Getting Medieval

Fire at the College of Arms!

From the College of Arms Newsletter:

"The fire alarm sounded at ten minutes to eleven on Thursday 5 February at a time when ‘Chapter’, the heralds’ governing body was having its monthly meeting. The fire was already too well established to be tackled with fire-extinguishers, so the Fire Brigade were called. The evacuation plan was immediately put in action by the College’s house comptroller, David White, and the officer on duty, and within minutes the building was clear. No-one was hurt, and no damage was done to the official records of the College of Arms, which date back to the fifteenth cent ury.

Peter Gwynn-Jones, Garter King of Arms, said: "This event is a great sadness to all of us who work here. We will work hard to put the building right over the forthcoming weeks, but we will remain open for business. I am glad that our emergency plan worked well, and I am really grateful to the Fire Brigade for the exceptional care they took, knowing what national treasures we care for here."

The fire was successfully contained; the building, which had been swiftly evacuated, suffered damage to the two upper floors of its west wing only, some distance from the archive storage areas. A number of rooms there will now need to be repaired and redecorated."

What a horrible thing that could have been! To lose centuries of Arms Rolls. Whew! 

Remembering Raymond Chandler

I can't really let the day go by without mentioning that today, March 26, 2009, is the 50th anniversary of Raymond Chandler's death. And like any saint who has passed on, we venerate this day on Getting Medieval. In my mind, we owe as much to Chandler concerning crime fiction as we do to Agatha Christie. Chandler's characters were considerably more rough around the edges than were those of Dame Agatha's, even though Chandler himself was a well-spoken bloke. He looked more like an accountant than a writer of hard-boiled detective fiction. Especially so in his one and only cameo in the 1944 film Double Indemnity, the film he wrote based on the James M. Cain novel.  

He gave us, among other things, Philip Marlowe, whom he styled after Sam Spade, but gave him a sharper sense of justice and a moral code that could not be broken. Does this sound like someone I know, someone more at home in London of 1384 than Los Angeles of the '30s? Yeah, we all steal from the best. Chandler did it, I do it, someone else will do it, too.

Chandler died a year before I was born but his stories of the streets will live on, inspiring others. He may not have come from LA as I did, but he's shared with readers a view of the sprawling city that few can match. 

Here's to you, Ray. Rest in peace.        

Serpent in the Thorns to be released Sept. 29!

The new Crispin Guest Medieval Noir--Serpent in the Thorns--will be released on September 29th! And we will be partying again with sword-fighting knights at Vroman's in Pasadena on Saturday, October 3. You'll get another reminder when we get closer to the date. Hard to believe it will be a year already. As it is, I'm trying to collect my third manuscript from my beta readers so I can get Crispin Number Three to my agent. Let's hope all goes well and we shall carry on as we were meant to be. A hardcover can be a tough sell in any economy let alone the one we're currently in. But people still want to read and they have been most generous when I have come to do speaking engagements. 

At any rate, if you'd like to read the first chapter it is up on my website now. 

You can pre-order on Amazon.com or at your favorite independent bookstore. No cover yet. I'll let you know when there is one.

Another Saint on St. Patrick's Day

Today is the feast day of Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. And we could talk about him again just like everyone else is doing today, but there is another whose feast day is March 17; Joseph of Aramathea.

Saint Joseph was a member of the Sanhedrin who put the question to Jesus, looking for a bit of blasphemy so they could get this troublesome fellow out of their hair. According to the Gospel of John, Joseph was a secret disciple and when the crucifixion took place, it was he who went to Pilate to ask for Jesus’ body for burial. He offered his own family tomb for internment, not a light thing.

But if we here at Getting Medieval are to be interested in Joseph at all, it is because of his legendary tie to the Holy Grail and bringing this most holy of relics into the Arthurian tale.

The cup that Jesus used at the last supper somehow came into Joseph’s hands, and while Jesus died on the cross, Joseph saved some of the blood within it. He kept the cup safe for many years and was eventually called by the Apostle Philip to evangelize the Britons. Joseph sailed along England’s rocky shores and finally came to the place known as Glastonbury Tor. He thrust his staff into the stony hillside and it miraculously stuck and took root. He took this as a sign that his journey had ended. The Angel Gabriel directed him to build a church on the spot and Christ Himself appeared in a vision declaring that the humble church of wattle and daub be dedicated to Mary, the holy mother. When Joseph was near death he buried the grail at the base of the church.

