Fort Clatsop: Photos

Last week, we visited Fort Clatsop, where the Lewis & Clark Expedition spent the winter from November 1805 to March 1806. This being Oregon, and the wettest part of Oregon at that, I except they saw considerably less sunshine most of the days during their stay. I won't complain about a little sunshine, though.

We actually started near the beach and walked the five to six miles inland to the fort. It was a nice, pretty trail, though I imagine the original route didn't include the field of cows we passed along the way, or the state highway. 

 

Also, congratulations to Carol, from Worthy 2 Read, for winning last week's giveaway--and thank you to everyone else who was part of the blog tour for Rebels! 

Merlin's Nightmare: The Legends

Welcome back for the third day of the CSFF Blog Tour for Merlin’s Nightmare! As before, you can find more posts from the tour here, as well as my review of Merlin's Blade and Merlin's Nightmare. Today, though, I want to talk about the legends behind Arthur and why I like Robert Treskillard’s new version of the story.

What do you think of when someone mentions King Arthur? If you are like me, you probably have a mental image of medieval knights in armor riding about the countryside doing good deeds. (Maybe the original boy scouts society?)

I do know this image doesn't fit reality. 

One of the earliest mentions of Arthur is linked to a 6^th Century British saint, St. Gildas. Oddly enough, Gildas never mentioned Arthur in his own writings, even though he supposedly was born the year Arthur defeated the Saxon invaders at the Battle of Mount Badon. The reference comes from a biography of Gildas written almost five centuries later. I can guarantee that the author for that hagiography didn’t have access to the Internet, so his fact checking was probably limited to reading up on legends in the local monasteries or listening to ballads at the inns.

Most of the other major sources for Arthurian legend—and the most well-known author, Sir Thomas Malory of Le Morte D’Arthur—have about the same level of authenticity. Malory, for example, may have been a brigand-knight during the War of the Roses. Scholars speculate that he wrote his famous work while in prison. He doesn’t have history or imagination on his side, since the knights of his story sounds more like 15^th Century contemporaries than true Briton heroes.

The reality is, any historical King Arthur would have more in common with Beowulf.

Growing up, I was most familiar with The Boy’s King Arthur, illustrated by N.C. Wyeth, so I certainly don’t mind Malory’s version. I love the other Arthurian stories as well, from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight to Edmund Spenser’s brief encounter in The Fairie Queen. I just like knowing where the stories might have come from as well, and I also have a particular fondness for the story of the Anglo-Saxon invasion with the changes it brought to England.

That’s why I’ve enjoyed Treskillard’s Merlin Spiral so much. He takes Merlin and Arthur back to the time when they might really have lived and recreates their world in considerable detail.

Several other bloggers have noted the amount of research Treskillard put into these stories. I noticed this as well, but I also noticed the way Treskillard interprets the fragments of history we have, combining them with bits of Arthurian legend.

So, while scholars try to identify Arthur with the Roman war leader Ambrosius Aurelianus, Treskillard’s Merlin is Ambrosius, hiding under a false name to protect himself and Arthur from the murderous High King Vortigern. Arthur becomes Merlin’s foster son under the name Artorius, another legend name, suggesting that their complicated relationship explains the later muddle about who they actually were.

Even better, since we’re talking about a wild conglomeration of legends and historical fables, the Merlin Spiral goes beyond the history. I like the history, yes, but I also like how Treskillard creates a story of magic and faith, demons and monsters. 

It fits in well with the Arthurian legends and the other stories we have from ancient England—from Beowulf to the hagiographies written about St. Gildas.

Speculating from the Bible: WWBJD?

Imagine the comments Mary must have gotten.

“How long does he sleep at night? I hope you know how lucky you are.”

“Wow, does that baby never cry?”

Okay, I know this isn’t Christmas, so it’s not really the time for a discussion about baby Jesus and “Away in the Manger.” Jesus was a baby for a lot longer than Christmas time, though.

We aren’t told how he acted as an infant, since that’s not part of the story being told in the Bible. Still, it makes for interesting Speculative History: What Would Baby Jesus Do?

Let’s think for a minute about how the perfect baby would act... 

That means perfect not as in “never cries,” but as in “never sins.” 

We know Jesus wept over other people’s pain. We also know he sweated in agony before his crucifixion. Obviously, Jesus cried as a baby, right?

The general consensus in child development books seems to be that newborns cry to express a need. They aren’t aware enough of their surroundings to realize that they can manipulate people by crying. That seems pretty simple. No sin in asking mom for a snack if you're hungry, so no sin in crying to get fed as a baby. As a newborn, Jesus might have cried primarily to communicate that he was hungry, or because he was tired or he needed his diaper changed. 

The question gets trickier with time, however. Older children occasionally learn that they can get what they want by crying. As a perfect toddler, Jesus wouldn’t try to manipulate his mom into giving him an extra cookie after she said no. That would be ‘disobedience to parents.’

But what if Mary put him down for a few minutes, while she took the bread out of the oven? A normal toddler doesn’t understand why mom is worried about burning the bread, and he cries because it’s significantly more lonely on the floor than in mom’s arms. Besides, it’s a scary thing—not knowing if you’re ever going to see someone again.

But perfect love casts out fear. So, as since Jesus was fully God, and God is love, would Jesus have been frightened as an infant or a child? Would he have cried because he startled himself awake at night and didn’t know where his mom was until she picked him up?

And pain—since Jesus was able to heal other people’s disease’s, maybe he never got sick himself? Or, perhaps because he took on humanity with all of its weaknesses and temptations, he also felt normal illnesses and had the flu as a child. Maybe he was also susceptible to colic as an infant.

As an older child, say about seven, it might be easy to imagine Jesus patiently putting up with the flu and having mom tell him to stay indoors. As an infant with colic? It’s not a sin to ask for help, and crying is the only way babies can ask. Perhaps Mary had some sleepless nights after all, rocking Jesus and trying to sooth her baby’s collywobbles.

Still, there's that manipulation issue again, and Jesus wouldn't have thrown a fit because Mary told him to shake his bedroll out and put it away. Would he have cried because he lost the rattle Joseph made for him? I don't know, but I doubt an older Jesus would even have cried because his sister took his toy sword away.

(Imagine the pressure his siblings must have gotten.)

Morning Glory: Cover Reveal & Giveaway

It's that time of year again. People thinking about the past year, making resolutions for a fresh start. Everyone talking about the changes they've seen and the dreams they have for the future. I could do the same myself. I've had plenty of changes in the past year, but instead of ruminating on the past, my first post this year is for a friend who has a couple big events coming up this year—so, welcome to the new year, Amber Stokes!

Back in August, I was part of Amber's blog tour for her debut novel Bleeding Heart. She's been working hard on the sequel Forget Me Not, due out next month, and today she's revealing the cover for a third book in The Heart's Spring historical romance series... Morning Glory.

You can read about how Amber and her cover designer, Lena Goldfinch, came up with the design for this cover on Amber's blog here. And, just for fun—and because they're rather lovely—here are Amber's previous covers, also with a flower theme. (It's hard to say, but I think Forget Me Not is my favorite cover):

For those of you who haven't read Bleeding Heart yet, Amber introduces Myghal, a Cornish miner with a big heart. He might feel out of place in the Nevada silver rush, but he'll still let a girl cry on his shoulder if she needs too, or make sure she has a bouquet for her wedding, even if it's not the traditional happily-ever-after affair.

Back then, Myghal kept in the background, trying to help out both his friend and a lost, very lonely woman—but Amber has more to tell about his own story now. She's still learning the details, but she promises his journey will continue in Morning Glory, and that he's getting his own romance this time, not just helping out a friend's love affair. Myghal was one of my favorite characters, even as a secondary character, so I'm rather excited to see what happens when Morning Glory comes out this summer!

About the Author:

Amber Stokes has a Bachelor of Science degree in English and a passion for the written word – from blogging to writing poetry, short stories, and novels. After her brief time at college in Oregon, she is now back home among the redwoods of Northern California, living life one day at a time and pursuing her passion via freelance editing and self-publishing. You can connect with Amber on her blog, Seasons of Humility.

In addition to the cover reveal, Amber is also launching two new blogs, the Morning Glory blog for book extras and The Heart’s Spring blog, the home site for the series, as well as companion short stories.
 

