All About Vee Review and Contest for Free Autographed Copy!
Last night, on the final episode of America’s Top Model, Whitney Thompson won the final slot. They loved her. She was beautiful, she had energy and verve and that feminine mystique that women all want to have. Repeatedly, throughout the show, she was called the “Plus-size” model. She was a size 10. SIZE 10! That’s NORMAL. But because she wasn’t a stick thin manikin, she was considered plus sized and “full figured.” Believe it or not, but there was a time in history when Whitney would have been considered too thin to be beautiful.
That’s ridiculous. The Powers That Be – those connoisseurs of style that every woman looks to for approval – is essentially telling most women in the WORLD that they are fat, when in fact they are a normal HEALTHY size. Isn’t it time we taught people not to live according to the molds in places like New York and Hollywood, and instead taught them just to be themselves, be healthy, and follow their dreams?
I’m pointing all this out as an introduction to my review of the book, All About Vee, by C. Leigh Purtill:
Veronica May, otherwise known as Vee (of the four Vees) has always wanted to act. She loves the stage: taking on new roles, learning lines, the energy from the audience, the feedback from the fellow actors. Vee loves acting, and she knows she is destined for great things. When it looks like Chester, Arizona no longer appreciates her, she decides to take a page from her mother’s book, follow her friend Vivian, and move to Los Angeles, California to become a star!
Getting acting gigs is tough. You need a job that will pay the rent and the bills, oh, and will also pay for those head shots, acting classes, movement classes, audition classes, and seminars, but that will ALSO let you take time off at a moment’s notice to go line up for an audition. And if you get the part, you still may need that job later when your part is done. (Hence the actors as waiters joke.) If you add on to that other issues that have to do more with the industry’s desire for cookie cutter blockbuster actors, actresses, and movies, then you have a recipe for a highly neurotic society.
Veronica has it all planned out though. She has money from savings. She knows what parts she should lead with when she goes to auditions. She knows she is a good actress. She knows she has good eyes and hair. But this is Hollywood, and it’s not knowing Shakespeare and Chekov that will get you the part, so much as whether you’ll look good in front of the camera. Veronica is not a petite young woman. She is, in fact, closer to a size 18 than she is to a size zero. While Vee has always had a healthy self-esteem, it gets a serious beating as she struggles to adapt to the “business” and the Los Angeles landscape. How she figures out how to do that is the adventure.
I moved to Los Angeles when I was 29 years old, 11 years older than Veronica is when she moves to Hollywood, yet the story felt true – bringing back all sorts of memories. As much as I enjoyed reading All About Vee, I cried more than once reading it. I am not an actress, but I am a plus-sized woman living in a skinny town. This is being marketed as a young adult book, but the concepts are pretty universal, and a true reflection of how it is here, I think. I highly recommend it.
The Contest – Free Copy Autographed Copy of All About Vee
While I was reading All About Vee I got to thinking, remembering. I had friends who were actresses; beautiful, talented, funny, intelligent, witty women, who were also unique in looks.
One friend was a curvy size 12, a nice normal size. Marilyn Monroe was a size 12. My friend had wonderful blue eyes, black hair, high cheekbones, fair skin. She was told repeatedly how talented she was and then to lose weight. Maybe consider becoming blonde. She was on her feet 6 days a week working in a coffee shop or waiting tables and spending the rest of the time walking her dogs or going to acting and auditioning classes. When she sat still she slept. And she was careful to get all her vegetables and cut down on her fats. She was healthy. She gave it her all here – I think close to 10 years before moving back home. This city beat her down.
Another friend of mine was tall – 5 foot 11 inches or so. She never wore heels. She was striking. Clear grey eyes in a face of structured cheek bones, dark curly hair, pale olive skin, well-toned and athletic, health conscious (thin!). She also was constantly on the move. If she wasn’t waiting tables, she was walking her dog, going to auditions, or following up on any number of ways to get acting gigs. I remember her working with a theater group. She rarely sat still. She also was told she was too big and to consider going blonde. She also gave it her all. After about 10 years, she decided it was time to move back home, as well.
I want this contest to help women like them as well as promote this book. So, here are the rules for the contest for a free autographed copy of All About Vee by C. Leigh Purtill:
Think about all the large male actors you see on your television every night or in the movies you watch. Count them. Quite a few, heh? Now, think about all the larger female actors you see on your telly or in the movies. Not so many. In fact, maybe 1 woman for every 10 men (did you know Jennifer Love Hewitt has been considered too big?!).
Okay, now choose one of those women who happen to be considered plus-size that you also admire. Why do you admire her? What do you like about her? What positive attributes do you want to emulate?
Now, leave a comment on this blog with her name, a link to her website or webpage or imdb profile, and the reasons why you admire her by midnight (Pacific Time) May 20, 2008. Then I’ll assign a number to each entry and choose a winner using a random number generator. Remember, just leaving a comment on the blog won’t do it. It needs to be the name of a plus-size actress, with a link to her, and reasons why you like her.
I think Vee would very pleased if you did this…
Crossposted on Blogger, Live Journal and MySpace.
The Order of Things, Poetry Chapbook by Sanora Bartels - A book review
This Christmas a friend of mine gave me a chapbook written by someone she has taken writing classes from called The Order of Things (2005), by Sanora Bartels. I quite enjoyed some of the poetry and thought I would share a little review of it here on my blog. Most of the time when I do a review, I try to offer a picture and a link, but this is a chapbook so there’s no ISBN that I can find. I think you may need to contact the author directly to get a copy of her book so the links I have are to her blog and her writer’s group.
Instead of discussing all the poems, I will only touch upon the ones that struck me the most. Outside of the classroom dynamic of “critiquing a poem,” poetry is very personal and subjective. Past a certain level of craft (and yes, Bartels is professional), how one feels about a poem has to do more with one’s preferences and tastes.
The Order of Things is a (very) slim volume of poetry, about 5×8, a staple bound type. The cover painting and design are by Mark Neukom. The painting is a striking picture of a lone woman walking away whilst balancing in a tight rope. The rendering of the woman is very tightly drawn, but as the eye moves away from the central character, the picture gets fuzzy. While the subject of the picture is up in the air, so to speak, the background color of the cover is an earthy mustard, with the inner pages also being an earthy type.
