Upcoming: “The Secret History of Wonder Woman” by Jill Lepore (Knopf)

I am a huge fan of Jill Lepore’s writing – both long-form and also her journalism and shorter pieces. A professor of American History at Harvard University (and a staff writer at The New Yorker), Lepore has written extensively about history and how we interpret, teach, and read the history of the United States. Last year, I read the paperback edition of The Story of America, which was easily one of the best books I read in 2013. Perhaps of more interest to the readers of Civilian Reader, though, her upcoming work is about the fan-favourite Amazon warrior from the Justice League: Wonder Woman. Due to be published on October 28th, 2014 by Knopf. Here’s the rather long synopsis:

Wonder Woman, created in 1941, is the most popular female superhero of all time. Aside from Superman and Batman, no superhero has lasted as long or commanded so vast and wildly passionate a following. In the more than seven decades since she first appeared, her comic books have never been out of print. In years of interviews and archival research, Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer Jill Lepore has uncovered an astonishing trove of documents, including the never-before-seen private papers of William Moulton Marston, Wonder Woman’s creator. Lepore has discovered that, from Marston’s days as a Harvard undergraduate, he was influenced by early suffragists and feminists, starting with the British suffragist Emmeline Pankhurst, who was banned from speaking on campus in 1911, when Marston was a freshman. In the 1920s, Marston and his wife brought into their home, as Marston’s mistress, the niece of Margaret Sanger, one of the most influential figures of the twentieth century. The Marston family story – a house of one man, three women, and four children-is a story of drama, intrigue, and irony. In the 1930s, Marston and Sanger’s niece together wrote a regular column for Family Circle celebrating conventional family life, even as they pursued a life of extraordinary nonconformity. No less fascinating is Marston’s role as the inventor of the lie detector. Internationally known as an expert on truth, he lived a life of secrets-only to spill them on the pages of the Wonder Woman comics he began writing in 1941.

The Secret History of Wonder Woman is a tour-de-force of intellectual and cultural history, explaining not only the mysterious origins of the world's most famous female superhero, but solving some of the most vexing puzzles in the American past. Wonder Woman, Lepore argues, is the missing link in the history of the struggle for women’s rights – a chain of events that begins with the women’s suffrage campaigns of the early 1900s and ends with the troubled place of feminism a century later.

Given how prominent the character has been in not only the comics and SFF communities (specifically the absence of plans for a Wonder Woman big-budget movie), but in pop-culture and gender studies communities, this is a very timely book. I’m really looking forward to this.

Manifest Destiny, Vol.1 (Skybound/Image)

An interesting beginning to an alternate history series

Writer: Chris Dingess | Artist: Matthew Roberts

In 1804, Captain Meriwether Lewis and Second Lieutenant William Clark set out from St. Louis, Missouri with the intent of blazing a trail to the western coast of North America – a trip that would set the foundation for the future of the United States of America.

But what the history books don’t tell you is the true purpose of Lewis and Clark’s journey to the west…

In this imaginative retelling of their famous trek, Lewis and Clark embark on a secret mission under direct orders from President Thomas Jefferson.

They are going to do more than explore the wild frontier: they’re going to catalog exotic life and eliminate the monsters that stand in the way of the safe and rapid expansion of the United States.

Collects: Manifest Destiny #1-6

As I’m sure I’ve mentioned on the blog before, I’m fascinated by American history, and particularly its early history. Not only that, I do rather like comics. This meant Manifest Destiny piqued my interest as soon as I read about it on the Image Comics’ website. I enjoyed this a lot and I think this is a great start to a new series.

Short Review: THREE (Image Comics)

We are SPARTA!

Writer: Kieron Gillen | Artists: Ryan Kelly, and Jordie Bellaire

In ancient Sparta, three Helot slaves run for their lives.  Pursuing them are three hundred of their Spartan masters.

