Historical Fiction by Oliver Potzsch

I finished reading The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Potzsch, set in 17th century Bavaria, a few weeks ago and recommended it as our book club pick for October.  In this story hangman Jakob Kuisl; his daughter Magdalena; and Simon,a Physician's Assistant; try to solve the mystery of a murdered child and to vindicate the midwife accused of murdering the child and practicing witchcraft.  It turns out that this historical fiction is the first of 4 books by Potzsch, a descendant of the Kuisl family.

I have moved on to the second book, The Dark Monk.  I am on page 71.  In this story the hangman, Simon and Magdalena are taking an interest in a priest who was poisoned in the city of Altenstadt.   Simon and Magdalena had a romantic relationship in Book 1 and in Book 2 jealousy is raising its ugly head as Simon seems to have an interest in the dead priest's wealthy sister, Benedikta.  However on page 71, the hangman's attention has to be directed from the mystery of the priest to other matters. He has been assigned the job of leader of a 17th century Bavarian version of  a posse.  He and the townsmen are supposed to hunt down some bandits who have been attacking their city of Schongau.

The Knight Templars is mentioned in this novel.  The church where the dead priest was found was once the headquarters of the Knight Templars; a band of religious zealots with headquarters across Europe originally assigned to guide travelers safely to Israel. The Knights have been mentioned in several novels lately.  I know I read a Steve Berry book about them, Templar Legacy.

Watch a Novel

I heard you dear reader saying, "Yeah right, how do you watch a novel?  Well, read this very interesting article titled, "Watch a novel being written live."  It is about a new trend in writing novels.  Specifically, it is about a project called The Naked Writer  which was launched on September 12th by British fantasy writer Silvia Hartman.  Hartman invited fans to watch her write her novel, "The Dragon Lords" using Google Docs via her social networks.

Also interesting was this storyteller, Willy Shyr, who had a "crowdsourced" novel published by an Australian newspaper titled, The Necklace.  He invited readers to participate in the actual writing of the novel by submitting their own sentences.  We live in a connected world dear reader.

Blog Action Day - October 15th

Blog Action Day (BAD) is almost here.  It's October 15th and the theme is really different this year it is, The Power of  We.  This means BAD12 is celebrating people working together to make a positive difference in the world.  BAD12 is asking bloggers to focus on celebrating people from their community or people half way around the world that they may never meet. 

Who will I celebrate in my blog on October 15th?  Librarians who make a difference in their patrons' lives researching jobs, helping with resumes and cover letters? The Toastmasters club in this community which makes a difference by building self confidence and personal development?  Kiwanis Clubs who are striving to make a difference with Eliminate project?

Jay-Z's Top 6 Picks

Want to read what Jay-Z has been reading?  Here are the rapper's top 6 personal development books.  Notice he included one of our past book club picks, The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield, a fiction book with profound ancient wisdom.