An apology

I'm afraid I hit a block The Dark is Rising (as one of the commenters mentioned--it's hard to deconstruct good writing).  That's made it easy to focus on other projects/blogs, ignoring this one.

As I reader, I hate it when writers do that.  Mea culpa.

I'll try to make myself get something up for chapter 2 within the next two weeks; hopefully that will be enough to get me going again.

The Dark is Rising: Midwinter's Eve

New book, new protagonist, new setting.  Also, happy new year.  My apologies for the delay; real life happened, and then I found myself stuck on the first chapter.

Anyway, The Dark is Rising, sequel to Over Sea, Under Stone, is the second book of the "The Dark is Rising" sequence.  The first chapter introduces us to our new main character, Will Stanton; he's a day shy of 11 years old, and is the youngest in a family of eleven.  Will, his parents, and eight of his nine older siblings live in semi-rural England: the family is working class and fairly self-sufficient. This, of course, show up in flashes of detail: the home-made handcart, Dad's old van, the chicken money being needed to buy "nine Christmas presents".  A reference to radio and brother Max's "long hair" hint at a 1960s/70s time-frame for the story (which was published in 1973), but it's not otherwise dated, so far.

What really threw me off with starting this post was how to handle this first chapter.  On one level, very little happens: we follow Will around as he feeds the rabbits, runs an errand to the neighboring farm, eats tea/supper with his family, and has trouble sleeping during a winter storm. At the same time, there are numerous bits of foreshadowing and characterization thrown in, and it's hard to decide what is worth mentioning.

That being said, a chapter of exposition really showcases Cooper's main strength as a writer: she's great at creating and showing characters who feel real, like they existed before the story started and have their own lives outside of their interactions with the point of view characters.  We see the bustling Stanton household just before Christmas: Mom cooking and reminding James and Will to do their chores, sister Mary guarding the radio in a crowded kitchen so no one changes the station, Dad and the twins investigating a mechanical device.  Smells, sounds and conversation give depth to each scene.

As for the overall plot, it's only hinted at so far: something weird is going on around Will.  He's feeling uneasy, and strange things seem to be happening all around him: domestic animals suddenly fear him, the wild rooks are acting oddly agitated, and the radio crackles whenever he walks past. Mr. Dawson, the neighborhood farmer, seems to know something; instead of dismissing Will's and James's remarks about the bad weather and a strange "tramp" seen on the lane we get this:

"The Walker is abroad," he said again.  "And this night will be bad, and tomorrow will be beyond imagining."  

He then gives Will a palm-sized ring of iron shaped like a quartered circle, and tell him to keep it nearby and to not discuss it. This piece of iron demonstrates no unusual properties, beyond ignoring thermodynamics: it's cool to touch when the farmer takes it from his pocket and hands it to Will. It's warm following the "rook incident."  After being in Will's jacket, indoors, all evening, it's cold enough to numb one's fingers.

The bit with the rooks happens when James and Will on are on their way home from the farm.  On the lane by the church, the strangely-behaving birds attack the mysterious old man.  What gets weirder (beyond James pointing out that rooks don't normally do that), is that Will observes the incident "running out of James's mind like water": he goes from being surprised and alarmed to not remembering it in a matter of minutes. Excepting the lack of obvious actors who might be causing James to forget what he saw, my thoughts went right to Mr. Hasting's mind-control in Over Sea, Under Stone.

Later that night, when Will is alone in his room and has just noticed the iron's new deep-freeze setting, he experiences a sudden "wave" of fear.  It's repeated twice more during a sleep-less night: a sort of abrupt intense sensation of fear, beyond the jitters of being alone in an attic room during a night-time blizzard.  The third and final one ends with the arrival of Paul, who heard a noise (the skylight in Will's room crashing open), and arrives to help.  He does a lovely job of reassuring Will without condescending to him: finding reasonable explanations (heavy snow and an old latch), confessing that he'd have been scared to be alone, and helping to clean out the snow and secure the skylight.  He then gives Will his own bed to use, staying in the attic himself (and sparing Will's feelings by playing it off as a chance to escape his twin's snores).

