Dixie's Land 1.4

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[Concluding chapter one]

Sound returned to Stewart’s ears.  It wasn’t the cough, rattle and roar of battle, either.  He awoke to the murmur of water and the rustle of wind in the trees.

He also awoke to a pain so all-consuming that not even screaming could dull it.  He screamed anyway.

"Drink this, son.  Quickly."  Something cold pressed against his lips; after a second, Stewart recognized the mouth of a flask.  He drank.

Dixie's Land 1.3

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[Continuing chapter one]

The men were shouting, but what shocked Grant into immobility wasn’t the vocal din.  It was the way their formation had been solid one second, and non-existent the next.  In their hundreds, in the pale blue of the line or the dark blue of officers, they poured into the woods out of which they’d attacked just minutes ago, flowing around him as if he were an insignificant rock in the river of their panic.  Most of the men were unarmed: they seemed to have thrown away everything they’d carried, so desperate were they to not be here.  Grant had stumbled into three Seminole ambushes in Florida in the first weeks of that Indian war, and he had never seen soldiers just give up and run like this.  “Follow me!” he shouted to his staff, and urged his reluctant horse into the woods.

“Where are we going?” shouted one of his aides.

“Back to our clearing.”  Grant had no trouble keeping his voice steady: in the earliest moments of the first ambush the Seminoles had laid for him, he’d been frightened.  Then his fear had just evaporated.  Ever since, he’d been mildly surprised at how little he was affected by things that seemed to make other men lose their senses.  “We have to stop these men,” he shouted to the aide, and to the adjutant, who’d appeared from out of the smoke and attached himself to the party on horseback.  “They’ll aim for that clearing, and it’s the best place to start a rally.”

"What the hell is this, and where did I get it?"

I'm currently reading a delightful book called What She Ate: Six Remarkable Women and the Food That Tells Their Stories,  by Laura Shapiro (who turns out to be the author of an earlier book I loved, called Perfection Salad, about the origins of the Home Economics movement). And I think I'm in love with Barbara Pym. Not only did Ms Pym put food and drink into all her novels, she noted these subjects in wonderful detail in her journals and notebooks. And she seems to have had the same problem sourcing the items in her notebooks that I have: the title of this post comes from something Shapiro says Pym wrote into a notebook next to a bit of conversation she'd taken down someplace at some earlier date.

Equally important to any writers reading this: Pym spent nearly a decade and a half in the publishing wilderness, unable to sell her novels to anyone. She kept at it, though, and lived long enough not only to see her reputation revived, but to see it enhanced and to find herself on the short list for the Booker Prize.

The critic in me feels obligated to mention that the chapter on Eva Braun doesn't really belong in this book (or, to be honest, much of anyplace else) but I'm enjoying this book and that's what matters.

And I think I'm going to see what the library has in the way of Barbara Pym.

Dixie's Land 1.2

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[Chapter 1, continued]

“Where the Hell is the Second Massachusetts?”  Grant had to shout in order that his aide be able to hear him.  The man was only a sword’s-length away from him, as close as their horses would get to one another, but the cannonade had steadily increased in volume until now the sound of it threatened to inflict pain.  “We’re supposed to be advancing!”

“I don’t know, sir!”  The young lieutenant was clearly upset, and his horse, aware of the man’s anxiety, shied nervously.  “I rode all the way back to our baggage train, and they’re just not there!  And they’re not anywhere on the way!”

Dixie's Land Chapter One

Previous

ONE

They were coming, and everyone knew it.  The whole company stirred, eighty restless and uncomfortable men, echoing a tension that worked its way down the regiment’s entire line.  For all Captain Charles Stewart knew, the tension originated on the ridge to the north, where the big guns in the heart of the Confederate position continued to fire at an enemy he could not see.

Stewart stared at the woods in which the enemy forces were hidden, and fought against the urge to loosen his collar.  It was unseasonably warm for May, and the heavy kersey of his jacket and trousers itched abominably as he tried to ignore the trickle of sweat making its way down his back.  He wanted to be busy, but until the day demanded more of him than watchfulness, there was little he could do.

"What do you think, sergeant?"  Stewart turned to Fitzgerald, the company sergeant and a man whose twenty years in the Old Army had left his face the same color and texture as his boots.  "When do you expect them?"

Now We Are Sixty-Four: II

The Internet Song

(The following is a work of doggerel. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, in the following lines is purely and embarrassingly coincidental. Really)

Some friends and I write

In the midst of the night

In a sort of a forum that only we read;

Though we may seem quite dense

Our enjoyment’s immense

And it’s clear that to publish ourselves fills a need.

In the comments we strive

To keep language alive,

By trashing each other with little remorse.

It’s a form of debate

That leaves some quite irate;

But we always indulge ‘cause that’s par for the course.