Collects: Three #1-5

This is a pretty interesting, short graphic novel. The artwork is fantastic, and the storytelling is extremely well-done. Not only have the writer and artist done their research, but the story just flows. After a massacre at a village, a rather mysterious ‘cripple’ and two companions find themselves hunted by an army of snubbed Spartans. Chased across the country, they must keep their trail as hidden as possible, placing their fates in the hands of the oh-so-fickle (not to mention absent) gods. This is a really good book.

Theodore Roosevelt Responds to a Lampooning Review. Or, “This Probably Couldn’t Happen Today, on the Internet”

Anyone who knows me, or perhaps anyone who reads my other blog, Politics Reader (yeah, I know, there’s a theme to the blog names), will undoubtedly have come across my interest in Theodore Roosevelt, his presidency and time. I am fascinated by the period of American history between (approx.) 1880 and the start of World War I. Given this interest, I devour pretty much any book I can get my hands on that focuses on that time and the people who shaped American history and politics then. At the moment, I’m reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s excellent, exhaustively-researched The Bully Pulpit. The book is about Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and the media. Today, I came across an amusing passage, which I thought I would share, here.

First, some context. Theodore Roosevelt was US president from 1901-08, first ascending to the Presidency after the assassination of William McKinley. Alongside his storied career in public service, he was a prolific author – between 1882-1919, he had 45 books and collections (of essays and letters) published. Finley Peter Dunne was a writer and humourist from Chicago, who wrote the nationally syndicated “Mr. Dooley” satires and lampoons.

In the fall of 1899, a copy of The Rough Riders, Roosevelt’s wartime memoir, came across Dunne’s desk. “Mr. Dooley’s” book review in Harper’s Weekly mocked Roosevelt’s propensity for placing himself at the center of all action: “Tis Th’ Biography iv a Hero by Wan who Knows. Tis Th’ Darin’ Exploits iv a Brave Man be an Actual Eye Witness,” Mr. Dooley observed. “If I was him, I’d call th’ book, ‘Alone in Cubia.’” Three days after this satirical assessment amused readers across the country, Roosevelt wrote to Dunne: “I regret to state that my family and intimate friends are delighted with your review of my book. Now I think you owe me one; and I shall exact that when you next come east to pay me a visit. I have long wanted the chance of making your acquaintance.” (pp.257-8)

The full review is the first in Mr. Dooley’s Philosophy (which is available as a PDF online – pp.13-18). collected Dunne was clearly touched by Roosevelt’s letter, and in his reply to Roosevelt, accepting the invitation, he also said:

“... the way you took Mr. Dooley is a little discouraging. The number of persons who are worthwhile firing at is so small that as a matter of business I must regret the loss of one of them. Still if in losing a target I have, perhaps, gained a friend I am in after all.” (p.258)

Dunne never had to regret the loss of TR as a target, however. The reviewer continued to poke fun at TR (“the nation’s premiere target” as Goodwin calls him) for years to come, and the two remained friends throughout.

Today, when an author responds to a negative or critical review – especially on the internet – it never seems to go well for the author (see, for example, who-knows-how-many self-published authors lashing out at bloggers; or even the more recent, bizarre-and-quite-pathetic reaction to Ben Aaronovitch’s polite pointing out of a review’s factual misunderstanding). The above response and exchange between Dunne and Roosevelt… It could never happen today. Which is a real shame.

[I am currently reading The Bully Pulpit for review on Politics Reader. The book was provided by Goodwin’s UK publisher, Viking/Penguin. In the US, the book is published by Simon & Schuster.]

An Interview with GEOFFREY GUDGION

Let’s start with an introduction: Geoff Gudgion?

In one paragraph; I was a scholarship boy who was never bright enough to realise I’d have been happier as a writer than a businessman. Until, that is, I had a spectacular row with my boss and stepped off the corporate ladder. Long before that epiphany, I left school at 17 to join the Royal Navy, who later sponsored me to read Geography at Cambridge University. Both experiences were formative in teaching me to string words together.

