2005, Back Bay Books/Little, Brown
Oh, what a treat you’re in for if you haven’t yet picked up The Hummingbird’s Daughter. Written with a prose style so sharp and clean it flies along like the sprite in its title, this novel is a historical fiction piece based on a real woman.
Set during the time of the Mexican revolution, the story follows Teresita Urrea, a woman whose ability to heal others garners her the adoration reserved for saints. Starting with her early life, the narrative follows her family’s upheaval as they relocate the household to a place still attacked by Apache warriors.
There the father builds their new home, expands his business, and through it all, watches helplessly as his daughter–who only late was acknowledged as his child–draws around her the people who all seek some type of healing.
Just as Teresita was denied her father’s attention for the first years of her life, her teenage years are also not what might typically be found in the story of a saint. She suffers as much as any of the seekers who call her name. There are atrocities, some of which she witnesses being visited on others, and some of which are visited upon her. It is not always clear whether she will prevail.
Fortunately (for readers, anyway), there is a second book that continues this story. Urrea (the author) has also provided a glimpse into the strange and miraculous events that occurred while he researched this work; being able to read about these events arcs your thoughts back to the story and the compelling family met on these pages.
Pick this one up. You won’t regret it, I promise.
5 stars!
If you’d like to read a similar novel after this one, try The Family Made of Dust: A Novel of Loss and Rebirth in the Australian Outback (formerly called Message Stick).
Release date: August 2016 from Thomas Dunne Books
This power-packed historical novel is the first in a series…and it’s going to have readers beating on the publisher’s door for more.
Look, I’ll be the first to tell you that historical fiction can be a real slough. In the wrong author’s hands, novels set in any time period earlier than maybe 20 years ago can bog down in details…what folks wore, how they acted, the mores of their society, what their culture told them was right, how they rebelled…endless, really.
But in a strong author’s hands, historical fiction is a true delight. And that’s what Noce has delivered with Between Two Fires: a work that moves along briskly while providing everything they need to know to dive into the period. Never once will readers be left wondering, “What. What? Who? How did that happen?”
Part of the strength of this work comes from the depth Noce gives to the protagonist. Lady Branwen of Wales is the country’s last and final hope for unification…through marriage, of course. But the fellow she weds lives up to his nickname of Hammer King.
Meanwhile, Brandwen has been watching the rogue hedge knight Artagan, rumored to be as dark as his name, Blacksword. But he is more complex than that, and might be the only person she can rely on. Her mind is set against him but her heart has other plans.
As the lady becomes a queen and then flees from her realm, Saxons invade. The romance and intrigue take on a depth that comes entirely from the well-drawn characters painted atop the historic backdrop.
There are some elements about the descriptions that are repetitive. These are fairly minor but several did throw me out of the fictional world for just a few beats. Readers of this type of work can be trusted to follow along, and hopefully the rest of the books in this series will eliminate those types of blips. Generally, this was a strong showing. I can’t wait to read the rest of the series!
5 stars!
Michael Brown. Miriam Carey. Trayvon Martin. Tanisha Anderson. We all know their names, and every time their names are spoken, we hear the ringing alarms that tell us that racism is as alive and well today as ever in American history. Now this same dark history is brought into the light in a Christian novel called The Sanctum by Pamela King Cable.
Thrown into the care of her alcoholic grandfather, Neeley McPherson is raised by his elderly farmhand named Gideon, a black man she grows to love. In the winter of 1959, she is only thirteen but has already experienced true horrors. When Gideon is accused of stealing a watch and using a whites-only restroom, she stands defiantly against everything wrong in the world and breaks him out of jail.
Catfish Cole, Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon of the Carolinas, pursues them across the Blue Ridge Mountains. After ice sends Gideon’s truck down a steep slope, they hike through a blizzard and arrive at a wolf sanctuary where Neeley crosses the bridge between the real and the supernatural.
There she discovers her grandfather’s deception, confronts the Klan, finds her faith in God, and uncovers the shocking secrets of the family who befriends her. The act of providing sanctuary leads to another tragedy but second chances and the defeat of prejudice grant Neeley’s most passionate desire.
