« August 2008 | Main | October 2008 »
What the heck is a blog tour, you say? It's like a book tour, but instead of going to various bookstores, you make appearances on people's blogs. And so, today, C.W. Gortner has kindly hosted the first of my blog tour spots.
So rush on over to Historical Boys and check it out.
For a list of my other blog tour locations, go to my website.
Sunday, I attended the West Hollywood Book Fair where I appeared on a panel with some terrific mystery authors. The fair was situated in a park in West Hollywood and though it wasn't big, it was mighty. As it happened, I wasn't feeling too well so I spent time in their "green room" auditorium and didn't get to look around as much as I wanted to. I caught up with one of the organizers and gave him some friendly ribbing about their not spelling my name right (they had me as Jeri Westerman. Man. Son. It's in the ballpark, right?) I did some Sharpie work on namestags and signs.
But some of the joys of events like these is the chance to meet face to face people you've only "met" on the internet. I was sad to have missed one such friend, Tommy Roddy, who created and writes the comic Pride High (we kept missing each other), but I did meet C. W. Gortner on whose blog, Historical Boys, I will be a guest blogger during my blog tour in October and whom I will interview soon for this blog. A charming man and an interesting one as well and, of course, a fine writer of historical fiction.
I also met a fellow on my panel, Christopher Goffard, whose book Snitch Jacket, I am currently immersed in. It's an old-fashinoned noir with great descriptive narrative that's great fun to read. I wish I could steal some of it.
The panel was moderated by Steven M. Thomas. It was an esoteric subject--Getting Serious About Crime: Writers with a Mission--a theme I wondered about and wondered still more why they chose me for this panel (admittedly, it's hard to peg where a "medieval noir" should go.) Ultimately, I could see the wisdom of the choice, what with Chris Goffard and his noir, Denise Hamilton, and Pam Ward--all noirish writers, all former (or in the case of Goffard, current) journalists. There's something about writing for a newspaper that has you thinking about the mean streets of fill-in-the-blank-city. I wriggled getting my answers to work with the theme, but in the end, "what dark paths a man must travel to keep his honor in tact" is still the most valid summation.
Afterwards, we sat at the Mystery Ink table for our signing. I sat next to Steve Thomas and we exchanged info on our publishers. I still don't have the book yet, so I had five advanced reader copies to give away and sign. I only signed three and we have pictures of the first two people who got them.
It's always a pleasure being in a place where books are celebrated and appreciated. And it's always nice being in the LA area. I'll be back next year!
And next Saturday, head on over to the Burbank Library where I will be on another panel "Mysteries Deep and Dark" with Bruce Cook, Robert Fate, Mari Sloan, and Jeff Sheratt. It should be...well. Dark and deep. It's at 300 N. Buena Vista, Burbank, CA.
In the world of publishing, advanced reviews sell books. They sell them to bookstores and to libraries, two of the most important outlets for the consumer to get acquainted with new books by new authors and new books by not-so-new authors.
The Big Four magazines/journals for industry buzz are: Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, and Library Journal. As my editor explained it to me, "a trade book will get 2 to 3 reviews out of four journals, rarely all four (Library Journal only reviews about 20% of the books published by a major press, usually reviewing something more academic/nonfiction.)"
But I have been more than pleasantly surprised in the last few weeks. I did, indeed, get reviewed by all four and they were all positive! The latest from Library Journal was, in fact, a starred review (a starred review means that it comes highly recommended by that journal). And here they are!
A "promising debut...an entertaining read that makes the prospect of sequels welcome." --Publisher's Weekly
"...This first installment in a planned series, introducing a conflicted hero and delving into the grim lives of ordinary people in medieval times, will appeal to mystery and history fans alike." --Kirkus Reviews
"...This authentically detailed medieval mystery has an intriguingly dark edge that will appeal to fans of both historical fiction and noir." --Booklist
* "...Brimming with historical detail and descriptions of life in 1383 London, Westerson's mystery debut is a brilliant tale of survival in a hostile environment, where anything can lead to death. Fans of medieval mysteries will put this on their reserve list. Highly recommended." --Library Journal (Starred Review)
Yes, just what have we learned? I know people haven't learned much. Americans don't know much about American history. But it's not just Americans. People in other countries don't seem to have learned their history either, nor have they learned the lessons from classical history. Here's a little segment from an Australian TV show called The Chaser's War on Everything where these fellows perform all sorts of shenannigans. In this little bit, they prove that most people have not learned their lessons from history. In other words, if someone brought a Trojan Horse* to your gated community, would you let it in?
