D = DOCTOROW, E L - Author, A-Z Blog Challenge 2016

E. L. Doctorow - American novelist, 20th Century

E.L. Doctorow,, Author, Image Credit*

D = Doctorow, E. L. - Author, Editor, and Professor
Theme = Authors AtoZ

Edgar Lawrence "E. L." Doctorow, (January 6, 1931 - July 21, 2015) was best known internationally for his works of historical fiction. He wrote twelve novels, three volumes of short fiction and a stage drama. They included the award winning novels, Ragtime (1975), Billy Bathgate (1989), and The March (2005). Doctorow won numerous awards, too many to name them all in this post. Refer to the wiki link if you are interested.

A number of Doctorow's novels were adapted to the large screen, but his most notable was for the film, Ragtime in 1981 and the Broadway musical version in 1988. Billy Bathgate followed in 1991 with Dustin Hoffman in the starring role. 

Immense research was required for Doctorow to create stories based on real events and characters. That research was then woven into the fiction. Doctorow told tales of what had happened in certain situations so we would learn and not repeat the errors that had already been made. You need to know a bit about the past to understand the present.

During his writing career, Doctorow spent nine years as a book editor, working with Ian Fleming and Ayn Rand among others. He was known by his own editors to be thorough and particular with his manuscripts. They arrived polished and finished. . .

Doctorow succumbed to an ongoing fight with cancer and died July 21, 2015, aged 84. His legacy of historical fiction will keep his name circulating for years to come. 

From DG:

* * Homer and Langley, a tale about two brothers from a well to do family in New York relates how a disability and an untreated mental condition contributed to their withdrawal from the outside world.. Read my past review of this novel. 

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Have you read any of these novels by Doctorow: Homer and Langley, Ragtime, Billy Bathgate or The March?

Please leave a comment to let me know you were here and I'll respond. Thanks for stopping by!

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A to Z Challenge - 2016

It's April again and time for the 2016 Blogging from A to Z challenge  This is my 4th year participating in the challenge! (Previous A to Z  posts at the top of my blog page tabs are: Art A-Z, French Faves, Paris, Etc. 

Thanks to originator Lee (Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out), and the co-hosts and co-host teams who make the challenge run smoothly. See the list of participants, and other important information at the A to Z Blog site.  The basic idea is to blog every day in April except Sundays (26 days). On April 1st, you begin with the letter A, April 2 is the letter B, and so on. Posts can be random or use a theme.

Blogging from A to Z Challenge 2016 - Badge

A to Z Blog List

http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/p/a-z-challenge-sign-up-list-2016.html 

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REFERENCES:

Website of author
http://www.eldoctorow.com/ 

Previous Book Review of Homer and Langley
http://dghudson-rainwriting.blogspot.ca/2013/06/el-doctorow-homer-and-langley-new-york.html

* Image Credit:  Doctorow by Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

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C = CAMUS, Albert - Authors, A-Z Blog Challenge 2016

French Philosopher, Resistance fighter. Intelligent man. Cool writer.

C = CAMUS, Albert, Author and Philosopher
Theme = Authors AtoZ


An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself. Albert Camus **

To be happy we must not be too concerned with others. Albert Camus **

Camus may have been the last French writer that Americans knew about due to his being associated with the news lines in France, or because of his political leanings. He was compared to Bogart by those who had met him. His ideals and rejection of the Communist Party in France at that time endeared him to many who liked freedom, but also distanced him from some of the intellectuals of the time. One of them was Sartre.

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Albert Camus, 7 November 1913 - 4 January 1960, was a French philosopher, author and journalist. He is known for contributing to the philosophy known as absurdism. In 1957, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Camus was the second youngest recipient to receive this Nobel Prize at the age of 44, after Rudyard Kipling, who received it at 42.

He was born in Algeria where his family was called a Pied Noir meaning those European descendent citizens who returned to mainland France as soon as Algeria gained independence. It was generally applied to Christian and Jewish people who had migrated from all parts of the Mediterranean to French Algeria, French Protectorate in Morocco, and French protectorate of Tunisia.

Despite being classified with the Existentialists, Camus didn't consider himself one. He said in an interview in 1945 that he had no ideological associations and that he and Jean-Paul Sartre were both surprised to see their names linked in this reference.