The Cast Thus Far:

The Weasleys Stantons
Dad- A jeweller.
Mom- SAHM, from a long line of farmers. Raises chickens and rabbits, and takes fox threats very seriously.
Stephen- Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, has been away for "years", writes to Will, not actually appearing in the book so far.
Max- Growing out his hair.  Not dating Maggie from the farm.
Gwen--Eldest sister.  Sings while cooking.
Barbara- Sixteen.  James finds her bossy.
Mary- Fourteen, plump, likes pop music. Possibly the designated brat. James finds her chatty.
Robin- The jock twin.
Paul- The sensitive twin. Plays a mean flute. Possibly is on to some of the weirdness around Will.
James- Used to share a room with Will.  Doesn't like how loud/crowded the house is.
Will- Eleven years old as of the end of the chapter.  Normally gets along well with animals, rather quiet.
[Age-rank approximate.  It's not explicit that Robin & Paul are older than James, but they act more mature and Will and James seemed to be grouped together.  Exactly how the girls' and boys' respective ages compare is slightly nebulous.]

Raq and Ci- Welsh collies.
Chelsea- A rabbit that's Will's particular favorite.
Diverse other rabbits and chickens.

In the Neighborhood
Farmer Dawson- Runs a farm near the Stantons and sells them hay; buys chickens and rabbits. Makes cryptic pronouncements and gives Will the One Ring as a birthday present.
Old George- Cowman
Maggie Barnes- Dairy maid at the farm (they still have those?), apparently has a crush on Max.
Angus Macdonald--Friend of Will, not seen by reason of being in Scotland for Christmas.
Mike- Friend of Will, not seen by reason of visiting his grandmother in Southhall.
The Walker- Subject of cryptic remark from Mr. Dawson, likely the "old tramp" Will and James see near the church.

Over Sea, Under Stone, Epilogue

Well, they did it.  The kids have secured the grail, even if they lost the manuscript which connected it to King Arthur. [Ah, provenance, no!]

Having left them on a narrowing band of dry rock between sea and cliff, with their enemies scattered and neutralized, the story picks up again some time later, with the kids in a museum.  Simon has just made a speech, and a reporter is bothering him, Jane, and Barney about what they mean to do with the hundred pounds they've just been awarded for finding and donating the grail.  Merry steps in and sends the reported off to talk with the curator, dismissing his questions about "someone else having been after it."

Apparently "the Light" has no problems lying to people.  They aren't, however, using any form of mind control as far as I've been able to tell, so that's something.

Merry talks with the kids, and it's revealed that Hastings is not, in fact, named Hastings, and that he's a long-time enemy of Merry's, apt to change his name and appearance.  Bill and Mrs. Palk were supposedly duped by him.  Merry also tells them that Hasting isn't, in fact, the vicar.  He was renting the old vicarage (the real Trewissick vicar,  Mr. Smith, found it too large and lived in a little cottage instead) and let Jane draw the wrong conclusion.

Simon and Barney express disappointment in missing the manuscripts, but Merry insists that finding the grail was a victory on its own, and that even the loss of the manuscripts was better than the risk of Hastings, et al, getting their hands on the truth of it.  I'm not sure how that works--wasn't part of the value of the grail in the that it told the story of King Arthur and would inspire people to be good? How is that information dangerous in the wrong hands?

Merry also mentions that the second manuscript, the one they didn't have a chance to read, should still be quite safe and hidden underwater in its lead case. Jane one-ups him here: it's not lost after all, as she apparently marked the place where the lead case fell--relative to the deep pool they'd crossed-- and thinks she could find it again, at a suitably low tide.  Merry's whisked away by academics before they can get him to promise that they can go back and hunt for it, leaving the kids to ponder the revelation that his full first name is "Merriman".

Barney works out a "Merry Lyon"-->"Merlin" connection, but dismisses it as impossible (I think not). The kids go over to the exhibit to admire their "gold chalice of unknown Celtic workmanship, believed sixth century".  It has four panels depicted men with weapons and odd helmets, and a fifth section covered in close writing of an unknown language.

