“And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!” - Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

Merry Christmas from The Wood Between the Worlds! 

Beastly Bones by William Ritter

Hey everyone, before we get started, make sure you check out the 2017 2nd Annual Authors Talk About It Book Award Contest. If you're a new or aspiring author, this is a great opportunity for promotion and critique. And your book doesn't even have to be published yet to be accepted: you can submit published and unpublished books, manuscripts, and ebooks in a variety of genres. If you decide to enter, let us know how it turns out! (May the odds be ever in your favor.) And now onto today's review....

Title: Beastly Bones (Jackaby #2)

Author: William Ritter
Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
Publication Date: 22 September 2015
Number of Pages: 295

What Goodreads has to say:

I've found very little about private detective R. F. Jackaby to be standard in the time I've known him. Working as his assistant tends to call for a somewhat flexible relationship with reality . . .

In 1892, New Fiddleham, New England, things are never quite what they seem, especially when Abigail Rook and her eccentric employer, R. F. Jackaby, are called upon to investigate the supernatural. First, members of a particularly vicious species of shape-shifters disguise themselves as a litter of kittens. A day later, their owner is found murdered, with a single mysterious puncture wound to her neck. Then, in nearby Gad's Valley, dinosaur bones from a recent dig go missing, and an unidentifiable beast attacks animals and people, leaving their mangled bodies behind. Policeman Charlie Cane, exiled from New Fiddleham to the valley, calls on Abigail for help, and soon Abigail and Jackaby are on the hunt for a thief, a monster, and a murderer.

What I have to say:

Really, I'd just like to say: thank you, William Ritter. 

It's like you wrote this book with me in mind - it has everything I love in it:

New England, for starters: 1890s New England - quaint, Romantic, and slightly creepy at night. 

A very complicated ghost.

A young feminist with a sharp mind and a thirst for adventure.

An odd detective/scientist with an eye for the supernatural.

A shapeshifter.

The dinosaur skeleton find of the century.

And dragons.

Not to mention warring paleontologists, a burly trapper with a love for magical creatures (think Hagrid), a spunky female journalist, and plenty of unexplained phenomena. 

But mainly dinosaurs.

I zipped through this book, completely captivated from Chapter One to the last page. Not only is it atmospheric, entertaining, and suspenseful; it's also beautiful. 

Several months ago, I attended a William Ritter book-signing and heard him read several passages from Beastly Bones out loud to his audience. Incidentally, he has the best reading voice and I would totally buy an audiobook of him reading the Jackaby books. Among the excerpts he read at that book-signing, the most striking in my mind was the following, which comes when Abigail Rook, the story's protagonist, finds herself conflicted by her desire to be a successful investigator, and her growing love for a young policeman (the shapeshifter mentioned above). She's received two opposing strains of advice from two different parties, and now feels like she can't take a definite step in either direction. With a great deal of awkwardness, she asks her employer, Detective Jackaby, for advice:

"So often," Jackaby said. "people think that when we arrive at a crossroads, we can choose only one path, but- as I have often and articulately postulated- people are stupid. We're not walking the path. We are the path. We are all of the roads and all of the intersections. Of course you can choose both."

 I blinked. 

"Also, if I hear any more nonsense about your allowing other people to decide where you're going in your own life, I will seriously reconsider your employment. You were hired for your mind, Miss Rook. I won't have an assistant incapable of thinking for herself." 

"Yes, sir," I said. "Thank you, sir."

Another thing I love is humor; and William Ritter has the best sense of humor. This book is hilarious:

The entry [Jackaby pointed to] briefly explained that an unidentified miscreant had broken into a shoemaker's shop three times in the past week.

 "Please tell me you're kidding, sir. It says the cobbler couldn't even find anything stolen. That's annoying, but it's not a case." 

"...Do you know who else is known for slipping into shoemakers' shops and not taking anything?"

"Please, sir. Don't say elves."

"Elves!"

Beastly Bones is also romantic:

"I'm going to kiss you now," I said. "That's going to happen." [This is my favorite line.]

 And intense:

"He wrenched me off my feet, and the world spun for a moment as the two of us tumbled into Lamb's trench. My axe bounced out of my hands, and the cold earth and smell of loose soil filled my senses for several seconds as Jackaby pressed me into the dirt. From above us came a rumbling, belching noise, and then a muffled hacking cough. Jackaby's hold on my back lightened as he rose to peer over the edge of the deep furrow. I slid up tentatively to join him."

Recommended for fans of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Who, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Grimm, and Harry Potter (if that doesn't cover you, I'm not really sure what you're doing on this blog, but hey, don't leave), Beastly Bones is a fantastical adventure that you won't soon forget. Also dinosaurs.

