Book Review: The Terror by Dan Simmons

The Terror by Dan Simmons
Abridged, 8 hr. 54 min.
Hachette Audio
Simon Vance (Narrator)
December 20, 2006
★★★★☆

Genre: Historical Fiction, Thriller (Horror), Suspense

Source: Downloaded audio from my local library

“The men on board HMS Terror have every expectation of triumph. As part of the 1845 Franklin Expedition, the first steam-powered vessels ever to search for the legendary Northwest Passage, they are as scientifically supported an enterprise as has ever set forth. As they enter a second summer in the Arctic Circle without a thaw, though, they are stranded in a nightmarish landscape of encroaching ice and darkness. Endlessly cold, with diminishing rations, 126 men fight to survive with poisonous food, a dwindling supply of coal, and ships buckling in the grip of crushing ice. But their real enemy is far more terrifying. There is something out there in the frigid darkness: an unseen predator stalking their ship, a monstrous terror constantly clawing to get in. When the expedition's leader, Sir John Franklin, meets a terrible death, Captain Francis Crozier takes command and leads his surviving crewmen on a last, desperate attempt to flee south across the ice. With them travels an Inuit woman who cannot speak and who may be the key to survival, or the harbinger of their deaths. But as another winter approaches, as scurvy and starvation grow more terrible, and as the terror on the ice stalks them southward, Crozier and his men begin to fear that there is no escape. The Terror swells with the heart-stopping suspense and heroic adventure that have won Dan Simmons praise as "a writer who not only makes big promises but keeps them" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). With a haunting and constantly surprising story based on actual historical events, The Terror is a novel that will chill you to your core.”

Don’t let the classification of Historical Fiction/Horror turn you off from this book – I probably would classify it as more of a thriller. It wasn’t scary; it was intense and kept you riveted to the sheer “terror” that being stranded in the frozen north could entail, but it was nothing that would keep you awake at night shaking in your boots. It is a tale of the struggle for survival against nature, man, and beast.

The author uses a blend of historical facts known about the Franklin Expedition to find the Northwest Passage and Inuit mythology about the area to craft a tale of what could have possibly happened to the stranded crew. This was for the most part a flawless blend. There was one part toward the end where it was a little more “telling” the mythos than “showing” which got a little boring, but I think it might have been slightly attributable to the fact that the version I was reading was abridged – it might have been smoother in the unabridged version (please correct me if I am wrong!). At some points you have to suspend reality a little bit, but the author’s writing sort of puts you in the mindset of these men who were trapped for about 2 years in the frozen Arctic. You can sort of see where the distinction between reality and delusion could blur.

As there is not a lot known of what ultimately happened to the crew, the author has a lot of creative license to work with. However, the author does a great job with the historical background of previous expeditions to discover the Northwest Passage as well as the prior expedition of the HMS Terror and HMS Erebus to the Antarctic.

Reading this story quickly brought to mind the story of the Donner Party – some of the events are similar in terms of a small group just trying to survive winter weather and what it will do to the minds of men. Simmons does a great job of evoking just how harrowing it might have been.

The writing was riveting reading and I was compelled to come back to the book every time. It was a sort of “what could possibly go wrong for them now” pull toward the page.

★★★★½☆

The narration of this book was top notch. Simon Vance was also the narrator for Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel, which I read last year, and I certainly recognized his performance. He was able to take a book that I would otherwise not have enjoyed (Bring Up the Bodies) and make it enjoyable; and he did a fantastic job with The Terror. As I said in my Bring Up the Bodies review: he did a fabulous job with voices and creating unique characters that I could identify each time by just the tone of his voice. He made me hate the antagonist character even more because the voice was annoying! Truly one of my favorite audiobook narrators (and I have a very short list!).

The only production issue I had was with the beginning of the book. It sort of jumps around in the narration a little when establishing some of the characters back stories – and with the audio it was a little difficult to tell when we were in the present and when we were in the past.

Dan Simmons has written many books, but those among the historical fiction genre include: Drood and the upcoming The Abominable. You can visit the author’s website for additional information about the book. If you would like to preview the story before reading it, why not try out this excerpt of the book?