They overhear scholars arguing about the grail, and if it proves King Arthur was real (how did the scholars make the connection without being able to read it?), and whether the final panel is in runes, or if it's encrypted.  Jane and Simon fret that without the manuscript they'll never know the truth of "The Pendragon", but as for Barney:

"I think we shall know", he said slowly, "one day."

End.

As far as "find the ancient artifact" plot lines go, it's an interesting option to have it end at a museum, without every little detail proven once and for all.  History is messy; pat endings are rare.  I'm a little put off by the scholars seeming to have information from no-where (like the kids 'having a feeling' during the main action of the book), but I like that some of them agree with Merry's version, and others don't.  It adds some verisimilitude.  It also sets things up nicely for future adventures: the truth is still out there!

I'm probably going to take a short break here, to get some necessary real-life writing done, but hope to be back with book 2, the eponymous The Dark is Rising, early in the new year.

Over Sea, Under Stone, Chapter 14

We left off with Barney and Simon are creeping through the passage under the headland, while Jane keeps watch for tides and enemies.  Merry is still off on a wild goose chase; Hastings & co. are somewhere between the Grey House and the headland, in pursuit of the kids.

The first challenge the boys encounter is light: the candle Simon brought got wet, so they're using the still-dry matches one at a time to light the way forward. They realize they've been slowly going uphill when the floor of the passage becomes dry, and are soon in a large cave.  It's a dead end.

Barney find a low continuation, partially blocked by a boulder, and persuades Simon to let him try searching a little farther. Even with the now-lit candle, it's a nerve-wracking journey in the dark, but Barney takes comfort in the thought of Sir Bedwin possibly being buried in the area. He hears a strange noise, and realizes it wind: he's directly under the hole up in the headland. There, on a small outcrop of the rock, he sees a flash of reflected light.

We have a grail!

Barney makes his way back, now without the benefit of the guttering and finally extinguished candle. He has a moment of panic (Did something happen to the others? Is one of their enemies now holding the line that he's following back?), but it turns out Simon's still there. Reunited, the boys discover a small leaden tube tucked inside the grail: it opens to contain an even frailer manuscript, which starts to crumble when touched (why are they doing this in the dark cave?). It's put away, and Simon remembers that they need to get moving: Jane has signaled that the tide's on its way back in.

Now we're back with Jane, literally back to when she's first left alone, holding the manuscript in its telescope case and the fishing line that anchors her brothers. She wonders about their parents finding the house empty (assuming, of course, that Mrs. Palk hasn't returned and lied to them as well about the kids' whereabouts). She wonders about their enemies (not currently in view, so possibly they haven't found the kids yet). She wonders where and why Merry would disappear at such a critical time (finally, someone's thinking about this). She starts to doze in the heat, and suddenly notices that the tide has begun to turn. She signals the boys, gets fearful when the don't respond (they're nearly out of fishing line), but finally gets the three tugs that mean they're coming back.

Once everyone's back on the rocks, they tuck the new manuscript in the case with the old one, and prepare to return.

Then the Lady Mary shows up, along with the incoming tide. Evil on a boat. Trouble.

They scramble back over the rocks at speed: Barney carrying the grail, Simon the manuscripts. The yacht's dinghy is heading towards them, while the kids race between the cliffs and the incoming sea, trying to get back to dry land.

It's delightfully dramatic.

Suddenly, there's more trouble: a second boat just ahead, containing Bill and Mr. Withers. Ack!

[Break to note that I think the build-up of tension works better in this scene than anywhere else in the book: villains and heroes are all acting reasonably to attain their different goals, and are coming into conflict, and it doesn't feel contrived.]

Their opponents have the kids trapped. The tide's still coming in. The villains offer safe passage in exchange for the grail, and the boys try to make a counter offer: take them to safety or the grail goes in the sea.  Unsurprisingly, this threat is not successful. 

Just then, another boat appears. It's Merry and Mr. Penhallow!

[One could call this a deus ex, but it also make sense that Merry, at least, knows the jig is up and that the kids are likely 1) near the headland looking for the grail, 2) in need of help].

