Published Aug 1, 2011 (forthcoming)

About the Book

Music scholar Frederica Bannister is thrilled when she beats her bitter rival, Kristian North, for the chance to be transferred back to 1861 Tuscany to observe firsthand the brilliant Johannes Brahms. Frederica will not only get to see Brahms in his prime; she’ll also try to solve a mystery that has baffled music experts for years.

But once in Tuscany, Frederica’s grip on reality quickly unravels. She instantly falls under Brahms’ spell-and finds herself envious of his secret paramour, the beautiful, celebrated concert pianist Clara Schumann. In a single move, Frederica makes a bold and shocking decision that changes everything…

When Frederica fails to return home, it is Kristian North who is sent back in time to Tuscany to find her. There, Kristian discovers that Frederica indeed holds the key to unraveling Brahms’ greatest secret. But now, Frederica has a dark secret of her own—one that puts everyone around her in devastating peril…

Reviews

From Publishers Weekly:
“Marley’s second excursion into musical history (after 2010′s Mozart’s Blood) plays what-if with the relationship between Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms, 14 years Schumann’s junior. Musicologists from our own near future compete for the opportunity to ‘transfer’ back in time and observe their study subjects firsthand for eight hours. Unattractive, frustrated Frederica Bannister gets her wealthy father to pull a few strings, undergoes the transfer—and does not return. Kristian North, enraged at losing the chance to observe Brahms, feels vindicated when the transfer scientists call him in to go after Frederica. The writing is competent and well paced, and Kristian is a sympathetic, heroic figure.”

From Historical Novels Review, Editor’s Choice:

“This finely researched tale speculates on Brahms and Schumann’s relationship. The characters, setting and plot convince the reader of the veracity of the unfolding story. Unexpected plots and subplots and memorable characters keep the reader hooked from the opening sentence.
The Brahms Deception is one of the best books I have read in long time, and I recommend it very highly. I am looking forward to reading Mozart’s Blood, Marley’s previous novel.”–Monica E. Spence

From Romantic Times:

“Combines time travel, romance, historical figures, and a thrilling plot to captivate readers from beginning to end.  Marley’s knack for combining historical intrigue and romance will keep readers with a love for books like Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife and A.S. Byatt’s Possession on the edge of their seats.”

–RT Book Reviews, 4 1/2 Stars

From Tor.com:

The Brahms Deception is the follow-up to Louise Marley’s Mozart’s Blood. (I wrote about this novel here, and the new book has a few glancing references to its protagonist, Octavia Voss, but the ties are light — it’s not a sequel.) It is a book that will put readers in mind of A.S. Byatt’s unforgettable 1990 Booker Prize Winner, Possession: A Romance. Both novels, after all, depict academics who discover a secret love affair between the heroes who’ve become the raison d’etre of their careers. Both have intertwined love stories that play out in the past and present.

In Possession, Byatt weaves her literary lovers — Randolph Henry Ash and Christabel LaMotte — from whole cloth, while making it seem impossible that they aren’t part of the English literary canon. She achieves this by creating portions of their poetry and building a vividly-evoked culture of scholarship around the two. Marley is writing about music, not poetry, and she chooses real composers, authors of music that is woven deeply into the tapestry of Western culture. The fictional romance between Schumann and Brahms is stitched into a small gap within their well-documented personal histories. It is a classic alternate-history technique, well-conceived and carefully executed.

–Alyx Dellamonica

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Background and Other Notes of Interest

Clara Schumann is remembered principally as the widow of the great and tragic composer Robert Schumann, who died in an asylum at a young age, leaving Clara with seven children to raise.  Clara was, in fact, one of the most celebrated concert pianists of the nineteenth century, and her career, beginning when she was only nine, spanned sixty-one years.  She was known as a great beauty, and she supported herself and her family solely with her income as a performer for all that time, no easy feat in a century in which women were expected to stay at home and out of the public eye.  She also left behind a lovely, but small, collection of her compositions.

There are some lovely pictures of Clara and samples of her music here, and do listen to Stella Doufexis’s gorgeous recording of her Lied, “Liebst du um Schonheit.”

Here’s a gorgeous instrumental recording of Brahms’s famous lullaby, which wasn’t completed until well after the time period of the novel:  Brahms Lullaby.

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Excerpt

The Brahms Deception

Prelude

Her reflection in the ebony wood of the Gewandhaus piano disturbed her.  She wished she were using a score so the pages of music would block the image.  Her eyes were too large.  Her chin was small and pointed, and her mouth an unexceptionable rosebud, but her eyes were those of a fawn, enormous, oddly shaped, gleaming darkly under the flickering gas lights.  She looked terrified, and she was.

The long skirts of her blue silk dress spilled over the piano stool.  She had to kick the hem free of the pedals.  The fitted sleeves puffed above the elbow, making her wrists look like white sticks.  A great, childish bow, blue to match her dress, adorned the back of her hair.  It embarrassed her, but she had no power over the choice of it.

She had no power at all, in fact, not in the matter of the bow or in any of the other details of this performance.  Her father had chosen the dress, had supervised the dressing of her hair, had dictated what she would eat for dinner and when.  He had chosen the music for her programme,

had selected the Gewandhaus for her debut, had collected the ticket money with his own hands.

If she looked up, past the shining lid of the piano, she would see his clear, hard eyes watching her from the proscenium.

She kept her eyes lowered.  She must concentrate.  Her father’s reputation as a teacher, and their future income, rested on her performance.  He had reminded her of this many times.  She had practiced until her fingers burned and her back ached.  She knew the Variations perfectly, and would play them from memory.  Some might call that vanity, but she preferred, even though she was nervous, to play without music.

She was ready.  She just wished her father would go out into the house.

She curled her fingers over the keys, took a deep breath, and began.

The first notes disappointed her, seeming frail and somehow juvenile.  The piano had sounded much stronger, much more full in her practice sessions.  She was startled by the way the bodies of the audience absorbed the resonance.

She took another breath, concerned now only about the music and what she wanted it to say.  She played the next phrases with more vigor, striking the keys with determined purpose.  Goethe was to say, one day in the near future, that she played “with the strength of six boys”.  That would mean nothing to her, but the music did.  The music made everything else tolerable.  The muscles of her arms and hands began to thrum with energy.  She knew how she wanted the notes to sound, how she could make the piano sing.  She played on with unconscious authority, an assurance beyond her years.

It began to happen.  She forgot her reflection, forgot her fatigue, forgot even her father.  Brilliant notes poured from the piano, cascading over the stage, drowning the faint hiss of the footlights as they poured into the hall.  She played from her soul.  She never hesitated, never faltered.  She drove on to the end of the Variations without once looking up from the keyboard.

She reached the cadence, and held it, letting the resonance of the chord die away on its own.  She closed her eyes, relishing the moment of a piece well played, of music created, of the expression of an inner meaning no words could describe.

When she opened her eyes, she saw her father gazing fixedly at her from the wings.  He was smiling, but it was that tight, pointed smile that meant there was something he wanted.  She stiffened.  What was it?

As the music left her, she became aware of another sound, a bigger, rougher sound.  She turned her head, seeking the source, and realized there was a roar coming from the house.

It was for her.  It was a rush of noise, gloved hands beating together, voices calling out. Brava, brava! She had forgotten for a moment where she was, how much this performance meant.  She froze.  What she was supposed to do now?

Curtsy.  That was it.  Bow.  This was her debut, and this applause was for her.

Awkwardly, she swiveled on the stool.  Her long dress caught on the pedals of the piano, and she had bend to untangle it with her hands before she could stand.  She picked up her skirts and stepped away from the piano to the edge of the stage, careful of the heat of the footlights.  She bobbed, twice, her cheeks as hot as the burning lamps at her feet.

Then, though the applause continued, she fled the stage.  She turned away from her father.  He would have to work his way around the back of the stage, dodge dusty stacks of equipment and piles of thick ropes to reach her.  She flung herself into the tiny, dim dressing room, and collapsed into the chair before the tall pier glass.

Clara Wieck stared at her murky reflection, the big blue bow framing her small head, and marveled.  She was nine years old.  She had just become a professional.

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Published June 2010

About the Book

Mozart’s Blood is historical fiction based on a real-life character, the opera singer Teresa Saporiti, who created the role of Donna Anna in Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni.  The story spans four centuries and takes place in half a dozen great opera houses.  It’s all about an abiding passion for music which even time and death cannot extinguish.

The cover art is by Jon Paul, and the jacket design is by Kristine Mills-Noble.