About the Cover Designer:

Like Amber's previous covers, this one was designed by Lena Goldfinch. Lena lives in a scenic small town in Massachusetts with her husband, two kids, and a very spoiled Black Lab. She writes fiction for young adults, mostly light fantasy with a healthy dose of "sigh-worthy" romance. You can visit her online at www.lenagoldfinch.blogspot.com.

The Giveaway:

As a final bonus, Amber is offer a set of morning glory note cards (pack of four) from Cindy Lindgren and lavender & copper flower earrings from Jaye L. Knight. (Giveaway limited to U.S. residents only.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Burning Sky: Review

This month has been busy, between NaNoWriMo, learning Python programming, and general busyness, but I’ve still had time to read a couple books. One of them was Burning Sky by Lori Benton—and it was a very good read…

 

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Captive, daughter, wife, mother—Willa Obenchain has spent half her life among the Mohawk Indians. That life has ended for her, and she’s ready now to return to the life she had before, but that life has changed also. In the years since she left, the American Revolution has divided the country and the pioneer community she grew up in.

The war might be over, but the country is definitely not at peace. Old feuds still divide the patriots and suspected loyalists, and especially the settlers and the Iroquois tribes that they perceive as ruthless savages. While most people are glad to welcome Willa back, they can’t forget their old bitterness against the Mohawks, nor can they believe that she might have found love and happiness among her captors.

Willa, for her own part, wants to shut out the pain of her past—almost as much as she wants to shut out the people that can’t possibly understand that pain.

Willa would prefer to hide her pain alone, inside her parents’ old cabin, but she is slowly forced to open the cabin to other refugees in need of shelter. One of these refugees is the injured botanist she found unconscious at the borders of her father’s land, with his own scars from the war and unsettled past.

Burning Sky is Benton’s first novel, though it doesn’t read like a debut story. It’s a story about the chaos of history, as well as grief and love. From the moment Willa steps back onto her father’s land, she has to face both the present dangers—the risk of losing her land, the anger of settlers still upset about the Indian raids—as well as her own inner turmoil. And for my part, I enjoyed the story, and I enjoyed the writing, the characters, and the vividness equally well.

As a side note—part of my interest in Burning Sky initial came from my attempt years ago to write a captivity narrative similar to Willa’s life among the Mohawks. Benton’s story takes an entirely different approach, dealing with Willa’s story after her return, but knowing some of the challenges involved, I found Burning Sky to be an incredibly well-told story (and much better than mine could have been).

I would also add a caution for younger readers—this is a story I would like to recommend for all readers, but since the story follows closely after the American Revolution, there are a number of references to the war-time attacks, as well as some innuendo and an attack against Willa herself.

Apart from that, though, I would recommend Burning Sky for anyone who likes history with a touch of romance, or just a good book in general.

If you are interested, you can find out more about Burning Sky from the info page, including an excerpt from the first chapter, at WaterBrook Press.

[My thanks to WaterBrook Press for sending me a review copy of Burning Sky, in exchange for my honest opinion of the book.]

Egypt Fest

 

In my last couple of posts, I've been on a roll—or maybe at a standstill—with my historical research.

Actually, in addition to hunting up books on Medieval lifestyles and New England architecture, I’ve taken a trip on my Egyptian memory-wagon this summer. 

 

That part is due to a review book I’ve been reading this summer—Ancient Egypt in 101 Questions and Answers by Thomas Schneider. This particular book wasn’t the easiest read, since I have an electronic version, and it’s really meant to be a hardcopy, with real paper to flip through, jump back several pages, or skim for the next interesting photo.

Since this was a review copy, I’ll add that it does have some great information. As a Lit major, I was already familiar with the Romantics’ love for ancient cultures, so I knew about Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Ozymandias (Question 2). I did not know, however, that ancient Egyptians had their own set of four primary colors—black, red, white, and green—for the Nile mud, the brightness of sunlight, the red deserts, and the water and vegetation that they saw around them (Question 16).

In addition to this sort of trivia, Schneider covers a wide range of history, politics and culture. He mentions the Israelite Exodus and discounts it, claiming a lack of historical evidence or an inability to fit the story into a particular dynasty (Question 5). Schneider also discusses the possibility that the Western world might have followed the Isis cult instead of Christianity had some of the Roman Emperors had their way (Question 7).

