Maybe New To You: Vicki Pettersson

I've been reading indie books lately, not posting because I wanted to re-read one or two before commenting.  In the mean time, I dusted off my copy of Vicki Pettersson's The Scent of Shadows.  I loved this book, and quickly bought the second, but during the wait for the third to be released, I got distracted.  Now five years later, the series is complete.  The question isn't if I'll devour them, but if wait the time it takes to get hard copies of the last four to make the first two, or if I'll get them all instantly by e-reader.

When she was sixteen, Joanna Archer was brutally assaulted and left to die in the Nevada desert.  By rights, she should be dead....

After what she survived, Joanna had a right to become a snarky, kick-ass heroine.  This could have easily been another wounded heroine more obnoxious than the last, but the situation was managed beautifully with great writing, clear-eyed secondary characters, and character growth.

By her birth, Joanna is destined to become an Agent of the Light--a superhero.  Both times I read it, I loved this urban fantasy departure from vampires, were-whatevers, and fairies.  (Don't get me wrong, I love the others, too, or I wouldn't be such a fan of genre; but it's nice to have something different from time to time.)  If I have any complaint about the book, it's that like many superheroes, Joanna has a secret identity.  The good guys are curious about it, the bad guys want to uncover it and use it to destroy her.  With surgery involved, it's just a little less painfully obvious than Superman-with-the-glasses-off and Clark-with-the-glasses-on.  Since I've lived my whole life with Superman movies, TV shows, and animation without rejected it, I say that's a small complaint.


 

Speaking of Star Wars...

I haven't been feeling well, which explains why I was drifting in and out of sleep in the wee hours, but does not explain why my sleepy mind insisted on casting Derek Hough as Luke Skywalker, or the pitch I made to be on the new writing team.

"Sure I don't have a resume to speak of and I have a history of creating great beginnings, crappy endings, and barely-there middles, but that's why you have a TEAM of writers, right?"

Clearly, I'm crazy in the wee hours.

Mark Hamill, the original Luke

I cheered when I heard that Disney bought Lucasfilm.  Literally.  I was with my parents, who looked at me like I'd gone a bit crazier.  It's not that I don't find Disney a little creepy* or that I feel glee at the idea of George Lucas being that much richer.  My joy was at the peace the payout would bring me.

See, my husband's love of Star Wars is rivaled only by his love of Star Trek and his disdain for Lucas.  With the creator out of the picture, I can stop hearing about how great the books were without his interference or the many, many ways in which he screwed up the "first" three movies.  Perhaps even I, a fangirl** in my own right, will be able to stop holding myself back from violence at the mention of midichlorians because no one will ever mention them again.

Derek Hough

Randomly, some 13 (?) seasons of Dancing with the Stars ago, I first saw Derek Hough and thought, "He'd make a great Luke Skywalker.  I wonder if he can act."  Even more randomly, since it's weeks after the buy out, the thought is back.  Only now, maybe there's a real possibility.  Could we soon be treated to watching Luke Skywalker meet Mara Jade?  Portraying what happens next in the saga seems a logical reason to buy the rights, though I certainly wouldn't complain if Disney went back to movies 1-3 and somehow made them not suck.

Disney also owns ABC, so in addition to feature films, I can fantasize about Star Wars mini series and Saturday morning cartoons.  With a whole new generation of Jedi making names for themselves in the books, there's limitless material and a host of possible venues.

Disney, Lucasfilm, call me.  I'll hook you up.


*None of that is really why I find the company creepy, it was just easier to find a quick link than expose my cyberpunk fear of megacorps.
**Yes, yes, I know I'm a grown woman, and I'm not likely to let anyone else forget it either.  Fangirl just has a (totally incorrect) ring to it that I haven't been able to replace.