Reviews

From Booklist:
“Marley, a musician and writer, has produced a stunning drama inspired by the life of Teresa Saporiti, the first Donna Anna. Teresa, an aspiring singer, was turned into a vampire by a Czech aristocrat. As bad as the need for blood are the memories of the victims, which remain with the taker. Teresa has learned to deal with them, but Mozart, whom the baroness bit at the same time, never did and died painfully because he could not bring himself to satisfy the unnatural thirst. In San Francisco in 1906, Teresa meets Ugo, a Silician werewolf with a very curious past of his own. They become partners, guarding each other’s backs. In twenty-first-century Milan, an egoistic baritone thinks he has figured out Teresa’s secret and abducts Ugo to obtain the blood that holds Mozart’s memories. The story covers four centuries, but the shifts between the past and the present are seamlessly handled, and the development of Teresa and Ugo over those centuries is impressive. An engrossing piece, from overture to final chord.”

—Frieda Murray

From Darkscribe Magazine:
“Just when you think you’ve read everyone in horror who matters, along comes Louise Marley with her amazing and lyrical vampire tale, Mozart’s Blood. Gripping, artful, tellingly detailed, and impossible to put down, Mozart’s Blood is that rare kind of horror novel that works on more than one level. It’s visceral. It’s evocative. It’s scary. It envelops you in atmosphere and delivers on its promise to tell a compelling story.”

—Rick R. Reed

From indie bookseller Jeannie Mancini:
“This novel is no chic-lit paranormal romance. This is serious vampire literature and one of the best I’ve come across in years. Marley’s writing is outstanding and very polished. The story bursts with breathtaking passionate scenes of emotional torment, the operatic voices vibrate off the page, her characters are crafted with depth and humanity, and the plot is very inventive. This is a story with soul, one that is a cut above all the rest of the vampire fiction out there now that is being mass produced like paper dolls. Dripping with 18th century history, Mozart’s Blood is a sensational read not to be missed for any fans of vampire novels and I personally am hoping for a sequel. Bravo! I stand up and applaud!!!!”

From A.M. Dellamonica:
“To be an up and coming soprano with a contract to sing Donna Anna–in Milan, at La Scala, no less!–is already to be extraordinary. Octavia Voss is even more singular than that. Born in Italy centuries before the present day, she left home as a teen to pursue the dream of becoming a singer. Talent and determination get her into an opera company, but there she learns that her voice is perhaps less special than she imagined; her career prospects may be limited.

“Then a depraved-seeming Countess lures Octavia and the company’s composer into a tryst. After the encounter, Octavia has been utterly transformed. She craves blood, for one thing. For another, she, the Countess and the composer all share each others’ memories… a powerful thing, considering that the composer is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart!

“A cold-blooded creature she may be, but Olivia is a fundamentally caring woman, and it is this quality of hers that gives the book its warmth: her affection for Ugo, her sexual interest in one of the other singers, and above all her passion for opera offset the cruel realities of her condition. Mozart’s Blood tells us her life’s story, and Ugo’s (which is every bit as intriguing) in flashback, and both histories are impeccably researched.

From Romantic Times, 4 stars:

Reviewed By: Joyce Morgan

From SF Signal:

Ms. Marley’s vampires are not the vicious monsters of the Nosferatu mythos. Nor are they saccharine, misunderstood sweeties of Twilight. They are-strange as it may sound in this context-ordinary people. They don’t sleep days. They don’t twinkle. They lead normal lives, at least, normal as it is construed in the world of opera. These people want things and, to get what they want, they do things, things that don’t always work out. Like humans they suffer the ravages of time and loss, albeit on a different scale than most of us.

First and foremost, our heroine wants to sing, needs to sing, with a need that overshadows her need for blood, and Ms. Marley deftly plays these competing drives against each other. Her picture of backstage life at a Don Giovanni production rings true. Her characters, be they prima donnas or supporting artists, offer a fascinating counterpoint between the singers and the roles they undertake. There are theatrical disasters, which seem trivial to outsiders, and raptures incomprehensible to the uninitiated. In short, Mozart’s Blood really is about opera. And yet, you don’t need to know a thing about opera to enjoy the book, because it’s all wrapped up in an exciting story.

Lastly, Mozart’s Blood is something I never expected to see: a fresh and unexpected take on vampires. Go read it!–Michaele Jordan

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Virtual Tour

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Discussion Questions

1. Ugo and Octavia have a deep bond that has lasted for more than a century. What do you think drew them together and has kept them close all those years? What is the greatest difference between them?

2. What is it about Teresa’s character that made her strong enough to withstand the demands of her nature after the bite of Zdenka Milosch? Why was Mozart not able to do the same?

3. Why did Teresa, in the end, decide not to share the tooth with Vincenzo dal Prato, the castrato who befriended her when she was a young girl in Milan?

4. The opera Don Giovanni, which is the framing device for the novel, is both drama and comedy, romance and tragedy. Do you find these elements in Ugo’s and Teresa’s stories? In Mozart’s?

5. Can the attraction between Massimo and Octavia survive what happened between them?

6. Massimo wants a great singing career just as much as Teresa did. Do you think he has the same strength?

7. Who do you think will take over the leadership of La Società after the Countess?

8. Ughetto was sensitive and affectionate as a young boy at the scuola. How is Ugo different now, and why did he change?

9. Vampire stories have been popular since Bram Stoker’s Dracula was published in 1897, and they have experienced a resurgence in recent years. Do you think the appeal of vampires is about sex? Power? Long life? Or is it something indefinable?

10. The elders are so ancient that nothing gives them joy any more except music. What is the appeal of music that it can outlast every other pleasure?

Download Discussion Questions for Mozart’s Blood (RTF document)

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Book Club Party Guide

Along with the list of ten suggested discussion questions, here are a few ideas for turning your discussion of Mozart’s Blood into a party:

If it’s appropriate, have an open bottle of Riesling in an ice bucket, in honor of Herr Mozart’s Viennese background. Teresa would love it if you offered a bottle of Italian red wine. Her favorite would be a Barolo, of course, but those can be expensive. A nice chianti is just fine, or a rich Brunello. For those who don’t drink wine, bottles of Pellegrino can be open and ready on the table.

For a lunch or dinner party, a good pasta dish simply made with fresh ingredients will be perfect. Use fresh diced tomatoes, a third of a cup of good green olive oil, lots of chopped basil, a cup of pine nuts and a half cup of shaved parmesan cheese. Boil a pound of pasta and toss with all the other ingredients. It should serve six to eight.

With it serve a salad such as Ugo might have recognized. Layer peeled and sectioned grapefruit with avocado slices onto salad plates, and drizzle with garlic-infused olive oil. The grapefruit sections that come in glass jars are fine, but drain them well. Garnish with even more fresh basil leaves (you can never have too much).

A loaf of fresh Italian bread served with olive oil for dipping rounds out your table!

Dessert is simplest of all. If your club doesn’t serve a full meal, this will energize them for the discussion! Arrange an assortment of dark chocolate truffles on an elegant plate, and serve with a good Viennese coffee. Side dishes can be nuts and cheese and olives. Shop for Mediterranean-themed cocktail napkins!

Most of the pictures you see here, such as this one of Teresa’s birthplace, are free for download from the internet. Download and print in a good size, and use them to decorate. You can paste them to cardboard or even put them in inexpensive picture frames.

And now the best part: the music! Begin with a good recording of Don Giovanni, preferably featuring Renee Fleming. Any of the symphonies would be lovely, particularly the familiar ones such as Symphony #40 in G minor, or the Symphony #25. The score for the movie Amadeus would be perfect, as it offers tidbits of all the familiar passages.

Halloween is the perfect time to read a book like Mozart’s Blood, and you could have your guests come in costume! It might be hard to achieve Octavia’s beautiful gown here, but you have so many periods to choose from—the 18th century, the late 19th century, the Roaring Twenties, even the clothes of World War II. Costumes are fun to research. Googling the period you want to use is easy.

If you do dress in period costumes, take good pictures! We would love to put them on the website. Salute! E buon gusto!

Download Book Club Party Guide (Word document)

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Background and Other Notes of Interest

The magnificent singing actress Renee Fleming provided a model and a list of repertoire for my character.   Ms. Fleming, with whom I once had the great pleasure of working, is a magnificent Donna Anna.    Take a few moments to listen and watch:  \”Non mi dir\” from Don Giovanni, sung by Renee Fleming

This historical novel covers the musical periods of the Renaissance, the Baroque, the Classical, and the Romantic.  The very early scenes take place in Rome, where a brand new art form called “musical drama” was just being introduced.  For quick details on the birth of opera, visit John Howell’s very brief summary of opera history.

