Book Review: Eight Belles

Title: Eight Belles: Triumph Beyond the Wire
Author: Maria Michalak
Published: 2009, AuthorHouse
Rating: 5/5

Many horse lovers remember the breakdown of Eight Belles after she came in second in the 2008 Kentucky Derby, but her story did not end there, and Maria Michalak makes sure her readers remember that. In her biography about the strong hearted grey filly, Michalak wastes no time on unnecessary side stories of the humans, the book is wholly focused on Eight Belles.  Readers will find themselves bursting from the starting gate to the finish line of this equine biography with Michalak's sentences that seem to carry the reader swiftly through like a horse race. Also, like a race, however, the reader is left with the impressions Eight Belles left in people's hearts and the changes her death caused. Readers will remember this amazing book and Michalak has been successful in her quest to make Eight Belles unforgettable.

The Horse in My Books

I love books as much as I love horses. Throughout my childhood I depended upon books not just to escape my unhappy youth, but also to access the world of the horse. There were never enough books about horses for me; I always was looking for another one at all times. My passion for reading led to my passion for writing. Of course, my favorite thing to write about is horses and folklore surrounding the horse. So, out of a moment of nostalgia, I am going to list the horse books that have influenced my writing the most.

1. Wild Horses of Sable Island by Zoe Lucas: Age 5

2. Wild Horses of Sweet Briar by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock: 6

3.  Black Beauty by Anna Sewell: Age 8

4 .Misty of Chincoteague by Margaret Henry: Age 9

5. Saddle Club by Bonnie Bryant: Age 10

6. Horse Master: by Marilyn Singer: Age 12

7. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle: Age 12

8. Unicorn Chronicles by Bruce Coville: Age 12

9. Skye Rider by Nancy Springer: Age 14

10. Unicorns I Have Known by Robert Vavra: Age 15

11. Heartland book series by Lauren Brooke: Age 15

12. Pegasus by Robin McKinley: Age 23

13. Horse Heaven by Jane Smiley: Age 23

Honestly, there are many more books dealing with horses I have read, but these are the ones that have changed my view on the horse in the world of literature. They are the ones I keep, safely tucked onto bookshelves or in drawers. They are the ones that will grace the book cases of my office someday when I finally have my farm, with my window overlooking the pasture of my horses. 

Finding the Horse: My Passions

As a writer, I have often had many ideas spilling from my imagination like a cascading waterfall. I pick through them seeing which ones produce the most passion inside my soul and which seem to be the most solid to make a believable story. Sometimes I might combine two different ideas bringing together the flesh and blood needed together to create the characters and their world. My greatest passion, as most who read this blog know, is the horse. My other greatest passion lies in Japanese anime and culture. For years I have often wondered how I would combine these two passions in my writing, but nothing ever seemed to come to my mind.

Well that all changed after I went to Equine Affaire in 2010. I have been attending this event for the past four years, and I relish in being able to see breeds that I do not see in my daily life including: Andalusians, Gypsies, Nokotas and  Lipizzaners. This past year it dawned on me all the horses in the breed Pavilion were European and American breeds. Where were the breeds of Asia?  Surely, horses have influenced cultures all over the world, not just in the West. So that's when I began researching about the different native breeds in Japan, which I have never once see in any breed book, although I own several different ones. I was sad to find out that the numbers for the native breeds were low, although I was not without hope with the rise of the Noma breed from 27 to 84 over the past twenty years. 

I knew then what I wanted to do. For the past three years I have known that I want to go teach English in Japan so that I can experience the culture firsthand.  I have a desire to experience many different cultures, but Japan has always been on the top of my list. So, why should I not experience the horse culture there? Why should I not delve into the majesty of the horse no matter where I go? Why not write about the horses of Japan into a novel? I want to know about all the horses there now: native breeds, therapeutic centers and the Thoroughbreds. It was a horse that recently brought hope to many Japanese horse racing fans. Victoire Pisa won the Dubai World Cup on March 26, 2011. 

For many years I did not watch horse racing as the reports of Thoroughbreds slaughtered in the states haunted me. However, now I am reminded of the positive side of the racing track. Horses such as Seabiscuit, Funny Cide, and Barbaro reminded thousands if not millions of equine enthusiast what true strength and courage really is. I have followed their stories and many famous equine novels feature horse racing. My own novel, My Kingdom for a Horse, highlights a horse race in the climax. So, have I not denied myself the joys that do exist in horse racing?

The Kentucky Derby takes place on May 7. I plan on watching the program for the first time in perhaps 10 years and I am looking forward to it. The only thing that could make it better was if I was watching it in person and not on the television. 

A Day Late: My Idol

On March 24, 1603 the greatest queen England has ever known, Elizabeth I, died in Richmond castle. After nearly 45 years on the throne Elizabeth had made England a stable country by bringing Britain to world power after defeating the Spanish Armada. She is remembered by most people taught British history as the stoic virgin queen who staunchly refused to marry. I know her as a survivor. Despite that many parts of her soul were damaged and fragile because of the tragedies in her life she succeeded in being the Queen she knew she could be.

She was a princess, and then wasn't a princess. She had a mother who was killed on her father's execution orders. She was forgotten. She was molested by Thomas Seymour. She had a sister who abhorred her and locked her in the tower. She couldn't marry the man she loved because of his family history and his wife's mysterious death. People plotted against her, she was betrayed, she loved, she hated, and she faltered, and then carried through with her actions. She survived.

