Fantasybookspot - Sex

Veil of Gold

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 17:12:39 -0400

An old Russian storyteller presents stories that revolve around a magical golden bear in this slow and stilted foray into Russian folklore and history. The premise holds promise, but unbelievable characters and a disjointed narrative suck the life from it from the beginning.
Papa Grigory, who alternately tells the story of a romance between Rosa, a young woman blessed (or cursed) with magical gifts, and Daniel, a writer who is often fearful and lacks direction, and the history of the enchanted golden bear, which brings the unlikely couple back together after an affair carried on before the book opens. Rosa, who lives in St. Petersburg with her uncle, calls upon Daniel when contractors find the bear hidden within the walls of a building her uncle has purchased. It is in a bathhouse, where, it is explained, sorcerers practice magic. Now, I don’t know a great deal about Russian folklore, but this seems a bit strange to me. The bear is dirty but might be valuable, so Daniel, who is educated in Russian history, is pleased when Rosa asks for his help, not only because he is interested in the bear, but because he is still quite interested in her. Apparently their affair ended badly without sufficient explanation from Rosa, who seems to prefer very short and physically motivated relationships for a reason she finally reveals to him at the end of the book.
When Daniel and his work colleague, Em, take the bear out of town for closer inspection by someone more qualified than Daniel, the bear takes them on a journey to Skazki, an alternate world. They both seem to accept this without too much disbelief, which is, well, pretty unbelievable, especially considering that Em is extremely practical and rather fearless. She has a child from a failed marriage who she doesn’t see and in whom she only has a cursory interest, and is referred to by her co-workers as “frozen solid.” The story starts to feel very much like The Wizard of Oz, and eventually Daniel mentions this to Em: “We’re like two rejects from Oz, Em. You don’t have a heart, and I have no courage.”
While Daniel and Em are trapped in this dangerous world, attempting to take the bear to the Snow Witch, who, they are told, will help them back to Mir, their own world, Rosa is frantically trying to learn the magic she needs to enter this other world and save them. In a house in the country where she poses as a tutor for a young boy, the boy’s father trains her, slowly, in the spells she needs to safely cross the veil that separates the worlds and keep herself from danger once she is there. His wife is jealous, his daughter is possessed by love for her dead husband, and his new son in law is lost in the midst of his love for the possessed girl and his physical desire for Rosa.
The only respite from this complicated drama is the interludes regarding the history of the bear and its creation and importance in the maintenance of balance between the two worlds, along with Papa Grigory’s involvement with the whole business. He admits he is not always known by this name, as some call him Koschey the Deathless, others, the mad monk, and yet others, Chyort, or the devil. His emotional investment in the bear and the consequences of its use or misuse (which of course is all a matter of perspective) is very human for a supernatural creature, and the most believable of the feelings described in the book. The other characters are inconsistent in their behavior and speech, and the relationships between them are not well developed. Em, for example, is very focused on her career and clearly used to the finer things in life, but under pressure in Skazki she can bake bread from memory, sew, and fashion shoes from bark and fur. Daniel is mysteriously fearful and fussy about everything and often annoyingly close to tears. Rosa loves Daniel and is prepared to risk her life to save him, but in the meantime, she is attracted to various men and fantasizes about having sex with them. While studying with the wizard-magician on his farm, she rolls around with the son in law in the barn, Daniel quickly forgotten as she initiates sex with this poor young man, who has been deprived of his husbandly rights with his wife because she is possessed by her love for her dead husband. After a playful and explicit romp in the hay, the pair go into the farmhouse and Rosa explains that a spell has been cast to make him impotent in his wife’s bed, and once that is lifted, she asks if he would like to check to make sure it is gone. It is very hard to believe that Rosa adores Daniel as she claims, when it is so easy for her to be intimate with other men.
This was a hard book to finish. Why is Rosa afraid of a serious relationship? What will happen to Papa Grigory and his adopted daughter if the bear is not used as he wills it? Will Em and Daniel make it out of Skazki alive? Will Rosa sleep with every man she meets, and if so, how will she have the time to learn magic spells? Who cares? With lines like this: “She dropped his hand, and sucked the blood off her fingers. It fizzed like sherbet on her tongue,” and characters as flat as Russia’s tax rate, the ending does not come soon enough.

Sorceress

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 15:55:19 -0400

Sorceress is a familiar combination of romance, prophecy and quest in a medieval setting. Our heroine Bryanna is guided by a dead woman in her quest to fulfill a prophecy and save a child she has never met.

According to legend, the Sacred Dagger was once owned by a powerful witch. Its magick was strong enough to cause storms to rise, the sea to roll back, or the earth to crack. Men had killed for the dagger and wars had been waged. Fearing it would get into the wrong hands, the witch had dismantled it, removing the magick stones from the hilt and scattering them to the four winds.

Bryanna must travel the farthest corners of Wales in search of these stones. She is joined along the way by Gavin, a childhood friend who is now a fugitive wanted for theft and murder. She is also followed by a dark and threatening presence.

Through the fog, her lover came to Bryanna. Dressed as a hunter and riding upon a dark horse, he appeared through the mist. He was tall, his shoulders wide, his face obscured in the darkness, and yet she knew he was the one for whom she’d been waiting all her life.

“You have the dagger.”

I found Sorceress to be formulaic and melodramatic. I also found it to be an entertaining tale. The author is adept at setting a scene and creating a sense of place without meandering off into long descriptive passages. Although the quest takes nearly a year, the book’s pacing and the mystery of each stone’s location kept me turning the pages.

The characters are distinctive if archetypal. Bryanna is not just a pretty redhead, she is a flame-haired, emerald-eyed beauty. She is smart, but would rather ride horses than embroider cloths. Gavin is not just a handsome man, but a dark-haired, muscular rogue. He is a bastard (by birth not disposition) who had a damn good reason for killing a man and stealing a horse.

There are sexually explicit scenes, but they didn’t seem unnecessarily drawn out and didn’t dominate the story-telling. (The following is one of the tamer scenes.)

His lips found the shell of her ear and his tongue rimmed that sensitive spot. All protests died on her lips. His breath fanned the place his tongue had moistened and she thought she would go wild with wanting.
Dear God, her blood was pounding through her veins, her skin hot and wanting. The desire deep within her was pulsing and hot, hungry, knowing that it would take but a few deep strokes of-----

As my rating indicates, I found Sorceress by Lisa Jackson a solid read with the few minor criticisms already mentioned. If the passage I just quoted makes you wince, roll your eyes, or similarly express displeasure, you may rate this book considerably lower. On the other hand, if you read that passage and want to know where it leads (in addition, of course, in wanting to know where the stones are hidden), you will probably find Sorceress an entertaining read.

{The edition I read was an uncorrected proof. Also, I did not know at the time I read it that Sorceress is the final book in a trilogy (after Impostress and Temptress), but it stands well enough on its own.}

Butcher Bird

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 05:19:56 -0400

The Butcher Bird was dropped impaled on the never to read pile its first time around, not for future consumption - just out of spite - and forgotten rather quickly and not unthankfully so. Even while sporting some blurbage from Cyberpunk don William Gibson and capo Pat Cadigan, my worst fears seemed to becoming reality in the first few chapters, namely, another fringe ultra hip wanabee, smart ass protagonist - complete with the job as a tattoo artist and oh yeah…his sidekick is of course a quip-ready, lesbian version of himself - who together find out reality isn’t what it seems. Couple that with the first sip into the quantum-chaos looking-glass mug really reminded me of a favorite comic of mine from the early 90’s, Dark Dominion, published by DEFIANT comics created by Jim Shooter and the legendary Steve Ditko (indeed the subtitle of Butcher Bird is A Novel of the Dominion) and you just had a product that completely was pressing the wrongs buttons with me from the beginning. One also has to have to understand, I had recently read the likes of Alex Bledsoe’s debut The Sword Edged Blonde, ran through the entire overrated Butcher series, read Morgan’s Black Man, Huston’s Already Dead among some others and while they all represent different levels of quality I just had an overload on the too-cool, snarky, potential goth-idols running around telling me how smooth they are.

