Sunday Wrap Up: Week ending July 6, 2014

This being a pretty fab week for our American friends, who have been preparing for their Fourth of July hols, it's also been a semi-relaxing week here at The Review. Who doesn't want to get in on celebrations of independence? After all, we celebrate the freedom to read books of our own choosing: banned, unapproved, controversial--all kinds of literature that unfortunately in some spots on the globe are permitted only when approved by the government. For all of us here at The Review this is a sad state of affairs and we did a bit of contemplation over the week. 

While nothing in this week's Wrap Up is banned or unapproved in any way (as far as we know), we celebrate them because they, like the other magnificent books and interviews we have reviewed and conducted, add to the lexicon of knowledge, curiosity, creativity and sharing of ideas and fascinations across the world, person to person, in turn inspiring others to seek and achieve their own dreams. 

Happy birthday, America! And may all peoples achieve the freedom to read whatever it is they choose to do. 

********

Babus Reviews: Wynfield's Kingdom by Marina Julia Neary


Wynfield's Kingdom by Marina Julia Neary is a dark historical novel set from 1830, Victorian England. Dr. Thomas Grant, a newly qualified young physician from Cambridge, is relieved of his position in the household of a nobleman; he also is relieved of his license to practice medicine.

Marina Julia Neary creates her characters with much allure; she describes Dr. Thomas Grant:

There was nothing in his demeanor that would inspire suspicion, no distracting gestures or eccentric habits. One would expect neither heroic deeds nor crimes from him. He exuded composure, equanimity, an impartiality.

He vows never to medically treat the rich again and opens a tavern in Bermondsey to support himself. Whilst contentedly living the life of a self-confessed misanthrope, he saves the life of 10-year-old orphan Wynfield, whom he finds breaking into his cellar. After Dr. Grant treats his injuries Wynfield leads the local police and Dr. Grant to two-year-old Diana who is also an orphan. Not expecting the two-year-old to survive from her fragile condition through the night, Dr. Grant surpasses his own rather elevated expectations when she survives, albeit with a weak heart.

The stoic Dr. Grant houses the children as tenants. Wynfield grows up to be an affable young man of many talents. He entertains those around him with knife-throwing and dancing, but primarily works on the docks and contributing most of his wages to his landlord. Wynfield practically raises Diana, who works in the tavern for Dr. Grant and makes her romantic feelings for Wynfield abundantly clear. Their relationship is a complex one as the dividing line between love and hate is quite a fine one.

Wynfield goes from being a well-read misfit in society to the “King of Bermondsey,” and is revered by the local community for his entertaining skills, which include knife-throwing and stealing. A tragic event which results from his illegal activity makes him question what he has become and leads him to write and produce a play about his hero Cromwell. He casts Diana and his friends in this play and he showcases his anti-monarch ideals, which brings him to the attention of those who have a larger political agenda. Among these activists Wynfield discovers more about his origins.


What about these mysterious origins? Click here to see if the rest of the review gives any clues…

*********

Louise E. Rule Interviews Richard Abbott for The Review's Author Interview 

Richard Abbott is the author of Scenes From A Life, which was reviewed by Margaret Skea in March here at The Review Group. If you would like to read Margaret's review, please click the above link.

The product description on amazon.co.uk tells the reader that:

[M]akty-Rasut is a scribe in New Kingdom Egypt, fashioning tombs for the elite. He lives a comfortable but restless life, moving every few years further upstream along the river Nile. He is content to exercise his talent without examining his origins.

Then a series of vivid dreams, interpreted with the help of a senior priest, disrupts this pattern. To solve the riddle, he must go on a journey that will take him outside the Beloved Land and away from the life that he knows. His travels take him into the neighbouring province of Canaan, to a hill-country village called Kephrath, and to a way of life he has never considere[d].

