Jamieson Wolf's Blog, page 68
August 10, 2015
Stone and Fog – A Poem
I look out
at the world
from inside of
a brain fog.
It is a
storm that casts
its shadow on
everything I see.
I try to
speak but my
tongue doesn’t move
the right way.
Words are like
stones that fall
from my mouth,
uncoordinated and heavy.
I try to
gather them as
they fall and
arrange them in
some semblance of
order. I look
down into my
hands to see
the stones that
have fallen but
the fog is
heavy and they
don’t make sense:
I an many than me symposium. I an younger than I knew.
I let more
words fall from
my mouth and
catch them. I
can feel their
warmth and they
pulse with unsaid
meaning. I try
to arrange them
in some order:
I an many than me symptoms. I am younger than I know.
The right words
pulse in different
colours inside my
mind, shining through
the fog. I
merely have to
get my lips
to say the
right ones. I
try once more,
pronouncing my words
slowly, trying to
speak past the fog.
It takes all
of my effort
to do so:
I am more than my symptoms. I am stronger than I know.
When the right
words are uttered,
they act like
a spell that
chases away the
fog. It dissipates
with a wooshing
sound that leaves
me breathless for
a moment. The
fog will be
back, I know
this. However, I
will be ready.
July 31, 2015
Reaching for the Sun – A Poem
Two years ago, 
there was only
darkness. My body
had rebelled against
me, shifting its
shape into something
new and, at
the time, utterly
terrifying. It was
the unknown of
how my life
would become that
I found most
frightening of all.
I hid inside
my hovel of
an apartment, the
forest growing ever
closer, the trees
growing larger by
the day. In
the space of
a couple of
weeks, I could
smell only the
trees and soil.
I gave up
and lay down
on the forest
floor, letting the
earth overtake me.
In a matter
of moments, there
was only darkness,
sweet, blissful and
cool. I relaxed
to the inevitable,
what my life
was now. Slowly,
though, something started
to happen. There
was a tingling
sensation that started
in my legs
and began to
work its way
up my body.
I felt something
in my skin
escape my body
and it began
to twist and
turn into the
soil. I could
hear it whispering
as it found
its way. I
began to see
light, finding its
way through chinks
and holes in
the dirt. The light
was brighter than
the darkness and
began to chase
away the shadows.
As I watched,
the holes became
wider as if
the ground were
moving. I realized,
when I felt
the pull on
my legs from
whatever had found its
way into the dirt,
that I was
the one in
movement, rising toward
the surface. In
an instant, I
broke free, staring
at the sun
and taking in
my first breath
of real air.
I marvelled at
Its beauty, at
the warmth and
heat of the
sun, how nourishing
it was after
so long in
the shadowy dark.
I looked down
at my feet
and realized what
the sensation had
been. I had
grown roots and
had been planted
in the very
earth itself. At
the time, I
didn’t know what
would be coming,
but I did
know that there
was really only
one option left
to me. I had
only to grow.
I had only
to reach for
the sun and
beyond, no matter
what came. I
was not who
I had been
but had grown
into something more.
I had only
to reach for
the sun and
continue growing to
find out what
I had become.
July 28, 2015
I Love You Because… – A Poem
I love you because
you truly know me,
every inch and breath
of who I am and you
just love me more.
I love you because
you helped me grow
beyond who I thought I was
and into who I truly am,
who I was meant to be.
I love you because
you make my soul so joyous
that it is filled with laughter
and music that only we can hear.
I love you because
you don’t just speak to me
with your voice, but with
you’re entire soul
with every word and every touch.
I love you because
you fill my world with a light
that shines so brilliantly,
so brightly, that others
can’t help but notice it.
I love you because
you complete me
and continue to leave me breathless
with wanting you.
July 16, 2015
You Are Missing From Me – A Poem
When you are away,
I don’t merely miss you.
I yearn for you,
for everything you
bring to my life
and the life that we
build together. I am
restless when you’re gone,
unsure of what to do
with myself, I feel adrift
in a world which I used
to see one way, but you
have given me a new way to
see it, a different way
to experience it,
to actually live life.
When you are away,
I don’t merely miss you.