This is Mozart as Teresa Saporiti would have known him.  The most passionate Mozart devotees still mourn his untimely death, and long to hear the music he would have written.  The Requiem, which he was working on at the time of his passing, was completed by a student of his, Sussmeyer.  The contrast between the music of Mozart and the music of Sussmeyer is a painful reminder of what the world lost when it lost Mozart.  Listen to a bit of the sublime Requiem.

Bibliography

In addition to touring the Metropolitan Opera House and the historic La Scala Theater in Milan, the following resources were immensely valuable–and a whole lot of fun:

Mozart, a Biography, by Piero Melograni

Marrying Mozart, a delightful novel by Stephanie Cowell

The Inner Voice, by Renee Fleming

The Costume Exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

The listserve MozartForum and its helpful scholars

Disaster by the Bay, H. Paul Jeffers

The Great San Francisco Earthquake & Fire, Helen Hillyer Brown

Great Singers on Great Singing, Jerome Hines

Links

An unusual vintage video of San Francisco, 2006

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Excerpt

Mozart’s Blood

Quel sangue . . . quella piaga . . .

The blood . . . that wound . . .

Donna Anna, Act One, Scene One, Don Giovanni

The old woman hummed to herself as she crumbled bits of black paste into a little clay pot and added wine and water.  “Good Roman wine,” she said, as she stirred it with a wooden spoon.  “And honey,” she added, smiling, showing blackened teeth.  “To cover the taste.”

She had told Ughetto and the other boys to call her Nonna.  But she was nothing like Ughetto’s nonna.  Ughetto’s nonna was plump and easy, with soft arms and warm fingers.  This crone, this vecchia,  was scrawny and dry and twisted, like a dead olive tree.

Ughetto knew what the black paste was.  He had seen it often in his mother’s tavern in Trapani.  The sailors carried it in their pockets, wrapped in bits of Chinese silk or Indian cotton.  Their eyes gleamed with anticipation as they unwrapped their little bundles, opening them carefully on the wooden tables.  They shaved the paste into clay pipes with small, sharp knives, and when they smoked it, the tavern filled with the pungent scent of poppies.

Ughetto’s mother always drove him out then, him and all six of his sisters.  She shooed them down to the beach to search for mussels, or over to the docks to drum up trade for the tavern.  They went running down the twisting streets, laughing, shouting, a horde of ragged girls with Ughetto, the baby, the only boy, struggling to keep up.

He wished his real nonna were here now, or his mamma.  He wished his sisters were here, or he with them, though they ordered him about like a small slave.  Home had been noisy and warm.  Home had felt safe, most of the time.  He didn’t like being alone, didn’t like this place, this Nonna, or Luigi, her slack-lipped son.

They had taken him in Trapani.  Mamma had sent him to the docks, telling him to wait beside the pile of empty crab pots for a woman with a package.  This Nonna had appeared, with her big-shouldered, big-bellied son.  Nonna asked Ughetto’s name, and when he gave it, Luigi picked him up and carried him onto a waiting boat.

Ughetto was the package, it turned out, and though he wailed for his sisters, there was no one to save him.

Now, in this fearsome little casetta, Ughetto wrapped his arms around himself and shivered with fear.  Luigi had already carried two other boys, eyes glazed from the opium, legs flopping limply over his big arms, into the tiled room where the tub was, where the knives waited.  Ughetto crouched in the atrium under Nonna’s watchful eye, listening to the whimpers and moans as the deed was done.  Luigi brought the boys back, swaddled in bloody linen, and carried them through the atrium and on into the tiny house.

Ughetto tried to turn his head away when Nonna held the cup to his lips, but she seized his hair with her brown claw, and twisted his head to face her.  “Cretino,” she hissed.  “Don’t be an idiot.  Drink, or you’ll be screaming.”

He cried, “No!  Mamma, Mamma.”  Hot baby tears burned his eyes.

Nonna showed her jumbled teeth.  “No more mamma, little one.   Musica.”

She pressed the cup against his mouth, forcing his lips open with its metal rim.  The sweet strong wine flooded his tongue, and he had to swallow, or drown.  He closed his eyes, and gulped pungent sweetness.  The room began to dissolve around him.  He spun, stomach and brain and feet all mixed up, like diving too deep from the rocks into the warm Mediterranean waters of Trapani and not knowing which way to swim to the surface.

Nonna tipped up the cup again, and he drank, drank until it was dry.

She spoke.  Ughetto heard her voice, but her words made no sense.  He tried to open his eyes, but the lids would not obey him.

Perhaps he would die.  Boys did, hundreds of them.  Everyone knew that.  They died under the knife, or they died afterward, bleeding and swollen, burning with fever.  Would his mamma know if he died?  Would they tell her?

Would she care?

It was possible she would not.  She had regarded him so strangely, ever since that night when the family–all six girls, Ughetto, his nonna, and Mamma–had gone down to the docks in the darkness to wait for the squid boats to come in.  Far out on the water, the fisherman shone their torches over the water to entice the squid to the jigs.  The lights danced on the waves, shifting as the water tossed the boats to and fro.

When the moon rose over the sea, Ughetto’s sisters exclaimed at its brilliance.  They turned, all of them, and lifted their faces into its silver glow.  It was full and round, and its crystalline light turned the low roofs and rough-cobbled streets of Trapani into a scene of magic, a fantasy village, its dirt and poverty transformed by the moon.

Ughetto was seven years old, already wriggling with energy and pleasure at the novelty of the night.  When a strange sensation came over him, standing there in the moonlight, it seemed part of the strangeness.  He felt as if he were becoming someone else, someone new and powerful instead of small and insignificant.  His skin itched, and his jaw ached.  When he began to scratch at himself, his mamma slapped at his hands.  He tried to hold still, but he felt as if he were burning, as if he had rolled in too-hot sand.  He scrubbed at his belly with both hands, grunting at the fierceness of the sensation.

It was his nonna who seized him up then, lifting him in her arms as if he were still a baby.  She hissed something at his mamma, who drew a sharp, shocked breath.  His nonna carried him away, up through the moonlit streets to the tavern, leaving his mamma and his sisters on the docks.  He remembered kicking at her, whining, but she only held him tighter, and made no answer.  She bundled him into the tavern, and into his bed, folding him into his blankets, ignoring his protests.  She lit no candles, nor did she stoke up the fire, but held him there in the darkness.  In time, the burning of his skin subsided.  By the time his mamma and sisters came home with their buckets of squid, he felt himself again.  But Mamma looked at him as if he were a stranger.

And now she was lost to him.  It was Luigi’s strong arms beneath him, Luigi’s rough hand seizing his head as it lolled backward.  There was movement, the air changing against his face as Luigi carried him.  The smell of the bath filled his nostrils with the essence of vinegar.  Water rose around his legs, warm as blood.  His buttocks settled onto a wooden bench that was wet and hard and splintery.  Hands took hold of his feet and pulled his legs apart.

Someone held his head, murmuring something, laughing.

Someone else wielded the knife.

There was pain, sharp and surprising, and he gasped, breathing water, choking.  He struggled, and someone cursed.  There was a splash, and more swearing, and then someone . . . Ughetto fought his eyelids, trying to see.

Someone was growling.

His eyelids lifted, and his mind cleared all at once, as if a fog had burned away under a quickly rising sun.  He peered around him through slitted eyes.

Faces looked back at him, horrified faces.  Nonna shrieked something, and an open-mouthed stranger, the surgeon, backed away, knife held out before him, dripping blood onto the tiled floor.  Luigi gave a guttural cry and dropped Ughetto’s head into the water.

Ughetto blew water from his mouth as he grasped the edge of the tub with both hands.  He pulled himself to his feet, dripping, hot, and angry.

There was blood on his thighs, warmer than the water.  His head hummed with sounds and smells he had not noticed before, the wheeze of Nonna’s breath in her aging lungs, the fetid odor of Luigi’s sweat, the scent of blood on the surgeon’s knife, on his clothes, his hands.  The surgeon whimpered, and backed away.

Ughetto splashed out of the tub.  Nonna tried to seize him, and he struck at her with his nails, slicing her dark skin, drawing blood.  She dropped him with a cry, and he whirled to slash at Luigi next.  Luigi scrambled out of reach.  The smell of his fear filled the room, and made Ughetto’s mouth fill with saliva.  Ughetto rounded on the surgeon next, but he saw only his heels as the man fled the room.

Ughetto fell to all fours in a movement that felt perfectly natural.  He spun in a circle, and saw that Luigi and Nonna dared not come close to him.  His mouth opened, and his tongue lolled, saliva dripping as he galloped from the room.  He slid on the wet tiles, finding his footing once he reached the dirt floor of the atrium.  The sun warmed his back as he dashed away from the house.  He ran swiftly, strongly, too fast for them to follow.  They had no will to chase him, in any case.  The pungence of their fear assured him of that.

