Lit List Short Reviews Blight and The Blarney by Rosemary J. Kind; The British Marine Engineer Poems and Stories by Lianna Margiva; Don't Floss by Deleon DeMicoli; Left by Stefanie Hutcheson; Requisite Records of a Misplaced Hero by Envy Mercury

 Lit List Short Reviews Blight and The Blarney by Rosemary J. Kind; The British Marine Engineer Poems and Stories by Lianna Margiva; Don't Floss by Deleon DeMicoli; Left by Stefanie Hutcheson; Requisite Records of a Misplaced Hero by Envy Mercury

Blight and The Blarney (The Tales of Flynn and Reilly) by Rosemary J. Kind

Blight and The Blarney by Rosemary J. Kind is a detailed and heartbreaking novella about a family faced with poverty, starvation, and some very tough decisions during the Irish Potato Famine.

In 1852, the Flynn Family was impoverished and on the brink of starvation. Potatoes no longer grow well in Ireland because of a blight and the English government evicts several Irish tenants and are extremely slow in responding with aid. Family patriarch, Michael is milling an offer from his landlord (one of the few kind ones) to move himself and his family to America. Of course it means saying goodbye to everyone and everything that they ever knew so it's a giant step. Things get even more complicated when Michael's brother, brother in law, and their families get evicted turning a homestead with barely enough to feed four into an overcrowded house of twelve. It doesn't help that Michael's brother in law, Seamus, is getting fed up with the mistreatment and looking towards more politically active and violent means to fight against the English.

Even though The Blight and The Blarney is short, it packs quite an emotional punch. Enough of a punch that any longer and it would be overdone. The most heart wrenching moment occurs during the death of one of the central characters. The illness is long term so it's not a surprise when it happens. But the build up and loss are moving and tug at every emotional fiber that the Reader has. 

The book is also good at showing different ways people react to difficult times without judgment or saying which way is the best way. Some like Michael opt for more peaceful resolutions like taking care of their family first and sometimes move on to another place. Others like Seamus fight against the circumstances that cause this misfortune and against those who profit off of it. Neither way is looked at as wrong or right and sometimes those choices lead to harder ones later on.

Unfortunately, the end of the novella suggests even more strife for the Flynn Family and the title of the next volume, New York Orphan, suggests there will be much more heartbreak and tougher choices to come.

British Marine Engineer Poems and Stories by Lianna Margiva

Liana Margiva's British Marine Engineer Poems and Stories is a dark, moving, depressing, and sometimes disturbing anthology about love and loss.

"The British Marine Engineer" is a moving story about lost love and second opportunities that arrive almost too late. Lorena, a Russian woman, falls for Douglas, a widowed British marine engineer. The two engage in a love affair and exchange passionate letters despite cultural differences and physical separation. They make plans to get married but are separated by circumstances beyond their control.

The love story between Douglas and Lorena is moving. Since they are in their 60's and 80's respectively, one gets the idea that since they are so much older, this may be their last chance for love. The letters that the two exchange are romantic but filled with an awareness of loss and sadness. This makes their separation all the more emotional because this was a couple who waited their whole lives for this kind of happiness only to have it snatched away.

"The Witch" is a twisted tale of revenge and obsession. After she learns that her husband, Marco, has been cheating on her with her friend, Emily vows to get revenge. An elderly woman, Granny, discovers that Emily is a fellow witch so Emily uses her new found abilities to get even.

"The Witch" is a strange tale with an even stranger protagonist. Many could understand and relate to Emily's anger about being betrayed but some of her actions are questionable. Most alarming is when she entices a young woman dying from a venereal disease (implied to be AIDS) to sleep with Marco purposely to infect him. She cares very  little for this woman's welfare, only what she can do for her. Involving Marco and Emily is one thing, but pimping out and destroying an innocent party's short life is another.

What does save this situation is that the story shows that Emily's desire for revenge ruins her. It seems to turn on her own health and personality (perhaps a visual representation of the beliefs that some Wiccans have over the Rule of Three: What you send out to the universe returns to you threefold). Both Emily and Marco end up as miserable people and somehow get the most acceptable deserving punishment in the end.

"Vincent Island" is a story of a troubled relationship in a beautiful setting. In the lovely Vincent Island, newcomer Ofra and local Spartacus fall in love. Unfortunately, their love is tested by rumors of infidelity and an affliction that consumes the island's residents.

"Vincent Island '' spends a great deal of time describing the setting as a beautiful vacation spot with sunny beaches, easy going people, and unique customs. It's the kind of place where one would think nothing could go wrong which of course means that it is going to. The dichotomy between setting and character is intentional as the beautiful Paradise location can't contain the dark souls that inhabit it.

Of the stories in this anthology, this probably has some of the lightest moments partly because of the setting but also the writing. Ofra makes friends with a woman named Desdemona who talks about her exes Othello and Hamlet (Someone not only brushed up their Shakespeare but they mixed him up as well.) The mostly light tone makes the ending somewhat jarring and out of place but it is also well written.

There are foreshadowing hints throughout the story that Ofra and Spartacus are not destined for a good ending. The island's residents have some regulations regarding the end of the relationship and Ofra receives hints from others that her relationship is not as strong as she believes it to be. The ending suggests that their end is inevitably likely to end badly.

The anthology also contains shorter poems and essays. All of them, like the stories, carry a somber feeling that love and loss unfortunately go together. 

