tag:dreamwidth.org,2012-10-30:1773565 a life about writing and writing about life djonn 2013-05-27T03:26:54Z tag:dreamwidth.org,2012-10-30:1773565:36482 2013-05-27T03:26:54Z 2013-05-27T03:26:54Z "There's No Business Like Show Business" pleased public 2 <p>As at least some of my readership is aware, I have been a theater junkie -- if a somewhat undernourished one -- ever since junior high school (which is to say, for a scarily long time now).&nbsp; I have, of course, also been an avid reader of fantasy for even longer than that.&nbsp; And it's been my experience that there just isn't much modern genre fiction that makes effective use of theatrical settings.&nbsp; There are a very few exceptions, and mystery has done somewhat better than fantasy in this regard, but even good theatrical mysteries are a trifle thin on the ground.<br /><br />You may therefore imagine my cautiously optimistic delight some weeks back, when I ran across a new(ish) book at my local library promising just this: a fantasy yarn set against the backdrop of a small musical theatre company in rural Vermont.&nbsp; The ingredients seemed perfect -- but would they be well blended and skillfully served up?<br /><br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___1" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">(&nbsp;</b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://djonn.dreamwidth.org/36482.html#cutid1">They would indeed</a></b><b class="cut-close">&nbsp;)</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___1" aria-live="assertive"></div></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=djonn&ditemid=36482" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments