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Lovely Books // villains

Tracey Dyck 21 Comments

Well, well, well. What do we have here?

A clichéd villain line used as a blog post opener? Surely you wouldn’t stoop so low. Delete those words now, and no one gets hurt. Delete them or else. Delete them or your loved ones pay the ultimate price. Delete them or I will tell the whole world your Deepest, Darkest Secret. Mwahaha.

. . .

What, none of that fazes you? You refuse to comply? Very well. You’ll pay for this, Tracey.

Um. Apparently I was just having a villainous conversation with myself. I promise you I’m a completely sane, law-abiding citizen, and that whatever crazy I do have is confined to words on a page. (Usually.)

All that nonsense aside, welcome to the third round of Lovely Books! Here’s a rundown in case you missed it:

First, we grew infatuated with some beautiful novels bearing attractive names. Then we got to know them a little better as we discussed their romantic sides. Now the book-love is put to the test as we delve into the dark corners of our favorite stories. It’s getting real here, people–no more surface fluff between us and the books. Now it’s down to the genuine, nitty-gritty relationship. (Okay. That analogy is already crumbling to pieces in my mind, so let’s not dwell on that.)

What I’m trying to say is that Round 3 is all about villains. Some we love, and others we love to hate. If you want to join in the discussion, there’s a linkup form at the bottom of this post, along with the very few rules involved. (Basically: steal the Lovely Books picture, write up a villainous post, and add your link to the form. Bam. That’s all there is to it. Oh, and if you feel like combining editions, go for it.)

Those lovely antagonists . . .

Bartholomew Thorne
(Isle of Swords duology by Wayne Thomas Batson)
 
He’s a pirate! (Cue this music.) A fiendishly awesome pirate who wields a spiked staff, his ‘bleeding stick.’ He kills and pillages and burns, much as you’d expect from his ilk.

“Much more than that,” said Thorne with an ominous, gravelly laugh. “That flask was filled with a potent mixture of the strongest rum and ground-up bog myrtle roots. It enflames their blood lust until is nigh unquenchable and deadens the pain that they feel. When the Berserkers reach the field of battle, it will be with such blunt violence . . . such a bloody frenzy, that few–if any–who come in contact with them will withstand it. My advice to you, Mister Teach: stay out of their way.”
-Isle of Fire


Pastor Jeremiah Marsh
(Solitary Tales by Travis Thrasher)
 
This guy is a major creep. He’s the pastor of a church in the small town of Solitary, but God is strangely absent from his sermons. He’s got skeletons in the closet (literally). His deranged wife never leaves the house. He starts out trying to pass as a nice guy, even buying the main character Chris a gift, but from the start you can tell something is more than a little off with this man. I can’t say too much else without spoiling things.

[He’s speaking of God here.] Marsh pauses, his eyes narrowing, his face growing dim. “Nobody’s on the other line, Chris. He left a long time ago.”
-Hurt


Mictar
(Echoes from the Edge trilogy by Bryan Davis)
 
If Jeremiah Marsh is a creep, Mictar is a psycho. If I remember him clearly enough, he’s tall, gaunt, and pale–a walking corpse fresh from the graveyard, as Nathan describes him. His modus operandi involves sucking the life out of his victims by taking out their eyeballs. I have vivid memories of those scenes . . . eyes sitting in the palm of his hand, with the veins still attached and bleggghhh . . . That dude is just evil.

“Anything I want?” Mictar covered Dr. Simon’s eyes with his dark hand and spoke softly. “I want you to die.”
Dr. Simon’s body stiffened, his mouth locked open in a voiceless scream. As Mictar kept his hand over his victim’s eyes, sparks flew around his fingers, and the two men seemed to hover a few inches off the floor. Simon quaked violently, while Mictar’s body gradually regained its light.
-Beyond the Reflection’s Edge
 

The White Witch
(The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis)
 
A classic villainess! As the proud Queen Jadis in The Magician’s Nephew, she prompted me to mentally shout “No! No, stop it, you evil creature!” many a time. (Why, oh why, did Digory have to strike that bell?) And then as the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, she is perfectly malevolent. And yet the reader is ever aware that she is not the most powerful being in Narnia. When Aslan roars at her, isn’t that such a satisfying feeling?