Your debut novel, Saxon’s Bane, is published by Solaris. How would you introduce the novel to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

Saxon’s Bane is a thriller with a supernatural twist; past and present collide during the excavation of a Saxon warrior’s grave. The writing challenge, and the fun, was to interweave the present day with a Dark Ages legend, and to bring the two stories together in a plausible climax. Although it’s not part of a series, the main characters will probably reappear in a future book. There’s a fey, fit archaeologist who develops a preternatural understanding of her project. Her character has, ahem, legs.

Guest Post: “History & Riyria” by Michael J. Sullivan

Long-time readers of Civilian Reader will know that I’m a big fan of Michael Sullivan’s Riyria Revelations series (re-issued by Orbit Books in 2011-12). To celebrate the release of a prequel duology – The Crown Tower and The Rose and the Thorn – the author has penned this piece on the historical influences on his series, and the decisions he made on how to approach and incorporate these influences into his fantasy world and narrative.

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HISTORY & RIYRIA

A good deal of invented-world fantasy is based on history. While much of this may be due to writers imitating other authors who came before them, there is a very practical reason for this: familiarity. When creating a world you’d rather not do it from scratch. Even the best chefs have used frozen pie crusts or stock broth. It just saves so much time and effort and allows you to focus on the more important aspects – the story.

In fantasy you could rework everything. You could do away with leaders or councils and run anarchy. People might not need to eat or drink, but instead soak up sunlight to survive. Of course you might not have a sun either. Instead you might have geysers that emit vapors that must be absorbed. People in the new world might not believe in trade, everyone could subsist entirely on what they alone find or make, hence no economy. There might be no day and night cycle, no seasons, no linear time at all as we know it. There might be no sexes, or there might be five different ones and reproduction could require the coupling of at least three different participants. Anyone of these would be a lot for an author to explain through all of its inevitable ramifications, but all of them and all the others one would need to invent to establish a completely alien world entirely disassociated from our own would both consume massive investment of words and likely bore even the most patient reader to tears.

Excerpt: “The Tudors” by Peter Ackroyd (Macmillan)

Something a little different, today. As I’m sure I’ve mentioned elsewhere on the blog, I’m a huge fan of history (if you also happen to follow Politics Reader, you will have seen that there, too). I studied medieval history at school, and have maintained a life-long interest in this period. So, I am very happy to share with you a short extract from the second volume of Peter Ackroyd’s exceptional History Of England, The Tudors (Macmillan).

Chapter I

HALLELUJAH

The land was flowing with milk and honey. On 21 April 1509 the old king, having grown ever more harsh and rapacious, died in his palace at Richmond on the south bank of the Thames. The fact was kept secret for two days, so that the realm would not tremble. Yet the new Henry had already been proclaimed king. On 9 May the body of Henry VII was taken in a black chariot from Richmond Palace to St Paul’s Cathedral; the funeral car was attended by 1,400 formal mourners and 700 torch-bearers. But few, if any, grieved; the courtiers and household servants were already awaiting the son and heir. When the body, having been taken to the abbey of Westminster, after the funeral service was over, was lowered into its vault the heralds announced ‘le noble roy, Henri le Septie’me, est mort’. Then at once they cried out with one voice, ‘Vive le noble roy, Henri le Huitie’me ’. His title was undisputed, the first such easy succession in a century. The new king was in his seventeenth year.

Guest Post: “The Yesterday That Never Was” by Aidan Harte (Jo Fletcher Books)

Today, I bring you a guest post by Aidan Harte, author of the historical fantasies Irenicon and The Warring States. Here, he discusses how authors perceive and play around with the historical periods they can write in…

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THE YESTERDAY THAT NEVER WAS

Fantasy and Historical Fiction are in essence extreme forms of Travel Fiction. They take us to destinations that can’t be otherwise reached. Historical Fantasy is a hybrid for brave souls looking for untraveled paths in unmapped lands. Its terrain is more expansive than it was – as the world tilts, reorienting itself to an Eastern pole, the West is no longer the default setting.

