Skating Fiction (Print Books and Movies)

[danceronice]

I'm trying to come up with a definitive list of skating and skating-themed fiction, YA and adult, and movies, as I've kind of run out of what I've got! (Print books..add e-books, I guess, but I don't read them and even tell people with my (non-skating) novel, buy the real, ie paper, one as I put a lot more care into that. I mean, I get more money for it, too....is our FSU author doing real copies of hers?) Any that are actually IN PRINT would be nice, too! I find most stuff in used bookstores and discard sales!

Alina Adams's Figure Skating Mysteries: Murder on Ice, On Thin Ice, Axel of Evil, Death Drop, Skate Crime (Cozy mysteries with amateur detective Bex Levy, researcher for a sports network. Not bad as cozies go, plays big to skating stereotypes but not without love.)

"Ice Dancing" and "Ice Princess" by Nicholas Walker (YA) (Set in England? Vaguely defined but the culture seems to suggest it. Samantha wants to skate, but has rheumatic fever and nervous parents Alex has lost his partnership. Of course, they team up.)

"Dreams of Gold" by Maynard Thompson (A half-American, half-Japanese girl loses her pairs partner and returns to her childhood coach in Japan to learn singles. VERY soapy, but not bad IMO.)

Melissa Lowell's Silver Blades series (YA) (Reminds me of contemporaries "The Saddle Club" and "The Baby-Sitters Club". Some books are stamped with the approval of USFS. How many of these ARE there? I found some large-print editions at a used bookstore with ten listed in the front, and when I looked for the ones I didn't have on Amazon I was getting hits for book 23, book 18, etc.))

Movies:

"Ice Castles"
"The Cutting Edge" (how many dubious direct-to-video sequels are there now?)
"Ice Princess" (No relation to the book above)
"Ice Castles" (remake)

I really need more material...

[shan]

Don't forget TanithandBenFan has written 2 skating novels.

http://jennifercomeaux.blogspot.com/

[Clarice]

My favorite skating book as a child was "White Boots" by Noel Streatfeild, known in the US as "Skating Shoes".

Sharon Whitlock has written a mystery series about the fictional Jazzicals synchronized teams. Three books are in print: "The Scheherazade Curse", "The Capitol Ghost", and "The White Rose Affair". There are more to come. I'd call them young adult, but adults would enjoy them, too.

We have 24 books of the "Silver Blades" series, plus 10 of the "Figure Eights" series, which was about younger skaters. We also have 6 books of a series called "Michelle Kwan presents Skating Dreams".

There's also "Crossovers" by LeAnne Hardy, and "Maddie Takes the Ice" by Nicolette House.

[TanithandBenFan]

Don't forget TanithandBenFan has written 2 skating novels.

http://jennifercomeaux.blogspot.com/

Thanks for the shout-out, shan! Mine are available in print and digital.

I loved Alina Adams' mysteries and wish she would write more!

[danceronice]

Don't forget TanithandBenFan has written 2 skating novels.

http://jennifercomeaux.blogspot.com/

Hence the reference to our own author! And good to know they're in real copies (I just can't take even my own book in ebook format seriously. Hate reading on screens and there's too much free stuff available to pay real money for bits and bytes.)

[Zemgirl]

The most obvious one: Florent Amodio shot a movie called Programme Libre last year. I'm not sure about the specifics of when it's supposed to be released and where.

As for books... being a romance reader, I checked on All About Romance, and they have the following books listed as skating-related:

• On Thin Ice (1995) by Susan Andersen
• Reluctant Partnership (1979) by Elizabeth Ashton
• Ice Crystals (4/1987) by Pamela Browning - HAR-194
• Diamond on Ice (3/1991) by Lacey Dancer - KIS-35
• The Medusa Game (2/2006) by Cindy Dees - SB-79
• Fire Beneath the Ice (2001) by Linda Hudson-Smith (looks like she also has a book called Ice Under Fire)
• Dreams to Mend (8/1987) by Risa Kirk - HSR-273
• Tender Longings (2/1978) by Barbara Lynn - CR-230
• Cassidy and the Princess (10/2001) by Patricia Potter - SIM-1107
• Summer's End (1999) by Kathleen Gilles Seidel

Of these, I've only heard of On Thin Ice and Summer's End - and as you can see, there's almost nothing new; it's a good thing TanithandBenFan is on it, and if they reopen the list for submission I'll suggest her books.

[Sit_spin]

I don't know if you're also looking for children's fiction, but...

When I was a child, I read a series of books by Beverly Lewis, called the "Girls Only!" series. It was about girls participating in different sports, one being figure skating. Here are the ones about skating:

"Dreams on Ice"
"A Perfect Match"
"Follow the Dream"
"Photo Perfect"

[RickInSanJose]

There's also my own book, WINDSONG: A Figure Skater's Odyssey. However, while skating plays a critical role in two places in the book, it's not a figure skating novel in the sense of covering competitions and rivalries, etc. What WINDSONG is really about is a figure skater who goes on to be and to do so much more. It's actually a science fiction novel starring a figure skater.