What I just described could still have been viewed as a recipe for success if attached to a writer I was familiar with - an Aylett, a Moorcock, a Tarantino, but anytime I’m experiencing a writer for the first time - and I understand Kadrey has previous well thought of credits - and am not familiar with any previous work such an introduction usually makes me think I’m in for another work wading in the shallow end that’s more preoccupied with being trendy and a cultural dumpster-diving noir (because isn’t everything noir these days?) that read like rejected Sin City pitch than actually offering a worthwhile story. That this was a superficial, preliminary, and ultimately baseless assumption makes it more necessary to mention because I think there are some that have this hipster filter. We like cool, and even more than we despise posers, we hate too cool even more.

The second time around - I rather enjoyed it. The story revolves around a man, Spyder Lee, who after a night at the bar with his best friend Lulu get accosted by what seems to be a demon and is saved by a passing blind woman. After recovering he finds that not only does he wake up to his world, but he finds it inhabited by more than what he used to know.

"Humans and the most numerous animals of the land, sea and air were given one sphere. A second sphere was given to the rarest of creatures - the phoenix, selkies, vampires, barbeques, corrigans, tengus, lamias, rompos, gorgons, volkhs, wyverns, trolls and other exotic beasts. The last realm was left to the most glorious and dangerous inhabitants of the planet: angels and demons."

He learns more from Lulu who he see’s now is without eyes, who has lived in this world since bargaining with the Black Clerks, sphere-crossing tithe collectors, a supernatural mob crew that watched was a bit too enthusiastic about Saw and is like the Twilight Zone’s Twilight Zone inhabitants. Spyder gets some answers but decides to hunt down his savior of the night before for more information and along the way he gets cursed by the demon who tried to bite his head off before. Yes, a rather extreme case of the Mondays but during this portion of the novel I started really settling in; enjoying Kadrey’s chaos that viewed our own reality - even if amiably - as the exceptional, little brother who has to wear a helmet around solid objects. The charm of the books is that when ugly calls us ugly our regularly repartee ready protagonist seems to role with it and in a few chapters Spyder went from cheap, stereotypical fringe of society outsider to becoming something more recognizable without changing a beat. Then you realize, It’s not anti-culture, it’s culture, and this the recognizable draw we see in books by the likes of Morgan, Grimwood, or even China - it is PKD’s future that we see our path is going to intersect with, not that of Clarke, Asimov, or Heinlein, and it is the Spyders and Lulus who will inherit it.. He (Spyder) is not abnormal, he is the reality, a blue collar guy who gets by on his trade, and afterwards throw down drinks with his friends in what is a daily celebration and a simple meeting of shared misery, as that can be seen by the game we see he and Lulu partake in at the bar challenging each other to describe the worst ways to die. Indeed he is not cool at all - he’s a guy who spits off one liners from the mind of a guy who is a lifelong film buff. We know this guy, some of you are this guy, and you aren’t special at all, indeed your chosen identity is to not be exceptional at all. This is exactly the person you want to watch your back if you have business in hell - the guy and gal that cross the border between our world and Hell and don’t even notice, the kind of people who adjust to madness and are not consumed by it, the daily grind favors no reality. Spyder finds himself accompanying the blind assassin who aided him on a job turned personal quest rationalizing that he wants to become blind to the reality, to forget, like he does at times waking up and thinking his former girlfriend is still with him. The assassin, Shrike, takes on a job to retrieve a book of power for one Madame Cinders - a book that lies in Lucifer’s palace, in the middle of a civil war in Hell.

"They’re the same thing. Fools get themselves cornered. Heroes are just the fools who get out of it"

Count Non nodded. "Being a fool might just be your greatest strength."

I can see this book being accompanied with descriptors like ‘grit’ and ‘edge’ and an examination of the gutter and alleys, and the underbelly of society, and other comparable senseless book-jacket jargon mentioned with the best intentions, and no doubt if this were the 1980’s and I were ten I might even agree the content is consistent with those supposed accolades; however, my read was that of what is essentially a dungeon crawl from my block to hell with today’s average Joe.

And in this it succeeds.

I like Lulu because I know Lulu. She’s your kid sister who is not blood or someone you share a last name with , she’s chosen family, she’s the girl you would really go to hell for, and while we probably run into a few (too many) of those, she’s the one who would actually come with you. What I’m perhaps most thankful for is the keeping of the harping over the lost love interest element to a minimum. Many writers would have made the presence much heavier and frequent (aka Lana-syndrome) than necessary. Anyone that’s a teen or above understand the feelings Spyder carries with him and that it’s a constant presence without it needing to be mentioned on ever other page. One of the best parts of the books is delivered by Primo, a servant of Cinders, and another member of this quest who tells a story of the Raven King and jubilation and the joy in eating one’s family. All that said, ultimately what probably makes the novel is the Prince of Darkness himself. You won’t be floored as the Devil is possibly one of the few characters who has been utilized in all possible incarnations from Woland, to Twain, every Faust book from Mann to Swanwick and literally hundreds more, but Kadrey’s devil is that friend you have that commits some atrocious crimes but he’s still your boy - the guy you judge by how he does you, not by what he does - and in this novel, it’s not that you just find him amusing, you like this guy. As mentioned before Butcher Bird’s subtitle is that of "A Novel of the Dominion", the implication being there may be more stories to be told and while the book itself isn’t striking me as a book that demands to be read, the further adventures of Spyder is not a notion that I find entirely distasteful.

*passes a smoke to Lulu*

A Noh mask wearing bookseller named Bulgarkov, a condo building Lucifer, Orson Welles’s lost film, Lou Ford references, in a fast talking, brisk, fun read - a novelization of a Cage and Derm go to Hell and yes in the end, it's even not too cool.

Jay Tomio
The Bodhisattva

Identity Crisis

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 09:15:40 -0400

Identity Crisis is a DC mini-series that love or hate is a legitimate benchmark on the DC timeline noting the company’s trends as the beginning of a shift in their line’s direction as a whole. While being far removed from my introduction to the DC Universe, as I had been a fan of several characters and runs at one time or another prior to reading it, it is the series that made me a fan of the DC Universe and ultimately is the series I credit for bringing me back to the hobby itself after more than a decade away. I was what I’d call a Marvel-fan boy and excluding scattered reads I’d extend that to not even thinking DC so much as fell off as much as me not ever being alive when it was ever ‘on’. One day, no longer a comic collector or reader, a chance encounter led a stranger to loan me this series in its collected trade paperback form and in a way that watching the first Superman movie introduced me to the concept of heroism, this story felt like my first encounter with characters and institutions I had known for years but hadn’t met yet. When reading the series it is your fan boy subconscious that is stimulated , as someone who had never read the Brave and the Bold, when Meltzer invokes the title in story you intuitively know it is significant, you know it is part of comic book lore that still tugs at you when there was never a previous tangible connection.

"But that’s why ice cream stores don’t just sell chocolate and vanilla. Every once in awhile, someone walks in and orders butter pecan.

She’s met everyone. Batman, Flash, Arthur, Hal - she’s seen Hawkman with the hairy chest thing going.

C’mon, she’s looked directly into Superman’s melt-your heart baby blues--"

And she STILL chose me"

Whodunit Love Story…

The seven issue miniseries is written by Brad Meltzer, a bestselling novelist, and Identity Crisis is in its most basic sense, a classic old-fashioned murder mystery; the targets seemingly the spouses and/or loved ones of the heroes themselves. The wife of the Ralph Dibney, the Elongated Man, Sue Dibny, herself a fixture in the DCU is murdered at her home as she sets up a surprise for her Husband – the first time she has ever been able to fool her husband for his birthday - her pregnancy. It is act that will rock the core of the DC Universe, and expose a rot in the legacy of the heroes that turns into a debate of the definition of a hero and the reality of it. It will tear it down and leave it as a hanging query to be answered every issue of ever title afterwards. Something to prove, something to live up to, a mantle earned daily, never to be taken for granted by those they serve and more importantly amongst themselves.

The Crimes…

The murder of Sue is the first crime revealed but not the first committed and with it answers to a question never asked – what readers accepted a leap of faith – dealing with how Heroes have been able to keep their and the identity of their families and loved ones a secret from villains possessing power or resources that would make one believe such information would be impossible to keep from. Amidst telepaths, time travelers, geniuses, magicians, demigods, and aliens among others, how are such secrets maintained? They burnt Prometheus. A group within The JLA had been in the practice of having Zatanna mind-wipe certain adversaries to protect themselves. It is one of these former victims who became the chief suspect, a villain we have come to know as being rather incompetent even with formidable powers, Dr. Light. We learn that Dr. Light previously infiltrated the Watchtower only to find Sue alone and they would remain so until he was caught mid-rape by the JLA. He is subdued and a decision is made that would become semi-policy – it’s always the hardest the first time – he would be brainwashed and made a shadow of his former self (the one we know). It would not be the worst of their deeds…

Batman returned, and mortal, just a man, he charges the rest of the league – Hawkman, Flash, Ralph, Zatanna, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Green Lantern, Atom and what would occur would then start the schism that would create the true Dark Knight and would tear the Justice League apart. This is Metzler’s assault on our heroes, their home, the DC Universe as a whole but most importantly reader expectation.

