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Festivals Together: A Guide to Multi-Cultural Celebration
Looking for ideas for children’s activities at a Pagan festival, homeschooling, or family celebrations of the Sabbats? Read this book. It covers holidays from around the world, plus crafts, songs (with music), recipes, games, and stories. The book starts off with a preface, acknowledgments, table of contents, and introduction; the main sections are crafts, spring, summer, autumn, and winter; and the end matter includes a list of recommended reading, postscript, and about the authors section. There are three different indices, one general index plus special ones for songs and stories. Here you will find things like the Hindu spring festival celebrating Lord Krishna’s birth, a Sun Fire Circle Dance, a Japanese lover’s festival called Tanabata, several Spider stories, a celebration of First Snow with Mother Holle, and much more.
I recommend Festivals Together for ages 5 and up. Besides its applications in Pagan gatherings, it’s also great for blending Pagan motifs with whatever tradition your relatives practice.
This review was originally submitted to Green Mountain Circle Works.
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Feng Shui Book & Card Pack
This beautiful boxed set offers an introduction to the ancient art of Feng Shui along with helpful visual aids. Not a divinatory deck per se, the cards serve as learning aids, diagnostic tools, and quick-reference sources when you apply the fundamentals of Feng Shui to a specific place. The four suits align to the four primary directions (Red Phoenix — South, White Tiger — West, Black Tortoise — North, and Green Dragon — East). Each card features a wealth of information, giving you a picture of a certain type of environment: season, enrichment, Chinese name, key word, trigram (a pattern of solid or broken lines, as in the I Ching), direction, remedy, ch’i, and element. The cards themselves are high-gloss, heavy stock with rounded corners; made to last.
The accompanying book explores the basics of Feng Shui theory and practice. It matches the cards well but does not go into great depth. Chapters discuss the principles of Feng Shui and the trigrams, ch’i and its eight enrichments (types/effects of positive energy), sha (energy not flowing properly), the eight remedies for counteracting sha (including fun things like fountains, mirrors, and wind chimes), and the five elements of the Eastern traditions (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water). Each card also appears in the book with interpretations of its symbols and implications. Finally, the last section explains how to use the cards to do a general reading, to correct a problem relating to ch’i, and to sort out a particular enrichment area. To this I would add that any of these cards would also make an excellent meditation focus for the Feng Shui student; other types of reading or divination may emerge with practice.
Unlike most products I review, this one splits completely in terms of usefulness. For the beginner, it offers a brief introduction to the system and a set of hands-on tools suitable for exploration. For the expert, it offers a compact reference and a set of tools suitable for professional venues as a focus for client consultations. Intermediate students of Feng Shui won’t find much of use to them here. For best effect, combine this boxed set with a comprehensive Feng Shui manual; the cards give you something to handle so you can see the relationships between different factors more easily. Recommended.
This review was originally submitted to PanGaia.
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The first book in the previous WorldWar series is In the Balance: An Alternate History of the Second World War (Worldwar, Volume 1)
Down to Earth (Colonization, Book 2)
Here is the latest installment of Harry Turtledove’s chronicle of relations between humans and the Race, a bunch of scaly little reptiles who decided to take over Earth and found it a lot more difficult than they expected. In this book, the Yeager family gets to hatch a pair of Lizard eggs and raise the cantankerous results. Jonathan Yeager strikes up a relationship with Kassquit, a human girl raised by the Race. Mordechai Anielewicz and his family discover the fascinating pets that the Race’s colonists have brought with them from their homeworld. After the Race starts taxing human religions in an attempt to make them reverence the spirits of Emperors past, Reuven Russie experiences that classic Jewish conundrum, religious harassment – except this time, most of humanity is in the same boat. Liu Han and Liu Mei run into serious trouble with the Race over this, as the ploy is more effective in China where ancestor worship is already popular. David Goldfarb makes a handy invention to thwart telephone harassment.
And so it goes, the ups and downs of trying to a share a small planet between two not-very-compatible species after you’ve already bombed parts of it into glowing unlivability. If you haven’t already read the other books, go back and start at the beginning; it’s well worth your trouble. Otherwise, grab Colonization: Down to Earth as soon as you see it.
