Author name: Sayling@@Away

I was very intrigued by the title of this book and didn’t hesitate to purchase it because the author is a great writer. It begins, “If you haven’t heard of a liberty bodice, believe that a half crown is something to do with impoverished royalty and never had the experience of slapping a television to stop the grainy black and white picture from polling, then this series might not be for you.” I didn’t know what a liberty bodice was but the other two items were familiar, so I knew I would enjoy this book. And quite frankly, I think it should be required reading for Gen X and the Millennials. There’s a lot of history, some amusing and some deadly serious, packed in. The title refers to the fact that the Baby Boomers created a statistical bulge post World War II in the normally steady measure of population. And I am part of that bulge! Even though I am not a British citizen, many similar household products, home décor, and appliances described by the author resonate with what I experienced. Linoleum floors, Formica countertops, TVs with grainy pictures that could only be sharpened by beating on it or spending a half hour moving the antennae around or adding tin foil to the ‘ears,’ – all these things I recalled with a smile. My mother’s washing machine jiggled across the floor on the spin cycle and had a mangle attached to one side to squeeze the water out of the clothes before they were hung outside to dry. We had indoor plumbing, but my grandmother’s house had a coal chute for the load of coal delivered to fire the coal furnace in the basement. I recall the overwhelming odor of paint and the petticoats on dressing tables, power puffs, the icy chill of rooms upstairs and leaky hot water bottles. The author treats all of these things with clarity and a wonderful sense of humor. She also deals with tougher topics – the long duration of rationing in the UK after the war, the abysmal lack of housing due to the bombing and short-sightedness of the government, overcrowding, squalor, and cheap construction. Those of you watching Call the Midwife from its first season on PBS have been introduced to this. I enjoyed reading this book and I learned a lot, too, even as a Baby Boomer. I highly recommend it to others of our generation but to everyone else as well. About the Author: Alex Craigie is the pen name of Trish Power. She has lived for many years in a peaceful village between Pembroke and Tenby in southwest Wales, with a wonderful family all living locally.  She was ten when her first play was performed at school. It was in rhyming couplets and written in pencil in a book with imperial weights and measures printed on the back. When her children were young, she wrote short stories for magazines before returning to the teaching job that she loved. Trish has had several other books published under the pen name of Alex Craigie. The first two books cross genre boundaries and feature elements of romance, thriller, and suspense against a backdrop of social issues psychological thriller. You can find Alex Craigie Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100012230628350 The Rat in the Python and the author’s other books can be found on Amazon. 0 0

As a result of my interest in Tudor history, I’ve read many of Tony Riches’ books – among them his Tudor Trilogy, about the founding and growth of the Tudor family, Drake — Tudor Corsair, and Essex — Tudor rebel. The author then began to explore the era from a woman’s point of view with Mary – Tudor Princess, and Katherine – Tudor Duchess, both of which I have reviewed. With this book, he introduces us to Penelope, Baroness Rich, a force in the court of Queen Elizabeth. Penelope begins her life as Lady Penelope Devereux with serious ties to Elizabeth’s court. Her great-grandmother is Queen Elizabeth I’s aunt, Mary Boleyn, Queen Ann Boleyn’s sister. Her father is Sir Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, whose son would become a favorite of Elizabeth, and her mother is Lady Lettice Knollys. Lady Lettice has been banished from court for her secret marriage to the queen’s great favorite at the time, Sir Robert Dudley. Lady Penelope is a beautiful, headstrong, and much sought-after by men. She is well educated, an accomplished dancer and musician and fluent in Italian, French and Spanish. Despite her mother’s disgrace, she is appointed a Maid-of-Honor to the Queen until Sir Robert Dudley arranges her marriage with Baron Richard Rich, a loveless marriage to a staunch Protestant who rapes her as his husbandly duty. She becomes the muse of Sir Philip Sidney, who may have fallen passionately in love between her arrival at court in 1581 and his own marriage in 1583 to her sister. In this telling, she bears him a child who is seamlessly incorporated into her family of four with Baron Rich.  Her scandalous love life continues, with Penelope embarking on an affair with Charles Blount, Baron Mountjoy, which produces at least three children, all of whom Lord Rich accepted as his own. You might wonder how that situation ends. Penelope also becomes in involved in political intrigue. She makes herself known to James I of Scotland, whom she sees as Elizabeth’s successor.  During the period when her brother Lord Essex organizes a rebellion against Queen Elizabeth, Penelope is with him frequently at Essex house. Did she help to foment the rebellion? What happens to her as a result, and how does she manipulate her relationship with Elizabeth and later James I and V of Scotland and England to her advantage? This woman is astounding for her warmth, daring, passion, and forthrightness – hardly what one might consider a ‘normal’ member of the Tudor court and confidant of Queens. She lived her life on her own terms, for which she is to be admired. As usual, the author provides a rich backdrop of life in Elizabethan England and especially life at court -the food, the dress, and the courtly manners. His detail and depth of knowledge of the intrigue of the English court is superb and richly satisfying to anyone with an interest in this era. Mr. Riches has chosen a compelling figure for his latest book – I would have liked to meet her! I highly recommend yet another well-written and colorfully detailed book by Tony Riches. About the author Tony Riches was born in Pembrokeshire, West Wales, UK, and spent part of his childhood in Kenya. He earned a BA degree in Psychology and an MBA from Cardiff University. After careers in the Roayl Air Force, the NHS and local governement, he is now a full-tiome author of historical fiction. His Tudor Trilogy has become an international best-seller and he is in regular demand as a guest speaker about the lives of the early Tudors. His blog, The Writing Desk, has over 1.3 million visitors and his popular podcast, Stories of the Tudors, has had over 239,000 downloads. He has returned to live in Pembrokeshire, an area full of inspiration for his writing. In hais spare time, he enjoys sailing and sea kayaking. Visit him online at www.tonyriches.co.uk On Facebook at Tony Riches Author And on Twitter at @tonyriches   All of his books are available on Amazon.   l 0 0

