Recent reading + some RL stuff

[luzula]

Aww, how lovely to see new people being interested in Broster's books! ♥

A Seditious Affair by K J Charles (2015)
I haven't read much of modern romance authors, but this was excellent! I'd read the first in this series before and thought it was okay, but it didn't really leave me wanting more. But a rec from garonne convinced me to give the author another try. This is historical m/m romance set in Britain in 1819, with a sort-of enemies to lovers set-up--the characters have been meeting anonymously for kinky sex and don't actually know the other's identity as a seditious democratic agitator, respectively an official at the Home Office who works to suppress that sort of thing. Until they find out. I know, that sounds a bit contrived, and I suppose it is, but it's very well written! I think it's hard to succeed in opening an original story with a sex scene, without first making me care about the characters and their connection, but here it works very well to set up their situation. And the story gives great conflicting loyalties and a plot to go with it, which I love.

I do have one quibble. Well, two. The first is that I found one of the sex scenes a bit undernegotiated. The second is that what we see of Silas' community of agitators is a group of people who end up doing a pretty foolish (if historically accurate) thing, which Silas doesn't agree with. Why doesn't Silas also associate with other more sensible dissidents like himself? I suppose one could counter that we don't see Dominic's more sensible co-workers, either, but just the bloodhound who is on Silas' trail. I guess these things are to make it easier for them both to be separated from their respective environments...even if I do feel that Silas is separated more from his. But these are quibbles! I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

In other news, this week I spent three days in the midst of a family quarrel, wishing the two parties involved (my mom and my brother-in-law) would just behave like sensible adults. /o\ They finally did talk before my sister's family left, but I'm not convinced it solved the problem. There was an apology given and accepted, but from my perspective the, uh, rhetorically more skilled person took charge of the conversation too much and said some hurtful things which will probably fester. And then I've had to be understanding and help my mom talk through this--it's exhausting emotional labor. /o\

It's ironic that in fiction I can really enjoy interpersonal tension. But that's fiction--please keep it out of my RL!

Comments

[cyphomandra]

A Seditious Affair is fantastic - I like it at least twice as much as the others in that series. But you really should read her Think of Englandwhich is my favourite of hers - upright wounded English officer and louche Jewish poet/spy team up to save their country :D

I’m sorry to hear about the family conflict! Behaving like sensible adults is sadly all too rare…

[nnozomi]

The second is that what we see of Silas' community of agitators is a group of people who end up doing a pretty foolish (if historically accurate) thing, which Silas doesn't agree with. Why doesn't Silas also associate with other more sensible dissidents like himself?
Interesting point! The book doesn't suggest, for instance, emotional/personal ties with the existing group that he can't shake? I have not read these but I enjoy your description; maybe I should look into them, if only as research for my own seditious democratic agitator.

It's ironic that in fiction I can really enjoy interpersonal tension. But that's fiction--please keep it out of my RL!
Oh dear, same, likewise with large events like wars and pandemics. I hope the family conflict smooths itself out without too much stress on you.

[luzula]

Not surprised to see it's other people's favorite as well! The next one I see contains a boss/employee relationship, and I usually don't enjoy that sort of thing. The kink in A Seditious Affair worked for me precisely because it turned around their positions in society and also neither of them personally had power over the other--well, they did kind of end up in such a situation, but they were both horrified by it and worked to get out of it.

I'll check out Think of England, then! And thanks for the sympathy...

[luzula]

Interesting point! The book doesn't suggest, for instance, emotional/personal ties with the existing group that he can't shake? I have not read these but I enjoy your description; maybe I should look into them, if only as research for my own seditious democratic agitator.

It suggests that he doesn't want to disappoint them by walking away. But since the main focus is the romance, those relationships are not developed enough that I can really feel it. And I suppose the group could plausibly have been a good place for Silas to engage, which was radicalized by repression into doing what they did. But again, the work isn't done to show that. I don't mean to complain, because I did really enjoy this book as a romance!

I do think it's rare in fiction to find good portrayals of what it's like to be involved in social movements. Fiction tends to focus on the more dramatic actions and not the day-to-day work that lays the foundation and makes the more dramatic actions possible. OTOH, my own experience of social movements would not be true to what it would have been like in 1819, either, because I don't have experience of doing it under repression and under that social system.

Oh dear, same, likewise with large events like wars and pandemics.