See it here.
Can you really have a discussion on the mystery novel without mentioning Agatha Christie? In the 21st century, we tend to think of her mysteries as “traditional” at best, “quaint” at worst. All the clichés from “the butler did it” to the gathering of the suspects in the same room for the denouement. But something can’t just become a cliché. It has to come from somewhere, and when Dame Agatha was writing her brand of mysteries, her ideas were fresh and new and interesting. The people in her drawing rooms and on her trips down the Nile were people in her social set, certainly not ours. It was definitely about a certain place and time, freeze-framed and kept inside a snowglobe of nostalgia. We don’t get tired of them. She still sells, one of the many bestselling dead people. Her detectives didn’t change, didn’t get married or decide to go back to school or go after fuller lives. They were what they were. (Of course, the exception here is Hercule Poirot when he made his final exit in Curtain, and we do mean final exit. She killed off her mustachioed detective only a year before she herself shuffled off this mortal coil.)
No matter what genre of mystery we write, we have been touched in some way by the ground she covered before us. We can’t help but compare our writing to her deceptively simple style. We may not gather our suspects together to point that accusing finger, but we are darned tempted to.
She wrote nineteen plays, one of them being The Mousetrap. I played one of the victims in this play when I was in high school. There was a reverence about doing the play, even then, when my mind was far from the possibility of writing mysteries for a living. Not only because of how venerable she was but, at that point in time, she was still alive. It was a bit like performing Shakespeare with the man standing there. (Incidentally, I gave a sterling performance. I died well.)
Recently, her grandson made a find when cleaning out one of her houses. He came across tape recordings of Dame Agatha talking about her characters and her writing, something she seldom did. They will be released for her 118th birthday. You can read more of the story here.
Julia Spencer-Fleming is a class act. A nice lady, an exceptional writer with the praise that just keeps coming. Her first novel In the Bleak Midwinter, won just about all the mystery awards an author can win: The Agatha, the Malice Domestic Award, the Anthony, the Dilys, the Barry, and the Macavity. What do you do for an encore? You continue to write a bestselling series, that's what.
I had an opportunity to set up an email interview with Julia and here it is:
In reading the Russ and Clare series, I was struck by how many characters there were in the background. They also show up for more starring roles later in other books. It does indeed make the reader feel as if they, too, are in that small town and getting to know the locals. What kind of strategies did you come up with to accomplish this? Do you plot meticulously or do you prefer a more seat-of-your-pants style?
JSF: At the risk of sounding like the start of an off colored joke, I've tried both ways and I prefer the sweet spot in the middle. I do research before I start a book, and the things I discover about what I'm writing about migrant labor, the National Guard, the drug trade in upstate New York inform the plot. I like to have several set pieces and turning points in mind before I start, and I also spend time thinking about theme and metaphors that I can use to under-gird the story.
That being said, often I don't know whodunnit or exactly how the crime works out. I discover a great deal about the plot and the characters while writing.
When I interviewed Aztec mystery author Simon Levack on this blog, we discussed world-building and how, because his novel was set in 16th century Mexico, he had a lot of facts to slip into the story so that the reader could be properly grounded. It occurred to me that this has to happen even with contemporary mysteries. The New York we think we know as opposed to the one the author is telling us about. In a "mythical" small town like Miller's Kill, we still require that sense of place so important to ground the story. What sort of research did it involve for you? Did it precipitate travel to visit similar places in New England? Or is it perhaps, as close as your own backyard?
JSF: I'm from the area that I write about, and I visit the real Washington, Warren and Saratoga counties a couple times a year. Fortunately, I live in Maine, a state that shares some of the weather, the terrain, and the economic woes of New York's North Country. “Slipping facts in to ground the reader” is an astute observation of what has to happen. The writer has to pick the telling details that convince the reader of the reality of the place. One reader told me she knew it was the “real” upstate New York when Clare noticed all the cars around her were spattered the same dingy gray in January. I can't imagine getting those details without a great deal of first-hand experience. I don't know how writers get those details without first hand experience. World-building for SF or for historicals awes me.
