A fascinating new television series - Versailles

Way back in 1966 a fascinating book was published by historian Nancy Mitford. Simply titled, "The Sun King," it was a very readable biography of how Louis IV became the most influential and secure of all western-world monarchs -- not by conducting wars (although he did a lot of that, and they did break the bank in the end) but by building the most elaborate palace in the western hemisphere, Versailles, and forcing everyone who wanted to be someone to live there.

He realized that to be a great king meant dominating all art and social interaction, and conducting it in one central location. Up until his reign, French noblemen dominated French kings, including Louis' father, even conducting humiliating power grabs such as the Fronde. Louis completely neutralized the influence of all French noblemen by forcing them to live in Versailles where "favor" and "status" were carefully handed out by none other than the king himself. He even used clothing as a tool, Acceptable attire for attending court was full of expensive French lace, French silk, lots of French ribbons, everything French, and a single outfit cost a month's wages.

As a result, Versailles became the glittering center of the entire Baroque age, and French styles and art dominated the world. I was fascinated by this story as related in Nancy Mitford's book, and somewhat surprised when the Beatles song, "Here Comes the Sun King." was released. It was only recently that I read an interview with Paul McCartney where he mentioned George Harrison reading the same book and then writing the song.

I was very surprised at this because I figured that I was one of maybe three people in the whole world who had actually read the book, and maybe one of two people who had actually purchased it.

I strongly recommend the book, but for those of us who like all things Baroque and especially all things Versailles, there is a new TV series out now titled, "Versailles." The really great news about this is that the series is done as historically accurate as possible without sacrificing the drama of the story. See http://dailyhistory.org/How_Historically_Accurate_is_season_1_of_Versailles%3F

What's with all these sick little lists?

GOTTA MAKE A LIST

I realize that this is way, way down in the order of things to worry about, but it seems like every time one of those deranged killers who attack schools, movie theaters, etc is finally neutralized, what do the cops find after searching their homes? They find that the idiot kept some sort of list. Take the latest jackass, the UCLA shooter. He shoots his wife in Minnesota and then gets in his car for the 2,000 mile drive to UCLA where he shoots a former professor. He then shoots himself.

That's all bizarre, sick and totally crazy, but adding to the crazy was the list he kept. It was a kill list. The kind of list you or I would make before a visit to Costco, or Target so we wouldn't forget to pick up that quart of milk or pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. Except it was a list of people he wanted to be sure and remember to kill.

I can imagine this sick little deviate sitting down one evening thinking to himself, "Okay, there are some people I need to kill. Better make a list. Don't want to forget anyone." So he sits down at the kitchen table, furrows his brow, licks the tip of his pencil and thinks. "Okay, who do I hate the most?" And with a lot of effort he comes up with three people. Three people. He needs a list for that? He can't remember the names of three people he hates enough to go and shoot -- one of whom he has to travel over 2,000 miles to take out.

Certainly, the 2,000 mile auto trip was stressful. He had to plan a route, decide where to spend the two or three nights it would take. He had to make sure his gun and ammo -- lots of ammo -- was hidden from view in case he got stopped by the cops or something. And then do you move the guns and ammo into the motel unit for the night, or leave it in the car where they might get stolen? You just can't trust people when you are on the road. Lots of slime buckets out there. They'd steal a guy's gun and ammo and not even think twice about it.

So with all that, we can see that a person might just forget to take out one of his targets in the heat of his killing spree. So, make a list. But do you cross each person out after you shoot them? Doing that probably gives the killer a feeling of accomplishment. I know whenever I cross an item off my list I feel as though I've accomplished something. Yeah. One less person to shoot. Making great progress here.

But here's the part that just slays me. Oh, excuse me. Bad choice of words. It's the part that I just don't understand. They never have the list with them. It's always -- or at least almost always -- found in the killer's home or little rat's nest. The list doesn't do any good if it's at home, dude. That's why this wormy bastard forgot one of the people on his list -- another professor. Well, maybe he didn't forget about her, maybe he just didn't get the opportunity. I mean, you go blasting away inside a campus and a lot of serious, angry people put you on their list, and they don't forget to come for you either.

So if you find yourself making a list of people you think you need to kill, chill out dude! Tear that list up and make one of things that make you happy -- besides killing people that is. Start with your favorite flavor of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. You'll be a lot happier and everyone in the world won't hate your guts.