This review was originally published in Spicy Green Iguana.
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This is a weekly opportunity to talk about books, music, and other things you enjoy.
- What are some of your favorite books?
- What are you currently reading?
- What kind of music do you like?
- What are you listening to now?
- What else is on your mind?
I’m currently listening to Summer Storm
I’m currently reading Wintersmith
I’m currently rereading The Eye of the Hunter (Mithgar)
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- Book Promotions
I found this update on newspaper publishing:
The Sorry State of the Newspaper Industry: Advertising Income Fell 16.6% in 2008
The U.S. newspaper industry was already facing numerous challenges before the economy took a nosedive, but the latest data from the Newspaper Association of America shows that the current economic climate has only exacerbated the already dire state of the American newspaper industry. Specifically, total newspaper advertising revenue fell 16.6% in 2008. Classifieds advertising, which is under a lot of pressure from online ventures like Craigslist, fell almost 30%, and real estate classifieds fell 38%.
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If you’re not familar with the Vorkosigan books, begin with the meeting of Aral Vorkosigan and Cordelia Naismith in Cordelia’s Honor
A Civil Campaign: A Comedy of Biology and Manners
Lois McMaster Bujold returns to Barrayar for a delightful frolic with favorite characters. First, Emperor Gregor is finally getting married to his beloved Laisa, which entails much social negotiation under the firm hand of Alys Vorpatril. Miles Vorkosigan and his cousin Ivan get drafted to help, much to their dismay. Miles would rather spend all his time courting (secretly, so that she doesn’t notice) the fair Ekaterin. But Ekaterin has her hands full trying to sort out her life after her husband’s recent death, and anyway she doesn’t want to get married again. As a further complication, Miles’ clone-brother Mark has just returned from Beta Colony, with an estranged Escobaran scientist and a very interesting business venture in tow. Also returning from Beta is the lovely Kareen, Mark’s girlfriend, who does not deal at all well with Barrayar’s attempts to stuff her into a proper maidenly role. Finally, two very hot political situations crop up when a routine genescan reveals Count Rene Vorbretten to be (gasp) 1/8 Cetagandan, thus putting his position in jeopardy; and when Donna Vorrutyer makes a shocking bid for the Vorrutyer Countship to keep her vile cousin Richers from obtaining it. Now add all this together and shake well. If you thought Miles could make spectacular fireworks in a military setting, just wait until you see what he can do with a quiet family dinner…
This book is more sociological than military SF, whereas the others had a heavy military emphasis, but it’s also by far the funniest of the series. Consequently, do not read this book with your mouth full, or you’ll choke laughing. Where the others tend to be dark with bright threads of humor, this one is the other way around. However, while it’s possible to read the rest of the series somewhat out-of-order, this one will make no sense unless you’ve read Komarr
A Civil Campaign is an absolute must-read for Vorkosigan fans. If you haven’t discovered the series before this, go back and start at the beginning; it’s some of the best stuff in the genre. Most highly recommended.
This review was originally published in Spicy Green Iguana.
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Falling to Earth: A Novel
I’m not Christian, but I have a fondness for angel stories, perhaps because angel stories are always fish-out-of-water stories in one direction or another. This one manages to encompass both directions at once: an angel moving towards mortality, and a mortal moving towards angelic realms. Phoebe starts out ethereal and becomes progressively more practical and earthy, while Alice starts out very real and practical but gradually becomes less corporeal. In the meantime they go through some pretty interesting adventures together.
The Lesbian culture depicted in the novel comes across very well, including the strange dichotomy between “dyke space” and “everyday space” that divides Alice’s life. The peculiarities of the author’s angel concept also held my attention well. When Alice and Phoebe begin collaborating on an intricate matrix of stories together, their antics provide a great deal of amusement. One favorite scene, from page 57, goes like this:
I lay in bed for a long time the next morning, drifting in and out of sleep. Suddenly, my covers disappeared.
“Hey!”
Phoebe had yanked the blankets and sheets onto the floor. “Get up,” she said. “Write.”
