Mélusine, sounds like a fascinating author, I have not met her work. Since a lot of my last few weeks has involved hurry-up-and-wait (lengthy medical appointments with long waits, bushfire evacuation and so forth) I have had more reading time than usual, I borrowed two new books by favourite authors from my friend Liz, with whom we stayed while evacuated, and whose library is at least as eclectic as mine.
First, ‘Spotted Dog’ by Kerry Greenwood, who writes detective stories. Very good ones. She has several series, one set in the 1920s, one in the present day. Spotted Dog is one of the latter. Both her detectives are female, eccentric in different and original ways, and the tales are set in Melbourne, a city I know and love, and often feature both real locations and scattered through the stories a few real people whom I know, sometimes as themselves, sometimes lightly fictionalised. I enjoy both of her detective characters, but especially the one in this book, Corinna, who is a baker in inner-city Melbourne. Most of the stories revolve around food, as you may gather from the titles (spotted dog is a bread pudding dish, though this tale also involves an actual dog), and include easy and delicious recipes. The mysteries are good puzzle stories and play fair with the reader, which is another thing I enjoy. I just finished that one, and it was well worth the reading time.
Presently reading Charles de Lint’s ‘Spirits in the Wires’, which is SF/fantasy/what the hell is going on here puzzle story. Involving magic, computers, folklore, music, AI and a delightful group of ongoing characters who are creative people who also want to understand what is going on. De Lint’s stories often include music, both his original compositions and traditional music. Some of his books, especially ‘The Little Country’, include the written music the way Greenwood’s books include recipes.
Both writers appeal to me, since many of their tales follow my particular interests: food, folklore, magic, music and puzzles.
And le Guin is also a delight!
