My main man, Tennyson Hardwick

I must say I am very happy. No. I am ecstatic! I was one of a fortunate few to be able to get an advanced copy of the new Tennyson Hardwick novel, From Cape Town With Love, written by Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes in collaboration with Blair Underwood. This happens to be the third Tennyson Hardwick novel and I must say it is every bit as excellent as the previous two, if not more so. The growth of Tennyson is a very carefully crafted and wonderfully written example of character development. Few authors take this much care with their characters as Tananarive and Steven do. And I'm talking about all of their published works. The fact that this wife and husband writing team can bring their considerable experience and craft together to create not one but a series of novels focused on a close cast of characters, with Tennyson being the foci the others are attached to, is a testament to hard work and love of what one does. In this case: Storytelling. I'll do a small review and try my best to leave out any spoilers.

In this installment of the whirlwind life of Tennyson Hardwick we go international. South Africa, to be exact. All of Tennyson's journeys so far had a personal element to them and so does this one. The previous two dealt with Ten investigating the death of people Ten knew, but this one deals with saving the life of a child, so the personal aspect is still there. The intricate weaving together of independent story lines and intricate details is just wonderful. Tennyson's journey towards himself is furthered along masterfully. We get to see more and more of the man underneath struggling to emerge. His relationship with his father took a giant leap forward in the last book and it continues right along in this one. And the same goes for his relationship with his adopted daughter Chela, which is a particularly favorite storyline of mine in the series. Ten is still working out his women issues but I think he is making progress. But he is as freaky and bad ass as ever, which is always a good thing. I'm not certain I liked the way the book ends but I love the way the main storyline ends.

What I love most is the masterful use of language! And also the wonderfully expressed points of view on various issues and topics. And done within the context of the story, no preaching. For example, "Suddenly, the answer to the question Why do celebrities adopt these children was obvious. Because the children need them. Because they can." There you go. Now, normally I don't like marking in books at all but I realized I was going to have to: 1. Because this was an ARC and I knew I needed to do a review, 2. Because there were just too many literary gems throughout the entire book. I had to use a highlighter. I'd list one of my favorites but don't want to deprive anyone of the poignant hilarity of the thought Ten had about his new client. Makes me smile just thinking about it. All I'll say is 'pixie dust'. Damn.

Also another favorite aspect of the Tennyson novels I love is the fight sequences. You can just see the gleefulness Steve must have when writing these down. He brings all of his very considerable martial arts and fight experience and knowledge to the fore. I love the description of the art he made up to scare the crap out of Ten. I could just see it in action in my minds eye. Furniture-fu indeed! I'd add in a few techniques of Running-away-Gun-fu if I ever saw someone coming at me with that! Like films, in books you know the people who have real experience with fighting by the way they write the fight scenes and Steve is a fighter. I love that he brought in a character based on his real life Guru. As a long time fan of Steve's and avid follower of his blog I recognized the character immediately.

I think that is vague enough to not spoil the story but keep the interest there. I've been an admirer of Tananarive and Steven for a long time now, and I have to say I'm an avid fan and supporter of the Tennyson novels. Also, as a writer myself, I'd just like to say to all those writers and aspiring writers out there, especially those who write 'street lit' stories: If you want to learn how to properly tell a story read every single Tennyson Hardwick novel. Casanegra, In The Night of the Heat, and now From Cape Town With Love are a Masters Class in how to weave a tale in written form. That means write/tell a story.

I am greatly impressed and immensely pleased with this novel and can't wait to read it again when it gets it's public release. Oh yes, I WILL be buying this book when it hits the stores. I strongly suggest you do the same. And get the previous two if you haven't read them yet. Each book can stand on it's own, but why should you deprive yourself?

Having a good week

Well, within one week I've met a few people I admire greatly. One I might even go so far to say I'm a huge fan of one of them. That one would be Steven Barnes, my favorite SF writer, period. That was yesterday. I also met two other excellent writer's, Tananarive Due, who happens to be married to Steven, and Nnedi Okorafor. We were all attending a symposium celebrating the life and works of the brilliant Octavia E. Butler. It was nice to receive a little more insight into the person that Octavia was from those she knew and considered friends. It's really eye-opening to hear that Octavia is considered a master storyteller above master storytellers. She didn't just tell stories she WAS the stories. I love her work and am sad that I never had the opportunity to meet her. However, this is a happy moment for me. It was so cool to hear Steven speak and realize that what I read on his blog, which I read ALL the time, is exactly how he is in real life. Not that I ever doubted that fact but to know in person is always a good thing. He was gracious enough to allow me to meet his son, Jason. I can't express in words how much of an honor that was! Anyways, I actually had the opportunity to converse with Steven and Tananarive and they are two of the most beautiful people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. I look forward to the next time I can meet them. I brought my copy of Street Lethal, still one of my favorite books of all time, and Great Sky Woman, a brilliant tale, for Steven to sign. I would have brought more but I figured I wouldn't be the only one there so decided to keep it short. Those are my two favorites. Oh, and Tananarive is sharp! We just recently added each other as friends on facebook and when she asked my name, for her to sign my copy of My Soul To Keep, she said, "Why is that name so familiar?" To which I responded, "Probably from facebook," and she was pretty much like, "Oh yeah! I love facebook. Isn't it great?" That was so cool. (Yeah, I'm still geeking out over all of this!) I did not get a chance to converse with Nnedi but she did sign my copy of The Shadow Speaker. She's absolutely gorgeous!! WOW! I can't wait to cross paths with her again one day. So,yeah, yesterday was an absolutely wonderful day for me.

Yes, I know I mentioned I met four people and only spoke of three. The fourth is Savion Glover. I actually went to a performance of his a week ago. I briefly blogged about it. Well, he's just a brilliant dancer. You can tell when he's dancing that's all that exists for him. I guess, maybe, not unlike Octavia in her writings. They simply embody what they do. Once engaged there is no separation between the executor and the executed art. Amazing to witness live. I got to meet him after the performance. Actually took a photo with him. Another genuinely beautiful person.

My Bornday is coming up this Wednesday, April 1, so I'm rather happy right now!

Oh yeah, and my best friend, David, and his wife, have returned from a wonderful trip to Paris! They had a grand time and David tells me it's a wonderful city. Seems I'm going to have to save up and make the trip myself soon! You can check out how his trip was here.


Tananarive, Me, and Steven. (If you can't tell I was STOKED!!!!)


Me and Savion (I'm kind of upset that the pic is a bit blurry. Some people just can't take pictures. Glad I have it though!)