation, I read a book a day, making my way through every novel written by Jean Plaidy, Valerie Anand, and Norah Lofts that the East Lansing Public Library owned.

4. I was a vegetarian for about six years but gave it up when I left Ann Arbor and finding food to eat became too much of a chore.

5. My most infamous ancestor is Alice Bishop, one of the first women executed in the American colonies (again, "hanged" - not "hung").

6. I have scars on both of my knees after slipping on pavement while running to take my final exam in medieval English history during grad school. Rather than stop at the infirmary, I took my two-hour final, trying not to get blood on anything (sorry), after which my knees got badly infected. I got a B+ in the course. I'm not sure what the moral of this story is.

7. During middle school, I wrote a program in BASIC on my family's Apple IIe that did a fair job of mimicking ELIZA (a computer program that manipulates strings of text to emulate a psychotherapist's responses to statements).

8. I can bake a mean baklava.

I'm not tagging anyone else because this one's been around the block for a while, but if anyone else wants to join in, please do.

Continuing my indiscriminate reporting on books

To get the context for this post's title, see GalleyCat from yesterday. I'm very amused by it all. Ah well. The author's comments aside, my Booklist review of Bluebird (linked from the sidebar) still stands, obviously, and I'd already planned to talk it up at the HNS conference in two weeks.

One good thing about the GalleyCat post, besides alerting me to the NBCC interview and to Shirley Dent's well-reasoned piece from the Guardian on the blogger/print critic divide, was that I learned about novelist Michelle Moran's blog, History Buff (cute graphic). Michelle's been interviewing current historical novelists about women's roles in history. She'll be speaking at the conference, too.

I'll be giving a workshop about the appeal of historical fiction at the Western Mass. Library System on June 5th. It looks like registration has closed already.

The gallery of reusable cover art has been updated. For the Rap Sheet: I'll see your two long-skirted women and raise you two more. (Check the Rap Sheet link for more examples of this type, mostly from crime fiction.)

But without further ado, some new Publishers Marketplace deals.

Kathleen Kent's debut novel THE HERETIC'S DAUGHTER, about one family's courage and defiance during the Salem Witch Trials, based on the author's own family history and the story of her grandmother nine generations back who was hung for being a witch, to Reagan Arthur at Little, Brown, at auction, by Julie Barer at Barer Literary (NA).

"Hanged," please, not "hung." Of course, maybe "hung" is acceptable now in this context - that, "orientate," and "irregardless" always get me, especially when I see them in historical fiction.

DL Armstrong's THE LAST TROUBADOUR, set against the flames of a rising medieval Inquisition, a heretic, an atheist and a pagan are the last hope to save the holiest Christian relic from a sainted King and crusading pope, based on true events, plus THE LAST QUEST and THE LAST STAND, to James McKinnon for Kunati, in a good deal (world English).

Publisher website here.

And Journalist Sherry Jones's debut historical novel A'ISHA, BELOVED OF MUHAMMAD, set in seventh-century Arabia, the story of the favorite wife of the Prophet Muhammad, recreating her marriage at the age of nine, her struggle for personal freedom in a society where women had few rights, and her dedication to The Prophet's vision of a true faith, to Judy Sternlight for Ballantine, in a pre-empt, for two books, by Natasha Kern of the Natasha Kern Literary Agency.

I'm home today, attempting to catch up on email, getting HNR tearsheets out, and general housecleaning. I leave for my big conference trip a week from today - I'm not sure if I'm ready.

Book meme du jour

I finished up my "romancing the past" chapter yesterday morning, and my brain hurts from writing almost continuously for the past three weeks. This meme on Susan's blog caught my eye, so I thought I'd break my blogging silence by participating. Besides, this way you get to see how obscu-- er, wide-ranging, my reading tastes are.

A book that made you cry: Liz Curtis Higgs' Thorn in My Heart. This novel (a retelling of the biblical Jacob-Leah-Rachel triangle set in the 18th century Scottish lowlands) ought to be sold with some small packets of tissues.

A book that scared you: Rett MacPherson's Died in the Wool. Very creepy, especially for a cozy mystery, where I don't usually expect such things.

A book that made you laugh: James Morrow's The Last Witchfinder. The introduction, in which Newton's Principia Mathematica describes the secret lives of books (and what they write about when humans aren't watching) is hilarious. Also Jane Harris's The Observations.

A book that disgusted you: It's a toss-up between Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front and Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. Ugh. I read both in Miss Lerner's 9th grade English class, which was held right before lunch. I didn't eat very well that year.

A book you loved in elementary school: I'm sure we read books in elementary school, but I can't think of any specific titles. One book I enjoyed when I was that age, though, was Lorraine Beim's Just Plain Maggie, written sometime in the 1950s I think, about a girl named Maggie and her experiences going off to summer camp. My grandmother used to work at an education library and saved me a bunch of the discards. This was one of them.

A book you loved in middle school. Why can't I remember reading anything in middle school? I graduated, didn't I? Need to come back to this one.

A book you loved in high school: James Hilton's Lost Horizon, which may be my favorite book of all time. Dryly witty, tragic, romantic, well told, plus a great "what if" storyline you're tempted to believe in - what more can be said? I don't think I realized how truly clever the writing was until I reread it years later.

A book you hated in high school: Way too many, but see above, under "books that disgusted me."

A book you loved in college: I didn't take any English lit courses in college, only French lit, which probably explains a lot. I don't know if I'd say loved, but I thought Alain Robbe-Grillet's La Jalousie was very creative in terms of technique. Driss Chraibi's La Civilisation, Ma mère was enjoyable. And who can forget Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's Le Petit Prince.

A book that challenged your identity: Beats me. I must be reading the wrong books.

A series that you love: Rett MacPherson's Torie O'Shea mystery series - I pre-order these and buy them in hardcover (extremely rare). Also, Katheryn Kimbrough's Saga of the Phenwick Women. This is a 40-book gothic romance series, an extended family saga covering 300+ years of American history. All of the book titles are named after women from the same family. I should probably be ashamed to say I learned a lot about US history from these books because I know they're potboilers, but they were also great fun.

Your favorite horror book: Can't read the stuff, it creeps me out.

Your favorite science fiction book: Probably Dan Simmons' Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion. Or anything by Sheri S. Tepper, Grass in particular.

Your favorite fantasy book: I'll probably get flak for this, but it has to be Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon. Followed closely by Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince and Dragon Star trilogies.

Your favorite mystery book: Barbara Vine's Anna's Book.

Your favorite historical novel: I think I covered this a while back.

Your favorite biography: Anything by David Duff, such as The Shy Princess about Princess Beatrice, Queen Victoria's youngest, or The Hessian Tapestry, about Princess Alice and her family. I don't read all that many biographies.

Your favorite “coming-of-age” book: I may have to come back to this one.

