New "Star wars" book

There's a new series out following the further adventures of the "Star Wars" characters, entitled "Fate of the Jedi." The first one is called "Outcast," by veteran SW writer Aaron Allston. I will try to be as delicate as possible and not include any spoilers.

When the last series ended, Jacen Solo, the son of Princess Leia and Han Solo, had risen to power and gone over to the dark side, becoming Darth Caedus. After killing Luke Skywalker's wife, he was ultimately defeated by another family member. The series, as all SW books seem to, had many subplots, e.g. Boba Fett was dying and needed a cure, Corellia rebelling against the Galactic Alliance, Luke Skywalker's nemesis Lumiya was stalking him, other characters were also after the Solo and Skywalker clans, Jaina Solo was training as a fighter pilot and having to decide between two suitors. There was also a neat subplot involving a Sith meditation sphere, which sounds just like what I need. In addition, Lumiya had was possibly the coolest weapon ever, a lightwhip, which sounded like a whip combined with a light sabre and with tips of Mandalorian steel.

This series begins not too long after Jacen is killed. I was actually a bit taken aback to realize that there was actually, possibly some merit to the new reason Luke is being persecuted: as Grand Master of the Jedi Order, he is being held liable for not realizing Jacen was going to the dark side and then failing to do much about it. It kind of makes sense. Shouldn't he have sensed something? And been a little more proactive about it?

Luke is exiled for ten years from Coruscant and prohibited from being in charge of the Jedi, so he decides to try and track down what made Jacen end up as he did. Which seems rather like a closing the barn door situation to me. His son Ben goes along and they end up on this world debating with some Jedi-like beings about what "living" really means. Zzzzzzz. In the meantime Han and Leia go to Kessel, Han's least favorite place, to help Lando try and figure out why the planet is having so many earthquakes. Han and Chewbacca had been enslaved in the spice mines, which were also home to the dreaded energy spiders. Jaina is running around with her boyfriend while evading the state-ordered Jedi watcher. There is also a lot involving Jedi who hallucinate that those close to them have been taken over by others. It is one of the less interesting subplots I have read.

I was pleased with it while I was reading it but I really don't know if I can make through several books in which they try to figure out the disorder causing Jedi to think everyone is an imposter. I guess for me, More Sith! more of the Solos! Less with the existential debate, unless it is more interesting.

Recent Events

Let's see. Wednesday we had several inches of snow and because the roads did not appear to have been touched by modern engineering, I stayed home because I really doubted the Civic could handle it. I was going to wait a little and then check the roads again, but after doing some reading I fell in a deep, coma like sleep for six hours. By then it was only a hour before I would have left so I just stayed in.




It was very fortuitous, though because it was Jerry's 12th birthday. No, I didn't make him a cake, but we did a few extra walks, which he loved since rolling snow is right up there with stealing toast.

Last weekend I rented the first several episodes of the second season of "The Tudors." It was pretty grim. Nobody's happy for long, then many people get really unhappy-- especially the cook who was boiled alive for attempting to poison one of the characters. I was actually a little relieved to see Sir Thomas More go- he was more unsympathetic this season. It's hard to really get interested in the Cramner/Cromwell characters. Yes, I know about the liberties taken with history but it does make it more entertaining.

In any event, I remembered a book I had checked out of the library several months ago but didn't finish, called "The Last Boleyn," about Jane Boleyn, the wife of George, sister in law of Anne. They didn't have it or I couldn't find it at the library this week, but I found a book called "The Queen of Subtleties," by Suzannah Dunn.

On the shelf I read it as "The Queen of Subtitles," which also seemed interesting, so I didn't know it was a Tudor-related book until I saw the cover. The story is told in alternating points of first person point of view from Anne Boleyn and Lucy Cornwallis, thirty-ish Head Confectioner to Henry VIII. The latter is cited as being a historical figure about whom the only thing known is that she was the Confectioner to the king and given a nice house upon her retirement.

The Anne B. parts have a distinct, biting voice which grows increasingly bitter, written as a letter to her daughter on the eve of Anne's execution. It is not the most likeable of voices but easier to follow than Lucy's. The most interesting part of the Lucy sections are the descriptions of the various candies and treats she and her assistant are making; there is also a subplot of her infatuation with the doomed Mark Smeaton.

It was interesting right through to the end, but it was no "Autobiography of Henry VIII, as Told to His Fool, Will Somers," by Margaret George.

One cannot help but remember that a special executioner was brought from Calais for Anne Boleyn, with a particularly sharp blade for a quick and easy execution. That reminds me of my other activity, which has been watching episodes of Highlander, Season 5. Maybe it is just me, but in the first few, Duncan looks a little pale and sickly. Which is still about a hundred times better than other cast members, but it makes one wonder if he had been living in a cave for several months. I am trying to go slowly, so as to avoid any episodes with Amanda (who was much more annoying even than Richie) and not reach the one where Richie is killed too quickly. I remember being so (what is the word?) pleased when they got rid of him.

Favorite poems

There are times when a poem is just what the doctor ordered. There is something about a particular turn of phrase or metaphor that such is perfect and true. My taste is pretty eclectic: I love John Donne and Erica Jong. Edna St. Vincent Millay and Howard Nemerov. Frank Stewart and Racine. The one I would like read at my funeral is "Tattered Kaddish," by Adrienne Rich.

In my younger days I wrote poetry, some terrible some not so bad. Like many writers I kept trying new forms, always returning to the novel form. (and, it always took me back). One of my favorites is about champagne bubbles, another about true confessions.

