Author: HCNewton Page 350 of 624

Towel Day ’20: Do You Know Where Your Towel Is?

On May 25, 2020

In A-B, Authors, Calendar Items, Douglas Adams, Fiction, News/Misc., Science Fiction, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

(actually updated and slightly revised this 5/25/20!)

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has a few things to say on the subject of towels.

A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have “lost”. What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

Hence a phrase that has passed into hitchhiking slang, as in “Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There’s a frood who really knows where his towel is.” (Sass: know, be aware of, meet, have sex with; hoopy: really together guy; frood: really amazingly together guy.)

Towel Day, for the few of who don’t know, is the annual celebration of Douglas Adams’ life and work. It was first held two weeks after his death, fans were to carry a towel with them for the day to use as a talking point to encourage those who have never read HHGTTG to do so, or to just converse with someone about Adams. Adams is one of that handful of authors that I can’t imagine I’d be the same without having encountered/read/re-read/re-re-re-re-read, and so I do my best to pay a little tribute to him each year, even if it’s just carrying around a towel.

One of my long-delayed goals is to write up a good all-purpose Tribute to Douglas Adams post, and another Towel Day has come without me doing so. Belgium.

Next year . . . or later. (he says for at least the 5th straight year, a work ethic I like to believe Adams would recognize).

In the meantime, here’s some of what I’ve written about Adams. A couple of years back, I did a re-read of all of Adams’ (completed) fiction. For reasons beyond my ken (or recollection), I didn’t get around to blogging about the Dirk Gently books, but I did do the Hitchhiker’s Trilogy:
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Life, The Universe and Everything
So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish
Mostly Harmless
Also, I should mention the one book Adams/Hitchhiker’s aficionado needs to read is Don’t Panic by Neil Gaiman, David K. Dickson and MJ Simpson.

I’ve only been able to get one of my sons into Adams, he’s the taller, thinner one in the picture from a few years ago.

TowelDay.org is the best collection of resources on the day, recently posted this pretty cool video, shot on the ISS by astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.

Even better—here’s an appearance by Douglas Adams himself from the old Letterman show—so glad someone preserved this:

Love the anecdote (Also, I want this tie.)

Saturday Miscellany—5/23/20

By HCNewton

On May 23, 2020

In Books, News/Misc.

Odds n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
   bullet I’ve been starting off with ways to support Indie Bookstores during all the shutdown, etc. I don’t have a broad, all of us can do it, for this week. But here’s what my local store is starting, which is a great idea. Book a Private Shopping Experience at Rediscovered Books—are stores near you doing clever things like this? I’m curious about what strategies individual stores are taking up.
   bullet On the origin of the word “blurb.”—One of those things you didn’t know you wanted to know.
   bullet Why We Need Family Adventure Stories
   bullet Penguin Worlds Book Club: Jim Butcher in conversation with Patrick Rothfuss—A fun chat between the two
   bullet The Great Fantasy Debate continues with What is the Best Fantasy Mode of Transportation? with authors Marie Lu and Naomi Novik
   bullet A lot of people were talking about reviews this week, some of those that stuck out to me are:
         bullet Markk over on Booklikes asked this provocative question: Why do YOU review books?
         bullet Why Do I Review Books: An Answer to A Question—Moonlight Reader’s response to Marrk
         bullet Why Should You Write Book Reviews?—Ramona Mead takes on the topic from a different angle
         bullet Why I don’t believe in unbiased reviews—Not only does The Orangutan Librarian have some good things to say about the craft (for lack of a less pretentious term), but she includes
   bullet Obligated Reading: A Book Blogger’s Conundrum—I have tried to write a post like this several times, and it just comes out whiny.
   bullet Why I Love Reading Fantasy (Hint: Dragons Are Involved)—a great list

A Book-ish Related Podcast Episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
bullet Blood Brothers Podcast Episode 9 with M.W. Craven—I had a lot of fun listening to this one, and am all the more eager for Craven’s The Curator now.

This Week's New Releases That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins—You may have heard of Collins YA series, The Hunger Games, it got a little bit of buzz a few years ago. Well, here’s the prequel. Which seems to have scared almost the entire publishing industry away from publishing anything else this week.
bullet One Man by Harry Connolly and Stephen Bel Davies—Connolly’s One Man is out on audio!

Lastly I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Matt Sweeney, indiefan20, Susan and Bookworm Blogger for following the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK VI., xii.-VII., iv.

