'Tis Nyte! by Elizabeth Watasin

Because "well behaved women seldom make history".

RAFFLECOPTER, ho!

An aside: After 3 yrs of hiatus, I've relaunched my newsletter. My MARCH Giveaway for being a subscriber is a gorgeous paperback copy of MEDUSA. But dig this, *subscribe* through the Kick Butt Female Characters HUGE Rafflecopter and you *also* can win e-books, over 100 offered by 15 Kick-Ass female authors. Win Risen, Sundark, Ice Demon and MOAR. GO, win ALL THE THINGS! And thank you! :)  https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/309ef1aa82/

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Is just too gorgeous for words! Visit the spotlight, because it's beautifully done.

http://skyemalone.com/spotlight-medusa-by-elizabeth-watasin/

The pretty! (hearts)

SKYE is the author of the Awakened Fate series and the Children and the Blood series. My thanks to her for the gracious spotlight. OH, her lovely website makes me want to do a revamp of mine. :-p

( super excellent. )

***

"they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird"

Most have read Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and when I started it, I actually believed I'd not read it but my memories came back as the kids infatuation with Boo Radley grew and I think it's got to be over 25 years when I did read it. So a reread it is and this makes the list of now 5 books that I've read twice with The Lord of the Rings trilogy and John Connolly's The Lovers.

To Kill a Mockingbird is of course told from the point of view of one Jean Louise Finch, a recollection in adulthood and told as though from a child's perspective, better known as scout and best described as an adorable little scamp who encounters the trials and tribulations of growing up in the depression era in the small southern town of Maycomb, Alabama.

Maycomb is depicted as a slow, sleepy place where the summer heat cripples the pace of life, the mind-set and social order of both the area and the era are explored fruitfully along with the clear cut community rules, all from a child's inclination.

I think when you sit back and look at this book, the story is simply told, deeply layered and covers a vast array of subject matter that I guess makes it perfect for most school curriculums over the years and around the world. So this is more a collection of my thoughts and what I enjoyed most about To Kill a Mockingbird.

First up the kid’s fascination with Arthur 'Boo' Radley, the gifts in the tree, the note passed that ended in Jem going back to reclaim his trousers and the first and last time Scout meets and understands the man who saves them.

'Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom. People said he existed, but Jem and I had never seen him. People said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows.'

Jem and his relationship with Mrs Dubose, his punishment of reading to her every day after his big moment and a typical child's revenge for her comments about Atticus. Atticus of course remains polite and prudent throughout their conversations, life experience for Jem.

'I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.'

The kid’s relationship with Calpurnia, Atticus's reliance on her and the suitably annoying Aunt Alexandra, Calpurnia taking the kids to her church and their treatment there.

'Calpurnia’s tyranny, unfairness, and meddling in my business had faded to gentle grumblings of general disapproval. On my part, I went to much trouble, sometimes, not to provoke her.'

Dill Harris, how can you not like Dill, he runs away from home because he's, well, being ignored, or he's escaped being chained up in the basement. When he suddenly appears from under the bed and tells his story and what a story teller he is. This coupled with the significant moment of Jem flirting with adulthood and telling Atticus, in scout’s words breaking the final code of their childhood.

'Dill said he must drink a gallon a day, and the ensuing contest to determine relative distances and respective prowess only made me feel left out again, as I was untalented in this area.'

You've got the initial dipping the toes into school life, the actions of teachers that even now you can never agree with, I think when you grow up should you reach a time in your life when you suddenly find yourself agreeing with a teacher then congratulations you are an adult. If like me you still can't agree with them you'll always be a child at heart or maybe even a bit of a rebel. The children get into various frivolity’s, rough and tumbles exasperated by the proceedings around the court case.

Boo Radley aside the alleged rape and trial are the gripping ingredients that make the story for me, starting with the resentment the family faced, how they deal with it individually and the scene outside the jail where the kids unwittingly prevent any hostility towards their father. The court battle itself, if you can call it a battle, the questioning of the Ewells and the closing speech from Atticus. The kids perfect ideals, tainted by something they couldn't understand, alien to justice and the devastation of losing, a verdict determined more by the times and unbeknownst to them decided before a word was even spoken. And finally the sadness, despair and inability to affect the outcome surrounding the death of Tom Robinson. Compelling, gripping and many other words of similar ilk, just something you'll never forget.

