Angela VanWell

Author | Reader | Traveler | Tea and Coffee Drinker

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Inspiring Author of the Week: Ilona Andrews

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The secare specialize in killing, to the point where other Kinsmen are wary of them. Fated Blades begins as Ramona Adler and Matias Baena make a temporary alliance, despite their enmity, in a race to secure their stolen technology, catch the betrayers; thus saving their families.

I’ve read little in the last few months. I’ve been watching more foreign films and television series. But when Ilona Andrews came out with a new novella in their Kinsmen universe, I knew it would be a story to bring me back to reading. Fated Blades is the third book in the Kinsmen series, the last book published about a decade ago.

The Kinsmen Universe takes place in the distant future where “genetically and technologically advanced families-control cast financial empires. They are their own country, their own rulers, and their only limits are other Kinsmen.” – Ilona Andrews Each book is a standalone space opera romance, making them fast, fun reads.

Each book takes an unlikely couple on a unique planet and pits them against incredible odds. The planet Rada is no expectation. Where Matias and Ramona face continuous attacks from all fronts and are shocked to find they can rely on each other.

Ramona is a strong, witty, empathetic heroine, all characteristics I love in a female lead. She is independent and does standalone looking after the family and the family business. But she would love to have someone she could count on, someone who wouldn’t betray her.

Matias is a controlling workaholic. Focused on the family business, he sacrifices everything else without hesitation. It is what made their alliance believable to me. They both are so focused on their families, they make a temporary alliance, risking each other’s betrayal, to save their families from ruin.

Both Ramona and Matias are heads of their secare, Kinsmen, families. When there is a betrayal to the family, it is up to them to fix it. What is worse is that it was their spouses who carried out the betrayal.

This was the perfect story to bring me back to reading. It was fast, witty, energetic, with the tension of forbidden love. As it was a novella, there is just enough setup to bring the Kinsmen universe to life, without sharing too much of the history of the Kinsmen to slow the story down. It made me realize I should read more novellas.

Below is a little spoiler, but it is chapter 1, so it sets up the story with sharp, visceral pain. Like ripping off a bandaid.

“your wife is having an affair with my husband,” Ramona said.

For a moment they shared a silence as he came to grips with Cassinda licking the inside of Gabriel Adler’s mouth.

Ramona spoke first. “That brings me to my second question. Have you experienced any security or data breaches in the last few weeks? Go ahead. Check. I will wait.”

Fated Blades – Ilona Andrews

Ilona Andrews are powerful writers in the Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and in-between genres. I can always count on their books for action, wit, and romance. You do not need to read the other Kinsmen books first but can jump right into Fated Blades. But I urge you to read the others. They are fantastic. Enemies turn into frienemies as the pair, and other kinsmen, learn of the peril to New Delphi, their home.

Overall, the characters were strong from the beginning and their generation tension engaging. I liked both of the leads and the consistency of their characters throughout the novella. There is internal conflict, but externally, they both stick to their goal and their word. The world Andrews built well enough for my imagination to fill in the rest, and I would not mind checking out the cafe on the side of the cliff. It sounds amazing. A fast, fun read when it’s snowing outside or if you just need to escape from reality for a little while.

The Kinsmen Universe continued to impress me as I find most Sci-fi and fantasy I read are novels, yet these novellas continue to create an immersive universe while moving the story along with action and wit. I will now go back and reread the other books in this universe. I suggest you do the same. Happy Reading!

Fairy Tale Retelling: The Red Shoes in It’s Okay to Not Be Okay

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The Netherlands contains many iconic historical figures, unique culture, and famous landscapes. As with many European countries, the Netherlands also have a unique take on fairy tales and folktales shared between The Brothers Grimm, Mother Goose, and Hans Christian Andersen. They shared many of their favourite fairy tales at Efteling, a wonderful amusement park to explore Dutch cultural heritage. One of those stories is The Red Shoes. A fairy tale also shared in the Korean drama, It’s Okay to Not Be Okay. The Red Shoes started as a story about morals and was twisted into a journey through obsession.

Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen shared many folktales teaching morals to children through a Christian lens. The Red Shoes, in particular, was a short tail where we follow newly orphaned Karen through temptation and redemption.

Karen was pretty and delicate, a poor girl gifted a pair of red shoes by old Dame Shoemaker. She wore them to her mother’s funeral, as they were the only shoes she owned. A carriage pulled up and an old lady saw the poor pretty girl and told the clergyman to “give me the girl. I will adopt her!” – Hans Christian Andersen. The lady thinks the shoes look terrible and burns them, but Karen believes they were the reason the lady offered her a home.

“Karen believed all this happened on account of the red shoes”

Hans Christian Andersen

Obsessively, Karen noticed the red shoes worn by the princess, and was thrilled to find a new pair at the shoemakers. She then filtered all of her thoughts and decisions through those shoes. The story centres around her growing obsession with red shoes and how they symbolize her being saved, her increase in social status. Even the queen’s daughter had a beautiful pair of red shoes.

The story turns when Karen attends her Sunday communion in her red shoes. Everyone, including the portraits, stared at her red shoes as she put the chalice to her lips. She forgot to sing, forgot the Lord’s Prayer, thinking only of her red shoes.

The story grows darker from there…the shoes magically dance and Karen is drawn obsessively to them until she ends up abandoning the old lady, who was close to death, to dance at a ball. The shoes danced and danced, dancing her away into the dark forest, returning her to the village the next morning where the old lady lay in her coffin having died in the night. And still Karen danced into the dark of the night. She danced to the executioner, who she begged to cut off her feet so she could repent.

You can read the full story, as published by Hans Christian, 1805-1875 here.

The tale ends with Karen sitting alone in her room reading hymns while asking God for mercy and her soul flying up to God at her redemption. There is no happy ending beyond redemption. As with most fairy tales, Efteling has a lighter take on the moral story.

Efteling

Rather than sticking with the Christian lens, Karen begins as an orphan. The shoemaker’s wife takes pity on her and gifts her a pair of red shoes. On a bleak winter day, Karen shivers in her red shoes when a majestic coach pulls up beside her and offers her a place to eat and rest for the night. The kind lady then asks Karen if she would like to live with her forever.

Rather than the lady burning her shoes, Karen throws them away, enamoured with her new life and the fine dressed and shoes she now owns. She becomes vain and spends much of her time in front of a mirror; dancing while adoring herself.

When the queen came to visit, Karen joined the crowd to admire the queen and princess. The Princess wore little red shoes, far prettier than the red shoes Karen had been gifted! When the lady gave her money to buy a new pair of shoes, the girl bought a pair of red dancing shoes. Upset, the old lady told Karen she couldn’t wear them to school or church. She was to wear her old black patent shoes to church the next day.

The soldier from the original version remains and sings Karen a song.

There is a big dance being organized in the town square. Karen practiced dancing in front of her mirror, wearing her red shoes. But when the day of the party arrives, the kind lady becomes ill. Karen must stay home and look after her. When the lady falls asleep, Karen slips on her red shoes and snuck out of the house. It shouldn’t hurt to slip away for one little dance?

However, once she reaches the dance, Karen dances and dances the night away. Her feet light on the ground, she twirled and twirled, feeling marvellous! It was at midnight, when the party was ending, Karen realized she had left the sick woman alone for too long. She tried to return home, but the shoes continued dancing, carrying her away into the night.

The next morning she still danced, her blistered feet tormenting her as the shoes danced her back towards the church. The old soldier was sitting on the steps. She called for help and the soldier asked, “I thought you loved dancing?” to which Karen cried, “Yes, but the old woman needs my help!” The soldier waved his sword as he answered, “Aha! So you can think about people other than yourself.” He sang:

Red shoes for dancing, worn to church?

That is just not right! Leave her be now, little red shoes

Let her go home tonight

The Red Shoes – Efteling Book of Fairy Tales

The shoes shot off her feet and danced away. Karen scrambled to her bare feet and ran home. The old lady was better. Karen fell to her knees and apologized sincerely. The lady kissed her on the forehead and said, “It’s alright. I’ve already forgiven you because I suspect you’ve been cured of your vanity now.”

Efteling park is a magical place. I loved their versions of fairy tales to share. You can find an excerpt of The Red Shoes and other fairy tales here.

While I prefer to tell my kid the lighter fairy tales, at least until she is at an age to appreciate the darker versions, I loved the version presented in It’s Okay to Not Be Okay.

It’s Okay to Not Be Okay

This Korean Drama shares the stories of wounded souls through a dark and realistic plot using fairy tales. Each episode intertwines a tale through the story of the struggle between mental health and emotional wounds. They return to the original tales where there are morals and life lessons taught through suffering. The difference is, they have a twist to each one.

Episode 2: The lady in Red Shoes uses the Red Shoes fairytale to explore obsession. Ko Moon Young is a children’s fairy tale author who will buy, take, steal, and do whatever it takes to have what or whoever she wants.

“The little girl wore her red shoes everywhere she went, even to a God-fearing church. Once you wear those shoes, your feet start dancing on their own. And you can never stop dancing or take off those shoes. But even so, the little girl never gave up on those red shoes. In the end, the executioner had to cut off her feet. But the two feet that got cut off still continued to dance in those red shoes.  Some things can’t be torn apart no matter how hard you try to do so. That is why obsession is noble and beautiful.”

It’s Okay to Not be Okay

As this is the second episode, we get to see Ko Moon Young’s growing obsession with Gang Tae as well as sharp objects. Her childhood trauma feeds her obsessions as she holds herself away from taking chances and believing in the hope of fairy tales. She twists the tale of the Red Shoes into a noble take on how obsession can be noble and that she will never be torn away from her obsession–Gang Tae. The rest of the series introduces more fairy tales, but the Red Shoes theme of obsession remains through the series.

The Lady in Red Shoes reminded me that sometimes we hold on to memories, items, and relationships we might need to let go of. And sometimes, there are relationships that cannot be severed, no matter how hard we try. Each episode builds on the last, with many life lessons brought forward for the main or supporting characters. Each episode left me contemplating how the fairy tales connect to my own life.

The drama in entrancing. There is no magic other than the struggle of the human spirit. It is a wonderful series taking us back to the origins of fairy tales, when they are about teaching life lessons and healing of the human spirit–the essence of life.

The Korean Drama is available on several platforms, so if you are interested in twisted fairy tales, I highly recommend you check it you. Happy Reading!

2021 Summer’s End

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The most challenging aspect of the pandemic, to me, is the loss of connections. The loss of the quick coffee chat, the friendly hike, or an actual week long trip–all gone. In their place were video chats, on-line conferences and courses, all taking place on multiple platforms. I am grateful these options exist, but they are not the same. I don’t receive the same feeling of connection. It is the different between a hug and a “talk to you later!” on a phone call. Both are nice, but one sticks with me longer and warms up my heart.

We transferred countries months before lockdown began. Leaving Europe for North America. We were meeting people, making connections, it was all at its infancy. Then borders closed. We were outside of the country our new residence visiting our passport country. Like many people, we had to make hard decisions for all the time since.

The decision to spend more time in our passport country has lead to deeper, quality time spent with a few people we are close too. We have not lived in Canada for years, so previously our trips were sparse and filled with drives up and down the QE2 spending time with family and friends. This time we were able to spend quality time with a small group of people, building new memories.

The Rocky Mountains, Alberta, Canada

A wonderful week was spent in July with much of my extended family; cousins, siblings, and parents. With trips cancelled and delayed, many of us were able to meet over a week and camp in our grandma’s yard together. It was a place filled with memories of our childhoods, memories we spent time exploring with each other, our parents, and our kids. We laughed late into the night and started over again in the morning. I missed this.

It is amazing how quickly I returned to my childhood. Going for walks with my cousins in the fields filled with bales of hay. Walking along the driveway as the kids rode their bikes in front of us. Water fights on grandma’s lawn. Campfires in the yard surrounded by family and friends, all of us singing as someone played guitar. Though, as an adult, I noticed the mosquitoes more and hid in the screened in tent when they were especially hungry.

