Round 2 – Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

I just found out that Scenes from a Life has made it through to round 2 of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (http://www.amazon.com/b?node=332264011)

This means that it was in the top 400 in the General Fiction category (there was no historical fiction option). Making it to round 2 means that the short ‘pitch’ was good enough… this time around the ‘excerpt’ section, ie the first few thousand words, gets to be assessed.

There is now about a month in which the number gets whittled down to a total of 500 across all five categories…

Scenes from a Life cover

Another review…

It has been a good weekend for reviews – this one is a great read from a person familiar with the ancient and classical world. Read the whole lot at http://myth.typepad.com/breakfast/2014/03/scenes-from-a-life.html.

Here are a few extracts…

Abbott is a trained scholar of ancient Egyptian and Hebrew, and a keen observer of the archeologies of the Bronze Age Near East. His aim in this gentle, well-crafted novel is to bring to life the ordinary folk of that time, and to tell their stories with attention and care…
“Scenes from a Life” is a “historical” by genre, but only because the story unfolds in the past. It explores much more deeply the commonalities of humans throughout the ages: who am I, where did I come from, who are my friends, what is my purpose in life. The striking thing about “Scenes” is not its unobtrusive historical accuracy… but its sensitivity: its assured, mature observation of people…
“Scenes from a Life” is handsomely produced for the Kindle, and includes fascinating background material for the linguistically and historically curious. I found I had large numbers of questions to ask the author after reading this book, but at the same time was absolutely satisfied.

Breakfast with Pandora banner image

A review of ‘Scenes from a Life’

Scenes from a Life has just had a review posted on The Review Group – check it out in full at http://thereviewgroup.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/scenes-from-life-reviewed-by-margaret_7.html

Some extracts are:

The setting is well realized, both in the background details …and in the use of language…

…there is lovely description – evocative sentences or phrases that add so much to the atmosphere of the book. To give just one example – ‘hovered like a bird of the reedy marshes around the borders of their conversation.’

…a glimpse of a culture and period that I suspect most readers will know little about. I feel I know much more of New Kingdom Egypt now and I would certainly read another book by this writer.

An encouraging review from a person who started the book knowing only a little about New Kingdom Egypt!

Buy Scenes from a Life on Amazon.co.uk
Buy Scenes from a Life on Amazon.com

Cover image - Scenes from a Life

Review – Britannia’s Reach

Britannia’s Reach, by Antoine Vanner, is the second in a loosely connected series of books about the life and times of a British naval officer in the late 19th century. A while ago I read and reviewed the first in the series. Britannia’s Wolf (Goodreads review, June 2013). The books are independent of each other, and you do not need to have read the first one to understand the second.

Buy Britannia’s Reach from Amazon.co.uk
Buy Britannia’s Reach from Amazon.com

Full marks to Antoine for his unusual choice of setting for this book. Dawlish makes a career of handling slightly shady.assignments and there is something of the Mission Impossible in the way he is routinely told that Britain will disavow knowledge of and responsibility for the endeavour if it goes wrong. Here, commercial rather than political interests drive the military goals. In common with many other naval officers of his day, the protagonist Dawlish is courageous, disciplined on a personal level, and very competent at conducting necessary actions on land or sea – or on river, in this case.

The details of naval technology and customs have obviously been very thoroughly researched, and it is clear from other reviewers’ comments that on a military level the book comes over as authentic. Certainly great care has been lavished on descriptions of the military hardware and its use.

Britannia's Reach - cover imageHowever, the book as a whole did not click with me as much as the first one. For one thing there are essentially no female characters explored sympathetically or in depth. This would be fair enough for the shipboard experience, but in Britannia’s Wolf, Antoine successfully found ways to bring female balance into the narrative.

Similarly, the combat action takes over the whole book from early on, and other forms of interaction are largely discarded. The proportion of the book describing battle scenes is extremely high. The few “boardroom” scenes, and the one attempt to parley, scarcely provide balance. The very dubious moral basis for the action as a whole keeps drifting towards the surface, but does not drive the action or the plot: characters may dislike the position they are in, but apparently have no way to step out of it. Dawlish’s adversaries, who on the face of things might well have a greater moral claim on their side, are mostly flat characters who (with one exception) never attain a life of their own.

