September 12, 2024
Book Review: Phillip Pullman’s Book of Dust Vol. 1 La Belle Savage
By Traci Dowe/Kenworth

Amazon’s Review:
Philip Pullman returns to the parallel world of His Dark Materials to expand on the story of Lyra, “one of fantasy’s most indelible heroines” (The New York Times Magazine).

Don’t miss Volume II of The Book of Dust: The Secret Commonwealth!

Malcolm Polstead and his daemon, Asta, are used to overhearing news and the occasional scandal at the inn run by his family. But during a winter of unceasing rain, Malcolm finds a mysterious object—and finds himself in grave danger.

Inside the object is a cryptic message about something called Dust; and it’s not long before Malcolm is approached by the spy for whom this message was actually intended. When she asks Malcolm to keep his eyes open, he begins to notice suspicious characters everywhere: the explorer Lord Asriel, clearly on the run; enforcement agents from the Magisterium; a gyptian named Coram with warnings just for Malcolm; and a beautiful woman with an evil monkey for a daemon. All are asking about the same thing: a girl—just a baby—named Lyra.

Lyra is at the center of a storm, and Malcolm will brave any peril, and make shocking sacrifices, to bring her safely through it.

“Too few things in our world are worth a seventeen-year wait: The Book of Dust is one of them.” —The Washington Post

My Review: Malcolm and Margaret are forced to go undercover after a great flooding and a man with a hyena show up looking to nab, the infant, Lyra. Instead the duo get lost in the storm themselves, fighting to stay ahead of the man who may be a murderer and surely wants nothing good with, Lyra. Malcolm figures if he can get the baby to Lord Asriel (it is his daughter, after all), he’ll be able to protect her.
Margaret comes along to make sure Lyra is cared for and all right. Margaret and Malcolm butt heads throughout but their trust of each other shines through when others threaten to steal Lyra for themselves and pawn her off to the highest bidder.
Neither Margaret nor Malcolm know why Lyra is so important to them all other than she is Lord Asriel’s daughter and might be used against him. Together, they brave bullies, a murderer, a Fae Queen, nuns, and a nightmare world of dead people intent on murdering the trio.

I LOVED His Dark Materials trilogy, although for me, the series didn’t pick up till Will was brought in. Just the same, the books and the world Pullman created were utterly fascinating. To see the mother/father struggle over Lyra and who got her powers was both gut-wrenching and heart-breaking.
This is the story of Malcolm, Lyra’s friend who was abducted in the first book of His Dark Materials and sends her on her journey. It was fun to read of his prior journey to her growing older and taking the lead as protagonist. I found the humor and fighting among Malcolm and Margaret mesmerizing. It wasn’t long till the two bonded and maybe-something more. Through it all, their daemons(their like shadows not pets though they can resemble pets) plus Lyra’s, add to the tension and danger they all find themselves in. I encourage everyone to discover this world if you haven’t and if you have, take a trip back and learn more of the events. I didn’t realize when I read this one, but apparently, this will be another trilogy with the second in the series: Book of Dust: The Secret Commonwealth next up.

