Morituri

Yasmina Khadra (real name: Mohammed Moulessehoul) is a former high ranking Algerian army officer who moved to France in 2000 after having witnessed some of the bloodiest and most brutal days in Algerian history (and that is saying a lot).  Moulessehoul went into exile because he dared write about the fact that there were few “good guys” in the Algeria’s religion-based civil war, other than perhaps the countless civilians who were slaughtered in the process.  The Algerian army was often as guilty of atrocity as the terrorists whom the military struggled to control.

That Khadra/Moulessehoul would leave Algeria with a jaded outlook on life is no surprise.  That he would adapt his experiences into a classically noirish detective series would be more difficult to imagine – but that is exactly what he did with Morituri and the other Superintendent Llob books.

Superintendent Llob and Lieutenant Lino have been around long enough to understand the politics of police work in a city as politically corrupt as Algiers.  They recognize the relationship between corrupt politicians, businessmen, and high ranking police officials.  But those simple days are over.  Now, policemen like Llob and Lino are being targeted for political assassination by groups trying to collapse Algeria’s governmental system.  In order to speed up the cultural breakdown, policemen and their families are being assassinated alongside writers, singers, journalists, entertainers, and others deemed to be a threat to the Muslim revolution.  Men like Llob and Lino take each day one at a time, thankful each time they make it to the office without incident.

In the midst of the turmoil, Superintendent Llob is assigned to search for the missing daughter of one of the more corrupt powerbrokers in Algiers.  The search will force Llob and Lieutenant Lino into the underworld of Algiers that few Westerners would dream exists.  Llob, ever the tough guy, uses his contacts to get himself inside some of the most decadent settings one can imagine, places where anything and everything can be had for the right price, including young women, little girls, and little boys.  Llob pursues the search for the missing rich girl, crashing and bullying his way from scene to scene, despite what he learns about her and her father.

Yasmina Khadra

The strength of Morituri is in how the novel so deftly captures the atmosphere of 1990s Algiers, a city in which paranoia and fear ruled the day.  When I left Algiers in late 1993 (early in the evolution of the war), it was already a city of curfews, unreliable roadblocks, massacres of entire villages, beheadings, kidnappings, bombs, and assassinations.  Drivers had to decide on a hunch whether a roadblock was being manned by real military personnel or by terrorists dressed to look the part.  There was a shoot-on-sight rule for anyone caught on the streets after ten p.m. Villages, down to the last man, woman and child, were slaughtered within the sight and hearing of army posts but military personnel did not always bother to notice.  Westerners were targets of choice for kidnappers and assassins. Army and police personnel seldom bothered to take prisoners in shootouts with terrorists they confronted in the middle of a long Algerian night.

The difference was I could walk away from Algiers, never to return.  Superintendent Llob and Lieutenant Lino had to stay and to do their best to protect the streets of the city, an impossible task.  Yasmina Khadra has written Morituri in a style that can be a bit difficult to read at times – characters come and go at a rapid pace and the plot veers from scene to scene like a runaway train – but he has done a magnificent job in recreating the atmosphere of a major world city that was eating itself alive in the nineties.

Rated at: 4.0

On Bad Reviews and Comments from Author Sock Puppets

SFP's Pages Turned lit blog turned me on (way late, it seems) to the latest flaming backlash from an author who does not appreciate her book being less-than-positively reviewed by an unprofessional critic, otherwise known as anyone coming from the despicable book blogging community.  I suspect that many of you have experienced the same; it's happened to me several times and it is the main reason I've cut back so far on the number of review copies I nowadays accept from publishers or authors.

I will say, too, before going any further, that I have sometimes been overwhelmed by the graciousness of several authors who have stopped by to thank me for reviewing their books even though my reviews were far from being raves.  I am pleased to report that the "gracious group," in my experience, has outnumbered the "unprofessional group" by at least 5 to 1.