Very true!

[regshoe]

That does sound like an interesting plot—talk about enemies to lovers! I don't know much about the spectrum of seditious democratic agitation in that period (I suppose the political situation has moved on a bit from the one portrayed in Beck and Call, for instance)—out of interest, what was the foolish historically accurate thing Silas's group of agitators do?

Argh, sorry to hear about the quarrel—sounds like a horrible situation to be caught in the middle of. :(

[luzula]

The Cato Street conspiracy.

Argh, sorry to hear about the quarrel—sounds like a horrible situation to be caught in the middle of. :(

Yes. : ( I've had almost two days to recover now, at least, and feel better. Picking blueberries and writing and being on the internet is soothing (at least my parts of the internet).

[nnozomi]

I do think it's rare in fiction to find good portrayals of what it's like to be involved in social movements. Fiction tends to focus on the more dramatic actions and not the day-to-day work that lays the foundation and makes the more dramatic actions possible. OTOH, my own experience of social movements would not be true to what it would have been like in 1819, either, because I don't have experience of doing it under repression and under that social system.
I would be glad to hear more on this point, including your own experience (to the extent you want to discuss it on DW, anyway) any time! I have sometimes thought about adding a tag reading "administration saves the world" to a couple of my fics, and I really love finding fiction that gets into the day-to-day work.

[regshoe]

Huh, that's interesting—very dramatic and yeah, not the most sensible. (It occurs to me this sort of thing might be relevant to the historical background of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, actually...)

Picking blueberries and writing and being on the internet is soothing

Aww, that does sound nice.

[luzula]

Well, sure! I have 20 years experience in the environmental movement and in a union, but I'll keep it general. Ideally, I think you need to work to build relationships between people, both close working relationships, and also the sort of organizational culture where there is a warm response towards new people that you are trying to organize. Some of the close working relationships will grow into personal friendships, but not all of them, and that's fine. They can still be satisfying relationships. Also, you won't get along with everyone, and you need to find workarounds and ways of handling both conflicts, and issues that are not conflicts, but simply that people have different histories and preferred ways of working.

Who does the accounting? Who keeps track of what people are active and what their roles are? Who cooks and cleans in your meeting place? How do you communicate among the group and what technology do you have to facilitate that? How do you spread information and reach potential new members? When they approach you, who takes care of bringing them into the group and finding ways that they can contribute? Do you formalize decision-making procedures or are you more of a loosely-knit network? How do you make decisions--is it a small group of people or the whole group (or either according to circumstance)? If it's the whole group, what meeting-techniques do you use to facilitate that and make sure that everyone is heard? Do you make decisions by consensus or by majority, or some other way? How do you avoid bitterness among people when decisions don't go their way? Do you rotate positions of responsibility and have ways for new people to learn to take on responsibility, so that you're not reliant on a few people who may burn out? How do you show appreciation for each other's work? If your movement consists of many local groups, how do you coordinate their activities?

And all that is just the internal workings--what are your goals and your strategies for getting there? What are the concrete actions you are taking? Are you going to be reformists working close to power, in danger of being absorbed, or radicals challenging from the outside, in danger of being repressed? What other groups are your allies or opponents?

All of your day-to-day work is going to pay off in moments of crisis, because the resources you have built up as well as the interpersonal relationships and established procedures for decision-making will make it much easier to respond as best you can. There's a very interesting book called Twitter and Tear Gas by Zeynep Tufekci which examines the workings of social movements before and after the internet, which really highlights this. Here's my review of it.

And feelings: there's the (rare) high of being in a large crowd of people who have successfully taken over the street, the pedestrian work of doing the accounting, the invigorating feeling of a productive meeting after which you get new energy for doing the accounting, the warm glow of someone praising you for chairing a meeting well, the sleepless night of wondering how you're going to solve a conflict and whether you said the right thing or not.

I do like your tag. : )

ETA: I just wanted to note again that since this is based largely on my own experience, there's not enough here about repression! I mean, I've seen it happen, mostly in my union work, but I've never experienced it myself. But obviously it's super important, especially for what you're writing.

[author_by_night]

Family tension is rough. Especially when a parent is involved. :/ I get it being easier in fiction. But I also think in fiction, we are allowed to see nuances and break everything down, which maybe would help IRL but isn't done.