Your favorite classic: Lost Horizon, see above. Also Willa Cather's Death Comes for the Archbishop. For short stories, Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown," which I wrote an essay on in 10th grade.

Your favorite romance book: See link for "favorite historical novel" above, plus Rebecca Ryman's Olivia and Jai and Laura Black's Ravenburn. Laura Black is a pseudonym for Roger Longrigg, who also wrote as Domini Taylor. Never say that men can't write romance.

Your favorite book not on this list: Way too many to name. For reference: (besides my own book, of course) Alison Weir's Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy, which I consult pretty often. I'm sure I'll think of more.

In search of historically accurate romances

No, this isn't a rant; it's more of a plea.

I'm in the middle of my book chapter on historical romantic fiction, specifically the section dealing with the historical romance subgenre, and am having trouble finding examples of romance novels set in certain places/periods. I'm looking for titles published between mid-2004 and now (well, up through mid-2008 - my deadline) in which the author takes reasonable care with historical accuracy. "Wallpaper historicals" have their audience, but this is a guide for historical fiction readers, and I'm not interested in them here. I'm also limited to novels that libraries are apt to own (which means mainstream and library publishers only, for the most part).

The time periods for which I have little or nothing: England/Europe during the Elizabethan period/Renaissance (I know about Susan Carroll's Dark Queen series, but have her in the "romantic historical" chapter); World Wars I and II and other 20th century settings; early America; early modern Europe (basically 1650-1900); medieval England and Europe. Actually, I have a handful of medieval romance novelists down already, but I don't want to miss anything or anyone major. I'm aware that these time periods aren't exactly popular nowadays, but...

Suggestions on other periods/places welcome, too. I've noted an absolute ton of Regency novelists already, but if there are any authors/novels I should be sure to include, please let me know.

Not sure how many responses I'll get, if any, but I figured it was worth a shot. Meanwhile, I'm going to hunt through my back issues of Romantic Times for titles I've missed.

More galleys to grab, and HNS updates

I probably won't be around here much until my whirlwind conference tour of New England is over in mid-June, but here are some quick updates.

Publishers Weekly just posted its BEA issue with their "galleys to grab" picks. All the ones I'm interested in are ones I mentioned earlier, so I'll let that list stand. In addition, I'll be at the show looking for galleys of many novels on HNS's forthcoming books list, which I spent four hours updating last night with titles through December '07. Not all publishers have their fall catalogs out, so there'll be some updates down the road.

I posted the editors' choice reviews from HNR's May issue last weekend, if you want to take a look and see what novels our reviewers enjoyed the most. I admit I don't understand the cover design for Harding's The Solitude of Thomas Cave, UK edition, and having read it, I agree wholeheartedly with Mary Sharratt that the UK cover design for Michael Wallner's April in Paris is inappropriate. It's a historical thriller, not a frilly romantic wartime saga. Oh well. It is a good book, though.

Three new historical novel deals

Thought that these might be of interest to readers here...

Bestselling author of The Other Boleyn Girl and The Boleyn Inheritance, Philippa Gregory's THE WHITE QUEEN, for publication in 2010, followed by THE WHITE PRINCESS, and THE RED QUEEN, covering the War of the Roses period, again to Trish Todd at Touchstone Fireside, and now moving to Suzanne Baboneau at Simon & Schuster UK, by Anthony Mason (world).

BTW, Philippa Gregory discussed The Boleyn Inheritance on Barnes & Noble's online bookclub forums in February. The posts are still online.

Beneath a Marble Sky author John Shors's THE POET MAKERS, set in the South Pacific during WWII after a torpedo sinks a U.S. hospital ship and nine survivors manage to swim to a nearby island threatened by the traitor among them, by hurricanes and by the imminent arrival of the Japanese navy, again to Kara Cesare at NAL, in a good deal, in a two-book deal, by Laura Dail at Laura Dail Literary Agency (World English).

The Last Boleyn and the Elizabeth I mysteries author Karen Harper's WILL'S OTHER WIFE, the story of a Anne Whateley of Stratford, who married Shakespeare in secret less than a week before his shotgun wedding to Anne Hathaway, and who lived with him in London when his career was at its height, to Rachel Kahan at Putnam and Ellen Edwards at NAL, in a good deal, in a pre-empt, by Meg Ruley at Jane Rotrosen Agency (NA).

Galleys to grab at BEA 2007, Part One

I'd been watching the BookExpo America website lately for their autographing schedule, because they usually announce it in April, but didn't spot it until yesterday. It's hidden under Show Info and Features -> Autographing. Just like I did last year, I thought I'd post about the titles I'd planned on getting copies of at the show. Not all of these will be galleys, though. If the pub date is June 2007 or earlier, publishers will be giving away the finished book.

The Publishers Weekly issue that gives a preview of BEA is probably out now, but it hasn't crossed my desk yet. PW lists the high-profile galleys that publishers will be giving away on the show floor (quite literally - you have to grab them off the floor in an embarrassing sort of feeding frenzy) in addition to those available at the autographing sessions.

As I'm attending partly to find out about new historical fiction titles, these are the ones that caught my attention. (I'll also be picking up books and ARCs on behalf of my library, but I don't think you'd be interested in hearing about those.)

In the main autographing area, Friday:

Deanna Raybourn, Silent in the Sanctuary. Second in the Victorian mystery series after Silent in the Grave (read my interview with Deanna here). From MIRA in Jan '08. I fully expect a headless woman cover.
Robert Barr Smith, Blood of the Eagle. "Race to uncover the secret of the murder of Hitler's mistress."
Cynthia Polansky, Far Above Rubies. "Holocaust novel based on true story of courage and survival." I believe this is a re-release.
Rick Atkinson, The Day of Battle. "The second volume of epic trilogy about the liberation of Europe in WWII." This is nonfiction, but I know some reviewers who'd love to read it.
Michael White, Soul Catcher. "A tracker, a runaway woman slave and the heart-rending journey home that will change them forever." A copy is going out for review any day now, but I wouldn't mind having my own. September, from Morrow.
Jennifer Donnelly, The Winter Rose. "A sweeping saga of an idealistic young female doctor who tends to the poor of Limehouse." I have the Australian edition already but need a copy to send for review. Out from Hyperion in Jan '08. It's about time. I picked up the galley of The Tea Rose at the first BEA I attended, in 2002. It was very good. Judging by the Australian edition, Winter Rose is quite the epic story (>700pp).

On Saturday:

Pete Hamill, North River. "A love story set against the backdrop of some of New York City's toughest streets." June '07 from Little Brown; my Booklist editor loved this one.
Katie Roiphe, Uncommon Arrangements. "Seven unconventional marriages in England at the beginning of the 20th century." Nonfiction. Bantam July '07.
William Martin, The Lost Constitution. "A thrilling race to find a lost draft of the Constitution!" May from Forge. This publisher has some great books and is very enthusiastic about them. Lots of exclamation points in their descriptions.
Robert Dunn, Meet the Annas. "Musical novel about a '60s girl group: romance, mystery, music." Coral Press, June.
Libba Bray, The Sweet Far Thing. "The final installment in the Gemma Doyle trilogy." A paranormal Victorian series for young adults. Random House Children's, Dec.
Lisa Sandell, Song of the Sparrow. "The tale of fiery, sixteen-year-old Elaine of Ascolat—who will one day be known as 'The Lady of Shalott.'" Scholastic, May. Another YA title.
Mitch Silver, On Secret Service. "This unique debut thriller links Ian Fleming's world of spies in WWII and today's headlines." Simon & Schuster, June.

And on Sunday:

Clare Clark, The Nature of Monsters. "An irresistibly modern sixteen-year-old heroine in London of the 1700s." Harcourt, May. Descriptions I've read make it sound creepy, but I'm curious.
Matt Bronleewe, Illuminated. "A rare-books dealer must unravel a secret that has been hidden in the illuminations of the Gutenberg Bible." Aug from Thomas Nelson, which means it has a Christian emphasis.

And we also have autographing at publishers' booths. For Friday:

Jenny McPhee, A Man of No Moon, Counterpoint. "A lush, cinematic novel set in post-War Italy."
Peter Melman, Landsman, Counterpoint. "A stirring, evocative epic novel of the Civil War." Blogged about this one a while back, and some of the author's students at Hunter College High School turned up to comment.
Anita Amirrezvani, The Blood of Flowers, Little Brown. "Dazzling debut set in 17th-century Persia." Am I greedy for wanting a hardcover when I already have an ARC?

Saturday:

Clare Clark, Nature of Monsters (again), Harcourt. Making note in case I can't make it to Sunday's signing, noted earlier.
Stephen Hunter, The 47th Samurai, S&S. "A shoot-em-up thriller combining the grittiness of 1945 Iowa Jima with the mystique of samurai culture." Yes, it does say "Iowa Jima" on the website. Spell-check gone bad, I think.
Gail Tsukiyama, The Street of a Thousand Blossoms, St. Martin's. "The story of two families in Japan before, during, and after World War II."
Andrea Barrett, The Air We Breathe, Norton. "An exquisite new novel set during WWI by the National Book Award winner for Ship Fever."

A great makeover

Different title, different name on the cover. But they're the same book. Which do you prefer, the 1979 or the 2006 version?





For a synopsis, see Amazon. (Yes, I own copies of both.)

Monday deals

I don't think I've posted any historical novel deals in a while, so here are some from today's Publisher's Lunch.

Barbara Pope's CEZANNE'S QUARRY, a historical thriller that explores the cultural conflicts in provincial France through the murder of Solange, a young woman who has been graphically depicted in several of Cezanne's paintings, to Jessica Case at Pegasus, by Mollie Glick at Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency (NA).

Rose Melikan's THE BLACKSTONE KEY, set in 18th century England, in which a penniless, clever teacher is summoned to meet her rich, estranged uncle and becomes embroiled in a plot involving spies, smugglers, a pair of identical watches, puzzles, codes, an inheritance, and very real danger, to Trish Todd at Touchstone Fireside, in a good deal, in a three-book deal, by Clare Alexander at Gillon Aitken Associates (NA).

Historian C. W. Gortner's THE LAST QUEEN: The Story of Juana La Loca, based on the life of the last queen of Spanish blood to inherit the throne, to Susanna Porter for Ballantine, at auction, in a two-book deal, for publication in June 2008, by Jennifer Weltz at the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency (world English).
[congrats, Christopher!]

Teacher of classical history at Lincoln College, Oxford Harry Sidebottom's FIRE IN THE EAST, KINGS OF KINGS and LION OF THE SUN, a trilogy of adventure novels of ancient Rome pitched as in the tradition of Mary Renault and Patrick O'Brian, featuring espionage, treachery and desperate, last-gasp, bloody warfare, and centering around a soldier who has risen to be a Roman General despite his northern barbarian origins, sent to the Eastern edge of the Empire to defend against the looming Persian threat, to Alex Clarke at Michael Joseph, in a significant deal, for publication in summer 2008, by James Gill at PFD.

Darren Craske's THE EQUIVOQUE PRINCIPLE, a dark Victorian fantasy about a man and his traveling circus who get embroiled in a series of grisly murders on the streets of London, the first in a trilogy, discovered online when the author posted the opening chapters on the writers' community forum, to Scott Pack at The Friday Project (world).

German and Spanish rights to Janet Paisley's WHITE ROSE REBEL, to Rowohlt and Espasa-Calpe, respectively, by Jessica Jefferys at Penguin UK.[Check out the forthcoming UK edition, too, and it's about Jacobites, not Yorkists... the subject is Anne Farqharson, a chieftain who led her clan into battle at Culloden.]

Read my book online for free

I'm too swamped to post anything of greater literary significance now (not that my book's insignificant, but you know what I mean). As an FYI, my publisher's offering free access to their Reader's Advisor Online database during National Library Week. Just follow this link, click on The Reader's Advisor Online, and choose "Historical Fiction" from the right-hand menu. Use the little arrows to choose the subgenre/subtopic you're interested in, and click Search to see related titles/annotations from the first edition of my book. The section intros are a little harder to find, but most of the text of my book's in here, somewhere.

The Daily Life through History database may be of interest, too. Free access lasts through April 22nd. Enjoy!

Adventures in medieval castle building

Reay Tannahill, Having the Builders In. London: Headline Review, 2006. £17.99, ISBN 978-0755333042. 279pp.

I've decided to stop grousing about my pile of review books because, in all honesty, so far in 2007 the novels I've been asked to read have been much more enjoyable than ones I've picked up on my own. This novel, an example of the latter, was an exception.

If you're familiar with Reay Tannahill's serious biographical fiction (The Seventh Son, Fatal Majesty) or her sweeping romantic sagas (A Dark and Distant Shore, In Still and Stormy Waters, etc.), then prepare to be surprised. Having the Builders In is a lighthearted, witty account of one medieval family's personal experience with home renovation. Tannahill goes out of her way to make comparisons between the late 14th century and today plainly obvious, but the novel is no less amusing for it. As anyone who's ever arranged for an addition to their house knows, the process can be stressful. You have builders entering your home, disrupting your regular schedule, and creating a racket at ungodly hours. Not to mention the interminable delays, which make you regret that you're paying the workers by the hour; disputes between management and subcontractors; and fears that you may have underestimated the budget.