“I had forgotten that you are only a common boy. How should you understand reasons of State? You must learn, child, that what would be wrong for you or for any of the common people is not wrong in a great Queen such as I. The weight of the world is on our shoulders. We must be freed from all rules. Ours is a high and lonely destiny.”
-The Magician’s Nephew
 

Marsuvees Black
(Paradise Trilogy by Ted Dekker)
 
Going back to pyschos, apparently. Saying Marsuvees is messed up would be an understatement. His catchphrase, “Wanna trip, baby?” makes him sound like a druggie, which he isn’t. But he does swagger around town in his trench coat and wide-brimmed hat, convincing people to stake each other in the heart and lovely things like that. And I seem to remember him being involved with those big slimy worms and those really important books . . . ? And I think he does something with eyeballs too. I’d say he ranks among the weirder villains Dekker has written. But then again, that’s a fairly long list.

“Now, when I say that I’ve come to bring grace and hope, I may mean something altogether different than what you think. My kind of grace and hope is full of life, my friends. A real trip. Not that you have to agree with my definitions of those two most holy words. I’m not here to ram anything down your throats, no sir. But we’re on dangerous ground here, and I strongly suggest you pay attention.”
-Showdown

Death-in-Life / Life-in-Death
(Tales of Goldstone Wood by Anne Elisabeth Stengl)
 

This sibling pair is deliciously creepy! Though the Lady of Dreams (Life-in-Death) doesn’t appear that often in the series as a whole, she wreaks havoc in the lives of good characters by tempting them with the realization of their dreams, only to leave them hollow and dissatisfied upon the fulfillment of those dreams. And the Dragon (Death-in-Life) is FABULOUS. With paper-white skin stretched over a black skull, and his ability to transform into a monstrous dragon at will, he makes for a formidable foe. Oh yeah, and he’s basically the Satan figure of this story world.

“Did you bring the dice?”
He raises a hand. The skin is leprous pale, stretched thin over black bones, and each finger is tipped with a talon. In his palm he holds two dice, their faces marked with strange devices.
“I want her for my child,” he repeats, and smoke licks from his forked tongue. “She is beloved of my Enemy.”
“Roll the dice,” says the Lady, her eyes not breaking gaze with his.
“I want her, sister.”
“Roll the dice.”
He clatters them together in his hand, then sets them rolling across the mist-churned floor. Her gaze does not move from his face as he follows the progress of the dice. When at last they are still, she sees the flash of triumph pass over him.
“The game is done,” her brother says. “I have won.”
“She is yours, then,” the Lady replies. “Take her. But ‘ware, brother! You’ve not won yet.”
-Heartless


Morgan La Faye
(Dragons in Our Midst and Oracles of Fire by Bryan Davis)
 
Remember her from the original King Arthur legends? She sashays her way into the Dragons in Our Midst story world, all crafty and silver-tongued. Sometimes she appears in the form of a raven. Surviving millennia, she manipulates and lures and slays from the dawn of time up until present day. Makes me want to gather all the heroes in my arms and protect them from her witchiness.

Billy took a quick step back, and Morgan folded her hands at her waist, bowing her head. “I am under a curse only you can break, Billy Bannister.” She looked up again, her eyes imploring. “Set me free, and I’ll help you take the throne of England. Together we’ll spread your goodness to all of mankind.”
-Circles of Seven

Taksidian
(Dreamhouse Kings by Robert Liparulo)

An assassin with a penchant for dismembering his victims. He keeps a horrible sculpture-thing made of people’s fingers and ears and noses all glued together. Pursuing the King family across the ages (it’s a time travel series, you see), he will stop at nothing to get what he wants. He’s just plain malicious. And I don’t recall the details (again!), but I believe his evil plans are far-reaching.

“Can’t let you do that, Mr. Taksidian,” the remaining cop said. “It’s not your house, sir.”
David expected the man to say Not yet . . . but what he did say was worse.
“But, Officer Benson,” Taksidian said, “there’s no place they can hide where I can’t find them.”
-Gatekeepers

 

Hashim
(Head Game by Tim Downs)
 
I would be very surprised if any of you had heard of him. He lost his family, home, and honor because of Cale Caldwell (the protagonist) in the Desert Storm of Iraq. Driven by revenge, he goes after Cale, but not with brute force and sprays of bullets. No, he would rather deal one psychologically crippling blow after the other, so piece by piece, he dismantles Cale’s life. Diabolical, isn’t he?
 
Sadly, I have no quotes from him, as I don’t own the book and couldn’t find anything online.
 