The Trinity…

What Meltzer is able to capture is that truly iconic quality possessed by the trio that is known throughout the hobby as the Big Three. No matter what triumphs another company or even DC will have, no matter what the flavor of the month or even decade is, no other characters will assume the position of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman – The Trinity. They are the very foundation of the current superhero genre, not the first, not perhaps the best selling in a given Diamond report, but they are the benchmark for everything that occurs afterward either as facsimiles or reaction. They are at the same time classic and the standard, and even though a title like Wonder Woman has struggled to find a consistent audience or benefited from as successful a modern retelling like Batman or Superman, her in-comic presence is one that befits her permanent stature. To construct a story that could be viewed as a viable candidate for being described as the starting point of everything that would come after from DC and to tip toe the line of having the Big 3 in subsidiary roles but still loom large via how they interjected them in the storyline was a large part of what became policy. What we see is DC acknowledge the position of the three, they don’t refute or run away from it, and they separate by embracing it and having the other characters – pantheons themselves in any other company, like the Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Green Arrow, the Atom, Robin, the Elongated Man, Zatanna, members of the mighty Justice League, the classic Justice Society, and Teen Titans acknowledge this without diminishing themselves. It offers a unique vantage of gods from the perspectives of heroes and validates an understood hierarchy as if the rest of the DC all broke the fourth wall for a moment and winked at us - we know.

The Essence…

Ultimately I have issues with the actual story, there is a hokiness to the ending, and while a showdown between the JLA and Deathstroke is the stuff of fan boy gushery, the scene ultimately feels cheapened because – simply stated - it’s rather stupid. Don’t get me wrong, Deathstroke is pimp, but he’s not Doomsday* – Flash and a Green Lantern? Isn’t this the guy that historically gets thwarted by the Teen Titans? I understand that this was supposed to be a vehicle to heighten the stakes by heightening the villains themselves, and I love the idea, but this particular transition was just a bit over board and it would succeed as a legacy much better than it does in-story. I'm definitely for the result, but how we got there felt a bit odd. If nothing else it served as the action scene that needs to be thrown in.

As noted above however Meltzer hits the moments with unbelievable precision, his understanding of not only these characters and where they have to go to be relevant and compelling beyond this series is dead on. You walk away from this series with the feeling you just found a new best friend, but you have known each other forever; he maximises moments, and makes them part of the permanent tapestry of storied characters. Meltzer brings intangibles that negates some of the negative tangibles of the story itself – he is the Mark Lemke squared – and is the writer that I credit to introducing me to DC and the characters that all others aspire to. His is a seven issue crash course, that has turned into a love affair, and the series fulfilled the promise that came with it when it was handed to me: If you don’t know Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman – you cannot claim you love comic books, as you don’t have the bible to validate preaching of any other scripture be it labeled Love and Rockets, Bone, Blankets, Maus, Eightball, or the Endless.

I’m not at all sure there is a finer example of universe start -off point for a new reader while still being a story that has impact to long-time fans. You may not love the Elongated man, but you will love, cry, smile, - you will feel Ralph Dibny.

Riches to Rags…

When a book goes beyond simply being successful it is because the writer and penciler create this synergy that transcends achievement in either facet and becomes a storytelling accomplishment. Modern examples include combo like Moore and Bolland, Gaiman and McKean, Moore and Totleben, Ellis and Cassady, Ennis and Dillon, Shooter and Lapham, Moore and Ha, Miller and Mazzucchelli, Moore and Gibbons, and Morales delivers his most powerful, meaningful work to date that dabbles in that company. His pencils make scenes like a meeting with the Spectre – the Green Lantern to prior generation – and Green Arrow into a heartfelt chat between old friends: Ollie and Hal that goes back to days of O’Neil and Adams. The way Wonder Woman was rendered in her brief appearance shows the proper majesty an encounter; the look of horror on Tim Drake as Bruce Wayne embraces him; the pure love emanating from Ralph when speaking about his wife…she saw him, the grief - twitch and all - of a husband. Rags Morales has put his stamp on a work that is unique in that it occurs in continuity and involves touches on so many. I’m not sure I’d describe Morales, - whose work in VALIANTS’s Turok I also admired - as an all-time penciler or one that will come to represent the cream of an era but he has under his belt a project that stands artistically as an achievement It’s a legitimate top shelf effort in my mind that’s a label people don’t like to give modern art – but they’d be lacking for not doing so. Art and story really were as one here, in a way it wasn’t in say another major storyline like Civil War where McNiven (minus a few instances in the final issue) really delivered first-rate work but Millar never exhibited the desire to write dialogue that would be appropriate for anyone but John Cena, and didn't display his range as a writer.

Prefunctionary (Over) Reaction…

Originally this section of the review had about a page and half on some of the reaction this series. My final decision was to remove it as I’m trying to get away from reacting to reactions as honestly when I read the book the issues in question didn't even occur to me. Call it being socially unaware, simple dimwittedness, whatever, I tend to view it as not practicing in actively looking for elements to be offended by. I think I’m known to be able to identify layers, and strands of storytelling (whether existing or not!) but I don’t read looking for blanks to fire. Personal reflection equals content, the best ammo for a review in my mind. There are some thoughts that some may find interesting regarding the rape of Sue Dibny and I suggest googling them to get that angle from others. They just weren’t part of my original experience and my reviews are about my sandbox not the playground. Back to a comic book…

I read the story as a fictional tragedy. The Dibny family - and thus the DC universe - became family and turned Doctor Light into public enemy number one, but we were conflicted. He didn’t respond to violation with violation - indeed it was the opposite. Our heroes did. There have been failures in scattered call backs to the series and some apparent continuity gaffs regarding background appearances and while it speaks on some amount of sloppiness it also speaks on the undertaking itself; no foundation is without its cracks originating from above and below and Identity Crisis is no different but it succeeds at being an evolution that occurs overnight; it’s arriving at the summit and finding an infinite staircase.

Godfall…

No, not the horrific, puerility-personified Superman story by Kelly and Caldwell, but speaking on the effects of the occurrences in Identity Crisis would effect the entire DC you and in a series that would come out later the fallout and ramifications of Identity Crisis are summed up rather aptly by the most unlikely of characters when in the series Villains United – Catman – tells a smug Green Arrow:

"You were all great once. You can be that way again…but you’d better hurry. Before the line between you and us gets too damn blurry to see"

What occurs at the top reverberates and is felt by everyone beneath. These are not just our heroes, they are the heroes of heroes, they are what villains or what the anti-hero couldn’t be but still - from somewhere - admire. The destruction of that truth…well, I have always said a good story is one that continues and lives past it's pages.

The next day, my new friend - after giving him back his book - talked comics. The first time I had done so in my adult life.

Jay Tomio
The Bodhisattva

_{*as dumb as Doomsday admittedly is}

Beyond the Dark

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 13:53:28 -0400

Let's take each section one at a time, shall we?

DRAGON DANCE by Angela Knight
straight sex - magically enhanced

Think X-Men meets Penthouse Forum Letters.

The thought process behind the transformation of some humans in Hypers(beings with extraordinary abilities) was wildly creative and implemented in an exciting new way. Arial is changed by a touch from an out of control Hyper and must look to Tracker for guidance. Josiah used to be a football coach until he met up with Kali, an evil Hyper bent on dominating the world. Now he is Tracker, a huge hulking Hyper with the sex drive of a mega sized bottle of Spanish Fly.

In Arial he has finally met his sexual equal. Arial not only can handle the massive Tracker, but the invisible tiger that leaps from his chest. Soon she discovers her own hidden dragon. The magical being shows her how Hypers came to be and gives her the tools to defeat the tyrannical Kali. Together with Psych (Think Professor Xavier), Tracker and Arial use their hyper abilities to turn Kali's powers against her and destroy her mind control over her minions.