The poetry and composition of the book are also as tightly focused on the central character, ostensibly the poet herself, as the picture is. If you’re a fellow writer, however, you understand that the self-character one draws upon when writing (especially in poetry) may or may not accurately reflect the author’s life. Emily Dickinson is a prime example. That being said, I do believe much of what is written is from Bartels’ personal experiences. That she is willing to bare bones to the glaring light of the writer’s pen is commendable.
The book is separated into four separate sections marked by Major Arcana in the Tarot: The Fool, The Lovers, The Hanged Man, The World. I thought these were interesting choices. The Fool is the very beginning of a journey. Starting out on the road, being full of energy, naivety, and hope. The Lovers can be anything from describing a relationship to describing grace and the choice between the divine and the mundane in one’s life. The Hanged Man - boy - the Hanged Man. Personally, I hate it when he shows up in my readings - waiting for the right time, waiting to learn the right lessons - painfully if you refuse to learn or less painfully if accept them. Then there’s The World. When everything comes together and wraps up and it’s the ending of one thing and the beginning of the rest of your journey - that is when you truly see The World. After thinking about the cards Bartels used to describe her poetry, I wondered what her poems could tell me.
The Fool
Two of the poems, “Elegy” and “Untouchable,” have appeared previously in Wordwrights! I found it intriguing that the first poem she begins this poetic journey with, “Elegy,” is an elegy to the end of someone’s life. But it is an elegy to someone who was there at the beginning of Bartels’ life. Here Bartels introduces the reader to the person who taught her to dream and to play and to love. I cried, remembering a similar person in my own life. In being willing to dig deep into a personal memory, Bartels was able to make this poem universal and it shows.
The next poem that struck home with me was “The Truth About Wolves.” I read it, and reread it and each time it made me snort - that being the only pithy response that instinctively came out at the revealing end of this poem based on Red Riding Hood. This was a clever look at that age-old tale.
The Lovers
Each of the poems in this section addresses a different aspect of love and sexuality. It was hard for me to read Lost and Found. It had that awkward adolescent feel of a first real sexual encounter. I wanted to look away and offer a robe to the character in the poem and at the same time read on, hoping she would find her comfort and fit in her own skin. But the poem that struck me the most was “Pete the Firefighter.” Raw, this poem addressed the near destructive nature of sexual attraction between some people. Shakespeare said that “brevity is the soul of wit” and this brief poem packs a power, raw punch.
The Hanged Man
It was difficult to wrap my brain around these poems. Then again, I have problems with The Hanged Man. So that’s not so unusual. The one I THINK I got the most was “Snow White’s Dream in Escrow.” Like many writers before her (and many after her) Bartels has tried to take the mythologies and legends that embed her psyche and reinterpret them for herself, as she did with “The Truth About Wolves.” In this poem, Bartels addresses Snow White’s desire and need for home, hearth, stability, in a 21st century need and desire for independence. It’s a dream we all have and sometimes it just stays a dream that we never quite reach.
The World
The volume of poetry begins in death and ends in more death. The poem I like best from this section is “She Wolf,” where it appears the author is able to find peace of a sort from the fierceness of city life by retreating further into the forest of herself. The words feel familiar and resonate as I repeat them to myself: “I ignore the urban pack; /I lie in a forest of felled words;/pulp condensed to page./My tongue perspires ink./Hungry,/I lick the marrow from the bones of words” (Bartels, “She Wolf,” The Order of Things (2005), p. 29).
As mentioned before, if you would like to read more by Sanora Bartels you can read her on her blog or contact her through the LA Writer’s Group.
Murder by Magic, Edited by Rosemary Edghill: A Book Review
For Christmas a friend of mine sent me a copy of Murder by Magic: Twenty Tales of Crime and the Supernatural (2004), an anthology edited by Rosemary Edghill. This friend of mine knows how much I love fantasy AND murder mysteries AND anthologies and this was a treat! I could tell it was a book when it arrived on my doorstep so I opened it a few days before I left for Christmas in case I wanted to take it along with me to read over Christmas. You know how when you were kid sometimes the most special books were the ones read over Christmas vacation? This was one of those.
A lot of discussion about cross-genre writing and story telling has littered the literary landscape lately. Some people grumble about it - old diehards not wanting to mix traditional scifi/fantasy with more literary story telling and newcomers frustrated with the lack of acceptance in a genre that grew out of a need to write something new that would encompass another way of expressing the human story. Personally, I love cross-genre stuff. Like the mutt at the pound, it seems to be a lot stronger and more hardy. The only reason we assign genre designations in the first place is so librarians and book sellers can figure out where to shelve books so people can find them. But the last thing readers and writers should do is fall into the trap of thinking they have to stick to one genre. That’s no fun at all! Much more fun to mix things up a little — like sprinkling a little pepper in your chocolate or a little cinnamon in your savory stew. It’s amazing what experimenting can do.
That being said, even Edghill decided to take this mix of tales and split them into categories for the reader. There are five categories: Murder Most Modern, Murder Unclassifiable, Murder Most Genteel, Murder Fantastical, and Murder Most Historical. In her Introduction, Edghill said that when she sent out her call for submissions she requested only that 1) a crime (preferably murder) be committed and 2) magic and/or the supernatural be somehow involved “either in the commission or the solution of the crime” (p. 1). Her mix of authors go from heavy hitters like Mercedes Lackey, Laura Resnick, Esther Friesner, and Jennifer Roberson to relative newcomers like Will Graham. The tales range from absolutely fantastic to pretty darn good. I have to say I was rarely disappointed in this anthology. I was a LITTLE disappointed that Rosemary Edghill herself did not enter a tale. But, oh well, there ya go.
Because there are twenty (count’em - 20) tales and people’s eyes get tired when reading long missives on the computer my comments on each will be relatively brief.
Piece of Mind - Jennifer Roberson
Whether because of the setting (Los Angeles) or the attitude (crotchety middle-aged dude) I found it easy to slip into the point of view of Roberson’s protagonist. She was able to intertwine the hard-edge of an ex-cop who is constantly worrying at an old cold case with a New Age animal psychic and that is so totally LA. The ex-cop is a bit stereotypical (divorced, cranky, estranged from his own emotions). But I found the psychic to be a refreshing mix. Roberson gives her the typical LA actress/model/trainer exterior, but for entirely different reasons. While I wasn’t charmed by the story of how the psychic is able to make the ex-cop face his demons, it did grab me emotionally.
