Tag: food

Mikhail Gladkikh, The Age of Heroes (Quasaris Press 2023)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/194025307-the-age-of-heroes?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=eGWsAB5zHa&rank=1

What caused the Bronze Age collapse in the 12th Century BCE Mediterranean? This novel imagines that it was all the fault of the Olympian gods, meddling in the Trojan War with the use of advanced technology.
Wanax (king) of Pylos Nestor has called a summit. The Trojans have broken their treaty with Pylos to form an alliance with the Hittites, and Hittite princess Ehli-nikkal (Helen), who had been promised to Nestor’s son Echelaos, is betrothed to prince Alaksandru of Wilusa (Troy). Wanax Agamemnon of Mycenae promises to rally all the Ahhiyawa (Achaeans) and Crete. Akhilleus is rallying the northmen of Iolkos. Machaon leads the chariotry from Miletus.
Meanwhile, Assyria’s great king Ninurta-apal-ekkur is forming alliances to counter the threat from Egypt and uses the window provided by the Achaeans’ war to conquer Carchemish.
Grave robbers break into the accursed tomb of Akhenaten at Pi-Ramesse, loosing a deadly force, until the goddess Wadjet steps in to help. There is an interesting take on the ‘curse’ of pharoahs’ tombs.
Meanwhile, the Soarers (Olympian gods) are entering the human affray with ‘flying metal birds shooting deadly blue rays’. Some new technological ‘alien entities’ threaten even the gods, and they are fighting back using bio-engineering and science. And the Sea People are on the move, ready for conquest.
Gladkikh does an admirable job of creating characters inhabiting this misty ancient time. Some of the names are known to history, mythology or archaeology, and I like the way he uses the original, ancient names. The story differs a bit from Homer, especially when the sci-fi elements come in, but it features many of the same dramatis personae. He also does an admirable job of painting us a picture of the Bronze Age world, although the dialogue sometimes slips into 21st century jargon.
Like Homer’s tale, the connection between the gods and the earthlings is a bit tenuous, especially the advanced technology bit, and it gets more confusing toward the end. The high-tech bits could have been more clearly explained. I wasn’t sure whether they represented some technology we now recognise, or inventions. I didn’t understand the ‘alien entities’.
The pre-Trojan Mycenaean world is wonderful. Mixing Sci-Fi and the Trojan War is highly original.

S. P. Somtow, Damnatio (Diplodocus Press 2024)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/195082523-damnatio?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=Pp65a3OK3S&rank=1

Sporus has been ‘moved to a superior accommodation’ at the Circus Maximus due to his ‘divine status’. From thence he tells his life story and the tale of his service to ‘Himself’.
He, Nero’s ‘Empress’ accompanies ‘Himself’ to Corinth, staying at the home of Gallio, Seneca’s brother, who has committed suicide. Dressed incognito as the boy he no longer was, he and his body slave Hylas attend the party of a hetaira where he know Nero has gone. He gives Nero a ‘wedding present’, a carnelian ring depicting the rape of Persephone. They attend together the mystery rites at Eleusis.
Nero has ordered that the calendar of the Games be changed to fit his itinerary. His mania is challenged to the hilt when another artist wins the audience’s acclaim, and his revenge is vicious.
Sporus hears rumours of conspiracy. His ‘husband’s days are numbered, and his demise will result in the Year of the Four Emperors in Rome. All four of them loved this beautiful boy.
Sporus has two identities—Poppaea and eromenos—in neither one is he free, ‘never allowed to stop acting’. His relationship with a man who was clearly one of history’s greatest lunatics is brilliant. The insight into the psychology of love and abuse is remarkable, and it is expressed so understatedly as to be poignant and artful.
Nero’s eromenos is the perfect narrator for ancient Rome at the height of its decadence. This novel is gorgeously written and includes beautiful colour illustrations.
Book 3 of the Nero and Sporus series.

