The Fat Lady Sings

Roy Scheider

Roy Scheider - dead at 75 from skin cancer.

Klute, The French Connection, The Seven-Ups, Jaws, Marathon Man, Sorcerer, All That Jazz, Still of the Night, Blue Thunder, 2010: The Year We Make Contact, 52 Pick-Up, The Russia House, Somebody has to Shoot the Picture, Naked Lunch, The Myth of Fingerprints, The Rainmaker, Falling Through

God's gonna need a bigger boat

A Beautiful Blue Death

When I'm under a great deal of stress, I often read to relax my mind.  Especially when I'm doing a lot of writing, believe it or not.  My mind will get too linear, too wrapped.  I need to take breaks - so I read.  It puts me on another track.  I am able to come back to my work refreshed.  This review is of a book I recently finished, A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch.  It is a murder mystery set in Victorian England, the first book in a series based upon the gentleman detective who serves as Finch's lead character.  I am fascinated by Dickens's England - the last throes of a dying empire.  Within 50 years England will have abdicated its hegemony, and the ascendancy of imperial America will have begun.    

Where to begin?  Before I purchase a book, I often rely on reviews - reader's reviews, actually (Amazon).  A Beautiful Blue Death came highly recommended.  Commenter’s compared Finch’s detective to both Nero Wolf and Sherlock Holmes.  It is Finch’s writing style that prompted these comparisons – but not for the good, I’m afraid.  Like Wolf and Holmes, Finch imbues his lead character (Lenox) with a host of idiosyncrasies – tics, if you will – both physical and intellectual.  He spends an inordinate amount of time itemizing and then dwelling on each (to distraction) – how many pieces of toast, the exact nature of relationships - the texture and cut of Lenox’s entire world, actually.  And the descriptions are quite well done – don’t get me wrong - if this were a book on Victorian mores, that is.  What the author fails to do, however, is make these observations matter – either to the solving of the mystery at hand, or to supply the reader with insights into how his lead characters mind functions (again leading to mystery solved).  Simply listing patterns is not providing building blocks.  Those patterns must have a purpose – and here’s where Finch falls down on the job.   

Wolf’s orchid obsession or fanatical search for the perfect meal was more than the author’s literary indulgence.  Nero Wolf solved crimes because of them.  They are the key to his genius.  The reader needs to know that Wolf is a grumpy obsessive – and that those obsessions can turn him into a terrier with a bone.  Upset his ordered existence and Wolf will move heaven and earth to put it right.  In doing so, the crime becomes solved.  Holmes multitudinous tics, his overflow, flotsam collections detailing obscure minutiae – even the cocaine use – all pointed to a mind that moved at the speed of light.  Holmes was easily bored.  It was important the reader know that.  He solved his crimes quickly, intent upon the next puzzle.  He practically fled the room the minute the case was over.  As a reader we accept this abrupt nature because we have been led into that acceptance. I mean – how else would Holmes act given his inherent nature?  We love reading about it because it helps us understand why Holmes makes certain decisions.

I believe this is what Finch was striving for in his creation of Lenox.  He thinks he has another Hercule Poirot on his hands. Well - he has missed the mark, in my opinion.  What was intended as rich and engrossing character exposition becomes merely twee; lost in the buttered toast and cushiony chairs.  If you like your mystery to take a back seat to period flavor – then this is the book for you.  I however, will not be reading the rest of the series.   

Happy Halloween, Everyone!

Be safe - be happy!

Perfect Post

It's been a while since I've been able to participate in this, what with Kelley's campaign and such.  But when I read TB from Soul Gardening's marvelous post "Here I Am" I knew I had to nominate it for this month’s award.  What are the Perfect Post Awards you ask?  Well, the Perfect Posts were begun by Lucinda of Suburban Turmoil and MommaK from Petroville.  The idea is simple - nominate someone whom you believe has composed something interesting or informative; something that made an impression.  There is no competition here - just one blogger tipping their hat to another.  The awards are held every month, and feature the best in blogging.  So, without further ado - click the button and go view the rest of the nominees.  Trust me - it’s well worth a visit.   

Good Planets tomorrow

A reminder: email your Good Planet Photos to me at   SBGypsy at hotmail.com for the Good  Planets post tomorrow! I will be posting the Good Planet Photo carnival at The Gypsy's Caravan

Summer Morning

Hi All. I thought now would be a good time for me to finally step into posting here at TFLS.

This is a bit of a departure from politics as usual because I have a 7 week old baby and my brain just can't wrap itself around anything too complicated at the moment. This is cross posted at Soul Gardening. 

Enjoy!