Special Surprise Guest Appearance by… - Carole Nelson Douglas
This was a very clever story, I thought. Anyone who has seen the movie The Prestige or has studied magicians at all knows about how magic tricks have three stages: The set up, the performance, and then the “prestige” or the effect. Douglas has taken this form of the magic trick and incorporated it into her tale of an egotistical Vegas magician who meets his match as he agrees to become a rival’s mark for the evening. Again, I wasn’t charmed by this tale, but I did appreciate the clever Twilight Zone effect of it.
Doppelgangster - Laura Resnick
This story made me laugh. The protagonist, Vito, is your stereotypical wiseguy existing in the world from hit to hit, living by his own mafia code. And while he was telling side stories about various hits while also relating the arc of the story to the reader (i.e. tracking down who was taking down wiseguys in two rival gangs) I found myself laughing out loud at his comments and observations. The story was clever, but what kept me reading was Vito’s voice.
Mixed Marriages Can Be Murder - Will Graham
I LOVED this story. Can’t tell you why because that would be giving away some of the twist, which I figured out fairly early in the story. That I figured some of it out in the beginning didn’t spoil anything for me though. Just made me want to read more to see how Graham was going to use it. Suffice it to say that Mr. and Mrs. Steele are kind of a mix between John Steed and Emma Peel of The Avengers and Nick and Nora Charles of the Thin Man series. They solve crimes together while exhibiting impeccable, sophisticated, cosmopolitan taste. I really enjoyed this one.
The Case of the Headless Corpse - Josepha Sherman
I have a weakness for cop shows, especially the partnered kind like Rosemary & Thyme, The Inspector Lynley Mystery Series or Law & Order or anything like that. And I think that is one of the reasons I enjoyed this story. I really did want to find out who committed the murder and was intrigued in following the threads of the investigation. This was a good old-fashioned mystery that just happens to take place in a world where magic is taken for granted. I really appreciated that.
A Death In The Working - Debra Doyle
I enjoyed this story because of the way it was framed and the style in which it was told. It was framed as part of a historical anthropological text with all sorts of academic footnotes that anyone who has done any kind of academic research can appreciate. Similar in style to HRF Keating’s Inspector Ghote mysteries, this particular story investigates the death of a mage during a magical circle working and whether or not there was criminal intent in that death. It wasn’t one of the stories that stood out for me, but I did appreciate the style.
Cold Case - Diane Duane
Cold Case tells the tale of an inspector who is kind of an investigator into crimes in a Ghost Whisperer kind of way. He gets the ghosts at a crime scene to open up and tell about their murders so he can help them cross over and also track down the killers. This inspector has been visiting this particular home for a while trying to get the ghost to open up and let him know about the day she died. When he finally is able to initiate contact and establish what happened, he is met with very surprising results. It’s a little sad, but also a little happy at the end.
Snake in the Grass - Susan R. Matthews
Normally I’m not a fan of any stories that use Voodoo or Voodoo-like elements as the magical basis. Not judging it in any way; it’s just not my magic of choice. But it can be a very useful magic to use (as with Doppelgangster above) because of the elements involved in the workings. They can be spooky and cruel and vicious and oddly just all at the same time. In Matthews’ tale, a young woman’s mentor has been killed and that mentor’s pet or familiar set up to take the blame. It is up to the woman to overcome her distaste for her mentor’s rituals and to investigate what exactly happened. Not my favorite and I got a little confused reading it, but over all it was well done.
Double Jeopardy - M.J. Hamilton
Double Jeopardy is another one that confused me slightly. I got the feeling that this is a world the author has already established and knows very well. Could be she has readers who know that world very well also. But it was my first time stumbling through it so I tripped up a few times while reading it. In this story a young woman has to figure out not only who killed her twin, but also who ordered the hit, and then mete out cosmic justice. One of the things I appreciated about this story was Hamilton establishing that while the protagonist was comfortable with hunting down criminals and investigating crimes, she was not comfortable with being the one to administer justice. The main character understood full well that in order to do this correctly she had to be able to be impartial and not just be doing it for vengeance’ sake. I really liked that about this story.
Witch Sight - Roberta Gellis
This story kind of reminded me of Anne McCaffrey’s tales about Pern. Not that it had anything to do with dragons, but it did have to do with self-serving adults who take advantage of the naivety of children and adolescents. There was also a little bit of the Salem Witch Hunt feel in this story, but as if it were a far off historical notation. It was a nice story. It didn’t stand out for me, but I enjoyed it.
Overrush - Laura Anne Gilman
I was confused and befuddled by this story. I couldn’t quite grasp the point or whether or not the mystery was actually solved. It was my least favorite in this anthology. That doesn’t mean I didn’t like it at all or enjoy parts of it, just that if I had to put them in order, this would be last on the list. However, one of the aspects of the story I did like was the side-effect that magic has on the user - as a kind of drug rush. This means that contrary to other worlds where magic seems to give the Adept or Mage longer life, magic actually may shorten the life of those who use it. I liked that twist because I can see the logic of it. In this particular story a young woman’s mentor dies ostensibly from an overdose of magic and she wants to track down where the overdose came from. One of the twists is that the more she tracks down his killer, the more she suffers as well and gets closer to death. Interesting view.
Captured in Silver - Teresa Edgerton
Edgerton’s tale mixed the feel of a Sherlock Holmes mystery with a world she created in The Queen’s Necklace. So, if you’re not sure whether or not to enter that world, this might give you a smattering of a taste for what it might be like. In this tale an inspector looks into the death of a man whom NO ONE mourns. In fact, most people in the city would probably reward whomever it was that killed this particular person. However, murder is murder and justice must be done so our intrepid investigators look into every possibility both magical and mundane until they finally track down the killer. I enjoyed the style of this story and it did pique my interest about the rest of Edgerton’s world.
A Night at the Opera - Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
While one of the tales above hinted at Nick and Nora Charles, this one uses them purposefully and mixes a smattering of Dashiel Hammett in as well. Imagine one of the Thin Man tales in a magical universe. The plot is a little thin in my opinion, but it’s meant to be. You’re meant to enjoy the world the story is in and appreciate the people in it. I liked this story.
A Tremble in the Air - James D. Macdonald
This story’s protagonist is a little like Hercule Poirot, from Agatha Christie. Macdonald uses that method where he portrays the viewpoint of the protagonist from a very tight third person, while never revealing what’s going on inside the protagonist’s head. That way the reader continues guessing as to whodunit until the very end at the final reveal. This was a little thin, a little predictable, and the magic element was small, but the protagonist was enjoyable as was Macdonald’s writing. He was very good at crafting his scenes. I could feel the settings.