During the Second World War, Camus joined the French Resistance and edited an underground newspaper in 1943 called Combat. When Paris was liberated by the Allies in August 1944, Camus witnessed and reported on the last of the fighting. In August 1945, he and a few other French editors publicly expressed their opposition to the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan. The US and Japan had fought hard in the Pacific, while Europe had seen more of the destruction wrought by Germany.

After the war, Camus frequented the Café de Flore on the Boulevard Saint-Germain in Paris with Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone De Beauvoir and others. He toured the US to lecture on French thought/philosophy.

Camus died January 4, 1960 at the age of 46, in a car accident near Sens, in the small town of Villeblevin. He had planned to travel by train with his wife and children, but changed his mind.  At the last minute, he accepted his publishers proposal to travel with him by car. . .a fateful decision.

Survived by his wife and twin son and daughter, his children hold the copyrights to his work. Two of his works were published posthumously, A Happy Death (1970) and The First Man (1995) which he was working on before he died. The First Man was an unfinished autobiographical work about his childhood in Algeria. 

Another of his books, The Plague, (La Peste) 1947 is the only book by Camus that I have read. His books, translated of course, were not easy to find when I was reading work by several French writers.

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Are you familiar with Albert Camus or have you read any of his work? Have you ever read 'The Plague"(the book that explained what the plague was and how it was spread)? How are you enjoying the A to Z Challenge so far?

Please leave a comment to let me know you were here, and I'll respond. Thanks for dropping by!

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A to Z Challenge - 2016

It's April again and time for the 2016 Blogging from A to Z challenge  This is my 4th year participating in the challenge! (Previous A to Z  posts at the top of my blog page tabs are: Art A-Z, French Faves, Paris, Etc.) 

Thanks to originator Lee (Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out), and the co-hosts and co-host teams who make the challenge run smoothly. See the list of participants, and other important information at the A to Z Blog site.  The basic idea is to blog every day in April except Sundays (26 days). On April 1st, you begin with the letter A, April 2 is the letter B, and so on. Posts can be random or use a theme.

Blogging from A to Z Challenge 2016 - Badge

A to Z Blog List http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/p/a-z-challenge-sign-up-list-2016.html 


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References:

Pied Noir definition

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pied-Noir

Wiki on Albert Camus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Camus 

Sampling of Camus' quotes **http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/albert_camus_2.html 

New Yorker article about Camus and Sartre

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/04/09/facing-history

B = BRIN, David, Authors, A-Z Blog Challenge 2016

This man has been known to be Uplifting. . .

B = BRIN, David - Author, Physicist, NASA consultant

Authors AtoZ will present a mixture of genres and authors,and will include literary authors, lost generation writers, a Beat writer, journalists turned authors, and a few surprises. 


Glen David Brin, born October 6, 1950 is an American scientist and award winning science fiction author. He's received the Hugo, Locus, Campbell and Nebula Awards. One of his novels, The Postman was adapted to film, starring Kevin Costner in 1997. In nonfiction, Brin's The Transparent Society won the Freedom of Speech Award of the American Library Association and the McGannon Communication Award.

Brin helped establish the Arthur C. Clarke 'Center for Human Imagination' and serves on the advisory board of NASA's 'Innovative and Advanced Concepts' group. He has been a guest on certain tv shows such as The Universe and Alien Encounters and serves on the advisory board for the Museum of Science Fiction. Brin writes hard science fiction and uses plausible scientific or technological change as part of his plot driven stories.

Following are some of his works: The Uplift Novels (involving uplifting creature species to a sentient state)-Sundiver, Startide Rising and The Uplift War; The Uplift Trilogy (aka Uplift Storm trilogy)-Brightness Reef, Infinity's Shore, and Heaven's Reach. All these books were written between 1980 - 1998. I have read all of these novels.

Other Writing. . .

Brin has written many stand-alone novels, but the ones I've read are:  The Postman (1985), Heart of the Comet (1986), Glory Season (1993), and Kiln People (2002). The Postman was converted to film by Kevin Costner-who also played the main character.  In addition, Brin authored graphic novels, short fiction and one of the three books in the Asimov's Foundation Universe - Foundation's Triumph (1999). Which leads to the Killer B's.