Some links around the web:
1. The Kill Zone Blog: Disasters Involving Painted Brick and Technology | Killzoneblog.com As I type this, two ginormous generators on an equal number of gooseneck trailers across the street roar so loud I’m forced to wear the ear protection usually reserved for shooting large firearms. On the backs of those same trailers are four five-hundred-gallon tanks full of water and some foamy solution designed to remove paint from brick.
The house across the street is the target of my ire, along with the steady hiss of pressurized water spewing from the ends of two power washing wands wielded by a pair of very wet workers. It’s part of an ongoing saga of renovations over there, and as John Gilstrap can attest from the last time he visited over a year ago, the residence in question looks like someone with no sense style had been watching wayyyy too much HGTV.
I think the house was a front for nefarious businesses. Honestly, I believe they were cooking meth over there. Strange things went on behind those closed doors after we moved here five years ago. I seldom saw the same people more than a couple of times in the four years after we bought this house. Strangers came and went. The blinds were always closed, and it usually looked as if no one lived there.
I’ve been through this myself many times. Flashdrives work, if I can figure out what folder the story’s in, and I’ve had a little success with the Cloud (but sometimes things are hard to find on there as well), as the author of this piece says, “Email has never failed me.” Try to email updates of your stories to your email as often as possible.
2. Jane Friedman: How I Went From “Big 5 or Die!” to Ecstatic Self-Published Author | Jane Friedman When I started writing my memoir, my publishing goal was Big Five or nothing. I pitied indie authors as also-rans. Anyone could self-publish. Where was the clout?
I had not completely unrealistic dreams of being interviewed by Matt Lauer on the Today Show. (Yep, that’s how long ago I began writing my book.) I imagined being interviewed by Terry Gross on Fresh Air. I dreamed of a book launch party with white twinkly lights and a cake with my book’s cover on it. I wanted my editor to take me to lunch in Manhattan.
I thought I was on my way in spring of 2020 when my book went on submission. My agent, Jacquie, received exciting feedback—one editor wanted audio rights if we could sell print rights somewhere else. Another said she loved my book and pitched it at their editorial meeting but couldn’t convince the rest of her team. That one hurt. A New York
Working on that myself. Short story first then expand are my plans. Then I’ll mix the short and longer works in-between and see what happens. Although, I’ve been advised to write all the books in my series first and then publish within a month or two weeks of each other. That plays to demand better, they say.
3. The Kill Zone Blog: Should You Go Ahead and Write Mediocre Books? | Killzoneblog.com Years ago I was walking along Sunset Boulevard on a sunny day in Los Angeles (no surprise there) when I ran into a gent in a hat, with a big smile, holding a plate of cookies. He asked if I’d like to have one.
Being a struggling actor at the time, I eagerly accepted. It was an oddly shaped chocolate chip cookie. Not uniform or perfectly round. Each one was unique. That’s because they didn’t come out of a machine. They were handmade, and each glop that was put on a cookie sheet differed slightly from the others.
What was the same was the taste! My buds broke out into The Hallelujah Chorus. The cookie was a perfect blend of dough, chocolate chips, and nuts. I immediately went into the little store and bought a whole bag.
These were, of course, Famous Amos Cookies, and the man was Wally Amos himself.
As far as AI goes, I only use it to bounce ideas off of. Using it to write the book with, I think is akin to cheating on an exam. There’s little to no-effort on the part of the writer. Taking your time, molding your own story into something special makes stories mean something, become better.
4. The Writer Unboxed: Flog a Pro: Would You Turn the First Page of this Bestseller? – Writer Unboxed Trained by reading hundreds of submissions, editors and agents often make their read/not-read decision on the first page. In a customarily formatted book manuscript with chapters starting about 1/3 of the way down the page (double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-point type), there are 16 or 17 lines on the first page.
Here’s the question:
Would you pay good money to read the rest of the chapter? With 50 chapters in a book that costs $15, each chapter would be “worth” 30 cents.
I would’ve read on. There was a bit of juice in the dialogue and that carried the story. Not as exciting as finding a body on the first page perhaps, but a triple murder spree was hinted at.
5. Writer Unboxed: Crossing the Finish Line – Writer Unboxed I am breathtakingly, tantalizingly close—so close I can feel it, taste it (it is sweet), and see it. And what I see are the words “THE END” typed across the bottom of my 300+ page manuscript. I can’t wait.
What a rush, right? It’s like those moments we’ve witnessed in the Olympics, when Simone Biles nails the triple-double and sticks the landing, or sprinter Julien Alfred crosses the finish line to clinch the first-ever Olympic medal (gold) for her tiny country (St. Lucia). Years of hard, often discouraging work culminating in something you weren’t sure would ever happen. Finishing a novel can feel like that. It’s a huge accomplishment.
Which is why approaching the end of a book can be a treacherous path, because the temptation to hurry up and get there already is powerful. It’s been twelve years since I last completed a novel and this current book has come easily
Coming to the end of writing a book for me is a lot like climbing a really steep hill. Especially, with my wobbly gait now. I can feel my heart pumping, losing my breath, and my legs tangle as I reach the top. I’ve made it and great things await!
6. September C. Fawkes: What is Head Hopping? And Why is it Bad? (with Examples) ~ September C. Fawkes – Editor, Writer, Instructor (septembercfawkes.com) If you are writing in third person point of view, you should almost always avoid what’s called “head hopping,” and stick to one character’s perspective at a time. But that is sometimes easier said than done, especially when you are new to writing. All of us have head hopped at one point or another, so let’s go over what it is, why it’s a problem, and how to (potentially) get away with it.