By HCNewton

On May 22, 2020

In Fiction, Fridays with The Foundling, General Fiction/Literature

Fridays with the Foundling
We start off this week seeing what Sophia was up to in around the letter Tom wrote her as he was leaving town (I really should’ve read this chapter a couple of weeks ago)—there’s not much there, but a little bit of humor involving Black George and his conscience. Mr. Western and his sister get into an argument over the way he’s raised Sophia, and he essentially gives his daughter over to her management.

We then move on to the next Book, and as usual, we begin with Fielding treating us to another digression and commentary. This time his focus is on the world as a stage. Unlike most (for example, Shakespeare), Fielding focuses not on those who strut and fret on the sage, but on the audience. Which is an interesting way to do it, you have to admit. He closes with this reminder about judging:

Upon the whole, then, the man of candour and of true understanding is never hasty to condemn. He can censure an imperfection, or even a vice, without rage against the guilty party. In a word, they are the same folly, the same childishness, the same ill-breeding, and the same ill-nature, which raise all the clamours and uproars both in life and on the stage. The worst of men generally have the words rogue and villain most in their mouths, as the lowest of all wretches are the aptest to cry out low in the pit.

With some encouragement from Blifil, Tom resolves to take to the Ocean, while the Western household is in turmoil—we get more conversations between Sophia and her aunt; Sophia and her father; her aunt and her father all about how Sophia— has to marry Blifil and her steadfast refusal to do so.

These chapters really feature a lot of talking, but very little actual communication—after the last couple of weeks, full of action, this was really quiet. It was all about setting the stage, I just hope the stage is fully set for a bit. I’m really curious about what Tom has in mind for his expedition.

But For The Grace (Audiobook) by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson: DC Smith Investigates an(other) Unexpected Killing

By HCNewton

On May 21, 2020

In Audiobook, DC Smith & Kings Lake, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

But For The Grace

by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson (Narrator)
Series: A DC Smith Investigation, #2

Unabridged Audiobook, 9 hrs., 17 min
Tantor Audio, 2016

Read: April 20-21, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

When I talked about the first installment in this series last year, I said, “There’s something about this one that got under my skin more than a typical procedural does—it’s maybe DC Smith, it’s maybe Grainger’s style (there’s a lot of subtle humor in a dark text)—it’s a Gestalt thing, I think. I really dug it.” I’m tempted to leave this at that, too. But that’s giving this short shrift.

There are three main stories—the least interesting to me (at present, but it keeps coming up, so I expect that it’ll be of vital importance and interest at some point) is the “big case” that defined Smith’s career. There’s a True Crime writer who wants to revisit the case with DC’s help. There’s a couple of good moments revolving this, but I’m not (yet) seeing the appeal.

The more interesting thread centers on DC Smith’s future. Smith’s old partner, and father of the newly-minted detective Smith’s training, owns a private security firm and wants him to come aboard in a senior position. At the same time, there’s an opportunity that many are urging Smith to take in a regional criminal investigation task force. But Smith’s inclination is to stick with his current duty—but he’s tempted by both over the course of the novel.

But the focus for the book is a death in a retirement home that’s identified as suspicious. Smith and his team start investigating this pretty colorful home. The characters—staff and residents—are well-drawn, colorful and the kind of characters you want to spend time with. The case goes pretty much how you’d expect (motive, culprit, and resolution), but there are a couple of twists that keep the reader/listener on their toes. Watching Smith and his colleagues pursue the killer is the joy in this. The pleasure is in the journey, not just the destination here.

Once again, Jackson weaves a spell with his narration—he sucked me in once again. A perfect combination of narrator and text.

A solid follow-up novel, that also provides plenty of incentive to move on to the rest. This is a series you should jump into—in print or audio.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Breath Like the Wind at Dawn by Devin Jacobsen: Obscure When not Vile. A book that Simply Didn’t Work for Me.

By HCNewton

On May 21, 2020

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature

Breath Like the Wind at Dawn

by Devin Jacobsen

eARC, 208 pg.
Sagging Meniscus Press, 2020

Read: May 18-19, 2020

Let’s keep this short for everyone’s sake by kicking things off with the Publisher’s blurb

Spanning two decades, Breath Like the Wind at Dawn tells the epic story of the Tamplin family—of outlaw-twins Quinn and Irving; their brother Edward, who is on the run from a dark past; and their mother Annora, who has been left to defend their haunted Minnesota homestead. Yet at the center of the novel is Les, patriarch of the Tamplins, Civil War veteran, and sheriff of Utica, who is possessed by an indelible lust to strangle his victims. Only when the brothers set about to rob Utica’s bank will the family at last converge in an unforgettable finale when blood will be met with blood.

