Devil at the Crossroads in Riptide Publishing

Jan 01, 2014 Bucletina rated it really liked it

Antes de leer a Cornelia Grey me costaba considerar como premisa válida por sí misma la idea de que muchas veces los cuentos o relatos cortos poseen -en la mano de un sabio escritor- muchísima más intensidad y carga argumental que una novela larga. Históricamente me ha costado empatizar con los cuentos, la verdad. Claro que cualquier formato depende casi exclusivamente de la mano que le da vida, pero ahora más que nunca creo que un excelente relato es mucho más difícil de realizar y conseguir qu Antes de leer a Cornelia Grey me costaba considerar como premisa válida por sí misma la idea de que muchas veces los cuentos o relatos cortos poseen -en la mano de un sabio escritor- muchísima más intensidad y carga argumental que una novela larga. Históricamente me ha costado empatizar con los cuentos, la verdad. Claro que cualquier formato depende casi exclusivamente de la mano que le da vida, pero ahora más que nunca creo que un excelente relato es mucho más difícil de realizar y conseguir que una historia muy larga, donde hay espacio para rellenar.

Cornelia logra en sus obras un nivel de profundidad emocional, una carga de sentidos tan redonda que te pasa por encima como un huracán y cuando te das cuenta y querés agarrarte para apreciarlo mejor, ya pasó de largo. Devil..se conecta con el lector desde el más puro instinto. Es factible sentir los olores, vivir la pesadumbre de su protagonista; el lugar entre realidad y fantasía en el que se encuentra. Y no es solamente por la detallada descripción: es también la precisa elección de palabras, ideas y conceptos la que logran transmitir ese ambiente oscuro y áspero. La autora toma la vieja idea faustiana del pacto con el diablo para contar una historia de pasión, de desesperanza, de olvido, de oportunidades perdidas y de posibilidades futuras. En 70 páginas!!!!

Jorge Luis Borges nunca escribió una novela. Él decía que los cuentos eran un género esencial, y que los relatos largos obligaban al relleno. Que un cuento permitía que se apreciaran todos sus detalles, que pudiera vérselo como un todo, pero que en una novela esto era solo posible si se olvidaban muchos detalles. De hecho en el prólogo de El jardín de los senderos que se bifurcan, afirma: "Desvarío laborioso y empobrecedor el de componer vastos libros; el de explayar en quinientas páginas una idea, cuya perfecta exposición oral cabe en pocos minutos. Mejor procedimiento es simular que esos libros ya existen y ofrecer un resumen, un comentario".

Y Cornelia es una clara exponente de esto. Incluso he leído varias reseñas de este mismo libro, donde usuarios destacan su talento pero lamentan que no escriba novelas más largas, como si ese fuera el paraíso de cualquier autor, el objetivo perfecto y deseable por antonomasia. Devil es como una foto: la captura de un momento que ella nos quiere compartir, un pequeño recorte de una historia que puede haber existido antes y después. Si decidiera continuarla, sería muy feliz, pero sino, me quedo con las miles de sensaciones y con todos aquellos posibles escenarios que se me ocurrieron para el futuro de Logan y Farfarello. ...more

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Sep 20, 2013 Evaine rated it really liked it

Shelves: paranormal-romance, e-books, m-m

My goodness, I enjoyed this! There weren't any surprises, any new twists of a way to write a story, any fancy writing to make it edgy and supposedly new, just some good, solid, story-telling. It felt brief and I guess at a little under 20K words, it is, but it was definitely rich with atmosphere and two characters that I quite enjoyed; definitely how I would expect a tale of a bluesman and a devil to read. And the sex was steamy, steamy hot. :)

This is the first work I've read by Cornelia Grey an ...more

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Sep 26, 2013 Lady*M rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, m-m-romance, paranormal

A legend says that Robert Johnson had sold his soul to the Devil to become a great blues musician. He spent his life traveling from town to town and, through only a handful of recordings, influenced generations of blues, rock 'n' roll and rock musicians. Very little is known of his life outside music.