He raced toward the orange grove, eager for the sanctuary of its drooping branches.

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Published in 2009

About the Book

Sing the Light, Sing the Warmth, and Receive the Gift comprise the trilogy of The Singers of Nevya, completed in 1997. A follow-up novel, Singer in the Snow, was published in 2004. These novels, unlike my other works, are science fantasy, which is to say they are soft science fiction with one fantastic element, in this case, the psi, or telepathic powers of the Singers who create warmth and light for their people. Nevya is an ice world, a planet under a binary star system (see, a little science sneaks in), where summer comes only once every five years, and the ground is frozen so that metal is impossible to obtain.

To create a world where technology would not exist was my challenge with Nevya. If the people were not dependent upon the psi-Gift Singers for their survival, there would be no story. In this world, the psi is both telepathic and telekinetic, which means that the Singers can hear each other’s thoughts, but their main function is to use telekinesis, focused through music, to speed the molecules of air and water to create warmth. It was my conceit, in the early conception of the system, that they would also be able to create light with their abilities; after Sing the Light was already in print, I learned of an obscure bit of research in which scientists projected sounds beneath water, and created bubbles of light they dubbed sonoluminescence! I could have saved them the trouble . . .

Now available as an e-book for the Kindle!

Reviews

The Singers of Nevya

From Publishers Weekly:

A rich story of cultural revolution. The singers of the ice planet Nevya use their musical psi-powers to hold back the deadly cold. In Sing the Light, young singer Sira loses faith in doctrine after a violent encounter with power-hungry politicians. She sets out on her own in Sing the Warmth, spending years gathering and training like-minded individuals. Her attempt at peaceful cultural change is nearly ended when the mad carver Cho attempts to take over Nevya in Receive the Gift. This tale of duty, loss, self-sacrifice and standing up for one’s beliefs is occasionally gritty, often suspenseful and always emotionally gripping.

Sing the Light

From The New York Review of Science Fiction:
Marley is herself a writer of considerable talent. She’s a good prose stylist and her characters are quite engaging. She obviously knows something about music and does an excellent job of showing how the musical talents of the Gifted combine with their psychic powers. Many readers, particularly those who love Pern and Darkover, will appreciate visiting Nevya.

From Glodowski’s Bookshelf:
Louise Marley is a natural fantasy writer . . . Marley’s world tinkles with music, light, and creativity . . . to produce a Midsummer Night’s Dream feel. Her writing is ethereal and touching, and her plot is irresistible.

From Jacqueline Lichtenberg:
Sing the Light is a science fiction/fantasy crossover style novel. On this colony of humanity, the cold, bleak, harsh planet with an unusually long year has produced a human psychic mutation . . . a guaranteed good read, pure entertainment. You’ll never be able to tell it’s good for you by the way it tastes.

From Locus:
First novelist Marley shows a real feel for the elements that make fantasy (and science fantasy) popular.

From The Eastside Journal:
Sing the Light is a highly crafted science fiction tale that makes authentic use of the author’s extensive musical background.

From The Everett Herald:
Marley makes her writing sing.

Sing the Warmth

From Locus:
With this sequel to Sing the Light, Marley again demonstrates the storytelling skills that carried her first novel . . . Marley’s lively storytelling and engaging characters give them a life of their own.

From Elizabeth M. Atwood:
While shivering under the weight of our own wintry beast, pick up Louise Marley’s books and warm yourself at the fire of Sira’s extraordinary heart. You’ll be glad you did.

Receive the Gift

From Delphi.com QuickLooks:
Receive the Gift . . . concludes her trilogy about descendants from a crashed starship who survivve on a very cold planet (summer comes once every five years) by their ability to create psionic warmth through singing. I’ve enjoyed all three.

From Geoff Ryman:
The subject . . . is full of beautiful ideas and the feeling for place is real, specific, substantial.

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Background and Other Interesting Notes

I’m frequently challenged by my readers over the requirement for celibacy for the Singers of Nevya. It’s an important feature of any system of special power that there be a cost, and of course, in that cost, whether it’s the price of magic or the energy drain of a speeding space ship, lies the potential for conflict and tension. The Nevya books are, in the end, about what it is to be an artist, to live as an artist, to have the discipline and make the sacrifices that are required. Celibacy is only one of these sacrifices.

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About the Book

This book from Fairwood Press contains ten stories of science fiction and fantasy, two of them never before published.  The copy on the back of the cover describes the collection:

“Louise Marley’s short stories reflect her varied life experience, from a girlhood on a Montana ranch to a career as a classical singer and teacher, to her successes as a writer of science fiction and fantasy. Known primarily as a novelist, Marley creates distinct worlds even in her short work. In this volume, readers will travel from post-World War II Montana to an nineteenth-century villa in Tuscany, to a space colony where women rebel against the draft, and to a concert hall in a near-future Seattle. Each story offers unforgettable characters, vivid settings, and something to think about.”

Reviews

From Chronicle/Critical Mass:
Although I’ve read several novels by Louise Marley and remember them fondly, I don’t think I had ever consciously noted any of her short fiction, if I’ve read it at all prior to this book. There are ten stories here, spanning a wide variety of settings and themes. The book opens with the title story, a moody piece about the conflict between the rights of the individual and the dictates of society. The next is a lighter, and better story about the integration of female players into professional baseball. The next two are relatively minor, although I liked the western motif in one of them, sharing the author’s fond recollections of the work of Zane Grey. “Jamie Says” is a thoughtful look at questions of gender that doesn’t descend into pedantry and is my favorite in the collection. The balance of the book includes a light fantasy, a musical prodigy, a religious novice with an unusual affliction, and a fictional meeting between two musical legends. All of Marley’s stories are centered on the characters rather than physical events, but not at the expense of storytelling. If she was more prolific at this length, she would almost certainly be numbered among the most promising short story writers working in the field.

—Don D’Ammassa

From Booklist:
Marley’s first collection covers a wide range of the fantastic with a keen eye for human character and motivation. The title story, inspired by the biblical fate of Absalom, concerns a group of women on a distant planet who sacrifice themselves to save their children from being taken away to war at younger and younger ages. “Starchild Wondersmith” gives entirely new life to the situation of the kid trying to fit in at a new school, for Starchild is a True Being; since he isn’t getting the expected TB powers, he chooses transfer to a normal school and discovers hidden depths. The volume closer, “Deep River,” tells of the marvelous meeting between the greatest operatic voices of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, one of them a naturalized American originally from Germany, the other a young black woman from Harlem. Marley’s narrative voice is strong, and her focus on characters and emotional depth pays off in a set of satisfying, thought-provoking stories.

—Regina Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From PurplePens.com:
Marley digs into the heart of her characters, managing to create living, breathing people upon the page.

From SF Signal (review of the title story):
 ”p dolce” by Louise Marley [2007 short story]

This seemingly simple premise turns out be dramatic and engrossing with Marley’s tight storytelling. The meaning of Johannes Brahms’ “p dolce” is the center of the mystery and both characters, the handsome Kristian and the plain Frederica, are desperate to learn the secret. Frederica’s months-long disappearance works in her rival’s favor and gives him the chance to learn the same secret by witnessing firsthand the lives of Brahms and his paramour, Clara Schumann. But what’s more important: finding and retrieving the consciousness of Frederica, whose body lay comatose in their future, or learning the secret to the grand music mystery? Good stuff.

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Cover Comments

The spirit of Marley’s characters shines through darkness.

—Vonda McIntyre, author of The Moon and the Sun

A compelling mix of sweet and dark informed by Marley’s signature theme, the cherished child.

—Kay Kenyon, author of Bright of the Sky

The place you’re going under Louise Marley’s gifted guidance is one you’ve never been before.
It’s a revelation. And a journey you won’t want to miss.

—Connie Willis, author of Passage

Absalom’s Mother is a marvelous demonstration of the human condition wrapped in science fiction….stories like these deserve the widest audience possible.

—James Van Pelt, author of Summer of the Apocalypse

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Singer in the Snow appeared late in November, 2005. This young adult fantasy is set in the world of Nevya, though it's a standalone story.

About the Book

My very first novel, Sing the Light, and the two novels that followed it, are set in the world of Nevya, an ice planet where energy is generated psychically, focused through music. It was a world that sprang from my own long experience as a musician and singer, that expressed my feelings about what it is to live and work as an artist, to make sacrifices, to develop discipline, to commit fully to the life. When the brilliant children’s editor, Sharyn November, asked me for a young adult novel, a book set in the world of The Singers of Nevya was the perfect choice.