Combining the multi-perspective family drama of As I Lay Dying with the violent lyricism of Blood Meridian, Breath Like the Wind at Dawn brings a brave new voice to American fiction.

Of the 208 pages in this book, I’m going to estimate that maybe 15 worked for me. I didn’t connect with the prose, the characters, the story, or anything. I thought Jacobsen’s style got in his way, that attempts to be artistic rendered the text obscure; word choice (particularly when attempts were made at a vernacular) was off-putting; and the characters were lifeless (when they weren’t vile or abhorrent).

I’m just not up for enumerating my problems with the novel beyond that. I didn’t see the appeal to any of it. I’m not saying that no one will or could, but it’s incomprehensible to me that anyone would.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from the author via Lori @ TNBBC Publicity in exchange for this post—thanks to both for this, I do appreciate the opportunity (despite what it may read like).

PM Press: Call for Submissions

By HCNewton

On May 21, 2020

In News/Misc.

Holland House Press recently launched a new crime, thriller and dystopian digital imprint called PM Press and today we’re just pitching in to help them spread the word that they’re looking for established and aspiring writers to submit their work. Here’s some information about them and their process–check them out!

We are a Kindle-First imprint of Holland House Books that specializes in crime, thriller and dystopian fiction. Phaidra Robinson and Mia Skevington set up PM Press in April 2020 in order to pursue their respective loves of true crime and detective fiction. Our background of LiteraryFiction at Holland House Books means that we bring an expectation of and experience in producing high-quality books to these genres. An inaugural imprint, this is the time for authors to submit their work for the chance to be one of our founding book releases.

Call for Submissions

We are looking for most types of crime and thriller fiction, from the classic English whodunit through to police procedurals, or classic noir through to mind-bending psychological thrillers. Maybe you want to introduce us to a dystopian future. We want well-written, satisfying work – a good twist and convincing characters are the ways to our hearts. It may be cozy and comfortable or dark and disturbing… or something completely different.

If you have a completed novel or novella which you believe may fit, then send us:

1) The first fifty pages of your work.
2) A synopsis of your work (maximum two pages).
3) A covering letter with a brief overview – we do NOT need you to do a brilliant ‘pitch’ or the kind of blurb which would go on the back of the book. The basic story, main character(s) and the general themes is all we need.

These documents should be Word Documents, size 12 in a standard font, with a line spacing of 1.5.

Please email us at pmpress@hhousebooks.com and address them to the Editor Phaidra Robinson.

PM Press Social Media Links:

Email ~ Website ~ Facebook ~ Instagram ~ Twitter

My thanks to damppebbles blog tours for the invitation to participate in this and the materials (including a copy of the novel) they provided.

WWW Wednesday, May 20, 2020

By HCNewton

On May 20, 2020

In Books, Currently Reading, News/Misc., WWW Wednesday

Hey, it’s the middle of the week already, which means it’s time for all the office jokesters to mimic that Geico commercial annnnnd it’s time for WWW Wednesday!

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Easy enough, right?
What are you currently reading?
I’m reading Last Couple Standing by Matthew Norman and am listening to Lethal White by Robert Galbraith, Robert Glenister (Narrator).

What did you recently finish reading?
I just finished Devin Jacobsen’s Breath Like the Wind at Dawn and Timeless by Gail Carriger, Emily Gray (Narrator) on audio.

What do you think you’ll read next?
My next book should be City of Hate by Timothy S. Miller and Promises Forged by Devri Walls, Daniel Thomas May (Narrator) on audiobook.

Hit me with your Three W’s in the comments! (no, really, do it!)

Noam’s Monsters by Shai Levinger, Kaustuv Brahmachari (Illustrator): A Young Boy Battles His Anxieties and Fears

By HCNewton

On May 20, 2020

In Fiction, YA/MG/Children's Books

Noam’s Monsters: Helping children to cope with anxiety, behavioral functions and shyness

by Shai Levinger, Kaustuv Brahmachari (Illustrator), Ephrat Abisror (Translator)

Kindle Edition, 30 pg.
2020

Read: May 16, 2020

Noam is a five-year-old kid riddled with anxiety——but in a relatable way. Monsters such as Spiteful Blames, Worried Fearona, and Shaming Embarrassitis plague him—affecting his mood, causing him to act out and costing him sleep.