A word to those of you who aren't familiar with this series yet: Beastly Bones is the second novel in William Ritter's Jackaby trilogy (currently a trilogy, anyway). The first book is Jackaby; if you haven't read it, you're in for a treat. While I think you could get off OK reading Beastly Bones without having read Jackaby, I definitely recommend reading the books in order. Recently, Ritter has released the third book in the Jackaby series: Ghostly Echoes. Here's to hoping it will be as awesome as the first two - though I have no doubt it will be.

 
I freaking love these covers.



Until tomorrow.

The Little Prince

Title: The Little Prince
Production Company: Netflix
Director: Mark Osborne
Screenplay: Irena Brignull, Bob Persichetti
Based on the French novel by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Mackenzie Foy, Rachel McAdams, Riley Osborne (and a lot of other people)
Release Date: 5 August 2016
Length: 1 h 48 min
Rating: PG
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Drama, (Sci-fi?)

Synopsis:

A little girl lives in a very grown-up world with her mother, who tries to prepare her for it. Her neighbor, the Aviator, introduces the girl to an extraordinary world where anything is possible, the world of the Little Prince.

What I have to say:

At long last! You can now stream The Little Prince on Netflix! And the film lives up to its expectations: all in all, this is a funny, sweet, heart-warming film with beautiful animation that is sure to move viewers to tears. Lots of them. 

There are two stories in this film: a story about a little girl making friends with an old aviator, and a story about The Little Prince and his adventures. The Little Prince's story is framed beautifully by the real-world story of the little girl and the aviator. Each story has a different animation style, which is a wonderful touch and helps to distinguish between the two. I LOVE the animation style in which The Little Prince's story plays out. It suits the story and fits in perfectly with the original illustrations by Saint-Exupery. 

Both stories are well told and nicely executed. I could wish that the filmmakers spent a little more time on The Little Prince's story, as it seemed just a bit too brief and moved rather quickly. But even this didn't detract from the story's beauty and depth.

The only thing that I felt really detracted from the story was the episode after the conclusion of The Little Prince's story, when the little girl flies the aviator's plane to another planet. Here she finds all of the characters that The Little Prince meets on his journey through the stars before coming to Earth (the rich man, the king, the clown). 

As a fantasia on themes found in The Little Prince story, it's not bad and actually rather creative, but as a story that is of a piece with the story of The Little Prince himself, it's totally wrong and the effect is jarring. This episode feels disjointed when taken as a whole with the rest of the movie. For one thing, it's unnecessary. It springs out of the little girl's need to come to terms with things like letting go and growing up, which is a viable dilemma, but there are better ways to accomplish this that would have been more in keeping with the rest of the story. 

One thing I did really like about how this episode played out, however, was that, since the little girl falls off the side of the house and blacks out before waking up and finding the aviator's plane, and since the scene fades out after she leaves Asteroid B-612, you could assume that the whole incident was a dream, which makes me feel slightly better about the whole thing.

So if you watch The Little Prince, I recommend just skipping that whole episode in the middle, starting when the little girl flies the aviator's plane out of Earth's atmosphere. Just pick it up again when she gets up in the morning and decides to go visit the aviator with her mother. That's a sweet scene. 

Outside of that one part in the middle, the movie is absolutely beautiful: the visuals are stunning, the writing brilliant, and the story as poignant as ever.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY C. S. LEWIS!!!

118 and still as awesome as ever.

- ERIN

By a Strange coincidence

Title: Doctor Strange

Production Company: Marvel Studios
Director: Scott Derricksen

Screenplay: Jon Spaihts, Scott Derickson, C. Robert Cargill
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, Mads Mikkelsen
Release Date: 4 November 2016
Length: 1 h 55 min
Rating: PG-13 for sci-fi violence and action throughout, and an intense crash sequence
Genre: Fantasy/Science-Fiction

Based on the Marvel Comics by Steve Ditko

What I have to say:

For anyone planning on watching the new Doctor Strange movie, I have some advice: embrace the movie's strangeness. If you don't do this, you won't enjoy it.

The title alone should clue you in to the fact that there's going to be some weird stuff in this movie, and there is. I don't mean anything super bizarre or unseemly, but if you have a hard time with movies that push the boundaries of film or that suddenly dissolve into kaleidoscopic and deep space screenshots (think 2001: A Space Odyssey), this might not be your kind of movie.

On the other hand, if you're a big fan of weird artsy films and have an offbeat sense of humor, you're probably going to like this one.

One guess which camp I'm in.

When the film first cut to the aforementioned psychedelic abstract shots, I found myself thinking briefly, "This is really weird," and then almost instantly, "Just roll with it. It's awesome." After that I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

It was almost as weird watching Benedict Cumberbatch play Stephen Strange. Not because the role wasn't created just for him (it was), but because Stephen is American. I didn't even feel like I was watching Benedict Cumberbatch, because he had no English accent and his voice sounded totally different. I call that pretty good acting.