When my co-workers read my book blurb they raised eyebrows at the words "sexual seduction" but didn't seem to bat an eye at "murder." What are your thoughts about the reading public and our sense of morality; that in your novels we rather enjoy the bittersweet romance between a celibate priest and a married man as well as good old-fashioned murder?
JSF: I think people like the bittersweet romance because unattainable love is so emotion-filled: lust, longing, hopelessness, happiness. However, I do think readers who identify themselves as mystery fans find a non-sexual relationship easier to swallow. I call this the “No chocolate in my peanut butter” theory. Murder is fine, but sex makes some mystery readers itchy. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's too closely identified with the romance genre? Maybe because it simply hasn't historically been a part of crime fiction? There's sex in my latest book, and I remember when I turned it in thinking, I'm going to lose some readers over this.
If you could go back with that red pencil, what would you change in that first book?
JSF: This is a timely question, since I just started listening to I Shall Not Want in audio. First, I wouldn't have everybody and his brother “levering” out of chairs. I really ran amok with that word. Second, I'd correct the egregious mistakes I made while in the heat of the scene (Clare dismisses her congregation, an act that's reserved for deacons in the Episcopal church) or because I assumed what was true in Maine was true in New York (Department of Human Services for Children and Family Services.) This last is an example of a great truth; it's not what you don't know that will trip you up, it's what you mistakenly think you do know.
I'd pump up the police procedure more. I was still uncertain how much I could blend a procedural with an amateur sleuth, and as a result some of the investigative steps are sketchy. Finally, I'd give Clare some more in-depth reasons for doing what she does in the big action sequence. Several critics have pointed out she acts in a reckless manner that borders on TSTL (Too Stupid To Live.) I feel I could change that if I had built up the backstory of the event more. But when I was writing In the Bleak Midwinter, I kept paring things away, because I was worried that at 107,000 words, it would be too long to publish! (It wasn't. My latest clocks in at 127,000 words.)
Come on, tell the truth. What kind of book do you really like to read when getting cozy in front of fire?
JSF: As anyone who reads my work might guess, I love romances: Jennifer Crusie, Suzanne Brockmann, Jo Beverly, Laura Kinsale, Mary Balogh. I also read science fiction; I've recently been ripping through S.M. Stirling's EMBERVERSE series and Jay Lake's novels. I do have a particular fondness for history, whether it's the setting for a romance, a mystery, or an adventure. My undergraduate degree is in history, and my graduate degree had a history concentration.
What sort of advice would you offer to new mystery authors?
JSF: For the not-yet-published, the same two pieces of advice I gave my students in the USM Stonecoast program: read the best in the genre slowly and thoughtfully, and don't look back while writing that first draft! Get it all down on paper and then fix it.
For those who are newly published, I'd say to read J.A. Konrath's blog (A NEWBIE'S GUIDE TO PUBLISHING) and pay close attention. Joe acknowledges that self-promotion can't lift you from the midlist to the bestseller list, but smart and energetic author participation can raise your profile with your publishing house, giving them a reason to back your books and to throw more resources your way. This has absolutely been my own experience.
Your new Clare and Russ novel, I SHALL NOT WANT, came out in June. I think I speak for your many readers when I say that we'd like this series to go on a long time. But in your mind, do you envision a "final episode" or is that something that your psyche would just rather leave alone?
JSF: I've said all along that the series would be finite, and I do plan to give it a rest after I finish the seventh book, tentatively titled No Longer, Death. However, I've brought in a new character, a single mom who is a reluctant trailblazer as a new officer at the Millers Kill Police Department. She's caught my imagination, and I find myself weaving threads into the plot of this book that I can pull for...an eighth book in the series. So I guess the answer is that I will wrap up Russ and Clare's story in some coherent fashion, and leave the door open for a new story to present itself. Oh, and at long last I completed a short story (prior attempts kept turning into novellas...) It's up on my website at www.juliaspencerfleming.com.