I ache for you,
for your hand in mine,
to hear your voice in my ear,
the sound of your laughter
or the feel of your lips against mine.
Since we’ve met,
I’ve found the other half of me
that was missing for so long,
the other piece of me
shining bright like the jewel
that you are.
My life is so much brighter
with you in it and you’ve
taught me to truly shine.
When you are away,
you are missing from me
and my whole self,
all of who I am,
yearns for your return.
July 15, 2015
The Chariot – A Poem
I’ve been living
with stones of
the past weighing
me down. I’ve
been carrying them
with me for too
long a time.
Some are large
and made from
metal, others are
jewel bright and
catch the sun.
Others still are
made from wood
or glass. Each
of them is
covered with something,
an image that
represents that part
of the past
weighing me down,
holding me back.
The chains or ropes
attaching them to me
chafe at me, raise red welts
on my skin.
I stand on
the street, looking
to the sun
when I see one
approaching me. It
stops in front
of me and
I notice the rider.
He looks a
little like me
and holds the
reins to three beasts
that pull his chariot.
“Want to come aboard?”
He asks me.
“Yes, please.”
He shakes his
head, the sun
glinting off of
his armor like
little bits of sun.
“You can’t go forward with all that weight. How do you even walk?”
I bristle slightly.
“I manage just fine.”
He looks at
me and I
see something in
his eyes, something
familiar. He nods.
“Come on then, if you must.”
He holds out
his hand and
helps me up.
The Chariot begins
to move, but
slowly, so slowly.
“In order to move forward, you’ll have to let some of that go.”
I look at
my weight and
choose the heaviest
ones, untie them
from me. Others
with metal cuffs
holding them to
me click apart
and they fall
away behind me
on the roadside.
We move faster
now, the Chariot
gathering speed. I
look at the
stones that are
left. They are
smaller but some
of them are
the heaviest. I
hold them up
to him.
“What about these?”
He looks at the stones.
“What about them? You will either let them go or hold on to them. Only you can decide to be free.”
I nod, almost
knowing what he
would say to me.
I release the
other ropes and
cuffs and the
stones fall behind
me, clattering on
the pavement. The
marks and burns
still remain though.
“Those will go away in time.”
He says, kindly.
“For now, they will remind you of how far you’ve come. Remember, we are not defined by our scars.”
We travel on
for a while
until I ask him:
“Where are we going?”
He regards me
and then smiles,
handing me the
reigns. He begins
to fade and
something in me
feels fuller, more
bright. I finally
recognize him as
myself, the me
I dreamed of being.
“Forward. Go forward, don’t look back.”
When he is
completely gone, I
am holding the
reigns and can
feel the bright
sun on my
armor, turning me
into a sun.
“Forward.”
I whisper.
“Forward.”
July 12, 2015
The Great Village Show by Alexandra Brown – A Book Review
Meg Singer is at wits end.
Her son, Jack, has gone off to university. This leaves her feeling very alone in her little cottage in the lovely village of Tindledale. She isn’t sure what she can do to fill up her time now that he’s off living his own life and she’s in Tindledale missing him.
Added to that, the school board has decided that the Tindledale village school might be closing due to low attendance. As acting head of the school, Meg takes this to heart. She knows that her school has provided an education to everyone in the village and she can’t let it close, she just can’t. Only, how does she keep it open?
The answer comes in the form of the Great Village Show. All the villages in the surrounding township are competing and Meg knows that if they place high enough, there will be an article in the paper, hopefully drawing potential newcomers with children to Tindledale.
Meg throws herself into the preparations, knowing she has to do everything she can to make Tindledale shine. She’s distracted by two newcomers to her village: handsome and dashing celebrity chef Dan Wright. She learns from Lawrence, the owner of the B and B, that he might be opening up a new restaurant there.
Then there’s Jessie Cavendish, a woman who seems to have it all. Jessie enrolls her triplets in Meg’s school, but there is something off about her, something not quite right. When Meg sees an altercation between Jessie and her husband Sebastian, she wonders if not everything is as it seems.
