Sixty Acres and a Bride by Regina Jennings

There’s nothing quite like a re-imagining of the Book of the Ruth; which readers of this blog know is my favourite Bible story. These past few years, we were doled out a remarkable reconstruction of the tale with Liz Curtis Higgs’ Here Burns My Candle and Mine is the Night, which, you’ll remember, I absolutely loved.

In Sixty Acres and a Bride we move to 19th Century Texas: the heart of the romanticized West. Here, the young Mexican widow, Rosa Garner and her mother-in-law are forced to return to the family ranch after falling on hard times. Rosa is like a flood of colour and light, breaking the American traditions with her spicy personality and exotic looks. Like the ostracized Ruth in the Bible story, Rosa is immediately an outsider and speculation as to this girl straight from mountains of Mexico leads to conflict. Rosa tries to grow accustomed to the American way; but her flavour and flair cannot help but stick out. While her exotic beauty tantalizes some; it repels others and it is in the hands of the decent Weston Garner that her fate will be changed.

Weston Garner is our Boaz of the Biblical re-telling. He is nursing his own broken heart, is steadfast and strong, is shrouded in mystery and genuine goodwill. It takes quite a lot for these two to jump through the hurdles to secure their respective happiness; but when they do, the reader is well-rewarded. Weston’s view of love as sacred and true is well-developed and happily meted out when he finally does come to an agreement with our heroine. Like the best love stories, it is not the surprise of love, rather its fulfillment and that is what makes the Book of Ruth the fairytale of the Bible (God loves a Cinderella ending as much as we do) as it does this book an inventive way of discovering a well-known tale in a different setting.


I don’t always speak to literary and descriptive devices when I write a book review; but I was taken by some of Jennings’ innovate infusion of consonance and imagery in her debut novel. A few sentences of note: “By the time the bats were swooping in the twilight…” was one such instance and “the treetops where swinging around like the tip of a whip.” I really liked the unexpected placement of these creative and colourful lines in a straight forward historical romance.

The American West has long acted as a favourite canvas for Christian historical series and I appreciate Jennings using her obvious passion for its gritty and lovely dissonance to paint the well-known story here.

Visit Regina's blog where she discusses her journey to publication, includes photos of launch events and even lets us know what she's reading (it's an eclectic mix)

Her website is here

Buy the book on amazon
 
Ruth is not only four chapters long (short), it's my favourite Book of the Bible. You can read it herehttp://www.readbibleonline.net/?page_id=15

note: this book has been provided for my review courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.  It is available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

200

John Harmon wins the love of Bella Wilfer in "Our Mutual Friend"

You gave me dozens of my dearest friends

You let me hide between your pages when the world seemed ostracizing

Somehow you understood me so much you threw Amy Dorrit and Bella Wilfer in my way.

You hold a mirror up to myself when I am in need of self-reflection: when greed and jealousy blights my path when I need to be re-told that love leads to redemption and that characters from the lowest depths to the highest heights can pepper a graceless world with a sense of ardent light

You string romance and set my cheeks burning

You paint pathos and my eyes will never cease to tear

There are times when living in the vast world you created usurps my present reality as I slink, comfortably, as if to the hearth of a friend.

Many have been the times when I have looked up, enraptured, frazzled and heated from a spree between your pages and been surprised not to find you sitting across from me: spilling your strange head-tilts and myriad of dialects and voices from across a table or beyond my bedpost.

Lucie and Sydney Carton in "A Tale of Two Cities"

I have friends, yes, of the flesh and blood sort; but sometimes we imaginative types are beyond the grind of the traditional world.  I yearn for sentiment and the groggy depths of your mired world; of the bells tolling and ash on cobblestone, of the wayward path that leads orphans to makeshift home and teaches the ungrateful of higher power and metes justice and humanity to those deserving.

It's not just a case of your indelible print on social construction or the way that people were forced to extend a knowing hand to charity, to wake up and realize the potently unscrupulous world around them, it is the light and happy way you doled out moments of sheer trifle.... they are, as you said, the sum of life.

Arthur Clennam, "Little Dorrit"

Sometimes my life is tumultuous and my world doesn't make any sense so, without you minding, I hope, I slink into yours. I have for years. You teach me about myself time and again, you urge me to strive to see people as my equals, to extend a hand of courtesy, to take a moment and steal a thought for the downtrodden.  I never met you and yet I have spent more time with you than I have people of my nearest acquaintance. It's because I cannot separate myself from your thumbprint: your existence has stolen miles of my imaginary construct and not one day goes by when something you taught me: consciously or inadvertently doesn't scrape across my mind's eye.

Author Interview: Nina Benneton, "Compulsively Mr. Darcy"

Hello Readers!

I am so thrilled to have my first ever author interview here on this old blog. Nina Benneton, author of the fresh and sassy new take on the Pride and Prejudice story, Compulsively Mr. Darcy published by Sourcebooks. I don't want to give too much of the plot away here because I think it will be as a delightful surprise to you other P and P lovers as it was to me. Part of the delight was seeing how Nina Benneton took a tale as old as time and oft re-told in numerous settings, eras and cultures and made it wholly her own. I was so pleased that Nina took the time to speak to some of my thoughts on this exciting new addition to the genre. Scroll down to read some of Nina's insights into the writing process and why she was able to transplant our beloved characters into a completely new fictional sphere due to her passion for the source material and her penchant for fresh characterization!

Rachel:
There seems to be an enduring universal passion when it comes to revisiting the world of Pride and Prejudice in both Historical fiction and Contemporary re-tellings like yours. Why do you think this particular Austen novel is the most popular when it comes to re-imagination?

Nina Benneton:
Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet. Both are flawed yet relatable characters. Flawed because both have varying degrees of pride and prejudice in them. Relatable because these are the two flaws we like the least in ourselves, yet we know they're there inside us. If one considers Pride and Prejudice as simply a Literary novel, then the deep navel-contemplation by the characters about their flaws throughout the novel satisfies. If one considers this novel purely a Women's Fiction, then Elizabeth truly grew at the end to see how wrong she was to judge a bad man favorable by a pleasant countenance and gentleman-like manners, and a good man unfavorable because he appeared proud and haughty. If one considers it a Romance, what makes it so satisfying for a romance reader is how both hero and heroine overcame and grew through their pride and prejudice to a gratifying, believable happily ever after.

A writer in any one of these three genre examples (I'm certain others can come up with more genres) can undertake the re-telling in any way they wish because these character flaws are so great to tap into as seeds for character development.

