As an indie author, I never tire of being recognized by those who have traveled the same road. So I was delighted to learn that London-based writer Rose Auburn has included The Lane Betrayal among her Top Ten Reads by Indie Authors from 2020. Rose is the author of Cobwebs of Youth. She can be found online at roseauburn.com.
Also this month, I released the paperback edition of Sea Spray, the third installment of the Time Box series. Like my first seventeen novels, it is available exclusively through Amazon.com.
I intend to spend the rest of January finalizing the Time Box series boxed set. Then I will turn my attention to converting my most recent works to audio and producing the fourth book of the Time Box saga. Set mostly in Hawaii, it will follow the Lane family in the months leading up to the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.
Here's to a happy, healthy, and productive 2021 for all!
Friday, January 15, 2021
Monday, January 4, 2021
Review: The Queen's Gambit
I don't play chess. I haven't in years. I haven't since the fifth grade, when I joined and briefly participated in a school chess club.
A lot of boys did that in 1973. Nearly all, I dare say, wanted to emulate Bobby Fischer, the 29-year-old American wunderkind who defeated the Russian Boris Spassky in the 1972 World Chess Championship.
I say boys because chess clubs and organizations in those days were mostly male domains. Even now, women make up less than fifteen percent of the members in the U.S. Chess Federation -- an all-time high.
So I was delighted to see Netflix shake things up with The Queen's Gambit, a riveting story about a female chess prodigy. Set mostly in the 1960s, the miniseries follows Kentucky orphan Beth Harmon as she rises from obscurity to international stardom.
In the series, Harmon, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, overcomes personal tragedies, crushing sexism, and drug addiction as she weaves her way through the intriguing and competitive world of professional chess.
From the first episode to the last, I found it impossible not to root for Harmon as she bounced from one trial to another. Taylor-Joy portrays a young woman who fears nothing, it seems, except Vasily Borgov, the reigning world champion, whom she plays twice in the story.
Marielle Heller, who plays Harmon's adoptive mother, also shines in the series, based on Walter Tevis's 1983 novel. So do three young men, former chess adversaries, who become the prodigy's biggest supporters as the tale races toward a satisfying conclusion. All lend weight and nuance to a "sports story" that could easily stand on its own.
I highly recommend the seven-part series. For viewers looking for a rags-to-riches story, particularly with a strong, flawed female lead, The Queen's Gambit is hard to beat. Rating: 5/5.
A lot of boys did that in 1973. Nearly all, I dare say, wanted to emulate Bobby Fischer, the 29-year-old American wunderkind who defeated the Russian Boris Spassky in the 1972 World Chess Championship.
I say boys because chess clubs and organizations in those days were mostly male domains. Even now, women make up less than fifteen percent of the members in the U.S. Chess Federation -- an all-time high.
So I was delighted to see Netflix shake things up with The Queen's Gambit, a riveting story about a female chess prodigy. Set mostly in the 1960s, the miniseries follows Kentucky orphan Beth Harmon as she rises from obscurity to international stardom.
In the series, Harmon, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, overcomes personal tragedies, crushing sexism, and drug addiction as she weaves her way through the intriguing and competitive world of professional chess.
From the first episode to the last, I found it impossible not to root for Harmon as she bounced from one trial to another. Taylor-Joy portrays a young woman who fears nothing, it seems, except Vasily Borgov, the reigning world champion, whom she plays twice in the story.
Marielle Heller, who plays Harmon's adoptive mother, also shines in the series, based on Walter Tevis's 1983 novel. So do three young men, former chess adversaries, who become the prodigy's biggest supporters as the tale races toward a satisfying conclusion. All lend weight and nuance to a "sports story" that could easily stand on its own.
I highly recommend the seven-part series. For viewers looking for a rags-to-riches story, particularly with a strong, flawed female lead, The Queen's Gambit is hard to beat. Rating: 5/5.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)