Unfortunately, Ancient Egypt really is a reference book, not a history book. The book itself might be good for a quick browse, and some of the questions are interesting enough to justify a second glance or two. Over all, though, the format gives information in quick bites, rather than in a broad overview. If I wanted to learn about Egyptian history or culture, I would look for a general history and keep this book on the shelf until I had a specific question to look up.

This is where the memories come in—most of what I know about ancient Egypt came from the kids’ pictures books I read growing up. I admit it’s not academic in the least, but if I had to look up Egyptian history, I would probably still start with a stack of Usborne books, Eyewitness books, and that Time Traveler book my family still has.

Then there is David McCauley’s Pyramid. (Not to mention McCauley’s City and Castle for other eras.) Pyramid has step-by-step drawings and cut-away pictures showing a pyramid’s construction.  

And, since I tend to pick up as much of my lore from novels as from histories—a couple of my favorite Egyptian novels are still Eloise Jarvis Mcgraw’s The Golden Goblet and Mara, Daughter of the Nile. Of course, that still leaves The Bobbsey Twins and Their Camel Adventure, as well as the Hardy Boys’ The Secret Warning—about sunken ships, insurance fraud, and a mummy. That’s starting to stray from the history theme, but even Agatha Christie wrote a murder novel set in ancient Egypt, Death Comes as the End.

As I said, my background in Egyptian history is not academic in the least. Unorthodox might be the better term—but it sure was fun reading.

What are your favorite ways to learn about Egypt—or history in general?

[My thanks to Net Galley and Cornell University Press for sending me a Kindle ARC of Ancient Egypt in 101 Questions and Answers, in exchange for my opinion of the book.]

Historicity: Back to the Big Picture

Last week, I complained about the problem of details in writing—especially writing that involves researching obscure historical details.

Research is even important in make-believe worlds, because farming methods, by whatever name, must still make sense to readers, along with weapons, battles, climates, houses, cloth manufacturing, and cognitive development patterns.

Details are important, as any writer could tell you.

Of course, the big picture is just as important. I’m not talking about plot. Yes, it is challenging to create the goals and conflicts and overarching structure of a novel, but the plot itself needs to fit into the structure of its world.

I found this out after deciding to revisit a colonial-era novel I once wrote. It was my first novel, which I finished almost five years ago. Since then, it’s waited patiently for me to get through college, finish up my research, and start on the editing.

You could call it a learning experience.

I knew that the book needed a lot more research. For example, I had found some obscure details about the fact that New England Puritans believed in an orderly society, and that they founded towns as units, not necessarily as pioneers straggling out into the wilderness to find a homestead. For a Puritan family to pick up their household and head out alone (as the Ingalls did later on) would seem scandalous.

No one I’ve found explains much about how these town-units actually formed, but I wanted to include that detail. I figured that with a couple other details about how the settlers would pick a town site, clear the land, and build their houses, I’d be well on my way.

Things looked so promising that I picked a corner of the map for my (fictional) settlement and looked up information on some of the towns formed around there. I even found a couple towns settled close to the time I had picked. This, though, only happened after I wrote the rough draft and was ready to look at some revisions.

Then I started looking into some other details. I found out that the towns I wanted to use as models were actually splinter-groups breaking off from larger settlements that had been founded at least 50 years earlier. In other words, all of the main settling and civilizing had happened much earlier than when my novel was set.

I could fix those sorts of details with a bit of tweaking, but next I realized that my chosen region lay very close to the Mohican trail, and that this what about the time of the French and Indian War. In fact, one of the small settlements I had found was created as a barrier settlement with a fort, to defend more developed areas from Indian raids. And, this was after some of the major threats had tapered off.

Now I had the wrong area, or at least the wrong time, and the wrong story entirely. And, apparently, my original story either needs to change, or adapt to its frontier conditions.

Or, it might just get buried as a first-attempt novel no one needs to publish. Remember that learning experience I mentioned earlier?
 

Historicity: It's in the Details

I’m on the history-wagon at the moment. It might have something to do with my attempts at novel-related research.

Actually, it probably has a lot to do with that.