It was lovely revisiting this romantic, challenging planet. Not only is it a beautiful and intriguing world to spend time in, but my return to it reminded me of my early days as a writer, not knowing if or when I might be published, if anyone would care to read what I had written, or if I had more than one worthy idea to explore! I’m delighted to say that the early reviews of Singer in the Snow are all I could hope for, and I also hope that the young adult readers who first discovered Nevya, and who are now a bit older, will still want to read about the Singers who live there.

Nevya is an “ice planet” without technology, so cold that to be outside after nightfall means certain death.The Nevyans rely on their Singers, who are trained to channel psi energy through music to create heat and light. Mreen is one of the most talented Singers at the Nevyan Conservatory—but she is unable to speak aloud. Her companion and interpreter when she is assigned to the community of Tarus is Emle, who, despite considerable training, has never been able to channel her psi. The two young women, so long sheltered by the Conservatory, face many challenges, including learning how to relate to each other. They then find out about young Gwin, whose abusive stepfather wants to exploit her psi-Gift talents—and in reaching out to help her, Mreen and Emle also help themselves.

Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews:
Intimate human dilemmas explored against the backdrop of a harsh alien world. The primitive ice planet Nevya is only habitable through the psionic Gifts of the Cantors, whose songs create light and warmth. But Singer Emle, despite her training and talent, is unable to channel even a spark; instead, she is sent to accompany Cantrix Mreen to the holding of Tarus. Despite her prodigious Gift, Mreen is mute, needing Emle to communicate. Emle befriends the stablehand Luke, himself rendered silent and powerless by his stepfather’s abuse. These three young people must each overcome the scars of their pasts and find their hidden voices to save the children of Tarus from heartless exploitation. Marley returns to the setting of an earlier trilogy with this independent story less epic in scope, but far more personal and poignant. Even the most minor or villainous characters are portrayed with sympathetic delicacy, and the spare descriptive language keenly evokes the tenuous glow of human communities against Nature’s indifferent grandeur. Music plays an integral role as the provider of life and joy, but one that demands discipline and sacrifice. Whether the Singers of Nevya are new to the reader or old friends, their voices will resonate gracefully. (Science fiction. 12+)

From Kliatt:
Marley has written several books already about the world of Nevya, but this is the first I have read. Her story of the singers who are so essential to survival on this ice world completely captivated me, so I’m sure this story could stand on its own for others too. Of course, it’s so intriguing, it will encourage us to find the other books about the Singers of Nevya: Sing the Light; Sing the Warmth; Receive the Gift. In this ice-bound world, music has evolved to alter the air and create warmth. Little children who have the gift are separated from their families and spend long years in training at the Conservatory, learning the music and learning to use their psi to generate heat. When they are ready, they are sent to outposts where they are healers, and where they create the energy for heat. Marley then puts dramatic events and intriguing characters into the setting. A young girl, Emle, who is a gifted singer but for some reason lacks the ability to focus her psi to create heat, is sent to an outpost as a companion to another Cantor. There Emle becomes involved with a troubled family. An abusive stepfather is terrorizing his wife, his almost-grown stepson, Luke, and his little stepdaughter, Gwin.

This plot has many ingredients of all successful YA novels: young people trying to realize their potential; young people encountering evil and struggling to prevail; young people with difficult family situations finding their way to responsible adulthood. Marley “has degrees in music and has sung professionally” and her familiarity with music obviously gives this story added believability. Another successful book she has written is The Glass Harmonica, which some of you may know. Mesmerizing, just as the music must be.

—Claire Rosser

From Barnes & Noble science fiction editor:
After almost 10 years, since the conclusion of her Singers of Nevya trilogy (Sing the Light, Sing the Warmth and Receive the Gift), Louise Marley returns to the ice planet with a science fantasy masterwork about two unique young women struggling to realize their potential.

On the planet of Nevya, a world without any advanced technology where summer only comes every five years, simply being outside at the wrong time can mean certain death. The Nevyans depend solely on Singers – Gifted individuals with the ability to channel psi energy through music to create heat and light – for survival. Mreen is one of the most powerful psi channelers Nevya has ever seen: except she’s completely mute. Emle, on the other hand, is an exceptional Singer who can’t productively channel her energy. When the two are sent from the shelter of the Nevyan Conservatory to a distant outpost, they must rely on each other for strength. But once at Tarus, their problems become secondary as the two become involved in a young Gifted girl’s life-and-death struggle to survive a negligent mother and a violently abusive stepfather.

From the beautifully lyrical writing style and deeply heartfelt themes to the extraordinary cover art and design, Marley’s Singer in the Snow is truly magical. While categorized as a young adult title, this novel can – and should – be read by science fiction and fantasy fans of all ages. Remember the first time you read Le Guin’s Earthsea novels or Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings? All that timeless magic and wisdom is just as powerful in Marley’s latest – an instant classic.

—Paul Goat Allen

From On Spec:
As with all of Marley’s novels, Singer in the Snow revolves around strongly drawn characters and their problems. All the protagonists in this book are compelling and realistic and it’s easy to get swept into their stories. And Marley’s love of music gives a real depth to her depiction of the cantrixes, their training, and the sacrifices they’re expected to make for their art.

I also enjoyed the depiction of the summer that only comes every four years when Nevya’s second sun appears over the horizon, melting the snow for a few brief weeks. . . . This is a young adult book but it’s very readable for an adult audience as well.

—Donna McMahon

From School Library Journal:
Set in the same sphere as the “Singers of Nevya” trilogy (Ace), this is an engaging tale of a world in which only the psionic powers of the Singers (those who use music to focus energy and light) can create enough warmth for survival. At the Conservatory, Mreen is a Singer who cannot speak but can communicate psionically. Emle is the opposite; she has a beautiful voice but cannot control her psi to produce warmth and light. When Mreen is assigned to be a Cantrix at Tarus, Emle accompanies her to act as her voice. There they meet Gwin, a girl with the Gift who is abused by her stepfather. In their efforts to help her, both come to terms with their respective issues. Astute readers will guess from the start that Emle’s difficulty lies in a childhood trauma, and that Mreen’s muteness may be linked to her shame about her mother, a Cantrix who broke her vows of celibacy. Nevya itself is a fascinating world, reminiscent of Anne McCaffrey’s Pern. Some elements are not fully explained; for example, why summer only occurs every five years, or even how long it lasts. Still, the story should attract science-fiction fans and may inspire them to seek the “Nevya” trilogy.

—Karyn N. Silverman

From Children’s Literature:
A professional singer and degreed musician herself, the author has created a believable world in which the power of the human voice is the channel for psi energy. Those able to tap into this extraordinary energy are essential on the “ice planet” of Nevya, where summer occurs only at five year intervals. They provide the lifesaving heat to keep the people and their protected compounds alive during the prolonged periods of extreme cold. There are even itinerate singers who travel with those who must go beyond the confines of the various Houses. The newest Conservatory-trained Cantrix, Mreen, is being sent to the House of Tarus to take over the position of a retiring Cantor. Mreen is most unusual in that she cannot utter a sound but is able to channel her energy through her playing of the filla. She uses “finger signs” to communicate with those who do not have the “gift” and cannot communicate telepathically. (ASL signers will be fascinated with this aspect of the book.) Her traveling companion, Emily, can sing and play beautifully but cannot channel her psi energy to create heat. Of course, as the story line progresses in this well-developed and realistically described world, they discover their own tremendous strengths as they endeavor to help a young child who has the “gift” but is being mistreated by her cruel stepfather. This title is set in the same world as Sing in the Light, Sing the Warmth, and Receive the Gift. With well-developed characters and enough of a variety of subplots, this fantasy addresses the very human emotions of those facing the unknown, difficult family situations, and the development of skills to deal with the universal problems that young adults faceas they venture into the world of adulthood—no matter what kind of planet they inhabit. The pace is well defined and the story line includes enough action to keep the pages turning to the satisfying ending.

2005, Viking/Penguin, Ages 12 up.

From VOYA:
Marley returns to the ice planet Nevya for this offering aimed at young adults. Mreen, one of the most gifted students at Conservatory focuses psi energy through her music to create light and warmth, or quiru, so effectively that she glows with light. Unlike other students at Conservatory, however, she does not sing; she has no voice. Emle is a talented Singer, but she cannot create quiru. When Mreen becomes a Cantrix and is assigned to a House, Emle accompanies her to be her voice until the new community can learn Mreen’s sign language. At the House of Tarus, Luke, a stable apprentice, bridles under the rough treatment that his mother, sister, and he experience from his abusive stepfather, Axl. The new Cantrix and Emle sense the tension, and they are both drawn into Luke’s dilemma. At the same time, both Mreen and Emle acquire insight into their personal difficulties, particularly Emle. Marley allows these revelations to unfold naturally with convincing results. Rather than acquiring instant resolution, each woman must absorb new understanding before being able to act upon it. Although the beginning is a bit slow, Marley deftly balances authentic characterization with a compelling plot, often surprising the reader through revealing and subtle insight into the characters. Marley maintains her usually tightly paced plot without sacrificing characterization: The characters are multidimensional and complex. Marley’s frozen world will draw in readers who will bask in the light of her narrative and likely seek out the earlier books.