I have cousins who are creative who made us a set decals for the family. Now we have some extra warmth to take home with us and reminisce in.

After the family camping trip, we returned to the Calgary area, happy and tired from the time spent with family. It took a few days to recover from all the laughter, late nights, and family time. But we are fortunate to have more family down here as well and spent time with them.

There is another, important aspect, that drew us to live near Calgary, Alberta: The Rocky Mountains.

Crisp air, gurgling creeks, roaring waterfalls, beaten paths: all call me to the mountains. The air is so fresh it cleans out my lungs and makes me feel lighter. This year was different with the forest fires raging across British Columbia. What looks like fog or mist was actually smoke and every once and a while I would be reminded by its smell again. No matter how high I climbed in the mountains, I could still not see through the mountain pass. It was concerning. But then again, the cedars filtered the scent of smoke from the air, the waterfalls cascaded into streams to feed the cedars and I hope it remains moist enough that the fires do not spread through the mountain passes.

I climbed Cascade Mountain with a friend. There is nothing better than to struggle up the side of the mountain, up through the scree, to realize I am no longer used to the thin mountain air. Living at sea level for the past six years did not help. You can see a picture I took of the mountain at the top of this post.

Upon my return home, I spent a week recuperating from my hike. I needed it. I slipped on the scree and bruised my leg and arm, but all is well now. I was reminded to walk everyday. Even if I cannot make it to the mountains, there are beautiful paths around me to enjoy. I love to be outside, I don’t always need to be surrounded by mountains.

The next few weeks my house filled with family. In fact, we once again returned to my childhood as there are currently only two beds in the house and we had nine people sleep over at one point. We returned to beds on the floor, something we always did when visiting cousins as kids. Everything was as expected. Once bathroom broke down with the first set of guests, and my fridge died when the second set arrived. There is another set returning this weekend and I wonder how my house will respond to that. Maybe it means we are still supposed to be in the mountains? Or is the house hinting at maintenance expectations for the fall?

Moving back into a house I haven’t seen in six years has been more challenging then I expected. We are still living with the bare bones, so not even our basic tool kit is here. Once again, having family and friends close has saved us as we have been leant tools and a helping hand. It turns out I cannot connect a new thermostat panel without causing some physical damage to the house and mental damage to myself. Living in Europe has helped as well as I know how to shop for small amounts of food at a time as we are down to an apartment sized fridge in our house until our other fridge arrives. In the mean time we are eating everything as it thaws from the freezer. I don’t think I will be able to look at another leek dumpling again for a long time. Fun times!

The smoky days and early sunsets took me back to a trip to Edinburgh. Replace the smoke with a misty rain and the sunset with street lights and I can relive the experience. When we living in Europe, many of our girl trips were spent in the United Kingdom. There is so much to explore and it was so easy to get to. But my heart belonged in Edinburgh. There was something about the city, a place filled with history, culture, and education, that made it feel like home. I walked around for hours and explored the gem street by street. My first time there I saw a quote on the side of a building and it has stuck with me.

Katie Paterson is a Scottish artist (Not the women pictured in the graphic), well regarded for her unique composition of technology, scientific expertise, and philosophical engagement between humanity and the environment.

“A place that exists only in moonlight” was created by Katie Paterson. I researched it when the quote stuck with me through the years and I felt compelled to return to the quote whenever I returned to Edinburgh. I am disappointed I did not see her exhibition, but the book itself is a collection of text based artworks printed with cosmic dust. It is itself a piece of our universe. I am infatuated with art and inspired by poetry, so her creativity moves me. It also reminds me of the mountains. Of the infinite space they take up in my heart.

Now the summer is ending and we will be returning to a schedule ruled by school. I don’t actually mind it, but I already miss the freedom of the summer. The next few weeks are filled with doctor appointments, school supplies hunting (a personal favourite), and preparing for the school year. But my heart is lighter from the memories created and gathered throughout the summer. They will maintain me.