However, Meg will need all the help she can get if Tindledale is going to put on the greatest Village Show ever seen…
My meagre plot summary is lacking in the heart that Alexandra Brown writes her world and her characters. It lacks the charm that she’s infused The Great Village Show with, the wit, the magic. I fell into this book and didn’t want to leave the village of Tindledale.
What surprised me was the choice of protagonist. In the first book in the Tindledale series, The Great Christmas Knit Off, we met Sybil, who helped save Hettie’s House of Haberdashery. Her previous series all revolved around Georgie Hart of Carrington’s. So I was expecting to see what Sybil was getting up to next. Imagine my surprise when we met Meg and Sybil was a secondary character!
This is a lovely twist and I wait with anticipation to see which character will narrate the next book. Will it be Sonny and Cher from the Duck and Puddle? Lawrence from the B and B? I can’t wait to find out. It takes a brave author to change narrators, but Brown makes it work so well. I can only hope that, when the series is at its end, we’ll know all the people from Tindledale better than we already do.
Alexandra Brown constantly wows me as she continues to write “chick lit” that pushes boundaries and blurs lines. In the Carrington’s series, for example, Georgie’s mother passed away from complications due to Multiple Sclerosis. A pretty heavy subject matter for chick lit, right?
In The Great Village Show, she deals with spousal abuse. It takes an awfully brave author to tackle such a subject, but an even more talented to handle it with gentle grace and to not let it bring down the joy of her novel. Brown deals with it in such a way that you’re left cheering at the end of the book. Still, it’s not the kind of topic you’ll find in chick lit but Brown makes all this work and more.
The Great Village Show is such a marvel and quite the treat. It will fill you up with joy and by the time you finish the novel, you won’t ever want to leave Tindledale.
I’ll have to read the book for a second time when I get my paperback copy just to see all those characters again. They aren’t merely people of the page but characters that fill your heart.
A Happenstance of the Heart – A Short Story
This short story was written for Sonia as part of Pay It Forward 2015. I hope you all enjoy it!
*
It was the noise that awoke her first.
To Sonia, it sounded as if an animal was sharpening its nails on the windows. That noise was followed by another, clearly a sound of pain, a long an pitiful howling sound. This was followed by the third sound: something clicking, as if a car was having trouble restarting itself.
She got up and went to her window and saw no animal there, nothing huddled on the ground. Curious, she went against her better judgement, which was fighting to keep her indoors, and walked to the front door of her house. The noises were growing louder, more urgent. Whatever it was that was making the sounds, it was clearly in trouble.
Checking to see both children and her mother were asleep, she put on a pair of slippers, opened her front door and looked out into the darkness. There were a few lights that dotted her street, but they left parts of the street in shadows. Across the street from her house, there was an open stretch of grass where the children in the neighborhood played soccer or other sports. The noises were coming from there.
They were even louder now that she was standing outside. Running towards the sounds, again fighting her better judgement, Sonia ran towards them. She saw two tom cats attacking something smaller than them. It was covering its head with its arms and was just waiting for the attack. The feral sounds were coming from it.
It was darkest in this section of the field, with no lights at all, but she could make out its shape. Was it a bird? She wasn’t sure, but when it let loose another of those cries, beginning with that sound like nails on glass, she knew it was in trouble.
The animal howled even louder, almost as if it knew that the end was close. Sonia stood rooted to the spot but knew, with utmost certainty, that she had to do something. She had been trodden on all of her life. Her ex-husband was much like one of those tom cats, strutting around and showing how big it was when it was really just full of hot air. So she did the only thing she could do.
Bending down, Sonia grabbed a handful of little rocks that littered the field around her. She didn’t want to hurt them, more frighten them away. Throwing them with all her might, she was rewarded with a shocked meow from one of the toms as a rock flew by its head. When she lobbed another rock close to the other one, he hissed at her. She threw another a small handful of stones at them and they let out frightened meows. “Serves you right!” She said loudly. “Picking on something that can’t defend itself! Get going! Both of you!”
She made do charge them, but both cats turned and ran into the darkness. When they had scampered off, she was left in silence, broken only by the animals occasional sounds. It was now letting out soft mewing sounds, its breath coming quick and fast. It was still too dark to see the creature, but she could see it had wings of a sort. They looked like leather in the shadows. Reaching down with a gentle hand, Sonia stroked one of the wings.
