Warren Rochelle's Blog, page 22

A Review of Secrets/Outcast by John R. Little and Mark Allan Gunnells

Take two talented writers of horror:

Mark Allan Gunnells, whose work includes The Quarry, Tales from the Midnight Shift, and The Summer of Winter, and several other titles,

and John R. Little, the winner of the 2009 Bram Stoker Award for Miranda, and Little by Little and Ursa Major, among other books.

Give them the same prompt: a 19-year-old woman, Karen, is in a graveyard, looking for a particular tombstone. With her, Bobby, a boy about her age, and he is a bit impatient, but he knows she has to make this search. Finally she finds the right grave: “This is the one,” she said. “I found her.”

The assignment: write a story, starting with this prompt.

So begins Secrets/Outcast, Book V in JournalStone’s Doubledown Series. Two very different and engaging stories is the result,

Secrets is aptly named, as the secrets that we know, and how we come to know them, and why, drives this tale. Karen herself has one huge secret: time stops for her, for a while, until she is pulled back into reality. Outside of time, she can go anywhere while the world is frozen in place. She finds herself drawn to the secrets of others, secrets that she uncovers and collects when she is outside of time, such as hidden pornography, a couple pretending to be in love, yet despising each other, and taboo relationships. Karen even founds out her father’s dark, dark secret, a secret that makes her question if she really knew this man.

Karen also finds herself drawn to another who can live, like her, outside of time, Bobby. If the secrets Karen find out are sometime dark, then Bobby is arguably darker. He plays tricks on the stopped. He hurts and humiliates them—some, he even kills, because he can. But he is completely free of constraints and is perhaps the most powerful person Karen has ever known. This power is seductive and Karen finds herself using it. She rescues her sister from an abusive relationship; she punishes those whose secrets hurt others. But, even if they seemingly deserve the punishment—is this what Karen wants to do, play god?

Falling in love with her friend, Bonnie, changes all this—but Bobby is still out there. What will she do if he goes after the woman she loves?

In Outcast, Gunnells has created another outsider, Karen, a first-year student at Furman University in Greenville, SC. After her roommate and high school best friend, Brittany, abandons her for the sake of fitting in, Karen finds herself drawn to the mysterious Bobby who happens to find her at her job in the library. And she finds herself drawn to one of the university’s librarians, Penelope, who helps Karen to understand that witches are real and that Karen has the potential to be a very powerful one. For Karen, this is the beginning of understanding something of what has made her an outsider all her life.

What of Bobby? Karen finds him oddly compelling and attractive and mysterious. She is falling in love with him. But she can’t physically touch him. She can’t kiss him. He won’t let her. Brittany tells Karen someone saw her the other day, talking to a tree. Penelope speaks to her of the power that she could have—and Penelope turns out to be Bobby’s mother. Bobby turns out to be a ghost. If things aren’t complicated and confusing enough, the other witches in Greenville try to intervene and warn Karen Penelope may have more going on than just helping Karen. Did Bobby just happen to wander through the library when they first met? Then there is Jacoby. Is he real? How is it that he sees Bobby?

Can Karen handle all these curve balls life has thrown at her, one after another? Can she find herself? These compelling questions—and engaging characters, dark and light—pull the reader into this tale of love, romantic and abusive and ghosts and power. You see, Penelope wants to find a body for her son and she wants Karen to help her, and Penelope will do just about anything to get her son back. Anything.

The juxtaposition of these two stories, both stories of love, romantic, abusive, obsessive and power, dark, seductive power will keep the reader turning the pages.

A Review of While Beauty Slept, by Elizabeth Blackwell

While Beauty Slept by Elizabeth Blackwell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I've been reading about and reading a lot of retellings lately, which is what drew to me to this book. This is, as the title indicates, a retelling of Sleeping Beauty, but not from the perspective of the princess, or from the prince. Nor it is a retelling in which the princess is a lesbian or it is the prince who sleeps.

Instead, Blackwell tells the story of the companion to the princess, Elise Dalriss. She overhears her great-granddaughter telling a story of a beautiful sleeping princess who was awakened by a handsome prince. When the old woman hears this, she remembers what really happened, a secret she has long kept: she was the companion to this sleeping princess and only Elise knows what really happened.

Elise Dalriss, a poor girl fleeing a "hardscrabble existence and a personal tragedy," managed to find a new life as a servant to the royal family.She climbs her way through the palace hierarchy (leaving behind the man who loves her)and eventually becomes servant to the queen herself, a woman "who wakes each morning with tears on her pillow." At the queen's side, she finds herself also involved with "an elderly spinster who in heartache shuts herself away, a princess who yearns to be free, and the ambitious and frightening sister who cannot accept the fact that she will never rule."