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You open the front door, and step out into a shockingly bright sunlit morning, your senses immediately overwhelmed. Sometimes it amazes you that all of this, a feast, a riot of sights and sounds, exists right outside your door.

Your eyes, accustomed to the indoors, take a moment to adjust. You squint up to see an impossibly blue sky, the color of swimming pools or ocean horizons.

The cicadas are whirring busily, keeping time with the calls of sea birds, larks and robins. The rhythmic sound reminds you of a thousand summer mornings of your childhood.

The day is already humid and steamy at 7:30, the air thick and so heavy you can feel it on your skin. The change in temperature from the cool house to the hot morning inexplicably gives you goose bumps. You breathe in the deep, warm scent of a thousand blooming things, tinged slightly with the briny ocean air.

A large black garden snake undulates its way from the driveway to the hedges when it feels your footsteps as you make your way toward your car. Slipping behind the wheel the seat feels sticky under the backs of your legs as you wait for the air conditioning to kick in.

You drive past a summer-empty primary school and remember that feeling of utter freedom, an entire three months stretching endlessly before you, full of possibility.

Sometimes, you long for that latitude and ease of being, when baths were taken once a week, feet turned black on the bottoms after long days spent outside barefoot, frozen treats were eaten so quickly to avoid melting that they made your head throb and time seemed to move infinitesimally slowly.

And then, you realize. You will get to experience this all anew through the eyes of your child. Suddenly you want to drink it in, to gulp it and process it as fast as you can so that you will have it to share with him when the time comes.

A thousand summer mornings waiting for him and for you.

Happy Father's Day...

Mrs. John B. Dodd, of Washington, first proposed the idea of a "father's day" in 1909. Mrs. Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart. William Smart, a Civil war veteran, was widowed when his wife (Mrs. Dodd's mother) died in childbirth with their sixth child. Mr. Smart was left to raise the newborn and his other five children by himself on a rural farm in eastern Washington State. It was after Mrs. Dodd became an adult that she realized the strength and selflessness her father had shown in raising his children as a single parent. 

The first Father's Day was observed on June 19, 1910 in Spokane Washington. At about the same time in various towns and cities across America other people were beginning to celebrate a "father's day". In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea of a national Father's Day. Finally in 1966 President Lyndon Jonson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the 3rd Sunday of June as Father's Day.

Father's Day has become a day to not only honor your father, but all men who act as a father figure. Stepfathers, uncles, grandfathers, and adult male friends are all honored on Father's Day.

Hi friends!

My best friend, from work, retired a couple years ago.  I called him, recently, to remind him that several friends are getting together for a monthly supper.  He didn't answer, so I left a message on his answering machine.  Today, I called him and didn't leave a message when he didn't answer.  This afternoon, he called and asked me if I'd heard what happened to him?  I told him no, and that I had tried to call him this morning.  He hadn't realized. 

He's the type of guy who keeps active.  He's been riding his bike a lot.  He does the 50 mile and 30 mile trips.  He'd already ridden several this spring.  A couple weeks ago, though, hanging out at home, he felt like he was punched in the stomach.  He ended up on the floor.  He started feeling better, so drove himself to the hospital.  He'd suffered a heart attack.  He had to have surgery on his clogged arteries, but is, now, out of the hospital and recouperating.  He told the doctor he couldn't understand why it happened, since he is so active.  The doctor told him that all that exercise probably helped, in the long run, from the attack causing much damage to his heart. 

This incident reminds me that it really is important to exercise and watch what we eat.  It may not stop the problem, but could help the healing.  It also reminds me to remember to call, and visit, the people I treasure most.

Crossposted at It's Morning Somewhere.

The Bloggers Choice Awards

The Blogitzer (Best Writing)

Best Political Blog

Hey everyone!  'The Fat Lady Sings' has been nominated for two Blogger's Choice Awards!  Pretty cool - don't you think?  Anyone can vote - so please click on the link for each award, log yourself in (it's easy!) and throw a vote or two our way.  Voting will remain open until June - so like they say in Chicago - vote early and vote often!

The Practical Press

There are some changes coming to The Fat Lady Sings - changes I plan on unveiling later this week.  It’s really exciting – I think you will be quite pleasantly surprised.  But before we get that far, I'd like to call your attention to the 2007 Practical Press Awards.  The Practical Press is a site dedicated to the very best in contemporary writing.  Two of my novels in progress have been nominated - “Amber Lights” and “The Quality of Mercy” – as well a one of my non-fiction essays, “Lover’s Cross”.  Voting is open to all and sundry – so please stop on by.  Each nominated piece is a gem in its own right.  I feel honored to be included in their company. And as we used to say in Chicago – vote early and vote often!