In prose that touches on the shadowy noir of Gothic Southern fiction, this tale of suffering carries readers through the darkness and into the light of hope…hope for the characters and hope for America. Blending the awareness of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird with the social astuteness of Kathryn Stockett’s The Help and a faith in the transformational power of love found in Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees, this timeless coming-of-age novel is a powerful commentary on what we once were…and what we can all become.
5 stars!
Pam’s other novels are also steeped in Bible-belt mystery and paranormal suspense. Televenge, the story of a woman who realizes her megachurch is actually a religious cult, has attracted attention from Fox News, CBS Atlanta, a major Hollywood film producer, and bloggers and media outlets worldwide.
She is also the author of Southern Fried Women, a collection of short stories that touch the heart.
Writing about her own fiction, she says:
“For me, it is within sanctuaries of brick and mortar; places of clapboard and canvas that characters hang ripe for picking. From the primitive church services of the mountain clans to the baptisms and sacraments in cathedrals and synagogues all over the world. From the hardworking men and women who testify in every run-down house of God in America to the charismatic high-dollar high-tech evangelicals televised in today’s megachurches, therein lie stories of unspeakable conflict, the forbidden, and often, the unexplained.”
Today we’re joined by Pamela King Cable, author of the chilling Televenge and the heartwarming Southern Fried Women. Her latest, The Sanctum, is a moving coming-of-age story dealing with one of America’s most pressing issues: racism. The novel features King’s usual blend of supernatural elements, mysteries in society and secrets of the heart to create evocative, heart-piercing stories.
How would your advice for new writers differ from advice you would offer writers who have been in the game for a while?
I could get myself in trouble, answering this question. If somebody tells you they’re not writing to make money, they are lying to you. We all want paid for our work. If a painter gets paid for his masterpieces, if a landscaper pockets cash for the curb appeal he adds to his client’s homes, and if a caterer makes a living on the weddings and parties she slaves over, then a writer should get paid for her books that took years to complete and publish.
But if you think the money comes easy, think again. You’re not going to get rich. In fact, keep your job. Writing will not pay your bills. Not for a long time. There’s a balance, and unfortunately it’ll take blood, sweat, and tears to find it. The writing and publishing industry is in desperate need of a major overhaul. Know that up front.
Realize the length of time it takes from finishing the novel to publication is painfully long. Some hip, cool publisher needs to find a way to shorten that time period and pass it on to a few of the old goats in the business. Know that the industry has set itself up as a God to the writer. Twenty-three-year-old New York City editors should not be allowed to judge a writer’s work.
Another warning to the newbie—be aware of the old, worn-out process of retailers returning your unsold books. It’s still the most ridiculous part of this business. Total nonsense. If the Gap can’t return its unsold blue jeans to the Levi Company, why should Barnes & Noble be allowed to return its unsold books to the publisher? This is an antiquated process that needs to stop. Now.
Newbies in this business—get your heads out of the clouds and see the writing world for what it truly is. If after you’ve done that, and you still want to write and publish … then do it with your eyes wide open to one final realization. It takes no less than ten years of writing, rewriting, and learning your craft before you are actually ready to publish.
Now, with all that said … there is no greater sense of accomplishment than leaving a legacy of a hard-earned published book. Nothing greater than that …
From your perspective as an author, what do you feel is the biggest challenge to the publishing industry today? Is there a way to solve that challenge?
I will refer you to my answer in question one. All of the above are big challenges. But instead of fancy/schmancy writing conferences that charge an arm and a leg, and teach you the same worn-out topics they taught you last year and the year before, let’s stop the madness of empty promises. Promises of editor and literary agent contacts. Do you realize how slim your chances are that those editors and literary agents will even remember your name? We need a Writer’s Convention where round table discussions result in finding real solutions to the serious issues at hand.
The problem is that writing is a solitary business. We all work alone. And we like it that way. But until we confront the current issues and make strides to change them, the publishing world will continue to be run by the big dogs … the Mahogany Row Executives who really don’t give a damn about our issues. Their bottom line is all that matters. In the case of traditional publishing, they got us over a barrel and they know it.
