While I wait for my Alpha Readers...

Three of my eight alpha readers have handed in (most) of their notes. I can't really work on the book until I get all the notes back, so writing is not happening right now. It's driving me a little crazy because I really want to start working on some of the stuff the alphas have pointed out! However it's a REALLY long book, so am totally understanding why many of my alphas need extra time. :) The alphas that have already completed their notes have given me really extensive feedback, so it's all well worth the wait.

But my hands are hurting a lot, so it's probably good that I'm not typing too much this week.

Yesterday my sister told me that she'd ordered a book from the library the previous evening. I gasped and said "I ordered my copy last night too, but there weren't any holds on it yet!!!"

We might not be twins, but we've got some sort of psychic sister mind-link anyhow.

Also, I'm growing sprouts. Which means I continue my journey of turning into my mother. Ahhhh! What happened was that when we were visiting my in-laws, they had a bowl of sprouts in the fridge and they looked SO GOOD that I just had to have some every day. When I got home I missed them, but a pack of sprouts at Whole Foods is $4!!!!! I could get a whole bag of seeds for $4!!! So now I'm giving that a try.

Because of my achy joints, we are trying all sorts of dietary stuff to help them out. Right now that means I'm strictly avoiding nightshades, which means no potatoes, tomatoes, or peppers (even like cayanne pepper or chipolte pepper.) This means no eating out, and I have to get creative with some seasoning stuff.

I am, however, allowed mushrooms. I love mixing them up with coconut oil and salt and crisping them in the oven. YUM YUM.

Also, I learned how to make Paleo Mayo. Yay. (My diet is different than paleo, but paleo recipes tend to be the closest to what I need, so I can alter them easily if necessary.)

The Immortal Descendents

I'm a sucker for time travel stories. I think they are one of the best ways to explore history, since the modern day protagonist will notice everything that is different about that time from the 21st Century, in a way that a resident of that time would not. I believe that time travel stories, when done well, allow a reader to truly immerse themselves in historical fiction.

Emphasis on "when done well." Alas, it is pretty difficult to find good time travel that is well written, well researched, and reasonably appropriate for general audiences (YA and above). Part of this is because playing with time, even just in one's imagination, gets really complicated fast. I've personally been working on and off on a time travel novel for nine years now and I still can't get everything about it to work. Writing good time travel is hard.

So though "Marking Time" was recommended to me by a well-trusted source, I still picked it up warily. The one thing that stuck out to me was that it wasn't just about a time traveler - it was about the modern day descendants of five immortals, of whom Time was only one. This meant that in addition to time travel, the series also deals with shape-shifters (Nature), war-mongers (War), seers (Fate), and vampires (Death).

"Oh come on," I hear you saying. "Let me guess, another YA novel that has werewolves and vampires? Pleeeeese."

No worries. April White's twist on both of these tropes is nicely done, and well mixed with the seers, mongers and time travelers.

So what's the premise? I'll post the blurb from the author's website, which does a nice job of laying it out.

Seventeen-year-old tagger, Saira Elian can handle anything...

     ... A mother who mysteriously disappears, a stranger who stalks her around London, and even the noble English Grandmother who kicked Saira and her mother out of the family. But when an old graffiti tag in a tube station transport Saira to the nineteenth century, and she comes face-to-face with Jack the Ripper, she realizes she needs help after all.

     Saira meets Archer, a charming student who helps her blend in as much as a tall, modern American teen can in Victorian England. He reveals the existence of the Immortals: Time, Nature, Fate, War, and Death, and explains to Saira that it is possible to move between centuries - if you are a Descendant of Time.

     Saira finds unexpected friendships at a boarding school for Immortal Descendants, and a complicated love with a young man from the past. But time is running out for her mother, and Saira must embrace her new identity as she hides from Archer a devastating secret about his future that may cost him his life.

Intriguing, yes? But is it good? Does it check the three boxes?

It's YA, so that automatically pretty much guarantees it checks the "appropriate for general audiences" box. (There are some 'hero and heroine sharing a bed fully clothed' bits, so more conservative families might not be cool with that, but otherwise everything is pretty much good for the 15+ crowd, imho).

And then... the story is pretty good too. The characters are well rounded, likable and believable. Our heroine, Saira, is only very occasionally annoying. The plot keeps you guessing (although the twist in the first book is pretty obvious to the experienced reader), and is unique. That'd be enough to recommend the story even if the time travel was weak.

But the time travel is strong. I have only read one other book that handled it so well, and that's saying a lot because my standards are high. Both the way the travel is handled, and the historical details themselves are very well researched and incorporated into the story. The second book deals with Elizabeth Tudor, which is a period I know well and I found very little to take issue with. Mostly I was geeking about the inclusion of young Elizabeth I. (Book 3 deals with Joan of Arc, although not in the way you're expecting!*).

Furthermore, a story that deals with time travel in Western Europe can't ignore religion, and I was pretty impressed by the balanced viewpoint the author gave. Sure, one of the main baddies is a bishop, but he's balanced by a good bishop as one of the mentor characters (who is also one of the heroine's favorite people). And it's always fun to see a vampire discussing theology! I'm looking forwards to how this plays out in the last two books as we discover more about the original immortals and how they might connect (or not) to Christianity.