VOYA CODES: 4Q 4P M J (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, definedas grades 7 to 9). 2005, Viking, 320p., Ages 11 to 15.

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Background and Other Interesting Notes

• The American Library Association 2006 nominations for the Best Books for Young Adults, include Singer in the Snow.
• The book was discussed at the ALA Conference in New Orleans in June, 2006

This is a picture of the dedicatee of Singer in the Snow, a gifted young musician I’ve known since she was a baby.

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The Child Goddess was published in May of 2004, in hardcover. The mass market paperback came out in June of 2005.

Winner of the 2005 Endeavour Award

About the Book

From the book cover:

A priest of the Order of Mary Magdalene and a skilled anthropologist, Isabel Burke has been called offworld to the barren planet of Virimund. The ExtraSolar Corporation, developing Virimund as an energy source, has encountered an ‘incident’ that has stopped their work. It seems there are people on Virimund after all–descendants of an emigrant ship that left Earth three hundred years before. And something has changed them.

There are children born on Virimund who do not age. Upon discovery, these lost souls are sent to an island where they live by themselves, ashamed that they will never become truly human. One of these children has been captured by ExtraSolar, which hopes to discover the secret to her ageless existence. Under constant examination and study, the girl has yet to utter a single word. For ExtraSolar, she is a resource to be used and discarded. But for Isabel, she is an innocent who needs help.

Now, against those who would sacrifice the child in their quest for power, Isabel must fight a desperate battle to protect a little girl who may hold the keys to life itself…”

Reviews

Praise for The Child Goddess from Connie Willis:
“When you read the first few pages . . . you think you’re headed into familiar SF territory. You couldn’t be more wrong. The place you’re going, under Louise Marley’s gifted guidance, is one you’ve never been before: a world of troubling mysteries and even more troubling answers, of lost colonies and lost souls. It’s a revelation. And a journey you won’t want to miss.”

From Publishers Weekly:
Initially a conventional first-contact story, Marley’s sensitive, lyrical SF novel, set on 23rd-century Earth and the oceanic world Virimund, swiftly evolves into a meditation intertwining spiritual values, godhood itself and romantic love. . . the book treats feminism’s central issues gently, skirting the strident swamps of passion and the fatal abyss of sentimentality, with tender insights into love and sacrifice all too rare today.

—PW, April 12, 2004

From the Barnes & Noble SF Editor:
Louise Marley’s powefully edifying science fiction thriller pits a woman priest against a corporation bent on using an idyllic oceanic planet as an energy-producing power park, and determined to exploit a group of extraordinary children from a lost colony. . . Like Marley’s other novels, The Child Goddess is a passionate and deeply spiritual story powred by her adept characterization. Marley crafts realistic, three-dimensional characters that readers can’t help but empthize with. If famed Trappist monk and poet Thomas Merton ever wrote science fiction, it would resemble a Marley novel.

—Paul Goat Allen

From The Seattle Times:
Because it is set more than 300 years in the future and its characters undertake intersteallar travel, Louise Marley’s seventh novel, The Child Goddess, is classed as science fiction. In other respects it is a literary novel, with characters whose inner struggles are as important as the plot. There is enough of the latter to satisfy hard-core fans of the genre who like a healthy dose of speculative science to go with offworld settings. . . Marley . . . has the gift of tackling deep issues in the context of a compelling story.

—Deloris Tarzan Ament, May 16, 2004

From Romantic Times Bookclub Magazine:
Isabel is an extraordinary character, torn between faith and love, duty and sacrifice. Oa is also a fascinating creation: a young girl who has lived more than a century but remains a child. Marley describes this futuristic Earth with just enough detail to bring it alive without overwhelming the reader. An exploration of the mysteries and complications of being human disguised as a science-fiction adventure, this is a novel not to be missed.

—May, 2004

From The Davis Enterprise:
Personal journey sagas are the hardest to tell, because they take place almost exclusively in the character’s mind. But when they’re told well, such tales are truly memorable. Louise Marley has taken an intense personal growth tale and infused it with quiet energy in the understated The Child Goddess . . . The novel’s power lies in this low-key approach. Isabel is a character with flaws, some close to the surface and some more deeply hidden. But she deals with those inner problems with a compelling grace and dignity.

From Booklist:
Marley attacks the problems she poses satisfactorily, with a well-placed plot and characterizations, in particular, that are engaging even amid the tangle of interpersonal relations.

From Agony Column:
The Child Goddess is an engaging story that one cannot help feeloing compelled to read. Louise Marley writes in an easy-going style and has a true gift for story-telling. She also aims to deal with some hard issues . . . this does nothing to detract from the success of this novel; it is science fiction at its most appealing–light on the science and heavy on the fiction.

—Katie Dean

From BookPage:
In The Child Goddess, Marley brings together religious and medical ethics and asks what we want from the universe and how far we are willing to go to get it. This interesting novel will generate much discussion among readers.

From Elliott Bay Book Company Booknotes:
. . . This is a tender story, filled with images of religious faith, romantic love and its disappointments, haunting loss, and new interpretations of just what it means to be human–to possess a soul. Local author Marley is at the peak of her form. Her universe is internally consistent–while this isn’t a sequel, characters refer to events in previous novels. . . The Child Goddess is a tour de force of soft science fiction.

—C.A.R

From The Pilot Newspaper:
. . . Not just a science fiction adventure, this story also touches on themes of duty, honor and love without attempting to provide answers for any of those questions.

—Lisa Deas

From Challenging Destiny:
. . . The Child Goddess has a wonderful core of sf that follows Orson Scott Card and Ursula K. Le Guin . . . The book also features strong characterization and intensely felt personal dilemmas. . . It would be fabulous if all science fiction books had characterization as good as this book.

From Italics:
As always, Marley writes with an insight that makes for compelling reading. The book’s messages are timeless and timely. And as a bonus for Marley readers, The Child Goddess fits in with the universe introduced in The Terrorists of Irustan . . . John Jude Palencar lends his talents to the cover, as he did with The Terrorists of Irustan . . . It’s a beauty, inside and out.

—Elise Tobler

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Background and Other Interesting Notes

Mother Isabel Burke is a member of the Priestly Order of Mary Magdalene, an order of celibate women priests devoted to the search for truth in all things. Mary Magdalene is their patroness because she was a woman maligned by untruths for centuries.

Oa of Virimund has her ancestral roots in the African country of Mali, a region called Sikasso, where French is spoken along with Bambara, a dialect of Mandikan, which is the unofficial language of Mali.

The liturgical calendar used by Isabel is based on the one in use today in the United States. Liturgical calendars change over the years, and according to the region and its ethnicity. Probably in half a millennium, the calendar would change, but except for the addition of the solemnity of Saint Teresa of Calcutta (who is not yet in actuality a saint) the calendar has been used as it currently exists.

For more information on fact, speculation, and research about this mysterious and intriguing woman, here are some resources to seek out:

• Mary Magdalene
  A website full of pictures, links, quotes.
• Mary Magdalene, Beyond the Myth, by Esther de Boer.
  An exploration by a Dutch writer of the facts and the fiction surrounding Mary Magdalene.
• magdalene.org
  Another exhaustive website with information on a host of fascinating topics, including a “Body of Myth” section.
• Mary, Called Magdalene, Margaret George.
  A highly individualistic fictional interpretation of the Magdalene story, rich with convincing historical detail.
• The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, translated from the Coptic by Jean-Yves LeLoup.
  The Gospel of Mary was discovered in 1896 in Cairo, fifty years before the Nag Hammadi discovery of the Gnostic Gospels.  This is fascinating reading, with in-depth commentary, and is important in understanding what is actually known and simply surmised—or invented, as in the best-selling Da Vinci Code—about the historical Mary of Magdala.

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The Maquisarde appeared in December, 2002, in hardcover. The mass market re-issue reached bookshelves in December 2003.