What has inspired you to become a writer?
I write about religion and spirituality with paranormal twists unearthed from my family’s history. I write about my passions, what moves me, what shoots out of me like a rocket. My key inspirational force is my spirituality.
I was born in the South, a coal miner’s granddaughter, but my father escaped the mines, went to college and moved his family to Ohio to work for the rubber companies in 1959. I spent every weekend as a little girl traveling back to the Appalachian Mountains. My memories of my childhood run as strong as a steel-belted radial tire and as deep as an Appalachian swimming hole. As a little girl, I was a transplanted hick in a Yankee schoolroom. I grew up in the North. So my influence comes naturally from both regions. But the dusty roads in the coal towns of the ‘sixties are where my career as a writer was born.
How do you come up with your characters, and how do you make them interesting?
For me, it is within sanctuaries of brick and mortar; places of clapboard and canvas that characters hang ripe for picking. From the primitive church services of the mountain clans to the baptisms and sacraments in cathedrals and synagogues all over the world. From the hardworking men and women who testify in every run-down house of God in America to the charismatic high-dollar high-tech evangelicals televised in today’s megachurches, therein lie stories of unspeakable conflict, the forbidden, and often, the unexplained.
Do you plan on writing any other genres?
Not at all. There’s a mountain of material to cover in Historical Fiction. It’s like a black hole, drawing me in with no end in sight. I have stories in my head that may never see the light of day. There’s so little time allotted to any of us. It would take two lifetimes to get these stories from my head onto the page.
What inspired your new novel, The Sanctum?
Late in 2008, and for the next two years, I labored over a new story to give myself a break from the heat and intensity of Televenge. Little did I know of the fierce obsession and passion that would overtake me in writing The Sanctum. Wanting to include the possibility of the paranormal and spirituality from different points of view, I focused on a young girl with fuzzy, red hair who called herself Neeley, and the story began.
This skinny, parentless thirteen-year-old who wore thick eyeglasses and hand-me-down dresses captivated me from page one. Placing my little redheaded girl on a tobacco farm in 1959, and in the caring hands of an elderly African-American male, a rugged individual who wasn’t afraid of his gentle side, I quickly fell in love with them. The novel slowly wrote itself, dragging my heart behind it.
Many of my stories are based on people I’ve known and places I’ve been. History also plays a great part in my work. As a writer it is my desire to transport a reader’s mind—but my ultimate joy is to pierce your heart. When I was a little girl someone in my family taught me respect for all people. He said we were related to the great Martin Luther King since after all, my maiden name is King. I soon realized it wasn’t true, but I never forgot what he said. Later, I discovered blatant prejudice had incubated for decades within my family. My southern grandparents believed wholeheartedly in segregation.
For over a decade I lived near Summerfield, North Carolina, located northwest of Greensboro. This area is historically saturated with horse and tobacco farms, which today still dot the landscape. By chance I discovered James W. Cole (1924-1967) was ordained into the ministry in Summerfield at the Wayside Baptist Church in 1958. He toured as a tent evangelist and broadcast a Sunday morning radio program, becoming an active member of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, and eventually the Grand Dragon of North and South Carolina. The man intrigued and appalled me, and since the first part of the book takes place in Summerfield during that time period, I wrote him into the story.
The International Civil Rights Center and Museum is located in the recently restored Woolworth’s building in downtown Greensboro, a Woolworth’s that also found its way into my story. As I further studied the Civil Rights Movement, I thought of it in terms of rights for all people. My great grandmother was a full-blooded Cherokee, according to our family’s historian. So I then researched the Trail of Tears.
And finally the wolf appeared. An animal that has fascinated me all my life, the wolf is about family and order. It is a subtle character, but a voice to be reckoned with. I studied wolves carefully, and found people who loved the animal enough to create wolf sanctuaries. I spent time on a sanctuary near the town of Bakersville in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a five-hour drive from my home. When I arrived a sign read, The Wolf Sanctum. From that moment I called my novel, The Sanctum.
