Somewhere in Time

Book Giveaway winners! - Tuesday's winner of Dana Cameron's Seven Kinds of Hell is Grapeshot/Odette. Wednesday we had a three way tie, winners are Mar, Vickie and Gram/Dee. (Winners will each get a vintage gardening book) Please send your snail mail addresses to me at rovideo@aol.com. Congrats all! (BTW all the gardening ideas were clever..look for my garden pix in late April.)

ROSEMARY HARRIS: Some of us are in the 21st Century...and then again some of us aren't. I spent most of Tuesday with the fabulous Lyndsay Faye, the author of the Edgar nominated The Gods of Gotham. TGOG is set in the mid-19th century. And Lyndsay was my guest speaker at Norwalk Community College because in addition to being a terrific writer, she's an expert on Sherlock Holmes.

The woman is amazing. Total recall of 4 novels, 56 short stories and countless rehashes, copycats, pastiches, movies, television shows, radio programs - you name it - anything related to The Great Detective. It's as if the woman hasn't moved into the 20th century yet, much less the 21st. (In a good way.)

I'm feeling a bit of that myself lately.

MY WIP is historical. I haven't gotten the lingo down yet, I'm sure there are 87 sub-genres, but the point is, it's not contemporary. For the past month I've been living in 1899, with the occasional dip 20 years earlier and 20 years later. I haven't quite decided what the time frame of the story is just yet but it's considerably longer than the 5 days it took the corpse flower to bloom in my second book. (ala High Noon if anyone remembers that movie.)

I'm not too worried that I'll slip up and have someone use a cell phone or watch videos in 1899. Or say "Awesome!" - but I can't seem to stop doing research. Just when I think I have as much background info as I need, I stumble upon something else and think Wow maybe I should include that. And I go off down another road. Last weekend at a tag sale I bought a stash of magazines from 1912. It was as if I'd hit the motherlode. Other people were looking for the Picassso under the kids painting and I was going gaga over some moldy mags.

I don't think for a minute that all my research is going to wind up in the book. For my first 5 books I don't think 10 per cent of it actually found its way to the page. Lyndsay said that about 20-30 percent of her research wound up in her book, which I thought had an amazingly seamless integration of historical detail and storytelling.

Like anything, it's all in the doing. I've read some books where the research hit me over the head  - "we get it...you're in Africa, now shut up and tell me a story..." and others where I thought "What a delightful story - and it's set in Africa. I love that!" I guess the trick is to write the latter and not the former.

But I'm enjoying the reading (research) so much there are times when I think I may never get to actually write my story...

How much detail is - as Hallie might say - TMI??

Is it spring yet???

ROSEMARY HARRIS: In the past I've described it as cabin fever. I've even suggested that my first book would never have been written if I hadn't been eager to get back in the garden - even if it was only on paper.

I've reorganized my garden books and rearranged most of the snow-covered garden furniture

(News flash - this year it will be dark green at the pool and light green under the deck! Alert the media.)

I've started to pot up some of the cuttings I took last September. 

Here's the deal - if it doesn't start feeling like spring out there soon I won't be responsible for the consequences.

Years ago I used to start seeds in the kitchen. Inevitably I'd start them too early. They'd rot or get leggy. I'd compost most of them and buy flats instead. And this after turning my kitchen into Luther Burbank's laboratory for a good three months. I'm trying to be patient but...I am itching to put on those garden gloves.

What's new for me in 2013? A new garden shed for one thing. Either it will help me get organized or simply allow me to stash more tag sale purchases (mix-matched garden chairs, wrought iron anything, etc.) Too soon to tell.

Also I've decided to turn my Secret/Meditation Garden into a Whimsical Garden. My two discreet garden goddesses will soon be joined by ornaments, planters and installations which are now crowding the falling down shed (which will remain) and the garage.

I used to be of the opinion that three garden ornaments was one or two too many but in this spot, anything goes.  It will be a mix of tag sale, Home Goods, rusted tools, Goodwill and whatever else strikes my fancy. Either it will be fun or embarrassingly deranged. I'll keep you posted.

Here are two ideas from the Philly Flower Show.

 

 

 

 

 

In the meantime, who's going to help me out with some ideas while I wait for it to get warm? Spoon and fork chandelier? Bedsprings trellis? Broken chair planter...?

Best garden tip from a commenter will receive a vintage copy of The Women's Home Companion  Garden Book. (Sigh..I actually own two.)