This is some of what Sylvia Massara had to say about book bloggers (only the ones who do not rave about her work, of course):

This is why I am warning authors to beware of this kind of reviewer. When you offer your book to be reviewed, first take the time to check out the reviewer. Have a read of some of the reviews they wrote in the past. See if they trashed someone else. Make sure they back up their reviews with facts and objective criticism. I learned my lesson the hard way and didn't do my research first, as I should have done.


Oftentimes, the people who set up these kinds of blogs have never written a thing in their lives, except maybe a grocery list. Most are avid readers who think they are qualified to review someone else's work. So it's very sad when they go about damaging the image of upcoming small press and indie authors with the rubbish they write.


My message to them is this: if you cannot write an objective review and back up what you say, then don't write anything at all. And next time you use the words "predictable" or "one dimensional" try to quantify what you mean--that is, if you are able to write about it. Please bear in mind that writers work very hard at their craft and the last thing they need is a smartass who makes subjective comments because they don't know how to do anything else.

This is tame stuff compared to the anonymous comments she left on at least two of the blogs that published unfavorable reviews of her latest romance novel.

Sylvia seems to be advising her pals to send their work out to only those "unprofessionals" that are willing to write a canned, positive review in exchange for the privilege of having received a "free" book.  Anyone daring to challenge Sylvia's skills is written off as just another "avid reader that has never written anything other than a grocery list."  Otherwise why would they fail to be dazzled by Sylvia's brilliance?

I cannot speak for others in the lit blog community, and I don't pretend to do so.  But, as for me, I started Book Chase a little over four years ago as a personal book journal.  I began with the intention of linking to what was already a thriving community of likeminded people, book lovers, writers, and heavy duty readers.  My "reviews" were as much notes to myself, as they were anything else.  I welcomed the opportunity to spread the word about "little books" that impressed me, the kind of book that seldom makes those trashy bestseller lists at the NY Times and USA Today.  I loved hearing from self-published writers, small presses, and university presses.

I pride myself on giving an honest opinion about what I read, and I think that my reviews have gotten better over the years.  But honesty is still the key ingredient, as far as I'm concerned.  I will admit to letting a few books drop into the Book Chase Black Hole, even though I could neither force myself to finish them nor find anything positive to say about them if I did manage to make it through to the end, precisely because I respected the authors for working so hard to get out the word about their books.  Some would say that is akin to pulling punches, but I have a soft spot in my heart for indie authors and small presses, and if I erred, it was on the side of "doing no harm."

I have only this to say directly to Ms. Massara: Book bloggers do not owe you a thing in return for a review copy other than their consideration of the book for an onsite review.  They certainly do not owe you a positive review.  There are a few "unprofessional" bloggers out there that will gladly do the dirty deed for/with you - and you can find them if you look around for a day or two.  Sadly, that group of bloggers is every bit as unprofessional as the "professionals" who do the same for their own friends and colleagues.  Perhaps, you should consider your own professionalism before leaving snarky anonymous comments around the web regarding what you consider poor reviews of your work.  Is being a "sock puppet" part of the professional image writers shoot for these days?  I doubt it.

(Follow the link in the first paragraph if you want to read Massara's original post (although she has self-servingly deleted about 180 comments she received) and two of the reviews of her work that got the lady in such a snit.)

Trailer for Atlas Shrugged, Part I

So what do you think?  This just might turn out to be one of the most controversial movies in a long while. Personally, the trailer does nothing much to get me excited about the film but it does appear to be well done...and this is just "Part I."

Borders Nearing Bankruptcy

What has seemed inevitable for months is apparently about to happen.  Borders Bookstores is preparing to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy because the company's creditors refuse to throw more good money after the bad money they have already lost.  Both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times are reporting that the filing will likely occur early next week.

Borders, the beleaguered bookseller, is preparing to file for bankruptcy as early next week after efforts to refinance its debt faltered, people briefed on the matter said Friday.


The company had largely failed to persuade publishers to convert payments they had been owed since late last year into interest-bearing loans.

[...]

Neither of Borders’ biggest shareholders — the company’s chairman and chief executive, Bennett S. LeBow, and the hedge fund manager William A. Ackman — has indicated a willingness to put new money into the bookseller, these people said. Mr. Ackman disclosed in a regulatory filing late last year that he would be willing to loan Borders up to $960 million to finance a merger with Barnes & Noble, the company’s bigger rival.