Anyone writing Historical Fiction must accomplish two, unfortunately contradictory, things:

1. Immerse the reader in another era.

2. Keep him from drowning in it.

“Necessary Evil” by Ian Tregillis (Orbit/Tor)

The masterful conclusion to the Milkweed Triptych

12 May 1940. Westminster, London, England: the early days of World War II. Again…

The history of the Twentieth Century has been shaped by a secret conflict between technology and magic. When a twisted Nazi scientist devised a way to imbue ordinary humans with supernatural abilities – to walk through walls, throw fire and see the future – his work became the prized possession of first the Third Reich, then the Soviet Army. Only Britain’s warlocks, and the dark magics they yield, have successfully countered the threat posed by these superhuman armies.

But for decades, this conflict has been manipulated by Gretel, the mad seer. And now her long plan has come to fruition. And with it, a danger vastly greater than anything the world has known. Now British Intelligence officer Raybould Marsh must make a last-ditch effort to change the course of history – if his nation, and those he loves, are to survive.

In the final book in Tregillis’s awesome Milkweed Triptych, superhumans and dark magic collide once again in a secret, supernatural history of early Twentieth Century. A series that has consistently impressed me, and improved with each book, Necessary Evil brings the story to a close with aplomb. This is a superb conclusion, and Tregillis has pulled it off, managing to tie everything up skillfully. And I almost cried at the end…

Guest Post: “The Fantastical 18th and 19th Centuries, or, Dragons Dancing at Almack’s” by Daniel A. Rabuzzi

Today I bring you a guest post by author Daniel Rabuzzi, who read my post on the Jo Fletcher Books Blog and had some more to add to the topic. So, naturally, I let him guest on the blog…

Thank you Stefan for inviting me to guest-post at Civilian Reader, on the occasion of Chizine/CZP publishing my fantasy novel, The Indigo Pheasant (sequel to 2009’s The Choir Boats).

I want to start by quoting you (if I may), when you guest-posted at Jo Fletcher Books in July this year:

“Is it just me, or are 18th/19th Century-style worlds absent from the fantasy genre? I don’t profess to have read every fantasy novel, so it could well be that I’ve missed a swathe of series and novels set in time periods inspired by the 18th and 19th Centuries. But, from my reading, I think their absence is a considerable oversight, and also an area for exploration and exploitation.”

Given that my novels are set in the early 19^th century (the action starts in London, and involves characters whose origins are British, West African, Chinese, Indian, German – ­and from elsewhere altogether), you will not be surprised that I agree with you.

An Interview with D.B. JACKSON

D.B. Jackson’s Thieftaker has received some great feedback around the book-related blogosphere. As a sucker for American history, thrillers, and the fantastic, I am very interested in reading this novel. While I wait to get my hands on a copy, I thought I’d get in touch with Jackson to pick his brains about his new novel, pen-names, writing, and more.

An Interview with LYNDSAY FAYE

A little while back, a rather intriguing press package turned up on my doorstep. It was for Lyndsay Faye’s second novel, The Gods of Gotham (which I had originally learned of from Fantastical Librarian Mieneke). As a sucker for anything New York-related, I promptly put it on my TBR pile. And have not yet had time to read it, for which I’m rather annoyed with myself. So, in lieu of a timely review, I decided to get in touch with Ms Faye, and ask her some questions about her work, writing, and so forth.

“The Devil Colony” by James Rollins (William Morrow/Orion)

Sigma Force race to halt a potential cataclysm rooted in the history of America’s Founding

Deep in the Rocky Mountains, a gruesome discovery stirs international attention and controversy. Despite doubts about the bodies’ origins, the local Native American Heritage Commission lays claim to the prehistoric remains, along with the strange artefacts found in the same cavern: gold plates inscribed with an unfathomable script.

During a riot at the dig site, an anthropologist dies, burned to ashes in a fiery explosion in plain view of television cameras. All evidence points to a radical group of Native Americans, including one agitator, a teenage firebrand who escapes with a vital clue to the murder and calls on the one person who might help — her uncle, Painter Crowe, Director of Sigma Force.

