Monterey Bay RWA Members' Blog

Bookstores and the Old West

2011-09-01T18:13:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things is used bookstores. Visiting Ashland, Oregon, recently, for the Shakespeare festival, I wandered into Yesterday's Books and found a treasure trove of interesting western-oriented fiction. One, titled Pan Bread 'n Jerky, by Walter L. Scott, is an authentic collection of memories of the author who grew up and "thrived" in eastern Oregon, around Baker. This book is full of nuggets of information about mining, schoolteachers, crooked lawmen, and stalwart frontier wives.

Walter was born in Conway, Missouri, in 1882 and came out to Oregon with a wagon train in 1884. As a young man he broke horses, cut hay in the summer, did some freighting with a wagon and teams of horses in Baker, Grant, and Harney counties. This was the era when "each person roasted and ground his own coffee, ground wheat for flour, and largely lived off the land."

One interesting note about schoolteaching in the Old West: women schoolteachers earned $45 per year and usually boarded with a town family. Men schoolteachers earned $55 per year.

A Touching Tribute

2011-07-25T09:14:00.000-07:00

Last week I received a touching tribute to my writing. Most of my short stories end up as novels, but I did sell a couple fairy-tale themes to mytholog.com in 2003 and 2005.

I was waiting in the doctor's office when I got a call from my cousin Mary Alice's daughter, Pam, that her mother had just died after a long illness. They live in Massachusetts and we haven't been close in years--just exchanged Christmas cards--but she was Force of Nature who did everything 200% and was active almost to the end.

In a subsequent e-mails, Pam said that her mother died at home, under Hospice care, with four generations of family around her. In her last days, they read her one of my stories, "A Maiden's Heart," and it was as if I were there. Pam wasn't sure her mother was aware until she opened her eyes and laughed aloud.

I could not ask for a greater tribute to my work.

Pitch practice

2011-06-11T12:53:00.000-07:00

I'm going to the Historical Novels Conference next week; here's the pitch I'm preparing for the editor at St. Martin's Press:

High concept: On opposite sides of a war, a man and a woman find love in 12th C Spain.

Preamble: I have a completed 100,000-word historical romance novel set in 12th Century Spain at the time of the Reconquista, when the Christians were pushing Saracens out. Concurrently, the Cathar sect and the Catholic Church were also at war.

The “elevator pitch”: DAMASCENE ROSE is a love story between two people on opposite sides of conflicting forces, played out against the vibrant Moorish culture of 12th century Spain.

Story: A young Catholic novice, Malenda de Balanguer, is rescued from an angry Cathar mob by Saracen warlord Barik ibn Hassam. When her abbey is torched by the Cathars, Malenda flees to the Saracen’s fortress where she comes to appreciate Moorish culture and falls in love with Barik.

When Christian forces attack the fortress, Malenda is torn between her Catholic world and the Arab she loves; en route to safety in the north, she is kidnapped by a Spanish count who intends to wed her against her will. Again, she is rescued by Barik, and they marry. As was common in that time, Malenda retains her Catholic faith and he holds to his Muslim tradition.

They then flee south to Granada, which becomes the center of a peacefully blended Moorish, Christian, and Jewish civilization for the next 300 years. Known as the center of the Golden Age of Spain, Granada did not fall until 1492.

The author, Lynna Banning, has a background in history, specializing in the medieval period, and is also a musician who performs Sephardic and other medieval music. She has published 17 historical romance novels to date with Harlequin Mills & Boon.

Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to work I go...

2011-05-27T08:53:00.000-07:00

Ups: I finished formatting of The Bride and the Bandit for the Wild Rose Press senior editor who requested it. And I'm planning promotion for Gauchos & Gumption, My Argentine Honeymoon, a novella/memoir which will come out in January 2012.

Downs: I'm starting the third (!) set of revisions for my "Chinese" story for Harlequin Historicals; tentatively titled Smoke River Bride, it's the story of a young Chinese mail-order bride who ends up in a small town in ranch country on the Oregon frontier. Harlequin liked the "Chinese" aspect; they want more conflict and more sex. The sex is easy. Ah well, to work...

Found a critique partner

2011-05-03T09:07:00.000-07:00

Ever since my wonderful SF/F critique group broke up a couple of years ago, I've been missing genre-specific feedback. Through clicking on a flash-fiction story noted on the Broad Universe listserv, I discovered that the author lives in the Santa Cruz mountains and I e-mailed her. Yesterday we met at Starbuck's and had a wonderful talk. Turns out we were both looking for genre-specific critique partners.

Last night we exchanged a chunk of our respective WIPs. My fingers are crossed that it works out.

The Power of the Writing Group

2011-04-29T16:41:00.000-07:00

In 2009 I did two things for myself. I joined a local writing group and I joined the Monterey Bay RWA. Both have been life-changing events.

My writing group kept me on track. For the first time in decades, without the obstacles of difficult children, treks to hospitals and juvenile courts, husbands who needed to be ex-husbands, and Corporate America, I kept a writing schedule. For the first time in my life I completed a novel.

RWA members taught me how to write a novel. They encouraged, suggested, red-penned, critiqued and didn't hold their punches. At the same time, they were always in my corner, urging me to keep going, keep developing my craft, and keep sweating the small stuff. Maureen O. Betita and Cat Grant dragged me to RT the beginning of April where the miracle occurred--I pitched well enough to get requests for manuscripts.

This morning I sent off the novel. I am proud of the work I did and I'm grateful for the groups I joined. Thank you.

Lady Lavender: Post-publication glow

2011-02-19T13:28:00.000-08:00

After many long months of angst and annoyance, I’m happy to report that my new book, Lady Lavender, is at last on the shelves! Angst and Annoyance because it’s been three years since my previous book (Templar Knight, Forbidden Bride) was published, and I have the sweat and frown-lines to document each and every month of the interim period.

But no matter, the novel is here and I am celebrating.

Lady Lavender is a western historical romance about an immigrant French woman on the frontier trying to grow lavender (yes, they grew it in Oregon) to support herself and her 4-year-old daughter. The problem is the Oregon Central Railroad and the dishy exec it sends to gobble up her land, and her lavender field, by laying shiny steel rails right down the middle of it.

Hence, a romance blooms. For me, the “romance” derives not only from Jeanne and Colonel Haliday and their struggles, but from the early 1900's, when my mother was a young woman raised on a ranch in Douglas County, Oregon. I’ve visited the old Banning homestead, seen the barn my grandfather built - still standing but listing badly after all these decades. I’ve researched the Deer Creek School where my mother and her brother and sister went to school, tramped over the hills and meadows where she rode her horse and picnicked, and reveled in the feel of the land, the smell of the trees, and the whispers of long-ago stories.

The tiny town of Dixonville, Oregon, is the setting for my very first book, Western Rose (and all 16 of my subsequent works). Now there’s only a moss-kissed split rail fence and a post office - general store, but then . . .

Then it was alive with stories handed down from my grandmother and grandfather, Leora and Claude Banning, which to me grew into wild tales and imaginings about dramatic confrontations, dangerous exploits, and enduring love stories. And ended up as the characters in my stories. Western Rose, for instance, was based on the rather oddball courtship of my grandparents, both of whom grew up on Douglas County ranches.

Now I have a Big Fat Confession to make: recently I re-read this first work, Western Rose, and found that I still like it! I also re-read a later work, The Ranger and the Redhead. Ditto. O frabjous day!