Psalm Seven Books, Write Your Novel: Perfecting the Plot (Kindle 2024)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/214321184-write-your-novel?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_37

The chapter headings tell you precisely what you’ll get from reading this helpful manual: Plot Basics, Developing the Core Idea, Creating Strong Characters, Building the Structure, Setting up Conflict, Pacing your Plot, Crafting Sub-plots, Plot Twists and Surprises, Resolving the Plot and Plotting Tools and Techniques.
Some of the information you’ll receive will probably be what you expect—the component elements in the ‘Hero’s Journey’, how you need both internal and external conflict. As a novelist who has read a number of such manuals, I believe you can’t possibly review this stuff too many times.
Some information here was relatively new to me. For example, the four most common mistakes novelists make in their plots are: lack of conflict, plot holes, predictability and poor pacing. I’m immediately identifying where in my work I’ve been guilty of these faults.
I paid particular attention to the chapter on Conflict, as my novels don’t have enough of that. The book recommends these techniques: escalate the conflict, vary the types of conflict, balance action and reflection, introduce new challenges and use sub-plots to reinforce main conflicts.
Although one knows the importance of varying Pacing, the skill doesn’t come naturally. It’s all too easy to use info-dumps, over-explaining, unnecessary scenes, inconsistent pacing and ignore sub-plots. Some techniques suggested are: Show don’t Tell, weave exposition into the narrative, use flashbacks and memories and parallel fast sections/slow sections.
I also personally appreciate the structured outline. I feel I’ve always done things in the wrong order with my novels—I write my Outline after I’ve finished Chapter 13, when everybody knows writing an Outline should come first. This book proposes a sensible 1, 2, 3 gameplan.
The final chapter reviews various tools and techniques to help you on your Plotting journey.

Stefaan Declerk, The Canal Whisperer (Kindle 2024)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/209402801-the-canal-whisperer

Willem wakes to the soft sounds of the canals of Brugge. He pauses in Simon Stevin Square to look at the monument. His family name, Van Aarden, once respected, is now whispered with suspicion. As he sells his mackerel and haddock, ‘Are you really a witch?’ a boy asks.
His old cottage, once filled with family activity, holds only him now.
Martijn Janssen is opening the bakery for the day when he sees a body floating on the canal, and it’s not the first drowned body. Inspector De Vries begins an investigation, suspecting poison. Willem’s family history and proximity to the water makes him a suspect, at least for the townsfolk.
Seamstress Eva Van der Meer searches for clues about her grandmother’s past—a locket carved with some kind of cipher and a letter from a man named Isaac.
The canal victim is identified as Pieter De Smet.
Helena De Baere gets up from her desk at the University of Brugge. She is determined to clear Willem’s name. She examines plant residues, water samples. De Vries decides to bring Willem into the investigation, to utilise his knowledge of the canals.
For some reason (I didn’t catch why) De Vries and Helena think the witchcraft in Willem’s family history and mediaeval guilds have something to do with the case.
Lucas Rombout’s paintings have been vandalised. The paintings are portraits of figures from Brugge’s past, members of the textile guilds. His subject matter seems to foreshadow the drownings. He has had one customer, Emile.
With the help of Hendrik, owner of a curio shop, Eva discovers a link between her grandmother and the guilds. She finds a relative, Frederik Van Der Asten.
The first third of the narrative has not a lot of action or dialogue. The plot in Willem’s voice, develops at a languid, winding pace, much like the canals of Brugge. Beautifully written, full of lovely metaphors appropriate for a fisherman.
From the mid-point there’s a shift in tone; it gets more Dan Brown-esque, with faster moving plot, more clichéd metaphors.
I love the repeated theme of whispers—of secrets, rumours, suspicions, accusations, warnings, the sounds of the canals, the breaking of a foggy dawn, the ‘slithering of eels in shallow water’, ‘memories of old tales surfacing unbidden’, ‘like water through reeds’. There’s also a repeated theme of threads and tapestries, in keeping with the textile guild antagonists.