Wednesday Reads the Side Catalogue

[radiantfracture]

My recent reading features two short works by Tamsyn Muir, author of the Locked Tomb series.

I liked both of these books a lot: they seemed to me to feature Muir's strengths without some of the excesses of the Tomb books.

(I am aware that these excesses are precisely the source of delight for fans. I appreciate the meticulous artistry of the series; it's just that the particular qualities of deferral, substitution, and abrasion that are the formal and tonal preoccupation of these books, and that Muir wields so expertly and so persistently, are just not quite my tempo.)

The first book was Muir's 2022 novella, Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower.

This is a revisionist princess-in-the-tower story, so the pleasure comes not from a surprise twist but from seeing how the genre is executed. Very well, I thought.

(That said, there were two or three times I did exclaim out loud, "oh no!" etc. So it's not twistless.)

I liked it enough that when it was done I felt wistful about not being with the characters any more.

(Not in a sentimental way. Or yes, in a sentimental way, but not in a cute way. Or yes cute, but not cozy. Difficult and heartbroken and ridiculous. That way.)

ETA: I mean to say that genre-wise Princess Floralinda is solidly with Beagle's The Last Unicorn and Goldman's The Princess Bride as an anachronistic and self-reflexive take on the genre.

The second was a long short story, or maybe novelette? called Undercover, blurbed thus (in part): "A fresh-faced newcomer arrives in an isolated, gang-run town and soon finds herself taking a job nobody else wants: bodyguard to a ghoul. Not just your average mindless, half-rotted shuffler, though. Lucille is a dancer who can still put on her own lipstick and whose shows are half burlesque, half gladiator match."

What's more, I think it is better that that sounds.

sabotabby, I felt like you might enjoy both of these. Like you might start out thinking "Why did Frac think I would like this?" but then fairly rapidly think "OH" instead.

Anyway, that appears to be most of Muir's non-tomb catalogue, which is too bad. I wish there were more.

§rf§

Comments

[asakiyume]

That's really interesting what you say about the excesses. I haven't read the series, but nonetheless I'm fascinated by the words you use to sum them up: deferral, substitution, and abrasion. Cool.

Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower sounds cool, and I like what you say about wanting to be with the characters a little longer.

[jazzfish]

Oh, Floralinda was a delight. Perhaps I shall reread it soon.

I believe Muir is contracted with Subterranean to write a sequel, but given the delays with Alecto who knows when that will come out.

[elusis]

WHAT ARE THESE DELAYS YOU SPEAK OF

[jazzfish]

Oh, I have no particular knowledge, I just meant the fact that there's still no projected release date.

... although some websearching suggests that Muir is dealing with Long Covid, which is not gonna speed anything up. :(

[elusis]

Argh, how terrible (mostly for her but the rest of us a little bit too....)

[radiantfracture]

I mean, that makes sense, and while I would quite like a sequel, I Understand about Alecto.

[oracne]

Sounds intriguing!

[elusis]

I read Princess Floralinda but remember almost nothing about it. Though that isn't precisely remarkable - my memory for books is awful.

I will go look into the other.

THERE IS NOT MORE NON-TOMB STUFF BECAUSE WE ARE WAITING FOR BOOK FOUR AND CAN BE PATIENT BUT I MEAN COME ON

[radiantfracture]

THERE IS NOT MORE NON-TOMB STUFF BECAUSE WE ARE WAITING FOR BOOK FOUR AND CAN BE PATIENT BUT I MEAN COME ON

That's fair.

[radiantfracture]

I read Princess Floralinda but remember almost nothing about it.

There's a fairy named cobweb and a large number of slain princes.

[elusis]

I do remember the large number of bodies at the bottom of the stairs.

The joy of Kindle - I can pop in any time and re-start it!

[sabotabby]

I've heard Floralinda is great; I hadn't heard of the other one.

In general, when I've read her blog posts, I've enjoyed the shit out of them, and there are a bunch of things about Locked Tomb that I liked. I just–to quote every agent who rejected my hot mess of a book—didn't connect with it as much as I'd hoped.

[radiantfracture]

The other one is unfortunately part of some Amazon series, but the writing is great and I could be wrong but I think you'd like the central uhhh love story? quite a bit

[radiantfracture]

when I've read her blog posts,

Is that on Tumblr?

[sabotabby]

Tumblr, interviews, that kind of thing. I think she's incredibly smart and funny.

[minoanmiss]

When I was in high school I made a practice of reading famous authors' side catalogues and it was a good idea. This reminds me of why. *makes a note*

[pauraque]

I have these on my TBR list. While reading the Tomb books I had a similar experience of admiring their craft but finding that a lot of Muir's (very deliberate and considered) choices were not the best choices for me as a reader. But as time has gone by I've found the books have stayed with me more than I thought they would and I think about them on a regular basis. I probably won't re-read them until Alecto comes out (eventually...) but I'm surprised how much I'm looking forward to it.

[yarrowkat]

I appreciate the meticulous artistry of the series; it's just that the particular qualities of deferral, substitution, and abrasion that are the formal and tonal preoccupation of these books, and that Muir wields so expertly and so persistently, are just not quite my tempo.

this is so polite and kind of you! i basically threw the first one across the room for being so unpleasantly juvenile, and never looked back