To protect his niece and uncover the truth, Painter will ignite a war among the nation’s most powerful intelligence agencies. Yet an even greater threat looms as events in the Rocky Mountains have set in motion a frightening chain reaction, a geological meltdown that threatens the entire western half of the U.S.

I’ve long been a fan of Rollins’s Sigma Force novels, and being in the United States at the moment meant I could get my hands on Devil Colony months before its UK release date. Filled with intrigue, action and adventure – not to mention some great characters – The Devil Colony is an interesting, science-infused action-adventure.

Brad Meltzer’s “Decoded” Season 1 (History Channel)

Having read and mostly enjoyed Brad Meltzer’s novels, I was intrigued when I discovered that he had his own TV show on the History Channel. Political history and the conspiracies that often surround them are popular topics for thrillers, and Meltzer’s novels often fit comfortably in this sub-genre. In Decoded, Meltzer and his team (a lawyer, an engineer, and a history professor) investigate a number of American historical mysteries and conspiracies. Here’s how the History Channel describes the show:

Every now and then, a researcher stumbles upon a historical enigma, an unproven rumour, a story with a puzzling outcome. Such encounters are an irresistible challenge for bestselling author Brad Meltzer, who unravelled many mysteries in the first season of Brad Meltzer’s Decoded.

Now he’s back to explore a whole new set of history’s most compelling and perplexing riddles. Luckily, he’s got a team of investigators to help him out with each mission: Buddy Levy, a professor and journalist who assumes there is always more than meets the eye; Christine McKinley, a mechanical engineer who only believes in what can be proved; and Scott Rolle, a trial lawyer and born sceptic. Together, they’ll sniff out every clue and leave no stone unturned as they seek to reveal the truth.

DC New 52: “Men of War” #1

A World War II Hero caught in between battling superheroes

Writers: Ivan Brandon, Jonathan Vankin

Artist: Tom Derenik, Phil Winslade

On the ground and on the front lines, a young, headstrong soldier known as Joe Rock assumes the command of Easy Company – a grizzled team of ex-military men turned contractors. Will they survive the battle-scarred landscape carved by the DCU’s Super-Villains?

This appealed to me because the main character was not a superhero with special powers. He and his regiment do, however, find themselves up against some super-powered villains. This issue has a number of extras, including two interviews with other New 52 writers (Batwing and Animal Man), and also a second story, “Navy SEALS: Human Shields, pt.1/3”.

Influences & Inspirations: JASPER KENT

In this latest instalment of the Civilian-Reader “Influences & Inspirations” series of guest posts, Jasper Kent walks through the Russian history that has inspired his three novels to date (Twelve, Thirteen Years Later, and newly-published The Third Section), and discusses the inspirations for the fourth book in the Danilov Quintet, which will be released next year.

“Far To Go” by Alison Pick (Headline)

Reviewed by Alyssa

A compelling and thought-provoking novel

The story of one family’s epic journey to flee the Nazi occupation of their homeland in 1939, and above all to save the life of a six-year-old boy.

Pavel and Anneliese Bauer are affluent, secular Jews, whose lives are turned upside down by the arrival of the German forces in Czechoslovakia. Desperate to avoid deportation, the Bauers flee to Prague with their six-year-old son, Pepik, and his beloved nanny, Marta. When the family try to flee without her to Paris, Marta betrays them to her Nazi boyfriend. But it is through Marta’s determination that Pepik secures a place on a Kindertransport, though he never sees his parents or Marta again.

Far to Go is inspired by the author’s own grandparents who fled their native Czechoslovakia for Canada during the Second World War.

In Far to Go, Pick has created a complex and compelling work. The novel alternates between the historical narrative following the Bauer family, and the frame of a present-day first person narrator grappling (personally and academically) with the legacy of the Kindertransports. At first, the relationship between these two narratives is not apparent, but as the novel progresses, we begin to see more and more clearly how they are connected. While the historical portions are stronger than the frame narrative, Far to Go is nonetheless an impressive novel.