About Richard Abbott (from amazon.co.uk)

Richard Abbott lives in London, England. He writes about the ancient Middle East - Egypt, Canaan and Israel - and has also contributed to the lively academic debate about these times. His first book, In a Milk and Honeyed Land, explores events in the Egyptian province of Canaan at the end of the Bronze Age, around 1200 BC. It follows the life, loves, and struggles of a priest in the small hill town of Kephrath. A second novel, Scenes from a Life, follows on from and is set around twenty years later than In a Milk and Honeyed Land. The short story "The Man in the Cistern" is set in the same location in the years between the two novels. The short story "The Lady of the Lions" is set in the same location but around one hundred and fifty years earlier. Triumphal Accounts in Hebrew and Egyptian is the ebook version of his PhD thesis which, for those who want the technical details, supplies academic underpinning for some of the ideas and plot themes followed up in fiction. When not writing words or computer code, he enjoys spending time with family, walking, and wildlife, ideally combining all three pursuits in the English Lake District. He works professionally in IT quality assurance, and also develops mobile and tablet apps with a focus on the ancient world. 

Hello, Richard, welcome to The Review's Author Interview, thank you for taking time out to answer some questions.

Thanks, Louise, for the invitation!

You have an obvious passion for the ancient Middle East. Could you tell our readers what drew you to that time, what was it that captivated you?

Originally I got intrigued by the chronology of the ancient world, and looked into both mainstream views and some of the more alternative ones. But as I started to read actual ancient sources, initially in translation and then more directly, I abandoned chronology in favour of literature, especially poetry and its various forms. It is so much more fascinating! Plus, of course, it gives much more direct insight into the minds of people in the ancient world, rather than just modern ideas of how best to create an exact timeline.

Once hooked by the language and literature, I narrowed in on the particular period in question since it was a time of flux. The Late Bronze Age had been a long period of stability, and in a very short span of time, perhaps fifty years or so, it completely collapsed. Religious freedom, international trade, and cultural interchange gave way to a narrow parochialism. the role of women shrank from a position of importance and respect to one which, in many places, amounted to simple ownership. Many reasons for this have been proposed, and none is entirely convincing, so it is an open field for the writer. My characters live in their world with customs and habits of thought built up in one age, having to adapt to a very different one.

In your first book, In a Milk and Honeyed Land, published in June 2012, you explore events in the Egyptian province of Canaan at the end of the Bronze Age, around 1200 BC. Even though it is a time that you have already researched, and on which you had written a PhD thesis, did you have to do a different type of research for your novel, for example, your characters, and their lives?

Yes indeed. The PhD focused mostly on the language and poetry of the time, so I was pretty comfortable with that. However, for the novels I needed to have a sense of what regular life was like - housing, food, journey times, vegetation, clothing and so on. I put a lot of thought into what village religion would be like - no large temple or priestly hierarchy, for example, and existing mainly to serve the daily struggles and delights of village life. I had a lot of fun thinking how the society might signal things like social or marital status through designs on the headscarves worn (I call these "kefs", which is an adaptation of modern Hebrew and Arabic words) - no gold wedding rings here! We do have a very modest amount of pictorial evidence for headscarves, but nothing to help us interpret the visual differences.

The novels also gave me the chance to speculate on things that are credible but unprovable. For example the society I write about in Kephrath is based around the idea that property passes from mother to daughter rather than father to son. A man moves into his wife's family home rather than the reverse. This did happen occasionally back then, but we don't know if it actually did in that particular place and time.

Jump on over to Louise's fab and extensive interview to see what other delights Abbott gifts us with!

You can also jump back in time to see last week's Wrap Up!

Louise E. Rule Interviews Richard Abbott for The Review's Author Interview

Louise E. Rule Interviews Richard Abbott for The Review's Author Interview

Richard Abbott is the author of Scenes From A Life, which was reviewed by Margaret Skea in March here at The Review Group. If you would like to read Margaret's review, please click the above link.