FYI, here's an excerpt from WINDSONG to give you an idea of the nature of the book:

For long minutes, Windsong sat mesmerized, watching the stars stream by Tin Lizzie. She wondered if she was dreaming. If so, she thought, this was definitely the most vivid dream by far that she had ever experienced.

Abruptly Tin Lizzie lurched violently and the star field snapped back to normal again. To Windsong it felt as though a giant invisible hand had reached out and grabbed the car.

“Och! MOTHER McCREE!” cried Scottie in dismay as Tin Lizzie began shaking and vibrating uncontrollably.

“What? What’s happening Scottie?”

“A BLACK HOLE, Lass! We’re trapped in its gravity well an’ we’re bein’ pulled towards it! Tin Lizzie nay has near enough power to escape! Och! We’re in deep yogurt fer sure!”

“Can’t you DO something, Scottie?” cried Windsong.

“Nay, Lass! I canna change the laws of physics! That beastie’s gonna swallow us right out of existence! An’ tear us asunder in the process! I’m so sorry, so terribly, terribly sorry, that I’ve gotten ya into this awful fix, Lass! Ya deserved so much better!”

The shaking grew worse by the second, and Tin Lizzie rattled and groaned ominously in protest over the super-strong gravity threatening to rip the vehicle -- and its occupants --into a thousand pieces.

“Och! She’s about to fly apart at the seams, Lass! I canna hold her together much longer!” shouted Scottie, struggling desperately in a losing battle to arrest Tin Lizzie’s inexorable plunge towards doom. “Forgive me dear, sweet Lass! Forgive me Tin Lizzie, me Dear Old Girl! Och! Blasted feckless unleaded petrol...!”

Stunned, uncomprehending, her fists clenched so tightly that her knuckles were ice-white, Windsong sat helplessly in disbelief and dismay. Half an hour ago I was sipping Chai Tea in Methuselah’s Coffee Shop and finishing my term paper -- and now Scottie and I are in outer space in a 1930s car and we’re about to disappear forever in a BLACK HOLE! This is totally THE PITS! I never even had the chance to say my goodbyes... she thought bleakly as the black hole, a perfectly round sphere of menacing pitch-blackness, loomed closer, ever closer.

[Cachoo]

Movie: "Champions: A Love Story" (1979.) The guy I was with did NOT like this movie (big surprise) and I was sitting there crying like a baby. There are better skating films--it must have been the right story on the right day for me. Also there is a more recent film called "Go Figure." I also watched a film set in the late 40's or early 50's about a girl learning to skate. It is about a girl and her magical reindeer and it is called "Blizzard."

Also "A Promise Kept: The Oksana Baiul Story," "Tonya & Nancy: The Inside Story,"....was there ever an ice skating "Xanadu?"

Books: The Luckiest Girl in the World
by Steven Levenkron ---a championship figure skater, stage mom, pressure and cutting... I read that this author did a similar book about a gymnast with anorexia.

Sugar and Ice by Kate Messner (girl invited by famous Russian coach to train in Lake Placid --obstacles include mean girls.)

Double-Axel Doubt by Jake Maddox (girl was great as a little girl but her skating skills have not improved with age--not sure where this one goes.)

Skateway to Freedom - Ann Alma (talented skater escapes from East Germany to Canada)

Bittersweet - Sarah Ochler (sp?) (Dad leaves and Mom can no longer afford lessons for daughter and then daughter has a second chance--and meets a boy.)

If the kids are really young they might enjoy Kristi Yamaguchi's books.

[hanca]

Flying camels and Tiger mothers (Andy Schell) - this book is hilarious!

[Moto Guzzi]

Ice Charades: Penquins Behaving Badly and Other Follies From the Road by Jenny Hall http://www.amazon.com/Ice-Charades-P...ting+-+Fiction.

Ice Castles by Lenore Fleischer http://www.amazon.com/Ice-Castles-Le...ting+-+Fiction.

Nice Shows: A Berrien Gamble Ice Skating Mystery by Joan Bartlett http://www.amazon.com/Nice-Shows-Ber...0554149&sr=1-2

Judge Me Nottingham: A Nice Skates Ice Skating Mystery by Joan Barlett http://www.amazon.com/Judge-Me-Notti...0554149&sr=1-1

Joan Bartlett was a former skater, judge, and coach. She was writing a third book in the series but died of leukemia before its completion.

In Robin Cook's book "Toxin," the central character has a daughter who's a champion ice skater. It's been years since I read the book but I remember there were a number of laughable errors.

In Jodi Picoult's book "Handle With Care," the older daughter is a skater.

Geremi Weiss (Michael's sister) was the model for two covers in the Silver Blades series.

[zaphyre14]

Olga Jaffae has a series of children's books starting with "Cammie and Alex's Adventures in Skateland." They're semi-fantasy but pretty accurate skating-wise and I've enjoyed them. There's four of five of them in all now, I think: "...Rainbow Rinks", "Skating through History" are a couple more I remember. She and her husband have been selling them at competitions and online so I expect they're self-published but the quality is good and they're fun.

