Patricia S. Bowne
Auteur de Advice From Pigeons
A propos de l'auteur
Œuvres de Patricia S. Bowne
The Adjunct [short story] 1 exemplaire
Want's Master 1 exemplaire
Oeuvres associées
Imps & Minions (Odds & Ends #2) — Contributeur — 1 exemplaire
Étiqueté
Partage des connaissances
- Nom légal
- Bowne, Patricia Susan
- Autres noms
- Ming, A.B. (pen name)
- Pays (pour la carte)
- USA
- Lieux de résidence
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
- Études
- Edinboro State College (BS|Biology, BA|Humanities), University of Miami (MS|Marine Biology), University of Alberta (PhD|Zoology)
- Professions
- professor
- Organisations
- Human Anatomy and Physiology Society
- Agent
- Evan Gregory (Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency)
- Courte biographie
- Hello, and pleased to meet you!
I've been writing the Royal Academy at Osyth stories for over ten years now. They say to write what you know, and I know the academic environment.
Since the age of 3, I have been hanging around university science departments. I've spent time collecting fishes and invertebrates, cataloguing museum specimens, putting up educational displays (some of which involved live rattlesnakes), creating scientific illustrations, supervising student field work in lakes, rivers, and on coral reefs, assisting on deep-sea sampling cruises and in a giant clam farm, taking the jaws out of a 7-foot shark, and picking through piles of dead fish from Alberta to Taiwan. In the process, I've accumulated a B.Sc in Biology, B.A. in Humanities, M.S in Marine Biology, and Ph.D. in Zoology.
I now work at a small college in the Midwest, where I've added experience in the less fishy aspects of academic life. I've worked there for over twenty years including a 6-year stint as a Dean, during which time we built a new building -- an experience which inspired my most successful story, 'Want's Master'.
Though I always wanted a small-college teaching position, when I got one I missed the excitement of a large university. Rather than go hang around the local university, making myself dissatisfied and neglecting my day job, I created my own: the Royal Academy of the Arcane Arts and Sciences. I've sold seven stories set in the Academy, and three novels.
Membres
Critiques
What I most enjoyed about Patricia S. Bowne's Advice from Pigeons and its sequel, A Lovesome Thing, was how very different they are. They are set in the wonderfully realised Royal Academy of Osyth, the institution of choice for the study of modern academic magic:
"The Royal Academy is especially known for its Demonology Department, in the school of Natural Magic. As traditional demon-binding is illegal in Osyth, the Academy's magicians have developed the world's only collaborative program. Using our state-of-the-art pentarium, they are able to safely summon and study the most dangerous of demons."
A new arrival to the Demonology Department is Hiram Rho, whose area of study is natural philosophy, a specialism rather looked down on by other faculty as it involves the ability to understand the speech of animals and suffers from an "oversweet" image. There's nothing appealing about Rho himself, however - he's disaffected, arrogant and unwashed, and his alienation from his peers endangers him when he accidentally binds a demon in the pentarium, an event which will have far-reaching repercussions, not least because it shouldn't have been possible.
It has to be said that modern magic is a pretty complicated area, and that you need to be an attentive reader - no coasting here. The rewards are great - this is a world you can get utterly caught up in, even though you'll be pushed to do any second-guessing about how they are going to get out of trouble. While I probably liked the pigeons best, Rho grows on you as a character - he's really barely civilised at the start, but surrounded by good people like Teddy Whin and Neil Torecki, he begins to integrate a little. Which is not to say that he's lovable by the end - he's just a slightly-better adjusted difficult scruff.
Underpinning the world of academic magic is a very real institution, full of all the petty concerns with red-tape and accountability that anyone working in academe will instantly recognise. You'll find the exponents of sexy disciplines (like vampirology, of course), the under-funded poor relations, the quest for outside sponsorship with its never-ending grant applications, the competition for conference funding...it's a glorious, wildly sardonic in-joke, with really riveting story-lines. As another reviewer said, imagine Harry Potter told by the teachers...but, I would add, with grown-up characters with grown-up preoccupations.… (plus d'informations)
"The Royal Academy is especially known for its Demonology Department, in the school of Natural Magic. As traditional demon-binding is illegal in Osyth, the Academy's magicians have developed the world's only collaborative program. Using our state-of-the-art pentarium, they are able to safely summon and study the most dangerous of demons."
A new arrival to the Demonology Department is Hiram Rho, whose area of study is natural philosophy, a specialism rather looked down on by other faculty as it involves the ability to understand the speech of animals and suffers from an "oversweet" image. There's nothing appealing about Rho himself, however - he's disaffected, arrogant and unwashed, and his alienation from his peers endangers him when he accidentally binds a demon in the pentarium, an event which will have far-reaching repercussions, not least because it shouldn't have been possible.
It has to be said that modern magic is a pretty complicated area, and that you need to be an attentive reader - no coasting here. The rewards are great - this is a world you can get utterly caught up in, even though you'll be pushed to do any second-guessing about how they are going to get out of trouble. While I probably liked the pigeons best, Rho grows on you as a character - he's really barely civilised at the start, but surrounded by good people like Teddy Whin and Neil Torecki, he begins to integrate a little. Which is not to say that he's lovable by the end - he's just a slightly-better adjusted difficult scruff.
Underpinning the world of academic magic is a very real institution, full of all the petty concerns with red-tape and accountability that anyone working in academe will instantly recognise. You'll find the exponents of sexy disciplines (like vampirology, of course), the under-funded poor relations, the quest for outside sponsorship with its never-ending grant applications, the competition for conference funding...it's a glorious, wildly sardonic in-joke, with really riveting story-lines. As another reviewer said, imagine Harry Potter told by the teachers...but, I would add, with grown-up characters with grown-up preoccupations.… (plus d'informations)
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Statistiques
- Œuvres
- 7
- Aussi par
- 3
- Membres
- 14
- Popularité
- #739,559
- Évaluation
- 3.8
- Critiques
- 2
In this book we get more of a view of life outside the university, as well, with the introduction of the endearing Father Rameau, a mild-mannered priest who finds himself having to take decisive action when a corpse turns up in his newly-opened church. Could his god be responsible? The police seem to think so...
I am hooked on this series and can't wait to read more - they're intelligent, funny and inventive, and the regular characters have started to feel like friends.… (plus d'informations)