Have you written other books that have been published?
Southern Fried Women, Satya House Publications, 2010. Beth Hoffman, New York Times Bestselling Author of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt and Looking For Me, said:
“With a clear Southern voice and a remarkable gift of storytelling, Pamela King Cable has crafted a masterful collection of short stories. In themes ranging from flea markets to coal mine strikes, Southern Fried Women speaks of the wounds, joys, and sacrifices experienced by women who held strong in the winds of adversity and emerged bruised but miraculously unbroken. Each story is as thought provoking as it is beautifully written.”
Televenge, Satya House Publications, 2012. A review in Publisher’s Weekly notes:
“Cable’s unflinching fictional exposé of the dark side of televangelism has a human victim in the person of Andie Oliver. … Cable, a former member of a megachurch, places Andie’s desperate struggle against the oppression of (Reverend) Artury’s church, its brutal inner circle, murderous practices, financial fraud, and (husband) Joe’s abuse. This powerful story, skillfully written and with well-drawn characters, reveals the classic entrapment of vulnerable people in the name of a vengeful god …”
Library Journal wrote:
Televenge is “ … an emotional rollercoaster that ends as intensely as it begins . . . those who commit to Cable’s tome will find themselves captivated and deeply devoted to Andie. Fans of Fannie Flagg and Janet Evanovich will be hooked on this saga of religion, romance, and crime.” Library Journal Editor’s Pick BookExpo America 2012
Do you have a website and a blog? If so where can we find it?
You can find my blog on my website: www.pamelakingcable.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/southernfriedwomen/
Twitter: https://Twitter.com/pamelakingcable / @pamelakingcable
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2935883.Pamela_King_Cable
To purchase The Sanctum: http://www.amazon.com/Sanctum-Pamela-King-Cable/dp/1938499034/
The String Diaries by Stephen Lloyd Jones
Mulholland Books/Little, Brown
Told in alternating segments that switch between different times (3 timelines total: one current, one in the recent past, and one roughly a century ago) and places, the narrative finally settles primarily into the now.
Considering the vast geography (several European nations) and time covered, and considering the idea at the heart of the story, this work should have been more compelling than it was. But I found the characterization lacking. This likely is due to the vast territories and timelines the story covers, and so isn’t really a flaw. Books that deliver this type of story don’t have much space for character development. Considering those constraints, then, the author has done a fine job getting readers to care about the people in this book.
The supernatural elements…and the fact that the shapeshifter hunts a specific family throughout time and down through the generations…is a fantastic concept. Overall, this is quite an enjoyable work that can be your next beach read.
4 stars
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Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite
Scribner Paperback/Simon & Schuster Inc. 1996
I finally picked up this book after remembering what a big splash the author made back in the mid-90s. I have to say that the splash was well deserved. If you know anything about the author’s books, you know that I mean that in the ways you’re probably thinking. But I also mean it in others.
The quality of the writing here is very strong. The characters are all generally drawn quite well, with the exception of
Andrew’s voice is compelling, and as he drives a majority of the events, having him take the lead in the first chapter is an excellent choice. And, despite the fact that he is a serial killer who revels in all the usual cruelty and unique bloodiness his obsession entails, he is a compelling character whenever his scenes queue up. A bad guy readers love to hate and love at the same time.
It is a particular testament to the author’s skill to note that the method by which Andrew escapes from prison is drawn quite believably in the novel…even skeptical readers will agree to suspend their disbelief.
Jay is a budding killer who has the discipline to avoid fouling the city where he lives with his own kills…until Tran, a particularly beautiful Vietnamese hustler throws his considerable charms at Jay’s feet.
Tran’s sections are very well drawn, and allow readers to walk in yet a third lifestyle and mindset that is very different than the first two offered up in this book.
Lucas is the one that is the least compelling. Perhaps this is because his illness keeps him quiet in terms of activity, or perhaps it’s because he has the most common, almost suburban, existence of all the characters. Still, his portrait, when added to the other three, rounds out this work and creates a richness that otherwise would be lacking.