I can't wait for VEIL OF LIES to hit the shelves. Looking forward to a signed copy. It's one fabulous read, and I really enjoyed the advance peek. In fact, I'm looking forward to number two, so keep on writing!!
Thank you, Julia for your kind words and an interesting interview.
These are the recipes I used for my medieval feast. Let’s start with the Brie Tart.
Tart de Bry
What a wonderful, smooth and fresh-tasting tart this is. I would definitely make this again for any get-together.
8-inch uncooked pie shell (I cheated and used a frozen one)
½ pound Brie
½ cup heavy cream
3 eggs, lightly beaten
pinch of ground ginger
pinch of saffron
½ teaspoon brown sugar
salt (though you won’t need it if you use the rind)
1. Bake pie pastry at 425 for ten minutes.
2. Either remove rind from Brie or simply cut up the cheese as is into chunks, rind and all.
3. Here’s the really fun part. Put all ingredients in a blender and let it rip until smooth.
4. Pour into pie shell.
5. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes or until set and brown on top.
6. Serve warm with bread or as is.
Roasted Game Hens
How can you go wrong with a game hen?
One hen per person.
Parsley, chopped.
Garlic cloves, 2 per hen.
Grapes, seedless (although I used our homegrown pinot noir, in honor of my Medieval Noir)
Sage
Salt
Fennel seeds
Stuff hens with sage, parsley, and grapes. Sprinkle with salt and roast in a 400 degree oven (or over the barbeque with an indirect fire or a lowered fire) for about 40 minutes to an hour. Sprinkle with fennel seeds and serve whole.
Sawse Cameline
(for the game hens. I only made the allotted here and it wasn’t quite enough for four. So double the recipe. This sauce would also be good with pork or lamb.)
¾ beef broth
1 ½ Tb or more of vinegar (I used red wine. I also had fig vinegar and it was a wonderful addition. I used an extra 1/8 cup of that.)
¼ finely crumbled bread crusts
pinch of ground ginger
pinch of powdered cloves
¼ teaspoon of cinnamon
salt to taste
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1. Combine all ingredients in a heavy sauce pan.
2. Simmer over low heat, stirring to blend, about 5 minutes, until raisins are plump and soft.
3. Serve over birds. Yields 1 cup.
Fritters of Parsnips or of Apples
How was I to know that parsnips had a season? I couldn’t find any to save my life, so I used turnips instead.
Batter:
2 cups white flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon saffron
1 egg
1 ½ cups ale at room temperature
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, stirring until mixture is almost smooth. It’s a thick, gluey batter.
2 apples
4 small turnips or 5 medium parsnips
oil for frying, either in a pan or enough for deep frying
salt
powdered sugar
cinnamon
1. Peel turnips or parsnips.
2. Cut parsnips in half or thirds lengthwise and then slice strips from each section. If using turnips, cut into rounds.
3. Parboil either for about five minutes until easily pierced with a knife.
4. Drain and pat pieces dry.
5. Cut apples into wedges. Remove seeds but leave the core. Do not peel.
6. Dip roots and apples into batter and fry in hot oil until golden on both sides. Drain on paper towels.
7. Sprinkle lightly with salt and a mixture of powdered sugar and cinnamon.
8. Serve with almond milk for dipping.
Almond Milk
Almond milk is used as a thickener, as a dip for fruit, and as sops (dipping bread or toast into it).
½ cup blanched almonds or ½ cup almond meal
1 cup boiling water
1 ½ teaspoons honey
dash salt
1. Grind almonds in blender or mortar, adding a few tablespoons of ice water during the process to prevent the paste from becoming oily. (Or just use meal. Much easier. Trader Joe’s has it.)
2. Add honey and salt to 1 cup of boiling water and dissolve.
3. Pour liquid over pulverized almonds. Allow to soak about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Strain out almonds. (If you use meal or are particularly adept at pulverizing, it will be quite smooth on its own. No need to strain.)
5. Keep at room temp for serving, but for storing it can go into the fridge. Will last about three days. (As a low carb alternative, I use almond meal when bread crumbs are called for and I use it for thickening sauces. It’s great. And it doesn’t add an almond flavor.)
Elderflower Cheesecake
Elderflower or sambucus is an interesting herb. Used in beer making, it can add an herby aroma and flavor to one’s brew. In fact, you can get it at a homebrew store or online venue. This was the most exotic dish we had.
