Katherine Keenum

I've just been introduced by our Western Massachusetts public library system to Astrid Sheckels and her Hector Fox books. I can't tell you how delighted I was to come across Ebenezer Moose, shown here, in Hector Fox and the Giant Quest! For many years, my husband and I vacationed at a lake in Maine, where we almost always saw at least one moose and especially loved spotting them in remote marshes. Sheckels' evocation of that landscape is evocative.

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This week, for fantasy work-in-progress, I wondered how—or whether—a couple of characters should be shod for a summer spent on foot. I've borrowed the banner title from Shoes in the Middle Ages because I love seeing its example of bare feet and a possible shoe. It was one of a handful of websites I looked at for the lazy author's approach to research. Two others were Medieval Shoes and Pattens and Cordwainer, Shoemaker, Cobbler?

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What I hate about August is the shortening of long summer evenings. Oh, well, there's still reading by an open window with, if you're lucky, a vase of freshly picked flowers. The work of Tavík František Šimon first came to my attention for his prints of Paris , including Le Petit Restaurant. For many more examples of his work, click here.

Exhibition alert: Shopping and the big Paris department stores are a motif in Where the Light Falls. The emergence of such stores really did have a big impact on 19th and 20th C life. And if you're lucky enough to be in Paris (well, maybe better after crowds for the Olympics clear out), check out the new show at the Musée des Arts decoratifs, La Naissance des grands magasins: Mode, design, jouets, publicité, 1852–1925. It runs through October 13, 2024. The French website has lots of images and also awordless  video that gives a quick glimpse at the sort of objects on display. A short article in Apollo Magazine and a long one in the Guardian provide information in English.

Blog post alert: Maybe Frieseke's parasol isn't quite Brat green, and Kamala Harris's campaign is certainly more energizing than relaxing. All the same, doesn't it suddenly feel like a happy summer? If you can't get out into a garden of your own, visit Barbara Wells Barudy's blog post on Late 19C Women & Gardens & Parasols to enjoy Frederick Carl Frieseke's sunny take on the topic.

At 2:00 PM Sunday, I finished my after-lunch read, The Coldest Case by Martin Walker, and checked my iPad—just in time to see that President Biden will not run for re-election. It seems the right decision. Still, I think doses of genre fiction will be necessary to get me through to November. And Walker's Bruno, Chief of Police, series has the added pleasure of Bruno's Cookbook to illustrate the food that plays a big part in each novel.

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Hoo boy! How's this for a follow-up to yesterday's post? A transformation of every major element of Hollar's Pedlar into something lively, colorful, and strange. Lion-dog: otter. Skeleton: dragon. Peddler: traveller. Pannier: mystery box. It's Alan Lee's illustration for a story in Merlin Dreams by Peter Dickinson. I have just requested the book through interlibrary loan to find out what's going on. (As an author, I encourage people to buy books. As a library trustee and environmentalist, I urge you to remember what marvellous resources the country's public libraries provide.) As for this picture, I guess I'll wait to see what Dickinson was up to, but wouldn't it be fun to make up a story of one's own to go with it?

For my fantasy work-in-progress, I was looking for details of what a foot peddler might carry. Up came this etching by Wenceslaus Hollar after a picture in The Dance of Death by Hans Holbein the Younger. The wicker pannier resembles one in The Wayfarer by Hieronymous Bosch. Check. But what about the animal?

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In the wake of last night's assassination attempt, I am staying clear of the news on the theory that there will be far too much chatter and misinformation afloat. Instead, I am working on maps for my current fantasy project and looking at pictures I love—like Charles Vess's illustration for Ursula K. Le Guin's short story, "High Marsh" in The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition. For those of you who are fascinated by the interplay of artist and author, check out Le Guin's post, A Work in Progress: Earthsea Sketches by Charles Vess. I'm also reading Le Guin's The Dispossessed in the Library of America edition. Let's all try to stay sane.

Liz Williams' Fallow Sisters novels were my 2023 summer treat. When I learned that Bee Fallows is the main character in a short story in Williams' new collection, Back through the Flaming Door, my reaction? Gotta have it! I ordered it through Bookshop.org. The book arrived. Naturally, Bee's story, "Saint Cold," was the first I read. Now I've gone back to the beginning and am reading the rest in order, one every day or so. Besides introducing me to the range of Williams' imaginary worlds, they have made me think about a story technique.

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