Teresa Morgan has two: "Satin and Steel" and "A Risk Worth Taking" that are adult romantic suspense.

Iris Johanson's "White Satin" was reissued a couple years ago and isn't bad although very dated.

One I would not recommend unles you like badly-writing, dreary characters and nonexistent skating knowledge is Mandy Baggot's "Breaking the Ice." It's british and so bad it's not even funny in it's errors. I got it as a Kindle $.99er and even that was too much to spend on it.

I have a whole bookcase of skating fiction going back to the 1950's but I'm missing some of the ones mentioned here. It's a fun genre to collect.

[gkelly]

Long ago, I read two different novels titled Death Spiral

murder mystery (more my speed; some good skating content)

romance (not with this cover though! male character is skater but there's not much skating content)

Also The Silver Seven aimed at preteens/young teens, which I was at the time, in which passing the seventh figure test was a major plot thread

[jenniferlyon]

I've got two more to add to the list...

Gay Blades by Ben Tyler

Figure of Eight by Patrick Lynch

[jenniferlyon]

Hence the reference to our own author! And good to know they're in real copies (I just can't take even my own book in ebook format seriously. Hate reading on screens and there's too much free stuff available to pay real money for bits and bytes.)

I used to write a skating serial back in the olden days before Nook and Kindle. I deliberately made each chapter short and choppy because I knew people would be reading it onscreen. It was called "The Strong and the Sequined" and it ran from 1997 to 2006. But the e-publisher I worked with isn't around anymore. I was thinking about giving those old chapters a little spit and polish and putting the whole thing out in e-book format (probably one "season" at a time). But the amount of work I'd have to do vs. the amount of money I would make... Well, let's just say that requires some thought. I also have to finish my current (not skating-related) project before I start a new one.

[Impromptu]

I used to write a skating serial back in the olden days before Nook and Kindle. I deliberately made each chapter short and choppy because I knew people would be reading it onscreen. It was called "The Strong and the Sequined" and it ran from 1997 to 2006. But the e-publisher I worked with isn't around anymore. I was thinking about giving those old chapters a little spit and polish and putting the whole thing out in e-book format (probably one "season" at a time). But the amount of work I'd have to do vs. the amount of money I would make... Well, let's just say that requires some thought. I also have to finish my current (not skating-related) project before I start a new one.

Yeah, I had one as well (same e-pub), but I've since been working in film, not print. I've toyed with the idea of turning my old (never to be finished - I wrote myself into a corner, oops!) story, much edited and trimmed into either a screenplay, or a transmedia project. But I have other things I want work on first (some that I actually get paid for), so I doubt it would ever actually happen. Basically, it's not motivating me to put on top of the pile.

[TanithandBenFan]

I used to write a skating serial back in the olden days before Nook and Kindle. I deliberately made each chapter short and choppy because I knew people would be reading it onscreen. It was called "The Strong and the Sequined" and it ran from 1997 to 2006. But the e-publisher I worked with isn't around anymore. I was thinking about giving those old chapters a little spit and polish and putting the whole thing out in e-book format (probably one "season" at a time). But the amount of work I'd have to do vs. the amount of money I would make... Well, let's just say that requires some thought. I also have to finish my current (not skating-related) project before I start a new one.

I read quite a bit of The Strong and the Sequined! I looked at your e-publisher when I first started thinking about having my serial published (Life on the Edge was a serial before I edited it into a book). I'd love to see your serial in book form one day.

[jenniferlyon]

Yeah, I had one as well (same e-pub), but I've since been working in film, not print. I've toyed with the idea of turning my old (never to be finished - I wrote myself into a corner, oops!) story, much edited and trimmed into either a screenplay, or a transmedia project. But I have other things I want work on first (some that I actually get paid for), so I doubt it would ever actually happen. Basically, it's not motivating me to put on top of the pile.

Are you Rink Ghost?

I never finished "The Strong and the Sequined" either. Too much going on in real life at that time. If I publish it in e-book form, I'll have to finish it, or at least get the characters through the 2006 Olympics and then write a final "season" where the story fast forwards to the present date. One storyline in particular (where Heidi finds out who her birth parents are) can't be resolved if I'm still stuck in 2006. She was only eight years old then, but she would be almost fifteen now. Unlike the TV soaps, I didn't do the rapid aging thing with the child characters.

[jenniferlyon]

I read quite a bit of The Strong and the Sequined! I looked at your e-publisher when I first started thinking about having my serial published (Life on the Edge was a serial before I edited it into a book). I'd love to see your serial in book form one day.

Thanks, I am beginning to warm up to the idea a little more. My current novel-in-progress is so serious, it might be fun to return to the glitz and drama of my fake skating world.

[manleywoman]

Here's my review of Andy Schell's "Flying Camels & Tiger Mothers" . . . a review that's long overdue since he sent me the book last year.

And I owe TanithandBenFan a review too!