8 inch uncooked pie shell
3 Tablespoons dried elderflowers
4 Tablespoons heavy cream
1/3 cup sugar
½ pound farmers cheese (drained cottage cheese makes a good substitute for this. Queso Blanco if you have access to Mexican cheeses.)
½ pound ricotta
2 teaspoons dried bread crumbs
6 egg whites, beaten until stiff but not dry
1. Bake pie crust at 425 for ten minutes. Let cool.
2. Soak elderflowers in heavy cream for about ten minutes.
3. Add sugar and stir until dissolved.
4. Push cheeses through a strainer with the back of a spoon.
5. Combine cheeses with elderflower-cream mixture. Add bread crumbs. Blend thoroughly.
6. Fold in stiff egg whites.
7. Pour mixture into pastry crust.
8. Bake at 375 about 50 minutes or until firm but not dry. Turn off heat and allow to cool in oven with door ajar about 15 minutes.
Truthfully, this was not my favorite flavor. The elderflowers tasted like caraway seeds and I didn’t think it was the best blend of flavors. At least not for me. I think I would try this again with some other herb, or perhaps some edible flower. Like carnation, also called gillyflower. That might have a fresh taste to go well with the cheeses. As you can see, these were all easy recipes. Pretty good for camping (at least my kind of camping).
All recipes came from To the King’s Taste: Richard II’s Book of Feasts and Recipes Adapted for Modern Cooking by Lorna J. Sass, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975.
A little camping, a little feasting. When we go off camping with our friends, we like to do the dinners up right. When it was my turn, I decided to do a little medieval feast in honor of the upcoming release of Veil of Lies.
Our little home away from home is a 1967 Terry Trailer. It may no longer be pretty, but it gets us there in relative comfort. And in this case, we were comfortably ensconced in Julien, California, in the mountains of San Diego County.
I tried to keep it fairly authentic with what we had camping. I did provide paper napkins but told my guests to make free use of the table cloths, since napkins weren't part of the 14th century table setting. Neither were plates, for the most part, so we made use of bread trenchers. We had candle lighting (oil lamps) and finger bowls. I instructed them on proper medieval table manners. There would be no throwing of bones over one's shoulder. Though this might be acceptable in the cinema depicting medieval-like behavior, we weren't following Hollywood's version. No elbows on the table. No dipping bread in wine if you are sharing a cup. No wiping faces or noses on your sleeve. What do you think the table cloth is for, oaf!
My little feast started with the generous use of the finger bowls and then a Tart de Bry or a Brie Tart (recipes will be in the next article). We used our hands or a piece of bread to scoop up this morsel. A very smooth concoction baked in a frozen pie crust (a concession to camping) which we enjoyed with a decidedly uninteresting pale dry sherry.
Next up we roasted the game hens over the fire. The hens were stuffed with sage, garlic, and grapes, and should have been sprinkled with fennel seeds had I remembered to do that. It was served with a cameline sauce, which, ironically, doesn't have the herb cameline in the recipe. It is a vinegary sauce with raisins and walnuts. We served this with deep fried and battered apple slices and parboiled and battered turnip rounds, dipped into almond milk. A red was served with this course, and though we had our eating knives we mostly used our fingers (no forks allowed. Forks were not on the table yet and were considered vulgar when they started showing up. You cooked with a fork. You didn't eat with one.)
We didn't have an almoner to give our gravy infused trenchers to, no poor folk or servants hovering (where were those blasted servants!) so we partook of them ourselves before we plopped leftover hens and trenchers into ye olde ziplocs to preserve for the next day.
For dessert, we had an elderflower cheesecake. Now elderflowers have quite the weedy smell when blended with the cheeses and tasted a bit like caraway seeds. This was probably the most medieval and different flavor we had that evening. We drank a Muscat Cannelli with it but it also would have gone well with the mead my husband made.
Incidentally, I only donned my garb for the pictures. It was way too warm to keep it on when cooking and sitting outside.
All in all, it was a beautiful, warm evening, where we ate and drank too much but enjoyed ourselves a great deal.