Gollum
 
I needed to mention at least one sympathetic ‘villain.’ But that’s not to say that Gollum is any less deserving of being on this list! Oh no! He’s a many-layered character, tragically flawed and, at heart, very human. He made bad choices, and we can see how much he suffers the consequences. Obsessed with the Ring, living a miserable life . . . I mean, just think of how stark the contrast is between his current existence in a cold, damp cave, and the warm, countryside home he surely used to have as a hobbit. When you remember how dearly hobbits love home and food and quiet, Gollum’s life seems even more wretched. But even this lurking little antagonist does some good in the end. 😉
 
“Is it nice, my preciousss? Is it juicy? Is it scrumptiously crunchable?”
-The Hobbit
 
It appears I enjoy the villains with dark, twisted minds. Also ones with tragic backstories. But mostly the really, deep down evil guys. I don’t know, maybe because the blacker the shadows, the brighter the light shines? (I do like the sympathetic villains as well, the ones who are more grey than black, but I couldn’t think of many.)
 

Come to the dark side, readers…

 

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Lovely Books // couples

Tracey Dyck 30 Comments

Welcome to the second edition of Lovely Books! Last week, we gloried in the beauty of cover art and snappy titles. Today, the eve of Valentine’s Day, is the perfect time to pull out the warm, fuzzy feelings and discuss lovely bookish couples.
This is a linkup hosted by yours truly. I’d love for you to join in! You can participate in as many or as few of the four editions of Lovely Books as you like, in whatever order you like. (Meaning you could write a post on couples today, and then decide to go back and do covers/titles tomorrow if you so wished. There are practically no rules.) Two more editions of Lovely Books are scheduled to come out on February 20th and 27th.
All I ask is that you use the Lovely Books picture provided in each edition, and then be sure to use the linky thingamabob so that others can find your bookwormy ramblings.
If you have any questions, ask in the comments! And if you don’t have a blog, but can’t resist participating anyway, feel free to comment with some of your favorite fictional couples.
Onwards! What follows are just ten of the character pairings that make me swoon.
Billy and Bonnie
(the Dragons in Our Midst story world by Bryan Davis)
Yes sirree, we’re kicking off the list with my beloved anthrozils! (For those who’ve never read the books: firstly, anthrozils are half human, half dragon. Secondly, GET THEE TO A BOOKSTORE.) Billy and Bonnie grow so much over the course of the first twelve books. And a bit in the last four as well, though they’re not as much in the spotlight. Anyway, their romance is so sweet and chaste and strong . . . I just love them. I love all of Bryan Davis’s character couples, come to think of it. Billy and Bonnie are kind of the classic pair, though. They go through terrible circumstances side by side, standing up for each other, forgiving each other, and trusting each other.
[source]


Mr. Bingley and Jane Bennett
(Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)
Admittedly, my brain latches onto the 2005 movie version of these two, not the book version–but still. They are completely adorable together. Jane is the sweetest thing, so quiet and reserved and eager to believe the absolute best about everyone. And Mr. Bingley gets socially awkward around her, in a very sweet way, just grinning in her presence. (See, I can’t even remember how much of that is actually from the novel. Oops.)
The Dragon and Rose
(of Burning Thorns by Christine Smith; unpublished–for now, mwaha)
(click here to meet the cast, and over here to read some snippets)
It’s no secret that I love Beauty and the Beast. Christine’s retelling, originally a novella penned for the Rooglewood Press contest last year, has since grown into a full out novel (which I have the immense pleasure of reading now), and its protagonists are so. very. shippable. Sweet and sunny Rose comes traipsing into the life of the gruff, tortured soul dubbed ‘The Dragon,’ and, well . . . you can guess where that goes. A food fight scene from the novella remains one of my favorites of ever. After all the cold standoffishness on the Dragon’s part, seeing him drop his guard long enough to get into a food fight is hilarious and heartwarming.
Eanrin and Imraldera
(Tales of Goldstone Wood series by Anne Elisabeth Stengl)
There’s no way on this green earth that this couple wasn’t getting a spot on this list. No way. Because theirs is perhaps the most amusing, most lovable, most infuriating relationship I’ve had the pleasure of reading. Eanrin, a self-absorbed Fae bard who spends much of his time in cat form . . . Imraldera, a–no wait, I shouldn’t mention that–or that–ack, spoilers! Suffice it to say, she’s a wonderfully deep character. Selfless and brave and somehow gentle and strong all at once. She and Eanrin take just a few days short of forever to even come close to realizing there might be some romantic possibility between them. Anyone who’s read Shadow Hand can now join me in howling our fierce fangirly agony at the moon. (Though really, I wouldn’t have this subplot any other way. Slow and layered and delightful is just right.)
[source]
Jonah and Felicity
(A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd)
I just finished this adorable Middle Grade novel this week. Yes, they’re only eleven years old. But give them half a decade or more, and I will smoosh them together with great enthusiasm. Felicity Juniper Pickle is a downright spindiddly character, brimming with imagination and heart. And Jonah Pickett, her new, wheelchair-bound best friend? Well, he’s like a spiky-haired bottle of sunshine, he is. He spends his time planning secret good deeds for the townsfolk. He’s also an amazing encourager, always telling Felicity exactly what she needs to hear, exactly when she needs to hear it. I’m not ashamed to admit that they elicited more than a few happy squeals from this reader.
Charlie and Beth
(The Homelanders series by Andrew Klavan)
I’m a little fuzzy on the plot these two are involved in, being as I haven’t read the books in a while. But I remember them. Charlie is a patriotic, selfless, brave guy; kind of like a young Captain America. Down to earth. Just wants to do the right thing. That kind of person. And Beth is an incredibly kind girl. I distinctly remember that when she talks with anyone, she focuses so intently on what they have to say that they feel like the only other person in the world; they feel like they truly matter. And I remember thinking, “Wow, I wish I was more like her.” So. Throw in some amnesia on Charlie’s part, and some terrorists out to get him and those he loves, and you’re up for a fabulously exciting romantic subplot.
Paul Falcon and Ann Silver
(Full Disclosure by Dee Henderson)
If I remembered more of the O’Malley series, I might have picked one of those couples instead. Maybe? But seeing as this is the latest Dee Henderson books I’ve read, I’m going with Ann and Paul. They’re 30-something, both involved in secret FBI sorts of things. Their romance is mature and level-headed, which is a gulp of fresh air after a smog of insta-love and “oh my goodness, I’m going to run away with that bad boy because he’s hot and has anger issues!” (Yes, that’s primarily a YA problem, and Full Disclosure is an adult novel, so I’m not really comparing apples to apples. But still.) Anyway. Paul is incredibly thoughtful. And Ann is a really introverted writer. I like ’em both rather a lot.
Luca and Lia
(River of Time series by Lisa T. Bergren)
While I love Gabriella and Marcello, the main duo, I really love Luca and Lia. In case you haven’t heard of this series, the basic premise is that sisters Gabi and Lia time travel to medieval Italy through a magical Etruscan tomb. Adventure and romance and even some historical/political intrigue ensues. Luca’s fabulous personality–all charm and laidback humor–meshes adorably with Lia’s feisty-yet-tender soul. Their banter is all kinds of wonderful. Once again, it’s been some time since reading it, so I don’t remember specifics, but this quote on Goodreads jogged my memory:

