A Look at What's Landed on My Front Door

Every couple of days I am lucky enough to have a few great books end up on my front door. Some of them come as a result of an upcoming interview, some I have ordered, and others are a complete surprise.

Here is a rundown of some of the new books that have landed on my front door that I will be writing about and entering into my Library Thing in the days to come.



The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Laruen Willig
January, 2008 -- 400 pages -- $24.95

Lauren Willig is a very talented person. When I emailed her recently I also found her to be kind and gracious as well. She has written an amazing series of flower-named spies (Pink Carnation, Black Tulip and now the Crimson Rose) set during the Napoleonic Wars. I have looked at some of the chapters of The Seduction of the Crimson Rose and this book promises to be just as good as the last three. You can read a sneak peak at chapter two of this book by clicking here. There's also a quiz on Willig's site to win a free ARC of the new book, click here for more details. Willig has agree to sit down and talk with me closer to the publication date of the book and I can't wait to get to share it here! Lauren and I had a great time emailing back and forth, connecting as Tudor scholars. It is always a great thing when you find a great author who's also great to chat with.

Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips
December, 2007 -- 304 pages -- $23.99

A publisher at Little, Brown, and Company sent me some information about this book several months ago, tauting this book as one to watch out for. The moment it arrived I sat down to see what all of the buzz was about. Here's the gist, the twelve gods of Mount Olympus are out about and living amongst us. They aren't happy about it and maybe that's because they're all living together in one cramped London townhouse. How do they pay for the townhouse you ask? They have jobs, of course. Artemis is working as a dog-walker, Apollo as a TV psychic, Aphrodite spends a good deal of her time as a phone sex operator, and Dionysus as first-rate DJ. We all know what happens when twelve people with infinate powers live together in one house, don't we? Real World Imortal eventually errupts in an epic battle between Aphrodite and Apollo and when two humans get caught in the middle it's up to them to save these gods in distress.

The Terror Dream: Fear and Fantasy in Post 9/11 America by Susan Faludi
October, 2007 -- 368 pages -- $26.00

I have had a goal over the last few months to bring more non-fiction books and authors to Loaded Questions. Susan Faludi writes about the nervous breakdown America experienced after 9/11 in which the myth that we as Americans were safe because of the power of our nation. Faludi does this with a detached, intelligent and sometimes perversly humorous look into the lives of Jessica Lynch, Donald Rumsfeld, and Abu Ghraib's Private Lynndie England. Faludi is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and former reporter for the Wall Street Journal. One not need agree with her
views on the issues she writes about to appreciate the brilliant ways in which she writes about them. Faludi will be speaking with me for an interview in the coming weeks.

Jane Boleyn: The True Story of the Infamous Lady Rochford by Julia Fox
December, 2007 -- 400 pages -- $26.95

When I first saw this title I had to stop and think about it for a few moments. A Jane Boleyn? Then I realized that this Jane Boleyn is the wife of George Boleyn, Queen Anne Boleyn's brother. This novel follows the life of Lady Rochford (Jane Boleyn), the woman who testified before court that she believed the accusations of a sexual relationship between Queen Anne and her husband were true, leading to the death of bother her sister-in-law and husband by the order of King Henry VIII. Jane lead a very scandalous life and was herself beheaded along with another of King Henry's wives, Catherine Howard. I think this book is going to be really interesting because I read that Julia Fox, the author, is the wife of well-known Tudor historian John Guy. It'll be interesting to see how Fox handles her historical facts. While I did receive a copy of this book, I haven't yet been able to get in touch with Julia Fox for an interview. Julia! If you, or someone you know, is reading this, please email me at KellyHewittLS@gmail.com.

Henry VIII's Last Victim:
The Life and Times of Henry Howard Earl of Surrey
by Jessie Childs

Henry Howard, The Earl of Surrey, was a poet and a leading figure in the English Renaissance. He was also first cousins to both Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard (both mentioned above). Jessie Childs has written quite a good biography of one of the most powerful and interesting nobles. Childs writes about Henry Howard's close relationship with Henry VIII's bastard son Henry Fitzroy (Three Henrys in one sentence!), his role as a warrior knight, and perhaps most importantly as a staunch critic of the king's vices. This is not historical fiction, it's history but Childs writes it so well you probably won't notice the difference. I look forward to taking some time to chat with Jessie in our upcoming interview.