Secret Agents & Evil Geniuses

Curtsies & Conspiracies (Finishing School #2) by Gail Carriger (Little, Brown  Books for Young Readers hardcover, 5 November 2013).

Life at Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality is never dull, especially not for Miss Sophronia Temminnick.  She's excelling in her studies, but is also doing very well at getting in trouble.

Her nocturnal wanderings around the dirigible help her stay informed about things like who the vampire Professor Braithwope feeds from, and why the school is suddenly heading to London.  But although she doesn't know why some boys from Bunson & Lacroix's Polytechnique (a school for budding evil geniuses) are  joining them on this field trip, she does know that they are extremely annoying (except, perhaps for her best friend Dimity's brother Pillover).

Carriger has a wonderful way with language:  lessons include "tea and delusions"  and "portion allotment, puddings and preemptive poisonings".  Pillover shovels "mutton into his maw as if sheep were soon to be obsolete".

And the names!  "Lord Dingleproops", "Professor Shrimpdittle" and Sophronia's mechanimal pet sausage dog, "Bumbersnoot".

Readers of Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series and other aficionados of steampunk fiction who (for some strange reason) may not know of this series aimed at teens will love Sophronia's adventures.  It isn't necessary, though highly recommended that one begin withe the first book in this series, Etiquette & Espionage, where we meet Sophronia and learn how she ends up at Madmoiselle Geraldine's. 

If you haven't already pre-ordered this, what are you waiting for?



FTC Full Disclosure:  Many thanks to Little, Brown and Edelweiss for the e-galley of this book.

Santa Fe

We've spent the last couple of days in Santa Fe, just exploring one of our favorite cities.

The first place we hit was the Loretto Chapel, which is famous for having a spiral staircase with no central support.   I didn't get a chance to see this on my last visit, and didn't want to miss it this time.

Photo by Tod Beebe

(I wanted to crop the goofy-looking librarian out of the shot, but that would have taken out part of the staircase.)

Apart from that, not a whole lot of picture-taking went on.  We did our bit for the economy here.
Later today, we're heading for Ojo Caliente for a few days.  I may not post from there, because the only wi-fi is in the lobby.

I'll leave you with a shot of a really cool coffee table I saw in one of the galleries on Canyon Drive. What you can't tell from the still photo is that the gears are moving!

Teen Tuesday

Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School Book the First) by Gail Carriger (Little Brown hardcover, 5 February 2013).

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia Temminick is not a proper young lady.  She'd much rather climb trees or take things apart to see how they work.  So of course she's apprehensive when she learns that she will be sent to Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing School for Young Ladies of Quality.  She's not the least bit interested being "finished", and ending up like her older sister Petunia who can think only of her coming out party.

Isn't this an amazing cover?

But when she arrives at the school (which is actually in a dirigible!) and learns that she'll be learning much more than how to be a proper lady, she's thrilled.  Who wouldn't be interested in classes like Music & Intelligence Gathering and Household Management & Proper Poisonings for Every Occasion?  

This story is set in the same world as the Parasol Protectorate series, though twenty-five years earlier. Suitable for even the youngest teens (there's no sex and little romance), it will still be enjoyed by older ones who appreciate strong, intelligent, capable female characters.  The tone is much lighter than that of the earlier series, and it's a quick and entertaining read.  

Three more books in the series are planned, but no indication yet of when the next one might appear.  Carriger has another Parasol Protectorate spin-off series planned, called the Parasol Protectorate Abroad, the first of which is due in the fall of 2013.


FTC Full Disclosure:  I purchased a copy of the book.

Passion & Prose

On Saturday, I attended a literary conference called Passion and Prose, intended to be the first of an annual event bringing together "passionate romance readers and several dozen of their most beloved romance writers together for a fabulous day of conversation and fun".  

In actuality, there were also mystery, speciulative fiction, and fantasy  writers in attendance, many of whom were young adult authors.  

The morning keynote speaker was Gail Carriger, author of the The Parasol Protectorate series, which she describes as "Jane Austen doing urban fantsy meets P.G. Wodehouse doing steampunk".  Carriger's latest novel is Timeless, the fifth and final book in the series.

Me (l) with the stylish Gail Carriger.

After lunch was a panel called Breathless Reads, consisting of five young adult writers  who have been on tour together for some weeks.  This was the fnal stop on their tour, and thet participated in a delightful discussion moderated by M.G. Lord ( of whom I unfortunately didn't get a photo).

Me with (l-r) Andrea Cremer, Marie Lu, Beth Revis, Jessica Spotsood and Sara Wilson Etienne.

The afternoon keynote speaker was Meg Cabot, author of many books for both adults and young adults, including The Princess Diaries, The Mediator series, and the Heather Wells mystery series.  She's recenly published Overbite, the second in the Insatiable series.

Me, with the charming Meg Cabot (r).

I was able to snag an extra goodie bag from the conference, and I'm delighted to give it (and the contents) to one of my readers.  Please leave a comment here telling me the name of your favorite female author of all time.  Entries (from the US only, please) will be accepted until midnight on Friday, March 2nd.

I'll post photos of the bag and some of fabulous stuff inside it on tomorrow's blog.