This is very exciting. I just love stuff like this. Illuminated manuscripts, Rolls of Arms--these were created and handled by people in the era I find so very fascinating. It's something tangible, proof that they existed and breathed and lived. I've spoken before of a medieval coin I have that gives me much the same feeling. That coin is something that anyone could have handled, bought bread with, paid a toll, paid their taxes. A bridge to the past. And fortunately, this wonderful arms roll will be preserved and displayed by the British Library. Great pieces of history such as these should be preserved in their country of origin. I'm glad it won't end up in some rock star's bathroom.
What is the Dering Roll? As you can see at the left, it is a roll on which the various armorial bearings or shields have been illustrated, denoting the various knights owing allegiance to Dering Castle. Heralds often created and kept such rolls to keep track of England's peerage and to make certain that each arms were individualized. These were important to distinguish lords and knights in the heat of battle when it was difficult to tell who was who under helms and armor. And it's part of the colorful pagentery that so entices us down through the centuries.
Here's what The British Library Press Release says:
The Dering Roll was sold by Sotheby's at auction on 4th December 2007 as Lot 46 for £192,500 (hammer price with buyer's premium).
A temporary export bar was subsequently placed on the medieval roll of arms by Culture Minister, Margaret Hodge, and the item was awarded a starred rating by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, confirming it to be of particular importance and of outstanding significance for the study of early English heraldry. Following this decision the British Library sought funding in order to acquire the manuscript.
The Dering Roll, a painted roll of arms, was produced in England, almost certainly in Dover, in the last quarter of the 13th century. While examples of medieval coats-of-arms remain common today, large collections of arms on rolls - one of the grandest medieval statements of power - are extremely rare. The Dering Roll contains 324 coats-of-arms, approximately one quarter of the English baronage at that time, beginning with two of King John's illegitimate children, Richard Fitz Roy and William de Say.
In a study published in 1965, medieval history scholar Dr Noel Denholm-Young demonstrated that the Roll supplies a list of the knights owing feudal service to the Constable of Dover Castle. This led to the suggestion that the Dering Roll was commissioned by Stephen of Penchester, who served as Constable at Dover Castle from 1268 to 1299. Stephen of Penchester's own arms are displayed in a prominent position on this roll, and it has been proposed that this manuscript may have served a political purpose, bringing together in one place the coats of arms of Stephen's feudal followers.
The Roll later came into the ownership of the notable antiquary, Sir Edward Dering (1598–1644), who probably acquired it during his years of service as lieutenant of Dover Castle.
The parchment roll measures 2645mm by c. 210mm and is complete, consisting of 4 membranes, each measuring approximately 660mm in length. Painted on a green background, it contains 324 coats of arms arranged in 54 rows, with 6 shields assigned to each line. Above each shield is written the knight's name in English cursive script, with the exception of five shields where the names have been omitted or erased.
The Dering Roll is now on display in the Sir John Ritblat Gallery: Treasures of the British Library. The manuscript will subsequently be available to researchers in the British Library's Manuscripts Reading Room.
Claire Breay, Head of Medieval and Earlier Manuscripts at the British Library, commented: “The Dering Roll was identified as a priority acquisition for the British Library, and we are very pleased that we were able to secure the funding required to purchase the Roll and keep it in the UK. The Library holds an extensive collection of outstanding historical and heraldic manuscripts and the acquisition of the Dering Roll provides an extremely rare chance to add a manuscript of enormous local and national significance which will greatly strengthen and complement its existing collection”.
Carole Souter, Chief Executive of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, said: "The Dering Roll provides a fascinating insight into the allegiances and loyalties that ruled the lives of the medieval aristocracy. The Roll is the ‘Who's Who' for medieval knights and unusually gives two illegitimate royals pride of place. It is fitting that this manuscript will now be displayed at the British Library thanks to a grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund."
David Barrie, Director of The Art Fund, said: “This is the oldest English heraldic manuscript known, and offers a fascinating insight into courtly life in the reign of Edward I. It is also a very appealing work of art which probably arose from one man's attempt to prove the noble ancestry of his own family. I am delighted that The Art Fund has helped to ensure the Roll will now be permanently available, free of charge, in the nation's greatest library.”
From the Royal Armouries Newsletter from Leeds, England:
