It's actually all Laurell's fault

After thinking about it a bit I have come to the conclusion that part of my upset over the most recent Sookie Stackhouse book is due to the emotional baggage I still carry over my break up with the Anita Blake series. No, it isn't right or fair to compare a current flame to an ex, but poor Charlaine Harris will just have to deal with the disillusionment and bitterness that Laurell K. Hamilton left in her wake.

Because 7 years after the break up, the pain is still there.

For a decade our relationship was almost perfect. I still remember the day I picked up the first Anita Blake book, Guilty Pleasures, at WalMart. I read it front to back in one sitting and then reread it again the next day. Here was a new genre, paranormal urban fantasy, and it combined elements of all my favourite kinds of books: a strong female lead character, supernatural beings, mystery, and science fiction.

For the next eight years and nine books everything was blissful. I bought the new Anita books as soon as they came out and recommended them to anyone I thought would have the slightest interest. I bought copies as gifts and sent them to friends in Australia and England so they could meet Anita, too. I reveled in getting to know Anita better, slowly becoming immersed in her complex world and its inhabitants.

Looking back, you can usually pinpoint the moment a relationship started to go bad. You can say, yes, that's when it all began: the uncharacteristic behaviour, the emotional disconnection, the realization that someone you care about has turned into a stranger. You hope that it's just a phase, that the person you've spent so much time with is still there, somewhere, and will come back to you, but you fear the changes may be permanent and nothing you can do will help.

In this case, it all went bad with Narcissus in Chains.

I finished that book - which I paid hardcover prices for, such was my devotion! - and sat in stunned silence for a moment, then pitched it across the room. It landed across the bedroom standing cover side up on my laundry hamper, mocking me.

Who was this woman who had called herself "Anita" for 400+ pages? What the hell was up with this 'ardeur' and why didn't anyone, especially Anita, notice it before? I was supposed to actually believe that Anita, who had taken 5 books to sleep with someone she knew and loved would have sex with some milquetoast guy she had just met? And what was with all the badly written D/s?

I didn't give up hope. Surely things would get better. The Anita I knew had to be in there somewhere.

The next book proved I was hoping in vain. Things just got worse. Anita was firmly on the road to becoming Anita Sue. She was irresistible to men (dead, alive or in between), acquiring handy new super powers right and left and, thanks to the convenient though unbelievable ardeur, having sex with just about every man in her life, singly and in multiples. (But none of them minded sharing because, well, she is just that great!) Where was the character development? Where was the plot? And why were the sex scenes be so badly written?

Upon finishing Cerulean Sins, I knew we'd reached the end. I had to walk away. After ten years, I vowed to never buy another Anita Blake book.

I'm afraid, somewhere deep down, that Dead and Gone, may be another Narcissus in Chains. I really didn't recognize or like the Sookie in this book and that scares me. I really dread another break up.

Hopefully, though, if the worst happens, Charlaine (unlike Laurell) won't try and blame it all on me, claiming I am not sophisticated and intelligent enough to appreciate her. I like my break ups amicable, thank you.

Oh, Charlaine what have you done?

I recently finished the ninth entry in the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris, Dead and Gone, and boy, am I worried. Normally, when I finish a Sookie book I feel charmed; after finishing this book I was depressed and unhappy. Generally speaking, this book is just a hot mess. Did Charlaine Harris really write this? If so, why didn't her editor do their job and step in and make sure the finished product was worthy of publication?

Be warned before reading further, here there be spoilers.

I have been a fan of the Sookie series from the very beginning. (In fact, I remember giving my husband my copy of the book to take with him when he deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom right after 9/11.) I have enjoyed seeing Sookie grow over the years from a dependent, passive small town girl living in a narrow world, coping with a "disability" to an insightful, independent, self aware young woman who refused to be a victim in a sometimes violent and confusing world, all the while retaining her basic goodness and trying to use her abilities for good.

Unfortunately, that Sookie wasn't in this book. I'm not sure who the woman in this book was who was calling herself Sookie, but I didn't much like her. The Sookie in this book didn't seem to feel much of anything she normally would have (no anger at being tricked into being "married" to Eric, no concern for her friends and family who may be targets because of her, no feeling the need to support Jason in his loss of his wife and child, no real remorse at having to kill in self defense or having someone die in her defense, no need to try and defend a character who faces death for something that ultimately wasn't his fault, no real grief at the death of someone close to her who had saved her life on more than one occasion...I could go on, but you get the point) and she made really stupid decisions, over and over to boot. The REAL Sookie of earlier books would have warned her friends and brother they were in danger (even if she was still mad at Jason), would not have followed Eric's orders about the package without questioning them, would not slept with Eric (and certainly not taken more of his blood) until she had figured out what part of her feelings were real rather than blood bond influenced and the prior book Sookie would have asked for advice and protection the minute it was needed (not to mention been bright enough not to stop for the mail or leave her protection behind at a stoplight).