Lia aimed, shifted, and waited, watching one man peek out time and time again. She let her arrow fly, anticipating his next peek at us, and it pierced his eye.

“Okay, that’s just going to make ’em mad,” I said.

“Three hundred and ninety-two,” she said to Luca, tossing her braid over her shoulder and taking aim again.

“Saints in heaven,” he said to me, rolling his eyes, “how much deeper in love can I yet fall?”


Told ya.
Cat and Anne Ross


(Isle of Swords duology by Wayne Thomas Batson)


[source]
Cat: a young man with amnesia (I seem to fall for the guys who can’t remember their past . . .) and a dark history and plenty of internal struggles. Anne Ross: the firebrand daughter of a pirate, a girl who wants nothing more than to captain her own ship someday. (Anytime now, Dad, thank you.) How can I not ship two lovable pirates? Oh yes, I forgot to mention that Cat joins the crew. Anywhozens, these two are another one of those adorable pairs. A certain father does not approve of the relationship, by the way. (Bother. I need to stop picking couples from books I read long ago. I’m questioning every other sentence here. Correct me if I mess up the details!) Much delightfulness here. If any of you read the ending of Isle of Fire, you know how perfect that was!
Cor (a.k.a. Shasta) and Aravis
(The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis)
I wasn’t intending to put them on this list. But I wanted an even ten couples, and as I was scanning my shelves in search of another romantic duo, Cor and Aravis came to mind. The main reason is this section of the book’s final paragraph:
[source]

Aravis also had many quarrels (and, I’m afraid, even fights) with Cor, but they always made it up again: so that years later, when they were grown up, they were so used to quarreling and making it up again that they got married so as to go on doing it more conveniently. And after King Lune’s death they made a good King and Queen of Archenland, and Ram the Great, the most famous of all the kings of Archenland, was their son.

Not that I think healthy marriages are founded on quarreling (heavens, no!–although disagreements are inevitable and should definitely be worked through), but something about this snippet strikes me as drily charming. And the fact that their relationship is strong enough to weather so many quarrels does speak volumes!