On a technical level there were a small number of proof reading errors, but none of a serious nature – basically minor slips of present for past tense or the like. Since these slightly increased towards the end of the book I did wonder if things got a bit hurried as a planned release date approached. The production of the kindle version is accurate and makes good use of the various features available – all in all a well turned out book worthy of the naval professionalism it describes.

The content and focus of the book means that for me this is a four-star book – I don’t really enjoy such a purely martial focus. But others who enjoy the vicarious experience of combat in the late nineteenth century will probably rate it more highly, and I feel sure that it will appeal to a lot of readers. Certainly I will be happy to look out for other books in this series as they appear.

Review – The Handfasted Wife

The Handfasted Wife, by Carol McGrath, is one of the many books which have come out in recent years surrounding the Norman invasion of 1066. For me, this was a five star book that I have thoroughly enjoyed reading.

Buy The Handfasted Wife from Amazon.co.uk
Buy The Handfasted Wife from Amazon.com

Carol has chosen to tell her tale about a year or so either side of the fateful months, and to focus on the person of Elditha (Edith) Swanneck – married to Harold according to popular customs and accepted as valid by most Saxon Christians of the time, but not legitimate according to the stricter rules of the European church.

Carol has delved heavily into the various literary sources referring to these years, with an appropriately critical eye depending on their authorship as well as their distance in time from the events. Small extracts from approximately contemporary texts stand at the head of each chapter, a device I personally enjoy. Indeed, the quality and detail of research stands out from the book as a major feature. There was a real sense of immersion in the age.

To some degree, this was a slight distraction – much as I like research, there were times in the first half of the book where it threatened to overwhelm the story. In ruthlessly objective terms, not a great deal happens for a fairly large chunk of the book, but Carol uses a lot of space informing us of local customs and everyday objects. In complete contrast, the second half of the book, involving flight and pursuit into the west of England and beyond, accelerates at a rapid rate.

The Handfasted Wife - cover imageOne of my great joys of reading this book was simply the pleasure of knowing the terrain Elditha and her various companions move across – at least, the modern version of it. The river trip along the Thames near Oxford, the approach to the Severn valley, the view of the estuary at Exeter – all were vivid episodes enhanced by my own experience of them. They are, I think, well enough described that someone who does not know the land would still appreciate them.

As well as the exterior landscape of England, Carol captures the interior world of Saxon women in a way I find very credible. The Norman rule was a cruel time for women, not only in the obvious forms of personal violence, but in the destruction of their role in society. As the dust of the conquest settled, women would find themselves in a completely subordinate position, with the rights and privileges accorded them in Saxon society swept away. These would not be recovered for many centuries.

Again on a personal note, this made an interesting connection with my own preferred period – the much earlier transition from Late Bronze to Iron Age in the middle east. Here also, a long-standing and stable social structure was being swept away and replaced by a system which put women at a considerable disadvantage and locked them into a few prescribed roles.

This was definitely a five star book for me – the minor reservations that I had with the level of research detail inserted into the text do not detract from the overall effect. I particularly enjoyed the blend of interior and exterior worlds, and the larger sense that a whole way of life was being swept away in ways that were rather unexpected to the parties involved. Definitely to be recommended if you like books set in this era which focus not so much on the fighting and battles as much as the personal experience of life.

Review – City of Women

City of Women, by David Gillham, was another book club selection and another three star book for me. The club choices are the result of a collective vote, so we only have ourselves to blame… but part of the idea is to deliberately expose ourselves to books we might not choose in the ordinary course of life. City of Women is a second world war book, but set rather unusually in 1943 Berlin.

Buy City of Women from Amazon.co.uk
Buy City of Women from Amazon.com

The title comes from the fact that most men of military age were away serving in the armed forces, mostly out east in the Soviet Union. Despite this, there seem to be enough men around to provide the main character (a woman who works as a typist in a minor government agency) with plentiful bed partners. The return from the eastern front of her wounded husband does little to interfere with her sex life, since their marriage was already in a precarious state when war broke out. Nobody seems especially bothered, or even surprised, by the state of affairs.

