Category: Transportation Devices

SFN | Feature: A Wide-Eyed Girl Slips Into the Whovian Universe

Posted Saturday, 2 November, 2013 by jorielov 20 Comments

Did the Whovians get back with you in regards to which “Doctor Who” episodes/series, I should attempt to watch!? I only ask as my time window to watch them is greatly reduced from a few weeks ago, and if I could start to watch them as soon as I can, it would be quite helpful! :) A general overview of their Top 5s and your ‘go to’ Who, would be extremely helpful…

And, so began this seemingly innocent introduction into “Doctor Who” as I decided it was high time that I get my tail into gear and sink into a tv serial that has consistently been recommended to me over the years! I remember that some of the interested parties attempting to convince me when the ‘right moment’ to watch ‘Who’ would be (generally it was ALWAYS a right now, don’t wait kind of talk!) engaged in such a lengthy discussion of who “the Doctor” is but without giving me anything truly tangible to hold onto! I would be given little curtain glimpses of who he was, what the series was about, but it was more OR less a conversation that frittered around certain terminological Whovian codes: TARDIS, time lord, screwdriver (that was a unique tidbit!), time slips and time travel, and other words I have long since forgotten but as I watch the episodes some of what I learnt over the years is coming back to me!

I never wanted to read too much about the series, as I kind of like the idea of getting to know a character (especially one of this particular nature!) through watching their growth over the score of a serial! I started to ILL (inter-library loan) BBC dramas and comedies (i.e. As Times Goes By, The Good Life, Rosemary & Thyme, Monarch of the Glen, etc) a little over three years ago when my local library was encouraging us to ILL the series that were not yet in our collection! I’ll never forgot how they ordered the Complete Serial of “As Times Go By”, including the Anniversary Specials whilst we were unable to fetch them through ILL channels! That simply rocked our (my parents & I) world! I had it in the back of my mind to start to fetch “Who” but I simply shrugged it off.

The few times I pitched the idea, I noticed that my Mum & Da simply weren’t into seeing ‘Who’ as much as I was, so I let it slide a bit, as we were starting to get into Downtown Abbey, Sherlock (with Benedict Cumberbach), and finishing through Monarch of the Glen! (in 2012) When SFN started to come together, I knew it was time for ‘Who’ once and for all! I mean, all those years of people referring me to this serial (who knew my heart lie with Roddenberry’s Starfleet and Lucas’ Star Wars) must have been a recommendation that I could trust! I decided that even though I am going to post ‘diary entries’ for the episodes and series I watch for SFN, I wanted to make this a family affair! Therefore, with the exception of All Saint’s Day, my Mum & Da are watching ‘Who’ alongside me! They were the original inspiration behind why I have a sci-fi heart which is why it makes sense that on the brink of discovering a ‘new serial’ we engage in it together!

The fascinating bit to watching BBC tv serials on serial dvd, is that for the most part my local library has grown their own catalogue of resources to this end at least tenfold since 2009! However, the few that are not yet available I must say that the consortium by which my local library is a member of is a great one to get ‘complete and whole sets’ through ILL!! I realise that dvds and most media materials are ‘not’ available at all local libraries for ILL. (the reasons vary, but generally its because they do not loan out the same materials themselves) For this one reason, I am extra thankful that despite an initial hiccup, our second attempts to get ‘Who’ in time for SFN has been successful! Ooh, I had forgotten to say, that the most fascinating bit to watching the BBC in this fashion is that you never know what your in for as you slip in the disc, sit back on your couch and settle into,… the unexpected!

When I first heard the ‘music’ of Doctor Who I was simply transfixed! You see, this is not the first time traveler I have come across as although I had limited feeds for “Time Trax” I always was endeared to the character and his quirky sense of humour! Dr. Beckett was my mainstay for time traveling which I touched on yesterday in my feature “Seventeen to Seven“. And, lest I forget to mention “The Traveler” from “Star Trek: The Next Generation” who had the greatest impact on Wesley Crusher!? Yet. My fascination and concentration of time bending characters doesn’t stop there! Ooh, no! There was the young boy in “Flight of the Navigator“, the curious hovering ships in “Batteries Not Included“, the quirky adventures of Doc Brown & Marty McFly in “Back to the Future“, as much as trying to keep up with my favourite Starfleet Captains in the original five series of Trek!

