This dark urban fantasy novel is set in Atlanta -- a re-imagined Atlanta -- which has become a desirable destination for "off-worlders" from two different parallel dimensions called "Elysia" (which is a name drawn from the Elysian fields section of the mythical Greek underworld) and "Charbydon." I may be wrong, but based on the origins of the word Elysia, I can't help thinking that the name Charbydon is very close to Charybdis a monster that appears in Homer and which is linked with a dangerous whirlpool called Charybdis. In the novel, Elysia is like a sort of heaven and Charbydon is like a sort of hell. The visitors from these dimensions have special powers for good or for evil, light or dark.
The protagonist is Charlie Madigan. She is a single mother and a tough cop on the "Integration Task Force" who has returned from the dead with some mysterious, newly emerging magickal powers of her own. Charlie and her Elysian partner Hank find themselves grappling with the terrible effects that a deadly new narcotic called "Ash" has upon those who try it. Ultimately the fate of the people of Atlanta depends upon Charlie developing a greater control over her new abilities.
Not bad. Entertaining enough for an evening's reading.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Personal Entry
My mother called yesterday morning. She wanted to know (again) when I was going to write my first novel. Sigh. I wish I knew.
Here's something I read in The Body Sculpting Bible for Women that I think applies here:
"Combining action with desire and discipline creates the three musketeers of achievement. Many people have great ideas, foolproof plans and creative knowledge, yet everything falls apart for them. Why? Because they never act or they never act persistently enough. The difference between a person who knows and one who succeeds resides in the individual's ability to act." (p. 23, The Body Sculpting Bible for Women by James Villepigue and Hugo Rivera)
"Act as often as possible!" (p. 23)
I am too busy reading other people's books, and frittering away my time doing other things, avoiding sitting down and actually writing something for myself. I avoid acting on my desire by not imposing discipline upon myself. As long as I continue on this way I will never write that book I've been dreaming about writing since I was a little girl.
Here's something I read in The Body Sculpting Bible for Women that I think applies here:
"Combining action with desire and discipline creates the three musketeers of achievement. Many people have great ideas, foolproof plans and creative knowledge, yet everything falls apart for them. Why? Because they never act or they never act persistently enough. The difference between a person who knows and one who succeeds resides in the individual's ability to act." (p. 23, The Body Sculpting Bible for Women by James Villepigue and Hugo Rivera)
"Act as often as possible!" (p. 23)
I am too busy reading other people's books, and frittering away my time doing other things, avoiding sitting down and actually writing something for myself. I avoid acting on my desire by not imposing discipline upon myself. As long as I continue on this way I will never write that book I've been dreaming about writing since I was a little girl.
The Red Tree by Caitlin R. Kiernan
Wow. I was truly blown away by this insidiously spooky, goose-flesh-prickling ghost story/psychological thriller.
Caitlin R. Kiernan has 9 novels published so far. The Red Tree is her newest. She specializes in developing characters that are marginalized outsiders, lost, complex, confused, struggling, in pain, flawed, dirty, raw, and unfinished. She also does a great deal of research to create a richly detailed, multi-layered story filled with fascinating references, historical details, and evocative quotations from classical authors. Her writing is magnificent. She is able to describe places and events and evoke atmospheres and moods in a completely convincing manner.
The more I read, the more I was hypnotized by and sucked into the story, and into the world and experiences of the protagonist. I found myself forgetting that I was reading a journal written by a writer that was written about by a writer. I became tense and anxious and honestly frightened as the character herself felt those emotions. I worried for the character while she lived completely isolated in an ancient New England farmhouse, too bogged down by depression to write her next novel, pressured by a publishing deadline she will never meet, haunted by the ghost of her suicide girlfriend, increasingly obsessed with a wicked demi-demon-deity of a tree and a phantasmagoria of ghouls, werewolves and ancient spirits, and confused by ambiguous experiences where the lines between truth, fact, evidence, reality, memory, fantasy, fiction, nightmare, dissociation, and hallucination become completely blurred. By the end of the story I was as disoriented and uncertain as the protagonist as to what really had happened.