The product description on amazon.co.uk tells the reader that:

[M]akty-Rasut is a scribe in New Kingdom Egypt, fashioning tombs for the elite. He lives a comfortable but restless life, moving every few years further upstream along the river Nile. He is content to exercise his talent without examining his origins.

Then a series of vivid dreams, interpreted with the help of a senior priest, disrupts this pattern. To solve the riddle, he must go on a journey that will take him outside the Beloved Land and away from the life that he knows. His travels take him into the neighbouring province of Canaan, to a hill-country village called Kephrath, and to a way of life he has never considere[d.]

About Richard Abbott (from amazon.co.uk)

Richard Abbott

Richard Abbott lives in London, England. He writes about the ancient Middle East - Egypt, Canaan and Israel - and has also contributed to the lively academic debate about these times. His first book, In a Milk and Honeyed Land, explores events in the Egyptian province of Canaan at the end of the Bronze Age, around 1200 BC. It follows the life, loves, and struggles of a priest in the small hill town of Kephrath. A second novel, Scenes from a Life, follows on from and is set around twenty years later than In a Milk and Honeyed Land. The short story "The Man in the Cistern" is set in the same location in the years between the two novels. The short story "The Lady of the Lions" is set in the same location but around one hundred and fifty years earlier. Triumphal Accounts in Hebrew and Egyptian is the ebook version of his PhD thesis which, for those who want the technical details, supplies academic underpinning for some of the ideas and plot themes followed up in fiction. When not writing words or computer code, he enjoys spending time with family, walking, and wildlife, ideally combining all three pursuits in the English Lake District. He works professionally in IT quality assurance, and also develops mobile and tablet apps with a focus on the ancient world.

Hello, Richard, welcome to The Review's Author Interview, thank you for taking time out to answer some questions.

Thanks, Louise, for the invitation!

You have an obvious passion for the ancient Middle East. Could you tell our readers what drew you to that time, what was it that captivated you?

Originally I got intrigued by the chronology of the ancient world, and looked into both mainstream views and some of the more alternative ones. But as I started to read actual ancient sources, initially in translation and then more directly, I abandoned chronology in favour of literature, especially poetry and its various forms. It is so much more fascinating! Plus, of course, it gives much more direct insight into the minds of people in the ancient world, rather than just modern ideas of how best to create an exact timeline.

Once hooked by the language and literature, I narrowed in on the particular period in question since it was a time of flux. The Late Bronze Age had been a long period of stability, and in a very short span of time, perhaps fifty years or so, it completely collapsed. Religious freedom, international trade, and cultural interchange gave way to a narrow parochialism. the role of women shrank from a position of importance and respect to one which, in many places, amounted to simple ownership. Many reasons for this have been proposed, and none is entirely convincing, so it is an open field for the writer. My characters live in their world with customs and habits of thought built up in one age, having to adapt to a very different one. 

In your first book, In a Milk and Honeyed Land, published in June 2012, you explore events in the Egyptian province of Canaan at the end of the Bronze Age, around 1200 BC. Even though it is a time that you have already researched, and on which you had written a PhD thesis, did you have to do a different type of research for your novel, for example, your characters, and their lives?

Yes indeed. The PhD focused mostly on the language and poetry of the time, so I was pretty comfortable with that. However, for the novels I needed to have a sense of what regular life was like - housing, food, journey times, vegetation, clothing and so on. I put a lot of thought into what village religion would be like - no large temple or priestly hierarchy, for example, and existing mainly to serve the daily struggles and delights of village life. I had a lot of fun thinking how the society might signal things like social or marital status through designs on the headscarves worn (I call these "kefs", which is an adaptation of modern Hebrew and Arabic words) - no gold wedding rings here! We do have a very modest amount of pictorial evidence for headscarves, but nothing to help us interpret the visual differences.