David Brin, Greg Bear and Gregory Benford - the Killer B's of SciFi. Approved by the the family of Asimov, these three writers created the Second Foundation Trilogy, in an attempt to wrap up loose ends and explain gaps in the timelines. I'd recommend these three later novels to the fans of Asimov or the Foundation series.

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Have you heard of or read David Brin novels?  What do you think about dolphins piloting spaceships?

Please leave a comment to let me know you were here and I'll respond. Thanks for dropping by! Hope to see you around the A to Z list.

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A to Z Challenge - 2016

It's April again and time for the 2016 Blogging from A to Z challenge  This is my 4th year participating in the challenge! (Previous A to Z  posts at the top of my blog page tabs are: Art A-Z, French Faves, Paris, Etc. 

Thanks to originator Lee (Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out), and the co-hosts and co-host teams who make the challenge run smoothly. See the list of participants, and other important information at the A to Z Blog site.  The basic idea is to blog every day in April except Sundays (26 days). On April 1st, you begin with the letter A, April 2 is the letter B, and so on. Posts can be random or use a theme.

Blogging from A to Z Challenge 2016 - Badge

A to Z Blog Listhttp://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/p/a-z-challenge-sign-up-list-2016.html 

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References:

http://www.davidbrin.com/

Interesting news related to this post re Foundation series. http://davidbrin.blogspot.ca/2014/12/ascension-and-interstellar-is-boldness.html

Brin's own site

http://www.davidbrin.com/books.html 

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A = ASIMOV, Isaac - Authors, A to Z Blog Challenge 2016

THE A TO Z BLOG CHALLENGE BEGINS. . .

A science fiction writer who envisioned the future possibilities for mankind with humanoid robots and galactic empires. He wrote of the spacers who explored and settled the habitable planets in a future time. He created the Three Laws of Robotics. 

Dr. Isaac Asimov, 1965, *PD

A = Asimov, Isaac, Author and Professor
Theme: Authors, AtoZ

This theme will highlight various authors that have made an impact on writing or inspired other works, whether by style or subject matter. Hope you find a few authors you know and discover a few new ones as the challenge theme continues throughout April.

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Isaac Asimov, January 2, 1920 - April 6, 1992, was a prolific American author and a professor of Biochemistry at Boston University.  He is known for his science fiction novels, his popular science books, and for creating some new words. The Oxford English Dictionary credits his science fiction for introducing positronic, psychohistory, and robotics. 

Asimov was born in Russia and was brought to New York by his father when he was three years old. His first short story was published when he was 18, and his next work, Nightfall, appeared three years later. In 1964, the SFWA (Science Fiction Writers of America) voted Nightfall as the best short science fiction story of all time. 

Along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov was considered one of the 'Big Three' of science fiction writers in his lifetime. He wrote 'hard' science fiction, the most famous being the Foundation Series.  He also wrote the Galactic Empire series (set in an earlier time of the same fictional universe as the Foundation series) and the Robot series, from which I, Robot, the movie was developed.

In 1942, Asimov published the first of his Foundation stories.  These were later collected in the Foundation trilogy: Foundation-1951, Foundation and Empire-1952, and Second Foundation-1953. These novels tell of the collapse and rebirth of an interstellar empire in the future. His positronic robot stories (many collected to form I, Robot) were first published in 1950. Later, in Foundation's Edge, Asimov linked this distant future with the Robot and Spacer stories, creating a unified future history for his epic tale.  

Asimov also wrote a lot of nonfiction. He authored books on general science, physics, astronomy, mathematics, history, chemistry and William Shakespeare's writing.  He was a member and vice president of MENSA International, although he thought many were arrogant about their IQs. 

Telegraph news photo, c. 1992

Asimov sported mutton-chop whiskers later in life, wore cowboy boots and an old-style western tie called a bolo. He was eccentric and resigned to being so. He liked to say his success was due to 'a lucky break in the genetic sweepstakes'. Indeed.

In 1977, Asimov suffered a heart attack and had triple bypass surgery in December of 1983. When he died in New York City on April 6, 1992, the causes were reported as heart and kidney failure. A larger than life man had reached the end.

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Have you heard of Isaac Asimov or his Foundation series, or the Robot series of books?  Do you read or write science fiction?

Please leave a comment to let me know you were here, and I'll respond! Thanks for dropping by. Let me know if you're part of the challenge, so I can be sure to visit your blog.