In many ways, of all Jane Austen's novels, Persuasion comes closest to my definition as a romance. I feel Wentworth's letter to Anne was one of the most romantic thing that Jane Austen ever wrote. But Anne and Wentworth's flaws—whatever they are— are not as easily accessible or relatable to me as a writer. She's a bit of a saint, and his only fault is that his heart was still too-broken years later. (Even after more than a couple of decades of reading, that's still my shallow impression). Personally, I'd rather have Anne and Wentworth as neighbors and close friends than Darcy and Elizabeth, but I don't choose my friends for their flaws. On the other hand, as a writer, I choose my characters for their flaws.

So, to answer your question as to why Pride and Prejudice is the most popular when it comes to re-imagination, I believe it's because readers and writers relate very well to Elizabeth's and Darcy's flaws.

Rachel:
There are several ways to re-tell Darcy and Elizabeth's story and I have to admit, Compulsively Mr. Darcy was the most original I have read thus far ( and I have read many, fan that I am!) What led you to explore the characters in this particular way?

Nina Benneton:
Oooh. A fellow fanatic! How lovely.

'Most original'? Thank you.

I started with Darcy characterization. From my reading of many of these retellings, there's a consistent motif of our hero's characterization: that he is haughty, arrogant and prideful, and then he learns his lesson at strong Elizabeth's feet and becomes a better man. As a reader, I love this faithful and familiar theme of growth in a hero. Take the haughty and arrogant man down to his knees. Yeah! How satisfying.

As a writer, I needed more. I wasn't interested in traveling down that well-trodden path where other writers, writers with more skills than I, have beautifully and masterfully explored.

I asked 'why' was he like that? Why was he haughty, arrogant, prideful? I reread and reread Pride and Prejudice.

Darcy's a man who liked to be in control.Control of himself and of others. Hmm. So what? Nothing wrong with that. All romance heroes, the alpha kind, need to be in control.

My mind brainstormed. What if his control issue is really from a neurotic need to have it be so? A neurotic with obsessive-compulsive-disorder (OCD) who needs to have it be so. An OCD who needs it to be so because otherwise he'd feel unsafe? Yes!This was an original enough twist that I knew it would work to keep my interest as a writer.

Elizabeth's characterization was harder to tap into. She's usually depicted in re-tellings as a strong, take-no-prison heroine, and, again, as a reader, I love this portrayal.
I wanted something in this vein, yet with some original twist. I reread and reread Pride and Prejudice, and what stood out for me was her tendency to make snap judgment of people based on the exterior. She wasn't a shallow person, but she's so convinced she's right in her initial impression of people that it's a turning point for her to acknowledge she's not as insightful as she thinks she is.

Brainstorm time. What if my heroine Elizabeth's snap judgment comes from an inborn impulsivity? Since I knew I wanted her hometown to be Berkeley, California, I made her a liberal, Berkeley granola girl who simply wants to save the world—in that wonderful, audacious way that Berkeley-born-and-raised natives are reared to feel empowered to do.

Don Quixote is one of my favorite novels and a novel I reread often. I infused humor into Elizabeth by making her an impulsive, quixotic Berkeley native bent on saving the world. Like Don Quixote, she wants to charge at windmills. Perfect. It's this quixotic quality in her that cracks my hero Darcy's shell and effects a change in him.

Now, I have a unique pair that I could work with.

Rachel:
It is obvious that you are as passionate about Pride and Prejudice as the rest of us! What was your first experience with the novel and has it influenced your writing beyond Compulsively Mr. Darcy?

Nina Benneton:
My first experience with Pride and Prejudice was in school. As a fourteen-year-old girl, I was enthralled with how funny Mrs. Bennet was with her theatrics and how much she resembled many of the women in my family. I thought Elizabeth should have ended up with Wickham (aghast!) or Bingley, because Mr. Darcy was just too much work. Blech. Who'd want a boyfriend that complex. He didn't seem to be a bundle of joy to be mated with for life.
Maturity and wisdom came years later, after I've gone through a few Wickhams and Bingleys in my life and was bored. Simply bored. When I stumbled into some re-imaginings and re-tellings of Pride and Prejudice, I began to look at the novel differently. It became a romance for me.

My shallow impression of the novel as a young girl influences my writing now. I, like Elizabeth, learned that I'm not always as smart as I think I am. I'm often wrong about people. Yet, I love that. I love discovering different aspects, hidden depths, strange quirks in people whom I've stereotyped in a blink of an eye.

A reviewer recently wrote in her review blog that, on reading the description of Darcy as an OCD, she was leery of the affliction ruling him, and the story would not be romantic. She was happy she was wrong. He is a man with OCD, but he is not defined by it. I love that. I love to surprise readers. Give them something unexpected between the pages. From the word OCD—one might make a snap judgment that it would be a dark portrayal of a hero's neurosis, but it's not. It's a very human and tender and funny portrayal of a man who just happens to be afflicted with OCD.

People are so much more than their afflictions.

Rachel:
The Vietnamese setting of the novel ---and the well-researched action at the orphanage and the hospital, as well as the local flavour, is a spicy, sassy, exotic and throughly unique setting when held up against other Jane Austen "pastiches." What inspired you to set the novel here?

Nina Benneton:
The exotic setting came to me because I was reading some old tabloid issues where Brad and Angelina had just adopted a Vietnamese orphan. I had some familiarity with Vietnam and adoption, and it tickled my funny bone. I had very good idea how the locals would have reacted to Brad and Angelina —a la Mrs. Bennet upon hearing Netherfield being leased by Bingley. Da Nang, Vietnam as Hertfordshire. Perfect.

This setting was original enough to start the novel and to challenge me as a writer.
Yet, I didn't want it to be a travelogue story. I wanted the setting to be organic to the story line but not overtake it. What worked in my favor was it had been some years since I last visited Da Nang, so all that was left in my memory was an emotional geography of the place, but not the guidebook details. I actually had to hit travel books and read some descriptions for research, but quite honestly, I had a migraine headache almost the entire visit (Darcy suffers from migraines in the story) so the landscape, where things were located etc… were all a blur. My weakness is that I'm the kind of person who has to be alerted to the mountain range right in front of me, for I'm always too busy trying to listen to conversations around me. In the end, I focused more on the cultural aspects of the setting.

Though Compulsively Mr. Darcy isn't about cultural clash, you might say the inherent humor when cultures collide appeals to me as a writer. The second novel I wrote after this one was about an South Asian Indian grandmother and her struggle to accept her orphan granddaughter's love for a blue-eyed American cattle rancher and a recycling magnate (both untouchable jobs).

Rachel:
The initial misunderstanding between Elizabeth and Darcy strays far beyond the first impressions of behavior and attitude we find in the book. Can you speak to your decision to have Elizabeth perceive Darcy's relationship with Bingley as she does?

Nina Benneton:
An irreverent story needs to have a bit of a farce to it, I think, and thus the comic potential of such a misunderstanding appealed to me. Though, at first, I did hesitate to use this angle, for I was fearful of being perceived as unPC. But, you can't write 'honest and funny' if you're fearful.