~*~
Here’s the linkup form, if you care to join me in gushing over make-believe people in make-believe relationships. Feel free to mention only three couples. Or five. Or ten dozen. Whatever floats your boat! As I said, there are practically zero rules for this thing. Just have fun discussing whatever topic we’re on! Oh, and if you’re participating in more than one edition, please put your link in each time! I don’t want to miss anyone’s posts.
(Shout-out to Squeaks and Mary Horton for being my first-ever linkers for my first-ever linkup! Woot!)

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Lovely Books // covers & titles

Tracey Dyck 32 Comments

February, as we well know, is all about love. Usually it’s in the context of relationships, but I’m using this month as an excuse to talk about books that I love.

Introducing Lovely Books! Each Saturday during the month of February, I’ll be focusing on a different aspect of those wonderful bundles of dead trees and ink that we like to pet and sniff and sometimes devour. Best of all, I’m making this my first ever link-up, inviting you to join me! Because what’s better than one bookworm gushing over books? Two or three or several dozen bookworms gushing over books they love, of course.

Today is all about lovely covers and lovely titles. Shallow? Mayhap, but none of us can deny the power of a strong title or an eye-catching cover. We really do tend to judge books by these surface qualities. (Though sometimes an incredible story is disguised by a shabby cover, or a glitzy cover may hide a second-rate tale.) But I’m not here to discuss the rightness or wrongness of such tendencies, so let’s get on with the show.

The rules are so simple, they’re almost non-existent. Just grab the picture, and use it in your own post talking about covers and titles you adore! Be sure to use the linky I included at the end.

(This will not be a comprehensive list. I’m sure if I browsed the library or a bookstore to jog my memory, I’d have five times as many to show you.)

(Most of these will be books I either own or have at least read, but at the end I’ll point to a few covers of books I haven’t yet explored. This is all about the looks here, not what lies underneath, which will come later this month. Though I’d say most of what’s on my list has content to match the covers.)

Cover Love

The Bones of Makaidos – Bryan Davis
There’s so much epicness happening here! Several characters manage to fit onto this cover without making it feel cluttered. The battle raging in the background definitely piques one’s interest.
The Errant King – Wayne Thomas Batson
This. Just–what are words? It’s clever and unusual and gorgeously illustrated. I love the depictions of both characters (and that’s such a hit or miss kind of thing, illustrating characters on the cover–what if they look weird, or different than how I imagine them?). But this is fabulous.
Isle of Fire – Wayne Thomas Batson
Pirate ships! Fire! Skull and crossbones! Ahh!
If We Survive – Andrew Klavan
I know I’ve mentioned this book before, but I have to drool over the colors and jungle-y-ness of it again.
Shadow Hand – Anne Elisabeth Stengl
Quite possibly my favorite cover of the entire series so far!
Illusionarium – Heather Dixon
I couldn’t talk about gorgeous covers without mentioning this one, now could I? The steampunk detail on the borders, the period clothing, gah, EVERYTHING. (Though I still can’t figure out which character the girl is supposed to be. She has the wrong hair color to be any of the main females, except for maybe one, and I’m sure this is not her.
Plain Kate – Erin Bow
Whimsical with a faint hint of eeriness . . . beautiful colors . . . yes, preciousss.
Outlaw – Ted Dekker
It looks like someone cut a hole right through the book, focusing our attention on the dark jungle background and the silhouette of a mysterious somebody.
Forbidden – Ted Dekker & Tosca Lee
Simple and gothic in style. The bleeding heart makes sense once you read the book. I always love it when I get to the point in the story that reveals the cover’s meaning.
The Dark Unwinding – Sharon Cameron
One of the only other steampunk books I’ve read besides Illusionarium. Pretty blue dress, eye-catching title graphics, and can we take a moment to appreciate that humongous, creepy mansion in the background?
Raven’s Ladder – Jeffrey Overstreet
Come on, it’s an epic guy holding a sword! And the sweeping perspective is perfect for a fantasy novel. (As a side note, this cover–it’s the third in the series–is what got my brother interested in reading it. Not book one, two, or four. This one.)
Offworld – Robin Parrish
Dark and brooding . . . an eerily abandoned bicycle lying on the highway . . . If you like sci-fi and/or space even a little bit, go read this one.
Nightmare – Robin Parrish
Creepy, once again . . .
Illusion – Frank Peretti
Another cover that wonderfully captures the content of the pages within. The colors are soft and golden as memory. The birds and the bit of theater curtain on the edge allude to the main couple’s magician life.