Was the princess asleep? Locked in a tower? Sort of. Was she rescued by a handsome prince who came looking for a trapped princess? In a way. The truths behind "sort of" and "in a way" are the secrets Elise has kept all her life--as well as her own secrets. After all,"The truth," as Elise reminds the reader, "is not fairy tale." And she is not "the sort of person whose stories are told. Those of humble birth suffer their heartbreaks and celebrate their triumphs unnoticed by the bards, leaving no trace in the fables of their time..."

Until now.

This is a richly told story, with strong and believable human characters. Elise, in particular, has a strong voice and I was drawn to her story "of love and terror, friendship and fate," her choices and her secrets. She is indeed an "extraordinary heroine" and Blackwell is a good storyteller.

I had one personal quibble: where in this huge castle of characters, where the gay men and women? True, this is not what the story is about,but given the broad range of characters, rich and poor, royal and commoner, evil and kind, the lack was noticeable to me. And when Elise turns to another servant to make fun of an old courtier with a "penchant" for boys, I was somewhat offended, as that was the only reference in the entire novel.

A good read, well told, recommended The core of Sleeping Beauty is here--this is how it could have happened.



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A Review of Sandbox Buddha, by Mo Owen: A Voice Crying in the Suburban Wilderness

Sandbox Buddha by Mo Owen

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A Voice Crying in the Suburban Wilderness

Things aren’t going quite as expected for Howard Powell, father, husband, and faithful church-goer. It all starts off on Halloween and he is doing what any good father would do: he is taking his children trick or treating. He’s gotten into the spirit of things: he’s wearing a vampire costume, and he’s gone all out, fangs and a “black cape and lips, white shirt and face, trickle of crimson from the corner of [his] mouth” (3). Matthew, his six-year-old, is a witch; Madison, his nine-year-old, is a Harem Girl. They’ve got the routine down: ring, the ritual greeting, collect the goods, onto the next house.

Then Howard knocks on the door of Sarah Tile, a woman who, as he puts it, “ignites in [him] an intense sexual desire and has since sixth grade” (3). She and her daughter go along trick-or-treating, and when at the end he goes back to her house, alone, things get really confusing. Howard thinks he is protecting her from what seems to be spousal abuse and Howard winds up getting belt-whipped by Sarah’s over-protective and possibly abusive brother.

Things are now set in motion. As Howard explains in a Preface to the Reader, “This is the personal testimony of how, I, Howard Powell, [was] transformed in my 43rd year from humble husband, father, and community college professor to modern-day John the Baptist… “(vii). But, don’t expect this transformation, fueled somehow by physical violence, to be a familiar trajectory to a conventional holy man. A few days later Howard is at a city park with Maggie, his three-year-old youngest daughter. Swings, slide sandbox, mothers with their children. And Howard winds up in bed with one of those mothers while the kids “watch Snow White on the TV downstairs” (15).

This assignation turns out to not be a one-time aberration. And Debra, his wife, has no idea what is going on with her husband.

These are not the actions of your typical holy man, a would-be John the Baptist seeking his messiah. Okay, maybe, maybe that Howard is a student of the martial arts, of karate, a discipline of mind and body. But somehow, the sex is part of it all. There is a disturbing Blood Dream, and a “monstrous priapismic episode at the nondenominational colossus” Howard and his family attend, and he has a vision of the head of John the Baptist in the offering plate. If that isn’t enough, a long lost cousin, Mitch, appears literally out of nowhere, to give his mission, complete with his holy uniform, a karate gi.

Howard is called to the city parks, to the sand boxes, to the suburban mothers and their SUVs. He is called to testify to his hapless English 101 students that “editing and proofreading hold the secret of life” (83). He is called to speak the truth.

His wife is not amused.

But the reader will be as Howard stumbles along, rescuing dogs, sleeping in the suburban wilderness. He discovers along the way that he is to baptize Adam, “an Amish teenager,” with “blue eyes, impossible to fathom blue … a tall lad, somewhere between boy and young man,” who is the new messiah. Howard, like his predecessor, is called to baptize this Amish messiah, and thus set even greater things in motion.

