The Most Feared Punctuation on Earth

I'll admit it: I'm extremely partial to semicolons. That's not to say I like them when they're used poorly, and I have been known to substitute an em-dash in a pinch. But, as one of my dear proofreaders can attest, I do tend to throw out semicolons like rice at a wedding (or like rice used to be thrown at weddings, before it was deemed hazardous to birds).

Today I ran across a funny article by The Oatmeal titled, "How to Use a Semicolon: The Most Feared Punctuation on Earth." If you're struggling with the rules of semicolon-age, or just want a good laugh, head on over there to read the rules, see the examples, and enjoy the funny illustrations. You can learn why, "The ice cream truck man drove by my house today; he had big, hairy knuckles" is a prime candidate for semicolon insertion, whereas, "I fought the bear and won. Also, I never kiss plague rats on the mouth," should stick with the more humdrum punctuation of a full stop.

I also enjoyed the explanation of how the semicolon can be used as a "super comma," enabling you to create descriptive lists such as this one:

My favorite people include Samuel Slaughterjaws, a famous unicorn hunter; my uncle Wilfred, a world champion at mayonnaise eating contests; and Nikola Tesla, the most awesome dude to ever fire a lightning bolt at an angry peasant.

The End of the Road

The flavor of today is bittersweet. On the one hand, Road from the West received an excellent review from The True Book Addict who called it a "well-researched and captivating account." Yesterday, the same blog offered a giveaway of my book and featured a guest post I'd written titled, "Modern Perceptions of the Crusades." What could be more exciting for an author?

On the other hand, today marks the close of the Road from the West blog tour with Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, and I'm a little sad to see it end. It's been a fabulous month and a half traveling the blogosphere with reviews, giveaways, guest posts, and author interviews, stopping at around 25 of the best book blogs out there. Amy Bruno, from HFVBT, has been the consummate professional in organizing this blog tour, keeping me apprised of every detail and making sure books are mailed, interview questions are answered, and reviews are posted on time. If you are a historical novelist looking for a publicity outlet, I strongly recommend HFVBT.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all the bloggers who participated in my book tour! The help that you give to authors is invaluable as we reach out to find an audience for our work. I've greatly benefitted from both your criticisms and your accolades, and I've discovered some new favorite blogs that I'll definitely be visiting now and again.

Challenging a Millennium of Scholarship

I ran into an interesting article yesterday (via the Medieval News blog) touting a new nonfiction book by historian Peter Frankopan that will be "countering nearly a millennium of scholarship" about the First Crusade. In his new book, The First Crusade: the Call from the East, which is slated to come out in 2012, Dr. Frankopan argues that the focal point of the Crusade's origins was in the Byzantine Empire's desire to regain territory, not in Pope Urban's preaching. The Europeans who came to fight came as mercenaries for the Byzantine emperor Alexios. It was only later that Western propaganda turned the military action into a fight for Jerusalem.

The article (originally published in the newspaper The Australian) doesn't go into too much detail about Dr. Frankopan's new findings, but these paragraphs give a small picture of what his new book will propose:

For Dr Frankopan, the First Crusade was therefore not a religious war, but instead a "very specific, targeted military expedition against the cities of Nicaea and Antioch", two former Byzantine possessions that the crusader army swore an oath to hand over to Alexios. Jerusalem was just a carrot. 

The Crusade mythology that emerged from all this was a result of what happened next, Dr Frankopan claimed. Some of the Norman commanders refused to hand the newly conquered cities over to the Emperor. 

To justify this course of action, and a subsequent attempt to launch an expedition against Constantinople, they embarked on a propaganda war of "horrific vilification" against Alexios and his Empire. Urban successfully used the recapture of Jerusalem to cement the power of his papacy and Alexios was written out of the historical record.

I am very curious to read this book once it is released (my Amazon Wish List has been updated accordingly). Dr. Frankopan's claim is an interesting one, but it seems that he would have to discredit dozens of Western sources which attribute the Crusaders' original motivations to their desire to retake the Holy City. Perhaps Emperor Alexios thought he was getting an army of compliant mercenaries, but Urban, Bohemond, Godfrey, and Tancred thought otherwise....

Reviews by Molly - Author Interview

Today I have an author interview over at the blog Reviews by Molly. Molly asked me an assortment of interesting questions: how I chose to write historical fiction, what avenues I use for marketing, and whether I prefer my cake with or without ice cream. Head on over to her blog if you'd like to see my answers to her questions!

Erin Reads - Review

Today Road from the West received a really good review over at the blog Erin Reads. It's always fun to see that someone really enjoyed your work.

Rosanne Lortz writes in a style I’ve found rare in my admittedly limited experience with historical fiction. Over flowery language and paragraphs that drip with details, Lortz favors simple prose and sparse yet effective bits of atmosphere. Rather than describe exactly how something is done or precisely what a scene looks like, Lortz writes just enough that the reader knows and can picture what is happening yet has plenty of room to utilize her imagination. In this respect Road from the West reads a bit like contemporary fiction does, the author assuming the reader and characters share common points of reference that make extended explanation unnecessary. I found nothing lacking in Lortz’s approach and enjoyed how she let Tancred’s story be the novel’s focus.

This is the last week of the virtual book tour for Road from the West. It's been a fun month and a half and I've loved getting feedback from bloggers and comments from the historical fiction community.