There are multiple narrative voices within this novel. It's sort of like finding a treasure box within a treasure box within a treasure box, a frame within a frame within a frame, or a reflection within a reflection within a reflection on and on into infinity. Reading this novel is definitely an "Alice through the Looking Glass" type of experience (which is heavily referred to and drawn upon in the novel.) There is the voice of the writer-protagonist, the voice of Dr. Harvey's academic manuscript which she reads (an anthropologist and folklorist who lived at the farmhouse five years before and who hung himself from the oak tree), newspaper articles and various historical documentation about the tree and other people in the past who had horrific and catastrophic experiences with it, a short story apparently written by the writer-protagonist but she doesn't remember writing it, the writer-protagonist's journal, exerpts from Poe, Lewis Carroll, and various other famous authors, and the writer-protagonist's editor who writes at the beginning of the novel after the death of the writer-protagonist. At the end of the novel is a note by Kiernan writing in her own voice about what inspired her story.
It isn't very often that a book is able to scare me anymore, but this book was successful. When I finished reading it, I was uneasy turning out the light and worried about what I might "dream" about.
Four Talons. A truly excellent novel. A real keeper. Now to find and read her other novels!
Caitlin R. Kiernan can be found on the following websites:
www.caitlinrkiernan.com
greygirlbeast.livejournal.com
Interesting trivia about the author:
Before Caitlin became a novelist she was trained as a vertebrate paleontologist.
She currently makes her home in Providence Rhode Island.
Caitlin R. Kiernan has 9 novels published so far. The Red Tree is her newest. She specializes in developing characters that are marginalized outsiders, lost, complex, confused, struggling, in pain, flawed, dirty, raw, and unfinished. She also does a great deal of research to create a richly detailed, multi-layered story filled with fascinating references, historical details, and evocative quotations from classical authors. Her writing is magnificent. She is able to describe places and events and evoke atmospheres and moods in a completely convincing manner.
The more I read, the more I was hypnotized by and sucked into the story, and into the world and experiences of the protagonist. I found myself forgetting that I was reading a journal written by a writer that was written about by a writer. I became tense and anxious and honestly frightened as the character herself felt those emotions. I worried for the character while she lived completely isolated in an ancient New England farmhouse, too bogged down by depression to write her next novel, pressured by a publishing deadline she will never meet, haunted by the ghost of her suicide girlfriend, increasingly obsessed with a wicked demi-demon-deity of a tree and a phantasmagoria of ghouls, werewolves and ancient spirits, and confused by ambiguous experiences where the lines between truth, fact, evidence, reality, memory, fantasy, fiction, nightmare, dissociation, and hallucination become completely blurred. By the end of the story I was as disoriented and uncertain as the protagonist as to what really had happened.
There are multiple narrative voices within this novel. It's sort of like finding a treasure box within a treasure box within a treasure box, a frame within a frame within a frame, or a reflection within a reflection within a reflection on and on into infinity. Reading this novel is definitely an "Alice through the Looking Glass" type of experience (which is heavily referred to and drawn upon in the novel.) There is the voice of the writer-protagonist, the voice of Dr. Harvey's academic manuscript which she reads (an anthropologist and folklorist who lived at the farmhouse five years before and who hung himself from the oak tree), newspaper articles and various historical documentation about the tree and other people in the past who had horrific and catastrophic experiences with it, a short story apparently written by the writer-protagonist but she doesn't remember writing it, the writer-protagonist's journal, exerpts from Poe, Lewis Carroll, and various other famous authors, and the writer-protagonist's editor who writes at the beginning of the novel after the death of the writer-protagonist. At the end of the novel is a note by Kiernan writing in her own voice about what inspired her story.
It isn't very often that a book is able to scare me anymore, but this book was successful. When I finished reading it, I was uneasy turning out the light and worried about what I might "dream" about.
Four Talons. A truly excellent novel. A real keeper. Now to find and read her other novels!