Maybe I’ll soon work up the courage to re-read Lady Lavender. In the meantime, I’ve fallen in love with yet another story from that era and my favorite Oregon setting, and . . .

The Perils of Rewrite

2011-02-17T08:01:00.000-08:00

I'm on my "who knows how many rewrites" of my WIP. I'm ably abetted by a critique group and our own Lynna Banning.

Right before I left for a short trip to Montana, my inner critic decided she'd been quiet too long and the bottom fell out of my writing world. You know the feeling. I'll never write anything good. No one will want me...why would an agent even listen to me...I may as well shut my computer, give it up, and get a J-O-B.

But sometimes a change of scenery is all you need. And going from Santa Cruz to Missoula in the winter was quite a change of scenery, although the below zero temperatures kindly waited to show up until we were on the plane south. I didn’t do much writing in Missoula, but regrouped, did some business and allowed my lungs to fill with brisk mountain air.

I’ve sushed my inner critic and gone back to my novel with renewed vigor. Sometimes when you’re stuck, walking away is the best thing you can do.

Temptation removed

2011-01-05T09:21:00.000-08:00

A couple of days ago I posted a message about being strongly tempted to get a free copy of my NaNoWriMo "book" from "Clear Source" just to have a book to hold in my hand. I even included my attempt at cover art--a cobbled-together collage from some of my old paintings.

I just deleted the message. When I slept on it, I realized the whole thing was childish, an ego trip. Who in their right mind would try to publish a book they didn't want anyone to read? And furthermore, the publisher was Create Space, not Clear Source.

We all make missteaks.

RWR Letter to the Editor

2011-01-01T10:05:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my RWR came and I was pleased to see my Letter to the Editor. I'd commented on an article by Beatrice Small that discussed the history of romance literature and mentioned Sue Burke's ongoing translation of Amadis of Gaul.

It may be a teensy thing, but it is so gratifying to see one's name in print.

A Contest!

2010-11-28T16:54:00.000-08:00

No, not THAT kind of contest... this one is easy!

Beginning December 1, the Harlequin Historical Authors are hosting a contest in the form of an online Advent Calendar.

You'll want to check in every day, because there will be new prizes each day, offered by the individual authors who are participating, and the more days you enter, the more chances you will have to win the final grand prize--a Kindle 3G.

And our very own Lynna Banning, who has a new book coming out in February, will be Miss December 1, so be sure and check her webpage that day, and follow the instructions and enter to win the prize!

Of course, there are eligibility rules, as in any contest, so make sure you are eligible before entering.

Book about wine-making & romance... Late Harvest

2010-11-16T10:24:00.000-08:00

Founding member Suzanne Barrett's book "Late Harvest," a good old-fashioned romance set in the wine country of northern California, is just out in a new trade paperback edition! I had read it before, but even so, in re-reading this novel I found I could not put it down! Honestly--I kept putting off cooking dinner for just one more chapter.

This is a beautifully written work, chock full of meticulously researched wine-making lore.

Amazon Print

Amazon Kindle

Barnes and Noble Nook e-book

Multiple format e-book at Smashwords

Equal Time for Barnes and Noble's Nook

2010-09-25T07:54:00.000-07:00

The Nook is available at Best Buy, as well as Barnes and Noble stores, and of course via mail-order.

Looks like the Kindle folks have declared a price war, because now the wi-fi Kindle is $10 cheaper than the wi-fi Nook, and the 3G + wi-fi Kindle is (you guessed it) $10 cheaper than the 3G + wi-fi Nook.

The new Kindle has some nifty features, and a lot to recommend it.

But what finally sold me on the Nook was that, unlike the Kindle, the Nook is compatible with e-books checked out from public libraries online. Since I have library cards at 5, count 'em, 5, public libraries statewide that all have slightly-differing e-book collections, this capability is very important to me. Why buy a book if I can check it out of the library?

And by borrowing library copies of just one or two books, rather than buying them, I made up that $10 price differential almost immediately.

If, on the other hand, all you want to do with a reading device is buy books, download and read them, either device should work just fine for you.

A couple more advantages of the Nook. One, you can expand the memory by adding an SD card. Two, and VERY important, YOU, the user, can replace the battery yourself. Apparently with the Kindle, you have to send in the device to get the battery replaced.

For Anyone Who Wants To Try Out A Kindle, Risk-Free...

2010-09-08T09:29:00.000-07:00

Just learned that Target is the ONLY nationwide "brick-and-mortar" store that sells the Kindle in-store:

If you're tempted to buy the popular e-book reader from Amazon . . . but want to try it out first and perhaps compare it to Barnes & Noble's Nook . . . Target is the place to go: It's the only national brick-and-mortar retailer to carry it. The brand new Kindle 3, which is smaller and lighter than previous models, will sell for $189 at Target, the same price as at Amazon.com. "Look someone up in the store who knows how to work the device, so you can get a feel for it," suggests James McQuivey, a media technology research analyst at Forrester Research. If you've never seen someone use it, it can be a little bit tricky to figure out on your own.

Just another public service announcement, for your perusal.

It's Out There--Dark Lady's Stone

2010-05-29T09:40:00.000-07:00

I did it! After searching lists of e-publishers, checking websites (lurid covers with naked bodies--no), reading sample contracts, etc.-- on May 12, 13, and 18 I submitted the Dark Lady's Stone to three likely ones. I tried to send it to a fourth but my submission bounced. (Scratch them!)

To my amazement, one editor got back to me in an hour with a question. I mean . . . when I've submitted other things to NY publishers, agents, and even e-zines it can take up to a year for a response. Fortunately the editor took the trouble to ask, she liked my answer, and didn't reject my mss out of hand. I should hear back in a couple of months.

I don't know why I've been shy about posting this but I guess it's kinda scary to send my baby out into the world. It's not that I'm afraid of rejection, it's more like I'm afraid of success--and the concomitant loss of privacy. I just Googled my name and was horrified at all the places it showed up on the web. I even found an artist and a poet with the same name! I'm thinking of taking a pen name.

Onward...and maybe upward

2010-05-25T13:01:00.000-07:00

I'm finishing up my western novella for Spring 2011 and am now starting to think about the "next" western plot. Or characters. Or something...
Carolyn Comings is revamping my website... I've joined Facebook as Lynna Banning.
My "Lavender Lady" western (will be retitled, I'm sure) will be out in February 2011... sound like a real writer, huh?

Online Security--Yet Another Thing To Watch Out For

2010-05-24T14:12:00.000-07:00

On a tip from TYWKIWDBI:

You Deleted Your Cookies? Think Again

More than half of the internet’s top websites use a little known capability of Adobe’s Flash plug-in to track users and store information about them, but only four of them mention the so-called Flash Cookies in their privacy policies, UC Berkeley researchers reported Monday.

Unlike traditional browser cookies, Flash cookies are relatively unknown to web users, and they are not controlled through the cookie privacy controls in a browser. That means even if a user thinks they have cleared their computer of tracking objects, they most likely have not.

I installed a Firefox add-on called BetterPrivacy. If you read to the bottom of the article linked above, they have some other options listed.

Not, mind you, that I much care who sees that I browsed some photos at Flickr... but better safe than sorry.

Anyone besides me ever feel like they're playing whack-a-mole, trying to stay ahead of all the possibilities?

Cross-posted at the Coffee with CrankyBeach

Revised the blog template, just a bit...