The four are pulled ever more tightly together. The two killers begin to work together, and there is that bloody finale that had so many people squawking when the work came out. (The author was rejected by the publisher of all his previous books because of the gruesome climactic orgy.) Which certainly is shocking but really isn’t any more horrible or ugly to read than many of the sections the killer recalls and enacts in preceding scenes. Which leads you to wonder why this was rejected at all.
If you’re a gory fiction fan, this one is for you!
4 stars
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The Day She Died by Catriona McPherson
Midnight Ink/Llewellyn Worldwide 2011
Jessie has a fear of feathers. A phobia, really, total full-on medical name for it and everything fear of feathers. That’s where it starts.
Oh, wait. No. The book starts with a woman locked in some sort of box or vault or something. Readers aren’t sure because the space is dark. And the narrative doesn’t return to the box or vault except for a very few times.
So, the book whiplashes between a heavy, terrorizing scene and one that’s smarmily funny. Watch out, because these same weaknesses will show up again. The lady in the box isn’t visited enough to justify having her be at the opening, yet if we didn’t know she was in there the narrative wouldn’t have nearly as much drive.
Or would it? The rest of the book, Jessie’s story and the narrative flow and the characters and how the characters develop, are all quite enjoyable. How did it turn out that the lady in the box had to show up? Was this a publisher pushing the author to do something that wasn’t in the original draft, and the author caved because a contract with changes to the novel is better than no contract? Or were these scenes part of the original concept but haven’t been handled well by the author?
Interesting things to think about if you like to think about those kinds of things. But don’t let that stop you from reading this book. It’s a better-than-average take on the somewhat funny, self-denigrating yet more than capable female protagonist who stumbles on a mystery that must be solved. In time for the lady in the box to live, preferably, but since readers don’t really need to know that to enjoy this story, we could just overlook that, yes?
4 stars
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The Blue by Lucy Clarke
Touchstone
An interesting story that holds some unique challenges for the author. Lana has spent some months on a sailboat with a handful of others who are all running—either from something or to something in their lives. She too was hoping to find herself and a new life when she joined the raggedy band. But then someone died and she bailed.
Now, the boat she was on has sunk in a storm. The Blue, a yacht carrying a crew of five at the time it went down, is the object of a search and rescue mission. After struggling with her memories of those months on board, she goes to the Coast Guard to see if her best friend is among the survivors.
What follows are the interwoven stories of her time on board and the rescue attempt. What is revealed about the captain and first mate, the other crew, and the best friends tells a tale not so much of sordid or shocking secrets but one that is burdened with all too familiar human drama. The complexities of how we present ourselves to others, as well as the illusions we attempt to maintain even in the forced intimacy of situations like a shipboard life, provides a compelling read.
Although at times the narrative feels like it wanders slightly, the writing is strong and the human interrelationships will draw you in. Well worth the investment of time to engage with this story.
4 stars
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The Dinosaur Feather by S.J. Gazan
Translated from Danish by Charlotte Barslund
Published in Denmark by Glydendals Bogklubber 2008
Published in US by Quercus 2013
Very interesting premise, and a strong female protagonist. So, great start! Plus I’m a sucker for books from Denmark and surrounding nations, so of course I had to read this one.
It turned out to be an all right experience. Interesting enough to hold my attention for quite some time. But toward the end things got shaky. The big reveal at the end, the solving of the mystery and dealing justice to the criminal, felt common and too easy. Additionally, having the female protagonist subdue the killer, who far outstrips her in weight and strength, by capturing him with nothing more than her wits and two zip ties…yes, you read that right, zip ties…oversteps the bounds of credibility.
Overall, though, a quite enjoyable read if you are in the mood for a lark that isn’t too demanding and has nice character development.
3 stars
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The Three by Sarah Lotz
Little, Brown
With an endorsement by Stephen King on the cover, this book is sure to sell. But don’t be fooled. What starts out as an interesting premise embedded in a format that could be mind-blowing turns into a plodding narrative with characters that are drawn with surprisingly less skill than is needed.