The teaching of Mrs Gates and the extraordinary conversation around Hitler after the events of the trial. Very ironic coming from a supposed learned person but I suppose opinions took time to vary concerning prejudice.

'Over here we don’t believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced.'

Finally the attempt on the kid’s life by Bob Ewell, saved by the intervention of Boo Radley and Scout finally meets the man they obsessed over for a short period of their lives.

'One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough.'

If this were a school project, I could quite easily slip into student mode and write about run-down settings, racism, social marginalization and the malevolent occurrences that arise from poverty and depravity. And the compelling story of humanity that opened up a new understanding of the races and the importance of empathy and compassion to others.

This type of fiction spurred a genre that I love and keep returning to, one of deeply flawed characters, small towns as far from idyllic as you can get and something dark and dirty. I do like Southern gothic, noir and the like from that area.

'Mr. Finch, there’s just some kind of men you have to shoot before you can say hidy to ’em. Even then, they ain’t worth the bullet it takes to shoot ’em.'

My apologies for the massive review/summary and I think it shows that this book is a mountain in the world of literature and one I enjoyed immensely, I watched the film the following day while writing this and loved it. Every time I read this review I just had to add something more to it, this truly is a book that you just can't process enough of it in a review, there's always more to say it seems, something you've missed. School project material, you know. I highlighted what seems a million quotes in this, poignant, amusing, the lot and that says it all.

I read that Harper Lee based this book on her childhood, growing up in a small town in Alabama, Father a lawyer and herself a true tomboy, goes without saying. But my final thought goes to Atticus, much though I loved young scout and her narration, Atticus typifies the voice of calm reason and wisdom in a town set in its ways. A principled, upright member of the community, fighting against the opinion of a town but without doubt a patient and caring parent.

It was written by Sarah Rees Brennan, back in 2011! So yeah, "that chick who hangs with Melissa Marr" was a legit foggy recollection, after all. From her LiveJournal:

JANE EYRE: Just chillin', having a nice walk in the dark woods, across the lonely moors, at dusk. I'm sure nothing's going to happen, everything's just atmospheric for no reason!
MR ROCHESTER: You made me fall off my horse! I THINK YOU'RE AN EVIL FAIRY.
JANE EYRE: Um, do you need a hand? Any bones broken?
MR ROCHESTER: Step aside, evil fairy! It's just a sprai-aaaaaaaaaaurrrrggggggh. I'm totally fine.
JANE EYRE: You seem surly, and also sort of crazed.
JANE EYRE: And this is your lucky day, because that's what gets me hot beneath the petticoat.

MR ROCHESTER: So, evil fairy, what's your sign?
JANE EYRE: I'm not sure I understand.
MR ROCHESTER: Where y'at?
JANE EYRE: I reside in Thornfield Hall, sir.
MR ROCHESTER: Do you? Well, well, well. Everything's coming up Edward Crazypants Fairfax Rochester today!
JANE EYRE: I'm going to go now.
MR ROCHESTER: See you soon, hot stuff. Er--have you been hearing any mad laughter from my, I mean the, attic? It's probably dry rot. You know, dry rot mocking you.

***

READ the full parody, here:

https://sarahtales.livejournal.com/193457.html

Besides Jane, who I love yet am also exasperated with, I just adore the saintly Helen Burns. So of course I LOL'd when I read her bit. :D

https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/show/id/58734

It's a miracle I remembered, I have this going on as well. :-p SUNDARK! Available for your reviewing pleasure until the end of this month. And what's funny is I'll be changing the cover yet again, to match up with what I have planned for the second Elle Black book, POISON GARDEN.

Meanwhile, here's this, my cover by Dara England. She's set aside the cover artist biz to focus on her historical romance writing, so do check her out! http://daraenglandauthor.com/

The first Sundark cover was drawn/illustrated by me. Utterly dissatisfied with my hand-drawn covers, so the pursuit of photo-manip'ed covers continues.

Risen, the first book in Elizabeth Watasin's The Dark Victorian series, is a brilliant tale of mystery and the paranormal intertwined with the Victorian era. Art, short for Artifice, is an artificial ghost, a women who died and was resurrected to work for the Secret Commission. Paired with Jim Dastard, a talking skull with an eye for fashion and a futuristic turn of phrase, Art doesn't yet know who she is and who she will be... But she knows that she has a mission to accomplish, killers to find, and a rogue resurrectionist to capture.