2010-05-03T11:12:00.000-07:00

And now it should look right for those of you viewing on widescreen monitors. At least, I hope it does.......

Who'd a thunk it?

2010-03-18T10:11:00.000-07:00

Progress, I think. I just received the (apparently) standard 4-page revision-request letter from England on my Western novel. This time, it's from my "new" editor, who is actually the head editor at Mills & Boon/Harlequin, and THIS time they don't want "rewriting or revising," just "tweaking" here and there.

So I feel as if I've hit a triple and am hovering on third base waiting to steal home.

Did it again! Another submission

2010-01-12T09:51:00.001-08:00

I just submitted "The Whitewood Kitarra" (alternatively titled "Tournament of Verse" or "Reputation" to Aoife's Kiss.

This story is a prequel to my WIP (The Dark Lady's Stone) and tells how my hero overcame his murky past and came to the Karaskan court.

Short Story Submitted

2010-01-11T10:26:00.001-08:00

I finally sent something out. Broad Universe is having a mailing party where members get a "ding" for each submission. The idea is to get women writers to submit those stories they've got stashed on their hard drives.

I knew I had to get off the dime and send something out. When one member posted that the anthology she's editing is looking for submissions, I polished up "Heritage," an Agatha Christie type short story, to which I added a ghost, and sent it to the Drollerie Press anthology on Ghosts. Their deadline isn't until March 31 so I may not hear right away, but what the heck...

C'est fini!

2009-12-26T14:45:00.000-08:00

I'm finished! My western is done and I've typed "The End."
Now I'm going to celebrate...
And then I'll start re-reading the 300-page manuscript for final revisions.
Happy holidays to all,
Lynna

God Bless Alicia Rasley!

2009-12-05T10:18:00.000-08:00

I'm on the last 100 pages of my western ("Lavender Lady") and sort of floundering around through the last steps of the "W" diagram (crisis, resolution, etc.)
I just received my San Francisco RWA chapter newsletter and in it there is an article (by Shelley Bates) about Alicia Rasley's wise words on how to end books.

Rasley is straightforward and specific: "End a scene after something happens, either a disaster or a surprise." And "Keep the emphasis on doing, not enduring bad things happening. Come up with four or five events and assemble them in an order that keeps up the pacing--easiest to hardest, least dangerous to most dangerous, leaast to most emotional risk or pain." [italics added--this is what is helping me through the muddle]

How To Make Links

2009-11-26T10:21:00.000-08:00

For all those with posting privileges on this blog, here at long last are the instructions for creating clickable links inside your blog posts.

Let's make a link to our main chapter website.

First... be sure you are in "edit HTML" mode, not "compose". Now highlight the text that you want to make into a link. For this example, let's use the "chapter website" text above. Use your mouse to highlight that text, so it looks like this:

Next, click on the link button at the top of the blog post composing screen. That's the one that looks like this:

A screen will pop up that looks like this:

In the "enter url" box, type (or paste) the full web address for the site you want to link to, in this case, our chapter website. If you copy and paste the URL, you need to erase the text that's already in the box (just hit your "delete" key) and then paste the text. The advantage of this method is that if you have pulled up the site you want to link to, and then copy its URL directly from the browser's address bar, you are less likely to make a typographical error. Again, using the example of our chapter website, once you have pasted the text, that box should look like this:

Then click OK.

Now, the text for that section of your blog post entry will look like this:

And when seen in "real life," the words "chapter website" will be an honest-to-gosh clickable link.

Here's one more nifty trick, for the adventurous. The link we have created with the above method simply takes the clicker to the requested web page, within the same browser. A favorite trick of web designers is to make links open in a NEW browser window, so that while the person reading your website might wander off into new territory, you can get them to come back to your site by leaving your site open in the original window, while they wander off into a new one. Clear as mud? Nevermind. Here's how to do it.

Edit the text of the link you just created, so that it now will read as follows. I have highlighted the text to be added:

The text happens just before the > symbol, and there are no spaces in it. Since it's a little hard to read in the image, the text is as follows: target=_blank That's an underscore after the = sign and before the word "blank."

Clear as mud? I thought so....

I will create a separate link to this tutorial, on the sidebar, so that it can easily be found even after it scrolls off the main page.

Kathleen Dougherty's Blog

2009-11-08T11:55:00.000-08:00

I just read, with great enjoyment, Kathleen Dougherty's blog.
It's accessible through her website (www.kldougherty.com) [that's an "el" not a "one"], and her latest entry discusses dealing with change, in both stories and life.
It caught at my heart.
Lynna Banning

I'm a NaNo!

2009-11-01T09:24:00.000-08:00

This year I really wanted to finish my WIP. It's darned good, if I do say so myself, and I wanted to keep the momentum. I'd decided not to do NaNoWriMo.

A few days ago I hit a block revising a key scene. And started thinking about that rough sketch I'd embedded in my 60-page Ancient World synopsis--Queen Vira. Five years ago my critique group virtually threw me out over that synopsis, but they did like Queen Vira. So I searched out the synopsis on my hard drive, found Vira, and copied her into a new file. Boy, did it need work! Two days ago, just for kicks, I set up a Scrivener project and hunted up my Ancient World map--still in AppleWorks, would you believe. I spent a couple of hours with EazyDraw, moving mountains and lakes, changing the course of rivers. It's such fun to play god(dess)!

Well, since I'd put in all that, I spent 6 hours yesterday revising the synopsis. Yeah, it'll fly! It's even a romance. So I signed up for NaNoWriMo. I checked in with the Santa Cruz Forum, downloaded the score sheet from truckpoetry.com, and can't wait to start!

Jennifer Crusie has a blog.

2009-10-31T22:55:00.000-07:00

And the blog, like its owner, is highly entertaining.

It is called "Argh Ink" and can be found here.

Some Good Advice

2009-09-26T09:23:00.000-07:00

Blogger/writer Cara Ellison has some interesting thoughts on agent query letters, and on the writing process.

Just a taste, to whet your appetite:

1. Write a serious query letter. Do not try to be funny. Do not try to charm them. Be bland. Just describe what happens in the book.

2. Do not ever say that your book is super great, the next bestseller, etc. It’s just ridiculous sounding. Do not boast at all.

3. Do not compare yourself to other authors. You will lose.

4. Follow the agent’s conventions for submission. If she only wants paper queries, don’t send equeries.

And now, some of her writing advice:

2. Don’t drop us into action without giving us some time to get invested in the character. You’ll just confuse the reader. That said, get to the action right away. This is where skill comes in – you have to do two things at once – set up the character, and get the character into trouble quickly.

3. Make sure you have an actual story to tell. I realize this is basic but a list of events does not make a novel. You really have to have a central thrust.

4. Derivative works, basically copying a writer you admire, is normal for a first novel – but first novels are not meant to be published. Wait until every single thought you write down is completely your own before you start thinking about publishing (or as I say, empublishment.)

5. No more vampires, please! I’m sick of vampire stories!

6. Read widely. It will make you a better writer.

Also, be sure and read the comments on the post... especially the third one.

Any Correlation?

2009-09-10T10:59:00.000-07:00

In a recent interview with author Lois McMaster Bujold she said the following:

Some years back, I read an interview with a forensic pathologist who made the remark that he’d never walked into a bad crime scene, the kind with blood on the walls, in a house with a lot of books. These disasters were all in book-free spaces. Makes sense to me—books give a time-out, a place of temporary escape till one’s spirits lift, not available to trapped non-readers. It suggests that genre fiction, which tends very much to be chosen by readers’ mood needs, is not so trivial in its social benefits after all.