What is Head Hopping?
Head hopping happens when the writer jumps from one character’s head to another’s within a passage; it’s a switch in viewpoint that is typically considered an error.
I’ve been reading Nora Roberts (one of my favorite authors) and I’ve noticed of late, she writes with the omni viewpoint. As noted when she’s following one character and then switches to another midpoint or at the end of the scene. Strangely, the method works perfectly for her and after the first time she does it, it become smoother to slip into the differences. I quite enjoy it actually.
7. The Kill Zone Blog: Expectations and Mediocrity | Killzoneblog.com Recently, James Scott Bell posted an article about whether writers should write mediocre books. Having just completed a book that’s on the fringes of my normal writing genre, I’d been struggling with the “is it good enough?” question. Given my primary goal in writing this book was to be able to use my recent trip to the Faroe Islands as a tax write-off, I had to resist the urge to crank something out quickly, just to have something to wave at an IRS auditor should they question the validity of my deductions.
I couldn’t. I needed to write something I’d be proud to have my name on. Not something that might have a reader crossing me off their reading list.
I hope to never write mediocre books. I think you should make your best effort with every book you put out. At least, that’s what I intend to do.
8. Kill Zone Blog: https://killzoneblog.com/2024/09/redux-can-multitasking-harm-the-brain.html Writers need to multitask. If you struggle with multitasking, don’t be too hard on yourself. The brain is not wired to complete more than one task at peak level. A recent study in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience showed when we’re concentrating on a task that involves sight, the brain will automatically decrease our hearing.
“The brain can’t cope with too many tasks: only one sense at a time can perform at its peak. This is why it’s not a good idea to talk on the phone while driving.” — Professor Jerker Rönnberg of Linköping University, who conducted the study.
I used to be able to multi-task but with health issues, now I have to concentrate on one thing more at a time. Not that I haven’t worked on more than one project at a time but for example: I’m trying to get my first book in the series ready. I have plans for two more before I go Indie. I plan on doing short stories from the world in the meantime.
9. Jane Friedman: https://janefriedman.com/what-you-can-learn-from-a-serial-submitter-to-literary-magazines/ Over the last several years, I’ve spent oodles of time submitting short stories, essays, poetry, and novels to literary magazines, contests, and publishers. We’re talking scores of hours devoted to searching, formatting, and submitting my stuff directly to the publishing gods (I’m excluding agents).
This is where I tell you that all that effort paid off, and I have a ton of author bylines to show for it.
But no. The truth is, roughly 99% of my submissions are rejected.
Does that mean I’m a terrible writer? Not necessarily. My odds just about track industry averages. Indeed, the 1% acceptance rule is fairly consistent, whether you’re submitting short fiction or a novel. And memoir is arguably the toughest sell of all.
I haven’t had any luck at this but I’m going to keep trying.
10. Kill Zone: https://killzoneblog.com/2024/09/writing-with-alert-watchfulness.html One of my college roommates, Rick, got a bike. One day I asked him if I could try it. He showed me the basics of clutch and throttle. No problem. At the time I was driving my dad’s old three-on-the-tree Ford Maverick. I knew the drill.
Only it’s different when it’s your first time using hands instead of feet. I let the clutch out too fast and twisted the throttle too hard. I lurched forward and before I could turn I rammed into a wooden fence. The bike listed and jammed my right ankle into a post.
When Rick stopped laughing he suggested I sign up for lessons with the local CHP.