The idea is that four planes crash on the same day. From three wrecks there is one survivor each, and each survivor is a child. Thus on the face of innocence are we supposed to read dread and danger. And there is of course the “missing” survivor, the child who survived the last plane crash but who was whisked away before any officials arrived at the site.
Early on the author’s ability to handle so many different character perspectives shows through. It goes from being mildly annoying to, as the number of voices grows, being too difficult an issue to overlook. The fact that the plot doesn’t really move forward and instead relies on endless teasers of things readers have already figured out doesn’t help.
2 stars
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Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
This is not your teenager’s dystopian novel.
I’m a fan of a certain type of dystopian novel…ones that show us the human side of people struggling against terrible odds to maintain their humanity. Among my favorites, Station Eleven has risen to the top.
Told from multiple points of view in chapters that alternate between pre-flu and post-flu years, this novel is ambitious but never feels difficult to read. That alone is a triumph of the author’s skills. Here the skills are turned toward the hearts of individuals who remember the world before the pandemic and those who were too young to really miss the ease of technology and industry.
The thread that runs throughout is the life of a single actor who dies the night the flu really begins to take hold. His death is not flu-related yet everything about his life is. He is an example of how individuals can rise toward the pinnacle of celebrity before tumbling into ignominy. He wants to inspire and enlighten through art yet somehow is mired in trappings he cannot control.
And yet his legacy lives on. The art he brought to the world is carried on by a traveling troop who provides music and performances to people starved of culture in the post-everything world. The love he felt resonates still in the hearts of those he loved and people he died too early to meet.
By showing how one life can survive even the decimation of 99% of the world’s population, the author has managed to show us how even we, in our rush of technology and industry, make a difference.
5 stars!
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The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, published 1911
This was pure delight to read. From the opening when the narrator calls Mary Lennox “as tyrannical and selfish a little pig as ever lived” to the end, this story and the characters held me enthralled. I expected to find the narrative outdated and overly formal; instead I found a pleasantly lilting narrative voice that readers of any age can enjoy.
My favorite moment was when Mary takes the “sickly” spoiled boy to task. Talk about a battle of wills! I laughed out loud several times. What a lovely book!
5 stars
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Fires of Invention by Scott J. Savage
This middle-grade reader is everything you’d expect it to be…which is both good and bad.
It’s quickly paced with lots of interesting activities undertaken by the protagonist (a boy) and his inventive friend (a girl). While the author earns kudos for giving equal the mechanical abilities to the girl along with a heaping serving of intelligence, it’s odd that she isn’t the main character. She is the one who creates the mechanical dragon that will free their society from their imprisonment (both physical imprisonment underground and their society’s imprisonment to a government that lies to them about why they’re underground)…so why isn’t she the main character?
The boy spends a lot of time ducking his parents and other adults who might cause trouble. But other than that, he isn’t the primary active party here. The book therefore seems to move in fits and starts. Readers miss out on a lot of what goes into building the mechanical dragon, and instead have to follow the boy around during his days while he thinks about things. And we all know what happens to a reader’s interest when the characters start thinking about things and stop doing things.
3 stars.
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Moonlight on Butternut Lake by Mary McNear
Available from William Morrow Paperbacks April, 2015
Urgh. Slow, slow, slow. ‘Nuff said. (Other than the publisher gave me an ARC.)
OK, not enough said. Here are the issues.
The writing doesn’t have much vividness to it. That’s mostly about voice. This voice is fairly clean and simple, which in and of itself is fine. But it needs to be matched by something else…either characters that intrigue reader, or plot elements that captivate, or a combination of a little of each (or even a lot of each).
The author doesn’t really show much on either of these other fronts. Perhaps this is because this is the book out of a series, and a few have come before. But every book in a series needs to work as a stand-alone. While this does work as a standalone, it’s possible that the flaws in this novel appear because readers of the previous novels will have much more background coming to this one.
Since I can’t judge this as part of a series, I have to judge it as a standalone. And that produces a very low rating.
DNF: no star rating available.
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Writer's Resource/Sunspot Lit 