In the end, Arial becomes Tempest and she and Tracker create a sexual storm that thunders for eternity.

This story could have been dark and ominous but Knight portrayed it with a sense of humor and wickedly hot sex scenes. Although not really a rip off of X-Men, I could not get the image out of my head the entire story. I think it was the costumes and the names. But I enjoyed it. It was just the right balance between smut and plot.

CAUGHT BY THE TIDES by Diane Whiteside
straight sex - magically enhanced

The least erotic of the four stories, this one had the most seemingly natural magic. An alternative history during the Napoleonic Wars, Owen is a Mage in the King's service. Nearly fatally weakened by a magical storm, he is found by Emma, a magical chalice.

Using her magnifying power, Owen heals himself but finds he cannot leave the grounds nor send a message for aid. Realizing that in order to obtain enough power to break the spell holding him from delivering the remedy which will defeat Napoleon's magically enhanced forces, he must get closer to Emma. Intimately closer. He finds this no hardship as she is both lovely and growing dear to his heart.

Through sexual union, a massive untapped force of magic is unearthed, hidden since the time or Arthur and the Round Table. Owen must use it to defeat the menacing Trevelyan and his blood seeking enchanted sword. Using her love, Emma channels the hidden power of the land and Owen emerges the victor. A magical Griffin, England's protective spirit, dispatches the dark Mage leaving only a bloody heap.

This story was enthralling. The sex was a vital part of the plot but done so perfectly that is did not seem jarring at all. In many historicals, the sex seems so smashed in. Here it flows like a river, without a bump or pause to jar you out of the created world. Excellent story. Not even my favorite time period and I was swept away.

QUEEN OF ALL SHE SURVEYS by Emma Holly
straight sex- magically enhanced - sex toys

WOW. Where to begin? Sex sex and then more sex.

Memnon is the warrior son of an ageless God-like king with a supernatural sex drive that must be unleashed once a month. He has never had trouble controlling it. Until the Queen from the Upper Southland gains control of a vital piece of property. The King has no choice but to accept her terms if he wants his men released alive. She wants the King's son.

Queen Tou rules with the Upperland with the velvety grip of her...you know. Men are slaves to her merely by gazing on her perfection. Memnon is no different but he has the God-like pride of old. Tou was once a beggar girl who was gang raped then tossed outside the kingdom for stealing food. Wandering, she stumbled on the gift of the God's and was promised her heart's desire. So far she has everything she has ever wanted. But the Gods gave the Lowland King a gift denied her, an offspring. Demanding his child in payment for the way he participated in her rape seemed fitting.

Until she saw Memnon. Something about the hardened warrior makes her blood pound with a frenzy that not even her regular consort of nightly lovers can silence. But she needs to show her dominance over the proud warrior, so she brings to the heights of orgasmic pleasure while remaining outwardly aloof. That aloofness is false and her body yearns for him until at last they both open to each other.

King Ravna tries to implement a Trojan Horse attack and kill both Queen Tou and his son, ensuring his supreme dominance as ruler of both lands. But together, back to back, the royal couple fights off the invaders and their allegiance is sealed.

The story to sex ratio in this story seemed skewed. The extreme sexual nature of the characters did give the story credence but the god-like "gifts" were not fully explained, detracting from the story. I am still not sure whether she got pregnant or just found a climax like no other she ever experienced and I read the scene 4 times.

Altho erotica is not strictly "romance", the story did attempt to connect the lovers outside the bedroom. But the gang rape, the sex toy use on the hero and the promiscuity of the heroine in front of the hero were all real leaps from the romance genre. I think I would classify this story not as Romantic Erotica but Erotica with romantic elements.

This story lacked an ending. It set up the couple to prepare for battle against King Ravna, but left the reader hanging with one more sex scene thrown in. I would have preferred to see a resolution than an orgasm at the last.

IN THE WOLF'S EMBRACE by Lora Leigh
straight sex - magically enhanced -anal sex

I like werewolves. I do. But this story...

Matthias was not born. He was created as were most of the other Breeds. Genetically engineered with wolf DNA, he is human with an animalistic nature. He kills the man responsible for the torture and study of Breeds in front of Grace, the human who is to be him mate.

Grace is horrified to see the murder and crushed by Matthias' deception. He kidnaps her so she cannot expose his crime. more to save her from being killed by other Breeds than to save himself from punishment. His nature has decided Grace is his life partner and there is nothing he can do to change that. And he doesn't want to.

Drawn to Matthias before his crime, Grace fights her growing attraction for him in the isolated cabin. But the strange pheromone he is emitting weakens her resolve and she gives into lust and seals the physical bond between them. Now she can not even think of turning him in.

Those 'scientists' who study Breeds track down the couple and try to apprehend Matthias and his new mate. She is of great interest to them now as she may be breeding. While fighting for their lives, Grace is shot and nearly dies. Only a strangely special transfusion of Breed blood from Matthias saves her.

The love story seemed very forced, as if it was only the instinct that controlled Matthias and Grace and not their hearts. The sex, altho very erotic, seemed to get in the way. I wanted more meat, less flesh. Perhaps if this had been a book length story, more would have evolved but for it's length, it was lacking.

I didn't care about these characters. Which really bummed me because I love the premise of the storyline. I think this was the weakest of the four stories.

Monstrocity

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 23:18:43 -0400

Punktown, on the planet Oasis. In this sprawling metropolis, a Lovecraftian evil is stirring - spreading its shadowy tentacles through the city. When his girlfriend discovers a copy of the Necronomicon - an ancient text reputed to summon the Great Old Ones - Christopher Ruby is thrust into a nightmare as his girlfriend falls prey to the dark forces unleashed. Fleeing into Punktown's underground, he searches frantically for clues to what his girlfriend has brought into the universe...

I have to admit I had trouble rating Monstrocity. On the one hand, the setting of Punktown itself is intriguing. However, the mythos underpinning the story doesn't fare as well. I liked the ideas Thomas came up with, but in the end, it doesn't stray far from its inspiration and the story feels a bit rushed. Additionally, the writing is serviceable if rough at times.

It's unfortunate, because Thomas does have some great material to work with and an evidently fertile imagination. In the end, I'd like to rate it higher but I feel like there's potential here that was a bit wasted on a retread of Lovecraft's work. Perhaps if the book had been longer, allowing more time to build up tension and focus more on the "evil city" feeling, that could have helped.

In the end, it's a nice effort and I'm interested to read Thomas's other Punktown work to see how it compares.

My Immortal

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:28:55 -0400

My Immortal by Erin McCarthy is a romantic fantasy tale that leans more toward romance than fantasy. The lead character, Marley Turner is a shy, timid, self-conscious and self deprecating woman who’s concern for and jealousy of her wild sister leads her to the steamy wilds of New Orleans.

Marley, fresh from a solitude retreat at a monastery, has traveled to New Orleans to discover whether her sister is truly missing or just out of touch with her family and young son. Lizzie’s last communication with Marley indicated that she was in love. This clue leads her to Damien du Bourg who, unbeknownst to her, is an immortal in service to a demon. With Damien’s help, Marley attempts to locate her sister and during the search finds herself becoming more and more interested in Damien.

While this story was an attempt to mix the fascination of the fantasy genre with the intoxication of the romance genre, I felt that it did justice to neither. The purpose of the demon and his immortal daughters were not adequately explained and the bargain struck by Damien du Bourg seemed to be convenient device. Perhaps because I could not relate to either of the main characters, I did not enjoy this book as much as I should have. Generally a mix of fantasy and romance will send me running to the couch to open the book and begin.

I did like McCarthy’s use of the old letters to tie in the past and give the reader an insight into the current characters. However, these letters did not read as real letters would have done, and they didn’t have the feel of a diary or journal. Because they included entire conversations and other descriptions that would not have been included in these types of writings, these letters felt like an obvious information dump. A device to give the reader what was needed without the entire necessary story to go with it. This fractured the story and made it feel false, like a deliberate tall tale.

Other parts of the story may be especially appealing or not depending upon what you are looking for. There is a great deal of gratuitous sex included in the story, including Damian’s debauched background and his sex parties designed to inflame the lusts of mortals. The actual romantic scenes between Damian and Marley are less gratuitous but they display the characteristics of long time lovers, not of lovers who have just met. Granted, Damien’s specialty is charm and sexuality but that wouldn’t change the nature of Marley’s thoughts and reactions.