Hopefully the issue resolves itself. In the meantime, I guess keep your head above water and try to be supportive rather than getting personally invested? It's hard, I know. I've been there with a parent versus another close relative.

[seascribble]

Family! Ugh!

I am glad you liked Seditious Affair though, it is one of my favourite KJC books. The others are probably her Will Darling series, roaring 20s type pulp novels. I think she is quite good at taking scenarios that are a bit contrived and making them work. But maybe that's just part of the expectation going in to romance novels so I'm not as critical. Either way, I really enjoy her.

[chestnut_pod]

Oh, family :/ Here's hoping it does work out!

So glad you liked the Charles, too! She's one of my favorites. Re: I found one of the sex scenes a bit undernegotiated, she does have a certain dynamic she likes to write that does lend itself to that kind of under negotiation -- not my favorite, but it's not wholly pervasive. My very favorite of hers, the novella Unfit to Print (louche Black British peddler of smut and uptight Indian lawyer must solve a mystery via the medium of Victorian pornography!), has very little of it at all. As for conflicting loyalties, though, her latest Will Darling series, which I believe another commenter has already mentioned, is absolutely chock full of 'em.

[aurumcalendula]

A Seditious Affair is my favorite book in that series! I really enjoyed her most recent trilogy (The Will Darling Adventures) which features 1920s spy shenanigans.

Ugh, the family stuff sounds stressful and exhausting to deal with!

[cathexys]

Agree so much with you. By far my fave in the series and the series is my fave of Charles's (though I really enjoyed Think of England and the first Will Darling and am looking forward to the others).

Always happy to hear others share my preferences :)

[luzula]

Thanks for the sympathy! Things are much more restful now--I suppose this will probably be an issue going forward, but it doesn't need immediate attention, at least. Which is a relief!

[luzula]

It does seem to be a popular book! And thanks for the rec, I'll check it out. : )

[luzula]

Re: I found one of the sex scenes a bit undernegotiated, she does have a certain dynamic she likes to write that does lend itself to that kind of under negotiation

The scene I meant is one where Dominic is blindfolded and gagged for the first time and he's obviously nervous about it. He can safeword out by letting go of a rail, but I would think when he's nervous and it's the first time he does it, and also he can't see what's coming, I would think the top would be a bit more careful about doing things with no warning. But no, it all goes perfectly smoothly despite that. Yes, it is funny that the only time Dominic safewords out of something, it's a political conversation, but I do think it's more interesting from a relationship development standpoint when sex doesn't always go perfectly, and we can see how the characters respond to that. OTOH, the book did have other sex scenes which were used well for relationship development!

Thanks for the recs! You are the second commenter on this post to use the word "louche", which I didn't know. So I learned a new word. : )

[luzula]

You're the fourth to rec that series, so I'll put it on my list of books to check out! : )

And thanks for the sympathy.

[sovay]

But a rec from garonne convinced me to give the author another try.

I am prickly about KJ Charles for wholly personal reasons, but I did very much enjoy her Spectred Isle (2017). It is set in a universe in which the boom in spiritualism after World War I is the direct result of massive magical practice during the war ripping open the walls between this world and the next; one of the characters is the last of a line of hereditary magicians, the other is a disgraced veteran, they fall in love with incredible inconvenience while trying to solve a supernatural mystery that starts out looking like local weirdness and ends up going to the mythical roots of London. I've been waiting for the sequel ever since.

I am sorry your family is adding unnecessary stress.

[nnozomi]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this out, as well as the book rec! This is both helpful for writing purposes and just immensely interesting to me in general, in particular the way the small day-to-day things and the larger issues and outcomes interact. Bookmarked and very much appreciated <3

[luzula]

Glad it was helpful! I feel a little bit face-palmy about my comment, because I do have experience and have read on the topic, BUT ALSO it's a huge topic and I don't want to set myself up as an expert when there's so much I don't know and probably perspectives I can't see! Also it's not like the organizations I'm active in have actually solved all those issues I brought up, ha ha.

[luzula]

Oh, that sounds interesting! Thanks for the rec, I'll put it on my list. : )

[china_shop]

Much sympathy (again, belatedly) for the family stuff. I hope the stress of it has passed now!

*goes off to investigate some of the Charles books mentioned in your post and in the comments* :-)

[luzula]

Thanks! Yes, there is much less stress now. Whew.

DW posts and comments are the best places to get book recs. : )