The Company of the Dead
Author:  David J. Kowalski
Publisher: Titan Books
ISBN-10: 0-857-6866-6-6
ISBN-13: 978-0-857-6866-6-4
E-book:  978-0-857-6866-7-1

This massive (751 pages) alternate-history novel is a masterpiece of the genre.  It starts with a seemingly minor change in history – the RMS Titanic still strikes an iceberg in 1912 and sinks, but different passengers drown – and shows plausibly how this might lead to a 2012 United States divided by a re-seceded Confederacy based around Texas, with the United States portion occupied by Imperial Japan, and the Confederacy subservient to a non-Nazi but super-powerful Imperial Greater Germany (there is a detailed, three-page map); and all on the verge of a thermonuclear holocaust that would destroy all life on Earth.

What if the 1912 sinking of the Titanic were not entirely an accident?  “‘The death of all those men [Astor, Guggenheim, Rothschild, Thayer, Widener, President Taft’s representative Major Archibald Butt, others] created a powerful vacuum in turn-of-the-century America.  A vacuum that could be exploited by someone privy to the knowledge contained in this journal.  The author of this text had enough information at his fingertips to engineer any number of events.  He also clearly documented his intention to intervene on the ship.  We don’t know the details of what happened on the night of the sinking.   We don’t know how he figures into what happened at Sarajevo, or the years that followed.  We just know where it starts.’” (p. 150).

In this alternate 2012, the world is at the brink of an apocalyptic war with both sides possessing nuclear weapons.  Both Germany and Japan are maneuvering to increase their spheres of influence in North America, while agents of the U.S. and the Confederacy each plot to throw out their controllers and reunite the old U.S., but led by their government.  But this is a minor sideshow compared to the border conflicts in Asia that are leading to the impending war.  A team of Confederate secret agents led by Joseph Kennedy (our John F. Kennedy’s grand-nephew), despondent at the feeling of futility over whether the South succeeds or not, comes upon this journal from the safe of the sunken Titanic which contains accurate notes on the future, which could not have been written in 1912 – unless the author were a time-traveler.

Hidden within larger conspiracies to reunite the old United States under Confederate dominance, and between German and Japanese global hegemony, Major Joseph Kennedy of the Confederate Bureau of Investigation and his tiny group of agents, aided at first unwillingly by Captain J. J. Lightholler of a ceremonially rebuilt Titanic, work to rediscover the secret of time travel and – no matter what the goal of the original time-traveler was – change history again to prevent the destruction of all life on Earth.  But Kennedy is betrayed by his superior within the CBI who, discovering that Kennedy is working toward a goal of his own, assumes that Kennedy’s team has sold out to either the Germans or the Japanese, and maneuvers to have Kennedy’s rogue CBI team annihilated by either the Confederate or Union or Japanese or German secret services, or by American criminal gangs or the Japanese yakuza – whoever can be misled into believing that Kennedy is working against them.  As the final nuclear war between Japan and Germany begins, and both world powers openly fight to increase their dominance over a battle-torn North America, Kennedy and his barely half-dozen men desperately race from one side of America to the other to avoid being captured or killed by any of their powerfully deadly enemies, and complete their mission: to go back to 1912, board the Titanic, and – what!?

Company of the Dead is an awesomely complex thriller.  Its picture of a 2012 totally unlike ours is awesome in scope and detail, as are Kowalski’s speculations on how this might come about.  Kennedy’s mission to (re)change history and save the world – even if he does not know what it will lead to – despite opposition from seemingly every government’s secret assassins, is awesomely desperate.  This alternate 2012’s rush to thermonuclear destruction seems awesomely unstoppable.

And this first novel has some awesome problems.  It is much too long.  Even though it is excellently written (it begins with Kennedy in a seemingly hopeless situation, and impossibly grows ever more hopeless), Kennedy and his men’s constant hairbreadth escapes ultimately numb the reader, who wonders if there will ever be an end to them.  It is overly macho.  Even though the world of espionage is overwhelmingly masculine, especially in this other 2012’s male-dominated society, the constant intrigue of male political and military leaders, domestic and foreign secret agents, and police and gangsters becomes too one-sided.  When a major female character does enter the story – Patricia Malcolm of the CBI – it is not until page 95, and then it is as another secret agent, one of the team, more as another buddy than as a relief from all the masculinity.

But despite these flaws, The Company of the Dead remains an alternate-history novel, and a politico-military thriller, that no fan of those genres dare to miss.  First published in Australia, it has already won that country’s 2007 Aurealis Award for the Best Science Fiction Novel of the Year.

We lost Sendak only a week ago.

Still reeling from that, I was gut punched with the news of Carlos Fuentes dying today (see my earlier post).  Still teary after a busy day, I came home and settled in only to find on Facebook via a beautiful tribute photo, news from Wendell Minor that another beloved writer has died at the grand old age of 92.

Jean Craighead George.

NO!

I’m not done processing Carlos Fuentes yet!

I grew up with Ms. George’s books.  MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN AND JULIE OF THE WOLVES in particular really resonated.  I loved those books and they taught me about nature.  I walked with Jean in my imagination and her books.  I grew to be a woman who loves every leaf, who will stop dead in the middle of the street to photograph a cloud or lie down on the dirty pavement to get a close up of a praying mantis to show the grandkids.  I find beauty in spider webs and browning petals because of Jean Craighead George.  My children and my grandchildren have a profound love of nature because of her.  When we go on our Grammy, Jasmine and Aiden hikes in the Pasadena Arroyo we are doing that because Jean Craighead George instilled in me a love of hiking through nature a long, long time ago.

She will be deeply, deeply missed by the world.  It is truly a sad day for literature.

Links below, and as is our custom, we will be posting them as they come in.

School Library Journal

Publisher’s Lunch (also mentions Fuentes)

My dear friends at the Cybils

New York Times (finally)

Open Road Media

Christian Science Monitor

 STL Today

Watershed Post

“No existe la libertad, sino la búsqueda de la libertad, y esa búsqueda es la que nos hace libres.” - Carlos Fuentes

Reports are coming in that literary Titan, Carlos Fuentes has died at age 83.  The President of Mexico himself Tweeted that the author died and Elena Poniatowska, tweeted that she was deeply lamenting his death.  As am I.

Carlos Fuentes was a beacon for me and a revelation.  He taught me that MExicans were writers, that they were literary, that they loved language and story.  I knew that of course, from my family and culture, but reading Carlos Fuentes really drove it home.  He brought to my budding love of reading, a passion for Mexican literature, for learning to read in my grandparent’s native Spanish so that I could truly feel in my soul, the marvelous wonder that is our culture via the written word.

His body of work is incredible.  This is just a list of the novels alone, you can find essays, theater, and more all over the internet:

Novels

• La Región Más Transparente (The Most Transparent Region) (1958) ISBN 978-970-58-0014-6
• Las Buenas Conciencias (The Good Conscience) (1961) ISBN 978-970-710-004-6
• Aura (1961) ISBN 978-968-411-181-3
• The Death of Artemio Cruz (1962) ISBN 978-0-374-52283-4
• Cambio de piel (A Change of Skin) (1967)
• Zona sagrada (Holy Place) (1967)
• Cumpleaños (Birthday) (1969)
• Terra Nostra (1975)
• La cabeza de la hidra (The Hydra Head) (1978)
• Agua quemada (Burnt Water) (1980)
• Una familia lejana (Distant Relations) (1980)
• Orquídeas a la luz de la luna (1982)
• Gringo viejo (The Old Gringo) (1985)
• Cristóbal Nonato (Christopher Unborn) (1987)
• Ceremonias del alba (1991)
• The Campaign (1992)
• El naranjo (The Orange Tree) (1994)
• Diana o la cazadora solitaria (Diana: the Goddess Who Hunts Alone) (1995)
• La frontera de cristal (The Crystal Frontier: A Novel of Nine Stories) (1996)
• Los años con Laura Díaz (The Years With Laura Diaz) (1999)
• Instinto de Inez (Inez) (2001)
• La Silla del Águila (The Eagle’s Throne) (2003)
• Todas las Familias Felices (Happy Families) (2006), ISBN 987-04-0557-6
• La Voluntad y la Fortuna (Destiny and Desire) (2008), ISBN 978-1400068807

Rest in peace Don Carlos, que duermes con los angelitos.

As is usual at AmoXcalli, we’ll be posting links about Mr. Fuentes throughout the next few days, rounding up in both English and Spanish, the words of the world as they mourn a Master.