Hiding from adventure

ROSEMARY HARRIS: Today's guest blogger claims to hide from adventure - but we know better...

DANA CAMERON: I had not planned on climbing up the side of a granite outcropping over the very cold and very deep water of the Kennebec River.  Four of us had motored to a little island in mouth of the river to identify archaeological sites when the engine developed problems.  A storm suddenly was blowing up, and we didn't want to be stranded when it hit.  Our friend rowed us, one at a time in the very small boat, over to the nearest spit of the mainland, but the dock was up.  We had to climb twenty feet to the top of the cliff, trying to avoid slipping on the rubbery seaweed. 

My husband and I reached the top, breathing hard and hands scratched, as our friend rowed back.  We were twenty minutes from home by boat—but two hours by car.  We sat waiting to be picked up, and my husband looked at me. 

“This is so going into a book, isn't it?”
I shrugged—well, yeah.  We only meant to be out on the river for an hour on a nice day.  This was too good not to use.  I don't go looking for adventure.

With regards to adventure, I'm strictly with Bilbo Baggins-at-home.  A load of strange dwarves talking dragons and gold shows up on your doorstep, on the recommendation of an unreliable, scrape-acquaintance wizard?  I would have exactly the same response:  Hell no, thank you very much.  And please put down my good china.

I prefer my danger in books.  On graph paper with polyhedral dice.  Or in the cinema, with James Bond or Jason Bourne or Lara Croft.  I go a long way to avoid adventures in real life.  I plan, schedule, make back-up plans. 

And yet... 

“Here, drink this,” said the cultured gentleman I'd known for exactly four hours.  He handed me a plastic container of water from a holy spring from under a church in the Golden Horn in Istanbul.  The site had been considered a holy place by many religions for millennia.  “It's tested every year, clean and safe.”

Scenes from every fairy tale I'd ever read flashed through my brain.  When is it ever a good idea to drink from unknown mystical sources?  We'd arranged the tours envisioning a good walk and sightseeing.  All terribly genteel, with tea and cookies.

Our guide was a friend of a friend, highly recommended and very knowledgeable.  Quite apart from my caution in drinking water abroad, it would have been extremely rude to refuse him, and in front of one of the church's priests. 

I drank.  We spent the rest of the day exploring churches, museums, and the famous underground Basilica Cistern—all as planned.  It isn't really an risky venture, if you have the assurance of experts.  It was a guided tour, after all.  But I had a little Buffy Summers swagger in my walk the rest of the day, that bottle of holy water in my pocket.  In my mind, I was having an adventure. 

Writers have a habit of spinning something harmless and a little unexpected into...swashbuckling.  Most of my writing friends haven't experienced all the things they write about: murders, vampires, post-apocalyptic scenarios.  They are nice, quiet folks.  The difference is, they have the urge to take even the idea of a close-call, add a little imagination, maybe some paranoia, and transform it into an escapade.  We're not looking for adventure, but just idea of it inspires our work.

The thing is, adventure's going to find you, as soon as you step out the front door.  Something commonplace but unexpected happens and boom!  We go running for the keyboard. 

Or maybe most of us really would run off after the dwarves like Bilbo, given half the chance.  Would you?

Whether writing noir, historical fiction, urban fantasy, thriller, or traditional mystery, Dana Cameron draws from her expertise in archaeology.  Her fiction (including several Fangborn stories) has won multiple Agatha, Anthony  and Macavity Awards and earned an Edgar Award nomination.    Dana blogs with the Femmes Fatales www.femmesfatales.typepad.com , and you can learn more at www.danacameron.com, Facebook, Twitter, and GoodReads. 

About SEVEN KINDS OF HELL:The first of three novels set in the Fangborn 'verse, SEVEN KINDS OF HELL, is published by 47North. Zoe Miller's an archaeologist on the run from her father's family. They're reputed to be no good, and her own tendency to violence—and the occasional glimpse of fangs in the mirror—has her worried about her sanity.  But when her cousin is kidnapped, Zoe has to come to grips with her powers:  She's a werewolf and Fangborn, part of a family of supernatural creatures dedicated to protecting humanity.  Zoe must use all of her archaeological talents and supernatural abilities against her enemies—human and Fangborn—who seek an artifact of world-ending power.

http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Kinds-Hell-Fangborn-ebook/dp/B00943A8RE

ROSEMARY: Thanks for visiting, Dana! and don't forget JRs, one lucky commenter will win a signed copy of Dana's latest Fangborn novel Seven Kinds of Hell!