Emphasis mine.

Get thee to the library forthwith and check out a good book!

Saloons in the Old West

2009-09-08T10:48:00.000-07:00

The saloon, evolving from the pub or tavern, is simply a neighborhood bar. It moved west with the pioneers and gradually earned its reputation as a den of iniquity with card tables full of gunslingers, dancing girls, and barrels of whiskey. Life in those old days was difficult, and the saloonkeeper provided a place to “let loose” or just socialize.

In some towns of the Old West there were more saloons than churches. And in some tent cities sprouting up around gold or silver mining camps, there were more saloons than wooden buildings.

Saloons were the place a cowboy or a rancher or a miner (but never a lady) could drink, gamble, and maybe even get a girl. Some were just shacks (or even tents); some were fancy. The Silver Dollar Saloon in Leadville, Colorado, had a mahogany bar, tile floor, and a real cash register. Abilene saloons featured glass doors, paintings of Renaissance-like nudes, mirrors reflecting rows of whiskey and brandy bottles, polished brass spittoons, and often a green baize gaming table. Abilene in 1871 had a population of only 800, but the city made millions on the 11 saloons that served 5,000 or more cowboys driving longhorns up from Texas to the Kansas railhead.

A glass of beer cost a nickel; two drinks (often watered down) cost a quarter. Hard liquor had some spell-binding names: Tarantula Juice, Skull Bender, and Red Eye that would “make a hummingbird spit in a rattlesnake’s eye.” Sheepherder’s Delight contained clear alcohol, plug tobacco, prune juice to add color and taste, and a bit of strychnine “to enhance the jolt.” The original Tom & Jerry originated in the Old West: whiskey, a raw egg, sugar, and milk.

The saloon stayed open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The sound of gunfire was common, as was piano music plunked out by a musician who doubled as bouncer and, in the really fancy establishments, a woman’s voice singing “Oh Suzanna.” The voice was usually attached to a “fancy” girl who waited tables, entertained the customers (often in the private back rooms), and sang for her supper

So music-starved were saloon clients that an Idaho City Irish fidler had a performing platform built, rigged it to the ceiling by pulleys, and whenever a gunfight erupted, he simply had himself hoisted aloft and played over the noise.

Prize fights were often held in saloons because they were the largest buildings in town. In Cheyenne, in 1867, one memorable prize fight went 126 rounds, each round lasting until one man knocked down the other. The purse was $1,000.

Saloons could be the core of a community. In some towns they had the only women in the area--dancers and “calico queens” as shady ladies were known. Sometimes an enterprising owner added a stage to present variety shows or short plays. Gradually some of these performances moved from amateur to professional theatrical performances; Lillie Langtry (an English courtesan) was a big hit playing Cleopatra and Salome’s Dance of the Seven Veils.

One saloon owner turned his establishment into a theater featuring both local productions and professional performers from the East, including Lotta Crabtree. A serious production (Shakespeare’s “Richard III”) would be followed by a farce. The Taylor Family Troupe, performing in Dodge City, was a big hit as well, as was Eddie Foy. Foy, a wisecracking song and dance man, was riding high until he composed a ditty which poked fun at certain members of the audience: Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and Bat Masterson. The lawmen captured Foy with a rope and ducked him in the horse trough.

San Francisco was the wildest of saloon cities; during the Gold Rush, the population of the city was 90 percent men. Massive shipping through the Golden Gate brought people from China, Brazil, Russia, and points inbetween. Life was hard, work in the mines was back-breaking, and everyone wanted to “make it” one way or another. The most successful of entrepreneurs were those who “followed the money.” Such men made millions of dollars off the millions of miners trying to make their own millions: foremost among these were (1) the manufacturers of denim work pants and (2) saloon-keepers!

Long may they reign.

Would you publish this book?

2009-08-30T11:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I downloaded a book from Kindle onto my iPod where the author did not follow a single one of the rules:

* Begin in a place of action, drama, danger.
* Your first sentence must hook the reader.
* No prologues.
* Show your hero(ine)'s goal, motivation, conflict.
* Reduce the narrative--reveal character and plot through dialogue.
* No infodumps.
* Show don't tell.
* Dribble in your back story. You must carry your action forward.

And the one that says the hero and heroine must meet within a certain number of pages.

This book has a long prologue--a narrative historical, sociological, and geographic study of the inhabitants as well as page after page of back-story and info dump giving two versions of a past conflict that was long ago resolved. The third part of the prologue is a catalogue of scholarly studies and sources for this information.

Chapter 1 beings with a long description of a character in a bucollic setting who has a few minor conflicts with family and neighbors that he easily resolves. There is also a lengthy back story about his nephew. And I saw only a few scraps of dialogue. Their main goal seems to be to give a party. Heroine? None in sight. E-books aren't paginated, but I'd guess by now we're 30-40 pages in.

This book was only published because the author was good buddies with the editor who did it as a personal favor. Yet the first time I read it, summer of 1968, I ripped through the whole thing in 3-4 days. Picked it up on the way home from work Friday night, read while cooking, eating, in the bath tub, on the jon, in bed. I barely slept. Read, dozed, read, dozed. Brought it to work Monday and kept sliding open my desk drawer to read just one more page. I must've read it a dozen times. It's been called the most influential book of the 20th Century. It was made into blockbuster, Academy Award winning film(s). Now it's drawing me in again, and I'm coming back to some dear old friends.

Oh there is a hint of a larger conflict in the prologue: "Though [Gandalf] did not say so to Bilbo, he also thought it important, and disturbing, to find that the good hobbit had not told the truth [about finding the ring] from the first: quite contrary to his habit."

Action first and fill in later?

2009-08-24T17:37:00.000-07:00

Listening to Quentin Taratino talking about his new film, I wondered about the creative process. He worked on it for over 5 years. Gerry said just write the action and fill in the description later. I would like to know what the rest of the group prefers to do.

I will demo the Kindle, now that I feel more confident in it. Primarily Naomi Noviks 4th book and others will be shown.

New Pen Name?

2009-08-24T17:24:00.000-07:00

Talked to Gerry asking,"Do we need a new penname?" Me and Mrs Jones popped into my head but Garrett Jones might jump start Gerry's creative juices. I think it must be emasculating to write with the implication that we are a female team. At least with Garrett we establish the guy in the team.
What do you all think? Let us know at the meeting.
Naomi

Fascinating Blog Find

2009-08-17T20:56:00.000-07:00

Awful Library Books is a blog maintained by two public librarians, in which they showcase, um, questionable CURRENT titles in various libraries' collections.

One of the most fascinating recent posts has to do with a 1972 book about computers, which currently lives in a school library somewhere in Britain. How many of us remember this sort of setup?

amazonia vs book clubs

2009-08-13T09:55:00.000-07:00

As it is, I've read 8 books on Kindle. I seem to do everything by fits and starts. Read but don't write. Watch On Demand season finales all day. Now this has extended to not going as heavily on Kindle2 as I was doing before. DH brought home a Mystery Guild ReJoin bulletin therefore we are going hardcover with some books again.
This extends to diet, bill paying and all the other stuff that keeps us going. Seems as if my on/off switch is a tad bizarro and occasionally shorts out.