That Howard winds up setting free the dogs in the pound and getting arrested, is grist for the mill and more of Owen’s dark and light satiric humor and both a biting and a gentle commentary on the place of faith and belief in the life of the ordinary guy with a family and a job. This is the guy who wants to do the right thing, but, as Howard says in the Preface, “the trajectory of [his] call wasn’t exactly hallowed…” (vii). This novel may disturb some readers, but that's the point, we should be disturbed. Doing good isn't always easy or comfortable.

I came to the end and wanted to know what happened to next. When this Adam is baptized, what then? And is Howard right, could there be a call waiting for all of us, if we could just hear it, recognize it in the voice of a gi-wearing eccentric in a sand box?




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A Review of Help, Thanks, Wow, by Anne Lamott

Help Thanks Wow: Three Essential Prayers by Anne Lamott

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I wish I could talk to my dear friend, the late Carter Shelley, a Presbyterian minister, about this wonderful, wise and funny book. I know she would love it as I do and as I loved everything I have read by Anne Lamott--in fact, it was Carter who gave me Bird by Bird to read!

Why do I love it and why do I think others will? I think they will because Lamott has tackled a subject that many of us find uncomfortable: our prayer life (or lack thereof) and she has done so in way that is funny and wise and incisive. I have never felt I was good at prayer (besides the fire engine/911 versions: God, HELP ME NOW, I've screwed up... I'm in big trouble...). This little book helped me to rethink how to pray and why.

According to her there are 3 essential prayers: Help, Thanks, and Wow: "asking for assistance, appreciating the good that gets us through the day, and feeling awe at the world" and these 3 prayers can help us "get through the day and show us the way forward." She discusses how she sorted this out and explains what these insights "have meant to her over the years and how they've helped" (jacket). She does so with her usual good humor and honesty; I was laughing and nodding my head as I read this book.

Good stuff. And it helped, really. I feel better about praying.

If you are a Lamott fan, you will love this book. I just wish I could talk to Carter about it.



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2013 Gaylactic Spectrum Award for Best Novel Announced

The Gaylactic Spectrum Awards were created in 1998 by the Gaylactic Network to honor works in speculative fiction (fantasy, science fiction, and horror) which include positive explorations of gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender characters, themes, and/or issues. In 2002, the Awards were handed over to a newly formed, independent organization, the Gaylactic Spectrum Awards Foundation.

The 2013 Winner and Short List of Recommended Works for the Best Novel category (for novels published in North America in 2012) were announced at Gaylaxicon 2013/OutlantaCon, in Atlanta:

Winner, The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller (published by Ecco)

Short List:
Casket of Souls, Lynn Flewelling (Spectra)--
Forged in Fire, J.A. Pitts (Tor)--
Point of Knives, Melissa Scott (Lethe) --
Rapture, Kameron Hurley (Nightshade.

Winners, Short List Recommendations, and all Nominees for 2013 and all previous years can be reviewed at:
http://www.spectrumawards.org

Nominations are now open for the 2014 Awards for works published in 2013. You are invited to nominate a work meeting the criteria at the same website.

Other Voices: Theresa Crater, Author of The Star Family

Today, I would like to welcome author Theresa Crater as my guest blogger.
In her fiction Theresa Crater brings ancient temples, lost civilizations and secret societies back to life in her visionary fiction. In The Star Family, her most recent novel (discussed below) a Gothic mansion holds a secret spiritual group and a 400-year-old ritual that must be completed to save the day.

The shadow government search for ancient Atlantean weapons in the fabled Hall of Records in Under the Stone Paw and fight to control ancient crystals sunk beneath the sea in Beneath the Hallowed Hill.
Her short stories explore ancient myth brought into the present day. The most recent include “The Judgment of Osiris” and “Bringing the Waters.” Theresa has also published poetry and a baker’s dozen of literary criticism. Currently, she teaches writing and British lit in Denver.

1. Do you remember how old you were when you wrote your first story? If so, do you remember what it was about?

I was in high school in a creative writing class. Our teacher would give us prompts. I remember one in particular—a picture of a castle up high on a rock. I don’t remember the story, though.

2. When did you really become serious about your writing?

I’d say when I moved to Seattle. I was teaching mediation and shared a house with a woman who was in graduate school. She taught a creative writing class and I sat in for a while. Then we all started a journal writing group. That really flipped my switch and I was off.

3. What was your first published story?

“Still Shots” in a magazine of feminist erotica called On Our Backs, which is a pun for the feminist publication Off Our Backs, which “everyone” was reading back in the day.