If you are looking for a way to experience the forest of the world through space in time, follow the link below to Hollow – a forest of all the world’s trees created by Katie Paterson and Zeller & Moye. There is a permanent public art piece commissioned by the University of Bristol. When we are unable to travel, there remains the ability to interact with the art piece online.

http://www.hollow.org.uk/

I hope you have a wonderful summer break or winter break depending on where your head lays at night! Happy reading!

Happy 153rd Birthday Canada!

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It is Canada’s 153rd Birthday. A fairly young nation when we consider the ages of other countries. Yet, despite its young age, Canada has experienced a lot culturally, geographically, and politically. While it is a good time to reflect on the highs and lows of the nation, I am choosing to focus on the interesting.

For instance, did you know that the Hudson’s Bay Region has less gravity than the rest of the planet?

Yup, less gravity. So we can all flock to the area to lose that last bit of weight, or to feel slightly lighter as we walk around and explore the region. I have not explored there yet, but it is on my travelling list.

We returned to Canada about a month ago, hence the silence between the testing, quarantine time, and setting up the fundamentals of our home. But now summer is here, and every Canadian knows we must run out and embrace it, because soon enough it will be autumn and cool.

Long Lake, Athabasca County

Where we spent the weekend ATV-ing through the forest and boating on the lake. Our first weekend out of the city.

The Establishment’s Funkmorphosis & Fallentimber’s Meadjito and Mr. Pink

Summer is also the time to enjoy local, artisan beverages. Fortunately for me, there are many available in the Calgary Region.

So we have nature and beverages; all that is left is entertainment. Usually, I will suggest books to read, and yes I will find some to share later this summer. But for now, I want to re-explore my local, watch the birds above me in the clear blue skies, and the squirrels, deer, and coyotes in the forest. So instead of books — though audiobooks would totally work here — I will share music.

The Tragically Hip, an iconic Canadian band

What should I share about this band? We usually call them the Hip. Why waste all the syllables when we all know who we are talking about in one? A 1990s Canadian rock band with poetic lyrics focusing on aspects of Canadian history. They have over two decades of platinum albums and we all mourned and celebrated the life of Gord Downie upon his death from brain cancer. Their final farewell show was streamed and broadcast to over 11.7 million people, Canada’s population is 37.59 million, so almost 1/3 of us watched.

Their lyrics were political and emotional, asking us to remember our history and consider our futures. I will leave the post with their final album, Man Machine Poem, and the song, In a World Possessed By the Human Mind. A song seeming to explain fears, created through irrational thought, should not be trusted. Everything is not as it appears, it’s all fine.

In a World Possessed by the Human Mind

Just give me the news

It can all be lies

Exciting over fair or the right thing at the right time

Everything is clear

Just how you described

The way it appears, “A world possessed by the human mind”

Then I think I smiled

Then I think you said, “it’s fine”

And quietly I dressed, in a world possessed by the human mind

We’re in awe of NO ONE

We’ve none of their FEAR

Fighting’s goin’ nowhere and we stay right here

Where’s everything is quiet

A little SUPER-DANGEROUS

“In the shadow of the law and with colours of justice”

Then I hope I smiled

Then I’m sure you said, “It’s fine”

They got no interest in a world completely possessed by the human mind

Everything is quiet

A little SUPER DANGEROUS

Quiet enough to hear God rustlin’ around in the bushes

Oh, but it was you

Girl, I was so afraid

You said, “You shoulda seen the look on yer face.”

Then I hope I laughed

Then I hope I said, “it’s fine”

And quietly undressed in a world completely possessed by the human mind

Oh it was you

Girl, I was so afraid

You said, “You shoulda seen the look on yer face.”

The Tragically Hip

So go outside and find joy in the world you live in. Happy Canada Day!

Inspiring Author of the Week: Douglas Adams

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“The only person for whom the house was in any way special was Arthur Dent, and that was only because it happened to be the one he lived in.”

Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

I kinda feel what Arthur was feeling this week. We have jumped between countries once again and are once again in quarantine. I feel like the Canadian-United States border is the location of the new Hyperspace Express Route and our family life has been scheduled for demolition. I am not sure which side to be on. My husband’s job is on one side of the border and our house and my daughter’s school are on the other side. It makes day-to-day family life… interesting.