As The Ancient One, Strange's teacher, Tilda Swinton was a perfect blend of poise and strength. And she's totally rocking the bald look.

The film's aesthetics, writing, and execution are all top par. But what really struck me were the film's higher themes:

"Silence your ego and your power will rise." - The Ancient One, Doctor Strange  

"Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it." - C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

I LOVED this line from the film. Not only is it absolutely true, but it makes me think of what C. S. Lewis has said about surrendering yourself and letting go of your pride and vanity - that when you do this, the paradoxical thing is that you become more yourself and more powerful than ever.

The passage in Lewis quoted above continues:

"Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay." 

Sounds a little like the personal journey Doctor Strange takes over the course of the movie. When he looks for the power to heal himself physically, he finds only despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But when he begins to pursue learning and study for something higher than himself, and when he seeks to use his powers to save others and protect the world from harm, he finds true power.

And this wasn't the only moment in the film that felt reminiscent of Lewis. The idea that there are "worlds without end" (the exact phrase used in the film) in the universe and that there is a dark power seeking to gain dominion over every planet is the exact premise of Lewis' space trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength). Dormammu in Doctor Strange, the malevolent force trying to gain control of the Earth, parallels the Bent One in Lewis' trilogy, the enemy of God who has Earth under his control and seeks dominion of all worlds. 

Of course, Lewis didn't just pull this idea out of thin air, either. The Bent One is, explicitly, the Devil, and Lewis derives the frame of his story from the Biblical account of the War in Heaven and the enmity between God and Satan.

So let's return to Doctor Strange with this story in mind. It's not that I'm trying to make a scriptural parallel where one doesn't exist; I think this was fairly explicit in the movie. While Dormammu seems to be the best candidate for the Devil in this movie, Kaecilius also resembles that character.

The Ancient One tells Strange that Kaecilius used to be a student of hers, but when he diverged from the true path and sought forbidden knowledge, he cut himself off from The Ancient One and her school, and led away a significant group of students (we'll call it one third) after him. Now Kaecilius and his followers, cast out of Cammitage, are now endeavoring to help Dormammu gain dominion over the Earth.

Kaecilius believes that Dormammu can give him and his followers immortality and power, but the Ancient One warns him that the path he has chosen "will bring you only sorrow." And Strange echoes her warning to Kaecilius at a later point, telling him that Dormammu has deceived him, and that if his design succeeds it will not bring him happiness, but rather suffering. 

Towards the end of the film we learn that Dormammu's promise of immortality is true, but in a twisted sense. He means that Kaecilius and his followers will live forever as part of himself - that they will be absorbed into his being and in effect lose themselves forever. What does this remind you of?

Consider senior devil Screwtape's last letter to his nephew Wormwood:

"Rest assured, my love for you and your love for me are as like as two peas. I have always desired you, as you (pitiful fool) desired me. The difference is that I am the stronger. I think they will give you to me now; or a bit of you. Love you? Why, yes. As dainty a morsel as ever I grew fat on." - C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

How opposite this is from the fate of those who follow the Ancient One, or Maleldil in Lewis' space trilogy, or God if we go back to the source: in surrendering themselves to a higher power, they become truly themselves, while the followers of Dormammu, or The Bent One, or the Devil, are truly and irrevocably lost forever.

"The bill comes due." - Mordo, Doctor Strange

 Kaecilius and his followers have transgressed (in fact, it now occurs to me that you could read Kaecilius' act of pursuing forbidden knowledge as a parallel of Adam's Transgression in the Garden of Eden as well) - and the bill always comes due, as Mordo - one of the Ancient One's most loyal students, reminds Strange. A reckoning has to be made. And all of this informs Strange's most repeated line in the film:

"Dormammu, I've come to bargain." - Stephen Strange, Doctor Strange

By trapping Dormammu in a looped segment of time, Strange allows Dormammu to continue killing him over and over again, presumably for eternity - as Strange will always be "reborn" the next instant. It's a Promethean bargain. At first, it seems like Strange is the only one who stands to lose in this scenario:

Dormammu: You cannot do this for ever.  

Dr. Stephen Strange: Actually, I can. This is how things are now! You and me. Trapped in this moment. Endlessly.  

Dormammu: Then you will spend eternity dying! 

Dr. Stephen Strange: Yes, but everyone on Earth will live.  

Dormammu: End this! You will never win.   

Dr. Stephen Strange: No. But I can lose. Again. And again. And again. Forever. That makes you my prisoner.

What does it remind you of, people? If you said something along the lines of, "the bargain Aslan made with the White Witch," or, "the bargain Christ made with the Devil," you've hit on my thought exactly.