So while this was not a bad book, I was a bit disappointed that the author took so many shortcuts with a good idea and turned it into something that was only marginally interesting. I felt that she could have explored a great deal more of the demon aspect. That she could have given us a few glimpses of Damien’s two hundred years as a broker of lust, and more background on the two sisters and why they are the way they are. I think it could be a fine book if it were to be expanded, the plot holes filled and some of the character’s lives filled out.

Roses of Blood on Barbwire Vines

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 12:02:58 -0400

Most of us have read a zombie story or two: some good, some bad, and others that made us wretch. We hear the word "zombie" and immediately think of the slow shambling dead of Romero's films. Many of these stories are clichéd and spin tired stories with typical plots, with typical characters, and with predictable endings. Roses of Blood on Barbwire Vines by D.L Snell is not one of those stories.

Roses of Blood brings together two of the more popular monsters in horror fiction today: Zombies and vampires. The story follows Shade (the vampire queen and daughter of the slain king), General Frost who is cold as his name would suggest, and Ann a human blood doll left deranged by the horror she has experienced. Shade fights to honor her fathers Kingdom (The City of Roses), while Frost pushes for relocation to the island to avoid the zombie hordes. Ann simply wants to survive, be free, and save her breeding slave sister. As the vampires attempt to fight off the zombies and keep there blood cattle (the humans) alive- betrayal, tragedy, and all-out fight for survival takes place.

The zombies in roses of blood are not your typical Romero style shamblers; they are the result of Nazi experiments. Instead of a virus, which is the common mode in zombie fiction these days, Snell's zombies are powered by parasitic creatures that infect the brains of their hosts. The parasites, tentacled Cthulhu like creatures, have appendages growing from the head of the bodies they invade. The zombies learn and adapt unlike most zombies and that makes them scarier.

Snell's vampires are akin to the vampires in Underworld, with amped up libido, one hell of a mean streak, and downright evil nature. They can be killed by wood spike or sunlight, but regenerate from most other injuries. Largely, the vampires are cruel and cold beings.

Humans are cattle used solely for their blood. Some are taken for breeding purposes and have their limbs amputated and are given a lobotomy. The Torsos, as they are called, are then placed in harness swings where they are breed. The non-breeding humans are used for feeding and repeatedly bitten and drained, but not to the point of death. The humans seem to have been dominated to the point of despair and have become docile pets of the vampires.

The novel takes place in "The City of Roses" which has been complete overrun with zombies leaving their fortified building as the only isle of safety. Snell does a great job weaving description of the setting in without being blatant, but instead by implication. I truly felt the sense of dread and hopelessness that is the existence of few remaining humans and vampires.

Roses of Blood's plot certainly hooked me and the action kept me on my toes. Gun-fu is the order of the day for the pistol, M-16, and Uzi toting vampires and the action scenes are excellently described. The pulse pounding action starts early and powers all the way through the novel. Fear not, if you are looking for character exploration and development, Snell wedged some of that in there as well.

It's hard to find a true weak spot in the novel because Roses of Blood is great example of a subgenre novel. However, I do have an issue with Snell's style. He describes it as a more poetic style ,and I can appreciated what he was trying to do, but in the end it just came off as a little overly metaphoric. The overuse of metaphors at times makes reading difficult and keeping track of what's going on a chore. It's not all bad though because, even if overused, the metaphors did add vivid images throughout the novel. The other minor complaint I have is that gratuitous sex in the novel is a bit off putting. I'm not against sex scenes in novels if they serve a purpose, but I could not find enough purpose to warrant the amount of sex represented. Indeed, Roses of Blood comes out swinging with a savage right hook of the erotic. If the erotic scenes in the beginning don't destroy your interest you should find the rest of the book quite enjoyable. After the first few chapters the sex tones down and the story gets back on the rails. I will admit that someone more into erotica will likely enjoy the same scenes that I found to be gratuitous.

Roses of Blood is a great new addition to the zombie and vampire subgenres. It's clear that this book should be an adult's only type of book with its absolute bestial, brutal nature and vivid sexual content. I can recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an excellent horror novel where zombies and/or vampires are not used in their traditional roles. Roses of Blood on Barbwire Vines is a hard charging action packed book where the cruel and unusual are the norm: I liked it!

Crooked Little Vein

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 12:52:30 -0400

Michael McGill is a burned-out private detective and self-described "shit magnet" who is enlisted by the White House Chief of Staff to retrieve the Constitution of the United States, not the one taught about in history class but the REAL Constitution. The one with invisible amendments held in secret and meant to be used in a time of moral crisis to return the country back to more traditional values. The current presidency believes that time is now, but they have a problem. The book was lost 50 years ago and needs to be recovered. That's where Max comes in and his search for the missing constitution will lead him across the country and deeper into the shadows of America on a job that "started out weird" and turned "scary".

As far back as the Transmetropolitan series Ellis has worn his Hunter S. Thompson influence openly and on his sleeve. The main character from that series, gonzo journalist Spider Jerusalem, was nothing short of a fully realized future descendant of the good Doctor. From the look, to the shared maniacal gleam in their eyes, to the varied and excessive drug use no one would dare deny the lineage between the two. In the series there were other links between Thompson's and Ellis' works that included visual references and direct placement.

With Crooked Little Vein he still maintains that Thompson connection in many ways. For example in 1985 Thompson wrote a column called Nixon and the Whale Woman that was later collected in Generation of Swine. In it Thompson wrote:

“In Rio Vista, a small riverside town about an hour’s drive east of San Francisco, I met an elderly Chinese woman who claimed to be the former mistress of Richard Nixon. She lived on a houseboat that was moored in a slough near Antioch, she said, and the ex-president had often visited her there when he came to California”

Early in the book when the Chief of Staff recounts for McGill the origins and history of the alternate constitution we find out the specifics of when and how it was lost.

“Lost in the 1950’s, in fact. Nixon traded it for the favors of a Chinese woman living on a houseboat in San Francisco bay.”

One of the prevailing themes of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was the death of the 1960's and the state of the American Dream. What’s explored in Crooked Little Vein is the idea that the American landscape is in the midst of a pole shift due in large part to the proliferation of the Internet. What’s voiced throughout the book is the notion that if those ideas/acts that once resided on the fringe now are readily accessible then the fringe is now the mainstream.

The groups engaging in these fringe practices (including but not limited to tantric ostrich sex and Godzilla bukakke) trade the book from one to another and this is the trail of clues that that McGill follows. The very book that could reset the national thought process acts as a totem for these groups. By controlling it they maintain an environment that is conducive for their actions. What's partly on display here is an exploration of freedom in America and the warts and all approach to freedom that is its purist form. In an update of Voltaire's often atributed quote I can honestly sit here and tell you that I will never inject a saline solution into my balls for any reason but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn't have the right to do so.

Ellis brings to this funhouse mirror exploration an outsiders view since he is not an American, but it is in these distorted images that a sharp satire emerges. What at first seems to be an exaggeration reveals itself to be much closer to reality then maybe we would sometimes like to admit. In the following example McGill is listening to a local radio station:

"We are the FCC" a loud voice proclaimed. "Take off your clothes and put on these orange jump suits on."

"The fuck?" said Herb Boy.

"Pirate radio operations have been reclassified as Broadcast Terrorism. You're going to be wearing dogs in your asses at Abu Ghraib for the next five years, you dirty bastards."

This is community radio!"

If we wanted communities, we'd make Clear Channel pay us to run them. Put on the hoods, too. No more devil music for you, Radio Bin Laden."

I switched off the radio, miserable, wondering if it was all my fault for listening and daring to enjoy it.

I got a little angry.

The center piece for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is what is now known as the wave speech. It acted as a summary and commentary of themes and the calm eye of the storm for that book. Crooked Little Vein has its own version of the wave speech that comes at about the halfway mark. While flying to Las Vegas McGill finds himself having a rather calm and lucid conversation with an indignant serial killer who, among other things, is upset at the way that the media is portraying him. Not only is this man presented as a voice of reason but he outlines one of the major themes of the book.

"My point is that I'm not the underground. You think that drinking with a serial killer takes you into the midnight currents of the culture? I say bullshit. There's been twelve documentaries, three movies, and eight books about me. I'm more popular than any of these designed-by-pedophile pop moppets littering the music television and the gossip columns. I've killed more people then Paris Hilton has desemenated, I was famous before she was here and I'll be famous after she's gone. I am the mainstream. I am, in fact, the only true rock star of the modern age. Every newspaper in America never fails to report on my comeback tours, and I get excellent reviews."

