Aefle and Gisela (Book Review) w/guest post by Libby Malin!

Skewering Sacred Cows

by Libby Malin

The Edgar-winning mystery writer Andrew Klavan wrote a series of novels that enthralled me about five years ago (Shotgun Alley, Dynamite Road, and Damnation Street). Gritty to the point of raunchy in places, yet also sweetly and poetically human in many others, these novels traced one long mystery arc and one long transformation of a primary character who finally figures out how to be a true hero.

Many scenes in the books spoke to me. One involved a young sleuth, a few years out of full-time academic life, visiting Berkeley’s campus pursuing clues in a secondary mystery. While there, he listens to several students discussing a dissertation:

The subject was “Ode on a Grecian Urn.” Now, you may not care about literature one way or the other—after all, you’re reading this—but it matters a lot to me. And I personally think the Ode is one of the wisest and most beautiful poems in one of the sweetest and most beautiful languages by one of the best and most beautiful of men, namely John Keats. But no. According to Stu (the Promising Genius), the Ode was no more than the “effulgence, or maybe I should say effluvium, of certain social interactions and assumptions.” What’s more, all these interactions and assumptions were sexist, imperialist, racist, and altogether very, very bad. Therefore, said Stu (who was a Promising Genius) they needed to be analyzed. Analyzed, analyzed, analyzed. Everything, it turned out, needed to be analyzed. Even the fact that some of the people in the poem were men and some were women. “It’s just historicity posing as gender positioning, presupposing a chiastic ontology,” said Diane.

I became ridiculously excited reading this passage. You see, I hold both bachelor’s and master’s degrees, but they’re not in English or creative writing. And so, I always felt a little, oh, intimidated and maybe even “uneducated” in these fields, even though I myself was a professional writer.

But here was a professional writer articulating what I’d dare not think—that maybe some of the study in those fields was, well, bunk, that maybe one could learn to appreciate and analyze great writing without some of that scholarly analysis. (By the way, I’ve blogged about college writing programs’ disconnect from the world of commercial fiction. If you check out the post, sign up for the Istoria Books mailing list!)

Flash forward several years. I’ve now written numerous novels, earned my own Edgar nomination in young adult mystery, and have three humorous women’s fiction books under my belt, one of which was optioned for film. I have an idea for a fourth based on what might be called a “high concept” opener. A man stops a wedding on a dare, but it turns out to be the wrong wedding.

That’s an eye-grabbing start, sure, but a full-length novel has to be based on richer material. Luckily, I had another story I wanted to marry (no pun intended) with this one—the transformative journey of a timid personality into a courageous one, a character who realizes, little by little, that he can’t just “go with the flow” any longer, he has to make choices that could cost him his career.

Thus, Thomas Charlemagne was born—a history scholar, whose life work is studying a poetry-writing medieval monk, Aefle. Tom’s story, in fact, roughly parallels that of his “little monk,” who struggles with whether to stay in his safe scriptorium or venture into the wilder world to pursue his lady-love, Gisela.

As I wrote Aefle and Gisela, I decided that I, too, needed to discover some inner courage to take on a “sacred cow”— institutions of higher learning, such as the one at which Professor Charlemagne works. I had to accept that some readers might not like my viewpoints, but to soften my tale would be to weaken the point it ultimately makes. That is, how difficult it is to stand up to pressure to conform. I’m hoping that’s a message everyone can relate to, whatever their ideological outlook.

I hope you enjoy Aefle and Gisela, a book that deals with a serious topic in a humorous way –standing up to bullies— eliciting smiles at the same time it raises questions. You can buy it for Kindle, Nook or other e-readers!

And, by the way, it was a great joy to e-publish this book. As an author, I felt a tremendous sense of freedom, knowing I didn’t need to worry about whether an agent or editor would shy away from the project because it was too “political.”

Please feel free to email me at Libby_Malin (at) Hotmail (dot) com! I love to hear from readers.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: LIBBY MALIN

Libby Malin is the award-winning author of romance, literary, mystery and young adult fiction. In an attempt to thoroughly confuse her reader fans, she writes comedy under the name Libby Malin and serious fiction under the name Libby Sternberg. Her first young adult mystery, Uncovering Sadie’s Secrets, was an Edgar nominee, and her first romantic comedy, Fire Me, was optioned for film. She lives in Pennsylvania, has three children and one husband, and confesses to watching “Real Housewives” shows despite enormous amounts of culture-guilt.

Visit the author’s website at: http://www.LibbyMalin.com
Visit the Istoria Books blog to read an interview with the author by her alter ego: http://istoriabooks.blogspot.com/2011/09/libby-interviews-libby-about-aefle.html


Thank you Libby, for this guest post and for giving us some background on Aefle and Gisela!  Now on to my review!