Can you still find this church? Alas. It burned to the ground in 1184. But it was suppsed to be close to Galstonbury Abbey, pictured on the right. That abbey fell to ruins in Henry VIII's day when he dissolved the monasteries and decided to be the head of his own church, thank you very much. 

And so, legend followed myth, and myth flowed into history, blending with the old tale of King Arthur and his Camelot knights—including one Sir Parsifal charged with the quest to find the grail.

A 12th century French poet by the name of Robert de Boron may be responsible for the Joseph/Grail myth, writing his poems Joseph d’Arimathe and Merlin, wherein the tale takes shape. We shall never know for certain. Historians of the time liked to place famous personages from the bible into places they may not likely have gone (on this same voyage was supposed to be Lazarus, Mary Magdalene, Martha, Marcella and others, according to Cardinal Caesar Baronius (1538-1609), Vatican Librarian and historian in his Annales Ecclesiatici). Britain and its isolated shores seems an unlikely spot for a bit of evangelization. But maybe they came for the Roman baths or other site-seeing possiblities.

So today, while enjoying your corned beef and cabbage, toast not only Saint Patrick with your green beer, but hoist one or two for Saint Joseph as well. (I think green beer is kosher.)

Romancing the Blog

The things you can do in armor. Oh. Ahem.

Come along with me on a blog tour amongst the romance blogs. These are authors for whom everyday is Valentine's Day; whom for a heaving bosom and a ripped bodice are just another day at the office.

I'm speaking of a wonderful group of romance authors who are graciously hosting me this merry month of March. 

Let's take a look: 

March 14 and 21--Stephani Hecht writes her Archangel series and the Drone Vampire Chronicles. I will be blogging on http://sevenwickedwriters.com/  

March 16--Kristi Astor is the author of historical romance, most recently Lords of Desire. I will be blogging on http://www.lustintime.blogspot.com/.

Also on March 16--Erotic romance author Paige Tyler is hosting me on her blog http://nicennaughtyauthors.blogspot.com

March 20--Contemporary romance author Lynn Reynolds is hosting me on her blog http://lynnreynolds.blogspot.com/  

March 23--Eliza Knight writes about time travel contemporary stories with sexy alpha males and feisty heroines. I'll be blogging on  http://www.historyundressed.blogspot.com/

March 27--Author Evelyn David slips into something a little less comfortable when she blogs on http://thestilettogang.blogspot.com/

Sometime in March--be on the lookout. I will be at paranormal romance author Lori Devoti's blog at http://loridevoti.com/blog/ and on the deadly duo of Lisa buehler and Robert Goldsbourough blog at http://www.thedeadlyduo.blogspot.com/

Summing Up Left Coast Crime Hawaii

The last panel I attended on Wednesday was Barbara Peters of Poison Pen Press and bookstore, speaking on the future of publishing. This is a woman who knows her stuff; knows the industry from a publishing standpoint as well as the brick and mortar bookstore point of view.

For the immediate future, it doesn't look especially appealing. (See the volcano picture? Shall we all jump in now?) I don't know that I'd particularly like trying to get an agent or a publisher at this time. It's not too keen feeling the pinch to make sure you can remain published either. It's Barbara's contention that authors need to have "another income stream." In other words, don't expect to make a living at being a novelist. Well, we all know that. At least, that's the expectation in the first few years. Years ago when she started in the business, she said that only 17% of novelists could make a living at it and now that percentage is up in the air. When the publishing business model is buy high and sell low, it does seem that there is something a bit upside down about it. But to insist that authors are the ones to suffer--those people who make the publishing industry possible--must continue to eke out a subsistence while surely publishers don't need day jobs seems disingenuous at best. However, this is a horse who is beaten, dead, and rotting at the side of the road. It is what it is and though it stinks, one must be pragmatic and look at the options. Today's technology might offer those extra tid bits: i-phone short stories, ghost writing, creating the stories for video games, novelizations. Clearly these options aren't for everyone but the vista is wide and its all about creative thinking and marketing. 

And you just thought it was about the writing.

There's always the volcano option.

What did I think of this Left Coast Crime? I thought it was a marvelous coming together of all our little lost tribes of one; getting a chance to feel like a community when so often we spend our time alone in little offices with nothing but the sound of our keyboards for company. Putting faces to those emails we see all the time. Meeting new authors and new readers across the country. Despite the bleakness of the immediate future, that kind of re-energizing by the mere presence of other writers, is priceless.