“There now, it’s going to be all right. I’ll take care of you.”
It let its wings down and looked at her. It stood weakly on its legs and let out another little soft mew sound, almost as if it were saying yes. “Do you want to come home with me little one?”
It let out another sound, closer to a purr this time. She took that as a sound of agreement. Reaching down, she carefully lifted the animal into her arms. “It’s okay, no one will hurt you now.”
Walking back across the field, she held the animal almost as if it were a baby. Not knowing what the animal was, but knowing that it needed some love, she brought it into her home. When she crossed the threshold, the sound of a gong rang out and the air seemed to pulsate around her.
Startled, Sonia turned on a light switch. There was no gong in her house, she knew that, but she wondered if her mother had brought home a new toy for the children. She calmed herself as her heart was racing. Taking a few deep breaths, Sonia turned on a light switch. Looking down, she realized the animal was watching her.
It was covered in what looked like blue scales and large, dark eyes looked back at her. Reaching out a finger, she traced the horns that were growing on its brow, black like the night. The creature let out a small purr as it traced the rest of its face, letting her finger go along its jaw line and pet its snout.
It sneezed and there was a puff of smoke.
“What are you, little one? Where did you come from?”
Her mother, Gwendolyn, ran into the living room. “Oh, Sonia! You’re all right! I came as fast as I could when I heard that sound, I was afraid that you had fallen and hurt yourself!”
“Don’t be silly mom. I’m all right, see?” She held the little animal up towards her mother. “I went out and rescued an animal. It seems to be all right, but there were some tom cats trying to hurt it. I saved it just in time.”
Gwendolyn took one look at the animal and her mouth dropped open. Then she crossed herself. “Saints be praised. I never thought I’d live to see a dragon.”
The word stayed in the air for a moment and the only sound was that of the little animal breathing. Finally, Sonia spoke: “Don’t talk nonsense mom. There’s no such thing as dragons.”
The little animal let out a pained yelp and Sonia looked down at it. There was a small patch of redness on the scales that covered its belly. “Poor thing, they hurt you. What do you eat? Would you like some water?”
Gwendolyn shook her head. “There is such a thing as dragons.”
“No there isn’t. Those are just stories. They don’t actually exist.”
“Oh and those stories came out of nowhere, did they? You think that the story tellers of old just made them up?”
Sonia let out a little laugh. “Well, yes, mom. That’s what story tellers do, you know. They make things up. There are no such things as dragons.”
The animal let out another yelp. Looking down, Sonia saw that the red patch had grown larger. “Oh! Come on little one, I’ll take care of you.”
Sonia brought it over to the kitchen sink, her mother not far behind her.
“Sonia, I tell you, that’s a dragon. That sound you heard was one that happens when the dragon bonds to its mother. It’s in all the old tales, why do you not listen?”
“Because dragons aren’t real, everyone knows that.”
The animal let out a third yelp and Sonia saw that even more of its scales had reddened in colour. “Oh, poor thing. Come here, I’ll clean you.”
She placed the animal into the water and it purred again when its scales touched the hot liquid. Sonia squirted some water onto the animal and she rinsed it as best as she could. Looking more closely at it, she thought it looked like a lizard. She wondered vaguely if lizards were native to this area.
The lizard continued to purr lightly as it was cleaned, Gwendolyn looking on with something approaching awe. “It needs a name.” She said. “Every man, woman and beast needs a name. You need to finish the bonding.”
Watching the lizard for a moment, she tried to think of a name, but none came to her. “I can’t think of one.”
“Perhaps it will tell you it’s name in time.”
Sonia took the lizard out of the water and dried its scales. It looked much cleaner, but the red patch had grown some more. “Come on little one, let’s find some place for you to sleep.”
It let out a little cough of smoke and took to the air. It flew before her for a moment before settling down on her shoulder.
Gwendolyn reached out a hand and stroked the lizard’s nose. It purred happily and then nestled into Sonia’s hair. “The old stories talk of dragons coming when the hero or heroine would need it most.” She gave Sonia a dark look. “Perhaps it’s here for a reason.”