We see him try to deal with these things on his own, failing but persevering. Which isn’t to say that it’s a dire book, or super serious. Levinger’s come up with a clever and cute way to introduce these concepts to young readers. It’s a fun read with some subtle lessons.

In the end, Noam’s problems aren’t resolved, they don’t go away. But he takes the most important step—he tells his parents (another responsible adult would work here) what’s going on. I really, really appreciated this approach and didn’t expect it—I would have guessed someone said an encouraging thing or two to him and he’d defeat the monsters (or learn to play with them or something). But nope. He just tells his parents and we’re left to assume they’re going to do the right thing and work with him.

Levinger is a Clinical Psychologist, and he brings his expertise to bear here. Abisror’s text flowed pretty smoothly—anyone who can translate rhyming text deserves major credit. Brahmachari’s art was spot on, his monster designs do a great job of embodying the anxieties.

I’d gladly recommend this for parents—whether or not their child is particularly anxious, they’re going to deal with some of these concepts in their life, might as well get them used to them soon.

3.5 Stars

Note: I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for this post and my honest opinion. I thank him for that.

BOOK BLITZ: The Strange Book of Jacob Boyce by Tom Gillespie

By HCNewton

On May 20, 2020

In Book Tour, Fiction

I’m pleased to host a Book Blitz for Tom Gillespie’s The Strange Book of Jacob Boyce today, a book that defies a snappy one-sentence synopsis.

Book Details:

Book Title: The Strange Book of Jacob Boyce by Tom Gillespie
Publisher: Vine Leaves Press
Release date: July 21, 2020
Format: Ebook/Paperback
Length: 298 pages
Purchase Link: Amazon UK/Amazon US

Book Blurb:

A spiralling obsession. A missing wife. A terrifying secret. Will he find her before it’s too late?

When Dr Jacob Boyce’s wife goes missing, the police put it down to a simple marital dispute. Jacob, however, fears something darker. Following her trail to Spain, he becomes convinced that Ella’s disappearance is tied to a mysterious painting whose hidden geometric and numerical riddles he’s been obsessively trying to solve for months. Obscure, hallucinogenic clues, and bizarre, larger-than-life characters, guide an increasingly unhinged Jacob through a nightmarish Spanish landscape to an art forger’s studio in Madrid, where he comes face-to-face with a centuries-old horror, and the terrifying, mind-bending, truth about his wife.

About the Author:

Tom Gillespie grew up in a small town just outside Glasgow. After completing a Masters in English at Glasgow University, he spent the next ten years pursuing a musical career as a singer/songwriter, playing, recording and touring the UK and Europe with his band. He now lives in Bath with his wife, daughter and hyper-neurotic cat, where he works at the university as an English lecturer. Tom writes long and short stories. His stories have appeared in many magazines, journals and e-zines. He is co-author of Glass Work Humans-an anthology of stories and poems, published by Valley Press. Visit Tom at tom-gillespie.com.

My thanks to Love Books Group for the invitation to participate in this tour.

Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 Opening Lines

By HCNewton

On May 19, 2020

In A-B, Authors, Books, Douglas Adams, Fiction, Humor, News/Misc., Science Fiction, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

I love a good opening line. A solid opening paragraph or page is great, but an opening line that sells you on the next 200-500 pages? Magic. When I saw this list topic listed, these 5 jumped to mind—they may not be the best I’ve ever read, but they’re the most memorable.

(I tried, tried, tried to limit myself to the opening line, but I failed on a couple of them, couldn’t help myself.)

	A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce I remember in our English class in High School when we were assigned this book, pretty much no one was interested. When Mr. Russo passed out the paperbacks, a few of us flipped it opened and read these first words—and suddenly we were open to the idea (didn’t last long for all of us, but that’s beside the point, we’re focused on the opening lines here). It’s stuck with me for almost 30 years, that’s gotta say something. Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo….
	Neuromancer by William Gibson This sentence was love at first glance for me. Still love it. Naturally, no one knows what color this is referring to anymore. The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.
	The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler Oft-parodied. Oft-imitated. Often-celebrated. Does it get better than this? It was about eleven o’clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.
	Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone by J. K. Rowling Why bother saying anything here? Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense.
	The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams I’ll go on and on about this book next week, so I’ll just keep my trap shut here. But man…there was something about these lines that got into my blood. Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.