Dame Constance de Clair, the 39-year-old owner - in her son's name, of course - of Vine Regis, a castle in England's West Country at the end of Edward III's reign, has all these problems and more. With her husband dead and her son, Lord Gervase, content to let her do as she wishes, she craftily sees a way to add an extension to her property. She agrees to give money to the local church to endow a chapel (to house yet another holy relic) if Abbot Ralph lets her use stone from the abbey quarries in her home construction. Then Lady Susanna, her son's naïve, pretty 15-year-old betrothed, arrives on the scene, pouting at not being greeted more warmly at her new home. Lord Gervase, not exactly an attentive fiance anyway, heads to London to pay homage to the new boy king, Richard II -- leaving Constance to deal with Susanna and her penchant for embarrassing social blunders. The family's valuables are disappearing, and they wonder if the builders are to blame. The master mason in charge of the renovation continually argues with the castle steward about proper construction methods. And then there are the accidents. Is someone trying to sabotage the project?

All of the characters are delightful, from the overly eager-to-please Susanna (from whose viewpoint, for the most part, we see the story unfold) to secondary ones like Hamish MacLeod, the Scotsman taken prisoner by Constance's late husband many years before, but who liked Vine Regis so much he decided to remain on staff. It's hard not to feel for Susanna, having to deal with a future mother-in-law who thinks she's always right (and usually is) as well as Gervase's two young daughters, one of whom is a real brat. Susanna wishes to be treated like the future Lady of the Castle, and you can almost understand why she slyly hints to Abbot Ralph that Constance might be wanting to found a nunnery sometime soon (which isn't true at all, but it makes for a very funny scene). Meanwhile, readers will get a real education in medieval castle building, and it's a fairly sophisticated process.

This isn't a long novel, but it's a fast-paced, lively read with a pleasantly unexpected ending. Give this a try if you've been reading serious historicals for a while and are in the mood for something different.

Another mystery solved

Fresh upon the revelation of the true killer of the princes in the tower, we have just learned about another exciting news development.

Readers have long been pondering the "headless woman" trend in historical fiction cover art. "I appreciate how publishers are attempting to accurately reflect the customs of the time by showing us women's fancy gowns and stuff," said one informed reader, who preferred to remain anonymous, "but what I really want to know is, where do all the extra heads go?"

As it happens, this issue has greatly concerned publishers as well. When asked, a representative from HarperCollins, who began the trend with their striking cover of Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl in 2001, admitted: "Honestly, it is a big problem. We never knew it would come to this... and now we have all these spare heads sitting in boxes around the office. Our graphic artists have no use for them. Not to be too graphic - sorry - but they're starting to go bad."

Fortunately, a coalition of publishers have banded together to solve the problem. "As environmentally conscious individuals, we believe in conservation whenever possible," said a spokesman for Carroll & Graf, publisher of Hunger's Brides, the mammoth novel about the 17th century Mexican nun, Sor Juana de la Cruz. Additional American publishers have responded to the call. Due to their diligence, the "disembodied head" look is set to become a brand new trend.

Plans are in motion, for example, to reuse Mary Boleyn's missing head from The Other Boleyn Girl on the jacket art of Before the Sword Strikes, a breakout work of fiction about her sister, Henry VIII's tragic second wife. This epic stream-of-consciousness novel promises to reveal Anne's innermost thoughts during her final moments. "Much has been written about Anne Boleyn's life, but hardly anyone about her death," said the publisher. "And we know that readers want to know all they possibly can about her."

Still, despite the cautious optimism in the publishing arena, some issues linger. "Recycling issues aside, I don't see that anyone will ever have use for the missing eyes and forehead from our cover of Jane Harris's The Observations," a representative from Viking said. "We preferred to use a completely intact head for our cover of Margaret George's Helen of Troy instead."

Any freelance artists or enterprising readers who might wish to use these spare body parts (or pieces thereof) for their own designs, or even for collages or scrapbooking, should contact the Coalition for Reusable Cover Art through the owner of this blog.

Happy blogiversary to me, and other news

I should have noted this on my last post, but Reading the Past effectively went "live" on March 25, 2006. Now, about 22, 000 visitors later, we're at 187 posts and I don't know how many comments. Thanks for reading and commenting, everyone.

Penguin's fall catalogs for 2007 just went online, and sometime this weekend I'll be updating the usual forthcoming books page with all the juicy details. There are a number of historicals of note, such as Robin Maxwell's latest, at left, appearing from NAL in November. Maxwell's an expert on the Tudor period, and she seems to have mined the one part of Anne Boleyn's life not yet overdone in fiction: her youth (and sexual awakening) at the French court. This sounds like it could be a unique take, but apart from this, I admit to feeling Tudored-out, and I haven't even gotten to The Boleyn Inheritance yet. And with Alison Weir (per historicalfiction.org) and Margaret George both working on novels about Elizabeth I - though different aspects of her life, to be sure - I'm wondering whether there'll be anything new to read about there, either.

Other upcoming historicals: Ken Follett's World Without End, a sequel to his The Pillars of the Earth (October); S. Thomas Russell's Under Enemy Colors, "a sweeping novel of maritime mutiny" set against the backdrop of the French Revolution (September); Lian Hearn's Heaven's Net is Wide (August), a prequel to her Otori novels set in an alternate feudal Japan (I love this series); and Jennifer Ashley's The Queen's Handmaiden (October), the story of Kat Ashley's niece,who becomes a confidante to the young Elizabeth Tudor. It does look interesting, which makes me feel conflicted about my comments earlier, but if we have to have more Tudors - and it looks like we will - I'd rather read about people on the periphery of the court.

Things I can't read at the reference desk

... because I find these literature- and history-related pieces very funny. It can be embarrassing to sit and laugh at your computer screen when you're in a room full of people trying to study.

Sometimes I make my coworkers read these articles, just so it looks like there's more than one of us in on the joke.

Who reads what and why, from Car Talk.

What would happen if ancient Rome had the Internet.

John Bloom on book reviews, from the National Review back in May '02. I've been known to enjoy certain works of literary fiction, but this article about book reviewers' pet phrases is priceless.

I'd hoped to post more last week, but things like work and editing kept getting in the way. In the meanwhile, hope you enjoy these.

Older Anya Seton covers

These are all Fawcett Crest paperbacks from the 1960s (not '70s as I'd thought). Unfortunately, I couldn't locate my copies of Green Darkness, My Theodosia, and The Turquoise. I'd purchased all of these copies from a hole-in-the-wall used bookstore called The Printer's Devil that used to be located in Meriden, Connecticut. It was run by a red-haired woman who was a mad soap-opera watcher, because that's what she'd be doing whenever my dad and I would stop by. I bought many older historical novels there when I was in high school, and it was a sad day when it went out of business.

Anyway, this is what the older paperback covers of Seton's look like. I think most of them aren't bad, though some are designed to appear like romances when, according to today's definition, they are not. How many authors these days set epic novels in places as diverse as colonial Connecticut, 10th century Iceland, 14th century England, 1720s England and Virginia? And how many publishers would be as accepting of authors' desire to change the historical setting with each new book, if the authors wanted to?