Emissary – Thomas Locke
You saw this coming. Serious cover love going on here. (Maybe it’s because the orb on the staff reminds me of an object in my own fantasy series.)
Return of the Guardian King – Karen Hancock
Kind of just screams classic fantasy, doesn’t it?
House of Dark Shadows – Robert Liparulo
There’s something about a creepy house that always gets my attention. And I love the title font used for this series!
The Black and White Rainbow – John Trent & Judy Love
This is here partially for nostalgia’s sake–it was one of my absolute favorite childhood books–but also because the illustrations were so pretty and fun. It starts out black and white, but as the story progresses, colors are added. The cover portrays both a world of color and a world without.

And now for a few covers of books I have not yet read (but probably will).

Toothiana: Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies – William Joyce
I’ve been meaning to read this series since I saw the movie based off it, Rise of the Guardians. This cover in particular is so prettyful, and that shade of teal is one of my personal favorites.
The Golden Braid – Melanie Dickerson
I read the first two books (which were so-so), but this cover depicts Rapunzel rather beautifully, don’t you think?
Six of Crows – Leigh Bardugo
This book has been stalking  me around the blogosphere lately, and the cover keeps snatching at my eyeballs. Crows are just kind of cool, okay? (Except when they’re being pesky, raucous creatures in my neighborhood.)
Passenger – Alexandra Bracken
I know exactly zero about this book, but THAT COVER. A city in a bottle, a ship in the reflection–ack, it’s so pretty.
Ink and Bone – Rachel Caine
I ‘overhead’ a conversation about this book in the comments section of a blog recently. Not only is the premise totally gripping, but this cover is lovely too.
Plenilune – Jennifer Freitag
I’ve heard bits and pieces about this book, mostly that it’s HUMONGOUSLY LONG–but that is one powerful cover.
The Progeny – Tosca Lee
(It doesn’t come out until May 2016, just so you know.) Again, I’m quite enjoying the gothic feel of the cover, and masquerade masks are a sure-fire way to make me perk up.
Five Magic Spindles – ???
Seriously, this might be one of my favorite covers EVER. I’m completely in love with the golden, autumnal colors! (And because I need an outlet, however brief, to release some excitement . . . THE WINNERS ARE BEING ANNOUNCED IN 24 DAYS!!!!!)
In summary. . .
It appears that I have a color scheme going on, consisting of a lot of blues, greens, reds, and golds. Huh. I also gravitate towards epic artwork rather than abstract (though there’s a tiny bit of that in there, too). Covers that promise something exciting, beautiful, or slightly creepy definitely get my attention!

Lovely Titles

We’re not finished just yet! To rest your eyes from that overwhelming collection of gorgeous cover art, here’s a short list of just some of my favorite titles, in no particular order.
  • Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
  • Circles of Seven (Bryan Davis)
  • The Tide of Unmaking (Wayne Thomas Batson)
  • Solitary (Travis Thrasher)
  • The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)
  • Heartless (Anne Elisabeth Stengl)
  • Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell–nonfiction, by the way)
  • The Screwtape Letters (C.S. Lewis)
  • First the Dead (Tim Downs)
  • The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins)
  • The Windy Side of Care (Rachel Heffington)
  • The Grand Sophy (Georgette Heyer)
  • The Last Thing I Remember (Andrew Klavan)
  • And I’m drawing a big, fat blank now . . . I know there are more delicious titles that I love, but no more are coming to me. Like I said before, I could probably wander a library and end up quadrupling this list!
I like titles that roll off the tongue, like The Windy Side of Care. I like short, punchy titles like Heartless, Solitary, and Outliers. I like alliteration (Pride and Prejudice) and classics (The Hobbit). I like titles that hook me upon first glance, such as The Last Thing I Remember. Words like Screwtape or Unmaking are unusual and demand that I understand them.
Seriously, I wish I remembered enough awesome titles to make that a longer list. Ah, well.

Would you care to join me?


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Subplots and Storylines – January 2016

Tracey Dyck 21 Comments

Well, my friends, the first month of 2016 is almost behind us. I hope yours was a good one! Mine was. It started with a belated Christmas gathering, was sprinkled with various social doings, and ended up being a productive writing month in the midst of all that.

I stepped out of my comfort zone by driving to my friend’s place an hour away, in a part of the city where I’ve never driven by myself before. I was going to take the GPS, but it went on the fritz, leaving me to check some maps, punch the address into my phone, and tape written directions to my dashboard. It sounds ridiculous, but I wanted to be prepared. Getting lost is not my idea of fun. Anyway, I’m proud to report that I made it there and back just fine, and had a great time with my friend to boot! I hadn’t seen her in several months, so it was awesome to catch up.

City driving happened again when I spent an afternoon in the city with another friend, discussing the details of her upcoming March wedding. (I’m going to be one of her bridesmaids!) A few days later, we met up again to find bridesmaid dresses. They’re going to be gorgeous: wine-colored, floor length . . .