I found the book immensely dreary, I’m afraid. I suspect that in part this was a deliberate stylistic choice of the author, to convey to the reader how dreary wartime life in Berlin was. If so, it was all too successful.

On top of the daily grind of boring work, inadequate food and regular bombings, with only a cinema to provide official entertainment – and sporadic and rather mechanical sex as a diversion – there is a steadily developing plot of helping Jews to escape the city and the country. It is hard to decide if this is really an act of courage, or just one more way to escape boredom. For a few of the people involved, the actions are part of a moral stand, but for many, there is no real basis other than a rather unfocused sense of anger.

Personally I didn’t find that this theme integrated very well with the personality of the central woman, though perhaps the author feels that once again this is the point he is trying to make – in such a situation, unlikely responses are drawn out of ordinary people. The slightly dreamlike lack of volition, of just following along to see what would happen next, pervades the book.

For me this mix did not work. I found the combination of dull routine and improbable coincidence unconvincing, and was filled with a sense of unreality as I persevered through the book. I cannot give this book more than three stars – perhaps some people will find it more engaging than I, but other than the feeling of dogged endurance, I have not come away from the book with any deeper insight into this period of history, or the human condition in general.

On a purely technical note, the kindle version does not make proper use of the kindle navigation features, and there were a number of editorial and proof-reading slips. Since this is a Penguin book, and not self-published or small press, this highlights the issue that finding a major publisher does not at all guarantee a quality finished product.

Cover image - City of Women

Alternative plot structure part 1 – the ring pattern

How are stories planned and organised? More interestingly, how have they been arranged in different parts of the world and times in history? Today I want to talk about a common middle eastern pattern, “ring structure”. Nowadays, the pattern most commonly talked about is called “three act structure”. Some people use this title just as a convenient piece of shorthand, but others try to argue that there is something fundamental about it, even to the extent of suggesting that there is some basis in human brain chemistry that favours it.

Three act structure is pretty much stock in trade for Hollywood films and so has big money behind it. Basically, 1) the plot presents a problem to the main character. A first attempt to solve it fails. So 2) a more elaborate attempt to solve it is set up and also fails, this time in such a way that things look hopeless. Then 3) a final sacrificial attempt is made and it is resolved.

But is there really anything profound in this pattern? I want here to distinguish between film plots and book plots. These are different media and so might quite reasonably have different forms – why should a film follow a book storyline any more than if the key plot ideas were turned into a musical, or a poem, or a piece of art? However, typically, people who know a book well routinely end up disappointed with a film adaptation.

Now, despite some of the things which have been said about it, there is no real reason to suppose that having three acts mirrors anything deep about the human soul. Many pieces of literature have used entirely different patterns, and I want to focus on a few of these over an intermittent series of blog articles.

So for today, I want to look at ring structure – the key moment or event is placed in the middle of the work. It is, quite literally, pivotal, or centrally important to the plot. Bailey, back in the late 1990s, said of this pattern “The primary language of the picture is placed in the climactic center. Around that center is a series of interpretive semantic “envelopes”, which provide direction to the reader’s imagination“. On similar lines, Radday said “Chiastic structure… is more than an artificial or artistic device… it is rather, and most remarkably so, a key to meaning“. In the ancient near eastern world this pattern was common, and it has survived to some degree through to the present.

Triumphal Accounts in Hebrew and Egyptian cover imageThe typical pattern is to open with a state of stability and peace, which is then disrupted in some way – perhaps by a natural crisis, or by wickedly motivated individuals. The disruption may be presented from several different points of view, depending on the length of the work. The pivotal event is at the centre to resolve the crisis – in some texts it might be a battle, for example, but in others it will be a celebration of a god, nation or individual. Merenptah’s Israel Stele has “A great wonder has occurred for Egypt“. The Hebrew “Song of the Sea” (Exodus 15, first half) has “Who like you among the gods? Yahweh!“. After the central affirmation the situation ‘unwinds’, commonly in symmetric ways to the opening layers, and the setting is restored to peace and stability.

