This Year’s A To Z Theme - Women Writers In Speculative Fiction

 This year my A to Z will be on the theme of women in speculative fiction - SF or fantasy. I will be writing about the authors themselves and their work. So, one post might be about an author and another about a character from one or more of her works, a series or a book from a series. When you have a writer like, say, Barbara Hambly, she writes a whole lot of different series with different themes. Barbara Hambly writes horror, fantasy, crime fiction, historical fiction. 

Kerry Greenwood is best known for her crime fiction, especially the Phryne Fisher novels, but also wrote novels set in Ancient Greek mythology and one set in ancient Egypt, about Nefertiti, Akhenaten’s Queen. 

Tanya Huff wrote some space opera, but also a series about Henry VIII’s son Henry Fitzroy, who became a vampire and is currently in Canada, making a living as a writer of historical romance.

There will be more, so sit back and enjoy! Hopefully you will have as much fun as I will. 

Let me know if you are taking part this year so I can put you on my list to visit.

An Evening with John Silvester - “Inside Melbourne’s Underworld”

 Those of you who live in Australia may well have heard of John Silvester. He is a journalist who writes the crime section of the Age newspaper. I subscribe to that paper online and get his newsletter. He is a very entertaining writer. 

On Wednesday this week, I went to hear him speak at the Capitol Theatre, a  beautiful Melbourne landmark designed by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahoney Griffin, as a cinema in 1924. It was taken over by RMIT, where I studied librarianship and this event was planned for the RMIT journalism students, but the Age invited subscribers to attend as well. It was free. I nearly missed out, because the event was booked out in an hour, but someone must have cancelled because I was on the waiting list and got an email saying I could get a ticket. 

It was a great evening. It was done in the form of an interview and discussion, by one of his colleagues from the Age. Both of them had worked on the stories about Erin Patterson, the woman who poisoned her family with mushrooms, so that was one of the discussions. John had met quite a few big names in crime, and wrote about the gangland wars known as Underbelly. That was the name of a TV series, which I never saw because there were trials going on in Melbourne and it might have affected the outcome.  I was working on my children’s book about crime in Australia, Crime Time: Australians Behaving Badly at the time, and I used his books about the gangland wars as part of my research, along with the work of Andrew Rule. So you can understand why I was excited to go.

I found myself sitting next to a lady who was a fellow Kerry Greenwood fan, so we happily chatted away until it was time for the show to start. Well, I say “show” but it was a bit like being at the Melbourne Writers Festival, back in the days when they were doing this sort of event. 

I hadn’t realised that he has a podcast and a TV show about true crime. I googled them and now I have something worth watching/ listening to. 

It was a fascinating evening, which started with how he got into journalism - some funny stories there. One of the criminals he interviewed was Chopper Read, whom he interviewed in jail. When they made a film about him, he chose Eric Bana to play himself, according to Wikipedia. 

There was a table from Reading’s, selling two of his books. I struggled with myself, but bought one, Dark City, which is about crime in Melbourne. I just couldn’t resist. I found the other book on Apple Books for $4.99! Still, Dark City is a visually beautiful book, and I’ve read it a chapter at a time. The chapters are very short and easy reading.

I might do a proper review when I read it all.

Meanwhile, I have some good reading to enjoy.

Just Finished Reading… Death In The Palace by Barbara Hambly. Severn House 2026

 Death In The Palace is the fourth of a series of murder mysteries(Silver Screen Mysteries) which were inspired by this author’s fantasy novel Bride Of The Rat God. They are set in Hollywood in the 1920s. The characters are more or less the same as those in Bride Of The Rat God, but with different names. Norah, the Englishwoman who lost her American husband during World War I, and is living with her beautiful film star sister in law, is now Emma. Christine, her sister in law, is now Kitty. She still has the three cute little Pekinese dogs, still called Chang Ming, Black Jasmine and Buttercreme. Emma is still a writer for the studio, dating the cameraman, whose name changes from Alec to Zal. The Chinese wizard is just their gardener in this series.