Murder Entailed - Susan Krinard
This was one of my favorite tales as it’s one of those murders in a manse type of things that needs to be solved before the police get there. Imagine Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover, where the inheritance of “gifts” is assumed and even bred for in the aristocratic lines. Then imagine a murder mystery where someone is murdered because of and for and through those very gifts. I didn’t feel like the pay-off was good enough for me in the end (though it was very revealing), but I still really enjoyed the story.
Dropping Hints - Lawrence Watt-Evans
This was an interesting tale of logical deduction. A young duke visits a wizard to cement a strong relationship between his family and the wizard. In the process of the visit, however, a murder is committed and the duke uses logical deduction to figure out who the murderer was. I liked this one because while magic was inherent to the setting, the solving of the crime was pure mundane police work and logic.
Au Purr - Esther Friesner
Friesner is always good for me to read and she didn’t disappoint me this time either. She combined several of the elements I like most in stories: cats, interesting women, murder, unsuspected friendships, and at least one character who is uber-sarcastic. In this case, a witch’s sister is found dead. So the witch disguises herself as a cat to investigate the murder. There was one part where I thought - “oh no - but that makes it so sad” but then she brings it about to make it happy again. It’s all good. All Friesner. Really enjoyed it.
Getting the Chair - Keith R. A. De Candido
De Candido’s story is another where it’s a pair of detectives (one of whom is half elf) investigating a murder and playing off of each other in the course of the investigation. In this particular case they are investigating the murder of pretty inept and useless wizard with his own set of phobias, such as the phobia of fresh air. There was a great sense of humor to the whole thing, especially if, like me, you really have a weakness for crime shows. I hope De Candido writes more in this particular world because I found it pretty entertaining.
The Necromancer’s Apprentice - Lillian Stewart Carl
Set during the earlier part of the reign of Elizabeth I, this tale is about how an apprentice, despite a few mishaps, helps solve a particularly sticky murder mystery. Carl sets the scene well, so I wasn’t pulled out of the story by any niggling little things. In other words, she did her research. She also likes colorful language, which was fun to read. I think she’s making a little fun of her Shakespeare as well. It was a little thin in my opinion, but I enjoyed it.
Grey Eminence by Mercedes Lackey
I loved, Loved, LOVED this story! It made me cry and want to pick up more stories in this same world if Lackey would write them. If you’ve ever read The Little Princess, or watched the movie, then it has that type of turn of the century feel, only in this story the school really is a nice school run by a very kind matron. Nan and Sarah Jane are two special little girls with unique talents that the matron is helping them to learn about. Sarah Jane is from an upper middle class family while Nan is of the servant class, yet they have become best friends and work well together. Nan is more careful and cautious - more aware of the type of trouble they can get into. Sarah Jane might be a little more “bright” and book smart, but is not as street smart as Nan. Both of them have other special friends that help them with their talents. I really liked this story. I was sad when it ended because I wanted to read more.
Phew! Now that’s done!
So, on the whole, I highly recommend this book. It was a good read that offered a variety of tales that slipped from one thing to another and kept me entertained. I think you’ll enjoy it if you decide to pick it up and read it, too.
Holidays Are Hell: A Book Review
When Vicki Pettersson first announced MONTHS ago that she would be having a holiday story in this anthology (which also includes stories by Kim Harrison, Lynsay Sands, and Marjorie M. Liu) I was so excited. Anyone who knows me knows how much I not only like holiday themed stories, but also how much I enjoy reading Vicki Pettersson’s stories. As soon as it came on Amazon for pre-order, I had an order made up. Now, having finished all four stories, I have to say I do NOT feel disappointed in my purchase.
So, here’s the breakdown.
Read Vicki’s story, “The Harvest,” first, even if it is the last story in the book. Trust me on this. I don’t say this just because I am a fan. I also say this because the novellas included in this anthology are set during four different parts of the holiday season: “The Harvest,” by Vicki Pettersson, is set during Thanksgiving (end of November), so logically should be first; “Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel,” by Kim Harrison, is set during Winter Solstice (about the 21st of December); “Run, Run, Rudolph,” by Lynsay Sands, is set for Christmas proper; and “Six,” by Marjorie M. Liu, is set during the Chinese New Year’s Festival, also known as the Spring Festival (varies from year to year, but usually in January or February). In my opinion, they should be read in the order of the seasonal celebrations, no matter what order HarperCollins has put them in.
But what do I actually think of these seasonal offerings, you ask? Well, here’s my review:
THE HARVEST, by Vicki Pettersson -
“The Harvest” is set in the same Las Vegas Superhero world as “The Scent of Shadows” and “The Taste of Night,” with the difference that it takes place approximately 8 years before the first book. The main character in this case is Zoe Archer, the mother of Joann, the protagonist of Pettersson’s series. In this tale, the reader is let in on some of the backstory of Joann’s life, as well as the reason why Zoe disappeared from her daughter’s life.
I enjoyed this story. Zoe Archer is every bit as independent, secretive, and resourceful as her daughter proves to be, and maybe has a little bit more of an edge than Jo does, despite what Jo has been through herself. Zoe was actually raised in the sanctuary with the other Zodiac initiates so when she is breaking the rules, she KNOWS she is breaking the rules. Zoe is like one of those double agents that goes deep undercover and then has to give up her life just to make sure everything she has worked for and loves will not be compromised. How does she do this? Lets just say her body is a weapon in more ways than one.
Pettersson weaves a very elegant Thanksgiving solution to the problem Zoe is trying to solve and I really enjoyed the resolution to this story. One of things I had a hard time with was Warren, the troop leader, as Zoe’s love interest. But I think I was supposed to have a hard time with it, because while I sympathized with Zoe, I still didn’t like Warren. One weakness in this tale was that the other Zodiac characters, both Light and Shadow, were a tad thin, but given that Pettersson was limited to a novella as opposed to the long rich tales she is used to composing, that’s not a surprise. The story itself still leaves me with a quiet little smile at the poetic justice Zoe found, days after I read it. It was a good read, especially for fans of the Zodiac Series.