Title: Aefle and Gisela
Author: Libby Malin
Publisher: Istoria Books

About the Book: STOPPING A WEDDING: WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

Medieval History Professor Thomas Charlemagne thinks he's finally slaying the dragon of his "Timid Tommy" reputation when he responds to an outlandish dare at a bachelor party and stops a wedding the very next morning. The only problem? He wanders into the wrong church. That doesn't matter to bride DeeDee McGowan, however, who was having second, third, and fourth thoughts about saying "I do" anyway. She grabs the chance to leave her groom at the altar, dragging Tom with her.

 DeeDee and Tom share a history, a fling more than ten years ago, before he went off to graduate school and started ascending the career ladder of academe and she took over her father's car dealership in sleepy Oyster Point, Maryland, building it into a coveted business treasure. Their reconnection sets sparks flying between them -- from the original passion that bonded them and the class differences that parted them. Meanwhile, what started as a prank leads to serious legal issues for both Tom and DeeDee as the groom sues them, DeeDee countersues, and Tom is caught in the middle.

Concerned that this distraction will affect his quest for tenure, Tom encounters an unsympathetic department chair eager to replace him with a renaissance expert from the UK and a women's studies professor committed to challenging the "validity" of Thomas's signature research into an obscure poetry-writing medieval monk, Aefle, and his lady-love, Gisela. A comic romp blended with sharp satire, AEFLE AND GISELA delivers laughs and love as Thomas learns, along with his "little monk," that life outside the “scriptorium” requires him to find real courage at last.

My thoughts:  This was a fun book to read and I often found myself talking out loud to both DeeDee and Thomas.  As the synopsis says, they had been separated by class differences.  But I think they were more alike than they thought.  They both ended up with chips on their shoulders, thinking they had to prove their worth, neither sure where they wanted to end up. 

Thomas had been given the moniker "Timid Tommy" in school and rather than fighting it, he seemed to succomb to it - thinking that because people called him this, it must be true.  Doing research on Aefle, and life in general at the university, allows him to live in a cocoon where "Timid Tommy" does not exist. Until that fateful day that he walks into DeeDee's wedding instead of his cousin Wendy's.  Then the careful life he has created for himself, the life he thinks he can "coach" DeeDee into being a part of, starts to be encroached upon by life in the messy world.

I think DeeDee had settled for Buck's proposal because she was all alone in the world.  She had her father's car dealership, but wanted a family and knew that time was not slowing down.  She had her reservations, but found out some news the night before the wedding that proved she had been right all along.  It was fateful for her as well that Tom walked in to her wedding. 

She liked Tom and had liked him in high school, but even after letting it be known that she liked him, he was still afraid to ask her out.  It was until their five year class reunion that they hooked up for a brief fling.  This is where the chips' on their shoulders seem to surface.  She felt he was somewhat of a snob and looked down upon her and he was trying to flee Oyster Point and all the memories of "Timid Tommy".  Unfortunately, he did have a way of talking down to people, but I don't think that he meant it how it sounded.  He had asked DeeDee to come with him, thinking he was asking in a way that would agree with her sensible side, but she saw it as him trying to "make her a better person." I agree that he went to some extremes that would make any normal person feel belittled.  It got me a little hot under the collar on occassion.  DeeDee had her faults though as well, and even though other people had suggested some of the same things Tom did, when he suggested them, she thought him a snob. 

It was fun the way the book wrapped up though, and I found myself chuckling along the way.  It is good when a book takes you through some different emotions.  I like it when I am emotionally involved with the characters.  Tom and DeeDee are definitely two people I could call friends - well DeeDee anyway (lol). 

~I received a complimentary ebook in exchange for my review from Libby Malin and Istoria Books.~

AEFLE AND GISELA (A Romantic Comedy)
Publisher/Publication Date: Istoria Books, July 2011
ASIN: B005DM323W
306 KB (199 pages)

E-Publishing Benefits the Different Storyteller - Guest Post by Libby Sternberg

E-PUBLISHING BENEFITS THE DIFFERENT STORYTELLER

By Libby Sternberg

Thank you for having me as a guest! I’ve been on this site before, but as an author. Today I’m here as an editor to share some information about a new e-press I’m involved in--Istoria Books.

Istoria Books publishes only fiction but across a wide variety of genres--historical, romance, young adult, literary, mystery, sci-fi, fantasy and more. About the only thing we’re not handling is erotica.