Amazon continues to be a problem for some. The reality is if we try to link through and buy anything from any other website including author's websites, it is ridiculously laborious. IMHO, we don't need it and won't benenfit from it.
Don't think Amazon wants to share revenues with anyone.

E-book Readers

2009-07-31T08:43:00.000-07:00

I've been dying to get a Kindle but couldn't afford it.

I've got several e-books and stories on my Palm Zire 21 (convenient when I have to wait somewhere) but I have to squint at the fuzzy type and it's hard to maintain continuity on the small screen.

My E-Bookwise Reader is heavy and there's an awkward bulge on the side. Further, every time I look for a book I want they don't carry it, either in E-Bookwise or Palm format. When I look at amazon.com, Kindle does--and cheaper.

Last week someone showed me an iPod Touch. It's beautiful! A clear, readable screen. It has the features of an iPhone without the phone--address book, calendar, scheduling (synch with iCal and Address Book), web browsing, iTunes (listen to music)--and you can get free apps for Kindle books, Palm format, Barnes & Noble. And the price is comparable.

I posted queries to BroadUniverse and MacWomen. Have you tried Kindle and Touch? Do you like them? Any caveats? So far, the votes are all for iPod Touch. People who have them love them. Why spend the $$ for a device that only does one thing when you can get one that does lots?

Next month I'll have enough WorldPoints to cash in (like found money) and treat myself to the iPod Touch.

Bloody but unbowed...

2009-07-30T10:53:00.000-07:00

Just when you think nothing is ever going to change...

Yes, groan, the western proposal (Summer Charade) I submitted to HM&B
was rejected; no surprise there. What was surprising was being
asked by the head editor (not my regular editor) to submit a 1-page
story outline for a NEW western.

To be honest, I am wearing thin. BUT I have a new editor! Even though
she's English, she liked the new western frontier story outline, so now I'm writing
the first 3 chapters/50 pages to submit to her, under a September deadline.

It isn't writing that is so difficult... it's writing what is wanted.

Templar Knight Forbidden Bride

2009-07-14T10:21:00.001-07:00

Greeting me when I went to order Kindle books was Templar Knight Forbidden Bride, I purchased it immediately. I have my first Lynna Banning Kindle book.
Looks as if I will be reading lots of historical fiction now.

Having just finished Naomi Noviks Free Kindle book, His Majesty's Dragon, I went out to buy more. Her Dragon Series during the Napoleonic wars has been optioned by Peter Jackson of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It should be smashing since it is action packed. Propriety with the English Naval Captain thrown into a rough and tumble Dragon training camp. Romance is hinted at but mostly it is detailed action which Jackson can translate to the screen.
I have been waiting for Dragonriders of Pern forever but I'll forget them now that I have a whole new set of dragons to like.

BTW it was the first name Naomi and the fact that the book has Dragon in the title that made me order it. PLUS the first book was free. You can tell the author wrote games for computers (Graduate work Columbia) but gave it up for writing (bachelors at Brown in Literature).

It is a bit dicey trying to figure out how to order using a combo of Amazon website and the Kindle itself. Experimentation is a priority. I ordered five books at one time. Lots of flipping back and forth to figure out what was actually going on.

Viking on-line Class/Heavy Metal

2009-06-30T10:07:00.000-07:00

I'm taking an on-line class on Vikings in Scotland via the Celtic Hearts Chapter. Key backstory in my WIP is a Viking-like culture, so, what the heck, I might as well learn a bit. I'm learning a LOT.

Some of my instinctive details are right on--like Dragon Ships. That was what they called the big war ships. Now I know how many men they carried, but I may have to modify the sails. My pseudo-epic is a modern-type story with a plot and skips the battle scenes. Real sagas started with the characters, their geneologies, and had lots of fighting.

A participant's post turned me on to Tyr, a Faroese heavy-metal rock band that performs songs based on their Viking heritage. They sing in Icelandic, Faroese, Norweigan, etc. Now, I prefer new-age, medieval, classical, Dylan, Joan Baez. I checked Tyr out on iTunes--they're terrific! To my amazement I got hooked and downloaded several songs, and can't stop listening.

KINDLE

2009-06-28T10:25:00.000-07:00

Having demonstrated Kindle to my doctor. I'm pleased to say I've learned some tricks on using it. Reading only one book at a time. Use it in the daytime. Get the larger version might be better. Finally learn to live with no pages. One has to be content with the percentage figure that is displayed.
Don't rush to buy accessories. I'm not crazy about the case but it is okay. I would prefer to have something that I could carry everything in.
But it beats piling up or losing books in the house.

Remove a Tree and open up

2009-06-28T10:07:00.001-07:00

Landscaper removed a tree in our front yard. Feng shui and all that, we wanted it gone. Had replaced it three times already. I was thinking about the flow of money and ideas.
Actually this probably started Memorial Day when my son and family came up and initiated some issues then father's day emails between others with daddy issues.
The issue was probably simmering my whole life. It helped to start a resolution to an inner conflist that has been with me since I was 18 months old would be the first daddy/mommy problem. It explains why I have been wary of men and women my whole life. It established a pattern that was repeated my entire life.
All sorts of ideas have been flooding in, including business ideas.
Had already signed for two online classes in July but then I went out and got 2 DVDs from Sol Stein and John Truby. Gerry and I attended the Truby workshop in LA before we got married.
BTW Carolyn - I had to experiment with the blog in order to figure out how to use this sucker. Lets hope it worked. Not that it is worth anything.

In The News

2009-06-19T07:27:00.000-07:00

According to the folks at Yahoo! Finance news, a rise in romance novel sales is one of the "10 quirky indicators" that the economy is still in the porcelain fixture.

The economy has broken your heart and stomped it to pieces and now you need to put it back together. At least that's what Harlequin, the giant romance novel publisher, says is happening. In 2008, Harlequin's sales were up 32% from the year before. In 2009, its sales are still rising.

The publisher credits this its uplifting stories that offer a haven, and to the low prices of the books relative to other entertainment. This theory has stood the test of time. Harlequin saw a similar sales increase during the recession of the early 90's. So if these stories start piling up unwanted on the discount table at the bookstore, alongside all those mis-timed guides to real estate riches, better news is on the way.

We report, you decide.

Finished Two Chapters

2009-04-18T09:52:00.000-07:00

Hooray! I just finished two brand new chapters for Stone. These are "relationship" chapters, and it was like pulling teeth. I'm going over them for glitches, but I think they're almost ready for my critique group.

Free E-Books From E-Harlequin

2009-04-13T10:33:00.000-07:00

Harlequin is celebrating its 60th year by offering 16 free titles for e-book download.

The offer is probably time-limited, but the limitation is not specified on the website. Get them while they're available!

Song of (Groan) Myself

2009-03-25T11:18:00.001-07:00

Song of My (groan) Self

What makes me weep
And tear my hair?
Gnash my teeth
And scream and swear?

What is the cause
Of such a mess--
Of feeling dumb
And worse distress?

Deliver me from wimpy verbs,
Fragments and elaborate puns.
Save my spirit and my brain
OH, RESCUE ME FROM THESE REVISIONS!

New TV Series With Writer As Lead Character

2009-03-12T19:14:00.000-07:00

For those who may have missed it... there's a brand-new series on the ABC network called Castle.