My, how familiar! The whole book has that same quirky humor. My only regret is that it suffers from a flaw common to many stories from the non-heterosexual literature field: the ending doesn’t hang together well. The characters just kind of wander offstage, instead of bringing matters to a solid conclusion. Real life often dribbles off in just this fashion, but readers expect better from fiction. Perhaps it’s a side effect of the “mainstream” society’s tendency to snatch happy, coherent endings away from non-heterosexual folks. Despite this flaw, the novel covers a lot of ground, examines some interesting issues, and provides a lot of amusement along the way.
Falling to Earth is an entertaining piece of Lesbian contemporary fantasy. Those of you who collect angels will definitely want to read it. Recommended.
This review was originally submitted to Spicy Green Iguana.
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The next book in this series is Vigilant (League of Peoples, Bk. 2)
Expendable (League of Peoples, Bk. 1)
At the heart of this novel lie some incredibly ugly but brutally accurate truths about human nature. For instance, this one:
Two centuries ago, the Admiralty High Council secretly acknowledged that some deaths hurt the Fleet more than others. If the victim was popular, well-liked, and above all, physically attractive, fellow crewmates took the death hard. Performance ratings dropped by as much as thirty percent. [...] But if the victim was not so popular, not so well-liked, and above all, ugly … well, bad things happen, but we all have to carry on. [page 3]
Thus the Explorer Corps emerges as an elite group of highly-skilled but physically-imperfect specialists uniquely suited to ferreting out the secrets of dangerous new planets. They don’t get a lot of backup, nobody cries when they die, but like good soldiers everywhere they take pride in their work and usually manage to get their job done in spite of the system. As the Explorers put it: “That’s what ‘expendable’ means.”
Gardner paints a picture of a governing body cold enough to make Machiavelli blush, despite the allegedly civilizing influence of super-advanced aliens who frown on “non-sentient” acts such as murder. The intricate plot, solid characterization, and especially the fascinating setting never fail to grab your attention and run under the couch with it. When the protagonist Festina Ramos lashes the Admiralty with satirical abuse, you can’t help but laugh; when she gets sent to the deadliest planet known, you can’t help but groan in sympathy. The conclusion satisfies deeply and emerges with flawless precision from the events that precede it.
Plenty of intrigue and action for the wargamers and military fans, but heavy-duty insight for those who prefer more sociological material; this book offers a lot and you don’t want to miss it. Given the protagonists and resolution, it holds special appeal for the avowed misfit who has run into discrimination. I hope there’s more where this came from.
This review was originally submitted to Age of Wonder.
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Circular Dance
This beautiful arrangement of East Indian music draws from both classical and folk traditions, and as the title suggests, it ties in with the cyclical pattern of the seasons. There are only three tracks: “Raga Hemant” (26:38), “Raga Lalit” (25:52), and “Bhairavi Dhun” (15:48). The long play time of each track makes this a great album for mediation, yoga, or similar practices where constant breaks in musical flow can prove distracting. Featured instruments are not listed but include a variety of East Indian strings and percussion. If you’re sick of hearing Christmas music, try this; it is totally different. Recommended.
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Wil McCarthy has a website, Wil McCarthy’s Old Time Science Bar.
The Collapsium
The premises on which this book is based are so strange that I consider it more science fantasy than science fiction. Most of it depends on a peculiar substance called collapsium and all the weird things it can do. Our hero, Bruno de Towaji, pretty much holds the record for making collapsium do useful tricks. Consequently he is rich beyond the dreams of avarice and Bill Gates. What he really wants the collapsium to do, though, is form an arc de fin that will let him view the end of spacetime; and it isn’t cooperating. This is what he’s busy with when an emergency causes the Queen of Sol to summon him back insystem to save the worlds.
By the way, he and Her Majesty Tamra Lutui are madly in love with each other, but they don’t spend much time together anymore. They’ve drifted apart in pursuit of very different occupations. Also, there is Marlon Sykes to consider, who is Bruno’s rival in love and labor and just about everything else. This rivalry comes very close to destroying civilization as they know it (which, I assure you, is not very much like we know it). Watching all this unfold is highly entertaining.
If you like quantum physics, you’ll love this. The Collapsium reads like something you might get if Albert Einstein dropped acid with Timothy Leary. Recommended.
