Top Ten Tuesday #2

Welcome to another week of Top Ten Tuesday!

This week, the top ten list is: Top Ten Books Which Feature Characters Who _____ (are music allyinclined, have lost someone, have depression, who grow up poor, etc.) Hmmm, that requires me to fill in the blank. Okay, I accept the challenge. I'm going to write a list of the Top Ten Books which Feature Characters Who are Real People 

Here is my list, again in no particular order, just as they come to me. Okay, you may already know my fondness for the first person I'm going to list. Duh, he's on the top of my blog, right?

1. The Cardinal and the Queen by Evelyn Anthony - the character in question is Cardinal Richelieu, who is also my historical crush. This novel tells of the relationship between him and Anne of Austria, wife to King Louis XIII of France. It's a fascinating story, and a great romance. There  were rumors at the time that the Cardinal was the real father of Louis XIV (Louis XIII was gay). I first read this over forty years ago and I'm still not tired of it.









2. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas - again Cardinal Richeleu, although quite a different tale. D'Artagnan is fresh out of Gascony, gone to Paris to seek his fortune, having been given a letter to get him into the King's Guards. While in the process of delivering said letter, he encounters three different men by whom he finds himself challenged to a duel on the following day. These men, as it turns out, are the Three Musketeers, but before any of the duels can take place, they are spotted by the Cardinal's Guards (dueling is illegal in France at this time) and they end up fighting against the Guards, together, and become bffs in the process. In Dumas' tale, Richelieu is the bad guy whom they must outwit at all costs.

3. The Last Love by Thomas Costain - The character is Napoleon, and it tells the story of his  

exile on the island of St. Helena and his relationship with a young English girl named Betsy Balcombe. I've heard rumors of a film to be made, supposedly starring Al Pacino, but have seen nothing. Pacino would make a lousy Napoleon, in my opinion, so I'm actually glad.







4. Desiree by Annemarie Selinko  - Another book with Napoleon, but an earlier Napoleon. Desiree is the daughter of a silk merchant in Marsailles. She meets the young man with great ambitions and they fall in love and become engaged. But when he leaves for Paris, in order to further his career, and she doesn't hear from him for a long time, she borrows some money from her maid and follows him, only to learn things she'd rather not hear. This is the first book that ever made me cry. It's a great story, and the movie features Marlon Brando as Napoleon, and Michael Rennie as Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte.

5. The Trial of Adolf Hitler by Phillippe Van Rjndt - The story begins as the Third Reich is

crumbling around him. Hitler is committed to suicide before capture, and has decided he and his bride, Eva, shall both die. They each have poison and a pistol, as they retire to their room in the Bunker to die. Hitler shoots Eva, then himself. But Fate intervenes and the bullet he fired at himself does not kill him. He is found and rescued by one of his faithful. He recovers and takes a new name and identity, burying himself in a small town in Germany, where no one knows him, and leads a quiet life. Years pass. Hitler, under his new name, is well loved by the citizens of the town, but he decides that the time has come for him to reveal himself, and to demand a trial to exonerate him of the the crimes attributed to him. The stunned nations of the world, learning that he is alive, don't know what to do, or what to charge him with. They get together, and finally come up with three charges, and make arrangements for a trial.  Now the ending was a foregone conclusion, as I suspected it would be, but really, in terms of the charges and the evidence that was presented hi Hitler's defense, I didn't find it quite so cut and dried. In fact, I think it might have been a miscarriage of justice. But that's just my opinion, and of course, it's a novel, so it didn't happen.

6. Lamb, The Gospel of Christ According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore - The title says it all, it's a great book, and I loved it. He has a real way with words, and the story just flows so smoothly. Hilarious and sensitive and deeply moving.












7. Depths of Glory by Irving Stone - This is an historical novel about Camille Pissarro, the

Impressionist. It was my introduction to the Impressionists, and features other artists as characters, including Degas, Toulouse Lautrec, Van Gogh and others. I loved this book, and would gladly read it again.







8. The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone - This one is about Michelangelo and Pope Julius II, the struggle between them, as he painted the Sistine Chapel. Great book, also a really great movie starring Charlton Heston and Rex Harrison.

9. The President's Lady by Irving Stone - Another Stone novel, yes, so shoot me lol  This one is about the love between Andrew Jackson and his wife Rachel, before he was even President. It's a very romantic and poignant tale, and the movie is well worth watching too. Charlton Heston and Susan Hayward.

10. Love is Eternal by Irving Stone - a novel about Mary Lincoln, before and after her marriage to Abraham Lincoln. This lady definitely had issues, but it's also a great portrait of Abraham Lincoln. 

11. Blennerhassett by Charles Felton Pidgin - This novel is about Vice President Aaron Burr, including his infamous duel with Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. I read this many years ago and loved it. I recently bought it again, so I could read it again. Worth re-reading. 

Of holidays, time management, wonderful news and faith

Happy Easter, Happy Passover, Happy Sunday to everyone! I hope that everyone is having a wonderful day!

People around the world celebrate different holidays, according to their beliefs. Even those who share a holiday, such as Easter, have their own ideas of how to celebrate the occasion, and what it means to them. I was not raised in a home where we went to church, so I got none of the religious connotations until I grew older and learned about them. For us, it was the Easter Bunny and candy. Even with that aspect, things have gotten out of hand to the point where children now expect actual gifts. Not quite how it was meant to go, I think.