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!! My best wishes to everyone for a safe and enjoyable holiday, as we celebrate our nation’s birthday. Special thanks today to our military, our police, our firemen, our first responders and all the medical personnel who are still working hard to get us through the pandemic and keep us safe. 0 0

But not a challenge, like Professor Higgins’ but a pleasure from start to finish. I read all five books of the Rose Shield series in three weeks, beginning during my week at the beach, and they took my breath away with the gorgeous descriptions, the beautifully detailed world, and the amazing characters, with all their flaws.  Diana Peach is no slouch when it comes to creating ‘other worlds’. She just won The Next Generation Indie Book Award for Fantasy, the largest international awards program for indie authors and independent publishers, for The Necromancer’s Daughter. If you haven’t read this book, you should. You can see my interview with Diana and a review of the book here: https://saylingaway.com/2022/11/07/an-interview-with-d-wallace-peach-and-a-review-of-her-new-book-the-necromancers-daughter/ The world of the Rose Shield is the country of Elegeance, created by beings called the Founders millennia before. It is bounded on the south by the Cull Sea and is divided into areas defined by rivers which ultimately run to the Sea. The largest is the Slipsilver, at the mouth of which is Elan-sea, the biggest city. In the sea and rivers live beautiful winged and finned water dragons, which pull ships against the tides and currents. On land, a part of the population are Farlanders, tall with white hair, green spotted skin and three fingers on each hand Elegeance is brightened by three moons, a sentient land, and rivers of luminescent water.  The cities are rules by Lords with the help of members of an Influencer Guild, who are capable of manipulating emotions. They can make people feel the extremes of love and fear, pleasure and pain, but blending these emotions subtly allows them to control the population under the city’s rules. Catling, the central character, is introduced in the first book, Catling’s Bane, as a young girl living in the city of Mur-Vallis, whose cruel City Lord kills Farlanders and city folk with impunity. Catling has a birth mark – a rose around her right eye, the rose eye granting her the ability to shield herself or others, but not both, from the influencers. This makes her a threat to The Guild, but more importantly to the City Lords whose influence she could nullify. In this first book, she is taken by a member of the Guild, Vianne-Ava, who reasons the Guild could use her more profitably than killing her, as a mean of counteracting those influencers who would seek power for themselves. She is taught by the Guild to be an influencer, assassin, and a healer. In the second book, Oathbreaker’s Guild, Catling learns to wield her powers, and Vianne-Ava places her into the position of advisor to the Queen of Elegeance who rules from the city of Elan-Sea, where powerful forces, including influencers, maneuver for control of the throne. Catling’s ability to shield is of crucial importance if the Queen is not to be influenced. In the meantime, the country is in turmoil, Elegeans moving onto land owned by the Farlanders, a young man named Gannon stirring up the warrens of the cities against the City Lords, and Catling’s childhood friend and love, Whitt, joins the Guardian, Elegeance’s army. Catling returns to Mur-Vallis to assassinate the City Lord who killed her family. In Farlander’s Law, the Cull Tar, the people who inhabit the Cull Sea in vast armada of boats and who threaten Elegeance from the sea, infiltrate the cities and their leader, the Shiplord, forces the queen into bonding with him. This will cede her realm to his rule.  Catling’s daughter Rose becomes a pawn in the tug of war between the Queen and the various other factions: the Cull Tar, the Guild of Influencers, and powerful ruling Elegeans. Catling rebels against all  these factions as her power becomes greater and more deadly. Treaties between the Elegeans and the Farlanders collapse in the Far Wolds. Whitt betrays his oath to the Guardian, takes Rose to protect her, and travels to the Farlander rebels’ camp in the Far Wolds. In Kari’s Shield – the kari being the sentient spirits of this world – all of the warring factions face each other with spiraling intrigue and betrayal, to determine the fate of Elegance. Influencers, with their power in jeopardy, break their oaths, choose sides, and resume their search for Rose. With the Queen dead, the Shiplord seeks to solidify his power and take over the cities, Elegeance and the Far Wolds. All of these forces collide in a final battle for the realm. Catling and Whitt, each gifted with singular skills, seek to sway the course of the conflict. But another, more powerful player emerges, the kari. As spirits of the planet, they command the air, water, and land and are willing to manipulate events to save the planet and care not who survives. This series deserves to be savored with all its intricate detail and amazing creations. You don’t need to read it one after another – you can stop and take a breath – and enjoy this world. Diana’s world building is equaled by her power of description, so beautiful and evocative that I had to stop here and there to reread it. She immerses you in the story with the power of her words and the strength and development of her characters. Diana said in her earlier interview with me:  I believe that when we create characters, we create real energetic entities who are capable of living beyond our pages and having an impact on the world. They’re the characters we fall in love with and learn from, the ones who change us. Once created, they can’t be uncreated. We set them free to live their lives independently of us, and we never forget them.  In a way, they’re just like “real” people we’ve interacted with but never met. For someone looking to immerse themselves in another world and enjoy a true saga, this series is for you! This is fantasy at its best. I would love to see this made into a movie, along

