In celebration of Book Bloggers' Collaborative Arggghsome Contest, I've decided to become a pirate and head to the waves, trolling the seven seas for booty. I have my eyepatch, my grog, my parrot, and my hook all ready.
Plus I have a cool ship that I'm going to call The Fluffy Underpants.
I do need a crew, though. Here are my own 'orrible lot:
1. Errol Flynn - Because nobody does Gay Blade like Errol.
2. Captain Haddock - I'm a huge Tintin fan, as I've said before, so the Captain must come along.
Anyone who can curse like this needs to be on The Fluffy Underpants.
3. The Pirates! Band of misfits looked sort of like Wallace and Gromit so I'll take them on board.
4. Oh for crying out loud, Google! ALL RIGHT!!!!!
5. We need a good pirate wench, so I've selected Geena Davis from Cutthroat Island:
6. He's nearly a cliche now, but Long John Silver is an amazing literary creation. And he was the first one to say this:
“Fifteen men on the Dead Man's Chest Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! Drink and the devil had done for the rest Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!”
7. And to round out the crew, let's have Anne Bonny, the famous Irish pirate lass who is played here by Jean Peters:
If you just can't get enough pirates, do go and check out Book Bloggers Collaborative. They are running a cool Rafflecopter contest with prizes fearsome hidden bounty to celebrate the release of A World Apart by David Brown.
Demetrius makes his first mistake when he lets his best friend Halcyon marry Eleyna, the love of his life, without saying a word. On the day of the wedding, he walks away from the Elencheran town of Dove’s Meadow and joins the army.
He makes his second mistake when the pirate Black Iris tricks him into letting dozens of men, women and children die in a fire. Demetrius is imprisoned in grief and disgrace.
But he can atone. The Black Iris is dead. The Ivory Rose has risen to the top of the pirates and is leading brutal raids on the coast. If Demetrius can capture and kill her, he’ll win his pardon.
And then Demetrius discovers the Ivory Rose is Eleyna. He must decide which will be his third mistake: losing his last chance at a pardon, or destroying the one woman he’s ever loved.
It's that time again. I have to go and get huge sacks of candy to hand out to kids in Monster High and Clone Wars costumes.
One year my husband handed out FULL SIZE candy bars. It was as though we had Johnny Depp, dressed as a pirate, standing at the door. Kids told other kids, and soon we had a mob scene.
"Here, kids, have a treat, and don't forget to pick up the litter afterwards."
I can't blame them, though. I still remember the feeling I got when a parent popped a full sized Hershey bar into my bag.
Then there's the bad Halloween candy. I'm talking to you, peanut "blossoms," Dots, boxes of raisins, pennies...
Not a fan.
Again: Full sized Hershey's Bar!
When I was a kid (a LONG time ago) I used to get candy at Halloween that never appeared at any other time during the year. I'm talking wax lips and strips of sugar dots you gnawed off paper and rock candy. That was good stuff.
What do you DO with these things?
Those were the years before the warnings against homemade treats came out. Home made popcorn balls, fudge, and caramel apples... they just don't make them like that any more...
Pirates and 18th century medical practices and press gangs may not seem to have a lot to do with each other, but Dianne Greenlay combines them beautifully in her book, Quintspinner. The novel, for teens and also for adults, is centered around the Spinner Rings, magical objects that can control different elements or aspects of reality.
Magical rings may seem fantastic, but Greenlay grounds the book with her thorough research. It is that attention to detail that hooked me from the start. In the first chapter, William is introduced. Later, he is caught by a press gang. These groups had the objective of catching men (and boys) and forcing them into service in the Navy. William's kidnapping and "pressing" into the Navy is described with a sure touch, and Greenlay adds details to give the reader a complete picture of life on a Naval ship, even describing how the boys and men went to the bathroom onboard.
Meanwhile, we are also introduced to Tess, the other main character. She is the daughter of a doctor, who is marked from birth with the sign of an acorn and five tears. This birthmark makes her strange or "unclean," according to her father, and he forces her to hide it.
When she first appears, she is at the bedside of Elizabeth, her mother, helping the woman give birth. Again, Greenlay displays a great deal of knowledge on the subject, naming the medicines and the procedures that would have been used by a doctor in that period (and they are not for the faint of heart!)
Tess then witnesses a murder, and by doing so inherits the first of the Spinner rings. Later, she meets the murderer, who becomes her fiancee and mentor, teaching her how to use the Spinner rings to manipulate events. It's a wonderful twist, and one that Greenlay handles superbly.
More than that, Tess and William appear to be real. I truly wanted to know what happened to them, as well as to Cassie, (Tess's best friend,) Smith, (William's mentor,) and a host of other colorful characters. The quick pace and constant action made Quintspinner a compelling read - I sucked it up in one day on the beach.
I did have a few very minor quibbles - the chapters are extremely short, which made reading a bit choppy, and Elizabeth, Tess's mother, was never really developed as a character. I thought that what happened to her could have been more touching if we had gotten to know her a bit better first.