Elizabeth is a Berkeley native. I spent years at Berkeley, and this is where my heart is, always. And because I love it, I want/need to make fun of its quirks. To a liberal Berkeley girl, it's just a normal thing for two guys to show up together and to immediately peg them as a gay couple.

Though I made fun of every one of my characters, main or secondary, I really didn't have an agenda to put forth. That would be authorial intrusion. I simply wanted to entertain my readers for a few hours of reading the book. Yet, I was sensitive to the fact that what's funny to me may not be perceived as such. I chose as my trusted readers people from a wide range of interests and philosophies and bent, especially those with different viewpoints than mine, to hold me accountable and check me if they feel I'd intruded myself into the story in some way.

Rachel:
Your Dr. Elizabeth Bennet is the prototype of a modern literary heroine: intellectual, independent and very much a career woman. How do you think the original Elizabeth Bennet set the stage for her fictional descendants?

Nina Benneton:
I think the original Elizabeth Bennet did what many of us might not do—turn down a proposal from a rich man and a life of ease, when, at that time, marrying well was the only viable option for a woman of her genteel means.
At fourteen, when I first read Pride and Prejudice, I was coming from a place in life where I was feeling acutely the lack of material comfort, and, honestly, I thought Elizabeth was a bit of a fool to turn down an estate full of servants. (Remember, I didn't think much of Mr. Darcy, then). Teenagers tend to be very materialistic, and I was no exception.

The deeper I research the mores of Regency time, the more I'm in awe of Jane Austen's Elizabeth Bennet. She refused his marriage proposal because she wanted to respect her partner, and vice versa. Denial on principal is something that we all think we would do, but we often very humanly fall short.

By that refusal of Darcy's first marriage proposal, she set the stage for heroines ever since. How heady is it to turn down a man with ten thousand pounds and Pemberley on principal?

Rachel:
In preparing to tell Elizabeth and Darcy's story in a modern context, did you refer to any other re-tellings of the book; or strictly to the source material?
Nina Benneton:
If I'd relied strictly on source material, I think I would not have been so bold in my attempt to write a modern myself. I'm not that talented or audacious.

I enjoyed Sara Angelini's The Trials of Honorable F. Darcy interpretation, and the fact that she didn't faithfully follow the original in the plot or minutia made me see it's possible.
When you write a modern retelling, it's very freeing in many ways because you have more leeway in character interpretations and plot. Two hundred years ought to have effected some changes. Darcy and Elizabeth and company should have evolved to fit their modern time, though still retain enough of the essentials of the originals to resonate with readers.
Yet, in many ways, it's very hard because you now do not have a rigid set of Regency rules and boundaries to keep you contained as a writer. You have to world-build and create a believable modern imitation, and that can be a daunting challenge.

Rachel:
Can we anticipate other revisions of Jane Austen stories penned by you in the future? What other book would you like to find a modern home for?

Nina Benneton:
I'm editing a Pride and Prejdudice Regency Romantic Suspense novel that I've completed six months ago. (Simply because I wanted to explore Regency boundaries and then break them.)

I'm letting rest a non-Jane Austen contemporary romantic comedy I've finished two months ago before I tackle revision in a couple of months.
I'm currently writing a time travel, haven't decided whether it would be a Jane Austen or not, since…ahem…I tend to tackle strange twists to characterizations and plots, and I may hit it too much out of the Jane Austen realm.

As to modern home for other Jane Austen books (this is from the top of my head!)

I'd love to tackle a modern Mansfield Park. Fanny as a foster child to the Bertram family. Think of the fun we could have with a modern Mrs. Norris and Dr. Grant. I love Jane Austen's secondary characters.
Northanger Abbey. Catherine Moreland as a girl from the project invited to an exclusive gated community called Northanger Abbey.
Emma as a stagemom-handler to a young actress Harriet Smith.

AUTHOR BIO: Nina Benneton was on her way to save the world and earn a Nobel Prize in something, anything, when her own Mr. Darcy and a bevy of beautiful children interrupted her plans. She woke up one day and saw she was too obsessive about alphabetizing her spices and searching for stray Barbie shoes. She turned to writing. Her debut novel, Compulsively Mr. Darcy, earned a Best Book review from Long and Short Review, 'Hands down…a must read for lovers and fans of classic romance.' Fresh Fiction Review called it a 'tenderly written novel.' Publishers Weekly wrote, 'Die-hard fans of everything Austen will enjoy this update of her classic tale.'

There are several ways to connect with Nina on the 'Net!

Find her on her website/blog
Find her on facebook
Find her on twitter

This Valentine's Day, why not treat yourself to the ULTIMATE romance?--grab a copy of Compulsively Mr. Darcy:

Sourcebooks Site

Amazon.com

Goodreads
Barnes and Noble


I would like to thank Sourcebooks for the review copy and for the opportunity to interview this exciting author!

Stand-in Groom by Kaye Dacus

Anne Hawthorne is 35, overweight and married to her job as the proprietor of Happy Endings, Inc.: Bonneterre, Louisiana's prime stop for wedding planning.  Successful, renowned and popular-- thanks to her panache for throwing a great wedding and for exposure in some of the South's prime social sections and magazines, Anne should be happy with the independent nature of her life. Instead, she spends her days meticulously infusing romance into the lives of other women while forcing herself to realize that her chance at the same may have left her behind.

Struggling with a broken heart, a long-time grudge that forced her life to take a completely different turn and the untimely death of her parents, Anne is certain her path will be a lonely one until George Laurence arrives on the scene. Laurence, a dashing Brit who is desperate to hang on to a Permanent Residency in the US is at the beck- and- call as personal assistant to a celebrity whose schedule keeps him from planning his own wedding.  Posing as the groom, George is to accompany the pretty young fiance everywhere and make sure the wedding and engagement party come off without a hitch until the real groom can stand back in. Problem is, George is falling head-over-heels for the wedding planner who thinks he is well off the market.

I really liked the twist in Brides of Bonneterre from the traditional wedding planner chicklit tropes and its plot around "posing" for a story reminded me of Jenny B. Jones' Save the Date: a book I read at Christmas and really enjoyed.  As mentioned previously, I enjoy how Dacus champions a different type of heroine in her Christian chicklit: over 30, often full-figured ,not the most graceful or well-dressed, flawed and open about their misfortune in love and willing to unabashedly bear their souls when it comes to trying to accept their singleness in a sphere where marriage and family is seen to be a natural trajectory.

I was very pleasantly surprised when what seemed to be the prime conflict in the plot was wrapped up mid-way through only to usher in another unanticipated conflict to keep Anne and George at bay from their chug to their well-deserved happy ending and I applaud Dacus for "throwing me off", as it were, as I was happy that their budding relationship loaned itself to a few more hoops to jump through. 

