Dorothy Marley's Journal

Okay, so I'm way behind the news on this, but the other day I decided, on a whim, to re-read Elizabeth Peters' last Vicky Bliss novel, Night Train to Memphis which led me to think "Hey, it's been a while since her last book, let's check Amazon, see if there's a new Amelia Peabody book."

There wasn't a new Amelia Peabody book.

There was a new Vicky Bliss book.

The first new Vicky Bliss book in fourteen years.

Now, the Amelia Peabody books are awesome, but the Vicky Bliss books are freakin' rare from this woman. Well, okay, comaparatively rare, as in a mere five books (now six!) instead of eighteen Amelia Peabody books, not to mention the other gazillion books the woman has written.

The other good thing is that the book comes out the day after my mother's birthday, and the CD version *also* comes out the day after my mother's birthday, instead of later as used to be the case. This is good because my mother doesn't actually read books anymore. Instead, she listens to them. All the time. (Seriously, all the time. She has two iPods.) I have, therefore, ordered the audio CD for her. Unfortunately, she has an annoying habit of keeping up with this stuff herself and ordering things on her own, so I'll probably have to spill the beans to keep her from buying it.

I was pretty bummed to learn this morning that one of my favorite authors, Lisa A. Barnett, died of cancer last May. Just last night, I'd picked up one of her books to re-read, wondering if and when she'd write another one, and then this morning stumbled over an old newsletter with the announcement of her death.

She was a co-writer with her partner, Melissa Scott, on all three of her books. Their first book, The Armor of Light, is set in Elizabethan England, and features a certain Christopher Marlowe--in this book, still alive in 1596. You can see already why I liked her work. :)

Truthfully, I think The Armor of Light is possibly one of the catalysts of my decades-long obsession with Marlowe and his works. Certainly I'd already fallen in love with his writing by the time I read it, but there's no question that Scott and Barnett's portrayal of him fueled the fire of my obsession.

Their next two books, Point of Hopes and and its sequel, Point of Dreams, are set in a purely fantasy world. I admit, I picked up Point of Hopes hoping that it would continue Marlowe's story from The Armor of Light, but I think it says something about Point of Hopes that by the time I was a few pages into it, I didn't care whether Marlowe was in it or not. The world they created was wonderfully realized and intricately detailed, the kind of place I couldn't wait to re-visit. I was so glad to have the chance when Point of Dreams came along several years later, and wasn't in the least disappointed. I've practically worn out all the copies I have of her books (I think I've gone through two copies of The Armor of Light, in fact), and I'm sad to realize that there won't be any more.