Death du Jour by Kathy Reichs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I got this book from my Grandmother quite awhile ago (along with many other books). So, I didn’t have the first book in the series. It was interesting to read this story without having read the first book.

It is a typical murder mystery book, though, and so the characters don’t really grow or change much. Mainly, I missed out on her adventures (I have hints of them because of some flashbacks).

Setting: The author did a good job of contrasting the feeling of being in Canada and then in the South. Her descriptions were quite visual and enticing. They also played into the storyline.

Plot: There are a few different plot lines that are at least tangentially related and interwoven. The first revolved around the identity of a long-deceased nun who is destined for sainthood. The second is the search for the murderers of several people who turn out to be part of a cult. The third line deals with her love life.

Conflict: This is the weakest part of the story. Partly because the author attempts false suspense and partly because she gives hints of the future that indicate the heroine will be okay. There is plenty of potential conflict here though.

Character: The main character seems a lot like the author in terms of jobs and knowledge (writing what you know is perfectly acceptable), but the character is at least conflicted and has some quirks. The other characters feel a little wooden and Mary Jane-ish. This is especially true for the cult members. It was pretty obvious who the leader of the cult was (I guessed it from the moment we are introduced to the person).

Text: The false suspense was understandable, if annoying. The hints of "if I’d only known then what I know now" really threw me out of the story and the present (really past) action. Still the writing was competent and the story interesting – I love learning more about forensic science.

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The Murdered House by Pierre Magnan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another book that I got from Grandma. And another murder mystery. This one is set in France, though. And deals with a twenty-year old murder.

It feels like it is an older murder than that, though, because of how everything is framed. Which is a little strange. The twist at the end is interesting, and predictable if you know what to look for. As well as why someone keeps beating the main character to his intended victims.

Setting: Rural France. Which makes this kind of fun to read for that. In fact, this was translated into English from French. So it is authentic as far as that goes.

Plot: Basically, it is the main character’s intention to find and then kill his parents’ murderer (or murderers). He is also erotically haunted (perhaps subconsciously, perhaps just in his mind) by his mother’s ghost. This part is just weird.

Conflict: Just between the main character and his would-be targets. Who mysteriously end up dead before he gets the chance to.

Characters: There is some meat here, with lots of different kinds of characters. I didn’t really find myself caring for any of them. Maybe Rose. But the author implied that she lived to be old, so the tension there was lost and it seemed obvious that she never married the main character, so tension there was lost too. I still don’t understand why he left or why the ending happened the way it did. Very strange. Perhaps to set up another book? It was definitely not an uplifting book, in any case.

Text: I liked the French feel, with the turns of phrase and the words used (translated in footnotes as appropriate).

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Funny, considering how people feel about electronic content.

Who came up with Microsoft Word’s default style?

Can’t they come up with a student version that has the standard double-spacing and serif font and regular margins and normal header and no extra spacing between paragraphs?

My students just don’t seem to get it.

And while I’m ranting, why didn’t I scare away more students this year? Come on, I’m mean and onery and expect students to rewrite papers. Maybe I should have had the first paper due much earlier? Any other ideas on what I should do to scare them away?

Clarkesworld has some pretty fast turnaround times on story submissions.

Unfortunately, Bamboo Lessons got the form reject there too. However, I mainly sent it there just because of the fast turnaround since the next submission needs to be printed and mailed, and has a 2-3 month wait time.

Bamboo Lessons was rejected again. This time by Intergalactic Medicine Show. Looks like it didn’t make it past the slush reader either.

The message: “Thank you for offering your story to Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show. After careful consideration, we’re sorry to tell you that we will not be using it; you are free to submit it elsewhere.”

So, no hints either on what was wrong or that they didn’t like. At least it was carefully considered – that is a definite plus 😉

Anyway, on to the next market (still trying to figure out who that will be).

John Brown – the author’s official site » Blog Archive » Writing update: Curse Draft 3 FINISHED, The Book Academy.

I am mentioned as a reader! John asked me to read it because I had not yet read the first book in the series and he wanted to make sure things still made sense to me. I made it through a couple chapters (if I recall correctly) before things got a bit confusing, but I applaud John’s idea to make each book stand a bit on its own.

I hope he gets done with it soon because I am really looking forward to reading the first book (I’ve had it in my To Read pile for almost a year, I believe).

I got the rejection letter yesterday from the Writer’s of the Future contest. I wasn’t really expecting to win, so I’m doing okay.

In fact, I just sent the story off to Intergalactic Medicine Show. I hope they at least give me some comments on it if they don’t like it, because I can’t figure out what to do to fix it, except make it longer by resolving the whole plot. And that would probably put me into novella territory.

I am also gearing up to start working on my novel. I have a deadline of October, so I need to get moving on it.

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