In the interest of not taking up any more of your time, I'll stop here, though there's much more I could say. This movie abounds in awesome quotes like "We never lose our demons, we only learn to live above them," "No one ever is [ready]. We don't get to choose our time," and "Not everything does [make sense]. Not everything has to." Man, the Ancient One says good stuff.

I'll end with one final quote: when Strange complains, "I can't do this," Mordo rejoins, "There is no other way":

"I daren't come and drink," said Jill 

"Then you will die of thirst," said the Lion.

"Oh dear!" said Jill, coming another step nearer. "I suppose I must go and look for another stream then." 

"There is no other stream," said the Lion.” - C. S. Lewis, The Silver Chair

A final word of advice: This is a Marvel movie. Stay after the credits. And then when you think you've seen the clip at the end of the credits, stay longer, because there's another one.


Until tomorrow. 

How to scare people

So, I don't usually post stuff about writing on this blog, because that's not really what it's about. But given the fact that a lot of readers are also writers, I thought I'd make an exception. Plus, it's Halloween. Plus, I found this article REALLY helpful.

Writing scary stories can be hard (how do you Poe), but when you manage it, it's perfection. I love scary stories, and I always get the urge to write one once October rolls around, but writing a story that's actually scary is really tricky, and I always worry that my stories fall flat on the scare factor.

So here's some advice for you writers of the macabre:

http://firewords.co.uk/blog/2016/10/19/8-quick-tips-how-to-scare-your-reader

Happy haunting!


Until tomorrow.

The Head and the Heart Signs of Light review

Buy Signs of Light CD on Amazon

Buy Signs of Light Vinyl (you know you want to)

Listen in iTunes

Check out Official Site for The Head and the Heart

If you've been a fan of The Head and the Heart for long, their new album Signs of Light might take a little getting used to. It's not that the album is a radical break from their previous style, but it does have a new edge. After all, the little folk-inspired indie band from Seattle now has a deal with a major music label, Warner Bros. Records. And their new album has performed extremely well, landing at no. 5 in the Billboard 200 and topping the Adult Alternative chart.

After three years without any new output, The Head and the Heart is back with a vengeance, and a sound that leans more towards pop, but still has that classic Head and the Heart quality to it. Musically sophisticated, perfectly orchestrated, and, as always, wonderfully harmonized, Signs of Light is a delightful, stirring exploration of life, light, love, and loneliness - all through the lens of shifting music. In other words, as the band is wont to do, the album speaks both to your head and to your heart (and the group manages to incorporate those words into at least one song - seriously, I'm listening to the album as I write and I just heard them do it).

"All We Ever Knew," the opening track, which has gotten ample air time on the radio (at least on the two indie stations I listen to), is akin to work by American Authors, Florence and the Machine, and Family of the Year. Upbeat and singable (both qualities which are sort of rare for this group), it tops the list of Head and the Heart songs with the most potential to become hits. But while it leans more mainstream than any of the group's previous work, it's still very recognizably The Head and the Heart.

"City of Angels" and "Rhythm and Blues" are, after the title track, the most upbeat songs on the album, featuring swinging percussion and vocals. The band's percussion element is alive and well throughout the album, as are the strings, guitar, and piano - blended into one harmonious whole but still allowed their own unique voice - that, at base, is what makes The Head and the Heart so great. This harmony features in tracks like "False Alarm," "Dreamer," and "Take a Walk." As usual, Josiah Johnson's and Jonathan Russell's folksy, raw-edged vocals hit the mark, especially in "I Don't Mind;" and Charity Rose Thielen is allowed time to shine in tracks like "Dreamer" and "Colors," where her husky voice brings a quality of raw, unexpected emotion to these songs.

"Oh My Dear" is decidedly Beatles-esque without being stale. And the title track, "Signs of Light" is a heart-breaking musical journey from simple piano chords and raw vocals to a full instrumentation that manages to be gentle even as it builds slowly to a full crescendo. When the vocals carry on, a cappella, at the end of a couple of songs, it's a beautiful, haunting effect.

And what to say of possibly the two most unique songs on the album - "Library Magic" and "Your Mother's Eyes"? There is a numinous quality present in these songs, a sort of auditory magic achieved by the instrumentation and harmonies, that make the listener pause and hold their breath as the song plays out.

And with The Head and the Heart's 2016 Signs of Light tour currently underway, there's ample opportunity to see the band in concert from various locations across the U.S. Although lead singer Josiah Johnson is on hiatus due to health issues, which is a bit of a let down, the other members of the band are well qualified to carry the show on their own footing. The high value that each individual band member brings to the whole makes it both tragic and OK that Johnson won't be joining them on tour this time around.

In short, if you're a Head and the Heart fan, an indie rock fan, or just a fan of really great music, Signs of Light is a musical consummation that won't disappoint.

Until tomorrow.