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A to Z Challenge - 2016

It's April again and time for the 2016 Blogging from A to Z challenge  This is my 4th year participating in the challenge! (Previous A to Z  posts at the top of my blog page tabs are: Art A-Z, French Faves, Paris, Etc. 

Thanks to originator Lee (Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out), and the co-hosts and co-host teams who make the challenge run smoothly. See the list of participants, and other important information at the A to Z Blog site.  The basic idea is to blog every day in April except Sundays (26 days). On April 1st, you begin with the letter A, April 2 is the letter B, and so on. Posts can be random or use a theme.

Blogging from A to Z Challenge 2016 - Badge

http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/p/a-z-challenge-sign-up-list-2016.html A to Z Blog List

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov Isaac Asimov Wiki

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/books-obituaries/10383953/Isaac-Asimov.html Telegraph article 

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MENSA = the largest and oldest high IQ society in the world

*** IMAGE:  Dr. Isaac Asimov portrait, 1965, *PD

This work is from the New York World-Telegram and Sun collection at the Library of Congress. According to the library, there are no known copyright restrictions on the use of this work.
This photograph is a work for hire created prior to 1968 by a staff photographer at New York World-Telegram & Sun. It is part of a collection donated to the Library of Congress and per the instrument of gift it is in the public domain.

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THE NOT-SO-INNOCENTS ABROAD by Roland Yeomans

Not-So-Innocents Abroad is Not-so-much-a-Blog-Tour. . .as a change of pace


WHERE IS THE PUNK IN STEAMPUNK?

Image of the Air/Steamship, Xanadu

Roland Yeomans, here: reader, writer, dreamer.

Ah, the “punk” would be me.  I’ve taken history, sprinkled in bad girls, airships, and villainous former presidents/Civil War Generals – and tossed them like a salad. All done with a strong punkish attitude toward socio-political injustices like V FOR VENDETTA. 

Have you read a bit of history and gone: “That was just wrong!”

Me, too.

Take Sherman’s Bloody March through Georgia.  Read this actual excerpt from Sherman’s telegram to General Grant:

“Until we can repopulate Georgia, it is useless to occupy it, but the utter destruction of its roads, houses, and people will cripple their military resources.”

Or read Sherman’s actual orders to his officers:

“If a torpedo (mine) is suspected on any part of the road, order the point to be tested by a carload of prisoners, or by citizens implicated, drawn by a long rope."

“We are not only fighting armies, but a hostile people, and must make old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war, as well as their organized armies.”

“The entire populace must be ground to the dust.  Gentlemen, no consideration must be paid to the fact these homes are occupied by families, but all of Atlanta must be cannonaded.”

Or read this excerpt of Sherman’s letter to Secretary of War Stanton:

“There is a class of people, men, women and children, who must be killed or banished before we can hope for peace and order.”

Or consider President Lincoln ordering the most people hung in a mass execution (38 Dakota Indians). 

Their crime?  Fighting to keep their lands promised them by a prior treaty.  They were tried by an illegal tribunal.  Though they did not understand English and thus could not defend themselves or even understand the charges against them, they did not receive defence counsel.

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The punk in Steampunk springs from anarchy and a rebellion against society’s injustice to those who cannot defend themselves.

THE NOT-SO-INNOCENTS ABROAD full cover design

So just what is my first Steampunk novel about?

Here’s the back cover copy:

Come aboard the XANADU, the first air-steamship!

Experience 1867 in a way history says never existed!

Sherman’s bloody march through Georgia never happened.

Lincoln was never assassinated.

The Great Sioux Nation still exists.

The Reason?

Great-souled Samuel McCord, cursed Texas Ranger.

Join him and his alien empress wife, Meilori Shinseen, on their honeymoon

Above the stormy Atlantic ocean

With their friends:

Mark Twain, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Horace Greely, Ada Byron, the immortal Lucanus, Margaret Fuller, 11 year old Nikola Tesla.

With their enemies:

General Sherman, former President Abraham Lincoln, revenant Benjamin Franklin, crafty Thomas Edison,  Captain Nemo, Revenant Empress Theodora;

And the twin sister of Meilori Shinseen – Maija Shinseen.

Steampunk Disasters were never so much fun!