The music brought back an inertia of happy memories of my ENTIRE EXPERIENCE in the science fiction universe which is not even limited to the few serials I have already mentioned! At some point, they all start to blur a bit in my mind’s eye, because I have literally watched a science fiction or fantasy tv serial as long as I have been watching murder mystery serials! Between the two, I could fill a voluminous tome of a journal! Here were my first tick-tocking reflections as a bit of a beat of a clock was present in the overtures: upbeat, adventurous, exciting, exploding with curious perplexities, possibilities that lie in the impossible, and a gearing up for the unknown!

I’m a wide-eyed adventurous girl slipping herself into the Whovian universe, geared up for excitingly curious escapades spent traveling with a quirky Professor-like Doctor, whose as mysterious as any person she’s ever greeted in a sci-fi series! Let these first adventures be the start of many more to come in the near future! As time is temporal and constantly in flux!

And, without further adieu here are the select episodes I will be viewing in order to achieve:

| A Crash-Course in Doctor Who |

[by order of suggested viewing]

[list complied by: Emma, Annie, Charlene, Rebekah, Rinn, Lianne, & Christine]

[anything in bold was cross-suggested by the Whovians!]

(Series One) Episodes: Rose, The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances, Dalek, Father’s Day

(Series Two) Episodes: The Christmas Invasion, The Impossible Planet / Satan’s Pit, Tooth & Claw, Army of Ghosts, Doomsday, School Reunion, The Girl in the Fireplace, New Earth

(Series Three) Journey’s End, Human Nature / Family of Blood, Blink, The Runaway Bride, The Shakespeare Code

(Series Four) Turn Left, Midnight, Silence in the Library / The Forest of the Dead, The Fires of Pompeii, The Unicorn & the Wasp

(Series Five) Vincent & the Doctor, The Eleventh Hour, The Time of Angels / Flesh and Stone (~~to be seen with Blink~~)

(Series Six) The Doctor’s Wife

(Series Seven) Nightmare in Silver

How far will I reach into the Doctor Who universe!? How much of his world and life will I understand when November starts to fade from view and the Christmas holiday season enters into view!? What beautiful things will I learn from the Whovians taking part in SFN?! Where will the conversations and discussions lead me next!? And, just how fast can I re-Que the entire series in order to watch each set in its entirety!? Join me on Saturdays during November to find out!!

Meanwhile, I am going to open up my first-ever discussion thread here on JLAS!

You have the option of sharing in your own blog post about how you came to know Doctor Who, which series stood out to you thus far, and/or you can focus on one or more of the episodes I will be watching from the above list speaking about why you are captivated by it yourself! Be sure to come back to this post to attach the link of your post in the comments! ONLY link directly to the post you created on this topic, DO NOT link to the main page of your blog! I will be checking! Thank you! I cannot wait to see what everyone’s post!! :)

This feature is brought to you by:

{SOURCES: Sci-Fi November Badge provided by Rinn Reads for participants to advert the month long event and to encourage people to follow along with those of us who are contributing! SFN badge used with permission. SFN Feature badge created by Jorie in Canva.}

Related Articles:

Doctor Who – (en.wikipedia.org)

TARDIS – (en.wikipedia.org)

Posted Saturday, 2 November, 2013 by jorielov in Alternative History, Bookish Discussions, Britian, Doctor Who, Library Love, Sci-Fi November, Science Fiction, TARDIS, Time Travel, TV Serials & Motion Pictures, Typewriter Culture

Blog Book Tour: The Boxcar Baby by J.L. Muvihill

Posted Sunday, 29 September, 2013 by jorielov J.L. Mulvihill, Matthew Perry (Illustrator), Meredith Tax, Rivington Street, Seventh Star Press, Steel Roots series, The Boxcar Baby 0 Comments

The Boxcar Baby by J.L. Mulvihill
[Book One in the Steel Roots series]

Published by: Seventh Star Press, 12 July 2013.
Official Novel Websites: The Boxcar Baby Blog & The Steel Roots Facebook Page
Converse on Twitter: @JLMulvihill & #boxcarbaby
Author Page: @ Seventh Star Press
Artist Page: Matthew Perry @ Seventh Star Press; Portfolio
Available Formats: Softcover and E-book
Page Count: 274

Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a stop on “The Boxcar Baby” Virtual Book Tour, hosted by Tomorrow Comes Media. I received a complimentary copy of “The Boxcar Baby” in exchange for an honest review by the publisher Seventh Star Press. The book released on 12 July 2013. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein. This marks my first stop as a Tour Host for Tomorrow Comes Media!