This book is amazing, both fast-paced and full of action, but also containing great character development threaded throughout the story. As Art discovers her own fast, we also discover it along with her. Jim Dastard is still an unknown, with the promise of more to come, and he is a great partner for Art. This series is set in Victorian England, specifically in London, and the people carry the flavor of the time.

As the first book in a series, this is wonderful; providing enough information to get you hooked with the promise of more to come.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

-------------------

If you enjoyed my review, please help me share it by marking it as being helpful on Amazon. I have included the link to the Amazon review in the Source section at the bottom of this review.

QUICK! THIS giveaway is at Amazon. I wanted to try out this new feature, and it's for 2 *paperbacks* of MEDUSA: A Dark Victorian Penny Dread. WIN one of the 2:

https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/8db568f1dd011d9d/?ref_=tsm_4_tw_h_o_li_r#ln-fo

Unfortunately, it is only for US. It ends TODAY at midnight PACIFIC time, in which case we all turn into pumpkins! So don't delay! :)

I return you back to your books. I go do something for Fun for 3 days and then entirely forget I had something going. I need to catch up over here, as social media does not stop just because I want to rejoin the realm of Real People, if only briefly. :)

~eeee!

. . . on a site somewhere, back in 2012. Written by the same writer, Mallory Ortberg, thankfully, or else that would have been awkward. :) I had to dig it up again. From The Hairpin:

JANE
MY LITTLE SUNBEAM
WHERE ARE YOU
I NEED YOU BY MY SIDE
I’m taking a walk
be back for dinner
AH YES MY CAGED SPRITE
COMMUNE WITH NATURE AND UPON YOUR RETURN
RELATE TO ME THE VAGRANT GLORIES OF THE  RUINED WOODS
do you really want me to describe my walk to you
MORE THAN ANYTHING YOU POCKET WITCH
it is fairly cloudy out
looks like rain soon
AHHH TO THINK THAT MY LITTLE STARLING JANE
SHOULD RETURN
TO PERCH ON MY BROKEN MALFORMED SHOULDER
SINGING A SONG OF THE GREY AND WRACKING SKIES
MAKES MY HEART SWELL TO BURST
all right

***

Excerpt from:

http://thehairpin.com/2012/07/texts-from-jane-eyre

I look forward to the book. :) Now it's making me want to seek out another hilarious online satire, where Jane is wandering the moors and cries "Heathcliff". Darn my googling skills . . .

A Booktrack is great fun to make, layering music and sound effects to a story. MEDUSA being a historical and mythological F/F romance novel, I'm very happy to finish a Booktrack in time for the occasion of Valentine's. LINK! (edited to Fix links):

http://www.booktrack.com/read/8a11ca95b9e24133a3747eb816d83bcd

It is FREE to enjoy, and I believe Booktrack has an app for your devises. I try to make the soundtrack as cunning an auditory experience as possible---just like radio theatre :D---so please enjoy the one for ICE DEMON as well. Happy Valentine's! :)

(image by Mr Xpk)

THANKS to Kevin D Steil, our Airship Ambassador, for inviting me to take part in Steampunk Hands Around the World 2015. I'm honoured to be in the company of incredible creators sharing works, thoughts, and passions within the international spectrum. At this World Tour pit stop, allow me to wax philosophical (over your preference of tea, wine, brandy, or a pensive pipe), while I get to the heart of why I like steampunk. I like to look into the past to find ourselves–especially our missing history– within LGBTQ, people of colour, or non-western cultures. Steampunk is where we can (finally!) enhance ourselves through rediscovery and take our imaginations to a new level.

This is image from: http://xdl.drexelmed.edu/item.php?object_id=2373

A memento of the Dean's reception, held Oct 10, 1885.

Anandibai Joshee graduated from Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania (WMC) in 1886; Kei Okami graduated from WMC in 1889; Sabat Islambooly graduated from WMC in 1890.

 ~

Peering into the past through old photographs, first-hand accounts, antique possessions, and places is detective work and the anthropological hunt; we're all digging for treasures of understanding and often we trip over distressing artefacts and events. Learning history means learning how we've hurt each other, dehumanised and taken things, bodies, dignity, and identities. And along with the unseemly there are beautiful remnants of human experiences. The past can never be fully known or understood, bad or good. But what's gleaned can answer what we hadn’t known was missing from our present, and when these pieces are locked in, it’s inspiring.