Pretty covers

Over the past few years, Chicago Review Press has been issuing reprints of Anya Seton's best known historical novels, in addition to classic historicals from other authors. A galley for Devil Water, to be released in May, arrived in yesterday's mail, and the book is just gorgeous.

I'm seriously tempted to replace all of my 1970s mass-market paperbacks with these versions. All are trade paperbacks. Philippa Gregory has written new forewords to most (if not all) of them, introducing the novels' historical background and analyzing their impact on the historical fiction and romance genres. Gregory, unlike most authors asked to introduce novels, is quite honest about what she perceives as their flaws.

What do you think of these?

People Who Don't Know They're Dead, and other notable books

From The Independent on March 9th comes this story about The Bookseller magazine's annual contest for the Oddest Book Title of the Year. The 2006 shortlist contains some mighty amusing choices. (This post's title was last year's winner.)

The historical fiction field, unfortunately, can't boast many unusual titles. They're all rather normal and comparatively sedate. Looking at the list of historical fiction I compiled for 2006, these seem like the only real contenders: Carl-Johan Vallgren's The Horrific Sufferings of the Mind-Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot, from HarperCollins last April, or maybe Gordon Dahlquist's The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, from Bantam US/Viking UK.

If anyone has better suggestions for this award, from 2006 or prior years, I'd love to hear them.

If only it were this easy

Check out the cover of the University of Nebraska Press's spring/summer 2007 catalog (warning, large PDF file alert) for a really cute cartoon.

If you're on dialup, there's a smaller version posted at the main U of NE catalog page.

The Ides of March, and an interesting dilemma

I haven't been blogging much lately for a couple reasons. First, I'm in the middle of deadline hell, with March 15th being the date in question. I have four reviews due that day, and one of the books is excellent, but slow-moving and only halfway read. It's also the deadline date for incoming reviews from May's HNR. Secondly, I've started making a concerted effort towards writing v.2 of my Historical Fiction series. I guess at this point it's fair to call it a series. (It won't be called a 2nd edition, because readers/libraries might be tempted to discard the first volume, believing the newer copy is meant to replace the older one - and it isn't.)

In working on the manuscript, I'm running into a familiar problem, one I also encountered while writing the first book. The books contain, basically, information and plot summaries/critiques of historical novels published over a given time period. The primary market is libraries in North America; secondly, general readers, researchers, prospective historical novelists, etc.

I mention this because it's not practical for me to include historical novels in my book unless a significant number of libraries own them. I use WorldCat to determine this (link goes to the public version, which is kind of neat to search). WorldCat, if you're not familiar with it, is an online catalog of library holdings worldwide. The overwhelming majority of libraries in North America have their holdings - or those of a shared library system they belong to - reflected in WorldCat. To me, a "significant" number of holding libraries is usually around 50... if fewer than 50-odd libraries for any novel are recorded in WorldCat, it's not worth including it, because library patrons will get frustrated that the book's hard for them to obtain.

(Yes, I know interlibrary loan exists, and it's a wonderful thing, but not all patrons want to wait - plus, my book's not meant to be a comprehensive guide to all historical novels ever published, only representative ones. Anyway.)

The frustrating part, though, is when I read/come across novels that are truly wonderful, but which only a very small number of libraries own. These are mostly small press titles, ones that have word-of-mouth popularity on Amazon and on blogs. I'm sure you know some of them. I'd love to include them in the book and help spread the word, but I can't. It's a Catch-22 of sorts, because they're often not in libraries simply because they're small-press titles and missed getting picked up for review by the major trade pubs like LJ, Booklist, PW, etc.

This has me thinking about a few different but related things. First, I wonder if many authors consider libraries as a market worth pursuing at all, because in some cases, these novels aren't even owned by libraries in the authors' home states/cities/towns. Many libraries will acquire novels by local authors even if there hasn't been significant (or any) review coverage. So why aren't those copies there?

On the other hand, because a lot of these smaller-press novels are word-of-mouth hits, I wonder if libraries need to make more determined efforts to acquire them, rather than simply relying on the traditional review venues. If you're a librarian reading this, do you ever purchase historical novels based on blog mentions, online reviews, Amazon recommendations, etc., or do you wait for a formal review to appear?

It seems to me there ought to be a way for these two solutions to meet in the middle. Not just for the very narrow purpose of my being able to include them in the book, of course, but so that these novels can be acquired by more libraries, and therefore reach more readers.

Four reviews in four days, and other news

The results of my four-day reading/reviewing marathon in early January are finally online:

• Sheila Kohler, Bluebird, or the Invention of Happiness
• Donald McCaig, Canaan
• Mark Slouka, The Visible World (do not read the Publishers Weekly review first; horrible spoiler)
• Michael Wallner, April in Paris

Unfortunately I can't read this quickly all the time, but then I was still on holiday break over New Year's. Other news bits:

Read more about Prince Michael of Greece's new historical novel Le Rajah de Bourbon (yes, it's in French), which "traces the swashbuckling story of [Balthazar Napolean de] Bourbon's first royal ancestor in India." Bourbon, an Indian lawyer/part-time farmer, is supposedly a long-lost descendant of the Bourbon kings. Time to brush up on my French.

The Boston Globe reviews Alison Weir's Innocent Traitor, but not without bringing to the table some prejudices on historical fiction. "Bodice-ripper argot"?

Israeli novelist Eva Etzioni-Halevy, author of The Garden of Ruth, speaks about researching and writing biblical fiction.

What was so great about Catherine? An older piece (complete with, um, tacky photo) from Salon.com about Virginia Rounding's Catherine the Great: Love, Sex, and Power, which also discusses other "princess books" found on the display tables of your local bookstore.

Deals, deals, deals

The good news - I finished my Edward Rutherfurd readalike article a month early and handed it in. Editors seem to like it.

The bad news - February is a short month (duh, I knew this), meaning I have only another 15 days to get another assigned book read and reviewed. Just when I start thinking I'm ahead of the game. This ARC looks interesting at any rate; I've never read any Jonis Agee, but generally enjoy multi-period novels as well as family sagas.

This afternoon I've been going through the dozen or so Random House summer catalogs and collating the forthcoming books info for the HNS website, so those should be online in a couple hours if things go well.

For the moment, here are a few more deals from Publishers Marketplace and elsewhere.

Tasha Alexander's novelization of Universal Studios' upcoming film, THE GOLDEN AGE, the story of Queen Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh, to Sarah Durand of William Morrow, by Anne Hawkins at John Hawkins & Associates.

Nicola Upson's AN EXPERT IN MURDER, set in the London theater world of the 1930s, to Walter Donohue at Faber, in a two-book deal, for publication in spring 2008, by Karolina Sutton at ICM.