Somehow, the scene always develops when I sit down. Even if I don’t have a clue on how to begin. It just happens. Like magic. Only better, lol.
11. Smorgasbord Magazine: https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2024/09/10/smorgasbord-blog-magazine-the-breakfast-show-with-william-price-king-and-sally-cronin-chart-hits-1982-part-one-the-alan-parsons-project-paul-mccartney-and-stevie-wonder-survivo/ Each week William and I select two top hits from the charts in the US and UK starting with 1960 for two weeks followed by 1961 etc.. We will also include some of the notable events in those years for the up and coming stars who were centre stage at the time. We are now in the 1980s
“Eye of the Tiger” was one of our high school themes songs the year I graduated. The other was “Another One Bites the Dust.”
12. Writers in the Storm: https://writersinthestormblog.com/2024/09/going-beyond-those-first-50-pages/ For most of my writing career, I have been called the “Fifty-page Wonder” by my critique group because I could come up with a story idea, flesh out the main two or three characters, and pull fifty pages out of my hat with relative ease. I won dozens of writing contests back when the romance genre had lots of contests, and even was nominated twice for in the Golden Heart contests. But, all too often, I lost steam and the fifty pages went under the bed, gathering dust bunnies.
Why? I just didn’t know what was going to happen next or after that or after that. My characters just laughed at me when I asked what they wanted or needed or were willing to work for, and I struggled to make those stories come together into a cohesive, believable, and likable tale.
I finally had to learn to edit books to figure it out.
I didn’t have trouble finishing. My problem has always been: when to let go. I just continuously find things to fix.
13. D.G. Kaye Writer: https://dgkayewriter.com/2024/09/10/tag-youre-it-blogging-challenge/ Tag, You’re It, is the Blogging Challenge I came across while reading Debbie Doglady’s post who hopped on to this challenge from Thomas Wikman’s blog – Leonberger Life who also tagged me. I enjoyed both their posts and decided to join in the fun! I was also late in discovering that Milena from Why I Quit My Job had also tagged me, so thank you all.
How did you come up with your blog name? Until recently, the blog name was just Traci Kenworth which is my pen name. The Dowe part is part of my maiden name. I wanted to bring more of me into my writing. If your blog was a person (real or fiction) who would it be? Not sure. Maybe Iris from my current story. What helps you create new content? My topics spin on what I’m interested in. Is there anyone you’d like to collaborate with? Maybe my writing friend, Rebecca. Is there anything you wish you had or would like to learn as a blogger? How to set up my blog for future sales. Do you have a specific style of blogging? I think mine is more casual and someone who likes to talk to others as friends. If you’d like to participate then you’re tagged!
14. Rosie Amber: https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/2024/09/11/%f0%9f%93%9aa-youngadult-paranormal-story-rosies-bookreview-of-brush-with-death-a-necromancer-academy-tale-by-mia-hall/ Brush With Death: A Necromancer Academy is book one of the young adult Death’s Doorstep series. This is a short novel at just 157 pages and features the first term of magic school for necromancer apprentice Keira.
Although Keira has a magical gift, she struggles with academic learning and is perhaps dyslexic, although a term is never given to her problem. Keira suffers continual embarrassment in class as she mixes spell incantations and muddles her enchantments.
Fellow student Ezra offers to help Keira practice and she finds that she works better outside of the classroom. Meanwhile, the academy is under threat; several students have been attacked including Ezra’s best friend. Ezra, Keira and her friend Ben work together to solve the mystery before the school is forced to shut down.
And there you have it! I’m sorry at the lateness of this blog. Several things knocked me off my regular schedule.