A few years ago now I made a study of this in the PhD thesis Triumphal Accounts in Hebrew and Egyptian. In this I showed how some key texts in New Kingdom Egypt and the oldest strands of the Hebrew Bible use ring structure, and its stricter cousin chiasmus, to provide the framework for their narrative. But use of the pattern is not restricted to the ancient world, and it was in use in rural middle eastern contexts within living memory. Some people have argued that it reflects a difference in world-view. Three-act, credibly, lends itself to a conquering, pioneering mentality in which obstacles are only there to be surmounted in pursuit of a supreme goal. Ring structure lends itself to a view which values cohesion around a crucial centre. Perhaps it is not surprising that Hollywood likes one and not the other!

Some modern authors have experimented with this pattern, such as Hemingway in The Sun also Rises. There are even elements of the ring structure in the typical Star Trek (original series) plot, when Kirk, Bones and Spock collect on the bridge on a wind-down return-to-normality session after saving the world again. On a more domestic scale, I built In a Milk and Honeyed Land according to the structure: readers can entertain themselves working out the key events which I have set as the pivot, and how concentric patterns are set up during the book as a whole.

With influences from world literature increasingly impacting on British and European fiction (from what I have seen, America lags behind a little here), it is to be hoped that ring patterns will come back into larger scale use. They provide an interesting and creative variation of plot structure, and potentially say something important about a world view.

Drews – the extent of the 1200BCE Catastrophe

I started reading Drew’s book on the c.1200 BCE catastrophe over the weekend. So far he has been reviewing the archaeological data concerning which sites were destroyed. Basically the map shows that a whole slew of cities and palaces were sacked and for the most part throughly burned in:

  • mainland Greece
  • modern Turkey, both the coastal regions round Troy and Miletus and the Anatolian Hittite regions
  • modern Syria, both along the coast and further inland
  • Cyprus
  • modern Lebanon and parts of Israel and Jordan, in particular the coastal plain and down the Jordan valley

Outline map of city destructions c. 1200BCE
Literally dozens of settlements of varying sizes were burned and the inhabitants scattered, all within what seems to be a time span of 30 or 40 years. . In some cases the places were resettled not long after, but in others the abandonment was longer term – for example Ugarit was never resettled, and was lost to memory until recent times.

The archaeological evidence is not exact enough to say that all these destructions had the same cause, nor the sequence in which they happened, but he argues on both logical grounds and from the Egyptian texts that the movement was north-to-south.

The destruction pattern washes around but does not really touch the southern hill country of modern Israel and Palestine, and he specifically mentions Jerusalem and Gibeon as places which were untouched. This is handy for my overall storyline, as these places – under the names of Shalem and Giybon – feature strongly.

Drews’ overall question is, I think, fascinating. The destruction of cities and palaces, whilst always terrible for the occupants, often does not signal major social change or the collapse of the culture – in many cases the destruction spurs off a new flourishing of building work and other cultural activities. But all around the Levant these events were truly catastrophic. The Bronze Age social structures and connections collapsed, and were uniformly replaced by other forms. Why should this have happened?

I have not yet read far enough to see what his answer is, but since he is an advocate of the ‘new military technology’ approach, my guess is that he will suggest that the new styles of warfare swept the former military elites away. This would make the change comparable in some ways to the demise of the mounted armoured knights of the medieval period. The advent of the longbow and then gunpowder not only changed the course of battles, but also signalled much wider social transformations. When the dust of the 1200 BCE catastrophe had settled, the new kingdoms that arose all around the eastern Mediterranean were built on different principles.

Review – The Skater and the Saint

The Skater and the Saint is the second novel in the Borschland series, by David Frauenfelder. I read the first one back in September 2013 (Skater in a Strange Land, http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R3JG6BKBA7G0DO/) so was keen to see what the second had to offer. My expectations were in fact surpassed and this time around I am very happy to credit The Skater and the Saint with five stars.

Buy The Skater and the Saint from Amazon.co.uk
Buy The Skater and the Saint from Amazon.com

Map of BorschlandThe background is the same – the country of Borschland is part of a continent in the southern hemisphere of our world. This continent is sometimes in phase with us (and so accessible) and sometimes out of phase (and so in splendid isolation). The stories revolve around the occasional crossover characters who go from here to there and choose to remain. For complex reasons, the whole continent is gripped with a passionate enthusiasm for ice skating in general and ice hockey in particular. You don’t need to have read the first novel to enjoy this book, since they form a loosely connected series rather than parts of a trilogy or some such.

