I admit I did write a full length novel on the topic of Alexander's childhood, and I did it in a chronological order, boring as that sounds. I have more or less decided to change all that, as the first opening chapter must be one that lights a fire under the reader so that I have been studying first chapters in novels now. A prologue that I just read by Saladin Ahmed is so horrifying that I was jarred to sensibility. I could not envision such a dreadful scene as he paints, and there is no way that I will ever compete with that. He is a fantasy writer so his fantasy is gruesome but interesting and I am compelled to read further. I have decided to begin my chapter with a scene that hopefully will be gripping and enthralling so that readers will want to continue with the story.
In Ann Patchett's book that I read called Run, her opening chapter is seriously appealing but has so little relevancy to the rest of the story as to be totally misleading. And she is also an award winning authoress, not quite as bad as a woman who has written a totally stupid story about a dog who is the reinarnation of Elvis, but I did find fault with Ann Patchett for her stereotyped characters turning out to be such easy winners in the most unlikely of scenarios. Two black kids raised in a white home with special privileges naturally turn out to be exceptional scholars...Come on! Give me a break! And their newly found sister is akin to Secretariat! Ha! She is at 11 a runner who would put all the Olympians to shame. Too much exaggeration to be plausible. Especially with using the Kennedy family as a parallel role model. One of the boys has to be named for Teddy who naturally takes him and helps him. That frankly is over the top.
I am a rough critic to be perfectly honest, even though I can be gentle on people. I think that Nancy Bilyeau is unhappy with me because I found her story to be too easy to solve too soon. There were no other plausible characters to do such dastardly deeds so I figured it out right away and was pretty much finished with the story halfway through for that reason alone, but stayed with it to the end since her heroine is a bit strange behaving for a Dominican nun. I liked the manner in which she let this nun escape the convent long enough to travel throughout England looking for a mysterious crown. That is the basis of the story, a search for a crown in which she can illuminate the status of the common man during the reign of the Tudor king, Henry VIII.
In Mistress of the Sun, I felt that Sandra Gulland did not develop the character of Louise la Valliere well enough, despite the fact that parts of it are genuinely moving and very touching. Yet, we saw little of her after she met the King and became his Mistress. I had wanted more. I know that Sandra had not believed in my unique means of knowing the Sun King, as I had discussed it quite openly so that she could know how I feel about him. She has let me know that there are authors who simply dislike him. I have always supported him because of my having undergone the experience of entering into his spiritual entity and reliving his life through him. I came to love and like him very much. I know how he felt about Louise de la Valliere. In truthfulness, Louise de la Valliere took to heart all the religious teachings to finally wean her away from the grip of the King upon her. Since she had truly loved him, she had difficult choices to make. She finally chose the religious vocation to do penance for what she perceived to be his sins. The King had no such luxury to forsake the rule of France for a religious opportunity. His comments about the clergy and the church have always appealed to me. Louis XIV is a very observant, insightful, and thoughtful ruler the truth be known. I will still always defend him to the very crown of his head.
I admit that Scott Oden did satisfy me with his version of Memnon though fundamentally I disagree with him about Barsine's love for Memnon. I believe that Barsine's marriages were born of necessity more than of love. She is nothing like Penelope to Odysseus at all. However, I really enjoyed his version of what Memnon could have been like, but I do not see Barsine ever pining away for him at all, so it was unrealistic to me. However, Barsine's story itself would be fascinating to imagine. Again, like with Louis XIV, I defend Alexander to the crown on his head as well, and I know that Barsine is a major player in his life. As with Louis XIV, I have been in Alexander's spiritual body to understand his viewpoints, and I have seen Barsine and their son, Heracles. When Alexander did marry Roxanne, Barsine was sent away to care for the son instead of traveling with the army as she had done earlier. Whether she volunteered to return to her family home in Persia or whether she was sent is unrecorded. I am comfortable with the idea that she relinquished her hold on Alexander when he fell in love with Roxanne, and realized that Barsine and Heracle's safety would be jeopardized if she remained in campe. Roxanne is a dangerous lover and threat to Barsine.
I tried reading Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall and actually liked the parts of it that I did read. I could see what she was doing and for a time enjoyed it, but put it away and have never finished it yet. I have it waiting on the shelf along with many other half read but never finished novels. Because she had won a prize I wanted to see and understand why she did. It is a most unusual style of writing that she uses in getting into the character of Thomas Cromwell. I found it very satisfying.
Song of Achilles began like a ripoff of Sound and Fury to me so that I have not yet finished reading it. I do not like this author's spin on Achille's cousin Patroclus at all, but I do still intend to read it to the end. I get a bit tired of the gay agenda if that is what she is trying to do with the story. I do not know if that is where she is taking us on her ride in the famed son of Thetis's novel, but I began reading it to take it up later when I can find it somewhere. Looks to me that they have killed it off at the bookstores. In the version I have of the Iliad, Achilles has a love of his own, for which is the cause of his argument with Agamemnon, and his cousin Patroclus also has a woman in his tent, when he and Achilles spend the night together waiting for Priam to visit them. It appears that Achilles had two women who he loved very much. That is all I can say since I have not read the entire Song of Achilles yet at all, so have no idea what the author's imagination is exposing. Only a critic's commentary put me on edge about it which means that I took offense at it.
I have learned through discussions with the local version of the NaNoWriMo group that bookstores can suppress an authors works as well as promote them, that one person alone determines which books will sit up front to be picked up and sold. I found that news to be frankly disastrous! I had tried to find a book at Barnes and Noble written by an author friend and to my dismay it was not available here at this outlet. I can of course buy it through Amazon but because of one bad experience online with credit card, I will not take that chance ever again!
So I have decided to open my chapter on the youth of Alexander with Philip barking out orders to his soldiers, getting them disciplined and hardened to military life...after reading that opener by Saladin Ahmed, (not Mike Sala from court reporter fame but it sure sounds a lot like it, doesn't it?) who is from Detroit, Michigan, not Saudia Arabia or Egypt, I have decided to pour it on a bit in my novel but not enough to really scare the living daylights out of anyone...I had originally intended to use the fiery opening of a temple being burned to the ground so that the arsonist could make a name for himself. After reading Throne of the Crescent Moon's intro, I decided even a temple burning to the ground is not spellbinding. I am wondering whether making men buckle under through harsh discipline may create interest. Philip is a hard-nosed ruler and I like the idea of watching pikes being hoisted into the air while little three year old Alexander toddles alongside outside the fence imitating these huge muscle men trying to become just like them...I can see that picture so well. Disciplined men hoisting the grand sarissa high into the air, turning at the exact moment a trumpet calls, and little Alexander toddling along, proudly stepping with tiny legs to the march of the army...Oh boy!
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