Maureen Flynn - Author
Title: The Reflections of Queen Snow White Author: David Meredith Date Published: 2013 RRP: $1.83 The Reflections of Snow White re-tells the story of Snow White… yes… but also not really. The point of this short novel is not to revise a beloved Grimm fairy…
I’m on a poetry roll with my ebook coming out on Saturday 1st! This poem is positively ancient and is based off the relationship between Jill and Rhodry in Katharine Kerr’s Deverry Saga. I am quite fond of it even in its oldness. I hope…
I wrote this poem a few years back and it is pretty rough (in more ways than one as it discusses sexual assault) but it also is a fair example of what my verse novella will be like in terms of the style of free verse. Enjoy and don’t forget to follow my poetry collection page here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Hearts-Choir-Sings/490774427698379
Carla (A Feminist Manifesto)
In one ill defined moment
I was above and beyond myself.
I saw the shocked faces;
closed eyes, turned away
(as if acknowledgement were
dangerous, affirming validity)
thought I saw behind
a husband long gone into abyss
my greying, blue eyed kindess
an old and young Heavan
(though these days they’d call it
Freudian Slip-
the habit of sexual repression
and nothing more).
Ha! Repression and tirra lee
tirra lee by the sea.
Call me the mad woman
Sweep my cobwebs away
at the proclamation; “we never
saw nothing, that weird one
we never saw her cry.”
One crosses, bow headed, prays
“The Lord giveth, and the
Lord taketh away. Blessed
be the name of the Lord.”
Filthy mouthpiece, what rot!
Your God never cared
about me.
Or at least he turned his face
away
if only for one night of
palms pressed down, tasting teeth
my barricades battered, lifted
up by the roots.
Shoved onto my own bed
where the screaming never
stops.
Nor the hurrying, passing
footsteps (Oh so ashamed)
Nor the ache of the
thrust.
In this house of women
it’s not only periods that sync.
The addition of just one
man
gives shared nightly fears
that he picks and chooses.
Thus selected, let me lie
so that standing on a parapet, a precipice
holds no fear
but rather the promise of
timely escape.
My Heart’s Choir Sings. A eulogy and a verse novella. Grief, guilt, redemption. How do you go on in a world without your other half? Two years ago, I fell in love with London. I began to write a sequence of connected poems telling the…
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,700 times in 2013. If it were a cable car, it would take about 45 trips…
“I use Grammarly for proofreading because I am afraid of someone leaving grammar Nazi memes in the comments.”
Song of the Slums, Richard Harland
Allen and Unwin 2013.
RRP: $17.99 Aust.
Back what feels like a thousand years ago (and was really a couple of months), I was lucky enough to score an interview with Richard regarding his latest novel, Song of the Slums. Sadly, my book backlog has reached such epic proportions I still haven’t read books that I’ve bought from the beginning of the year (sorry Margo. I promise you I am reading Cracklescape. One day.) That’s why this review has taken literally forever, Richard. Please don’t come to my blog with the Rowdies in a fit of music driven rock n roll rage. Not unless that rage is accompanied by awesome images of steampunk guitars.
Anyway, back to Song of the Slums. From the Allen and Unwin website:
What if they’d invented rock ‘n roll way back in the 19th century? What if it could take over the world and change the course of history?
In the slums of Brummingham, the outcast gangs are making a new kind of music, with pounding rhythms and wild guitars. Astor Vance has been trained in refined classical music. But when her life plummets from riches to rags, the only way she can survive is to play the music the slum gangs want.
Charismatic Verrol, once her servant, is now her partner in crime…and he could be so much more if only he’d come clean about his mysterious past…
And the bonus endorsement quote from Kate:
‘I loved the music, the syncopated rhythm, the dark, smoky atmosphere, the call to arms, the love story…this is gaslight fantasy at its best.’ Kate Forsyth
Having played sax. in a school concert band for eight years, Richard had me at the rock n roll in the nineteenth century part. Also gaslight steampunk. Who doesn’t enjoy this kind of crazed genre mish mash. I can’t help it. I love genre subversion. The first part of the novel kicks off with a bang as Astor is mistaken about her marriage prospects and is forced to become governess to three children from hell. Verrol helps her to escape and she and him are forced to join a street gang to survive… how do they join? By making good art, that’s how! Political revolution, family secrets and fame collide when The Rowdie’s Grandmother has a vision of slum music making it big.