When she died the Councilors found a ring that was a locket containing portraits of herself and her mother, Anne Boleyn. She wore it all the time. Although she was only two when her mother was beheaded, here is the evidence Elizabeth knew she was loved by her mother. Perhaps it was from this love she found the strength to carry on at all times in her life. 

I admire Elizabeth for her independence and will to persevere. Nothing would stand in her way to take the country she loved and make it great, which indeed she did. When her goal had come to pass, she was able to draw her last breathe with at least that comfort.

GOLDEN SPEECH 1601

To be a King and wear a crown is a thing more pleasant to them that see it, than it is pleasant to them that bear it.

I were content to hear matters argued and debated pro and contra as all princes must that will understand what is right, yet I look ever as it were upon a plain tablet wherein is written neither partility or prejudice.

There is no jewel, be it of never so rich a price, which I set before this jewel; I mean your love.

Though God hath raised me high, yet this I account the glory of my reign, that I have reigned with your loves.

I have ever used to set the last Judgement Day before mine eyes, and so to rule as I shall be judged to answer before a higher judge.

You may have many a wiser prince sitting in this seat, but you never have had, or shall have, any who loves you better.

It is not my desire to live or to reign longer than my life and reign shall be for your good.

First Book

The snow is melting and according to the calendar spring is upon us. I don't know about other writers, but there is something about the spring that makes me write more. At night the ideas and lines creep into my mind and take over my thoughts. In reflection of past springs, I remembered the first book I had ever asked for as a child.

I must have only been four years old, and it was late spring or perhaps early summer, and my mother had brought me to The Toadstool Bookshop. I stopped off at a table because a book had caught my eye. There was a brown horse on the cover, and the book was titled The Wild Horses of Sable Island. My mother indulged my new fascination with horses and bought the book for me, which told the story of a wild stallion as he struggled to survive and form his own band on the Sable Island.

What everybody thought was a passing childish interest became a passion and that book fed my passion. Unable to access real horses, I became obsessed with horse stories and soon I had books such as The Wild Horses of Sweetbriar, Seastar: Orphan of Chincoteague and Brighty of the Grand Canyon. Christmas and birthdays I requested more books and toys with horses. I found reading and writing as my only link to horses since my parents did not have the money for riding lessons and my mother did not know horsey people.

Fast forward 18 or so years and I now have my own horse and I write about horses in novels, poems and short stories. Yes, I have greatly expanded my reading subjects, but nothing is still better than a well-written novel capturing the magic of the horse to me be it "realistic fiction" or a high fantasy novel. 

My life has been molded by the story of the horse. By the way, I still have the book The Wild Horses of Sable Island tucked safely away in a drawer. Perhaps, someday, I will read it to my own child. 

Writing About Horses: Human Truths

As writers we explore many different human truths through our writing and try to make sense of the things we can never have an absolute understanding of.  Have you ever found yourself coming back to the same human truths repeatedly through different poems and novels you are writing? I do, every single time.

The majestic bond between human and horse and the elements that can form or shatter it bleed from the pages of my writing. Even when I am writing a story or poem that is not horse related I find myself bringing it back to horses somehow in my mind. Another element I pursue either knowingly or subconsciously is the loss of innocence. When is that defining movement when the character loses another piece of their childhood shield? Tied together these two elements are the driving forces in my writing to create stories where growing up is reflected in the spirit of the horses and their owners.

There is something about the horse that cannot be expressed quite right in words, because there are no great words to convey the feelings they produce in humans. The story about the relationship between human and horse can be told countless times because of the abundant ways to convey the beauty of it all. So, that is why I will keep writing about the horse, no matter what other human truths I may explore through my writing.

Skip Beat: Show Business Showdown!

Kyoko Mogami has one goal: defeat Sho Fuwa in show business. After using the submissive Kyoko and leaving her innocence to turn to hatred, Sho has transformed his docile childhood friend into his worst enemy and his future competition.

But thanks to Sho, Kyoko becomes a fashionable young lady, not afraid to speak her mind, and chibi demons rise from her body like a natural aura. What Kyoko wants, Kyoko will get.

Kyoko has given her all to Sho, now she will give her all to defeat him. She joins the LME talent agency, albeit becoming a member of the "Love Me" section, a department designed by the President (whose known for his sumptuous entrances) for those who need to learn to love themselves. Kyoko meets Ren Tsugura, a cool reserved actor whose main focus is his work ethic who shakes her to the core with his "lying gentlemanly smile".

Throughout the series Yoshiki Nakumura wonderfully molds her characters through several major events and a love triangle with the oblivious Kyoko, the unwilling Ren, and the pompous Sho takes form. Kyoko becomes a dark angel and Sho is the demon who wants to reclaim her, but the magic fairy Ren is not about to give his angel to the demon.

Who will get the girl? Nakumura is talented at holding the climax in her readers' sights, but never giving out. The amount of awkward and hilarious moments beautifully balances with the more serious scenes. It is not long before the reader is swept away with the characters and their parallel universes they occupy through their artistic work.

For those who enjoy reading romance and love quirky, fickle characters you will not want to miss out!