Spanish

Carlos Fuentes Oficial

Milenio

Univision

El Semanario

La Cronica

El Observador

CNN Mexico

El Universal

El Comercio

Lavanguardia

Informador

La Gaceta

La Jornada

 El Pais

 English

 NPR

Washington Post

USA Today

The Australian

NBC San Diego

CNN

CBS

Variety

BBC

Media Bistro

New York Times

Los Angeles Times

ABC

San Jose Mercury News

A Conversation with Carlos Fuentes (PW)

Wall Street Journal

Hispanically Speaking News

Pantagraph

Remembering Carlos Fuentes (NPR)

The Guardian

Who Put the B in the Ballyhoo?

Author: The Spectacular, Never-Before-Seen Carlyn Beccia

Reading level: Ages 4 and up
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children; None edition (April 9, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0618717188
ISBN-13: 978-0618717187

Who doesn’t love the Circus?

I know that I have always found it magical. Well, except for clowns who terrify me. I’ve always been fascinated by the art as well. Circus art is so colorful and fun.

I stumbled onto this wonderful little book at one of my favorite used bookstores Read Books in Eagle Rock just the other day and just had to have it. When I brought it home to my grandkids, they fell in love just as deeply as I. I think there’s going to be some debate as to who actually gets to keep it…and if my friend Rick DeMott sees this review, I may have to lock the book away. His fascination with circus performers is legendary.

WHO PUT THE B IN THE BALLYHOO? is an alphabet book as hinted by the subtitle “The Most Amazing, Bizarre, and Celebrated Circus Performers.” Each letter is represented by a marvelously colorful circus poster with fascinating little bits of circus trivia explaining the poster below it.

Jasmine’s favorite page, (no surprise) is that of Patty’s Performing Pigs representing the letter E not P. E is for Enchanting. “These pigs weave a spell/ only to be broken/ by the not-so-sweet smell,” it reads, which makes her giggle almost as much as the depiction of a pig in a tutu lifting its leg in the movement of a can-can dance. Aiden on the other hand, went straight for the Strongman’s page.

Tribute is paid to the flea circus too, with the letter F. The grandkids were stunned to hear me read that people actually trained fleas to perform. They also burst into that wild, untrammeled laughter that I love to hear. I hope they don’t start looking to start their own flea circus, though I wouldn’t put it past Aiden.

The artwork is beautiful and each circus bill (poster) is filled with little details as well as rhymes that make the reading of each bill fun as well as educational. The verbiage below each bill is even more interesting and great for the adults reading, although adults will love the rhymes as well. They certainly made me smile. Of particular interest to me too was the lovely lettering. The book really feels like a trip to a museum of circus art. Bright, bold colors are sure to attract even the most reluctant reader. Each page is so beautifully done that I wished they were framed works of art.

Ballyhoo is a wonderful tribute to the circus, with homage paid to those performers of old, including the great Harry Houdini. It’s a great way to teach children their alphabet, to read, to be interested in art, and to learn the history of the circus and circus terminology that still peppers our modern-day language today. Did you know the expression “hold your horses” originated with the circus? I found the book to be most lovingly done with great care to truly represent the heyday and art of the circus.

Finds like this are the reason I haunt the fabulous, but sadly disappearing used bookstores around my hometown of Los Angeles and everywhere else I roam. I still grieve for Acres of Books… The book cost me eight dollars and a nice time chatting with Jeremy, one of the shop owners. If you’re in the L.A. area, please stop by this charming little shop on Eagle Rock Boulevard. Stop in and say hello to Debbie and Jeremy, take a look at their amazing collection of new magazines and buy a used book or two. Jeremy also tutors the local kids, so if you have a child that needs tutoring, you won’t find better than a guy who tutors in a bookshop. You won’t regret it and you might find another copy of Ballyhoo or something equally grand.

Note: When researching this wonderful illustrator/author, I was thrilled to be reminded that she was a Cybil’s finalist in 2011 for I FEEL BETTER WITH A FROG IN MY THROAT.  Can we pick em or can we pick em? Oh yeah, Ballyhoo won the Golden Kite for illustration too.

About the Author:
Carlyn Beccia is the author and illustrator of Who Put the B in the Ballyhoo?,Houghton Mifflin, an alphabet book illustrating the most famous circus stars throughout history. Her latest book, The Raucous Royals uncovers the biggest true and untrue rumors throughout European history. She describes it as a ‘history lesson meets tabloid magazine’. Carlyn enjoys telling the stories behind the people who changed history and strives to make history exciting for all ages.

She attended the University of Massachusetts on a 4-year art scholarship and graduated in 1995. She worked as a graphic designer for 10 years before returning to her first love ‘ illustration. In 2005, Carlyn was the Grand Prize Portfolio Winner in the Society of Children’s Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) portfolio exhibition. In 2006, she was awarded a certificate of merit in The Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles, Illustration West 44 Annual and was also the Grand Prize Portfolio Winner in the New England, Society of Children’s Writers & Illustrators (NEW ENGLAND SCBWI) portfolio exhibition.

Carlyn paints with ‘digital oil brushes’ to create a unique and deeply textured art. She enjoys giving live demonstrations of how art is created on the computer and encourages kids to experiment with the digital medium.

Download a full teacher’s guide at:
www.whoballyhoo.com/teachingcurr1.pdf

*Dear FTC, a.k.a. nosy overseer of what I do with my books, I bought this book with my own money and even better, am supporting my local, used bookstore (one of the owners is a school librarian) therefore I don’t need to disclose a darned thing. I just felt like yelling at you. Love, Me.

New York, New York – May 15, 2012 – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the
leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today
announced that four of its exclusive NOOK Kids eBooks have been nominated to
receive a Cynopsis Kids !magination Award. Only available on our NOOK Tablet™
and NOOK Color™ devices, all four nominated titles are enhanced NOOK Books that
include special features like Read and Play™ and Read to Me™.

The four Enhanced NOOK Books to be nominated in the eBook category at the first
annual Cynopsis Kids Awards are Go Dog Go! (Random House), A Charlie Brown
Christmas (PEANUTS Worldwide), Birdies Big-Girl Shoes (Little, Brown Books for
Young Readers) and You Will Be My Friend! (Little, Brown Books for Young
Readers). All are available in a fun, engaging, digital format, only for Barnes
& Noble customers on NOOK Tablet and NOOK Color.

NOOK Kids lets Barnes & Noble’s youngest readers explore more than 2,000 digital
picture books, all presented in a consistent format, so parents and kids can
keep the focus on the fun and interactive content, while encountering a familiar
reading and learning experience.

“We are so proud to receive these nominations as they represent an
acknowledgement of the respect and care we attribute to each book as it
transitions from print to digital on the NOOK platform,” said Wendy Bronfin,
Senior Director of Children’s Digital Products at Barnes & Noble. “If you do a
side-by-side comparison of all the picture books in the digital market, it’s
clear that the best experience is on NOOK as books are treated with great care
and a deep understanding of how parents and children interact with stories.”

Cynopsis: Kids! is a daily e-publication covering the kids’ entertainment
business and is the must-read by leaders in the programming, licensing and kids’
marketing arena. Celebrating 10 years in 2012, Cynopis: Kids! is one of the most
comprehensive sources of information for the kids’ reading and entertainment
industry.

The Cynopsis Kids !magination Awards honor the year’s most outstanding
achievements in content creation and marketing between October 2010 and December
2011. Presented by one of the industry’s most-read and trusted publications,
Cynopsis Media, the awards are open to all production companies, studios,
producers, networks, animators, developers, licensing companies, marketing and
PR firms, ad agencies and toy companies.

“Cynopsis: Kids! is a well-known name in the children’s media industry and
that’s why we are so pleased with these four nominations,” said Kevin O’Connor,
Director of Business Development at Barnes & Noble. “These nominations are
representative of what we see and hear from media insiders and from families
about NOOK and our kids’ offering. Add to that the fact that we have the largest
collection of digital books for kids and teen – NOOK is a real win for families
and publishers.”

The Cynopsis Kids !magination Awards winners will be announced during a ceremony
in New York City on June 7, and will be profiled in a special edition of
Cynopsis: Kids!

Learn more about NOOK Kids at www.nookkids.com, or visit your local Barnes &
Noble store today to let your children experience NOOK Kids firsthand.

About Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS), the world’s largest bookseller and a Fortune
500 company, operates 691 bookstores in 50 states. Barnes & Noble College
Booksellers, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, also operates 641
college bookstores serving over 4.6 million students and faculty members at
colleges and universities across the United States.  Barnes & Noble conducts its
online business through BN.com (www.bn.com), one of the Web’s largest e-commerce
sites, which also features more than two million titles in its NOOK Bookstore™
(www.bn.com/ebooks). Through Barnes & Noble’s NOOK™ eReading product offering,
customers can buy and read digital books and content on the widest range of
platforms, including NOOK devices, partner company products, and the most
popular mobile and computing devices using free NOOK software. Barnes & Noble is
proud to be named a J.D. Power and Associates 2012 Customer Service Champion and
is only one of 50 U.S. companies so named.

General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by
visiting the company’s corporate website: www.barnesandnobleinc.com.

NOOK®, NOOK Tablet™, NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight™ , NOOK Simple Touch ™,
NOOK Color™, Reader’s Tablet™, Best-Text™, NOOK Store™, NOOK Bookstore™, NOOK
Magazines™, VividView™, NOOK Newspapers™, FREE NOOK Reading Apps™, NOOK Kids™,
NOOK Digital Shop™, Read In Store™, More In Store™, LendMe®,NOOK Library™, NOOK
Books en español™, NOOK Study™, Lifetime Library™ and Read What You Love.
Anywhere You Like™ are trademarks of Barnes & Noble, Inc. Other trademarks
referenced in this release are the property of their respective owners.

Follow Barnes & Noble on Twitter (www.bn.com/twitter), Facebook
(http://www.facebook.com/barnesandnoble) and YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/bnstudio).

About NOOK® from Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble’s NOOK brand of eReading products makes it easy to read what you
love, anywhere you like™ with a fun, easy-to-use and immersive digital reading
experience. With NOOK, customers gain access to Barnes & Noble’s expansive NOOK
Store™ of more than 2.5 million digital titles, and the ability to enjoy content
across a wide array of popular devices. NOOK Tablet™ is Barnes & Noble’s
fastest, lightest tablet with the best in entertainment from top services and
everything you want in a tablet at a great value ($199 for NOOK Tablet – 8GB,
and $249 for NOOK Tablet – 16GB). Both NOOK Tablet and the award-winning NOOK
Color™ ($169) feature a stunning 7-inch VividView™ Color Touchscreen to read all
of the content you love, shop popular apps, connect via email, browse the Web
and more. NOOK Simple Touch™ ($99) is the fastest, easiest to use reader with
the world’s best reading screen and the longest battery life and NOOK Simple
Touch with GlowLight™ ($139) features patent-pending lighting technology that
makes it perfect for reading at bedtime and on the beach. Barnes & Noble offers
NOOK owners Always Free NOOK Support in any of its nearly 700 bookstores, as
well as free Wi-Fi® connectivity to enjoy the Read In Store™ feature to read
NOOK Books™ for free, and the More In Store™ program, which offers free,
exclusive content and special promotions. Barnes & Noble was the first company
to offer digital lending for a wide selection of books through its LendMe®
technology, available through NOOK eReading products. Find NOOK devices in
Barnes & Noble stores and online at www.nook.com, as well as at Best Buy,
Walmart, Staples, Target, Radio Shack, Books-A-Million, OfficeMax, Fred Meyer,
P.C. Richard & Son stores, Office Depot, Fry’s Electronics, Kmart, hhgregg,
Sears and Systemax Inc. retailers.

In addition to NOOK devices, Barnes & Noble makes it easy for customers to enjoy
any book, anytime, anywhere with its free NOOK Reading Apps™, available at
www.nook.com/freenookapps. Customers can use Barnes & Noble’s free eReading
software to access and read books from their personal Barnes & Noble digital
library on devices including iPad™, iPhone®, iPod touch®, Android™ smartphones
and tablets, PC and Mac®. Lifetime Library™ helps ensure that Barnes & Noble
customers will always be able to access their digital libraries on NOOK products
and software-enabled devices and BN.com. Barnes & Noble also offers NOOK Study™
(www.nookstudy.com), an innovative study platform and software solution for
higher education, NOOK Kids™ (www.nookkids.com), a collection of digital picture
and chapter books for children, and NOOK Books en español™ (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ebooksenespanol),
the first-ever Spanish language digital bookstore in the United States.

For more information on NOOK devices and eReading software, updates, new NOOK
Book releases, Free Friday™ NOOK Books and more, follow us on
www.twitter.com/nookBN and www.facebook.com/nook.

Source: Barnes & Noble, Inc.

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–May. 15, 2012– Kicking off the summer reading season, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) announced its annual list of the Most Well-Read Cities in America. The ranking was determined by compiling sales data of all book, magazine and newspaper sales in both print and Kindle format since June 1, 2011, on a per capita basis in cities with more than 100,000 residents. The Top 20 Most Well-Read Cities are:

In taking a closer look at the data, Amazon also found that:

• Berkeley, Calif., is a city full of jet-setters – it topped the list by ordering the most Travel books.
• Boulder, Colo., keeps the closest eye on its waistline by topping the list of cities that order the most books in the Health, Fitness & Dieting category.
• Virginia is for lovers – Alexandria, Va., that is, which tops the charts in the Romance book category.
• Cambridge, Mass., grows the most budding entrepreneurs. These locals topped the list for ordering the most books in the Business & Investing category.

“As the summer reading season gets into full swing, we’re excited to reveal our second annual Most Well-Read Cities list,” said Chris Schluep, Senior Editor of Books, Amazon.com. “It’s great to see that we are truly a nation of readers, with representation on this list from every region of the country.”

In addition to their annual Most Well-Read Cities list, Amazon has issued their official summer reading suggestions. Customized lists for adults and children can be found at:

• Adults – www.amazon.com\summer-reading
• Kids – www.amazon.com\summer-reading-kids

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. The new latest generation Kindle is the lightest, most compact Kindle ever and features the same 6-inch, most advanced electronic ink display that reads like real paper even in bright sunlight. Kindle Touch is a new addition to the Kindle family with an easy-to-use touch screen that makes it easier than ever to turn pages, search, shop, and take notes – still with all the benefits of the most advanced electronic ink display. Kindle Touch 3G is the top of the line e-reader and offers the same new design and features of Kindle Touch, with the unparalleled added convenience of free 3G. Kindle Fire is the Kindle for movies, TV shows, music, books, magazines, apps, games and web browsing with all the content, free storage in the Amazon Cloud, Whispersync, Amazon Silk (Amazon’s new revolutionary cloud-accelerated web browser), vibrant color touch screen, and powerful dual-core processor.

Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, and www.amazon.es. As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management’s expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com‘s financial results is included in Amazon.com‘s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.

Source: Amazon.com

THE UNBEARABLE BOOK CLUB FOR UNSINKABLE GIRLS

Author: Julie Schumacher

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (Random House)

ISBN-10:  0385737734

ISBN-13: 978-0385737739

ASIN: 005NKH8G6

This book is told from the point of view of Adrienne Haus, one of four teenage girls from varied backgrounds who find themselves inducted into a summer mother-daughter book club. Adrienne hurts her knee right before  supposed to go on a trip with her best friend Liz, and ends up doing water therapy at the pool, where rich girl (and fellow book club member CeCe) likes to hang out, and fellow member Jill works the snack stand as a summer job.  There’s also a fourth member, Wallis, who remains shrouded in a lot of mystery. As they tackle a variety of subjects in the books they read,  the girls start to learn more things about each other and about life, making missteps along the way – especially Adrienne, who at times finds her relationship with her mother strained as she tries to sort out her identity. The book is a quick, fast read and a bit more enjoyable if you are a avid writer or reader simply because of all the in-jokes Adrienne makes about the craft of writing.

Disclosure:  A free copy of this book was furnished by the publisher for review via NetGalley, but providing a copy did not guarantee a review. This information is provided per the regulations of the Federal Trade Commission.

Into the Hinterlands
Author: David Drake and John Lambshead
Publisher: Baen Books
ISBN: 10: 1-4391-3461-8
ISBN: 13: 978-1-4391-3461-0

The most striking aspect of this new s-f space opera series, of which this is the first novel, is its mode of interstellar travel: by bicycle!  The authors cover it in lots of bewilderingly colorful pseudoscientific doubletalk (“Allenson had asked the captain how it worked but had not entirely grasped the somewhat confused explanation.” – p. 278), but it is essentially by bicycle:

“The Continuum was angry.

“Sometimes you could see forever through its violet tints.  Today, turbulent currents spilled colors with such energy that Allenson could not keep Jem Hawthorn’s frame in sight.  He was reduced to following the silver track of its wake.

“Allenson pedaled a similar frame, a machine not unlike an exercise bike in appearance.  It had a central column with pedals at the bottom and a seat on top.  A control panel and a display screen were slung between handlebars projecting between his legs.  His rucksack was clipped to the back.  The entire machine was made from paper-light ceramic and carbon compounds.

“Thin filaments of carbon enclosed him; balls of green and blue light rolled slowly among them.  If Allenson concentrated he could see the faint shimmer of the interface between his reality bubble and the raw energy of the Continuum.  That delicate bubble was only maintained by constant pedaling, as the frame had little capacity for storing energy.” (p. 1).

In the far future, the galaxy – or that part nearest Earth – has been settled into a growing number of habitable planets depending on energy streams through the Continuum.  “One of the most important was the Cutter Stream that crossed the worldless Bight to the galactic west of the Home Worlds.  This stream made possible Brasilia’s five Cutter Stream Colonies, situated as they were on the far side of the Bight.” (p. 2).

Allenson, Hawthorn, and Destry are three surveyors sent out from Brasilia’s Cutter Stream Colony worlds to explore and map newer worlds in the Hinterlands to the galactic west.  “This area was thought to be rich in exploitable worlds.” (ibid.)  Allen Allenson, the protagonist, is officially the Assistant Surveyor to Destry, the Chief Surveyor who is a Brasilian aristocrat, but it is understood that Allenson is the real leader.  The first third of the novel relates their experiences in mapping the Hinterlands worlds.  It establishes the Brasilian aristocratic social order.  It gradually becomes clear that the Hinterlands worlds are already being settled by unofficial frontier colonies, that there are political tensions among the Home Worlds and that Brasilia and Terra are competing to establish new Colony worlds, and that the new frontier worlds do not have any strong allegiances to either.

Eventually, the rivalry among the Home Worlds leads to warfare between Brasilia and Terra.  The novel follows Allenson’s exploits as an officer of Brasilia’s forces in the Colonies, where he, his second-in-command Jem Hawthorn, and the other Colonial militia become increasingly exasperated by the arrogant inefficiency of the Brasilian Home World Regular Army.

David Drake is well-known for taking dramatic incidents from history and turning them into s-f novels.  His Cross the Stars is a s-f rewrite of The Odyssey.  His s-f novel Patriots was based on the exploits of Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys irregulars in the Revolutionary War.  In each of Drake’s RCN (Republic of Cinnabar Navy) novels (nine so far), he explains in an introduction what historical event the novel is an s-f elaboration upon.

Into the Hinterlands is not “officially” based on anything.  But almost every reviewer has noted that it leads off with a quotation by George Washington, that both Allenson and Washington were members of their colonial upper classes, that both Allenson and Washington have/had older brothers who are expected to lead their families but who die young, leaving their younger brothers to carry on their goals, and that Washington was assigned to survey and explore the wilds to expand the British colonies in the 1750s during the French and Indian Wars (Washington was both a surveyor and a colonial major in the British Army), as Allenson is in the Brasilian colonies in Into the Hinterlands.

Into the Hinterlands is a very well-written military s-f novel with much original macho action in the details.  “Allen phased in with Destry [into the Destry Demesne on Wagener in the Five Worlds].  For the first time it struck him how utterly defenseless was the mansion, with its large glass bay windows and spacious balustraded balconies.  A magnificent, wide stairway gave access to the main entrance on the middle floor.  The ground floor was pierced by many doors, so that servants had easy access to the working areas, kitchens, storerooms, and suchlike.  There had not been an attack on a Wagener demesne in living memory.  …” (p. 89).  Instead of making most readers feel that they know how it will turn out, it will probably send most readers to a biography of George Washington to see how closely the parallels in Allen Allenson’s and George Washington’s careers are, and to guess at where the sequels will lead.

A Tale of Time City

Author:  Diana Wynne Jones, Forward by Ursula K. Le Guin

Publisher: Firebird; Reprint edition (April 12, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0142420158
ISBN-13:978-0142420157

I have always been a big fan of Diana Wynne Jones, and have read most of her books. I was excited to read A TALE OF TIME CITY, and it did not disappoint. One of the things I love about Jones’ books is how a fantastical world can seem so real and believable. Taking a tour of Time City, I was as agog with wonder as Vivian in the story and yet, like Vivian, I fully believed it was real. I didn’t feel lied to or tricked, which sometimes happens when Fantasy writing goes awry.