Stephen King vs. Daniel Clowes, a heavyweight match up

As those of you who follow my blogging know, I am a big Stephen King fan. The guy just writes and writes and is never boring. At least he never bores me, I can't speak for the rest of the world. But just take his magnificent novel, 11/22/63. I reviewed it in an earlier blog, and concluded it was a masterpiece of time-travelling fiction -- probably incapable of being matched by anyone. Well, I was wrong, and in this case being wrong was delicious because the absolute best creator of graphic novels, Daniel Clowes, has weighed in with his newly published (yes graphic) novel, "Patience." And there are many parallels between the two works.

If you're not familiar with Clowes, he's the artist/story teller who created "Ghost World" and received an Academy Award nomination for the script of the movie version of that wonderful story. If you're not familiar with King, I can only sit here with my mouth open staring at my computer screen at a loss of what to write in the little white space.

This blog is about two works that tell essentially the same story with significant parallels -- parallels that are unusual to find in works of this scope and from authors of this magnitude.

I can only assume that Daniel was unaware of the similarities between Patience and King's 11/22/63, since that book came out nearly eight years ago. I'd love to hear from Daniel about this. I'm certainly not condemning either book, since I consider them both to be masterpieces. It's just fun to point these things out and wonder what was going on.

Currently, Daniel is busy setting up a press tour, so, Daniel, take this as a cautionary blog. Someone else is bound to see the parallels and challenge you at one of your appearances. Here they are:

* Both protagonists travel back in time to attempt to save someone. In King's book, it's JFK. In Clowes' book it's CENSORED. I don't want to spoil it.

* Both books feature someone who has figured out how to work time travel, and thus helps the protagonist move back and forth through time.

* Each book features a kind of "how to" notebook compiled by the guy mentioned above and profusely used by the protagonists as a kind of road map to the past.

And here are the positive things they share:

* Both are masterpieces of imaginative story telling. I think of them as companion pieces illustrating the different ways two of the best storytellers of our time work out basically the same story.

* King's work was exhaustively researched, and at over 840 pages, he takes his sweet time immersing us into the early 60s. If you don't want to read the book, the story is accessible on hulu as a live-action series.

* Clowes tells the story in his own masterful way through the compelling, internal dialog of his protagonist.

* But wait, there's more. With Clowes' tightly controlled art, we are visually drawn into his world. Everyone is totally serious all the time (in typical Clowes style), and the backgrounds are stark and drawn with perfect perspective. I don't know about you, but sometimes I just "hunger" for a little Clowes.

So, where are we? Both books are vastly enjoyable, and I recommend purchasing them together and then talking about them any time you find yourself at a snotty dinner party where some obnoxious, over-educated person asks you the question, "Where do you get YOUR news?"

Labels: Daniel Clowes, Stephen King, time travel, Patience, JFK, graphic novels.

Dealing with the genius of Raymond Chandler

After reading an article sent to me by my mom stating that Michael Connelly turns to Raymond Chandler for inspiration whenever he is stuck for ideas, I decided to read a few of his novels for myself. After all, I am a big fan of the noir style as well as an author of that genre, and I love nothing better than reading about the hard-boiled PIs who populated big, dark, post-war cities like LA.

What I found was prose so beautifully descriptive that it often rivaled the best poetry. Yes, I believe prose can do that sometimes, and Mr. Chandler did it on almost every page. Two elements of his style stand out for me.

First are his gritty descriptions – mostly of post-war LA -- that paint a dark (thus noir) portrait of a crime-ridden city of surprising beauty, with a violent undercurrent. His phrases suck you into that city as sure as a Kansas tornado touching down on a pig farm. It’s gritty, but somehow accessible, compelling and certainly believable. 

Next is the dialog. Mr. Chandler never forgets that while characters are speaking they don’t stop moving – sometimes revealing their guilt or malicious intent through a shifty look or hand gesture that has the potential of drawing a small pistol from some hidden pocket. He combines dialog with the physical world in which the characters live to such a seamless degree, making it rare and totally delicious. It’s no wonder Hollywood elected to make movies from several of his novels, and it’s no wonder that almost all of them became classics including “The Big Sleep,” “Murder My Sweet,” “Double Indemnity.”

As I read more of his novels, one disturbing element rose to the top – his liberal use of the “N-word” in describing black people. He doesn’t use the word in a particularly malicious manner, just in a matter-of-fact way, which is somehow worse. In fact it’s a lot worse because it lessens my admiration of Mr. Chandler even as I recognize that back in those dark years after WWII, racism was accepted to the extent that no one even questioned it.