This review was originally published in Spicy Green Iguana.
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This album was inspired by The Eternal Champion
Eternal Champion
If you enjoyed David Arkenstone’s earlier release Quest of the Dream Warrior
My favorite songs include “Discovery” (3:36), “From the Forge to the Field” (3:36), “The Palace” (4:35), and “The Journey Begins: Kyla’s Ride” (5:20). The others are “Ride into Midnight” (6:43), “Dark Dunes” (3:13), “Night Wind” (3:55), “Under the Canopy” (4:31), “Firestix” (4:02), “Explorers” (7:56), “Marathon Man” (5:29), “Caravan” (3:47), and “Savannah Runner” (3:33). Played in order, the songs tell a story from beginning to end.
Eternal Champion will delight fans of mythology and high fantasy, but it really applies to science fiction as well. Among other things, this makes great background music for writing. Highly recommended.
This review was originally submitted to Spicy Green Iguana.
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The sequel to this book is Prisoner of Conscience
An Exchange of Hostages
Avon deserves a special round of applause for publishing this book in the first place; it obviously took a lot of guts because of the controversial content, and I want everyone to know that this company puts out some very cutting-edge science fiction. Similarly, Susan Matthews deserves praise for writing such a unique, insightful, and bold piece of fiction — and for submitting it until it sold. I expect this book demanded a lot of patience and persistence on the part of many people in order to see the light of print, more so than an average novel, and believe me it’s worth their effort.
An Exchange of Hostages involves what I call “mutually nonconsensual” violence. Some folks find power exchange and erotic pain appealing in certain consensual circumstances; well and good. In fiction we often find characters who delight in tormenting others. But here we have a protagonist whose father has sent him to an institution that teaches torture, and he manifestly does not want anything to do with it. No way out. So Andrej Koscuisko goes through the hoops as best he can, trying to protect what remains of his pride and morals. In the process he wins the loyalty of every bond-involuntary on the station and manages to give the authorities a swift smack in the chops over just what constitutes ethical actions in an unethical situation.
In short, Koscuisko is about the best hero/anti-hero I’ve ever discovered. The author helps this along by giving us an intimate view of his thoughts and feelings, which don’t always coincide with his actions. The churning tension of an intolerable but inescapable position fills every page and slops out on your shirt as you read. Although Koscuisko winds up doing some pretty horrible things, he also manages to rise above the situation to achieve a kind of greatness even amidst the monstrosity. He never quite loses reader sympathy because he never quits berating himself for what he has or hasn’t done; in fact he drinks continuously in order to handle the stress and horror.
Matthews paints a bleak but brilliant picture of a culture as alien as any in the genre, even though it’s human rather than nonhuman. The justice system resembles many tyrannies but possesses its own unique variations on the theme. Koscuisko’s heavily patriarchic home culture looms large in the background, and brings the most original set of sexual/genital euphemisms I’ve heard (a man has a fish, a woman has an ocean). Even the bond-involuntary characters transcend their slavelike status to show flashes of their own cultural heritage. Attention to detail here makes the whole world come disturbingly alive.
Expect a rough ride from this novel. It is by no means light pleasure reading. It forces you to think about difficult issues and ethical dilemmas. The graphic descriptions may well disgust you, or you may find them as disturbingly appealing as our protagonist. You may even decide you hate it — but you won’t forget it any time soon. It has a way of etching itself into your memory so that you keep thinking about the story long after you have put the physical book back on the shelf.
From the ending I suspect the author may choose to pursue further stories involving these characters, and I devoutly hope she does. An Exchange of Hostages holds appeal for a narrow but diverse range of readers; those with a strong stomach who appreciate good horror, military SF, or sociological thrillers should find it to their liking. People who read Nazi source documents for inspiration may get some great ideas from this novel, too. Those looking for casual entertainment should look elsewhere. Students of human psychology may find it fascinating even if they don’t normally read speculative fiction.
This review was originally submitted to Stygian Articles.
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Chelsea Green Guides are published by Chelsea Green.
