A Fun Read: "Some Very Messy Medieval Magic"

Recently I had the pleasure of reading C. Lee McKenzie's new book in the Pete and Weasel time travel series: Some Very Messy Medieval Magic. While part of a series, it easily stands alone as a good read.

Pete and Weasel are eighth grade best friends in the small town of Hadleyville. Pete, a budding wizard, is an orphan and lives with his Aunt Lizzie, one of many witches in this town. Weasel’s parents are scientists, always busy with lab work to the point of nearly ignoring their son. Fanon, an alligator, happens to be Pete’s familiar. Dr. Wraith, is a blend of a supreme wizard and a sort of “Dr. Who”, in charge of passports for time travel, orchestration of various wizard enterprises, and solving problems time travel and magic gone awry can cause.

Magic has gone awry in this fun story: Pete didn’t properly close a time lock in the 1100s at the close of an earlier adventure. Now Peter of Bramwell, a page and the nephew of Earl Minimount, has gone missing in time. Pete and Weasel must go back to the year he disappeared to head off a resultant disaster. On arrival, two guards, Sir Egbert and Sir Alywin, discover the boys wandering around; they decide Pete is the missing Peter of Bramwell and Weasel his servant. They take the boys to Earl Minimount, and since Minimount hasn’t seen his nephew since he was a toddler, he welcomes them in these roles.

Humor, danger, mystery, and suspicion unfold in this romp of a tale: Rumors abound that trouble is afoot in the countryside. Sir Egbert skulks around and sneaks out of the castle at night. And why does he take such a dislike to Pete? The teenage Richard, Duke of Aquitaine stops by en route to France and wants to go on a hunt. Pete is assigned to accompany him. But Pete has never ridden a horse, much less hunted. Then there are the dreaded Dark Woods, a place people inside and outside the castle fear, and the mystical Circle of Stones, where Druids worship. The young duke himself brings new dangers with him. And why does Earl Minimount’s niece, Juliana, Peter of Bramwell’s cousin, seem so familiar to Pete of Hadleyville? It takes the “very messy medieval magic” of the title to resolve these questions and bring the real Peter of Bramwell back to the time where he belongs.

Some Very Messy Medieval Magic, published by Dancing Lemur Press, L. L. C., will be released May 15, 2018 and is available on Kindle and in some Amazon locations.

C. Lee McKenzie is on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/cleemckenzie

on Twitter https://twitter.com/cleemckenzie

and you can learn more about her and her books at her website: http://www.cleemckenziebooks.com/middle-grade/

Research Rapture

         

 Recently I began working again on a historical novel I started quite a few years ago. The book had bogged down about halfway through, even though I roughly knew how it would end. It came to a screeching halt because one character took on more importance than I had initially envisioned. I knew that character had to be highlighted more and had an important role to play, but it threw a wrench in my story. Between the chapter where she took on a stronger role, and the ending I had in mind, there was a wilderness of how to get from one point to the other. Which way to go? I was lost in the woods. I wrote three other books while I was pondering this.

Then recently I and a friend signed up for a set of 6 workshops/classes that meet about every two or three weeks. With a teacher who gives homework. I decided I was going to pull out this manuscript of old — which was one of my favorite stories, really — and work on it. We've had to do scenes, a log line, character maps, etc. But the most helpful assignment was to do a chapter summary of the whole book. Yep. The whole book. Including the part where I didn't know what was going to happen. The idea was that we should just get through our whole book with the freedom to change things along the way once we started writing it.

Well, guess what? Now I know how to get to my book's ending, and I'm all enthused about writing the new draft. I'm also in love with research for this book again — it involves a lot of research because it takes place in Sacramento in 1919. The family is Irish Catholic. The railroad shops are involved (Southern Pacific). The Spanish influenza epidemic is involved. WWI is involved. Vaudeville is involved. A Model T is involved.