As noted several weeks ago, I have been working on updating my memoir. Since my most recent concussion I have put that on the shelf until I am better and in the meantime am working on organizing my apartment better. When i find "primary sources" such as notes, journals and so on for a particular era, I put them aside so that when I return to the memoir I can consult the items.

Much as it pains me to admit it, one song which truly resonates with me since last year is the Celine Dion epic "It's All Coming Back to Me Now." (I had hoped that the Meatloaf version would be better but I was sadly disappointed). There is a line which reads "I banished every memory you and I had ever made," which I realized quite describes my awful habit/compulsion of blocking out from memory traumatic events and/or romantic debacles, and not only do I tend to do that, but I also keep mementos of certain people in literal boxes separate from everything else. There are certain people in one's life who, when you see their handwriting, it almost like feeling their breath on your neck, so you have to be cautious about opening such boxes.



So it was with some dismay that when I was sorting a box of mementos I came across something which properly belonged in a very particular box, one which should be sealed with industrial strength duct tape if not guarded by lasers. When I read the following I was disoriented, because it was so familiar that I thought one of my own poems was written on the paper, and then because the phrases were such a part of my daily internal emotional lexicon that I had long forgotten they originated elsewhere. I won't name the author- suffice to say that it is someone who very much made me who I am more than anyone else who isn't me.



And now you are gone.
My heart is torn
I stumble, I fall
I cry out from my sorrow
Is this the end of it all?
Stop, wait, don' t leave me
Can't you remember the time
When we were like a song?
Have you forgotten the rhyme?
I cry out in the darkness
It is all too clear to me
I just want you to know
You are still very dear to me.
What happened to our waterfall?
Real love never ends
I don't want it all
Please, maybe, how about friends?
I cry out from the pain
Won't you ever come back?
Our rainbows are fading
Now I only see black.
and now you are gone.

Recent Books

I like to read. Perhaps too much. My apartment has been known to host piles and piles of books and magazines to a possibly hazardous degree, though part of that is due to my inability to put together more bookshelves. The last few years have seen me move away from romance novels and literary novels to mystery novels and literary novels. I like to-- and know that I should-- read more non -fiction but somehow it does not pack the same escapist punch which is what draws me to reading.

When I say that I read "mystery" novels, be warned that I don't mean what some people term "serious" or "real" mysteries, i.e. those by Elmore Leonard or Richard Patterson. Apparently the type I enjoy are called "cozy" mysteries. I haven't researched why they are called "cozy," but my guess would be that one could happily curl up on a chair and an afghan and spend the night reading away in a cozy fashion. In my opinion that sounds more like a romance novel- reading scenario.

It appears that the genre has few rules. You have a central character- the sleuth- who is possessed of some charming eccentricities and is either thrust into or thrusts themselves into a situation requiring mystery solving. There are some incredibly specific niches: aside from cooking mysteries, there are needle working, scrap booking, paranormal, pet-sitting, candle making, hotel-running, mystery shopping, Edwardian, Victorian, Restoration and Elizabethan England -themed mysteries, to name a very few. They key is to find a series and follow the characters through adventures.

In another post I will review some of my favorites series, or you can check out the link in the list.

Since I am a dog lover, I am drawn to mysteries involving animals. Recently I found two animal -related books and dove in eagerly. The first: Catnapped, an Animal Instinct Mystery, by Gabrielle Herkert. The premise is that legal investigator Sara Townley is assigned to find the missing heir to a huge fortune. The kicker? The heir is a cat. Then it is revealed that Sara was recently in Vegas and married a Navy SEAL after a week's courtship, and he turns up. Romantic and deadly complications ensue. I was not thrilled with the book because: the cat seemed to be a transparent device to label the book: the story had very little to do with the story and appears almost as an afterthought here and there. The character development is by rote and the story is the basic corporate wrong doing. I will not be searching out the next installment.

However, in my next trip to the bookstore I hit the jackpot- both books I purchased that day were winners and in a big way. I cannot wait to read what happens next.

The first is called A Tisket, A Tasket, A Fancy Stolen Casket; A Callie Parrish Mystery, by Fran Rizer. The voice, character development and story are all first rate. The title character took cosmetology in high school, went on to teach kindergarten-first graders for several years while she was married. After the marriage ended, in a move to change her life, Callie moves back to her home town in South Carolina and finds work as a mortuary cosmetologist. Yes, it is set in a funeral home! It is just as much set in the South, though, and the culture and speech are almost characters in their own right. These are very specific characters in a very specific place. After a local good ole boy is found dead, Callie is thrust into investigating the circumstances. I highly recommend this book - it has everything.

The second book is very unusual and the writing is accomplished. Dog About Town, By J. F. Englert. It is told entirely from the point of view of an extremely sentient and articulate Labrador Retriever named Randolph. Even without the mystery, it would have been an awesome read: one really buys into the idea of being told this story by a well read canine. It slyly satirizes human behavior as well as "explaining" why dogs do some of the things they do. The characters are interesting but not corny or caricatures, the story is satisfying and definitely leaves the reader wanting more.

This week I finally got my hands on the latest installment of the delicious Agatha Raisin series by M. C. Beaton: Kissing Christmas Goodbye. Irascible, stubborn and not always pleasant Agatha decides once again to try for an old fashioned Christmas, and a case suddenly turns up to pique her interest in the meantime. Annoying ex James Lacey has only a brief appearance and some of the new characters are welcome additions. Agatha continues to evolve- but grudgingly. I think possibly the reason I so enjoy the series is that I identify with her!

Am just about finished with the brand new Laurell K. Hamilton installment in the Merry Gentry series: A Lick of Frost. I will have to devote some time to my admiration of this author and her work. Suffice to say, she is one of the few writers who imagination and talent I truly envy.