TWO GHOSTS FOR SISTER RACHEL by Kim Harrison
Similar to Vicki Pettersson, Kim Harrison goes back in time to show her fans some of the backstory of her character Rachel from her Rachel Morgan series. Taking place in 1999 in an alternate world where the underworld of Witchcraft has been exposed and taken for granted since 1966, this particular take explores just how Rachel Morgan got started hunting the bad guys. Although I have never read any of the Kim Harrison stories, I have heard a lot about her and this was a good introduction.
Rachel Morgan, on a bargain with her brother, bets that she can bring her father’s ghost back from the dead in order to get her father’s blessing to join Inderland Security. Her brother thinks she’s too weak to live up to the demands of a profession in the IS and hopes that she’ll give it up to go to school with him in Portland. What her brother doesn’t count on is Rachel being so successful in bringing a spirit back that it is solid enough to require clothes in the middle of a very public solstice celebration. NO ONE suspects the connection that a spirit that had been dead for about 150 years will have with those living in Cincinnati in 1999.
I have to say, I really enjoyed this story and the connection that Rachel has with the spirit. It is very poignant and sweet, and is a good underscore to a very kickass supernatural adventure tale. I also really enjoyed Rachel’s mom. I may not be fiscally solvent right now, but I’m going to haunt the library for other Kim Harrison books on the strength of this origin tale.
There were some things that annoyed me. I kind of felt like I never quite “got” the world Rachel Morgan lived in. I didn’t quite buy it. But, like Pettersson’s tale, it was probably because Harrison is used to writing novel length material and so was limited in presenting her world in novella form. Otherwise, next time I’m at the library, I’m seeing what I can do to find me some Kim Harrison!
RUN, RUN, RUDOLPH by Lynsay Sands
In my opinion, this was the weakest of the four stories, though many people will probably like it the best. In this story, Lynsay Sands presents the tale of how Jill, a shop owner and sister to a scientist, is transformed into a shapeshifter, stalked and almost kidnapped by a crazed colleague of her brother’s, and gets together with the guy of her dreams. Sounds like an unbelievable whirlwind to you? Yes. That’s exactly what it is.
Logically, the story works. Sands has made sure to dot her i’s and cross her t’s so that the plot works in the small details. I know because I kept saying, “Wait! Wait! Can she really do that?” And then going back and re-reading sections to make sure it all worked. While the story does work and is a nice story, it annoyed me. I never really knew what Jill looked like in her original form or quite grasped what kind of person she was, so I didn’t really care about her even though I was supposed to.
In addition, the “breaking out into sex” in almost every scene annoyed me as much as some people get annoyed with Jane Powell breaking out into song in almost every frame of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Seriously. Enough with the gratuitous sex, already! That being said, the sex scenes were pretty hot and like I said, a lot of people will probably like this story the best because of that.
I did, however, think it was a nice holiday touch that the love interest’s name was “Nick” and that he drove a red SUV. I thought that bit was clever and was surprised that Sands didn’t make better use of exploiting those details in her story.
SIX by Marjorie M. Liu
Before I read this tale by Marjorie M. Liu, I had decided that I liked Pettersson’s tale best, then Harrison’s and then Sands. After reading “Six,” however, I have to say it almost beats out Petterson’s tale, just edging over Harrison’s. Seriously. I felt like I was reading a Jackie Chan/Michelle Yeoh movie and I had a GREAT time reading it. Like Sands, it was non-stop action. Unlike Sands, when sex showed up, there was a reason for it. And having been to China and being a fan of China for a number of years, I really appreciated the reality of the Chinese world that Liu has depicted in “Six.”
Six is a product of the state. Made a ward of the government at the age of five and taught to be the perfect investigator and assassin, Six is the ultimate female fighting machine. The women on her squad can infiltrate places men can’t because they’re women and can hide in plain sight as masseuses or vendors or any number of female roles that are otherwise discarded. During an assignment where Six and her unit are trying to get information on a terrorist cell, Six meets Joseph, a necromancer, and fights with her first vampire. Her life changes forever.
I had a hard time finding a weakness to this tale other than that it was way too short. It was fast-paced, touching, sexy, and VERY Chinese. I wanted more. This is a fantastic origin tale for a new superheroine and her partner and I really wanted to read more about Six’s life, including the backstory of where she came from originally, which Liu just didn’t have the space to go into. I investigated Liu’s website hoping to find more on Six. I did find this cool trailer. I hope she chooses to explore more of Six’s life and let us know about it because I loved what I read.
On the whole, I enjoyed my holiday weekend read, Holidays Are Hell, and I do recommend it. A sexy, mass market edition that can fit in your handbag, it will be a good respite to pick up and read whether waiting in line at the register, or while waiting for others in your party to finish their own holiday visiting and shopping. In short, it is a nice holiday from the rest of the holiday hell that you may be surrounded by this season.
The Claus Effect by David Nickle and Karl Schroeder: A Book Review
Recently a friend of mine went to Pure Speculation III, and whilst there connected and reconnected with friends and comrades in the Canadian speculative fiction field. When she came back she brought back for me a book called The Claus Effect (1997), by David Nickle and Karl Schroeder. Put out by Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing, a small press Canadian publisher that has begun to expand (recently merging with Tesseract Books and Dragon Moon Press), The Claus Effect is a two part story based on an Aurora-Award winning short story, The Toy Mill (1993), about a young girl who brings down a sociopathic Santa Claus.
Now, anyone who knows me knows that I like Christmas. I like traditional Christmas with the creche and I like commercial Christmas with the Santa Claus. I like any festival of light celebrated in the midst of darkness and death. I especially like, however, stories and traditions and things that take Christmas mythology and turn it on its head (as long as it’s done well). Just look on my bookshelf (and on my CD shelf and DVD shelf) and you’ll see collections of Christmas murder mysteries, romances, speculative fiction, and twisted tales. So, if it’s about Christmas, I’m already going to be excited about it. That being said, if it’s done badly, then I’m going to be REALLY disappointed in it.
I wasn’t disappointed in The Claus Effect.
As I stated before, The Claus Effect grew out of a short story, The Toy Mill, about a little girl, Emily, who waits up late one Christmas Eve so that she can ask Santa Claus to make her an elf. She thinks it would be the coolest thing ever to help bring Christmas to the rest of the world. Noble desire, wouldn’t you say? Well, only if the Santa Claus you think exists really does exist. Only he doesn’t. In real life he’s a larger than life sociopath who HATES what he does and HATES children. “Larger than life” means, basically, that’s he’s a huge cigar chomping, rough-talking factory boss who could care less what children want. Fantastic set up! This was an Aurora-Award winning short story, the Canadian equivalent of the Hugo.