So I've been haunting both the Railroad Museum Library at 111 I Street (right next door to the Railroad Museum) and the Sacramento Room in the Sacramento Public Library, Central, at 828 I Street. In both cases, the archivists are incredibly friendly and helpful, locating booklets, books, pamphlets, directories, etc. for me. Next I plan to peruse microfiches of newspaper articles at the central branch and I'll visit the California Automobile Museum on 2200 Front Street. I did a lot of research at the library and online a few years ago when I was working on this book. And I read numerous books on all these themes. But now I know what I need to look up to build on what I learned before — a lot of questions about details to fine-tune the setting.

Not only that, after not reading it for about 8 years (yes, that long) I rediscovered how much I like this story. I am already four chapters into the re-write.

A few years ago I took a writing class from Sands Hall, and she described a phenomenon called "research rapture".  I'm in the throes of research rapture, now, and I am having the time of my life.

How about you? Have you ever had to lay a work aside because you were stuck and then "rediscovered it?" The chapter summary pried me out of my bog. What was your solution?

Harlem Renaissance and Black History Month

       

According to Wikipedia, his work is in
ithe public domain in the United States 

This, too, is in the public domain,
according to Wikipedia. 

Yesterday day was art class again for my after school Art Club at the South Natomas Community Center. In honor of Black History Month, we celebrated the work of African American artists, particularly Harlem Renaissance artist, William H. Johnson.

William H. Johnson, as you can see, has a very stylized approach to portraiture that captured so much life and vitality in the scenes he painted. The painting on the left is titled, Street Musicians. the one on the right is titled, Sowing. So I used some of his paintings (from calendar pictures) to  inspire the students, ages 8 to 12 with one high schooler who is a returning student. (The 7-year-old was absent.)

The students used colored pencils to sketch in their portraits on pastel paper, then did the major coloring with oil pastels. Here is a nice sample of their work: 

As always, this class is a bright spot in my week, a break from writing on the computer or reading in a chair. I love the interaction with the students. They are attentive listeners, and when they get to work, you could hear a pin drop for the hour that follows the fifteen-minute lesson. They are completely immersed in art. All I have to do is float around and encourage them. And  I always come home refreshed and enthusiastic.

How about you? If you are a writer, do you have a special break from your writing routine that restores and refreshes you for the rest of your week? If an artist, do you turn to some other pursuit to give you fresh perspective? 

A Week After the Event But Still Thrilled

Last week-end my computer had a few issues and was at the repair shop waiting for diagnosis and cure. I didn't get it back until two days ago, so I had to wait to post these pictures.

Last Saturday (January 20th) Rajan and I took part in the Women's March in Sacramento, and the turn-out was wonderful: An estimated 36,000 was in the crowd before the day was over.

Normally I confine my activities to emails and phone calls and social media, but this was one event we didn't want to miss. It was important to "stand up and be counted" as the saying goes.

We started out near the end of the line in this picture above.
Below are a few more pictures from the day:

Rounding the corner onto Capitol Ave.

Onward toward the capitol building

I enjoyed the humor of this.

The crowd was peaceful, no arrests

Everyone was of good cheer

What a sight!

Listening raptly to the speakers.

A great morning and early afternoon. We left a little after 2:00 but the beat went on.

How about you? Did you march? Do you know someone who did? Do you have other issues that inspire you to protest or march? Or do you prefer to write about issues dear to your heart instead? How do you express your deepest concerns about things?

Yes, I Know I Should be Blogging, But . . .

I was busy having Xmas holidays with my god family.

Had a great family visit from a nephew & wife from India, their son & wife, and their son .  .  .

Add caption

Started teaching art club again after the holidays  . . .

Attended two book signings to support writer friends.

Took the tree down . . .

Wrote a picture book about birds and am re-working an MG novel that was hibernating.

But don't give up on me. I will be back to blogging soon.




How about you? Do holidays and projects disrupt your blogging?