When I write, I often think of my novel as a movie.  Here is the tune I imagine playing over the opening credits as the Xanadu sails across a brooding sky towards adventure and mayhem.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Roland Yeoman's Blog: Writing in the Crosshairs 

Check out the blog and you'll see how prolific Roland is, and learn about the haunted jazz club, Meilori's, in old New Orleans on a certain corner. It's a nightclub of changing dimensions and clientelle. Be sure to look for Sam McCord, former Texas Ranger. 

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Have you read any of Roland's novels? Do you have a favorite? Do you like Steampunk tales? Airships? Time travelling characters?

Please leave a comment to let me know you were here and either Roland or I will respond.

Thanks for dropping by!

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Satori in Paris by Jack Kerouac - A Review

Everybody's looking for Something. . .*

Satori in Paris

Satori in Paris by Jack Kerouac

Satori in Paris reads like a poem in certain spots, before Kerouac reverts back to his beat-influenced narrative style. Jack is looking for the history of his family name, especially in Brittany, and he wants to meet his relatives or seek information about his ancestors. Will he find what he's looking for? Will he be accepted or ignored by those of his familial village. . .?

Between encounters with Parisians, including ladies of the bars and eloquent cab drivers, Jack finds France a learning experience. Satori in Paris can be read quickly, and it sheds some insight on Jack's melancholy. He was forever seeking, trying to understand, trying to make sense of life. I read Satori in Paris again for this review, and it still held my attention as I tried to imagine Paris in the nineteen-sixties when it was written. Black and white images and rain. . .a figure walks alone.

Recommended.

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Satori means 'a sudden illumination' or 'a kick in the eye'.

Satori in Paris is preceded by Desolation Angels (1965), and followed by Vanity of Duluoz (1968). 

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Jack Kerouac, American Writer- a previous blogpost with a list of Kerouac books.

* Song Reference: (Thanks, Annie Lennox, a line from Sweet Dreams)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeMFqkcPYcg

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Have you read any of Jack Kerouac's books? Which ones? What do you think of Beat writers/poets? (Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Neal Cassady, etc.)

Please leave a comment to let me know you were here and I'll respond. Thanks for dropping by!

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References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kerouac Wiki on Jack Kerouac

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satori_in_Paris About the book, Satori in Paris

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Mystery/Crime Reviews - Ann Rule and Anne Perry

Be careful who you trust. . .

Ann Rule
Don't Look Behind You

These are based on true stories. . .

A divorced father disappears after befriending two sharks: a woman and her daughter. They cruise the male world looking for a means to get rich without actually having to work. . . One daughter suspects something is amiss in the tale the two women provide to the police. 

A wife of a man who abuses her and threatens the children is gone without a trace.  The husband says she left him and the children to run away with another man. . .everyone believes him, almost. He tells the children she didn't care about them. Another cold case is logged. Several decades later, the dirty facts surface.

One section of the book includes several rape crime stories. A common theme flows through them all: be careful who you trust and always be aware of your vulnerability in any given situation. Avoid being distracted or alone in less populated areas after dark. Anyone can be a victim. 


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Anne Perry
Silence in Hanover Close
A Victorian Mystery

One man is murdered in his own home and several objects are missing from the room. Did an enemy or a friend commit robbery and murder? The killer came and went in the daylight in an exclusive neighbourhood. . .an inside job?

Pitt, the detective sent to deal with this cold case encounters hostility and distrust when dealing with the family. No one will look him in the eye. . . he must get someone to infiltrate the dinner gatherings and listen for clues. In the Victorian era, the social code was strictly enforced. A person needed connections, as well as poise, and social background to attend a society dinner, someone like his wife, Charlotte. She would be able to get an invite and blend in with the other guests.

Pitt takes care of the footwork and interviews the staff, while his wife tries to get inside knowledge of what occurred before the murder. There is one common thread voiced by the few that were interviewed by Pitts - an elusive lady in red. Who was she? 

I preferred the less-journalistic format and the Victorian time period of this second story. I read these two books as part of my research on characters. I would likely read Perry again.

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Do you read mysteries or do you prefer the adrenalin rush of thrillers?  What about true crime stories? Do you read to research?

Please leave a comment to let me know you were here, and I'll respond. Thanks for dropping by! I'll be posting a few more book reviews in the coming weeks: Diana Gabaldon, Jack Kerouac, and Christopher Moore. I'm trying to catch up on book reviews, before I let myself start a new book.

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