Sarah D'Almeida's three more books in the Three Musketeers mystery series, to Ginjer Buchanan for Berkley Prime Crime, in a nice deal, by Lucienne Diver of Spectrum Literary Agency (NA).

Cesar Vidal's THE FISHERMAN'S TESTAMENT, a story of Christianity's earliest days, based on the theory held by some biblical historians that the apostlePeter was in Rome at the end of his life and was crucified there, as well as the original Spanish-language book, to Sue Brower at Zondervan, for publication in April 2008, by Diane Stockwell at Globo Libros Literary Management, on behalf of Silvia Bastos in Spain (World English).

Publishing director at Harper UK, Jane Johnson's CROSSED BONES, about a London woman who becomes obsessed with the story of a Cornish girl kidnapped in 1625 by Moroccan pirates, travels to Morocco to investigate the case, and finds romance and adventure there, to Allison McCabe at Crown, in a good deal, for publication in 2008, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency (US).

Lastly, not from PM but via an email from the author - Sandra Worth sold two novels in her "Roses" series to Penguin Putnam (no imprint given) for publication in 2008 and '09, respectively. Details on Lady of the Roses and Roses for a Queen from her website.

"That Christopher Columbus - he'll never amount to anything."

Is there a word or phrase to describe the throwaway comments historical novelists have their characters say, ones deliberately inserted to give readers a smugly superior feeling about their own historical knowledge? If not, there should be.

This has happened with a few novels I've read lately. With the current review book, the head of a London mental institution writes to a colleague, in 1896: "... this fad will pass as others have. There is no future in Freudianism." (It's a decent book, don't get me wrong, despite this bit of silliness)

And then there are the scenes I've read in some Tudor-set novels. It's almost stereotypical. Some gossipy English villager, cackling at the fall of Anne Boleyn, makes a prediction that "Nan Bullen's bastard daughter - what a shame she's a girl. She'll never amount to anything." The readers, of course, are gleefully laughing up their sleeves at such horrible ignorance. They know better.

In a previous read, we had a similar scenario featuring Caligula, presented as a spiteful, smarmy adolescent who surely wasn't destined to rule the Roman Empire, as one very minor character in the novel remarked. These comments may have been historically appropriate - Germanicus was the favored heir at the time - but the reader's foreknowledge of Caligula's eventual succession gives them added meaning.

These little asides nearly always draw me out of a story. Maybe because I don't want an author reaching out from behind the plot to congratulate me on what I know about history? These tactics feel too obvious, if that makes sense. Good for a chuckle, maybe, but not much more.

Ye olde historical novel meme

I'm kind of late to the party, but it's a slowish Friday night here, and I've already seen The Mask of Zorro once this week.

Straight Historical, Historical Mystery, Historical Fantasy, Historical Romance, or Time Travel?
Slight overall preference for straight historical, and historical romance probably least, but I read any and all of the above.

Historical Figures as Main Characters or Purely Fictional Characters in Historical Settings as Main Characters?
Doesn't matter at all to me. Hmm, now I'm sounding wishy-washy.

Hardback, Trade Paperback, or Mass Market Paperback?
Trade paperback, hardback second, mass market third. I like the feel of trade paperbacks, plus they're cheaper than hardbacks, and not as heavy to cart around.

Philippa Gregory or Margaret George?
Gregory, though I enjoyed George's Helen of Troy. Her Mary, Called Magdalene was too slow-moving for my taste. However, I still need to read the copy of The Boleyn Inheritance I got from Costco last month.

Amazon or Brick and Mortar?
Amazon, overwhelmingly so. Before buying the Gregory (see previous question), the most recent book I'd bought at a brick and mortar bookstore was Robert Harris's Pompeii, which I think is from 2003. Excluding Half Price Books and other used/remainder stores. (I remember weird things like this; I still haven't read the Harris.) Having an Amazon credit card is a big influence.

Bernard Cornwell or Sharon Penman?
Penman, one of my favorite authors of all time, although I did like Cornwell's The Last Kingdom.

Barnes & Noble or Borders?
Probably Borders, at least for browsing, though Champaign has both of them. The only reason we go to B&N more often than Borders is because Mark doesn't like Seattle's Best coffee.

First Historical Novel You Ever Remember Reading?
I think this was probably Anya Seton's Katherine, if we're talking adult-level fiction. If you count YA, Patricia Clapp's Jane-Emily could be the one.

Alphabetize by Author, Alphabetize by Title, or Random?
None of the above. They're shelved by date of acquisition - not deliberately so, but it's how the shelves get filled. The photo at top left shows most of my acquisitions from mid-2006 to present. Click to enlarge.

Keep, Throw Away, or Sell?
I keep nearly everything, except books I really can't stand. Those get sold or donated to the library sale. This is why I have a storage problem.

Jean Plaidy or Norah Lofts?
I enjoy them both, though neither as much as I did 10-15 years ago.

Read with Dust Jacket or Remove It?
Remove it, because my cats like books too much to leave them alone.

Stop Reading When Tired or at Chapter Breaks?
When tired or otherwise distracted. Doesn't matter if it's in the middle of a chapter.

“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”?
The former, although I will read some fairytale-like fantasy novels.

Buy or Borrow?
I'm a bad library patron - I buy almost everything, and the books I do borrow, I often return late. Good thing I work there.

Posie Graeme-Evans or Pamela Kaufman?
Neither one, really.

Buying Choice: Book Reviews, Recommendations, or Browsing?
A combination of all three.

Dorothy Dunnett or Anya Seton?
Seton, as I've read nearly all of hers. Dunnett seems to be an acquired taste I've yet to acquire.

Tidy Ending or Cliffhanger?
Tidy ending, although I will accept a little ambiguity now and then.

Sticking Close to Known Historical Fact, or Using Historical Fact as Wallpaper?
Close to historical fact, and I suspect most readers of this blog will agree.

Morning Reading, Afternoon Reading or Nighttime Reading?
Nighttime, unless it's the weekend, and then it's all of the above.

Series or Standalone?
Standalone, but I will glom onto some series. Like Margaret Frazer's Joliffe mysteries, Anne Perry's William Monk series, and more I can't think of now.

Favorite Book of Which Nobody Else Has Heard?
Alison McLeay's Sweet Exile, which I mentioned in my Top 5 list a while back. I'd also say Brian Wainwright's Within the Fetterlock, except that many readers of this blog have likely heard of it.

Catching up on blogging

In my efforts to be way ahead of my deadlines for a change, this is my first chance to blog for a while. Seems everyone has a "life trumps blogging" post every so often, no? In the last week I've read three novels and written reviews for six. Vanora Bennett's Portrait of an Unknown Woman, which will get a full writeup in my May NoveList column, is my pick for the current season. To my mind it's comparable to Sharon Kay Penman at her best, and Penman's one of my favorite authors.