What the authors then did was take this story, put a Prologue in front of it, and then follow it up with the novella, The Claus Effect, which goes forward, eight years later, from the events that took place in the Toy Mill. What is important to note about the timing of these tales is that The Toy Mill takes place in 1983, while The Claus Effect takes place in 1991, after the downfall of the United Soviet Socialist Republic. This is a very important plot point. As is the point that Emily is a Canadian girl, and the other protagonist, Neil, is an American boy. Between the two of them, they become involved with MI6, Cossacks, old KGB, CIA, and the most obnoxious elves seen anywhere. Needless to say, it also includes Uzis, AKMs, nuclear warheads, global satellites, and all sorts of James Bond-like double crossing and fire fights. In the meantime, Emily and Neil, of course, develop a friendship, mature, and learn and use very important life skills (such as how to dodge bullets, escape a cell, and survive arctic temperatures). In addition, several tongue-in-cheek jabs are made at the expense of America, but other jabs are made towards Russians, Canadians, Germans and whoever else is mentioned in the story.
The plot twists around like pretzel in a maze, but that really doesn’t matter, cuz you have so much fun just reading the language (there’s some fun word usage and cool metaphor - though one metaphor is repeated more than it should be) that you don’t really care where the ride is taking you, since it’s still a good ride. And while the end has a good resolution, it does leave it open for further development. Not sure Nickle and Schroeder ever did more stories about Emily and Neil, but the possibility was definitely there, and I’d be interested to know what they did and how they did it.
I loved reading The Claus Effect. I really, really enjoyed this story. If you’re feeling cynical about the holiday season then reading this will give you a sense of glee as you’ve never felt before. Seriously. Once I was pulled into the story, I was rarely ever kicked out of it. It was engrossing. There were, however, a few hiccups that gave me pause. But, since I liked the story so much, I was able to shrug them off and move on.
One hiccup was the proofreading. Small presses don’t necessarily have the proofreading or copyediting people who are paid to go through a manuscript extensively to check for missed words, grammar, syntax, doubled words, continuity, etc. Many times authors have to depend on the keen, observant eyes of friends and family. So, sometimes books from small presses have a few foibles. The latter half of the novella (part 2), The Claus Effect, felt like it hadn’t been proofed as many times as the rest of the novella. Words had been left out, or repeated, or phrases transposed. But again, I liked the story enough so that I was able to shrug the rough bits off and move on through the story.
Another hiccup has to do with culture. When this was first written, it was for, primarily, a Canadian audience, not an American audience. But, in one scene, Neil (American) and Emily (Canadian) are sneaking around the old military installation and looking for a place to hide when Neil says in frustration that a place like that has GOT to have washrooms.
Yeah.
Americans don’t say “washroom.” Americans say “bathroom.” If EMILY had been speaking in that scene then “washroom” would have been correct. But Neil was the one speaking in that scene and he would have, realistically, used the term “bathroom.”
That hiccup just made me chuckle a bit, though, more than anything else. Kind of added charm to this obviously Canadian Christmas twisted fairy tale.
On the whole, I truly enjoyed this story. It was a fast read. It was imaginative. It was fun. I highly recommend it. If you decide to order it through Amazon and it says it’s going to be a long while before you receive it, then try ordering it direct from Edge, here. It may cut down on the time it takes to receive it.
Sex and the Immortal Bad Boy by Stephanie Rowe: A Book Review
Sometimes you really want something fun to read, but you’re not sure what it is you want. Maybe you want a little romance, but you don’t want to read a “real” romance. A little sex, but not something that makes you squirm uncomfortably and peer over your shoulder wondering who else can read it. Or, you want something funny and chicklit-ish, but not necessarily Helen Fielding/Bridget Jones. Maybe you want something with magic in it, a few right vs. wrong fights going on, but not necessarily a serious fantasy that you have to follow or try hard to understand what kind of rules apply in its world. When I’m in that type of mood, I turn to my Stephanie Rowe books, her most recent book being Sex and the Immortal Bad Boy.
In Sex and the Immortal Bad Boy, Paige Darlington, a former Rivka of Satan, is trying, as hard as she can, to cleanse her soul and find a redemption of sorts. She likes loving her friends and wants to be positive and upbeat. She wants to make the world a better place. She has a naturally sunny disposition that is anything but fitting for one of Satan’s soul harvesters and errand runners. Lately, however, every time she touches someone they burn up in flame and ash. Here one minute and gone the next. Even immortals to a certain extent. And it’s killing her soul, pulling her over to becoming the cold, heartless bitch she’s fighting so hard NOT to become.
Then she meets the only person, apparently, that she can touch without them burning up and dying a horrific death. Jed Buchanan is a shadow warrior with his own set of problems, including a kid brother he’s sold his soul to keep from Satan Jr. Between the two of them, if they chose to, they could bring down reality as we know it. Unfortunately, the Powers That Be figure this out as well and send their Men in White after Paige and Jed. Paige can’t depend too much on her girl buddies Theresa, Dani, and Becca, like she’s been able to in the past. She only has herself, and Jed. Maybe. And some pretty hot, sexy moments to tide her over.
Satan makes his appearance, of course, as do many of the other characters from Stephanie Rowe’s other books: Date Me Baby, One More Time; Must Love Dragons; and He Loves Me, He Loves Me Hot. Sex and the Immortal Bad Boy adds to Rowe’s lexicon and I hope she has many more to come in this series. I really enjoy reading them and the way these characters (especially the women) can pull me out of the doldrums when I need it.
Interesting FAQs for anyone who doesn’t know:
1) Stephanie Rowe is a winner of the Golden Heart Award. So yes, she knows what she’s doing. She tells a good tale. And better than that, she doesn’t take herself too seriously.
2) She used to work in law. Having read through her series, I now see where she gets the inspiration for some of her characters and how Satan is so good with his contracts. Wicked!
The Translation of Father Torturo by Brendan Connell: A Book Review
A few weeks ago? Months ago? Time goes so quickly! I reviewed a copy of Electric Velocipede here. And in that particular edition was a story by Brendan Connell. Though I didn’t get into some of the poetic bits of the story he wrote (they were nice, I just didn’t understand how they added to the story and for me, they took away from it), on the whole, I enjoyed the Herr Doktir. Well, time passed and one day I received an email from Brendan Connell thanking me for my review and asking if I’d read and review a book of his called The Translation of Father Torturo. So, I said Cool! Yes! and a little while later the book shows up and I say Cool! again and then put it down and promptly forget about it because life got busy.