Publishers are truly stuck between a rock and hard place when it comes to dealing with Borders.  On the one hand, they, as a group, have potentially lost several hundred million dollars on books already delivered to the chain.  On the other, if they cannot find a way to work with Borders that will keep the company in business, a major seller of printed books is lost to them forever.  In today's publishing environment, one has to wonder if such a large chain of bookstores can ever be replaced.

Interestingly, Borders has apparently not given up on the idea of forcing itself on the Barnes & Noble chain.  Such a merger might save a healthy percentage of the Borders outlets (for now), but I can't help but wonder how the deal would affect the economic health of the already weakened B&N chain.

If you're a gambler, Borders stock can be had for about 25 cents a share.  Do you feel lucky?

Lincoln's Men

In Lincoln’s Men (1999), William C. Davis provides an in depth study of the relationship between President Abraham Lincoln and the men of the Union Army during the War Between the States. Lincoln had an unusually close relationship with his fighting men – one that would sustain the president and his soldiers through even the bleakest periods of the war. Davis makes the case that, had this personal relationship not existed, it would have been much more difficult for the country, civilians and soldiers alike, to find the will to continue to fight a terrible war that seemed to be lasting forever.

That Abraham Lincoln became a father figure to a huge majority of the men fighting on the side of the Union, especially those in the Army of the Potomac, is beyond dispute. As his book’s subtitle announces (“How President Lincoln Became a Father to an Army and a Nation”), Davis explains here the “how” part of what happened. In order to do that, Davis searched through some 600 manuscript collections to see what the men themselves had to say about Lincoln during various milestones of the war. He quotes extensively (sometimes to excess, in fact) from the letters and diaries of the men who were there.

Lincoln’s Men is divided into nine chapters, beginning with one on Lincoln’s election to the presidency in 1860 and ending with one on his assassination in 1865. Between these bookend chapters are others on creation of the Union army, Lincoln’s struggles with the reluctant-to-fight General McClellan, Lincoln’s evolving policy on emancipation of the slaves in Southern states, Lincoln’s efforts to keep his army armed, fed and paid, and one on Lincoln’s liberal pardon policy (perhaps the most revealing chapter in the entire book).

Each of the chapters is peppered with direct quotes from soldier correspondence that show Lincoln’s influence and effect on the men he so much respected and admired. Davis does not make the claim that love for Mr. Lincoln was unanimously shared by the army and, in fact, spends a good number of pages quoting from McClellan loyalists who remained in opposition to Lincoln right up to his death. Shockingly enough, some Union soldiers, those who insisted to the end that they had not enlisted to fight to end slavery, were cheered by the news of Lincoln’s assassination – and many learned to regret the mistake of expressing those feelings to Lincoln loyalists.

Abraham Lincoln was perhaps the perfect man for his time and his job. It is, of course, impossible to predict what might have happened if America had had no Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln’s Men does make clear, however, how much a key element the personality of Lincoln was in holding the Union together long enough for the United States to conclude the war successfully. Without the strong emotional bonding between Lincoln and his men, the War Between the States may have ended very differently.

Rated at: 4.0

Joyce Carol Oates Reads from Sourland

YouTube continues to impress and amaze me.  The service makes it possible for all of us to enjoy things like this Joyce Carol Oates appearance no matter where we live.  This reading took place in Boston, a city I haven't visited in two decades, but thanks to YouTube and Forum Network, I feel like I was there (and I suspect that I had a better view than those who saw the event live).

This is the keynote address at the Boston Book Festival,  on October 15, 2010, during which Ms. Oates reads "Pumpkin Head," one of the short stories from her latest story collection, Sourland.  After the reading, Ms. Oates engages in "conversation" with an interviewer and takes questions from the audience.

I have not read Sourland yet but, from what Ms. Oates says in her introduction to the reading, it appears that many of the stories in the book share the common theme of sudden widowhood that she so frankly addresses in her recent memoir, A Widow's Life.