Life at work has definitely been different than usual lately, as we’ve had a crew renovating certain parts of the store. Funny anecdote . . .

I met possibly the strangest customer yet–a young man (wearing rainbow socks) who thought he could take a pair of boots out of the store . . . without paying . . . in order to compare them to something in another store. Um, no. “What if I jezt take one boot?” he asked.

“Sorry, I can’t let you leave the store with unpaid merchandise,” I replied.

“What am I going to do wiz only one boot?”

I shrugged and reiterated the policy.

“Well, what eef I leave you my wallet? It has one hundred dollars een eet!”

Apparently there are people who think we still use a medieval bartering system . . .

On another note, Old Man Winter has been a capricious beast this month, first dropping the temperatures down to minus thirty degrees (Celsius), then warming up to near-melting weather. None of us are fooled, of course: a month or two of winter still lies ahead.

Between the bitter cold and yucky slush, I went ice skating twice and had so much fun.

Oh, and guess what came in the mail?? Just kidding, don’t guess. I’ll tell you. The Raising Dragons graphic novel! I was so excited. As a Kickstarter backer, I’d pledged enough to get a copy, so I’ve been following James Art Ville’s journey of adapting a book into a graphic novel. He has worked so hard, and by the looks of these beautiful illustrations, it’s really paid off!


January Films & Shows

  • Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation – I didn’t realize how much I loved spy/heist movies until watching this one. (My first MI, actually.) Seriously. I LOVED IT SO MUCH. The plot, the humor (Benji’s lines were the best), the suspense . . . So good! Now I want to watch all the ones that came before. Also the Bourne movies. Really need to see those.
  • About a dozen Once Upon a Time Season 2 episodes – My sisters and I are almost finished the season. One of my favorite episodes was Manhattan. All the relational conflict! All the secrets revealed! The family relationships are seriously messed up, though.
  • Everest – I can sit back and calmly watch entire fantasy armies run at each other, or superheroes fight to defend a city, or teenage girls overthrow their government. But watching human beings attempt to scale Mount Everest–and not only try to make it to the summit, but to make it back down again safely–that is intense on an entirely different level. I literally gasped aloud numerous times. My forehead hurt from being scrunched into a frown of apprehension for so long. One character had it right: “This is suffering.” People walk across ladders set up over impossibly deep crevasses. They endure the buffeting winds and freezing temperatures and freak storms. Some freeze to death. Some succumb to frostbite. Some, their brains swelling from the high altitudes, go crazy and do things that could (and do) kill them. Brave people on the way down to safety turn back to help their fellow climbers. And how do I feel about all this? Let’s just say I won’t be looking to climb any major mountains anytime soon!
  • Hotel Transylvania 2: 89 minutes of nothing. This was a sequel that needn’t have been made.

January Reads



Illusionarium by Heather Dixon: Remember me buying this last summer whilst on holidays in the States? I bought it solely based off Deborah’s glowing recommendation, which is really saying something. [I almost never purchase a book that I a) have never read, or b) have never read anything by its author. If a UBO–unidentified bookish object–looks interesting, I’m much more inclined to get it from the library first. Anyway. Deb convinced me so thoroughly of this book’s awesomeness, and the cover is gorgeous, and HELLO, STEAMPUNK, that I actually did buy it.]

And I don’t regret a single nickel spent. This book is fabulous! The steampunk settings range from an aerial city to the Tower of London to airships to an alternate-reality-London that’s all crumbling and decrepit.

The characters are just–gah, I don’t even have the words. The first-person narrator, Jonathan, is so lovable and ordinary, with a dry wit and a smart, science-y brain. I love his family too. And then there’s Lieutenant Lockwood, a cocky, eye-patch-wearing firebrand brimming with snark and mad fighting skills. I’d mention other characters, but it could be spoilery, so let’s just say some of them are maddening and some are evil and some are both with a  dash of sympathy thrown in.

This book definitely has a creepy factor, which I loved in a wide-eyed, horrified way. There’s a disease that turns the victims’ veins black. Later on, we meet people who are splitting . . . they have multiple eyes and noses and mouths and fingers and blegh, it’s gross. But also fascinating. The whole concept of the book actually contains some great symbolism regarding moral choices and our sin nature. I loved it immensely.

Oh, and there are footnotes! Footnotes in a fictional book! Sarcastic footnotes! It’s delightful. Go read it this instant, I command you.

Shadowmancer by G.P. Taylor: Atrocious. I started my reading year off so wonderfully with Illusionarium, only to find in myself the desire to throw Shadowmancer across the room. See, I read book 2 (Wormwood) years and years ago, and liked it. But I hadn’t realized there was a book that came before. So I picked up both books at second-hand book fairs some time ago, and finally got around to reading the first one this month.

