Apr 03 2023

The Keep Within by J. L. Worrad

Due to my absolutely bonkers (and entirely self-inflicted) work schedule over at CriminalElement.com, I feel like I’ve had to dial back a lot on my professional obligations w/r/t books over here, but you’d best believe that when the chance to join the book tour for J. L. Worrad’s latest book came up, I jumped on it! Pennyblade was one of my favorite books of last year (note to self: go nominate it for a Hugo once the Chengdu website starts working) and I was super ready to read more set in that universe.

So, the bad: Kyra isn’t in this book. As far as I can tell, no one from Pennyblade appears in The Keep Within (except for maybe the gross country priest?) but I am also notoriously bad with names and details.

But the good? Oh, there is so much good!

The world depicted in TKW is the same as Pennyblade’s, tho I couldn’t tell you how far from that era it may or may not be. My grasp of real world history also tends to be shaky, but TKW feels very Tudor, if not outright Elizabethan. One of our four viewpoint characters is Sir Harrance “Harry” Larksdale, one of the reigning King Ean’s many bastard siblings. Unlike his brothers, he’s never taken to the study of the blade, preferring instead the stage. As the proprietor of The Wreath, the foremost theater in Becken, he’s a known dandy who’s given free access to the royal seat of Becken Keep, where the king and his court reside.

In the keep, the king’s First-Queen, Carmotta Il’Lunadella, is scheming. She knows that the heavily pregnant Third-Queen Emmabelle is plotting against her, but isn’t quite sure how. Chafing at the bonds that constrain her due to her sex, Carmotta plans out her intrigues even as rumors of coup swirl throughout the court.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/04/03/the-keep-within-by-j-l-worrad/

Apr 02 2023

The October Man by Ben Aaronovitch

The October Man begins with what I have come to think of as a hallmark of Ben Aaronovitch‘s Rivers of London: a death that is in nearly equal measure grisly, fascinating and supernatural. This novella offers “a suspicious death with unusual biological characteristics.” (p. 4) The narrator’s local police liaison adds, a few pages later, “The paramedics declared it a biohazard.” (p. 8)

The October Man by Ben Aaronovitch

In contrast to the other books in the series that I have read, The October Man gives readers rivers but no London. The story is set in and around the German city of Trier, and the narrator is not Peter Grant but Tobias Winter. He is a member of a special unit within Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office, the Bundeskriminalamt or BKA (pronounced in German like “bay-kah-ah”). He knows more magic than Grant, though his relations with the head of his department within the BKA are perfectly correct but not warm. She’s originally from eastern Germany, he’s from westernmost parts and from a police family too, whereas it’s implied that magical practitioners in East Germany skirted even what passed for law in the communist times. All of that, though, is background for future intrigues within the bureau for Complex and Diffuse Matters (Komplexe und diffuse Angelegenheiten, KDA) — the perfectly German bureaucratic name for Winter’s department.

His liaison in Trier is a young and ambitious police officer named Vanessa Sommer, her last name being the German word for summer. “It might have been a coincidence but someone, I knew, somewhere, was enjoying a laugh at my expense.” (p. 6) She is not only fiercely competent but also an expert in winemaking, and the sorts of crimes that go along with it. Trier is near the heart of the Mosel, one of Germany’s premier wine regions. The Mosel is also the river that flows past the city. Like London’s, Trier’s river also has an incarnation; unlike London’s, Trier’s presents as a wildly enthusiastic and precocious five-year-old girl. Sommer and Winter don’t meet her until later, but the chain of events leading to the meeting starts with the potentially biohazardous corpse: it’s discovered on a riverbank.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/04/02/the-october-man-by-ben-aaronovitch/

Mar 29 2023

The Story Of The Saxophone by Lesa Cline-Ransome and James E Ransome

If you think of the saxophone nowadays, you think of jazz musicians, perhaps John Coltrane and Stan Getz if you’re of a certain musical inclination, perhaps Lisa Simpson and Kenny G if your knowledge of the instrument tends more towards mainstream pop culture like my own does. But the saxophone has a long and storied history that springs from across the Atlantic in Belgium and the life of perhaps the unluckiest man in the world.