The snow's still hanging around, though it may hit 40 today, which means a muddy, slushy mess in our immediate future. This photo (taken by Mark) of our backyard over the weekend is pretty funny.

Some historical bits and pieces.

On her website, Joan Druett - author of the Wiki Coffin maritime mysteries set in the 1830s - offers a contest: who can find the most technical errors in the cover design of her latest, Deadly Shoals? Even if you're a landlubber like me, you can discover clues by reading the first chapter, which is online.

A couple Publishers Marketplace deals:

Author of THE BLOOD CONFESSION Alisa Libby's historical novel based on the life of Catherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII, to Mark McVeigh at Dutton Children's, by Esmond Harmsworth at Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary Agency (world).

I'm curious to see a YA treatment of Catherine "yours as long as life endures" Howard's life, but I assume an author whose last YA novel was based on Erzsebet Bathory is up to it.

Sheila Kohler's BLUEBIRD, OR THE INVENTION OF HAPPINESS, to Susan Allison and Jackie Cantor at Berkley, by Carol Lazare at Other Press.

This is good news about the paperback rights for this biographical novel of Irish-French aristocrat Henriette Lucy Dillon; the hardcover will be out in April. My review of Bluebird was out in the 2/15 issue of Booklist, though it's not on Amazon yet.

Snow day!

Here's our backyard, on a beautiful sunny Wednesday morning, and as you'll see, it's feeding time at the zoo. None of the footprints were made by humans. EIU's classes are cancelled again today (this never happens), so with no scheduled hours this afternoon, I've emailed in my intentions to take some time off. I'll still be working my usual Wednesday evening reference desk shift tonight, assuming I can get out of the driveway, but I don't expect much business. What's more, the library's closed Friday for Presidents' Day.

Early this morning I wrote my review of Sharon Ewell Foster's Abraham's Well, for HNR, and I've already started reading Vanora Bennett's Portrait of an Unknown Woman, for review for NoveList; it's excellent so far. Two more historical novels for Booklist review are en route, for publication in their April "spotlight on historical fiction" issue. I've also got at least two more books in the immediate TBR pile. But with all this unexpected free time, I plan to curl up on the couch and get a good amount of reading done.

Sidenote to any librarian reading this - I have a large number (maybe 30 at present) of non-historical fiction paperbacks for free giveaway to your library, in return for a receipt I could use for tax purposes. They're a mix of paranormal and erotic romance, contemporary mystery, and women's fiction, mostly. All brand new, unread, 2007 publications. My library has said "enough" because our paperback shelves are overfull, and I've already donated plenty to our book sale. If you'd like them, send me your mailing address and I'll have a large box in the mail to you soon (and every so often, if you want regular shipments). If more than one librarian replies, I'll divide the box up, or alternate between you. Thanks!

Big big snow

Welcome to my front yard, around 4:30pm today (photo taken by Mark). The snow's still coming down, and there's a nice thick layer of ice underneath it all. The University of Illinois, as the news folks keep telling us, cancelled classes today for the first time since 1979. They're also cancelled tomorrow. EIU cancelled today, too, at 11am, by which point I was already at work.

No, this post has no historical fiction content whatsoever, although if I'm home tomorrow, I'll probably be writing a couple outstanding reviews.

Monday evening book chat

Posting on Monday night because I didn't have time to post this afternoon - on my lunch break from my "real" job I finally managed to get copies of reviews from HNR's Feb issue out to publicists. This printing (from the issue mock-up), letter-writing, and envelope-stuffing exercise usually takes a few days.

Some links and commentary below.

This is not historical-related at all, but from the Scotsman, an esteemed book reviewer writes her first novel and gets reviewed - demonstrating, perhaps, that reviewers had better put their money (keyboard?) where their mouth is before turning to fiction. Killer final paragraph:

Not only that, the [unnecessary digressions] add to the already suffocating sensation of reading a book about literary people, written for literary people, by a literary person. When the media eventually gets around to eating itself, it will sound like this.

Um... ouch. Now, plenty of reviewers I know have written novels, and are quite good at it, but you won't see a work of fiction from me anytime soon. For one, I'm a horrible storyteller and constantly digress into pointless ramblings. The only novel (I use this term very loosely) I've ever written was called It Happened Last Summer, created for an 7th grade English project. It was a contemporary mystery/ghost story whose solution hinged on the fact that ghosts from 50 years ago couldn't possibly know how to operate modern-day air conditioners. I kid you not. My co-author was a classmate and good friend who later went on to get a JD and a PhD in philosophy; she's now a professor at an elite East Coast university. She's also an award-winning bodybuilder. If either of us had been moderately successful in fiction, none of this would ever have happened, although I could have been doing something a lot more exciting and lucrative than librarianship and review editing.

See what I mean about pointless ramblings?

As everyone and their brother probably already knows, Stef Penney's The Tenderness of Wolves from new UK publisher Quercus (and Viking Canada) won the Costa Book of the Year, quite an achievement for a first novelist, especially given that it's set in snowy Canada, a country she'd never visited - provoking numerous discussions about the importance/necessity of primary source research. And yes, it is a historical novel, granted Editors' Choice status in HNR's February issue. Sometimes, I guess we get things right.

If I ever do decide to write a novel, I'll try to set it in Hawaii or Florida or someplace warm, and you'd better believe some on-site research will be in order.

Fred Mustard Stewart, author of numerous American historical sagas such as Ellis Island (which was made into a TV miniseries), died last Wednesday. Obituary in the New York Times.

Diana Gabaldon really likes Ariana Franklin's Mistress of the Art of Death. So did I.

An article/interview on Kevin Baker's approach to historical fiction, from the Columbus Dispatch:

I believe historical fiction should not be divorced from other literature. It should be held to the same standards and requirements, and the first requirements of all fiction are "Tell a good story" and "Know the human heart."

Worth reading.

Rumor has it that my book has been spotted as the centerpiece of a historical fiction display at Braintree Public Library in Massachusetts. I'm investigating whether my contacts in the area (mother-in-law) will be able to sneak a photo.

I'm also discovering that, sadly, I'm a more productive/responsible reader when I do have deadlines looming, as demonstrated by the relatively sparse number of novels read so far this year (despite reading four Booklist review books between January 1 and January 5). I'll talk more about some of these novels in another post, as this is getting long.

Everything old is new again

Occasionally I get questions from people asking why the HNS bothers reviewing novels that are reprints. The February HNR, for example, contains reviews of Anya Seton's The Winthrop Woman and Ben Ames Williams' A House Divided, both reissued by Chicago Review Press in late 2006; William Golding's To the Ends of the Earth, a 3-in-1 compilation of his classic sea trilogy, from Farrar Straus & Giroux; and Judith Merkle Riley's In Pursuit of the Green Lion, rereleased by Crown/Three Rivers to coincide with publication of v.3 in her Margaret of Ashbury trilogy.