The novels also gave me the chance to speculate on things that are credible but unprovable. For example the society I write about in Kephrath is based around the idea that property passes from mother to daughter rather than father to son. A man moves into his wife's family home rather than the reverse. This did happen occasionally back then, but we don't know if it actually did in that particular place and time.

Your character Damariel, in In a Milk and Honeyed Land, has been apprenticed to a village priest. How did you work on the creation of your Damariel character? Did you already have an idea, for example, of how he looked or spoke, or is he a character that just evolved?

Some aspects of his character and background were very clear to me right from the start, others came along as I started to write about him. So the very first bits of the story that I wrote, which were some episodes scattered through the middle third of the book, stayed pretty much as written all through. His basic character was established right back then. But as I filled in detail around that, I had to sort out in my mind how he would react, and started to create a much more extensive picture of his personal and family life: his soul, if you like, and the various ways in which it is hurt or healed.

Storylines have always fascinated me. I'm sure that you have a storyline already worked out before you start writing, but do you find that you keep to it, or do you deviate along the way? For example, with some authors their characters surprise them with the directions that they take; do you find this too?

The overall structure of the book is pretty important to me, so by and large I plan out the big-picture storyline and then stick to it. But as with the character development, there are places where I stop and reconsider whether the original idea makes sense. Like most of us, I guess, I end up having to be quite careful about getting the things I describe lining up correctly with each other, and also with historical events we know about already. I have just been creating a large spreadsheet for my current WIP so as to get things organised properly.

One question that I like to ask authors is this: do you have a special place where you prefer to write, and a special time of day? Or do you find that you can write anywhere, anytime?

I love the Northern Line! For those unfamiliar with it, this is an underground railway in London. My daily commute is long enough that I can do some writing, editing or reading, and really make use of the time. Outside that, I prefer to use evenings rather than mornings, largely because my day job starts pretty early and before long I'm on the phone to my colleagues in India. Generally I prefer long blocks of time rather than bits and pieces, but I'll take whatever I can.

Many authors like to write in longhand, and then put it onto the computer. Richard, which do you prefer, and why?

I used to do longhand but then flipped to direct input. Longhand did not add anything useful for me, and I am quite disciplined about re-reading multiple times to make sure things make sense. My changeover happened at the time I got a smart phone which was easy to use for typing. All of a sudden it was so much quicker to type away and just use copy/paste, rather than write it out once and then type it all in again. Since then I have never been tempted to go back to longhand.

Please could you tell our readers which one you wrote first, Richard, your PhD thesis, or your first novel, and did the writing of the one help the writing of the other?

That's interesting! I started the novel well before finishing the thesis, during the information gathering stage. The core of the book sorted itself out in my head then. But when it came to writing up and then preparing for the interview stage of the thesis, I found I simply could not swap writing modes. So the novel went on hold for a considerable time during which I did not think about it.

It wasn't so much the material being different; it was the difficulty of making the changeover from formal to fiction or vice versa. I am so glad I did the thesis first, since it gave me an enormous love for ancient writing. I try to incorporate some older structures, patterns and language forms into my own writing in various ways: some people like this and some do not. For me it is an important part of recognising a debt we owe to writers of that era who have remained almost entirely anonymous. It is a little frustrating when people (including one recent publisher's reviewer) assume some language uses are modern insertions when I know they are authentically ancient, but that cannot be helped.

Did you use the same discipline that you used in writing your PhD as in the writing of your novel?

Not really. The thesis had to be built on evidence, used creatively to be sure in order to bridge the many gaps in our knowledge, but always with a view to defending any claims or deductions. And of course there was a huge number of references needing to be carefully cited, these being a mixture of ancient documents and modern critical thought.

With the novels I can be much more open to speculation and exploration - as for example with the matrilocal society. There's very little in my writing which doesn't have some kind of basis in reality, but I happily admit that in some places the link is tenuous. I suppose my adherence to overall structure, and the places where I deliberately incorporate poetry into prose, are the points at which the two areas of writing draw closest.