Luckily for me, if we follow the tenets of the Hitchhiker’s guide, all we have to do is Don’t Panic! And that is why I chose Douglas Adams as the Inspiring Author of the Week. I love his use of wit and comedy in his books. Where someone’s life is a footnote in a galactic plan.

I believe I read the book first, borrowing it from my high school library. The narrator’s sarcasm came through with every line and brought me joy. For anyone who likes sarcasm and deadpan humour, this book is for you. The opening line let me know that humans should not take themselves too seriously, and Douglas Adams sure wouldn’t

Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral Arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.

Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ap-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.

Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

The Hitchhiker’s guide itself turned out to be full of useful information for the inter-galactically inclined traveler. The bottom line, travelers should always carry a towel.

Arthur was not aware his friend, Ford Prefect, was in fact an alien, and would introduce him to a whole reality outside of earth he did not know existed. Ford also happened to be a researcher for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and his knowledge would take the two of them across the galaxy and through many unique challenges.

Only Ford could talk the man responsible for demolishing Arthur’s house into laying in the mud in front of it while they went to the pub.

Ford had strong opinions based on his years of travel between galaxies. If he said to drink 3 pints fast before the world ends, the best plan was to follow his lead.

I loved the book and the movie. Both are worth your time. The lightheartedness of Ford brings me joy and reminds me to not take myself terribly seriously. Instead to enjoy the adventure. So while I am in my…fourth, fifth, sixth??? quarantine this year, I am going to settle in with a bowl of noodles and watch the movie once again.

Happy Reading/Watching!

Inspiring Author of the Week: Caedis Knight

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Vampires of Moscow was published in October 2020. In this paranormal romance suspense ebook (18+), Saskia, a reporter for The Blood Web Chronicle, will do whatever it takes to find her story, including getting close to the Russian vampires, Konstantin and Lukka. In a world where the paranormal community remains hidden and wild, the chronicle publishes exposé to help govern the ungoverned, to protect those victimized, and for Saskia to find her missing sister.

The book is steamy, the protagonist, Saskia, is curious and self-reliant, she uses those characteristics to pursue her story, no matter where it leads her.

As an investigative reporter for The Blood Web Chronicle, the biggest news outlet on the paranormal dark Blood Web, Saskia spends her days cracking twisted para cases hoping that someday, some case, will bring her closer to finding her missing sister.

In snowy Moscow drained corpses of illegal workers have begun to turn up, with hundreds more reported missing. When Saskia is sent on assignment to investigate an oligarch Vampire crime ring that might be behind the deaths, she plans to get in out of the city’s frozen grasp quickly…preferably with her neck intact.

But beautiful ballet dancer Konstantin Volkov and his wildcard brother Lukka complicate things. The vampire brothers have their own reasons for solving the string of murders, reasons that conflict with Saskia’s mission. Soon, Saskia finds herself enmeshed in the city’s glittering web of crime, passion, and violence, where truths and lies are one and the same.

Caedis Knight

The authors do not pull any punches with Saskia’s personality, her smutty sarcastic nature starts on page one. There was no doubt what to expect in the book: a lot of steam. Saskia follows the drained corpses to a dance and sex club in Russia, the Black Rabbit.

There is also a light exposure of undocumented workers and the dangerous world they navigate in hopes to make enough money to move back home. They handled it with a light touch, but exposed how much risk undocumented workers have in the normal and paranormal world.

I could feel the manic movement within the criminal underground in Russia. It brought the characters to life and brought understanding to the more deplorable characters in the book.

I travel through books and have had limited experiences in Russia, it was interesting to travel to the top and bottom tiers of fictitious Russia. The pace of the book was fast, the story dark and graphic. While the story did not make me want to travel to Russia, it was interesting to explore in the book.

They opened the doors in this book. The book includes descriptions of torture, child abuse, and death.

If you like books that move quickly, are a bit naughty with added darkness, then this series is for you. There is a prequel novella already available, and Book 2, Witches of Barcelona came out earlier this year. You can find the Caedis Knight website here.

Happy Reading!