Author Biography:

Born in Hollywood and raised in San Diego, CA, J.L. Mulvihill has made Mississippi her home for the past fifteen years. Her début novel was the young adult title The Lost Daughter of Easa, an engaging fantasy novel bordering on science-fiction with a dash of steampunk, published through Kerlak Publishing. The Boxcar Baby, the first novel of her Steel Roots Series, was released by Seventh Star Press in the summer of 2013.

J.L. also has several short fiction pieces in publication, among them “Chilled Meat”, a steampunk thriller found in the Dreams of Steam II-Of Bolts and Brass, anthology (Kerlak Publishing) and “The Leprechaun’s Story”, a steampunk urban Fantasy found in the anthology, Clockwork, Spells, & Magical Bells (Kerlak Publishing)J.L. is very active with the writing community, and is the events coordinator for the Mississippi Chapter of Imagicopter known as the Magnolia-Tower. She is also a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), Gulf Coast Writers Association (GCWA), The Mississippi Writers Guild (MWG), as well as the Arts Council of Clinton, and the Clinton Ink-Slingers Writing Group.

Inspired to Read: Nearly all of my best ‘finds’ for the science fiction realms have been serendipitous in nature! You see, if I hadn’t been roaming around the bookish blogosphere a week ago, I might not have seen a curious little tour badge with “Tomorrow Comes Media” on it! Nor would I have suspected to click over to scope out the tour company and the authors that they represented! Had I not kept an open mind towards discovering ‘something!’ curious and unexpected, I might not have known about this author and book! This was the same way I had stumbled across “The Clockwork Carnival” in August [2013], the forthcoming “Sci-Fi November” (of whose badge is in my sidebar; my post on it coming the first week of October!), and the mere fact that I had chosen this particular Autumn to serve as a gateway back into a genre that my heart first came to know at the age of seventeen! I lay claim to that as my starting ground into the ‘literature’ side of things, but you’ll have to come back for my “Sci-Fi November” postings to learn the full story of how I’ve been happily consuming all-things sci-fi for the well full of my life!

As you may or may not know, it took me a bit to resolve what to read as my ‘first’ Steampunk selection, as much as I became attached to this revolutionary genre where the lines blur on what a story can attach itself into being, and jettison the reader off into such fantastical realms and worlds, that it nearly takes your breath away! Some aspects of Steam are subtle, others are full-on adventurous catalysts to transport you into a world bent on steam technology! I love the vitality of choice!! Therefore, when I saw a blog tour announcement for this story, I knew I had found my ‘second’ Steam novel and author!

Be sure to read my poster advert for this tour to glimpse my motivation to read “The Boxcar Baby”.

Synopsis of the Story:

Born in a boxcar on a train bound for Georgia. At least that is what Papa Steel always told AB’Gale. But now, fifteen years later, the man who adopted and raised her as his own is missing and it’s up to AB’Gale to find him. Aided only by a motley gang of friends, AB’Gale train hops her way across the United States in a desperate attempt to find her papa and put her life and family back the way it was. Her only guide is a map given to her by a mysterious hobo, with hand written clues she found hidden in her papa’s spyglass. Here is the Great American Adventure in an alternate steampunk dystopian world, where fifteen-year-old AB’Gale Steel learns that nothing is as it seems, but instead is shrouded in secrets and mysteries … and that monsters come in all shapes and forms.

Notations on Artwork & Design:

The Boxcar Baby | Interior Shot 1 — Artwork Credit: Matthew Perry

In this particular day and age, where book cover designs are based more upon stock images and less on the artistically creative book cover designers, whose original artwork is all but lost; I must confess, what impressed me the most about this book, was the diversity of art, and the choice of which scenes to illustrate! I have always held a special place in my heart for illustrators, as they are encouraging our imaginations to jettison us off to that internal place where all stories live inside our hearts! They enable us to help stitch together imagery and scenes, that we may or may not, have been able to visually conceive on our own.