So, time passes some more and then I realize, Shit! I have a book I said I was going read and review and I still haven’t cracked it open! So, I finally stick it in my book bag and begin to read it. And I’m captured by the second sentence, which is beautifully written and an entire paragraph long, so I won’t quote it here. After I finished reading the story, it took me a while to get to the review because I wasn’t sure how I was going to approach it. I’m still not sure. I can tell you that I did like it. That is for sure. And it’s a thinker’s story. That is for sure as well. This is not a typical action adventure. In this tale, the discussion is of right and wrong, authentic and fake, and whether the ends justifies the means, and especially about belief. Most specifically about belief. What do you believe? And how strongly do you believe it?
Father Torturo is the story of a bright, ambitious, sensitive man who makes his way in the ecclesiastic world in his own individualistic manner. He is charming, goodlooking, virile, and a bit of an alchemist so you really want to like him. He also really does want to do some good and on a certain level really does believe what he says he believes, but also has instances of stark nonbelief and crass ambition. He’s not always a very nice man. So, you’re not sure how to take him. But he does try to do what’s best and keep things equitable for all concerned.
I don’t want to say too much about the plot, because part of the charm of this book is reading what Father Torturo does next. I can say that it’s very heroic in scope. Father Torturo does travel in both the best and worst circles of his time, which is in the not so distant future, and it’s a very good story I thought.
This tale is NOT hard scifi or fantasy. It IS a bit gothic. Not sure if there is a term for it, but it’s like a speculative gothic horror tale, but it’s not really horror either. I would call it slipstream, because it doesn’t fall into any reader’s “category” easily but seems to have elements of several.
Basically, the story begins when a religious artifact, a tongue belonging to a saint, is stolen and then mysteriously reappeares again just when Father Torturo reappears on the scene as well. Then we are taken on a ride we will not soon forget.
Like I said, gothic, speculative, and a little out there, anyone reading this story will have an interesting time reading this book. Connell is very sensual in his detail. And is, in fact, very detailed in his storyline. I think in many ways, this story can be considered an education in all things ecclesiastic. One of the early questions I found myself pondering was what priests do with all the negative energy poured into their ears during years and years of confession. Think about it.
There were a few hiccups I noticed. One thing is that I think it could have used one more proof. There were some places where words were missing or just not used quite right or something. Something was off. I believe this is typical of small press and this book was put out by Prime Books. Small press publishers don’t have the battery of copyeditors and proofreaders that larger publishers do, so the writer needs to depend on themselves or their friends to make sure everything has been gone over before their book goes to press. That being said, none of the hiccups I found subtracted from the story. They were few and far between.
Another hiccup, though I think this is just part of the style of the tale, is that it is written in limited third person. On the one hand, this adds to the dark fairy tale like quality of Father Torturo. On the other hand, it creates space between the reader and the story so that sometimes it felt like there was too much distance between me and the tale. There was not enough immediacy. Yet, there were some bits that were difficult to read because they were very immediate and the detail and sensuality helped me feel, at those times, the very realness of what was going on in the tale.
One of the other things I wondered about was the name of the character. Xavier Torturo. Torturo does sound a bit close to tortured, so I wondered if there was supposed to be a reference to a tortured soul, though he is anything but most of the time. Looking up Xavier, it means New House. And in some ways, Father Torturo does go about trying to reconstruct the Catholic Church from the inside, into a new house of religion. And there could also be some alchemic meaning in having a name that means New House, but that is best left for the story.
But like I said at the beginning, this is a thinker’s story. Connell gives the reader something for their brain and soul to brood upon and spells nothing out, just laying it out for the reader to make his or her own decision about it. This isn’t candy. It’s food. And pretty thick. Father Torturo lives on espresso and Parisiennes cigarettes, so I imagine it at least has a mix of those in there.
Too Much Dark Matter, Too Little Gray: A Book Review
One of the enjoyments I get out of being a writer is getting to know other writers; how they function, what they write, how their brains work or don’t work. That damned elusive thing called creativity, the live Muse that spurs them on despite the procrastinations or other interruptions in daily life. I enjoy that about being a writer and getting to know other writers. Mike Robinson is one of those writers. Recently, in an effort to get his work out there and read (and to bypass the editors of magazines and periodicals who just don’t “get” him), he put together a little compilation of writing on Lulu.com, called Too Much Dark Matter, Too Little Gray: An Anthology of Weird Fiction. In the description on Lulu, Mike calls it: “A new collection of short stories, two novellas and a short novel, drawn from the dark matter and filtered as best as possible through the gray.”
Gee, when I worked for the Starborg Collective, we called that making coffee. And to be honest this is a heady brew.
The book is 331 pages and perfect bound. In the copy I have, there is no Table of Contents (or well only a type of a table, more a diagram really that’s kind of on the state of life and the universe as a whole rather than on the state of the book itself), so the reader is left to go through the book a little bit blind. Just remember it starts small and builds up from there. Think of this as a chapbook for a fiction writer.
Mike has called himself a horror writer, but his type of horror isn’t your typical John Saul or Stephen King or Clive Barker. He’s less blood thirsty. The horrors he present have more to do with the dark parts of the human conscience or soul and those can be pretty scary monsters: the inhuman parts of being human. I read his tales and think more of Twilight Zone or Night Gallery - or maybe evocative of T.C. Boyle - they’re tales to make you think by. I like to think his specialty is in using the unreliable narrator. You might think the point of view is that of an eleven year old kid, but maybe not.
The stories in this compilation include: The Principle, Spooklights, The Shape of Things, Skeptic, The Explorer, Crowd Movers, The Efficiency Experts, Actress, Perfect Grades, Mamuk’s Edge, Last Holiday, Stephen Shirley’s Survival Show, Highway’s End (novelet), Fisherman Bob (novella), Janitorial Work (novella), and Students of Synchronism (short novel). The lengths range from a few hundred words to a brief novella. My impression is that his influences range from Lovecraft and Poe to Rod Serling, Roald Dahl (the adult stuff) and maybe a bit of Kevin Smith. However, having said that, there is a definite stamp of Robinson in it all. Some of it was scary, some quirky, some just thoughtful, some sad and some all of the above.