4. I grew up in North Carolina and reading your most recent novel, The Star Family, brought back a lot of memories, such as, learning just a little about the Moravians in required North Carolina history in the 7th grade, an 8th grade field trip to Old Salem and bringing home those wonderful cookies and a loaf of that wonderful bread, and years later, another visit to Old Salem that included more baked goods and that coffee. Thanks to you and The Star Family I have learned a lot more about the Moravians and their history.

In the novel, how much is real and how much is legend? How much comes from your own personal history? You grew up in Winston-Salem, and have Moravian roots?

Much of the actual history of the Moravians in the novel is real and a lot of it comes from new research. The new information is what inspired The Star Family. I was browsing and found a book called William Blake’s Sexual Path to Spiritual Vision. (Blake is a visionary poet and artists from the eighteenth to early nineteenth century.) In the introduction, it says Blake’s mother was a Moravian and that their teachings about sacred sexuality influenced Blake’s art and poetry.

Well, that stopped me dead in my tracks, because I was raised a Moravian, my family has been Moravian for several generations, and I’d never heard of such a thing. I had to know.

I discovered that the teachings of Count Zinzendorf were quite mystical. He was raised a Pietist, a sect of Christians that emphasized a heart connection to God. He taught that the Holy Spirit was female, so the Moravians worshipped Father, Mother and Son, not Father, Son and the Holy Ghost. But it was his teachings about the equality of women and the sacredness of sexuality that really caught my eye. The Count taught that there was no shame in the human body. To him, Jesus had redeemed humans and he also lived as a human.

Zinzendorf said that sexuality between a married couple could be a sacrament if practiced properly. Apparently, he had instructions. In the villages, people lived communally, separated into choirs by gender and marital status. The women ran their own affairs, had choir leaders with power in the community, and many women gave communion and did other spiritual teaching.

In these communal villages, married couples didn’t actually live together most of the time. They met for their sacrament according to a schedule in a special place called the Blue Cabinet. Turns out the actual instructions for married couples were more practical than mystical, since the Moravians were generally from peasant stock while Zinzendorf was an aristocrat. But I like to imagine something different.

Word got out that the Moravians were weird, and some criticized us for improper behavior. After Zinzendorf’s death, the Moravians pushed these teachings under the rug and they stayed there until quite recently. The height of these teachings was during the 1740s, called the Sifting Times. In my novel I imagined Zinzendorf’s teachings and these mystical practices continued in secret.

The Moravian Church grew out of the Hussite rebellion against the Hapsburgs and the martyrdom of Jan Hus. Hus preached in Prague in the early 1400s. After we were defeated in the Thirty Years War, we were scattered in Moravia and Poland. In the early eighteenth century, Count Zinzendorf allowed these refugees to build a new village in Saxony called Herrnhut. From there, Moravian villages spread out into Europe and the church sent out missionaries. Villages in two states were formed in the US (after the failure of our Georgia colony)—Bethlehem (1741) and Nazareth (1740), Pennsylvania, and three villages in North Carolina, Bethabara (1753), Bethania (1759), and Salem (1766). These villages were all settled during the Sifting Times.

If you want more, I’ve written a series of blogs about what’s real and what’s legend at http://theresacrater.com.

5. Your work has been described as visionary. Is the novel a warning? A way to a better utopian future?

I guess both. It seems the country is in gridlock right now, and we have serious issues to consider, especially the environment. If we make the planet inhospitable to human life, well then, what else is there to say? That’s why I focused on the oil and gas industry and creating an alternative with massive solar panel fields feeding into hydrogen cell technology for storage.

As for music and ritual saving the world, I’m a meditation teacher, and the man who taught me to teach TM used to emphasize that governments were a reflection of human consciousness. If we wanted to raise the level of our governments, we should raise human awareness through meditation. In the novel, I focused on music used in a ritual setting. The Rosicrucians and the physicists say the whole of creation is simply vibration. Music is vibration. The ritual focuses that vibration with an intention. Many spiritual groups talk about the creative power of thought, and even physicists discovered that the quantum world responds to our thoughts and perceptions. So in The Star Family, I saved the world through music and magic. Why not?

6. Why did you decide to publish your novel through CreateSpace?

I talked to my publisher (small press Crystal Star Publishing) and they said that these days, it’s best to use all options. They also have a version on Ingram for bookstores in particular. It’s also up on all the main eBook sites. You can even order a signed copy from me.

7. How would you categorize your fiction? Do you write to and/or for a particular audience? Is there an overall theme or themes? Why a particular genre?