Don't Floss by Deleon DeMicoli

Deleon DiMicoli's Don't Floss is a very broad parody about a renegade gang of dentists who plot to take over the world (Yeah you read that right). It almost reads like a Month Python sketch or an animated cartoon with its odd premise and over the top farcical characters.

Divorced private investigator Hugo Picoli is hired by a woman named Farrah to look for her missing dentist husband, Jolly. The last anyone saw Jolly was when he got rough with a teenage boy who harassed his mother. The first place to ask questions is Crowns Social Club, a hangout for all the prominent dentists. Of course they aren't exactly forthcoming with information.

 Oh yes and  Hugo's ex wife, Frida, a social activist and Beef, a reality show star/ex football player get involved. That's not to mention the secret behind dental floss. The plot gets convoluted and more confusing as it goes along

The plot and characters are broad and farcical to the point where it's hard to take anything in the book seriously. Since it's a short work, it's hard to see beyond the face value of parody. One could believe that the ridiculous idea of a conspiracy involving dental floss and an organization of dentists could be making fun of real life conspiracy theories. Those theories are just as arbitrary and sound just as ridiculous as the real life ones so much so that it's hard to tell what's a parody and what's real.

There are some moments of genuine suspense like a kidnapping attempt and a few chase scenes which show people getting hurt and worrying about the consequences. But most of the writing is played for laughs and with a short length that's all it has or needs.

Sometimes with a parody you can search for meaning. Sometimes you can search for laughs. With Don't Floss, it's definitely the latter.

Left by Stefanie Hutcheson

Stefanie Hutcheson's George and Mabel trilogy is a series of sweet and moving stories about a lovely middle aged couple who are happily married and spread that love towards others. Her follow up, Left could be described as the "Anti-George and Mabel." It is about a married couple on their last nerve who are miserable either together or separate.

An unnamed husband and wife are to say the least having the mother of all marital troubles. One day the wife just leaves her husband at a convenient store leaving him to walk home alone. Most of the book consists of the husband at home in denial about the decline of his marriage and struggling to commit to his daily activities and the wife's time of self proclaimed freedom in hotels which are not free from loneliness or guilty feelings.

Left spends a lot of time deconstructing the couple's marriage and shows that while the end is a surprise to the somewhat oblivious husband, it's not to the wife. It comes after years of silence, small talk, tolerating annoying habits, and having little to do with each other. In her eyes, it's not the decline of their marriage that is a surprise, it's the way that it happens. She second guesses herself not for leaving him at all but leaving him at the convenience store (which is admittedly pretty low. She couldn't have driven him home and left him afterwards?) 

The husband and wife are the ultimate can't live with them can't live without them pair. As the husband goes through his shock and denial, he realizes that yes his marriage wasn't as perfect as he remembers and yes they had flaws that neither could live with. Meanwhile, the wife's guilt over the faltering marriage takes over her independent life in hotels. Their feelings reverse as the separation strengthens him but weakens her.

Left ends on a heartbreaking but unfortunately inevitable note as the couple who had so little to say to each other, so little in common except some exchanged vows said years ago, are finally deprived of the chance to actually talk, reconcile, or find any sort of closure. 

George and Mabel they're definitely not.

The Requisite Records for a Misplaced Hero by Envy Mercury

Though brief, Envy Mercury's The Requisite Records of a Misplaced Hero is a unique voice in the Epic Fantasy genre. It takes the Chosen One story to a different level by showing what happens to the Chosen One after the legend is over, the foe is vanquished, and the hero returns to the normal world older but maybe no less wiser.

 

About twenty years after he rescued a fantasy kingdom, saved a princess, and returned to the ordinary world, Beck finds himself coasting along in said ordinary world. He is stuck in a job that he hates, is addicted to drugs, has PTSD, and has huge gaps in his memory that occurred during his fantasy life which he doesn't remember. 

One day he passes out and finds himself surrounded by anthropomorphic humanoid creatures. He is referred to as Rezner, Prince of Darkness, and is either welcomed back or cursed because of his return. Sure enough Beck is back in the fantasy world in which he left behind previously and has to fight former enemies out for revenge while reuniting with former allies like the demon familiar, Mecci and Princess Valentine, his former love interest.

This is a short work that can definitely be longer. While it makes sense to skim over Beck's previous adventure (after all it would be the standard paint by numbers epic fantasy), Beck's return and adult life could use more dissection. Here we have the life of a hero after the return. Beck is someone who is floating along in the real world because he doesn't feel a part of it. Even though he doesn't remember his time there, he is haunted by those missing memories. He loses himself in drugs and apathy so he can reach a place that is in the far reaches of his memory. He knows it but he can't quite see it.

Of course no sooner are we introduced to Beck than he returns to the world and reunited with the friends that he doesn't quite remember. Because his memories are misplaced, he has to practically be carried along by the more self assured stronger characters like Mecci. Everything is a new, or rather familiar but not quite, experience so he really doesn't know what he's doing. His decision to stay is made less for altruistic reasons to help out and is more because there is no one to miss him in the real world where he is considered a loser. He would rather be in a world where people admire, befriend, and some would fight and die for him. Of course his journey strengthens him and reopens talents and experiences that were never gone, just hidden.

The Requisite Records for a Misplaced Hero is a unique voice in the sometimes overdone epic fantasy genre. It's a brilliant idea that needs more exploration.