Wildly famous mystery novelist Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) is bored with his own success. Then he learns that a real-world copycat killer has started staging murder scenes depicted in his novels. Castle is questioned by NYPD Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic), a bright and aggressive detective who keeps her investigations under tight rein. Though they instantly clash, sparks of another sort also begin to fly, leading both to danger and a hint of romance as Castle steps in to help find the killer. And once that case is solved, he and Beckett build on their new relationship as they look to solve more strange homicides in New York - as much fun as one can have with death and murder.

If you missed the first episode (this past Monday), you can watch it online. The show airs Monday nights at 10 p.m., after Dancing with the Stars. Best of all... it stars my favorite actor, the fabulous Nathan Fillion!

OnLine, Vista, email

2009-03-02T12:50:00.000-08:00

The new SmartZone that we received from Comcast, can cause some problems. I think during the transfer I may have lost one invitation to a Yahoo group. If you have communicated with Gerry and expected an answer....send it again. Finally managed to get the lessons downloaded for the early Feb online class.

Have signed up for two online classes for March, one lasts a month. Having a little difficulty getting the invite to join the Black Diamond Chapter online workshop which lasts 2 weeks. Let's hope I learn something.

BTW the new laptop is demanding, I am now a hunt and pecker because it works so much better than touch typing for me. It is the only household computer that has Vista. Do we have any Vista users in the group?

Don't know how hunt and peck will work for me in writing.

"When I am dancing, I know who I really am."

2009-02-15T13:24:00.000-08:00

Book review: Once a Dancer, an Autobiography, by Allegra Kent.

I’ve loved ballet since I was 8 years old and saw Alicia Markova and Jacques D’Amboise dance “Coppelia” at Stern Grove in San Francisco. That was in 1945. From then on I kept scrapbooks of magazine articles about ballet dancers, read everything I could find about dancing, and the summer I was 9, I even talked my grandmother into enrolling me in a beginning ballet class at the Ft. Bragg grange hall in northern California. During my first lesson, Grandma noticed that both my knee joints were swollen and swept me off to the doctor, who said I had rheumatic fever. End of my ballet dreams, but not of my interest.

Reading Allegra Kent’s autobiography (St. Martin’s Press, 1997) was a thrill. Born Iris Cohen, she started lessons relatively late (at age 9) but excelled in both athletic ability and imaginative gifts. Later she joined the New York City Ballet at 16, the youngest member of the company. George Balanchine choreographed some of his best-received dances especially for her.

Outside of dancing, though, her life was a mess. Abandoned by her father, dominated by her mother, involved with first no men at all and then a real rake hooked on drugs, she was gun-shy for years. She reveled in motherhood, bore three children, all gifted in the arts, but all her life she scratched for money to raise them on her own. Her late-in-life love died young (at 60), after only four years together.

Like many talented artists, Allegra was her own worst enemy. She trusted the wrong people, struggled with stage fright all her performing life, and, inevitably, she grew older. Over the years he kept her body in shape for dance, had very few injuries and consistently substituted for other dancers who did, and sometimes ended up dancing eight ballets in a single weekend.

Allegra Kent was the oldest member of the ballet company, still performing at 50, when her mentor Balanchine died. New young talents (Suzanne Farrell, Gelsey Kirkland) were joining the company and Allegra was finally eased out of the troupe.

She was devasted. She had held onto dancing because “When I am onstage, I know who I really am.” In the following years she taught at ballet academies, coached other dancers in various ballet troupes, and performed in special “gala”concerts for which she was invited in a starring role.

What is most impressive to me is that she never gave up. She worked at dance; she sacrificed for her children; she loved unwisely and she suffered great losses. But each time she picked herself up, packed up her leotard and pointe shoes, and marched off to her daily regimen of classes.

Sound familiar?

Kindle, 2 Classes oh my!!

2009-02-15T10:51:00.001-08:00

We purchased a Kindle2 for Valentine's Day.
Online classes - I've been hassling one class that went from Feb 1 to 14, however they forgot me so I joined late Feb 9.
Have signed up for one class in March that I'm really looking forward to and I think perhaps Gerry or I should take the Black Diamond RWA online class because she looks like a terrific teacher.

Am really looking forward to Karyn's upcoming workshop.

How much is too much?

A positive rejection

2009-02-12T08:59:00.000-08:00

Just got a positive rejection for the short story, "Heritage," I sent to CrossGenres.com last month. Although it "doesn't fit our needs"..."We really did enjoy your submission, and it made our short list..." They would welcome submissions from me in the future.

I knew it was a good story, just one it's hard to find a place for. Not discouraged at all.

Speaking of E-Books...

2009-02-07T21:07:00.000-08:00

Yes, we were. At today's chapter meeting.

The Smart Bitches book review site had this little tidbit a couple of days ago:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Reporter Claire Duffy from MSNBC happens to be the sister of Kate Duffy, editor at Kensington. Kate also appears in the segment.

News

2009-02-04T13:54:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to pass on my bit of news. I've been invited to be a regular blogger on the Romance Writers Revenge, the second Friday of each month. We're a bunch of pirate loving romance writers who enjoy a daily dose of fun and talking about writing. And pirates. And writing about pirates. And just writing.

I'll be posting this Friday, the 6th of February. Do come by, climb aboard and join the crew!

Maureen O. Betita, aka 2nd Chance

Don't know if the link will work...but you can find us at http://romancewritersrevenge.com/

Amadis of Gaul - New translation

2009-01-30T09:51:00.000-08:00

One of the ladies in Broad Universe, Sue Burke, who lives in Spain is doing a translation of Amadis of Gaul. This medieval romance of chivalry was a best-seller in its time all over Europe and had a whole series of spin-offs. It's one of the "seed stories" of Western Romance and the one Don Quixote satirized. There have been few translations into English, two of them abridged and another very poor.

Sue's posting it on her blog, a chapter a week on Tuesdays with comments Thursdays. The blog is absolutely gorgeous with period illustrations.

Check it out: http://amadisofgaul.blogspot.com

More Fun From Elizabeth Peters

2009-01-29T19:57:00.000-08:00

This comes from "Die for Love," on page 33 of the 1987 Tor paperback edition:

Accustomed as she was to male loveliness in all its youthful variations, Jacqueline felt a faint but localized flutter when Victor von Damm stood face to face with her. He loomed over her--not only because he was several inches taller, but because he know how to loom. He probably practiced it daily, along with hand-kissing, smiling, and smoldering looks.

I cannot recommend this author highly enough. If you haven't read her books... what are you waiting for?? Get busy!