Finally, Richard, how do you deal with your editing process? Do you edit as you go, or do you find doing a major edit right at the end works better for you?

Both, really. I edit in a kind of continuous process once a long enough chunk is down that this makes sense. That (usually) catches a lot of problems. But I do then go over things in a more major way towards the end, and when I'm satisfied get in some external help. A few things still slip through the net but the combination works pretty well. My current WIP involves a number of separate strands which combine in the end, and I am acutely aware of the risks of things not quite making sense when they are interleaved with each other.

I would like to thank you very much for talking with me today, Richard; it has been extremely interesting and insightful.

My pleasure, Louise, thanks for the invite.



Richard Abbott can be found on Facebook and on Twitter.
Richard's website can be found here.

Louise E. Rule is author of Future Confronted.
Louise can be found on Twitter and on Facebook.

Sunday Wrap Up: Week ending March 9, 2014

Hello and welcome to our newest in a new series of weekly wrapping up of the week's worth of activity. This time round we have a gorgeous display of variety, what with Regency romance, historical fiction with focus on the Great War, fantasy and New Kingdom Egypt filling our pages. Very keen to explore a diversity of genres and topics, The Review Group welcomes author submissions for review; details can be found above at our submissions tab. 

Whether you are a returning or new reader, we welcome and encourage your comments, especially as many of our entries are accompanied by giveaways--and the best part is entry involves only commenting on the same blog as the review! Typically there is also a link for Facebook users. Wherever you comment, please ensure we will be able to contact you in the event you're our winner--we want our giveaways to go far and wide and see lots of winners! 

Relax and peruse the posts for the past week, feel free to comment, and enjoy the ride!

Jayne's love of Regency romance shines through in this review of a novel that opens with a tragedy resulting dire circumstances for our protagonist. A further tragedy leads to greater burden for Letty, who plans for the future to regain some of the past. Will it work out? Well, Letty will lead you to that answer, but Jayne states, "I have read many Regency romance books and this one compares favourably with the others. Letty is a character that I could empathise with and I admired her strength which comes over very well in the book." To see more of what Jayne says and information about the book, click right here. 

Currently there is a giveaway for a FREE copy of The Widow's Redeemer; please follow blog link above for details and to comment. 

First in a series, In Foreign Fields tells of two British officers sent during the Great War's Battle of Mons into enemy territory to complete secret missions. Stuart writes, "David Hough does a terrific job in recreating the image of a nation in ruins as the tide of war sweeps over it leaving destruction and grief in its wake. It is an old fashioned, edge of the seat page turner that holds your attention as Wendel and his friends finally reach the château and prepare to complete their mission. . .  as the book reaches it climatic finale where through the flames and smoke of a night of high drama and horror crimes are avenged and hopes for a fresh start are tantalisingly close." Hold onto your seat and click here for more details on this page turner that Stuart declares he shall follow as the series progresses. 

An exciting fantasy, Deep Echoes brings us further into the week with "a world unto itself. . . complete with annals, geographical features and. . . underlying threat." Well, if the story seems to come alive with that idea reaching out from its pages, your further interest is sure to be piqued by Anna's continuing description: "What follows is a nice combination of a coming-of-age story and a War of the Worlds scenario." And who doesn't want to grow up with their world at war and fighting to defend those whose rejection has placed them at the parameters of society? Fortunately for you, dear readers, and us as well, we can "live" (read: adventure) vicariously through the pages of the book--with hint of a sequel, so reviewer Anna confides--from the safety of our overstuffed chairs. 