For most Christians, Easter is about the rising of Jesus Christ. Passover celebrates the deliverance of the Jewish people from Egyptian enslavement. You

would think there's a point of commonality between these two religions, considering Jesus was Jewish. I think too many Christians ignore that fact. Does it make them uncomfortable? I don't know. People have more in common than they have differences. It would be nice if they remembered that.

In my book Revelations, I touch upon the rising, but not in a traditional way. In my version, Jesus and Mary and the Apostles are reincarnated, time after time, throughout the years, by the will of God. It seemed logical to me that there be no big hoopla, no grand announcement, but something far more subtle, in order to gauge what lessons Man had learned from the prior visit.

Random thought - Christ is referred to as the lamb of God, and some people eat lamb for Easter. Seems... barbaric? But then there is also the Communion, which while symbolic also has overtones of cannibalism in eating the body and drinking the blood of Christ. Not literally, of course.





Time management. People are always complaining about not having time to do the things they want or have to do. But I discovered something quite accidentally while waiting for something to microwave in my kitchen. I dislike standing around doing nothing, waiting, so while whatever it was cooked, I busied myself, although at first I thought what can you do in two minutes? The answer is - quite a bit. I found out you can unload or load your dishwasher, you can wash your dishes - or at least some of them. Two minutes is longer than you think and it beats standing there doing nothing. So now, whenever I microwave, I get something else done while I wait. Which led me to the conclusion that time is really fluid, and you can make it of what you will. You can stand around and say you have no time, or you can utilize it and have what you need. No, it doesn't give you more  hours in a day, just a different way to approach the 24 you have. Second conclusion - you will find time for the things you really want to, if you try. You may not always succeed, but know that perhaps the things that got left by the wayside were things you didn't really care about doing anyway.

Now on to my wonderful news. I have a new publisher, and I will be giving more details as I get them, such

as publication dates, but for now I'd like to announce that I have signed two contracts with eXtasy Books - one for Dallas in Wonderland, and one for Trapped in Time, which you may recall each started out as flash fiction stories on my blog.

So now I have two new publishers for this year - eXtasy, and Torquere, who are publishing A Special Christmas in December. I'll keep you apprised of publishing dates as I learn them, and hopefully of other new publishers.

Second bit of writing news - if you'll recall, I posted a story about a guy named Lionel who came home from touring with a band called Midlife Crisis to a horrifying discover. I have decided to keep writing the story, but I won't be posting it on Wednesdays. I'll post it on random days, depending on when I get each part written, and I'll make a page so that anyone who wants can read it in one place. I'd love to hear thoughts on that, ideas, suggestions.

I'll talk about what I'm watching another time. Let's focus on Easter movies right now, or at least those that deal with Jesus. I've reviewed a few on this blog, and one of the best I've seen is Jesus of Nazareth with Robert Powell, who gives a very dramatic, very wonderful performance. King of Kings with Jeffrey Hunter is another I'd recommend, as well as Jesus, starring Jeremy Sisto, of Law and Order and Six Feet Under fame. I honestly don't recommend Mel Gibson's movie, because it focuses so much on Jesus' pain and suffering. What is the point of that? Why not celebrate his life and teaching? In light of the fact that I learned that Mr. Gibson is anti-semitic, perhaps that is my answer. I don't know. I've been told I need to see The Last Temptation of Christ, by Martin Scorsese, and I intend to check it out.

Many people celebrate the holiday with a ham or a lamb, but we're doing something different - we bought a 20 pound turkey. That should feed us for a few days! It's just Sarah and I today. Chris went back to school yesterday. And since she has school work to do, and I have editing and writing, I'm sure it will be a quiet day.

In our family, we have a tradition that we made ourselves, going back to when the kids were little. We name our turkeys. We take turns picking the name of each bird. Oddly, I think they always end up with male names, although most turkeys you buy at the store are hens, not toms. We've had birds named after characters in various fandoms over the years, from Harry Potter to Lord of the Rings. Last time was Sarah's turn, and it was MASH - she named him Frank Birds, a play, of course, on Major Frank Burns. Today is my turn, and as I am in quite a Game of Thrones state of mind, he is called Tyrion Lannister. I've begun watching the first season, and I'm about halfway through reading the second book, but more of that later.






Well, enough for now, things to do and all that. A turkey to stuff and roast. I wish everyone a great day, no matter what you are celebrating - whether a holiday, or just life itself.

Until next time, take care!

♥ Julie

Six Sentence Sunday 1-27-13

This is the last Six Sentence Sunday, at least until someone else picks it up and runs with it. I hope someone does. But until that happens, we'll have to go under the assumption that this is the last one. So I am going to use another six sentences from my upcoming release, Revelations, which comes out February 8th, and is available for pre-order here.  If you want to see the other six sentence authors, you can go here.  In this scene, it's Judas and Jesus, and Judas is being castigated for his language. Enjoy!

           “Goddammit, Jesus…”

            “Please don't take the name of my father in vain…”

           

            His words are serious, but his eyes twinkle. How many times is he going to say that to me, how many times has he already said it, knowing how very much I hate it? And yet I gaze into those soulful dark eyes—so inky, inkier than the darkest night sky I’ve ever seen, which is saying something as I’ve seen quite a few in my time…times…whatever— and I drown in their liquid depths once again. That voice—a silken purr that wraps me around his fingers in the most complicated geometric progressions; like a human cat’s cradle he manipulates my soul with consummate skill.