How many members of the band will succumb to Lady Gaga’s fame monster? Will the British monarchy gain a back bone and a conscience? Is war justified if it gives the poor something to occupy themselves with? And is this society really just the fault of the loathed new money Plutocrats? Richard always features political upheaval in his steampunk works which adds a great dose of adventure, excitement and danger to his stories and Song of the Slums is no exception. He is also interested in romantic relations between people of different social strata’s. In Worldshaker, Col is the upper class male in love with a lower class woman. In Song of the Slums, Astor represents the fading landed gentry in opposition to the nouveau riche; the privileged girl who falls in love with the slum born Verrol. This romantic angle gives Richard the chance to complicate Astor’s faith in her own middle class values and makes for some really interesting character development.
A book full of rhythm, dark backstreets, concert halls and plenty of political and physical action, I could really see this YA book made into a steampunk film. Someone buy the rights.
Song of the Slums: 4/5 inky stars
The interview I did with Richard is Here
It’s been a long time since I’ve posted any original work from myself. I have just completed a novel plotting and planning course with the indomitable Kate Forsyth and am therefore reworking my manuscript (damn those inciting incidents in the wrong place!) Meanwhile, I am…
Audacious by Gabrielle Prendergast Orca Book Publishers, October 2013 RRP: $19.95 You know me, dear blog readers. I can’t ever say no to verse novels. I love them. I adore them. I can’t get enough of them. Any genre. Any target audience. I don’t care.…
All is Fair, Emma Newman
Angry Robots Books, October, 2013
R.R.P.: £5.49 / US$6.99
So the story behind this review is a sorry one. My kindle broke just as I started reading which meant I had to wait around for a new one before I could keep reading. This was especially annoying because I was really into the story. Also, I am only now catching up to my reviewing backlog. Ah technology. But never mind. Better late than never. All Is Fair is the last book in The Split Worlds Trilogy, a trilogy that blends fae with feminism, environmentalism, gargoyles and some good old fashioned corset ripping. I couldn’t stop compulsively reading. What an unusual, often funny, and always pointed mix!
From the blurb:
In love and war nothing is safe.
William Iris struggles to keep the throne of Londinium whilst hated by his own court and beset by outsiders, while Cathy discovers the legacy of her former governess. But those who dare to speak out about Society are always silenced. Sometimes for good.
While trying to avoid further torments from the mercurial fae, Sam finds himself getting tangled in the affairs of the Elemental Court. But an unexpected offer from the powerful and enigmatic Lord Iron turns out to be far more than Sam bargained for.
Max and the gargoyle are getting closer to uncovering who is behind the murder of the Bath Chapter and the corruption in London and Max finds the gargoyle’s controversial ideas harder to ignore. Can he stay true to his sworn duty without being destroyed by his own master, whose insanity threatens to unravel them all?
This is a confusing read, with effectively three different stories running parallel to each other. I would recommend reading the previous two books to refresh your memory of what came before and how each character relates to the other. This is especially important because this is a series that pushes character development and growth to show how the fast paced events lead to a new outlook for Society. The blend of modern technology with the fae and with old English manners makes for an entertaining mix and essentially paves the way for gender equality and democracy to begin to shape Society. The ending wraps up loose ends in regards to Sam, Cathy, William and Max, but there is scope for further stories in this world.
A fun novel with complex characters and lots to say about love, relationships, gender equality, humanism and nesting worlds, I would recommend this series to anyone who enjoys mystery, romance, steampunk, historical fiction, fantasy and sci fi.
All Is Fair: 4/5 inky stars
This ebook was provided for review by the publisher.
The Jade Widow, Deborah O’Brian, Random House Australia, September 2013. RRP $32.95 Aus. The Jade Widow picks up a decade after Mr Chen’s Emporium leaves off, continuing to follow the lives of Eliza Miller and Amy Chen in colonial Australia. From Random House Australia: A…