Did you know that AMC is in development to make a drama series of this novel? You know it will be good, as all of their drama programing has been!

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Lions and Men
• Horror Novel Reviews

 

Copyright © 2013 by The Maiden’s Court

Read More

The Franklin Expedition – Cultural Spin-Off

The plight of the HMS Terror and HMS Erebus has inspired various cultural adaptations in songs, images, and books. Some of these are pretty cool.

Songs:

Several folk songs have been composed about this tragedy including

• Lady Franklin’s Lament (recorded by many artists)

• I’m Already There by Fairport Convention

• Frozen Man by James Taylor

• Northwest Passage by Stan Rogers

Each one focuses on a slightly different aspect of the expedition. Lady Franklin’s Lament is about the wife of Franklin lamenting his loss. I’m Already There is about the expedition itself. Frozen Man was inspired by photographs in National Geographic of the body of Franklin Expedition member John Torrington. Northwest Passage is about explorers who tried to find the Northwest Passage with a portion of the song about the Franklin Expedition.

Images:

Terrifying, dramatic stories are often portrayed in art – those where the results and actual events are unknown are event more fodder for the imagination.

Man Proposes, God Disposes by Edwin Henry Landseer shows two polar bears chewing on both a ship mast and human bones – both symbols of the Franklin Expedition. This image was initially perceived as being made in poor taste.

Man Proposes, God Disposes by Edwin Henry Landseer

The Icebergs by Frederic Edwin Church shows an Arctic iceberg scene with a ships mast placed in the foreground in tribute to the Franklin Expedition.

The Icebergs by Frederic Edwin Church

Both of these are powerful images – although neither shows any actual depictions of the ships.

Books:

Besides the obvious, The Terror by Dan Simmons, other books have been written about the Expedition.

• Journeys and Adventures of Captain Hatteras by Jules Verne – where the titular character tries to retrace the steps of the Franklin Expedition.
• North with Franklin: The Journals of James Fitzjames by John Wilson
• Arctic Drift by Clive Cussler
• Wanting by Richard Flanagan
• Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition by Owen Beattie
• The Quest For Franklin by Noel Wright

Hope you have enjoyed this little cultural trek through the terrifying ordeal of the Franklin Expedition (as much as you can a tragedy).

 

Copyright © 2013 by The Maiden’s Court

Read More

The HMS Terror and Erebus–a Tragic Story

Today I wanted to give you a little bit of background information on the British ships the HMS Terror and the HMS Erebus. This week they will be featured with a look at their cultural impact as well as with a review of The Terror by Dan Simmons. Simmons’ book tells a version of the tale of these ships during their last expedition, the Franklin Expedition (which I will talk about more in a minute), however they had quite the life before that ill-fated voyage. The more I read about their exploits the more interested I become.

The HMS Terror began its life as a war ship during the War of 1812. It actually was involved in the bombardment of Stonington, Connecticut which is just a few towns over from my hometown – which I never knew was even involved in the War. In the 1840’s the Terror teamed up with the Erebus for the first time in their storied careers in an expedition that would be known as the Ross Expedition to the Antarctic. For 3 years they explored and studied the nature of Antarctica.

Engraving of HMS Terror and HMS Erebus.
Photo Credit: Bettmann/Corbis

Following the success in the Antarctic, the next best place to explore would be…the Arctic! This expedition would be known as the Lost Franklin Expedition – and the last for both of these ships. The expedition, led by John Franklin, left England in 1845 to discover the Northwest Passage, only to get stranded in the ice off of Baffin Bay. The crew of 128 lasted through at least 1848 before running out of provisions. The last note left by the crew was dated April 26, 1848 and stated that they were going to be setting out on foot for the Canadian mainland. The crew was never seen again and it is likely that they all succumbed to their fate.

There is a very cool interactive timeline/map of the Franklin Expedition as well as the subsequent searches made for the crew and ships. You can also read more details about the searches for the ships. Both sources are courtesy of Canadian Geographic.

