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Tuesday, February 28, 2023

HAPPY SURPRISES_ IWEG Post

 


"Surprise is the greatest gift
that life can grant us."
Boris Oasternak


I never have been a fan of Gore Vidal's historical novels, but I love his perceptive essays with their razor wit and humor.


I even had him accompany Victor Standish in zombie infested Detroit in my historical fantasy above.

His ghost still rails at me for that by the way.


His knowledge of American history was encyclopedic as his historical novels reflect.


Imagine my surprise when I bought an autographed copy of his THE SMITHONIAN INSTITUTION and found it was a historical FANTASY!!


In it, his hero is the true great love of his life who died on Iwo Jima.

Mr. Vidal goes back in time to when his love is 14 and devises a tale that saves him from dying on that Japanese volcanic island.


The teenage math genius is mysteriously summoned to the Smithsonian Institution, 

where a crash program to develop the atomic bomb is being conducted in the basement. 

Surrounded by figures from American history, the boy battles to save not just himself, but humanity.

I did not mind the surprise.

Things never go the way you expect them to. That's both the joy and frustration in life. 

I'm finding as I get older that I don't mind, though. It's the surprises that tickle me the most, the things you don't see coming.


Have you ever been surprised
by a book from one of your 
favorite authors
or
an idea for one of your
own books?


6 comments:

  1. The older I get, the less things seem to surprise me though.

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    Replies
    1. Each day I pray for a childlike sense of wonder at life ... so far so good. :-)

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  2. I didn't know he wrote historical fantasy.

    I like surprises. Adds flavor to life.

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  3. "Scratch an artist and you surprise a child" ~ James Huneker
    He must have known what we have yet to learn.
    "In the end, all the light we have..." Lovely quote. Is it yours?

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    Replies
    1. It's mine as far as I know. I read so much that a lot of things bumble about my brain like pinballs in a machine. :-) Bur I do believe that line is mine. Thank you so much for visiting, Donna,

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