Wednesday at Left Coast Crime Hawaii

This morning was the awards brunch, and I sat with some very companionable ladies from Wisconsin and Tucson, as well as friend and author Neil Plakcy and author Mike Belfeler.

Once breakfast was out of the way the Guests of Honor were…well…honored. Lee Goldberg, our toastmaster, regaled us on tales of readers inquiring about his books (“Weren’t you worried that you’d be sued for malpractice on the medical advice Dick Van Dyke gave out in Diagnosis Murder if he had no medical training?”) before he presented Rhys Bowen who sang us a song about being a mystery writer. Lee told a superhero story about Barry Eisler and when Barry came to the stage, he set the story straight, though it was still a Spider-Man-worthy escape.

A cavalcade of thanks were offered to those who put together the convention (anybody who dares should be canonized, in my opinion) and then the awards were handed out.

Barbara Peters of Poison Pen Press and bookstore gave out the Dilys (Independent Bookseller Award for the most fun to sell in the past year). That went to John Chercover for Trigger City. The Bruce Alexander Historical award went to Kelli Stanley for Nox Dormienda. The Hawaii 50 police procedural award went to friend Neil Plakcy for Mahu Fire, and the Lefty, the humor award went to Tim Maleeny for Greasing the Piñata (which could have won it by its title alone!)

I will be attending a few more panels today and then flying home this evening (naturally, since the weather is BEAUTIFUL this morning), so my summing up of the convention will have to wait until Thursday morning when, red-eyed, I return. See you on the mainland.

Tuesday Left Coast Crime Hawaii

Today, I wanted to check in on a genre I usually don’t read just to get the full experience of the convention and because some of these authors have come to be good friends, so I attended the “Cozies: Don’t Kill the Cat. Really?” panel. Cozies are quite a big part of the mystery community. They are those mysteries that used to be known as village mysteries or the Agatha Christie type, though I tend to think of Dame Agatha’s as “traditional” as opposed to the Murder, She Wrote sort of contained mystery—without sex or violence. You know, the stuff that makes them fun? (Kidding!)

Hobby mysteries are quite the thing; crocheting, quilting, cooking, etc. It’s nothing to sneeze at, even if it isn’t your kind of book. The panel consisted of Marlyn Beebe, moderator, Claudia Bishop, Betty Hechtman, Maria Hudgins, G.M. Malliet, and Maggie Sefton. They talked about how character informs the story (which sort of turned out to be a theme today) and how the genre has grown in the last twenty years, getting itself a name, particularly the hobby/craft cozies. And the title? Interesting that I had this discussion only yesterday with some authors and readers. Some readers will absolutely refuse to read further in a mystery if a cat or dog is killed, even if it serves the story. My own beta readers had me remove an instance where a dog was killed in VEIL OF LIES (which, thinking on it now, I would have left it in.). The rule in cozies is you never kill the cat. Make him sick, make him talk, but never kill him.

Later, I attended the Guests of Honor conversation with Barry Eisler and Rhys Bowen. I’d not met Barry before but I had served on my first panel at Bouchercon Alaska with Rhys and found her to be a terribly gracious lady. It started when Barry asked Rhys how she placed herself in a different era and location, a location that, for the most part, no longer existed. She said that she’d always had a keen imagination which allowed her to make that leap into writing about it. Barry agreed that it was akin to being an actor and getting into character.

Rhys then asked Barry if he’d always wanted to be a writer, and he admitted that he always had a talent but, not unlike yours truly, never really considered turning this interest into a career until he was in his thirties. Barry recommended to any budding writers to “feed your imagination with what you’re passionate about …make your mind fertile and something will take root and grow.”

Eisler worked for the CIA for about three years, so Rhys asked the obvious question, “Have you ever killed anyone?”

“It was voluntary,” he replied. He said the CIA bureaucracy is like the post office with spies.

Then Rhys shared some of her book tour experiences since Barry is in the middle of his. She said she was on tour and arrived at one book store with another author where there were no banners or advertisement of any kind that she was to be there, and naturally no one came. Then the store owner told her it was time to have pictures taken with the store mascot—a large, bristly pig. After enduring that for a bit, she turned to her author friend and said, “Do you know what we’re going to do now? We’re going to get a very large plate of spare ribs.”

Such is the glamorous writing life.

