Books to Read & "Bedlam"

One of my dissertation texts, and a favorite book in general, is called Galveston by Sean Stewart. If you're a fan of magical fiction (and by this I don't mean Dungeons & Dragons/Arthurian tales but more "magical realism" which places extraordinary events in a realistic world) then you would probably really like Sean Stewart's work. Galveston is in my dissertation partly because it has this "trinity" of strong women who use partly magic, partly mundane things (like politics) to influence & help their communities.

But that is only the dry, academic version of the story. It's a really interesting story, with history of Galveston, TX (where I've never actually been, but isn't far from here) Mardis Gras, gods, apocalyptic swells of magic that change the world. There's a really cool character in it named Sloane who ends up being what I call kind of the Goddess of Personal Assistants (that's exaggeration, but it works).

Anyway-- I am sitting here planning to go work on the CHAPTER of my dissertation, and Galveston is staring at me, saying "Get busy miss." I like other books by Stewart too; his most recent, Perfect Circle, is kind of like an episode of the X-Files (in a way.) It has this thing about ghosts, and the main character sees them and gets himself into a lot of trouble with them. It's quite good.

The only complaint I've ever had about Stewart's work (and I think I've read most of his books) is about a scene in Mockingbird involving a woman having an ultrasound; something happens within the scene that any woman would recognize as impossible to EVER happen in a situation like that, and it pulled me right out of the narrative when I read it. But it's a minor thing. Very few guys would even realize it was so wrong.

Mockingbird has these pseudo-voodoo (hey that rhymes!) gods, takes place in Houston, and basically is, at its core, about mothers and daughters. Sort of Ya Ya Sisterhood plus magic... in a way. But better. Infinitely. Anyway. If you're looking for something cool to read, get one or more of Stewart's books. I promise that if you're into magic, and strong women characters, and good intense writing with characters who you want to get to know but who aren't always "good" you will like his work.

On a different but vaguely related note, one of the things I love about the book is that the mockingbird is the state bird of Texas, and they're "Tricksy" and I love seeing them bounce around in my back yard. It always makes me think of Stewart's books to see a mockingbird perched somewhere in the back yard. One time, a bored mockingbird tried, by pretending its wing was hurt, to lure Tituba into attacking it. Then, I'm quite certain, said tricksy mockingbird would have rained down fury upon the little black furry kitty. Tituba, clever cat that she is, did not fall for the playacting and bored mockingbird left. (I'm quite sure there was no nest to protect because Tituba was not prowling-- just lounging in the sun on our deck.)

And finally, speaking of decks-- our deck is currently being ripped to shreds. It's been falling apart, and the jacuzzi in it has been broken and unfixable for years, so we're pulling it all up and building a new one. But the back yard is in quite a state. The cat is upset cause she can't go out. It's bedlam. Bedlam, I tell you.