Caitlin R. Kiernan can be found on the following websites:
www.caitlinrkiernan.com
greygirlbeast.livejournal.com
Interesting trivia about the author:
Before Caitlin became a novelist she was trained as a vertebrate paleontologist.
She currently makes her home in Providence Rhode Island.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Midnight's Daughter by Karen Chance
I didn't realize it right away, but I had already read this novel a couple of years ago. I hate it when that happens. That's one of the reasons I started this blog!
Here's another half vampire, half human. The protagonist Dorina Basarab is a dhampir and dhampires hunt vampires. Her father, Mircea is a vampire, and brother of the famously evil Dracula. Dracula has escaped imprisonment and that means trouble for everyone, especially Dorina who must hunt him down.
It was ok - not as good as some of the books I read in this most recent batch, but still ok.
Here's another half vampire, half human. The protagonist Dorina Basarab is a dhampir and dhampires hunt vampires. Her father, Mircea is a vampire, and brother of the famously evil Dracula. Dracula has escaped imprisonment and that means trouble for everyone, especially Dorina who must hunt him down.
It was ok - not as good as some of the books I read in this most recent batch, but still ok.
Destined For An Early Grave by Jeaniene Frost
I always enjoy reading books from the Night Huntress series. Over the years I have developed a real fondness for Cat Crawfield half-vampire, and her vampire husband Bones. Cat is spunky and stubborn and there is always interesting trouble brewing when she is around. Bones is intelligent, complex, and undeniably sexy. As a couple they are always setting off fireworks.
In this novel their relationship is under serious pressure when an ancient vampire named Gregor is obsessed with Cat, insisting that he is her true husband. By the time this story is over Cat, and her relationship with Bones will have gone through a major transformation.
In this novel their relationship is under serious pressure when an ancient vampire named Gregor is obsessed with Cat, insisting that he is her true husband. By the time this story is over Cat, and her relationship with Bones will have gone through a major transformation.
Wolf's Bluff by W.D. Gagliani
Werewolves! Bloodthirsty, violent, scary werewolves!! It's about time!
I loved the character Nick Lupo, tough homicide cop and werewolf with a conscience. I also loved his girlfriend who is a doctor with a secret gambling habit, and who is also not afraid to wield a shot gun when necessary. And, it does become necessary when the highly dangerous and top secret military werewolf group code named Wolf Paw comes hunting Nick and everyone associated with him...
Lots of sex, lots of blood, lots of murderous mayhem and messy death in this one.
Fun, fun, fun! I got lucky with my last lot of library books.
I loved the character Nick Lupo, tough homicide cop and werewolf with a conscience. I also loved his girlfriend who is a doctor with a secret gambling habit, and who is also not afraid to wield a shot gun when necessary. And, it does become necessary when the highly dangerous and top secret military werewolf group code named Wolf Paw comes hunting Nick and everyone associated with him...
Lots of sex, lots of blood, lots of murderous mayhem and messy death in this one.
Fun, fun, fun! I got lucky with my last lot of library books.
The Woods Are Dark by Richard Laymon
This is not the deplorably hacked up first edition that Warner Books put out. This is the original pre-hacked version which Richard Laymon wrote and intended to have published. After his death his daughter dug through her father's files until she found all the pieces and put them back together the way her father first wrote the book.
I've been reading horror since I was a kid so not much creeps me out anymore. But I do have to say this book was truly freaky. It starts out like a train out of control and just keeps on chugging away towards the horribly horrific ending. Horror. Horror. Horror. Yup. That about sums this one up.
Bravo Richard Laymon! It's a terrible shame you didn't get to see your book published properly the way it deserved to be while you were alive.
Oh. No vampires. No werewolves. No witches. But still scary.
I've been reading horror since I was a kid so not much creeps me out anymore. But I do have to say this book was truly freaky. It starts out like a train out of control and just keeps on chugging away towards the horribly horrific ending. Horror. Horror. Horror. Yup. That about sums this one up.
Bravo Richard Laymon! It's a terrible shame you didn't get to see your book published properly the way it deserved to be while you were alive.
Oh. No vampires. No werewolves. No witches. But still scary.
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