Born in 1814, Adolphe Saxe was so unlucky that his nickname was “Ghost Child” because no one, not even his own mother, believed that he was long for this world. By the age of ten, he’d been in any number of scrapes that would have killed a far less resilient kid, including accidentally drinking poison no less than three times. But he was also smart, curious and often bored. His parents were instrument designers and makers who allowed him to tinker in the family shop. Adolphe soon learned how to play any number of musical instruments, both of his own and other’s devising.

But young Adolphe had in mind a particular sound. He wanted an instrument that could play as sweetly as a clarinet, as deeply as a trumpet and as delicately as a violin. When he finally unveiled his new invention, later to be dubbed the saxophone, a rival at the Belgian National Exhibition was so incensed that he kicked it across the floor, in only the first of many, many overreactions from heated opponents.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/03/29/the-story-of-the-saxophone-by-lesa-cline-ransome-and-james-e-ransome/

Mar 28 2023

OMFG, BEES! by Matt Kracht

with the absolutely delightful subtitle: Bees Are So Amazing and You’re About to Find Out Why.

I am 100% the target audience for this humorous non-fiction book extolling the benefits and wonders of bees. Heck, I even wrote a hybrid role-playing/board game, Honey Hex, that benefits the National Wildlife Federation’s efforts to protect pollinators. In addition, I’m a big fan of Matt Kracht’s other books detailing dumb birds, a seemingly insulting yet ultimately engaging way to explore the wonders of the natural world and expose them to a wider audience.

He brings that same sense of humor to the subject of bees, tho with a decidedly less derisive angle. And how could he not, because bees are awesome! Mr Kracht is not afraid to tell you why, detailing what all the bees of the world have in common and what makes each kind stand apart from its peers, and how bees in general differ from other winged stingers. But he doesn’t stop there, providing readers with a most excellent, accessible amount of information on these important honey-producers and pollinators and how crucial they are for the world’s food supply. It’s truly absorbing stuff, presented in easily digestible layman’s terms and spiced up with his trademark over-the-top sensibilities.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/03/28/omfg-bees-by-matt-kracht/

Mar 23 2023

Zara’s Rules For Living Your Best Life by Hena Khan

with the most charming of illustrations, as with the other books in the series, by Wastana Haikal.

Salam Ramadan, readers! Do I have the perfectly timely OwnVoices read for you, the third and latest in one of my favorite middle grade series.

As Zara’s Rules For Living Your Best Life opens, Spring Break is springing! Zara and her neighborhood friends, but especially her best friend Naomi, have any number of plans for how they want to spend this precious week off from school. But Naomi’s mom throws a wrench into the works when she tells them that she’s signed Naomi and her brother up for day camp. Unwilling to be parted from her best friend, Zara asks her mom whether she can go to camp, too. Alas for our young heroine, Mom has already made other arrangements. Zara and her younger brother Zayd are going to spend their days at their grandparents’ house while Mom and Dad are at work that week.

At first, Zara is actually pretty psyched about this. Nana Abu has recently retired, so should be ready to spend all day having fun with them, even as their Naano fusses and tries to get them to do chores instead. Zara is shocked to discover that all Nana Abu wants to do, however, is watch TV and nap, a far cry both from his past active self and from her idea of what a properly retired person should do with their suddenly abundant free time. Worst of all, spending her days at her grandparents is threatening to be boring, a far cry from all the grand plans she’d been making for spending the week with her friends. What will Zara do to save Spring Break, and possibly her Nana Abu, from settling far too firmly into a less than optimal rut?

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/03/23/zaras-rules-for-living-your-best-life-by-hena-khan/

Mar 22 2023

Lilancholy by John Battle

This is a strange, arresting book that one hundred percent works better as a novel(la) than as the lyric game it purports to be.

Ostensibly a collection of spells and games created and played by two young girls living within recent memory, the short descriptions take common childhood games of the West and give them a sinister turn. The spells and games sections are connected by the story of the girls, who’ve since grown up and apart. Their tale is half paracosm (a known weakness of mine) and half horror story, with evil fairies working to steal what humanity they can from the unwitting humans around them.