We lost one of the world’s folk-rock legends last week when Canadian-born Gordon Lightfoot died, so I am taking a break from the music Monday’s rock to pay tribute to him. The lives of many of us played to the background of his easily recognizable and melodic baritone voice and his twelve-string acoustic guitar. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s and is considered Canada’s greatest songwriter. His songs have been recorded by some of the world’s most renowned musical artists. Lightfoot’s biographer Nicholas Jennings said, “His name is synonymous with timeless songs about trains and shipwrecks, rivers and highways, lovers and loneliness.”  Bob Dylan is one of Lightfoot’s many fans, saying, “I can’t think of any Gordon Lightfoot song I don’t like. Every time I hear a song of his, it’s like I wish it would last forever…. Lightfoot became a mentor for a long time.” Lightfoot was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Canadian Country Hall of Fame in 2001. On June 24, 2012, Lightfoot was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in a New York City ceremony, along with Bob Segar., Play any of these that you please… One of his earliest hits is Early Morning Rain. Another I must have listened to a million times is If You Could Read My Mind And Sundown Many of Lightfoot’s songs about Canadian wildlife, streets and weather doubled as cultural elegies — like his 1976 hit “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” a dramatic retelling of a real-life maritime disaster. I blogged about this a few years ago (see https://saylingaway.wordpress.com/2019/11/20/the-wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/). Here he is in concert just a few years ago singing this haunting song. I hope he is entertaining the masses in heaven, and how lucky we are that he passed our way. 0 0

I’ve already been dinged about avoiding the Beatles, the group heading the British Invasion of the rock and roll scene here in the USA. Formerly called the Quarrymen or the Silver Beatles, with the byname of the Fab Four, this British musical quartet became the global lodestar for the hopes and dreams of a generation that came of age in the 1960s. Of the four, only Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney still survive, but Beatlemania will live forever. They are widely considered the most influential band of all time, producing twenty number-one hits, and have sold over 188 million records just in the US. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, with each principal member inducted individually between 1994 and 2015. ‘Nuff said. Dionne Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest U.S. hit makers between 1955 and 1999, based on her chart history on Billboard’s Hot 100 pop singles chart. She is the second-most charted female vocalist during the rock era (1955–1999). Many of Warwick’s family were members of the Drinkard Singers, a family gospel group and RCA recording artists who frequently performed throughout the New York metropolitan area. The group morphed into the Gospelaires and then the Sweet Inspirations, who had some chart success, but were much sought-after as studio background singers. While she was performing background on a Drifters’ recording, Warwick’s voice and star presence were noticed by the song’s composer, Burt Bacharach, who signed her to his company. Thus was formed one of the most successful partnerships in musical history. She (and Bacharach) had won innumerable awards for their music and she was still producing hits in the 80s and 90s. Her music is the background to my life and probably for many of you, too:  (There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me, I’ll Say a Little Prayer, Do You Know the Way to San Jose, That’s What Friends Are For, I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,  and this one, Walk On By. In the late 1950s and early 60s, one style of music that began to dominate the American music charts and youth culture of that day came from the ‘girl groups.’ Comprised mostly of three-to-four young females, typically teenagers themselves, these groups were mostly African American, named The Crystals, The Shirelles, The Ronettes, The Dixie Cups, The Marvelettes, and of course, The Supremes. Martha and the Vandellas (known from 1967 to 1972 as Martha Reeves & The Vandellas) were an American vocal girl group formed in Detroit in 1957. The group achieved fame in the 1960s with Motown. The group signed with and eventually recorded all of their singles for Motown’s Gordy imprint. The group’s string of hits included Heat Wave, Quicksand, Nowhere to Run, Jimmy Mack, I’m Read for Love, and Dancing in the Street,  the latter song becoming their signature single. Dancing in the Street was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. During their nine-year run on the charts from 1963 to 1972, Martha and the Vandellas charted over twenty-six hits and recorded in the styles of doo-wop, R&B, pop, rock and roll, and soul.Ten Vandellas songs reached the top ten of the Billboard R&B singles chart and six top ten pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Selected members of the group were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995   0 0