They create a tangible palette in which the scope of the story is percolated through a lens similar to a motion picture’s storyboard, yet instead of having the ‘images’ set to fluid motion by ‘camera’, we get to expand on what is being presented and wholly enter the realm of the literary unknown! Almost as though we jumped through hyperspace and entered a completely new dimension!

Such is the happenstance adventures of readers everywhere, who are given such a breadth of light by artwork that co-creates the story by which the author first conceived!

Mr. Perry’s first image seen on the left of the unidentifiable ‘person’ holding what appears to be a container or a particular ‘type’ of something that comes with a sling strap for your shoulder, is bang-on accurate to the descriptive narrative that Muvihill supports in Chapter 8! This scene takes place at a train yard at night, in a discernible city of hidden suspense! What I liked about this snapshot of the character being brought forward into AB’Gale’s life at this moment in time, is that it shows that she is never going to know who or whom is going to cross her path! She’s set alight on a course where the most unsuspecting people she encounters, might hold ‘key’s to where she is headed next!

This is a metaphor for life as well, because its most oft known that the people who come to your aide or give you guidance are generally not always the ones you think will be akin to provide the information you need! No, actually in life as in stories, its the people you might overlook that provide the best advisers who help guide you on your path!

There was a second illustration that I was going to include in my review, but the chapter in which it was revealed has left me wondering why this particular thread was inside the story!? Of all the chapters, Chapter 54 was by far the most horrific!! I was not expecting a nose-dive into the realms of gruesome horror, yet that is the twist of a turn this story took at that junction! I would rather bypass it, and focus more on the main thread of story, by which, I enjoyed the most!

In regards to the cover art itself, a sense of urgency is playing out before us, as the locomotive is on fast approach, with a heightened sense of foreboding intensity! The gnarled and curling of the trunk of the tree, nearly reflects a sense of “unyielding twists of time and place”, as a curious hinting that the train can act as both a conveyor of people and goods, but also of destiny. I had been lamenting upon the visual symbolism of including the ‘tree with the train’ in full sight of the reader,… yet at the conclusion of the story, where I was expecting to arrive at a clarification of the symbolism, I was left instead with a questionable ending!

[My musings prior to the ending:]

Of all the times I’ve looked at the cover, I didn’t quite see what I saw whilst polishing this post to publish!! I was moving my mouse up and down, darting through everything to check the flow, as much as to check the rhythm of what I was wanting to convey about reading the story. Somewhere between the moving of the mouse and watching the screen, the cover art in this post was full in my sights, and therein, I noticed what I could not see whilst observing the cover art ‘flat and close’!!! The juxtaposition of AB’Gale Steel’s roots! It was like a lightning bolt had struck itself upon my desk, and all the logic of the choice in art electrified itself into my brain! The train’s boxcar in sight around the curve is “AB Gale Logs”; the workhouse factory is in the background with its garish stacks of smoke billowing towards the sky; and portions of a map are bleeding through the background into the foreground! The map bits I did originally see, as I thought I saw an overlay of a compass originally, but to see her origins and present circumstance coming rushing into view — kismet!

In total, Mr. Perry supplied 2 illustrative plates to give The Boxcar Baby a highly unique periscope into the lifeblood of the Steel Roots! His perception and understanding of the narrative is spot-on! And, I commend his artistic eye as much as his conveyance of the emotions, heart, and climatic moments of the evolving story! Even if I didn’t agree of the story shift, the illustrations honour the context in full! IF I could have picked one scene to be illustrated, it would have been of the girls’ new wardrobe, which hearkened quick to mind everything that I simply adore about Steampunk couture!

I look forward with whet anticipation of which Seventh Star Press novel I might encounter his brilliant artwork again! He’s truly an asset to the writers whose novels are published with the Press!

My Review of The Boxcar Baby:

Miss AB’Gale Steel, is a pure spitfire girl, full of strong-minded grit, who draws strength out of adversity, and endures hardship by bracing herself against self-pity. She latches her heart, her mind, and her spirit to the world by which she grew up in, as a method of memory against the vexatiousness life she feels consumed by. If it weren’t for percuring huckleberry friends: Charlotte, Raine, Lyza, and Freckles, I dare not presume to know how she would have found the strength to overcome! The girls owe allegiance towards each other as members of a surviving tribe of girls’ cast out and into a perpetual System that works against their well-being. Strengthened in their combined resolve, their sisterhood pits them against any opponent known or unknown.