I also very much enjoyed the quintessential Southern flavour of the book best exuded in the architecture Dacus describes, the Southern dialect dripping from the soft accents of our main characters, and the delicious dishes served which just goes to prove further the love of Southern natives for mounds of fattening, decadent food. I vacationed in New Orleans last summer and I was thrilled to revisit some of the words and labels and dishes that are completely anamolous to Louisiana.  In fact, reading about the heat, the sun, the damp humidity and the yawned pace that stretches over the gorgeous old plantation homes and Victorian mansions, you quite believe you are stepping into a belle epoque.

I found some of George's British idioms to be a little scattered and heavily laid on (toodles, lord love a duck, cheerio, etc., ) and there are some italicized prayers which readers of this blog know to be a device I am not fond of; but, all-in-all, those are just little squibbles.  This was a pleasant book to wile away a grey February Saturday.  I purchased the Brides of Bonneteere 3-in-1 set so have just started A Menu for Romance.

BBC Merlin: The Last Dragonlord

The Last Dragonlord


 Okay, I can’t help myself. I have seen all four series (as televised thus far); but I just can’t quite Merlin.
This doesn’t mean I necessarily want to go back and watch more (near the end it almost killed me it was SO REPETITIVE and silly); but it is so enjoyable that I missed blogging about it and watching Colin Morgan smile at things.
So,
THE LAST DRAGONLORD
Opening: CAMELOT
Merlin has set free THE DRAGON VOICED BY JOHN HURT and there is MUCH pandemonium throughout Camelot as the DRAGON VOICED BY JOHN HURT takes revenge on Uther for forbidding magic and chaining him in the bowels of the dungeon and so on and so forth.

 DRAGON VOICED BY JOHN HURT: *breathes a lot of fire and propels a lot of destruction*
ARTHUR: OH NO! Dragon terror. Whatever shall we do?
UTHER PENDRAGON (looks like Rupert Giles): KILL ALL MAGICIANS
GAIUS: My Lord, I think we need a Dragonlord
UTHER PENDRAGON(looks like Rupert Giles): this is obviously the work of Magic. KILL EVERYBODY. Also, I think I KILLED all the dragonlords because they were MAGIC and in case you haven’t heard, I HATE MAGIC as will my son and heir after I am gone when he is King so watch out, magicians. I hope there are NO magicians here in the castle at all … because that, well…. that would just be dramatic foreshadowing!
MERLIN: *whistles and looks sheepishly away*


Meanwhile, back at Gaius’ house:
Merlin: Arthur and I are gonna go look for help with the dragon problem
Gaius: fortuitous! I know of a dragonlord.
Merlin: I thought they were dead. All of them!
Gaius: no! there is one left. I helped him escape under Uther’s dastardly purge of magicians. His name is Balinor. He will be played by John Lynch. Also, he is your father.
Merlin: WHAAAT???????


--Merlin and Arthur GO TO FIND BALINOR

John Lynch!  What are YOU doing here?

 Meanwhile at BALINOR’S CAVE:


Arthur is ASLEEP
John Lynch: I am grumbly and my hair is long and straggy and oily because I have left the world to hide my dragonlord abilities in shame. I don’t want to help Uther. I hope the dragon destroys Camelot because I am bitter. Though, I am bitter, I have very compassionately soulful eyes, rather like a young warlock with prominent ears who shall remain nameless.
Merlin: I thought you would help us! Gaius said you would help us! I am so disappointed *does not tell Balinor he is his son. Just mopes*
John Lynch: Fine! I’m over being bitter. I will help you.

--John Lynch, Arthur and Merlin leave the CAVE and head back towards Camelot through the forest


It is NIGHT, they make camp:


Arthur is ASLEEP
Merlin: By the way, John Lynch, I am Merlin. I am your son.
John Lynch: WHAT? That’s COOL! I am now more ridiculously fond of you than I was before. Look, your ears!
Merlin: Will you teach me how to tame dragons and stuff? I have magic? See? *is all bright-eyed with endearing boyish WONDERMENT and ACCEPTANCE*
John Lynch: Go to sleep. I will carve you a dragon out of driftwood
Merlin: OK!

Meanwhile, it is MORNING and ARTHUR wakes up and HENCEFORTH will NOT SHUT up and will interrupt EVERY DRAMATICALLY TENSE AND EMOTIONALLY MOVING MOMENT with his PROPENSITY to NOT SHUT UP.


Arthur: PRAT
Merlin: I think we are being intercepted by baddies in the forest. That NEVER happens in this show! Look, they come out of NOWHERE!
John Lynch: Merlin, Look out!


*dives in front of an ARROW and DIES!*


Merlin: Oh no! I just met you…. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (indeed, there is slow motion)
John Lynch: I am proud that you are my son
Arthur: WILL NOT SHUT UP
Merlin: sniff….

MEANWHILE, BACK at the CASTLE:
Arthur: The last dragonlord is dead so I am gonna take some knights out there and END THIS!

Merlin: sniff…

Uther Pendragon (looks like Rupert Giles) That’s too bad. But, he got what he deserved, stupid magician

Merlin: sniff

 MEANWHILE, back at GAIUS’ house
Gaius: So you see, Merlin, conveniently your dragonlord powers are inherited from your father---passed down from son to son…. And, though I never mentioned any of this before because the lore never really fit into the plotlines in the first two series, you are only dragonlord when your father is dead. And, it appears your father is dead. So, go out and get the dragon.
 

MEANWHILE, in Arthur’s Chambers:


Merlin: helps Arthur with his armor. Is sad.
Arthur: WILL NOT SHUT UP
Merlin: I will go with you to defeat the dragon
Arthur: WILL NOT SHUT UP *but endearingly gives Merlin a playful punch*

--The Knights of Camelot and Arthur and Merlin go forth to DEFEAT THE DRAGON
Dragon Voiced by John Hurt: GRRRROWL!
Arthur: is knocked unconscious as, conveniently, are ALL THE OTHERS except for MERLIN…
Merlin: *in angry latin-like chant* I am now a dragon! Look, I am tearing because I am so EMOTIONALLY INVESTED IN THIS ROLE and because MY FATHER just DIED And I CAN FEEL HIM WITH ME rather like SIMBA CAN FEEL MUFASA when he is DEFEATING SCAR.
Dragon Voiced by John Hurt: I will do your bidding, young warlock/dragonmaster
Merlin: Go away and leave Camelot alone!


Reason we watch the BBC Merlin: I LOVE this kid.



Dragon Voiced by John Hurt: I guess!

Arthur wakes up and WILL NOT SHUT UP

Merlin: you slayed (slew?) the dragon, Arthur. You are a hero!