Travel Back in Time with Mark Noce's New Novel

I love historical fiction, and I've always been fascinated by the Arthurian legends, but there hasn't been much historical fiction set in post-Arthurian Wales. Medieval Wales. Well Mark Noce has addressed that empty niche, first with a book I reviewed a little over a year ago, Between Two Fires, and now with the eagerly awaited sequel, Dark Winds Rising, published by St. Martins Press.

A year ago I posted an interview with Mark Noce, following the publication of Between Two Fires. (You can read that interview HERE ) I also had reviewed the book the week before, and there's another "HERE" in that post that will take you back to the earlier interview.) However, I will be interviewing him once again on my Victorian Scribbles blog "next door". Come back for the new interview in a couple day to learn a bit more about Mark.

I've already pre-ordered my copy of  Dark Winds Rising. It's going to be released December 5th. Next Tuesday! Here's the publisher's link that can give you several different places to order it by one click: Go HERE. 

Meanwhile, here is the publisher's description of what to expect:

"Mark Noce returns to Medieval Wales with Dark Winds Rising, his second book about the Braveheart-like Queen Branwen in this epic historical series.

"Three years after uniting the Welsh to defeat the Saxons and settling down with her true love, Artagan, Queen Branwen finds her world once again turned upside down as Pictish raiders harry the shores of her kingdom. Rallying her people once more, she must face her most dangerous foe yet, the Queen of the Picts. Ruthless and cunning, the Pictish Queen turns the Welsh against each other in a bloody civil war.

"All the while Branwen is heavy with child, and finds her young son’s footsteps dogged by a mysterious assassin who eerily resembles her dead first husband, the Hammer King. In the murky world of courtly intrigue, Queen Branwen must continually discern friend from foe at her own peril in the ever-shifting alliances of the independent Welsh kingdoms.

"Branwen must somehow defeat the Picts and save her people before the Pictish Queen and the assassin destroy their lives from the inside out. Just as the Saxons threatened Branwen’s kingdom from the landward side of her realm in Between Two Fires, now the Picts threaten her domain from sea in this thrilling sequel. But she soon finds that the enigmatic Picts are unlike any foe she has faced before.

Mark Noce bases his novel on primary sources, as well as myths and legends that help bring the Dark Ages to life. Set in a time and era in which very little reliable written records or archeological remains have survived, the characters and some of the place names are fictional, but the physical environment, the historical details, and the saga of the Welsh people is very real.

"This continuation of Branwen's story combines elements of mystery and romance with Noce's gift for storytelling."

And here is the author's info: 

"MARK NOCE writes historical fiction with a passion. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, he has been an avid traveler and backpacker. He earned his BA and MA from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, where he also met his beautiful wife. By day, he works as a Technical Writer, having spent much of his career at places like Google and Facebook. He also writes short fiction online. When not reading or writing, he's probably listening to U2, sailing his dad's boat, or gardening with his family." 

                                                               

 BTW: In case you want to start at the beginning, you can also order Between Two Fires at all those sites HERE.    

Those of you who want to know more about the author can visit his website HERE and learn more about his books, his blog, and his appearances and events. (Pssst, for those of you in the Sacramento area, he'll be at the Avid Reader Saturday, January 13th and 5:00 p.m.) He'll be doing reading and signings in other places too, listed on his website, but that especially piqued my interest, since I live in Sacramento.

You can also visit him on Facebook and Twitter. Just click either of these two to go visit his pages.



Do you like historical novels? Do you like the medieval period in what is now the UK and especially in Wales? What is your favorite historical period and location? 

The Long and Winding Road

Ever since we returned from Galicia, I've been immersed in immediate activities like:

1) a visit from a special nephew; 2) spreading the word about my new book, Dragonella; 3) getting a TB test and getting fingerprinted in order to teach my volunteer art class at the community center—a new requirement this year, and 4) renewing my driver's license. We've only been home three weeks and two days, and it feels like we've crammed 6 months into that time. 

