A Year of Tania
As we approach one year since Tania the Revolutionary was released, I thought we could celebrate with some good old-fashioned backstory. In this month’s newsletter, I'm sharing some of the influences for my novella Tania the Revolutionary because they are various and because it's always possible there will be more to Judy's story at some point.
Don’t forget! You can find Tania the Revolutionary on Amazon for Kindle and paperback or Barnes & Noble for eBook.
I definitely have to count Herman Melville's novella Billy Budd (1891) as part of the inspiration because Billy runs afoul of a powerful person who decided to ruin him and the conflict rapidly descends into a nightmare for Billy because not only is he less powerful than his enemy but he has a stammer that makes it impossible for him, at crucial moments, to use his voice to defend himself.
I have to name Davis Grubb's The Night of the Hunter (1953) also, for a similar reason. The hero, John, is only nine years old when he is forced to begin a grim duel to the death against his insane stepfather, Preacher, to save himself and his little sister from being murdered like their mother. Again, nobody listens to John because his stepfather is a preacher and thus beyond suspicion for her disappearance.
Keeping to just three titles, the last has to be Joanne Greenberg's I Never Promised You A Rose Garden (1964), about a girl whose mind has been taken over by the monstrous citizens of the Kingdom of Yr. She herself created this imaginary place and its people as a refuge from unhappiness. But then they took over, forbidding her all outside contact and vowing to destroy her should she breathe a word to her doctor about their existence. The common thread here, obviously, is the horror of being voiceless against a villain who has found a way to hide in plain sight.
This month’s movie rec is Truth To Power, a documentary about the punk band System of a Down and how they were able to write songs and give huge public performances in their country, Armenia, that inspired their fellow Armenians to rise up and topple their corrupt government and install the country’s first freely-elected democratic leader. It shows that fearless art can inspire fearless, positive action.
For any new readers: My new novel, Tania the Revolutionary, is available on Amazon for Kindle and paperback or Barnes & Noble for eBook.