Arthur*clueless*:AWESOME

Meanwhile, back at Camelot:

Arthur: I DEFEATED THE DRAGON *hugs Guinevere*

Merlin: I DEFEATED THE DRAGON *hugs Gaius*



The End

















Just in Time for Valentine's Day: Sourcebooks E-Book Promotion

SPECIAL VALENTINE E-BOOK PROMOTION froom SOURCEBOOKS

Do you love Love and Romance?....especially in February?

Then you might want to consider stocking up on some of these spicy titles currently on promotion from our friends at Sourcebooks!

Until February 15th, 2012, a select number of titles found here on the Sourcebooks website are on special. From FREE to 2.99 a plethora of romantic titles are easily purchased and downloadable. I'd like to highlight two of the titles below: First, who doesn't want to read a book called The Man Who Loved Pride and Prejudice?

Secondly, I am an avid reader of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books ---'cause those gals are HILARIOUS and Everything I Know About Love I Learned From Romance Novels was written by "Smart Bitch" Sarah Wendell.

Sourcebooks often has e-book specials so make sure you schedule some return visits to their website

In which I write about "Great Expectations" for FEMNISTA

Hello all, Femnista is celebrating the Dickens Bicentenary with an issue wholly devoted to the Great Victorian Author we LOVE!

My article can be found here on p.26 entitled "Unconditional Love" and our good friend Gina (of Dickensblog) also has an exceptionally eye-opening piece about the enigma that is Sydney Carton.

As per always, there is a faith-driven slant to Femnista matched with some great literary thoughts and ideas.  I was super excited to be part of this endeavour.

Check out at Charity's Place for more editions of this awesome e-zine.

I will be featured in two upcoming editions of Femnista as well and will keep you posted when they go live!

Ahhhhh BACH

Umm... I sort of love me some Bach. I do! I am a huge fan of the Baroque period, attend most every concert performed by Toronto's World Class Baroque Orchestra, Tafelmusik and spend most of my working hours with Baroque music on itunes.  I love it. It's measured and therapeutic.

There is nothing in the world better than Bach. Seriously.  So, I was, of course, delighted when the Hairpin featured this article.

Read it and love: complete with youtube video of Cachonne BWV 1004.

For you Bach-loving Torontonians, the Anglican Church of the Redeemer (across from the ROM) features amazing Bach Vespers now and then. I often go and lose myself in the wonderment of this sacred religious practice. It's heavenly: especially when couched in the magnificent old church Redeemer worships in.

I guess I should throw something bookish into this post, n'est pas?  So read The Cello Suites by Eric Siblin: a highly-acclaimed and riveting treasure-hunt into some of the most beautiful music ever written.

Sushi for One by Camy Tang

Lex Sakai is a young, Japansese-American woman doomed to become the oldest single cousin in a few short month’s time. Her over-bearing grandmother threatens to withdrawal financial support from Lex’s beloved girls’ volleyball league if Lex can’t find a man…. and soon.


But, Lex is not your typical gal. Unlike the majority of her family, she and her three closest cousins ( and best friends) are Christians and Lex is a sports-loving, volley-ball playing male-repellant. She doesn’t know how to interact with guys and when forced to confront her singles’ group and volleyball friends for a prospective date, to appease granny and save the funding, her blurted-out lines are hilarious.

Sushi for One is unlike any other Christian chicklit you’ve read: at least it was when it first published in 2007 ( it has been followed by four other books by Tang in the same ilk: each focusing on one of Lex’s cousins and their journey toward romance ). Tang’s heartfelt infusion of multi-culturalism and the culture of her spunky, sprightly heroine is welcome throughout as she paints Lex’s relationships with her colleagues and her tightly-knit traditional family. Sushi is possibly my favourite food in the world and I was craving it throughout as Tang elicits some of her favourite Asian dishes in the novel. From sashimi to hot pot, you’ll be left salivating: in a good way.


As well as featuring a wonderfully unique and spicy heroine, Tang does well at painting a world relatively unknown in Christian fiction: the world of athleticism and sports. Lex’s job, her chance to play for an elite volleyball league, her endeavours as coach, her sports injuries and her passion for all things Athlete are a fresh twist of air to a genre where women are usually employed in more typified female gender roles. It takes the dashing (Tang says he smiles like Orlando Bloom) physiotherapist Aiden to turn Lex’s head.


Tang’s series boasts “romance with a kick of wasabi” and I can certainly appraise her narrative of having just that. This is edgy Christian chicklit, folks! It involves dancing, mentions of wine and hangovers, women who are too closely attracted and sexually assertive, flirting and spice. In fact, I loved that there were no self-reverential passages or italicized prayers. Rather, Lex and her cousins are strong, independently liberal Christians who put faith first; but also live beyond the bubble in the real world. This was a nice change to some of the overtly-evangelical fare I often read.


I found myself laughing throughout the novel: more at Lex’s subconscious train of thought and the snippy narrative than the many ( and I say WAAAY too many) accidents involving Lex and some sort of liquid. This is a little over-hyped: taking clumsy to a new level ---especially because Lex is described as possessing an athletic grace. Furthermore, a competent athlete would have the balance needed to withstand the multiple incidents which plague her. This goes from amusing to tiring infinitesimally. Otherwise, I found this a fresh and original chicklit and I look forward to reading some of Camy Tang’s other books!

You can buy Sushi for One at amazon
Visit Camy Tang on the web

Love Remains by Kaye Dacus

Love Remains  is my second read of a Dacus novel, the first being The Art of Romance which I enjoyed very much.  The story arc connecting this book, Art of Romance and Turnabout's Fair Play (which is on my shelf for reading soon!) is the meddling of a group of faith-based grandmothers who want to see their single grandchildren paired off...but with standards.  If the grandchildren of each of the unofficial group's members can pair up amongst themselves, then everyone is certain of quality matches.

Three unsuspecting grandchildren are Caylor (the heroine of The Art of Romance, Flannery ( whom I will meet in Turnabout) and Zarah, the heroine of Love Remains. Like Caylor, Zarah has a wonderfully unique academic profession at the Middle Tennessee Historic Preservation Commission, is built like a woman (and not like a stick insect), flashes her normal insecurities, has problems with eating a little too much ( and the guilt that follows) and with a bit of a backward fashion sense; but whose heart for serving in the church and whose genuine interest to please everyone trumps her desperation of finding a man and settling down: even while the infrastructure of her church wants to place more effort into providing good marriage and family examples for its singles.

Much like Jane Austen's Persuasion, Zarah's world takes a turn when former beau Bobby Patterson arrives at the scene. Convinced by her father that Bobby was an unsuitable match for the young Zarah, she remained single and heart-broken as he served time in the military. Now, he is back and the sparks that flew between them persist still. Will Zarah's pride and the curly head on her shoulders be able to withstand meddling from her friends, her grandmother and even from Bobby Patterson himself?