Later, as Sonia got ready for bed, the lizard made itself comfortable on one of her pillows. It curled up into a small circle and settled down to sleep. Looking at it, Sonia was moved to tears. Why had the animal chosen her?
She had to admit that it was nice having something else to look after. With her husband gone and her children were growing up so fast-Skyler was three and her daughter Serenity was five. Sonia felt an ache pulse in her heart. Though she knew that she had many years left to care for Skyler and Serenity, she knew that time would pass by in the blink of an eye. Today they were three and five, tomorrow they would be graduating high school. Time seemed to speed up when you wanted it to stand still.
If Sonia was being honest with herself, she supposed she was lamenting the piece of her heart that her ex-husband had taken with him. Sonia found it impossible to just stop loving someone. Though they had parted, their marriage over, the words they slung between them angry and hateful, she still loved him. You couldn’t turn off love like a water facet, it wasn’t that simple.
She lay down in bed once again in darkness and was lulled to sleep by the small snoring sounds of the lizard.
In the morning, she woke when she heard purring noises close to her ear. Opening her eyes, she saw that the lizard had made itself comfortable as close to her as it could and was licking her hand with a long forked tongue.
Smiling, Sonia sat up and regarded it. It’s red patches had spread until almost the entire lizard was covered with scales. It regarded her from the bed, blinking its yellow eyes at her serenely. She reached out a hand and stroked its scales. “What shall I call you little one?”
Though she couldn’t see the animal move its lips, Sonia heard a voice answer her just the same.
*I have many names*
Cocking her head to the right, she regarded the animal. “Did you just speak?”
*Not in the way you are accustomed to. It is the way we speak to our rider.*
“Are you speaking inside my head?”
It slowly blinked its eyes at her. *How else do you think we’re conversing?*
Sonia shook her head. “I can’t believe this is happening. This isn’t real.”
*You say this though I sit before you and we’re sharing words with our minds? Why can’t you believe?*
“I promised myself I wouldn’t believe what I couldn’t see or touch. Not after him.”
*You speak of the one I’ve seen inside your mind? The one who hurt you? What does he have to do with anything?*
“He spoke of love, of loving me forever. I don’t believe in love anymore, as you can’t see it or touch it.”
The lizard reached out with a clawed foot and touched her softly on her hand. It gripped one of her fingers in its talons. *There, you can see me and touch me. Believe in me, Sonia, for I am very real.*
Reaching out with a shaking hand, Sonia stroked its scales once more. “You’re not really a lizard, are you?”
*No, you know what I am.*
“But dragons don’t exist.”
*Yet I’m here before you. You can see me and touch me. I exist for you, Sonia. Say what I am and name me, only then will the bonding be complete.*
Sonia looked at it and found herself mesmerized by its eyes. They blinked slowly at her like a cats and Sonia found herself nodding. She spoke softly, the words tumbling from her as if they had been waiting to be spoken: “You’re name is Titus and you are a dragon.”
At those words, another gong sounded throughout the house and her room was filled with light. It took Sonia only a moment to realize that the light was coming from Titus. She watched as the redness of his scales began to fall away and the blue was revealed, only it was different than before. Now the blueness of it shone like sapphires and shone just as brightly.
When the light faded, Titus bowed his head to her. *Thank you, Sonia. The bonding is complete.*
“What does that mean?”
*Dragons have but one rider. The rider and the dragon share a bond that few things in life can match.*
“I’m honoured.”
*No, you honour me. You saved me though you had no idea what I was. I can’t thank you enough for that, but there is something I want to give you.*
“What? What is it?”
The answer would have to wait, for at that moment her bedroom door opened and Gwendolyn stood there with Skyler and Serenity. Skyler stared at Titus open mouthed in shock but Serenity gave words to what they were all feeling: “A dragon! Cool!”
Titus entertained the children all day and delighted Gwendolyn with his acrobatics. Sonia reflected while watching them that this was the first time that she had been happy in a long time. She had Titus to thank for that.
Later, she took him out into the garden. The fireflies were numerous this evening and helped to make the darkness look as if it were a dream. She wondered if she had walked into a book, some modern fairy tale, and had yet to walk out of the book and off the page.