What I liked: I really liked the shorter works best. I think Mike’s quirky questioning of the universe shines through more brightly in his shorter works. Spooklights, which discusses intelligence and instinct is one of my favorites, as is The Shape of Things, which asks the age old question that Queen once asked: Who wants to live forever? Having said that, I must say I was really tickled reading Perfect Grades, a tale about a boy getting a special math tutor. In addition, living in Hollywood myself, I got a kick out of The Efficiency Experts and Actress, as well as Stephen Shirley’s Survival Show, which all poke fun at how things are done around here. Mike Robinson might write thoughtful stories, but it doesn’t mean they’re humorless.
Of the longer works, I appreciated Highway’s End and Janitorial Work the most. In Highway’s End, Mike does a good job of showing the ambivalence of a young man towards some of the things going on around him. He was also good at protraying someone with Alzheimer’s Disease, how they might phase in and out of awareness. Those two bits really grounded the rest of his story. In Janitorial Work, Mike shows how a young boy who wants to be a filmmaker stumbles upon something that could make the world a better place, or not, depending on people’s reactions.
What I liked a little less: I wasn’t as entranced by his longer works as I was by his shorter works. That’s not to say they weren’t well written. They were. As with his shorter pieces, they were thoughtful, well structured, and had interesting characters that took the reader on interesting tours and an interesting ending. It’s all good that way, but it’s heavy matter. It is dark matter. The condition of the human soul or conscience is not fairies, puppy dogs and flowers. Understanding the seriousness of his subject matter, Mike has broken these longer tales down into smaller edible sections. That helps a lot. They’re worth the read, but don’t be surprised if after reading them, you’re just a little suspicious of everything you see.
Too Much Dark Matter, Too Little Gray (2007) by Mike Robinson is on sale at Lulu.com. He has also written Vermin Street:Life Within These Walls (2003) as well as several other short stories.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
This is a less a review than a reaction.
Yesterday, I had my entire weekend kinda planned out. Dishes, laundry, work on some writing, maybe see some friends for dinner on Saturday evening. Then the postman knocked on the door and handed me my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and everything changed. I turned off the cartoons. Put on a fresh pot of coffee. Dug out the previous book and read the last couple of chapters as a refresher course (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince). And then sat down to read.
That was 24 hours ago.
Since then I’ve been reading. As I opened the cover on the final book about The Boy Who Lived, I wondered how many other people around the world were doing that exact same thing? How many had stood in line at midnight or waited with baited breath for USPS or UPS to bring their books. And how many were, like me, at that moment, sitting down to read this final book.
About a third of the way through I stopped for dinner and a movie and on the way home it was amazing how quiet and deserted the streets were for a Saturday night. It felt like Christmas, or the Superbowl, or the Oscars. People were choosing to READ at home on a Saturday night (or so I imagined - and to me that’s cooler than anything else).
Despite my promise to friends to just go to bed when I got home, I went back to reading, drawn back to the book on my bed. A few hours later and maybe halfway through the book (after 2AM when I heard yelling, shots fired and sirens after the bar up the street closed), I closed it and fell asleep with it. Only to begin the emotional rollercoaster ride again in the morning.
About 24 hours after I received the book, I finished it, all cried out.
There will be no spoilers here, no analytic discussion on the story and whether or not it worked, just that I enjoyed the ride and I’m sorry to see it end.
In 1962 John Steinbeck said in his 1962 Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech that: “The writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate man’s proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit–for gallantry in defeat, for courage, compassion and love.”
I believe this is one of the primary motivations in the Harry Potter novels and it is exactly what J.K. Rowling has done.
Well done, Ms. Rowling.
Shadows in the Dust by Will Molinar: A Book Review
Last month, Will Molinar’s first novel, Shadows in the Dust, debuted through SynergEbooks. I had read one of his drafts of the manuscript last year and was glad to hear that, after a lot of hard work, he was able to bring this project to fruition. As anyone who knows Will will tell you, he is nothing if not focused.
Shadows in the Dust is a very ambitious tale that covers a lot of territory in terms of characters and storyline. Told in third person from several points of view, Shadows is the story of a people fighting for their lives against such creatures of death as zombies, vampires, wights, demonic wolves, and lichs. Though it begins as a light-hearted adventure tale of a boy and his friends, as the Prologue hints, this is not a cheerful fantasy of elves, dwarves, and unicorns. It is a dark fantasy that addresses many darker issues.
Not a straightforward war tale of Good vs. Evil or Right vs. Wrong, as Molinar demonstrates, in the world of Shadows, just as in our own world, war is controversial. Not everyone believes it’s necessary or even advisable to go to war. Most don’t even believe the danger from such creatures exists until it is far too late to do anything about it.
However, in my opinion, the strongest sections in this book are those where Molinar addresses the fight scenes. Fast-paced, riveting, and almost gleeful in their gore in some places, they really are a joy to read. If nothing else, read this book for the fight scenes.
The Players:
Marcus Ravenholt – A captain and aristocrat from the old wars. He is the ultimate warrior and strategist and now the ultimate vampire. He has controlled the lands about his castle for centuries.
Young priest Jazlo Kipling had always assumed his life would be the quiet life of service to the community that he had chosen when he decided to give back to the orphanage church the help that he had been given when taken in and raised by Father Mathis. His life takes a turn of the adventurous sort when his friends Bulthus and Armen convince him to sign up with the rebel army to fight the undead hordes and he learns where his special talent lies.
Bulthus and Armen make up the trio, with Jazlo, of childhood friends. As they go off to war together, they have no idea how changed their lives will be ever after.
Barrobos – Outsider and regiment commander of the rebel army. As someone who comes from a place that has dealt with undead hordes in greater numbers for generations, he has a unique ability in knowing how to combat Ravenholt’s army.
As a pacifist priest, Father Mathis has vowed to never be involved in violent confrontation. What will he do when the war comes to the doorstep of his very church?
These and many other characters are woven together by Molinar to depict a world at war with all the internal and external conflicts. Is a war still meaningful if it does good, even if based on a questionable premise? If a person becomes evil to do good, what then? When do you know when to keep a vow and when it is right to break it? When is it right to die for something you believe in? While this story does not preach any one point of view, in the guise of a dark adventure coming-of-age tale, Will Molinar addresses these questions, allowing the story to unfold so readers can make their own decisions.
Shadows in the Dust by Will Molinar, SynergEbooks 2007, ISBN# 0-7443-1062-5, www.synergebooks.com.
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