Unfortunately, Sookie wasn't the only one acting uncharacteristically. The ever mysterious Eric spills his guts about his origins (in a public place, no less) and leaves Sookie unprotected after he gets his roll in the sheets, Pam is off doing Other Stuff while Eric's life is in danger, and Quinn (who really only has a pointless cameo) has lost all his charm. (There are lots of pointless cameos in this book. I wondered for a minute there if Ms. Harris was paid by the character.)

I hate continuity errors in a series. Given the fact that there is up to a year between books, they have to be pretty big for me to notice them, but this book had enough of them to stop me in my tracks and completely take me out of the story. Names are wrong (Claudine and Claude's sister was Claudia, not Claudette), events are remembered incorrectly by people who should know better (t was Chow and not Clancy who attacked Hallow), Eric worries that he is "too big" for Sookie in the middle of sex (even though he supposedly remembers that they have slept together before and there was no problem then), vampire tears are described as red when they have always been pink before...details, yes, but it's the "everyday" things that make a world believable and the author and editor's job to make sure a world is kept consistent.

The plot elements are threefold: the weres come out of the closet, fairy is at war (because one faction wants to cut off contact with the human world) and the FBI is looking into Sookie because it wants to use her abilities. Unfortunately, none of these elements are really dealt with in depth and bits and pieces are just thrown in as accompaniment to the action, 90% of which is violent.

Oh, yes, this book is filled with senseless violence. Pregnant women drop like flies. Sookie is tortured by incestuous fairies. (Luckily I didn't like her much by the time that happened so it didn't bother me terribly.) Central characters we have grown fond of die for no reason. (Claudine, for one, deserved better. After being a good friend to Sookie and saving her bacon more than once she deserved a death that counted for something and someone to grieve for her. Instead her death is mentioned only in passing and no one seems to care much, despite the fact that she was pregnant.)

All the death and torture in this book seem to serve no real purpose (the "good" fairies win the war but decide to cut off the human world anyway and the individual who loses his life over Crystal's murder isn't the one who did the killing), so in the end it has no meaning. (If this ends up being a "Sookie had to go through hell so she can grow as a person" ploy I will be really ticked. After 8 books and so much character development for Sookie, PTSD-worthy events shouldn't be required for her to grow further in the series.)

This series is one of the few that I have been willing to pay hardcover prices for, but after reading this entry in the series I will now be waiting for the paperback releases to buy the new books. Hopefully, by next spring Ms. Harris will have the series back on track - and if she doesn't, I won't be out $20!

(Note: The next entry in this series, A Touch of Dead, is due out in October but it is merely a compilation of Sookie Stackhouse short stories, many of which have appeared elsewhere. I have read most of them when they were first published and they are hit and miss.)

July Book Releases

As I have previously confessed, I have a major book addiction. Given the fact that I go through about 20 books a month I am always looking for new books, preferably of the paranormal/urban fantasy genre. Since I can't be the only one (please, tell me I'm not alone) I thought I would start posting the upcoming new releases here. (I keep a spreadsheet which is currently updated through the end of the year. I take this whole "new books" thing seriously!) So here are the books to watch out for for July 2009:

Leader of the Pack by Karen Macinerney (Third book in the series after Howling at the Moon and On the Prowl )

Mercy Thompson Homecoming by Patricia Briggs (Comic debut of the main character from the series that includes Moon Called, Blood Bound and Iron Kissed)

Strange Brew (Anthology) edited by P.N. Elrod (Includes stories by Jim Butcher, Charlaine Harris and Rachel Caine!)

Skin Deep by Mark del Franco (First in the Laura Blackstone series that takes place in the same universe as his Connor Grey books, Unshapely Things, Unquiet Dreams and Unfallen Dead.)

Branded by Fire by Nalini Singh (The newest in her psy-chagelings series.)

And since some of you may not have caught all the new releases for last month, here's the list of new releases for June 2009:

Carpe Corpus by Rachel Caine (Book six in the Morganville Vampire series which started with Glass Houses. This series is marketed as Young Adult but both my husband and I are big fans!)

Darkness Calls by Marjorie Liu (Second in the Hunter Kiss series begun with Iron Hunt.)

The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff (Hardcover) (Woo hoo! New characters - hopefully the beginning of a new series!)

Mark of the Demon by Diana Rowland

Cry Mercy by Toni Andrews (Third in the series after Beg for Mercy and Angel of Mercy)

Got soup?

It’s 90 degrees outside, but I am craving soup. I think it’s the Hawaiian in me. After all, it’s always 80 something degrees there and everywhere you go in the islands, you’ll find soup: Japanese miso and noodle soups, Chinese oxtail and won ton soups and Portuguese calo verde (a green kale and potato soup) and bean soups. Just about every restaurant back home serves soup, they sell it frozen in the supermarket and you can even get ‘saimin’ (a noodle soup which is a favourite of children) at the local McDonald’s.