Where do I even start?

The writing was . . . passable, I guess. It had its moments. The comma splices were annoying, though. The POV was so distant that it floated around from head to head, never settling anywhere. We’d be with Character A knocking on the door, then suddenly we’re observing Character B waking from a drunken slumber inside the building. I wouldn’t even call this omniscient; it’s just poor writing. And let’s not get started on the all the botched sensory details! He could see, she knew, they could hear, he felt angry, she was sad, they were all THIS EMOTION THAT MUST BE SHOVED IN MY FACE BECAUSE I’M TOO DUMB TO PICK UP SUBTLER CUES. Ahem. Sorry for the rant.

Moving along. This is a Christian fantasy. I wish that were a good thing. In this case, it meant watered down Scripture references, weird (and inaccurate) supernatural dealings with angels and demons and a mystical object of power, and unrealistic stuff everywhere. Instant conversions. Instant turnarounds in beliefs and feelings and thoughts. People being good just because, or bad for the sake of being bad.

A character doesn’t know which door to take when sneaking through the bad guy’s house, so he prays. Fine, that’s good. But then dust swirls up around the door to the right, and he just knows this is where God is leading him. The narrative even says something to the effect of: “He didn’t stop to think that Demurral [the villain] could be behind the door.” I’m all for praying for direction, don’t get me wrong. And I totally believe that God guides us. But it’s not usually with swirling dust, and it’s usually guidance given in conjunction with the usage of our brains. You have a brain. Use it.

The book’s pacing was off. The main characters were passive. Thomas, the Main-main character, hardly ever thinks about his dying mother, whom he supposedly loves very much. Kate, another main character, spends far too much time crying when she’s supposed to be a rough-and-tumble tomgirl.

Demurral, the villain, blabbers his plans to just about anyone who’ll listen. His backstory reveals a moment in which, surveying the land and its resources, he suddenly and instantaneously turns evil. (Because that is so realistic, and the path of evil is a sudden drop off a cliff, mm-hmm.) Every trace of goodness flees him. He is overcome by greed. He goes on to trick the current vicar out of his position (by getting him drunk and then racing cockroaches across a table–um, what?) and seizes the vicarage.

I could go on, but that rant is long enough. I normally don’t like to bash books because I feel bad for the author, knowing how much work and heart goes into a novel . . . but in this case, it was a real slog to reach the final page. My family heard of my distaste, and asked why I didn’t just quit the story. Problem is, I hate quitting.

Moving along! Those are the only two books I finished this month, though I’m well into a couple others. Apparently I had a lot to say about both January reads. Eheheh.

January Writings

I’m a rather happy dragon, because I reached my January writing goals a week early! Woot!

I’ve no clue where this gif comes
from, but isn’t it cute?

To jog your memory, the goal was to finish the final read-through/edit of book 1. There was very little to do, but still. I did deal with a couple issues that had been hanging over my head the last few months as I worked on The Brightest Thread, so it felt good to clear them up for good.

My brain can hardly comprehend the fact that I’m actually . . . done editing this book. I’ve been working on it for years. In fact, this March will mark eight years since I first started writing it! As I was telling a friend this week, it feels like I’m lying to say, “I’m done.” It can’t be true, can it? Surely there’s more for me to tweak and fiddle and completely overhaul? But no. This is pretty much it.

Maybe it will sink in when I start researching the querying process next month, something I’m super stoked about. Mind you, once this book lands on the desk of an agent or editor, I suspect there’ll be a whole new round of editing to complete.

In other writerly doings, I wrote a guest post (it goes up in March–I’ll announce it here when that happens), and got clonked over the head with an idea for Welcome to Absurdity. I’ve mentioned that little seedling in passing here, but haven’t elaborated much. That’s because I know next to nothing about the actual plot. But now I have a few very fun ideas. It’s still percolating, of course, and I don’t foresee having an opportunity to write this thing anytime soon, but I’m excited for when that day comes!

So that was January.

I stepped out of my comfort zone, watched some great (and not so great) movies, read a couple of polar opposite books, and finished editing book 1. I’d say it was a good month.

Next month promises to be an exciting leg of the journey. I’ll dip my toes in the waters of querying, for one thing. For another, I have some fun stuff planned for the blog! Stay tuned for a brand-new series of posts.

What did your month look like? What sort of dangerous quests did you undertake? Any dragons slain? (I hope you left the good ones alive. Kill all the Smaugs and keep all the Clefspeares, okay?)

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