Thompson's wave speech ends with the most memorable line and one of the most well written passages of the book.

"So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark — that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back."

As McGill's makes his entrance into Vegas he hits the same exact point where the high water mark is almost visible, except that now, 35 years later, he sees something else. It too is one of the more memorable and better written passages in the book.

"From a distance, the Strip looked like it was covered in a dozen different colors of blossom on a wet spring morning.

Up close, the blanket of petals turned out to be a thick coating of discarded handbills from pimps and porn operations, stuck to the road by rainfall."

As the book winds down and McGill closes in on the constitution he realizes the amount of power that he now wields and he has to make a monumental decision. The end of the book is one that will have fans of Alfred Besters classic novel The Stars My Destination cheering as Ellis has McGill channel and then become a modern Gully Foyle.

Crooked Little Vein displays the full spectrum of Warren Ellis' imagination. As the story propels along at a machine guns pace he never loses sight of the central story arc. Any one page contains multiple images and ideas that a lesser writer would have been tempted to focus on and develop into a bland inconsequentiality. But here, in their brevity, they retain their razor sharp focus as well as another layer of enjoyment.

Not only will our protagonist stay in a Las Vegas hotel built in the shape of Christ the Redeemer dressed as Uncle Sam but we find dozens of other passages like these that make us smile, shake our head and almost wish they were developed further.

"Plus, I pistol-whipped a tailor once to gain the trust of a disturbed white boy who believed he contained the soul of Huey P. Newton."

"Additional notation explained that a secret NASA memo released on the Internet in 1996 revealed that the TV show The Six Million Dollar Man was actually a CIA blind created specifically to cover a possible breach of security over astronauts with extensive bioelectronic modification escaping the system and going public."

It should be noted that there is an overall pattern to the book that fans of Ellis will recognize. His protagonists tend to be intelligent, damaged people carrying some baggage. The protagonist always has a sexy (which doesn’t take away from her toughness) female assistant. Weird situations are explored and the cutting edge of technology is utilized. It is in this basic framework that Ellis constructs his fiction and is the style he has developed. But just because a style is recognizable does not mean that it is less enjoyable.

I can't recommend Crooked Little Vein enough.

Brian Lindenmuth

The Harlequin

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:03:09 -0400

Let me begin this review by admitting that this is the first of Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series I’ve read. In fact, it is the first book by Laurell K. Hamilton I’ve ever read. Now, I generally do not read reviews of a book that I plan on reviewing. However, I was not aware at first that I would be reviewing it so I happened upon several reviews and comments online regarding the series as a whole and this book in particular. With that established, let me say that I don’t quite agree with anyone else about the book’s merits or lack thereof. There seem to be three separate schools of thought regarding Harlequin. The first group is comprised of the hardcore fans of the series that love it and this particular book and will eviscerate anyone who says anything unflattering about it. The second is made up of those that used to be fans of the series and recently decided that it has gone so far downhill that they had to abandon it. The third group is so in hate with the series, this particular sub-genre and Hamilton as an author that they have created an actual online un-fan club. As I said, I don’t fall into any of those groups as I both enjoyed the read and was annoyed by it at the same time.

Anita Blake, the heroine of the book is a necromancer, a US Marshall, vampire hunter, a potential were-animal, lover of the vampire Master of the City, Queen of the local were-leopard pack, lover of the leader of the local werewolf pack and so forth and so on. Because of her status, she comes under the investigative eye of the most feared of the vampires, their own police force, the Harlequin. At the same time, however, members of the local vampire church group have been framed for murder. Dealing with all of this, a sexually insatiable power force called the ardor, a lover that wants more than she can give, another lover who does not want to share her with the others, a mercenary’s teenaged son who seems to want to follow in his father’s footsteps and the difficulties of carrying a gun when you want to dress like a lady. Even the description is a bit annoying. There is way too much going on and not enough at the same time. Throughout the whole book, only a few days pass. Each day seemed to last for two or three and it all seemed a bit crazy and I lost track of what day it was supposed to be according to the story.

There is no doubt in my mind that Hamilton has talent as a storyteller. Even though Anita Blake had too many lovers, too much power, and not enough self-will and spent way too much time obsessing about her gun, I still enjoyed the story. Though too much sex is stated by many as one of the reasons that this book is bad, there were only two actual sex scenes, and both were rather mechanical and not erotic at all. Though the book is packed with references to the number of lovers she has, what each is like, in bed and out, and how they all get along together, this is not really the bordello tale I expected from all the comments I had read beforehand. I got the feeling that the author had let the series run for far too long and it had gotten out of hand but her editors and/or publishers kept asking for more because they sell. If this is the case, she needs to put her foot down, dig out a new character and create something completely different because I feel that she is a good storyteller who has lost her story.

Deadstock

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 15:40:41 -0400

Punktown, crime-ridden metropolis on the colony world, Oasis, is home to the scum of countless alien races. Stalking its mean streets is Jeremy Stake, the private detective with chameleon-like abilities he does not want and cannot control. There’s his wealthy client, Fukuda, whose company makes synthetic life forms as playthings for the rich. Then there’s Fukuda’s beautiful teenage daughter, whose priceless one-of-a-kind living doll has been stolen. And there is the doll itself, growing in size, intelligence, and resentment.

The destinies of all these individuals will converge, and collide, in Punktown.

MY biggest complaint about Deadstock is that I just couldn’t shake the feeling that Thomas was talking down to me as a reader. I don’t need an author to hold my hand all the time. In this book there are multiple instances where Thomas uses the same exact group of words and sentences to describe people, places and events. This isn’t done as a haunting refrain or as a link between what would otherwise be disparate or opposing images. This isn’t done to produce a mirroring effect or for humor. I'm not going to catalogue all of these occurrences but it does happen enough times for it to warrant attention. Here is one example.

There are a group of characters that are cloned soldiers whose main identifying feature is their blue skin.

"Another mans visage appeared on its little screen. That visage was covered in a camouflage of blue patches, ranging from pastel to indigo. But the camouflage was not makeup, Stake knew, nor was it even tattooing. It was the mans natural coloration, if natural were the right word."

Then just a few pages later we find the following passage.

"In moments, another face filled the screen. This face was covered in a camouflage of blue patches, ranging from pastel to indigo. But the camouflage was not makeup, Stake knew, nor was it even tattooing. It was the mans natural coloration, if natural were the right word."

Perhaps it’s just a case of me being too critical but I think that things like this should have been caught in the editorial process.

I question Thomas' decision to skirt the moral issues that are presented throughout. I do so because Stake, who is clearly presented as a PI protagonist, should be possessed of a personal moral code born from his personal code of honor. He is cognizant enough to notice the moral issues and even mention them, but then quickly drops the matter because, well, there isn’t really a good reason that the matters are dropped but they are.

As a thriller or again a PI tale the success of the story is at least partially contingent on the successes of the reveals. But, unfortunately, there wasn't a single plot twist or plot point that I didn't telegraph early on. The twists that are associated with Stakes client are especially maddening because they wallow in dramatic devices that only the worst soap operas use. **Spoiler** There are dead twins, dead wives, the daughter is the clone of the dead wife, the brother alive is really the one thought dead, vice-versa. The more it twists the more cartoonish it gets. **Spoiler end**

I've said before and it bears repeating that I'm a firm believer that the mystery/SFF mix is a tough one to pull off. If an author is going to write a book that is very clearly a mix of two genres then it has to pull double duty in clearly being identifiable as both. While there is a lot of imagination of display in Deadstock it does ultimately fail in its ability to present a credible PI tale.

One of the highlights of the book, though not without its own problems, is Thomas' success at updating the haunted house/ghost story. Two gangs find themselves trapped in an abandoned apartment building. They have to form a unified front against a group of faceless automatons that are programmed to defend the integrity of the building. These parts of the book are done well for the most part.

--Brian Lindenmuth

Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 21:04:20 -0500

Stories, like people and butterflies and songbirds’ eggs and human hearts and dreams, are also fragile things, made up of nothing stronger or more lasting than twenty-six letters and a handful of punctuation marks. Or they are words on the air, composed of sounds and ideas--abstract, invisible, gone once they’ve been spoken--and what could be more frail than that?--Neil Gaiman in the Introduction to Fragile Things

Neil Gaiman’s Fragile Things is a collection of short stories. The author is fascinated by stories: where they come from, what they have to say, how they endure for years, even centuries. The majority of these stories were previously published in various anthologies, e-zines, etc, and more than a few are award winners.