Jane dodges around Bill and heads for Merry, Simon grabs the relics from Barney and throws the grail to Merry in his boat.

And it works.

He tries again with the telescope case containing the manuscript, but Mr. Withers hits it with an oar, opening the case and scattering its contents in the water. Hastings howls and dives after it, unsuccessfully, and all of the opponents head back to the yacht. Merry says something in a strange language, and Hastings “seemed to shrink within himself at the sound, so that the menace and power were all at once gone out of him.”

And yet, for all this power, Merry still can't cast detect lies.  

Over Sea, Under Stone, Chapter 13

Simon and Jane, back at the Grey House, are getting worried since Barney's no where in sight. The carnival has apparently moved on, and they can't think of anywhere else he would go. Things get worse when Rufus arrives without Barney, looking oddly apathetic and disinterested. He's also moving slowly and strangely when Jane and Simon end up following him out to the harbor.

We flash over to Barney, who is definitely under some form of mind-control.

“He no longer had any thought of his own; it was a strange, relaxed feeling, as if he were comfortably half asleep. There could be no argument now. No fighting. He knew only that the tall dark figure walking by his side, wearing a wide-brimmed black hat, was his master.”

Barney may not be able to think for himself, but he can still see and hear. So, the reader hears along with him that they are heading down to the yacht, and that “our old Cornish friend” (Mrs. Palk, I assume) is responsible for getting everyone away from the harbor so that they won't be seen.

Fortunately, at that moment, Rufus saves everyone! Well, he howls “a long weird note so unexpected and anguished that for a moment they all stopped dead.” I'm not quite sure how that happened or what it signified (animals don't like The Dark?) but it works: Barney snaps out of the mind control and flees, rejoining Jane and Simon; they all race back to the Grey House, where the front door has just locked itself behind them. Taking temporary refuge behind the garden walls, Barney organizes his now-conscious thoughts from the last few hours, and realizes that they need to get the grail. Now.

Bill, Hastings and the Withers are watching the house and headlands. Trapped in the garden, Barney and Jane compare notes, and determine that the building Barney was in is the vicarage Jane visited-- though he's convinced that Hastings isn't actually the vicar.

With their route towards the headland blocked, Jane suggests waiting for Merry (a good idea if, say, they were in a place of relative safety, but they are currently outdoors, surrounded, and outnumbered, and why does she keep having to be the wet-rain-cloud-of-hopelessness?). 

Simon gets a moment of insight, and suggests that they can take advantage of the extremely low tide to try to reach the cave under the headland. They can walk there from the harbor, along the exposed rock. Jane's immediately back on task, noting that it was high tide when they heard the sea in the cave, so the entry was likely was still covered then, but it may be uncovered now, like all of the rocks. The two of them convince Barney, and Simon comes up with a plan for evading capture by approaching the rocks from an unexpected direction (through the next bay, where they normally go swimming).

Barney expresses concern for Great-Uncle Merry worrying about them, and I immediately dislike Simon again (a bit) for pulling rank as the eldest. He has a point that they can't look for both Merry and the grail, and taking Merry's absence as a sign of unconcern is understandable. However, under the circumstances, I'm surprised no one's fearing foul-play, or pointing out that they already looked for Merry (without success), and they've also been searching all likely places for Barney. Where else could they look for Merry at this point?

They reach the beach, but their moment's rest is disturbed by an "owl" call--Jane recognizes it as the enemy's signal from the night on the headlands--and the kids run for the tide pools.

We get another weird interlude between the characters: Jane's “motherly” concern is finally heeded (to get Barney to wear his sandals on the sharp rocks), but Simon, somehow, still can't resist teasing the others about ravenous fishes in the deep pools. With everything else going on that they have to actually fear, this inability to not stop taunting the others seems like a real personality problem. I'm not buying it as a reaction to stress, as he did the exact same thing when they first arrived in Trewissick (mocking Jane's motion sickness), and in the attic just before Barney found the map (talking up rats).