I still admire you, Mr. Chandler, but I wish you could have been a bit more progressive. No, I wish everyone back then could have been a lot more progressive.


Labels: Solstice Shadows, Solstice Publishing, paradoxes, noir, mystery, crime, LA,

Stephen King, master horror and suspense author, tackles time travel and the Kennedy assassination

Stephen King is one of the undisputed masters of horror, sci-fi, ghost stories and all other novels you are not supposed to read when by yourself, in the dark with just a single lamp over your head or during heavy rainstorms. And now this master has tackled the venerable subjects of time travel and changing the course of the Kennedy assassination with his 800 plus page novel titled 11/22/63. This novel, like all other King novels is a masterpiece, even though as with nearly everything else of King's I have read it takes place in Main and the protagonist is a writer. I've always thought of that as kind of annoying, but I concede that it's not really all that important.

Now that King is a mega best seller, his publishers don't care how thick his books get. They will always sell, so you get over 800 pages to read. That means King can take his time illustrating the differences between 1959 (where the little time portal takes you) and 2011 (when the book was published). And he does a great job at that. He also tackles time-travel paradoxes and what would really (probably) happen if you did something to change past events. (Think Jimmy Stewart, and you won't be far off the mark.)

However, my favorite part of the book is how he brings Lee Harvey Oswald to life. Saving Kennedy means killing Oswald, so the goofy assassin was well researched by King and beautifully described. I was particularly impressed with this novel because I have published a somewhat similar (although much thinner and less researched book) featuring Oswald titled "Waiting to Run." It's available on Amazon at: 

http://www.amazon.com/Waiting-Run-W-H-Matlack/dp/1625260644/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1453244163&sr=1-1&keywords=Waiting+to+run

"Waiting to Run" features a much more fictional Oswald as well as some other characters from the fabled Kennedy assassination. I certainly don't want to compare myself as a writer to King, but my novel features a bit more plausible explanation of how all the "present day" characters are able to interact with characters from the past. The secret is in manipulating quantum physics and the holographic universe instead of  just saying "there is a stairway that takes you to 1959."

Well, okay, my premise may be a bit more plausible than King's, but it's still a long reach into fiction. Although someday we may figure out how to apply quantum states of probability that only effect sub-atomic particles to the clean cause-and-effect Newtonian universe consisting of complex atoms and molecules. Hey, we've got driver-less cars. Quantum manipulation can't be that far off.

So, what I'm getting at with all this is why not read King's impressive book and then follow it with mine? Kind of like a whiskey chaser to a mug of cool, well-crafted beer.

Labels: Solstice Shadows, Solstice Publishing, paradoxes , quantum physics, Stephen King, historical, fantasy, time travel, JFK assassination, 1950's, 1960's,

Spotlight on a new work by K.C. Sprayberry

Welcome to book two of this series that is much like Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson books, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, and Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series.

If you had the chance to read Paradox Lost: Their Path, you came to know DJ, Matt, and Elisa, and discover the path destiny has laid out for them. In Paradox Lost: The Ultimate Paradox, these triplets each have to make their way through a series of obstacles and prepare for a showdown with Rogues.

This new story brings out new information about the Sullivans and the destiny none of them was aware would be theirs to claim, along with several big surprises.

Paradox Lost: The Ultimate Paradox releases January 15, 2016!

Pre-order now! 

Paradox Lost The Ultimate Paradox

Blurb

The past changed the future …

                                    

                                        . . . the future must salvage the past.

Falsely accused of murdering his father, DJ faces a terrible penalty. That’s the least of his worries—Uncle Toby and his army of Rogues are bent on tearing history apart, and DJ and his allies have to stop them any way they can. But only a True Neutral can save their world, and The First, his family’s ancestor, is long dead. His brother Matt was killed by Toby’s actions, and his sister Elisa is fighting her own demons.

The past created by their uncle needs to be uncreated into what it was meant to be. And these three teenagers, triplets and direct descendants of The First, must learn to ally with each other to correct the errors made real in the past.

And the Gateways reveal themselves as something no one ever suspected….

About the Author:

Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond.

She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Some of her short stories have appeared in anthologies, others in magazines.

Labels: Solstice Shadows, Solstice Publishing, K.C. Sprayberry, Paradox Lost, The Ultimate Paradox, historical, fantasy, time travel, 

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