We don't review every novel of this type. Very few of the Plaidys, either the Three Rivers trade pbs or the UK editions with the attractive new covers, have been revisited by us. It all depends on space, whether publicists decide to send them, and whether the editors think they're worth extra attention. (At the risk of derailing this post, I'll mention that some Victoria Holts will also be reissued soon, but the covers are, imho, garish in an odd psychedelic way and a little creepy.)

It struck me while reading the 1/29 Publishers Weekly over lunch that HNR isn't unusual in sometimes reviewing new editions of older books, although I haven't seen this done in PW very often. On p.42 I found a very nice review for Orson Scott Card's Saints, in its new Subterranean Press edition. Saints is a historical novel about Dinah Kirkham, a heroine of the early Mormon church; born in Britain, Dinah lives through the Industrial Revolution of the early 19th century, converts to Mormonism, and emigrates to America, where she becomes one of the wives of Church founder Joseph Smith. The novel has an interesting history in itself. First published in 1984 by Berkley as A Woman of Destiny and marketed as a romantic saga, it was renamed Saints and republished by Forge as a mainstream historical in 1988. It also appeared as a Forge trade paperback in 2001. (I own the original and the 2001 editions. Yes, I realized they were the same book. I liked the 2001 cover better.)

A quick trawl through the PW and Booklist databases reveals no previous reviews for the earlier editions of Saints, under that title, though plenty of libraries own copies - well over 300 holdings in WorldCat for the two combined, plus 70 holding libraries for the original Woman of Destiny. So it's not quite the undiscovered gem the review hints at (emphasis on "undiscovered").

Still, six years after its most recent edition, it gets republished, repackaged, and garners a rare starred review from PW. Not bad at all for a historical novel on its fourth life in print.

Writer wanted for historical anime piece

The Historical Novels Review is looking for someone interested in writing a piece on historical anime films for our regular "History and Film" column in the magazine. Length should be 1500-1800 words and can either deal with a single film or a collection of them. The piece would accompany a longer article on historical fiction graphic novels, which is currently in preparation.

If interested, please email managing editor Bethany Latham at blatham@jsu.edu for details. The HNS is an all-volunteer organization, and as such, we cannot offer payment - but if this is a topic that interests you and you'd like to write about it, please get in touch.

Catalog this...

A blurb in the latest issue of Library Journal (which quoted Matt Weiland's piece in the NYT Book Review from 12/31) about the interesting Library of Congress subject headings assigned to novels got me thinking. He admires the succinct description offered by "Middle class men -- Fiction" for John Updike's Rabbit, Run, for example.

Here are some other examples to muse on, from current historical novels. Subjects for biographical novels are usually straightforward, but for those with fictional characters, literary fiction, "novels of ideas," etc., the catalogers can be quite creative.

Subject headings for Dan Simmons' The Terror:
Survival after airplane accidents, shipwrecks, etc. -- Fiction.
Sea monsters -- Fiction.

For Judith Merkle Riley's The Water-Devil:
Forced marriages -- Fiction.
Women mystics -- Fiction.

For G.W. (Gordon) Dahlquist's The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters:
Rejection (Psychology) -- Fiction.

For Brenda Rickman Vantrease's The Mercy Seller:
Illumination of books and manuscripts -- Fiction.

For David Gemmell's Shield of Thunder:
Troy (Extinct city) -- Fiction.

For Heather Terrell's The Chrysalis (which may be a modern novel about WWII, haven't checked yet):
Art treasures in war -- Fiction.
World War, 1939-1945 -- Destruction and pillage -- Europe -- Fiction.

See, there are Library of Congress subject headings for just about everything. (Back to my more content-intensive posts once my work and HNS schedule lightens up, I hope.)

Thursday historical fiction roundup

I'm writing from my office on my lunch break. My favorite reference question of the day - so far - came from a student looking for books on Thermopylae. "Do you know how to spell Thermopylae?" he asked. Yes, yes, I do, I said proudly (with thanks to Steven Pressfield) - and then I showed him how to search the online catalog. Another happy library patron.

BEA this year is back in NYC the first weekend in June, as it is every other year, and just like in '05, they'll have a special librarians' hotel, which is (again) the Holiday Inn Midtown on 57th. It's within walking distance of Central Park and - if you really like to walk - the American Museum of Natural History. (Been there, done that, in '05.) It's a great improvement over the New Yorker Hotel which was, I believe, the designated librarians' hotel in '03. Anyone else going?

HNS, of course, is the second weekend in June, and I've just been booked to give a 1/2 day workshop for a library system in Massachusetts (on historical fiction, naturally) on Tuesday, June 5th. It's going to be a very busy week, but I wouldn't miss BEA in NYC for anything. Just like last year, I'll be posting info on "galleys to grab" in April, when that info appears in Publishers Weekly and on the BEA website.

A roundup of some recent deals.

This is nonfiction, UK only at present:

Impossible Journeys author Matthew Lyon's THE FAVORITE, the intimate story of the relationship between Queen Elizabeth and Sir Walter Raleigh that re-evaluates the life and times of a great British hero and his queen and brings new light to his role within the court, politics, adventure and science, to Leo Hollis at Constable & Robinson, in a nice deal, by Sarah Such at Sarah Such Literary Agency (world).

Susan Holloway Scott's two untitled books set in the bawdy Restoration court of King Charles II, to Claire Zion at NAL, by Meg Ruley at Jane Rotrosen Agency (NA).

Susan Holloway Scott blogs over at Word Wenches; her first mainstream historical novel, Duchess, about Sarah Churchill, was one of HNR's editors' choice picks for November.

I have a feeling there's more to this novel/film than this blurb suggests:

Juan Eslava Galan's THE MULE, about the relationship between a man and his mule set during the Spanish Civil War, to be a movie directed by Michael Radford (Il Postino), to Josh Pasternak at Bantam Dell, by Anne Edelstein of the Anne Edelstein Literary Agency, in association with Silvia Bastos Agencia Literaria.

This one just begs for a certain type of cover art:

Journalist Craig McDonald's HEAD GAMES, based on the theft of Mexican Revolutionary Pancho Villa's head in the 1920s, to Benjamin LeRoy of Bleak House, for publication in fall 2007, in a two-book deal, by Svetlana Pironko at Author Rights Agency.

And just to show that librarians really do rule the world:

The Dead Beat author Marilyn Johnson's KEEPERS: Librarians, Cybrarians and Other Superhuman Guardians of Civilization, in which the author travels around the country meeting the visionaries and cultural saviors who have transformed libraries in the digital age in a quest to answer the question "What is worth saving?", to David Hirshey at Harper, in a pre-empt, by Chris Calhoun at Sterling Lord Literistic.