What was it that elevated the book to five stars for me? I don’t think it was simply a greater familiarity with the zany mores of Borschland society, or those of the other adjacent lands – though to be sure their pervasive and diverse charms do tend to get under your skin.

For me, it was the exploration into other aspects of the world which did the trick. The Skater and the Saint delves into the language, history, religion and mythology of these lands, all areas which I am drawn to like a magnet. The whole lot pivots around what might best be termed a religious relic, which combines in a single object magical force, iconic power and herbal medicine.

There is much more here about competitive skating than in the earlier book. This is a subject that I know nothing about, but lack of knowledge is not a barrier at all. So if pucks, sticks and boards are so much phlogiston to you, it doesn’t matter! Like a lot of sports, it is simply an arena in which other forms of challenge and competitiveness can be worked out. The personal interactions are what matter here.

So all in all a most enjoyable book and a great follow-on to the original. In terms of style, the book drifts somewhere out of phase between fantasy, science-fiction and steampunk, and I think would be accessible to readers of all of those genres. Like the first in the series, really serious devotees of any of these genres might be frustrated that the novel is not centrally positioned in any of them… instead, it asks to be received on its own merits. Let’s hope that David writes more books in this series in the future. This one – 5* from me.

The Skater and the Saint cover

Some recent reviews for In a Milk and Honeyed Land

In a Milk and Honeyed Land has been getting some reviews recently, so I thought I would gather the links together along with short snippets.

  • Anna Belfrage on “The Review Group” –
    http://thereviewgroup.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/anna-reviews-in-milk-and-honeyed-land.html
    Mr Abbott paints a vivid description of the region and its people as it may have appeared well over three thousand years ago, doing a rather elegant tie in to the events related to us in the Book of Joshua... The life in this long-ago village is richly described, from the foods they prepare, to the tending of the olives and the rituals of life and death... it is a reflection on human life in general, subtly making the point just how similar the central issues in our lives remain – whether in the here and now or in the far back then... The prose is rich and fragrant and flows easily across the pages... In a Milk and Honeyed Land is a believable and at times very touching description of a man that always tries to do the best he can for his family and friends. Add to this an unusual historical background, some very evocative writing, and you have quite the read."
  • Keeping Sane with Books
    http://booksane.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/in-milk-and-honeyed-land-by-richard.html
    a wonderfully written novel full of a very particular history... The language is exceptional with some wonderful turns of phrase that I had never heard before. The importance of the community is emphasised through religious belief, unhappy marriages, dysfunctional relationships, anger, betrayal and so much more. Dr.Abbott develops strong characters not just in terms of writing but also where their own behaviours are concerned. ... All in all a unique and satisfying book."
  • The Book Professor
    http://bookprofessor.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/reviewshare-historical-in-milk-and.html
    This is a story about personal strength, growth and change. ... Damariel's life story draws the reader in like very few stories can. His trials and tribulations in the local community are well articulated and I would describe this as a beautiful book. ... There is so much to take in that I think it probably deserves a second reading to get the most out of it. It is definitely a recommended read.
  • The Book Connoisseur
    http://www.book-connoisseur.com/2014/02/5-in-milk-and-honeyed-land-by-richard.html
    ...this is a historical novel told with great authority by a writer who is evidently a master of the subject. I LOVED the attention to detail the author presented with each setting... a believable story with well-developed characters, at times both beautiful and touching and is well worth a read if you are looking for something thoughtful.
  • The Reading Cat
    http://thereadingcat.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/book-reviewshare-4-stars-in-milk-and.html –
    This was a book that is refreshingly original. The lives of these extraordinary people in an ordinary town are captured in a fascinating manner and presented with excellent writing technique. The people are as real as it gets and I found myself strongly connecting with some of the situations the main character found himself in. The prose is almost poetic and flows beautifully although some sections are so rich and full of detail that sometimes they need to be read more than once. This book by Dr.Richard Abbott definitely requires some concentration and thought to get the most out this book just adds to its charms. A great novel.

Writing, both historical and speculative