Searches were made many times to try and locate the missing crew and the ships beginning in 1848 and continuing throughout the rest of the 19^th century. Several of the bodies of crew members who perished early in the stranding have been located, as have many other relics showing that the crew was there, however to date the ships have not been located.

The plight of the HMS Terror and HMS Erebus is one of those stories that captivate me like the Donner Party – in one of those twisted types of fascinations. It’s one of those unsolved mysteries that I hope to one day be solved.

 

Copyright © 2013 by The Maiden’s Court

Read More

Titanic in Music

I have previously featured posts about Titanic here but wanted to do something to celebrate the sinking of the Titanic and the loss of lives.  I found some interesting songs about Titanic to share with you all.

First up – from the Carter Family a folk song about the sinking of the Titanic.

The Great Titanic by the Carter Family

There is an album that has been released with original songs composed in celebration of Titanic and Southampton where she set sail from.  It is called Look Out! Southampton’s Titanic Story in Song performed by the White Star Line Up.  I can’t enclose any clips, but if you visit the website they have some song clips you can preview or purchase the album.

There is also a scouting song about the Titanic.

Boy scouts sing the Titanic Song

Then of course, there is the soundtrack to the movie, Titanic.  The score is absolutely beautiful and I love listening to it. 

Any other Titanic songs that you know? Which are your favorites?

 

Copyright © 2012 by The Maiden’s Court

Read More

Book Review: A Race to Splendor by Ciji Ware

A Race to Splendor by Ciji Ware

Paperback, 544 pages

Sourcebooks Landmark

April 1, 2011

Genre: Historical Fiction

Source: Borrowed from my local library

“Set in the tumultuous aftermath of San Francisco’s devastating 1906 earthquake and fire, and based on the lives of several women apprenticed to famed Julia Morgan, California’s first licensed woman architect, this historical novel tells of the fiercely-fought competition between Nob Hill hotels to re-open their doors by the first anniversary of the disaster – proving to the country and the world that the city would rise from the ashes. Amelia Hunter Bradshaw, fresh from earning her certificate in architecture at the prestigious L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, finds herself, through a series of flukes and mishaps, in the employ of the one man determined to best Miss Morgan, Amelia’s mentoress and friend. Intrigue, political corruption, and an undeniable attraction to the mysterious James Diaz Thayer threaten not only to jeopardize her personal life, but also prove fatal to all she holds dear.”

While the previous book I read about the 1906 earthquake took place in the days prior to and during the trembler, A Race to Splendor takes place during the quake and the next year afterward as the city starts rebuilding. You get a unique perspective of what it was like to be a refugee after this disaster – in the Presidio make-shift hospital as well as trying to find somewhere to live amongst all the crumbled buildings. Most of the plot focuses on the competition between the Fairmont and the Bay View hotels to be the first hotel to open after the extensive damage from the quake. You learn a lot about architecture and all of the problems that go along with trying to rebuild in a city knee deep in graft – pay-offs, deals, shanghaied workers, the outrage over a Chinese workforce, and other types of corruption.

Ware’s characters are phenomenally written and solidly constructed. They all grow as the story continues – not necessarily changing who they are but blossoming into a different version of themselves. The author has created full back stories for the main cast and we learn why they are how they are now and understand the decisions that they make. We see characters that are flawed, admirable, and real. For me, the writing of the characters was the strongest part of the novel.

I also loved how the story and events developed and unfolded. You didn’t really know what was going to happen next – but the decisions made sense to the plot and to the pace of the story. There were also romance threads throughout the novel – it certainly kept things interesting. It was also most interesting to see the interplay between the two characters and how the romance affected the rest of the plot of the book.

Overall I absolutely loved this book and cannot wait to read others by this author.

Author Ciji Ware also has written five other novels: Island of the Swans, A Cottage By the Sea, Wicked Company, Midnight on Julia Street and A Light on the Veranda. You can visit her website or blog for additional information about these books. If you would like to preview the story before reading it, why not try out this excerpt of the book?



5 out of 5 stars.