This book is: Human Zoos, the Invention of the Savage, by Gilles Boëtsch and Nanette Jacomijn Snoep.

Steampunk: Solving the Mystery of What's Missing

Regarding me: being a woman and a lesbian; being an American person of colour, absorbed into the "melting pot" culture, and a person raised Buddhist, it becomes hard to find "me" in our world. I don't belong in the "old" country of my parents, nor do I want to, therefore who am I, and how do I perceive myself? Steampunk is my present answer.

I love the trappings of our Western culture and history; the clothes, places, architecture, languages, vehicles, and people. And I see myself as a strong, learned female, ready to be an exemplary example of such a culture. Past the midpoint of my life, I'm still ready. But society's mirror doesn't point in my direction, and when it does it's often disappointing, reflecting stereotype, fantasy, or myself in innocuous background roles.

Elizabeth Watasin, at Clockwork Couture for the Comics and Literature event, 2014.

In reality, I'm wrapped in the cloth of generations of human experience and our imagination. With no mirror, I create my own and visualise the best archetype I can be. This is the metaphor of steampunk, where history becomes the base to build "what if"; where seeds of change, like those I explore in the Dark Victorian series, aren’t killed but flourish. Straight, white, privileged males wrote and interpreted all our history for the Western culture. Therefore it is hard to find the accounts of the disenfranchised, the ignored, the non-English, and those who engaged in their cultures in secret.

This book is: Women in Pants, Manly Maidens, Cowgirls, and Other Renegades, by Catherine Smith and Cynthia Greig

So what to do once we identify what's missing? Arm ourselves. We find photos of Victorian people of colour, uncover 150 year old accounts of women cross-dressing or "married" to other women, rediscover historical key points where oppression can be rewritten, and make Change happen. We restore the silenced or forgotten to the world, saying: remember this? Well here we are again, new.

Metis group, Alberta (1900-1901) L-R: Agatha Garneau, Archange Garneau, Charlotte Garneau, and Placide Poirier.

From: Glenbow Museum, http://ww2.glenbow.org

I tackle the criminalisation of being lgbtq in history, undo it, re-visualise it, and create the better world needed, with pulp fiction and penny dreadful fun. But for others the improved world can be whimsical, charming, fantastic, frightening, epic, sensual, and rollicking too. Do it in music, self-identity, cosplay, fiction, blogs, crafts, fashion, games, comic books, art, design, food, and even as a lifestyle. This is the gift of steampunk.

Creating alternate history and identities may seem frivolous in light of "real world" problems, but storytelling, art, and personas are a way–like great tales, poetry, and songs–of imparting amazing, new ideas and possibilities. It is necessary to realise our potential, and it's possible 150 years from now we may be rediscovered again. The realm of steampunk is imagination taken into forgotten crevices of our many historical selves and lighting them anew.

Celebrate, have fun, and most of all, enjoy being You.

~

AND for the occasion of Steampunk Hands Around the World 2015, it is with great pleasure that I present an excerpt of my F/F Gothic and dark romance, Medusa: A Dark Victorian Penny Dread Vol 2, on Booktrack for you! FREE, the story is layered with a soundtrack and sound effects for your listening pleasure. Enjoy, and Steam on!

http://www.booktrack.com/read/8a11ca95b9e24133a3747eb816d83bcd

All the best, ~Elizabeth

Or as I like to say: ketchup. :D

(I noticed here at Booklikes that my editor's name comes up first as having 'written' MEDUSA. JoSelle has also written a few things besides edited some popular lesbian anthologies, so of course that would happen. Maybe when I die she can just have all my stuff. :-p).

MEDUSA is getting good words said about it (unsolicited by me) and I'm just glad people are enjoying and recognising the effort I put in, writing a sensual book with two blind protagonists, and as my editor pointed out to me, basically four disabled characters, all of whom kick ass and politely demand names. It's probably selling decently because I finally attached the word ROMANCE to one of my works, and readers who wish I'd just finish Charm School already are on board with that. Bring on the sapphists!