What Kaye Dacus does extremely well is explore the plight of singles in the church universe. For those who are unfamiliar with organized religion, Christian Singles ministry and the pressure (sometimes unspoken) of those who have chosen careers over love to mesh into a mould which appreciates the traditional family unit, this will be a strange land. For those of us who grew up in the church and have felt first hand how singular life can be when you attempt to find a dating field within the confines of Christianity, we completely recognize the insecurities and doubts which plague Zarah and her band of single Christian friends.  When Zarah's single leader Patrick becomes engaged, the feelings of abandonment and surprise that follow will be instantly recognizable to those who have been closely involved in a Church family.  The feelings of doubt, loneliness and insecurity ----as well as the little nagging thoughts of jealousy which seem to be so foreign to a world built on the tenets of theology will be all-too-familiar.

The book excels at presenting the life of a single woman with a successful career who is forced to contemplate her past and future relationship while reconciling her individuality with an unspoken mantra of a church duty-bound to present worthy examples of couples, marriage and family.  Indeed, it was the separation and titles of the numerous Bible Study and Sunday School groups which rapt my attention: classes for singles, for nearly marrieds, for already marrieds, for those who have been divorced (Divorce Care).... Churches have the propensity to label within their greater structure.  I will be the first to condemn this practice (having often felt that I didn't fit into any of the columns provided and having seen how it can unintentionally ostracize seekers) and I applaud Dacus for blatantly exploring the ramifications of this seemingly harmless practice on her heroine.

I did find this book a little slow at times--- as it explored Bobby's prediction of finding an apartment and working in Nashville and Zarah's workaholic nature lent itself to a few paragraphs of information dumping; but, on the whole, when it stuck to the budding re-kindling of Zarah and Bobby's relationship, the book was competently penned.  I do find that Dacus has the propensity to describe non-essential details ( such as meals ordered and at what restaurants and what the characters are thinking about their relationship with food as well as fashion and clothing choices) which can detract from the movement of the plot.  One particular instance sees Bobby deciding what he can eat at a pasta restaurant due to his failure to go to the Y and sign up for a membership.  I find details like this superfluous; but, on the whole, the character portraits and the canvas spread out to present the vital details in the growth and maturation of Bobby and Zarah --- in and out of church--- was compelling.


Dacus' ongoing thesis provides older, single women a field and redefines the usual archetypes of Christian romance and Chicklit. I really appreciate how she battles the "tough" subjects, so to speak, infuses the pages with her own convictions and offers us characters we can relate to: in all of their insecurities, differences, failures, flaws and triumphs.

visit Kaye Dacus on the web!

Merlin: A Retrospective

So, I have watched all four televised series of the BBC Merlin and often I wondered "WHY DO I KEEP WATCHING THIS?"

The rinse and repeat formulas, the stock episodes, the fact that I could figure out everything as it was happening, the cheesy lines, the bad dragon CGI, the Guinevere/ Arthur fiasco, Morgana turning into a boringly predictable baddie..... but I just COULD NOT QUIT IT ....

And I know why....

Because Colin Morgan's Merlin is the most likeable hero I have seen in an age.  He is self-depricating, humble, gold-hearted, sweet, loyal, willing to give up everything for an idea, willing to hide his own talents and gifts to ensure his friend Prince (then King) Arthur has faith in himself, knows that he is sacrificing everything for a future he may not even see....

Merlin gives you faith in the goodness of people to be absolutely, wholesomely, sterling silver to the core.  Merlin has numerous chances to leave his life as a servant to find riches or fame or notoriety or further adventure; yet, instead, he is so kind-hearted and lovely he remains Gaius' ward and assistant while putting up with Arthur's prat-ish ways and saving the world TIME AND TIME again without credit. Ever. WHATSOEVER.


How difficult his life must be ---to know that you are saving the world and not to have anyone acknowledge it....yet good-natured, sweet-smiled Merlin persists because he knows what he is doing is right.


A hero on television with a stalwart conscience.... how pleasant.  Merlin never wants a reward. At one point, and I paraphrase, Sir Gwain mentions that the reason he loves Merlin is that Merlin does wonderful things without ever knowing, or getting credit for them.  He just does it. Because he's whole-heartedly, "awww shucks" good.

Slight things make him happy, the whimsical banter with Arthur keeps him propelled forward and the dream of an idea keeps him chugging. He never takes advantage of his position, he would die willingly for his friends and he always does what is right.

With great power ( which Merlin has in spades) comes great responsibility.  It is impressive on a kid so young with such a weight on his shoulders that he doesn't abuse it.  While he keeps hidden the most integral part of himself: loaning himself to ridicule and humiliation, he is, in all other areas, a terrible liar. He only loses his temper once, he never complains, he is faithful and sunny and loving.

So, four seasons of the BBC Merlin  later having withstood and endured some of the most WTF television in the history of time ... I can solidly, solidly say that I recommend this series for its incredible hero. You will not find a better or more noble hero on television or in film.  He's not strong to look at, his ears stick out, he's dweeby and clumsy and yet he is GOLDEN...

So just watch it for him. You'll be taken in, I guarantee you, and you'll keep watching it for his insane ultimate goodness.

So, Colin Morgan, I'm on the side of your Merlin, buddy.  I think you are just the gee-whillicker, aww shucks, adorkable hero this world of stupidity and darkness and judgment, hate and manipulation needs.

Long live you.

[the cutest scene you'll see today]

Film Review: the Artist

I really think that the Artist needs to be experienced freshly: meaning the less I say about it the better. I knew little about the film and I loved it so much that my friend and I left gushing that we would let the film take us for dancing and champagne so did it captivate our hearts.

This is divinely delicious, de-LOVELY cinema, everyone and it MUST be experienced.  It will leave you floating on air, clutching your hands to your chest, your heart thumping its own time, your senses ruptured by the absence of a kiss, by the fleeting and intrusive moments of sound, by the silence that speaks louder than any scripted words possibly could.

This is a phenomenal cinematic achievement and it MUST be WATCHED!



GO.WATCH.IT.

George Valentin ( a perfect homage to Rudolph Valentino with rapier moustache and dazzling smile ) and his lovely leading lady, the perfectly peppy and charming Peppy Miller will sweep you off your feet as the silent era ends and talkies begin.

Go. GO WATCH IT NOW!

Remember your first time watching Chaplin's City Lights and that giddily light feeling you had as if you had tasted a bit too much wine....your head spinning, your fingers tingling?  This. THIS will leave you with the same imminent sensation.

BBC Merlin: Servant of Two Masters

By the time we get to the fourth series of the BBC Merlin things have gone to HADES! I am not giving you a spoiler alert because, seriously people, do you really think this show holds anything surprising? No. You have a brain (I think), you could probably figure this out. It's not the easily-deduced destination, my lovelies, 'tis the JOURNEY.....