It does work out as murder mystery. It’s a lot of fun seeing what Hollywood was during the silent movie era. In this novel, the stars of Shining Bright, Foremost studio’s latest epic, go to New York to film on location. They are using an unfinished mansion called Versailles, which has its own mystery, to do their filming. Kitty has had an offer of marriage from a wealthy young man, who says it’s only for a week, then a divorce, and he will pay $50,000. The puzzling thing is that he has sent the same letter to a number of other actresses. 

There is a murder while they are in New York and, as usual, Emma and Zal solve it. Meanwhile, Kitty has an affair with Chico Marx - yes, that Chico Marx. In fact, all four Marx Brothers are characters in this book, still in their vaudeville era. 

I do enjoy these books, but it’s probably best to read them from the beginning to get some idea of what they are about and who the characters are. 

Unfortunately, Bride Of The Rat God is out of print, though you can still buy it in audiobook, which has a very good reader. You don’t have to read it to enjoy the Silver Screen Mysteries, but it’s a lot of fun.

I bought this in Apple Books, but it has only just come out and should be available in all good bookshops and web sites.

Just Finished Reading… Esther by Norah Lofts

 

It was Purim a few days ago. I even went to my local Purim Spiel, (Bageljuice), which takes place every year at the Phoenix Theatre at Elwood College, my school, though the theatre was not built when I was a student there. 

I did read this novel many years ago, but couldn’t get it in ebook until now. To my delight, it is available, though only on Kindle; I prefer Apple Books. Apple Books does have it in audiobook, but not ebook.

Norah Lofts’ books are all historical fiction. There is one about Anne Boleyn. Another one, How Far To Bethlehem, is the Christmas story seen through the eyes of the Magi, who all have back stories and personalities. There is even a reason for the gold, myrrh and frankincense, nothing to do with religion.

Her style is light and very readable. 

This novel is, of course, about Queen Esther, heroine of the Bible book under her name. She is an intelligent young woman who lives with her cousin Mordecai, the two of them reading and discussing books until they need money, then working for a while - Mordecai is a tradesman, Esther is very good at cooking and gets jobs preparing banquets for rich people. 

And one day, the king sends out notices offering his hand in marriage to whichever girl can please him enough, and Mordecai talks her into entering the competition because he has a feeling she might be able to do something important some day. She is chosen, not for her beauty, though she is attractive, but for her brain. And then, as you’ll know if you have read the Bible or seen an Esther film(there are several), she saves her people.

There was an introduction by the author, which must have been added to the ebook, or perhaps a later edition(there are twenty six editions !) because I don’t remember it, and Norah Lofts explains her thoughts behind it and adds that it’s a YA novel. That never occurred to me, but as I’ve said, it’s easy reading. I might even, after this reread, think of it being suited to kids from about twelve upwards.

You don’t have to have read the Bible to enjoy this novel, but I confess I rather like the Megillah. It starts with Persian King Ahasueras throwing a huge party for the rulers of his various provinces, getting drunk(“The king’s heart was merry with wine”) and ordering his Queen,Vashti, to show herself to his guests. When she says no, his advisers beg him to divorce her because otherwise their wives will make their lives miserable. Yes, it’s all there in the Bible! In the novel, Vashti is delighted to get that divorce and flees home to Petra on a mule she brought with her, before her husband can change his mind.

And then there is the villain, Haman, plotting to kill all the Jews in the empire because Mordecai has refused to bow down to him. Of course, he is defeated.

The Megillah is read aloud on Purim, and kids boo Haman and cheer Esther and Mordecai, and make a lot of noise with noisemakers when Haman is mentioned. 

I have a beautiful Megillah which I bought years ago, illustrated. 

I told the story to the kids at my school, as part of a Diversity day. One of my colleagues, with a silly wig, held up signs saying Boo or Hurray at the appropriate spots. When the kids were leaving after school I gave them each a chocolate frog, as giving gifts of food is one of the traditions - as is wearing costumes and doing amateur drama(hence the Purim Spiel). 

The novel is fun, not a work of genius, but well worth a read.