The story is great, and the inclusion of the spells and games inspired: granted, I have a weakness for stories that experiment with form, in addition to my Achilles’ heel for childhood paracosms. The narrator is unreliable, in the way that the heightened emotions of childhood allow the boundaries between reality and fiction to blur. My only complaint about the story itself is the ending. I don’t mind stories that begin in media res or end in a way that’s open to the reader’s interpretation. Abrupt endings that seem better suited to the middle of the book, on the other hand, are far more frustrating than interesting for me, especially when it seems unlikely that a sequel will ever be written.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/03/22/lilancholy-by-john-battle/

Mar 21 2023

Long Goes To Dragon School by Helen H. Wu & Mae Besom

This delightful children’s book tells the tale of a young dragon, Long, going to dragon school for the first time. He’s super excited to be there, until he discovers that all of the other dragons breathe fire. Where he’s from, dragons only breathe water. Worse still, his professor’s assignment is for students to learn to control their fire-breathing so that they can prepare food for a big celebration picnic. Will Long be able to figure out how to speak up about who he is so he can join in with his classmates?

Y’know, for all the children’s books that talk about loving yourself and embracing diversity, so many find it difficult to also put forward the idea that kids should be encouraged to speak up for themselves. It can be an absolutely terrifying endeavor but it is so worthwhile, and most of the time, any fear of backlash comes entirely from inside the kid’s head, or is incredibly paltry in comparison to the reward of telling the truth. I learned this lesson the hard way when I was the only person in my second grade class to bring a flowering branch to school, as my teacher had asked for. Embarrassed, I hid it away in the cloakroom, where she found it later and asked. Her disappointment, albeit fleeting, made it pretty clear that I should have spoken up, and not been afraid to stand out. Would my classmates have mocked me? (Maybe, but probably not.) Would it matter if they did? (Not really.) Would I have died of embarrassment if I learned I’d misheard the assignment? (Absolutely not.) I’ve subsequently learned that speaking up is one of the most valuable things a kid can practice, because it means, among other things, enforcing boundaries, opening dialog and ensuring that credit goes where it’s due.

But so few books actually model this, as if afraid of not being nice enough for readers. I was so, so pleased that Long Goes To Dragon School remedies that! Sure, it takes Long quite a bit of time to muster up the courage, but he eventually stands up for who he is, explains his dilemma succinctly, and works with his teacher to solve the problem together. It’s an absolutely essential message for good communication that I’ll cherish for a long time.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/03/21/long-goes-to-dragon-school-by-helen-h-wu-mae-besom/

Mar 19 2023

Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee

In Phoenix Extravagant, Yoon Ha Lee transposes the colonial history of Japanese rule in Korea to the Empire of Razan’s conquest of Hwaguk six years before the book’s beginning. Lee uses the framework to tell a story of an artist getting caught up in politics and history, only to discover they had been in it all along, even when all they wanted to do was paint.

Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee

Along the way, he considers questions of resisting, existing under occupation, collaboration, and people who have no choice but to be a part of both worlds. He sketches what artists do in a time of war, what they do to survive, and what they do when one side or another enlists them in their cause. Lee also examines the mixed results of a conquest that brings change and progress with it, how even those most determined to resist the new overlords cannot help but adapt some of their styles and methods. Lee touches on how conquerors can fear distant powers and see themselves as victims, or potential victims, acting in self-defense, a fractal spiral of justifications.

Lee chooses to tell the story from the perspective of Gyen Jebi — the personal name is Jebi — a nonbinary artist in their mid-20s. They start the novel taking an examination in hopes of gaining a position working for the Ministry of Art. It would mean working for the occupiers, but even before the invasion an artist’s life was precarious, and since then commissions have dried up and patrons gotten scarce. They sign their examination work Tesserao Tsennan, a Razanei name they had taken some time earlier for convenience, a hedge against bureaucracy and possibly a stepping stone in the new rulers’ garden. They hadn’t told their sister Bongsunga about it, though, for fear she wouldn’t approve. The two of them are orphans, and Jebi’s older sibling basically raised them, nurtured their art, protected them from some of the harsher aspects of the occupation.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/03/19/phoenix-extravagant-by-yoon-ha-lee/

Mar 18 2023

What It Takes by Richard Ben Cramer

I first read What It Takes in the early 1990s when its subject — the 1988 US presidential election — was, if not exactly fresh in mind, then at least not consigned to the oblivion of an election held decades ago and deemed mostly inconsequential. Cramer’s book made the election not just interesting, but riveting. With a cast of candidates that included George H.W. Bush, Bob Dole, Richard Gebhardt, Gary Hart and Michael Dukakis, that was no small achievement.