By the fortuitousness of keen observation, these young women will assert their right to freedom by declaring their right to liberty. The woman who was behind their misery, Ms. Marcs, made me recollect my disdain for Brucklehurst who was the inflicter of desolation for Jane Eyre. Tragedy, flight of freedom, and an instinct for adventure transports these lovely huckleberries into a life of living by their wits!

The girls usage of veritable language choices, are a direct reflection of other distinctive times in history, where the choice of words could not only separate you into a class structure, but be a reflective mirror into your place of origin. This is an ingenious ploy by Mulvihill to construct a fuller picture of the world building she set off to accomplish, as their attentive nature to using slang, akin to the quick-wit of the 1920s or of East Londoners’ Cockney, provides them with a unique voice of character! She sets into motion a world that we can draw a familiar line against, but purports it into a new dimension that we have not yet visited!

I was taken aback when the story shifted off the tracks of Steampunk suspense, and entered into the macabre horror of creatures who live in the pitch black of caves! I felt as though there was a story shift in the ending chapters that was not foreshadowed or even built into the first half of the book! I was settled into the story, and even thought I had found metaphoric meanings into the narratives, yet in the end, I felt disillusioned and saddened to see, that where I thought this adventure was leading me was not to be!

Posted Sunday, 29 September, 2013 by jorielov in Alternative History, Coming-Of Age, Dystopian, Fly in the Ointment, Folklore, Horror, Indie Author, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Steampunk, Tomorrow Comes Media, Trains, Young Adult Fiction

Forthcoming Blog Book Tour Stop | The Boxcar Baby by J.L. Mulvihill | 29 September 2013!

Posted Monday, 23 September, 2013 by jorielov J.L. Mulvihill, Seventh Star Press, Steel Roots series, The Boxcar Baby 2 Comments

An exciting announcement to make today, here on Jorie Loves A Story, is the official start of the book tour, for THE BOXCAR BABY is MONDAY 23 September!! My review goes live on the very last day of the tour! I will be in good company, as there are 5 book bloggers joining me on that day! I first learnt of this book by way of Tomorrow Comes Media, which is a new touring company that I am working with to bring tour stops to my blog! Each book they showcase on tour deal with speculative fiction, with a keen focus on science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Ms. Mulvihill’s book is science fiction at its finest, as it’s a contribution to Steampunk! This is why it drew my eye to read it and tip my hat to put in a request to review! As you may already be aware of, I had my initial introduction to Steampunk back in August, with “The Clockwork Carnival“, whereupon I read my first Steampunk book “The Clockwork Man” by William Jablonsky. I will be continuing this journey into the vast and steam-filled world of cogs, gears, and Victorian technology with “The Boxcar Baby”!! And, did I ever mention my fascination with TRAINS?! This marks the beginning of Ms. Mulvihill’s Steel Roots series, with forthcoming titles in 2014 & 2015, published by Seventh Star Press.

What first captivated my attention for this story, is the undercurrent plight of a seemingly orphaned teenager who by the fortitude of her own pure spunk and wit, is determined to unearth the mystery behind her Papa’s disappearance! She sets off on a journey, where I would presume she’s meant to uncover far more than the secrets of her own past! I am always keen to seek out coming-of age stories mixed with the adrenaline rush of an adventure!!

As you can read about this book’s premise on the book tour page for Tomorrow Comes Media!

Official Blog for THE BOXCAR BABY

Official Facebook Page for THE STEEL ROOTS series

Be sure to mark your calendars to drop back here on:

29th of September 2013!!

Follow the tour as it unfolds prior to stopping on Jorie Loves A Story!

Remember, to always keep a keen eye on my sidebar,

for current & future Bookish Blogosphere Events!

For a full listing of each book that has a stop on Jorie Loves A Story, please consult: Bookish Events Featured on JLAS!

{SOURCE: Tomorrow Comes Media supplies bloggers who are on the tour stop schedule
the banner by which to advert the stop and announce the book tour to their readers!}

Posted Monday, 23 September, 2013 by jorielov in Alternative History, Coming-Of Age, Dystopian, Folklore, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Steampunk, Tomorrow Comes Media, Trains, Young Adult Fiction