The first story, A Study in Emerald, begins:

It is the immensity, I believe. The hugeness of things below. The darkness of dreams.

But I am woolgathering. Forgive me. I am not a literary man.

A beginning that many of the stories share in that the reader is told that something grand but not necessarily good is forthcoming, but then it is explained that the narrator is but a humble man relating the truth of the story as he knows it. This first story was a wonderful pastiche of Sherlock Holmes with a heavy dose of Lovecraft thrown in. Gaiman has a way of combining the practical with the supernatural and coming up with something utterly unique and more than a bit disquieting.

His stories ranged from the adroit, such as October in the Chair where the months of the year are engaging in their annual meeting:

October was in the chair, so it was chilly that evening, and the leaves were red and orange and tumbled from the trees that circled the grove.

and Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire (Gaiman does seem to have a fondness for lengthy titles) about an author struggling to write,

“Real literature. Real life. The real world. It’s an artist’s job to show people the world they live in. We hold up mirrors.”

But, as Gaiman shows us, what’s real is relative. Or irrelevant.

Some stories were violent and disturbing (Keepsakes and Treasures,) while others were quirky and fun (Harlequin Valentine based on the comic servant of the commedia dell’arte and his eternal pursuit of Columbina). And then some were just comically bizarre (Sunbird: an Epicurean club whose goal is to eat everything, and I mean everything!)

Although many of the stories leaned towards horror, Gaiman is a multifaceted writer whose poetic deftness is exemplified in the following passage from How to Talk to Girls at Parties. When Enn comments on Triolet’s name, she explains that it’s a verse form like herself; when Enn questions her meaning she explains further:

“We knew that it would soon be over, and so we put it all into a poem, to tell the universe who we were, and why we were here, and what we said and did and thought and dreamed and yearned for. We wrapped our dreams in words and patterned the words so that they would live forever, unforgettable. Then we sent the poem as a pattern of flux, to wait in the heart of a star, beaming out its message in pulses and bursts and fuzzes across the electromagnetic spectrum, until the time when, on worlds a thousand sun systems distant, the pattern would be decoded and read, and it would become a poem once again.”

“And then what happened?”

My personal favorite was Diseasemaker’s Croup, which was written as an entry in a book of imaginary diseases that was edited by Jeff Vandermeer and Mark Roberts. A clever and ironic piece of medical text that was oddly amusing even though it quickly became evident that the physician writing said entry was also a victim of said ailment.

The last story is a novella based on American Gods. Fans of that book should enjoy this story as it catches up with Shadow some two years later in Scotland.

Only a couple or so of the thirty-one stories fell flat: either nothing remarkable happened (The Flints of Memory Lane) or the author’s intent was too elusive for me (as in Pages from a Journal Found in a Shoebox…Louisville, Kentucky-another one of those really long titles.)

Otherwise, this book is an engaging and varied collection of “short fictions and wonders” as Fragile Things is aptly subtitled.

Keeping It Real

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 11:35:37 -0500

To sum up Justina Robson's ultra-edgy, explosively musicpunk Keeping it Real with only keywords would look something like this: elves, rock shows, drugs, machines, demons, faeries, sex, Games, assassinations, magic, AI, conspiracies, a whole lot of andalune, and lastly, with capital fs, Futuristic Fun. And there's more to be listed. Being a novel of so many aspects, Robson crafts an adventure that is filled with legend, lore, love, and laughs with a steady hand. It both makes light of itself and takes things very seriously. To call the work anything but a ball of sheer originality would be an insult to pointy-eared elves everywhere.

But let's start with the Quantum Bomb of 2015, the catastrophe that changed everything for everyone. Of it, Robson claims:

The explosion had followed an unknown quantum catastrophe inside the machine. However, it was not the kind of explosion that blew matter to smithereens and laid waste to worlds. Its actions took place in the near-infinitely tiny spaces between one raw energy flicker and the next.

This explosion opens up five other realities previously unknown to Earth folk (Earth is no called Earth though, as it is now referred to as Otopia). Of these new ethereal regions, the most important is Alfheim, home to the elves. Now, these elves hate Otopian lifestyles and the constant comparisons to their film counterparts in such flicks as Lord of the Rings. They also hate any of their own that rebel. Enter Zal, the singing elf leader of the rock/Mode-X band The No Shows. Lila Black has been assigned to guard the rockstar while he's on tour as assassins are popping up left and right. But is there more to Zal than just a rebellious nature?

At first I found Agent Lila Black to be a bit familiar, almost strikingly to another Pyr title's robotic heroine: Cassandra Kresnov from Joel Shepherd's Crossover. But after mulling this over I began to see the differences. Where Cassandra is more of a robot with a yearning to be human, Lila's machinery is only from an unfortunate encounter with an elf on a battlefield. Becoming more of a machine was the only process that could save her life and she took it without a second thought. The part I always find interesting is that while these two heroines both seem to be perfectly built for each and every situation, they are not. Though they have access to indefinite information and enhanced weaponry, they are not perfect. They can still be human and err, making them much more believable and not just some gun-toting super-hottie.

Robson's pacing in the book is perfectly set, and there's a point towards the end of the book when everything happening is so heavy and tension-filled that I was reminded of how everything was only a few chapters back. Back then Zal was singing songs and Lila was making sure that only fans on the guest list were allowed to the special parties. Back then it was all business-related, with faeries giggling during band practice and Lila scouting out recording studios.

When I was a youngling, I read a lot of light fantasy and science fiction: Piers Anthony's Xanth series, Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, anything by Robert Aspirin, and even The Otherworld by Mercedes Lackey, Holly Lisle, and Mark Shepard. Where that book failed to impress on its mixture of the fantastical and the surreal, Keeping It Real shined. But please note that I'm not calling this work light at all. Though it has elves and demon groupies, it does have an underlying gritty feel to it. Unfortunately, it is another book in another series and so I must sit and wait for the next one. Until then, I encourage everyone to check out The No Shows' website, which is a nice tie-in into the novel.

Red Cat

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 13:57:37 -0500

John March is the black sheep of a powerful banking family. One of his brothers comes to him seeking his help. He had an affair with a woman who is now making trouble for him, stalking him and is threatening to out the affair. He wants John to find out who she is and make her stop. His brother only knows her by her screen name, Wren. As John delves deeper into Wrens life he uncovers an entire world of noir pornography that is strangely compelling and horrifying sometimes both at the same time. When a body turns up in the river that may be Wrens suddenly the entire case is flipped upside down as now John is trying to find the killer to protect his brother.

One of the things that I like the most about March is that he is a thoroughly updated version of the PI. He's more likely to use the internet, Google and public records searches then asking around town and occasionally roughing people up for information. As an ex-cop he's more likely to work on the fringes of the law then be firmly entrenched outside of it like his more traditional "lone-wolf" counter parts. In fact he spends a goodly portion of the book trying to get his brother seek the aid of an attorney and to turn himself into the police. He also eschews some of the other typical PI traits. He is not a tough guy; in fact he gets beat up quite a few times throughout the book. He is not an alcoholic, in name or practice. He actually is quite healthy and an avid runner.

Interestingly Spiegleman takes what can only described as a morally ambiguous stance on marital infidelity. Simply put, its OK for March, a widower, to have a relationship with a married woman, Claire, but it’s not Ok for his brother, who is married, to have a sexual relationship with someone other then his wife. There seems to be an alarming justification for some forms of infidelity but not others.

None of this would be an issue if the 6 relationship characters that were central to the infidelity sub-plot were presented in a manner which afforded them an opportunity to act as tools for Spiegelman to dissect the complex issue of marital infidelity, or at least present it’s many faces. But in terms of their relationships to one another they are painted with an almost garish simplicity so that they become only walking extremes and the whole idea of infidelity, which is central to the story, becomes muddled.