My work is Visionary Fiction, which is a real category. It’s not something people are generally familiar with, so I call it paranormal mystery or contemporary fantasy, depending on the occasion. I write about sacred sites, ancient temples, secret spiritual groups and teachings—all that kind of thing. Why? It’s just what I’m interested in.

8. What are you working on currently? Can you whet our appetite with any details?

Another novel in the Power Places series. These can be read out of order quite easily. In The Sphinx Chamber, a house collapses on the edge of the Giza Plateau. With the Egyptian Antiquities Department in chaos, Michael Levy investigates the scene. The residents dug a shaft that connects to a maze of underground tunnels. Michael finds small gold statues and lapis jewelry littering the path, then a sealed chamber that could be directly beneath the Sphinx. As Michael tries to find his way through the maze beneath the Sphinx, his new wife, Anne Le Clair begins to hear whisperings in the night. A voice murmurs, “The time has come. Find my heart.” Anne’s doctor thinks her ill or perhaps suffering a breakdown brought on from the stress of facing her last month of pregnancy with her husband called away to Egypt. But the voice continues, more and more urgent. Anne follows clues left by her great grandfather who as an ambassador to Egypt, but will she find the secret in time?

9. Do you have a particular writing regime, such as writing a certain time of the day or in a particular location? How would you describe your writing process?

I generally write in the mornings, especially when I’m just starting out on a project. But once it gets going, I’ll write several times a day. I’ve noticed I write in two-hour spurts. I usually write in my home office with a view of the beautiful Rocky Mountains.

10. How does your real life as a teacher intersect with your writing life?

I read and write a lot. I teach creative writing. All this keeps me wrapped up in the writing world.

11. Any advice for aspiring writers?

Keep writing. Some say you need to write a million words before you get really good. Get critiqued by other writers (not your friends or family) especially people who are farther along than you, but don’t take a bunch of guff from egotistic people who like to be mean. (At first it might be hard to tell the difference between a good honest critique that stings and just plain unkindness.) Learn everything you can about craft and story structure. Join writers’ groups. Try publishing in all its aspects—short stories in magazines, NYC big five, small presses, and indie publishing. But don’t put your stuff out before it’s ready. It’s generally not ready when you first think it is.

Thank you, Theresa, for stopping by my blog and answering a few questions. For more information about this author of visionary fiction, visit her at http://theresacrater.com.
Twitter: @theresacrater
Facebook: Author page https://www.facebook.com/tlcwrites
Good Reads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/27...
Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?...

A Review of Fairs' Point, by Melissa Scott

Fairs' Point by Melissa Scott

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Point of Hopes, Point of Dreams, Point of Knives, and now, Fairs’ Point. At the last DarkoverCon Melissa Scott remarked that were thirteen Points in the city of Astreiant and she and her late partner, Lisa Barnett, had originally planned a novel for each. That we now have four gives me hope that there are many more stories of Nico Rathe, Adjunct Point, and his lover, Philip Eslingen, swordsman and former mercenary, to be told.

In this fourth novel of Astreiant, where astrology works and the working of magic is a profession and the dead, human and animal, return at ghost tide, Nico and Philip once again find themselves embroiled in a mystery. It is Dog Moon, and “the chief entertainment for nobles and commons alike, is the basket-terrier races at New Fair.” This year, things are a bit different. A young nobleman’s bankruptcy “has convulsed the city, leading to suicides, widespread loss of employment, and inconvenient new laws. As well, a rash of mysterious burglaries seems to suggest a magistical [magical] conspiracy” (back cover).

Pointsman Nico Rathe is, of course, in the middle of this, as is Philip, to whom the nobleman owed money. When the young man’s goods are divided among his debtors, Philip receives a basket-terrier puppy. He decides to have the dog, Sunflower, trained for the races—a decision that draws both men deeper into a mystery that somehow involves dog racing, burglaries, silver coins somehow appearing in a city wall, and strangely-done murders. Something weird is definitely going with the silver.

Complications ensue.

Scott once again is in top form in the ongoing world-building and exploration of this fantastical city. Details are rich and true, from the careful construction of a matriarchal society in which men don’t own property and a Queen is always on the throne, from the food sold at Wicked’s to how an alchemist examines a dead body. Such whimsical details as having the ghost of Nico’s childhood dog return during ghost tide I found particularly delightful. The mystery driving this police procedural is well-plotted, and the relationship that is the heart of this novel, that of Nico and Philip, is realistic and honest. They have things to work—should Phillip take the commission in the new Guard? How will this affect their relationship?

Just how the mystery is solved will be most satisfying to the reader.

