Latest Peaks Island Press Release: Fox & Wolf!

Fox & Wolf by Eugene Woodbury is now available!

Fox & Wolf is a modern action fantasy novel that involves shape-changing teenagers. The story covers the drama and perils of friendship and politics in a Japanese high school plus the drama and perils of family/economic scandal. Like many of Eugene Woodbury's novels, it combines striking action scenes with thoughtful, even philosophical, insights regarding human behavior: how do our pasts influence our current choices; what do our choices say about ourselves; how can we exercise our abilities to be who we are?

Peaks Island Press currently has the following books available:

Fox & Wolf (currently as e-book; coming soon in print!)

The Gentleman & the Rake (in e-book and print form)--this is the omnibus version of both A Man of Few Words and Mr. B Speaks! (and currently has one star on Amazon by someone who presumably doesn't read product descriptions)
 
Serpent of Time (in e-book and print form)

(Non) Dancing Darcy: A Man of Few Words, Chapter 2

In Chapter 2, Darcy begins to mingle with Netherfield's neighbors. This is where I placed the first (of many) infamous confrontations between Darcy & Elizabeth: the scene at Lucas Lodge where she refuses to dance with him.

Despite Darcy's reluctance to dance at a non-dancing event, people in Austen's novels are constantly dancing at non-dancing events. Members of small house parties are continually pushing back the rugs, sending someone to the piano, and dancing a few reels. Dancing appears to have been the equivalent of asking, "So, what's on television?" And it would have been far more similar to watching an hour long drama than to jitterbugging for the duration of a single song.

Harker is second from Ehle after Davis.

One of my favorite scenes in the BBC Pride & Prejudice takes place at the Netherfield ball: during one of the dance scenes, you can see Susannah Harker (Jane Bennet) counting the beats. I think the actor rather than the character is doing the counting, but I think the bobs of her head add a neat touch of realism. The dances and reels at both balls and house parties would have involved an extensive number of steps and some could get rather complicated. They also would have lasted for twenty or more minutes. 

Darcy knows how to dance, of course, but would rather talk. However, these are relative irritations. His famous remark to Sir William Lucas, "Every savage can dance," I propose as a hopeless attempt (on Darcy's part) to stem the tide of dance-related small-talk.

For a definition of the kind of small-talk Darcy loathes, check out Data from Star Trek: TNG.

And for a futuristic Sir William, check out some more Star Trek: TNG. (Commander Hutchinson is a perfect Sir William: he loves company, he will talk about anything, and he is ultimately a kindly man.)

Great Character Actor: Alicia Coppola

Alicia Coppola shows up in a lot of mystery shows--therefore, I see Alicia Coppola quite a lot. She's been an exasperated good guy on Monk; a ruthless vindictive wife on Law & Order: Criminal Intent; a heartless villain on CSI:LV; she's shown up on NCIS and JAG and even Star Trek: Voyager.

What I like most about Coppola is that no matter what part she is playing, she IS that part. There's no bleeding through from other parts. In contrast, whenever the very talented John Glover shows up on a show, he is always creepy, strange guy with an agenda. Every time.

But Coppola as a villain is entirely villainous; as vindictive, entirely vindictive; as innocent, entirely innocent. I never think of other roles while she is on the screen although I certainly recognize her!

My favorite Coppola role is Lt. Cmdr Faith Coleman on NCIS and JAG. Coleman is an intelligent, self-possessed attorney who keeps an immaculate desk and very sharp pencils. There's a great scene between Coppola and Michael Weatherly ("Unsealed") where Dinozzo teases Coppola:

Tony: Is that your idea of a sharp pencil? You know which one I’m talking about. Not gonna poke anyone’s eye out with that one.

As Tony is leaving, Coleman picks up a fistful of pencils and checks their tips. "Now, that's funny!" Tony calls from the door, but Coleman just shrugs, satisfied that all her pencils are indeed quite sharp.

And I like to see actresses with freckles. It somehow makes them so endearing and relatable!

How to Handle the Big Bad: Person of Interest

There's a lot of shows out there whose arcs depend on an ongoing conspiracy. Monk kind of did this with the six-fingered man (although the series thankfully wrapped up its conspiracy with a classic mystery explanation). The Mentalist has taken its conspiracy way too far. Castle uses an underlying conspiracy for Beckett's mother's murder (I gave up trying to follow the conspiracy connections). NCIS occasionally has one, but Bellisario is too wise to let a conspiracy run his seasons.

And Person of Interest does it. I don't mean the machine, but the ongoing conspiracy amongst the police/mob/government. (Spoilers of Season 1 below.)

Person of Interest makes it work. In his post about the show, Eugene remarks, "There are a couple of Moriartys, but even here Jonathan Nolan has them driven by straightforward goals and comprehensible motivations. No insane or insanely omniscient antagonists here."

The head at the front has a face: Enrico Colantoni as Elias!

Nolan has also, as Eugene remarks, given his conspiracy a face: Enrico Colantoni. This was such a remarkably intelligent choice, I literally applauded the episode that revealed him as the big bad. Way to go, guys! Colantoni is a reasonably well-known character actor. He has great range from sweet-tempered to unexpectedly dangerous. And he looks right. He's given his character, Elias, a kind of hunched walk that is reminiscent of classic mobsters without being too cliche. Perfect!

Unfortunately, failure to provide a "face" is exactly the mistake that far too many directors, script-writers (and composition students) make. They keep the identity of the big bad (thesis) hidden until it grows out of proportion, becoming so nebulous and scary that when he (it) does show up, he has to be either completely round the bend (Sherlock) or a "just kidding, actually, this guy is a front for the REAL big bad" (one of the seasons of The Mentalist; as stated in an earlier post, I tend to ignore the Red John episodes on The Mentalist completely).

In comparison, let's look at how much more effective it is to introduce a "face" immediately:

1. X-Files. As Eugene has pointed out, the big bad aren't the aliens; they are the government conspirators. Deep Throat (the lovable Jerry Hardin) and Cigarette Smoking Man (the excellent William B. Davis) were introduced early in the series and became instant fan faves.

2. Star Trek: TNG, Stargate, Stargate: Atlantis: Here's the bad guy. Fight him! Win!! Now, that's good television.

3. Star Wars IV, V, VI: Darth Vader (I mention this in comparison to I, II, and III in which the bad guy is a fuzzy guy on a screen--who cares? Even a heavy-breathing bad guy in a mask is more interesting.)

4. Columbo: An unfair example since we know who the big bad is from the first minute. But it is effective!

5. Leverage ended Season 4 with a "surprise" face BUT it was a face fans had seen before and very nicely paid off an earlier season. (However, the "surprise" barely made it--again, too much build up can cause an ending to fall flat.)

There's a reason why, when Stoker turned his novel into a play, Dracula took center stage. Horror writers like King can hold off on showing readers the big bad because reader actually can imagine the unimaginable. But once the villain MUST be seen, he should be seen immediately.