My husband, daughter and I started this publishing venture late last year with only my inventory. In the coming months, we’re poised to release six books by other authors--a wonderful literary offering by a Vietnam veteran and the backlist of a superlative romance author, whose five books had been published in print by Penguin’s NAL imprint.

These books represent why e-publishing offers so many opportunities to authors. It allows “different” stories to find readers, and it gives already-published authors a chance to expand their readership without worrying about their books being pulled from shelves and returned to the publisher. Because of the marketing limitations placed on traditional publishing, these opportunities are sometimes hard to come by in the print world.

Recently, an aspiring author shared with me a rejection note she’d received from an editor. The editor praised her book and writing style. In fact, it had taken the editor awhile to get back to the author’s agent because the editor had liked the book so much that she’d “sat on it” and let other editors read it, too. Everyone agreed--it was a marvelous book, and they loved it!

But….(you knew there was a “but” in there, didn’t you?), they couldn’t figure out how to market it. It was one of those “crossover” kinds of books, sort of in this genre and sort of in another one. Therefore, they rejected it.

Hired by their publishers to use their judgment to identify good books, these editors had done just that--identified a good book. But they were under marketing constraints--probably also put there by the publisher--that forced them to push their first judgment aside in favor of “marketability” concerns.

In this case, “marketability” meant: where in a bookstore would this book be shelved, and how would appropriate readers be drawn to it?

So, despite their raves, despite what their critical judgment of a good read told them, they rejected this manuscript.

In e-publishing, however, it’s a different story. A book can simultaneously be “shelved” in romance, mystery, young adult, sci-fi, even inspirational, if it contains elements of all of those genres. There’s no marketability problem with crossover books. The only “marketability” question is: will this book sell at all?

That means that e-publishing is open to a broader array of books. That’s why, at Istoria Books, we say in our submission guidelines, if your romance is told from the hero's POV, we'll still look at it. If your young adult novel features a college-age protagonist, we'll consider it. If your women's fiction book puts romance way on the back burner, we're open to it. If your inspirational involves a sinning protagonist, we'll still take a look.

The two questions we ask when reviewing manuscripts are: do I want to keep reading this story, and do I want to keep hearing this author tell it to me? A good story, well-told--that’s what we’re looking for.

Istoria doesn’t offer advances, but we do split royalties, and we do not ask authors to “earn out” the cost of cover art, ISBN registration, editing, formatting and more. Once the book is up for sale, the royalty splits begin.

We hope authors will check out our submission guidelines, at the “About Us” page on our website--www.IstoriaBooks.com. We hope readers will check out our offerings and get on our mailing list by signing up at our website or blog (www.IstoriaBooks.blogspot.com). Freebies and discounts will be available at various times to our subscribers.

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Istoria Books is pleased to announce acquiring digital rights to Gary Alexander’s up-market/literary fiction Dragon Lady. Here’s a brief summary of this wonderful book:

In 1965 Saigon, Joe, a young draftee becomes obsessed with a Vietnam girl named Mai, his own "Dragon Lady" from his beloved Terry and the Pirates cartoon strips that his mother still sends him. As he pursues a relationship with her, Saigon churns with intrigue and rumors--will the U.S. become more involved with the Vietnamese struggle? What's going on with a special unit that's bringing in all sorts of (for the time) high tech equipment? Will the U.S. make Vietnam the 51st state and bomb aggressors to oblivion? But for Joe, the big question is--does Mai love him or will she betray more than just his heart? Gary Alexander’s intelligent voice, filled with dry wit, and his own experiences give this story a sharp sense of truth, recounting the horror and absurdity of war. Reminiscent of books such as Catch-22, Dragon Lady serves up equal measures of outrageous humor and poignant remembrance. Gary served in Vietnam in ’65. When he arrived, he joined 17,000 GIs. When he left, 75,000 were in country.

AND HERE’S A SAMPLE:

All anyone could talk about was what they hoped was wrong with them. No one was anxious for syphilis or cancer, mind you, but we were yearning for nearsightedness or farsightedness, trick knees, high or low blood pressure, flat feet, slipped disks, neuritis, neuralgia, post nasal drip, the heartbreak of psoriasis. We were praying for a backassward Lourdes, where 4-F was the miracle. I had no illusions. If you could fog a mirror, you were probably in…

AND ANOTHER…

We got back to the 803rd, gone a mere three hours. When the captain saw what we’d parked at the curb, he looked at us as if we walked on water. “Men, I’m putting in papers to immediately elevate you to private first class.”

I thanked him as humbly as I could manage. As happy as I would’ve been to be promoted, the clerk-typist slot was foremost on my mind. As PFCs, we’d be booted out of the 803rd sooner or later. It was inevitable. I did not wish to be helicoptered into the godforsaken to hunt Victor Charles and for Victor Charles to surely reciprocate.