By then it was time for my last panel, “Black is Back: Hardboiled and Noir” with Baron Birtcher moderating, Michael Dymmoch, Vicki Hendricks, Christopher Moore, and Lono Waiwaiole. First, a great big thanks to Baron for some great moderating. Good questions and great humor. We were asked why we’d gone to the dark side (and some of us very dark, indeed. I’m going to have to grab one of Vicki Hendricks books at some point), what made our books noir; setting or character? And to a man, we agreed that it was character that truly informed the kind of story it was going to be. A few questions from the audience, the inevitable “How did you get your weapons on the plane?” question for Jeri, and another great panel was over. This time we had better seating in the signing room but there is to be another all author signing tomorrow. I’ll see if I can slip that in before I have to leave for the airport. I ran into more people that said they already had my book either from Bouchercon or other sources, and it made me wonder if I should be attending a different convention every now and then just to get in new people. The awards brunch is tomorrow at nine, more panels, and then back into the friendly skies for home. So that report will be in two parts since I won’t have access to the internet until Thursday when I get in (yup, 5:30 am Thursday morning). See you tomorrow.

By the way, the sun came out today as you can see from the picture above. The volcano Mauna Loa showed itself, snow-capped and innocent. It doesn't look it but it's some 14,000 feet.

Monday, Left Coast Crime Hawaii

Another day in Hawaii. Well, someone's gotta do it.

I was up early to head for the debutante breakfast sponsored by Mystery Scene Magazine--at 7:30 in the morning. There were, in fact, many brave souls in attendance. Among the first-timers were Barry Broad with EVE OF DESTRUCTION, Rebecca Cantrell A TRACE OF SMOKE, Sunny Frazier FOOLS RUSH IN, Jonathan Hayes PRECIOUS BLOOD, Victoria Kneubuhl MURDER CASTS A SHADOW, Sophie Littlefield A BAD DAY FOR SORRY, John Madinger DEATH ON DIAMOND HEAD, G.M. Malliet DEATH OF A COZY WRITER, Sharon Rowse THE SILK TRAIN MURDER, Kelli Stanley NOX DORMIENDA, Alice Wilson-Fried OUTSIDE CHILD, and me with VEIL OF LIES. Actually, since I've been selling Veil since before I even had a book, I haven't felt all that very debutanty lately, especially since we are gearing up for the release of book #2 SERPENT IN THE THORNS. But the job must be done! I brought my medieval weapons with me and put them on display on my table (each author had their own table where attendees could feel free to sit and chat with new authors while munching on their continental breakfast). By far, the question I was asked the most by everyone I encountered at the convention was, "How did you get all that on the plane?"   

We introduced ourselves to the gathering. When it was my turn to approach the microphone, I put my sword over my shoulder, telling the audience that I would be brief and get to the "point." It was a nice way to let folks know about me and the book.

A little later while relaxing on my balcony and reading a book before I had to go down for my first panel, we had a little earthquake. Jeez, I can't even be out of California for a day before the earthquakes come to find me! No harm no foul, though, (and no volcanic eruptions) so I headed down to my first panel, Fresh Blood (one of the newbie panels) the wonderful Louise Ure moderating, Rebecca Cantrell, John Hayes, Sophie Littlefield, Sharon Rowse, and Kelli Stanely. A fun panel and the credit goes to Louise Ure for putting us on the spot by creating penalties if we referred to our book without giving the title or our protagonists without mentioning their names, ordering us to pay her a buck a breach. The audience love it.

However, afterwards at the signings, there weren't enough tables for all the authors to sign and so four of us comandeered the Get Booked table waaaay in the corner which left us a little forlorn and forgotten. 

But we shrugged it off when several of us from the panel grabbed some lunch and made new friends on the spot (Rebecca Cantrell you are a hoot. A knife and straw indeed!)

When I returned to the hotel, I ran into my OC SinC cadre from the other night and they wanted to take a walk along the beach to the Hilton resort to get some lunch so I joined them. A very rocky road but beautiful, too. All the rocks on the island are black lava. But there are plenty of white coral that has washed up and is sanded smooth by the ocean and friction against the rough lava. Hawaiians use it to create graffitti on the black lava, writing their names not with spray paint but with white coral. It is actually visually fascinating. Some of the way the coral looks with its strange shapes and indentations makes then resemble skulls, and some budding artists took advantage of that. 

The Hilton is a neverending meander of pools, lagoons, and even a dolphin pool.