That’s because I’ve been doing a lot of research recently. Part of my research is supposed to be developing a medieval setting for my fantasy series. That’s an issue on its own, and it has only proven so far that I need a better mix of primary source documents and re-enactors guidelines—like that one Daily Life book targeted specifically at the Society for Creative Anachronism.

Most history books, you see, assume that people want to know about important things. Things like which king fought that other king, until he decided to marry the other king’s daughter instead—and then kept fighting anyway.

I like that sort of history. I really do. I can even remember a few dates, enough to know when the Magna Carta was signed (June 15th, 1215—it’s easy to remember with two fifteens in the date). Still, I do prefer to read about people’s stories within history.

There was one lady, for example, famous for helping to hold off Viking invasions. She showed up in my research for a Medieval Literature class, and I liked her. I’d like to write a story about her, or someone like her, if I can ever dig out my notes to remember who she was.

It’s just that, if I want to write about her, I also want to know what sort of architecture was used in the town she was defending, how the townsfolk planted their fields, what they planted, whether they got to eat most of it or whether it was destroyed by the fighting or went to pay taxes, or was traded off for salt or leather or iron. Did most people wear shoes? Did they go to church? What sort of liturgy would the priest use?

And, even though I’m not writing about medieval England at the moment, I want to know things like this for my fantasy series. I’m supposed to be creating a semi-medieval setting, if I don’t take it forward to renaissance in some places.

Of course, since I like old, old history in general, this research might become an excuse to write other types of fiction (see the famous lady example above). It’ll just have to wait until I have time, and until I can put it into much better and much more thorough order. And until I get better at finding the right sort of history books.

That might be the real problem. I fail at being a historian. History research takes organization, both in putting information into order, keeping track of it once it’s in order, and in starting the research off correctly. Just ask me about my New England novel…

Or maybe I’ll just tell you about it next time.

Last Week

Last week, I almost wrote a post about 9/11. It was something I’d been thinking about in a new way, for a couple reasons. For one thing, when I was tutoring a class of 3rd-4th graders last year, we covered a history timeline from the ancient world up to present day events. I only realized when we reached the line for September 11, 2001, that my students had all been born after the attack took place. For them, and for future generations, that event must seem as old as the Cold War or the Clinton scandals seem to me.

For another, we had a trip planned to DC last week. We happened to fly out on the 11th. Flying on September 11th, to the East Coast, made me consider a number of possibilities, including at very least the potential for extra security at the airport.

Nothing major happened, though. I didn’t really notice anything different from the other times I’ve flown. We had a great trip, walked through a couple hundred museums, saw panda bears and T-Rex fossils. We even had a good—and very long—flight home.

But, when we started our trip back this Monday, with a walk from our hotel back to the train station, we stopped to eat lunch in a park just a couple of blocks from the Capital building. We had talked about walk down earlier to visit the Capital, but decided not to complicate our day. Instead, we had a leisurely morning and time to stop for lunch on the way to the station.

As we sat in the park, we noticed a couple of security agents coming down the steps on one side of the park. Then two others showed up. All of them seemed to be carrying assault rifles, and the group casually converged on a guy sitting at the bottom of the steps. We certainly weren’t used to seeing that, but it didn’t seem to be anything important.

We finished our lunch and strolled across the park and up the steps for a last look at the Capital building. When we came back down, a couple guys from security were still talking to the man, but it still didn’t seem to be anything important—just a casual checkup.

A couple of hours later, after shuttling from the train to the airport, we were waiting in line for security. Standing there, waiting to go through, I heard someone mention a shooting. I got out the iPad (that far too-handy electronic device) and looked up the news, only to find an article about the Navy Yard shooting.

My best guess is that the security agents we saw were just checking things out. The man in the park may have resembled a description they had, or maybe someone had been spooked and reported something, but it gave me the odd feeling of being close to an otherwise foreign event.

And it reminded me of my earlier thoughts about 9/11—how easy it is to forget something, to forget the first emotional reaction to a tragedy. It’s the difference between remembering it, and having it happen to you.

I can’t imagine the trauma and grief for those families affected by the Navy Yard shooting, or 9/11 for that matter, but I know they will remember long after the rest of us catalogue those days with the Maine and the other historical tragedies.