 1. the visit with our nephew was great, although much too short, and we do hope he'll bring his wife next time. 2. You've probably all heard enough about Dragonella now.  3. Good news:  I don't have TB, and I do have good fingerprints. (The fingerprints were a lot of work, though, because really, I have terrible fingerprints from years of gardening and cleaning house without gloves. I failed my first test two weeks ago. But drinking lots of water daily and rubbing Neutrogena into my finger and thumb tips several times a day did wonders. Fingerprints passed yesterday! Yay.) And 4. I passed my written test yesterday for the driver exam, which was super important: My current license expires in 8 days. (Yes, it's true: Sagittarius is a sign that procrastinates.)

Which brings me, finally, back to our trip to Galicia and the topic of today's post: "The Long and Winding Road." Actually, there are a lot of long and winding roads in Galicia. The picture above is just one of them. Here are a couple more:

But the particular long and winding road of the title goes up, up, up into the mountains to a casa rural and an ancient,  famous monastery—Mosteiro de Santo Estevo. We don't have a picture of that road, because we were too busy having adventures on it.                                              

 

 

Even though this monastery has beckoned to us for years and appears on a poster at our favorite coffee shop in Escairon, Circulo O Saviñao, we've never dared venture up the mountain to see it. Rajan loves to photograph ancient churches, but we both hate narrow roads that drop off on the sides here and there. Then we met Irene and Ian, who have a casa rural—Casa Santo Estevo—right behind the monastery. Since we had lunch with them on an earlier visit in Monforte (our choice), we decided that on our next visit we should go to them.

Casa Santo Estevo: Very old, and very
charming. 

Most of the drive wasn't all that bad, although there are no pictures of it because Rajan was focusing on driving and I was gritting my teeth and gripping the door. (Even "not all that bad" feels kinda bad to me.) But we got to a crucial point that can only be described as a hairpin turn — one going up an incline. Not fun. 

Once arrived, however, we had a lovely visit. The casa rural is beautifully furnished with cosy touches, the rooms all overlooking beautiful vistas. Behind Irene and Ian, you can see vineyards on the far slopes, and Rajan took a couple pictures of the area, vowing to come back and take more. Here's one of us, too, trying to look nonchalant about the hairpin curve waiting for us on the trip back. (These are from my camera, since Rajan hasn't given me the CD of his shots yet.) 

And so we headed back — and missed the turn. Which brings me once again to the title of this post. On the way out, we saw a turn that we were sure could not be IT. We were wrong. So we toodled merrily along for a stretch and then realized the road was 1. getting narrower, 2. getting muddier, 3. winding more and more around shrinking and muddier bends that went who knew where?

Luckily I had put Irene's phone number in my mobile, so we stopped and I called. She said they had seen us go the wrong direction, and Ian was already walking in our direction. When he arrived, she arrived soon after (both by foot). She knew the turn-around spots and directed us — Ian drove, thank goodness! On the way back, he picked her up, and took us past the curve we had dreaded, to a spot in front of the monastery itself, which also was a nice level area from which to drive back home.

And then they gave us a tour of the grounds! We'd been dying to see that building up close, and now there we were, walking around the grounds with friends for tour guides.

This is a very famous monastery. You can see an overall picture of it HERE: The huge rose window is considered the largest rose window in Europe (yes, larger than the ones in Notre Dame in Paris!)

My shots don't give you a view of that window or the entire building — you'll have to go to the site above for that. I did take these to show other aspects of the church/monastery, some parts of which go back to the twelfth century.
(The S in the picture at the left is for "siglo", which is Spanish for century).

Even then, these pics don't begin to convey the size of this building. It's enormous.

Rajan is into black and white photography and wants to go back again with his film camera and take some more pictures of both the building and the spectacular views all around. We have a plan for that, though: Park on a lower level in a good turn-around spot, turn around ahead of time, and walk up the rest of the way.


How about you: Do high, narrow, winding roads make you nervous? Do you like historic buildings? Old churches? Has November been a "crunch" month for you?

Since the big day is tomorrow, have a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope it's filled with love and laughter and good eating.