After our foray into Hilton territory, I finally went to another panel. This one was How Far Do You Go? Language, Sex, and Violence in Mysteries  with Tim Maleeny moderating, Vicki Hendricks, Sophie Littlefield, Susan Arnot Smith, Jason Starr, and Simon Wood. 

The questions raised began from their first sexual experience as a writer to a discussion about censoring one's self. Was any subject tabbo? Hendricks said she wrote a scene with a woman having sex with a dog but had to cut it down considerably (not cut it out) and though others felt that killing an animal in a story still got them into hot water with readers (but sex is okay?) and some still had a hard time involving children in danger in their stories.

The room was so hot and stifling and so full, that the pool looked too inviting to me, even with an overcast sky, so I quickly changed into my suit and floated around in the infinity pool. Jealous yet?

Then I was kidnapped for dinner and was glad I went to the Fairchild Orchid resort; huge, beautiful, and a great dinner with a wonderful ocean view (sitting outside of course) with a friendly cat, a friendlier lizard scooting along a gentleman's scarf (without the gentleman knowing it before we pointed it out. He seemed to blame us for the lizard's appearance), and the torch bearer running through the grounds and lighting the tiki torches as the sun (wherever it was) set.

I missed the Charlie Chan movie but will read the free Charlie Chan book provided in the book bag instead.

Tomorrow is my last panel at 3pm Black is Back: Hardboiled and Noir.  

Below, more pictures from our nature walk:

  

     

 

Sunday Left Coast Crime Hawaii

When I got off the plane, I immediately regretted not finding some way to fit my husband in the luggage. That would have really been the only way to get him to Hawaii with me. Not that I was all that fired over a tropical vacation. After all, I’m from southern California. I can go to the beach anytime and stay in any number of beach front hotels that actually look like this. Except. Not really quite like this. It was raining, first off, which is a good thing to a thirsty Angeleno like me. But stepping off the plane I soon felt the difference. Humid. A nice gentle rain. And this airport in Kona. I’ve never seen anything like this. There is no main building. In fact, everyone and everything is outside, except for a few coffee shops and souvenier shops. It’s ALL OUTSIDE. I mean no disrespect, but it looked a little like Adventureland at Disneyland.

But let me back up a bit. Back at LAX when my husband dropped me off at the kerb, who do I see stepping up onto the sidewalk but author Sue Ann Jaffarian! (She's nominated for a Lefty, the humorous novel award). Of course we were on the same flight, so we hung out, had breakfast, and generally commiserated about Publishing Today. We took our separate seats on the plane and then reunited to catch a shuttle to the Waikoloa Beach Marriott. Our driver was happy to be tour guide and showed us the sights, talking about the Big Island. In fact, at one point along the long route, he pulled over to show us a lava cave. The landscape was quite different from what I expected. We think of Waikiki when we think of Hawaii, I suppose, with white, sandy beaches and clear blue skies. But each island is very different. The Big Island of Hawaii is covered in lava fields, black rolling gobs of it festooned with sprays of yellow grass. There are hills in the distance—but we couldn’t see them until later when the clouds lifted. And there's a volcano out there, too. 

The hotel gives new meaning to "always open" as there are no actual walls for most of it, being open to the ocean and the breezes. And consequently, the birds. Sparrows, that is, flying through ballrooms and such. Truly different, and truly lovely.  

I settled in, got my room, sized up where my panels and Luau would be, and then started to reacquaint myself with authors I have met along the way, as well as meeting new ones, of course. And then I readied myself for my 15 minute demo of medieval weaponry. Interested attendees gathered around a table and I swung my sword and expounded on the beauty of the killing toys. (How did I get my sword, daggers, flail, and battle axe through the airport, you ask? Checked, of course, but I knew that a little x-raying would still catch the eye of TSA which, indeed, it did. After all, the helm is this giant bullet-shaped thing and I certainly would have yanked it aside to have a look. Fortunately, I stuffed the helm with my bookmarks and other material that explained what the hell I was doing [nope, not trying to conquer Hawaii]).

By then it was about time for the Luau. Unfortunately, it was not so much a luau as a selection of eats from pasta to coconut shrimp with very long lines to get it. By the time most of us got some kind of meal the entertainment in the other room was done. And then the one-act Charlie Chan play was filled to the rafters. The bevy of authors I was with decided to head to the bar instead, which meant hanging out by the infinity pool and catching some of those cool breezes since the rain finally stopped.

In the morning is my 7:30 am debutante breakfast where interested attendees can sit at my table and we can chat. And oh yes, my weapons come with me!