Astray by Emma Donoghue

Astray by Emma Donoghue

[F]or the past decade and a hlaf, I've been writing stories about travels to, within, and occasionally from the United States and Canada. Most of these travelers are real people who left traces in the historical record; a few are characters I invented to put a face on real incidents of border crossing. Many of them stray in several sense, when in the course of their journeys across geographical and political boundaries they find themselves stepping over other ones: law, sex, or race. Emigrants, immigrants, adventurers, and runaways--they fascinate me because they loiter on the margins, stripped of the markers of family and nation; they're out of place, out of their depth. (Afterword, 263)

I loved everything about this book (including the cover art). As Donoghue explains so eloquently in her Afterword, Astray is a collection of short stories that together are a study on what it means to stray (in every sense of the word). The stories are thematically organized into three groups: departures, in transit, and arrivals and aftermaths. They are set at various points in time between 1639 and 1967 and focus on a diverse group of individuals.

My favorite thing about Astray is that the stories are inspired by something that actually happened (or supposedly happened). Each story is followed by a note, usually a couple of paragraphs long, that explains its inspiration. What I like most is that the genesis of some of the stories is the smallest mention of something in a historical document. One of the joys of working as an archivist is coming across the types of tidbits that piqued Donoghue's interest. Our most visceral reaction to such a discovery is either a great desire to find out more information (research imperative) or a need to speculate about what really happened, using our imagination to fill in the gaps (daydreaming), or both. I suspect most of us don't often act on the former (because we have work to do), but instead keep mental lists (or photocopies) of the potential-laden morsels (I know I do). I love that Donoghue has followed these paths to their logical conclusion and given life to the historical snippets that haunted her.

I want a copy for my library. Astray is going on my wish list.

why I hate moving

This is really just an FYI post. It will likely be a bit quiet here on morsie reads for the next few days.

Those of you who have followed the blog for any length of time will know that I recently relocated for a new job and that I hate moving. Well my employer has a new building where the administrative offices and the library will be located henceforth. The library move hasn't been scheduled yet, but the main office move is happening this weekend.

You'd think that this first phase of the relocation should be no big deal for me. After all I've only been in this job for a few month, how much stuff could I have accumulated in my office? If only things we're that simple... I've actually moved over all my office files. All that's left to move from my office is my desktop dalek, a light table, and a card file.

BUT I'm responsible for all the boxes of files that have been stashed in the basement mail room over the years (~200), both the permanent records and those awaiting disposition (as well as material that should have been downstairs that is only coming to light now that everyone is serious about packing). I have loads of lovely, brand new compact shelving, but there is no wasted space. The record shelves are the perfect size for bankers boxes with properly fitting lids. Anyone care to guess how many boxes are either unnecessarily oversized or overpacked?

I intended to finish up a half-written review last night, but I was simply too exhausted from packing and repacking boxes yesterday. I suspect the next few days with yield more of the same exhaustion. Wish me luck.

Ghost Hunter

Ghost Hunter by Jayne Castle

Ghost Hunter is the last of the archives-related romance novels that I was able to get through BookMooch after the archives fiction presentation at SAA (see this post).*

Ghost Hunter is a paranormal romantic suspense novel and the 4th in the Harmony World series by Jayne Castle (aka Amanda Quick, aka Jayne Ann Krentz). I'm not sure why Ghost Hunter was mentioned in the series rather than one of the earlier novels since the archivist character is the series' male lead. Maybe because of the cover art?

The premise is a bit complicated, so I'm going to leave it to the author to summarize. From the Harmony history page of Castle's website:

Late in the 21st century an energy Curtain opened in the vicinity of Earth, making interstellar travel practical for the first time. In typical human fashion, thousands of eager colonists packed up their stuff and lost no time heading out to create new homes and new societies on the unexplored worlds. [...]

The colonists brought with them all the comforts of home – sophisticated technology, centuries of art and literature and the latest fashions. Trade through the Curtain flourished and made it possible to stay in touch with families back on Earth. It also allowed the colonists to keep their computers and high-tech gadgets working.

And then one day, without warning, the Curtain closed, disappearing as mysteriously as it had opened. Cut off from Earth, no longer able to obtain the equipment and supplies needed to keep their high-tech lifestyle going, the colonists were abruptly thrown back to a far more primitive existence. [...] Two hundred years after the closing of the Curtain, the descendants of the First Generation Colonists have managed to claw their way back from the brink to a level of civilization roughly equivalent to our own modern day Earth.