May I also say that it's bothering me how quickly Jane goes from resourceful and clever to designated pessimistic nay-sayer, and back? Maybe I'm expecting too much of a young character, but she's utterly awesome for long periods, and abruptly becomes the voice of hopelessness and worry when needed as a foil for Simon or Barney, then bounces right back to solving problems. Characters and people can be complex, but I don't care for how it's handled here.

The next section's pretty tough for that: Jane is worrying that Barney should have stayed behind (Where? In the garden surrounded by people whose mind-control he just escaped from?) on account of the pool depth, fretting about the narrow cave and the lack of light, and wishing they had a rope in case someone gets lost. Simon's now the thoughtful, prepared one (apparently), because he thought to grab some fishing line, a candle, and matches after their adventure with the hole under the stones. Jane also gets to fret about Barney going into the cave (after he's pointed out that, as the smallest, it'll be easier to for him than for anyone else). At least she's allowed to come up with the idea of using certain numbers of rope pulls to keep track of time/tide and to indicate trouble.

And thus ends chapter 13.

Over Sea, Under Stone, Chapter 12

Or: What Barney Did When Simon and Jane Weren't at the Rendezvous Point.

Barney did not find Merry on the path up the headland—which makes sense, since Merry's off to Turuo on Mrs. Palk's false information.

Returning the corner where they are meant to meet, Barney quickly surmises that the others are absent because they're still following Mrs. Palk. He decides to join them. Recalling Mrs. Palk's excitement for the carnival and dancing, he falls in with the procession when it passes by.

The people in the procession are apparently all dressed up in costumes: trees, and sailors, and jesters, and animals... and racist caricatures (remember Mrs. Palk's “Red Indian” feathered headdress? Yeah, that's not just an allusion). Barney goes into the middle of the dance, and gets a glimpse of Mrs. Palk, right before he's literally carried away by a person dressed as a cat and a man in “sheik” robes.

I'm wagering the cat is none other than Polly Withers, and that her brother is the other.

And somehow, no one notices two costumed people manhandling a kicking and screaming boy out of the festival and into a car. They do trap and gag him with the robes, but this still seems like something that someone in this huge crowd should notice and express concern at.

Meanwhile, Jane and Simon, apparently failing to locate Mrs. Palk, have checked the house and the rendezvous corner, and have found no sign of Barney. They decide he must have found Merry on the headland, and head there.

Back with Barney in the car, he has identified his kidnappers by their voices. Yes, it's the Withers. And Norman Withers is in blackface, if you needed another reason to dislike him. Arriving at their destination, the Withers' disentangle Barney from the robes and resume their earlier seeming friendliness—inviting him in for tea and saying they just want to introduce him to a friend. The gas-lighting almost seems to work, as Barney starts wonder if it's just a festive joke, and that they really are nice, and the kids have just misjudged them. Bill Hoover's appearance reminds Barney of the chase and Polly demanding the map, and this time the abrupt shift really feels intentional: like Barney just broke some sort of enchantment that made him view people from “the dark” as favorably as possible. It would explain everyone's strange trust in Mrs. Palk... Or maybe “the dark” is just good at abusing with people's tendency to not assume malice.

Barney is brought into the presence of a deep-voiced person whom the others seem to defer to. He identifies himself as Mr. Hastings. They have sandwiches brought in, and Barney finds his surroundings fairly familiar: they remind him, somehow, of the Grey House. Mr. Hastings is interested and wants to know more.

Current guess: they're either at Bill Hoover's dad's house or the vicarage Jane ended up at earlier.

Hastings suddenly asks, “Is it buried under the Grey House, Barnabas, or one of the standing stones?” Barney chokes from surprise and pretends not to understand. I'm reminded of Polly Withers' sudden, direct questions, and I wonder if this is a standard strategy of their side.

It's somewhat odd to be asking that, however, because Hastings immediately launches into a villains' premature reveal, insisting that they already know everything, and that he's been brought here in order to “put a stop to your little quest”. Perhaps he knows less that he pretends and is fishing for more information? They're right on the kids finding a map and having Professor Lyon aka Great-Uncle Merry helping them, but nothing specific has been said about a grail, or its location.