A Romantic Family Story

2009-01-24T12:26:00.000-08:00

Do you know how your great-great-grandmother came to marry your great-great- grandfather? Does your family have a story about the past, handed down for generations, that would make a great romance novel?
If you are a writer, you might look to your family histories as sources of material. If you are a reader, or a history buff, perhaps you'd consider sharing one of your family stories?
One of my favorite family tales is the romance of my German great-great- grandfather, Edgar Boessen, and the courageous young Danish woman, Mareia Bruhn who married him. Edgar grew up on a farm in Schlieswig-Holstein, in northern Germany. Mareia grew up on a neighboring farm just across the border, in southern Denmark.
Mareia's mother, so the story goes, had been a countess of the Von Brodenfelt family who fell in love with her chauffer and ran away to marry him. Mareia was born a year later.
Despite the national border separating their families, Edgar and Mareia became acquainted and fell in love. When Germany imposed compulsory army service for young men over the age of 18, Edgar decided to emigrate to America rather than go to war. The problem was how to escape. Together, he and Mareia devised a daring plan.
Every afternoon, the young woman drove her horse and buggy across the border into Germany to visit Edgar's mother. After tea, she drove back across the border, waving at the guards as she passed. Since her travels were a daily occurrence, the guards paid her scant attention.
On a prearranged day, Mareia drove across into Germany as usual, but when she returned she successfully smuggled Edgar back into Denmark, hidden under the voluminous skirts she spread wide over the buggy seat.
Edgar then traveled to Copenhagen and took ship for America. He apprenticed as a brickmason in Illinois, then came to Oregon by wagon train along the Oregon Trail. He settled in the town of Langlois, in Curry County, sent for Mareia, and the two were married.
In Langlois, Edgar constructed a two-story house using bricks he made himself, where over the next two decades, he and Mareia raised 8 children (one of whom was my grandmother, Leora Marie Boessen).
As testimony to the skill and spirit of Edgar and Mareia Boessen, the house still stands today, and their descendents number in the hundreds.

What Writing is About

2009-01-23T09:03:00.000-08:00

Just read over a couple of my journal entries from last summer and want to share.

7/3/08 Finished Forest Fire chapter Monday. Today getting into Danestor chapter. I'd already done it from a different POV; now have to rewrite. While napping I got: Edroc didn't want Loriano to bring anything to the cave.... Edroc wanted Loriano to bring something out: The chip of stone he so carelessly picked up. At the end of the Song chapter, he's starting to realize its significance. In Forest Fire, he openly acknowledges it. In the Danestor chapter and journey home, Reynal gets it, too. Just realizing this: I got the shivers. This is what writing is all about--you put in a little incidental thing as background, illustration. Gradually it grows, it reappears, you discover more and more about it, until it becomes A Great Big Thing - The Key!

7/29/08 ...I'm reluctant to end the story, dammit! I've been enjoying the journey and the company.

Submit, Stopped Resistance

2009-01-18T09:56:00.000-08:00

Stopped resisting, and got on board by starting edits on 3 pieces. Important to edit something for submitting to my Childrens Lit class. Not an official lesson but something suggested to break the ice.
Organizing life, writing et al is an interesting, worthwhile, very instructive trip for any writer. This has to be the New Year kicking into gear. No matter the reason it happens, it is clear to me what the advantages are.

Books Dangerous to Kids??

2009-01-15T08:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday there were several posts to Broad Universe about a new government regulation that all children's books must be tested for lead and certified as lead-free.

Are they serious? Lead? In books??

Turns out it is dead-serious. A government letter was issued on December 23. There might possibly be traces of lead in the ink, cover, paper, or binding. See here and here for more information.

Just think: Some innocent little tyke picks up a cute little bunny book and gets lead poisoning. So what are they going to do? Eat it? (Talk about devouring your reading.)

So now publishers will have to test for it--a costly process only a few labs can perform--and certify that the books are lead-free. As a result, some publishers are asking authors to revise books intended for children to YA.

Now, I'm all for saving kids from lead poisoning, but this is totally ridiculous.

I Did it!

2009-01-13T15:47:00.000-08:00

Today I finally submitted something!

It's not that I feared to send things off. It's not that I didn't want to. I just didn't have anything to send. From time to time BroadUniverse group has Mailing Parties, where folks clean out their bottom drawer, drag old stories out from under the bed, and send them out. Each submission gets a "DING!"

This morning somebody posted notice of a new cross-genre SF/F e-zine that's currently looking for cross-genre stories with a crime theme. Voila! I happened to have an oldie, a gothic murder mystery I really liked, but it didn't seem to fit anywhere. So I pulled it out, added a ghost, and sent it off!

(Pat self on back.)

Book review: The Heretic Queen, by Michelle Moran

2009-01-13T11:29:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder what Egyptian queens slept in? How they had their maids make up their faces for court appearances--what cosmetics, lip stain, eye shadow? Which dress went with what headpiece?

Author Michelle Moran must dream in ancient Egyptian because her sense of place is superb. This intriguing story is about Queen Nefertari, the niece of Nefertiti, the beautiful wife of Akheneton (the despised one-god pharoah).

Even if you're not a fan of Egyptology and the lore of the ancient kingdoms of the land nourished by the Nile, this novel is a Don't Miss: intriguing characters both admirable and evil, including nicely nuanced "older" women; luscious descriptions of palace rooms, rambling gardens, and courtyards; all this and a plot that surprises.
Highly recommended.

First Gripe Post

2009-01-09T10:35:00.000-08:00

Tried to compliment Carolyn Woolston's aka Lynna Banning post. However I lost it before getting it posted. Ran something like loved explorers when I was in school until I found real boys.
Also I tried to be the one to post the first writing gripe. I'm paying for lessons to the Institute for Children's Literature. It was delayed for a long time because of all the medical issues. Was supposed to turn in my first lesson by Jan 1 but just received a delay until Feb 13th. Being a rebel, I will turn it in on Feb 15th.
Have the three pictures given to inspire me (not) and the list of questions. I will do the lessons and answer the questions. However I'm thinking about mixing up the characters from three pictures and creating something unexpected.
BTW enjoyed the trip to So Calif but next time we will get someone from the Enterprise to beam us to everyone's house for the visits.
Naomi Ruth Pikus

Around the World in 1001 Days

2009-01-07T13:40:00.000-08:00

You remember Magellan? The intrepid explorer we learned about in 5th grade who sailed around the world and proved the earth wasn’t flat?

My 5th grade teacher took a rather ho-hum approach with that event, but it could have been indelibly stamped on little minds if only she had told us the truth! Such a riveting tale would have created life-long readers and devotees of history.

Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese mariner who migrated to Spain when he couldn’t get backing for his proposed route to the Spice Island, was a knowledgeable, tough, steadfast, far-sighted, skilled mariner and navigator. He was also autocratic, arrogant, and unbending, but steadfastly loyal to King Charles of Spain, who didn’t really trust him because of the escalating rivalry between Portugal and Spain.

In 1518, Magellan convinced Charles to back his sailing venture, and in 1519 he set off in his armada of five black ships to either find the route to the Spice Islands (Moluccas) or drop off the edge of the world. The Trinidad (the only full-sized caraval), San Antonio, Concepcion, Victoria, and the Santiago were manned by diverse crews of Italians, Portuguese, Spanish, Flemish, and one Englishman. Each ship had three masts, one of which carried a lateen sail. And each ship had a sub-commander who reported to Magellan on his flagship, The Trinidad.

Problems arose even before they had sailed away from Seville on the Guadalquivir River and then west into the open sea. The Portuguese sailors resented being bossed by Magellan, who was himself Portuguese but had declared loyalty to Spain. By the time the five ships gained the southern reaches of South America, many sailors had had enough of Magellan’s high-handed tactics and single-minded adherence to his mission, to say nothing of his harsh punishments, and they mutinied.

Only two ships remained loyal. Magellan cleverly divided the remaining three and conquered each by a combination of diplomacy and chicanery. One ship, however, The San Antonio, turned tail and sailed for Spain. Their excuse, as the captain explained later to King Charles, was that Magellan was cruel and incompetent. Their version of the mutiny and the punishments that followed was falst, but believed.