• Uther Pendragon (Looks like Rupert Giles) is no more! 
• Morgana is an uber-baddie ( as we knew she was destined to be)
• Merlin has a purple shirt to add to his alternating blue and red ones
• Guinevere's dress line has sunken way too low (and her clothes no longer fit her busty proportions)
• Arthur is as opposed to sorcery as his father was....

It's a MESS....

And so, our regular rinse and repeat formula adds a few necessary changes.  Sure, there are still the CGI beasties and bad knights and armies and threats to Camelot and Arthur and Guinevere and Guinevere and Arthur and people getting kidnapped and royalty showing up wanting to marry someone... so on and so forth....

EVIL MORGANA cannot AFFORD A HAIRBRUSH!

but there are additional plot lines to rotate like :

• NATHANIEL PARKER being a traitor but, like Morgana before him, no one can SEE THAT HE IS A TRAITOR
• Gwaine being a close and awesome ally of Merlin ( really, next to ye olde Merlin, I think Gwaine is my favourite of the series! )
• Lancelot may or may not be dead
• there be DRAGON magic 
• As quickly as you can say "Robert Goulet", Merlin can transform himself into a wizard a la 80 years old "Sword in the Stone" esque ---his TH White-ness guise.

Also, by the fourth season, someone is going to be abducted by Morgana and her henchmen at least once an episode.  Sometimes it will be Guinevere, sometimes Arthur, sometimes Gaius, sometimes Merlin, sometimes Gaius and Guinevere AT THE SAME time... and so on and so forth....

So, as per usual, Merlin has to HIDE his magic! SAVE ARTHUR'S LIFE, put up with ARTHUR being a PRAT, put up with Arthur's sexually frustrated encounters with low-dressed Guinevere, Arthur's being an orphan, the fact that Morgana has added green eye-shadow and tangled hair to her appearance and that NATHANIEL PARKER has GOTTEN PUDGY since his Lynley days.

With all of this in mind,  I give you:

Servant of Two Masters

ARTHUR and MERLIN are running away from baddies in the FOREST

MERLIN is wounded

ARTHUR drags him under a tree trunk

Merlin: Just let me die. I am not worth it.  I am a useless servant and you are destined to be the GREATEST KING OF ALL THE KINGS

Arthur: *back-handed compliments*

Merlin: oh noes! I hear baddies approaching!

Arthur: stay here, wounded Merlin, I shall fight off this dozen or so men with my AWESOME SWORD

*SWORD FIGHTING*

But ARTHUR is OUTNUMBERED

Merlin: something something MAGICALLY spell SOMETHING magically spelling...

Arthur and the baddies are separated; but MERLIN is KIDNAPPED by .... WAIT FOR IT... MORGANA

I am going to put this snakey in your NECK, Merlin!

Morgana: I have evil green eye shadow and I never brush my hair. Who is Emrys?
Merlin: I won't tell you anything!
Morgana: I am going to get this snake to eat your insides much in the same way that Bruce Greenwood had that torturous bug in his ear in the 2009 Star Trek.  This snakey will make you turn into an ARTHUR-killing machine....

*snake slithers inside Merlin's neck so that he becomes EVIL!*

GEORGE

MEANWHILE back at the PALACE:
Gaius: MERLIN is gone (heartbreak)
Arthur: I will find him
George: I will be YOUR NEW SERVANT
Sir Leon: we should go find Merlin
George: Look! Breakfast! My efficiency!
Arthur (shirtless): I miss Merlin. I know you are a better cook and my stuff is better polished; but I JUST CAN'T QUIT HIM
Nathaniel Parker: You must abandon thoughts of finding Merlin. He is gone forever! *sinisterly looks and plots as he is in LEAGUE with MORGANA*



ARTHUR goes to FIND MERLIN in the FOREST

EVIL Merlin: look! I was in a bog!
Arthur: MERLIN I MISSED YOU! *hugs*
EVIL Merlin: *evil look* I still look like Merlin! Look, my ears!  But, I am actually possessed by evil snakey and am EVIL

MEANWHILE back in CAMELOT
Gaius: I missed you Merlin. You near broke my heart
EVIL Merlin: I am now snippy and sarcastic because I AM NOT MYSELF!...despite my ears and my general Merlin-ness.  I am going to steal this deadly poison and go for Arthur's lunch!

*does so*

MEANWHILE at the PALACE:
Guinevere: Arthur! Here is your lunch!
Arthur: YUMMO!
EVIL Merlin *carrying poisoned lunch*: Eat THIS lunch
Arthur: Nah! Guinevere already gave me lunch!
EVIL Merlin: DAMN!

*Merlin feeds poisioned lunch to the pigs.  Guinevere sees dead pigs*

MEANWHILE at GAIUS' HOUSE:
Gaius: Why would Merlin try to kill Arthur?
Guinevere: He must not be HIMSELF
Gaius: I can read about it in an old book! Ahh ...yes..... it looks as if he must be inhabited by an EVIL snakey!

....BACK AT THE PALACE:
EVIL Merlin: this crossbow attached in this wardrobe will ensure ARTHUR'S demise!
*it doesn't*
EVIL Merlin: the crossbow didn't work; but look! Poisoned BATHWATER!
Arthur *has no clothes on*: I am ready for my bath
EVIL Merlin: he he he he he he
Guinevere: STOP!
Arthur: GUINEVERE! I HAVE NO CLOTHES ON!
Guinevere: You must not get into the bath today.
*AWKWARDNESS*

ARTHUR with NO CLOTHES!

....and at GAIUS' HOUSE
*Gaius gives EVIL Merlin a potion to make the snakey inside his neck dormant*
TEMPORARILY UN-EVIL Merlin: so if I don't find the source of the snakey sorcery then I will be EVIL Merlin forever...doomed to kill Arthur and stuff and be all snippety and be meaner than my ears and general physiognomy would seemingly permit me to be?
Gaius: Yes. All of that.  Go forth and destroy the Snakey!

*TEMPORARY UN-EVIL Merlin dresses up as OLD MERLIN and goes to find Morgana.... DEFEATS THE SNAKEY so that TEMPORARILY UN-EVIL Merlin becomes AWESOME Merlin of old once more*

MEANWHILE...BACK at the PALACE:
Arthur: I think you spend all the time at the tavern
Merlin: I can't tell you otherwise; lest I BETRAY the fact that I am always off DEFEATING BAD MAGIC and saving your life. So yes, treat me like the dolt I am...
George: I am here to teach you how to polish armour
Arthur: Let me laugh like the PRAT I am!  But my Pratish heart still beats for you, Merlin. I am fond of you.
Merlin: awww. shucks.  Some things NEVER change

THIS be AWESOME Merlin! Look! how cute! EARS!

