It’s all a bit overwhelming, isn’t it? Especially if you spend too much time reading the news media. There was a time (I think) when the news was concerned with facts and truth. Now, it seems that the most important thing they’re interested in is inducing panic by any means necessary.
Oh well. I prefer to focus on the positives of this interesting time we’re living in. It’s a time to descend inward, to think deeply about our lives. To reconnect with people using the wonderful technology at our disposal. To read those books we’ve been putting off. Maybe even to write that story that’s been niggling your brains.
I’m here to help, people! I’m making it my life’s purpose to do one culturally or spiritually enriching thing for you all every day.
Day 1 here we come!
An Interview with Historical Fantasy Author Suzannah Rowntree
After a bit of a hiatus, I’m back with my monthly author interview series. Yesterday I had the pleasure and honor of chatting with Australian author Suzannah Rowntree. It was a wonderful example of how to use the technology that can sometimes isolate us, in a positive and community-building way.
We talked about a lot of things, including the importance of writing deeply thematic fiction, how to incorporate worldview into fiction, and why reading (A LOT) is a good response to our current crisis.
Here’s the video for your viewing pleasure:
Be sure to follow Suzannah’s projects over at her site.
Suzannah’s Recommendations for #QuarantineReading
Suzannah astounded me with how widely she reads. I used to read like that, years ago (then came babies, and I’m not complaining). But now that we’re all house-bound for the most part, it might be a good idea for us all to become healthy readers. Here are Suzannah’s book recommendations, and she has more over at her twitter feed.
Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers
“Gaudy Night stands out even among Miss Sayers’s novels. And Miss Sayers has long stood in a class by herself.”
—Times Literary Supplement
The great Dorothy L. Sayers is considered by many to be the premier detective novelist of the Golden Age, and her dashing sleuth, Lord Peter Wimsey, one of mystery fiction’s most enduring and endearing protagonists. Acclaimed author Ruth Rendell has expressed her admiration for Sayers’s work, praising her “great fertility of invention, ingenuity, and wonderful eye for detail.” The third Dorothy L. Sayers classic to feature mystery writer Harriet Vane, Gaudy Night is now back in print with an introduction by Elizabeth George, herself a crime fiction master. Gaudy Night takes Harriet and her paramour, Lord Peter, to Oxford University, Harriet’s alma mater, for a reunion, only to find themselves the targets of a nightmare of harassment and mysterious, murderous threats.
Metanoia: A Memoir of a Body, Born Again by Anna McGahan
Perhaps we have done to our bodies what we have so long done to God?
We have demanded they conform to the image we find the most desirable.
We have treated them as rubbish bins, weapons and punching bags.
We have muted their wills until their voices have fallen silent.
At 23, Anna McGahan was wrestling with the rest of the world for ownership of her femininity, sexuality and physicality. As a young actor thrust into the spotlight as a poster girl for sexual liberation – intent on exploring the next relationship, the lowest weight and the wildest high – her path pointed her to chaos, starvation and isolation.
Until – unexpectedly – she met God.
In this memoir, Anna shares the story of reconciling with her body, mapping its journey from another product in a marketplace, to a vessel of inherent power and worth.
Metanoia is the cry of a body broken and resurrected, the song of a bird set free.
Labyrinth of Shadows by Kyla Stone
A hero sworn to slay the monster. A princess determined to save it. But only one can live…
They call me the cursed princess. Daughter of a tyrant king. Sister to the monster. For seven years, I’ve watched helplessly as my father sacrifices human tributes to the monster trapped within the dark maze.
When the queen begs me for help, I seize the chance to prove myself–to finally break the curse, rescue my brother, and transform him into his human form. But is there any humanity in him left to save? Or will he try to kill me, too?
Either way, I have to try. I must enter the Labyrinth myself, where darkness reigns and terror lurks…
To survive, I’ll need the help of the tributes, especially brave, heroic Theseus. Determined to free his people from the terrible blood tithe, Theseus vows to slay the monster, no matter what.
But I won’t let that happen.
And I can’t let myself fall for Theseus’s charms either. My quest may cost me everything, including my heart… To save my brother, Theseus must die.
Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge
An exhilarating tale of darkness, love, and redemption inspired by the classic fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood and the extravagant court of Versailles, from the author of Cruel Beauty. A doomed warrior and the king’s most notorious bastard must join forces to defeat a dark evil in this gorgeously intricate fantasy—perfect for fans of An Ember in the Ashes and A Court of Thorns and Roses.
When Rachelle was fifteen she was good—apprenticed to her aunt and in training to protect her village from dark magic. But she was also reckless—straying from the forest path in search of a way to free her world from the threat of eternal darkness. After an illicit meeting goes dreadfully wrong, Rachelle is forced to make a terrible choice that binds her to the very evil she had hoped to defeat.
Three years later, Rachelle has given her life to serving the realm, fighting deadly creatures in a vain effort to atone. When the king orders her to guard his son Armand—the man she hates most—Rachelle forces Armand to help her hunt for the legendary sword that might save their world.
Together, they navigate the opulent world of the courtly elite, where beauty and power reign and no one can be trusted. And as the two become unexpected allies, they discover far-reaching conspiracies, hidden magic . . . and a love that may be their undoing. Within a palace built on unbelievable wealth and dangerous secrets, can Rachelle discover the truth and stop the fall of endless night?
Friday Night Write-in
This Friday evening, at 8 pm Eastern Time, I’ll be hosting the first of several live write-ins. We’ll be doing writing exercises from Ursula LeGuin’s fantastic Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story.
If you’re struggling to make sense of the crisis, if you’re depressed and scared, if you’re overwhelmed, writing it down is the best way to bring meaning to chaos. Let me help you do it well.
If this post inspires you and you want to start reading right away, allow me to send you a free download of my recent novella, The Son of the Deathless. Just tell me where to send it!