About the Book

Hailed by the New York Review of Science Fiction as “a writer of considerable talent,” Louise Marley takes us into the life of a young woman who—spurred by a quest for justice—braves the world outside her sheltered existence…

In the final few years of the twenty-first century, life in Paris is quiet for Ebriel Serique and her family. They live protected by the glass walls of their skyscraper apartment, safe from the poverty-stricken inhabitants in countries on the other side of the Line of Partition. Talented, comfortable, and content, Ebriel never questions her life. Until one day, her husband and daughter go sailing, and are murdered by terrorists who claim their yacht had crossed the Line.

Driven by grief and a hunger for justice, Ebriel ventures beyond the confines of her charmed life to confront the truth about the way the world is run. She is now a resistance fighter, a maquisarde, as the old Corsicans put it, against her own deceitful government. And while she never would have suspected it, Ebriel discovers that deep inside, she has the courage for anything—even violence…

Reviews

From Publishers Weekly:
. . . a literate, musically informed story of personal courage and fortitude in the face of evil that will appeal to all who root for the underdog. . . Marley’s writing is lyrical and persuasive.

From Booklist:
. . . Marley reinvents the World War II French resistance movement in a future world in which the Line of Partition separates the haves from the have-nots, a Line which totally blockades traffic, trade, and even medical aid. Have-not nations are supposedly rife with plague, fallout, and war after the economic crash when oil reserves ran out . . . Flutist Ebriel Serique lives with her husband and daughter in Paris and doesn’t think too often about the other side of the Line. Then husband and daughter are murdered, supposedly because their yacht crossed the Line with medical supplies. InCo gives Ebriel no answers, and when she reveals her situation on an underground network, she is incarcerated and kept dosed with tranquilizers. But a secret resistance movement led by a badly crippled, charismatic scientist frees her, and through fierce action, Ebriel rediscovers the ability to care and love. Marley never lets polemic overwhelm plot in this passionate story.

—Roberta Johnson, American Library Association

From Library Journal:
. . . When Parisian flautist Ebriel Serique loses her husband and daughter in a terrorist attack, she seeks justice from InCo, the global agency that rules the civilized world, only to find her protest rewarded by imprisonment in a mental institution as part of a government cover-up. After a group of resistance fighters rescues Ebriel and introduces her to a movement known as the Chain, she discovers her true goal in life–the liberation of her world from a tyranny of politics and technology. The author of The Glass Harmonica weaves a complex tale of one woman’s struggle against a corrupt regime. Set in the near future, this fast-paced, thought-provoking novel belongs in most libraries. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

From Locus:
The Maquisarde is, first and foremost, a novel about abandonment: powerful nations abandoning the weak, government leaders choosing not to help their citizens, even individual parents who desert their children. . . Marley has a way of infusing tragic characters with a sense of purpose and emergent hope, and her portrait of Ebriel is that of a woman in motion . . . The Maquisarde offers a palette of emotions and reactions, including unexpected moments of brightness and splashes of romantic sensibility.

—Alyx Dellamonica

From Allscifi.com:
. . . This is the story of a woman who undergoes a change from an elitist into a revolutionary, a person who comes to symbolize to the world that there is a change needed in the world order. Louise Marley has an uncanny ability to make the reader feel that the events in The Maquisarde are really unfolding, sort of like turning the pages of the Neverending Story. The heroine makes mistakes, learns from them, and gets a second chance at happiness. Readers will admire her grit, determination, and courage, but mostly appreciate Ms. Marley’s ability to paint a picture of a world turned much colder and nastier than Dickens’ worst nightmare.

—Harriet Klausnerl

From Barnes and Noble.com:
Louise Marley’s first hardcover release is a surprisingly moving novel about a young woman’s desperate quest for justice. . . what begins as a high-energy story of international political intrigue and top secret military operations turns into a very touching tale about one woman’s journey of healing and self-discovery. Marley succeeds in not only weaving a brilliantly complex tale with realistic, flawed characters, but also in touching the reader on an emotional level.

—Paul Goat Allen, bn.com science fiction editor

From BookSense:
Late in the 21st century, a flutist living with her family in Paris safely inside the ‘Line of Partition’ flees in grief after a tragedy and becomes a maquisarde, a member of the resistance who must face the truth about the forces that have brought evil to the world. Marley’s strong women characters and compelling action will draw in even those who think they don’t read this genre!

—Cheryl McKeon, Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park, WA

From The Seattle Times:
. . . Maquisarde is worth reading, especially for those interested in political theory and human rights . . . Once again, Marley deals with themes of justice and enfranchisement; once again, she does so by revealing the details of her characters’ everyday lives, by rejecting unthinking, automatic violence. She insists on hope, and lighting candles that burn as unevenly, as tenuously, as the lives of her ‘starchildren.’

—Nisi Shawl

From PurplePens.com:
You say you want a revolution? Musician Ebriel Serique certainly does, for the tranquil life she once knew has been turned upside down . . . Ebriel stumbles on her path, eventually into the hands of the revolutionary maquis, a group determined to shine the light of truth on the lying government. Amid the maquis, Ebriel finds a new home, and a new family led by a mysterious man they call Papa. Ebriel shuns the music she once so dearly loved, for there is nothing left but her need for revenge. The Maquisarde explores both sides of Ebriel’s revenge . . . she is confronted with truths and questions she could not imagine along her journey. It is no light matter, for Ebriel or author Marley. Marley allows Ebriel to explore that journey’s complete scope; there are losses, but there are gains; there is shadow, but there is light. I believe one of Marley’s greatest strengths as a writer is that she allows her characters to grow. She allows them to fail and learn. None of her characters is a boulder that cannot be budged; everyone changes over the course of a Marley novel. What I like best about The Maquisarde is that is is a journey into and through grief. There is the promise of another side. What is there, we cannot always immediately say. It is enough for the side to exist. It is a joy to watch Ebriel Serique fight to get to that side.

—Elise Tobler

From Rambles:
Marley ratchets this hair-raising plot to one with breathtaking levels of suspense. She is inventive, sensitive to nuances, and possibly prophetic in her view of mankind as desperate and even reckless in the pursuit of the old freedoms . . . If you are looking for a writer with a provocative view of the future, Marley delivers. Her stylish, measured prose and ability to create scenes with energy that crackles and fizzes is a treat.

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Background and Other Interesting Notes

The French resistance fighters of World War II called themselves the maquis, after a hardy shrub native to the island of Corsica. A member of the maquis (ma-KEE) is called a maquisard (ma-kee-SAR.) If it’s a woman, and there were many, she’s called a maquisarde (ma-kee-SARD.)

This novel was inspired by the entrance into our community at St. James Cathedral of a precious baby girl, born in one of the provinces of China, and abandoned beside a road on the day of her birth, in January. It seems to me, and to my friend, her American mother, a miracle that Rachael is now happily growing up, and giving great joy to her mother and to all of us who know her. In the last ten years, there have been more than ten thousand such miracles in the United States, and three additional ones have occurred in my own immediate circle.

Rachael, the dedicatee of The Maquisarde, attended the inaugural event for the novel at Third Place Books in December. She’s only six, but so wise and warm! A gift to America, indeed.

Because the Chain has its home in space, I needed to learn how that might work. I always like young adult books for research, because of their clear, concise, and compact form. These were two of my favorites:

• Space Station Science, life in free fall by Marianne J. Dyson
• To Space and Back by Sally Ride, with Susan Okie

Because Ebriel Serique had to learn to fly a helicopter, I did too:

• How to Fly Helicopters by Larry Collier. There are lots of books on flying rotary aircraft, but this one’s clear and easy to read.

For The Maquisarde, I made my library get busy with interlibrary loans, and I’m grateful for them. These make it possible to study books you could never afford to buy, and that your local library system doesn’t have on its shelves. For example, I found a book on the flora and fauna of Tibet, on the peoples of northern China, and videos on the adoption of Chinese babies in America, who are overwhelmingly female. I also made extensive use of the Harper Collins Atlas of the World.

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Published in 1999.

Winner of the 2001 Endeavour Award

About the Book

Praised by the Everett Herald as an author who “makes her writing sing,” Louise Marley takes us into the lives of two young women of two different times–bound by a passion for the ethereal music of the glass harmonica . . .

Eilish Eam is an orphan living in London, 1761. She stands on an icy corner and plays her instrument: water-filled glasses. Fingers raw from the cold, her only comfort is the place her music takes her . . . to visions of a young girl, much her own age, but with odd short hair. Eilish survives on pennies and applause, and nothing more. Until the night Benjamin Franklin stops to listen, awestruck by her gift–and with plans for her future . . .

Erin Rushton is a musical prodigy living in Seattle, 2018. She stands in the orchestra, consumed by the music of her instrument: the glass harmonica. Like a current of electricity, the music moves throughout her body. And the only thing that laters the rhythm are the visions that haunt her . . . of an odd, old-fashioned girl, much her own age, who needs her help . . .

Reviews

From Locus Magazine:
The Glass Harmonica is a retelling of history that also looks to the future, coupled with fantastic elements intertwined with science . . . Marley adds her own twist into the mix, by hinting there are things science just can’t explain. The historical aspects address many of the mysteries associated with glass harmonica and Benjamin Franklin. Readers who are unaware of the historical accuracy Marley portrays may be less impressed with the past storyline than readers who know the glass harmonica’s history. Marley draws extensively on her own experience in the musical scene . . . The detail she ascribes to the concert halls bespeak Marley’s familiarity with them due to her performance background. The Glass Harmonica is an enchanting and engaging tale . . . there are many little things that hint at Marley’s political and social agenda, but they never submerge the story.

From Science Fiction Weekly:
Vivid and fascinating . . . Lushly described . . . By turns sobering and delightful, The Glass Harmonica is a novel that will haunt readers.

From VOYA Magazine:
It is rare to find a book that can fit into multiple genres—and do it well. Marley’s latest offering does just that . . . A well-written, engaging story.

From Scifi.com:
In The Glass Harmonica, author Louise Marley makes excellent use of her experience in the world of professional music. The small world of the concert circuit in 2018, which dominates Erin and Charlie’s lives, is vivid and fascinating. Readers will hear the lushly described music played by both women as Erin and Eilish wrestle with the glass harmonica’s alleged demons. While this novel is less overtly radical than Marley’s The Terrorists of Irustan, The Glass Harmonica is not for the faint of heart. Serious concerns dominate the story: slavery, poverty and physical disability . . . the message is chillingly relevant. Marley mixes the tragedy with a good dose of romance, and even her least likable characters reveal admirable hidden qualities. She plays with the parallels between Erin and Eilish’s lives in a manner delicate yet explicit. This balancing act holds through the end of the book, harmonizing elements of triumphant success and mournful loss. By turns sobering and delightful, The Glass Harmonica is a novel that will haunt readers long after they have moved on to less complex fare.

From True Review:
The surprise here is the deft way in which Marley captures the literal sounds of the music . . . her brilliant use of music itself is language. It’s the most delightful novel I’ve read this year.

From ivillage.com:
A wonderful story combining two stories separated by 250 years and the author’s own knowledge of music.

From sciencefiction.com:
. . . a wonderful, heartwarming novel.

From Romantic Times Magazine:
Ms. Marley’s gift of lyrical prose is coupled with a deftness for weaving highly charged emotions into an exquisite tapestry of music and love, uniting science, fantasy and historical fiction into a captivating story.

From The Seattle Times:
Marley’s gift for evoking historical people and places, as well as her skillful portrayal of musical life, provide some pleasurable reading.

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Background and Other Interesting Notes

Do listen to a brief Mozart piece written for the glass armonica: Adagio for Glass Harmonica, Mozart

Here’s a charming example of glass music.

If the psychic elements of The Glass Harmonica intrigue you, look up these books:

• Tune Your Brain, by Elizabeth Miles
• Miracles of Mind, Russell Targ and Jane Katra
• Mind Trek, by Joseph McMoneagle

Readers of The Glass Harmonica who are interested in history might want to check out the following works:

• Franklin, the Autobiography
• The Devious Dr. Franklin, Colonial Agent, by David T. Morgan
• Mozart, by Peter Gay
• Costume 1066 – 1990′s, by John Peacock
• English Through the Ages, by William Brohaugh; an indispensable source for writing dialogue of another age
• London, the Novel, by Edward Rutherford

If you’re interested in musical aspects of the novel:

• Music, the Brain, and Ecstasy, by Robert Jourdain; a marvelous book full of scientific, artistic, and historical tidbits.
• Visit William Wilde Zeitler’s excellent web page at www.glassarmonica.com for pictures, sound bites, history, and a wealth of links.
• The Finkenbeiner web page has lovely Sound samples of the glass harmonica. Don’t miss the exquisite fragment of “Shenandoah.”
• Check out the Brussels Virtuosi’s recording, if you can find it, of the Mozart Flute Quartets for a lovely reading of the “Adagio in C.”

Here are some possible discussion questions for The Glass Harmonica:

• Do you detect similarities between the cast of characters in the 18th century and that of the 21st?

(Each of the main characters has a corresponding character in the other time period.)

• Do you agree that music has healing (or destructive) powers?

(In the 18th century, the glass harmonica gained the reputation of being a dangerous
instrument to people with nervous problems, pregnant women, or children.)

• Do you think Benjamin Franklin’s epitaph (at the end of the book) means he believed in reincarnation?

• The book was published in 2000. What events have occurred since then that seem to bear out the author’s vision of the future?

(Issues of mass transit, enhanced medical treatments for neurological/spinal diseases, 3-D
visual projections, retro styles in automobiles and decor, tent cities outside urban areas.)

• Do you think there is a parallel between slavery in the 18th century and the disadvantaged population of the 21st century? Is the reaction of the characters different in the earlier period than it is in the later one?

If you enjoy musical, historical fiction, you might also like Mozart’s Blood, a novel which also features Mozart.

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Published in 1999.

About the Book

On the planet of Irustan, one woman is fighting back . . .

Zahra IbSada is a talented medicant, and sees much of the joy in the lives of the women she heals–and much of the pain. She sees a wife brutally beaten, a prostitute suffering at the hands of her employers. And her best friend Kalen, a mother who is struggling to save her daughter from a cruel betrothal. Kalen begs Zahra for help, and although it goes against her medicant vows, Zahra reluctantly agrees. But this silent act of terrorism will have far-reaching consequences—for herself, and for all the women of her planet . . .

Reviews

From Publisher’s Weekly:
“One of feminist sf’s new champions, Marley creates a convincing Arab-like milieu on the desert planet Irustan, where for 300 years male colonists have extracted a dangerous living from the rhodium mines, deliberately maintaining their primitive dominant-male culture. The triple-veiled women of Irustan, virtual slaves to their men, embody far greater—though unacknowledged—courage, especially medicants like Zahra IbSada who use cast-off Earth medicine to treat sick and dying colonists the men fear to touch. Faced with one horrifying case of wife and child abuse after another, Zahra and her fellow wives of Irustani official wreak a powerful vengeance on their tormentors. Marley deftly skirts the potential peril of blatant propagandizing by rounding most of her male characters, especially Zahra’s husband, Qadir, into plausible, if narrow-minded human beings. She also sketches a bittersweet same-sex subplot between Zahra and Jin-Li Chung, a worker forced to masquerade as a man to escape destitution on teeming Earth. Rich with alien atmospherics and seething with issues of gender and prejudice, Zahra’s dark journey into revolution offers some sensitive signposts to understanding.

“Louise Marley deftly creates a detailed world full of complex characters so believable that they make you feel all their emotions with them: rage, powerlessness, rebellion, terror, determination, and hope. A dark, richly imagined tale . . . a thoughtful meditation upon the dangers of fanaticism and the strength of the human spirit.”

—Sharon Shinn, author of Archangel

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Background and Other Interesting Notes

The Terrorists of Irustan was published in 1999, two full years before the events of September 11th. The book was, in fact, inspired by the takeover in Afghanistan by Taliban and the subsequent appalling treatment of women and girls; I was no less moved by the fate of young boys pressed into military service, and also by the effects on men whose mothers and wives and daughters lost their freedom to work and study, and move about unescorted.

The characters in The Terrorists of Irustan are not Muslim, but in preparing to write the book, I read several excellent books on Islam and the lives of women who are veiled. These are worth checking out:

• Beyond the Veil, by Fatima Mernissi; a magnificently written work examining all sides of the issue of women who live a secluded life.
• Nine Parts of Desire, by Geraldine Brooks; a courageous visit to the hidden world of Islamic women by a Western journalist.
• What Everyone Should Know about Islam and Muslims, by Suzanne Haneef; a short book by an American Muslim woman explaining her feelings about the Islamic life style.

Because the world of Irustan is an analog of a Middle Eastern society, I tried to understand something of the Arab peoples and their culture.

• A History of the Arab Peoples, by Albert Hourani; offers insights such as: ” . . . although the depiction of living forms was not explicitly forbidden by the Qur’an, most jurists, basing themselves on Hadith, held that this was an infringement of the sole power of God to creat life . . . Surfaces were covered with decoration: forms of plants and flowers . . . highly stylized . . . patterns of lines and circles . . . “
• Tales, Hazrat Inayat Khan; teaching stories in the Sufi tradition, drawn from parables, fables, legends, and stories of prophets and saints.

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