Though we know that it’s vicious,

Completely malicious;

Civilized folks wouldn’t do it;

The desire to take part

In the bloodletting art

Makes us all sing this song and get to it:

Keith is clouting Cory;

Pippa's stabbing Hugh

Helen R

Has gone to war

With Peter and with you.

Weiss is slagging Jairus;

Natalie’s incensed.

Sara growls;

Caitlin yowls

And now the fun’s commenced.

Not all have the strength

To survive this at length

And some have announced that they’re calling it quits.

But those who have stayed

Battle on, undismayed;

For the chance to call others “oblivious twits.”

If it’s quiet you seek,

Or your temperament’s weak,

Then I strongly advise you to pass on your way.

But if you’ve got the gall

To attack one and all,

By all means come join us and jump in the fray.

Sure, we know that it’s vicious,

Completely malicious;

Civilized folks would know better;

But our rabid convulsion

Gives ‘way to revulsion

Unless we cut loose and go get ‘er:

Corwin hassles Peter;

Cameron gets him back;

Lorna’s sting

Confounds Do-Ming

Who leaps to the attack.

Karen shows up cursing,

To join in all the fun;

The whole darned gang is sturm und drang,

And still we’re not quite done:

Sherry’s after Robin;

Karl unloads on me

Madeline,

With stealthy grin

Joins Janice on a spree.

Mark and Jill are snarling

Like a pair of stoats;

Chris and Dave begin to rave

― And Paige is taking notes.

Introducing "Dixie's Land"

It is 1851. The United States have been at war with one another for nearly a year, with nine states* fighting to sustain their right to secede from the Union. Watching nervously from the sidelines and dominating the northern and western portions of the continent is the Kingdom of Canada. It is to Canada's winter capital, New Orleans, that the Confederate Captain Charles Stewart is sent by his government to assist in the negotiating of a treaty of recognition between Canada and the CSA. More than negotiation is going to happen, though...

Beginning this week I will start serializing novels to this blog. The plan is to post roughly a chapter a week, which for most of the books in the queue means a complete novel will be up every six months or so†.

The first item up is Dixie's Land, an alternate-history novel set in the timeline-world I created for my short story "Near Enough to Home": it features a very alternate U.S. Civil War. This novel is the first I completed, and came very close to selling (twice). Not near enough, though‡.

The timeline I created for this novel was interesting enough to me that I wrote a second book, The Bonnie Blue Flag, which completes the story begun in Dixie's Land. And a third novel, An End of All Things, is in an advanced state of first-draftitude. So in time there will be more alt-history appearing here. (Next up is a mystery, though. Look for it in late summer or early autumn 2019.)

Stand by for chapter one, starting Tuesday 8 January 2019.

Chapter 1

*From north to south and east to west: Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri, with Kentucky's secession disputed within the state.

†Actual mileage may vary. Items are not necessarily as shown. Contents may settle in shipment. Void where prohibited by family rules or the dictates of the cat(s).

‡The first near-sale was a sad and frustrating experience. No details, because I don't think the experience reflects well on me or on any of the other people involved. So the less said the better.

CINNAMON TOAST CRUNCH

Overall Rating: 81

If you’re tired of aggressively sweetened cereals but you can’t bear the thought of eating granola, this delicate treat is just what the doctor ordered.

Image from the Institute collection

Appearance

Okay, so it doesn’t exactly look like toast. Do you really want it to? Thought not. What it is, is simple rectangular bits of cereal, slightly curved by the heat of baking and liberally dusted with what looks like a mix of powdered cinnamon and confectioner’s sugar. Not nearly so massive as, say, Batman Returns or Shreddies, in appearance CTC suggests a lightness and delicacy that is admirably borne out in the bowl.

Texture and Taste, Dry

Curiously, dry is exactly what it is. This is the only area in which the product loses points, and then the loss is minor. We suspect the dryness arises from the coating; powdered cinnamon is a notorious absorbent. But this will only be a problem if you try to eat an entire box of this dry, and you won’t want to do that because this stuff is so nice with milk. Dry, though, the delicacy of the sugar and spice nicely complement the tentative mouthfeel and fragile crunch of a perfect mix of wheat and rice flours. A handful of this makes a lovely snack while watching supper-hour cartoons when you don’t want to spoil your dinner (or when a parent or spouse will whop you if they catch you eating).

Texture and Taste, With Milk

Lovely and delicate. One suspects the makers are using some sort of industrial adhesive to bind the cinnamon to the cereal, since very little of the former sloughs off when the latter is soaked. How this is done with altering the powdery mouthfeel is one of the industry’s great mysteries. There’s no mystery to the taste, however: of the various sugar-and-cinnamon cereals out there, this is by far the best.

Conclusion

Cinnamon Toast Crunch can be all things to all people. While it has enough kick to satisfy the hardcore sugar fan, it is delicate enough to feed to those who aren’t fond of hyperactivity. It also makes a fine introduction to the whole concept of sugared cereals, for those who want to begin a little more cautiously. It’s the one cereal General Mills does well. Highly recommended.