Copyright © 2011 by The Maiden’s Court

Read More

The Moodus Noises - A Story from my Home Town

Since this is Earthquake Week I thought I would share an “earthquake” story close to my heart and something I have grown up with. I grew up and went to school in a little town called Moodus, Connecticut. It’s really a village within a town with a little over 1,000 people. Coming from a small town you grow up learning the legend and lore of your community and one of the things you learn from elementary school is about the Moodus Noises. Now, that is not only our school “mascot” (we don’t have a visual mascot) but it comes from one of our famous stories.

Moodus was settled in 1662 by the English. The name Moodus comes from the Algonquin word “Machimoodus” which can be roughly translated to “place of noises” or “place of bad noises”. One legend that the natives believed was that when the god Hobomock was angry you would hear the “noises”. Every now and again to this day you hear these noises, mostly centered around an area known as Cave Hill and Mt. Tom.

While at the time, these “noises” were believed to be caused by an angry god, they are now known to be caused by micro quakes. These quakes tend to register in the negative numbers on the Richter scale and are typically not felt, but you can hear the rumbling and grumbling. That is not to say that the people of Moodus never feel these quakes. The strongest quake on record in Connecticut registered at approximately a 4.4 and was centered in Moodus on May 16, 1791. You can read more about this record quake here. Much more recently, on March 23, 2011 a 1.3 magnitude quake hit Moodus and people reported hearing a sound like an explosion. You can read more about this most recent quake here if you would like. I can remember being in math class one day in middle school (which was in a basement classroom) and we could very faintly hear the window panes rattling, to which our teacher says, “that would be the Moodus Noises!”.

An interesting find while researching my own Moodus Noises in that there is a story that was written based off of our noises – The Dunwich Horror by H. P. Lovecraft. You will find Nick at Lions and Men will be reviewing this in the future - I will post a link when it's up.





Copyright © 2011 by The Maiden’s Court

Read More

1906 Earthquake Pictures and Books

I never realized what a wealth of photo documentation there was out there on the 1906 earthquake.  I subconsciously knew that photography had been around for several decades but never really thought about it being portable and mobile enough to get some of the amazing pictures that they did.  I put together this photo montage of images that I found - some of the fire, destruction to the buildings, people, effects of dynamiting to create firebreaks, newspaper headlines, etc.  If you are unfamiliar to the area or even if you live there, you might not recognize the locations, so where I could, I tried to label the area.  Also, turn on your speakers because I added some great "disaster" music and you might want to make it full screen to read the captions..

Now, if the video has inspired you to want to read more about the 1906 earthquake, here are some great reads:

Fiction:
Into the Firestorm: A Novel of San Francisco, 1906 by Deborah Hopkinson (YA)

Earthquake at Dawn (Great Episodes) by Kristiana Gregory (YA)

The Earth Dragon Awakes: The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 by Lawrence Yeps (YA)

1906 : A Novel by James Dalessandro

A Race to Splendor by Ciji Ware

Non-Fiction:
Three Fearful Days: San Francisco Memoirs of the 1906 Earthquake & Fire by Malcolm E. Baker

The Great Earthquake and Firestorms of 1906: How San Francisco Nearly Destroyed Itself, With a New Preface by Philip L. Fradkin

A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906 by Simon Winchester





Copyright © 2011 by The Maiden’s Court

Read More

The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, 1906

The event that spurred this entire Earthquake Week was when I came across a book recently about the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and subsequent fire. I had heard it mentioned before and seen some pictures and knew it was bad, but didn’t know really anything more than that. So I decided this was something I needed to know more about.

There are some FANTASTIC resources on line to learn about this disaster and believe me I took advantage of many of them – and I think I didn’t go to Wikipedia once! First let me give you some facts about this disaster – in case you are as clueless as I was about 2 weeks ago!