“What was it you wanted to give me?” Sonia whispered.
*A vision of things to come. It’s yours if you want to see it.*
She thought for a moment. “I’d like to.”
*Then look into my eyes, Sonia. Remain calm, for you aren’t in any danger.*
Sonia brought Titus us to her face so she could do so. Instead of yellow eyes, she saw that the eyes were now filled with something like smoke. She blinked once and when she opened them, she was flying.
The air moved around her as if it were welcoming her. She looked down and realized she flew on Titus, his long body much bigger than it had been before. She felt his wings beating on either side of her, the movement calming rather than alarming.
He turned his neck and regarded her with a regal expression. *Look down there.*
She did and saw herself playing with her children. They were a little older, maybe by a year or so. She was laughing with them and had never looked so happy. They were playing in the backyard of another house and were joined by another child, a boy with dark hair and a bright smile.
“Whose child is that?”
Her question was answered when the child called out “Mom!” He ran to her and almost knocked her over with a hug, throwing himself into the act with energy that only the young have.
There was another question on her lips when a man came out of the house. He had the same dark hair and bright smile that the boy did. He approached the Sonia down below and wrapped his arms around her. The boy, wigging out from between them, ran away laughing and joined Serenity and Skyler.
The man with the dark hair kissed Sonia and in the sky above them, the real Sonia watched as light bloomed inside them and shone out for all to see. She felt Titus’ eyes on her once more. “Why are you showing me this?”
*You will have great love in your life, Sonia. More than you do now. You only have to do one thing.*
“What’s that? What do I have to do? My heart is breaking, I don’t know if it will ever heal.”
*It will in time. Time heals almost every wound. You have to remain open to love, only then will you give the light the portal it needs to come into you.*
“So is this the future? Is this what will happen?”
*It is, if you have an open heart. It is if you want it to be. Choose love Sonia, or the possibility of it. The rest will take care of itself.*
She blinked and opened her eyes once more and found herself back in the garden, looking into Titus’ eyes which had returned to yellow orbs that glowed in the darkness. She took a deep breath and felt something inside of herself mend.
A hole that she had been carrying with her began to repair itself. There were still a few stitches left to make the hole disappear completely, but that would come with time. She looked in Titus’s eyes and they blinked slowly. She held him up and kissed his nose softly.
“Thank you.”
*There is no thanks needed. There is only love.*
Sonia nodded, feeling lighter than she had in a long time. She had no idea what would happen, if she would be able to keep Titus, when she would find the man she saw in the vision, what would happen with her ex-husband.
None of that mattered, though. She chose love. The rest would take care of itself.
She would make her first choice for love by going inside and making dinner for her boys and her mother for the first time in months. She would fill her home with so much light that anyone who passed by could not fail to see it.
There is only love.
The rest is merely happenstance.
July 2, 2015
Brighter Than the Stars – A Poem
I try to
tell you how
much I love
you. My words
are lacking, even
after all this
time. It’s difficult
to capture the
emotions you stir
inside of me
in three simple
words. Saying
I love you
doesn’t seem like
enough. I try
anyways.
“I’m so in love with you.”
I tell you
and you respond
in kind. It
doesn’t capture everything
though. It fails
to tell you
how much you’ve
changed my life,
how much more
amazing it’s become
since you entered
I try again.
“I love you beyond words.”
That almost works,
for aren’t I
always struggling to
find a way
to tell you
how I feel?
However, I’m a
writer and words
are my art.
I should be
able to tell
you how much
you make me
feel, how I’ve
become someone I
always wanted to
be, thanks to
your love and
your support, your
kindness that shines
from you in
all that you
do. So, I
try once again:
“I love you completely.”
That still seems
to lack the
way I love you,
how our love
continues to grow
beyond our bodies
and the fact
that I love
you with my
entire body, heart
and soul. In
the end, I
know that when
you look at
me, even if
I haven’t spoken,
you know exactly
how I feel
and return those
feelings in kind.
When you look
at me, you’re
seeing all of
me, every bit
of my heart
and soul. All
those words I’ve
been trying to
find don’t matter.
All that matters
is you and
the love we
have for each
other, brighter than
all the stars.