BOOKS in the NEWS!

the BBC Sherlock boosts Arthur Conan Doyle book sales
Vintage Toronto Ad for the Toronto Telegram
Fans await no-show "Poe Toaster" ---nevermore....
The Telegraph does a "My Week" segment with our beloved Anthony Horowitz

The Girl Who Loved Sherlock Holmes: A near lifetime love affair with my fictional opposite

The other night I re-read The Final Problem while waiting to watch the last episode of the second series of the BBC Sherlock.  I remembered the first time I read the story. It was from my school library and I stayed up until 2:30 on a Wednesday night to finish it. For me, at that moment, there was no looming alarm clock in the morning or a sleepy day of classes ahead, there was just me and Sherlock and Watson who, at the time (and maybe still ) were my best friends.

We fictionally creative people spend life as outsiders: flooding moments which lead us to figure that no one on earth understands us and that, in turn, we fail to understand them has us fleeing to literary counterparts whose world we feel neatly fit into.

Throughout my latter elementary school years and well into high school, I felt safest between the shelves in the library, on one of those little rotating stools, revisiting my Sherlock stories. When I first read A Study in Scarlet my fingers trembled as I turned the pages excitedly. When my grade 10 english teacher assigned The Speckled Band and Silver Blaze as actual REQUIRED reading, I did a happy dance.  I could hang out with Sherlock and Watson for SCHOOL and not just for fun.

As I grow older and as the Canon has become as much a part of my psyche as the other books which guided me through my formative, book wormy years, I have attempted to deconstruct what it is about Holmes and Watson that fits into my flighty little brain. I am eccentric, overly emotional, wracked with an anxiety disorder, prone to guilt and panic, intuitively religious, exceedingly, romantically imaginative--- everything that the asexual and rigid Holmes disdains...

So why, then, why him... with his cold, automaton-like machine-like calculations and odd, irrepressible habits and imminent genius and arrogant demeanour and coke-addiction and three pipe problems and ethereal grey eyes and aquiline profile and penchant to squeak obnoxiously discordant strands of music from a violin....why him?

When the 1881 Beeton's Christmas Annual first threw itself upon the greater reading populous, readers ached for a new edition of the Strand and for the notes from John H. Watson's famous military box thrown into the world in full-fledged splendour, exposing a mind of such great importance and significance he would become not only immortal; but universally mourned when thought to be dead at the hand's of his (insignificant?) creator.  These characters were so much larger than life that many thought they were real, actual, earthly-habitants.  A great mind with great deductive prowess and his awed flatmate and friend.

When I first visited Baker Street, I didn't allow myself to contemplate the fact that the home I was touring was fictional that the persons to whom the museum was dedicated never actually lived. I was, instead, enamoured by the authenticity of the room's layout and by the thousands of letters people still addressed to Mr. Holmes of 221B Baker Street.  The literary pilgrimage was one of immense emotionally charged self-satisfaction. I was paying homage to a collective part of my psyche, my emotional upbringing, to two of my closest friends.

The pages of the 56 short stories and 4 novels have been read to shreds by me. I own dozens upon dozens of tomes, encyclopedias, pastiches, annotated and unannotated editions, biographies, works of religion and philosophy all indebted to the Great Detective.  No one can convince the part of me that construes such fascination with his world is an imaginative one.

On my dream trip to Austria I went out of my way to get to Meiringen, just to see where Holmes had "perished" (and wonderfully escaped) at the hands of the dastardly Moriarty.  The plaques therein and the museum devoted to Holmes' Swiss connection didn't seem to be relics of a fictional universe; rather part of a wonderful history--- a history I had faith in; bought into, loved and respected.

The plaque in London outside of St. Bart's which commemorates Holmes first introduction to Watson, the room at the Toronto Reference Library dedicated to one of the largest collections of Conan Doyle memorabilia in the world.... the mythos, the legend, the time-stopping, heart-grasping wonderment of it all continues to beguile me. As I learn more about myself and excavate the pieces and fragments which make up the individual I have become, this world is an indelible part of it.  I owe my fascination with Victorian London and, subsequently, my passion for its literature to the smoky lanterns, rattle of hansom cabs and murderous fogs pervading Baker Street.   Holmes and Watson's famous quotes, their moments of sarcasm, their colourful humanity pepper so many of my constant thoughts and speech.

And yet.... despite my ongoing passion and my determination to stalk the deceased Doyle's roots in Edinburgh this summer--- in an act of yet ANOTHER literary pilgrimage dedication to this fascination-- I am constantly questioned as to why.... why a bookish, romantic, imaginative and anxious girl metes out such literary investment to a calculating machine...

Everyone else as thrilled as I was when Benedict finally put that hat on?

It's because he's my opposite. Panic attacks in high school and university and nights spent sleeplessly, endlessly worrying found me seeking Baker Street for comfort.  Why? because it's a measured world. Baker Street and Baroque music, together: you know his methods, you know his calculations, his moods, his rigidity, his asexuality.  He never wavers in self-confidence the way I always second-guessed myself, he is never prone to doubt- the way I always thought I was doing wrong. He is assured, predictable, intelligently logical---everything I am not.

Sherlock Holmes is not swayed by bouts of imaginative fervour: he knows that there is a measured reason for everything and there is comfort in his ability to know all.  Where people, futures, puzzles, problems, conflicting and abnormal doubts plague human minds like mine, his brain was beyond that.  There is solace in his ability to unravel what we cannot.

For a girl raised in the spirit of evangelical religiousity: where rules regaled and faith took place of sight and touch and sound, so materializing Holmes' world offered a needed counter.  He is so forthright, he is so steady.... there is nothing that will surprise or haunt or trouble you about him.   He is everything that I am not.

Watson's adoration of Holmes and his continued awe-stricken fanaticism and enchantment mirrors my own. My love for Watson is just as potent as my love for Sherlock because we are both emotional, romantic and intelligent people--- unashamed to be baffled by a mind that, like clockwork, omits anything supernatural, unexplainable, borne of fraught imagination.

Thus, my overly emotional response to the predictable end of The Reichenbach Fall was precipitated by my engaging in the collective troubles and sorrows of two very close friends.  True, the television medium portrays Holmes and Watson in a myriad of ways: some more similar to my earliest mental images as others (thus my deriving what I find authentic to the source material and what I think strays); but the new contemporary vision just secures my own faith in Holmes and Watson. They are century agnostic.  They are not confined to the Victorian world of fog and smoke, they are as integral to our collective conscious as readers and seekers as they were when Doyle first created them.

I do love my deerstalker--straight from Baker St.

There is comfort in knowing that their fictional world exists and that the same imaginative plight that awaited me in surreptitious splendour the first moment I stole into their world and the hundreds of times I revisited will always be there: like magic, metric, measured enforcement.

They say that opposites attract and Sherlock Holmes, being in every way, shape and form my opposite, continues to be the great literary love of my life.