Travel to ancient civilizations has also never been so easy! Margaret wraps up our week with a review for Richard Abbott's Scenes From a Life--which by the by entails a giveaway--as Makty-Rasut searches for his roots. Readers are likely to be drawn in by Abbott's progression of the tale, as Margaret elaborates on: "The structure of the book is also interesting – alternate chapters take us to Makty’s present and past – with the chapters in the present moving forwards, those in the past taking us progressively further back. If this sounds complicated, it isn’t. I found it an effective way of structuring the story and had no problem following the timeline." A sort of reverse linear, as it were, seems as if bit by bit the clues to who Makty is and the roots of underlying questions (his and our own) are answered, not unlike how they would be for Makty himself. Engaging indeed!

Currently there is a giveaway for a copy of Scenes From a Life; please follow blog link above for details and to comment. 

Missed last week's wrap up? Reader dear, never fear, click right here!

Scenes From a Life reviewed by Margaret Skea

Scenes From a Life by Richard Abbott                             

Reviewed by Margaret Skea

The author Richard Abbott is giving a copy of this book away. Please see below for details.

The back cover blurb of this book promises a quest – the main character Makty-Rasut searching for his roots. A scribe who designs and oversees the building of tombs for the elite, Makty’s life is comfortable but he is unable or unwilling to settle in one place, despite encouragement from others and a succession of women with whom he has the potential for a life-long relationship. Although structured in an unusual way (see below) this is his story from birth to eventual fulfillment - not so much a coming of age tale, for much of the book is concerned with Makty as an adult, but rather his journey to an understanding of what really matters in life. This is always a good premise for a story and it delivers. Add to that the exotic setting – I knew very little of New Kingdom Egypt, so was very much looking forward to reading this.

The setting is well realized, both in the background details – how the work of painting tombs would have been done, the wider culture, religious beliefs etc and in the use of language –the term ‘inundation’ for example to establish the changing seasons - Abbott knows his period and place and does a good job of transporting the reader there.

The structure of the book is also interesting – alternate chapters take us to Makty’s present and past – with the chapters in the present moving forwards, those in the past taking us progressively further back. If this sounds complicated, it isn’t. I found it an effective way of structuring the story and had no problem following the timeline.

The storyline itself is simple, but there is an additional level of interest provided by the fact that towards the end of the book deeper connections between the main characters are revealed. The ending is not unexpected but is fitting – and is the one point at which the main character shows development. It was in the characterization that I found the book less satisfactory - throughout it Makty seemed rather two-dimensional – undoubtedly talented as a designer of tombs, but otherwise a stereotypical male – his life consisting of working and making a series of sexual conquests without any level of commitment, and able to leave them behind as he moved from job to job without any apparent regret. Though several other characters comment on this facet of Makty’s character I was left with the impression either that they thought it didn’t really matter (Khaem) or that they cared only for Makty’s sake and not for the women concerned (Sanedjem). I imagine we are supposed to feel that this behavior is as a result of his early life experiences and therefore sympathize with him, but it didn’t work for me. I was also a little disappointed in the level of Shunaya’s passivity in  response to Makty’s actions towards the end of the book. I’d be interested to know whether male readers would react differently.

What did work for me was the lyricism of the writing, unfortunately marred by occasional clumsy phrasing or repetitions (for example ‘just now’ occurs in two adjacent sentences) but these are problems that a good editor could / should have spotted. (Probably my English teacher background coming out here.) Those aside, there is lovely description - evocative sentences or phrases that add so much to the atmosphere of the book. To give just one example - ‘hovered like a bird of the reedy marshes around the borders of their conversation.’

This is an easy read (it took me only two evenings) and one that gives a glimpse of a culture and period that I suspect most readers will know little about. I feel I know much more of New Kingdom Egypt now and I would certainly read another book by this writer.

To get your name in the hat for a free copy of this book, please comment below or at our Facebook link for this blog entry! (Please ensure we have a means to identify and contact you in the event of a win!)

From the exhibition The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt,  on loan to Kimball Art Museum , 2003

 Margaret Skea is the author of numerous short stories and of Turn of the Tide. Her latest short story, "In sha’Allah" was placed third in the Rubery International Short Story competition and is published in their new anthology On the Bench.