Needless to say, I was impressed, and sped my way through the first three books in a week. The first one is free on Amazon (and the author intends to keep it that way), and the other two are each $3.99, which is a good deal considering that these are pretty long books (always a plus!). My only peeve is that the series is still in progress, which means waiting for two more books to release before the story is finished. UGH!

Anyhow, I was so glad that I was told about this books and followed up on the suggestion. They are really, really good and I highly recommend them to anyone with a love for history, fantasy, and good stories!

*EDIT - I should note that something happens at the end of book 3 that could lower my opinion of the time travel in the series if it is not properly resolved in book 4. Just in case any critical readers get to that point and wonder about this raving review! ;)

Is it fan art if the author makes it?

Substitute "Beta" for "Alpha" and this is where I'm at in the editing process right now for "The Mermaid and the Unicorn."

I had a nice week off, which included a vacation to visit my in-laws. The only book related thing I did the whole time was to play around with watercolors and do a homage piece to Meredith Dillman's "the Lady and the Unicorn" (which I own a print of.)

Also, I finally collected all of the posts relating to "The Mermaid and the Unicorn" and collected them on one page. Click here or check out "My Books" in the navigational bar to check it out and catch up!

"The Mermaid and the Unicorn" - first printout is HUGE!

One Alpha reader gets a print out copy. Fun to see the book take physical form, even if the size is pretty daunting!

I know you're wondering... why is Matt's name first when I'm doing the majority of the writing? Here's a post he wrote about coauthored books. He's absolutely more than an editor on this book (and we also need his name to be first on every book in this multi-author series so that they're shelved together in bookstores and libraries). Basically, we plotted the book together - there is no way I could have come up with a plot this tight on my own - then for the past three years I would write a section, send it to him, he'd make a few tweaks and comments, then I'd implement his comments and write more. There's a few sections he's rewritten already, and I'm sure there will be many more bits when we get into draft 4... my 'this is my baby!' author side hopes it won't be too much, but Matt's changes always make the book stronger. Certainly the whole world of the ruahim is his brainchild, he is a fantastic worldbuilder and this series is only going to be as strong as it is because of his guidance.

He is an excellent editor, btw, if you can employ him, you definitely should! I'm very blessed that with this series he just takes a cut of the royalties and I don't have to pay him out of pocket.

I'M FREEEEEEEEE

*cough*

I just finished the latest draft of "The Mermaid and the Unicorn" and have sent it off to my alpha readers (see previous post for what those are).  My body is dead and I don't want to type again for the rest of the weekend, but expect blogging to resume next week.

Mermaid Muse

I am trying to conserve my typing strength for "The Mermaid and the Unicorn" editing right now. (It's due to Alpha readers on the 15th, which is already a week later than I'd originally hoped). Thankfully I've got this little mermaid come all the way from Florida to be my muse. :)

What's an Alpha reader and how is it different than a Beta reader? I like this definition:

"Beta readers, as you know, help authors refine their work by identifying where things aren’t working, clumsy language, and various other problems in a manuscript.  Alpha readers also help authors, but their focus is more specifically on the story, plot, and characterization.  Alpha readers are the first readers: they provide the first feedback to an author on whether a story is working." ~ From UndiscoveredAuthor

A Librarian For All Seasons

As my frequent readers will know, I work hard to make it clear in my reviews what sort of content might be red flags for different readers. As I've grown up, so has my reading, but there are still some types of books I just will not write about here because of the number of teens I know read my posts.

Reading this article (and the comments) was eye-opening - my experience has been through conservative Christian lens, and that's what I highlight on here because I know most of my readers affiliate themselves this way. It was interesting to see how conservative Muslim and Jewish readers could have even stronger feelings about content that wouldn't even blip my radar screen.

"These teens may not read much of anything from the YA area, either. They might voluntarily skip from the children’s room to reading “classics” such as Jane Austen books, not realizing that the YA section also contains great choices. These adolescents may even have become convinced that the public library is not for people like them".

I remember being a preteen and struggling with this. Of course, fifteen years ago the whole genre of YA was just really starting to take off, so there simply were not as many books between the "Middle School" and "Adult" gaps... but I know the teen section always looked freaky to me (ha ha).

And honestly, when I picked up YA fiction, it was often beyond what I was comfortable reading. And yet I was a pretty advanced reader (I read 400 page Tudor biographies when I was 11) so novels with (what seemed to me) age appropriate subject matter, were just not as challenging and engaging. The internet was just being born then, so it was harder to find reviews and suggestions than it is now. I know conservative teens today can find many great resources (hopefully my blog counts as one to you!) to help them navigate the lines of their own comfort zone as they mature in both age and subject reflection. In high school, I was behind what most of my peers would be comfortable reading/watching. Now, I'm ahead of many of my conservative peers. There's nothing wrong with any of these comfort zones, as long as you periodically examine them and ask "am I stretching myself to grow wiser and more mature in appropriate ways that will allow me to connect/understand the world I'm growing up in?"

Anyhow, I love seeing that there are librarians aware of this issue and seeking to make a difference. A display like they're talking about would have been pretty awesome for me as a teen.