There is a simplicity with which they are portrayed that makes it hard to get a handle on the characters. In terms of the infidelity they are in the same boat, committing the same act with varying degrees of success. But because of the way that they are presented to us throughout the telling some are judged yet some are absolved and others are just non-existent

To illustrate the simple extremes that some of these characters are painted I couldn’t help but notice that March and Claire are presented in a far more positive light because they are fostering a relationship but the other characters in the book who are also having an affair have the perception of being sexually deviant. March's brother, who is having an affair, is presented in such a way as to make him completely unlikable, even as his world starts crashing around him. Yet the most likeable character in the story is Claire, who is sweet and interesting, So we are set up from the start to view this as a black/white issue when it is actually a far more complex issue. If you’re going to bring it up then you may as well explore it fully.

There are two main female characters that are a part of this story, Claire and Wren. They are, I think, two sides of the same coin. According to all of the publication material Wren is cast as the "interesting" character. She is the one that we are supposed to be intrigued by and want to know more about. But I couldn’t help but notice in my own reading experience that I was far more interested in Claire and wanted to know more about her.

I must say though that I thoroughly enjoyed this book and now crave to know more about the other John March books. The best recommendation that I can give is to say that upon completion of Red Cat I went out and picked up a copy of Black Maps, the first March book and look forward to reading it.

--Brian Lindenmuth

47 Rules for Highly Effective Bank Robbers

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 10:28:23 -0500

47 Rules of Highly Effective Bank Robbers is a highly entertaining comedic romp through the South West.

After Tara's mother dies it falls to her father, Wyatt, to not only raise her but to teach her a trade as well. So Wyatt decides to teach her his trade and starts taking her to work with him. When she is nine he lets her actively participate in his vocation taking a more hands on role. Wyatt is a bank robber. Now its thirteen years later and 22 year old Tara wants to break free from her fathers’ sphere of influence. So after pulling the biggest heist of their careers she leaves the murderous Wyatt for dead and cuts out on her own. She meets up with the rebellious son of the local Sherriff and the two quickly fall in love with each other. As they set out on their own Bonnie & Clyde like adventures the two fathers bear down on the young couple. When the extended family finally gets together in an action packed show down the fate and future of the young couple, and the family business, will be decided forever.

47 Rules of Highly Effective Bank Robbers is a highly assured debut novel. Every aspect of the novel is perfectly realized and comes together perfectly. The characters are all finely drawn, not just occupying space for comedic value. Some of the characters are waking clichés and are proud of it too. The characters are so over the top that they never stop being entertaining.

The story is feverishly paced and tightly plotted. Each event flows right into the next as the scenarios become increasingly deranged. All of the characters effortlessly weave in and out of the various plots, nothing is wasted and everything is fun. Over all it’s a strong debut with the plot serving the characters and the characters serving the plot. The only thing that is predictable from the outset is that the two fathers and the two children are going to meet, other then that anything is possible and the ending is unpredictable.

For all of the pure nutty chaos that is 47 Rules of Highly Effective Bank Robbers it is a simple love story at heart. Sure its a girl meets boy, girl and boy go on a crime spree story but the central love story pure, simple, sweet and romantic and as much as its possible for two characters to have chemistry on the page then these characters do. Despite the crimes that they have committed we want them the young couple to be happy.

--Brian Lindenmuth

Darkness Take My Hand

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 12:17:49 -0500

It becomes immediately apparent from the opening pages of Darkness Take My Hand that Dennis Lehane has upped the ante since A Drink Before the War. Darkness Take My Hand stands in stark contrast to A Drink Before the War as a new level of sophistication permeates the story. The prologue allows Lehane to demonstrate for the first time his desire to toy with our expectations for these characters. It could be said of A Drink Before the War that it ended on a high note that fostered certain hopes for the characters specifically the two leads Patrick and Angie. Lehane is happy to destroy those closely held notions that were carefully constructed right from the start and the experience is all the more richer for it. If the characters were given three dimensions in A Drink Before the War then Darkness Take My Hand breaths life into them. We learn a lot from Patrick in those first few pages, none of which is predictable and all of it shocking. The device used is that of the present looking back, so we don't know what happened yet. We set our imaginations free and try to conceive of the horrors that brought such results and Darkness Take My Hand details all of it.

Even after the lead in the gut opening when we go back to the beginning of the story the tone is still different then A Drink Before the War. Patrick is not as sarcastic as the first book. He is in a relationship and has found a certain level of happiness. But he seems to possess a level of melancholy that resonates almost at the subconscious level. Though he has found a level of happiness he seems as if something is missing. Being a first person narrative, he isn't aware of it, but the careful reader can pick up on it.

Patrick and Angie are hired by a prominent Boston psychiatrist. She seeks protection for her son because a patient of hers claims that she was abused by her boyfriend, Kevin Hurlihy. Hurlihy is someone from the old neighborhood who works as enforcer for the Boston Irish Mob. Hurlihy is now threatening to kill both the doctor and her son. They begin to tail the son when a local girl is crucified. A local legend and ex-cop turned barkeep informs Patrick that there may be a connection because there was another crucifixion 20 years ago that was kept quiet. The case will send Patrick and everyone surrounding him into the darkest parts of their collective past as they re-examine everything to find the killer. The culminating showdown is unpredictable and unforgettable with the greatest horrors being those closest to home. Every character will be forever affected by the outcome of this book.

One of Lehane's biggest strengths is that he uses all of the previous books as a foundation to tell the current story. It is absolutely necessary for a reader to have read A Drink Before the War. If you were to read Darkness Take My Hand without prior knowledge of the series you would find the story unflinching in its portrayal of pure evil but for those who are familiar with the earlier tale it become something else entirely. Lehane uses that knowledge of the first book to continue to build real, sympathetic characters, sometimes in surprising ways. Two of the villains closest to home in the last book were Phil, Angie's husband and Patrick’s dad. Lehane makes a concerted effort to humanize both of the abusive men, by showing us that they possess a good side too. Lehane forces us to begrudgingly admit that they couldn’t have been so bad their entire lives. But it’s important to understand that this rounding out of the respective characters shouldn’t be misconstrued as absolution for the sins that we know that they have committed.

Even minor characters are given further depth. Bubba for example is no longer simply the solution to Patrick and Angie’s problems. His personality is fleshed out and we are introduced to some of the characters that are a part of his circle. He is given more face time in the first fifty pages of Darkness Take My Hand then in the entirety of A Drink Before the War. As further proof that Lehane has a solid grip on the material, and refuses to pigeon hole them, it’s telling that Bubba plays not a single part in the harrowing climax of the book.

The relationship between Patrick and Angie reflects this added complexity as they are further developed in startling ways. In A Drink Before the War Angie jokingly called Patrick "a whore" because of his womanizing ways. Patrick only slept around because the one woman he wanted to be with, Angie, wasn’t available. He was more then ready to be in a relationship, despite what A thought, or wouldn’t admit to herself. When Angie divorced Phil, the possibility of a relationship became real for Patrick and his womanizing ways were curbed. But Angie went a different route after the divorce. She cut loose from everything in her life leaving Patrick dangling. Since Patrick was relationship ready when he met a great woman, Grace, it was easy for him to enter into a relationship. Though she would never admit it, Angie was dismayed at this development. She was always used to Patrick being there that she became complacent, maybe she wasn’t always aware of what she had in Patrick, so the loss, even if only partially, was hard. From a "friend" point of view she was happy for Patrick, but it made her sad as well. Its telling that Patrick reveals the origins of a scar, something we the reader have long since known, he carries on his stomach to Grace when he has never once told Angie about it. Thus also further illustrates the importance of having read A Drink Before the War first, the moment when he reveals its origins to her if fraught with importance but for those who are already familiar with the series it carries extra importance that is loaded with implication.

In many ways Lehane begins to lay some of the groundwork for Mystic River in Darkness Take My Hand in his tentative exploration of ideas, both specific and thematic, that will be further explored and in greater detail with that later work.

As I said previously the climax of the book is so gut wrenching that it will forever affect all involved, us included. The end of Darkness Take My Hand is such a shattering event that it becomes a shadow that will loom over the rest of the series and permeate the other stories. It was bold, if not down right unconventional, of Lehane to so effectively destroy the world of these characters so early in the series, but Lehane is to be trusted as we are better off for such daring story telling.

Taking the apocryphal tale of Hemmingway’s six word story to heart Lehane sets out to invest his six words with as much power as possible. Those six words, once encountered, will become a haunting refrain for the series. The final words of the book are "The city, the announcer assured us, was holding its breath" The city is us, we are holding our breath to see what will happen next. Holding our breath as we realize what Lehane has done to his characters. Holding our breath to keep from crying.

--Brian Lindenmuth