I wanted a clerk-typist MOS on my resume. I wanted to be where Charlie would have to barge into my clean, dry office and fire a round through my Underwood to get me.

“Thank you, sir. I request that you send Private Zbitgysz and me to typing school so we can improve our skills on the job and become improved soldiers and lighten PFC Bierce’s burden.”

Bierce didn’t look up, but his clickety-clack-clack ceased.

Thanks Libby for visiting us again today!  Being a new owner of both a Kindle and a Nook, (I never thought I would say this), I am really enjoying reading books on my e-readers and being able to have a "bunch" of books with me at any time.  I also like it because it has allowed me to read some books that I would not have had the opportunity to before.  Good luck in your new venture Libby!

Why Hollywood in 1929? Guest post by Libby Sternberg (w/giveaway!)

WHY HOLLYWOOD IN 1929?
By Libby Sternberg

The place is Hollywood, the year is 1929. Just two years earlier, cinema’s gentry had watched—with “terror in all their faces,” according to Frances Goldwyn—the L.A. premiere of The Jazz Singer, the first feature-length sound movie. They’d known their world was about to change.

This tense atmosphere provides the backdrop for my novel Sloane Hall, which follows John Doyle, chauffeur for starlet Pauline Sloane, as Pauline is about to make her first sound picture. He falls in love with her, and just as they are about to find happiness together, he is repulsed by secrets she hides from the camera and the world. Although the book is inspired by Jane Eyre, it tells a fresh story of obsession and forgiveness.

Why did I choose this setting and time period to tell my Jane Eyre-inspired tale?

Here’s a secret—originally I’d set the book in the early 30s, when sound pictures were the norm and the tumult of transition was over. I worked on several drafts set during that time, in fact, honing and polishing and revising and tweaking. Those versions were very close to what is now the finished book except, of course, for the introduction of a couple key characters.

One new character added to the final version is Leo Bartenstein, a veteran cinematographer from the silent days who mentors the protagonist, John Doyle, and recommends him for the chauffeuring job after John ruins a reel of film at a studio job. I loved writing Leo and even considered a prequel that would have involved him and an unresolved crush on Lillian Gish!

The other “character” I introduced in the final version is the time period itself, which threatens Pauline’s and other stars’ livelihoods like a demon waiting in the shadows to snatch their breath away. I wanted the time itself to feel like a character.

Moving the novel back to the silent-to-sound years came upon me one day after I’d just finished reading Water for Elephants. I’d really enjoyed that book, and I was mulling the elements of the story that had made it so interesting and compelling. One was the time period—the 1930s. But that wasn’t the only fascinating part of the backdrop. It was the circus life and the pressures of that work environment, too. They became a separate character in the story.

Suddenly, it came to me—how much more tension would pervade the otherwise sunny backdrop of California if the heroine in my novel wasn’t just any starlet but one about to make her first sound picture. I knew that shifting the time to one where many in Hollywood feared for their jobs, where there was “terror in all their faces,” would give Sloane Hall the true Gothic feel of the original Jane.

Although the shift didn’t require a huge amount of actual rewriting work, it did mean a big chunk of research faced me. But this turned out to be a joy as I read books about that period, thrilling with every new discovery, and watched some old silents and early talkies with my husband. One of those silents, Sunrise, is now among my favorite movies.

I’ve been heartened to receive some lovely reviews of Sloane Hall so far. Romance Reviews Today says it’s “well worth reading,” while Fresh Fiction reports that “Sternberg never loses sight of the story she's re-telling, but this novel is definitely her own. Readers have things to figure out and look forward to. Her prose flows beautifully with vivid descriptions of people and places, bringing to life a Los Angeles of times gone by. Fans of historical fiction and Jane Eyre in particular will relish this novel, and readers who enjoy a love story should definitely pick this one up.”

I hope to hear from readers on whether they enjoy it, too. You can read an excerpt at my website or my blog (www.LibbysBooks.com or www.LibbysBooks.wordpress.com). Those who comment on this blog within the next 24 hours will have their names entered into a random drawing for a free copy of Sloane Hall.


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Libby Sternberg is the author of YA mysteries (the first of which was an Edgar nominee) and women’s fiction. She also writes as Libby Malin. You can visit her blog at www.LibbysBooks.wordpress.com (where she blogs about Sloane Hall, old Hollywood, Jane Eyre and more), or her website at www.LibbysBooks.com . You can friend her on Facebook at Libby Sternberg, or contact her to get on her mailing list at Libby488 (at) yahoo (dot) com.