Monday, November 23, 2015

Straight Reading from the Library: King Arthur's Sister in Washington's Court by Kim Iverson Headlee


This review is in conjunction with a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Kim will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

READ THE BLURB


Morgan le Fay, 6th-century Queen of Gore and the only major character not killed off by Mark Twain in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, vows revenge upon the Yankee Hank Morgan. She casts a spell to take her to 1879 Connecticut so she may waylay Sir Boss before he can travel back in time to destroy her world. But the spell misses by 300 miles and 200 years, landing her in the Washington, D.C., of 2079, replete with flying limousines, hovering office buildings, virtual-reality television, and sundry other technological marvels.

Whatever is a time-displaced queen of magic and minions to do? Why, rebuild her kingdom, of course—two kingdoms, in fact: as Campaign Boss for the reelection of American President Malory Beckham Hinton, and as owner of the London Knights world-champion baseball franchise.

Written as though by the old master himself, King Arthur’s Sister in Washington’s Court by Mark Twain as channeled by Kim Iverson Headlee offers laughs, love, and a candid look at American society, popular culture, politics, baseball...and the human heart.

READ THE REVIEW


This is such a fun book on what the "what if" Morgan le Fay found herself in late 21st century United States. It's written in as a sequel, an in the style of Mark Twain, author of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and the author does a remarkable job. So much so I now want to go back and read Mark Twain's again!

Morgan still has her magic and utilizes it well to fulfill her new calling - a "Boss" who realizes that the power is often behind the throne as she helps the American president Malory Beckham Hinton (snicker) make some major changes in the political realm (not spending more than you take in? radical ideas).

It's not necessary to be familiar with the Twain classic to enjoy this book (frankly, I've forgotten a lot about it- it's been so long since I read it), but there were some references back to it that I think someone more familiar with the original would get a fuller experience. All in all, great job, Ms. Headlee. 5 stars.

READ AN EXCERPT


(Preface)

I’m given to understand some of my posthumous critics have intimated that I was jealous of Jules Verne—that maybe I even felt threatened by him. I have never heard such cocky popping beetle dung in my entire death.

Verne was a hack of the First Order whose publisher (engaged after he had inflicted two decades of the most unengaging whining and pleading, pining and wheedling upon all the other High Lords of Bookdom) viewed it necessary to transform his dyspeptic drivel into something within shouting distance of palatability for the reading public. Jules Verne didn’t invent science fiction; his publisher, Pierre-Jules Hetzel, did,—and I’m sorry I wasn’t born a couple of decades sooner to save everyone the time, trouble, and confusion.

As for this book, here I confess it’s long past overdue. I buried one clue in the joined opposites of Hank Morgan, Technology-Wielder, and Morgan le Fay, Magic-Wielder. Furthermore, Mrs. le Fay was the only important character in A Connecticut Yankee whom I didn’t kill off, of the thousands I did lasso, hang, shoot, electrocute, explode, drown, torpedo, and otherwise murder. Unfortunately, certain Weightier Matters contravened my intent, and I never put pen to parchment to commence the duologue’s conclusion within my lifetime. That nobody acted upon my clues in the hundred years since my sadly unexaggerated demise, speaks to the fact that I’ve been waiting till I’m well and truly dead before whispering my words into the quick and able ear of my chosen Ghost-Writer. For the matters depicted herein, of course, are things which ought to be settled. I don’t have anything else in particular to do in eternity anyway.

MEET THE AUTHOR


Kim Headlee lives on a farm in southwestern Virginia with her family, cats, goats, Great Pyrenees goat guards, and assorted wildlife. People and creatures come and go, but the cave and the 250-year-old house ruins—the latter having been occupied as recently as the mid-twentieth century—seem to be sticking around for a while yet.

Kim is a Seattle native and a direct descendent of twentieth-century Russian nobility. Her grandmother was a childhood friend of the doomed Grand Duchess Anastasia, and the romantic yet tragic story of how Lydia escaped Communist Russia with the aid of her American husband will most certainly one day fuel one of Kim’s novels. Another novel in the queue will involve her husband’s ancestor, the seventh-century proto-Viking king of the Swedish colony in Russia.

For the time being, however, Kim has plenty of work to do in creating her projected 8-book Arthurian series, The Dragon’s Dove Chronicles, and other novels under her imprint, Pendragon Cove Press. She has been a published novelist since 1999, beginning with the original edition of Dawnflight (Sonnet Books, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0671020412).

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6 comments:

  1. Which is more logical to follow—your heart or your head?

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    Replies
    1. It's more =logical= to follow your head, of course.
      But the heart does what the heart does.
      :)
      Thanks for visiting, good luck in the giveaway, and Happy Thanksgiving!
      Kim Headlee
      Stories make us greater.

      Delete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. Thanks so much for your lovely review of KASIWC, and I'm pleased to report that the paperback is now available!
    All my warmest wishes, and Happy Thanksgiving to you and all your visitors and loved ones!
    Kim Headlee
    Stories make us greater.
    P.S. Readers will get a double snicker to learn that a man named Josiah Hinton was the first person Mark Twain ever lampooned in print -- Mr. Hinton had criticized the political career of Twain's brother, Orion Clemens, in a letter to the local newspaper. The phonetic similarity to the last name of a certain present-day political duo was pure gravy. :)

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  4. Enjoyed the excerpt and review, sounds like a great read, thanks for sharing and Happy Thanksgiving!

    ReplyDelete