Here on Harmony, however, things are a little different, especially after dark. There are the creepy ruins of a long-vanished alien civilization, a mysterious underground rainforest, and a most unusual kind of animal companion.^ In addition, a wide variety of psychic powers are showing up in the population. Seems that something in the environment on Harmony is bringing out the latent psychic talents in people.

This same text also serves as the introduction to Ghost Hunter.

The archivist in Ghost Hunter who worked as an archivist/librarian (he's referred to as both) as a cover for his real job (I don't want to spoil anything, learning what his real job is part of the plot of Ghost Hunter).

Overall I enjoyed Ghost Hunter very much and want to try to find copies of the other books in the series. The world Castle has created in this novel is fully conceived. Elly, the series' protagonist, is spunky and interesting. Cooper, the male lead, comes out of his shell in Ghost Hunter (leading to the couple's first sexual encounter). And I just love the fact that dust bunnies are actually live creatures what some people have as pets.

* Other books I got were Overnight Male by Elizabeth Bevarly (see post) and How to be a "Wicked" Woman (anthology, see post).
^ dust bunnies!

How to be a "Wicked" Woman

How to be a "Wicked" Woman

I requested How to be a "Wicked" Woman through BookMooch after it was mentioned in the archives fiction presentation at SAA (see this post). The romance anthology is concerned with what it means to be wicked. Three stories are included in it:

• "The Wicked Witch of the West Side" by MaryJanice Davidson
• "Instruction in Seduction" by Jamie Denton
• "Wicked Ways" by Susanna Carr

"Wicked Ways" is the one that features archives and the one I chose to read first. Neither of the protagonists in "Wicked Ways" is an archivist (the female lead is a business owner and head of the library's friends group, the male lead is an investigator pretending to be a librarian), but they do have a romantic encounter in the archives.

What I don't like about these kind of anthologies is that the stories don't tend to be long enough for the relationship buildup to be appropriately satisfying. "Instruction in Seduction" was the least problematic in this regard because the characters knew each other before the start of the story period and had a strong backstory. I didn't like "The Wicked Witch of the West Side" at all. The female protagonist was extremely irritating and there just wasn't enough time to warm up to her (if warming up to her was even possible).

Overnight Male

Overnight Male by Elizabeth Bevarly

I mentioned in this post attending a session at the Society of American Archivists meeting that featured a presentation on sex and sexuality in archives fiction. After the session I requested a couple of the books mentioned in it from BookMooch. There were quite a number of books mentioned in the presentation, but only two were available through the book-trading site.

First up, the romantic suspense novel, Overnight Male...

Overnight Male is the 3rd (and presumably final) book in Elizabeth Bevarly's OPUS* series (after You've Got Male and Express Male), in which the protagonist, one Lila Moreau, finally meets a man who she's able to love.

Lila Moreau, codename She-wolf, is one of OPUS's preeminent agents. She's on the tail of Adrian Padgett, once an OPUS agent himself, who is the single biggest threat to national and international security. She has a plan to take him down on her own until she realizes that OPUS wants her on a short leash: she'll have to work hand in hand with her new partner, Joel Farraday, an OPUS archivist.
And, from their first meeting sexual tension abounds.

I'm not sure, though, if Joel is really an archivist. In Bevarly's world archivists seem to be behind-the-scenes analysts, not those in charge of preserving the records of OPUS.

Overnight Male isn't all that great from a suspense standpoint (the final standoff, if it can even be called that, between the OPUS operatives and Adrian is anti-climatic at best), but it does excel in the romance arena. I think the finale would be even more satisfying for readers who have followed Lila's adventures through the two earlier novels.

* Office for Political Unity and Security

traveling, part 3

As I mentioned earlier in the week, the reason I'm traveling is the Society of American Archivists annual meeting. I went to a couple great sessions this morning, one of which was entitled "Archives After Hours (The Light, Literary, and Lascivious Side of Archives)". It was a decidedly fun session. I'm writing about it because one of the presenters, Arlene Schmuland, talked about sex and sexuality in archives fiction.

I am embarrassed to say that I'd only read one of the books she mentioned in her presentation, The Sixteen Pleasures by Robert Hellenga. I took lots of notes and will report back as I have a chance to read the books in question. I'm particularly amused by the idea of sexy archivists as protagonists in romance novels.

SAA Publications

Here are a couple of new titles that I wanted to pick up from the Society of American Archivists Publications booth:

- Architectural Records: Managing Design and Construction Records by Tawny Ryan Nelb and Waverly B. Lowell
- Archives and Justice: A South African Perspective by Verne Harris

I'll have the boss order the architectural records book for our book collection at work, but the Harris volume is going to have to go on the wishlist.