This love of soup is a legacy of our Hawaiian ancestors, most of whom toiled on the plantations which were the cornerstone of the Hawaiian economy until the last part of this century. It makes sense if you think about it: soup was the perfect food for plantation families. It was inexpensive, it made good use of leftovers, it didn’t require constant tending (important for women with large families and homes to take care of), it was a filling, hearty meal suited for labourers and it stayed warm and ready, perfect for families with workers on differing shifts.

Many of my ancestors lived and worked on Hawaii’s plantations. Portuguese immigrants brought to the islands to work on the sugar plantations in the late 1800's, they were machinists, truck drivers, and store clerks. My grandmother was born on the Waipahu Sugar Plantation (now “Plantation Village,” 26 carefully restored/replicated structures which now serve to illustrate the lifestyle and culture of the 400,000 immigrant plantation workers) which is not 10 miles from where I lived when we were stationed at Hickam Air Force Base. (My grandmother and father actually lived near “Hickam Field” during the bombing of Pearl Harbor.)

As a small child, I remember watching my great-grandmother making soup in my grandmother’s kitchen during her visits, fascinated by the melodic sing song cadence of her voice. (English and Hawaiian are the official languages in Hawaii, but many of the locals speak pidgin, at least to each other, and have a much more musical quality to their phrasing when they do speak “regular English.”) Now my sister and I both make soup for our families regularly. We both use the same basic recipe our great-grandmother used (a twentieth century adaptation of her mother’s recipe), but with variations that produce totally different results.

One thing that is exactly the same, however, is the love that goes into the making of it and the link it provides to our Portuguese ancestors and the Hawaiian culture they helped shape.

Basic Recipe for Portuguese Bean Soup
4 cans Bean with Bacon soup
2 cups beef broth
1 can kidney beans, drained
3 potatoes, cubed
1 bunch watercress leaves, chopped
1 Portuguese sausage, cut in half then sliced into pieces
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon onion powder

Combine soup, beef broth and water in large soup pot. Set on medium heat; add potato, watercress, kidney beans, soy sauce and onion powder and heat through. Once heated, turn heat to low and simmer for a few hours. When potatoes are cooked through, add sausage and simmer another hour or so. Turn off heat, let soup cool a bit then place, tightly covered, in refrigerator for at least 24 hours. (Yes, you can serve it right away, but it is even better if you let it sit.) The next day, warm soup through and serve plain or over sticky white (i.e., asian style) rice.

There are a million variations on this recipe, all of them good. My sister omits the potatoes and sausage and substitutes shredded cabbage for the watercress; she also prefers her soup thinner and adds more water. Some people prefer to use elbow macaroni instead of potatoes, others add diced carrots or onions to their soup. Sometimes chicken stock is used instead of beef broth. If Portuguese sausage is unavailable, kielbasa or chorizo may be used instead. (In other words, do exactly as my ancestors on the plantation did when making this soup: use what you like and what is available and just keep tasting and adjusting and you’ll end up with something wonderful.)

Chapter One, in which our heroine is introduced

Given the possibility that someone may read this who doesn't already know me, it seems an introduction is in order. While pondering what to say, it occurred to me that introducing oneself to strangers is rather like placing a personal ad: what you choose to say about yourself tells people more about you than the information you include.

So here are the important things about me (make of this what you will):

I am happily married (something I try never to take for granted and thank God for on a daily basis) to a wonderful man who happens to be an active duty service member. Thanks to the United States Air Force, we are currently residing in a small town (47,000 people) in Oklahoma.

I am a city girl, San Francisco born and raised, and this is my first experience of living more than an hour away from a city. I hate it here. A lot. I keep telling myself it's a great place to raise the kids but that can only go so far. (After all, Honolulu was a great place to raise the kids, too. After 2 1/2 years here we still refer to Hawaii as home.)

We have three beautiful daughters (8, 11 and almost 13), two cats and one dog and I am lucky enough to be a stay at home mom.

I don't drink and I don't smoke but I do have an addiction: BOOKS. I have a five book a week habit. My husband is also a big reader and one of the many reasons I married him is that, for the most part, we like similar books so we share (which helps justify the initial expense) books and then talk about them afterward.

My girls and I also collect American Girl dolls. The American Girl dolls have introduced the girls to history, encouraged them to read and brought us so many friendships. My youngest daughter Miss K's travelling American Girl doll, Kealoha, spent most of last year visiting other military families around the United States; she even got to fly with the USAF Thunderbirds! You can visit her blog at http://kealohasadventures.blogspot.com.

So, now that we've been formally introduced...welcome to my blog.