The resentful but cowed crews on the remaining ships continued the search for the fabled “passage” through the tip of South America, sailing up one promising-appearing river, then back down when the waterway dead-ended. By this time food was running out, the men were frightened and muttering, and Magellan was getting desperate. Finally they stumbled upon a marshy, unearthly muddle of bays and bends and twists which eventually spewed them out into the Pacific Ocean.

Scurvy now attacked the crews with swollen gums and internally disintegrating cartilege so that bodies literally “fell apart.” All except Magellan and his top two officers were afflicted; a coveted jar of quince jam, shared a teaspoonful a day among these three men, protected them from scurvy, though they didn’t know it at the time.

Sick, hungry, exhausted, and rebellious, the sailors of the armada limped into the Philippine Islands where they rested and repaired the leaking ships. Then Magellan single-mindedly drove his ships on to other island chains, which he found full of “ugly pagans” who nevertheless gave them food and shared their women. Up to a point. Magellan by this time was afflicted with a messianic urge to convert the pagans, and he set about baptizing them en masse. In so doing, he made a fatal mistake: he burned one resistant village, and in retaliation the natives attacked.

They hacked Magellan to pieces on the beach. The frightened crews left him to his fate, chose another commander and sailed on to the Spice Islands. The new commander was a good seaman but not a good navigator, and many unfortunate seafaring disasters occurred: one ship was damaged so that a crew had to hand-pump continuously 24/7 to keep it from sinking. The Trinidad did sink, and still another was burned on purpose so it wouldn’t fall into the hands of the Portuguese, who, because of the squabble over Portuguese and Spanish land rights and sea routes, had sailed off to catch Magellan.

Magellan had a chronicler on board, one Antonio Pigafetti, an amateur anthropologist, who became fascinated with the native customs on the (sometimes cannabalistic) islands visited; he was especially interested in the custom of “panang,” in which the penis is lengthened, pierced with bolts and enlarged with small stones. (The native women said they preferred the European men.) Pigafetti kept meticulous records of the events of the voyage, right down to creating phonetic brochures of the various languages spoken.

Now reduced to two ships, the weary, sick men did manage find the Spice Islands (the Moluccas) and loaded up with tons of cloves and cinnamon while their hosts assured them they “would not tell the Portuguese.” On the arduous way home, back through the tortuous strait the way they had come (now called the Strait of Magellan), one of the two remaining ships ran aground and sank.

But in 1522 the Victoria, the only ship remaining afloat after three grueling years at sea, struggled back up the Guadalquivir River to Seville; 260 men had sailed away on five ships; only 18 men and one ship had completed the voyage to circumnavigate the earth.

According to Laurence Bergreen’s Over the Edge of the World, the day after arriving “the eighteen European survivors, attired only in their ragged shirts and breeches, did penance.... Walking barefoot, holding a candle, [commander] Elcano led the gaunt, weary pilgrims through Seville’s narrow, winding streets to the shrine of Santa Maria de la Victoria, where the survivors, shell-shocked, tentative, chastened by all they had seen and experienced... knelt to pray.”

The crew was initially jailed but later exonerated as the fabrications of the San Antonio’s crew were challenged and disproved; then the survivors headed for their homes, most of them unaware they had made history.

Submitted by Lynna Banning

A Favorite Passage

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I chose this one to share because the author, Elizabeth Peters, does a masterful job of showing (not telling) what happens when the heroine's long-time (though mostly absent) lover turns up with a wife. The book is Night Train to Memphis.

Quoted text begins on page 21 of the paperback edition.

". . . my son and his wife will be pleased to have someone their own age to talk to. Not that they . . ." She looked up, over my shoulder, and the change in her face made me stare. So she could smile. "Ah, but here they are. Looking for me, I expect. My dears, allow me to introduce . . ."

I didn't hear the rest of it. When I turned, my ears went dead, the way they do after a sudden change in altitude.

She couldn't have been more than eighteen--twenty, at the outside. Her skin had that exquisite English fairness and her hair was a mass of cloudy brown curls framing her heart-shaped face. I saw that much, and the fact that the top of her head barely reached his chin, and that he had gone dead-white under his tan and that his eyes were as flat and opaque as blue circles painted on paper.

The girl smiled and spoke. My ears popped midway through the speech, and I caught the last words. ". . . call me Mary. This . . ." She tilted her head and looked up at him, her eyes shining. "This is John."

He had himself under control, except for his color; he always had trouble with that. His voice was cool and steady. "How do you do. We'd better hurry; the others have gone on. Mother--"

She waved away the arm he offered. "No, darling. I'm perfectly capable of walking a few more yards unassisted. You look a little . . . Are you feeling well?" His brows drew together, and she said hurriedly, "Oh, dear, I'm fussing, aren't I? I promise I won't do it again. Come along, Vicky, you and I will lean on one another."

She didn't need assistance; she was a lot steadier on her feet than I was. I stumbled along beside her, grateful for the uneven terrain and the heat and the need for haste, since they offered an excuse for the fact that I couldn't seem to take a deep breath. From behind me I heard a murmur of voices and a soft, silvery laugh.

The bus was one of those modern monsters, air-conditioned and enormous. As soon as we had settled ourselves an attendant came round with a tray. "Mineral water?" he inquired softly. "Orange juice? Mimosa?"

It occurred to my numbed brain that mimosas had alcohol of some kind in them. Champagne? Who cared? I grabbed one and tossed it down.

Jen had taken the seat next to mine. Several rows ahead I saw the familiar outlines of a neatly shaped skull covered with fair hair. Mary's head wasn't visible over the back of the seat, she was so tiny.

Have I mentioned I am almost six feet tall?

. . .

I choked on my drink. Jen gave me a hearty slap on the back. Her brow clouded. "Oh, dear, I hope I didn't offend the dear boy. Men are so sensitive about weakness, you know, and I promised myself I would stop fussing over him, especially now that he has a wife to look after him, but he was so ill last winter . . . A skiing accident, and then pneumonia. He seems quite fit now, but I worry."

"Skiing accident," I repeated, like a parrot. I guess it could have been described that way. . . .

. . .

I had not known about his subsequent illness, but I wasn't surprised to hear of it. If he had stayed in bed for a few days instead of sneaking off the first time I left him alone . . .

Fortunately Jen didn't notice my abstraction; she was perfectly happy to carry the conversation. I sat slugging down champagne and orange juice while Jen went merrily on, telling me how she had feared her dear boy would never settle down--"he is so attractive to women"--about the whirlwind courtship--"he didn't bring her to meet me until a few weeks ago"--and about their insistence that she join them on their honeymoon.

"Honeymoon," said the parrot.

. . .

I don't remember what else she said.

Reminder:

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If you have signed up to be a contributor to this blog, you do not need to confine your contribution to commenting on existing posts. You are welcome--and encouraged!--to create new posts of your own. Just look for any link that offers you the opportunity to do so, and follow it. If you have questions, drop me an e-mail. You know where to find me. ;)

Welcome!

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The Monterey Bay Chapter of the Romance Writers of America welcomes you to our new group blog.

All members of the chapter are eligible to post on this blog, and we hope to use this site for any and all writing-related material that we wish to share with each other and the public at large. This may include book reviews, book recommendations, favorite quotations from books we've read, musings on the publishing industry at large (keeping in mind that this blog is NOT rated for adult content, so watch your language).

Those who already post to other writing- and reading-related blogs are free to cross-post their material to this blog.

Members, watch your e-mail for instructions and information on how to use this blog.

Again, welcome aboard, and let's have some fun!