Various and Sundry

Volume One, Issue One

Eventually, I may mention a good male author or two. Since the genres are certainly not populated with only good female authors, but male as well. A little background on me and this newsletter: I am the Secretary of the St Louis CIA, the Communications officer for the I.K.V. Purple Haze, and a member of: The P.M.E.B., Queen's Own, Keeper of the G.A.S.P. Radio, and on committee and staff for several conventions in the U.S.

This newsletter, started out as my class project for my Intro to Mass Communications class. And I kind of ran with it and decided to make it real.
One of my big problems with the publishing world today, is that everything is in a certain category. You don't find a mention of a good Science Fiction author in a Mystery section, or vice versa. As I've always been a fan of many genres, and authors, I thought it might be nice if there was a newsletter devoted to the authors I enjoy--regardless of genre. And then I thought, maybe I should have only female authors for now, and then add male ones later. So, this is it. The first issue.

I think that just about covers it, Thank You for your time, and I hope you enjoy this!
Ana Cotton, Editor/Creator of: Various and Sundry

In this issue:
Spotlight on: Laurell K. Hamilton Reviews of: ...... Warning: all reviews contain possible spoilers.......
With This Ring by Carla Kelly
No Quarter by Tanya Huff
The Country Gentleman by Cindy Holbrook
Dancer of the Sixth by Michelle Shirey Crean
By the Sword by Mercedes Lackey
Copy Kat by Karen Kijewski
Column: Ana Reviews Everything

With This Ring, continues the tradition of realism, with a dash of humor that Ms. Kelly is so good at. Set just at the end of the war between England and France (vis a vis Napoleon). The description of Regency England is lovely--if rather grim.

It starts out with two officers (Major Sam Reed, Lord Laren and Lieutenant Sir Percy) playing chess and discussing the hoax that the Major (with the Lieutenant's help) had been practicing on his family. Into this steps a young woman (Miss Lydia Perkins) unwanted by her family, for not being "pretty" enough, and thereby not catching the eye of anyone wealthy. Her sister (Kitty) is a featherbrain, with absolutely no personality--save that she is ‘too beautiful to waste on the fat squire's son at home in Devon'.. So they have come to London for the season, in hopes of finding an Earl or a Marquess for Kitty.

When we are introduced to Lydia, her mother decides that it is ‘fashionable' for the two of them to go to a church and gawk at the wounded men. And there they will meet other like minded folk, who will give them an entree into ‘good' society. At the church, Lydia decides she can't just stand there and do nothing so she becomes involved with the dying and wounded men of General Picton's Own Battery (Battery B of the third division).

Through the novel we are introduced to the perfidy of war and the awful treatment and medical care the wounded common men received.

Lydia is a wonderful person with a good sense of humor, and Major Reed is a rascal. When he asks her to marry him--to help conceal his hoax--she eventually accepts. When she finds out she's supposed to have had a child, she accepts it, not with equanimity, but with a sigh and a glare for the Major. (For not informing her of their child beforehand..)

By the end of the book, I was very glad that the two of them had found each other--they go very well together.
Finis.

The book is hard hitting, grim, very adult oriented, and quite good. Warning: Slight Spoilers for Fifth Quarter are in this review.

No Quarter starts out with Vree and Gyhard, sharing the same body. They are going to Shkoder, to find out more about the ‘fifth quarter'.

Meanwhile, Bannon, is back at home feeling very abandoned and jealous, that his sister no longer considers him the be-all and end-all of her world. So, he is very happy when he is given the assignment to go after them and bring Gyhard back for ‘justice'.

Unknown to Bannon, the Emporer also sends an assassin after Vree, hoping to find out Gyhard's method of jumping from body to body--for the purposes of immortality (Which, incidentally, is *not* all it's cracked up to be..).

Vree arrives and meets Magda, who is learning the fifth quarter, at the Bardic hall. Her mother is Annice from StFQ.

Various peoples have visions and worries. And an old enemy appears, to create trouble. Vree and Bannon finally find out who their father is, and Gyhard finally gets his own body. Without killing anybody for it.

All in all a good adventure, with a lot of interesting plot points, veerings, and politics galore. One suggestion: try not to be eating while reading this. Some of the subject matter is fairly gross.

Also, there is no way that I can bring the full scope of this novel to any review--it's just too complex. Which is good and makes for an enjoyable read.

Back to Top.

This text is taken off of the walden.mo.net page, and I have not asked permission. (If you would like to sue me for this go ahead, but it's really petty, when I'm trying to promote one of my favorite authors.): "Laurell K. Hamilton has never wanted to do anything but write, so she earned an English degree. A brief fling with wanting to be Jane Goodall earned her a biology degree, as well. She met her husband at college. He earned more books than she did, a first. He was also a confirmed reader of fantasy and science fiction. He knew the way to her heart was through her imagination."

One of the better authors that I know of, Ms. Hamilton's books are filled with strong protagonists, who may get beat up, and keep on going. The characters tend to be smart, intelligent, willing to help, etc...

The first book, I read by Ms. Hamilton was Nightseer. I loved it, couldn't put it down. It's about a woman who is half-human/half-elf, and she is a mage, who has some problems/past with demons. She and a group of people go after the people who attack the keep. It's an interesting story, with some interesting characters. Then I read the short story. I picked up the third novel in the Anita Blake series first, it was quite interesting, so I went scouring the shelves for the rest of them. At the time there were only the first three.. We are now awaiting a seventh Anita book--with baited breath. I have not read either the ST:TNG novel, or the Ravenloff novel. I own both of them, just haven't gotten around to it. The short story is unique.

The Anita Blake series is set in St Louis, MO. ''‘Tis about an Animator, who also hunts, and slays vampires. The premise is pretty interesting, and the characters show up through the various novels. it's a real universe, with people who are there etc. I would classify the Anita Blake series, the Ravenloff book, and Nightseer as Horror/Fantasy/Mystery. As I said I don't know about the ST:TNG novel, but it's TNG, so probably not too dark.

I would not recommend reading any of the Anita Blake books, while eating.

Websites that I know of on Laurell K. Hamilton:
this (the http://walden.mo.net/~eridine/laurell.html site) has allsorts of stuff about Ms. Hamilton, and what she has written. Also, the page with the bio stuff, back there.

A site for the overall Anita Blake experience. http://www.8thdimen.com/fiction/fiction.html

a really fun site with lot's of Anita Blake trivia, quotes, etc. http://web.pace.edu/~ny964961/index.html
Also, check out the links page there, it's the same addie ‘cept index.html is replaced with LINK.HTM

this has the: Everything I need to know I learned from reading Anita Blake--quite fun. http://www.angelfire.com/mn/robynsisland/learnedab.html

Meana's Vampire page, lot's of vampire related links and thingies. http://www.angelfire.com/mn/meana/index.html

There is also a Laurell K. Hamilton discussion group, send E-mail to listserv@netexas.net with the message text: subscribe lkh your name You should receive confirmation soon. If you know of any more sites, please let me know at cousinshirley@hotmail.com. Thank You
Editor's note: at the time of this being made an html document, I was informed that netexas.net no longer exists. When I remember the new adddie, it will be added.

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