June 28, 2015
The End is Nigh and it is Glorious – A Book Review
What’s not to love about Nigh?
When I first heard that Marie Bilodeau was writing a serial novel, I was excited. I’m a huge fan of her work, both her Heirs of a Broken Land and her Desinty’s trilogies are totally awesome and favourites of mine read many times over.
So I expected more of the same…what I should have learned by now is: with Marie Bilodeau, expect the unexpected and the unexpected is awesome!
Nigh Book 1 reads like a cross between The Mist by Stephen King and Charles de Lint, part horror, part epic fantasy with strong characters you fall in love with and yearn to help. Marie’s writing just pulls you in and leaves you wanting more.
Which is part of the issue with a serial novel. By the time the next installment came out, I was salivating for it, desperate to find out what was going to happen to Alva, Hector, Pete, Gruff and Molly.
Serial novels have fallen out of fad, but Marie makes a strong case to bring them back with Nigh. Popularized by Charles Dickens, the trend was continued by authors such as Arminstead Maupin and Stephen King. There hasn’t been a serial novel worth reading in a long time, until Nigh.
She has created a world, our world, that is both magical and terrifying. Something recognizable that has been changed by magic and hardened by time.
Our story begins with Alva Viola Taverner.
As a car mechanic, she is used to fixing things, putting them back in order. She has her sister and her job. That’s all she needs out of life in her small town. Everything else has let her down. However, things are about to change.
A thief breaks into her apartment. At first she’s worried that her most prized possession, her Grandmothers watch, is stolen, but its fight where she left it, safe and sound. Then things get even more bizarre when there’s a break in at the garage.
She knows without a doubt that it’s the same man who broke into her apartment. She corners him and he tells her that her Grandmothers watch has the power to stop an impending catastrophe: the veil between our world and the other has grown thin; and the things that go bump in the night are breaking free.
Soon, she’s on the run with Gruff, her boss at the garage, Al’s best friend Molly and Hector, the man who broke into her home and her work. Dangerous mists have started to roll along the roads and they can hear the sounds of others dying within them. The mists and what wait inside them are wiping out our world, one piece at a time. No one is safe.
When Alva is told that she has the only thing that can stop the impending doom, she has no choice but to trust Hector. However, will it be enough?
Or will they all die in the attempt?
The story starts there and just explodes off of the page. To tell you any more of the novel would be to take away some of its magic. Nigh (Books 1-5) isn’t a story you just read. It’s one that you experience, a novel that you want to crawl into and live inside.
Told with aplomb and with grace, Nigh is an incredible journey from start to finish. The serial novel format works to well here as you, the reader, feels as if you’ve been on a long journey, right along with Alva and crew.
The story began in January and has finally found it’s end in June, six months of wondering, hoping and wishing have finally come to an end and what a journey it’s been. Nigh is without a doubt the best thing that Marie Bilodeau has written and I can’t wait to see if the story is going to continue or what she has next for us.
Do yourself a favour and pick up the first book. It’s FREE! I guarantee that when you finish it, you’ll want to, nay, need to read on to find out what happens. Get your copy here:
Nigh Book 1
The end is Nigh and it is glorious!
Long Live the Hierophant – A Poem
From the moment
I read your
words, I knew
that you were
a storyteller. When
I met you
the first time,
I saw light
around you, shining
bright and blue,
with a golden
tinge to the
light that emanated
from you. As
I came to
know you, I
learned from you.
You taught me
to be strong,
to search for
strength in myself,
to live my
fullest life. As
I came to
know you better,
I was reminded
of the Hierophant,
the embodiment of
wisdom and knowledge
given form and
shape. Rather than
accept the reality
around you as
it was, you
filled pages with
your writing in
order to better
understand yourself and
your place in
the world. You
wrote for the
sheer joy of
it, the absolute
bliss of it.
You have to
know that
you are such
an inspiration to
me, to everyone
who knows you.
Bard, storyteller, mother,
friend, family of
the heart. You
are all of
these things and
more. The deep
fulfillment that you
have found in
yourself inspires me
to shine as
strongly as you
do and my
life is so
much brighter for
knowing you.
* For Dava, Happy Birthday with love. :)