I'm still in the process of finalising the MEDUSA print book, having ordered the 2nd proof. I know I have a billion coins spinning, so I *think* my priorities are Elle Black's POISON GARDEN (in progress), Dark Victorian's EVERLIFE (needs to be started), and Dark Victorian's CIRCE (needs to be researched). Oh heck, I forgot about Charm School Graphique Vol 2. Uh, and I really should draw that Charm School #10.

I *know* I'm forgetting something. I have been feeling that since the year started. The freelance I'd hoped to do is still in holding pattern in the stratosphere, so maybe it's that. All the book covers for all the books mentioned are in progress, plus 2-3 boxed sets I'm attached to via writer collectives. Wondercon is in April. I have to go to SDCC for gods knows when/WHY/how many days/WTH have to get hotel. :-/ And I *will* cancel World Con in Spokane, WA. So that's a membership badge up for grabs.

All that typed out loud, I will now put together my Steampunk Hands Around the World 2015 post, originating from here because it's pushed to Goodreads, Smashwords, my Amazon Author Page, and so forth, and is a wonderful month-long event celebrating diversity and creativity. It will also contain the link to the MEDUSA Booktrack which has also been well received and is a very nifty FREE auditory experience put together by me. If you've read this far, I hope you enjoy that treat!

All the best, ~eee

BEGINS!

Image by the gracious Mr Xpk !

Our grand pooba, Airship Ambassador sez:

"Welcome to the second year of Steampunk Hands Around the World!

Last year, we saw the breadth and depth of what our global community has to offer, and from that arose not only new friendships and connections, but also new collaborations for projects which we’ll read about this month.

This year, our month long event celebrates the theme of Steampunk: Our Playground, Our Classroom, Our Workshop, and several dozen creators will share their perspective and examples of how steampunks from around the world have fun, learn, and create."

HUZZAH (hoists tea cup). I'm late, in that the official opening of the event was this last Sunday, but I was releasing MEDUSA: A Dark Victorian Penny Dread Vol 2 at that tyme. ^v^ Since then many blogs AROUND THE WORLD have published pieces for the occasion. Here is my friend and fellow writer Suna Dasi of Steampunk India, "Ships, Clocks and Stars. A Steampunked Celebration of Longitude History".

I will also publish a blog piece called, "Steampunk: Solving the Mystery of What's Missing" on Monday (Pacific tyme), Feb 9th, AND offer chapter one of MEDUSA as a free Booktrack for all to enjoy. So watch for that release!

And you can enjoy ICE DEMON as a Booktrack in the meantime. Booktracks are books with a soundtrack and sound effects, and I like to multi-layer mine for a superb auditory experience. It's super fun and FREE to listen to, so do head over and enjoy:

http://www.booktrack.com/#!/?booktrackId=ebc14978cc7c4911aaef0e7005257d1f

Radio! It's like olde tyme radio. And MEDUSA's Booktrack is shaping up to be really fun. But back to the #SteampunkHands celebration---I hope you'll join us! :)

all the best, ~eee

Forever and a day, Boulet shall make all cartoonists wish they could grow up to be him. If I still cartoon'ed, I would! The master does a 24 hour comic and it is Amazing. The English translated version at the link, The Gaeneviad. Please enjoy.

http://english.bouletcorp.com/2015/02/02/24-hours-comic-the-gaeneviad/

Big news for the graphic novel and the women who make 'em. :D Congratulations to Cece Bell, Jillian and Mariko Tamaki, and also to the creators of Hidden: A Child’s Story of the Holocaust :

"In a groundbreaking move, the Newbery Honor has been awarded to cartoonist Cece Bell for her graphic novel El Deafo. This is the first time a Newbery Honor has ever been awarded to a comic. At the same awards, Jillian and Mariko Tamaki won a Caldecott Honor and a Printz Honor for their graphic novel This One Summer."

Read More: Cece Bell, Jillian & Mariko Tamaki Win Major ALA Awards | http://comicsalliance.com/cece-bell-jillian-mariko-tamaki-win-major-ala-awards/?trackback=tsmclip

(This is really wonderful).

****

The Guardian has shared this wonderful piece. 

A selection of rights from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights interpreted by illustrators including Axel Scheffler, Debi Gliori, Chris Ridell and John Burningham. You can see all 30 articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in We Are All Born Free published in association with Amnesty International.

Click here to view all illustrations

MORE