Climate Change: Simple Things You Can Do to Make a Difference
Climate Change is the latest in the Chelsea Green Guides series, a set of small colorful books that describe challenges and solutions on various environmental topics. This book begins by introducing the concepts and vocabulary of climate change. Then it addresses individual household issues: heating, hot water, lighting, cooking, cooling, dishwashing, washing and drying clothes, electricity, trash, travel, shopping, water, gardening, and renewable energy. For each of these issues, the authors explain what it has to do with climate change, what you can do about it (divided into easy projects for now and more ambitious projects for later), and the most important action if you do just one thing.
In the back, the resource section introduces organizations and information for further exploration and support of climate change endeavors. This book is printed in full color on non-glossy smooth white paper. The type is a little larger than average, very easy to read, even when it’s colored instead of black.
Climate Change is an excellent beginner’s guide to this topic. Its clarity and modest price make it ideal for use in classrooms, clubs, businesses, and activist organizations. Most highly recommended.
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Reviews of other books in the same setting include Echoes of Honor and Ashes of Victory. Changer of Worlds (Worlds of Honor)
Changer of Worlds 
Hang on to your hats, Harrington fans! Here’s the latest “collection” in the Worlds of Honor side-series. This one features four stories, three of them by Weber himself and one by Eric Flint. “Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington” tells the tale of Honor’s first cruise, and give us a closer look at the odious Elvis Santino. Very satisfying. “Changer of Worlds” gives us a glimpse at the unorthodox marriage of Nimitz and Samantha, from the treecats’ perspective. I liked this one a lot, but I don’t think it went far enough; it left some important ground uncovered. Eric Flint’s contribution “From the Highlands” is a wonderfully savage story about bad guys who pick the wrong hostage. The Mesan freedom fighters in this one really stole my heart, and I’d love to see more of them. Finally, “Nightfall” goes behind the scenes for an inside look at Esther McQueen’s desperate last battle in the Octagon. Not my favorite, but I’m also not a hard-core military SF fan.
Overall, Changer of Worlds is a great read, and the diversity of style means most readers will find something they like; it’s a must for Harrington fans. Highly recommended.
This review originally appeared in Spicy Green Iguana.
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This is the third in a series of posts about Claire Roche and John Willmott of Celtic Ways, who will be performing in Champaign, Urbana later this week. For details of that event, go here. To read the earlier interview with John, go here.
Last spring, when I attended a previous performance, I was enchanted by Claire’s harping. By turns mellow and sprightly, it lingers in the ear. So I gladly took the opportunity to interview her, now that she’s headed back in this direction. Read the rest of this entry »
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Candle Creations : Making and Arranging Candles for Beautiful Effects
Everybody loves candles, especially the fancy artistic kind. This book explains how to make them and arrange them into beautiful displays using affordable, easy-to-find materials. The chapters cover materials and equipment, basic techniques, plain and colored candles, scented candles; candles for the dining room, living room, kitchen, garden, bedroom, and bathroom; celebrating with candles, candles for Christmas & Thanksgiving, and candles as gifts. Besides candles themselves, the book also covers candleholders and related tidbits. The styles range from the familiar “Chunky Gravel Candle” and “Tin-Can Sconce” to the more exotic “Orange Candle” and “Rose Candle Shade.” The index and an appendix are both listed for page 110, but only the index actually appears in my copy; however, it is quite detailed for a small craft book like this.
The book itself measures a generous 8 3/4″ x 11 1/2″ and consists of fine white paper. Mouthwatering, full-color pictures appear on every page, showing candles in varying stages of completion. Those of you interested in photography will find these pictures delightful for their brilliant colors and exquisite composition. It’s pretty enough for a coffee-table book, but practical enough for a kids’ craft book.
Candle Creations does a lovely job of exploring a topic dear to most Pagans. Suitable for all traditions and levels of experience, it’s a fine addition to any coven library. It would also make a splendid gift, perhaps packaged in a basket with some candle-making supplies. Most highly recommended.
This review was originally submitted to PagaNet News.