The earthquake struck on 5:13 AM on April 18, 1906. It is believed to have been close to an 8.7 on the Richter scale. This quake lasted for approximately 1 minute but was enough to shift the land about 20 feet in some places and knock many buildings down. The worst of the destruction was still to come from the fires that followed and ravaged the town for three days. In the end over 400 city blocks were destroyed – that’s roughly 25,000 buildings – and over 200,000 were homeless. The number that is harder to pin down is the number of deaths. The official report said somewhere around 400 dead – but this number is up for A LOT of speculation. The city officials wanted to play down the number of deaths in order to make the disaster not look so bad to the nation. And let’s not forget the thousand or so Chinese who lived in China Town that they didn’t count who lost the lives. They also wanted to destruction to look like it came from the fire rather than the earthquake – for insurance reasons.

There are many reasons for the extent of the damage and destruction. There was a very corrupt political machine government at the time. A shoot to kill order was put out to the army and police for anyone looting buildings – but some of those killed were just trying to save their own possessions. Many buildings were destroyed by dynamiting – supposedly to create firebreaks that would stop the fire, but they really created more fires from the flying debris. There were many problems with the water mains and they couldn’t pump a lot of water. Plus – we are talking a major lack of building codes and safety features that are common today.

Pictures of the destruction are impressive – I will be having a photo montage coming up later this week. Some of the best photos to show the widespread damage are the panoramic shots.

One historian, Gladys Hansen, has worked hard to try and put together a much more comprehensive list of those who perished in the fire. Through correspondence with families and other reports she has compiled a list of over 3,000 who died due to this disaster and is still working on the project.

If you are interested in learning more about this disaster let me recommend some great sites to you.

The Encyclopedia of Earth provides a wealth of information on the actual earthquake – seismograph information, where the fault was, scientific lessons, will it happen again?, etc.

The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco provided the most information about the disaster. I spent hours searching around this site. They have segments of the website dedicated to the Earthquake, Gold Rush, and Golden Gate Bridge, among other topics. In the Earthquake section there are links to the register of who died, photos, newspaper clippings, eyewitness accounts, and various reports from police, fire department, and Army and Navy.

EyeWitness to History focuses on firsthand accounts of disasters. They have three separate accounts of what it was like to live through the earthquake and fire.

Exploratorium has a feature that walks you through the disaster. It integrates images, firsthand accounts, and historical details as you click through it.

I also wanted to share this video clip that I have found:

This one is in my opinion the most interesting. It is a side by side comparison of two films – the one on the left was filmed 4 days before the earthquake and the one on the right was filmed after the disaster. Both of these films are traveling down the same stretch of Market Street and are synced up pretty good.

Hope this adventure has taught you something and made you interested in checking out some of these great resources!





Copyright © 2011 by The Maiden’s Court

Read More

Book Review: 1906 by James Dalessandro

1906 by James Dalessandro

Unabridged, 11 hr. 28 min.

Books in Motion

Stephanie Brush (Narrator)

May 15, 2005

Genre: Historical Fiction

Source: Downloaded audiobook from my local library

“Every disaster has a backstory, none more thrilling than this one. Set during the great San Francisco earthquake and fire, this page-turning tale of political corruption, vendettas, romance, rescue – and murder – is based on recently uncovered facts that forever change our understanding of what really happened. Told by a feisty young reporter, Annalisa Passarelli, the novel paints a vivid picture of the Victorian-era city, from the mansions of Nob Hill to the underbelly of the Barbary Coast to the arrival of tenor Enrico Caruso and the Metropolitan Opera. Central to the story is the ongoing battle – fought even as the city burns – that pits incompetent and unscrupulous politicians against a coalition of honest police officers, newspaper editors, citizens and a lone federal prosecutor.”

This novel has a little bit of everything – early police procedural, action sequences, drama, shoot outs, natural disasters, love story – in essence, the whole nine yards. There is a little something for everyone here. The first half of the novel is significantly character driven. We come to know and love the men of the Brotherhood – some of San Francisco’s finest cops who are working to help take down the graft and corruption visible everywhere you turn. There is a core group of individuals who are putting all of the pieces into place for a final takedown of the members of the political machine. The second half of the novel is very much about the city of San Francisco and what happens to it and its people during the earthquake and subsequent fires. The whole novel covers a roughly 7 day period – 3 days leading up to the earthquake and the 3 days after it. The best way to compare the layout of the novel is to compare it to the movie Titanic. Here you have a disaster film – but the first portion is very character driven (so that you feel something for the characters when the worst comes), then you have the height of the disaster, and the subsequent wrap up and resolution of the disaster. It is very similar.

The characters were written in such a way that you were unable to pinpoint who was fictional and who was likely based on a real character or amalgamation of characters. This goes to show that the author had a great sense of his characters and how to set them into the world that they would inhabit. The city itself is also formed into a character. The author presents a fantastic visual layout of the city – complete with all of the areas of local character – Nob Hill, the Barbary Coast, China Town etc.

I am very confident that this book would appeal to a wide audience – the disaster junkie, the romance reader, the historical fan, San Franciscans, those who enjoy a little murder mystery/police procedural – men and women alike.

And did I mention…this is being made into a film? It was actually first written as a screenplay before he wrote the novel – can’t wait to see it!

5 out of 5 stars.

The narrator did a fantastic job with this novel. She had a character for everyone – and there were a wide variety of types of characters presented – Italians, Chinese, Mid-Westerners etc. She sang a little bit in Latin when covering aspects of the Opera – particularly Carmen and La Boehme. It took a little while for me to get used to her voice and I can’t exactly pinpoint why. There were not any sound effects in this novel but I wish there were some. As I was seeing this play out in my head as a movie, a little dramatic music at the height of the disaster wouldn’t have hurt or some crackling fire flames.

4.5 out of 5 stars for the audio.

You can visit Dalessandro’s website for additional information about the book and prospective film.  If you would like to preview the story before reading it, why not try out this excerpt of the book?

You can also watch a short video about this book too.

Copyright © 2011 by The Maiden’s Court

Read More

Suddenly Sunday - It's Earthquake Week!

Goooood morning everyone!  Hope you are holding on to something, because it is Earthquake Week around here and we are going to be rocking and rolling all week!  What do you think of the graphics?  They're another of my boyfriend's creations for me.

Ok, so here is the listing of events this week -

Monday 9/26 - Book review of 1906 by James Dalessandro
Tuesday 9/27 - Exploring the Great San Francisco Quake of 1906
Wednesday 9/28 - Montage of SF Quake photos and Reading List
Thursday 9/29 - What are the Moodus Noises?
Friday 9/30 - Review of the movie San Francisco
Saturday 10/1 - Book review of A Race to Splendor by Ciji Ware

Hope you will drop by this week - I have had fun reading/watching/and researching for this week.  Now I have to get to writing that last post!

Suddenly Sunday is hosted by Svea at Muse in the Fog Book Reviews





Copyright © 2011 by The Maiden’s Court

Read More

Titanic Disaster Inquiries

When considering the Titanic disaster prior to reading Titanic: A Survivor’s Story (stay tuned for my review tomorrow) I had never considered that there were inquiries into the disaster. Come to find out there were inquiries on both sides of the Atlantic – in the United States and England. For a couple of weeks witness upon witness was called in front of the inquiry panel to give testimony as to what happened on the ship and determine if there was fault in the disaster or if it could have been prevented.

I found an incredible website that chronicles not only the entire American and British inquiries, but also indexes the witnesses, links to other incredible Titanic websites, as well as including the inquiry into the Lusitania disaster – Titanic Inquiry Project.

I have not yet had the chance to read through the inquiries yet, but I have every intention of doing so. Here are some quick links for you to check out:

U.S. Inquiry

There were two wonderful speeches made at the end of the inquiries by Senator William Alden Smith and Senator Isidor Raynor.

British Inquiry

There were recommendations made as to what should be done to prevent a disaster like this from happening again - (British Recommendations)  (American Recommendations) - notably:

• Recommending that there be enough lifeboats to carry everyone aboard
• Lifeboat drill training for crew
• Regulations for use of the radio systems when in distress
• Structural standards for ocean bound ships

If you are at all interested in the Titanic disaster this website is a wealth of information. You will be surprised by what you find.





Copyright © 2011 by The Maiden’s Court

Read More