Demons and New Orleans

Several years ago I read an interesting fantasy novel by Tim Lebbon titled Dusk (rating: 7/10).  I noted at the time that I liked Lebbon's style and his imagination, although I thought his descriptions of violence were a bit over the top.  And I found the sexual references unnecessary rather than supportive of the story.  The world he portrays is a very ugly one, but it has the promise of being transformed if the heroes can only protect the boy who can bring magic back into the world.

I never did read the second volume, Dawn, probably because I was afraid that my hopes for seeing everything turn out for good might be dashed.  And I couldn't continue reading of ugliness if I didn't know for sure that beauty would finally return.

Now I've finished a very different book by Christoper Golden and Tim Lebbon, The Map of Moments (rating: 9/10).  An example of the sub-genre now referred to as urban fantasy, the story begins in post-Katrina New Orleans.  Driven to save his dead lover, the main character experiences a number of supernatural episodes showing him the sinister magic that has been controlling New Orleans for some two hundred years.

I found the plot of this novel to be very original and the story kept my interest.  I had to stay with it till the end, and I was rewarded by an ending that simultaneously tied everything together and surprised me both.  The Map of Moments was not marred the way I thought Dusk was (and feared that Dawn would be).  Just enough violence to make the supernatural truly horrifying, and no gratuitous sex.  And perhaps most importantly, the relationship between the main character and the woman he loved and lost to Hurricane Katrina was central to driving the plot.  This book is "A Novel of the Hidden Cities", and I'm eager to see if the other novels in this series (including Mind the Gap [London], The Chamber of Ten [Venice], and The Shadow Men [Boston]) are as good as this novel was.

Henges, Hill Forts, and Barrows

My "bucket list" includes seeing Stonehenge.  Someday I'd like to witness the mystery of this site firsthand, ponder how and why it was constructed, appreciate its antiquity.

I just finished reading Prehistoric Britain from the Air (rating: 9/10).  The many aerial photographs in this book include not only Stonehenge but dozens of other sites in the British Isles.  I had no idea that so many prehistoric sites still stood.  The ones in England are much more accessible than those in Scotland and Wales, so I was also surprised to see much less security around these sites than what I would expect if they stood in North America.

I was reminded that Francis Pryor's Seahenge: A Quest for Life and Death in Bronze Age Britain is sitting on my shelf, waiting to be read.  The photographs of hill forts brought to mind the battle scenes in Bernard Cornwell's series, The Saxon Tales ... and the most recent volume in that series, The Burning Land, also sitting on my shelf waiting to be read.  The photographs of barrows made me think of the fear the hobbits felt when they encountered the barrow-wights in Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring.  I was also reminded of the Moesgard Museum, a collection of early Scandinavian history (including Vikings) in Aarhus, Denmark, which I visited many years ago.

Tut, tut ...

Mystery writer James Patterson has written - with Martin Dugard - a retelling of Howard Carter's discovery of the tomb of King Tut alongside a speculative account of King Tut's murder.  The subtitle for The Murder of King Tut is "The ultimate cold case - reopened", and an Indiana Jones-like figure is seen entering Tut's tomb with torch held aloft.

I can forgive myself for thinking this might be an exciting story.  But I was surprised to discover as I read this that there was little excitement, even though Patterson had exciting material to work with.  I've not read any of Patterson's other books, so I can't compare this with them.  But I finished the book feeling disappointed.  There just wasn't enough substance to what could have been a great story.

Rivers of America

I recently picked up a used copy of Peter C. Mancall's Land of Rivers: America in Word and Image.  This is a collection of writings over the past few hundred years that describe the place of rivers in America's history.  The essays and excerpts are accompanied by a number of incredible photographs and artwork illustrating America's rivers.  There are pictures of floods and baptisms and waterfalls and commerce, from 17th century woodcuts to photos by Ansel Adams.

This book reminds me of the Rivers of America series of books that were published (and republished) from the 1930s to the 1970s.  Each edition in this series of over 60 books is a historical narrative devoted to a single river.  Many of them are familiar - the Ohio, the Mississippi, the Hudson, and others - but I have to confess that some of them I had never heard of before.  The Housatonic?  The Sangamon?  And where the heck is the Winooski?  There for a while I thought I would start collecting this series; I have a weakness for series of books, especially if they deal with history, or the outdoors.  But shelf space is at a premium in my house, so I decided to forego this pleasure.

The Knights Templar

The Knights Templar: Discovering the Myth and Reality of a Legendary Brotherhood, by Susie Hodge, is a well-illustrated overview of the origins of the Templars, the Crusades, the success of the Templars, and their eventual destruction - not by the hands of the Muslims but by the French crown and the Papacy. One detail of their story that I was not aware of is the belief that the Templars may have reached Nova Scotia in 1398, well before Columbus. I was also not aware that the Shroud of Turin has been linked to the Templars. The claim that the Templar fortress known as Krac des Chevaliers, in Syria, "is considered the greatest fortress in the world," certainly tempts me to put visiting the fortress on my "bucket list."

The Crusaders: Warriors of God, by Georges Tate, is also well-illustrated but provides more background regarding the Crusades. I remember when I finished reading this having a better understanding of "how the bloody 200-year confrontation between two worlds [Christian and Muslim] resulted in a mutual hostility and lack of understanding that persists to this day."

Of course many many novels have been written about the Templars and their secrets. Last April I read Raymond Khoury's The Last Templar and enjoyed it as an intriguing piece of escapist fiction. On the other hand, when my 9th-grade English teacher, Miss Spell, assigned Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe for me to read, I struggled through it somehow. I couldn't have told you, as Susie Hodge says in The Knights Templar, that Ivanhoe "reinforced the idea that the Templars were arrogant and overbearing and the possessors of esoteric anti-Christian secrets."

Finally, an excellent movie that deals with the Crusades and the Knights Templar is "Kingdom of Heaven." If you like movies directed by Ridley Scott ("Gladiator", "Robin Hood"), you'll like this one.

The Civil War Diary of William R. Dyer

The Civil War Diary of William R. Dyer: A Member of Forrest's Escort, is a transcription of the terse diary entries made by a member of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest's escort. The transcription is in two parts: an exact transcription and a slightly edited transcription.

It is unfortunate that Dyer generally wrote a sentence or two on any given day. There is some detail, but not much. Consequently, what he wrote will be of primary interest to scholars following Forrest's movements, but there is likely nothing of major interest.
I would've liked the transcriber to have provided context and descriptions. And only the edited transcription was needed in this book; having both versions really served no purpose I can see.
Also see Michael R. Bradley's Nathan Bedford Forrest's Escort and Staff.