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The Essence of Healing 
This book explores the theory, creation, and use of special essences made by impressing pure water with a specific energy. It begins with a preface and foreword which explain some of the background. Then the author moves on, in Part One, to discuss co-creative healing and the Law of Dharma, the properties of flower essences and their historical perspective, gem elixirs, and environmental essences. This leads into a presentation on chakra and subtle body anatomy, what makes them work, and what can go wrong. Part Two then goes into essence application and use, from the seven levels of application (getting here, emotional awareness & healing, physical awareness & release, healing the heart & attunement with Nature, relationships & karma, awareness & activation of life purpose, and spiritual growth & awareness) to the selection and application of the correct essences. This includes such specialized applications as using the essences with the animal and plant kingdoms, such as pets and house plants. Part Three presents a guide to the Alaskan Flower Essences and their uses, while Part Four does the same for the Alaskan Gem Elixirs and Part Five covers the Alaskan Environmental Essences. Part Six then provides a handy cross-reference for healing qualities. Finally, Part Seven offers an array of indices to support the rest of the text. No index, though, nor a bibliography, which I found frustrating. The book does include information on where you can obtain the essences it describes.
The Essence of Healing comprises a fine tour of the art and science of healing through this type of energy work. It will appeal to anyone already studying this field, and holds additional interest for those involved with the related fields of flower and gem magic, and of course for healers in general. In particular, I found the description of the Alaskan Environmental Essences intriguing, because they would make wonderful Pagan “holy water” for use in ritual or spellcraft. My favorites include Chalice Well, Full Moon Reflection, Northern Lights, Solstice Sun, and Tidal Forces. Recommended.
This review was originally submitted to PagaNet News.
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Last spring, happy chance brought me and some of my family to the Heartland Gallery in Urbana, Illinois on an evening when John Willmott and Claire Roche were performing. John is a storyteller and Claire is a harpist, and together they keep alive some of Ireland’s greatest traditions. Later this week, they will be performing again at the Heartland Gallery. So I thought this would be a fine time to interview them, and they graciously agreed. John got back to me first… Read the rest of this entry »
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Visit Odds Bodkin’s website to learn more about this performer. The Evergreens is now available on CD
Heads up everyone, we have a Bard here! This latest addition to the Odds Bodkin Storytelling Library is recommended for “ages three to forever” and I can certainly agree with that assessment. I loved it. Odds Bodkin “does voices” as children say — all the characters, and the narrator, sound different and distinct. He plays the harp and adds other fascinating sound effects to the stories, too. This recording features oral tradition from around the world: “The Evergreens” (Danish folk tale), “The Name of the Tree” (Bantu folk tale), “The Woman Who Fell from the Sky” (Iroquois myth), “The Lion Makers” (Bhutan fable), and “The Wind and the Sun” (Aseop’s fable). I found it particularly interesting that each of these tales illustrates a certain virtue: compassion, memory, vision, common sense, and persuasion respectively. The cultural diversity makes this title appropriate for members of any tradition.
I highly recommend The Evergreens for anyone fond of folk tales and mythology, storytelling, or musical performance. Harp fans should try it too — Odds Bodkin could play the leaves off the trees, as the saying goes. Children of all ages will love it. Buy a copy as a birthday gift for Pagan kids, or donate one to a children’s library or day care center. It’s hard to find stuff this good today. Rivertree offers many other fine titles like this, so write for their catalog.
This review was originally submitted to Cauldrons & Broomsticks.
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The first book in this series is Anvil of the Sun (The Cloak and Dagger, Book 1)
Cauldron of Iniquity (Cloak and Dagger, Book 3)
Here is book three of The Cloak and Dagger, carrying on the further adventures of the assassin team Jenifleur and Thibault. This time they are sent not to end a live but to preserve one, serving as temporary bodyguards for a friend of the guildmaster. But Saul Soleneides is involved in far more than his friend realizes, and his bodyguards soon have their hands full keeping him alive. Worse, Jenifleur begins to suspect that all is not right in the sumptuous illusion parlors of Konasta. How will the Cloak and Dagger react when they find out what their charge is up to? Read and see…
Cauldron of Iniquity is sure to appeal to fantasy fans in general, and it’s a good example of the “assassin’s guild” motif. Recommended.
This review was originally published in Spicy Green Iguana.
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