A TALE OF TIME CITY is the story of Vivian, or V.S who is mistakenly kidnapped from a train station in WWII England where she is being sent to be fostered as were many children during the war to keep them safe from the bombings. Her kidnappers are two young boys, Jonathan and Sam. They think she is someone called the Time Lady who is out to do harm to their city, a curious alternate reality that sits outside of time itself and observes all the eras. Their world is shaking up, becoming uncertain and they are determined to save it.

At first, Vivian is angry and upset, but her anger quickly fades to wonder at her new and fantastic surroundings. A friendship develops with the boys, yet there is always that undercurrent of tension that you often find with siblings. They are the annoying brothers that you love, but exasperate you. She tastes her first butterpie, a magical and delicious creamy concoction on a stick that when you eat it, is both hot and cold. She gets used to the strange clothing and customs as well as struggling through a very common struggle for children – school. As Vivian becomes a part of the boys world, she becomes just as determined as they to save it and an exciting quest ensues. Will they save the city? Who or what is Faber John? Who is the mysterious time ghost who daily tries to climb the clock tower? More importantly, who is the Time Lady and what is Vivian’s role in Time City?

Jones, with her usual magic of deft writing, humor and skillful world-building is at her best in A TALE OF TIME CITY. The book, though published years ago, stands the test of time and is in no way dated though the book was first published back i 1987. Jones manages to bring both the fantastical world of Time City brilliantly to life as well as draw a realistic England in World War II. The Firebird re-issue is beautifully done with a lovely forward by none other than Ursual Le Guin, another incredible writer. There’s a reason Diana Wynne Jones was called the Queen of the Fantastic, and this book is a great example of why.

Highly recommended!

About the Author

Diana Wynne Jones was the multiple award-winning author of many fantasy novels for children, teenagers, and adults. Her book Howl’s Moving Castle was made into an Academy Award-nominated major animated feature by Hayao Miyazaki. She received the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. Married to the medievalist J. A. Burrow, with whom she had three sons, she lived for many years in Bristol, the setting for many of her books. Diana Wynne Jones passed away in March 2011, after a long illness.

AmoXcalli is grieving the loss of a Titan of children’s literature, author and illustrator, Maurice Sendak who died today. We’re not the only ones. The internet is awash with obits, tributes, memories, etc. I don’t think there is a life that he didn’t touch in some way with his writing, his humor, his art, or his genius.

Rest in peace Mr. Sendak.

People wanting to comment, can sign his guestbook here at Legacy

It is the custom here at AmoXcalli, to do a roundup of links when one of our beloved authors passes. Keep coming back to see the list as it grows or leave one of your own in the comments section. We’ll post as many as we can as a virtual altar, each link a flower in a vase or as we stay in Spanish, un descanso.

Links are in no particular order.

Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
The New York Times
CBS News
Fox News
Stephen Colbert
Bill Moyers
Forbes
Rolling Stone’s 1976 Cover Story
NPR
L.A. Times
The Guardian
Maurice Sendak’s last interview with Stephen Colbert
The Atlantic Wire
Hollywood Reporter

Kidsreads
Huffpo
Mediabistro
60 Minutes Overtime
ABC News
Geek Dad at Wired
MSNBC
EW’s Shelf Life
Washington Post
ThinkProgress
Tom Hanks
ABC News Blog
USA Today
Interview with Mr. Sedak on PBS
Vanity Fair article on Bumble-ardy
Mashable
NY Daily News
Maurice Sendak’s Facebook page
The Telegraph
MTV
Vulture
The Millions
CNN
US Magazine
Neatorama
Salon
Boing Boing
The Wrap
The Awl
Jezebel
Ain’t It Cool News
Spinner
Lines and Colors
Bookworm Room
LA Observed
Contrariwise
The Maddow Blog
Sendak Documentary produced by Adam Yauch
Slate
Art Spiegelman visits Maurice Sendak
Publisher’s Weekly
HBO documentary
The Guardian Books Blog
Art Spiegelman on Maurice Sendak
Rosenbach Museum & Library
The New Yorker
Vanity Fair
Sendak Saw Picture Books as Literature
The Paris Review
Carson Ellis