What It Takes by Richard Ben Cramer

In 1986 Cramer set out to write a book about men (a woman as a major-party candidate was a long way off in 1988) who had led lives that brought them to the point where they thought not only that they could be President, but that they ought to be. Men who, as Cramer puts it, “made that final turn in the road, who got to the point where they could say, ‘Not only should I be President … I am going to be President.'” (p. viii) It’s quite a book, more than a thousand pages about a mostly forgotten campaign, a book that lives on in journalistic and political circles for the six detailed portraits of men discovering what it takes to be President. One of the blurbs on the back calls Cramer’s approach a mix of Teddy White, Tom Wolfe, and Norman Mailer — dated references by now, but signs that his writing will be up close and personal, with an attempt to capture each candidate’s tenor and voice in the chapters that describe his journey, a journey that for all but one of them will end in a potentially life-defining defeat.

Cramer had extraordinary access to the candidates and campaigns, and the people around them. He notes that “The narratives are based on interviews with more than a thousand people. Every scene in the book has come from firsthand sources, or from published sources that were verified by participants before my writing began.” (p. ix) I am sure that getting in early helped; the interest of a potential presidential biographer was probably also flattering. His Pulitzer didn’t hurt either. What were his aims?

I have tried to tell their stories in two ways—as fairly as I could from the outside, and as empathetically as I could from behind their eyes. In doing so, I have tried not only to show them, but to show what our politics is like—what it feels like to run for President; what it requires from them; what it builds in them; what it strips, or rips, from them. (p. ix)

Cramer keeps his chapters short — there are 130 in the book — so the book moves along briskly. The scenes add up quickly, and they soon gave me a sense of these men’s extraordinary stories as well as the continuous dramas within all of the campaigns, even at their earliest stages. Some bits from the book stuck with me across the nearly 30 years since I read it for the first time, such as his characterization of the Massachusetts press covering Dukakis as “the diddybop Bostons” for their blithe assumption that their city was the hub of the universe, or Cramer’s masterful disquisition of what it means to know something in Washington and how George H.W. Bush, a man known above all for being in the know, managed not to know about the illegal Iran-Contra scheme. But I didn’t pick up What It Takes again for some late 1980s nostalgia, or to marvel at Cramer’s journalistic and storytelling skills. I picked up What It Takes again because of the fourth Democrat whose life and campaign Cramer chronicles: Joe Biden.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/03/18/what-it-takes-by-richard-ben-cramer/

Mar 16 2023

Recipe For Disaster: 40 Superstar Stories Of Sustenance And Survival by Alison Riley

This collection of essays with recipes is absolutely stunning, both visually and in the impact of the stories. Not all the essays come with recipes, which is why I hesitate to call it a cookbook, and some recipes have definitely been more rigorously tested and precisely presented than others. But overall this is an emotionally moving, visually arresting volume that will sit beautifully on the coffee table of anyone starting to entertain again as the pandemic continues to wane.

I say that with some specificity because this is definitely a book that deals with the pandemic, both from the perspectives of relatively average people and from the perspective of restaurateurs like the legendary Alice Waters (who contributes her go-to salad dressing recipe here.) The pandemic disrupted people’s lives in so many ways, and is only one of the many disasters considered in this searingly honest but overall warm-hearted collection.

More prosaic disasters abound ofc, whether they be painful breakups, career setbacks or dealing with difficult parents. A disaster of note, that I felt keenly and pray is only a one-off, was the horrifying realization of the outcome of Election Night 2016, as related by record producer Bob Power. The throughline here with all of these often brief essays is how food comforts and heals, how the simple pleasure of consuming, if not outright constructing, meals at the very least sustains the sufferer, and in the best instances gives us the hope and strength to eventually move on. Sure it’s a fairly obvious thesis — food nourishes body and soul — but it’s also one that we pilots of our human bodies tend to forget: hangry wouldn’t be a thing otherwise. Worse, we often forget that other people have the same issues, too. Recipe For Disaster provides us with the comfort of knowing that other people have also recovered from these ailments, often with the help of the foods and recipes included in this book. And hey, maybe they could help you find your way clear from disaster, too.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/03/16/recipe-for-disaster-40-superstar-stories-of-sustenance-and-survival-by-alison-riley/