But those are such minor details, and they do not take away from what is a very fine story from a very talented author. I do hope that Greenlay is writing another episode - and soon.
CONTEST ALERT! Dianne Greenlay will be giving away a Quintspinner T shirt and a $10 Amazon gift card to one randomly drawn commenter during the blog tour.
***
I spent Memorial Day on the beach in New Jersey, watching my daughter build sandcastles while I read Quintspinner. It was the perfect book for the beach, since it centered on a nautical theme and setting, and it was really well written and researched. (In fact, Quintspinner was just awarded Honorable Mention for Best Beach Read at the Beach Book Festival, so there you are.)
The main character in the book is a daughter of a doctor in the 18th century. Dianne Greenlay, the author, knows quite a bit about her subject, since she is a physiotherapist and an EMT. She lives on the Canadian prairies with her husband and what she calls “a consortium of cats.”
I was lucky enough to be able to interview Dianne about her book and her writing in general. What she had to say about the book was just as interesting as the book itself. If you would like to learn more about Ms Greenlay, you can check out her website and her blog. She is also on Facebook.
1. Quintspinner is about Tess, a 18th century doctor's daughter whose life changes suddenly. Did your background as an EMT help you write the book? Having a medical background as an EMT and as a sole charge physiotherapist certainly was useful. Because of this occupational combination, I have a lot of knowledge and experience in both acute and rehab medicine and I have been an observer in the O.R. and have seen many procedures such as amputations and cardiac surgeries first hand. However, I had to research 18th century medicine to see what techniques they used, and to find out what level of knowledge they had with regards to disease and treatments. Some of their techniques were downright brutal.
2. There are many twists to the plot of Quintspinner, including the prophetic spinner ring. Can you explain the significance of this object to the novel? Spinner rings are based on ancient Tibetan prayer wheels and rattles, whose spinning movements were thought to enhance a user's prayers or manifestation techniques, enabling healing and prophesy gifts to occur. Today, spinner rings are found throughout the tropical areas as tourist-y items, and they are also sold in North American stores. Sometimes they are called motion rings, and sometimes they are referred to as worry rings, meant to reduce the wearer's stress levels. As QUINTSPINNER is set in the age and world of pirates, which had an astounding amount of treasure - jewels, furs, precious metals, and spices - and since the sailors back then were a very superstitious bunch, I was inspired to include a spinner ring as a subtle reason for Tess to be endangered. The presence of a spinner ring and its supposed power is there, but in a way that neither the reader nor the characters are sure of whether to believe in it or not.
The number "five" was, and still is considered to be a powerful number by numerologists - There were five oceans, continents, senses, planets visible to the naked eye - so I chose it to be the number of spinner rings. "Quint" had a better ring to it than "five". (No pun intended!)
3. Which readers would love this book? An editor that I worked with suggested that I drop Tess's age to 16 to capture both the YA and adult audiences. This seems to have worked very well as QUINTSPINNER has won awards in both historical and YA categories. Although I had assumed the readership would be female upper YA and adults, it is an adventure story, and quite descriptive in the lifestyle back then, and so it also appeals to male readers.
4. What was your favorite scene to write?
I had two favorite scenes. The first was the pirate attack on the ship. As I was writing, I was literally hearing the cannons roar, the men scream, the masts crashing down, and I swear I could smell the smoke in the air. (Turns out it was the neighbors' barbeque...)
The second scene was the one of the hurricane. Again I was totally immersed in the tons of cold sea water crashing down on the decks and the burn of its salt in my characters' eyes, the winds tearing at their hair and clothes, the ship tilting in a sickening slide. I think I was playing Dvorak's New World Symphony in the background as I wrote that scene.
5. This book is set in "The Gold Age of Piracy." Are most of the characters pirates?
(Spoiler Alert!) Only one of the main characters is a pirate, and this is not revealed until the story is quite underway. The other, more obvious pirates are encountered when the ship is attacked and overtaken by the pirate ship, The Bloodhorn. At this point, the pirate captain takes a rather large role for a good portion of the book. Because pirates have a universal appeal to all ages, my book launch party was pirate themed. Many audience members came in costume, we served grog and hard tack goodies, and a scene from the book was acted out by a local theatre group. It really brought QUINTSPINNER to life!
You can watch the book trailer for Quintspinner here:
Dianne is available for interviews and guest blogs.
See that cool banner I put at the top of my blog, as well as that book link to the right? I'll be hosting Dianne Greenlay's Quintspinner this week on June 2.
Ms Greenlay will be giving away a Quintspinner T shirt and a 10$ Amazon gift card to one randomly drawn commenter. Save your comments for Thursday, June 2 and you will be automatically entered to win if you post then!
I'll repeat that: post here on Thursday, June 2, and be entered in the giveaway.
I'm reading her book now, and I will give you one hint - pirates. And it is really good - can't stop reading! Arrrrrrr!
