skygiants

In the long-form hypothetical HBO television series of my heart, he is played by a slightly-older Okieriete Onaodawan, who has proven through his pitch-perfect rendition of both Hercules Mulligan and James Madison that he can do all the instantaneous code-switching that Benjamin January requires to survive

I still haven't managed to see Onaodowan acting, but he has a great face.

Barbara Hambly's personal mental casting (authorcasting?) for Ben was Louis Gossett, Jr. at the appropriate age, which meant that even by the time she was answering the question, he was too old for the part, but I always find that sort of thing neat to know.

and some fairly weird handling of child sexual abuse about which I found myself making a few dubious faces.

In which direction? (Graveyard Dust is the book after which gaudior asked me, "Does every rich white family in New Orleans have a torture attic?")

therefore I like Rose better now (and more as the series goes on), though I still find her a little custom-designed for the assumed twenty-first century reader to identify with.

I don't identify with Rose; I just like her. The fact that Ben and Hannibal can have the following (non-spoilery) exchange about her in Drinking Gourd makes me really happy:

Fortunately Hannibal agreed with him, and found nothing timid or unreasonable in the suggestion that they investigate the woodland path together. "Should anything befall you I would be obliged to marry your beautiful Rose," explained the fiddler, as they followed the dusty Springfield Road out of town. "And dearly as I love her—and I hope I would serve as a worthy stepfather and mentor to your children—I fear I would live in daily dread of being blown sky-high by one of her chemical experiments."

"You can't think about things like that," replied January serenely. "I never do."

I mean, that exchange makes me happy for a bunch of other obvious reasons as well, but the image of the January household as a site of casual semi-mad science is a strong frontrunner.

Barbara Hambly's portrayal of 1830s Mexico reads to me as significantly more exaggerated/exoticized than her portrayal of 1830s New Orleans

I really think she's at her best in New Orleans and associated surroundings; when she ventures into other settings, she's most successful with Haiti in Crimson Angel. I am not entirely sure why this should be true, but the books taking place in the Rockies and in Washington, D.C. are the two I have found least convincing. The book which is half flashback to 1820's Paris, on the other hand, works great.

(and, again, I could happily go another decade without reading another book in which THE HUMAN SACRIFICE OF THE AZTECS!!!!!!! featured as a major plot device.)

I did like the way Greek myth kept cropping up in the middle of the Aztec Gothic shenanigans. Dude, you already named your house "Hacienda Mictlan"! Invoking the House of Atreus is not going to improve matters!