[And if it was under the Grey House, why would the kids be taking the map up to headland? Shouldn't there presence there be a big clue to the opponents that the standing stones are more likely, since that's the one place the kids keep returning to?]

Barney continues to feign ignorance, and asks for another sandwich. Mr. Withers is dismissed on some errand (“you know what you have to do”), and Barney asks Hastings why the others address him as “sir”. Hastings knows that Barney is bluffing, and tries to put in a pitch for his side of things. It doesn't look good, as this involves more attempted gas-lighting rather than a straight-forward explanation of his opinions. There's also a lot of casting suspicion on Merry, and Hastings has the gall to suggest that he (Hastings) is clearly not evil, because he hasn't harmed Barney and even gave him food! There was no kidnapping, just a little joke, and it's was Polly's doing, anyway. Merry's really out for his own fame and is using the kids, etc.

Good grief. As much as Merry's light vs. dark explanation involved little solid evidence that the other side is, in fact, evil, the way the dark treats people has me decidedly opposed to them. So far, we've seen them pretend to be nice, then make demands; lie, directly and intentionally; make people doubt their own experience (gas-lighting); and then blame other people for what they can't explain away. They are also possibly are using magic or some other kind of psychic influence to make people disregard their harmful or frightening actions.

Hastings also tries the “I will tell you everything” gambit, offering to make everything clear if Barney will admit to seeing the map. Instead of explaining, however, he basically just argues that Merry is looking for selfish reasons, while he [Hastings] and his people want to make the information available to everyone. Barney almost slips, but manages to avoid naming the grail as the object of the map. When he answers Hastings' rhetorical question about Merry's motivation being “In the name of King Arthur, and of the old world before the dark came”, things manage to get even creepier, and Hastings gives orders to move out.

“Where are you taking me?” [Barney asked].

“You are coming with us to the sea,” said the voice behind the dark intent eyes. “You will cause no more trouble, and you will do whatever I say. And when we are on the sea, Barnabas, you are going to tell us about your map, and show us where it leads.”

And on that happy note, the chapter ends. I'm 90% sure at this point that Hastings can cast the imperius curse as a free action once per round.

Over Sea, Under Stone: Chapter 11

In which very little happens.

(Apologies for the delay on this one.)

This chapter probably works best when one is reading straight through the book; in isolation it suffers from being between what came before and what came after, with little new content to its own.

The kids return to the Grey House to share their news with Great-Uncle Merry, but the house is empty.  The reader anticipated this: in chapter 9, Merry dashes off immediately after being woken at 11 am, while the kids came looking for him in chapter 10 after noticing it was already 11:30 am and figuring that he should be awake.

Finding the house empty, with no trace of Merry or Mrs. Palk, they decide to split up and search. Barney and Rufus will head up the hill to see if Merry is climbing the headland and passed them. Jane and Simon will look for Mrs. Palk at the festival, to see if she knows were Merry went.

Simon and Jane head back to the harbor, where they met Mr. Penhallow (the fisherman from chapter one, owner of the White Heather), and pick up some more local knowledge.  Mrs. Palk's first name is Molly; her husband, Jim, is deceased.  He also mentions her relationship to Bill Hoover (who just lost the swimming contest to young Walter Penhallow), but goes on to say that the family's estranged; Molly Palk apparently also has a reputation for avarice.  This ruins my previous hypothesis that she's only working for "the dark" because she was doing a favor for, or was tricked by, her relatives; instead, we're meant to conclude that Mrs. Palk betrayed a group of kids for mere money.  That's... not a very nice thing to do.

Then music-and-dance procession shows up, and the Simon and Jane spot Mrs. Palk; they try to follow her, still meaning to ask after Merry.  Apparently, they're still not taking Barney's warning seriously--and they just missed the rendezvous with Barney by following the procession.  On that ominous note, the chapter ends.

New characters (mentioned, have not interacted with the POV characters)

Walter Penhallow--Sixteen; youngest son of Mr. Penhallow; in the merchant navy; better swimmer that Bill Hoover and apparently gracious about it

Jim Palk--dead, was married to Molly Palk