As a Scott fan, I found myself once again drawn into this world and once again I was reluctant to leave it. Scott sets up the ending with the suggestion that this novel is indeed part of an ongoing longer story—and yes, my appetite is more than whetted for the adventures of these two likeable and personable characters to continue.

On a side note, I did wonder if maybe Scott might think about providing some sort of glossary of terms No, a glossary (or a gazetteer or a list of dramatis personae) isn’t necessary to understand and enjoy the story, and the context of each term does give me enough to go on. Even so, I’m curious: does “second sunrise” and “false dawn mean” there are two suns in the sky? Is Dis, as in Dis Adones and Dis-damned, akin to Dis Pater, the Roman god of the underworld? Does “How in Tyrseis’s name” and “What in Seidos’s Name” refer to the gods of this world? My guess: yes, Dis is a god, and perhaps so are Seidos and Tyrseis. Do I need to know to enjoy this novel? No, but knowing would enrich the experience and add to the wonder of this city of Astreiant.

Temple Point, Point of Graves… yes, more tales to come! Highly recommended.




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A Review of Lost Cat, by Caroline Paul

>Lost Cat: A True Story of Love, Desperation, and GPS Technology by Caroline Paul

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Yes, this is a "delightful read for all of us who would be lost without our cats." Thank you, Suzy Becker, author of All I Need to Know I Learned from My Cat,

This memoir is a tale of obsession and love. Caroline Paul was recovering from terrible accident. Could things get worse? Yes, when her beloved cat, Tibia, aka Tibby, disappeared. She and her partner, Wendy mourn the loss of this great cat and then, he returns, 5 weeks later.

Where was he? He was sleek and well-fed--who was feeding him? Did he love them more?

So begins a tale of obsession, fueled by love.

GPS technology (attached to a collar).
A Cat Cam, also attached.
And
Posters, did you see this cat?
Finally, door to door.

I laughed and laughed. I have a cat. There are too many cars in this neighborhood for me to let him out, but, if he did get out and went kitty walkabout, yes, I would want to know where,

Highly recommended.



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A Review of Elementari Rising, by Nancy Hightower

Elementari Rising by Nancy Hightower

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Fantasy fans, check this out. A lot of this story will be familiar--enough. The small peaceful village, threatened by powerful evilforces, great kingdoms, noble lords, dark forests and darker secrets. The natural order of the world is threatened--can it be saved? Should it?

Then, there are the Elementari, spirits of the earth, fire, water, and air (again just familiar enough). These elemental beings are present in this world, yet sleeping and guarded by the Terakhein, a guardian tribe, special and set apart, who seem to be just slightly from the rest of the humans.

The Elementari are awake and out of control. The world is in danger. Where are the guardians?

In Gaelastad, where the trees never die, in a small village, is our hero, 18-year-old Jonathan, whose dreams are haunted by what seems to be the last of the Terhakein, a little girl. He must find her; this is his quest. The world he knows and loves, his small village, his family, his best friend--are gone, destroyed. With Cadman, a wise old man, his adventure begins and there is supernatural help, as not all the wakened Elementari are evil: "Bryn, a terrible fire spirit, and Morgan, the most beautiful--and deadly--of water spirits."

Thus, this most dangerous adventure begins, and the end of this, Book One of the Elementari, I am left wanting to know happens next, how will this adventure play out.

Hightower has done her job and done it well.

Her world-building is first-rate. I was particularly struck by how GLBT-friendly this world is and how that friendliness, as it were, is woven into the fabric of things as they are in such a way that it becomes so natural, so easy, so casual. In the Prologue, at the Inn of the Three Sisters, a shady place, "off in the corner two men danced cheek to cheek (9). Tarl, the barber, who "llikes his men a bit more brooding [and]His women, too (10), bargains for a mysterious girl-child, who may be a sacrifice to save the missing Terakhein child.

In the village Jonathan wrestles with his best friend, Alec, and asks if he yields, replies, "Yes, damn you, now get off me before someone thinks we're betrothed" (34). Not out of fear, he only wishes to avoid the mistake.

Kudos are in order for this deft way of making her world GLBT-friendly.

I did wish for a list of people, places, events, terms and Elementari. The requisite map helps, especially when Jonathan's journey begins. I just found the many names sometimes confusing.

Well done.



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Mark Allan Gunnells Asks Me Some Questions about Writing and ....

Mark Allan Gunnells asked me some questions about writing and science fiction and fantasy and the creative process and a few other things.

http://markgunnells.livejournal.com/1...