Cornelia Grey tells a story of Logan Hart, a man whose story is similar to Johnson legend. But, this is the story behind the legend, behind the music. It's a seduction that doesn't end in the fiery ...more

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Oct 02, 2013 Shirley Frances rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2013, mm-read, read-2-review, reviewed, glbt

Knowing his time has come to pay up for his debt to the devil, Logan retreats to a beaten-down motel where he tries to drown his regrets in alcohol. Counting the seconds until the moment comes, he makes himself crazy, remembering the day he made the deal and what became of his life.

In appears Farfarello, but what he wants from Logan is not what Logan expects.

Cornelia Grey packed a punch in this short novella. It was gritty and dark and completely enthralling. Story-telling at its best!

I was comp ...more

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Nov 14, 2013 K.Z. Snow added it

A surprisingly lovely story, moody and magical, with a surprisingly endearing, even unforgettable character -- and I mean Farfarello. I was enchanted by him.

There are few nits for me to pick. The central sex scene was, I think, disproportionately long, given the brevity of the tale. "Further" was once mistakenly used instead of "farther." And sometimes the similes flew a little too fast and thick.

But I'm straining here, primarily because I don't believe there's any such thing as the perfect work ...more

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Jan 31, 2014 Cryselle rated it it was amazing

Shelves: paranormal, riptide

Ah, another taste of Cornelia Grey’s lovely, atmospheric prose: she can create such a scene with words you can practically reach in and pick things up. Here she’s using the language of despair, because Logan’s at the moment of reckoning.

Logan, desperate to escape his grimy coal town, makes a Faustian bargain with the devil he summons. Starting with nothing but a guitar and otherworldly help, he’s bought six years of what he wants most, or what he thinks he wants most. Staring down into red, red ...more

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Sep 24, 2013 Jody rated it it was amazing

Though this novella is short on word count it's long on its emotional impact. In the span of 75 pages Ms. Grey has managed to create a thought-provoking story about the price of fame and being careful what you ask for as all that glitters is not always gold. We see a character rising from the bottom to reach the highest pinnacles to end up even lower than where he started. It leaves the reader grateful for what they have and never willing to squander any chance they have for something better.

Log Though this novella is short on word count it's long on its emotional impact. In the span of 75 pages Ms. Grey has managed to create a thought-provoking story about the price of fame and being careful what you ask for as all that glitters is not always gold. We see a character rising from the bottom to reach the highest pinnacles to end up even lower than where he started. It leaves the reader grateful for what they have and never willing to squander any chance they have for something better.

Logan is a talented bluesman tired of his dreary and dismal life working in a factory that is slowly killing him. Music is his only bright spot and one night an exotic stranger offers him the chance of a lifetime. This compelling stranger offers him fame, wealth, and all the sex he wants in exchange for Logan giving himself over to this stranger in six years. Those six years aren't what Logan expected though and we see a man now lost and confused, faking his own death to get away from what he thought he wanted. He's frightened of his end quickly approaching and just wants to face it without cowardice. I ached for how low he's fallen as he's worse off mentally now than he was six years ago. He's lonely with no hope but help soon comes from an unexpected source.

The stranger, the Devil himself, soon arrives but what he demands in repayment is unexpected and extremely erotic. Farfarello looks nothing like the stereotypical images of the Devil we've all seen as there's a sensuality surrounding him. He's engaging, sexy, and it's easy to see why you'd give your soul to him with a smile. He's always been drawn to Logan and watched over him throughout the last six years. He found his music compelling and more expressive than any words uttered. Though it's his soul you'd expect Farfarello to want there's something more intense that he wants from Logan. Instead of taking him to Hell he takes him on an erotic journey full of sweat and surrender. Farfarello still believes in him and gives him one last chance to be with his one true love...music...if only Logan has truly learned from his mistakes and doesn't make the same poor choices again.

Ms. Grey has created an atmospheric story that takes you to the darkest parts of a person's soul. It's a gritty and intense read that's also thought-provoking in the message it leaves the reader with. The steamy sexual interludes of m/m love ground the story in reality and bring two lost souls together for a moment of comfort. I was completely immersed in this story from the first word to the last and look forward to where this author takes us next. ...more

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Oct 13, 2013 Adara rated it really liked it

An interesting short about wasting your life and then discovering what's most important. This is not an HEA, but more a brief interlude between a devil and a man. There's lust but not exactly love. Whether or not there's hope in the future is left to the reader to determine. Nice for what it was, but short. ...more

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